*

"While this coquetry, or shyness, is exhibited by John Shark, the whole afterpart of the ship is so clustered with heads, that not an inch of spare room is to be had for love nor money. The rigging, the mizen-top, and even the gaff, out to the very peak; the hammock-nettings and the quarters, almost down to the counter, are stuck over with breathless spectators, speaking in whispers, if they venture to speak at all, or can find leisure for any thing but fixing their gaze on the monster, who as yet is free to roam the ocean, but who, they trust, will soon be in their power. * The first symptom of an enemy's flag coming down in the fight was never hailed with greater joy than is felt by a ship's crew on the shark turning round to seize the bait. The preparatory symptoms of this intention are so well known to every one on board, that, the instant they begin to appear, a greedy whisper of delight passes from mouth to mouth amongst the assembled multitude; every eye is lighted up, and such as have not bronzed their cheeks by too long exposure to sun and wind to betray any change of colour, may be seen to alter their hue from pale to red, and back to pale again, like the tints on the sides of the dying dolphin. ** Even if he does not turn completely round, he is forced to slue himself, as it is called, so far as to show some portion of his white belly. The instant the white skin flashes on the sight of the expectant crew, a subdued cry, or murmur of satisfaction, is heard amongst the crowd: but no one speaks, for fear of alarming the shark. "Sometimes, at the very instant the bait is east over the stern, the shark flies at it with such eagerness, that he actually springs partially out of the water. This, however, is rare. On these occasions he gorges the bait, the hook, and a foot or two of the chain, without any mastication or delay, and darts off with his treacherous prize with such prodigious velocity and force, that it makes the rope crack again as soon as the whole coil is drawn out.

"The suddenness of the jerk with which the poor devil is brought up, when he has reached the length of his tether, often turns him quite over on the surface of the water. Then commence the loud cheers, taunts, and other sounds of rage and triumph, so long suppressed. A steady pull is insufficient to carry away the line, but it sometimes happens that the violent struggles of the shark, when too speedily drawn up, snaps either the rope or the hook, and so he gets off, to digest the remainder as he best can. It is, accordingly, held the best practice to play him a little, with his mouth at the surface, till he becomes somewhat exhausted. During this operation, one could almost fancy the enraged animal is conscious of the abuse which is flung down upon him; for, as he turns and twists and flings himself about, his eye glares upwards with a ferocity of purpose which makes the blood tingle in a swimmer's veins, as he thinks of the hour when it may be his turn to writhe under the tender mercies of his sworn foe!" i. 268-274.

It will, after this, be only proper retribution to fling Jack overboard himself into the dominions of his foe; but we shall choose for the purpose, one of those tiny specimens of the profession called ship-boys.

“Half-a-dozen of the ship's boys, youngsters sent on board by that admirable and most patriotic of naval institutions the Marine Society, were floundering about in the sail, and sometimes even venturing beyond the leech rope. One of the least of these urchins, but not the least courageous of their number, when taunted by his more skilful companions with being afraid, struck out boldly beyond the prescribed bounds. He had not gone much further than

"The captain of the forecastle, a tall, finelooking, hard-a-weather fellow, was standing on the shank of the sheet anchor with his arms across, and his well-varnished canvas hat drawn so much over his eyes that it was difficult to tell whether he was awake, or merely dozing in the sun, as he leaned his back against the fore-topmast backstay. The seaman, however, had been attentively watching the young party all the time, and rather fearing that mischief might ensue from their rashness, he had grunted out a warning to them from time to time, to which they paid no sort of attention. At last he desisted, saying they might drown themselves if they had a mind, for never a bit would he help them; but no sooner did the sinking figure of the adventurous little boy catch his eye, than, diver-fashion, he joined the palms of his hands over his head, inverted his position in one instant, and urging himself into swifter motion by a smart push with his feet against the anchor, shot head foremost in the water. The poor lad sank so rapidly that he was at least a couple of fathoms under the surface before he was arrested by the grip of the sailor, who soon rose again, bearing the bewildered boy in his hand, and, calling to the other youngsters to take better care of their companion, chucked him right into the belly of the sail in the midst of the party. The fore-sheet was hanging in the calm, nearly into the water, and by it the dripping seaman scrambled up again to his old birth on the anchor, shook himself like a great Newfoundland dog, and then, jumping on the deck, pro

that class of beings, in which we ourselves cordially join him.

"It was in warm weather, and the men, as usual, were dining on the main deck; the grog had been served out, and the happy Johnnies were just beginning to sip their darling beverage, when Mr. Mischief, incessantly occupied in his vocation of doing wrong, and utterly incapable of resisting any good opening to get himself into a scrape, saw the grog-kid of the captain of the top's mess standing by the forehatchway. So he paced round, as if seeking for a bit of bread, but all the while keeping his face turned just so far from the fated grog-vessel, that no one suspected his design. On reaching the spot his heart began to fail him, but not his wickedness; indeed, his was the very beau ideal of that character described in the satire of Junius, which, without courage enough to resist doing a bad action, has yet virtue enough to be ashamed of it.' Whether or not these mixed motives influenced old Jacko, I cannot pretend to say; but there he sat, chattering, screaming, and trembling, as if the sergeant's cane had been within an inch of his hide.

