rasites often dined, although he paid for them, was as fond of good dinners as the abbé, and had a Sicilian cook of surpassing excellence. Once having occasion to visit his estates in the provinces, he sent on the chef and his assistants and casserols in a van some days before him, with orders to wait for him at a town near the foot of some mountains where the carriage road ended. When the prince reached the appointed place, his first enquiry was for the dear cook, the second whether the implements of his art had arrived safe. The next day, being mounted on mules, the whole party, including besides the chef and his aides-de-camp, the prince's chaplain, steward, valet, two footmen, a groom, and some soldiers as an escort, took a bridle-road across the mountains, which in many places was rather dangerous, being flanked by rocks and precipices. Having seen the batterie de cuisine safely packed on one beast, and the cook mounted on another, the prince said, 'Take good care of yourself, for if anything should happen to you, what shall I do for a dinner in these barbarous parts!' and having so warned the chef, he went and placed himself at the head of the cavalcade. As the road or path became worse and worse, he turned round now and then to cry, Have a care of those casseroles! Cook, mind what you are about!' But at a point where the path had turned round the shoulder of a rock, which prevented his seeing along the lengthened line, then marching in Indian-file fashion, his nerves sustained a sad shock, for on a sudden he heard the snort of a mule and the scream of a man, and then a plump and a splashing as if some one had fallen over the precipice into the torrent below. Pale, and with his knees knocking against his saddle, he turned back to see what it was, exclaiming as he went, 'The cook! the cook! holy Virgin, the cook!' 'No, your excellency,' replied a voice along, the line, it is Don Prosdocimo!' Ah! only the chaplain,' said the prince, God be thanked!' "Montmor. It is quite natural that Paris, which boasts so many excellent cooks, should have a reasonable number of parasites and diners-out. There indeed the latter art has been systematised in that excellent and useful little book entitled 'L'art de diner en ville.' "In the old days of the Bourbons, few of the French parasites were more notorious than Montmor, who was, however, a man of wit as well as a scholar and glutton. "One day that Lignière attacked him about his continual dinings-out, he said, 'What would you have me do? I am so pressed!' 'I believe you,' rejoined Lignière, nothing is more pressing than gourmandise.' "On another occasion, he was asked why he ran so eagerly after good dinners and festivals; 'Because they will not run after me,' he replied, and then added this ingenious piece of etymology; 'Our ancestors called their feasts festins, from the Latin verb festinare, to hurry or make haste, in order to show that people ought always to make haste in going to them.'' These two volumes of "Table Talk," however much they may show the ceremony of preparation and smell of the lamp, are well worthy of perusal; and as we are well assured that the stories may be depended on for truth, we shall not be guilty of too much confidence, if we sincerely recommend them to the notice of all our laughter-loving readers. POLITICS. Progress of the Nation in its Social and Economical Relations from the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. By G. R. Porter. 12mo. Knight. Ir has been said by some foreign visitor, we forget by whom, that "the English are a nation of shopkeepers who care only for the realities of life." We glory in such an imputation. It is only within the last century that our countrymen have found out where their real strength lies,-in their manu factures and commerce. Long and obstinate were the struggles of the agricultural interest to set themselves up as the main-props of the British empire; and a generation or two must pass away ere the prejudices of the landowners can be subdued. Yet, the triumph is complete :-sea-girt England must be a nation of shopkeepers-or nothing. In fact, England never truly prospered, until she became such. Why then, should we care for the envious censures of foreigners? The volume now before us is of inestimable value to a nation of shopkeepers, inasmuch as it shows the almost inexhaustible resources of a commercial population. We should like nothing more than properly to analyse this excellent book, to give an epitome of the extensive statistical knowledge possessed by the author;-but within the limits of a short notice it would not be possible to give even a very brief account of the contents of Mr. Porter's elaborate book. Hoping that it may be in our power to give a more extended article in the ensuing number in favour of this volume of statistics, we just give a brief account of its chapters. The subjects of this volume-the first, we hope, of a series-are-Population and Production. The former section (consisting of five chapters) includes all particulars on the population of Great Britain during the last thirty years and the effects of medicine, medical discoveries and medical establishments,the occupations of the people, and particularly of the manufacturing people and traders, the history and tendency of pauperism in England and the different methods of relieving the poor on the Continent,-the advantages resulting from Emigration, Statistics of Emigration, and of Criminal Emigration. The latter section, that entitled Production,- considers first, the agricultural productions and the effects of different laws on the farmingpopulation, the effects of Machinery and of Revenue laws, the proportions of cultivated and waste-lands in the United Kingdoms,—and the effects of an increasing population