find some one who knows him." So good did this advice appear to Campbell and his wife, that they determined to follow it, and thanking the Scotch sailor for his kindness, they immediately returned to their inn.

"And is that truly a king's ship?" exclaimed the old people together, looking towards the spot to which the fisherman pointed. Heaven be praised

66

if we should find our son on board of her!"
"There's no doubt about her being a king's ship,
and a fine frigate to boot," answered the fisherman;
and in that respect he spoke the truth, though his
only object in inducing them to embark was to get
their money. Without for a moment considering
the expense, and forgetting all their fears of the wa-
ter, they eagerly took their seats in the boat, which
was only just large enough to bear them safely;

river, and shaped his course so as to cut off the
frigate, which was standing closehauled along the
coast.

On making inquiries, they found that the Portsmouth van, which was to start the next morning, was full, but that there was one about to set off for Southampton-a town, they were told, on the sea close to Portsmouth; and as their geographical knowledge was not very extensive, they fancied that they were as likely to find their son at the one place as at the other. So eager were they to pro-and the fisherman, loosening his sails, ran down the ceed, that on the same evening they commenced their journey. In those times coaches occupied the best part of twenty-four hours in performing the journey between London and Southampton, and light vans, as they were called, upwards of two days; so that the patience of the old couple was tried considerably before they reached the latter town. Eagerly they hurried down to the water's edge to look for a king's ship; but not one was to be seen in the harbor. Mournfully they stood gazing on the lovely expanse of the Southampton water; for they were strangers in a strange land, and there was no one to help them. Those were stirring times: there were few idlers on the quay to answer their questions; so they once more turned their steps to the inn where the van had deposited them. Here they found the driver, who, having a friend just about to start with his wagon for Poole, recommended them to go by it, as he affirmed that they were there more likely to find ships than at any other port.

"But we are wishing to go to a place called Portsmouth or Plymouth, where the big ships come," said old Campbell.

"And Poole is on the way there," answered the rascally wagoner, who, provided he got his fare, cared little for the inconvenience to which the old couple might be put. The result, at all events, was, that to Poole they went. Poole is a town in Dorsetshire, on the coast, close to Hampshire, and from it the high cliffs of the Isle of Wight at the entrance of the Solent are clearly seen. A river with low mud banks flows past it, but is not navigable for vessels of any size; so that when the anxious parents hurried down to the quay, they were again doomed to suffer the bitter pangs of disappointment.

Thinking that the nearer they got to the sea, the nearer they should be to him whom they sought, they walked on to the very end of the wharf extending along the side of the river, their eyes wandering over the blue shining waters of the Channel, now rippled over only by a gentle summer breeze from the north. While standing there, they were accosted by a fisherman whose boat was made fast to

The frigate seen by our old friends was the San Fiorenzo, commanded by Sir Harry Burrard Neale, and was now on her way from Portsmouth to Weymouth to receive on board his Majesty King George III., of whom Sir Harry was most deservedly an especial favorite. The king was at that time residing at Weymouth, to enjoy the benefit of sea-air, when he constantly made short excursions on the water on board the San Fiorenzo. As Sir Harry was pacing the quarter-deck, conversing kindly with some of his officers, he observed, some time after they had cleared the Needles, a small boat standing out to sea.

"Where can that fellow be running to?" he asked of his first lieutenant. "Is he not making signals to us? Take your glass and see."

"Yes, sir; there are two people in her waving to us," answered the officer, after glancing through his telescope.

"It will not delay us long," observed Sir Harry partly to himself; so heave the ship to, Mr. and we will see what it is they want."

The main-topsail was accordingly thrown aback, and in two minutes more the boat with the old Campbells was alongside. A midshipman then hailed them, and asked them what they wanted.

Speaking both together, they endeavored to explain themselves.

"What is it the people in the boat want?" asked Sir Harry.

"They are a man and a woman, and as far as 1 can make out, sir, they are asking for their son," replied the midshipman.

"Let them come on board, and we will hear what they have to say," said the kind-hearted captain; and with some little difficulty old Campbell and his wife were at length got on deck, and conducted aft to Sir Harry.

"For whom are you inquiring, my good people?" asked the captain.

"Our bairn, sir; our bairn!" answered the mother. "For many a weary day have we been looking for him, and never have our eyes rested on his face since the fatal morning when he was carried off from Leith."

