'The vintage was in full glow. Men, women, children, asses, all were variously engaged in the work. I remarked in the scene a prodigality and negligence which I never saw in France. The grapes dropped unheeded from the panniers, and hundreds were left unclipped on the vines. The vintagers poured on us as we passed the richest ribaldry of the Italian language, and seemed to claim from Horace's old vindemiator a prescriptive right to abuse the traveller."* [The Coliseum.] A colossal taste gave rise to the Coliseum. Here, indeed, gigantic dimensions were necessary; for though hundreds could enter at once, and fifty thousand find seats, the space was still insufficient for Rome, and the crowd for the morning games began at midnight. Vespasian and Titus, as if presaging their own deaths, hurried the building, and left several marks of their precipitancy behind. In the upper walls they have inserted stones which had evidently been dressed for a different purpose. Some of the arcades are grossly unequal; no moulding preserves the same level and form round the whole ellipse, and every order is full of license. The Doric has no triglyphs nor metopes, and its arch is too low for its columns; the Ionic repeats the entablature of the Doric; the third order is but a rough cast of the Corinthian, and its foliage the thickest water-plants; the fourth seems a mere repetition of the third in pilasters; and the whole is crowned by a heavy Attic. Happily for the Coliseum, the shape necessary to an amphitheatre has given it a stability of construction sufficient to resist fires, and earthquakes, and lightnings, and sieges. Its elliptical form was the hoop which bound and held it entire till barbarians rent that consolidating ring; popes widened the breach; and time, not unassisted, continues the work of dilapidation. At this moment the hermitage is threatened with a dreadful crash, and a generation not very remote must be content, I apprehend, with the picture of this stupendous monument. Of the interior elevation, two slopes, by some called meniana, are already demolished; the arena, the podium, are interred. No member runs entire round the whole ellipse; but every member made such a circuit, and re-appears so often, that plans, sections, and elevations of the original work are drawn with the precision of a modern fabric. When the whole amphitheatre was entire, a child might comprehend its design in a moment, and go direct to his place without straying in the porticos, for each arcade bears its number engraved, and opposite to every fourth arcade was a staircase. This multiplicity of wide, straight, and separate passages, proves the attention which the ancients paid to the safe discharge of a crowd; it finely illustrates the precept of Vitruvius, and exposes the perplexity of some modern theatres. Every nation has undergone its revolution of vices; and as cruelty is not the present vice of ours, we can all humanely execrate the purpose of amphitheatres, now that they lie in ruins. Moralists may tell us that the truly brave are never cruel; but this monument says 'No.' Here sat the conquerors of the world, coolly to enjoy the tortures and death of men who had never offended them. Two aqueducts were scarcely sufficient to wash off the human blood which a few hours' sport shed in this imperial shambles. Twice in one day came the senators and matrons of Rome | to the butchery; a virgin always gave the signal for slaughter; and when glutted with bloodshed, those ladies sat down in the wet and streaming arena to a luxurious supper! Such reflections check our regret for its ruin. As it now stands, the Coliseum is a striking image of Rome itself-decayed, vacant, serious, yet grand-half-gray and half-green-erect on one side and fallen on the other, with consecrated ground in its bosom - inhabited by a beadsman; visited by every caste; for moralists, antiquaries, painters, architects, devotees, all meet here to meditate, to examine, to draw, to measure, and to pray, In contemplating antiquities,' says Livy, 'the mind itself becomes antique.' It contracts from such ob jects a venerable rust, which I prefer to the polish and the point of those wits who have lately profaned this august ruin with ridicule. In the year following the publication of Forsyth's original and valuable work, appeared A Classical Tour in Italy, in two large volumes, by JOHN CHETWODE EUSTACE, an English Catholic priest, who had travelled in Italy in the capacity of tutor. Though pleasantly written, Eustace's work is one of no authority. Sir John Cam Hobhouse (who furnished the notes to the fourth canto of Lord Byron's Childe Harold, and afterwards published a volume of Historical Illustrations to the same poem) characterises Eustace as one of the most inaccurate and unsatisfactory writers that have in our times attained a temporary reputation.' Mr Eustace died at Naples in 1815. Letters from the North of Italy, addressed to Mr Hallam the historian, by W. STEWART ROSE, Esq. in two volumes, 1819, are partly descriptive and partly critical; and though somewhat affected in style, form an amusing miscellany. A Tour through the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples, by the HoN. R. KEPPEL CRAVEN (1821), is more of an itinerary than a work of reflection, but is plainly and pleasingly written. The Diary of an Invalid, by HENRY MATHEWS (1820), and Rome in the Nineteenth Century (1820), by MISS WALDIE, are both interesting works: the first is lively and picturesque in style, and was well received by the public. In 1821 LADY MORGAN published a work entitled Italy, containing pictures of Italian society and manners, drawn with more vivacity and point than delicacy, Observations on Italy, by MR JOHN BELL (1825), and a Description of the Antiquities of Rome, by DR BURTON (1828), are works of accuracy and research. Illustrations of the Passes of the Alps, by W. BROCKEDON (1828-9), unite the effects of the artist's pencil with the information of the observant topographer, MR BECKFORD, author of the romance of Vathek, had in early life written Sketches of Italy, Spain, and Portugal. After remaining unpublished for more than forty years, two volumes of these graphic and picturesque delineations were given to the world in 1834. Time has altered some of the objects described by the accomplished traveller, but his work abounds in passages of permanent interest, and of finished and beautiful composition. Every season adds to the number of works on Italy and the other parts of the continent. [Funeral Ceremony at Rome.] [From Mathews's Diary of an Invalid."] One day, in my way home, I met a funeral ceremony. A crucifix hung with black, followed by a train of priests, with lighted tapers in their hands, headed the procession. Then came a troop of figures dressed in white robes, with their faces covered with masks of the same materials. The bier followed, on intended as a personification of all that is elegant, graceful, and beautiful; not only abstracted from all human infirmities, but elevated above all human feelings and affections; for, though the form is female, the beauty is like the beauty of angels, who are of no sex. I was at first reminded of Milton's Eve; but in Eve, even in her days of innocence, there was some tincture of humanity, of which there is none in the Venus; in whose eye there is no heaven, and in whose gesture there is no love. [A Morning in Venice.] [From Beckford's Sketches of Italy,' &c.] It was not five o'clock before I was aroused by balcony. Looking out, I beheld the grand canal so entirely covered with fruits and vegetables on rafts and in barges, that I could scarcely distinguish a wave. Loads of grapes, peaches, and melons arrived and disappeared in an instant, for every vessel was in motion; and the crowds of purchasers, hurrying from boat to boat, formed a very lively picture. Amongst the multitudes I remarked a good many whose dress and carriage announced something above the common rank; and, upon inquiry, I found they were noble Venetians just come from their casinos, and met to refresh themselves with fruit before they retired to sleep for the day. which lay the corpse of a young woman arrayed in all the ornaments of dress, with her face exposed, where the bloom of life yet lingered. The members of different fraternities followed the bier, dressed in the robes of their orders, and all masked. They carried lighted tapers in their hands, and chanted out prayers in a sort of mumbling recitative. I followed the train to the church, for I had doubts whether the beautiful figure I had seen on the bier was not a figure of wax; but I was soon convinced it was indeed the corpse of a fellow-creature, cut off in the pride and bloom of youthful maiden beauty. Such is the Italian mode of conducting the last scene of the tragi-comedy of life. As soon as a person dies, the relations leave the house, and fly to bury themselves and their griefs in some other retirement. The care of the funeral de-a loud din of voices and splashing of water under my volves on one of the fraternities who are associated for this purpose in every parish. These are dressed in a sort of domino and hood, which, having holes for the eyes, answers the purpose of a mask, and completely conceals the face. The funeral of the very poorest is thus conducted with quite as much ceremony as need be. This is perhaps a better system than our own, where the relatives are exhibited as a spectacle to impertinent curiosity, whilst from feelings of duty they follow to the grave the remains of those they loved. But ours is surely an unphilosophical view of the subject. It looks as if we were materialists, and considered the cold clod as the sole remains of the object of our affection. The Italians reason better, and perhaps feel as much as ourselves, when they regard the body, deprived of the soul that animated, and the mind that informed it, as no more a part of the departed spirit than the clothes which it has also left behind. The ultimate disposal of the body is perhaps conducted here with too much of that spirit which would disregard all claims that this mortal coil' can have to our attention. As soon as the funeral service is concluded, the corpse is stripped and consigned to those who have the care of the interment. There are large vaults underneath the churches for the reception of the dead. Those who can afford it, are put into a wooden shell before they are cast into one of these Golgothas; but the great mass are tossed in without a rag to cover them. When one of these caverns is full, it is bricked up; and after fifty years it is opened again, and the bones are removed to other places prepared for their reception. So much for the last scene of the drama of life. With respect to the first act, our conduct of it is certainly more natural. Here they swathe and swaddle their children till the poor urchins look like Egyptian mummies. To this frightful custom one may attribute the want of strength and symmetry of the men, which is sufficiently remarkable. [Statue of the Medicean Venus at Florence.