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counts of the Assassination of James I. and III. of Scotland, the Raid of Ruthven, and the Gowrie Conspiracy, the Gunpowder Plot, and the Famous Ryehouse Plot.

Memoirs of the celebrated Lady Fanshawe, wife of the Right Hon. Sir Richard Fanshawe, Bart. Ambassador from Charles II. to the Court of Madrid, are about to appear.

A work is announced under the title of Letters from Turkey, Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine, by R. R. Madden, Esq. The author, who is a physician, has been sojourning for four years in these countries, and was enabled, by virtue of his profession, to ascertain the actual state of Turkish society, manners, and customs, and to furnish more accurate information than has ever ap-high vogue with those who have good flesh-bags, are cut very peared on the subject. During his travels in the East, he visited the sites of Troy, Memphis, Thebes, and Jerusalem, and other interesting ruins.

A copy of Burke's Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetcy of the United Kingdom has just reached us. The work, in point of accuracy and extent of information, surpasses any that has yet appeared, being compiled from the communications of the nobility, and containing the Baronetcies of Scotland and Ireland, together with various new and important additions.

A History of the late Catholic Association of Ireland, from its institution in 1760, to its final dissolution in 1829, by a member of that body; to which are added the opinions of a distinguished Traveller on the actual state of Ireland, and on the Elections of England, will appear in a few days.

Mr Horace Smith, the author of Brambletye House, Zillah, &c., has a new novel in considerable forwardness, to be called "The New Forest.'

The author of Hungarian Tales is about to publish Romances of Real Life, in three volumes.

The second volume of Mr Atherstone's Poem, the Siege of Nineveh, is on the eve of publication.

The Rivingtons announce a volume of an interesting nature, to be called The German Pulpit, being a collection of sermons by the most eminent modern divines of Germany; selected and translated by the Rev. R. Baker.

The King of Bavaria has published a volume of Poems at Munich, the profits of which are devoted to an institution for the blind.

Mary Queen of Scots, and other Poems, by John Heneage Jessè, Esq., will appear in a few days.

LECTURES ON DRAMATIC POETRY.-James Sheridan Knowles, Esq., author of Virginius, &c., has been invited to London, and several of the principal towns in England, to deliver a Course of Lectures on a subject to which few men living can do greater justice-Dramatic Poetry. We understand he is about to commence his tour immediately, in the course of which he will probably visit Ireland. We believe he will remain a short time at Dumfries first, on his way to England; and it is not unlikely that he may be in Edinburgh in the course of next autumn. What gives a peculiar and striking interest to Mr Knowles' Lectures, are his powers as an elocutionist. His readings and recitations are animated and beautiful in the extreme..

MR FORD'S COLLECTION-We have pleasure in calling the attention of our readers to the very curious collection of old and rare books, and some interesting and valuable portraits, which have been recently brought to Edinburgh for private exhibition and sale by Mr Ford. We have gone over the collection more than once, and though small, have found in it many things which we could not easily have met with elsewhere.

New MUSIC. Mr Finlay Dun, whose fine taste and musical acquisitions are so well known in Edinburgh, has recently published two songs, both of which possess much merit. They are called, "The Mad Maiden's Song," and "The Bonnie Lad that's far awa';" the melody of each is very sweet and flowing.

MR WILSON'S CONCERT.-This concert was very judiciously conducted, and was pleasantly varied by the introduction of some fine old English madrigals." The Golden Bee," a very spirited composition, by the Authoress of " Aloyse," was sung with much taste by Miss Tunstall, and is likely to become a popular favour

ite.

