The Fifth Number of Dr. Chalmers' Christian and Civic Economy of Large Towns, should, in the regular course of publication, have appeared on the 1st of October; but as the subject, which is " Church Patronage," will occupy two numbers, it has been thought better to postpone its publication till the 1st of January, when the Fifth and Sixth Numbers will appear together. Professor Dunbar has in the press," A Collectanea Minora," containing the following extracts: 1. The History of Joseph and his Brethren, and the Decalogue, from the Septuagint. 2. The Lord's Prayer, and other extracts from the New Tes tament. 3. Extracts from the Cyropaedia of Xenophon, from the Dialogues of Lucian, the Odes of Anacreon and Tyrtaeus. 4. The whole of the first Book of the Iliad. 5. Copious Annotations, explanatory of Phrases, Idioms, &c. 6. A Lexicon of all the Vocables that occur in the Extracts. Mr. Godwin has in forwardness a new work, under the title of Population, an Inquiry concerning the power of increase in the numbers of mankind, in answer to Mr. Malthus' Essay on that subject. Petits Contes Moraux. Par Madame Adele du Thou. In 1 vol. 2s. 6d. A Continuation of the Rev. John Lingard's History of England. A Statistical Account of Upper Canada, written by the Inhabitants, and compiled by R. Gourlay, in 1 vol. 8vo. ; illustrated with maps and plates. Eccentricity, a Novel. By Mrs. Macnally, daughter of the late R. Edgeworth of Lissard, Ireland. 3 vol. 12mo. Tracts and Trials, a Novel. 2 vol. Anti-Scepticism, or an Inquiry into the Nature and Philosophy of Language, as connected with the Sacred Scriptures. By the Author of " Philosophy of Elocution." In the press, a new edition of an Introduction to the Critical Study and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. By Thomas Hartwell Horne, M.A., in 4 large Svo. vols., with maps and fac similes of Biblical MSS. As the third volume will consist principally of new matter, it is intended to print an extra number of that volume, with the additional plates, for the accommodation of such purchasers of the former edition as may order the same on or before the first of January next. In the press, An Account of the most Memorable Battles and Sieges since the Fall of Troy classed and arranged to afford a view of their respective consequences on the moral condition of Mankind. By G. Haliton, M.A. This work is intended to present to the young Student, in a series of Lectures, a comprehensive view of the relative importance of the different great military events which have promoted or retarded the progressive improvement of the morals and institutions of the world. The History of the Zodians, an Ancient People, from the Foundation to the fins! Extinction of that Nation. By the Author of The Travels and Observations of Hareach, the Wandering Jew."-The object of this little work is to illustrate, in a pleasing story, the principles of political economy, as they necessarily develop themselves in the institutions and expedients of domestic and foreign policy. The Visits of Hareach, the Wandering Jew, to the most celebrated Characters that have appeared in the World since the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. By the Rev. T. Clark. This will complete the entire design which the Author propos ed to himself when he undertook to describe the Travels and Observations of Hareach. Like the incidents in that work, those of the present are taken from the most authen tic Biographical Anecdotes and Histories, with only so much fictitious colouring as was requisite to render the narratives more interesting. Dr. Brewster has nearly ready for publication a new edition of Ferguson's Astronomy. In accommodating it to the present state of the science, by means of Notes and Supplementary Chapters, he has studiously endeavoured to imitate the plainness of the original work. In this new edition, many alterations and additions have been made in the notes and supplementary matter; and the work put into a form more convenient and less expensive, with the view to its being more generally introduced into public schools. New editions of Ferguson's Electricity, his Perspective, and his Ladies' and Gentlemen's Astronomy, edited by Dr. Brewster, will speedily be published. In the press, a Farce on the late Radical Rebellion," called The Sharpshooters; or Love and Reform. ART, I. Memoirs of the Protector Oliver Cromwell, and of his Sons Richard and Henry; illustrated by Original II. Advice to Julia, a Letter in Rhyme.................................... IV. Elementa Linguæ Græcæ; novis, plerumque, regu- lis tradita; brevitate sua memoriæ facilibus. Pars Prima, complectens Partes Orationis Declinabiles, ad finem usque verborum regularium, et analogiam duas in unam syllabas contrahendi, ex ipsa vocali- um natura deductam, et regulis universalibus tra- ditam. Studio JACOBI MOOR, LL.D. in Acade- mia Glasguensi Litt. Gr. Prof. Partem posterio- rem, notasque adjecit GULIELMUS NEILSON, S.T.D. in Academia Belfastiensi, L.L. Heb. et Gr. Prof... 690 V. 1. The Monastery, a Romance, by the Author of 2. The Abbot, being the Sequel of the Monastery.... 