characterised the commencement of the present century, have, from avarice, vanity, or similar motives, thrown a most undue weight was laid upon the importance of such a stumbling-block in the way of the timorous bethe services rendered by some weak, ignorant, and enthu- liever? siastic men and women. We have seen, with a feeling closely bordering upon contempt, the sycophantish bearing of some of our worthiest clergymen towards these people. That day has gone by; the absurdities of the adherents of Campbell and Erskine have broken the spell-the depositaries and guardians of our faith have been awakened to resist their false and insidious allies, and honest men may again speak their mind freely. Dr Kennedy belongs most decidedly to the objectionable class. He had received a good education, at first with a view to the bar, and afterwards with a view to the medical profession, which he finally embraced. There are, however, some natures so obtuse that no education can free them from the original taint of narrow-minded and childish opinions, and want of taste. What are we to think of the intellect of a man who deliberately asserts that the period passed by Lord Byron at Argastoli was "the happiest and brightest of his life," because " during the whole of that time he was not engaged in writing any poem, nor was he in the practice of any open vice!" Yet this is the tone of moral reflection which is affected through the whole book. Dr Kennedy's principles of action were such as might be expected from the calibre of his intellect. He prefers Scott, Erskine, Gregory, and Bogue, to those theologians whose eloquence and argumentative power command the reverence of the loftiest, as they are intelligible to the lowest, grades of mind. He is offended at the levity of three or four young men, and offers to demonstrate the truth of the Scriptures to them logically in the course of a few sittings. We approve of that warm conviction which seeks to propagate itself; but we have no sympathy for the pedant who undertakes to overwhelm giddy boys by his logic, (at once miscalculating his own power and their vulnerable side,) and dares to put Christianity to the hazard. Kennedy bargains for twelve hours' hearing, and loses patience when he is asked to explain the meaning of an expression he has used. He answers their doubts by telling them that they are not yet advanced enough to understand his positions. They read their Bibles as he desires, and when they inform him that they cannot find his peculiar doctrines there, he tells them to pray that they may be enabled to see them. The natural consequence is, that he disgusts all of them but one; and he follows up this defeated attempt to act the part of a home missionary-commenced in an overweening conceit of his own unaided powers carried on with petulance, dogmatism, and testiness and ending very naturally with making some of his auditors worse than before-by railing at their perverseness in good set terms. It is, however, but an act of justice to the memory of Dr Kennedy to say, that we believe him to have been animated in his attempt to convert Byron by honest zeal; and that highly though we must disapprove of dragging these matters before the public, he has, unlike the most of the feeders upon the dead man's sayings and doings, done ample justice to the fair side of his character. One thing is of importance. We have it here from a person who was no dependent, and scarcely a friend, of Byron—from a man of puritanical principles, that he was to the last anxious for a reconciliation with his wife, and convinced of its possibility. How much did he miscalculate that cold and shallow heart, which can insult his memory by the same malignant innuendoes which tarnished his living fame! which knows so well how to strengthen an accusation, by hinting at what it dare not speak out, for fear of dissipating the illusion, but, like the cunning artist, contrives to heighten the effect of the picture by a judicious admixture of the chiaro 'scuro! We have spoken our mind freely of no less than two ladies in this article, and we are prepared for the exclamation-" It is so unmanly!" But artists, authors, and actors, have no sex. The History of England. By the Right Honourable Sir The If we are not much mistaken, this History of England, when completed, will be the most valuable work which has yet appeared in any of those cheap monthly publications now so much in vogue. It was originally to have been limited to two volumes of the Cabinet Cyclopædia, but Sir James informs us in his preface that he finds it will extend to at least three or four. first volume carries us down from the Roman invasion to the termination of the Plantagenet wars in France in the year 1435, in the reign of Henry VI. It is written with great precision and elegance, and is evidently the production of one who has devoted much time and attention to his subject. Though some of the historical details have been necessarily abridged, nothing of importance has been omitted; and the clear and comprehensive views which are ever and anon presented to the reader of the state of parties in church and state, and on the continent of Europe, as well as in our own country, mark a writer who is not content with merely finding out and stating facts, but who thinks himself, and makes others Lord Byron's part in the book is very short. Indeed a think, concerning them. It is here that the great