sions of love, seized the heart of Aben-Hamet. Silent and immoveable, his wondering looks dived into this habitation of the genii. He fancied himself transported to the entrance of one of those palaces which are described in the Arabian tales. Light galleries, canals of white marble bordered with lemon and orange trees in full bloom, fountains, and solitary courts, presented themselves in all directions to his eyes; and through the lengthened vaults of the porticoes he perceived other labyrinths and fresh enchantments. The azure blue of the most heavenly sky appeared between the columns, which supported a chain of gothic arches. The walls were covered with arabesques, which seemed to the eye like imitations of those stuffs of the east, which, in the ennui of the harem, are embroidered by the caprice of a female slave. An air of voluptuousness, of religion, and of war, seemed to breathe in this magic edifice; it was a species of lovers' cloister, a mysterious retreat, where the Moorish sovereigns tasted all the pleasures, and forgot all the duties of life.'-pp. 74-76.

Every day increases the ardour of the lovers, but still each is disinclined to make any sacrifice on the score of religion: years roll on, and their mutual affection remains unchanged. At length, it would seem, that the Abencerage is on the eve of a capitulation, when he discovers that the family, to which he wished to be allied, was the most violent among the enemies of his ancestors, and was actually in possession of the property which had been wrested from them. Under these circumstances he tears himself away from the object of his idolatry, and, returning to Africa, is heard of no more. His mistress spends the rest of her life among the ruins of the Alhambra, lamenting the absence of him, whom she is destined never to see again.

It is,

We find prefixed to this tale a general preface, which the author intends as an introduction to the collection of his works; it seems to have been written shortly after his sudden dismissal from the ministry for foreign affairs, and it bears no slight traces of the acerbity which that disgrace excited in his mind. however, an eloquent performance; though, perhaps, for such a manifesto of principles, somewhat declamatory. We own that we were surprised by its liberal tone, as we had imagined that M. de Chateaubriand was one of the warmest advocates for the late invasion of Spain, whereby the liberty of that country was overthrown. He observes

My works, which are a faithful history of the last thirty wonderful years, present, along with what is past, sufficiently clear views of what is to come; I have predicted a great deal, and there will remain behind me undeniable proofs of what I have fruitlessly announced. I have not been blind to the future destinies of Europe; I have never ceased to repeat to the old governments, which were good in their time, and had their share of renown, that they had no choice, but either to settle themselves into constitutional monarchies, or to be swallowed up in a republic: a military despotism, which is what they might secretly wish for, would not, in the present day, have an existence of any duration.

'Europe, compressed between a new world completely republican, and an

ancient empire completely military, which has started up suddenly in the midst of the repose of arms; Europe, I say, requires more than ever to understand her situation, in order to take measures for her salvation. If with internal political errors be mixed up external ones, its decomposition will be completed more quickly: the cannon shot, which is sometimes denied to support a just cause, is sooner or later obliged to be fired in a contemptible one.-Preface, pp. xix-xxi.

The following observations are framed in language still stronger: 'The seeds of new ideas have every where risen above ground; in vain would we attempt to destroy them: we might cultivate the rising plant, strip it of its venom, and make it bear wholesome fruit; but it is not in the power of any one to tear it up by the roots.

'It is a most deplorable illusion to suppose our own times exhausted, because it appears impossible that they should still produce, after having given birth to so many events. Weakness goes to sleep with this illusion; folly believes that it can surprise the human race in a moment of lassitude, and compel it to retrograde. See, however, what happens.

'After one has witnessed the French Revolution, it will be said, what can ever happen which is worthy of occupying our attention? The oldest monarchy in the world overturned, Europe alternately conquered and conquering, crimes unheard of, dreadful calamities covered over with glory unexampled what is there to compare to such events? What is there? Look beyond the seas. The whole of America comes forth republican, from that revolution which you pretend to say is finished, and replaces an astonishing spectacle, by a spectacle still more astonishing.

And can any one imagine that the world has changed in this manner, without any change in the ideas of men,-can it be believed that the last thirty years are to be considered as not having past; that society can be re-established such as it existed in former times? Recollections which no one participates, idle regrets, an expiring generation, which the past is summoning and the present is devouring, will never succeed in reviving that which is completely lifeless. There are opinions which perish, as there are races which become extinct; and both the one and the other remain, at most, objects of curiosity and inquiry in the plains of death. That society, so far from having attained its object, is still marching to new destinies, is what appears to me indisputable.-Preface, pp. xxiv-xxvii.

