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busy preparations for the festival, she wound her way slowly to the top of the hill; when she had reached the summit, she called out with a loud voice to her friends below; she upbraided them for their cruelty to herself and her lover. "You," said she, "were not satisfied with opposing my union with the man whom I had chosen, you endeavoured by deceitful words to make me faithless to him, but when you found me resolved upon remaining single, you dared to threaten me; you know me not if you thought that I could be terrified into obedience; you shall soon see how well I can defeat your designs." She then commenced to sing her dirge; the light wind which blew at the time, wafted the words towards the spot where her friends were; they immediately rushed, some towards the summit of the hill to stop her; others to the foot of the precipice to receive her in their arms, while all, with tears in their eyes, entreated her to desist from her fatal purpose; her father promised that no compulsive measures should be resorted to. But she was resolved, and as she concluded the words of her song, she threw herself from the precipice, and fell a lifeless corpse, near her distressed friends. Thus, added our guide, has this spot acquired a melancholy celebrity; it is still called the Maiden's Pock, and no Indian passes near it, without involuntarily casting his eyes towards the giddy height, to contemplate the place, whence this unfortunate girl fell a victim to the cruelty of her relentless parents.'

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On the 26th of October they reached Philadelphia, having been absent about six months, during which time they travelled over upwards of four thousand five hundred miles, the whole party being blessed with health, meeting with no accident of any account, and undergoing hardships and privations, far less considerable than those which they had expected to undergo, and which have tried the perseverance and courage of other explorers.

rise to no river, while the sources of the most con- then low in the horizon, and added that we had no siderable rivers are distant from the high chains of time to proceed further, and that we had better enmountains.'* camp with them that night. *** Major Long deThe Expedition proceeded down the Redclined their invitation, whereupon they insisted that our party should encamp at a neighbouring River, and ascertained the spot where it grove which they pointed out to us, as they observ crosses the northern boundary of the Unit- ed that this would be a convenient place for their ed States. Major Long became convinced chief to come and smoke with us in the evening. of the impossibility of passing along this While this conversation was going on, Mr Say reboundary to the east, agreeably to his in-marked that, either through design or accident, the structions, and finally concluded to follow our party, that every one of our number was plac Indians had intermixed themselves so much with the course of the Red River into Lake ed between two or more of theirs. Mr Snelling Winnepeek, and to pass from that lake to overheard them talking of our horses, admiring them, Lake Superior, by the common route by and examining the points of each; one of their the Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake. band had even ventured so far as to ask him which Through Mackinaw, Detroit, and Niagara, ing that all further conversation was a waste of horse was considered the best of the party. Findthey travelled to Rochester, and thence by time, and having given them as much tobacco as the canal to Albany. our small stock of Indian presents allowed us to spare, Major Long mounted his horse, and gave his men orders to march. The Indians attempted no opposition at the time; but after we had travelled about a quarter of a mile, they following in our rear, a gun was fired at some distance on the prairie, to the right of our line, and a number of mounted Indians were seen in that direction, coming towards us. Those who had followed us, then made a signal to them that we were white men; and ran up to us to desire that, as their chief was then A very large part of these volumes is coming up, we would stop and shake hands with It had been supposed, from the relations occupied with accounts of various Indian him; the party halted, until the mounted Indians of various travellers, that the head waters tribes; but an article in our last has per- Observing that their chief was not among them, had come up and greeted us in the usual manner. of the streams which feed the great lakes haps said as much about the aborigines of Major Long again set his men in motion, but beand then pass down the St Lawrence, were this country as our readers may wish to fore we had proceeded far, several of them ran up very near the sources of the Mississippi hear. Little very new or peculiarly inter- to the head of the line, fired their guns across our and its principal tributaries. This suppo-esting is to be found in this work respect- path, reloaded them immediately, and formed a sition was singularly confirmed by the dis- ing this subject. The Expedition had no crescent in front of the leader, to prevent him from coveries, if they may be so called,-of "hair-breadth 'scapes" to tell of, unless it proceeding. At that time the number of Indians must have been about seventy or eighty, while ours this Expedition. Big Stone Lake is the was the following; which occurred as they amounted only to twenty-five. Their intentions head of St Peter's river, which falls into were marching along the Red River, be- could not be misunderstood. It was probable that the Mississippi. tween Lake Travers and Pambina. they did not care much to harm our persons, but cially to secure our horses; and as we were rethey were anxious to pilfer our baggage, and espesolved not to part with them without a struggle, it was evident that the first gun fired would be the signal for an attack, which must end in the total destruction of our party; for the number of the Indians, and their mode of dispersing upon the prairie, and continually changing their situation during a skirmish, would have given them a very great adand baggage, we would have remained collected vantage over us, as, in order to protect our horses in a body, and exposed to their arrows and balls. But even in such a case they must have lost some of their number, and this consideration, all-powerful with Indians, probable induced them to defer their attack until night, when their advantages would be still greater; and hence their anxiety that we should encamp in their vicinity. Had Major Long been perfectly free to act as he pleased, he would have avoided all further conversation, and have proceeded the whole night without stopping at all that evening; but this he could not do as long as

