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"The reformation of these men could not have taken place at a more propitious moment. Out of nineteen children upon the island, there were several between the ages of seven and nine years; who, had they been suffered longer to follow their own inclinations, might have acquired habits which it would have been impossible for Adams to eradicate. His exertions were attended by advantages both to the objects of his care and to his own mind, which surpassed his most sanguine expectations. He nevertheless had an arduous task to perform. Besides the children to be educated, the Otaheitan women were to be converted; and, as the example of the parents had a powerful influence over the children, he resolved to make them his first care. Here, also, his labours succeeded; the Otaheitans were naturally of a tractable disposition, and gave him less trouble than he anticipated: the children also acquired such a thirst after scriptural knowledge, that Adams in a short time had little more to do than to answer their enquiries, and put them in the right way. As they grew up, they acquired fixed habits of morality and piety; their colony improved; intermarriages occurred; and they now form a happy and well-regulated society, the merit of which in a great degree belongs to Adams, and tends to redeem the former errors of his life."

The account given by Captain Beechey of the manners and appearance of this infant nation is extremely interesting, and may tempt us to pilfer again from his pages next week, if no press of new matter interfere to prevent us. In the meantime, we take our leave of the gallant author and his book, expressing our admiration of the manly, hearty, and sensible spirit which pervades it.

A Selection from the Papers of the Earls of Marchmont, in the Possession of the Right Hon. Sir George Henry Rose, Illustrative of Events from 1685 to 1750. In three vols. 8vo. Pp. 292, 418, 479. London, John Murray. 1831.

THE period of English history of which these volumes are illustrative, is one of which we know little-to the purpose. There are, no doubt, histories, biographies, (so called by courtesy,) constitutional essays, &c. &c. But all these meritorious works have one great fault; their facts are either traditionary gossip, or cut out of the veracious columns of the newspapers of the day. The history of monarchical countries is apt to degenerate into mere biographies of their successive rulers; the history of England has erred in another way-the loud voice of popular commotion has distracted the attention too much from the personal character of those who in silence, but irresistibly, gave its progressive impetus to the machine of the state.

The collections of private papers which are now beginning to drop out one by one from family repositories, promise in time to furnish us with more authentic information. When these important publications have become sufficiently numerous, an author of comprehensive and acute mind may, by conjoining the information they afford, with that which is to be found in the public records, give to the world a history of England from the Restoration till the accession of George III., the most important, if not the most attractive era in our history. It is a pleasing part of our task, as periodical literary newsmongers, to give the public some preliminary notion of the character of each of these accessions to our historical fund.

The volumes now before us contain a judicious selection from the papers of the three Earls of Marchmont. These noblemen were all possessed of superior natural abilities, carefully cultivated, and were all of them deeply engaged in the political business of their respective periods. Sir Patrick Hume, afterwards the first Earl of Marchmont, was born in 1640, and died in 1724. He was a strenuous and consistent advocate of Presbyterian and Constitutional principles during the dark reigns of the two last Stewarts. He was an actor in the Marquis of Argyle's premature attempt to rouse Scotland |

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against the bigot James; and he had a great share in
bringing about the incorporating Union between Eng-
land and Scotland.
Marchmont, was born in 1675, and died in 1740. His
His son Alexander, second Earl of
boyhood was spent in exile, in Holland. He was bred
to the law. As Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire, he
raised two battalions of cavalry, and commanded one of
them in person. He served his country abroad in seve-
ral embassies; and died an active member of the Opposi-
tion to Sir Robert Walpole. Hugh, the last Earl of
Marchmont, was born in 1708, and died, at an advanced
age, in 1794. He was the friend and correspondent of
Pope and Bolingbroke. He was an animated and ac-
complished debater in Parliament, an intelligent and
amiable country gentleman. Although acting by no
affairs as his father or grandfather, he was closely con-
means such a conspicuous or influential part in state
nected with the leading statesmen of the day, and enjoyed
their esteem and confidence. None of his papers of a
later date than 1750 are given in this collection.

The private papers of three such men are necessarily full of the most interesting matter. Not only do they bring to our knowledge many historical facts formerly unknown, or of doubtful authority-they bring the actors in the scenes of the Revolution, the Union, the Rebellions of 1715 and 1745 before us, as they lived, thought, and felt. We are admitted into the secret of all their little intrigues; we see the opinions and feelings which motive their actions springing up vague and indistinct in their minds, or gradually gaining form and consistency in their conversations with each other. We see parties and practices of state developed and matured. In short, forming, dissolving, and re-uniting-political principles view-not in its superficial form, not in the variable and we have the machine of state completely exposed to our inconstant motions of those who merely take their tone from others but in its most necessary springs and wheels, the conduct of those whom chance or talent have enabled to form the opinions of others, and lay hold upon the management of national affairs.

