day-that of publishing too carelessly, and with too little diffidence of public opinion. Let our criticisms induce him to exercise his mind in severer thought, and to be careful of avoiding redundancies and false ornament in his style, and we have no doubt that his literary success will be far from inconsiderable. It would be unjust not to add, that in his present volume there are many new and ingenious reflections put with much perspicuity and even with elegance. We believe we may say of this writer what may be said of most, that, where he is conscious of good and new ideas, he expresses them well. It is only when he has nothing to say that he attempts to be fine, and only when he attempts to be fine, that he becomes turgid and meretricious. Our limits prevent our exposing many of his opinions which are extremely erroneous, and from the same cause we are denied the pleasure of pointing out in detail the various merits of the work.

High-ways and By-ways; or, Tales of the Road-side, picked up in the French Provinces. By a Walking Gentleman, 8vo. pp. 432. London, 1823.

In the course of our professional duties, it is often our lot to encounter the opinions of individuals of what is called the old school-men who complain of the too great diffusion of letters, and, anticipating every evil from the dissemination of knowledge amongst the lower orders, exultingly point to the days of their youth, when a London newspaper would contain scarcely the advertisements of a dozen new books during a season. For our parts, we must confess, that in this particular at least we are disciples of the new school, and view the multiplicity of books which yearly issue from the press as an infallible indication of an improved and happier state of society. We are glad to see all orders of men won from the joys of sense to those of intellect, and we agree with those great writers who have maintained that morals and decorum are in ratio to the diffusion of knowledge, and that the best

check to the abuses of the press is to be found, not in the interference of the laws, but in the unlimited freedom of the press itself.

If we deny that books have increased beyond their due proportion to the increase of society, we must confess that poems and tales appear to us to have increased out of all ratio to the general multiplication of books. So numerous are the works of this description that, we believe, numbers of them receive less attention than they are entitled to and many an author of merit is fated to be but cursorily read by the critic, and to receive the judgment due to his class rather than to his individual performance.

We must confess we had no intention of giving to this volume a greater space in our review than what is due to works in general of this class; but, on perusing these Tales of the Road-side, we found them so distinguished for elegance of stylethe whole work is in what artists would call such excellent keepingand the author's sketches of characters, of scenery, and of incidents so felicitous, that we felt that a more lengthened description of the volume would be a source of amusement to every reader.

These tales are dedicated to the distinguished author of the Sketch Book, and of Bracebridge Hall; and they are written in the closest imitation of that polished and elegant writer. They have all his characteristic beauties and defects, the copy is seldom below the original, and in many points contains beauties which even Geoffrey Crayon himself might be proud to own. The general complexion of the work is, as to style, what the most polished manners are to society; indicating, perhaps, no natural excellence, but the highest culture and the most familiar acquaintance with the best models. In his delineations of character and of circumstances he never fails to interest his reader, or to leave a strong and permanent impression on the mind; but his effect is produced, not by bold and decisive touches of genius, but by nice discrimination and elaborate finish; and, like his prototype, his only fault is that of dilitation, arising, we should conceive, not from any effort at book

making, but rather from his character of intellect.

Our author with his dog and gun, and with the more necessary but less pleasing accompaniment of a knapsack, makes a pedestrian tour through the southern provinces of France; and his volume consists of four tales, in which he relates all that he has experienced and all that he has heard on his journey. In his avant-propos, he announces the design and plan of his intended tour, and evinces a disposition and a tact which might well be a passport of any pedestrian into the association of the inhabitants amongst whom he might choose to sojourn; and we conclude this prefatory intimation of his designs and plans with something bordering on a wish that we had been his compagnon de voyage.

The first story is entitled "The Father's Curse," a name we think the selection of which is in bad taste. Our author, in an elegant and interesting manner, recounts his intro ducing himself into the family of a country gentleman in the district of Le Perigord. The family is in mourning; every thing evinces recent grief, but present festivity. It was one of those observances of a custom common in France, of the neighbours assembling in the house of a friend to shew their attachment and to dissipate his grief for some recent misfortune. Our author is hospitably invited to join the assembly, the whole of which he describes with great pathos; and in his way home from the house, the physician of the neighbourhood relates to him the occasion of the meeting and the misfortunes of the family. M. Le Vasseur is a welldescended country gentleman, liv. ing on a good estate, happy and beloved by all around him: but the excess of crime and folly in the old Bourbon government had superinduced upon that class of persons in France habits of reflection, and a spirit of inquiry; and M. Le Vasseur, amongst the rest, had became a republican and a philosopher. He had fled Paris with horror at the excesses of the revolutionary party, and was residing in the country, fostering the hope that a government might be established as free from

