anxiety throughout the Peninsula, and wherever the Spanish language extends. There is no other example in history of so singular a position. During the three years which had elapsed since the commencement of the struggle, Buonaparte had not only increased his power, but seemed also to have consolidated and established it; while Spain had endured all the evils of revolution without acquiring a revolutionary strength; and, what appeared more surprising, none of those commanding spirits which revolutions usually bring forth had arisen there. Enlightened Spaniards had with one consent called for the Cortes, as the surest remedy for their country; and in England they who were most friendly to the Spaniards, and they who were least so, had agreed in the propriety of convoking it. Long as the Cortes had been suspended, it was still a venerable name; and its restoration gladdened the hearts of the people. A fairer representation could not have been obtained if the whole kingdom had been free, nor a greater proportion of able men; the circumstances, also, in which they were placed, increased their claims to respect among a people by whom poverty has never been despised. Many of the members, having lost their whole property in the general wreck, were dependent upon friendship even for their food. For although a stipend was appointed, some of those provinces which were occupied by the enemy could find no means of paying it; and no provision for remedying this default had been yet devised. They who had professions could not support themselves by practising, because the business of the Cortes engrossed their whole attention. The self-denying ordinance, which they had passed, excluded them from offices of emolument; and there were deputies who sometimes had not wherewith to buy oil for a lamp to give them light. Under these circumstances they respected themselves, and were respected by the nation according to the true standard of their worth." iii. 100-2.

The work concludes with the return of Ferdinand to Spain, and the reception of the Duke of Wellington in England. In relating the important events which followed Ferdinand's return, Dr. Southey is certainly mistaken in some points, and we fear not very correct in others. As an instance of it, Ferdinand never deprived his uncle, the Cardinal of Bourbon, of his archbishopric; and it was to the use of the word vassal, and not subject, that the liberals objected. We shall leave Dr. Southey to triumph over the Whigs and their prophecies, and shall not remind him how much the mad, restless ambition of Napoleon contributed to the splendid triumphs of his enemies; nor shall we dispute whether foreign influence was or was not exercised to overthrow the constitution; but we must protest against the doctrine, that old political "evils which time has rendered inveterate," are made worse by removing them with the knife or the cautery. It would indeed be infinitely better, both for kings and people, if reforms were effected by the governments without revolution; but when we recollect how few kings have been wise enough to be reformers, we cannot but exclaim with Quintana

Oh miseros humanos!

Si vosotros no haceis vuestra ventura;
La esperareis jamas de los tiranos?

Tales of the Early Ages. By the Author of
Brambletye House,'' Zillah,' &c. 3 vols.
London, 1832. Colburn & Bentley.
To take up a portion of history, arrange it
into a narrative, people it with characters

That

true to nature, and the spirit of their times, and then put them all in action gracefully, and with dramatic effect, requires powers which are bestowed on few, and an accuracy of judgment such as is rarely seen. merit of this high order is claimed for Horace Smith we are aware; his publishers have placed him, in their announcements, on the table-land of British genius; nor are there wanting critics and readers who see, in his works, the presence of a spirit equal in beauty and strength to that which animates the romances of Scott. We have too much respect for the talents of Horace Smith, to suppose for a moment that he shares in the delusion of any such high-pitched commendations: he who knows so well the character of other men's works, cannot fail to know what belongs to his own; and we are sure that he must sometimes read those eulogiums with sorrow, which are strewn with no sparing hand through all accessible newspapers. He is many degrees below Scott in the life and beauty and strength of his characters; nay, he sometimes approaches more closely than we could desire, to the Wardrobe School of Novelists, viz. to those writers who give the costume of the time without the life and nerve. He is, however, a very lively describer; has the art of setting off to much advantage the characters and incidents which pertain to his story, and is skilful in the management of his plots. We must, nevertheless, acknowledge, that when we received the 'Tales of the Early Ages,' we opened them with fear, lest we should find his former faults increased, and his beauties lessened, for we felt that he had gone too far back into remote times to excite our sympathy. What can he tell us more, we thought, than history has related, of the days when the fortunes of the world were in the hands of Cæsar? What care we for those who figured at the Olympic games; or for the Scandinavian barbarians of the third century; and we have no desire to know the names of the people who loved, or prayed, or suffered, during the operations of the Council of Nice, in the year of salvation four hundred and odd: but when we turned up the page with The Siege of Caer-Broc' inscribed upon it, we altered our tone, and said —Come, this has something of our own little Island in it; we shall behold, as it were, the English gentleman in the dawn, and have a foretaste of the character of those bold yeomen who drew the bow at Cressy and at Agincourt: nor have we been deceived.

