1814.] New Books in July, with Critical Remarks. and her Dependencies; including a statement of the duties, drawbacks, and bounties, directed to be paid and allowed. The whole interspersed with the regulations of the several trading companies; proclamations touching war and peace; orders in council; treaties with foreign powers; reports of adjudged cases; and various matters of exclusive official information; brought down to 5th April, 1814. Second edition. By Charles Pope, comptrolling surveyor of the warehouses in Bristol, and late of the Custom House, London. 8vo. pp. 868. It is needless to expatiate on the usefulness of such a compilation as the present, the obvious refection excited by the perusal of the very title page is one of surprise that, in a great commercial nation like this, so necessary a work should not have appeared many years ago. To the praise of industry, accuracy, and perspicuity. the editor has an unqualified claim, and no merchant, shipmaster, or any one engaged in mercantile concerns, will do himself justice if he neglects the aid offered by this valuable guide to the custom house. Treatise on the Law of Evidence. By S. M. Phillips, Esq. of the Inner Temple, barrister at law. 8vo. 15s. Scheme for rendering Obligations, Conveyances, and Securities, more plain, simple, and intelligible, in Scotland. By Anthony Macmillan. 8vo. 1s. The Trial of Lord Cochrane, the Hon. A. Cochrane Johnstone, Charles R. de Berenger, and others, for a conspiracy. Taken in short hand. By W. B. Gurney. 12s. MEDICAL. An Essay on Medical Economy, comprising a sketch of the state of the profession in England; and the outlines of a plan calculated to give to the medical body in general an increase of usefulness and respectability. svo. pp. 160. The rage for innovation seems to be the leading feature of the day, and prevails in every class of society. The ingenious author of this essay has caught the infection most strongly; and having realized to his imagination many dreadful evils in the state of medical science and practice, he generonsly offers his assistance for their eradication; but we are free to confess that many of his propo sitions are as fanciful as the disorders which they are intended to remedy. One of the most objec. tionable parts of his schemes of reform is that of a graduated scale of fees according to the age and standing of the practitioners, the necessary conse quence of which regulation would be to keep in obscarity all their lives those men, who, by their early application, have a just claim to the highest honours of their profession. NEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 7. METAPHYSICS. 57 Fatalism Exposed, and the Freedom of the Will demonstrated. By the Rev. John Duncalf. 8vo. 8s. MINERALOGY. A Manual of Mineralogy. MISCELLANEOUS. By Arthur 8vo. 7s. Substance of a Speech against the proposed alteration of the Corn Laws, intended to have been spoken in the House of Commons, on June 6, 1814, by J. Broadhurst, esq. 8vo. PP. 58, We have perhaps reason to be glad that this luminous tract was not delivered according to the intention of the sensible and patriotic author; since otherwise we should have had no more of it than a garbled report in the newspapers. In its present substantial form it will stand as a powerful antidote to a mischievous scheme, if ever the selfish and crafty advocates of innovation shall presume to bring the subject again before the public. Remarks on the calumnies published in the Quarterly Review, on the' English shipbuilders. 8vo. pp. 44. This is in all respects a most important pamphlet, on a subject of vital intere. t to the British empire; and no one can read the statements and arguments here advanced without being seriously alarmed for the safety of that bulwark, which has hitherto constituted our temporal strength and national glory. Devon and Cornwall Scientific Repository. An Original and Accurate Account of what occurred during the Royal Visit to Portsmouth on the 22d June and three subsequent days. 8vo. is. Correspondence between the Supreme Government of Bengal and the Missionaries of Serampore in 1812 and 1813, relative to Messrs. Johns and Lawson, which terminated in the expulsion of Mr. Johns from India, for having gone thither without leave of the Court of Directors. By Wm. Johns, of the Roy. Coll. of Surgeons, and late acting Surgeon at Serampore. 1s. d. The North British Review, No. 3. 45. A Letter to the Electors of Westminster on the Case of Lord Cochrane, as distinguished from that of his associates. is. A Second Letter to the Electors of Westminster on the nomination of Lord Cochrane liament. as a proper person to represent them in Par 15. By a near observer. NOVELS, ROMANCES, &c. Fneumance; or the Fairy of the Nineteenth Century. 