literary criticism rests cannot be satisfactorily accounted for, except by simply referring it to the natural order and constitution of things. What more interesting to the feelings of human beings, at all times and seasons, than the grave ?-yet Gray's Elegy is the only one that ever has been or ever will be written, under the auspices of immortality. There can be no doubt that there have been hundreds of authors since the time of De Foe, who could have written as good a Robinson Crusoe as his own; but the stigma of a repetition would nullify whatever ability and genius might be displayed in such an undertaking. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is a striking illustration of the paramount influence of a well-timed treatment of a particular subject. Mankind will never tolerate a second Don Quixote; nor will the adventures of Gil Blas ever lose their influence by any rival attempts to delineate the same kind or class of human characters and events. Swift's Gulliver's Travels, and his Tale of a Tub set all imitators or improvers at defiance. Precisely so is it with respect to Izaak Walton. He has taken up a certain position, from which no one can hope to dislodge him, let his talents and acquirements be what they may.

"The superior facilities which modern travelling, through the agency of steam, affords for visiting different countries with rapidity and security, will in all probability greatly increase this species of literature, and thus furnish the youth of England with fresh motives for enlarging their ideas and expanding their intellects, by inducing them to obtain, through the medium of a noble and healthy recreation, a closer and more accurate acquaintance with foreign manners and habits, than was permitted to a former generation, or may be extended to that which is to follow. Who knows whether an intercourse of this kind, begun in youth, and continued on through advancing life, may not influence to a considerable extent the opinions of the young men who are to form the future statesmen and legislators of Europe, and beget in them those kindly, rational, and Christian feelings of mutual benevolence and goodwill, which may assist in preserving to an indefinite period the benefits of that peace which the nations now enjoy-the continuance of which must unquestionably prove of incalculable benefit to all?

"We make these observations with a view to direct the attention of our young sportsmen to a part of the continent which lies within a day's journey of their own shores, abounding in all the requisitions for an intellectual angler-cheap, secure, beautiful; a part over which thousands of British youth dash away every year, bestowing upon it a mere transient passing glance, to spend their time, health, and money, in the enervating climes of the south; a part of which they literally know nothing, save the names and localities of two or three of the principal towns, with perhaps their most notorious cafés and other dissipated and scarce reputable haunts; a part also, which, abounding in valuable public libraries, where every facility is liberally afforded to the stranger, will enable him to combine rational recreation and intellectual enjoyment, to an extent not to be exceeded in any country under the sun.

"This part of the continent-the north of France is rich, too, in historical recollections, which must be ever fresh and verdant in breast of an Englishman. Here lies the scene of those which the pen of Froissart has bequeathed to all time ·

chivalry the world has ever witnessed displayed its unrivalled and its indomitable valour. Amidst the swelling hills, ferby the best blood of France and England, lie the glorious battleii. which, after the lapse of four centuries, still ring out their imperishable renown; and when the wanderer gazes on the field of Cressy,

the green mounds of Azincour, his eye must indeed be dim and English heart indifferent to the throb of patriotism, if the one does not kindle and the other glow beneath the inspiring recollections. Amongst these forest hills imagination may still call into existence the keg-decayed banner of Pucelle, and the wondrous and inspired maiden ay again walk forth in her beauty and her pride, to snatch from reinetant hands the laurels they had so hardly won. In fact, the roaming enthusiast can scarcely set his foot on a single spot in these fruitful plains which is not enriched by human blood; on which some noble heart has not broken; which has not been the scene of some dreadful carnage or some stirring incident; and the celebrated "Field of the Cloth of Gold" remains a lasting record of the arrival of a new order of things-the last public display on the theatre of Europe, of the noble and high-minded chivalry of former days, before it passed away for ever.

"The plunderers of the sword have ceded place to the plunderers of the pen, and the other crafts which torture modern civilization; but the throbs and throes of the nations of Europe-those unmistakable hints which occur from time to time in every country-are sufficient to convince the thoughtful mind, that although the age of chivalry is passed, the age of public justice and national happiness has not yet arrived.

