on the contrary, the natural bent of his acute and sagacious mind led him to consider it as one of the most valuable of the practical departments of Natural History and Economics. By his writings and his personal exertions, he has succeeded in establishing so general a zeal and ardour for mineralogy in the New World, that its advancement is now secured in that quarter of the globe. Petalite, a newly discovered Mineral, containing a new Alkali, probably occurs in the Islands of Coll and Rona. BERZELIUS, who is, without doubt, one of the most active, laborious, and acute chemists of our time, and who is constantly adding to the great store of chemical facts, and occasionally contributing, although in rather an extensive manner, to the hypothetical, or what has been named the poetical department of this science, has lately, through his pupil Arvedson, discovered in a new mineral named petalite, an alkali different from those already known. Petalite, according to Arvedson, contains 80 parts of silica, 17 of alumina, and 3 of the new alkali. We remember to have met with a menced his examination of the mineralogy of the Shetland Islands, has again sailed for that remote part of the British empire, to resume his investigations. Dr Macculloch is also about to visit the Shetland Islands, in order to make himself acquainted with their mineralogy; Mr Thomas Allan, and Mr Bullock of the London Museum, are setting out for St Kilda, in order to examine the mineralogy of that remote rock, already so interesting by the descriptions of Macaulley and Martin; and we understand that the celebrated Professor Mohs of Gratz, Count Breunner of Vienna, this season to visit the Highlands of and Professor Jurine of Geneva, are Scotland, with the view of studying the numerous highly interesting mithemselves to the attention of the naneralogical phenomena which present turalist in all parts of our Alpine regions. No Greywacke in Cornwall. Cornwall, informs us that greywacke DR BERGER, in his Mineralogy of is abundant in different parts of the country, and several succeeding writers, either copying him or being unacquaint with the true characters of that rock, as given by Professor Jameson, have made the same assertion. We suspect all of them are mistaken, and livered from the chair of mineralogy if we understood what has been dein the College, not a piece of greywacke has been hitherto met with in mineral resembling petalite in the is-ed land of Coll, and a substance of the same general aspect in Rona, also one of the Hebrides. We mention this circumstance with the view of inducing some of the numerous young mineralogists, now visiting all parts of Scotland, to look for petalite in the places just mentioned. Cornwall. Geognosy of Sweden. THE earliest information we postained in an excellent, but little sess of the geognosy of Sweden is conknown, work, the Physical Geography of the celebrated chemist Bergman. Linnæus, Wallernus, and their imthe information published by Bergmediate pupils, added considerably to man. More lately, this country has Dandrades, Von Buch, Hevmelin, and engaged the particular attention of Hausmann; and we are happy to announce, that a work, written professedly on the geognosy of Sweden, is about to appear from the pen of a skilful and zealous observer, Mr Hisinger. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Women; or Pour et Contre: a Tale. By the author of Bertram, a Tragedy. 3 vols. 12mo. Constable & Co. WE have no hesitation in placing this as undoubtedly at the head of Mr Maturin's productions. In his earlier novels, with much occasional felicity of expression, and many indications of genius, there was yet such a chaos both of incidents and of language, that we could scarcely trace any presiding mind moving over the troubled waters of his invention. Even his Bertram, with all its power and popularity, came upon us rather as a "blast from hell," than as conveying any of those "airs from Hea ven," which ought ever to encircle the divine form of poetry; and we read it, we confess, with a feeling of hatred and loathing, which was in some degree transferred from the book to its author. In the present work, however, he has made us ample amends, and we are now disposed to give him equally our hearts and our admiration. He has, indeed, in his time, "supped so full with horrors," that it would be too much to expect him to change his hand entirely, and to acquire at once a shape perfectly humane and conversable, but his darker spirits are now under the control of the magician, and while he moves among them, like the poet Dante, in his Inferno, we still feel that his understanding is quite clear, and his sympathies, with every thing human, most fresh and unimpaired. We are really at a loss to say, whether this work is more remarkable for poetical fancy, or intense feeling, or profound reflection. There is much poetry in the invention of the characters, and in the situations in which they are placed. There is an agonizing dissection of the human heart, which unveils many of its most painful sensibilities; and there is withal a depth and a variety of thought on the most interesting of all inquiries, which, in its different results, has had so powerful an influence on the character and happiness of every age, and of none more than the present. We