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the one before us, that it is calculated to promote the cause of true religion, and to preserve and increase the holy flame of piety and virtue.

Essays on the Church, by a Layman.— Forcibly, clearly, candidly and convincingly written; we recommend this work to the impartial consideration of all Churchmen and Dissenters. We recommend also to our Senators, and all in authority, to peruse these pages before they proceed further in their ruthless work of what they call Church Reform. How the Dissenters can read it without shame and sorrow we cannot conceive; what would good old Baxter, or the pious and conscientious Howe, or Henry, or Owen, say to those who are now endeavouring to destroy a fabric of national glory which they honoured, and who are pouring out their hatred against a Church for which they offered up their prayers to God, in that same voice in which they thanked Him for their peace and their liberty! As we before noticed an earlier edition of this work, we shall not repeat what we then advanced; but we fearlessly declare that the arguments of this able writer, on the great points canvassed in his work, cannot be refuted. It is a work to which the conscientious Churchman can point with confidence ; and which the candid Dissenter cannot close without deeply lamenting the violence, the perverseness, and the carnal motives of his brethren.

Friendly Advice to the Roman Catholics. By Thomas Combes. With Notes, by the Rev. W. F. Hook.-This little work is not designed for the theologian or the scholar, whether Catholic or Protestant; but it will be of great service to any who are in danger of being led astray from the religion of their fathers to the Church of Rome, or who are wavering in their faith. The corruptions of the Roman Catholics are chiefly and distinctly shewn; their deviations from the primitive Apostolic Church, and the unalterable nature of their tenets; so immoveable, that time cannot shake; so dark that knowledge itself cannot illumine. The book is well edited, with judicious notes and an appendix.

The Oakleigh Shooting Code, &c. By Thomas Oakleigh, Esq. 1836.-If any of our friends, lay or clerical, should wish to be initiated into the mysteries of detonating locks, box-triggers, and Damascus barrels; or should be ambitious of know. ing how to obtain the best gunpowder, or choose the staunchest pointer, let them first buy this book and then read it. GENT. MAG. VOL. VII.

Borrowing won't answer the purpose, it must be bought. The fact is, it is what Blackstone is to a lawyer, and Bacon's Liber Regis to a parson-indispensable. No one should go to the moors without it. No one should sport at home without it. It should lie on the table between Walter's Angler and the folio Spectator: it will delight when all other books cease to please: it is inexhaustible. It may be read a hundred times over. It is a family book: we never travel without it; we slip it in our portmanteau between Mr. Jesse's volumes. It is read after tea to the ladies. We have only one fault to find with it-it ought to have been in

verse!

[N.B. Our Reviewer, who is a very young hand, and a Cockney, is pleasant, on this work; but, acknowledging all he says, concerning the entertainment it will afford, to be true, we add, that it is also full of the most sound and solid information. Health and long life to Mr. Oakleigh, of Oakleigh Hall!

May his dogs be staunch,
And his barrel sure;
And a wing or a haunch
Be on every Moor.
May he kill his birds,

Like a sportsman clean;
And, without more words,
Whene'er he sends,

Some to his friends,
Let him think of the Gent's Maga-
zine.

What is Truth? The Question answered in Eight Discourses, by the Rev. T. White, A.M.-This little volume is one that will be read with pleasure and profit. The subject of the discourses is treated throughout with knowledge and sound reasoning; and we beg particularly to recommend the fifth and sixth sermons on the Romish Church not Catholic; and on Christ's Reproof of the Pharisaical Traditions applied to those of Popery.

The Atonement, and other Sacred Poems. By W. S. Oke, M.D.-Though we cannot speak in very high terms of the poetry of this volume, yet the feeling and spirit that pervades it are worthy of all respect; and that we do not mean to disparage the poetical talent, we hope will be seen by our extracting a passage in the beginning of the volume.

