presented a rare combination of mirth and prudence, such as human conduct seldom presents for our imitation. He retained his gaieté de cœur to the last; so that with equal truth and spirit he remonstrated :]

When life charms my heart, must I kindly be told,

I'm too gay and too happy for one that's so old?

THE BOY AND THE BIRDS. BY EMILY

TAYLOR.

THIS quarto of the play-room is illustrated with several clever designs, by Thomas Landseer. The birds tell their own stories to "the boy:" they are the skylark, puffin-auk, chimney-swallow, great tit, long-tailed tit, golden eagle, fish

Potatores.

"Vina dabant vitam-Mortem mihi vini dedere
Sobrius Auroram cernere non potui.
Ossa merum sitium Vino consperge sepulcrum
Et calice epoto-care Viator abi.

Valete Potatores."

'Twas rosy wine, that juice divine,

My life and joys extended;

But death, alas! has drain'd my glass,
And all my pleasures ended.

The social bowl, my jovial soul,

Ere morn ne'er thought of quitting;
A jolly fellow, his wine, till mellow,
To leave is not befitting.

My thirsty bones, oh! spare their moans,
Cry out for irrigation,

I pray, then o'er my grave you'll pour
A copious libation.

Then fill a cup, and drink it up,
Pure wine, like ruby glowing,
This boon I pray, dear trav'ller pay,
When from this tomb you're going.
Topers, farewell! where'er you dwell,
May wine be most abounding;
Be all your lays, of wine the praise,
In Pæans loud resounding.

[As pleasant news, at parting, we may add that Captain Morris has left his Autobiography in the possession of his family, which we do not despair of enjoying in print.]

THE FAITHFUL DOG. BY THE AUTHOR OF MEMOIRS OF MY DOG.

THIS little book, of some fifty largeletter pages, sprinkled with attractive wood-cuts, is well calculated to aid the benevolent design for which it has been written, namely, the cause of humanity. The reader will recollect our commendatory notice of the Author's Memoirs of My Dog, and its amiable object of cherishing" in the youthful mind, kindly feelings towards the brute creation." In aid of this cause, we have ever been ready to lend our heart and hand; since we are persuaded that its success has considerably more influence upon society than unthinking persons are apt to imagine. In the present work, facts of Natural History are ingeniously interwoven with fictitious narrative, the precepts being printed in italics-as, "dogs feel as well as men." Of course, this book is a mere nursery trifle, where it must be regarded as a little packet of "good seed."

wren, golden-crested wren, woodpecker, redbreast and cuckoo, fern owl, eider duck, and gyr falcon; and very neatly has Miss Taylor made these feathered folks narrate their history: they are, to use a theatrical phrase, up in their parts." As this is a new edition of the Boy and the Birds, we can but repeat that it is one of the best books of its excellent class, which we are inclined to rank as the best portion of literature for the

young.

Periodicals.

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.- NO. CXXX. [THIS is, altogether, a Number of superior interest, with, perhaps, no more of the political leaven than is justified by the form and pressure of the time. The topics are Diet and Dyspepsy, being a review of Dr. Holland's Medical Notes of Reflections, published many months since. This paper wants freshness, both as regards subject and treatment, and is certainly not worthy of its prime place. We have already seen the topic much better handled in the Quarterly pages; and suspect the identical quotation from Dr. Prout, (p. 332,) to have before appeared in this journal; the story of Alexis St. Martin, and Dr. Beaumont's Experiments on the Gastric Juice, are some six years old, notwithstanding his "elaborate table of Digestibility" is very valuable. We are happy to perceive that our high estimate of Dr. Holland's work, (see Literary World, vol. i. p. 367,) is fully borne out by the Reviewer, who observes:]

Such is the variety of subjects handled, with more or less of detail, that few readers, professional or non-professional, can fail to be arrested by trains of observation and reflection which they will be happy to pursue under the guidance of so full and able a master as Dr. Holland. Throughout, we may add, they will find a high tone of moral sentiment, worthy of his noble profession-a generous contempt of all mean practices and compliances-the dignity of a philosopher combined with the graceful illustration and extensive sympathy of a scholar and gentleman.

