doctrine held by him-viz., that which supposes that the human language which is employed in relation to the properties and operations of mind, can ever be rendered as definite, adequate, and clear, as that which describes the objects of sense. Even were such a vocabulary discovered by some master mind, how few would use or understand it? How long would it be in vogue?

ART. XVII.-The Spirit of Despotism. By VICESSIMUS KNOX, D.D. Eleventh Edition. London: W. Bennett. 1837.

THE title-page of this volume informs the reader that it has been edited by two literary Gentlemen who are "the Enemies of Despotism, and the Friends of the Oppressed." It is only necessary for us to take notice of the part which these gentlemen have performed, in a new edition of a work which the public has long ago stamped with its most unqualified approbation. Accordingly, we assure our readers that the Notes of the Editors are not only in perfect consonance with the text, and uniformly worthy to be associated with Dr. Knox's original work, but that they add much to it which that learned writer had not an opportunity of knowing or doing in his day, and render the volume altogether greatly more valuable and convincing than any preceding edition has been.

ART. XVIII.-The Picaroon. By the Author of "Makanna." 3 vols. London: Saunders & Otley. 1837.

THE author of this novel, or rather romance, possesses no ordinary degree of power in the working up of individual scenes, especially those of terror, and such as produce appalling effects. But he is heedless of those links which are necessary to an intelligible story, or to one that naturally developes itself; while he is an audacious contemner of probabilities. Whether this arises from the want of the discipline which a bold and soaring imagination requires, or from a deficiency of the ingenuity requisite to the concoction of a fixed plan, and the arts for the filling up of that plan, or from a real contempt of the limits which our most finished tale-tellers have observed and established (therein only imitating nature), we tell him that the public do and will think differently and better, and that if he hopes to succeed in the walk of literature which he has chosen-and this he ought to do, whether we consider his bursts of power, his vivid descriptions of wild and tumultuous scenes, especially those of a nautical character, or his touches of humour-he must balance otherwise than he has here done his materials-assort, adjust, and dispose of them in a manner more consistent with our experience and our expectancies, and endeavour to make all the subordinate parts dovetail easily with those that are most prominent, thus, at the same time, setting the latter off to the greatest advantage.

We do not go into the story, but only intimate that it is one in which Bristol merchants, an Italian count, smuggling, and crime of various kinds, are forcedly introduced. We hope again to meet with the author, and to find him weaving a web of mystery and wild adventure in a more regular manner, and then, he may rely upon it, he will hold the reader in breathless suspense over the pages of his work, till the last chapter of it, almost as fixedly as ever Mrs. Ratcliffe could do.

ART. XIX. Goldsmith's History of England, with Numerous Original Notes, and a Continuation to 1836. By E. BELCHAMBERS. 4 vols. London: Bell & Co. 1887.

THESE volumes are gems outside as well as inside. They are really as beautiful as green-binding and golden adornment can make them-with the royal arms impressed so as to form a climax to entice the young who have a little pocket-money to lay out on intellectual treasures, which can never be wasted or become old. All this external neatness, tasteful getting up, and richness, can only be regarded as the suitable index of the contents. Goldsmith's England is too well known to require a word of recommendation from us to juvenile readers. But we must add, that the continuation dovetails admirably with the model, and that the notes are abundant, and judiciously inserted as well as dictated. When, with all these circumstances, we regard the portraits and other illustrations that embellish such gemlike, yet substantial volumes, it cannot be too much to say, that they are unique in the history of typography, and the arts of elegant condensation.

ART. XX.-A Little Book for Little Readers. By the Editor of "The Parting Gift." London: Darton. 1837.

A GEM in substance and appearance. As to size, type, and gilding, this tiny volume is fit to stand foremost in any little reader's cabinet; while, as to contents it presents the choice and enduring effusions suitable to tender and juvenile minds, which such masters of humanity and nature as Wordsworth, Campbell, Coleridge, Cowper, Southey, Mary Howitt, &c. have poured forth from the abundance of their hearts.

