School, are fine specimens of art, and much freer from faults than most of the other Annuals can boast of being; though at the same time, not so finely executed. It would have been a great improvement in the Prophet, if the badly drawn globe to the right had been omitted, and the whole of that corner, from the elbow downwards, had had a deeper shade thrown into it: the roof of the cave ought also to have been made altogether darker. There is likewise a slight error in the drawing of the man's face, which, however, a touch or two of the graver would easily rectify. On the whole, we do not know when we have been more pleased with a child's book, since petticoats gave way to presumption: and we do hope and trust, that the little masters and misses into whose hands it may fall, will profit by the many excellent morals with which its pages abound. [16] THE PICTURE OF AUSTRALIA. (8vo. Whittaker, Treacher, and Co.) SOME wicked wag declared that the Martello towers were erected in Ireland by the Foxite administration, for the special purpose of puzzling posterity; nature seems to have produced New Holland with a similar design towards philosophers, having therein ruthlessly violated all the rules and regulations provided by the manufacturers of theories from the days of Aristotle even unto the present time. Our northern rivers, after quitting the mountains, flow to the sea in a continuous stream, deepening and widening as they advance; but some of the Australian streams, seemingly wearied of their long journey, quietly spread themselves out over a marsh, and stagnate in repose any laws of map-makers, or geographers to the contrary, in anywise, notwithstanding. Enormous masses of granite that ought, according to the rules and regulations in such cases made and provided, to have formed the terminations of mountainous chains, stand alone, like hermits in the wilderness. The very ocean seems to have been subjected there to a new code of laws, the observance of which is enforced by a chain of coral reefs, that compel obedience more powerfully than any chain of mathematical demonstrations with which speculative philosophers have fettered nature. When we meet such strange occurrences in the broad general features of the country, we may naturally expect that the minor details will be equally surprising; accordingly, we find that the trees, herbs, and plants, of this extraordinary country, are unlike any thing to which we have been accustomed; and that the animals seem to us like the strayed inhabitants of another planet. For about a score of centuries the name of a black swan was synonymous with non-existence: alas! for the similies of poets and the illustrations of prosers; scarce had this theatre of nature's frolics been opened to the public, when hosts of black swans were discovered, to the great confusion of whole troops of worthy bookmanufacturers, but also to the great edification of all who advocate negroslavery. The latter point may not immediately appear, but it is thus established: a black swan, that was kept on the Lake, in the Regent's Park, was actually attacked by a posse-comitatus of the white swans, and not going quietly into slavery, as might reasonably be expected, was murdered with very little ceremony. Who does not see from this, that hostility between blacks and whites is a law of our nature, and that each colour has a perfect right to abuse the other whenever an opportunity may offer?-But the beasts distance the birds completely in extravagance; their birth, form, mode of life, and means of motion, are unlike any thing in this part of the globe; death, after all, is the true leveller of distinctions, for it appears that they, at least, die according to the ordinary laws. There is every reason to believe that all the indigenous animals of New Holland belong to the Marsupian class, and considering the immense variety of the species into which this class is divided, it is not a little remarkable that it should be totally confined to Australia. The book containing these descriptions irresistibly reminded us of the strange fictions of Peter Wilkins; it is to the full as entertaining as that ingenious though neglected romance, and has the additional merit of combining the interest of novelty with the exactitude of truth. Our increasing connection with Australia, where we have already two thriving colonies, and where we are now about to establish another, renders every information connected with it interesting at the present moment. The author of the picture has, therefore, very judiciously selected, from authentic sources, those practical topics on which settlers are most likely to require information; he has not, however, adorned them with much grace of diction; no matter-accuracy in a manual like that before us, fully compensates for elegance. It is, indeed, strange that we do not oftener seek information about a country to which we export all that is honoured and dishonoured in our land, the names of the good and the persons of the bad. If the present system of baptizing islands, capes, and rivers, be persevered in, we shall soon have to consult Debrett's peerage as an elementary treatise on geography, and bind up the red-book with the gazetteers. Mercator's chart already forms a convenient reference for the names of all who have had a share in the government of the admiralty during the last century. But it is to the state of the convictsettlers and their descendants that we would principally desire to direct public attention. The moment that the term of his punishment is expired, the convict