growing wild in the neighbourhood, many of them curious and rare. To these circumstances we are indebted for the present publication, which we have perused with considerable satisfaction:- but the district of Tonbridge has suffered materially, in a botanical point of view, from the inroads of agriculture, and the ameliorated temperature of the air. The author will best state the extent of the grievance in his own words: 'From the numerous new inclosures of the forests and heaths, and from most of the bogs being dried up, having deep drains cut through them, many scarce plants are now lost, or very rarely to be found, which formerly grew in abundance; for example, Splachnum Ampullaceum, or Purple Bottle-Moss, which grew on the bog in Waterdown Forest, in the way from the high rocks to Groombridge, is not now to be met with. The little scarce plant the Blasia Pusilla, or Dwarf Blasia, which the author found in abundance two years ago, is gone, the lane where it grew being drained and made wider. From the above circumstances, the temperature of the air seems very much altered; for the rocks which used to produce so many scarce mosses and lichens are now so dry as hardly to produce any.' (Preface, p. vi.) As to the mode in which the present work is conducted, we may observe that the author has followed Sir James Smith with regard to the whole of the plants described in the Flora Britannica of that writer; though not always with respect to the English names of mosses. The genus Jungermannia has been arranged in conformity to the excellent monograph of Mr. Hooker. The Lichens have been named on the authority of Acharius in his Methodus Lichenum; and the Conferve on that of Dillwyn, whose British Conferva is deservedly considered as a standard work. With regard to the tribe of Fungi, Mr. Sowerby, in his catalogue and figures of English Fungi, has been the author's uniform guide. Throughout the volume before us, careful reference is every where made to the Flora Britannica, and the other publications above mentioned; so that the descriptions of the plants enumerated may at once be found. Varieties are always noted carefully, and often marked by a distinctive name. Mr. Forster occasionally states his obligations to that accurate botanist, Mr. Birner; and he has been indebted to Mr. J. G. Bicheno for a new arrangement of a portion of the genus Juncus, under the name Luzula: a designation, we presume, taken from Bauhin, who has termed the Juncus Campestris, Gramen Luzula Maximum. We must be permitted, however, to enter our protest against the introduction of this generic term; and to add that we prefer an adherence to the commonly admitted arrangement. - Under the genus Lotus, we find a species named by Mr. Forster Decumbens, which he states to be a new species first found at Hastings, near Bulverhithe.' We regret that he has not introduced any description of this plant: but we fear that it is merely a variety of the Diffusus, as we have observed the species of this genus to present very considerable diversities in consequence of situation. Mr. F. modestly expresses his fears that his catalogue of the plants of the class Cryptogamia may contain several errors: but we have great pleasure in congratulating him on the state in which he has presented this part of his work; - a circumstance peculiarly creditable when we recollect the difficulties of cryptogamic investigation, and the comparatively unsettled state in which the plants of this class still remain. In naming many of the mosses, lichens, &c., however, he has englished them in a manner of which we cannot by any means approve. Gymnostomum Truncatum is named Blunt-fruited Bryum, and other species after the same mode. Andrea is rendered by Jungermannia, Tetraphis by the term Mnium, and the name Bryum is given as the corresponding English designation to many species of Grimmia, Dicranum, and Trichostomum. Wherever we are not in possession of a proper English term, it is certainly most advisable to retain unchanged the correct systematic name. Tetraphis is a word as easily acquired and recollected as Mnium; while the employment of the term Bryum in a sense so extended surely leads to confusion, and is by no means more pleasing to an English ear than Grimmia, Dicranum, or any of the others just mentioned. The formation of a correct system of English names for plants would, no doubt, be a very difficult task; and we question much whether even the industrious perseverance of great talents could accomplish it in such a manner as to obtain for it general currency. We conceive that it should be the study of all botanists to avail themselves of every opportunity of bringing into general and familiar use the Linnéan names of plants; many of which are highly classical, and recall to the mind the most pleasing ideas; such as Andromeda, Adonis, and Tropaeolum : - while others serve admirably to conceal ideas which in vulgar language would be highly disgusting; such as Aristolochia, Ficaria, Pedicularis, and many more of the same character. Pedicularis Sceptrum, a splendid individual of the Northern Flora, furnishes a singular instance of the efficacy of a dead language in veiling an offensive and contemptible image, so that it may be coupled without any striking absurdity even with the ensign of royal power. To prove the total unfitness of many English names of plants for common use, we need 1 only only refer to such appellations as Cotyledon Umbilicus, Polygonum Persicaria, and Cardamine Pratensis. A gradual progress, however, is now making in the introduction of the Linnéan names of plants into common conversation; and the terms Geranium, Hydrangea, Fuchsia, and others of the same kind, have long been familiarly in the mouth of every body. Such terms, indeed, are more musical and pleasing to the ear than most of our English names of plants. Still, notwithstanding all that we have now stated, we feel inclined to suspend our decision until the appearance of the long promised English Flora of the British islands from the pen of Sir J. E. Smith; when we expect to find this difficult task accomplished with the same nice discrimination, and elegant taste, which pervade his other writings. Mr. Forster is already known to botanists as a diligent votary of the science, and the present work will add to his. reputation for persevering and careful research. It is embellished with coloured plates of Riccia Minima, Hymenophyllum Tonbridgense, and Buxbaumia infoliosa, which are pleasing representations of the plants in question. MONTHLY CATALOGUE, FOR SEPTEMBER, 1817. POLITICS. Art. 15. A Letter to the Earl of Liverpool, on the present State of the Country, and the absolute Necessity of Parliamentary Reform. By Thomas S. Kirke, Esq. 8vo. Souter. 