And Weekly Review; Forming an Analysis and General Repository of Literature, Philosophy, Science, Arts, History, the Drama, Morals, Manners, and Amusements. This Paper is published early every Saturday Morning; and is forwarded Weekly, or in Monthly or Quarterly Parts, throughout the British Dominions. No. 127. LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1821. Review of New Books. sage of the Atlantic. I fear that the poli- One instance more of the English feeling which pervades these Views:' Price 6d. punished murder of the English merchants, Arbuthnot and Armbrister. The instances we have quoted, we Views of Society and Manners in Amethink, amount to the proof positive that rica; in a Series of Letters from the writer is an American; the collatethat Country to a Friend in England, ral proofs are still more numerous, and during the Years 1818 and 1820. betray themselves on every occasion, By an Englishwoman. 8vo. pp. 523. The American enters the western wil- where either England or the United London, 1821. derness skilled to vanquish all difficulties, States are mentioned. The ladies of NOTWITHSTANDING the assertion in the and understanding to train his chil- America, we are told, possess the most title-page, and the attempted confirma- dren in the love of their country, founded solid attainments, and the modern and tion of the cheat in the dedication, we upon a knowledge of its history and an even the dead languages, their manfeel no hesitation in expressing our de-appreciation of its institutions; he is fitted cided conviction, that this work is nei- to form the advanced guard of civiliza-ners are marked by sweetness, artlesstion; the foreigner, in general, will be ness, and liveliness,-their dress is elether by an Englishwoman, nor by any better placed in the main body, where gant and costly, but made with strict woman at all. It bears the most con- he may himself receive instructions, and regard to decency. The citizens of clusive evidence of its being the pro- imbibe feelings suited to his newly as Philadelphia and New York, are duction of an American-a genuine sumed character as a citizen of a repub- what we certainly never heard them acAmerican, republican in principle, lic.' cused of before-courteous to stranconceited and arrogant in opinion, and illiberal in sentiment. We might adduce a hundred instances to prove the transatlantic origin of the author, but one or two shall suffice. Would an Englishwoman detail the defeat of the British fleet on Lake Erie, in a more exaggerated manner than the most republican journal of the United States ever did? and even admitting this, would she exclaim, I dwell on this splendid engagement with pleasure?' The cheat here betrays itself, and reminds us of a life of General Benninsen, by a Russian; in one of the first pages of which he speaks of Shakespeare as his countryman. But to our author; we are told that an European said to an American farmer, where are your ruins and your poetry. During the war, when a body of American militia had repulsed a party of invaders, and were pursuing them to their ships, the commanding officer sudcitizen, surprised and irritated at the ordenly called them from the pursuit. A der, seeing the possibility of cutting off the retreat of the enemy, reproachfully observed, that ere they could gain their boats, two thirds might be dead or prisoners. "True," calmly replied the other, having first enforced the order for retreat, [an order of this sort seldom required enforcing in the republican army, we might, possibly, with the loss of a dozen men, have deprived the enemy of some hundreds, but what would have been the dozen?-sons, husbands, fathers, and useful citizens. And what would have been the hundreds-men fighting for hire. Which loss in the balance had weighed the heaviest ?” ' gers; and have a great regard to morals and fair dealing. Having cautioned our readers, that the imputing the authorship of this work to an, Euglishwoman is, as Lord Grizzle says, ; 'all a trick,' and that its statements must be received with great suspicion, we proceed to make a few extracts. Our author visited Utica, a town scarcely twenty years old, and which now aspires to be the capital of the state of Albany. An innkeeper at Utica, at whose door fifteen stages now stop daily, eighteen years ago carried the solitary and weekly mail in his pocket to Albany : Leaving Utica, the country assumes a rough appearance, stumps and girdled trees encumbering the inclosures; loghouses scattered here and there; the culThere are our ruins,' replied the retivation rarely extending more than half publican, pointing to a revolutionary a