From the Spectator. ed by ELIOT WARBURTON, Esq., author of "The Crescent and the Cross."' In two volumes. Colburn.* Hochelaga, with more of point, pith, and condensaHochelaga; or England in the New World. Edit- tion; and where the subject is worth an additional view-as Niagara-the picture is desirable on this The summaries of such things as the ground. now settled Oregon question, the exposition of the American constitution, or the history of Canada, had indeed been better away, because, however able, they are jejune from the space into which they are compressed, and are little more than wellexecuted compendiums for a gazetteer. HOCHELAGA is said to have been the ancient name of Canada; and these volumes contain an account of a visit to that country, some rambles in the United States, with a notice of the outward and homeward voyage, mixed with a variety of miscellaneous subjects springing naturally out of the field of observation. The celebrated and successful author of The Crescent and the Cross, Mr. Warburton, professes to be only the editor of the volumes, who vouches for the "tone and truth." The work, however, is exceedingly Warburtonian, not only in its manner but its treatment. The smart and pointed vivacity of style is the same as in The Crescent and the Cross; there is the same disposition to rapid and rhetorical compilation touching the history and statistics of every place the traveller comes to, and a something of heaviness in the march of the book, in spite of all the excellences of composition. The remarkable parts of the book are those which contain the author's narrative of such incidents as occurred to himself or fell under his immediate observation, or his remarks on men, manners, and the state of the country. These are often of interest in themselves, full of matter, and with much of freshness; but the most remarkable characteristic is the way in which the author brings out the text of his subjects, by his pointed and impressive mode of presenting their striking traits. This is perhaps as much a knack of writing as a thorough appreciation of the qualities of things; but, if an artifice, it is often very effective. Thus, he brings out by a touch the fine but inappropriate names and slender buildings of the newly-settled districts. "At each seven or eight miles of distance are thriving villages, built with the solidity and rapidity of the city of the pack of cards, and all named by Mrs. Malaprop-Rome is situated in a valley, and looks as if it had been built in a day." But a greater interest, and perhaps more of freshness in the subject, renders Hochelaga a better book than its predecessor. The Mediterranean, Egypt, and Syria, do not receive so many people as North America, but they are visited by more professional travellers; they have been more thor- The American part of the tour has not only the oughly examined and exhausted; and, after all, greatest interest for the reader from the nature of the interest is rather of the dead or dying than of its subjects, but we think the strong contrasts and the living. The remains of Grecian and Roman an- strange peculiarities of that fervid nation are better tiquity are but the skeletons of what were once suited to the writer's style than the quieter and animated creatures: the Crescent appears in a state more English society of Canada. His character, of decrepitude, and the revival of the Cross is too too, qualifies him to judge. A gentleman acquaintremote for any credence save that of the enthusi-ed with good society in many countries, and havastic. But all is different in the New World. It ing evidently access to it in America, he has the may not be quite true that "Westward the scene tolerance of a gentleman, with the power of a man of empire bends its way," but there, without doubt, of the world to draw distinctions: and his concluare new modes of political being rising into vigor- sions coincide with those we have more than onco ous life, and not merely exciting the most careless advanced touching manners and morals in America. passenger by the rapidity with which society wins There are many persons of the finest feeling and upon the wilderness, and surpasses all that pan- of the highest sense of honor, though the last qualegyrical poetry could exaggerate of imperial pow-ity is too often tainted by the "auri sacra fames;" er, but furnishing to the thoughtful observer some of the most singular elements in politics-for Canada and the other British settlements are quite as curious in their way as the United States. They are not, indeed, so far advanced, and perhaps the elements in them are somewhat different; but there are the possible germs of a counterbalance to the The various topics, and the writer's mode of fierce democracy to the south of them, which it treating them, are, after all, better shown by exwould be well to understand and better to culti-tracts than description; and for this purpose we will draw pretty freely upon Hochelaga. vate. A perfect traveller, who should combine the wisdom and observation of the philosopher with the graces of the literary artist, will be vainly waited for. We must obtain our notions of a country by means of a division of labor, one man taking one part, another man another. In this point of view, it is well to have the pictures of Mr. Warburton or his "alter idem." The reader who is extensively acquainted with books of travels may meet much