In this point of view, the papers of Hugh Earl of Marchmont are peculiarly interesting. They refer to the periods immediately preceding, and immediately following, the Rebellion of 1745. They serve effectually to strip that Quixotic enterprise of the false colouring of heroism which some late writers have attempted to confer upon it.

We see that the madmen concerned in it were doomed from the first to destruction. They had raised every man who was attached to their cause-by remaining in Scotland, they would have given the government time to muster forces to crush them--by pushing on, they disconcerted its operations, but, at the same time, they abandoned their fastnesses, and delivered themselves up to an overwhelmingly superior and inimical population. Their own differences accelerated their destruction; but union could only have made them mischievous for a little longer space, to a country which knew nothing of them or their leader, and wished to know nothing. We do not call the person who plunges himself into such a predicament a hero, but a madman. Nor can above half-a-dozen of Charles Stewart's followers claim even the lenient judgment that they were amiable' or high-minded dreamers. The mass of the Highlanders merely obeyed their chiefs, and the majority of these chiefs were disappointed politicians or bankrupts. Lord Marchmont's papers show most satisfactorily that it was not to any high-wrought enthusiasm that the Highland-" ers owed their transient appearance of success, but solely to the weakness and inefficiency of the ministry for the time being. Conscious of their own weakness and unpopularity, they hesitated to put into the hands of the Lowland counties of Scotland arms wherewith they might defend themselves, or even to allow them to unite ; and the land was thus left with nothing to oppose the irruption of the Highland host. For corroboration of

this opinion, we need only refer the reader to Hugh Lord Marchmont's diary, from September 1745 to May 1746. The following passage sets in a clear point of view their irresolution and paltry jealousies, even when the enemy was at their gates:

for a war-cry to attract public favour and support. The genius of Swift and Bolingbroke devised one for them. They learned to plead the cause of the exiled family upon principles of abstract liberty. There was something bold in this attempt-more bold than honest. The tone which "I told Lord Bolingbroke, that we in Scotland were lost, they assumed, however, attracted to their ranks many who were disgusted with the vulgar profligacy of Walpole. in a dispute who should be Viceroy, but that I thought we ought to try every thing to save ourselves, and therefore Out of these elements gradually arose a constitutional Tory was going to the Duke of Montrose, to see if he would offer party, which, shortly after the accession of George III, to do whatever service he could; and that I desired him to obtained the ascendency, and, with a few brief intervals, tell any of the English ministers he saw, to consider whe- maintained it until very lately. To mark the progress ther we could be of any use. I went to the Duke of Mon- of such an utter extinction of a political sect, seems to us trose, and proposed to him to ask the ministers, whether they who knew the king's affairs, thought we could be of a much more instructive task than to dilate upon the any use, because we were ready. On his agreeing to it, I irruption of a small band of semi-barbarians into a proposed telling Lord Stair of it; and his Grace bade me civilized country. Towards effecting such a task, the speak: so we went together to him, and I told him what papers of Lord Hugh afford valuable contributions. We doubt much whether the mere general reader will we had thought of. He said it was extremely right, and I said, we feared it might find as much amusement in these papers as the historical would have a very good effect. be treated as officious or meddling; he said, that it must be student profit. There is, however, much that must be well received; I told him if it was so, we thought of send-attractive even in the eyes of the butterfly generation. ing an express for the Duke of Queensberry, and assembling The last words of Bolingbroke, Pope, and his Atossa, are too curious to remain unperused. Of the epistles of the others, so as to act all in conjunction to defend our liberty; he said, he found but one man in England, and that was Lord Thanet, who thought that the king should make a last mentioned, we last week submitted some specimens Some of Bolingbroke's letters are as declaration to satisfy his people, that he meant to defend to our readers. and secure our free constitution; and then every man would gorgeous in language as his "Idea of a Patriot King." rise in arms for him. At last he agreed, together with us, Pope is as attentive to point and antithesis in his latest to call Lord Tweeddale into a separate room at court, and letters as in those which he wrote in the heyday of his ask him, if we or any Scots peers could be of any service at court, observing, that the affairs of Scotland were consider-literary vanity. ed lightly, and that it was reckoned sure that the troops now a-marching, would quiet every thing as soon as the king was gone in. I told Lord Stair, that as he could judge of the air du bureau better than I could pretend, I desired to know, whether he thought we ought to speak to Lord Tweeddale as had been agreed; he answered with indifference it could do no hurt. On this I beckoned up the Duke of Montrose, and asked Lord Stair, if he thought we should then take Lord Tweeddale aside; he repeated the same answer, and turned to speak to some other body; on which the Duke pulled me by the sleeve, and going into a window, said, that we saw what was likely to happen to our offer, and that we had best postpone it.

