especially if he be prodigiously ignorant and somewhat stupid and conceited withal, is sure to be of a different opinion from his parents add companions. A political opinion frequently depends upon a theological, and a theological opinion frequently depends upon a political one. So that, instead of the question, "What is your opinion?" it might as well be asked what is your family connexion, what is your general temper, and where is your promotion-market? An useful manual might be constructed, called the genealogy of opinions, by a reference to which every man might tell what his opinions on every subject are or ought to be. And the manual might be constructed, like the shiplist used by the subscribers to Lloyd's Coffee-house, capable of addition or alteration, from time to time, according to circumstances. This would be very useful to young men just setting out in the world; for want of such a guide many a youth commits himself most indiscreetly, and hampers his promotion or gains promotion with loss of character.

The real and the artificial are so mixed together in life, that they are oftentimes indiscernible and inseparable, Now the real mode of acquiring an opinion is to look at arguments on both sides in the first place, and then to form the opinion afterwards; but the artificial mode, and that which is most common, is to take the most convenient opinion first, and then to look at the arguments on one side afterwards. And is there any harm in looking for arguments to support an opinion? And whose opinion I am bound to support? My own to be sure. Talk about the interests of truth! Pray, what business have I to trouble myself to hunt about for arguments to support another man's opinions? Every parish is bound by law to support its own poor, and every man ought to support his own opinions. That is good English logic, it savours of roast beef aud pugilism; it is a hearty knock down argument; it is that sort of reasoning that does not " pause for a reply," but crows incontinently, and shouts the shout of victory.

Opinions, also, upon minuter topics, depend, in this variable climate, very much upon the barometer. The state of the nation, the probability of war, revolution, or national bankruptcy, very much depend upon the clouds. A history of England ought always to be accompanied with a meteorological journal.

In matters of literature too, how many an author gets most cruelly handled, because his critic reads his work when the glass is at variable. What else can account for the diversity of opinions which

men of the greatest candour, discernment, and information, entertain of various literary productions?

Much again, in matters of opinion depends upon digestion and culinary arrangements. Drinking now is quite out of the fashion, and eating is all the rage. By the way, why does not some spirited publisher undertake to put forth a culinary library, in monthly parts? It would do uncommonly well. It seems an established fact, a generally recognised opinion, that the English people may be dined into any thing. They are dined into liberty, they are dined into loyalty, they are diued into charity, they are dined into piety, they are dined into liberality, they are dined into orthodoxy, and they are dined into heresy. From dinner to digestion the transition is natural. And how much are opinions influenced by and dependent upon digestion. If the digestion go on easily and successfully, then the world moves rightly, and the minister deserves confidence, and the nation is very prosperous, or at least will be when it has got through all its difficulties, then England is a glorious country, the admiration and envy of surrounding nations. But if the digestion go wrong, then every thing goes wrong, the minister deserves impeachment, the parliament needs reform, the national debt is a millstone, the importation of corn will produce universal starvation, the parson's tithes will consume the whole produce, and the nation must inevitably be ruined, unless the end of the world first comes to prevent it, and it is the opinion of some that it will.

t

I

I

know thou hast gone where thy forehead is starr'd With the beauty that dwelt in thy soul,

Where the light of thy loveliness cannot be marr'd,
know thou hast drunk of the Lethe, that flows
Nor thy heart be flung back from its goal;
Through a land where they do not forget,
That sheds over memory only repose,

And takes from it only regret!

In thy far away dwelling, wherever it be,

I believe thou hast visions of mine,

And the love that made all things a music to me,'

Iyet have not learnt to resign ;

In the hush of the night, in the waste of the sea, Or alone with the breeze on the hill,

have ever a presence that whispers of thee,

And my spirit lies down and is still!

Friendship's Offering.

