"Having thus explained our general views, we proceed to submit a series of provisions for the improvement of Ireland, and the relief of the poor therein, including in the latter means of emigration.

Having glanced at the subject of emigration, we will now offer a few extracts from the other section of the Report, on the subject of the improvement of Ireland by local means, and first of all, by improving the agriculture of that country.

"Sec. V. As to Improvement.-As the business of agriculture is at present the only pursuit for which the body of the people of Ireland are qualified by habit, it is chiefly through it that a general improvement in their condition can be primarily wrought; but in proportion as the earnings of the agricultural labourer extend, so will his consumption of commodities produced by persons in other occupations. Trades of different sorts will thus be encouraged, and in the natural, and therefore certain, course of things, we may expect that division of labour in Ireland which exists in England, and which is at once an acting and re-acting cause and consequence of the wealth of nations.

"Having, then, improvements in the lands of Ireland immediately in contemplation, it appears to us, that the laws which form the constitution of the Bedford Level Corporation in England afford principles of legisla tion directly suited to our purpose. They enforce improvements in property at the expense of the property improved. We propose to do the same thing, and with this view we recommend, in the first place, that a board shall be appointed for Ireland, with the necessary powers for carrying into effect a comprehensive system of national improvement, and that it shall consist of a president and vice-president, having suitable salaries, and of such other members as shall be named with them.

"To the end, also, that all legal questions which may be raised by the proceedings of the board shall be promptly and justly decided, we recommend that the president or vice-president, and such two of the judges of the Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, or Exchequer, as shall from time to time be appointed for the purpose, shall constitute a Court of Review and Record, with power to hear and determine the several matters we shall mention, and to act with or without a jury, or to direct issues of fact where it may think proper.

"We shall now state the duties which we think should be respectively assigned to the Board of Improvement and to the Court of Review.

"We recommend that the Board of Improvement shall be authorized to appoint commissioners, from time to time, to make a survey, valuation, and partition of any waste lands in Ireland. There is abundant evidence before the public of the very great benefits that may thus be conferred upon the country. Upon these lands,' Mr. Arthur Young observed nearly sixty years ago, is to be practised the most profitable husbandry in the king's dominions.' The commissioners appointed to inquire into the state. of the bogs of Ireland, in 1809, reported to the like effect; and committee after committee of the House of Commons have done the same thing.

"The following extracts from a report, made in 1830, by a committee of the House of Commons appointed to inquire into the state of the Irish poor, appear to us particularly clear and satisfactory upon the subject:The possibility of recovering the bog and mountainous districts of

Ireland has long been the matter of parliamentary attention. In 1809, a commission was issued, which completed a most minute and scientific inquiry, the results of which were communicated to the house in four important reports. It appears that there are 3,000,000 of Irish acres of waste land, equal to 5,000,000 of English acres, which are considered to be almost all reclaimable.'

"In the year 1819 the subject was brought under the consideration of the committee on the state of disease, and it was recommended that these objects may be properly left to individuals or associations as a profitable adventure, legal provision being made for the repayment of a portion of the ground, either in fee or in lease. Experiments which have been subsequently tried seem to confirm the reasoning and anticipations of the commissioners with respect to the great profit and practicability of these drainages. It is in evidence that, by an expense of somewhat about 77. an acre, land in Sligo has been reclaimed and rendered worth a rent of 30s. ; or, if preserved in the hands of the proprietor, that it is made capable of repaying all expenses by three years' produce, leaving all subsequent returns clear gain. This evidence is confirmed by the experience of an intelligent witness, who considers the expense of improvement to have been rather overstated. Both these witnesses are English, having no local bias whatever to influence their judgment. In the appendix will be found reprinted an account of the system pursued in the great drainages in England and Holland, which will illustrate this branch of inquiry. These opinions have received further confirmation by the examination of General Bourke before our committee. That gentleman states, that he is proprietor of bogs in different places, and has tried the experiment of improving them; that bog on which the turf has been cut, and which was in a wild and uncultivated state, had been, at an expense of 77. an acre, raised from 10s. to the value of 30s. acreable rent.' General Bourke expresses his belief that similar improvements, though not perhaps to so great a profit, might be effected elsewhere; but that the state of the law prevents partition of bogs held in common without the expensive process of a bill in Chancery. He adds an expression of his belief, that if the proprietors of adjacent town-lands could obtain possession of their several allotments of bog by a cheap and short process, a considerable expenditure of capital would take place; the result would be profitable to a certain degree to the owner, and, at all events, would give immediate relief to numbers of people, by affording them employment, and would enable the population, superabundant in other places, to obtain settlements on the lands reclaimed. 'No person of sane mind,' observes Mr. Rickman, would desire that the machinery of an English enclosure act should be employed throughout Ireland, because it would create interminable delay, and an expense usually estimated at 51. the English acre.' Various bills have at different times been brought forward to facilitate these objects, but no legislative measure has as yet received the sanction of parliament."

