(continued he, after a little hesitation) and paufed again.-The court liftened with the utmost attention; the fpectators who were at a little diftance from the bar, anxious to witness the event which this illuftrious inftance of the "montes parturiunt," feemed to promife, closed up in a femicircle around the balustrade of the forum. "As I was faying, (faid Mr. Lincoln) I have made a point."-He had fo. He had reached one which he could not furmount. He told the court that he begged their kind indulgence; that he felt exceedingly embarraffed, and wifhed a few minutes for recollection. The court bowed assent, and Mr. Lincoln fat down. "After a paufe of fifteen minutes, during which there was the most folemn ftillness, Mr. Lincoln rofe again. He continued to speak about ten minutes more. His manner was wild, incoherent, and unargumentative, and feemed to be an unconnected, promifcuous, and irregular affemblage of words, without the Imalleft attention to the ordo verborum. "I have now come, (faid he) may it please your honours, to the fecond point propofed-I fay-the fecond point which I have taken is this-I have got (faid he) to the fecond point." He, however, was never able to get any farther, and the Court remain yet to be informed what that fecond point was. Mr. Lincoln was obliged once more to apologize to the Court for being unable to proceed. He faid, he felt an embarraffment which he could not conquer, and that Mr. Dallas would go on with the caufe. A confufedmurmur was heard throughout the hall; it was the hum of vex. ation, difappointment, and keen remark. Some of the auditory felt chagrined at this debafement of our national dignity; fome felt difappointed and astonished, that this exertion of forenfic elo. quence thould have terminated in fuch a mortifying developement of the talents of their attorney-general; and others laughed at the impotency which they had predicted-whilft the poor Mr. Lincoln fat down at the bar, and covered his face with his hands." "He was, foon after this probation, removed from the attorney-generalfhip, and returned to his original obscurity.” P. 149. In Chapter XIV. Mr. Janfon arrives at Philadelphia, and is very ample in his details concerning the architecture, commerce, public inftitutions, markets, jails, &c. of that ancient capital of the United States. We do not, however, perceive any thing in the information he conveys on these feveral topics which was not already in the poffeffion of the public. But there is fomething of novelty in the reason which this author affigns for dwelling fo long on Philadel phia, and faying fo little of New York. He had, he fays, noted many particulars refpecting the latter city, but "on comparing comparing them with those made on Philadelphia, the preference of this laft in beauty, regularity, architecture, and improvement, was fo decided, that he fuppreffed much refpecting New York." The latter too," he fays, "is an ancient city, and confequently much better known by the accounts of various authors.' From Philadelphia a fudden tranfition is made in Chapter XV. to the new capital called Washington, or the Federal City, which is by no means an object of admiration with Mr. Janfon. It makes, it would appear, but very flow progrefs; and thofe who have purchafed lands and erected houfes in it upon fpeculation, have turned their money to very bad account. According to Mr. Janfon, if it were not of neceffity occupied by the congrefs, and the officers of state for a certain portion of the year, it would foon become a wilderness again. So very thinly, it feems, is it peopled, and fo little is it frequented, "that quails, and other birds, are conftantly fhot within a hundred yards of the capital, and even during the fitting of the houses of Congrefs." We are told that the ground around the Prefident's house, which is a neat and fpacious piece of architecture, instead of being laid out in a fuitable flyle, " remains in its ancient rude ftate; fo that, in a dark night, inftead of finding your way to the house, you may, perchance, fall into a pit, or ftumble over a heap of rubbish. The fence round the house is of the meanest fort; a common poß and rail enclosure." During the fix following chapters, we almoft entirely lofe fight of Mr. Janfon, and are obliged to wade through a variety of details of the moft mifcellaneous, and unconnected nature. We first have a narrative of the conduct of an embaffy which came from Tunis to fettle the differences between the bey and prefident Jefferson; and next an account of the behaviour of a deputation from the Greek and Ofage Indians, during their ftay at Philadelphia; together with fume notices of the expedition for exploring the Mif fouri. A tranfition is then made to the law, on which Mr. Janfon difplays his learning, and prefents us with fome fpecimens of American term reports. He next treats of the drama, and gives a very ample hiftory of the various theatrical fpeculations which have hitherto been made in the United States. His next fubject is land fpeculation, on which he speaks very feelingly, having been himfelf a fufferer, by trufting to the good faith of the government of Georgia, and purchafing a part of fome unallotted land, which has never yet been delivered up to the buyers. On FR this this account we must receive with fome limitation his details of the nefarious practices of land-jobbers; and the methods which they employ to cook up their lands, and otherwife impofe upon the public. After this we come again to the Indians; and are treated with the old legend of prince Madoc; and the colony of Welsh Indians still afferted to exift fomewhere on the Miffouri: and the last of these fix chapters is taken up with the Cincinnati, an American order inflituted by the officers of the United States previous to their difbanding, after the peace with Great Britain. We prefent our readers with the following anecdote of the delegates of the Ofage nation, during their abode at Philadelphia. "The evening of the day on which the Ofage Indians vifited Congrefs, they made their appearance at the theatre in the Penfylvania Avenue; which was announced by hand-bills. Their performance here was by no means difinterested; for they ftipulated with the managers to be paid half the net proceeds, with a fupply of rum during the entertainment. Their dance confifted of ftamping in proceffion round the ftage in different figures, and fcreaming in horrid difcord. The war-dance exhibited fomething of the terrific; and the fcalping scene was a dreadful picture of that inhuman practice among favage nations. The act of taking