of the Friendly Islands have imagined a delicious abode, where the souls of the aristocracy enjoy eternal happiness, while those of the vulgar, like the golden-mean people of Tom Paine, “are dropped entirely," or, in other words, annihilated. The New Zealanders, who, in spite of their cannibalism and destructive propensities, appear to have more poetry in their souls than any of their neighbours, imagine that the spirits of their victorious fathers hover in the blast over their native villages, and then, plunging into the glittering waves of the sea near the North Cape, repair to the Elysium prepared for them, which they denominate Atamira. The souls of those, on the contrary, who are slain in battle, and devoured by their enemies, are eternally unhappy; and it is said to be for this reason, from a species of revenge which would do honour to the heart of a Grand Inquisitor, that the New Zealanders are so diabolically anxious to feed upon their foes. They are desirous to have them not only dead, but damned.

The manners of these tribes vary with their climate. In all, however, if we can rely upon the correctness of M. Lesson, there is a strong tendency to love, contrary to what is asserted of the wild Tartars, and the North American Indians, whose indifference for women is said to be remarkable. We consider M. Lesson's view of the case to be strongly supported by the prevalence among almost all savages, of lascivious dances, representing, with still greater naïveté than the cheironomia of antiquity, the whole pantomime of love; and of wanton songs, for which, according to our naturalist, all mankind have a natural predilection. Montesquieu supposes that the eating of fish is highly favourable to fecundity, and by the same rule it should promote lasciviousness. So that it may be stated as a truism that Venus still springs, if not from the foam, at least from the fish of the

sea.

Dancing is essentially the amusement of savages, and civilized nations preserve a taste for it, merely, we presume, from respect for the wisdom of their wild forefathers, who, when they had eaten a piece of raw fish, or the limb of an enemy, felt their blood kindle in their veins, and expressed their uncouth delight by sporting the toe round the fire which had cooked their dinner. For this reason, an assembly of bipeds of both sexes, increasing the rapidity of their circulation with delicate viands and wine, and frisking about in various postures, now bounding like fanatical jumpers, and now gliding along the floor like ghosts, have always appeared to us an extremely ludicrous sight, and have infallibly carried back our minds to those days when we were familiar with the relatives and friends of Robinson

Crusoe's Friday. Nevertheless we are by no means inimical to these primitive sports; and are not a jot the less delighted to observe a dance, because it is connected in our mind with cannibalism and blazing fires, than if it had originated at Almack's. Another habit which tends no less powerfully than the above to promote obedience to the first great commandment-" increase and multiply"--prevails universally among the Oceanians; which is, the habit of licentious conversation. Forsyth wittily. denominated the Neapolitans the most ingenuous people in the world, because they do not pretend to be virtuous; and, in like manner, it may in general be predicated of the Oceanians, that they do not pretend to be chaste, though M. Lesson allows that the women, both married and single, appear to blush and be embarrassed when assaulted with obscene or ribaldrous language. Why our worthy naturalist should conclude that their embarrassment was merely fictitious is more than we can explain; since even though they be unchaste, it does not follow that they must likewise be immodest.

In speaking of the New Zealanders, M. Lesson betrays that imperfect acquaintance with antiquity which is perpetually giving birth, among modern writers, to improper comparisons and foolish approximations. These ferocious barbarians exhibit, he says, the most remarkable features of resemblance to the ancient Spartans; and these remarkable features of resemblance, when they come to be enumerated, consist in the single circumstance of their facing death with intrepidity. But he should have remembered that contempt of death was only one of the Spartan virtues; that they were as mild, and hospitable, and cheerful during peace, as they were heroic in war; and that, while the brutal New Zealander suffers his son to lift his hand against his mother, and strike the bosom that nourished his helpless infancy, the Spartan, to whom this two-legged animal is compared, entertained the most profound reverence, not only for his own parents, but for old age in general. That, whereas women are roughly and unfeelingly treated by the Oceanian of New Zealand, they were regarded at Sparta almost as so many divinities; where the wretch who should have raised his hands against his mother would have been branded with infamy and thrust forth from society. These remarks are made merely to show the folly of indulging in such loose-jointed comparisons, which can have no other effect than to "amuse, (or rather mislead) the unlearned, and make the learned smile."

ART. III-Hannibal's Passage of the Alps. By a Member of the University of Cambridge. London. Whittaker and Co. 1830. post 8vo. pp. 155.

LET not the imposing title of this article alarm the reader

unnecessarily. He will not be inflicted with a dissertation on the invasion of Italy by Hannibal, or the tracing his route from New Carthage in Spain, to his descent among the Insubrians on the plains around the Po. All the lights which learning, research, and ingenuity are likely to discover, have already been collected and concentrated upon this subject; either by General Melville, who first opened up the true path of inquiry, or by those able expositors of his views, M. de Luc of Geneva, and Messrs. Wickham and Cramer, in their joint "Dissertation on the Passage of Hannibal over the Alps." Nor should we have dreamt of so much as adverting to a question which we considered to have been "fairly, if not finally laid to rest," had not our attention been forcibly attracted to it by the captious and petulant little brochure before us, in which some nameless Cantabrigian essays to disturb the received opinions of the learned, to discredit the historical veracity of Polybius, vindicate the consistency of Livy, and, above all, to pour out the vials of his learned wrath on the devoted heads of Messrs. Wickham and Cramer, who are the objects of incessant attack and abuse. But when any one chuses to push himself forward in the character of an assailant, not merely of the opinions, but the reputation of other men; and when, assuming an air of superiority, under cover of a mask, he presumes to dogmatise and vituperate; it becomes a sort of duty to take a fair turn up with such an aggressor, and to endeavour to ascertain whether his pith, pluck, and mettle, bear any reasonable proportion to the loudness and vehemence of his pretensions. Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu? is the question which people generally ask in such cases; and accordingly, all that purpose is doing at present is, simply to put together a few critical remarks, calculated to prove how very far indeed the performance of the worthy Cantabrigian comes short of his promise.

