strange ships had appeared upon their coast, was To prove that I do not magnify the extremes of
willing to know who they were, and had according-cold in that part of the world, I beg to refer to Mr
ly sent with them, agreeable to their request, two Sauer's account of Billing's expedition, and the
interpreters, one of whom understood their own present Admiral of Saritcheff's account of the
language as well as the Russian, while the other, same, when 43 degrees of Reaumur, or 74 degrees
meaning myself, understood the languages of most of Fahrenheit, were repeatedly known. I will also
maritime nations. The commissary desired, as add my testimony from experience to the extent
from the Emperor, that all due care should be taken of 42 degrees. I have also seen the minute book
of, and all due respect paid to us, especially to my- of a gentleman at Yakutsk where 47 degrees of
self, who was one of the chief interpreters of the Reaumur were registered, equal to 84 degrees of
empire. After this opening harangue was com- Fahrenheit.
pleted, the turn of which inspired me with some de-
gree of hope, one of the most respectable of the
Tchuktchi got up and said, that he was in want of
no interpreter, and therefore would not take one.'
This laconic reply completely disconcerted us.
The next, an old and cuning fellow, called Ka-
charga, said that boys and girls should not be at-
tended to in a case of such importance; that he,
a chief, had not demanded an interpreter, although
a nephew of his had done so.' He expatiated upon
the impropriety of taking from those youths a com-
munication of such importance, as should alone
have come from a chief. I could not but approve
the justice of the remark, and began to suspect the
whole was a hoax, and that they had not made any
demand of an interpreter. It was therefore told
them that two nartes would be of no great conse-
quence to them, and that as the Emperor had so
sent, they ought to take us, for that we dared not
return to merit his displeasure.' A fresh consulta-
tion was hereupon held by the savages, and they
came to a determination, that as the great Empe-
ror himself wished to send two interpreters to Beh-
ring's Straits, of course he could have no objec-
tion to pay for the transport of such people.' Upon
inquiring what demand they would make, they said
'fifty bags of tobacco,' a quantity equalling one

pounds weight. To make such a present in adhundred and twenty poods, or near five thousand vance, was madness in me to think of, and the project appeared, as indeed it proved, to be wholly lost, for they added, that he could be no great Emperor who could not make so small a present, seeing that he could command the riches of all his people.' They also observed that I must be a poor interpreter if I could not satisfy the demand myself.'Alas! they might as well have demanded five millions as five thousand pounds of me. One of the knowing ones observed, and I mention it as evincing the sagacity of those people, that 'he doubted whether I was an intepreter of the great Emperor's,' saying, that I could not even speak the Russian language, for that he noticed that the Russian Cossack interpreted from the Tchukskoi to Mr Matiushkin, and Mr M. again in a different dialect to me.' All this was too true to be denied. They then asked, of what use I could possibly be to them, when I neither understood the Russian nor Tchukskoi languages.' This last truism quite appalled the whole of us, and from that moment the point was given up. It was not a little singular that these rude people should all along have known that a third Toion, or Chief, for I was considered as one, was in the fair, and demanded who and what he was. I have, however, no idea that their refusal arose either from fear or ill will, but simply from avarice.

The account which Capt. Cochrane gives of the extremity of the cold in Siberia is quite amazing; far exceeding any thing endured by Capt. Parry in either of his expe

ditions.

The weather proved exceedingly cold in January and February, but never so severe as to prevent our walks, except during those times when the wind was high; it then became insupportable out of doors, and we were obliged to remain at home. Forty degrees of frost of Fahrenheit never appear to affect us in calm weather so much as ten or fifteen during the time of a breeze; yet to witness the aurora borealis, I have frequently quitted my bed in those extremes of cold, without shoes or stockings, and with no dress on but a parka, or

frock.

Indeed, there can be but little doubt that the local situation of the Kolyma, bordering on the latitude of 70 degrees, and almost the most easterly part of the continent of Asia, is a colder one than Melville Island or the centre of the American Polar coast. Okotsk, Idgiga, Yakutsk, Tomsk and Tobolsk, are considered equally cold and exposed as the mouths of the Lena, Yana, or Kolyma. Even Irkutsk, about the latitude of London, has yearly a frost of 40 degrees of Reaumur, or 58 degrees below the zero of Fahrenheit; yet, the utmost degree of cold that I have observed, I have never known attended by that crackling noise of the breath which has been related, nor with those other strange sensations which some have described; though I have seen axes split to pieces, and witnessed the ill effects of touching iron, glass, or crockery, with the naked skin, which will infallibly adhere to them. However, I soon had reason to consider the coldest day as the finest, because it was then sure to be calm.

led.

to permit my sinking in the snow; in case I had, the guide with snow-shoes was near to render me assistance. We were now frequently compelled to wander about on the borders of precipices, and directing our route by the shade or appearance of the snow; habit having accustomed me, as well as the people of the country, to a pretty accurate calculation whether or not the snow would bear me. I have even seen the horses refuse to proceed, their sagacity in that case being equal to man's; nor will the leading dog of a narte, if he is good, run the vehicle into a track where there is deep snow or water.

