234 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



own person, and we have no doubt he will be found to be an exceedingly 

 shrewd and entertaining fellow. Thus he speaks upon a point, of which his 

 misfortunes, and experience, have unhappily, too well qualified him to 

 judge : 



"In London, as in almost all the country towns, there is a society, which 

 has for its object, to provide a lodging for the houseless. Where is this 

 wonder, then, if England is herself the asylum of all the unfortunate ? Ve- 

 nice, in her days of glory, was the sanctuary of all the oppressed, whether 

 by kings, by princes, by republics, by popes, or by anti-popes. England, 

 which in the importauce of its commerce, and its dominion over the sea, is 

 the Venice of our times, displays the same universal hospitality. Either 

 from justice, or from policy, or from a sentiment of generosity, and a feeling 

 of her power, she collects under her vast aegis all the conquered and the 

 wrecked, whoever they may be. There is scarcely a single nation in Europe 

 which is not her debtor for protection afforded, at one time or another, to a 

 number of its people/' 



In a livelier tone he remarks with great accuracy upon a disposition which 

 we think might have been generally applied to all mankind, but that the 

 habit grows with indulgence : 



" The English people are greedy of novelty ; childish in this alone, they 

 make no great distinction between good and bad they want only what is 

 new. They pay for the magic lantern, and pay well, but they always want 

 fresh figures." 



Paganini, the Siamese twins, the spotted boy, Taglioni, Robert* Mont- 

 gomery, the learned pig, and other extravaganzas, cry amen ! to this. One 

 other extract, and we leave the count to the liberal consideration of the 

 public : 



"The young women of England, under a stormy and inconsistent sky, 

 have hearts and minds peaceful and serene, always equable, and always 

 docile. My amiable countrywomen, under a heaven perpetually smiling, 

 have hearts and minds continually in a tempest. The former are educated 

 for quiet and domestic felicity ; everything conduces to this end, the order 

 and system of their lives, the simplicity of their food, the climate, compelling 

 them to live in-doors, all tend to soften, or set to sleep, their passions. 

 While the lattei, animated by the continual sight of the world, stimulated 

 by a thousand objects, now treated tyrannically, now over-careful, carried 

 to the theatres and crowded streets, and educated to give vent to their pas- 

 sions, brought up, only, to be haughty and spirited. A true and excellent 

 comparison of the English women and the Italian, may be found in the 

 'Corinna' of Madame de Stael. Corinna, all fancy, all impulse, all love of 

 glory, was unhappy, and would have made her English lover unhappy, had 

 she married him. Lucia, instead, all good sense, sweetness, modesty, and 

 filial affection, was happy in her obscurity, and promised happiness to her 

 husband. Lucia, after spending two hours of the morning in painting a 

 beautiful rose, satisfied and contented, shuts it up in her portfolio. Corinna 

 is dissatisfied and discontented with, her talent, unless she declaims a hymn, 

 and receives thunders of applause from thousands of auditors." 



LETTERS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



THESE letters are edited by the Rev. R. Polwhele, and chiefly addressed to 

 him. Every thing associated with the name, habits, or propensities of a 

 great man bears a certain interest. We love to know what dish he relished, 

 what coloured coat he wore, if he went to bed and rose like other people, 

 yawned and stretched when he was somnolent, danced when he was gay, 