"What is his name?" inquired Sir Harry. "David, sir; David Campbell. He was called so after his father," answered the old dame. "We have a man of that name on board," observed the first lieutenant to the captain. "He is in the watch below."

"Let him be called on deck," said Sir Harry ; and we will see if these good people acknowledge him as their son."

"Well, it's no easy job you will have to find him among the hundreds of ships in the navy," said the fisherman. "But if you want to go on board" a king's ship, there's one now just coming out by the Needle Passage, and mayhap you will find your son on board of her. Now, if you will give me ten shillings, I will run you alongside of her with this

breeze in no time."

The name was passed along the deck below, and in a minute a fine active youth was seen springing up the main-hatchway. A mother's eye was not to be deceived. It was her own Davie. "It is

it is my ain bairn!" she cried, rushing forward to meet him; and regardless of the bystanders, before the youth had recognized her, to his utter astonishment she clasped him in her arms, and cov-cy to pitch into opposite neighbor, succeeded by a ered his cheek with kisses. lively sense of my own importance.

We have seen advertisements in all the newspapers, for some months past, with this heading. We have not the least notion what it means. be that modern ingenuity has invented furniture which helps us to discharge our duties to ourselves and our neighbors? We can at once appreciate the value of a bed which, at 6 o'clock every morning, turns out the occupant on the floor, and makes itself; or a shower-bath which persists steadily, on the coldest days, in irrigating its owner, notwithstanding his struggles; or chairs and tables which, the moment a quarter's rent is due, take No. 2.-From THOMAS LINT, a Student at BAR-themselves in execution, and set off to the broker's;

POETRY.-The Blind Boy, 207—A Mother's Memories; Kennst du das Land, 208.

SCRAPS.-Washington Monument; Great West; Intoxication from Ether, 213-Bosjemans;

The Steerage, 215.

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LITTELL'S LIVING AGE.-No. 169.-7 AUGUST, 1847.

From the Quarterly Review.

Sabine. They may have supplied new elements for those wondrous calculations which enabled the former from his study at Berlin to prick off on the map, to a near approximation at least, the place of the magnetic pole; they have probably suggested paragraphs for a new volume or a new edition of the Cosmos." To guide the investigations, to correct the conclusions of such minds as these, is a privilege of which a British sailor may be proud.

The more popular results of this expedition, such as are appreciable by the mass of the reading pub lic, lie in a narrow compass. The record is not diversified by any encounter with any southern counterpart to those secluded tribes of the human

north, habitable as these regions are, and civilized in comparison with the volcanic deserts of the south. No northern explorer has, we believe, yet passed the limits of vegetable life. Even on Melville Island the lichen and the alga yet retain their place in the scheme of nature. But on the ice-clad peaks of the land discovered by Sir James Ross not the minutest trace of a cryptogamous plant is discerni ble, and the ocean, which freezes to their base, is equally barren of aquatic vegetation. Some fea tures, however, of the Antarctic region have a char acter of far greater sublimity than attaches to any scenery yet observed in the north. A continent of vast and, as yet, unmeasured extent, the northern extremity of which is situated in the 71st degree of south latitude, sheathed in eternal ice from where its sea-line gives harbor to the seal and the penguin to where its summits, attaining three or four times the height of Hecla, like Hecla give vent to subterranean fires ;-extending at nearly a right angle to this continent, a precipice of ice, varying from 100 to 150 feet in height, and presenting for some 500 miles an impervious barrier to the bowsprits of