"The English angler on the continent, it must be remembered, is a somewhat different personage from his brother who plies his art in his own native land. The former will, in most cases, be a man of lively curiosity and enterprise. He will know something of the history of Europe; have a taste for some departments of the fine arts; will possess political sentiments, and feelings more or less excited; the past events of the world's history will still be a matter of deep interest to him; and, in fact, he will generally be a person who has some fair acquaintance with the current literature of the age. On this account, a book on angling in a foreign land must necessarily deviate, both in matter and arrangement, from a similar work which proposes for its end merely the ordinary purposes of a domestic manual. On entering into a foreign country, a man's feelings and curiosity must be very considerably excited, no matter what may be the amount of his knowledge, or the current of his opinions. The difference of manners, religion, language, and political institutions must develop new trains of thought, and evolve new rules of judgment; and hence it is that no art or amusement has the same lid range the wanderer, that it has in his own country.

votary through life. To those whose ardour and enthusiasm are apt to evaporate, when unexpected difficulties present themselves and success seems uncertain or remote, to all such we shall submit some remarks made in our own hearing to persons of this very class, by one of the most accomplished literary anglers in Europe, Professor Wilson, of Edinburgh. To a gentleman who was lamenting that his success in the art was not equal to his anticipations, the professor addressed himself in nearly the following words-words so highly characteristic of the man, and which made so deep an impression upon our mind when we heard them, that we committed them to writing on the spot, and have religiously preserved them ever since.

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"The want,' said the professor, of success in fishing, sir, most commonly arises from want of prosecuting the object with indomitable perseverance. For it may be observed of a certain class of men, that they owe their success in life, and fame after it, to their having seized and acted on one leading idea. Of the men whom the world allows to be really great, a large portion may be fairly assigned to this class. The very greatest men have perhaps been versatile, and have possessed minds capable of grasping and carrying into active practice ideas and conceptions of a cast and nature the most opposite and apparently irreconcilable. These, it must be confessed, are of the very first class of greatness. Cæsar was not only a commander of the first order, but an orator second only to Cicero, and an author second to none amongst the writers of prose. Homer not only astonished mankind by the sublime conceptions of the Iliad, but also captivated them with the descriptive beauty and romantic pathos of the Odyssey, and at last amused them with the heroic burlesque of the Battle of the Frogs and Mice.' Shakspeare was equally great in tragedy, comedy, romance, and broad farce. Ariosto mingled all these together in his exquisite Orlando Furioso, as did the inimitable Cervantes in his unrivalled Don Quixote. Aristotle was an imaginist and a poet, as well as a logician, philosopher, and philologist. Bacon was an essayist and natural philosopher, as well as an annalist and a lawyer. How different, however, is the second class, as we may term it, of greatness! Here we see men arriving at eminence, merely by chalking out and steadily pursuing one undeviating road through life; by carrying out in all its ramifications one sole idea; steering continually by one guiding star; acknowledging a soleness of object, a unity of aim, and a singleness of apprehension. Thus we see the single great idea which led to the discovery of America constituted the whole life of Columbus ; and we know that the plan of his Indian conquests filled the daily thoughts, and conjured up the nightly visions, of Alexander the Great. Thus the destruction of Carthage was the sole policy of Cato; the subversion of the Roman power the very life of Hannibal. The whole soul of Galileo was evidently bound up in the discovery of the true solar system, and universal empire the perpetual dream of Charles the Fifth and Napoleon. Thus, also, the life of Bentham was one long codification; and the invention of the spinning jenny the darling object of the indefatigable Arkwright.'"

By the last paragraph of our extract it will be seen that Christopher Wilson follows the example of Samuel Johnson, in addressing his auditor as Sir; as also, that the author, in dealing with his subject, is "totus

in illis." The enthusiast of the gentle art, as it is called-and no angler does things by halves-will find interest in this book, albeit it is not remarkable for much novelty or mark of excellence. The writer has handled his subject as his disciples ought to handle their flieslightly no doubt he was aware that these are the days in which reading made easy, like the Palmer Hackle, is remarkably attractive.

COATES'S HERD BOOK. Vol. VI. By H. Strafford. London: J. Rogerson, Norfolk-street.-This volume completes the sixth of "Coates's Herd Book," and the breeder of shorthorns may be grateful that the compilation has fallen into the hands of one who has proved himself so eminently qualified to take up the pen of the late Mr. Coates. There is no longer any doubt but that blood, bone, and sinew is as indispensable in the profitable rearing of cattle as in horses; and he who would breed for profit must possess himself of the means of acquiring the information necessary to find out the best animals. The index to this volume is most extensive, whether as regards the animals or their breeders; and the illustrations are executed in a style that does credit to the publisher.

