bringing down to the earth a man of large stature, great strength, and a ferocious aspect; who had killed two grenadiers, and was armed with a double-barrelled piece and two pistols." Besides this, he rescued, we know not from what, a young lady named Sophia, who cried " approach me not," fell into fits, and tried to throw herself out of the window.

All his adventures, however, were not to be so fortunate. He is shortly after severely wounded, taken prisoner by the alied forces, and carried into Poland. Maria, in the mean time, has her strange presentiments, and sees exactly at four in the morning, when her lover was wounded, a most marvellous appearance of a courier, on a white horse of enormous size, who offered her a letter. Shortly afterwards, intelligence of Julius's death by a fever arrives. The plot and her troubles thicken the revolutionary outrages increase-and a most terrible decree is issued, by which all the young ladies in Paris are ordered to provide themselves with husbands within ten days! Our heroine is compelled, of course, to submit to the general calamity, and becomes the wife of the Duke D'Ast, a man of most profligate habits, though her own cousin. After the birth of a child, it is discovered as the reader probably anticipatesthat Julius is alive. He had not conducted himself in his exile in so pure a way as might have been expected from one whose morals had been so vigilantly guarded by his "miraculous sister." He had indulged in licentious gaieties; but had never ceased to talk of Maria in a strain of romantic sentiment, and to adore her with as profound an ardor, as when under the eye of Hermacintha. Peace at last arrives, and he returns-just in time to accompany Maria on a long journey-which he does without her having the least idea that he was in existence. He prepared her chamber, cooked her dinners, and finally rescued her from death, without her once getting a glimpse of him. This, however, is only common justice:-for as the young lady had contrived to see prodigies which never appeared, it was but fair that she should be deprived of the faculty of beholding what was really present. At last the game of hide and seek ends-the Duke dies-the lovers are united; and Louis's book ends, equally to the satisfaction of his hero and heroine, and also of his readers.

This is the substance of Maria, or the Hollanders; though there is a slight underplot in which another moral young man named Adolphus is the hero. One incident in his story is so original, that we feel it our duty to record it. Riding over a bridge with a capricious beauty to whom his heart was devoted,

he made loud protestations of the vehemence of his attachment, which she very coolly requested him to prove-by throwing himself with his horse over the parapet. With this singular request he gallantly complied-bruised himself a little in his fall -caught an abominable cold-and abjured the lady for ever!

King Louis of Holland must write no more. His novel is a strange mixture of sickly sentiment and odious debauchery. Some parts of the story, to which we could not allude, are indelicate in the extreme, though the translator says that the worst passages have not been rendered into English. We have therefore only to hope that the absurdity of the thing will prevent it from becoming mischievous; and regret that his labor was not bestowed upon something that might have, at least, amused the frivolous part of society, without meriting the ree probation of the serious.

ART. II. Letters from Portugal, Spain, and France, written during the Campaigns of 1812, 1813, and 1814, addressed to a Friend in England; describing the leading features of the Provinces passed through, and the state of Society, Manners, Habits, &c. of the People. By S. D. BROUGHTON. London Longman. 1815.

FEW literary productions are read with more avidity, and judged with less fairness, than volumes of travels. They are generally entertaining, and not unfrequently useful; but whatever amusement may be derived from their pages, it will most commonly be enjoyed by the reader with little acknowledgment of the industry which collected, and the skill which arranged, the materials for the book; while the weariness and ennui which sometimes result from the narrations of those who have returned from "viewing in different countries varied modes of existence," are uniformly charged to the inability of the relater, who is rarely identified with his book under circumstances at all gratifying to his self-love. These obvious considerations must, we think, present themselves to every voyager, before he ventures to launch his bark upon the perilous sea of public opinion. Happy are those passengers whose pilot sets sail with the rich freight of previous information, and the ballast of discretion! Under such circumstances, fame may reward the fatigues of the voyage, but vanity will not sit at the helm. A candid and observant traveller is the most disinterested of literary claimants; he makes a valuable present to the community, and in return, asks merely to be credited. Authenticity is the chief and indis

pensable merit of a book of travels; and whoever respects truth so far as to resist, for her sake, the allurements of fancy, the suggestions of wit, and the exaggerations of prejudice, treads with security in the narrow, but certain path to the good opinion both of his contemporaries and posterity. Such seems to have been the design, and such, we predict, will be the success of Mr. S. D. Broughton, whose opportunities for information, without being ostentatiously displayed, are evidently proved to have been highly advantageous, and whose vigilant improvement of such means may be gathered from "his plain, unvarnished tale," which has the stamp of reality, and the interest of a moving picture, true to the colors of nature.

The medical profession of the writer, which, not stated on the title-page, or betrayed by any technicalities of diction, is rather implied than declared in the progress of the work, affords the power of estimating the comparative advancement of surgery and the practice of medicine, in the countries through which the English army passed at the close of the campaign.

The form of letters seems to have been adopted, from being most conducive to the purposes of familiar narrative, and enabling the writer to dispense with the obligation of methodical arrangement, while it gives to the reader something like the pleasure of an unpremeditated conversation. Before we present to our readers any specimens of the travels, we think it due to the author to allow him to speak for himself, by giving his short preface.

