FOREIGN QUARTERLY REVIEW, No. XVII. will be published on Monday, the 30th instant. Soho-square, Jan. 25. THE MONTEW SERIES.MAGAZINE, The Number for February contains a graphic Sketch of ANTIRADICAL, with an Ode to SIR CHARLES WETHERELL. The Contents are 1. A Project for the Diffusion of Useful Ignorance-II. Opening of Parliament-III. Lives of celebrated Travellers-IV. Ode to Sir C. Wetherell; with the Portrait of Anti-Radical-V. Specimets of Latin Comedy: The Captives-Plautus-VI. Calamities of Carving-VII. A Modest Defence of Literary Puffing!-VIII. The Parisian Newspaper Press-IX. Rivers!-X. The Currency and the Bank of England-XI. Elliston and the Ass's HeadXII. A Legend of the Egean-XIII. Sonuet, from PetrarchXIV. Sketch of a Warrior of the 19th Century-XV. The Polish Widow to her Son-XVI. Tithes versus Rent, No. 2-XVII. Parliamentary Pastorals, No. 1, by Corydon Croker; No. 2, by the Damon of Newcastle-XVIII. Dramatic Monopoly-XIX. Brevities-XX. The Lay of the Lost Minstrel-XXI. Notes of the Month on General Affairs-XXII. Review of Books. The Drama. Fine Arts. Literary Notices. Agricultural Report, &c. &c. Whittaker and Co. London. Price 6d, published this day, No. 1. of a new and very splendid Monthly Periodical, called the LADIES' CABINET of FASHION, MUSIC, and ROMANCE, which contains, besides a very considerable and well-written Collection of Original Tales, Poetry, Romance, Sketches of Character, and other Pieces of a light, amusing, and instructive description, the following: 1. Four Plates, containing Seven Engravings of all the latest Fashions for January, etched in a superior manner and correctly coloured, with a full and complete description of each Dress. 2. A splendid Engraving on Steel. 3. An entirely Original and Popular Song, entitled 'The Wedding Bells,' written expressly for this work, with new Music, by a first-rate Composer. 4. A very superior and well-finished Wood Engraving, illustrative of a Romantic Tale of the present day. 5. The Italian, a Ballad, by a distinguished Author. Fashionable Mélange: Notes of the Month; the Theatres; the Chat of the Day; Fashionables in Paris, &c. &e. Published by G. Henderson, 2, Old Bailey, corner of Ludgatehill, and sold by all Booksellers and Newsmen. LANCET.-Diseases of Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Swine, and Dogs. The Course of Lectures on VETERINARY MEDICINE, now delivering by Mr. YOUATT, at the London University, will be published in the two volumes of The Lancet for 1831-2. Edited by Mr. WAKLEY. Lectures from 1. to XIII. are now published, and the rest will be contuned, two or more weekly, with the usual quantity of medical and surgical lectures, cases, and criticisms. This course will contain the result of twenty-five years' experience and scientific study of brute animals, forming such a treatise as will have no parallel in this or any other language. Published by G. L. Hatchinson, Lancet Office, 210, Strand, London, price Eightpence. SEL On the 1st of February will be published, ELECT SPECIMENS of the EDIFICES of PALLADIO; consisting of Plans, Sections, and Elevations with Details of Four of his most admired Buildings at Vicenza, from Drawings and Measurements taken by F. ARUNDALE. The work will contain 12 Plates, engraved, in the ablest manner, in folio, accompanied with a Life of Palladio, translated from the Italian of Milizia, and a brief Description of each Edifice. Price 1. 1s. Published by the Author, 4, Stanhope-terrace, Regent's Park; and sold at J. Taylor's Architectural Library, High Holborn; Priestley and Weale, High-street, Bloomsbury; Longman and Co. Paternoster-row; and It. Ackermann, 96, Strand-where Subscribers' names will be received. Just published, the First Number (to be continued every alternate month) of PICTURESQUE MEMORIALS of SALISBURY; a Series of spirited and highly-finished Etchings and Viguettes, from Drawings taken expressly for the occasion, by a Young Artist of rising eminence; and comprising Views of interesting Buildings, and other Remains of Antiquity, in that City and Neighbourhood. Edited, with Descriptive Notices, by the Rev. PETER HALL, M.A. Author of the History of Wimborne Minster, Dorset.' Published by W. H. Dalton, Cockspur-street, Charing-cross; William Pickering, Chaucery-laue; and Michael Angelo Nattali, Tavistock-street, Covent-garden. Sold also by Messrs. W. B. Brodie and Co. Salisbury; Messrs. Robbins and Wheeler, Winchester and Joseph Parker, Oxford; by all of whom Specimens of the Drawings and Engravings are exhibited, and Subscribers' names received. 