[The following are excellent hints, especially at this dinner-giving season:]

Dr. Holland advises the dyspeptic to dine from a simple and discreet table, at regular hours; but he well adds, that "if this rule should bring him to a solitary meal set apart for himself, more of ill than of good results." When the stomach is full, the less the mind has to do with it the better-a lesson on which all who endeavour to digest at the same time tough chops and mental food of equal resistance, in the shape of reports legal and parliamentary, should ponder. There are few individuals more dyspeptic than those who pursue, day after day, the above regimen, and fewer who are not surprised at the effect of" only two mutton chops and regular hours."

Baglivi, the celebrated Roman physician, mentions that in Italy an unusually large proportion of the sick recover during Lent, in consequence of the lower diet which is then observed as part of religious duty. We may take the liberty of adding, that the discipline of our own church, were it inculcated and practised more strictly, would leave little for the fashionable physician to do. Scarcely any combination of circumstances can be conceived more unfavourable to general health than that afforded by the dissipations of a London life during the season least propitious to it, namely, Lent, or, as the word itself signifies, the spring.

[The second paper is what we may term a splendid review of Mr. Hallam's Literature of Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth Centuries; in which especial justice is done to " the high places of literature," as the Reviewer phrases it. This article is, throughout, a masterly piece of criticism. On examining this work, "the first great general map of the intellectual world attempted in this country," the reader will find that the puerilities of bibliomania receive no indulgence; the Reviewer observing :]

The bibliographers, who are apt to judge of the merits of a writer from the rarity of his book, will complain, that volumes over which the hammer of Mr. Evans has been suspended for many minutes of breathless anxiety, have received

no

more notice from Mr. Hallam than from their own age, which allowed them to sink into undisturbed obscurity; but bibliography, we apprehend, was not the object of our author. The searchers of the recondite treasures of the Bodleian and British Museum will look in vain, perhaps, to this work for its guidance in unearthing or undusting writers, not without merit or influence in their day, who were either unknown, or have been forgotten or disregarded by Mr. Hallam. But neither was this case, we conceive, contemplated in his design.

[The third paper, the Red Man, is an attractive article on the extermination of the North American Indians, the textbooks being Catlin's Catalogue of his Indian Gallery, and Dr. Morse's Report to the United States Government. The opening paragraph of this paper is a piece of sound truth and benevolent observation:]

There exists no trait more characteristic of that inate generosity which has always distinguished the British nation, than the support which an individual, in proportion as he is weak, friendless, and, indeed, notwithstanding his faults, has invariably received from it whenever he has been seen, under any circumstances, ruined and overwhelmed in a collision with superior strength. It little matters whether it be the Poles overpowered by the Russians, or merely a school-boy fighting with a man, for, without the slightest inquiry into the justice of the quarrel, the English public are always prone to declare themselves in favour of the "little one;" and this assistance is so confidently relied upon, that it is well known the basest publishers, when they find they can attract nothing but contempt, as a last resource wilfully incur a Government prosecution.

[By this article, we perceive that Catlin has offered his Gallery for sale to the British Government; in which case we hope the Reviewer's recommendation will be attended to :]

Leaving the worthy artist's own interests completely out of the question, and, in the cause of science, casting aside all party feeling, we submit to Lord Melbourne, to Sir Robert Peel, to Lord Lansdowne, to Sir R. Inglis, and to all who are deservedly distinguished among us as the liberal patrons of the fine arts, that Mr. Catlin's Indian collection is worthy to be retained in this country, as the record of a race of our fellow-creatures whom we shall very shortly have swept from the face of the globe. Before that catastrophe shall have arrived, it is true, a few of our countrymen may occasionally travel among them but it cannot be expected that any artist of note should again voluntarily reside among them for seven years, as competent as Mr. Catlin, whose slight, active, sinewy frame has peculiarly fitted him for the physical difficulties attendant upon such an exertion.

