but I no want a black coat." "Not want a black coat, and why not?" "Why, massa, I fraid to tell you, but I don't want a black coat." "What's the reason you don't want a black coat? tell me directly." "O! massa, I don't want a black coat, but I fraid to tell the reason you so passionate!" "You rascal! will you tell me the reason?" "O! massa, I'm sure you be angry." "If I had my cane, you villain, I'd break your bones: will you tell me what you mean?" "I fraid to tell you, massa, I know you be angry." The doctor's impatience was now highly irritated, and Scipio perceiving, by his glance at the tongs, that he might find a substitute for the cane, and that he was sufficiently excited, said, "Well, massa, you make me tell, but I know you be angry, I fraid, massa, if I wear another black coat, Dr Cooper ask me to preach for him!" This unexpected termination realised the negro's calculation; his irritated master burst into a laugh: "Go, you rascal, get my hat and cane, and tell Mrs Chauncy she may give you a coat of any color; a red one, if you choose." Away went the negro to his mistress, and the doctor to tell the story to his friend Dr Cooper.' pp. 449, 450. Among a few passages of this book, which might be advantageously omitted, may be mentioned, in the first place, all the sayings and writings of Mr. Otis, during his mental derangement. The ruins of a great mind have been often compared to those of a fine building, but the resemblance, though sufficient for many poetical purposes, fails altogether when we consider the effects severally produced by these objects, on those who contemplate them. No sensations are more diverse, than the soothing pensiveness, which steals over the feelings in the one case, and the mixture of pity and horror, which agitates and rends them in the other. We dissent from our author's opinion, that the disclosure of the facts to which we allude, might throw new light on Mr Otis' character. There is a difference of beauty among the young, says Juvenal, but there is but one face to the aged, and we think it true to nearly an equal extent, that the loss of reason reduces all understandings to a humiliating uniformity. Besides, the singular qualities of Mr Otis' mind are too clearly seen in what remains (little as it is) of the private history of his better days, to receive any additional illustration from a few anecdotes of its operations, while in a diseased condition. For these reasons we think it better, that the effects of his disorder on his conduct, should have been described only in general terms, and that no anecdotes should have been given of the latter part of his life, but those which relate to his lucid intervals. We ought to observe, however, that those stories to which we now object, though in our opinion superfluous, are in no degree indelicate, and that the topic of Otis' insanity is invariably treated with the most respectful tenderness. But the only passages really unworthy of this volume, are a few of a lighter cast, Of the long string of puns, for example, annexed to the character of Dr Byles, one or two, at most, are all that can be tolerated. They are none of them superior to many which we daily hear in our social circles, and have been frequently retailed in works, in which they are far better entitled to a place. The clearness and liveliness of our author's narrative, are by no means his highest, much less his only merits. Instead of confining himself to this branch of his duty; instead of merely chronicling events, and leaving his readers to make their deductions as they may, a practice for which our most respectable historians have been censured, not perhaps without plausible reasons, by foreign critics, he frequently awakens and directs our reflections by his own original and judicious comments. The uniform spirit of candor and good humor, in which these comments are uttered, cannot be too forcibly recommended to the imitation of our historical and political writers. The author seems every where free, if not from error, at least from passion, alike exempt from national, political, and local prejudices, jealous for the honor of his native state, but not less so, for that of our whole country. His most able and interesting remarks (if we can be considered as fair judges) are those which relate to the New-England character, a subject which, as he has more than once proved to the public, his previous researches have singularly qualified him for elucidating. With the exception of a few rather hasty and unqualified animadversions, on the intolerance of our forefathers, a point, in our opinion, not to be touched, without much caution and discrimination, we recollect nothing on this head, which is not highly creditable to his discernment and candor. The style of this work is well suited to its subject, and finished with much greater care, than that of our author's former productions. His language, with the exception of a few such words as 'ameliorating and coruscating,' is the purest English. He has offended in one or two instances against good taste, by the violent introduction of a labored simile, (in his comments, for example, on the manner of Otis' death,) but is generally equally free from ostentation and uncouthness, uniformly perspicuous, easy and lively, and occasionally highly eloquent. But his great excellence yet remains to be stated, his power of drawing characters. This branch of a historian's duty has ever been considered one of the severest tests of his abilities. It is easy, and we are sorry to say it has lately been common, to describe our heroes and patriots, in unqualified superlatives and shadowy generalities, to represent all of them as alike perfect, and consequently exactly equal, and to supply the want of just and discriminating praise, by that vague panegyric, which, 'Like the prismatic glass Its gaudy colors throws on every place, Our author's sketches of celebrated individuals, on the contrary, are drawn with the force and naturalness, which are alone sufficient to persuade us of their correctness, and may be compared to the fine portraits, which, without having seen those whom they represent, we yet feel assured are accurate likenesses. They are at once concise and comprehensive. He points out, most fully and clearly, the distinguishing characteristics of Otis and his coadjutors, those qualities, in which their intellectual and moral identity consisted; commemorates, with high and well deserved praise, their several merits, and discloses their faults, with lenity indeed, but with independence and impartiality. It is no less to his credit, that his remarks on distinguished loyalists are those of a firm patriot, and a liberal enemy. The thirty-fourth chapter is devoted to the commemoration of Franklin, and the concluding paragraph is one of the most moderate and just summaries of the excellencies and infirmities of his unique character, which we have ever yet seen. 