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professes his sentiments. It is therefore entitled to our approbation as critics; and we are not sitting in judgment as politicians.

He is hostile to "free trade;" he denounces the resumption of cash payments, under Mr Peel's bill, as unseasonable and pernicious. Not content with merely controverting the opinion now so common, that there ought to be no usury laws, he argues that a farther reduction of the legal rate of interest is called for by the situation of the country. His short observations on the subject of

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and unskilful mode of taxation,” are particularly worthy of notice. He contends that all improvements, such as roads, bridges, harbours, machinery, and improvement of land, are effected by the accumulation of wealth; that the income-tax affects equally that portion of the national income which would be saved, and that which would be spent, and thus discourages the accumulation of capital. In his opinion, taxes should be imposed only on articles of luxury or vanity. But to this rule an exception is admitted in the case of absentees, whose incomes, he thinks, ought to be taxed.

works whose names stand at the head of this article. The Act of Uniformity had thrown into the ranks of dissent many of the most learned clergymen of the church. An occasional student from Leyden or Utrecht served to keep Mr Forsyth is a strenuous laudator temporis acti; he up a succession of such men. Their plan of tuition was is opposed to almost all the principles which at present to receive young men (those destined for secular profes-regulate our political relations, both internal and external. sions, as well as aspirants to the ministry) into their houses, where they remained for four or five years, until they had gone through a regular course of study. This included mathematics, and a smattering of physical science -logic, moral philosophy, and natural theology-the classical and Hebrew languages—and divinity in all its branches. The plan of study deemed necessary was liberal and comprehensive. The system of tuition had, how-income-tax, which he characterises as a barbarous ever, two radical defects. In the first place, there was but one teacher, who was to conduct the young men through every branch of learning. This required that he should be a man of that general knowledge of all branches which necessarily infers no great profundity in any. The scholars, therefore, did not learn from one who was an adept, but from one who repeated on trust what adepts had told him. There was a want of vitality in the scientific knowledge infused into them. It was a knowledge somewhat analogous to what we find in effete and worn-out nations, surviving all intellectual activity-a traditional enumeration of mere results. In the second place, the students did not study for the sake of knowledge, for the sake of cultivating their own minds, but merely for the sake of acquiring such a superficial degree of information as was requisite, before they could assume their station in society, or be admitted into the clerical profession. They learned like schoolboys, not like men. They laboured at task-work, instead of pursuing, from their own internal impulses, knowledge with a generous love. The dissenting academies have spread and kept alive a dim glimmering of learning, which has occasionally given the first impulses to some more happily constituted minds, but they have never produced a truly great man. Is not this a state of things which calls loudly for amendment?

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rest.

It is pleasant to see a veteran author, after an interval of more than twenty years, once more setting lance in This period has elapsed since Mr Forsyth wrote his voluminous and highly-esteemed "Beauties of Scotland," and his "Practical Treatise on Agriculture," the great utility of which was not found to be affected by the author's purely theoretical acquaintance with his subject. He is also known as the author of a work upon Moral Science, and as a successful pleader at the Bar,-one of the few who have made fortunes by that profession in Scotland.

But it is upon the subject of Popery that Mr Forsyth has put forth all his strength. It was stated in Parliament, that, with a very few exceptions, the Faculty of Advocates had signed the petition from the Edinburgh Pro-Catholics; while only two or three signatures from that learned body appeared at the opposite petition. Of that number, as was well known at the time, and as is now avowed by himself, was the name of Mr Forsyth. But Mr Forsyth's strong and self-relying mind was not to be shaken by the absence of support. He has, in his "Political Fragments," given the grounds of that vote, with a decision of sentiment which shows his opinion to have been confirmed by the adversity of his party.

