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. 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." 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. 1 INDEX TO THE THIRD VOLUME OF THE MONTHLY REVIEW, FOR 1838. A. ABADDON'S literary habits, account of, 131 Abolitionists and West India Planters, 429 Adamas, the Greek word for Diamond, 401 Advocacy, effects of Brougham's habits of, Affection and fidelity in savage life, 270 Albemarle, Memoirs of the Duke of, 190 Alfred the Great, notice of his Writings, 214 Algeziras and Saumarez, 575 Ali, Mohammed, his government of Syria Allies, Jabez, on Planetary Motion, 301 Anderson, Wm., his Landscape Lyrics, 134 Angelis, Pedro de, his Collection of Works Annuals for 1839, 443 Anthrax of the Ancients, remarks on the, Anti-slavery Party in England blamed, 439 VOL. III. (1838.) No. 111. Association, British, at Newcastle, 197 Atheneum in Slickville, and Painting, 11 Australian aborigines, not an irrational Autocrat and soldiers of Russia, their mu- B. BAALBEC, approach to the ruins of, 187 Bagster, S., on Management of Bees, 298 Barbarism and civilization contrasted by a Barbauld's Hymns in Rhyme, 461 Baths, Oriental, notices concerning, 588 Belfegor, a Poem, 130 Benevolent and correctional institutions in Beneficence, Christian, 606 Bench and Bar in West Indies, 434 Berber's, Mr. Ramsay's account of the, 186 Bill, prison, remarks on Lord J. Russel's, Black ants, notices of the, 105 Blacks in the West Indies, late condition T T Body, does food repair its waste? 344 Bosworth, J., his Dictionary of the Anglo- British Association at Newcastle, Meeting British treachery and Radama, 531 Buckle of Louis IX., notice of the, 492 Burdon, H. D., her Lost Evidence, 561 Calder Campbell, his Fragments of the Calvinist, proposal of a, for Pope, 557 Capital, infancy of a Colonial, 509 Cardale, Mr., his Account of Hickes's Carne, J., his Syria, Holy Land, &c., 460 Cast Clothes, sentiments concerning, 63 76 Catherine of Russia, dreadful scene on her Catholic Priest, sketch of a, 580 Cavendish, Sir Ch., letter of, 558 Chacaceros, notices of South American, Children of untamed nature, hardihood of, Chillingham Park, wild cattle taken in, China Opened, Gutzlaff's, 276 Clarkson, Th., his Strictures on the Life Classical Library of Music and Mr. Tay- Climate of St. Petersburg, 238 529 Coal-field, Paper on the Newcastle, 200 Colingridge, A., his Night near Windsor, Colonel Reid on Law of Storms, 198 Conquistadores, early chronicle of the, 495 Consolations of Philosophy, Boëthius', no- Contrasts in Paris, 339 Cordova, notices of the University of, 94 Correspondence, value of private, 32 Cottagers in Paraguay, notices of, 103 Court influence and the Press, 219 Circassian cavalry, description of, 12 City of the Czar, Raikes's, 241 Civil Engineering of North America, 305 Cromwell at school, 551 Crotchets in the air, Poole's, 564 Currie, Dr. his Practice of Homoeopathy, D. Earl Exeter and Chatham, 37 Edom, &c., Lord Lindsay's Letters on, Education, advantages of, to emigrants, 2 Edward Thomas, Mrs., her Tranquil Hours, Egyptian fleet, Mr. Ramsay's account of Elements of Geology, Lyell's, 293 Elliott. C. B., his Travels, 246 Ellis, Rev. W., his History of Madagas- D'ALTON, J., his County and Archbishops Embassy to England, account of a Mala- of Dublin, 17 Dandies, account of New Zealand, 164 Democracy and Aristocracy, 420 Demosthenean speaker? was Fox a, 378 Dibash and honey compared, 253 Diminution of the Red Indians, not always owing to White Men, 354 Discomforts and French excusers, 339 Disposal of land in South Australia, mode Dissimulation of Monk, remarkable, 193 Doctor of law, avocations of a, 108 |