differmuch more appropriate title would have been—“ Ser-ence between this history and that of Sir Walter Scott, mons delivered on four different occasions to the Right which has already appeared in the same Cyclopædia, will Honourable George Lord Byron, by James Kennedy, be found to consist. Scott's narrative is more picturesque, Esq. M.D." His Lordship takes by far the smallest but it is also more superficial. Mackintosh is not so anshare of the conversation, but what he does say is stamp-xious to pick up minute anecdotes as to offer his reflec ed with the impress of that clear and manly sense which tions and commentaries on events of magnitude. Incharacterises all his authentic writings and conversation. deed, the chief fault we have to find with him as an hisThe anecdotes concerning him have also marks of authen-torian is, that he is perhaps rather too fond of philosoticity, though none of them are strictly new. On his re-phical discussion, not untinctured, as it occasionally is, ligious opinions the book throws no additional light. It though sparingly, with the Whig principles in which he merely tells us, what we knew before, that he had not any has been educated. Yet we confess we would far rather fixed opinions on the subject. The volume, though edited see a writer stating his opinions freely and temperately professedly for a pious end, exhibits to us the picture of a upon all occasions than, like Sir Walter Scott, making it most zealous Christian failing to convert one who met his perpetual study to conceal from the reader whether him half-way. Those who can look deep enough into he has any opinions at all. men's characters will easily see that the cause of this lay entirely in the structure of the two characters opposed to each other-and that the dignity and power of religion is nowise compromised by the result. But how many are able to see so far? And what must they be who, laying claim to the character of peculiar and exclusive piety, It is of course impossible for us, within our present limits, to enter into any full examination of Sir James's book. Inaccuracies it does contain, and here and there sentiments and assertions with which we cannot agree; but we have no hesitation in distinctly stating, that it has raised our estimation of the author as an elegant writer, a laborious investigator, an impartial chronicler, and an enlightened thinker. This work, we doubt not, is destined to become one of the standard classics of our language. As a specimen of his flowing and vigorous diction, we have much pleasure in presenting our readers with his account of THE CHARACTER OF ALFRED. consequences which might be derived from it, their feelings were, however unconsciously, exalted by its generality and grandeur. its principles were, if we may so speak, only discovered "It was a peculiar advantage that the consequences of gradually and slowly. It gave out on each occasion only as much of the spirit of liberty and reformation as the circumstances of succeeding generations required, and as their character would safely bear. For almost five centuries it "In any age or country such a prince would be a prodigy. was appealed to as the decisive authority on behalf of the Perhaps there is no example of any man who so happily people, though commonly so far only as the necessities of combined the magnanimous with the mild virtues, who each case demanded. Its effect in these contests was not joined so much energy in war with so remarkable a culti- altogether unlike the grand process by which nature emvation of the useful and beautiful arts of peace, and whose ploys snows and frosts to cover her delicate germs, and to versatile faculties were so happily inserted in their due place hinder them from rising above the earth till the atmosphere and measure as to support and secure each other, and give has acquired the mild and equal temperature which ensures solidity and strength to the whole character. That such a them against blights. On the English nation, undoubtedly, miracle should occur in a barbarous age and nation; that the Charter has contributed to bestow the union of establishstudy should be thus pursued in the midst of civil and fo- ment with improvement. To ali mankind it set the first reign wars, by a monarch who suffered almost incessantly example of the progress of a great people for centuries, in from painful maladies; and that it so little encroached on the blending their tumultuary democracy and haughty nobility duties of government as to leave him for ages the popular with a fluctuating and vaguely limited monarchy, so as at model for exact and watchful justice, are facts of so extra-length to form from these discordant materials the only form ordinary a nature, that they may well excuse those who have of free government which experience had shown to be resuspected that there are some exaggeration and suppression concilable with widely extended dominions. Whoever in in the narrative of his reign. But Asser writes with the any future age, or unborn nation, may admire the felicity simplicity of an honest eye-witness. The Saxon Chronicle of the expedient which converted the power of taxation into is a dry and undesigning compend. The Norman histori- the shield of liberty, by which discretionary and secret imans, who seem to have had his diaries and note-books in prisonment was rendered impracticable, and portions of the their hands, choose him as the glory