He stood like a sullen rock, when the sea With frightful crash thro' bis visor it broke, And sank in his forehead with stunning stroke. He totters-be falls-and with thundering rebound, Where blood and steel together lie, Goliath lay dead on the quivering ground! Then peal'd the wild shout from the Israelite camp, Mingled with war-steeds' thundering tramp! Then clanging squadrons rush'd down on foe, And thousands in dust and blood lay low! And the livid lightnings join the assault, When launch'd from on high is each hot thunderbolt. So fearfully pealed that battle's roar, While the crush'd grass grew slippery with shield While many a mail-clad warrior around, To their carrion banquet the vultures draw See, how they mar the features pale, Tumbling distantly, faint, and hoarse. -O fair moon! thy dewy eye LINES ON PHILIPPIANS i. 23. "Having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." CRIED Paul, I'm possess'd of a longing desire To leave this terrestrial scene, And, bless'd with the wings of a seraph, aspire To the knowledge of glories unseen. But the flock of my Master on earth doth impede The flight which my spirit would take, I rejoice in the high, but delightful command, 'Tis the joy of my life to promulge the blest theme, And advert to the glorious cause; To declare 'tis he only that's born to redeem, Who hath suffer'd the death of the cross. Nor less I delight in the love-entwin'd band, Who despise the enjoyments of earth, Who press on with ardour, and join hand in hand, To a prize of ineffable worth. While warring on earth with their numerous foes, I have Christ in reward for my pain; 'Neath its cloud-fring'd lids hath view'd the And in death and the tomb if my body repose, sight, My soul doth eternity gain. I was blest e'en on earth in thy worship to join, Of thy smiles and protection to share; But, for ever to dwell in thy presence benign, Gives fruition to faith, hope, and pray'r. ORIGINAL AND TRANSLATIONS OF DANTE'S INSCRIPTION OVER THE GATE OF HELL. Per me si va nella citta dolente : La somma sapienza e'l primo amore. Lasciate ogni speranza voi che'ntrate. The italic words in the following translations denote the superadded ideas of the authors. BOYD'S TRANSLATION. Thro' me the newly damn'd for ever fleet, HAYLEY'S TRANSLATION. Thro' me you pass to mourning's dark domain; Justice and Power in my great Founder join, CARY'S TRANSLATION. Through me you pass into the city of wo ;- All hope abandon, ye who enter here. FROM A MANUSCRIPT TRANSLATION, IN THE I am the entrance of the dolorous town;- I am the entrance of the damn'd alone. To Power supreme of love the primal flow, And Wisdom infinite, my frame I owe; Whom justice mov'd: nor was created thing. Existent, ere the gloomy arch below, Save souls eterne, and I eternal spring: Quit hope, all ye who hear my closing portal ring. THE HILL OF AMBITION. Of ways at length they found but one, LIFE. SAY, what is life-this vaunted life? A dream, THE MISSIONARY'S TOMB. BREATHE Softly, ye breezes, assail not the willows Which hang o'er the tomb of a mission's dark grave, Who far distant came o'er the high-rolling billows, To publish a Saviour, who died us to save. Here sleeping till all be fulfill'd which he spoke, Of the truths which he lov'd, and the word he declar'd, When all shall rejoice, being freed from the yoke, And their souls, born to Christ, are for heaven prepar'd. How silently pleasing the zephyrs pass by, That bear on their wings the sweet odour of flowers, Which are blooming in colours of liveliest die, O'er the tombstone encircled with loveliest bowers. 'Twas evening, and nature slept calm in the REVIEW.-The Cabinet Lawyer, or a popular Digest of the Laws of England, &c. &c. &c. 18mo. pp. 572. London. Simpkin & Marshall. 1826. THE English statutes at large, which have been accumulating for ages, form at present such an unwieldy mass, that, to read them all, would be the employment of a laborious life. The sight is so appalling, that few have had the hardihood to undertake the task, and fewer still have been blessed with perseverance, to travel thro' the numerous and ponderous volumes that mount guard upon property of every description, and frown with a terrible aspect upon the lawless and disobedient. But should this Herculean enter the solicitor, it facilitates his researches; and when dismissed, it goes into the country to prowl for prey; and those who are acquainted with the secrets of its operations, know, that, in its itinerant degradation, it is not less valuable than when blooming in all its "blushing honours." The little work before us has taken for its motto the following passage from Lord Bacon: "I wish every man knew as much law as would enable him to keep himself out of it ;" and, in its details, it furnishes the means for carrying the sentiment into effect. On all the common transactions and concerns of life, among the various gradations of society, the author states the bearings and application of existprise, through time and patience, being laws, and marks with no small accomplished, the laborious student would find his work but just begun. Perplexed with statutes which time had rendered obsolete, and deluded by others that had been repealed, his mind would flounder in "The dark, unbottom'd, infinite abyss," till all its energies were absorbed in the literary chaos, from which it could scarcely ever hope to emerge with a valuable cargo of information. The labyrinth of Crete has been celebrated for its intricacies, by writers of every age; but this far-famed 'monument of human ingenuity must yield the palm to the