and marry, and they part, with no hope of seeing each other again on earth, saying, "Farewell! till we meet in heaven!"

The scenes of passionate filial affection-of the almost supernatural exertions Anne Faithful makes to discharge a debt, and release her poor father from prison-that where she takes the fatiguing walk to the attorney's, and finds that the money she has so hardly earned is still insuf ficient to procure her parent's discharge-that, where after a day of exertion and disappointment, she reaches his place of confinement too late to be admitted, and unreproachingly kneels down by the prison walls, with her hand upon her brow, her sorrows become prayers and looks up to God for strength, for patience, and for hope all these and various others are eminently beautiful and touching.

Acute observations on life, and moral hints of practical utility, quaintly and pleasantly expressed, are not wanting to increase the value of this work. Occasionally, too, there are little outpourings of poetry, quite in character with the style of the age, like the following:

"Blessings are like birds, which hop about us with their wings folded, and we do not see the beauty of their plumage, but when they spread their wings for flight, then we see all the brilliancy of their colour, and the gracefulness of their form."

We take leave of these delightful volumes with regret, but we hope we have said enough to impress on our readers the very high estimation in which we hold them.

Polish Tales. By the Authoress of "Hungarian Tales."

MRS. C. Gore is indisputably one of the best of the several excellent female writers of the day. She has written much-at times unequally, but never dully, and

"Tous les genres sont bons, hors le genre ennuyeux." Her present work consists of one long and two short tales, with the following pleasant titles "The Confederates of Lubionki," "The Mill of Mariemont," and "The Pasieka, or Bee-farm."

The scenes of these pleasant narratives are fixed in Poland, or at the Russian Court, and many characters, famous or notorious in modern history, such as the northern Semiramis, the Empress Catharine, the Poniatowskis, the Czartoryskis, the depraved ainbassador of Great Britain, Sir Charles Williams, and others of the same stamp, figure in them. It was reasonably to be apprehended at a moment like this present, when the bravery and misfortunes of the Poles have produced a general sympathy for them, with a general exaggeration of all their good qualities, and of all the bad qualities of their enemies the Russians, that our fair author should not have been able to free herself from the prevailing spirit of hyperbole and misrepresentation. She has

done this, however, and we are glad she has, for we are of opinion that no cause can be permanently and effectually served, save by the exposition of truths and the confessions of faults committed. If a thoroughly good and a thoroughly bad character be each rare, still more rare is an intrinsically virtuous and an intrinsically vicious nation. It is an amusement only fit for children to depict, as some writers have lately been doing the people of Poland, as a people of Paladins, and the population of Russia as a population of Ogres. Far be it from us the attempt to extenuate the mighty iniquity of the partition of Poland, and the cruel vengeance recently wreaked by Russia on those who had a right to struggle for their nation's independence, and who were only wrong in mistaking their time and means, and in beginning their revolution by midnight assassinations. But we would draw our reader's attention to the facts, that the masses of these two nations are equally in a state of semi-barbarism-that in the one as in the other, the people are serfs, and few, save the nobility, have, or have had, anything like education or political rights; that, instead of being widely different, the Russians and the Poles have strong points of resemblance to each other, derived from their common descent from the great Sclavonic race, and the common use of the widely-spread Sclavonic language, so slightly modified by each, that, with a very little trouble, they can understand one another. We would also observe, that the ruin of Poland is attributable to the absurd system of elective monarchy, in which her nobles persisted to the last. Under this system, every noble of the first order might become king, or he might see the crown voted to a relative or a friend; and dazzled by such a prospect of personal aggrandisement, few of them were ever patriots enough to think

of the continual civil wars and miseries inflicted on their unhappy country. Indeed these ambitious Poles were not only infamous for their intrigues at St. Petersburg, and other foreign courts, to obtain favour and patronage, but were themselves the first to introduce foreign armies into their native country, to support their respective claims or parties in cases of contested elections; and for a series of ages the election of nearly every king was contested by arms. Innumerable other vices involved in the Polish constitution-which seems to have been framed by the very Demon of Dis. cord-rendered it the unhappiest country of Europe, and a nuisance to all its neighbours; nor did they cease until Poland was laid a helpless victim at the feet of the unjust partitioning powers, Russia, Austria, and Prussia.

The most oppressive despotism that ever ground a nation is preferable to constantly recurring anarchy. But for this anarchy, which was as inseparable from her form of government as heat from fire, or cold from ice, Poland would at this moment have occupied the post among nations which Russia holds. She would have

been the great power of the north. She has lost that splendid opportunity, and the most sanguine can hardly expect it will ever return!

