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NOTICE TO OUR READERS. In addition to the usual extensive circulation of the Literary Journal, a thousand extra copies will be added to the impression of the present Number, which contains half a sheet of additional matter, and which will be delivered in every town of any consequence in England, Ireland, and Scotland.

LITERARY CRITICISM.

Narrative of the War in Germany and France, in 1813 and 1814. By Lieut.-General Charles William Vane, Marquis of Londonderry, G. C. B., G. C. H., Colonel of the 10th Royal Hussars. 4to. Pp. 420. London. Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. 1830.

at the period immediately preceding the opening of the narrative.

The quarrel betwixt the sovereigns of Germany and the French Republic was, like all international quarrels, begun on a point of principle, which was gradually lost sight of in the progress of hostilities; and the war ended with a sincere struggle on either side to get out of the scrape with the least possible loss to itself, and the greatest possible detriment to the enemy. This struggle lay between comTHIS is a valuable contribution to the history of the cam-petitors by no means matched in strength. In France, the paigns in France and Germany of 1813 and 1814. The noble author was the accredited agent of Great Britain with the Northern Powers of Germany, during the continuance of that struggle which ended in the dethronement of Napoleon. He tells a plain, straight-forward, soldier-like story, of what came under his own observation; and although we cannot compliment him either upon the profundity or comprehensiveness of his political and tactical knowledge, upon his freedom from bias, or acuteness in penetrating into men's characters, yet his book contains many valuable facts, which nobody in his situation could have avoided seeing, but which few besides himself have been in a situation to see. Among the most valuable parts of the work, we reckon the passages which serve to throw light on the personal characters and projects of the Emperor Alexander, the Crown Prince of Sweden, and Prince Metternich; together with those which bear testimony to the peculiar dangers threatening civilized Europe from the anomalous and unprincipled Russian empire. We have been most annoyed by his Lordship's shallow misconceptions as to the real power which struck down Napoleon; by his prating about insignificant squabbles concerning etiquette at dinner-tables, when we want to hear of the important transactions everywhere carrying on; and above all, by his continually leaving his story half told, with "I might say further, but the confidential character I was invested with at that period, forbids me to speak out." This last is a paltry and egregious piece of affectation. Either his knowledge respecting the intrigues of that time may be uttered, or it may not. If the former, let him tell a plain tale, like a plain man; if the latter, let him hold his tongue, and not tease us with his half confidences; to say nothing of the unfairness of making us pay for a half-told tale-a trick very nearly approaching to what practical jokers call "selling a bargain," which consists in beginning a story with a grave It is not here the place to enter into the details of the face, and when the hearer's expectations are raised, break-contest; the result may be shortly stated. On the 12th ing off with a sneer at his credulity, for believing you had any thing to tell him.

The narrative of the noble Marquis commences with his landing in Germany towards the end of April, 1813, and comes down to the abdication of Napoleon, in April, 1814. There is a supplementary chapter relating to the transactions at the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, for the insertion of which, in the present work, we can see no very good cause, inasmuch as the Marquis declines entering upon the history of that meeting at present. Before considering the contents of the body of the work, and in order to convey to our readers a full impression of their importance, we beg leave to cast a glance backwards,

convulsions of the Revolution had swept away all the old forms and etiquettes which accumulate during centuries, retarding the transactions of business which they are meant to accelerate; while the hostile attitude assumed by surrounding nations had infused a spirit of unanimity and nationality into the people, which the disorganising principles of the innovators had not been able to destroy. In the wildest of her frenzies, France was a united nation, and the stronger (for the time at least) because of her fever-fit. The rapid succession of different constitutions, and their final merging into despotism, noways affected this; for from the first moment of hostilities, the theoretical vagaries of French politicians were dispersed to the four winds of heaven, and the war became, as in the old time, a war for national ascendency. Germany, on the contrary, retained all the forms of a regularly constituted government, though the life had long fled, and the nisus which should unite it into an energetic whole, no longer existed. The princes of the empire, in reality independent sovereigns, embraced the selfish policy of each caring for himself alone, and adopted the mistaken idea of hoping to delay the fatal hour by holding themselves neutral, instead of uniting to repel the common enemy. They were further weakened by the extensive diffusion of revolutionary principles among their subjects,-principles which continued to be the war-cry of the French, long after they had ceased to influence their actions. This opposition, therefore, of a nation untrammelled by any old-established dogmas, but well disciplined and united within itself, to a nation clothed in an empty show of organization, like David, encumbered, not defended, by the armour of Saul, admitted, under any circumstances, of only one issue of the contest; although, undoubtedly, the unrivalled military genius of the French leader added aim and impulse to the preponderancy of his arms.

