us in the works of nature of which we before had not been aware; such as an exposition of the admirable structure of the eye, or other parts of the human body; and so on of the different departments of nature; but when the mind has fully received and assented to these discoveries, the pleasure is by no means increased by the fresh examples that can be enumerated. We get satiated with the immense body of evidence that is constantly pouring in; and wearied with proof after proof, which are brought from the inexhaustible storehouse of nature. We therefore should advise those who advance fresh works on this subject, to seek rather a few prominent and well-chosen examples, to expound them clearly, and enforce them vividly; and they may be sure that they will effect more in the way of correction than a boundless profusion of minute discoveries heaped up before the astonished and bewildered mind. In this, as in all others, Paley's Natural Theology is an admirable example of what to reject, as well as what to select and illustrate.

Exposition of the false Medium excluding Men of Genius from the Public. THE object of this work seems to be that of exhibiting the misfortunes, difficulties, and depressed situation of men of genius and talent in their various pursuits. The author has brought forward a sufficiently formidable array of distressed authors, painters, actors, and other professional men; but he has failed to convince us that their distress proceeds from the neglect of the public, nor has he pointed out a remedy for the evil complained of. Men must take their chance in literature and in the arts, as they do in other professions; the greatest genius must have time to rise; eminent abilities slowly emerge from obscurity, but as transcendant talents are always wanted by the public, so they will be, when they are acknowledged as such, amply rewarded-" nullum numen abest si sit Prudentia"-and without prudence and conduct, encouragement and favour will be vain. People, we know, overrate their own importance, and if they will overwhelm the public with literary goods that the public do not want, and do not ask for, they

cannot justly complain that they remain on their own hands. In the present times common talents and common acquirements will not distinguish their possessor; but a Mackintosh in philosophy, a Wordsworth in poetry, a Herschell in science, an Elmsley in classical literature, and a Rose in divinity, will always command the respect, and receive the rewards, that society has to bestow; but these and all other men must be contented to wait until the blossom of their fame sufficiently expands to attract the attention of a busy and thoughtless world, which will not be at the trouble of hunting out early genius, and dragging it from the recesses of its obscurity.

The Note Book of a Country Clergyman.

THE object of this little work is to show the moral and religious influence with which the Church of England pervades every part of our country; and to follow in detail, and to exhibit in action, the effect of the presence and influence of the Clergy. This purpose

has been thrown into a dramatic form, and is embodied in a few simple tales, which, though they may not be remarkable for brilliancy of effect, or novelty of incident, are still faithful to truth and nature; while the true remedies for the deepest sorrow, and for the greatest crimes, are given for the consolation of the repentant sinner.

Translations from the Oxford and Cambridge Latin Prize Poems. 2d Series. WE do not think that this work of Mr. Torre's was much required, because the attraction of the original poems was chiefly to be found in the classical purity of their language, and in the skilfulness with which the idioms of the Roman tongue were adapted to modern subjects, and applied to express sentiments and thoughts belonging to periods distant from their own. Some of these poems, in the language in which they were written, were of great excellence, showing much accuracy of learning, and elegance and refinement of taste; and we hope that the practise of composition in the language of Cicero and Virgil, will always be fostered in our seats of learning; for, even supposing that the

A WORK written with considerable spirit, and not devoid of humour and drollery, but possessing neither incidents well-arranged nor characters clearly or happily developed. It would defy analysis in any reasonable compass. The person whom we most like, is a punning doctor of the name of Waldron; a kind of personage who is to be met with in every society of ten miles circumference, and who is sure to be esteemed a man of wit and genius. Country clergymen, and the apothecaries in provincial towns, are the most decided punsters. There is now one admirable living specimen in Ipswich, and one at Northampton. A little experience in physiognomy will detect them the moment they appear; they have a peculiar look of the eye, and a thin compressed mouth, out of which their jeux d'esprits, or jets d'eaux, (for these words were used promiscuously by our old friend Jemmy Boswell,) are expelled with emphasis. The air of triumph and satisfaction in the face of a punster who has made a successful shot, is one of the richest treats imaginable. The almost inaudible inward chuckle, the downcast half- averted smile, the pretended humility, then the conscious air of self-importance, as he rises in his own estimation and that of his friends, all shows a triumph and happiness not easily to be surpassed. There is also a Dr. Williams who sports with a bow ten feet long, who went out troutfishing, (as our worthy friend the Aldine publisher, Mr. Pickering, occasionally does with one of his editors,) and when he pulled off his boots he found a brace and a half of fine pink trout in the loose tops of each of them. "Not a bootless errand," quoth his