Mr. Canning himself, radical though he be, has made use of no language more undisguised than this; it is unquestionably the language of wisdom, perhaps of prophecy.

ART. X. Chronological Records of the British Royal and Commercial Navy, from the earliest period (A. D. 827), to the present time, 1827; founded on official Documents, illustrated by copious Tables. By César Moreau, French Vice Consul in London. 85 close folios, in lithography. Treuttel & Würtz: London. 1827.

To those who are fond of tracing from small beginnings to unprecedented greatness (we hope we need not yet say, to the commencement of decline) of that navy, which is so naturally, and has been so effectually, the bulwark of these kingdoms, this book is a

treasure of inestimable value. To those, again, whose object it is to mark the steps by which the commerce of these kingdoms has arrived at its present extent and prosperity, this work, in a smaller compass, and with less trouble than would have attended it in any other form, offers the most satisfactory information. Whilst those who wish to study the analogy that subsists between commercial legislation and commercial prosperity, have here before them ample data for the exercise of the most sound and the most extensive philosophy. Indeed, to every man, politician, or merchant, or philosopher, be he an Englishman or be he not, the book supplies a desideratum, by furnishing what could not previously have been obtained, without the necessity of wading through, at least, 500 folio volumes, and examining and comparing at least 5000 detached papers.

There is only one thing to be regretted; and that is, a short notice in the title-page, very few copies of this work have been printed;' because, if there be one book of which it had been more desirable to have a large impression than another, a work of so much labour, and so much utility, is precisely the one. Perhaps, also, we might complain that the work is in lithography; for though it be in general beautifully executed, and, more especially, in the tabular parts, remarkably clear, yet the written character, particularly when so very minute as it is in the greater part of these pages, is never so easily read as the common character of printing types. These are, however, minor objections; and now, that the book exists, we doubt not that the very laborious, and, as we have every reason to believe, very accurate author, will meet with abundant encouragement to induce him to print it in a clearer character, and in a more copious supply.

The work, as is mentioned in the title-page, commences at the reign of Alfred, from whom the beginning of the naval power of England may be dated. Previous to that era, indeed, there must have been the boats of the Celts, the gallies of the Romans, and the ships of the Saxons; and, if what is said of the Phoenicians trading to Cornwall for tin, can be implicitly relied on, it is probable that the inhabitants of the southern parts of the island, were familiar with ships of a considerable burthen at a very early period. The civil wars, however, which had long wasted the country, and the circumstance of two conquests, the latter of a barbarous people, had destroyed the fighting marine of England, if it did possess any; and previous to the reign of Alfred, and during the early part of it, the people had to contend with the invading Danes, not upon the sea, as would have been most desirable, as well as most

natural, but upon land, after the invaders had debarked, and taken up a position. We cannot resist taking the following extract from M. Moreau, and we do this the more readily, that the nature of his work generally does not admit either of extract or of abridgment: 'There is nothing in the world more difficult, than to restore a naval

power when it is fallen into decay, in a country where there is little foreign trade, to furnish ships, and to be a nursery for seamen; and in the face of enemies who are masters of the sea. To an ordinary genius this must appear impracticable. What admiration, then, is justly due to that extraordinary prince, who not only attempted, but accomplished, that difficult undertaking; who raised a mighty naval power, almost out of nothing; revived foreign trade, and wrested the dominion of the seas out of the hands of the insulting Danes. This was the great Alfred, who presents himself in so many amiable points of view, to one who studies the Anglo-Saxon history, that it is impossible not to contract the fondest and most enthusiastic ad`miration of his character. It is much to be lamented, that we have such imperfect accounts of the means by which this great prince accomplished the many wonders of his reign, and particularly of the methods by which he restored the naval power and foreign trade of England, when they were both annihilated. The few historians of those times were wretched monks, who knew little of these matters, and thought it sufficient to register, in their meagre chronicles, that such and such things were done, without acquainting us with the means by which they were accomplished. We must try, however, to make the best of the few imperfect hints which they have left us, and endeavour to set this important part of the naval history of England in as clear a light as possible.

