Jamaica, therefore, amounts on a moderate calculation to three hundred thousand souls.'

Of the staple produce of the island, in sugar, cotton, and indigo, Mr. Renny in course gives minute accounts: but we have formerly attended to these details in reviewing other publications; and particularly in our analyses of Mr. Edwards's valuable History of the British West Indies.

We may refrain from attending to the particulars collected by this writer respecting the origin and circumstances of negroslavery, since it is now a topic which we are happy to say has lost its interest. Mr. R.'s language of exultation at the abolition of the trade does him high honour; and in order to remedy the evils which may arise out of this good, he exclaims:

Turn your eyes, Ye legislators of Jamaica! to the quickly depopulating plains and vales, and the crowded shores of Scotland and Ireland! Here, an immense, an incalculable accession of strength, power, and security, awaits you. Let allurements be held out to these industrious and respectable, though unfortunate, individuals, sufficient to counterbalance their terror of the climate. Let them, and their families, be carried, free of expence, across the Atlantic ocean. Let small settlements for the culture of coffee, cotton, or any other of the lesser staple commodities of the island, be formed in the mountains, or uncleared woods; and to those who have not money sufficient for these purposes, let small sums be advanced from the public purse, to be, at a limited period, repaid. Thus, in a few years, an immense accession of wealth to the country, and of security to the white inhabitants, might be easily procured; a most valuable class of men would be encouraged; industry would be awakened, and cultivation would increase, even in mountains almost inaccessible, and the island would gradually arrive at a high pitch of security, civilization, and happiness.These observations will probably be considered by some, as only the wild schemes of a chimerical projector, but unless some such conduct is adopted, it requires no great foresight to perceive, that sooner or later, the lives, or at least, the happiness of the white inhabitants will be destroyed; the wealth of the proprietors will be swallowed up, and the colony will be for ever lost to the mother country.'

We believe not in the depopulation to which the author here adverts. If Mr. R. will study Mr. Malthus, and the recent work of his own countryman Lord Selkirk, with our remarks on it, we think that his apprehensions on this subject will be tranquillized.

The introduction of negroes into our colonies has occasioned several varieties of our species;

The people of colour are distinguished by different names, according to their nearness in consanguinity to the white or black inhabitants. They are called Samboes, Mulattoes, Quadroons, and

Musteos.

Mustees. A Sambo is the offspring of a black woman by a Mulatto man. A Mulatto is the child of a black woman by a white man. A Quadroon is the offspring of a Mulatto woman by a white man: and a Mustee is that of a Quadroon woman by a white man. The offspring of a female Mustee by a white man, is white in the eye of the law; but all the rest, whether Mulattoes, Quadroons or Mustees, are considered by the law, as Mulattoes, and are treated with considerable, perhaps ill-judged, rigour. However rich they may be, their evidence in criminal cases against white persons, or even against people of colour, is inadmissible; and in this respect, it has been with justice observed, that they are placed in a worse situation than slaves, who have masters interested in their protection, and who, if their slaves are maltreated, have a right to recover damages, by bringing an action against the aggressors. The Mulattoes are also denied the privilege of being eligible to serve in parochial vestries and general assemblies, of holding commissions in the black and Mulatto companies of militia, or of acting in any office of public trust, even so low as that of a constable. They are precluded also from voting at elections for members of the house of assembly. They are likewise prevented, as much as possible, from acquiring too great an influence in the island, by means of wealth. In an act of assembly passed in the year 1762, it is declared. That a testamentary devise from a white person to a Negro or Mulatto not born in wed lock, of a real or personal estate, exceeding in value two thousand pounds currency, shall be void, and the property shall descend to the heir at law."

The females of this class are still more objects of compassion than the males. Their education is almost totally neglected. They - have no ideas of a dignified propriety of thought or of conduct; and their notions of virtue are confused and depraved. They are never allowed to expect the enjoyment of that most perfect of all sublunary happiness, especially to a female, the pleasures of the marriage state. The young men of their own rank and condition are too much degraded to think of marriage; and for a white man to marry a Mulatto would be a degradation, which would for ever exclude him from the respectable company of his own colour, and sink him to a level with those, who are excluded from all consideration in society. The ut most ambition of a young Mulatto female, therefore, is to become the mistress of a white man, in which station, she behaves with a fidelity, modesty, tenderness, and prudence, which are highly exemplary, and which might furnish an important lesson to many a married European lady. They are all highly and honourably distinguished by their tender care and compassion for the sick, tending them with the most constant assiduity from mere motives of benevo lence, expecting no reward, and unambitious of applause. They are very affectionate mothers, and display towards their children the most unbounded attachment.'

Mr. R.'s reflections on the condition of these degraded beings bespeak great excellence of heart.

With regard to customs and manners, we are told that

The most prominent feature in the character of the white inhabitants of Jamaica, is, their high spirit of independence. The conscious dignity of man appears in their very looks. No tremulousness of voice, no cringing tone of submission, no disgraceful flexibility of body, no unqualified humbleness of countenance, are ever to be ob served in their conduct. A natural consequence of this most laudable characteristic of man, is candour. They speak what they think, without fear or reserve. Far superior to the low arts of duplicity and cunning, they express their sentiments and emotions, without sinister intentions, or terror of the consequences. No people are more free than themselves, or more watchful of their freedom. They pay the most vigilant attention to every circumstance, which can encroach upon their liberty: while they place the most perfect reliance on the ability and patriotism of their representatives in the house of assembly; a reliance, which, during the uniform experience of more than a century, has never once been misplaced.'

