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admirer, who reduces her personal attractions to a series of items. The following is the catalogue which she herself has authenticated, by endorsing the paper with her own name :

DESCRIPTION OF ME.

Age-Between 30 and 40, which, in the register of a lady's birth, means a little turned of 30.

Height-Above the middle size, and rather tall.

Figure-Handsome, and striking in its general air, but a little too stiff and

erect.

Shape-Rather too fond of sharp angles.

Skin-By nature fair, though a little freckled, and with a tinge of sand, which is the colour of her eye lashes, but made coarse by ill treatment upon her cheeks and arms.

Bosom-None; or so diminutive, that its like a needle in a bottle of

hay.

[On the last article the biographer has to remark, that he admits the want complained of, but cannot admit the simile; for although with Bottom, he allows that "good sweet hay has no fellow," and may therefore vie with the breath from the purest bosom; yet the needle if found, has not a single point of resemblance to anything but the sharpness of her wit.]

Hair Of a sandy auburn, and rather too straight as well as thin.
Face-Beautiful in effect, and beautiful in every feature.

Countenance-Full of spirit and sweetness; excessively interesting, and, without indelicacy, voluptuous.

Dress-Always becoming; and very seldom worth so much as eightpence. vol. i. pp. 175, 176.

In opening the second volume, we are struck with a passage which occurs in an early page, and which we found to contain a short, and, on the part of the lady, a particularly sharp correspondence, between Mrs. Inchbald and Mr. Godwin. It appears that an estrangement had subsisted between them for some time, when Curran, the famous Irish wit, called on Mrs. Inchbald. He saw by the expressions which she employed in reference to Mr. Godwin, that she was indignant at his conduct, and he resolved to inform the latter of the fact, as it was the duty of a friend to do. Godwin accordingly wrote; and after saying that the reproach which he addressed to her two years before the period when he wrote, had been wrung from him at a moment the most painful and agonizing in human life, he allowed her ten days' consideration, and sent her a new novel, which he had just published, as a sort of peace offering to conciliate her. But she quickly sent back her ultimatum in the following terms:

"With the most sincere sympathy in all you have suffered, with the most perfect forgiveness of all you have said to me, there must, nevertheless, be an end to our acquaintance for ever. I respect your prejudices, but I also respect my own."

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Mrs. Inchbald, when she had attained her fiftieth year, had advanced so far both as an actress and a literary lady, as to be invited by countesses and ladies of fashion as a lioness of no mean attraction. Perhaps a surer test of the high reputation of Mrs. Inchbald, at the commencement of the present century, could not be pointed out than that which was given by the proprietor of the Quarterly Review; for at the time that this periodical was determined on, Mrs. Inchbald happened to be one of the persons who was earliest solicited as a contributor. She first received a letter from Mr. J. Hoppner, in which he informed her that it was the intention of some gentlemen of the very first literary character to establish, he says, "in London a Quarterly Review, that will be patronised by people of the first distinction in the country, and cannot, therefore, fail of proving successful. I am requested to solicit the favour of your aid and abilities to the work, on such terms as you may think proper to propose. The first number will be published in the first week in February, and Madame Cottin's Malvina is offered for your inspection."

In a postscript to this note, Mr. Hoppner assures the lady that the work, which was expected to be honoured by her talents, would not only live, but promised to maintain a great reputation. Mr. John Murray's letter is still more importunate, and perhaps savours too much of a servile tone. Still the spirit and language of the letter prove very forcibly the ascendency which Mrs. Inchbald had acquired in the literary world. The following extract is adduced in proof of what we have stated:

"MADAM,

"At the request of Mr. Hoppner and the Editor of the new Review, I have now the pleasure of sending you the last afterpiece, The School for Authors, by the late Mr. Tobin. As it is desirable to study subjects as well as books, and to generalise as much as to criticise, if, in your review of this production, you could take an excursive view of the present state of theatrical literature, from your own knowledge and observation, the editor conceives this play would be rendered a more interesting article; but he leaves it to your better experience to manage as you please.

"Mr. Hoppner will inform you hereafter more particularly of the writers in, and plan of, his work, for which we solicit the addition of your wellknown talents; and, in the meantime, I will venture to assure you that your associates are, without exception, the first literary characters in this country-all of whom have written with as much anxiety and care as if their reputation depended on the anonymous criticisms they have contributed. I beg leave also to acquaint you that the most inviolable secresy will always be observed respecting the writer of each particular article. Should any other book, or subject even, you may accidentally see advertised, appear more congenial and interesting to you than the one now offered, I will only beg the honour of one line, and it shall be immediately forwarded. It would be obliging to the editor if the article could be com

pleted, in a way that will be satisfactory to yourself, something within a fortnight.

"I am happy in this opportunity of offering, withc ompliments, assurances of the high esteem with which I have long been, Madam, "Your literary admirer and humble servant, "JOHN MURRAY."

