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Eaft, this will to many be a very acceptable manual. It ap pears to be drawn up with care and accuracy, and is well calcu lated to answer the purp fe for which it was doubtless intended, to fuperfede the neceffity of large and more extenfive publications. A view of the town and harbour is prefixed, which, though of no great merit, will ferve to give a good general idea of the fitua tion of the place, than which nothing more picturefque can easily be imagined.

ART. 33° Mental Recreations: by the Author of a Tour in Zea. land; with an Hiftorical Sketch of the Battle of Copenhagen. 12mo. Price 3s. 6d. Dutton. 1805.

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Mental Recreations confift of Four Tales, written with great veracity and intereft; the laft more particularly fo, which records the famous battle of Copenhagen. He who fought and con. quered in that battle, is alas no more! but his memory fhall live for ever in the hearts of his countrymen, and delighted are we to take this firft opportunity of teftifying our admiration of our gallant Hero; and our deep and heartfelt forrow for his lofs, our reverence for his fame, and our determination to avail our. felves of all the means in our power to pay our tributes of love, gratitude, and attachment to his memory.

ART. 34. Obfolete Ideas; in Six Letters; addreffed to Maria. By a Friend. 12mo. Price 3s. Seeley. 1805.

This is a very meritorious and excellent little work, the object and execution of which are equally entitled to our warm approbation. The fubject of thefe letters are,-1. The Reciprocal Duties of Parents and Children.-2. To Charles; an Expoftula. tion with a Young Man, on his Indifcretions, Follies, and Intem. perance.-3. An excellent Effay on the Reverence due to Age.4. On Chafte Women, and Women of Character, and the vaft dif. ference between them.-5. On Treatment of the Poor, particularly of Beggars.-6. On Single Ladies, vulgarly called Old Maids, recommending fuch to be treated with refpect, and not with ridicule. The conclufion confifts of general maxims for the re gulation of female conduct, confifting of the Obfervance of the Sabbath, Frugality, Charity, and Simplicity. We recommend this little volume to the ferious attention of young perfons of both fexes, and think the author deferves the encouragement and the gratitude of all parents and guardians of youth. The ftyle is fimple yet impreffive; the arguments familiar, but not trite; and the fubjects fuccefsfully difcuffed and happily chofen.

ART. 35. The Wonders of the Microscope; or, an Explanation of the Wisdom of Creator; in Objects comparatively minute, adapted to the Understanding of Young Perfons. Illuftrated with five large Copper Plates. 12mo. 132 pp. 2s. 6d. Tabart and Co. 1805.

Never have we feen fo cheap a book as this, nor ever any one more calculated to anfwer fome of the very belt purposes of education; namely, to excite a curiofity for the wonders of nature, and a taste for the examination of them; with a due reference to the power and wisdom of him by whom they are fo marvellously contrived. The plates are not only nominally large, but really fo. The figure of a loufe, as feen in the folar microfcope, is here nearly twenty inches long, that of the flea more than fifteen; and the other plates, though not required to be fo large, are of fufficient fize to fhow their objects with distinctness, and are executed with fpirit and correctnefs. The figures of the cheese-mites are as well given as any thing of the kind we have ever feen. The only ferior plate is that reprefenting the microfcope itself, which is in fact almoft fuperfluous; and, flight as it is, may ferve its purpofe. The objects defcribed are well chofen, felected from the beft authors who have treated on the fubject, and explained in language fufficiently clear and very correct.

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We cannot give a better view of the book than by copying the titles of the chapters:-Chap. 1, treats of the ftructure of different kinds of microfcopes: 2 and 3, on the difcoveries made by the affiftance of the microfcope: 4, of the point of a fmall needle; of the forms of falling fnow; of mites found in cheese; and of the full point: 5, of a flea, as feen through a microfcope: 6, of the loufe, ditto: 7, of the fly, and its feveral parts: 8, of animalcules in fluids; how to make pepper-water, and other infufions; and of the animalcules found in them; of animalcules in vinegar and pafte: 9, of animalcules found in ftagnant water; of gnats, and from what they proceed; their transformations; the wheel-infect, &c.; 10, of polypes, with directions for finding, feeding, and preferving them: 11, of the blood, of what compofed, how to be examined; the circulation of the blood; in What objects beft feen: 12, of the fcales of the human fkin, how examined; of the pores of the human body, how examined; of animalcules, found between the teeth; of the itch; of the ftings of infects; of the hair of animals; of the farina of flowers, how to be examined; of the feeds of plants, and of the leaves: 14 the works of art and nature compared together and confidered.

