"12. We have said, that Egypt is only the valley of the Nile; that the soil of this valley was primitively the same as the surrounding Desert; but the inundation of the Nile, and the slime which it lodges, have rendered the valley which it traverses one of the most fertile and populous districts in the world. As 13. The Nile increases in Messidor, and the inundation commences in Fructidor. Then the whole country is inundated; communications are difficult. The villages are situated on heights of from 16 to 18 feet. A small causeway sometimes serves to maintain a communication: more frequently there is nothing but a foot track. 14. The rising of the Nile becomes greater or less in proportion to the quantity of rain-in-Abyssinia: but the effects of the inundation depend still more on canals for irrigation. 15. At present the Nile has only two branches-those of Rosetta and Damietta. If these two mouths were closed as much as possible, the inundation would become greater, and the habitable country more considerable. F "16. If the canals were kept in good order, well contrived, and more 'numerous, the water might be kept the whole year on the lands, and so increase both the valley and the soil for cultivation. In this manner, the Oases of Scharkyyeh, and a portion of the Desert from Pelusium, were watered; the whole of Bohahyreh, Maryoutt, and the provinces of Alexandria, were cultivated and rendered habitable. “17. By a skilful system, the fruit of a good government, Egypt might acquire an increase of eight or nine hundred leagues square.co 4- 6 18. It is probable that the Nile has issued by the Dry River, (Balun Belûmch,) which from Fayoum passes through the middle of the Natron, Lakes, and joins the sea beyond the Arab's tower. It appears that Moeris joined this branch of the Nile, and thus formed the celebrated lake of whose origin even Herodotus was ignorant. "19. The government has more influence here on public property than anywhere else; for, elsewhere, anarchy and tyranny have no influence on the progress of the seasons, and on rain. The land may be equally fertile in Egypt. A dyke not opened, a danal not repaired, may render a whole province desert: for seed-time, and all the productions of the earth, are regulated by the date and magnitude of the inundations. "20. The government of Egypt having remained in the most careless hands for a period of half a century, the country has annually disappeared in many places. The Desert has gained upon the valley, and has even formed sand-hills on the very margin of the Nile. Seventy years more of the same government as that of Ibrahim and Mourad-Bey, and Egypt will have lost a third of its cultivated territory. It would be easy to prove that fifty years of such a government as that of France, England, Germany, or Italy, might probably triple the extent of cultivation, and number of inhabitants. Men would never be wanting for the soil thus gained or recovered, for they abound on every side both in Arabia and Africa. "26. During the inundation, the waters reach within forty miles of Suez. The remains of a canal are quite distinct; and there cannot be the least doubt, that boats may one day transport goods from Alexandria to Suez. 27. We have said, that Egypt, properly speaking, was the valley of the Nile. A great part of the Deserts, which surround it, form, however, a part of Egypt, and in these Deserts there are oases, just as in the ocean there are islands. On the western side, the Deserts forming part of Egypt, extend ten or twelve days' march from the waters of the Nile. The principal points are the three oases, Syrahs, and the Natron Lakes. The first oasis is distant about three days' journey from Syouth. No water is to be found on this route. In this oasis are some palm-trees, several wells of bitter water, a portion of productive soil, and almost constantly malignant fevers. "28. To proceed from Cairo to Tedigat, which is the first cultivated country, there are thirty days of Desert to be crossed: during five of these, no water is to be found. 29. The Natron Lakes are situated about twelve hours' march within the Desert of Tarranneh. Excellent springs are found there; several Natron lakes; and four Coptish monasteries. These monasteries are fortresses; we have stationed therea Greek garrison, and several pieces of cannon. 30. On the east, the Deserts which belong to Egypt extend to within a day's journey of El Arych, and beyond Tor and Mount Sinai. Quattyyeh is a species of oasis; there are five or six hundred palm-trees, and water for six thousand men, and one thousand horses: it is distant about fifteen miles from Salabyyeh. A little water is to be found in two different places on the route. We have established a fort of palm-trees in this important oasis. * "31. From Quattyyeh to El Arych, are sixty miles. El Arych is an oasis. There was on this spot a very beautiful village, which was demolished, and five or six thousand palm-trees, which we cut down. The abundance of water. and the quantity of materials, induced us to construct a fortification, which is already in a respectable state of defence. From El Arych to Gazah, are forty-five miles; water is found several times. The route leads by the village of Kan-you-Ness, (in Syria, ) 32. ! Tor and Mount Sinai are distant ten days' march from Cairo. The Arabs of Tor cultivate fruits, and make charcoal. They import grain from Cairo. Throughout the whole of this oasis there is water, very good, and in abundance. 