^ 
 
 rrlfMm 
 
 l^^H^^gfif 
 
 Wtf^^FFi 
 
 mm 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 ''^^l 
 
 
 
 ■■^W^~-r7'f^ 
 
 
 ■ *^^="^ ■ ; 1 
 
 ^''^*', 
 
 
 i 
 
 . ■ ".A: 
 
 1. 
 
 -ft>i^ 
 
 •t^ 
 
 
 
 rS**«:: 
 
 ^-§<i* 
 
 r1*^ 
 
 ^^1 
 
 rN*-: 
 
 H^^. 
 
 ^i^^^Maa^ai&i ^^^i^ 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 189I BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
Cornell University Library 
 Z4051 .B29 
 Literature in New Soutii Wales, bvG.B. B 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 587 403 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029587403 
 
©cDtcatrt 
 
 THE HONOUEABLE 
 
 TERENCE AUBREY MURRAY. 
 
 PEESIDENT OF THE LEGISLATIYE COI'NCIL, 
 
 AND 
 
 KXECLTITE COMMISSIONER TOR THE PARIS EXHIBITION: 
 
 AT WHOSE BEQUEST 
 THESE PAGES HAVE BEEN WEITTEjN-. 
 
LITERATURE IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 To trace the growth of letters in this commumty, from the 
 earliest period of our history to the present time, and to shew in 
 what manner that growth has been influenced by the productions 
 of the Mother Country, are the objects sought to be accomplished 
 in these pages. "With us. Literature requires to be considered 
 in two aspects : first, as a native or indigenous product ; and 
 secondly, as a foreign or imported one. Too young to possess a 
 " national literature" of our own, the consideration of foreign 
 influence becomes an all-important one. With respect to the 
 literary productions of the Colony, a detailed account of them 
 will be found in subsequent pages. It seemed desirable to map 
 out the whole field of intellectual energy, and, by adopting 
 a critical as well as a chronological method, to ascertain the 
 precise result of our labours. This would amount to a literary 
 history of the Colony, and it was hoped that such a history 
 would serve more than one useful purpose. It would enable 
 the reader to form an exact idea of the progress, extent, and 
 prospects of literary enterprise among us, more readily than 
 could be done by means of any general statement ; it would 
 constitute a bibliographical account that might be practically 
 useful, not only to those who are interested in our literature, 
 but also to those who may hereafter be engaged in historical 
 inquiries ; it would serve to throw some light, from a new point 
 of view, on our social history ; and lastly, it would preserve the 
 memory, and give some notion of the achievements, of men whose 
 name could scarcely be expected to survive their generation. 
 These were the expectations which induced the writer to enter 
 c s 69—66 
 
upon such a task. The diificulties encountered in its per- 
 formance were greater than would be easily believed, and must 
 form the writer's excuse for whatever errors or omissions may be 
 discovered. It is not irrelevant to state what these difficulties 
 were. 
 
 In the first place, it has not proved an easy matter to procure 
 the necessary material. No collection, in the interest of the 
 public, has yet been made of the widely scattered mass of books 
 and papers which constitute our literature. Every one knows 
 how rapidly these things are apt to disappear. Newspapers and 
 magazines are thrown aside as soon as they are read. Books too 
 often share the same fate. Thus it happens that, in the course 
 of a few years, it becomes almost a hopeless task to recover these 
 neglected treasures. However absurd it may seem to say so, it 
 is nevertheless true that there is already a field for literary 
 antiquarianism among us, and more than one antiquarian is 
 vigorously at work. The collection made by the late Mr. Justice 
 Wise, imperfect as it is, amply demonstrates this truth. "Without 
 the assistance of that collection, the facts gathered together in 
 this work could never have been obtained. Much of our periodical 
 literature has vanished. Portions of it may be found in dusty 
 corners of public libraries, and other portions in the hands of 
 private collectors. Were they thro^Ti together, we should possess 
 ample means for estimating our progress in letters, as well as a 
 valuable source of information on our past history. It is to be 
 hoped that this will be accomplished before it becomes too late to 
 attempt it. Such a collection has already been made in Victoria, 
 where the importance of local publications, as materials for 
 History, is fully felt. 
 
 In the second place, there is some difficulty iu determining 
 what works come within the limits of our literature. As regards 
 publications by native authors, there is, of course, no dLfficulty ; 
 
but in tte case of authors not born within the Colony, the point 
 is not always easy to determine. The number of books written about 
 Australia, or on subjects connected with it, is very great. Some 
 have been written by men who have spent their lives in it, others by 
 men who have been only casual residents. The rule which has been 
 acted on in these pages is, to exclude all works not written by 
 men who have identified themselves with the Colony, or who 
 have made it, in the common phrase, " their adopted country." 
 An exception may be found here and there, when the interest of 
 the subject warranted it. Observing this rule, it makes no 
 difference whether a particular book was published in Sydney or 
 in London. The place of publication is merely a matter of con- 
 venience, and in most eases it will be found that books not iutended 
 for strictly local circulation have been published in London. It 
 must be recollected that there are two very strong reasons against 
 publishing in Sydney, The first is, that the expense is nearly twice 
 as great ; and the second, that no work published in the Colonies 
 has any chance of finding a sale in London. Everything of impor- 
 tance that has issued from the local press has been included, — the 
 only exception being where the work could not be found. 
 
 Looking at this catalogue of our performances, it will 
 probably be considered that more has been done among us in 
 the way of literature than might have been expected. We have 
 not suffered ourselves to be discouraged by the difficulties in our 
 path, and we have not neglected the few advantages we possess. 
 In every department of letters we have produced something of 
 more or less value — something to shew that original intellects 
 have been at work. In more than one instance, there is evidence 
 of undoubted genius to be found. It is natural that our energies 
 should have sought a field rather in newspapers and other publi- 
 cations of the kind, than in more permanent forms. Newspapers 
 are matters of commercial necessity, and consequently there 
 is always a demand for them. Our list of these publications 
 
is a very lengthy one. During the last thirty years, there 
 seems to have been a great amount of activity in this way, 
 scarcely a year passing by vpithout some new competitors for 
 public favour. Many of these, no doubt, displayed but a 
 moderate share of ability ; but on the other hand, there were many 
 in whose pages may be found evidence of very striking talent. 
 The present state of our periodical literature, it must be con- 
 fessed, does not adequately represijnt the great advance made by 
 this Colony in wealth and refinement. "We have two daily 
 papers, but their attention is necessarily devoted more to matters 
 of business than anything else : nor is either distinguished by the 
 splendour of the editorial intellect. We have several weekly 
 newspapers, but they address themselves to particular sections, 
 and none of them can be read for anything beyond the intelligence 
 it supplies. We have no magazine ; the last died eight years ago, 
 and there is little probability of another. "We have one comic 
 periodica], and that is the only publication that attempts to exist 
 as a purely literary production. 
 
 Turning to other fields, we may say that the rough ground- 
 work of a " national literature " has been laid. Poetry has been 
 diligently cultivated, and, in some instances, not in vain. One 
 or two volumes display the unmistakeable hand of genius. The 
 splendid scenery of our native land has not remained unsung ; 
 something distinctively Australian has resulted from its worship. 
 In prose Fiction, more than one creditable effort has been made. 
 The History of the Colony ^ — in a great measure, of all Australia — 
 has been exhaustively written. Our narratives of Exploration 
 have been read with interest in circles far beyond our own firesides. 
 Much has been done by us towards elucidating the great mystery 
 of Australian geography, and the Chronicles that have been 
 written on the subject possess a lasting value. Nor have we been 
 inattentive to other problems that concern us. The dialects of 
 the aboriginal tribes have, to some extent, been reduced to 
 
grammatical form. The importance of the subject is fully felt, 
 and in a short time it may be hoped that many more sheaves will 
 be gathered from the fields. In Ethnology we can point to a work 
 that has been deservedly said to contain one of the most " interest- 
 ing literary discoveries of the present age." In certain special 
 fields, much useful work has been done. We have no reason to be 
 ashamed of our efforts in Physical Science. Two or three useful 
 Societies have been established for some years, and their members 
 have not been idle. The Q-eology and Natural History of the 
 country have long since been made known to the scientific world. 
 
 Considering the circumstances under which all this has been 
 accomplished, — the difliculties in the way, and the slight induce- 
 ment in the shape of either fame or reward, — we may perhaps 
 claim to have done our duty. Seventy-eight years only have 
 passed since the first fleet from England cast anchor in our 
 harbour. During that period — a single life-time — we have civilized 
 and fertilized a wilderness ; explored unknown regions, bristling 
 with dangers that defied alike ingenuity and valour ; pushed our 
 settlements across mountains deemed impenetrable, and rivers 
 flooded with the rains of winter ; built a city surpassed in 
 beauty by no city on the earth, — filled it with the merchandise 
 of the world, and thronged its harbour with trafiicers from 
 every port in Europe. And while we have thus achieved a 
 degree of material prosperity unprecedented in history, we have 
 achieved our political independence also. Let it be added, we have 
 become a parent state, while yet in our own infancy. Victoria, 
 Tasmania, Queensland, and New Zealand, are but offshoots from 
 the tree which we have planted. Surely this was work enough 
 for the hands and brains of one or two generations — ^enough, at 
 any rate, to account for some degree of materialism in our social 
 character. Tet with all these labours upon us, we have not 
 neglected the higher interests of humanity. We have not wholly 
 devoted ourselves to gold-digging and sheep-shearing, to the cares 
 
6 
 
 of the counting-liouse and the shop. The wealth we have earned 
 has been devoted to noble purpoises. The best results of civiliza- 
 tion have been eagerly sought for and welcomed. Temples have 
 been built for their habitation, though their architecture may be 
 mean, and their worshippers but few. 
 
 In reviewing our periodical literature, a fact becomes apparent 
 which is not, at first sight, easy to account for. It is this,— that 
 the cleverest and most promising publications — those in which 
 there has been a special recognition of literature — have invariably 
 failed. A good weekly newspaper, in which something more than 
 news and advertisements may be found, is generally a popular 
 and successful publication. Several attempts have been made to 
 establish one. ]!^ot one has succeeded. Again, few publications 
 are more universally in request than magazines. Several attempts 
 have been made to establish one. Not one has succeeded. Now, 
 in neither of these cases, is the failure always to be ascribed to want 
 of ability. In more than one instance, very great ability has been 
 shewn. In what way then, is it to be accounted for ? The failurfe 
 of these publications proves one of two things, if not both: (1) That 
 there was not sufficient talent to render them worth supporting ; 
 or (2) That there was no desire among the public generally to 
 support them. Either one or other must be the reason why the 
 most attractive portion of the newspaper press has always come to 
 grief. A slight discussion of these points will tend to illustrate 
 the present state of literature in this country. 
 
 It is well known that, to give sufficient attractiveness to 
 publications basing their claims to support on their literary 
 character, a large staif of competent writers is indispensable. 
 One or two clever writers alone will not do. Amateur writers will 
 not do. There must be a reliable "staff," as it is termed. Now it 
 has rarely or never happened that such assistance could be procured 
 in the Colony. We have rarely or never had among us a 
 sufficient number of professed men of letters to carry on such 
 
undertakings. There has always been one or two, and there have 
 sometimes been three or foar. It was a natural result, therefore, 
 that our high-class journalism should have fallen to the ground. 
 After the issue of a few numbers, the editor and his assistants 
 have apparently become exhausted, and subscribers have dis- 
 appeared. "We are no better off, in this respect, at the present 
 time. A magazine could scarcely be produced with any reasonable 
 chance of success, simply on this account. This, then, may be one 
 reason for the poor character of our present journalism ; but, at 
 the same time, it would not be safe to assert that it is the sole 
 reason. It could not be safely asserted that, if a sufficient number 
 of writers could be obtained, any kind of publication, however 
 ambitious, might be started with confidence. Why so ? Is the 
 community insensible to literature ? Is it too small, or too poor, 
 to support it ? This is not the character of our community, and 
 consequently another reason must be looked for. It will be found 
 in the fact that it is prejudiced against local productions, — or, if 
 not prejudiced, at least unwilling to support them. 
 
 The best evidence that can be furnished on this point is, the 
 circulation of English periodicals throughout the Colony. If it 
 were the case that tbe demand for these productions is very slight, 
 we should then conclude that the community is either insensible 
 to art altogether, or that it is too limited in its means to support 
 it. But the case is not so. The demand for English periodicals 
 is very great. The number imported every month is far larger 
 than would be readily supposed. The Gornhill alone, for instance, 
 has several hundred subscribers. All the Tear Round and Once a 
 Week are extremely popular. One bookseller sells a thousand 
 volumes of Oood Words every year. Another sells five hundred. 
 Punch and the Illustrated London News are read by every one. 
 The London Journal, the Family Herald, the Englishwoman's 
 Domestic Magazine, and similar periodicals, may be said to cir- 
 culate by cart-loads. To say, in the face of these facts, that there 
 
is no demand for popular literature among us, would be absurd. 
 Contrasting the eagerness to obtain these publications with the 
 fate of similar publications attempted in the Colony, there is only 
 one conclusion to be drawn. 
 
 There are about a dozen booksellers and news-agents in 
 Sydney who import English periodicals for subscribers. The 
 writer having been furnished by them with their lists, the total 
 number of copies received monthly, and the estimated value of 
 the yearly subscription, are given here. The figures represent a 
 very close approximation to the exact number of copies circulated 
 monthly in the Colony. They are certainly within the mark. If 
 a slight addition is made on account of chance sales, the reader 
 will know pretty well what the total circulation amounts to ; and 
 he will also be able to form his own conclusions as to the style of 
 reading most in vogue. The circulation of difierent periodicals is 
 no doubt influenced by their price. The subscription to Blackwood, 
 for instance, is two guineas, while the subscription to the Cornhill 
 is only eighteen shillings. It is necessary to point out that all 
 weekly publications, excepting mere newspapers, reach us in 
 monthly parts, or half-yearly volumes. 
 
 Eeviews. 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 Qviarterly 
 Westminster "... 
 British Quarterly 
 North British . . . 
 Dublin 
 
 MiaAZIKES, 
 
 Cornhill 
 Argosy ... 
 Blackwood 
 
 * Mr. Fowler's statements in his Southern Lights, witli respect to the circulation of 
 
 English periodicals in the Colony are not confirmed by the figures given above He says • 
 
 " The best patronised Review is the Westminster. The AOmcmm circulates all over the 
 " Colony. The Sxaminer, the Spectator, the Leader, tlie Dispatch, and Lloyd's are the 
 " Javom-ite journals." The three first-mentioned journals are hardly Imown. 
 
 No. Of 
 Copies. 
 
 Value of 
 Yearly Subscription 
 
 
 £ s. 
 
 40 
 
 60 
 
 46 
 
 69 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 7 
 
 10 10 
 
 5 
 
 7 10 
 
 5 
 
 7 10 
 
 425 
 
 ... 340 
 
 110 
 
 ... 100 
 
 92 
 
 ... 160 15 
 

 No. or 
 
 Value of 
 
 
 Copies. 
 
 Yearly Subscription. 
 
 £ s. 
 
 Macmillaii 
 
 68 
 
 54 8 
 
 Temple Bar ... 
 
 65 
 
 58 10 
 
 Fraser 
 
 43 
 
 75 5 
 
 Eclectic... 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 Bentley 
 
 5 
 
 10 10 
 
 All the Year round 
 
 335 
 
 ... 234 5 
 
 Chambers' Journal 
 
 203 
 
 ... 121 16 
 
 Once a Week ... 
 
 176 
 
 ... 151 8 
 
 Loudon Society 
 
 170 
 
 ... 153 
 
 Punch ... 
 
 690 
 
 ... 724 10 
 
 Fun 
 
 75 
 
 45 
 
 AthensEum 
 
 28 
 
 28 
 
 Art Journal 
 
 15 
 
 31 10 
 
 Saturday Eeview 
 
 134 
 
 ... 281 8 
 
 Keader ... 
 
 62 
 
 62 
 
 Miscellanies, 
 
 
 
 Good Words 
 
 1,750 
 
 ... 875 
 
 London Journal 
 
 1,500 
 
 ... 750 
 
 Family Herald 
 
 900 
 
 ... 450 
 
 Reynolds' Miscellany 
 
 500 
 
 ... 250 
 
 Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine .. 
 
 360 
 
 ... 324 
 
 CasseU's Family Paper 
 
 350 
 
 ... 175 
 
 Bow Bells 
 
 280 
 
 ... 140 
 
 Leisure Hoiu- ... 
 
 200 
 
 ... 100 
 
 Sunday at Home 
 
 100 
 
 50 
 
 Sunday Magazine 
 
 50 
 
 25 
 
 Newspapers. 
 
 
 
 Home News ... 
 
 1,500 
 
 ... 1,050 
 
 Illustrated News 
 
 1,320 
 
 ... 2,772 
 
 Lloyd's Weekly 
 
 500 
 
 ... 125 
 
 Illustrated Times 
 
 240 
 
 ... 240 
 
 Dispatch 
 
 130 
 
 65 
 
 Public Opinion 
 
 90 
 
 90 
 
 Bell's Life 
 
 70 
 
 ... 147 
 
 Field 
 
 70 
 
 ... 147 
 
 Totals 
 
 12,739 
 
 £10,600 15 
 
10 
 
 "Wliat has been said respecting periodicals applies equally to 
 books. The average value of books imported during the year is 
 not less than £50,000. This may be taken to represent 100,000 
 volumes at least. Every work embraced in the term " popular 
 literature," is sure to find its way out here. But there is no 
 eagerness to welcome any local production, of any kind whatever. 
 There is no instance, known to the writer, of any work published 
 in Sydney having met with a large sale, or even a tolerably 
 large sale. The probability is, that every case of publication, not 
 by means of subscription, has involved a loss. 
 
 It is, of course, impossible to say how far these circum- 
 stances — the capacity of our writers and the temper of the 
 public — influence each other. On the one hand, it might be said 
 that, if there is a want of the necessary ability, it is owing to the 
 indifference of the public ; and on the other hand, it might be 
 said that, if the public is indifferent, it is owing to the want of 
 talent in the publications offered to them. G-enerally speaking, 
 where there is a demand for any commodity, there is sure to be a 
 supply. If there existed a general willingness to support local 
 productions, and by that means to raise the standard of intel- 
 ligence, such speculations would be profitable — periodicals would 
 appear — talent would command a fair remuneration — and if it 
 could not be found on the spot, it would be obtained elsewhere. 
 It is clear that the community is not insensible to the attractions 
 of literature. The fact is quite the reverse. All that can be said 
 is, that it is insensible to the importance of encouraging local 
 productions. A question may certainly be raised as to whether 
 there is any importance at all in the matter. Looking at it 
 in a commercial light, it may be said, " Why should local produc- 
 tions be encouraged, when foreign productions of a better quality 
 may be had ? If it is a case of boots and saddles, every one 
 scouts the idea of a protective tariff ; and why not with periodicals 
 as with manufactures ?" Something of this kind seems to be the 
 
11 
 
 prevalent feeling. Now if literature meant nothing more than 
 books or magazines in themselves, the argument might be tolerably 
 conclusive ; but it no more means that, than Eeligion means 
 Calvin's Institutes or Jeremy Taylor's Sermons. 
 
 In a society animated by such feelings as these, it is not to 
 be wondered at that many wrecks should strew the shores of litera- 
 ture. All that could be done under circumstances so discouraging 
 has been done. If it be thought that we do not occupy the position 
 we ought to occupy in these matters, the reason of it is apparent. 
 It is to be hoped that it will not always be so. Literature has, 
 in these days, become an honourable profession, the rew^ards of 
 which are proportioned to the energy and skill of the workman, 
 and are rarely conferred upon the undeserving. It is no longer 
 a degraded means of earning bread. Grenius is no longer left 
 starving in the streets, or driven to the humiliating hunt for 
 patronage. But that it is not so, is entirely owing to the fact 
 that the people generally have made themselves its patrons. If, 
 however, in this country, the people will persist in their cold 
 indifference to their native literature, then we must expect to go 
 back, and to see the days of Chatterton and Groldsmith return 
 upon us. If men of letters cannot find the means of independ- 
 ence by the exercise of their pens, what must follow ? Either 
 they must abandon their profession, or they must sink into a 
 degraded life. In either case, a literature of our own becomes 
 impossible. 
 
 " If the author be therefore still so necessary among us," — 
 said Goldsmith, in his Inquiry into the state of Folite Learning, — 
 " let us treat him with proper consideration as a child of the 
 public, not as a rent-charge on the community. And indeed a 
 child of the public he is in all respects ; for while so well able to 
 guide others, how incapable is he frequently found of guiding 
 himself ! His simplicity exposes him to all the insidious approaches 
 of cunning ; his sensibility, to the slightest invasions of contempt. 
 
12 
 
 Though possessed of fortitude to stand uimioved the expected 
 bursts of an earthquake, yeb of feelings so exquisitely poignant 
 as to agonize under the slightest disappointment. Broken rest, 
 tasteless meals, and causeless anxiety, shorten his life, or render 
 it unfit for active employment ; prolonged vigils and intense 
 application still further contract his span, and make his time 
 glide insensibly away. Let us not then aggravate these natural 
 inconveniences by neglect ; we have had sufficient Instances of 
 this kind already * * * *. It is enough that the age has already 
 produced instances of men pressing foremost in the lists of fame, 
 and worthy of better times, schooled by continued adversity 
 into a hatred of their kind — flying from thought to drunkenness — 
 yielding to the united pressure of labour, penury, and sorrow- 
 sinking unheeded, without one friend to drop a tear on their 
 unattended obsequies, and indebted to charity for a grave." 
 
 Groldsmith, however, did not suggest the proper remedy when 
 he spoke of patronage by " the great." To depend on patronage is 
 only a degree less galling than to depend on slavery. A man of 
 self-respect would rather starve as a bookseller's hack than thrive 
 as a rich man's shadow. The evil has been done away with by the 
 natural course of events, — by the spread of civilization and the 
 growth of intelligence among the great body of the people. No- 
 where in Europe, where there exists a Literature, could the 
 language just quoted be applied with any degree of truth in the 
 present day. That it can be so applied to ourselves, must be 
 regarded as a severe reproach. Men of genius have wandered 
 through our streets without the means of earning bread, and have 
 finally fled from our shores. Others have led a life which was 
 nothing but a hopeless and protracted struggle. At whose doors 
 must this misery be laid ? Not, certainly, at those of individuals ; 
 but at those of the people who, possessing no generous or patriotic 
 feeling, can regard such calamities with indifiference. Where 
 ten thousand a year, at least, can be devoted to the purchase 
 
13 
 
 of English periodicals, something ought to be spared for the 
 maintenance of local ones. In asking that some means should 
 be provided for the development of native talent, nothing is 
 sought for that would be either humiliating to the receiver or 
 burdensome to the giver. Literature requires neither charity 
 nor patronage ; it requires nothing but a generous appreciation 
 from the public. That can be manifested only by the encourage- 
 ment of literary publications. Such encouragement involves no 
 tax upon modest means, and runs no risk of ingratitude ; while 
 it saves a country the disgrace of having starved and neglected 
 the very men from whose names its greatest honour is derived. 
 
 But there are, obviously, other considerations besides those 
 attaching to men of letters personally. Their fate may be passed 
 over with indifference, as it has been already ; but the matter 
 does not end there. Injustice to the class means injury to the 
 nation. If it is desirable that this country should not be known 
 to the rest of the world simply in its commercial relations, — that 
 it should, in due time, possess a literature of its own — how is this 
 end to be accomplished ? Unless a radical change takes place in 
 the temper of the people, the prospects of an independent 
 literature are extremely dim. If discouragement in its bitterest 
 forms must always await the man of letters, the result must be 
 injurious to our character as a community. No man will 
 willingly enter upon a path which can only lead to suffering. 
 We shall thus be left to rely helplessly upon the productions of 
 another land, as we do at present ; we shall produce nothing of 
 our own beyond slavish imitations ; we shall have to abandon all 
 hope of originality in conception, of novelty in thought or style. 
 This is not a prospect which any lover of his country can regard 
 with pleasure. And let it be recollected that what is true of this 
 Colony is equally true of our sister Colonies. Where, then, lies 
 the hope of an Australian literature ? It is time that Australia 
 should begin to put forth some distinct evidence of mental power. 
 
14 
 
 At present it is little more than a mart for the unsaleable produce 
 of Paternoster Eow. Patriotism has not yet developed itself 
 amongst us ; and the history of the world has shewn that where 
 there has been no patriotism, there has never been a literature. 
 
 The condition of matters at the present time cannot be better 
 described than in the words of Mr. Deniehy, quoted in Home's 
 Australian Facts and Prospects. Although written several years 
 ago, the truth is by no means lessened by the lapse of time : — 
 " In Sydney, the oldest of the Australian cities, and witli those 
 refinements and home feelings to which letters and art must 
 always look for real recognition, purely literary pursuits are at a 
 discount. The leading daily journal occasionally inserts a short 
 article on subjects lying somewhat in the neighbourhood of 
 aesthetics ; but this is rather a matter of taste and liberality on 
 the part of the proprietors than one of recognised demand on the 
 part of readers. The graces and subtleties of literary art, except 
 among a class of lettered ilite, too small to be taken practically 
 into calculation, are little cared for. The journalists likely to 
 succeed in the particular work required are men of tolerably 
 long residence in the country, practically acquainted with local 
 characters a,nd local things, and with the pens, in some instances 
 perhaps of rough, but in all of ready writers. Of these we have 
 quite as many as are likely to be needed for a long time." In fact, 
 it cannot be said that literature has any recognized position here 
 whatever. The number of those who profess it is small, and they 
 are not animated by any spirit of brotherhood. There is no 
 literary society. Several " Associations" have been formed from 
 time to time, for the purpose of promoting an esprit de corps, but 
 they never lasted. 
 
 In the matter of Libraries, we are thus situated. The oldest 
 institution of the kind is the Australian Library, established in 
 1826, and now possessing 18,000 volumes. The collection con- 
 
15 
 
 sists principally of novels and other light reading, but it comprises 
 some rare and valuable works, which are little appreciated. There 
 is more of old English literature to be found in this library than 
 in any other in the Colony. The number of subscribers is 800 ; 
 too small a number to keep the institution out of difficulties. 
 No attempt is consequently made to increase the books, other- 
 wise than by a few recently published works, received by the 
 monthly mail. The Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 
 1833, possesses a library of 13,000 volumes. This also consists 
 mainly of novels and other branches of popular literature. The 
 number of members is upwards of 1,000. The Parliamentary 
 Library, established in 1843, contains nearly 16,000 volumes. It 
 is one of the best in the Colony, but unfortunately, its use is con- 
 fined strictly to Members of the Legislature. It contains a very 
 good selection of books. The University Library numbers only 
 7,000 volumes. All of these are, of course, valuable works, but 
 the collection of English literature is very deficient. It is with 
 very great difficulty indeed that any old English work can be 
 procured in the Colony. The booksellers import new books only. 
 Their stock, as a rule, is not of a high class — consisting almost 
 exclusively of such works as are likely to be attractive to miscel- 
 laneous readers. Few works that scholars would care to read 
 can be found on their shelves. It is not true, as is sometimes 
 said, that we are '' not a reading people," but it is true that our 
 reading is not of a very advanced description. The statistics 
 given above, with respect to the circulation of English periodicals, 
 illustrate this fact. A sum of money has been voted by the 
 Legislature for the establishment of a Eree Public Library, but 
 no sign of such an institution is yet visible. It is sadly wanted ; 
 for aU our Libraries put together are not sufficient to meet the 
 demands of a scholar. It may consequently be doubted whether 
 there are six men in the Colony whose knowledge even of English 
 Literature is anything more than a superficial one. 
 
16 
 
 Tew facts can speak more decisively as to the estimation in 
 which learning is held among us, than the attendance at the classes 
 of the University. There are three Professors — one of Classics, 
 a second of Mathematics, and a third of Physics ; and there are 
 four Headers — one of Jurisprudence and Constitutional History, 
 a second of the English Language and Literature, a third of the 
 Prench Language and Literature, and a fourth of the German 
 Language and Literature. The number of students matriculating 
 in each year, from the commencement; is as follows : — 
 
 1852 
 
 24 
 
 1853 
 
 14 
 
 1854 
 
 10 
 
 1855 
 
 11 
 
 1856 
 
 1 
 
 1857 
 
 19 
 
 1858 
 
 7 
 
 1859 
 
 5 
 
 1860 
 
 19 
 
 1861 
 
 11 
 
 1862 
 
 9 
 
 1863 
 
 16 
 
 1864 
 
 10 
 
 1865 
 
 21 
 
 1866 
 
 14 
 
 Total 
 
 .... 191 
 
PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 
 
 I— NEWSPAPEES. 
 
 1803. — The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Adtee- 
 TisEE. Published by Authority. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 5th March. Shortly after this date it was 
 published on Sundays. In the year 1825 it was published twice 
 a week ; in the year 1827 it was published daily, subsequently 
 three times a week ; and in the year 1842 it died. Its size was 
 enlarged at various times. At first it consisted of four pages of 
 small demy ; then of two pages, with three columns in each, the 
 sheet being slightly larger ; and lastly, of four pages of the 
 usual size. 
 
 The appearance of this publication, for some years after its 
 establishment, is the reverse of attractive. The paper is bad, 
 the types with which it was printed were evidently half worn out, 
 and the contents consist merely of advertisements, with a few 
 ofiicial announcements, and a sprinkling of local intelligence. 
 The printer, publisher, proprietor, and editor, was a man named 
 George Howe. This Caxton of our country was a Creole, born 
 in St. Kitts, in the "West Indies, where his father and brother 
 had for many years conducted the Government Press. He went 
 to London, and was engaged as a printer at several establish- 
 ments ; among others, at the office of the Times. He arrived 
 in this Colony in the year 1800 ; and, as there was no Press 
 established here at the time, he offered his services to the 
 Governor in the capacity of a printer. His proposal was 
 accepted ; a small supply of materials was ordered from London, 
 and soon after its arrival, the publication of the Gazette com- 
 c 
 
18 
 
 menced. It was conducted sokly with a view to the service of 
 the Grovernment. What we may term the "leading article" in 
 the first issue runs as follows : — 
 
 " The utility of a PAPER in tlie COLONY, as it must open a source of 
 solid information, will, we hope, be universally felt and acknowledged. We 
 have courted the assistance of the Ingenious and Intelligent : — we open no 
 channel to pohtical discussion, or Personal Animadversion : Information is our 
 only Purpose : that accomplished, we shall consider that we have done our 
 duty, in our exertions to merit the Approbation of the PUBLIC, and to 
 secure a liberal Patronage to the SYDNEY GAZETTE." 
 
 The programme thus announced was faithfully adhered to. 
 Up to the year 1823 the Gazette supplied its readers with nothing 
 more lively than the Acts and Proceedings of the Grovernment. 
 In that year the Colonial Secretary, Major Groulburn, informed 
 Mr. Howe that his columns might be opened to the public for 
 political discussion ; and in the following year the censorship 
 under which the paper had till then been carried on was abolished, 
 and the " Liberty of the Press" was formally announced. This 
 was due to the liberal policy adopted by the then Grovernor, Sir 
 Thomas Brisbane. 
 
 The difiiculties with which Howe had to contend in his 
 printing operations were very great, and form an ample excuse 
 for the poor appearance of his journal. The voyage to England 
 in those days oc(iupied many months ; the arrival of a ship 
 was a rare event ; there was no commerce with other countries ; 
 and consequently, when ink and paper fell short in the office of 
 the Gazette, it was by no means easy to procure the necessary 
 supplies. Many numbers were printed on paper of all sorts of 
 colours ; green, blue, pink, and yellow, were almost as common 
 as white ; but the prevailing tint is a dirty compromise between 
 white and yellow. Inconveniencies of this kind seem to have 
 existed for many years subsequently. The first specimen of 
 good printing we meet with is the Colonist, a weekly newspaper 
 
19 
 
 published in 1835 : the proprietor having brought out from 
 England a large Columbian press, with a stock of excellent 
 printing material. 
 
 The literary management of the Gazette never reflected much 
 credit on the Colony. The small amount of original writing 
 that appeared in its columns during its early years, proceeded 
 from the pen of the proprietor. On his death, in 1821, the 
 business was conducted by his son Eobert, who was drowned, a 
 few years after, while fishing in the harbour. The Eev. Ealph 
 Mansfield then became the editor ; he was also the proprietor 
 and editor of the New South Wales Magazine ; and he was, for 
 many years, the editor of the Herald. His intellect was dis- 
 tinguished rather by its sound sense than by its brilliancy or 
 polish. Mr. Mansfield was succeeded in the editorship of the 
 Gazette by the Eev. H. Carmichael, a teacher of classics in the 
 Australian College. He, however, gave ofi'ence to the proprietors 
 by an article in which he commented on the large salaries paid to 
 certain Grovernment ofiicials— the policy of the Gazette not 
 admitting of any strictures on Government. His services were 
 dispensed with, whereupon he brought an action for breach of 
 agreement, and recovered £150 damages. The next editor was a 
 man named O'Shaughnessy, who had been sent out to the Colony 
 as a convict, and who was subsequently assigned to Howe. The 
 latter employed him in the capacity of a reporter to his news- 
 paper, and also as an occasional writer of leading articles. His 
 appointment as responsible editor of the Gazette was strongly 
 denounced by Dr. Lang, in the columns of his journal, the Colonist. 
 The Doctor wrote a series of articles under the title of " The 
 Literary Profession," in which he dwelt upon the dangerous 
 results to morality likely to ensue from the writings of editorial 
 convicts. The first of these articles was expressly aimed at 
 O'Shaughnessy, and became the subject of an action at law. 
 Dr. Lang defended his own case. His speech on the occasion is 
 
20 
 
 published at full length in the last edition of his History of New 
 South Wales. O'Shaughnessy soon after ceased to act as editor 
 of the Gazette ; but whether on account of these exposures or 
 not is uncertain. The Gazette itself ascribed his removal to his 
 pecuniary embarrassments. The doubt is strengthened by the 
 fact that the next editor of the paper was another and still more 
 notorious convict — a man named "Watt. The venerable champion 
 of colonial morals was again in arms, the Colonist was again the 
 medium of his assault, and Watt was eventually driven from the 
 field. A full account of this individual may be found in Mudie's 
 Felonry. Another editor of the Gazette was a Mr. Cavenagh. 
 A curious squabble arose between him and Mr. W. C. Wentworth, 
 the details of which are prominently noted in the papers of the 
 time. A paragraph, slightly ridiculing the latter, appeared in 
 the Gazette. Mr. "Wentworth attributed it to the editor, and 
 wrote a violent letter on the subject to the proprietors of the 
 paper. Mr. Cavenagh brought an action for libel, and recovered 
 £223 damages. No one was more given to the use of rough 
 language than Mr. Wentworth, and it occasions some surprise 
 to find that he felt it so acutely when applied to himself. 
 
 1821. — TnE AusTEALiAX. 4 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Thursday, llith October. Published weekly ; price, 
 one shilling. Subsequently published twice a week. 
 
 Considerable interest attaches to this newspaper, from the 
 connection which Mr. "W. C. Wentworth maintained with it for 
 many years. It may be said to have owed its existence to him, 
 and he was long in the habit of contributing editorially to its 
 columns. Mr. Wentworth was a native of the Colony, having 
 been born in Norfolk Island, in the year 1791. He went to 
 England, at the age of 26, for the purpose of education. He was 
 a student at Cambridge ; and while there, competed for the prize 
 awarded to the best English Poem on " Australasia," in 1823. 
 
21 
 
 The prize was gained by W. M. Praed, whose name is still 
 remembered in English Literature ; but Mr. Wentworth stood 
 second on a list of twenty-five. Previously to this achievement, 
 he published, in 1819, a history of his native country, of which 
 au account will be found in another part of this narrative. He 
 was called to the Bar in London, and returned to the Colony in 
 the year 1824, when he commenced practice both as a barrister 
 and an attorney, there being no division of the profession at 
 that time. 
 
 The origin of the Australian is thus described in a memoir 
 of Mr. Wentworth, published twenty-three years ago : — " Being 
 shortly after this (1819) called to the Bar, Mr. "Wentworth 
 became acquainted with the late Dr. "Wardell, who was the 
 editor and proprietor of a London evening newspaper called 
 the Statesman. This gentleman accompanied Mr. Wentworth to 
 Sydney, in the year 1824, bringing with them materials for 
 the purpose of starting a newspaper in Sydney. This was the 
 origin of the Australian, a publication which rendered the State 
 some service ; and after many hazardous changes, still (1843) con- 
 tinues to flourish. Mr. Wentworth, however, soon relinquished 
 his share of the publication, and devoted himself with success 
 to the more lucrative practice of his profession." In his Account 
 of the Colony, Mr. Wentworth published a number of the Sydney 
 Gazette, and expressed the following opinion with regard to it, 
 and also to the necessity for another jou.rnal in the Colony. 
 " Here also is a weekly newspaper called the Sydney Gazette and 
 New South Wales Advertiser. The materiel of this paper belongs, 
 I believe, exclusively to Government ; hence arises that right 
 of censorship which the Colonial Secretary has hitherto exercised 
 over it ; hence, too, the cause why it seldom contains any 
 interesting matter, except the public Acts of the local G-overn- 
 ment, for the notification of which it serves as the vehicle. 
 Anything in the shape of political discussion is a novelty which 
 
22 
 
 it is rarely permitted to exhibit. An independent paper, 
 therefore, which may serve to point out the rising interests 
 of the colonists, and become the organ of their grievances 
 and rights, their wishes and wants, is highly necessary ; and, it 
 is to be hoped, will speedily be set on foot." 
 
 It would appear, from these extracts, that Mr. Wentworth had 
 formed the design, while in London, of starting a newspaper on his 
 return to the Colony. While thus connected with the Ausfrnlian , 
 Mr. Wentworth was engaged in rendering those services to his 
 fellow countrymen which have made his name a household word 
 among them to the present day. The political and social state of 
 the Colony was essentially different in those days from what it 
 is now. It was so different, indeed, that it is hard for us to 
 realise it. Socially, the inhabitants of the Colony were divided 
 into two parties, the " Emancipists" and the " Exclusives," who 
 were as bitterly opposed to each other as the JVeri and Bianchi 
 of Florence in the thirteenth century. Politically, Q-overnment 
 was administered on principles approaching to those of a pure 
 despotism, mildly tempered with the epigrams of the Australian 
 and the Monitor. There was no representation of the people in 
 Parliament — there was no trial by Jury in the Law Courts — there 
 was no freedom of the Press in the printing offices. To obtain 
 these advantages for the country, Mr. Wentworth laboured 
 unceasingly. He was at the head of every movement made for 
 that purpose. His eloquence was unsparingly exerted in the 
 cause of political and social independence. In his hands, the 
 Australian was an engine of no slight importance for the accom- 
 plishment of his views ; and rarely has the importance of an 
 unfettered Press been more signally exhibited than in the case 
 of that journal. How his connection with it came to an end 
 has been related by himself, in words which afford a striking 
 illustration of the social state of the Colony at the time. In a 
 speech delivered by him in the Legislative Council, in August, 
 
23 
 
 1843, when opposing the election, as Speaker, of the late Mr. 
 Alexander Macleay, a man of some distinction, he said : — 
 " The second act of this Government, of which the Honorable 
 Member was Prime Minister and the most active agent, was to 
 introduce a penal clause into an Act, that any person guilty of 
 blasphemy, or of a seditious libel, should be subject to banishment 
 from the Colony. It seemed to him that the laws of England 
 were sufficiently stringent to meet cases of that kind, and that 
 there was no necessity for local enactments. But there were 
 particular individuals in the eye of the G-overnment to whom 
 the banishment clause was intended to apply, and they were 
 himself and his lamented colleague. Dr. Wardell. Just at that 
 time, his professional occupation pressed upon him so much 
 that he had very little leisure either for sedition or blasphemy, 
 but the clause in the Act was so exceedingly wide, that he 
 clearly saw, if he continued with the Press, he should not be 
 long before he should subject himself to the heaviest penalties ; 
 in fact, the clause would catch any one who dared to write a 
 word against the G-overnment, and he thought best to retire. 
 He, therefore, made a present of his share in the concern to his 
 colleague, Dr. "Wardell, who carried it on for a year or two 
 longer, and soon found himself, as he expected, involved in 
 prosecutions at the instance of the Government. He sold the 
 paper, and, in a short time, the purchaser was lodged in the 
 same gaol where Mr. Hall, the conductor of the only other 
 liberal journal in the Colony, was incarcerated." 
 
 Dr. Wardell, here alluded to, was a barrister holding a 
 degree of Doctor of Laws, and a man of high capacity. He 
 acted as chief Editor of the Australian, and adopted the same line 
 of politics as Mr. Wentworth. In an old periodical, called the 
 South Asian Register, published in 1828, occurs the following : — 
 " The Australian has sold 600 copies twice a week, it is said, and 
 the copyright was recently disposed of for £3,600, to eight 
 
24 
 
 shareholders, by Dr. "Wardell." Dr. Wardell then retired from 
 political and public life, and a few years after was shot by 
 bushrangers. Some interesting particulars concerning him may 
 be found in Therry's Reminiscences. A gentleman named Hayes 
 succeeded Dr. "Wardell as the editor of the Australian. In 1 829 
 he was convicted of a seditious libel upon the Government, for 
 having asserted, in his journal, that the Governor had, in a certain 
 case which excited much sensation, substituted his own arbitrary 
 will for the law. He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, 
 a fine of £100, andcompelledto find securities for his good behaviour 
 for three years. The Australian subsequently passed into the 
 hands of Mr. G. E. Nichols, an attorney, who possessed the repu- 
 tation of a wit. He was a native of the Colony, was distinguished 
 for his ability and his patriotism, and on the introduction of 
 Eespousible Government in 1856, formed one of the first Ministry 
 under it, holding oflice as Auditor General. His death took place 
 in the following year. The last number of the Australian was 
 published on the 28th September, 1848. 
 
 1825.— Howe's Weekly Commeecial Expeess. 
 
 No. 1, Monday, 25th May. This journal expired with its 
 twenty-second number. The proprietor, Eobert Howe, was also 
 the proprietor of the Gazette, which had recently begun to make 
 its appearance twice a week. He found it impossible to carry on 
 both publications at the same time, and accordingly was compelled 
 to sacrifice the Express. 
 
 1826. — The Monitoe. 8 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Friday, 19th May. Published weekly ; subsequently 
 twice a week ; price, one shilling. 
 
 This journal was started by a gentleman named Edward 
 Smith Hall, who was not only proprietor, but editor, printer, and 
 
25 
 
 publisher as well. It played a very important part in the political 
 and social struggles of the time. During the Grovernorship of 
 Greneral Darling, which lasted to 1831, the Monitor was engaged 
 in violent opposition to the acts of his Government. In this 
 opposition it was supported by its cotemporary the Australian, 
 under the vigorous editorship of Dr. "Wardell. Grovernor Darling 
 appears to have been extremely sensitive to newspaper criticism. 
 He made every effort in his power to get rid of his torturers, but 
 he never succeeded in doing so. At one time he endeavoured to 
 pass an Act — commonly called " the gagging Act" — by which 
 every newspaper published in the Colony would be required to 
 obtain a license from the Grovernment, to be renewed every year ; 
 and also to pay a stamp duty of fourpence for every issue. In 
 this object he was defeated by the Chief Justice, Mr. Forbes, 
 whose sanction it was necessary to obtain before any Act of the 
 Legislature could come into force. Mr. Forbes regarded the 
 proposed measure as unconstitutional, and declined to give it 
 his oflB-cial approbation. The G-overnor then instituted criminal 
 proceedings against the editors of the opposition Press. Libel 
 actions became so frequent during the years 1828 and 1829, that 
 the Supreme Court, it is said, was almost wholly occupied in 
 hearing them. Mr. Hall appeared seven times in the dock. He 
 was sentenced to pay heavy fines, amounting to several hundreds 
 of pounds, and to endure terms of imprisonment amounting to 
 three years and a half These measures, however, were not 
 effectual. The papers continued to pour forth their torrents of 
 invective, and, if more cautious, were hardly less virulent than 
 before. 
 
