Hetrofpect o/DomeJiic Literature — Novels ajid Romances. 643 



may prove the moft estemlvely ufeful, it 

 is not for us to fuy. But we are certairt 

 he fpeaks truth, when he tells us that he 

 ftall confuler iiiinffclf auiply repaid it' the 

 irnprelfions which may be conveyed 

 through tliis medium fhull produce a dif- 

 polltioii, on the part of the legillature, 

 to accompli(h the great objei't of a na- 

 tional education for the children of the 

 poor. 



From among the ufual number of in- 

 fipid productions, which have appeared 

 under the denomination of 



NOVELS AND ROMANCES, 



" The Wild Injh Girl, a National 

 Story, by Mils Ovvenson," mull be di(- 

 tinguilhed us a work of luperior merit. 

 The defign of the writer is i'o laudable, 

 that liad rtie executed it with only a me- 

 diocrity of fuccefs, her work would have 

 been entitled to our praife. The talent* 

 which Ihe difplays in thi« novel are, iiovv* 

 ever, of no common order. ^Vlth an 

 imagination exuberant almoft to a bie- 

 mifh, IMifs Owenfon combines confider- 

 able knowledge of the world and of 

 human nature ; and we perceive in the 

 \Vild Irifli Girl the iVuits of much read- 

 ing, lilended witli the refults of aftual 

 and acute obfervation. The chara6ter of 

 the Irilli peal'aiitry is drawn witii a 

 friendly, but at the fame time, we think, 

 a faithful pencil. Her dehueations of 

 Irifli cuftoms and manners are pictures 

 from the life : and while they amufe by 

 their vivacity, or mterelt by their pathos, 

 they rectify the judtrnient of the reader 

 upon an important fubject, concerning 

 which too many fuccefsful attempts have 

 been marie to millead it. 



KoTZEBLE has again made his appear- 

 ance in an Englifti drcfs, not as a dia- 

 matift or a traveller, but as a novellift. 

 Two tranflations of this new woik ha\e 

 come before us. One under the title of 

 the " Pfijlor's Daughter," 6zc. in four 

 volumes, which w« are forry to be ob- 

 liged to declare refleiits difgrace on Eng- 

 lilh literature, and is calculated to in- 

 jure the reputation of Kotzebue: fo bar- 

 barous and cruel a nmrderof the Englilh 

 language has not ofton been connnitted in 

 modern times. The other trauflation is 

 publiilied in three volumes, under the 

 title of " Kotzehue's NouveUettes ;" and 

 is a correct and elegant interpretation of 

 the author. It comprifes fevcral inte- 

 reiling tales or little novels,, which we 

 have perufcd with great pleafure. They 

 are replete with intcrell, and llrongly 

 marked by that nuKture of the humour- 



ous and pathetic, which in the hands 

 of fuch a mailer as Kotzebue never 

 fails to delight, 'i'bcfe lun-ies are all li- 

 terary gems ; but wc were particularly 

 pleafed with the " Vicar's Daughter,'' 

 and a little palloral tale, called " The 

 Grave on the Hill." 



JMr. Lewis's " Feudal Tyrants,^' is a 

 romance from the German, or at lealt a 

 German romance. Wc cannot rai;k ii 

 among the heft things of this fort. 



Mr. Lathom's " Human Beings" is 

 rcfpectable. 



SVe do not recolleft another production 

 in this clals of literature worth rcconi- 

 ing. We cannot help noticing, however, 

 a catch-penny attempt to impofe upon the 

 public. The!ireatfur(xfsanti unprecedent- 

 ed fale of Mr. Suku's '' IVivter in L(>n~ 

 dmi," has induced ibme ingenious gen- 

 tleman, or perhaps lady, to publiih a 

 novel under the title of " A Summer at 

 Brigliton : being a Continuation of the 

 Winter in London." The trade ot con- 

 tinuations is as old as the time of llicl>- 

 ai-dfou and Fielding ; when the Gruh- 

 ftreet manufaf^'turcrs of their day impofed 

 upon the c'iriofity of the town " Painehi 

 in High Life," and " Tom Jones in the 

 Married State." The continuation of a 

 fucccefsful work is always a dangerous, 

 and (in our opinion) a mean expedient, 

 even when attempred by the orjf'inal 

 author; but when, as in the prcfent calt^, 

 a mull contemptible production, by fome 

 anonymous fciibljler, is announced in 

 fuch a manner a< to induce an opinion 

 that it is the work of a popular wnter, 

 wc confider it in the light of a double 

 fraud ; it is picking tlie pockets of the 

 public, and roltbing the author of his re- 

 putation. 



MISCELLANIES. 



Tlie tirft [.art of the " Fhitofophical 

 Tranfadiot'^, for 1806," contains nine 

 memoirs. 'iWu or three of the more ca- 

 rious we Ihall mention. " The Croonian 

 Le(^ture on the .Arrangement and Mecha- 

 nical Action of the Mufcles of Fifhes,'" 

 by Anthony Carlisle, PTq. contain.« 

 many curious and valuable facts. " The 

 Bakeriaii Le(!'ture on the Force ot Per- 

 cuffion," by Dr. Wollaston, will be 

 read witli intered by thofe who in t!»e 

 coniideralion of this fubjeCt are confider- 

 ed as Newtonians. The third article is 

 an important one, by M. Bue'e, in 

 French, " On Imaginary Quantities." 

 Towards the clofe we have " An Ac- 

 count, liy ?.Ir. Home, of a imall Lobe of 

 the human Frollrate Gland, which has 



not 