MR MURRAY'S CONCERT.-We observe that this splendid violinist is to give a concert in the Assembly Rooms on Tuesday. He is to be assisted by the Misses Paton, and Miss Inverarity, who is on this occasion to make her first public appearance, and of whose musical talents very favourable reports have reached us. She is a grand-niece, we are informed, of Robert Fergusson, the Scottish poet, whom she is said to resemble very much in countenance. She is only sixteen; but if what we have heard of the power of her voice, the fire of her manner, and the brilliancy of her execution, be correct, she must be a wonderful girl of her age. FANCY DRESSES.-For evening dress, some slap-up coves have

appeared in coats of mud-coloured brown, with snuff-covered kerseymere vests, in small grease spot patterns, embroidered at the edge with tobacco juice or heavy wet; the tights made small or large, and of any thing you can screw out of the stitch; a check shirt, without sleeves. This is the ne plus ultra of swell toggery. Any sort of coat you can grab is also much in favour; some of these coats have d-d greasy collars. At balls, the waistcoats are of all sorts which the Fancy cribs of Field lane, and Monmouth street, can furnish; but those that fit are most fashionably. The ephemeral reign of waistcoats with straight collars is fast declining, from constant wear. The new waistcoats, which are in skimping over the craw, and are liked by the snips, because they consume less stuff: besides, they are more lively and consistent with the airy example of Dusty Bob, and other models of elegance. ¦ For dress-balls, the most approved costume consists of short kickseys, open at the knees, red garters, and striped worsted stockings; a yellow fogle, à la Ned Stockman, a white castor, false collar of foolscap, which meets the lug, mustachios of Day and Martin's japan, or horse-hair. Sometimes vests have buttons of different patterns; but livery buttons should be avoided. Many of the canine blades take their tykes to public assemblies, with brass squeezes round their throttles; the tail shaved. Greengrocers ornament their hinder quarters with a carrot, stuck a la spigot and fosset. Carpenters prefer a two-foot rule; snobs a pegging-awl; and tailors a thimble, placed gracefully over the sixth joint from the vertebræ.

Theatrical Gossip.-Poole has produced a successful farce at Drury Lane, entitled, "My Wife! What Wife ?"-" King Lear" has been revived at the same Theatre; Young, Lear,-Miss Phillips, Cordelia.-At Covent Garden, "The Maid of Judah," and "Home, sweet Home," continue a successful career.-The French Theatre goes well on; and Elliston is making the Surrey pay.The Italian Opera seems a more doubtful speculation.-On Tuesday last, there was a performance at Covent Garden in aid of a fund for raising a monument to the memory of Charles Dibdin. Many of his best songs were sung in fine style; and, in the musical afterpiece of "The Padlock," Miss Paton and Madame Vestris conjoined their powers-the latter amusing the Londoners with the exhibition of a wooden leg, incidental to the part of Leander, which she sustained.-" O'Donoghue and his White Horse," a melo-dramatic spectacle for Easter is preparing at Drury Lane. "The Provok'd Husband" having been very successful at this last Theatre, is to be revived at Covent Garden, and will be strongly cast. Lord and Lady Townly, Charles Kemble and Miss Chester; Richard and Miss Jenny, Keeley and Miss Nelson; Sir Francis Wronghead and Mr Manly, Fawcett and Warde. The play will be beautifully performed.-Madame Catalani is in Dublin. -Miss Smithson is in Holland, astonishing the Dutch; but she is speedily to visit London.-Charles Kemble, who takes his benefit here to-night, has not been drawing above three good houses in the week. He is to be succeeded, on Monday, by Miss F. H. Kelly. It would have been much better had they been here to gether. A new piece was produced on Thursday night, called, "The King and the Czar;" it was successful in London, but went off rather heavily here. A Miss Clarke is expected to make her debut soon, with the view of filling Miss Noel's line of parts. Nous Verrons..

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TO OUR CORRESPONDENTS. "A. L. B." of Glasgow writes temperately and well; and the author of the article in question may perhaps profit by his opi nions.-"F." of Dundee has our thanks; we shall be glad to hear from him again; we think he succeeds best in the sentimental mood, judging by the commencement of his communication.— "A Friend" has not changed our opinion on the subject he writes about. When "G. Barbour" next honours us with a letter, we shall be obliged by his paying the postage.

There are some good lines in "Nature, an Allegory;" but, as a whole, it is imperfect.-We regret that "The Chieftains of Morven," the lines on " Hope," to " Misfortune," to "Spring," and the Stanzas by "D. L. B.," will not suit us.