mile, nor usually so much on either soldier, who was turning up the glebe; How kind and considerate in this hand; when the forest, whose face is usu* and there,' extending his hand over American colonel, who was so sparing traveller by a skirting line of girdled ally rendered hideous to the eye of the the plain that stretched before them, of English blood, that he would not trees, half standing, half falling, stretches smiling with luxuriant farms and little purchase the sacrifice of some hun- its vast unbroken shade over plain, and villas, peeping out from beds of trees, dreds of enemies, with the loss of a do- hill, and dale-disappearing only with the there is our poetry.' We wonder the zen citizens. To make the story more horizon. Frequently, however, gaining a European did not adopt Mr. Burchell's complete, we would advise this English-rising ground, (and the face of the country expressive phrase, and answer this re- woman, should he ever relate the story is always more or less undulating,) you can publican nonsense by fudge. The afterwards, to add that Jackson, the distinguish gaps, sometimes long and next paragraph, too, is very English, American Hannibal, (as he has been fa-broad, in the deep verdure, which tell that at least as English as true. It is men cetiously called,) was the name of the with the wilderness. On the fifth day the axe and the plough are waging war of substance, possessed in clear proper- commanding officer, in order to show from that of her departure from Albany, ty of from five hundred to five thous- that he sometimes possesses other feel-brought our traveller and her companions and pounds, who now attempt the pas-ings than those which marked his un- to Auburn. The villages at the head of VOL. III, TT-42 thrown into the waggon; but it sometimes riably found with perfect civility. One happened that the settler was from home. thing I must notice,-that you are never On one occasion, I remember, neither any where charged for attendance. The man, woman, nor child was to be found: servant is not your's, but the innkeeper's; the stage-driver whistled and hallooed, no demands are made upon you, except by walked into the dwelling, and through the the latter; this saves much trouble, and, dwelling, sprang the fence, traversed the indeed, is absolutely necessary in a house field of maize, and shouted into the wood'; where the servant's labour is commonly but all to no purpose. Having resumed too valuable to be laid at the mercy of his station, and set his horses in motion, I every whimsical traveller; but this arinquired how the letters were to find their rangement originates in another cause,destination, seeing that we were carrying the republican habits and feelings of the them along with us, heaven knew where? community. I honour the pride which Oh! they'll keep in the country any makes a man unwilling to sell his personal how; it is likely, indeed, they may go service to a fellow creature; to come and down the Ohio, and make a short tour of go at the beck of another; is it not natuthe states; this has happened sometimes; ral that there should be some unwillingbut it is a chance but they get to Washing-ness to do this? It is the last trade to which an American man or woman has recourse; still some must be driven to it, particularly of the latter sex, but she always assumes with you the manner of an equal. the different lakes, Skeneatalas, Cayuga, The mode in which the contents of the post-bag are usually distributed through the less populous districts, is amusing: I remember,' says the writer, when taking a cross cut in a queer sort of a caravan, bound for some settlement on the southern shore of Lake Erie, observing, with no small surprise, the operations of our charioteer; a paper flung to the right hand, and anon a paper flung to the left, where no sight or sound bespoke the presence of human beings. I asked if the bears were curious of news; upon which I was informed, that there was a settler in the neighbourhood, who ought to have been on the look-out, or some of his children for him. "But when I don't find them ready, I throw the paper under a tree, and I warrant you they'll look sharp enough to find it; they're always curious of news in these wild parts;" and curious enough they seemed, for not a cabin did we pass that a newspaper was not flung from the hand of this enlightener of the wilderness. Occasionally making a halt at some solitary dwelling, the postbag and its guardian descended together, when, if the assistance of the farmer, who here acted as post-master, could be obtained, the whole contents of the mail were discharged upon the ground, and all