engage to give those places and you engaged to preserve their privileges inviolable. But where now are Prevesa, Butrinto, and Vonitza? They are in desolation! Those places when delivered up to you enjoyed tranquillity, the Cross stood in their churches, Christianity flourished among them. They were over-run by you, you broke every stipulation in their favor, and you spared the lives of any Christians, only to do your menial offices. Restore those places to their former condition, and then we shall consider it our duty to consign Parga into your hands; but we never can give up to you the last European place that erects the Cross of Christ when we see Prevesa, Butrinto, and Vonitza in the greatest desolation." Well may it be asked, In what part of the law of nations is it discovered that a right exists to insist on the fulfilment of a treaty against a people, towards whom all its contracts had been broken? As the Turks had shamefully violated every duty to which they had bound themselves, how can it be argued that the treaty was binding only on the other party? One half is kept in favor of a Mohammedan tyrant, and the other half is broken in injury to a Christian people. very We do not wish, at this time, to revive an angry political discussion, which can now be of no use to the injured parties; and having detailed the historical facts relating to the cession, we close this article with referring such of our readers as are disposed still farther to pursue the subject, to the ample documents in the work before us. The personal disappointments of Colonel De Bosset, and his hostile feelings against Sir Thomas Maitland, have betrayed him occasionally into the language of asperity: but, as he has made a judicial appeal for redress, we should now recommend him, for the sake of his own peace of mind, to compose those feelings, and forget his disappointments. MONTHLY CATALOGUE, FOR DECEMBER, 1822. NATURAL HISTORY, HORTICULTURE, AND MINERALOGY. Art. 14. Conversations on Mineralogy. With Plates, engraved by Mr. and Miss Lowry, from Original Drawings. 2 Vols. 12mo. 14s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1822. The plan of these Conversations is happily conceived, and, with the exception of some typographical errors, it is executed with ability and taste. The author has studiously avoided all unnecessary parade of technical diction, has rendered the doctrines of crystallography more familiar than heretofore to the tyro in mine ralogy, ralogy, and has included some account of most of the recently discovered substances. We may, therefore, unhesitatingly characterize his work as one of the most desirable text-books that have issued from the British press. Art. 15. The Wonders of the Vegetable Kingdom displayed. In a Series of Letters. By the Author of "Select Female Biography." 12mo. pp. 252. 7s. Boards. Whittakers. 1822. This title is somewhat more imposing than the tenor of the little volume to which it is prefixed will strictly warrant: but several of the interesting facts relative to the vegetable economy are brought together in an easy and familiar style, and the sentiments and reflections all savour of honorable intention and rational piety. The writer states that his aim is merely to profit and to please; to lead the youthful mind from the minor wonders of creation to the knowlege of their great Artificer; and the admirers of the elegant and captivating science of botany to consider how much it is capable of being heightened and improved by associations of the highest nature.' We may therefore recommend these pages to the young, or to such persons as may be desirous of studying the growth and structure of plants, without having it in their power to consult the more learned and elaborate works of Duhamel, Bonnet, Sennebier, Linné, &c. : but we certainly could have welcomed a more pointed regard to methodical arrangement, to the correct orthography of proper and technical names, and to the ordinary rules of English grammar. If the author belongs to the fair sex, some kind cavaliere servente might have easily obliterated such. peccadillos as the following: Duharmel for Duhamel, Ibitson for Ibbetson, Bonner for Bonnet, Dauphene for Dauphiny, Kerby for Kirby, Delicarlion for Dalecarlia, machineal for manchineel, decta-. marus for dictamnus, helliborus for helleborus, vulgares for vulgaris, convololi for convolvuli, dellenie for Dillenia, Linne for Linnæi, cyneps for cynips, cocus illicus for coccus ilicis, Epidendrium flos aris for Epidendrum flos aëris, Vallesneria for Vallisneria, califolia for latifolia, tricola for tricolor, chironea for chironia, lamium for ledum, nigram for nigrum, teraxacum for taraxacum, Nymphæ. for Nymphæa, atriplax for atriplex, ænothira for oenothera, hilam for hilum, corcilum for corculum, and Entymology for Entomology. 