the men could not venture into them, if they were inclined. When, therefore, an accident of this kind happens, the driver's only resource is the goad, which he plies most unmercifully, until by some plunge the animal either clears himself, or falls down to rise no more; in which case the rope is cut, and he is left to his fate.' Of the costume of the females, we have the following notice: herdsmen, in the government of Buenos Within these few years, the ladies of These people never accompany their Buenos Ayres have adopted a style of flocks and herds to the field, as in Eudress between the English and French, retaining, indeed, the mantilla, which rope. All they do is, to go out once a still gives it a peculiar character. No hat week, followed by a number of dogs, and or bonnet is ever seen on a native lady, to gallop round their respective estantias, unless she be on horseback, when she shouting all the while. The cattle, grazwears a beaver hat and feather, with a riding around at liberty, begin to run and assemble at a particular spot, called roing habit. deo, where they are kept some time, and then allowed to return to their pasturage. The object of this operation is to prevent the animals from straying away from the lands of their owner; and they pursue the same method with the horses, which they collect not in the rodeo, but in the farmyard. The rest of the week they are employed in cutting the young steers and foals, or in breaking their horses; but the greatest part of the time they spend in The mantilla is usually a piece of silk, about half a yard wide in the middle, and a yard and a half long, sloping to a point at each end, which is terminated by a tassel. It is worn over the head and back of the neck, and being brought over the shoulders, the ends hang down in front. No brooch or pin is used to secure it; but it is artfully and gracefully confined under the chin by one hand, or by the end of the fan, without which no woman ever stirs, and made to conceal all but the eyes, or to discover the whole face, at the pleasure of the wearer. ner. idleness. 'As these herdsmen are four, ten, and In cold weather, or when they pay vi- The church dress has not undergone any change, but retains its Spanish character, and is always made of black silk, worn with white stockings and white satin shoes. It is considered indecorous to attend mass in coloured attire. Sometimes a white veil is used, and a little white is introduced into the dress of the young girls, whose clothes, being made in all re. spects like those of grown persons, give them an air of extreme formality. They never touch veal, and never drink till they have finished eating. The ground about their cottages is always covered with bones and with the carcasses of cattle, which, being there left to rot, produce an intolerable stench; the ribs, belly, and breast, being all that they eat, the rest of the animal is thrown away. These carcasses attract a prodigious number of birds, the incessant cries of which are a great annoyance; and the consequent corruption engenders an immense multitude of flies and insects. The bailiffs, master-herdsmen, or proprietors, and in general those who can These herdsmen have in general no other furniture in their huts than a barrel to hold water, a drinking-horn, some wooden spits for roasting meat, and a small copper-pot to boil water for making 'Born and bred in a desert, and havmaté. Some have no pot; and, in this ing but little communication with their case, if they want to make broth for a kind, these herdsmen are strangers to sick person, they cut meat into small friendship, and inclined to suspicion and pieces, and put it into a bull's horn full of fraud; hence, when they play at cards, water, which they boil by setting it in a for which they have a violent passion, heap of hot ashes. A few possess a kettle they usually squat upon their heels, holdand a bowl, one or two chairs, or a bench, ing their horse's bridle under their feet, and sometimes a bed, formed of four lest he should run away; and they often poles fastened to four stakes, which serve have a dagger or knife stuck in the them; but, in general, they sleep upon a for legs, and a cow's hide thrown over ground beside them, ready to dispatch the person with whom they are playing, if hide spread on the bare ground. Instead they perceive any disposition to cheating, otsing chairs, they squat upon their in which they are great adepts. They heels, or sit upon the skull of a cow or gamble away all they possess, and with horse. They never eat vegetables or the utmost coolness. When one of them sallad, which they say are fit only for cat-has lost his money, he will stake his shirt, An interesting account of the herds-tle, and will not touch any food pre-if it be worth playing for; and the winner men shall form our last extract:- pared with oil, for which also they have generally gives his, if good for nothing, to Azara has drawn a curious and enter- the strongest aversion. They live en- the loser, because none of them thinks of taining picture of the manners