altogether pleasant to do so; and he merely repeats the same nauseous flattery to those who choose to attend him, and pours out the same scurrile abuse of the Peers. Beyond this, nothing is to be gathered from him; all is "sound and fury;" no principles of legislation are laid down, no wide views of policy exposed, no incitements given to make men peaceable and good citizens; it is the mere outcry of the partizan from which all talent and respectability flies. Not one single individual of high standing, even amongst Reformers, has held out to him the hand of welcome; and at Edinburgh he has even frightened away the Government under-strappers. Daniel has indeed exceeded his instructions in one or two points; and, like other missionaries of selfish and ambitious temperament, the Ministerial Apostle has been striving to get up a little “ ploy" of his own.*

Let us put out of sight for a moment all that is extravagant and ludicrous-let us for a moment cease to wonder, that any body of men, however rude and discontented, can sit patiently and hear an individual denounce his sovereign, his hereditary nobles, the clergy, the bench, and the bulk of the educated portions of their countrymen, as rogues, for this is O'Connell's mode of speaking, and let us ask ourselves the question, What is the inevitable tendency of all this? It is the language of a man acknowledged as a friend and supporter of the existing government-of a man generally consulted by it-and of a man on whose influence its stability is entirely dependent. We freely acknowledge, that the progress of liberal opinion has been rapid-that it has acquired a weight and momentum too operative to be neglected; and we freely acknowledge also, that we are ready to assimilate our constitution to the present state of the people. But with this acknowledgment we assert, that the audiences and followers of Daniel O'Connell are not the people. They are no more the

It was a cutting mortification that Edinburgh should have provided so miserable a reception for the apostle of misrule. A couple of Radical M.P.'s.-a travelling phrenologist-Mr. Tait-a Rint owl and a Biggarthe representatives of the majesty of the people to worship the Green-man! This was so desperate a failure, that it disturbed the bile of Daniel himself. The messenger who attends him bore back a very crabbed epistle: to which the following answer was returned

"My Daniel,

That tongue of yours is nearly as striking as the fists of your celebrated namesake, Dan Dannelly-him, you know, that knocked down the 'Prence Ragin' in a private pugilistic encounter. Thunder away, Daniel— tongues are better than swords and fists,-verb. sap. Don't be cast down, Daniel, and all shall be right-but a bargain's a bargain! no play, no pay! You are a drole de corps! Daniel, try if you can get Mulgrave to sport a green dress like your own; you will be the best pair of spectacles in the kingdom-and can't fail to take. You are not the first agitator,- Vixerunt fortes ante Agamemnon-but you are by far the best of the breed. We never fail to toast the Green man'-though R-- fidgets and snaps, and will hint that you are Daniel still. However, go on; pater est populus, you know. How the dl you manage to keep your countenance is a wonder to us all -it is a noble gift of nature you possess. I would give half a million for it. Yours obediently."

people than were the followers of Henry Hunt. We will, however, overlook this point, and again say, that public opinion demands certain ameliorations in existing institutions, and we are perfectly willing to grant them. But who are to be the agents? assuredly not the men who exist by the fiat of Daniel O'Connell: if so, we must put aside all the intelligence, the wealth, the education, and the respectability of the nation, and declare, that the mobs of Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, are the fit arbitrators of our destinies. This would be a gross perversion of reasoning. Why do these mobs follow Daniel O'Connell? Because they are poor and discontented, and, perhaps, justly discontented; and bence they follow in his train-in the vain hope, common to vulgar minds, that he who arraigns the privileged classes, and who does this as a Ministerial agent, is the most likely person to subvert the order of society: for them change cannot make things worse; and recklessness for the welfare of others is ever a characteristic of prejudiced poverty.

This "mission" of Daniel's indicates that the time is at hand for a trial of strength between the moderate and constitutional Reformers, and the breakers-up of the present form of our Government, Concession and compromise lead to nothing but extravagant anticipations. We would not check the progress of healthy Reformation-we would not check it, because we believe it to be needful; and also that a resolute adherence to the "status in quo" would be dangerous; but there is more danger in fierce and intemperate changes, than there is even in inaction. The eyes of Europe are upon us: the suspicion is rife, that Monarchy is tottering on the first throne in the world, and the armed hand, and the scheming head, are prepared for a mighty effort, if England wavers much longer. She is become the great arena for political demonstration, and it is necessary that we show to ourselves, and to the world, that the Sun of England's glory is still in the ascendant. One vigorous effort, and the battle is won: another year of vacillating doubt, and it is endangered. Let every man be prepared; the sense of the country is arousing itself, and the time is at hand for placing men in power who will command the confidence of the bulk of the two great state parties, and when Government will cease to be an affair of mere intrigue and faction. This is a consummation that every wise and honest man should pray for: it is now attainable, and there is a prospect that the important questions connected with our home and foreign policy will be at last attended to.

