MISCELLANEOUS. 



889 



siibsideil, we beheld a general alter- 

 ation in the fortunes and circum- 

 Btances of men ; we saw persons 

 who, before the plague, were com- 

 mon labourers, now in possession 

 of thousands, and keeping horses 

 without knowing how lo ride them, 

 parties of this description were met 

 wherever we went, and the men of 

 family called them in derision (el 

 wurata) the inheritors. Provisions 

 also became extremely cheap and 

 abundant; the flocks and herds had 

 been left in the fields, and there 

 was now no one to own them ; and 

 the propensity to plunder so noto- 

 riously attached to the character 

 of the Arab, as well as to the Shel- 

 lue and Moor, was superseded by 

 a conscientious regard to justice, 

 originating from a continual appre- 

 hension of dissolution, and that the 

 El khere, as the plague was now 

 called was a judgment of the Omni- 

 potent on the disobedience of man, 

 and that it behoved every individu- 

 al to amend his conduct, as a pre- 

 paration to his departure for Para- 

 dise. 



The expense of labour at the 

 same time increased enormously, 

 and never was equality in the hu- 

 man species more conspicuous than 

 at this time ; when corn was to be 

 ground, or bread baked, both were 

 performed in the houses of the af- 

 fluent, and prepared by themselves, 

 for the very few people whom the 

 plague had spared, were insufficient 

 to administer to the wants of the 

 rich and independent, and they 

 wereaccordingly compelled to work 

 for themselves, performing person- 

 ally the menial offices of their res- 

 pective families. 



The country being now depopu- 

 lated, and much of the territory 



without owners, vast tribes of Arabs 

 emigrated from their abodes in the 

 interior of Sahara, and took posses- 

 sion of the country contiguous to 

 the river Draha, as well as many 

 districts in Suse ; and, in short, set- 

 tling themselves, and pitching their 

 tents wherever they found a fertile 

 country with little orno population. 



A Week in Paris. By Lieut. Col. 

 Pinkney. [^From the Universal 

 Magazine. J 



There is no place in the world, 

 perhaps, more distinguished for lite- 

 rary eminence, in every part of art 

 and science, than Paris. The lite- 

 rary institutions of Paris, therefore, 

 were the objects of my first visit. 

 Every capital has its theatres, pub- 

 lic gardens, and palaces ; but Paris 

 alone has its public libraries on a 

 scale of equal utility and magnifi- 

 cence. InParisalone,scienceseems 

 to be considered as an object of 

 importance to mankind, and there- 

 fore as a suitable object for the 

 protection of government. In Paris 

 alone, to say all in a word, the 

 poorest student, the most ragged 

 philosopher, has all the treasures 

 of princes at his command ; the na- 

 tional library opens at his call, and 

 the most expensive books are deli- 

 vered for his use. 



On the morning following my ar- 

 rival, Mr. Younge accompanied me 

 to the national library. On enter- 

 ing it, we ascended a most superb 

 staircase painted by Pellegrine, by 

 which we were led to the library on 

 the first floor. It consists of a suit 

 of spacious and magnificent apart- 

 ments, extending round three sides 

 of a quadrangle. The books are 



ranged 