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A new edition will speedily be published. followed by its appropriate answer, not only in Aucient and Modern History, in which the whole is arranged in chronological order, but also in Biography, Astronomy, Heathen Mythology, Classical Phraseology, and a great and interesting variety of miscellaneous subjects; the whole tending to enlarge the boundaries of Juvenile Knowledge, by increasing its stores; and thus, by blending such a course of general information with sound classical or liberal learning, to raise a better superstructure of School Education. By JOSEPH GUY, Formerly of the Royal Military College. London: Printed for Baldwin and Cradock, Paternoster-row. Where may be had, new editions of the following popular School Books the same Author: This day was published, with many Engravings, price 58. of SCIENCE, and ANNUAL REGISTER of the USEFUL ARTS, for 1832: abridged from the Transactions of Public Societies, and Scientific Journals, British and Foreign, for the past year. *** This volume will contain all the Important Facts of the year 1831-in the Mechanic Arts-Chemical Science-ZologyBotany-Mineralogy-Geology-Meteorology-Rural EconomyGardening-Domestic Economy-Useful and Elegant Aris-Mis cellaneous Scientific Information. Printed for John Limbird, 143, Strand; of whom may be had volumes (upon the same plan) for 1828, price 4s. 6d., 1829—30—31, price 5s. each. HE A NEW ANNUAL REGISTER.-Price only 8s. Uniform with the new editions of the Waverley Novels, Lord Byron's Works, Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia, &c. Nearly ready, price 8s.; or in elegant Turkey morocco, gilt edges, 10s. 6d. 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HE YOUNG GENTLEMAN'S BOOK; containing a Series of choice Readings in Popular Science and Natural History, together with Retrospective Essays, Conversations, Literary Reminiscences, &c. London: Printed for Hamilton, Adams and Co.; John Cumming, Dublin; Constable and Co. Edinburgh; Galignani, Paris; and W. Jackson, New York. The attention of Ladies, Artists, Drawing Masters, &c. is respectfully solicited to VIZETELLY, BRANSTON aad Co.'s Ornamental FR RAME TABLETS, in various Sizes, Tints, and Patterns, for Mounting Drawings, Prints, &c. and for Drawing upon; possessing considerable advantages over every other article that has hitherto been applied to the same purpose. They are much more effective, as they harmonize with, and seem to form part of, the Drawing itself. They will lie flat in the Portfolio or Album, and are less liable to soil. They are considerably cheaper; particularly the larger sizes, many of which are not more than half the price. 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Journal of English and Foreign Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts. LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1832. PRICE FOURPENCE. In compliance with the desire of many well-informed persons, to extend as much as possible the diffusion of General Literature and Useful Knowledge, this Paper has been REDUCED IN PRICE from Eightpence to FOURPENCE, at which rate all the previous Numbers may now be had. REVIEWS Britain's Historical Drama: a Series of WE cordially agree with Mr. Pennie, that quire a high degree of philosophic and poetic and descriptions-good speeches enough, lines, or epithets, which individualize 'per- Amid yon sparkling flames; but spare, O spare Arch Druid. Pollution! infamy! and horror! He is no son of mine!-torments and racks! I know him not!-Distraction, hell, and darkness! Ari. Ah! believe him not! speak to any modern tragedian of Shakspeare; To instant death! but we would remind Mr. Pennie of two the characters lived and moved under au spices widely different from our own; in his country And did they crown him then?- also, Bertha's picture of the wandering 6 merit, though not of the kind peculiarly de- Ari. Off! touch him not! he is [Snatching Uthyr from the Arch Druid. There are in this volume many minor ficiency of poetry, it would require little faults, which, apart from the general dethem, trusting that Mr. Pennie will bring trouble to remedy; but we do not mention of prose, in which we shall be happy to meet his knowledge and ability to the composition him. Meanwhile, we are glad that the patronage of the King, and a noble list of subscribers, ensure his present laborious effort from substantial disappointment. The most poetical portions of the work are the 'Bardic Chaunts." Travels in the Brazils, by Command of Maximilian Joseph, King of Bavaria, &c. By the late Dr. J. B. Von Spix, and Dr. C. F. P. Von Martins. 