The river having taken a bend to the west, we continued our route in what appeared to have been an old water-course, and, within three miles of the Big Stone Lake, found ourselves on the banks of Lake Travers, which discharges its waters by means of Swan or Sioux river into the Red river of Lake Winnepeek, whose waters, as is well known, flow towards Hudson's Bay. The space between Lakes Travers and Big Stone, is but very little elevated above the level of both these lakes; and the water has been known, in times of flood, to rise and cover the intermediate ground, so as to unite the two lakes. In fact, both these bodies of water are in the same valley; and it is within the recollection of some persons, now in the country, that a boat once floated from Lake Travers into the St Peter. Thus, therefore, this spot offers us one of those interesting phenomena which we have already alluded to, but which are no where perhaps so apparent as they are in this place. Here we behold the waters of two mighty streams, one of which empties itself into Hudson's Bay at the fifty-seventh parallel of north latitude, and the other into the Gulf of Mexico, in latitude twenty-nine degrees, rising in the same valley within three miles of each other, and even in some cases offering a direct natural navigation from one into the other. We seek in vain for those dividing ridges which topographers and hydrographers are wont to represent upon their maps in all such cases, and we find a strong confirmation of that beautiful observation of a modern traveller, that it is a false application of the principles of hydrography, when geographers attempt to determine the chains of mountains, in countries of which they suppose they know the course of rivers. They suppose that two great basins of water can only be separated by great elevations, or that

a considerable river can only change its direction where a group of mountains opposes its course; they forget, that frequently, either on account of the nature of the rocks, or on account of the inclination of the strata, the most elevated levels give

While riding quietly across the prairie, with the
eye intent upon the beautiful prospect of the buffa-
loes that were grazing, our attention was suddenly
aroused by the discharge of a gun in the vicinity of
the river, which flowed about half a mile west of
the course that we were then travelling. While
we were reckoning up our party, to know if any
had straggled to a distance, we saw two Indians
running across the prairie; their number increased
very soon to twelve or fifteen, who hastened to-
wards us, but as soon as they came near to our
party, stopped and examined us with minuteness;
after which they presented their hands to us; we
gave them ours. It was immediately observed
that they were in a complete state of preparation
for war, being perfectly naked, with the exception
of a breech-cloth. They had even laid their blan-
kets by. All of them were armed with guns, appa-
rently in very good order, or with bows and arrows,
and some with both. Their appearance though at
first friendly soon became insulting. Their party
had, in the mean while, increased to thirty or for-
ty, so that they outnumbered ours.
they belonged to the Wahkpakota or Leaf Indians,
whose character, even among their own country
men, is very bad. Mr Jeffries, who was to act as
interpreter, being away, we availed ourselves of Mr
Snelling's knowledge of the language to communi-
cate to them, in the course of conversation, our
objects and intentions, as well as the friendly re-
ception which we had met with on the part of Wa-
notan and the other Indians whom we had seen.
In a tone rather imperative than courteous, they
expressed their wish that we should go o their camp
and speak to their old chief. This we declined
doing, informing them that some of our party had
separated from us, and that we had a long journey
to travel. They pointed to the sun, which was

We found that

* Introduction to 'Humboldt's Political Essay of the Kingdom of New Spain, translated by John Black, London, 1911,' page lxxxvi.

some of the gentlemen were separated, for in such a dians. It was with a view to give them a chance case they would have been easily cut off by the Into overtake us, that he had continued the confer ence so long, and that he finally decided upon encamping at a point of wood then in sight, but forther than that which had been proposed by the Indians. With this view, the Major ordered the men to the head of the line, stopped the horse of the to march; when one of the Indians advanced up leader, and cocked his gun. The soldier who was there, and whose name was George Bunker, immediately imitated this action, determined to be prepared for a shot as soon as his antagonist; at this moment Major Long marched up to the head of the line, and led off the party. There can be no doubt that the resolution thus manifested had a great influence in preventing the Indians from making an immediate attack.

It was night before we reached the place where we intended to halt. The tents were not pitched.

308

The position was selected at a distance from the river, as the banks of the stream are skirted with woods in which a number of Indians were distinctly seen. Our horses were staked with very short ropes, the arms were all examined and loaded afresh, six centinels placed on duty, and the rest of the party remained up ready to resist any attack; a large fire was kindled in order to apprize our companions of our situation; and in this unpleasant uncertainty about their fate we remained until they made their appearance. They had fortunately seen no Indians. The supply of provisions which they brought was tasted, but found inferior to the buffalo. The fat of the elk partakes of the nature of tallow, and is much less fusible than that of other animals, so that unless eaten very hot it consolidates and adheres to the mouth. The best part of the animal is the udder, which, being fixed upon a forked stick, was roasted before the fire. As soon as our meal was

finished, the fire was extinguished. A few Indians had accompanied us to our camp, but all withdrew after a while except an old worthless man, who was recognized by several of the party, as his character

was notorious at Fort St Anthony. This fellow was one of the most impudent of the band, ceaselessly begging for tobacco, whiskey, &c. When he was told that the party had no whiskey with them, and that they had given as much tobacco as they could spare, he observed with the greatest effrontery, what then can you give me?' Observing that Mr Keating was drinking out of his canteen, one of these Indians came up to him, and extended his hand, asking for whiskey; being told that it contained water, and not whiskey, he attempted to take the canteen, which was, however, resisted.

