The Express.
London, England, 1847-06-15 00:00:00

talent of securing the recofinitio: of his utility, atmouM
for the Barrow of real lire, ts well as for the bit
Andrew Wylie of fiction.
Sir John Barrow was the son of a small freeholder
at Dragleybeek, an obscure village in Cumberland.
" Our cottage had been in my mer's family nearly
two hundred years, and had descended to her from
her aunt, who lived in it to the age of eighty, and in
it my mother died at the advanced age of ninety."
The author of the memoir does no discredit to the
hereditary longevity of his race; and has hitherto
only once consulted a medical man, a native practi-
tioner in a town in China about fifty-five years ago.
He was educated at the grammar-school of Ulver-
stone, where he picked up a certain amount of ma-
thematical knowledge, which, like every acquisition
he ever made, turned out in the sequel to be profit-
able to him. From fourteen to seventeen he acted
as a managing clerk in an iron foundry ;n Liver-
pool, and on the death of his employer dis-
posed of some spare months by a voyage to the
Arctic sea in a whaling vessel. On one oc-
casion Barrow was tossed out of the water
boat and all by a whale's tail upon a field of ice, but
he was too tough and too fortunate to be the worse
for such an accident. He occupied himself during
the voyage by learning practical seamanship (which
may perhaps hare formed a useful portion of the fu-
ture Admiralty secretary's education), and by writing
a poem on the Arctic seas, which, being fortunately
lost, in nn way impeded his success in life.
Soon after his return, by one of those chances
which always occur at the right time to the destined
favourites of fortune, he was engaged as a mathe-
matical tutor to the upper boys of a school
at Greenwich. He was introduced into society
by their connexions, became acquainted with
Sir G. Staunton, and was appointed tutor to his son,
and on the appointment of Sir George as secretary of
Lord Ntacartney's embassy to China, Mr. Barrow
joined the mission u comptroller of the ambassador's
household. At the age of 28 the son of the Cumber-
land statesman had got his foot on the official ladder
—he never again had oceesion to set it on the ground.
Soon after his return from China, Lord Maeart-
ney was appointed governor of the Cape and took
Mr. Barrow with him as private secretary. He
was sent on various missions iato the in-
terior of the colony, and added considerably
to the knowledge then possessed of its charac-
ter and geography. In 1798, Lord Macartney
resigned his office to General Dudes, but left him his
able and efficient secretary. When the Cape was
restored to the Dutch in 1803 under the provisions of
the treaty of Amiens, Mr. Barrow returned to
England, and was introduced by General Dundee to
his uncle, afterwards Lord Melville, who, on the
formation of the second Fitt administration in 1804,
appointed him to the office of second secretary to the
Admiralty, which, with little intermission, he held
till the year 1845, maintaining, it seems, an
uninterrupted good understanding with his suc-
cessive chiefs and colleagues, of whom he pub-
lished several anecdotes which will he read
with interest. It is well known that in his official
capacity he was the principal originator of the various
Arctic expeditions which daring his time were under-
taken by government. His early acquaintance with
the northern seas had given him an interest in the
subject which was extended by subsequent study and
investigation. In his writings, particularly in the
Quarterly Review, the beat history of the progress
of Arctic discovery is probably contained.
Sir John Barrow's power of work must have been
extraordinary. He hue been in the Arctic circle, in
the heart of tkina, and in the interior of Africa. For
forty years he held a high situation in an important
public office, and yet he has found time to publish
" six quarto volumes, four octavos, three or four smaller
ones, about a dozen articles in the Eneyeiopcedia Bri-
tannia:, and close upon two hundred articles in the
Quarterly Review." No wonder that such a consti-
tution has never required a doctor.
The volume before us is, perhaps, unduly extended
by reminiscences of China and of South Africa. The
accoant of the Admiralty under d iffcrent administrations
is slight and fragmentary, and there are some odd
mistakes, such as the statement that the Duke
of Wellington took effice on the resigna-
tion of Canning. It will, however, well repay
Fueling or skimming. The few pages which are
given to Cumberland life contain some curious traits
of manners; and in the larger world in which most
of the writer's life has been passed several anecdotes
worth preservation are recorded. The great charm
of the book, however, is, as we commenced by ob-
• serving, the picture which it presents of useful facul-
ties availing themselves of constant opportunities,
and leading to constant, safe, and long prosperity.

iFint ens.
SCULPTORS FOR THE BRITISH MUSEITAL-SETETRI

casts of Assyrian sculpture, intended for deposit in the
British Museum, have arrived et this port, to the 'reel
Grecian, from Bombay, and hare bean landed from the
importing chip and delivered, by the special directions of the
treasury, free of dab• •

Me Drama.

FRENCH PLAYS.—ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.—After
an absence of four years, M. Boo& reappeared among us
yesterday evening, ae fresh and vigorous as ever : not that
four years constitute so vast an interval, but that when we
last saw M. Bouffe, he @seined so old a man, from the
characters in which he had been wont to appear before us,
that we never expected to see him again. Here he is, how-
ever, and, as fax as we can judge, here le will be, de anew
in annum, longer than we shall be here to see. It is one of
the lending features of the habitual impersonation of sired
parts, that the impersonator, moms always old, as that
when ea actor who has been representing a centenarian
foe the last thirty years retires from sheer prostration,
we rant the proceeding as a literally idle impertinence.
M. Boa. played in two pieces, " Michel Perrin" and " Les
Vieux POWs •" the former the original of " Secret Service,"
and help so will known as to render narrative unnecessary.
Via Ingsatismallas of the old cure, so pare-minded, so simple,
se Ablatareseedos confiding, so generous, is a most charm.
end art looddiwg thing. There was a crowcid
UMW