The following Letters were written originally at the request of a domestic circle of friends. The author is aware that they possess very slender claims only to literary merit, and anticipates many objections that may be raised on the score of presumption, against his offering them to the public, which would probably have greatly swayed with him in entirely suppressing them, if the lively interest recently taken in every thing relating to the countries through which he passed, joined to the wishes, and perhaps partial commendation of his friends, had not induced him to adopt an opposite resolution.

During the progress of a long march commenced at Lisbon, and terminated at Boulogne, comprehending a tract of between fifteen hundred and two thousand miles, the author made it his undeviating practice to note down faithfully, at the close of each day, every circumstance which appeared to him worthy of remark, and it was from these sources that he has been enabled to collect materials sufficient for the following series of Letters to his friends.

Whatever may be its merits in other respects, it is at least entitled

to that of unbiassed veracity, as the author has scrupulously abstained from recording any thing that did not immediately come within the sphere of his own observation, or upon the truth of which his own experience had not taught him to rely. Throughout the Letters, the author, from very obvious reasons, has studiously avoided giving any information, or expressing any opinion upon military affairs, any further than was necessary to give a general idea of events which it was desirable to notice slightly.

In conclusion: the author feels it to be due to his own character to state, that the speculations and prospective observations, which from time to time he has been disposed to indulge in, relative to the ultimate consequences of our successes in Spain, and the occupation of Paris by the allied armies, were written, it is well known, at a period long prior to the melancholy events which have since actually occurred.

The subjects of the first six letters are arranged under the following heads, and do not disappoint the promise of entertainment and instruction which they announce. "Arrival at Lisbon-Principal places of Resort-First view of the Town and Neighbourhood-Billeting-Preparations for a CampaignGeneral Description of Lisbon-Buenos Ayres-BellemInterior Description of Lisbon-Construction of the HousesDomestic Arrangements-Diet-Carriages-Instances of Bigotry and Devotion-Procession of the Host-The ChurchesSt. Roque-Patriarchal Church-High Mass-St. JeronimoChurch Ceremonies-Decay of Respect for the Clergy-Portuguese Sunday-The Theatres-Lord Wellington's ArrivalSir Charles Stewart's Assemblies-Evening Amusements— Society of Lisbon-Quelug Palace-Cintra-Aqueduct—Ma

After an interesting and clear account of the position chosen by our great commander on the banks of the Tagus, we meet with the following observations.

Such were the preparations for the great campaign of 1810, which in its immediate consequences overthrew one of the enemy's most powerful armies, and liberated the kingdom of Portugal. In its more remote consequences it held out a cheering example to the nations of Europe, and eventually animated them to successful resistance; a campaign which completely falsified the predictions of those who prophecied the most disastrous results, and in its sequel exceeded the most sanguine expectations; a campaign, which, by the fair operation of superior tactics, and the firm and steady perseverance in one great plan, cost the enemy the flower of one of his finest armies without a single general action.

The rapid and imposing advance of Massena very much alarmed the government and people of Lisbon; and when it was known

that his cannon was almost within hearing, terror arrived at its height. The applications for departures and passages to England, America, and almost every part of the globe, became importunate and incessant. The packets, intended to accommodate thirty or forty, were bespoken for from two to three hundred, and confusion and alarm reigned throughout that populous city.

At that time Marshal Beresford was advanced to the Order of the Bath; and, though it may appear singular, the ceremony of his investment and the gaieties attendant upon it, actually allayed the storm of anxiety, and appeased the fears of the Portuguese. Lord Wellington gave a grand dinner and ball in the palace of Mafra to the officers and gentry, in honor of the ceremonial of investment. The dinner was of course confined to persons of the highest description, though the invitations for the evening were nearly general. The enemy, amounting to upwards of 80,000 men, was then before us, the out-posts were close, and our allied videttes and his could shake hands. A very small portion of officers only were left in the first line, all the rest being allowed to join in the festivities of the day. Arrangements were however made that every one should return to his post after the ball. The whole of this fearless and judicious measure inspired confidence, and produced a most happy effect. The Portuguese naturally felt, that, if the Commander of the forces could give a fête to the whole army, when a powerful enemy's advanced posts, were almost within hearing of his revels, the danger could not be very pressing. It being usual on bespeaking a passage in the packet to pay half down in the event of not going, many of the captains, in consequence of the tranquillity and security dif fused throughout the city by this well-timed entertainment, acquired considerable property. One of them had absolutely received money from about 250 persons who were flying to England, but who subsequently to this ball altered their resolution; and the captain only carried thirty, the rest forfeiting their deposit rather than adhere to determinations made during the phrensy of terror and despair.

The beginning of the eleventh letter introduces the reader to the frontiers of Spain, and announces a new field of interesting inquiry. The author tells us that

On the day previous to our entering Salamanca, three thousand of the enemy were surprised by our advanced posts, who charged them over the bridge, and drove them through the streets out of the town; and, following them over the downs on their way to Burgos, took three hundred prisoners, and killed between fifty and sixty men, principally by means of the artillery.

The French General commanding (Villette) was leisurely walking through the streets of Salamanca with his mistress, when the alarm was given of the approach of the British. He made his