Plain Discourses on Practical and Doctrinal Subjects. By Sir Charles Hardinge, Vicar of Tunbridge, Kent.

THE numerous volumes of Sermons that are printed by the Clergy of the Established Church, for the advantage not of the learned and refined, but of persons of common education and plain understanding, reflect great credit on their diligence, piety, and good sense. Such discourses were of rare occurrence in former times; the Clergy preached too scholastically for their congregations sufficiently to profit by their advice; or else they fell into another error, and made what should be a scriptural sermon little more than a moral essay. We remember a striking example of this: the late Bishop Percy having to preach a charity sermon, and arriving too late in town from a journey, to give him time to compose one, transcribed a paper of the Rambler or Idler, we forget which, and took it into the pulpit. And another divine absolutely preached one of Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses on Painting, only omitting the technical terms. This would not do now; nor will people now be contented to eat unleavened bread. The sermons of Sir C. Hardinge are admirably calculated to diffuse the best principles of piety and virtue, and all Christian virtues, among his hearers.

A Glossary and Etymological Dictionary. By W. Toone.

THE language of our old English writers has received much illustration of late years, from a careful observance of the words and phrases that are preserved in the mouths of the peasantry in those parts of England that are remote from the effects and influence of the Court and the metropolis. Glos. saries of Cheshire, Yorkshire, Suffolk, and Somersetshire dialects have thrown much light on the hitherto obscure words found in Shakespeare, and the poets who lived before his time. Mr. Toone's book is an addition to these, and may justly be considered as an Appendix to Nares's Glossary. A work approaching to perfection in this department of literature can only be formed by the unison of many contributing their stock; but we hope soon to see a vast addition made to our knowledge of the Old English tongue, by the publication of Mr. Boucher's Glossary, under the superintendence of Messrs. Hunter and Stevenson.

Character of Jew and Gentile, a Tale.

By Mrs. Leman Grimstone. THERE is considerable talent displayed in various parts of this novel; a strong graphic power of description; just and sound reflections on the conduct of life and the formation of character; and a sufficiently varied succession of events to render the history entertaining. But there are great defects in the complication of the incidents, and in the arrangement of the fable. Circumstances of the highest improbability are introduced, such as could not take place in the present form of society; and crimes of the deepest dye are perpetrated by those from the general tenour of whose character they could not have proceeded; and lastly, the frame-work of the whole story is disjointed and unfinished; for that moral retribution we expect, is in one important case withheld; and while lesser villains meet the just reward of their guilt, the person most deeply stained in sin-the seducer, the adulterer, the robber, and the murderer-is suffered to escape, enjoying the ample harvest of his guilty machinations. The fair Authoress had either not skill to arrange her forces, and con

duct them through their complicated evolutions; or she did not give herself sufficient time duly to unfold a wellarranged plan, before she set to work on the incidents, which has produced the imperfection of her fable. Still there is sufficient originality and vigour of mind displayed to induce us to wish success to future productions from the same pen.

Life of the Rev. T. Thomason. By the Rev. J. Sargent, Rector of Lavington.

