Affghans illustrated by the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, Foster, Conolly, and Burnes; and Kundaz and the Uzbeks have obtained the same attention in a clever pamphlet lately published in India by Dr. Lord,Lieutenant Wood's notes embody so much that is novel, sensible, and true, that his work deserves to, and no doubt will be considered, a valuable addition to our geographical library. Its unpretending character will be no slight recommendation with the enlightened reader, neither can the tone of manly feeling and sound sense which pervades its interesting pages, escape recognition; whilst the pleasant manner in which the writer combines the amusing with the instructive, must largely contribute to its popularity. The author's labours to explore the Oxus, his remarks on the navigation of the Indus, his description of the Lapis Lazuli Mines in the valley of the Kokcha, of the Ruby Mines on the right bank of the Oxus, of the Sulphur Mines and Naphtha Springs three miles north by east of Sheikh, and his numerous notices of the natural history and geography of that portion of India examined by him, cannot be read by the more scientific reader without a full sense of their value. In short, the information conveyed is so attractive, that we regret the author did not contribute all the details he possessed.

He says, "The map of the Upper Valley of the Oxus will be found, on comparison, to differ considerably from any now extant; but that of the Indus, save in the latitudes of places lying to the north of Mittankote, I have not found it necessary to alter but in a very modified degree. An official report on the navigation of the latter river, an interesting subject both in a political and commercial view, I wished to give in an appendix, but have been disappointed by no copy of the paper having reached this country. The fear of extending this narrative into a second volume, has prevented the insertion of vocabularies of the dialects spoken among the mountain tribes to the north of Hindu Kosh. The same dread has deterred me from giving more details of the various countries visited, which considerateness will, I doubt not, be appreciated by the reader." A considerateness, by the way, we should be glad to see influencing authors to a much greater extent than it does. We hope that in a second edition Lieutenant Wood will be enabled to introduce every thing of importance that has been withheld from this volume.

THE LOVE MATCH.*

THE success which attended Mrs. Maberly's first attempt at novel-writing, has evidently stimulated her to produce a similar work; and with admirable tact, whilst the favourable impression she created is still recent, she presents the public with another claim on their attention. Like "Emily," the Love Match" belongs to that class of fiction which is always most in request with the genuine novel-reader. It is a picture of existing society, and treats of matters in which all persons who read for amusement readily take an interest-the goings

The Love Match. By the author of "Emily." 3 vols.

on of the world around them, and the grouping of characters such as have been playing their several parts in the great drama of life within their immediate knowledge. The recognition of these "old familiar faces" forms the chief charm in the perusal of such works, and if they are represented performing again" for this occasion only"-any of the numberless pretty "roles" which occasionally produce such prodigious éclat in certain circles, the result cannot but be a vast increase of satisfaction to the reader. The gratification felt by the veteran who "fights his battles o'er again," is nothing in comparison to that experienced by the novel-reader, who in a well-managed fiction discovers the source whence the writer obtained his materials; and the closer such may have come under his observation, the deeper must be the interest he will take in them. Mrs. Maberly, therefore, has shown excellent judgment in choosing her contemporaries for the proper subjects of her imagination; and few individuals exist who possess so many advantages towards becoming thoroughly acquainted with that phase of society best suited to her purpose. From one who is herself so prominent a feature in fashionable life, striking pictures of it might have been expected, and a knowledge of the various accomplishments which make her the admiration of her circle, would prepare her readers for the degree of talent her volumes display; but whether she has turned these advantages to most account in "Emily," or in "The Love Match," is not so easily decided. Some may prefer one, and some the other, but we think that if nothing else existed to mark the superiority, the sin→ gular interest of the subject of her last production could not fail to establish a preference. For what could afford more pleasing materials for the novelist, and a more ample scope for the imagination, than a representation of the origin, progress, and conclusion of what is called a Love Match in the higher circles? We may be told that such things are very rare; they do not, however, appeal less forcibly to our sensibilities when pourtrayed with genuine feeling-indeed, where hearts are so little sensitive to natural impressions, as those of the fashionable world have been so often represented though'certainly not to our conviction,—the one that is found faithful to nature, must be well worthy of acquaintance. From this it follows that Mrs. Maberly's heroine cannot fail of exciting the general admiration, and few will read her story without experiencing a revolution in their opinion as to women of fashion, neither can they be insensible to the merit which pervades the picture of fashionable life in which she is made the most prominent feature.

