previously been mentioned to me at Popayan, as possessing superior abilities, and having taken infinite pains to cultivate his mind by reading; and in a room which he called his study, he had an extensive library of French, English, Italian and Spanish books, a great many of which he had recently purchased at Lima, where he had been sent on a diplomatic mission by the Columbian government, with his cousin Senor J. Mosquera. During the civil war, when Morillo had possession of nearly the whole of Columbia, Mr. and Mrs. Arboleda suffered great hardships, being obliged to conceal themselves for two years among the forests, and in the caves near their estates in the province of Choco, during which time they experienced great kindness and attention from their slaves, which proves he had been a good master to them.

Previous to the revolutionary war, 10,000 head of cattle, each worth eight dollars, were kept on the estate of Capio; at present there was not above a tenth part of that number, as the Spaniards were continually demanding contributions, during the war, of three or four hundred head at a time. If the demand were opposed, the steward of the estate received one or two hundred coups de baton on his shoulders, as a punishment for his refractory conduct. Mr. Arboleda assured me, that before the struggle for their liberty commenced, above a million head of cattle were fed and fattened in the valley of Cauca, and at the present period he supposed there were not 200,000 all over the valley and province.

When I entered my bed-room, I was struck with astonishment to see the neatness with which every thing was arranged, and luxuries [provided for the toilet which are only found among rich families in Europe, and which I little expected to find in the secluded, although beautiful valley of Cauca. My bed and curtains were completely in the French style, the latter ornamented with artificial flowers, and on a table was placed eau de Cologne, Windsor soap, huile de Macassar, crême d'amandes amêres, brushes, &c. I slept most profoundly in my luxurious bed, which, in every sense of the word, might be called a bed of roses. Early in the morning a servant announced that a cold bath was ready. The whole appeared to me almost like enchantment, and I could have fancied myself like one of the heroes in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, transported to a palace, after the poor lodgings and humble fare I had been accustomed to. This good arrangement gave me a high opinion of the refined taste of our hostess, having never met with any thing of the kind in Columbia.'-vol. ii. pp. 116-121.

On arriving near the town of Bouga, says the colonel, we saw to our astonishment the whole cabildo, or corporation, headed by a band of music, and large crowds of people on foot, coming towards

us.

When they approached, a speech was addressed to me, welcoming our party to Bouga, to which I made a short reply, and we all rode into Bouga together; the mob at intervals hurraing_and shouting "Vivan les Ingleses, viva la Columbia, y nuestro Bolivar." Long live the English, long live Columbia, and our own Bolivar! While our travellers remained in Bouga, they were overwhelmed with the hospitable attentions of the public authorities. They were not quite so fortunate at Cartago, where they were detained a fortnight for peons or guides, who were to conduct

them over the Quindio mountains. But even Cartago, dull as it was, appeared to have had its consolations-at least for Mr. Cade.

Near our dwelling lived four young ladies with their mother, in a neat small house. They had a few acres of land, and kept a couple of cows, and we found them excellent neighbours: every morning the mother sent us a large bowl full of new milk. Common courtesy required that we should call to return thanks for the attention paid us; we found her living very comfortably with her four daughters and a little boy, the son of the second daughter. The three youngest daughters were very pretty girls, the eldest of them not more than twenty, with fine European complexions. I learnt their history from M. de la Roche, who informed me that they were of the family of Caycedo, one of the richest in the valley of Cauca; that in the civil war, the husband of Senora Caycedo had lost nearly all his property, and that the widow had a small estate left, which produced them four or five hundred a year, on which they lived. The second daughter had been seduced by a merchant under a promise of marriage, who was the father of the little boy we had seen. The widow's house was a capital lounge for my young secretary, in a dull town like Cartago; occasionally I paid the ladies a visit, and found them very agreeable goodnatured girls. In one of these visits I heard them whistle a trio remarkably well, and they all played on the Spanish guitar, accompanying the instrument with their voices, and sang Spanish songs with much taste. They possessed also another accomplishment, that of swimming well; we saw them all one morning swim across the river La Viega. Fortunately, I had some books with me, otherwise I should have found some difficulty in getting through the fortnight we remained at Cartago.