We had now only one day's meat left, but were fortunate in shooting a couple of partridges which the guides brought me. We had still some rye flour, and butter, and with that hoped to cross the river without any subsequent difficulty. At four in the morning we had 13 degrees of frost by Reaumur, and at noon 73 degrees of heat of Fahrenheit. After forty miles of severe travelling we at length reached the river, which was to close this terrible journey, which was full of shoals and rapids, and may be declared useless. The islands in it abound with birches, larches, and alders, as also with the poplar, and a few pines. There is an abundance of wild berries of a fine flavour; and the pastures are exceedingly rich. The scenery was, also, in many places, highly beautiful; and the river af forded a novel spectacle, being confined by the most beautiful natural quays of crystal ice, while the river actually roared from the velocity of its

current.

horses enjoyed very fine pastures, but our proviOf the last of the rein-deer, the flesh was so far sions entirely at an end. The rains had again overtaken us, and were rapidly swelling the rivers. gone that I could not eat it: the Yakuti, however, are so fond of putrid meat, termed in England game, for indeed it was nothing else, that they finished it, regretting only that it was so little in quantity. rain, we made near fifty miles, the horses swimThe second day without food, and in a torrent of ming and wading through thirty or forty little rapid streams. These are formed by the rains and the melting of the snow from the eastern range of elevated mountains: they subside and dry up about which was carried by the stream into the Okota. the month of September. We lost one horse,

of his constitution, and declare it unequal-in with two white bears bound to the north, but
Well may our author exult in the strength
As we continued our melancholy route, we fell
fear, probably on either side, kept us apart. Still
It appears that the natives on the north-along the Okota, we reached twenty-five miles, the
ern coast of Asia are not less voracious
Cochrane tells us of one who "grumbled"
than their brothers of America, for Capt.
because he had only twenty pounds of meat
in a day. This was a Yakut, and our author
mentions one or two individuals of that tribe
whom he saw upwards of ninety years old.
Whether they too indulged in this enor-
mous eating does not appear; but we who
are scarcely recovered from a severe fit
of dyspepsia, would give all our copy
money and write reviews without stint, for
a twentieth part of a Yakut's power of di-
gestion. We have little room for any of
our author's hair-breadth escapes, or details
of his exploits in sliding down frozen moun-
tains and swimming over ice-cold rivers;
but in common justice to the Captain, we
must insert some of them.

At length by great labour we reached the fording
place at the Okota. It was, however, impossible
to attempt it, the guides observing, that the horseg
might pass the river, but not loaded. We therefore
halted, and next morning found a place where was
a canoe on the opposite bank. Thereupon unload
ing the horses, we turned them into the river, and
We were now much annoyed with a considera- they all reached the opposite bank in safety. The
ble fall of rain, and passed a bad night in conse- question then was how to get the canoe over; I
quence. Next day there was every appearance of was the only person who could swim, but the water
the rain continuing, and I reduced the allowance of was still so cold that I felt no preference to that
meat one half. A hurricane coming on, we were mode. Necessity at last compelled me, and hav-
obliged to halt, and were most unpleasantly off in ing procured a short stout piece of drift-wood,
our wet leather clothes. As soon as possible, how- which was very buoyant, I crossed at a narrow
ever, we resumed our journey along an elevated part of the stream, with a leather thong fast to my
deep, presenting nothing for a fire, or for the sup- down above a hundred yards, but the Yakuti, keep
valley where the snow was soft and dangerously waist. The rapidity of the stream carried me
port of the horses, nor a shrub of any descriptioning, by a sort of run, in a parallel line, were ready
to be seen. I have scarcely ever seen a place to haul me back, if necessary. I however reached
feet reach the earth in search of food; here, how-took violent exercise. The breadth of the swim-
where the horses could not by scraping with their in safety; and, instantly throwing off my clothes,
ever, the thing was impossible, from the depth of
the snow; and indeed the poor animals seemed to
know it, as they would not waste their strength in
the attempt. The Yakuti put on long faces at the
obstructions we met with, never having witnessed
such deep and difficult roads; for, in ordinary
times good pasturage is to be had in this part of the
valley.

The horses having to contend with such difficulties, our journey was continued on foot. My snowshoes I gave up to one of the guides, in consideration of his being very heavy, while, for myself, with a quick motion, my weight was not sufficient

ming part might only have been fifteen or twenty yards, and across the strength of the stream possibly not more than four or five yards; yet I barely ac complished it. The feat was thankfully acknowl edged by the astonished Yakuti, when I returned with an excellent canoe.

Lord Byron swam the Hellespont, and John Cochrane the Okota. Of the two feats, mine was surely the most difficult; his lordship was neither fatigued, hungry, nor cold, nor compelled to his un dertaking; while I had each and all of those evis to contend with.

