CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 163 



ed their bounties with an unsparing hand. Their dress was the very pic- 

 ture of neatness and propriety. I can see them now in their large full caps 

 beautifully plaited and as white as snow, with ruffs round their necks, and 

 white kerchiefs pinned round their shoulders, and covering part of their stiff 

 chocolate-colomed silk gowns. These were made with long waists and short 

 sleeves, having large ruffles attached to them above the elbows. A huge 

 gold watch was appended to the girdle, and they wore rather high-heeled 

 shoes, with little formal buckles attached to them. Their hair was perfectly 

 white, and was disposed in what may be called sausage curls beneath the 

 cap. They wore on their arms a sort of mitten, or gloves with half of the 

 fingers cut off, which enabled them to ply their needles the more readily. 

 Such was the dress of these worthy ladies, who (seated in large arm-chairs 

 on each side of the fire-place, with a small table near them on which their 

 work-baskets were placed) were ready to receive any visitors who might call 

 upon them. The arrival of any one was the signal for the servants to bring 

 in a well-furnished tray of refreshments, of which the guests were expected 

 to partake, as their omitting to do so would have been thought to detract 

 from the hospitality of the mansion. Kind old ladies ! Sometimes their 

 home-made wine was recommended, or, if the weather was cold, a glass 

 of old Madeira. Chicken-pies and brawn, also made their appearance, with a 

 huge cake, and fruit of various kinds, all arranged with the utmost pro- 

 priety." 



What with the anecdotes, many of which are irresistibly ludi- 

 crous, and some information useful to all rod-and-line catchers of 

 fish, Mr. Jesse's Angler's Rambles must be considered an extremely 

 interesting work — in fact, did our limits permit, we should be 

 tempted to quote from its pages more freely. We now leave him, 

 with the ardent wish that he may be induced to devote his time to 

 the study of nature, and give to the world the result of his inves- 

 tigations. 



The Sea. By Robert Mudie, Author of The Heavens, The Earth, 

 The Air, &c, &c. London : Ward and Co., Paternoster-row. 



In former numbers we have noticed, with well-deserved com- 

 mendation, Mr. Mudie's admirable volumes of The Heavens, The 

 Earth, and The Air ; and we now take a glance at his fourth and 

 highly-interesting volume, The Sea. We are later than we intend- 

 ed to have been — indeed, we frankly confess that we are not justified 

 in having so long deferred to draw the attention of our readers to a 

 work which, as a companion to the preceding ones, fully merits all the 

 attention and praise which we have so freely and justly bestowed 

 on its predecessors. The old excuse, however, must be again sum- 

 moned to our aid, and we are not overstepping the boundary of li- 

 teral truth, when we affirm that want of room, and not want of as- 

 siduity or inclination, has been the sole occasion of this tardy notice. 



Whatever of information or of science falls from the pen of Mr. 

 JMudie is always worthy of deep attention, and he possesses a 

 very singular facility of adding to accumulated knowledge and 

 deep reflection the charm of intense interest. His subjects are not 

 lightly chosen, nor are his theories of that speculative order which 

 entangle common sense in a web of misty sophistry, but intelligi- 