It may be thought that a discussion of the Catholic Question was never more out of place than at present. The matter is settled beyond the possibility of retractation; and we must now wait until we can judge of it by its fruits. Still it is an interesting enquiry, how may we best comport ourselves under the change of circumstances? On this legitimate and important subject, Mr Forsyth's obInto such an servations are highly forcible and acute. enquiry the propriety of what we have done, will, no doubt, inevitably obtrude itself; but even on this much hackneyed theme, Mr Forsyth's lucubrations will be found interesting, from their originality, learning, and spirit.

As a specimen of Mr Forsyth's style, we present our readers with the following passage. Speaking of those who have taken the Protestant side of the question, he pronounces the following eloquent eulogy:

"To many it is matter of even happy fortune, that the Ispirit of evil has bestirred itself in their time. Danger to The present performance is well worthy of Mr For- religion and liberty is one of the forms in which the Divine bounty scatters blessings among thousands. How many syth's reputation. It is clear, vigorous, and fearless; and were passing through life with lukewarm indifference to in its style we occasionally meet with an air of quaint-every exalted interest, whose minds have been roused, and ness, which, within moderate bounds, gives character and their hearts made to burn within them, when they learned spirit. Not that we recommend quaintness, or any other that the serpent which their fathers had trodden down still aberration from classic purity of diction; but, in the pre- lived,-that its deadly wound was healed, that while insent age, when the classic style is by so many considered troducing famine into every cottage, it had glided into high insipid, and when bombast in a thousand forms insults places,-had broken down the barriers of religion and lithe understanding, terseness and brevity may be excused, berty, and, lifting its head, was overlooking the land as once more its prey! These events try, and, in trying, they even when they occasionally border on quaintness. purify and exalt, the spirits of those men, whether in the cottage or the palace,-the city or the field,—of high or low estate, whom Heaven has chosen, to resist or to reproach a guilty people, to become the vessels in whom the sacred fire is to be preserved. What would even the Earl of Eldon himself have been, but for the present time of trial? No doubt an able, laborious, and successful lawyer and judge; but still a mere tradesman, who had spent a life of toil amidst the vulgar technicalities and drudgery of a most artificial system of law. Enemies he had, and errors and wrongs from human weakness, like others, he had committed. But there

Without entering upon the question of the correctness of Mr Forsyth's political opinions,-a province scarcely included within the flowery limits of our literary demesnes, and which we gladly leave to more appropriate superintendence, we think it most desirable, that, in contested questions, the highest ability should be brought to either side of the discussion. Mr Forsyth has advocated his own opinions most ably; and his performance will, no doubt, be very acceptable to that party in the state which

came a day of grace and of high acceptance, when he was the various geographical details are here combined, in the called to loftier duties; enabled to stand forth to his coun- mode of marking the various routes and stations, and in try, and to after times, as a champion of Protestantisma discriminating ancient and modern names-for, in the cause which could ennoble the meanest and honour the high-chief maps, both are properly introduced. est. All who joined him will hereafter look back to that as to them a proud period, whatever it may prove to their country and to future times. Let them persevere, and be assured, that here and hereafter their labour will not be in vain."-Pp. 181, 2,

In Mr Forsyth's opinion, “the world is in a revolutionary state." He dreads the progress of superstition and oppression, promoted by the advance of Catholicism in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, nay even in Britain herself; although he doubts not that, at whatever expense, and after what struggles and sacrifices soever, Protestantism and liberty must triumph in our own country. Events will pass onward, and the truth or error of these predictions will appear. To us belongs the gentler and happier task of watching, and fostering, and disseminating, those peaceful and elegant arts which adorn civilized

