THE

ተ

Art. X. Old Friends in a ner Dress; or Select Fables of Esop, in

Verse. Third Edition : to which is now added a Second Part. 12mo. London, 1826. 'HE first eight and forty Fables in this pleasing little col

lection, were published many years ago in three small books, price one shilling each ; a circumstance which will account for their not having caught our notice. Mrs. Trimmer is stated to have recommmended them strongly in her Guardian of Education, and Mr. Lindley Murray speaks of the volume as the best publication he had seen of the kind. It has been the Author's object, to present the fables selected, in a simple and unadorned style, and in easy verse, with a view to their being committed to memory. For this purpose, we think them very well adapted, in proof of which our readers shall be favoured with two specimens taken at random

• THE PEACOCK'S COMPLAINT,

• The Peacock to Juno presented

A loud and distressful petition;
He long had been quite discontented,

And thus he bewailed his condition :
“ I wish for a nightingale's voice,

My note is unequall'd for coarseness :
To hear her the people rejoice,

While all the folks laugh at my hoarseness.
• The goddess replied to the bird,

“ You are very ungrateful, I take it :
Your petition is highly absurd,

And I wonder you ventured to make ita
Though the Nightingale's song is so fine,

Yet gratitude still is your duty;
For greatly superior you shine

In majesty, elegance, beauty."
« « Oh ! Madam!" the Peacock replied,

“ My beauty is quite unavailing;
While I with no voice am supplied,

My fate I must still be bewailing.
My beauty I hold very cheap:
People stop, just to see my tail glisten,

,
One minute, content with a peep;

But to her they stay hours to listen."
• The goddess, to end the debate,

Replied, “ Be content, pretty creature!
Each bird is invested by fate

With one grand and distinguishing feature :

• THE FOX AND THE LION.
• When Reynard first the Lion saw.

He trembled like an aspin ;
Panted for breath, and, struck with awe,

Upon his back lay gasping.
• When next he met the royal beast,

So far from being scared at him,
He was not frightened in the least,

But really stood and stared at him.
• The third time that he came in view,

Assured, and rather bolder,
He ran and said, “ Sir, how d'ye do ?”

And slapped him on the shoulder.
Said he, “ friend Reynard, thrice you've erred,

You bashful, bold, and rude one !
Now, though 'tis short, upon my

word, This fable is a good one.' The volume contains 116 fables. The only fault we are disposed to find with them, is, an occasional diffuseness, owing to which, their average length somewhat exceeds the limits of an easy task. In point of humour, these fables must not be compared with Esop in Rhyme; still less will they admit of being ranked with Mrs. Wolferstan's admirable translations from La Fontaine ; but the volume amply fulfils its modest pretensions, and will be a very acceptable present to young persons.

ART. XI. SELECT LITERARY INFORMATION, The Rev. H. F. Lyte, Author of The and Private Students. By J. RowboSavoyard and other poems, (au interest- tham, Author of a German Grammar, ing volumne which must be in the recol- &c., and Master of the Classical, Malection, if not in the possession of our thematical, and Commercial Academy, regular readers,) has in the press, Walworth. “ Tales in verse, illustrative of the In a few days will be published, SoLord's Prayer.”

phia de Lissau ; or a Portraiture of the lo the press, and speedily will be Jews of the Nineteenth Century : being published, A Practical Grammar of the a mionte delineation of the Religious French Language, illustrated by copi- and Domestic Habits of this most inous Examples and Exercises, selected teresting Nation; with Explanatory from the most approved French Wri- Notes. By the Author of Elizabeth ters; designed for the use of Schools Allen, or the Faithful Servant.

BIOGRAPHY.

6s.

ART. XII. LIST OF WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

Thoughts on the Advancement of Memoirs and Poetical Remains of the Academical Education in England. 58. late Jane Taylor. By her Brother, Isaac Taylor. 2 volk. 12mo. Second Edition.

POETRY. 12s.

Devotional Verses. By Bernard BarMemoirs of the Rev. Stephen Morell, tou. 12mo. 6s. 6d. late of Norwich. By T. Binney. 12mo. The Prospect and other Poems. By

Edward Moxon. f.cap 8vo, 4s. 6d.
NINE ARTS.

Osric, a Missionary Tale: with the The Portable Diorama; consisting of Garden and other Poems. , By CharRomantic, Grand, and Picturesque Sce- lotte Elizabeth. 12mo. 5s. nery, with the necessary apparatus for producing the various effects of Sunrise,

POLITICAL Sunset, Moonlight, the appearance and Letters to a friend, on the State of disappearance of Clouds, the Rainbow,

Ireland, The Roman Catholic Question, &c, on the principle of the Diorama in

and the Merits of Constitutional Religie Regent's Park: accompanied with an ous Distinctions. by E. A. Kendall, entirely new work, illustrated with

Esq. P.S.A. 3 vols. Svo. ll. 16s. plates, entitled the Amateur's Assistant; The Grievances of Ireland, their or, a series of Instructions in Sketching Causes and their Remedies; in a letter from Nature, the Application of Per

to Sir Francis Burdett, Bart. M.P. By spective, Tinting of Sketches, Drawing

William Sturch, Esq. 8vo. in Water Colours, Transparent Painting, &c. The whole intended as a stimulus to young persons in the pursuit of a de

The Christian Psalmist, or Hymns lightful art, by enabling them to deli

selected aod original. By James Montneate various scenes for the Diorama,

gomery. 12mo. 5s. as their taste may direct ; thus furnish

Psalms and Hyains, principally for ing an inexhaustible source of rational

Public Worship. Selected from Dr. enjoyment, by blending Instruction

Watts and other Autbors, by Henry with Amusement. By John Clark.