"What ails you, my dear Mr. Saint James?' said the captain of the top, playfully addressing the monkey. 'What are you afraid of? Nobody is going to hurt you; we are all sailors and friends here, man. Not a royal marine is within hail of you!"

"At this stage of the colloquy the sly rogue having mustered all his energies, fairly grasped the grog-kid in his arms, and, making a clean spring from the deck, placed himself, at the first bound, beyond the reach of the horrorstricken seaman. This exploit was not so adroitly performed as it might have been if Jacko had been less agitated, and one half of the delicious nectar in the sailor's cup was jerked out.

ceeded across the forecastle to shift himself." "You bloody thundering rascal of a monkey,' Another overboard story, but of a different bellowed the astounded topman: let go the kind:kid, or I'll shy this knife at your head!' "The threat was no sooner uttered than ex

"In a frigate, commanded by a well-known Tartar, as the martinets of the service are gene-ecuted, for the sailor, without waiting to see the rally denominated, one of the crew, I forget from what cause, took it in his head to jump overboard, for the purpose of drowning himself. When he began to sink, he discovered that a salt-water death was not quite so agreeable as he had reckoned upon; so he sung out lustily for a rope. The ship being brought to the wind, the man was picked up, with some difficulty. The matter was investigated instantly; and as soon as it appeared that he had gone overboard intentionally, the hands were turned up, the gangway rigged, and the offender seized up. 'Now,' said the captain, I shall punish you under the sixteenth article of war, which is as follows:

66

Every person in or belonging to the fleet, who shall desert, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as the circumstances of the case shall deserve."' And then, turning to the boatswain, he said, 'You will punish this man for desertion, or, which is exactly the same thing, for going out of the ship without leave.'

"Now, sir,' resumed the captain to the trembling culprit, if you have any longer a desire to go overboard, you have only to ask the first lieutenant's leave. He has my instructions to grant you permission; while I shall take very good care that you are not again picked up.'

The second volume is more interesting than the first, to read throughout, but it is less extractable-the pictures filling a larger canvas, and being more closely grouped. We must endeavour, however, to pick out a few traits in the life and conversations of a monkey-taking the opportunity of complimenting Captain Hall on his partiality for

effect of his summons, threw the knife; and had not his saintship ducked his head, there would have been an end of monkey tricks for that cruise. As the glittering steel passed before the wicked scamp's eyes, the flash deprived him of all recollection of the mischief in hand; with a loud yell, he leaped on the booms, and in his terror let the prize slip from his grasp. It fell on the coaming of the hatchway, hung for one instant, and then dashed right down into the fore cockpit, to the infinite astonishment of the boatswain's yeoman, a thirsty soul, and familiar with drink in all its shapes, but who declared he never before had tried grog in a showerbath.

"Up started the enraged party of seamen on their feet. All hands catch monkey!' was the cry; and in ten seconds the whole crew, including the cook with his ladle, and his mate with the tormentors in his hand, were seen scrambling on deck. Jacko scampered like lightning up the mainstay, and reached the top before any of the men, who had mounted the rigging, were half a dozen ratlines above the hammocks. The officers rushed to the quarterdeck, naturally fancying from the bustling sounds that a man was overboard." ii. 125—8,

The third volume, from the slight glance we have had time to give it, appears to be the best of all; and if we can find room, therefore, it is very possible that we may return to the work.

Domestic Manners of the Americans. By Mrs. Trollope. 2 vols. 8vo. Whittaker, Treacher & Co.

Mrs. Trollope has a quick eye and a clever hand; she excels in sprightly gossip, sarcastic remarks, and in delineations of domestic life, and must stand at the head of all those who have described the manners and recorded the doings of the great western community of republicans. Here, however, our praise must stop: she sees right, but she reasons wrong; she is full of prejudice. She drew with some skill the outline of the American character, but, like an engraver, she bit it in with aquafortis. She is an Englishwoman, and insists on weighing everything American in an English balance: she sailed to the great western continent, to use an American phrase, because she was one of those fastidious people, who would find little perfect or pleasing at home; your transatlantic republican, she imagined, was, if not an Apollo in shape, at least a god in sentiment, and away she went to worship and establish her household deities. She supposed herself a whig; whiggery she reckoned superior to toryism, and republicanism superior to whiggery, and, reasoning on this ascending scale of excellence, she looked for nothing short of perfection, in a land which had no debt, paid no taxes, where nothing but talent

had a title, and where all men did what was

right in their own eyes, and all ladies honoured human freedom so much, that servitude was next to unknown. She believed that the members of Congress were a better sort of Catos; that common tavern-keepers were as polished and polite as English masters of the ceremonies, and that the divine blessing of liberty had inspired the rudest part of the population with such a sense of courtesy and gentleness, as would cast the rude boors of Britain into the shade. Nothing happened as she expected. As the people looked not at all like her fancy picture, she concluded that American society was wholly wrong; that republicanism was a national nuisance; and that freedom, since it served to sweeten labour and soothe servitude, was a great evil. In short, she liked nothing that she saw in America, save the country itself: the land, with her, is a second Eden; but the people, whom Providence permits to keep and dress it, are, in her opinion, rude, contumacious, and unjust, and fear neither God

nor man.