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THE present can be considered in the light neither of a periodical publication, nor of a finished series, and only as an original work, in regard to its valuable illustrations; yet as we hold in our view all meritorious attempts, of the Scottish press particularly, we think it right thus early to call public attention and approbation to this spirited and praiseworthy endeavour to give a complete edition of the above standard work. Seven volumes of the proposed twelve are now published, an eighth being nearly ready, which is at the rate of six volumes a-year. As far as it has now proceeded, we can have no hesitation in saying, that the present is the most perfect edition of the "Decline and Fall" which has yet appeared. It is a singular fact-singular, because the defect, though from the first acknowledged, was not before attempted fully to be remedied, and of which many of our readers may not be aware, that of the numerous editions of this most popular of British historians, even the original quartos and octavos, published during the lifetime, and, in some measure, under the inspection, of the author, not one was completed in all its necessary apparatus. Every one, in a very slight degree studious of history, knows the importance of accurate geographical accompaniments in particular. To the necessity of such appendages, no one could be more alive than the illustrious author himself; and we learn, from his published correspondence, that he had engaged the celebrated D'Anville to construct an atlas purposely for his history. The task was undertaken, and, if accomplished, would have precluded all subsequent attempts; bat the geographer died before it was commenced, and Mr Gibbon was obliged to supply the deficiency from resources at hand, seemingly little to his private satisfaction. Succeeding publishers have only repeated what was from the beginning thus imperfect. The edition which we now review, with the superior advantages of extended knowledge and improved workmanship, has taken up the idea of the original author, fulfilling his intention in a manner which, we have no doubt, would have satisfied even his anxiety and intelligence. The maps are numerous, and exceedingly well selected. embracing both classical and middle-age geography. Infinitely superior in point of execution to those of Cellurius and Cluverius, these charts are equal, in correctness and fulness of detail, to those of D'Anville himself, while they surpass his best works, now so scarce, in beauty. The principal proprietor, and, we believe, original projector, of the edition, is already well known to the public as having paid especial attention to geographical publication; and the careful examinator will find much to praise in the practical skill with which

As respects the literary merits of the undertaking, great pains have been taken in correcting the innumerable errors in the references and quotations, with which late editions are so generally deformed. To assure the purchaser of elegance and accuracy of typography, not to be surpassed at this moment in the British empire, we have only to inform him, that the volumes are from the press of our own printer, Mr Ballantyne. Each volume, too, is strongly bound in green cloth, with gilt back-titles; so that, from the shelves of the bookseller, the work may at once be transferred as a useful and not unornamental addition to any library.

Weeds and Wildflowers. By the late Alexander Balfour, author of "Campbell, or the Scottish Probationer," &c., &c. With a Memoir of the Author. Edinburgh.. Daniel Lizars. 1830. 8vo. Pp. 280.

THESE are the last relics of an amiable, honourable, and well-informed man. Mr Balfour was born in Forfarshire in 1767, and died in Edinburgh on the 12th of September, 1829. No events of a very striking nature distinguished his career. For the misfortunes incident to a mercantile life, he sought and found consolation in the pursuits of literature. Though not exactly eminent, he was always respectable as a writer, and his name was well known beyond the immediate circle of his own acquaintances. One or two of his novels are favourites with the reading public; and his poetry, without being particularly distinguished for its brilliancy or vigour, possesses many quiet and unobtrusive merits. His "Characters omitted in Crabbe's Parish Register" would have done no discredit to the "Register" itself. The memoir prefixed to the present volume, and which, we are told, is from the pen of Mr D. M. Moir, is judiciously and temperately written, affording a correct estimate of Mr Balfour's abilities and character, and thus doing more for his memory than could have been accomplished by the grossest flattery. The biographer sums up his narrative with the following passage, in the sentiments of which we heartily agree:

