which he owes his client, knows, in the discharge | ful flourishes of the knife, where the blood flows of that office, but one person in the world, THAT at every stroke. Most of these pieces have seen CLIENT AND NONE OTHER. To save that client by all expedient means-to protect that client at all hazards and costs to all others, and among others to himself is the highest and most unquestioned of his duties; and he must not regard the alarm, the suffering, the torment, the destruction, which he may bring upon any other." A more detestable doctrine than this, or one that, if generally acted on, would more surely break down the whole framework of society, it is impossible to imagine; and it would be unjust, even to Lord Brougham, to attribute it to any more deliberate origin than the profoundly parasitical desire to exaggerate the moral obligation which had forced him, in that special case, into opposition to George IV. It was reserved for Mr. Phillips to make it a common rule of practice; and, by such advocacy as that for Courvoisier, to separate himself forever, in fame and character, from the class of advocates described by Lord Langdale. Bentham has compared the relation of barrister and client to a compact of guilt between two confederated malefactors; and what better would it be if duty to a client justified such revolting aggression upon the innocent, such wicked perversion of truth, such solemn asseveration of falsehood, such abuse of the tribunal and forms of justice into engines of the worst injustice, as were presented in the defence of Courvoisier by Mr. Charles Phillips? [As this is a subject of great importance, we shall probably continue it next week.-Living Age.] NEW BOOKS. From the New York Tribune. People I Have Met; or, Pictures of Society and This quaint title might lead those who are unskilled in the mysteries of modern book-craft, to anticipate a different vein of writing from what they will find in the present amusing volume. Instead of a gallery of portraits of world-renowned celebrities, impressed on the memory of the author from his wanderings in many lauds, it is a series of light, sparkling, pictorial sketches of society and manners, in which, if any personalities are described, they are so shaded off with the bold touches of a rapid pencil, that it would not be easy for their own "maternal relative" to perceive their identity. The exceptions to this rule are not very numerous, and those, it must be confessed, are for the most part so sublimely audacious, that when intended for satire, the point of the arrow is blunted by the savage energy with which it is thrown. In general, this volume consists of a variety of off-hand, good-natured descriptions, clothed in the fine, transparent, gossamer web of a subtle fancy, which the writer always uses with such magical effect; though at times the artist gives place to the dissecter, and we are then treated to certain grace the light before, but the connoisseurs of this pecu- American Historical and Literary Curiosities. Col- This is a regular-built curiosity shop, and will delight the eyes of amateurs. Among other varieties which it comprises may be found a fac-simile of the celebrated Pitcher portrait of Washington, several letters from General Washington in exact resemblance of the original hand-writing, an autograph autobiography of John Adams and of ChiefJustice Marshall, an Indian Gazette, Curious Title Pages from Books in the Philadelphia Library, a variety of Autographs of modern authors, Bancroft, Percival, Longfellow, Halleck, Poe, Whittier, Brownson, Dr. Channing, R. H. Dana, Edward Everett, N. P. Willis, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and others, the Commission of Benedict Arnold as Major-General, Title Page of Elliot's Indian Bible, with many other antiquarian specimens of no less interest. This curious work is rich in associations and suggestions of the olden time, and is well suited to piece out the broken links of conversation in fashionable drawing-rooms. Visions and Voices, by JAMES STANTON BABCOCK. Hartford: Edwin Hunt. New York: Baker & Scribner. This volume consists of a collecton of posthu mous poetry, by an author whose promise of future distinction was cut off by an early death. He was a ripe and accomplished scholar, possessing a highly cultivated taste and no ordinary power of reflection and imagination. An interesting biographical notice is prefixed to the volume, and several philosophical fragments in prose are given at its close. The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey. We An elegant reprint of Southey's edition of this work has just been issued by G. P. Putnam, with notes by the American editors, M. A. Dwight, This volume opens with recollections of South- and E. P. Peabody, of Boston-both women of ey's early life, written by himself in a series of the literary taste and cultivation which eminently letters to a friend. They are characterized by the qualify them for the task. It contains illustranäiveté and graceful ease of expression which give tions from Flaxman's admirable