of the land which was people were trained to exercise a larger share of judicial become their own. There is no subject on which unani- power than was ever allotted to them in any other civilized mous tradition is so nearly sufficient evidence, as on the state, in such a manner as to secure, instead of endangering, eminence of one man over others of the same condition. public tranquillity;-whoever exults at the spectacle of enThe bright image may long be held up before the national lightened and independent assemblies, who, under the eye mind. This tradition, however paradoxical the assertion of a well-informed nation, discuss and determine the laws may appear, is, in the case of Alfred, rather supported than and policy likely to make communities great and happy ;— weakened by the fictions which have sprung from it. Al- whoever is capable of comprehending all the effects of such though it be an infirmity of every nation to ascribe their institutions, with all their possible improvements, upon the institutions to the contrivance of a man, rather than to the mind and genius of a people, is sacredly bound to speak with slow action of time and circumstances, yet the selection of reverential gratitude of the authors of the Great Charter. Alfred by the English people as the founder of all that was To have produced it, to have preserved it, to have matured dear to them, is surely the strongest proof of the deep im-it, constitute the immortal claim of England on the esteem pression left on the minds of all of his transcendent wisdom of mankind. Her Bacons and Shakspeares, her Miltons and virtue,-juries, the division of the island into counties and Newtons, with all the truth which they have revealed, and hundreds, the device of frankpledge, the formation of aud all the generous virtue which they have inspired, are of the common or customary law itself, could have been mis- inferior value when compared with the subjection of men takenly attributed to him by nothing less than general re- and their rulers to the principles of justice; if, indeed, it verence. How singular must have been the administration be not more true that these mighty spirits could not have of which the remembrance so long procured for him the been formed except under equal laws, nor roused to full accharacter of a lawgiver, to which his few and general enact- tivity without the influence of that spirit which the Great ments so little entitled him! Charter breathed over their forefathers." We can find space for just one other passage, which possesses, however, a peculiar interest for northern readers: SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH'S OPINION OF OSSIAN AND MACPHERSON. "Had a stronger light been shed on his time, we should have undoubtedly discovered in him some of those characteristic peculiarities which, though always defects, and generally faults when they are not vices, yet belong to every human being, and distinguish him from his fellow-men. The disadvantage of being known to posterity by general commendation, instead of discriminating description, is "Some fragments of the songs of the Scottish Highlandcommon to Alfred with Marcus Aurelius. The character of both these ornaments of their stations and their species, the hands of Macpherson, a young man of no mean genius, ers, of very uncertain antiquity, appear to have fallen into seems about to melt into abstraction, and to be not so much unacquainted with the higher criticism applied to the geportraits of man as models of ideal perfection. Both fur-nuineness of ancient writings, and who was too much a nish an useful example that study does not disqualify for stranger to the studious world to have learnt those refineadministration in peace, or for vigour in war, and that ments which extend probity to literature as well as to proscrupulous virtue may be combined with vigorous policy. The lot of Alfred forbade him to rival the accomplishments perty. Elated by the praise not unjustly bestowed on some of the imperial sage. But he was pious without supersti- them by a publication in their natural state, he unhappily of these fragments, instead of ensuring a general assent to tion; his humbler knowledge was imparted with more simplicity; his virtue was more natural; he had the glory to applied his talents for skilful imitation to complete poetical be the deliverer as well as the father of his country; and he into the unsuitable shape of epic and dramatic poems, works in a style similar to the fragments, and to work them escaped the unhappiness of suffering his authority to be employed in religious persecution." To this extract we shall add another, not more distinguished for its admirable composition than for its sound sense: MAGNA CHARTA AND ITS Effects. "It is observable that the language of the Great Charter is simple, brief, general without being abstract, and expressed in terms of authority, not of argument, yet commonly so reasonable as to carry with it the intrinsic evidence of its own fitness. It was understood by the simplest of the unlettered age for whom it was intended. It was remembered by them; and though they did not perceive the extensive "He was not aware of the impossibility of poems, preserved only by tradition, being intelligible after thirteen cen turies, to readers who knew only the language of their own times; and he did not perceive the extravagance of peopling the Caledonian mountains in the fourth