undismayed by the sight of streets and the din of multitudes, and careless of a moment's repose until the loved object of its search is found.

And where in the meantime was the object of such wondrous devotedness? Formerly, he would have almost worshipped the faintest echoes of that voice which now invoked him in the streets with accents that seemed as if they could have called the dead from the grave. But, strange to tell, it was even his love of Zuleika that made him deaf to her call! The anguish of that hopeless affection had driven him to the innermost recesses of his dwelling, where he could muse and mourn undisturbed; and thus he of all others was the least likely to know of an event at which the whole city was moved. He had escaped, indeed, from bondage, but freedom had lost its charm; and he had reached London in safety, but it seemed to be no longer his home. He fled from the business of the world, and the society of friends, to live among the remembrances of his Syrian Saiden; but thought and solitude Could present no balm for a love so deep and so hopeless. At length, despairing of peace, his broken heart longed for the repose of the cloister and the consolations of religion; and then, too, he thought that his midnight prayers at the altar for the conversion of Zuleika would be answered, so that he would meet with her in heaven. Amidst this gloom, in which his life had been passing heavily away, no one was admitted to his presence but his faithful attendant, Richard-he who had accompanied his wanderings, and shared his prison, and who having seen, could also talk of Zuleika.

At this moment they were thus occupied while the procession was slowly moving through the street. "Hark !" cried Richard, listening attentively; "dost thou not hear a strange sound of feet and voices?-it resembles the beginning of a tumult." Becket raised his head for a moment, with an air of indifference, and made no reply. Richard happily was not in love, and therefore could be alive to passing events; and leaving the apartment, he repaired to a window in another part of the house that overlooked the crowd. He saw the flutter of a long, dark veil, and a woman in an eastern garb; and he heard a tame repeated. Could he trust his own ears? He hurried to the

door, and in an instant was among the multitude. Becket, who had not perceived his absence, was astonished to see him burst into the room, pale, breathless, and confounded, and speechless with very eagerness to unfold the mighty secret.

"I have seen her! I have seen her !" at length Richard shouted." She has come! she is calling upon thee!"

"What meanest thou by this foolery?" cried Becket, angrily. "Of what woman speakest thou?

"Of Zuleika !-of whom but Zuleika?" exclaimed the servant. "She has come from Heathenesse to find thee! It is she whom the crowd is following. I beheld her face, and heard her voice !"

"But that I know thou art fasting from the flagon," replied Becket, in rising passion, "I would think thou hadst been holding wassail with some drunken gleeman; but as thou only jestest, the mood is ill-timed. Hence! and disturb me no longer.'

"My honoured and beloved master," exclaimed Richard solemnly, lifting up his hands--" I swear by all we hold sacred, whether in earth or heaven, that even now I beheld Zuleika! She wanders through the street seeking thee, and calling thee by name. Come with me, and behold. If I have deceived thee, then kill me, or spurn me from thy presence for ever!"

As sudden as had been the despair of Becket, was now his belief in the strange tale. He started to his feet, to fly to his beloved-but the mighty rush of hope was too strong for him. He reeled, and fell into the arms of his servant; for even the strength of his frame had given energy to the stroke that thus quelled him. He soon recovered, and seemed animated by double vigour; and briefly exclaiming to Richard, "Bid Githa prepare for a guest !" he was instantly in the street. In a few moments after he was seen pressing through the crowd, with a burden in his arms-it was the insensible form of Zuleika! A smile of rapture was fixed upon her motionless lips, and her arms, even in that deathlike state, were wound round his neck like strong fetters, as he carried her swiftly to the house of Githa, his venerable foster-mother. And now they had met-but who may describe the emotions of that meeting? Even that single moment of bliss would have outweighed the whole agonies of their separation.

