Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

He asserts, that, although the measure or the location of the mineral wealth of the United States is not precisely ascertained, yet it is known, that the coal formation within our limits is more abundant than that of any other country. Bituminous coal exists in numerous basins scattered over the whole of a vast region, extending from the sources of the Ohio on the north, to the head waters of the Tombigbee on the south, the valley of the Susquehannah on the east, and the alluvium of the Mississippi on the west. The supply of this coal may be considered quite inexhaustible; and the eastern part of the formation is not inaccessible to the principal cities of the northern and middle states. But the learned Professor considers this coal as altogether inferior in value to the harder or anthracite coal. In this he is certainly correct, and if he is equally so in his estimate of the quantity of this coal, many ages must pass, before we are driven to use the somewhat similar, but inferior, coal, which is found in this vicinity.

"On the eastern side of this bituminous region exists another coal formation of far greater importance than the former, to the immediate prosperity of the more popular sections of the union. This is the region of anthracite coal, occupying an extensive valley, through a considerable portion of which flows the river Susquehannah and its tributary stream the Lackawannock. This variety of coal is here found in great abundance, and of a finer quality, it is believed, than in any part of the world yet explored. The length of this remarkable coal field may be taken at more than one hundred miles, commencing at a point near Harrisburg, on the Susquehannah, and running northeasterly almost in a straight line to the head waters of the Lackawannock, not far from the borders of Broome county, in the state of New York, and comprehending in its range the highlands at the head of the rivers Schuylkill, Lehigh, and Lackawaxen, which empty into the Delaware. Its breadth may be safely taken, it is presumed, at an average of three miles, making a surface of three hundred square miles, or nearly one thousand millions of square yards. The thickness of the contiguous beds in several places where the coal has been wrought, exceeds thirty feet, or ten yards; and it is well known, from examination of a section of the whole formation, in places where, by a disruption of the waters, the various beds are exposed, that the thickness of the several workable strata exceeds forty-five feet, or fifteen yards; but assuming ten yards as the medium thickness, the whole number of cubic yards within the district above specified, would be ten thousand millions.

"It is easily proved by calculation, that a cubic yard of this coal weighs rather more than two thousand two hundred gross weight for unavoidable waste, there will be as many tons as cubic yards, namely ten thousand millions within the ascertained region, supposing the strata to be continuous throughout. This, however, is not to be imagined, as the region is in several places broken by

ridges of high land, in which it is not known creased, as it can then be brought to New
that coal exists; but supposing from this es-York and Boston at much less expense
timate, we make the enormous deduction of than at present. Some of our readers may
one half, there will then remain five thou-be interested by Mr Griscom's statement
sand millions of tons, a quantity sufficient to respecting the employment of this fuel in
supply New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, furnaces.
(supposing those cities to contain eighty "In an experiment which I witnessed in
thousand houses, and each house to consume a blacksmith's shop, a bar of iron about two
five tons in a year) during a period of twelve inches wide and five eighths thick, was
thousand five hundred years! It appears rea- brought to a good welding heat in a com-
sonable, therefore, to infer from data not mon forge in less than three ninutes; and
unworthy of reliance, that the Wyoming a nail rod was sufficiently heated in fifteen
and Lackawannock vallies contain a body seconds The best of the coal on the Lack-
of coal sufficient to supply all the wants of awannock burns with considerable blaze.
the eastern and middle sections of the United In the instance just mentioned in the smith's
States, for a period which may be consid-shop, the blaze was eighteen inches high,
ered as infinite, and also to serve the pur-but the light which it emits is inferior to
poses, if needful, of an extensive exportation. bituminous coal. Certificates have been ob-
Should the projected intercourse between the tained and published, of the superior value
waters of the Hudson, Delaware, and Sus- and economy of this coal, from blacksmiths,
quehannah be carried into complete effect, brewers, distillers, gunbarrel makers, for the
and the coal be brought to the Atlantic purpose of rolling and slitting mills, &c. and
markets at the prices contemplated, it seems there can, I apprehend, be but little doubt
not improbable that the current of European that with fire-places and furnaces properly
intercourse in the article of fuel will be re-constructed, it can be advantageously em-
versed, and that instead of importing coal ployed in all cases in which a strong and
from England, American coal will be ex- durable heat is necessary; and, as it burns
ported to France, Holland, or more particu- without smoke, its peculiar fitness for cer-
larly to the countries of the Baltic. tain operations is very manifest."

BURNING A HOLE THROUGH IRON WITH

SULPHUR.

