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School," have since appeared. From the smallness of the size we were apprehensive they would fail in giving an idea of such pictures as Hogarth's March to Finchley; but in the small space of 44 inches by 3, this spirited production is well defined. The same observation applies to West's celebrated picture of Regulus.

In those pictures where few figures occur, and consequently the characters are represented larger, the effect in outline is excellent. We heartily recommend this cheap little work.

The 8th Number of the Landscape Illustrations of the Waverley Novels, contains,

[Jan.

1. A pleasing View of Dunbarton Castle, drawn by D. Roberts. The water in this little print is sweetly represented. 2. Pier at Inverary, beautifully drawn by W. Daniell, R.A. 3, 4. Views of Inverlochy and Conisborough Castles, by Robson and De Wint. These prints are well arranged; but we should have been better satisfied with more of the Castles, the principal object being, in each, too much thrown into shade.

The 9th Number contains a view of Kirkwall Quay, with the Shipping, by Daniell; a good View of Kenilworth Castle, by De Wint; a beautiful view of Dunstafnage Tower, by Robson; and a view of the ruins of Jorvaulx Abbey, by De Wint.

New Works announced for Publication. A Refutation of Mr. Palgrave's Remarks on the "Observations on the State of Historical Literature;" together with additional Facts relative to the Record Commission and the Record Offices. By NICHOLAS HARRIS NICOLAS, Esq.

The Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth, of York, and the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward the Fourth; with an original Memoir of Elizabeth of York. By NICHOLAS HARRIS NICOLAS, Esq.

A Topographical and Statistical Description of the British Dominions in North America: including Considerations on Landgranting and Emigration, &c. &c.; with Views, Plans, &c. &c. By Col. Bouchette.

Part 1, of Mr. Major's beautiful Cabinet Edition of Hogarth's Works.

Part 9, of Hinton's History of America. History and Antiquities of Somersetshire. By W. PHELPS.

Lectures on the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John. By the Bishop of CHESTER. Travels in the Holy Land. By W. RAE WILSON, Esq. F.S.A.

An Inquiry into the Proofs, Nature, and Extent of Inspiration, and into the Authority of Scripture. By the Rev. SAMUEL HINDS, A.M. &c.

A Help to Professing Christians. By the Rev. JOHN BARR, author of "The Scripture Student's Assistant," &c.

The Eternal Sonship of the Saviour considered, in a Letter to the Rev. Adam Clarke, LL.D. &c. &c.

Flora Oxoniensis, &c.-The Phænogamous Flora of Oxfordshire and its contiguous Counties, are in a state of considerable forwardness.

Lectures, lately delivered by Sir A. Cooper, Bart. and J. H. Green, Esq. F.R.S. A new edition. By THOMAS CASTLE, F.L.S. Also, by the same editor, an Introduction to Medical Botany.

Crotchet Castle. By the Author of Headlong Hall.

The Siege of Constantinople: a Poem, in three Cantos. By NICHOLAS MICHELL.

Framlingham: : a Narrative of the Castle, historical and descriptive; a Poem, in four Cantos. By JAMES BIRD, author of the "Vale of Slaughten," &c. &c.

The Welsh Interpreter, containing a concise Vocabulary and useful Phrases, on the plan of Blaydon's French Interpreter. By Mr. ROBERTS, of Llwynrhudol.

The Principles of English Composition. By Mr. BOOTH, author of the "Analytical Dictionary.'

An Outline of Sematology; or, an Essay towards establishing a new Theory of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.

Examples in Algebra. By the Rev. W. FOSTER, Head Master of St. Paul's School, Southsea.

The King's Secret. A Novel.

A Panorama of Constantinople, and its Environs, from Sketches taken on the spot. By J. PITMAN, Esq.

Leigh's Guide for Travellers through Wales and Monmouthshire; with a minute Description of the Wye.