off the fcalp of the fuppofed victim, was executed with fuch adroitness, a falfe fcalp being fubftituted, that the deception was not to be perceived. One of the chiefs eminently exerted himself on this occafion. Before the conclufion of the entertainment, the greateft part of them were intoxicated, and the audience became anxious to quit the house. Next morning, the chief, who had been the principal actor, was found lifeless in the bed which government had provided for him: and his death was imputed to excess of drinking, and his great exertions during the preceding evening. His interment was attended by his tribe, with the Creeks, and a great concourfe of people, among whom were feveral members of Congrefs. Much curiosity was excited, from the hopes of witneffing the favage ceremonies on fuch an occafion; but thefe expectations were disappointed, ve little being faid or done over the grave. In order to guard against a fimilar catastrophe, the inhabitants were publicly cautioned against giving thefe ftrangers any strong liquors; and informed, that the allowance made them by the government was in every refpect abundant." P. 225. Chapter XXII. gives a fhocking picture of the exceffes and brutalities in which the lower claffes of Americans indulge, particularly in the Southern States. The practice of fmoking tobacco muft indeed be come to an aftonishing height, height, if, as Mr. Janfon affures us, boys, and even children, indulge in it to fuch a degree, as to produce fickness, and even death. In proof of this he quotes a Maffachufet's newspaper, which records the death of master James Verry, aged twelve," a promifing youth, whofe untimely end is fuppofed to have been brought on by exceffive fmoking of fegars!!!" He ftates, on his own authority, the fondnels of an infant not four years old, the fon of a fegar-maker in Alexander, for the fame unnatural indulgence. He himself faw the child at this amufement, and, on expreffing his furprize, was informed by the father, that his offspring had contrafted the habit a year before, and that he fmoked three, four, or more, daily, with which he was regularly fupplied, "or he would cry for them." Notwithstanding all this the child was fat and healthy. Mr. Janfon likewife gives perfonal evidence for the exiftence of a mode of fighting among the Southern Americans, the most brutal and ferocious that can easily be conceived. "Paffing, in company with other travellers, through the state of Georgia, our attention was arrefted by a gouging-match. We found the combatants, as Morfe defcribes, faft clenched by the hair, and their thumbs endeavouring to force a paffage into each other's eyes; while feveral of the byftanders were betting upon the first eye to be turned out of its focket. For fome time the combatants avoided the thumb ftroke with dexterity. At length they fell to the ground, and in an inftant the uppermoft fprung up with his antagonist's eye in his hand!!! The favage crowd applauded, while, fick with horror, we galloped away from the infernal fcene. The name of the fufferer was John Butler, a Carolinian, who, it seems, had been dared to the com bat by a Georgian; and the firft eye was for the honour of the ftate to which they refpectively belonged. "The eye is not the only feature which fuffers on these occafions. Like dogs and bears, they use their teeth and feet, with the most favage ferocity, upon each other. "A brute, in human form, named John Stanley, of Bertie County, North Carolina, fharpens his teeth with a file, and boafts of his dependence upon them in fight. This monster will alfo exult in relating the account of the noses and ears he has bitten off, and the cheeks he has torn. "During the author's refidence in North Carolina, Mr. Standen, the poft-mafter, and a merchant of Edenton, had a part of his cheek bitten off in an affray with O'Mally, a tavern-keeper in that town." "A man of the name of Thomas Penrife, then living in Edenton, in the fame ftate, attempting at cards to cheat some halfdrunken failors, was detected. A fcuffle enfued; Penrife knocked out the candle, then gouged out three eyes, bit off an ear, tore a few cheeks, and made good his retreat. "Near the fame place, a fchoolmafter, named Jarvis Lucas, was befet by three men, one Horton, his fon, and fon-in-law. Thefe ruffians beat the unfortunate man till his life was despaired of, having bitten, gouged, and kicked him unmercifully. On the trial of an indictment for this outrageous affault, a Carolina court of justice amerced them in a small fine only." P. 301. It In the next chapter, in the midst of much extraneous matter, Mr. Janfon gives a difgufting account of the negro nudities, which the traveller is expofed to fee,in paffing through the southern states of the American union. We then come to General Miranda and his expedition; and are informed of the proceedings of the American courts against Mr. Ogden, who furnished that enterprizing adventurer with the fhip in which he embarked for the Caraccas. Chapter XXV. relates more particularly to Mr. Janfon's own tranfactions, and is certainly not the least entertaining in the volume. describes the town of Norfolk, in Virginia; and the great fwamps which extend from that visinity through a confiderable part of the state of North Carolina. Norfolk, it feems, in the winter feafon, is itself no better than a swamp, for the streets are fo muddy, that the gentlemen are obliged to fortify themselves with thick fhoes over their boots. Mr. Janfon having in a dark evening loft his bearings, in the attempt to ford one of these muddy paffes, was unable to extricate himself without the lofs of one of his fhoe-boots, which was in vain raked and dragged for next morning, The author was induced to accompany a fporting friend into the great, or difmal fwamp of North Carolina; but did not find his way back again without undergoing a fevere fright. When he had penetrated a confiderable way inte this wilderness, a ftorm came on which obfcured the sky, and bewildered his guide, who usually trufted to the fun in fteering through the trackles wafle. For fome time they wandered in uncertainty, the guide harrowly infpecting every large tree which they paffed. At length he exclaimed that he had difcovered his route, and pointed to a large tree, the bark of which was incrufted on one fide with green mofs. This he declared to be the north fide of the tree; and trufting to this evidence, he was able to extricate himfelf and his friend from their difagreeable dilemma. The Indians, in traverfing the woods, regulate their route by fimilar obfer tations. Mr |