The first passage which we select for quotation is part of the speech of Gracchus in favour of Vettius.

tle remains for us to do, but to give some | tation, he is persuaded by his friends "to
A civil commo-
account of these their present productions. brave the tyrant's wrath."
And-if we may already quote the language tion ensues, which causes Gracchus, in the
of Caius Gracchus-"first, with the first." fifth act, to take refuge in the temple of
Those who have read the tragedy of Vir- Diana, whither Cornelia, with his wife and
ginius, or who have witnessed its perform-child, had already fled for safety. Being
ance on the stage, will probably be in some pursued into the sanctuary by Opimius and
degree disappointed in the perusal of Caius his followers, the catastrophe is achieved
Gracchus. We indeed observe the same by the self-effected death of Gracchus.
faults, the same colloquialism bordering on
vulgarity of style, and the same weak,
hobbling attempts at blank verse; but we
can discern few of the redeeming beauties
which have ensured to Virginius "its little
hour upon the stage." Lord Byron wrote
a drama expressly for the closet, a drama
of more poetical power than any modern
production of the kind with which we are
acquainted; it was enacted by His Majes-
ty's servants at Drury-Lane, and, to use
the phrase of Mr Brulgruddery, "ruined
past all condemption." Mr Knowles wrote
Caius Gracchus expressly for the stage,
and there perhaps it has escaped the con-
demnation it must receive in the closet.
But to enable our readers to judge of its
merits and its demerits, we will give a brief
sketch of its story, and then proceed to
make some extracts of its worse and its
better parts.

C. Gracc. Romans! I hold a copy of the charge-
And depositions of the witnesses.
Upon three several grounds he is arraigned.
First, that he strove to bring the magistracy
Into contempt; next, that he formed a plot,
With certain slaves, to raise a tumult; last-
And were there here the slightest proof, myself
Would bid him sheathe a dagger in his breast!--
That he conspired with enemies of Rome-
With foreigners! barbarians! to betray her!
The first, I'll answer-Vettius is a Roman,
And 'tis his privilege to speak his thoughts.
The next, I'll answer-Vettius is a freeman,
And never would make compact with a slave.
The last, I'll answer-Vettius loves his country,
And who that loves his country would betray her?
But, say they, We have witnesses against him.'
Name them!Who stands the first upon the list?
A Client-I'll oppose to him a Senator.
Who next? A Slave-Set down a Roman Knight.
Who follows last? The Servant of a Questor-
I'll place a Tribune opposite to him!
How stand we now? Which weighs the heavier?
Slave, or my Roman Knight?Their Client, or
Their Questor's Servant, or my Tribune?-Their
My Senator?-Now, call your witnesses!

Marc. We'll have no witnesses!
Tit. For your sake, Caius, we acquit him.
Marc. Vettius is innocent!

Citizens. Ay! Ay! Ay!

The party being again safely united, Major Long The scene is laid at Rome, in the 633d considering that, if an attack was intended, it would be made a short time before daylight, determined year of the city, when Caius Gracchus (the to allow the horses to rest until midnight, when the brother of that Tiberius who had perished some years previous in consequence of the moon, rising, would make it pleasant and safe to travel. Accordingly at that hour we resumed our seditions caused by his revival of the Agraline of march. Our preparations for departure rian law) began to exercise the power were made with the greatest expedition and silence, so as not to be observed by the Indians at a distance, which he had acquired by his popular taland to avoid disturbing the old man that was sleep- ents and personal courage, and, perhaps ing or affecting to sleep under one of our carts; in above all, by his vehement and immoderate the latter purpose, however, we failed; the old contempt for the Patricians, and his resistman awoke, and seeing what we were about, he ance to all their encroachments. He is left us immediately, notwithstanding the attempt introduced in the tragedy before us, demade to amuse him with conversation until we should be ready to start; but we could not detain fending the cause of Spurius Vettius, who him; we saw him walk over the prairie, and by the had been accused of treason against the light of the moon traced his figure until he ap-state. By effecting the acquittal of Vet-fate to his brother. proached near to the river, when he disappeared in tius he increased his popularity, and the woods. This was the last Dacota whom we rendered himself more than ever obnox

saw.

The plates in these volumes are excellent; they are the best which we recollect to have seen in any American book of travels. And as we think illustrations of this sort add more to the value of the work than they can add to its cost, we hope that Messrs Carey & Lea will be encouraged to pursue the same plan in their future publications, and that other publishers may be induced to follow their example.

ious to all the Patricians, and particu-
larly to Lucius Opimius, who, to re-
move him from the city and thus nip
danger in the bud," procures his appoint-
ment to the Quaestorship; and Gracchus,
having informed his mother, Cornelia, and
his wife, Licinia, of his new honours, sets
out with Opimius on his journey, and closes
the first act.

Marc. The tribes acquit Vettius by acclamation.
Opim. Hear me, I say!

Citizens. No! No! No!

C. Gracc. Their voices are against you, Opimius! Flamin. To please the people we withdraw our charge.

In the following, Caius transfers his own

C. Gracc. Tiberius lives again! Alas, my friends!
Go ask the Tiber if he lives again.
Cry for bim to its waters! they do know
Where your Tiberius lies, never to live
Where they do murmur o'er him; but with all
Again!-Their channel was his only grave,
The restless chafing of their many waves,
Cannot awake one throb in the big heart
That wont to beat so strong, when struggling for
Your liberties!

