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proper unity in the subject; but they are deficient in that interrupted harmony and variety of pause which the sonnet demands; they have too much of the elegiac flow. Read Milton's or Wordsworth's sonnets with them, and the difference will be at once acknowledged. However, they do credit to his poetical taste and feeling and some of them only want a little of being very good. We will extract two. XXXV.

I may not taste the fragrant breath of Spring,

And gaze upon her beauty, and caress The flowers embosom'd with such tenderness,

Tales of the Peerage and Peasantry. By Lady Dacre. 3 vols. 1835.-The first story of Winifred, Countess of Nithsdale, is we think defective in want of movement and rapidity of the narrative; but the interest with which we read it, shows that it is told with judgment, and is a proof, if such were wanting, that even when the conclusion of a tale is foreknown, as in those founded on historical facts, the judicious disposition of events, and the gracefulness and elegance with which they are told, will sufficiently detain and delight the attention of the reader. The second narrative, The Hampshire Cottage, has the merit of telling a

And her sweet advent not be heard to sing simple tale in the language of simplicity.

When insects are abroad on gentle wing, And birds melodious throng the green re

cess;

When rising joys all living creatures bless, And sounds of gladness through the valley ring.

Now earth's redeem'd from winter's icy chain,

And buds and blossoms drink the sun-lit shower,

And verdant fallows teem with infant grain. I too would feel heaven's renovating power, And on the True Vine grafted, there remain A living branch, unto the vintage hour.

XXVI.

Is this the spot where Rome's eternal foe Into his snares the mighty legions drew, Whence from the carnage spiritless and few,

A remnant scarcely reach'd her gates of woe? [slow,

Is this the stream, thus gliding soft and That from the gushing wounds of thousands grew

[hue So fierce a flood, that waves of crimson Rush'd on the bosom of the lake below? The mountains that gave back the battle cry [green Are silent now, perchance yon hillocks Mark where the bones of those old war[scene,

riors lie.

Heaven never gladden'd a more peaceful
Never left softer breeze a fairer sky
To sport upon thy waters, Thrasymene.

Manuscripts of Erdely. 3 vols.-This half historical and half romantic narrative is too long; and minute even to tedium in the multiplicity of its incidents; but it is written with force and skill: there are many powerful descriptions, many highly interesting situations, and many eloquent discourses in it. The author appears to be a person of scholarship and taste; and we hope the next novel with which he favours us will be less full of the devil's pictures' than the present.

GENT. MAG. VOL. IV.

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There is also a pretty little moral attached to it, which may be of advantage to the village maid in the regulation of her conduct and the resignation of her will. The last called Blanche' is more fully and elaborately drawn, and is well conceived and happily executed. It is an old tale and often told. Lady Blanche believed that she could live on love with a half-pay officer, more happily than on venison and claret, with a young and worthy peer. But, as usual, she forgot that love had wings: and so when she and the half-pay captain, and their troisieme Poverty, walked into the cottage, Love flew out of the window. This is pursued through many ludicrous and many sorrowful details, and is at last overcome by the call that a very dangerous illness makes on the most powerful affections and the dearest sympathies of the heart. Folly, and discontent, and ingratitude, and spleen, and wickedness, all fly like idle phantoms before a thankful heart and a rectified understanding; and if there is any one who will condescend to profit by the experience of others, the moral of this tale will not be lost on him. It is needless to add, that all the works produced by Lady Dacre's unknown protegée, are written with as much taste and feeling as if they had proceeded from her Ladyship herself!

The Immaterial System of Man contemplated, in accordance with the Sublime and Beautiful, and in reference to a Plan for General Education. By Elizabeth Hope. Vol. I.-Though there is much that is ingenious, and much that is substantially sound and judicious in the present volume, we are afraid that it is too dry and too long for general attention. The design of the work we will give in the words of the author. To awaken this spirit [of love] which only slumbers in the hearts of the many,-to promote the diffusion of its benign influence-depends

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on education. This most efficient agent, active as it has been, has hitherto been limited in its operations, and biassed or checked in its progress. Men have been educated. Man should be so-and this he cannot properly be, till all the powers and attributes with which he is entrusted, are clearly understood, judiciously brought into action, and thus made subservient to this great purpose. A solid basis for general education, founded upon such principles as shall tend to the moral, the intellectual, and the religious improvement of man, can alone ensure to society that long-desired condition under which individual liberty shall be equalized, and the sacred law of order inviolably maintained.'