33. The population of all the Fellahs, or Arabs, who inhabit the oases, both of the eastern and western Desert, and not comprised in that of the fourteen provinces, does not amount to thirty thousand souls. "34. The valley of the Nile is divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt contains the provinces of Dgirgeh, Manfelout, and Mynieh; Middle comprises those of Fayoum, Beni, Youcef, and Cairo; Lower comprehends Bohahyreh, Alexandria, Rosetta, Garbyyeh, Menoufiyyeh, Maussourah, Damietta, Kalyoubieh, and Scharkyyeh. "35. The coast extends from Cape Durazzo to within a "21. The Nile, from Assouan to eighty miles north-day's journey of El Arych. The first post where we have ward of Cairo, flows in a single bed. From the latter point, an establishment is at Marabout, six miles east of Alexannamed the Cow's-belly, it forms the branches of Rosetta dria. The harbours of Alexandria are defended by a great and Damietta. number of batteries and forts, which, both by sea and land, "22. The waters of the Damietta branch show an evi-place it in security against any attack. Fort Cretin is a dent tendency to flow into that of Rosetta. It ought to be model of fortification. Aboukir, situated thirteen miles a principle in our administration to aid this tendency, which from Alexandria, is a good roadstead. Lake Maad'yeh, is for the advantage of Alexandria, and all the direct com- into which formerly flowed that branch of the Nile, called munications with Europe. La the Canopii, extends to within three miles of Alexandria, "23. If the dyke at Fara-ou-Nyeh were cut, the pro-six of Rosetta, and, on the south, reaches within three of vince of Bohahyreh would gain two hundred villages, and that, with the cimal which extends from Fayoum, would bring the inundation to the wall of Alexandria, This operation would do midst injury to the provinces of Scharkyyeh, Damietta, and Maussourah; therefore it ought to be | adjourned to a fit season for executing it. The design, however, should one day be carried into effect, 1 "24. The canal which conveys the waters of the Nile from Ramahanyeh to Alexandria, ought to be deepened, so as to be navigable at all seasons of the year. Vessels of one hundred tons, will then be enabled to pass for six months yearly, from Alexandria to Cairo, without encountering any impediment. "25. A work, to be undertaken at some period, will be to construct dykes, to dam up the two branches of the Cow's-belly. By this means, the whole waters of the Nile may be thrown successively east and west, and thus the inundation may be doubled in extent. Birket. The Rosetta mouth has a bar, which is very difficult to cross. From Rosetta to Bourlosh are fourteen miles. The Lake of Bourlosh contains about a hundred dgerms, and communicates with Mehel-el-Kebir by a canal. The embouchure of the lake forms a very good harbour, having from ten to twelve feet of water. The Damietta mouth is defended by Fort Lesbè. Lake Menzahleh, which extends to the ancient Pelusium, or, in other words, which is about seventy miles long, commences at little more than a mile from Damietta. This lake communicates with the sea in two places, namely, at Dybeh and Omm-Farege. There is a great quantity of craft upon the lake. The canal of Moses disembogues into this lake. Tineh, or the ancient Pelusium, is about twelve miles from Quattyyeh. We have already spoken of the route from Quattyyeh to El Arych. The coast is, throughout its whole extent, low and bad, with sand-hills extending three, and, in some places, from six to nine miles inland. "36. The population of Egypt is about two-and-a-half millions. The Arabs, domiciliated, and under the protection of government in the different provinces, form a total of twelve thousand horsemen, and forty thousand infantry. There are about twenty-four thousand Copts, fifteen thousand Christians of Damascus, and six thousand Jews. "37. The Porte had given up the government of Egypt to twenty-four Beys, of whom each had a military establishment, more or less numerous. This establishment, or house, consisted of slaves from Georgia and Circassia, whom they purchased for from 3000 to 4500 francs a-head, (L. 125 to L.188,) and brought up to a military life. There might have been against our army eight thousand Mamelukes on horseback, well mounted, well disciplined, well armed, and very brave, the property of the reigning Beys. Double that number may be reckoned for those who, descended from other Mamelukes, were established in the villages, or living in Cairo. "38. The Pacha had no authority. He was changed every year, as also the Kadi-askier, whom the Porte sent from Constantinople. Throughout the rest of the empire were, besides, seven other auxiliary bodies. Of these, the chiefs were named the Seven Grand Odiag-lys. These bodies are so diminished by the war, that there now remain only about one thousand, old and infirm, without masters, and even attached to the French. which ignorance has accomplished within the last three months, even had it admitted of no means of counteraction, and not, as is the case, contained within itself the means not only of counteraction, but of dispelling