THE ESQUIMAUX.†

THE Esquimaux constitute a most widelydiffused race, occupying all the shores of the northern ocean, and embracing nearly the entire circuit of the globe. Richardson and Franklin found them along the whole coast of the American Polar Sea; Kotzebue, in the channel near Behring's Straits. The Samoiedes and Kamtchadales, in northern Asia, seem to belong to the same family. A similarity of visage and figure, boats, huts, and instruments even a resemblance in habits, character, and mode of life-might have been produced by the common pressure of the same very pecul ar outward circumstances. The affinity of speech, however, which is such as proves the dialects of all the Esquimaux to be mere varieties of one common language, affords a clear proof, that au original race from some one quarter, has spread over the whole range of those immense and desolate shores. This migration must have heen facilitated by the vast continuify of coast, which stretches along the Arctic ocean, and which is not equailed in any other quarter. Hence, probably, the Esquimaux, at distant ages, connected the old and new continents, which, at all other points, were then wholly unknown to each other.

The external form of that people seems influenced, and, as it were, characterised, by the severity of the climate. Their stature is decidedly lower than that of the Europeans; five feet nine inches being considered, even in a man, as almost gigantic. Though the trunk of the body is somewhat thick, all the extremities are small, especially the hands and feet, and the fingers short. The face is broad and flat, the nose small, and at the same time, so sunk and deep, that in some instances, a ruler could be applied from cheek to cheek without touching it. It is some where observed, that their visage presents that peculiar form which the human face naturally assumes under exposure to intense cold, that all the projecting features are drawn in, and the cheeks, consequently, pushed out. In the same way, exposure to the weather may perhaps produce the high cheek bones of mounlaineers. Under these modifications, however, both their bodies and their limbs are very tolerably shaped. Even the female countenance, though without pretensions to regular beauty, is often agreeable, with a frank and good-humoured expression; so that, were it cleared of the thick crust of grease and dirt, so as to exhibit the real

+ From the Edinburgh Cabinet Library.-No. I. VOL. VI. G

complexion, which is only that of a deep brunette, it might, even in Europe, be reckoned handsome. The skin is unctuous, and unpleasantly cold to the touch; the flesh soft and flabby, owing, probably, to the fat animal substances which form the principal part of their food.

In their moral qualities. the Esquimaux present much that is worthy of commendation. At the first opening of the intercourse with the Europeans, the most undeviating honesty marked all their conduct, though this quality, in the course of two winters' communication, was considerably undermined. They were exposed, indeed, to most severe temptations, by seeing constantly scattered about the ships, little planks, pieces of old iron, and empty tin pots, which was to them as if the decks had been strewed with gold and jewels. It also came to their knowledge that, in some of their early exchanges, rich skins had been bartered for beads, and other trifles of no real value-a system against which they exclaimed as absolute robbery. From first to last, the virtue now mentioned was practised among themselves in a manner worthy of the golden age. Their dresses, sledges, and all their implements of hunting and fishing, were left exposed inside or outside of the huts, without any instance being known of their having been carried off. Property, without the aid of laws or tribunals, was in the most perfect security. The common right to the products of the chase marks also a singular union, without seeming to relax their diligence in search of food, though it may perhaps contribute to their very thoughtless consumption of it. The navigators admit that they were received with the most cordial hospitality into the little huts, where the best meat was set before them, and the women vied with each other in the attentions of cooking, and drying and mending their clothes. "The women working and singing, their husbands quietly mending their lines, the children playing before the door, and the pot boiling over the blaze of a cheerful lamp," gave a pleasing picture of savage life. a continued intercourse showed that the Esquimaux inherited their full share of human frailty. Begging we shall pass over, though in many iustances persevering aud incessant, because it seems to have been called forth almost entirely by their connexion with our countrymen, and by too lavish presents at the first; while their little bursts of envy appear to have flowed from the same source. But the fair Esquimaux are charged with a strong propensity to slander and detraction, which were as busy among them as they sat in circles round the door mending their lines, as

Yet

fit for nothing without his umul; and I have often dismissed their men of business to refresh their intellects by a dosefor when its effects are dissipating, they become mere logs. Opium to the Rajpoot is more necessary than food, and a suggestion to the Kana to tax it highly was most unpopular. From the rising generation the author exacted promises, that they would resist temptation in this vice, and many grew up in happy ignorance of the taste of opium. He will be the greatest friend to Rajasthan who perseveres in eradicating the evil. The valley of Oodipoor is a poppy-garden of every hue and variety, whence the Hindoo Sri may obtain a coronet more variegated than ever adorned the Isis of the Nile.-Tod's Annuls of Rajpootana.

