THE UNITED STATES LITERARY GAZETTE.

Published on the first and fifteenth day of every month, by Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. No. 1 Cornhill, Boston.Terms, $5 per annum, payable in July.
VOL. I.
BOSTON, JANUARY 15, 1825.

REVIEWS.

Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron: Noted during a Residence with his Lordship at Pisa, in the years 1821 and 1822. By Thomas Medwin, Esq., of the 24th Light Dragoons, Author of "Ahasuerus the Wanderer." With additions. New York. 1824. 12mo. pp. 304.

THE writer of these Conversations proposes to himself to supply the want of those Memoirs of Lord Byron, which, to the great grief and trouble of the lovers of scandalous anecdotes, were so heroically consigned to the flames, on the death of their subject. He is a variety of the species Boswell; who had the good fortune to be introduced to his lordship at Pisa, and there to enjoy, and make notes of, his conversation from time to time, during a period of about nine months. He tells us, that the information contained

in this volume

was communicated during a period of many months' familiar intercourse, without any injunctions to se

crecy, and committed to paper for the sake of refer

ence only. They [the notes] have not been shown to any one individual, and, but for the fate of his manuscripts, would never have appeared before the public.

No. 19.

gave his note for a guinea; and that it was ❘ us, which describe the man, whose charac-
the early opinion of his mother, that the ter seems to have been such as we might
young lord was, considering his opportuni- expect of a soul of the higher order, bound
down in eternal slavery to the dominion of
ties, "as bad as his father."
the passions, and cursed with a continual
secret longing after the good which he
laboured to depreciate and despise.

The twig, thus bent, was sent to Harrow;
and how much the morals of his lordship
were improved at this seminary, may be
conjectured from the character of his asso-
ciates, and the reputation which he himself
enjoyed. In one place, he says,

All the friends of my youth are dead; either shot
in duels, ruined, or in the gallies.
And in another,

Like many other eccentric persons, who begin by outraging society, and end in hating it for resenting the insult, his lordship had transferred his affections to a lower order of beings, who do not look beyond the present moment, and are always ready to I fought Lord Calthorpe for writing d-d atheist forget, in the caresses of to-day, the neglect or harsh treatment of yesterday. Captain Medwin found him at Pisa, attended by nine horses, a monkey, a bull-dog, and a mastiff, two cats, three pea-fowls, and some hens.

under my name.

From school he was advanced to the university, where, we are informed, that "they were as glad to get rid of him as they had been at Harrow." On leaving the univerThe bull-dog acted as porter, being atsity, Lord Byron plunged into the most de-tached to the head of the stair-case, "by a praving dissipation, and suffered its inevita- chain long enough to guard the door, and ble consequences. prevent the entrance of strangers." The past this Cerberus, by Shelley, whom the Captain, however, was conducted in safety animal, being acquainted with, only noticed by a growl. The appearance of his lordship is thus described.

possession of it, and a constitution impaired by
With a fortune anticipated before I came into
early excesses, I commenced my travels in 1809,

with a joyless indifference to a world that was all

before me.

Thorvaldsen's bust is too thin-necked and young for Lord Byron. None of the engravings gave me the least idea of him. I saw a man of about five feet seven or eight, apparently forty years of age; as was said of Milton, he barely escaped being short and thick. His face was fine, and the lower part symmetrically moulded; for the lips and chin had that curved and definite outline that distinguishes temples broad; and he had a paleness in his comGrecian beauty. His forehead was high, and his plexion, almost to wanness. His hair, thin and fine, had almost become gray, and waved in natural and graceful curls over his head, that was assimilating itself fast to the "bald first Cæsar's." He allowed it to grow longer behind than it is accustomed to be worn, and at that time had mustachios, which were not sufficiently dark to be becoming. In criticising his features it might, perhaps, be said that his eyes were placed too near his nose, and that one was rather smaller than the other; they were of a grayish brown, but of a peculiar clearness, and look through and penetrate the thoughts of others, when animated, possessed a fire which seemed to while they marked the inspiration of his own. His teeth were small, regular, and white; these, I afterterwards found, he took great pains to preserve.

