The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 28, 1647.

THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION.
The following correspondence has taken place between Lord
Robert Grosvenor and Mr. Henry Hoare:—
" New-street, Spring-gardens, Jan. 21, 1847.
"My Lard,—l have been requested by several of the electors
of Middlesex, who have met together this day to consider
the course to be taken with reference to the present vacancy
in the representation, to bring under your Lordship's notice
one very important topic, to which they find no allusion in
the address published in this morning's papers.
" We cannot doubt that your Lordship is fully alive to the
importance of a free communication of sentiment between a
candidate and the constituency he seeks to represent. The
connexion between your Lordship and the county of Middle-
sex, when formed, is one which may be expected to endure
for many years to come; but it would be disappointing to
both parties if there were afterwards discovered to exist dif-
ferences of opinion on important subjects, such as to render a
dissolution of the connexion inevitable.
" The point to which we desire to draw your Lordship's
attention is that of the contemplated endowment of the Ro-
mish priests in Ireland. We speak of it as contemplated,'
not meaning thereby to imply that it is likely to be imme-
diately proposed to Parliament; but rather, that being re-
garded with favour by some of the leading men in all
the great parties into which the nation is divided, it is not
probable that the next Parliament will expire without hav-
ing had some such proposition urged upon its acceptance.
" Regarding it, then, as a subject of the deepest importance,
and as one which is likely to be brought before the House
of Commons in the course of a comparatively short time, we
earnestly desire a candid explanation of your Lordship's
views and intentions respecting it.
"Allow us to add, that our inquiry has no reference to the
possible details of such a measure. It is not as a question of
finance, or unjust taxation, that we regard it. If it could be
shown that the Irish priests could, be endowed by means of
Crown lands, church leases, land-tax, or any other purely
Irish resources, that circumstance would not in the slightest
degree lessen our repugnance to the measure. Our oppo-
sition to it rests wholly on religious grounds, and would not
be in any degree affected by a variation in the financial
arrangements.
" Entertaining these views, and believing them to be par-
ticipated in by many of the electors of Middlesex, we request
at your Lordship's hands a statement of your views and in-
tentions with regard to this important subject.--I have the
honour to be, ray Lord, your Lordship's obedient and very-
humble servant, " HENRY HOARE.
" The Lord Robert Grosvenor, ace., ace."

" Moor Park, Jan. 23, 1847.

" Sir,—l beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the 21st, which should have had an earlier reply, had it been
delivered at my house in town before Friday evening, but as
left London in the afternoon of that day, it did not reach
me till this morning.
"Permit me, in the first place, to thank you for the cour-
teous terms in which you are good enough to put to me the
question it contains, an act which could not require the
smallest apology on your part. Though I have no difficulty
in replying to it, I regret being compelled to do so, because
I find myself under the necessity of avowing an opinion not
in unison with your own and that of those gentlemen in
whose name you speak.
"Having for so many years represented a constituency
identified in political feelings with the friends and supporters
of the late Mr. Byng, the vacancy caused by whose lamentd
death I am now called upon to fill, I thought it would not
be inconsistent with the respect which I entertain towards
them, to abstain from entering into a detail of opinions
which I conceived would be already known to
them ; and, in regard to the particular point upon
which you desire explanation, I might mention two
reasons for not having made it an exception to the rule :
first, because I concur with you in thinking that, after the
declarations of the Prime Minister, and also of the Irish Ro-
manist hierarchy, made only last year, it is very unlikely
that the subject will be brought forward at present ; and,
secondly (though I am far from expecting that every one
will be acquainted with the political acts o. so humble an
individual as myself), because I have, upon two occasions,
indicated with tolerable distinctness my views upon the point
at issue.
" The occasions to which I allude are, my votes upon the
motion of Lord Ellesmere, then Lord Francis Egerton, made,
I believe, in 1827, for the endowment of the Irish Romanist
clergy, and upon the additional grant to Maynooth College,
proposed at a recent period. I made no objection to the ad-
ditional grant, but voted with Mr. Ward, in order to record
my opinion, that the present Protestant Establishment in Ire-
land is more than commensurate with the requirements of
its members; in 1827 I voted with Lord Ellesmere. Now, I
do not attach any exaggerated merit to political consistency ;
one may be as obstinate in a failing as in a virtue, and
could I bring myself to the conviction that I had erred
in these votes, I trust I should at once confess it.
Having, however, attentively and seriously reconsidered
the subject, in its religious not less than its political aspect,
I am bound to declare, that—abstaining from any pledge as
to detail—holding myself at liberty, should I then have a
seat in Parliament, either to acquiesce in, or to oppose, upon
its own merits, any measure that may be laid before the
House having for its object the endowment of the Romish
clergy in Ireland. There msy be again, as there were be-
fore, propositions to that effect submitted to the Legislature,
at a time, and under circumstances, which will ensure my
concurrence.
" I must apologise for the length to which, owing to the
nature of the question you have put to me, I have been com-
pelled to extend my reply; but with one more observation I
will conclude, namely, to express a hope that in this, almost
ray first public communication with any considerable portion
of the electors of Middlesex, I have manifested a desire to
keep up a free intercourse with tl:em, and to give to whatever
question they shall think proper to address to me a candid,
straightforward, and respectful answer.
" I must again repeat my unfeigned regret, that I find
myself differing with yourself, and those friends in whose
name you write, upon an important subject; and I beg to
subscribe myself, with great deference, sir, your most obedient
and very humble servant, " ROBERT GROSVENOR.
"H. *Hoare, Esq., New. street, Spring-gardens."

