bearing the marks of an unpractised hand. It is one of those works, however, which, when we have read, we do not well see why it should have been written ;--for a jeu d'esprit it is somewhat too long, grave, and laborious, and some of our highest and most reverential feelings receive a shock from the conception on which it turns, so as to produce a painful

and bewildered state of mind while we peruse it. We are accustomed, happily, to look upon the creation of a living and intelligent being as a work that is fitted only to inspire a religious emotion, and there is an impropriety, to say no worse, in placing it in any other light. It might, indeed, be the author's view to shew that the powers of man have been wisely limited, and that misery would follow their extension,-but still the expression Creator," applied to a mere human being, gives us the same sort of shock with the phrase, Man Almighty," and others of the same kind, in Mr Southey's "Curse of Kehama." All these inonstrous con

"the

ceptions are the consequences of the wild and irregular theories of the age; though we do not at all mean to infer that the authors who give into such freedoms have done so with any bad intentions. This incongruity, however, with our established and most sacred notions, is the chief fault in such fictions, regarding them merely in a critical point of view. Shakespeare's Caliban (though his simplicity and suitableness to the place where he is found are very delightful) is, perhaps, a more hateful being than our good friend in this book. But Caliban comes into existence in the received way which common superstition had pointed out; we should not have endured him if Prospero had created him. Getting over this original absurdity, the character of our monster is in good keeping ;there is a grandeur, too, in the scenery in which he makes his appearances, the ice-mountains of the Pole, or the glaciers of the Alps ;-his natural tendency to kind feelings, and the manner in which they were blighted, and all the domestic picture of the cottage, are very interesting and beautiful. We hope yet to have more productions, both from this author and his great model, Mr Godwin; but they would make a great im

VOL. II.

It is not many years since emigration was looked upon as a very great evil; one which required to be discouraged by the natural influence of rank and property, and even guarded by legislative restrictions, which, under pretence of protecting the emigrants on their passage, had for their object to render the emigration of that class who were most likely to be benefited by it almost impracticable. Every one must have heard of the alleged depopulation of the Highlands of Scotland, and of the patriotic efforts of the Highland Society, and other public bodies, as well as of the great proprietors of that district, to avert so great a calamity. Fortunately, however, for the natives of its moors and mountains, whose numbers and condition, a hundred years ago, the sagacious Baillie Jarvie has described with so much fidelity and feeling,

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tion is directed towards America, authentic accounts of the state of that country cannot fail to be interesting to more than one class of our people. Mr Birkbeck, the author of the little work with which we are now going to make our readers acquainted, already known to the public by his Notes on a recent Tour in France, has traversed a considerable part of the United States, and at last settled there very much to his satisfaction. His book seems chiefly intended for the use of such men as himself, an English farmer of capital, ambitious to secure independence for himself and his family; but it contains a good many notices of more general interest, and introduces us to a country and a people about which we have had little recent information. The accounts of Michaux and Ashe have already become obsolete, as every one must soon become which treats of a country in which a few years produce changes so striking and important, as to be the work only of centuries in Europe.

Mr Birkbeck entered America by James River in Virginia early in last May. After a short stay at Richmond, he proceeded north by Fredericksburg and Washington the capital, and, crossing the Alleghany ridge, reached Pittsburg on the 29th. This town, which has been called the Birmingham of America, is situated at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela, which form by their union the Ohio, near which he had from the first resolved to settle. It is to this large tract, including the states of Ohio and Indiana, and the Illinois territory, that the greater part of the book relates. The months of June and July were employed in travelling westward near the banks of the Ohio, and in occasionally exploring the unoccupied lands, in short excursions from the towns in which the party made some stay in their progress. In the beginning of August, Mr Birkbeck and his fellow-traveller, Mr Flower, purchased 1440 acres each of what is called a rich and beau

tiful prairie, at the government price of two dollars an acre, (half a dollar per acre paid down, and the remainder payable by instalments, in five years,) in the south-east district of the Illinois, 45 miles from the Ohio, from which there is a communication by the Wabash, a river in the vicinity

of the settlement. The last date, the notes being written in the form of a journal, is August 31, so that Mr Birkbeck had been altogether three months in the western states, from the time of his leaving Pittsburg, and for a few days only at any one place, when he completed his work for publication.

