THE GREEK CHIEFS. (From the News of Lit. & Fash.) No. III.-ALEX. MAUROCORDATO. THE above-named chief stands deservedly high in the estimation of all the well-wishers of free Greece; since he has, from the commencement of his public career up to the present period, proved himself to be one of those really disinterested patriots who have no object at heart but the safety and welfare of their country. In fact, though Maurocordato belongs to one of those Phanariote families who aspired to the almost sovereign dignity of being Hospodars of the two prin cipalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, he has always shewn himself to be entirely free from that intriguing spirit and those ambitious views which prevail almost universally among the Phanariote nobles. At the period during which Carazza was living as a private individual at Constantinople, he became acquainted with Maurocordato, and duly appreciating his character and talent, he, on his appointment to rank of Hospodar, took him as his private secretary. When how ever, Carazza, a few years afterwards, was obliged to retire from Greece, in consequence of having incurred the displeasure of the Grand Signior, Maurocor. dato followed him to Pisa---the place he fixed upon for his residence. Shortly after this, the Revolution broke out in the Morea and the Islands; and the subject of our notice having been appointed to take charge of some ammunition, &c. which had been purchased with the money raised in different parts of Europe for the assistance of the Greek cause, he arrived at Missolonghi early in August 1821, when he began to fortify that place, and has since rendered it one of the greatest importance to the whole of Western Greece. In the first national congress which was held at Epidaurus, the talents and knowledge of Maurocordato were displayed in the most conspicuous manner; so much so, indeed, that the choice for President of the Executive (which was then to be determined) fell upon him, During the whole year of his presidency, he discharged the duties of his high office with the strictest honesty and the most unquestioned talent---incontestibly proving, by his whole conduct, that the prosperity of his country, and the success of her great cause, were the sole objects he had in veiw. The year following that of his presidency, he was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. This appointment, however, excited against him considerable jealousy in the minds of some of the chief of the Morea, and particularly of Colocotroui, who having observed that his (Maurocordato's) influence with the people became every day greater, professed to look upon him with suspicion, and did all he could to oppose his whole proceedings. At last, indeed, the patience of Colocotroni became exhausted, and he openly menaced Maurocordato with his vengeance, unless he instantly quitted the Morea, which country Colocotroni professed to consider as his property, and that no other chief had any pretence to interfere in its affairs. Circumstances were such at the period now alluded to, that Maurocordato thought it best not to risk an open quarrel, and accordingly he retired to Hydra, where he found a staunch friend in the person of that truly zealous, and firmhearted patriot, John Orlando, one of the Greek Deputies now in London, and of whom we shall have to speak hereafter.. Shortly after the period now alluded to, Maurocordato was again called upon to take a distinguished part in the struggle of his country---being appointed Director General of the affairs of Western Greece. On this he again repaired to Missolonghi, and his name may be considered as in some degree connected with the two brilliant victories obtained in two successive campaigns by the incomparable Marco Bazzari, whose loss, in the last of these victories, Greece will not soon cease to deplore. Maurocordato, being a man of considerable learning and accomplishments, attracts towards him all persons of letters and education, foreign as well as native, who are now in Greece. Besides which, notwithstanding his active engagement in the political affairs of his country, he finds time to interest himself in her moral prosperity also, by establishing national schools in various parts,conducted on the Lancastrian principle; being convinced that the true happiness of a people depends no less on its moral than its political condition.' It has been sought to be made a charge against the consistency of Maurocordato, that while he holds a distinguished situation in a government which professes to consider all the people on an equality, and to admit no nominal distinctions among its own members, he still chooses to retain the title of Prince. It should, in justice to this zealous patriot, be stated, in reply to this, that the government of AMERICAN PAINTERS, &c.. which he forms a part does not address by this title; nor does he himself claim it. In