LITERATURE.
HOOD'S OTVI ; or, LAUGHTER FROM YEAR
TO YEAR.
Happily for us there is no necessity for any
analytical examination of the contents of this cele-
brated volume ; we say happily, because were there
that necessity, we should find ourselves placed in a
bewildering dilemma;_ we should feel, at one and the
same moment, incited to enlarge upon it to the ex-
tent of many columns,and coinpelled,notwithstanding
that inclination to condense our observations in con-
sequence of the press of Parliamentary and miscel-
laneous intelligence. But, fortunately for us, there
is not merely no necessity for any lengthened criticism
of " Hood's Own," but such a criticism would be little
better than a wilful impertinence to the public. We
should just as readily attempt a critical dissection of
" Robinson Crusoe' " or "Tristram Shandy," or " The
Visit to the Other World," as we would of " Hood's
Own." One is about as much familiarised with the
popular mind as the other, and all of them are equally
associated with our pleasantest recollections. Why,
we should have ample matter for commentary upon
the profusion of illustrations scattered through the
letter-press—and such illustrations ! Forms and
faces as much in accordance with the pro-
portions of nature, as with the elementary
principles of art. Faces and figures little more
artistic in pencilling than the monstrous shapes pro-
duced by a child on its satchel. But brimming over
with the extravagantest drollery imaginable ! A
joke in every line—a witticism in every movement of
the pencil. Throughout the kingdom, these comical
engravings have, by one means or another, been cir-
culated in periodicals, in a variety of editions, in
broad-sheets, and so forth. 'They cannot be circu-
lated too much, for they have a morally medicinal
effect upon the mind of every spectator; they drive
away the nightmares of indigestion and the day-
mares (if we may so call them) of melancholy, and
whole swarms of blue devils and morbid phantassies ;
and they drive them away to the most hilarious of all
music—explosions of laughter! Such is the inevitable
effect of this, the most humourous work of one of
the most humourous beings that ever breathed.

MURRAY'S HOME and COLONIAL LIBRARY

No. AL.—Gatherings from Spain. Part 11. By Ri-
chard Ford.

