good must result from the new enactments; but we should certainly have been more confident in our expectations of advantage, if, before any regulations were promulgated, it had been made incumbent on the judges of both courts, to call on the several law corporations for their suggestions as to what the new regulations should be; convinced, that, with respect to all practical details, the members of these bodies are qualified to give advice and make suggestions of the utmost importance. But although our opinion of the good sense and information of those who compose these corporations be much higher than that of our author, we would not propose that their views should be imperative. We are most anxious, however, that an opportunity should be given of making them known, before the judges make up their own minds on the subject; and we should even like to see these bodies vested with the power of complaining, within a limited time, of any regulations enacted by the courts. By these means the judges would be not only better informed, but more upon their guard; and if their power of framing regulations had been restricted to a certain period after the passing of this act, the forms of court, and the character of our judges, would have stood higher with the public. Many enlightened men have conceived that the power assumed in some cases, and vested in our supreme judges in others, of altering all our forms of procedure, at all times, and on all occasions, at their own pleasure, is not less inexpedient than unconstitutional. It tends, as has been thought, to an oscillating practice, and a disregard, to a certain degree, of all forms;-to a looseness of procedure not more injurious to litigants than to the law of the country. If this was an evil, therefore, it was continued, not cured, by the law under consideration. There is no limit, either as to time or authority, in the powers given to the judges of framing rules and regulations. Neither has any thing been done to cure another evil of a radical nature, touching all sorts of jury trial in Scotland. We allude at present to the power still vested in the sheriffs of counties to return, in every case, the whole pannel of jurors, by selection or other wise at their own discretion. This deserves attention from all parties in the state; since as power changes hands, it may in turn be directed against them all; and as it is a discretion which no functionary will venture to say that he does or ought to exercise, the doing it away could have hurt no feelings, and would have met with no opposition. It would have been honourable, too, to have attempted the introduction of unanimity of juries into our criminal law, in which it is a thousand times more necessary than in the civil, now that it has been found practicable in the latter. But it would be endless to dwell on all that has not been attended to in this new law; nor should we, perhaps, have said so much, had it not been to restrain a little the arrogating spirit of our author. There is besides an exaggeration in all his statements and arguments that injures the cause which he advocates. Our most anxious wish is, that the business of the Jury Court may increase under the new law; but that, as we have already intimated, will depend on the wisdom of the new regulations. These have not yet been promulgated; but hoping and supposing the best, we do not see how the business is to increase to the extent, or with nearly that rapidity which is reckoned upon in the pamphlet. Nearly all that class of cases, we imagine, which now must be sent to the Jury Court, were sent there previously on the discretion of the judges; and our author admits, "that upwards of a third of those (already) tried have been cases different from damage," or, in other words, different from those which must, under the new law, be transmitted from the Court of Session. This proves, that hitherto there has been no disinclination on the part of the latter Court to send cases to the Jury Court; a fact which is so far from warranting the expectation of any great increase of business, that it rather supports the opinion that what will henceforth go directly went circuitously before; and as it appears from the returns that not one-half of the cases transmitted to the Jury Court have been actually tried there, the probability is, that if more should be sent, fewer still in proportion will be tried; but this, as we have hinted, will depend much on the degree in which the a mount of costs shall be reduced under the new form of process. Our author seems also to exaggerate the additional labour which must fall upon the jury-clerks. He calls the mode of proceeding new; but if parties are still to be called on for condescendences, answers, and revisals of these papers, as is plainly implied in the view of the clerks' duties, given in the appendix, there is very little of novelty in the case. Since the very formation of this Court, the juryelerks have been under the necessity of perusing all those papers, and forming issues from them; and hence the only additional labour which will be thrown upon them, is that of revising these papers, as they are lodged by the parties,―a duty of much importance to be sure, but which must render the ulterior duty of preparing the issues much lighter. Nothing will henceforth be allowed to go into their offers of proof, but what can be readily turned into an issue; but we must observe here, en passant, that whether jury trial shall become a blessing or a curse to the country, will depend almost entirely on the manner in which this power of revising condescendences and answers shall be performed by the clerks of court, and on the checks established upon any arbitrary views to be taken by them, both in regard to expence and efficiency. If the terms of these preliminary papers, and of the issues also, be left entirely with the clerks, aided only by private consultation with the judges; or if there be not some less expensive method of parties calling the attention of at least one of the judges to points on which they