that he has met before-as the predominance of fish at Newfoundland, the beauties of the American foliage in autumn, winter travelling in Canada, and perhaps nearly all the broad and obvious features of scenery and manners which every one must notice. But they are mostly better done in but the majority predominates in everything-not only in political power, but in giving the tone to manners and opinions. America, in fact, is deprived of the use of the services and example of her best citizens, and has recourse to those of her worst. AMERICAN TRAITS. "Our primitive railway carried us again to Queenston: we pass over the ferry to Lewiston, and are soon on board an American steamer bound for Oswego, in the United States, on the south shore of Lake Ontario. There were a great number of people in the steamer, all Americans, travelling for health or amusement. I talked to every one I could get to listen to me, and found them courteous, intelligent, and communicative; well read over a very broad surface, particularly of newspapers, but only a surface; very favorably disposed to the English as individuals, but I fear not so as a nation; rather given to generalize on our affairson the state of the poor, from the Andover workhouse—on the nobility, from the late Lord Hert ford-on morality, from Dr. Lardner. These are is punished accordingly. To establish a system of the sort of data on such matters kept forever before this sort among boys, formerly from fourteen, now their eyes by their press, echoed and reëchoed from fifteen years of age upwards, is a very delithrough the remotest parts of the Union, till even cate and difficult matter; but when accomplished, the best-informed and most liberal-minded among it is invaluable; the boy must be thoroughly corthem are, more or less, acted upon by their influ- rupt who does not imbibe a spirit of truth and honesty under its influence. It teaches to love what is great and good, and hate all that is false, or mean, or cruel. "Utica is a large and flourishing town, or city as they love to call it. Through all these districts the stranger is astonished at the appearance of prosperity in every place and person; he sees no bad or even small houses, no poor or idle people; every place of business, transit, or amusement, is always full; lecture-rooms, railway-cars, theatres, hotels, banks, markets, crowded to bursting. There is something infectious in this fever of activity; and I soon found myself rushing in and out of railway dépôts and dining-rooms just as fast as any one else. * "Our ideas of their perfect equality are just as much exaggerated as theirs are of our tyranny of class; servants generally are called servants, and address their superiors as sir' and 'ma'am;' porters, cab-drivers, and all those classes of functionaries the same. I think there is very little difference between their manners and those which we are accustomed to; and they are quite as civil and obliging." WAITERS' IDEAS OF LORDS. "At West Point, to establish a system like this would be almost impossible. An officer of the institution told me, that sometimes boys arrived at the college utterly ignorant of everything, especially of the difference between right and wrong: they find it more difficult to qualify many of their pupils in matters of honor and principle than in mathematics and fortification. The appointment of the cadets rests with members of congress, each having one in spite of this, and of its being of such essential consequence to their army, there is every year the bitterest opposition to the rate for the expenses of the college. A great ground of jealousy is, that there is a decidedly aristocratical feeling among the officers of the army. I have had the pleasure of knowing many: America may well be proud of them; they are highly educated and gentlemanly, upright and honorable, zealous and efficient in their profession; with the greatest pleasure I bear witness that I have met with no exceptions. They are a most valuable class as citizens; and their high tone of feeling and good man They at least are clear of the eternal struggle for gain, and have leisure and taste for cultivating the graces of life. The enemies of America may rejoice when the institution of West Point is abandoned by the government.' THE RANK AND FILE. "We found a very good hotel there, where we slept comfortably without any dreams of the In-ners are not without an influence on society. dians. I found in the morning I had indulged too much to be in time for the regular breakfast; but there was a side-table laid in the corner, where one or two stragglers from the town and I seated ourselves; one of the waiters having put on the table what was necessary for his and our use during the meal, sat down himself also, and entered into conversation with us. He spoke quite freely, but at the same time respectfully-his manner was very proper. I talked to him a good deal; on many points he seemed wonderfully well-informed for a man in his situation. Some of his notions of England were rather amusing. He understood that it was quite an usual thing for an English lord, when in a bad humor, to horsewhip his servants all round, particularly on a day when his gun had failed to kill a sufficient number of foxes. Perhaps you may think the ideas of a waiter at a county inn not worth being printed; I think they are, in a land where his share of the government is as great as