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 518. The only fault we have to find with this very instructive work is, that the characters are too numerous, and brought together in a manner that awakens curiosity, which afterwards is disappointed by the want of information concerning their his tory. This is particularly the case with respect to the heroine of the tale, who breaks upon us in a way that excites a lively interest, and at the end of the book disappears without making wa VOL II. 58 New Books in July, with Critical Remarks. acquainted with her origin, adventures, and connexions, The Velvet Cushion. 8vo. pp. 185. "Aut tu es Morus, aut nullus," exclaimed Erasmus, when he first met his old correspondent at table, but without knowing his person: and we were compelled by an instinctive motion to adopt the same language, after proceeding only a little way in this delightful allegorical tale. Like the Splendid Shilling in the Tatler, the old cushion of a village pulpit relates its adventures, or rather its observations on the history of religion from the era of the Reformation to the present time. The viear and his wife are beautifully drawn; but they are not the creatures of fancy, or the ideal beings of romance. We have happily known a couple, in former days, exactly corresponding with the characters here described; and, if our conjecture beright, the author had the same identical persons in contemplation when the Velvet Cushion afforded a subject for the record of their virtucs, and for giving a most instructive lesson to mankind. Sarsfield, or Wanderings of Youth, an Irish Tale. By John Gamble, Esq. 3 vols. 12mo. pp. 656. This story is, beyond all question, the conception of a very vigorous imagination: the characters are drawn with a masterly hand, the sentiments are excellent, and the language is flowing and elegant. But, after all, we were greatly shocked at the outrageous violation which is continually committed upon probability, and the dreadful catastrophe which harrows up our feelings at the moment when we expect nothing but. repose, induces us to adopt the words of Dr. Johnson to another Irish novel-writer-" I know not that you have a right, upon moral principles, to make your readers suffer so much." a [Aug. 1, genius and patriotism of the author. We were also very much pleased with the smaller poems in this collection, particularly with "The Bard's Wel. come for his Young Lord," which is equally ani. mated and pathetic. The Lay of the Scottish Fiddle, a Poem, in five cantos; supposed to be written by W-S-, Esq. First American, from the fourth Edinburgh edition. 12mo. pp. 222. The reader need hardly be told that this also is a burlesque poem, the production of a Trans-Atlantic genius, who has parodied with considerable effect the manner of the most celebrated bard of the present day. The performance is intended also to turn into ridicule three British naval comnianders recently on the American station; and though we cannot admit the justice of the satire, or accede to what is advanced in the notes, truth compels us to grant that the author has evinced poetical talents of a superior order, which we should be glad to see employed to a better pui pose. The Feast of the Poets, with Notes, and other Pieces in Verse. By the Editor of the Examiner. 12mo. pp. 158. The principal piece in this small volume is an attempt to delineate the characters, and to appreciate the literary merits of the existing race of poets, who appear in rapid succession before Apollo, seated at a tavern table. As our readers will see that this idea is far from being new, so they will find that the author has not refined upon the coarseness and petulance of the worst of his predecessors, witness the following lines: "So saying, the god bade his horses walk for'ard, And leaving them, took a long dive to the nor❜ard." Instead of being allowed to lash his betters, the writer who can commit to paper such jargon as this The Vain Cottager, or History of Lucy ought to receive the horsewhipFranklin. 1s. 6d. Love and War, a Tale. 2 vols. 12s. POETRY. Anster Fair, a Poem, in six cantos, with other Poems. By William Tenant. Second edit. 12mo. We feel no hesitation in expressing it as our decided opinion, that Anster Fair is the most humourous poem which has appeared since the days of Butler. It exhibits the history of Maggie Lauder of Anstruther, who being at a loss to choose a husband from a multitude of suitors, is advised by no less a personage than Tommy Puck, the fairy, to issue a proclamation, setting forth, that on the next market-day there will be held four games: the first an ass-race, the second sack-race, the third a trial on the bagpipes, and the fourth a com. petition in story-telling; the victor in all which to be rewarded by the hand of this celebrated damsel. Robert Scott, or Rob the Ranter, proves the conqueror, who at the nuptial feast produces a pepper box, from which issues Dame Puck, while her partuer emerges from the mustard-pot; and with the history of these famous elves, who had been cruelly imprisoned by the art of a noted enchanter, the poem concludes. We repeat, that in whimsi cal description, and broad humour, this piece may have its equal, but certainly it has not been excelled by any performance within our recollection. Spain Delivered, and other Poems. By Preston Fitzgerald, Esq. Author of "The Spaniard." 