dency," we sincerely hope that with her "solitude and despondency," her "serious thoughts" will not have an end; but that she will be induced again to dedicate her genius and acquirements to those topics that should press more upon us that should enter more into our thoughts, and mingle more with our occupations-and that are never so effective as when dwelt upon and illustrated by minds such as hers. Poetry has been ever the most valued handmaid of religion, and in the service of the one have been derived the highest honours of the other.

The Easter Gift contains fourteen poems, illus. trative of sacred subjects. They were written to accompany a series of prints, already familiar to us, but of great beauty; the paintings being by the rare old masters, and the engravings by British artists of reputation. We extract one of them, not because it is the best, or even among the best, but because we cannot afford room for a longer.

The following accompanies the plate of HAGAR and ISHMAEL, in the Desert:

"They sank amid the wilderness,
The weary and forsaken;
She gave the boy one faint caress,
And prayed he might not waken.

But death, not sleep, was on those eyes,
Beneath the heat declining:

O'er glittering sands and cloudless skies
The noon tide sun was shining.
For, far away the desert spread;
Ah! love is fair to cherish

The vainest hopes, but now she said,
'Let me not see him perish.'
Then spoke the LORD, and at his word
Sprang forth a little fountain,
Pure, cold as those whose crystal hoard
Is in some pine-clad mountain.

Oh, blessed God, thus doth thy power,
When, worn and broken-hearted,
We sink beneath some evil hour,
And deem all hope departed.

Then doth the fountain of thy grace,
Rise up within the spirit,
And we are strengthened for that race,
Whose prize we shall inherit.

When least we hope, our prayer is heard,
The judgment is averted.
And comes the comfort of the word,
When most we seem deserted."

"The Magdalen," a poem of considerable length, is, we think. equal to anything Miss Landon has ever written, and would alone have jus tified the recommendation we give the work. It is" got up" with great taste and elegance, and forms a most appropriate present at any period of the year-to the young more especially.

Memoirs of Sir James Campbell of Ardkinglass. Written by himself. 2 vols.

"An old man garrulous," and a very pleasant companion to sit with and chat away an hour about persons and things familiar to our grandsires, is Sir James Campbell of Ardkinglas, who,

at the age of eighty-seven, or thereabouts, writes and publishes two volumes that the world may learn what strange scenes he has seen, what singular persons he has known, and in what moving accidents by flood and field he has been engaged. And in truth, the record is a most amusing— a most interesting one. He is a fine merry old gentleman, and we would willingly give ten times the price of his book to spend a day by his side, and listen to the many tales he tells of times gone by. Sir James was a soldier from his boyhood, and his pictures of a soldier's life are striking and vivid. In battle, or in camp, or in garrison, or "at home at ease," he seeks to describe him as the happiest and most cheerful being in existence, and makes his reader also half in love with his fearful trade. Sir James is but an amateur book-maker, although his progenitors and his posterity have been well skilled in authorship. He throws together all he has seen, heard, or done, that is worth being repeated, and he has consequently produced a far more readable work than if he had written upon system, and used his pen as he did his sword, according to the best established rules and principles. Among many faults and much vulgarity, there is a freshness, an energy, and a sprightliness about the old man's records that cannot fail to make him welcome wherever he may be introduced; and we heartily recommend our readers men of peace as well as men of war-to cultivate bis acquaintance forthwith.

We are tempted to extract one anecdote, though it is certainly not new. The corporation of Bath having been dissatisfied with the politi. cal conduct of their representative Lord Tyrawley, sent him a letter of remonstrance, to which his Lordship laconically replied-" Mr. Mayor and Corporation, ye rascals, I bought ye, and by G-d, I'll sell ye!"

Lander's Discovery of the Termination of the Niger. 3 vols. Numbers XXVIII., XXIX., and XXX. of The Family Library."

Richard Lander is already well known to all who take an interest in African discovery, as the faithful attendant of the late Captain Clapperton. His brother, John Lander, it was who compiled from Richard's journal and oral narrative the published account of his former journey, including the details of Captain Clapperton's last illness, and the difficulties and dangers he himself had to contend with after that distinguished officer's lamented death. The two brothers, as our readers are doubtless well aware, were subsequently sent out together, for the purpose of ascertaining the course of the great river Niger, which was crossed by Clapperton on his journey to Soccatoo. The travellers succeeded, and the present work contains the particulars of their progress, and of its successful result. The journals were invariably written on the spot, at the close of each day, and now presented to the public without any alteration, or the introduction of a single additional sentence in the original MS. Their accuracy, therefore, may be implicitly relied upon, and the simplicity and vividness of the descriptions are such as might be naturally expected from the circumstances under which they were