that of a doctor of laws or a millionnaire. "My Georgian friends expressed much surprise when they heard the waiter had been my companion at breakfast; but I have seen similar cases in several instances: the horsewhipping notion did not astonish them in the least." "I cannot speak so favorably of the rank and file of the army; one third of them are Irish and Germans of the very lowest class. Although their term of enlistment is only for three or five years, thirty in a hundred desert annually. Their pay is about a shilling a day above the cost of their clothing and living. The uniform is not calculated to show them off to advantage: their performance under arms is very inferior-at drill only I mean, for it is known that they can fight very well. Their barracks are generally much better than those of our troops. At first sight it appears strange, that when the officers are so very good the private soldiers should be so much the reverse; but the evil of the short period of service, rendered greater by desertion, and by their discontent at being worse off than their civilian fellowcitizens, makes them but indifferent matériel. They are not regarded in a very kindly or respectful light by the lower classes of the people. It seems an instinct of the Anglo-Saxon race to dislike regular soldiers, though they themselves make such good ones; perhaps it is from the military being associated in their ideas with despotic power." INTRODUCTION TO PRESIDENT POLK. WOOLWICH, WEST POINT, AND AMERICAN OFFICERS. in the Phoenix Park in Dublin; but, much as I had where; theirs is a dark and sombre path through heard of the republican simplicity of the arrange-life, though every step were on gold. Sarcastic ments, I was not prepared to find it what it was. wit will win from them a sarcastic grin; the happy We entered without ringing at the door: my kind conclusion of some hard-driven bargain may raise a guide, leading the way, passed through the lower smile of satisfaction; but the joyful burst of cheerpremises, and ascended the staircase; at the top ful laughter, the glee and hilarity of a happy heart, of which we saw a negro, dressed very plainly, in you must go elsewhere to seek. They are not a clothes of the same color as his face. He grinned healthy-looking race; the countenance is sallow, at us for a moment; and, calculating from the re- and marked early in life with lines of thought. spectability of my companion that I did not mean The fresh pure glow of the Saxon cheek is never to steal anything, was walking off, till he saw me, seen here. The men are tall, but not robust or with a simple confidence which seemed to him too athletic: they have no idea of the sports of the amiable to be allowed to suffer a betrayal, place my field, and rarely or never join in any more active umbrella in a corner before entering the gallery game than bowls or billiards. They do not walk, leading to the private apartments: he immediately if they can ride; ride, if they can drive; or drive, turned to correct my error, informing me that if I if they can go by railway. Mind and body, day had any further occasion for its services I had bet- and night, youth and age, are given up to the one ter not leave it there, for some one would be sure great pursuit of gain. But this inordinate appetite to walk into it.' I of course took his counsel and for acquiring is in their character deprived of some my property, and proceeded till we arrived at the door of its most odious features; it is rarely accompanied of the President's room. My guide knocked, and by parsimony or want of charity. I believe no the voice of the ruler of millions said Come in.' people on earth can be more hospitable to their Before obeying this command, I of course left my equals in worldly wealth, or more open-handed to unfortunate umbrella outside: this done, I walked the poor." into the presence, and was introduced. At the same moment, the watchful negro, the guardian spirit of my endangered property, thrust it into my left hand, with another and stronger admonition to my simplicity; but this time his tone of compassion for my ignorance had degenerated into that of almost contempt for my obstinate folly. In the mean time, my right hand was kindly shaken by the President, according to custom: he told me to be seated, and conversed with much urbanity. I, of course, trespassed on his valuable time but for a very few minutes, and then departed. "He was sitting at a round table covered with papers; another gentleman, I presume a secretary, was seated at a desk near the window, writing. Mr. Polk is a remarkable-looking man; his forehead massive and prominent, his features marked and of good outline. The face was shaved quite close, the hair short, erect, and rather grey. Judging from his dress and general appearance, he might have been either a lawyer or a dissenting minister; his manner and mode of expression were not incongruous with his appearance.' MIDDLE-AGED AND MELANCHOLY AMERICA. "In the number of my fellow passengers there were neither old nor young, at least there were no venerable grey heads or cheerful boyish faces. In no part of the United States do the people seem to arrive at the average length of life of the Old World. The great and sudden changes of temperature, while perhaps they stimulate the energies of those who are exposed to them, wear out the stamina of the body and exhaust its vitality. The cares