LITERARY REVIEW FOR OCTOBER.

Sonnets. By the Rev. Charles Strong. John Murray, London.

Boileau says of sonnets:

"Un sans défaut vaut seul un long poëme :
Mais en vain milles auteurs y pensent arriver,
A peine

Peut on admirer deux ou trois entre mille."

A perfect sonnet is indeed a rarity in our literature; and this we believe chiefly from a want of due conception of the subject and style required by this species of composition. The true Italian sonnet-and it was from Italy that we borrowed the sonnet-is a beautiful specimen of the powers of thought and language: it is an exquisitely finished poem, conveying a single thought or principle, and strictly confined to a peculiar form. This form might, perhaps, appear arbitrary, and the result of casualty; but it is not so it is a consequence of a law of numbers discovered by the highest and most refined genius. The true sonnet has been little regarded amongst ourselves-poems of fourteen lines having usurped its place and name, without having any legitimate right to either one or the other. The Petrarchan sonnet is perfectly musical in its structure and complete in itself. Wordsworth, of modern authors, has been most successful in this branch of poetic composition, and Sir Egerton Brydges has also enriched our language with many noble effusions under the name of sonnets. Few writers since Milton, however, have retained the classic model; and hence it is that the abuse of the name has led to the neglect of one of the most beautiful and difficult styles of writing.

The Sonnets of Mr. Strong deserve the name; their structure and harmony are legitimate, and they place him in a very distinguished rank amongst those who have graced our literature by similar productions. There is great sweetness, pathos, and delicacy displayed in many of them; and the religious and moral tone which runs through them tends materially to heighten their effect upon the mind :

"They picture Death a tyrant, gaunt and grim,
And, from his random aim, temper a dart
Of bite so mortal, that the fiery smart
Consumes and turns to dust the stoutest limb.

Thus dire to meet-yet shrink not they from him
Who walk by faith in singleness of heart;
The simply wise, who choose the watchful part
Nor let their eyelids close, nor lamps grow dim:

Nor always dark and terrible his mien :

As those, who by the couch the night-watch keep,
Have known-spectators of the blessed scene,—

When friends, who stand around, joy more than weep,
As with hush'd step, and smile of love serene,
In the soft guise he comes of gentle Sleep."

Const. Mag.--No. 3.

T

An Analytical Dictionary of the English Language, in which the Words are explained in the order of their natural affinity, independent of alphabetical arrangement; and the arrangement of each is traced from its etymology, &c. &c. The whole exhibiting in one continued narrative, the Origin, History, and Modern Usage of the existing Vocabulary of the English tongue, &c.: to which is added an Introduction, containing a new Grammar of the Language. By David Booth. One vol. 4to. Cochrane and Co., London.

A quarto book is somewhat of a novelty on our table, as the size of literary works has been suffering a very rapid diminution;

:

'Res hodie minor est heri quam fuit."

Our forefathers were not satisfied with any thing less ponderous than a calfbound and a brass-buckled folio-a stable article, fitted to last for generations then came quartos, then octavos royal, and, finally, posts and twelves, bound in cloth; and these fast degenerating into loose sheets and diminutive broadsides. Whether this declension is to be viewed as a proof of the lessened capacity of intellect, or whether, by a species of mental chemistry, we have become able to extract the essence of learning, and exhibit it in a condensed form, we will not stay to inquire; the fact is as we have stated it, and we leave the curious to draw their own inferences.

The Analytical Dictionary is a valuable addition to our literature; it is a dictionary, not cut up into alphabetical disjecta membra, but one that traces a word through all its ramifications, and that brings before the eye, at a single glance, the multiform variations which originate from it: hence, in place of being placed upon the shelf as a book of mere reference, it is one calculated above many others to be read for its interest and variety; at the same time, it has all the convenience of an ordinary dictionary, by having appended to it an alphabetical list of the words contained in it. To quote Mr. Booth's words,-"A marked feature in the plan of this Dictionary, and that which will distinguish it from every other that has hitherto appeared, is its perfect freedom from the fetters of alphabetical arrangement. By the ordinary plan, words that have the most intimate connexion in their nature, or in their etymology, are often separated by hundreds of pages the thread of thought is continually cut asunder by the inexorable battalion of rank and file; and the whole frame of language, which might exhibit no imperfect history of the human mind, is so torn and disjointed, that we view it with pain. Whoever read ten successive pages of a dictionary without the feeling of lassitude or the approach of sleep? It is not thus language should be taught." Nor will it be so taught by this dictionary.

