tachments of the fleet, and so regularly carried on as to be called by the latter the north mail.' "A few days after the different shipwrecks, the seamen, in almost every instance, proceeded to a very extraordinary operation, that of setting fire to the vessels, and burning them down to the water's edge. The object was, that, when the upper surface of the ship was thus removed, the casks and chests containing the clothes and provisions might float up, and become available for the service of the men. A sailor, who witnessed this operation with the four first wrecks, described it as having completely answered its purpose. Others deprecated the practice as causing a very wanton destruction of property, which might have been preserved for the use, at least, of other crews. The ships were for some time borne up on the surface by the ice on which they rested. When it was melted, they sunk and disappeared, and the waves were then strewed with floating fragments of every shape and size; blocks, chests, casks, ropes, shattered pieces of masts and yards, and timber of all forms and dimensions. of Greenock. This vessel was beset along with the most northerly group, about fifteen miles from the land, to which the officers used to make shooting excursions. In the dreadful tempest of the 25th, while others were perishing around her, she, in consequence of being borne up on the top of a floe, entirely escaped; she afterwards received on board part of the crews of the Princess of Wales and the Letitia. This situation, however, was not ultimately advantageous, for she continued beset when the others began to move; and finally saw one after another released from their icy prisen, while she remained alone in the midst of the Arctic wild The captain became sick and died; and the mate, seeing the middle of September approach, was struck with the deepest dismay at the prospect of spending the winter in this desolate region, with a double crew to subsist, and the stock of provisions and fuel rapidly diminishing. He was thus induced to depart on the morning of the 16th Septem ber, with a boat and twelve men, in the hope of being able to reach some of the Danish settlements. Two other boats were preparing to follow the example, when, on the afternoon of the very same day, the persons on board the ship observed a certain movement in the ice, which they immediately sought to improve, and, by very laborious sawing, on the morning of the 17th arrived in tolerably clear water Being deprived, however, of their officers, and left without even their charts and log-glasses, which had been carried of by the mate, they were obliged to steer with the utmost caution, and only during the day. Emboldened, however, by several days of successful navigation, on the night of the 24th they neglected this precaution, and sailed on. The watch on deck saw a line of breakers; but, imagining them to be caused merely by a stream of ice, he made no change of direction. In a few minutes the ship struck on the shore. The John was a vessel of very great strength, built of teak timber, and about a hundred years old. She con tinued beating, without intermission, for two hours before a leak was sprung; but then she went rapidly, and by the morning was completely a wreck. The crew at that juneture fortunately discovered two sails in the distance, which proved to be the Swan and Duncombe of Hull, by whom they were received and conveyed home. The mate, and the twelve men with him, have not yet been heard of. "We have already noticed the pleasing circumstance that, in the first awful catastrophe of the vessels, there was not a single life lost. But we must add that a few died afterwards in consequence of fatigue and exposure to cold. Several also perished in excursions over the ice, particularly in one undertaken by the captains of the Laurel, Letitia, and Progress. Not finding sufficient room in the Bon Accord, where the shipwrecked crews had been received, they departed in search of some other vessel which might have more accommodation. The three captains carried merely their clothes, and after travelling a direct distance of twenty miles, much increased by the circuitous track they were obliged to follow, they reached the ships Dee and Mary Frances, into which they were kindly received. But the seamen imprudently encumbered themselves with a boat, which they had frequently to drag over the ice: they thus spent a much longer period, and exposed themselves to such severe cold that five of them died; while others, reduced to a most distressing state, were recovered only by the extreme care with which they were treated. With regret we must subjoin that many of the deaths appear to have arisen from the too free use of intoxicating liquors. A certain portion, indeed, was rendered necessary by fatigue "The feelings excited at home by the intelligence of these and cold; but that portion was greatly exceeded; and, in unparalleled misfortunes may be more easily conceived than passing over the icy