CONTENTS OF No. C. ART. I.—1. Histoire de la Décadence et de la Chute de l'Empire 2. Etudes, ou Discours Historiques sur la Chute de l'Em- Page 273 II.-1. Schlangenbad und seine Heiltugenden, von Dr. H. Fenner von Fenneberg. 2. Wiesbaden und seine Heilquellen dargestellt. 3. Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau. By an Old 2. Extracts from the Information received by His Ma- IV.-1. Journal of a West India Proprietor. By the late 2. Domestic Manners in the West Indies. By Mrs. Car- 30S 347 374 V. An Inquiry into the State of Slavery amongst the Romans, from the earliest Period till the Establishment of the Lombards in Italy. By William Blair, Esq. 399 VI.-Trevelyan, by the Author of A Marriage in High Life.' 413 VII.-1. A Letter to the Right Hon. Charles Grant, President of the Board of Control, on the Present State of British Intercourse with China. By C. Marjoribanks, Esq., M.P., late President of the Select Committee in China. 2. Papers relating to the Ship Amherst, in reference to a Voyage recently undertaken to the North-east Coast of China. ART. CONTENTS. 3. Papers relating to the Affairs of the East India Com- 4. Corrected Report of the Speeches of Sir George 5. Observations on the China Trade, and on the Im- Note VIII.-Life and Poetical Works of the Reverend George Crabbe, in 8 vols. 12mo. Vol. I. containing the Life of Crabbe. By his Son IX.-1. Church Reform. 2. The Church of England; or safe, liberal, and Christian 3. The Liturgy Revised; or the Necessity and Bene- 4. The British Liturgy; an Attempt towards an Analysis, 5. The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of 6. A Petition to the House of Lords. By the Rev. C. N. Wodehouse, Prebendary of Norwich. Mirror of Par- 7. Evidence of the Necessity of Church Reform. 8. Reform without Re-construction, &c.; accompanied X.-Note on Pamphlet entitled A Refutation of the Calum- THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. ART. I.-1. Astronomy and General Physics considered with reference to Natural Theology. By the Rev. William Whewell, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge. 8vo. pp. 381. London. 1833. 2. On the Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition of Man, principally with reference to the Supply of his Wants, and the Exercise of his Intellectual Faculties. By John Kidd, M.D., F.R.S., Regius Professor of Medicine in the University of Oxford. Svo. pp. 375. London. 1833. 3. The Hand, its Mechanism and Endowments, as evincing Design. By Sir Charles Bell, K.G.H., F.R.S. L. and E. 8vo. pp. 288. London. 1833. 4. Of the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Constitution of Man. By the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D.D., Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. In two volumes, 8vo. London. 1833. IT T is impossible to peruse the titles of these books, without feeling an emotion of gratitude towards the memory of the noble and reverend person to whose munificence we are indebted for their publication. The charitable institutions, which abound in this country, afford ample proof of the benevolent spirit that pervades the opulent orders of our community. But it has happened to few of its members to aim at so noble a design, as was provided for by the will of the late Earl of Bridgewater, (the last of his distinguished race,) when he dedicated a liberal portion of his wealth to the discussion of some of the most important questions, upon which the human faculties can be employed. If ever the possession of the gifts of fortune be enviable, it is when we see them administered for such a purpose as this. Enviable too must have been the reflections of him who thus secured, as far as he could do, the erection of one altar more to the attributes of the Omnipotent, hoping, perhaps, though we fear in vain, that it might endure to remote ages, bearing round its basement an humble but emphatic testimony to the ardour of his faith as a Christian, and to the truth of his perceptions as a philosopher. But But it is unfortunately to be regretted-deeply to be regretted by all persons friendly to the diffusion of really useful knowledge that the testamentary dispositions of that amiable nobleman have been strangely misinterpreted, by the parties to whom the execution of them was entrusted. We desire it to be understood, that to the gentlemen in question we impute none but the most pure and the most honourable intentions; but we certainly have no hesitation in saying, that they have essentially mistaken the purpose which Lord Bridgewater had in view, and that, if they have not wholly defeated his intentions, they have accomplished them in a manner, to say the least of it, imperfect and inconsequential. The sum set apart for the attainment of the objects which the deceased Earl had in