 These journals certainly exhibited very little regard to the 
 decencies of discussion. Their language was frequently so violent 
 as to be quite unjustifiable. The bitterness of their opposition 
 was commented on in the House of Commons, by gentlemen not 
 at all disposed to support the cause of the Governor. Dr. Lang, 
 
26 
 
 an experienced journalist himself, gives the following character of 
 them in his History of the Colony : — 
 
 " It was unfortunate, ioweTer, for the colonial public, that the opposition 
 papers of the Colony, during the goyernment of General Darling, were by no 
 means distinguished for that scrupulous regard to truth without which no 
 person can merit the confidence of the public. There was a rabid desire to 
 pubhsh whatever had a tendency to bring either the Grovemor, or persons in 
 any way connected with the GoTcrnment, into general disfavour ; and in- 
 formation of this kind was accordingly received with the utmost eagerness, 
 and often without the least regard to the character of the quarter from which 
 it came.*' 
 
 It is but right to add, that the official journal provoked much 
 of this misconduct on the part of its cotemporaries. It was 
 servile towards the Grovernmeiit, and scurrilous towards all who 
 opposed it. 
 
 1827. — The G-leanee. 4 pages. 
 
 No. 1, 9th April. Published weekly. 
 
 This was a very unpretending publication, started by Dr. 
 Halloran, whose son, Henry Halloran, has for many years past 
 distinguished himself by his poetical writings. Dr. Halloran 
 appears to have been a poet also, as there is mention of a volume 
 of poems published by him in 1806. The Gleaner was not 
 calculated to compete successfully with its vigorous cotemporaries, 
 and its existence seems to have been very short. 
 
 1831. — *The Stunet Heeald. 
 
 No. 1, Monday, 18th April. This journal was at first pub- 
 lished weekly as a small sheet of four pages ; in 1836 it was pub- 
 lished twice a week ; in 1837 three times a week ; and in 1841, 
 daily. It remained for twelve years the only daily paper in the 
 country. In 1842 it was enlarged in size, and called The Sydney 
 
 * The journals to -which an astoriak is prefixed are still hi existence. 
 
27 
 
 Morning Herald, by which name it is now known to the world. 
 In 1853 it was again enlarged, appearing as a double sheet of eight 
 pages instead of four. 
 
 A leading article in this journal, published on the 2nd Jan- 
 uary, 1843, gives some interesting information as to its position 
 at that now distant period, and also as to the position of other 
 publications. After alluding to the commercial depression which 
 has given a gloomy celebrity in our annals to the year 1842, it 
 proceeds to say, — " The adversity of the past year was, of course, 
 felt by the Press, as well as by other interests. To four of our 
 cotemporaries, indeed, it proved fatal. The Free Press and 
 JExaminer, after a very brief but noisy career, gave up the 
 ghost ; the Monitor, having lost the master-hand which had 
 from the first guided its aifairs, had reached the respectable age 
 of sixteen years, when it too slept the sleep of death ; and 
 even the poor old Sydney Gazette, the first literary adventurer 
 in the southern hemisphere, after a long and eventful life of 
 nearly forty years, sank into an inglorious grave. Once the 
 defunct veteran was exhumed, and an efi'ort made to re-animate 
 the vital spark, but in vain — the decree had gone forth, and 
 could not be revoked." With respect to itself, the editor 
 states that " the circulation of the Herald still exceeded 3,000 
 numbers daily, or 940,000 in the year ; the number of separate 
 advertisements published during the previous year was about 
 18,000, representing a total of insertions amounting to the 
 prodigious number of 54,000." 
 
 The lapse of twenty-three years has added largely to its pros- 
 perity and influence. Its daily circulation is now rated at 8,450. 
 As for its advertisements, they are so numerous that it would not 
 be easy to calculate the total number of insertions in the year. 
 On Saturdays, the ordinary eight pages of the journal are almost 
 entirely occupied with advertisements, thus rendering it neces- 
 
saiy to publish an additional slieet of four pages. In, addition 
 to the daily issue, a weekly edition is published every Saturday, 
 for circulation through the country ; it consists of twelve pages, 
 and the number of subscribers is about 11,500. On the departure 
 of the mail steamers for Europe, a " Summary" of the Herald 
 is published, consisting of no less than sixteen pages. Some 
 14,000 copies are usually sold' on these occasions. There is no 
 other journal in Australia that favours the public with such a 
 mass of print as this. 
 
 During the early period of its existence, the Herald was 
 principally edited by the Eev. Ealph Mansfield, of whom mention 
 has already been made. For the last ten years or so, his place 
 has been occupied by the Eev. John West, author of a " History 
 of Tasmania," in 2 vols. 8vo., published in 1852. Mr. "West is a 
 powerful writer, on certain topics. Some of his compositions, 
 especially where sarcasm comes into play, are admirable 
 specimens of style. But, as a rule, the leading articles of 
 the Herald are not distinguished by their brilliancy. Curiously 
 enough, although this journal has been, and is, far more suc- 
 cessful than any other in the Colony, it has never possessed 
 any reputation for literary ability. Its success is entirely owing 
 to the policy adopted by its proprietors ; to the fullness of its 
 commercial, and the accuracy of its local, intelligence. On this 
 point, the following passage, taken from the Colonist of 1837, 
 deserves attention: — 
 
 "If we are not misinformed, tie freedom witli wHoli the Herald launolied 
 out, in 1834 or 5, in its attaots upon Colonial Whiggism, was immediately 
 followed by the most marked demonstrations ; hundreds of subscribers with- 
 drew their patronage ; hundreds of new subscribers as promptly flowed in ; 
 and the balance between the two showed a net gain to the extent of several 
 hundreds. If this was really the case — and we have sufficient reason for 
 beUeving it was — it amounted to a sort of ' polling' of public opinion on the 
 question at issue. The Herald, from its commencement, has enjoyed a wider 
 circulation than any of its cotemporaries, and may be said to have fairly 
 
20 
 
 pervaded the population. And the result of its unflinching adTOCacy of 
 Colonial Toryism has heen — not general abandonment — but an extent of 
 patronage, both in circulation and advertisements, with which no other Sydney 
 journal can compare." 
 
 The line of politics thus early advocated by the Herald has 
 been steadily pursued up to the present time. Its Toryism has 
 increased in a direct ratio to the Radicalism of the Constitution, and 
 its prosperity has increased in a direct ratio to its Toryism. The 
 fact is striking and important. It might have been imagined 
 that, however profitable the advocacy of Toryism may have been in 
 former times, it would have ceased to be so on the introduction of 
 universal suffrage and the triumph of " Liberalism." Since that 
 period, Toryism, as a political element in the State, has almost 
 become extinct. No trace of its influence can be observed in the 
 character of our legislation. But the fact is precisely the reverse. 
 Universal suffrage seems to have operated largely in its favour. 
 The more determined the opposition of the Herald to the pre- 
 vailing politics of the day, the more has it grown in favour with 
 those whose support is most valuable to a journal. Without the 
 slightest power to influence an election or to affect the tone 
 of a debate, it continues to enlarge its subscription list and 
 swell the number of its advertisements. The explanation, no 
 doubt, is easy enough. The masses, iu whose hands all political 
 power is lodged, rarely subscribe and never advertise. But the 
 merchants and the shopkeepers, who never go to the hustings, are 
 all readers and all advertisers. The consequence is, that while 
 the daily journal which almost dictates the political government 
 of the country is very poorly supported in comparison with its 
 rival, the latter, without any political influence at all, is daily 
 increasing in wealth and circulation. 
 
 1831. — The Stdney Times. 4 pages. 
 
 No. 1, 1st January. Published twice a week. This paper 
 was edited by the proprietor, N. L. Kentish, and lived for several 
 
30 
 
 years, although it does not seem to have been either a very 
 powerful organ or a very successful speculation. In 1836, the 
 proprietor made affidavit that the circulation amounted to nearly 
 1,000 copies of each issue. In 1837, it congratulated the public 
 " upon the addition made to Colonial literature, by the Literary 
 News and Temperance Magazine, and by the extension of the 
 Colonist to a tvvice-a-week paper, under the auspices of its talented 
 founder, and also upon the revival of the Australian Monthly 
 Magazine." 
 
 1882. — -Hill's Life in New South Wales. 4 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Friday, 6th July. Published weekly. This journal 
 was published by a person named Hill, who had been a printer 
 in the Monitor office. It possessed no peculiar features, and it 
 perished iu the following year. 
 
 1832. — *New Sottth Wales Goveknment G-azette. Published 
 by Authority. 
 No. 1, 7th March. This is a purely official publication, and 
 it still exists in that character. 
 
 1832. — The CcREENcr Lad. 4 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, August 25. Published weekly. This 
 periodical, as its name implies, professed to be the organ of the 
 native-born population. It makes a very poor appearance. It 
 was " edited, printed, and published, by Horatio Wills, an Austra- 
 lian, joint proprietor with the executors and executrix of the 
 late H. Howe, at the Gazette office." The Currency Lad has 
 left no name behind it ; it was merely one of many periodicals 
 commenced without any rational expectation of success. 
 
 1835. — The Alfred. 
 
 A newspaper of this name is mentioned in. the Almanac for 
 the year 1835, as existing in Sydney, but no copy of it can be 
 found. 
 
31 
 
 1835. — The Colonist ; a weekly Journal of Pulilics, Commerce, 
 Agriculture, Literature, Science, and Religion, for the Colony 
 of New South Wales. 8 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Thursday, 1st January, subsequently (1887) published 
 twice a week. This publication was set on foot by the Eev Dr. 
 Lang, a gentleman who has occupied a very prominent position 
 in public life for the last forty years. He was born in Scotland, 
 in the year 1799, and arrived in this Colony in 1823. Since that 
 period, he has been indefatigably engaged, not only in the perform- 
 ance of his duties as a minister of religion, but in the bitter struggles 
 of political life, in unceasing labours with his pen, and in various 
 efforts to improve the social condition of the Colony. He has been 
 an active Member of the Legislature, both under the old form of 
 Government and the new. He was the first, or one of the first, 
 to introduce into the Colony a higher class of emigrants from the 
 old world than that which had previously reached our shores. 
 He was the means of establishing the first educational institution 
 of any importance in the Colony. As a writer, he is by far the 
 most voluminous we have to boast of An account of his various 
 productions will be found in other portions of this narrative. Por 
 the present, we are concerned only with his journalistic career. 
 This commenced with the Colonist. So far as appearance is 
 concerned, no previously established journal can compare with it — 
 the paper and the printing being both excellent. In the selection 
 of its contents, also, it shewed a greater appreciation of the claims 
 of literature, apart from polities, than any of its cotemporaries. 
 The first number contained the following account of its origin : — ■ 
 " Towards the close of the year 1831, the Bev. Dr. Lang returned 
 to this Colony from England, with an order from the Eight 
 Honorable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, for a grant of 
 money from the Colonial Treasury for the establishment of a 
 College in Sydney, together with several scientific and literary 
 men to act as head masters or professors, and a large number 
 
32 
 
 of Scotch mecliaiiics, of a reputable character and superior 
 ability, to erect the requisite buildings." This refers to the well- 
 known " Australian College." It is further stated that the scheme 
 thus propounded was violently opposed by the different journals 
 then established in Sydney, viz., the Sydney Gazette, the Austra- 
 lian, the Monitor, and the Sydney Herald, and that the Colonist 
 was called into existence for the purpose of repelling their attacks. 
 Alluding to this matter in his History, the Doctor says : " It was 
 the incessant assault and battery to which I was subjected for 
 years together by these unprincipled journals, and the serious 
 pecuniary loss in which it involved me, from the withdrawal of 
 public support from our Institution, that induced me on a 
 subsequent occasion to avail myself of the aid of the Press, and 
 to establish a weekly journal on other and better principles, and 
 with higher and nobler views. And, I am happy to add, I have 
 uniformly found that, so long as I have had that powerful engine 
 at my command, it has always been comparatively easy to keep 
 the whole pack of colonial dogs at bay." The columns of the 
 Colonist were employed by Dr. Lang, not alone in waging his 
 own battles with the numberless enemies that were always hover- 
 ing round his camp and cutting off his baggage, but in asserting 
 the claims of morality and religion. It died in 1840. 
 
 1835. — Commercial Joitenal and Adtertiseb. 4 pages. 
 
 Published twice a week. 
 
 In January, 1839, this publication, which, as its name implies, 
 paid more attention to commercial matters than to anything else, 
 was enlarged in size, and appeared as a new series. At the 
 commencement of 1841, having passed into new hands, it came 
 out as the Free Press and Commercial Journal, edited by Mr. 
 M'Eachern, who had acted as editor of the Colonist at the time 
 of its decease. 
 
33 
 
 1S37. — Best's News and New South "Wales Adteetisee. 
 
 This pul)lica1;ion ceased in July, 1839, with its 172nd issue. 
 In his " Farewell Address," the proprietor states that he had 
 sold his copyright to a joint stock company, established for the 
 purpose of bringing out a new journal under the title of The 
 Atisiralasian Chronicle. 
 
 1839.— The Standaed. 
 
 No. 1. — 7th January. 
 
 This appears to have been a sectarian paper, established in 
 the interest of what is called the " High Church" Party of the 
 Church of England. 
 
 1839.— Thk Austealasian Chkonicle. 4 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Friday, 2nd August, published weekly ; and subse- 
 quently twice and three times a week. 
 
 This publication was also devoted to sectarian purposes. 
 They are thus alluded to in an editorial statement in the first 
 issue : — " To explain and uphold the civil and religious principles 
 of the Catholics, and to maintain their rights, will be the 
 ■primary objects of the Australasian Chronicle." It was edited 
 f()r some years by Mr. Duncan, an able and industrious journalist 
 of the time, who now holds the office of Collector of Customs 
 at Sydney. The Chronicle presents a very favourable appear- 
 ance among its cotemporaries, especially for a sectarian journal. 
 Its title was subsequently altered, and it then appeared as the 
 Morning Chronicle. This designation was also changed ; and, in 
 July, 1840, it appeared as the Sydney Chronicle. Its term of 
 existence was rather a lengthened one. 
 I) 
 
34 
 
 1840. — The Temperance Advocate, and Atjstealasian Com- 
 MEECiAL AND AeBicuLTUBAL Intelligencee. 4 pages. 
 
 No. 1, October 7. 
 
 A weekly sheet, devoted to the cause of temperance, and 
 " printed and published for John Fairfax, the editor and pro- 
 prietor, of Spring-street, by James Eeading, at the office of 
 the Temperance Advocate, Eang-street, Sydney." 
 
 1841. — The Omnibtts and Sydney Spectatoe. 8 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 2nd October. Published weekly. 
 
 This publication endeavoured to obtain popularity by 
 humorous comments on the events of the day, but it does not 
 appear to have succeeded to any marked extent. 
 
 1841. — The Colonial Obsebvee i a weehly Journal of Polities, 
 Commerce, Agriculture, Literature, Science, and Beligion, for 
 the Colony of Netv South Wales. 8 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Thursday, 7th October. 
 
 This was another sectarian journal, devoted to the advocacy 
 of " Evangelical Protestantism," and to rather violent attacks on 
 the " Papal System." The war among the religious sects of the 
 day seems to have been carried on with excessive bitterness. The 
 Observer was edited by the Eev. Dr. Lang. 
 
 1842. — ;Thb Teetotaller, and General Nev? spapee. 4 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 8 January. 
 
 A similar publication to the foregoing. The 8&th number 
 (27th September, 1843) states : — " With this number we close 
 our labours, at least for the present. Like its predecessor and 
 harbinger, the Temperance Advocate, the Teetotaller has been, in 
 a pecuniary point of view, a losing concern, and that from the 
 beginning." 
 
35 
 
 1812. — The New Sotjth Wales Eiamijteh. 4 pages. 
 Publisted thrice a week. 
 
 1843. — The Sun, and New South Wales Independent Peess. 
 
 4 pages. 
 No. 1, Saturday, 28 January. Published weekly. Price, 3d. 
 
 This paper was apparently intended for circulation among 
 the working classes. It appears to have been in existence as a 
 daily paper previous to the above date, the proprietor stating 
 that, " owing to unforeseen diificulties in the mechanical depart- 
 ment of his establishment, he has been reluctantly constrained to 
 forego the continuance of his journal as a daily publication." 
 The Sun was very free in its comments on passing affairs. 
 
 1843. — Duncan's Weeelt Eegister of Politics, Facts, and 
 G-enehal Liteeatube. 12 pages, 4to. 
 No. 1, Saturday, July 29. This journal expired on the 27th 
 December, 1845, with its 127th number. The period during 
 which it strove to exist was one of unexampled depression in 
 commercial and monetary matters. Every interest, every form of 
 enterprise, in the Colony, was either partially or wholly paralyzed, 
 and newspapers shared the general fate. Politically, the Register 
 was opposed to the squatters, who at that time formed a powerful 
 class in the State, headed as they were by the most talented men 
 of the day, and supported by the leading journals. It was not 
 powerful enough to cope with their celebrated organ, the Atlas ; 
 but the support rendered by it to the Government was so far 
 appreciated that, on its termination, Mr. Duncan was appointed 
 Collector of Customs at Moreton Bay, and subsequently removed 
 to Sydney. During its existence, the editor endeavoured, as far 
 as possible, to impart a literary interest to his publication ; the 
 poets of the Colony — Messrs. Harpur, Halloran, Parkes, and 
 others, were frequent contributors to its pages ; while reviews and 
 notices of books were introduced at every opportunity. 
 
36 
 
 1843. — The Sydney Eecoed. 8 pages. 
 
 Wo. 1. Saturday, 7 October. Published weekly. 
 
 The literary department of this paper was announced to be 
 under the management of Mr. Arden, who had recently started a 
 magazine in Sydney. The Eecord was a weekly journal of 
 general character. 
 
 1843.— The Satieist. 
 
 The editor of this paper was a Dr. Eevel Johnson, a man 
 of some notoriety in his day as a humourist. He was criminally 
 prosecuted for libel, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. 
 
 Flanagan's History of the Colony has the following passage 
 on the matter : — 
 
 " In the com-se of this year, the editor of au obscene publication called 
 the Satirist, which had been circulated for some time in the city, was prose- 
 cuted in the name of the Crown, by the Attorney General ; and haTing been 
 found guilty under the statute intended for the suppression of publications 
 dangerous to the public morals, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. 
 The printer and the publisher were sererally punished with twelTe months' 
 loss of liberty. The publication was universally admitted to be a disgrace to 
 the city, and how it came to receive patronage suiBcient to prolong its career, 
 even for the brief period during which it was permitted to exist, could hardly 
 be accounted for, except on the ground that a reprehensible curiosity led to 
 its being purchased by people who abhorred its contents. The editor (Dr. 
 Kevel Johnson) was a surgeon, who, being too much a man of fashion for 
 his legitimate calling, sought to obtain at once a livelihood and a degree of 
 celebrity, by bringing to the surface that vReness which ought to be permitted 
 to remain shrouded in its appropriate veil of obscurity.'' 
 
 1843. — The Shipping Gazette, aito Sydney Geneeal Teade 
 
 List. 
 A purely commercial publication, issued by the proprietors 
 of the Herald. It appeared every Monday, and lasted for thirteen 
 years, ceasing at the end of 18(jO. Its contents were then trans- 
 ferred to the Sydney Mail, a weekly edition of the Herald. 
 
37 
 
 ISJ-i. — TuE Atlas. 12 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, November 30. Published weekly. 
 
 Among the many journals established in this Colony from 
 the days of the Oazette to the present time, there is not one that 
 can be said to have surpassed the Atlas in point of literary ability. 
 Its contributors were among the ablest and most celebrated 
 men of the day ; and at the head of them was Mr. Robert Lowe, 
 recently a member of Lord Palmerston's Cabinet. Mr. Lowe 
 arrived in this Colony in the year 1842, and during his residence 
 in Sydney he practised at the bar. He was also a Member of 
 the Legislative Council. Another of its contributors was Mr. 
 James Martin, then an attorney. He was born in Ireland, in 
 1820, came to this Colony when a child, received his education 
 here, and has now risen to the highest distinction as a lawyer and 
 a politician. He was called to the bar in 1856, on his appoint- 
 ment as Attorney Q-eneral under the first Cowper Ministry ; 
 was appointed a Queen's Counsel shortly after ; became Prime 
 Minister of the Colony in 1863, and again in 1866. A third 
 contributor was Mr. "William Forster, who at that time was a 
 squatter. He was born in Madras, in 1818, and arrived in this 
 Colony eleven years afterwards. For some years past he has 
 been a distinguished Member of the Assembly. In 1859 he was 
 Colonial Secretary and Prime Minister, and in 1863 Colonial 
 Secretary again. 
 
 The early numbers of the Atlas contain several poetical 
 pieces by Mr. Lowe. They consist principally of a series of 
 " Descriptive Sketches," the descriptions referring to the scenery 
 of Switzerland. As Mr. Lowe has since become one of the most 
 distinguished men in England, the following specimen of his 
 earlier productions will be read with interest, if not with admira- 
 tion : — 
 
38 
 
 The Moon. 
 
 When infant earth, 
 
 In might and mirth, 
 Burst from the chain that bound her ; 
 
 I sprang from her breast. 
 
 Like a bird from the nest, 
 To hoTer for ever around her. 
 
 I shed my power 
 
 O'er many an hour. 
 When labour and grief are still ; 
 
 And the tides of ocean, 
 
 In wildest commotion. 
 Are swayed like a child at my will. 
 
 Full many a child 
 
 Of genius wild. 
 Has basked in my noon of glory ; 
 
 And drunk a thought 
 
 Which noon has wrought, 
 To a theme of deathless story. 
 
 And many a maiden 
 
 With loTB o'erladen, 
 Has sat with her lute beside her ; 
 
 And caught a bhss 
 
 From my pearly kiss. 
 Which warmer lips denied her. 
 
 Yet rather gaze 
 On the bhnding rays 
 Of the sun in noon-tide splendour. 
 Than bathe in the streams 
 Of my wizard dreams. 
 Though soft be their glance and tender ! 
 For a withering pain 
 Shall shrivel thy brain. 
 In the midst of thy hour of gladness ; 
 And the bow that wafts 
 My piercing shafts. 
 Is strung by the hand of madness ! 
 I saw the pall 
 Of Tapours fall, 
 On that doomed and silent earth ; 
 When Ocean broke 
 His iron yoke, 
 I heard the earthquake's mirth. 
 
39 
 
 I could not trace 
 
 On Earth's pale face, 
 The shadows of land and deep ; 
 
 For the shoreless wave 
 
 Of Nature's grave, 
 I saw, and I could not weep. 
 
 For fear and sorrow 
 
 New wings must borrow. 
 Ere they soar to my old, calm shrine ; 
 
 Man's pigmy race 
 
 Has dale and place, 
 But, other, far other is mine. 
 
 Yon Sun may shine 
 
 To ripen the vine. 
 And call up the seed that is sown j 
 
 Let him serre like a slave. 
 
 The child of the grave, 
 I shine for myself alone. 
 
 Full many a change, 
 
 Drear, wild, and strange, 
 I've seen in my parent's form ; 
 
 When the oiu'dhng mould 
 
 Of a world grown old, 
 Was stirred by the breath of the storm. 
 
 Yet still did I speed 
 
 On my way without heed, 
 Nor mourned for the vrreck that was doing ; 
 
 For my cahn, cold light. 
 
 Is my own delight, 
 And I smile o'er the ashes of ruin. 
 
 Mr. Lowe also wrote a series of political sketches, under the 
 title of " Australian Prescoes." To make an imaginary painting 
 the means of ridiculing the chief subjects of political satii'e at 
 the time, was an ingenious idea, and the idea was gracefully 
 executed. It has been still better executed, however, by Mr. 
 Deniehy, in the Southern Cross of 1860. Indeed, Mr. Lowe does 
 not aeem to have shone much in any kind of writing that required 
 invention. His principal contributions to the Atlas were leading 
 
40 
 
 articles on political topics, and these are said to have been quite 
 as good as any of his siibsequent contributions to the London 
 Times. 
 
 Mr. Martin's contributions to the Atlas were all anonymoais. 
 It may be taken for granted that they possessed no ordinary merit. 
 Mr. Powler wrote, in the Month, that " when the Atlas was estab- 
 lished, Mr. Martin largely contributed to its columns, and by the 
 dash and point of his articles proved himself a journalist of no 
 mean powers. He was ultimately appointed editor of the paper, 
 which he conducted most ably for two years." The same writer 
 also states that Mr. Martin published a book of essays ; that he 
 subsequently started a magazine ; and that in 1851, he wrote for 
 a short time in the Empire. 
 
 "With respect to Mr. Forster's writings, the following account 
 of them appeared in the Soutliern Cross of i860 : — 
 
 " In these days it was that, cluriug the contest of the Crown tenants 
 with Sir G-eorge G-ipps, he commenced a literary career fertile of results for 
 the local Press. Many of the most remarkable contributions to the Atlas, 
 the organ of the pastoral party, were Mr. Forster's. His hterary Tigour in 
 those days loved to display itself in the squib ; and we suspect that the 
 merit of many of his pimgent trifles was pretty generally given, by readers of 
 the Atlas, to the Eight Honourable Kobert Lowe, then understood to be at the 
 head of the journal. Those who read The Devil and the Governor (a dramatic 
 scene, in which Sir Q-eorge Gipps was made to take his diabolical highness 
 into council), little imagined that the writer was a sallow, thin, saturnine 
 looking young gentleman, if more remarkable for one external characteristic 
 than another, for a remarkably unassuming manner, who amused himself in 
 " spells" from hard backwood toil in the wild, lonesome depths of a forest, 
 cutting as it were, rather than writing, his sarcastic couplets, on the gl-anitic 
 obduracy of the Gipps' administrative policy. As a writer of squibs, we 
 think Mr. Forster, on the whole, the most successful of practitioners in that 
 vocation which makes gibing and jeering a fine ' art. Other literary men in 
 New South Wales there are, who throw off this kind of politico-literary pyro- 
 techny in forms of higher finish, with a grace and a fancy that would have 
 pleased Winthrop Praed, or even the great master of metrical squibbcry, Tom 
 
41 
 
 Moore himself; but as a squib should be as generally understood as a proverb 
 or a party-cry, we tliink these learned gentlemen of the Court of Momus 
 commit an error in art — the sarcasm is too subtle and refined for any but well 
 educated readers. — But, as a literary man, Mr. Forster has distinguished 
 himself iu higher and graver capacities than as a writer of sparkling jeux 
 d' esprit. In journalism, he has flung into circulation some of the soundest 
 political thinking on leading Australian topics that our coxmtry possesses. 
 His contributions to the elder JiJ?npire evinced, uniformly, a remarkable faculty 
 of deaUng with the principles at the root of problems in politics ; and also, a 
 masterly power, not only in showing the errors of opponents, but in tracking 
 the train of reasoning by which they had come to the wrong conclusion. His 
 polemics in ecclesiastical polity, in the Church Sentinel, scarcely come within 
 the scope of our criticism, but they deserve allusion, as showing the thorough 
 liberalism of the present Prime Minister. As a poet, Mr. Forster's eiforts 
 have not been very ambitious, principaEy occasional rhymes, but always origi- 
 nating in, or instinct with, some great purpose. Irrespective of the character 
 of the productions themselves, it may be, talking of the poetic faculty in the 
 abstract, that Mr. Forster ranks with none of the loftier order, but the faculty 
 is truly poetic, nevertheless ; as John Sterling said, if we recollect rightly, of 
 Charles Lamb, ' The gold in a spangle may be as sterling as that of a doub- 
 loon.' And again, as to the question of dimensions, it may be that the thing 
 is small, not because the artificer has no more of the precious metal in his 
 possession, but that he has neither mood nor market for working a larger 
 quantity up." 
 
 These remarks, written by a very friendly pen, are followed 
 by a series of sonnets by Mr. Forster. A sonnet hardly affords 
 a sufficient test, to enable one to gauge the merit of a poet. 
 Mr. Forster's neither rise above, nor sink below, the ordinary level 
 of that class of compositions. 
 
 The Aflas carried on a very bitter and uncompromising war 
 with the Grovernor of the day, Sir G-eorge Gripps. His policy 
 was unfavourable to the interests of the squatters, and on their 
 behalf the Atlas omitted no opportunity of opposing him. This 
 opposition was conducted with better taste than that of the 
 Monitor towards Grovernor Darling ; but it is difficult, in the 
 
42 
 
 present day, to realise a state of society in which the supreme 
 Head of the State is subjected to unceasing ridicule and abuse. 
 The Atlas ■s\'as, in some respects, an imitation of the London 
 newspaper of that name ; but this imitation did not aifect the 
 originality or the spirit of its contents. These were extremely 
 varied and entertaining. Considerable space was devoted to the 
 literature of the day, in the shape of reviews and extracts ; 
 political " squibs" in verse and prose, appeared in every number ; 
 and a couple of columns were devoted to a " Punch," one half 
 being a " Sydney ingredient," consisting of original witticisms, 
 and the other a " London ingredient," consisting of extracts 
 from the London Punch. The printing and the paper are both 
 unobjectionable ; and altogether, this journal may be compared 
 with any weekly newspaper that has ever been published. Not- 
 withstanding its merit, it failed to secure a permanent existence. 
 It expired at the end of 1848, having lived only four years and 
 a half. 
 
 1844. — The Guaediak : a Weekly Journal of Politics, Commerce, 
 AffricuUure, Literature, Science, and Art, Jbr the Middle and 
 Working Classes of New South Wales. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 16 March. 8 pages. 
 
 ■ This paper declared itself to be the organ of a Society called 
 " The Mutual Protection Association," and explained its political 
 creed under the title of " Constitutional Radicalism." The 
 following passage from its first leading article will give an idea of 
 its character : — 
 
 " The question for the middle and worting classes of New South Wales to 
 consider is this — Are the dominant influence and oligarchical sway of an 
 upstart and selfish aristocracy of mere wealth likely to prove conducive to the 
 interests, the liberty, and prosperity of the people ? " 
 
43 
 
 And again : — 
 
 " It is to the working classes especially that we look for the direct and 
 substantial support which will be immediately available for the recurring 
 exigencies of our undertaking. The Guardian is not only their own accredited 
 organ and special advocate, but it is their property, an engine of their creation, 
 and dependent on themselves alone for its existence, its independence, and its 
 incorruptibility. The system of credit has been the bane of newspaper 
 undertakings in this Colony, and rendered it a matter of enormous outlay to 
 establish a paper. These difficulties we propose to surmount by the simple 
 expedient, now almost universal in England, of the news-vending system." 
 
 18J.3. — * Bell's Life ij«r Sydney. 4 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 4th January. Published weekly. 
 
 A sporting journal. The principal contributor for many 
 years was Mr. G-. E. Morton, a nephew of a well-known London 
 farce writer. He possesses considerable talent for humour, and 
 is now editor of Sydney Punch. 
 
 1845. — The Sotjtheen Eeportee. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 4 January. 
 
 On the appearance of this publication, its cotemporary the 
 Sentinel spoke of it as " a sort of journal called the Southern 
 Eeporter, the object of which seems to be the support of the 
 monstrosities of Popery, and the promotion of the favojirite 
 crotchet of O'Connell — Eepeal." 
 
 1845. — The Sentinel. 4 pages. 
 
 No. 1, "Wednesday, 8 January. Published weekly. 
 
 A sectarian organ, apparently in the interest of the Church 
 of England. Its remarks on cotemporary " Papists" and 
 " Puseyites" were rather strong. It seems to have been a 
 continuation of Dr. Lang's Colonial Observer. 
 
4-1 
 
 1845. — The Southebn Queei^. 
 
 No. 1, January. Published weekly. 
 
 The only information I can obtain respecting this periodical 
 is from a critical notice of it published in the Atlas of the 4th 
 January, and from another in the Sentinel of the 8th. It was 
 pronounced by the former journal to be worthless. The Sentinel 
 speaks of it as a journal " distinguished by eminent ability and 
 general good taste. . The ' Introductory Address' is one of the 
 most spirited and talented articles that ever issued from the 
 Australian Press." In subsequent issues, the Sentinel abused it 
 on the score of its religious opinions. 
 
 1815. — The Examinee, Political, Literary, and Commercial 
 Journal. 8 pages. 
 
 From a prospectus published in this paper, it appears to 
 have been a new series of another paper called the Commercial 
 Journal and General Advertiser. It is stated to have been edited 
 by Mr. Eichard Thomson, " late editor of the Atlas.'J 
 
 1845. — Commercial Joitenal and Geneeal Adteetisee. 
 
 4 pages. 
 No. 1, Saturday, 5th April. 
 Very well printed and edited, but not successful. 
 
 1845. — The Age. 4 pages. Price, l^d. 
 
 No. 1, April. 
 
 A creditable attempt to establish a cheap periodical, but it 
 met with no success. 
 
 1846. — The Spectatoe. 12 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 24th January. Published weekly. 
 
 A well-written weekly paper, apparently started on behalf 
 of the squatters. Its term of existence was limited to a year 
 or so. 
 
-l.J 
 
 1846. — The Tejipeeance Heeald. 
 
 1817. — "Weekly Dispatch. 8 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 3rd July. 
 
 Another attempt to establish a weekly journal, but as unsuc- 
 cessful as the rest. 
 
 1847. — The Heads op the People. 
 
 An illustrated miscellany of a humourous character, pub- 
 lished weekly. It contained portraits of public men ; the drawings 
 being lithographed by the proprietor, Baker, a lithographer by 
 trade. This publication was not a brilliant production, but it was 
 amusing and tolerably successful. It lasted nearly two years. 
 
 1848. — The People's Advocate, and New South Wales 
 Vindicator. 16 pages. 
 
 Judging from appearance, this was a very respectable weekly 
 newspaper. It advocated the extension of the franchise to the 
 working classes, and lasted some four or five years. In 1851, Mr. 
 Deniehy contributed to its columns. In the last edition of his 
 History, Dr. Lang says, " The People's Advocate is a well-con- 
 ducted paper, something more than Liberal in its politics, and 
 very influential among the working classes." 
 
 1849. — The Austealian Spoetsman. 4 pages, illustrated. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 6th January, published weekly. 
 
 A. very good sporting newspaper. The comic illustrations 
 were well drawn, and the writing displayed a good deal of clever- 
 ness. 
 
46 
 
 1850. — *The Feeeman's JorENAi,. 
 
 No. 1, June 30. Originally published twice a week, with 
 eight pages, but on a change of proprietorship in 1865, it 
 appeared as a weekly journal of twenty -four pages. 
 
 This paper was established as an organ of the Roman 
 Catholic body, and was for many years exclusively religious. 
 Until recently, it presented little to attract the general reader, 
 and was quite devoid of talent in its editorial department. A 
 year or two ago, however, its management passed into other 
 hands, and its tone and appearance were immediately changed for 
 the better. Mr. W. B. Dalley became a part proprietor, and 
 contributed regularly to its columns. He was born in the Colony, 
 in the year 1833, educated at St. Mary's College, and called to 
 the Bar in 1856. The public mind was at that time deeply 
 excited by the political changes which were taking place ; Ees- 
 ponsible Grovernment was introduced for the first time ; and 
 amidst the electioneering struggles which agitated the country from 
 one end to the other, the splendid oratorical powers possessed by 
 Mr. Dalley were suddenly revealed. In democratical countries, 
 eloquence, it is said, carries everything before it. The saying 
 was certainly verified in the case of Mr. Dalley, and also, as will 
 be shortly seen, in the case of another native of the Colony, 
 Mr. Deniehy. These gentlemen were intimate associates, and 
 were bound together, not alone by feelings of a personal nature, 
 but by their appreciation of Literature. Both were endowed 
 with the very highest capacities as public speakers, and both 
 leaped at one bound — at almost the same moment — from the 
 obscurity of private life into the sunshine of unbounded popularity. 
 Mr. Dalley was a Member of the first Parliament under the new 
 Constitution, and in November, 1858, was appointed Solicitor 
 Q-eneral. This oflioe he retained for a few months only. It was 
 accepted rather to suit the convenience of his colleagues than his 
 own. Those members of the Bar who, by their seniority in the 
 
47 
 
 profession and position in public life, were most fitted to hold 
 office, were in opposition to the gentlemen with whom Mr. Dalley 
 was politically connected. The latter accordingly, with only two 
 years' professional standing, was called upon to take office, and 
 did so with reluctance. Soon after his resignation, he paid his 
 first visit to England. In 1861, after his return to the Colony, 
 he was appointed, in conjunction with Mr. Parkes, the present 
 Colonial Secretary, a public lecturer, with a commission to lecture 
 throughout the United Kingdom on the advantages offered by 
 this country to emigrants. He returned in about twelve months^ 
 and sat for a short time in Parliament, but without taking any 
 active interest in its proceedings. His practice at the Bar is very 
 large, more especially in criminal cases. In all cases, indeed, 
 in which an appeal to the jury is a matter of more than ordinary 
 importance, he is invariably retained. 
 
 Mr. Dalley's writings, never of a sectarian character, are 
 distinguished by their overflowiag humour, sparkling imagery, 
 and exquisite diction. I'ew can be more happy in their exercise 
 of ridicule — a weapon which in most hands is used to wound, but 
 not in his. So finely indeed is the bitterness of sarcasm tem- 
 pered by the geniality of his humour, that even while engaged 
 in political warfare, he has never made an enemy or estranged a 
 friend. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he has withdrawn from 
 political life, the asperities of which are foreign to his nature ; 
 and could we be certain that Literature would gain what has 
 been lost to Politics, we should have infinite reason to rejoice. 
 
 The Freeman's Journal is now edited by Mr. Hutchinson, a 
 graceful writer. Its circulation is about 1,600. 
 
 1850.— * The Empibe. 
 
 No. 1. 28th December. Its first four issues were published 
 weekly ; it then appeared as a daily paper of six pages demy 
 folio ; then of four pages folio, and subserviently of eight. 
 
48 
 
 This journal was commenced by Mr. Henry Parkes, in oppo- 
 sition to the Herald, and as the organ of what is sometimes 
 termed the " Great Liberal Party " of the Colony. This party 
 had at the time made itself extremely powerful by its agitation 
 with respect to the Land Laws, and other leading topics of 
 political interest ; and it was naturally supposed that a daily 
 journal devoted to the exposition of their views would command 
 very general favour. As one of the ablest and most consistent 
 advocates of Liberalism, Mr. Parkes was well fitted to carry out 
 the enterprise on which he had entered ; but journalism requires 
 something more than political ability to make it successful. 
 Although the I^mpire was well conducted by Mr. Parkes in its poli- 
 tical and literary departments, it utterly failed in its commercial 
 relations. After a severe struggle, the proprietor was obliged to 
 yield to his misfortunes in the year 1858, and the Empire stopped. 
 In May of the following year its publication was resumed under 
 a new management, and it is now established as the second daily 
 journal of the Colony. Erom its commencement the Empire has 
 displayed a considerable amount of ability, and in that respect 
 it may be favourably compared with its wealthier rival. Mr. 
 Parkes is an able writer, and no one in the Colony is a better 
 "thinlcer" on political matters. His speeches in Parliament 
 display a higher capacity for dealing with the problems of State- 
 craft than those of any other man in it. It may be said that he, 
 among all our politicians, makes the nearest approach to a States- 
 man. He is by no means a man of brilliant imagination, although 
 he has published two volumes of poetry ; but, on the other hand, 
 he is eminently clear and logical. He is now Colonial Secretary. 
 He was editorially assisted, at different times, by Mr. James 
 Martin, by Mr. Deuiehy, and by Mr. Porster. On the 
 revival of the Empire in 1859, Mr. Porster and Mr. Eagar were 
 the principal contributors to its columns for some months. Mr.' 
 Eagar has been a very frequent contributor to the Press for many 
 
49 
 
 years back. He was boru in the Colony, in 1818. A short 
 memoir of him appeared in th.B Southern Cross oi 18U0, at the 
 time when he was a Minister of the Crown in conjunction with 
 his "school and form-fellow," Mr. Forster ; and from this memoir 
 I extract the following : — 
 
 " During Ms business life (a period of five and twenty years), Mr. Eagar 
 had acquired a Hgt reputation for business ability ; but it is only known to 
 a few personal friends that, during the whole of that period, Mr. Eagar found 
 time, among his other active occupations, to contribute largely to the leading 
 columns of the liberal Press. Long anterior to Responsible GrOTernment, and 
 in the newspapers of the time — the Monitor, Australian, and Examiner — 
 his writings, all in advocacy of liberal principles, are to be found. During 
 the last ten years, he has contributed frequently, as a correspondent on 
 political and financial subjects, to the Sydney Morning Herald, and also to 
 the JEmpire, then under the proprietorship of Mr. Parkes. Among his later 
 efforts in aid of the development of enlightened opinion, may be comprised 
 the editorship of the Church Sentinel. To the Empire, u.nder its present 
 proprietorship, Mr. Eagar suppUed numerous leading articles on the chief 
 subjects of political interest, from June to October of last year.'' 
 
 Mr. Eagar is now, for the third time, a Minister of the 
 Crown. 
 
 One of the present editors of the Empire is Mr. William 
 "Wilkes. Previous to his connection with this journal, he was 
 editor of the Brisbane Courier, and occupied that position for eight 
 years — from 1848 to 1856. He earned a considerable reputation 
 in Brisbane by his humourous writings — a reputation which still 
 survives in that city, after an absence of many years. Long 
 before he was connected with any journal — before, in fact, there 
 was any journal in Brisbane to be connected with — he displayed 
 his talent as an impromptu humourist while living in the bush. 
 Amusing sketches, hastily written on a desk composed of a piece 
 of bark, were handed about from friend to friend^ till copies 
 were multiplied, and the author's name become a syn.onyme 
 
50 
 
 for humour. In 1856, he came to Sydney, and contributed to 
 several periodicals which no longer exist. In the Month he wrote 
 a clever novelette, entitled " Charles "Wotton, or Bush Life in 
 Australia." On the re-establishment of the Empire in 1859, he 
 joined its staff in an editorial capacity. As a political writer he 
 is not excelled by any one, of the present day, in this Colony ; 
 and his contributions to the Empire constitute much of that 
 journal's value. Although produced with little labour, and less 
 premeditation, they are neither shallow nor injudicious ; but are 
 invariably distinguished by good taste, accurate thinking, and 
 abundant humour. 
 
 Mr. J. J. Harpur wrote many articles in this journal some 
 time ago. Mr. Bennett, one of the proprietors, is also an 
 occasional contributor to its columns. He is the author of an 
 excellent " History of Australian Discovery and Colonisation," 
 now in course of publication. Another contributor is the Eev. 
 Mr. Eidley, whose treatises on the Language of the Aboriginals 
 are noticed in a subsequent page. 
 
 The circulation of the Empire is generally stated to be 
 about half the circulation of the Herald. Besides the daily 
 issue, a Weekly Empire is also published, for distribution in the 
 interior. 
 
 1851.— The Peess. 
 
 No. 1, October. Published weekly. 
 
 A third periodical commenced by the indefatigable Dr. Lang. 
 It was ably written during the short term of its existence — a term 
 which did not extend beyond a few months. Dr. Lang paid a 
 visit to England, and the Press ceased on his departure from the 
 Colony. 
 
51 
 
 1852.— The Courier. 
 
 This publication seems to have disappeared altogether. The 
 only trace of it I can find is in Dr. Lang's History, where it is 
 stated that " The Courier has been recently started by the publi- 
 cans of Sydney, who of course all take it in." 
 
 1853. — The Australian "Witness. 
 
 The contents of this periodical, which lasted a year or two, 
 were principally of a religious character. 
 
 1853. — The Illustrated Stdney ISTews. 8 pages. Price, 6d. 
 No. 1, October 9. Published weekly. 
 
 The earlier nnmbers of this periodical shew little excellence, 
 either artistic or literary ; but in the second year of its existence, 
 a considerable improvement is manifest in its appearance. It 
 was enlarged in size from 8 to 16 pages. It was unfortunate in 
 its artists, however, at all times ; but it possessed an excellent 
 engraver in Mr. Mason, formerly of the Illustrated London Hew. 
 Its letter-press is remarkable rather for carefulness in the selection 
 of extracts than for the originality of its contributions. No. 53 
 affords some information with respect to its position at that 
 time:' — "The Illustrated Sydney News prints 4,000 copies of its 
 new series, and contains six pages of advertisements, reserving its 
 remaining ten pages for the double purposes of a weekly news- 
 paper (adapted for the city and the bush) , and the attractions of 
 pictorial illustration. We possess, therefore, a larger circulation 
 than is boasted by any weekly publication in the Colony, and take 
 place, in this respect, next to the daily journals of Sydney. Our 
 circulation is increasing in the sister Colonies, in America, and 
 in India ; and the number of our English subscribers (by no 
 means inconsiderable) is augmenting rapidly. We have admitted 
 unreservedly that hitherto our periodical has not taken a foremost 
 
52 
 
 rank. It has, from tlie very novelty of the undertaking, had to 
 struggle with existence. Feebleness in its literary department, 
 haste in the pictorial, and irregularity in the despatching of the 
 paper, were unavoidably attendant on such a condition. We trust, 
 for the future, to be enabled to give our illustrations more time 
 and finish, and to improve materially upon their style and 
 character. We have added to our staff of artists and engravers 
 very valuable reinforcements. We have secured the pen of one 
 who has succeeded in dealing powerfully with public topics ; and 
 for the magazine department of our paper, its proper aid. We 
 trust that scientific writers will also be attracted to our columns." 
 
