ANSAREYS IN MOUNT LEBANON.

In the romance of Trancred, Mr. D'Israeli mentions the Ansareys, one of the tribes of Lebanon, as worshipping the old heathen gods, Jupiter, Apollo, and Astarte, or Venus. A writer of fiction is certainly not expected to be bound to fact; but in such a matter as the present religion of an existing people, I feel doubtful whether to suppose this religion his own invention, or if he has any authority for it, and its connexion with pagan Antioch. A people to-day retaining the worship of the old gods of Greece and Syria, is a matter of great interest. I have looked into Volney's Travels in Syria and Egypt, and in some later writers, but none of them state the paganism of Tancred to be the religion of the Ansareys. It is, however, said to be a mystery, so not impossibly the account in Tancred may be the reality. In the same work, the Sheikhs of Sheikhs, and his tribe, the Beni-Rechab children of Rechab, are said to be Jews on horseback, inhabiting the desert, and resembling the wandering Arabs in their mode of life. This also is curious, if there be such a people; and some of your readers acquainted with the history and manners of Syria may give information on these matters. The other tribes of Lebanon are singular and equally interesting:—the Maronites, Christians of the Roman Catholic sect, who, however, allow their priests to marry; the Metualis, Mahomedans of the sect of Ali; and the Druses, whose religion is unknown, and, as Lamartine tells us, was entirely so to Lady Hester Stanhope, who lived years in the middle of them. Volney divides the Ansareys

in several sects, of whom one worshipped the sun, another a dog, and a third had an obscene worship, with such lewd nocturnal meetings as were fabled of the Yesedee.