CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 49 



enffravinprs are exquisitely delicate and beautiful, and the tinting in the most 

 finished and tasteful style : the great difficulty of colouring subjects of natural 

 history in periodical works, is to give truth without g-aur/hiess ; brilliancy and 

 variety of hue, so frequently combined in a single flower, plant, bird or insect, 

 are formidable trials of skill, and we cannot refrain from expressing the extreme 

 satisfaction we have had in examining the " Bordered Edition" of Mr. Maund's 

 invaluable and charming publication. There is not the slightest tendency to 

 coarseness or heaviness of colour in the specimens before us ; the pencil of taste 

 as well as of science, has presided over their delineation. ** The Botanic Gar- 

 den" with its estimable accompaniment of letter-press, is a work worthy of the 

 Royal patronage it has acquired ; and we cordially recommend it to the atten- 

 tion of those who admire beautiful fac-similes of beautiful plants, as well as to 

 the kind greetings of botanists. We are glad to perceive by a notice on the 

 cover, that all the bach numhers are procurable, so that no possible disappoint- 

 ment in completing a set can occur. 



CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



The Autobiography, Times, Opinions, and Contemporaries of Sir 

 Egerton Brydges, Bart., per legem terr^. Baron Chandos, 

 of Sudeley, 5fc. 2 vols. London : Cochrane and M'Crone. 

 1834. 



He who writes his own history is usually supposed to leave out 

 the dark shades of his character, and to exhibit only such portions 

 of it as may tend to elevate not degrade him in the opinion 

 of society. For this reason, however entertaining Biography may 

 be to the general reader, he usually gets up from the perusal with 

 the conviction that the fair side only is brought into view, and ra- 

 tionally infers that none but an idiot would expose his weaknesses, 

 his folHes, and his vices, to the.scrutiny of the world. 



It is this impression which usually renders all the attempts of 

 Autobiographers abortive — and their effusions are read as compo- 

 sitions of imagination, not for their truth and moral reflections — 

 but for the sake of the gossip likely to be scattered through their 

 pages, or for the terse and polished language with which they may 

 happen to be imbued. 



With the work under consideration, however, the literary reader 

 will be impressed with a different feeling. In these volumes he 

 will discern the workings and throes of a deeply read, thoughtful, 

 and supremely gifted man, whose sensibilities and disappointments 

 are depicted with the attributes of high-wrought genius and deep 

 reflection. 



It is melancholy to think how acutely the sense of suffering is 

 aggravated when misfortune falls on the intellectual and the con- 

 templative. Disappointed hopes and unsuccessful plans, bringing 

 with them, as they invariably do, the contumely, the injustice, the 

 detraction, and the scorn of mankind, never come with such bitter 

 and harrowing cogency as when they assail spirits of this transceu- 



NO I. H 



