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Trust in thy own good sword,
Rather than princes' word.
Trust e'en in fortune sinister,
Rather than princes' minister.
Of either, trust the guile,
Rather than woman's smile.
But most of all eschew,
To trust in Parvenu,'

The following quotation first introduces to the reader the Parvenu, who seems to be hinted at by anticipation in the foregoing, and who afterwards plays a conspicuous part throughout the work.

A Magnifico of the First Class.-We can scarcely do better than contrast this person with another of a very different cast and condition, but one equally skilled and practised in the noble art of rising; whose portrait, we think, cannot fail to be recognized in a living nobleman of a grade higher in title.

Unseemly man to please fair lady's eye,—
When fairer faces were bid standen bye:
Yet he of ladies oft was loved full dear,

teresting, that I could not help wishing a nating object of his heart; but it was always | sion, had it not held a divided empire with longer examination of it; but what chiefly gilded by the objects first enumerated, if in- another, which governed him quite as strongly, struck me, was a large and originally well-deed the first had not been the original spring and, indeed, absorbed more of his time; we shaped obelisk or column, which rose in the that called his subsequently developed powers mean a devotion to the fair. It is inconceiv open space before the moat, fenced round into action. In short, Clayton was from able with what eagerness he pursued this; with iron spikes. It was of yellowish stone, nature a tuft-hunter, from necessity a place- into how many engagements it plunged him; (at least made so with age), and in many hurter, from habit an actor, from disposition a how many emissaries it forced him to employ; places was crumbled so as to be defaced. On hypocrite. Yet was this character not alto- and what expenses, but no! we should wrong the pedestal, however, was a tablet, which had gether unmixed with something that, but for his prudence if we did not confess, that, eager as been kept in sufficient preservation to make its his selfishness, might have made him in reality he was to gratify his wishes in this respect, he inscription perfectly visible. Curious almost what he often appeared amiable in feeling, if never suffered them to surprise him into any to impertinence in these things, I jumped off not just in mind. He was sensitively alive to thing like what he called a profligate profusion. my horse, (a movement which my companion what is called sentiment: the heroines of the And yet, to speak of the person of the magdid not oppose,) to read the inscription: it was stage drew from him real tears; Roscius nifico, an eye observer would look in vain for in old characters, rather dilapidated; bore the roused him, in imagination at least, to the full the graces of Antinous or the features of Apollo. swell of virtue. He has been seen to weep His features, indeed, were, from nature, unexdate 1572, and read thus: over Lear, and redden indignantly with Hot-pressive, and his person far from attractive; so spur. A tale well told would electrify him that when we consider this part of his history, with the passions of the story; in the senate he and how successful he was in enslaving the adwould catch the fire of the speaker; and in a miration of the sex, we are tempted to exclaim, cathedral, he could melt in rapture to sacred with one who was as observing of nature as song. But all this could pass in the transition poetical in description :— of a moment. The effect, however strong, never surprised him into one single deviation from his main object. Never, as to this, was he off his Oh! who does know the bent of woman's phantasy ?* guard; if, indeed, he was notable sometimes "To do Lord Cleveland justice, however, to make these emotions (according to the character of those who witnessed them,) subser- refused, education and habit had supplied. we are bound to own, that what nature had "Though the principal college friend of De vient to the point he at the time had to carry. The loftiness of his mind, ill-directed as it was, Vere was the nobleman just mentioned, there Thus, every where true to himself, and master had communicated itself to his manner; and were others who had a share in his kindness, of the great qualities for rising that have been this, aided by the air of the court in which he and, in some degree, in his confidence. Among enumerated, let no one presume to despise had been bred, had given him an imposing these was a gentleman of the name of Clayton; him." look, and, when he pleased, a dignity of dewho, though not distinguished by any peculiar meanour which seldom went unremarked; so talent, and who did not even compensate the that, on seeing him, you could not help admitwant of this by any remarkable suavity of ting there was the air of a man of quality about manner (except to his superiors), was yet a him. In short, all fashion bowed to him, and most remarkable and highly gifted character. had chosen him for her monarch, and we know For he had an art, perhaps the most useful in what that will effect in a woman's heart. But the whole circle of arts, the art of rising. And though it must be owned that vanity, even the "The Earl of Cleveland was a cousin, only makes its way with the sex; that of great perhe had also another property which always vanity that attends upon mere fashion, rather some once or twice removed from the Earl of sonal bravery, when, as had been the fact, than any nobler aspiration, was the original Mowbray, who, through his mother, derived a either the passion we are upon, or the disdain impetus to this, yet such was its force, that he very considerable proportion of his estates from with which he often treated others, had exnever rested contented on any one step, while the Cleveland family. Sprung from one of the posed him to be called to the field. My Lord another remained to be mounted. This may most powerful and ancient lineages of the king- Herbert (himself a great knight) tells you of be noble or contemptible, according as it is dom, he ranked, if not first, yet among the very a Monsieur de Balagny, who was the ugliest managed; and as Mr. Clayton managed it, to first of the nobility; and to this he added a man in France; but he was also the bravest; some it may have appeared certainly not noble. fortune, which, indulgent as he was to a very and Monsieur de Balagny was accordingly the But never was there such a mistake. The magnificent taste, he knew well how to preserve. greatest favourite of the ladies. Lord Clevequalifications for rising as he chose to make the It was observed, indeed, that however great his land was, as we have said, magnificent, and he attempt, are of far more difficult attainment expenses, they were all of a personal nature, made magnificence subservient to the two great than are imagined. The devotion of self to the instruments of his power or of his pleasures; passions we have commemorated. His entertainwill of another, the immolation of one's com- and that no great public institution or national forts by the total surrender of one's independ- establishment, and still less that private cha-ments, both at home and abroad, filled the ence the destruction of one's hours the sacri- rities, had ever benefited by his vast wealth. the elegance of his taste; and to obtain a place court with the praises of his grandeur and of fice of tastes, opinions, pleasures, and pursuits He was endowed with great and comprehensive at his suppers or his concerts was an object of the not choosing to say one's soul's one's own, talents; had a shrewdness and reach of under- struggle, even among the most fashionable. when a patron says otherwise; and all this, standing which few could equal, and which was But while gazers (particularly female gazers) accompanied by a forgetfulness of one's own well turned to account, both on the turf and at admired, the close observer came to this confamily, or those with whom one has set out in the card-table, as well as in the closet, not clusion, that in this man of power, of fashion, the world, and a noble disdain of the good or merely of the minister, but of the highest per- high breeding, and magnificence, all was self. bad opinion of those beneath us, when we have sonage of the realm. This, and a very active Never had he been known to perform one great passed them; all this partakes almost of the propensity to party politics, had made him, action, to give one tear to sympathy, or one nature of greatness; and all this is required though not at present in the administration, guinea to distress. Yet let us not wrong him to rise in the road which Mr. Clayton thought all-powerful with the minister. It was said, in this respect. He was not entirely hardened, it best to take to preferment. Yet, as has been indeed, that he rode the administration (as he and has at least been known to deplore his own hinted, his ambition, particularly at first, was certainly did their subalterns) with a hard and lot: for he had reached to four-and-thirty of a strange colour; for it did not so much heavy curb, which he seldom relaxed, till he consist of that honourable aspiration after carried whatever object he had before him. In he felt that his talents were thrown away, his years without a self-approving hour. In truth, power which springs from the desire of using it doing this, he had not unfrequently changed time murdered, his opportunities lost, without nobly, and which really does make this dan- his line of action, and was court to-day or a chance of obtaining that distinction which he gerous passion virtue, as to mix with the great country to-morrow, with a most fearless conbecause they were great; to be numbered with tempt of the animadversions to which such really desired, and which men may fairly plume people of fashion, in order to be fashionable; conduct exposed him. Nor did this proceed their country, themselves upon, who have deserved well of and to be employed on embassies from one from meanness, so much as from the absolute titled personage to another, because they were loftiness of his spirit, which laughed at the fear titled. This had a charm for him almost equal of offending any one, since to every one he to the acquisition of place and profit itself. thought himself superior. Thus ambition might therefore be said to be his motto. It This last, indeed, was at length the predomi-might be said to have been his greatest pas-!

