the violence of his father's rule had excited, he retired to the principal mosque of the city, where he gave himself up for several months to devotion and mental abstraction. No one was allowed to approach him during this period, except some of his favourite disciples.

Beggee Jân, when he first as sumed the holy mantle, had adopted the tenets of a Sooffee. He now openly professed himself to be one of those visionary devotees, who, from having their souls continually fixed on the contemplation of the divine essence, expect to attain a state of mental beatitude, which leads them to despise all the pleasures of this world, and, above all, earthly power. Consistency required, that while he professed this doctrine, he should not easily comply with the entreaties of the inhabitants of Bokharah; who, wearied with the internal troubles caused by the ambition of his relations, earnestly solicited him to assume the government. The populace, who were entirely devoted to him, assembled daily at the mosque where he resided, and attended him wherever he went. The first instance in which he used the great influence and authority that he had acquired, was to destroy all the drinking and gambling houses in Bokharah. These are stated to have amounted to several thousands; and we are assured, that so extraordinary was the veneration for the commands of this holy prince, that even those who were ruined by this act, aided in it accomplishment.

Some of the brothers of BegEce Ján had been slain; and the

danger in which his family were placed, from an increasing spirit of revolt among their own followers, led them at last to join in the general request, that he would assume the government; but all was in vain, till the occurrence of a serious commotion in the capital, in which about a thousand citizens lost their lives, excited his compassion. Upon this occasion, the nominal king, Abdool Ghâzee Khan, and all the nobles, assembled; and, having come to the mosque where he dwelt, they compelled him to attend them to the tomb of his father, Ameer Daniel, and at that sacred spot he was solemnly invoked to support a falling state. Apparently overcome by the urgency of their entreaties, he promised to give his counsel and aid in the management of public affairs; but we are intormed that he withheld from active interference till Neâz Aly, a chief who had rebelled during the reign of his father, and seized upon the city of Shaher-e-subz, ventured to make an inroad upon the territories of Bokharah. This act roused his indignation so much, that he accepted the title of regent, and marched, at the head of a large army, to attack the invader; whom he not only forced to retreat from the territories of Bokharah, but to abandon some of those countries of which he had for some time been in possession. Beggee Jân may, from this date, be deemed the actual ruler of the Usbegs; for though he never assumed any title but that of regent, and continued to pay a nominal obedience to Abdool Ghazee Khan, he exercised, during the remainder of his life,

an

an absolute and undisputed authority over his nation. No prince was ever more unanimously chosen to fill the seat of power; and his first care, after he assumed the government, was to slow his gratitude to those by whom he had been elevated, by the establishment of some salutary regulations for the administration of justice, the collection of revenue, and the payment of the army.

The policy of Beggee Jân made him studiously reject all those claims to respect and obedience which he had inherited from his father, the Ameer Daniel; who had not only been, for a short period, the ruler of the Usbegs, but was the chief of a powerful tribe. His artful son knew too well the jealousies and the resentment with which such claims were associated, to desire that they should appear in any shape as the foundation of his authority; therefore, in framing regulations for the management of public affairs, he gave to every inetitution a shape suited to his own character; and he desired always to be considered as a religious recluse, that had been compelled by his countrymen to exercise regal power; but who was resolved, as far as the dicharge of his duties would permit him, to maintain amid all the temptations with which he was surrounded, the same life of rigid austerity and self-denial, as he should have passed if he had never been called from a cell to a throne. The splendid court at which the nobles of Bokharah had been accustomed to attend, was abo

lished; and in its place he esta blished what may be termed a hall of justice, at which he sat as president, aided by forty moollahs, or learned men. All who had complaints to make came to this hall; but the prosecutor was never allowed to speak unless the accused was present. No person, however high his rank, dared to refuse a summons to attend this court. A slave could cite his master before it. Beggee Jan, we are informed, listened with great patience to the statement of both parties; and, in all cases not criminal, he sent them away, with an advice to come to an amicable adjustment of their difference. If they did so, the cause terminated; if not, he took notes, at their re-appearance, of the evidence produced; and these were given, with his opinion, to the moollahs, who were directed to prepare a fet wah, or decision, according to the holy law. The parties, even after this proceeding, had a week allowed them to accommodate their dispute; but if that period elapsed without their having done so, the sentence was passed, and became irrevocable.

[Sir J. Malcolm adds many more particulars respecting this extraordinary personage; but we shall only copy the relation of a visit to him by an envoy of Mameish Khan, chief of Chinnaran, at the time when Beggee Jân invaded Khorassan.]

Mameish Khan, it appears from this memoir, was in correspondence with Ishân Nukeeb, a noble of high rank among the Usbegs, and a great favourite of their

ruler.

ly at the animal, he began to whisper and to laugh with those near him: then addressing himself to me, said, Why has not your master sent the horse, Karra-Goz, as I desired?'-"That horse has defects,' I replied, or he would have been sent.'--'With all his defects,' said Beggee Jan, emiling, he is twenty times better than the one you have brought.'

