450 
Literary and Critical Proemium. [D ec. I, 
character ; but as there are so many indis¬ 
criminate novel readers In the world, we 
apprehend any thing we can say will have 
hut little effect. Such of our readers as 
will take the trouble to cut open the pages 
of Happiness , a Tate for the Grave and 
the Gay, will, we think, be inclined to 
concur in our opinion. It is an attempt to 
unite two of the most opposite things in the 
world—satire and sanctity ; and dandies 
and serious Christians are mingled toge¬ 
ther in strange confusion. It is perhaps 
useless to say any thing further of a work 
which, like many of its cotemporaries, is 
fated to take its silent stand on the green- 
baize-protected shelves of country circu¬ 
lating libraries. 
To the other w T orks of Mrs. Taylor of 
Ongar, all distinguished by their plain good 
sense and useful tendency, is now added 
Retrospection, a Tale ; in which, from a 
review supposed to be taken by an elderly 
unmarried lady,in the middle ranks of life, 
it is intended to point out those errors of 
temper and indiscretion, which, in the ab¬ 
sence of greater calamities, suffice to make 
human life abundantly miserable. The 
story is quite unaffected, and follows with 
an air ofg’reat reality the ordinary course 
of domestic events, yet the interest is 
w r ell supported. After all other means of 
happiness fail, the old lady finds it at last 
in the arms of devotion, a resource by no 
means uncommonly resorted to by persons 
of that age and sex, in all times and coun¬ 
tries. There is a decided spirit of evan¬ 
gelical devotion in this little volume, ac¬ 
companied however with such correct feel¬ 
ings and sentiments, that w r e do rot feel 
inclined to find fault with it, or to quarrel 
on dogmatical points v.'ith a work which is 
obviously intended and adapted to promote 
the cause of virtue. If not brilliant, the 
abilities of this lady are solid, and in their 
exertion, useful. 
To those who are fond of novel reading, 
we think we can recommend The Sisters, 
a Novel in four volumes, as a well-written 
work and not devoid of instruction. The 
story, which relates the fate of two sisters, 
the one attached to the world and all its 
fashionable frivolities, the other of a nobler 
and purer mind, is well told, and posses¬ 
ses a reasonable share of interest. The 
character of Feliciais by no means heroine¬ 
like, in the sense in which many of our 
modern novelists would use the term; she 
is rather serious and useful, than romantic 
and sentimental. Perhaps she will be con¬ 
sidered by some of our readers as too stric t 
a disciple of Mrs. Hannah More, and we 
must confess that her seriousness is some¬ 
times a little too overpow’eringfor our taste 
Rosalind’s character is sketched with a 
good deal of power and truth, and in spite 
of ourselves gains an interest in our hearts. 
Evanmore, the hero of the tale, is drawn 
somewhat after the model of Miss Edge¬ 
worth’s Vivian. The interest of the novel 
increases as the reader proceeds, and is 
finely wrought up in some parts of the last 
volume. 
It is with unmixed pleasure that we once 
more behold Miss Edgeworth before the 
public in the shape in which she is so 
pre-eminently excellent. Perhaps there is 
not a single writer of the present day who 
has been the means of bestowing at once 
so much instruction and delight, as this 
lady. To our juvenile friends her early 
lessons are well known, and many older 
eyes have perused them with almost equal 
pleasure. To those excellent little volumes 
Miss Edgeworth has lately added a conti¬ 
nuation, called Rosamond , a sequel to 
Early Lessons , which exhibits our old 
friend more advanced towards w T omanhocd, 
but possessingthe same engagingfrankness 
of disposition and purity of heart. It is 
superfluous to say that these volumes in¬ 
culcate the best morality •, it is sufficient 
perhaps to add that they fully equal any of 
the writer’s former productions. 
A small volume of Miscellaneous Poetry , 
by Samuel Bamford,^ reaver, of Middle- 
ton, Lancashire , has just issued from the 
press, which, amidst some rude composi¬ 
tion, exhibits so much energy of thought 
and diction, that it well deserves a longer 
notice than we can in this place bestow 
upon it. There is a bold and manly love 
of liberty in the mind of this humble bard, 
which needs no assistance from the tricks 
of art, to make a deep impression on the 
feelings. His style and matter are all his 
own, and display as singular an instauce 
as we can recollect of a naturally strong 
and poetical mind struggling against the 
disadvantages of station and education. 
The author is a professed radical reformer, 
and during the suspension of the habeas 
corpus act, was imprisoned in different 
goals; a circumstance which gives his po¬ 
litical allusions a bitterness bordering 
sometimes on coarseness. Setting, how¬ 
ever, such passages as vhese out of the 
question, we do not hesitate to say that 
Mr.Bamford possesses originality of genius 
and more than common powers of mind. 
The book has not been well edited, many 
obvious errors of one sort or other, ex¬ 
isting in every page -, but we hope soon to 
see a second edition, which, if passed 
through competent and careful hands, will 
prove the justice of these observations. 
ANTiQUlTY. 
The Eighth Number, which completes the 
Work, of View's of the Cathedral Churches 
of England and Wales, with Descriptions; 
by John Chessel Buckler. 
ASTRONOMY. 
An Astronomical Catechism, Illustrated by 
25 Engravings ; by C. V. Whitwell, price 21s 
AGRICULTURE. 