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*

Chesterfield appears to much greater

advantage than we had anticipated. Of all the statesmen
The Duke of
of the time, he alone seems to have seen what was the
true method of pacifying the Highlands.
Marchmont
Cumberland was cheered on by the rest.
says, "I found Lord Chesterfield was for schools and
villages to civilize the Highlands." How far, in con-
ceiving this idea, he had outstripped his age, is apparent
from the length of time which has elapsed without its
being more than partially realized.

In two A Year in Spain. By a Young American. volumes. 8vo. Pp. 413, 377. London. John Murray. 1831.

"When I came from court, Lord Gower came in, to whom I told that the Duke of Montrose and I had been to offer our services; he said he was glad we had done it, on which I told him what had passed. He said the ministers THIS is a clever, lively, and just sketch of a country The author could not tell what to depend on concerning Scotland, one side constantly contradicting the other. I told him, I my-much more talked about than understood. self out of Parliament, and all I could influence in Parlia- entered Spain,-crossing the Pyrenees by the route which He passed through Tarragona and ment, should loudly complain, that Scotland was thrown leads to Barcelona. out of the King's protection. He said he did not see that; Valencia to Madrid; spent the winter in the capital; udI answered, Scotland was undone in the dispute between dertook some excursions in its environs, and made his exit, two men, who should be Viceroy of it, and the English travelling by the way of Cordova and Seville to Gibraltar. ministry considered only which of these two men should be absolute lords of the kingdom, and thus the king had lost He is endowed by nature with the first great requisite his crown, which he seemed not to value; that all this for a traveller-good-humour, a disposition to see every He mixed with the people, might have been prevented last winter, if, instead of hold- thing on the sunny side. ing up the Duke of Argyle to be king, and insisting on all and gaining their affections by deference to their prejuof us bowing to him, they had obliged his Grace to shake dices, saw them as they see each other. His remarks are hands with the rest of the nobility, and be content with his characterised by candour-judging the Spaniards by their share; that the Duke was brought to do no-powers and capacities, not by that miserable state of social thing unless he could do every thing, and Lord Tweeddale disorder into which their country is fallen; by manly thought he had credit enough in the closet to suffer nobody and liberal sentiments worthy of himself, the denizen of to have power but himself; and, therefore, from resentment to the Duke of Argyle, and to all of us who had not a more free, moral, and happy community. He is equally at home in describing the sturdy peasant, cringed to him, he had neglected the common good and neHis sketches of the Madrid and the sparkling donna. cessary precautions to defend the kingdom." beggars are worthy of Le Sage, or Guzman Alfarache : "There is, perhaps, nothing with which the stranger is more struck and more offended in Madrid, than with the extent of mendicity. There are, indeed, abundance of hosBut a much more important page of our nation's his-pitals and infirmaries, where the poor of the city might all tory is traced in Lord Hugh's correspondence; a vital be received and taken care of; but they are not subject to change in its political sentiments, the creation of a new compulsion, and such is the charm of liberty, that many political creed, the effects of which have shown them-prefer to roam about, and depend upon the casual charity selves in the eventful reign of George III. The two great parties opposed to each other during the reigns of Queen Anne and the two first Georges were the old Tories, or Jacobites, and the Whigs. The gradual extinction of the party attached to the old dynasty left those who had been accustomed to lead it sadly puzzled

The nation must have been sound at heart that could withstand aggression while its rulers were indulging in such child's play.

of the wayfarer. Unfortunately, the facility of gaining a subsistence in Spain by begging is so great, that, notwith standing the national pride, many ablebodied men prefer it, with all its degradation, to the irksome task of daily labour. This facility comes in part from the practices of certain conscientious Christians, who give each day a portion of their abundance to the poor; some from a mistaken sense

of piety, others through remorse for evil actions. The most prominent cause, however, of this evil is found in the distribution of food at the gates of churches and convents. No sight, indeed, can be more degrading than one which I have often witnessed at the gate of San Isidro, the church and college of the now re-established Jesuits. There, at the hour of noon, a familiar brings out a copper caldron filled with soup, which he serves round in equal portions to each of the hungry crew brought together by the occasion. Should a scramble take place for precedence, the familiar soon restores order by dashing the hot soup amongst them with his long iron ladle.

