is a never failing sign of victory when the fish "spouts blood." His dying struggles are often violent in the extreme, and the boats prudently keep aloof at such moments. Instances have been known, when the whale was quiet, and thought to be dead, that a spasm or convulsion has proved fatal to his captors.

The labours of the whalers by no means end with the death of the fish. In a small boat, in the midst of the ocean, sometimes alone, and with seldom more than three such boats together in a heavy sea-the prospects of a gale of wind-the ship far to lee-ward, and perhaps out of sight-the reader will not be surprised to learn that their game is often abandoned, even when dead. When, however, as generally happens, they proceed to secure the prize, his fins are lashed together, and the boats take him in tow, the ship at the same time plying to windward to join her fishermen. On getting to the ship, the fish is fastened to the starboard side of the vessel, and then commences the process of "cutting-in." Strips of the blubber, about eighteen inches or two feet in width, are cut with the 66 spades, "and the lower block of an enormous purchase, made fast to it; the fall is brought to the windlass, and all of the crew, who are not on the whale, man the hand-spikes. With this prodigious power, aided by the rolling of the vessel, the blubber is torn spirally from the fish, which turns in the water, until it reaches the upper block at the head of the main-mast. It is then cut and lowered between decks, and a fresh piece fastened to the purchase. In this manner the whale is stript of its blubber, and the carcase is sent adrift.

The operation of tearing the bone from the head is one of great labour, and can only be done to advantage in good weather; it is by no means usual to preserve the bone of every fish that is taken. The reader will remember that whalebone is only taken from the "right whale." If the prize should be a "Spermaceti," the "head matter," much the most valuable part of the animal, is to be secured. In some cases, where the whale is small, the whole head, weighing perhaps eight or ten tons, is hoisted inboard. The head of the Spermaceti is to be laid open, and its contents bailed out with buckets. The matter undergoes a boiling in the try-pots, however, before it is committed to the casks; and is submitted to a chemical process at home to render it fit for use. It is from the "head matter" that by far the greatest proportion of the pure Spermaceti is produced.* The oil used for burning is what is left after purifying and extracting the Spermaceti from the crude article.

*The average prices, in the present state of the markets, are, for whale oil, about thirty-five cents; for Spermaceti, including head matter, from eighty to ninety, and for head matter alone one dollar and a quarter.

The difficulty of "cutting in" is greatly increased by the ordinary swell of the sea; both the fish and vessel being in constant motion, and perhaps in opposition to each other. The whaler having effected the great object of securing his prize, makes his arrangments for extracting the oil. The blubber is cut into small pieces, the try-pots are filled, and a fire lighted. The ship would hardly hold wood enough to "try out" two thousand barrels of oil, and it is fortunate that the animal affords from itself the best of fuel for the purpose-after the first fire, which is of wood, the scraps of the blubber are used; these make the hottest fire of the two, and remedy the impossibility of using wood or coal. The cooking is, however, done with wood; for which purpose, and that of stowage, every Brazilman carries from twenty to thirty cords of sawed wood. Large vessels of copper, called "coolers," are lashed to the deck, to receive the oil from the "pots," and it is usual to "break up" most of the hold, and examine the casks anew, before the subtle fluid is entrusted to their keeping. In long voyages, this labour is gone through with casks that are filled. Leathern "hose" are used to send the oil down to the casks, when they are fitted to their proper births.

From this hasty statement of the labours of a whaling vessel, it is obvious that, while employed on the fishing ground, the work must be arduous and fatiguing. This is, however, in some measure compensated by the length of the passages, which commonly consume one third of the whole voyage. The opinion is prevalent among landsmen, that whaling voyages are far more dangerous than the ordinary passages of trading vessels. This is a mistake. With the single exception of the extra risk in capturing the whale, the danger is less in these ships, than in almost any other kind of navigation. To experienced and prudent men, injuries from the whale very seldom occur: for among three or four hundred vessels, on the Brazil Banks every year, not more than a dozen casualties happen from this cause. From shipwreck, there is much less to be apprehended to a whaler than to the common merchantmen: the vessel is better found in rigging and sails-her masts must be good and well secured-her crew is double in number-and the business keeps them altogether clear of the land and its dangers, in the open ocean. It is no unusual thing for a Brazil whaler not to see land from the time she takes her "departure" until she makes a "land fall" at her homeward port. And the crew of a whaler can hardly be lost, as their boats are so easily lowered, are always kept ready, are so safe, and so many-and besides, as whaling ships are generally near them in every direction. We do not, it is obvious, allude here to the northern fisheries, where

dangers of the ice and arduous navigation create abundant difficulties.

On every view of this interesting subject, we think it a ground of felicitation that our countrymen are so enterprising, and successful in their adventures in this business. It keeps up our breed of seamen, employs our capital, adds to our national wealth, and encourages the best kind of our manufactories: and we only hope that government will have the wisdom never to interfere, except to give the trade a proper protection against the contingencies of the unsettled state of the world.

We are sorry that the expense will probably prevent a republication of Mr. Scoresby's book in this country, and cheerfully lend our testimony in favour of its value. When we consider the pursuits in which their author has been reared, these volumes are extremely creditable to his acquirements. He appears to be an observant man, and an expert and scientific seaman. Although gain, probably from necessity, has been the object of all his voyages, he never seems to have lost sight of the claim which science has upon men in his situation.

We owe it to our scientific character to say distinctly, that we do not believe " a whale is a fish,” and we would not have presumed thus openly to disobey a late decision of the learned against the use of the word, but that we have been obliged to adopt the " parlance" of seamen, and can only speak of marine affairs in the language they use.