3rd and last vol. Munich, 1831. detail and scientific research. It is illustrated conception, in union with dramatic tact and talent. Copious stage directions, as to costume and position, will not stamp identity on the dramatis persona; and amidst descriptions of scenery, given with antiquarian accuracy, we may feel that the characters themselves are modern; their language, prejudices, and knowledge, the growth of the present century. It is not easy to cast a character in the mould of any age but our own: the heroes of most authors are, howTHE third volume of Spix and Martins' 'Traever designated or disguised, rarely other dooms to be sacrificed, the child of the high-vels in the Brazils,' which has recently left than the author's contemporaries: it is far priestess, whose relationship to the boy inthe Munich press, is replete with novelty of easier to show passions and prejudices involves, if proved, her own sacrifice; and their essential similarity, than in the modifications which they derive from peculiar eras. A suit of splendid armour and a bald head will not present us with a Cæsar, or a plumed hat a Henri Quatre. To delineate strikingly the leading minds of any period, requires a well-digested knowledge of the entire period itself; and even this knowledge is not sufficient: we still want the grand power, that of poetic conception-the grasp, the vision, and the tongue of the poet-the inspiration, or, to speak less vaguely, the imagination which "draws all things to one" -which impersonates the dead oblivious past, and breathes into it the breath of life, loveliness, and truth-the Pard-like spirit beautiful and swift. Now, it is in this that the National Tragedies' are deficient: we look for evoked minds, and are met by lists of names; we desire evidence of the motives, feelings, impressions, character, of the mighty ones the other, where the British prince dis- the book:- Arch Druid. By great Bell, There is some fatal mystery in this! Thus, thus to hold thee fast, till thou hast given Arch Druid. Give him to thee! brought before us; and we have speeches The blood-stained knife of death!-burn me alive by seven charts, and two plates of miscellaneous drawings from nature, and contains the result of the travellers' voyage up the great river of Amazons, to its entrance at the bor ders of what has hitherto been termed the Spanish Brazils, as well as some account of partial explorings along the three tributary streams, the Yupurâ, Rio Negro, and Madeira. Nearly a century has elapsed since these regions were visited by any member of the scientific world; therefore a comparison of the present volume with Condamine's report in 1743, will enable the inquiring reader to appreciate the changes, which have occurred in this quarter of the New World since his times. Having said thus much on the contents of the volume, we shall proceed to translate such passages from it, as are most likely to interest the general reader. Whilst at Parâ, the "white ant" was the occasion of a singular annoyance to the travellers "A feeling of unpleasant chill, which ex tended right across our bodies, awoke us one night. We felt about us in the dark, and discovered a cold greasy-feeling mass, swarming onwards across the bed. It was formed by a myriad train of Termites, and the linear space, which they occupied, running upon and against each other at all points, was eighteen inches wide. They followed their beat in a straight line, without suffering themselves to be disturbed by the fate of those who preceded them, and had been killed by the application of hot water. There was no end to the march of these insects until break of day, by which time the slain had accumulated to a large basket-full. Fortunately, they found nothing in the apartment which could attract their voracity; some oil-paintings only had been stripped of their colours and canvas." Whilst in the same town, Dr. Martins enjoyed an opportunity of witnessing the "Ororuca," which occurs at spring-tides, and is ascribed, by the credulous Indian, to the malignity of the evil spirit. "Thirty minutes after one o'clock, in the afternoon," says Dr. Martins, "I heard a tremendous roar, like the thunder of a mighty waterfall; I turned aside; and a quarter of an hour afterwards a lofty wave of water, fifteen feet high, made its appearance; it stretched across the entire breadth of the river, and rolled onwards with great rapidity, the waves thrown from the summit being instantly replaced by the swell behind. The tumult occasioned by its first onset had scarce subsided, when the waters again collected into a rampart, reared themselves aloft with frightful clatter, and, shaking the affrighted banks to their very foundations, rushed up the river in the shape of a wall of billows. This appearance was the operation of half-an hour." This phenomenon, we must observe, is not peculiar to the Amazons; it occurs in many other rivers; the Lynn Bore is well known; and Heber gives a similar account of the sudden rise of the Ganges. The rushing of the Ororuca, or Pororoca, may however deserve a few more words. It is