"When Heaven's Eternal King, who reigns on high,

Clad with the beams of awful Majesty;
In order exquisite, whose power controls
Each steadfast orb, each planet as it rolls,
Had called from chaos this terrestrial sphere,
Out poured the light and wing'd the buoyant

air;

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Essays, Letters, and interesting Papers of the late Rev. Thomas Charles, A.B. By the Rev. Edward Morgan, &c.-This volume will doubtless be esteemed by the serious and religious part of the community, to whom the name of the Author is familiar, and by whom it is united to all that was pure and elevated in principle The Author and zealous in practice. appears to us to have been a most sincere, pious, and excellent person, of sound scriptural learning, of good judgment, and of an unwearied zeal in the service to This volume which he was dedicated.

forms a portrait of him that will be cherished by his friends, and esteemed by all.

Female Improvement. By Mr. John Sandford. 2 vols.-The Gentleman's Magazine may not be considered the best vehicle for judgments on female character; but if persons will do us the favour of considering our age, seeing that we have seen more than a century pass by since we were young, and consider what experience we have derived from so long a period, what maturity of views-what coolness of judgment-what acquaintance with mankind-he will, we hope, consider us not altogether unacquainted with the wants and wishes of the female sex; though long passed the age in which we should wish to be anything to them but what Mentor was to the young Telemachus. Well, then, upon the centenary of our experience, we pronounce Mr. Sandford's book to be very judicious and prudent, and such as imparts much truth in a very pleasing and agreeable manner. Characters neither of women or men are formed by reading, nor much moulded by advice, however sage and good; but a few broad and leading principles, strongly and clearly defined, may be most advantageously given; and we think the article on Marriage in this work, contains observations which, rightly considered, might obviate much misunderstanding, correct many false notions, and open the way to much future happiness: and we say this, not only on this head, but as regards other parts of the same work.

The Sacred History of the World. By Sharon Turner. vol. 11.-This volume is not inferior in interest to the former; and the mass of curious information in the notes, drawn from remote quarters, and brought to the illustration of the text, recommend it both to the Theolologian and the Naturalist.

Bishop Taylor on Repentance.-This excellent and elegant Treatise has been abridged by Mr. Hale, and all the controversial parts omitted. In this form its general utility is much increased, and work more full of elowe do not know quence and piety.

Frithiof's Saga, or the Legend of Frithiof, by Isaias Tegner. Translated from the Swedish. 1835.-This poem was published at Stockholm in 1825, and in 1831 It has it had gone through five editions. been translated into Danish, and in Germany no less than three versions of it, all well executed, have been given. The present translation appears to us, who do not possess the original, to be excellent ; elegant, spirited, varied,-while the metre is skilfully changed; and though in some cases difficult, managed with facility and grace. 'The aim of the translators has been to render the original with as much exactness and as little paraphrase as possible. How far in this attempt they may have missed the grace and ease which are the essentials of good composition, it will be for the English critic to decide. The singular resemblance between the two languages, renders it very practicable to be literal without being dull; to copy very closely the form without sacrificing the spirit; and, above all, to dispense with the enfeebling aid of expletives and epithets.' The poem itself is very interesting, and perhaps the most pleasing that has ever been founded on the Mythology of the North.

Daniel's Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. Interpreted by a Layman.-Few persons are not aware of the difficulties that attend the interpretation of this important Prophecy; so great indeed have they appeared, as to induce some who have written expressly on the subject of Prophetic Evidence, to pass it over in silence, as in despair of bringing it satisfactorily to bear in evidence of the declaration of the Divine foreknowledge given to mankind. Those who have endeavoured to elucidate it, not only differ widely from each other, but are obliged to such violent and forcible alterations and adaptations, as to afford no reliance on the soundness of their views, or the success of their labours. Adhuc