Mr Birkbeck, we believe, deserves credit, when he tells us what he saw and heard during this comparatively limited range and rather rapid journey; but it is evident that his own experience is yet too recent and imperfect to determine whether it would be prudent for such men as himself to follow his example; and he is, therefore, somewhat too sanguine in recommending it to his countrymen. His political sentiments, too, may be suspected to have exerted some influence on his estimate of the people and country of America. He is liberal in his praise of both on most occasions; and, when he must blame, the censure is usually accompanied with an apology. A disposition somewhat the reverse of this is but too apparent when he speaks of the land of his birth, of the country in which he probably acquired the means of independence, and laid the foundation of those brilliant prospects in which he now exults. His feeling on either side, however, is seldom very strongly expressed; he scarcely ever indulges in a passionate and declamatory style; and his speculations are neither fanciful nor altogether improbable.

Soon after our traveller landed in America, he was the witness of scenes which presented a striking contrast to even the worst features of the society he had left behind him. The praises of a people and a government who can tolerate them ought to be bestowed sparingly.

"I saw two female slaves and their children sold by auction in the street,-an incident of common occurrence here, though horrifying to myself and many other strangers. I could hardly bear to see them handled and examined like cattle,

and when I heard their sobs, and saw the big tears roll down their cheeks at the thought of being separated, I could not rethese unhappy beings little regard is had frain from weeping with them. In selling to the parting of the nearest relations.

"Virginia prides itself on the comparative mildness of its treatment of the slaves; and in fact they increase in numbers, many

being annually supplied from this state to those farther south, where the treatment is said to be much more severe. There are regular dealers, who buy them up and drive them in gangs, chained together, to a southern market. I am informed that few weeks pass without some of them being marched through this place. A traveller told me that he saw, two weeks ago, one hundred and twenty sold by auction, in the streets of Richmond; and that they filled the air with their lamentations.

"A few weeks ago, in the streets of Richmond, a friend of mine saw a white boy wantonly throw quick-lime in the face of a negro-man. The man shook the lime from his jacket, and some of it accidentally reached the eyes of the young brute. This casual retaliation excited the resentment of the brother of the boy, who complained to the slave's owner, and actually had him punished with thirty lashes. This would not have happened to an English peasant. "All America is now suffering in morals through the baneful influence of negro slavery, partially tolerated; corrupting justice at the very source.'

With such instances as these, it is difficult to admit both parts of Mr Birkbeck's conclusion, which seem besides not to be very consistent with each other.

"On taking leave of Virginia, I must observe, that I found more misery in the condition of the negroes, and a much higher tone of moral feeling in their owners than I had anticipated; and I depart confirmed in my detestation of slavery, in principle and practice; but with esteem for the geneTal character of the Virginians.'

The taste of our transatlantic brethren appears not to be much superior to the moral feeling, be its tone high or low, of the Virginian planter.

"The Federal City contains, including George Town, which is only separated from it by the river, about 20,000 inhabitants, scattered over a vast spare, like a number of petty hamlets in a populous country. The intended streets, radiating from the capital in right lines, are, for the most part, only distinguishable from the rugged waste by a sligt trace, like that of a newly-formed road, or in some instances, by rows of Lombardy poplars, affording neither ornament nor shade, but evincing the exotic taste of the designer.

"The Capitol and the President's house are under repair from the damage sustain ed in the war. Ninety marble capitals have been imported at vast cost from Italy, to crown the columns of the Capitol, and shew how an-American is the whole plan. There is nothing in America to which I

can liken this affectation of splendour, except the painted face and gaudy headdress of a half-naked Indian.

"This embryo metropolis, with its foreign decorations, should have set a better example to the young republic, by surrounding itself first with good roads and substantial bridges, in lieu of those inconvenient wooden structures and dangerous roads, over which the legislators must now pass to their duty. I think too, that good taste would have preferred native decora tion for the seat of the legislature."

Of the eastern states, the notices are few and short. Artizans and labourers, according to Mr Birkbeck, will succeed in any part of America; does not think the prospect in the eastbut to emigrants of other classes, he ern states is encouraging. In fact, the emigration to the west from these very states, is greater than from all parts of Europe. In the beginning of his journey across the mountains, he

says,

"We have now fairly turned our backs on the old world, and find ourselves in the very stream of emigration. Old America seems to be breaking up, and moving westward. We are seldom out of sight, as we travel on this grand track towards the Ohio, of family groups, behind and before us, some with a view to a particular spot, close to a brother perhaps, or a friend, who has gone before, and reported well of the country. Many like ourselves, when they arrive in the wilderness, will find no lodge prepared for them.

