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by the king; the revival of an ancient branch of the prerogative, which enables the Sovereign to create boroughs at pleasure; and, finally, the voluntary surrender of their charters by the several close corporations. Of these, men will of course judge according to their various opinions and temperaments; but of the two latter expedients, one appears at least an unnecessary exercise of a power which has long been properly suffered to fall into disuse, and the other a measure which can only be partially relied upon. Such are the outlines of an essay, in which a rhetoric at times a little too prone to exhibit its "dazzling fence," but upon the whole lucid and convincing, is united with an ardent zeal for the interests of justice, and a strict regard to truth. Every position is proved by the highest legal opinions, and Coke, Prynne, and Selden, enlisted as advocates, bear witness to the accuracy of the writer's statements.

His treatise is undoubtedly well written, but this is not its chief merit. Elegant diction and subtle pleading are equally the characteristics of his opponents; but the facts and authorities he brings forward are unanswerable; and these in the present, as well as in every case where mere oratory is brought into competition with truth, resemble the spear of Britomartis in the legend, against which the strongest arm and most elaborate panoply proved of necessity equally futile and unavailing.

with the original of Aristophanes than of the Pentateuch. Under these circumstances we are happy to welcome any endeavour to facilitate the acquisition of the Oriental languages and dialects connected with the sacred writings. The present work seems well adapted to the purpose, and contains, in addition to an interesting miscellaneous collection of facts relative to the Scriptures and the Talmudic Commentaries, the Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic articles, nonns, adjectives, and pronouns, together with the Samaritan alphabet. It is not the author's intention to supersede the study of the grammars commonly in use. His design is merely to show, by means of his new arrangement, the points of affinity between the languages above mentioned, in order to render their attainment more easy and expeditious. In this undertaking, as it appears to us, he has fully succeeded, and we wish him the success his learning and abilities warrant him to expect. His work may be considered a necessary adjunct to the library of every Orientalist.

An Introductory Lecture to the Study of the Civil Law. Intended to have been read at the London University. By Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Barrister-at-Law.

Judging from the lecture before us, we have little hesitation in stating, that both the London University and the public in general have great

The Geographical Annual; or Family reason to regret the circumstances, which prevent

Cabinet Atlas.

come.

Of all the annuals, this is unquestionably the most useful, perhaps the most agreeable, and, in many cases, it will doubtless prove the most welA well-written preface states that it is to be republished from year to year, "for the purpose of including the latest discoveries and the changes that are continually taking place in various quarters of the globe." We have so frequently noticed the numbers of the "Family Cabinet Atlas," as they appeared, that we trust our readers are already acquainted with the nature of its claims upon their attention. It is, therefore, unnecessary for us to say more than that in its present complete and attractive form, it is one of the most delightful and valuable books that can be given or received, at a season of the year when to make a present becomes a sort of duty.

The Gate to the Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac Unlocked by a new and easy Method of acquiring the Accidence.

Although, at first sight, it might appear superAnous to urge upon the notice of the Christian scholar the expediency, and indeed the absolute necessity of attaining an accurate knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, yet all who are acquainted with the real state of theological learning in this country, will allow that no argument can be considered too strong, nor any inducement superogatory to canse this acknowledged truth to be practically acknowledged. Of profane learning we have enough and to spare, but it can scarcely be reckoned to the credit of a Church, which has gained so high a reputation for erudition as our own, that many of its members distinguished for talent and attainments are much more conversant Jan.-VOL. XXXVI. NO. CXXXIII.

ed the author froin occupying the Professor's chair, his zeal and talents would so well have qualified him to fill. How much such a Professorship is required, need not now be stated, nor in what profound ignorance of one of the most elegant branches of literature, by far the greater proportion of even the lettered part of the community are contented to remain. Indeed, but for its use within the precincts of Trinity Hall, or Doctors' Commons, we believe the whole Roman Code might as well be still slumbering quietly at Amalfi. The consequence is, that throughout Europe an English jurist is almost considered as a production yet within the womb of nature, and that our magistrates at home, men, who from the nature of their office, and the leisure they gene rally enjoy, might be supposed eminently skilin in jurisprudence, are universally acknowledged to be as ignorant of every point connected with the subject, beyond the mere common and practical parts of the criminal law, as an equal number of individuals selected from any class in the kingdom. It is much to be regreted that the principal features of the Pandects are not presented to notice in an abridged and popular form, with the necessary annotations. Such a work would prove a general benefit, and if Mr. Hogg himself, with his ardour for the advancement of his favourite study, should find leisure to undertake it, we might confidently predict, that the great work of Justinian would no longer remain an authority, much more frequently quoted than perused. With many of the propositions in his pamphlet we readily agree, and would especially speak in terms of commendation of the gentlemanlike spirit, in which the introductory letter to the Lord Chancellor is written, and the total absence of acrimony, in speaking of a body by whom he certainly cannot be considered to have

