1850.]

culiar experience and knowledge of society have stroyed her fortune, while the troubles in Sarafforded her, added to the happiest naturel that dinia shattered that of her husband. Then ever fell to human portion, render her exquisite came the necessity of returning to her former voice and talent, both still in undiminished perfection, by no means her chief attraction in society. way of life. She had, fortunately for herMadame Rossi could afford to lose her voice to-self, continued to cultivate music as an art, morrow, and would be equally sought. True to and can, probably, at this moment, sing as her nation, she has combined all the Liebenswür-well as at any period of her life. The years digkeit of a German with the witchery of every which have passed by have detracted little other land. Madame Rossi's biography is one of from her personal appearance. She is still a great interest and instruction, and, it is to be fine, handsome woman, with a figure less hoped, will one day appear before the public. It is buoyant and agile, perhaps, than when, at not generally known that she was ennobled by the King of Prussia, under the title of Mademoiselle nineteen, she first made her appearance in de Lauenstein; and, since absolute will, it seems, England; but she is not less able, but rather, can bestow the past, as well as the present and perhaps, more, to give full efficacy to imfuture, with seven ahnerrn, or forefathers or passioned singing, and stir the deeper emoeight,' said the Countess, laughing, but I can't tions of the heart. remember;' and, though never disowning the popular name of Sontag, yet, in respect for the donor, her visiting cards, when she appears in Prussia, are always printed Néé de Lauenstein. We were greatly privileged in the enjoyment of her rich and flexible notes in our private circle, and, under her auspices, an amateur concert was now proposed for the benefit of the poor in Revel.

"The rehearsals were merry meetings; and when our own bawling was over, Madame Rossi went through her songs as scrupulously as the rest. I will never forget the impression she excited one evening. We were all united in the great ball-room of the governor's castle at Revel, which was partially illuminated for the occasion, and having wound up our last noisy Tournament,' we all retreated to distant parts of the salle, leaving the Countess to rehearse the celebrated Scena from the Freischutz with the instrumental parts. She was seated in the midst, and completely hidden by the figures and desks around her. And now arose a train of melody and expression which it thrills every nerve to recall; the interest and pathos creeping gradually on through every division of this most noble and passionate of songs -the gloomy light-the invisible songstress-all combining to increase the effect, till the feeling became too intense to bear. And then the hum in the distance, and the husky voice of suppressed agony whilst doubt possessed her soul, chilled the blood in our veins, and the final burster ists, er ists, was one of agony to the audience. Tears, real tears, ran down cheeks both fair and rough, who knew not and cared not that they were there; and not until the excitement had subsided did I feel that my wrist had been clenched in so convulsive a grasp by my neighbor, as to retain marks long after the siren had ceased. I have heard Schröder and Malibran, both grand and true in this composition, but neither searched the depths of its passionate tones, and with it the hearts of the audience, so completely as the matchless Madame Rossi."

But now came a reverse of fortune. After enjoying for many years the sort of happiness which is to be tasted by getting up amateur concerts, and private imitations of the opera, the revolutions of Germany de

We regret, of course, that the political events of Prussia should have deprived her of the property amassed in her early years. But all the occurrences of our lives carry along with them a compensating power, so that our very sufferings are often made profitable to us. We trust it may be so with Mademoiselle Sontag, whose reception on her return to London must have been in the Even after highest degree gratifying to her. the sensation produced by the extraordinary singing of Jenny Lind, she found it no way impossible to inspire the public with enthusiasm, though various feelings combined to render her reappearance memorable. Of the crowds who had beheld her on her first appearance, many, perhaps most, had gone the way of all living, yet thousands remained to institute a comparison between her former and her later efforts; and among these the general impression is, that she has gained rather than lost by her long retreat from public life. Her voice, perhaps, has not that exquisite buoyancy which youth bestows, but it has a more searching power, and richer and mellower tones, produced by the softening influence of time.

She has improved also as much in art as though she had been almost all the while upon the stage, and consequently will continue to excite as much admiration as any living singer. It may not be necessary for her to desire a protracted continuance of public favor, because her object, we believe, is merely to repair the losses she has sustained by the failure of banks and commercial houses in Germany, after which she will retire once more to the quiet of domestic life, never to appear again before the public. For ourselves, we wish this day may be far distant; though, at the same time, it would afford us pleasure to learn that she had been fortunate in her professional undertakings,

From the English Review.

