And hereupon those of _Algier_, to palliate the shame and the reproaches that are thrown upon them for making use of a Witch in the danger of this Siege, do say, that the loss of the Forces of _Charles_ V., was caused by a Prayer of one of their _Marabou's_, named _Cidy Utica_, which was at that time in great Credit, not under the notion of a _Magitian_, but for a person of a holy life. Afterwards in remembrance of their success, they have erected unto him a small mosque without the _Babason_ Gate, where he is buried, and in which they keep sundry Lamps burning in honour of him: nay they sometimes repair thither to make their _Sala_, for a testimony of greater Veneration. Can it be doubted for a moment, that the dramatist had come fresh from reading some _older narrative_ of this deliverance of Algier by a witch, and transferred the merit of the deed to his Sycorax, exchanging only the "rich remuneration," which did not suit his purpose, to the simple pardon of her life? Ogilby wrote in 1670; but the authorities to which he refers for his Account of Barbary are--Johannes de Leo, or Africanus--Louis Marmol--Diego de Haedo--Johannes Gramaye--Bræves--Cel. Curio--and Diego de Torres--names totally unknown to me--and to which I beg leave to refer the curious reader for his fuller satisfaction. L. ORIGINAL LETTER OF JAMES THOMSON (1824) The following very interesting letter has been recovered from oblivion, or at least from neglect, by our friend Elia, and the public will no doubt thank him for the deed. It is without date or superscription in the manuscript, which (as our contributor declares) was in so "fragmentitious" a state as to perplex his transcribing faculties in the extreme. The poet's love of nature is quite evident from one part of it; and the "poetical posture of his affairs" from another. Whether regarded as elucidating the former or the latter, it is a document not a little calculated to excite the attention of the curious as well as the critical. We could ourselves write an essayful of conjectures from the grounds it affords both with respect to the author's poems and his pride. But we must take another opportunity, or leave it to his next biographer. DEAR SIR, I would chide you for the slackness of your correspondence; but having blamed you wrongeously[47] last time, I shall say nothing till I hear from you, which I hope will be soon. [47] _Sic in MS._ There's a little business I would communicate to you before I come to the more entertaining part of our correspondence.