570 



Monthly Review of Literature. 



[MAY, 



And all the world its hopes Us charms 

 Its Future shrunk within his armsl 

 O Woman ! day-star of our doom 

 Thy dawn our birth thy close our tomb, 

 Or if the Mother or the Bride, 

 Our fondest friend and surest guide ; 

 And yet our folly and our fever, 

 The Dream the Meteor the Deceiver 

 Still, spite of sorrow wisdom years 

 And those Fate's sternest warners tears 

 Still clings my yearning heart unto thee, 

 Still knows no wish like those which woo thee, 

 Still in some living form essays 

 To clasp the bright cloud it portrays ; 

 And still as one who waits beside, 

 But may not ford, the faithless tide 

 It wears its own brief life away 

 It marks the shining Waters stray- 

 Courts every change that glads the river 

 And finds that change it pines for never ! 



Sketches of Buenos Ayres, Chili, and 

 Perti. By Samuel Haigh, Esq. Mr. 

 Haigh's ' Sketches of Buenos Ayres, and 

 Chili,' were among the most agreeable 

 and intelligent of the many scores of 

 volumes published within these few 

 years upon South America, by miners, 

 supercargoes, and soldiers. The new 

 volume is of the same character pre- 

 cisely containing, however, a more 

 consecutive account of his first journey 

 across the now familiar Pampas, and 

 his passage over the Cordilleras in the 

 very depth of winter together with the 

 results of a more extended and intimate 

 acquaintance with the country. Within 

 the last fourteen years Mr. H. has 

 thrice visited South America in com- 

 mercial speculations, and his last trip 

 enables him to add some sketches of Peru 

 to those of Buenos Ayres and Chili. His 

 opportunities of domestic intercourse 

 of prying into the interior arrangements 

 of family economy, must have been con- 

 siderable, and he communicates his dis- 

 coveries in an easy and effective manner. 

 Mendoza he found one of the loveliest 

 snots in the world, and his successive 

 visits detracted nothing from the charm. 

 Santiago he reached at a most critical 

 period, and actually witnessed the battle 

 of Maypo, won by San Martin a battle 

 that must be regarded as prompting 

 those vigorous efforts which ultimately 

 ed to the decisive conflict of Ayacucho, 

 and the independence of the Spanish 

 provinces. Mr. H. refers, for many of 

 his historical details, to General Miller's 

 Memoirs, as containing the fullest and 

 most authentic account of the triumph 

 of Chili. 



According to Mr. Haigh, the habits 

 and domestic manners of the Spaniards, 

 are rapidly changing. English and 

 Americans from the United States every 

 where abound, and every where com- 

 municate something a little nearer to 

 refinement certainly more cleanliness 

 and decorum. At Valparaiso, society is 

 not yet so exclusive as at Santiago At 



a ball given by the governor, a young 

 lady, after the dance, asked her partner, 

 an officer of an English frigate, if he had 

 engaged a washerwoman, hoping, if he 

 had not, he would give her the pre- 

 ference. 



English merchants at home are very 

 apt to suspect their agents abroad-* 

 without, Mr. H. affirms, much reason. 

 He himself was greatly annoyed at the 

 mode of doing business in America. 

 " The difficulties are much greater, he 

 says, than people in England usually 

 imagine for instance, if a bill falls due, 

 should the party not be able to meet it, 

 he has no hesitation in telling you that 

 he cannot pay it ; and should you pro- 

 ceed to the Cabeldo, or Board of Trade, 

 to compel him to do so, the members of 

 that body are so lenient, that they gene- 

 rally allow the payer his own time. 

 Some of the board are precisely in the 

 same predicament with the party com- 

 plained of, being themselves shop- 

 keepers, and owing monies, for pur- 

 chases. Should you proceed to lay an 

 embargo upon a debtor's warehouse, all 

 persons who can prove any of the goods 

 to have belonged to them, can take 

 them from the premises ; consequently, 

 in the event of your own having been 

 disposed of, you get nothing for your 

 pains, unless you find ready money. 

 This system of trade is indispensible, 

 though so full of risks ; for should you 

 think to effect all your sales for cash 

 only, a long life could not afford time 

 for the disposal of a large cargo. The 

 lax system of the laws relative to credit, 

 and their usual leaning towards the deb- 

 tor, places a seller, as it were, at the 

 honour or mercy of the buyer." 



Here is a little question for the zoolo 

 gical folks of Regent's Park : 



The Biscachas abound all over the plains : 

 these little innocent animals generally make their 

 appearance about an hour before the sun sets, 

 and gambol about in his departing rays. During 

 the day they are seldom seen but at the mouth 

 of their caves. It is strange that two owls may 

 be almost always observed standing as if on 

 guard. I have never learnt whether any affinity 

 exists between the biscachas and these birds. 

 The owls have an aspect of great solemnity, and 

 as the) stand apart at each side of the cavern, 

 they remind one of those two mute and melan- 

 choly oking gentlemen, so frequently seen 

 stationed at the doors of houses in England, as 

 the prologue to the performance of a funeral. 



Sketches of Irish Character, by Mrs. 

 S.C. Hall: Second Series. Mrs. Hall 

 threatens no, she is much too gentle 

 to do anything so harsh, as to threaten 

 in her own person, but she announces 

 an intention, with this second series of 

 sketches, of bidding the subject of Irish 

 Character, adieu an intention, which 

 she will not, and must not, carry into 

 execution. Her object is not yet wholly 



