SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

TRAVELS, • Excursions in Albania; comprising a description of the wild boar, deer, and wood- cock shooting in that country; and a Journey from thence to Thessalouica and Constantinople, and up the Danube to Pest. By Captain 3.3. Best, Thirty-fourth

Regiment Ales and Co. FICTION.

Henry De Pomeroy. or the Eve of St. John • a Legend of Cornwall and Devon. By

Mrs. Bray, Author of" Trelawny." " of the Heart," Sce. In three volumes. DRAMATIC LITER.ATITRE, Bentlev.

The Comedies, Histories, Tragedies, and Poems of William Shakspero. Edited by

Charles Knight. The second edition. Volume I. K,s.gM and Co. The Works of William Shakespeare. The Text formed from an entirely new cellie lion of the old editions; with the Various Readings. Notes. a Life of the Poet, and a History of the early English Stage. By J. Payne Collier, Esq.. F.S.A. lit eight volumes. Vut. II. Indtaker and Co.

CAPTAIN BEST'S EXCURSIONS IN ALBANIA AND ASCENT Or THE DANUBE.

QUARTERED at Corfu on the Staff of the Governor of the Ionian Islands, Captain BEST and several of his brother-officers were in the habit of frequently making excursions to the mainland of Albania, to shoot woodcocks, and, when they fell in with them, wild boar and deer. Thinly, nay scarcely peopled—swampy, covered with bush, and closely set with forest—without preserve or poachers for the Albanians cannot comprehend how a man should waste poachers, gunpowder on a woodcock— the country affords capital though fatiguing sport, and the sportsman is exposed to cold and priva- tion. As the Albanians, although indifferent to their game, are not above begging for powder and other trifles, somewhat in the manner of the pious robber-mendicant in Gil Bias, the sportsmen, it appears, do not go alone, but in large parties, after the fashion of our battues, or in companies of three or four. And of both these kinds of shooting Captain Bsar furnishes some striking descriptions, in the form of a day's narrative of each sport, from the start from Corfu in the officers' yachts and the junction of the man-of-war on the station for the nautical gentlemen to join the chase, until the jovial repast when the day is ended; the whole, with some other indications in the volume, forming a very pretty picture of the hardships and monotony of Colonial service, of which we civilians hear so much from military gentlemen and from the War Office when the Estimates are to be augmented. But Captain Bzwr had a higher ambition than shooting woodcocks or even a wild boar. He had read of travels, and he longed to be a traveller himself; so, with leave of absence in his pocket, he first made a journey to Janina, the capital of Au Pasha, and next a larger pilgrimage on horseback, not unlike part of Childe Harold's ; crossing the Pindus range, roaming over the plains of Thessaly, and through the vale of Tempe to Salonica, whence he steamed to Constantinople. After seeing the sights of the capital, our tourist ascended the Danube to Pest, in a steamer ; returning to Corfu by way of Vienna and Trieste : but the narrative of his adventures closes at Pest ; Captain BEST intimating, truly, that enough has already been written about civilized Europe. To high literary merit Captain BEST makes no pretensions : his mind is not of a philosophic or reflective cast ; and he had not much opportunity, in the half-barbarous and half-peopled lands he travelled through, of exercising his professional knowledge, though what little there was he does not let pass. But if not a first-rate traveller, Captain BEST is a very pleasant and unaffected one ; clear and distinct in his descriptions of scenery and customs, animated in his account of' incidents, and not heavy or long drawn out in his narrative ; whilst by noting every-day practices and describing them minutely, he conveys a better idea of the still life and habits of the people than many more ambitious travellers. The weakest parts of his book are when he quite the subject in hand to grapple with the destinies of nations. It may be true that the beauty and fu- tility of the country in Albania and Thessaly, compared with the paucity of inhabitants, reflect strongly upon the oppression of the Government — and the frequent ruins of classical times bear testimony to the number of people it formerly maintained ; but if the Turkish Government is to be overthrown for the paucity of people compared with the soil, we do not know that that of Austria in Hungary, or of Great Britain in Tri- nidad or Demerara, or of Spain or Russia anywhere, would be particularly secure. The case of torture at Salonica, which Captain BEST relates, was indeed a most horrible and revolting act of power ; but it was the act of a petty despot, with which his su- perior was offended, and arose as much from habit and public opi- nion as from the Government. However cold-blooded the an- nouncement may appear, war cannot properly be resorted to for acts of tyranny perpetrated by a government towards its own subjects ; for war is sure to occasion as much human misery as it undertakes to rectify, besides the uncertainty of its duration. All that in ge- neral can be done properly, is remonstrance ; which was tried in the ease before us, and was immediately effectual. Nor, in making changes, ought one's eyes to be shut to practical consequences. It is easy to say, "Overthrow the Turkish empire ; it is tyrannical and decrepit, only upheld by foreign diplomacy"; but what is to be substituted in its place ? Turkey, a battle-ground for half of Eu- rope, would sigh for its old tyranny.