Summary of the Law of Master and Servant;-Law of Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes;-Laws relating to Benefit Societies and Savings' Banks; and Freemason's Pocket Companion. By the Author of "Plain Advice to Landlords and Tenants."

Description of a Patent Metallic Lining and Damper, for rendering Chimneys Fireproof, and free from Smoke.

ROYAL SOCIETY.

Jan. 13. J. W. Lubbock, esq. Treasurer in the chair.-The Earl of Selkirk was elected Fellow.

1831.]

A portion was read of a very important paper" On the equilibrium of Fluids, and the figure of a homogeneous planet in a fluid state, by James Ivory, esq. F.R.S.

Jan. 20. H. R. H. the Duke of Sussex, President, in the chair.-Wm. John Blake, esq. of Christ church, Oxford, was elected Fellow.

The reading of Mr. Ivory's paper was continued.

ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.

Jan. 15. Sir James South, the President, announced that his Majesty had been graciously pleased to become Patron of the Society, and that considerable progress had been made in the preparation of its charter. It will henceforward, therefore, be distinguished by the title of the "Royal Astronomical Society."

KING'S COLLEGE, London.

The following appointments have been made:-N. W. Senior, esq. to the chair of Political Economy; J. J. Park, esq. English Law and Jurisprudence; the Rev. Henry Moseley, Natural and Experimental Philosophy; Joseph Lowe, esq. Lectureship of Commerce; the Rev. J. R. Major, M.A. Head Master of the High School, attached to the upper department.

:

ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.

Jan. 12. At a General Meeting, Dr. Valpy in the Chair, seven medals were adjudged. The most interesting case was the following the child of Mrs. Knife, of Greenwich, was discovered with its head in a large tub of water, and was to all appearance dead, the extremities cold, the lips livid, the eyes glassy, and the pupils dilated. Mr. Harper, assistant to Mr. Taylor, surgeon, attended. He immersed the body in hot salt and water, administered stimulants, and relieved the congestion of the brain by opening a vein in the arm. After 15 minutes exertion the child sighed, and the pulse was slightly felt. The symptoms of revival fluctuated two hours, and it was not until the expiration of six hours that it was out of danger.

Other medals were awarded to Lieut. Waugh of his Majesty's ship Kent, for his intrepid conduct in saving the life of Mr. Burdwood, midshipman, who had fallen overboard, off Plymouth; and to Hopkins Eustace, for saving the life of James Elphinstone, of the Lady Macnaughton East India trader, while in Sea Reach. Elphinstone was firing a signal gun, and by some accident was blown overboard, having his arm shot away.

The Secretary reported that, during the late frost, seven accidents had occurred in the Parks, and that all the persons had been rescued from death by the Society's men.

Mr. Sweet asked whether the Society had had any information of a life-boat used in Holland, and which was particularly adapted to saving life when persons fell through the

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ice. The boat had a well in the middle, and through this the operation of recovering the bodies of persons in the water was much facilitated. Mr. Hawes replied that the subject was of great interest, and he would endeavour to obtain a model. He wished now to state, that, in order to obtain the best information on the subject of recovering the lives of persons apparently dead from drowning, &c. and to keep pace with the enlightened state of medical knowledge, it had been resolved to give a prize for the best essay on the subject. Many had been sent in, and a Medical Committee had been

appointed to examine into the merits.

CHINESE PAGODAS.

