wretched condition to which he was reduced, the cruelties inflicted upon him, and his long captivity and final deliverance by the fplendid victory of Lord Lake, are feelingly described.

After these preliminary remarks, the author proceeds to the more direct "Refutation of the charge brought against the Marquis Wellesley," and fhows, from the teftimony of Lord Cornwallis himself, the fubordinate fituation. in which Oude and its rulers had long ftood to this country; particularly during the time of Afoph ul Dowla, the late, and his brother Saadut Ali, the prefent Nabob. He states the culpable mifmanagement of both these chiefs, by which their revenues had declined, particularly in the territory of Rohilcund, which had been added to the dominions of the Nabob of Oude by our munificence, and the difaffection of the inhabitants and troops to the nabob; by which it is made to appear, that the government could not have stood by its inherent ftrength. Accordingly every material concern of that province had for a long time been managed by the British government. We had written thus far when the great question here agitated was brought to iffue before the reprefentatives of the nation, whofe decifion, by a very great majority, has honourably acquitted the noble perfon ac

cufed. It is needless therefore to add more than that the reader will find the caufe of that illuftrious nobleman very fully, and to us fatisfactorily, maintained by this author; who, to an intimate knowledge of the fubject, joins a perspicuity in his details and a foundness in his arguments, which would have gone far in deciding the public mind on this momentous queftion, had not a higher authority fet it completely at reft.

ART. VI. Letters from the Mountains; being the real Correfpondence of a Lady, between the Years 1773 and 1807. The third Edition. In three Volumes. 12mo. 13s. 6d. Longman and Co.

I

1807.

N Mrs. Grant's volume of Poems, published in 1802, there was much to intereft the feeling reader; and we remember that in reviewing them, we endeavoured to catch fome

5

* See Brit. Crit vol. xxiii. p. 291.

features

features of the author's hiftory, from the internal testimony of the poems. We had then no knowledge of her but what was thus obtained, nor have we now any, except what is further fupplied by thefe Letters. But the addition is confiderable, and we are now enabled to trace her almost from her childhood to the prefent day, in a manner which makes her ten times more the object of attention and regard. Without any attempt to form a narrative, fhe gives us in her Letters, which have every mark of being written under the impreffion of real circumftances and genuine feelings, a view of her friendships before marriage; of the marriages of her friends and herself; of the gradual increase of her family, and the lofs of fome branches of it; the fudden and unprepared lofs of the amiable paftor to whom he was united; with fome particulars of her fubfequent ftruggles and fufferings. We can truly fay, that very feldom indeed has any invented tale fo ftrongly arrefted our attention, or fo warmly interested our feelings, as this genuine picture of real life. It is perfectly plain alfo, that a large part of the public has felt with us, fince the Letters have arrived at a third, (if not a fourth) edition, before we have found an opportunity to exprefs our fentiments upon them.

It appears by the 34th Letter of vol. 111, and fome others near it, that the poems which we praised, were revised for the prefs while the lofs of her husband was recent; an exertion of fortitude, which, confidering the warmth of affection thus abruptly deprived of its object, is not one of the leaft confiderable difplayed in her hiftory. The fortitude of Mrs. Grant appears to be the work of a strong mind, building on the fincereft and firmeft principles of religion. That her mind is naturally ftrong, appears by many proofs in her Letters; but natural ftrength would have funk, in many inftances, in which we fee her rife to the occafion, by the buoyancy of religious faith and hope. In her mind we fee the unufual combinations of ardour with fteadinefs, imagination with found judgment, tenderness with fortitude; and the proofs of thefe qualities are brought together, by the mere reunion of a series of letters, not one of which feems intended to exprefs any thing but the feelings and fentiments of the moment. If this teftimony from perfons entirely unknown to her, fhall reach her in fome remote fpot, let her receive it without the fufpicion of any motive but the love of truth: and if any one should repeat to her, in future, the foolish cant that profeffed critics have no feelings, let her do us the juftice, in return, to say that it is falfe.

To select from a book where there is so much to give us pleasure, is not eafy, or rather it is not eafy to ceafe felecting. That we may keep within bounds, we fhall confine ourselves to three paffages. The first is a literary anecdote, being an account of the death of James Macpherson, of Offianic memory.

"Laggan, Feb. 20, 1796.

"Why doft thou build the tower, fon of the winged days? Soon wilt thou depart with thy fathers. The blast from the defert fhall rush through thy hall, and found upon thy boffy fhield," &c. &c. Do you recollect, dear Madam, when I ftopped with you at the gate of B-e, I repeated those lines, and obferved what a fuitable infcription they might prove for the front of poor James's new houfe. It would appear I was moved by a prophetic impulfe, when I predicted that he never would fee it finished. Friday laft, C. V. R. dined there. James had been indifpofed fince the great ftorm, yet received his guests with much kindness, seeming, however, languid and difpirited. Towards evening he funk much, and retired early. Next morning he appeared, but did not eat, and looked ill. R. begged he would frank a cover for Charlotte; he did fo, and never more held a pen. When they left the house he was taken extremely ill, unable to move or receive nourishment, though perfectly fenfible, Before this attack, finding fome inward fymptoms of his approaching diffolution, he fent, for a confultation, the refult of which arrived the day after his confinement. He was perfectly fenfible and collected, yet refused to take any thing prescribed to him to the laft, and that on this principle, that his time was come, and it did not avail. He felt the approaches of death, and hoped no relief from medicine, though his life was not fuch, as one fhould like to look back on at that awful period. Indeed whofe is? It pleased the Almighty to render his last scene most affecting and exemplary. He died laft Tuesday evening; and, from the minute he was confined till a very little before he expired, never ceafed imploring the divine mercy in the most earneft and pathetic manner. People about him were overawed and melted by the fervour and bitterness of his penitence. He frequently and earnestly entreated the prayers of good serious people of the lower clafs who were admitted. He was a very good natured man; and now that he had got all his schemes of intereft and ambition fulfilled, he feemed to reflect and grow domeftic, and fhewed of late a great inclination to be an indulgent landlord, and very liberal to the poor; of which I could relate various inftances, more tender and interefting than flashy or often. tatious. His heart and temper were originally good. His religious principles were, I fear, unfixed and fluctuating; but the primary caufe that fo much genius, tafte, benevolence, and prof