D

been well treated. We cordially recommend this eloquent lecture to the notice of students and the enlightened public in general.

The Catechism of Health, to which are added Facts respecting the Cholera. By A. B. Granville, M.D.

It

As a treatise, in which a great deal of necessary admonition is presented to the unprofessional reader, undisguised by the parade of technicalities, we can safely recommend the Catechism of Health to the notice of every family. The most useful rules with respect to diet, clothing, exercise, &c. are clearly communicated, and the author stops exactly where a writer upon this subject should lay down his pen, giving his attention solely to the preservation of bealth, where enjoyed, and leaving the whole science of therapeutics to those who are best qualified by long study and practice for the application of its precepts. The present volume is, therefore, wholly free from the objection usually urged against books of Domestic Medicine, which, in nine cases out of ten, are productive of infinitely more harm than good. appears to us rather singular that the catechetical style should have been preferred in a work of this nature, but where so much valuable advice is bestowed, we should not be too fastidious as to the medium through which it is presented. The remarks upon Cholera are distinguished by the same plain sense which characterises the other part of the work. The diagnosis and proper treatment of this formidable epidemic in its first stages are concisely laid down, as well as the most efficacious precautions against its attacks; and we must say that the remedies Dr. Granville proposes appear much more consistent with common sense, than the thousand heterogeneous specifics usually prescribed. Cajeput oil, pure stimulants, the oils of peppermint and cloves, portable vapour baths, &c. he utterly discards, and places his chief reliance upon alkaline stimulants administered internally, laudanum, hot brandy and water, and the application of boiled bran to the chest and belly of the patient. In addition to these, he recommends the use of a lotion, which he asserts will have the infallible effect of raising a blister on the skin in a few minutes, and prove a powerful counter irritative. This method of treatment, it must be confessed, is simple enough, and much more easily carried into effect than the numerous remedies of the Board of Health, which are enough to perplex any ordinary brain by their variety. We consider that the author of this able and perspicuous volume has a strong claim upon public gratitude, and, in concluding our notice, we may observe that we cannot express a wish for the health of our readers more effectually, than by recommending his directions to be carefully perused, and widely circulated. We may add, that, as the contagions nature of Cholera is ably disproved in the work, it will have a great tendency to alleviate the general panic, a consequence almost as desirable as an effectual cure for the disease itself.

Bassola per lo Studio Pratico della Lingua Italiana, per ordine di difficoltà, da F. C. Albites.

The principal contents of this valuable Introduction to Italian Literature are a Table of Idio

matic phrases with the corresponding forms in French, several useful Dialogues, an interesting Memoir of the Author's Father, and a selection of letters, partly original, and partly from the correspondence of Algarotti, Metastasio, Ganganelli, &c. As an accompaniment to the grammars most in use, we think it likely to prove of essential service in schools as well as to private students. The writer has turned his principal attention to the illustration of the colloquial and epistolary peculiarities of the tongue, which must be acknowledged the most difficult of acquisition, and of the most practical utility when attained. Signor Albites will be found an intelligent guide and preceptor. His lessons are calculated to remove the usual obstacles gradually and effectually, and those who avail themselves of his compass to carry them through many difficulties of phraseology and construction, will have no reason to repent their confidence.

Hood's Comic Annual for 1832.

