476 Monthly Review of Literature. 



1 



THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH, OR THE LIFE OP SAMUEL HIGH. BY JAMES 



EVERETT. 



ALTHOUGH we do not approve of obtruding on the public the life of every 

 individual who has raised himself above his sphere in life, and been distin- 

 guished among his cotemporaries by an acute intellect and fervent piety, yet 

 oftentimes such works are very interesting to those who have been acquainted 

 with the person whose character is delineated ; and if they are a source of 

 pleasure to any, there is a sufficient reason for the publication. The volume 

 now lying before us epitomizes the life of a blacksmith, distinguished for his 

 integrity and piety, and who has been very useful in his day and generation. 

 It is written in an easy, graceful style ; and it cannot fail to interest those 

 whose hearts can warm to the expressions of sincerity and benevolence, which 

 breathe through every page. 



SELECT SPECIMENS OF THE EDIFICES OF PALLADIO, BY F. ARUNDALE. 



WE are here presented with a very valuable addition to those more useful and 

 voluminous works connected with the architecture of different nations, which have 

 from time to time made their appearance. It forms a cheap and handsome folio 

 is dedicated to that veteran of his art, Sir John Soane and, besides a life of the 

 celebrated architect it commemorates, contains twelve fine engravings upon steel, 

 among which are views of the Olympic Theatre, the Palazzo, Chiericati, the 

 Screen to the Sala della Ragioni, and the Villa Capri, with ground plans and 

 sections, and a particular description of each edifice. Mr. Arundale has evinced 

 great skill and judgment, no less in the buildings which he has selected as speci- 

 mens of this distinguished master's style, than in the arrangement and execution 

 of the entire work. He has farther rendered it interesting, by giving a view of 

 the rise and progress of the science in Italy up to the time of Michael Angelo ; 

 and both in the preface and in his descriptions of the edifices, he shews that he 

 had made himself a complete master of every branch of his subject. Indebted, 

 as many of our first English architects have been, to the chaste and noble exam- 

 ples of Palladian architecture, from the days of Jones to those of Lord Burling- 

 ton, the present work will, we are sure, be hailed with pleasure by its admirers 

 and students, no less than by professional men, who are deeply interested in the 

 promotion of just principles and a real knowledge of architecture, particularly 

 among the higher classes, as having so decided an influence on their own reputa- 

 tion and success. The work is every way creditable to Mr. Arundale's talents. 



RUDIMENTS OF THE PRIMARY FORCES OF GRAVITY, MAGNETISM, AND ELEC- 

 TRICITY, IN THEIR AGENCY ON THE HEAVENLY BODIES. BY P. MURPHY, 

 ESQ. 



THAT distinguished astronomer, Kepler, acknowledged, after all the important 

 discoveries he had made during a life devoted to its study " that a general in- 

 vestigation of the laws of motion was yet wanting." It was generally considered 

 that Sir Isaac Newton had developed the mystery which regulates the planetary 

 movements, by his principle of attraction or universal gravitation ; but even that 

 great man has owned, that besides the attraction of gravity, the heavenly bodies 

 are influenced " by some other attractive power diffused throughout their par- 

 ticles." The connection of electricity with certain atmospheric phenomena 

 has since been proved by the ingenious experiments of the able Dr. Franklin. 

 Later discoveries have been made, both by English and foreign astronomers, by 

 which the theory of electrical agency with planetary temperature has been placed 

 beyond a doubt. 



After intense application to the study of natural philosophy, more particularly 

 to the investigation of astronomical science, Mr. Murphy has published the re- 

 sult of his labours, from which he forms a theory of his own which is, " that 

 the planetary bodies, including the sun, which constitutes the solar system, 

 may be defined to be the union of the elements of three primary forces ; gravita- 

 tion, magnetism, and electricity." This our author very satisfactorily proves, not 



