SAM SLICK'S WISE SAWS AND MODERN INSTANCES, THE poorest of

all repetitions, says Sir Joshua Reynolds, is the repetition of a man's self ; and few have exhibited this kind of po-

verty more than Mr. Halliburton. The reputation which the ear- lier productions of Sam Slick obtained, originated partly in the shrewdness of their remarks, and their pictures of homely Colonial life and character. The great source of their popularity was un- doubtedly the quaint broad caricature of the Yankee Clockmaker himself, the appropriateness of Slick to the scenes and circum- stances in which he was placed, and the telling manner in which the ideas were presented. When, leaving Nova Scotia and the provincial smallness of a sluggish colony, the writer passed into the United States, the gloss of novelty was off, but the treatment was still appropriate. When Mr. Halliburton came to Eu- rope and occupied himself with Imperial politics, characters, and manners, the incongruity became obvious, and the repetition de- generated into a mannerism of the worst kind—not only a dis- agreeable reiteration of mode, but a reiteration unadapted to the subject treated of. The paucity of the matter, very often the com- monplace character of the conclusion announced with all the pomp of distinctive type, and the vulgar self-sufficiency and obtrusive- ness of the author, induced a failure, that would have announced itself in the most tangible of ways but for previous reputation, and a certain knack that set on barren spectators to laugh, sprinkled undoubtedly with better things. The present volumes exhibit a further decline of attraction, from handling topics of even less interest than those of the writer's later works, from pushing even those topics to an extreme, and from the evidently made-up character of the whole. The old Joe Miller of a man winning a wager by thrusting a pin into a cork leg up to the head, is dressed out to exhibit Mr. Slick's triumph over a British diplomatist when he, Slick, was attached to the Em- bassy in London. Chesterfield's remark, that both men and women are more easily flattered when they are doubtful of possessing a quality than when they are certain, is paraded as exhibiting Mr. Slick's " wonderful knowledge of human natur." Another Joe Miller, of the man who answered the loquacious barber's query of how he wished to be shaved with " In silence if possible," is as- cribed to a Puritan divine of New England. Featherstonehaugh's story of the dry ferryman in one of the American States where titles were very rife, who refused his fare from a man who dis- claimed any title, is elaborated in the mouth of the American Am- bassador in London as something remarkable : and so the book is eked out, by old jokes, poor jokes, commonplaces, or generic re- petitions, presented in the well-known mannerism of Sam Slick. The book begins with some tete-i-ttte confabulation between Mr. Slick and the President, ending in an offer of a roving com- mission for Slick to go and pick up information and make his ob- servations about the fisheries and the fishery question. This, of course, furnishes an opportunity for some remarks on the value of the fisheries if the Blue-noses would attend to them, and some talk about polities and colonies; the author's idea being that the

• Sam Slick's Wise Saws and Modern Instances ; or What lie Said, Did, or In- vented. In two volume'. Published by Hurst and Blackett.

colonists should be represented in Parliament and have their share of attention and promotion. The larger part of the matter, how- ever, has little to do with the subject of Sam Slick's official em- ployment, but consists of exhibitions of Colonial and Yankee life and character, with some tedious chapters on courting.

Mannerism and emptiness are the characteristics of the book ; but there are stories, and passages or bits, in the Clockmaker's old manner. Here is an example from the talk with the President. " English folks, President, aint like own; they rather like to see you not forget what you be, or what you have been. Peel used to mind them now and then in his speeches of the spinnin'-jenney, and it always took well. I consait myself it was a little bit of brag, but it answered his purpose any

• way, and was popular.'

" am a clockmaker,' sale I, 'my lord, and I ought to Imow the valey of time. If I hadn't the right beat myself it would soon be all day with me. The half-hours that's lost a whitlin', a smokin', and a bffin' about with your chair tilted back on its hind-legs, and your feet over the back of another, lookin' out of the winder at nothin', and a twirlin' your thumbs while your awaitin' for breakfast or dinner, or what not, would lam a man a language or a trade. But what in natur's the use of my talkie' this way to you? You mind an appointment, because it aint perlite to keep folks await- in' ; but what is time to you? You was born with a silver spoon in one hand and a silver fork in the other, and can jist spend your time as you like. You must excuse me a talkin' such nonsense, but the fact is, I have acquired a habit, as I travelled thro' Nova Scotia, of tryin' to preach a little go-ahead into those everlastin' sleepy Blue-noses, that I forget sometimes, and treat other folks, that don't want 'em, to some of my old saws.'

" Wise saws call them, Mr. Slick,' said he ; 'I like to hear them ama- zinly : I like plain, practical truths, uttered in a plain familiar way ; they appeal to men's common sense.'

