flatter him with the least hope of such important results from his present lucubrations. Pliny knew nothing of. the Abiad; and he furnishes no details either to contradict or confirm the statement of Bruce, who saw it, and pronounced it a dead running river.' But this is nothing; and, seriously speaking, there are blunders in Mr. Dudley's pamphlet which grieve and astonish us. How he could suppose the name of Niger to be derived from the blackness of the water, instead of (as we thought every body knew) the blackness of the people inhabiting the country through which it flows, and to which they have given the name of Soudan, or (translated) Nigritia, is quite inconceivable. The fact of two different names being given to two different parts' of what is supposed to be the same river, when it is considered that they were given by two different people-Romans and Arabs, has nothing to surprize us; but we confess it does appear a little extraordinary to us, that it should not have occurred to Mr. Dudley, that the names of rivers, as well as of seas, are frequently the offspring of caprice or accident, and rarely appropriate to the nature of their waters, though occasionally so to that of their banks: thus we have the Black Sea and the White Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Red Sea, the waters of all which, we have no doubt, are green to the eye, and colourless in a glass.

On this interesting question we have recorded from time to time the opinions of modern travellers and of the Arab and Negro natives, and endeavoured to try their validity as far as regards the possibility of each; from these we have unquestionably imbibed a particular leaning; but we have not pretended to decide the question. If called upon, however, to pronounce an opinion, we should not hesitate to take the Abiad against all the rest as the outlet of the Niger, notwithstanding the incongruity of the milky whiteness' of the one with the inky fluid' of the other, which, as well as we can understand, appears to form the only point of difference in the conclusions drawn by us and the Vicar of Humberstone, though we come to those conclusions from very different premises. Experience has, we conceive, clearly ascertained that the Niger can have no other channel of communication with the Nile than the Abiad; and, as we consider it to have been satisfactorily traced to the southward of Bhagerni, it must of necessity either fall into that channel, or be lost in the sands.

ART. III.-The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Fourth Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. London. 1821.

THIS

'HIS is one of the best samples which we have yet seen of American literature; for though it is, as indeed it professes

to

;

to be, of a light and unpretending character, it is good of its kind full of imagination, and embellished with a delicacy of feeling, and a refinement of taste, that do not often belong to our transAtlantic descendants.

The age of fine writing will always come late in the annals of a nation; and there is nothing in the history of the rise or progress of America to make her an exception to the general rule. The genius of her people, as might be expected from their origin and their pursuits, is rather directed to what is useful and mechanical; and indeed while they have still so much uncultivated land, we can scarcely expect that any great encouragement should be given to the cultivation of mind. Accordingly, we find that, while she would gladly rival our broad-cloths and our cutlery, she is content to import our poetry, our romance, our philosophy and our criticism.

Though it may be difficult, perhaps, to decide what political circumstances are most favourable to the developement of the literary taste of a nation, it is easy to see what state of things must necessarily be the most adverse to it. In a newly peopled country the provision of the means of living must for some time be the care of all: after these are secured, the pursuit of wealth, and the accumulation of property, will long continue to be the favourite objects. Thus in America, agriculture, commerce, politics,— concerns which come home to the business and bosoms of men,— engross the attention of all, employing the best hands and the best heads; and it is the fulness of time alone which can bring into existence that distinct class of men, who form the literary reputation of a nation.

At present, too, America is rioting in the first delicious intoxication of national vanity, and reveling in extravagant speculations of future greatness. The late war lasted just long enough to give her an appetite for the pomps and vanities of military glory, and not long enough to make her feel the inevitable consequences which must ensue, if this appetite should grow into a confirmed taste. The creation of a navy is now the darling object of her care; and the spirit which displays itself at the launch of every ship gives a sufficient indication of the confidence with which she looks forward to the realization of her ambitious day-dreams. Time and the hour may, perhaps, sober this calenture of the national brain; and when she shall have bought wisdom at the usual price of experience, by passing through the ordinary career' of hope and disappointment, she will perhaps subside into a state of mind more propitious to the growth of good taste, and the advancement of literature.

The author of the work before us, under the assumed title of Geoffrey

D 2

Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. devotes the first chapter of his SketchBook to an account of himself, and of his early propensity to travelling; which broke out, in the first years of childhood, in tours of discovery through the foreign parts of his native city, to the frequent alarm of his parents, and the emolument of the towncrier.

'It has been (says he) either my good or evil lot to have my roving passion gratified. I have wandered through different countries, and witnessed many of the shifting scenes of life. I cannot say that I have studied them with the eye of a philosopher, but rather with the sauntering gaze with which humble lovers of the picturesque stroll from the window of one shop to another; caught sometimes by the delineations of beauty, sometimes by the distortions of caricature, and sometimes by the loveliness of landscape. As it is the fashion for modern tourists to travel pencil in hand, and bring home their port-folios filled with sketches; I am disposed to get up a few for the entertainment of my friends. When I look over, however, the hints and memorandums I have taken down for the purpose, my heart almost fails me at finding how my idle humour has led me aside from the great objects studied by every regular traveller who would make a book.'-p. 8.

