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beaten. This conclusion we the more readily arrive at, seeing that it is only the exterior of things which he beholds; he is an inadequate sympa. thizer with human nature in any of its deeper-hued phases. He has no eye for detecting the genius of the grotesque,-the under-currents in what are called the scenes of degraded or vulgar life. This deficiency is more than heretofore palpable in the present work, seeing that it is of the dregs of society and of the more characteristic classes of the Londoners, and the more marked scenes in their habits of life, that he has undertaken to write, such as public places of amusement, clubs, taverns, fairs, &c., strollers, police offices, impostors, &c.

Mr. Grant, however, exhibits proofs of incessant observation and search for all things pertaining to " Life in London ;" making use of the accumulation as we have already indicated, that is of its outside, to be expanded and dressed up by an invention that is not over-scrupulous about truth or accuracy. Our attention has been called to the sort of information which he is earnest to set forward in these "6 Sketches," and of his style of setting, as exemplified concerning the labours of begging letterwriters, whose office is no sinecure, as it would appear; nor is it every rogue that could fill it. Such a functionary requires not only to have a long array of names on his list, but the character and peculiarly weak points of each. He must take care also not to commit himself by repeating the same false story to the same man of wealth or charitable tendencies. Other obvious precautions must be carefully taken.

According to our author's statement, he has had an opportunity of examining the books of one of these clever and industrious scribes; and we quote part of the reported contents; only guarding ourselves from expressing an unreserved belief concerning the accuracy and fidelity of his

extract.

"June 20.-Addressed the Duke of Richmond under the name of John Smith; case, leg amputated, out of work for six months, and wife and seven children starving. Result, 27. Not amiss; but hope to be more successful

next time.

"June 25.-Letter to Bishop of London; name, William Anderson; case, licensed clergyman of the Church of England, but unemployed for four years, and wife dead three weeks ago, leaving five motherless children Result, no go: too old a bird to be caught with chaff; but try it on again next week.

“June 28.-Try Sir Peter Laurie; case, industrious Scotchman, but no employment; lived on bread and water for eight days, but no bread, nor anything to eat for the last three days; name, John Laurie. Result, referred to the Mendicity Society, Sir Peter being too far North to be done; knowing rogues these Scotchmen; there is no gammoning them.

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July 6.-Letter to Lord Holland; name, Jonathan Manson; case, endured for a long series of years a species of living martyrdom for my zeal for Reform principles; was intimately acquainted with Muir, Palmer, and the other Scotch Reformers who suffered in 1794, for their principles; am now struck with palsy; wife dying, and six children without a bed to lie on, a rag to cover them, or a morsel of food of any kind to put into their mouths; most deplorable case altogether; dire necessity that induces to write; great outrage to feelings. Received 51., with a very compassionate letter; the commpassion may go to the dogs, but the 51. something substantial; jolly old cock yet! long may he live to lean on his crutches: will go it again; stick it into him at least once a fortnight."

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ART. XXX.-A Key to the Hebrew Scriptures. By the REV. JAMES PROSSER, A.M. London: Duncan. 1838.

THIS Key consists of "an Explanation of every word in the sacred text, arranged in the order in which it occurs: to which is prefixed, a short but compendious Hebrew Grammar without Notes, with some remarks on Chaldee, prefixed to the Book of Daniel." The simplicity, the conciseness, character, and lucid manner adopted by the learned author convince us that the work is not only one of the very best assistants that any one can apply to who is desirous of speedily acquiring a competent knowledge of the Hebrew Language, but one of the very best vocabularies to the meaning and perfect understanding of the sacred text. It would only require attention and industry, we are persuaded, upon the part of any person of ordinary capacity and with the aid of this simple volume, to render himself a much better Hebrew scholar, and much more familiar with the great classical treasury and library of the Hebrews, than nine-tenths of those whose office it is to expound the Holy Scriptures. Besides, we are perfectly satisfied of this, that a thorough critical knowledge of the original of the New Tes tament and of its doctrines cannot be possessed by him who is totally ignorant of the original of the Old. If this be true, how useful will the present vocabulary be found by the teachers of our holy religion!

Mr. Prosser is manifestly an enthusiastic student of the Hebrew tongue, a state of mind, indeed, which appears essential to him who would become master of the beauties and mysteries of a dead language. and who wishes and hopes to make its intricacies and niceties plain to the uninitiated by a short road. We are not sure, however, that his enthusiastic admiration and habits of familiarity with the literature in question, has not carried him too far in regard to some of the assertions in the following sentences which occur in the Preface, and which we merely quote without entering into the points mooted for the consideration of those persons who take a deep interest in such questions. Mr. P. says, "The Hebrew language is the most ancient, pure, and simple, and evidently (?) the parent of all other languages; it was the language of the garden of Eden, (?) the immediate gift of God to Adam, (?) and that in which Moses wrote, as plainly appears from the names of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth, Noah, &c. This venerable tongue is as accurate in philosophical things as in divine, (?) every root containing an idea, which diffuses itself into its several branches, and the sense of a passage may always be obtained by the context." Our marks of interrogation will indicate where we think the things asserted are not evident.

