164 
Oct. 1821) we noticed, with approbation, 
a snfall volume of Notes relating to the 
Crim Tartars, by Mary Hotperness. 
This is now republished with additions; 
and A Narrative of a Journcy from Riga to 
the Crimea, with.an account of the Colonists 
of New Russia, written by the same lady, 
is prefixed. The whole constitutes an oc- 
tavo of 320 pages, replete with interesting 
information, ‘There are two views and 
three coloured lithographic representations 
of costume, which are well executed and 
add to the value of the volume. {In this 
age of book-making, itis pleasant to pe- 
ruse a work of this description, Mrs. 
Holderness is no imaginary traveller. She 
lived among the scenes which she describes, 
and she has taken care to describe only 
those things that are’ not to be found in 
other authors. We are not informed of 
the motives that induced a female, with 
her child, to accompany her husband in a 
perilous journey of twelve hundred miles, 
in such a country, in the middle of winter; 
nor of the natuse of the engagements that, 
after detaining her for four years, made her 
venture to return alone; but, whatever 
they were, the public have no cause for 
regret, secing that they have produced the 
volume before us. Nothing scems to have 
escaped this lady’s observation. Besides 
the prominent customs and manners of tlie 
inhabitants, we have minute particulars 
relative to commerce, manufactures, and 
agriculture, written as if she were no stran- 
ger to either of those subjects. Of the 
preparation of quuss, the common drink of 
the Russians, we have an account whieli is 
different, in every respect, from any: that 
we have’hitherto seen. It is usually de- 
scribed as a subacid liquor, formed by fer- 
mentation, from rye or barley-meal, mixed 
with ‘water and occasionally with malt. 
The process mentioned by Mrs. H. is as 
follows: “ Lhe common drink of the Rus- 
sians is kvass, which is not so good as our 
small-beer; it is sometimes made with flour 
and water, flavoured by herbs, sometimes 
with different sorts of fruit ; and this latter 
kind is amuch pleasanter drink, though 
it is alisour. The method of making it is 
very simple: a large barrel is filled with 
fruit, sometimes plums, sometimes apples, 
crabs, wine-souxs, or in fact any fruit of 
which you have a sufficient abundance to 
make it from ; there is then put into the 
cask as much water as it will hold, and in 
fifteen days it is fit to drink. After a few 
gallons are drawn off, it is filled up again 
with water, to make it last until the time 
of year when it can be made again. This 
sort of kvass is, however, only madein South 
Russia, and where fruit is abundant and 
cheap.” The Crimea, which is colonized 
from all nations, seems to have had no 
charms for Mrs. Holderness. ‘ The mo- 
ral character of the peasantry,” she says, 
“jis exccedingly depraved aud vicious ; 
Literary and Critical Proémium. 
and, excepting the Tartars, I never found 
it possible, by any good offices, or kind- 
néss, to excite any attachment in them, 
that the sight of a glass of brandy would 
not instantly surmount.” 
A Memoir of John Aikin,M.p. by Lucy 
A1kin, with a Selection of his Miscellane- 
ous Pieces, has been published in two 8yo- 
volumes. Dr. Aikin has been long known 
in the literary world; but his life was 2 
“ noiseless tenor,” and completely barren of 
incident. The res angusta domi, thé evit 
senins of the scholar, never haunted his 
abode, and, previous to that paralysis whicir 
consigned fiim to a living tomb for the last 
three years of his existence, he had at- 
tained the age of seventy-two, withscarce- 
ly a single cross in his journey of life, His. 
correspondence appears to have been li- 
mited, and rather that of friendship than 
of literature, and, at all events, such as, 
“ delicacy towards individuals, and respect, 
for the implied confidences of family inter- 
course,” has induced the editor to sup~ 
press. ‘The Memoir (which fills ap about 
two-thirds of ‘the first volume) is, in 
consequence, not a life of Dr. Aikin, but a 
sort of Catalogue Raisonnée of his numerous, 
works, aud an account of his engagements 
with booksellers in the conducting of pe- 
riodical publications. With respect to 
the latter, the dector seems to have en- 
tered on his task in the spirit of an inde-- 
pendent literaiy mau, taking a deeper 
interest in the’success of the different un- 
dertakings than isasual with a hired edi- 
tor. The remaining part of the first, and! 
the whole of the second, volume, consist 
of biographical memoirs, &c. published 
chiefly at different times in the Mouthly 
Magazine, and of criticisms on the works 
of Spencer, Milton, Dryden, Pope, &e. 
furnished as prefaces to an edition of the 
British, Poets. For the collection of alk 
these pieces we are really obliged to Miss 
Aikin. They show much of talent as well 
as much critical acumen, and all of them 
evince an ardent love of civil and reli- 
gious liberty. ‘Their style is unadorned, 
but accurate and perspicuous; and they. 
well deserve to be tlrus rescued frém the mass 
of fugitive publications. The language of 
Miss Aikin, herself, is generally plain and 
simple, and seems formed on the model of 
her father’s, There are, however, occasional 
expressions that a chastened taste would 
disapprove. For instance, should the 
writer chance to peruse these remarks, we 
would beg leave to refer her to the para- 
graph at page 152 of the Memoirs, It 
might be mistaken for a calumny, because 
it contains an insinualion without pointing 
to the slightest ground on which it can 
rest. hy, 
About fifteen months ago, Messrs. Carey 
and Sons, of Philadelphia, published an 
American Atlas. ‘This Atlas was a large 
folio of coloured maps of the several pee 
[Sept. 1, 