[The next paper, Journalism in France, is a very entertaining summary of the periodical press of France, occasionally in parallel with the press of our own country. Here are specimens:]

Literary Dinners.-Incredible as it may appear, we have heard it stated, very confidently, that English authors and actors who give dinners are treated with

greater indulgence by certain critics than those who do not. But it has never been said that any critical journal in England, with the slightest pretensions to respectability, was in the habit of levying blackmail, in the Rob Roy fashion, upon writers or artists of any kind; and it is alleged, on high authority, that the majority of the French critical journals are principally supported from such a source. For example, there is a current anecdote to the effect that when the celebrated singer, Nourrit, died, the editor of one of the musical reviews waited on his successor, Duprez, and, with a profusion of compliments and apologies, intimated to him that Nourrit had invariably allowed 2,000 francs a-year to the review. Duprez, taken rather aback, expressed his readiness to allow half that sum. "Bien, monsieur," said the editor, with a shrug, "mais, parole d'honneur, j'y perds mille francs."

Talent for Newspaper Writing. - The required talent is beyond dispute. Let fops and fools sneer as they will, the writer who is daily read by thousands must have a consciousness of his power; and the capacity of bringing widely-scattered information into one lucid focus,of drawing just results from well-selected data,-of arranging, amplifying, compressing, illustrating a succession of important topics,-all on the spur of the occasion, without a moment's stay to think, to examine, to refer this surely argues a high degree of intellectual cultivation-this surely constitutes a just title to a fair share of the rewards or honours at the disposal of a Government.

[We have also heard it related that certain proprietors of exhibitions have attempted to suborn the critics with a champagne breakfast, or some such seductive appeal to their sense; but, to the honour of the press, be it said, such cards have not proved trumps.

The fifth article is a crushing demolition of the Rev. Joseph Hunter's wiredrawn Disquisition on the Scene, Origin, Date, &c., of Shakspeare's Tempest, which, although privately printed, is fair game for criticism. The Reviewer opens with a sharp fire upon that class of antiquaries, (not" antiquarians" as they are here inadvertently designated,) whose puerilities justify the stinging rebuke in the Times, a few days since-that they rejoiced in information that was only useful to themselves. After protesting against this commentatorial molestation of the Tempest, the Reviewer proceeds:]

We, the humble adorers of the genius of Shakspeare, who are content to forget ourselves in the enchanting visions of his poetry, and to enrich our minds by glean

ing something from the boundless treasures of his wisdom, can very little divine what inventions that parasitic race of writers are capable of, who, without talent to produce any original work of their own, are always on the look-out for an occasion of hitching on their lucubrations in the form of notes, or hints, or suggestions, or inquiries, or illustrations, or disquisitions, to the productions of authors of eternal name. Without power of motion in themselves, they collect in bunches, and fasten themselves like barnacles to the bottom of the vessel, which is scudding along briskly before the gale; and they never seem to encounter any difficulty in making good their hold.

[The whole exposition is very amusing as well as instructive: towards its close, the Reviewer, in fairness, observes:]

We have now performed our duty towards Mr. Hunter. There is only one good suggestion which we are aware of in his work, and that we will not deprive him of the credit of. It relates to the restoration of a reading which the modern editors have corrupted. In the folio of 1623, which is the first edition of the Tempest, the reading is

"In the line grove that weather fends our cell." The word line, which is the old word for linden, in all the modern editions has been changed to lime. This signifies little, as far as the above passage is concerned; but the alteration has a subsequent effect; it tends to mar the picturesque representation of the last part of the fourth act. When Prospero desires Ariel to hang the glittering apparel which was to delude Stephano and Trinculo from their purpose 66 on this line," in modern times a cord is always stretched across the stage to hang the garments on; whereas it is evident that the line spoken of by Prospero, is one of the trees of the line-grove" which grew around his cell.

