idea of the soil on which we tread disappears when we are compelled to consider, practically, the variety and totality of the globe:

"On examining most of the books of travels in America, by Englishmen," says our author, "it will be found, that the impression which they are calculated to make, is on the whole, unfavourable.-Who, after reading the narratives of Ashe, Jansen, Fearon, Weld, Howitt, Howisson, Welby, and Faux, but would conclude, that the Americans are a rude, wild, dirty, crafty, and low-minded people? There are, unques

tionably, some erroneous statements in one or two of them; but I assert as undeniable, that truth has, for the most part, been supported, though candour has been laid aside. Now it is obvious, that, where this course is pursued, the object of publishing books of travels is defeated; understanding, as I do, that an author professing to inform his countrymen of a foreign land, its inhabitants, and institutions, ought, in justice, to give the good, as well as the bad, traits that present themselves. But when it is borne in mind, that the travellers above named appear to have passed through the country, without becoming acquainted with the most intelligent part of the community, or, at least, without that disposition to be pleased, which is so necessary in foreign lands, it may be inferred, that they were not qualified to do justice to the people concerning whom they have written."

This Englishman's style is sometimes lax, and at other times unpolished; but he is a correct thinker, which, in a subject like this, is better than a polished writer. He is obviously one of those authors who reflect more than they write; we have too many who write more than they reflect. The following exculpatory passages, which relate to hospitality, civility, reception at inns, and the application of words, we have extracted so as to follow the above preface in their natural order:

The usual reception the traveller finds at the inns, is that of cold civility; but the landlord and the waiter, though not obsequious, are generally sufficiently attentive. Some things in country places a little discomposed me at first; but, resolving to act on the adage-of doing at Rome as Rome does, I soon lost the sense of uneasiness." Again, our English traveller affirms:

"I can truly say that, in by far the greater number of the inns I stopped at, I found comfort, civility, and attention. But then I endeavoured to give as little trouble as possible. Good temper may be sometimes requisite ; indeed, without it, no person should think of leaving his native country."

"Besides the public towns, there are, in many parts, what are called houses of private entertainment; being houses where the traveller who has no objection to take his meals with the family, and conform in every respect to their habits, may find himself comfortable. To a pedestrian, like myself, they are very acceptable. One of the best houses that I stopped at in the whole country, was, of this description. It was in the heart of Virginia, and so remote from any town, that I little expected, in such a situation, to find a house elegantly furnished. It being dark when I entered, I was fearful I might find some difficulty in removing any suspicions which might arise from the visit of a solitary, at such an hour. But, when I enquired if I could have a night's lodging, no difficulties were started. On going to my bedchamber I found it was one which, for neatness and comfort, would have done credit to any European city: yet this was in the mountainous district of Virginia, and surrounded by forests. But what pleased me most, was, to find a book-case well stored with choice authors."

It appears, from an impartial traveller, that the Americans, so far from being so coarse and vulgar in conversation, as hath been alleged, carry their refinement and delicacy, in the choice of words, to a troublesome, and over-sensitive, extreme of nicety :

"Such is the refinement of language in America, that an Englishman, accustomed to genteel life, and taught to use the most polished phrases, may use expressions which in England would be suffered in any_society; but which, in America, would subject him to the imputation of vulgarity. Feeling myself unwilling to offend, I became very careful in the selection of my words. But it sometimes happened that I inadvertently used such as are considered unwarrantable. * *But whatever may be the defects

AND TRAVELS.]

A Summary View of America.

21

of American conversation, it would be unjust to deny it the praise of decorum, Great care is taken to avoid hurting the feelings of any one. When a dissentient opinion is expressed, it is done with mildness. That bold and decisive opposition which has been supposed part of the national character of the English is rejected, as being too rude for civilization."

With regard to the American ladies, the author says:

Though they have not the enthusiasm of the Irish, nor the sprightliness of the French, they are exceedingly to be admired, as they possess, in a supereminent degree, that softness which throws so much grace over feminine actions; and which, when united with good sense, makes the strongest impression on the heart. Another trait, and a most interesting one, is the confidence they repose in those with whom they are familiar. They manifest no desire to conceal, under the garb of affectation, that warmth of heart which women, in every country but France, are said to possess."

Our author next gives the following corrective description of one portion, at least, of the so-much-depreciated city and capital of Washington:

"The room in which the house of representatives assemble in the capital of Washington, is one of the finest in the world. This may be thought a strong expression; but I believe all who have entered it, will concur in its justice. It is semicircular; and the speaker's chair being placed in the centre of the diametrical line, the members are ranged in semicircles round him. The roof is supported by marble pillars; crimson curtains, hanging in festoons, being between them. Over the speaker's chair is a gigantic French figure, which is, I believe, intended to be emblematic of America. The floor being carpeted, nothing seems wanting to the comfort and convenience of the members, or to the elegant finish of the room. It has, however, one most unfortunate defect the voice of the orator who is addressing the house, is often lost in reverberation. No corrective has hitherto been found for this defect. I have seen rooms larger and more splendid than this; but I never saw one which seemed more completely to unite beauty and grandeur with utility."

