Penshurst, where the gallant, the amiable, the elegant Sir Philip Sidney passed his boyhood; or can look without fondness upon the tree that is said to have been planted on his birth day; or can ramble among the classic bowers of Hagley, treading in the footsteps of a Pope and a Lyttleton; or can pause among the solitudes of Windsor forest, and look at the oaks around, huge, gray, and time-worn like the old castle towers; and not feel as if he were surrounded by so many monuments of long enduring glory? It is when viewed in this light, that planted groves, and stately avenues, and cultivated parks, have an advantage over the more luxuriant beauties of unassisted nature. It is that they teem with moral associations, and keep up the ever interesting story of human existence.

It is becoming then for the high and generous spirits of an ancient nation, to cherish these sacred groves that surround their ancestral mansions, and to perpetuate them to their descendants. Brought up, as I have been, in republican habits and principles, I can feel nothing of the servile reverence for titled rank merely because it is titled. But I trust I am neither churl nor bigot in my creed. I do see and feel, how hereditary distinction, when it falls to the lot of a generous mind, may elevate that mind into true nobility. It is one of the effects of hereditary rank, when it falls thus happily, that it multiplies the duties, and, as it were, extends the existence of the possessor. He does not feel himself a mere individual link in creation, responsible only for his own brief term of being. He carries back his existence in proud recollection, and he extends it forward in honourable anticipation. He lives with his ancestry, and he lives with his posterity. To both does he consider himself involved in deep responsibilities. As he has received much from those that have gone before, so he feels bound to transmit much to those who are to come after him.

'His domestic undertakings seem to imply a longer existence than those of ordinary men; none are so apt to build and plant for future centuries, as noble spirited men who have received their heritages from foregone ages.

I can easily imagine therefore the fondness and pride with which I have noticed English gentlemen, of generous temperaments, but high aristocratic feelings, contemplating those magnificent trees, which rise like towers and pyramids, from the midst of their paternal lands. There is an affinity between all natures, animate and inanimate the oak, in the pride and lustihood of its growth, seems to me to take its range with the lion and the eagle, and to assimilate in the grandeur of its attributes to heroic and intellectual man.

With its mighty pillar rising straight and direct toward heaven; bearing up its leafy honours from the impurities of earth, and supporting them aloft in free air and glorious sunshine, it is an emblem of what a true nobleman should be: a refuge for the weak-a shelter for the oppressed-a defence for the defenceless; warding off from them the peltings of the storm, or the scorching rays of arbitrary

power. He who is this, is an ornament and a blessing to his native land. He who is otherwise, abuses his eminent advantages; abuses the grandeur and prosperity which he has drawn from the bosom of his country. Should tempests arise, and he be laid prostrate by the storm, who would mourn over his fall? Should he be borne down by the oppressive hand of power, who would murmur at his fate? "Why cumbereth he the ground?"—Vol. I. pp. 151–155.

All this is certainly very clever. It is praise judiciously bestowed, and will no doubt be duly appreciated. It is, in our opinion, sufficient to sustain a work of far less merit than Bracebridge Hall. The English, though a proud, are a refined peo ple, and generous minds are neither insensible to praise, nor of the obligation it confers. Even Mr. Walsh was once a favourite : his unbounded admiration of England and indiscriminate abuse of France, softened the hearts of the most implacable reviewers; and while they acknowledged the justness of his observations and the purity of his style, they candidly confessed, that he had said more for them, than they could say for themselves. But Mr. Walsh subsequently corrected his opinions, and so did the reviewers. He lost his admiration of the English, and with it he lost his information, his talents, and purity of style.

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It was our intention to have said something in relation to the language and style of the work before us, and with this view, we had noted many exceptionable passages: we shall, however, content ourselves by simply remarking, that the merit of the composition, consists in its grace rather than in its purity. Such words as rejuvenate, and such phrases as perilous to discussion," champion his country," "champion the rights of the people," "to qualify the damp of the night air," "implicit confiding," &c. &c. are certainly as remote from purity, as they are from good taste. Upon the whole we are apprehensive, that these volumes will add but little to the reputation of their author. They embrace, indeed, a variety of subjects, and contain many sensible observations and just reflections; but the subjects want importance, the observations novelty, and the reflections force. The stories that are introduced, are composed of the ordinary romance materials, and not very skilfully combined. They excite but little interest, and make but a faint impression. The work, however, contains much genuine humour;-many picturesque discriptions, and is recommended by a style, remarkable for its simplicity and graceful ease.

433 SELECT.

ART. 1-A Course of Mathematics. By HOENE WRONSKI. No. 1. pp. 40. 4to.

THESE pages form the introduction to an elaborate work, in the form of lectures, which will include what has long been a grand desideratum in the study of mathematics, "a systematical course, calculated to guide the inquirer through every gradation, from the simplest elements to the most sublime truths, as now subjected to mankind, in the vast domain of knowledge." The importance of the mathematical sciences to all other positive science, to all the arts, and to all real knowledge whatsoever, is set forth with equal precision and energy in the introduction, which loses none of the force of the original through the medium of a translation highly creditable to the author. Mr. Wronski is already well known to the learned world by his publications. He has recently, "desirous," as he says, "of testifying his profound deference to the learned English," presented to the Royal Society of London, a Sketch of a new Theory of the Earth, founded on a new theory of fluids. He observes that no branch of human knowledge has been cultivated with so much zeal, or with so many sacrifices, as that of the theory of the construction of the earth, and of the heavenly bodies. "In almost all civilized countries," he forcibly remarks," and to the very extremities of our globe, immense geodesic operations have, as it were, meshed the earth in a network, to surprise it with the secret of its construction." According to his statements, however, this secret is yet as far removed from the discovery of the most learned geometers as of any other person, all their theorems and lines being inexact or erroneous, nor does it appear that they are in the least acquainted with the figure, and particularly with the internal structure of the earth.New Monthly Magazine, Dec. 1821.