For many of Mrs. Trollope's sorrows, we can have but little sympathy. The want of the arts and the graces, which embellish life, are set down as the source of all her woe: the afflictions which prey sorest upon her, are six in number-viz. servant girls persist in calling themselves helps; 2, Men smoke and spit; 3, Colonels keep stores, and majors gin-shops; 4, Men, when they sit, put their feet on the backs of the chairs; 5, Gentlemen and ladies eat with knives; 6, The whole United Provinces agreed in calling the authoress "The old woman." Now, had Mrs. Trollope chosen, she might have found much of the same sort of thing in her native land: here, labouring men persist in calling their masters their employers; here, many men of rank and education both smoke and spit; here, members of parliament are tailors and brewers, and editors of periodicals; here, in our own memory, men and women both ate

little known; and here, not only ladies in with knives, for, as then, silver forks were years are called old, but we have heard, without either sense or propriety, ministers of state and reverend bishops called old

women.

Mrs. Trollope is more than unreasonable in her expectations: she expects to find in a cheap and working republic all the courtly airs and put-on graces of a country of kings

and earls-she looks for the assumed obsequiousness and bowing submission which are forced upon the people of this land by a sense of dependence, and the feeling that it is necessary, amid the rivalry of dealers, to secure customers. She was ignorant of the way in which the freedom which she worshipped wrought, when she looked for such results. The equality, of which her helps compelled the recognition, is sufficient evidence that the peasantry of America are higher in the social scale than the same class in England. Her horror at discovering discourteous Colonels and Majors who kept public-houses is truly laughable. She had not the sagacity to see how much this told in favour of her uncivil republicans: with them, as in the army of Napoleon, talent and courage are the passports to commissions: with us, rank in the army is the prerogative of the rich or the titled-those of gentle blood alone have brains to lead-the lowly-born have only

courage to follow. These remarks have been forced from us by the perusal of this clever but most inconsiderate book, and they are necessary to qualify and abate the rigour of the following delineations which our ungentle traveller makes :—

American Officers.

"The gentlemen in the cabin (we had no ladies) would certainly, neither from their language, manners, nor appearance, have received that designation in Europe; but we soon found their claim to it rested on more substantial ground, for we heard them nearly all addressed by the titles of general, colonel, and major. On mentioning these military dignities to an English friend some time afterwards, he told me that he too had made the voyage with the same description of company, but remarking that there was not a single captain among them; he made the observation to a fellow-passenger, and asked how he accounted for it. 'Oh, sir, the captains are all on deck,' was the reply.

"Our honours, however, were not all military, for we had a judge amongst us. I know it is equally easy and invidious to ridicule the peculiarities of appearance and manner in people of a different nation from ourselves; we may, too, at the same moment, be undergoing the same ordeal in their estimation; and, moreover, I am by no means disposed to consider whatever is nevertheless, it was impossible not to feel renew to me as therefore objectionable; but, pugnance to many of the novelties that now

surrounded me.

"The total want of all the usual courtesies of the table, the voracious rapidity with which the viands were seized and devoured, the strange uncouth phrases and pronunciation; the loathsome spitting, from the contamination of which it was absolutely impossible to protect our dresses; the frightful manner of feeding with their knives, till the whole blade seemed to enter into the mouth; and the still more frightful pocket knife, soon forced us to feel that we were manner of cleaning the teeth afterwards with a not surrounded by the generals, colonels, and majors of the old world; and that the dinner hour was to be anything rather than an hour of enjoyment." i. 23-4.

Liberty and Equality.

"The steam-boat had wearied me of social meals, and I should have been thankful to have eaten our dinner of hard venison and peachsauce in a private room; but this, Miss Wright said was impossible; the lady of the house would consider the proposal as a personal affront, and, moreover, it would be assuredly refused. and when the great bell was sounded from an This latter argument carried weight with it, upper window of the house, we proceeded to the dining-room. The table was laid for fifty persons, and was already nearly full. Our party had the honour of sitting near 'the lady,' but to check the proud feelings to which such distinction might give birth, my servant, William, sat very nearly opposite to me. The company consisted of all the shop-keepers (store-keepers as they are called throughout the United States) of the little town. The mayor also, who was a friend of Miss Wright's, was of the party; he is a pleasing gentlemanlike man, and seems sissippi. We were told that since the erection strangely misplaced in a little town on the Mis

of this hotel, it has been the custom for all the male inhabitants of the town to dine and breakfast there. They ate in perfect silence, and with such astonishing rapidity that their dinner was over literally before ours was begun; the instant they ceased to eat, they darted from the table in the same moody silence which they had preserved since they entered the room, and a second set took their places, who performed their silent parts in the same manner.

The

only sounds heard were those produced by the

coughing, &c. No women were present except knives and forks, with the unceasing chorus of ourselves and the hostess; the good women of Memphis being well content to let their lords partake of Mrs. Anderson's turkeys and venison, (without their having the trouble of cooking for them), whilst they regale themselves on mash and milk at home." i. 33-4.

American Manners.

