1831.] and employ vessels which at St. Domingo are French, at Jamaica English; and notwithstanding, upon the application of the officers of his Majesty's revenue here, I had given orders to seize and deliver into the custody of the collector of his Majesty's customs such vessels as should be detected in such illicit practices, and some having being seized with contraband goods on board, and delivered to the said collector, they have made the pretence that sea-officers were not properly authorised to make seizures, and in order to save those officers from prosecution the delinquents have escaped."-p. 136. REVIEW.-Mrs. Bray's Talba. It is to be remembered that these remarks result from experience, and we believe, that in the conduct of war, officers of established character are more likely to do good, by freedom from restraint, than by subjection to it. We shall conclude our extracts with the following curious incident: "The little bantam-cock which, in the action of the 12th of April, perched himself upon the poop, and, at every broadside poured into the Ville de Paris, cheered the crew with his shrill clarion, and clapped his wings, as if in approbation, was ordered by the Admiral to be pampered and protected during life." We know few biographers who could have made a more judicious use of his materials than Major-General Mundy, the author. Having inarried the Hon. Sarah Rodney, daughter of the Admiral, he had access to materials which would not have been confided to strangers, and he has made, from the joint operation of family feeling and excellent taste and judgment, a work of literary sculpture, which will confer honour upon the subject and himself to the end of time. The Talba or Moor of Portugal, a Romance. By Mrs. Bray, Author of the White Hoods, &c. &c. 3 vols. post 8vo. Lngman and Co. THE Romance grew out of Chivalry, and implies writings highly moral and heroic. Every human perfection is at tached to the characters; and very often a dramatic exhibition of the most interesting kind fills the mind's eye in the descriptions of persons, scenes, and things highly picturesque, but now no more. Some resemblance exists in the modern melodrame. Still in the present day there is no subject fitted for the genuine romance. The modes of life are quite altered. No persons now live in state, or cultivate heroism, nor 247 do events ensue which appertain only to times of violence. If however the modern romance has not the epic chaby the omission of much tedious trash, racter of the ancient, amends are made which, to use Horace Walpole's phrase, would tire even the patience of a girl in love. It is well-known, that there was ever among the Spanish Moors some frantic prophet or other, who excited the people to tumults; and a riot occasioned by one of these persons, compelled Mahomet the Little to surrender the Alhambra of Grenada in 1492, to Ferdinand, before the time appointed for the delivery of it. The Talla, here an heroic character, is one of these popular soothsayers. The horrible tragedy of Ines de Castro, forms the substance of the plot, and it is but justice to say, that there are very few beauties in the dramatic or the epic of our first poets, which Mrs. Bray has not most successfully rivalled. We think that the following extracts will prove our affirmation. The first is the expostulation of a rejected lover: "Thou fairest among women-the first, the only object of my devoted love-even in these moments, when thy bitter taunts sting more than an adder's fang, thy very scorn is dearer to me than would be the affections of another. As I look on thee, there is a charm in thy presence which disarms even my resentments. Not the mother, whose heart and whose eye is with her infant care than I would be over thee.-Come, when it sleeps, is more watchful in her holy then, Ines, forget the past; teach thy heart to relent; bid the frank and gentle feelings of thy early youth return, when Diego was not abhorred, when he was thy betrothed husband, and all shall be forgiven. Why wert thou ever false?" 248 REVIEW.-Mrs. Bray's Talba.-The Tuilleries. [March, "Oh, you will prove that you are more than man, for mercy is of higher mould,' exclaimed Ines: inan follows the impulse of his own fallen nature if he gives way to passion; but when pity moves the soul to spare, then does he rise above himself, and emulates the attributes of heaven; then is he like to God. Hard-hearted, relentless, what is he but a son who bears not the image of his Father? for God will remove the impress of himself from that being who has no mercy. Thou wilt not kill me?' "Alonso turned aside his head, and waved his hand as if to chide back the unhappy woman, who drew nearer to him, till at last she ventured to place her hand on his. 