1823.] The Qmrterly 



eccentricities ; but the importance and 

 cjiiality of his works are scarcely such 

 as lo force themselves upon the atten- 

 tion of the reviewer. 



Avery entertaining and clever arti- 

 cle is devoted to an examination of 

 Mr. Bucklanil's account of an assem- 

 blage of fossil teeth and bones of 

 various animals, discovered last jear 

 in a cave at Kirktlale, in Yorkshire. 

 The cavern in wJiich these remains 

 were found is only from seven to two 

 feet in breadth and height, and 150 or 

 200 feet long. Mixed with a sort of 

 mud, on tlie bottom of this cave, are 

 found vast quantities of bones, tlirown 

 together in most singular and incon- 

 gruous union. 'I'liey have belonged 

 to twenty-two species of animals. 

 'I'lie tiger and the deer, tiie hyena and 

 the ox, the elephant and tlie mouse, 

 the rliinoccros and the rabbit, the hip- 

 popotamus and the water-rat, the wea- 

 sel and the lark, have found in this 

 recess a common sei)ulchre. 'Jhe so- 

 lution of the very perplexing question 

 raised by these remains, — proposed 

 by Mr. Buckland, and sanctioned by 

 the reviewer, — is, tliat the cave was 

 for a long time the habitation of an- 

 tediluvian hyenas, who had dragged 

 into it tlie carcases of such animals as 

 they killed, or found dead. At Pres- 

 ton, near Plymouth, a cavern, with 

 .simdar contents, has been discovered. 

 ]t would not be easy, we think, to sug- 

 gest a more plausible explanation of 

 these phenomena, than that which is 

 hero given, and the subject, so inter- 

 esting in itself, is treated by the re- 

 viewer in a way that must give satis- 

 faction both to the scientific and the 

 general reader. 



'i'lic review of LordEyron's Dramas 

 deserves great praise, as a piece of 

 able, candid, and temperate, criticism. 

 It proceeds, we believe, from the pen 

 of one, who has proved by some poems 

 of his own, of high merit, ihat he is 

 capable of judging the pretensions of 

 others ; and whose clerical character, 

 if it places him in strong opposition to 

 a c(;rtuin class of Lord r>jron's senti- 

 menis, has ncit l.ad the ellect of render- 

 ing him acrimonious and intolerant, 

 'J liese |)roiliietions of Lord Byron are 

 spoken of with respect, but his genius 

 is not considered to be cndncntly dra- 

 iiialle, a truth which the noble lord 

 seems to be determined to establish 

 more strongly by every successive 

 publication. We should have liked 



jMo.miily Mao. No. 378. 



Review, No. 51. 



33 



this article better, if the reverend cri- 

 tic had not, in his remarks on " Cain," 

 yielded a little too much to the habits 

 of his profession. His sermon, in con- 

 futation of the many heresies of that 

 mystery, is well composed ; but it is 

 too long, and, we think, misplaced 

 and uncalled for. That God is good, 

 and that virtue is better than vice, are 

 doctrines which are in no danger of 

 an overthrow from Lord Byron, and 

 which call for no extraordinary aid 

 even from the Quarterly Review. 

 Lord Byrou'^s " Cain" represents only 

 one of the many moods of mind; one, 

 it is true, which inclines us to take a 

 gloomy view of things ; but which can 

 only exercise a partial and occasional 

 inlluence, and cannot, by any possibi- 

 lity, be exalted into a system, or re- 

 ceived as a standard of faith. Whea 

 Ijord Byron writes as a poet, it really 

 appears to us to be somewhat ludicrous 

 to answer him with sound divinity. 



The number concludes with a long 

 paper on Contagimi and Quarantine, 

 which, as may perhaps be anticipated, 

 in so very obscure an enquiry as the 

 nature and mode of propagation of 

 the plague, determines only that mucli 

 may be said on both sides of the 

 question. Upon this part of his sub- 

 ject the critic is q-iitc inconclusive, 

 and leaves his reader where he found 

 him. "It will be the part of a wise 

 policy (says he,) to err rather on the 

 side of caution than of precipitancy or 

 presumption. It is, however, to say 

 the least, highly questionable whether 

 laws, framed for the purpose of pre- 

 venting the intrusion of pestilence, 

 might not be much less restrictive and 

 expensive, and vexatious, than they 

 actually are, and at the same time 

 equally, if not more, cft'ective." The 

 same indecision prevails through the 

 whole essay. "The cautious doctor 

 shakes hishead," and isevidentlydeter- 

 nnned not to commit himself. Like an 

 experienced practitioner in a doubtful 

 ease, he pronounces no opinion; but 

 leaves the event to nature and time, 

 well assured that, however it may turn 

 out, it caiuiot contradict him. 



To the Editor of the Monthlij Magazine. 



SIR, 



AMONG the greatest grievances 

 with which this country has long 

 been oppressed may be ranked tlio 

 ini(|uitous laws relating to special 

 juries ; not mcrelv as regards the un- 

 1' " just 