The Mechanics of Law-making. By Arthur Symonds, Esq. Lond. 8vo. pp. 400. If we are desirous of finding a comparison for a verbose, encumbered, tautologous composition, we liken it to an Act of Parliament. Ought this to be a true comparison? Ought the law to adopt a style which in an ordinary composition would be denounced as full of sins against the proprieties of language? Ought the rule of every man's conduct to be concealed in a perplexed labyrinth of words, the mazes of which can be but doubtfully threaded even by professional persons? Ought it not rather to resemble a clear, pure stream, the very bottom of which may be seen by every one? Mr. Symonds's object is to simplify the phraseology of the Statute Law, and his volume contains a scheme for bringing about this very desirable end. We cannot follow him through his details, which are entirely practical, but we recommend his work to the serious consideration of all persons who are in any way concerned in the mystery of Law making. Some of his proposed machinery is probably liable to objection; but as a whole, his book is calculated to be eminently useful.

Outlines of Botany. By R. B. Stewart, Esq. 8vo. This little volume contains a sketch of the Linnæan arrangement of plants, with tables to illustrate the distinctions of genera and species; but its peculiar merit is, that it affords the results of Mr. Stewart's experience during several years' cultivation of a London gardener, showing what trees, what shrubs, and what flowers, are best able to contend with an atmosphere fraught with humidity and smoke. It will therefore prove a source of great pleasure and amusement to those who, though "in populous city pent," yet sigh for rural joys, and are desirous to avail themselves of those

favours which Nature affords to her admirers even in the most ungenial situations.

Little Fables for Little Folks, is a pretty little book, illustrated with very well-executed cuts. The fables are selected from the old stock, and related in familiar language, suitable to the infantine reader.

Account of the Labourer's Friend Society for bettering the condition of the Labouring Classes, particularly in allotting to them small portions of land, established at Wallington in Surrey, in the month of July 1835. By Nicholas Carlisle, Esq, F.R.S. &c. &c.-This is an exposé of the plans of the above Society, whose governing motive evidently is that of rendering the agricultural labourer at once industrious and independent. When men can be stimulated by the exercise of their own resources to become economists of their time, to desert the village alehouse for the cultivation of their small allotment of land, held at a fair but not onerous rent, an essential national benefit is conferred.

The husbandman is no longer the villein or slave of the soil, according to the obsolete terms of feudal bondage; he becomes a shareholder in the great aggregate of agricultural produce; he has a personal interest in all those better ties which unite the body politic, which make men good neighbours, moral and religious characters, and loyal subjects. The rules of this Society seem admirably calculated to secure its benevolent purposes from abuse, and we can conscientiously recommend them to the attention of those public-spirited persons who may desire to establish similar institutions in other districts. Indeed we hope that the day is not distant when we shall see them adopted throughout the land.

An Inquiry into the origin of Copyhold Tenure. By George Beaumont, Esq. 8vo, pp. 72.-Upon arriving at the conclusion of this Inquiry, we could not help exclaiming, almost involuntarily, "What can Mr. Beaumont mean?" Fortunately we turned the page, and found an Appendix, at the commencement of which we were told that his "doctrine" is "that manors were originally the districts of a certain extent occupied by the subject Romans and Britons, who chose, or were permitted to reside in a Saxon kingdom in the enjoyment of their possessions, but subject to a land-tax." Now, if any reader, emulating our heroic perseverance, should actually peruse the "In

quiry," but happen to miss the Appendix, we defy him to explain what the book is about. In this respect it is a literary curiosity; and as we have no doubt the author intended it to be, it is an admirable satire upon those antiquarian writers who mystify their subjects by a palpable obscurity of style. There is something very happy in the idea of writing a long "Inquiry," which nobody can understand, and adding an Appendix to tell the poor bewildered reader what the author meant. Mr. Beaumont intimates, that if any one should ask "of what service his Inquiry will prove?" it will be well to delay making any reply until the origin of all the ruling decisions in abstruse points of copyhold law shall have been satisfactorily proved to be correctly stated in our Text Books and Reports ;" and when that correctness has been proved, Mr. Beaumont wittily adds, "In that case I should answer that there was no utility in this inquiry." This is admirable. We quite agree with Mr. Beaumont.

The French Language its own Teacher, Part 2, by René Aliva, appears to be a useful school-book; the grammatical explanations of the reading lessons are very good. It contains a new system of French conjugations.

