been named Mitchell Plains. Flax was found here growing in consider able quantities. The Fish River, which forms a junction with the Campbell River a few miles to the northward of the road and bridge over the latter, has also two very fertile plains on its banks, the one called O'Connell Plains, and the other Macquarrie Plains, both of considerable extent, and very capable of yielding all the necessaries of life. At the distance of seven miles from the bridge over the Campbell River, Bathurst Plains open to the view, presenting a rich tract of champaign country of eleven miles in length, bounded on both sides by gently ri sing and very beautiful hills, thinJy wooded. The Macquarrie River, which is constituted by the junction of the Fish and Campbell River, takes a winding course through the Plains, which can be easily traced from the high lands adjoining, by the particular verdure of the trees on its banks, which are likewise the only trees throughout the extent of the plains. The level and clean surface of these plains gives them at first view very much the appearance of lands in a state of cultivation. It is impossible to behold this grand scene without a feeling of admiration and surprise, whilst the silence and solitude which reign in a space of such extent and beauty as seems designed by nature for the occupancy and comfort of man, create a degree of melancholy in the mind which may be more easily imagined than described. The Governor and suite arrived at these Plains on Thursday the 4th of May, and encamped on the southern or left bank of the Macquarrie River -the situation being selected in consequence of its commanding a beautiful and extensive prospect for many miles in every direction around it. At this place the Governor remained for a week, which time he occupied in making excursions in different directions through the adjoining country, on both sides of the river. On Sunday, the 7th of May, the Governor fixed on a site suitable for the erection of a town at some future period, to which he gave the name of Bathurst, in honour of the present Secretary of State for the Colonies.The situation of Bathurst is elevated sufficiently beyond the reach of any floods which may occur, and is at the same time so near to the river on its south bank as to derive all the advantages of its clear and beautiful stream. The mechanics and settlers, of whatever description, who may be hereafter permitted to form permanent residences to themselves at this place, will have the highly-important advantages of a rich and fertile soil, with a beautiful river flowing through it, for all the uses of man. The Governor must however add, that the hopes which were once so sanguinely entertained of this river becoming navigable to the Western Sea have ended in disappointment. During the week that the Governor remained at Bathurst he made daily excursions in various directions; one of these extended 22 miles in a southwest direction, and on that occasion, as well as on all the others, he found the country composed chiefly of vallies and plains, separated occasionally by ranges of low hills; the soil throughout being generally fertile, and well circumstanced for the purpose of agriculture or grazing. The Governor here feels much pleasure in being enabled to communicate to the public, that the favourable reports which he had received of the country to the west of the Blue Mountains have not been by any means exaggerated. The difficulties which present themselves in the journey from hence are certainly great and inevitable; but those persons who may be inclined to become permanent settlers there, will proba bly bly content themselves with visiting this part of the colony but rarely, and of course will have them seldom to encounter. Plenty of water, and a sufficiency of grass, are to be found in the mountains for the support of such cattle as may be sent over them; and the tracts of fertile soil and rich pasturage which the new country affords, are fully extensive enough for any increase of population and stock which can possibly take place for many years. Within a distance of ten miles from the site of Bathurst there is not less than 50,000 acres of land clear of timber, and fully one half of that may be considered excellent soil, well calculated for cultivation. It is a matter of regret, that in proportion as the soil improves, the timber degenerates; and it is to be remarked, that every where to the westward of the mountains it is much inferior both in size and quality to that within the present colony; there is, however, a sufficiency of timber of tolerable quality within the district around Bathurst for the purposes of house building and husbandry. The Governor has here to lament, that neither coals nor lime-stone have been yet discovered in the western country-articles in themselves of so much importance, that the want of them must be severely felt whenever that country shall be settled. Having enumerated the principal and most important features of this new country, the Governor