Mrs. Gore has very adinirably described the intrigues at the court of Catherine, and the utterly immoral manner in which her Polish lover Stanislaus Poniatowski paved his way at St. Petersburg to the throne of his own country. All this is borne out by authentic history! The blunders of immediate-emancipationists, and the ill-directed plots of the Polish peasants, are also well described in one of her interesting tales. Throughout she has done justice to all parties, and shown an acquaintance with the manners and feelings of the country she describes, and of the country itself, which is surprising, while it is instructive. At the same time the stories are animated in the extreme, abounding in variety of characters, in spirit-stirring adventures, or touching scenes. Her style is too well known to require commendation at our hands; it is always lively, graceful, and lady-like. Our estimation for her talents generally, has been increased by the perusal of her" Polish Tales," which we cordially recom. mend to the public. They will give the novel reader much information concerning a country that is very little known.

The Naturalist's Library: Ornithology. Vol. I.: Humming Birds.

THIS is a beautiful, an excellent, and a surprisingly cheap volume. It contains no less than thirty engravings of the different species of one of

the loveliest and the minutest of the feathered tribe, all admirably coloured; concise and clear descriptions of them, with a well-written life of the great naturalist, Linnæus, into the bargain; and all this, and the very perfection of printing and paper, for six shillings!

This Library is edited by Sir William Jardine,

well known from his edition of North American Ornithology. If it continue as it has commenced it cannot fail of splendid success.

An Introduction to the Study of English Botany; with a Glossary of Terms. Illustrated by thirty-seven Plates. By George Banks, F. L. S.

This is the second edition of another excellent work on another delightful branch of natural history-that rich and varied science whose subjects are incessantly presenting themselves to the observation of our senses, and are too generally most culpably neglected. The truth is, our indolence has been terrified by hard names, involved and never-ending classifications, and the absence of spirited engravings to speak to the senses, and of clear, unencumbered descriptions to strike and to remain upon the memory. Works like the present, and some others, in different departments of the same science, must certainly tend to disseminate knowledge, by making the acquisition

of it easy and pleasant; and we feel it our duty to recommend all such, as they appear, to the attention of our readers.

Can any subject be better adapted to our fair friends, than the gentle study of botany? Let them see with what winning eloquence our author recommends his favourite pursuit, and let them bear his words in mind, at this delightful season of the year, when nature, casting off her winter dishabille, is arraying herself in her most beauteous toilette of springing leaves and budding flowers.

"When man was exiled from that blissful garden where every tree was 'pleasant to the sight or good for food,' and doomed to eat the herb of the field,' where it grew amidst thorns and thistles,' necessity made him a botanist. He learned to separate the nutritious from the noxious; and when pain and sickness assailed him, he sought the balsam and the balm. The science of economical Botany, teaching us to supply our wants from the stores of vegetable nature, has been known in all ages, and is diffused over every quarter of the world. But nature is beautiful no less than benign. The lowliest herb that fringes her green mantle is a work of wonder; and it is to contemplate such works as these, that Botany, apart from its economical purposes, invites us.

"If it be objected that no practical benefit arises from the science thus considered; if it be said that this sort of Botany is of no use, the reply the body, it is useful to encourage a taste for a should be, that as air and exercise are salutary to pursuit which tempts its votaries abroad. The sports of the field are applauded on this account; but these are the privilege of a few; of those who health and strength and the full tide of spirits are among the rich, and who are blessed with which the rude exercise demands; but the gentle charm which calls the Botanist into the fields and woods, operates upon the tender and dejected, as well as the robust and joyous; and many a valetudinarian, who has wanted an inducement to walk, would have found it in the pursuit of botany. It is moreover to be urged, that a taste for simple pleasures is salutary to the mind; that men who love to contemplate the works of

nature, learn to look with less longing eyes upon the enticements of the world; and that the most eminent of naturalists have been found among the most amiable of men.”—Introduction. Wordsworth, in his magnificent Sonnet, beginning

"The world is too much with us," Exclaims,

"Little we see in Nature that is ours!" This is too true; but let us recall our hearts, of which we have made "a sordid boon," and apply our faculties to remove the veil of ignorance that prevents our enjoying and appropriating so much that is wondrous and beautiful!

Etymological Guide to the English Language. Being a Collection, alphabetically arranged, of the Principal Roots, Affixes, and Prefixes, with their derivatives and compounds.

We warmly recommend this comprehensive and admirable treatise, of only a few pages, to all young students, and to such of our fair friends as are terrified by the voluminous etymological works of Crabbe and others.

Without any acquaintance with the learned language, they will here find the derivation and value of innumerable words and syllables that are inseparably mingled in our composite idiom, and of constant occurrence even in our most fami

liar conversation, though frequently perverted from their proper meaning through want of a very

little attention.