 These efforts, however, were unavailing, and the publication 
 sank, in its third year of existence, involving a heavy loss to its 
 proprietors. A large number of its illustrations were republished 
 in 1859, with a preface by Mr. Fowler, under the title of The 
 Ausfralian Ficture Pleasure Booh. 
 
 1855. — The Illtjsteated Stdnet JouRirjiL : a Weekly Record of 
 News, Science, Literature, and Art. 12 pages, 4to. Price, 6d. 
 No. 1, July 14. The illustrations in this publication are not 
 of a high order in art, but they are very fair. The letter -press 
 consists principally of the usual light reading — tales, extracts, 
 and witticisms. 
 
 1855. — The Stdnet Sketch-booe. 
 
 Published weekly. 
 
 The editor of this periodical was Mr. H. B. Watts, a writer 
 of more than ordinary powers. He excelled in sarcasm and 
 humour. The Sketch Booh was in the nature of a Punch ; 
 but, although it was remarkably well written, it did not live long. 
 Mr. Watts was for some time a contributor to the Herald, under 
 the signature " Quill." He subsequently went to Melbourne, 
 where he became editor of the Argus. 
 
53 
 1856.— A G-erman newspaper was printed in this year. 
 
 1856. — Sydney Punch. 
 
 Published weekly. 
 
 This publication presented little attraction to the public. It 
 was very deficient in talent, both artistic and literary, and its 
 existence was limited to a few months. 
 
 1856. — The CnrKCH or England Cheoniclb. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, October 1. Published twice a month, 
 subsequently enlarged, and published once a month. 
 
 A religious publication. 
 
 1857. — Sydney Punch. 
 
 The editor of this paper was Mr. "Wilkes, already mentioned, 
 and among its contributors were Mr. Sealy and Mr. Eowe — 
 " Menippus" and " Peter 'Possum." Each of these gentlemen 
 possessed marked talent for humour, though each of a different 
 kind. Mr. "Wilkes is a master of the art of " squibbery." His 
 compositions take the form of prose, and are produced with great 
 ease and rapidity. Mr. Sealy, on the other hand, to adopt a 
 vulgar phrase, " cultivated the Muse." No one could exert his 
 powers of ridicule more gracefully than he did. The volume he 
 has left behind contains abundant proofs of his capacity as a 
 satirist. Mr. Eowe contributed an article to the Month, entitled 
 " A Bather's Mishap," which displays remarkable humour ; it 
 would do credit to any periodical in London. The periodical in 
 Sydney, however, to which these gentlemen contributed, was cut 
 off at a very early period of its career ; it expired with its fourth 
 issue. Singular to relate, the cause of its extinction was precisely 
 the reverse of that which usually brings about the ruin of literary 
 enterprise. One of its proprietors suddenly found himself in 
 possession of unexpected wealth, and apparently preferring his 
 ease to his literary dignity, he immediately abandoned Punch, 
 leaving its talented editor in the lurch. 
 
54 
 
 1857. — The Atjsteaiian Bannee. 8 pages. 
 No. 1, January. Published weekly. 
 A religious publication. 
 
 1857.— The Era. 
 
 A sporting journal, published weekly, and intended to compete 
 with BelVs Life in Sydney. Mr. Wilkes was a contributor, but 
 not on sporting topics. It lasted a year or so. 
 
 1858. — SYDiirET Dispatch: a Weekly Journal of Folitics, Com- 
 merce, and Literature. 12 pages. 
 No. 1, Saturday 3 July. This was " the first Australian 
 journal printed entirely with colonial-made type." The type was 
 cast in Sydney ; and certainly, no paper could be better printed 
 than the Dispatch. Mr. Wilkes was among its contributors for a 
 short period. 
 
 1858. — The Chuhch Sentinel. 
 
 No. 1, November. 
 
 A religious publication, stated to have been " started by a 
 few Members of the Anglican Laity, to resist a threatened Epis- 
 copal despotism." It also contended for the abolition of State 
 Aid to Eeligion — a policy which has been recently carried into 
 effect. The Sentinel (which did not live long) was edited by 
 Mr. Greoffrey Eagar, the present Colonial Treasurer. Mr. William 
 I'orster also wrote for it. 
 
 1858. — The Spectatoe. 
 
 This publication, which appeared once a fortnight, was a 
 curiosity, having been " edited by an Association of Ladies," at 
 the head of which was a Mrs. Cora Anna Weekes, who had 
 recently arrived from California. Its first number appeared in 
 July, and its last followed soon afttr. 
 
55 
 
 1859. — The Sydney Evening Mail. 4 pages. 
 
 The first attempt in the Colony to establisli an evening paper. 
 It lasted some three or four months only. Its publication began 
 in February, and ceased in May, on the re-appearance of the daily 
 Empire. 
 
 1859. — The Soitthern Ceoss : a WeeTcly Journal of Politics, 
 Literature, and Social Progress. 16 pages. 
 
 No. 1, October 1. 
 
 Several contributions, both in verse and prose, from the pen 
 of the celebrated E. H. Home, appeared in this journal. They 
 were sent by him from the Blue Mountains, in Victoria, to the 
 editor, for whom he entertained Strong feelings of friendship. 
 This editor was Daniel Henry Deniehy — in many respects the 
 most brilliant man that this country has produced. He was born 
 in Sydney, on the ISth August, 1828, and ho died at Bathurst, 
 on the 22nd October, 1865, in the thirty-eighth year of bis 
 age. "When a child, he went with his parents to England, and 
 resided there for a short time. He received his education in 
 his nati\'e place, and that education was simply a school one. 
 In his youth he was articled to Mr. Stenhouse, an attorney, and in 
 due time was admitted to practice. Mr. Stenhouse is a gentleman 
 who has cultivated Literature throughout his life, and who has 
 distinguished himself by the ardent interest he has displayed in 
 all matters connected with it. His library is one of the largest 
 pri\ate collections in the Colony, numbering many thousands of 
 volumes of classical and European literature. It was while pur- 
 suing his studies under the care of this accomplished gentleman, 
 that Mr. Deniehy first gave signs of that intellectual power for 
 which he was afterwards so distinguished. AVith very slight 
 advantages in his favour, he contrived to make himself master of 
 almost thewhole field of European Literature — toattain a thorough 
 insight into the various developments of Art — and to qualify 
 
56 
 
 himself for tlie most marlted displays of talent, both as a poli- 
 tician and a man of letters. The extent and accuracy of his 
 attainments were astonishing. He seemed to possess a peculiar 
 faculty for making himself familiar with every subject that 
 attracted his attention. He penetrated by the mere force of 
 genius into things which to most men are mysteries, req[uiring an 
 apprenticeship to understand. In the domain of Literature he 
 was probably without an equal in this country, in his power of 
 conception as well as in the range of his acquisitions. His mind 
 was essentially original and creative. He has not, unfortunately, 
 left much behind him that can be pointed to in evidence of this 
 assertion ; but the little that does remain is quite sufficient to 
 prove it. 
 
 The brilliancy and power of his intellect were not publicly 
 manifested until circumstances had made him a public character. 
 The political struggles which attended the introduction of Parlia- 
 mentary Grovernment in 1856 afforded him many opportunities of 
 displaying the great oratorical powers which nature, in addition to 
 her other gifts, had bestowed upon him. Karely have greater 
 triumphs been achieved by any public speaker in this Colony 
 than those which were achieved by Mr. Deuiehy. He was 
 returned to Parliament in 1857, and again in the two succeeding 
 years. While in the Assembly he was a vigorous opponent of 
 the Cowper Ministry — a Ministry which had been formed under 
 the auspices of Liberalism, of which he himself was an ardent 
 advocate. It may be doubted whether the influence of politics 
 upon Literature has ever been a salutary one. It cannot be 
 doubted that Mr. Deniehy, like many other brilliant men of letters, 
 suffered from his devotion to political interests. He was drawn 
 away from his proper field, his mind was embittered by factious 
 struggles, and those powers, which might otherwise have been con- 
 centrated on a work of genius, were frittered away in the pursuit of 
 some immediate object. AV^hen he was no longer a Member of the 
 
57 
 
 Assembly, he was instrumental in establishing the Southern Cross, 
 which, so long as it existed, unceasingly and bitterly opposed 
 Mr. Cowper and his friends. His contributions to it, forming 
 nearly the whole of its original matter, at once gave it a high 
 character, both as a literary and a political journal. It was 
 decidedly one-of the very ablest journals we have seen in Sydney. 
 The critical notices written by the editor afford striking evidence 
 of his power as a critic — a power, indeed, which was altogether of 
 the highest quality. In political satire his weapon was of the 
 most trenchant character. A piece of this description, entitled 
 " How I became Attorney General of New Barataria," ridiculing 
 the manner in which the most important offices in the State had 
 been filled up, is not only the most brilliant political satire written 
 in this Colony, but one of the most brilliant in the English language. 
 It would have gained its author the hearty admiration of the 
 men who sat round Mr. Eraser's dinner-table some thirty or forty 
 years ago ; but, as it was, it estranged from him some of his best and 
 most valuable friends. On the termination of the Southern Cross, 
 in less than a year after its first number had appeared, Mr. 
 Deniehy left this Colony for Melbourne. He there edited, for 
 about two years, a weekly journal called the Victorian, in the 
 interests of the Eoman Catholic party. He returned to Sydney 
 in 186-1, but his health had failed, and his mental power was 
 almost extinguished. 
 
 The following tribute to his memory was paid by his illus- 
 trious friend, Mr. E. H. Home, in the columns of a Melbourne 
 journal. No one, perhaps, was better qualified to estimate his 
 intellectual worth ; and the language in which this estimate is 
 expressed, will sufficiently shew that there is no exaggeration in 
 what has been said of him above : — 
 
 " A telegram from Sydney informs us of a loss "which many in New South 
 Wales, and not a few in other places, will feel deeply, and not the less so 
 because it has long been foreseen to be as inevitable as irreparable. Last 
 
68 
 
 Sunday night, Mr. D. H. Deniehy, once the eloquent, the witty, the erudite, 
 and vigorous leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South 
 Wales, and weE known for the extraordinary extent of his reading, fell 
 senseless in the streets of Bathurst, and was carried to the hospital, where 
 he died before daybreak on Monday morning. 
 
 " The fate of an American celebrity, whose genius and writings Mr. 
 Deniehy so much admired (Edgar Allan Poe), had often been predicted with 
 regard to himself, and indeed it required a Tcry slight degree of the prophetic 
 seer to know that the fate could scarcely, in the end, be otherwise. For 
 years past it had become quite evident that life had lost all its natural charms 
 for him, and that if he did not directly court Death, he at least set the 
 ■ grisly terror' at defiance, or treated the frequent approach with scornful 
 indifference. A few words may serve to explain the cause of this. Mr. 
 Deniehy had, as a young man, worked very hard and unceasingly, perhaps to 
 an injurious extent, during fifteen or sixteen years ; he then burst forth a 
 youthful meteor upon the quiet atmosphere of Sydney, first by the brilliant 
 eloquence of his lectures on poetry and literature — English, French, and 
 Italian ; and next as a political orator. He was at once recognised and 
 hailed as the first and brightest genius of Australian growth. Every fresh 
 eifort met with unmingled applause. He was a remarkable instance of an 
 immediate success in life. Without passing through any of the intermediate 
 gradations of failures, mortifications, and bitter disappointments, he sprang 
 at once, or rather was at once placed upon the apex of contemporaneous 
 fame ; he stood upon the ' topmost round of Fortune's wheel,' and it was 
 too much even for his strong brain to bear without becoming giddy and 
 toppling over. Perhaps it would have been too much for any young brain ; 
 but such a success is so very rare, indeed almost unique, that the pen that 
 would reprehend liis fall may do wisely to pause first, and consider the over- 
 whelming nature of the circumstances. Let it be here conceded that the 
 above is only an individual elucidation ; other causes may also have been at 
 work. 
 
 "D. H. Deniehy, among all young men of Australian birth (and we might 
 put the statement in a far wider form), was the brightest spirit, the most 
 elaborate of general readers, the largest of scope as to intellectual sympathies ; 
 one of the most varied in attainments, with respect to a knowledge of the 
 best and most recherche books in both ancient and modem languages, the 
 cryptic and archaic being to him as familiar as the merely elegant or evan- 
 escent ; and this applies no less to the knowledge he had of pictures, 
 
59 
 
 architecture, sculpture, and articles of vertu. In addition to this, he 
 possessed a ■wonderful memory, and was gifted, beyond all other ' sons of 
 the soil,' with ready wit and genuine eloquence. These latter quahties with 
 him were no mere clap-traps to serTe for momentary effects — he had the 
 thoughts that uplift, and the ' words that bum.' 
 
 " The feeling for abstract ideahstic beauty appeared in Mr. Deniehy to be 
 almost an additional sense ; he seemed actually to taste the beautiful ; hia 
 mouth watered at words as if they were peaches ; he appeared to have a 
 sensuous impression of the ideal, with such fullness and force did his imagi- 
 nation reaUze a graphic thought ; and yet he had so well-stored and practical 
 an intellect and understanding, and so keen and subtle a knowledge of men 
 and things, that he might have risen to the highest positions in the G-overn- 
 ment of New South Wales, but for the corrosive influence of one evil among 
 all his great gifts and good fortunes. No man, perhaps, ever had a larger 
 number of personal friends — friends who were dcTOted to him, and from 
 whom any money, any kindness, any serTice could be obtained, and generally 
 without asking ; but he had one fatal enemy — an enemy unceasing and 
 remorseless — through the whole day, and through the whole night pursuing 
 him even in his dreams. He would speak of this himself, at times, and in a 
 most learned, and no less cunning way, to disarm and cut the ground from 
 under his hearer, and give, as a psychological reason why it was not of the 
 least nse for liim even to make any effort to master his accursed foe, that he 
 was a victim to ' the fatal paralysis of the will.' It was therefore illogical 
 and unphilosophical for anybody to offer him any advice. No man, for any 
 essential purpose, could help another man, &c. 
 
 " This is not a time to enter upon any detailed outlines of his bi'ief career. 
 It was brief indeed as to the too much light, and all the sad remainder was a 
 gi-im and phantasmal nightmare, surpassing all experience and all belief. 
 Peace be to his wasted and wandering genius, and may all those forms of 
 loveUness and refined grace on which he most delighted to discourse, hover 
 over him, and infuse their spirit through his now unbroken sleep ! Those who 
 knew him in his better hours wiU join in this prayer ; and those who only 
 knew him otherwise may forgive this poor white stone now laid with mournful 
 memories upon his untimely grave. 
 
 " The subject of this too hasty sketch has left very little to justify what 
 has been here said of him ; but all those who intimately knew him will be 
 
60 
 
 well aware how true it is. Instead of a small local circle, liere and there, he 
 might have had an extensire reputation, and taken rank as one of the most 
 marked men for colonial history up to the present time. As it is, he has 
 only left a few essays, sketches, stray papers, and journalistic waifs, and tt 
 number of admirable private letters, — ' the rest is silence.' " 
 
 Another competent critic, who, in former years, was an 
 intimate friend of Mr. Deniehy, expressed his opinion of the in- 
 tellectual qualities of the latter on the same occasion. This was 
 Mr. Dalley. The following article from his pen appeared in the 
 Freeman's Journal : — 
 
 " In a remote town of .the interior, away from family and friends, died 
 suddenly, in the 33rd year of his age, on Sunday, 22nd instant, Daniel Henry 
 Deniehy. His death demands more than a passing notice from all who respect 
 great talents, and admire high intellectual culture. Mr. Deniehy may justly 
 be regarded as the most brilhant of the natire-born inhabitants of this 
 country. Of rare natural abilities, his youth was marked by an earnest and 
 impassioned love of Literature. At a period of life when with most of us the 
 real business of education is only commencing, he had collected and arranged 
 the treasures of rich and varied scholarship. Many will recollect the child- 
 like face and delicate figure of the boy lecturer of ten or fifteen years ago 
 upon the platform of literary assemblages, holding large audiences entranced 
 with the magic of his eloquence, and inspiring not less admiration of his 
 genius than wonder at the precocity of his talents. An unrivalled orator by 
 nature, as well as by careful cultivation, he devoted the early years of his brief 
 manhood to the instruction and elevation of his young countrymen. He 
 successively treated the Literatures of Home, of France, of Italy, and of 
 England ; and it is not too much to assert that, in this country, at all events, 
 no such admirable discourses were ever pronounced. In the midst of the 
 enthusiasm excited by his genius, he was invited to contest the electorate of 
 Argyle, in which he was then resident, as a candidate for its representation 
 in Parliament. His speech upon the hustings on this occasion was a model 
 of public oratory. Victorious in this struggle, he entered Parliament with 
 the highest reputation, and the most unclouded prospects of honor and 
 distinction. Meanwhile he was known as a contributor to the Press of 
 the Colony, of many articles in prose and verse, of rare excellence. As a 
 
61 
 
 Member of the Legislature, liis career was not marked by the splendid succesa 
 which all who knew him anticipated as the reward of his abihty. It may be 
 urged, in explanation of this disappointment, that he had few sympathies 
 in common with the majority of those with whom he became politically 
 associated, and that his nature was not suiBoiently yielding to accommodate 
 itself to the compromises of his party. He, however, toot a conspicuous 
 position in Parliament on all great occasions, and was uniformly listened to 
 with a respectful attention rarely accorded to others. The intensity of his 
 convictions, and the irritability produced by extreme physical feebleness, 
 placed him in antagonism to many who would have preferred his friendship 
 to his hostility. It was his misfortune that he was unable to recognize the 
 possibihty of continuing friendships originating in agreement of opinion 
 upon public questions, bsyond the period of the maintenance of such political 
 accord. To the deep regret of his friends, he ahenated himself from most of 
 those with whom he had entered public life, and identified himself in the 
 discussion of public questions. An unrivalled master of sarcasm — he em- 
 ployed his talents to widen impassably the breach between his former allies 
 and himself. We abstain from pronouncing any opinion upon the justice 
 and propriety of his course of action. His rules for the government of his 
 own public conduct were rigorous to the last degree ; and he inexorably 
 required of others what he himself laboriously endeavoured to exhibit in his 
 own person — the highest consistency of conduct. Looking down upon his 
 grave, which holds so much that was once so loved and admired, and from 
 which so many of the fruits of a great and honorable life were expected, his 
 survivors wiU forget the bitterness of his hostility, and only remember the 
 former triumphs of his noble intellect, ere sorrow, and infirmity, and dis- 
 appointment, had clouded, weakened, and broken his genius. Few wiU think 
 of the luminous spirit now gone from our midst, without a tear of regret for 
 so much power lost for ever, and of pity for a life which gave such promise 
 of greatness, and went out in suffering, in poverty, and bitter mental 
 distress." 
 
 Allusion has been made to the extraordinary variety of Mr. 
 Deniehy's attainments, and to Ms faculty for accumulating 
 information on subjects to whicli lie might have been supposed 
 a stranger. The following testimony was supplied by a corres- 
 pondent to a local paper soon after Mr. Deniehy's death : — 
 
B2 
 
 " Sir, — May I be permitted, through your journal, to pay a passing 
 tribute to the memory of the late Daniel Henry Deniehy ? Your cotem- 
 porary has touched upon his history with a tender and a loTing hand ; I 
 should wish to do so in the same spirit. Known only to me through his 
 public life, I hare nsTer possessed the priTilege of that familiar intercourse 
 which seems to have charmed all who enjoyed it. On one occasion, and one 
 only, had I the pleasure of making his acquaintance, and the impression 
 produced upon me by his extraordinary intellect was such that I hare never 
 forgotten it, and most probably never shall. We were once weather-bound 
 travellers at a solitary way-side inn, and, of course, thrown a good deal on 
 each other's society for amusement. I soon discovered I was in the presence 
 of no ordinary man, and indulged, as you may suppose, in many conjectures 
 as to who this extraordinary talker could be. However, I was not long in 
 the dark, for in the evening he grew communicative, and drawing his chair 
 up to the fire, he indulged in a thoroughly Coleridgean monologue, I all the 
 while, to borrow Carlyle's words, sitting ' a passive bucket to be pumped 
 into' — and very contented was I to be so. I cannot say now whether it was 
 the eloquence of his language, or the vast stores of his knowledge, which 
 attracted me most ; but between the two, I was spell-bound. In the course of 
 the second evening we were joined by another visitor. I know not who he 
 was, but he was an artist, or some one intimately acquainted with Art in all its 
 branches. Mr. Deniehy was soon in conversation with this gentleman on the 
 contents of the diiferent Continental Galleries. With those of Dresden and 
 Munich he appeared to be perfectly familiar, and you would have thought he 
 carried a catalogue of the Louvre collection in his pocket. Presently the 
 conversation changed to engraving, which I could see was rather a specialite 
 of our new friend. But here Mr. Deniehy was equally at home ; and I 
 remember his specifying particular engravings at the Louvre, as illustrative of 
 various styles, or various processes in the art. He afterwards gave us a 
 minute history of silhouette portraiture. Now, considering silhouette has 
 been ' out' for years, one might almost say for centuries, we may well wonder 
 at his familiarity with such an out of the way subject. He has always seemed 
 to me to resemble De Quincey. They were alike in person — both mere 
 tenements for the spirit within ; alike in the copiousness of their information, 
 in their eloquenoe and precision of style, in their irregular and unrestrained 
 efforts ; alike, too, in their frequent pilgrimages to that dreamland, that 
 enchanted realm, that faery ground of imagination, which has ever been a 
 luie and a snare to the best and wisest of us. Peace be to his aahes !" 
 
63 
 
 A similar memorial appeared in another local paper, at a later 
 date. It was addressed from the Murrumbidgee Kiver. After 
 alluding to Mr. Deniehy's schoolboy days at the old Sydney 
 College, the writer went on to say : — 
 
 " After he left soliool, whicli he was obliged to do early, in oousequenee 
 of dechning health, I lost sight of him till I met him in Goulburn in 1854. 
 Many who read this will recall the delight he gave on one occasion by a 
 lecture on Scotch Poetry. The Court House was crowded, and for two hours 
 his audience remained in rapt attention, Hstening to the torrent which, without 
 check or hindrance, poured from his eloquent lips. His quotations were all 
 from memory, aU Ms notes being contained on half a sheet of paper. After 
 that lecture I retired with him to his lodgings, and he kept me while he 
 continued on the subject for nearly two hours more. His memory was some- 
 thing marvellous. I have sometimes thought he had read every book worth 
 reading that was ever printed, and I do verily believe that nothing which he 
 ever read was forgotten. He had travelled over the whole field of English 
 Literature, was a very respectable classic, and was well acquainted with the 
 modern languages, speaking French fluently. His greatest oratorical triumphs 
 were achieved at political meetings. The eiTect of his first speech at the 
 Circular Quay, in Sydney, will never be forgotten by those who heard it. 
 Some of his best speeches were delivered in G-oulbum, among which I may 
 especially mention that on the occasion of his election, in February, 
 1857 * * * His end was sad — terribly sad. Always weakly, his unwearied 
 industry, his severe and unremitting brain work, reduced him to such a state 
 of physical exhaustion that he found rehef only when under the influence of 
 artificial stimiilants. And therefore he sought them again, and yet again he 
 sought them, and the end of all is to be found iu the simple grave at Bathurst 
 a stranger's kindness has provided for him. He could not have been more 
 than thirty-six * * * As I cast this poor wreath on his grave, I cannot but 
 feel with Burke, that ' I live in an inverted order,' and can only again lament 
 over poor, gifted, lost Deniehy.'' 
 
 1860. — * The Sydney Mail. 8 pages, subsequently 12. 
 
 No. 1, 7 July. Published weekly. 
 
 This is a weekly issue from the Herald office, containing the 
 news of the week, with a variety of extracts and original articles. 
 
64 
 
 Its circulation is principally in the country. At its first appear- 
 ance it contained 8 pages, and had about 2,000 subscribers. In 
 1863 it was enlarged to 12 pages, and its circulation was then 
 over 8,000. This has now increased to 11,500. 
 
 I860.— * The Weekly Empiee. 
 
 A similar publication to the foregoing. 
 
 1862. — The Index. 8 pages, 4to. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 18th October. Published weekly. 
 
 The editor, proprietor, printer, and publisher of this periodical 
 was a person styling himself " The Honorable William Eadley." 
 The publication apparently originated in a desire to bring himself 
 into public notice, to publish his own private grievances, and 
 to attack the order of Freemasonry. After the issue of a few 
 numbers, the office of the Index was burned to the ground, and 
 the honorable proprietor made a precipitate retreat from the 
 Colony. He w-as subsequently captured by the police, and 
 brought to trial on the charge of arson. The trial resulted 
 in a rather severe sentence. 
 
 1863. — The Coenstalk. 
 
 A small weekly paper, the contents of which consisted of 
 original tales (written principally by the editor, Mr. Whitworth)', 
 answers to correspondents, receipts for puddings, original poetry, 
 and conundrums. It lived for a few months only. Mr. Whitworth 
 has been connected with several Australian journals as a reporter, 
 and is a very ready writer. He has recently edited a valuable 
 work of reference — Bailliere's Gazetteer for New South Wales. ■ : 
 
65 
 
 1864. — The Commeecial Times op New South "Wales : a 
 record of Mercantile News, Shipping Intelligence, Mining 
 Transactions, Prices Current, Sfc, Sfe. Conducted by Cyril 
 Cecil. 10 pages. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 5th March. Published weekly. 
 
 1864. — The Sydney Times : A Journal for the promotion of 
 Australian Literature, and the advocacy of encouragement to 
 Native Industry. pages. 
 
 No. 1, April 2. Published weekly. 
 
 This publication owed its origin to the " Protectionists," a 
 class which, at the time of its appearance, was engaged in 
 strenuous efforts to convert the Legislature to its views. It was 
 edited by Mr. J. J. Harpur, a brother of the Poet, whose labours 
 as a journalist have extended over many years ; and its pages 
 contain several contributions from Mr. Charles Harpur, and from 
 Mr. Dalley. Although encouraged by many wealthy politicians, 
 the Times died at the end of its first quarter. 
 
 1864. — * Sydkey Pukch. 16 pages, 4to. 
 
 No. 1, Friday, 27th May. Published weekly. 
 
 This is the only attempt to establish a humourous periodical 
 in the Colony, which has met with any degree of success. It is 
 a superior production to its predecessors, more especially in its 
 drawings. Some of these are extremely good. The first artist 
 attached to it was Mr. E. J. Grreig, formerly of Melbourne. He 
 was a young man of considerable genius, with an enthusiastic 
 love for his profession. His merit was the greater in that he was 
 entirely self-taught. Had his life been spared, he would un- 
 doubtedly have attained, in the maturity of his powers, a high 
 degree of excellence. Unfortunately, however, a few months 
 after he had begun his work, he was drowned in the harbour, 
 with every member of his family, by the upsetting of a boat in a 
 
66 
 
 sudden squall. His place is now occupied by Mr. M. Scott, 
 whose talent as an artist, thougli of a different order from that 
 of Mr. Greig, is justly admired. The literary merit of this 
 periodical has generally been acknowledged. Considering the 
 difficulties under which it has laboured — not the least among 
 which, is the difficulty of procuring a sufficient number of con- 
 tributors — it is fuUy entitled to whatever praise has been awarded 
 it. Some of its early numbers contained pieces of remarkable 
 merit from the pen of Mr. J. B. Stifife, a gentleman who was 
 formerly a contributor to several periodicals in London, and who 
 is now editor of the Melbourne Punch. He is an accomplished 
 manufacturer of jokes. Mr. W. B. DaUey, the brightest 
 intellect among us, has contributed largely to its columns. His 
 talent as a humourist is very great, while his style is remarkable 
 . for purity and grace of language. Mr. Deniehy also wrote for 
 it during the last year of his life, but his power had then gone 
 from him. Many contributions from the pen of Mr. Hutchinson 
 have possessed merit. Latterly, Punch has been edited by Mr. 
 G. E. Morton, of whom mention has already been made. In what 
 is called " broad humour," he is not surpassed by any writer in 
 the Colony. He is deficient, however, like most of our writers, in 
 constructive power, and his wit is consequently limited in its 
 range. The circulation of this periodical does not exceed 1,000. 
 
 1864. — * The Illustrated Sydney News. 16 pages. Price, 6d. 
 
 No. 1, Thursday, June 16. Published monthly. 
 
 This publication presentsa far moreattractive appearance than 
 its predecessor of 1853. The illustrations are very good, and the 
 printing could not be better. It is still in existence, and pro- 
 mises to become permanent. The circulation during the first 
 five months is stated to have averaged 6,000 copies a month. Up 
 to the present time it has averaged over 8,500. It is published 
 in time for the English Mail every month, and a large number of 
 copies are thus disposed of. 
 
67 
 
 1865. — The Chuech Cheoiticie. 14 pages, ito. 
 
 1865. — * The Christian Pleader : a Journal of General 
 Beligious Intelligence. 14 pages, 4to. 
 
 1866. — * The Illustrated Sporting Life and Pastoral 
 Eegisteh. 4 pages. 
 No. 1, 28tli July. Published weekly. 
 
 This is the last of several attempts to drive Bell's Life out 
 of the field. It is at present published without illustrations, and 
 under the title of The Sydney S'portim.g Life. 
 
 1866. — * The Temperance Advocate. 
 
 No. 1, Saturday, 8th September. Published twice a month. 
 
 The following is a list of Country Newspapers now in 
 circulation. "With one or two exceptions, they are weU printed and 
 well conducted : — 
 
 Albury Banner. 
 Armidale Express. 
 Bathurst Pree Press. 
 
 „ Times. 
 Bega G-azette. 
 Braidwood Dispatch. 
 Border Post. 
 
 Clarence River Examiner. 
 Deniliquin Chronicle. 
 Dubbo Dispatch. 
 G-olden Age. 
 G-oulbum Chronicle and Herald. 
 
 „ Argus. 
 Illawarra Mercury. 
 „ Express. 
 Times. 
 Kiama Independent. 
 Lachlan Keporter. 
 Macleay Herald. 
 Maitland Mercury.* 
 
 Maitland Ensign. 
 Monaro Mercury. 
 
 „ Star. 
 Morpeth Leader. 
 Moruya Examiner. 
 Mudgee Liberal. 
 Murrumbidgee Herald. 
 Newcastle Chronicle. 
 ,, Standard. 
 Pastoral Times. 
 Kiverine Herald. 
 Singleton Times. 
 Tamworth Examiner. 
 Teuterfield Chronicle. 
 Tumut and Adelong Times. 
 Wagga Wagga Express. 
 Western Examiner. 
 Western Post. 
 Yass Courier. 
 
 • The circulation of the Maitland Mercury, which is published three times a week, is 
 about 9,000 weekly. 
 
68 
 
 II.— MAGAZINES. 
 
 1821. ^The ArsTEAiiAN Magazine : a Compendiwn of Beligimis, 
 
 Literary, and Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
 No, 1, May 1. Publisted montUy. 32 pages, Svo. Price, Is. 3d. 
 
 This was the first magazine published in the Colony. The 
 contents of the first number are as follows : — (1) Extract of a 
 Letter from G-overnor Macquarie, giving his " sanction and appro- 
 bation" to the magazine ; (2) A Life of the eminent Missionary, 
 Swartz ; (3) A Sermon on the truth, importance, and design of 
 Eevelation ; (4) History of Water Snakes, Sea Snakes, and Sea 
 Serpents ; (5) " On Liberality of Sentiment"; (6) Letter to the 
 Editor ; (7) Allegory on Impudence and Modesty ; (8) Literary 
 Intelligence ; (9) Eeligious Intelligence ; (10) G-eneral Infor- 
 mation ; (11) Agricultural Eeport ; (12) Select Poetry. 
 
 The appearance of this magazine is by no means good, the 
 paper and type being of a very inferior description. It was printed 
 by George Howe, the publisher of the Sydney Gazette ; and it 
 seems that, up to the year 1821, no other printing ofBce had been 
 established in the Colony. The thirteenth number contains an 
 announcement that the magazine would appear, after that issue, 
 as a quarterly, instead of a monthly, publication ; the reason 
 assigned being the want of mechanical facilities. The publisher 
 hints at the expected receipt of a " liberal and diversified supply 
 of type" from Europe, which would enable him to overcome the 
 difficulties in his way. 
 
 The contents of the Australian Magazine display no talent. 
 They are principally of a religious character, suggesting the idea 
 that the editor was a clergyman, and that he was under the 
 necessity of writing the whole of the magazine himself At a 
 much later period, we find the failure of many similar publications 
 ascribed to the difficulty of finding contributors ; the editor being, 
 in most oases, left to furnish the contents with his own pen. 
 
69 
 
 1827. — The South Asian Eegisteb. 
 
 90 pages, 8vo. 
 
 The contents of the fourth number are as follows :— (1) 
 " New Holland," a description of the Colony ; (2) Eeview of a 
 work entitled " The Campaigns of the British Army in America"; 
 (3) " Walk through Sydney in 1828," a lively sketch of the city 
 as it appeared then ; (4) " A Now, descriptive of a hot day in 
 England," an amusing article taken from Leigh Hunt's Indicator ; 
 (5) " Missions"; (6) Verse, "Blighted Hope"; (7) "Philology 
 and the South Sea Islands"; (8) " The Eegister," containing lists 
 of prices, and other similar information. 
 
 Copies of these old periodicals are extremely rare ; in fact, 
 it is sometimes difficult to procure even a single number. The 
 only copy of the South Asian which I can meet with, is bound 
 up in a volume of " Pamphlets" belonging to the Australian 
 Library. 
 
 The editor was a Dr. Oldfield, whose fame has not survived 
 his publication. The Register appears to have been an interesting 
 Miscellany of average merit. A paragraph on " Colonial Litera- 
 ture," in the fourth number, published in December, contains the 
 following : — " Since the commencement of this journal, two others 
 have made their appearance in Sydney, published quarterly or so ; 
 the first edited by the Eev. C. P. N. Wilton, and the second by 
 Mr. Fulton, an Australian. Of their merits or demerits we have 
 no wish, to speak, especially as both publications are considered 
 to be now defunct. We feel pleased, however, by observing the 
 indulgence which they, along with ourselves, have met from the 
 public of this infant community." In the same number it 
 is said, that " The man of literature in Sydney can speculate 
 on no rank with probability, beyond that of the scrivener or the 
 pedagogue." 
 
70 
 
 1828. — Muehat's Axtsteal-asiatic Eetiew. 
 100 pages. Price, 5s. 
 A publication under the above title was announced to appear 
 on the 1st of January, 1828, but it is impossible to say whether 
 it appeared or not, as no copy of it can be found. 
 
 1828. — The ArsTEALiAir Qtiaeteelt Jotienai or Theology, 
 LiTEEATURE, AND SCIENCE : Edited by the Eev. C. P. N. 
 Wilton, M.A., Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 
 late Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, Master of the 
 King's Female Orphan Institution, Parramatta, and one of His 
 Majesty' s Assistant Chaplains in the Colony of New South Wales. 
 
 No. 1, January, 112 pages. Price, 5s. 
 
 This is afar more imposing publication than its predecessors. 
 The contents of the first number are — (1) Introduction ; (2) 
 " Article on the connection between Eeligion and Science"; (3) 
 Sermon by the Editor, on "The Beauty of Order in the Church of 
 England"; (4) A Puneral Hymn ; (5) Eeviews of new publica- 
 tions ; (6) Verses on " The Deluge," " The New Tear"; (7) 
 Suggestions for the establishment of an Australian Museum ; (8) 
 The late Tour of Mr. A. Cunningham ; (9) Humourous verses, 
 "The Mineralogist"; (10) Australian Sperm "Whale Fishery; (11) 
 The Agricultural and Horticultural Society of New South "Wales ; 
 (12) Eemarks on Saxon Sheep-farming ; (13) Visitation of the 
 Archdeacon ; (14) State of the Colony. 
 
 So far as type and paper are concerned, this periodical 
 presents a respectable appearance ; but it seems that the editor 
 had to contend with the same mechanical difficulties that beset 
 the path of his predecessor. No. II contains an apology to the 
 reader for making its appearance two months behind time ; the 
 reason alleged being " certain circumstances connected with the 
 Press." As regards its literary merits, there is an evident 
 
71 
 
 Sameness in the contents, betraying a lack of contributors ; but 
 otherwise it is a creditable production. The first number was 
 savagely reviewed in the Monitor, principally on account of aome 
 supercilious remarks made by Mr. Wilton, in his notice of 
 Threlkeld's work on the Aboriginal Dialects. 
 
 1833. — The New SoriH "Wales Magazine. 
 
 No. 1, August. Published monthly. 63 pages. Price, 2s. 6d. 
 
 The contents of the second number are — (1) Introductory 
 discourse delivered at the opening of the Sydney Mechanics' 
 School of Arts, April 23, 1833, by the Eev. H. Carmichael, 
 A.M., Vice-President of that Institution ; (2) Verse by Henry 
 Halloran, on " Australian Scenery^Coodgee" ; (3) Article on 
 " Moreton Bay and Port Bowen"; (4) Eetribution of the Abori- 
 gines ; (5) Proposed Improvements in Sydney ; (6) Eeview of 
 " Mr. Busby's Publications"; (7) Verse on " The Beauties of 
 England," " written in the Bush of New South Wales"; (8) The 
 Transportation System ; (9) The Pythoness, a Tale of the First 
 Century, written for the New South Wales Magazine, by Mythos ; 
 (10) Natural History Department, conducted by Dr. John 
 Lhotsky ; Australian Zoology, by the editor ; (11) Historical 
 Eegister, containing political and general information relating 
 to the affairs of the Colony. 
 
 The editor and proprietor of this magazine was the Eev. 
 Ealph Mansfield, already mentioned. There is not much vivacity 
 in the contents of its pages, but it adequately represented 
 the literary condition of the time. In the preface to the first 
 volume, the editor says: "In reviewing its pages, we are far from 
 feeling that all has been done which the resources of the Colony, 
 the talents of our contributors, or our own individual exertions, 
 might have rendered practicable. The plan originally laid down 
 in our prospectus has been very imperfectly accomplished— not 
 from any unforeseen want of materials, for they have proved 
 
72 
 
 eA'en more copious than we could have anticipated, nor yet from 
 want of diligence on our part. The publication was under- 
 taken as an experiment — and as an experiment from which many- 
 would have been deterred by the fate of previous trials. Several 
 works of a similar character were started, at diiferent times, 
 some years ago ; but it was found that the reading public was 
 then too scanty to afford them adequate support, and they were 
 soon discontinued. It was therefore necessary, in renewing the 
 attempt, to proceed cautiously — -not merely for the sake of our 
 own interests, but from the consideration that another failure 
 would be discreditable to the Colony, and retard, for many years, 
 its advancement in periodical literature." 
 
 1835. — iLLrsTEATioNs OF THE Peesent State and Future 
 Pbospects op the CoiOiSfT OF New South Wales. By an 
 Impartial Observer. 
 34 pages. 
 
 New South "Wales Litehaky, Political, aijd Commebcial 
 
 Adteetiser. 
 16 pages. 
 
 Under these titles, an eccentric personage, named Dr. 
 Iihotsky,- endeavoured to establish a monthly periodical — the 
 Illustrations and the Advertiser forming two parts of one design. 
 In the latter he states : " The advertising public is respectfully 
 informed that the above publication is the only one in the shape 
 of a Eeview or Magazine existing in this Colony, whereas Van 
 Diemeu's Land possesses two periodicals of this kind." The 
 design was a failure. It apparently originated in " the entire 
 inattention of the Grovernment of New South Wales to my 
 geographical discoveries and collections of natural history." 
 Dr. Lhotsky had some pretensions to scientific attainments, and 
 was the author of a Journey to the Australian Alps, and other 
 publications. 
 
73 
 
 1835. — The Liteeaey News. 
 
 This publication is stated to have been under the manage- 
 ment of Mr. A'Beekett, formerly Solicitor General of the 
 Colony. I can find no copy of it. It lasted for two or three 
 years, and was favourably noticed by cotemporary journals. 
 
 1836. — Tegg's Monthly Magazine. 
 
 No. 1, March. 60 pages. 
 
 The contents are thus arranged in the first number : — (1) 
 Introductory Address ; (2) Verse, " My own Sorrows"; (3) 
 "Fisher's Ghost," a Tale ; (4) Verse, " The Home of my Fathers"; 
 (5) Extracts from the London Weehly Eeview ; (6) Verse, 
 " Woman"; (7) " The Lansbys of Lansby Hall," a Tale, from 
 SlacJcwood^ s Magazine ; (8) " The Boarding House," another Tale 
 from Slachwood ; (9) Critical Notices of new Books; (10) 
 Theatrical Critiques. 
 
 Mr. Tegg was a bookseller. His magazine was neatly 
 printed, of a small 8vo. size, and appears to have been a very 
 readable collection of prose and verse. The former consisted 
 almost entirely of short tales, original and selected. The con- 
 ductors of these periodicals do not appear to have been particular 
 as to the originality of their contents. 
 
 1837. — The Austeaiian Tempehance Magazine. 
 
 No. 1, July. Published monthly. 16 pages. 
 The title of this publication sufficiently indicates its purpose 
 and general character. 
 
 1838. — The Austealian Magazine. 
 
 No. 1, January. Published monthly. 88 pages. 
 
 The articles in the first number are very numerous and 
 varied. They are as follows : — (1) Australia ; (2) Lines to Sir 
 •Eichard Bourke, the late Governor of the Colony ; (3) " A true 
 Story," a Tale ; (4) Poetry ; " Eecollections of Naples," Canto I. 
 
74 
 
 in Spenserian stanzas ; (5) " Botany Bay"; (6) " Catarrh in 
 Sheep"; (7) " Freedom of the Press"; (8) " The Dibbses," a 
 Tale ; (9) " The Administration of Sir Eichard Bourke"; (10) 
 " The Drummer," a Tale ; (11) " Life of President Jackson," 
 reprinted from the Monthly Magazine; (12) " G-eneral Bourke's 
 intended Journey across the Alps"; (13) "Extracts from a 
 Reporter's Notes — The Drunkard's Death-struggle," a Tale ; (14) 
 " The present financial situation of the Colony"; (15) " Metro- 
 poHtan Eamblings," No. I. ; (16) " On Human Life"; (17) 
 " On Happiness"; (18) " The White Boys"; (19) " Zelikia, the 
 Georgian Slave"; (20) " Everlasting Eire in Persia"; (21) Poetry, 
 " Stars of Australia"—" The Soldier's Trust"—" Australia"; (22) 
 Agricultural Eeport for December ! (23) Critical notice of " The 
 Picture of Sydney"; (24) Mathematical Questions ; (25) Calendar 
 for January. 
 
 There is certainly more variety here than is generally found 
 in magazines ; and the articles, although short, are not wanting 
 in merit. Considering the period in vrhich it made its appearance, 
 it reflected credit on its conductors. 
 
 1840. — The Sydney Peotestattt Magazine. 
 
 No. 1, April 15. Published monthly. 32 pages. 
 Entirely devoted to religious matters. 
 
 1843. — The New Sooth "Wales Magazine ; or, Journal of 
 General Politics, Literature, Science, and the Arts. 
 
 No. 1, January. 8vo., 48 pages. "With illustrations. 
 
 The early numbers of this publication are not illustrated. 
 No. 7 contains — (1) Three well-executed engravings of public 
 buildings in Sydney ; (2) An article on " the State and Prospects 
 of New South "Wales," in which the various causes of the pre- 
 vailing stagnation are stated with much force and clearness ; (3) 
 
75 
 
 Verse, " Oh ! that I had the wings of a Dove ! "; (4) " Opposite 
 Neighbours," a Tale ; (5) The Winds, their influence, &c., — a 
 very learned article ; (6) " The last days of the Honeymoon," a 
 Tale ; (7) Eeview of new Works ; under which title is — firsts 
 a favourable notice of Tarquin the Proud, and other Poems ; 
 secondly, an equally favourable notice of the comic operatic 
 drama written by Mr. Nagel, entitled Merry Freaks in Trouhloua 
 Times ; and thirdly, a notice of the Prize Compositions at Sydney 
 College ; (8) Letter-press to accompany two Engravings ; (9) 
 Local Intelligence ; (10) Verses, " Lines written for a Druid's 
 Cell," and a Sonnet addressed to Charles Harpur, by Henry 
 Parkes. 
 
