tolerable sketch of his own work. The chisel is his modelling tool-his pencil-the only instrument of his art, in short, with which he is acquainted, but which he handles in a manner, we may say, almost unprecedented in the history of sculpture. This, however, is the minor part; for we think, nay, are sure, we discover in this dexterity of hand, in this unerring precision of eye, in this strong, though still untutored, conception of form and character-the native elements of the highest art. These primordial attributes of genius, by proper culture, may do honor to the country and to their possessor. At all events, instruction will refine and improve attempts in the present walk of art, even should study be unable to elevate attainment to a higher. Now, however, it would be not only premature, but unjust, to criticise these statues as regular labors of sculpture. They are to be regarded as wonderful, nay, almost miraculous, efforts of native, unaided, unlearned talent-as an approach to truth almost in spite of nature and of science; but they do not hold with respect to legitimate sculpture-the high-souled, the noblest, the severest of all arts-the same rank as, in painting, the works of the Dutch masters do as compared with the lofty spirits of the Romans-precisely for this reason, that while similar subjects are not only fit, but often felicitous, subjects for the pencil, they are altogether improper objects of sculptural repre

sentation.'

would not understand what was said to him. Upon parting with the property, which, next to his musket, was in his eyes the greatest treasure in the world, he fell into an agony of grief and despair which it was quite distressing to witness, repeatedly exclaiming, No good;' and, rolling himself up in his mat, he declined the conversation of every one. He remained in this state so long, that the powder was at length brought back; but he refused to take it, saying, that they might again put it in the magazine, since they must now be aware that he had not stolen it."" Similar to that of Tetoro, was the conduct of a chief whom Mr. Marsden met with on his first visit to New Zealand, and who was so much grieved and ashamed at the circumstance of one of his dependants having stolen some trifle from that gentleman, that he sat for two days and nights on the deck of the ship, and could not be prevailed upon to enter the cabin. The following engraving of a view in New Zealand, is from Cook's Voyage.

NEW ZEALAND CHIEF.

it is a point of honor with a chief never to touch what belongs to those who have trusted themselves to his friendship, and against whom he has no claim for satisfaction on account of any old affront or outrage. To be supposed capable of doing so, would be felt by any of them as an intolerable imputation. We find a striking instance of this, to pass over many others that might be quoted, in the conduct of Tetoro, who returned home to New Zealand from Port Jackson, along with Captain Cruise, in the Dromedary. It was thought necessary, during the passage, to take from this chief a box containing some gunpowder, which he had got with him, and to lodge it in the magazine until the ship arrived at New Zealand. "Though every exertion," says Captain Cruise, was used, to explain the reason why he was requested to give it up, and the strongest assurances made that it should be restored hereafter, he either could not or

GENIUS AND INDUSTRY.

Whilst we believe that education is the greatest gift that can be conferred on a human creature, we are not sanguine enough to expect that its more general diffusion will increase the number of men of genius. There is a perversity in human nature which makes us relax our efforts at the moment when they might be rewarded with the most splendid success. It does not follow that a shepherd boy, who passes his long day on the side of a hill, and who acquires the principles of mechanics, or forms for himself a plan of the stars, shall make proportionate advancement if full opportunity of study be afforded to him.

Nor does it follow that a young man who teaches himself to read by the light of a shop window in the street, shall become a learned man when admitted to libraries and encouraged by applause.

We do not think the illustration a correct one, which represents the scholar as like the weary traveller who plods on contentedly through woods and over irregular ground which conceal the prospect, and who faints when he has ascended to the top of the hill and sees the whole extent of the road before him.

The truth seems rather to be, that energy of mind, like strength of body, must be acquired by exercise, and that the consciousness of desert in encountering difficulties, must be felt to enable us to accomplish any great work. Sir Joshua Reynolds has happily expressed this:

"It is not uncommon to see young artists, whilst they are struggling with every obstacle in their way, exert themselves with such success as to outstrip competitors possessed of every means of improvement. The promising expectation which was formed on so much being done with so little means, has recommended them to a patron, who has supplied them with every convenience of study; from that time their industry and eagerness of pursuit have forsaken them; they stand still and see others rush before them.