"Having given an outline of the life of the late Mr Alexander Balfour, the reader may glean his general character from it, without much difficulty. If, as Seneca observes, a good man struggling with adversity be a sight worthy the admiration of superior intelligences, the latter years of Mr Balfour afford a noble moral lesson. From the time that palsy deprived our author of his locomotive powers, crippled his handwriting, and nearly deprived him of speech, he composed four volumes of poetry, of which two were published; sixteen volumes of prose, of which thirteen were published; besides pieces in a variety of periodicals, which would fill a nearly equal number. Let it be recolced in earnest his literary career, the heyday of life was past, lected, that before this unfortunate son of genius commenand his spirit damped, not only by the sudden overcasting of his worldly hopes, but by the pressure of adversity. A mind constituted like his is keenly alive to joy, and consequently, equally alive to the sorrows which chequer existence, and of the latter he had his share. When, added to his being shut out from the ever-varying aspects of that fair creation, which for him had so many charms, we find long years of directly following in its train, and yet that he bore up with adverse fortune, with the innumerable evils directly or incheerful hope and pious resignation, unweariedly exerting the faculties which were left him, we may be able to form some idea of the noble strength of his character. Instead of becoming sullen, morese, and envious of the felicity of which he could be only a spectator, his countenance bore a perpetual smile; and the benignity of his heart continued to diand their actions. He entered cordially into the society of vulge itself in the lenient judgments he passed upon men the young and happy; and never lost his relish for innocent amusements.

"Little else remains to be noticed of a life, which, al

though sufficiently eventful to its possessor, and those connected with him by the closest and tenderest of human ties, had little to recommend it to the attention of readers who delight in enterprise and bustle. It is more to be regarded as a history of mind,-of a mind, unsubdued by the wreck of a bodily frame, and almost heroically persevering in its daily exercise. Let it also be remembered, that that exercise was always in defence of virtue, and that he disdained to pander to the taste of the vicious. To his grave, Mr Balfour carried the admiration of many-the respect of all who knew him; and of his writings, it may be affirmed, with equal truth as of those of Thomson, that he left no line, which, dying, he could wish to blot.""-P. 88-94.

As to the contents of the volume before us, they are such as will not disgrace the author or his friends. Several of the prose Tales and Sketches possess much interest; and the Poetry, which is miscellaneous and diversified, is more than respectable. We are inclined to consider the address "To a Canary-Bird, escaped from its Cage," which originally appeared in the Literary Journal, as among the best poetical pieces. The work is handsomely printed, and has our best wishes for its success.

courts; or inflict pain and suffering on their persons beyond what is justifiable under the plea of necessary correction-in which case he becomes amenable to the criminal courts. And this is rightly ordered, both in respect to the moral character of the parent, and to the moral training and happiness of the child. It is rightly ordered in respect to the moral character of the parent, for only the man who acts from the free impulses of his own heart, and under the control of his own reason and moral sense, is virtuous. The freeman may act wrong, but the slave cannot act right. That outward show of correctness, which may be produced by the rigid enforcement of legal enactments, is not virtue-it is but the soulless motion of an automaton. Any attempt, therefore, on the part of the state, to control the actions of its citizens, to conform them to an outward etiquette, further than is necessary for preserving the peace of society, is degrading and demoralising to the national character. Laws, which would prescribe to a man that he must hold such opinions, and act in such a manner, (not only in public, but within the walls of his own household,) may make him a more accomplished hypocrite, but never a better man. But we

A View of the Court of Chancery. By the Hon. Wil-go further, and maintain that, even with regard to the liam Long Wellesley. 8vo. Pp. 84. London. James Ridgway. 1830.

WE neither know nor care any thing about the Hon. William Long Wellesley. He may be as black as his adversaries represent him, or as innocent as he declares himself to be. The present pamphlet, and indeed his whole conduct during the painful proceedings in the great case Wellesley versus Beaufort, prove him to be no very wise man: but that is no business of ours. There is, how.. ever, a principle involved in these discussions, which deeply interests every one who is, or may one day become, a father-every one who regards the inalienable rights of humanity-every one who takes pride in the moral character of his country and but for this circumstance, we should not have soiled our paper with the most distant allusion to a case in which it seems to have been the great object on both sides publicly to bespatter each other.

This is now the second time that the Court of Chancery has seen fit to arrogate to itself the right to interfere between a father and his children; and, under the pretext that the former was, from his moral and religious opinions or conduct, unfit to have the charge of the latter, to withdraw them from his superintending care. wish to enquire, whether, in this intrusion into the sacred privacy of domestic life, Chancery be borne out either by the principles of abstract justice or the law of England.