12mo. pp. 100. The principal piece in this little volume is a spi. rited performance, and does great credit to the Napoleon, or the Vanity of Human Wishes. Part II. By Eyles Irwin, Esq. M. R. I. A. 4to. 2s. 6d. The Ruined Tower. 8vo. 2s. A Sketch from Nature. fc. 8vo. 2s. 6d. An Ode to the Emperor Alexander. By the Author of "The Orphans, or the Battle of Nevil's Cross," Is. The entire proceeds, free from all expenses, to be applied to the relief of the sufferers by war in Germany. Ode to Wellington. By the Author of the preceding. In aid of the same fund. is. 6d. An Ode on the Arrival of the Potentates in Oxford; and Judicium Regale, an Ode. 2s. Odes to the Prince Regent, the Emperor of Russia, and the King of Prussia. By Robert Southey, Poet Laureat. 4to. 3s. 6d. Peace, a Lyric Poem. By Thos. Eastoe Abbott. 4to. 1s. 6d. 1814.] New Books in July, with Critical Remarks. 59 a little paltry popularity by the sacrifice of their principles. Of this class is the venerable author of the present pamphlet, who has come forward with a zeal becoming his sacred calling and high character, to enter his protest against countenancing by law public professions of impiety. The bishop defends in a proper manner that part of the act of toleration which, before the late concession in favour of Unitarians, as they are called, confined the appropriation of offices of trust to the professed friends of the national religion; and his lordship shews clearly, that the late repeal of the laws against blasphe.ny is likely to have effects on the public mind very injurious to Christianity, to the State, and to the Established Church. The Family Instructor, or a Regular Thoughts on Peace in the present Situation of the Country with respect to its Fi-Course of Scriptural Readings; with Faminances and Circulating Medium. 8vo. 6s. liar Explanations and Practical Improvements, The Rights of War and Peace, including adapted to the purpose of Domestic and Prithe Law of Nature and Nations. From the vate Edification for every Day of the Year. By John Watkins, LL. D. 3 vols. 12mo. Latin of Grotius, with notes and illustrations. By the Rev. A. C. Campbell, A.M. 3 vols. 8vo. 11. 11s. 6d. Inquiry into the Constitutional Character of the Queen Consort of England. 2s. 6d. The Importance of Religious Establishments to the Interests of Civil Society, and the necessity of Test Laws for their preser vation. 1s. The Reduction of the Forces considered. By Capt. Fairman. A Letter to the Inhabitants of Southampton, on the Corn Bill. By Wm. Cobbett, Esy. 1s. Substance of the Speech of Jos. Hume, Esq. at the East India House, May 9, against the Grant of a Pension to Lord Melville. With an Appendix, containing the Letter of the Earl of Buckinghamshire, and other do RELIGION. A Brief Memorial on the Repeal of so much of the Statute of 9 & 10 Will. III. as relates to Persons denying the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity; addressed to all who believe the Christian Religion to be a True Religion, and who are desirous of maintaining the Religious Institutions of their Ancestors. To which is prefixed, A Demonstration of the Three Great Truths of Christianity; together with Specimens of Unitarian Rejection of Scripture, and of all Antiquity. By the Bishop of St. David's. 8vo. pp. 86. In this too-liberalizing age, if we may be allowed such an expression for a false sentiment of generosity, it is some consolation to find that there are persons in an elevated station, who disdain to court If it be proper to read the Scriptures statedly in families, it is equally necessary to accompany the practice by some illustration or exposition of the sacred oracles. Small as the bulk of the Bible comparatively is, it is made up of a great variety of subjects; some parts being historical, and others poetic; some legal, and others predictive. To many readers the mystic institutions of the Jewish theocracy must be unintelligible, and the sublimest descriptions of the prophets harsh and obscure. Yet all these are clear, when opened by that key In the work before us the author has judiciously which the evangelical dispensation alone provides. applied that unerring interpreter to the explanation of the inspired writings; aud by uniting the law and the gospel for faith and practice, he has provided a commentary on the volume of immortality; without perplexing the mind by controversial reasoning, or drawing it off by critical disquisition. A Form and Prayer and Thanksgiving for July 7, 1814, being the Day appointed for a General Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for putting an end to the long, extended, and bloody Warfare against France and her Allies. 