"The road from the Gate of the Sun to the library was the habitual stand of a young man, a deaf mute, who sat cross-legged, in a grey capote, with his hat before him, and a bell in his hand. The sense of his misfortune, of his complete separation from the rest of the human family, seemed to have tinged his character with a degree of brutal ferocity, at least such was the expression of his countenance. He took no notice of those who gave to him, but sat all day in one of the coldest streets of the city, ringing his bell, and uttering sounds which, as he knew not how to modulate them so as to strike a tone of supplication, came harshly upon the ear, like nothing so much as the moans sent forth by the wounded victims of the arena.

"From all these reasons, Madrid abounds in beggars. There is not a frequented street or corner in the city but is "A sturdy wretch, in the garb of Valencia, constantly the habitual stand of some particular occupant, and even the infested the Calle Montera, placing himself along the narcharms of the Pases are too often qualified by their unwel- row side-walk of flag stones reserved for foot passengers. come intrusion. They enter boldly into every house where Here he would stretch himself on his side, flat upon the there is no porter to stop them at the vestibule, and pene- cold pavement, with nothing between his head and the trate to the doors of the different habitations, where they stones but a matted mass of uncombed hair, and the tatters make their presence known by a modest ring of the bell. of a handkerchief. His body was rolled in a blanket, and Though often greeted at first with a scolding, they seldom a young child of a year or two, either his own, or hired for go away empty-handed, especially if they happen to appeal the occasion, raised its filthy head beside him. But the to a woman; for the female heart is easily opened by a story most disgusting part of the picture was a diseased and of misfortune. I had occasion to see this in the house where nearly naked leg, thrust out so as to cut off the passage of I resided; for the daughter of my host, when she found her the walkers, and drive them into the middle of the street. door thus besieged, would be exceedingly angry for a mo- The man was well made and able-bodied, and his sores were ment; but if a poor wretch stood his ground and grew doubtless carefully kept from healing, for they constituted eloquent, she would at length soften, the frown would vanish the stock-in-trade the fortune of the mendicant. This from her brow, and ejaculating Pobrecito !' she would miscreant was my greatest eye-sore in Madrid: stretched hurry away to bring some cold meat, or a roll of bread. out as I have described, the child was always crying, either The successful beggar would then kiss the gift devoutly, from the intense cold, or because its legs were pinched beand say with feeling, as he turned away,' Dios se lo pagara! neath the blanket; whilst the wretch himself shouted in an God will reward you!' imperative tone, and without the intervention of any saint, "The churches, however, are the most frequented stands-Me da usted una limoona! which, taking the manner for the beggars. They collect in the morning about the into consideration, amounted to Give me alms and be doors and near the holy water, which they take from the d-d to you!' basin and offer on the ends of their fingers, or with a brush made for the purpose, to such as come up to mass or to confession. These poor wretches have doubtless found from experience, that the most pious, are likewise the most charitable.

"But the most singular instance of mendicity I have ever seen, was furnished by a couple whom I one day met in the Red San Luis. The principal personage was a large blind man, whose eyelids were turned up and fiery, and who carried upon his shoulders a most singular being, with "However one may be prejudiced against this system of an immense head, and a pair of thin elastic legs, which mendicity, it is impossible for him, if he have any com- were curled and twisted round the neck of his companion. passion, to move untouched through the streets of Madrid The fellow overhead carried a bundle of ballads, which -misery assumes so many and such painful aspects, and both were singing at the top of their lungs. Behind them one is so often solicited by the old, the infirm, the macerated, came a patient ass, tied to the girdle of the blind man, and nay, I had almost said, by the dying. In my winter morn- loaded with the effects, as though they were passing through ing walks down the street of Alcala, to make a turn through on their way to some other place, or were coming to make the solitary alleys of the Prado, I used to see a poor, ema- some stay in the capital. They seemed to manage very ciated wretch, who seemed to haunt the sunny side of the well, by thus joining their fortunes; for, whilst the blind street, and seat himself upon the pavement, rather to be man effected their locomotion, the cripple shaped their warmed, after a long and chilly night, spent, perhaps, upon course, jesting with the other beggars and blind men whom the stones of some court-yard, than to beg from the few they met, and holding out his hat to receive the offering of who passed at that early hour. Though sinking rapidly the charitable. Their bodies were, indeed, so twisted and into decay, he was yet a very young man, scarce turned of entangled, as to give at first the idea of a single being formtwenty; and whilst his red hair and fair complexion being a combination almost as monstrous as the fabled one of spoke the native of Biscay or Asturias, the military trow- the Centaur." sers which he wore, unless the gift of some charitable trooper, showed that he had once been a soldier. When any one passed, he would stretch out his hand, and move his lips, as if asking charity; but whether his voice were Having shaken off a portion of the dust which had gone, or that he was not used to beg, he never uttered more gathered round me during the journey, I walked forth to than an inarticulate rattle. I had several times intended refresh myself in a ramble along the banks of the Tagus. to ask a story, which must doubtless have been a sad one; In crossing Taza to join the river, I was accosted by a lad, but ere I had done so, the poor fellow ceased to return to whom I presently recognised to be one of those who had his usual stand. The last time I saw him, he was crawl-offered to conduct me to the posada. He asked me if I had ing slowly down a cross street, bent nearly double, and supporting his unsteady steps as he went, with a staff in either

