guard of Kutusoff under the command of Miloradovitch formed a junction with Wittgenstein's army at Ratoulitzi on the afternoon of the 27th. Miloradovitch had under his orders fifteen regiments of Cossacks, twelve of infantry, and some artillery; and he was preceded at eighteen hours distance by General Yermoloff with fourteen battalions of chosen light infantry, a brigade of cuirassiers, and an advance of Cossacks; whilst Platoff, with all the rest of his tribe, was on a line with Yermoloff on the left. These arrange ments do not shew any waut of energy on the part of the commander-in-chief; and had he not conceived, like most other people, that Chichagoff had a sufficient force under his command, to enable him at least to arrest the French in their flight, until the main body could come up-there can be no doubt that he would have pressed forward with greater expedition. We are glad to hear, from those who visited Russia in the course of last year, that Moscow is reviving from her state of desolation. The merchants and shopkeepers have in general rebuilt their houses, and the town will benefit materially in point of appearance from the improved regularity of the streets. Many of the hotels of the nobility too are restored, but it will not be easy to replace the cumbrous magnificence with which they were furnished. During the summer, the inhabitants, to the amount of 150,000, bivouacked in the open spaces in the town till dwellings could be prepared for them. At Viasma and Smolensko the streets are still in ruins, and the same may be said in a less degree of Dorogobusch and Mojaiskbut the villages and wooden cabins are soon restored, and an uninclosed country can receive but few marks capable of adding to its general appearance of solitude and discomfort. The posts are every where re-established, as may be supposed, and those public buildings which had suffered the most from the French, have been repaired, and restored to their ancient uses. None were more injured than the cathedrals of Smolensko and Yaroslavetz. The latter was appropriated by General Guilleminot as a stable for his horses, who directed that a board should be posted up against the edifice stating that it was occupied in that manner; and this and similar indignities which the French offered to their religious feelings, appear to have exasperated the Russians beyond any other part of their conduct. But those who have no sense of religion themselves cannot be supposed to feel for it in others; and there is something peculiarly horrible in the impiety and profaneness which may be observed in the conduct of the whole of the French army, even at a time when their sufferings might have brought along with them some moments of reflection. We regret to find that amongst the arrangements which have been been made for the recovery of the country, some regulations against foreigners have been established, (particularly at Mosco,) which are likely to operate in a contrary way. For though we can easily. comprehend why the name of a Frenchman must be as much abhorred in Russia, as we are told it is; foreign wealth, and the spirit of enterprise created by a free communication with the natives of other countries, would be the true means of healing the wounds which this town, as well as the country in general, has received. The Continental System, as it is called, (the subtle contrivance of Buonaparte,) gave a wound to the finances of Russia, which her subsequent sufferings and exertions have rendered still more afflicting. The exchange between St. Petersburg and London is, at this moment, less favourable than when the French were in the heart of the empire. Instead, therefore, of throwing new impediments in the way of foreigners, it would seem to be the wiser course for Russia to lessen or remove the restrictions to which her commerce has been so long subject. The great landed proprietors, who receive their rents in kind, are sensibly affected by the captious interruptions of the trade carried on with this country in particular; and we cannot but lament that, on the establishment of peace with Russia, a treaty of commerce had not, at the same time, been agreed upon. The judgment of Lord Cathcart, in military affairs, is said to have proved of essential service in more than one instance. We wish that he had exercised a portion of it on the subject of our commercial interests. These, however, he appears to have quite overlooked; and, at all events, he has neglected to pro vide for them. ART. IX. Guy Mannering, or the Astrologer. By the Author of Waverley. Edinburgh. 3 vols. 12mo. O To the observations with which we introduced our Review of Waverley we have on this occasion little to add; 'Guy Mannering' is a work not only of the same genus but of the same species; for our opinion therefore on this particular class of novels we beg to refer to our former article. But though Mannering and Waverley be of the samé species and by the same author, we are not surprised to find them of very different merit. Had they been equal, the second could hardly have pleased us as much as the first; but being absolutely inferior, it appears relatively much more so from the predilection which we entertain for its predecessor. We trust our respect for the talents of the unknown author has been been so decidedly pronounced, that we may, with the greater freedom, express our opinion of his new attempt; and in placing Mannering far below Waverley, we may still pronounce it to be a work of considerable merit. Its inferiority to Waverley is, however, very decided, not only as to general effect, but in every individual topic of interest. The story is less probable, and is carried on with much more machinery and effort; the incidents are less natural; the characters are less distinctly painted, and are less worth painting: in short the whole tone of the book is pitched in an inferior key. The scenes, dialogues, and actors are all of the lowlands; the language, though characteristic, is mean; the state of society, though peculiar, is vulgar; and the eccentricities in style and manners want that elevated and picturesque spirit (if we may unite the words) which charmed us in the mountaineers of Waverley. The time too of the action is lowered as well as the scene; the manners of Scotland, previously to 1745, were much more interesting than those which so rapidly succeeded them; and to pursue a metaphor of which we ventured to make use in our former Review, the Dutch portraits of boors in Mannering, though ever so well painted, do not excite the same class of sensations with those which we derive from the Salvator banditti of Waverley. The story is as follows. A young Oxonian, of the name of Guy Mannering, travelling in the south-west of Scotland, being benighted, is hospitably received at the house of Godfrey Bertram, Esq, laird of Ellangowan; a gentleman of ancient family, but to whom no great portion of the land of his ancestors had descended. At the moment that Mannering enters the house, the lady of Ellangowan is actually in the pains of labour, and the Oxford scholar, who had learned some of the gibberish of astrology from his college tutor, takes it into