Forster Burder, M.A. 18mo. 4s. Ficted up in a handsome box. 31. 3s.

Essays on the Evidences, Ductrines, MISCELLANEOUS.

and Practical Operation of Christianity. Is this Religion? or a Page from the By Joseph John Gurney. 8vo. 10s. 6d. Book of the World. By the Author of A Charge delivered to the Clergy of May you like it, f.cap 8vo. 7s.

the Diocese of Chester, at the primary Hebrew Tales; selected and trans- Visitation in August and September, lated from the Writings of the ancient 1825. By Charles James Blomfield, Hebrew Sages. To which is prefixed, D.D. Bishop of Chester. 4to. an Essay on the Uninspired Literature The Memory of departed Worth ; an of the Hebrews. By Hyman Hurwitz. obituary of the late Rev. John Hooper, f.cap 8vo. 7s. 60.

A.M. By Jacob Soelgar. 6d.

THEOLOGY

THE

ECLECTIC REVIEW,

FOR MARCH, 1826.

Art. I. 1. A Picture of Greece in 1825; as exhibited in the Personal

Narratives of James Emerson, Esq., Count Pecchio, and W. H. Humphreys, Esq. Comprising a detailed Account of the late Campaign, and Sketches of the principal Military, Naval, and Political Chiefs. In 2 vols. royal 12mo. pp. 704. London,

1826. 2. The Greek Revolution ; its Origin and Progress : together with

some Remarks on the Religion, National Character, &c., in Greece. By Edward Blaquiere, Esq. Author of the Historical

Review of the Spanish Revolution. 8vo. pp. 362. London, 1824. 3. Narrative of a Second Visit to Greece, including Facts connected

with the last Days of Lord Byron, Extracts from Correspondence, Official Documents, &c. By Edward Blaquiere, Esq. 8vo. pp.

360. London, 1825. 4. A Visit to Greece in 1823 and 1824. By George Waddington, Esq. Fellow of Trin. Coll

. Camb. and Author of Travels in Ethiopia. The Second Edition. Crown 8vo. pp. lx. 248. London,

1825. THESE works comprise the reports of no fewer than five

independent witnesses of high personal respectability relative to the affairs of Greece. On some points, their respective statements and opinions are, as might be expected, at variance; with regard to the real character of some of the most conspicuous leaders in the Revolution, singularly so ; but all concur in representing the state of the country to be in

every view inost deplorable, and the cause, without European interference, hopeless. The sanguine hopes of those Philhellenists who looked to see a self-regenerated nation emerge like a phenix from the flames of war, have at length given way to despondency, and in some quarters to disgust. To some persons, we fear, the cause of the Greeks has been interesting chiefly as a popular and democratic struggle which, Vol. XXV. N.S.

S

it was hoped, would issue in the establishment of another free republic; and the downfall of the Turkish power would scarcely be hailed by them as a propitious event, were it to be replaced by a government formed on monarchical principles. On the other hand, the sympathy of legitimate governments seems to have been strongly excited in favour of the Turkish despotism, and the success of the Greek insurrection has been deprecated as an alarming precedent. In Italy and in Spain, the Holy Alliance has, in some measure, indemnified itself for the triumph of freedom and humanity in the western hemisphere; and it beheld with dismay a third rebellion break out in Greece, against the established order of things and the sacred rights of legitimate monarchs. Mr. Waddington states, that proofs of a correspondence between the Greek patriots and the Carbonari were presented at the Congress of Verona. It is easy to imagine what effect would be produced by such documents in the hands of Prince Metternich. The consequence was, that the Emperor Alexander, on whose favourable disposition towards them the Greek patriots so sanguinely calculated, was led to condemn the insurrection in its origin, and it appears never for a moment to have received its support. He viewed its principles as alike detestable and ominous ; and the principles which he proclaimed at Laybach, were reechoed from the balls of Verona.'

• During the course of the most difficult negotiatjon ever conducted, many pretexts and some reasons for war were afforded him by the blind pertinacity, not to say pugnacity, of the Turkish Govern. ment; public opinion, such as can be expressed in Russia, invited him to take advantage of them; and a part at least of his cabinet was active and incessant in its endeavours to seduce him into the same feelings ; religion and ambition were eloquent in the same cause, and even honour appeared sometimes engaged to provoke him to hostility. The emperor was inflexible-honour, or ambition, or religion, the intrigues of his ministers or the voice of his people, the very insolence of bis adversary could not compel him to the support of a cause whose principles he continued to disapprove.'

Nor was it over the mind of the Emperor Alexander only, that the master of the Emperor of Austria and of the Continent succeeded in throwing bis political spells. There is too much reason to believe that the late Lord Londonderry was either the easy dupe or the ready confederate of the wily Austrian. When, at length, after the atrocious massacres of 1821, an opportunity seemed to present itself for arranging the • differences between the Turks and the Greeks on terms not

unfavourable to the latter, a paper,' Mr. Waddington says, • was actually drawn up, by the proposal of Lord Strangford, which

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