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mon-place curiosity, or a mechanical professional zeal, but with a capability to enter into the larger interests of humanity, and a hope of advancing them. After a somewhat hyperbolical compliment to the memory of his late Majesty of Russia, the book opens with the voyage to Brazil. Much as has been said upon the subject, Captain Kotzebue's account of Rio Janeiro is novel and interesting. His stay at Chili, which furnished him with some valuable inforination, was marked by no hospitable termination- a plot having been concerted for overpowering the Russian officers at a ball, to which they were invited. Their departure was unsuccessfully opposed by a couple of frigates. But it is in the account of Otahaiti that a large portion of the interest of this voyage consists. It is seldom that we have read a narrative with greater curiosity than the sketch here given of this singular people. The pleasure, however, is not unmixed with pain at discovering the effects which have followed the exertions of the missionaries, whose path has been tracked, not by enlightenment and happiness, but by debasement

those from which they were taken. The consequence is that even respectable and costly works are disgraced by figures, some of the best of which can only aspire to be considered tolerably faithful resemblances of ill-stuffed specimens their rigidity and inanimation dispelling all thought of living animals. To the work before us these censures cannot in any instance apply. The artists have possessed peculiar advantages over their predecessors, and they have not failed to use them. The literary portion is at once scientific and popular; for the time is past, when to call a work scientific was equivalent to saying it was unintelligible. In the present instance, the articles are studiously adapted for the perusal of general readers. The book is tastefully "got up," presenting a beautiful specimen of the typography of the Chiswick press. On the whole, we think its appearance is one of the best results that have followed the formation of the Zoological Society.

The Heiress of Bruges, a Tale of the and desolation. If Captain Kotzebue's picture be Year 1600. By Thomas Colley Grattan, Author of "Highways and By-ways," &c. 4 vols.

the true one, it is frightful to contemplate what they have lost in passing from utter barbarisın to partial civilization. Pitcairn and other islands are equally fruitful in interest. We cannot follow our author in his several voyages to Kamtschatka, New Archangel, California, the Sandwich Islands, &c.; but we can honestly say, that he never landed without discovering something well worth inquiry, and that he never returned to the "Enterprise" unladen with adventure and information. After a nine days' stay at St. Helena, a fever broke out among the crew, from which but trifling loss was sustained; in June 1826, the ship reached Portsmouth, and in July dropped anchor, after a three years' voyage, in the roads of Cronstadt. A Zoological Appendix, containing an account of a number of new or rare animals, discovered during the voyage, by Professor Eschscholtz, closes a narrative, unsurpassed in value and interest by any of the numerous books of travels that have appeared during the present century.

The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society Delineated. Published with the sanction of the Council, under the superintendence of the Secretary and ViceSecretary of the Society. Quadrupeds. Vol. I.

It is not necessary to forget the volumes of Bewick in order to admire this beautiful book, which remarkably exemplifies the progress made during the last few years in the art of engraving on wood. The figures, drawn from life by Harvey, are accurate and spirited; there is vitality in them. Until lately, publications on the science of Zoology, with scarcely an exception, were deformed by engravings which represented, not the animals of which we were reading in the text, but varieties of them, unknown to naturalists. How should it have been otherwise? One artist necessarily adopted the authority of another; and while, in general, he punctiliously retained the faults of his prototype, introduced a fewvariations of his own, that he might not appear a servile copyist; and thus rendered his productions somewhat original, and even more unlike nature than

A work in four volumes is, now-a-days, a most unusual departure from the practice of the Rule of Three; but, we apprehend, few who read the work will hesitate to decide that the custom has been in the present case

"More honoured in the breach than the observance."

The reputation of Mr. Grattan is deservedly high; he is one who, in the more beaten as well as the less explored paths of society, has found much that is new, and much that is interesting. His "travels" have not been profitless, either to himself or his country; and if he have journeyed from Dan to Beersheba, he certainly has not found "all barren." The "Heiress of Bruges" (his first effort at a continued story,) will add greatly to his reputation, and become highly po. pular among the works of fiction, so prevalent and so eagerly sought for in our day.