THE increase of this, as we may justly call it, iniquitous traffic, within the last ten years, bids fair to exclude the British merchants from China. Nor is this strange. It appears that the growing devotedness of the Chinese to this drug, and the profit necessarily accruing from the sale of it, have caused a most extensive cultivation of it in our Indian territories, and an importation of it into China of an enormous amount, even in the face of the most prohibitory laws. Perhaps the most satisfactory way of bringing the whole question before our readers, will be the very line of statement simply, but judiciously, pursued by Mr. Thelwall.

Our author opens his work with a series of testimonies, some of more value than others, on the properties and effects of opium as a medical drug. In these testimonies, the chief deficiency is the absence of some professional names of greater authority and weight than that of Macnish. The references for practical proofs, however, are judicious, and of weight. It is abundantly evident, that the effects produced on the nervous and animal economy by the habitual use of opium in any shape -even in its most popular and most innocuous forms, the sulphate, nitrate, or muriate of morphia-are of the most destructive kind. The habitual use of alcohol is not half so pernicious as that of opium. The action of alcohol seems to be more confined to the organs of digestion; that of opium tells more upon the nervous system. Certainly, the devotees of the narcotic present more complete personations of mortal ennui and misery, than the most determined devourers of the liquid stimulant. The latter present a spectacle wretched enough; but the former look like creatures under the influence of a demon, in whose orgies they feel delight, and from which they dare not abstain, unless they are prepared to encounter and live out a hell even in time.

It is certainly a most striking fact, that the use of opium has increased in England since the institution of temperance and teetotal societies. We have conversed on this subject with several druggists, and they express themselves

amazed at the increasing demand there is for laudanum among the poor. This was to be expected. Every right-thinking and Christian man must necessarily see, that as long as a principle of action is not implanted in the human heart, so long the abandonment of one outward habit is sure to lead to the indulgence of another. If alcohol ceases to receive the accustomed homage, opium is likely to occupy the forsaken niche. Man was made originally to be a temple for the residence of the Deity. Since that event that caused the moral and physical dislocation of the world, led to the departure of the primeval glory, and the tainting of the once holy fane which was His dwelling-place, “ other gods have had dominion over man." The human bosom cannot exist without the Deity, an idol, or a demon. In the better land, it is the residence of Deity; and in this world, it is so in the heirs of that better land. In hell, it is the abode of demons. earth, man's mind, as long as it retains its fallen estate, is the abode of some idol-god. In some cases, that god is Mammon; in others, Irish whisky; in others, gin; and in others, opium; and in many, sensuality of every hue and degree. It is therefore evident, that unless we teach men how to recall the first and holy Inhabitant, all excision must be more or less ineffective. If the disease is not cured, it is to no purpose that we destroy one of its external outlets or developements.

On

But, even in our preface, we digress from the “opium trade.”

"The habit grows upon the wretched victim, till he becomes entirely enslaved to it; and so strong is the necessity of having recourse to the stimulus at the regular hour, that it has even been affirmed that fatal consequences might result from sudden and total abstinence.

"A few extracts, from authors of credit and works of authority, will best illustrate and confirm these statements.

"The use of opium, for the purpose of exhilarating the spirits, has long been known in Turkey, Syria, and China; and of late years it has been, unfortunately, adopted by many, particularly females, in this country. Russell says that, in Syria, when combined with spices and

aromatics, he has known it taken to the amount of three drachms in twenty-four hours. Its habitual use cannot be too much reprobated. It impairs the di gestive organs, consequently the vigour of the whole body; and destroys also gradually the mental energies. The effects of opium on those addicted to its use, says Russell, are at first obstinate costiveness, succeeded by diarrhoea and flatulence, with the loss of appetite and a sottish appearance. The memories of those who take it soon fail; they become prematurely old; and then sink into the grave, objects of scorn and pity. Mustapha Shatoor, an opium-eater in Smyrna, took daily three drachms of crude opium. The visible effects at the time were the sparkling of his eyes, and great exhilaration of spirits. He found the desire of increasing his dose growing upon him. He seemed twenty years older than he really was. His complexion was very sallow; his legs small; his gums eaten away, and his teeth laid bare to the sockets. He could not rise without first swallowing half a drachm of opium.'See Phil. Trans., xix. 288-290.

