448 
neficial operation of the law on the happi- 
ness of the people. So much for the code 
itself. With respect to the means to be 
adopted for proeuring such a code, and 
the persons to be employed in the task, 
Mr. Bentham’s notions are peculiar, and 
we cannot, on all points, exactly agree 
with him. He admits that there should 
be an open competition, and requires that 
no public reward should be given to the 
candidates, This is well; but when he 
proceeds to recommend that the draught 
should be, if possible, the work of a sing!e 
hand, that it should be known to be so, 
and further known whose work it is, we 
feel inclined to hesitate before we admit 
the expediency or necessity of these po- 
sitions. A great philosopher, and we 
recognize Mr. Bentham’s title to that 
designation, may be best fitted to guide 
the counse!s and prompt the resolutions of 
ethers, but we cannot allow that even he 
will act or write best alone, and without 
any communication with men of different 
views, habits, and attainments. Nor do 
we see why the single author of such a 
system, supposing it to be adopted, need 
to be held forth so distinctly and point- 
edly. Mr. Bentham’s arguments on this 
head do not convince us:—‘“ Else (says 
Mr. B.) the responsibility and encourage- 
ment are deficient.” The encourage- 
ment to such a scheme would, we trust, be 
found ina deeper motive than ostentation ; 
and as to responsibility, that, it seems to 
us, rests with the government which adopts, 
and not with the anthor who proposes, 
the scheme. We wish these points, which 
are of very secondary consideration, had 
not been so much dwelt upon, as they 
convey an idea,—we are stire,a very un- 
just one,—that all their tendency is to con- 
centrate the work of legislation in Mr. Ben- 
tham alone, ‘particularly as the pamphlet 
eoneludes with testimonials, and honour- 
able ones too, of his capacity, from many 
different quarters. We are confident, for 
our own part, thatit could not be in better 
hands; and in the integrity of his heart, 
in the consciousness of performing a great 
duty, and in the admiration and love of 
the good and the wise, Mr. Bentham will 
find an effectual defence against the hosti- 
lity of the corrupt, and the sneers of the 
ignorant, which he must expect now, as 
heretofore, to be directed against him. 
Mr. T. Moore has lately published a 
third number of the National Melodies, 
equal, if not superior, in al! respects, to 
either of the two former ones. We sub- 
join from it the song adapted to the Ve- 
netian air. It is of that kind in which he 
pre-eminently excels, Highly as we ad- 
mire his more melancholy effusions, we 
think that he surpasses even themin such 
poems as the following. We do not ven- 
ture this observation with any degree of 
positiveness, for we always find that his 
Literary and Critical Procémium. 
[Jane 1, 
poetry, as he himselt has so beautifully ex- 
pressed it— 
Rules like a wizard. the world of the heart, 
And can call up its sunshine, or biing down its 
showers. 
For, whether the reader be in a gay or in 
a grave disposition, when he takes up 
these Melodies, their influence is such as 
to depress or elevate his mind to the tone 
of feeling assumed by the poet. But we 
must not suffer our enthusiastic admiration 
of this author to carry us farther, lest we 
should disappoint our readers, by occupy- 
ing ourselyes the space requisite for the 
promised specimen. 
Row gently here, my gondolier! , 
So softly wake the fide, 
That not an ear on earth may hear 
But her’s to whom we glide. 
Had Heaven but tongues to speak, as well 
As starry eyes to see, ’ 
Oh think! what tales *twould have to tell 
Of wandering youths like me, 
Now rest thee here, my gondolier! 
Hush! hush! for up I Bir 
To climb yon light baleony’s height, 
Whilst thou keep’st watch below. 
Oh! did we take for Heaven above, 
But half such pains as we 
Take, day and night, for woman’s love, 
What angels we should be. 
The good old fashion of gathering sim- 
ples, and applying the native produce of 
our fields to the relief of disease, is now, 
we apprehend, nearly exploded ; and, whe- 
ther the patient has lost or gained by this 
circumstance, is a question on which we 
will not enter. The medical profession, 
no doubt, have a clear opinion on that 
subject. ‘The partizans of the old system 
will, however, be glad to see the New 
British Domestic Herbal, which has been 
compiled from the best ancient and mo- 
dern practice, by Mr. Joun AUGUSTINE, 
WALLER, already known as the translator 
of Orfila’s works on poisons. The present 
work contains a correct deseription of in- 
digenous medicinal plants; and is, of 
course, better calculated to be of use in 
retired country situations, than in towns 
where the druggist and the apothecary are 
at hand. Very partienlar directions are 
laid down for the use of the different pre- 
parations ; and a number of well-engraved 
plates are annexed, exhibiting coloured 
figures of many of the most useful plants. 
The author strongly advocates the employ- 
ment of vegetable instead of mineral re- 
medies: and his work is, we think, well 
calculated to recall attention to such sim- 
ples as, notwithstanding their really effica- 
cious properties, have fallen into unmerited 
neglect. 
Those who take a share in the increasing 
interest with which the study of Egyptian 
antiquities ix now regarded, will be pleased 
with a little work, entitled, Memoranda, 
illustrative of the Tombs and Sepulchral 
Decorations of the Egyptians, with a Key 
tothe Egyptian Tomb now exhibiting in Pieca- 
dilly, and Observations. on the Process of 
Embalming. The comparative indifference 
with 
