1829-3 



Tknncslic and Foreign. 



681 



comes shortenetf, so that the young can then 

 suck milky nutrimentj like the other mam- 

 malia." The only exceptions are dogs and 

 rats, and there is very good reason for sup- 

 posing that both these have been imported. 

 The birds are more like those of the old 

 world, modified only perhaps by circum- 

 stances of soil and climate; and so are the 

 fish — both of them are capable of extensive 

 and spontaneous migrations. 



Man is in the most brntalized state of any 

 part of the world. In the more favourable 

 spots, as to soil and natural productions, he is 

 found somewhat gentler, and somewhat bet- 

 ter accommodated ; but in his lowest state, 

 he is here seen without houses, canoes, or 

 clothing of any kind — floating a log, and 

 striding h, to spear fish, or picking shells on 

 the beach. Peculiarly ferocious, however, 

 he is not, except when prompted by revenge, 

 or to enforce family authority. The au- 

 thor finds no instance recorded of sponta- 

 neous attacks upon the crews that have 

 landed there, or if they have at any time 

 proved assailants, it seeins to have origi- 

 nated in mistake. This is perhaps true of 

 savages, all the world over. The accounts 

 of navigators in th« seventeenth century are 

 not to be credited — they were in pursuit of 

 plunder, and cared little for the feelings or 

 the rights of the savage. They plundered 

 him, or carried him off, and left behind 

 them a hatred of strangers, and thirst of 

 revenge. Where savages have proved cruel, 

 they have been goaded into cruelty. Our 

 own settlers, in New Holland — the very 

 scum of the world — have not been favour- 

 able to any advance in civilization ; and the 

 fact is, that the few who have come into the 

 towns and mingled with the whites, have 

 universally become drunkards and beggars. 

 The very children brought up in the schools, 

 and discovering no inaptitude for learning, 

 have all taken again to the woods. 



Van Diemen is altogether a more fa- 

 vourable and finished country — more diver- 

 sified with hiU and dale, rock and forest — 

 richer in soil, and more intersected by 

 streams— from its size more accessible and 

 better known — more equable and temperate 

 in climate, and less exposed to tlie devasta- 

 tions of floods and droughts. The savage 

 is low enough in the scale, but less so than 

 the New Hollander ; he is more ferocious, 

 for if not worse treated generally, he has 



come into closer contact with the colonist 



he feels more the encroachments of the 

 whites — he finds himself driven more and 

 more into the interior, and cooped up within 

 narrower limits. Van Diemen is obviously 

 destined to outstrip the older settlements of 

 Sydney and its dependencies. The whole 

 colonial population of New Holland amounts 

 to nearly .00,000, and that of Van Diemen 

 already to full half of that number. 



The " Picture of Australia" is a very use- 

 ful little book, and leaves nothing untouclied. 

 The reader will find all that is known of the 

 Swan River, and the settlements now pro- 

 jecting there. 



M. M.A'ew Scries VoL-VlII. No. 40. 



Tales of fVaterloo, 3 vols, liino. ; 1829. 

 — The production, beyond all question, of a 

 soldier better acquainted with facts than 

 books, except a few romances — but capable 

 of vivid and vigorous description — full of 

 spirit, frank and free, and smacking strongly 

 of the mess-room, where nothing but the 

 gallant and the gay wiU meet with ready 

 listeners. The scenes Of the writer's ser- 

 vice, we may be sure, were chiefly Ireland 

 and Belgium — he tells what he has wit- 

 nessed, or has heard from competent autho- 

 rity, and has no fears of conveying erroneous 

 impressions. The tales are wholly uncon- 

 nected, but a slender narrative is spun, the 

 threads of which here and there appear, just 

 sufficient to remind the reader the same 

 characters recur, and may be expected again. 

 A little preluding sketch announces that 

 the subsequent tales chiefly concern his old 

 comrades. 



A few dragoons and the flank companies 

 of an infantry regiment are stationed far in 

 the interior of Galway, in the inglorious and 

 unsoldierly employment of still-hunting. 

 Frank Kennedy, a young captain of dra- 

 goons, a bold and vigorous fellow, plays 

 something like the hero of the book — the 

 personage upon whom the author throws the 

 interest of the piece, and whose adventures 

 constitute the staple — the rest coming in 

 episodically. Fishing one day in the lakes 

 among the hiUs, he gels benighted, loses 

 his way, drops suddenly upon a still party, 

 and what was worse, among a den of out- 

 laws, and escapes by a miracle and the 

 manoeuvres of a pretty woman, whose hus- 

 band, one of the outlaws, though the least 

 committed by atrocities, Kennedy, in grati- 

 tude, takes under his protection, and enhsts 

 in his own company. This adventure fur- 

 nishes an animated sketch, and the outlaw's 

 own story, another. News now arrives of 

 Napoleon's return, to break the monotony of 

 country quarters, and quickly follows the 

 route for Belgium. The incidents of the 

 march supply new materials, and the officers, 

 one after another, trace their former adven. 

 tures, among others, Frank Kennedy and 

 the colonel. Frank, in particular, was the 

 son of a soldier of fortune who married a 

 Connemara heiress, with the ])roperty al- 

 ready a " trifle in debt," which the captain's 

 skill, in matters of domestic economy, was 

 not calculated to lessen. The son was likely 

 to get but little, and he was prudently placed 

 with an uncle, an attorney in Dublin, who, 

 at the first glance, augured ill of the " wild 

 eye in his head." An act of heedlessness, by 

 which papers of value were lost, speedily 

 confirmed the uncle's augury, and the un- 

 lucky youth was returned as inconigible. 

 Reaching home, he found tlie county in the 

 full fervour of a contested election, and the 

 father being confined by tlie gout, lie was 

 forthwith commanded to tend the tenants 

 to the poll, with strict injunctions not to 

 overdo the matter, nor poll eacli man more 

 than twice. Tliis was a scene and a coni- 

 missiun just fitted for the lad'x spirit, and 



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