When the rivers were too broad or too

swift to be swum, they were passed on rafts; The Young Scholar's Manual, or Compan- capacities of children; and its principal somewhat after this fashion. ion to the Spelling Book. By Titus claim is to revision and improvement. Strong, A. M. Fourth Edition. Greenfield, Mass. 1822. 16mo. pp. 90. The Common Reader. By T. Strong, A. M. Greenfield, Mass. 1824. 12mo. pp.

228.

To starve on one side of the river, to be drowned in it, or die upon the other side, appeared alike to me; and I accordingly embarked our little baggage upon the raft, composed of ten logs of trees about fifteen feet long, crossed by five others, and crossed again by two more, to form a seat for the person taking charge of the baggage, which was lashed to WE should fail of performing a most imthe raft. The spars were lashed together by leather thongs, and two or three leather bags were cut portant duty as reviewers, if we neglected up to increase their length. Each spar was also con- those works which are designed for chilnected to the one on each side of it by three grum-dren. These are to sow the seeds which mets formed out of the green branches of the trees will take the deepest root, and which, on the banks of the river; and the raft appeared to when they spring up, will bear most fruit. be strong enough to resist a severe concussion. We This duty is rendered the more imperious, also provided ourselves with drift spars formed into oars, to serve to steer, and assist in gaining the from the facility with which recommendashore should an accident happen. My papers and tions are obtained for school-books possessjournals were fastened round my body, and I took ing very inferior merits. We know several my station in the bow, in order that I might avoid distinguished literary gentlemen, who will It was with difficulty we moved our vessel into not recommend a work without examining the main channel, from the number of eddies; but it critically; but every day presents some having once reached it, we descended in a most as- work, characterized by great faults, sanctonishing manner, sometimes actually making the tioned by great names. Their remark, that head giddy as we passed the branches of trees, they give the works "a cursory perusal," rocks, or islands. No accident happening, and the furnishes no excuse. No man should reriver widening, I began to congratulate my com-commend a book, merely from "looking panions on the probability of breakfasting the next day in Okotsk, but as yet I had not got upon the over its pages;" and those who do, debase proper side of the stream, the islands and shoals equally their learning and their virtue. perpetually turning us off. The Cossack and YaThe first of the books before us consists

danger, and keep in the centre of the river.

Of "The Common Reader" we shall presently say some things in praise; but we must request Mr Strong to have patience, till we have done justice to his "Directions relative to the Management of a School," and his "Rules for Reading." In these, if in any thing, we should expect him to avoid errors, in both writing and sentiWe endeavoured, in reading them, ment. not to be hypercritical, but must say that we observed vastly more faults than should exist. Some of the errors are typographical; others relate to punctuation; but many of them are of a higher order.

Mr Strong says in his preface, that "future editions will invariably answer to the present, both in matter and form;"-a bad promise,-better broken than kept.

He proposes that the school should be divided into classes, "the instructor being governed in the distribution by a similarity of proficiency in the art of reading on the part of the scholars." It is hard copying such clumsy sentences; but the next is not "The classes may consist of from twelve to twenty children, and of those

better.

kut continued in a state of alarm, not entirely with- of twenty-six short lessons, containing ques- who are able to read at all without spell

out cause, for upon rounding a point of land, we observed a large tree jutting into the river, with a tremendous and rapid surf running over it, the branches of the tree preventing the raft from passing over the body of it, which was so deep in the water as to preclude the hope of escaping with life, at least impossible to avoid being wrecked. The Cossack and Yakut crossed themselves, while I was quietly awaiting the result in the bow. We struck, and such was the force of the rebound that I was in hopes we should have been thrown outside the shaft in the subsequent approach. I was, however, disappointed, for the fore part of the raft was actually sucked under the tree, and the after part rose so high out of the water that it completely turned over, bringing the baggage under water; the whole then, with the Yakut and Cossack, proceeded down the stream, and fortunately brought up upon an island about one hundred yards below. In the mean while my situation was dangerous; being in the bow, I could not hold on the raft as my companions had been able to do, for fear of being jammed in between the raft and the tree. I therefore quitted my hold, and with infinite difficulty, clung

ing, ought not to exceed three in number." It is plain to common sense, that no such rules for classing scholars can be of any

use. The author advises that those who

tions and answers on such subjects, with a
few exceptions, as children may begin to
learn as soon as they can read. These oc-
cupy a little more than half of the book,
and the remainder is principally a diction- are learning the alphabet should read sing-
ary of common words. The first lesson re-ly; but these profit at least as much by
lates to letters, syllables, and words; the being classed, as scholars more advanced.
second to points; the third to marks; the So many may compose a class, as can con-
fourth to capitals. In the third lesson the veniently read from one book.
mark for accent should have been given;
The Directions seem to us equally frivo-
and also the figures, as used by Walk-lous and useless, except that which recom-
er, to denote the sounds of the vowels. mends opening and closing the school with
These should have been applied to the a short prayer. At the close of the book
words defined in the latter part of the book. Mr Strong has given forms of prayer for
The eighth lesson relates to the sciences;
these occasions. He appears to be an "or-
the ninth to grammar. These should have thodox" man, and some persons will object
been omitted, for they will give no informa- to several of his expressions. Cannot a
tion to children at the proper age for using form of prayer be found, which will be per-
this book. Several of the lessons which fectly unobjectionable as to doctrine; which
follow, relate to arithmetic, and contain the will express exactly all that is always most