A small waggon, (so light that you might almost carry it, yet strong enough to bear a good load of bedding, utensils and provisions, and a swarm of young citizens,-and to sustain marvellous shocks in its passage over these rocky heights,) with two small horses-sometimes a cow or two, comprises their all; excepting a little store of hard-earned cash for the land office of the district, where they may obtain a title for as many acres as they possess half dollars, being one-fourth of the purchase-money. The waggon has a tilt, or cover, made of a sheet, or perhaps & blanket. The family are seen before, be hind, or within the vehicle, according to the road or the weather, or perhaps the spirits of the party.

"The New Englanders, they say, may be known by the cheerful air of the wo men advancing in front of the vehicle; the Jersey people, by their being fixed steadily within it; whilst the Pensylvanians creep lingering behind, as though regretting the homes they have left. horse frequently affords the means of transA cart and single fer, sometimes a horse and pack-saddle.

Often the back of the poor pilgrim bears all his effects, and his wife follows, nakedfooted, bending under the hopes of the family.

"To give an idea of the internal movements of this vast hive, about 12,000 waggons passed between Baltimore and Philadelphia, in the last year, with from four to six horses, carrying from thirty-five to forty cwt. The cost of carriage is about seven dollars per cwt., from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and the money paid for the conveyance of goods on this road exceeds L. 300,000 Sterling. Add to these the numerous stages loaded to the utmost, and the innumerable travellers on horseback, on foot, and in light waggons, and you have before you a scene of bustle and business, extending over a space of three hundred miles, which is truly wonderful."

Of Mr Birkbeck's disposition to represent his new countrymen in a favourable light, the following is one of a great many similar instances. But whether his view of American society, even of the society in what he calls Old America, can be reconciled with the scenes which he immediately after describes, his speculation with his facts, we must leave the reader to decide. In our own country, or rather judging by our own habits and experience, we might venture to draw a different conclusion from his pre

mises.

"But what is most at variance with English notions of the American people, is the urbanity and civilization that prevails in situations remote from large cities. In our journey from Norfolk, on the coast of Virginia, to this place, in the heart of the Alleghany mountains, we have not for a moment lost sight of the manners of polished life. Refinement is unquestionably far more rare, than in our mature and highly cultivated state of society; but so is extreme vulgarity. In every department of common life, we here see employed per sons superior in habits and education to the same class in England."

The taverns in the great towns, east of the mountains, which lay in our route, afford nothing in the least corresponding with our habits and notions of convenient accommodation: the only similarity is in the expence.

"At these places all is performed on the gregarious plan: every thing is public by day and by night;-for even night in an American inn affords no privacy. Whatever may be the number of guests, they must receive their entertainments en masse, and they must sleep en masse. Three times a-day the great bell rings, and a hundred persons collect from all quarters,

to eat a hurried meal, composed of almost as many dishes. At breakfast you have fish, flesh, and fowl; bread of every shape and kind, butter, eggs, coffee, tea-every thing, and more than you can think of. Dinner is much like the breakfast, omitting the tea and coffee; and supper is the breakfast repeated. Soon after this meal, you assembled once more, in roonis crowded with beds, something like the wards of an hospital, where, after undressing in public, you are fortunate if you escape a partner in your bed, in addition to the myriads of bugs, which you need not hope to escape.

"But the horrors of the kitchen, from whence issue these shoals of dishes, how shall I describe, though I have witnessed them.--It is a dark and sooty hole, where the idea of cleanliness never entered, swarming with negroes of all sexes and ages, who seem as though they were bred there without floor, except the rude stones that support a raging fire of pine logs, extending across the entire place; which forbids your approach, and which no being but a negro could face."

The picture which Mr Birkbeck presents of the condition of the working classes, and of the rapidity with accumulates in the hands of an inwhich a little capital laid out on land dustrious and frugal labourer, is more faithful, than some of those we have pleasing, and probably also more just noticed. The difficulties which a poor settler has to encounter at the outset are, however, sufficient to deter all but men of strong resolution and iron frames.

"The settlers in a country, entirely new, are generally of the poorer class, and are exposed to difficulties, independent of unhealthy situations, which may account for the mortality that sometimes prevails among them. The land, when intended for sale, is laid out in the government surveys in quarter sections of 160 acres, being one fourth of a square mile. The whole is then offered to the public by auction, and that which remains unsold, which is generally a very large proportion, may be purchased at the land office of the district, at two dollars per acre, one-fourth to be paid down, and the remaining three-fourths at several instalments, to be completed in five years.

"The poor emigrant, having collected the eighty dollars, repairs to the land of fice, and enters his quarter section, then works his way without another cent' in his pocket, to the solitary spot, which is to be his future abode, in a two-horse waggon, containing his family, and his little all, consisting of a few blankets, a skillet, hiş