514 WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS MAN ! 



seasons, with their various natural phenomena very prettily illus- 

 trated. 



The information given in this last division is particularly rich. 

 The progress of vegetation, the coming and going of birds, the 

 appearances and disappearances of insects, the various agriculture 

 processes connected with the different seasons, and many other in- 

 teresting matters, make this a book fit for every body's reading, for 

 it has the merit possessed only by Miss Edgeworth's juvenile books, 

 of being pleasant and instructive reading to people of all ages. 



We cannot doubt but that the Instructor will become a standard 

 family and school book. It is exceedingly well got up, the lessons 

 are of the proper length, and the questions appended to them are 

 not the mere echo of the text. The amazing amount of knowledge 

 included in this one volume is perhaps the most remarkable thing about 

 it, and it sadly shames Howitt's Book of the Seasons in this respect. 

 The simple eloquence of its style is admirably suited to the subject, 

 and we shall be glad to see this series displace the fragmentary and 

 imperfect literature hitherto offered to young readers. It breathes 

 throughout a very pure, moral, and religious spirit, which, without 

 being conspicuous, makes a very grateful and proper impression 

 upon the mind. 



WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS MAN!* 



" What shall I do to be for ever known, 

 And make the age to come my own ? " 



COWLEY. 



It has been said, and sung time out of mind, that there is nothing 

 new under the sun. This is a startling assertion, and amongst au- 

 thors it is particularly obnoxious. Many writers believe themselves 

 to be real Simon Pures genuine Originals without spot or taint 

 derived from other men's labours, whether ancient or modern, and 

 no doubt they are so ; for although their works may bear a close 

 similarity to works already in being, that is not the slightest reason 

 why they may not be absolutely of their own creation. Man is the 

 same in all climes and in all ages, modified only by outward circum- 

 stances ; he has the same capabilities, intellectual as well as physical, 

 whether in the age of Pericles, or in that of the Georgian Era : 

 and therefore when he sets himself to work on any particular subject, 

 the same ideas, to a certain extent, will spring up in his mind in both 

 periods. 



In examining books, therefore, we should at all times bear in 



* An Essay on the Nature of Diseaees, by A. Green, LL.B. Simpkin and 

 Marshall, London. 



