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both when sleeping and waking, to small and ill-ventilated apartments, their exposure when occupied out of doors to the inclemency of the weather, their thin clothing, their want of flannel under garments, of worsted stockings and strong shoes, and their immoderate use of spirituous liquors, must ever place them as the foremost and the most numerous in the ranks of death, when they have such an enemy as the cholera to contend against. To the opulent and easy classes of the community we should therefore appeal, if it were only for their own safety, not to mention the nobler motive of charity; we should entreat them to think often of the poor who every where surround us, and who must be every where ill clad, ill fed, ill housed, and exposed to that constant depression of mind, which, more than any other circumstance, invites and encourages the malady. Soups may be made for them at little cost; warm clothing, especially flannels, may be provided for them in abundance by very small subscriptions; coals and wood, and lime for white-washing their apartments, might through the same means be supplied to them, at least during the approaching winter, and until all danger of the cholera shall have passed away. One good effect from the apprehensions which it has already excited, will at least thus have been produced, and the general habits of the lower orders may, possibly, be in the end very much improved, both in a moral and a physical point of view.

NOTICES

ART. XI.-1. An Essay on Junius
and his Letters; embracing a
Sketch of the Life and Character
of William Pitt, Earl of Chat-
ham, and Memoirs of certain
other distinguished Individuals;
with Reflections historical, per-
sonal, and political, relating to
the Affairs of Great Britain and
America, from 1763 to 1785.
By Benjamin Waterhouse, M. D.
Member of several Medical, Phi-
losophical, and Literary Societies
in Europe and America. Gray
and Bowen. Boston, 1831.
2. Letters on Junius, addressed to
John Pickering, Esq., showing
that the Author of that cele-
brated Work was Earl Temple.
By Isaac Newhall. Hilliard,
Gray, Little, and Wilkins. Bos-
ton, 1831.

WE see, not without some surprise, that the question respecting the authorship of the Letters of Junius, has excited so much attention, even in America, as to produce frequent publications within the United States. Two are now before us, both printed at Boston. Mr. Newhall is the author of one, and Mr. Waterhouse of the other. The former attributes the Letters to Earl Temple; the latter to the Earl of Chatham. The former tract is written with simplicity and neatness; the style of the latter is most ambitious, always attempting to reach the skies; but oftener crawling in the dust. Each fails in proving the authorship of the noble person to whom he attributes the Letters.

From what we know of Lord Chatham's character, and the few

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specimens we have of his literary compositions, of any kind, his authorship of the Letters is improbable in the very highest degree, and no fact or argument has yet been produced which gives Earl Temple a title to the authorship. After all that has been said and written on this curious and interesting subject, (for curious and interesting it assuredly is,) we think it involved in as much obscurity as ever.

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The general subject of the authorship of Junius's 'Letters has not yet been fully discussed. We think it still open to investigation.

It was first regularly brought under the eye of the public by Mr. Butler, in a letter inserted in the Anti-Jacobin Review, and afterwards published by him in his Reminiscences, with many important additions. His Reminiscences, as we observed from the two works before us, have been lately republished in America.

Dr. Good, in his elegant and useful edition of Junius's Letters, has examined the different claims to the authorship of them, with great acuteness and sobriety of criticism.

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An article attributed to Sir James Mackintosh, in the Edinburgh Review, contains many important and judicious observations on the nature of the evidence which must be produced, to establish a claim to the authorship of the letters. These should be read and seriously considered by all who engage in the inquiry. We do not recollect any other general disquisition of the subject.

Mr. Taylor's advocation of the pretension of Sir Philip Francis, is a work of research and discernment, and has received the powerful aid of an article in the Edinburgh Review, for the month of November, 1817, ascribed to no less a personage than the present Lord High

Chancellor of England. Of a claim. thus supported, one must speak with respect. But the immense inferiority of Sir Philip's acknowledged writings to the Letters of Junius, both in style and thought, raises a powerful, and, in our opinion, an insuperable objection to this hypothesis.

