Catholic, and a Catholic in the city of Rome, I had not so written. The dirt and rubbish of other people's houses I am sorry to see; but I am not called to be their scavenger; but any filth, even a little dust or cobweb in my own mother's palace, grieves me to the soul, so jealous am I for her glory and honour. It is the duty of every child she hath, to sweep, dust, wash, and scour the palace themselves. I do not leave my mother's house because dirty and wicked servants have broken, damaged, and injured it and the furniture; I do all I can for it, let others do the same, and the house will soon be cleaned and put to rights. The Church, spite of storms and adverse winds and weather, insects, vermin, &c., still subsists: other sects, like branches, and pretty nosegays kept in boughpots for a while, look rich and gay, but they die away after a time,-they have no root, and are scarcely slips. The parent tree outlives her children,-God graft them on again! Forgive, dear Sir, the zealous superstition of a woman. "I have given up, for the present, the intention of removing to the Tower, of which Lord Moira is constable: I wish you would allow me to introduce you to him. He is himself an Irishman, born in Ireland, and moreover, he reveres the name and memory of John Wesley; and twice already in my life have I found Methodism a recommendation to his kindness for persons I wished to serve by his influence. Moreover, he is a man of genius and real solid learning,-a judge of men and books. At six years and a half old he could read, understand, and grammatically construe any ode of Horace at the first opening of the book. I was present when he did this at Moira Castle before, and to the great astonishment of, the Rector of Moira; he also read, and very prettily did the same by the First Epistle of St. John, in Greek. In the English language he was uncommonly correct and intelligent, and in the French I found him far beyond what much older children learn from the twice a-week lessons of hired masters; he had a most hungry appetite to learn more, and a good digestion thereon attendant. Lady Huntingdon, his mother's mother, loved Charles Wesley; and his wife she herself nursed when in the small pox. She would have loved John Wesley as much, if his spirit and garments had not had so much of Elisha's and the Baptist's camels'-hair texture; its contact, was friction-against-the-grain of the sainted vestments of Mr. Whitefield's elect lady. Besides, John Wesley might know too much of Syntax and Greek. Lady Huntingdon's daughter, the late Countess of Moira, and mother of the present Earl of Moira, was such an one in deed, and in truth, in mind, talents, and understanding, tempers, affections, and manners, as, had she lived 2000 years ago, Gabriel had hailed with the honors of heaven as highly favoured above women. Take her for all in all,' I shall not live to see her like again; yet she lives, and will for ever live in my mind's eye,' and heart of hearts." Oh, Dr. Clarke, I loved her as my soul; she honored me with her friendship,—that is too proud a word, but it hath been my passport to her noble son,-my chief merit with him, that I so loved his almost worshipped Mother. Shame on me, to have known so intimately, so familiarly, so many of the excellent ones of the earth, and yet bethe poor un-excellent, un-lovely thing I am. "Have you got my Hebrew catechism rendered into English? When it is done, let me have it again, for I highly prize it. Tell me also, after certain subtractions from, and plenary indulgences to, some of my ideas, did you relish my Odes on Religion? I will not say the verse, but the thoughts. I wish for, but do not command my betters, or I would solicit from your leisure an hour's conference. Love to all your family. 'Your's affectionately, 'M. FREEMAN SHEPHERD." As Dr. Clarke, Mr. Watson, and Mr. Drew were contemporaries, and of the same communion, we are not surprised to meet with occasional notices of each other in these pages; and these notices, we are happy to add, are equally honourable to the heads and hearts of their respective writers. Honest Drew, we confess, the more we converse with him, wins our affectionate regards. Having been informed of some illiberal remarks, made by a distinguished preacher in a public company, upon the commentary of Dr. Adam Clarke, Mr. Drew observed: 'I really wish 'that Popery were the only system whose leading characters 'would persuade the people to "believe as the Church believes." 