THE sufferings of Silvio Pellico, and the spirit in which he endured them, have created an interest in his literary productions which will be in part gratified by this translation. We are indebted for it to the elegant pen of Mr. Thomas Roscoe. But our largest debt is for the memoir prefixed, and which will be read with feelings similar to those excited by the Ten Years' Imprisonment.' Of the work itself, we cannot speak with unqualified approbation. It is an epitome of the morality of sentiment, always requiring to be tested by principle, and not always abiding the test. Section 15, for instance, On the choice of a Profession,' seems to us to be a sad misguidance. There are other portions to which also objections might be taken; but the most rigorous criticism would leave much that is alike true, beautiful, and useful. The Sea-Wolf. A Romance of 'The Free Traders.' THIS Volume of the Library of Romance' is, we understand, the work of a youthful author; and it is one of good promise. The characters, scenery, and incidents are sketched with a free and bold hand. Much of the description is very graphic and beautiful, and the story is spiritstirring, though somewhat faulty in its construction, and much beyond the bounds of probability. The death-scene of Falconer, and that of Woodville, are both told powerfully. The writer should study correctness in his nautical phraseology. A capital song (p. 87) is spoiled to all seamen by describing an impossibility in its first line; and yet it is a capital song nevertheless. Illustrations of Social Depravity. No. 2. The Voluntary Churchman. By John Reid. THIS is one of a series of sixpenny tracts which, to judge by the specimen before us, are well worth circulating, and calculated to do good to the cause of religious liberty and national morality. It is sound in principle, clever and spirited in execution. It narrates the progress of opinion, in a Scotch village, on the subject of ecclesiastical establishments, from the origin of dissent, in consequence of a minister being put into the Kirk by patronage, in opposition to the general desire of the congregation, to the holding of a public meeting of the inhabitants to petition for the total separation of Church and State. The narrative is an epitome of a change which is now rapidly going on throughout Scotland and England, and may serve to give many persons a more distinct notion of that change. Hora Phrenologica. By John Epps, M. D. DR. EPPS applies the doctrines of Gall, Spurzheim, and Combe to the concerns of religion and morality, with the zeal of one who has at heart the promotion both of the physical and moral sciences, and, through them, of the well-being of mankind. To us, the Phrenology appears No, 90. 2 K rather an incumbrance than an advantage to his moral speculations. It merely complicates the subject. The arrangement of moral and animal faculties would have been more intelligible without the constant reference to their supposed physical organs, and we question whether the author's inquiries would not have led him to a better arrangement. Independently of his system, there is much worth and interest in many of the remarks, facts, and illustrations, with which the author has presented us, and especially in those which relate to the outward and inward morality. The Natural History of Animalcules. By Andrew Pritchard. MANY must have felt the want, which this volume supplies, on a curious and interesting topic. Who would not know something of beings, organized living beings, of some of which (even taking the largest individuals of the species) 'a cubic inch would contain 884,736 millions?' Here they are, described, classified, many particulars of their habits noted, their forms shown in engravings beautifully executed, and of course prodigiously magnified; together with directions for obtaining them, and observing them by means of the improved achromatic microscope of the author. The strange forms of these creatures could never have been imagined without observation; nor their methods of propagation; one of which is by the spontaneous division of the parent by symmetrical, transverse, longitudinal, or diagonal section; and another, by a distribution of the internal substance of the parent into a proportionate number of young ones, all of which at their birth issue forth, and leave behind them nothing but the envelope, soon to be dissolved.' This work is like a peep into a new world. Notes on Lord John Russell's Marriage Bill. By a Dissenting Minister. THE acute writer of this pamphlet does not slay the slain,' for the Dissenters' Marriage Bill had so little vitality that it could not stay to be killed, but went out of itself like the snuff of a candle. However, he dissects the dead with the hand of a skilful operator. One point we do not remember to have seen elsewhere noticed; the expensiveness of the Bill. He reckons up particular items which show that, taking the number of marriages as in the year 1830, the Dissenters would have to pay 11,000l. per annum to the Church, besides the fees to their own ministers. Truly the Whigs have cleverly managed this practical grievance' compact with the magnates of dissent. The Scheme of Creation. By E. W. Cox.' THIS publication consists of four Lectures, delivered to the Mechanics' Institute, at Taunton, on the quaintly expressed subjects, 'Where am I? 'What am I?' and 'Why am I? The answers to these questions comprise An Outline of Human Knowledge, and the Harmony of Nature with Christianity.' Should the evening readings, recommended by our correspondent, On the Diffusion of Knowledge amongst the People,' be established, these Lectures would be an excellent supply for the readers. We have not room to analyze their contents, but we recommend them as well adapted for that purpose. Letters and Essays; in Prose and Verse. Moxon. BоTH the prose and verse are easy, sensible, and graceful. The writer must be a very accomplished and pleasant old gentleman. We cite part of a critique written fresh from witnessing the début of John Kemble in Hamlet (1785), which it might make Time younger to read. It is in a letter to Henderson. 'I went, as I promised, to see the new "Hamlet," whose provincial fame had excited your curiosity as well as mine. 