The chapter on negro slavery in America, is well worthy the perusal of every sincere lover of liberty; for it is a truth which must be borne in mind, however painful the admission, that, while America has united with England in declaring the external slave-trade piracy, she retains her internal slave-trade in all its shocking and disgusting details.

While we agree with our traveller in deprecating the anomaly of negro slavery in a republic, we feel ourselves bound in candour to add, that the measure which he recommends to the American statesman, is a task as difficult and as momentous as ever fell to the lot of any body of public men—a task no less than that of making an entire change in a peculiar state of human condition, which has obtained obduracy from habit, and corroboration from time; of melting down the human mass and re-casting it into a state of improvement and capacity to improve whatever was most stationary in the materials of that condition, most incoalescible in its elements, and most obnoxious to moral taste in its construction. It is only by degrees that the eaglet is enabled to gaze upon the sun. To couch the moral eye of a people is an arduous, and may be a dangerous, undertaking. The negro must be prepared, by education, for the steady management, and unintoxicated appreciation, of his disenthralled freedom. Without this, the gift, like that of Swift's human immortals, would be a curse, instead of an advantage; and a source of public confusion, instead of public benefit.

The Wonders of Elora, or the Narrative of a Journey to the Temples and Dwellings at Elora, in the East Indies, &c. By John B. Seeley, Captain, &c.-8vo. pp. 560. 16s. Whittaker.

Cedant arma toga. This is the production of a military man, who has taken advantage of the "piping times of peace" to unite the bay of Apollo with the laurel of Mars. It is the "unvarnished tale," if not of a very scientific writer, of a traveller whose enthusiasm for the arts does him great honour, and whose unpretending and soldierly fidelity in describing what he sees, makes ample compensation for some trivial deficiencies in his literary style. It is, in fact, much better for the reading public, that a descriptive author, provided he be faithful, should have less, rather than more, of learning than his capacity can manage.

The cavern-temples of Elora, certainly, are entitled to be considered as wonders of the world. Of these, we think with Captain Seeley and every step taken in his company, among the gigantic colonnades, magnificent peristelus, and elaborate sculptures of the sacred excavations which have so justly won his homage, increases our admiration of the extraordinary people who raised them. It is as if we were gazing on the heaven-confounded temples and god-deserted shrines of the primitive giants: giants the builders certainly were in mind, in energy, and in ambition. But the general effect produced by these sculptured miracles has not, certainly, been commensurate with what might naturally be expected from the astounding sublimity of the cause. The circle of interest, indeed, widens daily; and Captain Seeley's spirited and enthusiastic narrative will, doubtless, expand the sphere of its operation over a wide surface of literary society: but it is a striking phenomenon in this age of mental excitement and scientific enterprize, that, while volume after volume has been written to illustrate the monumental records of Egypt, and traveller after traveller has still found, in the unquenched thirst of the public for further knowledge, the recompence of his toils, and the meed of his privations, the stupendous sculptured wonders of Britain's equally stupendous empire in the east, have been comparatively neglected. We congratulate Captain Seeley on his determination to rescue such mighty works from such unworthy neglect; and every lover of science will regard his work as a boon, conferring honour on its author, and benefit on the nation.

We are, however, not disposed to concur unqualifiedly with Captain Seeley's opinion, that "no monuments of antiquity in the known world are comparable to them, whether we consider their unknown origin, or their stupendous size." That they dispute the palm of admiration with the pyramids and other monuments of Egypt, we are willing to admit. But we are prompted to demur as to their alleged superiority, as we are inclined to object to another inference which our military author shares with several literary men, namely, the closeness of the analogy between the monuments of the two countries. Captain Seeley's account of the Wonders of Elora is interesting; and, if the reader partakes our feelings, he will pause occa

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The Wonders of Elora.

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sionally for respite, (like a spectator taking breath,) at every fresh development of architectural audacity. "The mind is fatigued with the contemplation of so many excavations, elaborated by the indefatigable process of the chisel, out of a solid mountain of rock composed of the hardest granite, extending upwards of a mile and a quarter, and representing an endless succession of carvings and ornaments of mythological groupes and wondrous statues; of groves of pillars, and mysterious sekoi of a departed worship."