"Cato," to whom we owe an apology, will positively find a packet at our Publishers' now.

EDINBURGH LITERARY JOURNAL;

OR,

WEEKLY REGISTER OF CRITICISM AND BELLES LETTRES.

No. 23,

SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1829.

LITERARY CRITICISM.

The History and Doctrine of Budhism popularly illustrated; with Notices of the Kappooism, or Demon Worship, and of the Bali, or Planetary Incantations of Ceylon. By Edward Upham, M.R.A.S. With forty-three Lithographic Prints, from original Singalese Designs. London. R. Ackermann. 1829.

4to.

PRICE 6d.

bined and confined by the trammels of materiality, can proceed when it attempts to soar, unaided, beyond the paltry range of its own weak senses.

have become gods; but it rejects entirely the idea of a Supreme Being, who has created and preserves the universe. Its highest conception of power and happiness This state of Budha, or Nieban, is entirely negative, is to be in a state of Budha, or to obtain Nieban. and consists in not being subject to weight, old age, disease, or death. It is to be obtained only after a long progress of metempsychosis, and a succession of punishments and purifications in hells and purgatories, which, by the decrees of fate-Damata necessarily follow moral or immoral conduct. Four persons have already THIS is a learned and valuable work, upon a subject passed into the highest state of existence, namely, that of much greater interest and importance than the gene- of Budha, of which persons Gaudma was the fourth; ral reader may at first sight suppose. Budhism is the and his doctrines are to remain in full force for 5000 most ancient faith of which any authentic records exist; years, at the expiration of which period, (nearly onefor even what may be termed modern Budhism, which half having already passed,) a fifth and last person will is a modification of the original doctrine, and a slight appear; and when he transmigrates into the state of deviation from pure Paganism, is 2340 years old. It Budha, the present system of things shall have an end. owes its existence to Gaudma, or Godama, (whence the Mixed up with this predominating belief, which, many Teutonic word God,) who, having been probably a great centuries ago, found its way into Egypt, and was thence warrior-king and lawgiver in that remote period, taught carried to Greece by Pythagoras, are a thousand wild his people to believe that he was endowed with super- fancies and incomprehensible legends, betraying the human powers, and on his death was deified, as has al- gorgeous luxuriance of Eastern imagination, and show. ways been the case in rude ages. The previous tradi-ing, after all, how very short a length man's spirit, cations regarding a Budha, go back to a period long anterior to that at which the Mosaic chronology fixes the Deluge. The creed which Gaudma disseminated, and which is preserved in its purest state in the Island of But, notwithstanding the absurdities of the Budhist Ceylon, extends over all the Indian isles, and the creed, historical and scientific conclusions of the most greater portion of the vast regions to the eastward of interesting nature may be deduced from its doctrines the Ganges, among which may be included Birmah, and traditions; and this, of itself, would make it worChina, Tartary, and Thibet. Its doctrines thus influ- thy the most careful and laborious investigation. If, in ence the moral and intellectual character of not fewer retracing the stream of time, we are to look for the founthan three hundred millions of the human race. These tain from which all the generations of man have proare considerations which convert, into matters of deep in-ceeded, and if that people is likely to be the most anterest, the most minute details that can be gathered from the almost unexplored heaps of Eastern manuscripts, pictorial representations, and other antiquities which are known to exist, but which no scholar, previous to Mr Upham, has been able to turn to much practical use. Surely no enquiry can have more imperative claims upon public attention than that which retraces its way, upon the most authentic data, to the very earliest years of creation, and which seems to point to a time when the great family of man formed but one community, cherished the same belief, and observed the same rites. That some grand convulsion in the material world overthrew this state of things, and scattered its fragments over the earth, seems to be beyond a doubt. Asiatic tradition, though it cannot precisely explain what that convulsion was, or how it operated, carries us back to the date of its occurrence, and almost seems, in some vague and mysterious manner, to penetrate beyond the barrier, and to present at least a glimpse of the primeval world.