"While we were conversing, a great number of nobles came in; and I could not help observing the extraordinary richness and splendour of their arms and dresses. Beggee Jan returned the salute of every one of these in a kind and affable manner, and bade them be seated: but the shade of his small tent did not protect one half of them from the rays of the sun. Soon after their arrival, their chief fell into a deep reverie; and, till evening prayers were announced, he appeared wholly absorbed in religious contemplation. At the time of prayer all arose, and retired. I slept that night at the tent of Ishan Nukeeb. At day-light the army marched, and passed within a few miles of the fort of Chinnaran. After Beggee Jàn had reached his encampment, he sent for me, and honoured me with a private audience, at which he was very affable. Your master, Mameish Khan, is, I hear, always drinking wine.'-'I have not seen him drink,' I replied, ' and cannot speak to that point.' -You are right, said he, not to state what you have not seen. Tell Mameish Khan,' he continued, I have a regard for

him: but as to Nadir Meerza, (the ruler of Mushed), he is a fool. Bid Mameish Khan,' he added, write to Jaaffer Khan, of Nishapore, and advise that chief to solicit my friend-hip, if he wishes to save his country from destruction.' After this observation a handsome dress was brought for me, with a present in money. Every article of the dress was good, except the turban, which was of little or no value. This, however, Beggee Jan took himself, giving me his own in exchange, which was a great deal worse than the one brought for me. I took my leave, and returned to the tent of Ishån Nukeeb, to whom I repeated all that had passed. He laughed very heartily at the account, made me a handsome present; and I was on the point of retiring, when two men. carne, at full gallop, with a letter from Mameish Khan, stating, that, notwithstanding the protection he had received, some of his followers had been taken by the Usbegs. Ishân Nukeeb took me again to Beggee Jân, whom we found seated in his small tent, upon a goat's skin. He directed the captives to be brought, and made them over to me. He had before written a letter to Mameish Khan, which he re-opened, wrote what he had done, and again committed it to my charge. As this affair was settling, his cook, a diminutive person, with weak eyes, came into the tent. 'Why do not you think of dinner?' said Beggee Jân, it will soon be time for prayer.' The little cook immediately brought a large pot, and making

2 fire

a fire-place with stones, put four or five kinds of grain, and a little dried meat, into it. He then nearly filled it with water; and, having kindled a fire, left it to boil, while he prepared the dishes: these were wooden platters, of the same kind as are used by the lowest orders. He put down three, and poured out the mess. Beggee Jân watched him; and the cook evidently understood, from his looks, when more or less was to be put into a dish. After all was ready, he spread a dirty cloth, and laid down a piece of stale barley bread, which Beggee Jan put into a cup of water to moisten. The first dish was given to the ruler of the Usbegs, the second was placed between Ishân Nukeeb and me, and the cook took the third for himself, sitting down to eat it opposite to his master. As I had dined, I merely tasted what was put before me. It was very nauseous, the meat in it being almost putrid: yet several nobles, who came in, eat the whole of our unfinished share, and with an apparent relish, that could only have been derived from the pleasure they had in partaking of the same fare with their holy leader.

"After dinner I obtained leave to depart. On my return to Chinnaran, Mameish Khan was pleased with the result of my mission: but he afterwards informed me, that, notwithstanding the fair promises of Beggee Jân, eightytwo of his people were, during this season, carried away by the Usbegs."

ANECDOTES OF THE PRESENT KING OF SPAIN.

Extracted from a Spanish Sermon delivered at a Grand Function celebrated at Cadiz, by Don Blaz de Ostoloza, Chaplain Major, and Confessor to his Majesty.

The confessor begins by giving a picture of the life of the king at Valency:

"The king," says he, "rose at eight o'clock, heard mass, breakfasted, made afterwards a party at billiards, entered his closet to read his letters or some portion of holy writ, embroidered at the tambour till two o'clock, at which time he took a short airing in a carriage-he dined on his return-made a short prayer, received his brothers, or those who were admitted to pay their court to him, supped, and before going to bed recited with all his household the Litanies, which he toned himself.

"An agent of Napoleon, whose impious presence he was forced to endure, employed all means of seduction to draw the Infant from his holy occupations. He brought a troop of female dancers from Paris, and even his own wife, to endeavour to charm the king; but I perceived by certain signs (adds the confessor, whose words we translate literally,) that the breasts of these women, indecently exposed, were beginning to have a dangerous effect on the prince, who was ready to fall into the seventh deadly sin. I admonished him in time, and, like the slave of Potiphar, Don Ferdinand escaped these new sirens.

"The