691 VI. Journals of two expeditions into the interior of New Page LEY, Surveyor-General of the territory, and Lieu- ......... ART, VII. Ernestus Berchtold; or the Modern Edipus. A 717 Tale. By JOHN WILLIAM POLIDORI, M.D........ 727 addressed to Francis Colman, and George Colman IX. POSTSCRIPT. Notice of Mr. Jackson's Letter........ 747 in the Press, or preparing for Publication............ 749 THE EDINBURGH MONTHLY REVIEW. DECEMBER, 1820. ART. I.-Memoirs of the Protector Oliver Cromwell, and of his Sons Richard and Henry; illustrated by Original Letters and other Family Papers. By OLIVER CROMWELL, Esq. a Descendant of the Family. London, 1820. Longman. Pp. 748. 4to. Ir has been the singular ill fortune of Oliver Cromwell and "of his family," says this author, "that his character hath "been left exclusively in the hands of his enemies." We do not think,-all the circumstances considered,-that there was much singularity in this misfortune. It was not to be expected, that the memory of a man who had towered over so many haughty foes, should escape the resentment long harboured in vain against his living power; nor can we wonder that the retaliation vehemently but abortively directed against his usurpation of sovereign sway, should have been exacted out of his posthumous fame. The scenes of strife and violence in which he had been engaged, and through which so few pass untainted, gave plausibility to every suspicion, and confirmation to every charge urged against him by his adversaries; nor was it difficult to persuade the world, that the heart of a rebel and usurper had been the seat of all imaginable pollution. With the sceptre returned into the hands of the Second Charles, was committed to him dominion over the fortune and fame of his enemies-the power of beckoning to his service the venal wit, and eloquence, in which the memories of the greatest men are capriciously preserved either to honour or to infamy. The name of Oliver Cromwell has accordingly come down to us spotted with almost every vice which the variety of human wickedness will admit, or the ingenuity of the sharpest satire can invent. The most singular personage in British story is also represented as one of the veriest monsters of depravity-and we have been left in suspence which to admire most, the greatness or the guilt of this extraordinary man. His bad name, besides, has acquired an universal currency, which it must now be difficult, if not impossible, to arrest; his place in history seems determined; his imputed iniquities have been embalmed irrevocably in its pages. This was the inevitable consequence of the priority obtained by the royalist and presbyterian authors in the propagation of their charges; and of the necessary postponement, by the friends of Cromwell, of his defence, till they should find an audience, in becoming temper, to listen to it. It was long before this salutary moderation could be realized; and, in the mean time, the enemies of the usurper had leisure to heap their reproaches mountain-high upon his memory, while time was wearing into consistency the unshapen mass, and imparting to the industrious contributions of slander, the compactness and stability of history. Such are the disadvantages with which the author before us will have to contend in his attempt to vindicate the memory of his ancestor. They are weighty and almost overpowering. He has not, in executing his task, to deal only with the vindictive republicanism of Ludlow, or the more generous and loyal indignation of Clarendon, for whose occasional exaggerations every reader at once finds an apology, and makes a due and willing allowance; but with the authority of a historian of yet higher name, who, by his apparent equability of temperament, finds an avenue to belief, which is equally closed against all classes of partizans, whether apologists, or accusers. Mr. Hume, in recording the exploits, and pourtraying the character of Oliver Cromwell, has maintained an appearance of candour so prepos sessing, that, if he have really dissembled, it will require the nicest possible tact to undo the web of sophistry, and dissipate the illusion. If he meant to calumniate the memory of Cromwell-and this purpose is broadly imputed to him in more than one passage of the work before us he has shewn himself a master of his questionable vocation. He does not, in order to fix our aversion and wonder, proceed at once to shroud his portrait in unbroken shade, but, with many bright and enlivening touches, he mingles the colours of depravity in such a manner, as to emulate, if it do not really exemplify, the combinations of nature and of truth. He has not singled out Cromwell for any visible display of premeditated resentment-but, after conducting the eye in easy succession over the thick brushwood of rebellion, up to its knotted centre, he vindicates the equanimity of the historian, by ascribing much of the pestilent growth to the accidental vices of the soil alone, and the peculiar malignity of the seasons. When he leads forth the magnanimous |