1 1 enchantments of fairies and witches, formed the staple themes of these unambitious representations, some of which were of a highly humorous and dramatic cast, worthy the collection of a Crofton Croker. woman. FINE ARTS. THIRD EXHIBITION OF PICTURES AT THE SCOT- ever they might be, were held in the utmost scorn on account of his reading, was one day concluding his discourse, as an old woman of the true old leaven was leaving the church. He closed the leaves of his sermon The night was wholly spent ere the pledges were all and those of the Bible at the same time, saying, with redeemed, and the "dappled dawn" had streaked the emphasis, intended as a sort of clencher to his argument, east, ere the party thought of separating. The wake" I add no more "-" Because ye canna!" cried the old was concluded with another wail somewhat similar to the first, after which the party took leave of the widow and her aged relative, and departed in a body for the Glen. It was in vain that I offered some pecuniary compensation to my humble entertainers. The offer was gently but firmly resisted, and we therefore parted with mutual prayers and blessings, measured out with fulness and sincerity. On gaining the road, I found the darkness rapidly vanishing; the outlines of the Morne mountains being distinctly visible, though the loch and valley still lay under an almost impenetrable veil of mist. Early, however, as was the hour, the "busy hum of men" ascended up the steep; the labourer was on the moor-the bay was crowded with boats, some making out for the herring-fishing, some tracking in the bay, and others dropping along the loch. The tide of life, thought I, is still rolling on-still waking the peasant to his daily round of care-though it will beat no more for the poor Irish Widow's son. Strange people; that can convert their deepest griefs into sources of joy and merriment; and as their earthly ties drop off, make each succeeding bereavement but bind them closer to their surviving "co-mates and brothers" of the soil! "SPEAKING OUT" IN CHURCH. By the Author of “ The Traditions of Edinburgh," &c. A MOST amusing instance of speaking out in church occurred some years ago in the church of The minister, in preaching upon the story of Jonah, uttered a piece of declamatory rhetoric to something like the following effect:-"And what sort of a fish was it, my brethren, that God had appointed thus to execute his holy will? Was it a shark, my brethren? No-it could not be a shark; for God could never have ventured the person of his beloved prophet amongst the deadly teeth of that ravenous fish. What fish was it, then, my brethren? Was it a salmon, think ye? Ah, no; that were too narrow a lodging. There's no ae salmon i'.the deepest pule o' a' Tweed could swallow a man. Besides, ye ken, it's mair natural for men to swallow salmon, than salmon to swallow men. What, then, was it? Was it a sea lion, or a sea horse, or a sea dog, or the great rhinoceros ? Oh, no! These are not Scripter beasts ava. Ye're as far aff 't as ever. Which of the monsters of the great deep was it, can ye tell me ?"-Here an old spectacled dame, who had an eleemosynary seat on the pulpit-stair, thinking that the minister was in a real perplexity about the name of the fish, interrupted him with, “Hoot, sir, it was a whale, ye ken." Out upon ye, you graceless wife that you are," cried the orator, so enraged, as almost to fly out of the pulpit at her; thus to take the word out of the mouth of God's minister !" Another amusing instance of a similar piece of indecorum occurred at Biggar. It must be well known to our readers, that the more ignorant and zealous congregations of the Scottish church, in common with those belonging to what is called the Secession, entertain a very strong prejudice against the use of written notes in the pulpit. The contempt with which clergymen are sometimes treated on this account would astonish the liberal minds of our English neighbours. In one case, which has come within our knowledge, this contempt proceeded so far as to occasion a speaking out. The minister of Biggar, in Lanarkshire, whose abilities, what (Second Notice.) PASSING from the consideration of the two great attractions of this Exhibition, we turn our attention first to the portraits. This is not because we have any undue admiration of this branch of art; but, on the contrary, because, having rather a distaste to it, we wish to hurry them over in the first place. Portrait-painting is a very useful study for the young artist; and the vanity of mankind (particularly in our own dear country) will always render it profitable; but we hold it a dubious proof of any man's qualifications for an artist, that, having mastered the technical difficulties of his art, he rests satisfied with being a mere portrait-painter. Portrait-painting holds about the same rank in art, that Memoirs and Biographical Sketches do in literature. Sometimes, it is true, it catches a reflected light from its subject, or, when done by some master-hand, it acquires a value analogous to that which is possessed by however, is the utmost; and it is but a bad sign of the Clarendon's masterly Sketches of Character. This, state of art in any country, when portraits are the only paintings in demand. The only portraits in any degree approaching to the higher class in the Scottish Academy Exhibition are, that of Joseph, by Syme (32), of Bishop Cameron, by G. Watson (91), and of a Gentleman, by