"All animal wants are supplied profusely at Cincinnati, and at a very easy rate; but, alas! these go but a little way in the history of a day's enjoyment. The total and universal want of manners, both in males and females, is so remarkable, that I was constantly endeavouring to account for it. It certainly does not proceed from want of intellect. I have listened to much dull and heavy conversation in America, but rarely to any that I could strictly call silly, (if I except the everywhere privileged class of very young ladies). They appear to me to have clear heads and active intellects; are more ignorant on subjects that are only of conventional value, than on such as are of intrinsic importance; but there is no charm, no grace in their conversation. I very seldom during my whole stay in the country heard a sentence elegantly turned, and correctly pronounced from the lips of an American. There is always something either in the expression or the accent that jars the feelings and shocks the taste." p. 63-4.

A Domestic Picture.

"We visited one farm, which interested us particularly from its wild and lonely situation, and from the entire dependence of the inhabitants upon their own resources. It was a partial clearing in the very heart of the forest. The house was built on the side of a hill, so steep that a high ladder was necessary to enter the front door, while the back one opened against the hill side; at the foot of this sudden eminence ran a clear stream, whose bed had been deepened into a little reservoir, just opposite the house. A noble field of Indian-corn stretched away into the forest on one side, and a few halfcleared acres, with a shed or two upon them, occupied the other, giving accommodation to cows, horses, pigs, and chickens innumerable.

Immediately before the house was a small potatoe garden, with a few peach and apple trees. The house was built of logs, and consisted of two rooms, besides a little shanty or lean-to, that was used as a kitchen. Both rooms

were comfortably furnished with good beds, drawers, &c. The farmer's wife, and young woman who looked like her sister, were spinning, and three little children were playing about. The woman told me that they spun and wove all the cotton and woollen garments of the family, and knit all the stockings; her husband, though not a shoe-maker by trade, made all the shoes. She manufactured all the soap and candles they used, and prepared her sugar from the sugar-trees on their farm. All she wanted with money, she said, was to buy coffee, tea, and whiskey, and she could get enough any day by sending a batch of butter and chicken to market.' They used no wheat, nor sold any of their corn, which, though it appeared a very large quantity, was not more than they required to make their bread and cakes of various kinds, and to feed all their live stock during the winter. She did not look in health, and said they had all had ague in the fall; but she seemed contented, and proud of her independence; though it was in somewhat a mournful accent that she said, "Tis strange to us to see company: I expect the sun may rise and set a hundred times before I shall see another human that does not belong to the family." i. 68–70.

The most fertile source of annoyance to our sensitive country woman was, the negotiations which she had to carry on in the engagements of servants: instead of hastening to a market town and selecting out some buxom damsel who carried a leaf of holly or a sprig of broom in her belt as a sign that she was to hire, Mrs. Trollope was compelled to sue, and beseech, and use dainty words, else these transatlantic helps tossed their independent heads, scoffed her offers, and sought some more courteous mistress. On this sore subject our authoress dilates with no little cleverness:

American Helps.

"The greatest difficulty in organising a family establishment in Ohio, is getting servants, or, as it is there called, 'getting helps,' for it is more than petty treason to the Republic, to call a free citizen a servant. The whole class of young women, whose bread depends upon their labour, are taught to believe that the most abject poverty is preferable to domestic service. Hundreds of half-naked girls work in the papermills, or in any other manufactory, for less than half the wages they would receive in service; but they think their equality is compromised by the latter, and nothing but the wish to obtain some particular article of finery will ever induce them to submit to it. A kind friend, however, exerted herself so effectually for me, that a tall stately lass soon presented herself, saying, 'I be come to help you.' The intelligence was very agreeable, and I welcomed her in the most gracious manner possible, and asked what I should give her by the year.

"Oh Gimini!' exclaimed the damsel, with a loud laugh, 'you be a downright Englisher, sure enough. I should like to see a young lady engage by the year in America! I hope I shall get a husband before many months, or I expect I shall be an outright old maid, for I be most seventeen already; besides, mayhap I may want to go to school. You must just give me a dollar and a half a week, and mother's slave, Phillis, must come over once a week, I expect, from t'other side the water, to help me clean.' *

"When she found she was to dine in the kitchen, she turned up her pretty lip, and said, I guess that's 'cause you don't think I'm good

|

enough to eat with you. You'll find that won't do here.' I found afterwards that she rarely ate any dinner at all, and generally passed the time in tears. I did everything in my power to conciliate and make her happy, but I am sure she hated me. I gave her very high wages, and she stayed till she had obtained several expensive articles of dress, and then, un beau matin, she came to me full dressed, and said, 'I must go.' 'When shall you return, Charlotte?' 'I expect you'll see no more of me.' And so we parted. Her sister was also living with me, but her wardrobe was not yet completed, and she remained some weeks longer, till it was." i. 73-77.

Mrs. Trollope an old Woman.