66

Finally, one short word of admonition is offered to that class of gentlemen who discharge themselves of their indefatigable idleness by writing little books on their various little quirks and quiddities about Shakspeare." The counsel is especially addressed to those "who consider themselves rich if they have but one idea occur to them in a twelvemonth, who live upon that idea, who harp upon it in their common talk, who digest it with their lonely meal, who chew the cud of it as they take their solitary walks abroad, who seem to meet with authorities to support it in every volume they open, who dream of nothing else, and who can get no restful sleep at night till they have been safely delivered of it in the shape of a pamphlet."

66

[Sharp as these hints may be, they are as well-timed as pointed; at a moment when all who can read and draw a line appear to be infected with the mania for illustrating" Shakspeare-with useless squabbles about the orthography of his name, the topography of his plays, how much Latin he knew, and what would have been his pretensions to the chair of the Linnæan Society, &c. &c.: in short, persons will act, paint, design, engrave, write, fight, eat, drink, and go mad for Shakspeare; but they will not raise a fitting monument to his memory.

The subjects of the remaining papers, are Socialism, Chinese Affairs, and the Privilege Question; all matters beyond our pale. Not so, however, a few pages upon Primitia et Reliquiæ, a fasciculus of Poems, by Lord Wellesley. Among the quotations are the elegant and interesting lines, Salix Babylonica, already quoted in the Literary World, vol. ii. p. 277: and the following, the noble author's last production:]

'INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMB OF MISS BROUGHAM,

THE ONLY DAUGHTER OF LORD AND LADY
BROUGHAM, WHO DIED AT THE AGE OF EIGH-
TEEN. HER LIFE WAS A CONTINUAL ILLNESS;
BUT HER SUFFERINGS WERE ALLEVIATED BY
AN AMIABLE, CHEERFUL, LIVELY, AND GAY
TEMPER OF MIND, WHICH WAS A CONSTANT
SOURCE OF CONSOLATION TO HERSELF, AND TO
HER AFFLICTED PARENTS AND FAMILY.
'Blanda Anima e cunis heu! longo exercita morbo
Inter Maternas heu! lacrymasque Patris,
Quas risu lenire Tuo jucunda solebas,

Et levis, et proprii vix memor Ipsa mali;
I pete cælestes ubi nulla est cura recessus!
Et Tibi sit nullo mista dolore quies!'
[Translated.]

'Doomed to long suffering from your earliest years,
Amidst your parents' grief and pain, alone
Cheerful and gay, you smiled to sooth their tears;
And in their agonies forgot your own;
Go, gentle Spirit! and among The Blest
From grief and pain eternal be thy rest.'

[The paper on Chinese Affairs is very attractive, and contains a comprehensive view of the prospective war with China.]

MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK

Has struck "One" the bell is clear and well-toned, and will fascinate thousands of listeners. The work is, as promised, entirely new; and in no instance has Mr. Dickens borrowed from himself. The introductory portion, or "some account" of Master Humphrey, is written in that kindly spirit which must at once reach the heart: there are quiet humour and fine humanity in almost every line; although, occasionally, dwelling upon sorrow, and the tale is tinged with affliction, (as in Master Humphrey's deformity,) the writer is " never savage, sarcastic, malevolent, nor misanthropic;" and this is no mean merit in dealing with the strange vicissitudes of life. Indeed,