surface, which was at once very rug-described. The appearance, each successive year, at the ged, and filled with various holes and crevices, several great ports, of the first vessel returning from the fishery plunged in to rise no more. One man expired of mere intoxi- is, in all cases, a moment of deep interest and anxiety; and cation. Yet it is satisfactory to add, amid these irregula- this season, in consequence of the long delay, these feelings rities, as well as the thoughtless gaiety which everywhere had been wound up to an intense pitch. The tidings were prevailed, that, whenever the exertions of the sailors were brought to Peterhead, on the 8th October, by the James, required for the general service, the utmost activity was Captain Hogg, and to Hull, on the 10th, by the Abram, manifested, and complete subordination observed. Captain Jackson. Our correspondents describe, in the strongest terms, the universal gloom which overcast these towns; the eager throng which besieged the houses of the captains, and every place where information could be hoped for; as also the alarm of the females making hasty enquiries after their brothers and husbands, to which only doubtful answers could be returned. It was a scene of public and general calamity. The news being conveyed to Aberdeen by the next day's mail, spread equal consternation in that city. A subscription has since been opened at Hull on be half of the seamen, many of whom are exposed to great distress, in consequence of their pay having been stopped from the period at which the wreck of their vessels took place." "After these disasters, the ships remained still closely beset, and their situation became the subject of a daily increasing anxiety. They had gone out wholly unprovided for wintering in the Arctic zone; while the extensive loss of provisions and fuel, with the numerous crews crowded on board the ships, rendered the prospect still more gloomy and doubtful. On the 21st July, in consequence of some favourable appearances, the St Andrew, Eliza Swan, and other ships on the northern station, determined to attempt penetrating to the westward. The men, though quitting the scene of gaiety which they had formed for themselves, obeyed the summons with much alacrity. In a few minutes the tents were struck, the crews of the wrecked ships were distributed among the surviving ones, and all hands began towing forward the vessels. They separated in various directions; but some, being driven considerably to the northward, were so long detained, that they were repeatedly inclined to despair of ever effecting their extrication. The men caught and dragged a few whales through holes in the ice; but the harpooner of the St Andrew relates that these animals were so extremely vigilant, that he could effect nothing unless he approached them without his shoes, and thus prevented an alarm. The middle of September arrived, and the ice was forming so rapidly, that in two days a place where a boat could have sailed might The Tour of the Holy Land, in a Series of Conversa tions; with an Appendix, containing Extracts from a MS. Journal of Travels in Syria. By the Rev. Robert Morehead, D.D. 12mo. Pp. 283. Edinburgh Oliver and Boyd. London: Simpkin and Marshall. 1831. THE readers of the Edinburgh Literary Journal need be safely walked over. The St Andrew and several other not to be told what are the literary qualifications of Dr vessels had been driven about thirty miles N. W. of Cape Morehead. Dudley Digges, into lat. 76 deg. 2 min. N., long. 68 deg. above the common run, he unites a considerable power of To an intellect acute and comprehensive 46 min. W. At last, after much laborious sawing and tow-picturesque imagination, delicate and highly cultivated ing, they succeeded, on the 10th of September, in making taste, the most gentle and amiable dispositions, and fertheir way into open water. Most of those which had taken a more southern direction reached the western coast vent but enlightened piety. His last publication is no new tour of the Holy Land. It is an expansion of cer "There was something peculiar in the fate of the John tain topics of discussion incidentally glanced at in the towards the close of August, and in lat. 71 deg. N. more it is examined, will be found the better founded,-that there is not one of the Scripture miracles in which there is not some trait or feature that is quite out of the reach of imposture to invent,-and, on the other hand, that there is scarcely another miracle on record, which does not carry in itself some mark or other of its folly and futility. "The assertion, indeed, said Cleanthes, is strong. "I admit, said Philo, that there are incidents of a mira author's Dialogues on Natural and Revealed Religion. The interlocutors in that work are introduced to us in the present as sitting in a well-stored library, with a volume of maps before them. One of the friends, a soldier, has, in the course of his military service, visited Judea, and accedes to the proposal of the others