It has been totally destroyed by the letters published by Mr. Barker, in opposition to Sir Philip's claim.

We were surprised to find Mr. Prior, the biographer of Mr. Edmund Burke, contend for the identity of Burke and Junius.

Some singular facts have been adduced by Mr. Coventry, to shew that the Letters were written by the late Lord George Germaine: but either separated or conjunctly taken, they are inconclusive.

The claim of General Lee, Mr. Macaulay Boyd, and Mr. Wegg, may be passed over without any particular notice.

Mr. Glover's known high whig principles, his intimacy with many persons of distinction, particularly of the high whig party, invest him with one of the requisites to establish a claim to the authorship of Junius's Letters, and certainly Mr. Glover's Leonidas does not show that he was unequal to it. His connexions with the city supply another requisite; for, (which makes one of the difficulties of the inquiry), it is evident that Junius was intimately acquainted both with the court and the city politics, and with the principal actors in each. But, standing singly, these facts prove nothing; and the feeble simplicity of the style of Mr. Glover's Memoirs, is the direct reverse of the fervid, impassioned, and highly ornamented language of Junius; yet it should not be forgotten, that the object of the writer of the Memoirs was very different from that of the letter-writer, and therefore required

a very different style. Upon the whole we cannot but think, that, notwithstanding the superabundance of discussion which the subject has received, nothing conclusive upon it has yet been discovered.

ART. XII.-A Topographical History of Leicestershire, being the first of a series of the Counties of England and Wales on the same plan. By the Rev. J. Curtis. 8vo, pp. 227. Ashby-de-la

Zouch': Hextall. London : Sherwood and Co. 1831.

THE vice of topographical histories in general, at least so far as they have hitherto been executed in England, is, that they are a great deal too expensive. They have been for the most part compiled under the auspices of noble families, who have had some favourite points of heraldry to establish, or some achievements of their ancestors to emblazon; and no cost having been spared in the preparation of such works, they are literally sealed to the eye of the community at large, who, moreover, would feel but little interest in topics of an almost exclusively personal nature. What we want is, a series of such histories, written upon popular principles, and embracing all those subjects which the inhabitants of the counties, or strangers passing through them, would feel some curiosity about; and we are of opinion that Mr. Curtis has happily commenced in his present volume the labour, and an enormous labour it must be, of supplying such a desideratum.His plan is, to avoid all unnecessary matter, and to abridge that which he uses, within the smallest possible limits; to give the principal features of the subdivisions of

the county, with reference to its present state; and to afford such a condensed view of its ancient records, as may satisfy the casual reader, and serve as an index for the guidance of those who may be disposed to push their enquiries farther. It is not one of the least valuable features of this work, that it presents, in most cases, the valuation of the church livings, and the number of acres of land attached to them. The volume, which is illustrated by a neat coloured map, is printed in the most economical form; and we have no hesitation in recommending it to the favourable attention of the public.

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numbers of this work, we must say that they are admirably calculated for the diffusion of sound principles of knowledge upon the various topics which they respectively embrace. To the schoolmaster as well as to the private tutor, they must, we should think, afford invaluable assistance.

ART. XIV.-The Sunday Library; or The Protestant's Manual for the Sabbath Day. Vol. V. By the Rev. T. F. Dibdin.-fcp. London: Longman & Co.

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THIS publication, we observe, draws to a close, the editor having resolved to limit it to six volumes. Although entitled the Protestant's Manual, yet it is but justice to the liberality of the editor to remark, that he has avoided, in the present volume at least, the introduction of any points upon which Christians of any shade could rationally disagree. In this respect, and indeed with regard to the matter generally, we consider the selection which he has here offered to the public, by far the best of the whole series. comprizes, among other excellent discourses, Blair's beautiful sermons on Tranquillity of Mind, and on a Life of Dissipation and Pleasure; the eloquent and facinating discourses of Alison on Winter, as the season of social amusement, and on the same division of the year, as the season of religous thought; Spry's charity-breathing arguments in favour of the final prevalence of Christian unity, and Chandler's masterly view of the Influence of Christianity upon Society. These are, all of them, compositions charming to educated men for the purity and beauty of their style, and replete with truths which, clothed in so acceptable a dress, dwell in

our memories like fragrance in the atmosphere where the musk-plant has been. The volume has for its frontispiece an excellent engraving of Sir Joshua Reynolds's portrait of Dr. Newton, Bishop of Bristol.

