had not been previously paid-I cannot think, therefore, that any one dare make the experiment. If a sigle checque be at any time wanted, let the clerk keep a checquebook for that purpose; but, before he issue it, he should note upon the mar. gin for whom it was delivered, &c. nor should it be paid, after that, without regularly passing through his hands, that he may compare it with his checque-book, and ascertain that it be the identical checque delivered by him; of course, he would not so deliver any without a proper authority. If a checque be filled up at the counter, that also should be obtained from him. Thus, it appears to me, that no partner, nor clerk, nor customer of a house, can possibly attempt a forgery (of this description) thereon, without its being brought home to them-no person can set about it, without first committing a robbery and no person can be so robbed without their own connivance, or (at least) a reprehensible inattention. Thus, the hitherto honest (though dissipated) youth may be made to shrink from the attempt to rob, and the experienced plunderer be stopped in his career, by the certainty of detectionand thus property may be rendered more secure--and the lives of many of our fellow-creatures saved, who might otherwise disgrace, when they are for ever hurried out of society, instead of living to become its ornaments, by one supernumerary clerk with two books at his command. I shall suspend any remarks upon this subject until I have waited a month, to see if any objections are brought against the preceding. In the interim, I remain, Sir, Book A. Your's, very obediently, J. RANDALL. THE LONDON REVIEW, AND LITERARY JOURNAL, FOR FEBRUARY, 1818. QUID SIT PULCHRUM, QUID TURPE, QUID UTILE, QUID NON. Rob Roy. By the Author of "Guy ALTHOUGH we opened, these vor lumes with strong anticipations of pleasure, we did not calculate upon reading it twice; first, because we could not help it; and secondly because, having satisfied the childish impatience excited by the fable, we wished to examine at our leisure the dramatis personæ. The result of our comparisons is highly favourable to Rob Roy; for although Meg Merrilies and Edic Ochiltree are still unrivalled as single portraits, there will be found in the present Work a richer variety of figures than have been exhibited on the same canvass within the last half century. The scene is laid in the early part of the reign of George the First, a few months previous to the insurrection of the Highlanders in 1715. By this felicitous choice of his subject, the author has ample scope for those picturesque descriptions so congenial to his talents; and, quitting altogether the level line of ordinary life, he is at liberty to introduce a series of eccentric personages, who in any other situa tion would almost appear to outstep the modesty of nature. If there be one character less discriminated, it is that of the hero Francis Osbaldistone, but the deficiency is dis guised by his telling his own story; a task which he performs with such admirable address, that it is impossible to lose sight of him for a single moment. This interesting narrative might, however, be comprised in a brief argument. Francis Osbaldistone, a young man of a poetical taste, offends his father, a wealthy merchant, by refusing to become his partner, and, as a conse quence of his delinquency, is exiled to the seat of his ancestors in Northumberland, and associated with a family of Jacobites and Papists; till, from the treachery of one of them, he is induced to visit Scotland, where, as might be expected, he meets with many strange adventures. There are many striking scenes in this work which are worthy of graphic illustration. The introduction of the hero to Sir Hildebrand and his rustic sons-the evening colloquy with sly Andrew Fairservice-the meeting between Campbell and Morris at Justice Inglewood's-the exquisite description of the cathedral at Glasgow-the scene in the subterraneous aisle-the renThese percontre on the Brigg-the recognition of sonages are, with scarcely one excep- MacGregor and Jervie in the prison tion, invested with the attraction of strongly marked individuality: from the formal arithmetical Owen to the jovial Justice; from the conceited shrewd Andrew Fairservice to the bold unconquerable MacGregor; from the comfortable, self-complacent, thrifty, yet kind-hearted Baillie, Nicol Jervie, to the vindictive Helen, or the highspirited romantic Diana Vernon; all are sketched by the hand of a master at once exact and bold, possessing a vigorous imagination, an observant eye, and an almost unlimited invention. Europ. Mag, Vol. LXXIII, Feb. 1818. the