1832.] Monthly Review of Literature. 237 



sympathy, with all that is good and generous, that had the author been far less 

 talented than he assuredly is, one could hardly have found in all the critical 

 dictionary, terms mild enough to convey our opinion that the title of " Probation" 

 was so aptly chosen, as to apply in many parts as much to the situation of the 

 reader as to the character and incidents of the story. But however we feel in- 

 clined to temper the law of critical justice with more than usual mercy, we 

 must not conceal from the writer that with all its simplicity, its frequent touches 

 of pathos, and its quiet, unassuming knowledge of life and character, he has 

 very much to learn and reduce to practice before he can lay claim to the qualities 

 of a really useful and engaging teacher of moral truth, through the medium of 

 a well wrought fiction. Thus with considerable knowledge of, and experience in 

 the world, and not a little derived from travel and reflection, the stories of this 

 volume display a writer too careless of sustaining the interest of the narrative, 

 unambitious of vigour and effect, and whose progress in the reader's estimation, 

 for want of point and terseness, lags and halts, like a villanous Alexandrine, too 

 frequently and too far in the rear. Yet these Tales are no way destitute of a 

 merit of a peculiar kind : natural pictures of middle life and manners ; traits of 

 alternate, quiet humour, and of pathos, giving one a distant view of the shade of 

 Sterne ; the simplest materials made palatable by a playful, frank, and genuine 

 mind ; and a style which only tires when divested of all incident, and losing 

 itself in passages which lead to nothing. 



LARDNER'S CYCLOPAEDIA. VOL. XXVI. TREATISE ON THE ORIGIN, PRO- 

 GRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT, &c. OF THE MANUFACTURE OF PORCELAIN 

 AND GLASS. 



THIS is an interesting volume of an interesting series of the Cyclopaedia, and 

 one with which we are as much or more pleased than the generality of the 

 numbers. To all inquiring minds which have not made themselves acquainted 

 with the process, history, &c. of the manufacture here described, every meal 

 must present silent reproaches ; and besides, the arts of pottery and glass-blow- 

 ing, are in themselves highly curious and amusing. We have not space* for ex- 

 tract, but cannot refrain from giving additional publicity to a discovery men- 

 tioned in the book, which we trust will be generally adopted in potteries, and 

 save a great expense of human life in the manufactories. It is well known that 

 the glazing used for earthenware contains a preparation of lead, and is highly 

 prejudicial to the health of the workman ; but one of the Lambeth potters we 

 are told has recently announced the discovery of a glazing compound which is 

 sufficiently fusible without containing a particle of lead, and is preferable on 

 many other accounts. 



THE DUAGHTER OF THE AlR, A MYTHIC TRAGEDY, IN FIVE ACTS. BY DR. 



E. RANPACH. Translated from the German. 



THE author of this play is most probably known to most of cur readers by his 

 tragedy of " The Serf, or Isidor and Olga," which has been familiarised by 

 translation to English lovers of the Drama, within the last two or three years. 

 Ranpach ranks high among German tragedians, which is not faint praise, while 

 the names of Schiller and Goethe are comprehended in the list. The plot of this 

 play is perhaps almost the very last the title would suggest, as the foundation a 

 German would select for a superstructure of five acts and their due compliment 

 of scenes and dramatis personae ; still less should we have imagined that on 

 such a foundation such an architect would have raised such a superstructure. 

 " The Daughter of the Air," is one whom censorious persons have generally 

 deemed of lower birth, Semiramis, the far-defamed queen of Babylon, who is 

 mothered on " Derceto," 



" The queen of air, who in clandestine love 



Linked with a mortal brought this child to light." 



After being protected by a priest who keeps the enfant trouve, " twice-nine" 

 years, she is carried to Nineveh by Menon, the commander-in-chief of Ninus 



