Is it that love hath with his fiery breath And is the bound so slight 'tween life and death - Oh! where hath fled thy beauty-where thy bloom? So near a heart which I may never gain, Thou'rt losing all thy fragrance-all thy grace. And yet it was enough for thee to lie On her breast for a moment, and then die.' MONTHLY CATALOGUE, FOR JULY, 1820. ASTRONOMY. Art. 16. Elements of Astronomy, familiarly explaining the General Phenomena of the Heavenly Bodies, and the Theory of the Tides; illustrated with Eighteen Copper-plates, &c. By Joseph Guy. 12mo. 5s. bound. Baldwin and Co. The popular parts of astronomy, or those by which are explained the constitution of the solar system; the distances, diameters, and the times of rotation, of the several planets in their orbits and on their axes; the illustration of the cause of eclipses, occultations, and transits; the changes and phases of the moon, the variations in the seasons; the alternations of day and night; and a few others of the more striking phænomena of the heavenly bodies, are acquired with so much facility, and supply so ample a fund of contemplation to young persons, that we have always considered it as highly desirable that this knowlege should be introduced either by way of lecture, or as a distinct branch of study, in all our more respectable seminaries for the education of both sexes. Any youth who at 10 or 12 years of age is competent to read an interesting composition of mere amusement, and to bear in his mind a connected idea of the incidences of the story, is equally qualified for reading the work before us, and comprehending in a general way the entire mechanism of the planetary system; and little, we presume, needs be said to prove how valuable the latter information must be in comparison with the former. All that is necessary to insure success, in an attempt of this kind, is a book suited to the purpose; in which the more difficult and abstruse questions are avoided, and only the leading facts introduced to the mind of the student, and these illustrated by appropriate graphical representations. The little volume before us fulfils all these conditions: the composition is clear and intelligible; the plates are very neatly executed; and the typographical execution would certainly not lose by a comparison with many much more costly performances. As As a specimen of the author's style and manner, we give an extract from his concluding chapter: Thus have we treated, in an elementary course, of those more prominent parts of astronomy, which have been deemed to be within the comprehension of young persons. And though to hasty and superficial readers, we can promise neither valuable information nor satisfaction, yet it is presumed that those who study this treatise carefully in connection with the diagrams, and with a solicitude thoroughly to investigate its principles, (even should they study no other work) will find their minds enlarged and their conceptions rectified respecting one of the noblest subjects that can interest the minds, and engage the faculties of intelligent beings. To those also who shall afterwards enter upon the perusal of more voluminous treatises, or extend their researches by a more abstruse and scientific course, this introductory volume may, it is hoped, prove a very desirable auxiliary. Indeed, unless the subject be thus first familiarly, yet amply unfolded, works abounding with technical phraseology, mathematical disquisition, and philosophical research, might prove so appalling to youthful students generally, that none but those of the brightest intellect and most persevering disposition could successfully encounter them. In fine, as this book has been drawn up, not for desultory perusal, but as a class-book for scholars, it did not appear exactly in point to swell the volume by a frequent intermixture of moral reflections, any more than with poetical collections; yet surely he must be a most unconscious reader who does not discover in every celestial page of nature, "The work of an Almighty hand." Nor will the teachers who may honour this work, so far as to use it, fail on proper occasions "to elance the juvenile thought from natural to divine," and enable the pupil "TO LOOK THROUGH NATURE UP TO NATURE'S GOD." NOVEL S. Art. 17. The Young Countess, a Tale for Youth. By the Authoress of "The Blind Child." 12mo. 5s. 6d. Boards. Chapple. 1820. The story related in these pages is not new, being that of a young lady who is spoiled by prosperity and reclaimed by sickness; yet it will be found to contain many useful and touching passages. The reformation of Lady Glenross is made too sudden and complete, when, after having been a passionate and selfish. tyrant to all her dependants, she is thus described, in page 186.; the patience with which she and her friend assisted in instructing the ignorant, the kindness with which they animated the hopes and soothed the sorrows of the sick, and their sweet conciliatory manners, caused them to be looked upon as something almost more than mortal.' Art. Art. 18. The Orientalist, or Electioneering in Ireland. A Tale. 2 Vols. 12mo. Baldwin and Co. 1820. This tale does not convey a characteristic description of Irish electioneering, nor indeed of any thing else: it is nearly destitute of plot; and the writer's attempts to exhibit the language and manners of persons both in high and low life are at once overcharged and abortive. Many Irishisms and inaccurate expressions