As many of the leading points in the plot hang upon the character of Liger Van Rozenhold, we give it in the author's own words:

"Liger Rozen was a man of circumstances, not a man to make them. His impulses, feelings, and passions, though all integral parts of an energetic combination, required events to draw them out. Had he been a man of genius, these elements would have created events instead of following them. But as it was, he was only a strong-minded clever fellow, prompt to seize on, and turn to the best account whatever might answer for his purpose."

Liger was fortunate in availing himself of a lucky moment; for he discovered a great treasure concealed near the miserable abode in which he resided, and the yearnings of his soul were for a time satisfied by the possession of unbounded wealth. But wealth alone could not fill a soul which sought for every species of distinction. By the assistance and wise counsel of his confidant and confessor, a keen and intelligent priest, he obtains the office of chief Burgomaster of Bruges, -an office to which he had long aspired.

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Liger Von Rozenhold was blessed with lovely daughter, whose youth had passed, according to the custom of her country, in the studies and obscurity of a convent; but her father's ambition and affection united in calling her at an early age to her splendid home, there to receive the homage of many suitors, brought together by the wide spread fame of her riches and beauty. Liger gratified his overwhelming pride by making her the star in a species of "Casket Scene," that ill accorded with her humble birth or modest feelings. The Priest (exalted into a Prior) did not fail to remember that a young and richly dowered maiden could be made the tool of political in trigue. Revolt had disturbed the peaceful citizens of Bruges, and the Burgomaster and Prior become leagued with Maurice of Nassau. Among those who seek the hand of the fair Theresa, is Count Ivan of Bassenvelt, a colonel of Walloons, and the chosen friend of the enterprising Maurice. The Count's character-chivalrous and noble-is admirably drawn, and excites the deepest interest: he grows into a living creature under the author's pen, and is decidedly the most fascinating hero of modern novels. The terror of Flanders, with a high price set upon his head, he yet finds leisure for gentler pastime, becomes enamoured of Theresa, even within her convent walls, which he has somehow or other, (we do not exactly understand how,) managed to scale or penetrate, and, at the same time, inspires the most disinterested love in the bosom of Beatrice, a Morisco girl, whom he releases from her loathed captivity, on the eve of her "becoming a nun." This creature's affection is of the most pure and disinterested kind; she casts aside her female attire, accepts an officer's commission in Ivan's regiment, promotes all his ambitious views with extraordinary devotion, and also (oh, woman! woman!) aids him in his plan of obtaining the hand of her rival and friend. Even, when at the

festive board, and 'guised as a Walloon officer,

the purity, the exquisite purity of her character remains untainted; the woman is never absent from the heroine, and she excites both affection and admiration. Theresa, meantime, is perfectly unconscious of Bassenvelt's passion, and entertains a horror of his reputed moral conduct, blended with a secret and undefined admiration of his chivalrous exploits. Her heart is given to her father's secretary and apprentice, a protegée of the Prior's, whose quiet, modest character affords a powerful contrast-(Mr. Grattan luxuriates in contrasts)-to the intrepid daring of Count Ivan. Boonen appears throughout a kind and gentle youth; and the contending state of Theresa's feelings is drawn with much skill and knowledge of human nature. The varied scenes and chances of war form the chain of events, and wherever the high-minded Beatrice appears, she gains on our good opinion. As the plot thickens, the attention becomes riveted to the story. The riches and power of the Burgomaster cannot save him from the imputation of treason, or a rigorous imprisonment. Even when he was occupied in displaying his greatness at the court of the Archduke Albert, Theresa pleads for him, but in vain, to the Archduchess Isabella, who insists on the sacrifice of her hand to a false friend of Bassenvelt's, as the price of her father's safety. The

Heiress is rescued by Boonen, but to be seized on by the soldiers of Bassenvelt, to whose stronghold she is taken, where she meets her ci-devant friend Beatrice, who not only affords her protection, but displays Count Ivan's character in its proper light, and does full justice to his nobility of thought and action. The castle is besieged, and eventually destroyed; the gallant Bassenvelt anticipating the intentions of the foes he so bravely combats, and springing the mine with his own hand. Our heroine, after witnessing what she imagines to be the death-struggle of the devoted Boonen, is saved by the exertions of her humble lover, and sheltered by Prince Maurice. She is restored to her father just at the time when his property is destroyed by the opposite party. Bassenvelt saves her from the arms of Count Lyderic, the husband destined for her by the Archduchess Isabella; and the denouement proves that Count Ivan of Bassenvelt-the hero-the proscribed-the victoriousis one and the same person as actually the but we must not destroy the great source of enjoyment to all romance readers, we must leave them to solve the riddle to which we have given them a clue. If mystery be what they love, they will be satisfied to their heart's content.