If the following had not received so high a sanction as that of Professor Silliman, we should certainly be inclined to rank it among those statements which are more strange than credible. As it is, we may

"Colonel Evasin, director of the arsenal of Metz, in a letter to Gay Lussac, states the following experiments:

"The greatest objections to it as a domestic fuel, are the comparative difficulty of ignition, and its burning without much flame. The former of these, as experience has amply shown, is well overcome by the use of charcoal, or billets of dry wood, for the purpose of kindling, and the intense glow which a grate of it affords, is a pretty good compensation for the blaze of bitumin-be permitted to doubt whether all the cirous coal or hickory wood. Its durability, cumstances are told, or, if told, whether they during combustion, saves two-thirds of the are related with exact accuracy. It is taken trouble of attendance on fires; and in nur- from a No. of Professor Silliman's Journal series, and other places in which a fire of Science and the Arts. throughout the night is needful, nothing can be compared with it for safety and facility of management. So sensible are the inhabitants of the districts within reach of I placed a bar of wrought iron, about the mines, of these advantages, that they sixteen millemetres in thickness, (six tenths prefer to use it although their wood costs of an inch) into a common forge, fed by fossil them nothing. I was credibly informed, coal, and when it was welded hot, drew it out, while at Carbondale, that some of the in- and applied to its surface a stick of sulphur habitants of Montrose sent thither for coal, six tenths of an inch in diameter. In fourthough at the distance of thirty miles, over teen seconds the sulphur had pierced a hole a very rough road, and paid for it one dol-through the iron, perfectly circular. Another lar and a half per ton, in preference to wood bar of iron, two inches thick, was pierced in delivered at their doors at seventy-five cents fifteen seconds. The holes had the exact per cord! At Wilkesbarre it is the princi- form of the sticks of sulphur employed, pal fuel, being used in both parlors and whether cylindrical or prismatic. They kitchens; and the fires, in many instances, were, however, more regular at the side at are not allowed to expire through the win- which the sulphur came out, than on that on ter; for by the addition of fresh coal on which it was applied. going to bed, the fire is found in full activity in the morning. Its adaptation to the purposes of the smith, is abundantly acknowledged by its universal employment in places where it can be obtained without too great cost."

We can bear testimony to the correctness of some of Mr Griscom's remarks as to the domestic uses of this coal; and if the works intended to make a communication between the Delaware and North River are completed, the economy of using it here, in preference to other fuel, will be greatly in

|

Steel bars, formed of old files welded together, were pierced more quickly than iron, and presented the same phenomena.

Cast iron, heated nearly to the melting point, underwent no alteration, by the application of sulphur to its surface. The sulpour did not even leave a mark. I took a piece of this cast iron and fashioned it into a crucible, and put it into some sulphur and iron. On heating the crucible, the iron and sulphur were quickly melted, but the crucible underwent no change.

An. de Chimie, Jan. 1824.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

ENGLISH TEACHER AND EXERCISES.

edge of those tongues [the French and Italian], and an ignorance of our own."

A knowledge of other languages is truly desirable, and the acquisition of them ought, in a proper degree, to be encouragCUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Co. No. 134 Wash-ed by all friends of improvement; but it is ington street [No. 1 Cornhill], have for sale, new editions of these neat and valuable School Books.

The English Teacher contains all the Rules, Notes, and important Observations in Murray's large Grammar, which are introduced in their proper places, and united with the Exercises and Key in perpendicular collateral columns, which show intui-| tively both the errors and corrections through all the exercises in Orthography, Syntax, Punctuation, and Rhetorical construction.

The Exercises form a neat 18mo volume of 252 pages, on good paper and neat type, for the particular use of pupils in schools; and being a counterpart to the Teacher, corresponds to it in design and execution. The Key is left out of this volume for the purpose of giving the scholar an opportunity of exercising his judgment upon the application of the rules, without a too ready and frequent reference to the key.

The Promiscuous Exercises in each of the four parts of False Grammar, in both volumes, have figures, or letters of the alphabet, introduced, referring to the particular rule or principle by which nearly eve

ry individual correction is to be made. Great care and vigilance have been exercised to prevent defects of the press in these editions, as well as to correct the numerous errors which have found their way into the various editions of these works now in circulation. There can be no hazard in saying, that there is no American edition, either of Murray's Exercises or Key, so correct as the English Teacher, and the Boston" Improved Stereotype Edition of the English Exercises."

These very neat and handsome school manuals will perform much service, save much time, and furnish teachers, private learners, and schools with those facilities which will enable the attentive and industrious student to trace with precision, pleasure, and profit, the great variety of principles, which, like the muscles of the body, spread themselves through the English language.

with Questions for examination, with additional Notes and Illustrations, a Frontispiece representing the Solar System, &c. &c., being a greatly improved edition. By the Rev. J. L. Blake.