designs. such a perpetual charm to his narrative style. The need not say that Cowper's rugged, though biography in this part is brought down by the expressive and life-like, version is preferred by editor to the twenty-fifth year of Southey's age, most lovers of Homer, to Pope's smooth and charincluding his college residence, his visit to Lis-acterless translation. Should the present volume bon, and the Susquehanna project. The subse- receive sufficient encouragement, it will be folquent numbers cannot fail to possess an exceeding lowed by a similar edition of the Odyssey. interest, not less on account of the talents and character of their subject, than of his central position in modern English literature. The King of the Hurons. By the Author of "The and A Place in thy Memory," is the title of a little volume by Mrs. S. H. De Krouyft, which presents a strong appeal to the favor of the benevolent, aside from the interesting character of its contents. "Three summers ago," says the author in a touching preface, "I had perfect sight. This is a story of civilized rather than of sav-I was in one short month a bride, a widow, age life, in spite of the title, and displays the blind, yet Providence has made it needful for me same power of expression and skilful grouping to do something to provide for myself food and of character, which have won an extensive raiment." Having spent one year at the New larity to the former productions of the author. York Institution for the Blind, which term expired With his decided talent for invention and graphic last May, and finding herself destitute of a home, delineation, he can scarcely fail to obtain an the author was induced to solicit subscribers to eminent rank in the fictitious literature of the country. popu The Other Side; or, Notes for the History of the This work, from which The Tribune has already given several extracts while it was passing through the press, is a literary curiosity, as well as a valuable historical production. As a vivid portraiture of the horrors of the unhappy Mexican War, it cannot fail to be read with great interest. It presents in strong colors the view of the subject prevailing in Mexico, though it retains to a remarkable extent the impartiality essential to an historical narrative. the Somerville's Physical Geography, a clever, and to us most entertaining book, has been republished from the last London edition by Lee & Blanchard, of Philadelphia. This edition is considerably enlarged, with new matter, collected from the more recent researches of travellers and naturalists, and some inaccuracies have been corrected. A glossary of scientific and technical Treatise on Marine and Naval Architecture. By terms has been prepared for the American edition, JOHN W. GRIFFITHS. which will add to its value as a work intended for popular perusal.-N. Y. Eve. Post. This is the first number of an elegantly printed series on the theory and practice of Ship-Building. C. S. FRANCIS & Co. have just published The whole work is to be comprised in twelve "The French Metropolis," an elegant octavo numbers of thirty-two pages each, forming a large volume, illustrated with twenty very correct and quarto volume, with more than fifty engravings, beautiful engravings of celebrated edifices and exhibiting the finest models of all descriptions of localities in Paris. This work differs from any vessels. The author proposes to publish a trea- we have seen on the same theme, in the minute tise, that shall embrace everything known to be description of hospitals, physicians, and out-of-the of practical utility on the subject both in the Old way phases of Parisian life. It is lively, full of and New World, with improvements introduced information, interspersed with anecdotes, and by himself, that have had the test of experimental contains descriptive passages of uncommon interevidence. Besides the complete theoretical dis- est. The author is Dr. Gardiner of this city. cussions, it will contain many useful rules required" Bible Cartoons" is a very desirable gift-book, in daily practice, with which many are not issued by the same house, and "The Fairy Gem" familiar. (New York: Published by the Author.) an exquisite little juvenile.-Home Journal. POETRY.-The Resurrection of the Body; The Sabbath Bell, 148.—Eternity, 173. NEW BOOKS.-174, 175 190, 191. of the condition and changes of foreign countries. And this not only because of their nearer connection with ourselves, but because the nations seem to be hastening, through a rapid process of change, to some new state of things, which the merely political prophet cannot compute or foresee. PROSPECTUS. This work is conducted in the spirit of | now becomes every intelligent American to be informed Littell's Museum of Foreign Literature, (which was favorably received by the public for twenty years,) but as it is twice as large, and appears so often, we not only give spirit and freshness to it by many things which were excluded by a month's delay, but while thus extending our scope and gathering a greater and more attractive variety, are able