And read their history in a nation's eyes.'
Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor,'

• Fairy Queen.

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is certain he had that in him which seemed as if he had been originally designed for better things; and has been known to sigh over past hours, and to grieve that he prized them no more.' Yet all his grief was vain; for such is the force of habit, that we fruitlessly seek to escape from its tyranny, and though we feel our bonds, often plunge deeper in unworthiness, to obtain a little temporary relief. Thus, satiated, restless, and dissatisfied, like the habitual drunkard, he was forced to look to new excitements for comfort, till excitement itself had lost its power."

We must now suspend our further notice of this excellent work till next week. Suffice it for the present to say, that, in our opinion, De Vere is one of the ablest productions of its class which has ever been published. For truth and vigour in drawing character-for felicity of observation, and elevation of sentiment for a superior knowledge of society-and the completion of a most skilful and interesting story founded on that intelligence-we have met no work of such extraordinary merit.

The Shepherd's Calendar: with Village Stories, and other Poems. By John Clare, author of "Poems on Rural Life," &c. 12mo. pp. 238. London, 1827. J. Taylor.

THERE is a great deal of sweet poetry in this
bittle volume,-snatches of song springing like
wild flowers on the heath, or in the green
lanes. It makes us votaries to the fine creed
which in olden time esteemed the minstrel's gift
"a light from heaven,"-when the young pea-
sant, filled with his own warm feelings, with
heart attuned and awakened to the natural
loveliness around, pours them out in careless,
untutored, but still musical song. With much
at which the critic might carp-much to which
the general reader will be indifferent,—there
is yet in these pages what will interest and
please lovers of the gentle art. For the truth
of this we appeal to the following selections.
"Wanderings in June.

The season now is all delight,
Sweet smile the passing hours,

And Summer's pleasures, at their height,
Are sweet as are her flowers;

The purple morning waken'd soon,
The mid-day's gleaming din,
Gray evening with her silver moon,-
Are sweet to mingle in.

How strange a scene has come to pass
Since Summer 'gan its reign!
Spring flowers are buried in the grass,
To sleep till Spring again :
Her dew-drops Evening still receives
To gild the morning hours;

But dew-drops fall on open'd leaves,
And moisten stranger-flowers.

The artless daisies' smiling face
My wanderings find no more;
The king-cups that supplied their place,
Their golden race is o'er;
And clover-heads, with ruddy bloom,
That blossom where these fell,
Ere Auturnin's fading mornings come
Shall meet their grave as well.