are

to be introduced to the booksellers or the public by their friends. You know in former times first works were always heralded by sheets of complimentary verses to the author, published in front of his preface.' 'Oh no! that's quite rectified: formerly, ye see, Sir, Mr. Hyams, the booksellers never published any thing that was not well certified as to character, by good judges, before they meddled with it; but now they judge for themselves, which is the cause of the great straits they are so often reduced to afterwards, before they can get the best of books into vogue.' 'Surely you do not mean to say that the booksellers themselves now estimate the merits of the manuscripts offered to them. How can they, Mr. Wooden, considering their education and the manner in which their time is occupied with their business? For example; did you judge of that Essay on Logarithmic Transcendants, which you published the other day? Oh, Mr. Hyams! Oh, Mr. Hyams! was no' that published on the author's account? How could you name me and Logarithmic Transcendants in the same breath? No, Mr. Hyams-never imagine that there is one of the trade within the four walls of London would tig with his wee finger such college clishmaclavers. But we are all glad to get jobs from authors able to pay for them.' I never question that,' replied Mr. Hyams. But for authors of popular literature-poets, and such like, what is the custom towards them?' If they be popular, the dons of the trade will take them under their wing, of course.' I am persuaded of that; but until they have become popular?' 'That's no' an easy question. If they have friends, and these friends be men of repute -a flash-in-the-pan, new beginner, will risk something on their opinion; but for the most part, popularity is a plant of slow growth; and an author's best days are commonly past, and his best books laid by on the shelf, before he can rationally look for profit.' There is, then,' said Mr. Hyams with a sigh, thinking of our hero, but little chance for a young man whose sole end in becoming author is profit.' There's none at all-dear me! how could you think there was any? But if he be a man of genius, original in the way he looks on the world, and beautiful in the manner he tells what he sees-what then?

He will help the trunk makers-unless he has friends to speak of him, and friends in whose opinion the world has some confidence,-it's all a mistake, Mr. Hyams, to think that books, more than any other merchandise, can be sold without advertisement. Good wine, ye'll say, needs no bush; but the quality of the wine must have been tasted. Over and above all, Mr. Hyams, it is not enough that the quality be good,-it must have been relished; for I need not tell a gentleman of your long experience, that the best of all sorts of new things, whether books or wines, do not often please at first: the taste of the public must be, in a manner, educated to enjoy them; and that's a process of time.' Your remarks are judicions -very, Mr. Wooden, very; and, to let you into the secret, I am not asking all these questions out of curiosity, nor for myself; but I have a friend, a young man of singular talent-Was he famous at his university?' I cannot exactly answer that question; but he is able to have been

1

That's not enough: a young man, who has not had a name among his companions at the col

lege, has no chance.' And yet, Mr. Wooden, how many authors of the highest fame have had no juvenile celebrity!-how many have bad no renown till late in life! Just so: when ye say late in life, ye only tell us how hard it is to climb into reputation. Nay, nay, Mr. Hyams, don't flatter your friend that he'll find the course smoother than those who have gone before: without friends and trumpeters, he must reckon on small gains. Early profits come of patronage in all professions: renown is begotten of time as well as merit.' But I thought the booksellers were now the patrons of authors.' So they are, after the authors have established themselves.” But it is in the beginning and outset that patrons are most needed.' 'Quite true: but surely, sir, ye would not expect merit to be patronised till it has made itself known;-ye would not expect a bookseller to patronise a bare lad of genius in an untimely manner. What have the booksellers to do with poets more than the butchers with lambs, or the poulterers with larks?' Do they put them to death?' That's very jocose, Mr. Hy. ams: but to come to the point; unless your friend have friends that can promulgate him, he'll do but little good. Nobody should be authors that have not a backing in men or money; all trades need capital, and those that have to live by their calling must dine sparely without it. It's no' the best books, but those that best sell, which reward their makers. I have heard of a cookery book, that was such a mine of wealth to the publisher, that a topping man of the Row used to call it the Iliad of cocks and hens; for, among other things, it was grand anent poultry.' Mr. Hyams saw it was needless to prolong the conversation; and, as the bottle was empty, he rose to come away. His host would fain have detained him to partake of another, but the tenour of the remarks had flattened his spirits, despite the wine."

Histoire de Napoleon.

