the sentiments they illustrate are of a high and excellent order, and the morality inculcated is inculcated both by precept and example. It is impossible to read " Warleigh" without feeling that the author is so high in our esteem, that we find it no easy matter to be honest, and say that many of the sketches sacrifice power to minuteness, and watch the flickering of gnats instead of recording the flight of eagles. Mrs. Bray's extreme benevolence prevents her painting vice as it deserves, and thus her characters want depth, and, above all, the effect of shade to her brilliant lights is frequently found wanting. Sometimes when she "screws her courage to the sticking point," and resolves to make a villain in earnest, she dashes into the thick of evil, and, by way of getting quickly rid of a disagreeable subject, heaps him all over with sin, and overwhelms him with shame; it is only on such occasions that we have to complain of Mrs. Bray's want of knowledge of human nature. She does not desire to analyze the motives of crime; she would rather not probe the moral gangrene. She wishes that every body were good, but knowing that such cannot be the case, she makes the wicked wicked at once, and punishes them according to their deserts. It is easy to perceive the delight she feels in dwelling upon all that is pure, and good, and holy-she would form a meet historian for Elysium, and well describe the heroic and the virtuous passions of regenerated nature.

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'Warleigh" will be an additional treasure to those who delight in the fair groves and legends of Devon, and will well bear out, if not increase, the high reputation Mrs. Bray has already attained by her historical romances. We hear she is engaged upon subjects more intimately connected with Devonshire and its legends, and we know of no writer better fitted for the task.

Cataract; a familiar Description of its Nature, Symptoms, and ordinary Mode of Treatment, particularly with reference to the Operation performed by the Author at the "Royal Infirmary for Cataract." By John Stevenson, Esq., Oculist to his Majesty, &c.

Such as are afflicted with blindness from cataract, a disease occasioned by the opacity of the crystalline lens, or middle humour of the eye, must hail with gratitude the appearance of this small, though important, publication. The author has shown that the most intricate chirurgical subject, by being divested of its technicalities, and clothed in plain and appropriate language, may be rendered not only perfectly intelligible, but even in some degree interesting, to every description of reader. We are none of us secure from the disease of which Mr. Stevenson treats, and he enables us fully to comprehend the nature of the affliction, offering us at the same time a safe and easy mode of cure.

Mr. Stevenson has had the sagacity to detect, and the courage to expose, existing errors, which have nothing to recommend them but the sanction of old and fallacious custom. He has proved, by strong and conclusive arguments, derived from long and successful experience and well-authenticated facts, that the still-prevailing practice of withholding the means of relief until the cataract is ripe, keeping the sufferer for years deprived of sight, is not only absurd but dangerous; and that the usual operations of couching and extracting are highly objectionable. It appears that the latter may, by his mode of practice, be dispensed with, and the patient relieved by a mild and efficacious operation at the very commencement of the disease. Of this new mode of treatment, the author has given a luminous and graphic description, from which we learn, among other peculiarities, tha fit is applicable to every variety of cataract occurring at different periods of life-that it occasions only the slightest imaginable degree of pain, and little or no subsequent inflammation-that it requires no local applications—and that it effects the gradual restoration of sight in

the most satisfactory manner, without confinement, or leaving any mark or disfigurement in the affected organ.

A mode of treatment accomplishing such results is surely a title to the gratitude of mankind, and is a most important improvement in ophthalmic science. It brings a disease, hitherto considered one of the most formidable and distressing to which the eye is subject, under the complete control of modern surgery.

Tylney Hall. By T. Hood. 3 Vols.

"Please, sir, mamma says will you be funny?" whispered a little girl to Mr. Mathews, one evening; and Mr. Hood thinks doubtless that the public have given him the same invitation, and expect that he will be "funny." This has forced him into a prodigality of humour which sometimes dazzles, but more frequently confuses his page. There is a superabundance of garnish and little meat; yet what there is, is well seasoned, and frequently judiciously ornamented. Here and there are occasional bursts of beauty and touches of sentiment and feeling that are quite exquisite; and you go on expecting your Paradise to be continued, but find that you are in a fool's Paradise after all; for the pantomimic rattle recommences, and the jack puddings of the story repeat their smart things, and perform their silly ones over and over again.

