mariate, for the work itself is altogether nonpt. There is so much that is good, and so much that is absurd in it, that we do not kum how to give it a character, or to decide whether the author is in jest or in earnest on Tasions. The style is odd, the opinions ed, the sentiments odd, the descriptions odd, the stories odd; and, in short, the whole medlevis old, not even excepting the Natural Estery, upon which Mr.Waterton has bestowed touch attention. It is impossible to laugh at as he says; but it is equally impossible not to agh sometimes when, we fancy, he least means to invite that emotion.

But to come to our analysis with such lights we have. Mr. Waterton is, we believe, a fshire gentleman of good fortune, and so nd of the pursuit of natural science, that it ves to break out in him with a kind of anuel quartan, and drive him every fourth eruptively to foreign climes. The wilds Demerara appear to be his favourite haunts is these occasions; and his four remedial treattests in 1812, 1816, 1820, and 1284, are detailed these pages. Sometimes, from the language, guessed the writer to be a Quaker; but, om his earnest panegyric upon the Jesuits, grew to the more correct belief that he was Roman Catholic. We also gathered, from Va proofs, that he was sentimentally ined, addicted to the malady of fine writing, hed with the romantic, undervaluing Engad and its liberties, and an immense lover of ladies in the United States-we mean in erica, and not in the State of matrimony, as careless reader might misunderstand us. e of these peculiarities we shall adduce ples, and thus lead ourselves into the body Le book. Of the Quakerism and senti. ity, the two following passages may sufTo give a finished picture of Demerara,

u may appear a difficult task at a distance; close at it, and it is nothing at all; lord thou hast but a quiet mind, little

me times of Pasco-Peruvian enterprise are favour

the undertaking. Perhaps, gentle readers, you wish me to go in quest of another. I would beg respectfully to answer, that the way is dubious, dreary; and though, unfortunately, I cannot De excuse of me pla conjux detinet,' still I would are a little repose. I have already been a long

Longa mihi exilia, et vastum maris æquor aravi,
Xe naaste mîhi, nam ego sum defessus agendo."
y bady be induced to go, great and innumerable
Escoveries yet to be made in those remote wilds;

tle his doubts on this head.

more is necessary, and the Genius which pre- | amongst baggage to bite a (much obliged) fellow-
sides over these wilds will kindly help thee creature, instead of chucking it into the St.
through the rest. She will allow thee to slay Lawrence, is remarkably humbuggish.
the fawn, and to cut down the mountain-cab- In England, it seems, things are not so well
bage for thy support, and to select from every managed. There is no Genius there to get you
part of her domain whatever may be necessary to a troely leaf, big enough to shield you from
for the work thou art about; but having killed rain and sun at once, should they attack you
a pair of doves in order to enable thee to give together; no hannaquoi like "the daybreak
mankind a true and proper description of them, town clock," (though what that is we cannot
thou must not destroy a third through wanton- tell); there the wrens and thrushes do not join in
ness, or to shew what a good marksman thou hymns and thankfulness for thy night's rest;
art; that would only blot the picture thou art the fire-flies there charge you for candlelight,
finishing, not colour it.
or at least are not so grateful for partial im-
Though retired from the haunts of men,prisonment as to want no other service but to
and even without a friend with thee, thou be popped back upon a branch. The owls in
wouldst not find it solitary. The crowing of England, so far from bearing you (pensive)
the hannaquoi will sound in thine ears like the company, hate the society of men; and as for
daybreak town clock; and the wren and the the "Whip-poor-Wills," and "Willy come
thrush will join with thee in thy matin hymn goes," they are all moonshine, except in the
to thy Creator, to thank him for thy night's House of Correction. But in hapless England,
rest.
"alas! in these degenerate days it is not so
Should a harmless cottage-maid wander out of
the highway to pluck a primrose or two in
the neighbouring field, the haughty owner
sternly bids her retire; and if a pitying swain
hasten to escort her back, he is perhaps seized
by the gaunt house-dog ere he reach her!”

"At noon the Genius will lead thee to the troely, one leaf of which will defend thee from both sun and rain. And if, in the cool of the evening, thou hast been tempted to stray too far from thy place of abode, and art deprived of light to write down the information thou hast collected, the fire-fly, which thou wilt see in almost every bush around thee, will be thy candle. Hold it over thy pocket-book, in any position which thou knowest will not hurt it, and it will afford thee ample light. And when thou hast done with it, put it kindly back again on the next branch to thee: it will want no other reward for its services.

"When in thy hammock, should the thought of thy little crosses and disappointments, in thy ups and down through life, break in upon thee, and throw thee into a pensive mood, the owl will bear thee company. She will tell thee that hart has been her fate too; and at intervals, 'Whip-poor-Will,' and Willy come go,' will take up the tale of sorrow. Ovid has told thee how the owl once boasted the human form, and lost it for a very small offence; and were the poet alive now, he would inform thee, that Whip-poor-Will,' and Willy come go, are the shades of those poor African and Indian slaves, who died worn out and broken-hearted. They wail and cry, "Whip-poor-Will," " Willy come go," all night long; and often, when the moon shines, you see them sitting on the green turf, near the houses of those whose ancestors tore them from the bosom of their helpless families, which all probably perished through grief and want, after their support was gone.