It was Caius, and not Tiberius, who was murdered by order of the consul, and whose body was thrown into the Tiber.

The second act supposes his full Quæstorship to have expired, and Gracchus to The following exhibits many of the charhave returned to Rome, where he is imme-acteristic faults of the author. diately summoned before the senate and Licinia. I do not care for greatness. people, to answer to the charge of treason, It is a thing lives too much out of doors; Caius Gracchus: A Tragedy, in five acts. preferred against him by Opimius. Being 'Tis any where but at home; you will not find it By James S. Knowles, author of Vir-acquitted of this charge, he offers himself Once in a week, in its own house, at supper ginius. New York. 1824. 18mo. pp. 58. for, and is chosen to, the office of tribune. With the family! Knock any hour you choose, Alasco; A Tragedy, in five acts. By Mar- In the third act, Lucius Drusus, the col- And ask for it; nine times in ten, they'll send you To the Senate, or the Forum, or to such tin Archer Shee, Esq. R. A. Excluded league of Gracchus, is made the tool of Or such a one's, in quest of it! 'Tis a month from the English Stage by the authority Opimius and the senate, to turn the popu- Since Caius took a meal from home, and that of the Lord Chumberlain. New York. lar current in their favour; and Opimius Was with my brother. If he walks, I walk 1824. 18mo. pp. 86. obtains the consulship, and prevents the re-Along with him, if I choose; or, if 1 stay THESE two tragedies are of a very differ-election of Gracchus to the tribuneship. In Behind, it is a race 'twixt him and the time He promised to be back again, which is first. ent, and perhaps we might add, of a very the fourth act, Gracchus appears smarting And when he's back, and the door shut on him, indifferent order. The author of each is under his persecutions, and indignant at the Consummate happy in my world within, well known to the dramatic world, and lit-labrogation of his laws; and, after some hesi- never think of any world without!

I

In the following we have Cornelia, the | mother of the Gracchi, uttering bad gram

mar.

What want you with me, my Licinius? [Goes to him and takes him aside]. You

Have come to tell me something.-Caius hath
spoken

For Vettius.-I was certain he would do it.-
He has entered the lists! He has stripped for the
course! I know

He will not get fair play, no more than his brother!
These fears are not good omens, my Licinius !—
But let him run it nobly!

The words in italics, in the following passage, are rather difficult to "parse and conster."

What care I, that the world allows him good
And wise? Did I not know him so before?
Why should I be glad

That all do praise him! For his sake?--Alas!
For any cause but that!-Whom all do praise,
Hath but a thousand eyes for one bent on him
Can lower, as well as smile! I did not wed
Thy son, as one would choose an idle gem
To other's eyes to sparkle; but because
He shone to mine.

The defence of Gracchus, when accused by Opimius, is quite as respectable as any thing in the tragedy.

C. Gracc. Is this your charge?-
Censors! I'll save your labour.-It appears
I am cited here, because I have returned
Without my general's leave, and for the crime
Of having raised the tumult at Fregella.
First, with the first. I have remained my time;
Nay, I have overserved it by the laws--

The laws which Caius Gracchus dares not break.
But, Censors, let that pass. I will propose
A better question for your satisfaction-
'How have I served my time?' I'll answer that:
'How have I served my time?'-For mine own
gain,

Or that of the Republic? What was my office?
Questor. What was its nature? Lucrative-
So lucrative, that all my predecessors,
Who went forth poor, returned home rich.
I went forth, poor enough;

But have returned, still poorer than I went.

Flamin. The charge

Is heavy.

C. Gracc. Heavy as the proofs are light.
Ye citizens of Rome, behold what favour
Your masters show your brethren! I have borne
My country's arms with honour; overserved
My time; returned in poverty, that might

Have amassed treasures-and they thus reward me-
Prefer a charge against me without proof,
Direct or indirect-without a testimony,
Weighty or light-without an argument,
Idle or plausible-without as much

Of feasibility, as would suffice

To feed suspicion's phantom! Why is this?
How have I brought this hatred? When my brother,
Tiberius Gracchus, fell beneath their blows,
I called them not assassins! When his friends
Fell sacrifices to their after-vengeance,

I did not style them butchers! When their hatred
Drove the Numidian nobles from the Senate,
With scoffs and execrations, that they praised me,
And to my cause assigned the royal bounty
Of King Micipsa, still I did not name them,
The proud, invidious, insolent Patricians!
Opim. Hear ye!--

C. Gracc. Ye men of Rome, there is no favour
For justice!-grudgingly her dues are granted!
Your great men boast no more the love of country.
They count their talents-measure their domains-
Number their slaves-make lists of knights and
clients-

Enlarge their palaces-dress forth their banquets, Awake their lyres and timbrels-and, with their foods

Of ripe Falernian, drown the little left

Of virtue!

Opim. He would raise a tumult!
C. Gracc. No.

This hand's the first to arm against the man,
Whoe'er he be, that favours civil discord.
I have no gust for blood, Opimius!
I sacrifice to justice and to mercy!