The open flower, the loaded bough,
The fields of spindling grain,
Were blooming then the same as now,
And so will bloom again:
When with the past my being dies,
Still summer suns shall shine,
And other eyes shall see them rise
When death has darkened mine.

Reflection, with thy mortal shrouds
When thou dost interfere,

Though all is gay, what gloomy clouds
Thy musings shadow here!

To think of summers yet to come,

That I am not to see!

To think a weed is yet to bloom

From dust that I shall be !

The misty clouds of purple hue

Are fading from the eye;

And ruddy streaks, which morning drew, Have left a dappled sky;

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Once more, thou flower of childish fame,
Thou meet'st the April wind;
The self-same flowers, the very same
As those I used to find.

Thy peeps, tipt round with ruddy streak,
Again attract mine eye,

As they were those I used to seek
Full twenty summers by.

But I'm no more akin to thee,

A partner of the Spring;
For Time has had a hand with me,
And left an alter'd thing:-
A thing that's lost thy golden hours,
And all I witness'd then,

Mix'd in a desert, far from flowers,
Among the ways of men.

Thy blooming pleasures, smiling, gay,
The seasons still renew;

But mine were doom'd a stinted stay,
Ah, they were short and few!
The every hour that hurried by,
To eke the passing day,
Lent restless pleasures wings to fly
Till all were flown away.

Blest flower with Spring thy joys begun,
And no false hopes are thine;

One constant cheer of shower and sun
Makes all thy stay divine.

But my May-morning quickly fled,
And dull its noon came on;

And happiness is past and dead

Ere half that noon is gone.

Ah! smile and bloom, thou lovely thing!
Though May's sweet days are few,
Still coming years thy flowers shall bring,
And bid them bloom anew.

scientific acquirements of Burchell, the present author, a person of business and mercantile habits, has traversed large portions of the Cape, its Colonies, Caffre Land, &c. and added considerably to our stock of useful knowledge by a fair exercise of his judgment, and no want of acuteness in his capacity for remark. His volume is divided into four parts, to which an appendix is added; and the whole illustrated by a number of maps, plates, and wood-cuts. Part I. is the history of an excursion to the eastern frontier and country of the Bechu. anas; Part II. an excursion to the country of the Bushmen, Korannas, and Namaquas; and Part III. observations on the establishments, colonisation, and other important topics. IV. The appendix is very miscellaneous, and con. tains some curious and entertaining reading.

In bringing the work under notice, we shall (trusting to the remembrance of preceding Gazettes) pass by the preparations for the journey, and all its stages, till we arrive, chapter 6, at a deserted Griqua hamlet in the wilderness, where the narrative becomes more interesting. Here, as Mr. Thompson and his guide, Frederick, journeyed across the unin. habited desert, disappointed of meeting human beings where they had expected, the author says

to us.

"We proceeded on our course, over extensive plains, sprinkled with numerous herds of game-quaghas, elands, gnoos, koodoos, hartebeests, gemsboks, and smaller antelopes, the movements of which helped to relieve our lonely journey. The gnoo here was of a larger size, and apparently different from that on the other side of the Cradock, being of a dark blue colour, and having a black bushy tail, instead of a white one. I observed also two sorts of hartebeests. As we travelled along, I observed my Hottentot continually looking out for the spoor (track) of human feet, being exceedingly anxious to get to some kraal before night; but the only tracks he could discover were those of the wild animals above mentioned, and of their pursuer, the lion. The foot-prints of the latter were so frequent and so fresh, that it was evident these tyrants of the desert were numerous and near Frederiek also remarked to me, that wherever such numbers of the large game were to be seen, we might be certain lions were not far distant. The numerous skeletons of animals scattered over the plain, presented suffi.. cient proofs of the justness of our apprehenevidence. We were jogging pensively along, sions, and these were soon confirmed by ocular the Hottentot with two horses, about ten yards before me,-I following with the other two: Frederick was nodding on his saddle, having slept little, I believe, the preceding night. In this posture, happening to cast my eyes on one side, I beheld with consternation two monstrous lions reclining under a mimosa bush, within fifteen yards of our path. They were reclining lazily on the ground, with half-opened jaws, shewing their terrific fangs. I saw our danger, and was aware that no effort could save us if these savage beasts should be tempted to make a spring. I collected myself, therefore, and moved on in silence; while Frederick, without FREQUENTLY as works relative to South perceiving them, rode quietly past. I followed Africa have come under our notice, and miser-him exactly at the same pace, keeping my eyes able as is the country to which they refer, we fixed upon the glaring monsters, who remained have generally found a good deal in every suc-perfectly still. When we had got about seventy ceeding publication to merit our attention, in-or eighty yards from them, I rode gently up to form us with regard to unknown parts, and Frederick, and, desiring him to look over his amuse us with the details of personal adven-shoulder, shewed him the lions. But such a Without the striking abilities of Bar-face of terror I never beheld, as he exhibited row, the intelligence of Lichtenstein, or the on perceiving the danger we had so narrowly

Man's life, that bears no kin to them, Past pleasures well may mourn; No bud clings to its withering stemNo hope for Spring's return." We like the narrative parts the least: there is but little romance in vulgar life, too much regular routine.comfort in our English peasantry, to be very picturesque; and pastoral poetry partakes much, we doubt, of the general flatness of the landscape, but without its rich

harvest to make the amends.

Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa. By George Thompson, Esq., eight Years a Resident at the Cape: comprising a View of the present State of the Colony, with Observations on the Progress and Prospects of the British Emigrants. 4to. pp. 493. London, 1827. Colburn.

ture.

At Griqua town Mr. T. found the inhabitants full of dissensions; and from it, he departed to the northward where the Matclhapee Bechuanas were threatened by the so often described eruption of Mantatees, and other strange and warlike tribes pouring down upon them from unheard of quarters.* At Kuruman, the present Bechuana capital, Mr. T. states"While we were at supper, I heard a great noise of singing and shouting in the town, which the missionaries informed me was occasioned by the celebration of a sort of festival called Boïalloa, when all the young girls, on attaining the age of thirteen, go through certain ceremonies, after which they are admitted to the rank of women.

*

escaped. He was astonished, too, that he had | Mantatees he would willingly now have accom- | coloured species is commonly esteemed the not previously observed them, being, like most panied me thither, being acquainted with most strongest and fiercest. of his countrymen, very quick-sighted. He of the native chiefs on the route. Not long "It is said, that when the lion has once said, however, that I had acted very properly ago he had been, he said, within a very short tasted human flesh, he thenceforth entirely in not speaking or evincing the least alarm distance of that place. Being in want of cloth- loses his natural awe of human superiority: while passing the lions; for, if I had, they ing for his wife and child, he set out with the and it is asserted, that when he has once suc would probably not have let us pass so quietly. intention of going to Delagoa Bay to purchase ceeded in snatching some unhappy wretch from Most likely, however, we owed our safety to some, but when within about a day's journey a Bushman kraal, he never fails to return retheir hunger being satiated, for they appeared of the Portuguese settlement, he procured the gularly every night in search of another meal; to have been just devouring some animal they goods he wanted from the natives, and returned and often harrasses them so dreadfully as to had killed; a quagga, as it seemed to me without going farther. He gave me a piece of force the horde to desert their station. From from the hurried glance I had in passing." chintz which he procured in this manner, and apprehensions of such nocturnal attacks, some which is of Indian manufacture. On this of these wretched hordes are said to be in the excursion, which he computed to be about ten habit of placing their aged and infirm nearest days' easy journey, he travelled through a fine the entrance of the cave or covert where they country very thickly inhabited. I requested usually sleep, in order that the least valuable him to detail, in regular order, the various may first fall a prey, and serve as a ransom for places he had visited on this excursion, which the rest. The prodigious strength of this ani. he accordingly did to the following effect. mal does not appear to have been over-rated. Leaving Lattakoo, which belongs to the Matcl-It is certain, that he can drag the heaviest ox hapee tribe, and of which Levenkels is now with ease a considerable way; and a horse, chief, under Mateebè, he proceeded to Nokun- heifer, hartebeest, or lesser prey, he finds no ing about eighteen miles distant. The chief of difficulty in throwing upon his shoulder and this place, Mahoomapelo, has been already carrying off to any distance he may find conmentioned. From Nokuning to the chief town venient. I have myself witnessed an instance of the Barolongs, he took three days. The of a very young lion conveying a horse about a chief or king of this tribe is called Mashow, mile from the spot where he had killed it; and which name Mr. Campbell has by mistake a more extraordinary case, which occurred in "We then approached the house where the transferred to the town, calling the king, the Sneeuwberg, has been mentioned to me on ceremony of Boialloa was performing; and Kousie, which is not his name but his title, good authority, where a lion, having carried off though we knew that, according to their cus- kousi signifying king or principal chief in their a heifer of two years old, was followed on the toms, only females can be admitted, yet we language. From the Barolong to the Maroot- spoor or track for fully five hours, by a party ventured on asking permission to enter. After zee tribe he was about five days. From thence on horseback, and throughout the whole dissome deliberation, an old woman said, with one day brought him to Kapan, chief of the tance the carcass of the heifer was only once much solemnity, These are gods, let them Manemagans, a very large tribe. Another or twice discovered to have touched the walk in.' This may convey some idea of the day brought him to king Lasak of the Maqueens. ground. high estimation these people have of the supe- From the residence of this chief to Delagoa riority of the whites. Mr. Moffat stopped to Bay was two days' easy journey. The mounreprove the woman for her expression, explain-tains in the Maqueen country, as described by ing that we were merely men, of the same him, agree with those mentioned by Captain flesh and blood as themselves. In this house Owen, as visible from the vicinity of Delagoa we saw all the young damsels assembled, who Bay." were then undergoing the ceremony of the Boialloa, under the superintendence of several old women. Their dress was the most ridiculous imaginable, and each of them had one half of the face painted white. When they go out, they avoid as much as possible the sight of men, and each carries a long branch of thorn to keep off the rude boys."

