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MADAME LAVALETTE

[By Lord Byron.]

LET Edinburgh critics o'erwhelm with their praises
Their Madame de STAEL, and their fam'd L'EPINASSE:
Like a meteor at best, proud Philosophy blazes,

And the fame of a Wit is as brittle as glass:

But cheering's the beam, and unfading the splendour
Of thy torch, Wedded Love! and it never has yet
Shone with lustre more holy, more pure, or more tender,
Than it sheds on the name of the fair LAVALETTE.

Then fill high the wine-cup, eʼen Virtue shall bless it,
And hallow the goblet which foams to her name;
The warm lip of Beauty shall piously press it,

And HYMEN shall honour the pledge to her fame:
To the health of the Woman, who freedom and life too
Has risk'd for her Husband, we'll pay the just debt;
And hail with applauses the Heroine and Wife too,
The constant, the noble, the fair Lavalette.

Her foes have awarded, in impotent malice,

To their captive a doom, which all Europe abhors,
And turns from the stairs of the Priest-haunted palace,

While those who replaced them there, blush for their cause:

But, in ages to come, when the blood-tarnish'd glory

Of dukes, and of Marshals, in darkness hath set,

Hearts shall throb, eyes shall glisten, at reading the story

Of the fond self-devotion of fair LAVALETTE.

For the Analectic Magazine.

INSCRIPTION, PROPOSED, FOR THE MONUMENT OF WASHINGTON.

ART thou a candidate for virtuous fame,

Who gazest on this everlasting name?

Then make the deeds, whose splendours round it glow,

Th' exemplar whence thy virtuous actions flow.

Would'st thou those high sublime achievements learn?
To History's proudest, brightest volumes turn.
Whate'er of goodness God to man imparts-
Whate'er of greatness dwells in human hearts-
And all of wisdom that exalts the mind,
In Washington harmoniously combined.
He waked to life on Freedom's chosen shore,
And early caught her flame and drank her lore.
When thundering o'er the Ocean's gloomy waves,
Oppression came to make Columbians slaves;
He grasp'd the sword, and rising in his might,
Called on her sons and marched to glorious fight.
Back roll'd th' invading blast, and Victory's peal
Proclaimed the power that edged his flaming steel.
Then was employed his unambitious mind
To quell the feuds the conflict left behind--
And, as in battle, he, in council great,
Became the guardian of the rising state.
His country is the page of his renown,
And bliss eternal his rewarding crown.

D. B.

97

DOMESTIC LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.

A Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts, late a surgeon on board of an American privateer, who was captured by the Bri tish, &c. Written by himself. Boston. Rowe and Hooper. 1816

This journal bears on every page the stamp of its genuineness. No bookmaking tricks, and indeed few arts of any kind, have been employed in its composition. It contains the author's relation of his adventures and opinions from the day when he stepped on board a privateer, " with no other idea than that of a pleasant cruize and making a fortune," until his return to his native country, after having been captured at sea, and suffered much in several British prisons. His description of the laws, usages, intrigues, and state of society in these abodes of wretchedness, forms by far the most amusing portion of his work.-The Crown Prince prison-ship, at Chatham, contained, he informs us, " a pretty well organized community. We were allowed to establish among ourselves an internal police for our own comfort and self-government. And here we adhered to the forms of our own adored constitution; for in place of making a king, dukes, and lords, we elected a president and twelve counsellors, who, having executive as well as legislative powers, we called committee men. But instead of four years, they were to hold their offices but four weeks: at the end of which a new set were chosen, by the general votes of all the prisoners.""We used to have our stated, as well as occasional courts. Beside a bench of judges, we had our orators, and expounders of our laws. It was amusing and interesting to see a sailor, in his round short jacket, addressing the committee, or bench of judges, with a phiz as serious, and with lies as specious as any of our common lawyers in Massachusetts. They would argue, turn and twist, evade, retreat, back out, renew the attack, and dispute every inch of the ground, or rather the deck, with an address that astonished me." p. 54.

Among other things, the pernicious tendency of gaming attracted the attention of the legislative body. "We accordingly," says the author, " took a vote, agreeably to the custom of our country, and it was found to be the will of the majority to prohibit the practice of it. We began with the roulette table, or, as our men called them, wheels of fortune.' After no small opposition from the French officers, we succeeded in putting them down; but we could not succeed so easily against the billiard tables.-The owners of the wheels of fortune' were, perhaps, envied. They made money and lived better than the rest, and the same remark was made of the owners of the billiard tables. In the course of debate they were tauntingly called the privileged order, and rising from one degree of odious epithet to another, I could not help laughing, on hearing one angry orator pronounce this scheme of screwing money out of the pockets of the artless, and then laughing at their

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poverty and distress, to be down right FEDERALISM. Now it should be known that a Federalist and Federalism, are the most odious ideas that can be raised up in the minds of every American prisoner in this river. A law was, therefore, proposed, to fine any American prisoner, who should call another a Federalist." p. 88.