heard at a distance of four or five miles; and the velocity with which the wave forces itself up the river causes it to overturn everything in its course: in some places large portions of the banks are seen hurried along by it, and also trees of a considerable size which have been torn up by their roots. It has been observed, that it is only in those parts of the river where the channel is narrow and impeded by sand banks that this phenomenon prevails. The ravages of the tides on this part of the South American coast, assisted, no doubt, by the current produced by the trade winds, are very great; and the coast undergoes great changes, by portions of the shore, which are matted together by mangroves, being swept away to a distant part. Instances of this are common, and may, in some degree, account for the extreme shallowness of this part of the ocean. In ascending to the mouth of the Xingu, which flows from the south, and falls into the Amazon, the travellers 66 encountered heaps of floating timber, on which animals of various species had taken their seats. Here were storks reclining by the side of apes, and squirrels aside of ducks; nay, there was a trunk of cedar, on which an enormous crocodile had a tiger-cat for his neighbour; each was eyeing the other with a suspicious leer, though the crocodile appeared to make quite sure of his future prize." It seems that the natives hunt the fish, with which this stream abounds beyond all prece dent, with spear and arrow. They have likewise another weapon-the milky juice of a tree, for which the fish have a dainty palate, and with which the Indians poison the water." The result of the most diligent inquiries, which Dr. Martins and his companions could make, has been to convince them, that all the accounts we have of the far-famed race of Amazons, are a pure invention. At Ocellana, on the Xingu, which is said to have been their chosen seat, the party were enabled to form an acquaintance with a wandering tribe of "Muras Indians" : "In no quarter," says their narrative, "did we find the wretched condition of the American savage so melancholy and loathsome. Everything betokened, that even the first of nature's wants are satisfied in a way very little removed from that of the brute creation. Their hut, constructed of short trunks of trees, and covered with rushes and palm-leaves, is furnished with a low doorway, which serves also for window and chimney, and is scarcely longer than a swinging mat, made from the peeled bark of a tree. They had no household gear whatever: the female was quite as sparingly clad as her husband and children; the expression of their countenances was wild, fitful, and disgusting; and even a sense of freedom did not suffice to lend a smile to a breadth of features, haggard and overshaded with heaps of flowing tresses. Every one of their women bore, both in their faces and on their bodies, the traces of brutal treatment. In person, they were broad-moulded, extremely fleshy, and of middling stature; their complexion was generally a deep brown; they had scarcely any hair except upon the head, but in the male, it was discernible on the upper lip; and he rendered his gloomy physiognomy still more terrific, by the insertion of three immense hog's-teeth into his upper and nether lips. They prepare a species of tobacco, which, on the occasion of a festival, is blown into the nostrils by means of hollowed bones, and produces temporary insa nity, as well as brutal drunkenness; but this is after the men have interchanged tokens of amity, by scourging themselves in pairs with leathern straps, until their very blood gushes out. It is difficult to discover any motive for this practice. Whilst among these Indians, we had an opportunity of observing that the custom of eating earth really exists; clay is the substance used, in conjunction with the Mandiocca or fish; it is introduced as a supplementary dish. We were told, that this custom is widely prevafor it was, that it was comfortable to the stolent; and the only reason, which could be given mach." which flows above the mouth of the Rio NeOn the Barra, that portion of the Amazons gro, and is known by the Portuguese under the name of the "Solimoes," settlements of the Muras Indians were again discovered. "They collected in numbers, with the hope of purchasing brandy, and, as soon as the moon had risen, began their dances and singing; for this purpose, they formed a large circle, the men placing themselves on one side, and the women and children on the other." The danso-mania equally infected the Indians who accompanied the travellers; and their bacchanalian orgies lasted till morning. There is not much of poetry in their songs; with the men it was, "I'm a handsome de'il,-who will share my weal?” To