The story of the Siege of Caer-Broc is a simple one, and soon told. The Picts invade Kent; besiege the castle of a stubborn Briton, Gryffhod by name; are repulsed by the valour of Leoline, a youth of Roman extraction, and finally driven back to the waves by the coming of Hengist, the Saxon, who, finding in Guinessa, the ward of the British chief, his own long-lost daughter, bestows her on Leoline, who had won her love by his modesty and valour. The commencement of the tale will show in what spirit it is written :-

"Hark! did you not hear a noise from beyond those projecting sea-beaten crags to seaward of

us ?

No: I caught no sound. Listen ;-There it is again; you have a sluggish ear. But mine eyes are quick, for now I discern a shadow darkening the waters ahead of yonder outermost cliff. Would it were only the shadow of a cloud!

but it has a more fearful source; for lo! I perceive a long, dark, mis-shapen vessel looming heavily round the crag, and the dull sound I heard was that of the oars, which are doubtless muffled at the handle with hides, as is usual with these savage marauders.-Is she a pirate then?-She appertains, if I mistake not, to a nation of pirates. Her clumsy construction, her wickerwork sides covered with leather, her mast of unbarked pine, and her sail of painted matting, which remains hoisted, although there is not a breath of wind, assure me that she belongs to the Scots or Picts, who never visit the shores of unhappy Britain, except for the purposes of pillage, devastation and massacre. I cannot yet see any of the crew, who are hidden by the high bulwarks of their unwieldy barge, but I can now distinguish an object which confirms my apprehensions. See you not a large raft lashed to the stern of their vessel, bearing, amid lumber and plunder of all sorts, several prisoners, chained by the leg to the spars on which they are floating? Poor wretches! if they reach Scotland in safety, they are destined to pass the remainder of their lives in slavery; but they may perhaps share a happier doom by finding an early grave in the ocean, for their captors, if they encounter blowing weather, or are anxious to expedite their return, will not scruple to cut the raft adrift, and leave all that are upon it to perish of hunger, or be overwhelmed in the waves. Except with a view to slavery, human life is of so little value in the eyes of these barbarians, that they usually murder the young, the old, and the feeble, where they have encountered any resistance; and in their marauding descents upon the coast attach much more value to the quadrupeds, which they come to purloin, than to their biped possessors. So frequent and so fell have been their invasions, that the unfortunate Britons, abandoning the northern coasts, have mostly retired with their cattle to inland caves, rocks and forests; and the ravagers are now obliged to extend their predatory voyages as far south as to these coasts of Kent. From the circumstance of her towing so large a raft, I doubt not that the vessel we are contemplating has been successful in her cruise, and that, besides the other plunder in her hold, the brine casks and tubs with which the marauders commonly provide themselves for that purpose, are filled with the cattle they have stolen and slaugh. tered, for on these more distant expeditions they do not always preserve them alive.

"Look! several of the crew are now visible, standing upon the bulwarks, and pointing towards the creek, for which the helmsman is evidently steering. There is something awful in the silence with which they advance through the moon-lighted waters, for it betrays the hostility of their purpose, and methinks the men wear a singularly ghastly and spectral appearance. Is it an apparition of the night, or a real vessel? Alas! I can no longer doubt that it is a pirate of the worst description; the men are Picts, whose half-naked bodies, painted of a blue colour, assume in the moonlight a most hideous and corpse-like hue. Ha! she has a comrade. I see another vessel heaving heavily round the crags. The first has now passed into the creek, as far as the depth of water will allow, and the men are preparing to land. Let us crouch down, and hide ourselves, for they will slay all whom they encounter, especially if they be likely to betray their approach." iii. 192-96.