There can be but one opinion as to Mr. Hood,-that he is a man of brilliant and overflowing talent, who combines with a keen perception of the ludicrous, a fund of poetic fervour and imagination. His poem of “ Eugene Aram" was the work of a master mind, but "there are diversities of gifts," and many persons, whose genius, properly so called, is of the very highest order, would find it no easy task to sustain a novel through the fiery ordeal of three volumes. Wit will not do it-humour will not do it-a perception and mere knowledge of the world would be equally unable to get through such a task-it must be a combination of many things-of wit, and wisdom, and imagination, and sound sense, tempered moreover by discretion-the knowledge of how to begin, and when to leave off, a working-day industrious business-like habit, grafted upon the more spiritual gifts, which elevate the man, and enable him, while he amuses, to instruct us in the great mystery of human nature. It is only justice, however, to " Tylney Hall' to say that those who only seek amusement will be amply repaid by a perusal of the volumes. The citizen's family are a comic annual in themselves; and, as we said before, there are touches of nature, fragments of pathos and feeling, which could only emanate from a mind of the very highest order. For ourselves, we could have wished that Mr. Hood had yielded more to nature, and had taken less pains to sustain a reputation of being the wittiest man in an age of dulness. The book long looked for has appeared, and though it is not in many points equal to what we expected, still it is an earnest of what Mr. Hood, if untrammelled by his punning propensities, could effect.

The Rustic Wreath. By Thomas Lister.

Thomas Lister is another instance of untaught genius displaying its properties and powers under outward circumstances apparently the least advantageous to its development. Born in a condition comparatively humble, and deprived of many of those advantages in early life which are generally considered necessary for the direction and encouragement of talent, however considerable its intrinsic energies may be, he has succeeded in producing a volume which, if not distinguished for the finish of language and classic character of composition, which are results only to be produced by a study of the best models, is far from being deficient in depth of feeling or simple elegance of expression. In the introduction to his poems we are informed of a circumstance as much to his credit as a man, as his first

literary efforts are to his abilities as an author. His poetical productions, it appears, some time ago drew upon him the notice of many of the gentry in his vicinity, and, among other patrons, procured him the exertions of Lord Morpeth in his behalf, whose interest was exerted with success to procure for him the employment of postmaster in his native town. The conscience of the rustic poet, however, who is a member of the Society of Friends, raised an objection which the prospect of worldly advantage was unable to silence. His view of that passage of Scripture which touches upon the subject of the lawfulness of oaths did not allow him to go through the necessary forms preparatory to his admission to his new office, and he was consequently induced to decline it, although greatly tending to the furtherance of his temporal prospects. Such instances of probity are far too uncommon in the present day to be undeserving, when they do occur, of an extensive publicity. It is our sincere hope that Thomas Lister will not suffer by his adherence to principles which he has conscientiously embraced; and indeed, if we may judge from the long list of respectable subscribers to this volume, he bids fair to find greater profit in the service of the lyric muse than of his Grace the Duke of Richmond. All who have taste to appreciate the wild beauties of original though uncultivated talent, will acknowledge that a more extensive encouragement than that which he has hitherto received has been well and fully deserved.

The Keepsake for 1835. Edited by F. M. Reynolds.

Of the embellishments of the "Keepsake" there can be but one opinion the subjects are selected with skill and taste, and they are engraved in the most perfect style of which the art is capable. The frontispiece is after one of Lawrence's happiest works-a portrait of Lady Beresford, the once beautiful Mrs. Hope. Time has, we understand, touched her lightly-but-she is a grandmamma. "My Aunt Mansfield" is a clever picture, by an artist with whose name we are not familiar. Cattermole has furnished a design of high merit; the Sledge is a very interesting print; the Love Quarrel, the Gipsy Children, and the Widowed Mother, are successful prints, from the pencil of the Misses Sharpe; the German Lovers is a fine adaptation of Retzch; but the gem of the book is "La Valière," by Chalon. Indeed, as a whole, the series of embellishments has rarely been surpassed. Mr. Reynolds has again enlisted in his corps many aristocratic recruits, and several of them seem as well trained to the "exercise" of writing as more practised and more professional hands. Lords, ladies, baronets, honourables, and honourable members lead the van; and in truth they, with the aid of more plebeian pens, have furnished forth a goodly volume, that will well please all ranks and stations, now that the coming season of fire-sides makes amusement more welcome than information.