The fruit of these travels was the Childe Harold, the publication of which placed him All which, together with the assertion that at once at the summit of literary reputation; the writer despises "mere book-making," and this was the period in the life of this we believe because it is printed; and are unhappy man, when it was almost to be as well satisfied as any reasonable book- hoped, that a soul like Byron's would have maker can expect us to be, that the pub- shaken itself free from the fetters of vice lisher of these Conversations was actuated and debauchery; but they were too firmly by that enlarged benevolence, which re- rivetted, and had been worn too long. His gards the satisfaction of the public curiosity marriage was soon followed by separation as an object of far higher moment, than the from his wife, and exile from his country; gratification of private feeling. And if some and the remainder of his existence was of the more strait-laced among the gentle- spent in wandering from city to city, in men on this side of the Atlantic, should disgraceful intrigues with the degraded festick a little at the implied doctrine of males of Italy, and the society of such as Captain Medwin, that it is fair and honour-Hunt, Shelley, and Medwin, and at last able to repeat and publish every private terminated in a crusade against the barbacommunication, which is not attended with rians of the Turkish empire. an express injunction of secrecy, they should We have thus given a rapid sketch of the recollect, that it is proverbially superfluous life of this remarkable personage, who, for to criticise the liberality by which we are the last ten or twelve years, has excited so the gainers. Leaving the point of honour great an interest in the literary world. We out of the question, however, for the pres- cannot weep, with some of our periodical ent, we observe, that we consider recorded brethren, the early death of one, who was conversations of this kind, as much more perverting his ingenuity, and prostituting likely to give one a just view of character, his talents to the abominable purpose of than any autobiography soever, upon some-giving new and powerful attractions to thing the same principle, that laying one's vice, and compelling the Muses to assist ear to a key-hole is often a more certain in rendering pollution seductive, and blas way of learning a man's real opinion, than phemy classical. We do not intend to dis- It consisted of a cup of strong green tea, without asking questions about it. cuss the literary merit of the works of Lord milk or sugar, and an egg, of which he ate the yolk Byron; respecting most of them, there is but raw. I observed the abstemiousness of his meal. one opinion; and of their moral tendency he, to eat more than once a-day, and generally live My digestion is weak; I am too bilious,' said we have spoken at large in a preceding num- on vegetables. To be sure I drink two bottles of ber. Our present remarks will principally wine at dinner, but they form only a vegetable diet. relate to those parts of the volume before Just now I live on claret and soda-water.

From these Conversations we learn, that the father of Lord Byron was a shining example of genteel vice and extravagance; one who ruined ladies of fortune and spent their money; "ran out three fortunes," and

I expected to discover that he had a club, perhaps have distinguished one from the other, either in a cloven foot; but it would have been difficult to size or in form.

The following morning, Medwin found him at breakfast.

290

In another part of the volume, we are informed, that he drank a pint of Hollands every night.

He said to me humorously enough—'Why don't you drink, Medwin? Gin-and-water is the source of all my inspiration. If you were to drink as much as I do, you would write as good verses: depend on it, it is the true Hippocrene.'

This is vegetable diet with a vengeance, and about as likely to improve the digestion as the temper and morals.

His life at Pisa was very uniform :I continued to visit him at the same hour (two o'clock) daily. Billiards, conversation, or reading, filled up the intervals till it was time to take our evening drive, ride, and pistol-practice. On our return, which was always in the same direction, we frequently met the Countess Guiccioli, with whom he stopped to converse a few minutes.

He dined at half an hour after sunset, (at twentyfour o'clock), then drove to Count Gamba's, the Countess Guiccioli's father, passed several hours in her society, returned to his palace, and either

read or wrote till two or three in the morning.

The Countess Guiccioli was the wife of an old Italian nobleman, who had objected to her intimacy with Lord Byron, on the ground of his being "a foreigner, a heretic, an Englishman, and worse than all, a liberal." The lady, deeply offended at this unprecedented illiberality, complained to his holiness, the Pope, "who ordered her a separate maintenance, on condition that she should reside under her father's roof."

The account of his lordship's marriage, treatment of his lady, and separation from her, has been already published in so many papers of the day, that we consider it unnecessary to extract it here. He seems anxious to make it appear that his behaviour in this affair was not remarkably culpable; but besides that his own story is bad enough, he admits, that his own relations, as well as the lady's, that is to say all who had the best opportunity of knowing the truth, condemned his conduct.