 This magazine makes a very creditable appearance — quite 
 equal, in fact, to that of any similar publication in England. 
 Its literary merits are by no means contemptible. Taken 
 altogether, it was a superior production to its predecessors, and 
 indicated a fair advance in the literary capabilities of the country. 
 EecoUecting the extreme depression which existed at the time of 
 its publication, it is surprising that such ventures should have 
 been even thought of. In the previous year, there had been no 
 less than seven hundred insolvencies declared — a fearful pro- 
 portion to the whole population. The state of the Colony was 
 graphically described in the November number of this magazine : 
 " Let us then feel the pulse of the Colony, as she now lies 
 groaning before us. What are the phenomena of the disease ? 
 The country settlers cry out that theii" occupation is gone ; the 
 sale of their wool, they tell us, scarcely pays the expenses of 
 producing and sending it to market ; sheep which, two or three 
 years back, were selling at thirty shillings a head, are now gladly 
 offered for two shillings and sixpence ; merchants are breaking : 
 high officials are defaulters ; the very counsel and attorneys of 
 the Supreme Court look grave and apprehensive of evil ; our 
 streets are almost as quiet and deserted as tbose of an English 
 
76 
 
 village ; the whole community are in consternation, and men 
 have taken to carrying their schedules about in one pocket as 
 naturally as they do their handkerchiefs in the other." Tet, 
 there w^ere no less than seven newspapers and two magazines 
 published in Sydney at this time — eight newspapers having 
 ceased shortly before. Por a population of only 30,000, this was 
 rather creditable. 
 
 The New South Wales Magazine was conducted by a Mr, 
 Slatterie, formerly of the Sydney CoEege. It contained articles 
 from Dr. Nicholson, now Sir Charles Nicholson ; Mr. Braim, 
 Principal of the Sydney College, and author of a History of 
 New South Wales, published in 1846 ; Dr. Bland ; Mr. (now 
 Judge) A'Beckett, and others. 
 
 1843. — Arden's Stdnet Masazine of Politics and G-eneeal 
 LlTEEATruE. Edited by G-eorge Arden. Illustrated by 
 J. S. Prout. 
 
 No. 1, September. Published monthly. Svo., 67 pages. 
 Price, 3s. 6d. 
 
 This publication, also, is very attractive in appearance. It 
 was commenced by a gentleman named Arden, who had been 
 previously connected with the Press in the neighbouring Colony 
 of Port Phillip, now called Victoria. He appears to have been 
 under the necessity of writing the greater part of his magazine 
 himself — a circumstance which, no doubt, hastened the final 
 catastrophe. " Nearly the whole of the present number has been 
 composed by the editor himself; and the exertion to produce 
 variety in the original articles has demanded no little versatility 
 of mood and imagination." Mr. Arden was a smart writer, and 
 succeeded in imparting a good deal of interest to his publication. 
 The contents of the first number are — (1) A political Essay on 
 the " New Colonial Constitution"; (2) A satirical account of the 
 
77 
 
 Aerial Machine ; (3) Biographical Memoirs, under the title of 
 the " Eeprosentatives of the People"; (4) A humourous description 
 of Colonial Society, under the title of " Eeview of the Colonial 
 Markets"; (5) "Gilbert Christian," a Tale; (6) The Early 
 History of Port Phillip ; (7) Notices of British Literature ; (8) 
 Local Intelligence of every kind ; (9) Eeview of Colonial Litera- 
 ture ; (10) Pugitive Poetry. 
 
 1814. — The Colonial Liteeabt Jotteital akd Weekly 
 MiscELLAwr OF Useful Infobmation. 16 pages, 4to. 
 Price, 4d. 
 
 No. 1, June 27. Published weekly. 
 
 This was not an ambitious periodical. Some opinion of its 
 character may be formed from the following list of articles in 
 the 28th number : — (1) The Wheel of Time — its onward motion ; 
 (2) Grenealogy of the Queen, from Chambers^ Journal; (3) 
 Natural and Aeq^uired G-enius ; (4) The Conquest of Normandy, 
 or the Monk's Three Visits, by Henry Neele ; (5) Varieties ; 
 (6) The Moralist, consisting of Moral Apothegms ; (7) Select 
 Poetry : " Address to the New Tear ;" " Old Father Time ; (8) 
 Catallactics — Article on Flax ; (9) Chemical Philosophy, on the 
 nature of Carbon, &c. ; (10) Pearls from Sam Slick ; (11) 
 Original Poetry : " Tempus Fugit "; " Lines by a Toung Lady "; 
 (12) A Tradition ; (13) English News ; (14) Advertisements. 
 
 1844. — The Portfolio of Eomance, and Gazette of Litera- 
 tijke. Science, and the Aets. 
 
 No. 1, July 13. Published twice a month. 
 
 The prospectus of this publication stated that " politics 
 would be excluded from its pages, which would be entirely devoted 
 to — Original Tales ; Selections from the latest works of the most 
 celebrated authors ; Poetry, original and select ; Eeviews of 
 Colonial Works ; Theatrical Notices ; Scientific Discoveries in the 
 
78 
 
 Colony ; Narrations of Travels in the Colony ; Discoveries by 
 Travellers ; and a general Summary of News." And further, that 
 it was " intended to blend amusement with instruction, by con- 
 veying salutary moral lessons through the pleasing and attractive 
 medium of romance." 
 
 1848. — The New South "Wales Sporting Magazine. Edited 
 by D. C. r. Scott. 
 
 No. 1, October. Published monthly. Price, 2s. 6d. 48 
 pages, 8vo. 
 
 This publication is remarkable for its tasteful appearance. 
 In that respect it is superior to any similar periodical ever issued 
 in the Colony. In addition to a handsomely illustrated title- 
 page, it contains three neat engravings. The letter-press relates 
 almost entirely to sporting matters : horse-racing, yachting, 
 cricket, &c. ; but at the same time, articles of a more general 
 eiiaracter are not excluded. A publication possessed of so much 
 attractiveness had strong claims to support, but the claims do not 
 appear to have been recognized. 
 
 1848. — The Aitstealian Penny Jouenal. 
 
 No. 1, Friday, 27th October. 8 pages, 8vo. 
 
 Contents of the first number : — (1) To the Public — an 
 Editorial Statement ; (2) The Grolden Eleece of Australia, from 
 Hewitt's Impressions of Australia ; (3) Education and Reform ; 
 (4) Poet's Corner : " The Native "Woman's Lament," by Eichard 
 Howitt ; (5) The Blue Handkerchief, a Tale ; (6) Miscellaneous 
 Extracts ; (7) British Extracts ; (8) "Weekly Summary. 
 
 The appearance of this publication is not extremely 
 attractive, but it was no doubt a laudable effort to distribute 
 information among the multitude. After the 9th number it was 
 enlarged in size, and its title altered. It then appeared as — 
 
79 
 
 1849. — The Australian Lttehabt Journal. 
 
 No. 1, Friday, 5th January. 8 pages, 4to. 
 
 Contents : — (1) Introductory Address ; (2) Ship on Fire ; 
 (3) Original Poetry; (4) The Miser's Will, by Percy B. St. John— 
 a Tale ; (5) Historical Parallel, relatiug to the French Eevolution 
 of 1830 and 1848 ; (6) A British Adventure ; (7) Miscellaneous ; 
 (8) Almanac for 1849 ; (9) Uniform Eate of Postage : G-eneral 
 Intelligence : Advertisements. 
 
 1850. — The Australian Era. 
 
 No. 1, August. Published monthly. Price, 6d. 16 pages, 8vo. 
 
 The Era appears to have been rather moderate in its literary 
 pretensions. The contributions are stated to have been gratuitous. 
 It makes mention of a " Professional Literary Association" as 
 then in existence in Sydney, and the Era seems to have been 
 brought out under the auspices of that Association. The 12th 
 number concluded its existence — a fate which is editorially 
 ascribed to the great gold discovery. 
 
 The contents of the first number are : — (1) An Essay on 
 " Literature — its Advancement and Eesulta"; (2) Police Eeform ; 
 (3) Stanzas, entitled " The G-rave of Youth," by E.K.S. The 
 initials are those of a gentleman named Silvester, vrho earned some 
 reputation by his rhymes many years ago. He was a reporter on 
 the Sydney Morning Herald, and died a few years since. His verses 
 are gracefully executed, but they do not indicate much mentalpower 
 in the author. (4) Education in New South Wales, its defects and 
 their causes, by Edward Eeeve ; (5) The Law of Copyright. 
 
 1851. — The Politician : a Monthly Magazine of Polities and 
 Literature. Conducted by Natives of the Colony. 
 
 No. 1, April. Price, Is. 20 pages, 8vo. 
 
 The editorial address in the first number commences with 
 the following passage : — " In forming an estimate of the character 
 
80 
 
 and prospects of our National Literature, one remarkable fact 
 very strikingly presents itself to the notice of the least reflecting 
 observer. It is — that while the Newspaper Press, with a trifling 
 exception, is all that we can point to as evidence of our literary 
 enterprise and ability — the barren honours to be won, even in that 
 unproductive field, are awarded to strangers — and there is not a 
 native of the Colony who is associated with its management in 
 the capacity of a public writer. This is, clearly, not as it should 
 be." The Politician was accordingly started to rectify this evil, 
 but its columns were not closed to writers who did not happen to 
 be natives of the Colony. The ability displayed in its pages is not 
 great. 
 
 The contents of the first number are — •(!) A political article, 
 headed " The Beginning of the End"; (2) Mr. Mort and his 
 Immigration Scheme ; (3) The principles that should govern 
 public writers ; (4) On the course pursued by the Attorney 
 General in Prosecutions for Libel ; (5) Verse, " The Myall 
 Tree." [These verses were written by Mr. G-eoffrey Eagar. 
 They also appear in No. 1 of the University Magazine.} 
 
 1855. — The Stdket Uniteesitt Magazine. 
 
 No. 1, January. Published quarterly. Price, 5s. 120 
 pages, 8vo. 
 
 The Sydney University was established in the year 1852. 
 The magazine was edited and written by a few of the leading 
 students, assisted by one or two of the Professors, especially by 
 the late Dr. Woolley. The prospectus states : — " The proposal 
 to establish a Sydney University Magazine has been dictated 
 by the hope of contributing to the supply of a want already 
 urgently felt in our community. It is time to initiate a 
 National Literature." The existence of this periodical was 
 limited to a very few numbers. 
 
81 
 
 The first number contains — (1) A notice of G-uizot's work, 
 entitled Shdkspeare et son Temps ; (2) An article on Eailways; in 
 which it is shewn, by the statistics of other countries, that the 
 introduction of Eailways into this Colony, which had taken place 
 a little previously, was premature ; (3) A philosophical review of 
 Tennyson's In Memoriam ; (4) Verses: "The Pearl Oyster" — 
 " On the Death of Eobert Burns" — " Suggested by the perusal 
 of Uncle Tom's Cabin"; (5) Article on the Study of Law as a 
 branch of Education, in which that study is strongly recom- 
 mended; (6) Verses: "The Sentimentalist"— " The Kealist"— 
 "The Myall Tree"— " The Bell Bird"— " Affliction"— " Eecol- 
 lections of Childhood"; (7) Wandering EecoUections of an 
 Optimist ; (8) A Chapter on Titles ; (9) The University and the 
 Colleges. 
 
 This is luidoubtedly the most scholarly magazine ever 
 attempted in the Colony ; but it was deficient in the elements of 
 popularity. It was not sufficiently light and varied to attract the 
 ordinary run of readers. 
 
 1855. — The ArsTEALlAK I'amilt JoTJRNAl : a Weehly Magazine 
 of Literature, Science, Arts, Mechanics, Commerce, andDomesiia 
 General Information. 
 
 No. 1, July 3rd. 8 pages, 4to. Price, 3d. 
 
 This publication displayed little talent of any kind. It 
 consists mainly of extracts from English publications. Its 
 appearance, however, is very creditable. 
 
 The first number contains the following articles — (1) " Our 
 opening Address"; (2) " Demetrius, or the Prince of Impostors ; 
 an historical Tale, written expressly for this magazine, by the 
 editor"; (3) Extracts relating to "Arts, Manufactures, Mechanics, 
 and Commerce"; (4) Under the title " Original Contribution," 
 G 
 
82 
 
 it is stated that " the columns for this purpose are intended for 
 the development of native talent, of whatever style, if deserving 
 of insertion." It does not appear, however, that "native 
 talent" responded to the invitation, as the articles inserted are 
 extracts. (5) " Enigmas, Charades, &c."; (6) Article on 
 " Phrenology"; (7) Select Poetry and Prose ; (8) " Science : 
 General principles of Chemistry — Caloric"; (9) " Useful items, 
 &c."; (10) " Our Letter Box." 
 
 1857. — The "Windsok Eetiew : a Monthly Magazine of Litera- 
 ture, Science, and Art. 
 
 No. 1, July. Price, Is. 32 pages, 8vo. 
 
 The first number contains — (1) An Article on Money Orders ; 
 (2) Adele, a novelette ; (3) Intelligence relating to the Windsor 
 Debating Society ; (4) 1-escription of Windsor ; (5) Grregory 
 Pipkins, a Tale ; (6) Eeport of the Committee of the Sydney 
 Mechanics' School of Arts ; (7) Essay on Steam Power and Eail- 
 ways; (8) Eeviews: Gertrude, the Emigrant- — The Sydney Magazine 
 of Science and Art ; (9) Verses ; (10) Miscellaneous Extracts. 
 
 This periodical is distinguished rather by its usefulness than 
 its brilliancy, but it is a creditable production for a small town 
 in the interior. 
 
 1857. — The ArsTEALiAN Home CoMPAifiox. 
 
 Published fortnightly. 23 pages. 
 
 This publication consists chiefly of miscellaneous Extracts 
 from English publications, adapted to the comprehension of 
 moderately intelligent readers. It appears to have merged in the 
 
 1858. — Band op Hope Journal, and Atjstealian Home 
 Companion. 
 No. 16 of which contains notice of a new religious serial, 
 the Australian Sunday School Monitor, published at Id. 
 
1857. — The Stdney Magazine oe Science and Aet : con- 
 taining, hy authority, the proceedings of the Australian 
 Horticultural and Agricultural Society, and the Philosophical 
 Society of New South Wales. Edited by Mr. Joseph Dyer. 
 Sydney. 
 
 No. 1, June. Published monthly. 20 pages, 8vo. 
 
 The first number contains — (1) A History of the " Australian 
 Horticultural and Agricultural Society," with its Eules and By- 
 laws, and an Address delivered by the President — Sir "W. T. 
 Denison ; (2) A History of the " Philosophical Society of New 
 South Wales," with the Inaugural Paper of the President, Sir 
 "W. T. Denison ; (3) Eemarks on Australian "Wine ; (4) On the 
 School of Arts ; (5) on Boydell's Patent Endless Railway ; (6) 
 on Sculpture, with an account of the celebrated Mr. Woolner's 
 stay in Sydney ; (7) Extracts from English and Eoreign Scientific 
 Journals; (8) "Substitute for the Potato"; (9) Health of 
 Sydney ; (10) Meteorological Eeport. 
 
 This publication lasted for two years, ceasing with its 24th 
 number (June, 1859). The preface to the second volume contains 
 some remarks, with reference to the character and fate of the 
 magazine, which deserve attention. Alluding to the papers of 
 the two Societies contained in the magazine, it says.: — 
 
 " It is to be regretted, on public grounds, that tbese papers are not more 
 widely dispersed. PreTiously to their appearance in this form, they were 
 printed in the pages of the daily journals ; but in them it was found that 
 they were buried in the more exciting topics of the day, and were rendered 
 useless for purposes of reference, by the ephemeral character of the medium 
 in which they appeared. In their present form they haye secured the 
 advantage of becoming permanently available. In no other form are these 
 papers (the result of much labour and research) to be obtained. It will there- 
 fore, we trust, be acknowledged that our literary existence, should it terminate 
 with this volume, has not been without its use. 
 
" We never indulged the hope that a publication of this character would 
 meet with a very large circle of readers, for scientific journals, even in 
 England, have but a limited circulation ; but we confess that we did expect 
 that the members of the two Societies whose papers we have printed, would 
 desire to possess the records of those bodies with which they had associated 
 themselves. But the constant attention to business, which is characteristic 
 of colonial hfe, appears very unfriendly to the development of a taste for 
 science, literature, and art. "We mate no complaint concerning our want of 
 success — perchance the encouragement that has been afforded us may be deemed 
 by some as beyond our deserts — but we do greatly regret to see such institutions 
 as the Agricultm-al and Horticultural Society, and the Philosophical Society, 
 languishing for want of support. It is rather a reproach, too, that a wealthy 
 community like this cannot hold out any hope of support to even one painter, 
 poet, sculptor, or professional literary man, apart from scholastic or journal- 
 istic pursuits, and that no monthly periodical has ever yet maintained a 
 lengthened existence in this Colony." 
 
 The magazine is excellently printed, and in every respect 
 was well worthy of the encouragement it looked for. 
 
 1857.— The Month. 
 
 No. 1, July. 56 pages. 8vo. Price, Is. 
 
 The contents of the first number are — (1) An Essay on "Art 
 Education in Australia"; (2) A descriptive sketch, " My Eerry 
 Boat"; (3) " The "World of Books," containing notices of recent 
 publications in England, Erance, and Germany, compiled from the 
 Eeviews, &c. ; (4) Eeview of Mr. Norton's Australian Essays, 
 and other colonial publications ; (5) "Life Leaves" — "The Artist 
 at Home"; (6) Verse: "Eden Land," an unpublished ballad 
 by the late A. J. Evelyn. [Mr. Evelyn was a man of letters, who 
 died some few years ago in Sydney. A high opinion was formed of 
 him by his friends, but he has left nothing in a collected shape] . 
 " Our Australian Land" — " The Seasons, an Allegory"; (7) " On 
 the Habits of the Water-mole," by G-eorge Bennett, Esq., a 
 well-known Naturalist ; (8) " Mr. Erank Fowler's Lecture on 
 Coleridge"— a report; (9) " The Institutes' Chronicle"— intelli- 
 
85 
 
 gence relating to various Schools of Art. [It makes mention of 
 a Literary Association as then existing in Sydney] ; (10) Dramatic 
 and Musical Summary — Music and the Drama at Home, from a 
 London Correspondent ; (11) Learned Societies ; (12) " Wine 
 and Walnuts," a string of jokes and witticisms ; (13) " Our 
 Letter Home," with an illustration of Mr. Mort's Dry Dock ; 
 (14) Notices to Correspondents. 
 
 This production lasted fifteen months. In many respects it 
 is the best effort in magazine literature we have to boast of. It 
 does not display the scholarship and general capacity of the 
 Sydney University Magazine, which, in fact, approached nearer 
 to a quarterly review than to a magazine. Its contents were 
 of a lighter and more diversified character, and therefore more 
 suited to the tastes of ordinary readers. Many of the articles 
 are pungent and amusing ; the notices of eotemporary European 
 literature are written with spirit ; and, altogether, the volume 
 composed of its fifteen numbers may be read with pleasure at 
 the present day. It was started by a gentleman named Frank 
 Powler, who had been connected with the Loudon Press as a 
 parliamentary reporter and general writer, and who had arrived 
 in this Colony in 1855. Mr. Eowler was undoubtedly a man of 
 considerable ability ; his writings are remarkable for their liveli- 
 ness and point, and he was well versed in the current literature 
 of the day. But he belonged to what has been termed the 
 " Cockney School " of modern writers — a school distinguished 
 as much by its flippancy and pretentiousness as by its smartness. 
 He came out to this Colony with the intention of creating a 
 sensation, and he succeeded in doing so. The means adopted 
 for this purpose was the delivery of lectures, or "orations" 
 as he termed them. One of these consisted of a series of imita- 
 tions of the chief poets of the present century, with running 
 criticisms. It was reported at full length in the two daily 
 papers, and the reporters yyeve seemingly at a loss for words 
 
86 
 
 to express tbeir admiration. But the imitations migbt have 
 been written by any facile rhymer, and the criticisms abounded 
 ■with his peculiar absurdities. He began by describing the 
 character of the present times. They were times, he said, in 
 which " the frescoes of Apelles were used as alehouse hatch- 
 ments, and ambrosia was served up on the willow pattern." 
 Speaking of a certain genius, he said, " His mind displayed 
 all the convovuluted richness of a Corinthian abacus." On 
 this passage the critical reporter exclaims, " What a world 
 of out-of-the-way reading does that one word ' convovuluted ' 
 display! It contains the whole history of Corinthian architec- 
 ture ! " Carlyle's mind was compared to " an Etrurian tomb, 
 full of old tiles and solemn rarities." So novel a style of treat- 
 ment was, apparently, highly popular ; but a different view of it 
 was taken by a writer signing himself " Prometheus" (Mr. W. 
 Forster) in the Empire. He pointed out its absurdities in very 
 mild language — Mr. Powler retorted in very angry language — 
 the friends of either party joiaied the iight, and the result was 
 an animated controversy, almost rivalling that of Dr. Newman 
 and Mr. Kingsley. On his return to England, Mr. Eowler 
 published a small volume entitled Southern Lights and Shadows ; 
 ieing hrief Notes of three years' experience of Social, Literary, and 
 Political Life in Australia. The book professes to give a truthful 
 account of society in this Colony and in Victoria, with sketches 
 of our leading men. It is in reality a ludicrous caricature of 
 both. Here and there the book is illuminated by a sparkle of 
 cleverness, and that, perhaps, accounts for the extraordinary fact 
 of its having reached the dignity of a second edition. It was 
 unworthy even of Mr. Eowler's capacity, and there is some 
 difficulty in understanding how he came to write it. 
 
 Another contributor to this periodical was Mr. Eowe, more 
 generally known as " Peter 'Possum," the name which he attached 
 to his literary performances. He subsequently collected his 
 
87 
 
 pieces in the Monih, and published them under the title of Peter 
 ^Possum's Portfolio — a work which is mentioned in another part 
 of this narrative. They are good specimens of magazine writing. 
 
 To what has been already said with regard to the death of 
 the Magazine of Science and Art, may be added the following 
 statements, extracted from the Month. The failure of so many 
 literary journals, presenting so many claims to support, is not an 
 easy matter to account for ; and therefore, anything that tends 
 to throw light upon it deserves attention In the sixth number 
 of the Month we are told that it had proved " a complete com- 
 mercial success"; that " although each issue of the magazine 
 costs over £130, from the very second number its returns have 
 covered, and more than covered, its expenditure"; and that 
 the " subscription list now numbers upwards of 2,000 names, 
 including those of the most distinguished residents in all the 
 Colonies." In a subsequent number, issued shortly after the 
 one in which this jubilant statement appeared, the editor sings 
 a very different song. After hinting at the probability of his 
 magazine coming to a sudden stop, he proceeds to account for it. 
 He informs his readers that, " from the time we issued our first 
 number to the present, we have, with one or two exceptions, 
 never received a penny from our country agents. The amount 
 due to us from this source is over £200. We further find that 
 no less than 900 of our own booked subscribers have never 
 paid a shilling for the work." An article in the same magazine, 
 on " The support of Letters in Australia," presents a very dismal 
 picture of the literary profession in the Colony. The writer 
 suggests, as remedies for their diseased condition, that men of 
 wealth should employ private tutors, and asks, " Has any of 
 our past or present Ministers engaged a private secretary ? " He 
 intimates that, unless relief is administered in some such shape, 
 our men of genius must expect to starve. 
 
88 
 
 1863. — * The Peesbyteeian Magazine. 30 pages, 8yo. 
 No. 1, January. Published monthly. 
 An exclusively religious periodical. It still exists. 
 
 . 1864. — * HoETicrLTTJEAL Magazine, and G-aedenees' and 
 , Amatetjes' CaIiENDae ; containing the Transactions of the 
 Horticultural Society of Sydney. 24 pages. 
 
 No. 1, January. Published monthly. Price, Is. 
 
 Exclusively devoted to horticultural matters. 
 
 1865. — *The Atjstealian JorENAi. 
 
 No. 1, 2nd September. Published weekly. 
 
 This is an imitation of the Family Serald, and other 
 periodicals of the kind, which have met with so much success in 
 London. It is printed in Melbourne, and published in Sydney 
 and other neighbouring Colonies. Its circulation averages about 
 5,500 weekly, of which 1,750 are contributed by this Colony. 
 The contents are well arranged, and are little inferior to those of 
 its London prototype. 
 
 1865. — * The Testimony. 
 
 No. 1, October. Published monthly. 
 
 A religious publication, intended to oppose the Preshyterian 
 Magazine. 
 
89 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 1824. — AusTKALASiA. By William Charles Wentwortb. 
 
 This poem, as already stated, was written by Mr. "Wentworth 
 when a student at Cambridge. It did not procure the Chan- 
 cillor's medal for the author. The successful poem, however, 
 possesses no merit, either of thought or versification, which 
 cannot be found in Mr. Wentworth's. Mr. Praed was un- 
 doubtedly a man of infinitely higher capacity as a poet than our 
 distinguished countryman : but prize poems reduce all orders 
 of intellect to much the same level, and, generally speaking, it is 
 a task of some difficulty to distiaguish one from another. No 
 other effort of a poetical kind was made by Mr. Wentworth. His 
 intellect did not tend to poetry, although it shone with so much 
 lustre in eloquence. His CoUege poem was published in the 
 Oazette soon after it was received in the Colony, and Flanagan 
 tells us in his History, that " great interest was aroused in regard 
 to it, owing chiefly to the writer being a native of Australia." 
 The last ten or twelve lines of the poem are familiar to every one 
 in the Colony, from their perpetual quotation. 
 
 The second edition of Barrington's Voyage to Botany Bay, 
 published in 1810, contains a prologue recited on the first stage 
 erected in the Colony. Permission had been given to the convicts 
 to amuse themselves with theatrical entertainments, — a stage was 
 hastily constructed, — and Dr. Young's tragedy of The Bevenge 
 was brought out. This prologue contains two Hues which are 
 frequently quoted : — 
 
 " True patriots we, for be it understood, 
 We left our country for our country's good." 
 
 They deserve a place in Booth's collection of Epigrams, 
 Ancient and Modern. 
 
90 
 
 1825. — FiKST Fettits op Austeaiian Poetkt. By Barron 
 Field, Esq., F.L.S., late Judge of the Supreme Court of New 
 South Wales and its Dependencies. 
 
 Under this title, the author published a small collection of 
 Poems, in an Appendix to a work entitled " Greographical Memoirs 
 on New South Wales." He states, in a note, that "the following 
 poems have hitherto been only privately printed in New South 
 Wales. In consequence of the approbation which some of them 
 have received from several of the first poets and critics of our 
 times, they are now published." In Barry Cornwall's recent 
 Memoir of Charles Lamb, the name of Barron Field occurs more 
 than once. He is there stated to have been one of Lamb's 
 friends, and a member of the celebrated Thursday evening 
 parties. He is also spoken of as one " well known in literature." 
 "With such an introduction, calling up thoughts of the briUiant 
 contributors to the London Magazine, every one wiU. turn with 
 some interest to Mr. Field's poetry. How far our expectations 
 are gratified may be judged from the following specimen : — 
 
 BOTANY BAY FLOWERS. 
 " G-od of this planet ! for that name best fits 
 The purblind view which men of this ' dim spot' 
 Can take of Thee, the Grod of suns and spheres ! 
 What desert forests, and what barren plains, 
 Lie unexplor'd by European eye, 
 In what our fathers call'd the Great South Land ! 
 Ev'n in those tracts which we have visited. 
 Though thousands of thy vegetative works 
 Have, by the hand of science (as 'tis caU'd) 
 Been murder'd and dissected, press'd and dried. 
 Till all their blood and beauty are extinct ; 
 And nam'd in barbarous Latin, men's surnames. 
 With terminations of the Eoman tongue ; 
 Yet tens of thousands have escaped the search. 
 The decimation, the alive-impaling, 
 Nick-naming of G-od's creatures — 'scaped it all. 
 Still fewer (perhaps none) of all these flowers, 
 Have been by poet sung. Poets are few. 
 
91 
 
 And botanists are many, good and cheap. 
 
 When first I landed on Australia's shore, 
 
 (I neither botanist nor poet truly, 
 
 But less a seeker after facts than truth) 
 
 A flower gladden' d me aboTe the rest, 
 
 Shap'd trumpet-Kke, which from a leafy stalk 
 
 Hangs clust'ring, hyaeinthine, crimson red 
 
 Melting to wliite. Botanic science calls 
 
 The plant epacris grandiflora, gives 
 
 Its class, description, habitat, then draws 
 
 A line. The bard of truth would morahze 
 
 The flower's beauty which caught first my eye ; 
 
 But, having lived the circle of the year, 
 
 I found (and then he'd sing in Beauty's praise) 
 
 This the sole plant that never ceased to bloom. 
 
 Nor here would stop : — at length first love and fair, 
 
 And fair and sweet, and sweet and constant, pall, 
 
 (Alas for poor Humanity !) and then 
 
 The new, the pretty, and the unexpected. 
 
 Ensnare the fancy. Thus it was with me 
 
 When first I spied the flow'ret in the grass 
 
 Which forms the subject of this humble song. 
 
 And (treason to my wedded fiower) cried ; — 
 
 ' The Australian "fring'd violet" 
 Shall henceforward be my pet !' 
 Oh ! had this flower been seen by him 
 Who call'd Europa's ' violets dim, 
 Sweeter than lids of Juno's eyes,' 
 He had not let this much suffice. 
 But had pronounc'd it (I am certain) 
 Of Juno's eye the ' fringed curtain'— 
 Pick'd phrase for eye-lid, which the poet 
 Has us'd elsewhere ; and he will know it 
 Who in his drama is well vers'd : 
 Vide the Tempest, act the first. 
 But I am wand'ring from my duty, 
 Eirst to describe my fringe-eyed beauty. 
 'Tis then a floss-edg'd lilac flower. 
 That opens only after rain. 
 Once, and never blows again ; 
 Shuts, too, at early ev'ning hour, 
 Soon as the sun has lost its power, 
 Like a fairy's parasol 
 (If fairies walk by day at all) ; 
 
92 
 
 Or, it may quiolcer gain belief, 
 
 To call it her silk neckerchief, 
 
 Dropt before she blest the place 
 
 With her last night's dancing grace j 
 
 For surely fairies haunt a land 
 
 "Where they may have the free command 
 
 Of beetles, flowers, butterflies, 
 
 Of such enchanting tiilts and dyes : 
 
 Not beetles black (forbidden things), 
 
 But beetles of euamell'd wings. 
 
 Or rather, coats of armour, boss'd 
 
 And studded till the ground-work's lost : 
 
 Then, for all other insects — here 
 
 Queen Mab woiJd have no cause to fear 
 
 For her respectable approach. 
 
 Lest she should not set up her coach. 
 
 Here's a fine grub for a coach-maker, 
 
 Grood as in fairy-land Long Acre ; 
 
 And Tery long — ^indeed — legg'd spinners, 
 
 To make her waggon-spokes, the sinners ! 
 
 And here are winged grasshoppers ; 
 
 And, as to gnats for waggoners, 
 
 We have mosquitoes will suffice 
 
 To drive her team of atomies ! 
 
 If, therefore, she and her regalia. 
 
 Have never yet been in Australia, 
 
 I recommend a voyage to us 
 
 On board the paper nautilus ; 
 
 But I incline to the opinion 
 
 That we are now in her dominion ; 
 
 Peri or fairies came from th' east, 
 
 D'Herbelot teUs us so, at least ; 
 
 And we dream all those self-same dreams, 
 
 Which (from Mercutio) it seems 
 
 We owe to Mab's dehv'raney, 
 
 As midwife and queen faery." 
 
 In the Elia Essay on " Distant Correspondents," addressed 
 to Barron Field, Lamb made some rather cutting jokes at our 
 expense. None of them feels half so cutting as the " First 
 Fruits of Australian Poetry," perpetrated by his esteemed 
 correspondent. 
 
93 
 
 1826. — "Wild Notes feom the Ltre of a Native Minsthei,. 
 By Charles Tompson, junior. Sydney. 4to., 66 pages. 
 
 This work issued from the press of Robert Howe, and affords 
 a curious specimen of typography. The " Notes" consist of odes 
 and other lyrical pieces, displaying much smoothness of versi- 
 fication, but little else. 
 
 1826. — Atjkoea Atjstealis : a Specimen of Sacred Poetry for the 
 Colonists of Australia. By John Dunmore Lang, D.D. and 
 A.M., Preshyterian Chaplain and Minister of the Scots 
 Church, Sydney. Sydney. 12mo, 165 pages. 
 
 The preface states that " the following poems, which were 
 written for the most part in the great South Sea, during the 
 author's last voyage to England, are submitted to the Aus- 
 tralian public, in the hope of their becoming instrumental in 
 advancing the interests of pure religion, and promoting the 
 practice of virtue throughout the Colony." 
 
 The volume contains translations from the Q-reek and German, 
 and also from the Aboriginal language of the Colony. The author 
 did not confine his muse to strains of a pious nature. When 
 connected with the Press at a later period, he wrote more than 
 one satirical ballad, which proved his powers of ridicule and 
 humour. They may be found in an appendix to the last edition 
 of his History. Dr. Lang is a man of very versatile talent, 
 and could write a Hymn-book or a Comic Song-book with equal 
 facility. 
 
 1829. — Lavs of Leisure: a Collection of Original and Translated 
 Poems. By the Eev. "W. B. Clarke, A.M., Author of the 
 " Siver Derwent" and other Poems. London. 8vo. 
 
 A boyish production of a man of science. 
 
94 
 
 1833. — AusTEALiA : a Moral and Descriptive Poem. By the 
 Author of The Voyage. Sydney. 
 
 The author's name was "Wools. The poem, a production of 
 moderate merit, was reviewed in the first number of the N'ew 
 South Wales Magazine. 
 
 1838. — Oeiginal Poetet. By Beverley Suttor. Sydney. 12mo, 
 
 23 pages. 
 
 1842. — Stolen Moments : a Short Series of Poems. By Henry 
 Partes. Sydney. 8vo., 131 pages. 
 
 A collection of short lyrical pieces, originally contributed to 
 the newspapers. The undoubted ability which the author displays 
 as a politician does not appear in his poetry. He says in his 
 preface, " Nearly all my poems (my book, I fear, affords another 
 instance of the perversion of that word) have been put together 
 in thought in ' moments' literally • stolen' from the time 
 occupied by the ordinary duties of a not over-happy Ufa ; my 
 leisure having been generally devoted to other, perhaps better, 
 purposes." Under such circumstances, no one would look for 
 much that was worth reading. The act of publication was justified 
 by the author's desire to serve " the cause of Australian Litera- 
 ture." 
 
 1843. — Taeqttin THE pEOtJD, AND OTHEE Poems. Sydney. 8vo., 
 
 95 pages. 
 
 " Tarquin the Proud" is a classical tragedy, but it would not 
 be easy to select, either from it or from the poems which accom- 
 pany it, any passage that could be read with much pleasure. The 
 author's name was 8. P. Hill. 
 
95 
 
 1845. — Maemont ; or, Suffering without Guilt : a Tale, in six 
 Cantos. By Gr. P. Poole. Sydney. 12ino., 102 pagea. 
 
 The tale is simply that of an innocent man condemned and 
 executed on suspicion of murder. It appears to have been written 
 by an uneducated man. 
 
 1851. — MoTAEEA : an Australian Legend, in two Cantos. Mait- 
 land. 12mo., 52 pages. 
 The legend tells of a blackfellow whose gin had been forcibly 
 carried away by another blackfellow, and who, accompanied by a 
 faithful friend, set out in pursuit of his enemy. As soon as they 
 sighted the ravisher, the latter tomahawked the woman, and made 
 off. He was followed to the hunting-grounds of his tribe, and 
 attacked by the man he had injured. The latter had his revenge, 
 but was slain by the other's friends. The author (Mr. Or. W. 
 Eusden) says in his preface, that he wrote from a feeling of 
 gratitude to the blacks, to whom he was indebted for many acts 
 of kindness when living in the bush. His rhymes are not without 
 merit. 
 
 [No date.] — Shades of Memoet. Sydney. 8vo., 103 pagea. 
 
 The contents of this work are partly religious and partly 
 sentimental. It was printed for private distribution, and dedi- 
 cated to the author's sister. 
 
 1851. — The Atjstealiaw : a Poem. By Cato the Younger. 
 
 Sydney. 
 
 1851. — Eatmokd, Loed of Milan : a Tragedy of the Thir- 
 teenth Century. By Edward Eeeve, formerly a Student of 
 Bristol College. Sydney. 18mo., 45 pages. 
 
 The events on which this play is founded are taken from the 
 history of Milan, in the thirteenth century, when, under the rule 
 of Eaymond, the third Prince of the house of the Torriani. The 
 
90 
 
 chief event in the plot is a conspiracy, which brings about the 
 catastrophe of the play — the murder of Mary da Komagna, and 
 of Eaymond — followed by the destruction of the assassins and 
 the triumph of the Torriani. Mary da Eomagna was, in her early 
 years, betrothed to Eaymond, but was estranged from him by 
 his enemies. She then gave her hand to Ezzelin. Ezzelin was a 
 claimant of the throne of Milan. He made an unsuccessful 
 attempt to assassinate Eaymond, and while under sentence of 
 death, his life was spared at the intercession of his wife. On his 
 liberation, Ezzelin is led to believe that his wife had succeeded 
 with Eaymond by sacrificing her honour, and is carried away by 
 jealousy. Mary overhears the conspirators, attempts to warn 
 Eaymond, is seized and dragged before her husband. He com- 
 mands her life to be taken as the forfeit of her rashness. 
 Towards the close of the representation, many exciting incidents 
 follow closely upon each other. The murder of Ezzelin'g wife, 
 her midnight funeral, the attack upon Eaymond, and his death, 
 the revenge accomplished immediately afterwards by a body of 
 the Prince's troops, constitute a series of tragical events which, 
 when properly represented, cannot fail' to arrest the attention of 
 an audience, 
 
 The author has been for many years connected with the 
 Sydney Morning Herald. Apart from the difficulties which must 
 always attend dramatic composition, so much depends upon the 
 actor and the scene-shifter that the usual risk of failure is mul- 
 tiplied a hundredfold. Mr. Eeeve's composition suffered greatly 
 from the negligence with which it was put upon'the stage. Intox- 
 icated actors and giggling ballet-girls did their best to ruin it. 
 Tet, notwithstanding these unlooked-for obstacles, the Lord of 
 Milan is said to have been successful. The plot selected by the 
 author does not admit of much variety of incident ; but the com- 
 position of the play, if not marked by much dramatic genius, is at 
 least not wanting in dignity. 
 
97 
 
 1852. — Gold Pen and Pencil Sketches ; or, Tie Adoentiires of 
 Mr. John Slasher at the Turon Diggings. By Q-. P. P., with 
 illustrations by T. Balcombe. Sydney. 8vo., 27 pages. 
 
 A comic production. The rhymes are smooth, but deficient in taste. 
 
 1853. — The Book of the Phophet Isaiah, rendered into Englinh 
 Blank Verse ; with Explanatory Notes. By John liae, A.M. 
 Sydney. 8vo., 270 pages. 
 
 The author proposed a difficult task to himself when he 
 undertook to make a volume of poetry out of a literal versifi- 
 cation of the Hebrew Prophet ; but he has succeeded, so far as 
 success can be obtained in such an effort. He justifies the work 
 by the examples of Pope and Dryden. " I can see no reason 
 why the bards of Israel should be less adapted for translation 
 into English verse than those of Greece and Rome. The 
 admirable versions of the Iliad and ^neid, by Pope and Dryden, 
 have communicated the spirit of Homer and Virgil to thousands 
 of English readers who never knew a word of the originals." 
 To those who find pleasure in religious poetry, Mr. Eae's work 
 will be very attractive ; but general readers are not likely to take 
 much interest in a metrical rendering of the Old Testament, when 
 the author confines himself to the words he finds in the original. 
 Mr. Eae says, " In treating a work of so sacred a character, 
 I have not considered myself at liberty to give wings to the 
 ignis fatuus of my own fancy, and depart at pleasure from the 
 litera scripta of the text." The work contains an ably written 
 introduction, in which we have the history and character of Isaiah, 
 and a sketch of Jewish history. 
 
 1853. — The Bushkangees, a Play, in Five Acts; and other Poems. 
 By Charles Harpur. Sydney. 8vo., 126 pages. 
 
 The dramatic production with which this volume commences 
 is not entitled to much praise, either on the score of its poetry, 
 H 
 
98 
 
 or of the power of construction displayed in it ; but at the same 
 time, it contains passages which shew that it was written by a 
 poet. The title of the play sufficiently indicates its character. 
 The hero is a sentimental scoundrel, who, after receiving much 
 kindness from a young girl, in his hours of sickness, repays 
 her by violence, and finally murders her betrothed. Poetical 
 justice is meted out to him at the conclusion, when he is 
 shot down by the police ; while the unfortunate heroine goes 
 mad, and sings ditties after the fashion of Ophelia. Some comic 
 scenes are interspersed throughout the play, in the shape of 
 dialogues between low characters. A more unfortunate selection 
 of a plot could hardly have been made. There is no scope for 
 poetry, and it would be difficult for any mind, not accustomed to 
 feed on sensation, to interest itself in the fortunes of a bush- 
 ranger. Mr. Harpur has undoubtedly made the best of his subject ; 
 but it is much to be regretted that the labour devoted to it was 
 not employed upon a higher theme. 
 
 Among the minor poems contained in this volume, there 
 are one or two which evidence considerable power in the author. 
 Chief among these is the Greek of the Four Graves. It is 
 written in blank verse, and describes a tragic incident peculiar to 
 what is termed " bush-life in Australia." A squatter had set out 
 with four men to select a station in a part of the interior pre- 
 viously unoccupied by white men. They had pitched their camp 
 for the night on the banks of a creek, and the four men had 
 fallen asleep by the fire. Suddenly a band of savage aboriginals 
 burst upon them, and succeed in killing those who were asleep. 
 Their leader, takes flight, — is hotly pursued, — his path is inter- 
 cepted by the creek, — he plunges in, and providentially finds a 
 large cavity in the opposite bank. Here he conceals himself, 
 while the savages track him in vain. He then escapes to his 
 home. All this is narrated with much dramatic force, and at 
 each step the scene is brought vividly before the reader. The 
 
99 
 
 subject affords peculiar facility for the exertion of the author's 
 powe:s of landscape painting — powers which constitute the chief 
 merit of his productions. He writes like a man who has lived 
 in the midst of those scenes of nature which he never tires in 
 describing, and who is eminently gifted with a capacity for appre- 
 ciating their beauty. A fine example of this capacity may be 
 found in another of his poems, entitled A Foefs Some. 
 Poetry of this description is obviously not suited to common 
 apprehension, and we may thus account for the fact that Mr. 
 Harpur's poems are not as popular as they deserve to be among 
 his countrymen. Another obstacle to their success consists in 
 the want of melody which characterises all his lyrical efforts, 
 more or less. Sismondi tells us that poetry is a mixture of 
 painting and music ; Mr. Harpur gives us the painting without 
 the music. He is extremely unmusical in every form of verse 
 except blank verse. The latter he handles with ease — often with 
 dignity and power. He is not always happy, moreover, in his 
 choice of language. Whether this arises from carelessness or 
 want of taste, is hard to say. Some of his finest passages are 
 marred by what uneducated people call " dictionary words" — 
 high-sounding terms compounded from the Latin, when simple 
 Anglo-Saxonisuis might have been used instead. This not only 
 spoils the effect of his writings, but too often renders them turgid 
 and obscure. "With all these sins upon his head, however, Mr. 
 Harpur has some true poetry in him. He has written two or 
 three pieces which deserve to live, and will live. The greater 
 part of his compositions will never command much admiration ; 
 and it is unfortunate that his later efforts display no increase 
 of power. Eemembering this, it is painful to read the arrogant 
 self-laudation in which he occasionally indulges. The idea of a 
 man declaring himself, as Mr. Harpur does, " A Mon'arch of Song 
 in the Land," is something new to Literature. If Mr. Harpur 
 is entitled to that royal designation, he is in the unenviable 
 position of a Monarch without subjects. 
 