to the outer branches on the rapid side of the tree; most important tables. These are well, for proper to be said while praying; which will

they can be understood. The eighteenth,
on geometry, will not be sufficiently intel-
ligible. For example :-

relieve the young and modest teacher from all embarrassment of every kind; and the length of which which will be precisely adapted to the occasion? Will it not be Q. Of what does Geometry treat? A. Of the description, properties and relations of better, in the next edition, to substitute the Q. What is an angle?

my body was sucked under, and no part of me was
out of water but my head and arms. I could not
long remain in such a state; and making, therefore,
one vigorous effort, on the success of which it was
clear my life depended, I gained the top of the
tree. I was throwing off my upper park, when the
branch gave way, and I dropped down, half drown-magnitudes in general.
ing, to the island. It was a fortunate circumstance
that the raft upset, as otherwise it could not have
brought up at the island; which it did in conse-
quence of the baggage lashed to the raft being so
deep in the water.

We should, did our limits permit, make some remarks on the state of slavery still existing in Russia, which appears to us as severe in some instances as that of the Indians and Negroes in the mines of South America, previous to the revolution in that country. We think the book will furnish a few hours' amusement to many besides Lord Melville, and we think too that it will instruct at the same time that it amuses. We hope that Capt. Cochrane may live to make more journeys, and tell them as agreeably as he has told of this.

meet but not in the same direction.
A. An angle is the inclination of two lines which

The twenty-fifth lesson is liable to the
same objection.

Q. What are clouds?

A. They are vapours or fogs which float in the air from a quarter of a mile to three miles high. When they dissolve or fall to the ground, they

cause rain, and in cold weather hail or snow.

Q. What causes an eclipse of the sun?
A. The moon casting its shadow in the same
way upon the earth.

These examples will also show that Mr
Strong is not always careful as to sense and
punctuation.

The plan of this Manual is very good, but it is executed with too little regard to the

Lord's prayer for those we have mentioned ? We are surprised that the author-as he undertakes to direct the religious exercises of the school-omitted to recommend the reading of the Scriptures. We are very far from wishing to encourage the use of them as a substitute for common reading lessons; but as a religious exercise, they would certainly be most proper at least before the morning prayer.

The "Rules for Reading" are said to be selected from Murray's Introduction to the English Reader; but Mr Strong must be answerable for their correctness. He has faults enough, without copying those of others. The following paragraph appears to be original.

The two first, and indeed principal qualifications

necessary to form a good reader, are voice and judgment. A defect in the former may indeed be partially remedied by unwearied application and industry, but a defect in the latter will inevitably

prove fatal to improvement.

Strong this praise, heartily; and will leave
him with an assurance, that we think his
book may be made highly useful, by re-
formations which it will be easy to make.

the style of the lessons, both in prose and verse, is almost invariably chaste, and is frequently elegant; and we have noticed no passages which are unquestionably obWhat difference is there between thejectionable as to morals. We give Mr first, and the principal qualifications for reading? A defect in voice, it seems, may be remedied by unwearied application and industry. What is the difference between unwearied application and industry. Both, it appears, are necessary to remedy a defect in voice; but a defect in judgment will inevitably prove fatal. But cannot a defect in judgment be remedied by unwearied application and industry? We suppose the author thinks so, for he proceeds: "To cultivate this, therefore, should be the great and leading object with every instructor."

The first Rule is, to be particularly careful to pronounce all the vowels distinctly. We think much more is gained by a constant effort to pronounce the consonants distinctly.

the proper management of the breath, it should be

A familiar Introduction to Crystallography,
including an Explanation of the Common
and Reflective Goniometer, with an Ap-
pendix, containing the Mathematical Rela-
tions of Crystals, Rules for Drawing their
Figures, and an Alphabetical Arrangement
of Minerals, their Synonyms, and Pri-
mary Forms. Illustrated by four_hun-
dred Engravings. By Henry James
Brooke, F. R. S., &c.*

MISCELLANY.

CUI BONO?

What's the use of't?
Trans.

bleness of the human understanding, than NOTHING displays more clearly the feethe illiberal prejudices which men very generally entertain of their own personal pursuits.