of manhood and the infirmities of second childhood are equally premature, denying the population the two loveliest but most dependent stages of existence, the idle but fresh and generous morning of youth, the feeble but soft and soothing evening of old age. In this country, we find even the climate in league with the practical in its influences on the powers of man, a goad to material prosperity. The child is pushed with a forcing power into the duties and pursuits of maturer years; the man, when he ceases to be of active use, is hurried out of the busy scene, his part played. The cumberers of the ground are but few; all work, none play. They go more awkwardly about their amusements than any people I have ever seen else MANNERS IN CANADA. "The manner of servants to their masters, and of the lower classes generally to their superiors, is much the same as in England; tradespeople, too, hold a like relative position. Your bootmaker does not consider that it adds to his importance or real independence to sit down in your room with his hat on, and whistle and spit while he takes your measure, as his republican brethren in the United States would probably do. I made a small purchase from a man in a shop at Baltimore, who was smoking a cigar, chewing tobacco, and eating a peach, at the same time with so many pleasing and interesting occupations, he of course had not much leisure to spare for civilities to his customer. "With the exception of a few of the lowest class, the Canadians are quite free from those very disagreeable habits which are so unpleasantly general among the Americans. Chewing tobacco is not the fashion, and they reserve their saliva for other purposes than those of a projectile nature. Their manners, customs, and dress, are those of England, not of America; and in this there is a bond of union and sympathy, of which all astute politicians acknowledge the strength and value.” EDUCATION IN AMERICA. "The people of New England are, without doubt, very generally educated: rich and poor, indeed, have apparently the same opportunities, but practically they are different. The poor man's son has to lay aside his books for the axe or the plough, as soon as his sinews are tough enough for the work; the rich man's has more leisure to pursue his studies and complete them afterwards. However, he has but little to gain by eminence. The pursuit of wealth offers a readier course to distinction; he meets here with numbers who have like objects, and whose conversation and habits of life are formed by them. The man who labors to be learned condemns himself to a sort of isolation: however precious the object may be to him, it is not current as value to others. Some there are whose love for knowledge is for itself alone, not for the honors and advantages derivable from it; these few conquer the great difficulties in the way and become really learned: but the tendency is to acquire as much information as may be absolutely metic of measurements and similar tangible necessary; then to set to work to apply it, and "facts," to the earnest and truthful observer of make it profitable for other purposes, but not to in- nature, who feels her charms if he cannot extract crease itself. Consequently, the greater part of her poetry. Such was Gilbert White, and such in the national mind is but a dead level, like the a lesser degree is the Reverend Leonard Jenyns. prairies; rich and productive immediately round In fact, these Observations in Natural History about the spot where it is worked for the uses of originated in the author's admiration of White's life, but with few elevations from which any wide Natural History of Selborne; their nucleus having or commanding view can be taken in the search for been formed as illustrative notes to a new edition yet more fertile soil. of that work which Mr. Jenyns was preparing. The stock of matter accumulated was, however, too much to use as mere addenda, and first gave rise to the idea of this publication. Then the Jenyns deficient in several particulars, and he considered one might be formed upon a more exact and methodical plan. He also thought that he was competent to give some advice on Habits of Observing to the country resident, who might wish to avail himself of his opportunities, and acquire a relish for nature whilst he accumulated facts for his own use or the advance of science. This equality of education tells very well in enabling men to fulfil with propriety very different social positions from those in which they were born. The blacksmith who has made a fortune" Naturalist's Calendar" of White seemed to Mr. has only to wash his hands; and he does not find his new associates either so very highly cultivated, or himself so much the reverse, as to place him in an uncomfortable situation. For general utility to the state, for the practical affairs of life, and for forcing men up to the almost universal level of intelligence, the democratic power has made admirable arrangements; but to go beyond that it has thrown almost insurmountable difficulties in the way, not by its laws, but by the habits which its laws engender. In some sense, therefore, the book may be considered a species of companion to White's Selborne; and, to speak of its formal divisions, and in the order of their occurrence, it consists of three parts. The first is the essay on the Habit of Observing, which contains a good deal of judicious advice to the