the writer can judge, the public abhorrence has arisen from the anomalous manner in which it has been inflicted, and an opinion that passion rather than cool reason too often awards it. Nothing can be more evident than that on the principle of the existing military code, with a few practical and little expensive details to carry it further into execution, there can be no sphere of human life more capable of happiness than that of a soldier." -p. 19. The author demonstrates his assertions by very satisfactory proofs and deductions; his pamphlet is well deserving of the attention of the Commission of Military Inquiry, for which we understand his Majesty has recently issued his warrant.

Italian and English Dictionary, by F. C. Meadows, M.A.-This is a very comprehensive and generally accurate little volume. The dictionary is preceded by a concise and well-arranged grammar, in which general rules are clearly laid down, but the author does not notice the exceptions, which are often as numerous as instances of the rule itself; as in the case of the plural terminations of nouns. It strikes us this defect might be obviated in the next edition, without increasing the bulk of the volume, (which would be the case were all the exceptions noticed in the introductory grammar,) by subjoining in the first part of the Dictionary the plural termination to those nouns which are exceptions to the rules before given in the Grammar. For instance, we read, nouns ending in a are feminine, and form their plural in e: the scholar looks in the Dictionary for the Pope, he finds Papa; the Pope, then, is an old woman; (monarchs, dukes, and professional men are in the same predicament;) and for the Popes, if he follows his rule, he will write le Pape; instead of i Papi. Or even should he be too good a Catholic to doubt the sex of the Roman bishop, he will still be at a loss; for he is not told, as is usual in grammars, that all names of men are masculine, &c. Again, we are told nouns ending in o are masculine, (mano is an exception,) and form their plural in i, Dio makes Dei and uomo, uomini. Anello, castello, filo, and many others have two plural terminations; others, as frutto, gesto, labbro, three; these peculiarities should be noted in this manner :-Frutto 8. m. ti, te, ta, pl. fruit. Some marks should also be placed against obsolete words; the authority for many of them is given, which is good. We do not think the author has correctly given the plural termination of nouns in io, which is a great nicety in the Italian language, and he has

adopted the colloquial o instead of the more elegant final a in the first person of the imperfect tense. Opening the Dictionary at hazard, we find Silenus inserted as an Italian word, which it certainly is not; Sileno being their cognomen for the foster-father of Bacchus. We are not aware that there are many Misses Silena in this country, but should there be any, we should certainly advise them to indict Mr. Meadows for a libel: here it is. 'Silena, s. f. a snubbed-nosed girl.' But let us not be misunderstood. We hope these remarks will be received as we give them, in perfect good humour, and we cordially recommend this little volume to all those who like to find a great deal of information in a small compass; as it contains, besides the Italian language as now spoken, a large number of antiquated words, contractions, and poetical licenses, the want of which, in most Dictionaries, renders the study of the old Poets generally so difficult.

Memorials of a Departed Friend.-A cultivated understanding, an elegant and refined taste, an affectionate and amiable disposition, and above all, a deep sense of religion, with a never-failing watchfulness over her own mind-such are the qualities which are shown in this interesting little volume, and with which we are acquainted from the pen of the writer herself. It is a pleasing memento of departed innocence and worth.

Ten plain Sermons, by the Rev. F. W. Fowle, Rector of Allington.-Plain, forcible, and sometimes eloquent, these sermons are worthy of the extensive patronage which they have received. The last, the Assize Sermon preached before Mr. Justice Taunton, and published at his and the Bishop's desire, rises to considerable excellence. The subject, the abuse of Liberty, was discreetly chosen, and treated with judgment and propriety; we think it might be printed in a cheap and separate form, for the use of the lower orders,

Who bawl for freedom in their senseless

its mouth 159 miles broad; it receives in its course nearly 200 other rivers, many not inferior to the Danube! We believe that the proper meaning of the word Ghauts is not mountains, as the author uses it, but the passes through them.

The Sunday School Reward-book. Selections from the new Version of the Psalms, &c.-A selection judiciously made, with an extract from Bishop Horne's beautiful and elegant Commentary.

Plain Sermons preached at Hampton, Middlesex, by Rev. H. F. Sidebottom, A.M.-These discourses, we are told, were received with much attention by the congregation. They are plain, perspicuous, sensible, and agreeable to Scripture-dwelling on the great leading doctrines of Christianity, enforcing them with earnestness, and explaining them with clearness and precision.

Memoirs of a Serjeant late in the 49th Regiment, and an Account of his Conversion, &c.-The use of such works as these, if use they have, is to fill up the details of authentic history; they form materials for the future Chronicler of the war in Spain; and even the observations of a common soldier may give an account of some particular manoeuvre or skirmish, the truth and accuracy of which may be of importance.

Sonnets, meditative and devotional, by Thomas Albin.

SONNET SIXTY-FIRST.

