BOOKS.

THE ABBE DOMENECH9S TEXAS AND MEXICO.* Ix 1845, the author of these missionary adventures was an eccle- siastical student at Lyons, when in evil hour for his physical health, which has quite broken down under six years' labour, the Vicar Apostolic of Texas came to beat up for recruits, "to minis- ter to the spiritual wants of the rapidly increasing colonies of Europeans which were then settling down in his diocese." The Vicar did not disguise the hardships and dangers that would have to be encountered; but youthful enthusiasm induced our author to volunteer for the service, and in 1846 he embarked for New Orleans. He was thence sent up the Mississippi to St. Louis, the great western entrep6t, where the Romanists would seem to have a missionary college. Here Domenech remained two years, with- out learning ranch of immediate use, for when he left for Texas he had little idea of the life he was going to lead, and knew only a few words of English, and nothing of German or Spanish ; though all three languages were necessary to a priest who was to confess, absolve, and preach to the faithful of those nations, much more to bring heretics into the fold. On his arrival in Texas he was sent to assist an Abbe Dubois at a German settlement called Castroville, some thirty miles from San Antonio de Bexar, a town in about 29 degrees of north latitude and 981, of west longitude. The flock was for the most part very poor and exceedingly close- fisted. Till the eloquence and other good qualities of the two priests had kindled a living lire in their hearts, the people had small regard for spiritual ministrations, more especially if they had to pay for them. The youthful priest had a taste of their

quality in the very first office he performed.

" A few days after my arrival in Castroville I baptized an infant. The ceremony over, the father inquired how much he was in my debt. As soon as I understood him, I informed him, in the best way I could, that we had nothing fixed in these matters, and that I should receive with gratitude whatever he might offer. Upon which he made me a very polite bow."

With no stipend whatever, and such a flock, the spiritual la- bourers fared but badly in the way of living. In fact a large portion of the residence at Castroville is taken up with carnal troubles. One of the first sights that greeted Domenech's eyes was the grave of his predecessor, the Abbe Chazelle, who though struck down by sickness, really died of -" languor, nostalgia, and want." Their dwelling was about upon a par with an Irish hovel, though somewhat more roomy. That kind of residenee, however, was the custom of the country, and might have been borne had there been a sufficiency of " creature comforts." But the reverse was the case. Fasting went on perforce ; it was lent all the year round. Some of Domenech's statements really seem apocryphal, as to privations. These dishes a la Chinoise, are surely in part due to French vivacity and love of startling effects.

"Accordingly, I summoned to my aid all my culinary skill to dress the serpent, and in a very short time it appeared on the table, stripped of its skin, deprived of head and tail, cut into small pieces, grilled and well spiced with cayenne pepper; the new dish seemed palatable enough; it tasted somewhat of frogs and tortoise, but our natural repugnance to it was insurmountable,—the idea of eating a serpent shocked our stomachs,

otherwise we might have bid defiance to hunger. * * * * " To enjoy the luxury of a little fresh meat from time to time, we fattened cats, which I subsequently metamorphosed into most delicious fricasees. The chase too, one way or other, contributed to the maintenance of our table. Whenever there were any pieces of small money in our round snuff-box, which was our iron-safe, and which in that rapacity received all presents of our parishioners,—on the occasion of baptisms, which were rare, and of marriages, which were rarer still,—I laid out a portion of it in the purchase of powder and shot, to be employed in shooting woodquests and squirrels. Not that I loved the sport ; for, to fatigue myself to death during the entire length of a day, besides tearing my skin and clothes in killing one or two very harmless animals, was never to me a source of pleasure. But necessity consulteth not our tastes."

Reposeful hunger, however, was not the only trouble of the mis- sionary. At Castroville, and subsequently on the borders of Mexico, he was frequently on the move either in renvlar visita- tion, or specially sent for. The calls were generally adminis- ter extreme unction,—few people as we have seen troubling them- selves about baptism, still fewer about the sacrament of marriage. On these occasions there was a good deal of danger from white or red men—" baptized or infidel," owing to the unsettled condition of the country and the lawless state of Texan and Mexican minds. There might be some risk from wild beasts, snakes, and alligators. Long rides to a hungry man, to whom fasting by the by was a necessity, when he shortly had to perform the sacri- fice of the mass, are not agreeable, through woods that destroy your clothes, and over ground where there is no road, especially when the rain is pouring in torrents. Still we think the Abbe makes the most of his sufferings in this way. The truth is, he was not by nature adapted for the missionary life. Born and bred'in Lyons, he has the urban Frenchman's love for the agremens of a town and aversion to the country, which his subsequent so- ourn in the missionary college at St. Louis did not remove. Things which any Englishman travelling in a newly-settled dia.- triet would take as they came, are noteworthy matters to our French Abbe, and the common hardships of camping out figure as a sort of martyrdom. He seldom made a journey without en- countering a hon in the path ; nor did he ever reach the philo- sonby which rejoices in the " softest plank." Even the balmy