As pleasant and good-humoured as its com-
mencement is the conclusion of this excellent sketch

of Peninsular society. Here and there Mr. Ford ex-
hibits a quaint formality that almost reduces his style
to the grotesque, but the principal portion of his nar-
rative is keen and sparkling. The philosophy with
which he scans the people of Spain in their present
degeneracy is sweet and homely. Without any os-
tentation of shrewdness, the sarcasm of Mr. Ford is

at times surprisingly penetrant. He looks at the
descendants of the Cid not through the jaundiced
medium of national prejudice, but with a calm, im-
partial gaze. When he is wandering through the
streets of their principal cities he doubtless bears
in recollection the age in which those same

forms the present number of the monthly volumes,
formerly published by Mr. Charles Knight, but now
published by Mr. Charles Cox, will prove an admi-
rable pioneer. Even to those few who are ignorant
of the French language, the little work translatei
from the original of Madame Blaz de Bury, (née
Stuart,) will be comprehensible and, we will under-
take to say, most charming. The smallest quotations
of wit, irony, sarcasm, retort, equivoque, and so
forth, from the exuberant drolleries of Moliere, are
given throughout with their English version. Every
paragraph in this composition of Madame de Bury
is stored with anecdotes or critical observations of a
piquant or delightful character.

KNIGHT'S WEEKLY VOLUME. No. CXI.
The Romance of TraveL Vol. 11. By Charles
MacFarlane.

We should feel disposed to utter a somewhat
lengthened commendation upon the oriental sketches
of Mr. MacFarlane, but that we deem such eulo-
giums to be altogether superfluous, from the popu-
larity already acquired by his writings. Like
Eothen, and Elliott Warburton, and Mrs. Romer, be
regards the East from two separate points of view—
first as a fervent worshipper of the physical creation,
and, secondly, as a shrewd contemplator of the
spiritual nature of the lands visited; he looks at one
moment to the peculiarities of the country which he
is traversing, at another he regards the society, the
habits, the customs, the disposition, the creed, and
the traditions of the multitudes by whom it is popu-
lated. Mr. MacFarlane has an eye for the pic-
turesque, and one capable of appreciating the beautiful,
whether of the moral or actual world.

PROGRESS OF THE NATION in its Various
Social and Economical Relations from the Beginning of
the Nineteenth Century. By G. A. PORTER, F.R.S.
A new edition.

The work, of which this is a new edition, has long
since been universally recognised as the authority on
all matters relating to the statistics of the British
Empire, and for years past it has been constantly ap-
pealed_ to as such in Parliament by men of all parties.
The statistics of the empire are, in this edition,
brought down to the close of the year 1847. In his
preface to this edition, Mr. Porter, to whose demon-
stration of the absurdity of the protective system, the
destruction of that system is .mainly owing, and to
whose record of facts, quite as much as to the " un-
adorned eloquence of Richard Cobden," the conver-
sion of Sir Robert Peel may be attributed, thus
speaks of the mighty victory of truth over fallacy
which is accomplished in the year 1846 :
"During the year in which these sheets have been
passing through the press, changes of the most momen-
tous character, affecting our commercial relations, have
been crowned with legislative sanction. The protective
system, which only a few years ago appeared to be
so interwoven with all our habits and interests that any
man who should venture to raise his voice against it,
was stigmatised as a visionary and a theorist, has sud-
denly yielded to the force of argument, and is abandoned
by every one having valid pretensions to guide the
opinions, or to govern the deCisions of the legislature.
"If this sudden change could have been foreseen, some
of the arguments might possibly have been spared, that
appear in the following pages, and that were levelled
against positions which, at the time, were by most per-
sons deemed impregnable, but which are now and for
ever given up as no longer tenable; for it is not to be
conceived that a victory so signal ever deep-rooted pre-
judices, and which has been gained by changing the
convictions of the great majority of those by whom they
were entertained, can ever be reversed, nor that circum-
stances can hereafter arise to call for a repetition of the
means by which that victory has been aehieved,"
is admirably said. We join with Mr. Porter in cele-
brating this signal victory over deep-rooted preju-
dices, and we entirely agree with him in opinion that
a victory so gained can never be reversed.

