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Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 3 of 10 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
We sat down to table . An unrestrained cheerfulness presided at the meal . The melancholy affair that had occasioned such alarm was arranged , and . ail parties satisfied . ' I longed for the promised history of the stake . These good people are slow in their motions , and it was not till after many preambles , in which , however , I gave myself up to the most charming distractions , that my host began as follows .
" You must know , " said he , " that , in this country , to see and to possess are nearly the same thing . When an in Habitant of the Cape wants to obtain a spot of ground in the colony , whether for agriculture or for grazing , he traverses different cantons , to look out for a situation that may suit him . When he has found it , he sets up what is called a baaken , as much as to signify to any one who may be looking out with a similar purpose , that the spot is already occupied . Then lie returns to the Capeand applies to the
govern-, ment for a regular permission and title . This sort of solicitation is seldom refused ; but , as the grants of uncultivated ground made by the company are usually a league square , it happens , sometimes from mistake ? nd sometimes from malice , that the baaken has been set up upon the ground of a former proprietor ; or that in the circumference granted him , of which the baaken is the centre , some part of another man ' s land is included . In this case , to terminate the dispute , arbitrators are sent for , and a decision
obtained . If the question be not much involved , a compromise is easily made ; but in many cases it happens otherwise . Then commences a regular suit at law . and an eternal subject of variance and hatred between the two parties . Another misfortune in such cases is , that the original proprietor is rarel y at liberty to quit his farm , and to undertake the management of his own . cause , which assuredly he is the person to understand best . The trial , however , goes on , and the advocate , who has frequently never seen the spot ,
acquits himself as well as he can . The judge , who is equally in the dark , gives sentence accordingly ; and thus your Europeans , who think that no people have finder-standing and reason but themselves , forget that they have not less a monopoly of corruption and vice . Tie simplest disputes often terminate ' in the ruin of families , while nobody gains by them , except it be the jud ge , whose trade thrives upon this species of nourishment . The planters , on the other handwhose condition removes them from the bustlesubtlety , and
, , intrigue of'large towns , settle these things in the clearest and most sagacious manner , with no other instructor but good sense , and no other guide but ' reason . " Philosopher as my host affected to be , and though his countenance , which became animated at every stroke of satire that escaped him against the institutions of society , was expressive of considerable energy , candour , and good sense , I have taken the liberty of abridging his narrative , leaving it to the reader ' s imagination to supply what I have omitted . '
The Italian , or the Confessional of the Black Penitents , a Romance . B y Ann Radclifte . 3 vol . 121110 . Price 15 / . Cadell and Davies . THE elegant authoress of this Romance , is well known to the world for her former productions of the Romance of the Forest , and the Mysteries of Udolp ho . With a genius peculiarly calculated , to work on our imaginationand our fears , she has long been unrivalled in this kind of composition . The Italian , thoughin our opinion , it does not much add to , yet certainly takes ,
, little from , the fame she has so justly acquired . There is one fault which is carried farther in this than in Mrs . Radciiite ' s former Romances , viz . the too frequent descriptions of the scenery of Italy . Mrs . Radclifte . it cannot be denied , is , in general , ricii and correct in the descriptive ; but to us , if VOL . vin . P
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
We sat down to table . An unrestrained cheerfulness presided at the meal . The melancholy affair that had occasioned such alarm was arranged , and . ail parties satisfied . ' I longed for the promised history of the stake . These good people are slow in their motions , and it was not till after many preambles , in which , however , I gave myself up to the most charming distractions , that my host began as follows .
" You must know , " said he , " that , in this country , to see and to possess are nearly the same thing . When an in Habitant of the Cape wants to obtain a spot of ground in the colony , whether for agriculture or for grazing , he traverses different cantons , to look out for a situation that may suit him . When he has found it , he sets up what is called a baaken , as much as to signify to any one who may be looking out with a similar purpose , that the spot is already occupied . Then lie returns to the Capeand applies to the
govern-, ment for a regular permission and title . This sort of solicitation is seldom refused ; but , as the grants of uncultivated ground made by the company are usually a league square , it happens , sometimes from mistake ? nd sometimes from malice , that the baaken has been set up upon the ground of a former proprietor ; or that in the circumference granted him , of which the baaken is the centre , some part of another man ' s land is included . In this case , to terminate the dispute , arbitrators are sent for , and a decision
obtained . If the question be not much involved , a compromise is easily made ; but in many cases it happens otherwise . Then commences a regular suit at law . and an eternal subject of variance and hatred between the two parties . Another misfortune in such cases is , that the original proprietor is rarel y at liberty to quit his farm , and to undertake the management of his own . cause , which assuredly he is the person to understand best . The trial , however , goes on , and the advocate , who has frequently never seen the spot ,
acquits himself as well as he can . The judge , who is equally in the dark , gives sentence accordingly ; and thus your Europeans , who think that no people have finder-standing and reason but themselves , forget that they have not less a monopoly of corruption and vice . Tie simplest disputes often terminate ' in the ruin of families , while nobody gains by them , except it be the jud ge , whose trade thrives upon this species of nourishment . The planters , on the other handwhose condition removes them from the bustlesubtlety , and
, , intrigue of'large towns , settle these things in the clearest and most sagacious manner , with no other instructor but good sense , and no other guide but ' reason . " Philosopher as my host affected to be , and though his countenance , which became animated at every stroke of satire that escaped him against the institutions of society , was expressive of considerable energy , candour , and good sense , I have taken the liberty of abridging his narrative , leaving it to the reader ' s imagination to supply what I have omitted . '
The Italian , or the Confessional of the Black Penitents , a Romance . B y Ann Radclifte . 3 vol . 121110 . Price 15 / . Cadell and Davies . THE elegant authoress of this Romance , is well known to the world for her former productions of the Romance of the Forest , and the Mysteries of Udolp ho . With a genius peculiarly calculated , to work on our imaginationand our fears , she has long been unrivalled in this kind of composition . The Italian , thoughin our opinion , it does not much add to , yet certainly takes ,
, little from , the fame she has so justly acquired . There is one fault which is carried farther in this than in Mrs . Radciiite ' s former Romances , viz . the too frequent descriptions of the scenery of Italy . Mrs . Radclifte . it cannot be denied , is , in general , ricii and correct in the descriptive ; but to us , if VOL . vin . P