shall consider themselves aggrieved, than by a formal hearing of counsel, we are much afraid, indeed, that evil and not good will result from the new statute. This is a matter of infinitely greater importance than any question respecting the number of clerks, or the amount of their salaries; and we yet hope to see it taken up and examined by those who are much better qualified than we are to do it justice. On the smaller matters discussed in the pamphlet, we shall now say a word or two. We agree with the author in considering it necessary to the interest of the new Court, that the head of it should not be distracted with other duties. Those of an ordinary Baron of Exchequer were not great conducted by depute-clerks, three of whom are authorized by the new act, we do not see the shadow of a reason for the appointment of a fourth principal clerk. It is not the salary we object to. That perhaps should be divided among the other three clerks ; for, with such important duties entrusted to them, it is quite fitting that their salaries should be respectable. We object only to the creation of an unnecessary office. And, if our limits permitted, we should still object to the manner in which the bill was hurried through Parliament. It is well known in the profession, that various clauses contained in it were objected to by another law corporation besides the writers to the signet. And although the haste may have been well intended, it was certainly not decorous, nor deserving of that unqualified approbation which is bestowed upon it by our author. There is much that we could add, as suggested to us by his observations, especially with respect to the forms of process presently observed in the Court of Session and Jury Court; but we must defer all such additional remarks to another opportunity. THE BANISHED MAN ON A DISTANT VIEW OF HIS COUNTRY, WHICH HE IS QUITTING FOR EVER. Thy wild pipe touch'd by rustic hands, Thy reaper's song from merry bands; Thy boatman's call with dashing oar, Thy falling torrent's deafening roar; Thy busy city's humming sound, With all the sweet bells chiming round,Far on a strange and cheerless shore, These ears unblest shall hear no more. Happy is he, above all gain, Who holds in thee his free domain, And roves with careless steps at will O'er his paternal wood and hill, And stores the fruit his harvests yield From his sweet orchard and his field! Happy is he that leads at dawn His harness'd steers across thy lawn! Yea, happy he, bent down with toil, Whose glist'ning brow bedews thy soil! How gently heaves the ev'ning sea, Ah woe is me! Where shall I stray, Rise surgy deep! ye rude winds blow, DEAR distant shore! whose headlands And whelm my bark these waves below! blue Still bound this wild and watr'y view; throw Soft coolness o'er the beach below, Thy vallies rich in autumn's store, Then bear me to my native land; As sleeps the froward child, still'd on his mother's breast. HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OP SHAKESPEARE. MR EDITOR, THE following passage in North's translation of Plutarch will be found to have been closely copied in the scene between Brutus and his wife in Julius Cæsar. "His wife Porcia was the daughter of Cato, whom Brutus married, being his cousin, not a maiden, but a young widow after the death of her first husband, Bibulus, by whom she had also a young sonne called Bibulus, who afterwards wrote a booke of the acts and gestes of Brutus, extant at this present day. This young lady being excellently well seene in philosophy, loving her husband well, and being of a noble courage, as she was also wise because she would not aske her husband what he ayled before she had made some proofe by herselfe: She tooke a little razor, such as barbers occupy to pare men's nailes, and causing her maides and women to go out of her chamber, gave herself a great gash withall in her thigh, that she was straight all of a gore bloud; and incontinently after, a vehement feaver took her, by reason of the paine of her wound. Then perceiving her husband was marvellously out of quiet, and that he could take no rest, even in her greatest paine of all, she spake in this sort unto him: I being, O Brutus, (said she,) the daughter of Cato, was married unto thee, not to be thy bed-fellow and comparion in bed and at board onely, like a harlot, but to be partaker also with thee of thy good and evill fortune. Now for thyselfe, I can find no cause of fault in thee touching our match; but for my part, how may I shew my duty towards thee, and how much I would do for thy sake, if I cannot constantly beare a secret mischance or griefe with thee, which requireth secrecy and fidelity? I confesse, that a woman's wit commonly is too weake to keep a secret safely; but yet (Brutus) good education, and the company of vertuous men, have some power to reforme the defect of nature. And for myselfe, I have this benefit, moreover, that I am the daughter of Cato, and wife of Brutus. This, notwithstanding I did not trust to any of these things before, until that now I have found by experience, that no paine or griefe whatsoever can overcome me!' With these words she showed him her wound on her thigh, and told him what she had done to prove herself." Again, the following curious account, extracted from Magellan's Voyage to the South Seas, may throw some light on the origin of the Tempest, and the character of Caliban. The mention of the god Setebos seems decisive of the identity of the source from which he borrowed. "They sailed from Seville the 10th of August, A. D. 1519, and, October the 3d, arrived between Cape Verd and the islands of that name; they spent a great deal of time about the coast of Guinea, and by tedious calms, which lasted seventy days, were so long labouring to cross the line. But when they had done this, and the South Pole appeared above the hori zon, they held on their south course, and came upon the main of Brazil, about that part of it which lies in twenty-two degrees. In this latitude, December 13th, Pigafetta says, they had the sun in the zenith, with a