Mr. Starkie's work is by far the most extensive one that has ever been written on the subject of Evidence, and has the rare merit of combining very opposite qualities of excellence. The first part, consisting chiefly of general views, is written in a clear and forcible style, and abounds with ingenious and original reflections. No branch of law is less technical, or more nearly allied to philosophy, in its broad principles, than the one in question. None admits of being so much illustrated by observations upon the constitution of the human mind, and the diversified affairs of society. Mr. Starkie's first volume we do not hesitate to recommend to the metaphysician, and to the man of taste; and we promise them, if they chance to have an instinctive horror of those narrow passes and deep caverns of the law, where they imagine the pure air of heaven never comes, and where special pleading, that many-headed monster, catches unwary wights in his enchanted web-that that they shall find nothing of them here ;—it is all clear sunshine and wide expansion. Perhaps the introduction, where he makes a division of the subject, and gives the reasons which led him to adopt it in preference to any other, may be changed with the faults of obscurity and unnecessary prolixity, arising from too great an effort at philosophizing and hair-splitting.

As a book of reference, designed for practical use, it is no less valuable than as a scientific exposition of general principles. The two last volumes contain nearly all that is most important to be known in our civil and criminal jurisprudence, arranged alphabetically under a great number of titles, and therefore easily accessible. Perhaps there is no other book in the whole library of the law, in which so large a proportion of fundamental truths can be learned with so little labor. Our general digests and abridgments are most of them old, and all encumbered with much obsolete law; valuable only as a subject of historical curiosity, or as furnishing the materials out of which modern doctrines have been wrought. All such Mr. Starkie has wisely rejected, as unsuited to the object of his work; and has presented the substance of later decisions in a more concise and perspicuous form than is any where else to be met with. For this reason, and on account of its lucid arrangement, the book serves for a complete manual; and it ought to stand by the side of Blackstone, on the shelf of every lawyer and every general scholar.

A New and Improved Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Spanish Language, in which the Present Usage is displayed, in conformity with the Latest Decisions of the Royal Academy of Madrid; containing an easy Introduction to the Elements of the Spanish Language-a clear Treatise on Pronunciation-rules of Etymology and Syntax, with numerous Exemplifications and practical Exercises interlined, &c. Designed for every class of Learners, but more especially for those who are unacquainted with English Grammar. By EMANUEL DEL MAR, Teacher of the Spanish Language. New York. 1826.

THE Spanish Language is daily becoming a subject of greater interest and importance in this country. The author of the work before us, finding, in the course of his teaching, the grammars already published (though some of them possess much merit) deficient in simplicity and fulness of explanation, as well as in clearnesss of arrangement, has, with great labor, and, we think, with great success, prepared one, designed to render the study of Spanish more easy, especially to those who are but imperfectly acquainted with the general principles of grammar, or who have not the advantage of tuition. The arrangement of the work, though in some respects new, we think every teacher's experience will convince him is the best. Etymology and syntax, instead of being discussed separately as abstract branches of science, are treated of together, and illustrated by familiar examples and appropriate exercises. The directions for the pronunciation are very clear and intelligible, superseding as far as can be done by written precepts, the necessity of oral instruction. The principles of the language are stated in a series of rules, each accompanied with a simple praxis, calculated to fix the construction in the mind. Wherever there is danger of misapprehension or doubt, explanations are added, whose value those only can duly appreciate, who have felt the difficulties which they are intended to obviate. The different significations of the verbs ser and estar, and of the imperfect and perfect tenses, as also the rules for the employment of the terminations ra, se and ria, are, we think, so expressed, that the learner will comprehend them The same may be said of the rules for the gender of nouns, which, though very general, are sufficient for every practical purpose.

at once.

We would recommend this grammar, as being constructed on the true plan of teaching language-by induction, and fitted to convey a thorough knowledge of the genius and construction of Spanish. Mr. Del Mar's familiar acquaintance with the English, derived from having passed several years of his early life in England, as well as his experience in teaching his own language, have peculiarly qualified him for preparing such a work, and we hope it will receive the patronage which it merits.

The Tor Hill. By the Author of "Brambletye House," "Gaieties and Gravities," &c. Philadelphia. Carey & Lea. 1826. 12mo. pp. 561.

THE "Rejected Addresses," of which the author of this work was one of the writers, was a very successful example of the talent of giving fac-similes of the peculiar styles of celebrated poets; the odes of "Horace in London," by the same hands, in the midst of some violent strainings to be witty, contained some tolerable jests, and some ingenious applications of the ideas of the old poet; their translations from the Greek Anthology were, in many instances, prettily done; and their "Gaieties and Gravities," with a great many poor and stale jokes in the comic parts, and some borrowed sentimentality in the serious, were very agreeable reading. But "Brambletye House" was, on the whole, a failure, and "The Tor Hill" is no better.

The scene of the plot is laid partly in France, and partly in England, and the events are supposed to take place in the reign of Henry VIII. The bluff king is himself introduced with one of his queens and several of his courtiers, and an attempt is made to give a picture of the manners of that court and of that age. For this purpose, the author has studied very diligently two different kinds of writings, the old chronicles and the Waverley novels. The materials derived from the former are not always skilfully interwoven with the story, large patches of extracts from these works appearing here and there, like huge unhewn stones in a building of modern brick, and the descriptions of ancient customs being often drawn out to a tedious minuteness. As to the author of Waverley, he is imitated in almost every page, the characters are all brought from his storehouse, and his style of dialogue is all along copied. The author seems, indeed, to be quite oppressed with the weight of his materials; where he finds a precedent in the Waverley novels, he handles them with considerable dexterity; but when he has no such guide, he works clumsily and awkwardly. But, although the writer thus sadly lacks invention, he does not by any means lack a certain sort of talent, and many parts of the book are amusing enough. His antiquarian knowledge has enabled him to furnish out some good scenes from the ancient customs and manners of England; his taste for humor shows itself sometimes in a good-humored facetiousness, and there are many sprightly colloquies in the style of Scott, which come as near that author as any thing which might be expected from a diligent and clever imitator.

