The lines that follow flow very smoothly; though we must add, that we would willingly have dispensed with the comparisonmore quaint than appropriate-between jealousy and Vesuvius :

Isles of surpassing loveliness, that seem
The very gems of nature's diadem,

Mountains which from the dark blue waters spring,
And to the sea give back an equal beauty-
Sulphureous spots whose ever-smouldering flames,
Sullenly oozing through the burning marle,
Whisper of fires primeval-while o'er all
That mighty monarch, bright Vesuvius,
Making, like jealousy, the food he feeds on,
Burns with a splendour unextinguishable;
Scattering his flame and smoke on high to heaven,
His scorching embers to the tranquil sea.
Lo! at his feet, the clustering vine, the fig,
The cactus, and the olive, and the palm-
The rarer orange, with her golden glare,
Glistening amidst the fruits of common growth,
And harmless wild-flowers every spot bedecking.'

:

Here again, in the sketch entitled 'Venice,' is an observation true in itself, and most gracefully expressed :

Every being moving in the streets

Moves with a grace. The common gondolier,
Vender of water, fruits or flowers, or spice;
And even the beggar, lounging by the square
Of great St Mark, or slumbering by some porch,
Antique or Saracenic, while he casts

A shadow o'er the tesselated pavement,
In easy posture sleeps, and as he sleeps,
Dreams of the glories of the days gone by.'

Of the remaining sketches, the best are Rome,' 'Florence on return,' and the lines written in the Simplon.' The first, though unequal, contains some striking lines not unworthy of the subject, but is too long for our purpose. • Florence on return' embodies a common thought felt by every one, and often indeed expressed before, but which bears repetition from its simplicity and universality :

'Why Jooks fair Florence fairer than before,
Why doth Val d'Arno smile more beauteously,
Richer her groves, loftier her Appenines?
Her river murmur with a gentler flow,
Villas and vineyards thus seem sweeter now?
And happy homesteads still more cheerful gleam
'Midst greater glee, through gladsome Tuscany?
Come we from colder clime, from land less fair-
Were their memorials of the time gone by

More meagre, or their works of art less bright?
Ah no! By Naples' bay our course has been,
The fairest scene in this enchanted land-
Fix'd in the inmost soul soon as beheld.
Pozzuoli and Pompeii's placid peace

Have touch'd our hearts with sympathy and love;
Ancient and modern Rome for us disclosed
Their treasures rich. The Coliseum vast,
The noblest temple of the Christian world,
The princely Vatican-while yet more late
We left Perugia's heights and Narni's vales.
Or shines the sun more brightly; does the air
More balmy breathe, along these olive slopes,
Through summer's soft advance and golden days?
No, rather say the closing autumn casts

A shade around, and the half-faded leaf
Tells of the winter's near and sere approach.
What then thus brightens all the glowing scene?
Well was it writ by him who told the force
Of fancy" In the mind alone doth dwell
The source of all that's beauteous and sublime."
The power that minstrel sung, thus acting true,
By memory and association sway'd,
Unfolds the star which guides us northward still
To home beloved, and lightens all the land
With brightest glimpses from the shrine within.
Nor say the cold in clime are cold in love-
The love of country, noblest of its class,
Burns strongest in their breasts; and in its train
Brings honour, virtue, charity, and peace.'

Perhaps the most compact and best sustained of these verses -certainly, on the whole, the best in point of diction, and the most harmonious in the flow of versification-are the lines entitled In the Simplon.' We do not hesitate to say, that both in thought and expression they are such as many of our more experienced versifiers might well wish to own :

Basilicas of Florence, Rome, Milan!
With all your architectural tracery

And pomp, what are ye to this scene compared ?
These are the temples of the living God,
Rear'd by a mightier hand than that of man;
Their deep foundations to the centre piercing,
Their summits soaring upward to the sky,
Their hoar antiquity, creation's dawn!

What are your gleaming marbles, gems, and gold,
To snow-flake resting softly on those peaks,
Or glacier glistening as the golden sun
This sanctuary vast lights with his rays
For morning or for evening prayer? Nor lack
They other ornament: these countless rocks

With herbage interlaced, and here and there
With mountain rills besprinkled-in the clefts
The trees in bright October's livery clad;
Such the mosaic wrought by nature's hand,
The dazzling garniture of nature's shrine !
Or with your organ deep, and choral song,
Echoed responsive through your vaulted aisles,
Compare the voice of roaring cataract,
The crash of avalanche; or, 'midst the pines,
The piping wind-the river's psalmody.
Then say if piety want priest or dome
To point the way unto that God who rides

Amidst the calm, nor slumbers in the storm.'