so to increase the solid and substantial part of our literary, historical, and political harvest, as fully to satisfy the wants of the American reader. The elaborate and stately Essays of the Edinburgh, Quarterly, and other Reviews; and Blackwood's noble criticisms on Poetry, his keen political Commentaries, highly wrought Tales, and vivid descriptions of rural and mountain Scenery; and the contributions to Literature, History, and Common Life, by the sagacious Spectator, the sparkling Examiner, the judicious Athenæum, the busy and industrious Literary Gazette, the sensible and comprehensive Britannia, the sober and respectable Christian Observer; these are intermixed with the Military and Naval reminiscences of the United Service, and with the best articles of the Dublin University, New Monthly, Fraser's, Tait's, Ainsworth's, Hood's, and Sporting Magazines, and of Chambers' admirable Journal. We do not consider it beneath our dignity to borrow wit and wisdom from Punch; and, when we think it good enough, make use of the thunder of The Times. We shall increase our variety by importations from the continent of Europe, and from the new growth of the British colonies. The steamship has brought Europe, Asia and Africa, into our neighborhood; and will greatly multiply our connections, as Merchants, Traveliers, and Politicians, with all parts of the world; so that much more than ever it TERMS. The LIVING AGE 18 published every Saturday, by E. LITTELL & Co., corner of Tremont and Bromfield sts., Buston; Price 123 cents a number, or six dollars a year in advance. Remittances for any period will be thankfully received and promptly attended to. To insure regularity in mailing the work, orders should be addressed to the office of publication, as above. Clubs, paying a year in advance, will be supplied as follows: Complete sets, in twenty volumes, to the end of March, 1949, handsomely bound, and packed in reat boxes, are for sale at forty dollars. 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We hope that, by "winnowing the wheat from the chaff" by providing abundantly for the imagination, and by a large collection of Biography, Voyages and Travels, History, and more solid matter, we may produce a work which shall be popular, while at the same time it will aspire to raise the standard of public taste. Agencies. We are desirous of making arrangements in all parts of North America, for increasing the circulation of this work--and for doing this a liberal commission will be allowed to gentlemen who will interest themselves in the business. And we will gladly correspond on this subject with any agent who will send us undoubted refer ences. Postage. When sent with the cover on, the Living Age consists of three sheets, and is rated as a pamphlet, at 4 cents. But when sent without the cover, it comes within the definition of a newspaper given in the law, and cannot legally be charged with more than newspaper postage, (1 cts.) We add the definition alluded to: A newspaper is "any printed publication, issued in numbers, consisting of not more than two sheets, and published at short, stated intervals of not more than one month, conveying intelligence of passing events." Monthly parts.-For such as prefer it in that form, the Living Age is put up in monthly parts, containing four or five weekly numbers. In this shape it shows to great advantage in comparison with other works, containing in each part double the matter of any of the quarterlies. But we recommend the weekly numbers, as fresher and fuller of life. Postage on the monthly parts is about 14 cents. The volumes are published quarterly, each volume containing as much matter as a quarterly review gives in eighteen months. WASHINGTON, 27 Dec., 1845. Or all the Periodical Journals devoted to literature and science which abound in Europe and in this country, this has appeared to me to be the most useful. It contains indeed the exposition only of the current literature of the English language, but this by its immense extent and comprehension includes a portraiture of the human mind in the utmost expansion of the present age. J. Q. ADAMS. LITTELL'S LIVING AGE.-No. 298.-2 FEBRUARY, 1850. Qui dubiis ausus committere flatibus alnum THE great problem of the North-west Passage has, from an early period in this country, been a favorite subject of research; and has, ever since the discovery of America, and the full development of Britain's maritime greatness, been zealously and steadily pursued. Among the most prominent of her navigators, who have exercised their talents and exhausted their energies in this arduous undertaking, are to be found names of the highest order; men canonized in the calendar of science, and standing in the foremost rank of those who have contributed, by their exertions, to the advancement of civilization, and the promotion of the welfare of mankind. If we, however, look to the solution of this problem as the means of promoting any mere physical advantage, we are inclined to think that the gain would be trifling and unimportant; saving, so far as it may