of July, 1806, sixteen German princes subscribed at Paris the Confederation of the Rhine. They renounced by this act all connexion with the German empire; contracted a perpetual offensive and defensive alliance with France, the Emperor of which nation was appointed Protector of the Confederation, with the privilege of naming the president, (Fürst Primas.) On the 6th of August immediately ensuing, Francis of Austria formally resigned the crown and supremacy of the Holy Roman Empire. On the 18th of August, 1807, an Imperial Decree united such of the western Prussian provinces as had not been incorporated with Holland,-Brunswick, Hesse-Cassel, and the southern districts of Hanover,-into a new kingdom, to

lace, from the lecturer's desk and from the student's hall,—— nay, the very school-boy refused to stay behind. No length of way, no intervening foes, could detain them. The cry of "God, king, and country!" had gone forth over the land. The cause was the re-integration and independence of their native country, and a holier cause never inspired a warrior's zeal. Many of the princes stood cowardly or selfishly aloof, but the people rose to a man.

When Sir Charles Stewart landed at Cuxhaven, he found every thing in motion. The French were possessed of the principal fortresses on the Elbe, but they were threatened on all hands. Blucher was at Zwickau, with 30,000 men; Winzingerode, with 15,000, between Merse

which the name of Westphalia was given. A French constitution was conferred on this new state, which was declared an integrant member of the Confederation of the Rhine, and bestowed upon Jerome Bonaparte. In 1809, Austria was amerced in some more of its states, which were bestowed upon Bavaria. In 1810, when Napoleon annexed Holland to France, he incorporated along with it from the German territory the Grand Duchy of Berg, a portion of the kingdom of Westphalia, and the Hanseatic towns. So early as 1806, the King of Saxony had received from Napoleon, on his accession to the Rhenish Confederation, the investiture of the Duchy of Warsaw. This, then, was the situation of Germany in the year 1812, when Napoleon advanced into Russia. The whole country westward of the Elbe, from the Alps to the Bal-burg and Altenburg; Wittgenstein and D'Yorck, having tic, was either in the immediate possession of France, or of small states which stood under its protection. The fidelity of these allies was secured by their being hemmed in on either flank by territories occupied and possessed by France. French princes sat on more than one throne, and in all the states, laws and institutions on the French model had been introduced. Prussia and Austria had been exhausted and disheartened by repeated defeats; and the Duchy of Warsaw, in the rear of the former state, was in the hands of a creature of Napoleon's.

