description in a "Rural Calendar." These little poems" appeared," says the author," in a newspaper, the Kelso Mail, about nine or ten years ago. I have since made several additions and corrections." They contain much appropriate description: but are still capable of improve ment*.

The poetic part of the volume (for long and frequently interesting notes complete it,) closes with a short poem in rhyme on the Slave Trade, and one referring to the battle of Trafalgar: the former of which, if our limits had permitted, our interest in the subject would have induced us to lay before our readers. But it is time that we should proceed to general remarks. In such observations as partake of censure, Mr. Grahame may be assured, that we speak under the influence of respect and kindness; and with an unmixed desire to lead him so to revise his whole work for future editions, as to give the most attractive and impressive effect to the piety which it breathes.

un

That Mr. Grahame possesses very considerable powers, the extracts which we have given are of themselves sufficient to prove. His versification, however, is more equal than is usual with the compositions of those who can write so well. Sometimes flowing and harmonious, it is not unfrequently encumbered, stiff, and rugged. His When we came to the end of the following line, taken from the description of "February," p. 129.

"Fixing the plow share in the unfinished fur;"

we found it difficult to decide whether the printer had omitted the concluding syllable of the last word, or the word furTote had been designedly left incomplete as emblematic of the unfinished state of the real furrow; which would have been such unparalleled absurdity of false taste, as

we were slow in attributing to Mr. Graham. We have been relieved from our embarrassment by a friend, who assured us, that notwithstanding the silence of the Glossary subjoined by the author, fur is a Scottish term signifying furrow.

pauses are occasionally harsh, and at times unvaried. In four succes sive lines, for example, p. 149, (the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth) there is a pause on the second syllable. We cannot recommend too forcibly to writers of blank verse the study of the rich melody and variety of Milton's pauses; and the prefatory observations of Cowper on the modulation of blank verse, which precede his Transla tion of Homer. But in other respects also the rhythm of Mr. Grahame is faulty; not only does he introduce in a manner not sanctioned in the present age by any of our best writerst, one and even two short supernumerary syllables at the end of his lines: but in some instances he furnishes lines equally deficient in the legitimate number; and in more, loads his sentences with regular alexandrines. If the alexandrine is ever to be admitted into blank verse, assuredly its place ought to be exclusively at the close of a sentence; not according to Mr. Grahame's practice, in the middle.

In observations on nature, Mr Grahame has evidently been much occupied; and in general gives great pleasure by his accuracy. In some few instances he appears to have fallen into error. In p. 65, the common swallow seems to be described as building its nest under the corners of windows, a situation sought only by the martin, of which bird Mr. Grahame speaks afterwards. And the description of the descent from the upper air, and of the shrill screams of the martin, when storms approach, might be transferred with much more propriety to the swift. The represen tation, p. 70, of the falcon pursuing the linnet into a bush, strikes an Englishnan with incongruity; as with us the term falcon is applied to large birds of prey, which do not commonly chase small birds. The month of November is characterised, p. 158, by the cutting down of

+ In Young's Night Thoughts may be found an occasional though rare exception.

an oak: an incident belonging among us to the month of May.

In one passage we noticed the going round of the bottle mentioned by Mr. Grahame, as a source of pleasure, in a manner grating to our feelings, and not very compatible with the christian tenor of his work.

Mr. Grahame defends the occasional introduction of Scotch or old English words, "where a modern English synonyme equally emphatic did not present itself." Without objecting to this liberty, we may venture to remark, that Scottish writers must use it very sparingly, if they would be generally read on this side of the Tweed, But we may decidedly say, that the rule does not vindicate such Scotticisms as "know" for "kuoll;" or "blawn" for " blown;" or "blae" for "blue;" or smiddy" for "smithy." The last example, no less than many others which we might select, not indecd from Mr. Grahame, but from other Scottish writers, (such as "fa" for "fall;" "a" for "all," &c. &c.) illustrates a circumstance, which inevitably renders much of the Scottish dialect disagreeable to Englishmen of cultivated taste; namely, that the Scottish pronunciation bears a frequent resemblance to that of the most ignorant and vulgar among the English peasantry.

Cottage Library of Christian Knowledge, a new Series of religious Tracts. Part II. London, Willians and Smith. Price 6d.