sub judice lis est.-We must content ourselves in expressing the Layman's views briefly in his own words. "The explaDation which I am about to propose, proceeds upon the principle of a literal, in preference to a figurative, and a Jewish, in preference to a Christian construction, of every expression of the Prophet. The main subject of the Prophecy, that is, all which is contained in the period of Seventy Weeks, being supposed to relate exclusively to Jewish interests; and the cutting off the Messiah, and the coming of a Prince to destroy the City and Sanctuary, being considered as merely incidentally alluded to, in an interval of time totally distinct from that period. Where the City' is spoken of, it will be literally interpreted as the City of Jerusalem, not the figurative City, or Ecclesiastical Polity of the Jews; and the sacrifice and oblation, will be that sacrifice which was offered morning and evening in the Temple, till within a short time of its destruction by Titus." There is much research, sound reasoning, and ingenuity displayed in the progress of the argument, and the book will repay the perusal.

Life of Howard the Philanthropist. By T. Taylor.-This is a vast improvement indeed upon the only biography of Howard which we possessed, viz. that of Aikin; more circumstantial, full, and accurate, both in the account of his public acts of beneficence, and in the pictures of his private and domestic life. Indeed, the man himself is set before us, as far as any painting can represent the reality of life. The history is full of instruction and delight; and a very noble and rare character is pourtrayed. The object which Howard had in view was worthy of his aims; his labour could not be lost; and he appears to have been the first, who ever cast his eye on that great, but hidden and obscure path of misery. What alleviation of human misery has followed his progress!how many fetters, through him, have rusted unworn on the nail! how many doors of darkness have been rolled back on their hinges, to admit the light of morning and of liberty!-how many hearts have poured forth their songs of praise to the fountain of Mercy! Good God! how long might legal murder, authorised torture, permitted misery, have prevailed, if this messenger of mercy had not appeared to alarm the consciences, to awaken the judgment, to arouse the feelings of mankind for their fellow men, and to carry to the thoughtless hearts of society the deep groans and dying agonies from the subterraneous dungeons of punishment and woe. We know no nobler

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field of exertion, we recognise no purer motive of action. Nothing in Howard can be misunderstood or misrepresented, except by the envious, the malignant, and the base. Neither fame, nor wealth, nor ambition, nor any of the meaner motives that mingle almost unknown with our best designs, had any share in his the purity, the singleness, the active benevolence, the unwearied exertion, the zealous religious feeling that actuated his whole life, cannot be denied. He abstained from evil: he went about doing good.' Can man deserve a higher praise than this?

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Twenty Years in Retirement. By John Blakiston, Esq.-How much in these volumes is real, and how much is fictitious, and how much between the two, we cannot say; but Mr. Blakiston has made his volume not without attraction to all who are disposed to read them, as they appear to have been written in good-humour and with an attentive observation of the society he lived with. We cannot say his state-politics or his church-politics are exactly suited to our views; and we hope that his portraits of the clergy, whom we know, are overcharged; but there is nevertheless much judicious observation, and much clever narrative in the volumes, which we have no doubt have much amused the author in their composition, and we think he must have not seldom laughed over his own rifacciamentos of such characters, if such existed, as Dr. Butt, and Mr. Coddleskin.

Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus, translated by M. J. Chapman. 1836.-There is considerable merit in this translation; and chiefly in giving a closer and better representation of the style of Theocritus than any preceding ones, which had assumed too inflexible and stately an air. There is a sort of antique comic humour about the Sicilian poet-a love of homely, country expressions-a sneer or smile-a laugh and joke-all in harmony with the occupations and manners of his personæ dramatis. Now this, Mr. Chapman has seen and kept in mind, and imitated often with success. His versification also is freer and more varied than his predecessor's The notes, we think, are the worst part of the volume; they have no learning, and too much pertness, while Mr. Chap. man's poetical dicta are too authoritatively laid down; as for instanceShelley, a poet equal to the best after Shakspeare, and a scholar, second to none.'-Ergo, Shelley was equal to Milton, to Spenser, to Pope. Now where is the use of such

76

Fine Arts.

hyperbolical phrases?-Shelley was a man of fine genius, and great poetical powers, accompanied with many considerable defects. His poems never have, and never will get into general circulation: he is a poet for the few. Nothing can show a more defective judgment than the choice of his subjects, and judgment is a large constituent of genius. As for his scholarship, it was very good-all the scholarship a poet requires; but as for its being second to none, 'credo cras, non hodie.' He was a very superior man of intellect, and can stand sufficiently high on the pedestal of his real merits and fame.