There is no subject on which more difference of opinion exists than in the original use of the large Chinese pagodas. There are two classes; the small or most numerous sorts are generally called Emperors' pagodas, and resemble in size and shape the better sort of English pigeon-house when built separately, only in beautifully selected romantic wooded heights. In these, worship, either to the Emperor or his ancestors, is regularly performed; an attendant, to keep in order the place, is in all cases resident close to the building, and about their use no doubt exists. But with respect to the larger class of pagodas, parties by no means agree. European visiters to China will best understand these by calling them the Second Bar and Whampoa pagodas; and are the best specimens of their architecture the south of China affords. This class are all in progressive decay, though not so much so as to be termed ruinous; they are built in the shape of a column of stories, each less than the under one, and the division marked by a bold pediment of mason-work round the entire column whose figure is an exact octagon. The stories are in some cases nine, some eleven; and the buildings rise to a height of 110 to 120 feet, but invariably assume a most imposing aspect, from their site. At the very summit they are usually crowned with a wild fig, which has assumed the place of the beacou-keeper, if such was their use. They originally contained a stair inside, but, coming out on each pediment, arched windows on each story to the four now very ruinous; and they are lighted by Cardinal points, so that, when due North, South, West, or East, one sees through the entire shaft of the pillar on every story.

Their materials without are a red freestone (of which the walls of Canton are also built), and within of briek. The most generally supposed uses, are 1. Purposes of religion. 2. Purposes of navigation.-3. Beacons against Ladrones or Tartars.-All of which opinions have their supporters.

CAPTAIN Ross.

Two accounts of the progress of Captain Ross's exploratory voyage have arrived." Ac

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cording to one, Captain Ross was met with in Baffin's Bay, in August 1829, where, having suffered damage during hard weather, he fortunately was enabled, from the wreck of a Greenland ship, to refit. He after wards steered northward. The other account represents the adventurous Commander and his brave crew as having been forced back to Lively Bay, in Baffin's Bay, where they spent last winter.

SAVINGS BANKS.

Mr. Pratt, the Barrister appointed to ratify the rules of Banks for Savings, and Friendly Societies, has lately published a digest or history of the progress and present state of Banks for Savings, in which he lays before the public an abstract of the several accounts sent into the National Debt Office, made up to Nov. 20, 1829, arranged alphabetically in the order of Counties throughout England, Wales, and Ireland, exhibiting the number of depositors in each bank, the number of deposits in the several classes, as they are under 20l. 50l. 100l. 150l. 2001. or above 2004. introduced by a recapitulation of these accounts in each separate county. In England, Wales, and Ireland, for Scotland makes no return to the National Debt Office, there are 487 Savings' Banks, in which the number of depositors is 403,712; the amount of deposits 18,528,4281.; of these depositors, more than half the number, or 203,691, have deposits under 201. each, or on the average 71. 4s. 54d.; there are also 4549 Friendly Societies, having deposits to the amount of 747,124l. or on the average 164l. 48. 9d. each, and 1684 Charitable Societies. The total number of accounts is 409,945, and the total amount of deposits with interest 1,443,4921. the average of the same placed to each account is 351. 4s. 2d. In Ireland there are 65 Savings' Banks, including 31,500 depositors, and 132 Friendly Societies.

It is an extraordinary fact, that the number of depositors in the Savings' Banks exceeds the number of persons receiving dividends in the Bank of England, in the proportion of 403,712 to 274,823; and of this number the half-yearly dividends of 83,609 are under 51. each. If this class of small fundholders be added to the number of depositors in the Savings' Banks, they will form together a body of nearly half a million of persons.

The Friendly Societies in England, Ireland, and Wales, having deposits in Savings' Banks are 4549, and if these contain each but 40 members, here are more than 180,000 persons morally striving to improve their condition, politically interested in the public prosperity. Amidst the sickening details of increasing pauperism and crime, it is consolatory to reflect that these Institutions have had their rise and progress simultaneously with the increase of the parochial assessand while they are sensibly affected

[Jan.

by the state of the country, they prove that there is yet a large body of the labouring classes who may be depended upon, who still refuse to throw themselves entirely upon their parishes; and who are able and willing, under kind and wise conduct, to make exertions for their own support.

THE FAIRFAX PAPERS.

The unexpected appearance at a public sale of an accumulation of original manuscripts, the unexplored documents of a family illustrious in English history, is an event of unfrequent occurrence. The value of such records is now so well understood, that in almost every case they are treasured with perhaps too immoderate an estimate of their value, and a care almost amounting to selfisliness; or, if brought to the literary market, are heralded with all the parade of a long anticipated announcement.