4d. Sermon preached at St. Mary's Gateshead, May 8. By the Rev. John Headlam, A. M. 8vo. 6s: 60 Dramatic Register-Drury-Lane. Rector of West Rasen and Wadingham, Lincoln, and late Fellow and Tutor of St. John's Coll. Cambridge. The first report of the Oxford and Oxfordshire Auxiliary Bible Society, with the Proceedings of the Anniversary Meeting, June 16, 1814. The Trial of Antichrist, otherwise the Man of Sin, for High Treason against the Son of God. 3s 4d. Creed Philosophic, or Immortality of the Soul. By Nath. Cooke, Esq. 4to 8s. 6d. A General Account of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 2s. 6d. VOYAGES A D TRAVELS. Letters from a Lady to her Sister during a Tour to Paris, in the Months of April and May, 1914. 12mo. pp. 170. DRAMATIC DURING the season which has just closed, our regular theatres have not been conspicuous for the number or the importance of the novelties which they have produced: indeed, if we except the appearance of Mr. Kean at the one, and the return of Mr. Kemble to the other, as noticed in our early numbers, there is little that requires particular notice besides a few new pieces, mostly of very humble pretensions. Our readers will therefore, we trust, the more readily excuse any arrears into which we have fallen, from peculiar circumstances, in this department of our work, but which we shall in future use our best endeavours to prevent. DRURY-LANE. Among the oratorios performed as usual during Lent, was one, new in this country, called the Mount of Olives, the production of Beethoven, the celebrated German composer. It is a work which deserves to be placed on a level with the best works of any living master. The music is ori ginal, bold, expressive, full of variety and movement, partaking of the German school by the harmony of the symphony, and of the Italian by the melody of the airs. On this occasion a younger sister of Madame Catalani made her first public appearance: her voice, though fine and delicate, is not of the superior order; and indeed, such was the evident timidity which she felt, that no proper judgment could be formed of her powers from this first essay. April 12, one of those fashionable modern compositions called melo-drames, was brought out under the title of The Woodman's Hut. The story is not un [Aug. 1, These are the letters of a lady who visited the French capital at the precise time when the restored monarch entered the seat of his ancestors, of which interesting scene she gives a touching re lation. It is indeed but justice to say, that we have been highly entertained by the perusal of this little volume, which is written in a lively style, and contains much information on the state of that unhappy country. A Voyage to the Isle of Elba, with Notices of the other Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Translated fro the French of Arsenie Thiebaut de Berneaud, Emeritus, Secretary of the Class of Literature, History, and Antiquities, of the Italian Academy, &c. By William Jerdan. 8vo. pp. 183. This is a very accurate survey of a spot which, at the present moment, attracts general attention; and at a future period will, most probably, occupy a considerable place in the history of Europe, REGISTER. interesting for a work of that kind, and it exhibited a sufficient variety of incident to keep the attention alive. If the dialogue has no great merit, the scenes are in general pretty, and the last, exhibiting the conflagration not only of the woodman's but, but of a whole forest, is extremely well managed. This piece has been frequently repeated. April 26, a new interlude, entitled Intrigue, by Mr. Poole, author of Hamlet Travestie, was well received. The piece consists of only one incident:Two London bucks, on an excursion to Bath, arrive at an inn kept by a man who had formerly been servant to one of them, but who, having married the daughter of the former possessor, has succeeded him in the business. They both take a fancy to his wife, not knowing that she is niarried; each lays a wa ger that he will run away with her, and endeavours to bribe the husband to assist him. The latter is made stake-holder; and the landlady pretending to favour each, agrees to elope with both disguised in a horseman's coat. This plan she communicates to her husband; he per sonates his wife; and her disappointed admirers, to prevent the publication of the circumstance, make a present of the stakes to the landlord. The piece was well acted; and Knight, as the jealous husband, was particularly diverting. May 5, Mr. Kean presented himself to the public in the part of Othello. In the first scenes he was rather tame; but