'Life,' continued Ines, is dear to all; for who so strong in suffering, who so resolute to bear, who so confident in inno. cence, that he would wish to rush before his Maker till He shall call him? Alonso, I will plead to thee for thy own sake. Hast thou no regard for thy own repose; thy rest by day, thy quiet in the night? Hast thou not a conscience? and will that slumber, think you, whilst my blood shall cry from the very earth The King's hand shed it? Thou wilt fear thy conscience.' "Alonso appeared greatly moved. He turned towards Ines; and there was that expression in his countenance which spoke the struggles of his mind. "The unhappy lady observed this, and hailed it as an omen of mercy. Desirous to complete the favourable impression she hoped she had made on his feelings, she thus continued: Yes, I will tell thee, that though thy conscience may now sleep, yet shall it one day awaken, never more to rest. Oh, trifle not with such a power. To the good, it is like the rest of infancy, calm and sweet; to the bad, it is as a fire that burns for ever, yet without consuming that which feeds its flame. Conscience is of more worth than thy crown of gold. Nay, it is of more worth even than thy dearest friend; for he may die, and the world see him no more. But a just conscience, that friend of life or death, will stand by thy sickbed, combat thy last enemy, yea, blunt his most cruel dart. The arrow of death itself shall fall harmless on a heart alive to mercy. Oh, conscience, holy, just, and pure, thou art as the angel who first spreads his wing to raise the soul to heaven. Thou wilt bid our frail dust lodge with safety in the ground, and sleep awhile to rise in honour. Canst thou, Alonso, canst thou cease to feel a power like this? Poor, helpless, trembling at your feet, I sue for life. If for one so desolate thou hast no pity, yet for thy own sake respect thy conscience; bid it not condemn thee.' "Rise, lady, rise,' said Alonso; by the rood, thy prayers have in them a power stronger than that of wrath.' "They have the force of truth. Who may resist it?' said Ines. 'Oh, Alonso, look on this boy:' she lifted up her eldest son in her arms as she spoke, and presented him to the king: Look in his face. Dost thou see nothing there that may remind thee of his father-of thyself? He has his mother's eyes; so have I heard it said by one dear to thee and me. Those eyes drop tears. Let them move thee to pity; and the day will come when this child shall learn to bless thee for it. He can already lisp his prayers; and in those orisous of innocence have I taught him to name thee, to pray for Alonso's life, yet wouldst thou destroy his mother?' "Alonso took the child from her arms, kissed the boy, and passing his hand over a head of clustering curls, said, 'I will think of thy prayer. Go, lady; retire, retire to thy chamber. Promise me not to quit it. thee whilst these innocents Go to thy chamber. Yet I command obedience.'” We shall add a very beautiful remark."I read the deed in his dark eye. Father, murder has looks that are unearthly." I cannot harm Antiquaries will be amused by this curious feature in the performance of the Mystery of the Decapitation of John the Baptist. "The young man who personated the child of the fair Herodias was famed for his dancing, and admirable as a tumbler. The way he represented melting the heart of the Hebrew king, was by dancing on his head before him. An example of this favourite mode, in the middle ages, of so representing this circumstance in Jewish history, our curious readers, if they are travellers, may still see, carved in alto relievo, above the western entrance of Rouen cathedral in France." The Tuilleries; a Tale. 8 vols. Colburn and Bentley. THE Romance of real life and recent history, contained in these pages, is deeply interesting. The events which followed each other with such fearful haste and accumulated horror in 1791, are depicted in the first volume with historical fidelity, and with public occurrences is interwoven a tale of love as chivalrous and romantic as can be desired. Many of the scenes and incidents are wrought up with skill and dramatic effect; of which the tenth chapter is a specimen. The loyal devotion of the mercer's daughter to the Royal cause, is almost too highly coloured; her privations and bodily sufferings, beyond the bounds of human endurance, and yet willingly engaged in by a beautiful and tenderly nurtured young female, outrage probability too much. This female Quixote, after many hair-breadth escapes, suffers death