*] [From Mathews's Diary.] The statue that enchants the world-the unimitated, the inimitable Venus. One is generally disappointed after great expectations have been raised; but in this instance I was delighted at first sight, and each succeeding visit has charmed me more. It is indeed a wonderful work in conception and execution --but I doubt whether Venus be not a misnomer. Who can recognize in this divine statue any traits of the Queen of Love and Pleasure? It seems rather * This celebrated work of art was discovered in the villa of Adrian, in Tivoli, in the sixteenth century, broken into thirteen pieces. The restorations are by a Florentine sculptor. It was brought to Florence in the year 1689. It measures in stature only 4 feet 11 inches. There is no expression of passion or sentiment in the statue: it is an image of abstract or ideal beauty. Whilst I was observing them, the sun began to colour the balustrades of the palaces, and the pure exhilarating air of the morning drawing me abroad, I procured a gondola, laid in my provision of bread and grapes, and was rowed under the Rialto, down the grand canal, to the marble steps of S. Maria della Salute, erected by the senate in performance of a vow to the Holy Virgin, who begged off a terrible pestilence in 1630. The great bronze portal opened whilst I was standing on the steps which lead to it, and discovered the interior of the dome, where I expatiated in solitude; no mortal appearing, except one old priest, who trimmed the lamps, and muttered a prayer before the high altar, still wrapped in shadows. The sunbeams began to strike against the windows of the cupola, just as I left the church, and was wafted across the waves to the spacious platform in front of St Giorgio Maggiore, one of the most celebrated works of Palladio. When my first transport was a little subsided, and I had examined the graceful design of each particular ornament, and united the just proportion and grand effect of the whole in my mind, I planted my umbrella on the margin of the sea, and viewed at my leisure the vast range of palaces, of porticos, of towers, opening on every side, and extending out of sight. The doge's palace, and the tall columns at the entrance of the piazza of St Mark, form, together with the arcades of the public library, the lofty Campanile, and the cupolas of the ducal church, one of the most striking groups of buildings that art can boast of. To trious in the records of former ages, before which, in behold at one glance these stately fabrics, so illusthe flourishing times of the republic, so many valiant chiefs and princes have landed, loaded with Oriental spoils, was a spectacle I had long and ardently desired. I thought of the days of Frederick Barbarossa, when looking up the piazza of St Mark, along which he marched in solemn procession to cast himself at the feet of Alexander ÎII., and pay a tardy homage to St Peter's successor. Here were no longer those splendid fleets that attended his progress; one solitary galeas was all I beheld, anchored opposite the palace of the doge, and surrounded by crowds of gondolas, whose sable hues contrasted strongly with its vermilion oars and shining ornaments. A partycoloured multitude was continually shifting from one side of the piazza to the other; whilst senators and 85 magistrates, in long black robes, were already arriving to fill their respective offices. I contemplated the busy scene from my peaceful platform, where nothing stirred but aged devotees creeping to their devotions; and whilst I remained thus calm and tranquil, heard the distant buzz of the town. Fortunately, some length of waves rolled be-saic; altars, inscriptions, fragments of statues, and tween me and its tumults, so that I ate my grapes and read Metastasio undisturbed by officiousness or curiosity. When the sun became too powerful, I entered the nave. After I had admired the masterly structure of the roof and the lightness of its arches, my eyes naturally directed themselves to the pavement of white and ruddy marble, polished, and reflecting like a mirror the columns which rise from it. Over this I walked to a door that admitted me into the principal quadrangle of the convent, surrounded by a cloister supported on Ionic pillars beautifully proportioned. A Aight of stairs opens into the court, adorned with balustrades and pedestals sculptured with elegance truly Grecian. This brought me to the refectory, where the chef d'œuvre of Paul Veronese, representing the marriage of Cana in Galilee, was the first object that presented itself. I never beheld so gorgeous a group of wedding