POETRY.-We should like to be Birds, 53.-Compensation, 64.-'Tis Better not to Know, 81.— Whip-poor-will, 89.-Penitent Free Trader, 93.—Modern Argonauts, 94. SHORT ARTICLE.-The Agapemone, 72. PROSPECTUS. This work is conducted in the spirit of | Littell's Museum of Foreign Literature, (which was favorably received by the public for twenty years,) but as it is twice as large, and appears so often, we not only give spirit and freshness to it by many things which were excluded by a month's delay, but while thus extending our scope and gathering a greater and more attractive variety, are able so to increase the solid and substantial part of our literary, historical, and political harvest, as fully to satisfy the wants of the American reader. 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The volumes are published quarterly, each volume containing as much matter as a quarterly review gives in eighteen months. E. LITTELL & CO., BOSTON. WASHINGTON, 27 Dec. 1845. Or all the Periodical Journals devoted to literature and science which abound in Europe and in this country, this has appeared to me the most useful. It contains indeed the exposition only of the current literature of the Englis language, but this, by its nur erse extent and comprehension, includes a portraiture of the human mind in the utmos! expansion of the present ageJ. Q. ADAMS. LITTELL'S LIVING AGE.-No. 322.-20 JULY, 1850. To this sentiment on the part of the traders of those days, we must not, however, look with sur prise, since we have so often seen in the present time, and have yet much to see, in evidence of that short-sighted and narrow spirit of exclusiveness with which men build up and cling to the WHEN we consider every circumstance by which this, our first essay to find a sea passage to the East by the Pole, was preceded and attended-monopoly of a benefit, until it crumbles beneath the little knowledge possessed of the nature, nav- them with self-engendered rottenness. igation, and perils of the region intended to be explored the simple, scanty means at hand, as compared with those of the present day, in the character, structure, and appointments of the vessels employed the vast difference in point of quality and efficiency of every common necessary embarked for the use of the navigators, in comparison with our present outfits for such expeditions, with the wide distance in nautical skill, science, discipline, and order of that day—something more than admiration, a sentiment of mental respect and honor, may be well awarded to the memory of our first Arctic navigators. We may be perhaps excused in this latitude of feeling upon so remote an event by the words of a great and good Englishman, John Milton, who, in allusion thereto, 129 years afterwards, says :—“ It might have seemed almost heroic, if any higher end than the excessive love of gain and traffic had animated the design." The severity of which reflection he nevertheless smooths away by the observation:— "Nevertheless, that in regard that many things not unprofitable to the knowledge of nature, and other observations all hereby come to light, as good events oft times arise from evil occasions." It is deserving of admiration. At the period of this conclave of the merchants and mariners of London City, Sebastian Cabot, then a venerable and infirm old man, happened to be in London, and to one so renowned in those days for a knowledge of sea affairs, they forthwith addressed themselves for advice and counsel upon so weighty a matter. The aged Sebastian had nevertheless been returned but about five years to England, after having served the court of Spain during most part of the preceding reign, in the lucrative post of pilot major, and, as commander in behalf of a company of Seville merchants, had conducted an expedition to the Molucca Islands, visited the Brazils, explored the La Plata river to an island nearly opposite to the present Buenos Ayres, the Parana as far as Paraguay, and while in South America, it is believed on good grounds that he originated a plan for the conquest of Peru, which he communicated to the court of Spain. The youthful Edward, whom the Italian philosopher, Cardan, so justly called "a miracle of nature,"-" loving to others and beloved by all," in token of his high estimation of the venerable and honored mariner, had conferred upon him the office of Grand Pilot of England, with a pension of 250 marks (£136 13s 6d.) Though bent beneath the weight of years and service, his spirit still animated by an enthusiasm for sea-venture which remained unabated to the hour of his death, he entered with lively interest into their views. Becoming every day more sensible of the decline of the little commercial intercourse that now subsisted between England and foreign parts, and finding that the commodities of this country had fallen so much in request abroad, while foreign From his own great