412 
passed in Pennsylvania, we feel more 
inclined to trust the opinions of Mr. 
Galt on the merit of the work, than to 
rely on the piecemeal quotations of the 
reviewer, made. to disprove its preten- 
sions to ‘‘ various excellencies of style, 
description, and impartiality.” 
Buckinenam’s Travels in Palestine 
is another article treated with undue 
severity. An honester writer never 
published a book of travels; but it in- 
terferes with other interests: besides, 
Mr. Buckingham is not exactly ortho- 
dox, and this is quite enough to make 
us sceptical about the strictures of the 
Quarterly on his ‘‘accuracy” and 
“character.” 
The Deaf and Dumb article is a very 
barren performance. The subject was 
new to the public; affording, too, an 
opportunity for philosophical discussion 
and. curious information, subservient to 
the most benevolent purposes; all 
which have been thrown away in the 
uninteresting notice of the reviewer. 
We think, contrary to the writer, that 
in cases where the organs of speech 
are entire, articulation should not be 
neglected, notwithstanding the distor- 
tion of countenance it occasions, and 
which appears to us a defect-that might 
be corrected by those to whom the 
instruction of the deaf and dumb is 
confided. 
The next article, Mémoires du Duc 
de Lauzun, we consider, like its sub- 
ject, unworthy of a place even in the 
Quarterly, and for the most part is a 
mere reprint of the driyellings of acer- 
tain weekly journalist, whom we have 
long observed dextercusly engaged in 
extending the circulation of his pages, 
by ministering to the wants of the clean 
and unclean portion of his readers; 
providing the latter with early intelli- 
gence of every deleterious publication 
that issues from the press, and without 
which aid they would probably never 
have heard of their existence; and con- 
ciliating the favour of the former by 
declaiming lustily on their immoral and 
irreligious tendency. Of the Mémoires 
we can say nothing, not haying seen 
them; nor do we feel any curiosity 
about their contents. We understand 
they furnish additions to the scandalous 
ebtonicle of the old courts and the old 
nobility ; and we can only observe, if 
their details are more revolting than 
those that have preceded on the same 
subject, the authenticity of which has 
not been denied, they must be very 
shocking. Judging from the facts 
The Philosophy of Contemporary Criticism, No. XX. 
[Junet, 
adduced by the reviewer to prove 
the work spurious, we have no deubt 
about its genuimeness, and that it is 
what it purports to be—Memoirs of the 
Life of the notorious Duke de Biron, 
alias Duc de Lauzun. Thatda certain 
class should wish such records of past 
times suppressed and forgotten, we 
can readily conceive; and we wish 
there had been no cause for their pub- 
lication: but while the excesses of re- 
formers are continually held up to 
deter from the most salutary improve- 
ments, we can see no harm in occa- 
sionally reverting to the evils of the 
old system, so that the wise’ and good 
may steadily pursue their course with- 
out falling into the follies of either. 
The eighth subject, Western Cale- 
donia, isa notice of the voyages and 
travels of Mr. Harmon; who, we are 
told, is a “pious man,” and whose 
piety appears, from the cavalier rela- 
tion of the reviewer, to have formed 
some atonement for his aberration, in 
taking a Canadian girl without those 
formalities usual in civilized society. 
In the ninth article, State of Weights 
and Measures, two facts are stated de- 
serving attention: first, an error of =% 
per cent. in the computed proportion 
between the weights of England and 
France, and which has affected the 
estimated par of exchange between the 
two countries for the last eighty years; 
secondly, the introduction of au uniform 
system of weights and measures seems 
nearly as difficult and hopeless as the 
introduction of an uniform language. 
Memoirs of the Kit-Kat Club forms 
the tenth subject, in which the reviewer 
puts forth his whole strength to destroy 
the credit of the unfortunate editor of 
the publication. That the style of the 
author is somewhat /dche, there are 
evident symptoms ; but some errors arc 
obviously those of the printer; others, 
we think, are too gross to have been 
committed ; and, in the extract at page 
426, the writer’s meaning is plainly 
perverted, for it is clear that the Kit- 
Cat Club might not be instituted till 
“about 1700,” and yet consist of “ the 
principal noblemen and gentlemen,” 
who. had ‘opposed’ the arbitrary mea- 
sures of James II.” in 1688. At all 
events, the reviewer, while sedulously 
picking .out the misnomers and ana- 
chronisms of others, should have been 
correct in his own references. He re- 
fers to No. 34 of the Tatler, stating 
that ‘‘the whole paper’ relates ‘to the 
reason why the custom of “ toasting 
ladies” 