ART. II. Specimens of Irish Eloquence, now first arranged and collected, with biographical notices and a preface, by CHARLES PHILLIPS, Esq. 8vo. pp. 356. New-York, W. Grattan, 1820.

THE Irish people have laid and established high claims to very powerful oratory, and its merits have undergone one-sided examinations from friends and foes. But, of all defenders, the collector before us is the weakest and the worst. He understands, in essentials, nothing of the excellence he praises, and though his general admiration is justly founded, yet, his reasonings and conclusions are either faulty or false.

From the earliest times, all writers who advert to the mental powers of the Irish people, have expressed surprise at their prompt and effective eloquence, speaking of it, not as the cultivated art of a few, but as an almost pervading and natural characteristic of the whole people. To account for this physically, would be a task at least difficult, perhaps impossible; but its polished improvement, and survivancy, notwithstanding those causes which depress and almost extinguish it in other countries, are facts to be morally accounted for. Eloquence may be defined, a fluent, vigorous, and animating development of thought; and as same results in science may

be obtained by varied operations, so, the effect stated may be produced by dissimilar, nay, opposite styles, both of which may be aptly termed, and readily admitted to be, eloquence. Keeping steadily in view this explanation, will be of more use than usually attaches to the necessary lameness and imperfection of general definitions: it explains to us, why Burke, Sheridan, Curran, Plunket, Bushe and Emmet, are styled eloquent on the one hand, and Bacon, Locke, Mansfield and Grattan, on the other. It has another merit: it expounds to us clearly, why such poetical, antithetical, and unsubstantial talkers as Mr. Phillips, are not eloquent at all.

In the first place, partial education of a very invigorating and refined kind was, at an early period, introduced into Ireland :it was pursued with diligence, and success; classical taste struck deeply into the minds of her scholars, and literature was courted for herself alone. Learning there, never showed itself as a trade, divided and subdivided-no dictionaries were made, grammars arranged, learned commentaries written-no argute criticisms on doubtful passages, nor elaborate restorations of vitiated texts. Still the great work of intellectual improvement went silently and steadily forward, disregarded and unnoticed by foreign erudition. In no country was learning ever so ardently sought by men, ambitious of making it ancillary to the natural vigour of their minds: the nation being by "immemorial usage" hospitable, learning regulated, but did not repress hospitality; on the contrary, it encouraged convivial meetings of learned and literary men. There, every man of real, or fancied intellectual powers, ascertained his standard mint value; the man" wise in his own conceit," was taught by salutary collision with a master spirit, either to take a lower stand in his own opinion, or by increased diligence, to add fact to fancy; the man of talents and modesty was encouraged, his opinions dexterously drawn out and kindly supported, or politely and candidly discussed and controverted. In those meetings every guest took his part in the subject under discussion at "the top of his bent," each person delivered his opinions uninterrupted, and the subject, thus thrown from hand to hand, was thoroughly debated with ingenuity, learning, liberality, and eloquence. Talent was the ready and recognized passport into the best literary society, and the obscure scholar there found, in his mental acquisitions, a solid substitute for wealth and pedigree. Thus when the literary customs of the people are explained, independent of all physical facts or traditions, their colloquial dexterity, illustrative and argumentative powers, cease to surprise; for with such opportunities and encouragements, from such associations, great minds must have been formed, and great orators produced.

Ireland had but little trade, and scarcely any manufactures; the mental debility and degradation that inevitably follow a minute division of labour, had not reached her; so her population were generally intelligent-and many men of high talents, and low fortunes, wandered into the fields of literature, who might otherwise have sought affluence in the paths of commerce had not jealousy and misgovernment driven it from her shores. It has been well said, that the intricacy and multiplieity of modern laws, have been destructive to the true spirit of eloquence; but this cause has not existed with such force in Ireland, as to weigh down the energies of eloquence: there, the profound science of the law has been studied, with very moderate severity, and by the great orators, Curran, Bushe and Grattan, in a manner not calculated to dull the keenness of their natural powers. The former of those gentlemen, finding his business increase beyond either his industry or knowledge, we are credibly informed, imported a lawyer from London, to read his briefs, and furnish him with authorities: a practice which must have been much more beneficial to the ease of the counsellor, than the security of the client.

Much has been said of the "Irish school of eloquence," and more than it is very easy to comprehend :—the truth is, there is no such thing. Ireland has produced a number of very eloquent and ingenious men ; but the style of no two is alike. One is philosophical, using now the rarest and most classical words-now, the plainest and vulgarest, that a bad state of society affords at one moment, drawing a splendid image from Heaven, at the next groping a figure from the filth of a slaughter-house, or the horrors of a dissecting theatre: another is closely argumentative, word-sparing to obscurity, antithetical, magnificent and severe: a third is persuasive, ingenious, happy in arrangement, and skillful and splendid in execution-sometimes awful, always pleasing a fourth has all the solemn dignity resulting from a self satisfied weight of character, great analytical powers, learning, and an unforced elocution, seldom stooping his wing from the pride of place to imagery, wit, or vituperation: a fifth, a man of such genius, power, and astuteness, that whenever he exerted his mind, he left no thread upon the canvass without its keeping and colour, so that no human intellect could improve that effort, or equal it in another. With what justness such a vast variety of intellectual excellence, can be termed "6 a school," it is not easy to discover : when we refer one man's excellence to the school of another, the force of the phrase turns us towards points of resemblance; but when on examination we find they differ in modes of arrangement, illustration, and degrees of amplification, so as to vary from and VOL. III. 4