his head to draw the horoscope of the new-born infant: this he finds threatens him with danger in his 5th, 10th, and 21st years. After performing this notable service, and leaving his predictions carefully sealed up under an injunction that they should not be opened till the native' had passed the first threatened period, Mr. Mannering mounts his horse and absents himself from the story for nearly three and twenty years. Ellangowan was close to the sea, and afforded a point of union to a gang of smugglers and a tribe of gipsys, who are the main agents of the plot. One of the latter, called Meg Merrilies, a kind of ballad-singing sorceress, is the pivot of the whole story; but we must confess that the author seems to have swelled her character into a very unnatural importance. Mr. Bertram, after a long and peaceful connivance at the smugglers and gipsys, becomes a magistrate and of course an auxiliary to to the excise, and a persecutor of the Egyptian race, whom he banishes from their ancient seats on his estate. On the day that the gipsys migrate, the laird is met by the retreating troop and is addressed with a prophetic imprecation and denunciation from Meg, which, like Mannering's astrological predictions, are all in due time most strangely accomplished. As a specimen of our author's style, we shall quote his account of this transaction, and we are induced to select this passage because it is one of the few which affords an intelligible extract, and because it is certainly one of the most striking and interesting incidents in the whole work. 'At length the term-day, the fatal Martinmas, arrived, and violent measures of ejection were resorted to. A strong posse of peace-officers, sufficient to render all resistance vain, charged the inhabitants to depart by noon; and, as they did not obey, the officers, in terms of their warrant, proceeded to unroof the cottages, and pull down the wretched doors and windows,-a summary and effectual mode of ejection still practised in some remote parts of Scotland, when a tenant proves refractory. The gypsies, for a time, beheld the work of destruction in sullen silence and inactivity; then set about saddling and loading their asses, and making preparations for their departure. These were soon accomplished, where all had the habits of wandering Tartars, and they set forth on their journey to seek new settlements, where their patron should neither be of the quorum, nor custos rotulorum.'-p. 117. 'It was in a hollow way, near the top of a steep ascent upon the verge of the Ellangowan estate, that Mr. Bertram met the gypsy procession. Four or five men formed the advanced guard, wrapped in long loose great coats, that hid their tall slender figures, as the large slouched hats, drawn over their brows, concealed their wild features, dark eyes, and swarthy faces. Two of them carried long fowling-pieces, one wore a broad sword without a sheath, and all had the Highland dirk, though they did not wear that weapon openly or ostentatiously. Behind them followed the train of laden asses, and small carts, or tumblers, as they were called in that country, on which were laid the decrepid and the helpless, the aged and the infant part of the exiled community. The women in their red cloaks and straw hats, the elder children with bare heads and bare feet, and almost naked bodies, had the immediate care of the little caravan. The road was narrow, running between two broken banks of sand, and Mr. Bertram's servant rode forward, smacking his whip with an air of authority, and motioning to their drivers to allow free passage to their betters. His signal was unattended to. He then called to the men who lounged idly on before, "Stand to your beasts' heads, and make room for the Laird to pass." "He shall have his share of the road," answered a male gypsy from under his slouched and large brimmed hat, and without raising his face," and he shall have no more; the highway is as free to our cuddies as to his gelding." 'The 'The tone of the man being sulky, and even menacing, Mr. Bertram thought it best to put his dignity in his pocket, and pass by the procession quietly, upon such space as they chose to leave for his accommodation, which was narrow enough. To cover with an appearance of indifference his feeling of the want of respect with which he was treated, he addressed one of the men, as he passed him, without any show of greeting, salute, or recognition,-" Giles Baillie," he said, "have you heard that your son Gabriel is well?" (The question respected the young man who had been pressed.) "If I had heard otherwise," said the old man, looking up with a stern and menacing countenance, you should have heard of it too.” And he plodded on his way, tarrying no farther question. When the Laird had pressed onward with difficulty among a crowd of familiar faces, in which he now only read hatred and contempt, but which had on all former occasions marked his approach with the reverence due to that of a superior being, and had got clear of the throng, he could not help turning his horse, and looking back to mark the progress of their march. The group would have been an excellent subject for the pencil of Carlotte. The van had already reached a small and stunted thicket, which was at the bottom of the hill, and which gradually hid the line of march until the last stragglers disappeared.-His sensations were bitter enough.'-pp. 118-121. 'As he was about to turn his horse's head to pursue his journey, Meg Merrilies, who had lagged behind the troop, unexpectedly presented herself. She was standing upon one of those high banks, which, as we before noticed, overhung the road; so that she was placed considerably higher than Ellangowan, even though he was on horseback; and her tall figure, relieved against the clear blue sky, seemed almost of supernatural height. We have noticed, that there was in her general attire, or rather in her mode of adjusting it, somewhat of a foreign costume, artfully adopted perhaps for the purpose of adding to the effect of her spells and predictions, or perhaps from some traditional notions respecting the dress of her ancestors. On this occasion, she had a large piece of red cotton cloth rolled about her head in the form of a turban, from beneath which her dark eyes flashed with uncommon lustre. Her long and tangled black hair fell in elf locks from the folds of this singular head gear. Her attitude was that of a sybil in frenzy, and she stretched out, in her right hand, a sapling bough which seemed just pulled. "I'll be d-d," said the groom, "if she has not been cutting the young ashes in the Dukit Park."-The Laird made no answer, but continued to look at the figure which was thus perched above his path. "Ride your ways," said the gypsy, “ride your ways, Laird of Ellangowan-ride your ways, Godfrey Bertram!-This day have ye quenched seven smoking hearths-see if the fire in your ain parlour burn the blyther for that.-Ye have riven the thack off seven cottar houses-look if your ain roof-tree stand the faster.-Ye may stable your stirks in the shealings at Derncleugh-see that the hare does not couch on the hearthstane at Ellangowan.-Ride your ways, Godfrey Bertram |