attempted, or, indeed, had an opportunity of doing. The two works, however, reciprocate pretty well, and supply their separate deficiencies. Speaking of the Russian navy, Major Keppel incidentally states some circumstances which we think worthy of attention at the present moment, as they show how much that country has taken care to profit by its intercourse with Great Britain:

"The (Russian) Admiral, Monsieur Ricord," says our author, "spoke very good English, having served six years in our navy, under Captain Parker: thus, of the three senior officers in the Russian squadron, the first, Count Heiden, is a Dutchman, and the two others have been indebted to us for their education. The squadron in the Black Sea is commanded by an Englishman, Admiral (lately made Count) Greig; and there are no fewer than seven other natives of Great Britain who are Russian admirals on active service-namely, Admiral Greig, son of the Commander-in-Chief, and (I believe) second in command to him; Admirals Cobley and Baillie, in the Black Sea; and Admirals Hamilton, Crown, Brown, and Chandler, in the Baltic. Admiral Mercer, another Englishman, died lately at Sevastopol. In other departments there are Sir James Wylie, head of the medical military establishment; Sir William Creighton, physician to the Emperor; Dr. Leighton, physician-in-chief to the navy; General Wilson, director of Colpena ironworks and Alexanderosky manufactory; General Ford, chief of the arsenals; and Mr. Venning, superintendent of prisons. To these must be added, Captain Sherwood, who discovered the intended mutiny and revolt of 1825, and saved the lives of the present imperial family."

The second, and perhaps, on the whole, the most valuable portion of Major Keppel's work, relates to some interesting, but little known districts of Asia Minor, which abound in Roman remains hitherto described by no English traveller, so far as we know, except Colonel Leake. Major Keppel did not pursue precisely the same route as his predecessor, the Colonel, and is consequently enabled to furnish us with some new information, calculated to excite the attention of both the antiquarian and the man of letters. After a good deal of experience, Major Keppel saw cause to dissent entirely from the notion, so generally received among us, that the Turks are a race of men possessing great physical strength :

"The impression," he remarks, " and I believe it is a general one, that the Turks are stoutly built, has evidently arisen from the appearance they formerly presented, in their loose flowing robes; but whoever has seen their army in their tight uniforms, will alter this opinion, and will be convinced that the Osmanlis are a narrow-shouldered and spindle-legged race, and very inferior, in physical force, to any European nation."

To call a man, as has been often done in common parlance, "a Turk of a fellow," must henceforth cease to be considered any compliment. One thing may be said in behalf of Turkish muscle, that the new levies were chiefly drawn from the Asiatic provinces, where the Tartar make prevails.

Another traveller,*-one who has wandered far by land and sea. Be not dismayed, Captain, we shall inspect your Fragments with as little prejudice, as if you had been altogether guiltless of slandering our American kinsmen.

This is a work which young men about to enter the navy will find of the greatest use; a work they can scarcely fail to peruse with intense interest. It might, indeed, be dubbed, not unappropriately, "the young Midshipman's best Companion." Captain Hall swam a little beyond his depth, when he entered upon the mare magnum of transatlantic politics and statistics; but in his own profession he is at home, and in writing concerning it always appears to be what he really is, an excellent sailor, and an acute man. It is true that we discover occasionally little traits of self-complacency, approaching to something very like vanity, which We could well dispense with; but these we can forgive, in consideration of the many sound remarks and judicious practical advice which he gives to the young aspirant after nautical laurels. There can be no doubt that these three compact little volumes will add to Captain Hall's reputation. Some parts of them strike us as being too much spun out, but even these will, to the middy planted on his wooden seat in his dark mess-room, afford "metal more attractive" than any thing he could find in tomes of costlier pretensions. The work is, in short, a complete manual for this class of readers, and the dryness of mere technical details and professional instruction is most pleasantly relieved by anecdotes of the service, both afloat and ashore, and by the frequent narration of spirit-stirring adventures by flood and field. Under this last head we would particularly allude to the chapters entitled Dangers of a Nova Scotia Fog," " 66 Effects of the Gulf Stream,' Battle of Corunna," Corcubion," Rockall," and "The Chase." Several of these ale