shall make our VOL. II. selves better understood, however, when we have given a slight sketch of the story, and made our readers somewhat acquainted with the characters of this novel. Charles de Courcy, a young Irishman of genius, great personal attractions and fortune, had scarcely entered Dublin, where, in his 17th year, he was placed at the University, than by a singular adventure he rescued from the hovel of an old crazy woman a beautiful young girl, who had been carried there by force, and lay concealed. He put her into the hands of her relations, but entirely lost sight of her for some time afterwards; till one night, he found himself placed beside her in a Methodist chapel, whither he had accompanied a serious youth of his acquaintance. She was so much occupied with her devotions, that she did not recognize him till the service was over, when she looked upon him with a smile of so much sweetness, that he immediately addressed her as an acquaintance; and an elderly lady who was with her, begged him to visit at their house. This lady was a Mrs Wentworth, one of the Evangelical class, and married to a gentleman of much less understanding or heart than herself, and much narrower and more bigoted in his opinions. The society at their house was quite novel to the young man, and of a kind which certainly had no tendency to give him any good religious impressions. He was in the daily practice of hearing the most sacred subjects discussed in a spirit of controversial arrogance, or of the most revolting fanaticism; and were it not that he loved the fair Eva, he could never have submitted to such company. In her pure and gentle manners he found an attraction which nothing could overcome, yet she seemed so heavenly a being, that he had not the vanity to think he could_inspire her with a mutual passion. The agitation of his mind ultimately impaired his health, and brought him to the brink of the grave, when the cause of his malady was accidentally discovered, and he was permitted to ap XX proach Eva as her destined husband. Unfortunately, this young man was no less volatile than passionate, and as obstacles to the success of his wishes were removed, he began to be less ardent for the attainment of their object. Several circumstances gradually occurred to cool him a little towards the lovely Eva,-the tedious pertinacity of the family to make him a convert to their own peculiar opinions, her apparent coldness, which arose merely from her previous ignorance of passion, and the dread of its sinfulness;-all this wearied and wore him out, and prepared him for the fatal change in his affections which was speedily to happen. A most fascinating opera-singer appeared on the Dublin stage, a woman of the greatest beauty and accomplishments, quite a Corinne in short, admitted into the first circles, or rather one whose society was courted as the highest distinction. De Courcy became constant at her parties, and she soon took a warm interest in him. Zaira (so she was named) deceived herself so far as to imagine, that her attachment to him was pure friendship, and she even pleased herself with the idea, that she would be delighted with forming the minds of him and his young wife, an object which, after a severe disappointment she had just met with, seemed necessary to give her an interest in existence. This most delightful and amiable woman (for she really was very amiable) had the effect, however, of gradually estranging him from Eva, who suffered wofully in comparison with her. The contrast is admirably exhibited between the shrinking timidity and inefficiency of the one, and the fine ease and splendid genius of the other. It was scarcely possible for De Courcy not to be captivated, though there were occasions when his soul was again Eva's, and with little more force of character she might have fixed him hers for ever; but she was too holy and retiring to comprehend his ardours, yet her affection for him was deeper and more powerful than she herself knew or could tell. It was preying secretly on her vitals, indeed, under the feeling of his inconstancy. Zaira at last was to depart, and De Courcy came to her to take his last farewell, but they found it impossible to separate when the sad moment arrived, and in a frenzy of passion he entreated to accompany her. She yielded,-but would not immediately accept of his offered hand. She would try him for a year,-they were to travel together like brother and sister, and if he continued to love her, they were then to marry. In this manner they went to Paris together, where new objects attracted the wandering mind of De Courcy,and he was wearied of the constant restraint under which the exactions of Zaira's love kept him. Her eye for ever pursued him, she seemed for ever fearful of the distraction of his affections, and she lost them the sooner from her constant dread of losing them. He formed the resolution to return home to Eva, who, he heard, was dying;—and, although Zaira's attempts to detain him were very painful to him, he at last broke away. There is something very affecting in the detail of her despair, and of the fatal path into which it had nearly betrayed her. In the weakness of her mind, she listens to infidel arguments, which, in her better days, she would have despised. She had the religion of warm