fact, it is nothing more than a nominal distinction which foreigners have conferred upon him. Upon the whole, it may be safely pronounced that the name of Alexander Maurocordato deserves to be cherished by his contemporaries, and will unquestionably be received by posterity, as that of a wise legislator, and an honest and consistent patriot, AMERICAN PAINTERS. (From Blackwood's Magazine.) No. II. Mr. NEWTON, Portrait and Historical Painter. MR. Newton, who'was born within our Canadas, is a man of singular and showy talent. He has been pursuing his professional studies in London for several years, and begins to be regarded as he deserves. His portraits are bold and well-coloured, but not remarkable for strength of resemblance, or individuality of expression. But then, they are good pictures, and, of the two, it is higher praise even for a portrait painter, to allow that he makes good pictures, than that he makes good likenesses. It is easy (comparatively) to make a resemblance, but very difficult for any man to make, a picture which deserves to be called good. All portrait painters begin with getting likenesses. Every touch is anxious, particular, and painfully exact; and it is, perhaps, a general truth, that as they improve in the art, they become less anxious about the likeness, and more about the composition, colouring, and effect. Thus the early pictures of every great artist will be found remarkable for their accurate resemblance, and the later ones remarkable for every thing else rather than for that quality. Their likenesses fall off as their painting improves. Still however (though the last remarks have no especial application to Mr. Newton), some of this gentleman's portraits are not only good pictures, but striking likenesses. In history, it is hardly fair to judge of him; for what he has done, though admirable on many accounts, are rather indications of a temper and feeling which are not yet fully disclosed, than fair specimens of what he could produce, were he warmly encouraged. His "Author and Auditor" is the best that I know of his productions, and a capital thing it is. The last, which was lately exhi 77 bited at Somerset House, is rather a fine sketch, than a finished picture. It is loose, rich, and showy; wauting in firmness and significance, and verging little on the caricature of broad farce;broad, pencil farce, I mean. For this, of course, he is excusable, with Moliere for his anthority. It is a very good picture, to be sure, hat not such a pic. ture as Mr. Newton could have produced; and, therefore, not such a picture as he should have produced for the annual exhibition. He did himself injus tice by it. ANIMALS IMITATE LANGUAGE AND ACTIONS. SIR William Temple, in his memoirs, relates a story concerning an old parrot, belonging to the prince Maurice, that readily answered to several questions promiscuously put to it. Howeyer singular the fact may appear, he assures us it was told him as such by the Prince himself. Scaliger tells us that he saw a crow, in the French King's court, that was taught to fly at partridges, or any other fowl, from the falconer's hand. Cardinal Assanio had a parrot that was taught to repeat the Apostle's Creed, verbatim, in Latin: and in the court of Spain there was one that could sing the Gamut perfectly. In the Roman History an anecdote is recorded, the truth of which we have no reason to doubt. When the sovereignty of the world was depending between Cæsar and Antony, a poor man at Rome bred up two crows, and taught them to pronounce, in their prattling language, a. salutation to the Emperor; and, that he might be provided against all events, one of them saluted Cæsar, and the other Antony. When Augustus was returning as the conqueror, this man, with the crow on his hand, met him; and it was an ingenious and agreeable flattery, to which Augustus was not insensible, to be saluted by a crow with the acclamations. of victory. He rewarded the novel adulator munificently. The neighbour of the man, however, having in vain essayed to teach the same language to two crows he had destined for this purpose, stung with envy at his happier fate, revealed to Augustus that this man had another crow at his house, with which he had intended to have saluted Antony,' had fortune favoured his party. This malicious intelligence intercepted the bounty of Augustus. Perhaps nothing appears more won. ation, the object of which was to compel the party who had injured him to the repayment of twelve thousand pounds. The duke's request being granted by the king, his majesty asked him what connection he had with the man whose interest he had so warmly espoused, derful than the sight of an unwieldy Elephant dancing. The manner of teaching this grave animal so ludicrous an action is thus cruelly practised. They bring a young Elephant upon an iron floor heated underneath; and play on a musical instrument, while he lifts up his