should be permitted to enjoy all the privileges of a freeman; no unkindly frown, no jealous suspicion, no contumelious allusions to his former state, should be permitted; he has borne the punishment which the laws have apportioned to his crime; and it is grossly unjust to withhold from him the full rights of freedom which he has purchased by endurance. The management of the convicts, while subjected to compulsory labour, merits also the strictest attention; we are accustomed to boast that "Britons never shall be slaves;" let us not permit them to be made so, even when subjected to penal labour; there may, and there must be, some obstinate spirits amongst them, who fulfil the aphorism of Horace, and only change the climate when they change their nation. But residence in a new country, and the absorbing nature of agricultural employments, will be found to produce a change in the minds of most, which a judicious mixture of kindness and firmness may improve to the greatest advantage. We are sorry to perceive in the volumes before us, traces of that foolish spirit of party nicknames which has been so pernicious in every age and country. Jealousies and dislikes soon perish, if there be not a rallying word round which they can assemble; many a bitter feud which would have been an "airy nothing” had it not found “a local habitation and a name,” has laid the foundation of destructive wars. It appears that some idle officer, who had some pretensions to wit, nicknamed the descendants of the convicts currency, and designated the European free-settlers by the more honourable title of sterling; this was done when the currency of the island happened to be greatly depreciated. We really think that a more mischievous jest was never made, and would heartily wish that a sudden blister on the tongue had prevented its utterance. But though there may be, and indeed are some evils in the management of affairs at Sydney, we still look at it as a country rich in hope; as one that will yet rival its eldest sister, and England's eldest daughter, the United States of America. On the comparative merits of emigration to Australia and Canada, the work before us contains much information; but it is so scattered, that we cannot extract any satisfactory passage. The great superiority of Australia appears to consist in the ground being already cleared, and in the vicinity of the settlements to the sea. A very peculiar feature in its novel landscape is, the total absence of thickets and brushwood; the trees also run to an amazing height before they begin to throw out branches; they are not found in clumps, but standing at considerable distances asunder, so as to resemble an ornamental plantation rather than a forest. On the other hand, the woods of America are thick, close, filled up with shrubs and underwood in one continuous thicket. The Australian settler consequently avoids the hardest and most ungrateful labour of the American. The difference in the voyage is more than compensated by the avoidance of the immense land and river journey from Quebec to Upper Canada; the Australian no sooner quits the vessel than he has reached his destination: for ages to come, the settlements will continue to belt the coasts, and little or nothing will be done towards colonizing the interior. The opening of the commerce with India, which cannot now be long delayed, will create a great naval activity in the Southern Ocean, and though new settlements cannot be supposed likely to become manufacturing countries, yet will there be a market provided for those articles, in the manufacture of which the colonists may profitably employ the season during which his agricultural labours are suspended. [25] IDENTITY OF THE RELIGIONS CALLED DRUIDICAL (12mo. London. John Nimmo.) There was, in the reign of Elizabeth, a certain philosopher, who deemed that the Chinese history of the world could be identified with that in the Pentateuch; although no single circumstance contained in the one was mentioned in the other. Goldsmith has preserved for us a specimen of his argument, in the attempt made to identify Noah and Fohi; thus stands the reasoning: There are There are four letters in Noah, and there are four in Fohi. two syllables in Noah, and two in Fohi. There is no a in Fohi, and that sounds like Noah. Finally, of the four letters which compose both, only two are different. Therefore Noah was Fohi, and Fohi, Noah. Q. E. D. The author before us seems to have been deeply imbued with a similar spirit of identification, and to have wasted much learning and ingenuity in an attempt to establish sameness, where every step of his argument exhibits a difference. In the first place, he has, all through his work, confounded the religious system revealed by Moses, with the false worship into which the Jews were continually falling. He asserts, that, in their system, Jehovah Adonoei was only supposed to differ from the pretended; deities of the neighbouring nations in superior power and intelligence, which seems to have been the heresy into which the Israelites were so prone to fall but, in the revealed system, it is several times disclosed, in the most emphatic terms, that He is the only self-existing being, and that there is none else beside him. See Deut. iv. and 35th verse; where the repetition of the pronoun and emphatic article, adds peculiar force to the declension. In the very same section, the author mixes up the characteristics of the Sabean and Pantheistic creeds, while describing the attributes of Deity, and confounds both with the true notion given by