BIOGRAPHY.]

An Historical Fragment.

17

that a reviewer need propose to do. We shall, therefore, let "Relics for the Curious" declare their own character:

QUEEN ELIZABETH.—In a second tour through England, soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the queen paid the aforesaid city another visit. The mayor, on her majesty's departure, among other particulars, said, 'When the King of Spain attacked your majesty, egad, he took the wrong sow by the ear.' The could queen not help smiling at the man's simplicity, which was further heightened, when he begged to have the honour to attend the queen as far as the gallows, which stood at that time about a mile out of the town."

"When Queen Elizabeth, in her progress through the kingdom, called at Coventry, the mayor, attended by the aldermen, addressed her majesty in rhyme, in the following words:

"We men of Coventry

Are very glad to see
Your royal majesty:

Good Lord, how fair you be!"

"To which her majesty returned the following gracious answer:

An Historical Fragment, relative to her late Majesty Queen Caroline. -8vo. pp. 112. 5s. J. and H. L. Hunt.

THE author of this "Fragment" has prefixed to it an advertisement, for the sole purpose, as it would seem, of declaring himself to be of no political party. He, however, not only announces himself as the most intimate friend of a particular confidant of the late queen; but, in many instances, evinces a partiality that, with those who did not really understand the merits of the case between her majesty and her royal husband, might have the effect of prejudicing her cause. Whatever may be our own sentiments respecting the unfortunate misunderstanding between the exalted parties, it is not unmixed with the opinion, that neither of them was perfectly free from error; and that on whichever side lay the greater portion of blame, it is now so much wiser to forget than to revive the subject, that nothing which can be said upon it, however pertinent and sensible, is so praiseworthy as silence.

That her majesty, whether guilty or innocent of the conduct with which she was charged, experienced the severest sufferings that illtreatment could inflict, and that that very treatment drew to her side the greater part of her adherents, is too certain to be disputed. Threefifths of the country saw the whole of the affair in its true light; and another fifth sympathized with her affliction, and yielded to that kind persuasion, which, like love, is allied to pity. We know too much of what may be called the secret history of the queen's persecutions and trial, not to be able to say much on the subject, did we think it proper; but, true to our own opinion, that there is more wisdom in silence than in discussing the case, even in the ablest way possible, we dismiss this article; only observing, that we wish similar sentiments in the author of this publication had forbidden its production, or withheld it from the press.

Crit. Gaz. Vol. 1, No. 1.

D

The Biography of the British Stage; being correct Narratives of the Lives of the Principal Living Actors and Actresses.-1 vol. 8vo. pp. 295. 9s. Sherwood and Co.

WORKS of the nature of the present, from the manner in which they are generally executed by their authors, and brought forward by their publishers, (without saying any thing of the inferior importance of many of their subjects,) have, long since, obtained a character, little calculated to recommend them to the attention of enlightened and reflecting readers: and this volume by no means forms an exception. The persons included in this theatrical catalogue, or chequered list of dramatis persona, are collected from the Green-rooms of Drury-lane, Covent-Garden, the Haymarket, the Adelphi, the Lyceum, the Surrey, and the Coburg theatres. From Kean down to Keeley, from Liston to Fitzwilliam, from Braham to T. Cooke; in a word, from the highest degree of dramatic or vocal pretensions, to the humblest, no example is wanting; consequently, the crowd presented to us is as motley as numerous; as dull and insignificant in some of its component materials, as splendid and imposing in others. The style of the whole, if not absolutely vulgar, is too mean and hacknied to satisfy the taste of polite readers; while the critical remarks are much too feeble and incorrect, to cause such performers as Macready, Young, or Kemble, to be proud of a single compliment issuing from such a source.

VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.

Travels in Brazil in the Years 1817-1820. By Drs. Von Spix and Von Martius. 8vo. pp. 625. 11. 4s. Longman and Co. THE Volumes before us contain the narrative of a scientific journey through the Brazils, at the instance of the King of Bavaria, to whom they are inscribed. The authors travelled, at the expense of no inconsiderable danger, privation, and fatigue, the American continent, from 24° latitude to the equator, and under the line from Para to the eastern frontier of Peru. We need not say how useful, as well as interesting, such a work is, at the present time, to the politician, the naturalist, the statesman, and the merchant. It, indeed, throws that light on the immense country formerly belonging to the crown of Portugal, which the public eminently wants, and doubtless it will be read with an avidity proportioned to the importance of the subject. No efforts to effect, either by favour or artifice, a rejunction of the late Portuguese dependencies with the mother country can, we feel assured, ultimately succeed.