We are strongly inclined to think, that according to the correct acceptation of the term, Budhism is a system of Atheism. It, no doubt, inculcates a belief in various gods, or rather in human beings who

cient who inhabit districts acknowledged as the original nursery of all the arts now spread over the world, it is clear that we must turn to the East, and that there Budhism, if it does not bring us to the fountain-head, will at least carry us a long way on the right course towards it. In the progress of this voyage of discovery, it will be particularly important and interesting to observe, in the first place, that in the Maha-Vansi, a work composed in Palee, (the sacred Budhist language,) and which is one of the oldest and most esteemed of the sacred writings, the early history of the human race, though laid at a much remoter date, is found to agree, in many remarkable points, with our own Sacred Scriptures. The Maha-Mansi records the lengthened period of life allotted to the earlier inhabitants of the earth, the non-existence of sin, the rationality of the animal tribes, the extraordinary ascension of a certain MahaMandatoo in a living state to heaven, the introduction of falsehood and murder, and the rebellion of men against the gods. These are very curious coincidences, and will, no doubt, tend to confirm the Christian in his faith.

There are other coincidences equally deserving of notice. Many of our readers are no doubt acquainted with

the theory advanced by Humboldt, that the twelve signs The doctrine of metempsychosis is the very essence are not the original Zodiac, but are derived from a more and groundwork of Budhism. It is not a mere fanciancient system of the lunar mansions in use in Central ful theory, but a moral system, which teaches that souls Asia. Mr Upham's work establishes the truth of this must atone by penances in inferior forms for sins comtheory. The solar zodiac, which the Budhists have mitted in any present stage of existence, and that it is also, is proved to have been the result of a more advan- only after they have occupied the bodies of men or aniced state of knowledge, and to have been derived from mals, more or less degraded, that they can finally be the far more ancient and original lunar zodiac. We fitted for Nirwana, or the state of Budha. There being thus see that astrology, which owes its existence to the no Supreme Being, no great directing Mind, in the Budmixture of superstition and curiosity implanted in our hist creed, the system of metempsychosis was the only nature, is, in truth, the parent of astronomy, which is other plausible method by which a scheme of rewards science purged from superstition by more accurate inform- and punishments could be introduced, without which ation. But this discovery leads to still further results; no religion could ever be popular or useful. Budhism -it shows an affinity existing in the rites and practices inculcates, that Gaudma transmigrated through the of countries the most remote from each other, and be- whole circle of the creation, through all the existences tween which we should not otherwise have been able to of land, sea, and air, and that he lived in every station trace any sort of connexion. We more particularly al- of human life. This took him three thousand years to lude at present to the very striking and singular analo- accomplish; but if his faithful followers obey his comgies which may now be perceived to subsist in the commands, they may very speedily transmigrate into the putation of time and zodiacal signs between the Tartar Dewa Loka, or Lower Heavens, where they will gradually Budhists of Northern Asia and the Aztech and Toltech rise in the scale of existences till they reach Nirwana, or tribes of America. It has long been disputed whether final bliss. In the book of the Jutakas, or the five hunit was possible to prove that the tribes of Asia and dred and fifty incarnations of Budha, a complete history America had ever communicated with each other; but is given of his births among the different classes of if we find several arbitrary zodiacal signs the same in beings, and the substance of his intercourse with them, both countries, the question must certainly be considered for the purpose of illustrating three of the chief traits of as decided. That the astronomical arrangements and his character-purity, compassion, and wisdom. The divisions of modern Europe should very closely resemble book was originally written in Palee, and afterwards those of Budhism is less wonderful, for it was compara- translated into Singalese; a pictorial illustration accomtively easy for the science to find its way into Egypt, panies each narrative; and the work altogether, judging and thence it spread by Greece over all the West. It by the specimens of it furnished by Mr Upham, must is of importance, however, to observe the very slight ad- be one of the most remarkable which the East posditions which have been effected in this department of sesses. knowledge to the discoveries that were made by the Budhists thousands of years ago.

