each object. It is to be lamented that this splendid and unique collection should have been dispersed at all, and still more is it to be deplored that it should have been sold for a comparative trifle. It is said that independently of the time and labour which he devoted to this collection, he incurred by it an expense of upwards of 30,000. It appears that Mr. Brookes was characterized by some eccentricities. The biographer gives the following sample of the manner in which he indulged them : "On the occasion of Baron Cuvier dining with him, together with a select party of eminent men, he had prepared, as a portion of the repast, a dish of Gibraltar rats, which were enjoyed as one of the greatest delicacies: they had been just before presented to him by one of his former pupils. In 1823, when Mr. Charles Reid brought him home the skeletons of the monodon monoceros, or narwhale, and the tricherus rosmarus, from the Greenland seas, he accompanied it with a present of the tongue of the narwhale, salted; and, on a party being given to Mr. Reid, and several of his pupils, he had the tongue boiled and served up. Again, in 1826, when Mr. Cross was compelled to destroy his elephant at Exeter 'Change, some rump steaks were cut off the animal, and presented for dinner by Mr. Brookes to a party of friends."-pp. 291–292. The life of Raminohun Roy, which succeeds that of Mr. Brookes, is copied from the Athenæum, and nothing is added to give it the advantage of novelty. Kean's biography is a mere compilation from the magazines of the period when the actor died. Hannah Moore is also treated with the same indifference, the biographer merely taking the whole of his materials from the Imperial Magazine and The National Portrait Gallery. The whole of the Biographical Index, amounting to seventy pages, is an uninterrupted copy from the Gentleman's Magazine. It is not a little surprising, that this important department of our periodical literature should be allowed to remain in such a very low condition, as is implied in the repeated succession of mere compilations from ephemeral publications, which must of necessity be liable to the objections of haste, or perhaps of prejudice. A work of this nature ought to take its station amongst the most valuable records of our time, and, if executed in an adequate manner, might secure the most precious materials for useful history. How easy, for instance, would it be to procure almost unlimited details, in the most authentic shape, from the contemporaries of great men, statesmen, senators, commanders, naturalists, were there only a fixed system for the purpose established? What would not the next generation give if they could but know the Duke of Wellington as well as we do? We trust that these suggestions, meant in good part, will be received in the proper quarter, with a corresponding spirit, for it is obvious that such an irregular and insignificant work as this, is a very poor substitute indeed for an Annual Obituary. 278 NOTICES. ART. XIV.-Zara, or the Black or the Black Death; A Poem of the Sea. By the Author of the Naufragus. One vol. 8vo. London: Whit taker and Co. 1833. WE have been too well acquainted, through the medium of his able work, Naufragus, with the abilities of this author not to look with much expectation at any work from his pen, and we can say with truth, that such anticipations, as we were prepared to entertain of the present work, have not been disappointed. The poem is divided into four cantos, in which the stanza, consecrated by Spenser, and Byron, is employed; being perhaps that form of metrical composition best adapted to narrative and descriptive poetry. The chief features of the poem, are its pictures of marine scenes ; the author's experience enabling him to depict them with unusual accuracy. These beautiful descriptions, are presented in a series which are connected by a frame work in the shape of a plot, which with many circumstances of improbability, is stated by the author to be founded in fact. In the whole composition, there are evidences of a highly refined taste, and a very vivid fancy; the representations of some of the scenes, strike us with all the force of reality, and as we continue the perusal of these pages, we feel all the effect of a pleasing variety of emotions, sometimes calling forth pity, sometimes exciting admiration, and always full of interest. The notes appended to the poem, form by no means an unimportant part of the work. ART. XV.-Lives and Exploits of English Highwaymen, Pirates, and Robbers. By G. WHITEHEAD, Esq. In 2 vols. London: Bull and Churton. 1833. THERE has been a great deal of neat and expensive mechanism wasted on these Lives and Exploits, which, to say the least of them, are utterly worthless. They are composed of a selection, and that by no means a very discriminating one, from the Newgatc Calendar, the contents of which have been long familiar to that class who ever take an interest in such biographies. With respect to the remarks of the compiler, in his preface upon the influence of such works as these on the mind, some observations seem to be necessary. It appears to be his opinion, that the detailed description of vice, the laying it open to the ignorant mind in all its particulars, is not likely to have the effect of weakening the horror which the mind would naturally entertain for it; on the contrary, he thinks that the poet was in earnest when he talked of vice as a monster, requiring only to be seen in order to be hated, and therefore thinks that as his book plainly enough delineates the hideousness of her mien, it will be an instrument of great power in diminishing her influence. We know not a better method of testing the truth of theory than by referring to experience, and we are sure that the evidence which it supplies does not bear out Mr. Whitehead in his doctrine. It is only necessary for us to attend to what occurs every day in order to understand the whole mischief which such publications as this produce. If we trace the effect of the reports in newspapers of certain crimes, we shall always find that within a very short time after an account of one is given, another account of an act, very nearly similar in character, will appear. We should have no hesitation in saying, that in England the number of suicides is considerably augmented by the publication of the cases of this crime, which always takes place in this country; and the proof of this is, that in most cases we find several of these acts occurring in a very short interval of time. In who says, that he paints vice in its ugliness, it assumes in these very volumes a character of romantic interest, which is highly conducive to its corrupting power. Who, for instance, in reading the account of the popularity and kind heartedness, the jolly life, and undisturbed career of Robin Hood, that would not covet the life of an outlaw. several instances, too, there are circumstances stated which are calculated to give the reader an interest in a bad character, such as the charity of one of those ruffians, his severity to a miser, and some other traits calculated to diminish in our eye; the enormity of his crimes. We have no hesitation in saying, that we consider such books to be well worthy of being inserted in the index expurgatorius of parents; they are dangerous productions, and of them we may say, that very fortunately the taste for them has ceased to exist. ART. XVI.