THE PARSEES ; OR FIRE-WOR-
SHIPPERS OF INDIA.
(From the " Camp and Barrack-Room.")
The supposition is natural to the mind of man in
whatever position he may be placed, that a Being
exists, superior to himself, who watches over and in-
fluences his destinies either for gocd or evil. While in
his rude and primitive state, he hesitates with what at
tributes and powers to clothe this mysterious one; he is
necessarily sensible that the sun is the source of light
and heat, and that summer, whose genial warmth gives
verdure to the earth, is the consequence of its protracted
appearance. On the other hand, as winter approaches,
he sees the flowers wither away, and the trees shorn of
their leaves; he feels the cold and storms of the season;
and therefore wishes for the return of that time of light
and beauty which presents so many pleasing objects to
his senses, and which alike enables him to provide for
present wants and future necessities. Thus sensible of
the great benefits resulting from the emanations of the
sun, it cannot be a matter of surprise that this glorious
luminary is associated in his mind with all that is good
and powerful; and that a feeling of gratitude is en-
gendered which gradually merges into adoration.
Hence, mankind, in almost every age and every coun-
try, in the absence of revealed religion, have wor-
shipped the sun and fire as its prototype, under different
features. In the new world the nations of the South
adored it, and hailed the Spaniards as its children, a
circumstance which considerably facilitated their con-
quest by the latter; and there is every reason to suppose
that the practice existed amongst them from a very re
mote period. Xi:cams, the light of life, was the fa-
vourite god of the Greeks, as well from his being
sovereign of the sun, as from other qualifications suited
to the inclinations of a polished people. The sacred
fire of the Romans, guarded and kept alive by the vestal
virgins, was never to be extinguished; such an occur-
rence being considered as portentous of dire calamity
to the empire. Anterior, however, to the era of
Latin supremacy, fire-worship was almost universal in
Persia, and had already been reduced to an established
form several hundred years before the birth of Christ.
Thus, if great antiquity of origin, as some say, stamps
to a certain extent the tenets of a creed with truth, that
of the Parsees has strong claims upon our belief.
Fire-worship is said by some writers to have been in-
troduced into Persia by Zoroaster or Zerdisht, an emi-
nent philosopher, whom they affirm to have flourished in
the sixth century before Christ. Others maintain that
fire-worship existed long before that period (having been
first instituted by another Zoroaster, a king of Bactria,
who is supposed to have lived some time before the
Trojan war, and who, like Pythagoras, admitted no
visible object of devotion except fire, which he considered
the most proper emblem of a supreme being), and that
Zerdisht only reduced the practice to systematic order.
The followers of Zoroaster aver that extraordinary
and miraculous occurrences preceded his birth, which
event took place under most unusual circumstances ;
while his life was like that of all other celebrated law-
givers, a tissue of marvels. For example, some of the
old Persian writers say that he was induced, from mo-
tives of wisdom and virtue, to lead a solitary life upon a
mountain, which he found one day in a flame of celestial
fire, out of which he came unharmed, having been en-
gaged on certain sacrifices to God, whom he declared bad
appeared to him. According to many of his followers,
Zoroaster did not die a natural death, but was taken up
into heaven.
The new, or revised doctrine, as it may have been, was
first taught by Zoroaster in the province of Aderbijan,
and spread rapidly from thence over the whole empire.
Gushtasp, who was then sovereign of Persia, is said to
have been converted by his son Isfundear, and to have
subsequently built temples in every part of his kingdom,
ordering at the same time 12,000 cow-herds to be finely
tanned, that the precepts of the prophet might be written
on them, and when this was done, carefully placing them
in a vault at Persepolis.
A war with Arjasp, King of Tartary, was the result of
this change of religion on the part of Gushtasp, which
was prosecuted with the exterminating fury of fanati-
cism during its continuance. Balkh, then the capital of
Persia, was taken and sacked, and all the priests and fol-
lowers of Zoroaster there put to the sword. The Tartars
likewise captured the sacred standard of Persia, the
apron of the blacksmith Kawap ; but in another engage-
ment, Isfundear totally defeated them, slew their king
Roweendeb, and re-captured the national banner.
Under the dynasties of the Seleucidm and Parthians,
the religion of Zoroaster was neglected, and conse-
quently became corrupted. Ardisher Babigan, how-
ever, a military adventurer, who rose from a low rank
to the sovereignty of Persia, and who assumed the title
of Shahon Shah, or king of kings, after overthrowing
Arduan or Artabanus, the last of the Parthian mo-
narchs, about the year 229 of the Christian era, re-
stored the religion of the Guebres to its primitive
purity.
From the reign of Ardisher Babigan, until that of
Chosroes, the contemporary of Justinian, a period of
about 300 years,t he doctrines of Zoroaster were main-
tained in their primeval purity, and continued to be
the established religion of the State. Mahomet new
appeared before the world; and while still little better
than an obsure adventurer, sent a formal requisition to
Chosroes, then in the zenith of his power, to renounce
the religion of his fathers; this he received with the
utmost contempt, tearing the letter of the prophet to
pieces; an act deemed sacrilegious b) the Mahometans,
and to which they ascribe all that monarch's subsequent
misfortunes. The next attempt to subvert the ancient
religion of Persia was made by the Caliph Omar, who
effected a passage across the Euphrates with a strong