LADY CHATTERTON'S SKETCHES AND RECOLLECTIONS.*

THIS work may be regarded as a collection of pictures taken from nature, of scenes and characters that have fallen under the artist's observation at home and abroad, interspersed with some efforts of imagination, and passages in which Lady Chatterton expresses the reflections

Home Sketches and Foreign Recollections. By Lady Chatterton, author of "Rambles in the South of Ireland," &c. 3 vols.

and impressions that arose from the objects she beheld. In these there are frequent indications of excellent taste and judgment; and as some pleasant associations are connected with the majority of the places and objects she brings before the reader, few of her pages will be found deficient in interest. She commences her labours in England, beginning with a village in Hampshire, and thence proceeds to Richmond, Nell Gwynn's house, Chiswick, Exton Park, Canterbury, Oxford, Leamington, and Kenilworth. Afterwards we meet with a panoramic view from Dublin to Kilkenny, and several other picturesque Irish scenes, the results of her visits to Castle Martyr, Mount Mellerie (the Trappist establishment near Cappoguin), Wexford, and Enniscorthy, Drogheda, and the Giant's Causeway. We are thence transported to the English lakes, getting by the way a pleasant prospect of Crawley Grange, an old house of Cardinal Wolsey's, and shortly afterwards find ourselves admiring the picturesques features of Brussels and Cologne. Whilst proceeding to Dresden, to Shandon (the Saxon Switzerland), and from there to Leipsig, and various other interesting portions of Germany, not neglecting the beauties of the Rhine, we are agreeably entertained by the occasional halt made by our accomplished guide at the works of art and other objects particularly deserving attention there to be met with. A sojourn at Paris still further increases Lady Chatterton's resources, and with her sketches and recollections of this delightful city, her volumes conclude. The imaginative part of the work the tales and poems, we doubt will be relished as much as the more matter-of-fact portion. Indeed, this combination of fact and fiction is rarely effective. Nevertheless, the volumes furnish abundance of pleasant reading, and are likely to add considerably to the literary reputation their author has already acquired.

MEMOIRS OF EDWARD ALLEYN.*

THE desire for information illustrative of the life and literature of Shakspeare has increased to a great extent within the last few years, and every succeeding year it appears to become more general. This is one of the few features in modern literature creditable to the taste of the age. Many have endeavoured to contribute to the small stock of knowledge we possess on this most interesting subject, and although we cannot regard the labours of any as entirely useless, notwithstanding the elaborate trifling and useless pedantry by which they are usually so conspicuously distinguished, very few have been so fortunate as to exhibit any new facts, or throw any light on the obscurity in which so much of what the scholar is most desirous of knowing, is involved. These efforts, however unsuccessful, have not been useless, because they have contrived to increase and keep alive public attention to the subject; but we cannot here avoid animadverting on the foolish spirit that seems to influence a majority of the writers on Shakspeare, who appear as if striving to build up a reputation for themselves on the ruins of that of the unrivalled genius of which they ambitiously put themselves for

Memoirs of Edward Alleyn, Founder of Dulwich College, including some new particulars respecting Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, Massinger, Marston, Dekker, &c. By John Payne Collier, Esq., F.S.A.

tions.