We

In the first place, we would enquire how far such an interference is justifiable on the principles of abstract justice. Courts of law are either civil or criminal. The former are entitled to pronounce what is law in questions of disputed property, and to enforce, by the aid of the executive power, obedience to their decisions. The latter are entitled to pronounce the sentence of the law upon those gross outrages against the peace and well-being of society, from the perpetration of which it has been deemed expedient to deter men by the infliction of punishment; and to insist that their decrees shall be carried into execution. The authority of neither the one nor the other extends beyond these limits. They have no right to watch over our speculative opinions, to intrude into our household arrangements, nor even to interfere with our moral conduct, however questionable, as long as we do nothing contrary to the express laws of the land. By the constitution of the country, every man is entitled to hold his speculative opinions, in morals or religion, unchallenged, provided he does not publicly attack the established church. By the same constitution, he is entitled to manage his household affairs, and educate his children, as he thinks best, as long as he does not waste or alienate such property as they may have acquired independently of him-in which case he becomes amenable to the civil

happiness and moral training of the child, the interference of the state is inexpedient. The severest blow that can be inflicted upon a child's morale, is separating him from the family circle, or diminishing, by the intrusion of a third party, the warm-hearted confidence with which he clings to his parent. There is a time of life when the mind emancipates itself by a spontaneous effort, and seeks to form its judgments independent of the authority on which it previously relied. But every thing that forestalls this period, and forces the child to judge between those to whom nature has attached him, and an abstract standard of right, before his faculties are sufficiently developed, deadens the affections, without enlightening the mind. It is a like perilous operation in the moral world, to the untimely extraction of the fruit from the parent in the physical. No artificial fostering can compensate the chilling of the vital heat, which is its natural consequence. We would even go so far as to say, that no example, however immoral, and no principles, however dangerous, could be half so detrimental to an ingenuous child, as a blow so stunning to all his natural feelings. But we are not obliged to rest upon such an extreme argument. The law can only speak in general terms; its special application must always remain with the judge. The law can only declare, that a parent of gross immorality, or pernicious opinions, shall not be intrusted with the education of his children; and it must be left to the conscience and intelligence of one irresponsible man, to decide on the degree of immorality or error which deprives a man of his dearest and proudest privilege. In determining for the adoption or rejection of a law, we must often be guided by merely comparative preference. In this case, therefore, even though we should admit the possibility of such depravity in a father as would render the interference of a judge expedient, (a possibility which the advances of the age in every sort of mental culture is rendering every day less probable,) still the danger accruing from the reposing such a fearful power in the hands of one man must decide us against it.

But we likewise proposed to enquire, whether the law of England recognised any such power of interference in the Chancellor. On this question, of course, we do not feel ourselves so free to speak as on the other. It is a question of a difficult and complex system of law, to which we are in a great measure strangers. Still we would venture to say, after careful enquiry, and with all diffidence, that it does not appear to us that the Chancellor, or any English judge, has a right to remove children from the care and education of their parent, on any other plea than that of their being exposed to personal violence. Lord Eldon claimed a right to interfere in the case of Wellesley against Beaufort, on the ground that the Chan

cellor had succeeded to the jurisdiction of the Court of Wards and Liveries. It may justly be doubted whether this be the case, seeing that, by the act 12 Charles II. c. 24, not only that court, but the very relation between the King and his subjects, upon which its jurisdiction rested, was for ever abrogated. Even though we could believe that the Chancellor stood now in the shoes of the old Court of Wards, he was only entitled "to transact all the affairs of the royal wards, idiots, and widows, as it regarded their property and marriage." Now the right of jurisdiction assumed by the Chancellor, in the cases of Shelley and Wellesley, extended to affairs regarding the education of infants. Blackstone restricts the power of Chancery in taking care of the persons of infants, to the care of "a fatherless child who has no other guardian." Even this limited power is regarded by Hargrave as having been originally a usurpation.

