532 
La Motte Fouqué. In the tales before 
us, this peculiar exuberance of fancy, in 
a ruder but yet genuine form, is blended 
with much quaint humour, and a piquant 
simplicity of style, which renders them 
irresistibly entertaining. 
The author of ‘Tracts on the English 
Verb,” has fired a gun at the absurd foun- 
dations of the Newtonian philosophy, and 
he is a very expert marksman. But he 
may be the latter in the highest perfec- 
tion, without being grateful to his tutor. 
He has read certain papers in this miscel- 
lany, and perbaps the Twelve Essays, for 
he more than once adopts their exact 
phraseology, yet he claims originality and 
professes to be self-taught. We do not 
think science will be improved by what is 
his own; and we therefore admit that he 
has discovered the principles that “ all 
motion is curvilineal,’—that ‘ bodies un- 
der an exhausted receiver have no weight,” 
and that ‘the tides arise from the trade- 
winds.” He should read the Twelve 
Essays over again, and instruct himself 
before he sets up for ateacher. He ought 
also to practise ‘the plain principles of 
gratitude and literary honesty, worth all 
other philosophy, and without which he 
will do his school no credit. 
Isn't it Odd? by MARMADUKE MERRy- 
WHISTLE, is a question put to us so fre- 
quently in the course of three volumes, 
that we feel compelled to give it an an- 
swer; and yet we feel some difficulty in 
making up our minds on the subject. 
The direct answer is obvious—It is very 
odd and whimsical ; and, if we proceed to 
look at the dark side of the subject, we 
shall be compelled to add, that its wit is 
often quaint and affected, its humour 
coarse and low, and its incidents impro- 
bable. But against these drawbacks, we 
are ready to make a large ailowance for 
the genuine, though somewhat irregular, 
spirit which animates all its pages, and a 
warmth of feeling which communicates 
itself to the reader, and leads him, through 
a series of facetie, which, in spite of his 
sterner judgment, will often force him to 
a smile, to the end of Mr. Marmaduke 
Merrywhistle’s eventful history. Setting 
aside such objections as might certainly 
be made to these volumes in point of good 
taste, and, we might say, of good sense, 
we can promise such of our readers as are 
not over-nice in feeding their intellectual 
appetite, a good deal of amusement in 
following the bustling vivacity of Mr. 
Merrywhistle through all his practical 
jokes and surprising adventures. In fact, 
we have been more pleased with his ex- 
travagances, than we can well reconcile 
to our own consciences; and we feel al- 
most angry at the provoking mixture of 
merits and defects, which makes it diffi- 
eult to praise, and painful to condemn. 
Literary and Critical Proémium. 
(Jan. 
A judicious and well selected compen- 
dium of the History of England, for the 
use of young persons, cannot fail to meet 
with a due appreciation of its merits from 
parents and preceptors; and we are en- 
abled to recommend a work of this nature, 
with great confidence, to their notice, 
written on an ingenious and useful plan. 
Mr. SouTHEY, uniting in himself the 
characters of poet laureate and court 
politician, has just published and dedi- 
cated to his royal patron, the first volume 
of his History of the Peninsular War: a 
task for which he is, in some respects, 
eminently endowed; and in other and 
more important points, as notoriously 
disqualified. Amongst the advantages 
which he possesses, may be numbered his 
intimate acquaintance with the language, 
customs, and history, of Spain; his long 
literary experience and habits of stndions 
research, and the particular facilities he 
has enjoyed, on the present occasion, of 
drawing his information on matters of 
fact, from sources of high authority. On 
the other hand, his exasperated party- 
prejudices acting on a judgment naturally 
weak, and flattered by a vanity not unfre- 
quently the concomitant of such talents 
as have fallen to the lot of Mr. Southey; 
the retirement in which he has lived, 
which has qualified him rather for specu- 
lative subjects than for such as bear npon 
the real business of life; and, not least, 
the capacity in which he has composed 
this work, rather as the historiographer of 
a court than as an independent philoso- 
pher ; render him, ofall men, perhaps the 
most incompetent to the true and impar- 
tial performance of the task which he has 
taken in hand. A similar work has been 
also commenced in Spain, by order of the 
government; and from the first part, al- 
ready published, Mr. Southey has derived 
much information. He would have 
waited for its conclusion previous to the 
publishing of his own labours, “but its 
progress,” says he, “has been interrupted 
by the revolution in Spain, and the aspects 
of that country are so dark, that there 
can be no hopes of seeing it resumed.” 
We feel sentiments of unmixed pity for 
those perceptions, which can only descry 
darkness im the first light which has 
cheered the spirits of the brave and suf- 
fering patriots of Spain; which has al- 
ready scared the troop of tyrants from 
the prey they were ready to devour, and 
which, we trust, is destined not alone to 
illuminate that noble land, but to afford 
the flame at which many a torch of free- 
dom shall be lighted. It is well for Mr. 
Southey that his plan does not include the 
history of the Spanish revolution, as well 
as that of the Peninsular war. In the 
latter, his rancorous hatred of the French 
will compel him, at all events, to do am- 
ple 