BEFORE we proceed to the review of the second part of the Cottage Library, we are anxious to correct a mistake into which we were betrayed, while reviewing the first part in our last number. We there attributed the production of this new series of tracts to the Religious Tract Society. We have been undeceived in this particular by a letter from the Secretary of that society, who assures us that "they have no concern in these productions."

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 55.

"The circumstance," he supposes, "of their issuing from the former publishers to the society has probably led your reviewer into this mistake, a mistake into which many others are likely to fall. The society have indeed published a new series of tracts, intended principally for hawkers, and which, being circulated partly through the same medium as that resorted to by the friends of the Cheap Repository, will, it is hoped, rather promote than hinder the sale of those invaluable publications."-" Were they permitted," he adds "to adopt any of the Cheap Repository tracts, they might be inclined to avail themselves of the privilege to a very large extent. But though this were too much to be hoped for, they still wish to declare the heartfelt satisfaction of which they are conscious, when they learn that the tracts of the Cheup Repository are widely diffused, and made widely bencficial."

It affords us real pleasure to find that the Religious Tract Society are thus delivered from the disgrace of issuing into the world, and giving circulation to the productions under review, and we entreat our readers to correct the unfavourable impression of that society, which the remarks in our last number may have produced.

Having repaired the wrong of which we have been the unconscious instruments, we proceed to consider the second part of the Cottage Library; and in doing so, we shall be very brief, as the character already given of the first part may be applied with little variation to this. The greatest part of what is original in it would be almest below criticism were it not for the mischief which it is calculated to produce. Instead of aiming at the correction of the vices which prevail among the lower classes of religionists in this country, the vices we mean of supersti

*The Depository of the Religious Tract Society, it appears, is removed from No. 10, Stationers' Court, (Williams and Smith) to No. 60, Pater-noster Row.

3 M

tion and enthusiasm, it falls in with the popular taste, and is calculated to extend and rivet its influence. Of three short tracts which follow each other, two give an account of conversion by surprising dreams, respecting which, even if satisfactory evidence had been produced of their occurrence, (and we, need scarcely say, that no such evidence is produced) it would have better become the Editors of a Cottage Library to have been silent. The third tract is nearly as objectionable as the other two. It relates, with apparent approbation, the story (whether true or false we will not pretend to say) of a clergyman, who by a pun

ning sermon preached himself into a living of £.300 per annum.

We really hope that those who have at heart the promotion of sound evangelical knowledge, by means of the circulation of tracts, will be careful how they distribute these.

We shall, of course, be understood as exempting from all implication of censure the accounts of the martyrdom of Ignatius and Laurentius, which appear in the work before us, as well as the life of Sir John Barnard, by the late Rev. Henry Venn, which is a very valuable piece of biography, and deserves to be widely diffused.

GREAT BRITAIN.

PREPARING for the Press:-The British Farmer's Cyclopædia; including every Science or Subject dependent on, or connected with, improved modern Husbandry; in 12 Monthly Parts; in 4to. by Mг. THOMAS POTTS: On the Character of Moses, as a Historian, a Lawgiver, and a Prophet; by the Rev. JOSEPH TOWNSHEND, M. A. Rector of Pewsey.

In the Press-A Supplement to the Dissertation on the Period of 1260 Years; by G. S. Faber, B. D. in 8vo. price 4s.-4 Historical View of the Rise and Progress of Infidelity, with a Refutation of its Principles and Reasonings; preached at the Lecture founded by the Hon. Robert Boyle, in the Parish Church of St. Mary le Bow, from the year 1802 to the year 1805; by W. VAN MILDERT, M. A. Rector; in 2 vols. 8vo. :-An Inquiry into the Seat and Nature of Fever; by H. CLUTTERBUCK, M. D.

A fifth edition, in 3 vols. 8vo. of Curiosities of Literature:-A new edition of the Complete Grazier, with considerable improvements, and many additional wood cuts of the different breeds of Cattle and Sheep, and of various Implements used in Husbandry.

The Executors of Lord Macartney have confided his papers to Mr. BARROW; and they will soon be given to the public, ac companied with accurate Memoirs of his Lordship's Life.

