served up in the most costly vessels; and the choicest wines sparkled in golden cups. The fortunate youth believed himself really in the Paradise of the prophet, and the language of his attendants confirmed the delusion. When he had had his fill of enjoyment, and nature was yielding to exhaustion, the opiate was again administered, and the sleeper transported back to the side of the chief, to whom he communicated what had passed, and who assured him of the truth and reality of all he had experienced, telling him such was the bliss reserved for the obedient servants of the Imaum, and enjoining at the same time the strictest secrecy. Ever after the rapturous vision possessed the imagination of the deluded enthusiast, and he panted for the hour when death, received in obeying the commands of his supe rior, should dismiss him to the bowers of Paradise. Can it be possible that all this is true; or is it purely the invention of the orthodox to throw odium on the sect?

sions of eternal bliss.* It is not undeserving of remark that the two powers that waged war simultaneously against Islam, the Christians of the West, and the Assassins of the East, were both stimulated by their spiritual heads with the same motives. Those who fell in the crusade were pronounced by the Pope to be martyrs, and entitled to the kingdom of Heaven; and to the Fedavee who fell in executing the mandates of his superior, the gates of Paradise unfolded, and he entered into the enjoy ment of the ivory palace, the silken robe, and the black-eyed houries. This known quality of the human mind might suffice to account for the blind devotion and the contempt of life of the Ismailite Fedavee; but Marco Polo, whose fidelity and veracity, like those of Herodotus, become every day more apparent, as we become better acquainted with the history and manners of the East, gives a particular description of the mode in which the Ismailite chief instilled into the minds of those whom he deemed fit subjects, the longing after the joys of Para- We will observe en passant, that we have dise, and the disregard of earthly existence. here, according to De Sacy, the true origin of As Marco Polo's narrative is confirmed by ori- the name Assassin. Hyde derived it from ental writers, M. Von Hammer is disposed to Hassa, to kill; others from the Jewish Essenes; regard it as true in the main circumstances; the prevailing derivation, which is even the one but De Sacy and Wilken seem inclined to sup-given by Sir John Malcolm, is from Hassan the pose that the description applies to the visions excited in the mind of the votary by the intoxicating draught which he had swallowed, and not to any scenes of reality.

According to the Venetian traveller and the Arabian author of the "Sireh Hakem-biemrillah," there was at Alamoot, and also at Masiat in Syria, a delicious garden, encompassed with lofty walls, adorned with trees and flowers of every kind-with murmuring brooks and translucent lakes-with bowers of roses and trellices of the vine-airy halls and splendid kiosks, furnished with the carpets of Persia and the silks of Byzantium. Beautiful maidens and blooming boys were the inhabitants of this delicious spot, which ever resounded with the inelody of birds, the murmur of streams, and the ravishing tones of voices and instrumentsall respired contentment and pleasure. When the chief had noticed any youth to be distinguished for strength and resolution, he invited him to a banquet, where he placed him beside himself, conversed with him on the happiness reserved for the faithful, and contrived to administer to him an intoxicating draught prepared from the hyoscyamus. While insensible, he was conveyed into the garden of delight, and there awakened by the application of vinegar. On opening his eyes all Paradise met his view; the black-eyed and green-robed houries surrounded him, obedient to his wishes: sweet music filled his ears; the richest viands were

* A follower of the modern Wahabee, who a few years ago stabbed an Arabian chief, near Bassora, not only refused to save his life, but anxiously courted death, grasping in his hand a paper, which he seemed to prize far beyond his existence. This, when examined, proved to be an order from the Wahabee chief for an emerald palace and a number of beautiful female slaves, in the delightful regions of eternal bliss.-Sir John Malcolm, from a Persian MS.

first chief; but M. de Sacy thinks that Lemoine was near the truth when he deduced it from a word signifying herbage, and consequently gardens; the word Hashish, which signifies the bang or opiate of hemp-leaves, is, according to M. de Sacy, whose opinion is adopted by Hammer, the true root, and they obtained their appellation from the use they made of the opiate prepared from that plant.

