THE UNITED STATES LITERARY GAZETTE. Published on the first and fifteenth day of every month, by Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. No. 1 Cornhill, Boston. VOL. I. REVIEWS. BOSTON, DECEMBER 15, 1824. -Terms, $5 per annum, payable in July. we ate our cold meat and drank our wine, with all perhaps, of all things, that which is most to | gardens and vineyards, wood and verdure, cattle and Recollections of the Peninsula. By the Au- Such was my treatment in the first billet I ever entered in Portugal, and such, with very few excepby Portuguese of all classes, according to their tions, was the character of the reception given means, at the commencement of the Peninsula struggle, to the British army: rich and poor, the clergy and laity, the fidalgo and the peasant, all expressed an eagerness to serve, and a readiness It must have been a beautiful sight, for those on the to honour us. In these early marches, the villa, quays and along the banks, to mark our fair array. the monastery, and the cottage, were thrown open The polished arms, the glittering cap-plates, and at the approach of our troops; the best apartments, the crimson dress of the British soldiers, crowded the neatest cells, the humble but only beds, were in open barks, must have produced a very fine all resigned to the march-worn officers and men, effect. And we, too, gazed on a scene far different with undisguised cheerfulness. It is with pain I indeed, but most peaceful, most lovely. The north-am compelled to confess, that the manners of my (about six leagues) presents a continued succession a change in the kind dispositions of this people. ern bank of the river from Lisbon to Villa Franca strange, but well-meaning countrymen soon wrought of rural beauties: convents, chapels, and quintas, When they saw many assume as a right all which 33 they had accorded from politeness, and receive their respectful attentions and cordial services, as expressions of homage, due to the courage, wealth, and power of the British nation;-when the simplicity of their manners, their frugality, the spareness of their diet, the peculiarities of their dress, and their religious prejudices were made the subjects of derision and ridicule ;-when they witnessed scenes of brutal intoxication, and were occasionally exposed to vulgar insult, from uneducated and overbearing Englishmen ;-when, I say, all this occurred, they began to examine our individual titles to their esteem; they were, often, very soon disenchanted; and the spirit which we had awakened in them, manifested itself in various acts of neglect, rudeness, and even resentment. We bivouacked daily. It is a pleasing sight to ered so far as to be pronounced out of dansee a column arrive at its halting ground. The ger; but was still so feeble that he was camp is generally marked out, if circumstances ordered to return to Lisbon. This journey allow of it, on the edge of some wood, and near a river or stream. The troops are halted in open was uncomfortable enough, and after his arcolumns, arms piled, picquets and guards paraded rival at Lisbon he suffered a relapse, which and posted, and, in two minutes, all appear at confined him for six weeks to his bed. He home. Some fetch large stones to form fire-places; again recovered, rejoined his regiment, others hurry off with canteens and kettles for water, which formed a part of Gen. Hill's corps, while the wood resounds with the blows of the bill- and soon after found himself with his regihook. Dispersed, under the more distant trees, you see the officers, some dressing, some arranging went, on the right of Wellington's army, a few boughs to shelter them by night; others on the Sierra de Buzaco. kindling their own fires; while the most active are seen returning from the village, laden with bread, or, from some flocks of goats, feeding near us, with a supply of new milk. How often, under some and fuel, have I taken up my lodging for the night; spreading cork-tree, which offered shade, shelter, and here, or by some gurgling stream, my bosom fanned by whatever air was stirring, made my careless toilet, and sat down with men I both liked and esteemed, to a coarse, but wholesome meal, seasimplicity of this life I found most pleasing. An enjoyed with the highest relish. enthusiastic admirer of nature, I was glad to move advanced on their march, the heat became and dwell amid her grandest scenes, remote from umn too after column, arriving in quick succession, One element of the pleasure which the author and his messmates enjoyed while they were on their way to join the army, was the entire novelty of all the scenes and circumstances about them; we doubt not, many of the soldiers were murmuring at those very things which their officers soned by hunger and by cheerfulness. The rude picquets were already posted: thousands of them As they so intense, that it was necessary to repose during the day, and proceed only when the sun had withdrawn his intolerable beams. But this change of day into night, and all the various wants and difficulties incident to their situation, were made sources of pleasure. With a small advanced guard I entered Golegão at the head of the regiment just as early matin-bell was summoning the inhabitants to prayers. The attendance on public worship throughout Spain and Portugal is extremely regular, and no occupation, or manner of life, is suffered