On the whole, then, we are inclined to believe that the right arrogated to itself by the Court of Chancery, in the cases of Shelley and Wellesley, is not warranted by the law of England; and we are fully convinced, that it is a dangerous encroachment on the private rights of the subject. We beg of our readers, that, in considering this question, they will not allow themselves to be biassed by the opinions they may have formed of the conduct of Long Wellesley, or the principles of Bysche Shelley. The rule | established by these decisions is far more general in its application. We appeal to every father in the aristocracy of England and we mean nothing invidious in so doing --whether he would submit his whole life in such a question to the review of some ascetic precisian, whom the course of events may have placed on the woolsack. We appeal to the whole dissenting interest, whether they would lodge such a power of interference in the hands of a bigot for the establishment. We make no application, we draw no inference, but we recommend these our observations to the serious reflection of the whole nation.

THE FAMILY LIBRARY. No. IX.-The History of the Jews. Volume III. Pp. 431. London. John Murray. 1829.

THIS volume contains the narrative of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the history of the Jewish people, after they ceased to have a land to which their scattered tribes could look back as a home and a place of union. The history of the Jews may be aptly divided into three periods: the first comprising the years which elapsed from Moses to the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar—the high and palmy state of the nation. The second, the time which intervened betwixt the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and its final desolation by Titus-during which the spirit of the people was as inferior to what they formerly evinced, as the glory of the second temple is said by the inspired writers to have been dimmer than that of Solomon. The third, the long period during which the Jews have presented the anomalous appearance of a nation closely and inseparably linked together, but without a home or resting-place. The materials for a history of the first period are patent to all-they are no other than the different books of the inspired volume. So much has been done during the last three centuries by the united labours of critics and naturalists to elucidate them, that any man of sound judgment, and a competent knowledge of the labours of his predecessors, can scarcely fail to compile a clear and interesting narrative of the fates of the republic and monarchy of Israel. Mr Milman has done more he has told his story with a fervid dignity, worthy of the subject. The materials for a history of the second period are at once less complete and more diffuse. The same ingenuity and research, however, has been expended on them by the learned, but with less satisfactory results. It is chiefly owing to this circumstance, that Mr Milman, in his account of this period-which closes with the second chapter of the third volume-is less happy than in that of

the first.

There are bursts of lofty eloquence in it, and, in particular, some passages in his narrative of the siege of Jerusalem, equal to any thing in his first volume; but, as a whole, the history of the second period is very unequal. The same remark applies yet more strongly to the history of the dispersed Jews. There are, as yet, positively no materials for a history of this period. The various notices out of which it must be constructed, lie scattered in a thousand uncongenial repositories. They have not, as yet, been sought out by the diligence of the antiquary, or illustrated by the acumen of the critic. In short, he who would write a history of the Jews since the destruction of their capital, must make up his mind to undergo the thankless drudgery of a collector of materials, as well as the more pleasing task of arranging them in a lucid narrative. This is an undertaking for which neither the peculiar talents nor habits of study of Mr Milman seem to have fitted him. He is a man of extensive general reading, just and liberal sentiments, and refined taste; and he adds to these a powerful style of diction. But he is deficient in patient research and critical acuteness. He wants that power of long-continued noiseless application, which alone could enable him to consult the wide and heterogeneous mass of legal enactments and contemporary chronicles of different nations the dreary tomes of churchfathers, and the records of ecclesiastical councils-in which the fragments of Jewish history must be sought. He wants also that critical tact which can discern between fable and truth by a story's own internal evidence. In one respect, however, Mr Milman's work promises to be useful, over and above the liberal and talented sentiments which it inculcates. It shows how little is known of modern Jewish history,-it shows, by occasional glimpses, what a deep influence that despised race have had in bringing society to its present form; and we hope, therefore, that it will prove a stimulus to some active mind to penetrate yet more deeply into all its minutiæ.