anarchy as from the crimes and despotism of the old regime. M. Le Vasseur is painted with some inconsistancy; he is an unbending stoick, and yet permits much of the dissipation of French manners to be practised under his own roof. He abjures Christianity, and yet allows his children to be brought up in the Catholic superstition. Some excellent observations are made by the author upon French society, and upon the moral or rather immoral effects of their old religious and political institutions. The eldest daughter at length falls a prey to the laxity of female sentiments in France, she is seduced, and her subsequent anxiety and remorse, the conflict in the bosom of her seducer, his triumph over his stronger inclinations, and his marriage of the object of his seduction, the father's affliction and wounded pride, and his final reconciliation with his child, are all painted in the highest style of interest. But at length Agnes, the second and favourite child of Le Vasseur, marries against her father's consent with the son of a poor royalist, who had returned with the Bourbons. LeVasseur's cup of misery is now full, he bears his misfortune with philosophic sternness, but he abstracts himself from human sympathy: refuses to see his Agnes, who lives with her husband in terrible poverty, proudly refusing every assistance. The mother visits this daughter in her retreat, and, returning home, endeavours to persuade Le Vasseur to forgive his Agnes, and acquaints him with her pregnancy. He dispatches a servant with a letter to the cottage which all his family imagined contained the pardon of his child. It contained denunciations of his vengeance,—his curse. Agnes was momentarily expecting her confinement: the shock of this letter threw her into convulsions, which terminated her existance. It was the meeting of the family and neighbourhood after this catastrophe to which our author had been invited at the introduction of the tale.

Our limits do not allow us to make any extracts, and it is doing the author great injustice to give the mere outline of his tales, for his principal

merit lies more in filling up that out line than in the outline itself. Some of his scenes are exquisitely wrought, and the meeting of Madame Le Vasseur with her unfortunate Agnes is of this description.

The second story is of a more varied description; but it is dreadfully dilated, and ought to be reduced to half its present size. It contains many excellent passages, and wants little but abridgement to render it of equal interest with the rest. We must observe, that the author's abandonment of the noble stranger, so universally beloved, on his discovering that he had been one of the many who had voted for the execution of Louis XVI., appears to us extravagant and childish. We abhor bloodshed, and pity that weak and unfortunate king, but, considering the frenzy excited at the moment, it savours little of good sense or of christian charity to be fostering enmity and prejudices upon the subject after a lapse of thirty years. Considering also the general aspect of the times, it might be more bene ficial to the human race, to teach moderation and mercy in revolutionary conflicts, than to preach against revolutions which may, perhaps, be

unavoidable.

The third story, "The Birth of Henry IV." is of little interest, but it is introduced by a pastoral scene on the Pyrenees, and a sketch of a Spanish guerilla and smuggler, which no author of the present day could surpass.

The book concludes with the story of "La Vilaine Tete," and relates to the horrors perpetrated in La Vendée, by religious fury on one side, and by the revolutionary mania on the other. This story is of so high an interest that it would alone make the volume acceptable to the public, and we regret that we cannot give a sketch of it to our readers.

We would advise this author to depend more upon his talent for discrimination, and upon his natural genius than upon his acquirements, however those acquirements may be of the highest order; and above all things, let him compress his matter, and his writings will unquestionably be a source of fame to himself, and of improvement to his countrymen.

Falperga; or, the Lifeand Adventures of Castruccio Prince of Lucea. By the Author of "Fraukinstein." 3 vols. 1823.

We congratulate the literary public on the fulfilment of that early promise of talent, which was given by the fair author of the work before us in her first interesting, though somewhat extraordinary production. The life of Castruccio, while it comprises incidents of peculiar interest, and such as engage the deepest attention, displays also a picture of the habits and sentiments of the two great factions which for many years divided and distracted Italy, and is, therefore, no less important in an historical point of view. The character of Castruccio, the powerful Ghibeline, is skilfully drawn; and, as a personification of all that can be said or conceived of Tyranny, is beautifully contrasted with his mistress, Euthanasia, who might stand for the mortal representative of the goddess, "Sweet Liberty." The style is elegant, yet bold; and though to our taste the descriptions are too abundant, we are not disposed to quarrel with what many readers will deem a failing which leans to virtue's side." The following ex. tracts will convey some idea of the author's manner, as well as of the main spring of the story, and the diversity of principle, of sentiment, interest, and habit of mind between the two lovers.

"The winter passed away, and with the summer the toils of the soldier began. Castruccio left Lucca and joined the army of Uguccione against the Florentines. He took leave of his lady; yet she neither tied the scarf around him nor bade him go and prosper. Florence was her native town, and love of their country was a characteristic of all Florentines, Euthanasia was brought up in the midst of public discussions, and of expressions of public feeling; the army of the Florentines con tained her best friends, the companions of her youth, all among men whom she had esteemed and loved; how then could she bid her lover go and prosper, when he went to destroy them?"