"My general appellation amongst my neighbours was 'the English old woman,' but in mentioning each other they constantly employed the term 'lady'; and they evidently had a pleasure in using it, for I repeatedly observed, that in speaking of a neighbour, instead of saying Mrs. Such-a-one, they described her as the lady over the way what takes in washing,' or as 'that there lady, out by the Gulley, what is making dip-candles. Mr. Trollope was as constantly boys, and the labourers on the canal were incalled the old man,' while draymen, butchers' variably denominated them gentlemen;' nay, we once saw one of the most gentlemanlike men in Cincinnati introduce a fellow in dirty shirt sleeves, and all sorts of detestable et cetera, to one of his friends, with this formula, D***** let me introduce this gentleman to you." i. 140.

saw,

full of natural intelligence and activity of mind and body, but he could neither read nor write. He drank but little whiskey, and but rarely chewed tobacco, and was therefore more free from that plague spot of spitting which rendered male colloquy so difficult to endure. He worked for us frequently, and often used to walk into the drawing-room and seat himself on the sofa, and tell me all his plans. He made an engagement with the proprietor of the wooded hill before mentioned, by which half the wood he could fell was to be his own. His unwearied industry made this a profitable bargain, and from the proceeds he purchased the materials for building a comfortable frame (or wooden) house; he did the work almost all entirely himself. He then got a job for cutting rails, and, as he could cut twice as many in a day as any other man in the neighbourhood, he made a good thing of it. He then let half his pretty house, which was admirably constructed, with an ample portico, that kept it always cool. His next step was contracting for the building a wooden bridge, and when I left Mohawk he had fitted up his half of the building as an hotel and grocery store; and I have no doubt that every sun that sets sees him a richer man than when it rose.

He hopes to make his son a lawyer, and I have little doubt that he will live to see him sit in congress; when this time arrives, the wood-cutter's son will rank with any other member of congress, not of courtesy, but of right, and the idea that his origin is a disadvantage, will never occur to the imagination of the most exalted of his fellow-citizens." i. 170-72.

There are two points in which we concur with the authoress of this work-viz. the employment of slaves, and the extermination of the native Indians. How any men can imagine themselves in the full enjoyment of liberty, while they detain their fellow-creatures in slavery, we cannot for our souls imagine. Their negotiations, and expeditions, and plans to extinguish-such is their diplo matic language the claims of the Indians, are alike cruel and unholy. Alas! principle is one thing and practice is another; these are the orators who talk eloquently of human liberty and the indefeasible rights of man. We have reserved the subject of religion for a separate article-we think Mrs. Trollope is as far wrong in matters of devotion as in discussions on democracy, and must tell her

So.

The Easter Gift, a Religious Offering. By L. E. L. London, 1832. Fisher & Co. SOME verses on Wilkie's painting of 'The Hymn to the Virgin' gave us good hopes of Miss Landon's success in serious poetry-but a specimen, last week published, shook our faith, and this volume has, we confess, disappointed us. However, we desire rather to gratify our readers than justify our judgment, and shall therefore make selection of, by far, the finest passage in the volume, written in illustration of Carlo Dolci's well-known picture of

The Magdalen.

The plaining murmur of the midnight wind,
Like mournful music is upon the air:
So sad, so sweet, that the eyes fill with tears,
Without a cause-ah! no, the heart is heaped
So full with perished pleasures, vain regrets,
That nature cannot sound one grieving note
Upon her forest lyre, but still it finds
Mute echo in the sorrowing human heart.
Now the wind wails among the yellow leaves,
About to fall, over the faded flowers,
Over all summer's lovely memories,
About to die: the year has yet in store
A few dim hours, but they are dark and cold:
Sunshine, green leaves, glad flowers, they all are gone;
And it has only left the worn-out soil,
The leafless bough, and the o'erclouded sky.
And shall humanity not sympathize
With desolation which is like its own?
So do our early dreams fade unfulfilled;
So does our hope turn into memory,
The one so glad-the other such despair,
(For who can find a comfort in the past!)
So do our feelings harden, or decay,
Encrusting with hard selfishness too late,
Or bearing that deep wound, whereof we die.

Where are the buoyant spirits of our youth?
Where are the dancing steps, that but kept time
To our own inward gladness-where the light
That flushed the cheek into one joyous rose;
That lit the lips, and filled the eyes with smiles?--
Gone, gone as utterly as singing birds,
And opening flowers, and honey-laden bees,
And shining leaves, are from yon forest gone.
I know this from myself-the words I speak
Were written first with tears on mine own heart;
And yet, albeit, it was a lovely time!
Who would recall their youth, and be again,
The dreaming-the believing-the betrayed?
The feverishness of hope, the agony,
As every disappointment taught a truth,
For still is knowledge bought by wretchedness,—
Who could find energy to bear again?
Ye clear bright stars, that from the face of heaven
Shine out in tranquil loveliness, how oft
Have ye been witness to my passionate tears;
Altho' beloved, and beautiful, and young;
Yet happiness was not with my unrest.
For I had pleasure, not content; each wish
Seemed granted, only to be weariness.
No hope fulfilled its promise; and no dream
Was ever worth its waking bitterness.
Then there was love, that crowding into one
All vanity, all sorrow, all remorse;
Till we loathe life, glad, beauteous, hoping life,
And would be fain to lay our burthen down,
Although we might but lay it in the grave,
All natural terror lost in hope of peace.

The engravings, which the poems are written to illustrate, are all old acquaintances,

and, we believe, appeared heretofore in 'The Iris-many of them are beautiful. A criticism ought to perplex those who denounced The Iris' as a very inferior production.

