LITERARY CRITICISM.

The History and Doctrine of Budhism popularly illustrated; with Notices of the Kappooism, or Demon Worship, and of the Bali, or Planetary Incantations of Ceylon. By Edward Upham, M.R.A.S. With forty-three Lithographic Prints, from original Singalese Designs. London. R. Ackermann. 1829.

4to.

PRICE 6d.

bined and confined by the trammels of materiality, can proceed when it attempts to soar, unaided, beyond the paltry range of its own weak senses.

have become gods; but it rejects entirely the idea of a Supreme Being, who has created and preserves the universe. Its highest conception of power and happiness This state of Budha, or Nieban, is entirely negative, is to be in a state of Budha, or to obtain Nieban. and consists in not being subject to weight, old age, disease, or death. It is to be obtained only after a long progress of metempsychosis, and a succession of punishments and purifications in hells and purgatories, which, by the decrees of fate-Damata necessarily follow moral or immoral conduct. Four persons have already THIS is a learned and valuable work, upon a subject passed into the highest state of existence, namely, that of much greater interest and importance than the gene- of Budha, of which persons Gaudma was the fourth; ral reader may at first sight suppose. Budhism is the and his doctrines are to remain in full force for 5000 most ancient faith of which any authentic records exist; years, at the expiration of which period, (nearly onefor even what may be termed modern Budhism, which half having already passed,) a fifth and last person will is a modification of the original doctrine, and a slight appear; and when he transmigrates into the state of deviation from pure Paganism, is 2340 years old. It Budha, the present system of things shall have an end. owes its existence to Gaudma, or Godama, (whence the Mixed up with this predominating belief, which, many Teutonic word God,) who, having been probably a great centuries ago, found its way into Egypt, and was thence warrior-king and lawgiver in that remote period, taught carried to Greece by Pythagoras, are a thousand wild his people to believe that he was endowed with super- fancies and incomprehensible legends, betraying the human powers, and on his death was deified, as has al- gorgeous luxuriance of Eastern imagination, and showways been the case in rude ages. The previous tradi-ing, after all, how very short a length man's spirit, cations regarding a Budha, go back to a period long anterior to that at which the Mosaic chronology fixes the Deluge. The creed which Gaudma disseminated, and which is preserved in its purest state in the Island of But, notwithstanding the absurdities of the Budhist Ceylon, extends over all the Indian isles, and the creed, historical and scientific conclusions of the most greater portion of the vast regions to the eastward of interesting nature may be deduced from its doctrines the Ganges, among which may be included Birmah, and traditions; and this, of itself, would make it worChina, Tartary, and Thibet. Its doctrines thus influ- thy the most careful and laborious investigation. If, in ence the moral and intellectual character of not fewer retracing the stream of time, we are to look for the founthan three hundred millions of the human race. These tain from which all the generations of man have proare considerations which convert, into matters of deep in-ceeded, and if that people is likely to be the most anterest, the most minute details that can be gathered from cient who inhabit districts acknowledged as the original the almost unexplored heaps of Eastern manuscripts, nursery of all the arts now spread over the world, it is pictorial representations, and other antiquities which are clear that we must turn to the East, and that there known to exist, but which no scholar, previous to Mr Budhism, if it does not bring us to the fountain-head, Upham, has been able to turn to much practical use. will at least carry us a long way on the right course toSurely no enquiry can have more imperative claims wards it. In the progress of this voyage of discovery, it upon public attention than that which retraces its way, will be particularly important and interesting to obupon the most authentic data, to the very earliest years serve, in the first place, that in the Maha-Vansi, a work of creation, and which seems to point to a time when composed in Palee, (the sacred Budhist language,) and the great family of man formed but one community, which is one of the oldest and most esteemed of the sacherished the same belief, and observed the same rites. cred writings, the early history of the human race, That some grand convulsion in the material world over- though laid at a much remoter date, is found to agree, threw this state of things, and scattered its fragments in many remarkable points, with our own Sacred Scripover the earth, seems to be beyond a doubt. Asiatic tures. The Maha-Mansi records the lengthened period tradition, though it cannot precisely explain what that of life allotted to the earlier inhabitants of the earth, convulsion was, or how it operated, carries us back to the non-existence of sin, the rationality of the animal the date of its occurrence, and almost seems, in some tribes, the extraordinary ascension of a certain Mahavague and mysterious manner, to penetrate beyond the Mandatoo in a living state to heaven, the introduction barrier, and to present at least a glimpse of the primeval of falsehood and murder, and the rebellion of men world. against the gods. These are very curious coincidences, and will, no doubt, tend to confirm the Christian in his faith. There are other coincidences equally deserving of noMany of our readers are no doubt acquainted with

