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remain untainted with laxity of morals, will be those who sternly wrap themselves up in religion, and receive with jealousy all external impressions. To contemn worldly wisdom will not now be so difficult as formerly, because reason is no longer an unexplored region; but religious reverence having been thrown aside, reason has been traced to its last results, and found to end in nothing,-at least so far as relates to happiness. Hence, even many men of the world may long to turn methodists when it is too late.

The last thing to be spoken of is, the merit of Mr Jeffrey's and Mr Hazlitt's writings, considered as literary compositions. But a critical discourse is generally such a patched, pyebald, and polygeneous affair, that one does not know by what rules of taste it should be tried. The style at present used in such compositions, whatever may be its copiousness and brilliancy, is certainly nothing but an abominable hodge-podge, garbling and confounding all associations. Instead of accomplishing its object by well chosen words, it makes out its meaning by throwing in one word to modify another, till the whole becomes a crude mass of ill-concocted epithets, which leave no unity of impression upon the memory. It is a style which may be made to convey one's meaning with accuracy enough, since all kinds of phrases, however uncouth, may be drawn in for that purpose; but it conveys it without grace, concentration, or singleness of effect. Every thing is driven into the reader by reiterated strokes. He comes away with as little pleasure as a spectator does from tracing the forms of plants upon a glaring screen, where they are distinctly enough rendered, perhaps, but without the least pretensions to clare-obscure, or harmony of colours.

Of all the writers who have cultivated this style, Mr Jeffrey is certainly the best. He has far surpassed the sturdy English moralist, who, if he were now alive, would probably feel himself quite jejune, flaccid, and empty, upon listening to the overwhelming roll of expletives in the Edinburgh Review. He would look like a schoolmaster who had been suddenly drowned with Greek by one of his own pupils. Nevertheless, it must be admitted, that the indigenous English used by Swift and Arbuthnot, did not conVOL. III.

tain a sufficient number of words adapted to metaphysical purposes, and, so far as this defect existed, the adoption of learned words has certainly been an improvement; but the writers did not stop when the demands of utility were satisfied, and consequently the style now chiefly used is a Babylonish sort of English, made up of learned and sonorous phrases, intermingled with glittering fragments of poetical diction. Nicholas Poussin, when living at Rome, was asked by a stranger concerning antiquities; whereupon he lifted from the ground a handful of dust and fragments, and said, "Here is some of the ancient city." In the same manner, if a foreigner were to inquire about the works of great English writers, we might shew him a page of some mo dern periodical publication, and say, "Here is the debris of many ancient poets and philosophers."

But although the faults of Mr Jeffrey's principles of composition are rendered more glaring by crowds upon crowds of unskilful imitators, who use the Babylonish dialect without having any thing of importance to communicate, yet he may console himself with the old reflection, that, "next to the merit of having improved a nation's taste, the greatest merit is that of having corrupted it."

Mr Hazlitt, although by no means untainted with the Babylonish dialect himself, shews, in his remarks upon Arbuthnot and Swift, that he is per fectly aware of its being a cup of abominations. He observes, that its defect lies in its total want of applicability to one set of ideas more than another. It is bound to the thoughts, conveyed in it by no ties of nature or association, and consequently leaves no distinct impression, no pleasing fla

vour.

After all, purity of style, in periodical publications, is not of much importance. The speculative ideas circulated in these works, are not expected to be considered as any man's property, and every exposition of them is liable to be superseded by later and shorter ones. Most essays now are hardly worthy of the name of compositions, being merely a series of sentences printed in the same page, without any pervading harmony to bind them into a whole, and if they hang together for a twelvemonth, it is a 2 Q

long life. A new speculation is like a handful of crumbs dropt into a brook, where it is immediately nibbled and carried off by the minnows in all directions. Perhaps this is the necessary fate of speculative ideas. Periodical literature will probably swallow up all other kinds, and leave nothing classical but poetry and works of sentiment, where the ideas are connected by such fine invisible and mysterious ties, that they cannot be removed from their places without losing their value entirely.

However excellent and original, therefore, may be the thoughts from time to time started by these two individuals, especially by Mr Jeffrey, there is reason to suspect that their compositions will be like those figures drawn upon the sand by the early mathematicians-figures from which their pupils learned much, but which were washed away by the return of the tide.