Whoever is converfant in fuch fubjects will at once perceive that the most curious and inftrutive objects are here felected for obfervation. We really think that no young perfon, whofe edu. cation is intended to be liberal and wife fhould be fuffered to be without this excellent introduction to profounder refearches. A fimilar work, called "The Wonders of the Telescope,' noticed by us in September, p. 334.

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ERIT, CRIT, VOL. XXVI, Nov. 1805.

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ART. 36. The Student's Guide through Lincoln's Inn; containing an Account of that Honourable Society, the Forms of Admiffion, Keeping Terms, Performing Exercifes, Call to the Bar, and other useful Information. By Thomas Lane Steward. The Second Edition. Dedicated (by Permifion) to the Treasurer and Mafters of the Bench of the Honourable Society. 12mo. 232 PP. 75. Steward's Office, Lincoln's Inn. 1805.

Though this little work is principally intended for local use, it includes fome matters of general curiofity; fuch, for example, as a sketch of the hiftory of the Inn; defcriptions of the chapel and hall, with a lift of the arms preferved in each; and fome account of the most remarkable perfons whofe bearings they represent. There are alfo other biographical sketches of eminent perfons, who have been members of the inn. Two curious plates of fac fimiles, prefent the fignatures of Robert Sherborne and Richard Simpfon, hifhops of Chichefter, of Edward Suliarde, of John Thurloe, Secretary of State to Oliver Cromwell, of William Prynne, and of Francis Earl of Shrew fbury. Alfo of Charles II. and his fuite, when they dined in the Hall at Lincoln's Inn, in 1671, and became members of the Society. Among thefe is the Turkish Ambaffador, whofe fignature is thus tranflated:"Praife to the one God. The fignature of the humble Alhajh Allah Mohammed, the fon of Mohammed-Sahy Allah, fon of Abukeraï. God be merciful to him." Thefe are taken from the books of the Society. Nothing can exceed the modesty with which the compiler offers this work to the public, which yet will be found by thofe who examine it, not only a ufeful, but, in fome refpects, an elegant publication. It is handfomely patronized by the Society.

ART. 37. Fables Ancient and Modern, adapted for the Ufe of Children from Three to Eight Years of Age. By Edward Baldwin, Efq. Adorned with Twenty-fix Copper-plates. 2 vols. 12mo. 8s. Hodgkins. 1805.

Thefe are fables generally known, and indeed principally those of Æfop; but they are better calculated to excite the attention of children, to amuse and to inftruct them, than any we have ever perufed. They are alfo diftinguished by one feature of novelty, which we greatly approve; they all terminate happily, or in a manner which excites the more benevolent emotions of the mind, We recommend them without referve, and introduce one as a fpecimen, taken without any regard to felection.

THE HART AND THE VINE.

"There is fcarcely any animal that we read of more in ftories and hiftories than the deer. He deferves to be talked of for his beauty; and he has the misfortune to be talked of because his

flesh,

flesh, which is called venifon, is one of the greateft delicacies that a king can put on his table.

"There are many varieties of this creature, and as many names to call them by. In a former fable we read of the ftag and the hind, that is, the red deer; there is alfo the hart and the roe, that is, the fallow or tawny deer: the moft ordinary names are buck and doe; thofe names are common to every kind.

"A hart was once fingled out by fome archers for their prey. I believe thefe archers had no dogs with them, for dogs, as I told you before, follow the deer by the fcent; and that does not seem to be the cafe in the story I am going to tell you. If a gamekeeper fhoots a deer in his lord's park, because the lord chooses to have venifon for his Sunday's dinner, he does not want dogs to help him in that. The famous Robin Hood, of whom we have heard fo much, and the other outlaw bowmen, who lived in forests which our kings then kept for hunting, and who fed upon the king's deer, had, I believe, no dogs. I do not remember that dogs are once mentioned in all the ftories there are about them.

