The North British Review. 



North British Review, and which gives in a moderate compass 

 all that an ardent and yet sensible admirer of Wordsworth has 

 to say about his favourite poet. ... On the whole, this 

 essay is one of the best specimens of sympathetic criticism that 

 can easily be found, and has much that is new and delightful 

 in it even to very old readers of Wordsworth. We get a very 

 different, and a much fuller and truer notion of Wordsworth 

 from it than that which Lord Jeffrey gives us, but the two 

 together give a juster notion than either separately. 



From THE TIMES. 



It is not often that we step out of our way to review a Review, 

 but the present occasion encourages the experiment, and many 

 of our readers will thank us for pointing to the rise of a new 

 luminary. The first star of this series arose in a northern 

 latitude, when the last generation rejoiced in the beams of 

 the old Editiburgh. Why do such reviews pale and degenerate 

 when they come into southern lands ? Have we still lessons 

 to learn from the brood of the " caller air ?" Is there strange 

 virtue in oat-cake, — or what is the secret ? The fact is that 

 the northern " wut" is combined with a canny sense of the 

 necessities of our state, and with a strong impulse to positive 

 progress. Thus Logarithms and Steam-Engines and Wealth of 

 Nations have come out of strenuous Scottish brains, and we 

 witness now a new phenomenon in a fresh development of 

 their critical power. Of course, we are not vain enough to 

 ascribe their superiority to the fact that possibly they avail 

 themselves more freely than formerly of the products of English 

 contributors. At all events, we hall the recent numbers of the 

 North British as a sign of their advance, and a proof that a 

 true Scot is as ready as ever to cross the Tweed and to vie 

 successfully with his English competitors. It is seldom, if ever, 

 that one sees so good a series of reviews — so good substantially 

 in nearly all their articles, from the first page to the last. It 

 is sensible on all its subjects, as distinguished from literary 

 persiflage, — a true whistle from the oaten straw which it is 

 ever bracing to our nerves to hearken to. 