conduce to the advantage of science, by the knowledge which necessarily results from the scientific labors of the persons engaged in the undertaking. If a correct knowledge of the physical structure of the earth is of any importance, then surely we are indebted to Arctic navigators, who have contributed so much to our knowledge upon the subject. A modern chart of the Arctic Regions is a very different thing from the earlier geographical delineations of this portion of the globe; and our present knowledge of the formation of the northern shore of the American continent, must not be compared with our information upon the same subject fifty years since. We are, therefore, inclined to look upon these expeditions as the instruments of solution of a mere problem in geography, and as the means of promoting and improving our physical science, rather than as likely to produce any practica. advantage in the arts of life. At an early period, the very obscure notions entertained of the form of the northern extremity of the American continent, led to some chimerical views upon this subject; but when Cabot Verazzani and Cortereal established the continuity of the American coast, from the Gulf of Mexico to the borders of the Arctic Circle, the problem assumed a new form, and it no longer seemed the easy and specious undertaking that it had formerly appeared. However, a more correct view of the difficulties to be encountered by no means diminished the interest in the question; and perhaps the difficulty attending it, and the dangers which beset its accomplishment, in no small degree conspired with the greatness of the objects to which it related, to make it attractive in the eyes of a people, with whose nature such enterprises are congenial. Regarding, therefore, the problem of the Northwest Passage as a matter of science, and allowing it little weight as a practical object of commercial navigation, we are inclined to consider it as by no means barren of great moral consequences, and as befitting the character of a great maritime nation. If we were to appreciate the value of geographical discovery generally, by the amount of physical benefit it confers upon the species, we should find perhaps that it holds but a low place in the scale of the arts of life. The discovery of America, and of the modern passage to India, have added little to the condition of the mere physical man. Men are by no means more virtuous, and probably in no degree happier, because they command the spices of India or the tobacco of America. The wants of man are rather relative, than absolute; the luxuries of India would never have been coveted, had they never been enjoyed. But the discovery of America, and the facility of reaching India, were events which conferred immense advantages upon mankind. Society has gradually but steadily been exalted in the scale of being, not because these discoveries in navigation have pam Yet, we must confess, that as a mere physical problem, we are inclined to attach much less importance to the North-west Passage than some others; and, considering it in a commercial point of view, we think it hardly promises any real benefit to society; for in the high latitudes, where alone it can be sought, it would necessarily, if attained, be precarious and uncertain, and depend-pered the fastidious appetite with costly viande, or ent upon a thousand accidents, over which man can have no control. It is impossible to deny to the problem all the interest which attaches to romance; the reaching of the centre of motion on the earth's surface, the actual observation of its ideal axis of rotation, are objects which cannot fail to engage the interest of the curious, and provoke the inquiry of the learned. modified and changed the culinary propensities of man; but because his moral nature has thereby been more fully developed-because his energies have thereby found fresh food for employment, and his functions and capabilities more ample means of use and exercise. The opening of a new world awoke a fresh source of dormant energy in man, the sphere of his existence became ex panded, his moral stature was exalted, and his services ought to have secured. Thus, previously Cook and Sir John Ross were each unfortunate in their day and generation-the one found only ice where the learned had hoped and expected to find land; and the other found land, where it had long been previously settled that he ought to find water. mental horizon extended beyond its ancient limits. to the expedition of Sir John Ross, in 1818, all Thus is it with this long-vexed problem of the the world ran mad upon a great Polar Basin; as, North-west Passage, which has perhaps done for in the days of Captain Cook, the fireside travelgeography and navigation what alchemy accom- lers had agreed upon a great polar continent. plished for chemical science, or what the vain Captain Cook disappointed the enthusiasts of his search for the philosopher's stone and perpetual day, as Captain Sir John Ross and his associates motion effected for medicine and mechanics. subsequently did in theirs, by