night of the tropics had no charms for him sub dio ; he had rather have been snug between the sheets.

.2 Missionary Adventures in Texas and Mexico. A Personal Narrative of Six Years' Sojourn in those Regions. Translated from the French under the Author's lunetinteadeece. Published by Longman and Co. " We bivouacked in a chapral of the Leona ; the horses were unsaddled and tied to mesquites; around which there was rich pasturage, and their saddles served us as pillows. Having selected a spot at sonic distance from the trees where we should be less exposed to the attack. of tarantulas and scorpions, enveloped in blankets, we stretched ourselves on the grass. "It was a lovely night; and the beauteous tropical sky shed around us from its millions of stars a pale sweet light, while not a cloud appeared on the dark pure blue of that immense gold-spangled dome. A gentle breeze, bearing with it a cooling freshness, played through the foliage of the trees, and lulled us to repose by its whisperings. I had rend, in a modern poet, that it was a pleasant thing to sleep in the bosom of a tropical night in a warm, perfumed atmosphere, with the green sward for one a bed, and the starry firmament for its canopy, plunged in the inebriating influence of glorious nature, and the enervating enchantment of dreams. It cannot be denied that the air was mild, the night lovely, the heavens covered with myriads of twinkling stars ; but it must be confessed that the green award was frightfully hard. Small flint pebbles abounded, and the grass which covered them was not thick enough to prevent us from feeling their points. In whatever position I settled myself, it was equally painful. Much against my will I lay quite awake, and nowise disposed to dream; yet the insects were even more awake than I was, and me they selected as the theatre of their nocturnal gambollings. On all sides they discovered pas- sages through which they made their way under my garments, and rejoiced at having succeeded in effecting their purpose, they stung me horribly ; they came and they went, and they halted to sting me again. Larger animals prowled around us, and all night our ears were entertained with the barking of coyotes (foxes) and the caterwaulings of panthers and tiger- eats. I was aware that these animals never attack nun unless driven to it by hunger, and, generally speaking, they are shy and timid ; nevertheless they arc extremely capricious. Notwithstanding this apparent timidity; the sound of their voice was anything but agreeable music to me. It was in vaM that I recalled to mind the proofs and examples of the harmlessness of their nature; these proofs, convincing as they were, did not quite tran- quillize me, nor did they prevent my heart from beating much more quickly than usual. In short, that nothing might be wanting, the night dews chilled me, and as we had not lighted a tire, for fear of the Indians, the damp penetrated me, and I was seized with incessant shivering. Now, all this was prosaic with a vengeance ; and I fancied that the poet who had given us such a lively picture of the sweetness of such a night, must have thought upon it sitting in his comfortable arm-chair, or sleeping in his snug bed. Notwithstanding all these discomforts, however, Charles slept ; nay, he slept soundly."

Perhaps some poetical minds which dwell with rapture on the beauties of nature, might really agree with the Abbe Doraeneok in his preference for a bed or an arm-chair, if it were fashionable to say so. This matter-of-fact tendency gives one of its peculiarities to the adventures, and has the advantage of presenting some things under a fresh if a prosaic point of view. A few passages will give an idea of this kind of remark which tends to dissipate the romantic.

American Scetimw.—"My first impression has been but little modified by my travels in the north and east. Nature in America presents nothing new to the eye of the European traveller, even in' the. vegetable world. Nowhere in the western hemisphere is she so picturesque as in Switzerland and the Pyrenees, so gay and charming as in Tuscany, the Romagna, and the Two Sicilies, or so rich and varied as in Lombardy. and France : her peculiar characteristic is vastness ; her rivers, forests, and Woods are stupendous in their proportions, and above all in superficial extent."

