Before him heav'd the river-bound If cross'd-what trumpet-clangs would sound; The vision'd Future, wild with woes, He mused on battle, war, and blood, On all the mountain-perils thrown Of what the unborn Times would say, Of him who track'd with blood his way, Would he not seem a demon then, And thus the mighty Cæsar stood, And dash'd his doubts behind! "The die is cast!-the die is cast!" And reach'd the Roman side; Ere day had dawn'd he drew the sword, And Ariminum hailed him lord." pp. 145-148. We were not aware that the penultimate in Ariminum was ever long. THE DEATH OF CORINNE. "All pale, and pillow'd on a chair, she lay,- Ere yet her spirit breath'd itself to heaven, And now a change came on; the blood sunk back As if refining, ere it went to heaven; Her hand fell downward with her farewell sigh- THE DREADFUL PRAYER. "No priestly prayer, avail'd: gaunt Famine stalk'd In vain the priests exhaled their souls to heaven At length unspotted babes, whose milk-white robes There, on the gilded peaks, their hands were raised, Heaven heard the prayer: a Pestilence came down, Upon the blacken'd bushes. Hill and dale, Of green-eyed dead: the houses turned to tombs, And thus was Cairo curs'd, till by the dead The plague itself corrupted, died away." pp. 169–171. ERRATA. Page 51, line 4, dele "and"-line 5, read and we beheld, &c. แ 100, "25, for construction read institution. "101, note, instead of lib. ii. Tit. 59, read 56. "102, line 35, for Jona read Ionia. "103, 66 ... 111, i 194, 4 from bottom, dele comma after ungenerous. 66 27, for immediate read immoderate. 6, for comparably read incomparably. In the first part of the article "Malaria," Dr. MacCulloch's name is mis-spelt. Note. For the second sentence in page 49, beginning "The former is found,” &c. read, They are found in no other language than in the Spanish, says Bouterwek, while Sismondi tells us, they were proper to all the popular songs in the languages of the South, though none but the Spaniards ever subjected them to rules. SOUTHERN REVIEW. NO. IV. NOVEMBER, 1828. ART. I.-Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses. Tomes vi. vii. viii. et ix. A Paris. Chez J. G. Merigot, le jeune. M. DCC. LXXXI. IT must be an object of interest, at least to every American, to become acquainted with the customs and manners of the people who once possessed the soil which he now inhabits. The first European settlers do not, however, appear to have had sufficient leisure, opportunity or inclination for the research to enable them to obtain that knowledge, or to leave upon record what they did learn. Engaged in the search after precious metals, the providing for pressing wants, guarding against menacing danger, or repairing the consequences of disaster; they knew little of the language of tribes which they despised for their barbarism, and dreaded for their cruelty, cunning and deceit they appear to have had little of that philosophical curiosity which leads to investigation for mere speculative purposes, and they felt more interested in learning how to improve their fortune, than in discovering whom the savages worshipped, and by what ceremonial. The history of the colonies, as well as that of the states, exhibits to us the continued retreat of the red man from the encroachments of the white, and the latter still occupied, with his own projects, regardless of the domestic or peculiar concerns of the former. This will, probably, satisfy the inquirer who would ask why we possess so few documents, and so little information upon the subject of Indian customs. However, the work which we now examine is well calculated, to a certain extent, to supply much of what appears wanting upon this head. This collection of letters is a selection from several which had been received in Europe, during a considerable portion of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, from missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church, stationed in various regions of both hemispheres. The edition now before us consists of twenty-five volumes, four of which, viz. the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, contain the documents regarding the American continent and the West Indies. The editor commences his preface to this portion, with a passage which we translate: "The Memoirs of America present to the reader's curiosity, objects very different from those of the missions of the Levant. The islands of the Archipelago, Constantinople, Syria, the adjacent provinces, the kingdom of Persia and that of Egypt preserve, as yet, traces of their ancient splendour, and in these countries which we may call degraded, still every thing reminds us of the industry, the riches and the magnificence of their former inhabitants. America, on the contrary, scarcely presents to us any thing besides lakes, forests, unreclaimed lands, rivers and savages. 66 Cupidity and a sort of restlessness produced the discovery of this fourth portion of the world. We treat here neither of the voyages nor of the conquests of the first navigators. A sufficient number of other writers have described the hardihood of the enterprises and the too direful success of the modern argonauts. Immense regions discovered, depopulated, devastated; millions of men, free and tranquil in their possessions immolated as victims to the avarice, even to the caprices of their new guests, might indeed excite our interest, but would create in us a more afflicting sympathy." The writer then vindicates France from such charges, and proceeds to shew how she entered upon her lands by purchase, and cultivated peace with the Indians; that the king of France informed of the superstition, ignorance and barbarism of his new allies, sent missionaries of the Society of Jesuits to the Iroquois, the Hurons, the Illinois, &c. He proceeds— "Those icy regions have been watered by their sweat and soaked with their blood. Several died in torments, the bare recollection of which causes our nature to shudder, and all suffered incredible pain and fatigue. 66 'Obliged, in some degree, to become savages with those barbarians, thus to bring them to be men, that they might subsequently become Christians, they learned their languages, lived according to their manners, traversed the woods in their society, and became like to them in every thing which was not evil, that they might induce them to hear, to love, to esteem, and to practice that which was good." The opportunities for observation which these men possessed, were therefore of the very best description; of the ability to turn these opportunities to account few will be disposed to raise a question, and for the fidelity of their relation perhaps as little |