century with a race of men so generous and merciful, so gallant, so mild, and so magnanimous, that the most ingenious romances of the age of chivalry could not have ventured to represent a single hero as on a level with their common virtues. He did not consider the prodigious absurdity of inserting, as it were, a people thus advanced in moral civilisation, between the Britons, ignorant and savage as they are painted by Cæsar, and the Highlanders, fierce and rude as they are presented by the first accounts of the chroniclers of the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. Even the better part of the Scots were, in the latter period, thus spoken of:- In Scotland, ye shall find no man lightly of honour or gentleness: they be like wylde and savage people. The great historian who made the annals of Scotland a part of European literature, had sufficiently warned his countrymen against such faults, by the decisive observation that their forefathers were unacquainted with the art of writing, which alone preserves language from total change, and great events from oblivion. Macpherson was encouraged to overleap these and many other improbabilities by youth, talent, and applause. Perhaps he did not at first distinctly present to his mind the permanence of the deception. It is more probable—and it is a supposition countenanced by many circumstances-that after enjoying the pleasure of duping so many critics, he intended one day to claim the poems as his own; but if he had such a design, considerable obstacles to its execution arose around him. He was loaded with so much praise, that he seemed bound in honour to his admirers not to desert them. The support of his own country appeared to render adherence to those poems, which Scotland inconsiderately sanctioned, a sort of national obligation. Exasperated, on the other hand, by the, perhaps, unduly vehement, and sometimes very coarse, attacks made on him, he was unwilling to surrender to such opponents. He involved bimself at last so deeply as to leave him no decent retreat. Since the keen and searching publication of Mr Laing, these poems have fallen in reputation, as they lost the character of genuineness. They had been admired by all the nations, and by all the men of genius, in Europe. The last incident in their story is perhaps the most remarkable. In an Italian version, which softened their defects, and rendered their characteristic qualities faint, they formed almost the whole poetical library of Napoleon ;-a man who, whatever may be finally thought of him in other respects, must be owned to be, by the transcendent vigour of his powers, entitled to a place in the first class of human minds. No other imposture in literary history approaches them in the splendour of their course." If Dr Lardner could always secure for his Cyclopedia works of so much value as the present, he need have no fears of the triumphant success of his undertaking. es. Abum Verses; with a few Others. By Charles Lamb. London. Edward Moxon. 8vo. Pp. 150. CHARLES LAMB has been overrated in many ways. He is a clever, but not a distinguished writer. He is far too full of conceits, and affectations, and quaint childishnessThe papers which he wrote under the signature of "Elia," and which have been puffed by some of his literary friends much beyond their real merit, are continually disfigured with these faults. The style was somewhat new, and took at first; but, like other novelties which are not based upon good sense and sound canons of criticism, its popularity soon passed away; and Lamb's prose works are already nearly forgotten. As a poet, he was never greatly celebrated; and here, too, the sort of antique Cockneyism of his diction militates much against the natural warmth of his feelings and liveliness of his imagination. We have no doubt that Charles Lamb is an amiable man, and he is also something of a humourist, and he is, moreover, on many occasions, a shrewd ingenious thinker; but he ought to know that quaintness and simplicity, bordering on puerility, do not constitute either wit or poetry. The present little volume consists mostly of "sundry copies of verses written for albums, or otherwise floating about in periodicals;" and have been printed in this shape, as appears by the epistle dedicatory, more as affording a young publisher an opportunity of showing his taste in the getting up of a book, than with a view towards reputation, or reward of any kind. The motive is very laudable, the more especially as we believe Mr Edward Moxon (the publisher in question) to be a young man whose character and habits entitle him to every encouragement in the profession he has chosen; and we can answer for the exceedingly handsome manner in which he has put forth Mr Lamb's volume. Why our author should have written so much for those silliest of all books ladies' albums-we do not know; but certainly the greater proportion of his verses do not belie the title he has given them. his album verses, but it is undoubtedly the best in the We shall quote only one specimen of book: LINES IN MY OWN ALBUM. "Fresh clad from heaven, in robes of white, A young probationer of light, Thou wert, my soul, an Älbum bright, "A spotless leaf; but thought and care, And friend and foe, in foul or fair, Have "written strange defeatures" there; “And Time, with heaviest hand of all, Like that fierce writing on the wall, Hath stamp'd sad dates he can't recall ; "And error