When strangers were readmitted, Lord Stanley was in the act of moving a resolution, to the effect that the proposed appropriation of the funds raised for the Carlow election was deserving of the notice of the House, as affording a dangerous precedent, and tending to interfere with the purity of election.-Lord John Russell moved as an amendment that the Orders of the Day be proceeded with, and another division was the consequence. The numbers were-For Lord Stanley's motion, 166; for Lord John Russell's, 238.

MEMOIRS OF PERSONS RECENTLY DECEASED.

MR. HENRY ROSCOE.

We have to record, with sincere regret, the death of Mr. Henry Roscoe, who, after a protracted illness, breathed his last on the 25th of March, at his house at Gateacre, near Liverpool. He was the youngest son of the late William Roscoe, and, in per. son and manners, most of all the family resembled his father. He had for several years been aware that his disorder, a species of consumption, would terminate fatally; but, in the face of approaching death, continued, with unabated ardour and cheerfulness, both his professional and literary labours, in the double hope of making some provision for his family, and of leaving behind him a reputation, more valuable in the estimation of well-constituted minds than wealth. His talents and learning were not inferior to his high moral worth; and with these superior qualities, he combined the most easy and engaging manners, which at once endeared him to his family and commanded the esteem and respect of a large circle of friends. His professional learning and abilities were of the first order his legal works, more particularly the treatise on real property, had obtained for him the reputation of a sound and acute lawyer-so that, had he been permitted to reach the ordinary term of human life, he would doubtless have risen to high distinction; but, like his father, he united with his professional studies an extensive acquaintance with polite literature, and had long been known as an elegant and accomplished writer. In the biography of the historian of Leo X., written in a highly popular manner, he displays a vigour of thought, and a reach of reflection, seldom found in productions of that description; and when he died, had nearly completed an historical work, which, it is to be hoped, will not be lost to the world. Mr. Roscoe was in the thirty-seventh year of his age.

THE LATE DR. VALPY.

We record the death of the late venerable and deeply-respected individual, the Rev. Dr. Valpy. The long and intimate connexion of this distinguished man with the town of Reading-his position for half a century at the head of one of the first educational establishments in England, and his numerous and valuable works in every department of literature, render the name of Dr. Valpy too well known to require from us a lengthened biographical notice. That, indeed, is a task which, we doubt not, one of his many celebrated pupils will faithfully and reverently perform. Still we cannot suffer so good and great a man to pass from among us, without bearing our humble testimony to the affection, esteem, and admiration with which Dr. Valpy was regarded in a town so long honoured by his residence, adorned by his virtues, and benefited by his example. The remains of Dr. Valpy were interred in the new cemetery in the Harrow Road.

Married. At St. Mary's, Newington, Surrey, the Rev. Thomas England, M.A., curate of the parish, to Caroline Ann, youngest daughter of Richard Muggeridge, Esq., of Walworth.

At Lewisham Church, Henry Charles Chilton, Esq., to Fanny Harrison, youngest daughter of Paul Malin, Esq., of Sydenham.

At Northumberland House, the Rev. Edward Thompson, cousin of the Earl of Lonsdale, to Miss Ellen Percy, fifth daughter of the Bishop of Carlisle.

At St. Margaret's, Lothbury, John Banks Hollingworth, D.D., Archdeacon of Hunting. don, to Mary Ann Tabor, third daughter of John Tabor, Esq., of Finsbury Square.

At St. John's Hampstead, Lawrence Fyler, Esq., Captain 77th Reg., to Amelia, daughter of the late Hon. C. Byng, brother to the late Viscount Torrington.

Died.-In Kentish Town, William M inshull Esq., in the 73rd year of his age.

In Dublin, Captain Alexander Cunningham, R.N.

At the Exchequer Office, Whitehall Yard, William Godwin, Esq., aged 81.

Harriet, wife of the Right Hon. Lord Carteret, and daughter of the Earl of Devon, aged 64.

At his seat, Amwell Bary, Herts, Colonel Charles Brown, aged 75.

At Boulogne-sur-Mer, Mary Anne, widow of the late Colonel Fane, M.P., nephew of the Earl of Westmorland.

At Winchester, in the 70th year of her age, Lady Letitia Knollys, only surviving sister of the late Earl of Banbury.

At Tytham, Lancashire, Edmond Peel, Esq. aged 63.

THE

METROPOLITAN.

JUNE, 1836.

LITERATURE.

NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.

Tales of the Woods and Fields. By the Author of "Two Old Men's Tales." 3 Vols.