hands and eyes being put in requisition, such letters as might be addressed to the surrounding district, were scrambled out from the heap; which, being then again scrambled together, was once more shaken into the leathern receptacle, and there are now several villages, though A few miscellaneous extracts, and we shall conclude: Taverns. On arriving at a tavern in this country, you excite no kind of sensation, come how you will. The master of the house bids you good day, and you walk in; breakfast, dinner, and supper are prepared at stated times, to which you must generally contrive to accommodate. There are seldom more hands than enough to dispatch the necessary work; you are not, therefore, beset by half-a-dozen menials, imagining your wants before you know them yourself; make them known, however, and if they be rational, they are generally answered with tolerable readiness, and I have inva Its situation possesses all those positive advantages stated by Mr. Birkbeck; that the worst difficulties have been surmount-; ed, and that these have always been fewer than what are frequently encountered in the centre of the settlement, contains at a new country. The village of Albion, Present thirty habitations, in which are a bricklayer, a carpenter, a wheelright, a cooper, and a blacksmith; a well-supplied shop, a little library, an inn, a chapel, and a post-office, where the mail regularly arrives twice a week. Being siand little Wabash, it is, from its elevated tuated on a ridge, between the greater position, and from its being some miles removed from the rivers, peculiarly dry and healthy. The prairie in which it stands, is described as exquisitely beauti- › ful; lawns of unchanging verdure, spreading over hills and dales, scattered with. hand of nature with a taste that art could islands of luxuriant trees, dropped by the sky of glowing and unspotted sapphires. not rival; all this spread beneath a my friend observes," would afford a most "The most beautiful parks of England," imperfect comparison." The soil is abundantly fruitful, and, of course, has an advantage over the heavy-timbered lands, which can scarcely be cleared for less: than from twelve to fifteen dollars per, acre; while the Illinois farmer may, in general, clear his for less than five, and then enter upon a much more convenient mode of tillage. The objection that is too frequently found to the beautiful prairies of the Illinois, is the deficiency of springs and streams for mill-seats. 'This : ⚫is attended with inconvenience to the settler, though his health will find in it advantage. The nearest navigable river to Albion, is the Wabash, eight miles distant; the nearest running stream, that is not liable to fail at mid-summer, the Bonpaw, four miles distant. The stock-water in ponds, for cattle, my correspondent judged, was liable to run dry in a few weeks; and the settlement apprehended some temporary inconvenience from the circumstance. The finest water is every where to be raised from twenty to twenty-five, or thirty feet from the surface; these wells never fail, but are of course troublesome to work in a new settle the last enumerated qualities of mildness | the poorer emigrants; and to others, afand suavity are oftener found than in our fords lodging, and often money to a consicountrymen. His face is fine, and bearsderable amount. His kindness has, of so close a resemblance to that of his more course, been imposed upon, in some cases distinguished brother, that it was difficult so flagrantly that he is now learning ciat the first glance to decide which of the cumspection, though he does not suffer busts in the apartment were of him, and his humanity to be chilled. This I learnwhich of Napoleon. The expression of ed from his American neighbours. I left the one, however, is much more benig- Count Survillier, satisfied that nature had nant; it is, indeed, exceedingly pleasing, formed him for the character he now and prepares you for the amiable senti- wears, and that fortune had rather spited ments which appear in his discourse. him in making him the brother of the amThe plainness and urbanity of his manners bitious Bonaparte.' for the first few moments suspended pleasure in surprise; and even afterwards, when, smiling at myself, I thought, " and what did I expect to see?" I could not Our last extract, for in remark we still help ever and anon acknowledging have done already, contains au account that I had not looked to see exactly the of a visit, paid by our traveller, to Jo-man I saw. I felt most strangely the seph Bonaparte, whose residence is near fast travelling through my brain, of battles contrast between the