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The man,

"Poor Gert Schepers, a vee-boor of the Cradock district, was out hunting in company with a neighbour,-whose name, as he is yet alive, and has perhaps been sufficiently punished, I shall not make more notorious. Coming to a fountain, surrounded, as is common, with Our countryman, pushing on with great tall reeds and rushes, Gert handed his gun to courage, had an opportunity of seeing the ad- his comrade, and alighted to search for water. vancing Mantatees, and their conduct on enter-But he no sooner approached the fountain, than ing the deserted town of Old Lattakoo. So an enormous lion started up close at his side, near did he and Arend approach these savages, and seized him by the left arm. that it seems providential they were not made though taken by surprise, stood stock still withprisoners. Returning hastily to Kuruman out struggling, aware that the least attempt to (having rode a hundred miles that day from escape would ensure his instant destruction. "In the evening, we heard doleful lamenta- Arend's station to beyond Old Lattakoo and The animal also remained motionless, holding tions in one part of the town, and learned that back to Kuruman), with the news, the Matcl- fast the boor's arm in his fangs, but without they were occasioned by the decease of a person hapees prepared to flee, but their Griqua allies biting it severely, and shutting his eyes at of consequence, and that his relatives and re- came up, and they made a successful stand. the same time, as if he could not withstand the tainers were howling their ullalulla over the But it is not our province to dilate on these countenance of his victim. As they stood in corpse. The sound was something like chow! savage butcheries: Mr. T. did not stay to wit- this position, Gert, collecting his presence of chow chow!' reiterated continually, some-ness them, and with him we revisit the Colony. mind, began to beckon to his comrade to adtimes slowly and mournfully, and then again The route back has not sufficient novelty to vance and shoot the lion in the forehead. This rapidly, with various modifications, which al- tempt us to extract; and the second Part or might have been easily effected, as the animal together had a wild and melancholy effect. excursion, and Part III., we must reserve for a not only continued still with closed eyes, but We also heard others singing over a sick per- separate review; adding in the meantime some Gert's body concealed from his notice any obson, in a strain more mild and monotonous." amusing anecdotes of lion hunting, from the ject advancing in front of him. But the fellow At a Peetsho or national council, the account appendix, and a specimen of some peculiar and was a vile poltron, and in place of complying of which is spirited and characteristic, it is pretty poetry from the pen of Mr. Thomas with his friend's directions, or making any other resolved to march forth and meet the coming Pringle, with several of whose compositions the attempt to save him, he began cautiously to redanger, or at least reconnoitre the approaching volume is at once agreeably diversified and treat to the top of a neighbouring rock. Gert enemy. Mr. T. falls in with Arend, an inde- illustrated. The hunting stories, we should continued earnestly to beckon for assistance for pendant dweller in these parts, who had de- observe, are not altogether new, having par- a long time, the lion continuing perfectly quiet; serted from slavery at the Cape seven years tially appeared in the magazine with which and the lion-hunters affirm, that if he had before,+ and from him he gathers some interest- this gentleman planted literature in South but persevered a little longer, the animal would ing geographical as well as general information. Africa. From his talents and experience, in- have at length relaxed his hold, and left him deed, we are rather surprised that he has not uninjured. Such cases, at least, they maintain, himself produced a work upon the Cape-we have occasionally occurred. But Gert, indigknow no one so well qualified to have conveyed nant at the pusillanimity of his comrade, and much information in an agreeable and skilful

It is stated

"On interrogating Arend as to the possibility of proceeding through the Bechuana tribes to Delogoa Bay, he stated, that but for the

Our readers will recollect that an original account of this invasion from Mr. Moffat, the Missionary among the Matclhapees, was first published in the Literary Gazette. + This is the person, who with Cupido and others connected with him, is so much spoken of by Campbell the

Missionary.

manner.

"Two varieties of the lion are found in South Africa, namely, the yellow and the brown; or, (as the Dutch colonists often term the latter,) the blue or black lion. The dark

losing patience with the lion, at last drew his knife, (a weapon which every back-country colonist wears sheathed at his side,) and with the utmost force of his right arm, plunged it into the animal's breast. The thrust was a deadly one, for Gert was a bold and powerful

man; but it did not prove effectual in time to cept in the circumstance of the lion's audacity
save his own life for the enraged savage, striv- in pursuing a Christian-man,' without provo-
ing to grapple with him, and held at arm's cation, in open day. But what chiefly vexed
length by the utmost efforts of Gert's strength him in the affair, was the loss of the saddle.
and desperation, so dreadfully lacerated the He returned next day with a party of friends
breast and arms of the unfortunate man with to search for it and take vengeance on his
his talons, that his bare bones were laid open. feline foe: but both the lion and saddle had
The lion fell at last from loss of blood, and disappeared, and nothing could be found but
Gert fell along with him. The cowardly com- the horse's clean-picked bones. Lucas said he
panion who had witnessed this fearful struggle could excuse the schelm for killing the horse,
from the rock, now, however, took courage to as he had allowed himself to get away; but the
advance, and succeeded in carrying his mangled felonious abstraction of the saddle, (for which,
friend to the nearest house-where such surgi-
cal aid as the neighbours could give, was imme-
diately but vainly applied. Poor Gert expired
on the third day after, of a locked jaw.

as Lucas gravely observed, he could have no
possible use,) raised his spleen mightily, and
called down a shower of curses whenever he
told the story of this hair-breadth escape.'