"In moderate doses, opium increases the fulness, the force, and the frequency of the pulse, augments the heat of the body, quickens respiration, and invigorates both the corporeal and mental functions, exhilarating even to intoxication; but by degrees these effects are succeeded by languor, lassitude, and sleep; and, in many instances, headach, sickness, thirst, tremors, and other symptoms of debility, such as follow the excessive use of ardent spirits, supervene. In very large doses, the primary excitement is scarcely apparent; but the pulse seems to be at once diminished, drowsiness and stupor immediately come on, and are followed by delirium, sighing, deep and stertorous breathing, cold sweats, convulsions, apoplexy, and death. The appearances on dissection are those which indicate the previous existence of violent inflammation of the stomach and bowels; but, notwithstanding the symptoms of apoplexy which an overdose, when it proves fatal, occasions, no particular appearance of an inflammatory state or fulness of the brain is perceived.' -London Encyclopædia, p. 461.

"Their gestures were frightful : those who were completely under the influence of the opium talked incoherently, their features were flushed, their eyes had an unnatural brilliancy, and the general expression of their countenances was horribly wild. The effect is usually produced in two hours, and lasts four or five: the dose varies from three grains to a drachm. * The debility, both moral and physical, attendant on its ex

citement, is terrible: the appetite is soon destroyed, every fibre in the body trembles, the nerves of the neck become affected, and the muscles get rigid. Several of these I have seen, in this place, at various times, who had wry necks and contracted fingers; but still they cannot abandon the custom : they are miserable till the hour arrives for taking their daily dose.'-MADDEN's Travels in Turkey, &c., vol. i., pp. 24, 25.

"There is another set of people, however, who live in a still cheaper way than the dervises. Strangers to the pleasures of the table, an opium pill supports, intoxicates them, throws them into ecstasies, the delights of which they extol very highly. These men, known under the name of Theriakis, are mentioned by Monsieur de Tott and others, as being looked upon even in a more despicable light than the drunkards, though I know not that the practice betrays more dissoluteness of morals. They begin with taking only half a grain at a dose; but increase it as soon as they perceive the effect to be less powerful than at first. They are careful not to drink water, which would bring on violent colics. He who begins taking opium habitually at twenty, must scarcely expect to live longer than to the age of thirty, or from that age to thirty-six; the latter is the utmost age that, for the most part, they attain. After some years, they get to take doses of a drachm each. Then comes on a frightful pallidness of countenance; and the victim wastes away in a kind of marasmus, that can be compared to nothing but itself. Alopecia, and a total loss of memory, with rickets, are the never-failing consequences of this deplorable habit. But no consideration, -neither the certainty of premature death, nor of the infirmities by which it must be preceded, can correct a theriaki : he answers madly to any one who would warn him of his danger, that his happiness is inconceivable when he has taken his opium pill. If he be asked to define this supernatural happiness, he answers that it is impossible to account for itthat pleasure cannot be defined. Always beside themselves, the theriakis are incapable of work; they seem no more to belong to society. Toward the end of their career, they, however, experience violent pains, and are devoured by constant hunger; nor can their paregoric in any way relieve their sufferings; become hideous to behold, deprived of their teeth, their eyes sunk in their heads, in a constant tremor, they cease to live, long before they cease to exist.'-PouQUEVILLE'S Travels in the Morea, p. 297.