gilding worst designsLike speckled snake, that strays and shines→ Betrays his path by crooked lines; "And vice hath left his ugly blot; And good resolves, a moment hot, Fairly begun-but finish'd not; "And fruitless, late remorse doth trace, Like Hebrew lore, a backward pace, Her irrecoverable race. "Disjointed numbers; sense unknit; Huge reams of folly, shreds of wit, Compose the mingled mass of it. 66 66 "My scalded eyes no longer brook Upon this ink-blurr'd thing to lookGo shut the leaves, and clasp the book." Besides the "Album Verses," the volume contains poems arranged under the head of,- Miscellaneous," "Sonnets," " Commendatory Verses," Acrostics," "Translations from the Latin of Vincent Bourne," a "Pindaric Ode to the Tread-Mill," an "Epicedium," and a dramatic sketch, called, "The Wife's Trial; or the Intruding Widow." The last of these is by far the longest, and though not very brilliant as a whole, it contains several passages of considerable power. It is republished from Blackwood's Magazine, where it appeared some months ago. As we wish to part on good terms with Charles Lamb, and really like him for many things, we subjoin two of his best sonnets : TWO SONNETS. 1. WORK. "Who first invented work, and bound the free And holiday-rejoicing spirit down To the ever-haunting importunity Of business in the green fields, and the town--- II. LEISURE. "They talk of time, and of time's galling yoke, That crown'd the white top of Methusalem; We are pleased also to meet in this volume with a tribute like the following to a man of genius, our mutual friend TO J. S. KNOWLES, ESQ. On his Tragedy of Virginius. "Twelve years ago I knew thee, Knowles, and then Esteemed you a perfect specimen 1 Of those fine spirits warin-soul'd Ireland sends Quick pulse should beat. I knew you, brave and plain, Sudden you re-appear. With wonder I Hear my old friend (turn'd Shakspeare) read a scene, Passes of pathos, with such fence-like art- Those strange few words at ease that wrought the pain. We close this book with a feeling of respect both for the author's head and heart, but with a belief that he is not destined to descend to immortality as a poet. Elements of the Economy of Nature; or the Principles of Physics, Chemistry, and Physiology, founded on the recently discovered Phenomena of Light, Electro-Magnetism, and Atomic Chemistry. By J. G. Macvicar, A. M. Edinburgh. Adam Black. 1830. 8vo. onward path; we must rely solely on our intellectual and physical resources, and when arrived at that boundary, beyond which the finite reason of man cannot travel, we must retire with sober diffidence, believing that the mystery we cannot penetrate, is the gulf which separates the Creator from the created. In Mr Macvicar's "Elements of the Economy of Nature," he presents us with his remarks and speculations on a vast number of important scientific subjects; and more especially, attempts to explain the nature of those ultimate atoms which are supposed to constitute the particles of the universe. We shall give our readers a brief analysis of the opinions entertained by the author, and shall, at the same time, consider the merit of some of the most important positions he has assumed. An atom, he informs us, is " an exceedingly small body, consisting of two substances, viz. a hard nucleus, surrounded by a sphere of a very mobile, elastic, rare nature, as the earth is by its atmosphere, or the sun and stars by their photospheres." This atom is asserted to possess two formsthe one internal, and the other external. The internal is the tetrahdral, or most acutely angular form possible; the external is the spherical, or the least acutely angular form that can be conceived. "Hence" he informs us, that "according to the nature of matter, the structure of the atom is exquisitely adapted to dispose it for the evolution of a variety of spontaneous phenomena, or movements greater than we can conceive by any other mechanism, as often as a number of atoms are placed in contact with each other; for it has been shown to be a law in the nature of matter, that the spherical is that form to which But the internal part of the atom, alone rest is proper." being composed of four plane faces, joined at four acute trihedral angles, possesses a tendency, in virtue of this part of its structure, to move.' The imponderable or subtile matter surrounding, in the form of a sphere, every and the phenomena it produces are modified according to atom or group of atoms, is represented as possessing unity, the region of the nucleus which it invests. Thus, when attached to the angles of atomic matter, it is said to give rise to attraction and permanent adhesion, and is polarized to a certain distance round the atomic body; but when attached to the surfaces of the atoms, or the areas mena of repulsion and rarefaction. Having discussed the nature and influence of this motorial or subtile matter, the author proceeds to consider his "radiant medium," which has by some been termed "lumeniferous æther," and is matter in a state of radiation. He states, that its particles are symmetrically related and fixed in their positions by their mutual attractions. It is condensed around stars and planets; is of different densities in different gases; and is capable of three motions-polarized excitement, producing light and colours; atomic tremor, producing radiant heat and mechanical compression-and dilatation, occasioning sounds, if productive