he succeed in bringing home even a head was features as perfect as those of that which I ght, far from being envious of him, I should "In all the way from Buffalo to Quebec, hams modern Alcides, fully entitled to register I only met with one bug; and I cannot even th labour. Now if, on the other hand, we argue he in question has had all its original features swear that it belonged to the United States. and a set of new ones given to it, by what In going down the St. Lawrence, in the steamtha hitherto unheard of change been effected? boat, I felt something crossing over my neck; * say of our museums has as yet been able to satural features to stuffed arimals; and he and on laying hold of it with my finger and y doubts of this, let him take a living cat or thumb, it turned out to be a little half-grown, campare thein with a stuffed cat or dog in any of ill-conditioned bug. turns. A momentary glance of the eye going from the American to the Canada side, Now, whether it were ve muced in effacing the features of a or from the Canada to the American, and had putting those of a man in their place, we taken the advantage of my shoulders to ferry ed to say, that the sun of Proteus has risen itself across, I could not tell. Be this as it may, I thought of my uncle Toby and the fly; ho, mane tigris; nunc equa, nunc mulier.' and so, in lieu of placing it upon the deck, and cted this, we can now give to one side of then putting my thumb-nail vertically upon it, dam's face the appearance of eighty years, aber de that of blooming seventeen. We I quietly chucked it amongst some baggage that The forehead and eyes serene in youthful was close by, and recommended it to get ashore ape. Here is a new field opened to the by the first opportunity." and experimental naturalist: 1 have trodden This, we think, is extending philanthropy as wał i am abost weary. To get at it far as it can well go. The non-infliction of the d through an alley, which may be thumb-nail "vertically" (the customary method being horizontal,) is a pathetic incident; and the kindness of chucking the noxious insect

se facier, facles transformat in omnes;

ape the mouth and jaws to the features of

· Erduma, chéiqutas, caligine densus opacâ.' fur, poucle reccter, let me out awhile."

It is no wonder that our author was prone to leave such a country quartannually, and seek elsewhere for rational pleasures among philosophical genii, troely-leaves, mechanical hannaquoies, hymning wrens and thrushes, goodhumoured fire-flies, sympathising owls, and pa thetic Whip-poor-Wills. For this, however, he claims a high meed of merit, and absolutely compares himself [vide Preface] to Ulysses, on the score of advising other gentlemen to amuse themselves in the same way in Guiana. Indeed, he is often singularly felicitous in his compari sons. For instance, he says,

"If you dissect a vulture that has just bee feeding on carrion, you must expect that your olfactory nerves will be somewhat offended with the rank effluvia from his craw; just as they would be were you to dissect a citizen after the lord mayor's dinner. If, on the contrary, the vulture be enipty at the time you commence the operation, there will be no offensive smell, but a strong scent of musk."

But as we shall not be able, in our Gazette, entirely to dissect the volume whence this is copied, and demonstrate either where the rank effluvia or the musk prevails, we shall take the liberty to amuse our readers with a quotation or two, which we find marked in our memo

randa under the head of

"Tales of a Traveller." First. How the Traveller treats snakes, serpents, &c. &c.

"One afternoon, in an unfrequented part not far from Monteiro, these adventures were near being brought to a speedy and a final close: six or seven blackbirds, with a white spot betwixt the shoulders, were making a noise, and a tree in an abandoned, weed-grown, orange passing to and fro on the lower branches of orchard. In the long grass underneath the tree, apparently a pale green grasshopper was fluttering as though it had got entangled in it. When you once fancy that the thing you are looking at is really what you take it for, the more you look at it, the more you are convinced it is so. In the present case, this was a grass. hopper beyond all doubt, and nothing more remained to be done but to wait in patience till it had settled, in order that you might run no risk of breaking its legs in attempting to lay hold of it while it was fluttering-it still kept fluttering; and having quietly approached it, intending to make sure of it behold, the head

of a large rattlesnake appeared in the grass subject is not unworthy of the consideration of the negro who had shewn it to me, and one to close by an instantaneous spring backwards the naturalist.

the other who had joined us. Aware that the
day was on the decline, and that the approach
of night would be detrimental to the dissection,
hill. I had offered a reward to any of them a thought struck me that I could take him
who would find a good-sized snake in the forest, alive. I imagined if I could strike him with
and come and let me know where it was. Often the lance behind the head, and pin him to the
had these negroes looked for a large snake, and ground, I might succeed in capturing him
as often been disappointed.
When I told this to the negroes, they begged
and entreated me to let them go for a gun, and
bring more force, as they were sure the snake
would kill some of us.