feeling, and of intellectual glorying; and had believed also in Revelation, though without much knowledge of the grounds of her belief. All her natural bulwarks fell down in the hour of her misery,—she fluctuated for a time between superstition and doubt, and at last summoned all her resolution to the act of suicide. From this purpose, however, she is diverted by a strong impulse to return to Ireland;-she does so, and remains in the neighbourhood of De Courcy without his knowing of it. She at last accidentally discovers in the old mad woman, from whom, in the beginning of the book, De Courcy had rescued Eva,-her own mother, and, more wonderful still, that she herself is the mother of Eva. She rushes to the house of the Wentworths, but barely in time to see the eyes of her daughter Eva closed. She and De Courcy again meet at the funeral, but, as is most strikingly stated, without the slightest emotion from each other's presence. The thoughts of each were now absorbed in the sad coffin before them. The young man, not long after, was buried by the side of his lost bride, and, at the early age of 19, finished his tumultuous course of disordered passion. Zaira continu ed to live, but a monument of de- my child." The catastrophe of this tale may seem very strained and unnatural, but it is really less so than our bare and imperfect sketch makes it appear to be. There is something, no doubt, radically extravagant in its conception, but it is much better coloured over than could well be looked for; and it is, perhaps, a piece of artifice in our author to make the outset of his story singularly blundering and confused, like a man writing on without knowing what he is to say next, that we may be the more satisfied with its final winding up. Non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucem Cogitat: ut speciosa dehinc miracula pro mat. The tale, indeed, abounds with "miracula ;" and we are not sure that they can always be called " speciosa." There are in it visions, dreams, and impulses, in abundance,--besides the mad woman, who is a kind of prophetess in her lunes, and starts up every now and then, dancing before us in a way to make us giddy. She is not a very happy invention, but is a sort of decoction of Meg Merrilies, the old wicked woman in the Antiquary, and all Miss Edgeworth's wild Irish women distilled together into one "hell broth." Indeed, we like our author least when he does not draw from his own stores. It is true he has not disfigured Corinne, but has given a new and edifying view of a mind like hers under the terrible feeling of religious desertion. Zaira is thus original, though an imitation; and is, we conceive, not greatly inferior to her model. The evangelical characters are all admirably imagined, -the pure Eva,-the conscientious Mrs Wentworth, her controversial husband, and all the gang of preachers and elect who assemble within his doors. Indeed, we cannot well conceive any thing better than the temperate and discriminating manner in which our author has walked over this delicate ground. He exposes, with a powerful hand, the follies of the methodistical system, and its bad effects on the minds both of its professors and of those who are merely lookers on; yet his best characters are all among this order,-and, although their faculties are cramped and depressed by the narrowness of their creed, they are still eminent examples of the power of genuine piety. Take the instance of Mrs Wentworth. "She appeared about fifty years of age; her person was plain, but her clear com manding eye, the severe simplicity of her manners, and consciousness of perfect sincerity accompanying every word she uttered, and communicating itself irresistibly to her hearers, made one respect her the mofew moments afterwards. Withdrawn and ment they beheld her, and love her a very recollected from the embarrassment of the preceding night, her manner appeared comparatively cold, but it was rather the coldness of habit than of character; there was more, too, of the measured and limited phraseology of the Evangelical people in her conversation, but when she continued to speak for any time, one easily saw that the range of her mind was far more extensive than that of the objects to which it was confined. She herself appeared to feel this self-imposed constraint, and to escape from it, from time to time, but soon returned again, and the final impression which she left was that of strong sense, rigid rectitude of principle and conduct, and a temper and heart naturally warm, but subdued by the power of religion." Her husband is an admirable con trast. "Calvinism, Calvinism was everything with him; his expertness in the five points would have foiled even their redoubtable refuter Dr Whitby himself; but his theo logy, having obtained full possession of his head, seemed so satisfied with its conquest, that it never ventured to invade his heart. His mind was completely filled with a system of doctrines, and his conversation with a connexion of phrases, which he often uttered mechanically, but sometimes with a force that imposed not only on others, but on himself. In this state he was perhaps as happy as he could be, for he had a gratifying sense of his own importance, and his conscience was kept tranquil by listening to or repeating sounds, which to him had all the