of any sensible effect at all. Heat is occasioned, it is alleged, by a tremulous movement in the atoms of bodies, and it is at their angles that the vibration principally takes place. Light, it is said, is produced by an excitement along the radiant medium; which, when in a state of repose, occasions darkness to the eye, but when in polarized activity, causes light. MONTESQUIEU devoted many years of indefatigable industry to the composition of his great work; but an in-between their angles and edges, it produces the phenogenious and influential critic of the day, on the score of some imaginary blemishes, picked out in the space of a very few hours, did not hesitate to pronounce a sweeping condemnation on the illustrious author. This is only one of many instances which might be quoted, to show that the disciples of Aristarchus, judging too prematurely, have frequently undervalued the achievements of profound scholars and accomplished men of science. For ourselves, we should wish to guard against this error; and are able, at all events, to assure the author of the work before us, that we have devoted some attention to the subjects he has so diligently investigated, and that, not being enslaved to the opinions of any of the "great in science and philosophy," we are prepared to receive with attention any additional facts he may have observed; to follow with interest his reasonings, so far as they may be intelligible; and to hear impartially any hypothesis he may think proper to hazard in explanation of phenomena, that have perplexed the wisdom, and baffled the scrutiny, of previous enquirers. The Baconian principles of philosophy have entirely exploded that hypothetical mode of reasoning which pretended, on the arbitrary authority of its own assumptions, to reveal the nature of occult causes; and we now recognise as legitimate, those investigations only which proceed on a plain and distinct induction of facts. It is not in the philosophical as in the poetical world. Imagination must not there extend her heavenward wings to carry us over those difficulties which would otherwise obstruct our * Blunderingly printed R. S. Knowles, Esq. Having thus given our readers a coup d'œil of the opinions entertained by the author, we pause to observe, that if he has viewed the phenomena of nature with the eye of a philosopher, he has, in the present work, manifested only his ingenuity as a theorist. He has described the shapes and relative positions of these ultimate atoms with as much exactness as if they were as palpable to his sight as the loftiest mountains in Europe; and he has pretended to lay down the laws by which they are governed with as much confidence as if he were legislating for some country burgh. What evidence have we that the internal form of the ultimate atom possesses the tetrahedronal figure? or that the subtile atmosphere by which P 2 It is surrounded gives it the form of a sphere? None whatever; and the account of the atom given by the author is as imaginative as any description that ever fell from the pen of Swift or Fenelon. Why is it assumed that the tetrahedronal figure is most favourable and prone to motion, and that, in moving, it tends to produce the globular figure? Why is the globular figure said to be that which is necessary to a state of rest? Natural philosophers usually reason that the particles of fluids are movable in all directions, merely because they are sphe rical, and therefore have little friction, being in contact only at the infinitely small points of tangents-a theory which is directly opposed to Mr Macvicar's hypothesis. Again why is the atom under the necessity of moving on account of its angularity, or its pyramidal contour? which have been committed by the author; but we are, at the same time, quite satisfied that he is a man of much ingenuity and learning; and if, in the prosecution of hiš investigations, he will lay aside his inclination to speculate on mere hypothesis,-if he will confine himself more strictly to what are really the Baconian principles of inductive philosophy, he may yet accomplish much in throwing light on those subjects to which he has already devoted so large a portion of his attention. We may also add, that as his present volume contains some curious conjectures and investigations, it is far from being unworthy the attention of men of science. The centre of gravity of a pyramid is placed at the dis- The Westminster Review. No. XXV. July, 1830. Edinburgh. William London. Robert Heward. tance of one-third of its axis from the base; and motion from external force will be as effectually resisted by the force concentrated in this point, as it would be in a spheWE seldom notice the Monthly periodicals, because we rical figure. Nay, Maclaurin and others have shown, regard them as too nearly resembling ourselves to seek for that of all figures, the pyramid is that which most power-reviews at our hands. Our readers know as well as we fully resists displacement. Why is it affirmed that the do that a certain number of Magazines come out regularphenomenon of attraction is occasioned by the subtile mat-ly, and that these all contain a proper miscellaneous colter investing the angles of the atoms? or that adhesion is lection of articles, some good and some bad, some indicaoccasioned by its being attached to the surfaces of these ting decided dulness, and others giving assurance of much atoms, or their areas between