Let us now take a view of the society as constituted by Hassan Sabah. The mystic number seven appeared every where. They acknowledged seven Imaums; the degrees were seven, viz. the Sheikh, the Dai-al-kebir, or chief of the Dais, the Dai, the Refeek, the Fedavee, the Laseek, or aspirants, and the Profane, or the common people. For the use of the Dais, Hassan drew up a particular rule consisting of seven heads, which our author regards as the proper breviary of the Order. The first head, called Ashinai-risk, or knowledge of their calling, contained the maxims of the requisite knowledge of human nature for the selection of fit subjects for initiation, and to this belonged the numerous proverbs and dark sayings which were current among the Dais, as formerly among the Pythagoreans, and since among the Jesuits. The second rule, called Teënees, gaining of confidence, taught to gain the candidates by flattering their passions and inclinations. The third instructed to puzzle them by doubts and questions on the precepts of religion and the absurdities of the Koran. The fourth imposed the Ahd, the oath of silence and obedience; and the candidate swore most solemnly never to impart his doubts to any but his superior, and blindly to obey him in all things. The fifth rule, Tedlees, taught the candidates that their opinions coincided with those of the greatest men in church and state. This was done to entice them by the example of the great and powerful. The sixth, Tesees, merely went over again what had preceded, to con

firm and strengthen the pupil therein. The serenth and last, Teevil, the allegorical instructions, closed the course. This taught to seglect the plain sense, and seek an allegorical one in the Koran; and it formed the essence of the secret doctrine. Hence the Assassins were named Batenee, the internal. This system has frequently been applied to the Bible as well as to the Koran, and its powers in explaining away articles of faith and precepts of moral duty, and establishing the principle of every thing being permitted to the chosen, can easily be conceived. This higher knowledge was confined to a very few; the great majority of the members were straitly curbed by the positive precepts of

Islam.

Casveen, and divided the government between them, so that Aboo Ali should direct the external operations and the internal administration of the society; Keah should, as the proper chief, possess the highest spiritual power and guidance of the Order. Sir John Malcolm, it therefore appears, was wrong in stating that Keah Buzoorg Oomeid was the son of Hassan Sabah.

Keah Buzoorg trod in the footsteps of the founder of the Order. Hostilities were renewed between him and the Seljucides, and Alamoot fell for a time into the hands of Sultan Mahmood. But the power of the Order had struck root too deeply to be easily overthrown, and it speedily recovered from its temporary disasters. In Syria too, though vioThus constituted, the power of the Order lently opposed, it extended its influence. It began to display itself. By force or by treach- was at this period that the first connexion ocery, the castles or hill-forts of Persia fell one curred between the Assassins and the crusaders. after another into their hands. A bloody pe- Abool-Wefa, the Ismailite Dai-al-kebir, was riod ensued; the doctors of the law excommu- also Hakem or chief judge of Damascus, and nicated the adherents of Hassan, and the Sul- he entered into a treaty with Baldwin II. King tan, Melek Shah, directed his generals to re- of Jerusalem, by which he engaged to deliver duce their fortresses; the daggers of the As- on a Friday, when the Emir and his court were sassins were displayed against the swords of at prayer in the mosque, the gates of the city the orthodox, and the first victim to Hassan's into the hands of the Christians, on the condirevenge was the great and good Nizam-ul- tion of the city of Tyre being given to him as mulk, who fell by the dagger of a Fedavee. a reward. Baldwin's chief adviser in this comHis death was followed by that of his master, pact with the secret enemies of Islam was not without strong suspicion of poison. "The Hugo de Payens, the first Grand Master of the governments were arrayed in open enmity Templars, which order had now been estabagainst the Order, and heads fell like an abun-lished about ten years. M. Von Hammer dant harvest beneath the two-fold sickle of the dagger of assassination and the sword of justice."

Simultaneously with the Crusaders, the Assassins appeared in Syria, and by means of Riswan, Prince of Haleb, or Aleppo, acquired fortresses in that country. In Syria, as in Persia, they were persecuted and massacred; and there also the dagger amply avenged those who fell by the sword. In Persia, after a protracted contest, a dagger planted opportunely on the ground at Sultan Sanjer's head, reminded him of the danger of continued enmity, and peace was established between the Seljucide Sultan and the Sheikh of Alamoot. The Ismailites agreed on their part to add no more works to their forts, to purchase no arms or military machines, and to make no more proselytes; and the Sultan released them from all taxes in the district of Kirdkoo, and assigned them a portion of the revenues of the territory of Koomees as an annual pension.