garments before; there is every variety of fold and plait that can possibly be imagined. The attitudes and countenances are more uniform, and the guests appear a very genteel decent sort of people, well used to the mode of their times, and accustomed to miracles. Having examined this fictitious repast, I cast a look on a long range of tables covered with very excellent realities, which the monks were coming to devour with energy, if one might judge from their appearance. These sons of penitence and mortification possess one of the most spacious islands of the whole cluster; a princely habitation, with gardens and open porticos that engross every breath of air; and what adds not a little to the charms of their abode, is the facility of making excursions from it whenever they have a mind. [Description of Pompeii.] [From Williams's Travels in Italy, Greece,' &c.] Pompeii is getting daily disencumbered, and a very considerable part of this Grecian city is unveiled. We entered by the Appian way, through a narrow street of marble tombs, beautifully executed, with the names of the deceased plain and legible. We looked into the columbary below that of Marius Arius Diomedes, and perceived jars containing the ashes of the dead, with a small lamp at the side of each. Arriving at the gate, we perceived a sentry-box in which the skeleton of a soldier was found with a lamp in his hand: proceeding up the street beyond the gate, we went into several streets, and entered what is called a coffeehouse, the marks of cups being visible on the stone: we came likewise to a tavern, and found the sign (not a very decent one) near the entrance. The streets are lined with public buildings and private houses, most of which have their original painted decorations fresh and entire. The pavement of the streets is much worn by carriage wheels, and holes are cut through the side stones for the purpose of fastening animals in the market-place; and in certain situations are placed stepping-stones, which give us a rather unfavourable idea of the state of the streets. We passed two beautiful little temples; went into a surgeon's house, in the operation-room of which chirurgical instruments were found; entered an ironmonger's shop, where an anvil and hammer were discovered; a sculptor's and a baker's shop, in the latter of which may be seen an oven and grinding mills, like old Scotch querns. We examined likewise an oilman's shop, and a wine shop iately opened, where money was found in the till; a school in which was a small pulpit, with steps up to it, in the middle of the apartment; a great theatre; a temple of justice; an amphitheatre about 220 feet in length; various temples; a barrack for soldiers, the columns of which are scribbled with their names and jests; wells, cisterns, seats, tricliniums, beautiful Momany other curious remains of antiquity. Among the most remarkable objects was an ancient wall, with part of a still more ancient marble frieze, built in it as a common stone; and a stream which has flowed under this once subterraneous city long before its burial; pipes of Terra Cotta to convey the water to the different streets; stocks for prisoners, in one of which a skeleton was found. All these things incline one almost to look for the inhabitants, and wonder at the desolate silence of the place. The houses in general are very low, and the rooms are small; I should think not above ten feet high. Every house is provided with a well and a cistern. Everything seems to be in proportion. The principal streets do not appear to exceed 16 feet in width, with side pavements of about 3 feet; some of the subordinate streets are from 6 to 10 feet wide, with side parements in proportion: these are occasionally high, and are reached by steps. The columns of the barracks are about 15 feet in height; they are made of tuffa with stucco; one-third of the shaft is smoothly plastered, the rest fluted to the capital. The walls of the houses are often painted red, and some of them have borders and antique ornaments, masks, and imitations of marble; but in general poorly executed. I have observed on the walls of an eating-room various kinds of food and game tolerably represented: one woman's apartment was adorned with subjects relating to love, and a man's with pictures of a martial character. Considering that the whole has been under ground upwards of seventeen centuries, it is certainly surprising that they should be as fresh as at the period of their burial. The whole extent of the city, not one half of which is excavated, may be about four miles. ARCTIC DISCOVERY-ROSS, PARRY, FRANKLIN, &c. Contemporaneous with the African expeditions already described, a strong desire was felt in this country to prosecute our discoveries in the Northern seas, which for fifty years had been neglected. The idea of a north-west passage to Asia still presented attractions, and on the close of the revolutionary war, an effort to discover it was resolved upon. In 1818 an expedition was fitted out, consisting of two ships, one under the command of CAPTAIN JOHN Ross, and another under LIEUTENANT, now SIR EDWARD PARRY. The most interesting feature in this voyage is the account of a tribe of Esquimaux hitherto unknown, who