On

FEW persons, who have read Mr. Sargent's Memoir of Martyn, will ever forget the agreeable impression which it left on their minds. The present work is scarcely less interesting and instructive, though it does not possess those more striking features which distinguished the former. Mr. Thomason was a person in whom the most sincere and purest piety was early displayed; which grew with his growth, and strengthened with his strength. He was brought up under the fostering eye of Mr. Simeon, of Cambridge, and after some few years' performance of ministerial duties in England, he was appointed a chaplain in India. his voyage home, on account of the impaired state of his wife's health, he lost her who had been a most faithful and affectionate companion and friend to him; but having resolved to return to that country, in which his labours could be of the greatest utility, he again married. His health, however, broke down towards the termination of the voyage, and he died in the Isle of France, to which he had gone for the benefit of the climate. This is a very brief outline, indeed, of his life; but Mr. Thomason was not distinguished for the events which occurred to him, or the adventures he underwent. It was to his personal endowments that we are to look; to the vigour and promptitude of his mind, the extent of his acquirements, the purity of his life, the unquenchable spirit of his piety, his gentleness, his sweetness of disposition, and his benevolent affections. Temper, judgment, and discretion, all were combined in him in a manner which is not often met with. As a scholar, besides a superior acquaintance with Greek and Latin, he knew intimately Persian, Arabic, He

brew, and Hindostanee; into the last of which languages he translated the Old Testament. Bishop Heber placed a high value on his services in India, and mentioned the impossibility of supplying his place in the schools and pulpits of Calcutta. We shall only add that the account of the illness and death of Sir Henry Blossett, the Chief Justice of Bengal, forms an interesting part of the present narrative.

A Treatise on Roads. By the Right Hon. Sir Henry Parnell, Bart. 8vo. 7 plates, pp. 438.

WE think the name on this title will surprize our numerous civil engineers, but it need not; for, although we some time since had to notice a financial publication of this talented author; have since observed him recorded from the proceedings of a Committee, as the singular instance of a member of Administration retiring from power, because his principles of military economy, as Secretary at War, were not adopted; and subsequently found him actively engaged in the details of a new national Bank; the gist of the present work is rather financial than technical -more directed to the management than the making of Roads.

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There seems to us to be little of novelty in it, though much to attract attention to what is already known, but which some how or other is involved in mystery. That there still remain very bad roads in this highly civilized kingdom no traveller can deny if we understand Sir Henry rightly, this arises from a defect of accurate surveys; and certainly that defect must exist, if it be yet to be learned that the road going round a hill may be as short or shorter than that going over it; seeing that without any geometrical knowledge, the merest shepherd could shew as much; that horses suffer less in going over a plain than up and down hill should also certainly have been known. If this ignorance arose from economy in trustees, we can only say that, like some other economists, they must be, in the country phrase, penny wise and pound foolish!

As to cuttings and embankments, notwithstanding the skill which we have often watched in the old hedgers and ditchers, and drainers (particularly those of Essex), we are quite ready to

admit the utility of Science and of Mr. Macneill's Tables; and whenever operations on a scale worthy of them take place, we say also, "Employ the best engineer, the most solvent contractor, and pay both very liberally ;" but we do not think that these would occupy themselves on what every body knows-as that the proximity of trees makes avenues damp in wet weather, and excludes the sun from them; and that these consequences are unfavourable to roads. We should hardly think, notwithstanding the modern doctrine of Mr. MacAdam, that "it is no matter whether the substratum of a road be soft or hard"; however neglect is too often apparent, that foundation would yet be disregarded. We know from the Romans (and the remains left of their public ways, of which the most perfect are to be found in the less frequented parts of Portugal) that they studied it minutely; and no modern soldier would think of making a surface till he had remedied any defect in the foundation, by whatever materials are within his reach. Nay, it has been suggested to us, that Mr. MacAdam himself proves little less; since, however he may throw his loads of broken stone on a soft soil, or

it may harden by commixture, it is evident that, from pressure, it requires, as we see every day, fresh loads to supply the defects, whether by rut or hole, and that thus the former loads are surely substrata. And an anecdote has also been mentioned to us concerning a dignified pupil of Mr. MacAdam in a foreign country. Maj.General Sir John Milley Doyle introduced the system to the late John VI. of Portugal, who made a road to Cintra, his summer palace. Every visitor of this fashionable Richmond Hill can tell that a little beyond its centre, as well as other places, this road, for want of reiterations of stone, has become a swamp; from which all carriages have to turn aside upon a patch of the dark blue Roman stones. On the approach to Cintra, stands the old English country house of the late Queen Carlotta, built almost on a swamp, and its approaches are only paved with gravel; it is, notwithstanding, as perfect as any avenue in England; and this, although embosomed with trees, from its excellent substratum.