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"The hero of the following story is a Hot- "The following amusing story, which was tentot of the Agter Sneeuwberg. 1 have for- related to me by some respectable farmers of gotten his name, but he was alive two years the Tarka, who were present on the occasion, ago, when the story was related to me at Cra- would make a good figure in The Lion's dock, in that neighbourhood. This man was History of the Man.' A party of boors went out hunting, and perceiving an antelope feed out to hunt a lion which had carried off seveing among some bushes, he approached in a ral cattle from the neighbourhood. They discreeping posture, and had rested his gun over covered him in a thicket, or jungle, such as an ant-hill to take a steady aim, when, observ- abound in that part of the colony, and sent in ing that the creature's attention was suddenly a numerous pack of fierce hounds to drive him and peculiarly excited by some object near him, out. The lion kept his den and his temper for a he looked up and perceived with horror that an long time-only striking down the dogs with his enormous lion was at that instant creeping for- mighty paw, or snapping off a head or leg occaward and ready to spring upon himself. Before sionally, when the brawling rabble came within he could change his posture, and direct his aim his reach. But the hunters, continuing in the upon this antagonist, the savage beast bounded mean while to pepper the bush at random with forward, seized him with his talons, and crushed slugs and bullets, at length wounded him his left hand, as he endeavoured to guard him slightly. Then rose the royal beast in wrath off with it, between his monstrous jaws. In-and with a dreadful roar burst forth upon this extremity, the Hottentot had the presence his foes. Regardless of a shower of balls, he of mind to turn the muzzle of the gun, which bounded forward, and in an instant turned the he still held in his right hand, into the lion's chase upon them. All took to their horses or mouth, and then drawing the trigger, shot him their heels it was devil take the hinddead through the brain. He lost his hand, most!' One huge fellow, of greater size than but happily escaped without farther injury. alacrity, whom we shall call Hugo Zwaar-vanheupen (or Hercules Heavy-stern), not having time to mount his horse, was left in the rear, and speedily run down by the rampant Leeuw. Hugo fell-not as Lochiel, with his back to the field, and his face to the foe,'-but the reverse way; and he had the prudence to lie flat and quiet as a log. The victorious Leeuw snuffed at him, scratched him with his paw, and then magnanimously bestriding him, sat quietly down upon his body. His routed companions, collecting in a band, took courage at length to face about; and, seeing the posture of affairs, imagined their comrade was killed, and began to concert measures for revenging him. After a short pause, however, the lion resigned of his own accord his seat of triumph, relieved his panting captive, and retreated towards the mountains. The party, on coming up, found their friend shaking his ears, unharmed from the war-except what he had suffered from a very ungentlemanly piece of conduct in the lion."

"The following anecdote was told me by Lucas van Vuuren, a vee-boor, residing on the late Colonel Graham's farm of Lyndoch, and for two years my next neighbour at the Bavian's River. It shews that even our colonial lions, when pressed for a breakfast, will sometimes forget their usual respect for Christian-men, and break through their general rule of let-a-be for let-a-be. Lucus was riding across the open plains, near the Little Fish River, one morning about daybreak, and observing a lion at a distance, he endeavoured to avoid him by making a wide circuit. There were thousands of springboks scattered over the extensive flats; but the lion, from the open mature of the country, had probably been unsuccessful in hunting. Lucas soon perceived at least that he was not disposed to let him pass without farther parlance, and that he was rapidly approaching to the encounter; and being without his roer, and otherwise little inclined to any closer acquaintance, he turned off at right angles laid the sjambok freely to his horse's flank and galloped for life. But it was too late. The horse was fagged and bore a heavy man on his back-the lion was fresh and furious with hunger, and came down upon him like a thunder-bolt. In a few seconds he overtook, and springing up behind Lucas, brought horse and man in an instant to the ground. Luckily, the poor boor was unhurt, and the lion was too eager in worrying the horse, to pay any immediate attention to the rider. Hardly knowing himself how he escaped, he contrived to scramble out of the fray, and made a clean pair of heels of it till he reached the nearest house. Lucas, when he gave me the details of this adventure, made no observations on it as being any way remarkable, ex

6

We conclude with Mr. Pringle's character-
istic poem-

"The Lion and the Camelopard.
Wouldst thou view the lion's den?
Search afar from haunts of men-
Where the reed-encircled fountain
Oozes from the rocky mountain,
By its verdure far descried
Mid the desert brown and wide.
Close beside the sedgy brim
Couchant lurks the lion grim,
Waiting till the close of day
Brings again the destined prey.

Heedless-at the ambushed brink
The tall Giraffe stoops down to drink;
Upon him straight the savage springs
With cruel joy:-The desert rings
With clanging sound of desperate strife-
For the prey is strong and strives for life,-
Plunging oft, with frantic bound,
To shake the tyrant to the ground;

Then bursts like whirlwind through the waste,
In hope to 'scape by headlong haste;
In vain!-the spoiler on his prize
Rides proudly--tearing as he flies.
For life-the victim's utmost speed
Is mustered in this hour of need-
For life for life-his giant might
He strains, and pours his soul in flight;
And, mad with terror, thirst, and pain,
Spurns with wild hoof the thundering plain.
'Tis vain-the thirsty sands are drinking
His streaming blood-his strength is sinking-
The victor's fangs are in his veins-
His flanks are streaked with sanguine stains-
His panting breast in foam and gore
Is bathed:-he reels-his race is o'er!
He falls-and with convulsive throe,
Resigns his throat to the raging foe,
Who revels amidst his dying moans:-
While, gathering round to pick his bones,
The vultures watch in gaunt array
Till the proud monarch quits his prey."

Poetry and Poets. By Richard Ryan, author

of" Ballads on the Fictions of the Ancient Irish." 3 vols. 12mo. London, Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper.