reader, both as to his manner of proceeding to study nature and as to the uses to which his studies may be turned; though the style occasionally smacks of the spiritual rather than of the literary director. The second part is the largest and most popular; and contains the Observations in Natural History, classed under the heads of quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, and the lesser tribes of animantia. The third part is an essay on the importance of forming a calendar of periodic phenomena in natural history-a statistical table of dates and events kept yearly, and the extremes deduced from a series of years. The uses to which these collections may be turned, and the principles on which the observations should be made and recorded, form the subject of the text; which is followed by an example in Mr. Jenyns' own calendar. Some passages towards the close treat of American subjects generally-as education, manners, character, the prospect of the Union continuing; and are well worth perusal for their shrewdness of remark and vigor of style, though we may not always agree with the writer's conclusion. In course of time, he thinks, the United States will eventually break up into three communitiesnorth-eastern, southern, and western. Such is the result to be predicated from natural circumstances, and society as controlled by them; but the author of this work seems to think the dissolution will take place in the usual course of progress, by the internal divisions it will cause. Of this we doubt. Should the valley of the Mississippi, the territories of Oregon and California, with the northern parts of Mexico, be completely occupied, an empire so unwieldly and with such diverse characters and interests must divide; but force throughout nature seems a necessary element of change. Summer and winter depart with the equinoctial gales; growing heat is got rid of by a The Observations are various both in character storm; and the pent-up gases in the work-shops and extent; sometimes embracing a single fact, of of the earth vent themselves in volcanoes. Organic a small and to general readers an unimportant kind, changes in a state are rarely brought about without sometimes handling a particular subject, and well violence; and something that irritates men's minds illustrating it by anecdotes. On the whole, howto a pitch in which habit and feeling are alike over-ever, the special predominates; which will render borne seems necessary to break up "the Union." the book more attractive to those who open it This necessity is most likely to arise in a war, with a purpose than to those who read for mere where the Atlantic States, suffering all the direct amusement. We give some examples of this latter evils and paying all the expenses, will get so kind of reading. angry as to withdraw themselves from the western belligerents, for the sake of peace. Had a war taken place on the Oregon question, this separation would possibly have been precipitated. From the Spectator. JENYNS' OBSERVATIONS IN NATURAL HISTORY. RISING AND MOVEMENT OF ANIMALS. A "The most common occurrences, and such as are brought under our eyes every day, sometimes escape the notice of inobservant persons. farmer, who had lived all his life among stock, was not aware, till I drew his attention to the fact, that horses and oxen rise from the ground differently. There is a slight difference in their mode of lying MR. JENYNS appears to be one of those active, down; the horse not generally remaining so long observing, and recording men, that form the com- upon his knees as the ox, before bringing the rest missariat of science; collecting the materials from of his frame to the ground. But in getting up, the which more theoretical, and it may sometimes hap- horse invariably rises first upon his fore-legs, before pen more philosophical minds, frame an hypothesis, rising upon his hind. The ox, on the contrary, generalize a view, or deduce a principle. The rises first upon the hind, and often remains upon qualities and labors of this class vary, from the his knees some few seconds until his hind-legs are mere drudge, whose mind runs upon the dry arith-straightened. These differences probably prevail throughout the two Cuvierian groups of Pachyder- modify and even entirely overrule their instincts; mata and Ruminantia, to which the horse and ox respectively belong. The elephant and rhinoceros both rise first upon their fore-legs, like the horse; so does the pig: the sheep, goat, and deer, in this respect, are like the ox. at least in the case of domesticated animals, these instincts are liable to be much perverted. My cat has a kitten nearly full-grown, to which she frequently brings mice, offering them with evident symptoms of complacency, and sitting quietly by while the kitten devours them. Yet, when the family are at meals, the old cat, who has been accustomed to be fed from the table, is exceedingly jealous when the kitten approaches her at such times: she is apprehensive lest the attentions of the party should be diverted from herself to the kitten; and if the latter attempts to take any of the food which she conceives intended for herself, she growls, and flies at her offspring in the most savage manner. This has nothing to do with any feelings of hunger; for she is often manifestly hungry when she has caught a mouse, but which, notwith standing, she gives up to the kitten." BIRDS TUNING