The Budhist's belief in a series of hells, or abodes for condemned demons and mortals, where the most Budhism, as it now exists, is a reformed creed; and, horrible torments are inflicted, adds great additional as we have already remarked, is believed to be founded weight to the doctrine of metempsychosis. These puon the ruins of Paganism. Gaudma, the fourth Budha, nishments, as we have already remarked, are not supdid not approve of the doctrines which had been proposed to be awarded by any moral governor or creator; mulgated or acquiesced in by the Budhas who preceded for the Budhas perform no other function than that of him; and though he could not extirpate them, he al- exhortation and preaching, but they are believed to have tered some, did away with others, and took the remainder been made necessary by the immutable laws of fate from into copartnership. Original Paganism seems to have all eternity. The oath administered to a Budhist, in been little else than a system of demon-worship, and a legal proceedings, is strikingly illustrative of this part belief in planetary influences. This, indeed, is gene- of the religious opinions of the people. It is in these rally the foundation of all barbarous religions;-men words: deify their hopes and fears, and attach superhuman powers to objects, with whose nature they are unac- "If I have not seen, yet shall say that I have seen; quainted. Climate, habits, and modes of life, modify if I shall say that I know that which I do not know, the creed; which will thus be found to vary from that of then may I be thus punished: Should innumerable deother savage tribes in some of its details, but to preserve scents of the Deity happen for the regeneration and sala close resemblance in all its leading features. Gaud-vation of mankind, may my erring and migrating soul ma, however, in reforming Budhism, had not merely to contend with Pagans, but with a more determined and formidable sect the Brahmins. The question has been often agitated, whether Brahminism or Budhism is the most ancient system, and it is a question which, many centuries ago, occasioned the most devastating wars in India. The result has been that, at this day, the two systems divide the East. In Central India, Brahminism maintains the superiority; whilst, in the Indian Isles and all the ultra-Gangetic continent, Budhism is supreme. The truth seems to be, that both creeds are modifications of pure Paganism; and it is of little consequence which sprang up first. The Brahmins calculate the antiquity of the world; the Budhists do not believe in creation: The Brahmins eat of no animal; the Budhists eat of all except nine, of which the ox is the principal: The supreme deity of the Brahmins is Vishnu, and the remote periods at which he visits the earth they term Avatars; the supreme deities of the Budhists are their five Budhas, of which only four have yet made their appearance. The great connecting link between the two systems is the belief they both inculcate in transmigration, of which we shall say a few words.

be found beyond the pale of their mercy! Wherever I go, may I be encompassed with dangers, and not escape from them, whether arising from murderers, robbers, spirits of the earth, of wood, of water, or of air, or from all divinities who adore Budha, or from the Gods of the four elements, and all other spirits! May blood flow out of every pore of my body, that my crime may be made manifest to the world! May all or any of these evils overtake me within three days, or may I never stir from the spot on which I now stand, or may the lat sani, or lash of the sky, (lightning,) cut me in two, so that I may be exposed to the derision of the people! Or, if I should be walking abroad, may I be torn in pieces by either of the four supernaturally endowed lions, or destroyed by venomous herbs, or poisonous snakes! If in the waters of the river or ocean, may supernatural crocodiles, or great fishes, devour me, or may the winds and waves overwhelm me; or may the dread of such evils keep me, during life, a prisoner at home, estranged from every pleasure; or may I be afflicted by the intolerable oppressions of my superiors; or may a plague cause my death; after which, may I be precipitated in to hell, there to go through innumerable stages of torture,

amongst which, may I be condemned to carry water over the flaming regions, in open wicker baskets, to assuage the heat felt by Than Wetsuwan, when he enters the infernal hall of justice; and thereafter may I fall into the lowest pit of hell; or, if these miseries should not ensue, may I, after death, migrate into the body of a slave, and suffer all the hardships and pain attending the worst state of such a being, during a period of years measured by the sand of four seas; or may I animate the body of an animal or beast during five hundred generations, or be born an hermaphrodite five hundred times, or endure in the body of a deaf, dumb, houseless beggar, every species of disease, during the same number of generations, and then may I be hurried to Narak, or hell, and there be crucified by Phria-Yam, one of the kings of hell!"

