means pure, and its humour is both broad and too much tinctured with slang: i. e. the language of St. Giles's transferred to the boxing-ring, the bagnio, and the bear-baiting.

"Still, we do not mean to deny that much insight into the manners of the French capital may be gained from this volume, the author being, as he asserts, personally well acquainted with that great metropolis: but then, besides that we are kept too much in English association, and of the kind intimated, we are in like manner nearly confined with regard to Parisian company to the gens de jeu and the filles de joie, and have no intercourse with high and respectable or learned and instructive society. Occasionally, however, as the English party visits the different institutions and sights of Paris, some acceptable particulars respecting those objects are interwoven with the prevailing detail of nonsense and profligacy. Among others, the account of the French drama and dramatic representations deserves notice, and the description of the Hôtel des Invalides, or Hospital for wounded Soldiers. A variety of poetical effusions are also interspersed, some of them translated from the French, and several of them displaying no mean proficiency in versifying.-Altogether, we should imagine that Mr. Carey has talents that might appear to advantage in a less equivocal shape than they assume in this volume."

Mr. Malthus has published a new work in one octavo volume, entitled "The Measure of Value, as determined by Theory and Experience, with Specific applications of this measure, to the Alteration in the Value of the Currency."

Kruitzner.-As Miss Harriet Lee's tale of this title is about to be republished by Mr. Henry, of New York, we copy the opinion of the British Critic, expressed in an article upon women.

"Since its republication it has been very generally read, and we think upon the whole justly admired. Miss Harriet Lee wants softness and flexibility of style, but her subject required those properties as little as possible, and the vigour of the whole performance makes ample amends for some occasional harshness."

Sequel to an unfinished Manuscript of Henry Kirk White. London, 1823. 12mo. pp. 142. Price 4s.-We have always considered the duties of a critic to be of the most serious nature. His judgment, if partial, must either injure the fame and property of a writer, or unjustifiably benefit them at the expense of the public; and, if his judgment be erroneous, he may injure society by the suppression of useful matter, or, on the other hand, by contributing to the diffusion of what is pernicious. We regret when these conscientious views of our functions compel us to pass severe and unqualified censure on works which, like that now before us, are published with the best intentions towards the community. This little volume, after a preface containing the pious fraud of asserting the quiet death-bed to be the necessary consequence of a religious life, proceeds to a support of revelation, by a collection of matter much of which is unfounded, much is questionable, and the remainder is either totally irrelevant to the point to be established, or, if true and applicable, is put by the author in a manner by no means superior to that in which it has been used by his numerous predecessors. We express our opinions thus strongly, from a conviction that the cause of Christianity has been seriously injured by the many impotent works, which weak, but well meaning, men have lately published in its defence. With those who are firm in their faith, a work like the present is useless; to those who are wavering or sceptical, its style would render it repulsive and ridiculous, whilst, to the reader of reflection, its badness of reasoning would make it an object of contempt. The great injury done by such works is amongst the half learned, who judge a cause to be weak from the weakness of its advocate; and the very extensive diffusion of infidelity through every rank of life may in a great measure be traced to three causes; that of attracting the public attention to infidel writings by the indictment of publishers; that of exciting sympathy for those publishers by sentences unreasonably severe, and, finally, by the want of discrimination and of reasoning faculty in by far the greater number of those who write in the defence of Christianity. The Hore Pauline of Dr. Paley, or the Analogy of Bishop Butler, and works of similar depth of ingenuity, can be alone useful where publications like the present have so long ceased to be objects of respect even to the most illiterate.—European Mag.

Biographical Notices.

The Rev. WILLIAM BINGLEY, F.L.S. author of "Animal Biography," and of several other ingenious works of natural history, was brought up in the law; but prospects of promotion led him to exchange this profession for that of the church. He devoted his leisure from his early years to the study of natural history, and was beginning to acquire a solid reputation at the time when he was cut off by a short illness. The Monthly Magazine was formerly indebted to him for many interesting articles of natural history, and particularly for the Monthly Reports, which were continued for several years, and dated "Christ Church," where the author at that time performed parochial duty. He died in Charlotte-street, Bloomsbury, aged 54.

