the war-cry of the nobles, the groans of the people, have in turn mingled with the echo of its course. The bigot fury of the Huguenots, the vain conspiracies of the League, the idle war of the Fronde, the poor glory of a Louis XIV., the infamy of a Louis XV., and crowning all, the tremendous scenes of the Revolution. This the silent witness has beheld that glides beneath our boat and smiling bears it on. "But it may be that its smile is for other histories than these. Rich and prosperous towns, verdant meads, and fertile fields, fringe its course to the sea, and on its ample bosom are borne the products of the artizan's skill, the toils of the laborer, the freights of the merchant, and shall I speak of softer tales than it could tell? Those four tremendous letters before which the old world trembled - S P Q R have been reflected in its waters, and passed away; but the influence of four other letters lingers yet, and will, while those waters flow shall I speak of - LOVE? Of the village dances on the banks, the moonlight fétes upon the summer waves, the vows that have been sworn, the hearts that have been plighted by the old river-side?

"There is but one epithetas is proper, a French one-that can correctly describe the character of the Seine from Havre to Rouen. It is not savage, it is not soft, it is not grand, neither is it highly picturesque; but it is beyond all others that I know-riante."

Few readers, we apprehend, will read passages like these without being charmed with their natural sentiment, their graceful eloquence, and felicitous style.

In the second edition, to which we trust his work will arrive, we recommend Mr. Warburton to erase a nouvellette, in which an old legend with a De Courcy for its hero is dressed up as a modern love story;-to revise his note on the tapestry of Bayeux (the French authority he quotes is a sad blunderer- let him consult Mr. Gurney's paper on this celebrated stitchwork in the Archæologia); — and especially to omit the fabulous portrait of Rollo now prefixed to his work, in which the whole costume is one anachronism.

In conclusion, with some inaccuracies in detail, with much debateable matter in doctrine, Mr. Warburton has done ample credit to a name already so distinguished by the literary talent of his brothers, and has produced a book always animated by eloquence, and attractive by genuine feeling and lively enthusiasm. And in tracing the monuments of a race, so emphatically — a gentleman's refinthe fathers of gentlemen, ed taste and nature heighten every excellence, and extenuate many faults. — Examiner.

NATIONAL PREJUDICES.

From the moment in which the exercise of certain expressions of good will is exclusively directed to the body, the class, or nation to which we belong, and is denied to others- from the moment in which they break out into words and deeds of antipathy-from the moment in which the fact that a fellow man speaks a different language, or lives under a different government, constitutes him an object of contempt, abhorrence, or misdoings-from that moment it is maleficent. A toast, for example, in America has been given, "Our country, right or wrong!" which is in itself a proclamation of malefiance; and if brought into operation, might lead to crimes and follies on the widest conceivable field – to plunder, murder, and all the consequences of unjust wars. Not less blameworthy was the declaration of a prime minister of this country "That England-nothing but England-formed any portion of his care or concern." An enlarged philanthropy indeed might have given to both expressions a Deontological meaning, since the true interests of nations, as the true interests of individuals, are equally those of prudence

and benevolence; but the phrases were employed solely to justify wrong, if that wrong were perpetrated by the land or government which we call our own. Suppose a man were to give as a toast, in serious earnest, “Myself, right or wrong!" Yet the above assumptions of false patriotism, both in America and England, are founded on no better principle.— Bentham.

your

MAXIMS ON MONEY.

The art of living easily as to money, is to pitch scale of living one degree below your means. Comfort and enjoyment are more dependent upon easiness in the detail of expenditure than upon one degree's difference in the scale. Guard against false associations of pleasure with expenditure—the notion that because pleasure can be purchased with money, therefore money cannot be spent without enjoyment. What a thing costs a man is no true measure of what it is worth to him; and yet how often is his appreciation governed by no other standard, as if there were a pleasure in expenditure per se. Let yourself feel a want before you provide

SHORT REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

FRANCE AND ENGLAND: A Vision of the Future. By M. DE LAMARTINE. Translated from the French. New Edition, 24mo. H. G. Clarke and Co.