hand.

"At the coming out of the theatre of Principe, a little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet, though in the midst of winter, was in the habit of patroling the street through which the crowd passed. She usually finished her night's task by returning home through our street, begging as she went. Frequently, when I had just got into bed, and was yet shivering with cold, would I hear her shrill and piercing voice borne upon the keen wind, and only alternated by an occasional footfall, or by the cry of the sereno, as he told the hours: A esta pobrecita para comprar zapatos; que no tiene padre ne madre ! For the poor little creature to buy shoes; she has neither father nor mother!' Many were the contributions she thus raised upon the charitable; but the winter wore away, and still she went about barefooted, and still she begged for money to buy shoes.

The following incident gives a lively but horrible picture of the present state of Spain :

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lost any thing when I got down from the carro, and at the same time took from his cap a cut glass inkstand with a brass cover, which fitted tightly with a screw. I was pleased with this little act of honesty in a needy boy, and on turning to take more notice of him, was struck with his frank sunburnt face, and keen black eye. Having asked him to show me to a pleasant walk, he took me at once across the bridge, and as we traced a footpath which lay along the margin of the river, I drew from him a story which was more than melancholy.

"Jose-for such was the name of the lad-had never known his father; as he had been born to sorrow, he might also have been begotten in guilt. All that he knew of himself was, that three years before, at the period when the entry of the French troops into Spain had restored the priest party to preponderance and power-at that period of universal license, when from a pulpit in Madrid it was publicly proclaimed to be no sin to kill the child of a constitutional, though in its mother's womb-two royalists had

entered their dwelling in dead of night, and dispatched his
mother with their knives. Jose could not tell whether this
murder had been instigated by religious or political fanati-
cism, or by revengeful jealousy-it was enough for him that
they had killed his mother. Since that fatal night he had
wrestled for his bread as best he could. His character
seemed to have formed itself prematurely, and though only
twelve years old, he had already something of the bearing
and dignity of manhood. Yet his ragged clothing and un-
combed hair showed that he still needed a mother's care.
"I was greatly struck with the solitary and unfriended
condition of this poor boy, and determined to employ him
the next day in showing me the wonders of Aranjuez. In
returning towards the posada our road lay through the
market-place. It was thronged with labourers, returning
from their work in the palaces and gardens, and who paused
in groups to talk over the gossip of the day. All the men
wore the undress of royalist volunteers. I had nowhere
seen so many of these birds of evil omen. In one group,
near which we passed, I noticed a stout powerful man,
with thick hair and long black mustaches. His jacket was
hanging carelessly from the left shoulder, and a red cockade,
of most royal dimensions, stuck under the ribbon of his hat.
He followed us with his eyes as we went by, and when we
had turned a corner, the boy drew towards me and said,
It was he who killed my mother!— Es le, quien mató
á mi madre !

