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mortal sorrows; there we feel with him on the common ground of life; there we see him laying on his heart the lowliest duties; there we follow him through the conflicts of duty and passion, and through a sea of troubles, discontents, and sorrows; there we find that the web of his life, too, was a mingled yarn, and that he, the so potent master, at whose feet the world of spirits and of nature laid their richest treasures, and to whom all the resources of truth and beauty, and delight, were open, could yet be baffled by the unkindness of his fellow men; could see them join against him with the "spite of fortune;" and troubled and despairing, desiring this man's art, and that man's scope," could, at last, in the bitterness of his anguish, "look upon himself, and curse his fate!"-But, for all that, what a humane and generous world is that of Shakspere! He who felt its wrongs, felt also the allowances to be made for them. He knew, let what would betide, that "beautiful usages were remaining still, kinder affections, radiant hopes, and ardent aspirations. He knew that there is in the blood of man, as in the blood of animals, that which giveth the temper and disposition, and that these require nurture and culture." He chose the nobler part, therefore, of cherishing and cultivating these; and for him, in grief or in gladness, we are surely always kinder and happier.'

Taken from a review of Mr. Landor's work on Shakspere, by Mr. Leigh Hunt, a book which, the critic says, "Deserves to have its dwelling-place near the loved and everlasting name of the poet, and we are very sure that posterity will find it there."

NOTE 9, PAGE 16.

The definition of insanity given by Locke is alluded to in that tale of horror, entitled The Spectre Smitten," in "The diary of a late physician," wherein a case of violent madness is narrated, almost too dreadful for ears of flesh and blood ;". the incidents of the story harrow our souls with fear, and are detailed with the powers of a graphic pen, displaying, like the other productions of this clever and talented writer, a deep and extensive knowledge of human character. This work excited a

lively interest some few years ago, when first published, but the author of this essay only perused it lately, and was grati

fied to meet a coincidence of opinion, with the few observations which he has offered, when treating of the predisposing causes of insanity. Dr. Monro, whose name is deservedly associated with the science of medicine, in his "Philosophy of Human Nature," maintains also the same views.

NOTE 10, PAGE 19.

The science of phrenology will regard this trait in Hamlet's character as a deficiency in the organ of Firmness: -the disinterested emotions which guide him in all his actions, prove, however, that he possessed, in an eminent degree, the noble feeling of Conscientiousness. The external circumstances which so powerfully acted upon the constitution of Hamlet plunging him into that state of melancholy which the contemplative cast of his mind led him to foster, obscured those faculties that were so bountifully bestowed upon him by nature; but for this melancholy, the organ of Ideality would have beamed forth in all its splendour;-the grandeur of the universe, "the brave o'erhanging firmament, the majestical roof fretted with golden fire," were objects upon which he delighted to dwell; the gloom that pervaded his feelings, threw these contemplations, however, into a current, by which he gratified his mournful disposition, and in place of them creating that source of pure pleasure which the capacity for such intellectual refinement seldom fails to produce, they, unhappily, only encouraged a tone of thought which brought forth sighs without any aim, and discontent withont the wish of happiness."

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NOTE 11, PAGE 19.

"Scotland's glory and shame, Robert Burns; whom genius made immortal, and the Scottish nobility made an exciseman."-Anonymous.

Perhaps a more heart-rending narrative is not to be found in

the annals of literary genius, than that which the life of the unfortunate poet, Robert Burns, presents to us With a mind ennobled by every sentiment which could give dignity to the human character, poor Burns felt deeply" the whips and scorns of the time," and those who estimate the real disposition of the man, must ever deprecate the absence of that elevated taste, and generous feeling, which guided the aristocracy of his country, when they permitted this high-minded poet, "this noble of nature," to sink into a premature grave, amidst all the horrors of poverty. The late Samuel Whitbread, during a debate in the House of Commons connected with the great question of education, when alluding to the moral condition of the Scottish peasantry, did justice to the memory of the bard, by saying, that had Burns been a member of that House, he would, from his high and intellectual qualities, have been one of its greatest ornaments;-and yet the boon conferred upon the poet was the low and paltry situation of a guager; the dependent drudgery of which only imparted a deeper pang to the misery of his degradation. What must have been the anguish of his soul when the Commissioners of Excise, offended with the aspirations of his unfettered mind, told him, in an official communication, "it was his duty to act, not to think:"--the contemplation of such a heartless, and tom-foolery piece of tyrannic power, goes far to prove, that hitherto merit and worth have been totally disregarded; and that a passport to the highest distinctions, nay, even the subordinate places in the state, depends, not on any quality connected with the talent or moral virtue of the individual, but solely on the influence of that rank and wealth, which the accident of birth, or family connection gives to him.