In Spain the Administrators of the Diligencias, we are also led to fear, failed in their attempts to introduce the system; France, a nearer neighbour, must be left to speak for herself. Sir Henry Parnell, in recommending improvements, addresses the interests of all concerned; he justly holds that mending a bad road costs more than making a good one, besides the waste of horse power in carriage; he suggests improvements on the present regulations, and would have a more responsible body than the present local trustees. In treating of canals and railways he gives a preference to the former, which is well founded; for their utility and success have been, during the last century, rendered certain; while the proposed general extension of railways and locomotive carriages has yet to be proved, and has many disadvantages, not experienced in peculiar localities, to overcome. On the whole, it is a very useful treatise on a most interesting subject; and from the rank and talent of its author, will doubtless tend to call forth that public attention to it which is everywhere required.

ther any communication existed be tween it and the streams that fall westerly. The account of this expedition is given in the first volume of this work. Capt. Sturt was enabled to pierce beyond the point which stopped Mr. Oxley, and to discover anohter river, which he called the Darling, in honour to the Governor who sent him.

We do not think that any advantage could be derived to our readers from following Capt. Sturt's path through hitherto unexplored marshes, or exhausted plains; but we shall rather briefly mention some general discoveries that are the result of this expedition.

In the first place, the natives of different tribes met with, appear to be in. the lowest state of savage existence; hardly able to procure food, and that chiefly fish, sufficient to support life. They are subject to a severe and fatal cutaneous disease, which carries them off in great numbers; probably owing to the low, stagnant, marshy country in which they live.

The country, as far as Capt. Oxley could penetrate, or as far as the hori zon extended from the spot where he was obliged to terminate his expedi

Sturt. 2 vols.

LONG after the south-eastern coast of New Holland had received its settlers, and its forests had been cleared, its plains cultivated, its harbours filled with ships, its hills covered with flocks, and its valleys filled with houses; all that enormous extent of country that lay west and north-west of the Blue Mountains, was terra incognita. These mountains offer, it appears, an uninterrupted ridge or spine, through whose barrier no river can, of course, force its way; so that streams, rising close to each other, immediately flow off in opposite channels. After some vain and ill-directed efforts to pass these mountains, Surveyor - general Oxley penetrated to the marshes of the Lachlan and the Macquarie; but was unable to proceed with his discoveries. Other expeditions followed; at length (1828) Captain Sturt was appointed to follow Mr. Oxley's steps, and ascertain the extent of that basin into which the Macquarie was supposed to fall, and whe

the reservoir of the rivers that flow into it. The periodical droughts, recurring about every eight years, form an extraordinary phenomenon in this country; they were so severe at the period of Capt. Sturt's expedition, that the largest trees perished and fell, rivers were dried up for 30 or 40 miles, and plants and saplings were growing in their channels. The wild dogs were reduced to skeletons; and the emus, and smaller birds, were in a state of utter exhaustion. The whole country wore a dull, wretched, melancholy aspect, so as much to affect the spirits and disposition of the people whom Capt. Sturt took with him. The vegetable Flora does not appear extensive; the Eucalyptus Mannifera appears to be the most common tree; but some beautiful birds, as the crested pigeon and rose-coloured cockatoo, were seen. The wild turkey exists in some parts. This expedition of Capt. Sturt's extended in distance about 1300 miles, in a direction north-west. It is true, that not much in the way of