ART. XV.-A Manual of Medical Jurisprudence, compiled from the best legal Works, &c. By Michael Ryan, M. D. London.

It is really surprising how much may be done by a well disciplined and practical mind, to simplify the art of instruction. Here is a volume of such unpretending dimensions, that it may be conveniently carried in one's pocket; yet there is not a fact of importance or value connected with the science of which it treats, that is not to be found in its pages.

The work is published very opportunely, since its appearance is nearly coincident with the date of a regulation which the medical authorities have incorporated into their laws, and by which candidates for the diploma to practice are required to be provided with adequate information on the subject of medical jurisprudence. In a brief but energetic preface, Dr. Ryan has accurately and philosophically defined the nature of the science, which he so well handles. Four excellent chapters on the moral qualification of medical men commence the work, and prepare us for a luminous and learned exposition of those points more properly belonging to his task. The author next traces the course of legislation from its earliest infancy to the present time, as applied to medicine in all its departments. He then proceeds to consider, in regular series, the vast variety of cases in which medical men may be called on to give evi

dence, the nature of which will be very much guided by the ability and attainments of the witness. The matter of this part of the work is obviously of a nature that cannot with propriety be dwelt on, in a publication so indiscriminately circulated as this; but those who are interested in studying the strange catalogue of physiological facts, which make up the history of man, will not fail to meet in these pages a great deal that will excite his surprize, as well as satisfy his judgment. Doctor Ryan seems to have laid down this important rule for his government in the composition of this book-namely, to combine the greatest number of ideas with the smallest amount of words. His work, therefore, may properly be designated as a Manual, which completely supersedes the necessity of purchasing any other production on medico-forensic law with which we are acquainted. The style is unambitious, but clear and strong, and such as becomes a philosophic theme.

We must, however, express our entire dissent from the doctrine of the respected author, on the question whether coroners should or

should not be medical men. The doctor supports the affirmative in common with most of his professional brethren, and for the simple reason that neither he nor they seem to have considered with attention the whole process of our criminal jurisdiction. Suppose that it be proved that a coroner ought to be a medical man, what follows? Why that the judge who tries the case finally, must also be a member of the faculty; nay, the reasons are a thousand-fold stronger why the latter should take out his medical diploma, rather than the former. Every body knows that a mistaken verdict by a coroner's inquisition does no harm whatever; the prisoner is never disposed of on the finding'of a coroner at all: but the verdict of a jury, pronounced before one of his Majesty's judges, is a decree of the law which settles his fate at once. How comes it, then, that the coroners, whose labours produce no more than the merest theoretical result, so far as justice is considered, should be obliged to have so much more medical knowledge than the very judge, whose view of the case determines the life or death of the accused?

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

The Continental Annual.-We have received a copy upon India paper of the illustrations intended to be inserted in a new periodical, entitled "The Continental Annual" for 1832; and we must say, after a very careful examination of the whole of them, that they appear to us to be the most finished and beautiful specimens of refined art, which have as yet been presented in this shape to the public. One pervading fault they undoubtedly have, in com

mon with the picturesque annuals already in existence, that of a great sameness in the choice of the subjects. Cities, bridges, churches, palaces, columns, towers, squares and lakes, may, in many instances, afford excellent materials to the painter. But in our opinion they are not materials which can be made to produce the requisite effect, in the small space to which they are neoctavo cessarily confined by an volume. With this drawback, we

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