release; and the Emperor of Brazil promised to use his exertions for the same purpose. But his fate was still involved in mystery. Latterly, however, Mr. Woodbine Parish, his Majesty's Consul general at Buenos Ayres, having occasion to demand of Dr. Francia the release of some British subjects, and their property, unjustly detained in Paraguay, took the opportunity of making a very energetic remonstrance respecting the detention of M. Bonpland. As the British subjects have been suffered to depart in consequence of Mr. Parish's demands, great hopes are entertained that he will be equally successful in favour of M. Bonpland. Meantime his friend and fellow-traveller, M. Van Humboldt, has received letters from the frontiers of Paraguay, from which it appears that M. Bonpland enjoys excellent health, and is living at Santa Rosa, practising as a physician, and zealously prosecuting his researches in natural history. Though not permitted to leave Paraguay, or correspond with persons out of Dr. Francia's territories, he has, it seems, been well treated in other respects. He has established brandy distilleries at Santa Maria, and Dr. Francia has given him lands to indemnify him for the loss he sustained, when so suddenly and arbitrarily carried into captivity.

China.-M. Timkowski, one of the principal members of the Oriental department of the ministry for foreign affairs at St. Petersburgh, having been employed in the years 1820 and 1821 to conduct from Kiachta to Pekin the Russian ecclesiastical mission sent to the great monastery which Russia has at Pekin, and to bring from Pekin to Kiachta the priests who were leaving the latter place, kept an exact journal of his travels, full of historical, geographical, and statistical notes, which, illustrated by maps and plates, he has recently published, in two volumes. It is a work which contains an abundance of curious and interesting matter.

The Life, Diary, and Correspondence of Sir W. Dugdale, is preparing for publication by W. Hamper, Esq.

The Monthly Review is no longer conducted by Mr. Griffiths, who was so many years its editor. We announced some time since the retirement of Mr. Gifford from the editorship of the Quarterly, and his replacement by Mr. John Coleridge: and we may add to these changes the fact, that Mr. Jeffrey has ceased in a great measure to superintend the Edinburgh Review-at least he now interferes only with that portion of it which is devoted to Belles Lettres criticism.

A new novel, called "Brother Jonathan, or the New Englanders, ," in 3 volumes, is published. No name is given; but we have

every reason to believe the book to be from the pen of Mr. Nield,* an American, who contributed the series of articles called "American Writers," to Blackwood's Magazine.

Two volumes of the entertaining Memoirs of Madame de Genlis are in the press. The early part of them refers to the period of the authoress' residence in Germany, and may be expected to contain some curious anecdotes illustrative of the society of Berlin.

Elements of Natural Philosophy, by John Leslie, esq. Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, volume second.

Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern, with Notes, Historical and Critical, and Character of the most eminent Lyric Poets. By Allan Cunningham. 4 vols. post 8vo. nearly ready.

LIST OF NEW BRITISH PUBLICATIONS.

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Neal.

MUSEUM

OF

Foreign Literature and Science.

LIFE AND CHARACTER OF RICHARD CUMBERLAND.

BY SIR WALTER SCOTT.

[From Ballantyne's Novelist's Library.]

THIS author, distinguished in the 18th century, survived till the present was considerably advanced, interesting to the public, as well as to private society, not only on account of his own claims to distinction, but as the last of that constellation of genius which the predominating spirit of Johnson had assembled about him, and in which he presided a stern Aristarchus. Cumberland's character and writings are associated with those of Goldsmith, of Burke, of Percy, of Reynolds, names which sound in our ears as those of English Classics. He was his own biographer; and from his own memoirs we are enabled to trace a brief sketch of his life and labours, as also of his temper and character; on which latter subjects we have the evidence of contemporaries, and perhaps, some recollections of our own.

Richard Cumberland boasted himself, with honest pride, the descendant of parents respectable for their station, eminent in learning, and no less for worth and piety. The celebrated Richard Bentley was his maternal grandfather, a name dreaded as well as respected in literature, and which his descendant, on several occasions, protected with filial respect against those who continued over his grave the insults which he had received from the wits of Queen Anne's reign. This eminent scholar had one son, the well-known author of The Wishes, and two daughters. The second, Joanna, the Phoebe of Byrom's pastoral, married Denison Cumberland, son of an arch-deacon, and grandson of Richard Cumberland, bishop of Peterborough. Though possessed of some independence, he became rector of Stanwick, at the instance of his father-in-law, Dr. Bentley, and in course of time, Bishop of Clonfert, and was afterwards translated to the see of Kilmore.

Richard Cumberland, the subject of this memoir, was the second child of this marriage, the eldest being Joanna, a daughter. He was born on the 19th of February, 1732; and, as he naturally delights to record with precision, in an apartment called the judge's chamber, of the master's lodge of Trinity College, then occupied by his celebrated maternal grandfather-inter sylvas academi. With equal minuteness the grandson of the learned Bentley goes VOL. VII. No. 40.--Museum.