The author of that much-admired and very popular work, "Two Old Men's Tales," has just favoured the world with three more delightful volumes. They consist of three beautiful pieces, "A Country Vicarage," "Love and Duty," and a sweet poetical effusion, a "Tale of an Oak Tree." We believe that there is no modern writer that has a magic power over the passions equal to the author of these tales. He possesses in perfection the eloquence of the heart. The structure of his stories is simple and most natural. There is no sudden catastrophe, no startling event, the current of the incidents flows smoothly on, but how deep, how rapid, and how overwhelmingly it presses upon the bosom of the reader! The pathos of these tales wring the heart dreadfully certainly, but very healthfully, expressing from out of it the black drop of selfishness, and in thus paining, leaving it more pure. A country vicarage, opens with a true picture of a quiet homely parson's domestic establishment. He has two daughters, one married to a person in her own sphere of life, the country surgeon; another, Louisa, youthful, beautiful to excess, and but seventeen. There is one Charles, educating himself for the ministry under the same roof, and unconsciously loving the unmarried sister, Louisa. But the fame of this beauty has gone abroad, and a lady of great fortune and high fashion, smitten with the mania of patronizing, wiles Louisa away from her quiet home and makes her a show-flower, to be looked and breathed upon by dukes, marquises, earls, and the other et ceteras, that look so well in a fashionable novel. Poor Louisa, the parson's daughter, whom one of the guests had, a little while ago, nearly rode over wearing a blue pinafore, and such a hat, is stared at, admired, and totally neglected, though now, through the kindness of her patroness, arrayed in all the simple elegance of Madame Carsan's most happy inventions. There is a rich moral in this part of the story; a moral that cuts both ways, and which would do the exclusive much good to study, if they could be brought to study anything. In this state of desertion, when the poor girl is nearly pressed to the earth by the superciliousness and June 1836.-VOL. XVI.-NO. LXII.

neglect of persons so much, in all things good, her inferior, there comes to console her a Lord William Melville. He wants occupation,-—he notices her, she immediately becomes of consequence among the set,-he makes love à l'ordinaire, and the victim returns it à l'outrance. The poor wretch goes home, at length, with health and happiness wrecked. Then Charles discovers her sad position, and is compelled to see her dying beneath his eyes, with no prospect of even the slightest remedy. In the meanwhile, the Lord William tires him of his heartless round of dissipation, and wishes to vary his everyday repast of excitement with a little genuine sentiment, and steals down to the vicarage with his heart a little touched, and his head full of wickedness. He meets Louisa; mistrusting nothing, she flings herself into his arms, and the serpent begins his insidious hissing. She flies to the house alarmed, but not comprehending. Charles, who was an observed spectator of all this, intercepts Lord William in his retreat, and a glorious scene ensues:-glorious in the best meaning of the word glory, for it is the triumph of virtue, and villany is not only conquered, but shamed and converted. Lord William proposes in form, and Louisa is happy for four or five months. Now comes the searching moral, the conviction that is so reluctantly admitted, that some similarity of mind, and much, very much generosity of soul is an absolute requisite to produce happiness where there has been no previous similarity of rank or in worldly circumstances. Louisa becomes wretched, miserably wretched; and up to the time when she and her infant daughter die forsaken at an inn on the road-side, the picture of increasing woe, though not overcharged, makes the heart bleed and the nerves shudder. All this is narrated in the true pathetic style. There is no ornament, no oratory, no redundancy, and if the reader have a heart, or be at all inclined to the melting mood, provided she be a lady, her tears will flow, towards the conclusion of this tale, faster than the sentences, and be more numerous than the words that excite them. The story of "Love and Duty" is a little more romantic, equally affecting, but with a joyous conclusion, that gives the bosom a genuine burst of pleasure. There is also in this production some few exquisite touches of a sly humour: the author could be witty if he chose. The poetical "Tale of an Old Oak Tree" proves to be a very singular subject elegantly treated. The verse is beautiful, and the thoughts, though not striking, are arranged with consummate art. We have hitherto praised those attributes of these volumes that are the natural consequence of the high talents of the author; but a praise much more lofty is due, for its pure morality, its unaffected yet ardent piety, and that profound respect for religion that it everywhere shows and so eloquently inculcates. There is the pith of a hundred sermons in each of these two tales. They will carry the voice of truth, and, haply, of genuine faith to the hearts of those who are too careless or too worldlily occupied to seek for it in consecrated walls. These volumes will go forth missionaries in the most exalted sense: they contain the words of moral and religious truth, written by the hand of a refined imagination, and, like the dews of heaven, not only brighten but nourish where they fall.

Madrid in 1836. Sketches of the Metropolis of Spain and its Inhabitants, and of Societies and Manners in the Peninsular. By a Resident Officer. 2 Vols. Plates.

The joyousness of a superior mind, that "catches each folly as it flies," will be the first thing that strikes the reader, attentive or not; for it is so pervading, that he must remark, and be delighted with it, in spite of himself, if he only read at all. This is the general style of these witty

