Hiberate pedantry with which the writer has frequently laboured to conceal his meaning under a mask of antiquity. We take an example at random:

The dolly lamentacioun and complentis of ane Luffar for bys Lemman, qubam hyr parentis had garrit marrye till ane uthir mare ryche.

O Lufe, quharefoir thi sclavis leil

Have zu swa snellich all to schent?
Or quharcfoir brast the stoup of hele
On quhilk twa gentil hertis lent?
Quhan I was Jok and scho was Gyl,
And we mocht luf and wow at wyl
How seilful and how blvith wer we!
Bot ach na langare blyith we be.'

If any reader hopes to decypher this passage by means of Mr. J's. glossary, or indeed by any other glossary, he will find himself much deceived; and it is not perhaps in any person's power to point out, in the compass of as few lines, so many difficult words and expressions, in any Scottish composition from the days of Dunbar downwards. In the most beautiful as well as the most antient Scottish songs, we are assured that not above one or two words are unintelligible to a native of Scotland at the present day: but, in order to understand the above, we must visit Denmark, turn over the Sagas, Eddas, and Kempe Visers, and explore in short the whole circle of Mr. J.'s literature, that we may return home qualified to read his songs. We tried once or twice the effect of substituting a less wondrous orthography, and of inserting here and there a more intelligible and equally antient Scottish phrase: but we shall not disclose the result of the experiment.-Mr. J. might not thank us for scouring the shield.

The most curious piece in the whole collection undoubtedly is the antient romance of True Thomas (the Rhymer) and the Queen of Elfland,' and it would give interest to a much less valuable work than the present; its merits being not only intrinsically great, but the whole presenting us with a striking picture of the nature of poetry which is preserved only by tradition." Many fragments of it are occasionally procured by recitation; yet no one of them, except in a part of the story, agrees with the original, and few copies of the same fragment with themselves. Mr. J. has used great diligence in collecting the copies which came in his way, and is indebted for other collations to his friends.-The story is not worth abridging: but the language, in which some of the Elfin Queen's prophecies-are couched, is uncommonly strong. She speaks of Scotland desolated by war:

• Steeds

The ballad of Robin Hood and the Monk, which follows soon afterward, is curious, and well worthy of preservation: but, through haste or ignorance, it is here indifferently edited. The lines

In at the durris they threly thrast

With staves full gode wone'

are eminently obscure. Threly should in our opinion be rethly, quickly: such transpositions of letters being frequent, especially where many alliterative sounds occurred. Wone is a word which we have seen, though we cannot now refer to the place, and which signifies number or quantity. The Scottish word wheen is radically the same. After the stanza, ending with "He lay styl as any stone," some stanzas are evidently wanting, though the page proceeds as if there were no defect.

We do not comprehend the reasonableness of the introduction of several little pieces re-published from scarce editions, which have nothing in common with the nature of the rest of the work; and the best of which are already restored to the public in Mr. Ellis's Specimens of Antient English Poetry. (See Review for November last.)

On the prefaces and notes to the ballads, we cannot bestow much commendation. The inerudite reader will seldom be surprized in them by the results of curious research; and in a member of the Antiquarian Society, this inactivity is hardly fair. The style is inelegant and even harsh: but this fault may be more easily forgiven than the strain of flippant yet not sprightly levity which marks most pages of the Editor's prose, and is happily set off by a sort of pedantry much less to have

been

Been expected than that which renders a great part of his poetry unintelligible. A very simple statement, to which every reader assents as he reads it, is made a very serious business by the introduction of some mighty Heathen in its support. For example; an old man having said, "I sleep right oft, I wake right oft," the phrase is explained to express the short interrupted slumbers, that naturally accompany old age, and this seems entirely satisfactory, but Mr. J. is not satisfied: for Euripides knew this; and what is more he wrote two verses to say so; and they are in the Iphigenia in Aulis; and Mr. J. knows where they are; and they are as follows, Maha тo ynças —κ. τ. λ. Another quotation also is made which we cannot avoid giving, for the beauty of the introduction. This account of the birth of Robin Hood is certainly very characteristic, and perfectly consistent with his subsequent life and conduct, insomuch that it cannot be said of him as Dejanira says of Hercules, "dissimiles hic vir et ille puer."-We cannot, however, refuse our acknowlegements of obligation to an author who, with so marked a propensity to quotation as Mr. J. possesses, and a discovery so convenient for his purpose as that a passage should be cited merely because it is inapplicable, has suffered us to escape with so little molestation.