ON THE INFLuence of a SCROFULOUS OR SCORBUTIC STATE OF SYSTEM IN PRODUCING CERTAIN MORBID SECRETIONS, AND

SHEWING THAT THE TRUE NATURE OF THEIR DISEASED ACTION IS

IRRITATIVE," NOT "INFLAMMATORY." By George Franks, Surgeon. London: 90, Blackfriars-road. This work is full of general information upon the subject of which it treats, and comes upon the understanding with clearness and force. The cases cited prove that even the most clever practitioners are sometimes mistaken in the treatment of "irritative" for " inflammatory" action. The subject is one of rather too delicate a nature to be treated at length in our review; but we have no hesitation in recommending its perusal, if only for the purpose of the reader being put upon his guard from unskilful treatment of those who have not, like the author, made those diseases his entire study. The knowledge of the structure and functions of the human body, the alterations and changes which both undergo in the diseases of which he treats, and the action of certain remedial agents which the author recommends, are treated in a manner that proves Surgeon Franks to be perfectly conversant with the subject.

TONGUE'S PATENT DRAG.-We learn that her Majesty has commanded "Tongue's Patent Drags" to be attached to her carriages at the Isle Wight, where the nature of the hills renders this useful and important invention essentially necessary to safety and convenience. We are only astonished that it has not long since been adapted to the royal carriages, particularly after the narrow escape which her Majesty experienced some years since when descending Highgate Hill, where the horses became unmanageable. To us it is a matter of surprise that these drags are not in more general use by the nobility and gentry throughout the kingdom.

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PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS OF THE METROPOLIS.

"There's an end to all things," as the fox said when surveying the beauties of his own brush. That which is termed "the London season" is just concluded. The chief movers in the busy scenes enacted during the exciting period mentioned are now scattered over the globesome to prove the stuff their Joe Mantons are made of; others have winged their flight to the continent for the especial benefit of their health, to say nothing about their pockets; whilst a numerous class are ruminating by "the sad sea-waves," pushing their conchological researches to an interminable length. It is true, too, that there are those who, in their endeavours to do the salubrious, hie them to that sub-marine spot yclept Gravesend, where they diligently pursue those habits they fondly imagine to be conducive to health. The plan followed on such occasions is to promenade the piers during the day, armed with a compressed telescope, and a volume of the most standupon-hair-end romance to be obtained at the library; and, at nights, to undertake excursions to the gardens appertaining to Rosherville. After having perseveringly gone through the various evolutions of the redowa, some brave cavalier, fresh (query?) from the purlieus of Puddledock, wanders forth from Rosherville's heated ball-room, soon to get entangled amidst the intricacies of the sylvan walks here abounding, from which he trusts to some humane Ariadne to release him.

THE ITALIAN OPERA directeur has brought his season to a close; and that it has been a season satisfactory to himself and his subscribers, is a matter of our congratulation. The répertoire has been one of variety, no less than twenty-one operas and thirteen ballets having been given. The principal operas were-" Nino," "Lombardi," "Lucia di Lammermoor,' "Don Giovanni," "Linda di Chamouni," "Lucrezia Borgia," "Somnambula," "Norma," "Puritani," and "Don Pasquale." Admirers of the choregraphic art have welcomed Lucille Grahn in "Caterina," Cerito in "Alma" and "Lalla Rookh," Taglioni in "Sylphide," and warm and enthusiastic to a degree has been the reception of the three bounding spirits of air in the crowning triumph of the season, "The Jugement de Paris" and "Pas de Déesses." Rumour asserts that, next season, Mr. Lumley will have a rival near his throne, Covent Garden being secured for representations of Italian opera, engagements having been entered into with many of the first artistes. Nous verrons.

One of the longest theatrical seasons on record has been brought to a termination at THE HAYMARKET. A period of between five and six hundred nights cannot be termed other than long, and such a "great fact" betokens excellent management. On the 7th instant Mr. Webster commences a fresh campaign, with all the old favourites, including Farren, Buckstone, Hudson, Tilbury, Mrs. Glover, Miss Julia Bennett, together with several recruits under his managerial