There is the sort of nature which we like, this little national story; yet we are not and that kind of description we admire, in sure that the author is very accurate in his historical details. The Picts were not maritime adventurers; and, natives of the island themselves, they could not be called with propriety invaders of Britain; neither did

the Saxons use trumpets in their warlike expeditions; they were taught the use of them by the Normans in a way little to their liking.

We have confined our remarks to this story, although we have read the others with nearly equal interest. The Involuntary Prophet' is a tale of the first century-Theodore and Tilphosa' of the second-Olof and Brynhilda' of the third-and 'Sebastian and Lydia' of the fourth:-all are illustrative of manners, and in all we have been well pleased with the skill with which the author conducts his heroes and heroines through the winding avenues of a difficult narrative, and the dramatic spirit of the conversations; but we could not afford equal room to all, and CaerBroc comes nearest our own times and homes, and is therefore most likely to interest our readers.

A Practical View of Ireland from the Period of the Union. By James Butler Bryan, Barrister-at-Law. 1832. Dublin, Wakeman; London, Simpkin & Marshall. THERE is no more mischievous calumny promulgated, than that the people of England are hostile to their Irish brethren, insensible to their sufferings, or regardless of their just claims. In her seasons of distress, in her hours of misery, Ireland has found the purse of her richer sister opened, and her bounties granted with no sparing hand; in all her constitutional struggles, English statesmen have been her most steady champions, and English journalists her most zealous advocates. Yet do we daily witness in certain liberal speeches and pamphlets, the attempt to impress on the Irish, that for them the people of this country have no sympathy, and the argument put forward as the most powerful dissuasive against party feuds is, "lest you should become the jest of the haughty Saxon." Without at all entering on the forbidden ground of politics, we take ohis opportunity of declaring for our counttrymen, that there is no people for whom they entertain a more sincere regard, none whose merits they more cheerfully acknowledge, none whose defects they more gladly conceal, none whose misfortunes they are more anxious to relieve, and whose evils they are more desirous to remove, than those of the merry and excitable population united to them by the bands of law, and soon, we hope, to be more closely joined by the bonds of love.

The Practical View of Ireland contained in the excellent work before us, is precisely that which we have been long desirous to see laid before the British public; it is a calm, temperate, and manly exposition of the present state of that country; it doth "nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." The causes of distress, discontent, and disunion, are investigated by analytic reasoning too cogent to be resisted; the remedies suggested are deduced immediately from the nature and the cause of the evil; and we can discover no flaw in any part of the argument. Unlike most works that have been published on the harassing subject of Irish affairs, we can find in Mr. Bryan's volume no traces of party violence or religious zeal; for aught that occurs in the book he may be a Catholic or a Protestant, a Whig or a Tory; he spares the faults and conceals the merits of none;

and he withholds not the truth for the gratification of any.

The great object of Mr. Bryan is to prove the necessity of establishing a modified system of poor laws in Ireland, and he grounds this necessity on the peculiar relation between landlord and tenant in that country, strengthening his case by an examination of the several laws devised for the protection of the poor in every civilized country. The objections made to the poor laws by the ignorant, the prejudiced, the interested, or the designing, he honours with a refutation more serious than they merit, and, with wonderful forbearance, avoids exposing the paltry personal motives by which many of his opponents are actuated.

We find it difficult, in our limited space, to give an account of Mr. Bryan's views satisfactory to ourselves; but, as we trust that the volume itself will be very extensively read, we shall the less care for the de

ficiencies of the following outline.

| that wherever poor laws exist, the peasants are industrious, frugal, and contented: he thence proceeds to America, and shows, that in the populous states, a legal provision for the support of the poor is provided, and exposes the fraud or ignorance of certain reviewers who have chosen to assert the contrary.

