The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-09-12 00:00:00

Z. tteraturr.

NOTICES.

Catlin's Notes of Eight Years in Europe, with his In-
dian Collection, and three parties of American Indians,
at the Courts of England, France. and Belgium. 2
v.°18., with numerous Illustrations. Published by the
Author, at his Indian Collection, 6, Waterloo-place,
London.
It is now some years since Mr. Catlin published a work
to which he described his life and adventures amongst the
wild Indians of America. The present volumes may be
garded as a pendant to that work, and like to it in many
re
spects, because they are as truthful, and as strange. as
1,„?..11 of novelty, of sagacity, and of philanthropy. Mr.
of the
first work was a plain, unvarnished description
the savage Indian in his wigwam, and amid those
scenes for which his habits and customs had formed him
as the master and possessor; whilst in these volumes we
have the same savage brought, not merely in contact with
civilisedilised life but actually dwelling in its towns, and re-
ceived within the palaces of its sovereign princes. By
Lae former work of Mr. Catlin we were made acquainted
With the habits and the manners of the Indian, but in the
present
we are able to appreciate his intellectual qualities.
We have as it were his mind and his heart laid before us ;
and if We could judge of him by the one publication, so
(I
-a o tiwe know by this, how he judges of us, and what re-
nt were suggested to him by witnessing our habits,
our
sa manners, and our customs. In these volumes the
vage is placed in the rostrum of the lecturer, and ap-
proves or condemns man in the highest state of civilise-
wha• It is alike interesting to know what he thinks, and
eon t, he feels—whether his judgment be accurate, or his
elusion erroneous.
inuresill be seen by this description of the present vo-
the, that they are unique in their character, and that
re is in them that which is most difficult to discover in
olflY modern publication—novelty of idea, of thought. and
lu._expression. The opinions of the savage upon civilised
eto be found in these volumes, it is to be observed,
Zekaot those of a solita individual, nor even of a single
Mr. Catlin found more than one race of the Indian
Europe, and he has therefore been able to show the
` Viections of several minds, and to depict the thoughts
af._ More than one rude savage—to describe how these
irlge beings conducted themselves, and to dissect and
3' bare the motives and the reflections of each. If these
raines contained nothing more than this, they should
e esteemed as well worthy of perusal, but to the English
reader they will be found peculiarly interesting on other
grounds. It is well known that Mr. Catlin's " Indian
Collection"
has always occupied a prominent position
amongst the " sights of London " whenever it has been
opened
to the public—deservedly attracting towards it
lir Pof atronage of the Royal Family, of the nobility, and
eVery stranger of exalted ran who visited the
oftmero-
Pulis• Thus we have not merely k life-like portraits the
savages in the presence of those with whose names the
Public are familiar, but we are shown those illustrious
Individuals in the presence of savages. We have de-
scribed, for instance, the visits of the Duke of Sussex,
the Duke of Cobourg, Prince Albert, &c. ; and we have
also portrayed Buckingham Palace, and her Majesty,
When the Indi ns were honoured by a summons. We
End them breakfasting with Mr. Disraeli, and introduced
m the family of the Duke of Cambridge—in Paris re-
e°ived by the King of the French, and feted by the illus.
tril, men of France. Thus a double interest is given to
the book ; it portrays what otherwise must be utterly
i,;"°v7n, and it throws a new light on persons and mat-
" Previously well known. Every circumstance and
every
individual, like every thought contained in this
work, is depicted truly, faithfully, and clearly. There is
I'm effort at the graces of authorship, but there is a manl-
iest desire to state nothing but what is the fact, without
retension , without palliation, and without exaggeration.
he reader is instructed, is interested, is amused ; and he
cannot close the book without coming to the conclusion
that the hours devoted to its perusal have been given to
the
literary labours of an honest man.