6.

This book will be received and recognised in a very different manner by different classes of readers. The high Conservative who believes, or asserts that he believes, that all things are arranged for the best, and that it is human nature itself that prevents any further improvement in human affairs, will cast away the book as the farrago of an insane, if not an evil-disposed man. "The practical politician," as he styles himself, who has mastered, as he thinks, the formula of public affairs; whose text-book is Adam Smith, and his guides the successive political economists who have amended or garbled the original work; who has no faith in philosophy or human nature; who endeavours to condense the principles that govern human society into arithmetical statements; and whose only remedy for the appalling evils that consume millions of human beings within our happy land," is some petty legislation to be wrung from Parliament by threadbare debates; will pronounce this book the insane dream of a dangerous enthusiast. Far different, however, will be the decision of the thousands of laboring, toiling, suffering men— men who have intelligence to understand the unequal position in which class legislation has placed them. This country now teems with many such. To them the game of politics that has been playing for so many hundred years has but little significance. They find that they toil more and reap less; that their energies are being over-taxed; the natural constitution of their class is degenerating under it; and they have no political means of bettering themselves. To such, and to those more cultivated minds whose sympathies are not bounded by class, and whose studies and tastes have led them to the consideration of a more equitable system of legislation, this little book will be most welcome. Its lofty views; its pure and noble sentiments; its enlarged and penetrating principles; will expand their feelings, and fill with

ly awaiting the dawn of an era promising something like justice to the many. It comes also with double effect, now that the theory is being tested; now that the opening of the prophecy is being so magnificently fulfilled. We read with the same sort of gratified but awful sensation, as when, having calculated an eclipse, we see the great machinery of the heavens realizing to the eye the calculations of the brain.

The form of the book, even by some of those who kindle to the principles, may be objected to. It may be thought that the frippery of fiction was not needed to set forth such serious and high matter. But it must be recollected that the work was written five years since, when there was but little prospect, even to the sagacious mind of its author, of any part of the vision being so rapidly realized. For one man who was then sufficiently elevated to perceive the coming events, a hundred thousand may now be reckoned, who are convinced, by the fulfilment of a portion of the theory. The prophet is seldom confided in, though he is deified when the result is perceived.

All classes, however, are interested in the work, as it may be taken as an indication of M. De Lamartine's opinion on many points of social legislation. It is, indeed, an index to the course of his political studies, if not of his present opinions. It treats, in his ever masculine and elevated style, of all that can affect the social organization of the state; and, though of wider meaning and larger scope, must be placed in the category of political allegories. It is of the same class as "Gulliver's Travels," "The Adventures of an Atom," Erskine's Armata," and "Disraeli's Captain Popanilla;" and all the numerous volumes that have sprung from the Utopia and the Gargantua. The exceeding interest of the political disquisitions, bearing so instantly as they do on impending circumstances, prevents any disquisition on it as a merely literary production. Perhaps it may be justly said that the allegorical machinery is not so cleverly constructed as in the works we have referred to; but then the eloquence of the style in which the political principles are developed, and the remarkable foreknowledge of political events since realized, far outweigh any such trivial deficiencies.

The work is so short and so cheap that we shall not seek to make our article a substitute, but, heartily recommending it to the perusal of every one interested in the great public events of the day, conclude with a few samples of its style and its tone:

THE LABORER.

"But the fight is not fought yet, for the injus

tice is not yet quite repaired; the operative has succeeded the serf and the slave; his labor is so excessive and so ill paid, that it is adverse to the complete and regular maturity of his body, his intellect, and his morals; however long his work, it does not bring in enough to satisfy his common wants, and à fortiori to provide for his wife and children; he is therefore exposed, he and his, to penury and brutishness, that is, to all infirmities, physical, intellectual, and moral. In a word, the poor man is used up by the rich; labor is ground down by the cupidity of capitalists in an unjust, inhuman manner; because there is violation of the rights and interests of the one to the exclusive profit of the other. Now, wheresoever the relationship between capital and labor are not based in justice, that is, on reciprocal advantage, there is ever a struggle; the greater the injustice the more violent the strife."