The lower class play on an instrument here, called the alfandoki, which is made of the wood of a tree, called mano de leon, naturally hollow. They put into it small black seeds of a fruit called chagera; by shaking the instrument the seeds make a considerable, and not altogether disagreeable noise, and on this they accompany the guitar players. The carraska, on which they also play, makes a tremendous, and not a melodious noise. It is made of the wood of the black poplar tree, and large notches are cut on one side. The fiddle-stick is one of the ribs of a bullock, which is rubbed over the notches, and would, I conceive, in Europe, produce the same scene as the inimitable Hogarth has so well depicted in his Enraged Musician. The tiple is a small guitar played on at Cartago. I brought with me to England a very curious small harp, which was about three feet high, with three octaves of catgut strings. The sounding-board part was made of a whole gourd, large at the bottom and smaller towards the top, to which were pieces of wood, roughly joined in the harp shape.'vol. ii., pp. 195-197.

The passage over the Quindio mountains is usually performed by travellers on the backs of men who are called silleros, from having a silla, a sort of chair, lashed to their shoulders, on which the passenger is seated. is seated. From motives of humanity, which are entitled to commendation, though somewhat out of place perhaps on such an occasion, Colonel Hamilton preferred walking, and his secretary and servants followed his example. The state of the roads may be imagined, when our author relates, that he got into several deep

sloughs, out of which the peons were obliged to drag him; and that at the termination of the passage, which occupied nine days, he was almost completely knocked up. The remainder of the journey to Bogota, was mere child's play, compared with the toil of crossing these mountains.

It is to be regretted, that Colonel Hamilton did not find time to visit all the other provinces of Columbia; we will not inquire whether such a duty was imposed on him in his instructions; but having had the opportunity of making himself acquainted with them under such favourable circumstances, we were surprised to find that he omitted to avail himself of it.

We presume, that this work must have passed through the press without being submitted to the author's revisal. As he must be well acquainted with Spanish, it is impossible that he could have permitted almost every sentence and expression in that language, which is introduced into his pages, to be grossly and sometimes ludicrously misprinted. Aguardiente, brandy, is generally disguised in the unknown word aquadient. There is a sentence in Spanish (p. 91, vol. 1), which is mere nonsense, from the mistakes that are made in it. We have the African presidio of Ceuta turned into Cuita (p. 13, vol. 1), and the well known word cocina, kitchen, Frenchified into cuisini. The Spaniards abbreviate senor, by writing Sr. Mr. Woodfall, the colonel's printer, thought that this must have been intended for sir, and accordingly we find it so printed throughout the two volumes, to the great amusement of all Spanish scholars. It is impossible to avoid a laugh, when one sees a bishop introduced under the title of Sir ilustrisimo, which is always the case in this work, except where the incongruity is made still more whimsical by sir ilustrisima. In fact, ilustrisima is the true reading; but then it is either added, or supposed to be added to senoria, meaning his most illustrious lordship, or his grace, a title of distinction usually given to Spanish archbishops and bishops. Numberless errors of this kind pervade the text, which ought to be rectified, if it reach, as we think it will, a second edition. Several interesting plates, and a map of the department of Cauca, accompany the work; but we must admit, that much of the interior of Columbia must still be explored, before we can be said to have even a superficial acquaintance with it.

NOTICES.

ART. XV. The Life, Official and Political, of John Earl of Eldon, late Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. 8vo. stitched. London: Hunt & Clarke. 1827.

THE early history of Lord Eldon, possesses much more interest than we could have anticipated. The account of his courtship and clandestine marriage and his initiation into the practice of his profession, are curious.

But the first parliamentary essay of such a politician as his lordship, is of so much importance, that we willingly extract the author's description of it. The maiden speech of (then) Mr. Scott, was on the subject of Fox's India Bill. It is a curious specimen of oratory, for it is marked by all the peculiarities of the man's mind. It ended in a glorious uncertainty: and the maiden speaker asked permission to take home the bill, that he might be able to give his opinion of it on a future day. That future day arrived in a fortnight, when Mr. Scott made an elaborate speech as per order. This was indeed a Scotticism all over-a whining, canting, vacillating affair-here a bit of censure, there a bit of praise then censure, then praise, censure and praise again, and then he ended without concluding any thing. Upwards of a third of his speech was a quotation from the Apocalypse: a couple of lines from Horace-a free extract from Shakespeare, constituted the more popular parts of this oration. He snatched from some very respectable curate, perhaps, the opportunity of making his fortune and, in truth, it might have been, with the utmost propriety, left to the parson to prove, that Mr. Fox's India Bill was prophetically described and condemned, in the Revelations of St. John. This speech called forth a great deal of observation. This one laughed at it-another grew serious at the thoughts of it. Sheridan declared, that the learned gentleman appeared to make his discourse according to Lord Coke's method of making a lawyer- that is, he allowed a good deal for sleepa good deal for equity, and something for praying. The lines of the famous