of the in-tirely upon beef, roasted in the manner keeping two. When a couple are about habitants of the estantias, and the herds-described in a succeeding article, (Gou- to marry, they borrow linen, which they men in general of these parts, who are the chos of Tucuman,) and without salt. take off as soon as they leave the church, least civilized of all the inhabitants; nay, They have no fixed hour for their meals; and return to the lenders. They have indeed, their mode of life has almost re-instead of wiping the mouth, they scrape frequently neither house nor furniture, duced the Spaniards, who have embraced it with the back of the knife, and rub their and their bed consists of a cow-hide it, to the state of savage Indians. These hands upon their legs or their boots. spread upon the ground. The children of both sexes are ge nerally beautiful, but after the age of fourteen years, the girls cease to improve in appearance; they marry from that age upwards, and at twenty-five few retain any appearance of youth.' Uninterrupted practice, almost from | first impulse towards civilization; and their birth, renders them incomparable that Lomonosov, the father of Russian horsemen, either for keeping firm in their poetry, was at that time unborn. seat or for galloping continually without tiring. In Europe, they would probably be thought to want grace, because their stirrups are long, and because they do do not keep their knees close, but stick out their legs, without turning their toes towards the horse's ears; but then there is not the least danger of their losing their equilibrium for a moment, or of being thrown out of their seat either in The elegant translator and editor of the present work had it in contemplation to write a general history of Russian literature; but deemed it desirable, as a prior step, to publish a few translations. We trust that these will excite sufficient interest and patronage to induce Mr. Bowring to prosecute the task for which he has given evi and it may be said truly, that Russia can produce more than one rival of the delightful La Fontaine. Of the dramatic writings of Somorokov, the best is the tragedy Demitrij Samosvanetz, or the False Demetrius. Moliere his model, improved greatly 'Von Visin, who seems to have made upon Somorokov. His two most celebrated comedies are Nedorost, the Spoilt Youth, and Brigadir, the Brigadier. Kheraskov holds a high rank among the lyric poets of Russia. He died a few trotting or galloping, or even by the kick-dence of being so well qualified. The years ago. He was curator of the Mospoems here translated are the production of his poems, which he entitled Bakcow University. He published a collections of thirteen different authors; hariana, ili Neisviestnij; Bachariana, or namely, Lomonosov, Derzhavin, Zha- the Unknown: but bis great work is Roskovsky, Karamsin, Khemnitzer, Bog- siada, ili Rasrushchenie Kasanij; the danovich, Kostrov, Batiushkov, Dmi- Russiad, or the Destruction of Kasan. triev, Krilov, Bobrov, Davidov, and Neledinsky Meletzky, Of the seven first, critical and biographical notices are added, from the pen of the illustrious Von Adelung; and an introduction is prefixed, which gives a brief notice of the progress of Russian poetry. As the subject is highly novel and interesting, we shall quote an extract from the Introduction, and then select what we deem some of the best specimens of Russian poetry: ing, capering, or any other movement of the animal, nay, you would almost swear, that the horse and the rider formed but one body, though their stirrups are mere triangles of wood, so small as to admit only the tip of the toe. In general, they mount indiscriminately the first foal they lay hold of, even though a wild one, and sometimes they will ride bulls themselves. With the lazo fastened to the girth of their horse, they stop at the distance of eighty or ninety feet, and secure any aniinal whatever, not excepting a bull, by throwing the lazo at his neck and legs, and they never miss catching the leg at which they aim. If their horse should fall while going at full gallop, most of them would not receive the least injury, but pitch upon their legs by his side, with the bridle in their hands, ready to prevent his escape. By way of exercise, they desire any other person to throw the lazo at the legs of their horse while at a gallop, and they are sure to light upon theirs, though the animal should have fallen after a thousand curvets. In the use of the balls, they are not less expert than the Pampas.' The embellishments of this volume consist of a series of interesting and well-executed views of the romantic scenery of La Plata; and the whole work furnishes a clever, and we believe accurate, description of the provinces of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video. Specimens of the Russian Poets, with But of all the poets of Russia, Derzhavin is, in my conception, entitled to the very first place. His compositions breathe of inspiration. His versification is sonora high and sublime spirit; they are fuli ous, original, characteristic; his