Some of Mr. Grattan's earlier works may have been more highly finished, yet in none has he put forth such strength as in the present; and when to this, no common praise, we add, that his local descriptions, and his occasional sketches of manners and customs, are graphic, and stamped with a reality at once novel and instructive, we may be permitted, in common justice, to pronounce "The Heiress of Bruges" one of the most successful efforts of the present day.

The French Revolution of 1830; the Events which produced it, and the Scenes by which it was accomp accompanied. By D. Turnbull, Esq.

The two passions of the human heart, which are supposed most to purify and exalt it, are Love and Patriotism. The former, however, is a selfish feeling, and there is no one who is susceptible of it, who is not actuated by a personal motive, in which the gratification of self is a predominant impulse; but the latter is a purely generous and disinterested emotion, involving the total sacrifice of self, and having no principle of action but the good and bappiness of others. Under its influence, the most noble and generous deeds have been perforined; the most appalling perils have been despised; and death in every form has been courted with equal indifference, by those who have been actuated by no other motive than the good of their country and the welfare of their fellowcitizens. It was for this that Codrus devoted himself; for this that Brutus immolated his children; for this that Hampden bled in the field; and for this that Russel perished on the scaffold. But, perhaps, the most extraordinary, because the most universally felt influence of this ennobling passion, ever exhibited in the world, was displayed on the recent occasion in France; it seemed to obliterate every thing that was little in the human mind; it imparted to the humblest mechanic in the country the courage and generosity of a hero of romance; it linked together in the bonds of single affection the most dissimilar

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ranks of society; and it gave to an incongruous mass a sudden and unpremeditated unity of design, which directed them to one end; like the divine and wonderful instinct, which impels vast multitudes of other beings to the same object. It is a great and a glorious triumph of that principle, which the minions of aristocracy and the slaves of interest, in this and other countries, have pretended to laugh to scorn as a visionary affectation; and it is a precedent which futurity will look back to with pride, and rising nations will set before them as an object of practicable imitation.

While the great result of this patriotic explosion enchained the attention of all with an undivided intensity of interest, the scattered details of the events which led to it were but loosely or imperfectly known, till Mr. Turnbull collected them into one focus, and filled four hundred and fifty pages of a large octavo volume with the wonderful incidents of three days, with the exception of a brief but comprehensive sketch of the proceedings of the King and the French Ministry, which led to and succeeded them, till Polignac was arrested at Granville in disguise, attempting to escape to Jersey, and the King and Royal Family embarked in two American ships for England. Many of the details are already of course before the public, and fresh in every reader's recollection; there is much, however, which is given as the statements of eye-witnesses, and that do not appear to have been before made known in England. We shall mention one trait of the effects of patriotism on a very wretched man, related by Dr. F. Palaprot. He was passing through the Rue St. Honoré, where a man, of fifty years of age, who was tottering along with a musket and bloody sword, fell down beside him. He had but one old shoe on his feet, and his tattered clothes and soiled coarse linen, marked him as belonging to the most indigent class of the community. Dr. Palaprot supposed at first that he fell from intoxication; but on examination he discovered it was from pain and inanition, a musket ball had passed through his arm, and he had fought all day with out the smallest refreshment. The Doctor dressed his wound with a handkerchief, which a passing lady gave him for the purpose, procured him a drink of water, and then drew some money from his pocket, which he offered him to buy bread. All the indignant feelings of the wounded and fainting mechanic were roused at the insult. De l'argent, a moi, a moi! said he, fiercely, and had nearly sacrificed his benefactor to his resentment, at supposing him capable of such debasement as accepting money on such a day. He could only be prevailed on to receive a little bread and water, and, when refreshed, proceeded to his post without even giving his name. The book is accompanied by a map of the streets about the Tuileries, that conveys a good idea of the manner in which they were barricadoed by the people; and in the end is a satisfactory comparative view of the old and the new charter, by which it appears, that the preamble, recognising the former as the spontaneous boon of the King, is omitted, and the principle, that it originated with the people, established in its place; but the thing as it stands is rather ambiguous, and requires a farther and more explicit declaration.

