MONTAGUE’S BRITISH SHELLS. 853 
them to the utmost. ‘‘ There is no one,” 
(says the eloquent Zimmerman) ‘“* who ma 
not, by quietly traversing the mountains with 
his gun, learn to. feel how much the great 
scenes of nature will influence the heart, 
when assisted by the powers of the imagina~ 
tion. The sight of an agreeable landscape ; 
-the various points of view which the spacious 
lains afford ; the freshness of the zephyrs ; 
the beauty of the sky, and the appetite which 
a long chase procures, will give energy to 
health, and make every new step Seem too 
short. The privation of every object that 
can recal the idea of dependence, accompa- 
nied by domestic comfort, wholesome exer- 
cises, and useful occupations, will add vigour 
to thought, and inebriate the heart with the 
most delicious sensations.” Where, indeed, 
hunting and the pursuit of a game form 
the sole employment of people, it tends 
naturally, and almost inevitably, to give a 
coarseness, and rusticity to the character; but 
there is no danger of this in modern times. 
Such recreations, on the contrary, may serve 
to temper the polished effeminacy of the age, 
and to prevent its degenerating into a too soft 
and artificial urbanity. The magistrates in 
the Greek republics encouraged a taste for 
music among the citizens, as contributing, 
by its harmony, to allay the ferocity inspired 
by gymuastic and military exercises. In mo- 
dern Europe, there is more need of caution, 
lest all the more boisterous and manly diver- 
sions should be exploded, and there be no- 
thing left to counteract the emasculating 
tendency of our luxurious and fashionable 
manners, 
Arr. III. Testacea Britannica 
THOUGH in our last volume we 
had not the satisfaction to give Mr. Mon- 
tague unqualified praise, we are truly 
glad to meet with him again. He is too 
valuable an acquaintance to be willingly 
lost, and we rejoice to find that he now 
presents himselt before the public in a 
better form and dress, so as to make his 
communications both more instructive 
and more pleasing. He has exchanged 
the alphabetical “it the scientific arrange- 
ment, and enables us to perceive at once 
with clearness and accuracy, how far 
that branch of natural history which he 
has undertaken to illustrate, has advanc- 
ed under his hands. His style too is 
much more pure and perspicuous. Itis, 
indeed, still blemished by a few negli- 
gences, which a very little care would 
easily have prevented: but in general it 
has that simplicity which is suited to his 
subject, and is such asa man naturally 
writes, when he is in full possession of 
~ 
«« Of the laws made for tha protection of 
game we have before spoken. Much has 
been at various times said respecting the se- 
verity of gr sat landed proprietors towards their 
humble tenantry ; and examples of individual’ 
oppression have been adduced, in proof of the 
complaint alledged. Itis too true that men 
invested with power do not always use it with 
discretion : we are but too apt to be more at~ 
tentive to our own pleasure than to our neigh- 
bour’s peace; but still, we believe, that the 
instances of the extreme exertion of the power 
involved in the exclusive right to kill game, 
have been greatly exaggerated. It is indeed’ 
to be regretted, that in any, even in a single 
case, the game laws should be perverted from 
the rational objects which occasioned their 
introduction: should any such instances arise 
by 2n adherence to the letter, they can never 
occur without an infringement of their prin- 
ciple. Those who derive a peculiar advan- 
tage by any legislative ordinance, ought to be 
careful so to employ it, as not to harass the 
excepted part of their fellow-subjects.. It is 
the particular duty of such persons to act 
with an eye to the true spirit and intention of 
the laws, which regulate the pursuit of game: 
and to remember, that, although they reserve 
to them an exclusive participation of rural 
sports, they confer no right to infringe the 
privileges, or interrupt the happiness, of even 
the humblest classes of the state.” 
We have only to add, what a Roman 
actor might, but a modern writer must 
nat, say for himself, 
Valete & plaudite, 
3 or, Natural History _ of British Shells. By. GEORGE 
Montracus, &. L. S. 4to. 
his subject, and gives the produce of his 
own observation and reflexion. 
Conchology, we readily confess, is that 
part of natural history which has always 
appearéd to us the most embarrassing 
and the least instructive. It is well 
known that Linnzus himself engaged in 
it with reluctance, and looked upon it as 
a degradation of science. It was, he 
thought, absurd to dignify the habita- 
tion, with the form and apparatus of 
classification and description ; and to pass 
over, or slightly notice, the living inha- 
bitant. The desire of completing his 
system -at length overcame his scruples. 
The beauty of shells is so generally ad- 
mired, that they will always o€cupy a 
distinguished place in public and private 
museums; and as the impossibility of 
meeting with the greater part of them in 
arecent state, must haye damped, if it 
did not altogether extinguish, the hope 
of distributing them into general and 
pe : ; 