'There has not been such a first appearance since yours: yet Nature, though she has been bountiful to him in figure and feature, has denied him a voice; of course he could not exemplify his own direction for the players, to "speak the speech trippingly on the tongue," and now and then he was as deliberate in his delivery as if he had been reading prayers, and had waited for the response. He is a very handsome man, almost tall and almost large, with features of a sensible, but fixed and tragic cast; his action is graceful, though somewhat formal, which you will find it hard to believe, yet it is true. Very careful study appears in all he says and does; but there is more singularity and ingenuity than simplicity and fire. Upon the whole, he strikes me rather as a finished French performer, than as a varied and vigorous English actor; and it is plain he will succeed better in heroic, than in natural and passionate tragedy.'-p. 17. · Equally sound are many occasional criticisms on higher matters. The remarks, for instance, on the 'Definition of Morality, p. 147; and many of those addressed to a Young Friend,' and a Law Student.' The dates of the compositions range through the years from 1784 to 1831; and besides those to anonymous correspondents, letters are addressed to Rev. John Fell, Sir James Mackintosh, Horne Tooke, Francis Horner, Samuel Rogers, and Lord Holland. PAMPHLETS ON LADY HEWLEY'S CHARITY. 1. A Plain Statement of the Trusts and recent Administration, &c. By T. W. Tottie. 2. An Appeal to the Public against the Imputations of Mr. Knight, &c. By William Hincks. 3. The Improved Version truly designated a Creed. By R. Halley. OUR opinion on the proceedings in the Hewley case has been repeatedly expressed. If confirmation were needed, it would be found abundantly in the first two of these pamphlets. They both contain, besides what relates more immediately to the writers, much historical information concerning English Presbyterianism. That of Mr. Tottie has also some remarks on efforts now making to effect a total disconnection between church and state,' in which it is needless to say that we cannot coincide, but which we are glad to see in print. Those Dissenters who would rather leave the principle of an establishment untouched than annoy the Whig ministry, have been somewhat backward in the public defence of their position, and may find here some useful aid. Mr. Hincks need not, we think, have troubled himself about the aspersions of a hired pleader, and might as well have left his character to vindicate itself. As it is, he has laid bare a notable illustration of professional morality. His exposition of the mode of taking evidence, is a striking exhibition of forms adapted to accomplish anything rather than their professed object. It well deserves public attention. How long will it be, before the gradual law reforms of the Lord Chancellor will reach his own court so as to make it indeed a Court of Equity? Mr. Halley's pamphlet is a very smart and clever composition, in reply to Mr. Yates's Letter to the Vice Chancellor. It shows that the Improved Version' contains indications of the theological opinions of the translators, as we believe most versions do. The observations on Presbyterian Trusts, require the addition of the statements in the other publications mentioned in this notice, to render them of much worth in the discussion. The Architectural Director. By J. Billington. Parts 1, 2, and 3. Second Edition. So far as we can judge by this portion of Mr. Billington's work, it is one which well deserves extensive circulation, combining as it does, tables and practical directions for the builder, with the history and philosophy of architecture; and both illustrated by plans, elevations, and other engravings. The remarks on the origin of the art, display much ingenuity. The Philosophy of Sleep. By Robert Macnish. Second Edition. So many additions and alterations are made in this edition, that it may, as the author observes, almost be regarded as a new treatise. The light which it throws upon the philosophy of sleep, is chiefly by that best of all preparations for a sound theory, the diligent accumulation, simple statement, and judicious arrangement of the phenomena. The Phenomena of Sleep would indeed have been a more appropriate title. These are collected from a large variety of sources, and they form a most curious and amusing book. Many useful medical hints, preventive and sanatory, are interpersed. The volume is an excellent companion for the Anatomy of Drunkenness,' by the same author; and both works belong to the conjoined class of useful and entertaining knowledge. An Explanation of the different Characters that are used in Music. By Highmore Skeats. THIS is really the explanation that it professes to be, clear, simple, brief, complete, useful; and, to the learner, we might say, essential for reading music, and, consequently, for its accurate performance at sight. Our recommendation is not less called for by the good sense of the directions which are appended. NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. Our good friend's Advertisement Extraordinary,' shall appear speedily. The request of W. H. was not neglected, though his letter was not answered. The application, though promptly made, was too late. Thanks to J. H.; but he must not suppose that the imputation was anything very serious. The article No. 2 would, we think, enfeeble the first, by the introduction of very doubtful matter. J. shall hear from us. His communication was not delivered in time to be answered in the manner requested. MONTHLY REPOSITORY, NEW SERIES, No. XCI. JULY, 1834. CONTENTS. PAGE 1. Correspondence between a Country Curate and the Bishop of the Diocese The Curate's Rejoinder 2. Memoranda of Observations and Experiments in Education. No. 1. Infancy 3. Oxonian Manifestations of the Spirit 4. Housebuilding and Housekeeping 5. Mr. Blyth's Garden 6. Petition of a Clergyman of the Established Church for Ecclesiastical Reform . 470 . 477 .484 . 485 . 494 . 499 Abolition of Patronage in the Church of Scotland 7. Reform in Education 8. The Welsh Wanderer 9. Songs of the Months,-No. 7 10. Notes on the Newspapers Business of the House of Commons The Tom-foolery at Oxford The Beer Bill 11. Critical Notices Philip van Artevelde-African Sketches-Christian Ethics-The Capabilities and Responsibilities of Mau-A Chapter from Eichorn-Minor Morals for Young People-Sketches of Natural History |