Science, which should correct the dimness of the vision, and give to it a wider scope, serves only to increase it. Or rather like the telescope, it extends the vision in the particular line in which it is directed, to the entire exclusion of every foreign object. "No author," says Montesquieu, "can hope to be esteemed by such as are not interested in the same branch of science The philosopher has a soveTHIS work is peculiarly adapted to the use reign contempt for the man whose head is of students in Mineralogy, and has receiv-only stored with facts; and he is in his own turn looked upon as a visionary by the pered the unqualified approbation of the most son endowed with a good memory." This

distinguished mineralogists in Europe. The

with himself.

sagacious writer furnishes an exemplifica

Rule 3. As the art of reading depends much on used with economy. The voice ought to be relieved first part is devoted to the definitions of the tion of the truth of his own assertion, in

at every stop; slightly at a comma, more leisurely at a semicolon or colon, and completely at a period. Does this mean that we should take breath at every stop? A worse rule cannot be given. Try it by reading.

Love, hope, and joy, fair pleasure's smiling train; Hate, fear, and grief, the family of pain.'

terms employed in the description of crys- another passage of his Persian Letters, tals, which are given in a peculiarly dis- where he characterizes poets, as "authors, tinct and intelligible manner, and are am- whose profession it is to impose shackles ply illustrated by neatly executed diagrams. The principle upon which the reflective on good sense, and to bury reason under agrémens, as women used to be smothered and the application of this elegant instru- a wit and a philosopher, but it is clear he goniometer of Dr Wollaston is constructed, under jewels and finery." Montesquieu was ment, are so fully and clearly explained, understood little of the uses of poetry. that all idea of its use being attended with The scholar contemns the man of business difficulty is wholly removed. In rendering as one of "Nature's journeymen," useful in the first part of his work quite elementary, keeping some of the coarser machinery of Mr Brooke has enabled the young mineral-life in motion; and the man of business with ogist, even if unacquainted with the rudi- equal charity regards the student as an imments of geometry, to make very consider- becile pedant, that knows nothing of the able progress in the science of Crystallog- world, and is liable to have his pocket raphy. Those who are not in the habit of picked at every turn. The metaphysician mathematical investigations, and who can- looks down upon the chemist, the mineralonot avail themselves of the theory of decregist, the botanist, as so many harmless ments in tracing the relation between the grubs, busily occupied with the outer rind secondary and primary forms of crystals, of the earth, to the neglect of the immor We have not time to notice the other er-bles of the Modifications of the Primary again despise the metaphysician as a shalwill derive great assistance from the "Ta- tal mind which presides over it; and these rors in this part of the work. On page

Mr Strong tells us that the points of interrogation and exclamation "should be attended with a little elevation of the voice." What he means by their being attended with a little elevation of voice, is not obvious. If he means to repeat the old rule, that questions and exclamations should be closed with the rising inflection, let him adopt this inflection the next time he interrogates his neighbour, "How do you do?" We wish that those who give rules for reading, would either think and observe for themselves, or

consult Walker's Rhetorical Grammar.

38, we observe the first verse of the forty- Forms," in the eleventh section. These low theorist, spinning cobwebs out of his

first Psalm quoted, with one error, and one interpolation. The typographical errors, especially in punctuation, are very numerous throughout the book. The authors of

the various articles should have been men

tioned. We should render to every man his due. This injustice is becoming common,

but we see no excuse for it.

The errors which we have noticed, are sufficient to authorize us in saying, that they should not have been sanctioned by recommendations from the Presidents of Bowdoin and Middlebury Colleges, the Chancellor of Brown University, Dr Lyman of Hatfield, and Rodolphus Dickinson, Esq.

Mr Strong's selection of reading lessons, is, on the whole, very good. Perhaps he has not fully accomplished his object of giving those only, which are accommodated to the capacities of the first and second classes in our common schools. It may also be said, that too many of his pieces assume a very grave tone of morality, and hence are unnecessarily tedious to children. But

will enable them to compare all the classes
of simple secondary forms with each other,
and with their respective primary forms,
and will present a general view of all the
known classes of the primary.

The fourth section contains a full explan-
of the secondary forms of crystals, and of
ation of the symbols used in the description
the method of applying them.

brain, to entangle smaller fools than himself. The treasures of the antiquarian are mere rubbish in the eyes of the poet, and the creations of the latter are silly dreams in the matter-of-fact apprehension of the former. In short, every profession recip posite; and the man of pleasure, who has rocates a most cordial contempt for its op In the Appendix, Mr Brooke has given them all, by despising them all equally. no profession whatever, puts himself above an outline of the method of applying the Even different branches of the same purtheory of decrements, to determine the re-suit inspire no great respect for each other, lations between the secondary and primary and "the player," says La Bruyère, “Joll forms, and of calculating the laws of decre- ing in his chariot, scatters the mud in the ment. In these calculations he has sub-face of the great Corneille, to whose tragestituted spherical for plane trigonometry. dies he owes his fortune. Chez plusieurs savant et pédant sont synonymes."

*It was the intention of the learned author of the above work to have published an edition in this country, but being advised of the limited demand that could be expected for it, he relinquished the design, and has placed a few copies of the English edition in the hands of Dr J. W. Webster, for sale at the cost in London, viz. $3,50. Orders for the work may be addressed to Cummings, Hilliard, & Co., No. 1, Cornhill.

