An Enquiry into the nature and duties of the Office of Inquest Jurymen, of the City of London, together with the By-laws of the Common Council, and the Articles of Charge; also the Law for regulating the Election of Constables, Leet and Annoyance Jury, for the City of Westminster, shewing the Nature and Duties of their Office; and the General Laws respecting defective Weights and Measures, for Counties, Ridings, Liberties, and Divisions, of England and Wales. By A Citizen.-London, Knight and Lacey. 8vo. pp. 147. WE Consider that the author of this pamphlet has rendered a great service to his fellow-citizens, and the inhabitants of Westminster, by pointing out to them their privileges, and the nature of the duties they may be called upon to perform.

We cannot, from want of room, enter into an analysis of the work, and it is the less necessary, as the very copious title-page sufficiently explains the author's intentions. The promise of the title is abundantly satisfied in the book; which contains a great variety of curious and useful information, the fruit of much diligent and patient research. We can conscientiously recommend it to the perusal of all who have an interest in the subjects of which it treats.

Costume of Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet, &c. By J. R. Planché. London, Miller.

"WE should like the enquirers into these matters to give us details and drawings of such dresses as would be strictly correct for the Plays of Hamlet, Lear, and Cymbeline." Thus did we deliver ourselves in our last number,* when speaking of the foppish, pedantic attention to dress, which furnishes employment for the costume-mongers of the modern stage. Scarcely had the ink which recorded the above wish, time to dry, when, as if purely to oblige us, forth issued Mr. Planché with the very thing which we had called for. Mr. Planché is, we are informed, Costumic Professor of Covent Garden Theatre; to whom all the tailors and semptresses of that establishment, owe suit and service, as their liege lord. As a specimen of his professional ability, he publishes the present work, which is doubtless the result of much thought and profound study. The costume of Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet! We presume the learned author means it to be followed by the costume of Shakespeare's Play of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Where is this folly to end?

Setting aside the absurdity of the design, the pictures are pretty pictures enough, and will afford great delight to those little boys and girls, who are in the habit of amusing themselves with portable theatres and pasteboard actors.

LITERARY NOTICES.

A Commentary on the Prophecies and The Adventurers; or Scenes in Irethe New Testament, with an Epitome land, in the Reign of Elizabeth. of Ancient History, sacred and profane, 3 vols. 12mo. by way of prelude, by John Webb Cole, in 2 vols. 8vo.

NEW WORKS JUST PUBLISHED.

IN a former paper on this subject*, we treated of several of the moral causes which tend to diversify the manners of mankind. The qualities referred to and discussed on that occasion, partook of feeling more than of thought, and related rather to the influence upon the manners of particular sentiments than the effect of any mental operation.

The manners, indeed, chiefly depend on the degree in which the moral sentiments are possessed. It is an important truth that actions proceed from the feelings of men, and not from their intellect. The feeling alone constitutes the motive it is the impulse to thought and contrivance. We are regulated by reason, but are not impelled to act by it. Reason only devises the mode of gratification. Thus the passion of ambition, or the desire of distinction, and the love of renown, constitutes a motive that has produced the greatest exertions, and the most extraordinary actions; and, though the intellect is necessary both to design and to execute the schemes destined to gratify ambition, it is the passion itself which first stimulates the individual to action, and urges the continuance of his energy. Even a being of the most exalted intellect, a poet of the first order,-would not be incited to exertion by the mere self-action of the imagination. Even here there must be applause to win, or the love of ease and indolence would never be overcome. True it is, there is a pleasure in the exercise of the faculties; but still it is a pleasure of sen

VOL. 111. PART II.

* See Vol. I. page 342.

R

timent. The love of abstract truth is rare; and, when it be comes intense and impassioned, it is then identified with the feelings. The gratification derived from intellectual employments originates in the satisfaction of our self-esteem, our desire and expectation of fame, our sense of duty, or some other sentiment or passion.