I tell a tale-wilt listen while I tell?
A little girl was playing with her toys,
Some trifling thing, which o'er her held

that he is somewhat comforted in the reflection that paralysis and poetry are united. Homer, he says, and Milton, were blind! Dante was a blear-eyed beggar man!! Tasso, mad; Pope, ricketty; Akenside, a cripple; Thomson, morbidly fattish; Shakspeare, stupid! Scott and Byron, lame; Cowper and Collins, mad; Coleridge had mannering fits of dreary daftness; and having thus recounted his lazar-book of diseases, the author considers his own complaint as affording an apology for venturing into the Limbo of fools. How he would have written while in health, we cannot say, but the following stanza seems to us a little morbid: Dim thro' the silence of that pageant hall, In widow weeds he saw a lady glide, And bending raise the gorgeous sable pall That served a shapen church-yard clod

Literary Fables, from the Spanish of Yriarte, by Richard Andrews. 1835.The original tales of Yriarte are neatly devised, and skilfully and pleasantly executed; more simple than Fontaine, and more concise than Gay. The translation by Mr. Andrews, is very good. We will give a specimen from p. 75.

THE TWO THRUSHES.

A sage old thrush was once discipling
His son-in-law, a hair-brained stripling,
In the purveying art; he knew,
He said, where vines in plenty grew,
Whose fruit delicious, if he 'd come,
He might devour ad libitum.

Ha! fruit! and is it good, I pray,
My honoured sir? do show the way.'
Come then, my son,' the old one cried,
I to the spot will be your guide.
You can't imagine what a treat,
Such fruit it is-so plump and sweet.'
He said, and gliding through the air,
They reached the vine, and halted there.

Soon as the grapes the youngster spied,
Is this the fruit you praise?' he cried;
'Why, an old bird, sir, as you are,
Should judge, I think, more wisely far,
Than to admire, or hold as good,
Such half-grown-small-and worthless

food;

Come see a fruit which long I've known,
In yonder garden, and you'll own,
That not without some cause, I sneer,
At your poor dwarfish berries here."
'Well,' said the other, 'lead the way,
But I'll my head and feathers lay,
Before I see it, 't will be found

Not worth those skins upon the ground! They reached the spot the youth had named,

And he triumphantly exclaimed,

Show me the fruit to equal mine, A size so great, a shape so fineNow, now your silly taste confess,'It was a pumpkin-nothing less! Now that a thrush should take this fancy, Without much marvelling, I can see, But it is truly monstrous, when Men, who are held as learned men, All books, whate'er they be, despise, Unless of largest bulk and size; A book is great, if good at all, If bad-it cannot be too small.

the

SO

The Belgic Revolution, in 1830, by Charles White, Esq. 2 vols. 1835.-These volumes are written by a person of knowledge, acuteness, and observation, and form the very best account of that revolution, which, rising in the pit of the theatre, in a single night tore the crown of Belgium from the temples of the monarch. The causes of the discontent, its progress, and its movements; delay, and difficulties, and errors of the king and his advisers, are clearly explained. The Allied Congress, in uniting two kingdoms so discordant, differing in language, religion, habits, interests, first laid the stone of future evil; secondly, William, by his preference of the Dutch in all situations, civil and military, increased it; thirdly, by delay, and obstinate inflexibility, he lost the chance of recovery; and, lastly, the total incompetence of Prince Frederic to fill the important office of commander of the invading and chastising army, in a most delicate and difficult crisis, sealed at once the fate of the sovereign, rendered re-union hopeless, and placed the revolted Belgians under a new and, we hope, a happier dynasty. Mr. White's book is highly interesting and instructive; it is the work of one who was present during the eventful period, from the breaking out of the revolution, to the

final settlement under Prince Leopold; who was acquainted with the principal persons, civil and military, both in Holland and Belgium, who were concerned in the progress of the great events described; who was privy to the principal negociations; and who has formed a cool, deliberate, and statesman-like view of the whole.

New England and her Institutions, by one of her Sons. The most interesting chapter in this work, is that which gives us an account of Slavery in America. It appears that there are in America two millions of slaves and three hundred thousand free blacks; and their numbers are increasing at the rate of sixty thousand annually; a fearful number, which has long naturally excited attention and inspired alarm. The Americans have a colony at Liberia in Africa, where free blacks have been sent; but it absorbs only one drop in a shower, and the colony itself appears to be in an unprosperous situation. The account of the insurrection of the negroes in August 1831 in Virginia, is most terrific; and presents a more frightful picture of misery, consternation, and horror on the one side, and brutal and bloody ignorance and frantic cruelty on the other, than we ever remember. Alas! what is to prevent a second eruption of this fearful volcano, and desolation in all its terrors a hundred times as great?

Facts and Fictions, or Gleanings of a Tourist, by the author of Rostang. We must always withhold our approbation from tales like these; they are dangerous by the false lights, the artificial and exaggerated colouring which they throw over the events of life, and by the violent manner in which they act on the imagination. Events like those here described seldom occur; when they do, they should as speedily as possible be buried in oblivion. The history of guilty desires, unrestrained wills, misplaced affections, rash and headstrong resolves, and catastrophes ending in desolation and death, was borne for some time reluctantly in the poetry of Byron, but will be rejected, when offered again in the prose of his less illustrious successors.

*How came Mr. White to make so unscholar-like a blunder, as to assert that Scaliger was born in Holland? Why the marble statues of the great La Scalas, at Verona, shook upon their lordly pedestals? Is the blood of Julius come to this?