Journal of an Expedition to explore the Course and Termination of the Niger; with a Narrative of a Voyage down that River to its Termination. By Richard and John Lander. 3 vols. London, 1832. Murray.

hospitality they had continually to trust. They have marked the leading features of everything interesting, and told their story in a clear straightforward style.

The 22nd of March 1830, finds the travellers at the town of Badagry, on the coast of Guinea, the King of which, Adooley, a crafty and fawning barbarian, cheats them before they depart, plunders them in a courtly way as they go, and deceives them afterwards. The request which he makes at parting, kingdom, yet it was necessary to comply amounted to more than the worth of his

"Four regimental coats, such as are worn by the King of England, for himself, and forty less splendid than these, for the use of his captains; two long brass guns, to run on swivels; fifty muskets, twenty barrels of gunpowder, four handsome swords, and forty cutlasses;' to which are added, 'two puncheons of rum, a carpenter's chest of tools, with oils, paints, and brushes,' the chief himself boasting that he was a blacksmith, carpenter, painter, and indeed every trade but a tailor. Besides these trifles he wished to obtain a half-dozen rockets, and a

ALL books of travels are pleasant to us; after wandering over the arid deserts of fiction-with it; he desired, scenes in which imagination has done her best, -we hail a work of truth like a well in a wilderness, and revel on its pages like a locust on a green leaf. It is true, that many of the most enchanting regions of the earth have become familiar to European feet; that horde after horde of barbarians have been described and drawn; that island after island has furnished picturesque materials for quartos; and that even the mysterious North Pole has been all but invaded by our countrymen: yet, with all that, the unsatiable desire for something new is strong upon us, and we speed the going, and welcome the coming guest, who promises to tell us of any latitude concerning which a map-maker has a doubt. The Nile, the Poles, and the Niger, have each in their turn engaged attention and called forth enterprising travellers: we know not what will attract next, but, whatever it is, we have no doubt it will be made welcome, both by the nation, and by that constant patron of all discoverers, Mr. Murray. He is the great deliverer of all wanderers big with travel: whether their march has been over the mountain-waves, like Campbell's Brittania, or over the mountains themselves, they are made welcome to Albemarle Street; they are received with the right hand of good fellowship; their portraits are hung up among the elect; their rough memorandums are set in order, and written out in shining ink; and finally, they are enriched in purse, and become memorable men. All that we have said, is borne out by the volumes before us; and the hour is at hand, when the two Landers, the Castor and Pollux of travellers, will be presented to the world, as the only true lions of the great African desert, who can roar you like any nightingale, concerning the source of the Niger, and the palaces of Timbuctoo.

The real object of the journey of these enterprising brothers, was concealed from the princes and petty lords of Africa; and the recovery of the memorandums of Mungo Park, was constantly assigned as the cause of the expedition. They carried with them a large stock of scarlet cloth; and, what was found still more useful, abundance of knives, needles, and gilt buttons: the needles conciliated the ladies, and the buttons were either given in presents, or used as ready coin, when emergency required. Above all, they had an uncommon stock of health, patience, and good-nature; nor did they disguise themselves as Asiatics, as wise men recommended, but went openly and honestly forward as Englishmen, and assuredly they fared not the worse for it. Nor, though men of common or little education, were they unobservant either of the wild country through which they passed, or of the manners, customs, and behaviour of the wilder tribes, to whose

rocket gun, with a soldier from Cape Coast, capable of undertaking the management of it. of cowries to be sent him, And lastly, he modestly ordered two puncheons defraying in part the expenses he had incurred for the purpose of in repelling the attacks of the men of Porto Novo, Attà, and Juncullee, the tribes inhabiting those places having made war upon him for allowing Captain Clapperton's last mission to proceed into the interior without their consent. We asked, jocosely, whether. Adooley would be satisfied with these various articles, when, having considered for a few moments, and conversed aloud to a few of his chiefs that were in the apartment at the time, he replied that he had forgotten to mention his want of a large umbrella, four casks of grape shot, and a barrel of flints, which having also inserted in the list, the letter was finally folded and sealed. It was then delivered into the hands of Adooley, who said that he should send it by Accra, one of his head men, to Cape Coast Castle, and that the man would wait there till all the articles should be procured for him. If that be the case, we imagine that Accra will have a very long time

to wait." i. 39-40.

Having made their way from Badagry, they turn their steps to Wow and Basha, and enter a romantic glen, of which they give the following clever description :

"Between six and seven o'clock A.M., we continued our route through woods, and large open patches of ground, and at about eleven in the forenoon, arrived at the borders of a deep glen, more wild, romantic, and picturesque, than can be conceived. It is enclosed and overhung on all sides by trees of amazing height and dimensions, which hid it in deep shadow. Fancy

"Many of the women of Bídjie have the flesh on their foreheads risen in the shape of marbles, and their cheeks similarly cut up and deformed, The lobes of their ears are likewise pierced, and is a prevailing fashion with all ranks.” i. 70. the holes made surprisingly large, for the insertion of pieces of ivory and wood into them, which