The late Statute at Oxford for Public Examinations has had the happiest effects, in exciting the diligence of the Students: but as it has been found to bear too hard on the candidate for a Master's degree, after having passed the close examination now necessary for that of Bachelor, and frequently spent the interval on a curacy, a new Statute is expected, by which every Student will be obliged to undergo two public Examinations, one in the Classics, and one in the Sciences, at the interval of two years between each, before he can obtain a Bachelor's degree; and by the same Sta. tute, the present Examination for a Master's degree is to be discontinued.

Preparations are making for the erection of DOWNING COLLEGE, at Cambridge, on the ground which lies opposite to the front of Emanuel. The plan adopted is that of Mr. WILKINS of Caius College. The establishment is to consist of a Master, a Professor of the Laws of England, a Professor of Medicine, sixteen Fellows, and Six Scholars. Two of the Fellows are to be in Holy Orders; and the rest, after the usual standing, are to become Barristers at Law, or Doctors of Physic. The Master, the two Professors, and three of the Fellows, have been named in the Charter: they are Dr. FRANCIS ANNESLEY, Master; Sir BusICK HARWOOD, Professor of Medicine; EDWARD CHRISTIAN, Esq. LL. D. Professor of Law; and Messrs. LENS, FRERE, and

MEEK, Fellows. It is understood that Medicine is the branch of Science, which will be chiefly cultivated in this Society.

The following arrangement is made for the Lectures of the next Season, at the Royal Institution:--Mr. DAVY, on Chemistry: Mr. ALLEN, on Natural Philosophy: Rev. T. F. DIBDIN, on English Literature: Rev. SYDNEY SMITH, on Moral Philosophy: Rev. Mr. CROWE, on Dramatic Poetry: Dr. SHAW, on Zoology: Rev. Mr. HEWLETT, on Belles Lettres: Dr. CROTCH, On Music: Rev. Mr. FORSTER, on the History of Commerce: Mr. CRAIG, on Drawing in Water Colours: Dr. SMITH, on Botany: Mr. WOOD, on Perspective.

An interesting paper is given in Nicholson's Journal, No. 57, entitled "Instructions for building very strong and durable Walls and Houses, of any dimensions, of common unprepared Earth, rammed into Moulds; by the method called Pisé, which has been practised from the earliest times, in the Vicinity of Lyons, and elsewhere." Several English gentlemen have tried the method here recommended; and the success of their experiments has been such, as to render them anxious to extend, by all possible means, the knowledge of an art so economical and beneficial: the cheapness of the materials, and the great saving of time and labour which it affords, must recommend it in all places and on all occasions. The Lyonese employ no other method; and houses are known among them to have stood for centuries. The outside may be painted in fresco, or roughcast. Strangers, who have sailed on the Rhone, probably never suspected, that those beautiful houses which they saw rising on the hills around them, were built of nothing but simple earth. There is every reason for introducing this method of build ing into all parts of Ireland; in the place of the miserable mud hovels, which disgrace the country, and injure the health of the inhabitants; as these houses are never liable to the extremes of heat and cold: and are so cheap, that 3240 square feet of wall may be constructed for about ten guineas. A full detail of the method of building, illustrated by plates, is given in the above-mentioned paper: and also in Barber's Farm Buildings, published by Harding, in St. James's Street; from which work the account is extracted by Mr. Ni

cholson.

Poor, is chiefly occupied by communications on the subject of Female Friendly Societies. The result of these appears to be that in forming such societies, an expectation of greater allowances has generally been held out than accurate calculations of human health and life would warrant; that their probable success will greatly depend on the number of members, but that none can safely be undertaken without the assistance of honorary members; such members, independently of their contributions, being essential (in female benefit clubs at least) to the proper conduct of the business, the preservation of order, the superintendance of the sick, and the giving an example of moderation, benevolence and kindness. The object of Friendly Societies, it is well known, is to enable the lower orders to assist themselves, to save them from the dependence and the degradation of parish relief, and to encourage the young to provide against sickness and age. Their tendency is so obviously to encourage industry and economy, that they have been the objects of the peculiar favour and attention of the legislature. The act for their encou ragement and relief ought to be in the possession of every friendly society. To give effect, however, to these admirable institutions, the superior information and the liberal bounty of the higher orders of society are requisite, and, judiciously employed. must produce incalculable benefit, while, by this union of different classes feelings of reciprocal kindness are excited and cherished. To those who wish to commence a friendly society, or to improve the plan on which they have hitherto proceeded, we strongly recommend an attentive conside. ration of the present report, in which, and particularly in the accounts of the female friendly society at Leeds, and at Blackheath, they will meet with much important information. The communications on this subject are followed by an account of seve ral societies instituted for the relief of married women during their lying-in, a species of charity which merits the attention of every lady who has it in her power to con tribute either money, or what is still more valuable, time, to the alleviation of the miseries of her fellow creatures. An account of some schools follows, which will be found both useful and interesting, particularly the account of the Shakspeare Walk female school, which does much honour to the active and persevering benerolence of the ladies concerned in it, and proves how much good may be produced, even in the most unfavourable situations,