prevented fatal consequences. What had been "There was a person making shingles, with
taken for a grasshopper was, in fact, the ele-twenty or thirty negroes, not far from Mibiri-
vated rattle of the snake in the act of announc-
ing that he was quite prepared, though un-
willing, to make a sure and deadly spring.
He shortly after passed slowly from under
the orange-tree to the neighbouring wood on
the side of a hill: as he moved over a place bare "One Sunday morning I met one of them in
of grass and weeds, he appeared to be about the forest, and asked him which way he was
eight feet long; it was he who had engaged going: he said he was going towards Warra-
the attention of the birds, and made them heed-tilla Creek to hunt an armadillo; and he had
less of danger from another quarter; they flew his little dog with him. On coming back,
away on his retiring; one alone left his little about noon, the dog began to bark at the root
life in the air, destined to become a specimen, of a large tree, which had been upset by the
mute and motionless, for the inspection of the whirlwind, and was lying there in a gradual
curious in a far distant clime.
state of decay. The negro said, he thought his
dog was barking at an acouri, which had pro-
bably taken refuge under the tree, and he went
up with an intention to kill it; he there saw a
snake, and hastened back to inform me of it.
"The sun had just passed the meridian in a
cloudless sky; there was scarcely a bird to be
seen, for the winged inhabitants of the forest,
as though overcome by heat, had retired to the
thickest shade: all would have been like mid-
night silence were it not that the shrill voice of
the pi-pi-yo, every now and then, resounded
from a distant tree. I was sitting with a little
Horace in my hand, on what had once been the
steps which formerly led up to the now moul-
dering and dismantled building. The negro
and his little dog came down the hill in haste,
and I was soon informed that a snake had been
discovered; but it was a young one, called the
bush-master, a rare and poisonous snake.
"I instantly rose up, and laying hold of the
eight-foot lance, which was close by me, Well
then, daddy,' said I, we'll go and have a look
at the snake. I was barefoot, with an old hat,
and check shirt, and trowsers on, and a pair of
braces to keep them up. The negro had his
cutlass, and as we ascended the hill, another
negro, armed with a cutlass, joined us, judging,
from our pace, that there was something to do.
The little dog came along with us, and when
we had got about half a mile in the forest, the
negro stopped, and pointed to the fallen tree:
all was still and silent: I told the negroes not
to stir from the place where they were, and
keep the little dog in, and that I would go in
and reconnoitre.

"Time and experience have convinced me that there is not much danger in roving amongst snakes and wild beasts, provided only that you have self-command. You must never approach them abruptly; if so, you are sure to pay for your rashness; because the idea of self-defence is predominant in every animal, and thus the snake, to defend himself from what he considers an attack upon him, makes the intruder feel the deadly effect of his poisonous fangs. The Jaguar flies at you, and knocks you senseless with a stroke of his paw; whereas, if you had not come upon him too suddenly, it is ten to one but that he had retired, in lieu of disputing the path with you. The Labarri snake is very poisonous, and I have often approached within two yards of him without fear. I took care to move very softly and gently without moving my arms, and he always allowed me to have a fine view of him, without shewing the least inclination to make a spring at me." He would appear to keep his eye fixed on me, as though suspicious, but that was all. Some times I have taken a stick ten feet long, and placed it on the Labarri's back. He would then glide away without offering resistance. But when I put the end of the stick abruptly to his head, he immediately opened his mouth, flew at it, and bit it.

"I had been at the siege of Troy for nine years, and it would not do now to carry back to Greece, nil decimo nisi dedecus anno.' I mean, I had been in search of a large serpent for years, and now having come up with one, it did not become me to turn soft. So, taking a cutlass from one of the negroes, and then ranging both the sable slaves behind me, I told them to fol low me, and that I would cut them down if they offered to fly. I smiled as I said this, but they shook their heads in silence, and seemed to have but a bad heart of it.

"When we got up to the place, the serpent had not stirred, but I could see nothing of his head, and I judged by the folds of his body that it must be at the farthest side of his den. A species of woodbine had formed a complete mantle over the branches of the fallen tree, almost impervious to the rain or the rays of the sun. Probably he had resorted to this se questered place for a length of time, as it bore marks of an ancient settlement.

I now took my knife, determining to ent away the woodbine, and break the twigs in the gentlest manner possible, till Fcould get a view of his head. One negro stood guard close behind me with the lance; and near him the other with a cutlass. The cutlass which I had taken from the first negro was on the ground close by me in case of needi

"After working in dead silence for a quarter of an hour, with one knee all the time on the ground, I had cleared away enough to see his head. It appeared coming out betwixt the first and second coil of his body, and was flat on the ground. This was the very position I wished it to be in.