"Such men are like certain animals, who will feed only where there is little provender, and that got at with great difficulty through the bars of a rack, but refuse to touch it where there is an abundance before them."

THE PROGRESS OF AMERICA DURING THE LAST CENTURY.

let

From the elevated position we now occupy, us turn our eyes back on the history of the past century, to observe the progress of America since the birth of Washington, and the influence of his life and character on the destinies of his country and of mankind. What was his country? Eleven small British colonies (for Georgia had then no existence, and Delaware no separate name) were scattered along the shores of the Atlantic, within the present limits of the United States. They extended inland only to a short distance, their remotest outposts hardly reaching the foot of the Alleghany Mountains. Behind them was an unexplored wilderness, from the recesses of which, savage tribes, trained to war and plunder, were ever ready, at the instigation of an ambitious chief, or the temptation of a favorable opportunity, to spring forth on their inhabitants, without warning and without mercy. On the north and on the south were the colonies of France and Spain, both ancient rivals of Great Britain, and, according to the universal opinion of that age, its natural as well as hereditary enemies; so that every contest between those nations brought war home to the doors of the colonists, who thus suffered from all the intrigue of European policy. From a "Report of the Lords of Trade," it appears that wool, flax, and hemp were raised in small quantities by the farmers, and wrought into coarse cloth and ropes, in their own dwellings, for their own use. Besides these household manufactures, and a number of establishments for refining sugar, for distilling, and for tanning, there were several forges and furnaces for making iron, and in all America, one slitting mill, one nail mill, and one paper mill, the last of which produced paper enough to sell for nearly a thousand dollars a year. The inhabitants of the northern colonies also had recently began to make hats, and had even exported some, of which great complaints were made by the hatters of London, as interfering with their business. Parliament "diverting the thoughts of the colonists" from manufacturing and exporting the produce of their soil, enacted under severe penalties, that neither hats nor wool, nor any manufactures of wool produced in America, should be water-borne, or laden in any vehicle or on any animal for transportation, even within the colonies themselves; and that every slitting mill should be abated as a common nuisance.

Only two of the colonies had the right of choosing their own chief magistrates. The others had governors appointed in England, either by the crown

or by the proprietors of the colony, who possessed also respectively the right to annul, within a limited time, any laws passed by the Colonial Assemblies. The colonies were not bound together by any other tie than their common allegiance to the British

crown.

Such was America; a number of feeble, scattered colonies, surrounded by enemies, disunited, dependent. Possessing, indeed, in its habits of industry and enterprise, in its domestic, civil, literary, and religious institutions, the germs of its subsequent greatness, but faintly developed; crushed beneath the oppressions of the colonial system, and in this part of the country still languishing under the influence of that connexion of civil and ecclesiastical power, which is every where degrading to religion, and dangerous to liberty. Such was America! Look on it now. What do you behold? One great, united, powerful, prosperous, free people, without a master, without an enemy, without a rival. The Alleghanies, which were then your utmost limits, are now in the midst of your population; the vast region beyond them, at that time a wilderness, is crowded with villages, and towns, and cities, swarming with inhabitants, burdened with plenty; the Mississippi, whose origin and course were not then known, is now a common highway; and the still more remote territory, then unexplored, may I not say undiscovered, is now entirely subjected to your laws. Your manufactures, relieved from the monopoly of the colonial system, have extended with inconceivable rapidity; your commerce peoples the ocean; enterprise and industry in every pursuit are all unshackled; and under the protection of a free government and equal laws, the institutions then so feebly developed, have shut up, and spread abroad, and covered the whole land, and blossomed and brought forth fruit abundantly-the fruit of knowledge and virtue.

But general expressions can give no idea of our progress. Fancy itself flags, and lingers, and halts behind the truth. Look only at our population. A hundred years ago, it did not exceed 700,000. At this day, it is more than 13,000,000. Consider, too, the difference between our progress in this respect, during the first half and the last half of the century just ended. The first fifty years added to the existing population 2,000,000, making in all nearly 3,000,000 of inhabitants in 1782. The last fifty years have added to that number more than 10,000,000. The whole shipping of America a century ago, was not 100,000 tons. At present, though the revolutionary war almost swept it from the ocean, and it suffered greatly in the last, it approaches 2,000,000 tons. In the whale fishery alone, 1,300 tons only of shipping were then employed, and it now gives occupation to 90,000 tons. Our whole exports and imports, which did not exceed one million sterling, have increased twenty-fold. There are no sufficient data for estimating our progress in other respects; but who can look around him without perceiving, that in domestic comfort, in internal improvements, in wealth, in knowledge, and in all the arts of life, it has been far more rapid even than in population or in trade; and that we have advanced with constantly accelerated speed during the whole period It began with achieving the work of a century in a generation, and it seems to end with crowding the work of generations into single years.—Gray.