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I SEND you, at the same time with the note you desired, a sketch of the operations which led to the capture of the island of Timor, by H. M. ship HESPER, under my command, in the year 1811. I have likewise added a few circumstances that took place subsequently to that event. It is probable you will find that, in the narrative, I may have dwelt somewhat too long on the minute details of sea service; but though they may prove tedious to a landsman's ear, yet they will give you an idea of the adventurous character of a seaman's life; and perhaps you may feel, that the naval profession is a school of active discipline, where all the more severe virtues and energies of mind are daily,

nay hourly, called into action. I make no apology for the almost total want of dates, my professional journal being in England; but the circumstances themselves being trying and difficult, they left on my memory so deep an impression, that the recollection of them is still perfectly fresh and vivid.-I remain, my dear sir, your obedient, C. T. THURSTON.

IN the autumn of 1810, the combined British naval and military forces, under the respective commands of Admiral Sir Robert Stopford and Gen. Sir Samuel Achmuty, employed on the expedition against the island of Java, succeeded in carrying, by storm, the entrenched camp of General Jansen, in the neighbourhood of Batavia. The fortification had been projected and finished by General Daendels, who had lavished all the resources of military talent on a situation extremely strong by nature; but the Malay troops, though bold, and trained in the European tactics, were unable to stand against the assault of our veteran regiments, assisted by the Indian troops, who emulated their companions in arms; and after a severe and bloody affair, their entrenchments were successively carried, and their remaining detached corps were in a few days either destroyed, or surrendered at discretion. This affair de

The

cided the fate of the Dutch empire in the east, as in the capitulation were included the various settlements in the Indian seas. The course of operations had carried the admiral to the port of Sourabaya, the most eastern establishment on the island; and there, when the arrangements were finally closed, I received the command of the Hesper sloop of war. climate, and hard service as artillery men during the campaign, had not spared the crew of this vessel any more than those of the other ships of the squadron; and out of a complement of 120 men, there remained not more than 80 or 90, 50 of whom were at this time in the hospitals, or on the sick-list on board. Shortly after the departure of the admiral from the island, a report was brought by some vessel from Europe, that a squadron of French frigates had left Brest, bound, as was supposed, for the relief of the island of Java. The British naval commanding officer immediate

ly made the necessary arrangements for their reception, in the event of their finding their way into these seas; and I received orders to proceed, with H. M. sloop under my command, to the Straits of Bali, to watch well their southern entrance.

I received on board some few convalescents from the hospital, and immediately repaired to Balambuan, in the straits above-mentioned. While at anchor there, I had the misfortune to lose the only experienced officer on board, who sunk under the effect of the marshes of Batavia. Subsequently I found his loss irreparable. While taking in here our water, the westerly monsoon had set in with its usual violence, and though perfectly secure at our anchorage, the offing held out no very agreeable prospects; and the extreme severity of the weather, accompanied with torrents of rain, of which scarcely an idea can be formed in a northern temperate latitude, made me sometimes hesitate on the propriety of proceeding to sea. But the system of naval discipline is founded on the same principle as that of the ancient Roman armies; and with us, as with them, the highest virtue is obedience without calculation. I determined to run all risks; and, having completed the supply of water, stood to sea early one morning in the middle of December, with the intention of returning to the anchorage in the evening, if I should find, upon trial, that the severity of the weather, or strength of currents outside, should render it necessary. In half an hour from the time of our quitting the Straits, an extremely heavy squall came on, which entirely hid the land from my view. I stood on for a few hours, and then tacked, in the expectation of reaching my anchorage in the Straits before dark. The weather, during the whole day, had been so extremely thick, that we were never once enabled to see more than half a mile distant. About four o'clock, P. M. I calculated that I was again at the mouth of the Straits, which I had left in the morning. The weather, as we approached the shore, became more moderate, and the land was discovered at no very great distance. I stood in with full confidence, when, to our no little astonishment, the face and form of the Straits had entirely changed their character, and I soon discovered that it