The Irish code of laws arms the landlord with power infinitely greater, and more formidable, than he possesses in England; while, among all its multifarious enactments, there is not one designed for the protection of the tenant. The landlords in Ireland, also, from the operation of various causes, form a class, or caste, as distinct from the occupiers of the soil, as the Patricians were from the Plebeians in Rome, or the Norman conquerors from the Saxon serfs in England. Of course, the internal economy of Ireland is absolutely managed by an oligarchy; and as necessarily of course, that oligarchy is oppressive and detested-for no oligarchy can be otherwise. It would be useless to go over the ground that Niebuhr has already travelled, and show that oppression is an essential part of the existence of every oligarchy. Mr. Bryan, however, has done so, and has needlessly troubled himself to prove almost the only general principle that might be taken as an axiom in politics. The next step in the argument is to prove, that against the oppressions of the oligarchy,-oppressions, be it remembered, arising from the inherent viciousness of the system, and not from any depraved character of individuals, -a system of poor laws would afford efficient protection. This the author proceeds to establish from English history; for there are many striking points of similarity between the condition of England in the fifteenth, and of Ireland in the nineteenth century. The English lords of the soil were foreigners by descent, or at least deriving their tenures from a foreign invasion; the descendants of the old proprietors were the cultivators of the soil, and were subjected to every species of insult and exertion. Hence arose an intense hatred against the dominant caste, manifested by incessant agrarian insurrections, when Wat Tyler, Jack Cade, Jack Straw, the Rocks, and Terry Alts of the day, commenced that system of midnight legislation, which Munster enjoys now; and hence arose that violent national hatred of France, the country whence England's oppressors came, which lasted down even to our own memory. Now, England has not seen a regular agrarian insurrection since the establishment of poor laws, though, previous to that period, they were almost of annual occurrence. From England Mr. Bryan proceeds to the continent, and shows

Having made his argument from experience perfect, the author ingeniously shows that such beneficial results are the necessary consequence of a wise system of poor laws; because they make it the direct interest of the landlord to provide for the welfare of his tenant, and to encourage him to industry, by giving him a fair share of the profits of his own labours. Poor laws would soon banish rack-rents-that destructive system adopted by landlords, who have chosen for their model the conduct of the boy to the goose that laid golden eggs. Finally, Mr. Bryan proves that the evils resulting from the withholding of legal protection from the Irish peasantry, are proceeding in a rapidly-increasing ratio; that every year, almost every day, makes the mass of misery more unmanageable—the dangers of a servile war more imminent and appalling. His statistical tables are too important to be abridged, and too long to be extracted; but no figures of speech can equal the effect of his figures of arithmetic ;-notwithstanding the vast improvements in medical science, the average duration of life appears to be decreasing in Ireland-crime, on the contrary, is frightfully on the increase: misery and demoralization go hand in hand and where shall be an end?

One hypocritical objection to the introduction of the poor laws, has excited no small share of Mr. Bryan's contemptuous indignation-the assertion that their introduction would destroy charitable feeling as if the exactors of rack-rents were replete with soft sensibilities, and heartless absentees conspicuous for "the bowels of compassion."

We quote one passage on the subject, the eloquence of which consists in its perfect truth; and we then dismiss the work with our warmest commendations:

"Such is the mass of misery in Ireland, that individual charity turns from the besetting wretchedness of the people in despair. It cannot relieve every applicant, and nothing renders the human heart more callous than to behold misery, disease, and sorrow at your threshold, and to be compelled to tell the sufferer that you can administer no relief; so that this general distress destroys, eventually, efficient individual charity. Lady Glengall says, "that the Irish gentry are so accustomed to sights of misery, that they are indifferent to the sufferings of the poor.' If individual charity did exist in Ireland amongst the upper orders, why do the landlords

extort exorbitant rents (to use the language of Swift) out of the bowels, sweat, and rags of the poor,' and then turn them adrift? Why are they corrupt magistrates and jobbing grand jurors, oppressing and plundering our miserable people? Why stalks famine, with its consequent fever and crime, through Ireland, while we export food to the amount of eight millions a year? This is the charity which Irish landlords would no doubt perpetuate-this is the economy of Irish benevolence!"

On this passage the following brief extract is an appropriate commentary:

"It is notorious that the corn exported from Ireland to the British ports, was purchased up by the agents of the London Tavern Committee, in the year 1823, and sent back to Ireland, to

"The Nazir went to the Rawula, and as he pronounced the words 'Rao sidáóe,' the Chohaní queen, with sixteen damsels in her suite, came forth: This day,' said she, 'is one of joy; my race shall be illustrated; our lives have passed together, how then can I leave him?

