Tae poetry of Lord Byron flung a romantic glamour over the life of the Hareem. The beautiful captives lan-gushing in splendid prisons were very attractive to the imagination, but now that the veil has been withdrawn and we see the actual state of affairs, we find that the Medoras and Zuleikas and Lulus probably led very prosaic lives; and that the zenanas, instead of being the abodes of bliss that the poot imagined, were exceedingly dull and commonplace. Still they have been prodigiously expensive. They are gulfs which seem impossible to fill up. The reckless and absurd waste of the zenana has brought Tarkey to rain, and unless the policy of retrenchment which has been begun is boldly carried out, there is very little hope for the regeneration of the Ottoman Empire. The history of China presents many parallel instances to those where the pernicious influence which has dragged Sultan after Sultan to ruin, has spoiled. promising careers, The story of Shunte, the last of the eight Mongol Emperors, is a case in point, The kingdom waa in a most disastrous condition, but Shunte took no heed to rumours of revolt or murmurs of discontent. The legendary account of the portents thas preceded his fall are worthy of attention, They closely resemble the visions and portents in the Book of Daniel. The Emperor has been warned by fearless counsellor, but has thrust aside his advice and betoken himself to the solace of his hareem—shutting himself up to avoid hearing the complaints or the prayers of his subjects. Then he dreams a dream. Ho imagines that ants and wasps fill the room. He orders them to be cleared; but a man in purple robes, bearing on his left shoulder the sign of the sun and on his right the sign of the moon, appears and sweeps the whole clear, The Emperor asked who the intruder was; he drew a sharp sword and made for the Emperor. Shunte awoke in alarm; a sudden crash startled "him afresh; and a servant brought nows that a wing of the palace had fallen in, and that under it a deep cavern, from whence ascended black vapour, was to be soon. A criminal sentenced to death was let down, and brought up a stone tablet with an inscription in mysterious characters. It was the Mone, Mone, Tekel, Upharsin," of the Mongol dynasty; on it was written a to the effect that there was a cloud rising if the south-east, and that the expulsion of the Mongols was ethand, Even then, however, if the Emperor had displayed vigour, there would have nce; but he retired to his zenana again, and tried to drown the memory of the warning in debauchery. And, as in Turkey today, so in "sina, the bar com rained the Sovereiga—and the dynasty. The sequel to the story, if we had time and space to give it at length, would include the rise of the able and adventurous Hung-woo, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. But in the scrap of Chinese History to which we have adverted, two points are noticeable: 1st, the strange similarity between Chinese and Assyrian history, in the prominence of the supernatural element gathering around and probably accelerating a great national crisis; 2nd, the power for evil exercised through long centuries by the harem. These may be regarded as only part and parcel of Enstorn life; but we are apt to regard the Chinese as in some sort distinct from and different to other Orientals, where na much is to be learned by observing
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.