ART. XXIII.-The Principles of English Grammar. By WM. HUNTER, Professor of Logic, Moral Philosophy, and Rhetoric, Andersonian University. 12mo. Glasgow: Atkinson and Co. 1832. THIS treatise is in every respect worthy of the truly philosophic system on which it is the great boast of the present age to have endeavoured to place education. It is not a common-place selection from the thousand and one grammars which have preceded it, but is evidently the production of one who adds to an extensive experience in practical education, a capacity for justly appreciating the objects which it is most profitable for the student of the English language to pursue. The chief object of the author is to exhibit in a more conspicuous and familiar manner than has hitherto been done, the principles of that branch of the science called syntax. The work highly merits approbation. ART. XXIV.-The Zoological Magazine; or, Journal of Natural History. Part I. for January, 1833. Whittaker and Co. 1833. WE receive with the greatest satisfaction such works as the present, inasmuch as they are real proofs of the progress which a taste for natural history is making throughout the country. The contents of the present number are interesting: they include an account of the giraffe, the rhinoceros, the gymnotus, and several miscellaneous papers connected with the great subject of Zoology. A Zoologist's Calendar for the month is added, and if, in our opinion, the Magazine is followed up with the same accuracy and abundance of information as we find in the present number, there is no doubt but it will prove a valuable source of information. ART. XXV.-Alphabet of Botany, for the Use of Beginners. By JAMES RENNIE, M. A. Professor of Zoology, King's College, London. W. Orr. 1833. THIS is another of the contributions of the indefatigable professor to the great cause of the promotion of a knowledge of Natural History. This work is remarkable for that simplicity and vividness of explanation by which Mr. Rennie has so frequently rendered the most abstruse subjects of profound science perfectly accessible to the plain and almost uneducated understanding. The chief terms employed in botanical descriptions are here expounded in a familiar manner, and a copious explana tion of the Linnæn system of studying the vegetable kingdom is supplied. The space in which the whole of this important amount of instruction is conveyed, is so limited, that we cannot help being struck with astonishment at the ingenuity of the contriver who could press such a mass of information into so circumscribed a compass. In the commencement of his work Mr. Rennie makes some interesting observations, with a view to prove the value of the pursuit of Botany. "I was," he observes, "about fifteen when I took my first botanical ramble with Withering's British Plants under my arm, and the fresh enthusiasm of youth to spur me onward in the path of knowledge. The day, I recollect, was one of the loveliest in what Coleridge so expressively calls the leafy month of June;' and I soon found a spot on the banks of the Ayr, where there were more flowers than it was possible for a mere beginner to master, even with a long summer's day at his command. I was delighted, however, to make out, by the aid of my book, the pretty bright blue flowered germander speedwell, and one or two more plants of easy discovery, which I happily met with; and from that day to the present moment, whem I am just returned from botanizing in the place so splendidly described by Lord Byron,where, The castell'd crags of Drachenfels Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine,' Childe Harold, I never felt more simple and unalloyed pleasure than in the study of Botany. "By widening the field of thought, if such an expression be allowable, this study adds much to the pleasures of a traveller, even when wandering among the sublimest scenery of Nature." The work is illustrated with numerous plates, and forms altogether one of the best books for beginners in botanical science with which we are acquainted. We should mention that this little Tract on Botany is only one out of a series which Mr. Rennie is now either publishing or preparing. We should, however, prefer seeing this gentleman limited to his natural range-or it is next to an impossibility almost that he can be a safe guide for instruction in all branches of human knowledge. ART. XXVI. - Dramatic Library, with Remarks Critical, and Biographical. By GEORGE Daniel. Vol. I. T. Hurst, 1832. THE plan of this publication seems to us sufficiently judicious to merit the extensive patronage of the public. Its chief novel feature is, that it unites select dramas of the best descriptions from ancient and modern times. The plays contained in this volume are King Henry IV. 2d part, of Shakespeare; Hamlet, and the Lord of the Manor, Doctor Bolus, School for Scandal, Comfortable Lodgings, Rienzi, and Modern Antiques. Each of those pieces is preceded by remarks which embrace criticisms on the plot, characters, and incidents of each, and in the case of the modern drama, these remarks extend to the performers who have filled the chief parts. The costume of each of the dramatic persons is specified, and the stage directions, which appear to be altogether derived from observation, are carefully and amply supplied. To country managers we should think that such a work as this must prove invaluable. The paper and printing are miser ably defective, compared with the real merits of the volume itself. The plates also, which precede each of the plays, deserve no better character. We except however the full length portrait of Dowton, of whom a biographical sketch is likewise given. ART. XXVII.-The Biblical Cabinet; or, Hermeneutical, Exegetical, and Philological Library. Vol. II. Edinburgh: T. Clarke. London: J. G. and F. Rivington, 1833. THERE is in the four tracts, which compose this small, but very neatly printed volume a mass of sacred erudition, a depth of judgment, and a comprehensive reach of understanding which we regret to be obliged to say are contributed by a society of men amongst whom in vain we look for an Englishman. The first of the tracts contains an elaborate view of the condition of the language of Palestine at the era of Christ and his Apostles. In the second we have a still more learned dissertation on the time, nature, and genius of the diction of the New Testament. This is followed by a series of hints on the importance of studying the Old Testament; and the concluding paper takes up the subject of the interpretation of that portion of the New Testament, which comes under the name of Tropecal, or those passages where tropes are used which might be taken for reality. These dissertations, we conclude are all by German writers, for the unbounded learning and unconquerable perseverance which they display, form, most happily for that great country, the peculiar charac teristics by which the German nation is distinguished. The importance of studying the Old Testament, a dissertation by Professor Tholuck of Halle, is maintained with great ability. The series of proof, to which the author resorts, is as follows:- He first I shows that though it be admitted that the Books of the Old Testament have no connexion with the history depicting moral and influproofs of christianity, still as a ential lessons, it is well worthy of our perusal. In the next place it cannot but be of deep importance for every man to be acquainted with the profound wisdom which is displayed in the providential leadings. and religious institutions of the Jews. Lastly, that there is complete dependence of the New on the Old Testament, and that Christ is the whole gist of the Old. This dissertation seems to have been called for by the state of the feelings of the learned in Germany, for not only amongst the best theologians, but also amongst private Christians, the notion strongly prevails that the perusal of the Old Testament is attended with no profit or advantage. The tract on the tropecal language of the Testament is perhaps the most important of the whole; for it lays down rules, deduced in consideration of the text, for deterthe most ingenious manner from a mining whence a tropical expression is derived, what is the proper object signified, and what the resemblance between the sign and the reality signified. ART. XXVIII.