THE CONQUEST OF CANADA.

The Conquest of Canada. By the Author of "Hochelaga." In 2 vols. 8vo. London: Bentley, 1849.

of Columbus, and supplied the means for the expedition.

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Henry VII. was not discouraged by this disaplumbus became known in England, the king enterpointment: two years after the discoveries of Coed into an arrangement with John Cabot, an adven

turous Venetian merchant, resident at Bristol, and on the 5th of March, 1495, granted him letters patent for conquest and discovery. Henry stipulated that one-fifth of the gains in this enterprise was to be retained for the crown, and that the vessels engaged in it should return to the port of covered the coast of Labrador, and gave it the Bristol. On the 24th of June, 1497, Cabot disname of Primavista.

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THOSE who are already acquainted with, "Hochelaga" will welcome with pleasure a work by the same author on the same soil; and we can confidently assure them that any pleasurable anticipations which they may form will be fully realized by a perusal of the volumes now before us. They embrace, indeed, not merely the last struggle between | France and England for the possession of those vast and interesting territories which lie between the great lake-chain and the Northern Ocean, but contain a full history of Canada, from its first discovery to its final reduction by the arms of Britain, and convey much information regarding the natural productions of the country, and the customs of its aboriginal inhabitants. The author has employed great research, and gives the result in a very attractive form: his style is eloquent, his narrative lucid; and we generally, though not universally, coincide in his views. Having said thus much by way of prelude, we proceed to our vocation, with the certainty of gratifying ourselves, and the hope that we shall gratify our readers, by a rapid sketch of "The Conquest of Canada." After a very interesting account of all the speculations of the ancients regarding the existence of the Western World, and of those voyages of discovery, either real or imaginary, which preceded the exploit of the great Genoese, Mr. Warburton briefly, but strikingly,ining the coast as far as the southern boundary of touches on the career of Columbus, and interval, the enterprising mariner again, in 1517, Maryland, and perhaps Virginia. After a long then proceedssailed for America, and entered the bay which a century afterward received the name of Hudson. If prior discovery confer a right of possession, there is no doubt that the whole eastern coast of the North American continent may be justly claimed by the English race.

"It was by accident only that England had been deprived of these great discoveries. Columbus, when repulsed by the courts of Portugal and Spain, sent his brother Bartholomew to London, to lay his projects before Henry VII., and seek assistance for their execution. The king, although the most penurious of European princes, saw the vast advantage of the offer, and invited the great Genoese to his court. Bartholomew was, however, captured by pirates on his return voyage, and detained till too late; for in the mean while Isabella of Castille had adopted the project

"A large island lay opposite this shore: from the vast quantity of fish frequenting the neighboring waters, the sailors called it Bacallaos; Cabot gave this country the name of St. John's, having landed there on St. John's day. Newfoundland has long since superseded both appellations. John Cabot returned to England in August of the same year, and was knighted, and otherwise rewarded by the king; he survived but a very short time in the enjoyment of his fame, and his son Sebastian Cabot, although only twenty-three years of age, succeeded him in the command of an expedition destined to seek a north-west passage to the South Seas.

Sebastian Cabot sailed in the summer of 1498; he soon reached Newfoundland, and thence proceeded north as far as the fifty-eighth degree. Having failed in discovering the hopedhe returned toward the south, examfor passage,

"Gasper Cortereal was the next voyager in the succession of discoverers; he had been brought up in the household of the King of Portugal, but nourished an ardent spirit of enterprise and thirst for glory, despite the enervating influences of a court. He sailed early in the year 1500, and pursued the track of John Cabot as far as the northern point of Newfoundland: to him is due

the discovery of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and | France, and thus become the instruments of dihe also pushed on northward by the coast of La-viding the dominions of the New World among brador, almost to the entrance of Hudson Bay." -vol. i. pp. 27-31.