There are some hints thrown out regarding the vowel-points which have been introduced into the language by the Punctists, which indicate to us that Mr. Prosser could throw, by detail and argument, no small degree of light upon this contested subject. We like the simplicity of his view in the abstract, as well as the feeling and manner with which he would rescue a language, or rather the people who spoke that language, if not from an absurdity, at least, from a needlessly burdensome, and perplexing expedient.

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1

INDEX

TO THE

THIRD VOLUME OF THE MONTHLY REVIEW, FOR 1838.

A.

ABADDON'S literary habits, account of, 131
Abbas Meerza, anecdote of, 479
Abbot Ælfric's Colloquies, specimen of,
216

Abolitionists and West India Planters, 429
Ada, a Tale, 560

Adamas, the Greek word for Diamond, 401
Admiral Byng and Chatham, 40
Administration, Mr. Pitt's, commencement
of, 37

Advocacy, effects of Brougham's habits of,
67

Affection and fidelity in savage life, 270
Agricultural taste of New Zealanders, 163
Albania, storm in, 87

Albemarle, Memoirs of the Duke of, 190
Alexander, Capt., his Expedition to Inte-
rior of Africa, 154

Alfred the Great, notice of his Writings,

214

Algeziras and Saumarez, 575

Ali, Mohammed, his government of Syria
185

Allies, Jabez, on Planetary Motion, 301
Aliment to the body, supposed use of, 346
Alyzea, spirited speech of a boy at, 86
Amaranth, The, 458

Anderson, Wm., his Landscape Lyrics, 134
Andrian-asy, Radama's letter on the loss
of, 534

Angelis, Pedro de, his Collection of Works
relative to South America, 493
Anglo-Saxons, language and literature of
the, 206

Annuals for 1839, 443

Anthrax of the Ancients, remarks on the,
401

Anti-slavery Party in England blamed, 439
Arab conviviality, notices of, 587
Arabian Nights' Entertainments, 585
Archbishops of Dublin, Memoirs of, 17
Arthur St. Clair and Ohio, 310
Arthur Gordon Pym, Narrative of, 566
Art of Singing, Costa on the, 170
Artistes, French, conduct of, at Gallipolis,
313

VOL. III. (1838.) No. 111.

Association, British, at Newcastle, 197
Assumption, Mr. Robertson's approach to,
106

Atheneum in Slickville, and Painting, 11
Auburn Prison, system of, 181
Australia, Major Mitchell's Expedition into
Eastern, 265

Australian aborigines, not an irrational
race, 267, 269

Autocrat and soldiers of Russia, their mu-
tual greetings, 230
Axel from the Swedish, 596

B.

BAALBEC, approach to the ruins of, 187
Baidah in the Crimea, visit to valley of,
247

Bagster, S., on Management of Bees, 298
Baldungan, Mr. D'Alton at, 20
Ballooning, Poole on, 564

Barbarism and civilization contrasted by a
Red Indian, 362

Barbauld's Hymns in Rhyme, 461
Bargas, Doctor, account of, 107
Barrett, Miss, her Seraphim, 119
Barry Cornwall's Without and Within,
447

Baths, Oriental, notices concerning, 588
Bees, Bagster on Management of, 298
Bedouins, notices of the, 90

Belfegor, a Poem, 130

Benevolent and correctional institutions in
Ohio, 315

Beneficence, Christian, 606

Bench and Bar in West Indies, 434
Beowulf, story of the poem, 210
Beggar's Castle, The, 600

Berber's, Mr. Ramsay's account of the, 186
Bernadotte and Lord Londonderry, 239
Bibliothèque Americaine, 490

Bill, prison, remarks on Lord J. Russel's,
183

Black ants, notices of the, 105

Blacks in the West Indies, late condition
of, 436
Blessing of the Waters, ceremony of, at St.
Petersburg, 236

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Body, does food repair its waste? 344
Bone cavern, notice of a, 200
Books about America, 1
Boschmans, notices of, 157

Bosworth, J., his Dictionary of the Anglo-
Saxon language, 206
Bowring, Dr., and New Zealand, 205
Brant, Stone's Life of Joseph, 349
Bread Monopoly, on the, 299

British Association at Newcastle, Meeting
of, 197

British treachery and Radama, 531
Brooke's Club in 1791, sketch of, 562
Brougham, Speeches of Lord, 66
Browne, T. H., his Thoughts of the Times,
407

Buckle of Louis IX., notice of the, 492
Buonaparte's reception in France after
leaving Elba, 329, 330

Burdon, H. D., her Lost Evidence, 561
Burke, letter of Dr. Markham in behalf of,

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Calder Campbell, his Fragments of the
Pestilence, 123