We are strongly inclined to think, that according to the correct acceptation of the term, Budhism is a system of Atheism. It, no doubt, inculcates a belief in various gods, or rather in human beings who

tice.

the theory advanced by Humboldt, that the twelve signs The doctrine of metempsychosis is the very essence are not the original Zodiac, but are derived from a more and groundwork of Budhism. It is not a mere fanciancient system of the lunar mansions in use in Central ful theory, but a moral system, which teaches that souls Asia. Mr Upham's work establishes the truth of this must atone by penances in inferior forms for sins comtheory. The solar zodiac, which the Budhists have mitted in any present stage of existence, and that it is also, is proved to have been the result of a more advan- only after they have occupied the bodies of men or aniced state of knowledge, and to have been derived from mals, more or less degraded, that they can finally be the far more ancient and original lunar zodiac. We fitted for Nirwana, or the state of Budha. There being thus see that astrology, which owes its existence to the no Supreme Being, no great directing Mind, in the Budmixture of superstition and curiosity implanted in our hist creed, the system of metempsychosis was the only nature, is, in truth, the parent of astronomy, which is other plausible method by which a scheme of rewards science purged from superstition by more accurate inform- and punishments could be introduced, without which ation. But this discovery leads to still further results; no religion could ever be popular or useful. Budhism -it shows an affinity existing in the rites and practices inculcates, that Gaudma transmigrated through the of countries the most remote from each other, and be- whole circle of the creation, through all the existences tween which we should not otherwise have been able to of land, sea, and air, and that he lived in every station trace any sort of connexion. We more particularly al- of human life. This took him three thousand years to lude at present to the very striking and singular analo-accomplish; but if his faithful followers obey his com gies which may now be perceived to subsist in the commands, they may very speedily transmigrate into the putation of time and zodiacal signs between the Tartar Dewa Loka, or Lower Heavens, where they will gradually Budhists of Northern Asia and the Aztech and Toltech rise in the scale of existences till they reach Nirwana, or tribes of America. It has long been disputed whether final bliss. In the book of the Jutakas, or the five hunit was possible to prove that the tribes of Asia and dred and fifty incarnations of Budha, a complete history America had ever communicated with each other; but is given of his births among the different classes of if we find several arbitrary zodiacal signs the same in beings, and the substance of his intercourse with them, both countries, the question must certainly be considered for the purpose of illustrating three of the chief traits of as decided. That the astronomical arrangements and his character-purity, compassion, and wisdom. The divisions of modern Europe should very closely resemble book was originally written in Palee, and afterwards those of Budhism is less wonderful, for it was compara- translated into Singalese; a pictorial illustration accomtively easy for the science to find its way into Egypt, panies each narrative; and the work altogether, judging and thence it spread by Greece over all the West. It by the specimens of it furnished by Mr Upham, must is of importance, however, to observe the very slight ad- be one of the most remarkable which the East posditions which have been effected in this department of knowledge to the discoveries that were made by the Budhists thousands of years ago.

sesses.

The Budhist's belief in a series of hells, or abodes for condemned demons and mortals, where the most horrible torments are inflicted, adds great additional weight to the doctrine of metempsychosis. These punisliments, as we have already remarked, are not supposed to be awarded by any moral governor or creator; for the Budhas perform no other function than that of exhortation and preaching, but they are believed to have been made necessary by the immutable laws of fate from all eternity. The oath administered to a Budhist, in legal proceedings, is strikingly illustrative of this part of the religious opinions of the people. It is in these words:

Budhism, as it now exists, is a reformed creed; and, as we have already remarked, is believed to be founded on the ruins of Paganism. Gaudma, the fourth Budha, did not approve of the doctrines which had been promulgated or acquiesced in by the Budlas who preceded him; and though he could not extirpate them, he altered some, did away with others, and took the remainder into copartnership. Original Paganism seems to have been little else than a system of demon-worship, and a belief in planetary influences. This, indeed, is generally the foundation of all barbarous religions;-men deify their hopes and fears, and attach superhuman powers to objects, with whose nature they are unac- "If I have not seen, yet shall say that I have seen; quainted. Climate, habits, and modes of life, modify if I shall say that I know that which I do not know, the creed; which will thus be found to vary from that of then may I be thus punished: Should innumerable deother savage tribes in some of its details, but to preserve scents of the Deity happen for the regeneration and sala close resemblance in all its leading features. Gaud-vation of mankind, may my erring and migrating soul ma, however, in reforming Budhism, had not merely to contend with Pagans, but with a more determined and formidable sect the Brahmins. The question has been often agitated, whether Brahminism or Budhism is the most ancient system, and it is a question which, many centuries ago, occasioned the most devastating wars in India. The result has been that, at this day, the two systems divide the East. In Central India, Brahminism maintains the superiority; whilst, in the Indian Isles and all the ultra-Gangetic continent, Budhism is supreme. The truth seems to be, that both creeds are modifications of pure Paganism; and it is of little consequence which sprang up first. The Brahmins calculate the antiquity of the world; the Budhists do not believe in creation: The Brahmins eat of no animal; the Budhists eat of all except nine, of which the ox is the principal: The supreme deity of the Brahmins is Vishnu, and the remote periods at which he visits the earth they term Avatars; the supreme deities of the Budhists are their five Budhas, of which only four have yet made their appearance. The great connecting link between the two systems is the belief they both inculcate in transmigration, of which we shall say a few words.

be found beyond the pale of their mercy! Wherever I go, may I be encompassed with dangers, and not escape from them, whether arising from murderers, robbers, spirits of the earth, of wood, of water, or of air, or from all divinities who adore Budha, or from the Gods of the four elements, and all other spirits! May blood flow out of every pore of my body, that my crime may be made manifest to the world! May all or any of these evils overtake me within three days, or may I never stir from the spot on which I now stand, or may the lat sani, or lash of the sky, (lightning,) cut me in two, so that I may be exposed to the derision of the people! Or, if I should be walking abroad, may I be torn in pieces by either of the four supernaturally endowed lions, or destroyed by venomous herbs, or poisonous snakes! If in the waters of the river or ocean, may supernatural crocodiles, or great fishes, devour me, or may the winds and waves overwhelm me; or may the dread of such evils keep me, during life, a prisoner at home, estranged from every pleasure; or may I be afflicted by the intolerable oppressions of my superiors; or may a plague cause my death; after which, may I be precipitated into hell, there to go through innumerable stages of torture,

amongst which, may I be condemned to carry water over the flaming regions, in open wicker baskets, to assuage the heat felt by Than Wetsuwan, when he enters the infernal hall of justice; and thereafter may I fall into the lowest pit of hell; or, if these miseries should not ensue, may I, after death, migrate into the body of a slave, and suffer all the hardships and pain attending the worst state of such a being, during a period of years measured by the sand of four seas; or may I animate the body of an animal or beast during five hundred generations, or be born an hermaphrodite five hundred times, or endure in the body of a deaf, dumb, houseless beggar, every species of disease, during the same number of generations, and then may I be hurried to Narak, or hell, and there be crucified by Phria-Yam, one of the kings of hell!”

The Budhist doctrine teaches that there are eight large hells, which, however, are only probationary states, where mortals are purified by fire, and which seem to have suggested the idea of their Tartarus, Hades, and Orcus, to the Greeks and Romans. The hells are supposed to be under the earth, and rendered invisible to our eyes by the shell or crust of the terraqueous globe. But Nirwana, the place of bliss, as well as the Dewa Loka, or Lower Heavens, are situated in the starry sphere.

his Oriental researches, and is engaged in editing the three sacred and historical books of Ceylon, comprising all the authentic annals of Budhism, drawn from sources to which none but Budhists themselves could have ac

cess.

Traits of Travel; or Tales of Men and Cities. By the author of "High-Ways and By-Ways." 3 vols. London. Henry Colburn. 1829.

