You'd die to see how fierce these sons of Mars geration, and also that they have generally a passion for the marvellous, they only tend to heighten the relish of their conversation, and, mixed up with other characteristic traits which the Irish possess, to make them a more agreeable and gifted people. To persons, naturally eloquent, inventive, witty, and communicative, those inclinations of the mind furnish additional resources for animated and striking descriptions. If the Irish draw rather largely upon them when a story can be embellished by it, it must be admitted that they do it with peculiar cleverness. There is so much ap pearance of probability in an Irishman's manner of relating a fiction; he seems at the time to have such entire faith in it himself, that the listener is often thrown off his guard, and if he be of a credulous turn of mind, (which by the by most is listeners are) he becomes too seriously engrossed with the strange and apparently improbable things which he hears, to doubt them: his interest in the narrative is wrought up to so high a pitch, and his desire of knowing the end and result becomes so strong, that he has neither the wish nor the ability to examine and detect the impossibilities of the story as it pro ceeds. It is evident that the author has laid hold of those characteristic traits, (we mean a talent for high colouring and a fondness for the marvellous,) to give the stamp of nationality to O'Kain. They manifest themselves in every sentence uttered by him, and constitute in fact the principal merit and source of entertainment in this production. The mass of learning which is strung together in it, is of itself a fund of amusement; but the great relish consists in the easy, voluble, and at the same time, effective manner, in which O'Kain introduces it, and makes it applicable to the ultimate object of his narrative. Nothing could be better conceived to awaken the interest and excite the curiosity of such an auditor as we must suppose M'Hone to have been, than the course O'Kain pursued. [2] Since the days of Nimrod," &c. Authors have taken a great deal of pains to find Nimrod in profane history. Some have supposed him to be the same as Belus, the founder of the Babylonish empire; others With nought in hand, but full or emptied noggins, take him to be Ninus, the first Assyrian monarch. Some think him to be Zhoak, a Persian king of the first dynasty. The Jewish Rabbies assert him to be the same with Amraphel, the king of Thinder, mentioned by Moses. Milton speaks of him as a tyrant and usurper— Who, not content With fair equality, fraternal state, A mighty hunter thence he shall be styl❜d And now their wrath combin'd; first thus M'Hone, And looking down, to see the hubbub strange, [3] Here it will be observed, that not only the author's eye, but his parsimonious scissors, or scalpel, are upon the goods of others, snipping or amputating therefrom small parcels for the illegitimate purpose of enriching, ornamenting, and embellishing his own chattels. And now, as it has been pretty well established, that "Woes love a train, and tread each other's heels," and, moreover, the culpable are susceptible of deriving appalling apprehensions from every vibration of every shaking leaf, the author feels himself under the action of shivering forebodings, that the observation above mentioned will be followed by others, in such numerous and quick succession, that negations, or an attempt to extenuate, would prove but useless efforts toward gaining a favourable verdict of the presiding judges-his readers. Under these considerations, the delinquent has no hesitation (with due contrition) in throwing himself upon their clemency: yet looking with confidence for a favourable issue-when he engages to expiate, by bringing, in his own proper person, and laying at their feet the whole, or a part of every bundle or package, from the which he ever did or shall either beg, borrow, or otherwise take a single shred or scrap, for the aforesaid purpose. As, for instance, (without any further attempts to smooth the brow of disapprobation by figures and flourishes) in the present case "Sooth'd by the sound, the king grew vain, And thrice he routed all his foes, And thrice he slew the slain." Here the whole of this divine Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, by the immortal translator of Virgil's whole works would appear, but that it has been so often transcribed already. Where front to front appears the martial train; French, English, Russians, Prussians, bite the ground, [4] These battles of Marengo and Austerlitz are among the prodigious events of war, brought about by the subject of the following Oration, so universally admired, published, and read: Funeral Eulogy, pronounced at St. Helena, over the tomb of Napoleon, May 9, 1821, by Marshal Bertrand. The most extraordinary man, the most exalted genius, that ever appeared on the theatre of the world, is no more! The mortal remains of the Conqueror of Europe, for fifteen years the dictator of its laws, humbly repose at the door of a cottage.-On the most terrific rock of the shores of Africa, far from the beautiful country to which he owed his prosperity and glory, Napoleon, the greatest captain of ancient or modern times, and recently the most powerful Monarch of the earth, has breathed his last. The parched earth that covers his ashes cannot be watered by the tears of his son. His friends are unable to strew flowers upon the tomb of him to whom they owed all their greatness, and our tears alone [taking the hands of Montholon and Marchand] are perhaps the only ones which Frenchmen will shed over his grave. Who is this outlaw, who thus expires in the prime of life, in barbarous exile? Who? It is the Saviour and Legislator of France-the restorer of monarchies shaken, of religion desolate, of the social compact dissolved. It is the Hero of Lodi, of Arcola, of the Pyramids, of Marengo, of Austerlitz, of Jena, of Wagram. It is the generous conqueror of the Austrians, of the Prussians, of the Russians, and of a hun Such was"-"O stop," says Jemmy, "stop Mahone--Why you fight all, and I fight none. dred other nations, who have never ceased to admire him. It is, in fine, the same Napoleon from whom all the Sovereigns of Europe have sued for friendship and alliance. Let us take a rapid glance at his immortal career. We see every where the intrepid soldier, the consummate general, the firm and enlightened statesman. Whether his fortune be good or bad, we find him always above it. Hardly emerged from youth, Napoleon, yet a simple officer of Artillery, commenced his career in arms under the walls of Toulon. He astonished his superiors by the rectitude of his judgment, and by the able dispositions he gave to his batteries. He routed from that important place, those enemies, masters of the sea, who had held it by treachery. Napoleon powerfully contributed to the success of the siege, and gave a presage of what he would one day be. Soon afterward, at the head of the army of Italy, he made his debut, by beating the Austrians at Montenetto, and by putting them to flight wherever he met them. It was in vain that they entrenched themselves at the bridge of Lodi. The young hero, surrounded by the standards of liberty, which even the Austrian thunders seemed to respect, forced that terrible passage at the head of the grenadiers of the Republic, and for the fifth time, in less than one month, put to route the Imperial troops. Ten other battles gained immediately after, by the Young Napoleon, rendered France completely mistress of Italy, and that fine country received a new organization, under the protection of her deliverer. The genius of Napoleon developed itself in this glorious campaign. He is already more than a disciplined and fortunate general at the age of twenty-six, he is the first captain of the age, the regenerator of Italy, and reverenced by her people as the greatest of men. : A foreign shore immediately after received him and his brave companions in arms. He became conqueror of Egypt, wrested that fertile country from the dominion of the Mamelukes, destroyed the English East India commerce, and opened a new route to the industry of France. Europe and Asia were leagued against him. The Turks became the allies of |