Octavia Elphinstone, a Manx Story, and Lois, a Drama. 2 vols.

By Miss Anne Talant.

The two volumes before us, as the title sets forth, contain a Tale and a Drama. The Tale we have read with great interest and gratification; there is much good sense-much good feeling-some admirable descriptions-and many proofs of a brilliant but well-directed imagination throughout the whole."

The character of the spoiled child, the fair Elphine, is well conceived and pleasingly developed-the interest never flags-and the whole is wound up with a much greater degree of skill than belongs to the usual race of débutants. We sincerely congratulate Miss Talant on her talents, and have been really edified by her graphic descriptions of the scenery and locale of the Isle of Man. We have conceived a strong desire to visit the places she has so ably pourtrayed, and some fine summer morning pur

pose sailing from Liverpool, with "Octavia Elphinstone" as our travelling companion.

The Drama is a sort of make-weight, we suspect, to complete the volumes; and though we cannot award to "Lois" the praise we bestow upon " Octavia," yet, bearing in mind how much more difficult it is to write a play than a story, we assure the lady, that though we consider she has failed in producing a drama that would act well, she has woven her materials with considerable effect, and betrayed much skill in the construction of the plot. We have no doubt of again meeting her in the pleasant walks of literature. We shall gladly renew so agreeable and profitable an acquaintance.

Hours in the Bowers. By Samuel Bamford.

Here is a curious book, not radical poems, but poems by a radical. His "hours" were the years, and his "bowers" were the gaols in which he was imprisoned. Coldbath-fields inspired his "Eclogues," and Lincoln Castle his "Hymns;" in fact, by his own account, "he has been confined in the greater number of the prisons of England." The Bench and the Fleet, we are sorry to say, are often the bowers in which poets have sung, but here we have a Newgate bird. He seems, however, an enthusiastic misguided man, who, in his aspirations after an impracticable system of civil liberty, does not see that he is proceeding to the destruction of every thing that is valuable, and associating with every thing that is vile in society. He laments Brandreth, the baker, and his party, at Derby; let him think of Ings, the butcher, and his party, at Cato-street.

His poetry is such as might be expected from his station and sentiments, generally faulty and mean; sometimes correct and energetic. In his "March to Moscow" are such lines as

There is fierce Murat

With his plumed hat."

His "Song of the Brave" concludes with something better:

Then who would not live with the brave?

The wretch without virtue or worth.
And who would not die with the brave?
The coward that clings to the earth.
And who shall partake with the brave
The fame which his valour hath won ?
Oh he that will fight with the brave
Till the battle of freedom be won.

Parker's Parliamentary Short-Hand.

Little books upon this subject have of late so multiplied, that we have been compelled to omit all notice of them, in a double sense. But the small book before us has tempted us to a look; first, because of its exceeding neatness, and next, because of its attractive frontispiece, in which a number of words are given with so much brevity and such distinctness as to be absolutely startling. We have not at hand the necessary type, or we should depart from our accustomed plan, and give an extract. Mr. Parker's method is at once simple and complete. He introduces it by a sensible preface, and explains so clearly all he desires, that even with such a miniature magazine," he who runs may read." We recommend it to all who desire knowledge of an art, always desirable, and often most useful. Those who make a business of short-hand will find in it many hints by which the old systems may be improved; it dispels many of the acknowledged difficulties, and suggests a variety of ideas on the subject that have not occurred to writers in past times. But to the tyro in the "art" it is especially valuable; it leads him rapidly and pleasantly along a road he must have imagined exceedingly difficult, and brings him by a short cut to a knowledge of short-hand.

LITERARY REPORT.