Every humane man will peruse the following relation with heart-felt satisfaction;

To their slaves, the Jamaicans behave with great humanity. They are strangers to that distance and reserve, which masters in Europe find it necessary to display towards their servants. They interest themselves warmly in all the affairs of their slaves, hear their complaints with attention, and remedy their grievances with promptitude, converse with them freely, and allow them, on all occasions, to speak their sentiments, without restraint. Instead of behaving to them with the cruelty of a task-master, they foster them with the kindness of a friend, or the benevolence of a father. Indeed, it may, from a careful and impartial observation, be asserted, and the assertion will not have the less weight in coming from an ardent enemy of the slave-trade, that the condition of the Negroes in Jamaica is as comfortable, as it possibly can be, while they are in a state of slavery. And though cruelties by vicious individuals have been often, too often, committed, yet the race of these unfeeling monsters is at present happily extinct. A man who would treat his slaves with cruelty, would not only be punished by the laws, but would be execrated as much, and as generally, as a deist in a Roman catholic country, or a friend to freedom, under a despotic government. Indeed, the planters and merchants of Jamaica, whether we regard their industry, their public spirit, their tempers, or behaviour, are among the most useful and respectable (and were it not for the exist ence of slavery, for which they are not at all to be blamed, would be among the most universally respected) individuals in the civilized

world.'

It is added:

To a poor man, who, in his native land, finds a difficulty in acquiring the necessaries, and little comforts of life, this is the best country in the world. Here, industry not only procures the necessaries, but the conveniencies, and even the luxuries of life. Tura your attention, then, Ye industrious individuals, who are forced to leave your native shores, to this happy island! Here you will find a

welcome,

welcome, a happy and a secure asylum. Go not, then, to increase the numbers, and advance the interests of a rival state. Hasten rather to the mountains of Jamaica, where you will experience a benign government, a healthful climate, a fruitful soil, and a generous welcome. Instead of becoming aliens, you will still remain children of the great family in which you were born; will pass your days, and rear your offspring, in its bosom; will become respected, happy, and useful colonists; and will add to the stability, increase the resources, and consolidate the power of the mother country!'

The volume concludes with some ingenious and eloquent observations in favour of the abolition of the slave trade, written before that important and beneficent measure was carried. Mr. Renny notices a coincidence between his views and those of Mr. Roscoe; whose possession of a seat in Parliament (he observes) was equally an honour to Liverpool, to literature, to the present age, and the present (now the late) administration.' Liverpool, literature, the age, and the administration, can no longer boast of this honour. A Tarleton has been preferred to a Roscoe, through the influence of men who enjoy the warm, active, open, and avowed support of the most forward of the advocates of the abolition, we mean Mr. Wilberforce.

On the score both of entertainment and valuable information, the pretensions of this work are very respectable; and indeed it is not often our lot to meet with occupation so agreeable as that with which it has furnished us. The author's sketches of the original inhabitants,-the hideous but just picture which he draws of the Spanish invaders,-his portraits of the proud colonist, the degraded mulattoe, and the oppressed negroe, his economical suggestions, and his liberal views of government, policy, and commerce,-render his volume very distinguishable from the mass of ephemeral productions: but the value of the matter would have warranted a higher degree of finishing.

ART. IV. Memoirs of the Life of the late George Morland, with cris tical and descriptive Observations on the whole of his Works hitherto before the Public. By J. Hassell. 4to. Pp. 204. One Guinea, Boards. Cundee.

ART. V. The Life of George Morland, with Remarks on his Works, By G. Dawe. 8vo. pp 238. 125. Boards. Vernor and Co.

THE HE excentricities of the unfortunate George Morland have probably contributed more than his merit as an artist, to the great popularity which his works have long enjoyed; a remark which may well be made without detracting from

A a 3

the

the praise due to his uncommon talents. The warmest of his admirers must allow that, as the subjects of his choice were generally among the lowest classes of the art, so his style in executing them, however free and original, and however true to nature, is not such as can intitle him to a competition with masters of high acknowleged excellence. When, however, we consider the circumstances under which his best pictures were produced, they become astonishing, and perhaps unrivalled, examples of human genius and human imperfection.

Morland died in October 1804; and since that period we have had various accounts of his life and character, of which two only are considerable enough to demand our attention. The first in order of time and in point of size is that of Mr. Hassell, which seems to be the work of a man who knew little if any thing, personally, of his subject, and possessed no op portunities of procuring authentic information. He has added a Catalogue raisonnée of the works of Morland, which is so extensive as to form the largest portion of his volume, and which every reader would be glad to exchange for a mere list, unless he is better disposed than we have found ourselves, to relish the moral remarks of the compiler. The publication, however, possesses one advantage over its rival, in containing two rich and beautiful engravings, by Scott, from "the Farmyard" and "Pointer and Hare" of the deceased artist, with a

Frost Piece," some sketches, &c. The other has some outline-engravings of drawings, and each has a portrait. Altogether, Mr. Dawe's work is so much superior in information and interest as totally to supersede that of Mr. Hassell. Mr. D. informs us that his father, Mr. Philip Dawe, was articled to Morland's father, became intimate with the son from his childhood, and kept up a familiar intercourse with him through life, and that he was perhaps the only person with whom his friendship remained uninterrupted, and with whom, as well in adversity as in prosperity, he appears to have had no reserve.' From this circumstance, Mr. D. has derived every possible facility in his undertaking, and has been able to correct the misrepresentations and errors of former writers.-We shall give a sketch of the melancholy scene which he has presented to cur inspection.

The father of Morland was a painter in crayons, much respected in his profession, but more for his talents as a connoisseur than as an artist. He had lived in affluence, but was much reduced in his circumstances, owing to some imprudent speculations. Mr. Dawe gives him the highest character not only for integrity, but for generosity and

sweetness