inhabited a tract of country extending on the shore for 120 miles, and situated near Baffin's Bay. A singular pheno menon was also witnessed-a range of cliffs covered with snow of a deep crimson colour, arising from some vegetable substance. When the expedition came to Lancaster Sound, a passage was confidently anticipated; but after sailing up the bay, Captain Ross conceived that he saw land-a high ridge of mountains, extending directly across the bottom of the inlet-and he abandoned the enter prise. Lieutenant Parry and others entertained a different opinion from that of their commander as to the existence of land, and the admiralty fitted out a new expedition, which sailed in 1819, for the purpose of again exploring Lancaster Sound. The expe dition, including two ships, the Hecla and Griper, was intrusted to Captain Parry, who had the satisfaction of verifying the correctness of his former impressions, by sailing through what Captain Ros mained, and it would have amused an unconcerned looker-on to have observed the anxiety and suspense depicted on the countenances of our part of the group till this was accomplished, for never were the tracings of a pencil watched with more eager solicitude. Our surprise and satisfaction may therefore in some degree be imagined when, without taking it from the paper, Iligluik brought the continental coast short round to the westward, and afterwards to the S.S.W., so as to come within three or four days' journey of Repulse Bay. supposed to be a mountain barrier in Lancaster Sound. To have sailed upwards of thirty degrees of longitude beyond the point reached by any former navigator-to have discovered many new lands, islands, and bays-to have established the muchcontested existence of a Polar sea north of America -finally, after a wintering of eleven months, to have brought back his crew in a sound and vigorous state-were enough to raise his name above that of any former Arctic voyager.' The long winter sojourn in this Polar region was relieved by various devices and amusements: a temporary theatre was I am, however, compelled to acknowledge, that in itted up, and the officers came forward as amateur proportion as the superior understanding of this experformers. A sort of newspaper was also esta-traordinary woman became more and more developed, blished, called the North Georgian Gazette, to which her head (for what female head is indifferent to all were invited to contribute; and excursions abroad praise?) began to be turned by the general attention were kept up as much as possible. The brilliant and numberless presents she received. The superior results of Captain Parry's voyage soon induced decency and even modesty of her behaviour had comanother expedition to the Northern seas of America. bined, with her intellectual qualities, to raise her in That commander hoisted his flag on board the our estimation far above her companions; and I often Fury,' and Captain Lyon, distinguished by his heard others express what I could not but agree in, services in Africa, received the command of the that for Iligluik alone, of all the Esquimaux women, 'Hecla.' The ships sailed in May 1821. It was that kind of respect could be entertained which mo more than two years ere they returned; and though desty in a female never fails to command in our sex. the expedition, as to its main object of finding a pas-Thus regarded, she had always been freely admitted sage into the Polar sea, was a failure, various geointo the ships, the quarter-masters at the gangway graphical discoveries were made. The tediousness never thinking of refusing entrance to the wise of winter, when the vessels were frozen up, was woman,' as they called her. Whenever any explanation again relieved by entertainments similar to those was necessary between the Esquimaux and us, Iligluik formerly adopted; and further gratification was was sent for as an interpreter; information was chiefly afforded by intercourse with the Esquimaux, who, in obtained through her, and she thus found herself their houses of snow and ice, burrowed along the rising into a degree of consequence to which, but shores. We shall extract part of Captain Parry's ing a more than ordinary share of good sense on her account of this shrewd though savage race. [Description of the Esquimaux.] The Esquimaux exhibit a strange mixture of intellect and dulness, of cunning and simplicity, of ingenuity and stupidity; few of them could count beyond five, and not one of them beyond ten, nor could any of them speak a dozen words of English after a constant intercourse of seventeen or eighteen months; yet many of them could imitate the manners and actions of the strangers, and were on the whole excellent mimics. One woman in particular, of the name of Iligluik, very soon attracted the attention of our voyagers by the various traits of that superiority of understanding for which, it was found, she was remarkably distinguished, and held in esteem even by her own countrymen. She had a great fondness for singing, possessed a soft voice and an excellent ear; but, like another great singer who figured in a different society, there was scarcely any stopping her when she had once begun; she would listen, however, for hours