UNIVERSAL ENFRANCHISEMENT.

"In the beginning, as always happens when experience is deficient, some temporary embarrassment, some abuses of detail, resulted from this enfranchisement; but the false steps served as practical lessons. Men in power are only to be formed by the management of affairs: the most capable men need to acquire habit, and the most ignorant soon learn to select those most conversant with their interests. Discussion speedily enlightens the masses, and commonsense must prevail. The more we engage in every thing useful to a common end, the more attached we become to it, and desire its success and conservation. This direct or indirect share in local administration ought then to be as general as possible; and the freer the decisions, the more their importance is felt. It is that common activity, intelligent and impassioned, which constitutes the inner life of localities, which inculcates in each man the love of his natal soil, and devotion to the country of which he feels himself an integral portion it is that inner life of all the parts which confers on the body social its vigor, its power of resistance against the external causes of destruction.”

THE GREATER AND THE LESSER EVIL.

"I lament these calamities as much as your self. We must deplore private misfortunes, and endeavour to diminish them as much as possible; but we ought never to lose sight of the general result. There can be no progress without many interests being injured. It is doubtless a hard destiny; but it is found every where inevitable, and inflexible like the laws which govern matter, and in the end great advantage to the greatest number always results from it."

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

THE CUMING COLLECTION OF SHELLS.

The study of the shells which are inhabited by the various forms of molluscous animals is not the least interesting and attractive branch

of Natural History; and there are few objects in the animal kingdom which have been collected with greater diligence or preserved with more care. Such has been sometimes the solicitude to procure rare specimens, that hundreds of pounds have been spent on their purchase; and collectors have been known to destroy their duplicates for the sake of increasing the value of single examples. Although the spirit which has actuated the shell-collector has not always been a love of science, there can be little doubt that the zoologist of the present day is deeply indebted for his knowledge of the species of Mollusca to those who have collected them simply for the sake of their beautiful forms and colors. At first sight it might be supposed that a knowledge of the forms of the various species of shell-fish was of comparatively little importance; but when it is recollected how abundant they are in the ocean,- that various species of them inhabit different depths of water,— that they were not less abundant in previous periods,

- and that they form the most characteristic animal remains of the various strata of the earth-it will be seen that an acquaintance with their forms is capable of important practical applications, as well as of throwing light on the difficult problems of the science of geology. It is in this point of view that a collection of shells is to be regarded not as a show for children, but as a means of instruction in a valuable branch of science.

It is not perhaps generally known that one of the most splendid collections of shells in the world is at this moment in the possession of a private individual in London. The gentleman who has made and possesses it, is Mr. Hugh Cuming and it consists of upwards of 19,000 species or well-marked varieties, from all parts of the world. Of many of the species and varieties, there are several specimens ; — making in all about 60,000 shells. Not only is every specimen of this vast collection entire, but in every other respect- such as form, color, texture, and other characters - the shells are most perfect. We have the authority of Prof. Owen for stating "that no public collection in Europe possesses one half the number of species of shells that are now in the Cumingian collection,"

and that probably "one third the number would be the correct statement as regards the national museums in Paris and Vienna."

