THE NOMADE LAPLANDERS. 469 for which elixir all the men and women in Lapland are equally furious. "They will almost part with life itself, for the gratification of dram-drinking." An extra quantity having been swallowed by the old man of the little horde, he began to sing, and was prompted and requested by the strangers to give a regular sample of the national music. The favour, unequalled, it should seem, by any similar one ever conferred in any other place, was conceded :— "With both his fists clenched, and thrusting his face close to that of the interpreter, as if threatening to bite him, he uttered a most fearful yell. It was the usual howl of the Laplanders, consisting of five or six words, repeated over and over, which when translated, occur in this order: 'Let us drive the wolves! Let us drive the wolves! The boy, also, our former guide, sang the same ditty. During their singing they strained their lungs so as to cause a kind of spasmodic convulsion of the chest, which produced a noise like the braying of an ass. In all this noise there was not a single note that could be called musical; and it is very remarkable that the Laplanders have not the smallest notion of music. Neither have they any national dance, being entirely strangers to an exercise, which, with the exception of this singular people, seems to be common to the whole human race." HIDDEN TREASURES OF THE LAPPS. It is said, that some of the Lapps possess one cwt. of silver, and those who enjoy a property of 1500 or 1000 reindeer have much more. As they keep it always buried, it does not happen to the owner to be gratified even with the sight of his hidden treasure more than once or twice a year. It is to be observed that these migratory families, one of which, consisting of seven or eight persons, may be thus found crammed into a tent of six feet diameter on the ground, greatly surpass, by the possession of a thousand or more rein-deer, the wealth of the settled occupiers. But they are subject to severe disasters, by the ravages of wild beasts, the bears, and especially the wolves. There had recently been a formidable accession to the numbers of these rapacious sharers of the territory. In the district of Enontekis, in which is the source of the Muonio, one-half of the rein-deer had perished by them. THE CLOUDBERRY CURE. During the short sojourn at Enontekis, chiefly in the house of the minister, a sensible and learned man, our author recovered his health in a sudden and surprising manner, from eating largely of the fruit of the rubus chamamorus, or cloudberry. THE ATTRACTIONS OF A BALLOON AND A SERMON. At this place he contrived to bring the people together from a very great distance round, and at once to amuse and frighten them when assembled, by announcing, exhibiting, and launching a very large paper balloon. The scene must have been inexpressibly strange and grotesque, especially at the time of the terror and wild tumult caused by the ascent of the balloon. It was at the minister's own suggestion that the day fixed for the exhibition was the sabbath, and the one appointed for the communion service. It does not appear whether any part of his motive was to bring a greater number of persons within the reach of religious instruction. They were addressed, however, in an extemporaneous sermon of an hour and twenty minutes. It was "delivered in a tone of voice so elevated, that the worthy pastor seemed to labour as if he would burst a blood-vessel." He exerted himself "as if his audience had been stationed on the top of a distant mountain. Afterwards, he was so hoarse, he could hardly articulate another syllable." "As we accompanied him to his house, we ventured to ask the reason of the very loud tone of voice he had used in preaching. He said he was aware it must appear extraordinary to a stranger; but that if he were to address the Laplanders in a lower key, they would consider him as a feeble and impotent missionary, wholly unfit for his office, and would never come to church: that the merit and abilities of the preacher are always estimated, both among the Colonists and Lapps, by the strength and power of his voice.' A HINT ON CHURCH DISCIPLINE. The somnolent part of the congregation were kept under a very rough discipline by the sexton, with his long stout pole, which, if its frequent stroke on the floor was not effectual, was unceremoniously "driven against their ribs, or suffered to fall with all its weight upon their skulls." RELIGION IN HARMONY WITH A TASTE FOR THE FINE ARTS.* IF among the pleasures of taste, in the mental sense of that term, a man were required to specify the one most simple, most innocent, least liable to corruption, and most readily harmonizing with religion, he could not hesitate to name that which is imparted by the beauty and sublimity of Nature. With these qualities in its favour, this mode of the exercise and pleasure of taste will inevitably become more prevalent as the genuine improvement of mankind advances. And, therefore, it is probable it may prevail most of all in the last, highest state of improvement which we are permitted to anticipate for our race on this earth, that state of which the essence and the glory will be the universal prevalence of religion. That state will necessarily involve a high improvement of all the faculties of the soul, which cannot be without an increased sensibility to sublimity and beauty, of which sensibility the preferred subjects of exercise and indulgence will be those forms and phenomena which are the least related or liable to moral evil, which are the most independent of man, and which most illustrate the glory