We shall endeavour to write a notice of Mr. Hood's "Comic Annual" without committing a pun; and thus, at all events, lay claim to the merit of being original. Some two or three rivals have appeared upon the stage since the Author of the Comic first made his bow to the public: they have passed in review before us, but the real Simon Pure is not the less welcome because we have yawned somewhat under the deleterious influence of his competitors. They remind us of the story of the great mimic, who, at a private party, was thus addressed by a little lisping sends her maiden :-"Mr. Matthews, mamma compliments, and hopes you are going to be funny!" Mr. Matthews laughed a hollow laugh -"ha! ha!"-but, during the rest of the night, there was nothing merry about him but his name.

Now, it is doubtless a sad case to be introduced,

through the medium of a Humourist, to

"Tired nature's sweet restorer." To pay for a laugh, and to find you have bought a sigh, is abont as bad as to "ask for bread and to receive a stone." But Mr. Thomas Hood is of another stamp. If he does now and then write a dull thing, turn over a page or two, and he is sure to make amends. The chances are, at least, that three-fourths of his book will at any time create a cheerful countenance; and this is, at all events, an untaxed luxury, for which men and women willingly pay a reasonable price. Christmas will be come and gone before our recommendation has been sent forth-but not so the cold and cheerless weather that ushers in the new year. In solitude or in society Mr. Hood will be found a pleasant and a profitable guest; and under his influence a time of gloom may easily be converted into a season of mirth. His volume for 1832 abounds in matters that may put care and the doctor, and those devils that are even worse than printers' devils-the blue devils-to flight. As a Christmas present for the present Christmas, (this is Mr. Hood's,) we shall find nothing like it until the Comic Annual for 1833 has been placed in our hands.

It may not be amiss to notice here another work of Mr. Hood's-"The Dream of Eugene Aram," a poem of the most powerful and effective character. It has been republished from one

of the annuals, accompanied by a series of woodcnts, by Messrs. Branston and Wright, from the designs of Harvey. They are of extraordinary merit, and scarcely inferior to any engravings on copper we have ever seen. Indeed, "The Comic Annual" is also much indebted to these accomplished artists, by whom the greater number of Mr. Hood's designs have been executed.

Chaunt of the Cholera.

of natural excitement. Both books are full of wisdom-that best of all wisdom, that teacheth the beart. Southey has told us, and it is a pleasant record to read of any man, that his life has been a singularly happy one, and that it has owed its happiness first to religion, and next to that, to literature." In omnibus requiem quæsivi," said Thomas à Kempis, "sed non inveni nisi in angulis et libellis." The Laureate, too, has found repose, where alone, however, he ever sought it,

Songs for Ireland. By the Author of in books and retirement. From the pent house "The O'Hara Tales."

If this had been Mr. Banim's first work, it would have obtained him no inconsiderable reputation. The critic might have found abundant proofs that the Author's mind was of no common order, and have foreseen the successful career he has pursued in a more profitable, though not less honourable path of literature. Mr. Banim has many of the better qualities that constitute a true poet; but be lacks one, without which all the others are comparatively valueless-good taste. The little volume he has recently published will now add nothing to his fame. "The Chaunt of the Cholera," although manifesting great strength of thought and facility of versification, is an unpleasant poem to read, and the "Songs for Ireland" ought to have been committed to the flames rather than to the press. The Author, indeed, conceives that some apology is necessary for their

introduction to the public, and states that they "were written before the passing of a great political measure"-Catholic Emancipation; and concludes that "now they can do no harm, and may help to remind us of feelings that have been." But Mr. Banim must be aware that feelings that "have been" have not lost their influence in Ire. land: they are, in reality, feelings that are. Although Mr. Banim, as an Irishman, may consider himself justified in exciting his fellow countrymen to murmur under" a foreign yoke," he must not expect that English readers will take exactly the same view of the case. To us the "Songs for Ireland," and the "Irish Peasants' Songs," appear dangerous to the best interests of that unhappy country; and we are tempted to quote the prayer groaned forth some centuries ago, by one of her sons, "God preserve me from my friends!"

Selections from the Poems of Robert Southey, Esq. LL.D. Chiefly for the use of Schools and Young Persons.