the introduction and the commencement of the story, in their characteristics, admirably bear out the Quarterly Reviewer's observations on "the Writings of Boz." (See Lit. World, vol. i. p. 220.) A bloated alderman, on the eve of entering upon his mayoralty, and who cuts an old friend, of whom he had borrowed a shilling in his obscurity, is the character of the opening pages: here the author is quite at home; for, his wit is "always well placed, and directed against the odious, against purse-proud insolence, and the abuse of brief authority." In the Quarterly, Boz has been compared with Washington Irving, and, perhaps, no better parallel can be found among living authors: their vein is the same, though the writings of the American bear higher polish, and are somewhat more elaborated than those of our still more popular author. This difference in the comparison we take to be the best explanation of the distance in their fields of popularity, as will further be proved in Master Humphrey's progress. The present mode of publication is favourable to Mr. Dickens the Sketch-book, we believe, first appeared in a Lady's Magazine, and subsequently in hot-pressed volumes: its humanizing influence had, therefore, not the chance of periodical issue. There was scarcely anything in Mr. Irving's work to set "the table on a roar ;" and his more direct attempts at humour, as Knickerbocker and Salmagundi, were comparatively failures, though produced in this country upon the strength of the Sketchbook fame. Judging from these feuilles volantes of Master Humphrey, there will be more delicacy in his tales than in the countless niaiseries of Pickwick or Nickleby: of their class may be the man who takes his tea at the pump, and the lady who sits in the House of Lords; but here the resemblance ends. There is ample scope for humour in the civic character; the dream in Guildhall is delightfully imaginative; the introduction of the giants is clever, and they leave the reader on the tenters. By the way, in Fraser's Magazine for the present month, the unities and details of Pickwick and Nickleby are somewhat roughly handled; the same critic may, perhaps, extend this treatment to the Lord Mayor counting the chickens, &c. Hook makes his Lord Mayor Scropps retire to bed early, in order to be fresh for the fatigues of the ensuing day.

Sincerely do we hope the Clock will continue to go slick as it has begun; so as to make all parties content with the

case.

See the Splendid Annual, by the author of Sayings and Doings, in Sharpe's London Magazine, No. 1. although so exquisitely painted a fly deserves amber.

Obituary.

ON April 2nd, at Devonshire-place, Brighton, in the seventy-third year of his age, Sir Richard Phillips, Sheriff of London and Middlesex, 1807-8, and the humane founder of the Sheriffs' Fund for the relief of distressed prisoners. Sir Richard was, likewise, the projector, and, for many years, editor, of the Monthly Magazine, as well as of numerous works to which he did not affix his name; and, of his literary history, a brief sketch is intended to appear in our next.

Varieties.

Venice is, perhaps, the greatest curiosity in the world. The number of fine buildings it contains is greater than in any other town in Italy, except Rome. But the interest they create, when considered separately, is feeble, compared with the surprise one feels at first on seeing such a vast and magnificent city rising out of the water.-Earl Dudley's Letters.

Tea.-The deprivation of the article Tea would prove a public calamity of no slight importance. It is an article that affords a luxury to the rich, and a blessing to the poor. The moral effect of this beverage, as preventing recourse to stronger stimulants, is inestimable.-Quarterly Review.

Smoking is a most important business in the life of almost every German, of whatever condition. And, to say the truth, I am rather inclined to consider it as a good thing for the common people. If they did not smoke, they would, probably, drink more. It is a sort of defence against cold and bad air, and supplies a cheap, tranquil, harmless amusement. But, it is an odd way for a gentleman to pass his day.-Lord Dudley's Letters.

Drawing the Long Bow.-A notorious romancer was telling a story in company that made his friends stare: "Did you ever hear that before ?" said he. "No," said another-" did you?"

Credit.-Among the witty aphorisms upon this unsafe topic, are Lord Alvanley's description of a man who "muddled away his fortune in paying his tradesmen's bills;" Lord Orford's definition of timber, "an excrescence on the face of the earth, placed there by Providence for the payment of debts;" and Pelham's argument, that it is respectable to be arrested, because it shews that the party once had credit. Saurians.-Petrified reptiles of this class have been found in immense quantities in Fenning country, Texas.

