American Ornithology; or the Natural History of the Birds of the United States. By ALEXANDER WILSON and CHARLES LUCIAN BONAPARTE. Edited by Professor JAMESON. VOL. IV. Being No. LXXI. of Constable's Miscellany. Edinburgh, 1831. Constable and Co. London, Hurst, Chance, and Co.

THIS is the concluding volume of a truly valuable little work, containing the substance of Wilson's great work, in nine quarto volumes, on American birds, which was condensed in the three former volumes: the present contains the American ornithology of Prince Charles Lucian Bonaparte. The whole is regularly arranged; and the appendix includes excellent descriptions of American birds by Audubon, Richardson, and Swainson, with catalogues and arrangements.

Historical Memoirs of the House of Bourbon. In two vols. Vol. II. Being No. VII. of Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Library.

THE Concluding volume of this work, which is before us, does not induce us to vary our opinion of it, namely, that it is a publication full of interest.

Of the style, however, we can by no means speak favourably. It is foreign throughout; apparently either written by a foreigner in English, or translated from the French with little regard to the English idiom, and is, besides, rather loose and slovenly. In doing justice to the merits of a work, we are bound to notice prominent defects.

A Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden; or an Account of the most valuable Fruits and Vegetables cultivated in Great Britain; with Kalendars of the Work required in the Orchard and Kilchen Garden, during every Month in the Year. By GEORGE LINDLEY, C. M. H. S., Edited by JoHN LINDLEY, F.R.S., &c. London, 8vo. 1831. Longman and Co,

We are informed in the editor's preface to this work, that the author of it "has been occupied, at intervals, during nearly forty years in preparing for the press materials for a complete account of the fruit trees and vegetables cultivated in the gardens of Great Britain. The result of these inquiries," it is added, " is now presented to the reader in a form which, it is thought, is so condensed as to comprehend the greatest quantity of information in the smallest compass." We have no hesitation in pronouncing this work to be one of the most useful we have ever seen. It is the sum of a vast deal of observation and careful inquiry, by one "whose long practical experience, and ample opportunities of investigating such subjects personally, during a long series of many years, have been such as have rarely fallen to the lot of any one."

**The title precludes the necessity of a description of the contents of the work. The various fruits and vegetables are arranged in the guide alphabetically, with copious indexes of names. We can recommend the work very strongly.

The Watering Places of Great Britain, and Fashionable Directory, illustrated with Views of all the Places of Resort in the United Kingdom, &c. London, 1831. Hinton. THIS is a work of an entirely new character, and contrary to ordinary experience, it seems to have reached perfection at once. It consists of an excellent description, historical, topographical, and statistical, of all the watering places; a complete directory, containing the names and residencies of the nobility and gentry, bankers, physicians, and tradesmen of all classes, resident in each, alphabetically arranged, with the places and modes of amusement. Every thing, in short, that can be necessary to be known by those who wish to resort to the sea-side for health, for pleasure, or for fashion-sake, is to be found in this work, each part of which is embellished with three highly-finished engravings of views.

PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

TANJORE COMMISSION.

(Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 27th June 1831.) The Seventh Report of the Commissioners appointed under an Agreement, concluded 11th February 1824, between the East-India Company and the Private Creditors of his late Highness Ameer Sing, formerly Rajah of Tanjore.

In obedience to the Act of Parliament, passed on the 26th April 1830, renewing the Act passed on the 17th June 1824, which requires us to present to both Houses of Parliament a list of all the claims which, since the date of our last report, have been preferred, by persons who describe themselves to be creditors of the late Ameer Sing, and have become parties to the deed of agreement with the East-India Company, we submit to the notice of this Honourable House, that no claim has been advertised since the date of our last report.

The aggregate amount of the claims, specified in the lists which have been presented, as nearly as could be calculated from the imperfect manner in which some of the claims were stated, was

The estimate of which, in sterling money at the rate of 8s. the

S.Pags. f. c. 40,30,573 40 61

£.

the} 1,612,229 11

s. d.

9

Pagoda, was
Abstract of the Amount of the Adjudications to the date of the present Report:

Aggregate of adjudications in favour of parties ..........

S. Ps. f. c.

364,700 17 69

Aggregate of adjudications against the parties, including the por-} 550,933 8 75

tions disallowed in claims favourably adjudicated

Total S. Ps. 915,633 21 64

We have the honour to state, that we have completed the investigation and adjudication of every claim on which the commissioners at Madras have transmitted their final reports.

In our last report, we adverted to the causes assigned by the commissioners at Madras for the delay in the transmission of their reports, and to their assurance in their dispatch of the 7th January 1830, that their future transmission of reports would take place without interruption, further than might be incidental to the ordinary process of investigation, and to their attention, at the same time, to the duties of their distinct office of adjudicating, on the part of the government of Fort St. George, the Carnatic claims of the petty class, which, under arrangements already noticed, had been withdrawn from the Carnatic fund.