66

"One day, wishful to see how the poison comes out of the fang of the snake, I caught a Labarri alive. He was about eight feet long. “I rose in silence, and retreated very slowly, I held him by the neck, and my hand was so making a sign to the negroes to do the same. near his jaw, that he had not room to move his The dog was sitting at a distance in mute ob head to bite it. This was the only position servance. I could now read in the face of the I could have held him with safety and effect. "I advanced up to the place slow and cau- negroes, that they considered this as a very unTo do so, it only required a little resolution and tious. The snake was well concealed, but at pleasant affair; and they made another attemp coolness. I then took a small piece of stick in last I made him out; it was a coulacanara, not to persuade me to let them go for a gun. 1 the other hand, and pressed it against the fang, poisonous, but large enough to have crushed smiled in a good-natured manner, and made i which is invariably in the upper jaw. Towards any of us to death. On measuring him after- feint to cut them down with the weapon I ha the point of the fang, there is a little oblong wards, he was something more than fourteen in my hand. This was all the answer I mad aperture on the convex side of it. Through feet long. This species of snake is very rare, to their request, and they looked very uneasy, this, there is a communication down the fang and much thicker, in proportion to his length, "It must be observed, we were now abou to the root, at which lies a little bag containing than any other snake in the forest. A coula- twenty yards from the snake's den. I now the poison. Now, when the point of the fang canara of fourteen feet in length is as thick as ranged the negroes behind me, and told his is pressed, the root of the fang also presses a common boa of twenty-four. After skinning who stood next to me, to lay hold of the lane against the bag, and sends up a portion of the this snake I could easily get my head into his the moment I struck the snake, and that th poison therein contained. Thus, when I ap-mouth, as the singular formation of the jaws other must attend my movements. It now onl plied a piece of stick to the point of the fang, admits of wonderful extension. remained to take their cutlasses from them, f there came out of the hole a liquor thick and "A Dutch friend of mine, by name Brouwer, I was sure, if I did not disarin them, they wou yellow, like strong camomile tea. This was the killed a boa, twenty-two feet long, with a pair be tempted to strike the snake in time of dai poison, which is so dreadful in its effects, as to of stag's horns in his mouth: he had swallowed ger, and thus for ever spoil his skin. On takir render the Labarri snake one of the most the stag, but could not get the horns down; so their cutlasses from them, if I might judge fro poisonous in the forests of Guiana. I once he had to wait in patience with that uncom- their physiognomy, they seemed to consider caught a fine Labarri, and made it bite itself. fortable mouthful till his stomach digested the as a most intolerable act of tyranny in m I forced the poisonous fang into its belly. In a body, and then the horns would drop out. In Probably nothing kept them from bolting, b few minutes I thought it was going to die, for this plight the Dutchman found him as he was the consolation that I was to be betwixt the it appeared dull and heavy. However, in half going in his canoe up the river, and sent a ball and the snake. Indeed, my own heart, in sp an hour's time, he was as brisk and vigorous as through his head. of all I could do, beat quicker than usual; a ever, and in the course of the day shewed no I felt those sensations which one has on boa symptoms of being affected. Is then the life of a merchant vessel in war time, when the ci she snake proof against its own poison? This tain orders all hands on deck to prepare

"Ön ascertaining the size of the serpent which the negro had just found, I retired slowly the way I came, and promised four dollars to

can, while a strange vessel is coming down us under suspicious colours.

-We went slowly on in silence, without ing our arms or heads, in order to prevent arm as much as possible, lest the snake ld glide off, or attack us in self-defence. I carried the lance perpendicularly before me, th the point about a foot from the ground. The snake had not moved; and on getting up to him, I struck him with the lance on the near vde, just behind the neck, and pinned him to the ground. That moment, the negro next to we seized the lance and held it firm in its place, while I dashed head foremost into the den to ple with the snake, and to get hold of his before he could do any mischief. On pinning him to the ground with the le, he gave a tremendous loud hiss, and the e dog ran away, howling as he went. We be a sharp fray in the den, the rotten sticks fving on all sides, and each party struggling for pority. I called out to the second negro to throw himself upon me, as I found I was not beary enough. He did so, and the additional weight was of great service. I had now got firm ht of his tail; and after a violent struggle or The gave in, finding himself overpowered. Tms was the moment to secure him. So, while the first negro continued to hold the lace firm to the ground, and the other was helying me, I contrived to unloose my braces, and with them tied up the snake's mouth.

ful prize. He pressed me hard, but not alarm- all hands for the last time before the battle,
ingly so."
We were, four South American savages, two
But our countryman was still more heroic negroes from Africa, a Crecle from Trinidad,
in fight with crocodiles or caymans. Apollo and myself a white man from Yorkshire. In
and Python, Hercules and the Lernæan Hydra, fact, a little tower of Babel group, in dress, no
Saint George and the Dragon, More of More- dress, address, and language.
hall and that of Wantley, may all hide their
diminished heads while we recite the story of
the conflict between Mr. Waterton and the
cayman.

·

"We found a cayman, ten feet and a half long, fast to the end of the rope. Nothing now remained to do, but to get him out of the water without injuring his scales, hoc opus, hic labor.' We mustered strong: there were three Indians from the creek, there was my own Indian Yan, Daddy Quashi, the negro from Mrs. Peterson's, James, Mr. R. Edmonstone's man, whom I was instructing to preserve birds, and, lastly, myself.

"I informed the Indians that it was my intention to draw him quietly out of the water, and then secure him. They looked and stared at each other, and said, I might do it myself; but they would have no hand in it; the cayman would worry some of us. On saying this, consedêre duces,' they squatted on their hams with the most perfect indifference.

"Daddy Quashi hung in the rear; I showed him a large Spanish knife, which I always carried in the waistband of my trowsers: it spoke volumes to him, and he shrugged up his shoulders in absolute despair. The sun was just peeping over the high forests on the eastern hills, as if coming to look on, and bid us act with becoming fortitude. I placed all the people at the end of the rope, and ordered them to pull till the cayman appeared on the surface of the water; and then, should he plunge, to slacken the rope, and let him go again into the deep.

"I now took the mast of the canoe in my hand (the sail being tied round the end of the mast) and sunk down upon one knee, about four yards from the water's edge, determining to thrust it down his throat, in case he gave me an opportunity. I certainly felt somewhat uncomfortable in this situation, and I thought of Cerberus on the other side of the Styx ferry, The people pulled the cayman to the surface; he plunged furiously as soon as he arrived in these upper regions, and immediately went below again on their slackening the rope. I saw enough not to fall in love at first sight. I now told them we would run all risks, and have him on land immediately. They pulled again, and out he came, monstrum, horrendum, informe. This was an interesting moment. I kept my position firmly, with my eye fixed steadfast on him.