legs, and shifts his feet about, by reasonNot any,' replied the duke; indeed, of the torture of the heat. This frequently repeated, occasions him to dance at the least sound of music. But let us not suppose that animals that thus imitate the actions and language of rational creatures, possess, therefore, in some degree, rationality and mental intelligence for when an Elephant, for instance, dances to music, it is not from any principles of reason, but from the concatenation of the two ideas of heat and music, to which custom has habituated him. So a Parrot may answer any question it is accustomed to hear; but this action needs not the aid of reason, since it may be effected by an habitual idea of things. Even the inferior ranks of animals receive their ideas by the senses. Such and such sounds often repeated, and such and such actions immediately preceding or immediately following those sounds, must necessarily form a complex idea both of the sound and action; so that, when either such action or such sound is repeated, an idea of the other must necessarily attend it. Thus dogs are taught to fetch and carry; and Parrots speak more words than one together. These words, Poor Poll! for instance, being often repeated together, if one be mentioned, and the other left, there must necessarily be an idea of the other sound, because custom and habit link them together. As two words are taught, so may three; and, if three, why not many? It is thus, by a complex idea, the Elephant dances; for when he hears music, the idea of the heated floor occasions him to dance. The arguments here alleged for the power which some animals shew in imitating our speech and actions, are chiefly drawn from an old Athenian Mercury. THE ADVANTAGES OF UGLINESS. IN the reign of Louis XIV, a gentleman of Auvergne, who had suffered by the law's delay, was promised speedy justice by the Duke ofwho brought the gentleman to Versailles, to present him to his majesty, and to recommend his case to the royal consider so far from it, that I never saw him in my life till the other day, when I met him in a stage coach.' What,' replied the king, had you never seen him before? How then could you be under that obligation to him which you talk of?" Oh, Sire! exclaimed the duke, has not your majesty perceived that, till he was brought forward, I was supposed to have been the ugliest man in your dominions? The exception he has enabled me to make is a very great obligation. The king laughed heartily at the idea. The joke soon spread, and, after causing much mirth at court, it came at length to the ears of the gentleman who had given rise to it; but like a man of sense, he bore it with good humour, and did not suffer it to interfere with his gratitude to his benefactor, to whom, a few daysafter the receipt of his money, he went to pay his respects. When he arrived at the duke's house, the porter told him that his grace was at dinner, and could not be spoken with. The ugly gentleman, however, insisted that his name should be announced, assuring the servant that, when the duke knew who it was, he would give iminediate orders for his admittance; and this proved to be the case. The duke, pleased with the opportunity of shewing his friends that there existed in the world a man uglier than himself, desired him to be shown into the room where they were going to dinner. Being accordingly introduced, he expatiated with great eloquence on the duke's generosity, and his own gratitude. The duke's friends insisted that he should stay dinner, to which the duke readily agreed; and, as he was endued with a considerable portion of wit, the stranger supported the spirit of the conversation till late in the evening, when the company parted, highly pleased with their new acquaintauce. In short, he returned to his family, loaded with wealth and honour, for which he was solely indebted to his extreme ugliness! There was likewise an officer at Paris, not long since, who never entered an assembly room, but some one or other who was playing deep, gave him a sum of money to leave the place; so that he had only to shew his face, in order to receive a pension-not annual, but daily. REMEDIES OR LOVE. REMEDIES FOR LOVE. HUET has a very singular observation on Love, which he exemplifies by an Anecdote as singular. Love, he says, is not merely a passion of the soul, but it is also a disease of the body, like the Fever. It is frequently in the blood, and in the mind, which are terribly agitated; and, to be cured, it may be treated as methodically as any other disorder. Great perspirations, and copious bleedings, that carry away with the humour the inflammable spirits, would purge the blood, calm the emotions, and replace every part in its natural state. The great Condé, having felt a violent passion for Mademoiselle de Vigean, was constrained to join the army. While his absence lasted, his passion was continually nourished by