IN

WILEY & PUTNAM'S

"LIBRARY OF CHOICE READING,”

2 vols., 16mo., or 1 vol. in cloth.

THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS;

OR,

ROMANCE AND REALITIES OF EASTERN TRAVEL.

BY ELIOT WARBURTON, ESQ.

CRITICAL OPINIONS ON THIS WORK.

"Nothing but the already overdone topics prevented Mr. Warburton' Eastern sketches from rivalling Eōthen in variety in the mixture of story with anecdote, information, and expression, it perhaps surpasses it. Innumerable passages of force, vivacity, or humor, are to be found in the volumes."-Spectator.

"This delightful work is, from first to last, a splendid panorama of Eastern Scenery, in the full blaze of its magnificence. The crowning merit of the book is, that it is evidently the production of a gentleman and a man of the world, who has lived in the best society, and been an attentive observer of the scenes and characters which have passed before him during his restless and joyous existence. To a keen sense of the ludicrous, he joins a power of sketching and grouping which are happily demonstrated."-Morning Post.

"Mr. Warburton has fulfilled the promise of his title-page. The Realities' of Eastern Travel' are described with a vividness which invests them with deep and abiding interest; while the Romantic' adventures which the enterprising tourist met with in his course are narrated with a spirit which shows how much he enjoyed these reliefs from the ennui of every-day life."- - Globe.

"The Author has been careful to combine with his own observation such information as he could glean from other sources; and his volumes contain a compilation of much that is useful, with original remarks of his own on Oriental life and manners. He possesses poetic feeling, which associates easily with scenery and manners."-Athenæum.

"This is an account of a tour in the Levant, including Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Constantinople, and Greece. The book is remarkable for the coloring power, and the play of fancy with which its descriptions are enlivened. The writing is of a kind that indicates abilities likely to command success in the higher departments of literature. Almost every page teems with good feeling; and although that catholic heartedness,' for which the Author takes credit, permits him to view Mahometan doctrines and usages with a little too much of indifferentism, yet, arriving in Palestine, he at once gives in his adherence to the religion of the place' with all the zeal

of a pious Christian. The book, independently of its value as an original narrative, comprises much ussful and interesting information."-Quarterly Review.

"Mr. Warburton sees with the strong, clear vision with which Heaven has endowed him, but with this there are always blended recollections of the past, and something-though dashed in unconsciously-of poetic feeling He brings to his work of observation an accomplished mind, and well-trained and healthful faculties. We are proud to claim him as a countryman, and are content that his book shall go all the world over, that other countries may derive a just impression of our national character."Britannia.

"Mr. Warburton's book is very lively, and is most agreeably written."Examiner.

The

"A lively description of impressions made upon a cultivated mind, during a rapid journey over countries that never cease to interest. writer carried with him the intelligence and manners of a gentleman-the first a key to the acquisition of knowledge, and the last a means of obtaining access to the best sources of information."—Literary Gazette.

"We know no volumes furnishing purer entertainment, or better calculated to raise up vast ideas of past glories, and the present aspects of the people and lands of the most attractive region of the world."—Court Journal.

"Of recent books of Eastern Travel, Mr. Warburton's is by far the best. He writes like a poet and an artist, and there is a general feeling of bonhommie in everything he says, that makes his work truly delightful.”– Weekly Chronicle.

"This is one of the most interesting and admirable publications of the day. The accomplished tourist presents us with graphic and life-like descriptions of the scenes and personages he has witnessed. His narrative is written in the most elegant and graphic style, and his reflections evince not only taste and genius, but well-informed judgment."-Chester Courant.

"We could not recommend a better book as a travelling companion than Mr. Warburton's. It is by far the most picturesque production of its class that we have for a long time seen. Admirably written as is the work, and eminently graphic as are its descriptions, it possesses a yet more exalted merit in the biblical and philosophical illustrations of the writer.”—United Service Magazine.

"Mr. Warburton possesses rapidity and brilliancy of thought, and felicity of imagery. But he has qualities even rarer yet-a manliness of thought and expression, a firm adherence to whatever is high-souled and honorable, without one particle of clap-trap sentiment. Let his theme be a great one, and for it alone has he ears and eyes; and the higher and more poetic the subject, the more elegant and spirit-stirring are his descriptions." -Dublin University Magazine.

"There is a fine poetical imagination, tempered by a well trained intelligence. Thought, feeling, and passion, manifest themselves in every page -Ainsworth's Magazine.

EDITOR'S PREFACE,

CIVILISATION in its progress has ever followed the direction of light; it arose far Eastward; gradually it shone over Greece, then Rome; it culminates over Western Europe; and even now its morning light is upon America, while the land it first enlightened is sinking into darkness.

There seems to have been always an instinct in the minds of thoughtful men, that there was a great continent westward; a New World, ready to receive the overflow of the burden of humanity that pressed upon the Old. "Atlantis" long ago expressed a consciousness of such a want, and a belief that it would be supplied. Strange to say, this prophetic feeling was responded to by the inhabitants of the unknown world: among the wild and stern Mic-Macs of the North, and the refined and gentle Yncas of the South, a presentiment of their coming fate was felt. They believed that a powerful race of men were to come “ from the rising sun," to conquer and possess their lands.

The theories of old Greece and Roman Spain became stories; stories became tradition; tradition became faith, and Columbus assumed his mission: in him the old "Westering" instinct amounted to an inspiration; he burst his way through the Unknown to the known; he revealed to us a world rich in all that we required, a world abounding in capabilities, deficient only in mankind.

Then the necessity of the Old World found relief; Europe rushed forth to colonize-each nation according to its character-leaving for ever the stamp of that character impressed upon its colony. Spaniards, led to the New World by the lust of gold, soon sacrificed their America to slavery. Englishmen, led thither by the love of liberty, consecrated their new soil to Freedom. ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD was England still; striving, earnest, honest, and successful. A mistake in policy changed Englishmen into Yankees, but British blood, and, for the most part, British principles, remained.

These we bequeathed to our revolted colony: retiring Northward, we were content to rest our Western Empire on the banks of the St. Lawrence, in the modern Canada,-the ancient HOCHELAGA.

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It is not only where our banners wave, where our laws tect, where our national faith assures, that we are to look for "England in the New World." In the minds of our brethren of the United States, in their institutions, in their actions, in their motives-there-every where that our language is spoken

-we can trace our own.

And such is the object of this work: its Author speaks of Canada with almost affection-of the United States with ordiality-but his chief interest throughout, is the relation that these countries bear to his own; the influence that the latter exercises upon them.

Let not the reader suppose, however, that these volumes contain mere political essays; the Author has rightly judged that the picture of a people is best given by traits of daily life, of the humor, the poetry, and the passions that characterize them.

It is not the province of an Editor to criticize, it is not his privilege to praise, but he may be generously excused for say