Our learned Camstary sets out with this observation: "There are subjects of no earthly importance to any one, and of interest only to a very small portion of society, which have still, within those limits, been discussed with greater zeal than matters of a higher and more useful description ;" and he adds, "that of this nature is the passage of Hannibal over the Alps, the exact spot where he crossed having excited curiosity and minute examina

tion from the time the event occurred to the present." But, there is reason for thinking, in opposition even to the great authority before us, that Hannibal's passage of the Alps is not an event of the nature here described. Historical truth may be "of no earthly importance" to our Cantabrigian, and we feel indebted to our author for the candour with which he makes the avowal. But other men have thought and felt differently; and the best evidence of the sincerity of their opinion consists in the "zeal" with which they have entered into the inquiry, as well as the "curiosity and minute examination" which it has excited, "from the time the event occurred to the present."

The memorable achievement of the Carthaginian leader has also been considered of some importance in a military point of view. Polybius, a soldier and tactician of the school of Philopomen, regarded it in this light; for, little more than half a century after the event, he took the trouble of exploring personally the whole of Hannibal's route, particularly that part of it from the point where he effected the passage of the Rhone till, descending from the Alps, he encamped in the fertile plains around the Po, among his allies the Insubrians. There is undoubted evidence that Cæsar and Pompey were both greatly interested by this achievement, and ambitious of an occasion of imitating it. The Chevalier Folard, in his valuable work on Polybius, has considered it deserving of a long and elaborate military commentary, the principal object of which is not so much to illustrate the text of his author as to point out, for the instruction of tacticians, the transcendant military genius and resources displayed alike in the conception and execution of the enterprise. General Melville, thinking a soldier, like Polybius, who had personally surveyed the ground while the event was comparatively recent, a better authority than a mere compiler, like Livy, traced the march of Hannibal, with the work of the former historian in his hand, and was thus enabled, not only to determine the route which that great commander had followed, but to strike out a number of new lights, which M. de Luc has collected together in his valuable work, founded chiefly on the General's notes. And lastly, Napoleon Buonaparte, no mean judge of military exploits, is known to have cherished an intense admiration of the enterprise in question, and to have in some measure modelled upon it his own memorable passage of the Alps, when he surprised Melas on the Bormida, and conquered Italy at Marengo. It may be added that, as the first act of a mighty historical drama about to be performed on a new and mighty theatre; or, to speak plainly, as the commencement of a struggle, which at one time threatened the very being of the Roman republic, although

eventually it issued in the triumph of Rome and the utter destruction of her most powerful and dangerous rival; its importance can be doubted only by those who are incapable of deriving either pleasure or advantage from one of the most instructive chapters in ancient history.

But, without dwelling longer on mere generalities, let us attend for a little to some of the specimens which our learned Cantabrigian has been pleased to afford us of his critical skill, as directed against the authors of the "Dissertation" above-mentioned. The charges he brings against them are grave and manifold. They are accused of having "deserted their guide (Polybius) precisely at those very passages on which their theory is built, pleading as their excuse his want of accuracy;"-their work is represented as disfigured by "partial quotation" and "false translation ;"they are taxed with "venturing on a construction of their author, which differs from that given by the Greek geographer, Strabo;" and, to crown all, it shall be proved," says the Cambridge critic, "that on the point on which so much stress is laid, Polybius is decidedly inaccurate, and by the recorded judgment of antiquity, was so considered." If our author were able to "prove" only the one-half of what he here asserts, we frankly concede to him that the credit of the "Dissertation," and the scholarship of its authors, would be very seriously damaged, if not altogether demolished: but it is happily one thing to accuse, and another to substantiate accusations by proof, as will be probably shown, in a very conclusive manner before we have done. In the meanwhile our author seems to consider the question as decided by the very act of accusation; for, having enumerated his charges, he adds, "When all these, together with various other collected errors, are made by the authors of the Dissertation to favour their argument and to constitute the proofs of their hypothesis, it will be felt that in refusing our assent to their conclusions, and in adhering still to the opinions of Strabo and Livy, we shall be guilty of no great or unpardonable presumption. There is no "presumption " in adhering" to the opinions of any man or number of men, but there is something worse in accusing respectable and blameless individuals of wilfully perverting the text of an author "to favour their argument, and constitute proofs (as this elegant writer expresses it) of their hypothesis," except upon the clearest and most unquestionable evidence. It will soon be seen how the matter stands in this respect.

")

I. The Cantabrigian's first charge is, that the authors of the "Dissertation," after insisting on a strict attention to Polybius, because of his supposed accuracy, abandon their guide as often