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spluttering Dutchmen, and flippant Frenchmen; smoothtongued Italians, long-waisted and red-capped Catalans, and English sailors, with their neat tarpaulins and blue jackets. As you penetrate into the town, all denotes the stir and bustle of commerce, an immense business confined within narrow limits. Goods are constantly landing and embarking, and carts and waggons passing in every direc tion. The people no longer moved slowly as in Spain, nor loitered about the corners; every one had something to do, -every one was in a hurry. Salutations were abrupt, and ceremonies dispensed with- How do?' was the word, without waiting for an answer. Even the Spaniards residing here seem to have caught the impetus. Instead of their long How are you?' and God guard you!' I now heard nothing from them but a sudden salude' as they were forced against, and bounded away from each other in the crowd. The officers of the garrison, amid all this bustle, seemed the only men of leisure. They sat on horseback, dressed in their neat red Moorish jackets, with foraging caps covering their faces often equally red; their horses drawn up in the middle of the street, to the obstruction of the drays, or planted at the only crossing-place for footinen. Others monopolized the side walk, driving the trader inte the street; whilst elsewhere a couple, as if mutually unwilling to sacrifice dignity by coming towards each other, carried on their conversation for the public benefit from either side of the street, saying very flat things, with arms folded or a-kimbo, and in a very 'pon-honourish tone, as though each were talking through a quire of paper. Here was music too and marching, and ladies, and every thing that can be seen in the whole world, reduced into a narrow Nothing could be more striking than the contrast which compass. There was much in all this to please, and yet every thing presented, as I passed the narrow interval there was much that was unpleasing. I now saw again, which separates Spain from Gibraltar. It so happens that in the appearance of many of the moving multitude, those the very poorest of the Spanish troops are stationed here, indications of intemperance to which I had been long a and that every thing connected with the public service de- stranger-swollen and unwieldy bodies, surmounted by fiery notes more than usual ruin and dilapidation. The soldiers faces, mottled with blotches and carbuncles. Everywhere on duty were ragged, their schaikos often stretched out of along the main street stood open tap-rooms-the ready reshape, and kept from falling over their eyes by a handker-servoirs of all this intemperance. The well-rubbed bottles chief thrust between them and the forehead, until they pro- glistened upon the shelves, with each its silver label, while jected in front like the self-sustained penthouse of a Low the alternate glasses were surmounted by lemons to make Dutch dwelling. Some wore shoes and gaiters, others hempen sandals. In this neglected garb, however, you could poison palatable to beginners. It was long since I had seen any thing like this; and it pained me to remember, that had see a well-made and sinewy, though starved form, a weather- I been transported as suddenly into my own country, I beaten face, and black and bristly mustaches, which, with might have met with objects equally hateful and disgusting. the keen eye of the poor soldier, denoted a fund of military The contrast brought into strong relief the frugal, temperate spirit. Besides these troops, the traveller is beset by groups habits, the sinewy conformation, and manly bearing of the of beggars, vagrant gipsies, squalid, unwashed men, and Spanish peasantry. Nor could I help reflecting, that if their half-naked women, paralytic and rickety wretches from case called upon us for commiseration, there was also some the quicksilver mines, converted by their toils into monsters room for admiration and for envy." of deformity.

We have been pleased and edified by his description of the impression made upon his mind at the moment of his entry into Gibraltar :

66

"How different every thing within the English lines! 1 first came to a drawbridge of neat construction; then a guard-house, with a snug lodge for the person who is charged with the service of watching those who enter and depart, and who sits comfortably under cover. Beside this man, to secure his obedience, stood a British soldier, as stiff as a statue; his coat, cap, and shoes, all brushed to perfection; his trowsers, ruffles, plume, and belts, as white as washing and pipeclay could make them; and his musket, where not coloured, reflecting the sunbeams like a mirror. Though his form was less muscular, and his eye less martial, than those of the poor Spaniard without, he was, neverthe less, larger and better fed, and was ready, by the force of discipline, to do any thing, and go anywhere.

"On a near approach to the fortress, I paused for a moment to look upon its rugged front with a mingled feeling of awe and admiration. Here the whole art of defence has been exhausted. The entire face and foot of the mountain is covered with defences, and bristling with cannon. The level ground below, the slopes and ridges, and every inequality of surface, have been converted into batteries. Even the precipice itself, where nature, having precluded all approach, refuses a foothold for a single warrior, is perforated with yawning port-holes, suspended near a thousand feet above, and ready, in a moment, to be converted into mouths of fire. All these cannon, pointed at the place upon which I stood, their tompions out, to denote preparation and a readiness to be lit up in a moment into one vast blaze, as terrible as the thunder of the heavens.

"After passing through several parallels, where all denoted the most perfect state of order and preparation, I came to the neat market recently erected without the gate, and the general landing-place of men-of-war's-men and merchant sailors of every nation in Europe. Here one may see filthy Jews, big-breeched Moors, wily Greeks,

We know from personal acquaintance, that the Transatlantic Republic has, at this moment, many as worthy sons as this " Young American," travelling in Europe, and we augur well of the future destinies of a nation whose youth are thus fitting themselves, by extended observation of men and manners, to take an active and influential part in the business of the state.