We are indebted to Bouchette's elaborate work on the British Possessions, for the view of Montreal, presented above; as also for the following facts relating to that city.

The city of Montreal stands on the south side of the island of the same name, in latitude 45° 31' north, and longitude 73° 34′ west. The second city of the province in point of importance, it is undoubtedly the first with respect to situation, local advantages, and superiority of climate; its form is a prolonged square, that, with the suburbs, covers about one thousand and twenty acres of ground, although within the walls of the old fortifications the contents of the area did not exceed one hundred acres.

In its present state, Montreal certainly merits the appellation of a handsome city. It is divided into the upper and lower town, although the elevation of one above the other is scarcely perceptible; these are again subdivided into wards. The streets are airy, and the new ones, particularly, of a commodious width; some of them running the whole length of the town, parallel to the river, intersected by others at right angles. The houses are for the most part built of a grayish stone, many of them large, handsome, and in a modern style: sheetiron or tin is the universal covering of the roofs.

Montreal, as it is at present, containing a population of about thirty thousand souls, rivals the capital of Canada in many respects, and as a commercial emporium certainly surpasses it: seated near the confluence of several large rivers with the St. Lawrence, it receives by their means the productions of the best settled and also the most distant parts of the district, those of the fertile province of Upper Canada, as well as from the United States. Possessing these combined attractions, it is by no means unreasonable to infer, that in the lapse of a few years, it will become the most flourishing and prosperous city of the British North

American dominions; and Quebec, viewed as a military position, may always be looked upon as an impregnable bulwark to them. The harbor of Montreal is not very large, but always secure for shipping during the time the navigation of the river is open. Vessels drawing fifteen feet water can lie close to the shore, near the market gate, to receive or discharge their cargoes; the general depth of water is from three to four and a half fathoms, with very good anchorage every where between the Market-gate Island and the shore: in the spring this island is nearly submerged by the rising of the river; but still it is always useful in protecting ships anchored within it from the violent currents of that period, and at other times serves as a convenient spot for repairing boats, watercasks, and performing other indispensable works.

The environs of Montreal exhibit as rich, as fertile, and as finely diversified a country as can well be imagined. The space near the town, and all round the lower part of the mountain, is chiefly occupied by orchards and garden grounds; the latter producing vegetables of every description, and excellent in quality.

CREDULITY IN INDIA.

An amusing anecdote, related by Bishop Heber, gives us a good idea of the foibles and ignorance of one of the petty princes of India, and the ras cality of the minister who managed his affairs. The fondness of the king for mechanics (says the bishop), led him to try some experiments, in which he fell in with a Mussulman engineer of pleasing address. and ready talent, as well as considerable, though unimproved, genius for such pursuits. The king took so much delight in conversing with this man, that the minister began to fear a rising competitor, as well knowing that the meanness of his own birth