MR GRATTAN's abilities as a novelist are not greatly above the ordinary currency of the day. He writes in a light pleasant style, and his stories are agreeable enough to read on a rainy afternoon, when one does not exactly know what to do with oneself. But they will never set the Thames on fire, nor even, we suspect, make the author's fortune. The work now before us is not an improvement on his "High-Ways and By-Ways;" it has too much of a made-up air, as if the writer had been more anxious to fill a book than to increase his reputation. It bears, in many parts, evident marks of haste and carelessness; and these are hardly redeemed by the fire and brilliancy of the remainder. Besides, we do not think that Mr Grattan has adopted the most popular style and plan for fictitious narrative. He assumes the character of a walking gentleman, and seems more desirous to recount his own personal adventures than to supply his readers with an interesting series of tales. This is injudicious; and, at all events, the idea was exhausted in his "High-Ways and By-ways." The novel-reading public must either have fish or flesh. They don't want half-and-half works, where the author is entirely lost sight of in one page, and starts up again, prosy and egotistical, in the next. They do not like to be thus cheated out of a good love-story, full of tears, and duels, and hard-hearted papas and mammas. Mr Grattan may be one of the most charming little men in existence; but there is nothing particularly romantic in his walking through lanes in Normandy, or taking cross cuts in Belgium, going into hedge alehouses, and meeting with queer postilions and blowsy dairy-maids. A book in three volumes should be made of sterner stuff than this; for really there is a good deal of flummery, and not a great deal of substance, in the "Traits of Travel."

Did space and time permit, we would willingly accompany Mr Upham into some farther details upon this interesting subject, which he has so ably and laboriously illustrated. We might give some account of the singular notions entertained by the Budhists of the earth, and the atmospheric regions; we might describe the inhabitants of the Dewa Loka, or Six Heavens, supplying, as they do, with their multitude of Dives, Peris, fairies, enchanters, giants, and oracular birds, all the materials of Arabian fable; we might look into many parts of their religious ritual, such as the feasts of the Nats, the Festival of the Gods, the poisoned toast, and the inebriating tree, in which we might discover the more recondite parts of the Eleusinian mysteries; we might trace, in the superstitions connected with the hells, the Bali, and the Demons, much of the machinery of Dante, and not a little of the creed of our own Teutonic ancestors, who, coming from the Euxine, imported Budhism along with them. But we must bring our remarks to a close, after expressing our full sense of the many dif ficulties Mr Upham must have encountered and overcome, before he was able to produce so splendid a work, on a subject so far out of the beaten track. We are well aware of the labour and perseverance requisite to dive into the hidden stores of Indian literature; and in all the Palee manuscripts relating to Budhism, we know that the writers purposely wrap up their meaning, and are more willing to mystify and mislead, than to give any distinct information. We cannot, therefore, but observe, with surprise, the very lucid manner in which Mr Upham has arranged his materials, and the distinct way in which he brings a thousand scattered facts to bear upon the point in question. The coloured lithographic prints which the volume contains are themselves of very great value. The originals have been presented to the London Asiatic Society, and are considered the oldest and only examples extant of the ancient mode of teaching by pictures. Few publishers can do greater justice to a work than Ackermann, when he is so disposed; and, from the splendid style in which the present has been got up, we do not wonder to learn that it "Very soon after the soup had been removed, and the has cost not less than L.1400. We believe the im- housekeeper's operations had commenced in solid earpression has been limited to 250 copies, and it will nest, and while I was in the act of addressing a sentherefore be much less widely circulated, than the in- tence of civility to the interesting girl beside me, I felt teresting nature of its contents deserves. It must, how-something gently touch the point of one of my feet with ever, of course find its way into all the great libraries; a very light pressure. I did not pay any attention to it and we are glad to perceive, by a Prospectus now be- at first, and on a repetition of the touch, I concluded fore us, that Mr Upham is diligently proceeding with that a cat was passing to and fro under the table. Af

The work consists of a number of Tales and Sketches, to which it is impossible for us to allude individually, and we therefore have preferred giving a general opinion on the whole. Let it not be supposed, however, that we mean to deny to Mr Grattan the praise unquestionably due to him. He is not a very profound or power. ful writer; but he has many good qualities, which ought not to go unrewarded. He has a neat flowing style, considerable facility of description, a fair portion of Irish enthusiasm, a gentle vein of sentimentalism, a tolerably acute perception of character, and some humour, which, though it never inundates, flows on in a quiet, pleasant stream. In short, Mr Grattan has few faults; and all that he wants to make him a more eminent man is a more decided and original genius. We had marked several passages for quotation, but must limit ourselves to one, the spirit of which our readers will be able to enjoy, though detached from the Tale in which it occurs. We shall entile it

