Memoirs of Sir William Knighton, Bart. G. C. H. Keeper of the Privy Purse during the reign of his Majesty King George the IVth. Including his Correspondence with many distinguished personages. By LADY KNIGHTON. Philad. Carey, Lea & Blanchard. 1838. 8vo. pp.

415.

WHOEVER takes up this work with the intention to read it, will very soon begin to suspect that it is a dull book; when he has perused the fourth part, he will adjudge it to be dull beyond the pos. sibility of doubt; and if he peruse it to the middle, which will probably be the ne plus ultra of his progress, he will call it a very dull book indeed. This is to be understood with the exception only of such persons, if any there be in this hemisphere, who for some unimaginable reason feel a special interest in the ordinary details of Sir William Knighton's unromantic life, or find a pleasure in read. ing common-place letters upon unimportant subjects, written by royal dukes and kings.

The subject of these Memoirs, as his amiable widow is pleased to call her compilation, was born in Devonshire in 1776; he entered the medical profession as apprentice to an apothecary at Tavistock-settled in due time at that place as a general practitioner-but, not satisfied with his success, removed to London, where he took up his residence as a practitioner of midwifery. Being admonished by the college of physicians for practising without a diploma, he went to Edinburgh, and attended lectures for two seasons; after which he returned to London, legally qualified. In 1809, or 1810, or 1811— for the date is thus variously given in different parts of the volume-he accompanied Lord Wellesley as his medical attendant on a mis. sion to Spain; and after his return was recommended by that no. bleman to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV, as one of his physicians. It seems, too, by a statement in the "Medical Ga. zette,"--although the fact is nowhere mentioned by Lady Knighton herself, nor alluded to in any of the letters or journals that fill up the volume--that having come accidentally into possession of some private papers belonging to the prince, he carried them forthwith to Carlton-House, and delivered them to their proper owner. This act of honesty appears to have struck the prince as quite extraordinary, and to have entirely won his royal heart. He immediately took Dr. Knighton into favor, and in rapid succession made him a baronet, auditor of the duchy of Cornwall, keeper of the privy purse, and private secretary. What seems most unaccountable in his life is, that though he had been settled in London only three or four years before he went to Spain, and had returned to his profession not more than six or seven before his appointment to the employments that induced him to relinquish it, he is said to have been in very lucrative practice, and "acquiring independence for his fa. mily."

It is generally supposed to be a work of much time and patient labor to get into lucrative business in any of the professions where they are so over-crowded with competitors as at London.

The book is made up, in great measure, of very meagre memoranda, written by himself, of his various journeys on the continent. What may have been the purpose of those missions, we are not informed; but he seems to have been chiefly engaged as a confiden. tial messenger or negotiator in the private business of his royal master, to whom he was doubtless faithfully attached, and by whom he was most highly esteemed and trusted.

His royal friend, whether as Prince, or Regent, or King, seems to have been a most constant and affectionate correspondent; and indeed his letters seem scarcely consistent with the character of the heartless libertine such as we are used to hear him described. "It is utterly impossible for me to tell you how uncomfortable and how miserable I always feel when I have you not immediately at my elbow." Such is the strain in which the king's letters are written, with the most affectionate and endearing expressions throughout.

There are also letters from the Dukes of Clarence, (William IV.) Cumberland, and Cambridge; all remarkable for the respectful tone observed towards Sir William, and the strong declarations of affection for the king.

The warmth of the king's partiality seems to have been but coldly returned by the private secretary. He was present at the deathbed of the king, and in the midst of the excitement of feeling that his death could not fail to produce, he writes to lady Knighton :"The poor dear king breathed his last at a quarter past three this morning, &c. Thus ended the life of George IV., one of the cleverest and most accomplished men in Europe--full of benevolence. There will be many to deplore his loss." Certainly this is very cool for an eulogium of his best and most affectionate friend! "We left the Hague at two o'clock in the afternoon by the diligence, and passed through Leyden on our way to Haerlem, where we slept for the night." Such is the general style of the memoranda made by him of his journeys, and here carefully preserved ad nauseam. The letters to his family are merely prosing and dull--those to his friends sensible, but in no way striking or worth preservation. The most valuable pages are those which contain letters from Walter Scott, Southey, Lawrence, and Canning. These were intended for the king's perusal, and are on subjects of business, having no general or permanent interest. Sir William died in 1836, a professing and sineere Christian,

Anthon's Cæsar. New-York: Harper & Brothers.

GOOD school-books are one of the greatest desiderata in this country, and without them we may be a generally, but we never shall become a highly, or even a well educated people. Much more is requisite to constitute a truly good school-book than most men imagine; and it is really wonderful how seldom we meet with elementary works, even of the most humble nature, at all fitted for the imperfect and growing intellects to which they ought to be adapted. In nine cases out of ten they lack entirely the lucid simplicity which is absolutely necessary to render them useful, and even intelligible; in very many instances, owing to the incapacity of the teacher to treat his subject, or to a confused and awkward manner of teaching, the explanation is more difficult of comprehension than the thing explained.