has now to notice some of its live productions, All around Bathurst abounds in a yariety of game; and the two principal rivers contain a great quantity of fish, but all of one denomination, resembling the perch in appearance, and of a delicate and fine flavour, not unlike that of a rock cod. This fish grows to a large size, and is very voracious. Several of them were caught during the Governor's stay at Bathurst, and at the balting-place on the Fish Ri ver. One of those caught weighed 17 b.; and the people stationed at Bathurst stated that they had caught some weighing 25 b. The field game are the kangaroos, emus, black swans, wild geese, wild turkies, bustards, ducks of various kinds, quail, bronze, and other pigeons, &c. &c. The water mole, or paradox, also abounds in all the rivers and ponds. The site designed for the town of Bathurst, by observation taken at the Flag Staff, which was erected on the day of Bathurst receiving that name, is situated in latitude 33° 24′ 30′′ south, and in longitude 149° 37′ 45′′ east of Greenwich, being also 27 miles north of Government House, in Sydney, and 94 west of it, bearing west 20° 30' north, 83 geographic miles, or 95 statute miles; the measured road distance from Sydney to Bathurst being 140 English miles. The road constructed by Mr Cox, and the party under him, commences at Emu Ford, on the left bank of the river Nepean, and is thence carried 101 miles to the Flag Staff at Bathurst. This road has been carefully measured, and each mile regularly marked on the trees growing on the left side of the road proceeding towards Bathurst. The Governor in his tour made the following stages, in which he was principally regulated by the consideration of having a good pasturage for the cattle, and plenty of water: 4th ditto-Cox's River, distant from ditto............ ...... 56 5th ditto-The Fish River, distant from ditto.................. 72 6th stage--Sidmouth Valley, distant from ditto......... 7th ditto--Campbell River, distant from ditto.............. 8th ditto--Bathurst, distant from ditto......... miles. 80 91 101 At all of which places the traveller may assure himself of good grass, and water in abundance. On Thursday, the 11th of May, the Governor and suite set out from Bathurst on their return, and arrived at Sydney on Friday, the 19th ult. The Governor deems it expedient here to notify to the public, that he does not mean to make any grants of land to the westward of the Blue Mountains until he shall receive the commands of his Majesty's Ministers on that subject, and in reply to the report he is now about to make them upon it. In the mean time, such Gentlemen, or other respectable free persons as may wish to visit this new country, will be permitted to do so on making a written application to the Governor to that effect, who will order them to be furnished with written passes. It is at the same time strictly ordered and directed, that no person, whether civil or military, shall attempt to travel over the Blue Mountains without having previously applied for and obtained permission, in the above prescribed form. The military guard stationed at the first depot on the mountains will receive full instructions to prevent the progress of any persons who shall not have obtained regular passes. The necessity for the establishing and strictly enforcing this regulation is too obvious to every one who will reflect on it to require any explanation here. The Governor cannot conclude this account of his tour without offering his best acknowledgments to William Cox, Esq. for the important service he has rendered to the colony in so short period of time, by opening a passage to the new-discovered country, and at the same time assuring him, that he shall have great pleasure in recommending his meritorious services on this occasion to the favourable consideration of his Majesty's Ministers. SCOTTISH REVIEW. The Wanderer in Norway, with other Poems: by THOMAS BROWN, M.D. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of EDINBURGH.Small 8vo. THE talents and habits which lead to a successful analysis of the faculties of the human mind, rank, perhaps, among those which enter most rarely into combination with poetical genius. The mind, therefore, must be of no common power which can burst the barrier that separates these two departments, and unite excellencies that Nature seemed to have separated. The high eminence of the present author in the former line of pursuit, has been long indisputed ;and it is now, we think, admitted, by all the higher class of critics, that his poems display a genius not surpassed, perhaps, by any even in this very poetical age; though an infusion derived from the other source, may, in the eyes of common readers, have thrown a certain veil over their beauties. The object of the present poem is to paint the feelings and emotions, which, in a situation of peculiar distress, must have agitated the breast of a celebrated, and, in many respects, interesting, though erring, femalethe author of the Rights of Woman. They