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a shoal in the Indian ocean, which was said to have been seen from the ship Suffolk, in 1827. The captain mentions, as facts deduced from the experience of the present voyage, first, that it is a great error to suppose that the route which he had completed was an easy task for any vessel, and that its duration could be calculated with precision; and secondly, that it is perfectly practicable to preserve, for a long period of confinement at sea, a crowded crew in an accustomed state of health.

NOTICES.

ART. XI.-A General System of Gardening and Botany; containing a complete Enumeration and Description of All Plants hitherto known: With their genuine and specific Characters, &c. &c.Founded upon Miller's Gardeners' Dictionary, and arranged according to the natural System. By George Don, F. L. Š. In four vols. Vol. I. 4to. London: C. J. G. and F. Rivington. 1831. THE study of botany, and the branches of knowledge which are subsidiary to that science, may now be said to form a necessary part of general education in this country. For this, which we deem no unimportant advantage, we are in a great measure indebted to the policy which has recently begun tonfluence our medical corporations; for, by requiring from every candidate for the faculties which they confer, sufficient evidence of a certain proficiency in botany, these bodies. have, by this time, succeeded in sending into every town, and almost every hamlet in the empire, a good practical botanist in the character either of physician, surgeon, or apothecary. The influence of such an agency has been prodigious. In all the large towns, and in a considerable number of the minor ones, Horticultural Societies are established. We have been astonished, when we read in the descriptions of the annual botanical exhibitions at

various places throughout the country, the account of the occupations of the persons who contend for the prizes. In one place we have found the office of president of a horticultural society filled by a working weaver : the best and largest cherries in the West of England, one year, were the produce of the care and ingenuity of an industrious cotton spinner. Numerous, and indeed ludicrous, testimonies may be adduced to show the enthusiasm with which horticulture is pursued by all classes of the community. A worthy mechanic, in one of the manufacturing districts, lately turned the roof of his house into a kitchen garden, and kept his family in fresh vegetables during the entire season. The finest bed of tulips (for its size) we ever beheld, had for its site the narrow back yard of about a twelfth-rate house in the purlieus of London.

Hitherto the great obstacle to the cultivation of botany has been its nomenclature. At first sight, it would appear that an impediment of this nature was merely a pedantic wantonness, proceeding from that love of mystery which has so uniformly characterized the learned in all ages. But a few moments' reflection will satisfy all reasonable minds, that the technical language of botany, difficult to acquire as it may be, grows out of, and is inseparable from, the genius of the

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science itself. The study of it can never be located in any given country; its objects are as much Russian and German, or even African, as they are English. Botany allows no distinctions of territory; its field is the world of nature from pole to pole. Such being the case, it is obvious that the pursuit of botany must be carried on by infinite divisions, all of which are contributing to one common end. Hence a community of ideas between the botanists of one empire and those of another, becomes absolutely indispensable; and from this necessity springs that universal language which is fixed to no clime, but nevertheless is understood in every country.

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We cannot, therefore, expect that this great difficulty will ever be removed; and it only remains for us to adopt such measures as may be best calculated to diminish it. this purpose various contrivances have been resorted to, particularly in this country. Plans without number have been proposed and acted on, for the purpose of engaging the young mind in the pursuit of botany. A great deal of success has attended these efforts; for, after the employment of great labour and diligence, the mysterious veil in which this science had been so long wrapped, was drawn aside, and all its beauty exhibited familiarly to the contemplation of the unlearned. As one of the most important instruments for carrying on this great moral revolution, we have to notice the great work, of which the first volume is now before us. It certainly comes forth in the objectionable form of a costly publication: but when we come to consider the nature of its contents, we shall be satisfied that he who trusts exclusively to its pages for acquiring a competent knowledge of bo

tany, will find that, in the long run, he will have but little grounds for self accusation for having violated the strictest principles of economy.

