The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-01 00:00:00

DECEMBER 1, 1855.

utter want of taste, and intolerable vanity
(both national and individual), would disgust
any intelligent reader with verse of a much
higher order than we find here. His com-
position is not like " sweet bells jangled, harsh
" and out of tune," but like the senseless
bellowing sound of a bassoon when the player
has no more skill than to pour his breath into
it. Will it be credited that he compares the
storms of life to the cleaning of a boot ?
Boot ! that trodden under foot,
Seekest not to change thy state;
Happy art thou, lowly boot I
Shining in thy humble state.
• • •

Even as upon thy form
Cast they now a covering black,
So the clouds of earthly storm
Darken aye the good man's track.
Even as the driving brush
Rubbeth roughly over thee,
So the heavy tempests rush
O'er the good man's destiny.
We have often marvelled at the want of taste
conspicuous in many American works pre
tending to an imaginative character, but
never met with a more ludicrous exemplifica-
tion of it.

As to the author's tendency towards glorifi-
cation of whatever is American the extracts
given will suffice. Can patriotism be pleaded
in excuse for such folly? Allowance must be
made for the pride of every people, but such
boasting as Mr. Duganne indulges in must be
much more attributed to the self-complacency
born of ignorance and conceit, than to intelli-
gent patriotism. Genuine love of country
should lead us to close examination of what is
defective as well as admirable in our country's
disposition and conduct. Continual self-
laudation is as absurd in a people as in an in-
dividual: it must flatter error, prevent im-
provement, and perpetuate folly and vice.
Better by far than this wearisome chorus of
vanity is the grumbling which will admit
nothing to be moderately good, because it
might be better. Patriotism, to be worth a
rush, must be honest, and the honestest
patriots have been invariably those who dis-
daining sycophantish laudation of their country
have aspired to raise it higher by pointing
out its faults and correcting its abuses.

The Last of the Arctic Voyages. By Captain
Sir Edward Reicher. Two Vols. London:
Lovell Reeve.

THESE volumes are carefully and elaborately
produced. The scientific observations are
copious and complete, and the notes on
natural history are by some of the most
eminent professors of our time. The plates
illustrate the most striking phenomena and
animated incidents of the voyage ; but a few
of them might well have been spared in favour
of more charts—the most useful illustrations
that can possibly accompany voyages of dis-
covery.
Of the matter we must speak with more
::eserve. Sir Edward Belcher is not an agree-
able narrator. He attaches excessive impor
tance to his own opinions and doings, and
thinks it necessary to reason minutely upon
his instructions and his interpretation of
them. Much of his book bears the character
more of a defence than a narrative, which
may, perhaps, be attributed to the fact that of
the five vessels sent out under his command
he brought but one back.
Reserving the details of this expedition to
another opportunity, we confine our immediate
remarks to the main object of the expedition
—What of Franklin? Not a trace of his ships
was found either to the north of Wellington
Channel by Captain Belcher, or to the west
at Melville Island by Captain Kellett; or by
either Collinson or M'Clure, in their extensive
explorations from Behring's Strait to the very
entrance of Barrow's Strait. At the close
of his narrative, Captain Belcher proceeds
to analyse the information brought home
by Dr. Rae, and comes to the conclusion that
as regards the scene of the catastrophe, it was
at least two hundred miles removed from the
spot stated by the Esquimaux. He supposes
that Franklin's ships never went west or north
of Wellington Channel; that from Beechey
Island they entered Regent's Inlet; were there
lost, and that the crews disFersed into three