Brief History of the Principal Attempts to Discover a North West Passage. for six months consumption, and he found it nearly exhausted. With an inconsiderate generosity he distributed all the biscuit among his crew, and in return for his kindness they mutinied; the mate of the ship and the majority of the seamen conspired against him, and sent him and his son and five of the crew adrift in the shallop. Captain Hudson undoubtedly soon perished, as no account of him was ever after received; and of the wretches who so barbarously deserted him only one survived the hardships of their homeward passage. Two unsuccessful attempts were made in the years 1612 and 1614, in Hudson's Bay. In 1615, Captain Bilot was appointed to make another trial, and took with him the celebrated William Baffin to act as pilot. This voyage was attended with no result of any consequence; but in the succeeding season they penetrated beyond the highest advance of Davis. The names of some successful voyagers have been immortalized by their application to the straits and bays they discovered. Magellan, Le Maire, and Behring are among the principal instances; and we have already mentioned Davis and Hudson. Baffin's name was gizen to the upper part of Davis's straits, and is a sufficient monument of his persevering enterprise. In their second voyage, Bilot and Baffin discovered Sir Thomas Smith's sound on the Greenland, and Alderman Jones's and Sir James Lancaster's sounds on the American side of the straits. In the year 1631, Charles I. issued his commands to Captain Fox to proceed on the enquiry. Charles was "so well satisfied of the practicability of the voyage that he gave Fox a chart on which the passage was marked, and also a letter written by himself, to be delivered to the Emperor of Japan as soon as the Captain had effected his voyage into the eastern seas. Captain James also sailed in the same year; and the Danes likewise sent out a ship, but the result of the three expeditions was similar to those already experienced. An unsuccessful expedition was forwarded in the reign of the second Charles, under the the auspices of his brother, afterwards James II. Such repeated failures damped the expectations of all who had hitherto advocated the design, and it was accordingly abandoned for nearly fifty years. At length, in 1720, Captain Barlow was sent out by a private company; but the ship was cast away, and every person on board perished. Brief History of the Principal Attempts to Discover a North West Passage. Two years after, Captain Scroggs made an unsuccessful attempt. The Hudson's Bay Company, which had been established for the purpose of carrying on a fur trade with the Indians, in order to protect their monopoly opposed every possible obstacle to the success of the northern voyages, and the failures of Captain Scroggs and also of Captain Middleton, who navigated Hudson's Bay in 1740, were ascribed in a great measure to their illiberal conduct. The latter gentleman returned to England greatly disappointed and determined to oppose a project which he considered to be merely visionary. Captain Middleton's expedition had been undertaken principally at the suggestion of Mr. Arthur Dobbs, who, in despite of the Captain's representations, was still convinced of the feasibility of the project. Several gentlemen interested themselves in the dispute, and a subscription of £10,000 was raised for another trial, while the government offered a reward of £20,000 to the fortunate discoverer. Two vessels were fitted out, and placed under the command of Captains Moore and Smith; and Mr. Ellis, a gentleman of more than usual talents, went as agent for the committee, in order to make exact draughts of all the new discovered country, to mark the soundings, to examine the saltness of the water, to observe the variation of the compass, and to collect metals, minerals, and all kinds of natural curiosities. The ships sailed in 1746, and wintered in Hayes's river in Hudson's Bay. In consequence of the precautions of the officers, the effects of the dreadfully severe winter were but little felt by the seamen, and during their confinement in the log-houses they had erected, they raised and decked the long-boat of one of the vessels for the purpose of discovery; to this, when completed, they gave the name of the Resolution, On the 9th of June, in the following year, the bay became sufficiently clear of ice, and the ships proceeded on their voyage. The benefit of their exertions in fitting up the Resolution now became apparent, as it enabled Captain Moore and Mr. Ellis to keep close in to the shore among the ice and shallows, while the large vessels remained in safety in the open bay. However, even the Resolution, while endeavoring to pass over some shoals, was thrown by the tide upon a ridge of stones, and must have perished but for the services of an old Esquimaux, who, when the tide floated it off, paddled before it, pointed out the shoals and kept in deep water. Having remained in the bay during the summer, traversing Brief History of the Principal Attempts to Discover a North West Passage. its northern extremity indifferent directions, and entering every inlet which afforded the least hope of a passage, they were at length obliged to return without deriving any advantage from the voyage except a more exact knowledge of the shores, and of the manners of the natives, who met them in numbers whenever they approached any point of the coast." After the failure of this attempt, the subject of a northwest passage was frequently discussed; and in 1775 a voyage was undertaken at the request of the Royal Society to try how far navigation was practicable towards the north pole, and whether there existed a possibility of discovering a passage to the East Indies by any route through the frozen regions. The command of the ships which were sent out was conferred on the late Lord Mulgrave, (then the Hon. Captain Phipps) and Captain (afterward Admiral) Lutwidge. These gentlemen proceeded with very little obstruction to lat. 81° in the Spitzbergen seas; but they were then driven by the pressure of the ice descending