dæmon, he determined once to fhow them a hell of his own creation. For this purpose, he collected a quantity of fulphur and combuftible materials between the decks of his veffel; when, kindling a flame and fhutting down the hatches upon his crew, he involved himself with them literally in fire and brimftone. With oaths and frantic geftures, he then acted the part of the devil, as little affected by the fmoke as if he had been born in the infernal regions; till his companions, nearly fuffocated and fainting, compelled him to release them. His convivial hu mour was of a fimilar caft. In one of his ecftacies, whilft heated with liquor and fitting in his cabin, he took a piftol in each hand; then, cocking them under the table, blew out the candles, and, croffing his hands, fired on each fide at his companions: One of them received a fhot which maimed him for life. His gallantry alfo was of the fame complexion as this vein of humour. He had fourteen wives, if they may be fo called. But his conduct towards one of them appears to have been too unfeeling and unmanly to admit of defcription.' P. 240-243.

He was afterwards conquered, rather than apprehended, by an expedition fitted out for the purpose, after a most defperate refiftance, in which he killed almost all the crews of the veffels fent against him; and he died, with moft of his own gang, in the battle.

We now proceed to bring together, in one fummary, the statements of Mr M'Kinnen which throw any light upon the great questions of West Indian policy. In p. 90, he diftinctly mentions the increasing cultivation of coffee in Jamaica, fince the misfortunes which have befallen the French colonies. Almoft the whole of the mountainous districts of that island are well adapted for this culture; and our author, by admitting that the fpirit of Weft Indian fpeculation is dangerously rapid in entering every new channel (infomuch that the growth of coffee has increased a fourth in one year), has granted, that as long as the flave-trade is permitted, an indefinite demand for new fupplies will be kept up even in our oldest iflands, although no new vent for capital fhould be opened by farther conquefts.

Nothing, however, is more immediately connected with the ftate of the flaves, than the non-refidence of the proprietors. From not attending to this characteristic feature of Weft Indian fociety, the friends of the abolition have frequently loft fome forcible points of attack; and the planters have with fome reafon imagined that the argument from ill treatment, which fhould be chiefly levelled at the overfeers and acting managers of eftates, was pointed at themfelves. In fact, the non-refidence of the mafter,

who

One of the guefts, who related this anecdote, perceiving what was likely to happen, adroitly took himfelf off.

who is principally, perhaps exclufively interested in the good treatment of the ftock, leaves the flave a prey to the caprice and mifmanagement of the fervant, who has only to return a due quantity of fugar, and draw his bills for the price of new negroes. Mr M'Kinnen mentions a circumftance ftrikingly illuftrative of the degree in which flaves must be at the mercy of thofe most likely to maltreat them. In one of the richest districts of Jamaica, containing 80 eftates, not three proprietors refide. The reft are domefticated in England, and their plantations are managed by temporary agents.

Although we are not difpofed to accufe Mr M'Kinnen of an unfair statement of facts on this important queftion, we think that, as he himself fairly admits (p. 220.), the fhortness of his ftay, and his intercourfe with prejudiced and interefted perfons may have exerted an influence on his mind unfavourable to accurate decifion. He feems indeed, like many others, to have expected nothing but one unvaried scene of flagellation and torture;" and, finding the reality not quite fo terrible as he had apprehendel, he is almoft tempted to believe that it is not terrible at all, and that the condition of the flaves is tolerably eafy and comfort-, able, because the lafh is not always applied, and the flave is fometimes merry. In deferibing the work of a gang, he fays the driv-. er did not exercife his whip, but ftood over the flaves directing and fimulating the work, p. 28. Now, this is all that the intelligent abolitionifts ever contended for. They never maintained. that the lath was conftantly cracking, any more than they would fay that a waggoner is conftantly whipping his horfes; they avere red that the lafh is the fimulating caufe of work in both cafes that the fear of it may prevent its application, but that, if neceffary, the ftroke is at hand to remind the negro, as well as to quicken the horse. Our author is alfo surprised to find the ne groes fo cheerful when landed from the veffel, and fo merry in their amufements, p. 9, &c. But furely it is an indifferent proof of their happiness, that they are glad to gain any change after the horrors of the middle paffage; and it is no very decifive proof of their general comfort, that during the Christmas holidays they were not without fome noify revelling. We acknowledge, that the thing which pleafed us leaft in perufing this work, was the infinuation frequently repeated, that the condition of West Indian bondage is not much more wretched than that of the negroes in Africa, because we have always confidered the argument which pretends to justify the flave trade, on the ground of its improving the lot of the Africans, as the moft intolerable of all the fophifms en gendered by this fertile controverfy-as a defence of the traffic, which adds infult and mockery to the original crime. If any