falsehood by the propagation of truth, and of leading even the meanest person in the kingdom to understand his own interest too well, and to respect himself and others too much, to commit the monstrous outrages which ignorance now commits. The stamp duties, and other restrictive laws, have confined the actually cheap publications to two descriptions of persons, namely, religious tract societies, and those who set the laws at defiance. "The first description of persons have distributed millions of tracts, from which no good has resulted, and from which no good can result. Their tracts are nearly all of them dogmatical, containing much more in the style of command than persuasion; even the foolish stories they tell are in such bad taste, that the mean cant is seen through; and so little, indeed, do the distributors of tracts understand the people, that both the matter and the manner of their publications are better calculated to do mischief than service. All their distributions have not prevented the burnings; and it is questionable whether they may not in some degree have tended to produce them. Cant and command will produce no good effects on the poorer sort of people; they want facts, useful facts, plainly set forth with clear and short expositions; but these, whilst the law remains as it is, they cannot have. "They who would willingly assist to teach the people, will not break the laws, nor in any way subject themselves to the consequences of breaking the laws; and thus it has become impossible for them to teach the people. "39. The Sheriff's are the descendants of the tribe of the successors of Mahomet, or, to speak more correctly, the descendants of the first conquerors. They wear the green turban. The Ulemas are the men of law and the church, but who, in no respect, resemble our judges or priests. The chief of the Ulemas of Cairo is named Grand Sheik. He is held in the same veneration by the people as the cardinals were formerly in Europe. The Ulemas pronounce the prayers each in a mosque, which brings them some revenue, and great credit. The grand mosque of Cairo, called Elweekly, called The Harlequin.' It related solely to the Ashar, is large and beautiful, and has a great number of teachers and others attached to its service. Of these, there are twenty-four principals. (Here Bonaparte's Notes cease to be numbered.) "There are many coffee-houses in Cairo, where the inhabitants pass the greater part of the day in smoking: the poor and travellers lodge in the mosques during the night and in the heat. There are a great number of public baths, to which the women resort to bathe, and relate the news of the town. The mosques have endowments, much the same as were those of our own churches. "The villages of Egypt are fiefs belonging to the prince who bestows them. In consequence of this, a cess is exacted, which the peasant is obliged to pay to the landholder. The peasants constitute real proprietors, since they are respected; and, in the midst of all revolutions and overturnings, the right of the peasant is never violated. Hence, there are, in Egypt, two classes of men,-the proprietors of the soil, that is, the peasants, and the proprietors of the fiefs, the feudatories, or seigneurs. "Two-thirds of the villages belong to Mamelukes, for the expenses of the administration. The miri, properly so called, is an imposition, sufficiently moderate, being a kind of cess destined for the Ottoman Porte." A Letter to a Minister of State, respecting Taxes on Knowledge. (Not for Sale.) WE have been highly delighted by a perusal of this sensible and well-timed pamphlet, which, although not printed for sale, has been, we believe, extensively circulated. Believing most firmly that man without knowledge is little better than a brute, and that half-learning only makes the animal within him more dangerous, we are friends to the most unlimited diffusion of knowledge. The author of these few pages demonstrates most satisfactorily that the abolition of the stamp-duty on newspapers would increase the revenue, and diminish crime. The following passage shows his way of arguing the latter question, in a favourable point of view: "The most atrocious press which the public would endure, the most licentious publications (political) which the most cowardly really fear, and the most courtly pretend to fear, never could have produced a tithe of the mischief "I have mentioned the twopenny-halfpenny tract which the commissioners of stamps extinguished. I will now advert to another, to show the evil consequences of the power they possess. A respectable person published a tract theatres, and was sold for twopence. Nothing could be so harmless as this tract; but it gave the purchasers information' and intelligence,' matters forbidden by the act; and the commissioners of stamps put their interdict upon it, as the number I enclose to you will show. The commissioners have a power denied to the king, a dispensing power; they may permit or even authorize publications, or they may extinguish them. No one, except Parliament, can call them to account for any thing of this kind, and even Parliament has not the power to control them, without passing a new act for the purpose. "The second description of persons-they who violate the laws-are, with some few exceptions, unprincipled and