All my former friends, even my cousin, George Byron, who had been brought up with me, and whom I loved as a brother, took my wife's part. He followed the stream when it was strongest against me, and can never expect any thing from me: he shall never touch a sixpence of mine.

Every one has heard the report of his drinking out of a skull; the following is his

own account of the circumstance.

cency for his lordship, when they learn his
opinion of their sex. "Like Napoleon,"
says he, (and he might have added, in the
words of an author, whom even he was com-
pelled to respect, 'like all rogues,**) "I have
always had a great contempt for women.
Give a woman a looking-glass and a few
sugar-plums, and she will be satisfied." His
acquaintance with them, it is true, was not
likely to give him an exalted idea of their
qualities. He observes that, they "were
always his bane," and with great justice.
The influence of the sex, whether for good
or evil, is one of the mightiest powers, which
operate in the formation of character; and
as there is nothing which improves and re-
fines it like the society of virtuous women,
so there is nothing, which can pollute and
debase it more than an intercourse with
those of an opposite character. There is no
wickedness like the wickedness of a woman,
Several pages of this work are devoted
to Lord Byron's remarks on religion.
They indicate little knowledge of the
subject. He seems unable to be a down-
right infidel, only wishing that he could be
satisfied that Christianity is a fable, without
being able to persuade himself of it. Per-being Sir Walter Scott's?
haps in this particular he was not very dif-
ferent from many others, who endeavour to
avoid and keep out of sight the necessity of
coming to a decision; considering it as a
thing likely to lead, in any event, to uncom-
fortable consequences. On this subject he
falls into the common weakness of encour-
aging himself in his indecision, or practical
disbelief, by the example of eminent men.
He remarks that-

they are a library in themselves-a perfect literary
treasure., I could read them once a year with new
pleasure.'

Without placing these works of imagination on a level with those of Shakspeare, it appears to us, that the excellencies of both are of the same kind; that there is in both the same individuality in the character, the same universal truth in the sentiments, and the same accurate and spirited delineation of the "passions common to men in all ages of society, which have alike agitated the human heart, whether it throbbed under the steel corslet of the fifteenth century, the brocaded coat of the eighteenth, or the blue frock and white dimity waistcoat of the present day."

Dr Johnson died like a coward, and Cowper was near shooting himself; Hume went off the stage like a brave man, and Voltaire's last moments do not seem to have been clouded by any fears of what was to come.

His lordship's own deathbed seems not to have been troubled by fears of the future, but this does not persuade us, that his life was not frequently tortured by such fears, nor that he had not many moments when he wished as sincerely, as any dying person whatever, that he could hope for a better world. What he wanted, however, in religion, was made up in superstition; for your infidel does not always reject Christianity for want of credulity. He believed in omens, There had been found by the gardener, in dig- lucky days, and, above all, held that conging, a skull that had probably belonged to some jolly friar or monk of the Abbey about the time it venient faith, which lays upon destiny the was dis-monasteried. Observing it to be of giant fault of one's own imprudence or wickedness. size, and in a perfect state of preservation, a strange fancy seized me of having it set and mounted as a drinking-cup. I accordingly sent it to town, and it returned with a very high polish, and of a mottled colour, like a tortoise-shell; (Colonel Wildman now has it). I remember scribbling some lines about it; but that was not all: I afterwards established at the Abbey a new order. The members consisted of twelve, and I elected myself grand master, or Abbot of the Skull, a grand heraldic title. A set of black gowns, mine distinguished from the rest, was ordered, and from time to time, when a particular hard day was expected, a chapter was held; the crane was filled with claret, and, in imitation of the Goths of old, passed about to the gods of the Consistory, whilst many a prime joke was cut at its

expense.

The ladies will hardly feel much compla

Among other heresies, Lord Byron indulged himself in depreciating Shakspeare, the old dramatists, and the English stage in general. The reception of his own dramatic attempts will probably account for his opinion of the taste of his countrymen in this department of literature. If he really did not relish Shakspeare, he was a more unhappy person than we took him for; but we cannot believe this, for many reasons. Among others, it seems to us totally irreconcilable with his admiration of the Scottish novels.