'But, alas! Popery is not the only enemy which free inquiry 'has to encounter. Dr. Clarke is a man of gigantic mind, as ' well as profound learning, and has too firm an anchorage in the 'affections of the people at large, for unmanly insinuations to injure. He wishes the people to think; his opponents wish 'them to be of a more tractable disposition.' On another occasion, alluding to the censures and insinuations which had been levelled at his friend, he observed, Dr. Clarke is an eagle that, in his towering flight, cannot be overtaken by birds of an inferior order, and must therefore be shot.' 6 6 6 On the works of these three great luminaries of Methodism, we shall not offer any comments. As a scholar, we think that Dr. Clarke has been overrated: his learned labours, however, entitle him to the respect of all biblical students. Mr. Watson was a sturdy polemic and an eloquent declaimer, far superior, we apprehend, to Dr. Clarke in intellectual power. The mental capacity of Samuel Drew, directed as it was chiefly to metaphysical pursuits, required an early and a larger acquaintance with general science, and with dialectics, to ensure its perfect development. Yet he achieved, considering the inauspicious circumstances in which he was placed, a nobler fame than his illustrious compeers. Though these volumes contain much that is worthy of commendation, there are many opinions, and some statements, which are open to controversy, if not to contradiction. Yet, on the whole, neither Methodism, religion, nor learning, is likely to suffer by their publication. Art. IV. Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition to the Mouth of the Great Fish River, and along the Shores of the Arctic Ocean, in the Years 1833, 1834, and 1835. By Captain Back, R.N., Commander of the Expedition. Illustrated by a Map and Plates. 8vo., pp. x. 663. Price 30s. London, 1836. OUR present task will amount to little more than an explanation of our motives for apparent tardiness in noticing this interesting volume, as well as for now confining ourselves to a brief exposition of general circumstances, instead of entering on extended examination and discussion. The truth is, that publications of this sort come before the world in so many ways, and at such an early date, as to make it impossible for the prescribed and tardigrade movements of a regular periodical to have chance in the race, or to overtake the intelligence which is rushing into the world through an hundred inlets. Expeditions of discovery at public cost are, of course, publici juris; and no time is lost in giving general circulation to their results. The reports of scientific corporations, the conversazioni and soirées of literary associations, the daily and weekly journals, all eagerly snatch at the topic of the hour, until the subject becomes exhausted of its temporary interest, and is handed over to the great repository of materials for the history of knowledge. We are, in such matters as the present, always and unavoidably anticipated. It is no part of our plan to pick up stray intelligence, or write reviews on the faith of scraps and memoranda: we are constrained to wait, after the old homely fashion, until the book is out of the press, and fairly on the bookseller's counter. Nor can we, even then, venture, as some of our contemporaries have the knack of doing, to give an off-hand opinion touching a book we have exempted ourselves from the trouble of reading. Now this is just our position with regard to Captain Back's Arctic journey, From the first week of that enterprising Traveller's return, we have been hearing, in one way or other, of the details and results of his expedition, until comparatively little was left to communicate. It is true, that his book is a highly interesting one, and that we have been much gratified by following, in complete and continuous narrative, the course of his laborious and hazardous travel, and by the more precise understanding which it has afforded us of the state in which the general question remains; but this is hardly to be conveyed by a dry abridgment, since the effect materially depends on the accumulation of particulars. We have felt it expedient to give this explanation of our reasons for not entering largely into the circumstances of this important journey. For abstaining from the important in VOL. XVI.-N.S. Y Y quiries suggested by the course and termination of that journey, we have a still more satisfactory reason to assign. They are, as we think, left in a very doubtful state by the recent discoveries. Ross's furthest,' and Back's sistimus hic tandem, leave between them a surface, small indeed, but difficultly explicable; and as the attempt to connect the two points is now being made, we had rather leave the question open, than involve ourselves and our readers in uncertain speculations. We have then, under these circumstances, a clear course to pursue. Leaving the scientific inquiry to be determined by actual experiment, and refraining from details already before the public, we shall briefly indicate the leading points of Captain Back's journey, without attempting to trace him step by step through the intricacies of his route. No one can have forgotten the intense anxiety that prevailed four or five years ago, concerning the fate of Captain Ross and his companions, who had been absent during a period so protracted as to waken the most serious