Graham (58). There are others with which, had we an interest in the individual, we might wish to deck our walls ;—but this is a very qualified praise. The rest of the pictures in the Exhibition consist of domestic scenes, or scenes from common life; landscapes and sea pieces; fruit and flower pieces. There is, it is true, one adventurous attempt an "Archimedes" of which "least said is soonest mended." Of Linton's “City of ancient Greece," we will speak along with his other picture. Nor DOMESTIC SCENES, AND SCENES FROM COMMON LIFE-It would be a vain parade of learning to detail the nature of this class of paintings. As they may unite both landscape and figure, they give the artist a wide field-the hues and shades of earth, air, and water; form, colouring, grouping of figures, and expression. do they altogether want the heightening charms of association, of which the more largely and skilfully the artist makes use the better, so long as he does not overstep, in search of them, the limits of his art; although the nature of the subject necessarily precludes associations of such deep and engrossing power as belong to the higher walks of historical painting. Alexander Fraser has only one work this year," The Tinker," (92,) but it is the gem of the Exhibition. The individual figures are all characteristic, and, with the exception of the female leaning over the half-door, all finely finished. The outline of the group is pleasing, and the persons composing it are naturally and easily connected-that is, we see at once how they come to be so placed together. The solid figure with his back turned to us, half sitting on the handle of his spade, is conversing with the tinker, who, with outstretched legs, has been sitting repairing a pan, but at the moment looks up archly and joyously, with his beer in his hand. The tinker's dog has nestled close to his feet; and behind it sit two chubby children, looking gravely and interestedly at what is going on. The young woman leaning over the door fits into the group; and all the still-life accompaniments are happily disposed, correctly and pleasingly coloured. The deep shade from the houses on the side of the street, not introduced into the picture, is well thrown in to balance the group. The next picture, in point of merit to this, is "A Polish Jew," (102,) by S. Drummond. William Shiels has four pictures of very considerable merit. His grouping is, (except in "The Cadger,") good; his animals are all well painted; his light and shade happily disposed; his perspective bold and true; his ground colour pleasing. But he has yet to study the art of giving a true flesh colour-the last and most difficult task that an artist has to learn, that which we least seldom see mastered, and that in which Mr Shiels is evidently yet to seek. Some minor deficiencies we might point out-as, for example, the figure with the leather apron in "The Cadger," which either has no feet, or portentously short legs-and one or two others; but this is a captious style of criticism which we do not much affect. George Harvey is an artist of great promise, and has already made considerable progress in the technical details of his art; but, if we may judge from the predominating yellow of his pictures, he must lately have been suffering from the jaundice. His shades are too timid; he does not throw the interior of his buildings sufficiently back. His figures are repetitions of each other, and certainly not the loveliest objects in nature. We ought to except from this censure the old man in the "Lost Child Restored," (146.) cerned. Our old friend's sea-pieces are, in general, worthy of him; but that they are such decided repetitions of what he has given us before. The same sky, with swelling glassy waves beneath it, over which mellowtinted boats are heaving-or the waveless mirror of the sea, broken into a ripple by the eternal buoy, with buildings or vessels looming dimly through a dry haze-the materials of his paintings have become as familiar to us as our alphabet. The most original is the shipwreck, a painting which has some merits and many defects. No. 215 looks to us as if it were unfinished. The most pleasing, in our estimation, of what he has this year exhibited, is his pleasing little "Landscape" (242). Crome, of Norwich, has several paintings, of which his moonlights are the best. Of them, the "Scene between Delft and Rotterdam" (90) pleases us most. Our only objections to it are, that the moon is of too unsubdued a white, and perhaps the whole of the objects too distinct. In 108, the distance of the moon behind the branch of a tree is finely brought out, and the shadow cast by the boat is true to nature; but the colours are too much those of daylight. This charge applies, in some measure, to 194, as does that of too much distinctness in the objects to the whole three. His townsman, Deane, has also several pictures, which indicate considerable talent-in particular, No. 103. Stark has one picture in this Exhibition, which, but for one fault, and that, we fear, a vital one, would fully have maintained his reputation. On one side we have a fine group of trees, on the other we have a still finer vista through an opening in the forest; but unfortunately these two parts of the picture are so constructed that, from no standing point, can we catch the right effect of them at once. Is there no device by which this might be amended? for, in every other respect, the picture is one of the able artist's happiest efforts. We must not pass over unnoticed" The New Dress," (101,) by the modest and talented Bonar. We could W. Linton is a gentleman in whom we have been expatiate at length on its merits, but the numbers both very much disappointed. His paintings make fine enof connoisseurs and naturalists who may be seen enjoy-gravings; and in particular we have seen one, which ing it every day, are a more speaking encomium than any that we could pronounce. Neither should Cosse's Soldier relating the Battle of Waterloo, still less W. Kidd's "Careless Husband," pass unnoticed, but that our limits forbid us. LANDSCAPES AND SEA-PIECES.