Alger's Murray, being an Abridgement of Murray's Grammar, in which large additions of Rules and Notes are inserted from the larger work.

devoutly to be wished, by every friend to the interests of our country and of English literature, that American youth would show a zeal, in this respect, exemplified by the The English Teacher, being Murray's matrons of ancient Rome; and, like them, Exercises and Key, placed in opposite colsuffer not the study of foreign languages to umns, with the addition of rules and obserprevent, but strictly to subserve the cultivations from the Grammar;-an admivation of their own. rable private learner's guide to an accurate It is confidently believed that the Eng-knowledge of the English language, and lish Teacher and Exercises are excellently also an assistant to instructers. adapted to produce a radical improvement Alger, jr. in this very important department of English education. With these aids, individu-ed als and pupils, with a little instruction in parsing, may alone become not only proficients, but skilful and just critics, in one of the most copious and difficult of all languages, our own. Feb. 1.

VALUABLE SCHOOL BOOKS,

By T. Murray's Exercises; a new and improvstereotype edition, in which references are made, in the Promiscuous Exercises, to the particular rules to which they relate. Also for sale, the School Books in general use.

**In issuing the above works, it has been the object of the publishers to elevate the style of School Books in typographical execution; and they cherish the expectation that instructers and school committees

PUBLISHED and for sale by LINCOLN & will, on examination, be disposed to patronEDMANDS, 59 Washington-street [53 Corn-ise hill.]

Walker's School Dictionary, printed on a fine paper, on handsome stereotype plates. The Elements of Arithmetic, by James

them.

Feb. 1,

JUST PUBLISHED,

Robinson, jr.: an appropriate work for BY R. P. & C. WILLIAMS, 79 Washingthe first classes in schools.

ton-street, Boston,

A Letter from a Blacksmith to the Ministers and Elders of the Church of Scotland, in which the manner of Public Worship in that Church is considered, its inconveniences and defects pointed out, and methods for removing them humbly pro

The American Arithmetic, by James
Robinson, jr.; intended as a Sequel to the
Elements. This work contains all the gen-
eral rules which are necessary to adapt it
to schools in cities and in the country, em-
bracing Commission, Discount, Duties, An-
nuities, Barter, Guaging, Mechanical Pow-posed.
ers, &c. &c. Although the work is put at
a low price, it will be found to contain a
greater quantity of matter than most of
the School Arithmetics in general use.

The Child's Assistant in the Art of Read-
ing, containing a pleasing selection of easy
readings for young children. Price 12

cents.

The Pronouncing Introduction, being Murray's Introduction with accents, calculated to lead to a correct pronunciation.

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. Eccl. v. 2.

the understanding also. 1 Cor. xiv. 15. I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with

From a London edition. For sale as above, and by the booksellers throughout

the United States.

This work is published on common paper, and sold at a cheap rate for distribution; also on fine five dollar paper, to bind, and match other elegant books. Feb. 1.

WELLS & LILLY,

The Pronouncing English Reader, being Murray's Reader accented, divided into It is to be regretted that so few fully un- paragraphs. Enriched with a Frontispiece, derstand the grammatical and accurate exhibiting Walker's illustration of the Inconstruction of their own language. There flections of the Voice. The work is printed is a fashion already too prevalent in our on a fine linen paper, and solicits the pub- HAVE in press, and will shortly publish, country, which has long obtained in Eng-lic patronage. A New Digest of Massachusetts Reports. land, particularly among the superior class- Adams' Geography; a very much approv- By Lewis Bigelow, Counsellor at Law. The es of society, and which has by no means ed work, which has passed through numer-work will embrace all the Reports now pubbeen conducive to a general and extensive ous editions. With a correct Atlas. cultivation of the English language. The Temple's Arithmetic, with additions and

subject of allusion is an extravagant predi-improvements.
lection for the study of foreign languages, Eighth edition.
to the neglect of our own, a language
which by us should be esteemed the most
useful and valuable of all. This extrava-
gance has been justly censured by Mr Wal-
ker in the following remark. "We think,"
says he, “we show our breeding by a knowl-

Printed on fine paper.

The Pronouncing Testament, in which all the proper names, and many other words, are divided and accented agreeably to Walker's Dictionary and Classical Key; peculiarly suited to the use of Schools. Conversations on Natural Philosophy,

lished, and will be otherwise improved in several important particulars.

EVENINGS IN NEW ENGLAND.

CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Co. have just published, and have for sale,

Evenings in New England; intended for Juvenile Amusement and Instruction. By an American Lady.

H. C. CAREY & I. LEA, Philadelphia-Have in Press, COOPER (Sir Astley) on Fractures and Dislocations. With Notes and additions, by J. D. Godman, M. D. In octavo, with 20 plates.

Guide to the Lakes, In 18mo, with Maps and Plates.

Tales of a Traveller. Second edition. Coxe's American Dispensatory. Sixth edition.

Weems' Life of Marion. New edition. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia. Johnson on the Liver. 8vo. English Common Law Reports. By Sergeant and Lowber. Vols 4 and 9.

A Treatise of the Diseases of Children. By W. P. Dewees, M. D.

Chitty's Pleadings. Fifth American edition. With Notes and References, by E. D. Ingraham, Esq. 3 vols, royal 8vo.

A Treatise on the Law of Coporations. By T. J. Wharton, Esq. Royal 8vo.

Digest of American Reports. By T. J. Wharton, Esq. Vol. 4, containing the Reports of the Eastern States. (Vols 1 and 3 published.)

Dictionary of Pathology and the Practice of Medicine. In one large vol. 8vo. Joyce's Scientific Dialogues. 3d American edition.

Memoirs of Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia. 2 vols. 8vo.

Vegetable Materia Medica, or American Medical Botany. By W. P. C. Barton, M. D. Second edition. In 2 vols. 4to, with 50 coloured plates.

Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of the St Peter's, Lake Winnipeck, Lake of the Woods, &c. performed in the year 1823, by order of the Hon. John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, under the direction, of Stephen H. Long, Major U. S. Engineers. Compiled from the Notes of Major Long, Messrs Say, Keating, Colhoun, and other gentlemen of the party, by William H. Keating, A. M. &c. &c. &c. Professor of Mineralogy and Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, and Geologist and Historiographer to the Expedition. In 2 vols. with plates.

The Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences; supported by an Association of Physicians, and edited by N Chapman, M. D. No. XVII.

Reports of Cases argued and determined in the English Courts of Common Law. Vol. 3d, containing, 1st, Holt's Nisi Prius Reports, and 2d, Starkie's Nisi Prius Reports.

Jan. 1.

VALUABLE BOOKS,

LATELY received from Germany, and for sale by CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Co. No. 1 Cornhill.

Taciti (Cornelii) Opera, quæ extant. Recensuit Lipsius. Antverpiæ, 1607. fol.

Catulli, Tibulli, et Propertii Opera. Ex typis Baskerville, Birminghamæ, 1772,

4to.

Idem, in Russian binding.

Quintiliani Institutiones Oratoriæ, cum Commentario.

mentarius. Edidit J. Tollius. Traj. ad Rhen. 1694. 4to. Bound in parchment. Titus Lucretius Carus De Rerum Natura. 4to. Birminghami, 1772.

Cæsar (Julius) cum notis Variorum et J. G. Grævii. Lugd. Bat. 1713. 8vo. Florus (L. A.) cum Notis Variorum. Am-nus.

stei. 1660. 12mo.

Livius, apud Elzeviros. 3 tom. Lugd. Bat. 1644. 12mo.

Diodori Siculi Bibliotheca Historica. Edidit Eichstädt. Hal. Saxonum. 1800. 2 vol. 8vo.

Taciti Opera. Lips. 1714. 2 vol. 12mo. Quintiliani (M. Fab.) Declamationes. Lutet. 1580.

Taciti (Cornelii) Opera. Edidit Brotier. 5 tom. in 4. Mannhemii, 1780-81. 12mo. 12mo 1590.

Quinctiliani (M. Fabii) Opera. Biponti, 1784. 4 vol. 8vo.

Velleius Paterculus. Edidit Rhunkenius. Lugd. Bat. 1779. 8vo.

Annæus Florus. Edidit Dukerus. Lugd. Bat. 1744. 8vo.

Pomponius Mela. Edidit Gronovius. Lugd. Bat. 1748. 8vo.

Oratores Attici, ex recensione Imm. Bekkeri. 3 tom. Berolini, 1823. Suetonius. Amstel. 1668.

Cæsar (Julius), ex emendatione Scaligeri. Lugd. Bat. 1635.

Suetonius, cum notis Boxhornii. Traj. Bat. 1715.

Q. Curtius, apud Elzeviros. Amstel.

[blocks in formation]

Horatius Flaccus. Traj. Bat. 1713. Velleius Paterculus. Amstel. 1678. Cicero de Officiis. Amstel. 1690. M. Valerius Martialis. Amstel. 1629. Xenophontis Memorabilia Socratis. Recensuit Chr. G. Schultz.