to interfere with this sacred duty. To mass go the muleteers before they load their train; and from the door of the chapel the peasants sally forth to their daily labours. The very changing of night into day, a measure rendered necessary by the extreme heat, carried with it the charm of novelty. I was well lodged, and hospitably treated, in an humble but clean cottage, and with the night again set forward. A The walked to the verge of the mountain on which we My regiment had no sooner piled arms, than I lay, in the hope that I might discover something of the enemy. Little, however, was I prepared for ished sight. Far as the eye could stretch, the glit the magnificent scene which burst upon my astontering of steel, and clouds of dust raised by cavalry and artillery, proclaimed the march of a countless army; while, immediately below me, at the feet of those precipitous heights, on which I stood, their were already halted in their bivouacks, and colreposed upon the ground allotted to them, and cities, and unconnected with what is called society. swelled the black and enormous masses. Her mountains, her forests, and, sometimes, her numbers of the enemy were, at the lowest calculahome: her rivers, streams, and springs, cooled my three distinct and heavy columns; while to the bare and bladeless plains, yielded me a passing tion, seventy-five thousand, and this host formed in brow, and allayed my thirst. The inconvenience rear of their left, at a more considerable distance, of one camp taught me to enjoy the next; and I learned (a strange lesson for the thoughtless) that you might see a large encampment of their cavalry, and the whole country behind them seemed coverwood and water, shade and grass, were luxuries. Ied with their train, their ambulance, and their comsaw the sun set every evening: I saw him rise missariat.***I returned slowly to the line; and, again each morning in all his majesty, and I felt after an evening passed in very interesting and anithat my very existence was a blessing Strange, mated conversation, though we had neither baggage indeed, to observe how soon men, delicately brought nor fires, we lay down, rolled in our cloaks, and up, can inure themselves to any thing wrapt in with the stone surface of the mountain for our bed, a blanket, or a cloak, the head reclining on a stone and the sky for our canopy, slept, or thought away or a knapsack, covered by the dews of night, or the night. Two hours before break of day, the drenched perhaps by the thunder shower, sleeps line was under arms; but the two hours glided by many a youth, to whom the carpetted chamber, the rapidly and silently. At last, just as the day dawncurtained couch, and the bed of down, have been ed, a few distant shots were heard on our left, and from infancy familiar. were soon followed by the discharge of cannon, and the quick, heavy, and continued roll of musketry. We received orders to move, and support the troops attacked: the whole of Hill's corps, amounting to fourteen thousand men, was thrown. into open column, and moved to its left in steady double quick, and in the highest order. * * * But the scene soon changed; the regiment arrived within reach of the army, and began to learn something of the realities of war. officers, men, and horses, of the heavy brigade of This march, and the following, our route, which passed by Punhete to Abrantes, led us often for miles along the banks of the Tagus, and through villages built on the very edge of the river. clear bright silver moon lighted our silent path; not a lamp burning in any of the cottages; not a human voice to be beard; not a sound, save the dull tread of our weary men, and the gentle tone in which the waters told their ceaseless flow. The moon-beams which played upon the bright arms of our gallant soldiers, shone also on the glistening nets of the peaceful fisherman, which hung spread upon the rocks, near his deserted bark. All within these humble dwellings was repose, and their happy inmates slumbered sweetly, unconscious that the tice of war (harmless and friendly indeed to them, yet bearing on its wave not only youth, ambition, and courage, but, perhaps, even ferocity and crime) rolled, in the dead of night, past the vine-clad walls The autumnal season, in Estremadura, is proverof their defenceless cots. The town of Abrantes bially unhealthy, and numbers of the inhabitants is well situated; it stands lofty, and commands the die annually of the alarming fever which prevails passage of the Tagus, over which, at this point, a in the dreaded month of September. The unwholebridge of boats communicates with the southern some vapours, which arise from the beds of the provinces We crossed the river, and occupied many stagnant pools scattered over the surface of for one night a camp of standing huts, formed many these plains, and always dried up by the summer weeks before by some division of our army, which heats, are said to produce this evil, Be this as it had halted in that neighbourhood. At sun-rise the may, towards the end of September, this insidious following morning we were again in motion, and and resistless enemy found his way into our tranmarched onwards to the village of Gaviao. Our quil quarters, crowded our hospitals with sick, and road led, in part, through plains covered with Gum-filled the chapel vaults with victims, over whom we cistus in flower, the