JOHN PHILIP KEMBLE, Esq. long the chief tragedian of the British stage, was born at Prescot, in 1757. At the time of his birth, his father, Mr. Roger Kemble, was manager of a company of comedians, who had a regular routine of performances in Lancashire. When Kemble was only ten years old he played in his father's company, at Worcester, the part of the Duke of York, in the tragedy of King Charles the First. The early part of his education he received in the Roman Catholic seminary at Sedgley Park, Staffordshire. He was afterwards, in the year 1770, sent by his father to the University of Douay, in order that he might be qualified for one of the learned professions. At Douay he rendered himself remarkable by his recitations of Shakspeare; and on his return to England he made his appearance at Wolverhampton, in the character of Theodosius in the Force of Love, but without any extraordinary success. His second appearance was in Bajazet, in which he produced a stronger impression. At York he distinguished himself by recitations, and at Edinburgh by delivering an able lecture on sacred and profane oratory. It was, however, a Dublin audience which first appreciated his merits. In 1782 he appeared in that city in the character of Hamlet; and in 1783 came out in the same character at Drury-Lane Theatre. His reputation was immediately established; but it was not until the year 1788 that he became the monarch of the stage. In 1787 he married Mrs. Brereton, daughter of Mr. Hopkins, the prompter of Drury-Lane Theatre, of which, in the following year, he became the manager. With the exception of a short interval, he continued manager until 1801. During this period his conduct in his arduous situation was remarkable for firmness, diligence, integrity, and talent. His single energy accomplished a complete reform in the whole system of scenic dress and decoration. Macbeth no longer sported an English general's uniform; men of centuries ago no longer figured in the stiff court dresses of our own time; and

"Cato's full wig, flowered gown, and lackered chair,”

gave way to the crop, the toga, and couch. Nor were the improvements in the scenery less remarkable and important. The

consequence was an ensemble, such as had never before been seen in any modern theatre. At the close of the season of 1801 he devoted a year to travelling abroad, and on his return in 1803, he purchased a sixth share of Covent Garden Theatre, became manager, and appeared for the first time on those boards, in his favourite character of Hamlet, on the 24th of September. Here he continued his career with eminent success, both as a manager and a performer, until 1808, when the tremendous fire broke out which destroyed the theatre. The raising of the present noble edifice, the O. P. riot of 1809, Kemble's taking leave of the Edinburgh audience in the part of Macbeth, in March, 1817; his final retirement from the stage on the 23d of June, in the same year; and the magnificent public dinner, and other honours bestowed on him in commemoration of that event; were events which closed his public career. He combined, in an eminent degree, the physical and mental requisites for the highest rank in his profession. To a noble form and classical and expressive countenance, he added the advantages of a sound judgment, indefatigable industry, and an ardent love and decided genius for the art of which he was so distinguished an ornament. He possessed, besides, what we have always regarded as an essential characteristic of a first-rate tragic actor, an air of intellectual superiority and a peculiarity of manner and appearance, which impressed the spectator at the first glance with the conviction that he was not of the race of common men. His voice was defective in the under tones necessary for soliloquies; but in declamation it was strong and efficient, and, in tones of melancholy, indescribably touching. No music was ever heard which could better revive the tale of past times. It was one of the most exquisite beauties of his performances, that one passage frequently recalled to the mind a whole history." His groupings, his processions, all his arrangements, while they were in the highest degree conducive to theatrical effect, were yet so chaste and free from glare and undue pompousness, that they appeared rather historical than dramatic, and might have been safely thrown upon the canvass by the painter, almost without alteration. As an author, Mr. Kemble produced little that is likely to add materially to his fame, but what he has written, contains satisfactory evidence of his learning and good taste. He died at Lausanne, from apoplectic seizure, in the 66th year of his age.

"a

Dr. EDWARD JENNER, the discoverer of vaccination. If any man ever existed who possessed an original, and, we might almost add, an intuitive claim to the pretensions of a natural Historian and Physiologist, Dr. Jenner was that claimant. Nature had given him great genius, vast sagacity, much inclination, and great ardour in the prosecution of the subjects of Natural History, Physiology, and Pathology. His researches were consistent and connected. an early age he was destined to the study of one department of the medical profession, surgery. In the commencement of his studies, he was associated and connected with some late eminent characters, Dr. Parry of Bath, Dr. Hickes of Gloucester, and Dr. Ludlow of