ART. 2.-G. Geib's Patent, Analytical, and Grammatical System of teaching the Science of the Composition of Music, in all its Branches; and the Practice of the Piano-forte, by the Rules of Construction, depending on the Principles of Composition: made clear and simple to juvenile Capacities, with a View to render the Acquirement of a profound Knowledge of Music easy, sure, and speedy to all Learners. Folio. Seven Numbers. New-York.

NOTWITHSTANDING all the circumstances which frequently give to music a trifling character, and make it appear beneath the regard of sensible men, still the subject involves the dignity of a science, and an interesting relation to our moral and religious sentiments. When, indeed, we recollect the usual attainments in music of a boarding-school young lady, the whims of VOL. IV.

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teaching professors, and the vapid stuff of many of our composers, we can feel but little respect for a degraded art and an abused science; and we might not only wish that less time and attention were devoted to it, but almost question the propriety of making it any part of juvenile education. We cannot, however, deny its important power and influence in connexion with national character, public amusement, and private recreation: nor can we forget that such men have lived as Hande!, Corelli, Haydn, and Mozart; that many professors of the present day are capable of the purest and best exercise of their art; and that our musical ideas and feelings are associated with some of the soul's most delightful and hallowed emotions. We must, therefore, admit that the subject will always merit grave consideration; and that the public may be congratulated on any improvement which adds interest to musical science, which refines our pleasure in it, or which extends the sphere of its beneficial power.

We shall proceed to examine the work before us; and to ascertain in what degree Mr. Geib has elucidated this fashionable science, or facilitated its practical attainment. As an American production, his system challenges somewhat more than ordinary interest; and the recollection of our late satisfaction in several instances of American authorship (see particularly our account of the "Sketch Book") disposes us to sit down to the task with complacent good humour.

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The author's Preface is a "Curiosity of Literature," and we must bring our readers acquainted with it. As it is elaborate, and obviously prized by the writer, if we indulge a smile over it, we assure him that it will be a good natured one. We learn from the first paragraph that he challenges the attention of the public to a new system' of instruction, and speaks of 'extensive and liberal patronage.' He then observes: It is in my opinion the duty of all who direct the public attention to a new road to any well known place, to show, in a concise manner, the distance and labour that can be saved; and to point out the defects of the old, and the superior advantages of the new; and by delineating the country anterior and posterior to the change which can be effected, exhibit at one view all its claims to public support.' The comparison in this sentence we can readily suppose to be a national or local suggestion. A new road, a short road, and a good road, will for some time to come be an object of special interest and importance on the American continent,

We have often regretted the want of a competent portion of literature in our musical professors, that they might speak and write on the subject of their calling in a way that should be creditable to themselves and their profession. We know well that

there are some educated men among them, and we have often felt the powerful charm of musical excellence in conjunction with a cultivated mind :-we have seen it much enhanced by poetic taste and purity of moral sentiment; and heightened most of all by a reverence of Him who is the source of all harmony. With regard to Mr. Geib, it must certainly be acknowleged that he is a teacher of great pretension. He professes, by his system,

To give scholars that knowledge of music which will capacitate them to study the concertos of the greatest masters; to know how to indite and compose music; play extempore; prelude with propriety; and, to store their minds with the most beautiful figures of music selected by analysis from the works of Beethoven, Cramer, Haydn, Handel, Mozart, Dussek, Pleyel, &c., without the study of a lifetime; which is usually devoted to acquiring but too generally a superficial knowledge only of the subject. After studying music many years, I think myself authorized to state, that the principles of it are few and simple. And that most writers have viewed the subject in the inflated garb of technical pomp; or have seen it through the medium of hypothesis, to themselves clear, though changeable as the polyedrous crystal; where every object, glowing with the lustre of the bow in endless numbers, dazzles the judgment and excludes the direct and steady light of reason.'

After this splendid passage. we could not but smile at the following remark: 'the reader will be able to see, by this work, how I have simplified the immutable laws of music, to render them intelligible to a child;' and our readers, we believe, will expect any thing rather than plainness and simplicity from Mr. Geib. If any persons have imagined that our trans-Atlantic brethren were cold, calculating, and selfish, more secure than other men from the weakness of sentiment and the witchery of imagination, -and if Geoffrey Crayon, gentleman, failed to convince them of their error, Mr. Geib will not suffer them to retain it; for they must now see that the imagination of man in America may be as wild as its wildernesses and lawless as its savages. **** We find every thing in the book that bears any relation to the theory and practice of music, delivered with a minuteness of detail, and a diversity of representation, that are very distracting and distressing to the reader :-the subject is exhausted. Mr. Geib is certainly a clever man, with an extensive fund of musical knowledge: but, from some infelicity, he has failed to give it to the public in a form as creditable to himself and useful to others as it might have been assumed.-Month. Rev. Nov. 1821.

ART. 3.-A Grammar of Botany, illustrative of Artificial as well as Natural Classification, with an Explanation of Jussieu's System. By Sir JAMES EDWARD SMITH, M. D. F. R. S. &c. &c. President