-The landscapes of J. B. Kidd fall most in the eye, both from their number and size. This artist stuck too closely, in his earlier productions, to the style of his reverend master-they were clever, but too much of the imitator. We have a specimen of this stage of his progress, (No. 94,) of this year's Exhibition. Even yet we find, in the general arrangement of his colours, and sometimes (as in No. 114) in the forms of the foliage, traces of early impressions. He has, however, since accustomed himself to a more original handling, and not only gives promise of future excellence, but has already done much. The lightness and transparency of the aerial haze in the background of No. 43, the rich sunshine in Nos. 114 and 151, show that he is not only possessed of an eye capable of the most luxurious impressions of external nature, but also in no small degree, of the power of reproducing them. At the same time, we would take the liberty of hinting to him, that there are other colours in nature besides bright green in the foreground, and pale blue in the distance; as also, that his immense clusters of tall needlelike hills are neither true to nature nor beautiful in themselves. Of all his pictures, those least tinged by his mannerism is, "Lake in Wales" (13), which is mellower in the foreground, and less intensely blue in the distance, one of his best pictures; and No. 244 incalculably his worst. Proximos illi tamen occupavit that is, in as far as number and size conjointly are con pleased us much, of the "Grecian city," now exhibiting here. His colouring (to say nothing of the way in which he mixes up and lays on his colours) is the most extraordinary and unnatural that can well be conceived. His view in the island of Jersey (137) is a work of great genius, but it would be much more felt in an engraving, which could give all that is good of it, without the painful effects of his false colouring. FRUIT AND FLOWER-PIECES.-Percy Forster has two fruit-pieces (76, 325), which, as far as regards the individual fruit, can scarcely be surpassed. The truth of the colouring and the transparency are alike excellent. This is, however, only the first stage in this pleasing branch of the art. He has yet to learn that happy and harmonious disposition and arrangement of his fruits, according to their forms and colours, of which Lance has shown himself to be a master, (80.) Miss Crome has also a very meritorious fruit-piece, (35.) We are not aware that any of the flower paintings merit particular notice. It is very provoking that these artists will not accommodate their works to our classification. There is, for example, Roberts: his Cathedral (100) belongs to none of our categories, and the consequence is, that we have wellnigh omitted to say that it is a beautiful painting, though scarcely equal to that which he exhibits in the other Exhibition. In like manner, Nicholson's "Faithful guardian" (156), his "Fall of Bruar Water" (4), and his "Favourite Puss" (19), might have been gathered to their fathers without our attestation of their merits; while we might have been deprived, on the other hand, of the opportunity of quarrelling with the artist's eternal pinky clouds in the first of these, and the cold scrambling background in the second. Gentle reader! we have now, in a great measure absolved our duty towards the Scottish Academy. There are many paintings in it which we have passed over in silence, because we had nothing to say in their fayour. There are many which we must omit at present, but to which, as they are really deserving of notice, we may again revert, "if time and free consent be yours to give." We have only one more remark to trouble you with at present. The English artists have come liberally forward to assist with their works the Exhibition of the Scottish Academy. We rejoice at this; the exhibition of the works of strangers has a natural tendency to prevent the growth of mannerism, and a scholastic resemblance, which inevitably springs up among a small number of artists. At the same time, we see on the walls of the Scottish Academy some most inane daubs, and some meretricious, glaring productions, which have, to our knowledge, already made the tour of half the exhibitions in England, and have now been sent as a pis-aller to Edinburgh. As such productions can neither confer additional attractions on the Exhibition, nor improve by their inspection the taste of artists or the public, we hope that none such will be exhibited again. LETTERS FROM LONDON. I MIGHT still continue to repeat that the Catholic question is, indeed, Catholic,-the general theme that swallows up every other as of secondary interest; but, as your own proud city will not escape controversy, I shall forbear to "grieve your heart" farther with a subject that, whatever be its importance, hath a lamentable lack of novelty. There is a solemn stillness in the literary world, which may perhaps be considered as introductory to great events. Tomorrow there may come a rush upon the booksellers for the last new publication, the pledge of genius great and unexpected; but I am an humble witness, that on this blessed day, devoted to St Patrick and the second reading of Mr Peel's bill for the relief of his dear children, public curiosity, like the author of Mr Colburn's last, "preserves the strictest incognito.' You already know that Southey is busy with Bunyan the brazier of Bedford, (how alliterative our vernacular is!)