THE PORTLAND VASE. 



331 



of topics urged on his attention : 

 "Courage, my boy, remember there 

 is only the Cyclopedia to learn." 

 William Pitt was near falling a 

 sacrifice to his father's ambition. 

 Great as were his talents, I do not 

 doubt that they would have been 

 much greater had they been more 

 slowly cultivated ; and he might 

 then have attained the ordinary 

 term of human life, instead of his 

 brain wearing out his body at so 

 early an age. To see him, as I have 

 done, come into Bellamy's (a place 

 for refreshments), after the excite- 

 ment of debate, in a state of collapse 

 that with his uncouth countenance 

 gave the air of insanity, swallow 

 a steak without mastication, and 

 drink a bottle of port wine almost 

 at a draught, and then be barely 

 wound up to the level of ordinary 

 impulse repeat this process twice, 

 or, I believe even three times during 

 the night, was a fearful example of 

 over-cultivation of the brain ere it 

 had reached its full development. 

 So much had its excitability been 

 exhausted by premature and ex- 

 cessive moral Stimuli, that when his 

 ambition was sated, it was incapable 

 of ever keeping itself in action 

 without the physical stimulants I 

 have spoken of. Men called the 

 sad exhibition the triumph of mind 

 over matter : I call it the contest 

 of brain and body, where victory is 

 attained at the sacrifice of life. 



A SCABBED SCHOLAR. 



At Swahn Khan's approach, a 

 wild creature, all rags and gestures, 

 rushed out, and embraced his knees, 

 with many welcomes in Pushtoo, 

 which he instantly turned intc 

 Persian when informed who I was. 

 This prepared me for the announce- 

 ment which followed, that he was 

 the " Akhoond," or scholar of the 

 place; but, as he had run out 

 without his turban, I could not help 

 smiling to see the scholar's skull 

 scored all over with sabre cuts. 



He invited us all to stop and dine, 

 and smoke a chillum ; but as I in- 

 sisted on proceeding, he made a 

 last request, that "if ever I reduced 

 the valley of Bunnoo, I would re- 

 cover for him a certain long musket, 

 which a Murwutee had taken as 

 spoil, after killing the Akhoonds 

 father in a raid, and then sold to a 

 Bunnoochee, named Shah Abbas, 

 for sixteen rupees, though (and this 

 he whispered into my ear) it's worth 

 forty!" I may as well mention here 

 that I did not forget the Akhoond's 

 request ; but long afterwards, when 

 all opposition had ceased in Bunnoo, 

 discovered Shah Abbas, redeemed 

 the paternal firelock which was, 

 indeed, a long one, and had it duly 

 conveyed to the delighted scholar 

 of Kummur. (Edwardes' Year on 

 the Punjab Frontier). 



THE PORTLAND VASE IN THE 

 BRITISH MUSEUM. 



In a small ante-room is exhibited 

 the celebrated Portland or Barbe- 

 rini Vase, considered one of the 

 principal ornaments of the Museum, 

 and which has acquired fresh in- 

 terest of late by the misfortune 

 which threatened to deprive the 

 world of this unique specimen of 

 ancient art. It is a production of 

 Grecian genius, and tUl a few years 

 ago was as perfect as when it passed 

 from the hands of its fabricator. 

 In an unlucky hour, a madman, an 

 artist, we believe, found his way 

 into the Museum, and smashed the 

 peerless vase to pieces. A skilful 

 hand has with patient care, and no 

 small degree of success, replaced and 

 cemented the fragments, and re- 

 stored the exquisite form and pro- 

 portions of the vase ; but its homo- 

 geneity of surface it is beyond the 

 power of art to recover. The Port- 

 1; in id vase was discovered about the 

 middle of the IGth century, inclosed 

 in a sarcophagus within ihc monu- 

 ment of the Emperor Alexander 

 Severus, at a short distance from 