traces a great, though perhaps in some points a fanciful resemblance, between the Asiatic and the European orders. The Templars were divided into Knights, Esquires, and Lay Brethren, which answer to the Refeek, Fedavee, and Laseck of the Assassins, as the Prior, Grand Prior, and Grand Master of the former correspond with the Dai, Dai-al-kebir, and Sheikh of the Mountain of the latter. As the Ismailite Refeek was clad in white, with a red mark of distinction, so the Knight of the Temple wore a white mantle adorned with the red cross; and the preceptories of the Templars in Europe corresponded to the castles of the Assassins in Asia; and as these last held a secret doctrine destructive of all religion, the accusations of their enemies, and the extorted confessions of their members, cast similar imputations on the Knights of the Temple. M. Von Hammer is so satisfied of the correspondence, that throughout his work he uses the terms Grand Master and Grand Prior as synonymous with Sheikh-al-jebel and Dai-alkebir.*

After a reign of five-and-thirty years, Hassan Sabah saw his power extended over a great portion of the Mohammedan world. Three grand missionaries (Dai-al-kebir) presided over the three provinces of Jebal, Cuhistan, and Syria; while from his chamber at Alamoot, (which apartment he left but twice during his Jong reign,) Hassan directed the operations of * M. de Sacy, though admitting the resemhis followers, and occupied his leisure in draw-blance between the Templars and the Assasing up rules and regulations for the Order. He died at a very great age, leaving no children; for he had put his two sons to death, one for the crime of murder, the other for the transgression of some trifling precept of the Koran. When he felt the approach of death, he summoned to Alamoot the Dai Keah Buzoorg Oomeid from Lamseer, and Aboo Ali from

The enterprise against Damascus failed; the prince of that city got timely information of the plot; the Vizier, the great friend and protector of the Assassins, was put to death; and

sins, does not think him sufficiently authorized in this transferrence of appellations. M. Von Hammer has embodied the accusations against the Templars in a long and curious dissertation inserted in the Mines de l'Orient, in which, according to the opinion of the same learned and judicious critic, he has allowed his imagination to lead him too far astray.

in an open place before the fort, and turned towards Mecca; and on the 17th of the month, when the people were all assembled, the Grand Master ascended the pulpit, and commenced his discourse, by raising doubts and confusion in the minds of his hearers. He informed them that a messenger had come, bearing to him a letter from the Imaum (the Egyptian Caliph), directed to all the Ismailites, by which the fundamental doctrines of the sect were renewed and strengthened. He declared to them, that by this letter the gates of favour and mercy were opened to all who should obey and hearken to him; that they were the true elect, released from all the obligations of the Law, and from the burden of commands and prohi

an indiscriminate massacre of these fanatics ordered, to which six thousand fell victims. The Christian army, on its march to Damascus, was assailed by a valiant band of the Damascene warriors, as well as overtaken by one of those awful storms of thunder, rain, and snow that at times occur in the regions of the East. Their superstitious minds ascribed this to the vengeance of heaven, justly incensed at their unhallowed union with treachery and murder, and they fled in dismay before their enemies. All that they acquired was the castle of Banias, the strongest hold at that time of the Assassins in Syria, which the governor, dreading to share the fate of his brethren in Damascus, delivered up to the Christians. This event occurred at the same time that Ala-bitions; and that he had now conducted them moot was gained by Mahmood, and the Ismailite power in Persia and in Syria was thus shaken to its foundation. But the hydra was not thus to be slain; the house of Seljuk was soon glad to agree to terms of peace; the Syrian fortresses were again recovered; in the reign of Keah Buzoorg the daggers of the Order were first imbued in the sacred blood of the successors of the Prophet; and a Caliph of Bagdad, and, notwithstanding his descent from Ismail, another of Cairo, were the vic

tims.

Keah Buzoorg departed from the maxims of the founder, and appointed his son Mohammed as his successor, perhaps with paternal partiality esteeming him the person best adapted to govern the Order. Mohammed was, however, weak and inefficient, but his son and successor, Hassan II., merits particular attention. Hassan was distinguished for his learning and talents, and the people, despising the weakness and incapacity of Mohammed, attached themselves to his son, who, during the lifetime of his father, countenanced the opinion which was spread abroad, that he was the Imaum promised by Hassan Sabah. The members of the Order attached themselves to him more and more every day, until at length Mohammed was roused from his apathy, and assembling the people, he declared publicly, "Hassan is my son. I am not the Imaum, but one of his missionaries. Whoever maintains the contrary is an infidel;" and in the true spirit of the Order he confirmed his words by instant action. Two hundred and fifty of Hassan's adherents were executed, and two hundred and fifty more expelled from the fortress; and it was only by publicly cursing, and writing treatises against the Illuminators, as he and his adherents were called, that Hassan escaped the vengeance of the incensed Grand Master. But when Hassan had succeeded to the supreme authority, he could not resist the vanity of becoming a teacher and Illuminator; forgetful of the prudent counsels of the founder to the initiated, to conceal under the mask of religious zeal the ambition and infidelity which were to be their secret guides, he, by his mad disclosures of the mysteries, justified the curses of the people, the excommunications of the church, and the death-warrants of kings against the Order.