greater degree of heat than under the line itself. They observed it to be all one continued tract of land, higher from the Cape St Augustin, which is in this part of the country. They found good store of fruits, sugarcanes, and divers sorts of animals, out of all which they had liberal entertainment. Having made two and one half degrees more of south latitude, they fell in with a country inhabited by a wild sort of people: They were of a prodigious stature, fierce, and barbarous, made a horrible roaring noise; more like bulls than human creatures; and yet, with all that mighty bulk, were so nimble and light of foot, that none of the Spaniards or Portuguese could overtake them. Here was a fine river of fresh water, that had seven islands in the mouth of it, and was full seventeen leagues wide in that part. This Magellan took at first for the passage he sought. The biggest of those islands yielded them some jewels, and they named it St Mary. They continued coasting along this tract of land towards the South Pole, and met with a couple of islands so full of seals and pengwins, that, in an hour's space, they could have laden all the five ships. The pengwins are a black, heavy, unwieldy fowl, extremely fat, covered over with a sort of down instead of feathers, and armed with a bill like a raven's; they maintain themselves altogether out of the waters, eating nothing but fish. Their next advance was to forty-nine and one-half degrees south latitude; here they were shut up by hard weather, and forced to take up their winter quarters for no less than five months. "They passed their time in this place but very unpleasantly, and for a long time believed that the country was uninhabited; but at length they were undeceived, as to this point; for a savage of the neighbouring parts came up to give them a visit; a brisk jolly fellow, very merrily disposed, singing and dancing all the way as he came: Being got to the haven, he stood there and threw dust upon his head, which they observing, sent some ashore to him, who making the like signs of peace, upon that assurance he came along with them to the ship, without fear or scruple. His bulk and stature was such, as would easily allow him the character of a giant; the head of one of their middle-sized men reached but to his waist, and he was proportionally big: His body was formidably painted all over, especially his face; a couple of stag's horns drawn upon each cheek, and great red circles about his eyes; his colours were otherwise mostly yellow, only his hair was white. For his apparel he had the skin of a beast clumsily sewed together; but a beast as strange as that was that wore it, everyway unaccountable, neither mule, horse, nor camel, but something of every one, the ears of the first, the tail of the second, and the shape and body of the last. It was an entire suit, all of one piece from head to foot; as his breast and back were covered with it above, so his very legs and feet were wrapped up in the same beneath. The arms that he brought with him were a stout bow and arrows; the string of the former was a gut or sinew of that monstrous beast; and the latter, instead of iron heads, were tipped with sharp stones. The admiral made him eat and drink, and he enjoyed himself very comfortably on ship-board, till he happened to peep into a large looking-glass, that was given him among other trifles. This put him into a fright, which he could not easily recover; so that, starting back with violence, he tumbled a couple of the men that stood by him to the ground However, this giant fared so well amongst them, (notwithstanding the fright by the looking-glass,) that quickly after they had the company of more; particularly one came, and made himself mighty familiar, carried it pleasantly, and with so much good humour amongst them, that our Europeans were also pleased with his company. He gave them a sight of one of those beasts whose skin they wear; but we have, in this account, nothing of any particular description of it added, to justify or disprove the former surmises about it. "The general was desirous of making some of these gigantic people prisoners; and, in order to it, his crew took the following method: They filled their hands with toys, and little things that pleased them, and, in the meantime, put iron shackles upon their legs, which they believed were very fine playthings, as well as the rest, and were pleased with the jingling sound of them, till they found how they were hampered and betrayed; but then they fell a bellowing like bulls, and implored the help of Setebos in that extremity; they cried aloud for his assistance, but he did not come to deliver them; and what power it is they gave that name to they best know. To desire his help in misery, implied some notions conceived of his goodness and compassion; and it is not to be imagined, that they would thus crave relief of an evil spirit, that used to vex and afflict them. It must be owned that they report very strange things of horrid forms and appearances, frequently seen amongst these people; of horned dæmons with long shag hair, throwing out fire both before and behind; but these seem to be dreams and fables. This account goes further as to the inhabitants, and reports, that most of these people wear the same sort of apparel that they first appeared in, that is, the skins of the fore-mentioned beast; they go with their hair short; yet what there is, they tie up with a cotton lace. They have no fixed habitations, but certain moveable cottages, which they carry from one place to another, as their fancy leads them; and the very same materials which they use for the defence of their bodies, they use also for the defence and covering of these cottages : What flesh they eat, they bestow no ceremony of dressing upon; but devour it fresh and raw as it comes to their hands: Besides which, they have a certain sweet root amongst them called Capar, which is a considerable part of their food. They add also, that they are very jealous of their women; but they do not tell us they saw any of them." |