speculate with some degree of seriousness on the purpose of their removal, and on the place of their destination.

It now appears, that there was in truth no light object in view. They were destined, with the rest of the Savans, on whom this country prides itself (and long may it have reason to indulge the honest exultation) to undertak a voyage of no less grandeur than peril ; to counteract the designs of the Directory, and to frustrate or forestall the Conquests of Buonaparte.

The young gentleman who writes the following Letter to his Friend in London, is, as may be seen, interpreter to the Expedition. We have understood further, that he is nearly connected with the young man who writes for the Morning Chronicle, and conducts the Critical, Argumentative, and Geographical Departments. Some say it is the young man himself, who has assumed a feigned name, and under the disguise of a Turkish dress and circumcision, is gone, at the express instigation of his employers, to improve himself in geographical knowledge. We have our doubts upon this subject, as we think we recognize the style of this deplorable young man, in an article of last week's Morning Chronicle, which we have had occasion to answer in a preceding column of our present Paper. Be that as it may, the information contained in the following Letter may be depended upon.

We cannot take leave of the subject, without remarking what a fine contrast and companion the Vessel and Cargo described in the following Poem, affords

to the "NAVIS STULTIFERA," the "SHIPPE OF "FOOLES" of the celebrated Barclay; and we cannot forbear hoping, that the Argenis of an Author of the same name may furnish a hint for an account of this stupendous Expedition in a learned language from the only pen which in modern days is capable of writing Latin with a purity and elegance worthy of so exalted a theme; and that the Author of a classical Preface may become the writer of a no less celebrated Voyage.

TRANSLATION OF A LETTER

(IN ORIENTAL CHARACTERS)

FROM BAWBA-DARA-ADUL-PHOOLA,

DRAGOMAN TO THE EXPEDITION,

TO NEEK-AWL-ARETCHID-KOOEZ,

SECRETARY TO THE TUNISIAN EMBASSY.

DEAR NEEK-AWL,

YOU'LL

OU'LL rejoice, that at length I am able

To date these few lines from the Captain's own table.

Mr. Truman, himself, of his proper suggestion,

Has in favour of Science decided the question;

So we walk the main deck, and are mess'd with the

Captain;

I leave you to judge of the joy we are rapt in.

At Spithead they embark'd us; how precious a cargo! And we sail'd before day to escape the embargo. There was Sh-b-b, the wonderful mathematician; And D-rw-n, the poet, the sage, and physician; There was B-dd-s, and Bru-n, and G-d-wn, whose trust is,

He may part with his work on Political Justice

To some Iman or Bonze, or Judaical Rabbin

So with huge quarto volumes he piles up the cabin.
There was great Dr. P―r, whom we style Bellendenus ;
The Doctor and I have a hammock between us.
"Tis a little unpleasant thus crowding together,
On account of the motion, and heat of the weather;
Two souls in one birth they oblige us to cram.
And Sir John will insist on a place for his ram.
Though the Doctor, I find, is determined to think
"Tis the animal's hide that occasions the stink;
In spite of the experienced opinion of Truman,
Who contends that the scent is exclusively human.
But B-dd-s and D-rwn engage to repair
This slight inconvenience with oxygene air.

Whither bound? (you will ask) 'tis a question, my friend,

On which I long doubted; my doubt's at an end.

To Arabia, the Stony, Sabæa the Gummy,

To the land where each man that you meet is a mummy; To the mouths of the Nile, to the banks of Araxes, To the Red, and the Yellow, the White and the Black

seas,

With telescopes, globes, and a quadrant, and sextant,
And the works of all authors whose writings are extant;
With surveys and plans, topographical maps,
Theodolites, watches, spring-guns, and steel traps,
Phials, crucibles, air pumps, electric machinery,
And pencils for painting the natives and scenery.
In short, we are sent to oppose all we know,
To the knowledge and mischievous arts of the foe,
Who, though placing in arms a well-grounded reliance,
Go to war with a flying artill'ry of science.

The French Savans, it seems, recommended this

measure,

With a view to replenish the national treasure.
First, the true Rights of Man they will preach in all
places,

But chief (when 'tis found) in the Egyptian Oasis:
And this doctrine, 'tis hoped in a very few weeks
Will persuade the wild Arabs to murder their Cheiks,
And to aid the Great Nation's beneficent plans,
Piunder pyramids, catacombs, towns, caravans,
Then enlist under Arcole's gallant Commander,
Who will conquer the world like his model Iskander.
His army each day growing bolder and finer,
With the Turcoman tribes he subdues Asia Minor,
Beats Paul and his Scythians, his journey pursues
Cross the Indus, with tribes of Armenians and Jews,
And Bucharians, and Affghans, and Persians and
Tartars,-

Chokes the wretched Mogul in his Grandmother's garters,

And will hang him to dry in the Luxemburgh Hall, 'Midst the plunder of Carthage and spoils of Bengal.

Such, we hear, was the plan; but I trust, if we meet
'em,

That Savant to Savant, our Cargo will beat 'em.
Our plan of proceeding, I'll presently tell :-
But soft-I am call'd-I must bid
you farewell;
To attend on our Savans my pen I resign—
For, it seems, that they duck them on crossing the Line.

We deeply regret this interruption of our Oriental Poet, and the more so, as the Prose Letters which we have received from a less learned Correspondent, do not enable us to explain the tactics of our belligerent philosophers so distinctly as we could have wished. It appears in general, that the learned Doctor who has the honour of sharing the hammock of the amiable Oriental, trusted principally to his superior knowledge in the Greek language, by means of which he hoped to entangle his antagonists in inextricable confusion. Dr. D―n proposed (as might be expected) his celebrated experiment of the ice-island, which, being towed on the coast of Africa, could not fail of spoiling the climate, and immediately terrifying and embarrassing the sailors of Buonaparte's fleet, accustomed to the mild temperature and gentle gales of the Mediterranean, and therefore ill qualified to struggle with this new importation of tempests. Dr. B-s was satisfied with the project of communicating to Buonaparte a

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