on the farming interest ;-secondly, it treats of the different manufactures of Britain, those of the various textile fabrics, woollen, cotton, silk, and linen-as compared with those of foreign countries and those of the metallic description, as iron, steel, brass, copper, plated-goods, glass and hardwares. The author next proceeds to discuss the effects of machinery in our own country and the consequences likely to follow on its exportation and on the licence given to artizans going abroad. The concluding chapter gives many valuable details on the mining interests of our insulated empire, which are of no less importance than the points before mentioned. We doubt whether, except Mc.Culloch's Dictionary, any work has been produced since Colquhon's of such real interest as that now under review. VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. A Residence in France, with an Excursion up the Rhine and a second visit to Switzerland. By J. F. Cooper. 2 Vols. post 8vo. Bentley. IN our September number we gave to our readers some criticisms on Mr. Cooper's excursions in Switzerland which formed the first series of the writer's travels, and we took occasion to make some rather severe strictures on that production. All the faults and good points of the former work are visible in the present volumes; only, as the author has to describe what does not so much require the imagination of the painter or poet, as he is in these later writings the describer of men and of manners rather than the landscape sketcher, his faults are less prominent, while his striking and more winning peculiarities come forth in more prominent relief. Mr. Cooper has certainly considerable talent in the portraiture of men and manners, and the simplicity of his narrative style adds to the fascination; and we only regret that his nationalism or rather his Americo-mania renders it impossible to give to those portions of his book our unqualified praise. The visit to Paris was in the year 1832 in the times of La Fayette and the cholera. The author is constantly with La Fayette and views through his medium the politics of the day. The insincerity of the "patriot king" is well described, and the account of the French court altogether may be read by courtiers and diplomatists in general with much advantage. The merely political details are somewhat passé and have been much better given. His second volume is devoted to an excursion up the Rhine from Cologne into Switzerland; and with respect to this portion of the work we shall not add a single word to our former observations. Mr. Cooper's proper department is FICTION. The author of Waverley attempted history and failed. Let not the living romancist lose his wellearned laurels in a vain attempt to enlarge the sphere of his celebrity. ABSTRACT AND NATURAL SCIENCE. Silliman's Quarterly Journal of Science and Arts. U.S. July, 8 THE present number contains "Observations on Halley's Comet," by Elias Soomis, of Yale College, and also on the "Variation of the Magnetic Needle," by the same gentleman-a valuable geological paper, by Captain Bonnycastle, on "The Transition-Rocks of the Cataragui"-a very ingenious article on "Scientific Definitions," by the Rev. D. Wilkie, of Quebec (with some of whose conclusions we still beg to differ)—and another by J. D. Dana, on the "Formation of Twin Crystals." Those papers which are most interesting to the well-informed general reader are-1. A communication by G. E. Day, of the New York Deaf and Dumb Institution, on "The late efforts in France and other parts of Europe to restore the Sourd-meiats.” 2. Proffessor Simmons's "Notice of a Scientific Expedition to Nova Scotia." It is a matter of regret that we cannot further notice this excellent transatlantic Journal, which ought immediately to command, as we believe it does, the notice of many of our scientific countrymen. White's Natural History of Selborne; to which are added the Antiquities of Selborne. Edited by E. BLYTHE. 8vo. Orr and Smith. MR. WHITE, the accomplished naturalist of Selborne, lived at a time when Zoology was not systematically studied as it is in our day. He had little aid from his predecessors, and in defect of that aid, instead of forming vain theories from short and imperfect observation, he was willing to devote his whole life to the watchful examination of the functions and habits of animals, and was content with transmitting in familiar letters the results of his inquiries to his brethren in natural science. We know scarcely any such instance of an investigator in natural science accomplished and perfectly competent, yet so modest and indifferent to self-adulation as Mr. White; and certainly no mere observer of animals has transmitted to posterity such valuable information on their functions and peculiar habits. Mr. White's book has been often edited before. The present, however, is an entirely new edition. To say that the type is good, and that the illustrations, more than two hundred in number, are unexceptionable, is but insufficient praise. The notes, which are entirely new, form a very important feature in this elegant and cheap volume. The editor, we are certain, and this is but small praise, is not only a man of taste, but also of considerable scientific attainments. This edition is well fitted for the library. The Naturalist,-conducted by B. Maund. F.L.S. &c. No. 1. 2. 