The very favourable reception which the Se

lections from Mr. Wordsworth's Poems, recently mentioned in onr notices, so deservedly met with, bas led to the publication of the present volume, similar, in plan and arrangement, to its predecessor. The world will not willingly allow any man to be master in two arts, and as it has conceded to Robert Southey the palm of prose composition, be must needs be content with the second rank in poetry. In truth, it is impossible not to feel, in turning over the leaves of these two delightful little volumes, that the first is the pure emanation of the heart and soul of a poet of Nature's own making, while the other, though abounding in poetry, and gentleness, and goodness, and gladness of heart, is still rather the production of one who turns to cultivate the muse as a relaxation from other studies, than of one who bursts forth into song as the spontaneous language

of his study he has indeed sometimes shot forth his arrows, even bitter words, and thereby has brought enemies enough upon his house-top; but we believe their paper pellets of the brain rarely have dashed his tranquillity one jot. This volume of Selections contains tolerably copious extracts from all Mr. Southey's poems, down to "The Tale of Paraguay," inclusive, arranged in the order in which the poems have been published. We could have forgiven the omission of the Shufflebottom Sonnets. Now that the originals have been consigned to the vile dust from which they sprang, the satire of the imitations loses its point, and it ought, at all times, to have been un. intelligible to those for whose especial use the present volume professes to be designed.

Divines of the Church of England. By the Rev. T. S. Hughes, B.D.-Hall's Contemplations. Vol. II.

This volume of the well-known "Contemplations" of Bishop Hall extends from "Dagon and the Ark" to the hanging of Haman. To those unacquainted with Bishop Hall's writings, the following conclusion of the thoughts on the adultery and murder committed by David in the matter of Uriah, the Hittite, may afford a favourable specimen of his forcible style and manner: -"O God! thou hadst never suffered so dear a favourite of thine to fall so fearfully, if thou hadst not meant to make him a universal example to mankind, of not presuming, of not despairing. How can we presume of not sinning, or despair for sinning, when we find so great a saint thus fallen, thus risen?" There is a famous sentence very like this in a sermon by Dr. Dodd about the two thieves on either side the cross :-" One was saved, that none might despair, and but one, that none might presume."

The Social System. A Treatise on the Principle of Exchange. By John Gray.

The title-page of this book prepared us to find the Author an Owenite, or, at best, a doctor of the doubting science. But he cares for none of these things: he has got a crotchet of his own into his head, about the reformation of society, and he stands up for it in a bold, bluff, straightforward sort of way, that pleases us extremely. The specific object of his book, as he tells us, is to state, to prove, to exemplify, and to force upon public attention, the important fact, "That it would be by no means difficult to place the commercial affairs of society upon such a footing, that production would become the uniform and never-failing cause of demand; or, in other words, that to sell for money may be rendered, at all times, precisely as easy as it now is to buy with money." Assuming that our whole system of exchange is at present

founded in the depth of ignorance and folly; that a proper or rational instrument for effecting exchanges between man and man has never existed since the world began, he undertakes to show how produce, in qualities without any known or conceivable limit, may be disposed of advan. tageously, at all times, in a single hour, and without the chance of the time ever arriving when there can, by any possibility, be a market over. stocked, or demand be overtaken by production.

England, he assures us, has only to be made acquainted with the immensity of her own strength, to spring, as it were, in an instant, from the very depths of poverty and wretchedness, up to the height of prosperity and commercial happiness. All she requires is to let loose her enormous powers of production, which are now tied and bound down by the chain of commercial error. Freedom, domestic freedom of exchange, he adds, is what this nation chiefly wants to make its people prosperous and happy. No miracle on human nature has to be performed to bring this plan of exchange into operation. Apply that principle of unity of action to the whole, that has ever been found indispensable to the right working of every part of man's affairs, and the thing is done. But how is this momentous exchange to be effected? "Read the book" is the Author's answer, and we cannot conclude with a better.

The present volume of the library recounts the adventures of those who led the way in the great work of discovery; and independent of the general interest attached to such subjects, affords us materials for studying the character of travellers, who, it has often struck us, have no slight affinity in their dispositions, and in some of the habits of their minds, to poets. A sketch is also given of the wild exploits of the Buccaneers, which will considerably increase the interest of the volume to youthful readers.

A Treatise on Geometry. By Robert Wallace, A.M.