"Miller's Gardeners' Dictionary," so famous during the last fifty years, as being a standard work for the horticultural profession in general, may be said literally to have survived its own utility. There was a charm in the simplicity and enthusiasm of the author, which made his book popular when it could no longer be said to be wholly instructive. Still it was in

all its parts so substantially constructed-so tried and proved by the revolutions of time-that there could be no doubt about the propriety of choosing it as the foundation of any new system of popular horticulture, which the state of modern improvement required. The present work, therefore, may be fairly described as comprehending all that can be considered in Miller's performance, as worthy of attention in the present day; as including such portions of all the modern systems of plants as could be conveniently combined together: and as containing an account, not only of all the genera and species of plants hitherto enumerated, but of a considerable number from the Lambertian Herbarium, of which botanists have as yet seen no description. In Mr. Don's Dictionary, then, we have a complete history and account of every species of plant, of which it is possible that a botanist can be called on to express an opinion. This account is given in so clear and intelligible a manner, that it is made perfectly comprehensble to a mere beginner. Here the student, the general reader, and the man of science, may learn not only the name and history, but also the character and affinity of any genius or species,

with all its properties, places of growth, time of flowering, mode of culture, and its use in medicine and domestic economy.

The arrangement of this work, and the contrivances which are appended for the purpose of an easy and prompt reference to any part of its contents, are, in their completeness and accuracy, fully worthy of the information to which they lead.

ART. XII.-The Working Man's Companion. The Rights of Industry addressed to the Working Men of the United Kingdom. London Knight. 1831. THIS little work, printed under the superintendance of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, is extremely well timed.

From

whatever cause it has arisen, there is no doubt that a notion has recently begun to spread among the "working classes," that their interests are in some essential points distinct from those of the wealthy members of the community. Never was so great a mistake entertained by any set of men: never was an error propagated that would be more fatal in its consequences to the very persons from whom it has arisen. To point out the fallacy of this notion, is the principal object of the excellent treatise before us. The author has succeeded in exploding it most completely. He has shown that it is an error of the most ridiculous description, and that in fact the true interests of the working classes are, if possible, more closely allied to those of the capitalist, than are the interests of any other class of men in the community. We earnestly recommend this little volume to the attention of those to

whom it is addressed. We observe that it proceeds from the sensible pen of the author of "The Results of Machinery."

ART. XIII.-Selections from the Poems of Robert Southey, Esq. LL. D. &c. Chiefly for the Use of Schools and Young Persons. 8vo. pp. 373. London: Moxon. 1831.

An excellent school book, upon the same plan as the Selections from Wordsworth, lately given to the world by the same spirited publisher. The extracts comprise the beauties of all the poems of Mr. Southey, and a very delightful treat they will afford to any person who chooses to turn them over for an hour or two.

ART. XIV. History of the Civil Wars of Ireland, from the AngloNorman Invasion, till the Union of the Country with Great Britain. By W. C. Taylor, Esq. A. B. In two vols. 12mo. Vol. I. Edinburgh Constable and Co.

1831.

FROM the excellent style, and very careful and impartial manner in which this volume is executed, we may venture to predict, that the work, when complete, will form one of the greatest ornaments of that long series of publications, to which Constable's Miscellany has now extended. A good history of the Civil Wars of Ireland was a desideratum in our literature. We shall be glad to bestow our best attention upon Mr. Taylor's pretensions to have supplied that desideratum, as soon as the second volume shall be placed before us.

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ART. XV.-The Van Diemans Land Almanack, for the Year of our Lord 1831. Being the Third Year after Leap Year. 12mo. pp. 263. Hobart Town: Henry Melville.

It is a very favourable sign of a colony to have attained the luxury of an Almanack, for it is one of those national conveniences, which a people advanced in civilization alone can relish or understand. We congratulate our distant brethren of Van Dieman's Land, on the moral advancement which this publication so signally testifies; and considering that this is the first attempt of the kind which has been made in the colony, we regard the performance as altogether highly creditable to the editor. The calendar, chronological cycles, and those tables usually found in European Almanacks, are given with great care and accuracy; the chief distinction by which this is rendered different from the others being, that it contains detailed accounts of the geography and history of the colony.