Let us take a single word at random, as the root, and see what arises from and hangs upon it. Marriage, for example, which occurs at page 11,Marriage Matrimony-Husband-Sponsor - Spouse-Wed-WedlockWager-Gage-Bigamy-Nuptials-Bride-Uxor- Hymen - Concubine-Adultery-Bastard-Strumpet-Hire-Harlot-Gallant-Child - FatherParents, &c., showing the dependence and relative signification of them all; and so on. As to the mode of explanation, it is luminous and exceedingly simple; whilst it is so full and explicit, that nothing is left to be desired. A perfect knowledge of the framework of our language is also indicated by the work, and it reflects no small credit on Mr. Booth as a lexicographer.

The Introductory Grammar is remarkable for its admirable simplicity, and for its clear exposition of the structure of language. Particular reference is made to the gradual and extraordinary changes which the vernacular has undergone, and, as a matter purely of curious inquiry, this division is very attractive, letting alone its higher merits as a Grammar.

We sincerely wish that Mr. Booth may be enabled to give us our entire

vocabulary: what he has done shows him to be perfectly competent for the task, and it will remain a standing monument of his talents and his industry.

Hydraulia; an Historical and Descriptive Account of the WaterWorks of London, &c. &c. By William Matthews. Simpkin, Marshall and Co., London.

Great Britain is professedly the country of quacks; her soil appears to be the natural pabulum for the developement of the genius of pretension and gullibility; and hence it is, that a History of the Art of Cheating cannot have a better frontispiece than a pictorial and emblematic effigy of John Bull. The Thames, most irreverently termed 'bilge water" by its detractors, has of late years been a fruitful source of gain to speculators, in a variety of shapes. Filtres of the most amazing powers have been largely manufactured. Companies have sprung up, each swearing most lustily that it was the real "Simon Pure ;" and joint-stock brotherhoods have been in active contention for pumping up undefiled waters from the bosom of our Mother Earth. We are willing that the public should enjoy its own delusions so long as they are not injurious to it; and in this case fortunately the ill repute of "Father Thames has served it in good stead. Nevertheless, as ignorance is the nurse and breeder of folly and absurdity, we are always glad to have it enlightened.

Mr. Matthews has done good service in this respect. He is a man of common sense-a man of knowledge-and, above all, he is a practical man. Thus recommended, he comes before us well qualified to put the finishing blow to the mystery which has enveloped the water of London-an important item in the comfort of multitudes, and a main agent in preserving the health of the inhabitants of the Modern Babylon. His account of the works which have from time to time been projected and carried into execution for the supply of this needful fluid, is at once accurate, curious, and in the highest degree interesting.

The extent of pipes possessed by the leading Companies is prodigious. At one time the New River Company had upwards of 400 miles of length, entirely occupied by wooden pipes, chiefly of elm and other soft woods. This material, however, proved too expensive: it decayed rapidly, and had need for constant repairs and re-placements; and was besides not sufficiently coherent to bear the pressure of any heavy column of water. The use of iron tubes by the gas-makers opened the eyes of the water-suppliers, and during the last few years active operations have been going on to substitute iron for wood.

"Iron pipes," says Mr. Matthews, "were as essentially instrumental in facilitating the supply, as it rendered it more effective than by those of wood. The tenacity of iron allowing their construction of any required dimensions, pipes having a diameter of feet were substituted for those merely of inches: and their strength being also adequate to bear considerable pressure, such were adopted as would sustain a column of water 300 feet perpendicular. Hence ranges of these large iron conduits were laid from the elevated reservoirs, some of them commencing with a diameter of three feet, and gradually declining in size, according to the distance from the source, or as other circumstances might require and thus the means were provided, both for conveying and retaining, for every purpose, a vast body of water." So ample are the means of supply, and by the aid of the steam-engine so universal its diffusion, that 80,000,000 hogsheads are furnished by the New River Company to its district.

We well remember that some stupid people strenuously objected to the use of iron on the score that it would spoil the water, and render it ob