This is the best and cheapest edition of the Elements of Euclid we have ever seen. The first six books, for plane geometry, the eleventh and twelfth for the doctrine of solids, and a series of deducible questions for exercise, at the end, form the contents of the book: but the arrangement is

excellent, the demonstrations brief without being obscure, and every difficulty is fully and satisfactorily explained. The mind of the student is also carried on beyond the limits of each separate proposition by the theoretical and practical comments generally appended; and we can safely congratulate Mr. Wallace on having produced a most admirable school-book, on a most interesting subject. We look forward with interest and

The Seventeenth Century a Beacon to the pleasure to his promised Treatise on the Elements Nineteenth.

This little tract is a second republication of a letter on the character and conduct of Charles the First, originally printed in 1747, and reprinted about ten years ago, under the title of " Charles the First pourtrayed." The views of the writer are strongly prejudiced against that erring and unhappy King. A better cause than that of the Parliament, at its commencement, there could not be. Clear heads and stout hearts were on its side. Grievance after grievance, abuse after abuse, fell with a touch. The maxims of the Constitution were vindicated from the absurd glosses of courtiers and sycophants, and liberticides in Church and State were detected and exposed. But the sun of liberty that rose in so bright a morning, set in a storm of clouds, and tempest, and thick darkness. Professing patriots deluged their country with civil blood, and hacked and mutilated the Constitution till it fell prostrate and lifeless at the feet of a military usurper. Di meliora piis. If history be philosophy teaching by examples, we trust this memorable lesson will not now be forgotten or disregarded.

of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry. With the same diligence and good sense which are manifest in every page of the present work, it cannot fail of meriting and meeting the most complete suc

cess.

The Cabal, a Tale of the Reign of William the Fourth. 2 vols.

A very sad affair is "The Cabal, a Tale of the Reign of William the Fourth." We presume the writer is aware of its intent and meaning, but we assure him that such of his readers as have laboured through his two volumes-if any such there have indeed been-are about as learned upon the matter as if they had contented themselves with a simple glance at the title-page. It must assuredly be a tale of the Reign of William the Fourthbecause "Reform" and the "Age" newspaper are now and then referred to, and however fashionable they may both have become during the Reign of the Fourth William, the former at least was honoured with but small patronage during that of the Fourth George-but it passes, at all events, our understanding to discover a single point, or a single incident, or a single character that belongs exclu

Edinburgh Cabinet Library. Vol. V. sively to the year of our Lord eighteen hundred Early English Navigation.

The plan of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library is admirably calculated to secure its popularity, and the manner in which the volumes hitherto published have been executed, amply confirms our original opinion of its excellence. Geographical science increases in interest as a nation becomes more enlightened and inqnisitive. We love to compare the brightness of our own torch with the dimness of that of others, and the present age is moreover expressly alive to whatever concerns the condition or destiny of man, not only in his political relations, but in his abstract character.

and thirty-one-if the Lord William, and the Lord Mortimer, and the Lord Tewkesbury, of the novel, are in reality portraits, the Lord only knows who are the originals: we, at least, confess ourselves utterly unable to trace the slightest resemblance between them and any noble personages of whom we have ever heard or read in this the nineteenth century. Whether the book is meant to be political, historical, or romantic, we are equally at a loss to guess-but we are compelled to state that it is neither useful nor agreeable-and that we have just cause to be somewhat angry with the author for having wantonly wasted about two hoars of our valuable time.

The Usurer's Daughter. 3 vols.

