Some two or three paragraphs above we made use of these expressions. "The history of the march of Gates' army, his fool-hardiness, &c. are as well told as any details of a like nature can be told in language exceedingly confused, ill-arranged, and ungrammatical." Mr. Simms' English is bad--shockingly bad. This is no mere assertion on our parts--we proceed to prove it. "Guilt," says our author, (see page 98, vol. i.) "must always _despair its charm_ in the presence of the true avenger"--what is the meaning of this sentence?--after much reflection we are unable to determine. At page 115, vol. i, we have these words. "He was under the guidance of an elderly, drinking sort of person--one of the fat, beefy class, whose worship of the belly-god has given an unhappy distension to that ambitious, though most erring member." By the 'most erring member' Mr. S. means to say _the belly_--but the sentence implies the _belly-god_. Again, at page 126, vol. i. "It was for the purpose of imparting to Col. Walton the contents of that not yet notorious proclamation of Sir Henry Clinton, with which he demanded the performance of military duty from the persons who had been paroled; and by means of which, on departing from the province, he planted the seeds of that _revolting_ patriotism which {120} finally overthrew his authority." It is unnecessary to comment on the unauthorized use here, of the word 'revolting.' In the very next sentence we see the following. "Colonel Walton received his guests with his accustomed urbanity: _he received them alone_." This language implies that Colonel Walton received those particular guests and no others, and should be read with an emphasis on the word '_them_'--but Mr. Simms' meaning is very different. He wishes to say that Col. Walton was alone when his guests were ushered into his presence. At page 136, vol. i, the hero, Singleton, concludes a soliloquy with the ungrammatical phrase, "And yet none love her like me!" At page 143, vol. i, we read--"'That need not surprise you, Miss Walton; you remember that ours are British soldiers'--smiling, and with a bow was the response of the Colonel." We have no great difficulty herein _guessing_ what Mr. Simms wishes to say--his actual words convey no meaning whatever. The present participle 'smiling' has no substantive to keep it company; and the 'bow,' as far as regards its syntactical disposition, may be referred with equal plausibility to the Colonel, to Miss Walton, to the British soldiers, or to the author of "The Partisan." At page 147, vol. i, we are told--"She breathed more freely released from his embrace, and he then gazed upon her with a _painful sort of pleasure_, her look was so clear, so dazzling, so spiritual, so _unnaturally life-like_." The attempt at paradox has here led Mr. Simms into error. The _painful sort of pleasure_ we may suffer to pass; but _life_ is the most natural thing in the world, and to call