where the author himself rises, and the jealousy of Othello is awakened, there Mr. Kean displayed a degree of excelleuce equal to that of any of his preced 1814.] Dramatic Register-Covent-Garden. ing characters. The very harshness of his voice gave throughout a strong character to the wild passion of the Moor. On the 7th, Mr. Kean performed the very opposite part of Iago. The ability displayed by the late Mr. Cooke in his delineation of this character, can not be forgotten by those who have witnessed it. Nothing could be finer than the subtlety with which he made his first approaches to Othello,-nothing more highly finished than his hypocritical assumption of honesty; yet, great as were his powers in those scenes, they were, in our opinion, fully equalled both in fidelity of conception and vigour of execution, by the performance of Mr. Kean, whose manner, as we have already observed, is strikingly similar to that of Mr. Cooke. In short, throughout the performance he identified himself with the character:-a finer piece of cunning and hypocrisy could not be imagined. The Othello of Mr. Sowerby, whose performance abounds in those characteristics which in a barn are calculated to strike the wondering rustics, called forth the decided disapprobation of the audience. The public sense entertained of Mr. Kean's merits was strikingly evinced at his benefit on the 25th May; it produced upwards of 2,0007., which is more than double what the capacity of the house can yield at the ordinary prices. The play of Riches (an alteration of Massinger's City Madam) was of course very appropriately chosen by him for the oc casion. In the above, and several less prominent characters, Mr. Kean continued during the remainder of the season to be the principal attraction at this house, which finally closed on the 16th of July, COVENT GARDEN.-On the re-opening of this theatre after the holidays, on the 11th of April, a new after-piece was produced under the title of Sadak and Kalasrade, or the Waters of Oblivion. Of this drama, founded on one of the Tales of the Genit, it will be sufficient to remark, that its merit consisted entirely in the excellence of the scenery, the ingenuity of the machinery, and the splendour of the dresses and decorations, which obtained for it a very favourable reception. On the 20th of the same month, Debtor and Creditor, a new comedy, from the pen of Mr. Kenny, was performed. The plot is very simple:-The debtor, (personated by Mr. Jones,) an 61 extravagant but feeling young man, is in love with Barbara, (Mrs. Jordan,) a rich heiress, whose guardian, a London merchant, designs her as wife for his step-son. The latter discovering her inclination for his rival, endeavours to have him arrested; but the debt is discharged by his uncle, who, after many reports to the prejudice of his nephew, is satisfied of the integrity of his conduct, and the piece ends in his marriage with Barbara. Those who are acquainted with Mr. Kenny's former productions, must be aware that from the mere outline of his plot, a very slender idea can be formed of the peculiar merits which characterize his pieces. They do not consist in originality, character, nor even in placing what is already upon the stage in a more bold or prominent point of view, but in a happy mode of combining incidents, always fanciful, and not unfrequently ludicrous, which rarely fails to excite the laughter of the audience. This, we may be told, is better adapted to the province of farce than to that of legiti mate comedy, and we will not dispute the truth of the remark; but it is certainly preferable to those weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable lectures contained in our modern sentimental comedies, which neither improve our morals, nor enliven our spirits; but if they find us dull in the beginning, are sure to increase our distemper as they proceed. In these observations on Mr. Kenny's peculiar merit, we would not be understood to insinuate that he has not abilities, if he pleased to cultivate them, of a more lofty kind. This, indeed, is fully evinced in the present piece, the dialogue of which is in general neat and pointed, and the sentiment unaffected. Its object is to point out some of the most glaring vices of fashionable life; and the author has certainly displayed, in a very forcible manner, the meanness of contracting debts without the ability to discharge them,-the infamy of seducing those who claim our protection, and the gross folly of squandering estates in the encouragement of pugilism. The piece was well supported by the performers, and warmly received. May 18, Mr. Kemble, after a short retirement, appeared in the character of Coriolanus, and his talents never shone more resplendent. Applause followed him throughout, but was particularly enthusiastic in the concluding scene. To the no small regret of the public, it |