Peace. To be executed upon the same plan with the Birds. Collation of an Indian copy of the Hebrew Pentateuch, with preliminary remarks, containing an exact description of the manuscript, and a notice of some others, (Hebrew and Syriac) collected by the Rev. Claudius Buchanan, D. D. in the year 1806, and now deposited in the Public Library, Cambridge; also a Collation and Description of a MS. roll of the Book of Esther, and the Magillah of Ahasuerus, from the Hebrew copy originally extant in Brazen Tablets at Goa, on the Malabar Coast, with an English translation. By Thomas Yeates, late of the University of Oxford, price 9s. boards, 4to. A Sketch of the Greek Accidence, arranged in a manner convenient for Transcription. By means of which learners may be assisted in committing it to memory. By J. Hodgkin, price 3s. 6d. Virgilii Maronis Opera, secundam Heynii textum, 18mo. 4s. boards. The Coustaney of Israel, an unprejudiced illustration of some of the most important texts of the Bible, or a polemical, critical, and theological reply to a public letter, by Lord Crawford, addressed to the Hebrew nation, written without prejudice, by Solomon Bennett, native of Poland, and professing the arts in London, octavo, boards, price 7s. EDUCATION. Comparison between the Idioms, Genius, and Phraseology of the French and English Languages, by W. Duverger, 12mo. price 5s. bound. Rose and Emily; or, Sketches of Youth. By Mrs. Roberts, autor of Moral Views, 12mo. 5s. 6d. boards." Five hundred Questions on Murray's Grammar, and Irving's Elements of Composition; by James Adair, 1s. A Brief View of the respective Claims of Dr. Bell and Mr. Joseph Lancaster, By the Rev. J. M. Hollingsworth, A. M, 6d. The Reciter: a work adapted to the use of schools; consisting of pieces moral, religious, and sacred, in verse and prose, selected and classed on a new plan, By the Rev. Edward Ward, M. A, 2 vols. 12mo. 7s. boards. FINE ARTS. Landscape Animals, in a Series of Progressive Studies. By W. M. Craig, No. III. price 6s. 6d. Part II. containing 24 views, of the Architecture, Antiquities, and Landscape Scenery of Hindostan. By Mess. Thomas and William Daniell, reduced from their folio edition of the same work, and carefully copied under their direction. The Views, it is intended, shall follow in the same order as they appeared in the folio edition, and when com pleted will be comprised in 3 volumes, containing in the whole 150 prints, imp. to. 31. 3s. boards. GEOGRAPHY. A New Military Map of Spain and Portugal, compiled from the nautical surveys of Don Vincent Tofino; the new provincial, maps of Don Thomas Lopez; the large map of the Pyrennees, by Roussill, and various original documents. On twelve large sheets, each two feet 6 inches by two feet two inches. Price 31. 13s. 6d. and in a case, or on rollers, 51, 5s. Alcedo's (Col. 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Ane Oratioune, set furth be Master Quintine Kennedy, Commendatour of Corsraguell, ye zeir of Gode, 1561, black letter, from the original MS. in the Auchinleck Library, small quarto, 7s. 6d. sewed. 1 National Anecdotes, with English proverbial sayings and maxims. 12mo. price 5s. boards. Hints on the Laws and Customs of Ancient and Modern Nations, 12mo. price: 5s. boards. Romeo and Juliet Travesty, in three acts, 12mo. 4s. boards. A Modern Catalogue of Books, with their sizes and prices, containing the books that have been published in London, and such as have been altered in size and price since the publication of the London Catalogue of Books, 1811, to the present time, or from Aug. 1811, to September 1812, 8vo. 1s. 3d. ORIENTAL LITERATURE. Preru Sagui, or the History of the Hindoo Deity, Sreekaishu, contained in the tenth chapter of Sree Bubaguvat of Vyasudevii, translated into Hinduvee, from the Brij. B. Larha, of Chutoork Hooj. Min. By Shree Lulloo Lal Kub, B. 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By Daniel Dewar. 8vo. pp. 354. Price 10s. 6d. Gale and Curtis. 1812. MANY of the books, published in this Protestant country, are works of supererogation, which, according to our critical creed, are neither necessary nor meritorious; neither required of the authors by their duty to the public, nor compensating in any degree for the time mispent in writing or reading them. Indeed, were the publication of books restricted to those in which utility or excellence were predominant, one of the most extensive and flourishing manufactures of this kingdom would be reduced within a small compass, and monopolized by a few hands,-small and few comparatively, we mean; for still there would be books enough composed and circulated to delight and instruct the present age, and to increase by a large bequest the inheritance of posterity. But as, in this free country, every man has the right to make as great a fool of himself as he pleases, provided he does it at his own expense-and publishing a silly book being one of the readiest and most effectual, though not one of the least expensive, modes of doing this-thousands are tempted thus to expose themselves to the compassion of their intelligent friends, and the neglect, if not the scorn, of an inflexible public. For, however dazzled or deceived at first, by a meretricious appearance or plausible pretensions, in the end the public, by its voice or by its silence, judges rightly concerning every performance in literature, that has had the fortune to obtain notoriety. It is true, that, with the multitude of ephemeral productions, many a volume, in which utility and excellence are preVol. VIII. 5 E dominant, falls into early oblivion; but though this seems hard upon the authors, it arises, not from want of discernment or generosity in the public, but from the very nature of things. It is the common lot of man, in every ordinary walk of life, that his good works should be known but to a few, and receive even from these only transient and lukewarm applause. As for his follies, especially in literature, happy is he who sees all his efforts to blazon them miscarry, and who in spite of himself escapes disgrace by escaping notice. Transcendant talents alone are not sufficient to command attention. They must be eminently favoured by adventitious circumstances in the rank or situation of the possessor, or they must be luckily employed on subjects of universal interest, before they can attract universal admiration; nay, with all these advantages, they frequently fail of securing that success which they seem to merit. It cannot be otherwise. Is there a man living in this kingdom,-is there a reviewer, even in his plural capacity, who reads all the books that issue from the press? No, certainly. We go further, and ask, Is there a man, or a reviewer, who reads every work published, that deserves to be read? Probably not. It depends, therefore, on circumstances beyond the power of an author, whether, having done his best to merit a hearing, and having merited it, he can obtain one from a sufficient number of judges, who have authority with the public, to recommend him to general perusal. And if in his own age he fail to acquire the due reward of his labours, there is little hope that his name will be revived and honoured by posterity; since it is almost certain, that, in every generation others, as meritorious as himself, will arise, who may Jabour as well and as unsuccessfully as he. Many works of genius and learning perish before their authors; more follow them to the grave; yet, after all, posterity is deprived, by the injuries of Time, of little that would have eminently benefited it. There is no reason to believe that the compositions of one poet, equal in rank to Homer, Virgil, or Milton, have been lost in times past every civilized age has its poets of the second order, who necessarily attract most of the admiration of their contemporaries, without injustice or disparagement to those of the same rank who preceded them, and whose fame, having passed the full, gradually wanes till it is extinguished, never to be re newed. We have been led quite out of our intended course by following these vanishing lights, and we must abruptly return to the thought, that suggested the first sentence in this article. We meant to have added, that when so many |