Opim. He has aspersed the justice of our order;
He Hatters the Plebians, and should be
Attached and brought to question for his conduct.
C. Gracc. Romans, I ask the office of your
Tribune!

Marc. Ay! you shall have it! Gracchus shall
be Tribune!

Tit. Gracchus Tribune! Caius Gracchus Trib-
une!

Opim. Stay, friends! Take heed! Beware of
flatterers!

C. Gracc. The laws! The laws! Of common
right, the hold!

The wealth, the happiness, the freedom of
The nation! Who has hidden them-defaced them-
Sold them-corrupted them from the pure letter?
Why do they guard the rich man's cloak from a rent,
And tear the poor man's garment from his back?
Why are they, in the proud man's grasp, a sword,
And, in the hand of the humble man, a reed?
The laws! The laws! I ask you for the laws!
Demand them in my country's sacred name!
Still silent! Reckless still of my appeal?
Romans! I ask the office of your Tribune!
[Exeunt C. Gracchus and party, with
Citizens shouting.
Opim. Stop him from rising, or our order falls!
[Exeunt Opimius, with the rest.
The dialogue between the two tribunes
is spirited.

C. Gracc. Stay, Livius Drusus-let me speak
with you.
[Descends.

Drusus. Your pleasure, Caius?

C. Gracc. Pleasure!-Livius Drusus,
Look not so sweet upon me!-I am no child
Not to know better, for that is smeared
With honey! Let me rather see thee scowl
A little; and when thou dost speak, remind me
Of the rough trumpet more than the soft lute.
By Jove, I can applaud the honest caitiff
Bespeaks his craft!

Drusus. The caitiff!

C. Grace. Ah! ho! Now

You're Livius Drusus! You were only then
The man men took him for-the easy man,
That, so the world went right, cared not who got
The praise. Who ever thought, in such
A plain and homely piece of stuff, to see
The mighty Senate's tool!

Drusus. The Senate's tool!

C. Gracc. Now, what a deal of pains for little
profit!

If you could play the juggler with me, Livius—
To such perfection practise seeming, as
To pass it on me for reality-

Make my own senses witness 'gainst myself,
That things I know impossible to be,

I see as palpable as if they were

'Twere worth the acting; but, when I am master
Of all your mystery, and know, as well
As you do, that the prodigy 's a lie,

What wanton waste of labour!-Livius Drusus,
I know you are a tool!

Drusus. Well, let me be so!

I will not quarrel with you, worthy Caius!
Call me whate'er you please.

C. Grace. What barefaced shifting!
What real fierceness could grow tame so soon!
You turn upon me like a tiger, and
When open-mouthed I brave you, straight you play
The crouching spaniel! You'll not quarrel with me!
I want you not to quarrel, Livius Drusus,
But only to be honest to the people.
Drusus. Honest!

C. Gracc. Ay, honest!-Why do you repeat
My words, as if you feared to trust your own!
Do I play echo? Question me, and see
If I so fear to be myself.-I act

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C. Gracc. To the poor people!
The houseless citizens, that sleep at nights
Before the portals, and that starve by day
Under the noses of the Senators!
Thou art their magistrate, their friend, their father.
Dost thou betray them? Hast thou sold them?
Wilt thou

Juggle them out of the few friends they have left?
Drusus. If 'twill content you, Caius, I am one
Who loves alike the Senate and the people.
I am the friend of both.

C. Gracc. The friend of neither-
The Senate's tool!--a traitor to the people !--
A man that seems to side with neither party;
Will now bend this way, and then make it up,
By leaning a little to the other side;

With one eye, glance his pity on the crowd,
And with the other, crouch to the nobility;
Such men are the best instruments of tyranny.
The simple slave is easily avoided

By his external badge; your order wears
The infamy within!

Drusus. I'll leave you, Caius,

And hope your breast will harbour better counsels.
Grudge you the Senate's kindness to the people?
"Tis well-whoe'er serves them shows love to

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me!

[Exit. The people following, with shouts. C. Gracc. Go! I have tilled a waste; and, with my sweat,

Brought hope of fruitage forth-the superficial
And heartless soil cannot sustain the shoot:
The first harsh wind that sweeps it, leaves it bare!
Fool that I was to till it! Let them go !

I loved them and I served them!-Let them go !
The following is the nearest approxima-
tion to poetry that we can discover.
What, mother, what!--Are the gods also base?
Is virtue base? Is honour sunk? Is manhood
A thing contemptible-and not to be
Maintained? Remember you Messina, mother?
Once from its promontory we beheld

A galley in a storm; and as the bark
Approached the fatal shore, could well discern
The features of the crew with horror all
Aghast, save one! Alone he strove to guide
The prow, erect amidst the horrid war
Of winds and waters raging.-With one hand
He ruled the hopeless helm--the other strained
The fragment of a shivered sail-his brow
The while bent proudly on the scowling surge,
At which he scowled again.--The vessel struck!
One man alone bestrode the wave, and rode
The foaming courser safe! 'Twas he, the same!-
You clasped your Caius in your arms, and cried,
'Look, look, my son! the brave man ne'er despairs;
'And lives where cowards die!' I would but make
Due profit of your lesson.

