stuffed and very heavy; but the execution of the whole was beautiful. The portals at the landing-place were much too narrow; all the doors were narrow in short, the same defects were conspicuous in these as prevail in modern Oriental buildings. The whole ruin, however, is extremely interesting. The beauty and fidelity of such of Sir R. K. Porter's drawings as I recollect struck me forcibly. I was out all the morning wandering about the ruins. The inscriptions round the windows in the first building going through the colonnade are all the same. In many parts of the ruins it may be seen that the enormous blocks of stone have been hollowed out, to make them more transportable, as at Mesjid i Mader i Suleiman. plain in which these celebrated ruins stand seems very favourable to longevity. More than one person was mentioned to me as having attained the age of a hundred; and there are many who remember Nadir Shah. These are distinguished by the appellation of Dour i Naderi." The ART. XXVII.-The Bishop's Burial. A Legend. London: Bull. "THE following little poem," saith the preface," is founded on a story related in Geoffrey of Monmouth, which forms here the second part or episode; the imprisonment of Elfred, the betrothed of Edith, through the jealousy of his rival, the bishop, and his release by the death of the latter, which forms the first and third part, is a fiction of the author's, and is not he believes out of keeping with the manners of that early age." And a worthless story it is, as here told. The verses too are frequently unintelligible, while the construction of the sentences (see the preface also), the inversions of speech, the elliptical expressions, the confusion of active and neuter verbs, and ever the punctuation, are anything but according to received rules. Nay the spelling of certain contracted and other words shows that the author is not perfectly at home in regard to this branch of grammar. Here are two or three verses :-The old Bishop is the subject of the first two. "For thou wast of a tribe, whom man has given. Upon thy hoary head the mitre sate Thou wast the guardian of the pure in heart, But who with mortal frailty ere shall part? Thou wast of those, whom Earth has taught to spurn There raised in spirit, never to return, Secured by righteous deeds, to rest above, For you-no maddening lusts, no wild desires, The sweets of glory-joys of luxury And woman's charms,-that clay built bosom fires, "Twas thine to pass, to weep o'er, and to flee." To understand the last line, it may be proper to inform the reader that the Bishop had one day passed Edith's cottage door, beheld her, and been smitten; yet with this explanation, what can be made of the stanzas? The Bishop now soliloquizeth : "But love may brighten all. the spirit's heat If glows it not from out this breast-these pores." "And all that thine adores."-Why the hoary, tottering old rake has imprisoned Elfred, the adored of Edith. Now follows a specimen of the poet's reflections : "It is not for the summer house of courts, It is not for the field, where woman sports, The transient blush, of all that chance hath lent, Or such her fragile workmanship hath turned It is, where few can reach, which all may miss, We have copied faithfully to the nicest point; but would not have copied half so much, had it not been that the author seems to intimate in the preface that it is a first venture. We counsel him to let it be the last. Why waste his time so ridiculously? ART. XXVIII.-History of the Church of Christ, in Continuation of Milner's History. By the Rev. H. STEBBING. Vol. I. London: Cadell. 1839. MILNER concluded his work with the publication of the Confession of Augsburgh, and Mr. Stebbing is to continue his narrative from the date of that occurrence down to the eighteenth century. From what we read in this commencing volume, and from the announcement that the work is to be a Continuation of Milner's, it is easy to understand what is the particular communion which the author means to distinguish as the "Church of Christ." We therefore are precluded, according to the rule which we have assigned for our conduct in the Monthly Review, from entering into a subject so open and so oppressed, in consequence of religious differences of opinion. We may state, however, in general terms, that, along with a sem blance, perhaps, of an affectation of great candour and charity in estimating the character of Luther's opponents, the author also will be charged by some as being guilty of no small degree of partiality, inasmuch as he exalts the great Reformer to a pitch, and clothes him with a religious purity and singleness of purpose, that may act as unfairly to these opponents as a depreciation of their virtues and merits would amount to. A writer must cherish a considerable measure of bigotry, and be imperfectly acquainted with human nature, even as exemplified in the history of the best of men, who maintains that political ascendancy had nothing to do with Luther's strenuous efforts. Then was he not intolerant to others who distinguished themselves in the march of the Reformation? Yet Mr. Stebbing seems to think that all his measures were the offspring of extreme zeal for the sake of Gospel truth. Upon this, we believe, there are different opinions even among the Reformed Churches, and among Protestants. As to the literary merits of the present volume, they are considerable. The writer, though we had no other evidence to go by, must be much in the practice of putting his thoughts and the results of systematic reading upon paper. He is fluent and rhetorical; the stream of words being frequently copious and sonorous where there is a paucity of ideas. But the great drawback to the book is, that it contains nothing like a masterly comprehension of the spirit which dictated and regulated many of the mighty movements of the age which it describes-the author has not caught the philosophy of the history he was to write; the many authorities he has consulted have not been made the means by him of coming to a distinct, satisfactory, and commanding grouping of principles, truths, and results. ART. XXIX.-A History of Ireland from the Relief of Londonderry in 1689, to the Surrender of Limerick in 1691. By the Rev. J. GRAHAM. Dublin Curry. 