frail leaves of which are regloomily and sullenly mourned. *** I returned home after the review, passed a most We were halted exactly in rear of that spot, just repulsed a column, was retiring in line, with the from which the seventy-fourth regiment, having most beautiful regularity, its colours all torn with shot. Here a few shells flew harmlessly over our line, but we had not the honour of being engaged. The first wounded man I ever beheld in the field, was carried past me at this moment: he was a fine young Englishman, in the Portuguese service, and lay helplessly in a blanket, with both his legs shatdrops of perspiration stood on his manly forehead; He looked pale, and big tered by canon-shot. but he spoke not-his agony appeared unutterable. I secretly wished him death; a mercy, I believe, that was not very long withheld. More and harder fighting was expected; the troops were kept ready for action, lying with their accoutrements on where they last stood in order of battle; front and rear ranks head to head, and every man's firelock by his side. But the French manoeu vred to attack the British in flank, and Wellington retreated to his lines near Lisbon. The French advanced and threatened them, but retired in their turn. Our author was attached to Marshal Be markable for their delicate whiteness; and in part, cheerful evening, could talk of nothing but war and resford's corps, and continued under his over uplands all clothed with heath, but a heath so rich in the variety, the beauty, and the fragrance of its plants, that the traveller forgot, or forgave, the absence of the corn-field, the vineyard, and the cottage. *** Wellington-was that night stretched on the bed After some weeks of sickness he recov command until after the battle of Albuera, One of the British brigades lost in this battle one thousand and fifty men, killed and wounded, out of one thousand four hundred.. mand." 259 and fled, abandoning some guns and howitzers about meet with a reputation," to use his own lowed by Introductory Remarks, intended These Dedications and Preface are folto contain a hasty sketch of what is already known on the subject of vision; and, having thus prepared us by nearly thirty pages of prefatory matter, he permits us at last, about the middle of the volume, to enter upon the treatment of the real subject of it, much of which we acknowledge to be equally original and amusing, though from that deficiency in arrangement, which he partly acknowledges, it is not always so easy to be understood as we could have wished. This last brigade went into action led by a major general, and with its due proportion of field-officers and captains. I saw it at three in the afternoon :a captain commanded the brigade; the 57th and 48th regiments were commanded by lieutenants; and the junior captain of the 29th regiment was the senior effective officer of his corps. Not one of these six regiments lost a man by the sabre or the lance; they were never driven, never thrown into confusion; they fought in line, sustaining and replying to a heavy fire, and often charging; and when the enemy at length fled, the standards of these heroic battalions flew in proud, though mournul triumph, in the centre of their weakened but :ictorous lines. ***I would now relate what fell under my own observation, and describe, if it be possible, my feelings on that day. We stood to our arms an hour before break of day: it was a brilliant sight, at sun-rise, to see the whole of the French cavalry moving on the plain; but in a short time they retired into the wood, leaving their picquets as before. The battalion being dismissed, I breakfasted, and immediately afterwards set out to walk towards the Spanish troops, little dreaming, that day, of a general action. But the sound of a few shots caused me to return; and I found our line getting hastily under arms, and saw the enemy in motion. The prelude of skirmishing lasted about Our author was also engaged in the batan hour and a half, and our division lost a few men tle of Vittoria, and, in a skirmish at the pass by random gun-shot; all this time we were stand- of Maya, was made prisoner; and here his ing at ease, and part of it exposed to a heavy, chill- narrative ends. We have not room for all ing, and comfortless rain. Sounds, however, which the passages which we marked for quotation, breathed all the fierceness of battle, soon reached and are not sure that we have selected the us; the continued rolling of musquetry, accompaour extreme right, told us, convincingly, that the from being filled with stories of warlike nied by loud and repeated discharges of cannon on most interesting. The volume is very far real attack was in that quarter. The brigades of deeds or sufferings. The scenery and the We formed in open column of companies at half the reminiscent crossed, and recrossed, so our division were successively called to support it. manners of that interesting country which scene of action. I remember well, as we moved frequently, are strikingly described; his distance, and moved in rapid double quick to the down in column, shot and shell flew over and recollections are vivid, and they bring bethrough it in quick succession; we sustained little fore him things well worthy of rememinjury from either, but a captain of the twenty- brance. His style is sometimes too ambininth had been dreadfully lacerated by a