During the last twenty years, Memoirs, Lives, and Histories of Napoleon have been incessantly pouring from the press; yet so great is the interest attached to all that regards that extraordinary individual, and so important have been the effects of his agency upon the great mass of society, that, notwithstanding all that has been already said and written, the theme appears to possess as much attraction for writers and readers as ever. The history of M. de Mordacque is one of the best digests we have seen of those great events, which, at the mention of the name of Napoleon, pass before the mind's eye in the shadowy dignity of departed grandeur. It is dedicated by the author to his children, and is written in an easy and correct style, with fewer marks of prejudice than disfigure the writings of so many, who have chosen the same subject as a vehicle for the manifestation of angry passions and political resentments. Bourrienne, we believe, has been the principal authority consulted; and this circumstance is in itself sufficient to impress the stamp of authenticity upon the work. As an introduction to French translation, we apprehend, it will be found exceedingly valuable to schools; and more especially so from the clear and judicious views the writer has taken of the true character of events, which, fatal in themselves to the true

interests of mankind, the vulgar admiration of every thing externally imposing invests with an unmerited lustre. There is rather too much invective, however, towards the close of the volume against M. de Bourmont, which, whether deserved or not, is, at any rate, misplaced. The long dissertation npon his imputed treachery is out of keeping with the character of an abridgement; and in this instance only, the author, by a display of strong personal feeling, forfeits the praise of good taste and impartial justice, which we can conscientiously bestow upon the other parts of the volume.

Melange. By Maun de la Voye.

This is a very extraordinary melange indeed. English blank verse and French lyrics from the same pen, neither characterized, it is true, by the stamp of great poetical genius, yet likely to be amusing enough to the circle for whose perusal the work is probably intended. There is nothing within it to demand a lengthened notice, and we shall merely observe, with respect to the former kind of composition, that the author has succeeded in subduing the disadvantages presented by the mechanical structure and peculiar cadences of this very difficult metre, to an extent, which to a foreigner we should have been inclined at once to pronounce impossible.

A Practical View of Ireland from the Period of the Union. By J. B. Bryan, Barrister-at-Law.

There is an old Scotch proverb, that "An ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy," and we hold, after the like manner, that an ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory; and, therefore, we delight in practical views of all sorts of subjects, and especially such a knotty one as Ireland. Now Mr. Butler Bryan's book is full of facts, and he has shown skill as well as industry in the collection and arrangement of his materials. His work is well calculated to afford satisfactory information as to the capabilities of Ireland, its statistical evils, and his opinion of the best mode of remedying them. The evils, in his view of the case, and we believe it to be very near the mark, flow principally from the neglect, or the rapaciousness of the proprietors of the land, who take no thought for the well-being of their tenants, and who grind the faces of the poor. His remedy is an organized system of permanent relief for paupers. He certainly appears to us successful in showing that Ireland can never compete with Great Britain in manufactures or in commerce without a legalized provision for the support of its poor; and he farther proves, that Ireland actually pays already quite as much, in proportion to her means, in support of a countless swarm of sturdy beggars, who do much mischief and no work, as England pays for her poor-law system. This part of the work is full of useful statistical information, and abounds in official documents, illustrations, and details, which cannot fail to render it a valuable manual to all who are con cerned in promoting the public prosperity of Ireland. We shall conclude this very hasty and imperfect notice of so important a practical treatise as this of Mr. Bryan's, with a brief bat pithy extract from Dr. Doyle's exhortation in favour

of the introduction of poor-laws into his unhappy country :

"You complain of rack-rents, and tithes, and want of employment, and of the ejection of poor tenants from their holdings. There is but one legal remedy for them, and that remedy is a legal provision for the poor. Let every man, therefore, who wishes that a competition for land should' cease; let every man who desires to see the poor exempted from famine and disease; who desires to see the widow clothed, the orphan fed, and the stranger taken in; let every man who is sincerely anxious that the law of nature be not violated, but the law of Christ fulfilled, petition Parliament to enact a legal provision for our poor. Let every man who is sincere in his professions of desiring to see the income derived from the soil of Ireland expended within the country, in the improvement of that soil, and in the employment of a people to be supported as labourers that they may not be paupers; let every such man lay aside his doubts and fears, or schemes of personal profit to be realised from the life-blood of his fellow countrymen; let every such person petition Parliament for a legal provision for our poor."

We earnestly recommend Mr. Bryan's diligently compiled and excellent volume to the attention of every well wisher of Ireland.

Theological Library. No. II.-Consistency of Revelation with Itself and with Human Reason. By P. N. Shuttleworth, D.D. Warden of New College, Oxford.