thoughts that were Bordertown, on the Jersey shore of the and chances, ambition and intrigues, Delaware river :crowns and sceptres-the whole great drania of his brother's life passing before me-I felt most strangely the contrast between these thoughts and the man I was ment.' The Celt's Paradise, in Four Duans. THE 'Celt's Paradise' is founded on an motion, We travelled the waste of the desolate ocean- low, With her lip for my kiss and her breast for my pillow! It is a pretty villa, commanding a fine prospect of the river; the soil around it is unproductive, but a step removed from the "pine-barren;" the pines, how-conversing with. He discoursed easily ever, worthless as they may be, clothe the on various topics, but always with much banks pleasantly enough, and, altogether, quietness and modesty. He did and said the place is cheerful and pretty. Enter- little in the French manner, though he ing upon the lawn, we found the choice always spoke the language, understanding shrubs of the American forest, magnolias, English, he said, but imperfectly, and not kalmias, &c. planted tastefully under the speaking it at all. He expressed a curiohigher trees which skirted, and here and sity to become acquainted with our living there shadowed, the green carpet upon poets; but complained that he found which the white mansion stood. Advanc- them difficult, and inquired if there was ing, we were now faced at all corners by not often a greater obscurity of style than gods and goddesses, in naked, I cannot in that of our older authors. I found heYes!-swift as the wild wind that gives it its say majesty, for they were, for the most meant those of Queen Anne's reign. In part, clumsy enough. The late General speaking of the members of his family, Moreau, a few years since, according to he carefully avoided titles; It was "Mon the strange revolutions of war-stricken frere Napoleon, ma sœur Hortense," &c. Europe, a peaceful resident in this very He walked us round his improvements inneighbourhood, and who re-crossed the doors and out. When I observed upon the Atlantic to seek his death in the same amusement he seemed to find in beautify-We came to a land where the light of the battle which sent here as an exile the ing his little villa, he replied, that he was brother of the French emperor;-this ge- happier in it than he had ever found himneral, in the same Parisian taste, left be- self in more bustling scenes. He gatherhind him a host of Pagan deities of a simi- ed a wild flower, and, in presenting it to lar description, with a whole tribe of dogs me, carelessly drew a comparison between and lions to boot, some of which I have its minute beauties and the pleasures of seen scattered up and down through the private life; contrasting those of ambition surrounding farms. Two of these dumb and power with the more gaudy flowers Cerberuses are sitting at this moment of the parterre, which look better at a disover the side of a neighbouring gentle-tance than upon a nearer approach. He man's door, and the family use them as said this, so naturally, with a manner so Yet half I remember as we past A desert of sand outstripping its blast, hobby horses.' simple, and accent so mild, that it was impossible to see in it an attempt at display That came to look on us too near Of savage shapes and forms of fear of any kind. Understanding that I was a And the hungry glaring of their eyesTM foreigner, he hoped that I was as much Half yielded to a stern surprise, pleased with the country as he was; ob-To see such rapid travellers there, served that it was a country for the many, Or hear us hurrying thao' the an. and not for the few, which gave freedom to all and power to none, in which happiness might better be found than any other, and in which he was well pleased that his lot was now cast. Count Survillier (he wears this title, perhaps, to save the aukwardness of Mr. Bonaparte), soon came to us from his workmen, in an old coat, from which he had barely shaken off the mortar, and (a sign of the true gentleman) made no apologies. His air, figure, and address, have the character of the English country gentleman-open, unaffected, and independent, but perhaps combining more mildness and suavity. Were it not that his figure is too thick-set, I should perhaps say, that he had still more the character of an American, in whom, I think, The character of this exile seems to be much marked for humanity and benevolence. He is peculiarly attentive to sufferers of his own nation-I mean France; is careful to provide work for world Hath brightest his standard of summer unfurled, We touch it we pass it-we traverse its scope Like the glancing of thought or the gleamings of hope! 