In p. 707 we find quoted, without remark, a passage of Campion's History of Ireland, that the Earl of Kildare, temp. Hen. VIII. married a daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, though one might suppose that the history of Lady Jane Grey and her sisters was tolerably well known; but we will not criticise farther than to make two slight remarks upon the following account of “RANELAGH, a suburb [of Dublin], returned in 1821 as containing 913 inha bitants, and whose population, in the census of 1831, was increased to 1988.

"At the back of the town a large mansion, surrounded by venerable trees, has passed through some strange vicissitudes; once the seat of a Protestant Bishop of Derry, it became subsequently a place of public entertainment, from whose gardens Crosbie made his memorable aërial ascent in 1785; and it is now a nunnery for religi ous of the Carmelite order, having a school attached, where about fifty children receive a gratuitous education."

It should here have been stated that Ranelagh gave the title of Viscount to the family of Jones, in the year 1628, and that that title is still existing, the present Lord being the seventh who has borne it. The third Viscount was also Earl of Ranelagh from 1677 to his death s. p. in 1711.* It might also have

* In the interim between the death of the Earl of Ranelagh in 1711, and the Viscounty being allowed to his cousin and heir male in 1759, the title had been conferred on another family. Sir Arthur Cole, Bart. was created Baron of Ranelagh in 1715, but died without issue in 1754. Beatson says the title of Sir Arthur Cole was Baron Ranelagh, co. Wexford; and that of the Jones's Ranelagh, co. Wicklow; whilst Lodge and

The Lives of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert, and Sanderson, by Isaak Walton, 12mo. This is a republication, in a neat and manual form, of the excellent biographies by Isaak Walton, with the notes and ornamental illustrations adapted by Mr.

been noticed that the 3rd Viscount, who was Paymaster of the Forces to King William the Third, carried the name of Ranelagh to the vicinity of Chelsea Hospital, and that the London Ranelagh was afterwards a still more famous "place of public entertainment” than even the Dublin one. Indeed, the latter was probably established in imitation of it."

Mr. D'Alton's second work, which is an offset of the former, and printed in a uniform shape, does not require a very lengthened notice at our hands. We cannot praise him as a biographer; for, as in his topography, he sacrifices every other arrangement to chronology (for a specimen turn to pp. 336 et seq. where under the assumed title of a life of Archbishop Hoadly, a great diversity of matters relating to general ecclesiastical history are jumbled into one paragraph). His earlier lives are of course derived from Ware and other standard works: whilst the memoirs of the later Archbishops are exceedingly meagre. Following the regular series, are memoirs of the titular Archbishops nominated by the Pope since the Reformation, and the author's materials for these seem to be better than for the preceding. We extract the following notice of quick travelling from Ireland, made by Mr. John Carpenter (afterwards Archbishop) in 1767.

"I embarked (he writes to Dr. Curry) on the 18th instant. I landed that night at Holyhead, set out next morning in the van for Chester, which I reached after a great deal of fatigue on the 20th, and that same day took post for London, where I arrived on the 24th. great expedition of this journey was expensive, but it was necessary, as my Lord had been here a fortnight."

The

His object was to consult with old Lord Taaffe, who had come from Silesia to" agitate" the Roman Catholic claims at the English court.

Archdall call the latter co. Dublin, and give no county for the former.

Major. The former are chiefly biographi cal, and form an useful and suitable addition to the work; the latter, though neatly engraved, are not all designed in the purest or most appropriate taste: witness the poor conceits of placing Bishop Mor

ley within a star of the order of the Garter, and Bishop Jewel within a jewelled cross; the anachronism of Dr. Henry Hammond backed by the Radcliffe Library; and the view of Paul's Cross tricked out with Strawberry Hill gothic. Several, both of views and heads, are reduced nearly to vanishing point, merely to accommodate their frames. However, there are many that are unexceptionable, (because unburthened with the injudicious borders,) and on the whole this is a pleasing edition of a justly favourite work.

The

An

Perspective simplified, or the principles of the art as laid down by Dr. Brook Taylor, familiarly illustrated by Z. Laurence. The superiority of Dr. Taylor's treatise appears to have rendered any further work on the subject of perspective superfluous, which was not based on the principles laid down by him. application of these principles to practice has, however, led to the production of many volumes, the size and number of which have been the means of preventing them from being generally useful. improvement on preceding works suggested itself to the present author as wanted, and this improvement was to concentrate the subject into a few of the most essential theorems and problems, applying them to plain examples illustrated in the most familiar manner; this he has effected in a volume, the size of which cannot deter any reader. The treatise is plainly and perspicuouly written, and illustrated with a number of diagrams, some of which may be raised from the surface of the engraving the more completely to explain the problem. The work cannot but prove useful to every student of perspective.