body of Arabs, and although repulsed in several engage.
ments, at length won an important victory, which paved
the way for Mahometan ascendancy.
Yezdijiird 111., on his accession to the throne, found
his kingdom seriously threatened by the Arabs, and
immediately dispatched an envoy to their general, Saad,
to effect, if possible, an amicable adjustment with him
of mutual differences. Saad communicated with the
caliph, and a deputation was sent by the latter to the
Persian monarch, to whom the terms proposed were that
his people should become converts to the Moslem faith,upon
which no Arab should enter his territory without permis-
sion. If they did not choose to do this, they should pay
the taxes levied upon infidels ; and if both these condi •
Lion were refused, they might prepare for war. Yezdi
jiird rejected these proposals with disdain, and prepared
for hostilities.
In the first general engagement, the Persian monarch
i was defeated, and his army all but annihilated, the sit-
crod standard falling into the bands of the enemy. After
the battle Yezdijiird fled to Hulwar, with all the property
he could carry, and continued the war for a few years ;
but his defeat at Nahavund decided the fate of Persia ;
its monarch, a fugitive in his own dominions, dragged
out a miserable existence for ten years, when he was
murdered, and the religion of Zoroaster terminated in
Persia.
From the death of Yezdijiird, historians generally date
the era of the modern Guebres. Shortly after that oc-
currence, the persecutions of their fanatical conquerors
induced many of them to emigrate into Khorassan,where
they remained for about 100 years ; and some modern
travellers suppose that the Siaposh Kaffirs, or black clad
infidels, inhabiting a mountainous district near the Kama,
are the descendants of these refugees ; both from their
manners and customs, different from those of their
and the remains of pyrathrre to be
Affghan neighbours,
seen in their country. Certainly, from Khorassan a large
portion of the Guebres withdrew to the island of Ormuz,
in the Persian Gulf, where they staid for a period of
fifteen years ; when not finding it a residence suited to
their wishes, they sailed for India, and landed at Diu.
But on consulting their written oracles they ascer-
tained a protracted stay here would not be auspi-
cious ; and again embarking on board their ships, they
put to sea, and reached a fertile part of the coast of
Guzerat, after encountering a severe tempest, which
seriously damaged their fleet. The prince of this terri-
tory received them favourably; but as they were
numerous and well armed, he bound them to the ob-
servance of five conditions, ere he allowed them to land:
That they should explain the mystery of their faith, lay
aside their arms, and speak the language of the country,
that their women should appear unveiled, and that their
marriages, according to the customs of his people, should
be solemnised at night. As there was nothing in the
writings of the Guebres which forbade their acceptance
of these conditions, they gladly consented, and were per-
mitted to land.
The Indians, discovering something analogous be-
tween many of the strangers' principles and their own,
treated them kindly, and gave them land to build a town
on, which they called Sanjan; and shortly after, obtain-
ing another grant of land, they erected a fire temple, in
pursuance of a vow they had made should they escape
the tempest which had assailed them. At this place
they remained together for about three centuries, when
they dispersed to Baroach, Surat, and other places
along the coast; and in the lapse of time Sanjan gradu-
ally became depopulated. They were, however, recalled
by. the Sovereign of Guzerat, on his being threatened
with invasion by the celebrated inconoclast Mahmood of
Ghuzni, in order to assist in the defence of his terri-
tory, when 1,400 of them were found capable of bear-
ing arms.
A large number of Guebres fell in an engagement
with the Affghans, and the survivors fled, leaving their
city to be pillaged; and carrying their sacred fire along
with them, they proceeded in quest of another settle-
ment. Thus they continued to wander from place to
place along the coast for several centuries, as though
they were never destined to obtain a permanent resi-
dence, until at last they found a secure asylum in Surat,
Bombay, and a few other places, where they are per-
mitted to enjoy the free and undisturbed exercise of their
religion.
Such of the Guebres as remained in Persia without
becoming proselytes to Mahometanism, were treated
with the greatest rigour, and their number gradually
decreased. At Yezed, however, distinguished by the
appellation of the Darub Abaduct, or seat of religion,
the Guebres are still permitted to have an Attush Kudu,
or fire-temple, in their own quarter of the town, which
they assert has had the sacred fire in it since the days of
Zoroaster. But for this indulgence they are indebted to
the avarice, not the tolerance, of the Government, which
levies on them a capitation tax of twenty-five
the
taunts and
abned-
sides leaving them without redress
atin: for
at the followers of a
despised faith. The religionthoefirthteesheetGs uheabvriensgdoheesconmoet
exist in its original purity ;
gradually mixed up with thoseotfthceaCsehirhislahndsiaa,ndwhMeare-
hommetans. The contrary
undisturbed, and he
they have practised their worshipis
pre-
served some of their religious books, in a peculiar cha-
racter, to the present time.
The Parsecs maintain t,ihat an orwiagtienra,l
fpirrein,cillpluer,nsannzad:
logous to eternity, created light,
rim an,
the author of evil -,
the source of all good, d
creation, for by it the formation of
speech preceding all e
beings and matter was effected. Hormuinzdd
is
n
t a
stati adoredn
for his beneficence, and Ariman held
for his malevolence. Their beliefwhotsheusva
closelyfarree
re trees-
;
sembles that of the Hinds ,
deities are Brahma, the creating power; Shiva the de
etroyisg; and Vishnu, the preserving. many of the