with the fortitude of a martyr, though not without bitterly repenting the wild enthusiasm which had drawn her from her private path of duty, and led her to neglect an aged parent; a just and feminine feeling is thus delicately conveyed that in domestic privacy is woman's wisest province, and her praise a lesson we ever desire to see enforced, especially by a female pen. To this we must add, that a good moral tendency pervades the whole, which is strikingly exemplified in the two cousins Velazy, both launched into life embued with revolutionary principles, both proud and aspiring, though of mean origin. Whilst the one unreservedly gives himself up to all the bad passions, especially revenge, his kinsman devotes himself with much long suffering to the benefit of others, and, though the victim of a hopeless passion, 249 was prompted even by it to deeds of mercy. To each has the authoress awarded strict retribution. The last scene is not, we think, in good keeping with the general effect, and though it is one of the most tender interest, it is hurried over in the presence of the first Consul Buonaparte and Josephine; and almost to the surprise of the reader, after a recital of so many horrors, the book ends well. The Pious Minstrel, a Collection of Sacred Poetry, is a neatly printed and handsomely bound pocket volume, embellished with a portrait of Robert Pollok, author of the Course of Time. The authoress, aware that sented to the public, has made her choice such selections have been frequently prechiefly from the pens of modern authors. It is a very attractive little volume, and will be estimated by all lovers of poetry. It will form an acceptable present to the young, in accordance to whose well-known taste for poetry the sacred lyre has been touched by many a masterly hand. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. New Works announced for Publication. Memorials of the Stuart Dynasty, including the Constitutional and Ecclesiastical History of England, from the decease of Elizabeth to the abdication of James II. By ROBERT VAUGHAN, Author of "The Life and Opinions of Wycliffe." Sketches in Spain and Morocco, with an account of a Residence in Barbary, and of an overland Journey from Gibraltar to England. By Sir ARTHUR BROOKE. The Correspondence of Sir John Sinclair; containing fac-similes of upwards of 200 Autographs. Captain Beechey's Voyage to the Pacific, undertaken by direction of the Lords of the Admiralty, to co-operate with the Land Expedition under Captain Franklin. Major KEPPEL's Narrative of his Journey across the Balcan. Memoirs of John Frederic Oberlin, Pastor of Waldbach in the Ban de la Roche. The third and concluding volume of Dr. NARES'S Life of Lord Burghley. Historical, Antiquarian, Ecclesiastical, and other Interesting Subjects relating to the Borough of Newbury and its Vicinity. To be published in Numbers. No. I. is ready. A Second Edition of Mr. DAWSON's work on the Present State of Australia. Spain in 1830. By HENRY D. INGLIS, History of Abraham, in a course of Lec- tures. By the Rev. H. BLUNT, Curate of Chelsea, &c. The Records of a Good Man's Life. By the Rev. CHARLES B. TAYLER, M.A. Author of "May You Like It." The Destinies of the British Empire, and the Duties of British Christians at the present Crisis. In four Lectures. By the Rev. WILLIAM THORP, of Bristol. Pietas Privata: the Book of Private Devotion, with an introductory Essay, &c. chiefly from the writings of Hannah More. A Text Book of Popery, comprising a brief History of the Council of Trent, and a translation of its Doctrinal Decrees. By J. M. CRAMP. Plantae Javanica Rariores, descriptæ Iconibusque illustratæ, consisting of illustrations of the Rarer Plants contained in the Herbarium collected by Thomas Horsfield, M.D. in the Island of Java, selected and described by ROBERT BROWN, Esq. The Gallery of the Society of Painters in Water Colours. An Interior view of the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge, drawn and engraved by J. and H. S. STORER. History of Medicine, Surgery, and Anatomy, from the earliest period to the present time. By Dr. HAMILTON. An Essay on the influence of Temperament in modifying Dyspepsia, or Indigestion. By Dr. MAYO, Physician to the Duke of Sussex. Literary Intelligence. 