Mr. Mackinnon's Speech in the House of Commons on the motion for a committee to take into consideration the more eligible site for the two Houses of Parliament comes, we think, rather too late; the commencement of the works, by forming the river wall, having at the time of the motion incurred a very serious expense. The difficulty which would arise in finding an appropriate site, and the delay which would occur if the Parliament had determined on the change, are powerful considerations in favour of retaining the structure on its present site. The proximity of the water to the Houses of Parliament is, we think, a great benefit to the present structure, not on account of the very puerile argument that the safety of the members in case of tumult would be thereby secured, but from the supply of pure air, which at all times will be afforded, and the certainty of no buildings

being erected in that direction. If a new site were chosen, it would sooner or later be encompassed with dwellings, while the present has certainly a great advantage in this regard, as the proximity of the Abbey secures it from encroachment on that side, and the river protects it on the other. We do not see, after balancing the advantages of the present site against the alleged disadvantages, that a better situation, or one more convenient as affording greater facilities for business, could be found than the present.

Conversations on Nature and Art. Second Series. 12mo.-This is a pleasing compilation of "entertaining knowledge," lightly touching on many curious matters which arise in the investigations of the naturalist and philosopher, and arranged in the form of conversations, in a manner likely to attract and interest juvenile readers.

Ethelbert, a Poem, by B. P. Smith.This poem is written in a plain and rather familiar style, or, as musicians would call it, pitched in a low key; yet we prefer it to the shuffling, vapouring, stilty diction now in vogue, where we too often find our poets using the verbiage of the newspapers. There are many things to correct and many to improve in the poem; but the Poet will do this best himself, as

"From idols purge your fair Albion's

land."

A place should not be called both Dunovern and Dunovernum. One would not use both London and Londinum, or London and Augusta. The word obedience should not be used but as a trisyllable. These are specks on the surface; but every author should, from respect to the public, make his work as perfect as possible; and that cannot be done without much labour; "without sweat or, as Horace would say, and dust."

Historical Memoirs of the Queens of England. By Hannah Lawrance. 8vo.

These lives reach from good Queen Maude to Eleanor of Castile; and the author has an intention of proceeding with her biography till she reaches more modern times. The work is on the whole written very well. In some places the style is a little too ambitious, but that fault does not often occur. Considerable information is collected, which is very well and judiciously combined and formed into a narrative; and the tenth and thirteenth chapters, containing an account of the rise of poetry and of the fine arts, are of considerable interest.

Brendallah: a Poem, by Thomas Eagles. -This being a long poem, we cannot accompany the story in detail; but of the execution we can give a few short specimens, which will show at least some originality in the author's mode of expression, and the many new forms of grammar and syntax with which he has enriched our language.

"Brendallah was this favour'd Vizier's name, And did within the Sultan's soul imbrue The love of virtue." P. 4.

"Now from his breast the Vizier took a key, And quick applied it to the strong-made lock; And then his eye around would timidly Survey the dreary arch-his hand did stop." P. 12.

These rhymes occur again. The accusative case being dismissed, we have"The parching blast that sears the soul of He." P. 17.

"Whether I go or stay's the same to I." P. 28. "With th' last request, the dying wish of He." P. 76.

We cull some other beauties: "Dost feel no love, no hate? aversion?-What, Art thou so despicable, vile a thing,

As not to have one trait of Heaven's eclat? Will nought their pathos to your bosom bring?" P. 29.

"Thou hast forgotten.-Oh! depart agen. Fly off, fly off, for, oh! thou dost my bosom sadden." P. 37.

"You acted rightly; and to guard against this I 'fore thee stood uncall'd, e'en at the very crisis." P. 48.

"This act I did commit-Heaven knows I did.
And 'twas committed that I might obtain
By force what you denied-this Moor Murcid
I did employ'
P. 124.

"But for the Vizier's folly. This esture

Was solely caused by hím :-he did the King assure." P.157.

"By so much light to shew the still owl sate Upon a mouldering tomb, with tufted pate."

P. 163.

"Halhad, thy brother, too, whose steel doth shine [luine." P. 195 In deadly conflict for thee-Save him bel. "By mighty Allah, I've a mind to blade thee! Oh! powerful Statesman! mighty Senator! Oh! vile deforsor! hated barrator!" P. 98. "They onward mov'd: the evening sun-ray shot,

And made dead foliage tintless, philomot."

Such are a few of the gems set within the brilliant circle of this lustrous ring. It is our intention to study the poem often and intently; that we may have another opportunity of bringing more of its beauties to light. We shall expect to meet the author soon at breakfast at Mr. Rogers's, when we shall, probably, hear his sentiments on poetical language and metre. Till then, farewell!