apprehensions for their safety. They had sailed in 1829; and it was clear that, if they had succeeded in passing the frozen barriers which arrested former discovery, they must have found means, before 1832, of communicating with the northern outposts of European civilization. The matter was vigorously taken up; subscriptions to a considerable amount were collected; and the deficiency was supplied by a grant from the Exchequer. Arrangements were made for a land expedition, having for its base of operations the Great Slave Lake; the previous route being by the Ottawa and French rivers, the Lakes Huron, Superior, and Winnipeg. The first object was to gain the banks of the Thlew-ee-choh, or Great Fish River, supposed to discharge its waters into Bathurst's Inlet: the subsequent proceedings were left to circumstances; but it seems to have been taken for granted, that the probable result would be to carry on the line of discovery from Cape Turnagain. Things turned out very differently from these anticipations. The river which it was hoped might be navigable to the sea,' proved to be choked with all sorts of obstructions; and the sea which it ultimately reached, washed a shore far to the eastward of the expected point. Early in August, 1833, Captain Back reached the Great Slave Lake, and lost no time in preparing for the search after the Thlew-ee-choh; an undertaking of no small difficulty from the uncertain and conflicting indications afforded by Indian testimony. Happily, his patient and skilful investigation proved successful. After threading narrows, shooting rapids, and crossing large sheets of water, he arrived at the termination of that extensive and protracted surface which, under all its modifications of form and name, is, we suppose, to be taken in the entire, as the Great Slave Lake. Here, however, he was completely at fault. He had gained one point, but the grand discovery was yet to be made; and all that he could infer from the information of the natives, amounted to little more than that somewhere in that direction the Great Fish River was to be found. It was not, indeed, at any great distance, for a short walk furnished him sufficient indications of its source; and it was soon found that a portage of less than a mile over a rise not exceeding two feet, was sufficient to place the canoes fairly afloat on the small lake whence originates the Thlew-ee-choh. An exploratory trip gave sufficient demonstration of its importance as a large and well supplied stream, but left the question of its course and termination altogether in doubt. Still, no option was afforded; and it became necessary to decide on following its windings wherever they might lead, since no other way presented itself of reaching the ocean with the means of navigation. All these preliminary circumstances being ascertained, and Captain Back having determined on his future proceedings, the party returned to the winter-quarters on the Great Slave Lake, there to complete their preparations for the great effort of the following summer. It was during this part of the journey that the following legend was narrated. 'When we got to a long and rounded mound, about half a mile from the western side, I observed that both the Indians assumed a look of superstitious awe, and maintained a determined silence. I inquired the reason of this reverential demeanour; when Maufelly, after some hesitation, with a face of great seriousness informed us, that the small island we were passing was called the Rat's Lodge, from an enormous musk-rat which once inhabited it. "But what you see there," said he, pointing to a rock on the opposite shore, with a conical summit, "that is the Beaver's Lodge; and lucky shall we be if we are not visited with a gale of wind, or something worse. The chief would perhaps laugh at the story which our old men tell, and we be lieve, about that spot." He then proceeded to narrate, with great earnestness and solemnity of manner, a traditionary tale which, as illustrative of Indian notions, may not be uninteresting to the reader. It was in substance as follows. "In that lodge there dwelt, in ancient times, a beaver as large as a buffalo; and, as it committed great depredations, sometimes alone, and sometimes with the aid of its neighbour the rat, whom it had enticed into a league, the bordering tribes, who suffered from these marauding expeditions, resolved upon its destruction. Accordingly, having consulted together on the best mode of executing their design, and arranged a combined attack, not, however, unknown to the wary beaver, which it seems had a spy in the enemy's quarters, they set out one morning before the sun rose, and, under cover of a dense vapour which hung upon the lake, approached, with noiseless paddle, the shore of the solitary lodge. Not a whisper was heard, as each Indian cautiously took his station, and stood with bow or spear in act to strike. One, the Eagle of his tribe,' advanced |