36h 
as is said of cartilaginous fishes, he will 
continue to increase as long as he con- 
tinues to live. 
We fear the work now before us will 
mot greatly contribute to this pleasing 
effect. Mrs. Pilkington has been sin- 
ularly unfortunate in the author she 
Bes chosen to abridge, and in the judg- 
ment she-has formed of his character. 
She misleads her fair pupil, Miss Elphin- 
stone, when she informs her in the de- 
dication that Goldsmith, as a natural 
historian, has obtained universal credit. 
She has been strangely misinformed, or 
she would not have said in her preface, 
that his history of animated nature is 
justly and universally admired. The 
fact is, Goldsmith was no naturalist. 
Whenever he wrote from the sponta- 
neous impulse of his own mind, he 
wrote in verse : and among the poets of 
the latter end of the eighteenth century, 
he is of the first order. But, like many 
other men of genius, he was too indo- 
lent to do much without an additional 
stimulus. When he wrote in prose, he 
wrote for bread. 
Goldsmith, said Dr. Johnson, is writ- 
ing a history of ancient Rome, and he 
will make it as entertaining as a novel: 
he might have added, and as little en- 
titled to credit. Master of a pleasing 
style, he had a happy facility in work- 
ing up the materials of other writers 
into an elegant and imposing form: but 
‘as he possessed no extensive range of 
knowledge, and was almost equally void 
of discriminating and of combining 
powers, he compiled always without 
judgment, and too often without care. 
, With respect to his natural history, he 
is said to have acknowledged that he 
treated what he thought a trifling sub- 
ject in a trifling manner. Fortunately 
for him there was then in the English 
language no popular view of the subject 
ba “7? ae 
. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
which could boast of any degree of ele. 
gance, and his work had an extensive 
sale. It may still continue to amuse 
those who read only for amusement, but 
it has no further claim; nor can any 
abridgment of it be ever employed with 
advantage as an elementary book, Such 
a book is still a desideratum in our lan- 
guage; and it is, we fear, an acqui- 
sition which we are not likely goon to 
obtain. To make it what we wish it to 
be, will require an union of genius and 
science, which is rarely employed in 
providing the first rudiments of know- 
ledge for the young. We know of only 
one living writer, who has all the qua- 
lifications necessary for the task, and is, 
at the same time, accustomed to the 
consideration of entering into the imper- 
fect views, and supplying the wants of 
the uninstructed mind, No one gvho has 
read (and who has not read?) the sketches 
of natural history, scattered through the 
little volumes entitled Evenings at Home, 
can be at a loss to guess whom we mean. 
That writer’s plain and elegant style, 
and happy talent for familiar illustra- 
tion, would be most beneficially em- 
ployed in conducting the unpractised 
naturalist through the three kingdoms 
of nature, in explaining the principles 
on which the classification of their, va- 
rious parts has been conducted, and in 
selecting such details as would render 
the whole equally interesting and in- 
structive. 
At present, we can only lament that 
Mrs. Pilkington has bestowed her time 
and attention on a work which will not 
fulfill her laudable intentions. But in 
justice to her it is incumbent upon us to 
add, and we add with pleasure, that her 
abridgment, as far as we have com- 
pared it with the original, is faithful 
and elegant. 
Art. V. A History of Quadrupeds, adapted io the Capacity of Youth, By Mrs. Mary 
Tarimmer, of Kentish Town. 
WHEN this history of quadrupeds 
was first announced, we felt some pre- 
possession in its favour. We did not, 
indeed, expect that it would. realize the 
ideas. expressed in our last article, but 
the respectable name of Trimmer in- 
duced us to look for some judgment in 
the arrangement, and for much moral 
imstruction in the application of its ma- 
terials. A glance at the title-page 
lowered our hopes, by introducing to us 
Svo. 
a Mrs: Afary Trimmer, and not the 
well-known author of various publica- 
tions for the use of young persons, which 
have been so generally circulated and 
approved. A slight view of the work 
completely dispelled them, and con- 
vinced us that, if Mrs. Pilkington’s 
Abridgment of Goldsmith must by no 
means aspire to the honour of being ad- 
mitted as an elementary book for the 
instruction of youth in an advanced 
1 ts oe 