This vast museum has been entirely collected by the energy and perseverance of its possessor. By the possession of a large number of duplicates of rare specimens, he has had the command, by exchange to a greater or less extent, of all the conchological cabinets at present in existence; and—as Prof. Owen, in a letter

published in "The Annals of Natural History," on Mr. Cuming's museum, has justly observed "he is better known, and his labors are more truly and generally appreciated in any city or town in Europe having a public natural history museum and its zoological professor than in busy London." The labors of Mr. Cuming, however, have not been confined to exchanging specimens with European and American naturalists. It was necessary that he should himself possess a collection of specimens of the greatest rarity before he could place in his cabinets, by exchange, the rarities of other collectors. This he has done by devoting a life of excessive activity to travelling in almost every part of the known world. "Not restricting," says Prof. Owen, "his pursuit to the stores and shops of the curiosity-mongers of our sea-ports, or depending on casual opportunities of obtaining rarities by purchase, he has devoted more than thirty of the best years of his life in arduous and hazardous personal exertions, ― dredging, diving, wading, wandering, under the equator, and through the temperate zones, both north and south, in the Atlantic, in the Pacific, in the Indian Ocean and the islands of its rich archipelago in the labor of collecting from their native seas, shores, lakes, rivers, and forests, the marine, fluviatile, and terrestrial mollusks; 60,000 of whose shelly skeletons, external and internal, are accumulated in orderly series in the cabinets with which the floors of his house now groan."

The result of these exertions has been not merely the accumulation of this large number of shells, but Mr. Cuming has been able to record of each both the country where it was found and the exact circumstances in which it has lived and been developed. He has noted the rocks, trees, or herbs from which he has taken the land shells of his collection,- and of his aquatic mollusca, the kind of water whether marine or fresh, the nature of the sea-bottom, the rocks which they bored, and the animal or vegetable on which they fed. These particulars, with many others, give a rare value to Mr. Cuming's museum, and one not possessed to the same extent by any other. Such information is of the utmost importance to the geologist and palæontologist; enabling them, through the structural affinities of the fossil with these recent shells, to indicate those particulars of function and habit that alone can lead to a knowledge of the circumstances under which particular rocks have been formed. The amount of credit which is to be attached to any theory in geology founded on fossil shells must be just in proportion to the facility which we possess of comparing them with recent ones.

Nor is this collection less interesting to the physiologist; most of the specimens being not mere duplicates of a particular stage of growth or age of a species- but parts of a series representing the condition of the shell at various stages of its development. Varieties also have been carefully collected - and the circumstance noted under which their difference from the typical forms of the species has been acquired. In the study of the laws of morphology, as well as in the classification of the animal kingdom, such illustrative specimens are of the highest value and interest; and they may be made to tell upon some of the most difficult problems of Natural History.

In another point of view the specimens in this museum possess great value. Almost ever since the return of Mr. Cuming from his first voyage with his conchological treasures, they have been the source from whence naturalists have derived their specimens for the purposes of description — and many thousands of species thus described are to be found here only. On any future occasion, should these descriptions be doubted or their accuracy rendered suspicious, the only means of correction will be found in the specimens themselves. Just what the museum of Linnæus now in the possession of the Linnean Society of London is to the descriptions of Linnæus, will be the Cuming museum to the descriptions of Broderip, Sowerby, Gray, and other eminent conchologists.

We have drawn attention to this extraordinary collection for the purpose of announcing that Mr. Cuming has come to the determination of parting with it. Such a cabinet ought not, in fact, to be in the hands of a private individual. The getting it together would be worthy the ambition of a nation,—and it ought to be made national property. It has been offerred by Mr. Cuming to the British Museum at what we understand is an exceedingly low sum - very small compared with what it would fetch were it broken up for sale. We trust that such will not be its fate. Should it be allowed to be sold in parts, it would be an irreparable loss to science: - should it be sold to any other nation than our own it would be a national disgrace. The Trustees of the British Museum have already recommended the Government to purchase for the sum of 6,000l.; and a memorial to the same effect, signed by the principal men of science in London has also been presented to her Majesty's Ministers.

We hope that no mistaken economy will prevent the Government from embracing the offer. If they decline they will repent when too late. The fact of the Swedish government having refused the offer of the executors of Linnæus to purchase his museum will be fresh in the minds