The old

In the present case, Mr. Christie, having last year sold the furniture and paintings belonging to the venerable mansion of Leeds Castle, in Kent, was employed to raise what further money could be procured for a collection of books, which, rather than any systematically formed library, had been formed by the desultory reading of a succession of country gentlemen. To these, however, had been added several volumes, once the property of the Rev. Dr. David Wilkins, the compiler of the Concilia Britannica and editor of the works of Selden. papers which remained in the chests or drawers, were, to make a clear coast, sent up to town with the rest; but so low was the estimation in which they were held, that, not long before, two sacks full of such papers as have now singly produced many pounds, were sold to Mr. J. N. Hughes, a solicitor at Maidstone, for the comparatively trifling sum of five pounds in the whole. And here let us add, that we deem a nominal consideration like this, more rational than that contrary extreme, which the rivalry of contending brokers has produced on some recent occasions. When any well-qualified individual undertakes the perusal and arrangement of ancient MSS. he well deserves the advantage (if such indeed be more than an ignis fatuus) which their publication can confer; and, as for the selfish satisfaction of merely possessing the originals, we confess we have no sympathy with it. We fear, besides, that the mania now existing is calculated so far to enhance the value of the "unique" originals, as to impede the progress of publication, thus prolonging all the risk of destruction which must ever attend a single copy, and rendering them, so long as they are so regarded, of no rational use at all.

The Trustees of the British Museum have recently been unable to add to the public collection without running the gauntlet of these most emulous gentlemen.

1831.]

We now proceed to give some account of this remarkable sale. The most important articles did not appear until the last day. From those sold on the first we select the following:-Le livre qui parle des diversités des Pais, compilé par Mesire Jehan Mandeville, vellum, 12l. 12s.-Le Comptent du Monde, fist par Maistre Jehan de Mehun; in French verse, on vellum, some leaves wanting, 2l. 12s. 6d.-Le Testament Maistre Jehan de Mehun, also in verse, 71. 7sLe Questioni Tusculane di Cicerone, on vellum, with illuminated capitals and borders, 87. 15s.-Seneca Tragediæ, also a beautiful vellum MS. 87. 125.-A Psalter, written in large characters, on vellum, with early illuminations, bound in old morocco, having the autograph of Charles Fairfax, 451. 3s.-Officium Beatæ Mariæ Virginis, an illuminated MS. with many miniatures, 72. 15s.-A Missal, written in characters of gold and silver upon a black ground, the borders embellished with flowers, and containing nineteen miniatures, 13l. 2s. 6d.

On the second day were sold, among the books, a Biblia Latina Vulgata, of the Paris edition of 1475, having a memorandum that it had belonged to Sir George Fairfax, signed by Ferd. Lord Fairfax, 25l. 4s.; and a copy of Becke's Bible, black letter, 1549, having at the beginning registers of the births of the Fairfax family, written on parchment; this was knocked down to Mr. Thorpe for 531. 11s. The MSS. on this day were chiefly letters, several of them of the seventeenth century, but mostly of the commencement of the eighteenth. It is impossible to particularize them, without reprinting the catalogue, which is a mere list of names. The three lots which produced most, were a large collection of letters addressed to Brian Fairfax, 15l. 15s.; another, to Lord Fairfax, 14l. 3s. 6d. ; letters and papers relating to Lord Culpeper, 101. Several were connected with the second Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who married the daughter of Lord Fairfax, the Parliamentarian General; and an interesting collection relative to his Grace's committal to the Tower, among which four rough copies of letters in the Duke's own hand to Charles II. were sold for 61. 6s. As autographs, a letter of Sarah of Marlborough produced 1. 1s., and one of Alexander Pope, 21.