was in vain to search for our old friendly anchorage here; in short, I now comprehended, that the easterly current, for which it was impossible to calculate during the thick weather of the day, had driven me, in spite of all my endeavours to keep to windward, into the Straits of Lombo, which are formed by the island of Bali and that of Lombo. I endeavoured to gain the offing; as the only rough manuscript chart in my possession represented these Straits as extremely dangerous, from the extraordinary currents there prevailing. But it was too late to recede. The wind had almost at once fallen to a dead calm, and I found myself irresistibly drawn into this gulf with a rapidity the most alarming. The vessel was now perfectly ungovernable, from the total stagnation of wind; and it is scarcely possible to describe the very extraordinary appearance and effects of the currents which now acted upon us with the most capricious fury. At one moment all was calm and smooth as a mirror-not a ripple to be seen or heard; and in an instant a mountainous wave rose at a short distance, and directed its course to the vessel, boiling and roaring with a velocity and noise the most astounding. It then broke over the vessel on both sides, and left us, carrying on its coarse and wild appearance for a hundred fathoms more; and then at once the surge ceased, and all again was still. This phenomenon happened every minute. During the whole of this scene, the vessel was turned round and round in the most frightful manner: she appeared but as a plaything in the hands of the genii of this whirlpool. At one moment we found ourselves close to the breakers which border the shore of the Straits, upon which we were hurried with a rapidity that seemed scarcely to leave time to prepare for the threatened catastrophe; and then, at the very moment that we had lost the hope of deliverance, a counter current caught us with the same violence, and hurried us over to the opposite shore, where a similar counteraction again preserved us. The chart before me was not particularly calculated to cheer us, as the Dutch navigators had marked a small island at the entrance of the Straits, Banditti Island; another, Murderers' Point, Assassins' Bay, &c. I now ob

served, with attention and satisfaction, the progress of the vessel in this wild hurly-burly; and found that, independently of the counter currents, the direction of the whole movement was to the northward through the Straits with a very great velocity, so that, at the expiration of two hours, we had opened the northern entrance; and I gained, the same night, the Java sea without any accident, and, in the course of the following morning, again entered the Bali Straits by a northern

entrance.

The weather was now for a day or two tolerably settled; so that, notwithstanding the experience I had gained in my first attempt to remain at sea, I was induced to make a second experiment. Accordingly I started again by the same route. The morning was fine, and the easterly current outside did not appear too rapid to prevent my holding my ground; but towards the afternoon it grew black to the S.W. and in a short time a gale of wind came on with excessive fury; it blew a perfect hurricane all the night; and in the morning, when I stood in for the land, I discovered by my observations of chronometer, that I was now opposite the coast of Sumbaya. The strength of the currents of course vary with the violence of the wind; and as it still continued to blow with unabated fury, I considered any attempt to return to my cruising ground perfectly hopeless and impracticable, until the termination of the monsoon, unless I had chosen to cross the equinoctial line, and thus, by profiting of the contrary monsoon which blew to the northward of the equator, be enabled to return to Java; but the short stock of provisions, and the wearied sickly state of my crew, rendered it necessary that I should immediately find some sheltering port. I cast my eyes over the chart, and saw no place where I could expect to find refreshment nearer than Timor, and though I had no local knowledge of the state of the settlement, I concluded it, from its appearance on the chart, to be of some importance, and hoped, that before this time the British government had sent a garrison to take possession of it. I decided then on making the best of my way to that place. I ran before the wind, running some risk from the coral reefs, which extend to a considerable dis

tance from Sandalwood Island, and which were not marked down in the chart. I found myself the next day in the open sea, between the abovementioned island and the Timor Islands. The weather was now occasionally clearer, though still blowing with undiminished violence; but I was fortunately able to determine with tolerable precision the latitude by double altitudes, which was of the utmost consequence, as my intention was to enter the Straits which are formed by the two small islands lying to the westward of Timor. At eight o'clock in the evening I was, by calculation, exactly in the latitude of the Straits at the supposed distance of about fifty miles. I therefore gave orders to heave the ship to for the night, and not to attempt a nearer approach until the following morning. These orders were so unskilfully executed by the officer of the watch, that a tremendous squall coming on at the same time, the foreguard was carried away. To clear the wreck, it was absolutely necessary to put again before the wind, at the risk of approaching the lee-shore during the night. I steered then due east for the straits, and was obliged to remain running for a considerable time, until the wreck was cleared, when we were enabled again" to heave to." I knew that by this time we must be within twenty miles of the land, and my anxiety was extreme. I remained on deck all night-the weather was excessively bad-and the vessel drifted fast to the eastward. The day had not yet broken, when the alarm was given, "Breakers on the lee-bow,”— the ship was instantly wore round, and scarcely had she gone on the other tack, when again, " land a-head." The surf broke over the rocks with tremendous noise and fury. I could now only hope that we were in the Straits, but our safety depended on various circumstances-upon the correctness of the latitude of the Straits, as marked down in the chart, on the precision of my observations the preceding day, and on the exactitude of our cruise during the night. It was a fearful moment. If we were in the Straits I knew we were safe, but if a quarter of a mile to the northward or southward, nothing could possibly save us from destruction. The day was not yet clear. We wore round frequently to avoid the tremendous breakers on