In terminating the perusal of this very powerful tale, (and we assure the Author that the fact of every page being severed is no small compliment,) we felt that to review it honestly, would be both a pain and a pleasure: a pain to find fault with any portion of so clever a book; and a pleasure to award the praise so richly due to the formation and developement of, at least, the two principal characters. The time chosen is the commencement of the year 1780, during the "No Popery" riots which disgraced London; and in the second page of the first volume we are at once introduced to the Usurer, "A man on whom all lovers of wealth looked enviously, and all lovers of moral worth looked contemptuously." Throughout the two first volumes, even unto the last scene, where, grovelling amid his riches, and grasping in his lean and attenuated fingers the gold accumulated by the basest means and watered with the tears of the unfortunate, the character of the Usurer Erpingham is vigorously and powerfully drawn; so powerfully that the Author of "Caleb Williams" might have been proud to have conceived or penned it. It stands forth in all the hideous deformity of avarice, and is rendered still more revolting by the contrast afforded by the pure and elevated nature of his daughter Mar. garet. Had not the Author relieved the darkness of the one by the brightness of the other, the book would have been unreadable; and we can only regret that subordinate portions of the vo lumes have not been managed with similar skill and good taste. We must especially object to the introduction of a royal personage, lately deceased, in the character of a gentleman seducer: it was perfectly unnecessary in the formation of the story, and not at all needed for developing the heroine's character. It must be evident to the most ordinary observer of womankind, that such a woman would have spurned the devotion of kings and princes as the dust beneath ber feet, if proffered as a compensation for the loss of honour. All such scenes belong to the "Pamela" school of adventures, and must be protested against in days like the present, when matters of real life only, or of high-wrought and enthusiastic romance, interest the reader. We also object to the a squint manner in which our Author some. times regards men and actions. If a person wishes to be ill at ease with himself and the world in general, let him, in the name of wormwood, sit down and read Rochefoucault until he become one buge mass of Tartaric acid; but let him not distill its essence for us. In a work of fiction it is most unpalatable to be told, for instance, "That there is not a blessing that God gives to his creatures which is not accompanied with a snare, a danger, a trial." Is it rational, we would ask, to suppose that the Almighty blesses us to destruction? This is but one little ensample amongst many, of a caustic and bitter feeling breaking forth, even at the moment when it is least expected, and tainting pages which otherwise would interest by the simplicity of their style and the purity of their diction. The character of Lord Singleton is powerful from its extreme weakness. The Author has either an antipathy to the Peerage, or a wish to render Peers unpopular; for a greater compound of meanness and imbecility never came before the public. But the faults we have noted

are only blots upon a work in which will be found much that is excellent and interesting. It is impossible to conceive a more perfect, a more gentle, a more exalted, or more feminine creature than "The Usurer's Daughter:" yet in no one instance is the character overdrawn. We believe there are thousands of our fair countrywomen who would suffer as patiently, and act as nobly, as she did under all her trials. As to Erpingham, be is one who fixes himself upon the memory with so firm a hold, as never to be forgotten. The mind capable of conceiving two such characters as the Usurer and his Daughter is evidently cast in no common mould.

Newton Forester; or the Merchant Service. By the Author of "The King's Own." 3 vols.

Captain Marryatt states, at the termination of this very interesting and amusing book, that he is anxious to keep on good terms with the world. He may rely upon it, that as long as he paints the people of "the world" in such agreeable and flattering colours, they will be anxious to keep on good terms with him. He never seems at ease until he brightens his shadows into light: he makes it a point to reform (with one exception) all his bad characters. And if the simple Nicholas Forester was astonished at the miraculous change effected in his shrewish wife, what must we have been at so extraordinary a metamorphosis! There is much good feeling, much kindliness of heart, mingled with shrewd habits of observation, and an entertaining, perhaps, more than a useful knowledge of society in general, mingled throughout this novel. The hero is exactly what a hero ought to be-brave, generous, and enterprising : and nothing can be more naturally or charmingly sketched than the simple-minded Optician, Newton's father, who, when his business failed to prosper in Liverpool, believed that nobody there wore spectacles. The slave proprietor assuring his company that "there was nothing they might not do in the climate (Barbadoes) provided they were temperate, and did not check perspiration," while at the very time he was indulging in reiterated draughts of sangaree, is a most amusing person. But we know not what the Anti-Slavery Society will say to the gallant Captain's portraiture of slavery. He makes it appear a most sweet, rather than a bitter draught; one that thousands of our own poor would be delighted to swallow. Newton's character throughout all his trials is admirably sustained. No young man entering the merchant service can do better than take him for his model. The other dramatis persona are, it is true, mere sketches, but sketches by a master hand-a sort of literary Wilkie, endowed with a gentler spirit. We have lately been favoured with such disgusting details of the early portions of a seaman's life, that we were tempted to avoid every" Middy" we encountered, as we would a mad dog, or a venomous serpent. Captain Marryatt has restored our confidence in the Blue jackets; for, with the exception of a youth who cut off "three inches of Ponto's tail," and then pleaded, as an excuse, that the dog did it himself, because "I was chopping at the block, and Ponto put his tail under the chopper"-with this one exception-there is not a single prank played by the Middies in which we, in our youth, would not gladly have joined.

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