"Opium retains, at all times, its power of exciting the imagination, pro

vided sufficient doses are taken. But when it has been continued so long as to bring disease upon the constitution, the pleasurable feelings wear away, and are succeeded by others of a very different kind. Instead of disposing the mind to be happy, it now acts upon it like the spell of a demon, and calls up phantoms of horror and disgust. The fancy is still as powerful as ever, but it is turned in another direction. Formerly it clothed all objects with the light of heaven; now it invests them with the attributes of hell. Goblins, spectres, and every kind of distempered vision, haunt the mind, peopling it with dreary and revolting imagery, The sleep is no longer cheered with its former sights of happiness. Frightful dreams usurp their place, till, at last, the person becomes the victim of an almost perpetual misery. Nor is this confined to the mind alone, for the body suffers in an equal degree. Emaciation, loss of ap petite, sickness, vomiting, and a total disorganisation of the digestive functions, as well as of the mental powers, are sure to ensue, and never fail to terminate in death, if the evil habit which brings them on is continued.'-MACNISH's Anatomy of Drunkenness, p. 51.

"The foregoing extracts refer to the dreadful consequences of the habit of eating opium, which is the mode of taking this poisonous drug adopted in Turkey, and in some other countries in which the use of opium as a stimulant prevails. The mode of using it which is more commonly adopted in China is dif ferent, though it would seem that there also it is sometimes used in much the same way as it is in Turkey.

"The method of preparation is as follows: It is imported in chests, which contain a number of packages of crude opium that has attained a certain degree of consistency. This is first dissolved in hot water; and the extract thus obtained is dried and smoked through a pipe. But the effects of opium, when smoked, are much the same as when swallowed in the crude state. This will appear from the following statements. The first is from The Chinese, by John Francis Davis, Esq., vol. ii, p. 454:

A late memorial to the emperor, from one of the censors, laid open the evil in all its deformity, and shewed its prevalence among the officers of government. I have learned,' says he, that those who smoke opium, and eventually become its victims, have a periodical longing for it, which can only be assuaged by the application of the drug at the regular time. If they cannot obtain it when that daily period arrives, their limbs become debilitated, a discharge of

nose, and they are altogether unequal to any exertion; but, with a few whiffs, their spirits and strength are immediately restored in a surprising manner. Thus opium becomes to opium-smokers their very life; and, when they are seized and brought before magistrates, they will sooner suffer a severe chastisement than inform against those who sell it.'-See also the whole account, pp. 453-458.

"The following extract from Med. burst's China (London, 1838), pp. 56, 57, speaks yet more strongly and plainly:

"Those who have not seen the effects of opium-smoking in the Eastern world, can hardly form any conception of its injurious results on the health, energies, and lives of those who indulge in it. The debilitating of the constitution, and the shortening of life, are sure to follow, in a few years after the practice has been commenced; as soon, and as certainly, if not much more so, than is seen to be the case with those unhappy persons who are addicted to the use of ardent spirits. The dealers in opium are little aware how much harm they are the instruments of doing, by carrying on this demoralising and destructive traffic; but the difference between the increase of the Chinese people, before and after the introduction of opium, ought to open their eyes, and lead them to ask themselves whether they are not accountable for the diseases and deaths of all those who have suffered by its introduction. And if it be true that the Chinese increased at the rate of three per cent per annum before the commence. ment of the traffic, and at the rate of one per cent per annum since, it would be well for them to consider whether the deficiency is not to be attributed, in some degree, to opium, and the guilt to be laid at the door of those who are instrumental in introducing it.'

"Again, in pp. 83-85, we find the following remarks:

"Those who grow and sell the drug, while they profit by the speculation, would do well to follow the consumer into the haunts of vice, and mark the wretchedness, poverty, disease, and death, which follow the indulgence; for of did they but know the thousandth part the evils resulting from it, they would not, they could not, continue to engage in the transaction. Previous to the year 1796, opium was admitted into China on the payment of a duty, when a few hun. dred chests annually were imported, Since that time the drug has been openly interdicted, and yet clandestinely introduced at the rate of twenty thousand chests annually, which cost the Chinese four millions of pounds sterling every year. This quantity, at twenty grains