Of all these classes, none find it so diffi cult to persuade others of their fair pre tensions, as the cultivators of the elegan arts; none are brought down with such severity to the cynical standard of the cui bono? The collector of facts, the practical man of science, nay the vulga

99.66

"Varias mutantia formas Somnia vana jacent."

mechanic, the blacksmith, carpenter, tailor, touching upon all the sweets of miscella- | have been the theme of so much jealous &c. carry with them immediate conviction neous literature, as they were once accus- literary altercation from Plutarch to the of the object and utility of their labours; tomed to do, settle down upon some such present day? What of Dionysius, whose but in what way do the poet, the painter, dry and exceedingly wholesome topic as blackened reputation has been purified by the novelist, &c. further the great business" Tread-mill," " Arbitrary Government," the labours of successive apologists, until of life? How do they supply its wants or "Combination Laws,” “Court of Chancery," the "tyrant of Syracuse" shines forth a even its comforts? What serviceable dis-"Price of Tea," Holy Alliance," "Mine- pure and devoted patriot. What of Philip coveries have they ever made? What ralogical Systems,"" Office of Judge Advo- of Macedon, who from a perfidious oppresoperative and before unknown truths have cate," "Dry Rot," &c. &c.; all of them, sor, the character imputed to him by Dethey revealed? In short, of what use are save the last, crowded into one of the very mosthenes, has been metamorphosed by they? "The Iliad and the Odyssey," said last numbers of the Edinburgh Review. Mitford into a benevolent and enlightened a worthy mathematician, "may be very In our own country, the North American sovereign. How stand the ancient foundagood poems, but, after all, what do they has still an "ample verge" assigned to tions of Roman history? Time has sapped prove?" The most enlightened sages, in purely literary discussion. But the spirit them cruelly, and the first four centuries of their esprit de corps, have not concealed of the nation runs quite in another direc- her royal and republican grandeur, which their contempt for pursuits so dissimilar tion; and the doctrine of utility is enforced have furnished the basis of so many fine from their own. Cicero, as Seneca records in its broadest extent. In our growing schemes of government, of the profound of him (Epist. 49), said, that "if his age state of society, where new relations are treatises of Macchiavelli and of Monteswere to be doubled, he should find no time constantly suggesting new wants to be quieu in particular, are now discovered to to throw away upon lyrical poetry." The gratified, it is perhaps well that it should be mere "old wives' tales." poetry of Pindar! The Roman orator be so; and yet one might join with the is known, however, to have been guilty author of a very beautiful essay on the of bad verses himself, and it was perhaps "Value of Classical Learning," in a late his ill fortune that led him to the splenetic number of the North American, in wishing The glorious self-devotion of Scævola, reflection. "We cannot attain to it," says that "a disinterested passion for the ele-Cocles, the Horatii, of Lucretia, the inspiMontaigne, "let us avenge ourselves by gant and ornamental arts, might be super- it may be, and many other beautiful images, ration of Numa, the patriotism of Brutus, abusing it." Nous ne pouvons pas y attein- added to those sober and practical views of dre, vengeons nous par en médire. Pascal, utility," by which the nation is distinin his terrible "Pensées," declares that guished. "honest people make no distinction be- But should the man of fiction be inclined tween the trade of a poet and that of an to encounter the man of fact on his own embroiderer." Pascal was a polemic and ground of the cui bono, the latter may not a mathematician. Every one knows what find himself to have so decidedly the adsmall account Locke has made of poetry, in vantage as might at first be suspected. his valuable treatise on Education. "Poetry Take the historian for example. Whatand gaming, which usually go together, are ever be his accomplishments as a fine writalike in this too, that they seldom bring er, his value must chiefly rest upon his veany advantage but to those who have noth- racity. Now what are our chances of ing else to live on." "I know not what meeting with a fair and faithful narrative? reason a father can have to wish his son a Glance your eyes over antiquity and point poet," &c. Every body knows also the to the page whence we are to date the comreply of Lord Burleigh to Queen Eliza- mencement of a credible and consistent beth, upon her ordering a hundred pounds chronicle of events. To pass by the enorto be given to the author of the Fairy mous fictions of the Asiatic and Egyptian Queen, whom the treasurer was pleased to dynasties, and the debatable ground of denominate a ballad-maker. Sir Isaac early Grecian story, the heroic ages, and Newton quotes Barrow, without dissenting the expedition to Troy, let us come down to from him, as having defined poetry "a kind the Father of History. How much do we of ingenious nonsense." But instances need here find to rely upon?" All that Herodotus not be multiplied of the bigotted partiality has himself seen," say his advocates, "is to of the most liberal minds for their own pe- be believed." And is this all! Out of this culiar walks, to the utter disparagement of copious chronicle, is that only to be receivthose of others, especially when these lasted, to which the historian can personally seem to shrink from a trial of their own testify! His books," poetæ mendacia dul

worth, at the merciless ordeal of the cui bono. "Of what use is it?" said a famous French critic, on hearing a poem highly eulogized by some of his friends, "will it lower the price of grain?"

cia," have indeed other claims than their
eloquence to be patronised by the names of
the Muses. Even in the account of con-
temporary transactions the reader finds his
organ of credulity (if such there be in Dr
Gall's scheme) very liberally taxed, and
one may meet with some strange incongrui-
ties in the Persian expedition and charac-
ter that would lead him to the belief, that,
had a Persian historian told the tale, the
characters of Xerxes and his nation might
have fared somewhat differently.