With respect to the alleged analogy, or rather identity, between the monuments of India and those of Egypt, which has been carried so far as to induce not only the conclusion that the mythology of the two countries was originally the same, but also the people, the only question with such theorists being, which is the colony and which the mother country, of the cognate superstition; we entirely dissent from the opinion. Captain Seeley treats on this subject of analogy in Chapter the Thirteenth, and repeats the often-related story of the surprise testified by the Hindoos in the British army of Egypt, at recognizing there the temples of their own deities. Striking as this fact may seem, it is far too narrow for the erection of so sweeping an inference as is sought to be built upon it. The Mexican relics lately brought from South America bear a much stronger resemblance to the Egyptian style of sculpture, though in a ruder state; yet there is little probability that there was any connection between the ancestors of the Mexicans and the Egyptians. The Hindoos also might, with equal truth, if suddenly brought into the presence of the Great Serpent adored at Mexico, have proclaimed that the Mexicans worshipped the same, deity; and they might, therefore, be hastily concluded to be the same people. The fact is, that the Ophite worship, and that of the Bull, extended over the whole surface of the antient world; and all that can be fairly inferred from this proposition is, the truism, that all mankind are of one original family; or, at all events, of three families distinguished into white, red, and black, races of men. In the first place, in order to strike at the root of the presumed analogy, there is no evidence of the worship of the Ling and Yoni, in Egypt, supported by the Egyptian temples, or corroborated by the hieroglyphics. We apprehend that the Phallus was peculiar to the Bacchanalian mysteries of Greece. Many extant paintings and sculptures attest that the presiding deity of mystic rites, (no doubt equally indecent in Egypt,) was a portable image of HORUS, the PE-OR of Scripture, and the original Priapus. Secondly, the features and persons of the Hindoo and Egyptian deities are very dissimilar; the latter, being the aboriginal inhabitants of Egypt, appear to have been red men; the more so too, from the peculiarities of their eye, nose, and lip, which mark the varieties of the Nubian family. Thirdly, the cavern temples of India, though sculptured out of granite, as some of the Nubian temples are, bear much more obvious resemblance to the rock-hewn tombs or temples of Persia, in the plain of the Magi; as the order of the columns at Elora and at Elephanta resemble those of Persepolis. The Arabesque ornaments seen in the Hindoo temples, and in a rude form among the still

extant Mexican buildings, is not observable in the Egyptian. Fourthly, the Egyptian deities are never many-headed, and many-armed, like the Hindoo; a striking and marked feature of distinction. Fifthly, the Egyptian deities are often signalised by animal heads, which, in fact, are obviously masks, or crests, worn by the various orders of priests. This is observable again among the incipient attempts at sculpture by the Mexicans; but not in the consummated art of the Hindoos, who rarely exhibit a deity with an animal head, though often with many heads; and in the excepted case of Ganesa, the deity is distinguished by the head of an elephant, an animal which, though it must have been familiar to the Egyptians, is never employed by them in that symbolic manner. On the other hand, the dog, the emblem of the wisdom of deity among the Egyptians, was evidently as great an abomination with the Hindoos of Elora, as the animal is generally considered at this day to be in the East. Lastly, the mythology of India is not only the most complicated, but the most confused and multifarious; while that of Egypt, as appears from such written records as remain, as well as from the extant monumental records which corroborate their truths, was plain, simple, and intelligible, having all the marks of being primitive, being all reducible to the fable, in which Osiris, his queen Isis, his son Horus, and his brother Typhon, were alone concerned. But the fables of the Hindoo Pantheon are as infinite and complex as they are monstrous. The human deities of India are extremely numerous; while those of Egypt, as appears from their assembly in the Pantheon of Psammis's tomb, and as Diodorus Siculus states, are reducible to eight individuals.

With regard to the originating country of the arts, our own opinion decidedly is, that the great stream of civilization derived its source from Ethiopia and Western Africa. As far as Egypt, the mother colonizer of Athens, is concerned, this is obvious. The decreasing ornaments of the constructed temples, and the increasing frequency of the sacred excavations as we ascend the Nile towards its source, demonstrate that Egyptian worship proceeded from Ethiopia. Homer bears testimony to this fact, when he designates Ethiopia as the birthplace of the twelve primary gods. It is not improbable, therefore, that the tide of civilization may have rolled eastward from the western point of the great African continent, and, perhaps, passing through the long-sought Timbuctoo, accompanied the Nile from its source to its mouth.

Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land; with a Journey through Turkey, Greece, the Ionian Islands, Sicily, Spain, &c. By William Rae Wilson, Esq. F.A.s.-8vo. pp. 452. 18s. Longman and Co.

If this publication is not the production of a very wise man, it, at least, has for its author a truly pious and worthy man. The former part of the volume has already gone through one edition; and its reception has induced Mr. Wilson to add the account of his entire journey. He left England for the commendable purpose of exciting religious sentiments, and performing his devotions, in the places celebrated in sacred history.