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small shot.
ut Two days and nights passed, and it was disco-
: yered on the third that the doorkeeper was waiting
iy to ascertain whether the spectre was a saint or a
ji devil, and was therefore resolved to question him
: on the ensuing night before he fired.
: .. The night came, and it was one of unusual dark-
J . ness, The family sat up until near midnight, talk-
: : ing over the subject, and speculating upon the cause,
_ when they were startled by a tremenduous discharge,
which was succeeded by the dee
the door-keeper, exclaiming ;
+ © There he lies, the accursed!” : .
This was followed by a sound as of a creature
struggling and gasping for breath. In the next
moment the man loudly called his fellow servant:
‘« Come up—the accursed is struck down by me.”
This was again followed by such mysterious
sounds that the family believed either a man had
_ been shot, and was in his last agonies, or that. the
door-keeper had accidently shot himself.
Mr. Lane went round the gallery, while the rest
of the family stood trembling, hand in hand, at the
door of the apartment. It appeared that the man
had used not only ball-cartridge, but put two
charges of powder, with two balls, into his pistol.
We will describe this event, however, in his own
words:
i house, or will you do so?
{
'
- namely, May your faces: be blackened.” _Fre-
quently the door of the room in which the family
/ was sitting late in the evening was violently knocked
at many short intervals; at other times it seemed
as if something very heavy fell upon the pavement
. close under one of the windows of the same room,
or one adjoining; and as these rooms were at the
top of the house, it was imagined at first that some
stones or other things had been thrown by a neigh-
bor, but nothing was ever found outside after the
-. noises. . The usual noises continued during the
greater part of the night, and were frequently like a
heavy trampling, as of the walking of a person in respec
’ * large clogs, varied by knocking at the doors of many} ing the late Pacha. - We learned the following in-
of the apartments, and at the large water-jars which | stance of his tolerance :
filled recesses in the galleries.
. During Ramadan (the month o
the well in the court, ard, having drawn up water,
performed his ablutions, and said his prayers. A
_ few days after, the doorkeeper (a new servant) com-
plained that he not only could not sleep, but that
he had never slept since his arrival more than a few
“minutes at a time, and that he never could sleep
consistently with his duty, unless the efreet should
be destroyed. He added, that he went up every
night into the upper gallery leading to the sleeping-
rooms, and there he found the figure we have men-
tioned walking round and round the gallery; and
concluded with an anxious request that Mr. Lane
would consent to his firing at the phantom, saying
that devils have always been destroyed by the dis-
ao charge of fire-arms. Mr. Lane cogsented to the
os { proposal, provided the servant used neither ball nor
«The efreet passed me in the gallery, and repassed
me, when I thus addressed it :—‘ Shall we quit this
*You shall do it,’ he
~. answered, and passing me again he threw dust into
my right eye. This proved he wasa devil,” con-
4 tinued the man, “and I wrapped my cloak around me,
and watched the spectre as it receded. It stopped
in that eorner, and I observed attentively its appear-
! ance, It was tall and perfectly white. I stooped
: and before it moved again discharged my pistol,
which [ had before concealed, and the accursed was
struck down before me, and here are the remains.”
o So saying he picked upa small burnt mass, resem-
: bling more the sole of a shoe than any thing else,
4 but perforated by fire in several places, and literally
: burnt toacinder. This the man asserted (agreeably
with a popular opinion) was always the relic when
a devil was destroyed, and it lay on the ground
under a part of the wall where the bullets had
entered. The noise which succeded the report, and
which filled all the family with horror, is, and we
suppose must ever remain a mystery. On the fol-
lowing morning the spot was closely examined, but
nothing was found that could throw light upon the
subject. : . oF
The only conclusion that Mr. Lane could arrive
at respecting these circumstances was, that one or
more wicked persons liked the house so well that
they resolved to gain possession, and to eject by dint
of sundry ncises and other arnoyances any persons
who desired its occupation. Te felt persuaded that
the party who personated the evil one suffered some
seyere injury when the balls were fired, and that the
darkness favored his escape. oS
Many anecdotes are still current at Cairo respect-
-A French baker established
himself in the «City of Victory,’ as some are
f abstinence, tak-| pleased to call the metropolis of Egypt. He soon
ing up part of our months of October and Novem-| made such gad invasions on the trade of the Cairone
: ber) the Moslems believe that efreets are imprisoned,
and then the annoyances cease.