The Budhist doctrine teaches that there are eight large hells, which, however, are only probationary states, where mortals are purified by fire, and which seem to have suggested the idea of their Tartarus, Hades, and Orcus, to the Greeks and Romans. The hells are supposed to be under the earth, and rendered invisible to our eyes by the shell or crust of the terraqueous globe. But Nirwana, the place of bliss, as well as the Dewa Loka, or Lower Heavens, are situated in the starry sphere.

Did space and time permit, we would willingly accompany Mr Upham into some farther details upon this interesting subject, which he has so ably and laboriously illustrated. We might give some account of the singular notions entertained by the Budhists of the earth, and the atmospheric regions; we might describe the inhabitants of the Dewa Loka, or Six Heavens, supplying, as they do, with their multitude of Dives, Peris, fairies, enchanters, giants, and oracular birds, all the materials of Arabian fable; we might look into many parts of their religious ritual, such as the feasts of the Nats, the Festival of the Gods, the poisoned toast, and the inebriating tree, in which we might discover the more recondite parts of the Eleusinian mysteries; we might trace, in the superstitions connected with the hells, the Bali, and the Demons, much of the machinery of Dante, and not a little of the creed of our own Teutonic ancestors, who, coming from the Euxine, imported Budhism along with them. But we must bring our remarks to a close, after expressing our full sense of the many dif ficulties Mr Upham must have encountered and overcome, before he was able to produce so splendid a work, on a subject so far out of the beaten track. We are well aware of the labour and perseverance requisite to dive into the hidden stores of Indian literature; and in all the Palee manuscripts relating to Budhism, we know that the writers purposely wrap up their meaning, and are more willing to mystify and mislead, than to give any distinct information. We cannot, therefore, but observe, with surprise, the very lucid manner in which Mr Upham has arranged his materials, and the distinct way in which he brings a thousand scattered facts to bear upon the point in question. The coloured lithographic prints which the volume contains are themselves of very great value. The originals have been presented to the London Asiatic Society, and are considered the oldest and only examples extant of the ancient mode of teaching by pictures. Few publishers can do greater justice to a work than Ackermann, when he is so disposed; and, from the splendid style in which the present has been got up, we do not wonder to learn that it has cost not less than L.1400. We believe the impression has been limited to 250 copies, and it will therefore be much less widely circulated, than the interesting nature of its contents deserves. It must, however, of course find its way into all the great libraries; and we are glad to perceive, by a Prospectus now be fore us, that Mr Upham is diligently proceeding with

his Oriental researches, and is engaged in editing the three sacred and historical books of Ceylon, comprising all the authentic annals of Budhism, drawn from sources to which none but Budhists themselves could have ac

cess.

Traits of Travel; or Tales of Men and Cities. By the author of "High-Ways and By-Ways." 3 vols. London. Henry Colburn. 1829.

MR GRATTAN's abilities as a novelist are not greatly above the ordinary currency of the day. He writes in a light pleasant style, and his stories are agreeable enough to read on a rainy afternoon, when one does not exactly know what to do with oneself. But they will never set the Thames on fire, nor even, we suspect, make the author's fortune. The work now before us is not an improvement on his "High-Ways and By-Ways;" it has too much of a made-up air, as if the writer had been more anxious to fill a book than to increase his reputation. It bears, in many parts, evident marks of haste and carelessness; and these are hardly redeemed by the fire and brilliancy of the remainder. Besides, we do not think that Mr Grattan has adopted the most popular style and plan for fictitious narrative. He assumes the character of a walking gentleman, and seems more desirous to recount his own personal adventures than to supply his readers with an interesting series of tales. This is injudicious; and, at all events, the idea was exhausted in his "High-Ways and By-ways." The novel-reading public must either have fish or flesh. They don't want half-and-half works, where the author is entirely lost sight of in one page, and starts up again, prosy and egotistical, in the next. They do not like to be thus cheated out of a good love-story, full of tears, and duels, and hard-hearted papas and mammas. Mr Grattan may be one of the most charming little men in existence; but there is nothing particularly romantic in his walking through lanes in Normandy, or taking cross cuts in Belgium, going into hedge alehouses, and meeting with queer postilions and blowsy dairy-maids. A book in three volumes should be made of sterner stuff than this; for really there is a good deal of flummery, and not a great deal of substance, in the "Traits of Travel."