Death disarmed of his Terrors, or Lent Lectures. By the Rev. R. C. Cox, A. M. -The author speaks with great modesty of these discourses; but they are no dis

ROYAL ACADEMY.

credit to his knowledge, his judgment, or
his piety.
The third Lecture, on the
Consciousness of the Soul after Death,
is well written; the arguments fairly put;
and we think the right conclusion drawn :
notwithstanding difficulties which suggest
themselves even on this hypothesis, it is
by far the most reasonable, and seems
most accordant with Scripture. We must
the Re-
say the same of the last sermon,
cognition of Each Other in the Life to
Come-all argument from analogy is in
its favour.

LODGE'S Annual Peerage for 1837 is become quite a library book. It is the handsomest volume of the kind yet produced; with the addition of the arms engraved in wood, in a style never surpassed.

FINE ARTS.

At the sixty-eighth anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Academy of Arts, lately held at their apartments in Somerset House, the silver medals were distributed to the following artists. To Mr. Douglas Cowper, for the best copy made in the painting school. To Mr. Ebenezer Butler Morris, for the next best copy made in the painting school. To Mr. John Waller, for the best drawing from the life. To Mr. John Tarring, for the best drawing of the principal front of Goldsmiths' Hall. To Mr. Conway Weston Hart, for the best drawing from the antique. To Mr. George Mitchell, for the best model from the antique.

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respective productions in those cheap pub-
It may be safely asserted that
lications.
Mr. Stothard made more designs from
which prints have been published than any
The print now be-
artist in the world.
fore us, is skilfully engraved from one of
his latest oil paintings, and while it ex-
hibits all the peculiarities and elegancies
of the artist's fancy and pencil, it consti-
tutes a most interesting illustration of a
memorable and pathetic passage in the
life of Jesus Christ. That sublime per-
sonage is shewn in the midst of a group
of grateful and graceful mothers, with
their darling and chubby children ready to
be presented to the human Godhead. Im.
mediately behind this group are five of
his disciples in varied attitude and expres-
sion; beyond whom is a building crowning
a rising ground. The engraver has ren-
dered this picture clear, impressive, and
highly effective as a print, by the varia-
tion of lines and colours adapted to the
draperies, the flesh, the landscape, and the
sky.

'Suffer little children to come unto me, Painted by TнOand forbid them not." MAS STOTHARD, R. A., engraved by W. H. WORTHINGTON. The name and designs of the late Mr. Stothard have been familiar to every lover of embellished literature for the last half century, from the time when some sweetly engraved prints by The Game Keeper's Stable, and Down James Heath were regularly published in Charge, a pair of prints, engraved by P. weekly and monthly numbers by Mr. Harrison, in "The Novelist's Magazine," BROMLEY, from pictures by A. COOPER, "The Sacred Classics,” and “The British Esq. R.A. The painter of these pictures is one among many other instances Magazine." These works were progressof genius and talent overcoming all diffiively brought forward by Mr. Heath, who was the author of several clever essays and culties, and advancing their possessor to envied fame, to personal distinction, and biographies in the last, and who sold to fortune. Mr. Cooper was the son several thousand impressions of the other of indigent parents, and in early life had two works. Now they are rarely seen; to contend with privations and hardships. but many artists have collected and treaBoth the Accident made him an artist; perseversure proofs of the plates. ance, good sense, and good taste, advanced painter and the engraver acquired fame him to excellence in the department he and numerous commissions from their