100 
 
 iSSJi. — The Lusiad op Ltjis be Camoens, closely translated. 
 With a portrait of the Poet ; a Compendium of his Life ; an 
 Index to the principal passages of his Poem ; a view of 
 the " Fountain of Tears," and marginal and annexed Notes, 
 original and select. By Lieut.-Col. Sir T. L. Mitchell, Knt., 
 D.C.L. London. 8vo., 310 pages. 
 
 The translation is in the ottava rima, but the translator did 
 not consider himself bound to adopt the usual rules of English 
 versification. His stanzas are disfigured by lines of unequal 
 syllables — varying between ten and fourteen. The efiect of such 
 a system is of course totally destructive of harmony, frequently 
 to a ludicrous extent. The translator justifies himself on this 
 point in the preface. " In quantity, the original varies as to the 
 number of syllables, and in attempting an imitation in a different 
 language, the employment of nearly as many syllables cannot, 
 he trusts, be objected to. From ten to twelve, or even fourteen 
 syllables, occur in one line of the original, and thus, although ten 
 syllables is the usual quantity in ottava rima when imitated in 
 English, more has (sio) been required in translating the lines of the 
 Lusiad. By adopting a similar quantity, a tone of antiquity seems 
 to be the result, and not unsuited, as the translator imagines, to the 
 age of the original poem, since this is not at all affected, but the 
 result of close imitation. It will still be found that there are fewer 
 syllables in the translation than there are iji the original." 
 
 Mickle's translation in heroic verse is objected to by Sir 
 Thomas Mitchell, on the score of its want of fidelity to the 
 original. Thus we have in one, poetry without fidelity, and in the 
 other, fidelity without poetry. Sir Thomas Mitchell was an accom- 
 plished scholar, and he possessed considerable attainments in 
 science. But his mind was not qualified to distinguish itself in 
 poetry. " As some apology for the rough chiseling of the work," 
 he states in his preface that it was " chiefly written under water, 
 in a small clipper, during a voyage round Cape Horn." 
 
101 
 
 Sir Thomas Mitchell was a staff officer of the Duke of 
 "Wellington, and served with distinction in. the Peninsular "War. 
 He received a medal and five clasps for his gallantry in the field. 
 He arrived in this Colony in 1828. On the death of Mr. Oxley, 
 he was appointed Surveyor General, and in that capacity did 
 good service to his adopted country as an explorer. His narra- 
 tives of exploration will be noticed in a subsequent page. " To 
 his skill and energy,'' says Flanagan in his History, "was due 
 the successful construction of the principal roads by which the 
 interior of the country was opened up for the purposes of coloni- 
 zation. His zeal and efficiency as Surveyor G-eneral was (sic) 
 evinced in various ways, not the least of which was the execution 
 of valuable maps and plans. He laboured successfully in the field 
 of Science, by applying to the screw propeller the principles on 
 which the boomerang of the New Hollander performs its wonderful 
 gyrations in the air. To the very last he devoted himself to the 
 discharge of his onerous duties. His death resulted from bronchitis, 
 produced by exposure during a surveying expedition in which he 
 had been recently engaged. He was emphatically one of those men 
 whose career dignifies the nation among whom they live and 
 labour." 
 
 He died in 1855. 
 
 1857. — SoNas without Music. By J. L. Michael. Sydney. 
 12mo., 128 pages. 
 
 [No date.] — John Cumbeeland. By J. L. Michael, Author of 
 "Songs without Music," "Sir Archibald Telverton," &c. 
 Sydney. 8vo., 206 pages. 
 
 Mr. Michael has evidently a great facility in expressing his 
 ideas poetically. His compositions are musical, and display 
 much feeling, much liveliness of fancy, but little distinctiveness of 
 thought. Two or three of the songs are good. " John Cumber- 
 
102 
 
 land" is a very lengthy composition. It is a novel in verse, much 
 in the style of Coventry Patmore's "Angel in the House." The 
 hero is a youthful poet, who passes his time in dozing on the hanks 
 of a river. He goes to London in order to see the world, and there 
 falls in love with a fashionable flirt. He wins her heart by an 
 impromptu ditty, written as a trial of skill among a party of 
 visitors. On the death of his mother, he returns to his tillage 
 home, and catches a rheumatic fever. On his recovery, some 
 months afterwards, he is surprised by not receiving any letters 
 from the London flirt. She, it appears, had been misled by her 
 artful mother, who did not like her engagement — went to Paris, 
 and married a young nobleman. Meanwhile, John had made the 
 acquaintance of two charming girls, the daughters of the country 
 Doctor. One of them he particularly afiects. Her favourable 
 opinion was also secured by an impromptu exhibition of his 
 poetical powers at a conversazione ; and a fire breaking out at her 
 house, she was rescued from destruction by her admirer. Of 
 course they marry. All this is briskly written in a variety of 
 measures, grave and gay. Too often, it is mere rhymed prose. 
 Sometimes, however, the author succeeds in striking out a good 
 thought and expressing it well. Although the poem turns almost 
 wholly on a single hinge — that of Love — it shows little knowledge 
 of the heart. Mr. Michael writes with too much ease, and 
 occasionally mistakes rhyme for poetry. 
 
 1857. — The Wave of Life : a Poem, in three Cantos. By D. P. 
 Sydney. 12mo., 90 pages. 
 
 The subject of this poem, which is written in a serio-comic 
 strain, is very simple : — A young gentleman falls desperately in 
 love with a young lady, who jilts him, and subsequently marries 
 an earl. The unfortunate lover becomes " a blighted being," goes 
 to the Crimea, and disappears in battle. D. P. has undoubtedly 
 
103 
 
 some talent, but his book is a disappointment ; he might have 
 written better had he chosen. Grood and bad lines alternate 
 with so much regularity as to appear the result of design rather 
 than of accident ; giving his composition a tesselated sort of 
 appearance, with alternate squares of cleverness and absurdity. 
 
 1857. — MuEMtTES OF THE Steeam. By Henry Paries, late 
 Member of the Legislative Assembly for the City of Sydney. 
 Sydney. 8vo., 107 pages. 
 
 1858. — Lteics : a Collpciion of Songs, Ballads, and Poems. By 
 James Simmonds, Comedian. Sydney. 8vo., 114 pages. 
 
 The comic powers which characterised the actor do not 
 appear to have influenced the poet, for there is no effort of a 
 humourous character in his book. The lyrics are devoted to the 
 expression of sentiment, and the expression is frequently good. 
 
 Mr. Simmonds is also the author of an extravaganza entitled 
 The Devil in Sydney, produced in 1859. 
 
 1859. — The Maid op Eein, and other Poems. By Andrew 
 "Wotherspoon. Sydney. 12mo., 126 pages. 
 
 Mr. Wotherspoon has much more patriotism than poetry in 
 his composition. " The Maid of Erin" is a tale of '98. Miss 
 Bertha Connor is enamoured of Mr. Rowland Dunn, a young 
 Captain of Dragoons, stationed in Ireland. A biti er feud had 
 existed between their families for many years ; and her father, in 
 order to keep her out of the way, sent her to a friend in Majorca. 
 Her lover follows her in his yacht, and on his arrival, finds that 
 Mr. Owen O'Brien, with whose father she was staying, had made 
 unseemly proposals to her. A duel ensued, in which O'Brien 
 is slain. Mr. Wotherspoon has very poor notions of poetry, but 
 he tells his tale well. 
 
104 
 
 1859. — ScEAPS. Ey Menippus. Sydney. 8vo., 116 pages. 
 
 The author of this work, which was printed for private 
 circulation, was Mr. Eobert Sealy. He was bom in 1831, in 
 Ireland, his family being of English descent, and of good 
 extraction. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, but he 
 does not appear to have remained long enough at College to take 
 the usual degree. He then came to this Colony. On the 
 foundation of the Sydney University, in 1852, he became a 
 student again, and attended lectures for a term or two. He 
 there held the reputation of a good classical scholar — a reputation 
 which may be easily credited by any one who reads his humourous 
 compositions. Carelessly as they were written, and little as their 
 author may have thought of them, they are evidently the handi- 
 work of a man quick in appreciating the beauties of language, 
 and endowed with exquisite taste — of one, too, who had a marked 
 faculty for reproducing the '" form and pressure" of a past age, 
 whether in old English or in G-reek iambics. His career in this 
 Colony was not a fortunate one. He was for some time a tutor 
 in private families ; he then exchanged the drudgery of a school 
 for the drudgery of a Grovemment office. His death took place 
 in 1862, when he was only thirty-one years of age. 
 
 The merit of this book might well bear a more pretentious 
 title than its author chose to give it. Its contents are for the 
 most part in verse. The author contented himself with such 
 slight effusions as the mere events of the day might suggest to 
 him ; as though he felt his only avocation was the " shooting folly 
 as it flies." He was evidently capable, however, of much higher 
 work than that. There are not many serious efibrts among his 
 " scraps'"; but the one or two that may be found there, contain 
 clear proof of deep feeling in their author, and of capacity to 
 express it. As a local satirist, he was one of the most successful 
 of our writers. The moment a bird appeared upon the wing, his 
 
105 
 
 fowling-piece was levelled ; and he Has left us many a blood- 
 stained plume as trophies of his skill. This, perhaps, was the 
 character in which he was most fitted to excel ; but it would be 
 an injustice to his memory to suppose (as is so often supposed in 
 such cases) that he was not capable of higher things. The most 
 melancholy of human beings is the low comedian ; and no one, 
 probably, is more given to pathetic feeling than he whose talent 
 is usually exerted in creating laughter. 
 
 1862. — Poems and Sowas. By Henry Kendall. Sydney, 8vo., 
 
 144 pages. 
 
 This volume represents the higliest point to which the poetic 
 genius of our country has yet attained. It consists almost 
 entirely of descriptive poems, or of poems in which the sentiment 
 is subordinate to the description. The author paints the scenery 
 of his native land with the hand of a master. He is superior to 
 Mr. Harpur in this style of poetry, both in the colouring of his 
 landscape, and in the melody of his verse. In the whole range 
 of English descriptive poetry, there is no writer to whom Mr. 
 Kendall can be said to bear the slightest resemblance. He is 
 essentially original in this respect. The music to which he has set 
 his impressions of Nature is invariably of a gloomy and despondent 
 tone. One would think he had been " lost in the bush " at an 
 early period of his life, and thus had learned to associate thoughts 
 of horror with the fairest scenes. No poet in the language, from 
 Chaucer to Tennyson, draws such dismal meanings from the 
 external world. 
 
 Mr. Kendall's poems, however, are the production of true 
 genius. They have not yet met with the popularity they deserve — 
 perhaps they never will be "popular" — but there is ground to 
 believe that the author will, in time to come, take rank among the 
 poets of the age. It remains to be seen whether he is capable of 
 
106 
 
 writing in a more varied strain than he has hitherto done. Nearly 
 all his poems are of the same character ; nearly all are cast in 
 the same mould ; and this sameness, which extends to diction and 
 metre as well as to thought and feeling, is one of the gravest 
 objections that can be urged against them. Their author, how- 
 ever, is young ; and greater experience, combined with a wider 
 culture, wiU no doubt extend his dominion over the minds of his 
 fellow men. The charge of obscurity is frequently urged against 
 his compositions, and, to some extent, with justice. He, like 
 Mr. Harpur, requires a cultivated class of readers. 
 
 The London AthencBum has expressed a highly favourable 
 opinion of Mr. Kendall. After some prefatory remarks, it said : — 
 
 ' Mr. Kendall lias much to learn ; but he lias received from nature much 
 of that strong poetic faculty and power which no amount of learning can 
 hestow. The spirit of nearly all the writings under our hand is dark and 
 sorrowful, but of their energy and vigour there can be little doubt. [Two of 
 Mr. Kendall's poems are here extracted — " The River and the Hill " and 
 " Kiama."] The peculiar mark of Kendall's genius — a wild, dark, Miiller-like 
 power of landscape-painting — is less visible in these pieces than in the following 
 one [The poem " Fainting by the Way" is extracted.] Most readers who 
 examine the structure of these compositions will agree with us that a man 
 who can execute such work at the age of twenty, may hope, in his riper years 
 and experience, to be heard of again in the world of letters." 
 
 The same journal, in its issue of the I7th February, 1866, 
 contained the following article on Mr. Kendall : — 
 
 " Mr. Kendall, who has before sent us poems from which we have given 
 extracts in our columns, and who now sends us a bulky MS., accompanied by 
 a very sensible letter, has really legitimate claims to attention. ' In my spare 
 hours,' he says, ' and whenever health and the choking troubles of a really 
 hard life have suffered me, I have written and written on ; and the accom- 
 panying verses, alive, as they must be, with a certain intensity of feeling, and 
 naturally shadowed with a remarkable gloom, are at least the genuine results, 
 or some of them.' He adds, that he is very anxious for the existence and 
 
107 
 
 recognition of an indigenous natiye Literature, and suggests that we should 
 deTOte an article to the subject. This we should he prepared to do, were the 
 materials at our command sufficient for the purpose ; but with only Mr. 
 Moore's volume, Mr. Kendall's manuscript, and a few poor extracts from the 
 poems of Mr. Charles Harpur, we can form no clear idea of what Australian 
 poetry is, or is likely to become. Concerning Mr. Kendall's personal worlc, 
 however, we can speak hopefully. The manuscript he has sent us containsj 
 among much that is poor and imitative, a certain portion that is very good 
 indeed — so good, that we believe a careful study of indigenous subjects may 
 lift the writer to a very high place among colonial poets. ' Elijah' and 
 ' Rizpah' — two allegorical poems about America — are such as anybody might 
 have written, and as few people would find it worth their trouble to write ; 
 possessing only one noticeable feature — the carefully chosen use of scriptural 
 phrases. None of the meditative pieces rise above common-place ; but the 
 two poems on indigenous subjects are full of strength and vigour. Nothing, 
 indeed, could be better than this song. [The " Song of the Cattle Hunters" 
 is here quoted.] 
 
 " Excellent in another way is ' Ghost Glen,' a poem which, once read, 
 must linger on the memory in its weird horror. [The poem is here quoted, 
 and the article concludes with the folloiiing :] 
 
 " If Mr. Kendall continues to exert his faculty as successfully as he has 
 done in these two pieces, England as well as Australia will gladly recognise his 
 place as a singer. He has both disadvantages and advantages in his distant 
 sphere, but the latter preponderate. He occupies virgin soil — stands in the 
 midst of a society whose characteristics have never yet been mirrored in song ; 
 while English writers are throwing up their pens yearly, because they can 
 assimilate nothing new. Let him seek in the great life around him those 
 human forms of humoiu-, pathos, and beauty, which, touched by the gifted 
 hand, cannot fail to win the hearts of the pubHc ; and let him use his local 
 colouring — a precious treasure — to illustrate truths which are universal. It is 
 impossible, of course, to say how he would succeed in the profounder labour of 
 dramatic insight — such faculty as he shews in the poems before us being 
 distinctively a lyrical faculty ; but that he has gifts there can be no question ; 
 and his communication to us is so modest and sensible, that we are assured 
 he will put these gifts to the best use, !eave his imitative efforts behind, and 
 strike out in the path which he is most suited to explore.'' 
 
 Mr. Kendall was born in 1842, and is a native of the Colony. 
 
108 
 
 1864. — Speing-life Lykics. By J. S. Moore. Sydney. 8vo., 
 
 180 pages. 
 The author has been an industrious contributor to the 
 journalism of the Colony for many years past. He candidly 
 avows in his preface that he is " no poet," and the confession has 
 been endorsed by the Athenemim. " Mr. Moore confesses that he 
 is no poet, and, as we quite agree with him, it would be useless to 
 criticise or quote his effusions." It would not be too much to 
 say, however, that Mr. Moore can write a very fair song for the 
 pianoforte. 
 
 1865.— Poems. By J. L. Brereton, M.D., Author of " The 
 Travels of Prince Legion'' and other Poems. London. 8vo., 
 159 pages. 
 
 The chief feature in these poems is the strongly-marked 
 vein of religious feeling running through them, and which must 
 recommend them to those readers who seek the religious element 
 in literature. They are all neatly executed. The Colony is 
 indebted to Dr. Brereton for the introduction of the Turkish 
 Bath. 
 
 1865. — The Towee op the Dbeam. By Charles Harpur. Ee- 
 printed from The Australian Journal. Sydney and Melbourne. 
 8vo., 24 pages. 
 
 This work is not by any means calculated to increase the 
 number of Mr. Harpur's admirers. As the latest production of 
 a man who has spent a lifetime in writing poetry, it is to be 
 regretted that his efforts have not resulted in something better. 
 
 Perhaps there is no gentleman in the Colony who has written 
 a larger quantity of verse than Mr. Henry Halloran. For the 
 last thirty or forty years, he has been in the habit of contributing 
 poetical compositions to the \arious newspapers and literary 
 
109 
 
 periodicals of the time. He is, in fact, tte Poet Laureate of the 
 Colony. Few events of more than ordinary interest have been 
 suffered to pass into oblivion without some commemorating lines 
 from his prolific pen. Prom the ease with which he casts his 
 thoughts and feelings into poetic shape, his verse too often 
 assumes the appearance of doggrel. 
 
 There are other pieces from his pen, however, of a much 
 loftier vein, and in these he has displayed an unbounded love of 
 nature, deep sympathy with the highest aspirations of the soul, 
 and infinite sensibility. Too often he loses himself in a mist of 
 obscurity — a common failing with our poets, apparently arising 
 from a belief that poetry has nothing to do with the common 
 sense and common apprehension of mankind. Some of his minor 
 efforts are pleasing, but there is nothing from his pen that seems 
 to have met with very general favour. It is to be regretted that 
 no collection of his fugitive pieces has yet appeared. 
 
110 
 
 EICTION. 
 
 1841. — A LoTE Stoht. By a Bushman. Sydney. 2 vols., 8vo. 
 
 There are three or four love stories in this work instead of 
 one, and none of them involves any complexity of incident. The 
 author does not seem to have troubled himself much about a 
 plot. He introduces his reader into an aristocratic family, and 
 then takes him to Malta, where a young gentleman in the Army — ■ 
 a connection of the aristocratic family — has got himself into 
 a difficulty, by falling in love with a Greek girl, and nearly killing 
 his friend in a duel. His brother arrives to get him out of it, 
 and discovers that his reason is affected. The doctor advises that 
 a marriage should take place between the Greek girl and lier 
 infatuated lover. The ceremony is performed, and the party 
 start for Italy. Here the work becomes quite a guide-book ; the 
 author displaying, with evident satisfaction, his familiarity with 
 the leading features of continental travel. On their way to Rome, 
 the Greek catches the marsh fever, and dies ; her lover again loses 
 his reason, and after some adventures on the way, dies suddenly. 
 The disconsolate brother pursues his travels, and ultimately re- 
 turns to England. There he makes preparation for his marriage 
 with a certain Julia to whom he had been attached before his 
 departure. Everything is arranged, the bridegroom goes to Lon- 
 don" for a few days, and on his return, is horrified to find a funeral 
 cortege drawn up at the door of the mansion where he expected 
 to meet his Julia. She too had died during his absence ; and he 
 sets out again on his travels, finally turning up in Australia. 
 
 There is an immense amount of sentiment worked up in 
 this love story, and the writing is executed in the rhapsodical 
 style so popular in fashionable novels forty or fifty years ago. 
 The " Bushman" breaks out into fervent moralizing at every step, 
 and is quite uncontrollable when the theme turns upon the 
 mysteries of love. Thus he exclaims : " Woman ! dearest woman ! 
 
Ill 
 
 born to alleviate our sorrow and soothe our anguish ! who-eanst bid 
 feeling's tear trickle down the obdurate cheek, or mould the iron 
 heart till it be pliable as a child's. Why stain thy gentle dominion 
 by inconstancy ? Why dismiss the first form that haunted thy 
 maiden pillow until — or that vision is a dear reality beside thee — - 
 or thou liest pale and hushed on thy last couch of repose ?" 
 
 The work is dedicated to Lady Gipps ; and in the title- 
 page of a copy in the collection of the late Mr. Justice Wise, is 
 stated to have been written by Major Christie, late Postmaster 
 Greneral of the Colony. 
 
 1852. — Tales rou the Bush. By Mrs. Prances Vidal. Origi- 
 nally published in Australia. Fourth edition, enlarged. 
 London. 12mo., 386 pages. 
 These tales, which have a moral and religious tendency, were 
 
 first published in Sydney, in numbers. 
 
 1857. — Geetetjde, the Emigrant ; a Tale of Colonial Life. By 
 an Australian Lady. With numerous Engravings. Sydney. 
 8vo., 193 pages, 
 
 The authorship of this work is attributed to Miss Atkinson, 
 of Windsor. It is a production of more than average merit, and 
 displays a considerable talent for novel-writing. The scene is laid 
 wholly in this Colony, principally in the bush ; and nowhere are 
 the peculiar features of bush life more accurately or more graphi- 
 cally pourtrayed. The tale abounds in incident, the characters are 
 skilfully drawn, and the literary execution is quite equal to that 
 of ordinary novels. The authoress is too fond, perhaps, of 
 obtruding moral and religious reflections upon her reader, being 
 evidently a member of that mistaken class which looks upon fiction 
 as an appropriate channel for the conveyance of religious 
 edification. Her descriptions of Australian scenery are extremely 
 good : anyone who has resided in the bush will recognize the 
 faithfulness of her landscapes. The best character in the book 
 is that of the " new chum" — a supercilious coxcomb, who goes 
 
112 
 
 up-country with the idea of ridiculing the natives, and is signally 
 discomfited. The contrast between this gentleman and the old 
 residents in the bush, including the good old convict lady, the 
 country doctor, and the young superintendent, is brought out 
 remarkably well. Then there are several detached scenes which 
 fix themselves in the memory ; such as the child struck by a falling 
 bough while playing at the foot of a "woolly gum-tree " ; the " Dead 
 Man's Eun," where the skeleton of a lost wanderer in the bush is 
 discovered by a party of young stockmen ; the narrow escape from 
 a mob of wild cattle, careering down the side of a precipitous hill ; 
 and other incidents presented by bush life. The result of the 
 whole is a strong impression that the authoress did not mistake her 
 vocation in attempting to write a novel, and that the cultivation 
 of her faculty for fiction would certainly lead to success. 
 
 " Gertrude" originally appeared in numbers. The illustra- 
 tions are bad. 
 
 1859. — CowANDA, THE Veteean's GrEANT ; an Australian Story. 
 
 By the Authoress of " Gertrude," &c., &c. Sydney. 8vo., 
 
 135 pages. 
 
 A simple story, the details of which are not exciting, either 
 in. themselves or in the manner in which they are related. They 
 consist principally of the adventures of a young man, of good 
 disposition but weak principle, who runs away from a merchant's 
 office to the " Diggings," to the great grief of his relatives. By 
 an artful contrivance on the part of a rascal who had some 
 acquaintance with his family, he is suspected of having forged 
 his grandfather's signature to a cheque, and his sudden retreat 
 from business is accounted for on the supposition of his guilt. 
 He is ultimately restored to his friends ; and we are informed, in 
 the last chapter of the book, that the real forger was drowned at 
 sea, on his way to California, by the foundering of his ship. Tlie 
 authoress loses no opportunity of enforcing the claims of religion 
 upon the attention of her reader. 
 
113 
 
 This work is in no respect equal to its predecessor, and conse- 
 quently is a disappointment. It contains no character, good or 
 bad, to which we feel ourselves attracted, and altogether there is a 
 "small tea-party" atmosphere about it that few readers can be 
 supposed to relish. The authoress has made no other literary 
 effort since the publication of this tale, beyond contributing a few 
 articles on the botany of the country to a daily journal. This is 
 much to be regretted. 
 
 1859. — BoTANT Bat. By John Lang, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. 
 Author of " Too Clever by Half," " Wanderings in India," 
 " The Forger's Wife," &c. London. 8vo. 238 pages. 
 
 The author makes the following commuuicatiou in his pre- 
 face : — " To my readers in Australia — the land of my birth — I 
 desire to say that I do not hold myself responsible for the 
 sentiments of the various persons whom I have introduced as 
 ' characters' ; and that when I have spoken of the Colony as 
 ' Botany Bay,' it was not my intention to be either sarcastic or 
 insulting. An absence of nearly twenty years from the Colony — 
 partly in India, and partly in Europe — has in no way lessened 
 my regard for the land where the days of my boyhood were 
 spent, and where I yet hope to end my life ; and I would here 
 desire to express, that it afforded me great joy to find that the 
 prophecy in which I indulged at the public meeting at the 
 Sydney College, in 1842, when I inconsistently seconded Mr. 
 W. C. Wentworth's resolution, that the Crown be petitioned 
 to grant the Colony a Representative Assembly, was not fal- 
 fiUed, but falsified. I was then a very young, and perhaps a 
 silly and selfish man, when I propounded in public that the 
 Colony was not ripe for any Government save that of a purely 
 Crown Government ; and the severe handling I received from 
 the entire Press of the Colony was no doubt well merited ; for 
 assuredly I was not justified in agreeing to second so important 
 I 
 
114 
 
 a resolution, and then express sucli strong doubts as to the advisa- 
 bility of its being carried into effect. The unpopularity that I 
 incurred during the few months that I remained in the Colony 
 after my speech at the Sydney CoUege, was, I trust, regarded as 
 a sufficient punishment for that ' youthful indiscretion' on my 
 part." 
 
 Mr. Lang's reputation as a popular writer is well known to 
 every reader of fiction. " Botany Bay" is by no means the least 
 graphic and amusing of his works. The various legends of the 
 Colony which he has treated in the form of fiction are familiar to 
 every old resident among us, while the embellishments with which 
 he has surrounded them render them doubly interesting. Pew 
 works of the kind are better worth reading. 
 
 1866. — Fifty Teaes Ago : By Charles De Boos, Author of the 
 " John Smith Letters," the " Poor Man," " Eandom Notes," 
 &c. &c. Sydney. 
 
 " Pifty Tears Ago" is a serial tale, now in course of publi- 
 cation in fortnightly parts. The object of the author is to 
 illustrate the state of society in this Colony in the days of its 
 infancy, when the interior was scarcely known to white men, and 
 the aboriginals had not yet been ruined by contact with civili- 
 sation. The first part describes a cruel massacre perpetrated by 
 three blacks upon the wife and children of a settler, during his 
 absence ; the crime being committed for the purpose of obtaining 
 his small possessions. The second describes the pursuit and cap- 
 ture of the murderers by the settler and his son. The latter have 
 made a strange vow to shoot one of the savages on each anni- 
 versary of the crime, and to place one of his hands on the grave 
 of their relatives. After the blacks are informed of this project, 
 they are set at liberty. The third part introduces the reader to 
 the society of a miller and his daughter, and to two men living on 
 
115 
 
 the farm, one of whom is an accepted sweetheart, and the other 
 a jealous rival. The work is well written, and promises to make 
 a very good novel. Its delineation of old times is exceedingly 
 life-like, while there is no lack of incident to fix the attention of 
 the reader. 
 
 Mr. De Boos is a reporter to the Herald, and has at various 
 times contributed sketchy articles to its columns. Four years 
 ago there appeared in that journal a series of letters, sighed 
 " John Smith, of Congewoi,'' in which the political characters of 
 the day were photographed with much sarcastic humour. The 
 letters displayed a very accurate knowledge of bush life, and the 
 style in which they were written was peculiarly racy and original. 
 They are now being re-published in a separate form. 
 
 1867. — AusTEALiAK Capers : or, Christopher CocJcle's Colonial 
 Experience. By " Old Boomerang." London, 8vo. 
 
 This work is advertised to appear in February next. The 
 author (Mr. J. E. Houlding) informs us in a prospectus, that " the 
 main object of the above work is to warn parents in England and 
 elsewhere from sending their inexperienced sons to Australia with 
 large capital, and their young daughters without protection." 
 Under the name of " Old Boomerang,'' Mr. Houlding has contri- 
 buted amusing sketches to the Sydney Mail for many years past. 
 » # * * 
 
 A young writer, Mr. F. S. Wilson, has contributed several 
 tales to our periodical literature — " Woonoona," " Shot through 
 the Heart," " Broken Clouds," &c. They are not devoid of merit, 
 and it is quite possible that their author may hereafter achieve 
 distinction as a novelist. He has also written a good deal of 
 verse. The style seems to be rather a reflection of Kendall's, but 
 Mr. Wilson is not wanting in force of conception, harmony, and 
 feeling. . A collection of his various efforts might be read with 
 pleasure. 
 
116 
 
 ORATORY. 
 
 1853. — The Speeches in the Lebislatite CorNciL of New 
 South Wales, on the Second Reading of the Bill for forming 
 a new Constitution for the Colony. Edited by E. K. Silvester. 
 Sydney. 228 pages, 8vo. 
 
 The debate referred to in the title was the most important, 
 and certainly the most dignified, that ever took place in the 
 Legislature of the Colony. The passing of the Constitution Act 
 altered the whole political system of the country, and largely 
 affected its social system also. That the importance of the 
 occasion was fully felt by the Members of the Council is evident 
 from their speeches, all of which exhibit proof of the most careful 
 elaboration. The community had been agitated for many years 
 previously on the subject of legislative reform ; and the debate of 
 1853 represented the last of their great constitutional struggles. 
 
 The collection edited by Mr. Silvester contains some highly 
 creditable displays of rhetorical and argumentative power — 
 displays, in fact, that wouli do honour to any deliberative 
 assembly in Europe. The most remarkable speeches were those 
 delivered by Mr. "Wentworth, who moved the second reading — 
 by Mr. Martin, who strenuously supported the measure — and by 
 Mr. Darvall, who as, strenuously opposed it. The last-named 
 gentleman was one of the ablest men, and certainly one of the 
 most accomplished advocates, that ever adorned the Colony. In 
 the speeches of these gentlemen, the antagonistic principles of 
 Conservatism and Democracy were finely contrasted. The first, 
 who was in fact the author of the Bill, spoke of it as one " framed 
 with the express object of arresting the inflow of democracy"; 
 and a great portion uf his speech was occupied with a comparison 
 between English and American institutions, much to the disad- 
 vantage of the latter. The second followed with a similar line of 
 argument. The third, who could by no means be justly spoken 
 
117 
 
 of as a democrat, yet occupied the position of " leader of the 
 democratic party." He advocated the infusion of a larger share 
 of the popular element in the proposed Constitution ; and at the 
 same time defended the American form of government from the 
 disparaging remarks of Mr. Wentworth. Each of these gentlemen 
 spoke with much eloquence, and each supported his arguments 
 by abundant quotations from eminent writers. 
 
 Mr. Wentworth's career in public life was of long duration. 
 It extended over a period of thirty years, from 1824, when he., 
 returned to the Colony, to 1854, when he quitted it. One of the 
 first practising barristers, he retained the lead of that profession 
 as long as he continued in practice. Although he had more than 
 one able competitor, he may be said to have remained, from first to 
 last, without a rival. Several members of the Bar, in days gone by, 
 were men of far more than ordinary capacity ; as, for instance, Dr. 
 Wardell, Mr. Eobert Lowe, and Mr. Eichard Windeyer. But there 
 was none who possessed the massive intellectual power, combined 
 with the overpowering declamation, of Mr. Wentworth. These 
 qualifications marked him out as the Pericles of our small State ; 
 and whether at the Bar or in the Council, he was universally 
 regarded as the foremost man in the country. His eloquence 
 was not distinguished by any marked display of imaginative 
 power, nor by the studied grace of language. It was remarkable 
 rather for its declamation, for its fiery scorn of his opponents, 
 for its irresistible fiow of logical sentences. Whatever the matter 
 that called him to his feet, he • dealt with it in such a style as 
 showed a masterly grasp and comprehension of his subject. There 
 were few weak points in his intellectual armour. The character- 
 istic of his intellect was strength — not strength devoid of beauty, 
 but strength in a greater degree than beauty. Compared with 
 Mr. Eobert Lowe's, his oratory differed from that distinguished 
 speaker's in much the same manner that a statue of Hercules 
 would diiFer from a statue of Apollo. In the one, our attention 
 
118 
 
 would be attracted by the prodigious development of muscle — in; 
 the other, by the exquisite grace and finish of its outline. His 
 speech on the Constitution Bill was not the highest eifort of his 
 eloquence, but it furnishes a fair specimen of his powers. In no 
 part of it does he display much splendour of imagery or much 
 gorgeousness of diction — these were qualities of oratory which 
 he rarely affected ; but he maintains throughout a solid line of 
 argument, and a lofty tone of declamation, admirably suited to 
 the circumstances under which it was delivered. The historian 
 Flanagan pronounces it one that " fully confirmed his reputation 
 as one of the first of living orators." The phrase may seem 
 exaggerated ; and it is not probable that Mr. "Wentworth's name 
 will descend to posterity with those of Grladstone, D'Israeli, and 
 Bright. His fame must be confined to the land which gave him 
 birth — and in that land it rests ou a basis that will last for ever. 
 
 Mr. Martin has been, for some years past, the most dis- 
 tinguished Member both of the Legislature and the Bar. He 
 took an active interest in politics at an early period of his career ; 
 and although he has had much opposition to encounter, his 
 reputation for ability has steadily increased. Many of his 
 speeches have been deservedly admired ; but the qualities 
 displayed in them are rather those of a fluent, compact, and 
 powerful speaker than of a great orator. Clearness of state- 
 ment, conciseness of expression, force of argument, and ample 
 mastery of his subject, characterize all his public utterances. 
 
 Intellectual power of a very high and very peculiar order 
 was displayed by Mr. Darvall. Acute, sarcastic, logical, skilled 
 in all the technicalities of the Courts, and in all the solemnities 
 of Parliament, he possessed a coolness, a self-command, a presence 
 of mind, that seemed almost incompatible with ordinary blood 
 and nerves. He would ha\e been a marked man in the most 
 brilliant circle of politicians or lawyers that Q\ev met in England. 
 
119 
 
 Not that he was a brilliant man himself — there was nothing 
 brilliant about him ; but he presented a singular combination of 
 coolness and power which could not fail to fix attention and 
 command respect. In addressing a public audience, his delivery- 
 was characterized by extreme ease. Language presented no 
 difficulties to him. A well balanced flow of sentences he had 
 always at command. But the language he chose never displayed 
 the fancy-work of an artist — it was merely the common-place 
 material best fitted to express his thoughts. 
 
 Mr. Darvall left the Colony in 1865, after a very lengthened 
 residence, and a very prominent career. He was four times 
 Attorney General. 
 
 Mr. Eobert Lowe — now one of the most eminent Members 
 of the House of Commons — resided in this Colony from 1842 to 
 1850. During that period he was for several years a Member 
 of the Legislative Council, and he was also engaged in practice 
 at the Bar. It is needless to speak of the character of his 
 eloquence. He displayed considerable interest in the politics of 
 the time, and the reports of many a brilliant speech may still be 
 read in our journals. 
 
 Mr. Deniehy's capacity as a public speaker has already been 
 noticed. Previous to his election as a Member of Parliament, 
 he delivered more than one speech which deservedly gained the 
 highest approbation. On the occasion of a great public meeting, 
 held to protest against certain features in the Constitution Bill, 
 he made a speech which has frequently been referred to since, as 
 one of the finest oratorical efforts ever listened to in the Colony. 
 His eloquence was perhaps of a higher order than that of others 
 who have gained a wider reputation. It was the eloquence of a 
 brilliant man of letters, contrasted with the eloquence of a 
 politician — of one endowed with rare power of imagination, and a 
 skill in the use of words found only in the great masters of style. 
 
120 
 
 As a public speaker, there are few who can better stand the 
 test of criticism than Mr. Dalley. To a perfect command of 
 language, and intuitive good taste in its selection, he adds an 
 irresistible force of humour, and a happy facility in ridicule 
 which often outweighs the most elaborate logic. His speeches 
 seldom bear any marks of elaboration ; the " midnight oil" 
 business has no attractions for him ; but his efforts — if efforts 
 they can be called — are none the worse for being unpremeditated. 
 He exercises a powerful iniluence over the feelings of his audience, 
 and in that respect he is not excelled by any gentleman we have 
 named. Eloquence is rarely heard in Courts of Law, but Mr. 
 Dalley's speeches at the Bar are entitled to rank among the most 
 brilliant displays of forensic oratory, either in this or in any other 
 country. 
 
 1863. — The Eivebine Question. Speeches in the Legislative 
 Assembly of New South Wales. Melbourne. 240 pages, 8vo. 
 
 There is little or nothing that can be called eloquent in this 
 collection, the subject being of too practical a nature to admit of 
 it. The speeches were collected and published by the squatting 
 party, as a record of opinion on a question in which they were 
 greatly interested. 
 
 1863. — The New Speaker, with an Essay on Elocution. By 
 John Connery. Sydney, 8vo. 
 
 A similar compilation to Knowles's " Elocution." The selec- 
 tion of extracts shews considerable taste, and the original writing 
 prefixed to them is excellent. The author is a Clerk in the 
 Legislative Assembly. 
 
121 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 1819. — A Statistical, Histoetcal, and Political DESCKiPTioif 
 OF THE Colony op New South Wales and its dependent 
 Settlements in Van Diemen's Land : with a particular 
 enumeration of the advantages which these Colonies offer for 
 emigration, and their superiority in many respects over those 
 possessed ly the United States of America. By W. C. 
 Wentworth, Esq., a Native of the Colony. London. 465 
 pages, 8vo. 
 
 Three editions of this work were published in the course of 
 five years. The second, enlarged to 579 pages, appeared in 1820, 
 and the third in 1824, as a work in two volumes. It performed 
 a service of very great value to the Colony ; in the first place, by 
 exposing the evils to which the Colony was subjected under the 
 arbitrary form of government established in it ; and, in the second 
 place, by pointing out the various advantages it offered as a field 
 for emigration. The author was evidently actuated by highly 
 patriotic views. " His only aim," he stated in his preface, " in 
 obtruding this hasty production on the public, is to promote the 
 welfare and prosperity of the country which gave him birth ; 
 and he has judged that he could in no way so effectually con- 
 tribute his mite towards the accomplishment of this end, as by 
 attempting to divert from the United States of America to its 
 shores, some part of that vast tide of emigration which is at 
 present flowing thither from all parts of Europe." It is not 
 clear that the publication of the work succeeded in this particular 
 object ; but there is no doubt that it attracted a great deal of 
 attention, and caused the removal of many obstacles from the 
 path of colonial prosperity. The first edition formed the basis 
 of an article in the Edinburgh Bevieiu, in which the subjects of 
 
122 
 
 complaint dwelt upon by Mr. "Wentworth were alluded to, and 
 the justice of his remonstrances avowed. In the course of two 
 or three years afterwards, the Home Grovernment modified the 
 administration of the Colony, by the establishment of a Legislative 
 Council. This was the first step in the progress from an arbitrary 
 to a representative form of government ; and it is fair to conclude 
 that the action of the Colonial Secretary at home was hastened 
 by the powerful logic of Mr. Wentworth. 
 
 It is frequently said that good speakers make bad writers. 
 Mr. Wentworth was pre-eminently a speaker ; and if there be 
 anything in this adage beyond its epigrammatic expression, it 
 might be expected that his writings would possess no merit. This 
 is not the case. The literary execution of his History betrays no 
 inexpertness with the pen. It is spoken of in the preface as 
 " a hasty production, originating in the casual suggestion of an 
 acquaintance." There is evidence of this assertion in some 
 portions of it. The first part of the work is occupied with 
 topographical remarks, and was evidently written for the benefit 
 of emigrants. Here the author certainly does not rise beyond the 
 average of " Guides to Emigrants." But the chapter on the 
 " influence of the existing system of government" is full of vigorous 
 writing, and some passages might be quoted for their eloquence. 
 Where the author touched upon political matters, he was evidently 
 breathing a congenial atmosphere — his lungs expanded and his 
 cheeks glowed. The third edition of his work gave him an 
 opportunity of replying to the celebrated Eeport of Mr. Commis- 
 sioner Bigge— a gentleman w^ho had been sent out to inquire into 
 the state of the Colony. This report was extremely damaging to 
 the Grovernor, Lachlan Macquarie ; and it strongly condemned 
 the system on which the Grovernor had acted — that of patronizing 
 reformed convicts. On this subject, as already stated, the Colony 
 was split up into two factions. Of one of these factions, which 
 regarded Grovernor Macquarie with feelings of the warmest 
 
123 
 
 admiration, Mr. "Wentworth was by far the most able and the most 
 eloquent supporter. The indignation created in this section of 
 society by Mr. Bigge's report may be easily imagined by any one 
 who will take the trouble to read it ; but that indignation must 
 have been greatly soothed — if its tones were not converted into 
 the tones of triumph — when they read the bitter exposure of 
 " the booby Commissioner," the animated defence of Macquarie, 
 and the just and manly vindication of the Emancipist cause, 
 written by their talented leader. 
 
 Although this work is generally termed a History, there is 
 little in it that is strictly historical. What there is, is merely 
 incidental. The author had no intention to write a professed 
 History. He addressed himself to emigrants on the one hand, and 
 to politicians on the other. 
 
 1824. — Ajv Historical Account of the Colony of New South 
 Wales and its dependent Settlements, in illustration of 
 Twelve Views, engraved hy W. Preston, a Convict, from 
 Drawings taTcen on the spot iy Captain TFallis, of the 4:6th 
 JSegiment. To which is subjoined an accurate Map of Fort 
 Macquarie, and of the newly discovered Hiver Hastings. By 
 J. Oxley, Esq., Surveyor General of the Territory. Folio. 
 
 The only trace of this work that I can find is in the 
 Gentleman's Magazine for 1824, which contains a short article on 
 New South Wales, quoting Mr. Oxley's work and the third 
 edition of Mr. Wentworth's History. Eespectiug the former, it 
 aids : — " The engravings in this volume are curious and interesting, 
 as being the first specimen of the graphic art which this infant 
 community has produced. They are engraved on the common 
 sheet copper used for ships, it being impossible to procure a single 
 copper-plate lit to engrave upon in the Colony." 
 
124 
 
 Mr. Oxley died in 1828, having held the office of Surveyor 
 Q-eneral for sixteen years. His services to the Colony, especially 
 in the dangerous task of exploration, were considerable. He has 
 left behind him a lasting memorial — the Journal of his Expedition 
 into the Interior. 
 
 1834. — An Histoeical and Statistical AccorNT of New 
 South Wales, both as a Fenal Settlement and as a British 
 Colony. By J. D. Lang, D.D. London. 2 vols., 8vo. 
 
 A second edition of this work was published in 1837, 
 and a third, considerably enlarged, in 1852. It is more entitled 
 to the name of History than Mr. Wentworth's book ; but if the 
 reverend author designed his work upon what he conceived 
 to be the ordinary principles of historical architecture, his notions 
 of tLose principles must have been rather vague. A large 
 number of its pages are occupied with details which would have 
 been highly appropriate in an autobiography. A casual glance 
 at the " contents" will show how much " the Author" figures in 
 the work. There are few chapters in which the reader is not 
 entertained with an account of " the Author's" doings and suffer- 
 ings, or in a rechauffe of " the Author's" squibs and leading 
 articles. This is a lamentable weakness in a man of great ability. 
 It vitiates an excellent work. If the author's purpose in its 
 composition was to gain a triumph over his adversaries, he may 
 have succeeded in doing so ; but that success involved the for- 
 feiture of the reputation which might otherwise have been 
 gained as an impartial historian. 
 
 Although Dr. Lang is an indefatigable writer, he never seems 
 to have paid much attention either to his matter or his manner. 
 There is little evidence of revision in his pages, although there 
 is much of the necessity for it. Possessed of a ready pen, he appears 
 to have set down his thoughts in the first terms that occurred to 
 him, and to have troubled himself no more about them. This is to be 
 
125 
 
 regretted ; for the rough-hewn blocks of his intellectual masonry 
 shew how grand a structure they might have served to form. 
 Kature had qualified him to shine in more than one great field of 
 intellectual energy. Equally philosophical and practical — fertile 
 in theory, and sound in argument — ^with a great capacity for 
 I'esearch, and a lively sense of humour — he might have left behind 
 him more than one monument of rare intellectual powers. All 
 his works are valuable, but all are slovenly in their execution. 
 They have been hastily put together in thought, and hastily 
 thrown into shape by the pen. They have been rather the occu- 
 pation of his leisure hours, than the object of his unremitting 
 industry. Works indeed which might have absorbed the intellectual 
 energies of smaller men, have been to him merely the pastime of 
 his holidays. 
 
