The pathetic story of Henry and Anna is told with much artlessness of expression. It is a tale, in the issues of which, most readers, we conceive, will feel an interest; and he, who, having begun the narrative, is willing to leave it without seeing its termination, must possess a bosom which sympathy never warmed. with avidity, every book which professes to deal in this article, from no other motive than that of gratifying a malignant appetite, there are others, who, from more laudable principles, indulge a hope of seeing this bane of domestic peace, this source of local misery, fairly dragged into light, and, in its native deformity, exposed to the detestation of mankind. To the dictates of humanity and compassion, and a solicitude for the The work before us, which is calcuwelfare of mankind, the author has lated to meet the views of readers of added many sentiments of genuine this latter description, is divided into piety. The leading truths of revela- eight chapters, the contents of which tion are interwoven in numerous para- stand in the following order: “Scandal graphs. These truths he strongly re- and its causes: on the danger of commends and enforces; and he di-trifling with the characters of others: rects such as smart under the miseries on scandal directed against religion: of life, to seek happiness in those on scandal amongst professors of relisources of consolation which the gos-gion: on anonymous letters: on popel unfolds. pular characters: on scandalizing the dead:" and terminating with "general reflections." This prefatory exhibition excited our expectations, and we concluded our perusal without conceiving that we had made an improper estimate of its worth. The situation of the blind boy, can scarcely fail to awaken our commiseration; and the character of the village pastor we should rejoice to find of universal application. The conduct of the seducer is described in strains as much calculated to excite our ab- In the first chapter, the author traces horrence, as the condition of the un- the evils which he reprehends to the happy victim of his brutality, is de- distinct sources of envy, pride, repicted in language to extort our sighs. venge, and self-interest. On each of On the committee and supporters of these he has dropped some excellent the London Female Penitentiary, he observations, in language that is bold, has bestowed a justly merited eulo- nervous, expressive, and harmonious. gium for their benevolent exertions in The diction of this chapter we conattempting to wipe the tear of contri-ceive to be superior to that of any tion from the eye of repentant sorrow, other in the book. and for nobly aiming to diminish the miseries of suffering humanity. This little volume contains several other poems of minor importance, which are not without their respective merits; but our limits inform us that we have no room to analyze their excellencies. "The Pleasures of Home," has already passed through two editions; and if these are not succeeded by a still greater number, we conceive it will only be because the merits of this pleasing publication are not sufficiently known. It is not our intention, however, to insinuate, that the style is despicable, in which the subsequent chapters are written; nor do we mean to intimate that they are deficient either thought or judgment. On these points the reader will be able to form his opinion from the following extract: in "But it too often happens, that injurious epithets are employed merely from a consciousness of superiority. The tongue of scandal is sometimes considered an harmless weapon; and perhaps to indulge ourselves in the moments of vexation, we fix a stigma which time will not remove. How many of the lower class of mankind have been ruined by hasty expressions or wilful misrepresenREVIEW.-An Essay on the Evils of very impure sources, and coloured by a still tation; a hasty charge drawn perhaps from Scandal, Slander, and Misrepresen-more improper temper, has plunged its hapless tation. 8vo. P: 144. Westley, Offor, Baynes, and Co. London, 1821. THERE is a certain magic in the word scandal, at the sound of which every reader pricks up his ears. But although there are too many who seize victim into ruin. Were the walks of vice diligently searched, how many individuals would be found whose ruin could be traced to an evil report; a popular odium had been fixed their character which could not be upon removed, and which left them no solace but to mingle with persons of a description which they would have originally shunned. That the dishonest and the impure should be held up to public censure, we do not deny; but it requires much caution in exposing such, lest we Should make them the very characters, by unjust suspicion and hasty condemnation, which they before held in abhorrence. "The servant who is cast upon the world without recommendation, (and especially if, in addition to this, he is wrongfully accused,) may justly charge his future delinquencies, arising from that injustice, on those who robbed him of his good name; not that their accusation against him is an excuse for his irregularities; but by preventing him from convincing another of his innocence, he may be led, in the moments of phrenzy, to plunge into a kine of conduct, which would have been otherwise detested. "A respect for the characters of the lower classes of mankind, is obviously important; for while any sense of its worth remains, it acts as a barrier which keeps them from the