and graphic sketches. The inhabitants of the Spanish provinces are a most singular, and, as far as regards that which it is the most interesting to know, have been hitherto to the rest of the world almost an undescribed race. To the generality of Englishmen, they need be so no longer. The resident officer has lifted the curtain of obscurity, not only a corner, but the whole of it, from their most private economy; we see them, in all their diversity of rank, at their familiar occupations, we may sit down with them at table, partake of their fare, chat with them at their tertulias, be present at their little fêtes, go with them to mass, to make love, or talk religion with them at their masked balls. They have no longer any secret for us. From the ever-shifting minister of state, to the permanent water-carrier, we are, through the means of this clever work, on terms of familiarity with all. Now, by some magic, peculiarly the author's, all these personages are humorous. If they have no wit of their own, the writer contrives to fling around them so much of his, as to make them play each a very prominent part. If we attend to the delineation of any individual character, which is always portrayed as a type of the class to which it belongs, we should suppose that the author had exhausted all his skill upon it, until we came to the next, and that next gives us the same impression, until we read on still farther. Even when he is only looking for lodgings, and when he finds his patrona, one would suppose that we are reading a continuation of Gil Blas. Though every thing is so vividly brought out, the work bears the most convincing internal evidence of its absolute truth. To very much of it, from our own experience, we can honestly testify. But few persons, perhaps no other English gentleman, excepting this resident officer, has had the same unlimited opportunities of studying the Spaniard in his domestic life-none other, we feel assured, could have described it better. As the publication is so recent, much of real political information may be collected from these volumes. The strength of parties, their moral and physical force, and the influences that they have upon the provinces, are fully, and most satisfactorily commented upon. What is our impression of the Spanish metropolitan character we will not say; the reader himself must receive not only a strong, but a just one, from a perusal of the work before us. The Spaniard will be no longer a mystery to him-at least, not more so than human nature must always be to man's finite knowledge. We tell our readers that this work, though professedly one of information only, is more captivating than a novel, and much more humorous than half the successful comedies that have lately appeared. It will shortly obtain for itself a reputation that will more than justify the opinion that we have expressed of its merits.

The Physiology of Digestion considered, with Relation to the Principles of Dietetics. By ANDREW COMBE, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and Physician in Ordinary to their Majesties, the King and Queen of the Belgians.

We conceive nothing can be more sound than the principles that Dr. Combe has laid down, and so lucidly explained. Physiology is, except as it touches upon first causes, no longer a mystery. Nutrition can now be traced accurately through all its ramifications, from the mere elements of food, through all its processes, until it deposits fibres, and increases the various animal matter of which we are so delicately and so fearfully composed. No better or clearer idea of this wonderfully organizing power can be obtained than by a careful perusal of this intelligent work-a work that does not pretend to impose upon the public by

solemn dictation, or seek to disguise ignorance in the intricacies of technicalities. Every thing is clearly described, in plain, though not inelegant language. In following out his subject, when he comes to a point in which he, in common with the cleverest of his contemporaries, are ignorant, he confesses, while he deplores it-not rashly rushing in to fill the gap with some vague hypothesis, or to bar the subject from farther investigation by the boldness of assertion. Now we like this extremely. We feel confident, that science has suffered more from its various professors advancing too rapidly, than by any other cause. The unwillingness to say "I don't know," has been the greatest enemy to real knowledge. The time that has been lost, and the energies that have been wasted in unlearning errors, is an account really tremendous. Though we are too modest, and too well assured of Dr. Combe's correctness, to impugn his physiological dogmas, we cannot so readily assent to his philosophy. He distinctly asserts, that all spirituous and fermented liquors, except when administered as medicines, are injurious, and a violation of the inclinations of nature. We think not. No more than gregarious animals can prevent themselves from seeking to live in herds, or the building ones to make themselves some sort of domicile, can man refrain from endeavouring to improve his food by preparation. This is a distinguishing, a high quality. It is a gift for which we ought to be truly grateful. Providence has not given us this power to entrap us to destruction, or to enable us successfully to make war against nature. So highly do we think of the extent to which we shall hereafter carry refinements, that we feel assured that, on no distant day, will beverages be invented, of flavours so exquisite, that our best wines of the present day will be but as vinegar compared to them, and our viands be luxuries, of which our palates have no conception; and all this will take place in conformity with the divine intentions; and instead of life being shortened, and health deteriorated by it, the one will be prolonged, and the other secured. Man is essentially an improving animal. The only one in the creation. The wolf of the present day is a no better wolf than that which devoured our barbarian ancestors; but we humbly conceive, that both morally, religiously, and intellectually, we have somewhat improved from the wood-stained Britons. As natural as it is to man to build him a house, or to paint a picture, so natural is it that he should ferment the juice of his fruits, and even distil what he has fomented-and, may we add, to drink when be has done so. The very progress in civilization that teaches us to make wines or brandies, also bears with it those lessons that inculcate moderation in enjoyment, and shows us how to accumulate pleasures without injury to the constitution. To conclude, we think most highly of this, as we do of all Dr. Combe's works. It is equally valuable to the non-professional, as to the professional individual; and is throughout, so delicately worded, that a lady may take up, and read with impunity, every page in the volume.

Devereux. By EDWARD LYTTON BULWER, Esq., Author of "Pelham," and "The Disowned."

This novel, which contains as much good writing, and more real practical philosophy than either "Pelham,' or the "Disowned," forms the twelfth volume of the edition of Colburn's Modern Novelists. Of a work so well known we need say nothing. It has passed the ordeal of public opinion triumphantly. We have only to inform our friends, that it is comprised in one volume, of nearly five hundred pages, that it is well printed upon good paper, and embellished by a tolerable frontispiece, and a well-executed vignette title-page.