 He speaks candidly in his preface of these objections to his 
 workmanship, and explains the circumstances which have given 
 rise to them : — " Having, unfortunately, had to spend a large 
 portion of his life at sea, the author has latterly found it 
 expedient and necessary, independently altogether of other and 
 higher objects, to carve out beforehand sufficient literary labour 
 for each successive voyage, to redeem that portion of his life 
 from the mere blank which it might otherwise present, as well 
 as to escape the listlessness and languor into which any person 
 without an absorbing employment is, in such circumstances, 
 likely to fall. The historical portion of the work was written in 
 the South Pacific, and the statistical in the Atlantic ; the month 
 occupied in both oceans in the Cape Horn part of the voyage 
 having been spent in the composition of another work, which is 
 now issuing from the press, simultaneously with these volumes." 
 
 No account of this Colony has met with more notice from 
 the English Press than Dr. Lang's, and probably none has been 
 
12G 
 
 more largely circulated. It cannot be doubted that the various 
 editions .of his History have done more to affect public opinion 
 at home, with regard to this country, than any other publication. 
 It is a matter of some interest to observe the tone of English 
 criticism on these matters ; and, as the character of the reverend 
 author has been bitterly attacked, it is also interesting to hear 
 the judgment of impartial tribunals. For these reasons, the 
 following extracts wiU deserve perusal. 
 
 One of the first reviews of the History was written by the 
 late G-. L. Craik, Professor of English Literature in Belfast 
 College. It appeared in a periodical called the Printing Machine. 
 Towards the end of his remarks, Mr. Craik said : — 
 
 " The latter part of the work is devoted to the state of morals and 
 religion in New South Wales ; and this subject leads the author to the 
 history of his own exertions in founding the most important institution for 
 education which the Colony contains — the Australian College. Even upon 
 certain speculative points which present themselves prominently in the course 
 of his expositions, Dr. Lang's convictions have evidently all the strength of 
 passion. Declaring frankly, and at once, that we cannot sympathize with him, 
 either in his vehement preference of Scotland and Scotchmen to every other 
 land and people under heaven, or in his violent anti-episcopalianism, we bear 
 our wilhng testimony to the higli-mindedness he evinces in the whole tone 
 and tenor of his remarks, even when, as we conceive, his feelings are most 
 prejudiced and misdirected. We certainly think that his scorn for those who 
 differ from him as to certain matters sometimes more than approaches the 
 verge of intolerance ; but, on the other hand, we acknowledge that he has had 
 great provocation to feel as he does. To his book itself we must refer our 
 readers, for a full detail of his arduous, persevering, and noble struggles for 
 the great object on which he had set his heart — the establishment of the first 
 seminary for dispensing education in the higher branches of literature and 
 science throughout his adopted country. We do not say that every step he 
 took in his efforts to forward this object was the most prudent or judicious in 
 the world. We think that, without any sacrifice of principle, he might have 
 conciliated more of those adverse interests which he attempted either to set at 
 defiance, or at least to stand independent of ; and we are also of opinion that, 
 
127 
 
 if he liad pursued liis object in u somewhat less pre-eminently Scottish and 
 Presbyterian spirit, not only would he have met with much less opposition, 
 but he would have done much more good. The manner, however, in which 
 his disinterested exertions were thwarted, from too many quarters, and from 
 some quarters whence he might most have counted upon encouragement and 
 assistance, can only be characterized as paltry and discreditable in the extreme. 
 The miserable jealousy which he encountered on the one hand, the direct 
 attempts which were made to crush and destroy him on the other, and the 
 coldness and desertioA which, as soon as the efforts of power were thus 
 directed against him, he experienced from many of those who had at first 
 professed to stand his friends, exhibits all the worst and meanest vices of 
 provincial society." 
 
 The first edition, of his History was also reviewed in the 
 New Monthly Magazine, as follows : — 
 
 " The Colony of New South Wales has, of late years, excited unusual 
 interest, in consequence of the tide of emigration having, in a great measure, 
 set in that direction. The extent of our information, however, respecting the 
 real condition and resources of the Colony has been hitherto very limited ; 
 and thousands of those who quitted this country to settle there, could, at 
 best, be only said to be taking a leap in the dark. This need no longer be the 
 case ; if it be, emigrants will have themselves to blame, for in the volumes 
 before us we have a most ample and muiute account of New South Wales. 
 We have never, indeed, seen a more complete or valuable work of the kind. 
 We cannot conceive of anything further that Dr. Lang has left us to desire. 
 The person who reads his work with attention may form almost as good an 
 idea of the climate, the soil, the capabilities of the country, and of its 
 moral, its social, and pohtical condition, as if he had spent a " seven years' " 
 residence in it. We had previously read a good deal respecting New South 
 Wales, yet our information on the subject was not only limited, but incorrect. 
 In fact, until the appearance of Dr. Dang's volumes, there was no work on 
 the subject which was worth perusing. The only blemish we can discover in 
 the work is, that the author is sometimes unduly severe when speaking of 
 men of whose conduct he disapproves. We could have wished that he had 
 contented himself with simply condefaning the improper actions, and not giving 
 his invectives the appearance of personality. We wish it to be understood, 
 however, that we concur with the author, in almost every instance, in the 
 condemnatory opinions he expresses : we only differ with him in some 
 
128 
 
 instances as to the manner in which his disapprobation is expressed. The 
 work, we repeat, is one of great value. It is replete with the most interesting 
 information, and cannot fail to become a standard work for many years to 
 come.'' 
 
 On the publication of the third edition, the following criti- 
 cism appeared in the Westminster Review : — 
 
 " Dr. Lang's Historical and Statistical Description of New South Wales, 
 now in its third edition, is so much improved and enlarged as to merit the 
 consideration due to a new work. No man has written so fully and intelli- 
 gently about Australia as Dr. Lang. His Cookslaud, his FMllipsland, and 
 the present work combined, contain a vast amount of information, which 
 only a thirty years' residence in the country, and a warm interest in its 
 welfare, could have collected ; for it is chiefly the result of personal observa- 
 tion made during extensive tours in every direction. His life has been a very 
 stirring one, according to his own account of it ; and he does give an account 
 of it — so minute, indeed, that he might have entitled his work. The History 
 of Dr. Lang, to which is added, the History of New Sotith Wales. The 
 Doctor is an amphibious sort of animal, having fourteen times crossed the 
 ocean, in furtherance of colonial enterprise. At home — -if that phrase can be 
 used of one so ubiquitous — he is the Joseph Hume of the Legislative Council, 
 and Tribune of the People iu public meetings, in addition to his labours in 
 the Pulpit or the Press. To his labours must be added his sufferings, for he 
 not long ago spent a month within the walls of a prison. Having now 
 declared for a Bepublic, he probably means to finish off by being its first 
 President ! We gather these particulars from his own narrative. So inge- 
 nuous a man excites our sympathy. It is right to add, that his imprisonment 
 was for libel ; and iu this respect, it is marvellous how his Ishmaelitish nature 
 escaped the fangs of the law so long. As it is, he seems to be never " out of 
 hot water''; and not the least amusing part of these volumes is the account of 
 his endless litigations. Of course he is always in the right ; and we are not 
 disposed to question this, although his talents, we think, might have been 
 better employed. He manifests great practical genius — at least, he can lay 
 down a practical scheme ; and he only fails in successfully executing it, for 
 want of that co-operation which his temper renders impossible. "We say 
 this in justice to Dr. Lang's really honest character and honorable purposes ; 
 and we believe this to be really a more reasonable way of accounting for 
 
129 
 
 failures for whicli he has been loudly blamed, than to suppose him guilty of 
 deliberately imposing on an unsuspecting' public. Our respect is due to any 
 man who has toiled for years in the public seryice, and spent his own utter- 
 most farthing in single-handed cndeaTOurs to promote great public ends. He 
 complains much of misrepresentation. !Bnt what can he expect, considering 
 the numerous public men who are dragged into almost every page of his 
 work, and loaded with the most scurrilous abuse ? 
 
 " Of the two Tolumes, the first is ' historical,' and the second ' statistical.' 
 They are both characterized by the faults referred to, but they are, never- 
 theless, of great value, the latter especially. Its topographical and industrial 
 information is very minute and practical. It should be read by every 
 intelligent emigrant, and by aE who would form a correct conception of the 
 resources of a country at one time thought to be only a continent of sheep- 
 runs. Its adaptation for vine and cotton cultivation is specially exhibited. 
 The fact admits of no doubt, and in future years these productions will be a 
 source of wealth to their cultivators ; but, in urging the immediate practica- 
 bility of competing with the American cotton-planters. Dr. Lang has either 
 forgotten the diggings, or neglected to revise a statement written at a previous 
 date, when he contends that free labour in Australia is as cheap as slave 
 labour in America. This is no longer the real state of the case." 
 
 The Eclectic Review, iu one of its " Brief Notices," thus 
 summed up Dr. Lang's historical merits on the same occasion : — • 
 " Few men are so competent to detail the history of Australian emigration. 
 A residence of many years iu this distant Colony, imwearied activity both of 
 mind and body, frequent intercourse with the officials, much shrewdness and 
 force of character, and an intimate knowledge of, and personal share in, 
 many of the most important transactions, pre-eminently quaUfy Dr. Lang to 
 be the historian of New South Wales. On the other hand, it must be 
 admitted that the strength of his antipathies — the fierce vehemence of his 
 dislikes — is sadly in the way of impartiality. This is specially seen in the 
 tenth chapter of his first volume. We fear there is too much truth in it, 
 but, true or false, it shakes confidence in the coolness and impartiality of the 
 historian, and wakens the mistrust with which we regard statements made in 
 self-defence. The colouring of this part of the work is that of a controversial 
 pamphlet, rather than of a history, which we much regret. But notwith- 
 standing this grave deduction, we strongly recommend the volmnes to our 
 friends. They constitute the ablest and most interesting history we possess 
 K 
 
130 
 
 of thia vast dependency, and open up many points of colonial goyernment on 
 which, the English public need to be informed. Of the author's integrity 
 there is no doubt, and his means of information have been most ample.'' 
 
 1846. — A HisTOET OP New South "Wales, fiom its Settlement 
 to the close of the year 1844. By T. H. Braim, Esq., Principal 
 of Sydney College. London. 2 vols., 8vo. 
 
 The historical portion of this work is by no means full, and 
 in that respect it is not to be compared with either Lang's or 
 Planagan's. The most important events in our annals, however, 
 are all comprised in a brief sketch of the various Administrations. 
 A great deal of attention is paid to the subjects of Emigration, 
 the abuses of the Convict System, the Land Laws, the Eeligious 
 and Educational Establishments. There is also a lengthy 
 analysis of the proceedings of the first representative Council, 
 during 1843 and 1844. " The plan upon which the following 
 work is composed," says the author, "is of a descriptive as well as 
 statistical nature, combining the mode and style pursued by 
 Lang and Martin. It has always appeared to us that the former 
 is too generally descriptive, the latter too sterile in his materials, 
 for general interest. Lang is exceedingly meagre in his statistical 
 details, and weak in his iinancial views ; Martin is replete with 
 figures, but such as are often incorrect and sometimes contra- 
 dictory." 
 
 Mr. Braim's style is rhapsodical, and his religious sym- 
 pathies are very strong. The latter part of his work is rather 
 of a " Stranger's Gruide to Sydney" character ; and although 
 interesting at the present day, as an illustration of our progress, 
 is hardly appropriate in a History. In this respect the work 
 resembles Mr. "Wentworth's. It is not entitled to be termed a 
 History ; it is simply a "statistical, historical, and political account" 
 of the Colony. Nevertheless, it constitutes a valuable contribu- 
 tion to our historical literature. 
 
131 
 
 1855. — Atjstealia and tts Gold Fields ; an Historical Sketch 
 
 of the progress of the Australian Colonies, from the earliest 
 
 times to the present day ; with a particular account of the 
 
 recent Oold Discoveries, and observations on the present aspect 
 
 of the Land Question : to which are added, notices on the use 
 
 and worTcing of Gold in ancient and modern times ; and an 
 
 examination of the Theories as to the source of Gold. By 
 
 E. H. Hargraves, late Commissioner of Crown Lands in 
 
 New South Wales. London. 8vo. pages. 
 
 Two chapters in this book are interesting. They detail the 
 
 author's experience as a gold miner in California, in 1850 — the 
 
 circumstances under which he was led to believe, while there, 
 
 that Australia was also a gold-bearing country — his return to 
 
 New South Wales — his search for the precious metal — and his 
 
 success. The other chapters were apparently added to make up 
 
 a book ; and it is said that Mr. Hargraves was materially 
 
 assisted in their composition. 
 
 The question as to the first discovery of gold in this country 
 has excited a good deal of controversy. Mr. Hargraves speaks of 
 the respective claims of Sir Eoderick Murchison and the 
 Eev. W. B. Clarke. Without any pretension to geological 
 knowledge himself, he yet undertakes to ridicule the title of the 
 latter gentleman to the honour of this discovery. It should be 
 observed that, although there is no doubt as to Mr. Hargraves 
 having been the first to proclaim the existence of gold in this 
 country, his statements require to be read in connection with 
 those of another author on this subject — Mr. Davison. 
 
 Mr. Hargraves describes the excited state of his feelings on 
 actually finding gold. Conscious that he was about to work a 
 revolution in the country, he exclaimed to his guide : — " This is a 
 memorable day in the history of New South Wales. I shall be 
 a baronet, you will be knighted, and my old horse will be stuffed, 
 put into a glass case, and sent to the British Museum"! 
 
132 
 
 I860.— The Discoteet and Geognosy op Q-old Deposits tn 
 Australia ; with comparisons and accounts of tlie Gold 
 Megions in California, Sussia, India, Brazil, Sfc. ; including a 
 philosophical disquisition on the Origin of Q-old in Placer- 
 Deposits, and in Quartz Veins. By Simpson Davison, 
 Member of the Philosophical Society of New South Wales, 
 and late Mining Associate of the Gold Discoverer recognized 
 by the local Government, and employed as Crown Commis- 
 sioner for Exploration of Gold Fields in Australia. Illus- 
 trated with Chromo-tinted Map. London. 8vo., 482 pages. 
 
 The author of this valuable work came to this Colony in 
 1844, in quest of fortune and adventure. He lived for some 
 years in various parts of the interior, as a squatter, and thus had 
 considerable opportunities of studying the geological character of 
 the country. He had been interested in geological studies from 
 a very early age ; and although he does not pretend to the 
 character of a professional geologist, he is evidently a master of 
 the science. Not having met with much success on his stations, he 
 determined to take a trip to California, at that time the great 
 centre of attraction. He sailed in 1849, and spent three years 
 upon the mines in that country. One of his fellow passengers 
 from Sydney was Mr. Hargraves, whose book has just been 
 mentioned. They became partners in gold mining, and lived 
 together during the whole time of the latter's stay. Mr. Har- 
 graves returned to New South Wales at the close of the year 
 1850, and Mr. Davison followed about two years after. 
 
 The object of this book is to shew that Mr. Hargraves is not 
 entitled to the credit of the Australian Gold Discovery. The 
 author states that, while on his stations in the north and south of 
 this Colony, he had attentively examined the geological structure 
 of the country ; that while in California, he also attentively 
 examined the geological structure of the mining districts ; and 
 that he formed the conclusion, from a comparison of the two, that 
 
133 
 
 gold existed in N^evv South "Wales. He further states that this 
 conclusion was imparted to his companion, Mr. Hargraves, who 
 knew nothing of geology, and was not given to attentive examina- 
 tions of a geological character ; and that when Mr. Hargraves 
 was about to return to Sydney, he strongly advised him to search 
 at once for gold on his arrival there, and told him the precise 
 spots in which to search for it. Now, Mr. Hargraves, in his book, 
 says little or nothing on this subject. He gives no credit to Mr. 
 Davison for even a hint upon it. On the contrary, he asserts 
 that his conclusions with respect to Australian gold were entirely 
 original — that, from first to last, he, and he only, was " The 
 Australian Gold Discoverer." 
 
 Mr. Davison's book is certainly a far superior one to that of 
 Mr. Hargraves, being the production of an educated and an able 
 man. It is a valuable contribution to the History of the Colony, 
 inasmuch as it comprises every particular relating to the Gold 
 Discovery. 
 
 1862. — The History of New South Vales ; with an account of 
 Van Diemen's Land \Tasmania~\, New Zealand, Port Phillip 
 \Victoria~\, Moreton Bay, and other Australasian Settlements : 
 comprising a complete View of the Progress and Prospects of 
 Oold Mining in Australia. The wliole compiled from official 
 and other authentic and original sources. By Eoderick 
 Flanagan, Member of the Australian Literary Institute, and 
 of the Philosophical Society of New South Wales. London, 
 2 vols., 8vo. 
 
 This work is carefully compiled, and forms a very trustworthy 
 source of information. The author has availed himself largely of 
 official records, and has thus succeeded in giving an accurate 
 outline of Australian History. He has confined himself, in a 
 great measure, to a simple detail of the leading facts comprised 
 in that history. He has not sought to amplify his materials by 
 
134 
 
 philosopliising upon them, or to enliven them by the colouring of 
 imagination. The work is perhaps as free from prejudice as any 
 work of the kind can be expected to be. In his preface, the 
 author modestly restricts his merits to those of " zeal and 
 application." They cannot certainly be denied him, for there is 
 evidence of industry in every page. The book, however, cannot 
 be considered a well-written one. Mr. Flanagan's style of writing 
 is rather heavy. 
 
 The following notice of this elaborate compilation appeared 
 in the chapter on " Contemporary Literature" in the Westminster 
 Heview ; — 
 
 " To furnish a connected nan'ative of the affairs of New South Wales, 
 from the period when tlie country first came under the notice of Europeans 
 to the present time, has been the object which Mr. Flanagan has proposed to 
 himself in liis comprehensive and laborious history. Commencing, after a 
 brief preliminary retrospect, with the voyage of the first fleet, he traces the 
 progress of events under which the colonists have achieved their ultimate 
 prosperity, describes the difficulties which attended the first settlement of a 
 remote territory ; the enterprise displayed in the work of discovery and 
 exploration ; the successful struggle of a daughter-people to introduce into a 
 new country the free institutions which their ancestors had conquered for 
 them. In general, Mr. Flanagan's narrative is very full. Compiled from 
 official and newspaper sources, it is, however, naturally somewhat heavy — the 
 style possesses no attraction — and the principal interest of the story arises 
 from the relation of a British Colony to the Mother Country. Mr. Flanagan 
 is not a philosopher. His work has no ethnological element. We can find 
 in it little about the natives worth reporting." 
 
 1863. — Eeminiscestces oe Thiext Teaes' Eesidence in IN'ew 
 South Wales ajs^d Victoria ; with a Supplementary Chapter 
 on Transportation and the TicTcet-of-leave System. By E. 
 Therry, Esq., late one of the Judges of the Supreme Court 
 of New South "Wales. London. 8vo., 514 pages. 
 
 Mr. Therry has thrown together a large number of interesting 
 details in this volume, many of which are valuable as historical 
 
135 
 
 illustrations. The Yarious positions he occupied in this Colony- 
 gave him many opportunities for acquiring information, and a 
 work of some solid pretensions might have been expected from his 
 pen. In this, however, he disappointed his readers. He com- 
 mitted the strange mistake of reviving the memory of crimes long 
 since forgotten, and thus excited a very bitter style of criticism 
 towards himself. That this was not done with the purpose of 
 giving pain he sufficiently proved by suppressing the book. 
 
 1866. — The Histobt op Attstealian Discoteet and 
 CoioifizATioiir. 
 
 This work is not yet completed. It is published in single 
 chapters in the Empire, and republished in parts, four of which 
 have already appeared. The history of the Colony has been 
 brought down to the administration of Grovernor Darling, which 
 lasted from 1825 to 1831. In more than one respect, this is the 
 best of our historical productions. It is well written ; it is full 
 and accurate in its details ; and it is free from prejudice or party 
 feeling. It comprehends, moreover, an exact account of the 
 progress of Australian discovery and exploration. This portion 
 of our History has been done by the Eev. Mr. "Woods, in his 
 "History of Australian Discovery and Exploration," and it has also 
 been sketched in other works on these Colonies ; but there is no 
 full account of it in any History of New South Wales, besides the 
 one we are now noticing. The author has not confined himself 
 to mere details of public transactions, but has endeavoured to 
 illustrate the social progress of the community. The following 
 passage is an instance : — 
 
 " The choice of Campbelltown aa the place at which to hold the first 
 assizes was more owing to the fact that a very large number of wealthy 
 famiUes had estates in the surrounding districts, and that many daring acts 
 of bushranging had taken place there, than to the importance of the township 
 itself. The discovery, not long after the first settlement of the Colony, of 
 
136 
 
 the rich lands of the Cowpastures, Camden, the "\'alleys of Bunbury C'urran, 
 Mulgoa, and other tracts of fertile soil, made that district a favourite one 
 with the more influential colonists ; and it was there that many of them, 
 haying secured extensiye grants of land, had settled with their families and 
 formed their homesteads. Their residences were, in many instances, places 
 of far more than ordinary pretensions ; some of them indeed were mansions 
 almost riyalling " the stately homes of England" in cost, extent, and appear- 
 ance. Many non-resident colonists also possessed estates there on which they 
 had numerous tenants and labourers. Some few of these estates still remain 
 the property of the families or descendants of the original grantees ; but 
 most of them, in the sharp reverses of colonial hfe, have long since passed 
 into the hands of strangers, and having been cut up and subdivided into lots, 
 have been sold and resold under the hammer of the auctioneer, until their 
 identity is almost lost. They were named, in some instances, after the ancient 
 seats of noble or wealthy families in the old country ; in others they bore the 
 name of a commander or a ship under whom, or in which, the original 
 grantee or some progenitor had served. Some told of battles in which the 
 owner or his ancestors had taken part, and some of far-off native villages or 
 hamlets. A few retained the beautifully expressive and sonorous aboriginal 
 names ; but hardly in a single instance did the old colonists outrage good 
 taste, and render themselves and the country ridiculous, by conferring such 
 stupid appellations as have lately prevailed in colonial jiomenclature. These 
 early colonists, indeed, to their honor be it spoken, in bestowing names upon 
 their estates, appear to have acted under the elevating ideas that they were 
 not only the founders of families, but were helping to create " a new Britannia 
 in another world"; and hence their nomenclature was almost always racy of 
 the great country from which they had come, and with whose glories they 
 wished to identify themselves and their posterity. It is true that their hopes 
 of becoming the founders of wealthy families were in few oases fully realized ; 
 but their ambition was not an ignoble one, and it would have been well for 
 some of their descendants of the present generation if they had inherited 
 more of the sentiments of their fathers. A few of the names of the families 
 settled or possessing estates within the distance of twenty or thirty miles of 
 Campbelltown, and whose members doubtless formed part of the numerous 
 cavalcade which welcomed to that place the first Judge and barristers that 
 ever went on circuit in Australia, aviU tend to illustrate the preceding 
 remarks. There were the Maearthurs, Maclcays, and Oowpers, of Camden, 
 Camden Park, and AVivcnhoe ; the Oxlcys, Coghills, Harringtons, and 
 
137 
 
 Hawdons, of Kirkhain, Elderslie, and Malton ; the Howes, of Q-lenlee and 
 Eskdale ; the Rileys, of Ousedale and Kaby ; Brooks, of Denham Court ; 
 Throsby, of Glenfield and Smeaton ; Broughton, of Lachlan Vale ; Cordeaux, 
 of Leppington ; Wylde, of Cecil Park ; Wills, of Varroville ; Hassall, of 
 Macquarie Grore ; Jamison, of Cowdeknaws ; MoUe, of Netherby ; Blax- 
 land, of Ludenham ; the Coxes and Shadforths, of Winborne, FemhiU, and 
 Clarendon ; the Campbells, of Harrington Park and Shaneamore ; the 
 Antills, of Picton ; the Savages, of Claremont ; the Wentworths, of Elmshall 
 Park and Vermont ; the Humes, of Hillsborough, Brookdale, and Hume 
 Wood ; Brown, of Oakham ; Lowe, of Birling ; Jones, of Fleurs ; Judge 
 Bent's estate was called Wolverton ; Judge Field's was Hinchinbrook — all 
 these, and many more with similar old country or suggestive, names, were 
 within an easy distance of the place fixed upon as the assize town, where no 
 doubt their possessors fondly hoped that during a long series of years they — 
 the landed gentry of that part of the Colony — would assemble at the assize 
 ball, in imitation of the old country usage, by which annual gatherings of 
 fair women and brave men are made to give eelat to the visits of the 
 ministers of justice, social observances are invoked in aid of order, and local 
 influence is exercised to uphold the dignity of the judicial office. The houses 
 of many of the more wealthy resident settlers in the district referred to were 
 designed, and some of them actually built, on a scale which, with reference 
 to the remoteness of the Colony and the circumstances by which they were 
 surrounded, may be fitly described as magnificent ; but there were other 
 estates, with high-sounding names, where nothing better in the shape of 
 buildings than aggregations of bark huts were to be found. The hopes of 
 many had been disappointed , and their plans frustrated by the financial 
 disasters previously referred to. Castles in the air had suddenly faded, and 
 the day dreams of intending foimders of families had been rudely interrupted 
 by the entry of the sheriif's ofiiccr. The fluctuating circumstances by which 
 colonial existence is surrounded, have always proved fatal sooner or later 
 to the designs of those who have endeavoured to found a ten-itorial 
 aristocracy. But although this result is undoubtedly upon the whole 
 favourable to the progress and prosperity of new communities, it is often 
 accompanied by circumstances which even the most ardent republican or 
 democrat cannot but regard with regret. An ever-shifting population, with 
 no ties to bind it to the soil, where there are few spots consecrated by the 
 associations and memories of home, can never become a nation. The 
 privileged or fortunate few who, in the infancy of Australian colonization, 
 
138 
 
 obtained large tracts of freeliold land, aimed at the founding of homes around 
 ■which their descendants for many generations might be expected to cluster, 
 and where, amidst tenants, retainers, and dependents, would grow up a 
 condition of things bearing a close resemblance to that in which the landed 
 aristocracy of England is placed. Although it was doubtless fortunate for 
 the many that the hopes of the few were disappointed, it is impossible to 
 repress a feeling of regret that designs and aspirations partaking of so much 
 that was noble and eleyating should have been so completely frustrated. 
 The pride of race — the consciousness of high social standing — the sentiment 
 of family antiquity — ^howeyer absurd when carried to excess, are capable 
 of exercising, if kept under proper control, a very restraining and refining 
 inilueuce upon individual character. This influence is almost or altogether 
 absent where the population is constantly fluctuating, where there are few 
 permanently settled families, and where, to use an expressiye colloquialism, 
 'Jack is as good as his master.' The Campbelltown of to-day bears few 
 indications that forty years since it attained to the dignity of an assize 
 town ; the seats of many of the once numerous gentry of the district, long 
 ago deserted by their original owners, have in most instances fallen into 
 decay ; and the farms — reduced to modest proportions — are occupied by 
 tenants or peasant proprietors." 
 
139 
 
 BIOGEAPHY. 
 
 1854. — Diary op a Visit to Ekgiah-d, in 1776, by an Irish- 
 man (The Eeverend Dr. Thomas Campbell, Author of " A 
 Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland") ; and other 
 Papers, by the same hand. With Notes, by Samuel Eaymond, 
 M.A., Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South 
 Wales. Sydney. 8to., 107 pages. 
 
 The Diary published by Mr. Eaymond was discovered by a 
 Clerk of the Supreme Court, " behind an old press, which had not 
 been moved for years." The author. Dr. Campbell, was a learned 
 Irishman, w^ho, on the occasion of his visit to England, gained the 
 acquaintance of Dr. Johnson and other celebrities of the time. 
 His name occurs more than once in Boswell's Life of Johnson. 
 How his manuscript Diary found its way into an office of the 
 Supreme Court in Sydney, was a mystery which the editor was 
 unable to solve. An article in the Edinburgh Seview supplied a 
 clue which was followed up successfully by a reviewer in the 
 Sydney Mornimg Herald. In vol. vii of Nichol's " Literary Illus- 
 trations" occurs a passage with respect to the " eldest nephew 
 and heir" of Dr. Campbell, by name John Thomas Campbell. 
 It is there stated that the latter was on his way, in 1810, to New 
 South Wales, in the hope of procuring some Grovernment appoint- 
 ment in the Colony. The reviewer in the Herald, on searching 
 the files of the Gazette, discovered that John Thomas Campbell 
 filled the two ofiices of Provost Marshal and Colonial Secretary 
 until the year 1821, when he was appointed Sheriff and Provost 
 Marshal. In this capacity, he no doubt had an office in the 
 Supreme Court, and in this office he must have left the manuscript 
 of his literary uncle. The book is one of the " Curiosities of 
 Literature," and its contents are extremely interesting. The 
 editor has appended a large amount of information in the shape 
 of "Addenda." 
 
140 
 
 1855.— Memoirs, HrsioBiCAL akd SciEiSTtific, op the Eight 
 HoNorEABLE Sin Joseph Banks, Babt., D.C.L., of the Uni- 
 versity of Oxford, and more than forty years President of the 
 Hoyal Society of London, and Member of the National Institute 
 of Paris, Sfc., ^c., Sfc. By Greorge Suttor, F.L.S., of London. 
 Parramatta. 8vo., 80 pages. 
 
 Mr. Suttor was sent out to this Colony as a botanical col- 
 lector, through the interest of Sir Joseph Banks. He speaks 
 in the highest terms of admiration of his distinguished patron ; 
 and although his language is that of an uneducated man, the 
 " Memoirs" abound in interesting details. The book contains, as 
 an appendix, the Eloge Historique de Sir Joseph Hanks, pro- 
 nounced by the President of the National Institute of France, 
 Cuvier, on the death of the great naturalist. 
 
 1857. — The Life, Expeeiekce, and Joitbnai, oe Nathaniel 
 PiDGEON, City Missionabt. Written by himself Sydney. 
 8vo., 223 pages. 
 
 This little book has no pretensions to literary merit, but it is 
 interesting as the record of a zealous City Missionary. The 
 illustrations it affords of the mental workings of an enthusiast, 
 of the scenes which take place in the lowest classes of society, 
 and of the practical operation of religion among them, render 
 it highly interesting in a psychological point of view. 
 
 1864.— The Coneessions oe Wateeing Woetht ; or, The 
 Geeat Secbet of Success in Life ; an Ethical and Aufo- 
 hiographical Essay. Edited by his most intimate friend, E. 
 "Wardley, M.E.C.S.L., and inscribed to the rising generation 
 of Australia, by the Author. Sydney. 8vo., 261 pages. 
 
 In this work the author has given us a minute dissection of 
 his own character, accompanied by abundant personal details, for 
 the purpose of pointing out the cause of his want of success in life. 
 
141 
 
 He describes himself as a dreamy, irresolute, imaginative man, 
 uaable to avail himself of any opportunity for " getting on" in 
 the world, and passing on, from one stage of his existence to 
 another, without making the slightest effort to control surrounding 
 circumstances io his own advantage. Having qualified himself 
 for the medical profession, and yet done nothing to obtain a 
 practice, he came to this Colony in 1853. Here he appeared 
 in a variety of characters before the world, but none of them 
 proved a " hit." He first became a gold-digger — then a country 
 doctor — then a lounger about town — then he occupied himself on 
 a farm — and at last settled down in the Government service. In 
 many cases he has described his sufferings and experiences with 
 a very graphic pen ; his sketch of a country doctor, for instance, 
 is irresistible. These portions of the work are by far the most 
 valuable. The " ethical" disquisitions are not calculated to 
 interest the reader. With reference to this subject, it may be 
 noted that he describes his failure throughout life as the result 
 of lurking insanity, and then proceeds to give a series of remark- 
 able cases that have occurred within his experience as a medical 
 officer in a lunatic asylum. This idea is apparently started for 
 the purpose of introducing these illustrations of insanity, for the 
 author gives no reason for attributing madness to himself. His case 
 is a common one, being that of a man of some power, neutralized 
 by want of will and energy. Throughout the work the author 
 has scattered a variety of pieces in verse, which do more, perhaps, 
 to illustrate his own character than anything else he has written. 
 One of these pieces, " The Two Sisters," has some merit. He is 
 not always happy in his style, being much too diffuse, and alto- 
 gether wanting in epigrammatic expression. No one can read it, 
 however, without a feeling of esteem for its author, as an 
 accomplished, amiable, and much-enduring man, who deserved a 
 better fate than he has met with, and who has done his best to 
 make his own expefience a guiding light to others. 
 
142 
 
 TEAVELS AND VOYAGES. 
 
 1820. — -JotTEKALS OF TWO EXPEDITIONS INTO THE InTEEIOE OF 
 
 New South Wales, undertaken hy order of the British 
 Government, in the years 1817-18. By John Oxley, Surveyor 
 General of the Territory, and Lieutenant of the Moyal Navy. 
 "With Maps and Views of the interior and newly discovered 
 country. London. 4to. 
 
 This volume represents the third important step in the pro- 
 gress of exploration. The object of Mr. Oxley's expeditions was 
 to trace, as far as practicable, the Macquarie and Lachlan Eivers, 
 discovered by Mr. Evans, a surveyor, with a view to ascertain 
 the character of the country through which they flowed. In 
 1817, Mr. Oxley followed the course of the Lachlan until it was 
 lost in successive marshes. In 1818, he traced the Macquarie 
 in the same manner, and met with the same result. Mr. Oxley 
 concluded that the interior of the country was an immense swamp, 
 and that these rivers, as well as a third, the Castlereagh, lost 
 themselves in it. This remained, for some time, the prevailing 
 opinion as to the character of the interior. 
 
 1823.— A Journal of a Toue of Discoveey aceoss the Blue 
 Mountains in New South Wales. By Gr. Blaxland. 
 London. 12mo., 48 pages. 
 
 This was the first successful attempt to penetrate across the 
 " Blue Mountains" into the interior. A belief had generally 
 prevailed among the first settlers that these mountains were 
 impassable. Captain Sturt tells us that " a Mr. Caley is said to 
 have been the first who attempted to scale the Blue Mountains ; 
 but he did not long persevere in struggling with difficulties too 
 great for ordinary resolution to overcome. It appears that he 
 retraced his steps, after having penetrated ^bout sixteen miles 
 
143 
 
 into their dark and precipitous recesses ; and a heap of stones, 
 which the traveller passes about that distance from Erne Ford, 
 on the road to Bathurst, marks the extreme point reached by the 
 first Expedition to the westward of the Nepean Eiver." The 
 occurrence of a protracted drought, however, rendered it necessary 
 to overcome this difficulty in the path. A second expedition was 
 successful. Messrs. Wentworth, Lawson, and Blaxland, attended 
 by four servants, and four horses laden with provisions, started 
 on the 11th May, 1813, from Mr. Blaxland's farm at the South 
 Creek. They crossed the mountains, and returned home on the 
 6th of June following. " The achievement of this undertaking," 
 says the author of " The History of Australian Colonisation and 
 Discovery," " was the commencement of a new era in the history 
 of the Colony. No longer confined to the comparatively barren 
 strip of coast land to the east of the mountains, the settlers 
 acquired fresh vigour as they found their prospects expanding, and 
 saw the great plains of the interior thrown open to their occupation. 
 It is from this time that the real prosperity of the Colony dates." 
 
 1837. — JouENET OP DiscoTEEY TO PoHT Phillip, New South 
 Wales, in 1824 and 1825. By W. H. Hovell and H. Hume, 
 Esquires. Second Edition. Sydney. 8vo., 97 pages. 
 
 Among the various explorations of the Colony, it would be 
 difiicult to mention any that could be described as either more 
 important or more interesting than this. Its object was to 
 ascertain the truth of the conclusions arrived at by Mr. Oxley, 
 the Surveyor Q-eneral, as to the character of the interior. The 
 Expedition — like that of Messrs. Wentworth, Lawson, and 
 Blaxland — was a private one. It was eminently successful. It 
 demonstrated the existence of immense tracts of country, covered 
 with grass, and adapted both to grazing and to agriculture. The 
 dismal theory of the Surveyor General was blown to the winds, 
 and the prospects of the country seemed fairer than ever. 
 
114 
 
 The account of this expedition, mentioned above, was edited 
 by Dr. Bland, an old and patriotic colonist. It would not be 
 readily supposed that such a publication could possibly involve a 
 bitter public dissension. Even in 1837, however, society was so 
 constituted in Sydney that the editing a simple statement was 
 regarded as a strong political demonstration. A public official 
 had declared that the interior of New Holland was a barren 
 desert, and all the ranks of officialism immediately echoed the 
 cry. Two private gentlemen proved that the interior was well 
 grassed, well watered, and only required to be well populated in 
 order to rival the fat meadows of an English landscape. The 
 question was contested with all the furious intolerance of a 
 theological dispute in the sixteenth century. The story is 
 well told in the " History of Australian Discovery and Colonisa- 
 tion": — 
 
 " The accounts of their journey giren by Messrs. Hume and Hoyell gave 
 rise to great discussion, and to no small amount of iE-feeUng and recrimination 
 between the dominating or official class and the rest of the colonists. The 
 former, acting with their usual esprit de corps, took the part of the Surveyor 
 General against the private explorers, whose claims, on the other hand, were 
 loudly endorsed by the general public. There was perhaps a tendency on one 
 side, arising from violent party feehng, unduly to decry the services of Mr. 
 Oxley. In justice to that gentleman, it ought to be stated that he had been 
 persevering, and to a great extent successful, in his explorations ; but the 
 mistaken theories he had broached relative to the south and south-western 
 interior laid him open to animadversion, and gave party animosity a fair 
 ground for reproach. It is almost impossible now to enter fully into the 
 feelings which prompted the leaders of both sections of the colonists to make 
 a violent dispute about a subject apparently so far removed from social or 
 political differences as the character of the then almost xmknoflni interior ; or 
 to understand thoroughly that condition of society where the claims of men 
 who had rendered great services to the community were sought to be ignored, 
 because their recognition was supposed to cast some reflection on a mere 
 theory or opinion broached by an official. So strong was this feeling, how- 
 ever, in the case of Messrs. Hume and Hovell, that when, a few days after 
 
14.5 
 
 their return, tliey attended the annual meeting at Parraiuatta of the New 
 South Wales Agricultural Society (an association whose management was 
 under the influence of the oificial class), all allusion to them or their achieve- 
 ment was carefully suppressed in the programme of after-dinner speeches, 
 while the Survey or G-eneral's explorations were spoljen of in terms of fulsome 
 eulogy. And so strong and enduring was this feeling of jealousy on the part 
 of the dominant clique, that when, several years afterwards. Dr. Bland edited 
 the account of Messrs. Hume and Hovell's journey, and pointed out the errors 
 into which the Surveyor General had fallen, he was thought to have done a 
 very bold thing." 
 
 1837. — VoTAGE TO ToEREs' Stbait, in search, of the Survivors 
 of the ship " Charles Eaton," iu the Colonial schooner 
 " Isahella,'' C. M. Lewis, commander. By Capt. King, H.N. 
 Sydney. 8vo. 
 
 1838. — Theee Expeditions ini'o the Inteeioe of Easteetc 
 
 AUSTEALIA, WITH DeSCEIPTIONS OE THE EECENTLT EXPIOEEU 
 
 Eeghon of Austealia Pelix, and of the peesejtt Colony 
 OF New South Wales. By Major T. L. Mitchell, F.G-.S. 
 and M.E.G.S., Surveyor Greneral. London. 2 vols., 8vo. 
 
 The first of these expeditions (1881-2) originated in the 
 report of a captured bushranger that a large river called the 
 " Kindur" existed in the north-west, by following which he had 
 twice reached the sea-ahore. The result of Mitchell's exploration 
 was that no such river could be found. The bushranger's story 
 was an invention. 
 
 The second expedition (1835) was formed for the purpose of 
 exploring the course of the Eiver Darling. Soon after they started, 
 Mr. Eichard Cunningham, the botanist, lost his way in the bush, 
 and was never seen again. The narrative is deeply affecting, and 
 vividly recalls the peculiar dangers of the Australian bush. The 
 Expedition was not altogether a success. Major Mitchell traced: 
 
146 
 
 the Darling for many miles, ascertained that it was chiefly sup- 
 ported by springs, and made known the junction of the Began 
 and the Darling. 
 
 The third Expedition is one of the most memorable in the 
 annals of exploration. It resulted in the discovery of Australia 
 Felix, or, as it is now called, Victoria. The country over which 
 Major Mitchell led his party appeared the richest and most 
 beautiful he had ever seen. A succession of views burst upon 
 their eyes that would have enchanted a party of Eoyal Academi- 
 cians in the search for the picturesque. At one time, for instance, 
 they came upon a valley, which is thus described by Mitchell : — 
 " I had not proceeded more than about five miles to the south, when 
 I perceived before me a ridge in the bluey distance, which was 
 rather an unusual object in that close country. We soon emerged 
 from the ridge, and found that we were on a kind of table-land, and 
 approaching a deep ravine coming from our right, terminating in 
 a fine open country below, watered by a winding river. We 
 descended to the bottom of the ravine, and found there a foaming 
 little river hurrying downwards over the rocks. After this, we 
 ascended a very steep but grassy mountain-side beyond it ; and, on 
 Teaching a brow of high land, what a noble prospect appeared ! a 
 river winding among meadows, fully a mile broad, and green as an 
 emerald. Above them rose swelling hills of fantastic shapes, but 
 all were smooth and richly covered with grass. Behind these 
 were higher hills, having grass on their sides, and trees on their 
 summits, extending throughout the landscape as far as the eye 
 could reach, forming a country surpassing in beauty and richness 
 any yet discovered." This was the vale of the Wannon. 
 
 Few books are more attractive than these journals of our 
 explorers, notwithstanding the want of polish in their style, and 
 too often the monotony of their contents. There is no absence 
 -of dramatic incident, while the scenes described are frequently 
 
147 
 
 interesting in the extreme. Major Mitcliell tells liis reader that 
 " The following jotirnals were written at the close of many a 
 laborious day, when the energies both of mind and body were 
 almost exhausted by long continued toil." Under such circum- 
 stances, we do not expect a finished literary composition. Dr. 
 Lang found it impossible to balance his sentences while engaged 
 in balancing himself in stormy weather at sea. The difficulties 
 of composition could hardly be less when undertaken in the tent 
 of an explorer. 
 
 Major Mitchell's works are additionally valuable from the 
 large amount of scientific information they contain. He was an 
 acute observer, and nothing of interest escaped him. In the 
 preface to this work, he alludes to " another task, of a national 
 character,'' on which he was engaged — Plans of the Melds of 
 Battle in the Peninsula. 
 
 1848. — JoiTKNAL OF A.S EXPEDITION INXO THE InTEEIOE OF 
 
 Teopicai Australia, in search of a Poute from Sydney to 
 the G-ulf of Carpentaria. By Lieut.-Col. Sir T. L. Mitchell, 
 Knight, D.C.L., Surveyor Gtneral of New South Wales. 
 London. 8vo. 
 
 The author states the object of this expedition to have been 
 the discovery of a practicable route from Sydney to the Gulf of 
 Carpentaria, for the purpose of facilitating trade with India and 
 China, and communication with England. It did not succeed in 
 penetrating to the Gulf, but a large portion of the northern 
 interior was laid open, and discoveries of great importance were 
 the result. These related principally to the river system of the 
 north. The Maranoa, Belyando, and Victoria Elvers, were made 
 known to the colonists, together with the splendid country 
 through which they flowed. Sir Thomas Mitchell is neither a 
 very eloquent nor a very graphic writer, and his pages are 
 encumbered with the technicalities of botany, but his journal is 
 
148 
 
 highly interesting nevertheless. He is a warm friend, if not an 
 enthusiastic admirer, of the aboriginals. He explains the manner 
 in which their cruelties towards defenceless white men have been 
 provoked, and he maintains that they are by no means deficient 
 in intelligence. The volume is well illustrated, and contains 
 many passages of striking interest. None of our explorers, 
 unfortunately, have possessed much power of word-painting, and 
 consequently their publications are by no means so graphic as 
 they might have been. 
 
 [No date.] — The Last Ceuise of the Wanderer. Ey John 
 Webster. Sydney. 8vo., 128 pages. 
 