A SCENE BELOW THE TABLE.

ter a very short interval, however, it came again; and there was something so intelligible in the feel of the thing, and in the language it spoke, that I thought mere animal agency could not alone have caused it. The fact of the case came across my mind with a quickness and clearness that showed, as I thought, a considerable aptitude on my part. I was convinced, in a moment, that the sallow-visaged doctor was sending his long legs on an embassy from the other side of the table, and that his grisly foot believed itself in the act of making a very tender impression on the instep of my beautiful neighbour. My determination was instantly formed to encourage the doctor's error, to personate, with the point of my foot, the moiety of one of those no doubt delicate ones for which it was mistaken, and to amuse myself by observing those secret workings of the doctor's sole, which I thought, if properly managed by me, would be likely to display themselves in his coun

tenance.

"In pursuance of this freak, the consequences of which I little foresaw, as my readers will believe when they learn them, I quietly slipped my foot out of its shoe, the better to counterfeit feminine delicacy; and advancing it softly towards that of the doctor, which had retreated after his last attempt, I gently touched the tip of his great toe with mine. While I did so, 1 turned again towards the lady on whom I was committing this personal forgery, and, though saying a few words to her, I marked, by a single glance, the effect of my first step in this underfoot affair. The doctor's look had been louring and disappointed; but no sooner did he feel the timid touch which I essayed, than a frightful expression of delight showed itself on his face. An odious streakiness overspread his cheeks, the livid veins of his temples swelled almost to bursting, his lip quivered with a convulsive tremor, and his glowering eyes seemed to float in bile. The look of sickening softness, which he rolled across the table, was enough to infect the delicate things it passed over, like the poison-blast that desolates the garden of Araby.

gratified with his discomfiture and suffering, the feeling was soon changed to one of a very different kind. No sooner were the staring eyes of the party taken off his face, which I, however, continued slyly to observe, than I perceived him to dart one look at my lovely neighbour, of such a mixed and horrible kind, that I felt myself bodily to shrink from it. He either meant to reproach her for her insensibility to his suffering, or for a complicity in the injury done him. Heaven knows what! But so deadly a look of anger, hatred, and revenge, I certainly never witnessed. During the remainder of the repast, he sat sullen and silent."-P. 96-101.

To such of our readers as wish for a longer sample of these volumes, we recommend the sketch called, "A Bone to pick, a tale of Irish Revenge," and the story of "Laura Permegia," which is very sweetly and prettily told. "The Maison de Santé" contains some graphic writing; but it is a painful and disagreeable subject. The whole of the third volume we consider heavy.

The Practice of Cookery, adapted to the Business of
Everyday Life. By Mrs Dalgairns. Edinburgh.
Cadell and Co. 1829.