of the Creator. There is then some reason to be pleased at observing, what has been obvious of late years, a more prevailing taste for the beautiful and grand in landscape scenery, as viewed both in the reality of nature and in the representations of art. Let it not be imagined, that because we think such a taste must exist in a high degree in the most improved and religious state of the human race, we are allowing ourselves to fancy we see in its present increase any sign of the progress of religion. We are not quite so simple. We do not even need be told, that some considerable proportion of the show of this taste is mere affectation; while yet there must be some reality to make the affectation worth while. We are aware, too, that some of the influences under * Peak Scenery; or, Excursions in Derbyshire, for the Purpose of Picturesque Observation. Engravings by Messrs. W. B. and George Cooke, from Drawings by F. L. Chantrey, Esq., Sculptor, R.A. By E. Rhodes. 4to. 1818. which it has grown, have amounted, in their operation, to somewhat less than a radical intellectual cultivation of taste. The restlessness of spirits, seeking amusement in frequent change of place, but seeking to make out a respectable motive in the fine natural circumstances of the scene of the sojourn ; a sort of headlong admiration of recent and contemporary descriptive poetry; the acquisition, by a much greater number of young persons than formerly of a little skill in the art of sketching; the prodigious number of travels and tours with graphic decorations; and the very signal excellence attained in this country, beyond every other, in landscape-engraving, so that without any technical knowledge of the art, the eye and imagination of a person in the smallest degree sensible to the beauty of nature, are irresistibly attracted by such exquisite representations of that beauty; all these have contributed to the effect which we have asserted to be visible, and some parts of the contribution will partake but little of real cultivation of taste. Yet, after all deductions, we think there is a great increase, if we may not say of the sensibility to the charms and majesty of nature, at least of understanding and acknowledgment that there is a vast deal in the scenery of nature of what justly claims to be admired. And this we regard as a pleasing circumstance, since it will be favourable to the cultivation of taste in general, will be conducive to habits of observation, will be counteractive, in some degree, to that wretchedly artificial state into which the economy of life among us is perverted, and will encourage those arts which not only are directly of very high utility, and afford a very fine and legitimate field for genius and industry, but may contribute to give to luxury itself a much more refined and intellectual direction than it would otherwise be apt to take. We may add, that where there is religion, this perception of beauty and grandeur in the works of God, will diversify its exercise, and sometimes augment its emphasis. ARTISTIC MISREPRESENTATIONS DEPRECATED. We wish it could be effectually inculcated on the conductors of all works, having for their object picturesque delineations, that they should not admit into them any insignificant subjects. Some of the finest of them are not ARTISTIC MISREPRESENTATIONS DEPRECATED. 473 quite clear of this fault. Now and then the admiring inspector, after his eye recovers from the imposing effect of brilliant lights, and of clouds, and shadows, and trees, managed with most painter-like taste and skill, is vexed to find that these are all he has to admire, for that what purports to be the subject, is nothing better than some miserable shred of flat ground, or of sand, or a heap of rubbish with some venerable denomination of antiquity and ruin, or perhaps some paltry hamlet, with an uncouth piece of old masonry in the nature of a church. And this may occur in an elaborate and costly series of prints, professedly intended to represent, and many of them really representing most beautifully, a selection of the most striking scenes in a province or a country, which the inspector knows to contain far more striking views than could be comprehended in a much longer series of prints, though not a single insignificant subject were admitted. It seems as if the draughtsman having chosen to delineate such a trifling subject, the public must pay for it, at all events; it is therefore intruded into a work which, for its many finer subjects, the lovers of graphical excellence are not willing to forego. THE PROPRIETY OF DISCRIMINATION IN SELECTION. Draughtsmen ought to exercise a discrimination and forbearance similar to what is demanded of authors, who are required to understand that the public does not want every paragraph they may have happened to write, and that they are not, on the strength of some credit which they may have deservedly gained, to tax their readers for any thing, indifferently and without selection, which they may have thought on the subject. He should understand, that many things it might be worth while, in an indolent hour, to put into his sketch-book, are not worth transferring thence. We would entreat Mr. Rhodes to revise the drawings intended for the continuation of his elegant work, and rather shorten the series, than admit one more subject of inferior rank into so high a situation. We question the claims of Stoney Middleton," and the "View in the Village of Eyam.' By means of trees, pieces of water, and ducks, they are made to have a very pretty look, especially the latter; but innumerable things of the same class are to 66 |