One evening in December, a maid who had passed | any true believer should eat bread prepared by his
- only two days in the house, rushed into the sitting-
room, whence she had just removed supper, ex-
claiming that a tall figure in white had stood with
arms outspread at the entrance of the upper gallery
to prevent her passing. ‘The whole family immedi-
ately returned with her, but nothing was found.
This white figure the servants called a saint, and| directly ordered a cake of the Frenchman’s' bread
they ascertained that the house was now haunted by|to.be brought him; one fresh-and crisp from the
a saint and an efreet. One man assured Mr. Lane| oven was quickly conveyed into his excelleney’s
that this same saint, who was of « dazzling white-
ness,” applied himself one night to the bucket of] dismissed the complaint, ordering, at the same time,
bakers, that they exclaimed loudly against the infi-
del, cursed him by their beards, and wondered that
hands, ‘ At last they went in a body to the Pacha,
and complained that they were loosing their custom
tapidly; that, in spite of all their remonstrances,
the people of the city persisted in eating the Giaour’s
bread, imagining that it was so much better than
their own. . The pacha heard the complaint, and
hand. He ate it up with considerable gout, and
. FRANK’ LESLIE'S: NEW YORK. JOURNAL.
tar battlements, Gothic armory, Grecian columns,
the ster, the Crescent, and the Cross. Below, the
stream of the Moskva winds its course amidst the
streets and houses of the town, interspersed with
glittering steeples; cottages, gardens, and palaces
being intermixed, and offering to view the endless
yariety of a Russian city. © ° ‘
- The origin of Moscow is inyolved in some obseu-
rity, but it is supposed to have been built about the
middle of the twelfth century. It derives its name
from the river whieh flows by the Kremlin. Its
history presents a singular series of disasters. ‘It
seems to have been subject to periodical visitations
from the sword, fire, and pestilence. Its first ene-
emies were the Tartars, who burnt it repeatedly ;
then, at least once a century, it was visited: by the
plague, succeeded by a conflagration ; the Poles set
it on fire several times; but the invasion of Russia
by the French, in 1812, followed by their occupation
of Moscow, the burning of the city, avd their con-
sequent disastrous retreat, have connected its histury
with some of the most momentous and influential
events in the progress of modern Europe. :
Few of our readers but are acquainted with that
extraordinary event—the voluntary destruction of
Moscow, in order to insure the certain rnin of ‘the
finest army that was ever led to battle by the first
general and the ablest man ever intrusted with the
destinies of a people or a time.’ The French took
possession of the Kremlin on the 14th of Septem-
ber, and before night Napoleon himself arrived at
the gates of Smolensko, ‘* where he waited, expect-
that none but the. Frenchman’s bread should in
future be served at his table, ° . :
The only piece of useless cruelty that Mehemet
Ali is known to have committed was on a young
Frenchman, many years since.. The Frenchman
was a merchant at Cairo, and, on his way to Alex-
andria, had either been insulted or assailed by a
Turk, so wantonly, that, in self-defence, he shot
him. On his arrival, he was arrested and kept in
close confinement by the Turkish authorities, and
the consul at the capital immediately interfered in
his behalf. The pacha knew that he could not re-
fuse to yield to this interference, for he had a great
regard for Drouette; but he set off instantly, and
travelled with the utmost expedition, arriving at
Alexandria in the night, for. he was exasperated at
the violence committed on one of his subjects.’ He
commanded this unfortunate European to be brought
into his presence, and had him instantly beheaded.
He then returned to his capital with the same speed,
when every expostulation and menace came too late,
——.—_
The Kremlin at Moscow.
Ws beg to present to our readers a view of. pro-
bably the finest royal palace-in the world—the
p hoarse voice of] Kremlin, Moscow, .