"The Indians of these wilds have never been subject to the least restraint; and I knew enough of them to be aware, that if I tried to force them against their will, they would take The snake now finding himself in an un-off, and leave me and my presents unheeded, rasant situation, tried to better himself, and and never return. resolutely to work, but we overpowered "Daddy Quashi was for applying to our ham. We contrived to make him twist himself guns as usual, considering them our best and round the shaft of the lance, and then prepared safest friends. I immediately offered to knock la convey him out of the forest. I stood at his him down for his cowardice, and he shrunk "By the time the cayman was within two brad, and held it firm under my arm, one negro back, begging that I would be cautious, and not yards of me, I saw he was in a state of fear and *ported the belly, and the other the tail. In get myself worried; and apologising for his own perturbation; I instantly dropped the mast, order we began to move slowly towards want of resolution. My Indian was now in sprung up, and jumped on his back, turning bane, and reached it after resting ten times; conversation with the others, and they asked if half round as I vaulted, so that I gained my the stake was too heavy for us to support I would allow them to shoot a dozen arrows seat with my face in a right position. I imme ata without stopping to recruit our strength. into him, and thus disable him. This would diately seized his fore legs, and, by main force, As we proceeded onwards with him, he fought have ruined all. I had come above three hun- twisted them on his back; thus they served me hard for freedom, but it was all in vain. We dred miles on purpose to get a cayman unin- for a bridle. satied the mouth of the bag, kept him down by jured, and not to carry back a mutilated speci- "He now seemed to have recovered from his force, and then I cut his throat. men. I rejected their proposition with firm-surprise, and probably fancying himself in hosThe week following there was a curiousness, and darted a disdainful eye upon the tile company, he began to plunge furiously, and dict, which took place near the spot where Indians. lashed the sand with his long and powerful tail. I was out of reach of the strokes of it, by being near his head. He continued to plunge and strike, and made my seat very uncomfortable. It must have been a fine sight for an unoccupied spectator.

I captured the large snake. In the morn- "Daddy Quashi was again beginning to re-
I had been following a new species of paro-monstrate, and I chased him on the sand-bank
, and the day being rainy, I had taken au for a quarter of a mile. He told me afterwards,
brella to keep the gun dry, and had left he thought he should have dropped down dead
under a tree; in the afternoon I took Daddy with fright, for he was firmly persuaded, if
ashi with me to look for it. Whilst he was I had caught him, I should have bundled him
aring about, curiosity took me towards the into the cayman's jaws. Here then we stood,
ace of the late scene of action. There was a in silence, like a calm before a thunder-storm.
puth where timber had formerly been dragged Hoc res summa loco. Scinditur in contraria
ng. Here I observed a young coulacanara, vulgus.' They wanted to kill him, and I wanted
en feet long, slowly moving onwards; I saw to take him alive.
was not thick enough to break my arm, in
e he got twisted round it. There was not a
sament to he lost. I laid hold of his tail with
left hand, one knee being on the ground;
th the right I took off my hat, and held it as
would hold a shield for defence.
The snake instantly turned, and came on
te, with his head about a yard from the
tal, as if to ask me, what business I had to
A liberties with his tail. I let him come,
anng and open-mouthed, within two feet of
face, and then, with all the force I was
er of, I drove my fist, shielded by my hat,
in his jaws. He was stunned and con-
ded by the blow, and ere he could recover
elf, I had seized his throat with both
, in such a position that he could not bite
I then allowed him to coil himself round
ay body, and marched off with him as my law.

"The people roared out in triumph, and were so vociferous, that it was some time before they heard me tell them to pull me and my beast of burden farther in land. I was apprehensive the rope might break, and then there would have been every chance of going down to the regions under water with the cayman. That would have been more perilous than Arion's marine morning ride:

"Delphini insidens vada cærula sulcat Arion." "The people now dragged us above forty yards on the sand: it was the first and last time I was ever on a cayman's back. Should it be asked, how I managed to keep my seat, I would answer, I hunted some years with Lord Darlington's fox hounds.

"I now walked up and down the sand, revolving a dozen projects in my head. The canoe was at a considerable distance, and I ordered the people to bring it round to the place where we were. The mast was eight feet long, and not much thicker than my wrist. I took it out of the canoe, and wrapped the sail round the end of it. Now it appeared clear to me, that if I went down upon one knee, and held the mast in the same position as the soldier holds his bayonet when rushing to the charge, I could "After repeated attempts to regain his li force it down the cayman's throat, should he herty, the cayman gave in, and became tranquil come open-mouthed at me. When this was through exhaustion. I now managed to tie up told to the Indians, they brightened up, and his jaws, and firmly secured his fore-feet in the said they would help me to pull him out of the position I had held them. We had now anoriver. ther severe struggle for superiority, but he was "Brave squad!' said I to myself, Audax soon overcome, and again remained quiet. omnia perpeti,' now that you have got me be-While some of the people were pressing upon twixt yourselve and dangers.' I then mustered his head and shoulders, I threw myself on his