Nevertheless, this subjection was greater in outward show than in substance. In Austria, the subtle spirit of Metternich had devoted all its energies to restore the fallen state of his country. In Prussia, the genius of Frederick the Great was not yet extinct;-the nation yet remembered its old ascendency in arms; and the minister, Von Stein, knew how to keep alive, and turn to account, the recollection. But perhaps the deepest and bitterest hatred of French ascendency, was cherished in that part | of Germany where the French power seemed most firmly rooted. The French institutions had been forced upon these territories contrary to the inclinations of the people; -a number of French adventurers, as better acquainted with the new arrangements, had been promoted to places of trust; and the restless spirits who had originally supported innovation, with a view to their own advancement, were thus, in many instances, added to the ranks of the disaffected. Neither were the new institutions found to work any better than the old, for they were alien to the feelings and wants of the people. The daring projects of Napoleon-projects in which the mass of the community could take no interest-called for constant supplies of troops and money, at the very moment that the closing the ports of the Continent spread bankruptcy and beggary on all hands. The disaffection engendered by all these circumstances was heightened by recollections of the ancient union and independence of Germany, and by that superciliousness with which, amid all their amiable qualities, the French can never help treating other nations. Oil was poured upon this smouldering flame by the eloquent and energetic writings of Arnot; and the enthusiastic ardour of Germany was only heightened by the system of espionage which Napoleon, alarmed by the symptoms of popular feeling, introduced as a kind of preventive police. This was the country that Bonaparte left behind him when he advanced into Russia; and perhaps the contingent of troops from the Confederation of the Rhine which he carried along with him, were no less useful as hostages than as soldiers. His shattered retreat was the signal for a more unequivocal declaration of the sentiments of Prussia. In February, 1813, an alliance was concluded between Russia and Prussia, for the purpose of restoring the latter state to her ancient limits, and removing the influence of France from the north of Germany. The summons of Prussia was responded to by the unanimous voice of Germany. It was the banner of Prussia that was reared,-it was her generals who were intrusted with the command; but it was from every corner of Germany that the soldiers flocked who filled up her ranks. They came from the workshop and the pa

crossed the Elbe, threatened Wittenberg with 40,000; Bulow, with 10,000, was observing Magdeburg; Tettenborn, a Russian partisan, had pushed on to the neighbourhood of Bremen with 4000 infantry and 3000 cavalry, most of them Cossacks; 7000 Swedes occupied Stralsund, and Bernadotte, with 10,000 more, was daily expected. In addition to these regular forces, the land swarmed with free corps, and the peasantry were calling for arms. On the part of the French, Davoust and Beauharnois had a force of 40,000 men in the north of Germany, chiefly distributed in garrisons; while the mass of their forces, amounting to 70 or 80,000, were concentrated under Ney, between Frankfort and Wurtzburg. The former body, harassed by the active partisan warfare of the allies, was preparing to retreat upon the main body; while their antagonists, inspired by revenge, were eager to advance.

But the scene was altered when Napoleon took the field in person. Concentrating all the forces scattered throughout Germany, and adding to them conscripts from France, and drafts from Spain and Italy, he organized, in an incredibly short space, an army of 150,000 men. On the 29th of April, he was at Naumburg, superintending and directing in person the operations of this immense force. The reputed numerical strength of the allies somewhat outnumbered him; but part were raw levies, and large drafts had besides been made for the purpose of watching the French garrisons. Austria, moreover, continued to refuse an explicit declaration of what part she intended to take in the struggle. Under these circumstances, the allied leaders rashly and prematurely crossed the Elbe. The result was what might have been anticipated. Napoleon soon taught them, that, although at the head of braver and more spirited armies than they had ever previously commanded, they were still opposed to their master,-to him who had beat all of them singly, and was now ready to beat them collectively. They came to blows at Lützen, on the 2d of May; and after a well-disputed battle, in which the soldiers on both sides displayed a most obstinate valour, the allies were forced to give way, and, shortly afterwards, to recross the Rhine.

Napoleon now advanced, and fixed himself upon the Elbe, taking the country round Dresden for the centre of his operations. One part of his forces was detached in the direction of Berlin, another pursued Blucher and the Silesian army. Nothing decisive, however, was effected by the French commanders, whilst, on the other hand, they received several severe repulses from Blucher, the only surviving and worthy pupil of the great Frederick. On the 11th of August, Austria acceded to the allies, and declared war against France. Head-quarters were shortly afterwards transferred to Prague; and the three great powers being now united, it was resolved that something decisive should be attempted. It appeared, from Bonaparte's motions, that he contemplated a concentration of his force in the neighbourhood either of Leipzig or Dresden; and orders were issued for drawing the allied troops to a head in that neighbourhood. Upon their advance, Napoleon threw himself into Dresden.