ill-informed. Most of their publications inculcate the grossest errors, and can do nothing but mischief; and some are intended solely for this purpose. The misfortune is, that multitudes of persons see no other publications; they know that they are published in defiance of the law; they cherish them, because they think the law intends to withhold useful information from them. They confide in the evil notions they propagate; and, as they never see any thing which contradicts the assertions, or explains the erro neous statements contained in these papers, they necessarily receive them as sacred truths. This is a lamentable state of things; yet all the evils I have noticed would be at once mitigated, and at no very distant period be removed, if the stamp duty be taken off newspapers. Before quitting this subject, we wish to draw the attention of the writer of this passage to a matter of vast consequence to literature--the manner in which the proof sheets of works, passing through the press, are forwarded by post. If the proofs are enclosed in an envelope, they are charged double, sometimes more. Publishers are in the habit, therefore, of writing the address upon the printed sheet. Again, if the whole of the matter to be contained in a sheet be not sent to the author at one time, a delay at press, in many cases highly injurious, necessarily occurs. Publishers are thus compelled to cover the whole sheet with printing, and, consequently, it is with the utmost difficulty that the address can be added. The want of an envelope also renders it unavoidable that the Post Office marking covers the printing, sometimes even the corrections, which are thus rendered unintelligible. We would suggest, as a remedy for this, that author's proofs should be allowed the same privilege with newspapers. The mere liberty to print them upon newspaper stamps, and transmit them by post under a blank cover, would be a great accommodation to literary men. Sketches from Venetian History. Volume First. (Being THE announcement in the advertisement prefixed to "Some Florentine merchants in Asti assisted him in negotiating with the authorities of their capital; and, all things being favourably arranged for his flight, he asked a guide and an escort from the governor, in whom he reposed entire confidence; at the same time giving out that it was his intention, in company with his lady, to satisfy a vow, by a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Antonio at Vienne. To that town, accordingly, he hastened with the utmost speed, and passed on through Avignon to Marseilles. Receiving intelligence that the captain of that city was preparing to arrest him, he embarked without delay, and saved himself but by a moment; for an attendant, who was mistaken for him, was seized and thrown into prison. But the season was unfavourable for a voyage; the Lady Taddea was far advanced in pregnancy; and the violence of the equinoctial gales exposed her to so great suffering, that she earnestly implored to pursue her journey by land. The affection of Francesco could not resist this appeal, although he well knew the additional peril to which consent exposed him. Disembarking, therefore, with only two attendants, he ordered the master of the vessel to proceed slowly along the coast; and, having hired an ass, on which the Lady Taddea was placed, himself being on foot, they advanced for two days through a difficult and intricate country, chiefly occupied by Ghibelins and dependents of Visconti. At Frerezzo, they again went on board, and, after encountering a heavy gale, passing Nice and Monaco, they arrived at Torbio. Here, when preparing to repose themselves in the town, they were informed that the Chatelain was a creature of the Comte de Virtu, and they were compelled to lodge for the night in a ruined church on the beach. arose in the morning, sleepless and harassed, the stormy appearance of the sea forbade re-embarkation, and they again commenced a long day's march to Ventimiglia. In that town, their party, although small, excited attention and curiosity; and it was reported to the Podesta, by the busy suspicions of the peasants, that a man with four companions, two of them women, had arrived at the Osteria beyond the gate; that one of the women, by her lemeanour, was manifestly a personage of high station; and that, judging by those who surrounded her, there could be little doubt it was a case of forcible abduction. The magistrate, deceived by these representations, dispatched an officer with ten soldiers, to bring the travellers before him. Francesco, when they overtook him, fought his way to the shore, and succeeded in getting his lady and her attendants on shipboard; but he himself, being last, was overpowered and taken prisoner. The officer charged the captain of the vessel not to sail, as he valued his life; and demanded the name of his prisoner. When informed that it was the late Lord of Padua, he ordered his men to fall back and ground their arms; and, advancing with an air of respect, proffered obedience, and asked pardon; adding, that he was a Guelph, and had once served the House of Padua. On receiving this assurance, Francesco requested that he might be escorted to the castle, where the Podesta, having listened to his explanation, supplied him with provisions, and re-conducted him to his