Elements of General Anatomy. Translated from the last edition of the French of P. A. Béclard, Professor of Anatomy to the Faculty of Medicine in Paris. With Notes and Corrections by Robert Knox, M. D. F. R. S. E. Lecturer on Anatomy, &c. Edinburgh. Maclachlan and Stewart. 1830.

ANATOMY and Physiology have been studied with so much zeal and success on the Continent, that the British student can now scarcely attain a competent knowledge of his profession without referring to the researches of the more distinguished French authors, who, in prosecuting these sciences, have done honour to their country, and conferred lasting and invaluable services on the literature of medicine. It is but rarely that they who are engaged in wandering through the more pleasant paths of literary enjoyment, find leisure to take a peep into the scientific world, and estimate the labours of those who are there devoting their abilities, health, and lives, to studying the best means for obviating or relieving the many infirmities to which our "mortal flesh is heir;" and hence it hap pens, that so many talented and useful members of so> ciety enjoy little of that fame to which they are entitled. In the medical profession, in particular, it is not to be expected that the public can duly or sufficiently appreciate the abilities and industry of those who, among their fellow-labourers, are deservedly looked on as entitled to all those honours which ought to reward genius, in whatever sphere it may be exerted. These remarks apply, we conceive, more especially to many French authors, who have adorned the history of medical literature; and to none are they more applicable than to Monsieur Béclard.

Béclard died on the 6th March, 1825, at the early age of thirty-nine. The work now going on, called the Archives Generales de Médecine, is the continuation of a periodical commenced by him, under the title of Nouveau Journal de Médecine. He also co-operated in the com

pilation of the Dictionnaire des Termes de Médecine, Chirurgie, Pharmacie, &c., and was one of the principal edit. ors of the Nouveau Dictionnaire de Médecine. Béclard likewise published a volume of additions to the General Anatomy of Bichat, and, in 1823, his Elemens d'Anatomie Generale, of which the volume under review is a translation.

There has hitherto undoubtedly been a want of some English elementary work of this kind, and the present is certainly calculated to supply that desideratum. "To meet the wants of my own class," says the translator, Dr Knox, "I some years ago perceived the necessity, either of compiling a similar work to that of M. Béclard, or of delivering a course of lectures on General and Physiological Anatomy. Time and leisure, however, have been altogether wanting for so laborious a task as the first; the extension of my winter course of lectures on the Descriptive Anatomy of the Human Body so as to embrace, in addition, a course of General Anatomy, I quickly perceived to be impracticable. The alternative which remained, was to select for the attention of my pupils what I deemed to be the best of the numerous very excellent manuals of General Anatomy which, from the times of Haller to the present day, have been added to the Continental medical literature. Without prejudice, and without a bias towards any particular doctrine or school, I could not hesitate in fixing on that of M. Béclard, which seemed to me to contain all that the student could possibly desire as an elementary work."

. With these sentiments we most perfectly accord, and consider much praise due to the Editor, for having placed so excellent a work as this within the reach of every student. The translation preserves faithfully the sense and spirit of the original, whilst the notes and the appendix are valuable additions. We think it right to add, that the publishers of this work deserve commendation for having brought out a production of so much value at so reasonable a price. Scientific works are too often, in consequence of their enormous cost, placed beyond the reach of many who would be desirous of having them in their possession.

1829: A Poem. By Edward W. Cox, Author of "The Opening of the Sixth Seal." London. Samuel Maunder. 12mo. Pp. 124.