Though little doubt can now exist respecting the real author of these novels, the question, like that concerning the author of the letters of Junius, will continue to possess a degree of interest, so long as any uncertainty remains. The first of the following anecdotes would be decisive, if it could be depended on.

I asked him if he was certain about the Novels 'Scott as much as owned himself the author of Waverley" to me in Murray's shop,' replied he. I was talking to him about that novel, and lamented that its author had not carried back the story nearer to the time of the Revolution. Scott, entirely off his There he stopped. It was in vain to attempt to guard, said, Ay, I might have done so, but'-correct himself: he looked confused, and relieved his embarrassment by a precipitate retreat.

'On another occasion I was to dine at Murray's; and being in his parlour in the morning, he told me I should meet the author of "Waverley" at dinner. He had received several excuses, and the party was a small one; and, knowing all the people present, I was satisfied that the writer of that novel must have been, and could have been, no other than Walter Scott.'

But we hesitate about receiving it in its full force. We think it improbable that Sir Walter should have been so little on his guard, on any occasion when these works were the subject of conversation; certainly, if he understood keeping his secret no better, his title to them would long since have ceased to be doubtful. We imagine that Lord Byron's imagination, or Captain Medwin's, or both, have improved somewhat upon the facts of the case. Several explanations of the second anecdote, suggest themselves to us, as they will doubtless to our readers. So that if we did not believe on other evidence, that the novels were written by Sir Walter, we should incline to continue in our unbelief for any thing that is here offered. While on this subject, we shall extract some other remarks, as being creditable both to the speaker and the object of them.

'He spoiled the fame of his poetry by his superior prose. He has such extent and versatility of 'I never travel without Scott's Novels,' said he; powers in writing, that, should his Novels ever tire

* Heart of Mid-Lothian.

the public, which is not likely, he will apply himself to something else, and succeed as well.

ure.

His

Indeed the character of Scott is one of inform me."-"How can I?" rejoined my master; could hardly have been very full, especially the few subjects, on which his lordship's "it is now too late, and all is over!" I said, "Not if we consider the time when they were mind seemed uniformly to dwell with pleas-Yes, not mine be done--but I will try our will, but God's be done!"-and he answered, generally made, namely, that between two On one occasion he says, "The sight lordship did indeed make several efforts to speak, or three o'clock in the morning and two in of his letters always does me good." And but could only repeat two or three words at a time the afternoon; so that it is not an improbaagainsuch as, "my wife! my child! my sister! you know ble supposition, that the memory must have His (Jeffrey's) summing up in favour of my friend all-you must say all-you know my wishes:" the frequently been called on to supply deficienSir Walter amused me; it reminded me of a school-rest was quite unintelligible. A consultation was cies in the manuscripts; and he who connow held (about noon), when it was determined master, who, after flogging a bad boy, calls out to siders the natural growth and ramification to administer some Peruvian bark and wine. My master had now been nine days without any suste- of stories by repetition, will not be surprised nance whatever, except what I have already men- to find occasionally, that some of the Captioned. With the exception of a few words which tain's ground is debateable. Another cause can only interest those to whom they were ad- may be found in the character of Lord dressed, and which, if required, I shall communiByron himself. If the notion we have cate to themselves, it was impossible to understand any thing his lordship said after taking the bark. formed of this, from other sources, be a corHe expressed a wish to sleep. I at one time asked rect one,-that he did not, any more than whether I should call Mr Parry; to which he re- the majority of mankind, always think and plied, "Yes, you may call him." Mr Parry desired speak in the same manner, on the same him to compose himself. He shed tears, and appa- subject; he was sometimes angry from

the head of the class, and, patting him on the head, gives him all the sugar-plums.

The following passage will show, that however authors may affect to despise the opinions of periodical critics, these opinions do occasionally produce considerable sensation, though, fortunately for the tribe, they do not often draw upon themselves so severe a counterblast.

When I first saw the review of my "Hours of Idleness," I was furious; in such a rage as I never rently sunk into a slumber. Mr Parry went away, slight causes, and sometimes unjust to those

have been in since.