250 A Treatise on Mental Derangement. By Dr. UWINS. An English Tale, entitled the Smuggler. By the Author of "The O'Hara Tales." Nos. VII. VIII. and IX. of the National Library, comprising BOURRIENNE'S Life of Bonaparte, with notes and illustrations by Joseph Bonaparte, and from the dictation of Napoleon at St. Helena. The Second Number of the Standard Novels, containing GODWIN'S celebrated story "Caleb Williams." Rustum Khan, or Fourteen Nights' Entertainment at the Royal Gardeus at Ahmedabad. A second series of Tales of a Physician. By W. H. HARRISON. Select Female Biography, comprising Memoirs of Eminent British Ladies. By the Author of "Wonders of the Vegetable Kingdom," &c. The Second Volume of Mr. BowLES'S Life of Bishop Ken. March 8. The Duke of Sussex, Pres. The reading of Mr. Lloyd's paper was concluded. March 10. The Duke of Sussex in the chair. Alexander Caldeleugh, esq. of Broad Green House, Croydon (who is on the eve of departure for Mexico), and John Cormack Morris, esq. were elected Fellows. A paper was read, descriptive of a new graphical register of the Tides and Winds, by H. R. Palmer, esq. His Royal Highness the President then addressed the Society, informing them, that by the express command of his Majesty, he, together with the Council of the Society, had that morning waited upon his Majesty at St. James's-palace, for the purpose of witnessing the affixing of the Royal signature to the charter-book of the Society; upon which occasion they were most graciously received. An address to his Majesty had already been presented, soon after his accession to the throne, at the close of the last session. But the illustrious President, on the present occasion, stated to his Majesty the objects and views of the [March, ciety, which had constantly laboured in the cause of science for upwards of one hundred and seventy years, under the fostering care of his Majesty's predecessors, and expressed their dutiful thanks for the patronage his Majesty was now about to bestow upon them. To this his Majesty was pleased to return a most gracious answer, expressing the high sense he entertained of the value of Science, as conducing to the prosperity, the happiness, and the glory of the nation; an opinion which he had early imbibed, from the practical advantages of Science which he had witnessed during his professional career, and his earnest desire to promote the objects, aud favour the exertions of the Society, and to see them co-operate cordially with other nations in the same laudable endeavours to enlarge the boundaries of human knowledge. His Royal Highness also stated, that he then presented, in the name of the Society, an address to her Majesty, who was graeiously pleased to receive the Council on the occasion, and to return a most gracious and gratifying answer. March 17. The Duke of Sussex in the chair. Two papers were read: On a means of supplying the metropolis with filtered water from the Thames, by Mr. Wright, author of the little treatise entitled "The Dolphin," which principally gave rise to the late Parliamentary enquiry; and, On the variable intensity of Terrestrial Magnetism, and the influence of the aurora borealis upon it; by Robert W. Fox, esq. March 24. J. W. Lubbock, esq. V.P.— Two papers were read, a description of Mr. Robinson's mountain barometer, the column of which is divisible into two portions by Capt. Kater; and on Water Cements, by Col. Pasley. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. The late Dr. Wollaston having bequeathed to the Geological Society 1000l. the interest to be employed annually in recompensing or encouraging geological inquiries, and the council having directed a medal to be struck, bearing the impress of Dr. Wollaston, the first of these, together with a sum of money, has been adjudicated to Mr. W. Smith.. Before the delivery of the medal, at the anniversary meeting, the President gave a chronological account of the discoveries of Mr. Smith, by which he justified the terms of the following award, viz. "That the first Wollaston Medal be given to Mr. W. Smith, in consideration of his being a great original discoverer of English Geology, and espe¬ cially for his having been the first to discover and teach the identification of strata, and their succession, by means of embedded fossils.” Professor Sedgwick having terminated the triennial period prescribed to the presidency by the regulations of the Society, then took leave of the members in an elaborate discourse; when Roderick Impey Murchison, 1831.] esq. F.R. S. was elected President, and Dr. Turner and H. T. De la Beche, esq. Secretaries. Literary Intelligence. ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, A paper, by Capt. Low, on the White Elephant, was read. There are several of these animals in the stables of the King of Siam, where great reverence is paid to them. When one is newly caught, he is attended by an escort, and the governors of towns meet him on the road, with every mark of respect. From a verse in Siamese, it is gathered that the White Elephant ranks above the King. Capt. Low sent also a drawing of one of the Albinos, or White Indians. The original was about forty years of age, fair as a European, with white hair aud bluish eyes very weak. He was by profession a school-master; was married, and his children were of the Malay complexion; but he had two sisters, who were likewise Albinos. THE EARL OF BRIDGEWATER'S BEQUEST. It will be remembered that the late eccentric Earl of Bridgewater left a bequest of 8000l. to reward the author or authors of a work "On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation." The direction of this bequest was left to the President of the Royal Society; and its terms will be found in our memoir of the Earl in our vol. XCIX. i. 560. Mr. Davies Gilbert, the late President of the Royal Society, has now published the following statement. The devised sum having been invested in the names of trustees, he ascertained from a Noble Lord immediately connected with the deceased, that his family were desirous of having the objects of the bequest executed, and then proceeded as follows: He was fully aware of the duty imposed on him to select persons amply qualified for discharging in an adequate manner the task they would have to perform; and he was also impressed with the conviction, that, however carefully a selection might be made, several gentlemen must be omitted, possessing the requisite qualifications, equally perhaps with those who received the appointment. For the purpose therefore of acquiring the most able assistance, and of placing the whole transaction above even the suspicion of favouritism or partiality, the late President was induced to request the aid of two individuals, as highly distinguished by their abilities and by their learning as by the eminent stations which they hold in the hierarchy of the country, where able and intrepid champions have never been wanting to vindicate the natural and moral attributes of the Divinity against the equally dangerous attacks of infidelity, fanaticism, and imposture. The two distingu the 251 Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, most readily condescended to afford their assistance; and after much deliberation, and with the concurrence of the Noble Lord above alluded to, the work has been placed in the hands of the following eight gentlemen : : The Rev. William Whewell, M.A. F.R.S., Fellow of Trinity College, and Professor of Mineralogy in the University of Cambridge. The Rev. John Thomas Chalmers, Professor of Divinity at Edinburgh. John Kidd, Esq. M.D. F.R.S., Regius Professor of Medicine in the University of Oxford. The Rev. William Buckland, D.D. F.R.S., Canon of Christ Church, and Professor of Geology in the University of Oxford. Peter Mark Roget, Esq. M.D., Sec.R S. Charles Bell, Esq. FR.S. Surgeon. The Rev. William Kirby, M.A. F.R.S. William Prout, Esq. M.D. F.R.S. Each being pledged to take a part, as designated by the testator, most adapted to his acquirements and to his pursuits: and thus it is confidently hoped and expected, that a work entrusted to such individuals will appear, as a whole, worthy of the age and of the country about to give it birth. BRISTOL INSTITUTION. Feb. 10. The eighth annual meeting of this Institution was held, J. S. Harford, esq. in the chair. The Report stated, that the various collections of art belonging to the Institution had, within the past year, been enriched by the accession of numerous objects. Amongst the contributions in the Geological department is a donation from Mr. Joseph Cottle, of the whole of his large collection of antediluvian animal remains, from the Oreston caves, near Plymouth. The invaluable collection of fossils, shells, and minerals, belonging to the late Curator, Mr. Müller, and which cost him more than twenty years to accumulate, has been offered to the Institution for 7301.; but as the ordinary funds are inadequate to the purchase, the collection has been secured, under the superintendence of a special committee, by the munificence of a few individuals, who trust that the contributions of members, in addition to their own donations, will enable them to present it to the Museum of the Institution. The geological department, when thus enriched, will excel in variety any other provincial establish ment. Under the head of "Fine Arts," it was noticed that the fitting up of the late Statue-room with cases for the reception of specimens in natural history, had led to the removal to the Great Room of the casts from the Egina Marbles, and those of the Laocoon, Apollo Belvidere, Venus de' Medici, the dying Gladiator, the D the Terpsichore, and Baco |