296 ROBERTSON. 



worse written narrative of Mr. Washington Irvine, in 

 his ' Life and Voyages of Columbus ;'* but I will 

 refer to a poetical work written purely for effect, and 



* It is no part of my intention to underrate the merits of this very 

 popular author ; but I speak of the manner in which he lias treated the 

 subject ; and coming after so great a master, it was not judicious in him 

 to try aftereffect, instead of studying the chaste simplicity of his pre- 

 decessor. These are a few of his expressions : The ships " were 

 ploughing the waves ;" Columbus was " wrapped in the shades of 

 night ;" he " maintained an intense watch ;" he " ranged his eye along 

 the dusky horizon ;" he beheld " suddenly a glimmering light." Ro- 

 bertson had never thought of saying "suddenly," as knowing that 

 light must of necessity be sudden. Then the light has " passing 

 gleams ;" his feelings " must have been tumultuous and intense," con- 

 trary to the fact, and to the character of the man ; " the great mystery 

 of the ocean was revealed ;" " what a bewildering crowd of conjectures 

 thronged on his mind !" All this speculation of the writer to insure 

 the effect, Dr. Robertson rejects as fatal to effect, and gives only what 

 actually happened. Finally, he was possibly to find " the morning 

 dawn upon spicy groves, and glittering fanes, and gilded cities." 

 Surely no one can hesitate which of the two pictures to prefer. If the 

 one is not absolutely tawdry, the other is assuredly more chaste. To 

 compare the two pieces of workmanship is a good lesson, and may tend 

 to cure a vitiated taste (Book iii. chap. 3). To take only one in- 

 stance : " About two hours before midnight, Columbus, standing 

 on the forecastle, observed a light at a distance, and presently pointed 

 it out to Pedro," &c. Thus Robertson. Irvine says, " Wrapped 

 from observation in the shades of night, he maintained an intense 

 and unremitting watch, ranging his eye along the dusky horizon. 

 Suddenly, about ten o'clock, he thought he beheld a light glimmer- 

 ing at a distance." Can any one doubt which of the two passages 

 is the most striking the chaste and severe, or the ornamented and 

 gaudy and meretricious ? The account of Robertson makes the 

 ships lie-to all night. Irvine either makes them lie-to, and after- 

 wards go on sailing rapidly, or the lying- to was the night before, and 

 they sailed quicker the nearer they came to land, and in the dusk. 

 The one makes them only see the shore after dawn ; the other makes 

 them see it two leagues off, in a dark night, at two in the morning, 

 within the tropics. 