perity,

perity, did not produce or diffufe more happiness, was his living a ftranger to the comforts of domeftic life, from which unhappy connexions excluded him. Tavern company, and bachelor circles, make men grofs, callous, and awkward; in fhort, difqualify them for fuperior female fociety. The more heart old bachelors of this clafs have, the more abfurd and infignificant they grow in the long run; for when infirmity comes on, and fame and bu finefs lose their attractions, they muft needs have fomebody to love and truft, and they then become the dupes of wretched toad eaters, and flaves to defigning housekeepers. Such was poor James, who certainly was worthy of a better fate. His death, and the circumftances of it, have impreffed my mind in a man. ner I could not have believed. I think we are fomehow shrunk, and our confequence diminished, by lofing the only perfon' of eminence among us. Tis like extinguishing a light." Vol. 111. P. 32.

The second specimen fhall be one of the Letters which were written foon after the melancholy event of Mr. Grant's death.

66 TO MISS DUNBAR *, BOATH.

"Laggan, Jan. 1, 1802.

"DEAR MADAM,

"So young, and fuch a novice in forrow, you have not yet learnt the weaknefs, the extreme languor, into which the mind finks when the first violent burfts are over; incapable of raifing itself to the true fource of confolation, and ready to lean on every reed. In this ftate fympathy is most avail. ing, and in this hopeless and difpirited state your letter found me.Why then apologize for what excites my warmest gratitude? Your dear worthy mother and you I have long known and esteemed, through the medium of your humble friend. This proof of your goodness to fo great a ftranger, convinces me that you are all I have been taught to imagine you. You wish to know how I bear the fudden flock of this calamity. Ib ore it wonderfully, confidering how very much I had to lofe. Still, at times, the Divine Goodnefs fupports me in a manner I fcarcely dared to hope. Happily for me, anxiety for a numerous orphan family, and the wounding fmiles of an infant, too dear to be neglected, and too young to know what he has loft, divide my forrows, and do not fuffer my mind to be wholly engrossed

"This and fome following letters were written in anfwer to one Mifs Dunbar had, at her mother's defire, addressed to the author, condoling with her on the lofs fhe had recently fuftained."

by this dreadful privation, this chaẩm that I fhudder to look into. A daughter, of all daughters the most dutiful and affec. tionate, in whom her father ftill lives, (fo truly does the inherit his virtues, and all the amiable peculiarities of his character) this daughter is wafting away with fecret forrow, while, “in fmiles, the hides her grief to foften mine."

I was

too much a veteran in affliction, and too fenfible of the arduous tak devolved upon me, to fit down in unavailing forrow, over. whelmed by an event which ought to call forth double exertion. None, indeed, was ever at greater pains to confole another, than I was to mufter up every motive for action, every argument for patient fuffering. No one could fay to me," the lofs is common;" few, very few indeed, had fo much happiness to lofe. To depict a character fo very uncommon, fo little obvious to common obfervers, who loved and revered without comprehending him, would be difficult to a steadier hand than mine. With a kind of mild difdain, and philofophic tranquillity, he kept aloof from a world, for which the delicacy of his feelings, the purity of his integrity, and the intuitive difcernment with which he faw into character, in a manner difqualified him, that is, from enjoying it; for who can enjoy the world without deceiving or being deceived? But recollections crowd on me, and I wander. I fay, to be all the world to this fuperior mind, to constitute his happiness for twenty years, now vanished like a vision; to have lived with unabated affection together even thus long, when a conftitution, delicate as his mind, made it unlikely that even thus long we should fupport each other through the paths of life! What are difficulties, when shared with one whofe delighted approbation gives one fpirits to furmount them? Then to hear from every mouth his modeft unobtrusive merit receive its due tribute of applaufe; to fee him ftill in his dear children, now doubly dear; and to know that fuch a mind cannot perish, cannot fuffer; nay, through the infinite merits of that Redeemer, in whom he trufted, enjoys what we cannot conceive Dear Mifs Dunbar, believe me, I would not give my tremulous hopes, and pleafing fad retrofpections, for any other perfon's happiness! Forgive this; it is like the overflowing of the heart to an intimate; but your pity opens every fource of anguifh and of tenderness. Affure your kind mother of my grateful efteem; and believe me, with fincere regard, much yours." P. 110.

This is the genuine and unaffected language of feeling, and as fuch cannot fail to produce fympathy: efpecially regulated as it is by a true fubmiffion to the divine will. The next is a poetical fragment, written not many months after, at Briftol hot-wells, to which place the author had been hurried from her home, to attend a daughter dangerously ill.

One