That the facts on which Captain BEST founds his inferences are true enough, may be gathered from many descriptions. Here is one.

TENURE OF LAND IN TRESSALF.

Occasionally we passed a piece of magnificent rye, in full ear at that early season, with straw the longest I ever saw in my life; while the number of wild pigeons that kept constantly rising out of these and other fields of corn, as we rode past them, was positively marvellous... The plain must be marshy in

winter; but the wbole of it might be easily kept dry enough (or cultivation by a few cross-dikes, the parts which are cultivated being drained effectually in that manner.

On passing one very magnificent piece of wheat, I observed incidentally to the sumgee, that it was in fine condition; and asked if he knew to whom it belonged. "How could he tell ? " was his reply ; "any one that can afford to watch and guard it. may sow wherever he pleases; and when the time of harvest comes he may reap it if it has not been stolen before that ; and then some one 'perhaps sows tbere the next year, and the man who has had the crop sows somewhere else." "Then am I to understand that the land belongs te no one, and that any one may plough or sow where he pleases?" said I, somewhat surprised. "Bow can the land belong to any one ? " asked in reply the equally astonished Albanian. "If I sow corn there, the corn is mine ; if you sow, it is yours; if I see good grass there, I feed my horses, or sheep, or oxen, if I have any; and any other person may do the same : but the land is not mine." "But to whom then does the land belong? May I come and turn out your flocks, or sow seeds where you want to sow ? " " Of course you may, if you can ; but if I sow corn there, or feed my flocks there, I take good care to guard it, and not let you."

The following is a curious picture of an unsafe country.

CONVENTS OF METEORA. THESSALT.

We continued to follow the course of the Peneus through a magnificently- wooded country for about fourliours more ; when we found ourselves in the - midst of these huge conglomerate rocks, which seem quite alive with con- vents. Some are built on the summits of sugar-loaf-like rocks, others about half-way up the faces; but all most carefully constructed in situations appa- rently inaccessible, and in which they seem to have been placed by enchant- ' ment, for it is difficult to conceive how the materials requisite for their con- struction could have been carried up the sides of almost perpendicular rocks several hundred feet high, or bow a sufficient footing could have been gained at the summits'of the almost pointed ones, on which some of the convents stand, to place the machinery for rinsing up the foundation-atones. These huge rocks cover a space of about one mile and a hail in length and of a- variable width. They are a kind of soft conglomerate, with sea- pebbles and shells in great quantities; but they show evident marks of the effects of time and weather on a not very solid kind of stone. Besides the convents, there are houses in all directions in and under these reeks; to all of which the access is, as to the convents, by a rope-ladder, which can be drawn up at pleasure, or by some most impracticable steps cut in the solid rock.; • • The convent we were about to visit was the Agios Stephanos, which is one, of the highest. Leaving one horses at the foot of 'the hill, we reached, after . about a quarter of an hour's hard climbing, it spot where', on looking up, we saw, about one hundred and eighty feet perpendicularly over our heads, a pro- jecting wooden building, to which a basket, which was on the ground dose to us, was attached by a cord, and which basket appeared to be used sten means of conveyance for provisions, &c. from the spot where we stood -to the monks residing in the regions above. We had thus arrived at the back of the rock on the summit of which the A gios Stephanos stands; its leight above us being one hundred and eighty feet, whilst its height above the plain on its front and two side faces must be three or four hundred feet. On hailing the monks to admit us, they told us to mount by a series of strong but very disagreeable and ricketty ladders, in joints, which ran up one sloping side of the rock, and entered a covered kind of gallery about one hundred feet above the ground where we stood,Lut two hundred feet perpendicularly above the nearest point of the ground immediately below it. We considered this mode of ascent as impracticable to any but a sailor, and so declined attempting it. They then called to us to wait ; and in a few minutes we saw descending from the building above a sort of strong cabbage-net with very large meshes, and capable of bolding twd persons at it time. The net is spread open upon the ground, and one or two persons sit down upon it cross-legged; the upper meshes of the net are then collected together over his or their heads, and hung on an iron hook attached to the rope. The monks above then turn a capstan, and in two minutes and a half the traveller suds himself in their exalted abode, about one liundred and eighty feet above the level of the ground from which he started. I shall not easily forget the extraordinary appearance of and our servant Giovanni, who came down together, their legs hanging oot of the net through the very large meshes on opposite sides. They swung about a good deal as they slowly descended, and turned round like a joint of meat roasting over a slow fire.

