mistress happeneth to come to visit him; and he, not having any other food for her dinner, made a dainty dish of his Falcon for her to feed on. Being conquered by this exceeding kind courtesie, she changed her former hatred towards him, accepting him as her husband in marriage, and made him a man of wealthy possessions."

BOCCACIO, (Old Translation,) Fifth Day, Novel 9.

Can I do ought to soothe your pretty boy? To smile on one whom all the world aban

(Thou hast already with thine eyes) and bring

My load of love and lay it at thy feet. -Oh! ever while those floating orbs look bright

Shalt thou to me be a sweet guiding light.

Once, the Chaldean from his topmost

tower

Did watch the stars, and then assert their
power

Throughout the world: so, dear Giana, I
Will vindicate my own idolatry.

And in the beauty and the spell that lies
In the dark azure of thy love-lit eyes;
In the clear veins that wind thy neck be-
side,

'Till in the white depths of thy breast
they hide,

And in thy polish'd forehead, and thy hair

Heap'd in thick tresses on thy shoulders
fair;

In thy calm dignity; thy modest sense;
In thy most soft and winning eloquence;
In woman's gentleness and love (now
bent

On me, so poor,) shall lie my argument.
Pp. 81-89.

We confess, we have been much delighted with the contents of Mr. Cornwall's little volume, which manifests, like its precursor, much tenderness of spirit, delicacy of feeling, correctness of taste, and beauty of imagery; and these are embodied with the same pure and graceful form, that at first soothed the critics' asperity, and gave Mr. Cornwall, in their opinion, such a high degree of superiority above his fellows-we mean those, with whom, (at the risk of vitiating his taste,) he deigns to associate. There is no writer of the present day, that we are acquainted with, who makes so near an approach to the pure and natural style of our elder dramatists. This encourages us to hope something still better from him, under whatever name he may choose to assume, (for we are assured that Barry Cornwall is but a nomme de guerre.) He has avoided what we conceived to be a partial blemish in his first work-something like affectation in his diction-by coming too near the barriers of unmeaning simplicity. And, in conclusion, we would only wish to guard him against allowing himself to be, (as one or two instances betray a tendency to such a fate,) too servile an imitator of the style, subject, or manner of any particular poet. There are works which stand alone, and may not be successfully copied; and failure in imitation ought not to be look

ed on with a careless eye, by any one who has within himself what might keep him from the necessity of borrowing from another. He ought to say, in the words of an old poet—

Though I'me young, I scorne to flit
On the wings of borrowed wit."
I'le make my owne feathers reare me
Whither others cannot beare me."

ART. III.-A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons, exhibiting the fraudulent sophistications of Bread, Beer, Wine, Spirituous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confec tionary, Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and other Articles employed in Domestic Economy; and Methods of detecting them. By FREDRICK ACCUM, Operative Chemist, Lecturer on Practical Chemistry, Mineralogy, and on Chemistry applied to the Arts and Manufactures; Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Fellow of the Linnæan Society, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and of the Royal Society of Arts of Berlin, &c. &c. London, Longman & Co. 1820. Pp. 388. 12mo.

MR. ACCUM is advantageously known to the public by several works of a character between profoundly scientific and loosely popular. His treatise on Chemical Tests embodies a great deal of useful information, in a reasonable and convenient form; and of the merits of a production under the name of "Chemical Amusement," the object of which is, by a great variety of easy, safe, curious, or striking experiments, illustrated and explained on philosophical principles, to convey instruction respecting the science of chemistry, in an agreeable and interesting manner, we have a tolerably correct evidence, in its having undergone four editions in about half the number of years. Still more recently, he has published a costly, but valuable work, on the Process of Manufacturing Coal Gas; and we have seen announced, with his name, a Description of the Chemical Apparaus and Instruments employed in Chemistry, also Elements of Chemistry for Self-Instruction, after the system of Sir Humphrey Davy, neither of which has hitherto fallen into our hands. From this enumeration, conjoined with the fair inferences to be drawn from his professional designation and titular appendages quoted at the head of this article, it may be safely concluded,

that he is an experienced teacher, and that he has attained already a respectable eminence in those departments of practical science which he professes to cultivate.

The work before us will undoubtedly extend his repute, because, with perhaps equal merit as to execution with his other productions, it is of much more general interest than any of them. It furnishes intelligence of the first importance to the well-being of mankind, and in reality is addressed to every member of the community. The number of those whom the demands of society may require to be adepts in chemistry or mineralogy, is comparatively speaking small; nor will the proportion which it bears to the whole population be greatly increased, by adding to it the list of amateur students who may have the commendable ambition of reaping the honours of a Cavendish or a Playfair. But all of us must eat and drink; and besides the necessity for these operations, there are few individuals who do not occasionally regard them as sources of enjoyment. They are so naturally, indeed, independent of the art, or the folly of mankind, which, not contented with their subservience to animal existence, have apparently exalted them to a chief place among rational concerns.

That a certain degree of attention ought to be directed to the kind of substances which are introduced into our systems, under the name, and for the purposes of aliment, is quite manifest from the very different effects which are produced on our sensations and faculties, whether of mind or body, by the various materials which we are in the habit of consuming. In vain would a false philosophy, or an equally false religion, inculcate indifference to the qualities of those things which we use in diet; for while our constitutions are fabricated as they are, while they remain subject to physical causes, as we experience them to be, we cannot in reason divest ourselves of all consideration respecting the means by which alone they are to be supported and fitted for the duties of life. But there arises another, and a very cogent reason for some solicitude on the subject, in the notorious, or at least the widely-suspected sophistications of the articles of food which unprincipled men have practised for the sake of gain, and in the admitted fact of sundry impurities being occasionally allowed to mix with alimentary substances, rather through inadvertence or carelessness than design, but with equal hazard to those persons who may partake of them. It is to apprize the public of the extent of the danger to which they are exposed from both of these causes, fraud and ignorance or inattention, and to put them in possession of the means by which pernicious and spurious ingredients may be detected in a great variety of substan