fever on the 17th of December, at Ballyliedy, county of Down, the seat of his eldest brother, Lord Dufferin and Clanboye. Sir Henry left a widow, three sons, and a daughter. The eldest son—the present Sir Henry, is a Post Captain in the Navy; the second, Arthur, is in the Colonial Office; and the third, Francis, is a Commander in the Navy, and on his way out, in the Hyacinth 20-gun ship, to the East India Station.

It would be presumptuous in us to attempt to draw the professional character of Sir Henry Blackwood; but we are entitled to give expression to those sentiments of respect and admiration with which it is regarded by all who know anything of the heroic exploits, in their day, of British seamen. His exploits speak for themselves, even in this humble record; and the long series of services, in which he took always an active and often a most distinguished part, prove, far beyond any needless panegyric of ours, his zeal and enthusiasm, his skill and valour. Never was man more devoted to the profession he adorned, more eager to fly, in the cause of his country, to encounter any danger in any clime; nobly despising ease, and willing, without any vain regrets, to part with those blessings of domestic life, which by nature he was so warmly disposed to enjoy and impart, and which Providence had granted him to his heart's full content, at the call of duty, and under the inspiration of patriotism and honour. From boyhood he was ambitious to rise by his own merits, and all life long he sought not the "bubble,” but the jewel "reputation, even in the cannon's mouth." His conduct, on all occasions, was eminently distinguished by promptitude and decision; nor did it ever, in a single instance, border upon rashness, being ever under the control of a spirit cool in the midst of dangers, and under the guidance of a mind confident in its own resources, because thoroughly accomplished in the art of naval warfare. As a seaman, indeed, he was admitted to stand second to none; and whether in frigate or line-of-battle ship, bringing the enemy to action, or threatening offensive movements when obliged by overwhelming superiority of force to guard his Majesty's vessels from capture, his manoeuvres were such as to baffle or confound, and sometimes, where failure would have been no disgrace, to command success. It was the scientific style in which he fought his actions that gave him so high a place in the profession, as much as his daring valour; and the

vessels he commanded were perfect models for that order and discipline which were not meant to please the eye merely, "On some calm day,

In sunshine sailing far away,"

though everything about them was beautiful, but always in powerful preparation for the hour when the order might be given to clear for battle. Like all first-rate officers, he was a strict disciplinarian; he ruled both by fear and love, in such service equally salutary; and the conduct of his officers and crew never failed to prove their pride and trust in their commander. He rejoiced to encourage merit in all, high and low; and few officers of his standing in the service, and possessing little interest but such as appertained to their own characters, were ever more instrumental in advancing the deserving than Sir Henry Blackwood. Nothing could damp his zeal in the cause of those whom he befriended; personal inconvenience, trouble, and labour were then to him all pleasant; and he never rested till he had put them, if possible, in the path of promotion, letting them feel, by example as well as precept, that there was then but one sure way to gain it, "to do their duty." The same virtues which shone so brightly in his profession, adorned and endeared his character in private life. High-spirited, and sensitively alive to the minutest point of honour, his good name he guarded without art or effort; always dignified in his self-respect, but never overbearing; incapable of harbouring resentment, even to those who might have injured him, and of such a forgiving disposition, that in those cases he never felt at ease till amity was restored, and all offence forgotten. Good-nature was indeed with him a virtue; and of a cheerful and sanguine temper, he delighted to look to the future in the sunshine of hope, nor ever gave way long to despondency, even under his severest trials. There was no selfishness in his nature; and far above jealousy and envy, he was proud to see rising in the service all who had illustrated it by their renown. Though never rich, he was most generous-too generous indeed ever to become rich; but, while not neglectful of the interests of his family, he seemed to believe-nor will the belief be vain-that virtue and honour are beyond all other the best means of advancement in life, and that the sons of a man who had well served his country,