King had died lately; that sundry of his On reaching Jenna they find that the wives had hid themselves rather than be buried alive with the dear defunct; that one of them, a very old lady, had been discovered, and had now to make choice between a cup of poison and a blow on the head. Her hesitation and reluctance is well described:

"A heart that could not be touched at a scene of this nature, must be unfeeling indeed. Females have been coming all day to condole with the heard and seen nothing but sobbing and crying old lady, and to weep with her; so that we have from morning till the setting of the sun. The principal males in the town have likewise been and so has her grave-digger, who has just risen here to pay their last respects to their mistress; from prostrating himself on the ground before her. Notwithstanding the representations and remonstrances of the priest, and the prayers of the venerable victim to her gods for fortitude to undergo the dreadful ordeal, her resolution has forsaken her more than once. She has entered our yard twice to expire in the arms of her women, and twice has she laid aside the fatal poison, in order to take another walk, and gaze once more on the splendour of the sun and the glory of the heavens, for she cannot bear is still restless and uneasy, and would gladly the idea of losing sight of them for ever. She run away from Death, if she durst, for that imaginary being appears to her in a more terrible light than our pictures represent him, with his shadowy form and fatal dart. Die she must, and she knows it; nevertheless she will tenaciously cling to life till the very last moment. Meanwhile her grave is preparing, and preparations are making for a wake at her funeral. She is to be buried here in one of her own huts the moment after the spirit has quitted the body, which will be ascertained by striking the ground near which it may be lying at the time, when, if no motion or struggle ensues, the old woman will be considered as dead. The poison used by the natives on this occasion destroys life, it is said, in fifteen minutes." i. 93-4.

Assurance,' in Hood's Comic Annual:

"Hawks and vultures are exceedingly numerous, both at Jenna and this place; the former are bold and disgusting birds, but the latter are so hungry and rapacious, that they pounce fearlessly in the midst of the natives when at their meals. This evening one of them darted at a piece of meat which one of our men held between his fingers, and snatched it from him whilst he was conveying it to his mouth." i. 103.

The Slave Trade still finds victims in that

"We found numbers of people of both sexes in the path, who were returning from Egga to Chow, and several naked boys on their way to the coast, under the care of guardians. These are slaves, and will be sold most likely at Badágry. Women bore burdens on their heads that would tire a mule, and children not more than five or six years of age trudged after them, with loads that would give a full-grown person in Europe the brain fever." i. 106.

Objects still more touching were not distant the following is very affecting :

"Many women with little wooden figures of children on their heads passed us in the course of the morning-mothers who, having lost a child, carry such rude imitations of them about their persons for an indefinite time as a symbol of mourning. None of them could be induced to part with one of these little affectionate memorials." i. 107.

But we must loiter no longer in the outset of the journey, but proceed at once to

Boossa.

"The city of Boossá, as we have before observed, consists of a great number of groups or clusters of huts, all within a short distance of each other. It is bounded on one side by the river Quorra or Niger, and on the other by an extensive turreted wall, with moats, forming a complete semicircle. * * The soil of Boossá is, for the most part, very fertile, and produces rice, corn, yams, &c. in great abundance. Dowah, a kind of corn, is obtained here in the greatest perfection; it yields five hundred fold, and forms the principal food of the inhabitants, both rich and poor. Another variety of corn grows here, which has eight ears on a single stem: the grain is very small and sweet, but it is not cultivated to any extent. The butter-tree flourishes in and near the town; and palm oil is imported from Nouffie; but the latter is only used as an article of food, because it is very scarce and dear, and is purchased only by the king and a few of the principal inhabitants. The king and his midikie have each great numbers of fine cattle, but none of their subjects are in possession of a single bullock; they have, however, flocks of sheep and goats, and obtain immense quantities of fish from the Niger. Very good salt is brought from a salt lake on the borders of the river, which is about ten days' journey to the northward of this place; and pepper grows in every part of the country. Guinea-fowl, pheasants, partridges, and a variety of aquatic birds are found here in the greatest plenty, and have afforded us excellent sport. The natives sometimes endeavour to shoot them

with their arrows, but this method of procuring game is at all times very precarious and difficult; and two birds only have been thus killed during several years past. Deer and antelopes also abound near the city; but they are timid and shy, and rarely, if ever, caught by the inhabitants. The fish, with which the river abounds so plentifully, are eaten by all classes of people: they are tough, dry, and unsavoury; yet they form part of the daily food of the inhabitants, who appear exceedingly fond of them." ii. 9-11.

Visit to the Sultan of Yàoorie.

"We soon arrived at the palace, which is a very large building, or rather a group of buildings inclosed by a high wall; and dismounting, we were presently conducted through a low avenue formed by pillars, which was as dark as a subterraneous passage. This led to a large square yard, which we entered, and found it to

communicate with the sultan's apartments by the number of domestics that were hurrying about. Several people were sitting on the ground,

which a profound silence was preserved, and no one was polite enough to offer us a mat to sit on. At length we received a summons to advance, and were introduced into another square, very much resembling a clean farm-yard. Here we discovered the sultan sitting alone in the centre of the square, on a plain piece of carpeting, with a pillow on each side of him, and a neat brass pan in front. His appearance was not only mean, but absolutely squalid and dirty. He is a bigheaded, corpulent, and jolly-looking man, well stricken in years; and though there is something harsh and forbidding in his countenance, yet he was generally smiling during the conference." ii. 37-8.