subjects generally such as allowed him to give full scope to his ardent imagination and lofty conceptions. Of modern poets, he most resembles Klopstock; his Oda Bog, Ode on God, with the exception of some of the wonderful passages of the Old Testament, "written with a pen of fire," and glowing with the brightness of heaven, passages of 'Lomonosov is the father of Russian which Derzhavin has frequently availed poetry. It did not advance from step to himself, is one of the most impressive and step through various gradations of im- sublime addresses I am acquainted with, provement, but received from his extraordinary genius an elevation and a purity and sublime. The first poem which exon a subject so pre-eminently impressive which are singularly opposed to the bar-cited the public attention to him was his barous compositions which preceded him. Felizia. His works have been collected into six volumes; and his name, as well as that of his rival Somorokov, has already found its way, with some particulars of his life and writings, into our biographical dictionaries + Bogdanovich has obtained the title of the Russian Anacreon. His Dushenka (Psyche) is a graceful and lovely poem. He has also written several dramatic pieces. Bobrov was well acquainted with the 'Somorokov, whose productions are literature of the South of Europe, and has very voluminous, and were once consider- transfused many of its beauties into his ed models of grace, beauty, and harmo-native tongue. Our English writers espeny, has been much neglected of late cially have given great assistance to his years. His dramatic compositions are, honest plagiarisin. His Khersonida, an for the most part, gross and indecent; oriental epic poem, is not so good as Lalhis contemptuous jealousy of Lomonosov, la Rookh, but it is very good notwiththough so greatly his superior, is often standing. most ridiculously intruding itself; but in one point of view, at least, he is entitled to respect and gratitude. He is the eldest of a species of composition, in which Rusof the Russian fabulists; the introducer sian poetry possesses treasures more va ried and more valuable than that of any other nation. It is no mean praise to say, * Or Broken Nose. The name of Kostrov closes the list of the most eminent among the deceased poets of Russia. He died, not long ago, made an admirable translation of Homer, in the meridian of his days. He had and was engaged in a version of Ossian, which he left unfinished: the conclusion has since been added by Gniedich. Of all the living writers of Russia, or rather of all the writers Russia ever proeulogium is generally found, of which the fol- duced, the most successful and the most 'Under the engravings of Lomonosov, an ALTHOUGH we were aware that Russia Where Winter sits upon his throne of snow, And Russia's bosom heaved with holy glow The king of bards, the lord of music, he." popular is Karamsin. Derzhavin called him, long ago, "the nightingale of poetry," but it is not to his poetry alone that he owes his fame. Standing on the he has been loaded with honours and dissummit of modern literature in Russia, tinctions, which, however, have not served to check his wonted urbanity, or to chill After serving some time in the army, his natural goodness of heart. When a he was made successively a counsellor young writer, he was fond of imitating of state, ambassador of the senate, Sterne*; a very bad model, it may be president of the college of commerce, added, since the peculiarities which characterize him are only tolerable because public cashier, and, in 1802, minister they are original. Karamsin's style was of justice. He has since retired on his then usually abrupt and unnatural, and its full allowance to pass the evening of sentimentality wearisome and affected. his days in the enjoyment of the fruits But he has outlived his errors, and estab- of his long and active labours. The lished his reputation on their subjection. productions of this poet, the ParnasHis great undertaking, the Rossijskaje Is-sian Giant,' as a brother bard calls hin, torije (History of Russia) is, without have been so justly characterised by the comparison, the first and best literary translator, in the introduction we have work which has been produced in the country it celebrates. It was received quoted, that we need do nothing more with loud eulogiums throughout the Rus- than refer to it. The poem on God, sian empire; it has been translated into by this author, has been translated inseveral European languages, and will pro- to Japanese, by order of the Emperor, bably long maintain a pre-eminent rank and is hung up, embroidered with gold, among Russian classics, and become one in the Temple of Jeddo. A similar of the standard authorities of history. honour has been done to it at China. The peculiar excellence of the Rus-It has been translated into the Chinese sian fabulists has been mentioned. Somorokov and Khemnitzer, Dmitriev and and Tartar languages, written on a Krilov, are the most distinguished among piece of rich silk, snd suspended in the them. Dmitriev, who is still living at imperial palace at Pekin. When our Moscow, has published a great number readers have read this poem, which we of fables and ballads. His style is easy, insert entire, they will have no conharmonious, and energetic; some of his temptible opinion of Russian poetry, compositions have a sublimer character; nor of the good taste of the Japanese, his religious poetry is dignified and soChinese, and Tartars :lemn; his elegies are tender and affecting. 