308 
rupt the good. Why should the writer 
suppose none will feel the incongruity but 
herself ? 
«“ A lady of my acquaintance,” says Mr. 
Best, in his Three Years in Italy, ‘‘ was 
standing, with her little boy, before a naked 
bronze Cupid, that supported the wax lights 
on the sideboard. The figure was regarded 
by the child with peculiar complacency ; 
and the lady, for the purpose of correcting 
the expression of fun that appeared in the 
eyes of her little one, said, as if addressing 
the cupid—‘ Naughty little boy.’—‘ No,’ 
said the child, ‘not naughty, mamma, only 
no clothes on.’ ” 
An Account of the Public Charities of 
the Town of Bedford, by R. B. Hankin, 
Solicitor, Bedford. 1828.—Our readers may 
think “An Account of the Public Charities 
of the Town of Bedford,” perhaps, hardly 
deserving a place in a review of literary 
productions. The utility of such works, 
however, may plead an excuse for the indul- 
gence. The idea, at least, is a new one ; 
and if it had been acted upon some years 
ago, through the different towns in the 
kingdom, there would, probably, have been 
less occasion for the labours of Mr. Brougham 
on the subject of public charities. The 
present book is dedicated to the Duke of 
Bedford; and the editor begins with an 
analysis of a very recent act of parliament, 
for the better management of what is called, . 
commonly, ‘ The Harpur Charity.” He 
afterwards gives an account of a great many 
minor bequests and donations, at different 
periods, for the benefit of the town of Bed- 
ford; and concludes with a topographical 
description of the place. The notice of the 
town will not be uninteresting, even to a 
stranger—and it seems that Mr. Hankin 
has not been contented with availing himself 
of the researches of others, but has frequently 
gone in quest of antiquarian novelties him- 
self. We hope his example may be gene- 
rally followed; and that the inhabitants of 
other places may, by similar publications, be 
made acquainted with the nature and extent 
of their advantages, and be able to obviate 
or correct the abuses which are the inevitable 
consequence of their being unknown or dis- 
regarded. 
A Compendium of Modern Geography, 
for Schools, by the Rev. Alex. Stewart ; 
1828.—Mr. Stewart is favourably known 
by some judicious school abridgments 
of histories. The advantages offered in 
this compendium —similar compendiums 
abounding—is first, “by a judicious typo- 
graphy,’ more information in the same 
compass. It contains all the usual mate- 
rials of what is now-a-days called a geo- 
graphical grammar, with exercises, ques- 
tions, &c. ; but what the compiler avowedly 
wishes to be regarded as the characteristic 
superiority is the tabular list of the more 
remarkable places annexed to the descrip- 
tion of each country, with vernacular pro- 
Monthly Review of Literature, 
[Sepr. 
nunciation of each word critically marked. 
This, correctly performed, must prove un- 
questionably a great accommodation to 
untravelled Englishmen —tutors and go- 
vernesses; but correciness in this matter, 
not only for Europe, but the world, is not 
easy of accomplishment, and even if the 
difficulty of acquisition be overcome, the 
author may not succeed in conveying his 
knowledge correctly to the reader. Mr. 
Stewart has, probably, upon the whole, 
done as well as any one individual can be 
expected to do; but looking to his English 
list, he has plainly given us some of his 
own Scotch. Leicester is directed to be 
pronounced Leester—Reading, Reed/ing— 
Chichester, Chee’chester—Lincoln, Ling’- 
con, when Lin’cun would have been nearer 
the mark — Doncaster, Dong’-caster. Is 
Chee’vot for Cheviot right? Evesham is 
accented Ev’esham, though it should be 
Ee/sham—Kes’sick, but Kess‘ick would be 
nearer the sound. 
The Scotch, we have no doubt, are all 
correct enough, and we shall, for our own 
parts, confide in them. The Irish are gene- 
rally, we believe, right, though Monaghan 
is not-Mr. S. directs Mona’gan, but it 
should be Mona/an, or perhaps Monawn. 
But when right himself, he may mislead 
by placing the accent, when it is used with 
the last syllable, on the last letter—that is 
where that last letter is what grammarians 
call a silent e—for instance, he marks Bal- 
linrobé, Athloné, Kildaré. To be sure, 
this will mislead no Englishman who ever 
heard of these places ; but the same system 
will inevitably mislead pursued with the 
French names. Alsace is marked and spelt 
Alsancé—Angouleme, Angoolarmé—Puy de 
Dome, Pwee de Domé—The Spanish Bada- 
joz is directed to be uttered Vad’ahos—Barce- 
lona, Var-the-léna, which is a useless nicety. 
Granada is not accented at all. The Por- 
tuguese Braganza is Vagran‘ha—Coimbra, 
Coimyra—all which, though correct enough, 
will be adopted by nobody. In Greece, 
Scio is described Skéo, which, we believe, 
should be Shéo. The penult of Egina is 
accented according to the quantity, we 
suppose, in ancient days; but the modern 
Greeks undoubtedly make it short. 
The Compendium is the best and fullest 
we have seen. 
An Etymological Dictionary of the Latin 
Language, by the Rev. F. E. I. Valpy, 
A.M. ; 1828.—To discover what a writer 
is driving at, is of course the prime object 
with every reasonable person, when reading 
the language of his own country, or any 
modern language with the idiom of which 
he is familiar, without troubling himself 
much with the involutions of phrases, or 
their general or specific senses—much less 
with the niceties of particular terms —an 
obscure conception of a few words obscures 
but little the ultimate glance—his habitual 
acquaintance with customary combinations 
a ee 
I mie 