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We noticed the first edition of this valuable publication at a length which would have excused us from directing the attention of our readers to the new edition, but for the interesting details of the misfortunes of the fleets sent out last season to Davis' Straits, collected by the spirited conductors of this work at no small expense and exertion. We lay before our readers the history of the ill-fated squadron which suffered most:

"One of the largest of these squadrons, and that whose eventful story we can relate in the greatest detail, consisted of six very fine vessels, the St Andrew of Aberdeen, the Baffin and Rattler of Leith, the Eliza Swan of Montrose, the Achilles of Dundee, and the French ship Ville de Dieppe. They began by making themselves fast to some icebergs, but soon quitted these in order to attempt a passage in different directions. On the 19th, a fresh gale sprang up from the SS. W., and drove in upon them masses of ice, by which they were soon beset, in lat. 75 deg. 10 min. N., long. U

deg. 30 min. W., about forty miles to the southward of Cape York. They ranged themselves under the shelter of a large and rugged floe, having water barely sufficient to float them. Here they formed a majestic line behind each other, standing stem to stern so close as to afford a continued walk along the whole line of their decks; being at the same time so pressed against the ice, that in some places a boathook could with difficulty be inserted in the interval. In the evening of the 24th, the sky darkened, the gale increased, the floes began to overlap each other, and press upon the ships in an alarming manner. The sailors then attempted to saw the ice into a sort of dock, where they hoped to be relieved from this severe pressure; but soon a huge floe was driven upon them with a violence completely irresistible. The Eliza Swan (whose surgeon, Mr Maccall, has also furnished us with some particulars) received the first shock, and was saved only by the floe raising her up. It caused her indeed to strike with such force on the bow of the St Andrew, that her mizzen-mast was nearly carried off,-but it then passed from under her, after damaging severely her stem and keel. It next struck the St Andrew, midship, breaking about twenty of her timbers, and staving a number of casks; but it then fortunately moved along her side, and went off by the stern. Now, however, pursuing its career, it reached successively the Baffin, the Achilles, the Ville de Dieppe, and the Rattler, and dashed against them with such tremendous fury, that these four noble vessels, completely equipped and fortified, and which had braved for years the tempests of the Polar deep, were, in a quarter of an hour, converted into shattered fragments. The scene was awful;-the grinding noise of the ice tearing open their sides-the masts breaking off and falling in every direction-amid the cries of two hundred sailors leaping upon the frozen surface, with only such portions of their wardrobe as they could snatch in a single instant. The Rattler is said to have become the most complete wreck almost ever known she was literally turned inside out, and her stem and stern carried to the distance of a gunshot from each other. The Achilles had her sides nearly pressed together, her stern thrust out, her decks and beams broken into innumerable pieces. The Ville de Dieppe, a very beautiful vessel, though partly filled with water, stood upright for a fortnight, and the greater part of her provisions and stores were saved; as were also some of those of the Baffin, two of whose boats were squeezed to pieces. All the other boats were dragged out upon the ice, and were claimed by the sailors as their only home. Not far from the same spot, the Progress of Hull was crushed to atoms by an iceberg, on the 2d of July; and, on the 18th of the same month, the Oxenhope, also of that port, became a total wreck.

"The Resolution (Philip) of Peterhead, Laurel of Hull, Letitia and Princess of Wales of Aberdeen, had advanced considerably farther to the north-west, being in lat. 75 deg. 20 min. N., long. 62 deg. 30 min. W. They were lying side by side, and, having cut out a dock in the ice, considered themselves perfectly secure. But the gale of the 25th drove the floes upon them with such fury, that the sides of the Resolution and Letitia were pierced; they were filled with water to the deck, and pressed so forcibly against the Laurel, which lay between them, as almost to raise that vessel out of the water. This last, however, remained for the present in safety, and the seamen busied themselves placing on board of her the provisions and stores of her two wrecked companions. But, on the 2d of July, she, along with the Hope of Peterhead, was exposed to a gale, if possible, still more terrible than the former, when they both shared the disastrous fate of the Resolution and Letitia. The Hope, which was standing in the water clear and secure, was overwhelmed with such rapidity, that, in ten minutes, only the point of her maintop-gallant-mast was seen above the ice.

