depth and strength of feeling, and are altogether better than any detached passage of "The Arrow and the Rose." We wish to give one of them entire, and we are sure no one of poetical feeling can read it without his or her heart at once acknowledging its beauty.

"Would that the hour you called me thine,

Deserted girl, had been our last,
Before the star had ceased to shine,
Whose influence mild was o'er as cast!
Would that we had not lingered here,
But, in the rapture of that dream,
Floated to some less troubled sphere,
Like rose-leaves down a summer stream;

Then thou to loneliness and grief

Hadst not become an early prey;
Nor had I felt my fond belief
In life's illusion fade away.

O more-I had not lived to mourn
The choice I in my madness made,
Of toys, by folly won and worn,
Which left for banished Peace, a shade.

The world-my uncomplaining love!

The world I waved-avenged thee well.
The golden shower I prized above,

Thy young affection, on me fell;
The hand of power-the voice of fame-
In later days have both been mine;
But never have I felt the same

In heart, as when you called me thine !"

Essay on the History, &c. of Ireland, from the Birth of Christ to the English Invasion. By J. D'Alton, Esq.

The Royal Irish Academy-whose transactions constitute a body of information relative to the history and antiquities of Ireland worthy of the country-some time ago proposed for discussion the Social and Political Condition of the People of Ireland from the commencement of the Christian era to the twelfth century-embracing the state of science, literature, and the arts, and espe cially moral and religious opinions connected with their civil and ecclesiastical institutions. The whole evidence was to be gathered from foreign sources, prior to the sixteenth century. The most obvious sources of inquiry, as to many of the points included in the subject-the annals, poems, and legends of the country-were completely excluded by the terms and the very object of the question; the purpose of the Society being to get collected together the foreigu testimonies which still existed, scattered in the pages of multitudes of writers, of every quality and authority. To this laborious, but yet animating task, Mr. D'Alton, with a patriotic ardour, bent his best powers, and accomplished it to the entire satisfaction of the Society, by whose permission, and under whose sanction indeed, it is now printed separately, and given to the world as a kind of national document, rich in anthorities, and decisive of Ireland's claims to ancient civilization. The writer would willingly have extended his researches to periods far anterior to the Christian era; but this also the limits of the question precluded, and he could only cast a glance, by way of introduction, over the forbidden ground. In this glance the Phoenician origin of the Irish people was far too interesting and too probable-from scores of

indications, traceable in as many unconnected authorities to be wholly passed over. Hanno's well known, or rather un-known speech, in Plautus's Pænalus, was long ago claimed by Colonel Vallancy as a relic of ancient Irish; and Mr. D'Alton, on a close scrutiny, finds, in fifteen lines, nearly forty words and phrases decidedly Irish; and though we are even yet unable to translate the passage, or define the general sense of it, yet the intelligible words, according to the Irish language, are so strictly suitable to the circumstances in which Hanno in the piece is represented, as materially to confirm the truth of the conjecture. The conclusion is all but irresistible-the Carthaginians must have been Irish, or the Irish Carthaginians, or both the scions of a common stock. The first is improbable, the second wholly unsupported, while the third is neither improbable nor unsupported.

In the arrangement of his subject, Mr. D'Alton has followed Dr. Henry's plans in the History of England-a division into periods marked by some memorable event, and subdivided into sections. The first terminates with the arrival of St. Patrick in 431; the second with the Danish invasion in 795; the third with the victory of Clontarf, in which Brien Boroombe, the Alfred and Epaminondas of his country, crushed the hopes of the Danes, but perished in the glorious achievement; and the fourth with the English invasion—the limit of the author's inquiries. In each of these periods are successively exhibited, 1, the social and poli3, morals and religion; 4, science, learning, and tical history; 2, the government and legislation; learned men; 5, the arts; 6, commerce, customs, general habits, &c. Such an arrangement secures specific statements, and that of course was, in the author's case, the first object-a much more important one than a flowing narrative.