'I have no memory of the things, They only make strange visitings, And on!-The blue bills backward fly,-, It was a scene of feature wild- The sun was shedding his chastened light- On many a glancing icicle, And kindled up each crystal height, heart. 'And on, and on!-But how or where? And I think no breeze was busy there; That the morning sun-beam has not kissed; I thought our flight less fearful now, The notes which are appended to the C. is rich in important lives, and contains memoirs of Burke, Boyle, Barry, Brook, Brien, Boirumhe-the glory and grace of his age; Berkeley, 'to whom every virtue under heaven;' the Butlers, Curran, Carolun the bard, Centlivre, &c. &c. It is not, however, from the lives of individuals so well known that we shall make our extracts, but principally from the neglected biography in which these volumes have rescued many names. We may, how ever, observe, that in the more extended memoirs, and where originality cannot be expected, Mr. Ryan has presented the most important facts in an agreeable form. The first extract we make on account of its embracing a jeu d'esprit, and some lines by Moore: 'Joseph Atkinson was a man who fully merited the epithet "worthy ;" and truly sorry are we to inform our readers, that, with almost every particular of his life, we are wholly unacquainted. Biographia Hibernica. A Biogra- -a To speak of the utility of such a work is quite unnecessary; and where the object is so laudable, we should not be over fastidious as to its execution. To us, however, it appears that Mr. Ryan is an honest biographer,faithful chronicler; that he has not sought to adorn his heroes with virtues they never possessed, but has been anxious to give honour where honour is due, and to exhibit each character fairly and impartially. It is this which makes biography valuable; and we would rather have a dozen pages of facts relating to an individual, than a whole volume of dissertations. The first volume of the Worthies,' which extends uo farther than the letter your joy, Nor think my old strain of mythology stupid, When I say, that your wife had a right to a boy, For Venus is nothing without a young Cupid. But since Fate, the boon that you wish'd for, refuses, By granting three girls to your happy embraces, She but meant, while you wandered abroad with the Muses, Your wife should be circled at home by the 'He died in Dublin, at the age of seventy-five, in October, 1818, and was sinbeing admired by the young for his concerely regretted by all who knew him; viviality, and respected by the aged for his benevolence and numerous good qualities. The following beautiful lines, from the pen of his intimate, Moore, are intended to be engraved on his sepul chre: "If ever lot was prosperously cast, If ever life was like the lengthen'd flow Of some sweet music, sweetness to the last, 'Twas his, who, mourn'd by many, sleeps below. "The sunny temper, bright where all is The simple heart that mocks at worldly wiles, strife, Light wit, that plays along the calm of life, And stirs its languid surface into smiles; "Pure Charity that comes not in a shower, Sudden and loud, oppressing what it feeds; "The happy grateful spirit that improves, And brightens every gift by Fortune given; That, wander where it will, with those it loves, Makes every place a home, and home a hea ven! "All these were his-Oh! thou who read'st this stone, But, like the dew, with gradual silent power, | Captain Ellis, escorting the rear,) a The fate of Lieutenant Salsford was Felt in the bloom it leaves along the meads; charge destined to be her final act of ser distinguished by a singular circumstance, vice, and in which she was most lamenta- which we cannot forbear recording:-A bly to fall by shipwreck. The evening large ta ne wolf, caught at Aspro, and before she struck, the Plantagenet tele- brought up from a cub by the ship's comgraphed to her, and hauled to the west-pany, and exceedingly docile, continued ward; but the master and pilots of the to the last an object of general solicitude. Minotaur, too confident of their reckon- Sensible of its danger, its howls were pe ing, unfortunately stood on. At nine culiarly distressing. He had always been o'clock that night she struck on the a particular favourite of the lieutenant, Hakes so violently, that it was with great who was also greatly attached to the anidifficulty the midshipmen and quarter- mal, and through the whole of their sufmasters gained the deck. The scene offerings he kept close to his master. On horror that now presented itself can only the breaking up of the ship, both got upbe conceived by those who witnessed it. on the mast.