for what situation can be more unfavourable than this, by the attention of ladies to the education and conduct of the female poor. A brief sketch is given of an establishment formed under the immediate superintendance of the Lady's Committee, for qualifying young women of a suitable age for the situations of nursery maids and schoolmistresses, an object which all must acknowledge to be very important, who have considered the effect of early impressions on the minds of children, and the difficulty. and delicacy of the attempt to give them habits of self government and self denial. In addition to moral and religious instruction, the young women admitted into the establishment will be taught reading, writing, arithmetic, needle-work and knitting, and be employed in domestic business. The establishment comprehends also a number of girls from seven to twelve years of age, to be instructed by the young women, who will thus acquire experience in the art of teaching. It will be obvious that an education which will qualify young women to act as nursery maids or schoolmistresses will fit them for other situations requiring intelligence and sound principles. The funds of the Ladies Committee are so small as necessarily to limit the scale of their institution, and even to be scarcely adequate to its maintenance. They trust, however, that they will receive support from those ladies who feel the importance of such an establishment.

FRANCE.

The Colleges for the education of the English, Irish, and Scotch Catholics in Paris, have, by a decree of the Emperor, been united into one establishment: and a course of Lectures on Philosophy is now delivering there in the Latin language.

ITALY.

Among the MSS. dug out from the ruins of Herculaneum, a fragment of a Latin

Poem has been discovered, containing above 60 hexameter verses, which relate to the battle of Actium and the death of Cleopatra. The MS. is written in large letters, and all the words are separated by points. Some hopes are entertained, that this will prove to be the poem of Varius, the friend of Horace and of Virgil; and that the whole of that work will be recovered.

RUSSIA.

The Government of China would not suf fer the learned men and artists attached to the Russian Embassy to proceed into the interior of the country. One of them, the Counsellor of State, SCHUBAT, intends to return by way of Northern Siberia, for the purpose of collecting in a country so little known to Europeans, every thing worthy of observation.

A judgment may be formed of the zeal for the sciences in the province of Kiow, from the circumstance, that, in three days, the sum of 500,000 roubles was subscribed for the support of the College established in that city.

Prince BESBORODKO has given a fund of 210,000 roubles, and an annual revenue of 15,000, to the College, which he has established at Naschin, in the Ukraine.

CHINA.

Sir GEORGE STAUNTON, having trans lated into the Chinese language a Treatise on the Vaccine Inoculation, (the first English work ever published in China), a general inoculation for the Cow Pox has taken place in the populous city of Canton. So far have this jealous people surmounted their prejudices in this instance, that a very large subscription has been raised for establishing an Institution in Canton, by means of which the inoculation is to be diffused into the neighbouring country, and the matter disseminated into every province of the Empire.

THEOLOGY.

BISHOP HALL's Works: vol. 5. containing xliii Sermons. demy 8vo. 8s. boards; royal, 12s.

The Book of Common Prayer, together with the Psalter or Psalms of David; to which is prefixed, an Introduction, comprising a History of the English Liturgy, a

Sketch of the Reformation of Religion in England, and a View of the English Translations of the Holy Scriptures. By the Rev. R. Warner, of Bath, 13s.

A Sermon. By E. Sandwith; preached at Sutton, near York, the 26th Feb. 1806, on the occasional Fast, 6d.

A Sermon occasioned by the Death of