If those to whom we address ourselves and we might add many of maturer years, and many even of the sex supposed to be the more learnedwould place this miniature volume on the table when they write or read, they would soon derive from it the correction of numerous little errors or inadvertencies, and acquire that familiarity with the broad features of etymology without which it is impossible to write or speak correctly. We call the attention of all who are charged with the

a manner.

elementary education of youth to this volume. The subject of which it treats has been too much neglected or handled, in too crabbed and difficult It is the production of John Wood, esq., a Scotch gentleman of family and fortune, who has for many years taken an active part in the popular education of his country, not giving it merely his advocacy and pecuniary support, but labouring himself in the seemingly humble, but really noble vocation of schoolmaster to the poor children of Edinburgh, for whose use the book has been written. If there be any who, in ridiculous pride, could despise the volume on the last-mentioned ground, let us inform them that we have attended the scene of Mr. Wood's meritorious exertions (the Edinburgh Sessional School), and have found the children there, in consequence of Mr. Wood's system, of which the matter in the volume under notice forms a prominent part, better acquainted with the etymology of their language and its general construction, than most of our young men who have received what is called a "classical education"-aye, and gone through one of the universities to boot.

As this valuable libretto has come quietly into

the world without announcement or puff, its author modestly thinking that its use would be confined to the Sessional Schools, it is necessary for us to mention that it is published by Wardlaw, Edinburgh; by Duncan, and by Whittaker and Co. London. We are thus particular, because we think it supplies a deficiency that has existed too long.

The Musical Scrap Book. Edited by Finley Dun.

in numbers, at Edinburgh, where the tasteful and THIS very cheap selection of music is published,

talented editor now resides and teaches his of song, Italy, where, to our knowledge, his science. Mr. Finley Dun lived long in that land musical acquirements, and correct taste, were thought so much of that he was not only admitted as an excellent critic among the conoscenti, but

frequently consulted by some of the best composers of the day. He had, indeed, secured the advantages of the best musical instruction the country could afford, ending with that of "the last of the Romans," the inimitable Crescentini. This might be sufficient assurance that a collection made by him would be different from the hum-drum" monotony in wire," so often inflicted and, in fact, as far as it has gone, Mr. Dun's on the British public in works of a like nature: publication has been excellent. It consists of songs, ballads, romances, ariettes, &c., (original as well as selected) for the voice; and of polonaises, quadrilles, waltzes, &c., for the piano-forte. will be found to be delightfully novel and well Some of the popular Sicilian and Neapolitan airs

set.

Britannia Saxonica. By W. Collen.

THIS work will be found to be an admirable aid to the reader of our early history. In fact, the tables of the kings and kingdoms of the Saxon Octarchy were a desideratum which it has most satisfactorily supplied. The work is accompa nied by a well engraved coloured map of England, with the boundaries of the eight kingdoms, the four great roads, and the Saxon names of places. The genealogical tables reflect great credit on the author's industry and research, and we warmly recommend his book as a most valuable companion to Sharon Turner's history of the Anglo Saxons.

VOL. II. NO. V.

N N

The Album Wreath.

For the small sum of one shilling, this little periodical gives an excellent engraving, the music of a song, and abundance of pretty poetry, the whole upon paper of various hues. It is elegantly got up, and, from the talent it contains, is well worthy of patronage.

country as a composer and a useful master of singing and composition. He came to England before the complete destruction of the old dramatic music of Italy, and has retained much of the taste of the school of Cimarosa, united with the modern system of instrumentation. He has resided many years among us, and, as a master, has been of great use to our school of singing. As a composer Signor Liverati has certainly not been appreciated according to his deserts. Some of his operas evince considerable genius; and that of

years since at the King's Theatre, would have been very successful but for the slovenly and dis. graceful manner in which it was got up and performed. The operetta of Amore e Psiche, written expressly for Signor Liverati's pupils, and privately performed by them, is full of merit; and from it are extracted the three pieces before us, which we earnestly recommend to every lover of pure Italian music.

The Village Bells, a Ballad. Words and Music by Hawkins D'Alton, Esq.

He died, a Ballad. By the same. FROM the title of esquire at the end of this gentleman's name, we presume he is an amateur; we therefore shall not be severe upon his music. Only we recommend him never to jerk the first syllable of a word, as he has done in imitation of some of our native composers; it is vulgar and incorrect. We likewise advise him in future not to accentuate such words as "on" and "against." His poetry is weak and common-place.