We have now gone over a great part of this voluminous Report, and are satisfied that the measures proposed, if fully carried out to their utmost extent, will be a vast step taken in the regeneration of Ireland, and will establish a basis of prosperity for that part of the United Kingdom, not easily to be shaken by even Orange malignity, that bane to all that is good.

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132

NOTICES.

ART. XIII.-The Vale of Lanherne; and other Poems. By H. S.
STOKES. London: Longman and Co. 1836.
AYE, this brings back to our hearts the days of " Auld lang Syne," when
we wandered among the woods, in the groves, and the green vallies. To
all who have spent their early years among rural scenes, and to all who in
city pent, yet traverse in fancy to the spots on earth whereon the eye
loves to rest, this volume will be gratefully read. Every verse and stanza
breathes the freshness of nature, along with the cordialities of humanity.
One cannot but envy the poet whose soul can pour out such lovely and
delightful imaginings, as fill every page of this small volume. But a few
stanzas will say more for the book and the poet, than all we can declare
in behalf of their truth, tenderness, and purity. Thus-

The Chesnut Grove in all its leaves how fair!
Waving in light and shadow to the breeze

Of ocean, soften'd to a summer air;

While 'neath the shelter of those graceful trees,
Myriads of blue-bells woo the honey-bees,
And with their perfumes lade the gentle gale;
And round each cot the admiring stranger sees
Geraniums clustering as in Southern Vale,

And scarce believes he roams in a sea-girt Cornish Dale."

From the "Pilchard Fishery," we must take a specimen; for although the scenes described may not be familiar in reality to many, yet we may be assured that the poet is here as true to nature (assuredly he is to true sentiment) as in any of his descriptions. The reader is to suppose that the finny shoals have just invaded our shores for the first time in the

season.

'On through the deep of ocean floats the shoal,
A living cloud tinged with phosphoric light,
While o'er the waves the gathering shadows roll,
Out flash the torches from the craggy height-
The roosting sea-fowl spread their pinions white,
And many a seaman's umber'd face is seen

Amid the gleaming waves, as flush'd with fight.
The boats glide on through showers of crystal sheen,
As though the briny sea a flood of pearls had been.
Soon in the mazes of the circling seine
Inclosed, the pilchard myriads leap and dive,
And wildly seek the freedom of the main;
Vainly against the knotted mesh they strive,
Frantic as bees within the honied hive,

When sulphurous fumes invade their golden cells—
Such schemes can sweet-tooth'd torturers contrive.
Loud o'er the deep the jovial tumult swells
While rumour o'er the hills the welcome tidings tells.
With the first rosy ray that tints the crags,
What motley throngs haste to the busy shore;

Through the deep sands the farm-hack slowly drags
The creaking cart, the pannier'd ass down o'er
The cliff treads, shuddering, while impetuous pour,
By every sheep-path-steep, the ruddy swarm

From woodland cot, green field, and heathy moor.
And from the earth's deep chambers, dark and warm,
The pallid miner comes with spare but sinewy form."
One morsel more, called "The Voice of the Falling Leaves."
"A Pilgrim through the forest went-

The sear leaves fast around him fell,
Each like a sign from Heaven sent
His own sad doom to tell.
The yellow leaves went whispering by,
Each in its passage seem'd to say—
'Companion, learn of us to die,

We go the self-same way

'Nay,' said the hopeful man, I go
Unto a far and sunnier clime,

Where the green leaves no winter know-
Beyond the blast of Time!""