The principal articles of the third day we shall now notice as they occurred :-Copy of the will of Ferdinando Lord Fairfax, and other papers, 12l. 10s. 6d.-Mercurius Trismegistus, called Pimander, on paper, in the hand-writing of the General Lord Fairfax, 10l. 10s.-The History of Bailaam, and Josaphat King of India, in the same handwriting, 91. 9s.-Several pardons, &c. under the great seal, 11l. Os. 6d.-Brian Fairfax's account of his secret mission from Lord GENT. MAG. January, 1831.

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Fairfax to General Monk, and his Journal, commencing 1695, 15l. 15s.-Some anecdotes of the Fairfax family, and four other volumes, with copies of letters and extracts, 161. 5s. 6d.-A volume by Brian Fairfax, containing acquittances from the Duke of Buckingham's creditors, some passages of his life, memoranda concerning Gen. Fairfax, &c. 61. 6s.—Short Memorials of some things to be cleared during my command in the South, in the hand-writing of Sir T. Fairfax, and two rough copies of the same, 22l. 1s.-A Discourse on Witchcraft, as it was acted in the family of Mr. Edward Fairfax, 1621, and another copy of the same, 11. 11s-Copies of letters of Sir T. Fairfax, of Denton, and others, in 1614, to Sir Thos. Wentworth and others; some speeches in Parliament, &c. 81. 18s. 6d.A volume of Papers relating to the lands of the Fairfax family in Yorkshire, 114.11s.Genealogical memoranda, in the hand-writing of H. Fairfax, 81l. 10s. Arms and descents of Yorkshire families, 51. 5s. The Highway to Heidelberg, in the hand-writing of the first Lord Fairfax, 6l. 16s. 6d. Another copy of the same, and a volume of English verse, 12.-A shorte discourse of the descent of the Right hon. prudent and pious Lady Anue Vere, wife of Thomas Lord Fairfax, with arms in colours, 12l. 1s. 6d.—A volume of matters relating to the Fairfax estate at Denton in Yorkshire, 40l. 19s.— Account of Woods in Yorkshire, 20 Edw. VI.; and list of King's mansions, parks, manors, &c. temp. Jac. I. 17. 175.-ANALECTA FAIRFAXIANA, being a volume on vellum of the collections of the first Lord Fairfax relative to the history of his family, 108/. 35.-A former copy, also on vellum, and bound in blue morocco, 60l. 18s.-Letters and Papers relative to the siege of Pontefract Castle, including nine of Oliver Cromwell, 1261.-Statutes of Edw. III. Richard II. Henry IV. and V. on vellum, with illumined capitals, 16l. 5s. 6d.—Ordinances of the King's Household, temp. Edw. II. translated in 1601, and some other matters, 314. 10s.-An English Chronicle, to 1417, and Magna Charta and other statutes, on vellum, 437. 19.-Lists of Offices and a Survey of the Revenue, temp. Edw. VI. 421.

Services at Court temp. Hen. IV. and V. in the hand-writing of Sir Thomas Knyvet, and Proceedings in Parliament temp. Richard II. 41. 115.-Ordinances for the King's Household in 1684, 16. 16s.-An Inventorie of the Personall Estate of King Charles I. with prices and purchasers' names, 221. 1s.-A Catalogue of those pictures of the Duke of Buckingham which were sent to him and sold in Antwerp during his exile, 31. 18s. 6d. A book, containing copies of Letters in the hand-writing of Edw. Zouch, dated Guernsey 1600, and others copied by the first Lord Fairfax, 17. 10s. The total

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LOCAL JUDICATURE BILL.

The following letter was addressed, in July last, by Mr. William Tooke, of London, solicitor, to Mr. Brougham, now Lord Chancellor, on the subject of his proposed measure for the establishment of Local Courts. Having been read at meetings of the Law Societies, both in London and the country, and its contents being frequently adverted to in professional circles, it has been thought desirable, by giving it additional publicity, to invite general attention to the important change of system involved in its operation.

