1830.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



5J9 



him men and women are not to be played 

 with like counters, and advises him to come 

 back to backgammon, as a more manage- 

 able game. No : his mind is made up. The 

 youth goes to town, and the old man follows, 

 meaning to watch over him, and shield him 

 from difficulties. Unluckily he is too late. 

 The first evening of his arrival, the young 

 man had called upon an acquaintance of his 

 native town, whom he found in a garret with 

 a wife and two children, in the deepest misery, 

 and earning a wretched subsistence by copy- 

 ing lawyers' papers. To escape from his own 

 feelings, the miserable man takes the youth 

 to a neighbouring tap-house, where he en- 

 counters some rough associates, among others 

 a reporter who had pretty well exhausted his 

 resources. Returning to his inn, he loses his 

 way ; and while in a state of perplexity where 

 to pass the night, he drops upon the reporter, 

 who takes him to a house where crowds of 

 men and women are assembled, of the lowest 

 ca.ste. He escapes as soon as possible, and 

 the next day presents his letters of recom- 

 mendation, and discovers the hopelessness of 

 his chance of employment. Repeating his 

 visit to his law-friend, he again accompanies 

 him to the scene of the former night, where 

 he is seduced into drunkenness and a quarrel, 

 and during the struggle catches the eye of the 

 old gentleman he had a few days before seen 

 at his mother's. Old Mr. Vesper had un- 

 luckily learnt all that had passed since his 

 arrival, without any of the palliatives ; and 

 he returned to Wales, disappointed, to com- 

 municate the sad result to his other protegee. 

 She renounces the youth forthwith in a letter 

 of severity, which almost distracts the poor 

 lad. In the meanwhile his little money va- 

 nishes, when he again encounters his pot- 

 house acquaintance the reporter; and, re- 

 lating to him his forlorn condition, is advised 

 to turn penny-a-liner. At the moment, fire- 

 engines are flying past : they pursue them to 

 the scene of action, and his first essay is a 

 flaming description of the horrible and woful 

 consequences. His ambition rises with suc- 

 cess. He attempts a magazine article, and 

 receives a cheque ; he repeats the dose, and 

 receives a check of another kind, which leaves 

 him utterly without resources, and without a 

 penny. He is shut out of his lodgings, wan- 

 ders through the streets, finds himself at one 

 of the bridges, and in despair attempts to 

 throw himself from the battlements. A bible 

 in his pocket catches the coping, and saves 

 him, and brings him to more sober thoughts. 

 He opens it, and, to his amazement, finds a 

 501. note, placed in it by Mr. Vesper when 

 leaving his mother's. Just at this time, that 

 benevolent old gentleman was again in Lon- 

 don, in pursuit of the youth : he traced him 

 everywhere ; and everywhere, unhappily, cir- 

 cumstances told against him. The young 

 man hears of his inquiries, and, not knowing 

 their object, resolves to seek him, and has 

 the vexation to catch a glance of him in a, 



coach just started for Wales. His 50/. how- 

 ever, enables him to assume a more decent 

 appearance; and by the aid of a sort of general 

 agent, is presented to a member of parlia- 

 ment, who wants assistance for a speech and 

 a pamphlet. This member of parliament 

 happens to be the proprietor of the estates 

 in the neighbourhood of which live his mo- 

 ther and the charming schoolmistress : he 

 had seen the latter, was passionately in love, 

 had even offered marriage, and finally re- 

 solved to carry her off by force. His new 

 secretary, without knowing his purpose, ac- 

 companies him, and discovery of course fol- 

 lows. The old man was present, and by a cu- 

 rious train of circumstances the young lady 

 turns out to be his own niece. His purpose is 

 completely answered ; he takes her and her 

 lover to his home, and with them two or three 

 others who had forwarded his views ; and 

 among them the law-writer, who proved an 

 honourable man, and the reporter, who was 

 not without redeeming qualities* 



Travels in the Morea, by Wm. Martin 

 Leake, F.R.S., $c. 3 wofo., 8wo., 1830 If 

 Colonel Leake's purpose really was what he 

 obviously hints, what indeed he assigns as 

 the main cause for the long delay of his pub- 

 lication, that is, to make his book agreeable 

 to the general reader, he has shot wide of his 

 mark. It will not in any respect suit the 

 general reader : it has none of the qualities 

 that attract him ; it deals neither with politics 

 nor personalities ; it scarcely glances at events, 

 and but incidentally notices the living beings 

 among whom the author travels, their habits, 

 or their condition. It is a dry survey of the 

 country, with reference to objects about 

 which the general reader cares not a rush. 

 It is, however, the result of the most pertina- 

 cious research, the fruit of considerable learn- 

 ing and untiring zeal ; and though it will 

 get no introductions to boudoirs and drawing- 

 rooms, it will retain a permanent position in 

 the libraries of silent students. The author's 

 sole object was to identify the ancient to- 

 pography of the Peloponnesus, and he tra- 

 versed the peninsula at almost every point 

 of the compass, book in hand, with Pausanias 

 and Strabo for his guides, or rather the for- 

 mer only, for Strabo, so far as regards the 

 Morea, was but a cabinet speculator, and a 

 sort of commentator on the Homeric cata- 

 logue. The colonel's researches began so 

 far back as the year 1806, when the Morea 

 was quite a new field. Wheeler and Chand- 

 ler had seen nothing but the coast, and some 

 small portions close to it. The interior was 

 utterly unknown. Olympia, Megalopolis, 

 Sparta, Messene, Tegea ; none of them had 

 been visited. Col. Leake has left nothing, 

 at least unlooked for ; but so sweeping have 

 been the devastations of time, that many 

 localities once of celebrity can with difficulty 

 that is, not with certainty be identified. He 

 has, however, done much ; and the map of 



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