to trace out his route upon the chart, describing the scenery as he goes along. Every town and valley that are named suggest some inter-culous nature in the Sacred Writings, which, in their first esting discussion. We select a few passages at random, in order to give our readers some notion of the peculiar tone of sentiment which pervades the book. The contrast with which the following remarks are prefaced, is sufficiently startling; the observations upon the foolish manner in which devotees have attempted to embody a sentiment in local tradition, are just and beautiful. stay at Nazareth. "I was shown a chamber in which the chimney of the hearth is still visible on which Mary warmed the food for Jesus while yet a helpless infant, and where she baked the cakes for her husband's supper, when he returned from the labours of the day. As I told you, however, I was not much occupied at the time with these traditions, and I really think I examined with more attention the room in which Bonaparte had dined not long before, in his short "I am not surprised that you did, replied Philo. This was a strong tie of reality;-the others probably were bungling fictions, which must rather excite indignation than interest. Bonaparte in Nazareth! Here, too, was a singular contrast! The feet of the most ambitious of earthly conquerors pressing the traces of Him who is conquering and to conquer in the sole character of the Prince of Peace! -But the scene which you have opened upon my imagination, would be quite sufficient to call up the most soothing meditations, without any attempt at particularities. The quiet village reclining on its rugged slope, with its beautiful and smiling valley before it, encircled by its setting of hills! Fifteen of them I think you say. There ought to have been but twelve, types of the future apostles!. But consider, Pamphilus, the thirty years of infancy, boyhood, manhood, of the greatest teacher of moral and religious wisdom whom the world ever saw, and whose influence over the conduct and the hopes of the human race is ever extending the more they are felt and known, the thirty private years of his existence before he opened the stores of his beneficent doctrine,-all passed within the circuit of these individual hills, probably not a point or peak of them altered, reflecting the same morning and evening lights from their tops and surface on which the eyes of the Son of God day after day reposed, if it is not yet a title which must meet a deeper sympathy from us when he calls himself the Son of Man! Do we require to have a stone in the village vulgarly pointed out to us, as the table on which he sometimes dined; or to have a particular rock designated, as the place down which he leaped when he passed from among the ferocious zealots who meant to throw him from the precipice? In the whole of that peaceful circle, is there a spot in any respect conspicuous, in which we may not imagine, with truth, that his divine form has stood; which, if it could speak, might not relate some of the words that occasionally dropped from him in his privacy, or the pregnant meditations that were passing unnoticed through his mind? Were there ever thirty years of any life so deeply interesting, or so full of preparation for what was to follow ?" We have been much struck with the truth and ingenuity of the distinction between scriptural and spurious miracles, pointed out by Dr Morehead. "Absalom's pillar is nearly opposite, said I, the small bridge which leads across the Kedron, which the people here point out as the identical bridge over which Jesus and his disciples were accustomed to pass in their frequent transits from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives; and miraculous legends are appended to it, such as. I do not want any of them, said Philo, and the more I hear of miraculous stories, the more contemptible and silly they appear, -saving always, and alone, the miracles of Holy Scripture, -and their character is of so very different a kind that the contrast is quite enough to prove to me the truth of the one and the falsity of the other. You may think, Cleanthes, it is a strong assertion, but I believe it is one which, the Buckingham. aspect, might be confounded with those of imposture or superstition, such as the metamorphosis of the water into wine at Cana,-or the speaking of Balaam's ass,-and one or two more, but examine them a little closer, and you will find circumstances of beauty or aptitude in them which attest the Divine hand from which they proceed. There is an agreeable domestic air in the first of these miracles, and a stopping short, as it were, on the verge of impropriety or of the ludicrous, which no miracles of superstition could have attained. When they are domestic or homely, they are no less invariably vulgar,—when they once approach the brink of the ridiculous, they instantly plunge into it over head and ears. "The only story of fiction which might, at first, seem to vie with the adventure of Balaam and his