UP. "The horse, in trotting or walking, lifts his feet off the ground in a certain order: first he raises the off fore, then the near hind, then the near fore, and lastly the off hind. The appearance, as is well known, is that of the two legs which are diagonally opposite being raised nearly simultaneously; but the two on the same side following one another at a moderate interval, the hind one advancing first. The elephant, as many observers have noticed, appears, in walking, to move the two legs on the same side at the same time; and it has occasionally been thought that the order in which the legs are raised from the ground is different from that in the horse. But, upon close watching, it will be seen that this order is in all cases the same; the only difference consisting in the length of the intervals "Birds which are silent during the winter, as between taking the feet successively up. In the most are, appear to acquire their notes in the spring elephant, the interval between raising each hind-by degrees. At first their song is very weak and imfoot, and the fore immediately in advance of it is perfect; and to hear them laboring at it, and only very short, and it becomes relatively shorter as the managing to get a part out, conveys the idea of pace increases. When the animal walks very some physical impediment, which for a while they slowly, the legs appear to move just as in the are unable to surmount. As the temperature of horse; the interval in the two cases being the the season advances, their system receives a corresame. The same may be observed in the rhi- sponding stimulus, and their song becomes louder noceros; though I have had no opportunity of and more lengthened. This may be particularly noticing this animal moving fast, so as to say noticed in the chaffinch, and those birds whose song whether it then resembles the elephant in the ap- is generally made up of a definite number of notes. pearance of the legs or not. The giraffe, whether I have also observed it in the ring-dove, whose it walks fast or leisurely, appears to move the cooing note with us, in the height of the summer, two legs on the same side together, as in the ele- is invariably repeated five times to complete the phant. usual call; but in January and February, when these birds are only induced, perhaps by a mild day, just to try their powers, I have sometimes heard them as if obliged to stop after the second or third coo. A HEDGEHOG'S REPAST. "Oct. 28th, 1828.-Hedgehogs are still about, and on the alert for food. I fell in with one to-day in my walks, in a sheltered part of the garden, which I was enabled to watch unobserved, and which afforded me an opportunity of seeing a little into their habits and mode of feeding. It was creeping up and down a grass walk, apparently in busy search for worms. It carried its snout very low, insinuating it among the roots of the herbage, and snuffing about under the dead leaves which lay about. After a time, it commenced scratching at a particular spot, to which it seemed directed by the scent, and drew out a very large worm from just beneath the surface of the ground. This it immediately began to devour, taking it into the mouth by one extremity, and gradually eating its way to the other; an operation which lasted some time, and was attended by an incessant action of the teeth, which grated one upon another with a peculiar noise. After the worm was all gone, as I thought, I was surprised to see the whole put out of the mouth again; and, from the appearance of the cast, I was led to believe that it had been only subjected to the action of the teeth for the purpose of being bruised, and squeezing out the soft internal parts of the body, which alone were eaten in the first instance: the skin itself, however, was shortly retaken into the mouth, and the whole clean devoured." MATERNAL INSTINCT AND JEALOUSY. "It is curious to observe what slight deviations from the course which nature has prescribed for each species of animal are sometimes sufficient to "Birds also appear to lose their song in the same gradual way in which they first acquire it. This has been often remarked in the case of the cuckoo, which towards the end of June is sometimes only master of the first syllable of its call.” AN OWL OF TASTE. ; "One of the most striking peculiarities in this tame owl is said to have been its fondness for music. It would often come into the drawingroom of an evening, on the shoulder of one of the children and, on hearing the tones of the piano, would sit with his eyes gravely fixed on the instrument, and its head on one side in an attitude of attention; when, suddenly spreading his wings, he would alight on the keys, and making a dart at the performer's fingers with its beak, would continue hopping about, as if pleased with the execution." PUGNACITY OF THE ROBIN. "The pugnacious disposition of the redbreast towards its own kind, as well as towards other birds, is well known. Mr. Selby sends me the following remarkable anecdote, showing to what an extent their passion will sometimes carry them, and how completely they are lost to all apprehensions of danger while under its influence. A redbreast had for sometime taken up its abode in a hot-house, from which it had egress at pleasure. One day, when the gardener was in the house, another redbreast found his way in; but he had no sooner made his appearance than he was furiously attacked |