The celebrated Brehon code has never yet been printed. A very large collection, it appears, exists in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. The publication, observes Mr. D'Alton, under judicious revision, and with historical illustrations, would open a very delightful and instructive view of many ancient rights and customs of the country, which as yet continue in the utmost darkness and obscurity. The Royal Irish Academy have often entertained the subject; but the labour of finishing such a work, as it should be executed, must demand an application of funds greater than that body could command, and a devotion of time and honest research beyond what the most enthusiastic could be expected to impart gratuitously.

Russell; or, the Reign of Fashion. By the Author of "A Winter in London," Splendid Misery," &c. &c. 3 vols.

This interesting novel presents a skilful and amusing exhibition of "the world as it is," in London at the present day, not only in the fashionable circles, but in the various grades of mercantile and professional life. There is something in the very locale of the places and characters described, that at once catches the attention. The scene opens in the coffee-room of the White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly; then we have all the world at Hyde Park-corner, on its way to the Epsom races; thence we are transported to Whiteball; and finally to Bishopsgate-street in the City,

where the rise and progress of a tall, raw-boned, shoeless, and pennyless Scot, who, by dint of di ligence, sharpness, roguery, and hypocrisy, mounts from this destitute condition to the mastery of half a million, is very cleverly detailed. In this part of the narrative, canting methodists and all hypocritical pretenders to peculiar strictness in religious observances, who, under the garb of extraordinary sanctity, contrive to cloak the basest and most worldly-minded views, are castigated with no sparing hand; it is, however, but justice to the author to add, that there is not the least appearance of ridicule or disrespect evinced towards the sincere profession of religion, but the contrary.

Though Russell,-a sort of fortunate youth, the inheritor of an immeuse property, lodged for him at his birth in a mercantile house in the City, by a foreign stranger whose bistory no one understood, is the nominal hero, and figures in Parliament and at Almack's, speaks in favour of Ca. tholic Emancipation, and marries a haughty Duke's daughter; yet the wily Caledonian before alluded to appears to us the favourite character with the author. Avarice is his ruling passion, and it renders him a thorough villain; smooth and deep, secret and sanctimonious. Even his marriages (for be commits more than one) are entered into all for money and nothing for love; and when be gets into Parliament, he seeks only to advance his private interests by all sorts of double dealing and intrigue. His crooked career is closed, however, by the sudden and tremendous crash of commercial credit and confidence in the panic of December 1825. With all his shrewdness, the moneyhunter had been decoyed into a sleeping partnership in a rotten bank, by false balance-sheets fabricated for the purpose of imposing upon him; and by this, and a series of frauds which the panic had exploded, the wretched trader is despoiled of all his ill-gotten wealth, and blows his brains out in a fit of despair. Two double marriages, however, of the happiest sort-Russell's being, of course, one of the number-follow to console the reader and steady the nerves after this catastrophe. On the whole, this is an amusing picture of life, abounding both in character and incident of a kind well calculated to attract and repay the reader's attention.

Two Memoires on the Use of Diluted Chlorine in the early Stages of Pulmonary Consumption. Translated from the French of M. Gannal. By W. H. Potter.

Every one knows that the recently discovered chemical agent called chlorine gas has been employed by the French chemists with considerable success, and partially employed in this country, as a means of preventing infection in hospitals, prisons, &c. from the contagious miasma supposed to arise from eruptive fevers. But the highly irritating property of this gas, when taken into the lungs, has hitherto restricted its use to the purposes of purification only; in which case it was essential for sick persons to be removed from the ward of a hospital previous to its application for purifying the apartment. Hence its use was in a great many cases impracticable.

The object of the Memoire of M. Gannal, (which was read some months back before the

"Academie Royale des Sciences,") is, however, that of proving chlorine, when judiciously applied, to be a most valuable agent, not only in preventing contagion and arresting the progress of animal putrefaction, but that this gas may be inhaled into the lungs with perfect safety, and with decided advan-. tage in certain pulmonary diseases, more particnlarly during the earlier stages of phthisis.