The complaint of the Austrian general, Prince Schwartzenburg, that it was impossible to carry on the war properly with so many kings and emperors in the army, was justified by the result of the attack upon Dresden. The grand army was obliged to retreat, over scarcely practicable roads, into Bohemia, hotly pursued by the French. It was, however, to the mismanagement of the leaders alone, and neither to deficiency in numbers, discipline, nor spirit, on the part of the soldiers, that the defeat was owing. The forces detached by Napoleon under Vandamme against the grand army, and those under Lauriston against the army of Silesia, were both repulsed.

vancing in person to direct the operations in Bohemia, discovered the impossibility of making head against such masses as were now combined against him. Every nerve was therefore strained to concentrate the French forces in the neighbourhood of Leipzig; and thither also the march of the allies was directed, but with a degree of foresight taught them by their late experience. With much exertion, and not a little downright scolding on the part of Sir Charles Stewart, the Crown Prince of Sweden was brought upon the field. By these means, the French army was fairly hemmed in by its foes; and, to add to its disasters, a large body of Saxons, who had long been murmuring at the necessity of fighting against their countrymen, went over to the allies as soon as they had taken their station. On the 18th of October, the "Battle of the Nations" was stricken on the fields of Leipzig, and the good fortune of Napoleon was beaten down, never more to arise.

sincerely that it is to be the last. Our opinion remains unchanged, that the silly notions of Mr Erskine and his clerical friend have attracted more notice than they deserve; but since they have become the subject of "Letters," " Sermons," and "Pamphlets" innumerable, we are not sorry that a man of real talent like Dr Thomson should take the matter in hand, and put an end at once to this petty warfare. To say that these Sermons contain a satisfactory refutation of the doctrine of universal pardon, is saying very little; one-third of the texts adduced, and one-tenth part of the reasoning, would have been Napoleon, ad-sufficient for this purpose: what we principally admire in them is the clearness, unhampered with verbiage and unnecessary ornament, with which the author pursues his argument. But while we readily admit that few men surpass Dr Thomson in hunting down a petty heresy, and also admit that, in the present instance, he is not unsuccessful, we regret that he should have published his work in the shape of sermons. We hold sacred a minister's right of choosing his subject, and adapting his pulpit discourses to the character and wants of his congregation; we shall therefore not enquire whether it was judicious in the Reverend Doctor to bring this controversy into the pulpit at all; but we have a right to enquire whether, in bringing the subject before the literary public, he has not done injury to his argument by adopting this particular form, and whether he has not, at the same time, given us a very bad model of sermon writing? We humbly conceive that he has done both. The flippancy that might amuse us, and the acrimony of sarcasm that we might consider as pardonable, in a controversial pamphlet, disgust us in a sermon. We do not accuse Dr Thomson of inexcusable harshness either of sentiment or expression; we have met with nothing of this kind in a pretty careful perusal of his book; but we meet with a great deal in his peculiar vein, which we should be much more delighted to listen to at the Assembly Rooms, or to read in that occasionally amusing periodical, the Christian Instructor, than to stumble upon in a volume of sermons. Dr Thomson may say that this is a foolish prejudice on our part, and that what is not improper in the one case, is not improper in the other. We think differently: we have no objection, for instance, to see Dr Thomson bound for a fishing excursion in a pepper-and-salt surtout, and a pair of smart white inexpressibles, but we suspect it would be generally looked upon as some small breach of decorum were he to appear in the same innocent habiliments in his own pulpit. But our great objection to this form of publication is, that it does not permit the author to condense his arguments sufficiently. We can follow a close train of reasoning much more easily and satisfactorily in the closet, than a popular audience can be supposed to do in church; and with regard to controversy in particular, our attention is distracted, and our idea of the argument confused, by those practical applications which are necessary to make a pulpit discourse edifying. We think, therefore, that Dr Thomson ought in justice to the public, and to his own reputation, to have taken the trouble of digesting the substance of his twelve discourses and bulky appendix into a regular treatise, in which case we feel convinced that his work would be more extensively read, and more generally admired.