 The Wanderer was a yacht belonging to Mr. Benjamin 
 Boyd, who sailed in her on a cruise from San Prancisco to the 
 Hawaiian Islands. The object of the expedition is stated, in the 
 preface, to have been the establishment, in the Islands of the 
 Pacific, of " a Papuan Eepublic or Confederation : to lay the 
 foundation of some sort of social and political organisation, on 
 which the simple machinery of an independent State might be 
 afterwards erected." Mr. Boyd met with a fate very similar to 
 that of Captain Cook. Having landed one morning on an island 
 off which his yacht was at anchor, he was never seen again, and 
 the inference of course was, that he was set upon and murdered ; 
 while shortly afterwards the yacht was attacked by a large number 
 of savages in their canoes, and his crew narrowly escaped the fate 
 of their leader. Mr. Boyd was a gentleman well known in this 
 Colony, where he had previously spent many years of his life. 
 His death excited a general feeling of regret and commiseration. 
 The writer of the narrative was a friend of his who, with others, 
 had joined the expedition from a love of adventure. The account 
 of the voyage, and of the various islands they arrived at, with 
 their picturesque scenery, is extremely interesting. The volume, 
 it may be added, is handsomely printed. 
 
149 
 
 1849.— NaEBATIVE op an ExPEDITIOST TJNDEETAKEN rNDEE 
 THE DIEECTION OE THE LATE Me. ASSISTANT SUEVETOE 
 
 E. B. Kennebt, foe the eiploeation op the Countet 
 
 LTING BETWEEN EoCKIN&HAM BaT AND CapE YoEK. By 
 
 W. Carron, one of the survivors of the Expedition. To 
 which are added — (1) The statement of the aloriginal native, 
 Jachey Jackey, who accompanied Mr. Kennedy ; (2) The state- 
 ment of Dr. Vallach and Gaptn. Dobson, ivho rescued the 
 survivors of the Eccpedition ; and (3) The statement of Gaptn. 
 Simpson, of the " Freak," icho proceeded in search of Mr. 
 Kennedy'' s papers. Sydney. 8vo. 
 
 The expedition commanded by Mr. Kennedy was the most 
 disastrous that ever attempted to explore the interior of this 
 country. Of thirteen men who started, three only returned. 
 They survived a series of sufferings that is almost incredible. 
 
 Mr. Kennedy had accompanied Sir Thomas Mitchell on some 
 of his expeditions. Being practically acquainted with the dangers 
 and the difficulties of exploration, he was selected to take com- 
 mand of a party for the purpose of opening a route from Sydney 
 to the northern coast. There existed at the time a strong desire 
 among the people of this country to establish a means of commu- 
 nication with the north. Any practicable route across the conti- 
 nent would enable them to monopolize the trade with the East 
 Indies, and thus to maintain their rank as the oldest and wealthiest 
 of these Colonies. Mr. Kennedy's expedition was despatched to 
 accomplish this object. The design was, to explore the east side 
 of Carpentaria, and ascertain the character of the country about 
 Cape York. They were to proceed by sea to Eockingham Bay, 
 land there, and make their way across the peninsula to Port 
 Albany. 
 
 The pathos of this simple narrative could hardly be excelled. 
 From the iirst, the party was beset with such difficulties that 
 
150 
 
 success appeared impossible. They had to cut their way through 
 almost impenetrable scrub. They had to cross deep ravines, 
 climb precipitous mountains, stumble over rocky plains, and 
 ward off the spears of hostile savages. Soon their provisions 
 failed them. They had to depend upon horseflesh. Some of 
 the party fell ill, and were unable to move. At length, the 
 leader resolved to break up the party. He left some behind in 
 camp, and pushed on with the rest. He had not gone far when 
 it was necessary to repeat this process. He then started 
 with the blackfellow, Jackey Jackey, who had been their com- 
 panion from the first. They were pursued by the aboriginals. 
 A spear hit him on the back. The barb was no sooner cut out by 
 Jackey Jackey, than another spear struck him, above the knee. 
 He struggled on, but at last was obliged to lie down. He tried 
 to write, but his strength was gone, and falling back in the arms 
 of Jackey Jackey, he breathed his last. 
 
 1855. — A BEiEP Statement of Tacts is comvECTiON with 
 AN- Oteblanb Expedition eeom Lake Geoege to Poet 
 Phillip, in 1824. By Hamilton Hume. Edited by the 
 Eev. W. Eoss, G-oulburn. Sydney. 8vo., 34 pages. 
 
 The purport of this statement is to shew how far the success 
 of the Expedition was due to Mr. Hume, and how far to his 
 companion, Mr. Hovell. On many public occasions the credit 
 of the enterprise was given to the latter, and Mr. Hume's share 
 in it apparently forgotten. Hurt by this injustice, Mr. Hume 
 judged it expedient to put on record the true history of the 
 Expedition, and, by that means, to shew that its success was 
 almost entirely owing to his own exertions. He says, in his 
 introduction, " I hope it may not be imputed as unwarranted or 
 discreditable that I have felt roused, and somewhat chagrined, to 
 find that Mr. Hovell has almost monopolized with the public the 
 fame and credit of the Expedition to Port Phillip, in which he 
 
151 
 
 was associated with myself, in 1824 ; and that where my name 
 has been referred to at all, it has almost invariably been in a 
 secondary style, and more as Mr. Hovell's companion or assistant, 
 than as the ' undertaker and leader of the Expedition.'" 
 
 This case of tulit alter honores affords a striking parallel to 
 that of the gold discovery. En each instance, aU the honor and 
 profit of the venture seem to have been borne away by one who 
 possessed rather luck than merit. 
 
 1865. — Watfaeing Notes : Sydney to Southampton, ly way of 
 Hgypt and Palestine. Printed for private distribution. 
 Sydney. 8vo., 340 pages. 
 
 The author of this work — the contents of which originally 
 appeared in the Herald — is Professor Smith, of the University. 
 It contains some graphic descriptions, and is principally occupied 
 with the details of a voyage up the Nile, and an account of the 
 tombs of Egypt. The antiquities of the Holy Land are also 
 minutely noted. The narrative is not equal to Eliot Warburton's, 
 but it is highly interesting, nevertheless. 
 
152 
 
 PHILOLOGY. 
 
 1827. — Specimens of a. Dialect op the Aboeigines of New 
 SorTH Wales, heing ike first attempt to form their Speech 
 into a written Language. By L. E. Threlkeld. Sydney. 
 [Out of print.] 
 
 1834. — An Australian G-eammae, comprehending the principles 
 and natural rules of the Language, as spoken hy the Aborigines 
 in the moinity of Sunter's Miver, Lahe Macquarie, Sfc, New 
 South Wales. By L. E. Threlkeld. Sydney. 8vo. 
 
 18-50. — A Key to the Stettctuee of the Aboeiginal Lan- 
 guage ; heing an analysis of the particles used as affixes to 
 form the various modifications of the Verbs ; shewing the 
 essential potvers, abstract roots, and other peculiarities of the 
 Language spoleen by the Aborigines in the vicinity of Sunter^s 
 Siver, Lahe Maequarie, Sfc, New South TFales ; together with 
 a comparison of Polynesian and other Dialects. By L. E. 
 Threlkeld. Sydney. 8vo. 
 
 Mr. Threlkeld was a laborious and enthusiastic Missionary 
 among the savage tribes of Otaheite and Australia, for a period 
 of nearly twenty years. The works mentioned above display a 
 perfect acquaintance with the subject they profess to treat, and 
 form a highly respectable contribution to the science of Philology. 
 
 The aboriginals of this country are divided, as usually 
 happens among savage races, into many distinct tribes, each tribe 
 having its own dialect. These dialects, however, are so different 
 from each other that it would be more correct to term them 
 languages. Mr. Threlkeld's book treats only one portion of the 
 general subject ; that is to say, it is confined to the dialects of 
 the tribes residing in a certain district of the Colony. Within its 
 own limits, it appears to be as correct as it could be well expected. 
 
153 
 
 His literary labours did not end here. In a letter from his 
 pen, published in a colonial magazine, in 1857, it is stated that, 
 " The Gospel of Luke, in the aboriginal language, is completed 
 in manuscript ; besides which, there is now in progress a Lexicon, 
 to accompany it, of the Australian and English, containing an 
 explanation of the letters, words, and phrases, occurring in the 
 G-ospel of Luke, and will be shortly ready for publication. The 
 native blacks are so rapidly becoming extinct, that the language 
 must of necessity, unless preserved by the functions of the Press, 
 become utterly lost to posterity." I have not been able to find 
 either of the works mentioned here. 
 
 1856. — G-UEBE Kamilaeoi ; or, Kamilaroi Sayings. By William 
 Eidley, Missionary ; with Illustrations, engraved by W. 
 Mason. Sydney. 
 
 „ — Feagments op Kamilaeoi G-eammae. By the Eev. W. 
 Eidley, B.A. 
 
 ,, — Links ajtd Diveegencibs op the Austealiast LANorAGES 
 AND Thibes. By the Eev. W. Eidley, B.A. 
 
 Mr. Eidley is an accomplished Presbyterian clergyman, who 
 for some years travelled in the interior of this Colony, zealously 
 endeavouring to spread the light of Christianity among the 
 native tribes. The fragmentary works above mentioned are the 
 results of his studies of the aboriginal language. It is much to be 
 regretted that the author did not proceed further in his researches. 
 The origin of the various tribes inhabiting Australia, and of 
 their dialects, are questions which still remain to be settled. 
 
 In this, as in other instances, it is to the labours of the 
 Missionaries that the learned world is indebted for what little 
 knowledge it possesses on the subject. More, perhaps, might 
 have been done on this subject than has been done among us. 
 
154 
 
 With the exception of the worts mentioned here, and of a chapter 
 in Dr. Lang's work on Cooksland, there is no contribution of 
 much importance from any Australian writer. In speaking of 
 our aboriginals, Mr. Eidley says, — 
 
 " Whatever may be tlae future that awaits them, I think the ascertained 
 symmetry and exactitude of their languages, and the tenacity with which th( y 
 hold their peculiar customs, clearly indicate — what monuments of stone and 
 brass record of other nations — that they have been in past ages comparatiyely 
 an intelligent people." 
 
 Some important remarks on this subject will be found in a 
 lecture on the " Aborigines of Australia," delivered by Mr. 
 Eidley, in September, 1864, and subsequently published : — 
 
 " The languages of the Australians," he says, " are multitudinous and 
 elaborate. As the rapidly advancing science of Philology enlarges its survey, 
 the Australian tongues will be found to furnish matter worthy of the study 
 of the profoundest philologists. I shall attempt no more at present than 
 to state i* few facts illustrative of the peculiarities of this family of 
 languages. Within the comparatively small circuit of my journeys in 
 the interior, I met with twenty-five different languages. ITiough they 
 are hnted by resemblances which clearly prove them to be all derived from 
 one source, they are so diverse in their vocabularies that they cannot be 
 called dialects merely. The differences between them are not like those 
 between the dialects of Attica and Laconia, or between those of Yorkshire 
 and Middlesex — shades of pronunciation, with a few pecuhar local words. 
 On the contrary, the words in which identity can be traced, in two or more 
 AustraHan languages, are the exceptions, not the rule. Some languages are 
 limited to an area of some thirty or fifty miles square. A few seem to have a 
 much wider use. The following are the names of some languages spoken iu 
 the interior. — (1.) Kamilaroi ; (2.) Wolaroi ; (3.) Wiraiaroi ; (4.)WaUwun; 
 (5.) Kogai J (6.) Pikumbul ; (7.) Paiamba ; (8.) Kingki. The first five of 
 these are named after their negatives. In the first, ' Kamil' signifies ' no'; 
 in the second, ' Wol' is ' no'; in the third, ' Wira' is ' no'; in the fourth, 
 ' Wail' is ' no'; in the fifth, ' Ko' is ' no.' In Pikumbul, on the other hand, 
 'piku' means 'yes'; so that the Australian aborigines, in this instance, named 
 their language on the same principle on which the French acted in distinguish- 
 ing the dialects of France, as ' Languo d'Oc' and ' Langue d'Oyl.' 
 
155 
 
 " While the vocables differ widely, the grammatical structure of these 
 languages marks their unity most fully. They are all characterized, like the 
 Grerman, by great facility in forming deriyatives and compounds. Nouns, 
 adjectives, and pronouns, are turned into verbs by means of aiBxes. The most 
 remarkable feature in Australian languages is common to them all ; it is the 
 elastic power of modification in the verbs. G-oing eastward from Britain, we 
 find this feature in language constantly increasing. The Greek has a middle 
 voice in addition to the active and passive. The Hebrew has also intensive, 
 causative, and reflective voices. The Australian languages have, besides these, 
 permissive and reciprocal voices. The Eev. L. E. Threlkeld has enumerated 
 no less than fifteen modifications or voices of the verb. In the tenses, one 
 inflection signifies a little past — another refers to yesterday — another to a 
 distant past — so of the future. The aborigines are very exact in the iise of 
 their numerous inflections. And the marvellous flexibility and precision of 
 their language constitute the second notable relic of antiquity which they have 
 preserved amid their decay. A language capable of expressing, by inflection, 
 minute shades of thought, must have been the channel of communication 
 between minds endowed with considerable acumen and power of generaliza- 
 tion." 
 
 1857. — A Fbek'CH G-eammae, with Conversazione Exercises. By 
 P. A. Dutruc, author of L'Hcho de la lonne Societe, Sfc., Sfc. 
 London and Sydney. 
 
 1857. — LiTEEAET Eeceeations in Peench and ENaLiSH, in- 
 cluding the Parterre of 'Flora. By P. A. Dutruc. London. 
 The author of these works has been engaged for many years 
 
 past in the tuition of his native language. He is now Eeader in 
 
 the Prench Language and Literature to the University of Sydney. 
 
 The works are carefully compiled, and are in general use among 
 
 students. 
 
 1866. — Kamiiaeoi, Dippil, and TuEErstiD : Languages Spoken 
 hy the Australian Aborigines. By the Eev. Wm. Eidley, 
 M.A., of the University of Sydney, Minister of the Presby- 
 terian Church of New South Wales. 
 Mr. Eidley has embodied in this work the full result of his 
 
 philological inquiries. It has been prepared for the Exhibition. 
 
156 
 
 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 1834. — View op the OEiaiif and Migeations of the Poly- 
 nesian Nation ; demonstrating their ancient Discovery and 
 progressive Settlement of the Continent of America. By John 
 Dunmore Lang, D.D., Senior Minister of the Scots Church, 
 and Principal of the Australian College, Sydney ; Author of 
 " An Historical and Statistical Account of New South 
 Wales." London. 8vo., 256 pages. 
 
 It would not be too much to say that this is one of the most 
 valuable ethnological treatises ever written. In pursuing his 
 inquiries into the origin of the Polynesians, the author stumbled, 
 as it were, on one of the most ingenious solutions of a difficult 
 problem that philosophy has achieved. The work cannot be read 
 without forming a high opinion of the author's capacity for 
 phUoBophic investigation. It is well known that all his writings, 
 numerous as they are, have been produced under circumstances 
 by no means favourable to literary composition. " It would have 
 given me much pleasure to have had it in my power to spend a 
 few days in the library of the British Museum, to coUect facts and 
 illustrations bearing on the subject of investigation in the 
 following pages, from works that are not elsewhere obtainable. 
 But, unfortunately, the only time I have been able to devote to 
 literary labour for several years past, has been the time I have 
 passed on ship-board, either amid storms and icebergs in the 
 high latitudes of the southern hemisphere, or beneath vertical 
 suns within the tropics ; where the only books to be had, in 
 addition to the few odd volumes in one's own trunk, are the stars 
 of heaven by night, and the iiying fish and dolphin by day." A 
 work devoted to such a subject as the origin of the Polynesian 
 Nations would peculiarly require the assistance of a library ; and 
 
157 
 
 ships' cabins are about as propitious to literary labour as the cells 
 of a gaol. But the " View" does not seem to have suffered 
 materially from the disadvantages under which it was produced. 
 
 Dr. Lang first proceeds to prove that the inhabitants of the 
 South Sea Islands are of Asiatic origin. The proofs advanced 
 are directed to similarity of character, customs, and languages : — 
 (1) Distinction of castes ; (2) Institution of Taboo ; ( 3) Eite 
 of Circumcision ; (4) Eesemblance of Idols ; Q5) Eesemblance 
 in physical conformation and general character between the South 
 Sea Islander and the Malay — prevalence of Asiatic customs in 
 the South Sea Islands — of modes of thinking and peculiarities of 
 action ; (7) Tradition among the Islanders that their forefathers 
 came from the north-west ; (8) Similarity of clothing in Sumatra 
 and the Islands — the East India practice of chewing hetel, prevalent 
 in the Duke of Tork's Island ; (9) Identity of language among 
 the islanders, and striking resemblance between their language 
 and that used in the Indian Archipelago. " The South Sea 
 Islanders and the various tribes of Malays inhabiting the islands 
 of the Indian Archipelago are of kindred origin; and the 
 languages of all these islanders are merely dialects of the same 
 ancient and primitive tongue." Here follow some acute remarks 
 with regard to these dialects, and the errors of distinguished 
 writers on the subject. Dr. Lang then proceeds to point out 
 some striking resemblances between the languages of China and 
 Polynesia, from which he concludes that " both the nations and 
 the languages of China and Polynesia have sprung from the same 
 ancient and prolific source ; and that the line of demarcation 
 which Professor Blumenbaeh has attempted to draw between the 
 Mongolian and Malayan races of mankind is purely imaginary." 
 
 Having thus demonstrated, as he conceives, the identity of 
 origin of the South Sea Islanders and the Malays of the Indian 
 Archipelago, and referred this origin to the continent of Asia — 
 
158 
 
 Dr. Lang then proceeds to the aecond step in his argument, which 
 is to shew " in what manner islands so remote from each other 
 could have been successfully peopled by a nation so comparatively 
 low in the scale of civilization as the Polynesians." The first 
 argument advanced on this point is historical. The author recalls 
 the later days of the Malayan Empire in the Bast, when it was 
 first known to Europeans, and when they possessed more than one 
 flourishing and powerful kingdom. He relates many incidents of 
 their national existence at that period, for the purpose of illus- 
 trating their power on the sea. He glances at the probability of 
 the Indian Archipelago having been " traversed from time imme- 
 morial both by the Chinese and the Malays,'' and at the commer- 
 cial intercourse of the former with the Moluccas, long before 
 those islands were seized by Europeans, and of the latter with the 
 north coast of New Holland. From these facts, he concludes that 
 maritime adventure was a characteristic of their race, and that 
 from the earliest times they have been addicted to voyaging in 
 search of new lands. In this manner, the islands of the South Sea, 
 one after another, received their first inhabitants. An additional 
 argument is found in the practice among the islanders, after the 
 conclusion of a civil war, of exterminating the vanquished party, 
 either by putting them to death on shore, or by forcing them to 
 take to their canoes, 
 
 At this stage of his argument. Dr. Lang takes up another 
 question— the origin of cannibalism. His theory on this point is 
 not the least ingenious portion of his work. He ascribes it to the 
 necessity under which the savages were placed, while floating 
 about at sea in their canoes, wholly unprovided with food, and with 
 no means of procuring it. Such a necessity has been experienced 
 by Europeans. And he supposes that, when the canoes at last 
 touched the shores of some new island, the practice was continued, 
 and became a nationnl habit. 
 
159 
 
 Dr. Laug next adverts to " the grand objection" usually 
 urged against the Asiatic origin of the islanders. This is " the 
 supposed uniform prevalence of the north-east and south-east trade 
 winds within the tropics ;" but the testimony of La Perouse and 
 other navigators is decisively opposed to this idea. He then refers 
 to the arguments of De Znniga, a Spanish author, who ridicules 
 the supposition of an Asiatic origin ; and asserts that " the Indians 
 of the PhiUipine Islands are descended from the aborigines of 
 Chili and Peru" — ^that is, that the islanders came originally from 
 America. This theory of the Spanish author led Dr. Lang con- 
 siderably further in his voyage of discovery than he at first pro- 
 posed ; but the result of his researches constitutes the gist of his 
 volume. His argument he states in these words : — " There is 
 abundant reason to believe that America was originally peopled 
 from the continent of Asia ; not, as is generally supposed, by way 
 of the Aleutian Islands, at the entrance of Behring's Straits, but 
 by way of the South Sea Islands, and across the widest part of the 
 Pacific Ocean." 
 
 To the establishment of this proposition the remainder of the 
 work is devoted. Identity of customs and of language, as before, 
 forms the main support of the Doctor's theory. So much research 
 is brought to bear upon the question, that it is doubtful whether 
 the book would have displayed more learning had it been concocted 
 and written in the British Museum, instead of a cabin at sea. It 
 is difficult to resist the conclusion that the author has satisfactorily 
 established his theory. Prom beginning to end, his arguments 
 present one unbroken chain. Ethnological problems are seldom 
 susceptible of decisive proof one way or the other ; but there are 
 probably few works of the kind which may be read with more 
 satisfaction than this of Dr. Lang. 
 
 A notice of this work appeared in the Journal of the Eoyal 
 Geographical Society. Lengthy extracts from its pages were 
 given, and the writer expressed a favourable opinion of the theory 
 
IGO, 
 
 advanced with regard to the American Aborigines. " We think 
 that he has established his main point, and, moreover, that he has 
 brought within a moderate compass a great many curious facts 
 and coincidences." In the EneyclopsBdia Britannica, art. 
 " America," the theory advanced by Dr. Lang is propounded as 
 a reasonable view of the matter. No reference, however, is made 
 to his volume. This is enough to shew that the theory itself has 
 met with general acceptance. 
 
 The "View" was largely noticed in various American 
 periodicals. The " Princeton Review" of 1841 contained an 
 article on it, in the course of which the writer discussed the 
 theories of various writers relating to the Aborigines. " Dr. 
 Lang's book," he says, " is here introduced, because this learned 
 and enterprising clergyman has brought forward a new theory." 
 The Eeviewer agreed with Br. Lang as to the Asiatic extraction 
 of the Polynesians, but not as to the Polynesian extraction 
 of the American Indians. He maintained that America was 
 originally peopled by " colonies from many different nations 
 and countries," and that Dr. Lang was at fault in his notions 
 respecting the languages of the natives. " Dr. Lang seems to 
 take it for granted that all the American languages have diverged 
 from one point, and are but dialects of the same original tongue, 
 but this is nohow consonant with the observed facts of the case. 
 Another error into which he has been led by his hypothesis is, 
 that the language of Asia having been originally monosyllabic, 
 the American languages were at first of this structure also. 
 Nothing can be more remote from the truth." The American 
 Quarterly Review of 1836 also weighed the arguments advanced 
 by Dr. Lang. With respect to the Polynesians, it said ; " The 
 hypothesis of their Asiatic origin is maintained with great con- 
 fidence by Dr. Lang, and he has given a very good summary 
 of the arguments in support of it." It then quoted his arguments, 
 but expressed no opinion on the theory itself With reference 
 
161 
 
 to the alleged identity of language among the Americans and the 
 Islanders, it considered that no case was made out, inasmuch as 
 the American dialects were not monosyllabic, as stated by Dr. Lang. 
 
 The " View" is quoted in a very learned work entitled Crania 
 Americana, by Dr. Morton, an American author. It was also 
 made use of in a different fashion by another writer. Mr. 
 Williams, generally known as the Martyr of Erromanga, published 
 an account of his travels, in conjunction with Mr. Ellis, the author 
 of the Polynesian Researches. In this publication, he propounded 
 the American theory started by Dr. Lang, and supported it with 
 the Doctor's arguments. The contents of the " View" were 
 cleverly squeezed into ten or twelve pages, without the slightest 
 reference to the author. 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 
 
 1834.^-'W'andeeings in New South Wales, Batavia, Pedib 
 Coast, Singapobe, and China ; hei/ng the Journal of a 
 Natuvalist in those Countries, dwinij 1832-3-4. By Greorge 
 Bennett, Esq., F.L.S., F.E.C.S., &c. London. 2 vols., 8vo. 
 
 The Quarterly Review devoted an article to the considera- 
 tion of this work, and commended it highly. It began : 
 
 " If our readers are as weary of new novels as we confess ourselves to be, 
 they will thank us for pointmg out a book of travels which carries one 
 rapidly and pleasantly over a wide diversity of sea and land ; presents many 
 objects of natural history and traits of social peculiarity well calulated to 
 excite and gratify our curiosity ; and is distinguished by a merit now 
 exceedingly rare among writers of this once rough-spun class, namely, freedom 
 fi'om the cant and slang of sentiment. Mr. Bennett sometimes, no doubt, treats 
 of serious subjects in too Kght a vein ; but we acknowledge that, as his offences 
 in this way are not numerous, we are willing to overlook them on account 
 of the satisfaction which results from the absence of pseudo-poetical raptures 
 about nothing. We do not pretend to class Mr. Bennett, on the whole, with 
 such authors as Capt. Basil Hall and Sir Francis Head ; but he has, in 
 conunon with them, what must be felt as among their chief excellencies — a 
 manly temperament, and a thorough scorn of puerile rhetoric." 
 
 1837. — A Catalogue of the Specimens or Natueal Histort 
 AND Miscellaneous Cueiosities deposited in the Australicm 
 Museum. Sydney. 71 pages. 
 
 1851. — HisTOET AND Descelption of the Skeleton of a new 
 Speem Whale, lately set up in the Australian Museum, by 
 W. S. Wall, Curator ; together with some account of a new 
 genus of Sperm Whale, called Mwphysetes. Two plates. 
 Sydney. 8vo., 66 pages. 
 
163 
 
 1860. — Researches in the Southern G-old Tielbs op New 
 South Wales. By The Eev. W. B. Clarke, M.A., F.G S., 
 F.R.G.S., M.Z.S. Member of the Geological Society of 
 France, Correspoudent of the Imperial-Royal G-eological 
 State Institute of Austria, Hon. Member of the New Zealand 
 Society, of the Royal Society of Tasmania, &c., &c., &c. 
 Sydney. 8vo., 385 pages. 
 
 The author states that this work was hastily composed, in 
 compliance with the wishes of persons who were anxious to supply 
 intending gold diggers with reliable information. There existed 
 at the time a strong belief that gold abounded in the Alpine 
 regions of the Colony, at Kiandra and other localities, and "a rush " 
 was the natural result. That gold existed in that part of the 
 country was first pointed out by the author, in his Reports to the 
 Government. They are reprinted in the ' Researches.' 
 
 In an Appendix to this work, Mr. Clarke has collected and 
 arranged the various facts connected with the great discovery of 
 gold. The question raised by Mr. Davison, in the work already 
 noticed, is largely illustrated by them. With reference to Mr. 
 Hargraves and his book, Mr. Clarke says : — • 
 
 " He has given some partieulars of his early history in the prefatory 
 observations to a book entitled, ' Australia and its Gold Fields,' understood to 
 have been in part the work of a gentleman now Kving in the Colony, and who 
 had delivered at pubHc lectures the substance, if not theipsissima verba, oi the 
 two first chapters. As the end of the book contains three letters, containing 
 ' A new Theory of Gold, by Simpson Davison, Esq.,' the middle of the work 
 is aU. that, I presume, strictly belongs to the author ; and I wish it did not, 
 as it contains at least one thing not true (viz., that I ever purchased gold of any 
 one), and was written so as to serve the purpose of the author, at the expense 
 of my reputation. 
 
 " If this book had been printed in the Colony, where his pretensions 
 could be sifted, and not in London, where he became a detractor of those who, 
 being 13,000 miles away, could not answer liim on the spot, — neither would Sir 
 
164 
 
 Eoderiok Murohison have quoted it as eonfirmmg his own views respecting 
 the Ural, nor would the Editor of the Year Book have ventured to state that 
 anything said in Mr. Hargraves' book could refute my own assertions. 
 
 " During his stay in California, Mr. Hargrave says, he became convinced 
 of the similarity of California and Australia, and expressed his persuasion to 
 his friend Davison, that ' we should soon hear of a discovery of gold in the 
 latter country ; and his determination, if not discovered before his return to 
 New South Wales, to prosecute a systematic search for it.' This certainly 
 was well enough for a man who ' did not like prospecting,' and is quite con- 
 tradicted by Mr. Davison's statement, as well as by letters from Mr. Rudder. 
 He came back to this Colony in 1851, to look after his family affairs and 
 ■ domestic ties' as Mr. Davison says ; but, according to himself, for the 
 purpose of making the discovery of gold. 
 
 " Well, what did he shew ? What did he, according to his own 
 testimony, procure from the spot in which he says he felt as if he was 
 ' surrounded by gold ?' Did he get a pennyweight ? He got ' five little 
 particles' that ' did not amount to a grain in weight,' and which the Colonial 
 Secretary said were so ' very minute,' that ' they were scarcely visible.' 
 
 " No wonder Mr. Hargraves felt disheartened, and contemplated his 
 return to California. But the Fates were propitious. Having taught his 
 guides (Tom and Lister) to use the cradle, they rocked him into celebrity. 
 The four ounces which they found enabled him to make his claim upon the 
 Government. 
 
 " Honours and offerings, public dinners, and complimentary tea services, 
 now flocked in upon the ' first discoverer,' who rose to affluence upon the 
 result of Messrs. Tom and Lister's prospecting, which they had been trying 
 for a year and more in the same place, on a less profitable plan. 
 
 " Has Mr. Hargraves no merit ? Certainly. Very great merit is due to 
 him for teaching his guides to wash the earth after the CaHfomian fashion." 
 
 The auttor of these " Eesearches," is one of the most 
 distinguished geologists of the day. The following biographical 
 items concerning him are taken from an article published in the 
 Serc^ld some years ago : — 
 
1G5 
 
 " Mr. Clarke commenced the study of geology as early as the year 1817) 
 under Dr. E. D. Clarke, the great traveller, and Professor Sedgwick. This 
 was not a mere study of books, but a personal exammatiou of the most 
 celebrated formations in Europe. He travelled extensively in England and 
 Wales, and on the Continent, from 1820 to 1839, not omitting a single year. 
 In 1820, he visited the Lake District of Westmoreland and Cumberland, and 
 the Isle of Man ; in 1821, the Coal Fields of Stafifordsliire and Derbyshire ; 
 in 1822, the Lake District and North Wales ; in 1823, the chalk and oolitic 
 and tertiary districts of Yorkshife and Lincolnshire ; in 1824, the chalk 
 districts of Sussex and Normandy ; in 1825, the central and southern parts 
 of France, the Alps, and the north of Italy ; in 1826, the Netherlands ; in 
 
 1827, the Netherlands, the Khenish Provinces, Prussia, and Holland; in 
 
 1828, Belgium and Ardennes, and the tertiary districts of Nassau ; in 1829, 
 the volcanic districts of the Rhine and Moselle, completing also a survey of 
 the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, and Essex, commenced in 1827 ; in 1830, 
 the chalk districts and older formations of the frontiers of France and 
 Belgium J in 1831, Dorsetshire and the west of England ; in 1832, Dorset- 
 shire and the Isle of Wight, Sussex, and the south-west of England ; in 1833, 
 the coal beds, &o., of the Boulounais ; in 1835, the north of France j in 
 1836, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Portland ; in 1837, the new red 
 sandstone districts of Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire ; in 1838, the 
 Silurian old red sandstone and coal districts of Shropshire, Herefordshire, 
 Monmouthshire, and South Wales ; and in 1837, the Colony of the Cape of 
 Q-ood Hope. Besides these regular explorations, other journeys were taken 
 to interesting localities. *«##*« 
 
 " It has not been merely in the acquisition of knowledge that Mr. Clarke 
 has distinguished himself Before his arrival in this Colony, his labours were 
 known and recognized. In D'Archiao's " History of the Progress of Geology," 
 honourable mention is made of his contributions on geology ; and for a, 
 succession of years, papers from his pen appeared in scientific works, the 
 enumeration of which would require a catalogue combining almost all the 
 topics within the range of geological inquiry. Many of them are found in the 
 Magazine of Naiwral Mistory, and in the Transactions and Froceedings of 
 the Geological Society. 
 
 " Since his arrival in this Colony, Mr. Clarke has been most laborious in 
 his contributions, which are now circulated through the scientific world. His 
 Beports to the Q-overnment of New South Wales have been revised and 
 
166 
 
 abstracted by M. Delesse, in bis tract Swr le Oisement et swr V Exploitation de 
 V Or en Australie. The respectable publication issued by the Eoyal Society 
 of Tasmania was enricbed with many papers contributed by Mr. Clarke ; 
 and it is to be regretted that they are not published in a more convenient 
 form, relating, as they chiefly do, to the geological phenomena of this country." 
 
 The sum of £1,000 was voted to Mr. Clarke by the Grovern- 
 ment of New South Wales, and a similar sum was voted by the 
 Victorian Legislature. The Government of Tasmania oflFered him 
 the appointment of Greological Surveyor, with a salary of £600 
 per annum. This offer he declined. 
 
 1860. — G-ATHEEINGS OF A NaTUEALIST IN AUSTRALIA : heing 
 Ohservationa printipaUy on the Animal and Vegetable Pro- 
 ductions of New South Wales, New Zealand, and some of the 
 Austral Islands. By George Bennett, M. D., P. L. S., F. Z. S. ; 
 Fellow of the Eoyal College of Surgeons of England ; 
 Member of the Medical Faculty of the University of Sydney, 
 New South Wales ; and Author of " Wanderings in New 
 South Wales, Singapore, and China." London. 8vo., 456 
 pages. 
 
 The following criticisms on this work will suflSce to give 
 a correct idea of its character and value. 
 
 The British Quarterly Review said : 
 
 " This is just such a volume as a reader with a taste for Natural History 
 will open with pleasure, and close with regret. It has sufficient specialty 
 about it to fix the attention of the ablest labourers in this department of 
 knowledge, for it conveys a vast amount of original information respecting the 
 Fauna and Flora of the Austral regions. But to those who have been 
 accustomed to look upon Australia as a land whose animals were stupid 
 marsupials, whose forests were mere scrub, whose trees were too tame to produce 
 timber, and whose indigenous men were only a riper species of ape, this work 
 will be the pleasant unsealing of a once popular delusion. Amongst other 
 vegetable and animal curiosities. Dr. Bennett will introduce them to the 
 gigantic stinging nettle of N"ew South Wales, which frequently reach a height" 
 of fifty feet (with a circumference of twenty), and sometimes have been 
 
167 
 
 known to attain an eleration of more tlian one hundred and twenty, 
 ^e learea are from a foot to a foot and a half in breadth, and the powers of 
 the vegetable are such that horses are disabled for days if the poisonous fluid 
 finds its way into their veins. The reader will be told of fish-bone trees, rice- 
 paper plants, giant hlies, Christmas-trees, gum-trees from whose leaves it has 
 been proposed to manufacture gas ; and, in the animal kingdom, he will hear 
 with interest of glass eels, which are so transparent that you may read through 
 them ; luminous sharks, flying foxes, colossal cranes, and rare moruks or 
 cassowaries j but inore especially he will learn all about that famous living 
 paradox, the omithorynchus or water-mole, to which the author devotes an 
 entire chapter. Dr. Bennett carries his enthusiasm as a naturalist to a gallant 
 extreme. He is the man to take a gymnotus by the hand, to tests its electrical 
 powers, or allow himself to be bitten by a tarantula, to ascertain whether its 
 bite is curable by musical strains. Having heard much respecting the 
 venomous properties of the spur of the water-mole, he made it a point to 
 experiment upon the first specimen he captured ; but though he gave the 
 anomalous quadruped every opportunity for wounding him, and indeed, 
 iiisisted upon receiving a few scratches, no evil consequence resulted ; and 
 thus the character of the creature was relieved from an unfounded aspersion." 
 
 The Westminster Review spoke of it in the following terms :— 
 
 " Although many of Dr. Bennett's ' Gt-atherings' have already been 
 presented to the public through various channels, yet we heartily welcome 
 their appearance in a collective form, with the additional materials which he 
 has now, for the first time, brought forth from his budget of ' Australasian 
 Zoology and Botany,' altogether constituting a handsome and beautifully 
 illustrated volume. To Dr. Bennett we are indebted for our first knowledge 
 of the animal of the pearly nautilus, the type of those chambered cephalopods 
 that have ranged through nearly the whole series of geological periods ; and 
 it is somewhat aggravating now to learn that living nautili are so plentiful at 
 the Fiji Islands, that they are caught for food in wicker traps baited like 
 lobster-pots, and are eaten cwrried by the natives. Dr. Bennett was also the 
 discoverer of the new and remarkable species of cassowary found only in New 
 Britain, and known by its native name of mooruk ; and to him also we are 
 indebted for most of our knowledge of the physiology and habits of the 
 anomalous omithorynchus, as of its congener the echidna, and also of the 
 remarkable jabrin or gignatie crane. Our Zoological Q-ardens have largely 
 profited by the zeal with which he has purveyed for them among the 
 
168 
 
 curiosities supplied by his adopted country ; and he has also done much to 
 direct attention to the practical value of many forms of its vegetation, which 
 might otherwise have been disregarded. We trust that on his return thither, 
 he will long continue to render those valuable services to science for which 
 his antipodean residence has afforded the opportunity, but which has mainly 
 sprung from an earnestness which would make an opportunity for itself in 
 any locality, however familiar." 
 
 1863. — The Tbansactions of the Entomoiogical Society 
 OF New Soitth "Wales. Part I. 
 The first monthly meeting of this Society was held on the 
 5th May, 1862. It consisted of twenty-eight members, but this 
 number has since increased. At the Annual G-eneral Meeting, 
 held on the 30th January, 1863, the President, Mr. WiUiam 
 Macleay, read an Address, from which I take the foUowing ; — 
 
 " The advantages which the original promoters of the Institution antici- 
 pated were of a two-fold character. They wished to give all who were 
 interested in the science of Entomology, opportunities of social intercourse ; 
 and they also wished to be the means of assisting in the puhhoation of such 
 jjapers connected with the science as might be deemed worthy of their 
 sanction. 
 
 " Viewing these as the main objects of the Society, I think I amjustified 
 in saying that it has already been as successfiil as its most sanguine pro- 
 moters could have desired. A number of gentlemen, previously unknown to 
 each other, have been afforded opportunities of meeting together, which, 
 without the intervention of the Society, would perhaps never have existed ; 
 an impetus has been given to collecting, in a degree hitherto unknown in the 
 Colony; and from the facihties given of communicating information, an 
 unusual amount of observation has been concentrated in the history and 
 habits of the insect tribes." 
 
 The Entomological Society numbered among its members 
 one of the most distinguished naturalists of the present day. 
 This was Mr. "William Sharp Macleay. He was the eldest son of 
 the late Alexander Macleay, E.E.S. and F.L.S., formerly Colonial 
 Secretary of the Colony. He was born in London, in 1792, and 
 arrived here in 1839. Previous to his residence among us, he 
 
169 
 
 held various important oiRces in the service of the Imperial 
 Gt-Qvernment. Several years of his life were spent in Paris, 
 where he became a personal friend of Cuvier and other men of 
 science. He resided in this Colony from the time of his arrival 
 till his death in 1865. During this period, he distinguished 
 himself by his devotion to scientific pursuits, and by various 
 efforts to promote the cultivation of science in the Colony. He 
 was considered, during his lifetime, ' the iirst of living entomo- 
 logists.' His collection of insects, especially of those peculiar to 
 this country, was the most extensive and most valuable in 
 existence. His mind, however, did not confine itself to one 
 department of science. Botany, zoology, and geology, were 
 favourite pursuits. A list of papers contributed by him to 
 different scientific journals in England forms an ample testimony 
 to the range and depth of his attainments. 
 
 The Transactions of the Entomological Society are hand- 
 somely printed and illustrated, and contain accounts of the 
 various specimens exhibited, and papers read, at the monthly 
 meetings. From them it is obvious that the foundation of the 
 Society has proved of much use in furthering the interests of 
 science in our community. Comparatively little would have been 
 achieved in the department of entomology but for its existence. 
 The efforts of individuals not connected by any common tie 
 seldom prove of much importance, in a young community. There 
 is little stimulus to exertion in research, and still less to the 
 publication of papers. In the latter respect, the existence of 
 this Society is especially iiseful. 
 
 1864. — CATALo&rE OF ArsTEALiAN Land Shells. By James 
 C. Cox, M.D., E.E.C.S., Edinburgh. Sydney. 44 pages. 
 
 The principal object of the Catalogue is, as stated by Dr. 
 Cox, " to give a complete list of all the Genera and Species of 
 Australian Land Shells known to be described, together with 
 
170 
 
 descriptiona of sucli new species as have not hitherto been 
 recorded in the principal Australian collections, — and to record 
 correct localities." 
 
 Dr. Cox is one of the most zealous cultivators of science in 
 the Colony. He is a member of the Philosophical and Entomo- 
 logical Societies, and has read many papers on various scientific 
 subjects. His researches are principally devoted to Conchology. 
 
 1864. — AusTEALiAN Lepidopteea and theie TeansfoeMations. 
 By A. W. Scott, M.A., Ash Island, Hunter Eiver, New- 
 South "Wales. London. Parts I, II, III. 
 
 An important contribution to the general sum of scientific 
 knowledge. The author has devoted himself for many years past 
 to the study of local entomology, and the volume cited contains 
 the results of his researches. It is magnificently illustrated by 
 drawings from the pencils of his daughters — drawings which could 
 hardly be surpassed in point of accuracy and finish. The pub- 
 lication was an expensive one, but twenty-five copies only were 
 disposed of in the Colony. 
 
 1864. — Catalogue op Mammalia in the Collection of the 
 Atjstealian Museum. By G-erard Krefft, Curator and 
 Secretary. Sydney. 8vo. 136 pages. 
 
 1865. — Two Papees on the Veetebeata op the Lowee 
 
 MUHEAY AND DaELINO, AND OF THE SnAKES OP StDNET : 
 
 read before the Philosophical Society of New South TVales, 
 10th September, 1862. By O-erard KrefiFt. Sydney. 8vo. 
 60 pages. 
 
 Mr. Kreff't was born and educated in Brunswick. After a 
 visit to America, he spent some time in this country, having 
 been attracted by the newly discovered gold mines. The Q-overn- 
 ment of Victoria employed him to visit the districts of the Lower 
 Murray and Darling, and subsequently conferred upon him an 
 
171 
 
 appointment in the National Museum in Melbourne. This he 
 soon after resigned, in order to return to Europe. During his 
 stay in Europe he visited the principal Museums, and, on his 
 return to Australia, the Trustees of the Australian Museum in 
 this Colony appointed him Assistant Curator, and shortly after- 
 wards. Acting Curator and Secretary. Mr. Krefft is a member 
 of various Scientific Societies in England and G-ermany, and, in 
 this Colony, of the Entomological and Philosophical Societies. 
 Eew men can exceed him in zeal, and as a practical observer his 
 services to this country are of very great value. 
 
 1866. — The Transactions of the Philosophical Society of 
 New South Wales. Vol. 1. Sydney. 8vo., 374 pages. 
 
 A Society was established in Sydney, under this title, many 
 years ago, but it speedily died out. Some of the papers read at 
 its meetings were published by the well-known Barron Field, in 
 1825. The present Society was established at the instance of 
 Sir W. Denison, in 1856. He was then Governor of the Colony, 
 and was deeply interested in scientific investigations. The Society 
 numbers about 200 members, and papers of considerable value 
 may be found among its transactions. 
 
172 
 
 GEOGEAPHY. 
 
 1845. — ArsTEALiA, feom Poet Macquaeie to Moeeton Bat, 
 ■with descriptions of the Natives, their manners and customs ; 
 the geology, natural productions, fertility, and resources 
 of that region ; first explored and surveyed by order of the 
 Colonial Government. By Clement Hodgkinson. London. 
 8vo. 
 
 The author was an officer in the Survey Department of this 
 Colony. 
 
 1848. — A GrEOGEAPHICAL DiCTIONABT, OE GrAZETTEEE OP THE 
 
 ArsTEALiAif Colonies ; their Fhysical and Political Geogra- 
 phy, together with a Brief Notice of all the Capitals, Prin- 
 cipal Towns, and Villages; also of Rivers, Bays, Oulfs, 
 Mountains, Population, and General Statistics. Illustrated 
 with numerous Maps and Drawings. By W. H. Wells, 
 Surveyor. Sydney, 8vo., 438 pages. 
 
 1851. — The Atjstealian Geogeapht, with the Shoees of 
 THE Pacific and those of the Indian- Ocean. By 
 Lieut.-Col. Sir T. L. Mitchell, Surveyor G-eneral of Sydney, 
 author of Tropical Australia, &c, To which is added, an 
 Appendix, containing a correct Account of the recent Gold 
 Discovery in that Continent. Sydney. 8vo. 
 
 1863. — The Geogeapht of New SorTH "Wales, Phtsicai, 
 Indtjsteial, and Political. By "W. Wilkins, Chief 
 Inspector of National Schools, Sydney. Sydney. 12mo. 
 