The following is our travellers' notice of their first view of the Capital of the rising empire:

"Soon after, the noble entrance to the bay of Rio de Janeiro, though still at a distance, opened to our view. Steep rocks, like portals to the harbour, washed by the waves of the sea, rise on the right and left. The southern Pão Dáçucar, in the form of a sugarloaf, is the well-known guide for ships at a distance. Towards noon, approaching nearer and nearer to the enchanting prospect, we came up to those colossal rocky portals, and at length passed between them into a great amphitheatre, in which the mirror of the water appeared like a tranquil inland lake; and scattered flowery islands, bounded

AND TRAVELS.]

*

A Summary View of America.

19

in the back-ground by a woody chain of mountains, rose like a Paradise full of luxuriance and magnificence. * The banks, in bright sunshine, rose out of the dark blue sea; and numerous white houses, chapels, churches, and forts, contrasted with their deep verdure. Rocks of grand form rise boldly behind them, the declivities of which are clothed in all the luxuriant diversity of a tropical forest. An ambrosial perfume is diffused from these noble forests, and the foreign navigator sails delighted past the many islands covered with beautiful groves of palms. Thus new, pleasing, and sublime scenes, alternately pass before our astonished eyes, till, at length, the Capital of the infant kingdom, illumined by the evening sun, lay extended before us."

In the preceding pages our authors describe the costume of the peasantry in the interior of the country, the style of their residences and mode of life, to which they add a sketch of the aboriginal inhabitants, whom the advancing circle of European civilization is gradually reducing in numbers and importance; and who, probably, will soon become extinct.

If the able manner in which they are delineated, exhibits Drs. Von Spix and Von Martius as no feeble rivals of their countryman Humboldt, the eloquent and splendid picture they give of the rich variety and profuse magnificence of South America, in her vegetable and animal kingdoms, is still more honourable to their literary talents. The following landscape is excellent :

66

'Scarcely were we beyond the streets and the noise of the town, when we stopped, as if enchanted, in the midst of a strange and luxuriant vegetation. Our eyes were attracted, sometimes by gaily-coloured birds or splendid butterflies, sometimes by the singular forms of the insects, and the nests of wasps and termites hanging from the trees; sometimes by the beautiful plants scattered in the narrow valley and on the gently sloping hills. Surrounded by lofty airy capias, broad-leaved and white-stemmed cecropias, thick-crowned myrtles, large-flowered bignonias, climbing tufts of the mellifluous paullinias, far-spreading tendrils of the passion-flower, and of the richlyflowering hatched coronilla, above which rise the waving summits of Macaubu palms, we fancied ourselves transported into the gardens of Hesperry. A delightful prospect over the bay; the verdant islands floating in it; the harbour with its crowd of masts and various flags; and the city stretched out at the foot of the most pleasant hills; the houses and steeples glittering in the sun, was spread before our eyes."

We have, besides these strongly-painted views, splendid descriptions of Nature's bounty; and we accept the augury of future political prosperity which they are calculated to convey. All amelioration is, however, progressive. But the summer season of freedom will at length arrive; the cloud of error will be dispelled by the meridian ray of civilization; and the whole horizon of North and South America will be brightened by the permanent splendour of liberty, prosperity, and mental enlightenment.

A Summary View of America. By an Englishman.-8vo. pp. 503.; 13s. Cadell, and Blackwood.

THE traveller here under our review has started forth from the crowd, (who have lately been juggled into a belief, that there is nothing good in America,) in order to see fair play, and to redeem the character of the Americans from the sinister imputations which ignorance, no less than jealousy, have occasioned. He who never travels, sees the world only in his own country; as he who never reads, sees the world only in himself, like Montesquieu's curate, who, instead of the moon, could see nothing in the telescope but the village steeple. The too great

The Biography of the British Stage; being correct Narratives of the Lives of the Principal Living Actors and Actressés.—1 vol. 8vo. pp. 295. 9s. Sherwood and Co.

WORKS of the nature of the present, from the manner in which they are generally executed by their authors, and brought forward by their publishers, (without saying any thing of the inferior importance of many of their subjects,) have, long since, obtained a character, little calculated to recommend them to the attention of enlightened and reflecting readers: and this volume by no means forms an exception. The persons included in this theatrical catalogue, or chequered list of dramatis persona, are collected from the Green-rooms of Drury-lane, Covent-Garden, the Haymarket, the Adelphi, the Lyceum, the Surrey, and the Coburg theatres. From Kean down to Keeley, from Liston to Fitzwilliam, from Braham to T. Cooke; in a word, from the highest degree of dramatic or vocal pretensions, to the humblest, no example is wanting; consequently, the crowd presented to us is as motley as numerous; as dull and insignificant in some of its component materials, as splendid and imposing in others. The style of the whole, if not absolutely vulgar, is too mean and hacknied to satisfy the taste of polite readers; while the critical remarks are much too feeble and incorrect, to cause such performers as Macready, Young, or Kemble, to be proud of a single compliment issuing from such a source.

VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.

Travels in Brazil in the Years 1817-1820. By Drs. Von Spix and Von Martius. 8vo. pp. 625. 11. 4s. Longman and Co. THE Volumes before us contain the narrative of a scientific journey through the Brazils, at the instance of the King of Bavaria, to whom they are inscribed. The authors travelled, at the expense of no inconsiderable danger, privation, and fatigue, the American continent, from 24° latitude to the equator, and under the line from Para to the eastern frontier of Peru. We need not say how useful, as well as interesting, such a work is, at the present time, to the politician, the naturalist, the statesman, and the merchant. It, indeed, throws that light on the immense country formerly belonging to the crown of Portugal, which the public eminently wants, and doubtless it will be read with an avidity proportioned to the importance of the subject. No efforts to effect, either by favour or artifice, a rejunction of the late Portuguese dependencies with the mother country can, we feel assured, ultimately succeed.

The following is our travellers' notice of their first view of the Capital of the rising empire:

"Soon after, the noble entrance to the bay of Rio de Janeiro, though still at a distance, opened to our view. Steep rocks, like portals to the harbour, washed by the waves of the sea, rise on the right and left. The southern Pão Dáçucar, in the form of a sugarloaf, is the well-known guide for ships at a distance. Towards noon, approaching nearer and nearer to the enchanting prospect, we came up to those colossal rocky portals, and at length passed between them into a great amphitheatre, in which the mirror of the water appeared like a tranquil inland lake; and scattered flowery islands, bounded

AND TRAVELS.]

A Summary View of America.

19

in the back-ground by a woody chain of mountains, rose like a Paradise full of luxuriance and magnificence. * The banks, in bright sunshine, rose out of the dark blue sea; and numerous white houses, chapels, churches, and forts, contrasted with their deep verdure. Rocks of grand form rise boldly behind them, the declivities of which are clothed in all the luxuriant diversity of a tropical forest. An ambrosial perfume is diffused from these noble forests, and the foreign navigator sails delighted past the many islands covered with beautiful groves of palms. Thus new, pleasing, and sublime scenes, alternately pass before our astonished eyes, till, at length, the Capital of the infant kingdom, illumined by the evening sun, lay extended before us."

In the preceding pages our authors describe the costume of the peasantry in the interior of the country, the style of their residences and mode of life, to which they add a sketch of the aboriginal inhabitants, whom the advancing circle of European civilization is gradually reducing in numbers and importance; and who, probably, will soon become extinct.

If the able manner in which they are delineated, exhibits Drs. Von Spix and Von Martius as no feeble rivals of their countryman Humboldt, the eloquent and splendid picture they give of the rich variety and profuse magnificence of South America, in her vegetable and animal kingdoms, is still more honourable to their literary talents. The following landscape is excellent :

Scarcely were we beyond the streets and the noise of the town, when we stopped, as if enchanted, in the midst of a strange and luxuriant vegetation. Our eyes were attracted, sometimes by gaily-coloured birds or splendid butterflies, sometimes by the singular forms of the insects, and the nests of wasps and termites hanging from the trees; sometimes by the beautiful plants scattered in the narrow valley and on the gently sloping hills. Surrounded by lofty airy capias, broad-leaved and white-stemmed cecropias, thick-crowned myrtles, large-flowered bignonias, climbing tufts of the mellifluous paullinias, far-spreading tendrils of the passion-flower, and of the richlyflowering hatched coronilla, above which rise the waving summits of Macaubu palms, we fancied ourselves transported into the gardens of Hesperry. A delightful prospect over the bay; the verdant islands floating in it; the harbour with its crowd of masts and various flags; and the city stretched out at the foot of the most pleasant hills; the houses and steeples glittering in the sun, was spread before our eyes."

We have, besides these strongly-painted views, splendid descriptions of Nature's bounty; and we accept the augury of future political prosperity which they are calculated to convey. All amelioration is, however, progressive. But the summer season of freedom will at length arrive; the cloud of error will be dispelled by the meridian ray of civilization; and the whole horizon of North and South America will be brightened by the permanent splendour of liberty, prosperity, and mental enlightenment.

A Summary View of America. By an Englishman.-8vo. pp. 503.; 13s. Cadell, and Blackwood.

THE traveller here under our review has started forth from the crowd, (who have lately been juggled into a belief, that there is nothing good in America,) in order to see fair play, and to redeem the character of the Americans from the sinister imputations which ignorance, no less than jealousy, have occasioned. He who never travels, sees the world only in his own country; as he who never reads, sees the world only in himself, like Montesquieu's curate, who, instead of the moon, could see nothing in the telescope but the village steeple. The too great