I dined that day with Scroope Davies, and drank three bottles of claret to drown it; but it only boiled the more. That critique was a masterpiece of low wit, a tissue of scurrilous abuse. I remember there was a great deal of vulgar trash in it which was meant for humour, "about people being thankful for what they could get,"-"not looking a gift horse in the mouth," and such stable expressions. The severity of "The Quarterly" killed poor Keats; and neglect, Kirk White; but I was made of different stuff, of tougher materials. So far from their bullying me, or deterring me from writing, I was bent on falsifying their raven predictions, and determined to show them, croak as they would, that it was not the last time they should hear from me. I set to work immediately, and in good earnest, and produced in a year "The English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.'

We shall conclude our extracts from this volume with the account of the last moments of Lord Byron, as given by his valet Fletcher, in a letter to Mr Murray.

Although his lordship did not appear to think his dissolution was so near, I could perceive he was getting weaker every hour, and he even began to have occasional fits of delirium. He afterwards said, "I now begin to think I am seriously ill: and, in case I should be taken off suddenly, I wish to give you several directions, which I hope you will be particular in seeing executed." I answered I would, in case such an event came to pass; but expressed a hope that he would live many years to this my master replied, “ Vo, it is now nearly over;" and then added, "I must tell you all without losing a moment!" I then said, "Shall I go, my Lord, and fetch pen, ink, and paper?"-"Oh, my God! no, you will lose too much time, and I have it not to

execute them much better himself than I could. To

expecting to find him refreshed on his return-but
it was the commencement of the lethargy preceding
his death. The last words I heard my master utter
were at six o'clock on the evening of the 18th, when
he said, "I must sleep now;" upon which he laid
down, never to rise again!-for he did not move
hand or foot during the following twenty-four hours.

The good points in the character of Lord
Byron, were general kindness and generosity
to his servants and dependents, by whom he
seems to have been much beloved, and his
zeal for the civil liberty of mankind. This
was shown in Italy, but more particularly
in the country where he ended his career.
To this sentiment is also to be attributed
the favourable light in which he seems to
have regarded the people of the United
States. He expresses strong affection for
his daughter, and occasionally some regard
for Lady Byron. His faults were the con-
sequences of bad education, and bad com-
pany, early dissipation, and the habit of
yielding to the impulses of passion; and in a
character dangerous alike to itself, and to
society, we are uncertain whether more is
to be pitied, or condemned.

whose conduct on the whole he approved; he was capricious in his opinions, and hasty in his language; and, if the assertions of Medwin respecting his usual mode of living at Pisa are correct, we can hardly be surprised at any extravagance. Admit further, that these Conversations were private, and that his lordship had no suspicion that every casual ebullition of spleen, and every expression, uttered under the inspiration of his "vegetable diet," was treasured up to gratify the public voracity; and we have a clue to almost any contradiction that can be pointed out between the letter of these Conversations and the spirit of his written productions.

There is one view given in this volume, which, if it approaches at all to the truth, and that it has some foundation we shall believe (whether this book shall be proved authentic or not), should make us sincerely grateful that we live under a better influence. We mean the view of depravity, not merely of the people of Italy, but of many among the higher ranks in the British We have thus far gone upon the supposi- empire. It is a consequence of a governtion, that the Conversations, which are the ment, as well as of individual conduct, subject of them, are authentic. Since the founded on just principles, that not only above remarks were written, we perceive their immediate results, but those that are that the London papers endeavour to dis- more distant and contingent, shall be proscredit them. There may be, and doubtless perous and happy. We doubt not that there are, some misrepresentations con- among the middling classes of British sotained in Captain Medwin's collection. Still ciety, public opinion is as powerful a guara great deal of what is reported, agrees so dian of virtue and morality, as it is in New spare, for my time is now short," said his lordship; well, both with the accounts of Lord Byron England. But the misfortune is, that a class and immediately after, "Now, pay attention." His lordship commenced by saying, "You will be pro- from other sources, and the opinions we should exist, which may be in some measure vided for." I begged him, however, to proceed with naturally form of his character from his above the influence of this opinion. But the things of more consequence. He then continued, writings, that we incline to the belief, that corner-stone of the structure of our govern"Oh, my poor dear child!-my dear Ada! My God! they are in the main correct. There are ment, the principle which recognises the could I but have seen her! Give her my blessing two obvious causes for mistakes and incon-natural equality of the rights of mankind, and my dear sister Augusta and her children; and sistencies in a work of this sort. The first and refuses to admit the absurd pretensions you will go to Lady Byron, and say every thing; you are friends with her." His lord- is, that few things are more difficult than to of primogeniture,-prevents the entailment ship appeared to be greatly affected at this moment. retain and correctly repeat the substance, of estates and titles; with a silent and conHere my master's voice failed him, so that I could and much more, the words of any conversa- tinual operation, obstructs the unnatural only catch a word at intervals; but he kept mut- tion, after some hours have elapsed. The separation of wealth and industry, of labour tering something very seriously for some time, and would often raise his voice and say, "Fletcher, memory of man is very treacherous, and and enjoyment; and puts an eternal vete now if you do not execute every order which I besides the interval between the time when upon the elevation of a body of men, above have given you, I will torment you hereafter if pos- the words were spoken, and that when they the control of the opinion and moral sense sible.' Here I told his lordship, in a state of the were noted down,-we are also to consider of their fellows. As yet we are a young greatest perplexity, that I had not understood a that which intervened between the making people, and have allowed the natural affecword of what he said; to which he replied, "Oh; of the notes and the publishing of the col- tion which we must feel for the land of our my God! then all is lost, for it is now too late!lection. Notes, which, as Captain Medwin fathers, the soil which gave birth to our Can it be possible you have not understood me?"— “No, my Lord,” said I; "but I pray you to try and tells us, were only intended for reference, nation, to make us morbidly sensible to any