which the women responded, "You are a handsome de'il-all women will share your weal." This question and answer were reiterated, with wild monotony, for hours toge|ther." How singular is the ingenuity, with which nature has endued some animals : "In the months of October and November, the tortoises collect in innumerable hosts from the adjacent lakes, for the purpose of depositing their eggs on the islands of sand, which stud the river. The site is first selected by a few individuals, who examine whether there be a sufficient depth of dry sand, and then return to the main body. When all is right, the business of laying the eggs begins. At night, and particularly when there is moonlight, one troop issues out of the stream after another. The females form a row in the middle, and their far less numerous, and more diminutive spouses walk beside them for their protection. A dark, moving mass now invests the sheet of sand, and the creatures move backwards and forwards with so much rapidity, that the rustling of their shells sounds, amidst the stillness of night, like the rattling of carriages at a considerable distance. The sandy plain is swiftly ploughed up, and the dust it occasions, obscures the horizon. Each female lays about a hundred eggs, after which operation, she covers the furrow with dry sand; and as soon as the sun is risen, the whole swarm hie back to the covert of the stream." We here close our translations from this valuable and interesting work, safely commending it, even in these days of all-absorbing and all-devouring politics, which have nearly borne science and literature to their grave, unto the hands of the same careful translator, who has already "rendered the two preceding volumes into faithful English." Probation, and other Tales. By the Author of Selwyn in search of a Daughter.' Edinburgh, 1832. Adam Black. THIS is the age of Tales, and yet every new work of that nature convinces us more and more that a clear and well-put-together story is no easy affair. "To bear is to conquer our fate," says the riddling motto of this book we have borne, but we are not sure that we have conquered; we have read, as we shall presently show, the chief story with much patience from beginning to end; yet we are far from certain of having mastered all the secrets of the narrative, or overcome all the dark spells which obscurity has cast in our way. We are concerned at this, for the volume is well written, exhibits considerable variety of character, contains many affecting and laughable incidents, and abounds in dramatic conversations. The hero of Probation' is Edmund Meredith, a Londoner; and the story commences with his grandfather, a rich merchant, who, on losing his housekeeper, looks for a wife, whom he finds in the daughter of Mr.Stanley, one of the dependents on government. This lady the old man purchases by accepting her with a portion payable in yearly instalments; but her father dies off in a year or two-the annual payments perish with him--and her husband, conceiving that he died on purpose to defraud him of his daughter's portion, hatred to her only son, then a child. This dislikes her accordingly, and extends his is well and briefly related by the author :— "The barter was concluded, and its brokenspirited victim handed over to her purchaser as coolly as the unconscious parchment ratifying the bargain. Jane had too little to lose by the change to resist when it would have availed her nothing. She guessed, if she did not wholly penetrate the compact; and when she saw her selfish father once more hold up his head in boyish gaiety, tried to forget that her new companion was his senior. "This poor consolation was not long afforded her. In defiance of the best calculations, Mr. Stanley died; and my grandfather, who always looked on the event as a fraudulent escape from his creditors, set himself to save off his daughter's scanty comforts the portion he had failed to realize. Jane cared little for this. She had always known privation, and habit had inured her to submission; and beside the cradle of an infant boy, she soon ceased to regret her father, or to dislike her husband. "It was no wonder, however, if under such circumstances her whole soul centered in her child, or that she loved him all the better for resembling in no one point of feature or character his low-born and low-minded father. With the personal advantages of poor Mr. Stanley, he united, unfortunately, too much of his aristocratic improvidence of disposition; and all who saw the boy, high-spirited, bold and independent as he grew up, under even a tyrannical parent, doubted that father's power to tame the youthful spirit to his own plebeian level! Mr. Meredith may save himself the trouble!' was the general remark; that boy will no