The Emperor of the French led off his troops in hot haste over the bleak mountains of Thuringia, with the impetuous and implacable Blucher close upon his rear. To add to their discomfiture, it was now ascertained that Bavaria and Wirtemburg had joined the good cause. There was reason to fear that the Bavarian forces, under Wreda, would throw themselves between the fugitives and France; and, notwithstanding the eulogiums heaped by the Marquis upon that general's promptitude, there is little doubt that it was owing to his dilatoriness alone, that this measure was not effected. We have been told that Napoleon drew a long breath when he reached the heights above Hanau, and saw the Bavarians still upon the left bank of the Main. There was a sharp cannonading at the bridge of Frankfort, but the prize escaped. In a very short time, the European armies had driven the French forces beyond the Rhine, and rested themselves upon its left bank. Napoleon was busied with gigantic preparations for their reception should they cross the river. But the victorious army of Wellington had already, in another quarter, passed the southern borders of France. The allied leaders, who seem never to have contemplated such success, were puzzled what measures to adopt. It was the rising of Europe en masse that had palsied the arm of Napoleon, and not the individual talents of those opposed to him. The wishes of the British government, true to its early declaration, that it would never recognise or make peace with Napoleon,—the personal hatred of Bernadotte towards that leader,—and the vindictive feelings of Prussia, carried over the more undecided, and the dethronement of the usurper was resolved on. which now became one of aggression on the part of the allies, lost much of its moral interest. We refer our readers to the pages of the Marquis of Londonderry for its history,

The war,

The Doctrine of Universal Pardon Considered and Refuted, in a Series of Sermons; with Notes, Critical and Expository. By Andrew Thomson, D.D., Minister of St George's Church, Edinburgh. Edinburgh. W. Whyte and Co. Pp, 500.

THIS volume is, as might be expected from the high name of the author, the most important work that has been published on the subject of the Row Heresy ;-we also hope

As we have no desire to enter into the discussion to which the doctrine of universal pardon has given rise, and as we have no room for extracts, we must refer those of our readers who feel much interest in the controversy to Dr Thomson's volume, which contains all that can, or at

least need, be said on the subject.

Consolations in Travel, or the Last Days of a Philosopher.
By Sir Humphry Davy, Bart., late President of the
Royal Society. London. John Murray. 1830. Pp. 281.
We have read this work with much pleasure. It is a
posthumous publication, and consequently imperfect, but

it nevertheless contains a great deal of interesting and instructive matter. The Preface, which was written by Sir Humphry Davy at Rome, in February, 1829, is in these words:"Salmonia was written during the time of a partial recovery from a long and dangerous illness. The present work was composed immediately after, under the same unfavourable and painful circumstances, and at a period when the constitution of the author suffered from new attacks. He has derived some pleasure and some consolation, when most other sources of consolation