Jan.-VOL. XXXIII, NO. CXXI.

Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers, and the Investiga Investigation of Truth. By John Abercrombie, M.D. &c.

The Philosophy of the Human Mind is rapidly becoming a popular branch of science. Its promoters have at length most judiciously separated it from the absurd metaphysical speculations, with which it has so long been mixed up and confounded. And when a simple and appropriate nomenclature shall have been agreed on, to mark distinctly where our actual knowledge ceases, and where the field of discovery begins, we see no reason why it should not advance as rapidly, and spread as widely, as chemistry and geology have done; for the facts presented by it are as striking and interesting as in either of those, or, indeed, in any other branch of knowledge; while this has the additional advantage that the instruments employed, and the object investigated, are ever present with us, without seeking and without expense. We know nothing more calculated to excite curiosity than to be told, for the first time, that no man can see distance or the figure of bodies; that light, and its modifications, is the sole object of vision; that we perceive the former by a complex mental improvement, or judgment, so rapidly formed that we cannot trace it as it passes in the mind. Yet this is truly the case, and is the cause why a perfect arrangement of light and shade-as we see exhibited at the Diorama--confounds us with a belief of vast distance and magnitude, while we know it is merely a plane coloured surface. Yet this is only one of the multitude of discoveries already made in the mind; for this we are indebted to that amiable man and admirable philosopher, Bishop Berkeley. Since his time similar facts have accumulated, and Dr. Abercrombie has, in this work, given us a judicions and interesting compendium. We think he should have been more copious and explanatory in the elementary part; but, like a true son of Galen, he chiefly delights to descant upon those points brought out or illustrated by disease. Accordingly he treads spiritedly in the path lately adventured in by the great novelist, explaining the "marvels of the mind" by true philosophy, without confining himself to the one subject of spectral illusions as the other has done-and he has formed a fund of curious matter on the subjects of Memory, Association, Imagination, Dreaming, Somnambulism, Insanity, &c. mixed up with grave discussions on Abstraction, Reason, First Truths, and Causation, never, however, we must say, becoming dry or uninteresting even on these knotty subjects. The influence of disease on the mental faculties, especially the memory, is very remarkable, and proves that all the forgotten transactions, or acquirements of our past times, may be by an accident brought again before us, or we may be as suddenly deprived of all, or part of what we at present know. By a variety of authenticated but extraordinary circumstances, and a multitude of singularly amusing relations, Dr. Abercrombie has enlivened and illustrated subjects usually deemed particularly dry and abstruse, but has never forgotten the philosopher. The whole subject of the mind is, in this work, treated rather for its practical bearing than for its deep or speculative departments: we doubt if it will serve as an introduction, universally intelligible, to the science of

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mind, but it will furnish much valuable information, and many apposite illustrations to the reader who has already made some progress in the study, and, at the same time, it will be much more interesting to the general reader than such works usually are.

Dowling's Statutes.

The object of this little book is to enable the public to obtain, within a small compass, the various civil, criminal, and colonial acts, passed during the last Session of Parliament, at a moderate rate, without the necessity of purchasing the Scotch, Irish, and local acts. These latter are evidently uninteresting to the generality of persons in this country. Each act is accompanied by notes, pointing out the change effected by it in the law. These are clear and free from technicality; so that the general reader, as well as the magistrate and the lawyer, may find advantage in them. The statutes are printed at length, and the preface states that the work will be continued annually. We think it will be found useful, and can recommend it warmly "to all whom it may concern."

pretty-looking and very interesting volumes. They are such as may be taken up at any time and in any mood, with the certainty that they will afford enjoyment. The books will have what is called "a run" among the thousands and tens of thousands who are learning to "make poetry," and who may be stimulated by the hope of hereafter reading their own "highly-gifted names" in a similar collection. If, however, the publisher should thus be the means of adding a few more to the already numerous race, he will have a heavy sin to answer for.