Long-nosed Editor.-It is stated that the nose of the Editor of the Baltimore Clipper is so long that he has to cut his straps and let himself up, before he can see over it.-American Paper.-[We have a tolerable nose, that everybody knows! but we know a certain editor out west, whose nose is so long that it takes him an hour to smell, fixing the velocity of scent at a medium rate.]

Old and New Books.-I suspect that, nine times out of ten, it is more profitable, if not more agreeable, to read an old book over again, than to read a new one for the first time.-Lord Dudley's Letters.

Bacon. The language of Bacon, particularly in his Essays, instinct as it is with imagery, delighting, aud, at times, perplexing, the reader with the happiest and sometimes with remote and whimsical analogies, approaches nearly to that of ordinary persons it has still, even on the highest subjects, more of the tone of the man of the world than of the secluded and meditative divine. It gave a pre

sage, at least, of what English might become, as the language of a free, a reasoning, and a practical people.-Quarterly Review.

Preparatory Study.-Before any man sets out to invent perpetual motion, we recommend his practising the trick of getting into a basket, and trying to lift himself up by the handles. When he succeeds at that, he can go a-head with perpetual motion with some prospect of success.-Morning Herald.

Windsor Castle.-Sir Jeffry Wyatville's Illustrations of this magnificent Palace, noticed in our memoir of this architect, is announced for publication, edited by Mr. Henry Ashton.

The Chinese at Canton.-Our knowledge of the Chinese character is principally drawn from Canton, and is, therefore, necessarily imperfect; for, it is as unreasonable to infer the character of the whole Chinese nation from the unfavourable aspect in which it appears at the above trading sea-port, as to form an estimate of our national character in England from an experience equally limited and disadvantageous. It has, in fact, been considered as a matter of surprise, that the Chinese at Canton should be no worse than we find them: they are well acquainted with the maxim of their government, by which it professes "to rule barbarians like beasts, and not like native subjects;" and they are continually supplied by the local authorities with every motive to behave towards strangers as if they were a degraded order of beings. Their conduct to Europeans, therefore, is different from their conduct among themselves.

Spenser. That part of Spenser's poetic mission to which we would chiefly direct the reader's attention,is his development of the capacities of the English language. Conceding to Mr. Hallam all the faults of his diction, his affectation of archaism, his feeble expletives, and his alliterations; admitting that the peculiar form and complicated construction of his stanza is not well adapted for poetic narrative, yet to Spenser we are indebted for the first display of the latent riches and harmony of our native tongue. -Quarterly Review.

The Currency.-If all the members of "the honourable House" had read Madame Marcet's book (on Political Economy,) in their teens, I don't think Van (sittart) would ever have persuaded them that a pound note and a shilling were worth a guinea in the year 12.-Lord Dudley's Letters.

Monumental Brasses.-The Cambridge Camden Society announce for publication, Illustrations of Monumental Brasses, chiefly from churches of Great Britain and Ireland, and such as have not hitherto been described. Each plate will be accompanied by biographical notices of the person represented, if anything be known respecting him; and a description of any remarkable piece of antiquity which may occur in the church whence the effigy is taken, &c.; the illustrations will likewise extend to architectural vignettes, picturesque initial letters, &c..

The Landslip in Dorset now reaches from Whitsand Bay to Axmouth, a distance of many miles.

The Bridgewater Treatises.-We have some misgivings, whether, as a whole, the Bridgewater Treatises have not lowered the high and sacred theme handled with such consummate ability by Paley.-Quarterly Review.

Butter and Palm-oil Trees.-It is a remarkable fact in the natural history of these trees, that immediately where the one ceases to yield its fruit, the other flourishes abundantly.-Buxton.

LONDON: Published by GEORGE BERGER, Holywell Street, Strand. Printed by WHITEHEAD & Co. 76, Fleet Street, where all Communications for the Editor may be addressed.