"Of noble race was the Bhattiani queen, a scion (sac'ha) of Jessul, and daughter of Birjung. She put up a prayer to the Lord who wields the discus. With joy I accompany my lord; that my fealty (sati) may be accepted, rests with thee.' In like manner did the Gazelle (Mirgavati) of Derawul, and the Tuár queen of pure blood, the Chaora Rani, and her of Shekhavati, invoke the name of Herí, as they determined to join their lord. For these six queens death had no terrors; but they were the affianced wives of their lord: the curtain wives of affection, to the number of fifty-eight, determined to offer themselves a sacrifice to Agní. Such another opportunity,' said they, 'can never occur, if we survive our lord; disease will seize and make us a prey in our apartments. Why then quit the society of our lord, when at all events we must fall into the hands of Fama, for whom the human race is but a mouthful? Let us leave the iron age (Kal-yuga) behind us.' 'Without our lord, even life is death,' said the Bhattiani, as she bound the beads of Toolsi round her neck, and made the tilac with earth from the Ganges. While thus each spoke, Nat'hoo, the Nazir, thus addressed them:'This is no amusement; the sandal-wood you now anoint with is cool: but will your resolution abide, when you remove it with the flames of Agní? When this scorches your tender frames, your hearts may fail, and the desire to recede will disgrace your lord's memory. Reflect, and remain where you are. You have lived like Indrani, nursed in softness amidst flowers and perfumes; the winds of heaven never offended you, far less the flames of fire.' But to all his arguments they replied: "The world we will abandon, but never our lord., They performed their ablutions, decked themselves in their gayest attire, and for the last time made obeisance to their lord in his car.

"The drum sounded-the funeral train moved on-all invoked the name of Heri. Charity was dispensed like falling rain, while the countenances of the queens were radiant as the sun. From heaven Umia looked down; in recompense of such devotion she promised they should enjoy the society of Ajít in each successive transmigration. As the smoke, emitted from the house of flame, ascended to the sky, the assembled multitudes shouted Khaman! Khaman! 'well done! well done! The pile flamed like a volcano; the faithful queens laved their bodies in the flames, as do the celestials in the lake of Mansurwar. They sacrificed their bodies to

their lord, and illustrated the races whence they

sprung." p. 92-4.

this extraordinary personage, he looked up at me for an instant, and exclaiming, 'What does he want here?' quietly resumed his game. When it was finished, I presented my nuzzur to the inspired (for madness and inspiration are here synonymous), which he threw amongst the bystanders, and bolted over the ruins, dragging through the brambles a fine shawl some one had presented to him, and which, becoming an impediment, he left there. In these moods none durst molest him, and when inclined for food or pastime, his wants were quickly supplied. For one moment I got him to cast his mental eye back upon the past, and he mentioned something of Adina Bég and the Punjab (of which they say he was an inhabitant); but the oracle deigned nothing farther." p.764-5.

We conclude by submitting to the General Board of Health, a plan adopted by a Hindoo chief for banishing Murri (the cholera) from

his dominions:

"It was only during our last journey through Boondí, that I was amused with my friend's expedient to keep 'death' out of his capital, and which I omitted to mention, as likewise the old

not

go

Regent's mode of getting rid of this unwelcome visitor in Kotah; nor should they be separated. Having assembled the Bramins, astrologers, and those versed in incantations, a grand rite was got up, sacrifice made, and a solemn decree of desvatto, or banishment, was pronounced against Murri. Accordingly, an equipage was prepared for her, decorated with funeral emblems, painted black, and drawn by a double team of black oxen; bags of grain, also black, were put into the vehicle, that the lady might forth without food, and driven by a man in sable vestments, followed by the yells of the populace. Murri was deported across the Chumbul, with the commands of the priests that she should never set foot again in Kotah. No sooner did my deceased friend hear of her expulsion from that capital, and being placed en chemin for Boondí, than the wise men of this city were called on to provide means to keep her from entering therein. Accordingly, all the water of the Ganges at hand was in requisition, an earthen vessel was placed over the southern portal, from which the sacred water was continually dripping, and against which no evil could prevail. Whether my friend's supply of the holy water failed, or Murri disregarded such opposition, she reached his palace." p. 688-9.

England and France; or, a Cure for Ministerial Gallomania. London, 1832. Murray.

