they are rewarded. This country belongs to an independent native Rajah, but is under the control of the British authority. Some of the tracts are in the Singpho country, considerably within the British boundary. The tea-tracts in the Singpho country are much larger than those in the Muttuck. The inhabitants have long used tea, and profess to be good judges of it: they drink it, but prepare it differently from the Chinese. They pluck the young and tender leaves, and dry them a little in the sun; some put them out in the dew, and then again in the sun, three successive days; others only after a little drying put them into hot pans, turn them about until quite hot, and then place them into the hollow of a bamboo, and drive the whole down with a stick, holding and turning the bamboo over the fire all the time until it is full; then tie the end up with leaves, and hang the bamboo up in some smoky place in the hut: thus prepared, the tea will keep good for years. All the tea-tracts are in the valleys." After this long extract, we cannot afford room for the other points that engage the author. We must mention, however, that the tea plant is said to be so extensively distributed over large portions of Upper Assam, as to promise, after proper cultivation, an ample supply for European consumption; that it can be cultivated at a cheap rate, when once the establishments for its growth and preparation are placed upon a proper footing; that the facilities of transmitting the produce to Calcutta are great ;-and that the samples which have reached England have obtained a very favourable decision, considering all the circumstances which had attended the experiment: and no doubt the discovery is being perseveringly and ardently followed up. Having given the natural and the commercial history of tea, the Doctor addresses himself to its introduction into Europe and this country, to its medicinal effects,-and to the social as well as other points and facts with which it is intimately connected. As to its medicinal effects, we may state generally, that our author, though far from being a "tea-totaller," entertains the highest respect, if taken in moderate quantities. It acts both as a slight stimulant and a gentle refreshment, and may be advantageously taken at dinner as well as other meals, in preference to water and other cold drinks, should the digestive powers be weak. To young females he warmly prescribes its uses. Green tea he does not recommend; at least, it must be sparingly used. Tea of any kind ought neither to be very hot nor cold. As to the beverage and oft-alleged ailments as inseparable, from it we read that,— "Nervous disorders, though they still commit their ravages, have not undergone that increase which was threatened from the introduction of tea. Another disease which was foretold would be the scourge of the tea-drinkers has also diminished, both in frequency and in violencethe scurvy. A ridiculous experiment made by Dr. Hales, 'on the thickest end of a small sucking-pig's tail,' which was inserted into a cup of green tea, and thus scalded, is adduced by Hanway to show how hurtful the warm infusion of the tea is to the stomach. Still nothing that has yet been written can either persuade the public that tea, properly taken, is decidedly injurious, or that the increase of disease is attributable to its general introduction." As to the social relations connected with tea-drinking the Doctor is eloquent, and borrows from the poets : " "Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast; Let fall the curtain, wheel the sofa round; Thus sang one of our most admired poets, who was feelingly alive to the charms of social life; but, alas! for the domestic happiness of many of our family circles, this meal has lost its character, and many of those innovations which despotic fashion has introduced, have changed one of the most agreeable of our daily enjoyments. It is, indeed, a question amongst the devotees to the tea-table, whether the bubbling urn has been practically an improvement upon our habits; it has driven from us the old national kettle, once the pride of the fire-side. The urn may fairly be called the offspring of indolence; it has deprived us, too, of many of those felicitous opportunities of which the gallant forefathers of the present race availed themselves, to render them in the eyes of the fair sex, when presiding over the distribution "Of the Soumblo, the Imperial tea, Names not unknown, and sanative Bohea." The consequence of this injudicious change is, that one great enjoyment is lost to the tea-drinker-that which consists in having the tea infused in water actually hot, and securing an equal temperature when a fresh supply is required. Such, too, is what those who have preceded us would have called the degeneracy of the period in which we live, that now the tea-making is carried on in the housekeeper's room, or in the kitchen, "For monstrous novelty, and strange disguise, We sacrifice our tea, till household joys And comforts cease. What can be more delightful than those social days described by Tate, the poet-laureate ?— "When in discourse of Nature's mystic powers And noblest themes we pass the well-spent hours, Morality and Mortality, Bacchus and Temperance, Mars and Mania, are each and all brought upon the stage in our next and last extract; and, as is the custom in dramatic representation, we shall drop the curtain at this part of the Doctor's entertaining and useful work: "At the first formation of Temperance Societies the total abandonment of spirituous liquors was not contemplated, their occasional uses being permitted to their members; their abuse only being strictly forbidden. It was in the United States, in the City of Boston, that, for the first time, a union was entered into, and those who formed it were associated together by the common bond of sobriety; but it was ten years later that, in this same city, inany of the most influential inhabitants entered into a determination, which they most strictly adhered to themselves, of avoiding all fermented liquors, and of discountenancing their use in others. In 1828, two years after the enrolment of the names of those who formed a society of this nature, there were no less than 220 similar institutions, comprising nearly 30,000 persons, all animated with one spirit, not that of Bacchus and Mars, two of the most mischievous maniacs that ever made their escape from Bedlam, but of Temperance and Sobriety.' The effect upon the mortality of persons under the age of forty, was visible in the following year; and wherever the system has been pursued, a decrease in the number of deaths has rapidly followed. In the year 1834, a central body was formed in Philadelphia, with associations in every town in the United States; from the great body of the people, the determination quickly spread throughout the army and the navy. In 1832, 500 vessels quitted the American ports without a supply of spirits on board; and such was the feeling of increased safety to the vessels, that the underwriters lowered their rate of assurance, and that they were borne out in their estimate