We have not space to give the several arguments of M. Gannal, nor the cases he cites in favour of this new remedy in various consumptive patients; but the substance of his "Memoire " may be compressed into the following few lines: The preparation of chlorine gas in the usual way from the chlorides of lime, soda, or potash, for the purpose of ventilating buildings, being found too impure to admit of respiration without the hazard of suffocation, M. Gannal contrived a simple apparatus, consisting of a phial pint-bottle, with three tubes or mouths, by means of which atmospheric air could be drawn, (by the mouth,) through a portion of liquid chlorine, (oxy-muriatic acid,) greatly diluted. Consequently such portion of air as enters the lungs in each respiration becomes impregnated with a minute portion of chlorine in the form of gas.

When used five or six times a day to the extent of three or four inspirations each time, M. Gannal says, the benefit derived from its application was very decided in numerous cases: in some of which the ulcerated character of the tubercles in diseased lungs was completely arrested, and the patient either finally cured, or his disorder mitigated for a period, and his life prolonged.

Considering the active character of this gaseous medicine, we should say that great discretion were requisite in applying it to pulmonary subjects in a more advanced stage. Yet, considering the inevitable fate of such unfortunate patients if left to Nature, or Nature's journeymen, the venders of drugs, the use of this curative gas is worthy of a fair trial in some of our metropolitan hospitals.

Hannibal's Passage of the Alps. By a Member of the University of Cambridge.

Where did Hannibal cross the Alps?" that in the question," and it is one, like not a few others, much more easily proposed than solved. Many a learned dissertation has been penned in the closet-many an anxious scrutiny carried on in the supposed vicinage of the Carthaginian's route-both dead authors and living rocks have been consulted, and all to exceedingly little parpose. It is fortunate, however, that no very important consequences are annexed to the decision of the point; were it for ever settled, neither general, nor to any appreciable amount, individual happiness would be promoted; nor would the pass of Hannibal be found to lead us to any very valuable conquest amid the fair untrodden fields of undiscovered knowledge. Considering the question in a utilitarian point of view, we may rest well satisfied with our ignorance, without being sensible of a wish to emerge from it. To confine investigation, however, within limits so narrow, would be to put an undesirable check upon the ardour of the inquiring intellect, and induce, in many cases, an inert supineness, totally alien from the character of a healthy mind. It would appear, then, that the labour of searching for "passages that lead to nothing," as perhaps this of Hanni

bal's may be designated, is not altogether without its reward; and for that class of persons who like to grapple with difficulties because they are difficulties, and would rather "try a fall" with a phantom, than sit quiet and "do as others do," we can scarcely imagine a better subject for investigation than Hannibal's march over the Alps. Here are "delightful dangers" in abundance, and a path little less rugged than that trodden by the great Carthaginian himself. In one respect, indeed, we are decidedly worse off than he wasbe discovered a scheme for softening the rocks that opposed his progress-a receipt for softening the critical rocks which beset this subject is still a desideratum. Vinegar enough, it is true, or something as sharp, has been thrown upon them (the writer of the dissertation under notice is not unprovided with the article), but they yield not; and at the present time, the question seems just as far removed from a satisfactory solution as it was in the days of the Romans. Not a few have, indeed, cried out Evρnka, and hastily clapped the laurel wreath to their own forehead; but their triumph has generally been of exceedingly short duration; a fresh aspirant for the prize immediately marches into the field, and with self-satisfied assurance dispossesses the first claimant of the chaplet, investing with it his own brow, only to be in his turn despoiled by another.

The immediate cause of the appearance before the public of the work now under notice seems to have been the Dissertation on Hannibal's Passage, written by Messrs. Wickham and Cramer, who journeyed into the Alpine regions with the express design of investigating, by personal examination, all the accessible tracks which argument or conjecture have fixed upon as the route of the Carthaginian. These gentlemen, confiding in the accuracy of Polybius, and eschewing the marvellous stories of Livy, came at length to a decision which satisfied themselves, and concluded, very complacently, that the question was "fairly, if not finally set at rest." Our Cantab, however, is by no means disposed to allow them the undisturbed enjoyment of their composure. With kind solicitude for the reputation of Livy, whom he considers hardly used by the Dissertationists, he advises them not to "apply the flattering unction to their souls ;" accuses them of high crimes and misdemeanours against the said Livy and common sense; evinces sovereign contempt for Polybius, and leaves the question just where he found it.