THIS work is composed in much the same spirit as Hogarth's Gate of Calais,' and Smollett's descriptions in Peregrine Pickle;' it is an appeal to the nationality of England, against an imaginary prevalence of French opinions, and is inscribed in a sneering dedication to Earl Grey, as the most eminent Gallomaniac of these times. We see that some of the newspapers are mightily nettled at the opinions given and the facts recorded by this satiric writer; and the shrewd Ediwork to the unfriendly pen of one of the tor of the Morning Chronicle ascribes the Premier's pensioned Tories-that he is a Tory will admit of no doubt. Many will look grave, and some will smile, at the nationality of the following passage :

sacked their towns, wasted their treasures, and despoiled them of their fairest provinces. Cressy, and Poitiers, and Agincourt, are not

yet forgotten, although we seem to have consigned to oblivion the days of Ramillies, and Malplaquet, and Blenheim, and although our present rulers appear to have fallen in with the Gallic estimate of those military mistakes, which

we,

tories of Alexandria and Salamanca,-Vittoria in our ignorance, were wont to call the vicand Waterloo. Under the most powerful of their legitimate sovereigns, we maintained against the French nation a long, an arduous, but, in the end, successful contest. This neverceasing struggle was, at the commencement of the present century, by them conducted with unprecedented exertion, and under extraordinary advantages: new sources of action, novel springs of conduct, all the excitement of a marvellous revolution, and a leader of superhuman energies.

"Colonies and Commerce in the modern world have succeeded to the territorial Conquest of the ancient. The old Bourbons, and even Napoleon himself, found that territorial aggrandisement could not be carried, or at least permanently maintained, beyond a certain limit in the old world; and the real object of France, however she may have dazzled us with military spectacle, has long been to rival us as the great commercial and colonial power of Europe. Our collision with our American colonies reanimated her with hope at a moment of despair; but, in spite of all our mischances, and notwithstanding the ulterior efforts of Napoleon, the contest ended by our sweeping her fleets from the Ocean, and reducing her, as a colonial power, to the lowest class. So rooted in her mind is this resolution, that it is known to the wellinformed, that however the French King might have been reconciled to the recent invasion of Spain, by the prospect of supporting legitimacy and the certainty of forming an army, the ulterior purpose of the celebrated Minister, who advocated that invasion with an eloquence which will not easily be forgotten, was the acquisition of the revolted Colonies of Spanish America. M. de Chateaubriand, I understand, now glories in this avowal, and confesses that the discovery of this scheme by the sagacity of Mr. Canning occasioned his dismissal."

This lively little book will be much read in these stirring days of agitation and change

it might have been written in a milder and more benevolent spirit, and been nothing the worse.

The Rajah Rammohun Roy on the Judicial

and Revenue Systems of British India. Smith, Elder, & Co.

THE learning, benevolence, and talent, of this distinguished Rajah, together with his opportunities for observation, render all the opinions which he expresses concerning our Eastern dominions, worthy of attention. He has, since his arrival in England, mixed largely in society: his agreeable manners, his strict observance of the etiquette of polished life, and the eloquence with which he discourses on the institutions and various nations of his native land, have made him much limited though it be in its nature lower him of a favourite: nor will the present work,

the least in the estimation of all who have

the welfare of England and India at heart. We may briefly state, that he speaks with respect of the talents and the wisdom which have united in acquiring, without much bloodshed or wrong, an empire more extensive in its limits and more powerful in arms than some of the boasted kingdoms of antiquity-an empire which is not guided by princes or ministers, but managed by a Committee of Merchants residing three months'

sail from the banks of the Indus. He speaks with approbation of the system of rule adopted and acted upon in maintaining the spirit of the old institutions-in respecting the usages and the religion of the people, and in protecting the persons and property of all classes and castes. All that the Rajah has said in this book has been printed by the House of Commons-we shall therefore make no extracts: he promises an account of his travels and opinions-we trust the work will soon

appear.

Sermons, by the Reverend Richard Cattermole. London, 1832. Fellowes.