sufficient to demoralise nearly three millions of persons. When the habit is once formed, it grows till it becomes inveterate; discontinuance is more and more difficult, until at length the sudden deprivation of the accustomed indulgence produces certain death. In proportion as the wretched victim comes under the power of the infatuating drug, so is his ability to resist temptation less strong; and debilitated in body, as well as mind, he is unable to earn his usual pittance, and not unfrequently sinks under the cravings of an appetite which he is un. able to gratify. Thus they may be seen hanging their heads by the doors of the opium-shops, which the hard-hearted keepers, having fleeced them of their all, will not permit them to enter; and shut out of their own dwellings, either by angry relatives or ruthless creditors, they die in the streets unpitied and despised. It would be well if the rich opium-merchant were sometimes present to witness such scenes as these, that he might be aware how his wretched oustomers terminate their course, and see where his speculations, in thousands of instances, end. When the issue of this pernicious habit is not fatal, its tendencies are to weaken the strength, and to undermine the constitution; while the time and property spent in this volup tuous indulgence constitute so much detracted from the wealth and industry of the country, and tend to plunge into deeper distress those weak and dependent members of society, who are already scarcely able to subsist at all. In fact, every opium-smoker may calculate upon shortening his life ten years from the time when he commences the practice: one-half of his physical energies are soon gone; one-third of his scanty earnings are absorbed; and feeling strength and income both diminishing, while the demands upon his resources are increased, he seeks to obtain by duplicity what he cannot earn by labour, and thus his moral sense becomes blunted and his heart hardened, while he plunges into the vortex of ruin, dragging with him his dependent relatives, and all within the sphere of his influence. Calculating, therefore, the shortened lives, the frequent diseases, and the actual starvation, which are the result of opium-smoking in China, we may venture to assert that this pernicious drug annually destroys myriads of individuals. No man of feeling can contemplate this fearful amount of misery and mortality, as resulting from the opium trade, without an instinctive shudder. But the most appalling fact of all is, that the trade is constantly increasing.""

There is one fact worthy of notice, in

our estimate of the comparative effects of opium and alcohol, viz. that the use of opium necessitates, with the imperious power of a tyrant, a progressive and almost geometrical increase of the quantity after each dose; whereas alcohol may be, and has been, used to a given amount every day; and when the dose is augmented, it is at the utmost in arithmetical ratio. This is a most important distinction, even if the deleterious effects were precisely equal. But when we consider that the effects produced upon the nervous system by the habitual use of opium are destructive in the highest possible degree that the man who has recourse to this indulgence is guilty of suicide, as sure, if not as rapid, as the man who is the subject of a coroner's inquest and of a verdict of felo de se ; we can see, in the use of this most powerful of narcotics, a habit to be most deeply deprecated and deplored. Opium puts forth the spell of an enchantress conjures up, during its influence, all bright and beautiful imaginings; and notwithstanding the fact, that the severe penalties exacted of the devotee almost counterbalance the pleasures realised, the dose is yet trebly sweet. Superhuman powers alone are able to burst the spell. A slavery is the portion of the opium-eater, with which West Indian or Egyptian thraldom is not for one moment to be compared. The opium-eater, or smoker, is prepared to lay upon the altar of this god intellectual vigour and moral perceptions, physical health and bodily strength, and to offer all in one dread holocaust.

We are aware that the animal excitement, which ensures a reputation for wit in Almack's, is deemed by not a few a sufficient compensation for having recourse to laudanum; and the literary character believes, what is true for a short, a very short time, that its inspiration is more intense, and prolific of brighter visions, than that of Apollo and the Muses; and the orator, fearing failure, and anxious to make a brilliant display, greedily pounces on this drug, and for the evening reaps the hallucination he expected, But all these repent with tears, and amid the chains from which they cannot extricate themselves, the infatuation which impelled them to gain a moment's rhetorical brilliancy at the cost of health, fortune, and happiness.