388 
German reviewers have, however, declared 
thefe Travels to be genuine: and a ccr- 
tain learned Journaliit has filled many of 
his pages with accounts of- the Holy 
Land, taken from Schrédter, and with the 
ftories he has fabricated about the prietts. 
The pretended traveller M.Damberger, 
joiner in Wittenberg, fays, that in the 
year 1781, he had entered into the Dutch 
fervice as a common foldier, was fent in 
that capacity to the Cape of Good Hope, 
where he was taken from the-ranks by the 
prefident of the burghers in Cape town, 
and by him appointed his houfe-fteward, © 
but left his fervice, and travelled through 
the interior of Africa, alone and on foot, 
from the Cape to Morocco. He affures us, 
that he had himfelf obferved whatever he 
here defcribes, and pretends to find fault 
with and correct the errors of preceding 
travellers ; as for inftance, the celebrated 
Vaillant. Were all his affertions founded 
in truth, Damberger’s Travels might be 
confidered a valuable acquifition to the 
{cience of geography: but weare forry to 
find that the whole is a literary impof- 
ture. 5 
The other two forgeries, viz. Tauri- 
nius and Schrodter’s Travels, are equally 
replete with the moft improbable fittions : 
but want of room obliges us to defer 
giving an analyfis of thefe works, till we 
publifh our Retrofpeét of German Li- 
terature. 
EE eo 
To the Editor of the Monihly Magazine. 
SIR, 
T is-well known that in many parts of 
Scotland and of Ireland a fuperflitious 
notion prevails that fome of the more an- 
cient families are attended by the preter- 
natural apparition of a female, who, pre- 
vious tothe death of any individual of 
that family to which it is aitached, is 
heard to utter the moft doleful midnight 
lamentations. In a little book of Perfian 
tales, printed lately at Calcutta, with an 
Englifh Treaflation, I was much furprifed 
to find that a fimilar notion is prevalent 
among the Afiatics. The work to which 
i allude is the Toaté Nameh; or, Tales of 
a Parrot; and the ftory.is in the fecond 
ebapter, page 26, and intitled, ‘¢ The Fi- 
delity of a Centinel towards the King of 
Tebrriftan.”’—-This centinel is related to 
have watched for feveral nights at the pa- 
Jace, in hopes of beholding the king: he 
wes at length gratified, and whilft in con- 
verfation with his Majefty, a voice was 
heard iffuing from the wilds and aeferts, 
Perfian Tale of an Apparition. 
[ June rz, 
which faid, ** lam going; who is the 
man that will caufe me to turn back ?”’°—= 
The King was aftonifhed ; but the foldier, 
who had heard the ftame‘:voice feveral 
nights, promifed to find out if poffible 
whence it proceeded. The centinel de- 
parted, and the king, having difguifed 
himfelf, followed ata fhort diftance, when 
he {aw onthe road a beautiful female form, 
crying out, ‘* | am going ; who is he that 
will caufe me to turn back ?”"—The centi- 
nel exclaimed, ** Who art thou, O wo- 
man! and why doft thou utter thefe 
words ?’—-She anfwered,—‘* I am the 
emblem and reprefentation of the King of 
Teberiftan’s life, and am now about to 
depart.”.—-The .centinel demanded by 
what means fhe could be induced to re- 
main.—She anfwered, that if he would 
give his own fon in exchange for the 
King’s life, fhe would turn back, and re- 
main fixty years longer.—He replied, that 
he would give his own and his fon’s life, 
as a ranfom for the King’s. “Now the. 
King, who was concealed at a diftance, 
overheard all that paffled.——The fol. 
Gier haftened home, and related to his fon 
the conditions on which the King’s life 
might be prolonged ; and the youth, filled 
with the fame loyalty as his father, con- 
fented to be offered as a facrifice on this 
occafion.—T he father led him to the phan 
tom, bound him hand and foot, and, taking 
a fharp knife, fooped down to cut his 
throat—but the figure ftopped his hand, 
and told him that the Almighty was fatis- 
fied with his fidelity, and that fhe fnould 
turn back for 60 years without the facrifice. 
The King, delighted at what he had feen, 
haftened home, and being feated in his 
palace before the centinel came back, de- . 
manded of him what had happened :— The 
foldier, not willing to alarm the King, told 
him that the voice had proceeded from a 
woman, who, having quarrelled with her 
hufband, was about to leave his houfe, but 
that he had reconciled them, and prevailed 
on her to flay with hhim for fixty years. - 
The King, baving thus difcovered the fi- 
delity of the foldier, acknowledged that he 
had overheard all that paffed, and exalted 
him to the higheft honours, &c. &e. 
Whilft the latter part of this ftory re- / 
minds one of the facrifice of Ifaac . by 
Abraham, we find in the phantom a firik- 
ing refemblance to the. Scotch auraith or 
Trith ban-chee;, and perhaps much of our 
Northern foperftitions, as well as romances, 
may be traced to an Oriental fource. 
March, 34, 1801. ; 
? 
f Pree. 
ve) 
E i 