either side. The Straits were not half a mile in breadth. A perfect silence prevailed on board. Every individual seemed absorbed in the contemplation of the imminent danger, and the rapid execution of each successive order shewed the superiority of the British seamen over every other in the hour of danger. I had sent men aloft to report if any opening could be observed between the lands to leeward; when at once, on the dispersion of a dark and heavy squall, which kept back the day, several voices exclaimed, "We are in the Straits, sir," and the opening appeared every moment more manifest. We had stood the cast for life or death, and the throw was successful. I now steered confidently in the Straits, and we were soon in that part of them formed by the northernmost of the two islands I have spoken of, and Timor. Here we were perfectly sheltered from the fury of the monsoon, but our difficulties were not all over. Our chart, owing to the liberal practice of the Dutch government, whose invariable practice was to preclude strangers from all knowledge whatever of their seas, contained no details, and I knew not in what part of the island to look for the anchorage. Our sounding lead could never reach the bottom with forty fathoms. The day was employed in a vain search in the Straits. I was in hopes, by the interception of some canoe, to have opened communication with the shore, and to have gained the necessary information of the position of the settlement. But neither man nor habitation presented themselves in this quarter. I remained in the Straits all the night, and on the morning sallied out to explore the northern coast of Timor. The weather had some what moderated when I quitted my sheltering Straits. The land of Timor I found formed a deep bay to the northward, at the bottom of which I suspected the settlement I was in search of existed. I stood in for a considerable time, but no signs of habitation appearing, I began almost to despair of finding the object of my search here, when, as I put my glass to my eye for the last time, I imagined I discovered a red habitation peeping from among the trees. I now stood in farther, and sounding a precipitous point, my doubts were changed to certitude. The picturesque town

of Copang presented itself, sheltered by the battery of Vittoria, which stood high on a cliff to the westward of the town. Our colours were now hoisted, and a signal gun was fired; and I expected of course to see the British flag hoisted on the fort; but you may judge of my embarrassment, when I observed the Dutch flag wave. What measure was to be taken? I immediately despatched an officer with a flag of truce on shore, bearing a letter to the governor, in which I informed him of the success of our arms at Batavia, and that by the capitulation all the Dutch settlements were surrendered to the English; and demanding the surrender of the colony, and his immediate attendance on board. The officer returned with the answer of the governor, that he could not comprehend the affair; that he had no communication with Java for nearly two years, and begged me to come on shore to explain. I did not hesitate. With the white flag in my hand, I was received on the beach with military honours; the battery was manned, and the troops and militia drawn up. I proceeded to the government-house, and commenced the conversation by a recapitulation of the late events at Java, &c. and demanded again the immediate surrender of his settlement. He required to see my authority, and the written orders on the part of government, usual on such occasions. I was obliged to be frank with him, and represented to him the truth, that accidental circumstances had brought me to Timor, where I had expected to have found already a British garrison, but that not being the case, it became my duty as a British officer to pull down an enemy's flag wherever I might find it, adding, that if he did not think proper to surrender the island on the ground of its having been included in the capitulation by General Jansen, I now summoned him, in my own name, to surrender to me, as to an enemy of superior force; stating to him, that I had now 300 men ready to be thrown on shore, and who waited but for my return to commence an immediate attack. I warned him likewise, that the blood which might be shed in this useless contest must rest on his shoulders; and should the life of a single Englishman be lost in the struggle, he might rest assured, that the British government would

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