traditions of the Guebres relating to the early condition
of the world, like those of the Greeks and Latins, are
assimilated to Scripture truths, although barely dis-
cernible through the mists of fable which obscure them.
With respect to fire, the Guebres place its fountain
head in the sun, called by them Mithras, or Mihir, and
to which they pay the greatest reverence, as well in
gratitude for the various benefits resulting from its
ministerial omniscience, as from the belief that the
throne of the author of all good is placed in that lumi-
nary. But they do not confound the creature with the
creator. They view the sun simply as a passive instru-
ment, controlled by the power of the deity, and as pos-
sessed of no qualities of sense or reason; while at the
same time they only give it a secondary place among
the works of creation, the first being occupied by the
mind of man. According to their sacred books, the
holy fire should be found in every town and settlement;
and if necessitated to move, it should be carried with
them. The Guebres allege that the holy fire, Behram,
is the guardian of their abodes and destinies; that it is
the extract of 1,001 fires, taken from fifteen other fires;
and that it must always be preserved unextinguished in
absolute purity. Many sacrifices are performed before
it, either by priests in their temples, or by individuals
in private. In the temples the fire burns on a vase,
within a grating, which nune may approach but the
priests who keep it alive, and watch perpetually over it
day and night; the light of the sun, from its superior
brilliancy, being carefully excluded. Should any person
of another sect approach within the temple, the priests
consider themselves defiled, and have to undergo a cere•
mony of purification, during the course of which they
are suspended from the performance of their sacerdotal
duties. As to these priests, the Guebres hold them in
the greatest reverence, as has been the case in every
age ; and Gibbon, when speaking of their tenets, says—
"lf the destours, or priests, be satisfied, your soul will
escape hell's tortures ; you will have praise in this world
and happiness in the next ; for the destours are teachers
of religion, they know all things, and deliver all men."
Independent of their sacred fire, the Guebres have the
greatest veneration for that element in general, and when
mace kindled. they deem it sacrilege to extinguish it un-
less by a particular method. A candle must either burn
out to the end, or if they wish to save a portion of it, the
part next the wick is cut off, and being carried to the
hearth, is left to burn out. A light is blown out with
the wind of a fan or the hand, but never with the mouth,
for that would be impure ; and should their houses take
fire, they will not permit the flame to be extinguished by
water in the usual way, but pull down the surrounding
parts, that it may expire of itself when it has
nothing to feed upon ; their principle being to
let fire die away, witkout any endeavour on their
part to abbreviate its duration. They will allow no
person to meddle even with their shop-lights ; and
a European can scarcely insult them more grossly
than by attempting to light a cigar or pipe with them.
One of their traditions touching fire is very poetical ;
it says, that when a child of a great prophet was
thrown into a large fire by order of Nimrod, the flame
instantly turned into a bed of roses, where the infant
sweetly reposed.
The festival days of the Guebres are very numerous,
but their principal festival is celebrated on the last ten
days of the year, when they believe that the souls of
the just descend within three bow-shots of the earth.
They likewise carefully observe their birthdays, and
those of their children, towards whom their conduct is
affectionate and indulgent in the extreme. But in no
respect are these people more singular or distinct from
other sects than in the treatment of their dead. The
The corpse is placed in a round tower, or circular edi-
fice, open at the top, on a stone floor, elevated from the
ground, and sloping to the centre, where there is a deep
well or sink, into which the bones are gathered after
decomposition, by means of an iron rake, subterra-
neous passages beneath communicating with the sink
and preventing it from being filled up. Exposed to the
birds of prey in this way, the bodies of the dead pre-
sent a most revolting appearance. Yet the Parsecs,
from habit, look on with indifference, and even draw
omens of good or evil as regards the stase of the de-
parted spirit, from the eye which is first plucked out by
the hawk or vulture.