THIS is a complete réchauffé, gleaned from divers dinners and divers tables: the author has been at a feast of books, and made quite free with the pages. Altogether, however, these volumes are very gossipy and pleasant reading; the selections are, generally speaking, well made, and many of the anecdotes are amusing, if not quite new. Among the pieces said to be original, the following stanzas by a Mr. Lover, an Irish gentleman, are pretty :

"Thoughts of Sadness.
How sad and forsaken

Is that heavy heart,
Where Hope cannot waken,
Nor Sorrow depart!
So sad and so lonely,
No inmate is there,
Save one-and that only
Is chilling Despair.
How sad is the slumber

Long sufferings bring,
Whose visions outnumber

The woes whence they spring!
Unblest such repose is,
Its waking is near,
And the eyelid uncloses
Still wet with a tear.
But though sad 'tis to weep

O'er incurable woes-
Sad the dream-disturbed sleep;
Yet far deeper than those
Is the pang of concealing
The woes of the mind
From hearts without feeling-
The gay, the unkind.
For saddest of any

Is he, of the sad,

Who must smile amongst many,
Where many are glad;
Who must join in the laughter,
When laughter goes round,

To plunge deeper after

In grief more profound.
Oh! such smile's like light shining
On ocean's cold wave,

Or the playful entwining
Of sweets o'er a grave;
And such laugh, sorrow spurning
At revelry's calls,
Like echoes returning
From lone empty halls."
One more snatch, le voici :-

"The following description of Bridget Brady,
by her lover, Thaddeus Ruddy, a bard who lived
about the middle of the seventeenth century, is
perhaps unique as a specimen of local simile.
She's as straight as a pine on the mountain of Kilmannon,
She's as fair as the lilies on the banks of the Shannon;
Her breath is as sweet as the blossoms of Drumcallan,
And her breasts gently swell like the waves of Lough
Allan;

Her eyes are as mild as the dews of Dunsany,
Her veins are as pure as the blue-bells of Slaney;
Her words are as smooth as the pebbles of Terwinny,
And her hair flows adown like the streamlets of Finny."

So much for the grave and gay, of which there is sufficient variety in these pages to make them agreeable lounging companions; but we must remonstrate against the pseudo

portrait of L. E. L. as a frontispiece to one of the volumes. It is a sheer invention, and must belong, if to any one, to some other lady. It was wrong to palm, for the sake of attraction, so gratuitous a forgery upon the public.

Adventures in the Peninsula. [Second Notice;-Conclusion.] WE resume our countryman's interesting narrative while he was traversing the confines of Leon.

A muleteer on the road "every now and then broke out into a stanza from a patriotic song which I had often heard, the burthen of which is, that General Ballasteros had got a donkey, with which he was going to fetch Ferdinand out of France; and that a soldier of the House of Bourbon is worth all the regiments of Napoleon.' The air, however, is extremely wild and original. His mules were fantastically decorated about the head with ornaments of plated metal and fur, and their tails were tied up with red and yellow ribands. The hair from the shoulders to the hinder quarters was closely shaven off, except a little which had been preserved about the tail, and which, on the one mule, was disposed into the motto of Viva mi amo,' (long live my master); and on the other, Viva Ferdo Sto" (long life to Ferdinand the VIIth). Clipping the hair of the mules from off the back is a very general practice, and is supposed, by keeping the parts cool, to prevent the albardas or packsaddles from hurting them.

*

*

"The Spaniards have fought better since the enemy have been driven over the Bidassoa, than they have ever done heretofore, and Lord Wellington seems to have more confidence in them. In England we say, such a one is going to pay the piper: the Spaniards, elate with the prospect of entering the fine plains of France, boast that the time is come for the French to pay la fiesta y el ajo,' (the feast and garlic too)."