Amongst the letters which are to be found in this second volume, we observe several from Miss Edgeworth and some other members of her family; they all appear to be smitten with the greatest veneration for Mrs. Inchbald. A curious reciprocity of critical assistance seems to have been carried on between these two ladies, on a scale and under conditions fully capable, we think, of being much more extensively carried into practice. The criticisms on each other's works, present the evidence of each being guided by a sincere wish to improve the productions of the other; and though occasionally the one makes a suggestion respecting a change in what has been written by the other, still the general tenor of the epistles from both sides is unbounded praise and congratulation. Thus Miss Edgeworth, in writing to Mrs. Inchbald on the beautiful novel of the latter, entitled The Simple Story, tells her, after going over the book for the fourth time, that its effect upon her feelings was as powerful as at the first reading. "I never (she declares), read any novel-I except none-I never read any novel that affected me so strongly, or that so completely possessed me with the belief in the real existence of all the people it represents.. I never once recollected the author whilst I was reading it; never said or thought, that's fine sentiment-or, that is well expressedor, that is well invented. I believed all to be real, and was affected as I should be by the real scenes, if they had passed before my eyes it is truly and deeply pathetic. I determined, this time of reading, to read it as a critic-or rather, as an author, to try to find out the secret of its peculiar pathos. But I quite forgot my intention in the interest Miss Milner and Dorriforth excited: but now it is all over, and that I can coolly exercise my judgment, I am of opinion that it is by leaving more than most other writers to the imagination, that you succeed so eminently in affecting it. By the force that is necessary to repress feeling, we judge of the intensity of the feeling; and you always contrive to give us, by intelligible but simple signs, the measure of this force. Writers of inferior genius waste their words in describing feeling; in making those who pretend to be agitated by passion, describe the effects of that passion, and talk of the rending of their hearts, &c. A gross blunder! as gross as any Irish blunder; for the heart cannot feel, and describe its own feelings, at the same moment. It is being like a bird in two places at once"."

Mrs. Joanna Baillie's eulogy of the same book, which appears in a letter addressed by her to one of her female friends, is equally strong and sincere.

We believe that we have now laid before the reader the heads of the very few subjects to be found in these two volumes, which possess either importance or interest. We have already expressed our sense of the folly of the biographer in affording so considerable a space as he has devoted to statements and descriptions which it is impossible for any human being to peruse without being convinced of their insignificance. The same objection applies most forcibly to a great number of the letters contained in these volumes; for it seems that the only condition on which Mr. Boaden conceded the right to have any correspondent's letters admitted, was the very simple one, that the said letters happened to be addressed to Mrs. Inchbald. Hence by far the greater proportion of the work might have been withheld, had Mr. Boaden been solely actuated by a regard for the memory of his heroine; but it has in this instance, as in many others, unfortunately happened that the weakness of a friend has been found as adverse to the object of his partiality as the malicious hostility of an open foe; and it is our humble belief, that in getting up this book, Mr. Boaden acted under the delusion that he was rendering honour to the name of Mrs. Inchbald, whilst, in reality, he was only manufacturing a great book for himself.

ART. IV. Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, during the years 1828, 1829, 1830, and 1831; with Observations on the Soil, Climate, and General Resources of the Colony of New South Wales. By Capt. CHARLES STURT, 39th Regiment, F.L.S. and F.R.G.S. In 2 vols. with coloured maps and other beautiful illustrations. London: Smith, Elder, and Co. 1833.

WHATEVER difference of opinion may exist in the public mind with respect to the direct line of politics adopted by the present government, there can be but one feeling, at all events, as to the credit which they deserve for the liberal protection afforded by them to science. The praise of having taken the lead in this sort of honourable patronage, belongs in an especial manner to Lord Goderich, the late Secretary of the Home Department, whose influence has been exercised in an indirect channel for the benefit of the public, with infinitely more service to their true interests than ever has proceeded from the official labours of even the best of his predecessors. Were we merely to mention, that it was through him that such a society as the Royal Geographical Association was called into existence, we think we should state quite enough to distinguish him in the most favourable manner from every former incumbent of his office.

The present advanced state of Australia-a few years ago a mere wilderness inhabited only by savages-is altogether to be traced

to the judicious care of the colonial department in England. Amongst the numerous conquests of England over the world, by which she has contrived to justify the magnificent boast of the sun never setting on her dominions, perhaps one more deeply important than that of Australia, a huge continent of modern discovery in the southern deep, has not been numbered amongst her possessions. It is only when we think of the sad annals of the West Indian colonies, and how deeply those annals involve the morality of this country-it is only by attending to the dark catalogue of the disasters which British emigrants to the East Indian islands and continent have sustained during our connection with those places-it is only, we repeat, by remembering all this, that we can have an adequate idea of the value of a colony in which are united all those qualifications of climate and soil that are calculated to make life endurable under the ordinary ills to which humanity is subject. Such a country, if we are to credit many authentic statements, and particularly the evidence before us, is the territory of Australia, or that portion of the world called New Holland, of which New South Wales is only a small colony.

It was only as late as the year 1788, that the British government took formal possession of the eastern coast of New Holland, where it established a penal colony. The first settlers confined themselves merely to a single district, now called the county of Cumberland. In process of time, the limits of the district were found too narrow for the increased population, as well as the multiplied stock belonging to it, and the result was the addition of a considerable tract running into the interior to the cultivated and inhabited portion, which was hitherto confined to the vicinity of the coast. Then commenced a series of expeditions for exploring the state of the inland country. At first these undertakings were left to be pursued by unsupported individual enterprise, and one of the most distinguished of those who engaged in them was Lieut. Lawson, of the 104th regiment, who was assisted by Messrs. Blaxland and Wentworth. The success which attended their efforts induced Governor Macquarie to promote the prosecution of inland discovery, and the result of the first expedition which he directed was the finding of the great river now called the Macquarie, and also of Bathurst Plains. Mr. Evans, who accompanied the governor to the latter place, was ordered to proceed further into the interior, and his researches were so successful, that he also discovered a considerable river, flowing like the Macquarie, in a westward direction, and to this he gave the name of the Lachlan. The consequences of these investigations were of a nature to encourage great expectations respecting the quality of the soil, climate, &c. of the interior, and an expedition on a more extensive scale was fitted out, of which Mr. Oxley, the surveyor-general of the colony, was appointed chief. The principal object which was held in view by this expedition, was to ascertain the course of the two rivers, and the

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