ship. When they "A favourable wind bore the fugitives rapidly to the territory of the Marquis of Carreiro. Towards evening, they again landed with the same companions as before; and, anxious to hasten through a district in which they were beset by enemies, they travelled during the whole night on "No token of impatience, not a breath of complaint escaped Carrara, God will restore us-we must struggle with misfortune!' was his sole comment. He raised the lifeless Tadden, who had been overpowered by the unexpected disappointment, and entering Pisa with his Florentine guide, regardless of all personal hazard, procured a horse and some food, and returned with them to his lady. A wretched stable in the worst inn, without the walls of Casima, gave them refuge for the night; and Donati, who had joined them, the Florentine, and the rest of the company, sentinelled the door, while the signor and Taddea threw themselves on some straw within. But, in the dead of the night, an unknown person knocked loudly at the inn, and demanded the Signor Francesco da Carrara. I am he,' replied Donati, with noble promptitude, as yet ignorant of the enquirer's object. It was a messenger from Gambacorta, bringing an explanatory letter, horses, and a few necessaries for the road, and commending the travellers to the strict attention of the host. In consequence of these injunctions, they were at length admitted within the house, and, for the first night since her departure from Asti, Taddea enjoyed the almost forgotten luxury of a bed. On the following day, they arrived at Florence." The Tuileries. A Tale. By the Author of "Hunga. rian Tales," &c. In three volumes. London. Colburn and Bentley. 1831. THIS is a tale of the fortunes of persons, imaginary and real, during the period of the French Revolution, and belongs to that class of novels in which the story wavers Such narratives, though they between fact and fiction. derive considerable effect from the striking historical events with which they are interwoven, independent of any merit of their own, seldom confer much additional interest on the times of which they treat. but few who, like Scott, have been able fully to repay what they have borrowed from history, by shedding back, in return, the halo of his genius over its scenes, and rendering them doubly interesting. Nor, indeed, amid the exciting horrors of the French Revolution, can imagina There are tion well add any thing surpassing the reality. "The Episcopalians continuing in a state of Independency, and Tuileries" abounds, as might be expected, with incidents in communion neither with the Episcopal Church of of painful interest. Mobs, massacres, flights, prison- England, nor with the Episcopal Church in Scotland.— scenes, and executions, are its staple commodities. Many Mr Ramsay vindicates, with much spirit, the Scottish of the conversational parts are characteristic enough, and Episcopal Church from the vulgar charge of " Popery," sustained with spirit; and we are occasionally brought which is so frequently attached to that venerable and into contact with some of the far-famed personages of the ancient communion. Revolution, who generally speak like themselves. The Good Servant, and other Tracts; or, Examples and Heath's Historical Illustrations to the Novels, Tales, and 'Too contemptible for any criticism more respectable MUCH harm must necessarily result from many of those publications of the present day, which are profess-than the purchased eulogiums of low newspapers. edly written for regenerating our hearts and reforming our morals. How much of nationality, silly conceit, impudent speculation, and shallow sentimentalism, have been engendered by the trash of religious novels, and miraclepropounding tracts, with which the counters of our bibliopoles are at present sorely burdened and oppressed! Of the ferment and the fester that have thus been produced, it would be easy for us to direct the notice of our readers to many proofs. We could almost wish to see a police established, by which our literary market-places might be purged from such unsavoury commodities. The Siege of Constantinople, in Three Cantos, with Other Poems. By Nicholas Michell. 8vo. Pp. 80. London. Smith and Elder. 1831. But whilst we go thus far, deploring the mischief which visionaries and sentimentalists are occasioning to the public taste, and to the cause which they fancy they are doing so much to uphold and advance by their crude and flippant productions; we still cherish the opinion, that fiction is not necessarily an unsafe or unwarranted vehicle for introducing morality and religion into the heart of man. The little work, the title of which stands at the head of these remarks, will bear us out in the opinion we have just expressed. "The Good Servant, or Examples and Warnings for Humble Life," we know to be a work of female authorship. Its title, and the subjects of the different moral sketches of which it consists-Filial Affection, the Sabbath, Pilfering, Vanity, Dissipation, &c.