MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITKRATUIllt. 4^1 



The Physical and Intellectual Constitution of Man Considered. By 

 Edward Meryon, F.R.C.S, Smith, Elder, and Co. 



There are abundant proofs of careful thought and somewhat extensive re- 

 search in this volume ; but Mr. Meryon has not treated the subject in so 

 popular a manner as he might have done. He divides his book into six chap- 

 ters, which are severally headed — The Causes which appear to have operated 

 at successive epochs in preparing the World for the Habitation of Man — 

 The Transmutation of Animals — Varieties of the Human Species — Modify- 

 ing influence of Natural Causes — Physical Characteristics of particular Na- 

 tions, as affected by iVatural Causes — Intellectual Condition of particular 

 Nations. We have no room for extracts. 



A Description of the Parts of Devonshire borderino- on the Taniar 

 and the Tavy. By Mrs. Bray. 3 vols 8vo. Mu'rray. 



We have been indebted to Mrs. Bray for too many hours' amusement not 

 to feel interested in any new work from her pen. "The Borders of the 

 Tamar and Tavy," therefore, were hailed by us as a fresh source of mental 

 gratification. The noveis of Mrs. Bray have been objected to as not suffi- 

 ciently dramatic, which has been attributed to the length of her descriptions 

 of scenery, at a time when the wheels of the dramatic vehicle, so to speak, 

 wanted any thing but the drag-chain. Those minute descriptions of scenery, 

 however, which are so fatal to the drama and novels of a dramatic character, 

 a re by no means so where the work is mainly of a descriptive one ; in fact, 

 the difference is that of a person riding through a fine country on business 

 and on pleasure. In the latter case he may venture to pluck the lowly heather ; 

 in the former it is enough that he can spare a moment to glance even at the 

 majestic oak. What speed is to the man of business action is to the dramatic 

 novel — delay is, more or less, fatal to both. 



That it is no easy matter to render descriptions of local scenery and local 

 feelings generally interesting is readily admitted ; and we can only congra 

 tulate the fair authoress upon having done so to as great an extent as could be 

 expected even at her hands 



The first volume of the work is mainly devoted to the Druidical antiquities 

 of Dartmoor. Of readers in general, many are lovers of poetry, many of his- 

 tory, and many of romance ; while those of antiquarian research are, alas ! 

 too often, "few and far between." Anti-antiquarian, however, must he in 

 deed be who would refuse to lave his hands in rock basins or creep through 

 tolmens, led on by such a cicerone as Mrs. Bray, and amid such scenery as 

 that of the moor. And where is the tourist, male or female, who, rambling 

 in search of the magnificently picturesque, owns not that, 



" Though rude be the rock and though wild be the valley. 

 The genius of grandeur still hallows Dartmoor? " 



May we not, since the publication of " Dartmoor, a Poem, " and " Fitz 

 of Fitz-ford, a tale of Devon," be allowed to add the Genii of Poesy and 

 Romance } To those blessed with leisure a greater treat can hardly be 

 imagined than that of a Dartmoor excursion. Poem and Tale being of the 

 party. Whether the assurance of Charles II., that, "however cloudless the 

 sky may be over every other town in Great Britain, it was sure to be raining 

 cats and dogs at Tavistock," be correct to the letter we know not ; but, certes, 

 an umbrella and water-proof habiliments are seldom useless accompaniments 

 in such hilly districts. Space will not admit of our entering into an etymo- 

 logical discussion, and no more need, therefore, be said than that the deriva- 

 tionsare, for the most part, less fanciful than antiquarians usually indulge in, 

 despite of Mist Tor and its impenetrable fogs. Descending the stream of 

 time, Mrs. Bray reaches that point where to a certain extent history become.s 

 something more than fable ; and her account of the circumstances relative 

 to the founder and foundation of Tavistock Abbev, her observations on Mo- 



M.M.— No. 5. 2 M ■ 