'GOD. O thou eternal one! whose presence bright All space doth occupy, all motion guide; Unchang'd through time's all-devastating flight; Thou only God! There is no God beside! Being above all beings! Mighty One! Whom none can comprehend and none explore; Crilov holds an office in the imperial library at Petersburg. He is well known to the bons vivans of the English club. His heavy and unwieldy appearance is singularly contrasted with the shrewdness and the grace of his writings. He has published one volume of fables remarka- Who fills't existence with Thyself alone: ble for their spirit and originality. He Embracing all,-supporting, ruling o'er, now employs himself in translating Hero-Being whom we call God-and know no more! dotus, having, at an advanced period of life, first entered on the study of the languages of ancient Greece and Rome. Zhukovskij has printed some poetical translations of peculiar excellence. His Lindmilla (an imitation of Leonora) is deemed more beautiful and forcible than the original itself. Bürger appears to have captivated him. He has written on a variety of subjects, and is now engaged as a companion to the Grand Dukes.' The Russian language may be adapted to almost every specices of versification. It is flexible, harmonious, full of rhymes, rich in compounds, and possesses all the elements of poetry. One merit the present translation possesses, which it would be well if translators in general adhered to,-that the measure of the original has been generally preserved.-But we are detaining our readers from the poems themselves, for which, we doubt not, they already feel anxious. The first poems in this selection are by Derzhavin, who was born in 1763. * Especially in his Puteshestvennik (or Tra. veller.) In its sublime research, philosophy May measure out the ocean-deep-may count The sands or the sun's rays-but, God! for thee There is no weight nor measure :-none can mount Up to thy mysteries; reason's brightest spark To trace thy counsels, infinite and dark : Even like past moments in eternity. First chaos, then existence ;-Lord, on thee Sole origin:-all life, all beauty thine. Thy word created all, and doth create: Light-giving, life-sustaining Potentate! Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround: And beautifully mingled life and death! thee; Thee? And what am I then? Heaven's unnumber'd host, Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed Against Thy greatness, is a cypher brought As shines the sun-beam in a drop of dew. 1 Close to the realms where angels have their Just on the boundaries of the spirit-land! I can command the lightning, and am dust! A monarch, and a slave; a worm, a God! Whence came 1 here, and how? so marvellously Constructed and conceiv'd? unknown! this clod Created me! Thou source of life and good! Thy light, Thy love, in their bright plenitude Filled me with an immortal soul, to spring Over the abyss of death, and bade it wear The garments of eternal day, and wing Its heavenly flight beyond this little sphere, Even to its source-to Thee-its Author there. O thoughts ineffable! O visions blest! Though worthless our conceptions all of Thee, * "The force of this simile can hardly be ima gined by those who have never witnessed the sun shining with unclouded splendour, in a cold of twenty or thirty degrees of Reaumur. A thousand and ten thousand sparkling stars of ice, brighter than the brightest diamond, play on the surface of the frozen snow; and the slightest breeze sets myriads of icy atoms in motion, whose glancing light and beautiful rainbow-hues dazzle and weary the eye.' Golden bee! for ever sighing, Erring insect! he supposes, Golden bee! for ever sighing, Ever round my Delia flying; Is it thou so softly speaking? Thine the gentle accents breaking, "Drink I dare not, Lest I die!""" Batiushkov's address to his Penates, introduces, in a very agreeable manner, the most eminent of the Russian poets, and contains some allusion to Russian manners. Our limits will not, however, permit us more than the concluding passage: 'Soon shall we end our pilgrimage; The careless wind shall o'er us sweep; No bell pretend to mourn; no hymn And throw fresh flow'rets o'er my clay : flute I played-aud twine its form, though mute, the first Russian poet not to give one of them a place in our present notice; we, therefore, select the shortest : THE LORD AND THE JUDGE. 'The God of gods stood up-stood up to try The assembled gods of earth. "How long," he said, "How long will ye protect impiety, And let the vile one raise his daring head? 