66

* Fragments of Voyages and Travels, including anecdotes of a Naval Life. By Captain Basil Hall, R. N., F. R. S. 3 vols. 12mo, Edinburgh Robert Cadell. 1831.

written with much power, and with a graphic effect which Defoe himself has hardly surpassed. Not being ourselves among the number of those who "go down to the sea in ships," we cannot pretend to say to what extent Captain Hall's brother officers may be disposed to agree with his doctrines upon practical points. of discipline; but if "land-lubbers"

are entitled to have any voice in these matters, we should not hesitate to express our confidence in the good feeling and correct judgment, which appear to regulate his views in every thing relating to the management of a ship. Had we a dozen sons going to sea, we should pack a copy of the work before us into the portmanteau of each.

Three volumes on ITALY.*We should infallibly have entitled this work a compilation, had we not been warned against doing so by the following sentence of the Preface, which contains, as we conceive, rather a nice distinction: "it will be obvious," says Mr. Conder, "that these volumes, if the editor has completely fulfilled his task, claim to be considered in a higher light than that of a compilation; that they are rather a condensation of our knowledge of Italy, drawn from the most authentic sources, and reduced, by a careful collation, to distinctness and accuracy." We here learn that a "condensation" is a much more appropriate term to be applied to Mr. Conder's labours than a

46

compilation," and with this important fact staring us in the face, it would inevitably be unpardonable in us were we to venture on using the latter word. We are, therefore, happy to be able to say that, we are well pleased with MI. Josiah Conder's "Condensation." It is a guide-book, containing the marrow of all the other guide-books-a fire-side travelling companion, made up of the good things of all other travels, as Dogberry would say 'an expansive and comprehensive condensation." The authorities to which Mr. Conder has principally trusted, appear to be, among the older travellers, Evelyn, Addison, and Burnet; among the more recent, Forsyth, Williams, Lady Morgan, John Bell, Miss Waldie, and Mr. Stewart Rose; for his geography and topography, he relies chiefly on Mr. Cramer; for his statistics he is indebted to Sismondi; and on all architectural matters, Mr. Woods' " Letters of an Architect" are referred to as the highest authority. The work is neatly printed,

Italy; by Josiah Conder, author of the Modern Traveller; 3 vols. 12mo. London: James Duncan.

and embellished with maps and other illustrations; it is, in short, a favourable specimen of what has been emphatically termed whack, but what Mr. Conder, with more refinement, calls "condensation." "England, with all thy faults we love thee still;" And nathless the reminiscence of "the Record Commission" we extend our palm to this history of thy earlier days, by Francis Palgrave, Esq, who, we are blithe to admit, has presented us with a very excellent performance. His original intention, quoth the Preface, was to have composed it after the model of the "Tales of a Grandfather," exhibiting a selection merely of the most prominent and remarkable incidents in the history of our country; but he afterwards saw occasion to alter, and, we think, decidedly to amend his plan; the result has been a continuous narrative, the first volume of which now lies before us. The style of the work still retains something of the colloquial familiarity of its intended prototype; and this upon the whole strikes us as being a considerable advantage, inasmuch as it renders it a singularly fitting and enticing manual for the instruction of the young. The advanced student of Saxon annals, will always resort to the fruits of Mr. Sharon Turner's invaluable labours to satisfy his curiosity, and complete his knowledge; but a more simple and un-encumbered chronicle of events was required to attract the attention of the juvenile mind, and we are of opinion that Mr. Palgrave has ably supplied the desideratum.

Here have we the crabbed alphabet of our old Saxon fathers in this elegant selection, the GERMAN POETICAL ANTHOLOGY,t--which slipt unaccountably through our fingers in the notices for April. Here have we also a delectable little volume of TALES FROM THE GERMAN of TIECK. We thank Mr. Bernays for the wreath which he has culled with tasteful fingers from the garden of his land's literature. To the translator of Tieck, we beg to say that he is our debtor for divers dozen of Hocheim's rarest vintage-we having possessed ourselves of a full fourth of his edition, to be distri

* History of England, vol. i. Anglo-Saxon period. By Francis Palgrave, F.R.S. and F.S.A. Family Library, vol. xxi, John Murray. 1831.

