FOURTH JOURNEY. 



241 



Near Bridge-town, the capital of Barbadoes, I saw 

 the metallic cuckoo, already alluded to. 



Barbadoes is no longer the merry island it 

 Barbadoes. wag w k en j v i s it e d it some years ago : — 



" Infelix habitum, temporis hujus habet." 



There is an old song, to the tune of La Belle Catha- 

 rine, which must evidently have been composed in 

 brighter times : — 



" Come, let us dance and sing, 

 While Barbadoes. 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 Demerara, had evidently caused the 

 gloom. The abolition of slavery is a ques- 

 tion full of benevolence and fine feelings, 

 difficulties and danger : — 



" Tantum ne noceas, dum vis prodesse videto, 1 



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 : " Sylvse cum montibus ardent." 

 Dtedalus gave his son a pair of wings, without consider- 

 ing the consequence ; the boy flew out of all bounds, 

 lost his wings, and tumbled into the sea :— 



Icarus, Icariis nomina fecit aquis. 

 R 