It is painful to trace the continued scene of misfortune which attended the chequered career of Burns ;-possessing, as he tells us, a constitutional melancholy, his disposition to this state was greatly aggravated by a sense of the injustice he met with, as throughout his whole correspondence, there is scarcely an epistle which does not teem with the outpourings of a wounded and broken spirit. Burns, unhappily, lived before his time; in his own day he was neither appreciated nor understood; though little more than half a century has passed, in the same city where the poet was exposed to contumely and neglect, and it is believed often wanted a dinner, temples are now, however, erected to his memory;—the character of the age has under. gone a material change; the limited and circumscribed feeling of the preceding generation has in some degree disappeared, and nothing, perhaps, can better illustrate this, than contrasting the views of the Prime Minister of the present day with the conduct of that mean and ambitious statesman, Henry Dundas, the colleague of William Pitt, who, in the House of

Peers, actually declared, that the more ignorant a man was, the more useful he would prove to the community!--Sir Robert Peel acts differently ;-he has recently come forth as the advocate of education among the people, impressed, no doubt, with the belief, that as the attainments of knowledge give to the moral sentiments of mankind a supremacy over ignorance and vice, a security will be afforded to society more effective than that which is aimed at by the harsh and severe enactments of our present legislation. Let us therefore hope, that amidst this enlightenment, the honours which have lately been extended to the genius of the Scottish Bard, have proceeded, not from any caprice, dictated by pride or ostentation, but purely from the more noble and elevated feeling of a generous admiration. The poetry of Burns has done much to improve the intellectual condition of his country; his "Cottagers' Saturday Night," his far-famed Tam O'Shanter," his verses, "To a Mountain Daisy," with other pieces of unequalled merit, are the emanations of a high and virtuous mind; but generally in his poetical productions, as well as in his prose writings, a tone of deep-rooted sorrow prevails, which bespeaks in glowing language how much his heart was crushed, and broken by the pressure of calamity;-what can evince this more than his "Ode to Despondency," lines which exceed in anguish, whilst moralizing on the bitterness of human existence, all that has been uttered by the profound and philosophic Hamlet. In his "Man was made to mourn," the same unhappy tone exists, with an expression of feeling that truly denotes how deeply he felt the galling load" which the selfish condition of society had doomed him to suffer.

If I'm design'd yon lordling's slave,
By Nature's law design'd,

Why was an independent wish

E'er planted in my mind?

If not, why am I subject to

His cruelty and scorn,

Or why has man the will and pow'r
To make his fellow mourn?

Sentiments like these were engendered in the breast of Burns by the neglect which he so unmeritedly suffered; but amidst all his despondency his noble and exalted genius led him to the same generous hope that has influenced other great poets, when contemplating in the future elapse of time a better state of things, and which is beautifully exemplified, where in the

homely dialect of his native land, he says,

Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a' that,

That sense and worth o'er a' the earth,
May bear the gree and a' that;

For a' that and a' that,

Its comin yet for a' that,
That man to man the warld o'er,
Shall brothers be, and a' that.

NOTE 12, PAGE 20.

It has been justly observed, that the writings of Shakspere have been the delight of the ingenious, the text of the moralist, and the study of the philosopher; even to the physician they have afforded a source of knowledge, connected with the physiology of the human system, that has assisted him materially often to draw accurate inferences on disease coming under his observation ;-hence we have Sir Henry Halford giving an excellent illustration of this, in an elegant and learned essay upon the words here quoted from Hamlet.

"It is not madness

That I have uttered; bring me to the test,
And I the matter will reword which madness
Would gambol from !"

A case is related by Sir Henry, that occurred to him in practice in January 1829, of a gentleman of considerable fortune in Oxfordshire, where, by relying upon the authority of Shakspere, he was enabled to form a correct judgment of the unsoundness of his patient's mind, who, as the elegant author expresses it," gambolled from the matter, and laboured according to the test under his madness still." With a mind richly stored with the gems of ancient lore, combined with an extensive knowledge of modern literature, Sir Henry Halford has on various occasions called forth his pen, and illumined the science of medicine with facts of the most interesting nature; his classical erudition has been beautifully evinced when adverting