'He was not a man of profound learning. His discoveries and his writings were the expansive results of a vigorous mind, which were thrown off without pretension, and seemed as if designed rather for a pastime, than for fame. He was no orator, and yet his power of instructing, and carrying a point by means of some striking apologue, was almost irresistible. He cannot rank high as a constitutional statesman, since he was in favor of the most radical and fatal error in a constitution, that of making a legislature to consist of one body. His theoretical deficiencies in religion may obtain forgiveness, through the number and extent of his beneficent efforts. His wit, his indulgent humor, and his intuitive discernment, made him the delight of society. His industry, his moderation, his love of peace, and his public spirit, established his merits as a citizen. His writings will ever preserve his name with his countrymen, while his discoveries will make its fame no less sure in the annals of philosophy. His connexion with the American revolution will place his statue in the temple of universal memory; but his most lasting claims to the gratitude of mankind were his powerful efforts against war, oppression, and inhumanity of every species. He was in truth a real philanthropist; and his views tended to promote the welfare of his race, under all governments, and in every clime.'-pp. 404, 405. The character of Otis himself is described with the care and copiousness due to the hero of the work, and is thus recapitulated : In fine, he was a man of powerful genius, and ardent temper, with wit and humor that never failed: as an orator, he was bold, argumentative, impetuous, and commanding, with an eloquence that made his own excitement irresistibly contagious; as a lawyer, his knowledge and ability placed him at the head of his profession; as a scholar, he was rich in acquisition, and governed by a classic taste; as a statesman and civilian, he was sound and just in his views; as a patriot, he resisted all allurements that might weaken the cause of that country, to which he devoted his life, and for which he sacrificed it.' p. 494. The description of Samuel Adams is written with still more spirit and elegance. After a candid disclosure of his prominent errors, his abilities and virtues are depicted in what may be considered the happiest passages in the whole work. 'He combined in a remarkable manner all the animosities and all the firmness, that could qualify a man to be the assertor of the rights of the people. Had he lived in any country, or any epoch, when abuses of power were to be resisted, he would have been one of the reformers. He would have suffered excommunication rather than have bowed to papal infallibility, or paid the tribute to St Peter; he would have gone to the stake, rather than to submit to the prelatic ordinances of Laud; he would have mounted the scaffold, sooner than pay a shilling of illegal shipmoney; he would have fled to a desert, rather than endure the profligate tyranny of a Stuart; he was proscribed, and would sooner have been condemned as a traitor, than consent to an illegal tax, if it had been only a six penny stamp, or an insignificant duty on tea; and there appeared to be no species of corruption by which this inflexibility could have been destroyed. 'With this unrelenting and austere spirit, there was nothing ferocious, or gloomy, or arrogant, in his demeanor. His aspect was mild, dignified, and gentlemanly. In his own state, or in the congress of the union, he was always the advocate of the strongest measures, and in the darkest hour he never wavered or desponded. He engaged in the cause with all the zeal of a reformer, the confidence of an enthusiast, and the cheerfulness of a voluntary martyr. It was not by brilliancy of talents, or profoundness of learning, that he rendered such essential service to the cause of the revolution, but by his resolute decision, his unceasing watchfulness, and his heroic perseverance. In addition to these qualities, his efforts were consecrated by his entire superiority to pecuniary considerations; he, like most of his colleagues, proved the nobleness of their cause by the virtue of their conduct and Samuel Adams, after being so many years in the public service, and having filled so many eminent stations, must have been buried at the public expense, if the afflicting death of an only son had not remedied this honorable poverty.' pp. 276-278. To conclude, we have looked upon this book, we confess, with a friendly, but certainly not with a flatterer's eye, and with the exception, perhaps, of a few minute defects, have given, in our opinion, a faithful, though incomplete view of its contents. If our expressions have done justice to our meaning, we must have declared in substance a highly favorable opinion of its general merit; a judgment, which we submit with confidence to the revision of our community of readers. Our author has nothing to fear from those who will allow him a hearing. We have often lamented as a fact, not only humiliating to our reputation as patriots, but highly detrimental to our dearest public interests, the indiscriminate and undeserved neglect, which has been shown in this country to works relating to our own history. Such works, however deficient in point of finish, so they be but authentic and impartial—and these are the unquestioned merits of many of our annalists— are deserving of a far other destiny, than that of an iron |