And now, what have we to say upon the subject ourselves?-just nothing. We might by possibility write an article-almost as learned and quite as prosy as the greater part of such productions generally are-but cui bono? Indeed we know not, and shall therefore leave the suit Polybius v. Livy, or Livy v. Polybius, in chancery, as we found it.

We should mention that the present writer imagines Hannibal to have passed over Mount Viso. This conjecture is not new; Strabo, on whose authority our Cantab insists much, broached it long ago-not, indeed, even then as original, but as the prevailing opinion upon the subject. It is difficult, however, to understand how Strabo could reconcile this with the statement of Polybius, the authority of which, indeed, our University man "satisfactorily proves" to be of exceeding little value.

We are not quite satisfied upon this head, but having resolved not to enter into the question, we shall terminate our animadversions. A kind of Appendix to the work contains all the passages of Polybius and Livy which bear upon the subject in the original languages.

The Exiles of Palestine, a Tale of the Holy Land. By the Author of "Letters from the East." 3 vols.

It is curious to observe how the talents of the few form the tastes of the many. This rule is especially true as applied to literature. The path made by an individual is followed by thousands, and to this it is owing that some one style is always peculiarly prevalent. The age of the romantic ballad was succeeded by that of the drama; then came a period of epistles, essays, and satires; and our present day may be designated as the era of novels. The volumes before us are according to the taste of the times-an historical romance, grafted on a book of travels. Mr. Carne has been very judicious in his choice of place and period. The Crusades are full of picturesque adventure, and the incident chosen is little known. The story is pleasing, and so are several of the characters. Sir Philip Dudley, the brave and devoted Knight of St. John, actuated by the united enthusiasm of chivalry and religion, and the Sultan Seraph, are characters which might deserve commendation. The descriptions are a series of Eastern landscapes, taken with effect, and for which Mr. Carne has the feeling of a painter. Several of the episodes deserve much praise, and there is some very meritorious poetry scattered through the work. We do not doubt but "The Exiles of Palestine" will meet with encouragement.

The History of Chemistry. By Thomas Thomson, M.D. F.R.S.E.-No. III. of the National Library.

The History of Chemistry, if we take the subject in all its bearings, would comprehend the history or progress of almost every department of physical science; for it would be difficult to name a single branch of science which bears any reference to the arts, manufactures, or medical and domestic economy, that has not derived vast improvement within the last thirty years from the successive discoveries in modern chemistry.

Considering the small dimensions of the volume before us, in comparison with the magnitude of its title, we almost anticipated a failure, notwithstanding the high reputation the author has already attained as a chemical writer, and as one of the first experimental chemists of the day. So far, however, from experiencing disappointment from a cursory perusal of Dr. Thomson's history, we have been equally delighted and astonished at the great mass of information that has been compressed into a very small compass. The labour and previous reading requisite in the compilation of this little volume must have been immense, and can only be duly appreciated by those who have devoted their attention to similar pursuits. The progress of the miscalled science of alchemy, or the researches of the Dutch and German philosophers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries after that ignis fatuus, the philosopher's stone, and

"the noble art of making gold," is here traced by the hand of a master. The author refers the origin of alchemy to the Arabians, who devoted themselves to the study of medicine with great assiduity, about the sixth and seventh centuries. There is little reason to suppose that either the Greeks or Romans made any considerable progress in the knowledge of what are now denominated medical and chemical science. The author justly observes" Arts and manufactures stood in a very different degree of estimation among the ancients from what they do among the moderns. Their artists and manufacturers were chiefly slaves. The citizens of Greece and Rome devoted themselves to politics and war. Such of them as turned their attention to learning confined themselves to oratory, which was the most fashionable and the most important study, or to bistory, or poetry. The only scientific pursuits which ever engaged their attention were politics, ethics, and mathematics. The only exception to this general neglect and contempt for the useful arts among the ancients is in the natural history of the elder Pliny."