the tenderest recol lections of Love, and by an intercourse of a continued correspondence, till the conclusion of the campaign, when a dangerous sickness brought him to the most imminent danger. To the violence of his illness, violent remedies were applied; and every thing that was most efficacious in physic was given to the Prince. He regained his health, but he had lost his Love: the great evacuations had carried away his passion; and when he thought himself a Lover, he found he had ceased to love. On this anecdote it is to be observed, that the fact is well authenticated; and, however the reader may feel himself inclined to turn Wit on this occasion, its veracity cannot in the least be injured. But it must be confessed that evacuations may not always have on a despairing lover the same happy effect. When we would explain the mechanism of the human passions,' observes an ingenious writer,the observations must be multiplied.' This fact, then, does not tend to shew that the same remedies will cure every Lover, but that they did cure the Prince de Condé. There is, however, another species of evacuation, not less efficacious, for a despairing swain, which will probably amuse the reader. A German gentleman burned with an amorous flame for a German Princess. She was not insensible to a reciprocal passion; and to have him about her person, without giving scandal, she created him her General. They lived some time much pleased with each other; but the Princess became fickle, and the General grew jealous. He made very sharp remonstrances; and the Princess, who wished to be free, gave him his conge, and he was constrained to quit her. But 79 his passion at every hour increased: he found he could not live out of her presence; and he ventured to enter imperceptibly into her cabinet. There he threw himself at her feet, and entreated her forgiveness. The Princess frowned, and condescended to give no other answer, than a command to withdraw from her Royal Highness's presence. The despairing lover exclaimed, that he was ready to obey her in every thing but that; that he was resolved in this to disobey her; and that he preferred to die by her hand. In saying this, to give force to his eloquence, he presented his naked sword to the German Princess; who, perhaps, being little acquainted with the flowers of rhetoric, most cruelly took him at his word, and run him through the body. Fortunately his wound did not prove mortal: he was healed of the wound at the end of three months, and likewise of his passion, which had flowed away with the effusion of blood. THE LOVER.—Original. 'Twas the time when each Evening's shade THE LOVER'S SONG "Lady of beauty, the hour is nighBeams shine on the river-stars shine in the sky And, Love fairer than either, shines bright in thine eye. Then haste thee here, ere the coming day Chases beams, stars,-and thy lover away. This is the land of smiles and love, And this is the hour for Lovers made: Lady! though Cupid on wings doth move, Time flies as swiftly and cannot be stayed! Then haste thee!-then haste, thee; my steed's O'er the river we'll swim-o'er the mountain hard by we'll fly! Thou hast, "No," on thy "lip”—but there's "Yes" in thine eye!" One look to your mirror-one more to your heart, Ere from the halls of your Sire we quickly This is the hour for smiles and love,— Lady! young Cupid on wings doth move, The maiden leaps to her lover's arms,-- AN ANECDOTE. A CLERGYMAN, about to be translated to another charge, when making his valedictory visit among his parishioners, entered a farm house, and was most courteously received by Margaret, in the absence of her husband. She expressed ber most unfeigned regret at his depar. ture, and paid him many compliments on his orthodoxy, or, as she expressed it, his sound gospel, and also for his zeal and unremitted diligence in feeding his flock; concluding her compliments by saying, that she had only one objection to him as a minister. "And will you have the goodness to state that objec No. XLVIII-THE HUSBAND. What taketh away the life? even Death. ECCLES. XXXI. 27. Remember that Death will not be long in coming ECCLES. xiv. 12. Lo! husband fond! the tyrant Death, The worst of all life's foes, From an old translation: 1 tion?" said the clergyman. "A deed, Sir," said she, simpering, "there's money! aue in your parish that's no sae weel beuklearned as me, and you make use of mony kittle words that they canna understand." "must say I am surprised at that charge, Margaret," replied the preacher ; for I have made it my study to preach in such language as any person of ordinary capacity might readily compre hend."-"Now, there's you at your crank language, again, Sir!" cried Mar"capacity and comprehend! garet: wha' but scholars can ken words like thae?" LONDON:-WILLIAM CHARLTON WRIGHT, 65, Paternoster Row, and may be had of all Booksellers and Newsmen. [SEARS, Printer, 45, Gutter Lane, Cheapside.] |