2 M

through the course of his earlier studies, and registers his progress under Kinsman of St. Edmondsbury, afterwards at Westminster, and finally at Cambridge; in all which seminaries of classical erudition, he highly distinguished himself. At college, he endangered his health by the severity with which he followed his studies, obtained his bachelor's degree with honour, and passed with triumph a peculiarly difficult examination; the result of which was his being elected to a fellowship.

Amid his classical pursuits, the cultivation of English letters was not neglected, and Cumberland became the author of many poems of considerable merit. It may be observed, however, that he seldom seems to have struck out an original path for himself, but rather wrote because others had written successfully, and in the manner of which they had set an example, than from the strong impulse of that inward fire, which makes or forces a way for its own coruscations, without respect to the paths of others. Thus Cumberland wrote an elegy in a church-yard on Saint Mark's Eve, because Gray had written an elegy in a country church-yard. He wrote a drama on the subject of Elfrida, and with a chorus, in imitation of Mason; he imitated Hammond, and he imitated Spenser, and seems to display a mind full of information and activity, abounding with the natural desire of distinction, but which had not yet attained sufficient confidence in its own resources, a fault from which none of his compositions are perhaps entirely free.

Mr. Cumberland's original destiny was to have walked the respectable and retired path by which his ancestors had ascended to church dignity; and there is every reason to believe that, as he was their equal in worth and learning, his success in life might have been the same as theirs. But a temptation, difficult to be resisted, turned him from the study of divinity to that of politics.

The Rev. Mr. Cumberland, father of the poet, had it in his power to render some important services to the Marquis of Halifax, then distinguished as a public character; and in recompense of acknowledgment of this, young Richard was withdrawn from the groves of Cam, and the tranquil pursuit of a learned profession, to attend the noble lord in the advantageous and confidential situation of private secretary. Amidst much circumlocution and moral reflection, which Cumberland bestows on this promotion and change of pursuit, the reader may fairly infer, that though he discharged with regularity the ostensible duties of his office, it was not suited to him; nor did he give the full satisfaction that perhaps he might have done, had a raw academician, his head full, as he says, of Greek and Latin, and little acquainted with the affairs of the existing world, been in the first place introduced for a time to busy life as a spectator, ere called to take an active part in it as a duty. His situation, however, introduced him to the best society, and insured liberal favour and patronage (so far as praise and recommendation went), to the efforts of his muse. In particular, his connection with Lord Halifax introduced our author to Bubb Doddington,

afterwards Lord Melcombe, of Diary memory, who affected the character of Mecænas, and was in reality an accomplished man.

It was under the joint auspices of Lords Halifax and Melcombe, that Cumberland executed what he has entitled his first legitimate drama, The Banishment of Cicero-an unhappy subject, which is not redeemed by much powerful writing. This tragedy was recommended to Garrick by the two noble patrons of Cumberland; but, in despite of his deference for great names and high authorities, the manager would not venture on so unpromising a subject of representation. The Banishment of Cicero was published by the author, who frankly admits, that in doing so he printed Garrick's vindication.

About this time, as an earnest of future favours, Cumberland obtained, through the influence of Lord Halifax, the office of Crown-Agent for the province of Nova Scotia, and conceived his fortune sufficiently advanced in the world, to settle himself by marriage. In 1759, therefore, he united himself to Elizabeth, only daughter of George Ridge, of Kilmerton, by Miss Brooke, a niece of Cumberland's grandfather, Bentley. Mrs. Cumberland was accomplished and beautiful, and the path of promotion appeared to brighten before the happy bridegroom.

Lord Bute's star was now fast rising in the political horizon, and both the Marquis of Halifax and the versatile Bubb Doddington had determined to worship the influence of this short-lived luminary. The latter obtained a British Peerage, a barren honour, which only entitled him to walk in the procession at the coronation, and the former had the Lieutenancy of Ireland. The celebrated Single Speech Hamilton, held the post of Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, while Cumberland, not to his perfect content, was obliged to confine himself to the secondary department of Ulster Secretary. There was wisdom, perhaps, in the selection, though it would have been unreasonable to expect the disappointed private secretary to concur in that opinion. No one ever doubted the acute political and practical talents of William Gerard Hamilton, while Cumberland possessed, perhaps, too much of the poetical temperament to rival him as a man of business. A vivid imagination, eager on its own schemes, and unapt to be stirred by matter of duller import; a sanguine temper, to which hopes too often seem as certainties, joined to a certain portion both of selfopinion, and self-will, although they are delightful, considered as the attributes of an intimate friend, are inconvenient ingredients in the character of a dependent, whose duty lies in the paths of ordinary business.

Cumberland, however, rendered his principal some effectual service, even in the most worldly application of the phrase-he discovered a number of lapsed patents, the renewal of which the Lord Lieutenant found a convenient fund of influence. But the Ulster Secretary had no other reward than the empty offer of a baronetcy, which he wisely declined. He was gratified, however, though less