Hitherto, we have chiefly considered those faults in the work before us which relate to the editor's collection of ballads: but it betrays also some that are sufficiently grating to the reader's feelings, which have no connection with it, relating solely and entirely to the writer himself. This gentleman is continually making his appearance in his own proper person, starting up in the midst of Sagas and Eddas, to torture the nerves of compassionate men with very lamentable but somewhat unintelligible complaints of the miseries of his destiny. Our sympathy must always be deeply engaged by observing the struggle of genius through poverty and misfortune: but it is repelled by the obtrusive lamentations of those who complain of the cruelty of being obliged to endure the common hardships of life, and to gain an honest subsistence by the exertion of their own powers,

For the Glossary, we were preparing a rigorous destiny, but the article is already sufficiently long. We shall therefore just observe that about one half of the difficult words occur in it, and that of these a considerable number are ill explained, while many others are inserted and charitably interpreted which are at this day good current English.

Fin..y. 1st Art.

ART.

ART. IV. The Anatomy and Surgical Treatment of Inguinal and Congenital Hernia By Astley Cooper, FR.S. Surgeon to Guy's Hosp. Illustrated by Plates. Folio. 21. 2s. Boards. Cox, Johnson, &c.

THE

HE circumstances, which render the treatment of hernia an object of peculiar importance to the operator of surgery, cannot be better expressed than in the words of the present author:

No disease of the human body, belonging to the province of the surgeon, requires in its treatment a greater combination of accurate anatomical knowlege with surgical skill, than hernia in all its varieties. Symptoms immediately threatening the extinction of life occur at times, and in situations, that afford but little oppor. tunity for consulting the authority of others, and demand in the Surgeon a prompt resolution and decisive practice. Accurate anatomical knowlege is frequently required to detect the presence of this disease at that period at which alone the milder process of reduction is practicable; and still more is the combination of skill and intelligence necessary to enable the surgeon to meet all the occurrences which may happen, when the use of the knife becomes the only method of saving the patient.'

In the work before us, Mr. Cooper professes to give an anatomical description of inguinal hernia in its successive stages, and of the parts that lie contiguous to it; and afterward to point out the method of performing the operation in the different varieties of the disease. It may be asserted that no person can be better qualified for the undertaking than Mr. Cocper, as well from his acknowleged talents and skill, as from the opportunities of observation which he possesses, in conquence of his situation in one of the most extensive hospitais of the metropolis.

Chapter I. contains a description of the different kinds of hernia, and more particularly of those which take place from the abdominal ring, to which the attention of the author is afterward exclusively directed. He points out the manner in which the disease is originally formed, and its connections with the surrounding parts; minutely describing the state of the hernial sac in its different varieties, and the appearance of the bodies which form its external covering. In the 2d chapter, we have an accurate and perspicuous account of the parts concerned in inguinal hernia. The manner in which the tendons of the abdominal muscles, and the fascia connected with them, constitute the abdominal ring and the crucial arch, is particularly stated; together with the passage through which the spermatic chord proceeds from the abdomen to the ring, the peculiar conformation of which, though not altogether a discovery on the part of Mr. Cooper, has been so little noticed by former

4

former anatomists that they have afforded a very imperfect idea of the structure of the parts, and have led to an erroneous and defective practice.

In chapter III. the formation of hernia is described, and the diagnostic symptoms are pointed out which distinguish it from other diseases of the part. The circumstances which most clearly indicate the presence of inguinal hernia are the following:

First, when the patient is desired to cough, the tumour becomes immediately distended, owing to the pressure of the abdominal muscles forcing down into the sac more of the viscera or their contents. Secondly, when the patient can state from his remembrance that, on the first appearance of the tumour in the groin, it had used to return into the abdomen when he was in a horizontal posture, and to re-appear on standing erect; though circumstances may have long prevented this symptom from continuing.-Thirdly, when the progress of the tumour has been from the groin gradually downwards to the scrotum. Fourthly, when the tumour contains intestine, it is elastic and uniform to the touch; and on being pushed up into the abdomen, it returns with a guggling noise. But when omentum is contained, the tumour is less equal on its surface, receives an impression from the fingers, is heavier than in the former case, and does not make the same noise when returned into the abdomen. Most commonly, however, both intestine and omentum are the contents of the hernia, a circumstance which impairs the accuracy of any very nice distinctions by the touch: though still on pushing back the contents of the tumour, the presence of intestine, which returns the first, will often be indicated by the guggling noise, while the more solid omentum may be felt going up after it.-Lastly, the functions of the viscera are somewhat interrupted. Eructations, sickness, constipation, colicky pains, and distension of the abdomen, occur; and pain is produced by violent exertions, coughing, or sneezing. These are the symptoms that generally give the patient some suspicion of the nature of the com. plaint.'

These diagnostics sufficiently distinguish the disease from many others which, on a cursory inspection, seem to resemble. it but in some cases the symptoms are more obscure; and when the different affections become complicated with each other, a circumstance by no means of rare occurrence, the practitioner has occasion to exercise his nicest powers of dis

cernment.

Chapter IV. treats of the causes of hernia. These are re, solved into two kinds, those which diminish the resistance of the abdominal muscles, and those which increase the pressure of the viscera; in all cases, the principal pre-disposing cause is weakness. Mr. Cooper enumerates a number of circumstances which most frequently induce this disease, all of REV. JAN. 1807.

D

which