Religious belief is certainly much more dependent on the will, and on a proper discipline of the affections, than worldly men, or scoffers, are ever willing to allow. We more than doubt that any man ever carefully examined the arguments for and against the credibility of revelation with a sincere anxiety to side with the truth, and thereby arrived at a deliberate, conscientious conviction that Christianity was a cunningly devised fable. The object of Dr. Shuttleworth's disserta. tion, which is written in that sober spirit of philosophical learning, and deep theological know. ledge, which distinguishes all the productions of the same sound and eminent divine, is to do justice to the internal evidences of Christianity, by presenting them in a general and connected view, as integral portions of a great and complex, though harmonious system. Even the most firmly grounded (philosophical) faith, in this life, being established rather upon a balance between conflicting difficulties than upon positive demonstration, it follows that the wider we can make our intellectual range in examining the general system of Providence, the more we become familiar. ized with those astounding facts which form the basis of every possible theological theory, and the less we are, in consequence, disposed to be offended with what we find to be rather the result of an incurable defect in our own understandings, than a substantial refutation of our religious profession of faith. This much, at least, we are convinced, that every reader capable of following and apprehending the arguments of Dr. Shuttleworth, will find it not taken for granted, but fully proved, that sufficient evidence of the truth of Christianity is afforded the inquirer to satisfy

every purpose of effective moral probation, however inadequate it may be for the gratification of mere curiosity or speculative scepticism.

The Truth of Revelation Demonstrated.

This elegantly illustrated volume consists of an appeal to the reason in favour of the proofs of Christianity, founded chiefly on the evidence of existing monuments, sculptures, gems, coins, and medals. Dr. Walsh had already done much, in his valuable little work, towards illustrating the early history and progress of Christianity, chiefly

in connexion with coins and medals of the Lower Empire. The present work embraces a more extensive field, and meets the infidel and sceptic on the wide arena of general modern science. The diligence and research of modern travellers, and the rapid strides which have been made in the knowledge of Oriental literature, during the last fifty years, have produced a prodigious accession to the corroborative evidences of the truth of revelation. The object of the work before us is to collect and to condense the scattered rays of this accumulated evidence from every practicable and accessible source. Among other topics, we observe, that those more recent discoveries in geology, which are thought to present discrepancies with the Mosaic history and chronology of the globe, are particularly animadverted upon. The simplest view of this subject appears to us to be, that the question no more bears upon the truth of Revelation than does the Newtonian theory of the planetary system. Divine inspiration was given to impart to us religious knowledge, not to instruct us in natural philosophy; and wherever subjects of natural philosophy, and not of religious belief or doctrine, are treated of in the Bible, we may conclude that the sacred penman was left to the use of his own reason and human knowledge, unaided by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If this be admitted, it disembarrasses this part of the question of all difficulty

were requisite for the collection of the necessary materials. The labour, however, of the author has fully kept pace with the demand upon his exertions; scarcely a single authority of importance has been left unconsulted, and the quantity of information thus gained is so skilfully disposed, as to constitute the most satisfactory book that has yet appeared upon a branch of Botany deserving of the widest general attention, at one half of the price that might reasonably have been demanded. An enumeration of the beads, under which the several specific particulars are contained, may give some idea of the extensive character of the publication. The first part is devoted to Cercelia; and their numerous varieties cultivated in all parts of the habitable globe, form the subject of the six leading chapters. To these succeeds a comprehensive view of the history and culture of the potato, and other esculent roots. The leguminous, succulent, alliaceous, and acetarious vegetables; together with the spices, edible fungi, &c. occupy the remainder of the volume. Many woodcutsan embellishment almost indispensably necessary to a treatise of this nature-give additional interest to the printed contents, which only need the addition of an index to leave the reader nothing farther to desire. No occupation, perhaps, has so efficacious a tendency to tranquillise the mind, and to supply an unexceptionable means of recruiting its energies, as inquiries into the constitution and arrangement of the various departments in the Vegetable Economy. To such studies the wisest and best of men have frequently retired from the anxieties and disappointments of more active life, and acknowledged, in seeking an acquaintance with the productions of the garden, a benefit far beyond what might have been anticipated from the employment of means apparently so simple. Every effort to promote, in the least degree, a taste for such pursuits, claims, from its mere intention, the commendation of all who are anxious for the diffusion of right and bealthful feelings among mankind at large; and to the author of the present treatise, as well as to its publishers, the thanks of the community are justly due for another successful attempt to induce, by exhibiting its most striking effects, a familiarity with that delightful fund of knowledge connected with the culture of the ground; a knowledge which furnishes the great support of human existence at large, and has been enabled, by a merciful Providence, to convert the primeval sentence of toil and hardship into a widely-felt and acknowledged blessing. Few could rise from a perusal of the pages we are noticing without a very considerable addition to their stock of ideas-still fewer without a feeling of gratitude for the comprebensive view, contained within them, of the stores deposited in the prolific bosom of the Earth, for the sustenance of the myriads who throng its surface. Such a contemplation, to borrow an image from a beautiful fiction of ancient times, is as if the horn of Amalthea were present in sensible reality, and pouring its rich and inexhaustible stores at the feet of the privileged spectator.

History of the Peninsular War. By Robeit Southey, LL.D. Vol. III.

We have elsewhere treated of Dr. Southey and his labours at some length, Although this is a