perpetration of crime. But when once the seuse of dignity, which arises from a conviction of innocence is destroyed, they are prepared for every purpose of injustice and cruelty." p. 27 to 29. This extract, which may be considered as a fair specimen of the author's talents, both as a writer and a moralist, cannot but set his work in a favourable light. The truth of his observations appears in every sentence; and no reader of discernment but must acknowledge that the world abounds with melancholy evidence to confirm his propositions. racter of scandal, and forming a resolution never to be found in her company. COMPLAINT OF J. F. IN our Number for December, 1821, col. 1144, we inserted a critique on a publication, said to have been written by "a member of the church of England." In this work the author attempts to prove that eternal punishment consists in annihilation, and that the immortality of the human soul depends upon spiritual regeneration. Some time after the above critique appeared, we received the following letter from the author, who signs himself J. F. requesting that it might appear in our Supplement, with which request we could not possibly comply, the last sheet being composed when his letter reached us. He will, however, perceive, that we seize the earand to prevent all accusations of parliest opportunity of meeting his views; tiality or injustice towards him, we insert it without animadversion or Mr. J. F. must form a very erroneous comment. We have only to add, that idea of our official situation, if he imagines we can enter into a controversy with every author who happens to be By means of anonymous letters, the dissatisfied with our criticisms. author observes,— "Many a servant has been ruined, many a child chastised, and many a wife defamed, when, had their accuser been known, the accused could have related circumstances which would have justified themselves, and covered their adversary with shame." p. 83. The writers of anonymous letters are like those instruments of death which accomplish their purpose without giving the usual alarm. They may be justly styled Anguis in herba,' they bite the unwary traveller, and retreat into the thicket. They are like secreted foes in the field of battle, who aim at individual destruction unseen, while the more noble and courageous meet face to face. These are the canker worms at the root of reputation, who conceal themselves in dark abodes, and take that aim which promises to do the greatest mischief." p. 90. MR. EDITOR. EDITOR. SIR,-The numerous claims to your attention, which are incidental to your situation, as Editor of a periodical work, may oblige you to peruse hastily the books you notice; and as such, account for your not doing full justice to writers who may offer views that impugn your own opinion on subjects, on which, perhaps, you have never doubted. Such, I consider to be my situation, as the author of the Treatise on Eternal Punishment, reviewed in your number for December. I am fully aware that the doctrine I On the topics which form the sub- oppose is advocated as of Divine aujects of the subsequent chapters, the thority, and that I must appear to you author's remarks are equally judi- as opposing a revealed truth. I am cious, pointed, and ingenious. We aware it was natural you should have had fixed our eye on several other pas-opened my book with a bias against it sages, but we have no more room for and its author; and I will apply myquotations. No one, we conceive, self rather to efface this impression, can examine this book attentively, than to complain of it. without feeling indignant at the cha Holding in common with you the Divine authority of the Bible, and, perhaps, not materially differing from you on any of the great questions of revelation: the fall of man, the atonement. salvation through faith in Christ, and the immortality of the children of God: I hope to interest you so far in the views I entertain of the nature of man, as the child of fallen Adam, as to procure from you an explicit statement of the scripture grounds, on which you hold the natural man, in contradistinction from the spiritual man, to be immortal. I have further to request you would point out to me those quotations which I have adduced from the scriptures, of which you do not perceive the relevancy-perhaps you may have forgotten, that it was necessary you should concede, for a moment, the possibility that the inspired writers may have spoken of man as mortalI must despair of convincing any one who refuses to admit, for argument sake, the possibility of that, which I am to prove; and, this being granted, I think I can shew, that every verse I have quoted bears upon the question. You do me injustice when you say that "I insinuate that the assertion of one Apostle is not much worthy of credit." My argument is, (as a reference to it will satisfy any one,) that St. Mark's real meaning was that which I contend for: not that those who think he meant otherwise should slight his authority. of man, and I have quoted largely from Bishop Patrick, and other eminent writers, to shew that my views are not suggested by my theory, but that the same have been entertained by those, who in general contend for the natural immortality of man. If the words of Moses can be reconciled to that doctrine, I must lose one of my strongest arguments. You say, "I know a little, and presume a great deal:" I, like most other men, have a great aversion to presumption in the abstract; but