ball, tious, and is often inaccurate; and occahim, and he knew us ull; and the heart-rending sionally he dwells so long upon the beauti-ion, the impressions of each no longer correspondand lay directly in our path. We passed close to tone in which he called to us for water, or to killful hills, and vales, and streams, which im- ing, except those of the object we are immediately him, I shall never forget. He lay alone, and we pressed themselves upon his memory, that observing. were in motion, and could give him no succour; for, on this trying day, such of the wounded as But, upon the whole, we are confident that we begin to be weary of his descriptions. could not walk lay unattended where they fell: Cooper's investigations, we shall give in his The circumstance, which led to Dr own words. spec; by concentrating the two eyes upon this, at Upon my glass while looking into it, I saw a little the same time watching the reflection of the face of the eyes themselves; each of which is seen upon the mirror, it was seen double, as was better seen of those parts nearest the centre of vision, as double, making an appearance of four eyes instead of two. The spec at this time, being the object upon which the eyes are directed, is distinctly visible. The obvious reason of all this is, that the two eyes are removed from their common axis of vis at some loss to understand the meaning For want of a definition, we were at first all was hurry and struggle; every arm was wanted those of our readers who may purchase this of the phrase, "common axis of vision." in the field. When we arrived near the discomfited and retiring Spaniards, and formed our line to advance through them towards the enemy, a very noble looking young Spanish officer rode up to me, and begged me, with a sort of proud and brave anxiety, to explain to the English, that his countrymen were ordered to retire, but were not flying. Just as our line had entirely cleared the Spaniards, the smoky shroud of battle was, by the slackening of the fire, for one minute blown aside, and gave to our view the French grenadier caps, their arms, and the whole aspect of their frowning masses. It was a momentary, but a grand sight. A heavy atmosphere of smoke again enveloped us, and few objects could be discerned at all,-none distinctly. The coolest and bravest soldier, if he be in the heat of it, can make no calculation of time during an engagement. Interested and animated, he marks not the flight of the hours, but he feels that, Come what come may, book upon our recommendation, will ac- Some Further Facts in Vision. By Ed- which we perceived could not be applied, THIS treatise, as our author informs us, was pair of eyes, looking into a glass, could be suggested and completed in eight days, and nothing else than the reflection of the face he admits, that it is not unlikely it may appertaining to them. The circumstances be found to have many faults. His reas- has been observed before, but no writer, so ons for publishing it in this condition indi- far as we know, has given the same explacate a commendable regard for public opin. nation of it. ion, and show at once his zeal for enlight- riations of this experiment, two others are Besides some ingenious vaening it, and his caution in regard to the detailed, to which the author was led, in preservation of its integrity. his book to the world with all its blemishes, it is unnecessary to describe at length, He gives the course of his researches. One of them since time, which could not alter the na- since he informs us that the fact illustrated This murderous contest of musketry lasted long only enable him to correct what is subor- at any extent of objects that present beture of the principles advanced in it, would by it may be "familiarly known by looking We were the whole time progressively advancing upon and shaking the enemy. At the distance of dinate to them. about twenty yards from them we received orders might polish his style, perfect his arrange- the other, by which it will be seen, that Experience, he is us, and first closing one eye, and then to charge; we had ceased firing,cheered, and had ment, and perhaps add some trifling proofs; the nose obstructs the lateral view upon our bayonets in the charging position, when a body but it would, at the same time, give author- either side, from entering but the one eye of the enemy's horse was discovered under the ity to his name; shoulder of a rising ground, ready to take advantage of our impetuosity. Already, however, had which his readers may now examine and as above, in the words of the text. so that the doctrine, on the same side." The other we shall give, the French infantry, alarmed by our preparatory confirm, would be in danger of being recheers, which always indicate the charge, broken ceived without discussion. "It might then aware, fore A square bit of paper was taken exactly the width of the distance between the pupils of the 260 two eyes. This is to be placed at any point between the eyes and the mirror, and within lines parallel from each eye to its own reflexion. It will succeed best by holding the paper midway between the face and the mirror, which inconceives the diamond and ellipsis to be thing like a waste of power in the constant be shorter than the former; and as beauty vour of the truth of it. We refer to the obvi implies distinctness, the most beautifulous