Livii (Titi). Historiæ, curante Drakenborch. Stutgardiæ, 1820-3. 6 vol. Curtii (Quincti) Alexander Magnus. 12mo. Lugd. Bat. 1658.

Platonis Opera, Gr. et Lat. 12 vol. 8vo. Biponti, 1781.

Quintiliani Opera. 4to. Xenophontis Opera, Gr. et Lat. ex recensione E. Wells. 4 vol. 8vo. Lips. 1801. Curtii Rufi (Quincti) Alexander Magnus. Hag. Com. 1708. 8vo.

Idem, cum Notis Variorum. Amstel, 1684.

Ciceronis Opera Omnia. 4 vol. in 3. Colon. Allob. 1616.

C. Crispus Salustius, et L. Annæus Florus. Ex typis Baskerville. 4to. Birminghamæ, 1773.

Chr. Gottl. Heyne Publius Virgilius Maro, varictate lectionis et perpetuâ adnotatione illustratus. 4 vol. Lips. 1803.

Ciceronis Opera. 10 vol. in 9. 18mo. Amstel. 1658-9.

Dionysii Longini de Sublimitate Com

C. Velleius Paterculus. Edidit Burman8vo. Lugd. Bat. 1744. Porphyrii Opera. Edidit Jacobus de Rho er. 4to. Lugd. Bat. et Amstel. 1792. Handsomely bound in parchment.

C. Plinii Secundi Panegyricus, curante J. Arntzenio. Amstel. 1738. 4to. Hand. somely bound in parchment

Panegyrici Veteres, editi a H. J. Arntzenio. Traj. ad Rhen. 1790. 2 tom. in 1. Pauli Orosii Opera, campus. Lugd. Bat. 1767.

Edidit S. Haver.

Aristophanes Comœdiæ, emendatæ a Ph. Invernizio. Lips. 1794-1821. 8 bande. German binding.

Aristophanes' Wolken, Eine Komödie Griechisch und Deutsch. Berlin, 1811. 4to. German binding.

Pindari Carmina, curavit Heyne. Lips. 1817. 3 vol.

Pindari Carmina. Edidit Beckius. Lips. 1811. 2 tom.

Ciceronis Epistolæ. Edidit Schutz. Halæ, 1809. 6 tom. 8vo.

Martialis (M. Val.) in einem Auszuge Lateinisch und Deutsch, von Ramler. Leip. 1787. 5 bande, 12mo. German binding. Recensuit Gierig.

Plinii Panegyricus. Lips. 1796. 8vo.

Tacitus, ex recensione Ernesti. Lips. 1753. 2 tom.

Cleomedis Circularis Doctrina de Sublimibus. Edidit J. Bake. Lugd. Bat. 1820. Lydus (Joan. Laur.) De Magistratibus Reipublicæ Romanæ. Lugd. Bat. 1812 8vo.

Theocriti Carmina, cum Veteribus Scholiis. Edidit J. Giel. Amstel. 1820. 12mo.

Procli Diadochi et Olympiodori in Platonis Alcibiadem Commentarii. Edidit Creuzer. Francof. ad Mon. 1820-2. 3 vol. 8vo. Opuscula Græcorum Veterum Sententiosa et Moralia. Gr. et Lat. Edidit Orellius. Tom. II. Lips. 1821. 8vo.

THE Publishers of this Gazette furnish, on liberal terms, every book and every periodical work of any value which America affords. They have regular correspondents, and make up orders on the tenth of every month for England and France, and fre quently for Germany and Italy, and import from thence to order, books, in quantities or single copies, for a moderate commis sion. Their orders are served by gentle. men well qualified to select the best edi tions, and are purchased at the lowest cash prices. All new publications in any way noticed in this Gazette, they have for sale, or can procure on quite as good terms as those of their respective publishers.

CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Ca

CAMBRIDGE:

PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS,

BY

HILLIARD AND METCALF.

THE UNITED STATES LITERARY GAZETTE.

Published on the first and fifteenth day of every month, by Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. No. 1 Cornhill, Boston.Terms, $5 per annum, payable in July. VOL. I.

REVIEWS.