contemplation was eight thousand pounds sterling, which, together with the dividends accruing thereon, he desired to be paid to the person or persons whom the President of the Royal Society should appoint to write, print, and publish a work On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation; illustrating such work by all reasonable arguments; as for instance, the variety and formation of God's creatures in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; the effect of digestion, and thereby of conversion; the construction of the hand of man, and an infinite variety of other arguments; as also, by discoveries, ancient and modern, in arts, sciences, and the whole extent of literature.' Who can doubt, from these terms, that the meaning of the testator was, not that a number of works should be written on this mighty theme, by different individuals, each conducting the argument to the same conclusion, by his own mode of treating the question; but that if no one person could be found competent to the task, two or more learned individuals should be induced to contribute their labours to one volume, which, by combining the excellence of each, might be calculated to make a powerful and permanent impression on mankind? This plain and most advantageous course has not been taken. Eight thousand pounds were to be disposed of, and, therefore, eigh' gentlemen, all unquestionably distinguished for great ability and knowledge, were selected, to whom was confided the duty, not of contributing to one compendious publication, but of writing each a work of his own upon one of eight branches, into which, by the exertion of an unhappy ingenuity, the general subject has been subdivided. The inevitable consequence of this proceeding will be, that we shall have at least nine volumes, instead of one. Is it likely that a series of treatises, so numerous and expensive, will attain any wide circulation in these days of of cheap literature? Could it have been the intention of the testator that the argument for which he so liberally provided, should be thus rendered inaccessible to the less wealthy classes of society, and wearisome to all? Lastly-could he ever have dreamed that, if a massive series of volumes were to be the result of his dying arrangements, these should be offered for sale at exactly the same sort of price which the booksellers might have been justified in affixing to them, had they (the booksellers) been to pay 8000l. out of their own pockets to the authors employed? In order to carve out portions of the proposed theme for eight different individuals, a classification has been effected with reference to the departments of the subject, which renders it utterly impossible for one writer to avoid constantly trespassing upon the boundaries prescribed to another. Thus, for example, Dr. Kidd is directed to discuss the adaptation of external nature to the physical condition of man,' while Mr. Whewell is instructed to treat of astronomy and general physics,' with exactly the same view. We need not say, that astronomy and general physics' comprehend external nature' in the largest sense of that term; hence more than the half of one volume is a repetition of the topics which are found in the other. Again, to Sir Charles Bell, whose name reflects renown upon any labour in which he takes a part, is allotted The hand: its mechanism and vital endowments, as evincing design.' But this subject is necessarily included in the physical condition of man,' appropriated to Dr. Kidd. It is one upon which, at best, not more than a few pages could be usefully expended in a popular production, not meant to be a treatise on anatomy. Sir Charles Bell has actually exhausted it in less than a fourth of his volume; the remaining three-parts he has filled up with remarks on the peculiarities of the mole, the bat, the ant-eater, the anatomy of birds, the action of the splintbone of the horse, and the horse's foot, upon which he is enthusiastically diffuse, and the structure of the megalonix, the megalosaurus, the plesiosaurus, the ichthyosaurus, and all the other species of the saura to be found in the pedantic catalogue of the old naturalists. Sir Charles enters into the whole physical system of man, to the exposition of which who can be more competent? He treats most elaborately of the sensibility of the surface of the skin -of the senses generally, including the eye and the ear, and of the sensibility to impressions of infants, insects, and fishes. The mechanical properties of bone, and the geological changes which have taken place in the earth at successive periods, have also received a considerable portion of his attention. But when we find that Dr. Kidd has, as his subject required, taken great pains to illustrate the organization and uses of the hand, and has entered at |