from the northward, into a bay, where they were locked up for many days. The commanders, after many ineffectual attempts to free the ships, came to the resolution of abandoning them, to save the lives of the men; but when they had determined on encountering the dangers of the ocean in light open boats, and had even hoisted them out, with the intention of dragging them over the ice into the open sea, the current and wind drove the ice to the southward, and the ships were set at liberty. After this fortunate escape, the voyagers had not spirit to persevere, nor was the advanced season favorable. Having explored thus far, and being satisfied that a passage by that way was impracticable, they determined to return home, and arrived in England in safety. The projectors of these expeditions acted on different plans. But the events of Hudson's, Ellis's and Lord Mulgrave's voyages have rendered it almost certain that the passage cannot be expected in Hudson's bay or at the east side of Greenland. During the wars of the French revolution, the subject was forgotten; but in 1818 it was again resumed at the suggestion of the Royal Society, and an expedition was sent out under the command of Captain Ross. The result of this attempt is fresh in our memory; Captain Ross returned unsuccessful, and like many of his predecessors, convinced that the passage would not be found; but the exertions of Captain Parry have enabled us VOL. I.-NO. V. 3 B Review of the Vampire. to form better hopes. We shall not however in this place insert a notice of this gentleman's voyage, as we will have occasion to advert to it in a more particular manner in our subsequent pages. REVIEWS. "The Vampire." A Tragedy.-By St. John Dorset. London-C. and J. Ollier. 1821. A Melo-Drama, bearing this title was produced last season at the Opera-house, London, and the Author of the Tragedy now before us, says, that from it he borrowed the original idea of the present production. Lest our readers should be startled by its title, as we really felt alarmed ourselves, we must premise-as the author has done that the chief personage of the Drama is no blood-sucker. He has attempted to combine an association of moral delinquency under the imposing title of this fictitious character, and by uniting the worst passions which degrade and debase human nature, to give a perfect epitome of the moral Vampire. How far such an idea should be pursued, we will not hesitate to determine. There is a spirit of misanthropy too dangerously prevalent in the literary world not to call for the correcting hand of the philanthropist to restrain; the mighty genius of Byron has awakened this unearthly feeling, and he has been followed by others with a zeal and perseverance, for which the impotence of their attempts should be no palliation. We feel little gratification in dwelling for ever on the dark side of the human character, and contemplating the effects of those passions, which disgust us in their exhibition. The author of the "Vampire" has attained a peculiar degree of excellence in this respect, for, (with one exception) he has not given us a personage in his Drama upon whose character we could dwell with pleasure, or in whom we could discover one emanation of virtuous feeling. His Dramatis Personæ are chiefly made up of tyrants, murderers and conspirators; and it is small satisfaction to know that almost all meet the death they merit, while the chief instigator, "the Vampire," is allowed to go off, for the purpose, we suppose, of acting at some future period fresh scenes of iniquity on another stage. Review of the Vampire.. We shall present our readers with a brief outline of the leading incidents of this play, and then leave them to judge how far the author has succeeded in executing his design. The circumstances and characters are altogether fictitious; the scene is laid at Alexandria, about the tenth century, a period of the Egyptian history of which we have no authentic record, Abdalla, the Vampire, a homeless wanderer from his native country Persia, saves the life of Benassar, an Egyptian Lord, resident at the court of Nourayah, Queen of Egypt; and, in requital, is promoted by him in the Egyptian Army, in which he arrives at the chief command by his valor and success, having made way for his advancement by the removal of his colleague Noureddin, with his own hand. He seems a being of superior order, upon whose crest Victory sits enthroned, while danger and destruction attend his steps. Having routed the enemies of the State, he returns in triumph to Alexandria, where he is summoned before the Queen to answer for the death of Noureddin; he exculpates himself before the Court by proving that Noureddin was engaged in treasonable practises against the state, and calls on Moabdar, the Queen's Vizier, to produce a paper found on him to that effect.-Moabdar, who happened to be himself one of the conspirators, hands the Queen, in mistake, a paper containing a full disclosure of their designs. The Queen is horror-struck at the ingratitude of her favorite, but dissembles her resentment. The lofty mien and towering grandeur of Abdalla interest her in his favor, and she resolves to make him the instrument for punishing the perfidy of her courtiers. She conceives a violent passion for him, which is augmented by his declaring to her, that he was born a Prince, but had been deprived of his birthright by the intrigues of a younger brother, who married his affianced bride, and possessed himself of his kingdom; that in revenge he administered poison to his faithless mistress, and fled. This declaration removes every prejudice on the part of the Queen towards "the low-born stranger," and she gives full scope to her inclinations. But the vows of Abdalla had been pledged in secret to Astarte, the daughter of Benassar, by whom he was tenderly beloved. In the mean time, Moabdar is confined in a dungeon by the Queen's orders, and Abdalla obtains full information of the conspiracy from Benassar, who induces him to join it, which he promises; but Abdalla is assaulted in the palace gardens by Samer, Benassar's son, and slays him; he then |