may hope, by emulating their father's example, one day to gain their father's rank, and perhaps even to achieve some portion of their father's fame. His manners were as delightful as his character was estimable, simple, and unpretending, but elegant and graceful, such as bespoke and became his birth; and their charm was increased by a fine countenance, full of animation, and a person singularly handsome, and though not above the middle size, indicating that strength and activity to which, under Providence, he more than once owed his life. Tenderly alive to the feelings and duties of all life's relations, he sought his own happiness in that of those he loved; a good son, a good husband, a good father, and a good friend. Though unostentatious in his religious duties, it is not to be thought that he who habitually felt "in the midst of life we are in death," had not a soul solemnly alive to religion. In that he but resembled all the rest of his country's greatest heroes. Nor can we fear that we shall be blamed by any, even by those who were nearest and dearest to him, for mentioning here, that after his death, a manuscript was found, containing extracts from the Bible, especially suitable for the devotional exercises of one whose lot had lain among perpetual dangers, and prayers, "accompanied with heart-confessions," to the very last affectingly proving to one sad survivor, how humbly and penitentially that heart was disposed towards the God whose goodness guards them "that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters."

AMERICAN POETRY.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

[APRIL 1832.]

If it be seldom safe for one man to dislike, despise, or disparage another, it must always be dangerous for one nation so to regard or judge another nation, since the causes are then more numerous, and also more subtle in their workings, by which both feeling and reason may be perniciously biassed, in the formation of sentiments permanently cherished by people towards people, state towards state.

It is hard to know one's own heart, scarcely possible to know another's; and yet how rash are we, one and all, in attributing characters to individuals on imperfect knowledge even of their outward lives, in utter ignorance of their inner spirits! From certain circumstances in which we suppose we see them placed, but without understanding what produced. that condition, and from a certain course of conduct which we suppose that we perceive them to pursue, but without any acquaintance with their multifarious motives, we too often confidently pass sentence on their duties and deserts, classing them in different orders of moral and intellectual worth, as we vainly believe, too, according to the commands of our conscience. But conscience, though stern and unrelenting in self-judgment, is not so when seeking to see into the impulses of the souls of our brethren; and is then indeed the sister of charity. She tells us to be less wary in bestowing our praise than our blame, our love than our hate, and that in the light of good-will we shall ever most clearly see the truth.

A very moderate experience, if accompanied with very moderate reflection, might suffice, one would think, to show us that we cannot otherwise be just. A holy caution is indeed

one of the most conspicuous characteristics of that feeling and faculty within us that judges right and wrong; and we must not grant to "well-meaning people," as the weak and narrowminded are too often called, the privilege of trying, and testing and deciding all human conduct by reference solely to what may happen to be the habitual prejudices and bigotries of their own understandings, uninstructed and unenlightened by that large, that universal sympathy, without which there can be neither virtue nor wisdom.

Such errors, however, pass unheeded by, often with little visible injury done, in the narrow circles of private life, haunted, as they are, by too many foolish fancies and absurd surmises, whispered in the idle and empty talk of that confidential gossiping, which, not contented with the imaginary evil it condemns, is restless till it has created a seeming reality out of mere report, and infused perhaps a drop of pestilential poison into the otherwise harmless air of rumour, that circles round the dwelling of unsuspecting innocence.

How much wilful misunderstanding and misrepresentation of character and conduct do we see and hear every day, in the case of different professions! The soldier thinks the clergyman a hypocrite, because he wears a black coat; and the clergyman thinks the soldier a profligate because he wears a red one; the cloth is thought to colour the character even to the very eye; and there is a mutual repulsion between those who by nature may be kindred and congenial spirits.

A more commonplace observation than the above never trickled from grey-goose quill; and on that account we let it trickle from ours; for extend the spirit of it from trades and professions, each of which hangs together like a small commonwealth, and is composed of a peculiar people, to kingdoms separated by seas, and each swarming with its own life, and then you will find mighty nations regarding each other with just the same sort of feelings; millions, when leagued together under different laws and institutions, as blindly and senselessly ignorant of other millions, as Mrs Grundy of the real character of Mrs Tomkins.

It is right that every people should have its own national character; and the more strongly marked the better, for in such separation there is strength. But it is also right that each people should have large sympathies with the national character