thing could increase this feeling, it would be the recollection of the purposes to which fuch topics have been formerly applied; and Mr M'Kinnen has himself given a very touching account of an instance perfectly in point, which we cannot forbear extracting.

I could not behold the beautiful and fragrant woods over the white ftrand, without recurring to the fate of that innocent race of people whose name it bears, but who have long fince been dragged from their native shores by the merciless ambition and avarice of their European vifitors. A paffage in Herrera came forcibly to my recollection whilft meditating on the fubject, in which he fays, that on the first arrival of the Spaniards, this unfuspecting but devoted people were never satisfied with looking at them: they knelt down, lifted up their hands and gave thanks to God, inviting one another to admire the heavenly men. Twenty years, however, had fcarcely elapfed, before thefe heavenly men found it convenient to transport them, by force or artifice, to dig in the mines of Hifpaniola; a measure to which the court of Spain was tempted to give its affent by the plaufible fuggeftion that it would be the moft effectual mode of civilizing and inftructing them in the Chriftian religion. Upon this pretence 40,000 fouls (probably the whole population of the iflands) were tranfported to Hifpaniola. So exalted was the opinion which this fimple people entertained of their deftroyers, and fo ftrong and univerfal is the perfuafion of the human mind that a destiny awaits it beyond the miseries and disappointments of its prefent bounded exiftence, that many of the Lucayans were induced with cheerfulness to abandon their homes, under a perfuafion that they fhould meet in a happier country the fpirits of their deceafed friends, with whom the Spaniards reprefented themselves as living in a state of fociety.' p. 263. 264. 265.

The laft fact which this work prefents to us on this interefting queftion, is one of very confiderable importance, and may juftly fill with fatisfaction those who have of late years difcuffed thefe fubjects in a fpeculative point of view. The treatment of the negroes in the Bahama Islands is much more lenient than that which prevails over the more fouthern and populous colonies. Talk work is univerfally introduced.

• Their labour,' fays our author, is allotted to them daily and individually according to their frength; and if they are fo diligent as to have finished it at an early hour, the reft of the day is allowed to them for amufement or their private concerns. The master also frequently. fuperintends them himself; and therefore, it rarely happens that they are so much subject to the discipline of the whip as where the gangs are large, and directed by agents or overfeers. ' p. 172.

Now, what is the confequence of thefe molt important circumftances? The negroes in the Bahama iflands difcover in general more fpirit and exertion than in the fouthern parts of

the

the Weft Indies,” ibid. ; and, of this, various proofs occur in this work. Collateral evidence, if it were neceffary, could also be adduced from Mr M Kinnen's narrative, to prove the adaptation of task-work to produce induftry. He tells us that the negroes never difplay fo much ingenuity or patience as in the pursuit of prey,' p. 188.; and we meet with repeated proofs of their fuccefs in thip-building and the management of fmall craft at fea; occupations, in which the compulfive labour extorted by the cart-whip is exchanged for voluntary service.

