JOURNEY. 



SOUTH AMERICA. 293 



There is an old sonff to the tune of La Belle 

 Catharine, which must evidently have been com- 

 posed in brighter times : 



" Come let us dance and sing, 

 While Uarbadoes bells do ring ; 

 Quashi scrapes the fiddle-string, 

 And Venus plays the lute." 



Quashi's fiddle was silent ; and mute was the 

 lute of Venus during my stay in Barbadoes. The 

 difference betwixt the French and British islands 

 was very striking. The first appeared happy and 

 content ; the second were filled with murmurs 

 and complaints. The late proceedings in England, 

 concerning slavery, and the insurrection in Deme- 

 rara, had evidently caused the gloom. The slavery. 

 abolition of slavery is a question full of benevo- 

 lence and fine feelings, difficulties and danger : 



" Tantum ne noceas, dum vis prodesse videto." 



It requires consummate prudence, and a vast 

 fund of true information, in order to draw just 

 conclusions on this important subject. Phaeton, by 

 awkward driving, set the world on fire : " Sylvae 

 cum montibus ardent." Daedalus gave his son a 

 pair of wings without considering the conse- 

 quence ; the boy flew out of all bounds, lost his 

 wings, and tumbled into the sea : 



" Icarus, Icariis nomina fecit aquis." 



When the old man saw what had happened, 