represent her when, deserted by her lover, she made that sad pilgrimage through Norway, which is described in her own Letters with extraordinary feeling and eloquence. The The genius and the misfortunes of the object, joined to the congenial grandeur and wildness of the scenery in which she gives vent to her sorrows, afford scope, certainly, for interesting delineation. At the same time, the plan lies under some disadvantages, which make us somewhat doubt the felicity of the choice. The suffering here painted, is the consequence of a deliberate error from the paths of virtue': to excite, therefore, a high interest in favour of such a person would be productive of effects which the correct moral taste of the writer leads him anxiously to avoid. But the interest of the poem deeply depends on that which is felt for its heroinethere thus arises an opposition of objects and effects, which, though softened as successfully as possible, could not be wholly overcome. Perhaps, therefore, it had been better to make the real circumstances the basis of an ideal situation, from which every thing that injured the poetical effect of the representation might have been excluded. But the grand interest of the poem must undoubtedly depend upon the details, which certainly display extraordinary beauty. The wild and strange grandeur of the scenery, with the congenial wildness of passion and woe in the breast of her by whom it is contemplated, are pourtrayed with the hand of a master. The following description of the approach to the coast of Norway is very striking: 'Ye shoreless cliffs, that, by the ceaseless wave, Dash'd as ye tower from Ocean's deepest cave, Give crowding navies at your side to steer, Yet seem to say,-No footstep enters here! With heart which anguish crushes, not be numbs, To your wild world a lonely Wanderer comes. O! in your dreariest wastes, where every breath Thrills like a murmur of despair or death, Where even the shade lowers motionless, the gloom Of waveless rocks o'er vallies without bloom, Watch for that breath which ne'er shall throb again. Her cares are in vain, and the poet has to paint her emotions at the death of her friend in the following very beautiful lines : When the slow clod no more was heard to fall, And the long grassy mantle cover'd all, Heaven glitter'd o'er her, as her eye she rais'd: Sweet Sweat shone it, like the home of deathless love; And every star, that sparkled bright above, Like seraph voices of a purer sphere, Seem'd calm to say-Thy Frances waits thee here.' The picture of the transition from the winter to the summer of Norway is original, and very striking. 'Land of wild beauty! when the heart is free, And the glad eyes can gaze on all they see, Where shall the summer guest, who Nature hails, Find lovelier home, O Norway! than thy vales? Of other seasons boastful climes may sing,Gay Springs, and Winters that scarce frown to Spring. And Autumns, that, wherever glance can rise, Bloom fair with fruitage of a thousand dies! But not for them does Summer sweetest shine: Land of wild rocks!-that season all is thine. No tardy vernal months thou ask'st, to rear With gentle breath the glories of thy year; But quick, as at some spirit's wide command, Bursts into blossoms a rejoicing land.O'er crag and dell one mantling whiteness glows,— The lake, the river, lost beneath their snows; Mute is the mountain-cataract, whose fall Stunn'd the far valley with its thundering cail; Or if, with whirling gust, the tempest sweep Some frozen spires half-hanging o'er the steep, The faint dull crash, from glittering wreath to wreath, Scarce wakes the echoes slumbering calm beneath. 'Tis o'er. The valleys sink.—The unseen As if stern Winter, in some secret bower, Had couch'd beneath his snows, and nurs'd, the flower. Then swift, and swifter, burst the blaze around ; A stream of radiance lives along the ground: The mead's soft slope, the banks where runnels glide, Each path, or crevice, of the mountain's side, The deeper tufts, that skirt the forest's gloom, Are all one joy of fragrance and of bloom; As if the tribes that feed on light, and give Sweet tribute, for the beams on which they live, When smil'd the brighter sunshine, knew how frail That short-liv'd pomp, they hurried glad to hail. How blest, who, while that passing glory shines, Wild realm of Summer! in thy dells reclines!' The following, which exhibits passion venting itself amid congenial. scenery, must also be read with in terest: Now far, where savage Nature scorns to bloom, O'er rocks of terror, and in wilds of gloom, Where sterner mountains lift their dusky crest, No peaceful verdure smiling in their breast, Unbath'd in summer-dew, nor sooth'd be low By streams that warble gladness as they flow, While Desolation, red with meteor breath, Frowns, from that rugged throne, o'er wastes of death, Joys to be sole, and, low'ring o'er the vale, In awful stillness, starts at every gale ;There, when from shades of deepening wildness spread, Shrinks the lone mourner, with scarce-conscious dread. |