-Euston Hall: A Tale. By J. A. BODDY. One vol. 8vo. London: J. Powell, 1834. THIS is rather a well told tale, which will amuse, even by its incidents; but the chief object of which is to convey a very important moral, namely, the advantages of religion. It appears to us, that if the mere announcement of a particular crime having been committed can be considered as an incitement to others to commit (and we have no doubt of the fact), then that such works as the present are capable of extensive mischief, inasmuch as contrary to the Editor's description, ried; one is represented as enVOL. 1. (1834) No. II. The Christian religion is shown in this little work, to be not only a source of worldly happiness, but also the only adequate preparation for the life that is to come. The characters are va tertaining strong prejudices to Christianity, but yet upon due examining, becoming a decided and consistent Christian; a lady, who acts a considerable part in the plot, and who in the beginning of her career shows a strong hostility to Methodism, is constrained afterwards to admire it in the delightful effect produced in her own family, into which it has been accidentally introduced. In another of the characters, a very sound lesson is inculcated in the picture which he presents of the effects of excitement and enthusiasm as a substitute for the serenity and calm spirituality of real religion. ÁRT. XVII.-Adam, the Gardener. By CHARLES COWDEN CLARKE, Chaucer. One vol. 12mo. Lon- IN this little work we have a very happy specimen of what ingenuity can accomplish, nor is it without much pleasure that we find one of its triumphs rendered serviceable to the cause of sci ence. The plan of this book is to communicate instruction concerning the delightful and innocent amusement of gardening, in a way that the youngest and even rudest mind will completely understand it. The author presents to us a gentleman, named Stock, who, withdrawing from the metropolis for the beuefit of his health, devotes himself to rural pursuits, in which gardening forms the most important feature. His son Adam, at an early age, was in the habit of following his father into the garden, and showing a great degree of interest for the flowers. The father at last promises that, if he conducts himself as a good and obedient boy, he will make him a good gardener, and as the resolution is adopted in the eve of the new year, Adam begins his practical studies, spade in hand, in January. The nature of the plan will be readily seen; the father, in cultivating the garden, of course performs the necessary operations every month, and this of course leads him to explain to his young pupil the nature and object of these operations, so that the book amounts in effect to a very good guide for "what is to be done every month in the garden." The explanations are conveyed in the easiest and most familiar manner. The conversations between the father and son, however, are not confined to mere horticultural mattersbut extend to the collateral sciences, such as entomology, the natural history ef birds, &c. Interspersed between those chapters, which are devoted to the subject of gardening, are some pretty tales of rural life, which are well calculated to vary the interest of the work. Very cordially do we recommend this neat little work to the reader. ART. XVIII-A Greek Grammar for the Use of High Schools and Universities. By PHILLIP ButtMAN. Translated from the German, with additions, by EDWARD RoBINSON. Andover: Flagg, Gould, and Newman. New York: Leavitt. 1833. THE greatest praise is due to the literary men of the United States of America, for the pains which they are constantly taking for the purpose of enriching their materials for education. The work before us, is a translation exceedingly well adapted for students of Greek in these countries, of a large and systematic Grammar of that language, the work is one of the most consummate teachers in Europe, the German Buttman. Between the original author and the translator, a work is now before the rising generation, in which a mass of conclusions will be found, respecting the Greek language, which are arranged with the strictest attention to philosophical system, accuracy, and perspicuity. The merit of Buttman's Grammar, is, that it is devoid of all theory, and he treats of the Greek language as it is found in the great body of Greek writers. This Greek Grammar, from its extent, and the evidences of great learning and diligence, and abilities, which are to be found in its pages, deserves the immediate attention of all those who are engaged in the duties of education. ART. XIX.-Heath's Book of Beauty, for 1834, with Nineteen beautifully finished Plates, from Drawings by the First Artists. Edited by the COUNTESS of BLESSINGTON. London: Longman, Rees, and Co. 1834. THIS beautiful periodical would have been included in our Review of the Annuals, had we received it in sufficient time for that purpose. The nineteen plates, which are exclusively so many portraits, are all executed in the most perfect style that the Engraver can reach, and the letterpress contents, are far superior in their general merits, to the corresponding parts in most of the other Annuals. The principal contributors are the Countess of Blessington, the editress of the volume, Messrs. Bulwer, Bernal, Landor, Lord Morpeth, Lady E. J. Wortley, Messrs. Galt, West, Lowther, &c. The work, however, relies for its attractions on the graphic power which it exhibits, and in that respect, may be considered as ranking amongst the first of the superior publications, in the department to which it belongs. ART. XX.-Moments of Idleness, or a Peep into the World we call 'Ours." London: Boone, 1833. IN these pages we have a collection of miscellaneous brief paragraphs, the labour no doubt of some half a century, in which |