Portugal and Spain each attempted to explore the northern continent, but with little success and less credit. The expeditions of Cortereal were rather slave-trading ventures than voyages of discovery; whilst those of Ponce de Leon aimed at an imaginary good, and obtained little real benefit. The beautiful coast, which he surnamed Florida, from the richness and variety of its flowers, has passed not only from the crown, but even from the

race of Castille :

alien powers, while their own classic land reaped neither glory nor advantage from the genius and courage of her sons. Of this first voyage the only record remaining is a letter from Verazzano to Francis I., dated 8th of July, 1524, merely stating that he had returned in safety to Dieppe.

"At the beginning of the following year Verazzano fitted out and armed a vessel called the Dauphine, manned with a crew of thirty hands, and provisioned for eight months. He first directed his course to Madeira; having reached that island in safety, he left it on the 17th of January, and steered for the west. After a narrow escape from the violence of a tempest, and having proceeded for about nine hundred leagues, a long low line of coast rose to view, never before seen "The first attempt made by the French to share by ancient or modern navigators. This country in the advantages of these discoveries was in the appeared thickly peopled by a vigorous race, of year 1504. Some Basque and Breton fishermen tall stature and athletic form: fearing to risk a at that time began to ply their calling on the landing at first with his weak force, the advengreat bank of Newfoundland and along the adja-tance the grandeur and beauty of the scenery, and turer contented himself with admiring at a discent shores. From them the island of Cape Breton received its name. In 1506, Jean Denys, a man of Harfleur, drew a map of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two years afterward, a pilot of Dieppe, named Thomas Aubert, excited great curiosity in France, by bringing over some of the savage natives from the New World: there is no

record whence they were taken, but it is supposed from Cape Breton. The reports borne back to France by these hardy fishermen and adventurers were not such as to raise sanguine hopes of riches from the bleak northern regions they had visited no teeming fertility or genial climate tempted the settler, no mines of gold or silver excited the avarice of the soldier, and for many years the French altogether neglected to profit by their discoveries."-p. 34.

In the year 1523, Francis I. fitted out a squadron of four ships to pursue discovery in the west; the command was intrusted to Giovanni Verazzano of Florence, a navigator of great skill and experience, then residing in France: he was about thirty-eight years of age, nobly born, and liberally educated; the causes that induced bim to leave his own country and take service in France are not known. It has often been remarked as strange, that three Italians should have directed the discoveries of Spain, England, and

enjoying the delightful mildness of the climate. From this place he followed the coast for about fifty leagues to the south, without discovering any harbor or inlet where he might shelter his vessel; he then retraced his course, and steered

to the north. After some time Verazzano ven

tured to send a small boat on shore to examine the country more closely numbers of savages came to the water's edge to meet the strangers, and gazed on them with mingled feelings of surprise, admiration, joy, and fear. He again resumed his northward course, till, driven by want of water, he armed the small boat, and sent it once more toward the land to seek a supply; the waves and surf, however, were so great, that it could not reach the shore. The natives, assembled on the beach, by their signs and gestures eagerly invited swimmer, threw himself into the water, bearing the French to approach: one young sailor, a bold

some presents for the savages, but his heart failed him on a nearer approach, and he turned to regain the boat; his strength was exhausted, however, and a heavy sea washed him almost insensible up upon the beach. The Indians treated him with great kindness, and, when he had sufficiently recovered, sent him back in safety to the ship.

"Verazzano pursued his examination of the coast with untiring zeal, narrowly searching every inlet for a passage through to the westward, until he reached the great island, known to the Breton fishermen, Newfoundland. In this important voyage he surveyed more than two thousand miles of coast, nearly all that of the present United States, and a great portion of British North America."-p. 37.

Another expedition under the same commander was devoid of any result. In 1525 Stefano Gomez sailed from Spain for Cuba and Florida, whence, coasting northward, he reached Cape Race on the south-eastern coast of Newfoundland. His object in steer-

ing to the north was to discover the northwest passage to India,-that fatal mirage which has lured so many noble spirits across the shifting desert of the barren sea to fail and to perish. The other delusions of early times have left us. The philosopher's stone no longer excites the ambition of our scholars and chemists; our mechanics no longer attempt to produce perpetual motion in perishable things; the ancien régime, with all its faults and follies, has passed away for ever; and popery has, generally speaking, lost all hold either upon the heart or the head of the educated classes on the European continent. But the north-west passage still remains a monument of past ignorance and present perversity, like a hoar-headed barbarian, who (the last of his own generation) yet survives to tell the tale of the past to his

civilized descendants.