involved contortions of English law. degree of acuteness the nice discriminations by which crimes are distinguished, and on which legal decisions are founded. His authorities are also in general cited, by which means, those who question the accuracy of his statements, are directed to the acts of parliament which contain the law, and to particular cases, in which expressions of doubtful import have been determined. It is not to be expected, that, in a small pocket volume, an answer can be found to every question that may be proposed under any given head. This, no work, not even the Statutes at Large, has ever been able to accomplish. It contains a summary of results, founded on general principles, without tracing the minute ramifications of diversified application; and furnishes as much legal knowledge, as any person, not immediately engaged in the profession, need to obtain. The literary alembic of "Burn's Justice" did much to extract essences from this enormous and undigested heap, and few works have embodied more legal worth, of real practical utility, than this justly renowned performance. The changes, however, which continually take place in the That this work required much time laws, rendering new editions periodi- and indefatigable research, every one cally necessary among professional must be convinced who examines its men, the old ones are consigned over pages; and notwithstanding the facito book-stalls; and, recommended by lities the author has received from their cheapness, they find their way Chitty and Coleridge, which he caninto the habitations of farmers and didly acknowledges in his preface, the tradesmen, who, relying on the infor- public are much indebted to his permation they contain, without consi-sonal exertions for the valuable digest dering that subsequent acts of parliament have falsified statements which once were correct, involve themselves in lawsuits, that are sometimes attended with ruinous consequences. To divest a work of this kind from An old edition of "Burn's Justice," the technicalities of law, is not an thrown into circulation, is a valuable | easy task. The author, however, has friend to litigation. In the library of been highly successful in giving 96.-VOL. VIII. here presented to their notice. His observations are brought down to the present day, and embrace several decisions of very recent occurrence. 4 c plicity to language on subjects that have been proverbially disfigured with legal jargon. Yet, notwithstanding this exertion and success, many words have unavoidably occurred, to which common readers can attach no significant or definite idea. These he has explained in a part of his volume, embodying in his explanations, instances in which the terms are used, with variations in their application. The preface is followed by a table of contents, that occupies twenty pages; and, at the conclusion of the volume, there is a copious index in small type, that fills about seventeen columns more. The whole volume is neatly and closely printed; and the price, which is only seven shillings and sixpence, is far from being extravagant. Combining compression with simplicity in this popular digest, the author informs us, that one principal object of his undertaking was, to lessen the occasions for an appeal to the courts of law, and to render accessible to unprofessional readers, a knowledge of the institutions by which individual rights, persons, and properties, are secured. In this attempt he has happily succeeded. It is a compendium of legal knowledge; and should its circulation prove equal to its merits, and those, into whose hands it may fall, profit by the information it communicates, the decay of litigation will procure for its author the gratitude of all, except those who are either hardened in crime, or interested in perpetuating legal warfare. REVIEW.-The Dictionary of Mechanical Science; with many hundred Engravings. By Alexander Jamieson, LL.D. 4to. in Numbers and Parts. London. Caxton Press, Henry Fisher, Printer to His Majesty. 1825. THIS is one of the many valuable works which the number press has lately presented to the public, and which, from their superior character, have attracted the attention of all classes. The present great respectability of number publishing has not only ensured to it eminent success in the superior walks of society, but, while in some it has raised a bitter spirit of jealousy, in other portions of what is called the "regular bookselling," it has excited a spirit of imita tion; and many of them are actually putting out number works, at the very moment they are decrying the legitimate number establishments. The publisher of the Monthly Review attempted, not long since, to circulate in parts, a work called the "Cabinet Historian;" but, we believe, it never went much farther than his own cabinet, and is consequently defunct. From this circumstance, we could have readily accounted for the angry article upon "number books," in page 234, &c. of that Review; but, unfortunately, the proprietorship of the Monthly is not his; nor is it in the proprietor and principal editor that we fancy we find the actual calumniator. Dr. Jamieson's Dictionary is truly creditable to the press whence it issues; its getting up is of the first order; and its utility (for it is a work of more extensive reference than its title would indicate, at the same time that mechanical science is principally illustrated and enlarged upon) can only be circumscribed by the boundaries of its circulation. Published in numbers and parts, for the convenience of the middling classes, it