ward in the character of commentators. This in all cases arises from a combination of presumption with ignorance. No man is sufficiently qualified to illustrate or criticise the immortal productions of our great dramatist, unless, with a thorough comprehension of their construction and meaning, and an intimate acquaintance with almost every branch of cotemporary learning, he possess such a degree of sympathy with the graceful, the profound, and the exalted, as will enable him fully to appreciate the masterpieces of art and intellect Shakspeare has created. Schlegel wanted only a more comprehensive knowledge of the time in which flourished the object of his boundless admiration, to have made him as a critic all that the Shaksperian scholar could desire, but it is only justice to say, that the countrymen of this gifted German seem far more inclined to do honour to Shakspeare than nine-tenths of his English critics. However, as we cannot hope to get all that is necessary, we are very glad to acknowledge any of the essentials wherever they are to be found. Our two most influential reviews, the Quarterly and the Edinburgh, have lately put forth articles illustrative of Shakspeare, and the research and right feeling they exhibit make them worthy of ranking with the finest examples of criticism in the language. One or two other periodicals have also recently produced reviews on the same subject that almost equally entitle them to our respect. The Pictorial edition of Shakspeare claims our admiration not less for the genial spirit in which it is edited, than for the value and beauty of its illustraBut there is no person who has laboured so industriously and to such profitable purpose in this interesting department of literature as John Payne Collier. To him we are indebted for nearly all the most important facts that have been elicited by recent Shaksperian scholars towards a biography of our illustrious poet; and these discourses first directed the public interest to this channel, and opened a field for speculation and research for many of his talented contemporaries. The appetite so grew with what it fed on, that a literary association called "The Shakspeare Society"-already numbering several hundred members, among whom will be found many distinguished noblemen and a large proportion of our most eminent scholars and antiquaries-which, with the very trifling subscription of one pound annually, has for its object the publication, efficiently edited, of all the scarce works and MSS. now in existence, that throw a light on the life and times of Shakspeare; and the work now before us is the first the society has produced. Of the present object of Mr. Collier's scholarship it is sufficient here to state that he was an actor of very fair repute, and a manager of more than one theatre; a friend of Shakspeare's, whose theatrical property there is reason to believe he purchased, and a man of excellent character, who after many years of usefulness and respectability, founded Dulwich College with the large fortune he had been able to create by his talents, industry, and frugality. With the particulars of Alleyn's career, the editor has incorporated much information of a very interesting nature respecting Shakspeare and his most distinguished dramatic contemporaries taken from private papers in the treasury-chest of "God's Gift College" (Dulwich), to which he was allowed access. The work reflects the highest credit upon the author, whose well deserved reputation it must greatly increase, and is no less honourable to the society under whose auspices it has been published,

THE MONEYED MAN.*

THE influence of wealth in the development of human character, and over its surrounding circumstances, has been a subject of study to many persons as different in the peculiar sphere of their observation as in their capability to turn it to the best advantage. The divine, the dramatist, the poet, the metaphysician, the historian, and the novelist, have each in turn essayed

"To point a moral and adorn a tale,”

or give weight to an argument, by showing the manner in which wealth acts upon society; and to their labours we are indebted for whatever pictures of avarice, ambition, covetousness, rapacity, meanness, fraud, dishonesty, self-denial, generosity, and philanthropy,-their causes, operation, and consequences-there are to be found in their several departments of literature. Mr. Horace Smith has ventured into the same path. His portraiture of the "Moneyed Man," however, is far from being his first attempt at delineating one or other of the numerous phases of selfishness produced by the love of money-as witness his preceding novels; but he has never before essayed so elaborate a performance. It must not be imagined that his conception of the character is the sordid miser so familiar to every reader, or the vulgar millionaire scarcely less commonplace. The author of "Brambletye House" has much better materials, and he introduces Mark Hawkwood, the " Moneyed Man," to us on the attainment of his majority; and on his becoming a partner in the firm of Hawkwood, Poole, and Hawkwood-generally reputed the wealthiest bankinghouse in the city. Educated in the conviction of himself and all around him of his being sole heir to an incalculable fortune, he is fully impressed with the importance of his position, and the moneyed influence is now exhibiting all its baneful effects on his disposition. Under such circumstances there can be nothing unnatural in his having received a fashionable education, and having a strong inclination for fashionable society and amusements, nor could there be any great difficulty in the way of his finding fashionable associates. It is at the commencement of the year 1790, and in all the enjoyment of the golden prospect opened to him by his simultaneously coming of age and entrance into his father's old-established bankinghouse, that he is represented starting on his career. He is of course soon surrounded by sharpers, profligates, and parasites, who play their parts towards making up a picture of "Town," at the close of the last century-some of these personages are almost historical; others, to whom the author introduces us, are quite so. The domestic circle of the "Moneyed Man" is also placed prominently on the canvas-his father, the stern old banker-his mother, the ostentatious and narrow-minded woman of the world, with her diamond ague his sister, the fearless and noble-hearted Bertha--his humble yet generous cousin, the young tobacconist-the magnificent Augusta

The Moneyed Man; or, the Lessons of a Life. By Horace Smith, Esq., Author of" Brambletye House."