190 



Monthly Review of LUeraiurd 



[Feb. 



Janus, or the Edinburgh Literary Almanack- 

 — This is a stout volume of between four 

 and five hundred pages, consisting of a 

 compilation in verse and prose, of a great 

 variety of subjects. It ranks with the 

 leading magazines of the day, but does not 

 excel them in the quality of the prose 

 compositions, and is rather inferior to them 

 in the poetical department. The article 

 entitled, " Thoi'.ghts on Bores" is caustic, 

 amusing, and instructive. The " Essence 

 of Opera" is pungent, and laughter-stir- 

 ring. " A Preface that may serve all 

 modern Works of Imagination" demands 

 high commendation. The story of " Daniel 

 Cathie, Tobacconist," would not dishonour 

 the fame of Gait. "The Bohemian Garden- 

 er" is sutBciently romantic for any lady in 

 the land : and many others deserve notice. 

 We can safely recommend the volume as 

 an amusing one, happily varied with matter 

 grave, gay, and instructive. 



The Subaltern. — The chapters of which 

 this volume consists were published suc- 

 cessively in Blackwood's Miigazine. They 

 cany on every page the stamp of truth, 

 and are therefore very valuable as docu- 

 ments. The incidents are interesting and 

 exciting. The volume has a still higher 

 claim to consideration ; it is virtually that 

 kind of delineation of the human mind, 

 when placed in peculiar circumstances, 

 which is calculated to enlarge the sphere of 

 our knowledge of mankind. The soldier 

 will peruse it with pleasure, as narrating 

 scenes to which he has been familiar : the 

 civilian cannot fail feeling interested, by 

 being thus introduced to scenes and emo- 

 tions so wholly new to him ; the philoso- 

 pher will study it as a curious record. We 

 know of no work which gives so intelligi- 

 ble a detail of war as this. Our limits 

 forbid our indulging any extracts of sieges 

 and battles, for they are too long, and we 

 are not so tasteless and cold-blooded as 

 to mangle the descriptions of a writer. We 

 consider the following as a very curious 

 fact ; — 



Whilst the British army occupied its position 

 along the Spanish bank of the Bidassoa, a vast 

 number of desertions took place ; insomuch as to 

 cause a serious diminution of its strength. 



The author attributes these desertions, 

 " entirely to the operation of superstitious 

 terror on the minds of the men, who were 

 placed slnghj near the bodies of the slain, 

 as sentinels," and thus speaks of it ; — 



That both soldiers and sailors are frequently 

 superstitious, every person knows ; nor can it be 

 pleasant for the strongest-minded among them to 

 spend two or three hours of a stirmy night beside a 

 mangled and half-devoured carcase ; indeed I have 

 been myself, more than once, remonstrated with, 

 for desiring as brave a fellow as any in the corps, to 

 keep guard near one of his fallen comrades. " I 

 don't care for living men," said the soldier; "but, 

 for God's sake, sir, don't keep me beside him ;" and 

 wherever I could yield to the remonstrance, I in- 

 variably did so. My own opinion, therefore, was, 



that many t>f our sentries became so overpowered by 

 superstition, that they could not keep their ground. 

 They knew, however, tliat if they returned to the 

 piquet, a severe pimishment awaited them : and 

 hence they went over to the enemy, rather than en- 

 dure the misery of a diseased imagination. 



As a proof that my notions were correct, it was 

 remarked, that the army had no sooner descended 

 from the mountains, and taken up a position which 

 required a chain of double sentinels to be renewed, 

 than desertion in a very great degree ceased. 



We know that superstitious feelings are 

 seldom wholly banished from the mind. 

 The " Book of Fate" has been stereo- 

 typed ; this fact speaks volumes. A few 

 years ago, the whole crew of an eighty 

 gun ship, consisting of between six and 

 seven hundred men, were kept in awe and 

 feverish excitement by a ghost, which was 

 eventually proved to be an attenuated tailor. 

 We again assure our readers, that this 

 volume will amply indemnify them for the 

 trouble of perusing it. 



Beauties of the Modern Poets. By D. 

 Carey. — Every book which is intended to 

 diffuse information among the people, will 

 always have our commendation. Few, 

 com))aratively speaking, can afford to pur- 

 chase, or have the means of obtaining, the 

 works of modern poets ; for a considerable 

 price must be demanded for their volumes, 

 to enable the pidilisher to indenmify him- 

 self for the purchase of the MS. and the 

 outlay of capital. This is a judicious and 

 copious selection, well calculated to ex- 

 tend the knowledge of the poetical produc- 

 tions of the day. We miss Hoggarth's 

 Cassandra, one of the finest odes in the 

 English language — parts of Montgomery's 

 " World before the Flood," and extracts 

 from Miss Porden's "Coeur de Lion ;" both 

 these poems are ornaments to our coun- 

 try ; the latter has been unaccountably 

 neglected by the public. 



Matilda, a Tale of the Day. — It is gene- 

 rally reported that Lord Normanby is the 

 writer of this volume. If such had not 

 been the case, the i)reface, the style, and 

 the general stamp of the work would have 

 proved it to have been composed by a 

 gentleman. The facility in the weaving of 

 the dramatic texture of the work, and the 

 distmctions so clearly marked in the cha- 

 racters, without those forced and violent 

 contrasts, which are criteria of weakness, 

 place it among the first of the works of its 

 class. We cannot say that this class is 

 very high, but his lordship has compassed 

 what he intended ; he has written a volume 

 well calculated to beguile the tediousness 

 and progress of the traveller's way, and 

 converted a dull and lonely evening into 

 one of interest and amusement. 



Before Lord Normanby can take his 

 rank among the higher class wTiters of the 

 age, he must consider, that his subject 

 must be df a high character, and one 

 which will enable him to delineate the 

 manners and customs of some age, or some 