-show its design and tendency, The author has it simply in view to inspire her reader with a hatred of the vice which she depicts, and a love of the opposite virtue. The execution of her task is skilful. A plain and brief statement of the moral question is first advanced, and there is then just so much of narrative as to embody the principles which the introduction to each story lays down. There is no wrought-up story, and but just enough of character to give personification to the abstract principles she has previously laid down, and no more developement of these than what coincides with the illustration of them, which otherwise it would have been necessary to give in a didactic form. It is on this ground, as presenting the public with a series of simple and most effective parables for the benefit of that classs of society which has hitherto been unprovided with such instruction, that we recommend our author and her work. We believe it to be the production of an inexperienced author, and are glad to recognise in it delicacy of thought, justness and generosity of sentiment, a fervour of style, and often a poetical energy and beauty of language, which belong not to minds of every-day mould. A Few Observations on the Union of Professing Episcopalians in Scotland with the Scottish Episcopal Church, respectfully addressed to the Congregation of St Peter's Chapel in Montrose. By E. B. Ramsay, B.A., F.R.S.E., Minister of St John's Chapel, Edinburgh. Edinburgh. Waugh and Innes. THIS is a well-written pamphlet, by our esteemed and eloquent townsman, pointing out, in clear and forcible terms, the inconsistency of a congregation of avowed WE have seen worse poetry than this-and better. Cours de Littérature Française; or a Course of Lessons A JUDICIOUS and elegant selection. Guy's Geographia Antiqua; or, School Treatise on MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE. A CHAPTER ON BACHELORS. MANY are the roads that lead to the same end. It is inconceivable the variety of causes which serve equally well to produce that strangest of all phenomena-an old bachelor. Let me recall the histories of some of my contemporaries. K-was the son of a respectable shopkeeper in. - When ward in his gait, and for a gentle imperturbable disposition. a boy he was alike remarkable for something odd and awkHe was the favourite of all the old folks, for he was always obliging, even to blundering. Kwas sent, not very early in life, to a rich relation in London, who promised to "make a man of him." By his protector he was kept several years in the South of France, to learn thoroughly the mysteries of the branch of mercantile business in which he was afterwards to be engaged. He has since resided constantly in London. He has become native to the element. No one who sees him could fancy that he once spoke broad Scotch, or saw the waters of the Garonne sparkle in the sun. He speaks pure, though not offensive, cockney; is neat and precise in his dress and manners; knows no more of the country than if he had never been out of hearing of Bow-bell. During his annual sail round the coast of Kent, or his rare visits to his relations north of the Tweed, he is incessant and tile in his tone of conversation, no one could suspect him childish in his enquiries. There is something so infanof being-what he really is one of the most acute and correct merchants upon 'Change. He is courteous and gentle to all, but cares for nobody; and in return, every body likes, but nobody loves him. I do not believe that he ever felt more for a woman than he does for the whole human race-a general complacency. He has no motive to marry; besides, it would put him out of his way. K- was born a bachelor. secret. A sneer at his heartlessness in the course of an OF ALL COUNTRIES. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. Y— was a being of a very different character. He was of low stature, but firmly and compactly built; had been a soldier in his youth; and mixed with the best society. His character was decided and energetic, without being in the least degree harsh or obtrusive. He had raised himself (in fortune for he was of good family) more by having “assumed desert,” and never having allowed advancement to pass by him for any slackness in laying claim to it, than by the possession of positive high talent. He was the reverse of K-, for he did not live a moment, from the time that he passed the age of boyhood, without being in love. I do not mean that he was distinctly in love at all times with a definite individual. With him it was a sort of latent love, (akin to the latent caloric of chemists,) lurking in his constitution, and ready to be BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EMINENT PERSONS drawn out by the first pair of sparkling eyes he encountered. The consequence was, that although almost every woman could attract, none could retain him. During absence, her image faded away, or was displaced by a new comer. He came into disrepute as an inconstanta flirt. They did him wrong. His discourse to ladies LITTLE or nothing is known of the youth of Drake. was unconsciously and necessarily passionate-it was an Laying aside Camden's romantic story of his early career, unavoidable overflowing of his soul which sought an the most probable account is, that he was the son of object, and was indifferent to the individual. He had a poor sailor, and born in the year 1545, near Tavistock, read novels in his youth, (who has not?) and believed, in Devonshire. He was the eldest of twelve brothers. when he first became aware of this tendency of his na- During his youth, he resided with, and was educated