battle of the inn at Aberfoiland, neither last nor least, the sudden apparition of Helen Campbell to the military invaders of the Glen. 66 We approached within about twenty yards of the spot where the advancedguard had seen some appearance of an enemy. It was one of those promontories which run into the lake, and round the base of which the road had hitherto winded in the manner I have described. In the present case, however, the track, instead of keeping the water's edge, scaled the promontory by one or two T rapid zigzags, carried in a broken track along the precipitous face of a slaty grey rock, which would otherwise have Been absolutely inaccessible. On the top of this rock, only to be approached by a road so broken, so narrow, and so precarious, the corporal declared he had seen the bonnets and long-barrelled guns of several mountaineers, apparently couched among the long heath and brush-wood which crested the eminence. Captain Thornton ordered him to move forward with three files, to dislodge the supposed ambuscade, while at a more slow but steady pace he advanced to his support with the rest of his party. "The attack which he meditated was prevented by the unexpected apparition of a female upon the summit of the rock. 'Stand!' she said, with a commanding tane and tell me what ye seek in Mac Gregor's country?' im "I have seldom seen a finer or more 1 commanding form than this woman. She might be between the term of forty and fifty years, and had a countenance which must once have been of a mascufine cast of beauty; though now, printed with deep lines by exposure to rough weather, and perhaps by the wasting influence of grief and passion, its features were only strong, harsh, and expressive She wore her plaid, not drawn around her head and shoulders, as is the fashion of the women in Scotland, but disposed around her body as the Highland soldiers wear their's. She had a man's bonnet, with a feather in it, an unsheathed sword in her hand, and a pair of pistols at her girdle, "It's Helen Campbell, Rob's wife,' said the Baillie, in a whisper of considerable alarm; and there will be broken heads amang us or it's lang.' "What seek ye here?' she asked again of Captain Thornton, who had himself advanced to reconnoitre. "We seek the outlaw, Rob Roy MacGregor Campbell.' answered the officer, and make no war on women; therefore offer no vain opposition to the king's troops, and assure yourself of civil treatment.' "Ay,' retorted the Amazon, I am no stranger to your tender mercies. Ye have left me neither name nor famemy mother's bones will shrink aside in their grave when mine are laid beside them-Ye bave left me and mine neither house nor hold, blanket nor bedding, cattle to feed us, or flocks to clothe us--Ye have taken from us all all-the very name of our ancestors have ye taken away, and now ye come for our lives.' "I seek no man's life,' replied the Captain; I only execute my orders. If you are alone, good woman, you have nought to fear-if there are any with you so rash as to offer useless resistance, their own blood be on their own heads - Move forward, serjeant.' 66 6 Forward-march,' said the Noncommissioned officer. • Iluzza, mỹ boys, for Rob Roy's head or a purse of gold!' "He quickened his pace into a run, followed by the six soldiers; but as they attained the first traverse of the ascent, the fash of a dozen of firelocks from various parts of the pass parted iu quick succession and deliberate aim. The serjeant, shot through the body, still struggled to gain the ascent, raised himself by his hands to clamber up the face of the rock, but relaxed his grasp, after a desperate effort, and falling, rolled from the face of the cliff into the deep lake, where he perished. Of the soldiers three fell, slain or disabled; the others retreated on their main body, all more or less wounded. 66 6 Grenadiers, to the front,' said Captain Thornton.-You are to recollect, that in these days this description of soldiers actually carried that destructive species of firework from which they derive their name. The four grenadiers moved to the front accordingly. The officer commanded the rest of the party to be ready to support them; and only saying to us, Look to your safety, gentlemen,' gave, in rapid succession, the word to the grenadiers; Open your pouches-handle your grenadesblow your matches-fall on.' 66 "The whole advanced with a shout, headed by Captain Thornton, the gre nadiers preparing to throw their gre nades among the bushes where the ambuscade lay, and the musketeers to support them by an instant and close assault. Dougal, forgotten in the scuffle, wisely crept into the thicket that overhung that part of the road where we had first halted, which he ascended with the activity of a wild cat. 1 followed his example instinctively, recollecting that the fire of the Highlanders would sweep the open track. 