89. we find the word assuming where the sense obpage viously requires unassuming; Nymphaea alba is not the yellow but the white water-lily; and Typhalatifolia is not properly the Bullrush, but the great Cats' tail, or Recd-mace. We are at a loss to know what bird is shadowed forth by the term Lonicera, though the context would lead us to suspect that it is a blunder for Loxia curvirostra. The writer, moreover, possesses the malicious talent. of setting noun and verb very unnecessarily at variance; as,., neither time nor labor have been spared, an external ring of red arteries were seen, - the internal surface of the latter are said, the great surface of the leaves render them, the gradual unfolding of the leaves resemble, a cargo of cocoa are the lading, the periods of shutting is equally determined, the ligneous parts. At -- has has been discovered, the descent and the ascent has been, &c The substitution of laid for lain is more prevalent than correct but cloved is more original, and really somewhat appalling. Art. 16. An Essay on the Soils and Composts, indispensably necessary in the Propagation and Culture of the more rare and valuable ornamental Trees, Shrubs, Plants, and Flowers, of the Pleasure-Garden, Flower-Garden, and Green-house Collection. By Thomas Haynes, Propagator of Trees, Shrubs, and Plants, Oundle, Northamptonshire. 12mo. 5s. Boards. Harding. Our botanical gardeners know the value and necessity of attending to the qualities of soil, in the care and propagation of rare and tender exotics: but we have often thought that this point is much less considered than it ought to be, in the culture of the more common productions of the garden, both esculent and ornamental. This may appear strange, when, as Mr. Haynes truly observes, it must be easy to conceive the necessity of due regard being paid to the natural soils of these almost innumerably various productions, natives as many of them are of the most opposite situations and climates of the world.' The fact, however, is that ordinary gardeners, and the majority of possessors of gardens, are too easily satisfied with these products in a state inferior to that which they might attain if more care, and more attention to the particular article of soil, were bestowed on them. Let any person observe, in the course of a few seasons, even the chance-proofs that will meet his eye of the superior beauty which various plants will exhibit, by their having happened to be placed or to have been self-sown in soils that they particularly liked, and which were not generally appropriated to them in preference to the ordinary soil of the garden:- he will then see ample reason for urging the importance of this consideration, and will derive clear instructions for his future guidance if he wishes for excellence. The degree of moisture, also, with which different plants would thrive best, is another essential matter, but not at this moment included in our discussion. In the brief volume before us, Mr. Haynes not only gives the result of his experience as to the kinds of soil which should be selected in the several cases, but very properly enables gardeners to compound that soil where they have it not in a natural state. His observations are comprized in sections, treating respectively of peat or bog-earth for hardy American and other plants; of a substitute for bog-earth; of bog-earth compounded for peculiar green-house plants, requiring a soft but not cool soil, and for others requiring also a cool soil; of heath-soil for the Erica, Diosma, &c. in the green-house collection, and all hardy heaths; of compounded earth for the Camellia, Protea, &c.; of rich loam, for each variety of Citrus; of rubbish-soil for succulent plants; of general compost, for common green-house plants; of saxatile soil, for alpine and other rock plants; of adhesive soils for aquatic plants; of ameliorated compost for bulbs; &c. &c. &c. REV. DEC. 1822. Ff All All these directions are stated to be the fruit of a long life of professional experience; and we may therefore recommend them to the amateur of horticulture and the young practical man, as tending to correct an indifference to superiority of cultivation which, we have already remarked, seems to be too prevalent. The institution of Horticultural Societies, which now flourish in various parts of England, and most particularly in the metropolis, will probably have a great effect in stimulating to the attainment of excellence, and to successful rivalry, in the wholesome, natural, and beneficial science of gardening. At p. 10. Mr. H. says, in directing the formation of a substitute for bog-soil, On no account be prevailed on to sift over the heap, under the idea of better mixing the sand and decayed leaves; a process which has invariably proved hurtful to composts of every description: yet in p. 21, and frequently afterward, he especially directs the use of a fine hair-sieve. This inconsistency should be obviated; and the work altogether, if ever reprinted, might be benefited by the revisal of some lettered friend. It wants a little hoeing and raking. Art. 17. Directions for cultivating the Crambe Maritima, or SeaKale, for the use of the Table. By William Curtis, Author of the Flora Londinensis, &c. A new Edition, containing the Experience of Maher, Barton, Melross, Baldwin, and Others, who have written on the Culture or forcing of this Plant in the London and Edinburgh Horticultural Transactions, or in other Works. With Three Engravings on Wood. 12mo. pp. 41. Harding. 