Castruccio was however victorious,

and the news of her country's defeat ís carried to Euthanasia.

She had spent the period, that had elapsed since the departure of Castruccio, in utter solitude. Her anxiety, and the combat of feelings which she experienced, destroyed all her peace: she dared not give her prayers to either side; or if, following the accustomed bent of her inclinations, she wished success to her townsmen, the idea of Castruccio defeated, perhaps killed, turned all her thoughts to doubtful bitterness. Yet, when the Florentines were indeed defeated, when messenger after messenger brought intelligence from her terror-stricken friends of the sad losses they had sustained, when the name of Castruccio as the slayer was repeated with fear and curses by those whom she tenderly loved, then, indeed, the current of her feelings returned with violence to its accustomed channel; and bitterly reproaching herself, for having dared to hesitate in a cause where her country was concerned, she knelt down, and solemnly and deliberately made a vow, sanctifying it by an appeal to all that she held sacred in heaven and upon earth;-she made a deep and tremendous vow, never to ally herself to the enemy of Florence."

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 unjus tifiably 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 consciencious views of our fanctions 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 Eur. Mag. March, 1823.

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 ob ject 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.

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Letters from a Lady to her Niece; containing practical Hints intended to direct the Female Mind." Edinburgh, 1822. 18mo. pp. 142.

WE doubt not that the author of this little volume is a lady of attainments and of very good intentions, but we much question the utility of her letters to a public

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already in possession of Mrs. Chapone's Letters, of Dr. Gregory's Advice to his Daughters, of Miss Edgworth's writings, and indeed of so many other works of a similar description. Her letters contain the current good advice of all didactic books of morals for young ladies, but it appears to us that her precepts and counsel are given in terms too general and diffuse to be practically useful, whilst she has neglected that moral painting of character and description of incident, which render Miss Edgworth's juvenile works at once so impressive and attractive to young minds. The present volume is hardly intended for an age which would render it fair in us to do any thing more than to observe, that it does not evince that characteristic union of elegance and fervour so conspicuous in Mrs. Chapone's Letters, or the descrimination and practical good sense which pervade Dr, Gregory's Advice to his Daughters. The lady, in giving her reasons for limiting the reading of novels, has prescribed a moral test by which no novels, except the prolix, dilated works of Richardson, could bear to be tried; and she appears to have overlooked that the greatest of all reasons against novel reading is, that the excitement novels produce indisposes the mind of youth to other and more important works, which must of necessity be comparatively dull and irksome. But surely some oral supplementary advice is necessary to that direction of poetical stu dies, which would send a young lady of fifteen to an indiscriminate perusal of Shakespeare, or which would direct that age to the perusal of the mature sublimity of Milton, and to the ponderous epics of Southey, forgetting the fables of Gay and Dryden, the visions of Cotton, the brilliancy of Pope, the pathos of Crabbe, or the fervid eloquence of Byron.

The work is written with much affection, and with the best intentions towards her to whom it is addressed.

An Historical Account of his Majesty's Visit to Scotland. Fourth Edition. 8vo. pp. 338. Price 8s. 6d. Edinburgh, 1822.

It would perhaps be presumptuous in a critic to pass any numerous or material censures upon a work, which has already received the patronage of the public to the extent of four editions in the short space of as many months; but it may be well to inform our readers that the volume before us has owed its circulation to local circumstances and to the national feelings of our fellow-subjects of the North, and not to its own importance or to any intrinsic merit what ever. It is a collection of the most minute and trifling, as well as of the most material, facts relating to his Majesty's late visit to Scotland; and of which it is scarcely necessary for us to observe, that the greater part have already appeared in the daily papers. We have here printed, in the imposing form of an octavo, all the fleeting and contradictory ru mours of his Majesty's intentions relative to his visit to Scotland; we have accounts of the preparations for his reception, even to the hanging of a mirror in Dalkeith House, (the Duke of Buccleuch's) with the ballads which were sung about the streets, the orders of different processions, and even the names of dishes and their arrangements upon the royal table, and the volume is further eked out by lists of all who were at the levee at Holyrood Palace, and by a description of the caps and petticoats of the ladies. This work might possibly be of use as a book, of reference and for precedents at some future visit of our monarchs to Scotland, but for any other purpose it appears to us tedious and trifling in the extreme. The book contains several plates, all of which represent his Majesty so surrounded with guards, that he seems rather to be entering a captured or a hostile city, than to be visiting a body of loyal subjects.,