Art. 18. The Pains of Memory, a Poem, in Two Books. By Peregrine Bingham. 12mo. 3s. Boards. Anderson. 1811. The first part of this poem describes the effect of memory on minds which are not afflicted by the consciousness of guilt;' and the second paints the effect of memory on guilty minds. Many of the instances are well chosen, and depicted with animation and feeling: but no consolation is suggested even to those whose memory records no guilt. Rinaldo's act of suicide, in order to avoid the pains of memory, is related almost with approbation; and no better advice is offered to persons who would avoid his fate, than that they steel their hearts,' and

Reck not the future nor the past.'

Bonaparte is the hero of the second book, and he is supposed to dis turb his Empress by crying in his sleep. Other characters, however, are introduced, which give rise to some forcible imagery; and the description of October, (p.56.) in the style of Walter Scott, is natural and picturesque.

EDUCATION.

Art. 19. Dix's Juvenile Atlas; containing 44 Maps, with plain Directions for copying them. Designed for the junior Classes. 4to. 10s. 6d. and 14s. coloured. Darton and Harvey. 1811. Mr. Dix directs that the copyist should trace these maps through transparent paper, and pierce holes with a needle in order to draw a parallelogram. We do not consider these mechanical methods as very improving: but, the maps being mere outlines of each country, without any subdivisions or cities marked, the work may perhaps be rendered useful by requiring students to fill up their copies, and to insert some of the names and boundaries which Mr. Dix has omitted. Art. 20. Guy's New British Reader, or Sequel to his New British Spelling Book, containing a great Variety of easy Lessons, selected from approved authors; exhibiting a very easy Gradation, and adapted to the junior Classes of Ladies and Gentlemens' Schools. By Joseph Guy, Author of " the Pocket Cyclopædia," "School Geography," &c. 12mo. Cradock and Joy, &c.

1811.

Mr. Guy's title-pages usually contain a minute description of his works, while his prefaces bestow on them an elaborate commendation. He has certainly furnished some useful books for children; and although the present selection may not be, as he asserts, the only one in which are concentrated those objects which every teacher must desire to see united,' it appears to be well arranged, and to offer amusement and instruction in all the extracts of which it is composed. Art. 21. Juvenile Correspondence, or Letters designed as Examples of the epistolary Style for Children of both Sexes. By Lucy Aikin. 12mo. 1811. Is. 6d. Johnson and Co. Miss Aikin has ably surmounted what she states to be the chief difficulty of her undertaking, viz. to render these letters better than children's and yet like children's.' They possess amusement and

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variety,

variety, yet are still so natural that many youthful scribes may derive assistance from them. We think, however, that some of the expressions are too familiar; such as these children came to be reckoned the cleverest;' (p. 3.) the clock of St. Paul's is a monstrous thing;' (p. 109.) &c.; and we object to the anecdote of Edward's dashing a rat against the wall in p. 16., and to the story of the fox and the wolf, (p. 67.) as being likely to excite ideas of cruelty and cunning, which would be contrary to the general tendency of this ingenious performance.

Art. 22.

Sermon sur les Devoirs de la Jeunesse, &c.; i. e. A Sermon on the Duties of Youth, translated from the English of Dr. Blair, by M. Lenoir, Professor of the French Language, Author of "Les Fastes Britanniques," &c. 12mo. Pamphlet. Dulau

and Co.

In this translation of Blair's excellent discourse on the duties of youth, the meaning and spirit of the original are well preserved; and it will therefore be acceptable to all who cannot read the sermon in English, as well as to those students of the French language for whose service it seems to have been more expressly intended. Art. 23. English Exercises, for teaching grammatical Composition on a new Principle. By John Fenwick. 12mo. 2s. 6d. Sherwood and Co. 1811.

Mr. Fenwick objects to the method of giving children exercises in false grammar to correct, lest their ear should be habituated to its errors; and he has therefore invented a mode of exercising young grammarians, by putting every word in the sentence that is declinable and is varied into its toot, and requiring them, with the help of certain directions, to restore the sense. His plan appears to be deserving of

attention.

Art. 24. Evening Entertainments; or Delineations of the Manners and Customs of various Nations, interspersed with Geographical Notices, Historical and Biographical Anecdotes, and Descriptions in Natural History. Designed for the Instruction and Amusement of Youth. By J. B. Depping. 2 Vols. I 2mo. Boards. Colburn. 1811.