together to the tunes played on the organ. Her superior intelligence was perhaps most conspicuous in the readiness with which she was made to comprehend the manner of laying down on paper the geographical outline of that part of the coast of America she was acquainted with, and the neighbouring islands, so as to construct a chart. At first it was found difficult to make her comprehend what was meant; but when Captain Parry had discovered that the Esquimaux were already acquainted with the four cardinal points of the compass, for which they have appropriate names, he drew them on a sheet of paper, together with that portion of the coast just discovered, which was opposite to Winter Island, where then they were, and of course well known to her. We desired her (says Captain Parry) to complete the rest, and to do it mikkee (small), when, with a countenance of the most grave attention and peculiar intelligence, she drew the coast of the continent beyond her own country, as lying nearly north from Winter Island. The most important part still re for us, she could never have attained. Notwithstand part, it will not therefore be wondered at if she became giddy with her exaltation-considered her admission into the ships and most of the cabins no longer an indulgence, but a right-ceased to return the slightest acknowledgment for any kindness of presents-became listless and inattentive in unravelling the meaning of our questions, and careless whether her answers conveyed the information we desired. In short, Iligluik in February and Iligluik in April were confessedly very different persons; and it was at last amusing to recollect, though not very easy to persuade one's self, that the woman who now sat demurely in a chair, so confidently expecting the notice of those around her, and she who had at first, with eager and wild delight, assisted in cutting snow for the building of a hut, and with the hope of obtaining a single needle, were actually one and the same individual. The No kind of distress can deprive the Esquimaux of their cheerful temper and good humour, which they preserve even when severely pinched vith hunger and cold, and wholly deprived for days together both of food and fuel-a situation to which they are very frequently reduced. Yet no calamity of this kind can teach them to be provident, or to take the least thought for the morrow; with them, indeed, it is always either a feast or a famine. The enormous quantity of animal food (they have no other) which they devour at a time is almost incredible. quantity of meat which they procured between the first of October and the first of April was sufficient to have furnished about double the number of working people, who were moderate eaters, and had any idea of providing for a future day; but to individuals who can demolish four or five pounds at a sitting, and at least ten in the course of a day, and who never bestow a thought on to-morrow, at least with the view to provide for it by economy, there is scarcely any supply which could secure them from occasional scarcity. It is highly probable that the alternate feasting and fasting to which the gluttony and improvidence of these people so constantly subject them, may have oc casioned many of the complaints that proved fatal during the winter; and on this account we hardly knew whether to rejoice or not at the general success of their fishery. 160 miles still remained unexplored. In 1829 Captain, now Sir John Ross, disappointed at being outstripped by Captain Parry in the discovery of the strait leading into the Polar sea, equipped a steam-vessel, solely from private resources, and proceeded to Baffin's Bay. It was a bold but inconsiderate undertaking, and every soul who embarked on it must have perished, but for the ample supplies they received from the Fury, or rather from the provisions and stores which, by the providence of Captain Parry, had been carefully stored up on the beach; for the ship herself had entirely disappeared. He proceeded down Regent's Inlet as far as he could in his little ship, the Victory; placed her amongst her there; and in returning to the northward, by great good luck fell in with a whaling ship, which took them all on board and brought them home.' Captain James Ross, nephew of the commander, collected some geographical information in the course of this unfortunate enterprise. A third expedition was undertaken by Captain Parry, assisted by Captain Hoppner, in 1824, but it proved still more unfortunate. The broken ice in Baffin's Bay retarded his progress until the season was too far advanced for navigation in that climate. After the winter broke up, huge masses of ice drove the ships on shore, and the Fury' was so much injured, that it was deemed necessary to abandon her with all her stores. In April 1827 Captain Parry once more sailed in the Hecla,' to realise, if possible, his sanguine expectations; but on this occasion he pro-ice clinging to the shore, and after two winters, left jected reaching the North Pole by employing light boats and sledges, which might be alternately used, as compact fields of ice, or open sea, interposed in his route. On reaching Hecla Cove they left the ship to commence their journey on the ice. Vigorous