their angles and edges? We genius. The Quarterlies being of rarer occurrence, and have here hypothesis crowded on hypothesis; and assump- of more solid materials, are not exactly in the same preditions so dexterously interwoven with each other, that it cament, and we accordingly watch their motions with is impossible to unravel them, or find the thread which greater interest, and not unfrequently take it upon us to is to lead us through the mazes of this intricate labyrinth. animadvert thereon. Why is nature said to be ever tending to expand to the utmost, and that the vibrations in the angles of the atoms occasion heat? Why suppose that nature is making any attempts at all? We know but of one conatus, that of attraction. Why then suppose that fire is the result of the attempts of the pyramidal atom to rub off its angles? The smallest atom is retained at rest by a force equal to its weight and acting on its centre of gravity. The great pyramid of Egypt is retained by no more; and the author may as well ascribe the heat of the desert to the effects of this stupendous mass to regain the globular figure, as the generation of caloric to similar movements of pyramids which are much smaller and confined by the contiguity of other pyramids. But we do not wish to throw the author on the wheel of Ixion, and torture him with a continued series of interrogatories. He informs us he writes in the "synthetic manner," and, for the sake of brevity, has omitted favouring us with any detail of the elements of his induction; but surely Mr Macvicar does not suppose that men of science will regard his annunciations, as the credulous ancients did those of the Pythian Oracle; he surely cannot flatter himself that he is at liberty to draw bold and sweeping conclusions from his own hypothetical notions, and then announce these as established propositions to the scientific world. Yet this is exactly what he has done; and, instead of giving his work to the public as one containing merely speculations on these subjects,—instead of suggest-lighter than a pound of gold. ing his as a theory to explain certain phenomena in nature, and submitting his suggestions in that form to the consideration of scientific men,-he has ventured to publish them under a designation to which they are not entitled. We are also somewhat displeased with the author for not acknowledging the authorities of Descartes and Euler, to both of whom he is for the greater portion of his theory evidently much indebted. Lastly, we cannot help condemning the style in which the whole work is written; for, in adopting what he himself designates the "hard" style of writing, Mr Macvicar has wandered into a style of obscurity that completely divests his most important arguments of the interest they would otherwise possess, and renders it painful for the reader to grope his way through the mazes in which he involves the "Economy The present Number of the Westminster Review is not remarkably brilliant, nor is it remarkably stupid. It contains eighteen articles, a much greater number than is usually found in any of its brethren; and, on the whole, the subjects which they discuss are judiciously selected. But in his anxiety to give plenty of variety, the editor has fallen into another error against which he ought to guard. Several of the reviews are by far too short and superficial to justify their insertion in a quarterly publication. In a Weekly Journal, such as ours, heaven knows we are sometimes under the necessity of being superficial enough, not because we could not be profound if we chose, but because we have not time to be so, seeing that numerous competitors are running the same race with us, and that an early account of new books is considered by many of almost as much importance as a good account. If we can combine the two, then we are the beau ideal of a literary journal. But a quarterly review has not the excuse of haste to plead, and if a book is worthy of being noticed by it at all, it ought to be noticed completely. Now, the reviews in this 25th Number of the Westminster, of “Carwell," of the "Game of Life," of "The Dominie's Legacy," and of "Three Courses and a Dessert," contain little that is worth reading, and would have done but small credit to any respectable weekly gazette. A quarterly work should not be heavy if possible, but the editor is mistaken in supposing that a pound of feathers is one whit of Nature." We have thus spoken without reserve of the errors The first article, which we are informed is by Mill, and which extends to forty pages, is an ingenious piece of special pleading in support of the ballot or secret mode of voting for a member of parliament. It is written in rather too intolerant and confident a tone, and we have great doubts after all whether the author has the right side of the question. But this is the besetting sin of the Westminster Reviewers, they are bigoted in their liberality; they scoff at the most distant supposition that either they or their principles can be wrong, and with the most tyrannical self-sufficiency they insist upon the adoption of all their theories of liberty and equality. The article on the politics of Lower Canada is sensible, and has been composed with care, though tinctured, of course, with the peculiar doctrines of the reviewer. The article on Wilson's "Life and Times of Daniel De Foe," contains little but a tolerably good abstract of the work. Nearly the |