200 
the commonest comforts of life, as if the go- 
vernment had no other object than to make 
itself be felt ; and the writer infers, the next 
revolution in Europe will be in that quarter. 
They have house duty, and window duty, 
and hearth duty, and many other taxes bear- 
ing heavily upon the poor. ‘‘ But the most 
oppressive of them all,’’ adds the writer, 
‘Cis the tax which is laid on the actual con- 
sumption of articles of sustenance. Until you 
have actually eaten your pig, it cannot be 
said to be your own—not, at all events, until 
it is roasting. Your corn is not yours, al- 
though you have bought it and paid for it. 
Before one is at liberty to kill a pig, the 
king’s permission must be obtained ; and 
for this half-a-crown is paid. An ox, of 
course, pays proportionally more ; and be- 
fore you dare grind your corn, you must 
also pay a tax to his majesty.’ But this is 
treacherous ground—when we think of our 
own barley, tallow, skins, tea, coffee, bricks, 
oil-cloth, &c. &c. 
The reader will meet with neither 
churches nor pictures—a well-known work 
upon Italy, at the conclusion of a long 
chapter, filled from beginning to end 
with descriptions of paintings, says — 
"put they must be seen in order to convey 
any idea of the wonders which the creative 
art can work.”’ The writer is of the same 
opinion; but in the work from which he 
quotes, “‘ the discovery,”’ he adds, “is made 
too late, by the whole length of a chapter.” 
—The author recommends a new route— 
which may be worth some traveller’s notice. 
Instead of going from Paris to Milan by 
Mount Denis, a far more varied and agree- 
able route would be, to descend the Rhone 
from Lyons to Avignon ; to travel by land 
from Avignon to Toulon ; to make a coast- 
ing voyage from Toulon, either to Nice or 
Genoa, and from thence to Milan. 
Modern Domestic Medicine, by T.J. 
Graham, M. D.; 1828. — Most people, 
when they fall ill, fly to the physician, 
and lose all confidence in their own judg- 
ments, however propped by previous study. 
The very physician will seldom prescribe for 
himself. Nevertheless, most people like to 
pore over ‘“ domestic medicine ;’’ and few 
publications have a more general and steady 
sale than books of this character. Buchan’s 
reign was once universal, till Thompson, 
with no very legitimate claims, hurled him 
from his throne; and Thompson, in his 
turn, is beginning to be pushed from his 
stool by Dr. Graham, whose book—which 
now lays before us, and of which we will 
read as much as we can—has at least the 
merit of plain sense and distinct statements. 
Within a few months, it has actually reached 
a third edition. The writer’s main view, 
he tells us, was to produce a work which 
might be serviceable to unprofessional peo- 
ple—to the clergy—they not having enough 
in the cwrative way upon their hands—to 
heads of families and travellers ; and he has 
Monthly Review of Literature, 
[Aveust, 
accordingly confined himself, with sound 
discretion, to clear and correct description 
of the nature, symptoms, causes, distinctions, 
and most approved treatment of diseases. 
And as to remedies—none are recommended 
by him, or detailed, but the best and most 
manageable for the relief of pain and irrita- 
tion. The relief of irritation is (he ob- 
serves) the great object of medicine—the 
means which are most serviceable in allaying 
irritation, are the most speedy and effectual 
in the relief and cure of diseases: the rest 
may be left, we suppose, safely enough to 
the vis medicatria of life. : 
Though dwelling as he does upon what 
he terms manageable remedies, he has 
avoided—and he marks it in his preface— 
any “ dissertation on the passions ;’’ a re- 
mark which implies a lurking belief that the 
passions are the sources of disease, or at 
least have a mighty influence on the career 
and intensity, and the control of which, we 
suspect, would prevent many, and check 
more. To detect the effects of passion—the 
physical effects, we mean—is the physician’s 
especial province ; and we have no doubt 
the printings of the physician will, nine. 
times out of ten, be more effectual than the 
denouncings of the preacher: and we have, 
moreover—which is, by the way, an opinion 
of our own, and we give utterance to it in 
the teeth of education-mongers—as little 
doubt it is of: far greater importance to the 
welfare and happiness of their children, for 
parents to discipline their passions—mean- 
ing here their ¢emper, which is the great and 
early indicator of the passions—than their 
brains. 
Religious Discourses, by a Layman ; 
1828.—This is too ridiculous. Sir Walter’s 
great name—deservedly great as it is—will 
not carry with it an excuse for every folly. 
There is no reason upon earth why Sir 
Walter Scott—if he put his soul into the 
effort—or any other layman of common 
sense and literary habits, should not write 
a tolerable sermon—but these are utterly 
worthless—nor will either the alleged mo- 
tives, or the real ones, at all justify the pub- 
lication. The true history is this—and for 
the author’s credit at least, it should be 
known. While writing the Waverley no- 
vels incognito, Sir Walter had his MSS. 
copied by a gentleman who was studying © 
for the church ; and when the time arrived 
for his delivering two sermons before the 
presbytery—one of the usual tests of com- 
petent ability in the Scotch church—he ex- 
pressed in Sir Walter’s hearing his appre- 
hensions of failure ; upon which Sir Walter 
offered to write them for him, and actually 
wrote them, as we learn, the next morning. 
The sermons were read, and the candidate 
passed; but failing in getting any church 
employment, he obtained, through Sir 
Walter’s interest, a place under government 
in London. Mr. G., however, still wishing — 
to turn these sermons to account, prevailed _ 