LEARNING and piety unite in rendering the present volume a welcome addition to our stock of devout works. The author is the well-known Secretary of the Royal Society of Literature, where he has rendered himself generally agreeable, by performing his duties in a way mild and unostentatious. These sermons are ten in number; and though the texts for which his learning and talent supplied the illustrations, cannot be considered as new, we have no hesitation in saying, that he has acquitted himself like a scholar and anxious christian. There is more plain sound sense than commanding eloquence in these pages; and though there is much which the audience before whom the sermons were delivered, could not fail to be well acquainted with, still, there is a large share of what is new and original. The ninth sermon, 'On praying for daily bread,' is much to our liking; so is that 'On Love to God,' and likewise the one On Divine and Human Will.' There is, however, as the author well knows, no perfection in human works-we wish that it had been his pleasure to be more simple and familiar.

Cholera, as it recently appeared in the Towns of Newcastle and Gateshead. By T. M. Greenhow. London, 1832. AMONG the practical works now publishing on this subject, this must be considered one of the most useful, interesting, and best written. It deserves to be classed with the very valuable ones of Messrs. Bell and Orton.

Lectures delivered at the Mechanics' Institution on

Oxygen, Carbon, and Vitality, the three great agents in the Physical Character of Man; with remarks on the Asiatic Cholera. By George Rees, M.D. London, 1832. THESE lectures are as instructive as they are interesting, and do equal honour to the head and heart of Dr. Rees.

OUR LIBRARY TABLE.

Three ladies, but of diverse natures, have laid their offerings on our table: the modest Muse who inspires British verse; the more knowing lady who presides over prose tale and story; and the Muse-we should rather say Fury-who pours venom into lampoons and politics. With the latter, indeed, we never meddle, save to correct matters of fact or of taste: we have no wish to embark in such a shoreless sea, where many noble spirits suffer shipwreck.

'Vedder's Orcadian Sketches.'-The author of this interesting little volume was born in humble life, we believe: saw many vicissitudes of fortune both by sea and land, and obtaining knowledge in that great academy called the world, turned it to such account, that he not only obtained a comfortable situation in the service of his country, at Dundee, but has acquired honours both in verse and prose. We are not of that class of critics who wish to excite a reader's sympathy in the fortunes of an author as a sort of recompense for undervaluing his genius: we allude to the parentage of Mr. Vedder for

the purpose of putting him into that class of Scottish spirits to which he belongs, and claiming him as an honourable addition to that distinguished rank called the Peasant Poets of Scotland. It would be easy to prove by specimens, in the humorous as well as the serious, that our northern friend has great merit, in both legends and lyrics: his songs have life and nature, and his prose sketches are simple and effective. We have neither space for specimen nor discussion: we must content ourselves with

saying, that, of his prose, the sea adventures are most to our liking; and that, in his poetry, he abounds with happy lines which cling to the memory. He has none of those glaring atrocities of style or infirmities of taste which are sometimes visible in the self-educated. We respect the poet and the man, and wish him all the success-and that is not little-which such worth and talent deserve.

'The Immortality of the Soul, and other Poems,' by David Malloch.-The principal poem in this little volume was written in competition for the prize at the University of Edinburgh, and its success induced the author to retouch it with a

careful and more experienced hand, and present it in its present shape to the world. The subject is of a daring nature, too daring perhaps for any poets but those of the highest order: and we really wonder that a learned University gave out such a theme for competition among inexperienced youths. We are far, however, from being displeased with the poem by which Mr. Malloch obtained the prize: on the contrary, it is deficient neither in language, imagery, nor sentiment: it is true that some of the imagery is too fanciful, and some of the language a little flowery-nay, we were oftener than once at a loss for the meaning, and not unfrequently sighed for greater simplicity of diction: yet we were gratified with the ardour of much of the verse, and pleased with the fervent piety of many of

the lines.