Teachers, if wise and learned, are very apt to be more eager to display their own abilities than to promote their pupils' real education; if, as is oftener the case, they be half-taught themselves, there is a constant and distressing struggle to correct deficiencies, and in either case there is little hope for the learner. To be truly useful, a school-book should contain the greatest possible amount of information, couched in the smallest compass and in the most simple and intelligible words; amplification should be avoided to the utmost, and those points only dwelt upon which seem best calculated to make an impression on young minds. Nor is this all; that which is dry and tedious should be, while rendered logically clear, kept as much in the back-ground as possible; while that which is picturesque, touching, or graphic, should be thrust forward, to become, as it were, scenery points and angles in the growing edifice, by aid of which we may calculate and conceive the extent and grandeur of those portions veiled in shadows. In all these points Professor Anthon's school-books-if it be not a sin to call those school-books which clever men might study to advantage— are surpassingly excellent and able; while exercising the most painfully critical research, he has not disdained the lucidus ordo; he has remembered that he was writing for the education of the young unpractised mind, not for the cultivation of the ripe and ornate intellect; and hence, while his English notes, whether critical or explanatory, are as copious and comprehensive as the most abstruse commentary, they are at the same time so simple and so luminous as to be within the scope of the earliest and feeblest rea

son.

The Greek paraphase is well inserted, and is one of those por tions of this school-book which renders it valuable to all scholars of what age or calibre soever; and which, in addition to the perfect text, and various information contained in the indexes, &c., must render it an addition to every classical library, without which none can be called perfect. There are, besides all that we have enume

rated, a set of plans and sketches very well executed, and certainly useful in two different manners; first, as entertaining the mind of the pupil; and secondly, as tending greatly to facilitate the understanding of the passages with which they are collated. We take no shame to ourselves in owning that we never understood as well the form and the construction of Cæsar's celebrated bridge across the Rhine as we have done since reading it with reference to the cut in this correct and beautiful edition. We have only to say in conclusion, that every school ought at once to adopt this series of works, which may, in truth, be looked upon as introducing a new era into the education of our country, and as reflecting much honor on the talent of the learned Professor, by whom they were prepared.

The Athenian Captive. A Tragedy in five acts. By THOMAS NOON TALFOURD, author of "Ion," &c. New-York:

J. & F. G. Langley.

WE had hoped that the next tragedy of Sergeant Talfourd's would have been founded on some modern story. We wished to see what his poetry would be, unaided by those beautiful classical associations which his fine taste and learning enable him to gather and weave around his subject. In this we have been disappointed, but not with the plot which he has chosen, with the characters which he has created, or with the language which he has flung in graceful folds about the statues of his thought. His characters are, indeed, more like statues animated into action, than like moving and sentient beings. They have a stateliness and simple grandeur, which do not seem to comport with the emotions and passions with which human nature is endued, in all ages and all countries. And yet we are not disappointed. If the imagination can create an order of beings for a world of its own, different from that of the actors on the real stage of life, let it create them. To be sure, Mr. Talfourd's men and women seem to be cast in the same mould, and the stone every where bears the traces of the same chisel; we need not the sculptor's name upon shield or pedestal to tell us by whose hand these forms were wrought into such attitudes of grace and beauty.

Mr. Talfourd's powers are over-estimated by some, and by some depreciated. We believe that his great reputation as a lawyer, his prominent situation as a member of Parliament, and his intimacy with the directing minds of England-whether connected with the government, the press, or the stage-were the levers by which his fame was first raised, and are the columns by which it is now in part supported. We do not mean to say, that without these supports he - would never have attained his present elevation, for we believe that

he has genius equal to the production of works which might eternize his name; but we do mean, that, unaided by such collateral advantages, no single work, though superior to "Ion," could have lifted him to that height upon which he now stands before the world. The "Athenian Captive" is more dramatic and less poetic than "Ion." It has no passages that dwell on the ear or grave them. selves on the heart. There are some fine bursts of feeling, which seem to send bugle-tones along the air, but the winding music dies away and leaves no echo. In "Ion" there are many lofty senti. ments, nobly uttered--many beautiful thoughts thrown into elegant forms of expression. Take this-

"The coarsest reed that trembles in the marsh,

If Heaven select it for its instrument,

May yield celestial music to the breeze

As clearly as the pipe whose virgin gold
Befits the lip of Phoebus!"

This passage lived in our memory from the moment that we saw it without an effort. Thrilling as are many lines in the Athenian Captive, we cannot recall any except the first, and these only from hearing them often repeated. They promise, however, greater wealth than we find in the recesses of the tragedy. The Augur speaks as he watches the flight of birds-

"Wheel through the ambient air, ye sacred birds,
In circles still contracting, that aspire

To share the radiance of yon dazzling beams,
And 'midst them float from mortal gaze; ye speak

In no uncertain language to the sons

Of Corinth, that the shames they bear from Athens
Shall speedily be lost in glories won

From insolent battalions, that have borne
Their triumphs to our gates."

This opening is so similar to that of "Ion," that the author appears to repeat himself. His style is as marked and peculiar as that of Moore. We should recognize a line of his poetry, if repeated in the broken jargon of a French dancing-master.

Mr. Talfourd says, in his preface, that this Drama was written during his "little vacation at Christmas," for the purpose of assisting the efforts of Mr. Macready to restore the legitimate drama, and to reimburse him for the losses which he had sustained in the management of Covent Garden Theatre. This is what was intended, though it is expressed differently. His object was certainly a laudable one, although it seems to have failed in its end. The tragedy may be successful, when represented (for it has not yet been played to our knowledge, though it is so stated in the title-page,) but we doubt it for one reason-and that reason is its want of novelty. The British as well as the American public were quite satiated with "Ion;" they made some sacrifice of pleasure to what