chose to pursue. At school he made sketches and scratches, like many other schoolboys; but it does not appear that he ever made an effort at painting, or even attempted to copy from nature till be had attained twenty-two years of age. In the service of Mr. Henry Meux, the celebrated brewer, he had charge of a horse named Frolic, and was so fond of it, for every man has his hobby, that he wished to possess its portrait. But his purse was not adequate to such a purchase; he tried his own pencil and brush, and succeeded to the astonishment and admiration of friends. Mr. Meux bought the picture and encouraged the artist, and the latter has done credit to his master and fostering friend. From the days of Snyders perhaps no artist has pourtrayed the horse and other animals with greater truth, beauty, and expression than Cooper; and it may be said that he far exceeds that admirable artist in delineating the human figure in varied and powerful action, which is fully exemplified in his battle scenes.

The two prints before us, are plain simple representations of common nature;

a man, a horse, and dogs; but even with such materials, without any romantic or picturesque scenery, without any forced striking effects of sky, or light and shade, the eye is pleased, the mind is satisfied. The old grey pony, represented most admirably foreshortened both from before and behind, is evidently a faithful portrait; whilst the spaniels and the sportsman have unquestionable resemblances to living prototypes. Breadth and simplicity of effect, masterly drawing and pencilling, with harmony and truth of colour and chiaroscuro, are unitedly displayed in this pair of pleasing prints. It is but justice to a young engraver, P. Bromley, to say that he has manifested much skill in translating into one colour the oil pictures of the painter. As specimens of the mezzotint style they are full of feeling and good taste. The subjects are, first, a sportsman with his gun, two dogs, and a grey pony, in the field with a pheasant just shot; and secondly, the pony in the stable, with two spaniels, and dead game hanging up.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

New Works announced for Publication. The twelve Minor Prophets in Coptic, with a Latin Translation. By the Rev. H. TATTAM, F.R.S. &c. Rector of St. Cuthbert's, Bedford.

The Testimony of our Lord's Discourses to the Divinity of his present character. By G. PEARSON, B.D., Christian Advocate in the University of Cambridge. Geology of Scripture. By GEORGE FAIRHOLME, esq.

Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons. By the Rev. H. DUNCAN.

Life of Roger Boyle, First Earl of Orrery, who performed so conspicuous a part in the reign of Charles I., under the government of Cromwell, and in effecting the restoration of Charles II. By Mr. CROFTON CROKER.

The Life of Thomas Chatterton, containing his unpublished Poems and correspondence. By JOHN DIX.

A Narrative of the Imprisonment of the Honourable Edwin Lindsay, in the Island of Papa-Stour, for upwards of twenty-five years; his extraordinary Liberation, and subsequent Disappearance. By MARIA WATSON.

The Third Volume of the Marquess Wellesley's Despatches. Edited by MONTGOMERY MARTIN.

A Century of Thoughts on a Multitude of Subjects. By the author of "Sayings worth Hearing," &c.

The Orchidaceæ of Mexico and Guatemala. By JAMES BATEMAN, esq. Dr. Lindley's Sertum Orchideum, No. 1.

on

Amaryllidaceae, with a treatise Hybrid Vegetables subjoined. By the Rev. W. HERBERT.

Horticultural Tour through Germany, Belgium, and France in 1836. By JAMES FORBES, F. H.S. author of “Hortus Woburnensis", &c.

The Poetical Works (now first collected) of the late THOMAS PRINGLE. German Poetry for Beginners. By Dr. BERNAYS.

A History of British Birds, by Mr. YARRELL; and a History of British Reptiles, by Mr. BELL.

A Supplement to the London Catalogue of Books, containing the Books published in London since December 1834 to the end of December 1836.

Syllabus of a Course of Lectures upon Trigonometry, and the Application of Algebra to Geometry.

The Mathematical Principles of Mechanical Philosophy. By J. H. PRATT.

Ladies' Botany, volume the second, with numerous plates. By Dr. LINDLEY. This volume will complete the work.

Dr. LINDLEY's Botanical Register, or Ornamental Flower Garden and Shrubbery, for 1836.

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