The Robber, a Tale, by the author of Richelieu. 3 vols.-The author of this novel will excuse our not giving an account of the narrative of fiction of which it is composed,-for the reputation which GENT, MAG. VOL. X.

he has acquired from his former productions will, we presume, insure attention to the present. Yet we cannot rank it among those which afford much pleasure to the mind, either by the skilfulness of the narrative, the novelty or beauty of the characters, or the variety and happiness of the incidents. The wonderful, the mysterious, and the terrible, predominate too much; there are too many villanous lawyers, murderous banditti, rascally nobles, for our taste; not to speak of the flashes of lightning and peals of thunder which would frighten all honest people from their propriety. The characters and incidents being highly tragic and romantic, and of course most unusual, such as the author has drawn, are cramped and weakened by the late period of history in which the plot is laid, and which hardly admits a vraisemblance sufficient to satisfy the reader; they should have been thrown further back amid periods less known, and when their fiercer passions and lawless courses might have been indulged with less fear of discovery and punishment. We do not wish to speak unkindly of any attempt to please the public taste; but we think that the author of Richelieu can give us a work where the characters will possess more novelty, the incidents and events be more pleasing and natural, and the plot turn not on murders, fires, lost deeds, forgeries, idiots, and assassins; but on the more common feelings and passions of our nature, acting upon the relations of domestic and social life. We should also recommend less description and narrative; and in its place more dialogue and drama. The present story moves too slowly and heavily through the long interval from one great and fearful event to another. There is some relief, however, amid the company of heroes high and low, who abound throughout, to find ourselves among some honest justices of the peace, who are drawn with some humour. Franklin Gray is an unfinished and ineffective sketch; and the murder of Mona is a piece of unnecessary and gratuitous horror. The character of Silly John is scarcely within the pale of nature and truth, and there is little novelty in that of the selfish, ambitious, and wicked Earl of Dunemore. Upon the whole, the characters and situations in which they are placed, are too much removed above the ordinary scenes of life to engage our affections, while they are not sufficiently bold or picturesque to claim the high title of the romantic and imaginative tale. Yet some of the descriptions are vividly and elegantly painted, and the interest in parts is successfully maintained. This is as much as we can say amid very serious defects in the plan and conformation of the story. 3 H

NEW STATUES.

We are glad to see memorials, the productions of the fine arts and the best ornaments of a civilised country, raised and raising in honour of distinguished men, in many parts of the kingdom. Those in London, to Nelson and Wellington, will proudly adorn the capital; and in the provinces, the example is fitly followed. A colossal statue of the late Duke of Sutherland is about to be placed in a conspicuous situation on his vast Highland territory.

A statue of Dr. Johnson, executed by Mr. Lucas, has been presented to his native city of Lichfield, by Mr. Chancellor Law. It is erected near the centre of the Market-place, opposite to the house

in which Johnson was born. The pedes

tons.

tal stands ten feet, and the statue is seven feet more-the whole of a block of magnesian limestone, from Yorkshire, of remarkable beauty, which weighed nine It is nearly as hard as granite, of dazzling whiteness, and is said never to turn green. The figure is in a sitting posture, seated a little awry in his chair, as was the doctor's habit, and leaning with his face on his right hand. The basreliefs on the right and left sides, and front, represent-Listening to Dr. Sacheverell preaching;' secondly, 'Thus he was borne from School;' and, thirdly,

'His Penance in Uttoxeter Market.'

In

the first, he is carried by his father; in the second, he is on the shoulders of his schoolfellows; in the third, he stands in a pensive mood, at an advanced period of life.

On the last day of the Newcastle Scientific Meeting, a statue of Earl Grey, executed with great simplicity and dignity by Mr. Baily, R.A. was placed on the summit of the Grey column, erected by John and Benjamin Green, architects, at the north end of Grey Street, Newcastle. The total height of the column to the top of the figure is 133 feet; the diameter of the shaft is 9 feet 11 inches. The order is of the Roman Doric, and there is a staircase consisting of 164 steps to the top of the abacus of the capital, from which there is a fine panoramic view of the town and the surrounding country.

A liberal subscription has also commenced at Newcastle for a monument to Lord Collingwood, the faithful friend and brave associate of the hero of Trafalgar. It will be erected in the northern part of the town, and their own great artist, Lough, will furnish the design.

Three statues are in contemplation at Manchester; a colossal one of the Duke of Bridgewater, which Lord F. Egerton has generously offered the town at his own

expense; one of Dr. Dalton, whose scientific attainments do honour to his native town, and which is to be done by a public subscription; and the third to the late James Watt. Sir Francis Chantrey's statue of Dr. Dalton, which is completed, and now exhibiting at the Royal Institution, is of white marble, remarkably clear from blemish. The proportions are colossal; the venerable philosopher is represented as seated in his study chair, in his robe as a doctor of civil law; and his usual posture has been preserved with considerable skill, taste, and good effect. His right elbow rests on the chair; three of the fingers support the chin, and the fore finger extends upwards towards the ear. His left arm is upon that of the edges of a volume, which is supported by chair, and the hand rests upon the upper the seat. His left leg is crossed over the right knee, and the left foot, which would otherwise be unsupported, rests upon a crucible, in which is a retort; and upon the ground beside them is lying a scroll, inscribed with some of the symbols used by the Doctor in denoting the atomic composition of bodies. In a shield at the back of the chair is engraven, "John Dalton, D.C.L." and on one side, "Francis Chantrey, sculptor, 1837."