Rapin's Life of Alfred the Great, translated into French, with a vocabulary and dictionary of genders, by N. Lambert, is a good reading book for beginners.

We recommend The Essentials of French Grammar, by the Rev. J. Macgowan, to the pocket of the student; it contains much in a small space.

Private Thoughts on Religion, &c. By Bp. Beveridge. Edited by Rev. H. Stebbing. (Sacred Classics.)-There is no name more venerable among those who have adorned the doctrines of the Church of England, by the sanctity of their lives, or explained and enforced them by their learning and eloquence, than that of Bp. Beveridge. This treatise, one of the most interesting among the Bishop's works, has therefore been judiciously selected for publication, and a very good practical Introduction of the Editor has conferred an additional value on it.

The Life of the Rev. David Brainerd, Missionary to the North American Indians. By Rev. J. Pratt.-A very interesting and most instructive little volume, which was highly valued by Henry Mar

tyn and by all who have perused it with attentive and pious minds. It appears that in 1823 there were 471,417 North American Indians, from the eastern shores of the Mississippi to the west of the rocky mountains. The name of Brainerd will hereafter rank with those of Elliot and Schwarz, and, we trust, with many others now less known, who are dedicating their lives to the great work of scattering the bread of life on the distant and desolate waters of the earth. We have no room to abridge a work, which ought to be read in all the fulness of its inte. resting narrative; for its minutest details are full of spiritual information, and every letter of the book seems to point as it were to distant and unconverted regions, and admonish the reader, "Go and do thou likewise."

The Angler in Ireland, or an Englishman's Ramble through Connaught and Munster. 2 vols.-A book which may be of advantage to Piscator, and direct him to where the fattest salmon and largest bull-trout resort; but we are afraid that any other information will be sought in vain. We kept a sharp look-out for facts which would delight naturalists, but they were all lying at the bottom of such deep bottles of poteen, that we could not fish them up. We learn, indeed, at p. 53, that there are no minnows in the Irish streams, nor moles among its animals, nor nightingales among its birds, nor snakes among its reptiles, and that pheasants and jays were formerly unknown. The author also says, that he caught a trout of about four pounds weight, with a deep gash down its side, which had been inflicted by the talons of a brother angler, the eagle. He also remarks on this bird of Jove: "disturb him how and when you will, the eagle never shows any symptoms of fear; but slowly leaves the spot invaded by man, rising and rising above you, without any perceptible movement of his out-stretched pinions.""I have often," says the author, "watched the way of the eagle in the air for a considerable time together, and never could perceive him once flap his wings to his side. His movements seem to be entirely governed by the inclination of the huge wings and tail to the wind; in the same way as a ship is propelled by the action of the breeze on its sails." Of the terrific ignorance of the common peo.. ple in Ireland, a curious story is told in vol.i. p. 188: a botanist on the hills of Cunnemara was with difficulty rescued from death, being suspected of having been sent into the district to propagate the cholera!

A Treatise on Isometrical Drawing. By T. Sopwith. Isometrical Drawing has been too much neglected by architects and landscape gardeners. Yet it has advantages over common perspective in many respects. This work is most ably executed, and very handsomely got up; and we have no doubt will draw the attention of the public and of scientific men to the subject. We have had occasion often to regret the want of such plates in plans of gardens and scenery; which can never be so clearly or fully represented in any other manner.

Recollections of the Eighteenth Century. By the Marchioness of Crequi. 2 vols.The editor of this work had the misfortune to fall in the way of a sagacious bloodhound of a reviewer;* who kept doggedly on his track till he overtook him in a Parisian cemetery, and stripped him of his stolen spoils. In other words, he proved that Mad. de Crequi, the pretended author of these Memoirs, is a fictitious personage, formed of an Anne Le Fevre d'Auxy, who was born in 1700, and a Renie Charlotte de Troulay, born 1715. From this duality, the editor has extended the life of our lady from 1700 to 1803, for the purpose of exciting astonishment that one and the same lady should have been presented to Louis XIV. in 1713, and to Buonaparte in 1801; but as she quotes books that were never published till 1817 (as the Memoirs of the Marquis de Dangeau), we cannot believe that her mortal thread was cut during the peace of Amiens; and we are anxiously looking in the Journal de Paris, in hopes of hearing of her presentation to the court of the patriotic successor of Charles the Tenth. Should she amuse her hundred and twentieth year by writing any more Memoirs of her early life, which we hope she will, we would humbly advise her, if her eyes still retain their lustre, to correct the press herself; to change her editor, translator, printer, and compositor, et hoc genus omne, down to the lowest demon's smallest imp; and further, we beg her to recollect if she may not by mistake have post-dated the period of her nativity; and by such a mistake, whether we do not lose many interesting anecdotes of Cardinal Richelieu and Anne of Austria ?