-his poems of "All for Love," and "The Pilgrims of Compostella," are also about to be "cast upon the ""All for Love" is, I believe, of a pious vein, waters." and was originally intended for the Keepsake-the Editor of which Annual proposed to have it scissored down into genteel dimensions, which the Laureate refased to do, and leaving a weakling in its stead, deposited it with his alma nutrix, the great publishing house in Albemarle-street. "The Pilgrims of Compostella" is a humorous poem concerning a certain youth, who, by the assistance of St James, spent some weeks very pleasantly suspended from a gibbet, a miracle attested by a pair of orthodox fowl, who, to confound an unbelieving Alcade, stepped from the dish on which they lay ready roasted for dinner, and crew conviction in the face of the sceptical magistrate. Being Lent, little can be expected from the theatres save "Lenten entertainment." There are dull new plays, old oratorios ill produced, sad farces, and sleepy operas. One of the latter, called "The Maid of Judah," is under process of playing at Covent Garden. The story is taken from Ivanhoe; and the romance is to me something more agreeable than the dialogue and music of the new piece. An opera, however, many degrees inferior, indeed most diabolically bad, has been drawled through for a night or two at Drury Lane. It is entitled "The Casket." Our British composers have fallen into a leaden slumber, and the trick of the theatres now is, to get some "puny whipster" to fit the music of such men as Mozart and Rossini to the purposes of a medley, called an opera, for which songs are furnish ed by an aspiring scene-shifter, and conversations by a call-boy. When the compound is perfect in its ingredients, it is divided as nearly as may be into three equal parts by the critical stage-manager, who presents it in this state, with great self-complacency, to the nauseating palate of a much-abused public. Of such is "The Casket," and its reception has been in proportion to its deserts. ORIGINAL POETRY. THE LOST STAR. And whispering nothings to the drowsy flowers, II. Years roll'd away-years long in life's brief span- LITERARY CHIT-CHAT AND VARIETIE S. the practice of the Jews, and the writings of some of the early fathers, with the collateral proofs of such doctrine deduced from what Protestants choose to designate the Apocryphal Scriptures. He explained that we were to pray for those who were supposed to suffer after death the penalty, not of gross sins, from which there could be no pardon, but of minor offences; he omitted, however, to touch upon the recklessness which this belief might be too likely to engender during life. With regard to the musical part of the performance, we cannot help thinking, that notwithstanding the numerical force of the orchestra, and the known abilities of many of the vocal and instrumental performers, it was on the whole rather meagrely executed. There was a decided deficiency in bass voices, which is perhaps to be accounted for by the fact, that several of the best male singers of this description are precentors in Presbyterian Churches, and consequently prevented from joining a Roman Catholic choir. The overture of Mozart's Requiem, however, which, by the way, is also the overture to Don Juan, as well as the Gregorian chant, which followed, were well performed. But the chief merit of the performance certainly rested on the Sanctus and the Libera; indeed, the soft harmony of the latter, and the exquisite blending of the human voices with the swelling tones of the organ, deserve the highest praise, We understand that it is to the exertions of the Rev. Mr Gillies, a young foreign priest, that the public are mainly indebted for the musical arrangements both on the present occasion, and that of the obsequies of the late Bishop Cameron. MUSIC.-Miss Eliza Paton's annual Concert is announced, we observe, for Monday evening. We have little doubt that this young lady, who has cultivated her musical powers to such good purpose, will receive the encouragement to which she is so well WE observe that Messrs Blackie, Fullarton, and Co. of Glas- entitled. She is to be assisted by her sister, Miss Isabella Paton, gow, have just published, in a handsome and convenient form, who is accomplished both as an actress and vocalist,—Miss Noel, on one large sheet, a Political Scale of the Globe, translated from Mr Thorne,-Mr Wilson,-and, though last, not least, Mr Murthe French of Adrian Balbi. This scale exhibits the general sta-ray-one of the cleverest of our modern violinists. We are glad tistics of the earth, according to its actual political divisions, and also to perceive that the rooms are to be thrown open for refreshthe most recent discoveries; and presents, in one comprehensivements, by which an agreeable variety to the amusements of the and