"The tempest, on the 26th June, assailed also the Spencer and Lee, which had penetrated farther north than any of the other vessels, having reached even the latitude of 76 deg. The Lee escaped with only a number of her timbers shattered; but the Spencer, after a long and vigorous resistance, had her hold burst open and filled with ice and water, so that she soon became a complete wreck. Sufficient warning, however, had been given to enable the sailors to lodge on the ice their most valuable effects. In this vicinity, the William and Ann of Whitby, and the Dordon of Hull, were attacked at the same moment. The latter, fortunately, was raised up by the pressure of the ice into a safe position; but the William and Ann, being placed between opposite floes, was crushed to pieces so rapidly, that nothing could be saved out of her; and a boat, into

which the captain had thrown a few articles from the cabinwindows, was itself soon afterwards sunk. In the same latitude, a few miles to the westward, the tempest proved also fatal to the Old Middleton of Aberdeen. "A similar disaster befell part of a large group, amounting to twenty-two sail, which had not entered the icy barrier, but remained considerably to the southward in about lat. 74 deg. 20 min. N. They seem scarcely to have felt the storm of the 25th June, and remained in tolerable safety, though beset, till the night of the 30th. A heavy gale then sprung up, and increased continually till the inorning of 2d July, when it swelled to a dreadful tempest. The howling of the wind, the showers of hail and snow, the dark and fearful aspect of the sky, gave warning of approaching danger. At seven in the morning, a signal of distress was hoisted by the William of Hull, and in a short time thereafter she appeared almost buried under masses of ice. About ten, the North Briton was reduced to a complete wreck; and at eleven the Gilder shared the same fate. During six hours, the storm slightly abated, but then returned with augmented fury, and pressed the ice with additional force upon the Alexander of Aberdeen, and the Three Brothers of Dundee,-two large and fine vessels, so strongly built and equipped, that an observer might have supposed them capable of withstanding any shock whatever. They made, accordingly, a very stout resistance; the conflict was dreadful, and was beheld with awful interest by the sailors as they stood round; at length their timbers gave way at every point,-the sides bursting open, the masts crashing and falling with a frightful noise; the hull of the Three Brothers was twisted so that the two ends of the ship could scarcely be distinguished; finally, only some broken masts and booms appeared above the ice. The crews, spectators of this awful scene, gave three cheers in honour of the gallant resistance made by their vessels to the overpowering element by which they had been vanquished. Our correspondent here observes-somewhat as Captain Parry had already done at a critical period-that a ship, the strongest which human art can construct, becomes like an egg-shell when opposed to the full force of this terrific natural agent. *

"It is a remarkable and gratifying circumstance, that, in the whole of these sudden and dreadful disasters, there should not have occurred the loss of a single life. The very element, indeed, which destroyed the vessels, was in so far propitious, as it afforded to the crews a secure, though uncomfortable retreat. By leaping out upon the ice, in the moment of wreck, they all effected their escape. Yet we have heard of several instances in which the danger was close and imminent. Sometimes the seamen, before they could snatch their clothes and bedding, found themselves up to the middle in water. The surgeon of the North Briton beheld the ice rushing in and meeting from opposite quarters in the cabin, before he was able to make his retreat.

"The shipwrecked mariners, nearly a thousand in number, were now obliged to establish temporary abodes on the surface of that rough and frozen sea where their ships had been wrecked. They erected tents of sails detached from the broken masts; they kindled fires, and procured provisions, either out of their own shattered vessels, or from those of their companions which had fortunately escaped. But still their situation, though not desperate, was dreary in the extreme; like outcasts in the most desolate extremity of the earth, without any assured means either of subsistence or return. Yet such is the elastic spirit of British tars, that, as soon as the first shock was over, they began, with one consent, to enjoy themselves, exulting in the idea of being their own masters. Finding access, unfortunately, to considerable stores of wine and spirits, they began a course of too liberal indulgence. The rugged surface of the Arctic deep was transformed into a gay scene of festivity. The clusters of tents with which it was covered, the various scenes of ludicrous frolic, the joyous shouting of the British sailors, and the dances and songs of the French, suggested the idea of a large fair; some even gave it the name of Baffin Fair. The Frenchmen are said to have declared that they had never been so happy in their whole lives. Excursions of considerable extent were made over the ice from one party to another; a communication was even opened between the northern and southern de

The shipwreck of these vessels is well represented in a litho Zephyr of Hull. To this gentleman, as well as to Mr Alexander, graphic print, from a drawing by Mr Laing, surgeon to the surgeon of the Three Brothers of Dundee, we have to acknow. ledge ourselves indebted for some useful information,

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