never heard a sound have been suddenly startled by a single word transmitted in the common tone of voice of the speaker. Some, who had lost their hearing by disease, age, or other causes, have had it completely restored to them by this acoustic phenomenon. We ourselves were witnesses of an experiment tried upon a boy who had never heard a sound in his life, wherein the effect was electrical. The start, surprise, and even terror, which he exhibited at the newly awakened sense, were incontrovertible evidences of the vast power of the instrument. The scientific world is indebted to Dr. Scott for this valuable invention which offers not only a new field for critical and mechanical examination, but a grand stimulus to that particular section of inventive genius which has the alleviation of personal suffering for its praiseworthy object. The deaf are under obligations to the same gentleman for many other valuable auxiliaries, minor in importance only to the one in question.

FINE ARTS.

I. SCULPTURE.

Outlines of celebrated Works from the best Masters of ancient and modern Sculpture. Numbers 1-6, published by Charles Murton.

An excellent design well accomplished. When the work is further advanced, we shall treat of the subjects at large. At present we remark only, that the Numbers before us contain the Farnese Hercules;-the Laocoon;-Museo Borbonico's Venus and Cupid;-Canova's Graces-Venus and Adonis-Hector-Venus Victorious -Magdalen-Hebe-Hercules and Lichas-and Infant St. John;-Westmacott's Cupid; - Baily's Eve at the Fountain;-Bacon's Narcissus ;-Thorwaldsen's Hebe; with Flaxman's Mercury and Pandora-and Resignation.

II. PORTRAITURE.

Ryall's Portraits of eminent Conservatives and Statesmen. No. 10.

The present number of this splendid work contains Francis Lord AshburtonJohn Wilson Croker-and Sir F. Pollock. The first and second are by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and are exquisitely engraved by Mr. Artlett, and Mr. W. Finden. The third is from Phillips by Robinson, and no less excellently executed.

III. ARCHITECTURE.

The Churches of London - By George Godwin, junr. F.S.A. Associate of the
Institute of British Architects, assisted by John Britton, Esq. F. S. A. No. 24.-
C. Tilt.
This work continues to deserve attention.

IV. CARICATURE.

Heads of the People, taken off, by Quizfizz.-No. 2. Tyas.

Very cleanly and cleverly decapitated.

The Comic Almanack for 1839. An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, containing "all things fitting for such a work." By Rigdum Funnidos, Gent. Illustrated by George Cruikshank, London: Charles Tilt.

This is a capital publication to drive away the blue devils It fully supports the character of its predecessors. The illustrations are in Cruikshank's very best style. The tale of Bob Stubbs, also is capital, but we cannot stay to particularise, when every thing is equally good.

Hood's Own, or Laughter from Year to Year, No. 11, completely keeps up the character of its predecessors.

LAW.

I. PRACTICE.

The Legal Guide. Weekly Periodical. Richards & Co. Fleet-street. Admitting the justice of the editor's remarks in the preface to this work;-"We live in an age in which it is with some difficulty, that a practitioner can understand what the law really is upon any subject; so great and varied are the constant changes," N. S.-VOL. I.

Q

-and again that-" the student is placed in even a more distressing situation ; he commences his career and studies one set of laws, and ends his clerkship under another set, consequently as ignorant of the laws as he began ;"-we consider an attempt to lessen the mischiefs consequent on those evils highly commendable; and should the cherished expectations be realised of ultimately "remedying" them, great service will be rendered to society generally. The number of legal periodicals now in circulation speaks much in favour of the growing intelligence of legal students. The new race of lawyers will present very different aspects from what the old exhibited. As a liberal profession nothing can tend more to liberalise it than such publications as these, which bring daily to the office door, the knowledge daily required within and without it; thus abridging labour, and giving time for higher studies.

The Scarlet Fathers. The Church and the Widow; an exposure of the case of Mary Anne Woolfrey, exhibiting the mischievous and intolerant nature of Ecclesiastical Courts, with Observations on other Scandals in the Established Church. By an Officer of the Crown: London. Southgate, Strand, 1838.