310

There is not a little obscurity in this as "a reading play," cannot fail of pleasing | thither, they are waylaid by emissaries of passage:

Is it to use
That sword you go abroad?--Is it, my husband?
It is; alas, it is!-You would go forth
To sell your life for an ungrateful people.-
To quit your wife and child for nien, looked on
And saw your brother murdered--and will now
Betray you even to death!

The death of Gracchus is well managed.
Lucius The citizens

Fly every way-and from the windows and
The houses' top, the women look, and wring
Their hands; and wail-and clamour.-Listen!
Will hear hem.

you

Cor. I can hear them without ears.--
C. Gracc. (Without.) Shut to the gates!
[Exit Lucius.

Licinia. (Starting up.) "Tis Caius !
C. Grace (Still without.) Thankless hearts!
Not one presents himself to aid my sword;
Or lend a charger to assist my flight;
But, as I were a racer in the games,

They cry, Make haste!" and shoot as I pass by! sentence in which liberty or slavery, king
May they remain the abject things they are,

May they crawl

Ever in bondage and in misery,

And never know the blessed rights of freemen!

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[Enters.

Licin. Why should you perish?-Fly
And save your life, my Caius! Fly.-A steed-
A steed! There are a hundred ways to save
Your life; take one of them, my Čaius.

Cor. If

There's any hope, my son,

C. Gracc. My child too!

Tit. (Entering.) Caius!

Caius, remain not here! Pomponius, and
Licinius, striving to keep back the Consul,
And give you time for flight, have fallen beneath
His hireling's blows.-They have the scent of you.
Another moment's pause, and you are lost.
Cor. Make the attempt, my son !
Licin. Fly-Fly!--
Lucius. (Entering.) It is

Too late.

Cor. Embrace me, Caius!-O my son,
The gods do bare no sword 'gainst virtue!
C. Gracc. No!-

No, mother!-My Licinia! Give me my child.
Mother, be you a parent to my wife,

[Aside to Cornelia.
A tutor to my child. The lessons you
Did make me con, teach him; none else he cannot

Learn better!

Licin. Caius Caius !-Do you know

No means of flight?

C. Gracc. I do.

Licin. I hear them-Use it!

Use it, dear husband!-Now!

C. Gracc. I will.-I'd kiss

My boy first.Mother!

Licinia. They are here!

C. Gracc. Now thee!-(Embraces her.)
Licin. Away!-What's that you feel for, Caius,
Under your robe?

on the stage. It can add nothing to the Hohendahl, and Walsingham's life is pre-
reputation of Mr Knowles, but might put served by the accidental intervention of
much into the purses of our theatrical man- Alasco, who, learning whither Amantha
agers inasmuch as the story is interesting, had been conveyed, immediately sets forth
as there is much bustle in the action, and to attack the Baron in his castle. After
as it is tolerably well "got up" for stage some skirmishing, and plots, and counter-
effect.
plots, Alasco, overpowered by numbers, is
Perhaps some of our readers may not be conveyed to a dungeon, whither Conrad,
aware of the circumstances which have one of his faithful followers, enters by means
given a measure of notoriety to the tragedy of a secret passage, and proposes to Alasco
which forms the second article of our title. to escape. As he is about leaving the dun-
Mr George Colman, the manager of the geon, his steps are arrested by the voice of
Covent Garden Theatre, in concurrence Amantha; he returns, and is soon sur-
with the Lord Chamberlain of England, rounded by the guards, who, at the tolling
found in this tragedy many passages, which of the castle bell, convey him, as Amantha
militated so strongly against their established supposes, to execution, leaving her alone in
notions of propriety and loyalty, that they the dungeon. Hearing shouts, which, as
would not suffer it to be represented until she imagined, announced the death of her
it had undergone a thorough expurgation; husband, Amantha stabs herself with a dag-
and they were as careful to eradicate everyger, which had been dropped in the dun-
geon, and lives long enough to see her
or freemen, tyrant or patriot occurred, as husband, and to hear that the shouts were
if whiggism and toryism, ministerialism and the effect of Alasco's pardon. Alasco, after
antiministerialism, George the Fourth and apostrophizing the dead body of Amantha,
Mr Brougham, had been used in their stead. stabs himself with the same dagger, and this
Mr Shee, not brooking the mutilation of closes the tragedy. There are many faults
his tragedy with too much patience, and in this play, and though it contains some
thinking himself a persecuted man, pub-good passages, it cannot, upon the whole,
lished the play entire, distinguishing by in- be ranked much above mediocrity.
verted commas, the passages which had so
mortally offended "these judicious Dogber-
ries of the new dramatic police." In all
this there is something in our eyes exceed-
ingly farcical. Is honest John Bull in such
a state of "intestinal fermentation," that
his vigilant guardians are afraid of increas-
ing the disease by a few ranting exclama-
tions about liberty, and tyranny, and cabals,
and conspiracies, and these too put into the
mouth of a Pole, endeavouring to excite his
countrymen to throw off the yoke of slavery?
or does the Lord Chamberlain go upon the
principle of those empirics, who, in their
advertisement, kindly inform us, "that an
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure;" and in order to preclude the possi-Since it has no shame'—but O! Amantha!
bility of engendering "thoughts hostile to
royalty" among the many, most manfully
banish from the stage every thing that
bears the slightest allusion to liberty or to
tyranny? Be this as it may, we will ob-
serve, that Mr Shee is much indebted to
the joint endeavours of the Lord Chamber-
lain and Mr Colman for thus forcing into
notice a tragedy, which, had it depended
on its intrinsic merits, would scarcely have
been known to the reading public.

