Agriculture, Botany, Rural Architecture, fyc. 417 



F.L.S. 8vo ; pp. 601. to 74-2., exclusive of a new titlepage to the volume. 



London, 1839. 



This most laborious work, which has been upwards of a year in hand, is at 

 last completed ; and we hope it will be satisfactory to those for whom it was 

 intended. The total number of species enumerated in the Hortus Britannicus 

 is now 31,738. 



Report of the Committee of the Society for obtaining free Admission to National 

 Monuments, and public Edifices containing Works of Art. Pamphlet, 8vo. 

 London, March, 1839. 



This is a very interesting pamphlet; first, as showing who among the peers 

 and members of the House of Commons have taken an active part in an at- 

 tempt to extend opportunities of "mental recreation and developement among 

 the people;" and next, as showing what the committee have already done. 

 The Duke of Sussex is the president of this Society, Mr. Hume the chairman 

 of the committee, and Mr. George Foggo the honorary secretary. The 

 pamphlet contains a list of institutions in England and Scotland to which the 

 public are already admitted without any payment, amounting to nineteen ; an 

 announcement that the fees usually paid at the Tower have been reduced ; and 

 notices of some other institutions expected to become more liberal. The re- 

 luctance of the Dean of Westminster, the Royal Academy, and a few others, 

 to advance the public taste and civilisation, is deplored. The committee 

 " lament to find the London College of Surgeons, and the council of the 

 University College, unwilling to follow the noble example of the Royal College 

 of Surgeons at Edinburgh ; and that they consider the present restricted mode 

 of admission to their museums quite sufficient. The fine botanical garden 

 near Sheffield, also, as it belongs to a company of shareholders, affords no 

 hope." (p. 6.) 



The public are greatly indebted to this Society, which, we hope, will con- 

 tinue its labours till it has thoroughly liberalised the minds of the directors 

 of public institutions ; and, afterwards, it may perhaps direct its attention 

 to private collections of works of art, and private gardens and pleasure- 

 grounds. A list of country seats, noticing whether the house is shown, and 

 on what conditions, and what it contains worthy of being seen, would be 

 a valuable document, and be the means of rendering justice to those landed pro- 

 prietors who so nobly open their houses and gardens to the public. It would 

 be very desirable, if the gratuities which it is customary to give at such places 

 as Blenheim could be reduced to the higher classes, and if certain days could 

 be set apart for showing the houses and grounds of such places gratis to the 

 people. The mere discussion of this subject, accompanied by its statistics, 

 would do much good ; because the idea of interfering in the slightest degree 

 with the practice of individuals, in matters of this kind, is altogether out of the 

 question. 



Suggestions on National Education, with a View to the Advantage, not of the 

 Poor only, but of all Classes of Society. By John Smith. Pamph. 12mo, 

 pp. 35. London. 



Our readers will, perhaps, recollect some observations of ours under the head 

 of Horticultural Exercises for Schools, in p. 288. In the little book, the title 

 of which is given above, we were agreeably surprised, among other excellent 

 things, to find the following paragraphs, as part of suggestions of" the Means 

 by which the Government may show the Public what Education really is, and 

 the best Modes of carrying it forward." 



" I advise, then, that an estate, in some central part of the kingdom, be pur- 

 chased, for the purpose of erecting buildings, and laying out suitable grounds 

 for a model, or state school (which should, by all means, be a boarding 

 school), for about four hundred boys. I propose a central situation, that it 

 may be easy of access ; but I hope many similar establishments would soon 



Vol. XV. — No. 112. f f 