1. A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions during the Years 1839-43. By Captain Sir JAMES CLARK Ross, R. N. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1847. 2. Notes on the Botany of the Antarctic Voyage conducted by Captain Sir J. C. Ross. By Sir W. J. HOOKER. London, 1843. THIRTY years have elapsed since one of our colleagues first addressed himself to the task of directing the public mind to the subject of Arctic exploration.* He has lived to see many of his expectations justified-and we hope he may yet see others of them realized. During the interval, those so long honored with the fruits of his hore sub-family who burrow in the farthest regions of the seciva have never been inattentive to the progress of that system of discovery which owes so much to the suggestions and official encouragement of that veteran. Few greater pleasures, indeed, are ours than when, from our literary signal-post, we can make the number of one of those gallant vessels, returning "rough with many a scar" of bloodless conflict with the floe and iceberg, and with its log one continuous record of danger and difficulty vanquished by courage and intelligence, and of triumphs unpurchased by other human suffering than the voluntary endurance of the wise and brave in pursuit of noble ends. Well pleased have we lingered so long within the confines of that Arctic circle which has been penetrated by so many expeditions, and with interest which accumulates by the hour do we watch for the return of those two vessels which are, perhaps, even now, working their southward course through Behring's Straits into the Pacific. Should the happiness be yet allowed us of witnessing that return, we are of opinion that the Erebus and Terror should be moored henceforth on either side of the Victory, floating monuments of what the Nelsons of discovery can dare and do at the call of their country in the service of the world. Meanwhile these two portentous names, whatever be the fate of the vessels which own them, are associated with services as brilliant and discoveries as striking, at the extremity of the globe Antipodean to the region of their present employment, as any which have yet invited the notice of our columns. That such notice has not been sooner invited we can only ascribe to the fact, that between the task of collecting scientific materials and that of arranging them for publication-of overcoming danger and difficulty, and reciting their Odyssea to the public-there is all the difference to men of action and enterprise that lies between catching a hare and cooking it. We know no other reason why three years should have been suffered to elapse from Sir James Ross' safe return and the present publication, or why no authorized details of the expedition should have been made known, other than were sparingly afforded in Sir W. Hooker's botanical work of 1843. The purely scientific results have doubtless meanwhile been privately accessible to those who could turn them to account. They have, we may be sure, occupied the attention of Gauss and Humboldt and

Those sons of Albion who, with venturous sails, On distant oceans caught Antarctic gales ;"these are in themselves objects which, however brief ly described or roughly sketched, must take at once the highest rank among the natural wonders of the world.

Before we proceed to cite the passages in which these and other memorabilia of Sir James' expedi tion are described, we think it advisable to give, as far as we are able, a measure of this officer's performance by a sketch of those of his predecessors. With respect to the Arctic circle, this task has afforded Sir John Barrow the materials of a valuable volume, to which, perhaps, some additions might be obtained from the recent researches of the Socio ty of Danish Antiquaries into the records of early Scandinavian navigation. A few lines may suffice to convey all we know of Antarctic discovery ante rior to the period of Wilkes, D'Urville, and Ross. Many obvious causes have contributed to direct the attention of governments and independent naviga tors rather to the North Pole than the South. The dream of an available passage to Cathay has been,

See on this subject, Quart. Rev., vol. lxvi. Art. "Terrestrial Magnetism."

like many other visions, pregnant with practical tion, may have given a pretext for the doubts which results. In England, after these visions of mercan- some foreign authorities have entertained as to the tile advantage had lost their influence, the official reality of this exploit. He told the world, howdirectors of maritime enterprise have still been stim-ever, that he had spent 2407. on the purchase of ulated by the desire to resolve the geographical three chronometers, all of which performed well; problem of the north-west passage, and also to map and the whole tone of his narrative and of his obout the configuration of the continent of North servations on the subject of polar navigation, seemed America, and of the great adjacent masses of land to us to bespeak the man of instruction and research thus to finish off, as it were, a work which has as well as enterprise. Taking into account all the been in progress since the days of Baffin and Hud- circumstances of his expedition, we venture to proson-rather than to break up new ground and seek nounce that his performance comes nearer to those for the conjectured Terra Australis. With the ex- of the giants of old time, the Baffins, the Davises, ception of the expedition of Captain Cook, of which and the Hudsons, than any voyage of the present the exploration of the higher southern latitudes age accomplished without the assistance of governformed but an episode, the Antarctic department ments. We endeavored at the time to set him in a has, down to a recent period, been principally left proper light before his countrymen :*—if it be true, to the casual efforts of the whale and seal hunter. as we fear it is, that a man of such achievement The earliest exploit of importance in its annals of died in neglected poverty, let others bear the blame. which any record has come under our notice is the discovery of the islands which now rather unfairly bear the name of the South Shetland, situated about the 62d degree of south latitude. They should in justice bear the name of the honest Dutchman Dirck Gerritz, who, in his vessel of some 150 tons, was driven to them by storms in 1599, from the western entrance of the Straits of Magellan. It is true that, nearly a century earlier, the French navigator De Gonneville had acquired the reputation of having discovered a Terra Australis far to the south of Africa. Doubts, however, have always hung over the precise position of the country visited, if not discovered, by De Gonneville. It was reported extensive and well inhabited, and he brought away with him a son of its sovereign, an article of export which could hardly be obtained from the neighborhood of the Antarctic circle. This prince was adopted by the Frenchman who had imported or kiduapped him, married, and had descendants in France, one of whom, a grandson, became a canon of Lisieux and an ambassador. It is to this person we owe an account of the voyage of De Gonneville. He was, however, unable to bring any evidence of the position of the land in question, which, having long been traced ad libitum on the maps of the Southern Ocean, remains still uncertain, though the probabilities of the case appear to be in favor of Madagascar. It was mainly in pursuit of this land, of which distance and uncertainty had magnified the extent and resources, that the Breton Kerguelen in 1772 embarked on the expedition which led to the discovery, three years afterwards acknowledged and confirmed by Cook, of Kerguelen Island. Of Captain Cook's expedition, thumbed as its record has been, and, we hope, continues to be, by school-boy hands, it is unnecessary to speak in detail.

