Grantham, and lye under a hedge studying whilst the man went to town and did the business, and called for him in his return. No doubt the man made remonstrances of this to his mother. Likewise, when at home, if his mother ordered him into the fields, to look after the sheep, the corn, or upon any other rural employment, it went on very heavily through his manage. His chief delight was to sit under a tree, with a book in his hands, or to busy himself with his knife in cutting wood for models of somewhat or other that struck his fancy: or he would get to a stream and make mill-wheels."

Though it is impossible to raise the character of Sir Isaac Newton by any information that may be collected concerning him, yet it is always desirable to know under what circumstances great men have risen to eminence, and how far their employments in early life may have given that bias to their future pursuits which has immortalized their naine, and endeared their memory to posterity.

Old Nick's Pocket-Book;

or, Hints for "a ryghte pedantique ande mangleinge" Publication, to be called My Pocket-Book."-By Himself, 12mo. 4s.-Sherwood and Co.

This is the retort courteous, by a writer, who thinks Sir John Carr has been unfairly handled by Old Nick in his travesty of The Stranger in Ireland, under the title of My Pocket-Book, which has been so recently the subject of an action in the Court of King's Bench. "With this work (vide Advertisement) the author has taken the trouble. to compare The Stranger in Ireland, page by page; and although the following result of that comparison may be quite sufficient to convince the reader of the great want of candour which is betrayed in every one of the travester's insinuations, the greater want of truth which is discovered in every one of his quotations, and the unworthy use of ridicule which pervades his whole work; yet no one, who has not actually gone through that comparison, can judge of the far greater portion of perversions, mutilations, mis-quotations, and false attributions, which still remain behind.”

To shew how easy it is to turn into ridicule that which is not ridiculous, and to rescue Sir John Carr's amusing

volume from the unmerciful claws of Old Nick, he Author of this Pocket-Book furnishes the followng Hints:

ridicule all description. hill of Howth, with its On the RIGHT, was it? the right! It was there

Now let me see how I can "On the right was the rugged rocky bays," says my author. strange that it should be on as usual? more strange that it should not disappear when my author arrived there! "Its rocky bays also?" strangest of all, that it should not have tumbled down and filled up its bays! Thus, by presuming that every part of a description is related as a matter of surprise, and not of fact, I get rid of all description at once.Shakspeare, Milton, Cowper, and the rest of our accurate descriptive poets, pondered over the preciseness and utility of every word in vain. Let me see if I can't ridicule their best descriptions. Firstly, Shakspeare's Dover Cliff:

"The crows and choughs that wing the mid-way air
"Seem scarce so gross as beetles."

Wonderful that distance should diminish to the sight!

"Half-way down

"Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!

Most astonishing that an useful herb should be gathered, and that it should be gathered too, of all places, in that where it was likely to be found! “ Dreadful trade!" No; it's like writing ridiculous descriptions, nothing when you're used to it, Mr. Shakspeare.

"Methinks he seems no bigger than his head."

If Mr. Shakspeare here means, that, on account of the distance, the whole man looked no bigger than his head would have looked when it was close to him, it is a sapient reflection obscurely expressed; but if he means, that since, from the point of view the cliff afforded, the man's head was looked down upon and the rest of his body foreshortened, the wonderment of the observation is about of a piece with the author's general progress in the scene of perspective. Then follow some more im portant remarks deduced from the wonderful effect of

distance upon sight, a discovery which it must be supposed Mr. Shakspeare had just made; and the description concludes;

-The murmuring surge,

"That in the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes,
"Cannot be heard so high."

How did Mr. Shakspeare know that the surge murmured, if it could not be heard so high?” Very strange that the pebbles on a sea-shore should not have been numbered! Why is not this task included in the acts of parliament for reckoning the population of the country?" Idle pebbles," too! oh, they ought to be made to work. 2dly, a passage from Milton's L'Allegro.

"Right against the eastern gate,

"Where the great sun begins his state."

So, the sun rises in the east! nay, more, he is " mark that!

"Rob'd in flames, and amber light,

"The clouds in thousand liv'ries dight."

great,"

"Rob'd in flames and amber light?" ay, like a lady with a yellow gown, and an amber necklace! The "thousand liv'ries" may not be useless to keep up the "state" Mr. Milton talks of.