tell her

--

disparaging observation on our manners and, guages, there is given a delineation of the The American Indians live in a state of customs, from the other side of the Atlantic. grammatical character of thirty-four Ameri- society which affords every encouragement Our republican feelings have been too ready can languages, and translations of the Lord's to the growth, and every facility for the to be irritated, by any intimations of our prayer into fifty-nine different dialects of development of, the sterner qualities of later birth, and induced us to show rather these languages. Although much that is human nature. The men live almost wholly an overweening jealousy, that our elder known upon these subjects is known but by the chase, and its vicissitudes make them brethren were disposed to snub us before imperfectly, and many facts and circum- habitually patient of fatigue and hunger;— company. But we are happy to perceive the stances which would throw a strong light their hunting grounds are seldom very acsigns of a time, which is fast approaching, upon important subjects, are probably be- curately divided, and a herd of deer affords when we shall be sensible of our vast superi-yond the reach of investigation; still much a strong temptation to pass such lines of ority in those fundamental points, upon which has been recovered and added to the mass separation as there may be; and thus occathe true prosperity and happiness of a nation of human knowledge, which may be made sions for war are constantly occurring, and must depend; and have too much real pride to yield valuable instruction. All inquiries frequent wars give them all the qualities to be disturbed by any view of our deficiency respecting the American Indians may be proper to the warrior. But their warfare in matters not essential; when we shall feel arranged into four general divisions, as is rather characterized by stratagem and that there are worse practices than spitting they relate to their character, their religion, surprise than force; they seldom fight openly on the floor, and worse things than bad inns their languages, or their history. There and fiercely until all their tricks, all the and bad coaches; when we shall reflect, that certainly is at the present day a disposition, resources of their ingenuity are exhausted; it is neither impossible, nor very difficult, which is much more amiable than philosophi- to be detected and out-manoeuvred is almost to macadamize our roads, and induct Betty cal, to give these savages credit for all the the same thing as to be defeated, and the Chambermaid, Dick Ostler, and Sam Boots moral excellence and dignity which is in warrior has more frequent occasion to siginto places that have never yet known any degree compatible with their known nalize himself by skill, or sullen, obstinate them; and console ourselves under the condition; and to throw into deep shade, or endurance, than by prowess in fair and open consideration, that these things will cost perhaps apologize for, all those follies and fight; and therefore their courage is passive time and money, by regarding the fearful vices which are attributed to them upon rather than active. Insensibility is with price at which the nations of the old world authority that cannot be questioned This them a point of honour; public esteem is must purchase, if they ever obtain them, is in great part but a reaction from the made to depend upon it, and it is carried to the privileges which we inherit. prejudices and fears of those days when an extreme which astonishes those who do they were believed to have allied them- not recollect, that all men in all ages have selves with the powers of darkness,-to equally acknowledged this power of public Sketches of the History, Manners, and Cus"kill and destroy by treachery, poison, and opinion; Curtius before the gulf in the Fotoms of the North American Indians. By sorcery;"-when the courage of our fathers rum, the leader of a forlorn hope in modern James Buchanan, Esq. His Majesty's quailed before the sad omen of a lunar days, and perhaps the Hindu devotee standConsul for the State of New York. Lon-eclipse, because "in the centre of the moon ing for weeks upon a pointed cone, all illusdon. 1824. 