commentator are

The notice of the state trials in 1794, when the subject of this memoir officiated as Attorney-General, is brief, as indeed the allusion to proceedings so celebrated ought to be: but it is impressive, more on account of the justice of its conclusions, than from any novelty of argument or fact. One or two anecdotes, connected with the progress of those prosecutions, are related in this publication, which we believe are new, or but little known.

The public history of Lord Eldon, is then traced through the long period of his official career-and the uniform opposition which he gave to every effort at reform, even of those abuses which his own testimony had helped to expose, is referred to as a subject demanding particular observation. For our own parts, we prefer to dwell on the more amiable side of the picturethat which represents the noble lord, as giving an early specimen of that simple, courteous, and even humble demeanour, which marked him in all the fortunate vicissitudes of his life. The following anecdote rests, we understand, upon the very best authority.

'Mr. John Thelwall was preparing for the press, sketches of the lives and characters of the principal lawyers of the day. So little interest was created by Mr. Scott at the time, that nobody knew any thing about him. The biographer had no resource, therefore, but to go to the fountain head. He proceeded accordingly to the Temple, and, having gained Mr. Scott's chambers, he knocked at the white door. It was opened by a respectable looking person, who, Mr. Thelwall at once satisfied himself, was Mr. Scott's chief clerk. "I wish to see Mr. Scott," demanded the applicant.—“ What is your business, sir?"—" It is rather of a peculiar nature-and I wish to see

himself.""It is absolutely necessary, then" rejoined the supposed clerk, "that you should communicate the matter to me"-" Well, then, my business is simply this-I am preparing for the press, sketches of the principal lawyers of the day-the judges, the law officers-and a few othersI wish to state nothing inaccurately; and I am come, therefore, to beg the favour, that Mr. Scott would furnish me with a few particulars of his history"-"That I can do for you, sir, with great pleasure-please to walk in." Mr. Thelwall was ushered into an inner apartment, where every question, which he thought necessary to put, was answered by the other, readily and amply. "But, sir, are you quite sure that all these particulars are correct?" asked Mr. Thelwall, in conclusion. "Perfectly," was the reply. "You probably know Mr. Scott a long time?" "Very long, sir,-I am Mr. Scott."-Mr. Thelwall, who was one of the politest young men of his age, did not fail to acknowledge the condescension of the eminent barrister in adequate terms, little dreaming how soon they were to come together in a very different relation, at the court of the Old Bailey!'

ART. XVI.

Absurdities: In Prose and Verse. Written and illustrated by A. Crowquill. 1 vol. 8vo. PP. 132. 8s. 6d. boards. London:

T. Hurst & Co. 1827.

Mr. Hood has raised up an imitator, we had almost said, a competitor, in the soi disant Mr. Crowquill. We confess, that we are amused by these trifles it is possible that more important occupation might be found for the ingenuity which they display: but still the laugh will go round and Mr. Crowquill will be honoured, next to Mr. Hood, as one of the pleasantest of choice companions.

The prose compositions are much less to our taste, than the metrical oddities of this volume. In the former, particularly, where the author affects the pathetic, he appears as if he were dealing with an entirely uncongenial subject. But when he gives the reins to his humour, sighs over the fortunes of some Biddy Lowe, and sympathises with the affections of Timothy Trott-when he is jocose with the memory of a tallow-chandler, and puns away at the expense of some respectable porkman, it is then that we begin to respect the intellectual resources of Mr. Crowquill.

The ballad which we are about to extract from Absurdities,' we are well aware, will remind the reader of some of Mr. Hood's ludicrous effusions. But still it is to be remembered, that the merit of such productions lies altogether in their execution: punning is undoubtedly infectious;but it is not clear that successful punning is quite so subject to the laws of contagion. We proceed to quote the laughable history of