valuable table, a view of the surface and population, the re-evening is afforded. venue and debt, the forces by land and sea, the classification of the inhabitants according to religion and language, the reigning sovereign or chief of the government, with the epoch of his decession and of his minority, the religion he professes, and the dynasty to which he belongs, the population of the principal towns, the capital of each state, and the administrative divisions to which the others belong, of all the States of Europe and America, and the principal states of the other parts of the world. We have no hesitation in recommending this Table to general attention, for we have seldom seen so much information condensed into so small a space. The author of "Pelham" and "The Disowned" has published a volume of poems at Paris, which are favourably spoken of. A novel, from the pen of an officer in the Fourth Dragoon Guards, is about to appear, in which, we understand, the exploits of the regiment in peace and war will be revealed to the curiosity of the reader. A French translation of Clapperton's Second Expedition has been announced at Paris. Theatrical Gossip.-Two new operas have been produced in London, both from the pen of a Mr Lacy;-the one is called "The Maid of Judah, or the Knight Templars" (founded on "Ivanhoe"), and the other "The Casket." The former was performed at Covent Garden, and the latter at Drury Lane :-the | former was successful, but the latter failed.-Mr Pemberton, the new tragedian, appears to have withdrawn himself from the ani. madversions of the London critics.-Miss Noel's benefit, at our Theatre on Wednesday last, was crowded to the ceiling; four or five of her songs were encored, and "Cam you by Athol," she had to repeat thrice. Miss Noel is about to leave the stage, and we certainly do not know how Mr Murray is to supply her place. The new melo-dramatic tragedy of "Caswallon" was produced on Thursday, but we were not able to be present.-The Theatre was never better attended than it is now. Mrs Henry Siddons takes her benefit on Tuesday next, which, as a matter of course, will be crowdedly patronised.-Charles Kemble, we understand, commences an engagement here on the 28th of this month. WEEKLY LIST OF PERFORMANCES. SAT. March 14-March 20. Beaux Stratagem, Critic, and Destruction of the Spanish MON. TO OUR CORRESPONDENTS. THE article upon Chess is unavoidably postponed till our next. -The author of the Sketches of Modern Italy has our best thanks; his communications will appear as soon as possible.-Most of the "Bulls " enumerated by "B." have been already noticed by eritical writers, and some of them have been called Bulls unjustly. FUNERAL SERVICE FOR LEO XII.-In the 17th Number of the Literary Journal, we presented our readers with a few delineations of the life and character of the late Pope Leo the 12th; and we have now to mention, that the service which the Church of Rome prescribes for the peace of departed souls, took place on the occasion of his decease, on Thursday the 12th inst. in the Catholic Chapel here. The doors were opened to the public at half past ten, and as all persons were admitted by tickets, which were sold at a small sum, for the purpose of aiding the funds of the school for the education of the children of poor Catholics, a select and respectable audience, of whom, we believe, a considerable portion were Protestants, occupied the chapel. The side windows being darkened with black cloth, and the altar-piece covered in the same manner, a sombre and lugubrious character was given to the interior of the building, which the tapers and funeral torches, casting their light over the white cloth and emblematic figures on the altar, served rather to increase than diminish. High mass was performed by Bishop Paterson, assisted by the other clergy, and the usual prayers and litanies for the souls of the departed were chanted with all that pomp and circum-Spain," "The Irish Exile's Lament," and " The Last of the stance of which the Catholic church knows so well how to avail itself. A funeral oration, în honour of the deceased Pope, was delivered with considerable emphasis, by one of the attendant clergy, in which he took occasion to enlighten his hearers by expounding to them the doctrines of his church regarding the validity of prayers for the dead. His arguments were drawn from We are happy to understand, and have pleasure in mentioning, that the author of "Lucy's Flitting" was not the author of a song we noticed some time ago as inadmissible.-We cannot give "Amicus" any encouragement.-The verses entitled “* Philip of Cottagers," by "M." of Girvan, will not suit us.