I may not be sensible of it in my own case: you will oblige me if you will state more specifically, whereon you ground your charge of presuming a great deal. I have expressed what I felt, a strong conviction of the truth of the opinions I have offered to the world: If they are erroneous, I shrink from no test to which they can be subjected; but I entertain them too honestly to abandon them, because any man shall say that I presume. I ask for scriptural authority for ascribing to man a spiritual nature, independent of regeneration; and to no other will I defer. No true Protestant can object to this; and therefore I infer, you will not, but will hold up the candle of the Lord, to one whom you think so much in need of illumination as Your obedient servant, J. F. GLEANINGS FROM LITERATURE, SCIENCE, &c. &c. You have fairly quoted the argument I employ against infinite objects being moral motives, from the human understanding being incapable of conceiving them; and you leave it unanswered. The difficulty you object is [WE purpose devoting two or three not one that a Christian will feel, for of our pages each month, to inforChrist has taught us to say that "when mation respecting discoveries and imwe have done all, we are unprofitable provements now so rapidly making servants," and that by "grace we are in every department of Science, the saved." You cannot mean to say Arts, &c. combining, at the same time, that the same difficulty attends the notices of subjects connected with the belief that God will bless us more than interests of Literature. We shall conwe deserve, as that he will punish us fine ourselves to facts only, and give more than we can deserve: the one is them so abridged, as that nothing but a necessary consequence of human the simple facts themselves may ocimperfection and divine perfection-cupy our columns. Our information, the other is inconsistent with every one of the Divine Attributes. You object that I do not state what I hold the human soul to be: I have stated, that I implicitly adopt the account given by Moses, of the nature it may be proper to state, will be gathered from the different journals of the day, and such selection only made as may tend to be of service to our readers. Every thing that may be built upon speculation only, and that has not truth and usefulness for its object and end, we shall scrupulously omit. With such a brief statement, it is hoped that the small space we shall occupy in pursuance of this plan, may add to the interest of our work, as well as to the fund of knowledge, which we spare no labour to procure in the other departments.] Director of the Observatory of Palermo, announces that he observed very distinctly the appearance of phases in the nucleus of the comet of '819; and hence he concludes that comets are not luminous per se, but that their nucleus, their coma, and their tail, shine only by reflected light. Hydrophobia.---At Pavia, in Italy, new trials have been made, which Steam-Carriage.-An ingenious cot- prove the efficacy of oxygenated muton spinner of Ardwick, near Manches-riatic acid in subduing the hydropho ter, has invented a locomotive steam- bia. Dr. Previsali has successfully carriage, for the conveyance of goods prescribed in a case where the symp or passengers, without the aid of toms had advanced, in a liquid form, horses. After repeated experiments, from a drachm to a drachm and a half during the last two years, he has so daily, in citron water or syrup of far succeeded as not to leave a doubt citron.---( On this dreadful malady, see that it will answer the purpose intend- an interesting paper by James Kendrick, ed. It will go upon any of the mail M. D. inserted col. 65, of our present roads, up hill or down, at the rate of number.) nine or ten miles an hour; and can be guided with the greatest ease on the most difficult roads. Steam-Vessels.-These vessels are now employed in the Adriatic. One (La Carolina) goes regularly every second day from Venice to Trieste. Another (L'Eridano) passes regularly between Pavia and Venice, and with such celerity that the voyage is accomplished in 37 hours. Not long since a steam-boat ventured to sea in a violent tempest, when no other vessel could, to the assistance of a richly-freighted merchant ship. Enormous Steam-Engine.-A steamengine of the immense power of one hundred and forty horses, has lately been erected on his Grace the Duke of Portland's estate, at Kirkby, in the county of Nottingham, for the purpose of draining an extensive tract of coal. The cylinder of this stupendous machine is seventy inches in diameter; and the beam, which is twelve tons in weight, raises at every stroke fifteen tuns of water, and, when required, delivers at the surface, from the depth of the mine, which is 170 yards, between 700 and 800 gallons in each minute. Germany.-A pocket edition of a series of translations from the most classic authors of foreign countries, is now publishing in Germany. Among the works already published are, Voltaire's Candide and Charles XII. Moliere's Tartuffe, Shakspeare's Timon of Athens, and Lord Byron's Poems. Astronomy.-M. Nicolas Cacciatore, Cicero.---Professor Peyron, at Turin, has discovered, in the Convent of Boblio, several manuscript fragments of Cicero's orations, by which those published by Professor Maïo are rendered complete. Milk.