tribunal before which it was brought; and it is well known that, in the course of the proceedings, the tables were turned, the accuser became the accused, and the Attorney-General had to defend himself against a charge of having unconstitutionally, if not perhaps illally, filed ex-officio informations against the rioters at the theatre, after bills of indictment against them had been thrown out by the Grand Jury. This charge was, "that such an exercise of authority was unwise, that it was contrary to the practice and not congenial to the spirit of the British constitution, and that it ought not to be drawn into a precedent hereafter." Altogether, the Attorney-General for Ireland had not much reason to congratulate himself on the issue of the whole inquiry. The proceedings in the House of Commons, from Mr. Brownlow's motion, Feb. 24. 1823, for the production of copies of the committal of the rioters, to the close of the examination of witnesses on the 27th of May, are brought together in this volume, which we présume is edited by Mr. Thorp. The preface, however, is written in the first person, no signature is attached to it, and Mr. Thorp is mentioned in the third person. Its design is to vindicate the Sheriff, and the immaculate and impartial administration of justice in Ireland!! The minutes of evidence, we are informed, are copied verbatim from the notes of the official short-hand writer; and we have no reason to doubt that the whole compilation is a trustworthy document for historical reference.

CHEMISTRY.

Art. 23. The Elements of Experimental Chemistry. By William Henry, M.D. F.R.S. &c. &c. The Ninth Edition, comprehending all the recent Discoveries. 8vo. 2 Vols. 17. 14s. Boards. Baldwin and Co. 1823.

We in some degree apologized for again mentioning this wellknown and established work, when we reported the appearance of the sixth edition of it in M. R. vol. lxvi. p. 100.; and the same reasons may be urged for now announcing a ninth impression. It seems that the observations which we then suggested, respecting its increased bulk, have not appeared forcible to the author, who has not only kept it in its augmented form of two volumes, but has again added to the number of its pages; which, from eleven hundred, now amount to more than fourteen hundred, of ample space and close type. Dr. Henry says in his preface that they comprize a large proportion of new matter, for which he has in a great measure made room by rejecting, in his revision of the former editions, whatever recent experience has proved to be erroneous." He has been induced also, by mature consideration of those analogies which have of late been unfolded among years chemical substances, to adopt an entirely different arrangement; founded, as to its leading outline, on those relations of bodies to electricity, which have been developed by the genius of Sir Humphrey Davy; and though the classification is far from being unobjectionable, it seems to be the best that can be followed in

the

the present state of the sciences." In the Introduction, the principles of this arrangement are farther explained.

A tenth copper-plate is now added; and a number of woodcuts, from accurate drawings, are interspersed through the volumes, wherever the subject seemed to require graphic illustration.

LAW.

Art. 24. Observations on the Judges of the Court of Chancery, and the Practice and Delays complained of in that Court. 8vo. pp. 68. Murray. 1823.

The author of this pamphlet has judged it proper to assure his readers, for the purpose no doubt of establishing the impartiality of his character, that he has not the honor to be either a judge, a barrister, a solicitor, a lawyer's clerk, or an officer of any of the courts; nor is he 'in any manner professionally or pecuniarily dependent upon or connected with any of them.' Had not this information been thus offered to the public, we should not have troubled ourselves with the writer's occupations: but it is now right to state that this disinterested individual, if we may give confidence to what we believe to be a correct report, is no other than a solicitor, who has lately had his name taken off the roll for the purpose of his being called to the bar; and who looks forwards to pleading in the Court, and before the Judge, of whom he has constituted himself the gratuitous champion. This fact is alone sufficient to throw suspicion on the publication; which is in other respects very deficient, if it pretends to be a candid inquiry into the system which it professes to examine. The writer is à thorough optimist, and can discover no defects either in the Chancellor or his Court: according to him, the Chancellor is the best of all possible chancellors, and his Court is the best of all possible courts: the fees and expences are all most reasonable; and the delays of justice produce the greatest benefit to the suitors. Human ingenuity, says he, cannot suggest any plan by which the expences attendant upon Chancery proceedings can be much

diminished!'

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 25. A Concise History of Ancient Institutions, Inventions, and Discoveries, in Science and Mechanic Art; abridged and translated from the Beyträge zur Geschichte der Erfindungen of Professor Beckmann, of the University of Göttingen: with various important Additions. 2 Vols. 12mo. 15s. Boards. Whittakers. 1823.

Of Professor Beckmann's curious and valuable work, as translated by Mr. Johnston, in three vols. 8vo., we gave an ample report in our xxvith vol. N. S., pp. 128. and 289. No attention having been paid by the Professor to technical or alphabetical arrangement, the present editor has endeavored to supply that deficiency; and a few entire articles, not in the original, have been added, as well as many anecdotes respecting arts and institutions in England, which had escaped the author. No other merit is claimed for

this abridgment, than that of an endeavor to place in a perspicuous point of view a vast mass of learned matter; to divest it of the cumbrous appendage of multifarious notes in various languages; and, by reducing the work into a compendious form, to render it acceptable to those whose time, or taste, precludes them from examining the original.'

From this general statement, and no other indication being given, we cannot ascertain the extent of the editor's additions. He does not explicitly inform us whether he has translated for himself, or used the version of Johnston: but, from the slight comparison that we have made between them, we imagine that the former is the case. A table of contents, more copious than that of Johnston, and an index, are properly added.

