•264 
WANDERINGS IN 
FOURTH 
JOURNEY 
Barba- 
,does. 
Slavery. 
Near Bridge-town, the capital of Barbadoes, I 
saw the metallic cuckoo, already alluded to. 
Barbadoes is no longer the merry island it was 
when I visited it some years ago :— 
“ Infelix habitum, temporis hujus habet.” 
There is an old song, to the tune of La Belle 
Catharine, which must evidently have been com- 
7 v 
posed in brighter times :— 
“ Come let us dance and sing, 
While Barbadoes bells do ring; 
(Juashi 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 dif¬ 
ference betwixt the French and British islands was 
very striking. The first appeared happy and con¬ 
tent ; the second were filled with murmurs and 
complaints. The late proceedings in England, con¬ 
cerning slavery, and the insurrection in Demerara, 
had evidently caused the gloom. The abolition of 
slavery is a question full of benevolence 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 mon- 
tibus ardent.” Daedalus gave his son a pair of 
wings without considering the consequence; 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, he 
