say, are simple and judicious, and drawn up with a highly praiseworthy attention to genteel economy. We can, ourselves, see that the receipts are numerous, and have a very tempting appearance, embracing directions for marketing, soups and broth, fish, meats, poultry, vegetables, sauces, pastry and puddings, custards and creams, jellies, pickles, cakes, wines, sundry small dishes, how to salt meat, directions for carving, and various miscellaneous receipts. We confess we are more conversant with the art of eating than of cooking; yet we have an impression 'that this small volume is well calculated to soften the asperities of domestic life, and to give an additional attraction to the dinner-table of the married man. Conversations upon Comparative Chronology and General We have looked over this book with much satisfaction. We know of none better calculated both to interest the youthful reader, and, at the same time, to impart to him substantial knowledge of the sciences of which it treats. In a modest and well-written Preface, the author, with whose name, we regret to say, we are unacquainted, thus describes the object he has had in view, and the plan he has pursued: "In giving a conversational character to the fruits of researches so dry as those of History, and especially those of Chronology, are often considered, the aim, uniformly pursued, has been to recommend them to attention, by making the substance, as well as the shape, available for amusement and pleasure, and, at the same time, for solid information, and for the culture of moral and religious feelings. The means, as must be obvious, to be resorted to for such a purpose, consist, in the first place, in enlivening and adorning the thread of historical narrative, and list of chronological epochs, by adverting, from moment to moment, to some of the more striking details, agreeably or otherwise impressive, of the various incidents recorded; and, as a second resource of a similar kind, and even as a distinguishing feature of the work, the comparison or parallel of dates has been kept constantly in view, so as to fix the surer regard upon the several eras of persons or events, living, or occurring simultaneously, in different parts of the world; because nothing can more embellish either Chronology or History, or, by aid of the imagination, can more contribute to enchain the memory, than the recalling of coincidences, often the least suspected, of the times of celebrated persons, or of great national events, in regions of the earth the most removed from each other, and among nations the most estranged, and most dissimilar." We have no hesitation in saying, that the author has, in the work itself, amply redeemed the hopes held out in the Preface. The volume, altogether, is an elementary work of a most judicious and valuable description. The Family Classical Library. Nos. I. II. and III.— don. Colburn & Bentley. 1830. We do not know why we have not noticed sooner this cheap and elegant little work. Its intention is to present but to walk in and be introduced to Demosthenes, Xeng- Letters to Dr Robert Hamilton, in refutation of the Erroneous and Heretical Doctrines, &c. &c. Edinburgh. W. Oliphant. 1830. Pp. 150. а Dr HERE is another heresy-monger, yclept Dr Robert Hamilton, who, from being a curer of bodies having run aground for want of practice has taken to curing souls in a new and original manner. His doctrines, in point of extravagance and absurdity, beat the dogmas of the Row people hollow. The writer of the pamphlet, the fifth part of the title of which we have quoted above, is" Baptist," who has set himself seriously to the work of refutation, and brought forth a closely-printed brochure of Robert Hamilton declares, on the honour of a gentleman 150 pages, which we would not read for the world. and the faith of a Christian, that the Ten Commandments and the Sabbath are abrogated on this earth for ever! He has got, we believe, about forty converts; some people call them convicts—that is, they are convicted of the truth To these forty of Dr Hamilton's luminous conceptions. disciples, and a host of idlers and others, the worthy Doctor holds forth, we are told, every Sabbath evening, in some hall within the precincts of this city. The followers, or those who have embraced his unique ideas, are principally old women, cidevant governesses, and shoemakers' wives; and, as far as their opinions go, there is no such man upon earth as Dr Robert Hamilton, Select Orations of Demosthenes; with Notes, Critical and THE editor of this volume is a scholar who evidently searches deeply, examines carefully, and decides only on conviction. The text has been very minutely collated with the best editions of Demosthenes; and the notes, which are rather explanatory than critical, will be found useful both by the student and instructor. The Orations thors. Its circulation will, of course, be much more li- selected are the first Philippic, the first, second, and third mited than Miscellanies which embrace a more varied Olynthiac, the Oration on the Peace, the Oration of range of subjects; but it will form a complete and valu-schines against, and that of Demosthenes for, Ctesiphon. able work in itself, and will supply the desideratum of a uniform edition of all the most celebrated of the Greek us with the best translations of all the best classical au and Roman writers in an English dress. For ourselves, we confess that, having acquired some knowledge of the originals, we are not much addicted to translations. But there are many persons to whom Greek is nothing more nor less than Heathen Greek, and to whom Latin is no better than High Dutch;-to them the door of information is now unlocked, and for the small