ass, is the fine incident in Homer, in which Achilles is addressed by his horse,-and there is more poetical beauty, it is true, in the latter; but the very eloquence and pathos of the speech of the noble war-horse betrays the poet from whose glowing fancy it proceeded. The ass, on the other hand, says nothing more nor less, in its few expressive words, than what you might suppose a brute-creature would say if it were granted the degree of reason and speech necessary for some special purpose, and no more; And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, what have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass, because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. And the ass said unto Balaam, am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?' I believe, Cleanthes, your friend Josephus passes over this story, but had he narrated it, what an orator would he have made of this poor ass! he would have put as many frigid commonplaces into her mouth, as he has done in that of Judah in his appeal to the unknown governor of Egypt, utterly spoiling the inimitable pathos and simplicity of his words, as they are given us by Moses." There is much truth and good feeling in his defence of the Crusaders : "The scene is universally acknowledged, by all writers who have approached it, to be one of the most extraordinary which has been acted on the theatre of nations; but it is with very different feelings that they have severally been led to contemplate it. It has been the fashion of the modern philosopher (and may I hint that you, Cleanthes, have imbibed a little too much of that spirit?) to treat with unmeasured contempt the fanatical folly which, no doubt, entered largely into the vehement impulse which pushed forward the crusading armies, without adverting to those higher and more glorious affections which no less certainly were finely interwoven with it. It would, to be sure, have been a nobler exhibition of Christian faith, had the nations of Europe been more concerned about the practical application of the truths and the precepts inculcated by their Divine Teacher, to the improvement of their lives and affections, than about the comparatively insignificant circumstance of their being in possession of his sepulchre. But we must take times as we find them. We must not look in the age of the Crusades for an anticipation of the principles of the Reformation. And even glorious as the latter period is to be considered, are we to suppose that the work of Christian light and improvement was then completed? Have the reformers left nothing for their posterity to effect? Were not their refined disputes and controversies in some respects as insignificant as the simpler question which carried armies into Palestine for its decision? And enlightened as we may now consider ourselves to be, is there nothing in our religious views which may possibly excite as much wonder in our more advanced descendants, as the peculiar enthusiasm of those who fought under the banners of the cross does in ourselves? In every age it is more the sentiment itself that is the subject of approbation or blame, than its accidental expression. In the period of the Crusades, Martin Luther, had he then lived, would have been, I doubt not, among the foremost to put on the badge of the cross; and Peter the Hermit, it may be, would, in an after age, have figured among the ranks of the reformers. To rescue the Holy Land from infidel bondage was at that period the object as much adapted to the ardent and Christian spirit, as it was afterwards to rescue the faith itself from the bondage of a corrupt superstition; and it is the part of virtue and religion to admire the principle of truth and of pure sentiment, whatever clouds may be gathered over them, to rejoice whenever they spring up in the human clay from amidst the depression of mere earthly objects, and not to be too curious to discover their errors, while there is yet a divine light in which they may be seen to move." rity is the exclusive privilege of the anile and imbecile, this work is in every way entitled to our credence. The manuscript from which it is printed was discovered, we are told in the introduction, by the workmen employed in excavating the ruins of Pompeii. It commences thus: "Various are the arts, and manifold the methods of divination, both lawful and unlawful-some holding fair and true agreement with the rites and canons of Holy Church, and others holding foul communion with the powers of darkness-by which the sages of yore made prognostications of the future !" Having thus esta completely he has outlived all remembrance of mundane truth or probability, the author proceeds to acquaint as with the fashion of consulting his oracle. We have, with all due solemnity, consulted the Witch respecting the future fate of ourselves and several other distinguished public characters. Our readers shall judge of the plausi bility of the answers : We are almost afraid that Dr Morehead, like Words-blished