THIS is a spirited pamphlet on a topic on which we have already treated at full in the present number. It is well written and well argued, though on the antagonist ground which we mean to avoid on all subjects. It adduces facts, showing the practice in many instances of the Established Church to be in favour of the widow's cause, and produces many epitaphs of a similar tendency to hers, yet extant in Cathedrals, churches, and burial grounds. The decision of the Arches' Court must be gratifying to every true Christian.

II. INSANITY.

A Letter to the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor, on the Present State of the Law of Lunacy; with Suggestions for its Amendment. By a Barrister of the Inner Temple. London: William Crofts, 19, Chancery Lane. 1838. THE author before us asserts that, until insanity be better defined by the English law than at present it is, justice requires a more solemn enquiry to be made, and some more constitutional tribunal to decide whether an individual ought to be kept in confinement, and deprived of his liberty, merely because his understanding is partially disturbed, his affections deadened, his attachments warped, or his feelings become changed. And in corroboration of these opinions, the writer states the recent case of Mr. Paternoster; in which, however, the jealousy of the law vindicated its sufficiency. We have no power, truly, to prevent wrong; but we have, it would seem, in this particular, enough to remedy it when done. But the subject is one surrounded with difficulties. It may be that individuality is madness; and it then becomes a moot point for the law to decide, of what degree of aberration from the general standard, or of difference between man and man. it shall take cognizance. Dr. Mayo distinguishes insanity into moral and mental. Every dereliction, however slight, from the line of rectitude, is a sign of the former. Wickedness is mad

ness.

This is the doctrine of the Scriptures, which make no difference between the fool and the knave; and daily experience testifies still that one involves the other. Some writers are of opinion that all madness has a moral source. Madness, says Coleridge, is not simply a bodily disease. "It is the sleep of the spirit with certain conditions of wakefulness; that is to say, lucid intervals. During this sleep, or recession of the spirit, the lower or bestial states of life rise up into action and prominence. It is an awful thing to be eternally tempted by the perverted senses. The reason may resist-it does resist-for a long time: but too often, at length, it yields for a moment, and the man is mad for ever. An act of the will is, in many instances, precedent to complete insanity. Bishop Butler said, that he was all his life struggling against the devilish suggestions of his senses, which would have maddened him, if he had relaxed the stern wakefulness of his reason for a single moment."

This is the most important phase of the disputed matter. In regard to the intellectual aspect of it, if we concede the definition that "when a man mistakes his thoughts for persons and things, he is mad,"-how many of us are there who unconsciously do this! More than would be at first imagined,-if, indeed, the number stop short of all mankind. The whole of Berkeley's theory is framed on the converse of this hypothesis,-namely, that persons and things are only our thoughts,

which all men constantly mistake for something else. This would dispose of humanity at one fell swoop, and leave us no room to wonder that moralists are sometimes led to contemplate the world as a bedlam.

"Talk with a stormy sky, man! Prone to deem

That nothing is, because of thine own dream."

Aberrations from the moral and intellectual standard take the form of all the relative powers and faculties, and differ in their modes and names accordingly. Of these we shall probably give, ere long, a proper analysis. The pamphlet before us deals with the question only in its relations to the liberty of the subject, and proposes, instead of the power being vested, as it now is, in the hands of any two physicians, surgeons, or apothecaries, that no person whomsoever should be confined in any madhouse, lunatic hospital, or licensed asylum, until an inquest of twelve men had first determined upon the fact, whether the individual was sane or not. It would then become a matter of proof, to be supported as well by the evidence of medical men, as also by that of the friends of the unfortunate sufferer (the latter being frequently, from their connection, the better judges, whether the subject of enquiry ought to be under any actual restraint). Counsel, if required, on either side, should be permitted to attend ; and the supposed lunatic, if not in a dangerous state, should always appear before the inquest. If, however, it would be imprudent to produce the lunatic, from any ill consequence which might attend the violence of the malady, it ought then to be compulsory on two medical men, or one medical man and two other persons, to testify such facts upon oath.