and easy charge of four-and-sixpence per month, they have nothing to do Steamers v. Stages; or, Andrew and his Spouse; a THIS is an amusing enough jeu-d'esprit, containing a punning poem, and some clever caricatures by George Cruikshank's brother. Times of Trial; being a brief Narrative of the Progress of the Reformation, and of the Sufferings of some of the Reformers. By Mary Ann Kelty. One vol. 8vo. Pp. 470. London. Longman, Rees, and Co. 1830. THIS is a very sensible book, displaying good feeling on the part of the author. It is a connected history of the sufferings of the Reformers, from the time of Wickliffe, down to the accession of Elizabeth. It will be read with pleasure by all who take an interest in the subject. MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE. MY FIRST FEE. A CHAPTER FROM THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A BARRISTER. "Fee him, father, fee him." SEVEN long yearning years had now elapsed since, with the budding anticipation of youthful hope, I had assumed the lugubrious insignia of the bar. During that dreadful time, each morn as old St Giles told the hour of nine, might I be seen insinuating my emaciated figure within the penetralia of the Parliament House, where, begowned and bewigged, and with the zeal of a Powell or a Barclay, I paced about till two. These Peripatetic practices had wellnigh ruined me in Wellingtons and, latterly, in shoes. My little Erskine was in pawn; while my tailor and my landlady threw out most damning hints of their long bills and longer credit. I dared not understand them; but consoled myself with the thought, that the day would come when my tailor would cease his dunning, and my landlady her clamour. The old fox was plan I commenced my machinations. Often have I looked with envy upon the more favoured candidates for judicial fame,-those who never return to their domicile or their dinner, but to find their tables groaning with briefs! How different from my case! My case? What case? I have no case !-Not one fee to mock its own desolateness! Months and months passed on-still success came not! The hoped-for event came not-resolution died within me--I formed serious inten tions of being even with the profession. As the profession had cut me, I intended to have cut the profession, In my wants, I would have robbed, but my hand was withheld by the thought, that the jesters of the stove might taunt me thus,-" He could not live, so he died, by the law." I have often thought that there is a great similarity between the hangman and the want of a fee— the one is the finisher of the law, the other of lawyers! I had gone the different circuits, worn and torn my gown, seated myself in awful contemplation on the side benches, maintained angry argument on legal points with some more favoured brother, within earshot of a wily writer. In fine, I had resorted to every means that fancy could suggest, or experience dictate; but as yet my eyes Pondering on my griefs, with my feet on the expiring had not seen, nor my pocket felt a fee. Alas! this was embers of a sea-coal fire, the chair in that swinging posidenied. I might be said to be, as yet, no barrister; for tion so much practised and approved in Yankee Land, what is a lawyer without a fee? A nonentity! a sha---the seat destined for a clerk occupied by my cat, for I dow! To my grief, I seemed to be fast verging to the latter; and I doubt much whether the "Anatomie vivante "could have stood the comparison-so much had my feeless fast fed on my flesh! I cannot divine the reason for this neglect of my legal services. In my own heart, I had vainly imagined the sufficiency of my tact and subtelty in unravelling a nice point; neither had I been wanting in attention to my studies; for heaven and my landlady can bear witness that my consumption of coal and candle would have sufficed any two ordinary readers. There was not a book or treatise on law which I had not dived into. insatiable in literature; but the world and the writers seemed ignorant of my brain-belabouring system, and sedu.. lously determined that my feeling propensities should not be gratified. I was Never did I meet an agent either in or out of Court, but my heart and hand felt a pleasing glow of hope and of joy at the prospect of pocketing a fee; but how often have they turned their backs without even the mortifying allusion to such a catastrophe! How oft have I turned round in whirling ecstasy as I felt some seemingly patronising palm tap gently on my shoulders with such a tap as writers' clerks are wont to use; but, oh, ye gods! a grinning wretch merely asked me how I did, and passed on ! Nor were my illegal friends more kind. There was an old gentleman, who, I knew, (for I made it my business to enquire,) had some thoughts of a law-plea. From him I received an invitation to dinner. Joyfully, as at all times, but more so on this occasion, was the summons obeyed. I had laid a train to introduce the subject of his wrongs at a time which might suit best, and with this love every thing of the feline species, my cogitations were disturbed by an application for admittance at the outer-door. It was not the rat-tat of the postman, nor the rising and falling attack of the man of fashion, but a compound of both, which evidently bespoke the knockee unaccustomed to town. I am somewhat curious in knocks —I admire the true principles of the art, by which one may distinguish the peer from the postman-the dun from the dilettante--the footman from the furnisher. But there was something in this knock which baffled all my skill; yet sweet withal, thrilling through my heart with a joy unfelt before. Some spirit must have presided in the sound, for it seemed to me the music of the spheres. A short time elapsed, and my landlady" opened wide the infernal doors." Now hope cut capers—(Lazenby, thou wert not to blame, for of thy delicacies I dared not even dream!)