its character of prescience, by demonstrating how worth's Rob Roy, comes an age too late. He ought to have lived in the days of the Spectator, or, at the latest, of Goldsmith. This age, accustomed to high-spiced dishes, has too depraved a palate to do justice to his simple and gentle excellencies. But those who can appreciate them, will love his writings, with the same reverential affection which attaches to his person those who have the good fortune to be placed under his pastoral care. We know, within the range of our acquaintance, but two authors now alive who unite to the full extent of our wishes that ear.. nest kindness and dove-like simplicity so requisite in the Christian Pastor-one an Episcopalian, the other a Presbyterian-Dr Morehead, and the Rev. Mr Wright, author of the Living Temple. The Year Book. By William Hone. March, 1831. THIS new Number is, if possible, an improvement upon the two which preceded it. The Plates are more spiritedly executed the literary materials more novel, and equally amusing. A short poem, by Charles Lamb, is possessed of all that homely heartiness, in which that delicious author so much delights to indulge: TO C. ADERS, ESQ. On his Collection of Paintings, by the old German Masters. "Whoever enter'st here, no more presume Raphael's Witch!!! or, The Oracle of the Future. By the Author of the Prophetic Messenger. With Coloured Designs on Copper, by R. Cruikshank and the Author, and a Piece of Music by Blewitt. London. W. C. Wright. 1831. Ques. Shall the Edinburgh Literary Journal prosper? Ans. "Who shall gainsay it? Who deny it? "Lo! here are abundant testimonials of successful and happy changes. Q. What is written in the book of destiny regarding our native land? A. "There is a change visible in the future; withi three months it will be manifest, and a greater change follows it." Q. What ought O'Connell to make of himself? A. "Remove thy mansion, occupation, or pursuits, within three months hence, and go towards the south." This evidently points to Botany Bay. Q. What fortune awaits the authoress of Marriage? Q. What is the fate of the first critic of the age? Q. Will the Directors of the Scottish Royal Institution attain their ends? A. The omen speaks of some hinderance in the affair, unless it were something scientific or mercurial." Lines Occasioned by the Death of the Rev. Andree Thomson, D.D. Fourth Edition. To which is added a Copious Report of Dr Chalmers's Funeral Sermon an the same event. London. Longman and Co. Edinburgh. William Whyte. 1831. WE are glad to observe that these spirited verses, from the pen of an esteemed correspondent of this Journal, have already reached a fourth edition. The Report of Dr Chalmers's Sermon has been added, upon an understanding that the discourse is not to be immediately e separately published. MUSIC. Instructions to my Daughter for Playing on the Ente monic Guitar. By T. Perronet Thompson, Queen's College. 4to. London. Goulding and Co. 1830 THE guitar, in the consideration of scientific musicians. has generally been regarded as a trifling instrument; and although the compositions of Sor, Giuliani, and Carulli, have done much to enhance its estimation, still its great drawback, in point of comparative worth, obviously is that it never has been, nor probably ever will be, exployed as a constituent part in an orchestra. The tones are too disproportioned in power and quality, to combine effectively with the wind and stringed instruments in use. It has never, consequently, been employed in the opera, the symphony, or in any other species of music and can we expect the cultivated musician to attach im portance to an instrument, for which Mozart, Hayds. and Beethoven, have never written a note? But insig Ir, as the history of witches and spaewives in all ages, nificant as it has been accounted by the dilletanti of ear whether chronicled in the vivacious and garrulous legends times, the guitar-from its association with classica of a country village, or in the equally edifying and trust- reminiscences, its connexion with fables of romance, lov worthy police-reports of the metropolis, would lead us tales, and such themes-has always enjoyed a certa. to believe, the power of projecting the mind into futu-partiality among persons of taste; and, for our own part we never hear a chord struck on the instrument, without figuring to ourselves a moonlight scene, with balcony, lady, and cavalier; or considering it (which it certainly is) as the representative of the renowned cithara, with which, Virgil tells us, Orpheus Sensit varios, quamvis diversa sonarent, The guitar, whatever may be alleged to the contrary, is worthy of notice, both on the ground of its little fascinating qualities, and its being a pretty constant occupant of my lady's drawing-room," and therefore meriting as much attention as the various matters of vertu there assembled. It is, in short, an elegant trifle. We talk of "studying the violin," or of "practising the piano-forte," but when we speak of "taking