and functions had been no obstacle to his advancement. He therefore sent the engineer word-"if he were wise, to leave Lucknow." The poor man did so, removed to a place about ten miles down the river, and set up a shop there. The king, on inquiring after his humble friend, was told that he was dead of cholera; ordered a gratuity to be sent to his widow and children, and no more was said. Some time after, however, the king sailed down the river in his brig of war, as far as the place where the new shop stood. He was struck with the different signs of neatness and ingenuity which he observed in passing, made his men draw in to shore, and, to his astonishment, saw the deceased engineer, who stood trembling, and with joined hands, to receive him. After a short explanation, he ordered him to come on board, returned in high anger to Lucknow, and calling the minister, asked him again if it were certain such a man was dead. "Undoubtedly," was the reply; "I myself ascertained the fact, and conveyed your majesty's bounty to the widow and children." Harumzada," said the king, bursting into a fury, "look there, and never see my face more!" The vizier turned round, and saw how matters were circumstanced. With a terrible glance, which the king could not see, but which spoke volumes to the poor engineer, he imposed silence on the latter; then turning round again to his master, stopping his nose, and with many muttered exclamations of "God be merciful!" "Satan is strong!" 66 In the name of God, keep the devil from me!" he said, "I hope your majesty has not touched the horrible object." "Touch him," said the king, "the sight of him is enough to convince me of your rascality." "Istufirallah!" said the favorite; "and does not your majesty perceive the strong smell of a dead carcass?" The king still stormed; but his voice faltered, and curiosity and anxiety began to mingle with his indignation. "It is certain, refuge of the world," resumed the minister, "that your majesty's late engineer, with whom be peace! is dead and buried; but your slave knoweth not who has stolen his body from the grave, or what vampire it is who now inhabits it, to the terror of all good Mussulmans. Good were it that he were run through with a sword before your majesty's face, if it were not unlucky to shed blood in the auspicious presence. I pray your majesty dismiss us: I will see him conducted back to his grave; it may be that when that is opened, he may enter it again peaceably." The king, confused and agitated, knew not what to say or order. The attendants led the terrified mechanic out of the room; and the vizier, throwing him a purse, swore, with a horrible oath, that "if he did not put himself upon the other side of the company's frontier before the next morning, if he ever trod the earth again, it should be as a vampire indeed." This is, I think, no bad specimen of the manner in which an absolute sovereign may be persuaded out of his own senses.

The

Antonio Canova, one of the greatest sculptors of modern times, was born on the first of November, 1757, at Passagno, an obscure village situated amid the recesses of the hills of Asobano, where these form the last undulations of the Venetian Alps, as they subside into the plains of Treviso. At three years of age he was deprived of both parents. The father and grandfather of the artist followed the occupation of stone cutters. early years of Canova were passed in study, and the bias of his mind was to sculpture. In his ninth year he executed two small shrines of Carrara marble, which are still extant. He was patronized by the patrician family, Faliero of Venice, by whom, at the age of thirteen, he was placed under Bernardi, a sculptor of considerable eminence. In consequence of the death of his master, he was placed under Bernardi's nephew, with whom he continued about a year, and then commenced business on his own account. The kindness of some monks supplied him with his first workshops, where for four years he labored with the greatest industry. He determined to study from nature, and devoted a portion of his time to anatomy, which he considered as the secret of his art. He received orders for various groups, and his merits and reputation being pretty generally recognised, he turned his attention to the more classic banks of the Tiber, for which he set out at the commencement of his 22d year. Previous to his departure the Venetian senate granted him a pension for three years, amounting to 601. per annum. The work which first established his fame at Rome, was Theseus vanquishing the Minotaur, which was regarded with rapturous enthusiasm. His next undertaking was a monument in honor of Clement the XIV. which occupied him four years, and was opened to public inspection in 1787. Our limits will not permit us even to enumerate his various productions, all of which were of the highest order. The last performance which issued from his hand was a colossal bust of his friend the Count Cicognaua. He expired at Venice, on the 13th October, 1822, at the age of 65

The most distinguished funeral honors were paid to his remains, which were deposited in a temple of his own erecting at Passagno, on the 25th of the same month.

TRUST TO YOURSELF.

This is a glorious principle for the industrious and trading classes of the community; and yet the philosophy of it is not perhaps understood so well as it ought to be.

66

There is hardly any thing more common in the country than to hear men spoken of who originally, or at some period of their lives, were rich, but were ruined by security"-that is, by becoming bound to too great an extent for the engagements of their neighbors. This must arise in a great measure from an imperfect understanding of the question; and it therefore seems necessary that something should be said in explanation of it.

I would be far from desiring to see men shut up their hearts against each other, and each stand, in the panoply of his own resolutions, determined against every friendly appeal whatsoever. It is possible, however, to be not altogether a churl, and yet to take care lest we be tempted into an exertion of benevolence, dangerous to ourselves, while it is of little advantage to our friends.

