oses twice repeat;
The principles of life and heat;
The squares of chess, in order due,
Must take their place between these two;
When thus arranged, a name appears,
Which every Muslim heart reveres.'

The solution, as given by a reverend ulema of Constantinople to a
learned German who could not solve the mystery, is: 'Take the "vow of
Moses," which is 40; double it, and it becomes 80, equivalent to the
two Mims in the name Muhammed. Place under these the bases of the
temperaments--that is, the elements--which are four (the power of the
letter D); then take the number of the houses (or squares) of chess,
which are eight in a row, and place it (8 being equal to the letter H)
between the two Ms, and you have the name of the prophet, Muhammed
(MHMD.')

'It has been necessary,' observes Mr Bland, 'to turn the Arabic
commentary a little, in order to make the solution more intelligible
to those unacquainted with the trick of Eastern riddles. Some further
explanation is also required to illustrate the solution itself.
The vow of Moses refers to his forty days' fast; the four
temperaments--the bile, the atrabile, phlegm, and blood--are
represented in the Arabian system of physics by the four elements,
which are considered to be connected with them; the figures refer to
the numerical power of the _abjad_, or alphabet; and the enigma itself
has been attributed, though on uncertain grounds, to Ali, the
son-in-law of the prophet.'

'THE SUCCESSFUL MERCHANT.'

Under this title has lately been produced a novelty in our literature,
the memoirs of an eminent commercial man.[2] Samuel Budgett died in
May 1851, at the age of fifty-seven. Though starting in life without
capital or credit, he had, by the sheer exercise of his own innate
qualities, risen to the head of one of the most colossal _concerns_ in
England. Had he been merely a clever bargainer, and a skilful
organiser of business arrangements, there might have been some value
in his memoirs, as a guidance to young mercantile aspirants; but
Budgett was something more than all this, and his biography serves the
far higher purpose of shewing how a man may be at once a most adroit
merchandiser, and a man of liberal practice, and a true lover of his
kind. Let it not be supposed that he was a _soft_ man, who had
prospered through some lucky accident. He really was a thorough-paced
follower of the maxim which recommends buying in the cheapest and
sellin