—now hope cut capers within me! Heavy footsteps were heard in the passage, and one of the lords of the creation marched his calves into the apartment. With alacrity I conveyed my corpus juris" to meet him, and, with all civility, I requested him to be seated. My landlady with her apron dusted the arm-chair, (I purchased it at a sale of Lord M- -'s effects, not causes,— expecting to catch inspiration.) In this said chair my man ensconced his clay. 66 I had commenced my survey of his person, when my eyes were attracted by a basilisk-like bunch of papers which the good soul held in his hand. In ecstasy I gazed characters were marked on them which could not be mistaken; a less keen glance than mine might have discovered their import. My joy was now beyond all bounds, testifying itself by sundry kickings and contortions of the body, I began to fear the worthy man might think me mad, and repent him of his errand,—I calmed myself, He was a short, squat, farmer-looking being, who might Then his store With flowers of budding hawthorn. Andrew knew well, better than any man Straightforward one, Thus wisdom should be earn'd. But so doth he, ANDREW THE PACKMAN. AFTER THE MANNER OF WORDSWORTH. By the Ettrick Shepherd. P. R. IN vale of Bassenthwaite there once was bred And so A great academy of northern lore. Now it must be acknowledged, to my grief, The man went on, Of the old serpent's speech, the tree, the fruit, Yet sapping the foundation of the structure The Earl of Lonsdale. On the right hand side, For hanging hats upon. Have I beheld it cover'd o'er with hats. Of that most noble fabric, which I have Aroused me to defend. "Sir, hear me speak," Forbid it, Heaven! Forbid it Thou who framed That one stone-one small pin-the most minute, And crumble into rubbish. Better were it That thou defaced the rainbow, that bright pledge In one occursion, one fermenting mass, Than touch with hand unhallow'd, that strong tower, The spirit of the man was overcome, It sunk before me like a mould of snow He look'd three ways at once, then other three, He went away-he gave his pack one hitch In both his hands held firm across that part How happy mightst thou be through these thy rounds Shining on Nature's breast? Nay, what to thee -Even go thy ways! But, when thou com'st at last, LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES OF EDINBURGH. THE ROYAL SOCIETY. Monday, 15th March. PROFESSOR RUSSELL in the Chair. Present,-Professors Wallace and Christison; Drs Gre gory, Knox, and Borthwick; James Robison, Gordon, &c. &c. Esquires. DR KNOX concluded his paper on Hermaphroditical appearances in the Mamalia. Professor CHRISTISON read a paper, which he intimated to the Society was the first of a series of experimental essays on the physiology of the blood and respiration. The only order of delivery he could prescribe for these papers, was that which the progress of his experiments might suggest. The present communication related to the much-agitated question, whether the change effected upon the blood in its transmission from the veins to the arteries, was susceptible of explanation upon chemical principles alone; or whether, the additional aid of some vital process must be assumed in order to account for it? Priestley, Girtanner, Berthollet, and other physiologists, had shown that venous blood, agitated in contact with atmospheric air, assumed the bright arterial red; that oxygen disappears, and carbonic acid is formed, during the process-in short, that the same effects are produced as by the process of respiration in the living body. But the correctness of their experiments and infe rences had lately been called in question by Dr Davy, who maintains that no change is effected in the colour of the blood; that the change produced in the composition of the air, is the result of incipient putrefaction; and that in experiments instituted by himself, with blood recently drawn from a vein, no change had taken place. Dr Christison had been induced, by this statement of Dr Davy, to repeat the experiment with the utmost care and nicety of which he was capable; and his conviction was, that the change from venous to arterial blood is effected by mere mechanical agitation of the fluid, in conjunction with atmospheric air, after being drawn from the body, as completely as if subjected to the influence of the air inhaled during the process of respiration in the human frame. Dr C. then proceeded to detail the nature of his experiments, premising that the operator required to be on his guard against deceptive results, proceeding from two different causes. In the first place, in some states of the system, the venous blood was found of such a bright red as to be with difficulty discernible from the arterial. He had known cases where the surgeon, on opening a vein, had been led for some mo- the failure of one, or even more experiments, was not fatal took it into their heads to vociferate loudly for him; and If he be not content to be the best tragedian we have. flexible voice, which has been carefully cultivated; but it is deficient in richness of tone and variety of expression. Her acting is poor, because it is apparently heartless ;there is none of the energy and sincerity of true feeling The houses she drew were inabout it. We think Miss Ayton any thing but improved since she was last here. from the colouring matter and serum. The colouring matter and serum, thus prepared, were then transferred to the vessel above-mentioned, between one hour and three hours after the blood was drawn; and care was