In the month Ramazan, the Mohammedan Lent, Hassan convoked all the inhabitants of Roodbar to Alamoot. A pulpit was erected

to the Day of the Resurrection, that is, the Revelation of the Imaum. He then read the forged missive of the Imaum, which declared Hassan to be his Caliph, Dai and Hujet, or evidence, and enjoined all the followers of the Ismailite doctrine to yield obedience to him, in all points. The conclusion of it was, "They shall know that our Lord hath had compassion on them, and hath conducted them to the most High God." Hassan then descended from the pulpit, caused the tables to be spread, commanded the people to break their fast, and, with music and dancing, as on festival days, to abandon themselves to every species of enjoy. ment; for this, said he, this is the Day of the Resurrection. How similar are the workings of human nature, and how closely does this scene resemble the wild extravagances which have been occasionally acted by fanatics in the Christian world!

Hassan, the Illuminator, was, after a short reign, murdered by his brother-in-law and his son Mohammed, who succeeded him, and who rivalled him in knowledge, and in the open disregard of morality and religion.

At this period the history of the Assassins in Persia presents little to interest; but the Syrian branch was involved in friendship and enmity with the great Saladin, and the Christian sovereigns of Jerusalem. The life of the former was assailed more than once by their daggers, and but for the intercession of the prince of Hamar, he would have completely extirpated them. The Grand Prior engaged that no more attempts should be made on the life of the gallant Sultan, and he faithfully kept his engagement, for, during the remaining fifteen years of Saladin's reign, he was never approached by an Assassin. The name of this Grand Prior was Sinan, one of those personages who have at various times in the East, by an extraordinary appearance of austerity and devotion, gained, in the eyes of the credulous multitude, the reputation of divinity. He gave himself out to be an incarnation of the Deity; he wore no clothing but sackcloth; no one ever saw him eat, drink, or sleep; and from sunrise to sunset he preached, from the top of a lofty rock, to the assembled multitude, who listened to his words as to those of a God. But the popular idea of divinity is loose and unsettled; a lameness which Sinan had contracted by a

* This was precisely one of the heretical notions which St. Paul combated.

wound from a stone, in the great earthquake | of A. D. 1157, having proved him a mere mortal in the eyes of the multitude, they were on the point of conferring on him the glory of martyrdom, when he descended from his rock and invited them to eat; and such was the power of his eloquence that they unanimously swore obedience and fidelity to him, as their superior. His influence continued unimpaired during his life, and at the present day his writings are held in high veneration by the rem nant of the sect which still lingers in the mountains of Syria.

Von Hammer gives the following passage from the Arabic History of Jerusalem and Hebron, which he considers quite decisive on the subject. "The marquis went, on the 13th of the month Ribce-ul-ewal, to visit the bishop of Tyre. As he was going out, he was attacked by two Assassins, who slew him with their daggers. When taken and stretched on the rack, they confessed that they had been employed by the king of England. They died under the torture." He adds that the same work contains instances of treachery and perfidy of Richard, which stain his character, and confirm the charge of his participation in this murder. We think that Mr. Von Hammer is not justified in making so strong an assertion. We have looked over the extracts from that work, given by himself, in the Funegraben des Orients, (Mines de l'Orient,) where it is to be supposed he would omit nothing of the kind, and we could find nothing but an accusation of having put some Moslem prisoners to death, and a passionate assertion of the zealous Mussulman writer, that nothing could be settled with Richard, "because he always broke off what he had arranged, by continually retracting what he had said. May God curse him." Mr. Von Hammer, too, seems forgetful of the other and most probably the real cause of the enmity of the duke of Austria to Richard, when he regards the assassination of the marquis Conrad, who was a kinsman of Leopold, as the cause of the arrest and imprisonment of the king of England, and thus endeavours to remove the stigma which has hitherto adhered to the character of the Austrian duke. But our author, be it recollected, is a subject of Austria, and may, therefore, be desirous of vindicating the fame of that house; in our eyes, even were Richard guilty, Leopold was treacherous and unmanly.