A Russian expedition was fitted out from Cronstadt in 1819, consisting of two ships, the Vostock and the Mirui, under the command of Captains Bellinghausen and Lazarew. An account of this expedition, in two volumes with an atlas, was published at St. Petersburgh; but, as far as we know, it still remains locked up in the Russian language. In January, 1821, they reached the latitude of 70° 30', which, in the "Russian Encyclopædia," is stated to be the highest hitherto attained-but the statement is incorrect, for it falls short of Cook's farthest. An island was discovered in latitude 68° 57' and longitude 90° 46′ W., and called the island of Peter I. Floating ice prevented the vessels from approaching this land nearer than fourteen miles, but its insular character appears to have been ascertained, and the height of its summits was calculated at 4200 feet. Their next discovery appears on the maps as Alexander's Island, in latitude 68°, 43′, longitude 73° 10′ W. It would appear, however, that Bellinghausen was unable to trace the prolongation of this land to the south, and it has been considered as not improbable that it is continuous with the land afterwards discovered by Captain Biscoe, and designated as Graham's Land. linghausen himself took care to call it Alexander's Land, not Alexander's Island. Be this as it may, to the Russian undoubtedly belonged the honor, previous to 1810, of having discovered the southernmost known land.

Bel

In 1830 and 1831 the brig Tula, of 148 tons, commanded by Captain Biscoe, prosecuted the task of discovery under special instructions from its enterprising owner, the great promoter of the southern whale fishery, Mr. C. Enderby. Biscoe did not, like Weddell, succeed in passing beyond the degree of south latitude which had formed the limit Down to 1840 we believe that no navigator of of Cook's progress, but, to use the words of the any country but his own had penetrated beyond the Journal of the Geographical Society, vol. iii., p. point marked as Cook's farthest on the maps, or, 122, he "made two distinct discoveries, at a great with the exception of the Russian Bellinghausen, distance the one from the other, and each in the made any material addition to his discoveries in highest southern latitudes which, with a few excepthose latitudes. Indeed, of our own countrymen tions, had yet been attained, or in which land had one only had fulfilled the former of these conditions. yet been discovered." These were, first, that of This was Captain Weddell, who, in the year 1822, Enderby's Land, in lat. 65° 57', and longitude 47° in a small vessel fitted for the whale and seal fish- 20' east; and next, that of a range of islands, and ery rather than for discovery, first disproved the of land of unknown extent, situated between the existence of a continental range which had been 67th and 63d degrees of south latitude, and between supposed to extend itself immediately to the south the 63rd and 71st degrees of west longitude. The of the islands discovered by Gerritz and re-discov-principal range of these islands bears the name of ered by Smith, and then, pursuing his fortunes be- Biscoe.

tween the 30th and 40th degrees of longitude, ran We find the distinguished name of Mr. Enderby down to the highest southern latitude yet attained again associated with Antarctic discovery in the by man, 74° 15'. A passage in Weddell's narra- case of Balleny's voyage, 1839. This voyage detive, in which he takes occasion to lament that he was

ill provided with instruments of scientific observa

*See Quart. Rev., vol. xxxiii., p. 280.