reasonableness of such an arrangement. Hence the author We have always thought there was someforms have this figure. this case, may be at a greater distance of separa- We were unable to obtain complete success in this experiment, for want of more precise directions, or some other cause, which we do not think it necessary to investigate, conceiving it to be analogous to that, by which two small holes, applied to the eyes, when looking at a more remote object, are made to appear as one; in which opinion we are confirmed by the suggestion of the author, that a similar "fact takes place in the wearing of spectacles, making a visible union of the two glasses in one." The inferences from these experiments are, that each eye can see for itself, and (as by a law of our constitution, the nose is interposed between them) somewhat fur the ther towards one side than its fellow; and that thus they are enabled to compare pictures of objects situated in a horizontal direction, to be pleased with their agreement, or offended by their discrepancy. But, as no such comparison can be made between objects situated in a perpendicular direction with regard to each other, they may vary without offence to our congenital sense of beauty. Dr Cooper draws many beautiful illustrations of this doctrine from the works both of nature and art. Thus, he observes, that we consider a want of similarity between use of two eyes in looking at the same thing, when it is so evident that one would answer the purpose extremely well; and even if the method suggested by our author shall not be found to be the true one, it will still admit of some question whether it ought not to have been. The application of this discovery of Dr Cooper to every thing in nature is obvious. After noticing some of the most evident consequences of it, he concludes with the following philosophic and beautiful remarks. more beautiful than the square or circle. The proper and accurate, or even regular exam We regret that our limits will not here allow us to extract more than the followination of all which I have not presumed to ating conclusion of his remarks upon the tempt; sensible of its too great extent, for so superficial an observance as I was alone able to give power of habit. it. It was for me merely to point out the facts, as having noticed them, and to notice the circumstances in connexion with them and such as might make them tolerably clear for a more close investigation, a more capable investigator. To this is to be attributed the depraved taste of beauty, too common in the more beauteous sex; their preference of colour over form; of forced contortions of themselves over their more graceful and natural luxuriance of charms; or, where it is more general, in the vitiated ideas of rural scene ry in the citizen. We feel, with him, a natural reluctance to enter alone upon such an extensive field, Great indeed is the force of habit, but it and having followed his footsteps to the has never yet ventured, as our author justly boundary to which they have conducted remarks, to make much innovation upon us, we have nothing left but to exclaim, the original fitness of things, when consid- "I prae, sequemur.” Advance boldly, and ered horizontally. Amidst all the "irides- when you have seized the chaplet of Fame, cent chaos" of female habiliment, fashion we will sound her trumpet. has not dared to clothe one nether extremity in leather and the other in prunella; an observation which brings to our recollection Saratoga; A Tale of the Revolution. Bosthe following simple lines, in which the and nature, has seized upon an analogous author, with an exquisite attention to truth circumstance to place in a forcible light ton. 1824. 2 vols. 12mo. is not our motto when we sit in judgment on "JUDEX damnatur, dum nocens absolvitur," the lighter productions of American litera the eyes, the arms, or the feet, as a de- the sordid poverty of a tattered mendicant, ture, which have hitherto seemed to need object of this formation, to wit, the capacity of standing on either end. "One stocking on one foot he had, On t'other foot a shoe." We cannot refrain from extracting the following paragraph from among the lucid and ingenious illustrations of this theory. rather to be nursed and protected from the withering blasts of criticism than to be "trash'd for overtopping." When the shelves of our bookshops shall groan under the weight of uncut American duodecimos, and our circulating libraries teem with marble-covered and half-bound ephemera, it will be time enough to lay a heavier hand upon formity, but never expect the forehead and chin to resemble each other; and again, that the sides of a column, to be beautiful, must be alike, but not the capital and base. In the case of ninepins and sand-glasses, which seem to be exceptions Another fact, that is common to the dress and to this rule, it is to be considered, that we undress of beauty, will exhibit the effect of the insensibly connect our idea of beauty with unity required in the parallels across the vision, that of perfect adaptation to the particular strongly. If either lie in a horizontal direction, the imaginations of our fellow-citizens. At and the spectator view them from one side, he will find this union of the opposite sides much impair-present we read in the spirit of charity, ed, and habit alone saves it in part. I suspect it is slow to