"This trial by JURY," continues the writer, "might be very easily carried into effect throughout the country, by constituting as judge upon every such enquiry, the coroner of the county, division, or jurisdiction, within which the lunatic might happen to reside, or to have been taken charge of by the parish officer. The coroner to be paid in like manner as he now is, upon other inquests which he holds. In the metropolitan districts, where the vast proportion of lunacy cases arise, an officer, appointed by your Lordship, might occupy, in this respect, the place of coroner upon such occasions; and he should also be invested with the same power as the coroner now possesses, in compelling the attendance of jurymen, &c. Upon the record of a verdict of "Insanity," it would then be competent to the constable, parish officer, or a relative, with such a warrant, to take charge of the lunatic, and place him under keepers, until such a time as his sanity was restored."

TRANSLATIONS.

GERMAN WORKS.

Original Maxims for the Young, by the celebrated J. C. LAVATER. Translated by the daughter of a Clergyman. London. B. WERTHEIM.-1838.

We need not say much upon this little book; LAVATER'S name is its sufficient passport. It consists of thirty-four short pithy maxims for the regulation of the younger portion of the community, besides thirty-six sentences which contain miscellaneous instructions on many topics. We cannot enough recommend this unpretending volume to those who have charge of the rising generation. It is calculated to pro

mote correct principles in the mind of youth-and to produce in after life excellent members of society.

A Key to the Difficulties, Philological and Historical, of the First Book of SCHILLER'S Thirty Years' War, forming a guide to German construing, for the use of English Students, by ADOLPHUS BERNAYS, Phil. Doc. &c. &c. London B. WERTHEIM.—— 1838.

Dr. BERNAYS is so well known by his German Grammars, &c.--and his merits have been so generally appreciated, that any commendation, on our part, of his numerous labours would be useless. In the work before us, he has undertaken the task of smoothing the perplexing difficulties which English students of German encounter in SCHILLER'S Thirty Years' war, especially with regard to the first book. Need we add, that he has fully succeeded? The name of Dr. BERNAYS appearing in the title-page is sufficient to place that beyond all doubt.

1. Relics of Elijah the Tishbite; being a selection of the most striking passages omitted in the existing translation. Translated from the original work of D. F. W. KRUMMACHER, London. B. WERTHEIM.-1838.

2. Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.

By the Rev. G. D. KRUMMACHER, Author of Israel's Wanderings in the Wilderness." Translated from the German. London. B. WERTHEIM.-1838.

3. On Restitution;-Lot and his Wife; The Rich Man; Christian Composure. By the Rev. FRIEDRICH STRAUSS, D. D. Chaplain to the King of Prussia, &c. &c. Translated from the German, by Miss SLEE. London. B. WERTHEIM,-1838. THESE writers are very well in their way; but nevertheless they do not exactly belong to that school of German literature which we should like to see introduced into this country. The stern Briton-mind requires higher food than that which they afford. We wish to soar beyond the clouds, while they are scarcely able to reach mid-air; yet are their wings strong, and we may safely trust ourselves to them as far as they go; but then that is only half of the distance. This section of our work is not, however, a fitting place to enter into the opinions which we have conceived on all these subjects. Other articles in this magazine will be devoted to the explanation of those exalted principles which we have announced in our " New Year's Greeting." Wait, reader, for these.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Sketches of Judaism and the Jews. By the Rev, ALEXANDER M'CAUL, D. D. Of Trinity College, Dublin. London. B. Wertheim.-1838.

