4()3- MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



ELEMENTS OF CHEMISTRY, LARDNER'S CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA. BY M. DO- 

 NOVAN, ESQ. LONDON. 1832. 



THERE is a vast mass of instinctive information to be met with in this vo- 

 lume by the student of chemistry. 'We cannot, however, altogether approve of 

 certain omissions designedly made by thu author, upon the plan that such in- 

 formation, so omitted, and confessedly considered necessary and useful to the 

 chemical student, is to be found in distinct treatises contributed to Dr. Lard- 

 ner's Cyclopaedia. We think that the several volumes comprising that Cyclo- 

 paedia, of which the Elements of Chemistry is one, should have been kept 

 entirely separate and distinct, and that rather than any reference should be 

 made to the volumes which are especially devoted to those parts of science of 

 which it is indispensable that the student of chemistry should possess some 

 knowledge a brief explanation should have been given of them. In all other 

 respects Mr. Donovan appears to have executed his task with the greatest abi- 

 lity, and we have no doubt that in the estimation of those competent to judge, 

 this work will run high as a popular scientific treatise. 



THE FAIRIES' FANCY BALL. BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE FLOWERS AT COURT." 

 POOLE AND EDWARDS. 1832. 



LIGHT and airy, elegant and graceful as every thing belonging to fairies ought 

 to be, this is a charming little poetical pursuit for youth. It is calculated to in- 

 struct as well as to delight, for the author evidently a lady gives proof of an 

 intimate acquaintance not only with the " mystic spell of verse," but with the 

 beautiful arcona of entomology and botany. Want of room alone prevents our 

 extracting the truly picturesque lines illustrating the beauty and magnificence of 

 the Swiss landscape. 



THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. A POLITICAL SATIRE. LONDON. 1832. 



THIS is like "Venice, a Poem," altogether a mistake on the part of the au- 

 thor. We had hoped that the school of theme- writers in verse was at an end. 

 What possible good can come of this forcible seizure of all the recent but worn- 

 out political questions that agitate Europe, for the purpose of introducing the 

 old cant for it is cant about liberty, freedom, and what not very good things 

 in their way, no doubt as no one can or dare deny, but impertinencies when 

 their names are used as mere words to which every reader may affix any mean- 

 ing he pleases. 



Nor is the execution better than the choice of subject. When we see in a 

 poem an allusion to the deadly influence of the upas tree a reference to Greece 

 to Sparta a hint about Marathon an old line revived, like this : 



" Oh Liberty ! thou precious boon of heaven." 



we see, with a heavy heart, that the author is far gone. We close the book, and 

 can read no more. 



Let us, then, kindly hint to the author that he is no poet, and in all human 

 probability never will be and that a sundry repetition of phrases from Gold- 

 smith, Campbell and others, is not only wearisome and nauseous, but uncalled 

 for and unkind. We also have read these authors. 



AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



WE have observed general complaints from the western and part of the 

 northern districts, of the lateness and backwardness of the harvest. This has 

 resulted materially from the week or ten days rain towards the end of last month, 

 and in too many quarters, from the want of expedition in the farmers, who now 

 complain that this lengthened harvest has eminently contributed to shorten their. 