+ German Poetical Anthology, 8vo. second edition. By A. Bernays, London: Treuttel & Co. 1831.

The Old Man of the Mountain.-The Love Charm, and Pietro of Abano,-Tales from the German of Tieck. 12mo. London: Edward Moxon, 1831.

buted among friends fair and gentle of spirit, on birth-day mornings, and other periods of festive remembrance.

Lives there the man whose heart does not leap within him, when he casts a backward glance on the events of the last ten months? France the beautiful, triumphant over purblind despotism-Poland betrayed and afflicted Polandbattling against the barbarian with the fortune that the good will ever supplicate for so holy a cause; and England our own beloved England-arising "like a giant refreshed from wine," and shaking off the foul entanglements of corruption. Times such as these deserve to be chronicled in letters of gold. Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Library has essayed to supply the stirring register in an ANNUAL RETROSPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS FOR 1831,* of which the first volume of a contemplated yearly series lies before us. The writer has discharged his duty faithfully and well. His style is luminous-his facts marshalled in order meet, and his sentiments liberal, without the alloy of extravagance. The French revolution, and the Greek negociations are handled in a masterly manner.

In this group of authors is there no offender upon whom we can deal summary justice? Perhaps we may find one among the bards. Come hither, O young man, who hast dared to trifle in rhyme with a theme on which the soul of Newton never expatiated, without reverential dread! Know that the attributes of Deity, his Omnipotence or his Omnipresence, are subjects not to be approached without fear and trembling, and internal purification. They are far beyond the reach of striplings of nineteen; and nothing but the thoughtlessness of that age can free the presumptuous tiro, who dares to consider them as the medium of obtaining the fleeting breath of man's applause, from the heavy censure of impiety. Richard Jarman-" Go, and sin no more."

Messrs. Oliver and Boyd, the ENGLISHMAN has to thank you for saving him the perils and expences of a voyage to Alexandria, which, in his desire to look the mother of mysteries in the face, he had inwardly resolved to undertake. Through the agency of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, he is enabled to read the Egyptian riddle, unscathed by opthalmia, the

Arab, or the pestilence. We like to see a respectable name attached to works that cope with facts, and Dr. Russell's is a pledge satisfactory to the scholar. He has supplied an exceedingly interesting work, collecting his materials discreetly, and arranging them with judicious care. His plan embraces the geography, antiquities, literature, civil history, mechanical labours, relics of art, manners and customs, and natural history of Egypt and the Egyptians, in days present and remote. The book is beautifully printed, is illustrated with a map and ten engravings; and when to these we superadd the quantity of information it contains, and the complex sources whence that information was to be derived, it appears almost marvellous how the publishers can afford to sell it for the small sum of sixty pence.

Another minstrel. THE DELIVERANCE OF SWITZERLAND, a Dramatic Poem, By H. C. Deakin. The public are already acquainted with this work in a previous edition, therefore we need not pause upon its merits. Few have attempted the dramatic poem with success; and, in our opinion, it is among the least attractive forms of poetry. The Deliverance of

Switzerland," in addition to an occasional want of rhythmical polish, is rather long for our taste. The execution, however, is original, and the sentiments those of masculine independence.

The CASKET invites our notice with its treasures of fact and fiction. We wish well to the "Casket," the "Tatler," the "Mirror," the "Olio," the "Polar Star," and to every periodical that places entertainment and instruction within the reach of readers to whom pence are as pounds.

Though the SCOTTISH GAEL‡ has been some time before the world, its pretensions as a work of permanent interest entitle it to a passing salutation in our journal. Mr. Logan, with the quiet zeal that resides only in the breast of a thorough antiquary, has accumulated, in the compass of two comely volumes, a museum of all that is most interesting in Highland manners, customs, and antiquities. A hundred years hence, Scotsmen will be grateful for a book which ought now to ornament the library of every true Caledonian.

Typography has served thee royally, Walter Savage Landor, and the author

Second Edition. London: Smith, Elder, and Co. 1831.