The pupils of the late Henry Earle, Esq. have caused a bust to be erected in the Museum of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, as a tribute to the memory of one who was long an honour, not only to the profession which he dignified, but to the age in which he lived. The bust has been executed by Behnes, who is well known in this line of art, and exhibits the calm and dignified expression of the original. A handsome marble pedestal, on which it is to be placed, bears this inscription :— "Henry Earle; presented by his pupils and friends, 1838."

The splendid collections of objects of art that belonged to the great Canova, and to Cicognora (the author of the History of Sculpture), are speedily to be brought to the hammer, at Venice. Few opportunities have ever presented themselves so worthy the attention of a government desirous of enriching its national collections, or of the noble and the opulent who encourage the arts by their patronage. The collection of Cicognora is particularly rich in its series of Nielles, by Florentine, Roman and Venetian artists; and in engravings by the most eminent of the Italian, French and German schools, from the origin of the art till the death of Cicognora. The series of Italian engravings is quite complete.

Lithographed Drawings of the London and Birmingham Railway, by JOHN C. BOURNE; with a brief topographical and descriptive account of the origin, progress, and general execution of that great national work, by JOHN BRITTON, F.S.A. Imperial folio, part I. Ackermann.-This work is a sufficient evidence that, without leaving England, confining ourselves, moreover, to the unpromising subject of a railway, with all its mechanical and commercial associations, ample scope is afforded to the artist for making effective and interesting pictures of scenery, buildings, and figures. A more singular combination of the pictorial and the scientific than is shewn in some of the drawings before us, cannot be easily imagined. The artist, a pupil of Mr. John Pye, the eminent landscape engraver, has secured credit to himself, and added to that of his master, by the accuracy and spirit of his delineations, and the effective manner in which he has transferred his original drawings to stone. The style of these drawings, and the circumstances of their publication by the youthful artist, reminds us of some parallelism to both in the "Illustrations of Old and New London Bridges," by Edw. W. Cooke. That truly interesting and beautiful work was produced by a young engraver, who had studied under his father, and who shewed in those drawings, and confirmed by his subsequent practice, that he possessed the higher qualities of art necessary to his becoming an original and skilful painter.

As Mr. Cooke has in a few years attained deserved eminence, we may venture to predict that the artist of the series of illustrations, now under notice, will speedily rank amongst the first landscape painters of our age.

Mr. Bourne, a tyro in publication, has secured the valuable aid of a veteran author, whose observations and descriptive notices, accompanying the first number, evince his usual tact and discrimination. The accuracy of the descriptive details is guaranteed by the official nature of the sources whence they are derived, constituting them a most appropriate accompaniment to the drawings. The work is to be completed in four parts, comprising a map and thirty-two views on the line. Of these the present part contains eight, besides a wood-cut. All of these are excellent, but we would particularly direct attention to the "Viaduct over the Avon," the "Woolverton Embankment," the "East Face of the Watford Tunnel," and, as a strikingly different subject, the " Bridge under the Hampstead Road." One of the chief characteristics of this publication, is its representing parts of the works on the line during their progress ; which will thus perpetuate some exceedingly picturesque and curious scenes. Upon the whole, the work will be found to be a successful rival of the recent publications by Harding, Stanfield, &c. and, whilst equally adapted to grace the drawing-room table, will be useful as well as pleasing to practical men.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

History and Biography. Introduction to the study of Ecclesiastical History. By J. G. DowLING.

8vo. 98.

Strictures on the Life of William Wilberforce. By THOMAS CLARKSON, M.A. 8vo. 58.

Refutation of the Mistatements and Calumnies contained in Mr. Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. respecting the Messrs. Ballantyne. By the Trustees and Son of the late Mr. JAMES BALLANTYNE. 8vo.

Hand Book. Switzerland, Savoy, and Piedmont. Post 8vo. 10s. 6d.

A Guide through Ireland. By J. FRASER. 12mo. 128.

A Pleasure Tour to Ireland. 2s. 6d.

12mo.

Travels, Topography, &c. Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia. By Major T. L. MITCHELL, F.G.S. and M.R.G. S. SurveyorGeneral. (90 plates), 2 vols. 8vo. 21.

Midsummer Days in Italy. 8vo.

Richardson's Descriptive Companion through Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 12mo. 68.

Divinity.

Milleniarism Unscriptural, or a Glance