THIS is by far the most complete, and truly practical work, which has yet appeared upon this subject. It contains 1434 Receipts, and the Index alone occupies twenty-five pages. Mrs Dalgairns is not one of those imaginative and flowery preceptors, who think it necessary to call in the aid of fiction and fine writing, to give an interest to the engrossing and important matters of which she treats. She proceeds to business at once; and from her title-page, to her "Printed by Ballantyne and Co." at the foot of page 528, she never for a moment turns either to the right or to the left; but, devoted to the metier she professes, prides herself on be ing totus in illo. Her book will be found an infallible Cook's Companion, and a treasure of great price to the mistress of a family. It is stuffed choke-full of the "I was utterly disgusted with the fellow; but I did not most important gastronomical information; and, like a the less amuse myself with him. For full half an hour, well-fed turkey, or juvenescent pig, it has swelled out I played him as an angler plays a salmon, forward and under the fostering care of Mrs Dalgairns, till it has backward, from one side to the other; sometimes luring actually become fat and dumpy; reminding us of an him on, then letting him retreat; now suffering his foot alderman we once knew, five feet high by four broad,— gently to press mine, then giving his a squeeze on the a very incarnation of all the good things of this life. most sensitive and corny part; and, on these occasions, There are 25 Chapters, in the course of which we are I could mark on his lips the anguish which he was, treated, among many others, to 95 receipts for soups, martyrlike, enduring so bravely. At last I got quite 115 for fish, 70 for beef, 60 for veal, 31 for pork, 41 tired of my sport, and began to hate the wretch, as his for poultry, 14 for curries, 104 for gravies, sauces, &c., glances at the passive object of his gallantries seemed to 66 for vegetables, 263 for puddings, pies, and tarts, 134 give her credit for a sympathy with his overtures, of for creams, custards, &c., 100 for cakes, &c., 82 for which she was wholly innocent. He at last looked so preserves, 61 for domestic wines, 15 for the dairy, and atrociously amorous, that I could keep my temper no 88 miscellaneous. Then we have remarks besides on longer; but, slipping my foot again into my shoe, I the poultry-yard, brewing, the kitchen garden, bees, waited for his next approach, and drawing back my leg pigs, &c. The highly-judicious principles upon which an instant to take forcible aim, I darted it forward with the book has been composed are thus stated in the Preamazing accuracy, and just caught his advancing shin-face:"The chief requisites in a work of this kind bone on the edge of my square-toed shoe. The pain he suffered must have been intolerable, for he smacked his knee against the table with a force that caused it to dart up like a spring-board, and made a matelotte of eels, which was beside him, bound, as though they had just been popped into the frying-pan. Several bottles and glasses were upset and broken, and the whole of the sensitive assemblage looked affrighted. The victim of my vengeance writhed with pain; and I, with all the hypocrisy I could put on, looked penitence personified, and apologised, expressing my fears that I had kicked him instead of a dog or cat which I supposed to have been at my foot. I beg a thousand pardons,' said I,

in conclusion.

"Au contraire, Monsieur, c'est moi,' exclaimed he, bowing down to the table-cloth with perfect politeness, and I was quite satisfied. But if I was, or even

are, first, the intrinsic excellence of the precepts it con. tains; next, their economical adaptation to the habits and tastes of the majority of its readers; and, lastly, such a distinct arrangement of the various parts, that no difficulty can arise in searching for what is wanted, nor any ambiguity in the meaning of the directions when found." We are farther assured, that every receipt has been actually tried, either by the author, or by persons whose accuracy in the various manipulations could be safely relied upon. With so many arguments in its favour, we cannot doubt that the "Practice of Cookery" will soon find its way into a wide and useful circulation. For our own part, we have in an impressive manner presented our cook with a copy, solemnly declaring, that if an ill-dressed dish ever again appear upon our table, the punishment shall be instant dismissal.

Rev. Sydney Smith in defence of it. We can enjoy the ingenuity of Mr Combe, and a few more of the phrenologists, and, nevertheless, we can smile to see Phrenology knocked on the head by Sir William Hamilton, Mr Jeffrey, or any other worthy antagonist. So we can take up the Westminster Review just as if it were the Quarterly, and the Quarterly just as if it were the Westminster; and we can be as much pleased with Mr Bowring as we are with Mr Lockhart, provided they both support their own theories and opinions with an equal share of intellectual acumen.

The first article in the present Number of the Westminster is an elaborate review of Sir Walter Scott's "Tales of a Grandfather." The writer enters into a