6

tail, and by keeping it down to the sand, pre- uncertain in her alliances; this is represented sonal ones-and there are none so personal as vented him from kicking up another dust. He by the Leopard leggiera e molto presta, nimble those written by women—and the Margravine was finally conveyed to the canoe, and then to and rapid, connecting herself with various of Anspach was (and is) as very a woman as the place where we had suspended our ham- animals. The Lion, who holds his head so ever married twice-and the Margravine of mocks. There I cut his throat." high, and whose roar makes the very air Anspach has written and published memoirs of We should be sorry to spoil the effect of this tremble, is the symbol of the pride of Charles herself and, finally, here they are before us, admirable tale even by telling how the traveller, of Valois, and of the terror which his power under the form of two volumes octavo: ergo having sprained his ancle, cured it by holding inspired. Lastly, the Wolf, the ancient sym- but no, we will not hurry our conclusion, but his foot under the falls of Niagara. But this bol of Rome, and which is here characterised leave it to appear in its own good time, and and other pleasant incidents and adventures, by an excess of greediness and avarice, carca from better evidence than argument, however our limits compel us to reserve till another Ga- di tutte brame, is no other than Papal Rome, in forcible and complete! zette sees the light, and enlightens the world which that vice predominated during the pe- There is another merit attending memoir with other matters besides the adventures of riod in which Dante lived to a degree which writing: it requires no superior skill-no Mr. Waterton. has never been exceeded either before or since. great extent of knowledge-no very singular From these beasts he is rescued by the spirit of acuteness of observation-and, above all, no Ghibelline policy. The dead of the Inferno very exemplary industry. One cannot very La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri, con are typical of the living dead of his own times, well make a blunder in putting down a perComento Analitico di Gabriele Rossetti. In whom he and other contemporary authors of the sonal anecdote. And it may be done when Sei Volumi: Vol. I. 8vo. pp. 405. London, same principles and party describe as " dead in nothing else can-or when one has nothing 1826. J. Murray. vice and ignorance." The judge of these dead else to do- or when one wishes to do nothing In this age of literary discovery, that which we is Minos; but Minos, as is proved by Signor at all: for it is one of the most agreeable have to announce, in giving a short account of Rossetti, is described with attributes which divisions of that all-agreeable state of being Signor Rossetti's edition of Dante, is, perhaps, mark him to be a personification of the power called the far niente. In short, nothing is rethe most extraordinary, and will be considered, of conscience. The città del fuoco into which quired to constitute the best capability in the probably, by his countrymen and the admirers Dante and Virgil are denied admittance, is the world for writing an agreeable book of me. of Dante, as the most important. Extraor-city of Florence, from which Dante had been moirs, but to have mixed much in society-to dinary it must be considered, since a poem before banished, and where he was now con- have varied that society by travel-and to pos which has been the subject of commentary and demned to be burnt alive. The parley which sess a lively temperament, a faithful pen, and research for nearly five complete centuries, is the guards of the city hold with Virgil, re- a good memory. now, for the first time, demonstrated to con- presents the negotiations between the agents Now it so happens, that all the foregoing tain, throughout its whole context, a hidden of the emperor and the chiefs of the Guelphish conditions are united, in a very remarkable sense, which has either escaped the acuteness faction then in authority in Florence; their degree, in the celebrated lady who has just or been dissembled by the timidity of former offer to admit Virgil, while they insist that favoured the idle part of the world with her commentators; and this demonstration is con- Dante shall be excluded, sol si ritorni per la memoirs; and there can be little doubt that, acveyed with such a clearness of proof, and such an folle strada, expresses their willingness to have cordingly, that favour will be repaid by all which abundance of testimony, as might be deemed submitted to the emperor, provided the re- she need look for in return-namely, a general superfluous and pedantic, if the object had been storation of the banished party of the Bianchi and less arduous than that of removing a misap- Ghibellini had not been insisted upon. Even prehension so inveterate, and sanctioned by the silence or concurrence of so many learned men, during so very long a period. The important discovery to which Signor Rossetti has called the attention of the world, is, in fact,

the alarm which, during the continuance of
the negotiation, Dante himself had felt at the
prospect of such a compromise, is expressed in
the words of Pensa lettor se io mi disconfortai.
Lastly, the Messo del Cielo who comes with

perusal of her work, and a general persuasion of its writer's lively and engaging qualities.

As it is now many years since the Margravine of Anspach moved a conspicuous star in the hemisphere of high life, the reader may be glad to know who and what she was and is. Briefly, then, she was

delivered by Dante himself, in words which, the golden rod to open the gates of the city, the youngest daughter in 1750, and is