up the guitar," we apply toit the quota of respect it actually deserves. The work now before us exhibits, in a very striking manner, the gifted and ingenious mind of the author, who, in explaining the harmonious combinations of the guitar, has brought to bear on the subject a mass of mechanical knowledge of a nature too scientific to be understood by the generality of readers, but which, if followed out with accurate comprehension, cannot fail to prove instructive to the pupil. The object in view, is to show how the guitar may be made to produce correct harmony, or, in the language of musicians, to be a perfect instrument. We believe even the most musical of our readers would not thank us for entering into any detailed examination of the laborious demonstrations of the author, in elucidating his system. We have gone over the most important parts of the work, and are satisfied that Mr Thompson's deductions are accurate, and if reduced to practice, must be of very essential service to the guitar player, in enabling him to arrive at that stage of proficiency when, with promptitude and certainty, he can master the difficulties of this instrument. The principal objection to the work is, that a new guitar, constructed on the rules laid down, must be purchased. This will no doubt prove an impediment to the promotion of Mr Thompson's system. But still we recommend it, as well worthy the attention of those players who may not regard a little expense, when they will certainly acquire useful and correct notions of intonation and execution. MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE. LETTER FROM THE SWAN RIVER. Cockburn Sound, Swan River, MY DEAR When I last saw you in Edinburgh, you requested me to write you an impartial account of this Colony. I shall do so in this letter, in the hope that others may not believe the trash which was published last spring concerning it. I have the Quarterly Review, No. 78, before me, article "Swan River Settlement," to which I was referred at the Colonial Office, for the only authentic information. By running my eye over it as I go on, I shall be able to point out some of the numerous inaccuracies with which it abounds. In the first place, we have found the climate much hotter, for, instead of the average being 72° and the extremes 84 and 59°, the glass has seldom been below 80°, from that to 96°, 100°, and once 103°. This heat in England would be insupportable, but the sea-breeze generally sets in after ten in the forenoon, and renders the heat bearable. Next, mention is made of an almost innumerable variety of grasses, and that, in consequence, there cannot be any deficiency in soil, heat, and moisture. Certainly, if the country did abound with grasses, that conclusion might very justly be drawn, but I have not seen any thing like grass on which stock would thrive. To prove this, it will be sufficient to state, that the greater part of the stock brought out by Mr have perished from the want of proper food; that working oxen, which, in As a new colony, ought to be very valuable, are sent to the butcher as soon as purchasers can be found for the meat, and that the same fate attends sheep. As to rivulets, I have not yet seen one, or even the dry bed of one. to springs, I can only say, that I have with great labour got water by cutting forty feet through solid rock. We have had moderate rain-about half-a-dozen times since the 15th December, when we arrived. A kind of half salt water may be got by digging three or four feet on the beach, and not much above high-water mark, but many have suffered severely from dysentery by drinking it. The channel into Cockburn Sound, to say the best of it, is very intricate, and, without a leading wind, dangerous for large vessels. The Sound is, I believe, considered by naval men tolerably well protected, and safe enough, Gage's Roads, off the entrance to Swan River, fortnight ago, another broke her capstan, and several are particularly unsafe. One ship was on shore about a strained their cables, dragged their anchors more or less, and expected to be on shore. "But then there might be a of the Swan might be got rid of." As to cutting a ship ship canal into Melville Water, or the bar at the mouth canal more than a quarter of a mile through solid rock, and through a rocky cliff to begin with, from thirty to forty feet high, his Excellency might as well talk of building a few Egyptian pyramids. Part of the rocky bar at the entrance of the river might perhaps be more easily got rid of; but unfortunately for that scheme, the channel for two or three miles from the mouth is shallow and intricate. A few Perhaps the most ridiculous part of Mr Fraser's report, is that which speaks of the peculiar advantages to be derived by settlers to this colony: "1st, The evident superiority of soil; 2d, the facility with which a farm may be cultivated, the average number of trees not exceeding two to an acre; 3d, the abundance of springs; and, 4th, the advantage of water carriage." As to