Lady; the Music by Henry R. Bishop. Friendship. The Poetry by a Young

THE music of this ballad is very sweet and pretty; but it is not upon such productions as this that Mr. Bishop has founded his great repu

WE rejoice that the German Operas are to commence in a few days at Drury-lane Theatre, under the direction of Mr. Chelard and with the same performers, aided by the additional talents of Madame Malibran, as gave such satisfaction at the King's Theatre last year. Mr. Chelard and Mr. Eliason, who is engaged as first violin at the German Opera, intend to give a grand dramatic concert on the 3rd of June, at the Hanover Square rooms; the orchestra to consist of upwards of a hundred performers, and much of the music to be of an entirely new character-new at least in this country. We sincerely hope they will succeed, as both of these gentlemen are ornaments to their art, the one as a great master,

the other as an elegant and graceful performer on the violin. Pixis is just arrived from Paris with a pupil of his, a young lady with a fine contr'alto voice, and of whose powers fame speaks highly. George Osborne, the piano-forte player, is also arrived from the French metropolis. This young artist has made wonderful progress since he was here last, and may now be considered at the very top of his profession. He has brought with him some of his new compositions, which denote genius of the highest order. To these arrivals we may add those of Madame Malibran, and that beautiful violin player, De Beriot. Madame Devrient is expected every day; so is Paganini.

Captain Gronow-A person named Leveridge lately applied, to Mr. Dyer, at the Marlborough Street Office, for a warrant to apprehend Captain Gronow, the member for Stafford, for attempting to commit a felony. 'Mr. Leveridge, it appeared, had been one of Captain Gronow's electioneering agents at the late contest for Stafford, and he had received a bill from the Captain, payable at Coutt's, for 421., in part of his expenses. The bill was dishonoured; and although frequent application had been made to Captain Gronow for payment of it, Mr. Leveridge complained that he could get no money. At length his wife, who is a remarkably powerful, Amazonian woman, called at the Captain's residence to demand payment. She was introduced to him, and he asked to see the bill as soon as she produced it, he endeavoured to snatch it out of her hand; and it was for this attempt "to steal" the bill that the warrant was applied for. Captain Gronow appeared on Monday to answer the charge. He said that, on the occasion alluded to, he merely wished to read the bill, and that he had used no violence whatever. The charge was dismissed as unsupported by evidence, and being in itself excessively improbable. A great deal of abusive language passed between the parties.

Rowland Hill.The venerable and worthy, though eccentric preacher, Rowland Hill, has at last " gone the way of all flesh." He died on the 11th of April, at his house in Blackfriars Road: his age was eighty-nine. Mr. Hill's physical powers had been long declining, but his intellectual energies remained almost unimpaired to the last moment of his life; he sunk under a gradual decay of nature, and died without a groan. On Monday morning (the 8th instant), he preached for the last time to an immense audience, composed principally of the boys belonging to the Sunday School Union, whom he had been in the habit of addressing on every successive Easter Monday, for some years past. On Tuesday morning, he expressed a desire to address the girls connected with the same schools, which was also his accustomed practice; but being very unwell, he was dissuaded from it by his friends; and his assistant, the Rev. Mr. Wait, officiated in his

room. During the morning of that day, he found it necessary to lie down in his bed, from which he never rose more.

Steeple Chace. The steeple chace between the Earl of Eglington and Mr. Edington lately took place, and excited a very great degree of interest among the members of the sporting world, both of" high and low degree." The ground marked out for the race was from Barnwell Hill, over the country to a point on the opposite side of the Powburn, an oblong course of four miles. In all five races took place betwixt ten horses, boná fide the property of Lord Eglington and Mr. Edington of Glasgow. Gentlemen riders; fifty sovereigns aside. The first, second, third, and fifth races were won by Lord Eglington's horses; the Earl riding the first and third for himself, and Mr. Gavin Hamilton riding the other two for him. The fourth was won by Mr. Edington's horse, rode by Mr. T. Annesley. The speed was very great; the four miles being performed in some of the races in less than fifteen minutes.

Earthquake. About a quarter past eight in the evening of Sunday se'nnight, a shock of an earthquake was felt at Horsham. At some houses the shock was much more perceptible than others. Many persons thought that a principal beam had given way; and others that some person was in their houses. In the shops the articles seemed falling; and the scales were put in motion. Many were engaged examining their premises in the utmost alarm. Mr. Hurst's hall-bell rung. At Denne the pictures moved, and a bird fell from the perch in the cage. At Sir T. Shelley's and Mr. Tredcroft's they were much alarmed. We were among those who knew nothing of it till the morning. Sussex Advertiser.

Dr. Priestley-A numerous and highly-respectable meeting of nearly two hundred gentlemen of Birmingham and its vicinity, was lately held at Dee's Royal Hotel, Birmingham, to celebrate by a public dinner the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Dr. Priestley. The Reverend John Corrie, President of the Birmingham Philosophical Society, was in the Chair. Several excellent speeches were made by the Chairman, and the other Dissenting ministers of Birmingham and the neighbouring towns. The great change in the feelings of the people since the time of the Church and King riots which drove Priestley across the Atlantic, was especially pointed out; and the late meeting in London, held for the purpose of doing honour to his scientific acquirements and discoveries, and which was attended by so many eminent men of science, was adduced as a gratifying proof of the increasing liberality of the age. The memory of Priestley was drunk in silence :