Calvinist, proposal of a, for Pope, 557
Canals in United States, extent of, 306
Canning, Mr. Brougham's sketch of, 78
Canoes, Australian, form of, 268
Cannibalism and Mr. Polack, 170
Cape of Good Hope Association, The, no-
tices of, 149

Capital, infancy of a Colonial, 509
Carbunculus of the Romans, remarks on
the, 401

Cardale, Mr., his Account of Hickes's
Anglo-Saxon System, 207
Carlyle, Mr., his Sartor Resartus, 54
Carmichael, Mrs., and the West Indies,
435

Carne, J., his Syria, Holy Land, &c., 460
Castle of the Little Dardanelles, occurrences
near, 84

Cast Clothes, sentiments concerning, 63
Castlereagh, Lord, Brougham's sketch of,

76

Catherine of Russia, dreadful scene on her
death, 245

Catholic Priest, sketch of a, 580
Caucasus, Spencer's Travels in the, 12
Causation, Mr. Murphy's theory of, 409
Caunter's and Daniell's Annual for 1839,
455

Cavendish, Sir Ch., letter of, 558
Censorship system, Russian, Elliot's ac-
count of, 251

Chacaceros, notices of South American,

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Children of untamed nature, hardihood of,
270

Chillingham Park, wild cattle taken in,
described, 201

China Opened, Gutzlaff's, 276
Chinese system of Geography, 278
Chivalry, instances of Circassian, 14
Christian Principles taught, 300
Churches of London, 300

Clarkson, Th., his Strictures on the Life
of Wilberforce, 141

Classical Library of Music and Mr. Tay-
lor, 175

Climate of St. Petersburg, 238
Clock, to Radama, present of a,
Clockmaker, The, 8

529

Coal-field, Paper on the Newcastle, 200
Cogitations of a Vagabond, 328

Colingridge, A., his Night near Windsor,
144

Colonel Reid on Law of Storms, 198
Colonization, new principles of, 519
Composure amid danger, instance of, 195
Confession of political faith, Brougham's,
68

Conquistadores, early chronicle of the, 495
Consciousness of the brain, supposed con-
nexion between, 409

Consolations of Philosophy, Boëthius', no-
tice of Alfred's translation of, 214
Constituent powers of consciousness, Mr.
Murphy's, 410

Contrasts in Paris, 339

Cordova, notices of the University of, 94

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Correspondence, value of private, 32
Corinth, occurrences near, 84
Costa, A., On the Art of Singing, 170
Coteries, female, in West Indies, descrip-
tion of, 429

Cottagers in Paraguay, notices of, 103
Cotton-fields in Texas, notices of, 6
Counties, Tales of the Southern, 606
County of Dublin, History of, 17
Court of a Turkish Villa, near Damascus,
456

Court influence and the Press, 219
Cigars, notices about Spanish, 577
Cincinnati, notices of, 313

Circassian cavalry, description of, 12
Citizens, hints to secure, when political
dangers threaten, 54

City of the Czar, Raikes's, 241

Civil Engineering of North America, 305
Creation of man, Namaqua opinions about
the, 158

Cromwell at school, 551

Crotchets in the air, Poole's, 564
Cura, anecdote of a Spanish, 578,

Currie, Dr. his Practice of Homoeopathy,
143

D.

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Earl Exeter and Chatham, 37
Eastern Legends, Caunter's, 455
Echidna Inornata, notice of, 153
Editions, New, notices of, 583
Edmund Burke, character of, 376

Edom, &c., Lord Lindsay's Letters on,
183

Education, advantages of, to emigrants, 2
Educational institutions in Ohio, account of
the, 315

Edward Thomas, Mrs., her Tranquil Hours,
598

Egyptian fleet, Mr. Ramsay's account of
the, 185

Elements of Geology, Lyell's, 293

Elliott. C. B., his Travels, 246

Ellis, Rev. W., his History of Madagas-

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D'ALTON, J., his County and Archbishops Embassy to England, account of a Mala-

of Dublin, 17

Dandies, account of New Zealand, 164
Dayton, notices of the town, 313
Dead Sea, Elliott's description of the, 254
De Retz, temporary popularity of, 218
Defective education of George III., 367
Deluge, Chinese levying taxes soon after
the, 279

Democracy and Aristocracy, 420

Demosthenean speaker? was Fox a, 378
Denmark, Lord Londonderry in, 239
Diamond, history and description of the,
400

Dibash and honey compared, 253
Diet and Regimen, Dr. Dick's, 138
Dictatorship, specimen of British, 359
Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon language,
206

Diminution of the Red Indians, not always

owing to White Men, 354
Diogenes and Blumine, 62
Discipline, French Prison, 179

Discomforts and French excusers, 339
Discovery of North America, notices of,
484

Disposal of land in South Australia, mode
of, 508

Dissimulation of Monk, remarkable, 193
Doctor, The, 295

Doctor of law, avocations of a, 108
Dodington's Diary, extract from, 37

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