ART, XXI.—The Child's First Book of Manners. By the Editor of "The Parting Gift." London: Darton.

In shape, and style of getting up, this little volume is a twin sister of the one that has been last noticed. It contains dialogues on manners in various situations of ordinary life, and to various persons, such as at table, out of doors, on a visit, &c., and towards parents, friends, servants, tradesmen, &c. -the intimate connexion between manners and morals being kept constantly in view by the author. The work seems calculated to engage the minds of "Little Readers ;" and if so, it cannot fail, from the spirit that pervades it, to improve and purify their manners.

ART. XXII.—Mammon Demolished; or, an Essay on the Love of Money. By BOURNE HALL DRAPER. London: Darton. 1837. THIS is a plain and forcible essay, or sermon, on the sin and consequences of covetousness, and is calculated to aid the cause of practical and personal religion. The slender volume is particularly suited to touch the minds of the young, and impress them with lasting lessons, before they have become encrusted and corroded by the cares and the influences of the world.

ART. XXIII.-Conversations on Nature and Art. London: Murray. 1837.

A FAMILY circle is supposed to carry on a series of dialogues on these broad subjects. Natural history occupies a great proportion of the work. Some of the most useful arts in civilized life, and that have chiefly aided in producing this civilization, are also ably and clearly described and commented upon. Useful knowledge conveyed in an engaging manner characterizes every page of the volume. The reading of it is a lightsome and really instructive exercise; for while he, who takes it up, may conveniently begin with any one of the dialogues, without being trammelled by a combined arrangement, hewill find that the information is neither superficial, carelessly collected, nor inaccurately stated. To the young the book will afford essential aid, because it is filled with entertaining and exact knowledge-a thing which cannot be truly said of the majority of the compilations or small fry of publications, that have of late years been written for juvenile students.

ART. XXIV.-An Inquiry into the Nature and Form of the Books of the Ancients; with a History of the Art of Bookbinding, from the Times of the Greeks and Romans to the Present Day; interspersed with Bibliographical References to Men and Books of all Ages and Countries. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings. By J. A. ARNETT. London Groombridge. 1837. :

THIS neat volume aspires to the rank of a historical and chronological record of the art of which it treats, and really well maintains that character. To the general reader it furnishes very interesting informationtreating, as it does, not only of an elegant and curious art, but of matters that are most closely connected with a subject of universal moment—viz., the history of the archives of the human mind, concentrated, as these are, in literature. To the artist the work offers a more immediate and practical value; nor should any bookbinder deny himself its possession ;while to the antiquarian it will be found to present almost all that has ever been collected by such indefatigable inquirers as Dibdin and Horne, and many others, who have been most deeply smitten with bibliomania. Mr. Arnett has employed a plain, unpretending, and sensible style of writing. His bibliographical notices of a number of the most celebrated binders, add a feature of very considerable moment to the work, which should conduce to stir the ambition of the students of the bibliopegistic The illustrations are curious and beautiful as well as numerous.

art.

ART. XXV.-The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. Vol. V. London: Moxon. 1837.

It is only necessary to say of this edition, which extends to six handsome and cheap volumes, that all the poems that have before appeared have been here revised and re-arranged, and that several new ones are added. _The fifth volume contains the richest increase. Of these we quote an "Evening Voluntary," composed in 1835 by the sea-side, on the coast of Cum

berland. It is addressed to a familiar friend, and one that the reader may think has been worn out long ago, by importunate songsters and worshippers, the moment he hears her name mentioned-viz. the Moon. But listen and learn how a true poet's spirit is bathed in a new flood of light and warmth, the moment he turns to contemplate the queen of night.

