not without observation and reflection. They have perhaps improved in their treatment of the female sex, to whom they appear attached, though they impose on them the chief labours which are necessary: the women, indeed, are faithful and affectionate; they are not destitute of personal beauty, nor are they less fond of dress than their fairer neighbours.

While the native character of the Indian became thus degraded, by his intercourse with the whites, the same intercourse gave to the latter many of the traits of savage life. Obliged to endure the extremes of fatigue and privation, with inexhaustible patience, in their trade with the interior, the voyageurs, or coureurs des bois, could not but deviate somewhat into the habits of the people among whom they were thrown, and which were not altogether inappropriate to the lives and occupations they led. Absent for twelve or fifteen months, they are obliged to suffer incredible hardships, to cross wide lakes and bays, to drag their boats over innumerable portages, to descend the most dangerous rapids, and to brave, unprotected, the fiercest rigors of climate. With food, consisting of fried corn homony for breakfast, a slice of fat pork and biscuit for dinner, and a pot of mush, with a pound of tallow in it, for supper; they are lively, patient, persevering, and undaunted in every difficulty. Exhibiting no fear of death, they will pass a river on a bundle of drift wood, and explore the untrodden forests without a guide. Displaying no fatigue, they will carry round the portages their canoes and their cargoes, with inconceivable rapidity; they fix the packages on their backs with a thong of leather, a broad piece coming over the head, against which the brow leans; and thus burdened, they trot, apparently unexhausted, along the most rugged paths. The hard-earned wages of this toilsome existence, are spent with a recklessness as great as the labour with which they are procured; a few weeks in Montreal and Quebec reward the toil, as they exhaust the produce of months; and this consumed, they are ready again to renew their voyages and encounter their perils. No melancholy feeling seems to dwell on their minds for a moment; the present, however occupied, whether in toil or indolence, has its pleasures. They are celebrated for the easy and often extemporaneous songs which they compose, and which, however deficient in melody, possess a charm not easily surpassed, as they are gaily poured forth from a light canoe, traversing, beneath cloudless skies, lakes shadowed by dense and solitary forests.

The same vivacity of character may be observed in the inhabitants of Canada, descended from the French, who have pursued the more quiet occupations of husbandry. With sunburnt and swarthy complexions, and thin cheeks, they possess bright and quick eyes; their manners are easy and polite, their affections

warm, and their passions, in general, subdued; if the climate has chilled in them, somewhat, the gaiety of the race from which they have sprung, they retain its loquacity, civility, and good humour. They seem to possess but little ambition or industry, adhering warmly to old and even antiquated habits; they love. to sit, during the summer, in large parties, beneath the verandas of their houses, and enjoy placidly their pipes in the cool breeze; in winter, they cover the rivers with their sleighs, brilliantly ornamented, and tinkling with bells. In war, they have proved themselves brave soldiers; though they are said not to possess talents for command in military exploits. Religious they certainly are, for in no country are the rules of the Catholic faith more strictly observed, though enforced by no law, and upheld by little power; their cathedrals are splendidly ornamented; the churches, with their glittering spires, are very numerous; in every village, the cross is seen displayed in some conspicuous place; the clergy are respected, and the whole ecclesiastical establishment is wealthy and powerful. The dwellings of the habitans bear the air rather of quiet comfort, than of wealth, being generally a single story in height; but large and good houses, the residence of the seigneurs and more wealthy gentlemen, are seldom out of sight in passing through the settled part of Lower Canada.

In the upper province, of course, little is seen that bears these marks of ancient settlement and fixed habits. It is the field in which emigrants are now making their way, and we behold on all sides, the gradual destruction of the forests, rough cottages peeping out among them, and incipient villages thriving under the hand of hardy enterprise. It has been a favourite plan with the government of the mother country, to promote emigration to Upper Canada; but it has been said, by intelligent observers in that province, that from a desire to rid themselves of a superabundant population in Ireland, they have not been sufficiently attentive to the sufferings which inevitably await the indigent, when thrown destitute into so wild a region. It has been estimated, that one-tenth of all the poor Irish emigrants perish during the first two years they are in the country, and that of three hundred persons of that class, not more than twenty grown-up people, and fifty children, would be found living at the end of five years after their arrival, If placed on the public works, they are unacquainted with the nature of the country, and are unable to bear the extremes of climate. If sent into the woods, even with land given them, and a few implements of husbandry, the labour, the mode of existence, every thing is new, and they find themselves toiling amid heats under which they expire, or shut up by snows against which they have not the providence or the ability to guard. The population, however,

of Upper Canada, is increasing from better sources than compulsory or necessitous emigration; it is increasing by hardy, industrious, thrifty, and substantial settlers; and there can be little doubt, that before many years, it will rival, or surpass in energy, if not in numbers, the more unambitious and peculiar people seated lower on the shores of the St. Lawrence.

It was our intention, when we commenced this article, to embrace within its limits not merely a sketch of its discovery, and a notice of its geography, its soil, its climate, and the character of its population; but also an account of its laws, and some remarks on the political changes it has undergone, as well as on those events of a public nature, which at the present day justly attract the attention of a neighbouring people. Our limits oblige us to postpone these observations to a future occasion; but we do not by any means regret the extent of the present article, since no American can fail to derive interest from every thing which brings more particularly to his notice, the history and resources of a country contiguous to his own. What may be its fate, it is unnecessary to attempt to prophecy; yet whether it remain under the sway of a distant empire, whether it assume an independent rank among the nations of this continent, or whether it be united with any of them by amicable and beneficial ties, it cannot be supposed that its progress or situation will be unregarded by a people along whose boundary it extends for more than two thousand miles.