" And he went on and praised my books in a way that aint no matter ; I kinder felt it was a little overdone, and for a man of my consait to think so, is satin' a good deal. So I won't put it down, or folks might think I was

makin' out my own appraisement. well,' sale' I to myself, 'there's all sorts of ways of soft sawderin', too, amt there ? He is a politician, and if he don't know how to lay it on, it's a pity. He intends his whitewash shall stick, too, for he has mixed a!little refined sugar and glue with it.' "'But you are mistaken,' sale he, about my having my time at my com- mand. High stations have high duties. Huth is required of them to whom much is given. Lordly castles are besieged or betrayed, while the wooden latch of poverty secures the lowly cottage. The sleepless, anxious pillow is stuffed with down, while the straw pallet is blessed with sound sleep. My hours of toil are more, and my labours harder, than those of my hinds. It is the price we pay for wealth, and the tax levied on rank.' " 'Slick,' says the President, 'theme noble sentiments ; I approbate and concur them wi.h all my heart. Was they all bunkum, or genuine, do you suppose ? '

" 'The real genuine article,' sais I: if they hadn't a been, I wouldn't a taken the trouble to listen to him.'

" Well,' sais he, 'they are elevated sentiments them ; but they are just also. I feel myself Providence has reposed in me a high and responsible trust, in guidin', governin', advancin', restrainin', and happyfyin' this great nation.'

" Pooh ! sais I to myself, don't be silly, for he was agoin' to make me blush for him, and a blush is a thing that hasn't improved my looks for years."

The following is on a topic which always raises the bile of Slick —religious pretence.

" .But, Captor,' sais I, 'our skipper is actilly mad, and no mistake.' " What's his name?' said he.

" Jabish Green.'

" What! Jabish Green, of Squantum ? ' said he, a jumpin' up on eend. " ' The same,' sais I.

" 'Mad !' said he. 'To be sure he is, as mad as a March hare. That's poor old Jim M'Gory, as they call him ; as good a critter, and as good a sea- man, as ever trod shoe-leather. Oh, I guess he is mad. It's all day with him, poor feller ! and has been ever since that everlastin' scoundrel, Jim M'Gory, came out of the South, and got up protracted meeting in our parts, so as to keep the hat passin' round all the time. Gracious knows he was bad enough that feller, but he made himself out a hundred times wus than he was. He lied as fast as a horse could trot. He said he had been a Viz- burg gambler, a horse-stealer, a nigger-kidnapper, a wrecker, a pirate, and' I don't know what he didn't own to. The greater the sinner, the greater the saint, you know. Well, he said be was converted in the middle of the night, by an evangelical call, "Jim M'Gory, come to glory !" Oh, the crowds of foolish women and men that followed arter that man would as- tonish you. It appears to me, the more onlikely things are, the more folks believe them. Poor Jabish attended a protracted meetin' of that critter's down to Squantum, that lasted three days and three nights; and the fol- lowing night, he was so excited he didn't sleep a wink, and they couldn't get no sense out of him; he couldn't say anything, but that are profane rhyme over and over; and they had to send him to the asylum.' "

These stories illustrate pointedly enough the narrow and in- veterate ideas which are induced by long habits of official life.

"When I was to Gibraltar, there was an old Commissary-General who was on his last legs, for the King's stores never serve out new ones, and he had to set about his last accounts,—pretty hard accounts too to pass sometimes, showin' a balance generally agin a man in the long run, notwithstandin' all the credits he can set down. Well, you can't put them old coons out of their way, do what you will. Things must be done jist so, havejist so many black lines, and red lines, and columns, and headings, and totals, and coun- tersigns. Well, this old man, hen he was all done, sent for the Governor to see him, and take leave of fiim.

" Governor,' said he, am a very fortunate man.' "'How so ? ' said the General. am del. hted to hear it. How so?' have had a Bishop with me in my last illness. It's a great comfort to treat with heads of departments, aint it ?'

'You are sure all's right, then ?' " 'No—mis—mis—take—in—the--vou—vou—vonchers ': and he opened his eyes and mouth wide, and kicked the bucket right off.

" I heard the Governor tell that story himself one day, when he lunched on board of old Ironsides, as we call the Constitution frigate. He enjoyed it very much, and said he knew another just exactly like it. The chaplain called on one of these issuer-generals of good things, who was travellin the last road rather faster than he knowed of himself, and advised him to pre- pare for a gineral give-out of the machinery. He said he hoped he would excuse hini, but he really felt it to be his duty to talk seriously to him. " Well, sir,' said he, I will excuse you upon this one occasion, as I have no doubt you mean well and are unacquainted with official etiquette, altho' your ignorance greatly surprises me. You can hold yourself in readiness, sir, when required. In the mean time, you must know my medi- cal man has not reported to me that I am in danger : when he does, sir, it

will be time enough to hear what you have to say. Good mornin', sir, I won't detain you?"