9*2 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



elaborately finished expression. Of himself she writes with a sort of 

 underrating patronage. Should her truths endure, another generation 

 might fancy him as perfect a Falsttiff iti size, as his late brother 

 Stephen an " innocent," credulous, sleepy, typsy creature, foolishly 

 fond of his art, at any compliment to whose person his daughter either 

 " laughed" or "wondered." She supposes, too, that "unusual want of 

 occupation" alone could make her fellow-voyagers desirous of looking on 

 Mrs. Siddons's heir! Most probably Mrs. Butler meant nothing irre- 

 verent or invidious ; but " I own it has the appearance of it." 



Scattered through tins " Puddledock-potter " are several humorous 

 anecdotes. We know not why the journal ends where it does, and wish 

 Mrs. Butler would publish a whole, including her commencement of 

 authorship, acting, &c. &c. up to the period of her marriage. This might 

 present us with more novel sensations and ideas ; its personal allu- 

 sions would be more intelligible. Her friends must furnish a key 

 to the Journal ; when they do, xve may return to it. Meanwhile we 

 take our leave with thanks : it has forced us to admire and love 

 Frances Ann Butler more than we were enabled to love Fanny Kemble ; 

 but, to quote her own Shakspeare, 



" That 's not much." 



How to Observe. Geology. By H. T. DE LA BECHE, F.R.S., &e. 

 With 138 Wood-cuts. C. Knight, London. 



It often happens that a book of Science is useless to all except 

 scientific men ; and it still more frequently happens that a scientific 

 treatise fails to excite a desire to learn on the part of its readers. We 

 are anxious to see the pursuit of science stripped of its difficulties, and 

 we are equally anxious to find its boundaries enlarging. Many people 

 would become contributors to Science if they knew how to set about it; 

 and many who are already contributors to it, would be much more 

 efficient aids were their researches properly directed. Though we have 

 books in our own and other languages devoted to the elucidation of every 

 branch of human knowledge, we have very few "guides," if we may so 

 express ourselves, to lead us to an acquaintance with the phenomena of 

 nature : we have hitherto wanted books to make us use our eyes, to 

 enable us to search for ourselves, to teach us in fact " How to Observe/' 

 because, if once taught this, the pleasures and profit resulting from its 

 exercise will be never-ending stimulants for perpetual examination. 

 " Thus the listless idler may be changed into an inquiring and useful 

 observer, and may acquire the power of converting a dull and dreary 

 road into a district teeming with interest and pleasure. To acquire this 

 power, it is not necessary that the observer should be profoundly skilled 

 in all the subjects that come under his observation. He may soon 

 acquire sufficient knowledge to appreciate what he sees, and to express 

 what he feels. The charm that such habits of observation bestows upon 

 the descriptions of the commonest things, is evident in those works in 

 which the observer expresses what he has seen with his own eyes simply 

 and correctly/' 



The external world around us may, by knowing how to observe, be- 

 come a vast repertorium of never-ending amusement and profitable in- 

 struction ; and to aid us in making it so, a series of works, under the 

 comprehensive title heading Ihese remarks, has been commenced. The 

 first volume now lying before us relates to Geology a popular and a 

 highly useful study. The selection of subject has been judicious, and its 

 treatment excellent. Mr. De La Beche is already favourably known, and 