Sinan had read the books of the Christians, as well as those of his own religion; and whether from conviction or (what is much more probable) from a wish for peace and exemption from tribute, he sent an ambassador to Almeric, king of Jerusalem, offering, in his own name and that of his people, to submit to baptism, if the Templars, their near neighbours, would remit the annual tribute of two thousand ducats, which they had imposed on them, and live with them hereafter in peace and brotherly concord. The king received the embassy with joy, agreed to all the conditions, offered to reimburse the Templars from his treasury, and after detaining the envoys a few days, dismissed them with guides and an escort to their own borders. But as they approached their castles, they were assaulted by an ambush of the Templars, led by Walter of Dumesnil, and the ambassador was murdered. The king, incensed at this treacherous and cruel deed, assembled the princes, and, by their advice, sent two of their number to demand satisfaction from the Grand Master, Odo de St. Amando. But the haughty and impious priest replied that he had already imposed penance on brother Dumesnil, and would send him to the Holy Father, by whom it was forbidden to lay violent hands on him, and more to the same effect. The Cœur de Lion, unfortunately, cannot be fully king, however, had the murderer dragged from acquitted. The defence set up for him by his the habitation of the Templars, and thrown zealous subjects only tends to confirm his guilt into prison at Tyre; and the perfidious Grand in the eyes of posterity. Nicholas de Treveth, Master, having been taken by Saladin in the and Brompton have, indeed, given letters said battle of Sidon, the loss of which was laid to to be written by the Old Man of the Mountain his charge, died the same year, unlamented, in to the duke of Austria, and to the princes and a dungeon. The king was justified in the people of Christendom, in exculpation of Richeyes of Sinan, but all hopes of the conversion ard; but modern writers have, almost without of the Assassins were at an end, and the dag- exception, concurred in regarding them as forger, after a truce of forty-two years, was again geries. In these the Chief of the Assassins brandished against the crusaders. Its most il-warmly undertakes the defence of Richard, and lustrious victim was Conrad, marquis of Montferrat; and as both oriental and occidental writers agree in laying the guilt of it on Richard Cœur de Lion, we shall examine the evidence with some attention.

Conrad, marquis of Tyre and Montferrat, was attacked and murdered, in the marketplace of Tyre, by two of the Assassins. On this point all writers are agreed; but who the real author and promoter of the murder was, is still contested. At the time, both Christians and Mahomedans joined in imputing it to Richard, king of England, who was known to be on ill terms with the marquis. Albericus Trium Fontium says expressly that the murderers were hired by that prince. Bohadin, the Arabic biographer of Saladin, says that the Assassins, when tortured, confessed they had been employed by the English king; and Mr. Museum-VOL. XIII.

asserts that the marquis was slain by his direction, because some of his people, who had been shipwrecked near Tyre, had been robbed and murdered; and when he sent to demand satisfaction of the marquis, the latter threatened to throw the messengers into the sea; that he had therefore determined on immolating the marquis, and had his decree executed by two brethren, in the view of the people. Against these documents it is objected by Mr. Von Hammer, that the one commences with swearing by the Law, at the very time that the Assassins openly trod the Law under foot, and is dated by the era of the Seleucide, when the Assassins had commenced a new era, that of the removal of the Law by Hassan the Illuminator; that the superscriptions are contrary to the oriental mode; and that it is incredible the Chief of the Assassins would draw on himself No. 71.-B

10

the vengeance of the Christians for the sake of
a monarch of whom he had no knowledge. Yet
we see not but that some defence might still
be set up for this "absurd and palpable for-
gery," as it is called by Gibbon. Sinan was
the Syrian Grand Prior, and he was not the
The
contemner of the Law that Hassan was.
æra of the Seleucida was the one in common
use in Syria, and therefore it is more probable
he would use that than one only known to the
Assassins themselves; Sinan might, like Sala-
din, have felt an esteem for the chivalrous
king of England, and have written the letter
at his request; and as for the vengeance of the
Christian princes, the Order had, on more oc
casions than one, shown how little they re-
garded it. The objection to the superscription
is, however, hardly to be got over. The Dai-
el-kebir of Syria would scarcely style himself
Sheikh-el-jebel, of which the Latin Vetus de
Monte is a fair translation. Yet a translator
might have taken upon him to substitute the
title best known in Europe. At all events, the
weakness of the defence set up by an injudi-
cious advocate does not necessarily infer the
guilt of the accused. There is also an oriental
witness, at least negatively, in favour of
Richard; the continuator of Tabari (see Mi-
chaud's Histoire des Croisades) says that the
murderers, when about to be executed, refused
to confess by whom they had been employed;
and, lastly, Mr. Falconet and others, with
whom we agree, argue, from the generosity
and magnanimity of the Plantagenet, the im-
possibility of his being concerned in a base and
treacherous assassination. Mr. Falconet is of
opinion that the true author of the murder was
Humphrey, lord of Thoron, 'the first husband
of Isabella, daughter of Almeric, and heiress of
the kingdom of Jerusalem, who, provoked at
the annulling of his marriage, and at seeing
his wife and the crown passing to Conrad, em-
ployed the Assassins to avenge him.