occur. Vol. i. p. 14., here is my father and two footmen solus:' p. 70. she flumped into a seat.' Vol. ii. p.83., hush, you will find in me a true disciple of Harpocritus: p.211., the difference Mrs. Lucy's years might claim' (deference): p. 213., Miss Vatchell begged to remain, but would not be permitted,' &c. Art. 19. Tales of the Imagination. By the Author of "The Bachelor and Married Man," "The Physiognomist," &c. 12mo. 3 Vols. 18s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1820. On former occasions, we have had the pleasure of commending this writer's productions, but the present tales deserve little praise. They contain an unnatural and unpleasing mixture of religious disquisition with extravagant romance; the language is strained and inflated; and among the French expressions, which are frequently introduced, few, except the quotations, are correct. For example: Vol. i. p. 39., she never approfonds to the principle: p. 79., smiling at his persisting opinionâtre.' Vol. iii. p. 241, the ladies are perfectly distrait by the intelligence,' &c. Art. 20. Tales of the Priory. By Mrs. Hofland. 4 Vols. 12mo. 11. 4s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1820. We have received pleasure from the perusal of these tales, and can recommend them as being original, interesting, full of variety, and inculcating sound morality and generous sentiments. In the story, however, called The Poet's Son and the Painter's Daughter,' the liberality of Mrs. Barnard to her fellow-lodgers is somewhat overcharged, though her character is happily conceived: perhaps, also, the speeches of uneducated persons are too plentifully introduced in these volumes. We must likewise notice several verbal inaccuracies which have escaped the fair author, such as, vol. i. p. 29., 'the youngest brother had now shook off:' p. 69., so much was his spirits depressed:' p. 181., Let them laugh who wins.' Vol. ii. p. 205., she precipitably returned:' p. 258., pays du malade,' for maladie du pays. Vol. iii. p. 125., "the innocent being which had first awoke: p. 132., her husband had began: p. 140., with that care and prudence which he had no doubt would be taken of him:' p. 151., I cannot think you should engage in the profession without I was assured:' p. 152., Orlando had bade his friends adieu:' p. 232., stentorion tone:' p. 285., Betty insisted on him remaining with them,' &c. Art. 21. 6 Good Humour, or My Uncle the General. By a Third Cousin. 2 Vols. 12mo. Boards. Egerton. 1820. If this writer has a happy knack at quotation, and some of his dialogues are pithy, quaint, and humorous, still many improbabilities appear in the tale; among which we find Antonia marryREV. JULY, 1820. Y ing ing on the day following that on which she supposed her father and brother to have been murdered; and Selwyn allowing himself and his wife to starve, while he has a watch in his pocket which they forget to sell. See vol. ii. p. 297. POETRY and the DRAM A. Art. 22. The Court and Parliament of Beasts: freely translated from the Animali Parlanti of Giambattista Casti, a Poem, in Seven Cantos. By William Stewart Rose. Crown 8vo. 6s, 6d. Boards. Murray. 1819. The success of "Beppo" has produced several imitators, of kindred strain: but " Beppo," with all his indecorum, had an infusion of English spirit into his Italian badinage which stamped him original; while most of the succeeding attempts have been either paraphrases, or adaptations, of some specimen of Italian humour. Italy is rich in such compositions; and it would seem that its highly-favoured sky and soil have been destined to produce not only the noblest of the human race in the "steady Roman," who "shook the world" with arms, but also the volatile modern Italian, who shakes it with laughter. Among the English versifiers who have lately adapted these ridiculing romances to our own language, Mr. William Stewart Rose (already well known in the fields of foreign literature) stands preeminent. As a possessor, indeed, of genuine English humour, of native ease and talent, he is not only inferior to the famed "Beppo," but also (in our judgment) to an anonymous author whose happy imitation of the Italian we shall notice in succession to the present article: but, as the transfuser of a foreign style of wit into ingenious if not very vernacular English, Mr. Rose deserves the greatest praise; and certainly he entertains the lazy, indolent reader (to whom, we conclude, he addresses his work,) in a very appropriate and happily lack-a-daysical manner. example: • Canto III. I find it sweet when I have roll'd and wander'd — And find my health and spirits not so squander'd Nor forc'd to weigh wants, wishes, pains, or pleasures, 'Tis sweeter that I land upon a world, Which I may fairly call my own creation, For It It is some consolation, when they work ill, To thee, gay Gundimore, thy flow'rs and fountain, It seems, as if thy genius took a mountain • I shun whatever causes bile or vapours; I hear not of the stocks, and read no papers, Yet rise one point above mere passive pleasure; • Berni illustrates it, in maddest measure. • Nor lack'd they matter for their waking dreams : To lie at gaze, and count the ceiling beams, Then, when they had for somewhile slept and eat, "I thi..nk. so too." We hope that these extracts will give our readers an ample and satisfactory specimen of the powers of amusement which we attri-bute to the present author. We are indeed bound to confess that, Y 2 except |