1839. THE fact that this small work is the production of a Protestant, and that the period of which it treats stands out very prominently in the history of the struggle for ascendancy by the Irish Protestants in Church and State, will with some be presumptively held as condemnatory of it as an authority. The impartial reader, however, will derive a very clear view of the generally perplexed subjects that fall within the scope of the book. Mr. Graham searches for facts, having ransacked the pamphlets and other documents relative to the period described with care; and these facts he arranges in a sensible manner, the reader being thereby enabled to form conclusions for himself, that may sometimes differ from those of the author. We give two short extracts; each of them however point significantly to a condition and to manners that must have influenced and modified historical events in no slight degree. When James landed in Ireland in 1689, it is well known that he met with little resistance save at Derry; and even here the governor and others of the council were ready to surrender. But the majority of the people determined otherwise, deposing the governor, and defending the city, when one should have imagined defence must in a short time have been vain against an army, and a vast majority of the Irish people. Mr. Graham, however, accounts in some measure for the success of the resistance. says, He "The gun-smiths through the whole of Ireland had an invincible prejudice against any Papist being instructed in their art and mystery, for the want of Romish workmen to manufacture and repair musquets, did more to protect the Protestants of Ireland at this time, particularly at the siege of Derry, than ever has been noticed by any of our historians; and this is proved by some of the letters addressed to the infatuated King James, by the officers employed in blockading the maiden city, which letters are preserved in his memoirs, written by himself." When Charlemont capitulated to Schomberg, and Sir Teague O'Regan, the governor, sallied forth with his garrison in his wake, the invaders, who had been long disciplined in continental wars, appear to have had a good laugh at the expense of the surrendering party. Schomberg's chaplain has thus drawn O'Regan's portrait: "Old Teague, the governour, was mounted upon an old horse, and he very lame with the scratches, spavin, ring-bone, and other infirmities; but withal so vitious, that he would fall a-kicking and squeeling if anybody came near him. Teague himself had a great hunch upon his back, a plain red coat, an old weather-beaten wig hanging down at full length, a little narrow white beaver cock'd up, a yellow-cravat string, but that all on one side; his boots with a thousand wrinkles in them; and though it was a very hot day, yet he had a great muff hanging about him, and, to crown all, was almost tipsy with brandy. Thus mounted and equipp'd, he approach'd the duke with a compliment, but his horse would not allow him to make it a long one, for he fell to work presently, and the duke had scarce time to make him a civil return: the duke smiled afterwards and said, 'Teague's horse was very mad, and himself very drunk.'' ART. XXX.-The New Aid to Memory. Part the first. By A. Cambridge M.A. London: Whittaker. 1839. THE design of this scheme of Mnemonics is, by means of certain symbols, certain associations, and the substitution of certain letters of the alphabet for the numerals, to impress upon the memory such precise dates and facts, as may be always readily recalled as a key to the great events of history: those remarkable in the annals of England being the subject of the present part. It is well known that the Greeks and Romans made more or less use of some artificial signs to strengthen and supply the memory promptly, with the ideas and facts required by the speaker or writer; and in modern times many attempts have been made to perfect some such system, -such as that of dividing and subdividing buildings into rooms, walls, stripes, mosaic floors, &c., for the purpose of arranging matter in the repositories of the mind, corresponding to such numerous and distinct parts and points. The scheme of the Cambridge M. A. is different from the topical system now alluded to, for it professes to pursue the natural suggestions of the mind, impressing the memory with dates and facts from symbols and pictorial representations, that have a direct allusion to what we would remember. We shall not enter into a more minute explanation of the plan, but refer those curious in such matters to the "New Aid” itself, which may very soon be understood. At random we take an ex ample: Accession of Ethelred II. Poach, 978. Notices. "A brace, or two red-legged partridges, being torn to pieces by a bird of prey. As those who hunt and destroy game unlawfully are said to poach, so the Danes were cruelly_hunted and massacred, by the command Brace will remind us of St. of this King, on the festival of St. Brice. Brice, and two red of Ethelred II. Poach will give the date 978." In regard to the utility of all such schemes we entertain strong doubts. In the first place, there is generally as much intricacy and difficulty connected with the classifying, systematizing, and remembering the artificial signs and associations, as there would be in committing verbatim to memory the thing desired to be remembered. We do not think, however, that this objection applies so completely to "The Aid" as to some other plans. But another and still a greater drawback to all such methods, it occurs to us, may be named. Does not the very professed fact of any system being artificial remove it from the empire of the judgment and the pari passu exercise of all the mental faculties; and do not men's real and permanent interests, their intellectual and moral growth, depend upon a contemporaneous and the fullest possible development of all their capacities and powers? How many men whose reasoning and common sense qualities were weak,-how many half idiots, have been prodigies in regard to memory ? And must it not have a tendency to produce in a fully endowed youth, for example, something like an inequality of this kind, should he regard the culture (the merely mechanical culture, we may term it,) of his memory, by means of artificial and arbitrary signs, as the great object of his studying history or any other branch of knowledge? We shall not pursue the inquiry, at present, further; but merely add that "The New Aid" is illustrated by one hundred and twenty symbolical engravings, which are in themselves very pretty and significant little pictures. The nice conceptions, and the processes in choosing these symbols from among multitudes of others, must have exhausted much time. We do not, however, think that all the emblems and associations can claim exemption from the charge of being far-fetched; nor that the plan of letters substituted for the numerals has been very happily followed out. ART. XXXI.-Richelieu; or, the Conspiracy: a Play, in Five Acts. With Odes, &c. By SIR E. LYTTON BULWER. London: Saunders and Otley. 1839. THERE is the appearance of much effort in the composition of this play; and, it is equally clear, that its author's ambition in the attempt has not been fulfilled in the execution. The design has been to produce a work reaching the dignity and impressiveness of history, and to depict the character of one of the most sagacious and yet wilely statesmen that ever directed the destinies of a great nation. But although there be a great deal of eloquent writing in the piece, there is more of bombast and a laborious selection of pretty and fine words and far-fetched images than real inspiration; while the farcical incidents and melo-dramatic clap-traps are not only inconsistent with the objects of the historical drama, but There is a wondrous adwith the real and true life of the Cardinal. mixture of classical allusion and pains-takings to hit off, by means of studiously contrived phrases, rapid pictures of the era selected, and the dramatis person brought on the stage; but we miss the simplicity and |