At

Corsham, near Bath; but, besides these, he was honoured with the peculiar friendship and patronage of the late Mr. John Hunter, of whose name it is nearly superfluous to mention that it stands highest in the rolls of surgical and philosophic reputation. Mr. Hunter, well aware of the extraordinary talents of Dr. Jenner, then a pupil, offered to him patronage, connexion, and employment, in his professional and physiological pursuits. Dr. Jenner, however, preferred a residence at his native place, Berkeley; here he acquired not merely high local reputation, but, from the public observations and discoveries which he promulgated, great estimation in the superior ranks of philosophers and medical professors. After some less important communications to the Royal Society of London (of which he was early made a member) he imparted to them a complete Natural History of the Cuckoo, of which bird the laws and habits were previously unknown, and were involved in obscurity; the singular ingenuity of this paper, and the acute powers of observation which it developed in the observer, enhanced Dr. Jenner's reputation in the philosophic world. Dr. Jenner also communicated to his youthful friend and colleague, attached to him by congenial feeling and similarity of pursuit, the late highly-gifted Dr. Parry, of Bath, his discovery of the internal diseased structure of the heart, which produces the disease called Angina Pectoris, and which was before unknown and conjectural. Dr. Parry, in a treatise on the subject, not only most honourably recorded Dr. Jenner's original detection of the cause of the disease, but confirmed its accuracy by subsequent and ingenious investigation. After a long and arduous inquiry into the disease termed Cow Pox, which is a common complaint in cows in Gloucestershire and some other counties, and which, to those who receive it from the cows in milking, appears, from long existing tradition, to confer complete security from the Small Pox, either natural or inoculated, Dr. Jenner determined to put the fact to the test of experiment, and accordingly inoculated some young persons with the matter taken from the disease in the cows, in 1797. From the proof which these experiments afforded of the power of the Cow Pox Inoculation to protect the human being from the Small Pox contagion, Dr. Jenner was induced to bring this inestimable fact before the public in 1798. That this was promulgated with all the simplicity of a philanthropist, and with all the disinterestedness of the philosopher, every candid contemporary and observer will admit, and will unite in admiring his just pretensions to both characters. The first medical professors in the metropolis allowed, that, had Dr. Jenner kept his discovery in the disguise of empirical secrecy, he would have realized immense emoluments; but the pure and liberal feelings which the doctor possessed spurned and rejected such considerations; and his general remunerations, even including the sums voted by Parliament, were well known to his confidential friends to be moderate in the extreme.

The meekness, gentleness, and simplicity of his demeanour, formed a most striking contrast to the self-esteem which might

have arisen from the great and splendid consequences of his discovery. He was thankful and grateful for them in his heart; but to pride and vain-glory he seemed to be an utter stranger. On a recent interesting occasion, a short time before his death, the following were among the last words that he ever spoke to the writer of these lines. The nature of his services to his fellow-creatures had been the subject of conversation: "I do not marvel," he observed, "that men are not grateful to me, but I am surprised that they do not feel gratitude to God, for making me a medium of good." No one could see him without perceiving that this was the habitual frame of his mind. Without it, it never could have been that in his most retired moments, and in his intercourse with the great and exalted of the earth, he invariably exhibited the same uprightness of conduct, singleness of purpose, and unceasing earnestness to promote the welfare of his species, to the total exclusion of all selfish and personal considerations. These qualities particularly arrested the attention of the many distinguished foreigners who came to visit him; and they were not less the cause of satisfaction and delight to his most intimate friends. His condescension, his kindness, his willingness to listen to every tale of distress, and the open-handed munificence with which he administered to the wants and necessities of those around him, can never be forgotten by any who have been guided and consoled by his affectionate counsel, or cherished and relieved by his unbounded charity. His sympathy for suffering worth, or genius lost in obscurity, was ever alive; and no indication of talent or ingenuity, no effort of intellect, ever met his eye without gaining his notice, and calling forth, on numberless occasions, his substantial aid and assistance. He was not less generous in pouring forth the treasures of his mind. A long life, spent in the constant study of all the subjects of natural history, had stored it with great variety of knowledge.-Here the originality of his views, and the felicity and playfulness of his illustrations, and the acuteness of his remarks, imparted a character of genius to his commonest actions and conversations, which could not escape the most inattentive observer.

A national monument has been proposed in Parliament, to this distinguished benefactor of mankind, and a subscription has been begun in the county where he resided, for erecting a memorial of his name and virtues. How soon will these perish! while the long course of time during which unborn generations will pay him grateful homage-unborn generations of every language and climate

-will only be terminated perhaps by the dissolution of all that exists of mankind. He died on the 26th of January, at his house in Berkeley, in his 74th year.

It will be seen by an advertisement on the cover of this number, that Mr. Walsh is no longer connected with the Museum. It must hereafter depend for its success upon its merits. The materials for the work are abundant, and the present editor comes to his task with a resolution to spare no labour to make it acceptable to the public.