We have now to report, that we have since received a dispatch from the Tanjore commissioners in India, dated the 29th October last, stating, that the government of Fort St. George had abolished the temporary office of the additional government commissioner for ascertaining and certifying to the said government, the persons entitled to the amount adjudicated by them the said commissioners, in their distinct character of Carnatic government commissioners. It will be remembered, that the same gentlemen who act at Madras as Tanjore commissioners, act also as Carnatic government commissioners, and as such, ascertain and adjudicate, that, in respect to certain claims, certain sums are due from the East-India Company, as representing the late nabob of the Carnatic. These sums they thereupon, according to former course, duly reported to another gentleman, who, under the title of additional government commissioner, identified the parties claiming, ascertained their titles, and certified the claim finally to the government of Fort St. George. By the abolition of this office, that government consequently imposed upon the Tanjore commissioners, in addition to their duties as such, and, in addition to their duties as Carnatic government commissioners for ascertaining and adjudicating the amount due to Carnatic creditors,-the obligation also of investigating the titles of the parties claiming as such. The Tanjore commissioners at

Madras thereupon represented to us, that the successful and speedy termination of their Tanjore commissioner could not be expected, unless relief from this extra duty shouid ⚫be afforded to them, by the re-establishment of the office of the additional government commissioner. We received this dispatch on the 26th February last, and on the 28th February we transmitted a copy thereof to the Honourable Court of Directors of the East-India Company, accompanied with our opinion, that if orders were not imme diately transmitted for the re-appointment of the additional government commissioner, further serious injury would be inflicted on the Tanjore creditors, who have already suffered by the delay which has arisen in the investigation in India of the claims under the Tanjore deed of covenants. We also felt it to be our duty to transmit to the Commissioners for the Affairs of India, a copy of our address to the Court of Directors; and we are given to understand that orders on the subject have been transmitted by the said court to the Governor in Council at Fort St. George, directing the said government to take the said subject into re-consideration.

Office of the Tanjore Commissioners,
Manchester Buildings, Westminster,

24th June 1831.

BENJAMIN HOBHOUSE,
THOS. COCKBURN,
ROBERT HARRY INGLIS

INDIA REVEnue.

An Account of the Per-centage at which the several Heads of Revenue in India were collected, on an average of the Five Years, ending 1827-8.

(Compiled from Appendix to Second Report of Select Committee of the Commons, ordered to be printed 8th July 1830).

LAND REVENUE.

An Account of the Arrears of Land Revenue left outstanding annually, at the Close of the Official Year (ending 30th April) at each of the Presidencies in India, from 1809-10 to 1827-28, inclusive.

(Ordered to be printed 17th March 1830.) "s

Annual Rate of Salaries paid at Lady Day

1814.

An Account of all Offices, Places, and Establishments belonging to the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India, with the Amount of their Allowances as they stood on the 1st April 1814 and the 1st April 1830.

Annual Rate of Salaries yaid at Lady Day 1830.

THE MAHRATTA VERSION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR: After your distinct avowal, in the number of your Journal for April 1830, that "the Rev. Wm. Morton, of Bishop's College," was the author of the critique on the Mahratta version of the New Testament, which appeared in the Asiatic Journal for September 1829, I need not say that I was somewhat more than surprised by the acknowledgment of Lieut. Col. Vans Kennedy, in your number for March last, that the article. in question was written by himself. As, however, the critique was sent by Mr. Morton, "with corrections in MS.," accompanied by a letter, in which he stigmatized the translations of the Serampore missionaries in terms which (as you afterwards said) you" do not scruple to say are too pointed and severe," but one opinion, I conceive, can be formed respecting such conduct. If not actually guilty of plagiary, it is perfectly clear that he treated the Colonel's production at least as his adopted child, and has accordingly made himself accountable for all its deformities and errors. My business at present is not, however, with the Rev. Mr. Morton, but with Lieut. Col. Vans Kennedy; and I shall therefore leave the right of paternity to be settled between these two gentlemen.

The Colonel, having manfully thrown down the gauntlet, I unhesitatingly accept the challenge, and again come forward to break a lance in defence of truth and justice. He is certainly quite right in thinking it "doubtful whether the knowledge of his having been the writer of this article would have prevented Mr. Greenfield from publishing his pamphlet," though for somewhat different reasons than those he would insinuate. My warfare was not so much with the individual as with his opinions; not with the delinquent, but with his errors. No name or authority would, therefore, have influenced my conduct. It may be perfectly true that I "entertain some very questionable opinions with respect to the nature of language in general;" but as these opinions, I conceive, had no weight in determining the inaccuracy of the criticisms of my antagonist, their absence would not have prevented my "attempt to defend the Serampore version of the New Testament." For instance: what principles, except those of truth and an appeal to fact, were involved in the determination whether

signified to receive, as well as to seize or take; or whether the word "truth" was rendered by the Mahratta translator or not? These, and almost every other question, were absolutely determinable by an appeal, not to any principles respecting language generally, but to fact and authority, and in such a way were they treated. Believing, as I still do most firmly, that the charges against the Mahratta version were founded in ignorance or misrepresentation, nothing but a total destitution of every principle

* The critique, with MS. corrections (as we understood, by Mr. Morton) was placed in our hands by a relative of Mr. M. in England, together with letters from Mr. Morton on the subject of the Oriental translations of the Scriptures, referring to the printed article in terms which could lead no one to suppose it was written by another person, and accompanied by the "Bengalee renderings," in MS.-ED.

Asiat.Jour. N.S.VOL. 6. No. 22.

N