BOSTON, FEBRUARY 15, 1825.

make it prudent to tempt their forbear

ance.

in belabouring some offending wearer of the cloak of darkness our lashes may fall upon forms no way calculated to endure them, and shatter nerves which nature never strung for rude encounters. We advise the fair authors, therefore, in all cases, to let a little of the blue investment peep out from beneath the sable coverture ;-just to make patent so much of an azure instep, as will enable us to account satisfactorily to our readers, for our mansuetude in the cases supposed

We drop these intimations, upon the Tales of an American Landlord; containing principle of the economy of preventive Sketches of Life south of the Potomac. measures, for the benefit of our imaginative New York. 1824. 2 vols. 8vo. countrymen and countrywomen; desiring WE read American novels, and indeed them in a friendly way, to lay it to heart, American works of any kind, with a deter- especially the latter. We are indeed too mination to be as well pleased, and to think chivalrous, knowingly, to war with the fair and speak as well of them as our taste and sex; but the ladies, in these cases, do not conscience will permit, and hold it but a always favour us with their names, and we, venial error, to allow ourselves to be a little on our part, make no pretensions to the unduly biassed in favour of home manufac-spirit of divination. Thus, it may chance, that tures. We feel reluctant, therefore, to pass an unfavourable judgment on the work before us. We think the author has read and admired the novels of the Scottish Unknown, till he has persuaded himself (no uncommon mistake, by the way,) that he is able to write something of the same kind; but, if we may judge by this specimen, he has assuredly mistaken his vocation. It is not enough to be delighted with the works of the novelist of the North, nor even to have them by heart. There are many readers in the same case, who have never suspected themselves of possessing the ability to imitate the objects of their admiration; as there are others, who, notwithstanding a secret feeling, that they are not altogether inadequate, content themselves with imagining the ease of an attempt which they never have, nor ever will make, and live and die in the consciousness, that they could astonish and delight the world, if they would.

Now and then it happens, however, as in the present instance, that the amateur shakes off that wholesome disposition to procrastination, which has protected the reading community from many a volume, which, like Basil's Journal, only waited for to-morrow; shuts his eyes to the dangers, which lurk behind the periodical presses of the time; ventures to put forth his twin volumes in fair paper covers, blue, yellow, or marble, as the case may be, and waits, in trembling anxiety, to see from what quarter the critic is to spring upon his literary offspring. In general, the American author escapes easily. The public read and forget, his friends praise, and the reviewer lays a patriotic and gentle hand apon the harmless ephemera. These are halcyon days for poets and tale-tellers; but they should remember, that they hold their privileges by a precarious tenure; that the nationality of critics is but a broken reed to rest upon; that the nature of these animals s not longsuffering; and that, however rentle and playful they may appear in particular circumstances, their disposition o rend a hapless scribbler, is a too well uthenticated trait in their character, to

The leading characters, in these Tales, are Colonel Berkley, a profane man of the world; his son George, a religious young man; an old methodist preacher; Mrs Belcour, and her two daughters, Maria and Eliza; Lord Umberdale, an English nobleman; Mr Arley, his brother, a dissipated spendthrift; Mr Courtal, a lawyer; Colonel Hopewell, an old soldier; and Marmaduke Scott, a Scotch clergyman.

Miss Eliza Belcour is contracted by her parents, in her infancy, to George Berkley, whom she has never known, and of course dislikes. She falls in love with an unknown young gentleman, who turns out to be George Berkley, in time to reconcile her duty and inclination. Her sister, in like manner, gives her heart to the Honourable Mr Arley, who, having disencumbered himself of his property in England, and, flying from the terrors of the law at home, appears in America under the assumed name of Percy, associates himself with a gang of sharpers, and lays siege to the affections and fortune of Miss Belcour. Some remains of honour protect her from the consequences of this plot, and it is afterwards discovered to her by an accident, which consigns Mr Arley to temporary confinement. In the mean time, Lord Umberdale appears on the stage, seeking his dissipated brother. In the course of his search, he meets, and becomes enamoured of Maria,-who transfers her regard to him, with a facility which can hardly be excused by his personal likeness to her former suitor. Before an actual declaration takes place, circumstances bring the brothers in contact; a reconciliation is the result; Mr Arley repents, reforms, and marries

No. 21.

Maria, whose original flame has revived, while Lord Umberdale returns to England with the willow.

Such is a general outline of the story, which we cannot think very interesting. We are too well experienced in the contrivances of novelists, to be much entertained by complicated plots and incognito heroes. With respect to the individual characters, we think Colonel Berkley's conversion improbable, while his son is at best an object of very cool approbation. Mrs Belcour manœuvres, as the mother in the novels of all ages has manœuvred, but with little spirit and little ingenuity; the daughters are good girls enough, but nothing more; Mr Courtal is a very unsuccessful attempt to imitate Counsellor Pleydell; and the clergyman is a caricature, which bears as much likeness to life as caricatures generally do.