This disposition to estimate every thing upon the scales of the cui bono has been gaining ground in the world during the last century. Not that elegant arts are abandoned, but attention is much more strongly and widely drawn to practical pur suits (so called), to physical science, to politics, economy, statistics, &c., in short to those How are we to reconcile the contradicstudies which seem to have a more direct and tions of character imputed to some of the effectual influence upon the condition of so-leading personages in Greece, in a riper ciety. Take the leading foreign journals period of her glory, when she became the for instance in Great Britain, a good test of seat of philosophy and letters? What shall public opinion in this matter, and you will we believe of Socrates, of Aristophanes, the find that the critics now-a-days, instead of philosopher and the poet, whose principles

to which our fancies have fondly clung from earliest childhood, must all be abandoned as dreams (Doug, it is true) before the eye of modern criticism, which, like the telescope-if we may call upon this instrument to do us service once moreWhat shall we believe of Carthage, that sees clearest into the remotest objects. strange paradox of a faithless, savage people, and one of the most liberal and perfect governments of antiquity? Had her historians survived, think you she would What shall we say of the Romans of a later be registered in infamy as she now is? date, of Sylla, the scourge or the saviour of his country? Of Pompey, the disinterestthe liberties of Rome? What of Tiberius, ed patriot or the politic conspirator against Nero, Domitian, &c. &c. the whole show of imperial monsters, whose black reputations Tacitus, like a righteous executioner, has hung up in chains, to the terror of posterity? Who can gravely give credit to all the recorded atrocities of the exhausted octogenarian voluptuary in his isle of Caprea, of the incestuous incendiary Nero, or of Caligula conferring the consulship upon

his horse.

But to quote no other examples from antiquity of the perversion of historical truth, what shall we say of the accredited reports of George, bishop of Cappadocia, who, after a life of merciless extortion and gross impiety, has been canonized as a Christian martyr, as "the patron saint of England, of chivalry, and of the garter."

In modern times, however, when the press diffuses knowledge rapidly and widely, when truth may be freely and innoxiously recorded and reported, when the science of politics and government is more generally as well as more thoroughly understood, we may expect to meet with veracious testimony, "But how," says that subtle poli

tician, the Cardinal De Retz, "can I rely on the reports of writers who tell me of the motives and measures of the cabinet, when I, who am one of the actors, scarcely know what is passing there myself?"-Without running over the inconsistencies and numberless obliquities in modern history, obliquities which seem to have been multiplied by the extended interest, and the share now taken by men in the conduct of public affairs, and which have added the prejudices of party zeal to the other sources of historical infidelity, let us simply cast our eyes upon the chronicle of our mother country, as compiled by her temperate and ablest historian. Without reverting to the hasty compilation of the early floating traditions of the Saxon dynasties, look at the latest period to which Hume has continued his work, and after having adopted the apparently dispassionate views of the philosophic | historian, turn to Brodie's account of the same period, and behold a new current of facts as well as of inferences let in upon you, that sweep away all your previous conclusions in an entirely opposite direction. Even the gloomy characters of Richard III, and of Cromwell, find their advocates in this benevolent age, and two eminent English writers have endeavoured to wash them as white as those of most sovereigns.

latter from personal observation and personal feeling. A just history represents events as they are, and men as they appear. A skilful fiction, on the other hand, represents men as they are and events as they appear probable. Which then should produce the deepest effect upon the mind, upon the character of the reader?