failing to realize Though the problem itself may never be entirely all the idle dreams and silly theories of tea-table solved, and although nothing that has been accom-voyagers and "Quarterly Reviewers." Captain plished leads us to hope that we are nearer attaining our object, still it has already rewarded its followers with important benefits. Naval energy has received a series of impulses which will not fail in due season to produce ample fruits; the spirit of enterprise has been awakened, and the love of knowledge and adventure has been disseminated. Men have been taught to struggle with the stern and severe dangers of a Boreal winter, and to regard with an unflinching and dauntless spirit, the storms, the snows, and appalling dangers of the North. Regarding, then, this problem as a problem of science, rather than of social life, it is to be regretted that the Board of Admiralty have not always, in the organization of these expeditions, paid sufficient attention to the selection of persons competent to conduct those scientific inquiries which are expected to arise, and which are supposed to form an essential element in the composition of such undertakings. It is then scarcely to be wondered at, that the addition to our physical knowledge has not been so great as the several expensive expeditions had led us to expect; and it is really wonderful to contemplate how very little has been done in two centuries of generations actively engaged in solving the problem. The accumulated experience which has been recorded from time to time, proves that the Polar seas have remained in much the same state for a series of ages. The great barriers may now and then partially shift their position, but they soon return to their original limits, and repel, with obstinate pertinacity, all approaches of the navigator. It is too much to anticipate in the commander The search for a North-west Passage first of such an expedition, the possession of all those assumed something like a serious aspect in the varied accomplishments which are necessary for reign of Elizabeth, but as it was unable to inspire making it useful and beneficial. Whatever degree that princess with the hope of any solid and imof accomplishment he may possess in his own mediate advantage, it did not sufficiently engage profession, it is unreasonable to expect in him a ca- her sympathies, or operate upon her interest, to pacity to decide delicate questions of science, alto-induce her to bestow upon it either care or treasgether out of the sphere and practice of his vocation. ure. The ordinary calls upon his attention and upon the duties of command are so frequent, so important and engrossing, that it is impossible he can find leisure to divide with his professional calling the practical pursuits of science, requiring by them-means, he exposed himself, in 1576, to all the selves an exclusive attention. If more regard had been paid to this part of the subject, the various expeditions, which have been fitted out since 1818, would have yielded a more ample and valuable harvest. Another disadvantage under which these expeditions have ever labored, is, that their projectors have not always adopted that philosophical method which can alone guard us from the consequences of error, prejudice, or haste. Ingenuity and imagination have created favorite theories and pet hypotheses, and have expected from the phenomena of nature a submissive acquiescence; so that the results of an expedition were anticipated, and drawn upon the chart in London, before the ships left their moorings at Gravesend. The result of all this was, that in the cases where these idle theories and unstable hypotheses were not confirmed by actual observation, the navigators failed to ensure that amount of consideration, gratitude, and reward, which their arduous and meritorious 920 19 5500769 old 40 97) The renowned Frobisher succeeded, after fifteen years of vain solicitation, in obtaining the means of equipping two miserable barks, of only twenty-five tons each. With these inadequate horrors of a Polar climate, and to the dangers and tempests of the northern deep. Three voyages were devoted by this dauntless and accomplished seaman, to the beating about Hudson's Bay, before he discovered the main entrance into that sea. What with the inadequate means at his disposal, the frail character of the craft upon which he was dependent, combined with the disadvantages of the imperfect state of navigation in this early age of science, we are not to be surprised that he was the victim of a series of painful disasters-that he became entangled in the narrow channels perpetually filled with masses of floating ice, and gained no step towards the fulfilment of his object. But in those days there were in England enthusiasts, as at present, though they were not susceptible of the same impressions, and their sympathies were not excited by the same agents. It booted little to Queen Elizabeth, or her court, whether the Pole was ornamented with a basin or a continent -the courtiers of those days were little engaged 9.87 |