+ London: J. Wilson.

The Scottish Gael, 2 vols. 8vo. By James Logan, London: Smith, Elder, & Co. 1831.

The

of Imaginary Conversations merited its graces. Of thy muse we know little, save that the Laureate, once upon a time, mightily commended Count Julian, one of her offspring which we perceive enumerated in the table of contents." preface tells us, that "there are many things in this volume of little weight and value. The only reason why they are collected is, that more and worse, either written in youth, or with equal idleness afterwards, may never be raked together by such as have lately disinterred the rankest garbage of Swift and Dryden." A snarler might discover vanity in thisbut honi soit says the Englishman." Although we cannot assent to Southey's opinion of Count Julian, we declare our unhesitating conviction, that Mr. Landor is a writer gifted with the real poetic spirit. Many passages, elegant in diction, and of a highly imaginative cast of thought, are scattered over these pages, and many more would there be, but for a mistaken devotion to Greek and Roman models.What can lead men of sense to attempt the idle task of engrafting the genius of an alien tongue upon their vernacular language? We might as well imitate the rhyming tragedies of the French, as the versification of the ancients. By the way, we must protest against the lawless orthography of Mr. Landor's poems-against distinguisht-stil-ile-askt, and all such libertine curtailments of the King's English.

Mr. Murray has completed his cheap and tasteful edition of BYRON by the publication of two volumes,† which contain the Hours of Idleness-English Bards and Scotch Reviewers-Hints from HoraceThe Curse of Minerva - The Vision of Judgment-Morgante Maggiore-Werner -The Deformed Transformed - Heaven and Earth-The Island-and a variety of Miscellaneous Poems not before included in any collection of his lordship's works. The Childe's minor effusions display their average of mediocrity; he never wrote an unexceptionable lyric-many exception

able.

A packet from the Queen of the Clyde. printed for This slender gentleman, " private circulation, " sketches the origin and progress of the GLASGOW LITERARY AND COMMERCIAL SOCIETY, and submits a plan for publishing a portion of its transactions. The author, Mr, Thomas

* Gebir, Count Julian, and other Poems. By Walter Savage Landor, Esq. London : Moxon. 1831.

+ The Works of Lord Byron, in 6 vols.vols. 5 & 6. London : J. Murray. 1831.

Atkinson, deserves praise for his active endeavours to promote the love of letters in his native town. Every friend to mankind will do his best to foster associations for the diffusion of knowledge, owing to which many of our commercial men, were they so disposed, might assume an elevated rank among the accredited literati.

A DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY, FROM ITS FIRST PROJECTION TO THE PRESENT TIME, by Joseph Kirwan, Civil Engineer, contains much curious information in a small space.

NECROPOLIS GLASGUENSIS, WITH OBSERVATIONS ON ANCIENT AND MODERN TOMBS AND SEPULTURE,+ has been written with a view to an improvement in the cemeteries of St. Mungo's city. Whether as a matter of taste, or of mere police, the subject has strong claims upon public attention. Intending to have a chapter upon Sepulture in an early number, we shall reserve our grave consideration of Mr. Strang's book until then.

THE LIFE OF THOMAS MUIR, ESQ. ADVOCATE, YOUNGER, OF HUNTERSHILL, is another work of which we propose to speak on a future day. It is a terrible record of party iniquity. In 1793, Mr. Muir, an amiable and highly accomplished gentleman, was tried at Edinburgh, on a vague charge of sedition, unsupported by substantial proof, and sentenced to transportation for fourteen years!—He was a Parliamentary Reformer, and that, O Englishmen! was his crime.-Tempora Mutantur.

FINE ARTS.

SCULPTURE.

Mr. Lawrence Macdonald has recently executed busts of William Wordsworth, J. G. Lockhart, and the Earl of Errol. They all do credit to the sculptor's genius. The head of Wordsworth is highly characteristic.

ENGRAVINGS.

Illustrations of the Bible by John Martin. Mr. Martin, in undertaking to publish a series of prints, illustrative of the Old and New Testament, has subjected his powers to the severest test that an artist's abilities can undergo. In delineating the living landscape, the castellated cliff, the passions and deeds of men, the book of nature is open, and experience is a guide; but

*M'Phun, Glasgow; Simpkin & Marshall : London. 1931.