Having thus explained to the reader the nature of his work, he proceeds to give the story of his Voyage' to England. This story is very beautifully told; and it is a decisive proof of the talent and taste of the author, that he has been able to confer an air of novelty on so hacknied a subject:—but natural feelings expressed in the language of nature and good sense must always be contemplated with interest and pleasure. He lands at Liverpool, and, in the first fervour of a traveller's enthusiasm, (breaking loose after the confinement of a tedious voyage,) indites a long chapter upon Mr. Roscoe! The name of Roscoe will always maintain a certain place in the calendar of literature; but is it not a little hyperbolical to talk of him as one of those men whose voices have gone forth to the ends of the earth,'-' who pass before our imaginations like superior beings radiant with the emanations of their own genius, and surrounded with a halo of literary glory.'? We know not how it may be at the ends of the earth;' but we suspect that there are a great many worthy people on this side of the Land's End' who never heard of the historian of Leo and the Medici; and who are only acquainted with Mr. Roscoe as the weakest of all political writers and speakers, and the unsuccessful candidate for Liverpool.

The next chapter, entitled The Wife,' is pretty; but we doubt whether it is natural, and are sure it is not English nature. There is an affectation in the sentiment, and an artificial smartness in the getting up of the incidents, which would almost lead us to sup

pose

pose it was a translation from the French. We like Rip Van Winkle' much better; in this there is a spirit, and an originality that occasionally remind us of the great Northern Enchanter.

Van Winkle is followed by a long chapter, which has for its title English Writers on America,' written for the most part in a spirit of good sense and moderation which could scarcely be expected from an American,-even when intended for publication on this side of the water. There are some traits of national obliquity; but there is much that is praiseworthy and excellent; and we think the perusal of it may be of great service on both sides of the Atlantic.

For ourselves, we wish well and have always wished well to America, though we have not condescended to flatter, or assisted to spoil her. We sincerely hope she may become wiser as she grows older; but, as a first step towards improvement, we have always thought it indispensable that she should learn to divest herself of that overweening self-conceit, which has filled her with such exaggerated ideas of her own importance in the scale of nations, by seducing her into a belief that she might enter the lists with England. What may happen many centuries hence, it is not for us to divine. The page of history may teach us that nations, like individuals, are subject to disease and decay :-but we leave the claims of America in the maturity of her age, and England in the days of her decrepitude, if such days (which Heaven avert!) must ever come, to the arbitration of posterity, while we content ourselves with asserting the present superiority of our country; and rejoice not only in its undiminished vigour, but in its growing strength and greatness.

The good-will which we bear towards America is felt, and must ever continue to be felt by England, unless the feelings of nature are stifled and destroyed. In the case of nations the relation of parent and child may be called metaphorical only; yet there is a spice of nature in the sensation, which makes it more than nominal or figurative. We believe the disposition of England is strongly inclined to bury in oblivion all that has happened to disturb the harmony which ought to subsist between America and herself; and to cultivate and improve those kindly feelings, which would redound equally to the credit and advantage of both countries. It was surely not too much to suppose that a reciprocal feeling would naturally be entertained by the descendantstate but whatever be the cause,-whether she was weaned too soon; whether from her early connection with France, when the weaned child put its hand on the cockatrice's den,' or from the natural frowardness belonging to her relationship,-so it is, that America has constantly evinced in her conduct towards England

a spiteful and insulting spirit. What is done here, is not looked to as a model of imitation and example in the generous spirit of emulation;-but there is an ill-natured disposition animating all her efforts to equal us, which seems to seek success less for the sake of the object, than for the gratification to be derived from the boast of surpassing England. It is in this temper that the Americans are for ever obtruding upon us the pretended excellence of their constitution. The spirit of liberty, which is the soul and substance of it, they derived from us; the form, which is of less importance, is their own. If a republican form of government suit the character and habits of their country, let them enjoy it peaceably and quietly; but let them also grant to other nations the same freedom of choice which they claim for themselves.

But Liberty is a word of universal import, which is made to mean any thing and every thing, according to the different tastes of its different commentators. There is no doctrine in which, unless the zeal of its apostles be guided by knowledge, excess is more dangerous; or to which the Greek line might be applied with more truth :

Νηπιοι, εδε ισασιν ὅσω πλεον ημισυ παντος.

We have not yet been favoured with the American interpretation of the word, but we may judge of its orthodoxy from the sanction given by their legislature, to the abominable traffic in human flesh, which affords these liberty-loving republicans the edifying spectacle of some thousands of their fellow-creatures doomed, like the helots of Sparta, to hopeless slavery, and subjected like brute beasts, to the whip of their driver;—and this, too, in a Christian country! and this, too, under the daily view of a people who yet presume to insult the common sense of mankind by boasting of the super-eminent excellence of their free constitution!

Let America learn from us, that we shook off the chains of slavery with the other relics of barbarism; that the very respiration of the air of England is sufficient to loosen these degrading bonds; and that even with respect to her colonies, in spite of every temptation arising from pecuniary interest, England took the lead among nations in abolishing this sinful system; and, not content with setting the example, exerted all the energies of her purse and her power to persuade the old world to concur with her in condemning and renouncing for ever that detestable traffic which had been so long a disgraceful blot in the history of humanity, and a foul reproach upon the character of Christendom. We leave to America the task of reconciling this contradiction between her practice and her principles; and conclude what we have to say on this chapter, in the concluding words of the chapter itself: sincerely hoping that the Americans will listen to such suggestions;