taken to admit the least possible contact with the external atmosphere. As Miss Fanny Ayton sang and acted to us for three evensoon as the due proportions of blood and air were in the vessel, its aperture was closed, and the agitation commenced. Her style is essentially Italian, or we should Care was also taken to keep the blood-vessel at the temper-ings this week. On the whole, we have been disappointature of the room in which the experiment was conducted, ed in her. lest the expansion or contraction of the volume of air with- rather say foreign, for she strikes us as a little FrenchifiWe do not precisely know, in, should affect the application of the method by which it ed also; and, consequently, she is somewhat out of her was poposed to ascertain whether it were diminished in element in English opera. bulk. After agitating the vessel for some time, the blood, either, why this should be, for Caradori's Polly and Rosetta were exquisite; but Miss Ayton must in every reShe has a good, clear, from a dark purple hue, assumed the bright arterial red. The application of a curved glass tube, opening under a gradua- spect rank much below Caradori. ted tube which was filled with air, and vested in a saucer of coloured water, showed by the ascent of the fluid into the tube, on opening the stop-cock of the bottle, that the volume of the internal atmosphere had diminished during the process by which the colour of the blood was changed. Afterwards, by a particular contrivance, the internal air was expelled from the vessel, and received under mercury in one of the receivers usually employed for that purpose; it was found, by the application of chemical tests, that the had oxygen quantity of azote remained unaffected, that the been diminished, and a quantity of carbonic acid gas had been formed; but that the carbonic acid did not nearly equal the oxygen which had disappeared, because carbonic acid being very soluble in serum, the greater part of what was formed was absorbed. It would appear from these statements, Dr C. continued, that the result of his experiments differed materially from that announced by Dr Davy. The absorption of oxygen by ten cubic inches of venous blood, varied in different experiments from about half a cuAt the close of bic inch to nearly a cubic inch and a half. his paper, Dr C. repeated his experiment before the Society. He pointed out that the transition of the blood from purple to bright red was not caused, as Dr Davy alleged, by the formation of air-bubbles, and the consequent greater diffusion of the colouring matter; for it extended, after the vessel had remained at rest, to the lower portion of the air-vessel, where there was no admixture of air-bubbles with the fluid. [ERRATUM.-We are requested by Mr James Wilson, to correct an error, which inadvertently crept into our report of his paper on the American Grouse, read before the Wernerian Society. At p. 133 of the present volume, col. 2, 1. 17, Mr Wilson is made to say Ptarmigans seem to prefer comparatively temperate climates." Mr Wilson's statement was,-" Ptarmigans seem to prefer in comparatively temperate climates, such as that of Scotland, the bare and stony sides and summits of the highest mountains; but under the rigorous temperature of Greenland, and the most northern parts of North America, they are chiefly found in the vicinity of the sea-shore, by the banks of rivers, and among the willow and other copse-woods of the lower and more sheltered vales."] THE DRAMA. SINCE We last wrote, certain occurrences have taken place in the dramatic world, which we must not allow to Vandenhoff took his leave of us in pass unchronicled. the character of Damon. It is the best part he plays, and ought to have been performed at an earlier period of his On the fall of the curtain, the audience engagement. different. On Thursday evening, Mr Wilson, a native of Edinburgh, and a gentleman who has already distinguished himself at the Professional Concerts here and elsewhere, made his first appearance on the stage, in the character of He was very enthusiastically received, Henry Bertram. and had evidently a number of warm friends in the pit. In the course of the evening, he sang four songs, all of Mr Wilson has a clear powerful which were encored. voice, and a distinctness of articulation particularly well adapted for stage singing. As an actor, he has, of course, much yet to learn; and probably never expects to rise very high in that department of the profession. But his vocal powers, if carefully cultivated, will carry him sucHe reminded us in some respects of cessfully through. Sinclair, and is already decidedly superior to Thorne, or any singer we ever remember to have had resident here. Of what we may consider his faults and imperfections, we shall not at present speak, being always willing to treat a debutant leniently. One thing, however, we must ask,-where did he get his boots and his white inexpressibles? Mrs Henry Siddons, previous to her final retirement from the stage, is about to appear in five of her favourite characters, commencing to-night with the part of Julia Melville, in "The Rivals." Little more than a week has elapsed, since she formed this resolution,-the uncertain state of her health having led her to fear that the exertion We rejoice, however, that might be too much for her. she is now so convalescent, as to be able to present herself We have, for some once more to the Edinburgh public. time back, intended to pay a tribute to the well-merited success which has attended Mrs Siddons's theatrical caWhen we see before us an actor or actress, in the reer. heyday of health and popularity, we are too apt to forget how much of amusement and delight we owe to the ex |