The work consists of a number of Tales and Sketches, to which it is impossible for us to allude individually, and we therefore have preferred giving a general opinion on the whole. Let it not be supposed, however, that we mean to deny to Mr Grattan the praise unquestionably due to him. He is not a very profound or powerful writer; but he has many good qualities, which ought not to go unrewarded. He has a neat flowing style, considerable facility of description, a fair portion of Irish enthusiasm, a gentle vein of sentimentalism, a tolerably acute perception of character, and some humour, which, though it never inundates, flows on in a quiet, pleasant stream. In short, Mr Grattan has few faults; and all that he wants to make him a more eminent man is a more decided and original genius. We had marked several passages for quotation, but must limit ourselves to one, the spirit of which our readers will be able to enjoy, though detached from the Tale in which it occurs. We shall entitle it

A SCENE BELOW THE TABLE.

"Very soon after the soup had been removed, and the housekeeper's operations had commenced in solid earnest, and while I was in the act of addressing a sentence of civility to the interesting girl beside me, I felt something gently touch the point of one of my feet with a very light pressure. I did not pay any attention to it at first, and on a repetition of the touch, I concluded that a cat was passing to and fro under the table. Af,

ter a very short interval, however, it came again; and there was something so intelligible in the feel of the thing, and in the language it spoke, that I thought mere animal agency could not alone have caused it. The fact of the case came across my mind with a quickness and clearness that showed, as I thought, a considerable aptitude on my part. I was convinced, in a moment, that the sallow-visaged doctor was sending his long legs on an embassy from the other side of the table, and that his grisly foot believed itself in the act of making a very tender impression on the instep of my beautiful neighbour. My determination was instantly formed to encourage the doctor's error, to personate, with the point of my foot, the moiety of one of those no doubt delicate ones for which it was mistaken, and to amuse myself by observing those secret workings of the doctor's sole, which I thought, if properly managed by me, would be likely to display themselves in his coun

tenance.

"In pursuance of this freak, the consequences of which I little foresaw, as my readers will believe when they learn them, I quietly slipped my foot out of its shoe, the better to counterfeit feminine delicacy; and advancing it softly towards that of the doctor, which had retreated after his last attempt, I gently touched the tip of his great toe with mine. While I did so, I turned again towards the lady on whom I was committing this personal forgery, and, though saying a few words to her, I marked, by a single glance, the effect of my first step in this underfoot affair. The doctor's look had been louring and disappointed; but no sooner did he feel the timid touch which I essayed, than a frightful expression of delight showed itself on his face. An odious streakiness overspread his cheeks, the livid veins of his temples swelled almost to bursting, his lip quivered with a convulsive tremor, and his glowering eyes seemed to float in bile. The look of sickening softness, which he rolled across the table, was enough to infect the delicate things it passed over, like the poison-blast that desolates the garden of Araby.

"I was utterly disgusted with the fellow; but I did not the less amuse myself with him. For full half an hour, I played him as an angler plays a salmon, forward and backward, from one side to the other; sometimes luring him on, then letting him retreat; now suffering his foot gently to press mine, then giving his a squeeze on the most sensitive and corny part; and, on these occasions, I could mark on his lips the anguish which he was, martyrlike, enduring so bravely. At last I got quite tired of my sport, and began to hate the wretch, as his glances at the passive object of his gallantries seemed to give her credit for a sympathy with his overtures, of which she was wholly innocent. He at last looked so atrociously amorous, that I could keep my temper no longer; but, slipping my foot again into my shoe, I waited for his next approach, and drawing back my leg an instant to take forcible aim, I darted it forward with amazing accuracy, and just caught his advancing shinbone on the edge of my square-toed shoe. The pain he suffered must have been intolerable, for he smacked his knee against the table with a force that caused it to dart up like a spring-board, and made a matelotte of eels, which was beside him, bound, as though they had just been popped into the frying-pan. Several bottles and glasses were upset and broken, and the whole of the sensitive assemblage looked affrighted. The victim of my vengeance writhed with pain; and I, with all the hypocrisy I could put on,, looked penitence personified, and apologised, expressing my fears that I had kicked him instead of a dog or cat which I supposed to have been at my foot. I beg a thousand pardons,' said I,

in conclusion.