In tracing the discovery of gold to the remotest period of history (it being frequently alluded to by the sacred historian), Dr. Thomson says:"There can be no doubt that gold, which is almost always found in the earth in its native state, was more abundant on the surface and the beds of rivers in the early periods of society, than it is at present; this is obvions from the account which Pliny gives of the numerous places in Asia and Greece, and other European countries, where gold was found in his time. The Greeks, from their national vanity, laid claim to the discovery of this precious metal, many centuries after it had been in common use among the Chaldeans and Egyptians. Silver and copper appear to have been known also at periods long anterior to authentic history. "The most celebrated alloy of copper," says our author, "among the ancients was the as corinthium, or Corinthian copper, found accidentally (as Pliny informs us) during the burning of Corinth by Mummius, in the year 608, after the building of Rome, or one hundred and forty-five years before the commencement of the Christian era."

It is peculiarly interesting in the annals of human invention and discovery, to ascertain the origin of many of the most valuable inventions. Thus the discovery of the various compound metals called bronze, consisting of copper and tin,

copper and zinc, or the inferior sorts, copper and lead, was owing to the accidental fusion of the metal plates or bars used in the construction of the Corinthian temples, during their destruction by fire.

After tracing, in a rapid but luminous manner, the knowledge which the ancients possessed in the department of chemistry called Metallurgy, the Doctor gives us a very interesting account of the substances used as colours or pigments. Sir H. Davy, in the year 1813, while in Italy, analysed some of the coloured fresco paintings taken from the ruins of Herculaneum. In one chamber of the magnificent baths of Titus, three different mineral reds were discovered, which proved to be formed of minium, or red lead, iron ochres, and termilion, or cinnabar.

The author also gives an interesting account of the discovery of glass, the manufacture of porce

lain, &c. but which our limits will not allow us to transcribe. After which he traces, in a very masterly way, the progress of experimental and theoretic chemistry, from its commencement in the latter portion of the seventeenth century, to the present period. The Doctor's observations on the Stablian theory of Phlogiston are distinguished both for originality and liberality of sentiment, considering that the chemical doctrines of Stahl and his disciples are now rendered nearly obsolete.

We much regret our inability to extract the biographical sketch of M. Reaumur, whom our author justly designates as "one of the most extraordinary men of his age," or, we might add, of any age, if we look at the vast variety and depth of his acquirements. This illustrious French philosopher was born in 1683, when chemistry was yet in its infancy; but his capacious mind undertook the chemical investigation of a multitude of substances connected with the useful arts; he, indeed, may be said to have been the immediate precursor of the great men whose names will ever be associated with the indefatigable and unfortunate Lavoisier.

The history of Reaumur, short as it is, almost in itself forms a history of all the various improvements the arts and manufactures attained during the first half of the eighteenth century.

The author does equal justice to the great Swedish chemist, Scheele, Macquer, &c. and then proceeds to notice the progress of chemical discovery by the ancient philosophers of our own nation, down to the end of the last century, including the names of Black, Priestley, Cavendish, Kirwan, &c.-the continuation of the subject to the present period being necessarily reserved for another volume. Indeed, we have never met with such a mass of information within the same extent, and we have no hesitation in stating, that the voluine, though diminutive in form, will greatly add to Dr. Thomson's previous reputation. The work is, in fact, not a mere history, but a lucid commentary on the progress of physical science from the earliest ages to the present time; and, as such, it will prove a valuable work of reference both for the scientific man and the miscellaneous class of readers.

A New Voyage Round the World, in the years 1823, 24, 25, and 26. By Otto Von perial Navy. 2 vols. Kotzebue, Post-Captain in the Russian Im

Captain Kotzebue terminates a short modest preface, by saying" With respect to my style, I rely upon the favour formerly shown me. Devoted from my earliest youth to the sea service, I have had no leisure for cultivating the art of authorship." The reader, after perusing this, and being unacquainted with the previous productions of the author, could be but little prepared for the tempting feast that awaits him. It is like sailing from a dull, barren, rocky shore, and finding yourself suddenly among beautiful islands, clear, calm waters, and an atmosphere like that we breathe in a romance. We do not mean that the mere style of these volumes conjures up all this; the charm may be better traced to their truth, spirit, and intelligence. Captain Fotzebue is an ardent, active, and liberal-minded voyager, and seems to prosecute his inquiries, not with a com