Notwithstanding the many ties which connect a man with society, he nevertheless bears largely imprinted on his forehead the original doom, that he must chiefly be dependent on his own labor for subsistence. It is found by all men of experience, that, in so far as one trusts to his own exertions solely, he will be apt to flourish; and, in so far as he leans and depends upon others, he will be the reverse. Nothing can give so good a general assurance of well-doing as the personal activity of the individual, day by day exerted for his own interest. If a man, on the contrary, suddenly finds, in the midst of such a career, a prospect of some patronage which seems likely to enrich him at once, or if he falls into the heritage of some antiquated claims to property or title, which he thinks it necessary to prosecute, it is ten to one that he declines from that moment, and is finally ruined. The only true way to make a happy progress through this world, is to go on in a dogged, persevering pursuit of one good object, neither turning to the right nor to the left, making our business as much as possible our pleasure, and not permitting ourselves to awake from our dream of activity-not permitting ourselves to think that we have been active-till we suddenly find ourselves at the goal of our wishes, with fortune almost unconsciously within our grasp Chambers.

ART OF WRITING.

Mr. Mariner, in the account of his visit to the Tonga Islands, gives an interesting anecdote of a native's astonishment at the art of writing. Mr. Mariner, shortly after the commencement of his captivity among these savages, had, in the hope of thereby obtaining his liberty, written a letter, with a solution of gunpowder, on a piece of paper which he obtained from one of the natives; and he confided it to the care of a chief, with directions that it should be given to the captain of any ship which might appear on the coast. Finow, the king, however, having heard of this transaction, his suspicions were excited, and he immediately sent to the

chief for the letter, and obtained it. 'When it was put into his hands," the narrative proceeds, "he looked at it on all sides; but not being able to make any thing of it, he gave it to Jeremiah Higgins, who was at hand, and ordered him to say what it meant: Mr. Mariner was not present. Higgins took the letter, and translating part of it into the Tonga language, judiciously represented it to be merely a request to any English captain that might arrive to interfere with Finow for the liberty of Mr. Mariner and his countrymen: stating that they had been kindly treated by the natives, but nevertheless wished to return, if possible, to their native country. * * This mode of com

municating sentiments was an inexplicable puzzle to Finow; he took the letter again and examined it, but it afforded him no information. He considered the matter a little within himself; but his thoughts reflected no light upon the subject. At length he sent for Mr. Mariner, and desired him to write down something; the latter asked what he would chose to have written; he replied, put down me; he accordingly wrote Fee-now' (spelling it according to the strict English orthography); the chief then sent for another Englishman who had. not been present, and commanding Mr. Mariner to turn his back and look another way, he gave the man the paper, and desired him to read what that was: he accordingly pronounced aloud the name of the king, upon which Finow snatched the paper from his hand, and, with astonishment, looked at it, turned it round, and examined it in all directions: at length he exclaimed, 'this is neither like myself nor any body else! where are my legs? how do you know it to be I?' and then, without stopping for any attempt at an explanation, he impatiently ordered Mr. Mariner to write something else, and thus employed him for three or four hours in putting down the names of different persons, places, and things, and making the other man read them. This afforded extraordinary diversion to Finow, and to all the men and women present, particularly as he now and then whispered a little love anecdote, which was strictly written down, and audibly read by the other, not a little to the confusion of one or other of the ladies present; but it was all taken in good humor, for curiosity_and astonishment were the prevailing passions. How their names and circumstances could be communicated, through so mysterious a channel, was altogether past their comprehension. Finow at length thought he had got a notion of it, and explained to those about him it was very possible to put down a mark or sign of something that had been seen, both by the writer and reader, and which should be mutually understood by them; but Mr. Mariner immediately informed him, that he could write down any thing that he had never seen; the king directly whispered to him to put Toogoo Ahoo (the King of Tonga, whom he and Toobo Nuha had assassinated many years before Mr. Mariner's arrival). This was accordingly done, and the other read it; when Finow was yet more astonished, and declared it to be the most wonderful thing he had ever heard of. He then desired him to write Tarky' (the chief of the garrison of Bea, whom Mr. Mariner and his companions had not yet seen; this chief was blind in one eye). When Tarky' was read, Finow inquired whether he was blind or not; this was putting writing to an unfair test! and Mr. Mariner told him that he had only written down the sign standing for the sound of his name