The reign of Jellal-ed-deen, the son of Mo-
hammed, was a period of repose for Asia. He
directed all his efforts to the restoration of re-
ligion and piety; sent circular letters, to that
effect, to the Caliph and Sultan, and other
princes; was dignified by the doctors of the
law, whom he succeeded in convincing of his
sincerity, with the appellation of New Mussul-
man; and obtained from the Caliph the title
of prince, which had never been conceded to
any of his predecessors. His harem made the
great pilgrimage to Mecca, and the Caliph
gave precedence to the banners of the pil-
grims from Alamoot over those of the mighty
Sultan of Khowaresm. The Grand Master,
also, with the consent of the Caliph, espoused
the daughter of Kai Kawas, prince of Ghilan.
But the reign of Jellal-ed-deen was too short
to undo the evil introduced by his two prede-
cessors; and on his death, occasioned by poi-
son, the dagger again raged among his kin-
dred, to avenge him, at the command of his
son and successor, Ala-ed-deen, a boy of nine
years. For such was the idea of the Ismail-
ites concerning the Imaum, that they obeyed
his commands, as proceeding from one inspired
by the Deity, with cheerful submission, satisfied
that the ignorance or imbecility of the Vicar of
God could not extend to his inspired dictates.

Ala-ed-deen, after a blood-stained reign, was, like several of those who had preceded him, murdered; and the direction of the society devolved on his son, Roken-ed-deen, who had conspired against him. In the time of this last, the entreaties of the feeble Caliph of Bagdad, and of the judge of Casveen, invoked the mighty Mangoo Kaan, to free the earth from this murderous band, who made existence a misery to those who dared to provoke their resentment; and the conqueror of the world issued his mandate to his brother, Hulagoo, to exterminate the dangerous race. His mandate was obeyed; the treachery of Nasseer-ed-deen, the great astronomer and vizier of the Assassin prince, facilitated the operations of the Tartars; Alamoot surrendered; Roken-ed-deen entered the camp of Hulagoo as a prisoner; the other fortresses followed the example of Alamoot; Kirdcoo alone, for three years, resisted the efforts of the Tartar troops; orders for the indiscriminate massacre of the Assassins, wherever found, were given by Mangoo ; and, without distinction of age or sex, they fell by thousands beneath the sword of justice and of vengeance. Fourteen years after, the Syrian branch was destroyed by Bibars, the great Mameluke sultan; and though the sect, like the Jesuits, still clung together, in hopes of once more attaining to power, the opportunity never offered; and the merchants and peasants, who still hold the speculative tenets of the Order, have scarcely a recollection of of the world. the bloody part it once enacted on the theatre

We have thus endeavoured to convey to our readers a sketch of the history and constitution of the Order of the Assassins; but it is only in M. Hammer's book that full and satisfactory information can be obtained, and that not concerning the Ismailites alone, but on many most important points of Oriental history and manners; for, from time to time, he makes a pause, and casts a glance over the then state of the Mohammedan world, and numerous are the details, anecdotes, and reflections we have been obliged, unwillingly, to leave unnoticed.

In the opinion of competent judges, M. Von Hammer's work is complete; it contains all that is, or can be, known in the east or west respecting the Order. The correspondence, too, which he is at all times anxious to trace out between them, the Templars, Jesuits, and Illuminati, is often striking, but frequently, to our apprehension, merely fanciful. Slight analogies should have less influence on a powerful mind! and it is to be regretted that he should indulge in such a remark as this: "The Ancient of the Mountain resided in the hill-fort of Alamoot, clad in white, like the Ancient of Days in Daniel." The following, however, is remarkable:

"The first and last of the monarchs of the western and eastern Roman empires, of the Seljucides, of the rulers of Thaberistan, the Prophet of the Moslems, and the last of his successors of the house of Abbas, bore the same appellation. The names of Augustus, Constantine, Mohammed, Togrul, Kaiumers, commence and close the series of the Roman, Byzantine, Arabian, Seljucide, and Persian royal lines;