pay in proportion to his
income_. Thus bread, meat, and coals, being articles of
indispensable use, are exempt; but spirits, wines, &c., are taxed
very high; and the rich are obliged to pay for every horse, dog,
and man-servant they keep; also for the privilege of throwing
_flour_ on their heads, and having their _arms_ (insignia of the
antiquity and rank of their family) painted on their carriages,
&c. Since the commencement of the present war, a new law has been
passed, compelling every person to pay annually a tenth of his
whole income. Most of the taxes are permanent, but some of them
are changed at the pleasure of parliament. Abu-Talib visited the
country in the first years of the present century, when the
capability of taxation was strained to the utmost, but the words
which we have given in italics, contain the secret which Kerim
failed to detect."

Relieved, it is to be hoped, by this tirade against the ignominious
submission of the Franks to taxation, the Khan resumes the enumeration of
the endless catalogue of wonders which the sights of London presented to
him. On visiting the Polytechnic Institution--"which means, I understand,
a place in which specimens of every science and art are to be seen in some
mode or other, there being no science or art of any other country unknown
here"--he briefly enumerates the oxyhydrogen microscope, "by which water
was shown so full of little animals, nay, even monsters, as to make one
shudder at the thought of swallowing a drop"--the orrery, the
daguerreotype, and the diving-bell, (in which he had the courage to
descend,) as the objects principally deserving notice, "since it would
require several months, if not years, to give that attention to each
specimen of human industry which it demands, in order thoroughly to
understand it." The effects of the electrical machine, indeed, "by which
fire was made to pass through the body of a man, and out of the
finger-ends of his right hand, without his being in any way affected by it,
though a piece of cloth, placed close to this right hand, was actually
ignited," seem to have excited considerable astonishment in his mind; but
it does not appear that his curiosity led him to make any attempt in
investigating the hidden causes of these mysterious phenomena. His apathy
in this respect presents a strong contrast with the minute and elaborate
description of the same objects, the mode