C. Gracc. Nothing, love, nothing.-Rome! O Rome! A dagger drops from beneath his robe.-He falls dead.-Licinia throws herself on the body.-Cornelia, with difficulty, supports herself. The Consul and his troops are heard approaching.-She makes a violent effort to recover her self-possess ion; snatches Caius' Child from the Attendant, and holds it in one arm, while with the other she points to Caius; confronts Opimius and the rest, who, immediately on entering, stop short.The Curtain drops.

Upon the whole, we think that Caius Gracchus, without possessing much merit

The scene of this tragedy is laid in Poland, where Alasco, a young Polish nobleman, has already formed a plan to free his country from the yoke of servitude. At the house of Colonel Walsingham, an Englishman, whose daughter he has secretly married, Alasco is taxed with treason by Baron Hohendahl, an aristocrat, who, besides his loyalty, has other inducements to get rid of Alasco, of whose wife he is enamoured. Walsingham, disbelieving the tale of their secret marriage, and, enraged at the rebellious designs of Alasco, forbids him his presence, and sends his daughter, for safety, to the Castle of Hohendahl, On their journey

The following passages may be considered very favourable specimens of this drama. SCENE IV.-A Dungeon.-ALASCO is discovered

sleeping on a bench, but aroused by a piece of stone
falling from the wall at the back of the prison-
he starts up and comes forward.

Alas. O! what a sweet delusion of the soul
Has that harsh sound dispelled! My country free
I've heard, that culprits cast for death, will sleep
And my Amantha happy!--Again all silent.
As sound as healthful Industry—as calm
As Innocence, unruffled by a sigh.
'Tis nature's kindness to calamity;
Her cordial, to sustain the sinking wretch,
A death of shame!--To me, the stroke of death,
About to undergo this world's worst agony,
Beyond the natural shock the spirit feels,

Would have no terrors,

Thy much loved image haunts me. In this sad hour,
The patriot's firmness shakes within his breast,
The heart resumes it sway-the husband feels-
And his own sorrows supersede his country's.
Still hangs this heaviness upon my brow!
Let me indulge it.-Thou, perhaps, kind sleep!
May'st bless me with that vision once again.
And thus, death's image yield one shadowy joy,
Ere death himself shall close the scene for ever.
[Lies down.

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Hark! that shout!-
The fatal blow is struck!-Oh God! oh God!
I see the ghastly visage held aloft!
It smiles on poor Amantha-though she killed him!
A moment's breath! [Looking eagerly around.
Are there no means!
[Seeing Malinski's dagger.
Kind chance!

The best!-

That you can prison life in this frail mansion!
Oh! no-no, no!

There is a point at which the heart will break,-.
And I have reached it! yes, this friendly steel
But saves some useless pangs. Had she, there cold;
Had she remained to bless me-for her sake,
I might have lived-and writhed through some sad
years,

[Snatching up the dagger. But now !
Thus, thus, Alasco! Î avenge

And follow thee!
[Stabs herself, and falls into the arms of Conrad.
Con. O fatal--fatal rashness!

[A shout is heard, and rush of footsteps Enter WALSINGHAM, ALASCO, JEROME, OFFICERS and GUARDS.

Wal. Where is my child?-rejoice for thy Alasco! Pardon for him, and amnesty to all! {Amantha starts from Conrad's arms, drops on her

knee, clasps her hands, and exclaimsAman. Thanks!--thanks!-kind heaven! thou'st left me life to hear it!

Alas. Oh! my loved Amantha !---ha! pale-quite
pale!

And blood upon thy breast-Oh! deed of horror.
Wal. O! my foreboding fears!-my child, my

child!

[blocks in formation]

Aman. Now lay me gently down:-to see thee
dragged

To slaughter, was too much foor poor Amantha.
Almighty Being! O pardon, that I rush
Unbidden thus before thee! Cruel fate!
A cruel fate has followed us, and marked
At last its victim. Where is my poor father?
Wal. Sweet sufferer! here.

Aman.

A pardoned slave! 'in shackles, with my country.'
Life's load were insupportable to sense.
Thus, then, I shake the loathsome burthen off,
And fly to my Amantha !

[Stabs himself, and falls on the body of
Amantha. Curtain falls.

The occasion which has called us together is certainly one, to which no parallel exists in the history of the world. Other countries, and our I own also, have their national festivals. They cominemorate the birthdays of their illustrious children; they celebrate the foundation of important institutions: momentous events, victories, reformations, revolutions awaken, on their anniversaries, the grateful and patriotic feelings of posterity. But we commemorate the birthday of all New England; the foundation, not of one institution, but of all the institutions, the settlements, the establishments, the communities, the societies, the improvements, comprehended within our broad and happy borders.