In taking leave of Lord Robertson's volume, for which we heartily thank him, we may, perhaps, be allowed to take the liberty of offering him, in return, an advice, warranted by some experience that as he has been most successful in this his first venture, he will not imperil the credit he has gained, by another poetical attempt. By his present volume, he has proved-and it is no small boast-that the labours of a dry, and, as is often supposed, heart-hardening profession, have not blunted his sensibility to natural beauty, or to the great creations of the liberal arts; and that the sagacity, tact, and humour, which have always been conceded to him, are nowise incompatible with a strong sympathy with all that is great and good, or kindly and genial, in our common nature. But the public, proverbially indulgent to a first essay, particularly from one who does not contemplate poetry or literature as a vocation, are by no means equally so in the case of a second. The candidate of that description who again presents himself for honours, must expect to have his commission curiously scanned, and his call to the poetical ministry rigorously scrutinized. He can no longer plead the privileges of a volunteer; he must submit to be dealt with like others of the regular corps, according to the strict rules of discipline. Tried by this test, and without the same natural apology for its appearance which the present little volume bears on its winning face, the fate of a second publication might be more than doubtful. Probably, however, no one better understands or appreciates the force of these considerations than Lord Robertson himself;-but our advice, if it be unnecessary, is at least tendered in all kindness; and in the same spirit, we are hopeful, it will be received.

ART. VIII. 1. Report from the Committee on the Hudson's Bay Company, April 24, 1749. Reprinted in Reports from Committees of the House of Commons. 1803.

2. Hudson's Bay Company Charters and Correspondence. House of Commons, Aug. 8, 1842. No. 547.

3. American State Papers. Presented at different times to Congress in 1826, 1828, and 18:38.

4. Travels in the Oregon Territory. By T. J. FARNHAM. 2 vols. 8vo. London: 1843.

5. The Oregon Territory. By JOHN DUNN. 8vo. London:

1844.

6. On the Discovery of the Mississippi, and the South-western Oregon, and North-western Boundary of the United States. By T. FALCONER. 8vo. London : 1844.

7. The History of Oregon and California. By R. GREENHOW. 8vo. London: 1844.

8. Narrative of the United States' Exploring Expedition. By CHARLES WILKES. 5 vols. 4to. Philadelphia: 1845.

9. The Life and Travels of Thomas Simpson. By A. SIMPSON. 8vo. London: 1845.

10. The Oregon Question. By T. FALCONER. Second edition. London: 1845.

No ORTH-WESTERN America is probably the largest portion of the world yet unsubdued by cultivation. From about latitude 32° to 70°, and from longitude 125° to 95o, boundaries enclosing a space of more than 4,000,000 square miles, the real occupants of the country are the aboriginal hunters and fishers. Two or three Russian, English, and Mexican trading stations on the coast; and in the interior a few English hunting posts, and some missionary establishments supplied by Mexico and the United States are the only points inhabited by civilized men. About 500,000 Indians, and about 10,000 whites, constitute the population of a district more than one third larger than Europe, and situated for the most part within the temperate zone. The whole is intersected from north to south by a chain called, to the north of latitude 42°, the Rocky Mountains, and to the south of that parallel, the Sierra Anahuac; which is in fact a continuation of

the Andes. Between these mountains and the Pacific, from which they are at an average distance of 500 miles, run intermediate ranges, some parallel and some from west to east, so as to leave level a very small portion of the country. The rivers which flow from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains are the great rivers of North America-the Mackenzie, the Missouri, and the Rio Grande. On the western side they are few, interrupted by falls and rapids, closed at their mouths by bars, and, in the earlier part of their courses, generally confined by precipitous banks of 1000 or 1500 feet in height.

We have said that the occupants of the territory are the Indian tribes; but the greater part of it is under the nominal sovereignty of Russia, England, the United States, and Mexico. The Russian boundary begins at the southernmost point of Prince of Wales's Island, (lat. 54° 40',) then runs in a north-western and northern direction to the Arctic Ocean; so as to include first a narrow strip of coast, and then a peninsula washed by three seas, and forming the north-western extremity of the Continent. The British portion includes all that is east of the Rocky Mountains, and north of latitude 49°. The boundary of the United States comprises all that is east of the Rocky Mountains, from latitude 49° to 42°; and then runs in a south-easterly direction, until it reaches the rivers which form the boundary of Texas. All that remains south of the forty-second parallel belongs to Mexico.

Between these limits lies the unappropriated Oregon country, bounded on the north by the parallel 54° 40′, on the east by the Rocky Mountains, on the south by the forty-second parallel, and on the west by the Pacific. It is about 650 miles in length, and of an average breadth of about 550-narrower towards the north, and broader towards the south-the Rocky Mountains running, not parallel with the coast, but in a south-westerly direction. It contains, therefore, about 360,000 square miles; more than three times the surface of the British islands. The northern part of the coast, above the forty-eighth parallel, is protected by numerous islands, the largest of which, Vancouver's Island, is about two-thirds of the size of Ireland. Along the straits which separate these islands from the continent, are many excellent harbours; but down the whole coast of the Pacific, from latitude 48° to Port San Francisco, far within the Mexican frontier, there is no refuge except Bulfinch harbour and the Columbia-the former of which can be entered only by small vessels, and the latter is inaccessible for eight months of the year, and dangerous at all times.