City and Kingdom of Yàoorie. "Yàoorie is a large, flourishing, and united kingdom. It is bounded on the east by Haussa, on the west by Borgoo, on the north by Cubbie, and on the south by the kingdom of Nouffie. The crown is hereditary, and the government an absolute despotism. The former sultan was deposed by his subjects for his violent measures and general bad conduct; and the present ruler, who succeeded him, has reigned for the long period of thirty-nine years. The sultan has a strong military force, which has successfully repelled, it is said, the repeated attacks which the ever-restless Falàtahs for a number of years past made on the city and kingdom of Yaoorie; it is now employed in a remote province in quelling a rising insurrection, occasioned partly from the inability of the natives to pay their accustomed tribute, and partly from the harsh measures adopted by the sultan to compel them to do so. The city of Yaoorie is of prodigious extent, and is supposed to be as populous as any other in the whole continent, or at least that part of it which is visited by the trading Arabs. Its wall is high and very excellent, though made of clay alone, and may be between twenty and thirty miles in circuit; and it has eight vast entrancegates, or doors, which are well fortified after the manner of the country. The inhabitants manufacture a very coarse and inferior sort of gunpowder, which, however, is the best, and we believe the only manufactory of the kind in this part of the country; besides which they make very neat saddles, country cloth, &c.; and they grow indigo, tobacco, onions, wheat, and different kinds of grain; and vast quantities of rice, of superior quality. The inhabitants have likewise horses, bullocks, goats, &c., but notwithstanding their industry and the advantages which they enjoy, they are very poorly clad, have little money, and are perpetually complaining of their bad condition. An indifferent market is held in the city daily under commodious sheds, in which the above articles are offered for sale. ***

"There is a great variety of trees within the walls of the city, consisting of the lime, the palm, the mi-cadania, and the date; but the latter, though it appears very luxuriant, never was known to bear fruit. The palm-tree adorns the banks of the Niger, and increases in quantity the further we advance up the river; yet that variety of it which bears the cocoa-nut is nowhere to be seen, owing, most likely, to the distance from the sea. For a reason, already

given in a preceding part of this Journal, no proper estimation can be formed of the number of inhabitants which Yàoorie contains, but it is surprisingly great." ii. 46—9.

Here we must conclude for the present, but not without a home anecdote. Needles, it appears, are an article in great request, and the experience of Richard Lander burthened the travellers with a hundred thousand:

"Amongst them was a great quantity of 'Whitechapel sharps,' warranted' superfine, and not to cut in the eye!' Thus highly recommended, we imagined that these needles must have been excellent indeed; but what was our surprise when a number of them which we had disposed of, was returned to us with a complaint that they were all eyeless, thus redeeming with a vengeance the pledge of the manufacturer, that they would not cut in the eye.' On an examination afterwards, we found the same fault with the remainder of the 'Whitechapel sharps,' so that to save our credit we have been obliged to throw them away." ii. 42-3.

The work is dedicated to Viscount Goderich, introduced by a modest address from the Landers, and a very sensible and comprehensive History of African Research and Geography by Lieutenant Beecher, to whose valuable aid the brothers acknowledge themselves much indebted.

The Druid; a Tragedy, in Five Acts; with Notes on the Antiquities of Ireland. By T. Cromwell, Esq. London, 1832. Sherwood & Co.

THERE was a Cromwell who acted several fearful tragedies in Ireland, whose fame will never be forgotten: we fear that this tragedy on Ireland, is not destined to similar immortality; it is too declamatory for the stage, "The sultan's residence, as well as the houses and not very interesting in the closet. The of many of the principal inhabitants of the city, style does not vary with the characters, nor are two stories in height, having thick and are the characters themselves clearly porclumsy stairs of clay leading to the upper apart-trayed or sufficiently developed. But the ments, which are rather lofty; and, together with rooms on the ground floor, have door-ways sufficiently large to enable a person to enter them without putting himself to the inconvenience of stooping. The principal part of the The notes are more valuable than the orihouses are built in the circular and coozie fashion, but the inhabitants have a few square ones; and ginal work, and contain some very curious the sultan's are of no regular form whatever. It and interesting particulars respecting the may be considered somewhat singular that the condition of Ireland, before the invasion of generality of the natives of western and central, the Danes had destroyed the seats of learnand, we believe, also of northern Africa, moistening, and dispersed the Christian colleges

the floors of their huts and the inside of their

walls with a solution of cow-dung and water, two or three times a day, or as often as they can find the materials.' Though disagreeable to the smell of an European, this keeps the inshould have thought that Dr. Johnson, from terior of a dwelling as cool as it is dark.'" We whom this quotation is taken, was speaking of the native dwellings of this part of the world,

author manifestly possesses a cultivated taste and no small share of poetic power, though deficient in other qualifications necessary to the formation of a successful dramatist.

which once supplied missionaries to Europe. But the author is less successful in his Drui dical researches, where he has chosen the fanciful Vallancey as his guide, and followed etymologies. implicitly his forced analogies and equivocal