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MR Cox informs us, in his Preface, that this "is not a satire, for it is deeply tinctured with sadness; nor is it an elegy, for its gravity is everywhere interspersed with gaiety." He has therefore called it " A Poem ;" and if the public approve of this attempt, he proposes to continue it, under the several titles of “ 1830,” “ 1831," and so on, ad infinitum. We are not quite sure, however, that he will receive encouragement sufficient to authorise this extension of the work. There are a good number of spirited passages in the Poem, but, on the whole, it is not pointed or mettlesome enough. The author seems afraid to be caustic, and he has little or no turn for humour. He touches upon many subjects of interest, but, in general, too tamely. We find references, in the table of contents, to the Opening of the Session of Parliament-Catholic Question-Duke of Wellington-Parliamentary Portraits The Drama-Fanny Kemble-Literature-Literary Portraits The Periodicals-Fashionable Novels-The Arts Education-Infant Schools, &c. &c. ; but, for the most part, we do not find that the passages which illustrate these topics contain any thing very new or striking. The following lines, concerning the quantity of Literary Memoirs which it has become fashionable to publish, are among the best we can find:

"Lo! where a thousand long-faced fellows stand,
Each with two weighty volumes in his hand,

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Of Memoirs,' Reminiscences,' Remains,'

The fine-spun cobwebs of unhealthy brains.

Here Lives of Rev. A's and B's are met,
To the last letter of the Alphabet;
Biographies of village pastors, men

Who lived and died, we know not where nor when.
Scarce can a canting fool or madman die,
But brother blockheads print his history;
And stupid letters, rhymes, and unknown names,
Give to the press instead of to the flames.
May not an honest fool depart in peace,
Gods! without making books on his decease?
Why from his tomb is torn the rotting dead,
To show the world the weakness of his head?
The law of libel, strict enough, Heav'n knows!
Why does it not take cognizance of those
Who fear not to defame departed friends,
And damn the dead to gain their private ends?"

We think Mr Cox possesses talents above par; but his forte lies in graver and more didactic writing.

Von

Das

Geschichte des Römischen Rechts im Mittelalter. Friedrich Carl von Savigny. Fünfter Band. drey zehnte Jahrhundert, Heidelberg; bey Mohr. 1829. 8vo. Pp. 574.

History of the Civil Law in the Middle Ages. By F. C. von Savigny. 5th volume. Thirteenth century. WHEN Mr Cathcart's excellent translation of the first volume of this work appeared, we stated our conviction that it was of too solid materials to become popular in this country. We regret to think that our anticipation has proved correct, and that there is little or no chance of the remainder of Savigny's history appearing in an English dress. We regret this, because his investigations have thrown an entirely new light on the constitutional and literary history of the middle ages. That the reading public would have made use of his writings, to free themselves from certain erroneous impressions respecting the history of that period, might have been too much to expect, even though the book had been presented to them in their own language; but the scientific part of the community, from whom the great body take their opinions on trust, might have learned enough to prevent them from misleading their confiding disciples so much as they have hitherto done. For the majority even of the élite, many of whom have too much neglected the German, we fear the work is, in its original language, a book sealed. It is but little that our limits permit us to do in the way of making our countrymen acquainted with in the Middle Ages, but that little shall be cheerfully the contents and merits of this History of the Roman Law done.

an introductory sketch of the constitution of European The first volume (as we formerly mentioned) contains society under the Roman sovereignty, during the fifth century. To this succeeds a civil history of the different states which were erected on the ruins of the empire. The history of their institutions, for the dispensation of public and private law, is the principal ingredient; but in order to give a clear view of this subject, the author is under the necessity of entering into details, which convey an accurate idea of the whole social relations of the pelated) narrates the manner in which a knowledge of the riod. The second volume (which has not yet been translaws of old Rome was preserved in the succeeding dynasties,-in the more ephemeral, till the period of their extinction,-in those of more robust and enduring constitutions, down to the period at which we have the earliest authentic accounts of the University of Bologna. The third volume commences with the twelfth century. The author now narrows his field as he draws nearer the main subject of his work. To a short preliminary discussion on the revival of legal studies in Europe, succeeds a description of the constitution of the Lombard cities, as contradistinguished from those of the Exarchate, which had remained longer under Grecian supremacy. The constitution of Bologna is explained at more detail, both because, not having passed with the rest of the Exarchate,

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