The usual mode of ascent, however, appeared to be by the ladders; and the monks seemed a good deal surprised at our asking for the net.

ALBANIAN IDEAS OF LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE.

On my way through Tempe. I chanced to enter a good deal into conversation with oitr surrigee ; who seemed very much disposed to be communicative. See- ing a small town on lily right, which I guessed from its situation must be Ambelakia, I observed incidentally, "That is Ambelakia, is it not ? " Be looked round at me very slyly, and replied, "I see you know this road; you are no stranger here." "I was never here in my his till this moment," said I. He insinuated that I might not wish it to be known that I had been there before; but that, unless I had; I could not possibly have pointed out Am- belakia as I had done. I assured him I was a perfect stranger. "Then bow could you," he replied, looking archly, as much as to say he had found me out, "how could you know that that was Ambelakia ?" "1 guessed it," said I. I have a paper (map) kri my Pocket, from which I learn the names and situations a 'places." I could not, however, succeed in persuading him that I was telling the truth, nor in making. him comprehend what a map meant. Ile would persiet in maintaining that I must have been that way before, or I could not have pointed out the situation of Ambelakia; and seemed to bunt that, as I appeared not to wish it known that I knew my way, I might depend upon his discretion.

GREEK ILLUSTILATION OF INTERCESSION.

I remember well having on one occasion a long conversation with the chief of a convent in the island of Corfu. He was describing to me the number of miracles which had been performed in the church of his convent by a miracu- lous picture of the Virgm Mary; in attestation of which miracles, each sick person who had been cured by performing a pilgrimage to that convent had suspended some token in commemoration of his cure about the painting itself, which is a very small and not well-painted bust. "But who do you consider performs these miracles ? " I asked, more from inadvertency than from any intention of provoking a religious dispute with the good-natured old monk. Who?" he replied; "why she does," pointing to the picture. "You have no idea," be continued, "how good she is to us ; e' una excellente persona, Signore." ' I chanced to turn my eyes towards a picture of our Saviour, which appeared to be quite in the background compared to the position of that of the Virgin, with all her candles, nosegays, and decorations in the shape of small pieces of silver and tin with eyes, Legs, arnis,-&c. stamped upon them, in commemora- tion of the cures on those members performed by this miraculous picture ; and I asked if they prayed to him as much as to the Virgin. "I will explain' it to you," he said : "you, Signore, are his Excellency's Aide-dc-camp: well, I want to ask a favour of his Excellency : 1 am a poor ignorant man, who do not know how to address myself to so great a person, nor to explain to him my wants; so I go to you first, tell you my whole story, and then on one word from you to his Excellency I get what 1 want."