path that leads to truth in despite of the many hundreds that lead to error. But supposing both the man of fact and of fiction to be virtuous and able writers in their peculiar departments, it may still be doubted whether the former makes a wider and more penetrating impression upon the public mind, than the latter. What history, for instance, can be pretended to have had In the defence which we have set up for the same intellectual, moral, and political works of fancy, we may seem to have waninfluence upon the character of a people, as dered somewhat from the original ground the poems of Homer. A very discerning of discussion, which was not a vindication critic pronounces them "the bond which of any particular profession, but an exposiheld the Greek nation together." Herodo- tion of the frequency of an undue estima tus informs us that "the whole theogony of tion of the practical importance of our own the Greeks may be referred to the composi- pursuits, to the exclusion of dissimilar ones. tions of Homer and Hesiod." The Greek And as an illustration of this we have entragic drama, fashioned upon a similar ele-deavoured to show what argument could be vated standard, had an obvious effect of sus- offered in favour of pure fiction, as being taining that exalted tone of public feeling, a class of composition least defensible on for which that people were so remarkable; the score of utility. The man of fact, from and their comedies, from a very opposite the highest deductions of science, to the cause, held a more positive controul over humblest effort of mechanical ingenuity, carpopular manners. The familiar anecdote ries with him immediate conviction of the of Tyrtæus, the sentence pronounced upon usefulness of his labours. "No man," Voltaire Homer by Plato, the ordonnance of the has somewhere remarked, " is so much reveSpartans prescribing the cultivation of a renced by the world as the professor of an certain class of poetry, all show the im- obscure and difficult science, whose results mense weight attributed to this species of are applicable to the common purposes of composition among the enlightened Greeks. | life.” An enlightened mind, however, But to descend to our own times, it may be should penetrate deeper. The positive indifficult to point to any one, or two, or any fluence of speculative pursuits on man, aldozen regular histories that have produced though less rapid in its operation than that a stronger pulsation of public feeling than of practical pursuits, is not less certain. the Waverley Romances. Exhibiting in the The physical enginery of the latter (if we broad light, which they do, all distinguishing may so express ourselves) furnishes the features of national character, all the local necessaries, the comforts, the luxuries of and hereditary attachments, the prejudices life. The moral enginery of the former transmitted from their ancestors, and made works only upon the heart and the underdear by such a descent, all the beautiful standing. Inventions in mechanics, disfancies, the romantic superstitions, that coveries in philosophy, researches in histohave arisen out of the speculative temper ry, supply the wants of human life, and of the people and the wild complexion of store the mind with such knowledge as their scenery, all the momentous objects for may direct it in the conduct of human afwhich they have contended, and the princi- fairs. The productions of elegant art, the ples which have animated them in the con- speculative creations of genius, of whatever test, in short, all those habits of thought, kind, present beautiful and lofty subjects of of feeling, of adventure, which have set contemplation to the mind, that give a rel them apart from all others and made them a ish to life, or rather that raise us above life. nation,-had histories similar to these by the "Because the acts or events of true histoauthor of Waverley appeared at an earlier ry,” says Lord Bacon with that nice disBut, says the man of fact, after all this period, before the Scottish people had been crimination which distinguishes him equally stringing together of insulated instances of cemented by so many other associations, on subjects of taste as in philosophy," have misapprehension or mendacity, there will they might have formed a bond of union as not that magnitude which satisfieth the still remain behind a large mass of valua- coercive and as lasting as the fictions of mind of man, poesy feigneth acts and ble and incontestible truths. And how far Homer. And should a novelist of equal events greater and more heroical; because superior, of how much greater moment to powers arise in our own country, youthful true history propoundeth the successes and mankind, is the historian, who from uncol- and plastic from its youth, as its national issues of actions not so agreeable to the oured facts draws sane and philosophic character now is, and altogether unexer- merits of virtue and vice, therefore poesy deductions, to the writer of fiction, who cised by such an impulse, it might not be feigns them more just in retribution, and spins out of his invention an ideal state of easy to predict what would be his influence more according to revealed Providence: things that in conduct either leads to noth-in binding together the scattered energies, so as it appeareth, poesy serveth to magnaing or leads to error? nimity, to morality, and to delectation. And therefore it was ever thought to have some participation of divineness, because it doth raise and erect the mind, by submitting the shows of things to the desires of the mind; whereas reason doth buckle and bow the mind unto the nature of things." Even inferior productions of imagination; by presenting a means of innocent recreation, wean the mind of the indolent and the vicious from grosser pleasures, and shed a

But why should we go to Europe for examples in point, when they are so rife in our own country, nay, at our own doors. Notwithstanding the many circumstantial narrations of the first and most important battle of our revolution, the name of the veteran who virtually commanded in it, 'for he absolutely controlled the point of danger, and with his own troops sustained the whole weight of the attack,' the name of Prescott has been hardly noticed, except in the incidental and scattering records of the few last years;-Botta, in his celebrated history of our war, has copied the same injustice, and our national painter, deceived by history, has assigned the commander in the redoubt the station and the appearance of a common private. "Oh, quote me not history," said Lord Orford to his son Horace, "for that I know to be false."

the conflicting sentiments of the people, It is true, bad works of every description and animating them with a central princiare to be deprecated; but whether an ill-ple of feeling and action. written novel or poem is as prejudicial to society as an ill-written history, may admit of a doubt. What we know to be false, can never have the same unwholesome influence upon our conduct, as what we receive as true, but which, in reality, is false. Then how difficult for the historian, with all his honest intentions, to detect the one

We have but one word more to say of those peculiarities in which history must yield to fiction. The former depicts men as they play their part in public life, that is, en masque; the latter, as they are disclosed in the unsuspicious intercourse of private and domestic life. The former copies from hearsay or written report, the