experience, combined with merchandize had everywhere grown into yet higher all his knowledge of that of others, after mature esteem and value than before; the merchants and deliberation, he advised them to fit out three ships mariners of London began seriously to consider for the search and discovery of the northern parts how they might best remedy this decline in their of Europe, under the sanguine impression, that, by affairs. Seeing, as we have observed, how the those unknown seas of the high north, a passage Spaniards and Portuguese were daily increasing might be found to the Indies shorter than that distheir wealth and power by the opening of new covered by the south. Having been informed that markets, the introduction of new products, and the a certain worm was bred in those seas which fre establishment of new trades with foreign countries, quently eat through the strongest oak, by way of they bethought them how they should best devise precaution, and to resist the attack of so destrucsome new project distinct from all those that these tive an enemy, it was suggested to defend the bot people had effected, to open a new and unknown toms of the ships by some metal covering; as navigation; the which having achieved, they most available and considered as less likely to be might claim also, as their own peculiar discovery assailed by the worm, and less perishable than and right to engross; such being the spirit in iron by the action of the water, the keels and botwhich the Spaniards and Portuguese acted towards toms of the ships chosen for the expedition were all other nations in respect to their new discover-covered some way up with thin sheets of lead, and, ies, as was also that of the other maritime nations in order to provide against every emergency and of Europe towards each other. to obviate the risk of the expedition being exposed VOL. XXVI. 7 OCCXXII. LIVING AGE. to want of provisions in that cold and desolate re- | earnest wishes for the success of the voyagers. gion, the ships were victualled for 18 months, The mariners, all appareled in watchet or skyallowing equally for their voyage, stay, and return colored cloth, stood every one to their post, upon home. Arms and a good store of munition were the decks, forecastles, and in the tops, and saluted also provided for the ships and crews, and when with the ordnance as they passed the royal abode; the object of the expedition became known, mari- the thunder of which, with the answering acclamaners from all parts of the coast presented them- tions of the crowds upon the shore, were loudly selves to take part in a venture which was thought echoed by the neighboring hills. The good King so likely to offer a new road to gain. Captains Edward only was compelled to deny himself the and governors for so great an enterprise were gratifying spectacle; confined to his bed, the youthchosen with every regard to their efficiency and ful sovereign was gradually sinking under a nautical skill. Among many, and some void of disease which had baffled the skill of his physiexperience, that offered themselves, Sir Hugh cians, and died shortly after. Upon clearing the Willowby, a valiant gentleman, earnestly requested Thames, the ships, meeting with baffling winds, to have the charge of the expedition, and before put into Harwich, where they staid long, and lost all others, both for his goodly and commanding much valuable time. Setting sail from thence personage, and for his singular skill in the services they proceeded on their voyage, and, passing at of war, he was made choice of for admiral. To length the Shetland Islands, they soon descried him for chief pilot was given Richard Chancelor, a the Egelands, a cluster of rocky islets (called seaman greatly esteemed for his skill and practical Rost Islands by the Danes) in sixty-six degrees. experience in navigation. Chancelor was intro- Steering along the Norwegian coast they then duced personally to the assembly of merchants by made Lofoot (the Loffoden Islands) in sixty-eight, Mr. Henry Sidney, afterwards deputy of Ireland, and the Isle of Seinam in seventy degrees. On who, though then a young man, placed him be- leaving the latter, Sir Hugh Willowby set out his fore them with a grave and eloquent speech, com- flag, and signalled for the chief men of his other mending him to their notice as most fitting for the ships to come on board, that they might consult service. with him respecting future measures, and provide for any event of separation, should they be scattered by tempestuous weather. At this council it was agreed that in case of parting company, the ships should respectively make for Wardhouse, a haven in Finmark, which was to be their place of meeting. On the afternoon of the very same day, the weather became exceedingly tempestuous, and towards evening increased to a terrific storm. The admiral with his loudest voice called to Chancelor