'Tis yours my laws to justify-redress All wrong, however high the wronger be; Be 'gainst the strong, the helpless one's de fence, What a lovely flower I see: Bloom in snowy beauty there- Thee to pluck, be mine the bliss, Far away that flower must bloom, Purest flow'rets bend their head, Shake their little cups of dew:- Fate so desolate and dread, In vain thou sheddest the bitterest tear, And thou-go mourn thy misery." Lomonosov, the father of Russian poetry,' was the son of a sailor, and born in 1711. He studied Latin and Greek, rhetoric and poetry: his productions, which have been published in sixteen volumes, exhibit a rare diversity of subjects, including history, poetry, philosophy, philology, &c. &c. O flower so lovely! Lilea fair! Only two of his poems are printed in With thee I fain my fate would share, the present volume. They both exhi-But heaven hath said, "It cannot be !" bit a strong religious feeling, which, indeed, pervades most of the effusions of the Russian bards. There are poems in this collection which we prefer, but it would be an ill compliment to As it is our intention to make our readers pretty well acquainted with Russian poetry, we shall extend our notice of this volume to another number. (To be concluded in our next.) Ar the battle of Culloden, the Chevalier de Johnstone charged on foot, leav ing his horse in the care of a servant, and when the day was lost he could neither find horse nor man. He was so much fatigued that he was scarcely able to keep on his legs, when, fortunately, he got a horse, mounted it, and escaped. He wandered about some time in the disguise of a beggar, generally, eating very freely when victuals were set before him, and often without appetite, thinking that, though he was not hungry then, he would be so, and that perhaps when he had no means of satisfying it. In consequence of a dream, he determined, contrary to the advice of his friends, to go to Edinburgh. At Broughty, he was rowed over the Frith by two young girls, the daughters of the landlady of the ale-house there, when the boatmen had refused. When he reached St. Andrews, he called on a Mrs. Spence, who was too much suspected to afford him an asylum; and, therefore, she gave him a letter to her farmer to lend him a horse, but he refused. Mrs. Spence,' said he, may take her farm from me and give it to whom she pleases; but she cannot make me profane the Lord's Day, by giving my horse to one who means to travel upon the sabbath.' This refusal draws from our author a severe tirade against the Presbyterians, whom he designates as a holy rabble.' Near Wemyss, he was secreted in a cavern which, on account of the following circumstance, has been called the court cave: This cavern is one of the most remarkable of the antiquities of Scotland, and, according to tradition, was, in former times, a heathen temple. It is dug under a hill. Its entrance is about five feet high, and three wide; and the foot of the hill is about thirty paces from the seashore. It is very high and spacious within, and appears to be of an immense depth. An adventure, which happened in this cavern to King James the Fourth of Scotland, has given celebrity to it. The king, who used to amuse himself in wandering about the country, in different disguises, was overtaken by a violent storin, in a dark night, and obliged to take shelter in the cavern. Having adnumber of men and women ready to begin vanced some way in it, he discovered a to roast a sheep, by way of supper. From their appearance he began to suspect that he had not fallen into the best company; but, as it was too late to retreat, he asked hospitality from them till the tempest was over. They granted it, and invited the king, whom they did not know, to sit down, and take part with them. They were a band of robbers and cut-throats. As soon as they had finished their supper, one of them presented a plate, upon which two daggers were laid in form of a St. Andrew's cross, telling the king, at the same time, that this was the dessert, which they always served to strangers; that he must choose one of the daggers, and fight him whom the company should appoint to attack him. The king did not lose his presence of mind, but instantly seized the two daggers, one in each hand, and plunged them into the hearts of the two robbers who were next him; and running full speed to the mouth of the cavern, he escaped from their pursuit through the obscurity of the night. The king ordered the whole of this band of cut-throats to be seized next morning, and they were all hanged.' nuate, the Chevalier has set down and Hastings, Mr. Smith's solicitors, much in malice; and his account view the case as he does, but, to justi of the rencontres between the English fy ourselves in the eyes of the public, and the Highlanders are often most our best patrons, we print the review preposterous and extravagant. Be this sent to us with the book, and the letter as it may, we suspect the Highlanders of our cotemporary accompanying owed little to the personal courage or them; it will then be seen whether we exertions of the Chevalier, who seems had not some reason for saying what to have had an instinctive horror of we have done in trying to put down diwanting a dinner, or of making his fi-rect personal puffing in a vain man; nal exit from this life by the assistance and sure we are that the Rev. T. of the hangman. In one place, he Smith would applaud our conduct, did the case relate to any other person than himself. says, I bitterly regretted that I did not misfortune to be taken and condemned,- 'Lit. Gazette Office, 29th Jan. book was addressed to the Literary Ga"The envelope of the accompanying zette; as it seems likely, however, from the title to the MS. that it was meant for the Literary Chronicle, the Editor loses no time in transmitting it, with his compliments. ' Editor Literary Chronicle.' 