by, ture, that he was in love deeply, desperately, and for Sir John Hawkins, who was his near relative, and from His first six changes were not sufficient to open whose attention it is most likely that he obtained the first his eyes. He believed each in succession to be an attach-rudiments of nautical knowledge. ment, taxed himself with being fickle, grew sullen, uncomfortable, and dissatisfied with himself. But longer experience opened his eyes. He saw his fate, and continued to flirt away with a light heart, and passionate sighs, till the end of life-at least, till his years made him no longer listened to; although even then he could not get rid of the habit. They called him a jilt and heartless. It was false. Never did there exist a more generous and constant friend-and I have approved-it. But his nature was alike incapable of refraining from love, or fixing an attachment. ever. These two were happy; but poor G.'s was a melancholy fate. To a tolerable figure he united the most daring and lofty genius. He was not of low birth, but his parents had died while he was yet an infant, leaving him dependent. He was used, on the whole, not unkindly, but was frequently reminded of his situation. He had no companions of his own age, and the respectful distance he was taught to keep, engendered shyness and restraint. The excellent education bestowed upon him, while it strengthened all his powers, and purified all his feelings, left him awkward and helpless in society. He was in due time thrown upon the world to support himself by his own exertions. At this period he was brought frequently into the society of a lady of birth, beauty, fortune, and accomplishments. He loved her. He lay under peculiar obligations to her family; and even had his shyness allowed him, he would have deemed it sacrilege to seek her love. He followed her, as a shadow, nursing a passion which he felt must consume him. She knew it not, and in time wedded with another. For a time he was bowed down, helpless and unconscious. But his was not a spirit to yield to misfortune. He roused himself from his despondency. He tried to resume his studies in vain; there was the thought of lost happiness grinning at him from every page-interposing, like a dark cloud, between his eye and the paper. He sought refuge in dissipation. You would have thought him the most reckless and callous of the lost revellers with, whom he herded. But this was empty boasting-within, he was, unchanged and miserable. He grappled with public business, and there he at last struggled into repose. I knew him in the decline of life. He was looked up to as one of the most able and honest of our statesmen-but as a man of iron. The duties of office had brought me into a long and close connexion with him before I discovered his .. In the year 1563, he is found in the capacity of purser on board a vessel trading to Biscay; in 1565, we find him engaged in a voyage to Guinea; and in 1567, at the age of twenty-two, whilst in the company of Sir John Hawkins, at the harbour of St John de Ulloa, in the Gulf of Mexico, we find him made captain as a requital for his gallant behaviour in repulsing the Spaniards, who attempted to massacre the crews of the English fleet in that harbour. On his return home, he made the rather startling proposal of enriching himself and the nation at the expense of the Spanish king's subjects; and the only vindication he could offer for such an infringement of rights, was, that as the Spanish people had on a previous occasion plundered him, so he might in his turn take any satisfaction he could obtain. However unjust such a doctrine may appear in the present day, it was universally adopted by his contemporaries, and many volunteered to co-operate, without having even his excuse. In the year 1570, Captain Drake undertook an expedition in two vessels, which he resumed the following year with only one; and, by picking up every Spanish ship that fell in his track, he is reported to have returned rich. If he did, he employed these riches in the public service, for in 1572, he and his brother John Drake sailed, with two ships and a force consisting only of twenty-three men, for New Spain, where he attacked and took Nombre de Dios by storm, though dangerously wounded in the action. He next attempted to intercept the mules bearing silver from Vera Cruz to Nombre de Dios, in which he failed, owing to the carelessness of a drunken sailor. Even this expedition, however, was not entirely fruitless, for he fell in by accident with a train of fifty mules burdened with plate, which of course were plundered. On his return to England, he fitted out three frigates, volunteered his services to Walter, Earl of Essex-father of the unfortunate Earl who was beheaded—and sailed with him to Ireland. On the death of this nobleman, he returned to England, where, coming under the notice of Sir Christopher Hatton, vice-chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth, he was by him introduced to her majesty, and thus obtained an opportunity of suggesting a scheme which seems to have occupied his mind so early as his visit to New Spain-of passing to the South Seas through the Straits of Magellan. His leaving England to carry this scheme into effect, was the primary cause of his circumnavigating the world—a task which no Englishman |