Art. 26. The Captivity, Sufferings, and Escape, of James Scurry, who was detained a Prisoner during Ten Years in the Dominions of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib. Written by Himself. 12mo. 4s. Boards. Fisher. 1824.

Among the extraordinary narratives which we have from time to time obtained of sufferings experienced from shipwreck or captivity, the relation before us deserves a place, and seems intitled to that credit which the editor most decidedly asserts to be its due. It affords another instance of the great power of endurance which belongs to the human frame, when supported by fortitude and aided by youth; as well as of the reasonable hope of ultimate relief which may in almost any case be entertained. Scurry was captured by the French in an English ship of war, when about 14 or 15 years old, and by them was nefariously delivered, with many other English prisoners, to that execrable tyrant Hyder Ali; into whose military service he and numbers of his companions were compelled to enter; and from which, after ten long years, only he and four more made their escape. The detail of the cruelties of all kinds that were inflicted on the Europeans, both officers and men, - the incidental mention of the fate of several of the former, of considerable rank, the statements respecting military events, and the occasional accounts of Hyder and Tippoo, of their people, and of some of their places of note, are interesting and curious: but, as the editor observes, the situation and circumstances of poor Scurry forbid us to expect from him any important particulars respecting the geography and natural history of the country, or the manners and customs of the inhabitants. Indeed, he had been favored with very few means of improvement before his captivity, and had no opportunities afterward; not being allowed to commit any thing to writing, and this narrative therefore being subsequently composed from memory alone.

Art. 27. The Hermit of Dumpton Cave; or, Devotedness to God and Usefulness to Man exemplified in the Old Age of Joseph Croome Petit, of Dumpton, near Ramsgate. 12mo. 5s. Boards. Rivingtons. 1823.

We

We have here an interesting account of a singular old man, who retired when he had nearly attained the age of four-score to an apartment excavated in a chalk-rock, and fitted up by himself as a cottage; and whose history is remarkable, as affording an instance of extraordinary activity both of mind and body at a very advanced period of life. His charity, according to his small means, is boundless; and his great delight consists in counselling and assisting the afflicted poor in his neighbourhood. The deep sense of religion which he possesses, and which manifests itself (as all religious feelings ought) in acts of charity and kindness, has given his well-meaning biographer an opportunity of mingling no small portion of unction with his memoir; which assumes, in many parts, the characteristics of an evangelical discourse.

Art. 28. The Reveries of a Recluse; or, Sketches of Characters, Parties, Events, Writings, Opinions, &c. 12mo. pp. 332. 8s. 6d. Boards. Whittakers. 1824.

The contents of this volume are not calculated to provoke heavy censure or to invite warm applause. They are like one of those smooth, inexpressive, and featureless faces, without a frown, or a smile, or a dimple, which the artist finds of all others the most difficult to pourtray. They form a collection of essays and tales, interspersed with a few poetical bagatelles, which may serve to while away an idle hour; and he that does not rise the wiser from the perusal will not, at any rate, rise the worse.

J. S. is received, and is very right in his conjecture, as he will see in a short time, perhaps in our next Number.

A Watchman is welcome to exercise all his vigilance, by day as well as by night. We fear not the result, but court it.

O. R. inquires for our account of a foreign book which we reviewed in our last Appendix.

Other letters must remain for consideration.

We again recommend to the notice of our readers the lately published GENERAL INDEX to the whole of the New Series of the Monthly Review, in two large vols. 8vo. ; as not only a most convenient but a necessary guide to that (now) extensive portion of our work, and to the History of Literature for the period which it includes.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For APRIL, 1824.

ART. I. M. Tulli Ciceronis de Re Publica quæ supersunt, edente Angelo Maio, Vaticana Bibliothecæ Præfecto. Impressum Roma. Denuo Impressum Londini; impensis J. Mawman. 1823. 8vo. 12s.

ΤΗ THE works of Cicero have been justly termed by Gibbon a library of eloquence and reason; and indeed that ornament of the antient world seems to have been born as if to illustrate the boundless extent of the human faculties. He cultivated, at the same time, the art of oratory, for the business of the senate and the forum; —poetry, to which he was fondly addicted, and in which, in spite of the scornful sarcasm of Juvenal and the cacophony of one luckless line, he arrived at considerable excellence; and philosophy, both physical and ethical, which he was the first to transplant from the schools of Greece. He was able, also, to embrace this great circle of studies amid the agitations of a stormy life, during the long inquietudes of the melancholy times on which he had fallen, and among the perpetual occupations of the bar, which he pursued so strenuously as not to intermit them even in the busy scene of his consulship. He had actually composed, also, a technical treatise on geography; and, in addition to all this, a voluminous mass of private letters, disclosing his personal friendships, and the intrigues of policy and ambition then existing among the political parties of Rome, attests still farther the restless activity and unlimited expansion of his mind. Even his weaknesses, which so frequently exhibit themselves in his writings and his speeches, are intitled to respect from their alliance with his virtues. If, for instance, his vanity peeps forth too often, it must be remembered that it sprang from an invincible consciousness of desert; and, if he proudly boasts of having saved his country, the gratitude both of the senate and the people demonstrates that his boast was not unfounded.

Compared with many others, the writings of Cicero may be said to have come down to us in an uninjured state: but many of his treatises, and, if antient fame be true, some of his best, VOL. CIII. perished