We should experience no great sensation of pleasure in any mental exertion which neither satisfied our own partial views, nor led us to anticipate the rewards of approbation, nor impressed us with the conviction of the faithful discharge of a moral obligation.

Whilst, however, it is thus obvious that the feelings and propensities of mankind possess the leading influence in originating human conduct, and consequently in the modification of human manners, which are "the outward and visible signs" of character, we must not omit to observe, that the intellect, although it does not produce, regulates peculiarities, and has an important effect in directing and controlling the natural bias and tendencies of human beings.

It is designed, in the present paper, to consider the intellectual causes which diversify human manners. Some reference was made, on the former occasion, to the influence of the intellect; but the mention was brief and casual. The nature of the mental powers, and the extent to which they are possessed, must, of course, considerably affect the indications of character. It was noticed that they whose minds were chiefly employed in observing external nature, would be distinguished from those who were principally interested in subjects of abstract reflection.

The contrast between the manners of men of observation and those of reflection is very striking. Profound thinking, or deep reflection, impresses on the countenance and manners a correspondent effect. Persons of this kind are distinguished by any thing rather than a liveliness of deportment.

The diversity may be explained by the difference of objects on which the attention of each class is engaged. THE OBSERVER is conversant only with external nature. His percep tions are engrossed with the objects and the events that pass before him. The variety which he beholds is pleasing, and, though he meet with many subjects of sadness, custom tempers his feelings to the impression which they are otherwise calculated to make, and the succeeding emotion supplants that which preceded. He is for ever on the wing, searching for intelligence, and enquiring for news. He passes rapidly from object to object, pausing not to consider the causes and reasons of the facts presented to his notice. Quantity, not quality, is the purpose he has in view; and the more he sees, the more

he desires. He is insatiable in his curiosity, but satisfied with the external appearance. He would be content with the golden egg, and not cut up the goose to ascertain how it was produced. As he never dwells upon one idea long enough to weary him, he has no tendency to abstraction of thought, and is free from the melancholy of disappointed speculation. Like the ghost of Banquo, "he has no specu lation in his eye." Objects pass before his mind as on the table of a camera-obscura. The scene is moveable, the picture is amusing, the objects pass in quick succession, vanish, and "leave not a wreck behind." Such a character is not favourable to the development of any thing great, original, or important. But the individual attains much of self-gratification, exhibits his share of self-satisfaction, is haunted with no visions of unattainable good, but flutters through his course with vivacity of manner, and an excessive tendency to indulge his locomotive capabilities. Thus ever active, and looking only at the smiling surface, he enjoys the passing scene without perplexing himself on the cui bono or the quo modo of the existences around him.

THE MAN OF REFLECTION, on the contrary, from the very avocations of his mind, becomes sedate. The objects he contemplates are essentially serious. Whatever is elevated, and whatever is profound, is the very opposite of the ludicrous. We cannot laugh at the theory of gravitation,-we cannot be gay over the basis of morals, nor make merry with the distinction between reason and instinct. He, therefore, whose mind is occupied with the contemplations of the sublime in nature, with speculations upon the moral and intellectual improvement of man,-the hidden causes of the phenomena of the universe, or the final end and ultimate reason of the effects which they produce, though he may possess "alacrity and cheer of mind," he will be of a grave character, suited to the important subjects on which he is engaged, and which are directly opposed to the light merriment of the gay and thoughtless.

It is thus perfectly accordant with reason, as it is with fact, that deep reflection will be indicated by slowness and seriousness of manner. The more the mind is employed on subjects of an abstract nature, the more sedate it must naturally become; and, in proportion to the continuance of such contemplations, will the habits of the mind be formed, and the manners fashioned. These philosophic habitudes are indicated in a large proportion of our countrymen. An individual of this class is "as grave as a judge." Indeed, in his way, he is constantly exercising a species of judicial sway. He passes sentence upon all around him. As the matter-of-fact man is