fourth Earl of though hitherto most unaccountably over- and who appears to be conscious of no obstacle Berkeley. At an early age she married the looked, cannot admit of any other interpreta- but that of the heavy atmosphere, aer grasso, Honourable Mr. Craven, afterwards Earl of tion; and it is briefly this, that the Inferno is is the emperor, who in his enterprise against Craven, and lived happily with him for some an allegorical picture of the then existing state Florence experienced no obstacle but from the years. But this union having been dissolved, of government and society. "Poeta agit de unhealthiness of the season and climate, to by circumstances upon which we (never wishInferno isto in quo peregrinando ut viutores, which he fell a victim. These and an infinite ing to interfere in matrimonial quarrels) offer mereri et demereri possumus.”. "The In- variety of other allusions are proved with a no opinion, she left England with one of her ferno in which we are wandering as strangers degree of detail which may be necessary for sons, and after having travelled much in and pilgrims, and in which we are capable of establishing a new principle of interpretation, Europe, settled herself at the court of the Marguilt or merit, becoming obnoxious to punish-but which, when it is once established, will be gravine of Anspach, a petty German prince. ment, or entitled to reward." capable of considerable abridgment. In his suite she visited several of the other This Inferno, thus described as it is by The present volume contains the first eleven German and Italian courts; and finally, on Dante himself, in his dedicatory epistle, must cantos of the Inferno; the remainder will be the death of his wife and her husband, married be understood to signify this present world contained in a second volume of equal size; him; and he, preferring the varied society of and its existing inhabitants;-if the poet had and we understand that it is the intention of England to the endless monotony of his own chosen to say in distinct words, "My poem is the editor to continue his labours through the little court circle, had the good sense to give a picture of this world such as it is," he would Purgatorio and Paradiso, of which he has up his make-believe sovereignty, and come only have expressed the same meaning without likewise discovered the practical and political over with his wife to live in England-where a periphrasis; but he would not have conveyed interpretation; but this will, of course, de- they resided for many years, and where at it in a manner more positive or unambiguous.pend upon the degree of encouragement which length the margrave died. But in giving an account of the discoveries this essay may meet with in this country; in We must not forget to state, that on their which Signor Rossetti has made, we must not his own it is likely to be the subject of violent arrival in England it was signified to the mar dwell too long upon a single point, or attempt disputes; and we think it probable, that if the gravine that she would not be received at even an abstract of the evidence which he has author had remained at Naples, some cautious accumulated; for this reason we must refrain friends might have restrained him from pubfrom an analysis of the most ingenious and fishing a part at least, and perhaps even the learned induction, by which the poet Virgil, whole of his present discovery. guide and companion of the author in his The typographical execution of this volume passage through the allegorical Inferno, is is, in every respect, handsome, and possesses proved to be a type and personification of that that most essential of merits, correctness. spirit of political philosophy which was peculiar to the Ghibelline party. Dante is pur-Memoirs of the Margravine of Anspach. sued by three beasts, which are types of the three main supports of the Guelphish faction'; viz. the republic of Florence, mutable and va

Written by Herself. 2 vols. 8vo. London,
1826. Colburn.

There are few books so pleasant as memoirs rious in her policy, rapid in her decisions, and—and there are no memoirs so pleasant as per

court; and even her own daughters by her first husband were led to decline any intercourse with her. Far be it from us to determine that this treatment either was or was not called for by any previous conduct of the margravine during her separation from her first lord. But thus much we will say,—that as the lady herself seems to have borne the privation of court favour with a very exemplary share of patience and self-complacency, it is not for us to lament very sorely over a ma: ter which, whether demanded by strit decorum or not, has at any rate the merit of

ag produced the entertaining volumes now that she was embarrassed in the highest de- the inside of it, because the coachmakers, he consideration for there can be little gree; particularly as he never spoke till he insisted, did not know how to do it properly. eat, but for the natural desire to place had examined all he wished to look at; and I can easily imagine this, as I have frequently herself in the best light, to vindicate herself, when this was done, he said, I had a great myself snatched a spade or rake from an awkjustly aspersed, we should not have been desire to see you, I have heard so much of ward gardener, whose want of taste could not peated with this opportunity of alluding to you; and began an account of what that was, execute what my ideas of beauty had imaLa question. in language so civil, but with a raillerie la plus gined." At any rate, that a person situated as the fine, que c'était presque une persiflage. When The following occur in her ladyship's account enter of these memoirs was, should have he had done,' she added, I did not know of her sojourn at the court of Naples. wc to tell that every body will be glad to whether I was to feel humbled or elevated, or rar, there could be little doubt. And here whether it was a good or bad impression he are the volumes before us in which she tells it had received of me, or whether it was satire or and tells it in as naive and good-humoured compliment he meant to convey.' anner, and with as much apparent good th, as the most gossiping of her readers old wish. We will therefore not detain the Latter any longer from the book itself. From the early years of the writer, which passed in England, we shall extract noth; as they appear to have passed mono

“Quel homme! ne le voyez jamais, chère miladi; vous rougissez pour rien; il vous ferait pleurer.' I felt internally that I should like to see him; and that, as the adopted sister of the margrave, under that protection, I should not fear even the great Frederic.

.

*

"The extravagant ideas of the ballet-masters are beyond description. Will it be believed, that at Naples it was proposed to give a ballet, the subject of which was the annals of Tacitus, —an heroic ballet, where all the Roman empire was to dance. We there should have seen the foundation of Rome, the conquest of Africa, the affair of Canna, and the destruction of Carthage, executed in caprioles. Hannibal and Scipio might dance a pas de deux. This sublime spectacle might terminate by the death of Julius Cæsar, who should fall under the hands of Brutus in a cadence, and expire on the stage to the sound of violins; and Cicero, by redoubled entrechats, might address the senate with all his eloquence.

