many benefits in its exercise, as can be summed up by any Institution of a similar kind.' The statement is too diffusely amplified to allow of further extract. It may be proper to add, that the profits of the discourse are to be applied to the benefit of the institution. Art. XII. Catalonia, a Poem, with Notes, illustrative of the present State of Affairs in the Peninsula. 8vo. pp. 50. Longman and Co. 1811. THE tone and temper of this little ballad are pretty much in unison with Mr Scott's poem of Don Roderic. The style in which it is written is not unpleasing, nor destitute of spirit; but the author would probably have succeeded better had he given more of narrative and less of declamation. We subjoin a few stanzas, in which he assumes the attitude of a re« monstrant. O, Spaniards! in a cause so high, Can such perfidious chiefs be found, To palsied hands the sacred trust, And triumph o'er your tyrant's art.' The notes are, in our opinion, more interesting than the poem. The author enters at some length into the state of affairs in the peninsula; and though his anticipations, perhaps, are rather sanguine, he seems to have been an attentive observer of the Spanish character, and many of his remarks are sensible and judicious. The Catalans he seems to regard with peculiar partiality. k In the simplicity of his habits, in the peculiar manliness and activity of his disposition, the Catalan peasant differs much from those of the other provinces. His well-known integrity is justly esté med. A Catalan messenger is never known to fail in his fidelity, when trusted with the most valuable property. He wraps the money in his sash, and will travel sixty or eighty miles a day, sleeping on his face to protect his charge, when he lies down to rest. His daily habits inure a Catalan to the severest priva tion and fatigue; a slice of coarse bread, an onion, or a few dried garvan zos, are sufficient to sustain him; and for repose he seeks no other bed but the ground, no other canopy than the skies.' The Catalan peasant, amidst all his misfortunes, has preserved his spirit, his activity, his persevering resolution; or, to speak more correctly, every new enormity committed by the French has only excited a keener sense of his wrongs, a more implacable hatred to his cruel enemy, and a more determined resolution to subdue him. It is the common remark among them, though now deprived of all their fortified places, and even driven from their villages to the mountains, that "the war is only just begun." They seem to be entirely assured that they shall ultimately drive out the French, and look to us, as their sincere allies, to accomplish it. They ask only arms and ammunition in such proportion as to enable them to associate in formidable bodies, to deter the enemy from approaching their retreats. One of them, a fine stout fellow, lately applied to the officer commanding the British squadron off Areus de Mar, for a supply of arms. He was informed there was no depot on board the English men of war, from which they could be furnished, but was offered a musket for himself; he declined it, however, saying, not one nor one hundred would answer his purpose; but if such a number could be given them as would arm a vil lage, they would then defend themselves, and, by uniting two or three neighbouring villages, they would soon prevent the French from coming among them. He was recommended to apply to the superior junta of Catalonia, but he turned away abruptly upon the proposal, declaring, they were the first against whom, perhaps, these arms might be directed, for it was their misconduct had brought ruin upon the principality.' pp. 34, 35. From the tenor of the dedication (to Mr. Walter Scott) it should seem that the author of this production is a naval officer. Art. XIII. On the Operation of largely puncturing the Capsule of the Crystalline Humonr, in Order to promote the Absorption of the Cataract, and on the Guita Serena, accompanied with Pain and Inflammation, By James Ware, Surgeon, 8vo pp. 30. Mawman. 1812. THE remarks of which this tract consists, are taken from the third edi tion of Mr. Ware's excellent Observations on the Eye; and are published in this detached form to accommodate the purchasers of the previous editions, In our review of the Observations (Ecl. Rev. Vol. I. Part. ii. p. 761.) we took notice of an important passage, in which the author stated, that in children born with cataracts, the crystalline humour is generally, if not always, found either in a soft or fluid state, and that if it be not accompa nied with an opacity either in the anterior or posterior portion of the capsule, the happiest results may be expected from largely puncturing this capsule with the couching needle. In the first part of the tract before us, Mr. W. is careful to limit the employment of this operation to the cases of infants and young persons; the operation of extraction, in other cases, being, in his opinion, decidedly preferable. He also gives a minute, and, we need scarcely add, a highly valuable, description of the mode of puncturing, which, since the discovery of the extraordinary property of the extractum belladonna in causing the pupil to dilate, is rendered much less dangerous, though from the necessity which generally exists of repeating the operation, the progress of cure is tediously protracted. In the second part of the tract, Mr. W. relates several cases, in which a most distressing pain and inflammation, which had attacked persons labouring under gutta serena, were effectually removed by making a puncture through the tunica sclerotica into the ball of the eye; an operation which Mr. W. has also found successful in two instances of recent blindness, accompanied with a dilated pupil. Art. XIV. Ballad Romances, and other Poems. By Miss Anna Maria Porter. 