The Prairie on Fire.—"I have frequently seen a prairie on fire, a sight which novelists represent as grand and terrible. For my own part, I was disappointed in, the reality. Every year the farmers set fire to the dry grass to destroy insects, and prepare the land for a new crop. Fire and smoke travel so quickly as completely to remove from the scene everything of an imposing character. At night that long and brilliant line of fire which rushes on so rapidly, is curious to behold, but it never rises more than a few feet from the earth, Reptiles easily escape by hiding themselvet ^• in holes. Animals have been described as terrified by these conflagrations, and as escaping in the wildest manner, and howling with dismay. This is at least an exaggeration. I have seen deer browsing tranquilly within 'a few yards of the fire, and then bounding over it when it approached them too. closely. Herds of oxen and horses retire before it with great composure, and like the deer, leap over it, when necessary."

American Traits.—" The Americans, in order to have strangers bow to their good pleasure, do not hesitate to have recourse to violence. But they yield with as much readiness the moment that their menaces, impotent to frighten, are met with energy of language and attitude. * * • " They discuss questions of which they are totally ignorant, but in such a way as never to appear beaten, jumping from one question to another when- ever they are hard pressed, and abandoning their half-finished arguments as soon as they find it troublesome to maintain them. An American wished to convince me that the Bible had been fabricated by priests at the fall of the Roman empire. This gentlemen was not a formidable antagonist, but he was very serious. It is useless to think of convincing them by logic ; no matter what amount of it you bring to bear upon them, the only thing you can obtain from them is an avowal that, 'This man plies his trade very ably.' " Liberty iu America.—" I affirm, with those writers who have studied im- partially the history of that country, from the date of its independence to our own days, that, dating from the presidency of General Jackson, liberty has not reigned in the United States but in a very limited and relative way. The republic, as founded by Washington, can only be recognized in its outward forms. It is not a democracy that rules—it is demagogy. The opinion and will of the masses, ignorant, vicious, intolerant, passionate as they are, sway by pressure, violence, corruption, and lawlessness. It is

the blind masses that are everywhere masters at death,* and their vote,

ever guided by a name or an idea, is never bestowed on probity and intelligence in matters of government. Hence, from the country magistrate to the President of the Union, every place is the prize of a vote. Vice reigns uncontrolled ; you would say it was protected, especially in the new States; but there is very little personal security for the peaceful man, for the virtuous and the independent, in his political and religious opinions. Americans must have a clear stage for themselvee, but to others they would not extend the smallest latitude. What American Would dare to any to his countrymen, ' You are in creed the most superstitious people on earth

in polities the most inconsistent, if not intolerant; ,in opinion the roost des- potic; in science, arts, and civilization, the most behind ; in morals the

most corrupt ; in liberty the slave of a popular despotism ; towards your black and coloured slaves, the most pitiless and barbarous' ? No citizen would now dare to use this language, though many believe it."

It is this trait of the author's mind and the peculiarity of his position as a Romanist missionary, which stamps character en the book. Any one wishing to obtain a geographical, social, or economical view of Texas, may get more really life-like ac- counts, and we think more trustworthy information, from other authors, especially from Mr. Olmsted's Journey Through Texas.f Booth to say the matter-of-fact character alluded to is strictly an absence of sentiment and a love for the little indnlgencies of life. The narrative we suspect must often be received with some quali- fication, the author appearing to possess his nation's love for am- plification if not invention. According to his own statement he knew no English when he first arrived in Texas, yet we have this little dialogue, characteristic of the Americans, on board the steamer in which he left Galveston.

" What magnificent trees !' cried I, in transport. Yes,' replied one of my companions ; yes, they would make fine wood for building purposes, I reckon.' Indignant at this prosaic reply, I turned round, Monsieur is no doubt an American ?' said I, interrogatively, to my interlocutor. Yes, sir, I am from Kentucky.' "

At a much later period he describes a race between two New York steamers which ended in a jam, when one of the passengers, to put an end to the difficulty, coolly shot the helmsman of the rival boat. The story is not very credible if it were told of the Mississippi, but is all but impossible on the Hudson. And other strange things might be quoted.

The translation reads easily, but there are some instances of oversight or negligence. Presbytere (the minister's house) is translated presbytery, which in English is quite another thing. Domenech apparently calls the embouchure of the Hudson, Hud- son's Bay, which in English is quite another place. In translat- ing the longitude of San Antonio the meridian of Greenwich should have been substituted for that of Paris, or the retention of the latter mentioned.

+ Spectator for 1857, page 159.