the water that I might be able to catch the end of it in my hand, and at this moment I felt perfect security; but a breeze of wind suddenly came down the valley and blew from the nearest bank, the boat was turned by it out of the side current, and thrown nearer the middle of the river, and I soon saw that I was likely to be precipitated over the cataract. My servant and the boatmen rushed into the water, but it was too deep to enable them to reach the boat; Í was soon in the white water of the descending stream, and my danger was inevitable. I had presence of mind enough to consider, whether my chance of safety would be greater and pleasure were closed to him, from this exercise of his by throwing myself out of the boat, or by remaining in it, mind; and, he ventures to hope, that these hours of sick-bow upon the bright sun above my head, as if taking leave and I preferred the latter expedient. I looked from the rainness may be not altogether unprofitable to persons in per- for ever of that glorious luminary; I raised one pious aspifect health." The volume is divided into six Dialogues, ration to the Divine Source of light and life; I was immein which the author, under the name of Philalethes, and diately stunned by the thunder of the fall, and my eyes were several of his friends, also under assumed names, converse closed in darkness. How long I remained insensible I know concerning many important subjects in physical and monot; my first recollections after this accident were of a bright ral science. Occasionally, the dialogue is superseded by light shining above me, of warmth and pressure in different narrative, in which a few incidents are introduced, though sounding in my ears. I seemed awakened by the light from a parts of my body, and of the noise of the rushing cataract kept entirely subservient to the sentiments and doctrines sound sleep, and endeavoured to recall my scattered thoughts, of the different speakers. What we chiefly like in the but in vain; I soon fell again into slumber. From this sework, is the vein of liberal and philosophical thought cond sleep, I was awakened by a voice which seemed not which runs through it, and the total absence of all the altogether unknown to me, and looking upwards, I saw the affectation and flippancy of the modern style of writing. bright eye and noble countenance of the Unknown Stranger We are not prepared to say that it contains any one train whom I had met at Pæstum. I faintly articulated, I am in another world.'-' No,' said the stranger, you are safe of reasoning that is very profound or very new, but it in this; you are a little bruised by your fall, but you will contains many passages of that solid and profitable kind, soon be well; be tranquil, and compose yourself.' The next which it exercises the mind to read, and which it still day I learnt from the Unknown the history of my escape, more exercises the mind to ponder over, and to consider which seemed almost miraculous to me. He said that he in their various bearings. The planetary system, the pro- was fishing, the day that my accident happened, below the bability of a future state of existence, the comparative mefall of the Traun, for that peculiar species of the large salmon rits of different religious creeds, the materiality or imma- caught by very strong tackle. He saw, to his very great of the Danube, which, fortunately for me, is only to be teriality of the soul, the benefits to be derived from science, astonishment and alarm, the boat and my body precipitated and more particularly from chemical science, the neces- by the fall, and was so fortunate as to entangle his hooks in sary effects of time, and the enquiry, whether death and a part of my dress when I had been scarcely more than a change are convertible terms; these, and many other to- minute under water, and by the assistance of his servant, pics of a like nature, are discussed in an enlightened spi- who was armed with the gaff or curved hook for landing rit, and it is certainly interesting to be presented with the large fish, I was safely conveyed to the shore, undressed, put views of such a man as Sir Humphry Davy concerning into a warm bed, and by the modes of restoring suspended animation, which were familiar to him, I soon recovered my sensibility and consciousness."

them.

In looking for an extract, we have found it quite impossible to hit upon any detached passage which will convey the slightest notion of the general contents of the volume; we have, therefore, taken the following curious incident, which will do little more than afford the reader some idea of the author's style:

ADVENTURE OF SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.

"The fall of the Traun is a cataract, which, when the river is full, may be almost compared to that of Schaffhausen for magnitude, and possesses the same peculiar characters of grandeur in the precipitous rush of its awful and overpowering waters, and of beauty in the tints of its streams and foam, and in the forms of the rocks over which it falls, and the cliffs and woods by which it is overhung. In this spot an accident, which had nearly been fatal to me, occasioned the renewal of my acquaintance in an extraordinary manner with the mysterious unknown stranger. Eubathes, who was very fond of fly-fishing, was amusing himself by catching graylings for our dinner in the stream above the fall. I took one of the boats, which are used for descending the canal or lock artificially cut in the rock by the side of the fall, on which salt and wood are usually transported from Upper Austria to the Danube; and I desired two of the peasants to assist my servant in permitting the boat to descend by a rope to the level of the river below; my intention was to amuse myself by this rapid species of locomotion along the descending sluice. For some moments the boat glided gently along the smooth current, and I enjoyed the beauty of the moving scene around me, and had my eye fixed upon the bright rainbow seen upon the spray of the cataract above my head, when I was suddenly roused by a shout of alarm from my servant, and looking round, I saw that the piece of wood to which the rope had been attached had given way, and the boat was floating down the river at the mercy of the stream. I was not at first alarmed, for I saw that my assistants were procuring long poles with which it appeared easy to arrest the boat before it entered the rapidly descending water of the sluice, and I called out to them to use their united force to reach the longest pole across

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To all those who like to speculate upon lofty subjects, and with whom a desire to discover truth predominates over every other motive, we recommend this little volume, in the full confidence that its contents will not disappoint them.