How far Gomez penetrated is unknown; but there is reason to believe that he entered the estuary of the St. Lawrence, and traded on its banks. A Spanish tradition asserts, that the Spaniards reached these shores before the French, and, disappointed with finding no symptoms of gold or silver mines, repeatedly cried out "ca nada!” here (there is) nothing; whence the name Canada. This, however, is evidently one of those punning derivations by which ingenious idlers attempt to account for names with the origin of which they are unacquainted. The word Kannata or Kannada signifies village, or a collection of Indian cabins, in the dialect of several of the tribes which inhabited the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence when the French arrived there, and it is clear the name Canada arose from a misconception of the strangers, who, whenever they asked the name of an inhabited spot, received for answer a word which they supposed to denote the whole country.

dreary country were still locked up in the win ter's ice, forbidding the approach of shipping; he then bent to the south-east, and at length found anchorage at St. Catherine, six degrees lower in again turned to the north, and on the 21st of May latitude. Having remained here ten days, he reached Bird Island, fourteen leagues from the coast.

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Jacques Cartier examined all the northern shores of Newfoundland without having ascertained that it was an island, and then passed southward through the Straits of Belleisle. The country appeared everywhere the same bleak and inhospitable wilderness; but the harbors were numerous, convenient, and abounding in fish. He describes the natives as well-proportioned men, wearing their hair tied up over their heads, like bundles of hay, quaintly interlaced with birds' feathers. Changing his course still more to the south, he then traversed the Gulf of St. Lawrence, approached the main land, and on the 9th of July entered a deep bay; from the intense heat experienced there, he named it the Baye de Chaleurs.' The beauty of the country, and the kindness and hospitality of his reception, alike charmed him; he carried on a little trade with the friendly savages, exchanging European goods for their furs and provisions.

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considerable extent of the gulf-coast; on the 24th Leaving this bay, Jacques Cartier visited a of July he erected a cross thirty feet high, with a shield bearing the fleur-de-lys of France on the shore of Gaspi Bay. Having thus taken possession of the country for his king in the usual manner of those days, he sailed on the 25th of July on his homeward voyage. At this place two of the natives were seized by stratagem, carried on board the ships, and borne away to France. Cartier coasted along the northern shores of the gulf the 15th of August, and even entered the mouth of the River St. Lawrence, but the weath. er becoming stormy, he determined to delay his departure no longer; he passed again through the Straits of Belleisle, and arrived at St. Malo on the 5th of September, 1534, contented with his success, and full of hope for the future.

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Jacques Cartier was received with the consideration due to the importance of his report. The Court at once perceived the advantage of an es tablishment in this part of America, and resolved "In the year 1534, Philip Chabot, admiral of to take steps for its foundation. Charles de MonFrance, urged the king to establish a colony in cy, Sieur de la Mailleray, vice-admiral of France, the New World, by representing to him in glow-was the most active patron of the undertaking; ing colors the great riches and power derived by the Spaniards from their transatlantic possessions. Francis I., alive to the importance of the design, soon agreed to carry it out. JACQUES CARTIER, an experienced navigator of St. Malo, was recom. mended by the admiral to be intrusted with the expedition, and was approved of by the king. On the 20th of April, 1534, Cartier sailed from St. Malo with two ships of only sixty tons burden each, and 120 men for their crews. He directed his course westward, inclining rather to the north; the winds proved so favorable, that on the twentieth day of the voyage he had made Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland. But the harbors of that

through his influence Cartier obtained a more effective force, and a new commission, with ampler powers than before. When the preparations for the voyage were completed, the adventurers all assembled in the cathedral of St. Malo, on WhitSunday, 1535, by the command of their pious leader; the bishop then gave them a solemn benediction, with all the imposing ceremonials of the Romish Church."-p. 45.

On the 19th of May, Cartier again set sail, his fleet consisting of three small vessels, the largest being not more than 120 tons burden. Separated by storms from each other, they

all made for Newfoundland, where the lead-tered the Indian's canoe, and presented bread and er's vessel arrived first, on the 7th of July. wine, which they ate and drank together. They On the 26th her consorts joined her. We then parted in all amity. proceed in Mr. Warburton's own glowing language; for to abridge in such a case would be unpardonable.