The philosopher who takes a comparative view of human affairs, in different situations, will be greatly struck at the picture which this book pourtrays. He will see, politicallyand morally, in the community of Van Dieman's Land, nothing more than a miniature model of the great country itself, from which it derives its existence. With some differences, indeed, in the government of the colony, he will find the civil establishment, in almost all its details, placed on the same footing as that which, on a much more extended scale, exists at home. The people of Van Dieman's Land have their secretaries of state, their auditors, and their registrars. They have supreme courts, courts of requests and quarter sessions, with barristers, and attornies, and proctors to boot! The departments

of a miscellaneous immediately con

nected with the executive of the colony, are nearly as numerous as those about Whitehall and Downing Street. In the list of public institutions, we find four banking houses, two other commercial companies, and a mechanic's institution. The recreation of the colonists seems to be very fairly provided for in the establishment of two clubs. One of these last associations, called the Whaling club, offers a prize to the first person who gives information of a whale being in the river. Two race-courses are open, at proper seasons of the year, for the gratification of those parties who cannot be prevailed on to try the dangers of a whale hunt. The established church is located here also, where, as usual, it is surrounded by rival Wesleyans and Evangelists of a thousand shades. Circulating libraries and book societies, seminaries for young gentlemen or young ladies, we are happy to say abound in the colony.

The Van Dieman people seem to be well grounded already in all the mysteries of taxation. They perfectly understand all the refinements of customs and harbour dues, with wharfage and warehouse charges: the privileges of having a license to vend certain articles have also been extended to the colony, and the clergy have been so complimentary to them, as to exact the same surplice fees that are demanded at home. In short, Van Dieman's Land is neither more nor less than another "Little Britain," in 43 degrees of south latitude, where the body politic of the mother country, in its various aspects, is represented on a Lilliputian scale, to the great edification, no doubt, of the aborigines of the soil. It may not be superfluous, that in respect of difference of time, Hobart Town is faster than London, by 9 hours, 49 minutes, and 40 seconds.

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ART. XVII.-The Dream of Eugene Aram, the murderer. By Thomas Hood, Esq., with Designs, by Harvey. 8vo. pp. 31. London: Tilt. 1831.

THE reader has probably become already acquainted with this tale, which is a reprint from one of the annuals, and a versified account of one of the most deliberate crimes

upon record. It will be found fully narrated in the Newgate Calendar, and the Biographia Britannica.Aram in order to get possession of a trifling property, murdered, by the aid of an accomplice, a shoe-maker of the name of Clarke, whose body lay buried in a cave nearly fourteen years before it was discovered. An accidental expression uttered by the accomplice on this occasion, led to the arraignment of the murderer, whose defence has been preserved, and exhibits a finished specimen of eloquence and ingenuity. Mr. Hood has varied the course of the dis

covery, by imputing it to the remorse which haunted the culprit, and this has afforded him the opportunity of describing the tortures which the deed may be supposed to have inflicted upon the mind of a person well educated, and sustaining a reputable station in society. The ballad, as it is here told, is calculated for popular effect, which is considerably heightened by the designs of Harvey, well engraved on wood by Branston and Wright.

ART.XVIII.-Lives and Voyages of

Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier; including an introductory View of the earlier Discoveries in the South Sea; and the History of the Buccaneers. With Portraits engraved by Horsburgh. 12mo. pp. 461. Edinburgh Oliver and Boyd. London: Simpkin and Marshall.

1831.

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THE Edinburgh Cabinet Library,' of which this forms the fifth volume, still maintains the popular character, which was so decidedly impressed upon its earlier numbers. The present compilation is in every respect well executed-the style, printing, paper, portraits, are all of an order of merit which one would hardly expect, even in this age of cheap literature, to find in a five shilling book. The lives of our Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier, will always be read by Englishmen with fresh interest, which will not be abated by being interwoven, as they are here, with the curious history of the Buccaneers, those chivalrous marauders of the sea, whose wanderings display some of the finest points in the character of the British seaman, notwithstanding the taint which their system of depredation had brought upon it.

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