"But do not let us forget the poor hart that we left the archers juft going to fhoot at. He difcovered the danger in time, and fcampered away as faft as his legs could carry him. He ran a mile or two, till he came to a place where there was a treillage, or espalier, covered with vines. The vines were extremely fine and flourishing, and their leaves were fo numerous and thick, that not Argus himfelf, that I have somewhere read of, who had a hundred eyes, (I wonder whether they all grew in his face) could have seen through their shade. The archers quite loft fight of the hart; they looked on this fide, and on that, and could difcover him no where. It was the best hide and feek you ever knew, and I affure you the poor hart thought fo. He was not hiding, poor fellow, for fport, but his life.

"The hart lay as still as a mouse, and the hunters walked by penfive and difappointed. The hart began to be convinced that he was fafe, and alas! fecurity made him wanton. The leaves of the vines were green, and fresh, and tender: they just touched his nofe. He opened his pretty mouth, and cropped one of them: it was very good. Finding one fo palatable, he pulled another, and another he quite forgot why he had come there...

"The archers, who were very near, heard a rustling of the leaves; they turned their eyes that way; they faw a motion and a fhaking; they gueffed what was the matter; they shot at a venture, and the poor hart was killed.

"Before he died, he could not help thinking within himself, with bitterness, I have deferved what has happened. The vine generously protected me with its fhade, and I, ungrateful beat that I was, could not refrain from acting injuriously to my benefactor."

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ART. 38. Elements of Mythology; or an easy and concife Hiftory of the Pagan Deities intended to enable the yonng Reader to underStand the ancient Writers of Greece and Rome. 12mo. pp. 124. Smart and Co. Reading; Pridden and Co. London. 1805.

The plan of this little work is excellent, and is well expreffed in the following paffage of the preface:

"The following hiftory of thofe fabulous deities is written in a plain and eafy ftyle, calculated to inform the youngest mind. Every indelicate expreflion, which ftains the pages of almoft all other books on the fubject, is anxioufly avoided. This history is intended to difplay the ignorance and folly, which prevailed in the world, and to fhow the neceffity, which exifted at that time, of a more rational object of worship, and a purer fyftem of morality. It is intended to prove the goodnefs and the mercy of God, in fending a Saviour into the world, to destroy thofe fuperftitious rites and idolatrous practices; to bring life and im mortality to light; and to teach that heavenly doctrine, which alone can point the way to everlafting falvation." (Preface, P. iv.)

We cannot but think the affertion in a preceding paragraph erroneous, though common; that the Greek poets were the "original authors" of the popular mythology. But this is a fubject not to be difcuffed in a fhort article.

The mythological history is here related in a fluent and perfpicuous ftyle; and it must have coft fome thought and study to digeft it into the eafy form in which it appears. It is not, how ever, fufficiently free from errors of the prefs or other lapfes, which may fometimes puzzle the young reader. Thus in p. 8, we are told, that the exceffes of Jupiter filled the world with impunity, instead of impurity; and in p. 14, it is faid, that Apollo

burned the fatyr Marfyas, for having rafhly boasted that he could fing in a style fuperior to the God." Now the famous ftatue in the forum at Rome, and other documents innumerable, prove that Marfyas fuffered a more cruel death, even than burning, the death of St. Bartholomew.

This little book is divided into two parts, ift. the history of the principal Pagan Deities: 2dly, the history of the Heroes and Demigods, which commences at p. 43. There is added alfo a compendious and ufeful hiftory of the Trojan war, and its confequences, which commences at p. 84. We were furprised, in fuch a work as this, to meet with a rather petulant attack upon Critics in general, who are compared to Momus, and faid to be actuated by vanity and littleness of mind. As we do not feel confcious of the qualities fo generally afcribed, we shall neither undertake to defend our fraternity, nor to make any counter-attack. Being printed at Reading, the book is undertood to have been fuperintended at least by an eminent teacher there, who has many greater cares to employ his mind.

MONTHLY

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