Marriage is a favourite condition among this people,
while sterility is, on the contrary, a reproach. Polygamy
is not allowed amongst them; yet if a man has no off-
spring by his wife, he may, with her consent, take an-
other, she still continuing to live with him. When a
young woman attains maturity, she may demand that
her parents provide a husband for her, and if they dis-
regard her request, it is considered a culpable negligence
on their part; but if she, on the other hand, declines
the married state, and dies a virgin at eighteen, her soul
is believed to descend to hell, where it remains until the
end of the world. The marriages of the wealthy are
celebrated with great pomp, and as I witnessed this cere-
mony while at Bombay, I will endeavour to describe it
to the reader.

Happening to proceed to Fort George on business, I
found the street it was necessary I should pass through
literally blocked up with carriages, palanqueens, and
people, and on inquiring the cause of this unusual con-
course, I learned that a Parsee marriage was about to be
celebrated. The wedding guests or friends of the par-
ties, to the number of about 500, were seated on forms
placed at each side of the street, in front of the bride-
groom's house, and these, clad in their costume of spot-
less white and singular hats, all exactly alike, presented
a strikingly characteristic and unique appearance. Pre-
sently the bridegroom, a boy of about fourteen years of
age, descended the steps leading from the door of his
house to the street, his dress being completely covered
over with gold leaf, and mounting a horse richly
caparisoned, and having long garlands of flowers trailing
from his trappings, one of his relations took an egg and
cocoa-nut, as the emblems of plenty, from a basket filled
with them, and after holding these above his head for a
moment, dashed them against the ground, when the pro-
cession already marshalled moved onwards.
First came several carriages filled with children, from
three to eight years of age, their little caps closely fitted
to the head, glistening with ornaments of gold, and in
many instances with precious stones, the rest of their
dresses being formed of the richest stuffs. After the
carriages were borne palanqueens filled with the chil-
dren of such as had no equipages. Next in the procession
came several boys and girls on horseback, the former
dressed like English generals and staff officers, and the
latter like English women, their horses being led by
servants. A sepoy band in full uniform succeeded to
these, which endeavoured to make as much noise as pos-
sible; being immediately followed by the wedding
guests en masse, another sepoy band coming after them.
Behind the band came between twenty and thirty low
caste Hindoos, who exhibited a mock fight with short
sticks, and after these were a crowd of native musi-
cians, the noise of whose tom-toms, brass trumpets,
six or eight feet long, &c., 84c., was absolutely deafen-
ing. The bridegroom now appeared, his horse led by
his nearest relative, while several servants fanned him.
He held a folded handkerchief in his hand, which he
every moment pressed gracefully to his forehead as he
salaamed the numerous spectators ranged along the
streets. Ile was followed by about a hundred women,
one of whom carried a silver lotah and a representation
of a sugar-loaf in a line with her shoulder, as emble-
matic of the commencement of housekeeping. These
were simply, yet richly dressed in a gown and spencer,
with large shawls of the choicest fabric thrown over
their heads, which fell in loose and graceful folds around
them, exhibiting to the best advantage their deep
borders of gold and silver lace: their atockingless feet,
in many instances beautifully white, were encased in
tiny kid slippers, peaked and turned up at the toes.
Although the Parsee women are not, generally speak-
ing, handsome, some of these, despite features of an
olive cast, were so, and possessed those large melting
eves peculiar to Orientals, while their pencilled brows
and glossy hair were both as dark as the wing of the
raven.