revelation. Following Dr. Collyer, he has placed these three doctrines into one sentence. He says, God is "the only principle" pantheistic; the "light of Heaven," Sabean; and the "Father of all," orthodox. Could any sentence be discovered in the whole range of literature, containing such a jumble of inconsistencies. In his enumeration of the names given to the Deity, the first on which he insists is Baal: now this name is never applied to the true God, but "when the Jews had lapsed into the Sabean heresy:" the verse following that which the author has quoted from Hosea, distinctly shows that the name is forbidden to be used, because it was solely appropriated to the objects of idolatrous worship. In fact, all through the Scriptures, we find that the name, Baal, is spoken of as desecrated and identified with every thing odious to the Omnipotent. mystic sanctity of the oak amongst the Druids is matter of notoriety; but the proofs that it was similarly venerated by the Hebrews, beat the identification of Noah and Fohi all to nothing. It appears that Jacob buried his dead beneath an oak; Abraham received visitors beneath the shade of that tree; an oak grew near the spot where the Tabernacle was pitched; and, therefore, an oak was deemed sacred! There is said to be a family in the north of England who are buried in mahogany coffins, sit at church in a mahogany pew, and feast their visitors at mahogany tables; wherefore, this family must be for the future looked upon as the founders of a new sect of timber worshippers, in which the ancient oak is superseded by mahogany. There is one passage which, from its beauty and novelty, particularly attracted our attention, in the remarks made by the author on the metempshycosis; we give it as a sample of the style of the work. The "It is necessary, then, to seek for some elucidation of this doctrine, which shall exhibit it in a light agreeable to the recognised ideas of the oriental and occidental priesthood. The vulgar notion of metempsychosis had been shown to be inconsistent with the religions of the priests, by whom it was professed; it is, therefore, more than probable, that, by the metempsychosis of Pythagoras and the Druids, was meant those successive changes through which the human body passes. First, it existed as a germ, when the first man drew his breath; a variety of changes ensued till that germ put on the spermatic form; it existed like a vegetable, devoid of feeling, without animation. A third succession of changes brought it into a fœtal state, in which it lived like an animal; this change was perfected by birth; and, time elapsing, it merged into another, as reason began to dawn: then, and not before then, man became a living soul. For a short period of years the body serves as a habitation for this soul; but there is a time, in which it is appointed unto man to die,' the body decays, the clay building returns to the dust of the earth, while the soul experiences a new change. It does not die, nor does it sleep; but, clad in a fresh body, fairer than that which it has left, it experiences new pleasures and sweeter delights. A future resurrection ensues, and a fresh change is the consequence; but the body, that is now put on, is not what it once was; we shall be changed, this mortal will put on immortality, this corruptible incorruption. Pleasures, which at present it is not given for us to conceive, will then brighten the fair landscape of enjoyment, will all but overwhelm the rising spirit with delight; and if we may believe the enchanting doctrine of the Oriental sages, another change will complete the heights of bliss to which we shall attain. This new body will be given to the dust, from whence it came, but the spirit will return to God." p. 58-60. The We perfectly agree with the author, that traces of the Sabean superstition are discoverable from the banks of the Ganges, to the shores of the Atlantic; but we are astonished how he can suppose the Mosaic dispensation to be in any manner associated with such a form of worship. religion given to Israel amid the thunders and lightnings of Sinai was completely dissevered from all the idolatrous practices, and absurd creeds, with which they were surrounded; it was fenced round by a host of ceremonious observances, to mark and preserve the difference. What then are we to say of a writer who holds that the Jews, while worshipping Baal, and adoring Jehovah, were still practising the same religion. Were they visited by the severest punishment for nothing? Was it not for desertion of their father's God that they were sent into foreign lands to weep by the waters of Babylon, where they remembered their beloved Zion? The false religion into which the Jews were so prone to fall, was similar to the druidical; for the characteristics of Sabæism are the same all over the world, but the doctrine taught by Moses was unlike every thing in the ancient world; it was like a single ray of light, struggling above the extremity of an horizon of darkness, but still marking the spot where a future luminary should arise, and fill heaven with his splendour, and earth with the glories of his brightness. [30] No one will deny that the Study of History is one of the most important objects to which the attention of mankind, whether in youth or age, can be directed. It shows them man in all circumstances-in all conditions; it tells them what he has done, and what he has suffered, and what he has been. It illustrates the strongest principles of our nature, and, therefore, it comes home to the feelings and interests of all. The rise |