Before concluding our obfervations on this work, we have to repeat that it is much lefs full and inftructive than might have been wifhed. The ftyle of Mr M'Kinnen is unambitious and. inoffenfive; it aims at nothing elegant or adorned; but is not always pure or correct. A few of his obfervations border on the ludicrous, chiefly from awkwardness of manner. He tells us, for example, that the governor of Barbadoes, from fome indiftinctness of hearing, generally paffes by the arguments of counsel, and confults only the authorities, &c. p. 32. It ap." pears, however, that this unhappy circumftance does not at all. prevent the gentlemen of the long robe from exercifing their eloquence, to a judge who cannot hear one word they utter, ibid. The author's long declamation on the bad paving of the King-" fton streets (p. 83.) might alfo have been fpared, or referved at leaft for the Governor of Barbadoes; and the dignity of the remark, that pleafure is not generally the offspring of expectation in this life," p. 79. would have accorded with a more lofty occafion than that of the veffel arriving in port a few hours beyond the expected time. The candid and modeft spirit, however, which prevails through the whole of this little work, would have amply atoned for much greater violations of correct taste than any which we have been able to discover in the course af a very careful perufal.

ART. XIV.

Sir Triftrem, a Metrical Romance of the 13th Century ; by Thomas of Ercildoune, called the Rhymer. Edited from the Auchinleck MS. by Walter Scott Efq. Advocate. Royal 8vo.. pp. 506. Printed by J. Ballantyne, for Arch. Conftable & Co. Edinburgh, and Longman & Rees, London. 1804.

BEFORE we proceed to examine the merits of this work, we

think it our duty to exprefs our difapprobation of the very high price affixed to it by the publishers. We do not affect to fympathize with the author of the Purfuits of Literature, in his fickly antipathy to cream-coloured paper, hot-preffed pages, large margins, and beautiful types; on the contrary, we remarked

with pleasure, in our review of the Minstrelfy of the Scotish Bord er, that the printer, Mr Ballantyne, had contributed no common fhare of elegance to that very pleafing and popular work: But we can fee no reason why the bard of Ercildoun fhould be diftinguished from all his fucceffors by a more gigantic page; and ftill lefs can we approve the limitation of a new edition to a very small number of copies as an excufe for an advanced price. Perhaps it may add to our indignation, that our own labour is thus confiderably increased, because it becomes neceffary that we should describe more particularly the contents of a valuable work which cannot be known to the whole number of our readers. Be this as it may, we fhall now, after discharging our spleen, proceed to our analyfis.

We know from various authorities, that the metrical tale of Sir Triftrem, compofed by Thomas of Ercildoun, was among the first romantic poems exhibited in our language; and we know alfo, that it was univerfally confidered as the beft. If, therefore, the copy now edited by Mr Scott from the Auchinleck MS. can be admitted as a tolerably correct tranfcript of the original, it will afford us the purest model of the language and taste of our remote ancestors; and as every romance reflects the manners of the times in which it was compofed, this very early fpecimen of our poetry will prefent many valuable materials to the future hiftorian. The editor therefore has collected, in a fhort but clear and comprehenfive introduction, all the information which the reader can expect relating to his author; he has accumulated, in a large body of notes, various illuftrations of the text, from the romances of history in the middle ages; he has prefixed, to each of the three fyttes' into which he has divided the poem, a fort of tranflation, which will be found very con venient by the curfory reader; and he has added a gloffary for the use of the more attentive ftudent. We shall presently exa mine, as minutely as our limits will permit, the labours of the editor; but we wish, in the first inftance, to lay before our readers a fhort outline of the story.

In a country called Ermonie, of which the latitude and longi tude may be left to the reader's difcretion, provided that he do not place it at too great a diftance from Cornwall, lived two great feudal barons, one of whom was called Duke Morgan, and the other Rouland Rife. After a war, in which Morgan had been the aggreffor, but had been compelled to accept as a favour a truce of feven years, Rouland repaired to the court of king of England; diftinguished himself at a tournament;

ed the heart of Blanche-flour the king's fifter. Un1y, he had been feverely wounded at the combat; and,