effect of things. Never was Mirabeau's acute remark, that "words are things," more strongly verified, than in the case of Mr Wentworth's religion." The death-bed of the sainted Eva made him at last feel the distinction. She entreated her aunt that she might die in private, and not surrounded by preachers. "Wentworth, who was in the room, did not like her last sentiments; he could not bear that a niece of his, brought up in the very strictest sect of Evangelical religion, should thus depart without leaving a memorable article for the obituary of an Evangelical Magazine. He had expected this at least from her. He had (unconsciously in his own mind) dramatized her whole dying scene, and made a valuable addition to the testimony of those who die in all the orthodoxy of genuine Calvinism. My dear Eva,' said he, approaching her bed, and softening his voice to its softest tones, I trust that I am not to discover, in your last words, a failure from the faith for which the saints are desired to contend earnestly, and to resist even unto blood. I trust that your approach to the valley of the shadow of death does not darken your view of the five points, those immutable foundations on which the foundation of the gospel rests, namely,'and Wentworth began reckoning on his fingers; Mrs Wentworth in vain made signs to him, he went on as far as imputed righteousness,' when Eva, lifting her wasted hand, he became involuntarily silent. My dear uncle,' said the dying Christian, the language of man is as the dust in the balance' to me now. I am on the verge of the grave, and all the wretched distinctions that have kept men at war for centuries, seem to me as nothing. I know that salvation is of grace through faith,' and knowing that, I am satisfied. Man may disfigure divine truth, but never can make it more plain. Oh, my dear uncle, I am fast approaching that place where there is neither Jew or Greek, barbarian or Scythian, bondman, or free, but Christ is all in all. Speak no more of points which I cannot understand; but feel that the religion of Christ is a religion of the soul, that its various denominations, which I have heard so often discussed, and with so little profit, are of light avail, compared with its vital predominance over our hearts and lives. I call,' said she, collecting her hollow voice to utter the words strongly, I call two awful witnesses to my appeal, the hour of death, and the day of judg ment;-they are witnesses against all the souls. Oh, my dear uncle, how will you stand their testimony? You have heard much of the language of religion, but I fear you have yet to learn its power.' She paused; for dim as her eyes were hourly growing, she could see the tears running fast down Wentworth's rugged cheeks," &c. Nothing can be more beautiful and affecting than all this scene, and the whole character, indeed, of this amiable girl, yet there is a fine moral in the representation of the bad effects, even upon her mind, of the contracted system in which she had been educated. With a little more play of thought, and indulgence of affection, she would have fixed her lover, become a valuable and beloved wife, and none of the misery which followed from his wandering would ever have befallen! While our author is thus at home in all the bad and the good of evangelical religion, (our readers, we trust, will see that we are using the term according to the cant acceptation of the age, not in its original sense, for in that sense it can include nothing but what is good,) he no less admirably represents the philosophical religion of Zaira in her best days, the atheism of some of her Parisian associates, and the sad depression of her spirit amidst doubts and misery. In all this nothing is overstrained, but all is most naturally and candidly exhibited. Her bursts of natural piety are beautiful, but they float upon the surface of her soul ;— even the arguments of infidelity are given fairly and without any attempt to distort them ;-but how fine is the result of the whole! With all Zaira's powers of mind and her shining virtues, she has, in the hour of misfortune and disappointment, no anchor upon which her soul can steady itself,-while the simple Eva, educated in the darkest and most contracted views of Christianity, yet finds its blessed consolations smoothing her passage to the grave! In this representation, we really think service to the cause of true religion. our author has done an invaluable He keenly satirizes the follies which disfigure it. He pourtrays, in all their most dazzling and brilliant colours, those qualities of mind which seem able to stand without its support, and upon their own strength hour of trial, all these meteor glories and enduring stability;-yet, in the vanish, and Religion is left alone to support the trembling soul as it is sinking in the waves of darkness and of death. We must now, howe ver, give a specimen or two of the fascinating Zaira. Take her first ap pearance. "The curtain rose, and a few moments after she entered. She rushed so rapidly on the stage, and burst with such an overwhelming cataract of sound on the ear, in a bravura that seemed composed apparently not to task, but to defy the human voice, that all eyes were dazzled, and all ears stunned, and several minutes elapsed before a thunder of applause testified the as |