A Memoir of Barbara Ewing. By her Husband, Greville Ewing. Glasgow. George Gallie. 1829. IT is with considerable reluctance that we notice this volume; and, had we not promised to speak of every work of any consequence that issues from the Scottish press, we should certainly have passed it over in silence. We believe it to have been written with proper intentions; but we can say little either for the good taste or delicacy of feeling which led to its publication. The late Mrs Ewing, in every sense of the word, belonged to private life, and, we doubt not, possessed virtues which endeared her to her friends, and her domestic circle. Why this veil should be drawn aside after her death, and an account of her birth, parentage, and edu-minute investigation of Sir Walter's sentiments regardcation, habits, and dispositions, be written by her husband, and sold for three-and-sixpence, we confess our selves at a loss to discover. We do not like this trumpeting of the dead; and far less do we like it, coming from the Reverend Greville Ewing. It seems to us, that a widowed husband should feel that there was something too sacred in his grief to have it made a common topic of conversation at every tea-table and gossiping visit. We may be wrong, (for Mr Ewing has more experience in these matters than we have,) but if a "Memoir" of his third wife was to be written, we do not think that he was the person who should have done it. We pass over the literary and religious merits of the volume, though we think there is much to object to in the insinuations and attacks it contains against the Established Church of Scotland; and we forbear to enquire whether it is of much importance for the public to know that Mrs Ewing "was blest with a pious nurse, who, being a widow, continued with her during the whole of her childhood,"—or that, when she lived in the vicinity of Auldkirk, "she procured visits from itinerant and congregational preachers,' -or that it was "a mutual comfort to her and her husband that, during their married life, they were seldom separated, though she never grudged his absence when it was occasioned by calls of evangelical duty," or that "she zealously engaged in a sale of ladies' work in Glasgow, in aid of the funds of the Glasgow City Mission, and superintended one of the tables at that sale;' -we pass over these things, and content ourselves with expressing a hope, that, if this book turns out a good speculation, Mr Ewing will also give to the world the "Memoirs " of two other ladies, who must have been equally dear to him, and both of whom, no less than the lady to whom he dedicates the present volume, he is "soon to meet in a deathless world."

THIS is a good Number of the Westminster Review, as Reviews go, in these degenerate days. Be it recollected, that, though steering clear ourselves of all political bias, we, nevertheless, assume the privilege of admiring talent wherever we meet with it" from Indus to the Pole"-no matter under what garb it may appear. We think Shiel and O'Connell two of the cleverest men which the clever country of Ireland has produced; but we are not on that account prepared to deny that Lord Eldon is a great statesman, or that the author of "The Breaking-in on the Constitution," in Blackwood's Magazine, is an able writer. We are perhaps disposed to believe the Hamiltonian system a system of humbug; but, at the same time, we should never desire to see a better article in the Edinburgh Review, than that of the

ing the House of Stuart, and endeavours to convict him of many inaccuracies and fallacies. This is a point which has been long mooted, and will never be settled to the satisfaction of all parties. There is one objection, however, made to the "Tales," which we ventured to state some months ago, and which, we are not displeased to see, is completely coincided in by the present Reviewer. "An historical work," he observes, "composed for the instruction of youth, should, above all things, be careful to point out what is commendable, and what reprehensible, in the actions recorded. The work, in this respect, falls far short of the character of a good instrument of education. Censure and commendation are often not dealt out at all, or are not adequately explicit; and sympathy is wanting with the interests, the characters, and the principles, with which it is for the good of mankind that every man should sympathize." This, we suspect, is the great and leading blemish of all Sir Walter's controversial writings, or rather of those writings which should have been controversial, but which are not so.

The second article is a long one in defence of the Hamiltonian system. That this system, which professes to do so much, has made so little progress, is one of the chief arguments against it, and one which speaks more powerfully than the most laboured disquisition ever written. The third article is an amusing piece of gossip and light reading, concerning the Court of Napoleon, condensed from three or four French works on the subject. The fourth is a political puff of a novel called "The Anglo-Irish of the Nineteenth Century," and the author is christened by no less a title than the

Hibernian Sir Walter Scott."-The fifth is a short essay on Banking, taking the Letters of Malachi Malagrowther for its text. We plead guilty to not having read it. The sixth is an overhawling of an article in No. XCVI. of the Edinburgh Review, which, it is maintained, under a show of defence, was an invidious attack on Mr Bentham-the magnus Apollo of the Westminster Review. We shall leave the gentlemen to fight out their own quarrel. The seventh article is a laborious and important one on the abuses existing in many of the public offices in which the Public Records of the country are preserved, and an account of the manner in which those abuses operate to retard historical research, and to impede the course of justice. The eighth article is a flippant and very inconclusive one, (although the author writes as if he were an oracle of the first magnitude,) on the important subject of Dry Rot.

The ninth is a tolerably unintelligible account of a very unintelligible book, "The Misfortunes of Elphin." —The tenth is a clever exposure of the absurdities of the Disabilities and Privations affecting the Jews in England. The remaining articles, all of which are interesting, are upon the Law of Literary Property and Patents, the Newspaper Press of London,-Poor Humphrey's Calendar, the Expeditions to the North Pole, the system of Political Police in France,-and the Case of the Forty-Shilling Freeholders. There is thus a great variety of subjects discussed; and, on the