1 clambered until out of breath; for a continued spattering fire, in which every shot was multiplied by a thousand echoes, the hissing of the kindled fusees of the grenades, and the successive explosion of those missiles, mingled with the buzzas of the soldiers, and the yells and cries of their Highland antagonists, formed a contrast which added-I do not shame to own itwings to my desire to reach a place of safety The difficulties of the ascent soon increased so much that I despaired of reaching Dougal, who seemed to swing himself from rock to rock, and stump to stump, with the facility of a squirrel, and I turned down my eyes to see what had become of my other companions. Both were brought to a very awkward still-stand. "The Baillie, to whom I suppose fear had given a temporary share of agility, had ascended about twenty feet from the path, when his foot slipping, as be straddled from one huge fragment of rock to another, he would have slumbered with his father the deacon, whose acts and words he was so fond of quoting, but for a projecting branch of a ragged thorn, which, catching hold of the skirts of his riding coat, supported him in mid air, where he dangled not unlike to the sign of the Golden Fleece over the door of a mercer in Ludgate-hill. "As for Andrew Fairservice, he had advanced with better success, until he had attained the top of a bare cliff, which, rising above the wood, exposed him, at least in his own opinion, to all the dangers of the neighbouring skirmish, while, at the same time, it was of such a precipitous and impracti cable nature, that he dared neither to advance nor retreat. Footing it up and down upon the narrow space which the top of the cliff afforded (very like a fellow at a country-fair dancing upon a trencher), he roared for mercy in Gaelic and English alternately, according to the side on which the scale of victory seemed to predominate, while his exclamations were only answered by the groans of the Baillie, who suffered much. not only from apprehension, but from the pendulous posture in which he hung suspended by the loins." Observations, Moral, Literary, and Antiquarian, made during a Tour through the Pyrennees, South of France, Switzerland, the Whole of Italy, and the Netherlands, in the Years 1814 and 1815. By John Milford, Jun. late of St. John's College, Cambridge. ON quitting France, as well as Italy and Switzerland, this author makes extensive and very appropriate observations on the manners, society, and character of the inhabitants of each country; he also describes the present state of religion, and of the arts and sciences, giving an interesting account of the antiquities of Italy, the paintings and statues, mentioning, with just discrimination, in particular, the chef d'œuvres contained in the collections of Rome, Naples, and Florence. At Naples he devotes many pages to the subject of mendicity and poverty through the different countries of Europe which he had visited during his three years tour. Mr. Milford appears also to be a great admirer of rural charms, and dwells with rapture on the sublime scenery of the Italian and Swiss lakes, at the same time conveying to his readers a correct idea of the picturesque beauties, and wonders of nature, concentrated in the delightful environs of Naples. His particular description of Pompeii, as well as the account he gives of a night scene at Vesuvius, will afford every reader both amusement and infor mation. We now will select a few extracts from these volumes, to give an idea of the author's style, and will begin by copying his reflections on leaving Rome; of which city, with all its wonderful productions of the arts, both ancient and modern, he has given a very copious account. "I could not quit imperial Rome, where I had enjoyed so much intellectual gratification of the sublimest nature, without "Casting one longing, lingering look behind." On taking leave of this city of ancient heroes, probably for ever, I inevitably fell into a contemplative mood, and could not help recollecting bow often, during my stay there, surrounded by the ruins of ages, 1 had moralized "de fuga seculi et de vanitate munde;" how frequently I had thought to myself, "Here's room for meditation e'en to madness, till the mind burst with thinking." It was indeed impossible, when contemplating these scenes, not to be perpetually reminded of the transient nature of all things human, even those which