The French People in Victory.-The conduct of the French people in the revolution of the three days is beyond all human praise. Their moderation in victory exceeded even the bravery that gained it. No one act of cruelty stained the glorious laurels they had won. Even plunder was unknown among the poorest classes of the multitude. A most affecting circumstance, which cannot be told without emotion, is related of those who opened the bankers' and goldsmiths' shops. The lowest of the mob were for hours among untold trea sure, and, unwitnessed, not a trinket was touched. The same persons were seen, after the fatigues and perils of the day, begging charity, that they might have wherewithal to purchase the meal of the evening; and when the purses of the admiring bystanders were pressed upon them, a few pence was all they would accept! No Greek, no Roman virtue, ever surpassed, ever equalled this.Edinburgh Review.

Anecdote of Dr. Black.-There is an anecdote of Black which I was told by the late Mr. Benjamin Bell, of Edinburgh, who assured me that he had it from the late Sir George Clarke, of Pennicuik, who was a witness of the circumstance related. Soon after the appearance of Mr. Cavendish's paper on hydrogen gas, in which he made an approximation to the specific gravity of that body, showing that it was at least ten times lighter than common air, Dr. Black invited a party of his friends to supper, informing them that he had a curiosity to show them. Dr. Hutton, Mr. Clarke, of Elden, and Sir George Clarke, of Pennicuik, were of the number. When the company invited had assembled, he took them into a room. He had the allentois of a calf filled with hydrogen gas, and upon setting it at liberty, it immediately ascended, and adhered to the ceiling. The phenomenon was easily ac

counted for it was taken for granted that a small black thread had been attached to the allentois, that this thread passed through the ceiling, and that some one in the apartment above, by pulling th thread, elevated it to the ceiling, and kept it in this position. This explanation was so probable, that it was acceded to by the whole company; though, like many other plausible theories, it turned out wholly unfounded; for when the allentois was brought down, no thread whatever was found attached to it. Dr. Black explained the cause of the ascent to his admiring friends; but such was his carelessness of his own reputation, and of the information of the public, that he never gave the least account of this curious experiment even to his class; and more than twelve years elapsed before this obvious property of hydrogen gas was applied to the elevation of air-balloons, by M. Charles, in Paris.—National Library.

Count Romantzoff.-Several of Catherine of Russia's generals having been repulsed and beaten by the Turks, the empress, who was superior to childish considerations of resentment, resolved to entrust the command to Count Romantzoff, who had been for some time in disgrace. For that purpose Catherine forwarded to the veteran a letter, couched in the following terms :"Count Romantzoff, I know that you dislike me; but you are a Russian, and consequently must desire to combat the enemies of your country. Preserve your hatred to me, if it be necessary for the satisfaction of your heart; but conquer the Turks. I give you the command of my army." The letter was accompanied by twenty thousand roubles, for the expenses of the general's military equipments. Romantzoff triumphed over the Turks; and, on his return from the campaign, the Czarine, dressed in a military uniform, proceeded to meet him. The general arrived, escorted by his staff. Catherine alighted, and advancing to Romantzoff, forbade him to dismount. "General," said she, "'tis my place to make the first advances to the heroic defender of my country." Romantzoff burst into tears, threw himself at his sovereign's feet, and ever afterwards was one of Catherine's most zealous partisans.-St. Maure's Petersburgh.

A Bon Mot.-Lady L, who had a very fair skin, said one day to Lady G. of whom she was a little jealous. "It must be confessed, my dear, that, for so beautiful a brunette, you are very brown."-"I suppose," answered Lady G "it is in consequence of being so often toasted."