But the most curious part of the prison history is the account of the usurpation of king Dick over the negroes confined at Dartmoor. "These blacks," we are told, " have a ruler among them whom they call king DICK. He is by far the largest, .and I suspect the strongest nran in the prison. He is six feet five inches in height, and proportionably large. This black Hercules commands respect, and his subjects tremble in his presence. He goes the rounds every day, and visits every birth to see if they are all kept clean. When he goes the rounds, he puts on a large bear-skin cap, and carries in his hand a huge club. If any of his men are dirty, drunken, or grossly negligent, he threatens them with a beating, and if they are saucy they are sure to receive one. They have several times conspired against him, and attempted to dethrone him; but he has always conquered the rebels.”—“ Besides his majesty king Dick, these black prisoners have among them a priest, who preaches every Sunday. He can read, and he gives good advice to his brethren; and his prayers are very much in the strain of what we have been used to hear at home. In the course of his education, he has learnt, it is said, to know the nature of crimes and punishments; for, it is said, that while on board the Crown Prince, prison-ship, at Chatham, he received a dozen lashes for stealing some clothing."-" It is curious to observe the natural alliance between king Dick and this priest. Dick honours and protects him, while the priest inculcates respect and obedience to this Richard the 4th. Here we see the union of church and state in miniature. Who told this negro that to maintain his influence, he must rally round the huge club of the strongest and most powerful man in this black gang of sinners? And who told king Dick that his nervous arm and massy club, were insufficient without the aid of the preacher of terror? Neither of them had read or heard of Machiavel." p. 166.

This keen, prying, good-humoured, warm-hearted NewEngland-man entertains his readers in various parts of his book with abundance of his notions on religion, jurisprudence, politics, and philosophy, and on the national characteristics of several countries. There are many of his remarks on these topics which, from their pleasantry, singularity, or shrewdness, we should be glad to extract, if this article were not already extended as far as our limits will conveniently allow,

Proposals have been published at Charleston, South Carolina, for re-printing by subscription the Poems of the late Gavin Turnbull, with an additional canto to his Bard, and other original poems; together with his Lectures, moral, classical and satirical. For the benefit of his widow.

That Mr. Turnbull was a genuine poet, is acknowledged by all persons of taste who have perused his works. Indeed the honourable mention made of him by Dr. Currie, in his biography of the celebrated Burns, and the opinion entertained of his writings in Britian as well as America, put his literary merit, as well as his reputation, beyond all doubt, and give him a distinguished station among the minstrels of Scotland,—now as illustrious for her poets as her philosophers. When, too, it is considered that the proposed publication is intended not only as a means to pay a just tribute to departed genius, and wreathe the monumental urn of our bard for he belongs to us as well as to his native country-with a garland of his own weaving, but also to rescue from indigence an aged widow, the partner of his hapless destiny, we feel sanguiné in the hope that the appeal now made to an enlightened public for their patronage will be answered in a manner worthy of their wonted liberality and beneficence:

The work will be comprised in 300 large duodecimo pages. It will be handsomely printed on a clear paper with an elegant type, and delivered to subscribers in neat sheep binding at two dollars. A list of the patrons of this work will be annexed to it.

In the review with which we were favoured of Latour's Historical Memoir, translated from the manuscript copy in French, by H. P. Nugent, esq. of New-Orleans, our learned correspondent omitted to say any thing concerning the merit of the translator. We think it right, however, to declare that if the original of that animated and elegant work does credit to the author as a soldier, a citizen, and a writer, the translation does complete justice to the original.

The ingenious editor of a daily newspaper, published in a neighbouring state, compliments his poetical correspondents by giving to the department of his journal appropriated to their productions the name of Limbo; a name by which Milton designates the paradise of fools.

We learn that Mr. John H. Eaton, a gentleman said to possess competent learning, talents, industry, and means of information, has undertaken to complete the life of general Jackson, and the history of the war in the south; the work which was commenced and left unfinished by the late major John Read.

Gerund-grinding can now no longer be considered as a mere figure of speech: a person lately advertised in this city to teach grammar by means of a machine.

The ingenuity of the old world in scientific contrivances seems to keep pace with ours. It is stated in a late London paper, that a Polish Jew, named Abraham Stern, has invented an arithmetical machine, which solves all problems in the four rules of arithmetic, in whole numbers and fractions, quicker than can be done upon

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paper. When the machine is set, it performs the operation and. gives notice when it is done by ringing a bell!

It is in contemplation, we are informed, to establish an office in this city for correcting the press. The very erroneous manner in which several works are printed in the United States is indeed shameful, and demands loudly some correction or other. It would almost seem as if many of our books were printed, as watches are made up in Birmingham, for sale, but not for use.

FOREIGN LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND FINE ARTS,

THE first number of a new and valuable periodical work, emanating from the Royal London Institution, and entitled the Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts, has been lately published. "It is proposed," say the editors, "that the present journal shall appear only four times a year; and in this period of activity in science and literature, it may be presumed that a sufficiency of useful information respecting the sciences and the arts of life may be collected, to give interest and importance to a quarterly publication. The circumstances of the times likewise are favourable; the great commonwealth of Europe is recovering its ancient social relations; and it may be hoped that those energies of the human mind which have so long been employed in the operations of war, will be turned to the arts of peace, and that enterprise and emulation will principally be directed to objects connected with the happiness of society."

From late British publications.

The Philosophy of Nature; or the Influence of Scenery on the Mind and Heart. 2 vols. These elegant volumes exhibit an uncommon variety of reading turned to the most profitable account in the formation of a correct judgment and the improvement of a fine taste. The author is enthusiastic in his admiration of landscape scenery, whether soft or romantic, and his numerous sketches of the beauties of nature in different parts of the world are drawn with uncommon featness and felicity of expression. But the peculiar excellence and indeed originality of the work consists in the striking analogy which it presents between the sublimities of the external creation and the intellectual dignity of man. Every object on the globe, grand or minute, the mountain and the rock, the forest and the flower, become instrumental to the improvement of moral feeling and the expansion of the understanding. Where so much excellence abounds it would be unreasonable to find fault with any trifling defects; but as we hope to see many successive editions of this valuable and most instructive performance, we think its utility would be increased by compression. This might be done satisfactorily by condensing several of the characters,

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