We are told by Mr. Depping that he proposes to unfold all the advantages with which the teaching of geography is capable of furnishing parents and instructors of youth;' and in pursuance of this plan he has written a series of conversations, in which an intelligent father is supposed to describe to his children every thing remarkable which he has learned or observed in the course of his travels. The dialogues consequently impart so much general knowlege and amusing information, that we think the author has not only established his proposition, but has produced a very entertaining and valuable book for children. Art. 25. The Elements of Conversation, French and English. By

C. Gros. I 2mo. 2s. 6d. Dulau and Co.

1811.

It appears to us that M. Gros has composed an ample and useful collection of French and English dialogues, by which the colloquial idioms and peculiarities of the French language may be in a

great

great measure learned, and in which all the most usual topics of con

versation are introduced.

POLITICS.

Art. 26. Hints to all Classes on the State of the Country in this momentous Crisis. By One of the People. 8vo. Is. 6d.

dale, jun.

Stock

Vanity is a common foible, and with political speculators it is apt to rise to its acmé. Each has a recipe for saving his country in its last extremity. The author of these Hints supposes that he can be useful in this momentous crisis:' but such very desultory advice, we apprehend, could not be profitable at any season. Who can refrain from a smile, when evils are attributed to the disuse of swords and bagwigs as articles of dress?-The public mind is surely not enlightened by One of the People,' nor will any of his suggestions tend to help us out of our present embarrassments.

Art. 27. A Letter to the Right Hon. Lord Viscount Sidmouth, upon the Subject of the Bill lately introduced by his Lordship into the House of Peers, intitled "An Act to explain and render more effectual certain Acts, &c. so far as the same relate to Protestant

Dissenting Ministers." By Thomas Belsham, Minister of the Chapel in Essex-street. 8vo. 2s. Johnson and Co.

If with the lamentations of some persons on the rapid progress of Methodism, and with the suggestions of others on the neccessity of legislative interference to stop the supposed growing evil, we combine Lord Sidmouth's bill, we cannot regard this measure as originating in any views favourable to Dissenters; in course we are surprized that Mr. Belsham should compliment this nobleman on his good intentions, and should talk of the morbid sensibility of the whole body of Dissenters, who rose up as one man to resist what they deemed an encroachment on that portion of religious liberty which they had long enjoyed. The plea for altering existing statutes respecting sectarian teachers, or persons pretending to holy orders, was that an ignorant booby,' who could meither read nor write, had applied to the magistrates of a certain county to be registered as a Dissenting Minister; and perhaps it was in reference to this rumour that Lord Sidmouth talked in his speech (if we may credit the report of the newspapers) of the probable case of preachers descending from the chimney or the pillory to occupy the pulpit. We much question whether any fact of the kind just mentioned ever occured: but, if it did, surely a solitary instance of folly or ideocy is not of sufficient magnitude to justify an attempt to newmodel the Toleration-Act. Mr. B. will in vain strive to make Lord Sidmouth see with his eyes; and he is too complaisant to his Lordship when he concludes that an objectionable clause in the bill was the result of mere inadvertence." As the bill, however, which is the subject of this letter, was prudently rejected by the House of Lords, it is unnecessary for us to discuss its merits: but we are inclined to think that Mr. B., by recommending amendments of this obnoxious bill, will be thought by his brethren to compromise the great principles of religious liberty, which are so dear to the whole body of Protestant Dissenters. If the regular clergy or other ministers are concerned at

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observing

observing the progress of Methodistic teachers, let zeal be opposed to zeal, instruction to instruction, visiting to visiting, catechising to catechising:' but let not the poor unlettered sectary be forcibly silenced. We hope that no modifications of Lord Sidmouth's bill will ever take place; and that, if the subject of the toleration of sectaries be again agitated in Parliament, it will be preliminary to the repeal of all penal statutes on the score of religion, and to the establishment of religious liberty on its genuine foundation.

MEDICAL, &c.

Art. 28. Essay on some of the Stages of the Operation of Cutting for the Stone. By Charles Brandon Trye, F.R.S. 8vo. 2s. Callow.

1811.