These sketches (excepting some additions which seemed necessary to their publication in a separate form) originally appeared as articles in the British Magazine, at various times, between 1834 and 1835. They form a most interesting fasciculus of papers upon the different Jewish sects, manners, &c. &c. The first section, upon the "Intellectual state of the Rabbinical Jews," contains much that would well repay the perusal. The account, in the second section, of a fanatical Jewish sect called the Chasidim, is entertaining in the extreme. Not that their tenets are always wrong, but, because the professors are always extravagant, and often ridiculous. Their devotion to their Rabbi or Tzaddek, completely outdoes all that was ever said about the Roman Catholics' submission to their Father Confessors; and they at least go as far in ascribing infallibility to this said Rabbi, as ever the Romanists went in claiming it for the Pope. Take the following extract:

"The most important of all principles is unreserved devotion to the Tzaddek; never to turn aside from his precepts; to reject wisdom and science, yea, one's own understanding, and to receive only what the Tzaddek says. Even when one thinks that the Tzaddek is acting contrary to the law, he is still to believe that the Tzaddek is in the right; he must therefore reject his own understanding, and rest confidently on that of the Rabbi." What could go beyond all this? On the whole, we think Mr. M CAUL'S book a valuable addition to the library.

The Cathedral Bell; a Tragedy in five acts. By JACOB JONES, &c. &c. There was a country in ancient Greece called Boeotia, and since many other namesMr. Jones is an owl of that region. If Vulcan were to forge dramas, they would be such as this author's. They seem written with a sledgehammer. Nib your pen, Mr. Jones: -your calligraphy is coarse-not strong.

The Works of Ben Jonson, with a Memoir of his Life and Writings. By Barry Cornwall. Moxon.

THIS is like all Mr. Moxon's books, worthy of the publisher. Barry Cornwall's life of glorious old Ben is in a more amiable, and yet more discriminating spirit, than Gifford's; and we like it the better. This great poet has been too much neglected; and it is a disgrace to the British stage that his plays are not more frequently performed. The man was a perfect artist in his way. We are persuaded that the revival of his Catiline and Sejanus would be safe speculations for Macready.

In his new biographer's opinion, Jonson stands second to Shakspere. He was more original than any other theatrical writer of the age. But he had his defects, and was not superior in judgement to Shakspere. O no! That and genius are always on a par. Jonson's great strength lay in satire, and in his power of depicting manners. His weakness was in drawing too much on the conventional and the temporary. He was an experimental poet; and. like the experimental philosopher, trusted not sufficiently to principles. In what he designed, however, he fully succeeded to describe manners, to embody humours, and to brand vice and folly with a scathing iron. His lyric powers were exquisite.

THE

MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

NEW SERIES.-EDITED BY JOHN A. HERAUD, ESQ.

VOL. I.]

FEBRUARY, 1839.

MILTON.

PART THE FIRST.

[No. 2.

CONVERSING, the other day, with the justly-celebrated Thomas Carlyle (Author of "The French Revolution, a History," and of other productions scarcely less remarkable) anent certain contributions from his pen that were desiderated for this New Series of the MONTHLY MAGAZINE; we were gratified at finding that he knew more of some affairs connected with this periodical than ourself. Among other things, he mentioned, that it was at his suggestion to a former editor thereof, the Head of Milton became imprinted on the cover. This information was naturally calculated to give a spur to our mind; and in the end it occurred to us, that it would be no unseemly thing if we carried on the suggestion, by presenting a literary Portrait, also, of the Bard Divine to the admiring students of our pages. On this hint, accordingly, we have written; and have now only to entreat the reader's favourable acceptance for our papers on MILTON, his Character, Genius, and Works.

Nothing is more wanted than a good life of MILTON, with a Critical Commentary on his great poems-that is, on all his poems -for they all are great. Notwithstanding the labours of Addison and Dr. Johnson, and some later critics, most literary men are of opinion, that his immortal work, The Paradise Lost, has not yet been rewarded with a criticism equal to its merits. Can it ever be? Something, however, might be accomplished in the way of approximation. Schlegel abroad, and some writers at home, have done tardy justice to Shakspere-such as they might. That justice yet remains to be done to Milton. Mr. Martin's publication afforded an opportunity for the production of a dissertation on the writings of Milton, worthy of his genius and character, with advantages respecting type and size that may not again for some time occur. We must, however, observe, that we believe the custom in publications of that kind is to give no more than the bare text as explanatory of the illustrations it accompanies. It is a custom that would be "more honoured in the breach than in the observance." This breach Sir Egerton Brydges in some degree made-but much still remains to be done.

N. S.-VOL. I.

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