But the principal objection to this work, is the perpetual and undisguised attempt at imitation. Almost every sentence is framed so as to remind us of the god of the author's idolatry. We mean every original sentence, for we might almost call the work a cento, so abundant are the quotations from Scott, Shakspeare, and others. It should have been considered, that, though an occasional quotation or allusion, like a jewel judiciously placed, may set off what would be agreeable without it; a profusion of ornaments adds nothing to beauty, and renders homeliness only more remarkable; and that, while memory may assist talents, and reading minister to invention,-they can seldom conceal their defects, and never supply their places.

We object further to the offence against poetical justice, in the dénouement of the tale; Lord Umberdale is despatched in sorrow, and Arley carries off the prize, for which both contended. Whether marriage, with the object of one's affection, be the most valuable blessing and reward offered in this sublunary scene, or not, is a question about which opinions differ materially. The af firmative, however, is pretty generally admitted in Utopia, of which country the characters, and, by courtesy, the writers of novels, must be considered citizens. To this reward, therefore, the nobleman, who is represented as uniformly virtuous, had the clearest title, and it is at once contrary to the law of the land alluded to, and in opposition to the dictates of the moral sense of any land, to award it to one, whose only claim is founded on good feelings whose dictates have been generally disregarded, and a recent conversion which may possibly be permanent. We mention another objection with considerable hesitation. It is founded

on the religious character of the work. We allude to this with reluctance, because there are few things more suspicious than a zeal against supposed mistaken opinions in religion. An attack upon forms sometimes conceals, and, what is nearly as important, is often supposed to conceal an unfriendly feeling, or at least a want of regard to the substance. Our remarks on this head must therefore be brief, and, we trust, will not be misunderstood.

gun,' my horse, who, I assure you, has taken a
sweepstakes in his time, limped as if he had been
shot. It was enchantment-it could not be else.'
Can you form any rational conjecture,' said
Percy, laughing, what necromantic sage hath
played you so foul a trick?"

But be serious, Mr Courtal,' said Maria, and tell me how you lost sight of me.'

purely mental; and that, with regard to the mind and its operations, people were content to grope on in the old way, as indifferent to the analytic method, as if Bacon had never thought nor written. But nothing, we presume, would strike this father of experimental philosophy with more astonishment than the fact, that, by common consent, his method had been excluded from the process of instruction; that where he might have expected his views to be best appreciated and most readily embraced, and where they could most speedily and effectually have accomplished a revolution in the history of human knowledge, they had been treated with the utmost neglect.

To be satisfied that our statement of the

case is no exaggeration, one has but to cast a glance at the method of instruction adopted in most of our schools, and developed in most school books. With a few exceptions, very lately introduced, the learner is first presented with a general or Synthetic view of the science he is studying, and afterwards with the particulars of which it consists; a course which completely inverts the order of our quotation from Bacon.

Yes, truly,' replied Mr Courtal; some sage Urganda, who had erewhile been the guardian of Amadis de Gaul, or Don Belianis of Greece, or Fleximarte of Hyrcania, or haply Beldonivos of the mountain-fellows that went about righting of wrongs and redressing of grievances, and behanged to them, without submitting the cases to trial by We are of opinion, that one of the objects jury-envious of the happiness of one, whose voof this work is to recommend certain relig- cation it is to stop such unlawful and irregular ious views and feelings, concerning the bene-modes of administering justice-hath played me this prank.' fit and ultimate tendency of which, men think very differently; and that works of imagination are out of their place on such debateable 'If I were to be as serious as a man with a gray ground. There is a great deal, and we hope mare in his house-(out upon all gray mares, I say, at board or at manger)-I could not alter one tittle it is the most important part of our religion, of my tale. My horse went unaccountably lame, about which the wise and good of all sects and on entering the wood I found I had lost you. and parties are agreed, and the necessity A young cockatrice of a boy-(I trust I may see the and benefit of which should be enforced, or lying limb of Satan before a grand jury some day or insinuated, in any way that has any chance other)-gave me a wrong direction, which led me, ere I was aware, to a piece of swampy groundof being effectual; but we think it a ques-crossed, and cut, and slashed by ditches half drained. tionable policy to diminish this chance, by In short, after having been stained with the variashackling what is undisputed, with any tion of an hundred mudholes, I at length got through, thing, of which the utility is matter of and by mere good luck made my way to this house serious controversy. pelted indeed by the pitiless storm-but, finding you safe, most incomparable lady, I have only to add, begone, my cares, I give you to the wind."' Let others think as they may, we have, The words marked by italics, in this ex- for our own part, no hesitation in avowing tract, which many of our readers will recog- our conviction, that, in the business of innise as those of Counsellor Pleydell, are struction, days and years of valuable time not distinguished in the novel by marks of are commonly mispent in following the quotation. This liberty can only be de-course prescribed by systematized error, fended by considering the Scottish novels and that the true method of teaching is but as standing on the same ground with Shak- dawning upon us. We are sanguine enough, speare, or other acknowledged classics-an however, to believe that the light which is assumption which we can hardly admit, at now glimmering upon this subject, will so early a period of their immortality. soon cast a fuller radiance; and when this shall be, what improvements, what discoveries in science, may we not expect from Suggestions on Education; relating partic- minds which, from their first glimpses of ularly to the Method of Instruction com-knowledge up to their highest acquirements, monly adopted in Geography, History, have been trained and formed by the disGrammar, Logic, and the Classics. New cipline of analysis? Haven. 1823.