the soil, I have been ten or twelve miles up the Swan, and have not seen any thing but sand. miles beyond that point, I hear there is some good land near the banks, but it does not extend on each side more than a quarter or half mile. The navigation is tedious in the extreme, on account of the numerous sandbanks; and for boats, Melville Water, about four miles from the mouth and extending seven or eight, is particularly dangerous from frequent squalls, attended by heavy seas. The country is so open, that for two trees you may fairly substitute 200, and not take any account of rubbish and underwood. You will see, page 326, the description of Garden Island; now you would scarcely believe that the officers and men of three ships of war, many of whom are living on shore, have not even yet obtained a scanty supply of vegetables. Again, "the cattle abundant on Garden Island, were left amidst a profusion of grass." We were there five days, during which time I penetrated far into the interior, and did not see one blade of nourishing grass. Nothing but the eternal red sand, which was rendered so hot by the burning sun, that I could scarcely bear my hand in it. The situation, in a commercial point of view, may be good, but we cannot, as we have not soil, grow the valuable productions enumerated by this writer of the Quarterly, or, at all events, not in sufficient quantity for exportation. Here I take leave of the Review, and shall merely state, that the grant I have now contains 20,000 acres, and that for fertility, I should give the preference to the wildest moorland I have seen in Scotland or Wales, or the worst part of the fens in Cambridgeshire. On the one, a few sheep and cattle might find grass, while the other might be improved by draining. If in a tract of country of 20,000 acres, or I might as well write 200,000, there should not be 200 acres of good land, or even tolerable land, would any man call that an advantageous spot for establishing a colony? Now, I assure you, I do not think that, taking the whole extent of the colony, there EXHIBITION OF THE SCOTTISH ACADEMY. PORTRAITS. is one acre in ten thousand good. If the land had been as good, or half as good, as it was represented to be, I should have liked the life of a settler; and I feel certain We are sore afraid that Portrait-painting is not mathat it would have answered. I am now writing in a king so much progress in Edinburgh as some other devery comfortable room, in a well-built, convenient cot- partments of the art. No one has yet appeared to claim tage, which I brought out with me. I have no reason the seat left vacant by Raeburn. Nay, portrait manuto fear the rains in winter, and I have an abundant sup-facturers are tolerated, and even patronised by the public, ply of provisions of every description, and some luxuries. of whom it would be gross flattery to say that they are I have tools of all descriptions; and my outfit was so painters, and the reverse of truth (we do not like ugly complete, that I scarcely feel the want of any necessary words) to say that they are takers of likenesses. And yet for the house. I have an excellent female servant, who what scope for the display of genius this department of is attached to my wife, and a good steady set of labourers art affords ! Turn one look to the Vandykes at present to begin with. My stores are under lock and key, in a in the rooms of the Royal Institution. Did we think building substantially built and thatched, twenty-four feet that the study of these master-works would be of any more by twelve; the men have huts; and if the soil had been avail to the great herd of our daubers, than dewdrops to good, I should have had time this season to cultivate a the great Zahara, we would iterate with a parrot's perfew acres, or, at all events, to commence a garden. As tinacity the advice, "Go daily to the Mound." But we the case stands, however, I scarcely know how to employ know that those who are susceptible of improvement from the men; my seeds are rotting, provisions vanish, wages noting their beauties, will repair thither of their own acgo on, and no prospect of a return. The governor will, cord, and that it is no matter whether the others go or of course, do every thing in his power to keep people not. here; and a few who have risked every thing, or who have not the means to return, may endeavour to support him; but it is my firm opinion that this will never be a flourishing colony. Government may think it advi-worthy of him. It is a correct and characteristic likesable to form a military station here; and a few may, with great labour, obtain a scanty subsistence. More than this must not be expected. I shall endeavour to leave in September or October. My loss cannot but be very considerable, as farming implements do not meet with a ready sale, or sell at such ridiculously low prices, that I intend to bring them back with me. I cannot say that I feel very unhappy; perhaps the time is not yet come for me to be so. I always find a