This is a sensible and candid pamphlet on a subject which has of late given rise to much controversy. The author, who has long been known as a practitioner of respectability, appears to have paid a particular attention to the operation of lithotomy, and to have been successful in the performance of it; on which accounts, his opinion deserves to be heard, and ought to have weight in our determination. He is an advocate for the use of the gorget; and he gives his reasons for his preference, and endeavours to remove the objections that have been urged against its use, with a firmness and decision which shew that he writes not from theory but from actual experience. He has made some alteration in the form of the instruments, particularly in the shape of the staff, and in the extent and curve of the cutting edge of the gorget. He conceives that the staff, in consequence of his alteration, is less likely to slip out of the bladder; and that the gorget will more accurately perform the office of dividing the prostate gland, at the same time that it is in no danger of injuring any part of the bladder.

Mr. Trye replies in a formal manner to the objections that have been urged against the use of the gorget by Mr. Allen, and we think that his answers are generally satisfactory. Our opinion, however, is that Mr. Allen is by no means the most powerful opponent of the gorget, nor the best defender of the scalpel; and that Mr. Trye must not be considered as having substantiated his own doctrine, because he has been successful in combating that of his opponent. Without going farther into the merits either of the controversy at large or of this tract in particular, we shall recommend the latter to the perusal of all those who are interested in the discussion of the question, and more especially of those who are obliged to decide on it experimentally. We understand that, since the publication of this Essay, the profes sion and the world have been for ever deprived of the author.

Art. 29.

Observations on Combustion and Acidification; with a new Theory of those Processes, founded on the Conjunction of the Phiogistic and the Antiphlogistic Doctrines. By John Redman Coxe, M. D., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. 8vo. pp. 50. Printed at Philadephia, 1811.

Although this pamphlet displays some ability and knowlege of chemical science, we must consider it as premature, and as proceeding on a foundation which is much too hypothetical. In conse quence of the late discoveries of Dr. Davy, the author regards the

antiphlogistic doctrine as no longer tenable, at the same time that he conceives some of its fundamental propositions to be firmly established. The result is that he adopts a mixed hypothesis, and imagines oxygen to be essentially concerned in the process of combustion, but that a common principle of inflammability likewise exists, which he supposes to be hydrogen: combustion, therefore, consists in the dis charge of hydrogen from the burning body, and the absorption of oxygen from the atmosphere. The only argument adduced by Dr. Coxe (for we reckon as nothing his analogies and conjectures) is the fact announced by Dr. Davy, that sulphur, phosphorus, and carbon, contain hydrogen. In their union with oxygen, to form acids or oxyds, there is no method of disposing of this hydrogen, which is not found as such in the products of the combustion. A part of it is therefore supposed to escape in the flame which proceeds from these bodies, and a part to be employed in the formation of the acids; for, according to Dr. Coxe's hypothesis, the difference between oxydation and acidification consists in the fixation of a portion of the hydrogen in the latter case. The hypothesis, as we before remarked, is founded solely on the fact that sulphur, phosphorus, and carbon contain hydrogen; and on the assumption that, because these bodies do this, hydrogen must be contained in all combustibles.-The method, by which the author passes from the first to the second step of his ment, affords an example of that loose mode of reasoning which is so frequent on philosophical subjects:

argu.

It may perhaps be here objected, that metallic bodies are combustible; but that, as simple bodies, they can contain no hydrogen. This position, though difficult of refutation, might easily be opposed by counter assertion :-and herein we should be greatly strengthened by the fact above mentioned, of its being a constituent in all the other inflammables. Reason would therefore lead us to conclude, that as metals are combustible, although so various in themselves; this common property in them must equally depend on the presence of one similar principle. To this we may add, that as only a few months have compelled us to admit its existence in sulphur and the other (supposed) simple combustibles; so it is not improbable, that the rapid strides of chemical research will shortly detect it as an inmate of the metals.'

Such kind of proceeding does not require any formal confutation; and we can only regret that a man of ability, as Dr. Coxe appears to be, should indulge in such speculation, and that a Professor in an University should set so bad an example to his pupils.

In conclusion, it may be proper to remark that the hypothesis of the author, so far as it respects combustion, has been frequently proposed, and has been formally controverted by the French chemists, and, in the opinion of most persons, refuted. Before, therefore, it is again brought forwards, it would be necessary that the controversy should be reviewed, and that the answers which have already been given to it should be opposed and shewn to be insufficient; otherwise, we are going over ground previously trodden, and our motion is rather retrograde than progressive.

Art. 30. Practical Observations on the Diseases of the Inner Corner of the Human Eye; comprising the Epiphora, the Tumor sacculi lachrymalis,