"While the ploughman near at hand,
"Whistles o'er the furrow'd land,
"And the milk-maid singeth blithe,
"And the mower whets his scythe,
"And every shepherd tells his tale,
"Under the hawthorn in the dale."

"While" all this is doing? Why could not the sun
wait till they were all done? So strange, too, that a
ploughman should whistle, a milk-maid sing, a mower's
scythe want whetting, and a shepherd tell a tale. But
only think of all the shepherds telling their tales under
one hawthorn in one dale! What a crowd and a hubbub
there must be! 3dly, a passage from Cowper's
"Task."

"Her Ouse, slow winding thro' a level plain
"Of spacious meads, with cattle sprinkled o'er,
"Conducts the eye along his sinuous course,
"Delighted."

"Ouse was here as usual;" the "level plain of spacious meads also." Strange that cattle should be found in meadows! Here a river takes the eye by its lash, and wafts it down the stream, "delighted!" Strange sport!

-There, fast-rooted, in their bank,

"Stand, never overlook'd, our fav'rite elms,
"That screen the herdsman's solitary hut."

Now change sides. To be even with the “ here,” "there" are Mr. Cowper's "fav'rite elms;" "fastrooted in their bank," too! Strange that! considering that Mr. Cowper knew them to Le old friends, and that they were large enough to "screen a hut."

Your author says, that "the Hill of Howth wants only a volcano to resemble Vesuvius:" it is very clear that the word wants here is used in the Latin sense of caret, and not the English one of wishes to have: but any fool can catch the most obvious meaning of a word; take the most remote: say, it would resemble Vesuvius, "if it could get what it wants."

So much for this Battle of Books.-Sir John Carr, in the mean time, is continuing his literary career, and we doubt not will pursue it successfully. The errors (what author is free from them?) which have been pointed out in his former volumes he will of course be anxious to avoid, and unmerited censure he ought to know how to laugh at and despise. At any rate if he again seeks a remedy from a Lord Chief Justice, we presume he will not go to Law. There is a Dedication to the worshipful Company of Butchers; and a caricature representing some jolly knights of the cleaver in the act of offering the freedom of the Butchers' Company to the author of "My Pocket-Book."

Poems. By Matilda Betham. 8vo. 4s. Hatchard.

A correct taste, smooth versification, and a general neatness of expression, are the distinguishing characteristics of these poems. They have pretensions occasionallyto elegance, but discover little fancy, or any of the lofty qualities of poetry. No one, however, can get up from the perusal without a very favourable opinion of Miss Betham's good sense, and literary capabilities,

Aphorisms of Sir Philip Sidney; with Remarks by Miss Jane Porter, (Author of Thaddeus of Warsaw). 2 vols. 12mo. Longman.

These Aphorisms are well known; but they too largely distributed, or too often perused. ter's comments are worthy of the original text. lowing may serve as a specimen :—

cannot be Miss PorThe fol

"1. One look (in a clear judgment) from a fair and virtuous woman, is more acceptable than all the kindnesses so prodigally bestowed by a wanton beauty.

"2. It is against womanhood to be forward in their own wishes.

"3. There is a certain delicacy, which in yielding conquers, and, with a pitiful look, makes one find cause to crave help one's self.

"4. Silence ought to be without sullenness; modesty without affectation; and bashfulness without ignorance.

5. Some women are in that degree of well-doing, to which the not knowing of evil serveth for a ground of virtue; and they hold their inward powers in better form, with an unspotted simplicity, than many do, who rather cunningly seek to know what goodness is than willingly take to themselves the following of it. But as that sweet and simple breath of heavenly goodness is the easier to be altered, because it has not passed through the trial of worldly wickedness, nor feelingly found the evil that evil carries with it; so these innocents, when they come to a point wherein their judgments are to be practised by knowing faultiness by its first tokens, do not know whether the pending circumstance be a thing to be avoided or embraced, and so are apt easily to fall into the snare. "6. The sex of woman-kind is most particularly bound to consider, with regardful eyes, men's judgments on its deeds."

66 REMARK.

"A clear reputation must be desirable to every honourable inind. Lucretia died to maintain her's; but there the sense of reputation was stronger than that of honour! A truly noble heart would have preferred the death that Tarquin threatened; unsullied purity with a slandered name, before contamination with the power of accusation and revenge. Positive rectitude ought to be the first consideration; a fair character, the second ; but