3. Groombridge. History of British Quadrupeds,-by T. Bell. F.R.S. Van Voorst. History of British Fishes,-by W. Yarrell. V.P.Z.S. Van Voorst. We ought to have given an earlier notice of these works; but our space has not permitted us to give them a niche among the reviews. Among the papers in the numbers of the Naturalist now lying on our table we have pleasure in noticing "Mudie's distinctions between vertebrated and invertebrated animals""Morris's account of Hatfield chase”—“Murchison's notice of the Dudley coal-field," and "Neville Wood's essay on the habits of the Coot (Fulica Atra) and the Ring-dove." It is to be hoped that the talented and industrious editor of this beautiful periodical meets with all the encouragement that his efforts deserve. The coloured engravings-especially that of the Ornithorhyncus Paradoxus-are especially good and true. Mr. Bell's work,-of which we have before us the three first numbers,— describes the Bat, Hedgehog, Mole, Badger, Shrew and Otter. The author, whose scientific attainments are undoubted, has done what none of his predecessors in the popular line have accomplished before him :—he has succeeded in uniting an almost professional accuracy of description with that fascination of style and description which must ever make the book attractive to general readers. Yarral's book of Fishes is another book of the same character. No country gentleman should be without these pretty volumes. CLASSICS. The Nichomachean Ethics of Aristotle :-Bakker's text, with prolegomena and notes by Brewer. 8vo. Slatter, Oxford. SINCE the time of Bacon a very strong prejudice has arisen among the generally informed-and these with all deference we would call the uninformed— of the British community against the works of Aristotle ;-as if that great man,-one of the greatest,--if not quite the greatest of all the philosophers of ancient and modern times,-had been the cause of all the errors of his more unworthy followers,-errors which it was the glory of Bacon to dissipate. With the Organon of Aristotle-perhaps, on the whole, his greatest work,— it is not our province here to meddle. His ethical productions have raised for him a monument, which even under a Christian morality we dare not pass unhonoured. The Nichomachean Ethics, the Magna Moralia, and the Ethics addressed to Eudemus compose the moral writings of Aristotle; and we may boldly say,-speaking from personal experience, that the student's time will not be mis-spent in giving to these works, and especially to the first, a thrice repeated perusal. The rò ayatov of Aristotle is practical as well as speculative. Mr. Brewer was a first-class man at Oxford in 1831, and has been subsequently distinguished as a private tutor for those students who are ambitious of academic distinctions. His work is practically useful; and although he be much the junior of Mr. Lancaster, we doubt not that it is far more useful than the production of the Bampton Lecturer. The Student's Manual of Ancient History,-by W. C. Taylor, L.L.D. of Trinity College, Dublin. 8vo. Parker. SOME years ago Heeren's Manual was translated, and certainly to English students no boon could be more acceptable. The original work was not without its faults, and the translator might have done his work more cleverly; but still, owing to its hints and copious references, it was a book deservedly popular in our Universities. The book before us has, we doubt not, taken its rise from that of Heeren; and the native compiler would fain supplant the foreigner. This will not do. Dr. Taylor's book is not without its merits. Its details are, so far as we can see, tolerably accurate, the arrangement is lucid and judicious, and the style is on the whole attractive: but still it is not what we should term a classical student's manual. In such a manual we expect the authorities for fucts to be given and a course of collateral reading recommended as illustrative of the original historians in each period, —not a course of German reading, but of English, French, or German reading, the best that might tend to throw a light on the more ancient writings. The writer borrows largely from Heeren and other Germans, but he fails in giving those broad views of ancient politics which are often furnished by a single word or sentence of the illustrious professor of Göttingen. Heeren's work might undoubtedly be improved; but we think that Dr. Taylor has not employed the proper means to accomplish that desirable end. An Etymological Analysis of Latin Verbs, for the Use of Schools and Colleges. By Alexander Allen. THE philosophical study of language appears almost unknown in this country. The barbarous grammars that still retain a wide and extensive circulation afford ample proof, if any were wanted, of the ignorance that prevails. Within the last few years a decided improvement has taken place. In Germany there have been works published, especially on the Greek language, which display a sound knowledge of the principles of philology, and of all the various forms which the words of the language have assumed in different periods. The names of Buttman and Thiersch must be familiar to every student, and the translation of MS. works of these distinguished scholars into the English language, has materially improved the method on which the Greek language is studied in this country; but while much has been done for the Greek, the Latin appears to have been almost totally neglected; we therefore have been much gratified by the perusal of Mr. Allen's work. It contains a sound analysis of the construction of the language, and an explanation of almost all the anomalies of its etymology. Though we may not agree with the learned author in every minute detail, yet we most fully concur in almost all his principles, and would recommend all scholars to peruse Mr. Allen's book, which will certainly instruct them in many particulars which have not heretofore been properly understood by English scholars. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. First progressive Latin Exercises,-adapted to Hiley's Grammar, First steps to Latin-writing, adapted to the Eton Grammar. By It is an easy thing to turn over the leaves of a book on general literature, to |
