MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



We see no objection to its publication under the more attractive aspect of 

 an Album, and we can only say that if our readers, having money to spare, do 

 not buy the Landscape Album, they have less taste than we have given them 

 credit for. 



This work consists of sixty views in various parts of England and Scotland, and 

 is accompanied by very ample and well. written descriptions. When we state 

 that the views are by Mr. Westall, and that they are engraved in the first style 

 of the art, we have said enough. 



_ 

 THE ELGIN ANNUAL, FOR 1833. ELGIN : 1832. 



This work makes no pretensions to the beauty of its London sisters, and is 

 certainly not got up in a way that could, by any possibility, be mistaken for ele- 

 gance or taste. 



We cannot say that we think the Elgin Annual, in spite of its ugliness, is 

 much above annual par, although we are free to confess, that it will be con- 

 sidered attractive and agreeable by the many readers to whom it is more especi- 

 ally directed. We, in London, are so surfeited with raw literature, that, perhaps, 

 our taste has hecome vitiated ; provincial palates may, however, find The Elgin 



Annual more easily digested. 



bfis 



sd Jr-.om giLovjGsbaa yur 



MEMOIRS OP Louis XVIII. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, LONDON: 1832. 



A significant saying, usually delivered by an incipient murderer in a melo- 

 drame, with a knowing wink, is ." dead men tell no .tales," a remark equally 

 sagacious and true. Still less (for vocal expression from a dead man is less 

 incredible than calligraphic skill,) still less do they write their own memoirs. 



It is perfectly well known that, for many years past, a vast number of the in- 

 genious youth occupied in authorship, have achieved existence by the composi- 

 tion of memoirs. By a somewhat fanciful extension of the imaginative faculty, 

 a half-starved skeleton converts himself into a full-grown monarch, and, occu- 

 pying the centre of his miserable apartment, is fain to transfer himself, in idea, 

 to the palace of Versailles, But this system should be rather treated under the 

 head " Manufactures," than in a notice of literature. 



What shall we say of the present work ? The author has made himself ac- 

 uainted with the principal facts in the life of Louis XVII. and has gathered 

 3gether a vast quantity of scandal and gossip. Stir these well up and your book 

 is made. 



We do not, however, mean to say that there is not a great deal of entertain- 

 ment to be found in the work before us, and that the author, whoever he may 

 be, has not attempted to present us with something as like a " true thing as pos- 

 sible," but we do mean to express our strong doubts of its authenticity. The 

 translation appears to be very well done. 



CHRISTMAS TALES. BY W. H. HARRISON. LONDON : 1832. 

 A VERY pretty little Volume consisting of four interesting Tales, embellished 

 with six exquisite Engravings. The book is got [up beautifully, and forms an 

 elegant present for young persons. 



THE EXCITEMENT, FOR 1833. EDINBURGH : 1832. 



THIS is a miscellaneous collection of Anecdotes, Adventures, Travels, Local 

 Descriptions, &c., compiled expressly for the perusal of children. The object of 

 the Editor in the compilation of this work, has been to supply and to combine 

 information with amusement, and we really do not know that it could be better 

 done than we find it here. The " Excitement" is an excellent work. 



THE INFANT ANNUAL, FOR 1833. EDINBURGH : 1832. 



WE confess our incompetence to decide upon the merits of this littie book- 

 It is so many years since we entered upon the perusal of similar productions, 



