ever, multiply our list of Twickenham worthies to a great extent, by means of the parish register and the numerous monuments in the church and the churchyard, but we could not point out their residences, which it was one of our objects to do. We will give an inscription on one monument, because of its pleasing literary associations.
To the memory of Mary Beach, who died November the 5th, 1725, aged 78,—Alexander Pope, whom she nursed in his infancy, and constantly attended for thirty-eight years, in gratitude to a faithful old servant, erected this stone.
Edward Jesse.
TARTARS AND TAEPINGS.
A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THE RECENT EXPEDITION UP THE YANGTZE KIANG.
The recent expedition up the great river of China, undertaken for mercantile as well as for political objects, promises to be fruitful of great results. We have received from an officer of that expedition the following narrative, which contains information that we think will be new as well as interesting to our readers. On the controversy now going on in this country, respecting the character and conduct of the insurgents, this record will be found to give information all the more trustworthy, as the author writes only of what he saw, and has evidently no foregone conclusion to support. It is only necessary to add, in order to understand some of the allusions, that the writer was also with Lord Elgin’s expedition up the river two years ago.
“We left Woosung the 12th of February—we, on board the Cowper, going on first as pilot, followed by the Coromandel (with the admiral on board, and bearing his flag), the Centaur, the Atalanta, and the Waterman, and the gun-boats—the Bouncer, Havoc, and Banterer—following behind. The river at this the starting point was about the most dangerous part of the whole trip, being about ten miles broad, and the banks so low that there are no marks to steer by. The breadth of the river makes the stream very shallow—strewed with sand-banks and shoals—which we found out to our cost, for we had not gone on many hours before the Centaur, our largest ship, got fast aground; and after spending the rest of that day, and all the next in vain attempts to get her off, we left her till she should float at the next spring-tides, while we proceeded on to Nankin. So, on the morning of the 15th, we made a fresh start; but, one after another of the vessels got aground (coming off again easily however), so that our progress was slow indeed; and the very next day we, though the pilot-boat, got completely jammed on a bank, and, to make matters worse, it was at the height of the flood, and there we stuck for eight days, as we also had to wait for the spring-tides. The admiral, in the mean time, proceeded to Nankin to make arrangements for the Centaur stopping there, while we in the Cowper enjoyed ourselves as we best could, going on shore, shooting, walking, and boating. The country was a dead flat, and fearfully muddy; but thickly studded with villages and comfortable-looking farm-houses, built entirely of mud from the river. The soil was highly cultivated—not a spot of waste to be seen—and the people seemed happy and contented. They had their troubles, however, for the rebels were, or had been, expected, and a very small attempt at defence was made in the shape of a line of fortification along the bank of the river, which looked very well at a distance, but, on examination, would not stand a kick, being nothing more than turf loosely piled up. The mouths of several creeks were staked so that junks could neither go up nor down; and here and there we found a small military fort consisting usually of twenty men, but wretchedly armed and apparently fit for nothing else than to run away. The people were very civil, and stood and looked at us without fear.
“On the 23rd, the Coromandel joined us with the rest of the fleet; the Centaur having also got off, and accompanied by the Snake, which left Woosung after us, and by good-luck or good management we got off the next day (the 24th). The admiral had been to Nankin, and made all necessary arrangements for the passage of the squadron, and the stopping there of the Centaur. Captain Ward of the Actæon (who accompanied the expedition), had been some distance up the grand canal, which he describes as in a most ruinous condition, and likely it is to remain so; for the one end of it is close to Nankin, the stronghold of the rebels, while the other rests in the capital of the emperor, so that this grand undertaking, going direct from Pekin to Nankin, or rather to the Yangtze, which river runs for more than a thousand miles into the very heart of the country, is rendered through these troubles completely useless, and falling gradually into decay,—a fit emblem of Chinese government.
“On the 24th, as I said, which was a Sunday, we got off, after which we lay quietly at our anchors, for Admiral Hope permits nothing to be done on that day which can be left alone; and the mercantile gentlemen of the party had the mortification of seeing an American merchant steamer—the Yangtze—pass us on her voyage up the river. She belongs to the great house of Dent & Co., who, I suppose, sent her up to get all the news in anticipation of our return, and, at the same time, do a stroke of trade in opium; but as she did not stop or communicate with us in any way, we could only guess at her objects. The next day we spent adjusting the general stock of coals, preparatory to sending the Wanderer back to Shanghai, as she was found to be only a drag on the rest of the squadron, on account of her slow speed. Next morning we made a fresh start, proceeding through a flat alluvial country, every foot of which is cultivated. The second day the appearance of the land rather improved, the country was more hilly and the river narrower, so that we could plainly see the peasantry at their daily labours. In the afternoon we passed Silver Island—a striking object, being a precipitous rock in the middle of the stream, covered to the summit with trees. It did not, however, present the same beautiful appearance as when I saw it two years ago, as the trees were now bare of their leaves. The country here is quite hilly, full of large villages, and no end of fortifications. Just above the island is