Our readers may expect, after this long discussion, that we should offer some illustration of our opinions in the shape of extracts. With this demand, however reasonable, we find some difficulty in complying, since our objections are of such a general nature, that their force is to be estimated by a perusal of the whole, or a large part of the work, rather than by that of insulated portions. One selection, however, we shall make, as it serves to illustrate our criticism on the character of Mr Courtal. The reader will understand that Miss Belcour has been run away with by a mare, whom the lawyer had incautiously purchased, and still more incautiously recommended for her riding. She has been rescued from a perilous situation by Percy, with whom she is found in a cottage by Mr Courtal; who expresses his relief at the discovery in strong terms, to which she replies as follows.

to this storm

'I am safe, quite safe,' said the young lady, scarcely less affected than himself, at beholding an emotion so unexpected: I was so fortunate as to leap off at a spot where I found this gentleman, by whose polite attention I have escaped exposure The gentleman,' said Mr Courtal, endeavouring to recover his usual manner, was in luck. Well, this is his day-another may be mine. He will mark it, I doubt not, with a white stone: though! never yet knew these ". speluncam Dido, dux et Trojanus eandum" affairs come to much good. There are no limbs broke, yet there may be a breaking of something else-eb, Percy!' Mr Percy said, with gravity, he hoped there was nothing to apprebend.

not.

Oh, I dare believe, on second thoughts, there is You will escape scot-free, for 'tis as hard to find a heart that will break as a glass that will not. Mr Percy made an unsuccessful effort to smile at this sally, and then asked how it happened Mr Courtal lost sight of the lady.

By enchantment,' said Mr Courtal; which, if any gentleman, knight, or even 'squire denies, I appeal him to the combat. Why, sir, when the witch of a mare which Miss Belcour rode, flew away, as Pindar says, light as a bullet from a

We would not, however, be understood "WE should then have reason to hope well as saying that the synthetic method is useof the sciences, when we rise, by continued less,-far from it. Synthesis is an excelsteps, to inferior axioms, and then to the mid-lent, an indispensable thing in its place; dle, and only at last to the most general." that is to say, as the best method of recaWe have repeatedly intimated our belief, pitulating and reviewing what we have that the spirit of this remark of Bacon's was learned,-not however as the best way to intended, by its illustrious author, to have an acquire knowledge. Every treatise intendapplication coextensive with human knowl-ed for the communication of knowledge to edge. He never meant that analysis the young, should no doubt contain a synshould be restricted to the science of mat-thetic view of its subject; but this view ter, and excluded from that of mind. Could should follow, and not precede the analysis, that venerable lawgiver in philosophy rise it should be found at the end, and not at the from the stillness of his grave, and look beginning of the book. For a specimen of upon the occupations of scientific men of this arrangement, we might refer our readour day, he would, we imagine, be fully as ers to the Latin Grammar, published by the much puzzled as pleased. He would find author of the pamphlet now before us, and that, whilst his method of investigation was reviewed in the Gazette for October 1st. extolled to the highest, his track in the In that work, an analysis of every depart paths of science professedly followed with ment of Latin grammar is first given; and, undeviating constancy, his name adorned at the end of every part, and at the conclu with every epithet of human eloquence, sion of the whole, is an interrogatory synand his memory almost worshipped, his thesis. This is the natural and untramelauthority was really acknowledged in but led order of the mind, in the acquisition of one department; that, whilst his sway was knowledge. The subject is, in the first undisputed in natural science, there was place, reduced to its simplest parts: these the utmost aversion to it in whatever is are studied, one by one; and when the

« AnteriorContinuar »