ly enough, in the bosom of a family “The Polish ladies are very vigilant over which, from some unaccountable feeling of the conduct of their daughters, and intrigues caste, she was scarcely treated as a part. are not so easily carried on here as in England; We shall commence our extracts while the and in some districts (which is perfectly ridigrarine is performing her tour of Europe. culous!) they are forced to wear little bells, la her account of her first arrival in Paris both before and behind, in order to proclaim "If he had succeeded, he proposed to give, she gives some very curious anecdotes of Marie where they are, and what they are doing." the next season, the triumvirate in a pas de Anette, and other members of the French The reader may judge how thickly the trois, —a surprising pantomimic spectacle, a family, some of which are singularly amusement is occasionally sown through which would decide the fate of the universe in teristic of the people to whom they these pages, when we tell him that the follow-gambades; and Marc Antony would dance a te. The following are among the number: ing four anecdotes occur consecutively. The minuet with Cleopatra. *In the dreadful winter which preceded first seems almost too good to be true, as an "Many of the female singers at Naples, I that in which I was at Paris, the queen gave illustration of German inconsequence; and the és of her goodness and beneficence; she last is highly characteristic of the singular ed to be distributed from her private purse person to whom it relates. hundred Louis to the poor. In presenting “I remember, when I was obliged to have sam to the lieutenant of police, she said to a Spanish male dress made for me, the court Hasten to dispose of this money to the tailor brought the clothes for me to try: the appy; never did I part with a sum which waistcoat was at least four inches too long for gratifying to my feelings! At this me; my breeches were not long enough; and ad she was honoured with the good opinion when I pointed out to him repeatedly that it the people, who did justice to her humanity. would be impossible for me to wear them, he y raised a pyramid of snow to her honour said, Ca ne fait rien ! Comment?' said I, extremity of the street of Coq St. Ho- with great emphasis: he replied, Si la culotte we, with these verses inscribed upon it,-est trop courte la veste est trop longue, et

· Reine, dont la bonté surpasse les appas,

o da Rai bienfaisant occupe ici la place:
z monument fréle est de neige et de glace,
Nos cœurs pour toi ne le sont pas

The young Duke d'Angoulême, who at
period was not more than nine years old,
e day occupied in reading in his apart-
when M. de Suffrein was announced to
Sir, said the young prince, I was
ading the lives of illustrious men, and I lay
my book with pleasure, to be gratified
the sight of one of them.""
We will now accompany our fair authoress
Poland. The following anecdote of the
at Frederic," is no less cleverly, and at
e time naively told, than it is charac-
of the principal person concerned in it.
last paragraph is, also, very piquant and
Cs, as it regards the relator:-

cela revient a la même chose:" and as I knew
nothing could drive it out of his head, I sent
him away, gave my suit of clothes to another
performer, and had quite a new one made for
me.

"At another time, a nobleman of the court, looking at some copies that were hanging in my room of the Cardinal Virtues, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds for the University of Oxford, asked me what they were; to which I answered, Les Vertus Cardinales, copiées en pétit d'après ceux en grand, que le Chevalier Reynolds avait fait. After looking at them some time, he said, Sont-ce des Cardinaux de Rome ou des Evêques Anglais, car ils sont de très belles figures ?'

6

am confident, neither knew how to read or write. I was one day at the house of one of these performers by profession: after many entreaties that she would favour us with an air, from which she excused herself on the plea of having had a violent cold for a month past, and a swelled throat, which prevented her from singing, she complied with our request. In taking the music book to place it on the pianoforte, she turned it, as if by mistake, upside down, so that on opening the first leaf, at the bottom of the page the words 'fine dell' aria' were written with the letters reversed. As I perceived the mistake, took the book and placed it right. The lady was piqued, and, not wishing to appear ignorant, took the book rather abruptly, and placed it again as it was before. Sappia, said she, signora, che questa è un' aria Ebrea, cavata dalla Sinagoga dei Giudei, che comincia per il fine.' I immediately apologised, and avowed my want of knowledge, as I had no idea that Moses was acquainted with Italian music, or that the Rabbies sang ariettes.

เ

"A little singer, who was going from Naples to Rome, in order to form an engagement at the theatre there, was by accident shewn into the same room at an inn upon the road where three strangers, of different nations, happened "M. de Brenkenhoff, who had been attached to be at dinner. They insisted on the lady's to Frederic, was one day speaking of the partaking of the repast, and became so agreePomeranian dominions, which formed part of able to her, that at length she was prevailed (the Princess Czartoriska) inquired of that king's empire. In a report which he upon to repose herself for a few days there, as I had been at Berlin; and when I an-made to his master with regard to the state of she, discovered that the journey was too fain the negative, she said she wished the nobility there, he found that in one village, tiguing, and the roads bad. As she was very For what would he have don. to called Czarnidarmo, which did not contain lively and enjouée, they very naturally all fell she said, since he so much embarrassed more than one hundred and forty or fifty acres in love with her. Many delightful things And pray,' said I, who is he who of cultivated land, the community was formed passed among them, and each finally proposed ture to do anything to embarrass you?' by twelve noble families, consisting of fifty-nine to pay his addresses. As the lady was deterGrand Frideric, was her reply. She persons; and that the cow-keeper and the crier afarmed me, that his majesty had her in- were the only persons in the village who were dinner by the queen; and every body not noble, but that their wives, however, were ehled before he came, when he born nobles. What an idea of nobility! ", be made one bow, at the door, to the ad then walked up to her, took her by and led her up to a window; where ta examine her countenance, with a krutimising, with eyes so piercing,

mined to accept one only, she thought herself at liberty to make choice of him whose offers were most advantageous, particularly as it is a rule to do so at all the theatres.

"Old prince Kaunitz had many peculiarities, "She therefore insisted that each of tem which only set of to greater advantage his should put down his proposals in writing; and am able qualities. He was one day found by the next day she found on her toilette three a foreign minister in the body of a carriage, letters to the following effect. placed in one of his own rooms: he was lining." The first was from an English lord, who