 1866. — Baillieee's New South Wales Gazetteer and Eoad 
 Guide, containing the most recent and accurate Information 
 as to every Place in the Colony. Compiled by E. P. Whit- 
 worth. With Map. Sydney. 8vo., 664 pages. 
 
173 
 
 LAW. 
 
 1835. — The Australian Magisthate : or, a Gfuide to the duties 
 of a Justice of the Peace for the Colony of New South Wales. 
 Also, a hrief Summary of the Law of Landlord and Tenant. 
 By J. H. Plunkett, A.B., Her Majesty's Solicitor General of 
 New South Wales. Sydney. 8vo. 
 
 This work is now in its second edition, the last, by Mr. 
 "Wilkinson, of the Colonial Bar, having recently appeared. Its 
 contents embrace the whole of those legal details which occupy 
 the attention of our magistrates, and are arranged with great 
 clearness and conciseness. It is now a standard work, and its 
 extreme usefulness has recommended it to the legal profession 
 and the magistracy in the neighbouring Colonies, as well as in 
 New South Wales. The editor, Mr. Wilkinson, has been engaged 
 for many years past in reporting the common law cases decided 
 in the Supreme Court of the Colony. 
 
 1842. — The Insoltent Law oe New Sooth Wales, with 
 practical directions and forms. By W. W. Burton, Esq., one 
 of the Judges of the Supreme Court of that Colony. Sydney. 
 
 1843. — The CoNSTiTrTioN, Eules, and Peactice of the 
 Supreme Court of New South Wales. By Alfred 
 Stephen, Esq., one of the Judges of that Court. Sydney. 
 
 1844. — Acts and Ordinances or the Gtoternor and Council 
 of New South Wales, and Acts op Parliament enacted 
 FOR AND applied TO THE CoLONT, with Notcs and Index. 
 By Thomas Callaghan, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. Sydney. 3 
 vols., 8vo. 
 
 A useful compilation. The author was subsequently 
 appointed a District Court Judge, and died a few years ago. 
 
174 
 
 184-6. — Eeseevbd and Equity Judgments of the Supeeme 
 CouET OF New South Wales, delivered during t}ie year 
 1845. Sydney. 
 
 1851. — Supplement to the Supeeme Couet Peactice, with 
 Acts of Council, and Notes of Cases {chieflj on points of 
 practice). 'By M. Henry Stephen, Esq., Barrister-at-law. 
 Sydney. 
 
 1856. — Supeeme Couet Peactice. The Rules of Court and 
 Enactments affecting actions and other proceedings at Law. 
 Sydney. 
 
 This compilation was the work of His Honor Sir Alfred 
 Stephen, Chief Justice of the Colony. It is of much practical 
 value to the legal profession. 
 
 1858. — Lectuee on Law, delivered at the Mechanics' School of 
 Arts, Pitt-street, Sydney, August 3rd, 1858. By J. E. 
 Hargrave, Esq., M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, and of 
 Lincoln's Inn, and the Supreme Court of New South Wales ; 
 Barrister-at-Law, Author of " A Treatise on the Thellusson 
 Act," and Editor of the Eirst Volume of the 21st English 
 Edition of Blackstone's " Commentaries on the Laws of 
 England." Sydney. 
 
 i859. — The Disteict Couets Act op 1858, and The Disteict 
 CouETS Act Amendment Act op 1859, with practical Notes. 
 By W. J. Foster, Barrister-at-law. Sydney. 8vo. 
 
 Contains an introduction explaining the nature, jurisdiction, 
 and proceedings of the District Courts of New South Wales, 
 and the alterations effected in the Courts of G-eneral and Quarter 
 Sessions, illustrated by numerous authorities ; and also an Ap- 
 pendix, containing the rules of practice and forms of proceedings, 
 together with several useful Acts of the Colonial Legislature. 
 
175 
 
 1860. — Intkoductoey Lectuke on G-eneeal Jueispetjdence, 
 delivered at the University of Sydney, March bth, 1860. By 
 J. P. Hargrave, Esq., M.A., Barrister-at-Law, Eeader ia 
 General Jurisprudence for the Tears 1859-60, and Her 
 Majesty's Attorney General for the Colony of New South 
 Wales ; annexed to which is a " Syllabus of the two Courses 
 of Lectures on General Jurisprudence," delivered at the 
 University of Sydney, during the Tears 1859-60-61. Sydney. 
 
 The learned author of these lectures is now a Puisne Judge 
 of the Supreme Court. 
 
 1861. — A Collection of Statutes afeectistg New South 
 Wales — containing all the Statutes of practical utility to the 
 present time. Edited by Henry Cary, District Court Judge. 
 Sydney. 2 vols., imperial 8vo. 
 
 A very useful compilation, comprising not only the Acts of 
 the local Legislature, but those of the Imperial Parliament which 
 have been adopted here. The Statutes are arranged in the order 
 of subject, alphabetically. Mr. Cary is the son of the Eev. H. F. 
 Cary, known to Literatiu'e as the translator of Dante. In 1846, 
 Mr. Cary published the articles contributed by his father to the 
 London Magazine, on the " Early Erench Poets," prefixing an 
 introductory sketch of the History of French Poetry. He has 
 not since made any contributions to Literature ; but his reputation 
 as a classical scholar is considerable. The Acts of Parliament 
 passed in this Colony are now printed and published at the 
 Government Printing 0£B.ce, at the close of each Session. 
 
 1861. — The Public General Statutes of New South Wales. 
 Sydney. 4 vols. 
 
176 
 
 1861. — The Private Acts op New Soitth Wales. Sydney. 
 1vol. 
 
 This is a collection of Acts of Parliament, comprising those 
 of the local Legislature, and also those of the Imperial Parliament 
 which have been adopted in the Colony. It is published by 
 authority of the Groverntnent. The Statutes are published at 
 the close of each Session. 
 
 1862. — E.EPOETS OF Cases aegtjed and deteemined in the 
 SuPEEME CorET OF New South "Wales. By "W. H. 
 Wilkinson, Esq., and W. Owen, Esq., Barristers -at-law. 
 Sydney. 
 
 Eour volumes of these Eeports have already appeared. 
 
 1863. — The Supeeme Cotet of New South Wales. In Equity. 
 Consolidated Standing Rules, made on 4th July, 1863, and 
 which are to take effect after SOth September, 1863. By 
 authority. Sydney. 
 Index to the above. Compiled by Eees Eutland Jones, B.A. 
 
 1866. — The New Sohth Wales Magisterial Digest : a 
 practical Ouide for Magistrates, Clerks of Petty Sessions, 
 Attorneys, Constables; and others, comprising indictable offences 
 and summary convictions, with their punishments, penalties, 
 procedure, ^c, being alphabetically and tabularly arranged; 
 together with other proceedings before Justices, adapted practi- 
 cally to the provisions of Sir John Jervis's Acts, with forms, 
 cases, copies, notes, and observations. By Henry Connell, 
 junr., Clerk of Petty Sessions, Kiama. Sydney. 8vo., 
 886 pages. 
 
 This work is, to some extent, a similar one to that issued by 
 Mr. Plimkett, already noticed ; but it is much more comprehen- 
 sive. The tabular arrangement of oifences, with the penalties 
 attached to them, enables the reader to find information at a 
 
177 
 
 glance, which, in any other form, could not be ohtained without 
 some labour. Every point likely to occur in practice in the 
 lower Courts is fully commented on, and the requisite authorities 
 arranged with great care. As a practical work, it must be of 
 great value to the officials for whose vise it was principally pre- 
 pared, while the style of publication is fully equal to that of the 
 London law booksellers. 
 
178 
 
 THEOLOGY. 
 
 1835. — Observations on the Use and Abuse of the Sacred 
 ScEiPTTJRES, as exhibited in the Discipline and Practice of 
 the Protestant and Catholic Communions. By the Eev. W. 
 B. TJUathorne, V.GI-. Sydney. 
 
 The author was the Eoman Catholic Vicar- General of the 
 Colony, and is now Bishop of Birmingham. 
 
 1836. — The Language of Theology Interpreted, in a Series 
 of Short and Easy Lectures. By E. M. C. Bowen, a Settler 
 in New South Wales (formerly a Lieutenant in H.M. 39th 
 Eegiment). Sydney. 8vo., 318 pages. 
 
 At the end of this work appears the following announce- 
 ment: — " To appear in a year or two, in case the author of this 
 work should recover the expenses,- — " Interpretations of Scrip- 
 tures, tested by aid of Eacts, Experiments and Observations." 
 
 The author apparently did not recover his expenses, inasmuch 
 as no vestige of the work announced can be found. 
 
 1810. — Eeligion and Education in America. By J. D. Lang. 
 
 The circumstances which led to the production of this work 
 are stated by the author in the last edition of his History, p. 494 : 
 " Certain matters having rendered it necessary that I should pro- 
 ceed to England once more in the year 1839, I embraced the 
 opportunity, during my stay in the northern hemisphere, of 
 crossing over to the United States of America. For as I then 
 foresaw that the question as to the propriety of having a religious 
 establishment in the Colonies at all would very soon be the great 
 question in the Australian Colonies, I wished to ascertain for 
 myself individually, before taking any prominent part in the dis- 
 cussion of that question, whether Christianity could support itself in 
 
179 
 
 any country, as was alleged it did in America, without the support 
 of the State. My introductions in the United States were of the 
 first order, including eminent men of all ranks and professions, 
 from the President downwards. I visited eleven of the States, 
 from Salem, in Massachusetts, to Charleston, in South Carolina ; 
 and my own observation abundantly confirmed the testimony 
 I received from all quarters, viz., that Christianity could unques- 
 tionably maintain itself in the world by its own native and 
 inherent energies, and that it required no pecuniary support 
 from the State. On my return to England, I embodied the 
 result of my observations in a work entitled " Eeligion and Educa- 
 tion in America," which was published in London in the year 
 1840, and which, I soon ascertained, gave prodigious offence, 
 both in Scotland and in New South Wales ; salutary truths of 
 that kind being, at this comparatively early period, by no means 
 universally palatable." 
 
 1842. — Sehmons peeached in St. Andrew's Chuech, Sydney, 
 New South Wales. By the Eev. John M'Garvie, D.D. 
 Sydney. 8vo., 394 pages. 
 
 1844. — Ten Lectuees, with Histoeical Notices, illits- 
 
 TEATITE OP the ANTI-SCEIPTUEAL CHAEAOTEE AND PEENI- 
 ClOrS TENDENCY OF THE DOOTEINES OF PuSEYISM. JBy 
 
 James Fullerton, LL.D., Minister of the Scots Church, Pitt- 
 street, Sydney. Sydney, 8vo., 220 pages. 
 
 1848. — Lectuees on Peophecy and the Kingdom op Cheist. 
 Delivered in the Scots Church, Macquarie-street, Sydney, 
 from April \&th to June \^th, 1848. By the Eev. Barzillai 
 Quaife. Sydney, 8vo., 240 pages. 
 
 1857. — MoEMONiSM ; or the Doctrines of the self-styled Latter-day 
 Saints, compa/red with itself and the Bible, and found wanting. 
 By John Davis. Sydney. 8vo., 85 pages. 
 
180 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 1825. — A Treatise on the Ottltuhe of the Vine, and the 
 Aet or Making Wine ; compiled from the works of Ghaptal 
 and other French Writers, and from, the notes of the Compiler, 
 during a residence in some of the Wine Provinces of France. 
 By James Busby. Australia. 8vo., 270 pages. 
 
 The author states that, previous to his emigration to New 
 South "Wales, he entertained a conviction that the vine could be 
 profitably cultivated in the Colony, and that he visited the Wine 
 Provinces of Prance for the purpose of acquiring information on 
 that subject. The Treatise contains the results of his inquiries ; 
 but, as its title indicates, it is rather a compilation than an 
 original work. 
 
 This, and subsequent works by the same author, were 
 reviewed in the New South Wales Magazine for September, 1833. 
 We are there informed that the Treatise " fell dead from the 
 press"; the failure being ascribed to the unsuitability of the 
 work to the practical requiremen'ts of the colonists. It was a 
 compilation adapted to those only who had already acquired 
 some practical acquaintance with the mysteries of wine-making. 
 At the time of its publication in Sydney, " few persons had 
 thought of the vine as anything better than an ornament to their 
 gardens, or an addition to their dessert." 
 
 This was the first book printed and published in the Colony. 
 Mr. Busby was subsequently appointed " British Eesident in 
 New Zealand." 
 
 1826. — An Account or the state or Agmcultuee AifD 
 Geazing in New South Wales. By James Atkinson. 
 London. 
 
 The author was a Clerk in the Office of the Colonial Secretary 
 in this Colony. 
 
181 
 
 1829. — A Letter prom Sjuney, the principal Town of 
 AtiSTRAEASiA. Edited by Kobert Gougei-. Together with 
 the outline of a System of Colonization. London. Svo., 
 222 pages. 
 
 A very lively though prejudiced account of society in Sydney, 
 as the author viewed it in 1829, will be found in his work. 
 Curiously enough, while he indulges in unsparing ridicule of 
 the colonists generally, he draws a glowing picture of the beauty 
 of the native-born women, and of the physical and mental 
 excellence of the native-born men. " The latitude of Sydney 
 corresponds exactly with that of Paphos ; and it is no less true 
 that the native Australians bear a stronger resemblance to the 
 modern Greeks than to any other people." 
 
 This work is criticised at some length in Sidney's " Australian 
 Colonies," and the authorship attributed to Edward Gibbon 
 Wakefield. " All that we know of Eobert Gouger is, that he 
 was a Dissenter, of republican opinions, who served some time 
 in the Erench National Guard during the Eevolution of July, 
 1830. He afterwards became Secretary of the South Australian 
 Society, and eventually Colonial Secretary in South Australia." 
 Sidney says that " a great sensation was produced in the literary 
 and political world" on the appearance of the " Letter from 
 Sydney," and that " it was soon known to be the production of 
 Wakefield." There are some remarkably fine passages in this 
 production ; and as it is now out of print and forgotten, the 
 quotation of one of them may be excused : — 
 
 " You remember that Q^enoese girl, before whom you trembled and I 
 became faint, though she only handed us some grapes. Do you remember 
 that, having recovered ourselves, we measured her eyelashes P Do you 
 remember how long they were, and how she laughed ? Do you remember 
 that bright laugh, and how I patted her cheelc, and told her that it was softer 
 
182 
 
 than her ooimtry's velvet ? And how she blushed ! — do you remember that? — 
 to the tips of her fingers and the roots of her hair P And then how — do you 
 remember how — peasant as she was, and but just fifteen, she tossed her head 
 and stamped her little foot with the air of a queen ? And then how, on a. 
 sudden, her large eyes were filled with tears j and the grace with which she 
 folded her arms across that charming bosom ; and the tone — I hear it now — 
 the deep, grave, penetrating tone in which, half angry, half afraid, she at 
 once threatened us with her " Berto," and implored our respect ? We did 
 not care much for Mr. Berto, certainly ; but did we not swear, both together, 
 that not a hair of her head should we hurt ? And when, flattered by our 
 involuntary devotion, she departed with a healthy lively step, shevring her 
 small, smooth ancles, and now and then turning her profile to us, and laughing 
 as before — did we not, dashing blades as we thought ourselves, snufiEle and 
 blow our noses, and shake hands without the least motive, like two fools ? 
 And afterwards, notwithstanding that gratuitous fit of friendship, did we not 
 feel jealous of each other for three days, though neither of us could hope 
 to see the little angel again ? Yes, you remember it all. Well, just such 
 another girl as that brings fruit to my door every morning. 
 
 " I do not pretend, however, that all the girls of Australia are equally 
 beautiful ; but I do declare what you know to be true of the Ligarian girls, — ■ 
 that three out of four of them would be considered beauties in May Pair. 
 The cause — what is the cause ? As you have a reason for everything, I will 
 state my own notion on the subject. 
 
 " It was after you left me in Italy that I passed a miserable winter at 
 Turin, amongst one of the ugliest races of women in the world. In March, 
 wliilst the plain of the Po was still covered with deep frozen snow, and all 
 things above the snow were enveloped in dense, chiDing, choking fog, I 
 removed to Genoa. The old track over the Bochetta, by G-avi, was then the 
 only road across that part of the Apennines ; and that track led over the 
 narrow top of the highest ridge, so that three turns of a wheel carried the 
 traveller from the chmate of the Baltic, as it were, to that of the Mediter- 
 ranean. The contrast was most delightful, not to the sight only, but to every 
 one of the senses. Instead of only some yards of snow and fog, I beheld, 
 suddenly and at one view, a long range of mountain steps, clothed with vege- 
 tation, partly of the dark evergreen, partly of the bright green of the spring ; 
 and winding through those wooded hills, the narrow vale of Palerma, with 
 
183 
 
 its clear stream and brilliant gardens ; and teyond these, Q-enoa tlie Mag- 
 nificent, with her light-house, domes, and marble palaces, glittering in the 
 sun i and last, the Mediterranean itself, rising, apparently to me who looked 
 down upon it, into a huge bank of blue, which formed the background of the 
 picture. Was not this a sight for eyes just thawed ? Instead of a cold, damp, 
 motionless atmosphere, I breathed highly rarefied air, and felt the soft breeze 
 pass over my face. I listened, doubting ; but it was true — the music of the 
 chestnut groves had begun. Presently there were violets by the roadside ; 
 and at Campo Marone, the first post town on the sunny side of the Apennines, 
 I received strawberries from a group of girls with bare arms and necks, and 
 fresh flowers in their hair. I was mad with animal joy. Even my English 
 servant (the same who is now an Australian aristocrat) felt the genial change. 
 Though morosely glum by nature, he played some monkey's tricks, ogHng the 
 strawberry girls and pulling the postUions tails before my face. And, though 
 anything but a beauty, his stubborn features expanded with happiness, which 
 makes every animal comely after its kind. In the very act of admiring him, 
 I discovered why the Q-enoese are as lovely as the Alexandrians are frightful. 
 I knew before that Alexandria is placed in a swamp between the Alps and 
 the Apennines ; that, consequently, its inhabitants are frozen in winter and 
 stifled in summer ; and that at Q-enoa, the air, never very cold or very hot, 
 always circulates freely ; and I had imagined that this great difference of soil 
 and climate must cause the great difference of person. But I still wanted to 
 know the process by which soil and oUmate deform or beautify the human 
 creature ; and it was this that I learned by observing the friskiness of my 
 ^valet. The Alexandrians suffer from their birth many inconveniences, 
 restraints, and even torments, which the Grenoese escape. They feel, therefore, 
 a greater quantity of pain ; or, in other words, the G-enoese enjoy more 
 happiness. If the face is the mirror of the mind, the whole form may be an 
 index of the habits. Happiness includes animal liberty, and misery includes 
 restraint. Whatever be human society, a face of joy and a form of ease make 
 the perfection of beauty ; whilst general deformity is the type of suffering and 
 constraint. As we feel and act continually, so shall we appear. Thus, after 
 all, soil and cUmate may produce beauty or ughness by a moral rather than a 
 physical process. What think you of my invention ? Apply it to the 
 Australian girls. If you should find in it a reason for their loveliness, I shall 
 not have digressed. Would that all men might adopt the theory ; as, in that 
 case, every admirer of beauty must be a warm pliilauthropist!" 
 
184 
 1830. — A Manual op PiAiiir Dieections foe planting and 
 
 CULTIVATrNa ViNETAEDS, AND FOE MAKING WiNE, IN NeW 
 
 South "Wales. By James Busby. Sydney. 8vo., 100 
 pages. 
 
 This work is said to have been successful, and to have led to 
 the cultivation of the vine by many colonists. 
 
 1833. — Jottenal of a Tour theough some of the Vinetakds 
 OF Spain and Teance. By James Busby, Esq. Sydney. 
 8vo., 140 pages. 
 
 Mr. Busby was apparently indefatigable in his labours for 
 the purpose of introducing vine-growing into this Colony. In this, 
 however, he proved to be some quarter of a century before his 
 age. His efforts were not attended with success, although, at the 
 present time, the vineyards of New South Wales have attained 
 to considerable importance in the commercial interests of the 
 country. In the introduction to his " Manual," the following 
 passage is worth extraction : — 
 
 " Had New Soutli Wales been settled by a Colony from France, or any 
 other country whose climate is favourable to the growth of the vine, we 
 should at this day have seen few corn-fields without their neighbouring vine- 
 yards ; but the settlers of New South Wales, reared in a coimtry where the 
 vine does not flourish, and where the place of wine is supplied by malt 
 liquors and ardent spirits, have brought with them to the Colony their pre- 
 judice in favour of these liquors, which they continue to use as at Home, 
 forgetting that even in cold countries they form but a poor substitute for 
 wine, and that their pernicious effects are increased tenfold by the heat of 
 such a climate as this." 
 
 1833. — Emigration, considered chiefly in reference to the practi- 
 cability and expediency of importing and settling throughout 
 the territory of New South Wales, a numeious, industrious, 
 and virtuous Agricultural Population. By J. D. Lang, D.D. 
 
 Sydney. 
 
185 
 
 1836. — Lectubes ojt Landscape G-aedening in Austealia. 
 By the late Mr. Thomas Shepherd, of the Darling Nursery ; 
 author of " Lectures ou the Horticulture of Australia." 
 Sydney. 8vo., 95 pages. 
 
 1837. — The Picture op Sydney, and Steangke's G-uide in 
 New South Wales. Sydney. 
 
 1837.^The Feloney op New South Wales ; heing a faithful 
 picture of the Real Romance of Ufe in, Botany Bay, with 
 Anecdotes nf Botany Bay Society, and a Plan of Sydney. By 
 Jas. Mudie, Esq., of Castle Forbes, and late a Magistrate for 
 the Territory of New South Wales. London. 8 vo., 362 pages. 
 
 The " faithful picture " promised in the title-page of this 
 book, is largely disfigured by personalities, aroused by the bitter 
 controversies in which the author had been engaged in the Colony. 
 The book itself is interesting, and deserves reading for the light 
 it throws upon the social life of the period. In Judge Therry's 
 Reminiscences, it is said that Mr. Mudie did not venture to 
 publish his work, on account of the libels which crowded its 
 pages. It was privately distributed, and procured for its author 
 a horsewhipping. This was followed by an action for assault and 
 battery, the proceedings at which excited great interest in Sydney, 
 and were published in the form of a pamphlet. Mr. Mudie was 
 distinguished by the barbarous severity with which he treated 
 the unfortunate convicts committed to his care. He appears to 
 have been anything but popular among his fellow colonists. 
 
 1887. — Teanspoetation and Colonisation ; or the causes of the 
 comparative failure of the Transportation System in the Aus- 
 tralian Colonies; with suggestions for ensuring its future 
 efficiency in subserviency to extensive colonisation. By J. D. 
 Lang, D.D. London. 8vo., 244 pages. 
 In this work Dr. Lang entered into a full exposition of the 
 
 various features of the transportation system, as carried out in 
 
186 
 
 this Colony. There is abundant proof here of the really practical 
 character of his intellect — a character which has been too often 
 denied to it. Had his suggestions been attended to, with refer- 
 ence to the subject of Transportation, the Colony would have 
 benefited largely by them. He gives an amusing instance of the 
 absurd manner in which convict labour was sometimes employed. 
 Instead of setting them to work on roads and farms, a party of 
 convicts was once ordered to dig two large pits, and to fill one up 
 with the earth cast out of the other. It is difiBcult to believe that 
 so absurd a system could ever have existed. With so much labour 
 available for the purposes of settlement, one would think that no 
 time would have been lost in turning it to a practical account. 
 
 1837.— A Letter to the Right Honorable Lord Viscount Olenelg, 
 Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies. By John 
 Bingle, of Puen-Buen, New South Wales ; with Documen- 
 tary Evidence. London. 8vo. 
 
 An Appeal from the Local to the Imperial G-overnment, on 
 the ground of some injustice experienced by the writer. He 
 endeavoured to prove that he had been made the victim of poli- 
 tical animosity on the part of the former ; that he had been 
 deprived of his commission as a Magistrate, subjected to an 
 unfounded charge of cattle-stealing, and otherwise ill-used, for 
 no other reason than the having excited the displeasure of the 
 Governor. One point in the case, on which much stress was 
 laid by the cotemporary Press, was this, — that the indictment 
 against Mr. Bingle had been filed by the Attorney General, who 
 was not only the Crown Prosecutor, but the Grand Jury of the 
 country as well — an amalgamation of functions "which is charac- 
 terized as " a highly unconstitutional anomaly." It is stated 
 also, that the alleged injustice in this case was owing to this com- 
 bination of political and administrative power in the same func- 
 tionary. 
 
187 
 
 1837. — "New Sottth Wales ; its pbesen't State and futtjbe 
 Prospects. Being a Statement, loith Documentary Evidence, 
 stihmitted in support of Petitions to Her Majesty and Parlia- 
 ment. By James Macartliur. London. 8vo. 
 
 The author was a son of Mr. John Macarthur, whose name 
 is famous in the land as the introducer of wool-growing. The 
 contents of the work are devoted to an exposition of the various 
 evils, political and social, under which the Colony was labouring : 
 a subject with which the author was fully competent to deal. 
 
 1838. — EssATS. By James Martin, Esq. Sydney. 
 
 A collection of meditations on such subjects as " The Sublime 
 in Nature," "The Thunder Storm," "Botany Bay," "The 
 Colosseum," " G-enius," " Pseudo Poets," &c. The author was 
 very young at the time of publication, and is now Prime Minister. 
 The style is rather better than the average of boyish compositions. 
 
 1838. — Miscellanies in Peose and Veese. Sydney. 12mo, 
 
 144 pages. 
 
 The author of this production was Mr. William WooUs. It 
 displays very little power of original thinking. An essay on 
 " the Press" contains the following criticism of colonial journalism 
 in 1838 :— 
 
 " I cannot but remark that it is an extraordinary feature in the history 
 of the Colony to find that so many periodicals are in course of circulation. 
 The Press of New South Wales has kept pace with its other improvements ; 
 and now, instead of a single Government Gasetfe, pubhshed by authority, and 
 almost devoid of interest, we have no less than seven well printed journals. 
 From time to time a considerable degree of ability has been displayed in the 
 leading articles of the di£Fereut papers ; and although it is to be lamented that 
 they have, on certain occasions, indulged in much acrimony and invective, it 
 cannot be denied that they have introduced to pubKc notice many useful and 
 important facts, and very materially improved the moral and political condi- 
 tion of our rising Colony." 
 
188 
 
 •1839. — New Zealand m 1839. Pour Letters to Lord Durham, 
 on the Colonization of that Island, and on the present con- 
 dition and prospects of its Native Inhabitants, By the Rev. 
 Dr. Lang. London. 8vo., 120 pages. 
 
 Quoted in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 21., art. " New 
 Zealand." 
 
 18iO. — The State op Eeligion Ai!fD Education in New South 
 Wales. By W. "W". Burton, Esq., one of the Judges of the 
 Supreme Court of that Colony. London. 
 
 1840. — Abnoldo and Clara ; an historical Poem, translated from 
 the Italian of Silvio Fellico. By W. A. Duncan. Sydney. 
 12mo., 16 pages. 
 
 The translation is in prose. 
 
 18-10. — A Eeplt to Judoe Burton, of the Supreme Court 
 of New South Wales, on the state of Religion in the Colony. 
 By W. Ullathorne, D.D. Sydney. 8vo., 98 pages. 
 
 1842. — Eemale Emigration considered, in a Irief account of the 
 Sydney Emigrants' Home. By the Secretary. Sydney. 
 
 This was the production of Mrs. Chisholm, one of the most 
 practical and self-sacrificing philanthropists of the present age. 
 Her name will not readily be forgotton in this Colony. The little 
 work mentioned above is described in Sidney's Australian Colonies, 
 as " a collection of notes and memoranda, interspersed with pithy 
 remarks, and pathetic and comic sketches from real life — a 
 valuable contribution to the art of colonization, and a literary 
 curiosity." 
 
 In 1845, Mrs. Chisholm published a " Prospectus of a work to 
 be entitled ' Voluntary Information from the People of New South 
 Wales, respecting the social condition of the middle and working 
 classes in the Colony,' with the view of furnishing the labourer, 
 
189 
 
 the mechanic, and the capitalist, with trustworthy information, 
 and pointing out obstructions to emigration that ought to be 
 eradicated." 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm's services to the Colony have recently been 
 rewarded by a grant of £500 from the public Treasury. 
 
 1843. — Obseetatiosts on the Poetics of Aeistotle, hy Meta- 
 stasio J rendered into English, with a liographical notice of the 
 Author. Sydney. 
 
 The author quotes in his introduction, a passage from a letter 
 of Sir James Macintosh, in which he speaks of Metastasio's 
 Observations as " one of the most ingenious and philosophical 
 pieces of criticism I ever read. It has more good sense and 
 novelty in the Unities than are to be met with anywhere else 
 within the compass of my reading. I wonder it has not been 
 translated." The translation was printed for private distribution, 
 and reviewed in the first number of the New South Wales Magazine 
 of 1843. The reviewer said — 
 
 " A production of this kind from the Australian press is indeed a novelty, 
 and, from its classical character, can hardly be expected to excite the attention 
 it deseryes. That it has been printed at oil, however, is a compliment to our 
 tastes, which demands at least the courtesy of acknowledgment." 
 
 1843. — Meeet Feeaks tn TEOTTELOtrs Times ; an Historical 
 Operatic Drama, in five Acts. By Charles Nagel, Esq. The 
 music by I. Nathan. Sydney and London. 
 
 Mr. Nagel afterwards published another production of this 
 kind. He does not seem to have possessed much merit as a 
 writer. 
 
 1843. — PsEiLUs' Dialogue on the opeeation op Demons. 
 Translated from the G-reek, by Marcus Collison. Sydney. 
 
 1844. — Sydney Illusteated, ly J. S. Proiit ; with letter-press 
 description hy John Eae, 31. A. Sydney. 
 
190 
 
 ISi-i. — Tub Australian Classical Text Book ; containing the 
 first two books of Eutropiws' Eoman History, with select 
 Biographies from Gornelius JVepos, cmd Extracts from Ovid, 
 adapted for the use of the Australian scholar ; with Notes and 
 Examination Questions. Compiled by T. H. Braim, Esq., of 
 St. John's College, Cambridge, and Head Master of the 
 Sydney College. Sydney. 
 
 1845. — A Sketch of New South Wales. By J. O. Balfour, Esq., 
 for six years a Settler in the Bathurst District. London. 
 
 1846. — Reminiscences or AvsTTiAjjiA,with hints on the Squatter's 
 Life. By C. P. Hodgson. London. 
 
 1847. — Phillipsland, or the Country hitherto designated Port 
 
 Phillip ; its present condition and prospects as a highly eligible 
 
 field for Emigration. By J. D. Lang, A.M., Senior Minister 
 
 of the Presbyterian Church, and Member of the Legislative 
 
 Council of New South Wales ; Honorary Vice-President of 
 
 the African Institute of Prance, and Honorary Member of the 
 
 Literary tistitute of Olinda in the Brazils. Edinburgh. 8vo. ' 
 
 Dr. Lang's ideas as to the nomenclature of these Colonies 
 
 are founded on common sense, but they have not met with much 
 
 acceptance. " Phillipsland" is now called Victoria. A vast amount 
 
 of information is contained in this work ; everything, in fact, at 
 
 all likely to attract the attention of emigrants is abundantly 
 
 noted. An address is prefixed to " The Worshipful Company of 
 
 Publishers in &reat Britain and Ireland," in which the author 
 
 gives his reasons for publishing at his own risk. He says he had 
 
 " ascertained from two of your number in the British metropolis, 
 
 and from at least as many in Edinburgh, that our unfortunate 
 
 Colony of New South Wales had sunk so low in public estimation 
 
 in this country, under the protracted tyranny of its late G-overnor, 
 
 Sir George Gipps, that none of you would venture even to publish 
 
 a book about it." 
 
mi 
 
 1847. — COOKSLAND IN NOBTH-EASTEUN AUSTRALIA, THE FUTURE 
 
 Cotton Field of Great Britain ; its characteristics, and 
 capabilities for European Colonisation, with a disquisition on 
 the origin, manners, and customs of the Aborigines. By J. D. 
 Lang, A.M. London. 
 
 The object of this work — it may be properly styled a compila- 
 tion — was to point out the advantages of the north-eastern part 
 of the Colony as a field for emigration. The author did not 
 succeed in fixing the name of " Cooksland" to that part of the 
 country. It is now called Queensland. There is, of course, a 
 large amount of information with regard to the character and 
 capabilities of the country. Not the least valuable portion of the 
 Doctor's writings is the chapter on the Aborigines. 
 
 1848. — Sydney in 1848 ; illustrated by copper-plate engravings, 
 from drawings by J. I'owles. 
 
 Appeared in fortnightly numbers, the whole comprising forty 
 issues. The plates were accompanied with descriptive letter- 
 press. 
 
 1848. — Letters on Education ; addressed to a Friend in the Bush 
 of Australia. By Hannah Villiers Boyd. Sydney. 
 
 The authoress apparently based her ideas of education on 
 her knowledge of phrenology. " The style of the letters," says a 
 cotemporary reviewer, " is lively and agreeable, and the remarks 
 and particulars interesting and instructive ; but there is no 
 systematic course of instruction pointed out or recommended, and 
 the details are desultory and unconnected." 
 
 1848. — Obseetations on Convict ksh Free Labour foe New 
 South Wales. By E. P. Welch, M.E.O.S. (Eeprinted 
 from the Colonial Magazine for July, 1847.) Sydney. 
 
192 
 
 1848. — EixE Deutsche Colonie in Stillen Ocean. Adresse 
 an die ehrenm. Mitglieder des Deutschen Parlaments in Frank- 
 furt und die DeulseTien insgesammt. Von J. D. Lang, Dr. 
 Theol. & Phil. Aus dem Englischen iibersezt. Leipsic. 
 Svo., 45 pages. 
 
 Another instance of Dr. Lang's indefatigable efforts to 
 promote emigration to this part of the world. He urged the 
 establishment of a Colony in New Caledonia by GTermans. His 
 recommendation was not adopted, but his pamphlet was very 
 favourably noticed in the Grerman account of " The Voyage of 
 the Novara" — a magnificent work recently published by the 
 Austrian Government. 
 
 1849. — Notes oif the CuLTiTATioTr or the Vine and the 
 Olite, and on the Methods or making Wine and Oil, 
 &c. &c., IN THE SorTHEEN Paets OF SpAiN, taken during 
 a towr through Andalusia, in September and October, 1847. 
 By Lieut.-Col. Sir T. L. Mitchell. Sydney. 4to., 37 pages. 
 
 A preface informs us that this work was published by the 
 " Botanic and Horticultural Society," as the first number of their 
 Transactions. It contains a large number of engravings, and as a 
 practical work must be of considerable value. 
 
 1849. — Lettees TO Chaelbs Btjllee, Junioe, Esq., M.P., from 
 the Australian Patriotic Association. By WUliam Bland. 
 Sydney. 8vo., 238 pages. 
 
 [No date.] — The Soittheen Eupheostne and Austealian 
 MiscELLANT, containing Oriental moral tales, origiaal anec- 
 dotes, poetry, and music, an historical sketch, with examples of 
 the native aboriginal melodies put into modern rhythm, and 
 harmonized as solos, quartetts, &e ; together with several other 
 original vocal pieces, arranged to a pianoforte accompaniment, by 
 the editor and sole proprietor, I. Nathan, author of The Hebrew 
 
193 
 
 Melodies, The Musurgia Vaealis, the successful music in Sweet- 
 hearts and Wives, The Illustrious Stranger, The King's Fool, &c., 
 &c. London and Sydney. 4!to., 168 pages. 
 
 Mr. Nathan was an eccentric gentleman, who possessed con- 
 siderable talent for music. lie was the " Sunburn Nathan! " of 
 Byron's Hebrew Melodies. He published many pieces of music 
 in this Colony, and also A Series of Lectures on the Theory and 
 Practice of Music. His death took place a year or two ago, after 
 a very lengthened residence in the Colony. 
 
 1850. — The Uses aud Abuses of Tobacco. By Dr. T. Campbell. 
 
 Dr. Campbell has for many years past conducted the Lunatic 
 Asylum at Tarban Creek. His researches have extended into 
 other fields besides those of mental derangement, and are pro- 
 fusely illustrated by quotations from classical and old English 
 authors. 
 
 1851. — Notes on the Latent Eesoueces or Polynesia. By 
 Charles St. Julian. Sydney. 12mo. 
 
 Mr. St. Julian is Law Eeporter to the Herald. He resided 
 for some years in the Islands previous to his arrival in Sydney. 
 
 1852. — Peeedom and Independence foe the Gtolden Lajsds 
 
 OF AtJSTEALIA ; THE ElGHT OF THE COLONIES, AXD THE 
 
 Inteeest OF Beitain and of THE "Woeld. By J. D. 
 Lang, D.D., A.M. London. 8vo., 334 pages. 
 
 The Westminster Review spoke of this work as follows : — 
 
 "With the preceding wort (his 'History of New South Wales') Dr. 
 Lang issued another, bearing the startling title of ' Freedom and Independence 
 for the Q-olden Lands of Australia,' in which he partitions Eastern AustraUa 
 into seven provinces (three of them being created and baptised by himself), 
 which are to constitute a Federal EepubUc ; and, as if this were already 
 settled, a map is prefixed, altered to suit the new state of things, and, with 
 its coloured divisions, presenting so much the respectable appearance of a 
 fait accompli, as somewhat to prepossess the reader in favour of the work. 
 O 
 
194 
 
 Nor will lie be disappointed with it j for, contrary to what might be expected, 
 it contains much calm, elaborate reasoning, supported by abundance of 
 historical and legal references ; but after all, the question is not, — Are the 
 Australian Colonies entitled to Independence ? but, — Are they prepared for it ?" 
 
 1853. — Wationai Education. Melbourne. 8to., 365 pages. 
 
 The author's name is G-. W. Eusden, an Inspector of Schools 
 under the Board of National Education in this Colony. 
 1858. — The Pboductions, Industet, and EESoracES or New 
 
 South Wales. By Charles St. Julian, and E. K. Silvester. 
 
 Sydney, 12mo. 
 
 The contents of this volume originally appeared in the Herald, 
 with which journal the authors were connected as reporters. 
 
 1854. — Stdnet Eetels op Bacchus, Cupid, and Momus ; 
 heing choice and humourous selections from Scenes at the Sydney 
 Police Office and other public places, during the last three 
 years. By C. A. Corbyn, Newspaper Eeporter. Dedicated, 
 by permission, to Gr. E. Nichols, Esq., M.L.C., by his 
 obliged and faithful servant, the Author. Sydney. 8vo., 
 136 pages. 
 
 1856. — The Austealian Musicai Album. Sydney. 4to. 
 
 A handsomely printed collection of music, composed in 
 Sydney, with a preface by Mr. Fowler. Musical publications, it 
 may he added, are extremely common in Sydney. 
 
 1857. — AusTEALiAN Essays ox Subjects Political, Moeal, 
 AND Eeligious. By James Norton, Esq., senior, of Elswick, 
 in the County of Cumberland New South Wales, Member 
 of the Legislative Council of New South Wales. London. 
 4to., 136 pages. 
 
 1857. — AUSTEALIA AS IT EBALLT IS, IN ITS LiPE, ScENIET, AND 
 Adtentuee : with the character, habits, and customs of its 
 Aboriginal Inhabitants, and the prospects andextent of its Gold 
 Melds. By E. Eldershaw. London. 8vo., 270 pages. 
 The author is a Clerk in the Legislative Assembly. 
 
195 
 
 1858. — Petee 'Possum's Poetpolio. Sydney. 8vo. 220 pages. 
 A collection, of various pieces ia prose and verse, contributed 
 to different periodicals. It contains some remarkably good 
 writing. The author, Mr. Eowe, was associated with Mr. Fowler 
 in carrying on the " Month," and in that magazine appeared 
 most of the articles republished in the " Portfolio." First comes 
 a short tale, called " Arthur Owen, an Autobiography," narrating 
 the experiences of a hunchback ; then some prose sketches of 
 Hfe and manners, graphically written, and very amusing ; and, 
 lastly, a series of verses, most of which are translations from 
 the Greek, Latin, and German. Mr. Eowe is evidently a fine 
 scholar, as well as a brilliant magazine writer. It is painful to 
 think that his career in this Colony was not so successful as it 
 ought to have been, and that his " Portfolio" was published for 
 the purpose, as stated in the preface, of relieving his necessities. 
 
 1860. — How I BECAME Attoenet Gteneeal op New Baeataeia. 
 An experiment at treating facts in the forms of fiction. 
 Originally published in The Southern Cross weekly journal. 
 Sydney. 8vo., 24 pages. 
 
 The authorship of this brilliant satire has been alluded to in 
 the article on the Southern Gross. 
 
 1861. — QtrEENSLAJS^D, ArsTEALiA ; a highly eligible field for 
 Emigration, and the future Cotton Field of Great ^Britain ; 
 with a Disquisition on the origin, manners, and customs of the 
 Aborigines. By J. D. Lang, D.D., A.M., &c., &c. London. 
 8vo., 445 pages. 
 
 This seems to be an enlarged edition of the author's previous 
 work on Cooksland. It is of much the same character, abounding 
 in practical information, particularly with reference to the capa- 
 bilities of Queensland for the growth of cotton. 
 
196 
 
 1863. — Lost, but not toe ever; my personal Narrative of 
 Starvation and Providence in the Australian Mountain 
 Regions. By the Eev. E. "W. Vanderkiste, Author of "The 
 Dens of London." London. 8vo., 357 pages. 
 
 [No date.] — Political Pobteaits of some of the Members of the 
 Parliament of New South Wales, including Cowper, Hay, 
 Eobertson, Martin, Forster, Wilson, Arnold, Piddington, 
 Dr. Lang, Hoskins, Dalley, Dalgleish. By David Buchanan, 
 Esq. (late M.P. for Morpeth). Price, Is. Sydney. Svo., 
 56 pages. 
 
 Published about the year 1863. 
 
 1864. — LECTrEEs deliteeed in Austealia. By John Woolley, 
 D.C.L. London. 8vo. 
 
 The subjects of these lectures are principally of an ethical 
 character — a branch of study to which the author was extremely 
 partial. The lectures were nearly aU delivered at Schools of Arts. 
 Dr. Woolley was the finest scholar we have ever seen in the 
 Colony, and many proofs both of taste and learning may be found 
 in this volume. 
 
 The Westminster Seview spoke of it as follows : — " Lectures 
 delivered in Australia is a title sufficient in itself to create interest, 
 and few can glance over the subjects discussed in this volume 
 without some impulse of curiosity to know how social questions 
 of the greatest importance present themselves at the antipodes 
 to an English Professor ; and such curiosity will give place to ad- 
 miration and thankfulness for the enlightened spirit and earnest- 
 ness of tone which pervade these pages. Three of the lectures 
 are inaugural addresses delivered at the opening of the University 
 of Sydney, in October, 1852, at the Sydney School of Arts in 
 1856, and an introductory discourse at the same in 1857. They 
 one and all bear the stamp of eloquence which springs from the 
 
197 
 
 union of a deep reverential love of the beautiful and the true with 
 the hearty living sympathy of practical philanthrophy, and seem 
 to express the vigour and exhilaration inspired by a fresh start 
 in a new sphere, which, how great soever may be its dangers and 
 difficulties, is unfettered by some of the intellectual bonds which 
 press most heavily upon ourselves." 
 
 1864.- — A Teeatise on the Cultitatiost of Flax and Hemp. 
 By Erancis Campbell, M.D. Third edition. Sydney. 8vo., 
 80 pages. 
 
 1864. — Scab in Sheep, and its Cuee. By Alexander Bruce. 
 Sydney. 8vo. 
 
 1865. — Undee the Hollt. — A Cantata. Words by E. P. Whit- 
 worth ; Music by J. C. Pisher. Sydney. 
 
 1866. — A Handbook of plain and peactical Dieections foe 
 SrGAB-CAj>fE planting, Stjgae-making, and the Distil- 
 lation OF RrM. By P. A. Bell. Sydney. 
 
 1866. — Eijeal Aechitectuee. By Harold Brees. Sydney. 
 
 A large number of Pamphlets, Book Almanacs, Directories, 
 and similar publications, may be found in our public libraries. 
 It is not thought necessary to mention any, except a few 
 Pamphlets rendered important by the subjects of which they 
 treat. 
 
 Sydney : Thomas Richards, Government Printer. — lsii6. 
 
I 
 
 [i m^WJ^S^iM^W J' ^B^^^^^ ^^i^W^W^l