will form, when complete, a handsome quarto volume, in the superiority of its typographic execution, and the excellence of its illustrations, (many of the plates being by Lowry,) not to be surpassed, and not even equalled, by many of its kind. In regard to the matter of which it is composed, were we to believe the very contradictory account given of it by a writer in the above Review, it is entirely compiled from the encyclopædias. This, however, he denies in to Dr. Jamieson, (whom he regards the next page, and attributing it all with the genuine grudge of a rival bookmaker,) pronounces every definition false except one! thus sweeping away at once all the encyclopædias as spurious. We are here irresistibly tempted to proceed with this pretended review, if such a huge heap of absurdities" can even pretend to be a review, where impudent and unfounded assertions are constantly giving each other the lie direct. The writer's assertions respecting number books, and those connected with the sale of them, we shall put, after his own manner, "distinct propositions," and the as 1141 Review-Jamieson's Dictionary of Mechanical Science. 1142 reader will find them distinct indeedas distinct as black and white are, or as this reviewer is from an honest critic.-1. First he asserts, that "These number books form the very plaguespot of literature." This he maintains, by trying to shew that their literary merit is infinitely below that of other books: but we will balance it with the-2d. "The number books (the literary part of them he means) are stolen ready-made." That is to say, they are the same books published in numbers, and consequently, they are the very books to which they are so much inferior! As for the "plaguespot" of literature, we think he might have found something resembling it much nearer home; and he ought to have known, that criticism always suffers in the dignity of its character, when employed to do the dirty work of disappointed competition in trade. -3. "Their titles are lies and impositions." This assertion must go with the former, seeing the names of books are as easily stolen as the matter.4. They are" produced cheaper than" others, and thus the dealers in them are "enabled to drive the honest manufacturers from the field," (market is probably meant.) This proposition is fairly balanced with the next: 5. "They cost the purchasers twice as much as they would pay for good books from the regular trade." Here the booksellers, who, in the preceding proposition, are driven out of the market by the cheapness of the number books, actually sell their (better) books for half the money for which the cheaper books are sold! But he demonstrates this last proposition, and, as it is more than he does for the one opposed to it, we will follow him in his demonstration, which is this: "The number publishers are at very great expense for bills and catalogues; they give their books to the canvassers at less than half price; and yet they make fortunes more rapidly and more abundantly than the regular booksellers." four to five thousand pounds, and upwards. We are confident that no number house lays out, for such purposes, a sum any way near that amount: and let the public remember, that all this expense is saddled on the books they buy from the " regular booksellers." That the canvasser, in every sixpenny sale he effects, should produce to himself a clear profit of 34d. (which is the least he can have, at the rate stated,) or upwards of 54 per cent., is clearly false, from the fact, that the numbers from respectable houses are never sold by the canvasser under full price. But who can suppose that he would hesitate at selling twenty or even thirty per cent. cheaper, to insure a quick return, when he still had a profit left of more than twenty-four or thirty-four per cent.? But we know with certainty, that the canvassers bave no such gains. The wholesale profits of number publishers are not inferior to those of other booksellers; and to an extensive business they generally unite the profits arising from the printing of their own works. Hence, the sums which the "regular bookseller" pays away to the printer, (including the extra expenses of his bills and catalogues,) remain with the number publisher, to increase his gains; and is it any matter of surprise, that two productive branches of business should yield more than one of them singly? That there may be petty publishers, whose numbers are too bad to fetch the full price, and who therefore sell at very low rates, we can believe; because the very same thing, or worse, is done by some whom the writer would call "regular booksellers." But would it not be manifest injustice to represent the modification of bookselling which appears in the practice of some that might be named, as a correct picture of the trade generally? How much more unjust would it be to place the name of Longman or Whittaker at the head of the list, and then insinuate that the portrait was drawn particularly from either of them? Such, however, is the rank sophistry whereby it has been attempted to degrade the number trade, and particularly the respectable establishment That they are at great expense for bills and catalogues, is strictly true; but that they are at greater expense than other booksellers, we must take the liberty of contradicting. This writer could not be ignorant of the fact, that some of the wholesale book-named at the head of this paper. sellers expend yearly, upon bills, catalogues, and advertisements only, from We have now, we hope, satisfactorily shewn that the wholesale num |