Siege of Vienna, from the German of Madam Richler. (Library of Romance, Vol. xiii.) Such novels as the above, however spirited and clever in some of the details, are so totally inconsistent in

• See Quarterly Review, No. cii. p. 391.

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a Manx story,

Octavia Elphinstone, and Lois, a drama. By Miss Anna Tablant. 2 vols. To say that the story of Octavia Elphinstone was not a work of talent and knowledge, would be contrary to truth; but it is not sufficiently clever to pay the trouble of the perusal in these steam-boat and rail-road days, when we can bestow only minutes, where our ancestors cheerfully gave hours or weeks. The story is good in parts, but very defective as a whole. The great fault lies in the disproportion of the different parts; the introductory being infinitely too minute and particular for the measure of the remainder; and the cliff scene we wholly repudiate.

The Christian Expositor, or practical Guide to the Old and New Testament. By Rev. George Holden, A. M. - We can safely recommend this work, as one that in a small compass contains much valuable information brought together in a critical and scholar-like manner; nor have we the slightest doubt of its being gratefully received by the great body of Scriptural readers.

Historia Technica Anglicana, &c. By Thomas Rose.-Mr. Rose may be quite assured that he is in error in his use of the word Anglicana, and we advise him to correct it in his next edition. As a Memoria Technica, we have no doubt but that his book is carefully executed; we only pause before we can give our assent to the advantage of forcing such histories into the memory of young people. For, after all, what is gained is only a number of names learned by rote, affording no exercise to the mind, no instruction to the reasoning powers, and placing facts and circumstances in the room of

motives and principles; but if it is thought necessary to get at the fruit, by first cracking the shell in the manner here prescribed, we think Mr. Rose's book is better arranged than most of his predecessors, whose deficiencies he has supplied, and errors corrected.*

Lives of eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus. By W. Macgillivray. 12mo. This is too abridged a work to afford due information on the subjects on which it treats. The author has not availed himself of the sources of information within his reach; nor does he appear to have studied with care and attention the great original treatises which can alone afford the knowledge which he is to impart to his readers. We have lately read with great attention the entire works of Pliny the naturalist, in the original lanFrom his work we pronounce guage. that Mr. Macgillivray has not done the same. If he has, we are ready to enter the lists.

*We will tell Mr. Rose one fact, which he does not seem to be aware of in his account of the Druids :-that their sacred missletoe was a very different plant from the missletoe of our trees and orchards. We do not know that this fact has ever been observed by the historians of our British trees; but the fact is so.

FINE STAINED GLASS AT HORNSEY CHURCH,

MIDDLESEX.

The many splendid specimens of the art of Glass Staining with which several ecclesiastical buildings and noblemen's mansions have been embellished by Mr. David Evans of Shrewsbury, have completely disproved assertions made some years since, that the powers of this ancient art had formerly extended beyond the hope of future emulation. The mystery of this beautiful art, once considered as entirely lost, has been effectively revived by Mr. Evans, who has recently given additional proof of his taste and talents, in a magnificent window erected in the Church of Hornsey. This production, for general beauty of character, imposing dignity, and richness and depth of tone in colouring, stands unrivalled by any previous efforts in glass staining, and entitles the artist to the highest rank in this class of his profession.

This splendid window, displaying all the rich and mellow tints of the finest specimens of the old masters, consists principally of two tiers of lights, contain

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St. Matthew is clothed in a blue vest, over which is thrown a crimson robe, lined with white; he holds in his right hand a Greek MS. in his left a halbert.

St. Mark, a venerable figure, the sober tint of whose vestment is well contrasted with the rich crimson of St. Matthew; he bears an open Gospel.

St. Luke appears attentively writing on a tablet with an ancient style; he is attired in a gold vest, over which is a rich blue mantle lined with purple.

St. John is characterized by a mild and pleasing serenity of countenance; he holds a golden chalice in his left hand, and in his right a closed volume. He is clad in a brilliant green, over which is a fine crimson mantle.

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