It seems to us that the contrast here intended is not so striking as it might have

re

An Oration delivered at Plymouth, Decem-been made by the addition of some qualifi-
ber 22, 1824. By Edward Everett Bos- cation to the former part of it, as particu-
ton. 1825. 8vo. pp. 73.
lar "important institutions," partial
THIS is the second of a series of orations formations," and the like. We are aware,
proposed to be delivered at Plymouth. They that by these suggestions, we may suffer
commenced with the beginning of the second an imputation similar to that incurred by
century from the landing of our pilgrim fore-"the sign painter employing his odious
fathers on the rocks of New England, and brush to improve a capital painting of
will be continued, one in every fourth year, Apelles," but we think that our readers
or oftener, as long, we hope, as there shall will be sensible that something of this sort
be a voice to repeat or an ear to hear the is needed, which the orator might easily
praises of the piety, the fortitude, the cour- have supplied, though we are unable to do
age, the patience, and the unconquerable it. In the course of the first half of the
attachment to civil liberty, which distin- oration several slight deficiencies of this
guished our illustrious progenitors. Hith-kind might be pointed out, the supply of
erto the selection of performers for this which would have rendered it more agree-
interesting and glorious anniversary has able to the reader, although they were
been eminently happy. If those who are rarely perceived by the hearer, being in
to follow their footsteps and stand in their fact concealed by the emphasis and inflex-
places, shall participate in their success, ion of the voice of the speaker.
their performances (we can imagine no high-
We may also perhaps be permitted to
er praise), will be worthy of their theme. object to the disclaiming of personal mo-
It is with reluctance and timidity that we tives at the commencement of the per-
formance. It is difficult to conceive of
Venture on the office of remarking on an
oration, delivered on such an occasion, by such an abstraction from all selfish consid-
one of the most distinguished scholars and erations as is here intimated; and though
popular orators of our time. We are sen- the practice of disclaiming them may be
sible that our expressions of admiration defended on the ground of its being usual
must appear cold and tame on the same and conventional, we have never listen-
page with the spirited and eloquent lan-ed to these preliminary remarks on any
public occasion without wishing they had
been omitted. We had rather that orators
should not remind us that they may possi-
bly be suspected of thinking of themselves,
just as we had rather not be informed by
an author in his preface that authors may
formance is perfect, and that a critic may have other objects in publishing than gen-
perceive a blemish, amid beauties which eral benevolence. We prefer forgetting,
are beyond his power; and we shall do the at least for the time, that the elegant mor-
most ample justice to its excellencies, by alist, the accomplished scholar, the divine
allowing them to speak for themselves; by poet, or the eloquent orator, are the sub-
extracting what we are unable to de-jects of human imperfections.

Thy hand--thy hand, my father!
[She joins his hand to Alasco's.
Thine too, my husband-for my sake, live friends!
Forget these horrid broils-that make sad hearts!
And, oh! Alasco! let thy love sustain
The good old man-thro' this hard trial-Oh!
I sink-I sink-how all things fade !-what light!
Ha!--my mother!-thou art come for thy poor
Quick, quick, Alasco!-she waits-we must away-guage of our subject, and that even an im-
Oh! oh! my husband!-
agination of censure will seem presumptu-
Wal.
My child-my child!
But however arduous the duty, we
Oh! wretched father! desolate old man!
shall not decline it. We shall shelter
Yield-yield thee, Walsingham!
Thy honour's all that's left thee!
ourselves from the charge of presumption,
[Falls into the arms of the attendants. by the consideration that no human per-

child.

[Dies.

Jer.
This sad scene
O'erwhelms him-haste and bear him to the air.

[Walsingham is borne off Alas. (who had remained gazing on the body of

Aman.) And art thou dead, Amantha! deadquite dead!

ous.

scribe.

Oh gentle spirit-sweet victim of thy love!
Hast thou then bled for me!--for me!--I'm now
Absolved of all duties-loosed from every tie-
One objection to the first part of the
As free, as misery and despair can make me!
This is the bloody point that searched thy heart-oration before us is, that it seems not to
[Taking up the dagger.
The truest-tenderest heart! no words-no words!
There are no words! no tears,-for woes like mine.
Let me then weep in blood!

[Attempts to stab himself; Jerome and Conrad pre-
vent him; Conrad seizing his arm.
O noble friend!

Con.
Forbear, or first strike here
Jer.

Heaven shield my son!
Alas. (breaking from Conrad, and holding up
the dagger.) As you regard your lives, molest
For I'm a desperate man, that frenzy grapples with.
Think you, the dagger and the bowl removed,
With every mortal means the wretch resorts to,

me not!

But we turn gladly from the irksome task of marking defects, to the delightful duty of presenting beauties, and in the front of these stands the following tribute to our mother country. Our readers will excuse the length of the extract; we trust that none of them will think that either its sentiments or language can be read too of ten.

have been always composed with sufficient
care, and that the sentiments are not al-
ways expressed with perfect distinctness.
The reader perceives the meaning, it is
true, without much difficulty, still he is
sensible that something is occasionally
wanting in the construction of the senten-
Who does not feel, what reflecting American
ces; that something might be supplied, does not acknowledge, the incalculable advanta-
which would make them at once more per-ges derived to this land, out of the deep fountains
spicuous and forcible. An instance will
show our meaning in this particular. On
the seventh page we find the following par-
agraph.

of civil, intellectual, and moral truth, from which we have drawn in England?-What American does not feel proud that he is descended from the countrymen of Bacon, of Newton, and of Locke?--Who does know, that while every pulse of civil

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