The city has been called Tartarian Rome—for it is
a mixture of the grand and the squallid. . Wretched
hovels are blended with large palaces—cottages of
one story stand next to the most superb and stately
buildings—many brick structures are covered with
wooden tops— some of the wooden houses are
painted, others have iron doors and roofs. In fact,
Moscow may be considered as a town built upon the
Asiatic model, exhibiting, even after its renovation
subsequent to the great fire, a motley mixture of
discordant styles of architecture. The Kremlin,
which strictly means fortress, is a large walled cir-
ele, containing many old churches, as well as the
public offices and apartments of state; and hither
almost every traveller wends his way first. Our
view shows the terrace which overhangs the walls
towards the River Moskva, at the extremity of
which, to the left, is a curious structure of the
Trinity Church, and the awe-inspiring portals of
the Holy Gate, through which every passenger
walks bgye-headed. At the other end, a cluster of
domes rises-from the church of St. Nicholas, that
of the Assumption, and the chapel and palace of
the Czars, with the lofty temple of Ivan Veliki,
which towers far above them, and reflects the beams
| of the sun from a globe of gold. - The palace of the
Czars does not boast of an antiquity of more than
two hundred years, but it is an edifice raised with
princely costliness, and much artistic taste,
It is one of the most showy examples of the
gorgeous architecture of the Kremlin; the entire
circle presents an assemblage of bright, dazzling
colors, and a display of richness that calls to mind
the wealth of Ormuz and of Ind. The cupolas and
roofs are gilt, or stained green or red, the walls and
towers covered with glazed tiles of blue and white
and yellow; in other parts adorned with storied
paintings from: Holy Writ; while on every side
(may be scen a melange of pear-shaped domes, Tar-;
__—__—_
ing a deputation from the municipality, as he had
been wont, whenever he entered any captured town
—but none came.” .: On sending to inquire the
reason, he was told Moscow was deserted. What a
chill must have fallen on his soul at the announce-
ment. : He sent one of his generals to make further
search and inquiries. «+ Not a Muscovite was to be
seen, not the least smoke rose from a single chim-
ney, not the slightest noise issued from this im-
mense and populous city; its three hundred thou-
sand inhabitants seemed to be struck ‘dumb and
motionless by enchantment. It was the silence of
the desert.” : . toe
Napoleon's star waned from that time. In the
course of the night the fire broke out, and speedily
21,000 buildings were in ashes. Napoleon was
paralysed; he wasted time in atiempting to nego-
ciate, and it was not until the 19th of October that
he quitted Moscow, leaving orders to blow up the
Kremlin—which, however, in the hurry of depar-
ture, were only partially obeyed. . ‘
The retreat was the most dreadful on record; and
although we have not had a touch of the Napoleon
fever, we can fervently regret the loss of the magni-
ficent army which the- Emperor led into Russia.
Russians were invariably beaten whenever they
showed fight, but King Frost and Queen Snow
were irresistible. Before their breath the finest ;
troops that ever marched to battle melted, as did the .
ho-t of Sennacherib, on that fatal night when the
Israelites were fearfully avenged. : roa
Napoleon's celebrated exclamation when he arrived
at Warsaw, after he had deserted his army, “There
is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous!’
was a heartless but fitting comment on the last
scene of the horrors of his unnecessary and unskil-
fully conducted Russian campaign. Wad he con-
quered the Russians and battled the weather, his
triumph could not haye resulted in any solid advan-
tage to France—for, he could only have levied a tri-
bute, or, perhaps, have patched up the kingdom of
Poland again. Wad he not gone to Russia at all,
but marched straight to Coustantinople, the aspect
of the worgl would have been very different to
what it isnow. Russia would have’ been’a third-
rate instead of a first-rate power, and neither Eng-
.
land nor France would have been under the necessity, ~
as they are now, of watching her movements with a
nervous anxiety, not unmingled with dread. But
it was not to beso. Destiny drew the great Em-
peror to Moscow, and there it folded him in a man-
tle of snow; and he hurried back to Paris alone,
shivering, and humbled.
Moscow will ever be associated with his downfall;
and although it is unlikely it will ever again be the
capital of Russia, or regain its former importance,
its name will go down through untold ages, as in-
separably linked with the fate of, as Byron desig-
nated him: : .
Tho greatest, nor the worst of men,
ee
‘Tue most benevolent. intentions, and the most
beneficent actions, often lose a great part of their
merit, if they are void of delicacy, :
Ir, is surely very narrow policy that supposes
money to be the chief good. y pp