mark the failures of inexperience, also partly hence, we have the beggaring descrip- and glad to find something to praise. The story of the volumes, which have suggested tion of the drunkard. Our author is disposed to find in his doc- remarks, is rather too complicated, trine of horizontal comparison, an explana- and the caracters too numerous; but it is creditable the author's powers, that the tion of the manner, in which we get an idea of motion. He suspects that one eye keeps nterest, no withstanding these difficulties, the moving object in view, whilst the other is so wel' stained. We shall first present is continually employed in marking the dis-our re der, in as few words as possible, nasis of the plot. Major Courttance between it and some fixed position, with an a veteran officer in the British serAnd although some objections to this idea lan. sindri by family circumstances to present themselves to us, we cannot but vic think there is some.intrinsic evidence in fa-taktide in the United States, then Another inference may be thus expressed. As the right eye, for instance, sees an object, with a power equal to two, while the left may be able to see only with a power equal to one, their united powers will be equal to three; but as this can only happen with respect to objects situated horizontally in regard to each other, the horizontal lines of a body, to a similar extent, will be seen with greater distinctness than the perpendicular ones. Hence, to make these last equally distinct, they must the intense and fervent feeling, with which the O'Carroll's frequent exclamations of Bravo!' of it; and if the next musket ball knocks him from his horse, the victory may be ours; but if not, Major,' Have done with your ifs, O'Carroll,' interrupted the Major hastily. By Heaven, this champion has put the very devil into his soldiers, and in spite of Talbot and all his men, they will beat us hollow.' Huzza for king George!' and The royalists have ing her hands, she exclaimed with emotion, And they seem to understand it too,' said O'Car- 'Does Captain Talbot command the royalists?' asked Catherine, aroused by O'Carroll's observation. der!" After some the colonies of Great Britain. years' residence, trouble comes to him in the shape of the revolutionary war, which he naturally considers in the light of rebellion; and, after some hesitation about turning his arms against a country which had sheltered and befriended him, accepts a commission in Burgoyne's army, which was then advancing into the colonies from the north In the course of that disastrous campaign he is twice wounded, and his life as often saved by an American officer, Colonel Grahame, the hero of the piece. The heroine, the daughter of Major CourtJand, is brought into a state of contiguity with the bero, by her attendance on her The treaty of surrender again!' exclaimed the wounded father, after the surrender at SarMajor, impatiently. You round off every sentence, O'Carroll, with this detestable treaty; and begin atoga. On the return of the Courtlands with what you will, the Great Mogul, the Pope of to their former residence, which was not Rome, the usurpation of the round-headed Cromfar distant from Valley Forge, the acquaintwell, or any thing else equally foreign to the subance continues-as the Major was, by the 'Yes, I met him as I was riding this morning,'ject, you are sure to rack your ingenuity, in order conditions of the treaty, a noncombatant, returned the Captain. It seems they were inform to name this treaty of Saratoga, the remembrance ed by a deserter, who had grown weary of the hard of which seems to afford you the most exquisite and Grahame in winter quarters, which we have the evidence of history for believing foraging party was to leave the camp this morning; fare and cold quarters of Valley Forge, that this pleasure.' not to be so agreeable as to induce a young and Talbot and his men were lying in wait for officer to have much predilection for them. them, behind the group of maples yonder, when I The scene is not changed from this place. encountered him. The Americans were coming Major Courtland's attention was instantly directbut the dénouement is delayed, by conver-up, when I left him, and I had just time to ride sation and episodes, through the whole of home, and leave my horse, before the first musketed to the scene of action, and he saw at once, that shot gave the signal that the engagement had com- the issue of the contest was decided. The second the second volume, when the parties are menced. But, upon my faith, the rebels have near- assault of the Americans had been far more furious happily married, with several other couples, ly gained the forest; all except that foolish officer, and determined than the first. Animated by the whose adventures are concluded at the who will lose his life by seeking to rally the cow-presence of a leader, whom they idolized, and solicards.' itous to retrieve their tarnished honor, they fought same time. with intrepid boldness, till the enemy, discouraged by this fierce attack, began to falter, and at length gave way. It is possible they might have recovered themselves, had not the fall of Captain Talbor served to complete their confusion; when they instantly took to flight, leaving a number dead on the field, and several, beside their Captain, despewounded. 