+ By John Strang. Glasgow; Atkinson and Co. 1831.

M'Phun, Glasgow; Simpkin & Marshall. London. 1831.

to give a visible presence to the invisible; the inconceivable--to mirror the glories of Eden, to picture the terrors of Sinai, to shadow forth Omnipotence in the image of his creature, is a pre-eminently delicate and difficult task. It seems scarcely possible for pictorial invention to embody the grand and solemn imaginings excited by the perusal of the Divine Word, or even to approach a fitting typification of them. If there be however a modern artist quali fied for the awful effort, it is the painter of Belshazzar's Feast and Joshua. With

him man is a subordinate agent in working out effects. Indeed his weakness lies in the human figure; but for this he is amply rewarded by his astonishing mastery over the material world. CitiesPalaces Temples-Mountains-Plains and Floods dilate into supernatural magnificence and vastness beneath his pencil. These are the elements he proposes especi. ally to wield in his attempt to pourtray the events of sacred history, and with these "obedient vassals of his will," we have no doubt that he will accomplish works worthy of his fame.

The opening part of "the Illustrations" promises nobly for the remainder. It consists of two prints-the subject of the first, "and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let be light; and there was light." The scene is in harmony with the hour when the eye of heaven first opened on creation. The hand of Jehovah is stretched forth, and the radiance of "the greater and the lesser lights" bursts upon a sable sea with its rocky and desolate shores. The conflict between light and darkness is calculated to awaken the most sublime emotions. In one point we think the design might have been rendered more powerful by introducing the shadowy hand and arm as the only indications of the divine presence; to our mind at least the impression would have been in closer accordance with the majesty of Him who ordained the moon and the stars, and made the heavens with his fingers.

The artist has been very felicitous in his second print-the fall of man. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat." The lights and shadows of this engraving almost impart to it the effect of colour. In the foreground, Eve is presenting our primal ancestor with the fatal apple. Through

bold and rich masses of foliage, the Garden sweeps away and away to the base of mountains clad in sunshine. In the centre repose transparent waters, and a cascade foams amidst clustering trees. The whole landscape proclaims the varied abundance, the holy tranquillity of Paradise.

THEATRICALS.

Wallack, the melo-dramatic actor, was cast for the part of Oswyth, in Mr. Knowles's play of Alfred, of which we have given a review, on its independent merits. From a fit of histrionic jealousy or spleen, he declined to play it, and his example was followed by all of name or note in Drury, with the exception of Cooper, who, much to his credit, proposed an exchange of parts. This, however, did not satisfy "King Bolingbroke;" and the character, for lack of a better representative, was finally transferred to Mr. H. Wallack, who, however respecta ble he may be off the boards, is as uninteresting a personage as can well be tolerated, upon them. Oswyth is the lover in the piece, and much of the business devolves upon him. By the perverseness of one performer, not only is the success of a drama, which may have cost a man of genius the labour of many months, endangered, but the public are treated with gross disrespect, in having an incompetent person put forward in the room of him who is capable. Authors should provide a corps of theatrical volunteers, ready to fill the shoes of recusant performers. Jesting apart, such conduct is insufferable; and if lessees or managers will not look to it, the public ought.

April 29th. Hour of Matins.-Notwithstanding Wallack's delinquency, 'Alfred' has been pre-eminently successful. Macready, Cooper, and Miss Phillips played admirably. Nothing could surpass the enthusiasm with which the house hailed every popular sentiment that might be applied to the King.

ANNOUNCEMENTS.

The third and last volume of Dr. Nares' "Life and Times of Lord Burleigh;" a second edition of "The Five Nights of St. Albans"; "What is a Revolution and what are the Signs of its Approach;" "A Picturesque Pocket Companion to Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, and the Parts adjacent." Illustrated by one hundred and twenty engravings on wood; a Second Edition of the "Gentleman in Black," with humourous designs by George Cruikshank; a new edition of Montagu's Ornithological Dictionary."

"