merry face at home, and when away, I am generally too much engaged to reflect. The labourers will have the choice of remaining here, or of going on to Sydney, where they will be able to get good wages, and, if steady, do well. Our voyage out, like most other voyages, was tedious and unpleasant enough. The ship was crowded to an excess with cabin and steerage passengers, dogs, horses, cows, pigs, &c. &c. We touched at Madeira and at the Cape, and were about four months at sea. The natives are a very peaceable race; they are not numerous, and, with kind treatment, would not, I think, prove trouble some. Kangaroos are plentiful; but without dogs trained to hunt them, it is almost impossible to obtain the large sort. I sometimes catch a few in traps, which weigh four or five pounds, and have a few sent me as presents from Garden Island, where they abound. They make a delicious stew, at least we think it so. I I have, on the whole, been tolerably successful with my gun, as wild ducks abound in the lakes. Parrots and cockatoos we find good eating, but eagles, hawks, crows, and sea-gulls, are eaten by some, and nothing in the shape of fresh meat is thrown away. There is now a tolerable supply of mutton, at 10d. per lb., about 1000 sheep; there are also some oxen, so that we shall not starve, or be entirely reduced to salt provisions. Poultry thrives; and I am happy to say, that I have twenty-three young chickens, which, in due time, will go into the pot. have not yet been able to shoot a black swan, although I have seen many; they are a very handsome bird, but smaller than the common white swan. An emu crossed my path one day, which I had the good fortune to bring down. It weighed ninety pounds; and as it measured from the tip of the beak to the end of the claw nearly eight feet, think it must have stood nearly seven. It ran very swiftly; and as I had only broken one of the legs, I had great difficulty to kill it. The flesh very much resembled, in colour, taste, and appearance, very tender beef. This was a fine windfall, as it gave us all a supply of fresh meat for three days, besides some handsome presents I was able to make. Watson Gordon has disappointed us this year. (At present we are only speaking of his portraits.) The portrait of a Lady (No. 222) is the only one in any degree ness, and is, independent of that circumstance, a pleasing object for the eye to linger upon. The tone of its colouring is quiet and harmonious. Still we must say, that there is the haziness about its outline in some parts which is the besetting sin of the artist. The eyes are cloudy— undefined. There is another portrait of a Lady (No. 229, by Colvin Smith) near it, which, by the extreme precision of its outline-amounting even to harshness, causes Gordon's haziness to be more distinctly felt. Colvin Smith has, in our opinion, succeeded best of all our portrait-painters. His portraits of the Lord Chief Baron, and of the Dean of Faculty, (the latter painted for the Scottish Academy,) are admirable likenesses. The head in the portrait of Mr Baxter is finely modelled. The drapery in the portrait of the Earl of Lauderdale shows a fine eye for the arrangement of colour. The figure of the Earl himself is excessively like the original -no great compliment to its beauty. This artist has all the qualifications of a good portrait-painter. He only requires to get rid of a certain heaviness and hardness about his figures, and to pay a little more attention to the delicate nuances of colour, which may be expressed in his draperies, as also to the imitation of their texture. Graham is going the wrong way. We have told him as much for several Exhibitions back, and now give him up in despair. Duncan's best portrait is the Old Lady (No. 3.) It is a clear, well-toned performance. "A Lady" (No. 25) is just such a creature as a painter or a lover could wish for; with beautifully-oval, clear-complexioned face, and eyes with a whole heaven of love, truth, and innocence, in them. The hands and arms are, however, scarcely in drawing. The portrait of the Sheriff-Substitute of Perthshire is deficient in a motive for his very peculiar action. Is he warming his hand at the fire? Duncan ! has entirely changed his style of colouring, particularly in his carnations; and it humbly strikes us, in a way 1 which is not for the better. Francis Grant is an ambitious painter, and we like him the better for it. There is an aristocratical air about every thing he does; and as long as this is confined to the canvass, we rather like it. His equestrian portrait, (No. 17,) although a failure in what regards the principal-the gentleman it professes to represent-is a good picture. The landscape is a fine piece of painting, except that the clouds are, if any thing, a little too solid. The action of the horse and dog is good. The light conducted very pleasingly by a slanting line from the arm of the rider to the horse, and thence to the canine attendant. There is altogether much fine colouring and management |