'Have patience, Major,' said O'Carroll, his whole attention directed to the movements of the combatants; and look, look quick, by St George, Talbot is down, and his soldiers are flying!" While O'Carroll spoke, scarcely heeded either We have despatched the story thus short- by Catherine or her father, the Americans continuly, by stripping it of the episodes and ed to retreat in great disorder, unmindful of the other extraneous matter with which it threatenings or persuasions of their commanding is complicated, some of which add much to officer, who used every exertion in his power to inits length, and, by distracting our attention, duce them to renew the contest. But it was all in diminish the interest in the main action. vain; they seemed completely panic-struck, and We could have very well spared Colonel eager only to escape the pursuit of their conquer-rately ors, when suddenly their flight was arrested. Dunbar and General Arnold, Talbot and A single horseman, wearing the uniform of the Amelia, especially the latter, who are very continental army, sprang from behind a small copse ordinary people, in whose affairs we could of trees, and leaping the slight barrier of rails take but little interest in any circumstan- which enclosed the field of action, waved his ces, much less when, like many indifferent sword with an air of defiance, and called aloud upon the flying troops to rally, and act like men. The persons in real life, they intrude themselves tones of his commanding voice were heard distinctand their stories upon our attention, and ly on the hill, where the party of observation were occupy the time which we are impatient to stationed, and they seemed like magic to arrest the bestow upon more useful or agreeable sub-course of the defeated soldiers; for they instantly stood still, and the officer placing himself at their jects. head, they collected, and with inconceivable rapidity formed a compact body, presenting a firm and This sudden movement produced a visible sensation in the enemy. They slackened their fire, and retreating a few steps, drew up again in order of battle. The attack recommenced with new fury; the British fighting as if resolved to win a second victory, and the Americans as if determined to atone for he shame of their premature flight. The following description of a skir mish is spirited, and will serve as a speci-dauntless front. men of the style of the work, and we hope our readers will pardon the length of the extract, as it is the only one we shall make. The scene of action lay in a stubble field, some distance beyond the bill; so that the smoke from the fire-arms, concealed the horrors of the fight. But the quick and animated movements of the parties, and the rapid glancing of their arms, were visible; and though the frequent vollies of musketry involved them in obscurity, yet the clouds of smoke rose so swiftly in the pure atmosphere of the morning, that the bustling and active scene was at one instant disclosed, and the next shrouded again in darkness. The parties engaged were small, and apparently equal, in point of numbers. But the British had evidently gained the advantage, which they were vigorously pursuing; for the Americans, though obstinately defending themselves, were gradually retreating towards the forest, in their rear. Major Courtland watched his daughter's countenance, with interest, as, after the first undecided moment, she continued earnestly to gaze upon this Her kindling eye, her flushed cheek, her profound silence, and motionless attitude, evinced scene. Confound those rebels! exclaimed O'Carroll, who, with his companions, had anxiously watched the progress of this unexpected revolution; they have always some corps de reserve, some slashing hero, or cunning stratagem, to turn the fortune of fight. We had fairly won the field, when that tall fellow came, Heaven only knows from whence, to pluck back our laurels, and bind them on his own rebel brows.' Do not begin your lamentation too soon, O'Car- deal depending on the little word if, Major. The character of the Irish captain, O'Carroll, is pretty well executed, though rather inclined to caricature; in that of the hero, we recognised, oftener than was agreeable, some striking features of the Mortimers, Belvilles, &c. of other days; those of the Indians, Ohmeina and Minoya are very good, while those of Forrester and Richard Hope are as well as could be expected in their subordinate station. This work, in common with many other second rate novels, is spun out to an unnecessary length by long and often insipid conversations, which waste the time, ink, and paper of the writer, increase the expense of printing, and of course diminish the sale of the work, whilst they are generally skipped by the reader. It should be remembered that in this particular, nature cannot be copied to advantage; for though nothing is more certain, than that almost every body talks more and longer than is necesssary, the writer should consider that we listen partly from regard to the rules of politeness, and partly from the expectation of taking our own turn, while in reading a novel we are no longer bound by the former nor can have any reasonable hope of the latter. In a narrative of this sort it must necessarily happen, that wounds should frequentthe almost invariable application to them ly occur, and we noticed that, in these cases, was balsam of some sort or other. Now we |