"Wanderer! that stoops so low, and com'st so near
To human life's unsettled atmosphere;

Who lov'st with Night and Silence to partake,
So might it seem, the cares of them that wake:
And, through the cottage-lattice softly peeping,
Dost shield from harm the humblest of the sleeping;
What pleasure once encompassed those sweet names,
Which yet in thy behalf the Poet claims,

An idolizing dreamer as of yore!—

I slight them all; and, on this sea-beat shore,
Sole-sitting, only can to thoughts attend,

That bid me hail thee as the SAILOR'S FRIEND;

So call thee for heaven's grace through thee made known
By confidence supplied and mercy shown,

When not a twinkling star or beacon's light

Abates the perils of a stormy night;

And for less obvious benefits, that find

Their way, with thy pure help, to heart and mind;
Both for the adventurer starting in life's prime ;
And veteran ranging round from clime to clime,
Long-baffled hope's slow fever in his veins,

And wounds and weakness oft his labour's sole remains.

The aspiring Mountains and the winding Streams,
Empress of Night! are gladdened by thy beams;
A look of thine the wilderness pervades,

And penetrates the forest's inmost shades;
Thou, chequering peaceably the minster's gloom,
Guid'st the pale Mourner to the lost one's tomb;
Canst reach the Prisoner-to his grated cell
Welcome, though silent and intangible!—
And lives there one, of all that come and go
On the great waters toiling to and fro,

One, who has watched thee at some quiet hour,
Enthroned aloft in undisputed power,

Or crossed by vapoury streaks and clouds that move
Catching the lustre they in part reprove-
Nor sometimes felt a fitness in thy sway,

To call up thoughts that shun the glare of day,
And make the serious happier than the gay?

Yes, lovely Moon! if thou so mildly bright
Dost rouse, yet surely in thy own despite,
To fiercer mood, the phrenzy-stricken brain,
Let me a compensating faith maintain :

That there's a sensitive, a tender, part,
Which thou canst touch in every human heart,
For healing and composure.-But, as least
And mightiest billows ever have confessed
Thy domination; as the whole vast Sea

Feels through her lowest depths thy sovereignty;
So shines that countenance with especial grace
On them who urge the keel her plains to trace,
Furrowing its way right onward. The most rude,
Cut off from home and country, may have stood-
Even till long gazing hath bedimned his eye,
Or the mute rapture ended in a sigh-
Touched by accordance of thy placid cheer.
With some internal lights to memory dear,
Or fancies stealing forth to soothe the breast,
Tired with its daily share of earth's unrest—
Gentle awakenings, visitations meek;
A kindly influence, whereof few will speak,
Though it can wet with tears the hardiest cheek.
And when thy beauty in the shadowy cave
Is hidden, buried in its monthly grave;
Then, while the Sailor, mid an open sea,

Swept by a favouring wind that leave's thought free,
Paces the deck-no star perhaps in sight,

And nothing, save the moving ship's own light,
To cheer the long dark hours of vacant night-
Oft with his musings does thy image blend,

In his mind's eye thy crescent horns attend,

And thou art still, O Moon, that SAILOR'S FRIEND!"

ART. XXVI.-The Book of the Young, An Invitation to Early Christian Piety. By the REV. JOSEPH JONES, M. A. of New Church. Oxford: Talboys. 1837.

THE titles of a few of the chapters contained in this volume will sufficiently indicate its character. Thus they run-Youth, Human Life, Aversion to Religion, Character of Religion, Religion a Substitution, God our Happiness, Human Corruption, Redemption, Sanctification, Acknowledgment of Christ, &c. &c., the whole treated evangelically, as the word is usually understood. A short extract will help to show that the author's talents and style are of an order well adapted for moving the hearts of the young, and placing before the mind in a forcible light the most precious and important truths that concern man's happiness here and hereafter. We quote from the chapter on " Human Life."

"Human Life is a sober reality. I assert it to be so, in opposition to fantastic dreams and vain expectations. Let any one, young or adult, indulge himself in the gay expectations of fancy with respect to any future period of life, and he will find when the period arrives, that his expectations were at least in a great measure groundless. The fairy land which he