to keep his ship as near to him as possible; but in In furtherance also of the interests of the expedition, every inquiry was made after all persons who could give information concerning those north-easterly parts to which the voyage tended, and two Tatars, then in service in the royal stables, were sent for, and questioned as to any knowledge they might have concerning those countries; but from these no information answering the purpose could be obtained. After much debate it was settled that the ships should depart in the spring of the year, and the 20th of May was fixed on as the day of sailing. When Sir Hugh Wil-vain, for the admiral's ship, sailing much better lowby took leave of the aged Cabot, who had taken than that of Chancelor, and carrying all her canso lively an interest in the whole preparations for vass, was driven with great swiftness out of sight; the voyage, that eminent mariner gave him his but, before that, the ship's boat striking against last instructions relative to the course and line of her ship, was overwhelmed in sight of the Bona conduct he recommended to his pursuit; these were venture, of which Chancelor was captain. The remarkable for that earnest religious fervor with third ship was lost in the same storm. Sir Hugh which he impressed them upon his attention, and Willowby weathered the tempest, and after beatwhich was a prominent feature in his noble charac-ing about on those desolate seas succeeded in ter. The energies of the then declining seaman making the land and put into a haven, where they seemed to revive, as again in fancy he contem- had weather as in the depth of the severest winter. plated the voyage upon that beloved ocean, over whose billows his intrepid and adventurous youth had also opened a new pathway, and whose mysteries had occupied his mind and energies beyond the usual span of life. Determining to abide there until the spring, he sent out three men in a southerly direction to see if they could meet with some inhabitants. These men returned after a journey of three days over the ice and deep snow, enduring great hardships Upon the ships, dressed out in all their banners and cold during that time, but met with no success, and ensigns, approaching Greenwich, where the nor any signs of habitation. Three other men court then lay, the shore was lined with people were subsequently despatched towards the east, who flocked down to behold their departure, and who, during a four days' journey in the face of the the courtiers came running out from the palace to greatest obstacles, returned likewise without havwitness the sight. The lords of the Privy Coun- ing discovered any vestige of human habitation. cil appeared at the windows, and the towers and As a last hope and effort, a third party was sent battlements of the building were covered also with out in a south-easterly direction, which, after three those of the court and household, who waved their days' absence, returned also with the like sorrowful kerchiefs and hands in token of farewell and result. No trace of any people, no sign even of any temporary dwelling was discovered, which many days together without dipping below the could lead them to ascertain on what particular horizon. At length he entered into a great bay, coast they had landed. Sir Hugh remained in called, as he was afterwards informed, after Saint this isolated and painful position with the company Nicholas, and espying a fisher boat at some disof his two ships, until January of that year, when, tance, made all sail after it, to know what people as appeared by a will found afterwards in one of they were. The natives, amazed with the great the vessels, all had perished with the cold. There size of his ship, which was a new and strange would appear here some incoherence and also sight to them, made every endeavor to fly; but indistinctness in the early accounts which we have having outsailed, he boarded them with a party consulted on this interesting subject, but as too from his ship, and, in fear and terror of hostile numerous to cite and too discursive for introduction intentions, they prostrated themselves before him, in these pages, we must content ourselves with and offered to kiss his feet. Desirous to show remarking that there seems a probability that the them that he intended them no harm, he raised expedition consisted of four ships, and not of three them with every sign and gesture of friendship, only as represented in Hackluit and others; since and besought their confidence and amity, dismissSir Hugh is here spoken of as having his own ing them with presents. Upon their return to and another ship, and ship's company, with him, shore they spread about the news of the arrival of although one was lost in the storm, independent a strange people, whose friendly demeanor and of the Bonaventure, Chancelor's ship, which had humanity they spoke of in great praise. Hearing