--An Examination of MR. Scrope commences his pamphlet with a powerful invective against the monetary system which is now in use in this country. He complains that whilst this system is undermining all our best interests, whilst it is actually destroying our national industry, and, withdrawing all security from the possessors of property, yet that the greatest ignorance in the body politic of the true cause of these calamities is suffered to exist. He boldly declares that the general rise which has taken place within the last fifteen or twenty years in the value of money, has effected a compulsory, and therefore unjust mutation of property, equal to fifteen hundred millions, or nearly double the sum of the national debt. Upon these grounds he urges an immediate renewal of the inquiry into the state of the currency. From this subject, by a natural gradation, Mr. Scrope proceeds to the direct subject of his pamphlet, namely, the Bank of England Monopoly. The evidence before the Committee which investigated the transactions of the Bank, amply shows the omnipotence of that institution in regulating the whole currency of the kingdom, that being the guide by which all other intests are affected. Mr. S. dwells upon these details with great force, and concludes this part of his pamphlet by saying, that once the light Sas been let in upon the system of the Bank of England the system aust fall, for even in theory it oposes all sound principles, whilst in etice it has been a source of the most disastrous possible influence on our commerce and industry. After stripping the Bank of its unjust and injurious prerogativesafter having succeeded in establishing an inquiry into the mysteries of our system of currency, Mr. Scrope naturally comes to the necessary question, what system is to be pursued? The answer to the ques tion is detailed in the third and last chapter of this pamphlet. It recommends a return to the use of the ancient silver standard, which had been abandoned in 1773-a substitution of a National Bank, or Metropolitan Board, for the issue of national paper, the notes of this bank to be made legal tender, and their value preserved at par, by making them convertible in the bullion market to any extent which the legitimate demands of commerce may require, for which purpose the Board should regulate their paper issue from time to time by the price of the standard metal. Mr. Scrope thinks that even these measures, if agreed to, would not be effective, unless the country banks should not be allowed to exceed the amount of the paid-up capital, or the property under security for payment on the part of the banker; and that there be a regular publication of the average price of commodities at certain periods, which will constitute a standard of exchangeable value for determining all future variations in the value of the legal standard. Such is the nature of the remedy proposed by Mr. Scrope,but should the full measure be rejected, he says there is no saving the country, if it do not go back to a silver currency. THE author of this very fine relic of a bold and pure style of composi tion flourished in the reign of the Second Charles, and filled the office of Commissioner of the Treasury. The piece of writing which is here re-printed (for what especial reason we really are not able to pronounce), was a production that had reference to the very delicate era when the restored monarchy, which had lost its natural balance so long, was endeavouring to right itself amidst no inconsiderable obstacles from the element upon which it was placed. The purport of the tract is to define and illustrate with exactness what should be the sentiments and conduct of a man who wished well to his country, who was disposed to act upon that inclination, abandoning all parties and all temptations that might induce him to contemplate other objects than the good of his country. The word Trimmer is justified by the author, who describes its origin as follows:-if men are together in a boat, and if one part of the company would weigh it down on one side, whilst another would make it lean as much to the contrary, there will surely be a third party, consisting of those who will believe that it would be just as well if the boat went even, if it were only for the common safety of the passengers. The latter acting on their opinion, would necessarily endeavour to trim the vessel, and thus every member of the company, who wished to see the vessel go steadily and safely on, would deserve the creditable distinction which is conferred upon him, by being called a Trimmer. The details of the tract are composed of a description of what the Trimmer would do upon a variety of important political questions which were of chief interest in the writer's day. ART. XXX. Appendix to Lord Mahon's War of the Succession in Spain. London: Murray. 1833. THIS brochure of one hundred and thirty-one pages contains extracts from General Stanhope's MS. letters, and which are calculated to illustrate the valuable history lately published by the noble author. Nearly the whole of the selections in this collection relate to the progress of the troops, and the whole may be regarded as a series of despatches from different parts of Spain, giving an account of military proceedings. Those readers who have had the pleasure of perusing Lord Mahon's elaborate work on The War of the Succession, will not be a little obliged when they find, that in the pamphlet before us, his Lordship explains the course he has adopted with respect to the old and new styles. The difference between the two should never be lost sight of, for reasons which are strikingly illustrated by the following statement. A fleet sails from Portsmouth on a given day, destined for Lisbon, and casts anchor in the Tagus on another day. The reader, who is not taught to observe that the first of these is an English date, whilst the second is a Portuguese, will certainly be led by his ignorance to include, in his computation of the time of the voyage, eleven whole days more than the actual term. Some doubt having been expressed respecting the authenticity of the memoirs of Captain Carleton, it being stated to be a fabrication of De Foe's, Lord Mahon takes an op |