WASHINGTON IRVINo's ASTORIA. 561 



sity; at any rate he was induced to consider seriously the question 

 of abandoning- Astoria. 



To wind up the Company's concerns with the least possible loss to 

 the chief party interested was his first object ; and the most probable 

 method of effecting- it seemed to be to dispose of the furs and other 

 valuables in the depot at the best possible market. With a view to 

 this he again set sail in the Albatross, after a stay of only six days ; 

 and on his arrival at the Marquesas learnt tidings of hostile mo\e- 

 ments on the Pacific, which seemed to be the death warrant of 

 unfortunate Astoria. On the 23d of November Mr. Hunt left the 

 Marquesas and proceeded to the Sandwich Islands, where he heard 

 of the catastrophe of The Lark, and the destruction of his only re- 

 maining hope for the ill-fated colony. On his return in a hired brig- 

 called The Pedlar, he found the enemy on the ground. The warrior 

 spirit of Comcomly had not been able to infuse the courage of resist- 

 ance into the lily-livered Erie of the Fur Company, and he found 

 indeed, too late, that he had married his daughter to a squaw. The 

 rest is soon told. A losing bargain was struck with the wily Mr. 

 M'Tavish, for the sale of stock, &c., and the disaffected, with 

 M'Dougal at their head, went over to the enemy and acquired great 

 riches, so that at last they became chief partners in the North-west 

 Company ; another illustration this, would a quaint thinker say, of the 

 great proof in favour of the soul's immortality, deducible from the 

 unequal distribution of rewards and punishments in the present life. 



Thus were all the sanguine hopes and magnificent schemes of Mr. 

 Astor annihilated, partly through the wilfulness and want of principle 

 exhibited by the various persons to whom the conduct of the expedi- 

 tion had been committed ; partly, however, owing to circumstances 

 which, although foreseen and dreaded, could not be overcome by a 

 greater power than Mr. Astor. An English settlement now stands 

 where before was Astoria. More than twenty years have now 

 elapsed, and from the friendly relation existing between the two 

 countries, it is fair to anticipate an unwillingness on both sides to 

 moot an invidious question of territorial rights. 



Such is Washington Irving's "^Astoria." Whatever of dulness our 

 readers have seen in our analysis of this excellent book, they must lay 

 to the reviewer's charge ; for certainly there has nothing appeared 

 in the present century to which it can be said to be inferior in the 

 several regards of naivete, originality, and truth. We hope that the 

 author will not be offended if we reckon his merits as very nearly 

 equal to those of one of our greatest favourites, Daniel De Foe. 