parted company. It is not easy to account for this, the natives collected, and, approaching them this apparent incongruity, unless we suppose the with like friendly signs, welcomed them, bringing expedition may have been joined by a fourth ship, them provisions freely, and evincing every willingwhich, as they lay some time at Harwich on ness to traffic, but that they were restrained from their first leaving England, is not improbable, so doing without first receiving the consent of their although such circumstance is not specified. | king. After mutual inquiries of each other's There is no other so likely surmise to make the nation, the voyagers found themselves to be in a matter intelligible or consistent in this point. The part of Moscovia, where Ivan Vassiliwitch reigned river or haven where the unfortunate Sir Hugh at that time emperor. The chief man of those Willowby and his crew perished, was then called parts now privily despatched a notice to the emArzina, in Lapland, near to Kegor-now perhaps peror at Moscow, and in the mean time used every Kola, where they were found dead the following friendly means to detain the voyagers, and hold year by some fishermen of Russian Lapland. No- them in what suspense he could, until the return tice of the discovery of the ill-fated navigators of a message from the emperor. Upon the receipt having been eventually conveyed to Moscow; the of such surprising intelligence as the arrival of a agent of an English trader to the Baltic, residing ship from so distant a country of Europe in those there, sent orders for the recovery of the ships, yet untraversed seas and unknown regions, the with the dead bodies, and most of the goods, and Czar Ivan Vassiliwitch was greatly wondered, yet despatched them to England; but the ships having much pleased, and forthwith despatched the messenbecome, as was supposed, greatly injured in their ger with an invitation to his court, offering to bear frame by wintering two years in Lapland, foun- all the expenses of the journey at his own charge. dered on the voyage with their dead, and those If, however, the strangers should consider the disalso in charge of them. As it is accredited by tance too great, he granted them permission to Beaufoy and others, that Sir Hugh Willowby trade freely with his people. The messenger visited the Island of Spitzbergen, and proceeded some distance along its southern coast in this voyage, though in our researches we find no distinct evidence thereof; if he did so, it must probably have been during the period of his separation from Chancelor in the storm alluded to, and previous to his arrival on the Lapland coast, where he perished. bearing this courteous invitation lost his way upon the return journey, and before he could get into the track and resume his way, the people of the coast, loath to let Chancelor and his company depart, which he had shewn disposed to do, urged him to proceed to the presence of the Czar, and furnished him with sleds, guides, and all conveniences to bring him to Moscow. Yielding to the wishes of the natives and his own adventurous impulse, accompanied by a select few of his people, Chancelor set out upon his re Unacquainted with the dreadful fate of his admiral, and hoping to meet with him at the place of rendezvous, Chancelor, after struggling successfully against the adverse winds which he had en-markable journey across the desert wastes and countered since the dispersion of the little squadron, shaped his course to Wardhouse, the place agreed upon. Here he stayed seven days, anxiously awaiting the appearance of Sir Hugh. Having, however, in that time no tidings of him, and being thus left to his own discretion, he resolved to pursue the voyage, and sailed so far that he now found no night, but continual day; the sun shining clearly on that vast expansive sea for frozen rivers of those remote northern regions into the interior of Russia; a journey which laid the foundation of the commercial relations that eventually developed themselves between this country and that distant part of the Russian empire, over which then but recently only, (1525,) the rule of its dukes had extended, and which were as yet scarcely known to its rulers. At the period of Chancelor's advent, Russia itself had but recently officer, and, upon entering the court gates, were ushered into an outward chamber, where they be held a very honorable assembly of personages, to the number of about a hundred, sitting all appareled in robes of cloth of gold, which descended to their ankles. Previous to being led before the emperor for audience, Chancelor and his companions were charged not to speak but when the em risen to a certain grade of political existence in an officer of the court was sent to bring him to the regard to the western states of the continent, given czar's palace. In obedience to the summons, to it by the Emperor