'De la Voye's Mélange.'-This is a very curious book: nor is that all, it has been as curiously produced. It is the attempts in English verse of à French scholar, who says, that a few years ago he could not be understood in England without an interpreter. "The principal motive," says the author, "for bringing before the public this nondescript kind of a book, originated in the repeated jests of several English gentlemen, who laughed at the idea of a Frenchman's attempting to compose blank verse, or any style of English poetry." There is some true poetry about this good-natured Frenchman: he sees with a poet's eye, and feels with a poet's heart; but he has certainly not yet acquired such mastery in the English tongue, as will secure his verses against the captiousness of critics solicitous in the matter of language, or quite put to shame his laughing friends. We must, indeed, acknowledge, that, serious as is our vocation, we could not but smile upon occasions: the author handles some of our words in such sort, as we are sure they were never handled before, and compels others to perform a duty which no native would presume to subject them to. We like, however, the enthusiasm of M. De la Voye: and there are lines and pictures, in his 'Sunrise,' not unworthy of a poet.

'Childhood, and other Poems,' by I. Norval, Glasgow. There is much that is sweet, and much that is poetical, in this small volume; and we know no better way of recommending it to notice, than by quoting the lines with which the poem of 'Childhood' commences :

Like the swallow, light o'er the giddy wave
The cutter she glides while the ripples lave
Her sea green sides, as, with sail unfurled,
She goes, like a thing of another world!
On the silver sheet, the dancing ray
Of the morning sun is seen to play,
As she rocks afar o'er the bounding tide,
Like a lover to gain his winsome bride!

'Discourses and Sacramental Addresses,' by the Rev. D. B. Baker.-There is a vein of pious reflection, and an earnest desire for human welfare, running through every page of this book, which cannot fail to recommend it to the good and the devout: but we cannot praise it either for the originality of its views, or the masculine vigour of its language.

'Waterloo; a Poem,' by Thomas Jackson, Esq.-It was the object of the author to draw up the British army in the exact order in which it stood on the morning of the Battle of Waterloo; and he flatters himself, he says, that he has done this with great accuracy. He is, however, infinitely more skilful in drawing soldiers up,. than in leading them on to strife; and we have no hesitation in averring, that if our countrymen had not fought the good fight on that day, with more impetuosity and fire, than it has been the pleasure of the muse to employ on the present occasion, there would have been but a beggarly account of the affair, instead of a victory which astounded Europe, and hurled her conqueror from his throne. We cannot imagine what has induced a kind, well-meaning man, to climb the charnel mound of Waterloo, and sound his feeble horn on the resting-place of heroes, over whom so many trumpets have been blown, and inspired songs in all languages sung.

'Sacred Poetry,' by a Layman.-It has been our fate to meet with poems on martial subjects, in which we perceived none of the whirlwind and fire necessary for a heady fight; and now we are doomed to read sacred poetry by a Layman, which has little of the true fervour and elevation which the matter demands. We love the devout and the sober-minded; but our advice is to all men-Lift not, we beseech you, the lyre, either sacred or profane, unless you have skill in touching the strings.

'The Tinder-Box.'-Burn some linen to tinder; take a steel in one hand and a good flint in the other, and strike the two together over the aforesaid combustible, and you will raise as much fire as may serve the need of both yourself and your neighbour.-To communicate the above important fact, some one has written and printed these forty pages; we shall have volumes composed yet to teach drunkards how to swallow drams.

'The Bee and the Wasp.'-This, an agreeable fable in verse, with a moral, which, though not new, is illustrated with entertaining cuts by Cruikshank.

'Prize Letters to Students.'-To these letters was awarded, by a committee of literary gentlemen in New York, the prize of fifty dollars, offered for the production best adapted to exert a purifying and elevating influence upon the character of students. The work has been reprinted by Westley & Davis, and deserves to succeed. The letters are fourteen in number, and their object is to recommend meekness and piety to the young and the thoughtless. We hope they have done and will continue to do good: the youth of these latter days have need of some one to teach them to doubt less and believe more.

'Broken Chains, a Poem in Four Cantos,' printed at Paris.-There is much that we like in this poem; the author, however, describes his heroine in a manner much two literal for our taste:

Her head-dress conical in shape, Her plaited frill, her snow-white cape, Her velvet bodice neatly laced, Her apron short with pockets graced, Her crimson kirtle that concealed Just half the leg, whilst it revealed The foot and ankle-all betrayed A young and lovely Norman maid. 'Achmet's Feast, and other Poems,' by Richard Boid, B.A., of Magdalen College, Cambridge. He trimmed his little bark of hope, And launched it on the sea, And merrily before the gale

He steered in extasy.