BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE NO. CCCXXIX. MARCH, 1843. VOL. LIII. CONTENTS. AMMALÁT BEK. A TRUE TALE OF THE CAUCASUS FROM THE RUSSIAN OF MARLÍNSKI POEMS AND BALLADS OF SCHILLER.--NO. VI. CALEB STUKELY. PART XII. IMAGINARY CONVERSATION. BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. SANDT AND KOTZEBUE THE JEWELLER'S WIFE. A PASSAGE IN THE CAREER OF EL EMPECINADO THE TALE OF A TUB: AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER--HOW JACK RAN MAD A SECOND TIME PAUL DE KOCKNEYISMS, BY A COCKNEY THE WORLD OF LONDON. SECOND SERIES. PART III. THE LOST LAMB. BY DELTA COMTE * * * * * AMMALÁT BEK. A TRUE TALE OF THE CAUCASUS. TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN OF MARLÍNSKI. BY THOMAS B. SHAW, B.A. OF CAMBRIDGE, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE IMPERIAL LYCEUM OF TSARSKOË SELO. THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. The English mania for travelling, which supplies our continental neighbours with such abundant matter for wonderment and witticism, is of no very recent date. Now more than ever, perhaps, does this passion seem to possess us: "----tenet insanabile multos _Terrarum_ [Greek: kakoithes], et ægro in corde senescit:" when the press groans with "Tours," "Trips," "Hand-books," "Journeys," "Visits." In spite of this, it is as notorious as unaccountable, that England knows very little, or at least very little correctly, of the social condition, manners, and literature of one of the most powerful among her continental sisters. The friendly relations between Great Britain and Russia, established in the reign of Edward V., have subsisted without interruption since that epoch, so auspicious to both nations: the bond of amity, first knit by Chancellor in 1554, has never since been relaxed: the two nations have advanced, each at its own pace, and by its own paths, towards the sublime goal of improvement and civilization--have stood shoulder to shoulder in the battle for the weal and liberty of mankind. It is, nevertheless, as strange as true, that the land of Alfred and Elizabeth is yet but imperfectly acquainted with the country of Peter and of Catharine. The cause of this ignorance is assuredly not to be found in any indifference or want of curiosity on the part of English travellers. There is no lack of pilgrims annually leaving the bank of Thames, "With cockle hat and staff, With gourd and sandal shoon;" armed duly with note-book and "patent Mordan," directing their wandering steps to the shores of Ingria, or the gilded cupolas of Moscow. But a very short residence in the empire of the Tsar will suffice to convince a foreigner how defective, and often how false, is the information given by travellers respecting the social and national character of the Russians. These abundant and singular misrepresentations are not, of course, voluntary; and it may not be useless to point out their principal sources.