12mo. pp. 106. Longman and Co. 1811. Of all that numerous class of persons who are prone to habits of compo sition, the poets seem to find most difficulty in writing to themselves. To cherish a passion for the muse in secret would be an enormity scarcely heard of; and a love of rhymes, accordingly, never fails, sooner or later, to give birth to a volume of poems. As the failure of rival competitors makes no impression on the ever multiplying candidates for pocti cal reputation, to attempt any thing in the way of dissuasion would be quite superfluous. Each one is sufficiently ready to acknowledge the silli ness or stupidity of his neighbour's verses, but is so armed in vanity as effectually to repel any suspicion of the propriety of applying these epithets to his own. It is therefore pretty evident, that, as long as the liberty of the press continues, there is not much chance of any diminution in the frequency of these exhibitions of presumption and defect. In the poems before us, we are happy to recognise an honourable exception from these remarks, which none will accuse of undue severity, who have occasion to inspect one-tenth part of the flimsy rhymes which annually issue from the press. The compositions of Miss Porter, it is true, are not remarkable for elevation of thought, or terseness of expression; but she usually writes with elegance, and is sometimes peculiarly successful in pourtraying the gentler emotions of the heart, and the simpler scenes of domestic life. As an example, we may give the following verses, intitled Remembrance of a little Favourite,' "That mimic air of martial rage, While sword or gun thy hand was grasping ; Shone from thy features, love-exciting. An angel turning earth to heaven. These from my heart no time can take, And for thine own sake shall regret thee.' pp. 163-165. Among the poems are several sonnets; and considering how very seldom attempts in this department of verse have proved successful, those of Miss Porter are entitled to a considerable degree of praise. In point of finish, the following sonnet to Night, is not unobjectionable, but some of the individual lines are bold and forcible. Now gleam the clouded host of stars! and now Here, while the desert moor, the water still, In deepest gloom are stretched, and dim and far, This lonely heart, and holier musings mar 、 For haply now, amid yon specious cene, Death's noiseless scythe some blooming youth destroys; Or houseless Hunger raves with anguish keen; Or Murder o'er some corpse, with bloody hands, In the Ode to a faithless friend,' (p. 153.) there is a very perceptible glow of feeling,-though it will be read to much disadvantage by those who happen to have seen Mrs. Opie's exquisite ballad, which has for its burden," Forget me not! forget me not!" We transcribe Miss Porter's ode entire, 'When day with all her train hath fled, Say, canst thou seek thy downy bed, While thou rememberest me? And canst thou at the morning hour, With transport feel bright nature's power, At eve, when social crowds are nigh, While thou rememberest me? Ah! sure a poison must distil And self-reproach thy breast must fill, While thou rememberest me?' pp. 153, 154. Fortunately for the fair author, these extracts have left us no room to comment on the first half of her volume. Morality apart, no imputation can sound half so heavy in the ears of a writer of Ballad Romances, as that of dulness. . Art. XV. The First Annual Report of the Society for the Support of Gaelic Schools. With an Appendix respecting the Present State of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. 8vo. pp. 50. To Non-subscrib ers, price 1s. Edinburgh, all the Booksellers. London, Seeley, Inverness, Grant and Co. inter IN order to recommend the perusal of this report, and the pecuniary sup port of the institution it describes, we shall think it sufficient to present an abstract of its principal details, and a few extracts from its very esting pages. Contemplations of this nature make us "glory in the name of Briton." In this country at length we begin to see that admirable pre cept obeyed-Regard not every man his own interests, alone, but every man the interests also of others.* The Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland, comprehend a total population of nearly 400,000; the Islands alone, nearly 100,000. It appears to be annually increasing, and since 1750, has almost doubled. The population is so thinly scattered, that many islands contain from 50 to 150 acres to an individual. compre The parish of Lochbroom, which appears to have scarcely any other means of instruction than the labours of its worthy clergyman, hends a tract of country, of the roughest and most difficult in Scotland, as extensive as the whole Synod of Ross, which employs the labours of twenty-three ministers, besides innumerable schoolmasters, catechists, &c.; it has seven preaching places, separated by large arms of the sea, rapid rivers, extensive moors, and tremendous rocks; some of them twenty, some thirty miles from the parish church, and without a single place of worship capable of containing the congregation in the whole parish.' There are about four thousand inhabitants in this parish, of whom, perhaps, six or seven hundred of the rich and poor may be able to read the scriptures in the English language; but, with the exception of about half a dozen strangers, the whole prefer religious instruction, and are more capable of improving by it, in the Gaelic. 2dly, about a score may be capable of reading a psalm, or chapter of the Bible, in Gaelic alone. 3dly, of consequence, about three thousand precious souls in this parish alone are excluded from the word of life, excepting by the ear only. Many of these Μὴ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἔκαςος σκοπείτε, αλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἑλέγων ἕκασος, Philipp. ii. 4. |