-At times they were washed off, but by each other's assistance #gained it.-The lieutenant at last became exhausted by continual exertion, and benumbed with cold. The wolf was equally fatigued, and both held occasionally by the other to retain his situation. When within a short distance of the land, Lieutenant Salsford, affected by the attachment of the animal, and totally unable any longer to support himself, turned towards him from the mast; the beast clapped his fore-paws round his neck, while the lieutenant clasped him in his arms, and they sunk together.' The ship's company, almost naked, were sheltered from the severe cold and heavy sea by the poop, and the greatest exertions were made to get out the boats, the quarter ones having been stove and washed away. By cutting down the gunnel the launch was got off the booms, into which one hundred and ten men crowded; at this time the appearance of the ship, nearly covered by the sea, and having only the main-mast standing, was truly pitiable. The launch, with great difficulty, reached the shore.-The yawl was next got out, but immediately sunk, from the numbers that crowded into her, with the natural desire to avail themselves of the smallest chance of escaping from a state of inevitable destruction. When for thyself, thy children, to the sky, The life of Captain John Barrett, a brave but unfortunate seaman, terminates with a melancholy narrative. He perished on board the Minotaur, a seventy-four gun ship : Thus cut off from all prospect of escape, the only desire apparent in those who remained was, to clothe themselves in their best suits. The captain of marines and surgeon had themselves lashed in a cot that hung in the cabin, and two of the officers followed their example with the utmost composure. At length came the awful stroke-and the sea washing through the belfry, tolled the funeral knell. The captain of the main-top, who was saved on the mainmast, said, he saw Captain Barrett to the last exhorting the men to patience; he was standing on the poop, surrounded by them, when a dreadful sea destroyed every remnant of the ship, and closed his meritorious and useful life. of the ship's track, for they opposed the warning of the Plantagenet, and differed, after the ship struck, in opinion, whether Hakes; Captain Barrett decided for the she was on the Smith's Knowl or the latter, and the ensuing dawn, by a distant view of land, confirmed it. In the In the spring of the year 1810, the course of this dreadful night, an officer, Minotaur sailed again for the Baltic, and in the eagerness of exertion, occasioned was principally employed in escorting the some disturbance; Captain Barrett said different convoys from Hanno to Deers- to him, "Sir, true courage is better shown head. At the close of the season she by coolness and composure-we all owe again took charge of the homeward-bound nature a debt-let us pay it like men of convoy (the Plantagenet, seventy-four, | honour." To pass from grave to gay,' we quote a laughable anecdote, relating to James Barry, the celebrated painter, premising that he had invited Mr. Burke to dine with him at a small house he occupied in St. Martin's Lane. Mr. Burke accepted the invitation, and kept his appointment : When he rapped at the door, however, Dame Ursula, who opened it, at first denied that her master was at home; but on Mr. Burke's expressing some surprise and announcing his name, Barry overheard his voice, and ran down stairs in the usual trim of abstracted genius, utterly regardless of his personal appearance: his scanty grey hair, unconscious of the comb, sported in disordered ringlets round his head; a greasy green silk shade over his eyes, served as an auxiliary to a pair of horn-mounted spectacles, to strengthen his vision. His linen was none of the whitest, and a sort of roquelaure served the purposes of a robe de chambre; but it was of the composite order, for it was neither jockey-coat, surtout, pelisse, nor tunic, but a mixture of all four; and the chronology of it might have puzzled the Society of Antiquarians to develop. After a welcome greeting, he conducted his eloquent countryman to his dwellingroom on the first floor, which served him painting-room; but it was at that moment for kitchen, parlour, study, gallery, and so befogged with smoke, as almost to suffocate its phthisicy owner, aud was quite impervious to the rays of vision. Barry apologized; d-d the bungling chimney doctors; hoped the smoke would clear up, as soon as the fire burned bright; and was quite at a loss to account for "such an infernal smother," until Mr. Burke, with some difficulty, convinced him he |