-If we can possibly find room for the poetical communications of "Theta,” of "C. J." of Glasgow, and of "A. W." of Selkirk, they shall have a place. We have already laid aside more than a volume of very good poetry, much of which, we fear, it will be a long while be fore we can overtake. EDINBURGH LITERARY JOURNAL; OR, WEEKLY REGISTER OF CRITICISM AND BELLES LETTRES. No. 20. SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 1829. LITERARY CRITICISM The History of the Roman Law during the Middle In these degenerate days of ours, when the great source of European jurisprudence is almost overlooked; when a quotation from the Digests is about as rare at the Bar as one from Sir Walter Scott's novels, both the author and publisher of a work on the History of the Roman law are entitled to no inconsiderable credit on the score of enterprise; since, in nine cases out of ten, their zeal must be its own reward. We are inclined to hope, however, for the credit of public taste, that such will not be the case in the present instance. The translation is ably executed by a person perfectly familiar with the language of his author, and the work of Savigny, which has now for the first time found a translator, is one of those rare productions which form an epoch in the departments to which they belong; a singular combination of the most patient and profound research with the greatest originality of views ;-one of those works, in fact, which in modern times are to be found only in Germany,-which we peruse with a sensation of mingled wonder and pity, at the laborious toil by which the vast mass of accurate information which it embodies has been accumulated, and of admiration at the skill and talent with which a subject, apparently lost in the gloom of antiquity, has been won from the void and formless infinite" of theory and conjecture. It is at least one of the advantages of the present system of education in Germany, that no one who hopes for a moment to obtain or preserve a name in the literature of his country, need enter on the field of competition without a course of preparation, by which the sensitive nerves of most of our literati would be effectually shaken. No one need expect there to step out upon the world, a heaven-born and ready-made scholar. The general standard of scholarship has been raised so high by the illustrious names which have, for the last fifty years in particular, been adding to the stock of German science, that one might almost say, without exaggeration, that the course of study which the German prescribes to himself before entering on his task as a labourer in the literary vineyard, is only commencing when that of a French litterateur ends. Years of the most assiduous, and what is more provoking, the most unobtrusive and apparently ineffective study; an acquaintance with most of the languages of civilized Europe, as well as those of antiquity; the careful perusal in the original of all previous works on the subject, as In fact, the theory of the Scottish law of diligence, as given by Jonathan Oldbuck, was quoted last session from the Bench with much approbation. PRICE 6d. well as long and deep meditation on that subject in all its views; these are regarded in Germany so much as matters of course, that a literary man obtains little more credit for their possession, than an essayist among our selves would do, who had been scrupulously correct in his orthography, or had never violated the integrity of Priscian's head. The work before us is a remarkable specimen of these qualities of the German character; the patient and persevering toil with which the foundation is laid, the solidity and skill with which the edifice is reared. Learning and originality walk hand in hand in this work of Savigny. Like his friend Niebuhr, he takes nothing on trust. He turns from the vague speculations of the writers who had preceded him, to the evidence arising from charters and deeds; and the permanent and unchanging testimony of inscriptions and public monuments. A date, a name, a half-mutilated inscription, the commencement or the conclusion of a moth-eaten parchment scroll, a public proclamation, an imperial decree, an apparently insignificant sentence in an author, treating, perhaps, of a subject totally different from that which is under discussion, become, in his hands, the most powerful engines for the elucidation of truth. Give him only some such point to rest his lever on, and the snug fabrics of theory," all compact," which had been reared by his less scrupulous predecessors, are levelled with the dust. Savigny and Niebuhr have this in common, that they both attach little weight to previous histories, or professed treatises on the subject, and seek, in general, for the true materials of their history in these indirect proofs. It is, no doubt, a misfortune attendant on this system, that it necessarily leaves many la. cuna to be filled up. It establishes, to be sure, certain fixed points, which, like meridians, are thus drawn through the vast and crowded mass of time; but it leaves the intermediate spaces often a mere waste, or filled only with conjectures or possibilities. In the case of the History of the Roman Law, however, we think it has been more judiciously applied than by Niebuhr. The absence of any authoritative contemporary treatises, in the first place, rendered it necessary; while the ample materials, afforded by the numerous collections of codices, diplomata, and deeds of all kinds, which the industry of Muratori, Ughelli, Papiri, and others have preserved, enabled him to fill up, with far more minuteness and certainty than could have been expected, the map of the state of the Roman Law during the Middle Ages, which he has presented to us in these elaborate volumes. The volume now before us is devoted to the evidence, in refutation of the commonly received notion, of the extinction of the Roman Law during the Middle Ages, and its sudden revival, after the supposed discovery at Amalfi. It shows, that during the whole of that period, the Roman Law, modified indeed by feudal institutions, or disguised under different names, was in operation among the different nations by whom the Roman empire was dismem. bered; it traces the general character of the sources of |