appear the most powerfully calculated to defy the impressions of time itself, the irresistible destroyer, and to descend to the latest posterity. "The most classical, and consequently the most interesting, scene upon the continent, is that, of all others, which is, perhaps, the most neglected; I mean the greatest part of the journey between Rome and Naples, which is gene rally hurried through with the utmost precipitation, on account of its being through a flat marsh, offering no food but to the contemplative mind: let us, however, recollect, that this Pontine Marsh, this region of stagnant water and disease, was once an immense plain of rich cultivation. Every where there is something to interest our curiosity, excite our surprise, or melt us with compassion. The Campania of Rome (the modern name of this country), although disfigured with ruins, and marked by the sterility of its land and the unhealthiness and misery of its people, cannot fail to awaken ideas of its former power and inhabitants, and to inspire us with reflections of a melancholy cast, when we compare its present situation with what it once was.-What a lesson to human pride, and of the mutability of human possessions, when we trace a country of near forty miles, now an uninhabitable mass of desolated swamp, breathing only pestiferous exhalations to the destruction of human life, which once was the seat of pleasure and riches, wafting the breath of health and luxory to its innumerable population. Where shall we look round for even a vestige of the palaces, villas, gardens, nay of more than twenty populous towns, which are recorded to have been situated here, and which the invasion and plunder of successive conquerors, and, above all, that more destroying conqueror Time, have sunk into oblivion?"-Vol II. p. 1 to 4. Speaking of Pompeii (which was overwhelmed about 1800 years since by an eruption of Vesuvius, and has been excavated within these last few years), he says, We. now walked down one of the principal streets, which is about ten feet in breadth. By the side is a raised pavement for foot passengers. That in the centre was for carriages (which are supposed to have been about four feet broad), so that there was sufficient room for two to pass each other. Here you will plainly perceive the ruts made by the wheels nearly 2000 years ago! On one side of this street are the remains of the magnificent temple of Isis, in a good state of preservation." And again : 66 Every person must experience the greatest interest in visiting the amphitheatre of Pompeii. Curiosity has ne ver gone so far as to clear the whole of the arena; but I was glad to find workmen now employed for that purpose. On its sides are represented a variety of animals, which used to be introduced in the exhibitions, and near one of them is a wounded gladiator. It was here the ancients took delight in seeing their fellow-creatures torn in pieces by wild beasts, and where even women exposed themselves, and drenched the ground with their blood; "Sed fœminarum illustrium, senatorumque Filiorum plures per arenam fœdati sunt.” TACITUS. 66 At each moment the work men were discovering large pieces of fresco painting, which not being yet faded by the sun, offered to the sight a variety of colours, more exquisitely heautiful than words can express. In this amphitheatre there are forty two rows of seats for the spectators, all of marble, which alone serve to give one an idea of the original splendor of the edifice," &c. &c.-Vol. II. p. 54, &c. He ascended a hill, and took a view of Pompeii. "The ashes were twenty-five feet deep, and the walls of the houses now standing are about twelve feet high; but not more than one quarter of the city (which is said to have been four miles in circumference) is yet uncovered. The remainder is still overwhelmed with cinders, and the surface above planted with fruit-trees. These are the principal objects which struck my attention during my frequent visits to Pompeii; but there were a thousand others, which perhaps it would be tiresome to enumerate. I had been walking through a city built nearly 2000 years ago, which during the greater part of that time has continued buried under ground: I had entered the rooms of the houses, and remarked in the shops many implements used for different professions: I had seen the villa near the town, where Cicero is said to have resided; in fact, I cannot describe half what I saw or felt on this occasion; suffice it to say, that during the whole of my tour, I never experienced such sensations of pleasure in exploring the remains of antiquity."Vol. II. p. 59. In his description of Vesuvius, he says, |