more plod at a desk than a racer will grind in a mill! He is a gentleman and a soldier every inch of him, and it is a pity he should ever be anything else!'" p. 8-9. Nor was the "general remark" far wrong. The offspring of this mercantile negotiation, when he grows up to manhood, dislikes the day-book and ledger-falls in love with, and marries, the pale, and hectic, and interesting Miss Aspinall-obtains a commission in the army-quarrels with his father, and finally advertisement for heirs to old Dr. Aspinall, paied to the fellowe, wth the dauncing dogge, in rewarde," is one of the entries; and the "fellowe" received, at a period when the royal gardeners were allowed but 127. per annum as their wages, the sum of twenty shillings! This "rewarde," disproportioned as it may appear, is, however, quite cast into shade by the liberality, or rather extravagance, of the following donation :-" Paied to one Dompe Peter Tremesin, that dyd ryde two horses at once, by waye of rewarde, C. corons," that is, 237. 6s. 8d.! What might not have The abstract which we have made of this been Ducrow's good fortune, had he but lived story is somewhat plain and straightforward; three hundred years ago! The other entries but in the original there are more loops than consist mostly of payments for plate, jewelthere are links in Forth; even the double-lery, mercery, wines, and those dainties bowline hitch, which the wily Ulysses cast (chiefly fruits and confectionery) which, not on the rope which fastened his sea-chest, is being ranked among the general provisions a running loop compared to the intricacies for the royal table, were paid for from the and involvements of Probation.' The chief privy purse. charm of the story abides, in our opinion, with our old Scottish friend Mrs. Sydney Hume, who, at the age of seventy years or so, has so many attractions of person and mind and tongue, that she fairly outshines her more blooming companions. The Canadian mother of Pauline, too, has many touches of true nature in her character. We have marked many passages for quotation and praise, and a few for censure; but we must quit the book, though not without wishing to see the author again in a better-regulated story. The Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry sails with his wife and his son Edmund, the An In the former volumes, as well as in this, the entries under the last head afford much amusing information, on a subject on which singular misapprehension prevails. anxiety to represent our forefathers, in regard to dress, furniture, and food, as little better than savages, is evident in the writings of the second and third-rate historians. Thus, the silly story that Catherine of Arragon, if she wished for a sallad, was forced to send over to Flanders for one, duly finds a place in every popular history of England; -thus, too, the strange assertion, that most of the fruits now in use were not introduced here until the close of the seventeenth cen tury, is reiterated in almost every work on horticulture. The incorrectness of both these statements is amply shown by numerous entries in each of these volumes. In the one now before us, "sallad" is repeatedly mentioned as being brought by the king's gardeners from Richmond and Greenwich-→ lettuce is frequently mentioned-and artichokes, to which, from the numerous en tries, it would appear that Henry was very partial. Many kinds of fruits are mentioned grapes, peaches, apricots, quinces, and medlars, besides the more common sorts; and on one occasion a "rewarde” is given to the gardener at Hampton Court, for bringing to the "Kinges Grace" melons and cucumbers. As this is the only place where melons an cucumbers are mentioned, and as the date is October the 8th, it seems highly probable that they were newly introduced, and that some difficulty had been found in bringing them to perfection. The opinion, that during the middle ages, our forefathers were almost destitute of fruit or vegetables, is very erroneous. That they were supplied to the extent, or with anything like the variety of the present day, is not to be maintained; but still, the diet of the middle and lower classes will be found not greatly to have varied from the days of the Plantagenets to the middle of the last century. In a very curious narrative of a monk, respecting the founding of (we believe) Fountain's Abbey, in the twelfth century, he tells us, that for the two or three first years, in consequence of the fewness of their cattle, they lived but badly; “still," said he, we have bread and cheese, butter, and ale, and in time we shall have beef and mutton." This is the statement of the inmate of a poor convent, and his description of their provisions may therefore be well taken for that of the middle and 66 |