"Au contraire, Monsieur, c'est moi,' exclaimed he, bowing down to the table-cloth with perfect politeness, and I was quite satisfied. But if I was, or even

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gratified with his discomfiture and suffering, the feeling was soon changed to one of a very different kind. sooner were the staring eyes of the party taken off his face, which I, however, continued slyly to observe, than I perceived him to dart one look at my lovely neighbour, of such a mixed and horrible kind, that I felt myself bodily to shrink from it. He either meant to reproach her for her insensibility to his suffering, or for a complicity in the injury done him. Heaven knows what! But so deadly a look of anger, hatred, and revenge, I certainly never witnessed. During the remainder of the repast, he sat sullen and silent." P. 96-101.

To such of our readers as wish for a longer sample of these volumes, we recommend the sketch called, "A Bone to pick, a tale of Irish Revenge," and the story of "Laura Permegia," which is very sweetly and prettily told. "The Maison de Santé" contains some graphic writing; but it is a painful and disagreeable subject. The whole of the third volume we consider heavy.

The Practice of Cookery, adapted to the Business of Everyday Life. By Mrs Dalgairns, Edinburgh. Cadell and Co. 1829.

THIS is by far the most complete, and truly practical work, which has yet appeared upon this subject. It contains 1434 Receipts, and the Index alone occupies twenty-five pages. Mrs Dalgairns is not one of those imaginative and flowery preceptors, who think it necessary to call in the aid of fiction and fine writing, to give an interest to the engrossing and important matters of which she treats. She proceeds to business at once; and from her title-page, to her "Printed by Ballantyne and Co." at the foot of page 528, she never for a moment turns either to the right or to the left; but, devoted to the metier she professes, prides herself on be ing totus in illo. Her book will be found an infallible Cook's Companion, and a treasure of great price to the mistress of a family. It is stuffed choke-full of the most important gastronomical information; and, like a well-fed turkey, or juvenescent pig, it has swelled out under the fostering care of Mrs Dalgairns, till it has actually become fat and dumpy; reminding us of an alderman we once knew, five feet high by four broad,a very incarnation of all the good things of this life. There are 25 Chapters, in the course of which we are treated, among many others, to 95 receipts for soups, 115 for fish, 70 for beef, 60 for veal, 31 for pork, 41 for poultry, 14 for curries, 104 for gravies, sauces, &c., 66 for vegetables, 263 for puddings, pies, and tarts, 134 for creams, custards, &c., 100 for cakes, &c., 82 for preserves, 61 for domestic wines, 15 for the dairy, and 88 miscellaneous. Then we have remarks besides on the poultry-yard, brewing, the kitchen garden, bees, pigs, &c. The highly-judicious principles upon which the book has been composed are thus stated in the Preface:" The chief requisites in a work of this kind are, first, the intrinsic excellence of the precepts it contains; next, their economical adaptation to the habits and tastes of the majority of its readers; and, lastly, such a distinct arrangement of the various parts, that no difficulty can arise in searching for what is wanted, nor any ambiguity in the meaning of the directions when found." We are farther assured, that every receipt has been actually tried, either by the author, or by persons whose accuracy in the various manipulations could be safely relied upon. With so many arguments in its favour, we cannot doubt that the "Practice of Cookery" will soon find its way into a wide and useful circulation. For our own part, we have in an impressive manner presented our cook with a copy, solemnly declaring, that if an ill-dressed dish ever again appear upon our table, the punishment shall be instant dismissal.

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