Maximilian since his bestow-Chancelor with his companions accompanied the al of the royal dignity upon the great Duke Basil Ivanowitch in 1512, to induce that prince to engage in hostilities with the Poles, when the title of czar or emperor was first assumed by the great dukes of Russia. That the discovery of the possibility of access from foreign countries to that remote part of the empire was considered a matter of great and signal importance at that time, we find attested by the Russian accounts them-peror should demand aught of them. Upon being selves, and in the measurement of Russian time, it stands inscribed by the Russ, as a bright chronological and historical land-mark of his commercial and political progress. This was shortly shown by the opening of a trade, not only advantageous to the Russian people in their subsequent intercourse with England, but also as leading to their more intimate acquaintance with that distant part of the empire, with which the interior had till then but little or no intercourse. The discovery of the mouth of the Dwina, by Chancelor, followed by the conquest of Siberia, effected shortly afterwards by Ivan, opened an invaluable outlet for traffic in the inexhaustible treasury of furs of that region, and was followed, thirty-three years after-perial presence, and the unexpected splendor of wards, by the building of Archangel, the first seaport town of Russia, which from that time became the great outlet of the empire for the export of the products of that country, and from which the fur trade became the first and most important branch of Russian commerce. 66 introduced into the "chamber of presence," the Czar Ivan Vassiliwitch was seen seated upon a lofty and "very royal throne," having upon his head a diadem of gold; his robe was all "of goldsmith's work;" in his hand he bore a crystal sceptre, garnished and beset with precious stones, and his countenance was no less full of majesty." Upon one side of the throne stood his chief scrivener, and upon the other the "great commander of silence," or court usher, both habited in costly dresses of cloth of gold. Around the chamber were seated his council of 150, upon high seats, all clad as richly. Richard Chancelor, nothing abashed by the im→ the assembly, made his obeisance to the emperor in the English manner, and presented the letters which he had written, detailing the object of his voyage, and the circumstances which had brought him upon that distant coast of his dominions. Ivan Vassiliwitch having taken from his hands the letters which he had prepared for the occasion, read them with much interest and satisfaction, making inquiry of King Edward's health, and, having invited him and his company to dinner, dismissed them until then. Previously, however, to their leave-taking, the secretary presented their gift, divesting himself of his cap, and baring his head in great reverence, before which time all of them had stood covered. In the interval which elapsed before the repast, Chancelor and his friends were invited to the chamber of the secretary, and having sat there two hours, were at length summoned to dinner. The emperor was already seated at table, but habited now in “a robe of silver," and wearing another crown upon his head. This place, which would appear to Ivan Vassiliwitch, (the 4th,) who then reigned over the recently united countries of the Russ, surnamed Grozni, (the Terrible,) by reason of the success and terror of his arms, had just then effected the conquest of the kingdom of Khanat or Kasan, and as this visit of Chancelor to Moscow took place 129 years before that of the German Meyerberg to the Russian capital, described by Adelung, and considered as the earliest account of the Muscovite court, the yet earlier relation, as deduced from "Chancelor's Discourse" and that of Clement Adams "taken from the mouth of Chancelor," affords a yet more interesting and striking picture of the manners and barbaric splendor of the Muscovite czar, resembling more that of the Tatar Khans of the Krim, Kasan and Nogai race, with which, since the expulsion of the Mou-have been a building apart from that where the gols, the Muscovites had been in continual war. Chancelor had travelled over more than half his journey, when the sled-man, who had been sent to court and had now got again upon the right track, met him on the way and delivered to him the emperor's letters. When the Muscovites became aware of the subject of the letters, and of the high favor evinced towards the voyagers by their czar, they were so pleased and zealous to obey his mandate, that they quarrelled, and strove who should have the preference to put the horses to Chancelor's sled. After a long and exceedingly fatiguing journey of 1500 miles, he arrived in Moscow. When he had been in the city and somewhat restored himself for about twelve days, audience of the morning had been granted, was |