snugly last year he had murdered a French near Medina, and kindled his forge; when, as officer. The Frenchman had come to his house he was working away, begrimed with dirt and during his absence, and proceeding to take some sweat, a small party of French unexpectedly liberties with his wife, whom he found engaged appeared before the place, and thinking they in chopping sausages, she resented his beha- beheld only a common blacksmith at his work, viour, and struck him across the forehead with addressed themselves to a woman standing the instrument which she had in her hand. At with her children before the door, and asked this instant, the husband entered, and taking where Longa could be found, as they had out his knife, gave him, as he said with an air heard he was in the village. The woman, of devilish satisfaction, five hundred stabs; and with admirable presence of mind, replied, that putting the body into a sack, carried it out she believed he was quartered a good way during the night, and flung it into the Carrion. lower down, and named the house. Thither Much as I was shocked at the cold-blooded they repaired, and Longa effected his escape. ferocity with which he told his tale, I dissem- The French were not long in re-appearing, bled, and pronounced him a good patriot.' having learnt from some traitorous rascal, that Pleased with the approbation he received, he the blacksmith they had seen was the guerilla went on to say, that a few months before chief. They now proceeded once more to questhat, he had been engaged with some others in tion the woman, and even the little children throwing poison into the well of the barrack who were with her, but such was their devoyard, and that in consequence more than twenty tion to his person, that they all denied having soldiers were carried off. It would have been seen him. The soldiers making a search, soon idle labour to have attempted to subvert my found the unfinished arms, which had hastily doughty Castilian's notions as to the right of been concealed among the ashes of the forge, despatching one's enemies by any means what- and, as a shocking revenge for their disapever. He had never heard of Grotius or Vat-pointed hopes, bayoneted the poor woman and tel; nor had he any idea that enemies should her family, and then set fire to her house. be considered as men like ourselves, whom, if When quartered last winter at Medina, an we cannot subdue manfully by force of arms, emissary was sent by the French to Longa, we should be ashamed to destroy cowardly, and offering him 100,000 reals to betray his gueat the expense of those charities which connect rillas into their hands. Longa affected to acall mankind. cede to the terms, but required 25,000 to be immediately paid down as earnest-money. The emissary produced the sum, which Longa no sooner received, than he had the fellow be"The only object worth seeing in Palencia headed as a traitor; for he was a Spaniard. is the cathedral, the interior of which is in a Longa gave his country another example of style of simple grandeur. The form of the what is due to a wretch who would betray it. building is that of an oblong spheroid, the Medina de Pomar was and still is much affected aisles rounding off at the two extremities, and to the French. This Longa saw with patriotic meeting in the vertex of a cone. There are concern, and watched his opportunity until he some tolerable paintings in the little oratories detected one of the chief inhabitants in treasonwhich are in the left-hand aisle as you approach able correspondence. Upon this, he had him the altar. Before one of these oratories a plaseized, and trying him before a drum-head card is suspended, announcing that the Bishop "The river Neve separates us from the court-martial, by whom he was adjudged to of Palencia grants forty days' indulgence to all French, whom I see every morning at parade die, ordered the magistrates of the adjoining who shall pray devoutly at this altar. In the from the window of my garret. Our sentries villages to assemble the peasantry at Medina, vestry they shew you an optical illusion. They and theirs can talk to each other with perfect on a certain day, for the purpose of witnessing have a small picture representing a fish, a vile ease; no kind of molestation being offered on his execution. The day arriving, he was brought daub; but when you look at it through a small either side. They come down to water their out into the Plaza, where, having his arms tied hole in the wainscot, it appears a striking like-horses, and their women to wash the linen of to the traces of two horses, and his legs to the ness of Charles V. The inhabitants of Palencia the regiments, and we do the same. The traces of two others, the animals were driven do not exceed 3000. The French carried away French soldiers often endeavour to entice our off full speed at cardinal points, each tearing all the beauty of the place who were willing to fellows to desert, by sticking a piece of beef on away a portion of his mangled carcass. A follow their fortunes. In every city I find they the point of a bayonet, or by holding out a dreadful and revolting punishment, but well are liked, and are hated only in the villages. canteen, accompanying their action with, I adapted to answer the purpose of deterring Joseph Buonaparte was reviewing his troops say, come here! here is ver good ros-bif; here on the evening prior to our army entering on is ver good brandy.' I was much amused a the following morning. They who dislike or few days ago with the contrasted appearance of pretend to dislike the French, have all the fol- a French and English sentinel. The centre lowing nicknames for King Joseph: el potrilla, part of the bridge over the Neve has been But we shall have done with deeds of blood, el coloso de Rosas, el siete quartas, el tio Pepe blown up, but the abutments on each side are and in our few remaining quotations refer to (uncle Pepy). Pepe, indeed, is the usual ap- still remaining. On the one you saw the pictures of another kind. Of Las Hermitas, pellation; whence derived I cannot say, unless French sentry with his long musket, white cap, in Gallica, the account is curious. from the Greek is, or from King Pepin. and loose gray great-coat, slovenly thrown over Arriving at Chaõ de Castro, we inquired On the morning I left Palencia (being per his shoulders; on the other, a Highlander of our way to Las Hermitas, which lies out of Journal, 16th July); while waiting without the 42d regiment, in all the pomp of his na- the Lugo road. We were told that it was the town until the troop should come up, I fell tional costume. They were not more than distant one league, and that upon arriving at into conversation with a Spaniard, by asking twenty yards asunder." a group of chestnut trees, we were to strike him respecting some ruins which appeared at a Of Longa and his guerillas we have an in-off to the left. In this country there is little distance on two sugar-loaf-shaped hills in teresting story, told by the Castilian whose scarcely any twilight: almost immediately the direction of the Pisuerga river. On the own feats we have already recorded. after sunset night comes on. This was our one, he told me, was once a magnificent temple. "Longa, before the war broke out, was by situation. At sunset we began to descend a dedicated to Jesus do Outeiro (Jesus of the trade a blacksmith and gunsmith, and excelled mountain; and by a fatality not unusual with Hill), which the French had destroyed; on in it. Hostilities commencing, he raised a travellers in this country, found ourselves in the other, the mains were Moorish. The small band of brigantés, as they are termed, a deep ravine, with a river before us, and Spaniard and I becoming familiar, in conse- and armed them from his own manufactory. no traces of any road. Shepherds' fires were quence, as I think, of my praising the men of Ever since becoming a chieftain of guerillas, gleaming in the distance, but the river was Castile, and their antipathy to los picoros' he has occasionally resorted to his old trade, between us and them. We had no alternative (for he was a native of Salamanca), be related, for the purpose of furnishing his men with but to re-ascend, and endeavour to fall in with with a peculiar immobility of feature, how arms. Some time ago, he repaired to a village some road which might conduct to a village.

When our forces descended upon St. Jean de
Luz, the author thus paints the scene:-

others from similar offences. The old spy, whose name was Torre, related also many instances of Longa's generosity, which beguiled the way until we came to Medina."

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