"DEAR SIR,-I have carefully read and re-read your Local Jurisdiction bill and abstract, with a view to draw the account of fees by way of schedule, as desired; but have been unable to do so on a scale of any in the least degree adequate remuneration for any practitioner of liberal education, and desirous of holding a decent situation and honest character in society.

"Under this aspect, I cannot but consider your measure as calculated to become the greatest civil scourge ever inflicted on this country, by creating an indefinite and universal appetite for litigation, with no other break or interval in the exercise of it, than the halcyon month of August. This immediate effect of the act will be industriously promoted and extended with corresponding energy by an accession to the profession in increased numbers, of that class of practitioners designated as pettifoggers, whom to discountenance and extinguish has been a primary object with all the best and leading solicitors of the present day.

"It appears to me utterly inconsistent with the avowed purposes of the Common Law Commission-the repeal of the Law Taxes-the appointment of additional Judges-the intended laying open of the Court of Exchequer-and the facilities afforded in practice in the superior Courts-thus at once to withdraw from them two-thirds at least of their ordinary business, subjecting it to a new and experimental tribunal, and superseding much of the labour derived from the elaborate machinery of Westminster Hall, with no compensating reduction in the expense of working it.

Although personally, after a drudgery of thirty years, much withdrawn from active practice, and meditating at no distant day entire secession from it, I feel too much sense of gratitude, and, I hope, a laudable esprit du corps in favour of an employment which has afforded me the means for competence and independence, to be altogether insensible to the degradation to which the profession of an Attorney will be reduced by the operation of your proposed new bill, which, I repeat, will necessarily bring into

[Jan.

action a large class of low practitioners, who, having no fair means of adequate remuneration, must and will resort to trick, if not to fraud, to supply the deficiency of profit, no reasonable allowances for which (in keeping with the general purview of the bill) will afford a return for the education, skill, and attention the conduct of the bu siness of the Local Courts will require.

"While on this subject, it is with great regret I would allude to the tenor of your speech as reported in the Times on the occasion of your giving notice of your plan; you in it assumed a tone of unmeasured contempt for the Attorneys, imputing to them in the aggregate, and without exception, gross ignorance and the most selfish motives, while you at the same time, in equally unmeasured terms, lauded the Bar as actuated by the highest, noblest, and most liberal principles, with a possible exception of one in a hundred as not quite perfect.

"Both positions, to your knowledge and mine, are equally unfounded; for while, as regards one of them, I can name a Frere, a Swain, a Freshfield, a Vizard, a Teesdale, and an Amory, with scores of others of equal claim to confidence and respect, and a fair promise of succession to them from a large body of liberally educated, intelligent articled Clerks, now deriving improved instruction from the Law Lectures at the University of London, I could, in contravention of your other position, name scores of Barristers influenced by the most sordid motives, and seeking and promoting multiplication of fees with the most heartless rapacity.

'If I could for a moment think it possible that the Local Jurisdiction Bill could pass into a law, in anything like its present shape, I should observe on the preposterous amount of salary to the Judge of 2000l. per annum ; thus constituting a valuable object of ministerial patronage and borough influence, like a Welsh Judgeship, rather than having the direct view of getting some useful plodding man for the situation, as is the case in the County Palatine Court at Preston, where Mr. Addison, for 400l. per annum, does as much, and as well, as can be expected from any County Judge.

The total absence of qualification for the office of Registrar is fraught with liability to abuse; some son or nephew of the Judge will hold it in sinecure, and the duties will be performed by the Clerk, who will make it pay better than is in the contemplation of the Act.

"The Registrar, to give knowlege, experience, and efficiency in the conduct of the business, ought to be an Attorney of at least five years certificated standing, and strictly debarred from practising directly or indirectly.

"The Summary Jurisdiction of the Judge over the Attorneys exceeds that of the su