efforts were made to reach the Pole, still 500 miles distant; but the various impediments they had to encounter, and particularly the drifting of the snow-fields, frustrated all their endeavours; and after two months spent on the ice, and penetrating about a degree farther than any previous expedition, the design was abandoned. These four expeditions were described by Captain Parry in separate volumes, which were read with great avidity. The whole have since been published in six small volumes, constituting one of the most interesting series of adventures and discoveries recorded in our language. The interval of 160 miles between Point Barrow, reached by Beechey's master, and the farthest point | to which Captain Franklin penetrated, was in 1837 surveyed by MR THOMAS SIMPSON and the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. The latter had with great generosity lent their valuable assistance to complete the geography of that region, and Mr Simpson was enthusiastically devoted to the same object. In the summer of 1837 he, with his senior officer, Mr Dease, started from the Great Slave Lake, following the steps of Franklin as far as the point called Franklin's Farthest, whence they traced the remainFollowing out the plan of northern discovery, an der of the coast to the westward to Point Barrow, by expedition was, in 1819, despatched overland to pro- which they completed our knowledge of this coast ceed from the Hudson's Bay factory, tracing the the whole way west of the Coppermine River, as far coast of the Northern ocean. This expedition was as Behring's Straits. Wintering at the north-east l commanded by CAPTAIN JOHN FRANKLIN, accom- angle of the Great Bear Lake, the party descended panied by Dr Richardson, a scientific gentleman; the Coppermine River, and followed the coast easttwo midshipmen-Mr Hood and Mr Back-and two wards as far as the mouth of the Great Fish River, English seamen. The journey to the Coppermine discovered by Back in 1834. The expedition comRiver displayed the characteristic ardour and hardi- prised the navigation of a tempestuous ocean beset hood of British seamen. Great suffering was expe- with ice, for a distance exceeding 1400 geographical rienced. Mr Hood lost his life, and Captain Franklin or 1600 statute miles, in open boats, together with and Dr Richardson were on the point of death, when all the fatigues of long land journeys and the perils timely succour was afforded by some Indians. The of the climate.' In 1839 the Geographical Society results of this journey, which, including the navi- of London rewarded Mr Simpson with a medal for gation along the coast, extended to 5500 miles, are advancing almost to completion the solution of the obviously of the greatest importance to geography. great problem of the configuration of the northern As the coast running northward was followed to Cape shore of the North American continent.' While Turnagain, in latitude 68 degrees, it is evident returning to Europe in June 1840, Mr Simpson died, that if a north-west passage exist, it must be it is supposed, by his own hand in a paroxysm found beyond that limit. The narratives of Cap- insanity, after shooting two of the four men who tain Franklin, Dr Richardson, and Mr Back, form a accompanied him from the Red River colony. Mr fitting and not less interesting sequel to those of Simpson was a native of Dingwall, in Ross-shire, and Captain Parry. The same intrepid parties under- at the time of his melancholy death, was only in his took, in 1823, a second expedition to explore the thirty-second year. His Narrative of the Discoveries shores of the Polar seas. The coast between the on the North Coast of America, Effected by the Officers Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers, 902 miles, was of the Hudson's Bay Company during the years 1836-39, examined. Subsequent expeditions were undertaken was published in 1843. by CAPTAIN LYON and CAPTAIN BEECHEY. The former failed through continued bad weather; but Captain Beechey having sent his master, Mr Elson, in a barge to prosecute the voyage to the east, that individual penetrated to a sandy point, on which the ice had grounded, the most northern part of the continent then known. Captain Franklin had, only four days previous, been within 160 miles of this point, when he commenced his return to the Mackenzie River, and it is conjectured, with much probability, that had he been aware that by persevering in his exertions for a few days he might have reached his friends, it is possible that a knowledge of the circumstance might have induced him, through all nazards, to continue his journey. The intermediate Valuable information connected with the Arctic regions was afforded by MR WILLIAM SCORESBY, a gentleman who, while practising the whale fishing, had become the most learned observer and describer of the regions of ice. His account of the Northern Whale Fishery, 1822, is a standard work of great value, and he is author also of an Account of the Arctic Regions. EASTERN TRAVELLERS. The scenes and countries mentioned in Scripture have been frequently described since the publications of Dr Clarke. BURCKHARDT traversed Petræs (the Edom of the prophecies); MR WILLIAM RAK of |