Of the works we have consulted, all have been long before the public except two; the Transactions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, and the Three years in Canada, by Mr. John Mactaggart. As to the former, were its merits less great than they really are, we should hesitate to speak with any thing but approbation, since it presents to the public, the first offering of an institution, from which much that will be useful as well as novel with regard to the northern parts of America may be expected. But the volume appears to us really an excellent, as it is certainly an unpretending production; perhaps the articles it contains, are too minute in some respects to afford much interest to general readers, but they contain facts highly valuable to science; and if the testimony of our journal can add to the zeal of the gentlemen of Canada engaged in such pursuits, they may be assured that the continuation of their labours will be hailed with approval. Of Mr. Mactaggart's book we are somewhat at a loss what to say; at first we were utterly disgusted with the egotism and vulgarity of the author; but as we toiled through these, as well as through pages of commonplace and tiresome details of his own exploits, we found facts and remarks which indicated considerable shrewdness and observation.

In truth, he appears to be a hard-headed gentleman of North Britain, who came over to Canada to seek his fortune as an engineer of the Rideau canal, with a bundle of prejudices on his back, which he was never inclined to drop as he went along, but with an inquisitive disposition that let few things slip by unnoticed; a tough constitution that toiled away unaffected by agues, frosts, or forests; a kindly opinion of his own judgment, which led him to discuss all matters very fully; and enough of literary vanity to think he could not do better than to put into two volumes, for the benefit of John Bull, all he had seen and thought about the loyal Canadians, and the recreant Yankees.

ART. IX.-A Ramble among the Musicians of Germany, giving some account of the Operas of Munich, Dresden, Berlin, &c.; with remarks upon the Church Music, Singers, Performers, and Composers; and a Sample of the Pleasures and Inconveniences that await the lover of art on a similar excursion. By A MUSICAL PROFESSOR. London: Hunt & Clarke: 8vo. 1828.

A CAPACITY to comprehend and create, and a taste to discern and relish the intricacies and infinite beauties of harmonious and melodious combinations of sounds, exist in every nation,among the civilized, as among the savage. They are gifts of the great Creator,-always alive to every thing that conduces to our happiness and to our enjoyments. But while we admit, that this musical capacity is generally diffused throughout the world, we must acknowledge, at the same time, that the degree in which it exists, varies considerably in different individuals, and among different nations. We hardly need attempt to point out the truth of this observation; for the experience of every one must have sufficed to show him, that some individuals, in every section of the habitable globe, are exceedingly alive to the charms of music; that others are so insensible to them, as to be unable to distinguish one tune from another—far less, to become proficient in the art; while between these two extremes, an infinite variety of shades are observed in the degree of musical capacity. The same remarks hold good, whenever, from the consideration of individuals, we turn to that of masses. The Italian nations, the inhabitants of the Spanish peninsula and their descendants, as well as the Germans, are musical in the fullest signification of the term; while there are serious doubts, whether the inhabitants of some other districts of the European continent, can fairly be held in the same light. The natives of Ireland and Scotland may also be ranked as highly susceptible to musical

impressions, as is evinced in the sweetness and originality of their melodies; while their English rulers, notwithstanding their boasts to the contrary, are, by unanimous consent, ranked very low in the scale of musical nations. Nor is it less certain, that with equal degrees of capacity, nations and individuals differ very widely in regard to their taste, in other words, to the kind of music, from which they receive the most agreeable sensations. Hence it is, that in every nation, particular songs, accompanied or not, by dances, are found, possessing a peculiar character, and giving rise among the people to particular effects, while they are unproductive of such effects on the natives of other countries. Limiting ourselves to a few examples, we will merely remind our readers of the striking difference existing between the music of the Italians, so full of the richest melody, and that of the Germans, rich in harmony, and often feeble in melody. Compare the Scotch tunes, with the melodies of the Spanish provinces; the romances of France, with the popular airs of Switzerland; and conviction will follow of the great dissimilarity that exists among them, and consequently in the musical tastes of these nations. In every nation, individuals are found, who display a taste for certain kinds of music-certain modifications of rhythm and melody, that are not so agreeable to others; and it does not require much research to discover, that in different sections of the same country, taste differs sometimes very perceptibly.

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As regards the causes of this great diversity in capacity and taste, a diversity which exemplifies peculiarly well the propriety of the advice conveyed in the old saying, de gustibus non disputandum, much discussion has arisen among philosophers. By one set, these causes, which must be regarded as the same as those which produce or modify natural genius and taste in other subjects, have been subdivided into two great classes. The one embraces all that relates to the newness or antiquity of the society to which they belong, or in other words, to the stages which any particular nation has attained in the great progress from rudeness to refinement, in which we are all engaged. The other comprehends what may be termed the accidental causes, by which the character and condition of communities may be affected; such as their government; their relative position as to power and civilization to neighbouring countries; their prevailing occupations, determined, in some degree, by the capabilities of their soil and climate; and more than all, perhaps, as to the question of taste, the still more accidental circumstances of the character of the first models of excellence, or the kind of merit by which their admiration and national vanity had been first excited. Another set, who admit, to a certain extent, the agency of the above mentioned causes, the diversity in question is referred