'REVIEW. FOR THE LITERARY CHRONICLE. A New and Improved Edition of Walkingame's Tutor's Assistant: with considerable Additions, and an Appendix on Circulating Decimals. By the Rev. T. Smith, of St. John's College, Cambridge. pp. 208. 12mo. 'AMONG the various treatises of arith We have nothing further to add respecting this work, than that it contains many curious and interesting details, which, although they must be re-metic that have been published within ceived with due caution, forin an important addition to the history of a very extraordinary enterprise. REVIEW EXTRAORDINARY. On reaching Edinburgh, the Chevalier found an asylum in the house of Lady Jane Douglas, where he remained two months, and then travelled to London, on horseback, as a Scotch pedlar. Nothing of any interest occurred in the journey, or during his residence in town; this part of his narrative being nothing but a very silly account of his attachment to a young lady, his charming Peggy.' He af terwards embarked at Harwich with Lady Jane Douglas, as her servant, and reached Helvoetsluys in safety. He repaired to Paris, towards the end of the year 1746, where he received a pension of two thousand two hundred livres, out of the fund of forty thousand livres, ordered to be distributed, annually, among the Scots who had escaped to WE learn that the Rev. T. Smith France. He afterwards received a has called at our office and threatened commission as ensign, in the troops de- our publisher with a prosecution for tached from the marine to the island the notice of his work contained in of Cape Breton. He embarked at Ro- the Literary Chronicle of the 3d inst. chelle in a vessel which was not sea- We understand that the Reverend worthy, and encountered more immi- gentleman was in a violent passion, nent dangers than he had done when which is certainly not a Christian vira fugitive in Scotland. After remain- tue,-tu te faches Jupin, tu as donc tort; ing at Louisburg until 1751, the Che- this we should not have noticed, but valier returned to France, but again that he has since sent his son or agent went to Louisburg, where he remained on a similar errand. We do not know until it was captured by the English whether Messrs. Williams, Hilliard, in 1758, when he escaped to Nova Sco-rected by a member of the royal family. We tia and thence to Canada; until the subjection of these provinces again obliged him to return to France. have reason to believe it was the case: and in These memoirs, it will be seen, difWhen Mr. Home was writing his history. fer very much from the accounts that Dr. White presented him with several MSS, hitherto have been published of the respecting the family of the Stuarts; which, Rebellion, particularly from the history make use of: but, on the publication of the after some little hesitation, Mr. H. promised to of Home. If Home was led to exte-work, Dr. White finding that they were wholly The editor of the Chevalier Johnstone's omitted, called on Mr. H. to know the reason; Memoirs states, that Home regularly sent the and was answered, that it was at his Majesty's proof-sheets of his work to London, to be cor- | request.-REV. the last hundred years, some of them by men of the first eminence, none has met with a more favourable reception than Walkingame's Compendium. As a proof of the general estimation in which it is held, it is in the hands of almost every arithmetician, young and old, having passed through numerous impressions edited by different persons highly skilled in the science of numbers. Mr. Smith, the master of a large and respectable boarding school in the vicinity of London, has just favoured the public with a new stereotype edition of this author, but containing, together with Walkingame's text, a vast quantity of new matter, consisting of valuable observations, tables, and notes by the EDITOR, and an excellent collection of upwards of 1000 very ingenious questions not to be found in any other work. Some of the questions require a thorough knowledge of fractions, and an acquaintance with the higher rules of arithmetic for their solution; and cannot fail of proving extremely serviceable, as dying the mathematics, a portion of they must impart to students not stuthe spirit of that rehned brauch of analysis. Our limits will not allow us to enter into all the merits of Smith's edi |