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. By James Boswell. Complete in one volume.

This book is certainly a literary curiosity. The whole of Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson, with Malone's notes, complete in one pocket volume, and at a price in proportion to the comparatively small quantity of paper expended in forming it, is an acquisition of no ordinary importance to those who love the luxury of reading, but desire to obtain it upon the easiest terms. The work has been printed at the Chiswick press; the type is remarkably clear, and its outward appearance

Deadly Adulteration, &c. By an Enemy highly attractive. to Fraud and Villainy.

"Deadly Adulteration and Slow Poisoning, or Disease and Death in-" We cannot proceed farther with the alarming title-page of this small but eventful volume, the production of "An Enemy of Fraud and Villainy." It is a treatise not to be read with firm nerves, or, we may add, with a wavering faith. It is a most portentous catalogne of calamities; and shows us (we are afraid we must believe it all,) how impossible it is to escape death and destruction in some shape or other. We have long known how many hundred ways there are of dressing an egg; we are now convinced that there are quite as many modes of poisoning people. The writer of this little work has pointed out such numberless instances of what he terms "blood-empoisoning and life-destroying adulterations," pervading every luxury and necessary of life, that we begin to feel surprised that the world has lived so long and must now express our opinion that he who desires to survive longer must forego a practice which he has hither. to considered essential to existence-he must cease to eat and drink. A third part of the book is devoted to an exposition of abuses in the manufacture of wine, spirits, and beer; the remaining portions are employed in an analysis of nameless and unnatural matters which we have hitherto considered to be flour, tea, spices, confectionary, medicines, &c. &c. but whose real quality and character we shudder to contemplate. It is clearly the opinion of the writer before us, that there is nothing in the world perfectly free from quackery but his own production. Nevertheless we honestly recommend it; for if people must be poisoned, it is but right that they should know how-unless they should think, with the poet, that ignorance is bliss, as in this instance we believe it to be.

The Lyre and the Laurel. Fugitive Poetry of the Nineteenth Century. 2 vols. A judicious and tasteful gathering together of the stray leaves of modern poets, forming two

Tales of other Days. By J. Y. T. with Illustrations by Cruikshank.

These tales, consisting of mere incidents, some fanciful, some approaching the historical, and all of them very well told, have, it seems, appeared in print before-in some periodical we presumeand are now collected in a volume, for the sake of some illustrations from the pencil of the immortal and mirth-loving Cruikshank-with a due regard to historical propriety, the costume of each character, the Devil and all, being given on the best authority. The Devil, of course, in any thing Cruikshank has to do with, could not be forgotten, though he figures but in three of the sketches, and only twice in propria persona. The engravings are by Thompson and Williams, and are delicately

executed.

Sweepings of my Study.

It is exceedingly absurd in any author to deplore the day on which he began to scribble as the "most unlucky in his calendar," at the very moment when he is conveying the produce of his brains (?) into the hands of the public in return for certain coin of the realm. If these Sweepings of a Study had been swept into the kennel, neither the writer nor the reader would have sustained a very severe loss.

The Legal Observer.

Most professions have hitherto had some periodical publication, having for its peculiar object frequent and easy communication between their various members. It did seem somewhat strange, that the branch of the legal profession, consisting of attorneys, solicitors, and others, who have lately established their institution in Chancerylane, should have remained without one. Such a publication has now appeared, with the above title. It will contain, as the prospectus promises, a considerable portion of useful matter, connected with the profession; such as, the analysis of new

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Acts of Parliament, abstracts of reports, manuscript as well as published, and biographical sketches of eminent legal characters. We have seen the first number. It is edited with much ability, and will, we feel assured, prove a very valuable acquisition to a numerous and intelligent class.

The Veracity of the Five Books of Moses, &c. By the Rev. J. J. Blunt, Fellow of St. John's, Cambridge.