1

INTELLIGENCE.

Mexican Manuscript. An Italian traveller, of the name of Beltrami, has discovered, in an old convent in the interior of Mexico, a manuscript, which may be regarded as unique, and of the most rare and interesting description. It is the gospel, or rather a gospel such as it was dictated by the first monks, conquestadores, translated into the Mexican tongue by Montezuma, who, alone, of his family, escaped the massacres of the conquest, and, bon gré mal gré, was converted to the popish faith. It is a large volume in folio, most beautifully written upon mangey or agave paper, as highly polished as parchment, and surpassing papyrus in flexibility. By this great monument of the ancient Mexican language, the learned, by comparing it with the manuscripts in the oriental tongues, may be enabled to throw some light upon the origin of the nations who inhabited these vast countries. Month. and Eur. Mag.

Bell of Notre Dame. In the southern tower of the cathedral of Notre Dame at Paris, is the famous bell called Bourdon, which is never rung except on great occasions. It weighs thirty-six thousand pounds English. Cast in 1680, and recast in 1686; it was then, according to the absurd fashion of Popish countries, solemnly baptized, or rather blessed; Louis XIV. and the queen his wife standing as godfather and godmother. It received the name of Emmanuel Louise Therese. The tongue, or clapper, weighs nine hundred and seventy-six pounds. This bell is more than three times the weight of Saint Paul's or Tom of Lincoln, which are the two largest in Great Britain. Glas. Mec. Mag.

Education in Russia. There are six universities in the Russian empire. The cities in which they are established, are Moscow, Petersburg, Casan, Dorpat, Cherkof, and Wilna. The natives of Russia are not allowed to go and study in a foreign country, until having attended for at least three years one of the Russian universities. Nevertheless, the chairs are few in number, several subjects are entirely interdicted, and the vigilance of the censorship cramps the professors in treating those which are allowed. The students are under all kind of restraint, especially at Dorpat and Wilna; where, indeed, disorders have occasionally taken place, which required the interference of authority. The young Russians are not admitted into the military service until they have undergone an examination at one of these universities. That of Dorpat is principally attended by youth from the three Baltic provinces; and German is there the prevailing language. Ibid.

Silk Trade at Taunton, England. The number of silk-looms in this town amounts to about one thousand, and two hundred in the vicinity, Each loom is computed to give employment to two persons, so that the warpers, winders, quillers, and weavers, including those persons employed in the throwing-mills, in the manufacture of Organzine silk, amounts to not fewer than two thousand five hundred persons. The annual returns of the silk trade in Taunton, may be estimated at not less than one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. The wages alone are

about one thousand pounds per week. The trade is at present in so prosperous a state, that nothing but the want of suitable houses for the artisans employed, prevents it from being doubled. Ibid.

The Bat. Some workmen engaged in opening a vault in our churchyard, were surprised, and, we believe, in some measure startled, by the squeaking of an animal which dropped from the roof of the dormitory, and which, on inspection, proved to be a bat; it appeared lifeless when laid hold of, but, on being brought to the open air, gradually recovered. This circumstance is singularly remarkable, from the fact of the vault having remained unopened for the space of ten years and upwards, and no crevice or aperture being discovered in its thick-ribbed walls, the creature having, in all probability existed in this confined and tainted region during the whole of that period. Bury Gazette.

Animal Bodies Preserved from Putrefaction. Amongst the most remarkable curiosities in the city of Bremen, is the extraordinary property of a vault in the cathedral, by which bodies are preserved in the same manner as if they were embalmed. This vault is sixty paces long, and thirty broad. The light and air are constantly admitted to it. by three windows, though it is several feet beneath the ground. Here are five large oak coffins, each containing a body. The most curious and perfect is that of a woman, said to be an English countess, who, dying in Bremen, ordered that her body should be placed in this vault, expecting that her relations would cause it to be carried over to her native country. However, it has remained here two hundred and fifty years. Though the muscular skin is totally dried in every part, yet so little are the features changed, that nothing is more certain, than that she was young and even beautiful. It is a small countenance, round in its contour, the hair as light and glossy as that of a living person. In another coffin is the body of a workman who fell from the top of the cathedral, and was killed instantly. His features forcibly show the painful nature of his death; extreme agony is marked in them; his mouth and eyelids are wide open, the eyes are dried up; his breast is unnaturally distended, and his whole frame betrays a violent death.

Calisthenic Exercises. It is an admitted physiological fact, that imperfections in the female form have their origin, for the most part, in defective or irregular muscular action. The muscular exercises recommended under the above title are such as are calculated to cure deformities of the figure, whilst they tend, at the same time, to invigorate the system, and conduce to elegant deportment; thus combining the valuable qualities of a remedy with an agreeable amusement. A series of exercises, called, from their results, Calisthenic,* has been introduced under the patronage of the Duchess of Wellington and Lady Noel Byron, by Miss Marian Mason, in George street, Hanover square. They have met with the approbation of Sir Astley Cooper, Messrs. Brodie, Travers, and other leading members of the profession, who have been present during their performance. These exercises are carefully accommodated to the delicate organization of the female sex, and to the peculiar circumstances of the individual; and, although they have been established only a few months, they have proved very beneficial to pupils. New Month. Mag. * A term derived from two Greek words, signifying beauty and strength.