Translated from the
London : : Riving-

ART. XIV. The Gospel according to Mathew. Greek. By the Rev. W. I. AISLABIE, A. M. ton. 1834. We are not aware how it comes, that a book published of the above date, should be left for us two years afterwards. Perhaps it failed to command that attention when first given to the world, which the author deemed it deserved. Be this as it may, every honest attempt by the learned to throw additional light upon the Scriptures, whether by commentary or translation, must be regarded with favour. We shall not enter into the merits of the present translation, leaving this office to those more competent to the task, and more immediately called on to perform it. At the same time, we must say, that the translator's alterations do not, upon the whole, appear to be material, as respects the meaning of the original Greek; and if in this we be correct, we cannot but disrelish every phraseology which departs from that which has been hallowed to our ears since infancy. For example, the 21st verse of the fifth chapter is thus given :-" Ye have heard that it hath been said unto the Ancients," &c. And the note upon this, is in these words :-" I think it perfectly clear that the dative case is intended, for otherwise the preposition would have been used." Our learned readers will judge, whether the meaning is improved in point of force or elegance by this assertion. So far as our knowledge of the Greek goes, we are led to doubt the accuracy of the new construction.

ART. XV.-Heath's Drawing Room Portfolio. London: Tilt. 1836. "DRAWING Room Portfolio," is a happy name for these large and exquisite engravings. There needs nothing more be done to recommend

them, than to mention their titles, and the artists by whom they have been produced. "The Countess of Blessington," by Chalon; "The Sisters," by John Hayter; "The Secret Discovered," by Miss L. Sharpe; "The Bride of Abydos," by H. Andrews; "Madame la Valliere," by E. T. Parris; and "The Enraged Antiquary," by Jenkins.

ART. XVI.-The Messiah, a Poem in Six Books. By the Rev. R. MONTGOMERY. Fifth Edition. London: Saunders and Otley. 1836. WHAT more need be said after the announcement that this is the " Fifth Edition" of a poem which the critics at first assailed with unusual severity ? Still we are of opinion that it is the subject which has recommended the performance, rather than the performance the subject. There seems to be a majestic simplicity and a celestial poetry suggested by the mere title of the work, which cannot admit of the Muse's adornment or elevation. But then, if the poet's power be such that he can guide minds of lower grasp than his own, and less glorious garniture of thought and imagination, to a higher and better defined experience of holy emotions-clothing with mellifluous verse that which they could but clumsily express, must not his work be acceptable and good? The public have said so, and this is enough; nor can it be doubted that the results must have been important, and such we believe as the author at his dying hour may regard with comfort and joy.

ART. XVII.-Songs of Granada and the Alhambra. By LYDIA B. SMITH. London: Saunders and Otley. 1836.

As the best songs must ever do, these tell of love and the battle-field. The Moorish traditions are admirably adapted for catching such softly beautiful and delicate wreaths. Sweeter lyrics we never read, and we are much mistaken if they be not the production of a lady of high and pure musical genius, as well as musical accomplishment. It is not every specimen of lyrical poetry, however correct in measure, that can be sung. But the verse here is as bland and melodious as the sentiments are poetic, tender, and fascinating. The composers will be tempted to come hither, and in many a drawing-room there will be sighing and swelling bosoms to the melting or triumphant songs of our poetess, ere another winter speeds over our heads.

ART. XVIII.-Book of Flowers. By Mrs. HALL. London: Saunders and Otley. 1836.

A CHARMING book in every respect, on a charming subject. As to its getting-up it cannot easily be surpassed, whether paper, type, or binding be concerned. And then the artistical and literary portion of it, commands still more particular notice and praise. A sketch of its plan might satisfy any one of all this, even before examining the work itself.

All our