This is a prosecution of Paley's principle, establishing the veracity of the scriptures by instances of consistency without design. Paley's researches were employed in comparing the history of Saint Paul with his own Epistles. Mr. Blunt does not take precisely the same ground; the writings he compares are all from one hand, at least, he takes for granted they were the Five Books of Moses.

His first proof of undesigned consistency is built upon a general view of the Book of Genesis. In this he discovers numerons indications of what he styles a "Patriarchal Church;" yet so unconnected are the circumstances, and so incidentally mentioned, as to prove the writer had no such purpose in view. The fact of the Patriarchal Church was known to him, and the allusions come naturally as occasions suggest them. This Patriarchal Church bears the same relation to the Mo. saic as the Mosaic to the Christian. Mr. Blunt finds "places of worship" in the often recurring phrase, "before the Lord:" he finds "priests" in Noah, Melchizedec, Jethro, and, apparently, in eldest sons of families: "prophets" in Balaam, Job, Enoch: "sacerdotal robes" in Esau's "goodly raiment;" and "seasons set apart for worship," that is the sabbath; for the sabbath was not first instituted in the wilderness: the bread of two days, given on the sixth day, was obviously given on account of the sabbath, in accordance, that is, with an anterior institution. Mr. Blunt finds, moreover, duties and doctrines; the distinctions of clean and unclean under Noah; the eating of blood forbidden; murder punished with death; adultery and fornication denounced; marriage with a brother's wife commanded; oaths binding; purifications enjoined. The Patriarchs, too, had their sacrifices-very minute descriptions were obviously given witness Abraham's offering of the heifer, the goat, the ram, the turtle-dove, and the pigeon. Their types, also, scarcely yield in number to those of the Levitical law, and for precision and interest, perhaps exceed them. Not to speak of Adam, whom St. Paul expressly calls a figure or type, Isaac's case is remarkable the previous announcement to his mother; his miraculons conception; the name given before his birth; and the name itself-laughter or joy; his projected death, a rehearsal, in fact, two thousand years before-hand, on the very spot; an only son, and himself carrying the wood, &c. These scattered materials brought together constitute the patriarchal structure. The building is not perhaps complete, but there is symmetry in the parts and unity in the whole-yet, obviously, Moses was contemplating no description of a Patriarchal Church.

The observant writer then produces his specific coincidences to the number of twenty-three, not doubting but farther and closer reading might greatly extend the list. They are conclusive as to

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We object to the present volume on more grounds than one; it is, in the first place, not altogether what it professes to be for though the title page states that in the book, or, more properly speaking, in these essays, that may be called strictly politico-economical, there are contained illustrations of "the principal causes of the present national distress, with appropriate remedies;" and though something like connexion is endeavoured to be maintained between the several portions of the work, yet it is but too plainly a collection of pamphlets, in all but the abstract portion of the volume, and that on subjects about which many persons are anxiously interested. Now it is rather hard that, in order to possess any one of these essays, which a man may happen to wish for, he must purchase ten or twelve which he does not require, to say nothing of " the dead weight" of the abstract essays, not given in to the bargain, but purchased at as dear a rate as the rest. We are far from meaning to affirm, that any one portion of the work in question could, in its present form, be separated from the whole; but so slight an alteration, so slight an explanation of principles, given in lieu of reference to foregone conclusions, would impart a substantive character to each portion, that really the practical part of the volume is the nearest thing in the world to a collection of pamphlets; and as we have said already, ten times more is foisted upon the generality of readers than they require.

Then this book is open to another objection. In the infancy of a science, we hold it that no man should come forward with a new book unless he has new matter. When a science has been so considerably advanced, that piles of volumes have been written for its elucidation, then it is doing "the state some service" to methodize and abridge; but every reader in the present times, who purchases a book, a large portion of which is composed of essays on "the motives to industry," "the security of property," "the productive pow ers of labour," &c. &c. is entitled to expect that there should be novelty and power at the least. Not that we mean so far to disparage the volume as to affirm that there is not some cleverness apparent from one end to the other; but the chief objections to it may be thus summed up: it is almost a book of politico-economical pamphletsin treating of an infant science it has presented nothing new-in discussing what is complex and

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