8vo. pp. 371. they discerned an unusual black spot, not a trate the power and energy of those feelings THIS work was written, or rather compiled, little resembling the scalp of an Indian;" which support the Indian through his deathin this country; but the author is an En- when the venerable Hubbard could find no torture. There is no reason to believe that glishman, in the service of the king of Great language sufficiently expressive of his feel- they are by nature inferior in point of inBritain, and his Sketches were published in ings towards these "perfidious, cruel, devil- tellect to Europeans, or those of European London. We may therefore consider it as ishi, savage miscreants," and even went so descent. Education has done for some of an English work, intended principally to give far as to "hope that God will find some them all that it could do for men born to a foreign people information respecting way to cut off the deceitful enemies of his among civilized nations, and the instances the aboriginal inbabitants of this country. people, and not suffer them to live out half which have certainly occurred of half-eduThe subject will no doubt be interesting to their days!" Since those days, our relations cated Indians relapsing into an entirely many readers; for our Indians are a pecu- with these savages have changed;-they savage life, prove little more, than that liar people, in whose history, customs, and now are the oppressed and desolate few; there is in the absolute freedom and irrecondition, there is much that will arrest we are the people of the land, and they are sponsibility of these children of the woods, and well reward the attention of every one the scanty, forlorn, and powerless intruders, something which is most fascinating to the who loves to look upon human nature in all who are glad to hide their misery in any weakness and pride of human nature. Many its actual varieties of situation and character. corner whither they may go, when we bid virtues are unquestionably compatible with Learned and able men have laboured to ac- them crawl out of our way. They fought the character which their condition and quaint themselves with every thing that can against us with the arrow, the bullet, and habits both reveal and create. No doubt a now be learned respecting the past and pres- the tomahawk, and they fought in vain;- benevolent and perfectly amiable being like ent generations of this expiring people. In in our contest with them, we have allied our- Mr Heckewelder, might remember many our own country great and successful efforts selves with pestilence and famine, and that instances of mildness, forbearance, kindness, have been made to investigate the present far fiercer foe to humanity than either, and pure charity, which occurred during his condition of our Indians thoroughly, and the intemperance; and they are well nigh ex-long intimacy with them. But if, on the scholars of Germany have toiled with their tirpated. When the warwhoop disturbed usual energy and success to bring together the repose of our villages, and a savage foe all the detached parts and fragments of beset every path, and men were obliged to knowledge, which could be found in the bear their arms with them to the house of many works published in various lan- God, these ferocious and dreadful enemies guages respecting different subjects con- were of necessity feared and hated beyond nected with different parts of this continent. the degree which different circumstances Their industry in these researches has been would have justified. For this there was carried to an almost astonishing degree, excuse enough; but it will not be reasonaand rewarded by a proportionate success. ble that we should go to the opposite exProbably all the principal customs of the treme, and suffer our sympathy and sorrow Indians are now known, and all of their past for these wretched remnants of nations, or history is ascertained which ever can be even our remorse for the miseries we have learned; with respect to their languages, it inflicted upon them, to influence our opinions, is enough to say, that in the "Miltiades," when we are investigating their character a work upon the general science of lan-as an important fact in the history of man.

one hand, it would be unfair not to admit that these instances prove the Indian character to be capable of an occasional exhi bition of these favourable traits; on the other, it would be altogether unreasonable to infer from them, that these savages live in the habitual exercise of such virtues. Surely there cannot be any doubt, that the Indians are rather ferocious than mild, rather implacable than forgiving, and rather less honest and trust-worthy than men among whom deception and stratagem are more dishonourable. We do not believe that there is any great and peculiar mystery in the Indian character, or that the laws which govern human nature in all other cases, do