412 REVIEWg. 



that it is a place where books are printed aud sold, that it has ani 

 astronomical observatory and a military college, and that it lies ii;i 

 the United States of Columbia, a Republic of which the President 

 for the year 18U3 was Tomas 0. de Mosquera. For further informa- 

 tion the Grazetteer may be consulted. But before proeeeding to 

 examine our little volume inside, let ug notice what knowledge w^ 

 may pick up from the cover ; accordingly here we read " e)i esta im' 

 prenta se handado a luz" — notice the elegance pf this litfcle phrase, 

 " i se hallan. de venta, las siguentes obras,'" and then follows a list of 

 books, commencing with a " Grammar of the Castilian Language," 

 — price in hard cash, $3.00 ; and including books pf poetry, religion, 

 Jaw, commerce, a manual of politeness {urbanidad i buenas nianeras), 

 novels, dramas, a code of morals " founded on the nature of man," 

 juguete jilosofieo, and winding up with a " Code of Love, or complete 

 course of definitions, laws, rules and maxinis applicable to the art oi 

 loving and being loved ; by Agapito Caaelon, Esquire,"-— price IQ^^P' 

 Thus we see the human insect 



"Spins, toiling put his own cocoon," 



in Columbia much the same as in places better known to us. The con- 

 cluding line of these advertisements ig interesting to " us Britishers " 

 as expressing in large capitals " Articulos de escritorio, manufactura 

 Inglesa." 



Opening now our almanac, we find ourselves at once in a land of 

 the "historic" taith, for we see that the first page contains the "ecclesi- 

 astical reckoning," the four temporas, or fasts, and the moveable 

 feasts of the Church. Curiously enough, under the first heading 

 are included the dates of the Jewish and Mahomedan eras, and the 

 Turkish fast or Ramadan, reminding us how closely connected were 

 these races with the Spaniards of old. Then follow " chronological 

 notices," giving an account of the origin and calculations of the 

 dominical and golden letters, the epact, &c., and, we must acknowl- 

 edge, with a fulness and clearness which we have never met with in 

 any English work. A few important dates in the world's history 

 are added and we are told that " good chronologists count five epochs 

 for the understanding of history, sacred and profane." Students 

 might guess long what these five were, before they lighted on the 

 following: — The taking of Troy, the foundation of Rome, the con- 

 quest pf Carthage by Scipio, Coijstantiue op the peape pf the Churcl}, 