of diminished danger, was fully proved. It has been satisfactorily demonstrated that vessels which were strictly upon the Temperance System, have made more prosperous and more rapid voyages than others. One fact is of the most extraordinary character, that 161 whaling vessels out of 186 employed, took not a drop of spirit on board: and although they had to encounter the cold, the privations, the miseries of a north sea, they returned healthier, happier, and more successful, than did those who repudiated the opinions and the customs of this vast and prevailing sect. It is stated that in the year 1835, 4000 distilleries were abandoned in America, and that 8000 persons, who had previously obtained their livelihood by the sale of spirits, were compelled to discontinue their trade. The example of the people of the United States was soon followed by those of other countries; and, to the honour of Ireland, the town of New Ross was the first place in Europe, in which a Temperance Society was established. Since that period, almost every large village in England has founded a similar institution. Tea has in most instances been substituted for fermented or spirituous liquors, and the consequence has been a general improvement in the health and in the morals of a vast number of persons. The tone, the strength, and the vigour of the human body are increased by it; there is a greater capability of enduring fatigue; the mind is rendered more susceptible of the innocent pleasures of life, and of acquiring information. Whole classes of the community have been rendered sober, careful, and provident. The waste of time that followed upon intemperance, kept individuals poor, who are now thriving in the world, and exhibiting the results of honest industry. Men have become healthier, happier, and better for the exchange they have made. They have given up a debasing habit for an innocent one. Individuals who were outcast, miserable, abandoned, have become independent, and a blessing to society. Their wives and children hail them on their return home from their daily labour with their prayers and fondest affections, instead of shunning their presence, fearful of some barbarity, or some outrage against their better feelings. Cheerfulness and animation follow upon their slumbers, instead of the wretchedness and remorse which the wakening drunkard ever experiences." ART. X.-Memoirs of the Life and Times of the Right Hon. Henry Grattan. By his Son, H. GRATTAN, ESQ., M.P., Vols. I. and II. London: Colburn. 1839. THESE two volumes bring down the Memoirs of the period announced only to the year 1782, Grattan being at that time still young. He had already, however, lent an efficient hand in the work of Irish Independence, his share in which forms the great achievement of his life; for it was no less than the Declaration that Ireland should legislate for herself, and be exempt from the jurisdiction of England in the matter of appeals from the Irish courts. This was, indeed, a great Revolution; the origin, causes, and effects of which present the most valuable and extraordinary parts of the past history of the island, although its results that are yet to be traced in the future fortunes of the empire may be still more astounding and eventful. The times of Grattan are justly considered by his son to comprise all that is valuable in the history of his country; the actors, whose portraits the author draws, forming a gallery that is picturesque as well as brilliant. But the question now suggests itself, has the historian and the artist shown himself equal to the task which he has imposed upon himself?-is his work as stirring and instructive as the reader, who has only a general knowledge of the era, the events, and the characters brought upon the stage, naturally must look for when meeting with its title ?-has the writer broken down under the weight of his subject?-has he been lost, or has he feebly conducted himself amid its multiplicities and perplexities?-or has he acquitted himself triumphantly, exalting that which was already deemed important, and thoroughly disentangling that which partyspirit, misrepresentation, and violent cabal had confused and mysti fied? Now we find ourselves compelled to extend to the author but a medium, or a negative sort of praise upon these various points. We admit, although he is known to entertain very strong opinions on the questions that have distracted and still divide Ireland, and to be an excitable person, that his history and sketches are calmer and more impartial than we had anticipated, especially considering his relationship to the hero of the book. We admit also, that the materials of the work have been anxiously and carefully collected; that their arrangement and composition have been most elaborately executed. Why, the lateness of the day at which the Life of Grattan appears, a son being the author, who must have had the first access to much of the information now produced, is sufficient to convince any one that there is here the work of many years' duration, or at least an elaboration of that which had been or might have been produced without much delay. The prevailing exaggeration in the use of terms, rather than of sentiment; the fluency of the style, without one symptom that it is the flow of a lively fancy, or the ready utterance of natural Irish temperament, are circumstances that guide us to the same conclusion, viz., as to pains taking and repeated revisions. But positive and strong objections may be taken to the performance. The author has grappled with more than his strength is equal to. He does not even seem to have clearly apprehended the main object of his work, or how the different parts of it should have been subordinated and related to the fulfilment of a distinct end. Does not every one expect from the title of the book, from the eminence and celebrity of the man named in it, as well as from the position of the author in relation to that orator and statesman, that Grattan would be the hero and most visible throughout-and that whoever or whatever was introduced would lead the eye towards him? But instead of this, we have long dissertations upon Irish politics, some of them not confined to the times mentioned, and even some fond national notions about Milesian antiquities, that lead the author astray from his subject. Then the mass and length of details, the number of episodes, and the variety and minuteness of portraitures of persons contemporary with Grattan, so shroud him or distract the reader's attention that he is not beheld to be a star of the first magnitude, nor even the chief in the constellation of Ireland. All these things and evidences prove to us that Mr. Henry has grappled with a subject to which his strength is not equal, and that he has not even obtained a precise conception of what should have been done. We add, that the skill displayed in whathe has executed, taking into account any one distinct point or subject, and when he has been more successful than usual, entitles him only to a very moderate degree of praise. We quote, as an example, his elaborate sketch of Lord Charlemont : |