Lawrie Todd, or the Settlers in the Woods. By John
Galt, Esq. author of "Annals of the Parish," &c.
In three volumes. London. Colburn and Bentley.
1830.

MR GALT has an observant, but not a comprehensive mind. Had he turned his attention to natural history, he would have excelled as an entomologist. He would have been very great upon the subject of beetles, silkworms, spiders, and ants. He would have known all about their bronchic and spiracles. Upon their stomach and digestive organs, including their lower intestines, he would have been quite at home, as also upon their biliary vessels. The viscera of all creeping things he would most microscopically have examined; and a tipula, or long-legged fly, would have afforded him a theme for a month's writing. The learning he would have poured

forth upon the cock-chaffer, the mantis, or the caterpillar-moth, exceeds computation; whilst all the ephemeræ, larvæ, and tadpoles, would have blessed him as their historian and friend.

We are enabled to speak thus positively from having attentively examined the character of Mr Galt's mind. He is great on little things; all the smaller, and what are generally considered the meaner and less important parts of nature, he observes with a nice and curious accuracy. His hero is sure to be some piddling, pawky, provoking creature, who wriggles, and twists, and worms himself about, till at length the reader almost comes to take

an interest in him, and says to himself—" Well, I suppose there are many such persons in the world." And so we fancy there are; but where Mr Galt happened to meet with them, is more than we know. One would think he had spent his life among a collection of old women who keep stalls, small lairds with smaller understandings, the bailies of country villages, the deacons of country towns, dealers in tea and sugar, master-masons, daft Jocks, maiden aunts, who eat carvies on their bread and butter at tea, tailors, howdie-wives, and other personages of a similar description. It no doubt argues a certain degree of ability to describe the habits and propensities of this portion of society with vivacity; but when an author never attempts to do any thing else, he surely cannot expect to be placed very high among those who cultivate the belles lettres.

Mr Galt's present work, "Lawrie Todd," does not materially differ in its leading features from its predecessors. It contains the history of a man who began the world in the humble capacity of a nailer, and who having at an early period emigrated to America, and made a little money in New York, afterwards went into the woods and joined some other settlers, all of whom gradually rose to prosperity. The whole story is told with a degree of minuteness which at first is amusing, but which, when protracted through three volumes, appears to us to become extremely tedious. It is no doubt all true to nature; but a thousand things may be true to nature which grow tiresome in the detail. The higher sort of novelist presents us with nature under a thousand different aspects; and instead of dwelling unceasingly on the petty career and operations of some mean and inferior specimen of humanity like Lawrie Todd, he delights in making us acquainted with nobler spirits, whose higher faculties are called into action by high occasions. To these the profanum vulgus serve but as foils; and are kept, as in the actual business of civilized life, in their proper place--the back-ground of the picture. This is not Mr Galt's mode of going to work. He not only rejoices in making his hero a nailer, but he writes as if he were himself a nailer. He no doubt draws his scenes in consequence more vividly, but then it is a vividness much more calculated to please nailers than gentlemen and scholars. That "Lawrie Todd" contains many useful hints for the poor emigrant, and that, moreover, there is a great deal of correct painting of low life in it, we do not deny; but this is only a moderate species of praise. We look upon "Lawrie Todd," as well as upon most of Mr Galt's other works, as we do upon a picture of the Dutch school;-it is clever and ingenious, and amuses us for the moment,—but we turn to a landscape by an Italian master, and the Dutch artist sinks at once into his native vulgarity and inferiority.

Eanthe; a Tale of the Druids. And other Poems. By Sandford Earle, Esq. Edinburgh. James Robertson and Co. 1830. 18mo. Pp. 383.

THIS is a new candidate for poetical laurels, who has taken unto himself the assumed name of Sandford Earle.