The women closed the procession, which proceeded
through various streets of the fort, returning at length
to where it had started from ; that quarter being now
lit up by innumerable small lamps, disposed in clusters,
which produced a brilliant effect.
The Parsees of Bombay number most probably between
ten and eleven thousand, and although it may be styled
their head-quarters, a much larger portion of them are
scattered through the various towns along the coast, so
that on the whole the amount of this people in India
cannot be much short of thirty-five or forty thousand.
Many of them are very wealthy, and may be classed
among the princely merchants of the earth ; and taking
them altogether, they are an industrious, enterprising
people, among whom the extreme of individual poverty
is unknown, as the rich invariably assist the poorer
when required. They may be said to monopolise the
trade of Western India, displaying in commerce the
energy and acuteness of the British merchant, along with
the craft and latent duplicity characteristic of Asiatics
in general. The Parsees of Bombay have branch es-
tablishments in all the principal towns and military
stations of the presidency, and in Lower and Upper
Scinde ; while their vessels trade to the several ports in
the East and to England. In many instances, they
have become extensive landholders by purchase, and
their country seats are mostly elegantly fitted up in the
English fashion, whom they love to copy in everything,
with the exception of religion and dress. Their equi-
pages are the most beautiful in Bombay; they use Eng-
lish saddles, and are good horsemen; and continuing
the analogy, like many of our countrymen they will
stop at nothing to acquire money, and have their
prodigals to squander it again. Like the generality of
Asiatics they are sensualists in their pleasures, and
lascivious in their conversation, and many of them keep
European mistresses. They resemble the Irish for
sociability of manners, and have houses in the country,
the property of the whole fraternity, where they as-
semble for convivial purposes. On these occasions the
boa vivants frequently quarrel in their cups; generally,
however, at an advanced period of the night, when rows
ensue which would rival those of Ireland.
In all the Government and public offices, Parsecs will
be met with, either in posts of trust, or as clerks. duties
which are ever fulfilled with honesty and ability; in-
deed, as a people, they justly merit the indulgent light
in which they are looked upon by the authorities of the
Presidency, being equally susceptible of polish and re-
finement with the European, although closely wedded
to their ancient mode of dress and to their religion. A
Parsee convert to Christianity is among the phenomena
of the East.

THE LATE FLEET PRISON.—It appears from the
report of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, just pub-
lished as a Parliamentary blue book, that nine tenders were
made for the purchase of the Fleet Prison, in sums varrying
from 8,200/. to 18,000/. As, however, the highest of the
offers was considerably below the minimum price which, by
the advice of their architects, the Commissioners had been
advised, previously to opening the tenders, to accept, viz.,
25.000/, they were all declined. Subsequently the Corpora-
tion of London treated for the purchase of the property, with
the view of converting it into a house of correction in lieu of
Giltapur• street Compter, and the Commissioners asked the
sum of 25,000/. The City offered 22,800/., as its full value,
which was refused, and the suns of 25,000/. was agreed to be
paid on a conveyance of the freehold to the City; to be paid
free and clear of aud from the enema of the conveyance.