Nothing can more fully demonstrate the state of the shipping and trade of England, at the accession of Alfred to the crown, than the feebleness of the first fleet with which he encountered his enemies at sea. After four years' preparation, he got together five or six small vessels, with which he put to sea in person, A. D. 875, and meeting with six sail of Danish pirates, he boldly attacked them, took one, and put the rest to flight; (Chron. Saxon, p. 83). A victory which, though small in itself, probably gave him no little joy, as it was on an element to which the Anglo-Saxons had long been strangers. His misfortunes at land, which threatened the total ruin of himself and kingdom, obliged him to suspend the prosecution of raising a naval power, for some time. But no sooner had he retrieved his affairs, by the great victory which he obtained over the Danes at Eddington, A. D. 878, than he resumed his former scheme, and pursued it with redoubled ardour; and the means he employed to accomplish it, were equally humane and wise. Instead of satisfying his revenge, by putting the remains of the Danish army to the sword, when they were in his power, he granted them an honourable capitulation, persuaded their leaders to become Christians, assigned them land in East Anglia and Northumberland, and made it their interest to defend that country which they came to plunder; (W. Malms., 1. 2, c. 4). With the assistance of these Danes, who had many ships, and were excellent sailors, he fitted out a powerful fleet, which, Asserius tells us, he manned with pirates, which was the name given to the Danes by all the other nations of Europe; and with this fleet he fought many battles against other Danish fleets, with various success; (Asser. p. 9). There can be no doubt that this wise prince put many of his own natural subjects on board that fleet, both to learn the arts of navigation and fighting ships, and to secure the fidelity of the Danes, of which he had good reason to be suspicious. Still further to increase the number of his seamen, he invited all foreigners, particularly the people of old Saxony and Friesland, to enter into his service, and gave them every possible encouragement;

(Asser. p. 13). As he well knew that a flourishing trade was the best nursery for seamen, and of great advantage to the kingdom, he invited his subjects to embark in it by various means, as particularly by lending them money and ships. By these, and, probably, by other methods, which have not come to our knowledge, Alfred raised so great a naval force, in a few years, that he was able to secure the coasts of his kingdom, and protect the trade of his subjects.'-fol. i.

Although the immediate successors of the great Alfred do not appear to have used any active means for keeping up that naval superiority which his wisdom and patriotism had produced, yet, for about a century, it seems to have been continued by the people themselves; nor was it till in the reign of Ethelred, that the Danes, under Sweyne of Denmark, and Olof Trygvason of Norway, again threatened, and finally succeeded, in subjecting the Saxons to Danish power; and this, mainly, through the neglect into which the marine had begun to fall. The contributions which the Danes levied, in their excursions between the years 991 and 1012, may seem, considering the then state of the world, of incredible amount, being not less than 128,000 pounds weight of silver. In the contest which took place in the immediate vicinity of London, between Edmund Ironside and Canute, the Dane, the latter had the advantage, in consequence of his naval superiority; and, though he did not at first succeed in the conquest of the city, he dug a canal by the Surrey end of London bridge, so as to bring his ships above that structure; and so invested the city, that, after he had been acknowledged sovereign, he levied upon it 11,000 pounds of silver, in addition to 72,000, upon the rest of the kingdom. But, upon this, he dismissed the greater part of his Danish followers, and set about the establishing of a more powerful marine than had hitherto appeared in the North Seas; and then, during his reign, the commerce of England was not only safe from pirates, but greatly extended over the northern parts of Europe.

About two hundred years after the first establishment of the navy by Alfred, the unfortunate Harold, who, next to Alfred, was the ablest of all the Saxon princes, paid great attention to the navy; and, no doubt, the fleet of 700 ships, which he had collected in the channel, would have been sufficient to prevent the invasion by William of Normandy, had not the greater part of it been drawn toward the North Sea, in order to chastise the unprovoked hostility of Harold Hardrad, the Norwegian king. Even after the memorable battle of Hastings, which appears to have been fatal only in consequence of the death of the gallant, but too adventurous, Harold, the English fleet was superior to that of the invaders, and kept them pent up in the harbours of Hastings and Pevensay. William made great exertions, to extend both the naval strength and the commercial wealth of the kingdom; and, though this was probably done more with a view to the retaining of his double dominions, than from any desire to ameliorate the condition of the