There is a good deal of gentle poetical feeling in the book, and though the contents are of very unequal merit, yet they are, on the whole, calculated to reflect credit on the author. The first poem, which is in three cantos, is rather too much protracted for the incidents it contains. It is the story of Eanthe, a British maiden of noble birth, who having been converted from the Druidical to the Christian faith, wishes also to convert her lover Athro; which she has scarcely succeeded in doing when her apostasy is discovered, and she is condemned to a cruel death. This poem is decidedly of a sacred character. The following pretty lines, however, from the first canto, might have been written by Moore himself: "The cheek that was so pale but now, Is crimson'd with a sudden glow,

That came so quick, and went so fast,
Ye scarce could notice when it past.
The light cloud on the mountain's side,-
The restless sea-bird on the wing,—
Its shadow on the silvery tide,-
The swiftest and most fleeting thing
That comes and goes in the short-lived space
Of a moment's thought, and leaves no trace
Behind to tell where it hath been,
Is not so passing, and may be seen
For a longer space than that blush upon
Eanthe's cheek; 'twas there,-'twas gone,-
Like some bright star from the firmament cast.
To the earth below, so quick it past;
But the calm quiet smile of her tearful eye,
Like the gleams of light that come stealing through
The shadowy mist of a watery sky,
Dispelling the clouds that would shade its blue,
Remain'd to tell, what the blush that was gone
Could never have told, that to look upon
Her Athro there, and to know him near,
Was the wish, the hope, to her heart most dear.
This-this is the beauty of trusting love,
When the heart in its fondness can repose
On a being on earth, as on one above,
And, in its confiding purity, knows
That the heart it loved to rest upon
Beats with a faith as true as its own.
Had the innocent one known earth's alarms,
They would all have been hush'd in her Athro's arms."

The miscellaneous poems are too numerous. They are like a bed of young turnips, and might have been thinned to great advantage. A few of them are decidedly above par; as, for example,

THE LAST SCENE OF ALOYSE.

["When Philip of Anjou was travelling, as an officer, towards Spain, he remained for some days at a forester's cottage, in which he had taken shelter from a storm. Aloyse, the forester's daughter, was beautiful as the morning-the young prince was graceful, elegant, and fascinating. He became attached to her, and she, in a far more strong degree, to him. In the meantime, the King of Spain died,Philip was proclaimed his successor,-and the Spanish ambassadors, on their way to Paris with the crown of Spain, were benighted at the forester's cottage. The rank of the young prince was then discovered, and poor Aloyse felt that every hope was at once crushed within her heart. She uttered no complaint-no murmur; the crown was presented to Philip-she gazed on it-on the splendour by which she was surrounded-on Philip for one moment, and exclaiming, I have seen his sun in the meridian of its glory, but mine has set for ever,' fell dead at the feet of her lover, and rested side by side with that crown, which he then could scarcely prize. This little tale has been beautifully dramatised by a talented young authoress of the present day."]

"Together, side by side, they lay-a maiden dead,
And a most kingly crown. Life had but fled
That face and form of beauty, and as yet
Its bright blue eye seem'd scarcely to forget
All it had gazed upon.

And one bent o'er her of a princely form,
And all was hush'd and still, as if the storm
Of its existence, save that pallid face.
Had pass'd away, and left no other trace

Oh, Death! thy withering frown fell lightly there,—
Those lips still smiled,-those features still were fair,-
Those eyes still pure as every dazzling gem
Of that bright crown,-but cold-yea, cold as them.-
With glance for glance, would still to his reply-
Yes, as he gazed, he seem'd to think that eye,
Those lips still speak-still bless-still smile as they
Once spoke and bless'd-and smiled in happier day.
She was not dead !—he could not gaze, and deem
That she was so-it seem'd so like a dream.
Hark to the trumpet's shout-he hears it not—
His new-gain'd throne-his crown-are both forgot;
The peasant girl was dead-her tempest-tost
And broken heart at rest; and he had lost
More than a crown could give."

We are also pleased with the following stanzas, which remind us of some of Mrs Hemans's minor pieces:

THE BURIED DEAD.

"Bright stars, bright stars, from your home on high Do ye gaze on the thousands that buried lie?

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