1822. That very delicate and wholesome vegetable, the Sea-kale, has within these few years become so generally known, and so much sought at all tables, that most gardeners are now tolerably well acquainted with the cultivation of it; and its capability of supplying the place of that equally desirable food, Asparagus, by preceding its appearance from December till May or June, with very moderate forcing, will continue to render it an article of established culture. The directions in this little pamphlet will therefore still be acceptable to gardeners and gardening-gentlemen, as communicating various methods and opinions concerning its propagation. The small engravings represent two kinds of earthen pots employed in covering the kale, and the manner of forcing it under garden-lights. The blanching-pot, with a movable top, is perhaps the best where glass is not used: but a common flower-pot, with the holes stopped, answers the purpose very well, without extra expence. - Not only are the tender stalks of this plant good for eating, which form the general crop, but, as Mr. Curtis observes, when they are exhausted, and the heads of flowers begin to form, we may uncover the plant entirely, and let it proceed to that state in which brocoli is commonly cut, and use it as such. This is an additional recommendation of the kale; as it will in this manner be an excellent substitute for brocoli when the latter has been destroyed by severe winters, which do not affect the former. HISTORY, HISTORY. Art. 18. The History of the Town and County of the Town of Galway; from the earliest Period to the present Time, &c. By James Hardiman, Esq. 4to. pp. 318. With Plates. Printed at Dublin. Ireland, to use an often quoted phrase of one of her distinguished sons, now deceased, seems to have turned her back upon herself. While every city and town in Great Britain can boast of its own history, the cities and towns of Ireland have excited but little antiquarian research; and the enumeration of about a dozen works, which Mr. Hardiman has given in a note, constitutes the meagre catalogue of all the topographical histories of the sister kingdom; - exclusively, indeed, of the statistical or county agricultural surveys, which are of an entirely different nature from the publications to which we allude. The deficiency, as far as Galway is concerned, is very creditably supplied by the laborious compil ation before us. Though interesting to the inhabitants of the places described, and useful to the general historian as depositaries of local antiquities, local biography, and local information on matters of trade and commerce, yet topographical works very rarely excite much attention among the public at large. Their excessive minuteness of genealogical detail, or of corporation-history perhaps, and the petty annals of a few private families, are repulsive to the general reader. In the present volume, however, we meet with much anecdote and information which may have a wider interest; and Mr. Hardiman has narrated the history of Galway from the commencement of the Irish Rebellion in 1641 to the period of its surrender in 1691 to the forces of King William, with an amplitude to which its activity and vicissitudes of fortune fairly intitle it. The account is brought down to the present time: but the prosperity and opulence which Galway enjoyed at the commencement of the Rebellion of 1641 has been succeeded by adversity and decay. At the period of the restoration of Charles II. the work of destruction seemed to have been complete. The town had surrendered to the parliamentary forces under Sir Charles Coote, after a valorous defence; though plague raged within it, the licentiousness of the soldiery exceeded the ravages of that disease; and the antient inhabitants were turned out, their lands were valued and sold, and many of their houses destroyed. On the Restoration, many of the new settlers disappeared, and the old returned: but the hostility between Protestants and Catholics, and the severity of laws which the stronger party enacted and enforced against the weaker, have been a source of constant trouble, and one cause of the fallen prosperity of Galway. The inhabitants of that town were the first who took up arms in defence of their King, and the last that laid them down, either in Great Britain or Ireland; and Mr. Hardiman is justified in asserting that, at the present crisis, when so many of his Majesty's subjects are endeavoring by constitutional means to be emancipated from those civil inflictions under which they have so long and patiently labored, the Ff 2 pages |