Circle of the Seascnis. 333 



Growth of the Cucumber and Melon ; in a series of Directions for the 

 best Means to be adopted in bringing them to a complete state of per- 

 fection. London. 8vo, pp. 84. 7s. Wright, Haymarket. 



We can safely recommend this little work to such amateurs as are their 

 own gardeners : they will find the directions plain, concise, and well adapted 

 to the end proposed ; viz. ample crops of cucumbers and melons, both at 

 the earliest and latest seasons at which these fruits are grown. 



Anon. : Circle of the Seasons, and Perpetual Key to the Calendar and 

 Almanack ; to which is added, the Circle of the Hours, and the History 

 of the Days of the Week : being a Compendious Illustration of the 

 History, Antiquities, and Natural Phenomena of each Day of the Year. 

 London. 12mo. 



" The Circle of the Seasons is intended for the daily instruction and 

 amusement chiefly of young persons, particularly those who are fond of 

 the study of botany and the natural sciences in general. It is, in fact, a 

 compendious illustration of the history and phenomena of each day in the 

 year ; and each page, containing one day, may be divided into three sepa- 

 rate parts or subjects. In the first, the saints and festivals of the day are 

 recorded, together with short notices of each, so as to form a useful key to 

 the Calendar and Almanack. In the second follows the natural history of 

 each day, containing a list of the plants which, on an average, begin to 

 flower or to fade ; the birds which arrive or begin to sing ; and other natu- 

 ral phenomena. And, lastly, we have added such descriptive poetry as' 

 relates to the above two subjects, in order to afford a pleasing recreation 

 to those who are disposed for a little daily exercise of this sort, and to 

 illustrate the foregoing [religious] history and natural history of the day." 



" The work has been compfled with great labour and attention to accuracy ; 

 and it is hoped, and fairly presumed, since a vast quantity of useful and 

 agreeable information has been got together, and rendered easy of attain- 

 ment by the mode of its arrangement, that both pleasure and profit may be 

 gained by its daily perusal." 



We approve of, and admire this little work, with the exception of that part 

 of it, perhaps about one fifth of each page, which is occupied with the names 

 of Catholic saints and martyrs. We cannot conceive the utility of inserting 

 upwards of 1000 names, with scarcely a tithe of which, as a well-informed 

 Catholic authorises us to state, any useful ideas can be associated. Perhaps 

 the author may venerate them merely as names of antiquity ; if so, all that 

 we can say is, that we differ from him in taste. 



We should have preferred the names and short biographies of men of 

 science, art, or literature; or even the names of appropriate dessert or 

 culinary fare ; or the operations and products of agriculture and garden- 

 ing; or, indeed, any sort of useful information. To those, however, who, 

 like the author, find " something very pleasing in the periodical return of 

 festive days, and the various rites and ceremonies connected with them," 

 the work will be, what it is intended to be, instructive and amusing. 



We can readily sympathise with the feeling for Catholicism, not only as 

 the most ancient and venerable variety of Christianity, but as that the best 

 calculated, by its external forms, for taking full possession of the mind. 



Treating this subject as a matter of taste, a highly artificial style of re- 

 ligion may be compared to a highly artificial style of art, and when a prefer- 

 ence is given to the first, the Catholic style will be preferred to the Protestant 

 manner, on the same principle that florid Gothic architecture, and the 

 landscape-gardening of Le Notre, will be preferred to the Grecian or the 

 English styles of these arts. Every style, both of thinking and building is 



