Biterary Entracts.

Bruce Herald, Volume II, Issue 49, 16 March 1865, Page 5

Biterary Entracts.

The Middle Class of Naples.— The solid strength and the living force lie in its middle class, embracing- those who are professionally engaged.. The members of tliis class are not numerous, but they are distinguished far all the virtues, and by few of the characteristic vices of thei«" countrymen. They are clever and diligent in business, benevolent, full of energy, the very soul of honor, well read, and, in many cases, of eminent attainments. They are intensely patriotic ; yet it is by some of them we have heard the ignis fcituus of Italian unity reprobated most severely. They know well enough that there is too much jealousy among the different States of the Peninsula for such a dream to be realised. This class, however, of the Neapolitan city and state are less known in England than the other sections of the population, owing to these two causes. The most distinguished of them are so well known, that descriptions published in England of their character and opinions would become dangerous ; and they themselves are compelled to a reticence not easily understood. Further, they are sceptical in matters touching Church and State, and so their reputation has been unjustly loaded with the blackest calumny. '« — ' Naples ; its People and its Government,' in the ' Eclectic' "My Lord" in an Awkward Dilemma. — An awkward affair, which once occuvrecl to one of the judges on the western circuit, has been the subject of much mirth. It appears that the pious judicial, having finished his labors, and having, cast off his forsenic wig afc his lodgings, had retired the next room to wait for his brother judge, whom he was about to accompany to some of the local aristocracy to dinner. The female servant of the house had entered the bedchamber by a side door, and not knowing the judge was in the next room, in a frolic, arrayed herself in the judge's wig\ Just at the moment when the fair Mopsy was admiring herself in the booking- glass, the judge unexpectedly entered the room, and poor Mopsy, catching a sighff of the stern countenance looking over her shoulder in the glass, was so alarmed that she fainted, and would have fallen to the ground if the learned judge, impelled by humanity, had not caught her in his arms. At this critical moment his brother judge arrived, and opening the dressing-room door, with the view to seeing- if he was ready, discovered his learned brother with the fainting maid in his arms. Nob wishing to interrupt what he thought to be an amour, he quickly attempted to withdraw, when his brother judge vociferated, " For heaven's sake, stop and hear this matter explained." a Never mind, ray dear brother, the matter expains itself," and left his learned brother to recover the fainting maid as he could. — ' Gi-immer's Anecdotes of the Bench and the Bar/ The editor of an Ohio paper publishes the names of his subscribers who pay up promptly under the head of " Legion of Honour." The Customs of Dahome. — Human sacrifices in Dahome is founded upon a purely religious basis, which not only strengthens but perpetuates the custom. It is a touching- instance of the king's filial piety, deplorably mistaken, but perfectly sincere. The Dahoman sovereign must, I have said, enter Deadland with Hoyal state, accompanied by a ghostly court of leapord wives, head wives, birthday wives, Afa wives, eunuchs — especially the chief eunuchs — singers and drummers, King's ' Joto'si' and ' King's Devils,' bards and soldiers. This is the object of what ■we have called the ' Grand Customs,' when the victims may amount to a maximum of 500. We find the same process extending through the Continent to the south-eastern country of the Cazem.be, who shows an equal veneration for his 'Muzimos' or ancestral ghosts. Every year, moreover, decorum exacts that the first fruits of war and that all criminals should be sent as recruits to swell the King's retinue. Hence the ordinary annual customs. We can hardly find fault with putting criminals to deach,. when in the year of grace 1863 we hung four murderers upon the same gibbet before 100,000 gaping souls at Liverpool, when we strung up five pirates in front of Newgate,, when, during the last age of l hanging Mondays,' the. Ljatinist exclaimed —

' Scarce can our fields, such crowds at Tyburn die, With hemp, the gallows and the fleet supply ;' and when our last Christian king- but one killed a starving- mother of 17, with an infant at her breast, for lifting- a yard of linen from a shop-counter. A Dull am an visiting- England but a few years ago would have witnessed customs almost quite as curious as those which raise our bile now. With respect to slaying' captives it must be remembered that this severity depends upon- the nature of African wars ; with these people lex talionis is the highest experience of law, and after defeat quar'er is given only to those who are reserved for slavery or for sacrifice. There i.«, therefore, a shade of excuse fruit. The executions are, I helieve, performed without cruelty ; these negroes have not invented breaking- on the wheel or tearingto pieces their victims, as happened to Kavaillae and the half-witted Damiens. Finally, it must be remembered that throughout the year customs' time is the only period of punishment — that the sacrifice is done openly, enabling- all to witness the consequences of crime, and that it seems to wither away all miner offences of violence. There are always at least two evil nights during the annual customs, and there may be more. Commander Forbes owns that King Gezo has reduced the number of his victims to 36. The present King- has increased them to 39 or 40. But this number must be doubled, to include the female victims killed b} r the Amazons in the palace, and not permitted to be seen by man. The presumed total of the ' butchery bill" will therefore be 70 or 80. As all who leave the house during the evil night, are beheaded, it is not easy to learn what is then enacted. Our bearers, however, afterwards sang a song, how the King had asked a man of the Min-gan, which officer had presented the gift, how the man was charged with a message to Gezo, saying that the customs were being properly performed, and how he and. his fellows are clubbed with-knob-sticks. I could not find out whether, like the Meriah victims of the Khonds, who hardly thanked General Campbell for saving their lives, the doomed are intoxicated ; it is probable the object being to send them to the other world in the best of tempers. Although the missionaries deny the fact, I believe the King begins by using a broad sharp blade upon the neck of a kneeling criminal, after which the same is done to' others by the Min-gan, the Men, and their assistants. Dahome, it will be seen, shows to advantage by the side of Abeokuta, Ashanti, and Benin. When I visited in 1860,, what Mr. Duncan calls that saintly place of so many converts,' one ' basket sacrifice,' as the Egbas delicately call it. has just been performed ; one occurred duringour week's residence in town ; and a third immediately after we had left. At Komasi, one man is slain per diem, except on the Wednesdays, which are the King's birthdays; moseover, the death of every caboceer demands a number of victims, whereas in Dahome only a single slave accompanies the Min-gan and the Men, such honor not being permitted since the early part of Gezo's reign to any other caboceer. Finally, when I visited the city of Great Benin, in 1862, I saw three violent deaths in three days, though the yearly ceremonies had ended) and the large open space before the palace was strewed with human skulls and bones. — ' Burton's Dahome.'