---It is ascertained that morning's milk commonly yields some hundredths more cream than that of the evening, at the same temperature. That milked at noon furnishes the least. It would therefore be of advantage, in making butter and cheese, to employ the morning's milk, and to keep the evening's for domestic use. The Scour in Lambs,-A correspondent in the Farmer's Journal, states, that nothing is so useful to preserve the health of lambs in autumn, or when light frosts commence, as bleeding; to be performed by piercing the nostril with a penknife. New Barometer. - Mr. Barth, of Strasburgh, has published his discovery of a barometer, which will announce every change of the weather thirty hours before it happens. This instrument will likewise give notice of thunder-storms twelve hours before they occur. Physiological Phenomena. A few weeks ago, a gentleman in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, in preparing a frog for galvanic experiments, was surprised to find, that after the heart and lungs were extracted, the animal lost none of its strength, but on being set down, leaped about with much ease and agility. He next extracted the stomach and all the remaining intestines. The frog was then placed upon the ground, but still continued to leap about with its usual power and cheerfulness. The crural nerves were then laid bare, and the animal put into a trough of water, where it shewed itself to be an expert swimmer; leaped to the ground, where it hopped about in a lively manner, till it was taken up, and its back-bone cut in two, when it instantly expired. Musical Permutation. --- A very curious invention has been made in the art of musical composition. It consists in the use of prepared cards, on each of which a bar of an air is arranged according to a certain rhythm and key. Four packs of these cards, marked Ã, B, C, D, are mingled together, and as the cards are drawn and arranged before a performer, in the order of that series, it will be found that an original air is obtained. The cards hitherto made are waltzes, and succeed perfectly. Adulteration of Milk.-Mr. E. Davy has lately completed a series of experiments on this subject. He states, that the amount of adulteration in skimmed milk sold in Cork, amounted to from one-fourth to one-sixth part. In no instance, however, did it appear that either chalk, flour, or starch, was employed; the first being insoluble in skimmed milk, and the flour and starch speedily subsiding.---To ascertain the purity of new milk, it is only necessary to employ a glass tube or lactometer minutely graduated, and the proportion that the cream bears in point of depth to the milk beneath, marks the purity of the fluid operated upon. The lactometer employed by Mr. Davy, and with which he produced the above results, was little more than a common hydrometer graduated for the purpose, a thermometer being attached to mark the precise temperature at the time of making the experiment. Education of Mechanics.-A school for the education of mechanics, has been established at Edinburgh, and upwards of 200 students have already enrolled themselves for improvement in their several trades. Russian Voyage of Discovery.--Accounts from Captain Billinghausen, Commander in the Russian Voyage of Discovery in the Antarctic Seas, dated May, 1820, report that he had discovered three islands, covered with snow and ice; on one of which was a volcano, lat. 56° S. He announces that there is no southern continent; or, should there be one, it must be inaccessible, from being covered with perpetual snows, ice, &c. Oil obtained by Distillation from the Hop.---In the kiln-drying of hops for sale, a portion of the essential oil is evaporated. It is, therefore, adviseable to procure hops recently picked, and, before they are placed on the kiln, by distillation from ten pounds (with ten gallons of water) placing in the receiver, or separator, a saturated solution of alum, the essential oil will be obtained. Heat in the Moon's Rays.---The following interesting experiment was made by Dr. Howard, by means of a differential thermometer of his own invention: (a description of which may be found in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. ii. p. 383 : )--"Having blackened the upper part of my differential thermometer, I passed it in the focus of a 13-inch reflecting mirror, which was opposed to the light of a bright full moon. The liquid began immediately to sink, and in half a minute was depressed 8 degrees, when it became stationary. On placing a screen between the mirror and the moon, it rose again to the same level, and was again depressed on removing the obstacle." This experiment was repeated several times in the presence of some of Dr. Howard's friends, and always with the same result. Comets.-It appears that the late Mr. Cusac has left some unpublished papers on comets. He supposes them to be globes of water; that, on return to perihelion, the solar rays (after sun-set,) strike on the mass of water, enter converging to the centre, where, after decussation, they emerge from the liquid globe diverging, and form the phenomenon in the heavens called the comet's tail. As to the use of these watery bodies, he thinks they were formed by nature to assist in giving a due temperature to our system. Congreve Rockets.---These destructive missiles have lately been employed with considerable effect in the whale fisheries. Capt. Wm. Scoresby, who is well known on the Greenland seas, as a successful fisherman, an intrepid adventurer, and an able navigator, was, we believe, the first to adopt this ingenious mode of capturing the |