1817. Pp. 28. Is. 6d. The reform proposed by this gentleman is certainly radical; since he contends for triennial parliaments, universal suffrage, the abolition of rotten boroughs, the exclusion of placemen and pensioners from parliament, the disbanding of the standing army, the abolition of sinecures, and undeserved pensions, and the diminution and controul of the expences of the civil list. All this being done, Mr. Kirke thinks that the country will again flourish, the taxes be reduced, and the national debt gradually paid off. Bonaparte appears to be a very great favourite with Mr. K.: indeed, he is enthusiastic in the praise of the Ex-emperor; and, though he qualifies this praise by saying that it is only as a soldier that he admires him, we confess that the language which he adopts in speaking of Napoleon rather surprized us as proceeding from the pen of so warm an admirer of public liberty. Nothing is more injurious to the progress of true reform, than the intemperate allegations that are scattered throughout such publications as the present; they startle a number of well-meaning persons who are friends to improvement, but apprehensive of meddling with esta blished blished usages; and they furnish a most convenient handle to those whose interest it is to continue existing abuses. Art. 16. A Letter to P. Bastard, Esq., M.P. for the County of Devon, on the Expediency and Necessity of a Parliamentary Reform. By Anglicanus. 8vo. pp. 16. Chapple. Anglicanus is another decided advocate for parliamentary reform, and attributes the great convulsions of nations, throughout the range of antient as well as modern history, to the neglect of timely attention to such a measure. Rome fell by the corruption of its government: the French Revolution was caused by the vices of the nobility, and the consequent oppression of the people; and what consequences are we, he asks, to expect from the riot and corruption of our public elections? what but the support of a wasteful minister like Mr. Pitt, and the discredit of an advocate of peace and liberty like Mr. Fox? These remarks, and a few historical references to the practice of our Saxon ancestors, compose the whole of this short tract. Art. 17. The The name of Somers is so grateful to the readers of our history, that a political essay from a descendent of the illustrious defender of the rights of Englishmen cannot fail to excite the attention of all who take an interest in the discussions of the day. present pamphlet includes a great variety of matter, but is more particularly directed against the doctrine of equal representation in parliament; and, perhaps, those who know that the noble author is connected in politics with the Opposition, and has sacrificed to consistency in his Whig-principles the various advantages that might have resulted from his proselytism to ministers, will not be disposed to listen unfavourably to arguments which might be suspicious in the mouth of a writer of a different stamp. Indeed, in vindicating the cause of temperate reform, Lord S. asserts his claim to be ranked by the side of his distinguished ancestor ; while he condemns, in the most pointed terms, those who have abused the season of public distress to circulate absurd exaggerations, and to stimulate the people in a manner calculated to indispose all moderate men to their cause. The more we look back to the history of the failures of plans of reform, the more we shall have reason to consider these precipitate advocates as the authors of their own overthrow. Such was the case among our southern neighbours; and such also has, more than once, been the fate of schemes of reform among ourselves; not pushed indeed to the awful extent of the French proceedings of 1793, but carried to a length that engaged the public attention, and might have led to considerable national benefit, had the directors of the cause been willing to abate a proportion of their demands. We have no occasion to go farther than the question of Catholic-emancipation; the claimants of which, by refusing the veto, have caused their own REV. SEPT. 1817. disappoint H disappointment year after year; while, from the proceedings at the end of the Session of 1812, there seemed every reason to think that they would have been successful, had they consented to satisfy the scruples of a very numerous and well intentioned part of the public. A similar disposition is discovered by Lord Somers in his dif ferent observations on our foreign policy. Adverting to the grand source of our national pressure, we mean our enormous taxation, he intreats his readers to consider the dangers with which we have struggled; and to keep in mind that our very expensive exertions were, in the opinion of our rulers at least, necessary for our existence as a nation. He concludes by an explanation of his private feelings; and by intreating his political friends not to judge him severely, if the pressure of circumstances has drawn from him a series of declarations differing from those which they are apt to regard as necessary ingredients in their political creed. Art. 18. The Coalition and France: translated from the French. 8vo. pp. 160. 6s. Boards. Pople. 1817. This production is composed in what may be called le vrai sens Français, being full of complaints of the harsh treatment received from the allies, and of the means which may yet be embraced by Frenchmen for vindicating their independence and teaching their neighbours to respect their frontiers. It consists of two parts; the first being a list of grievances and a series of accusations; the second, an exposition of the means of redeeming France from her present humiliation. All the allied powers are very roughly used here, and England is distinguished by pre-eminent accusations; to such a length, indeed, that even our chastisement of Algiers is held out as an object of jealousy. We have still, however, the satisfaction of seeing that, amid all these angry effusions, a sentiment of esteem and even of admiration finds its way into the mind of the writer, as well as of his countrymen at large; while in the case of the other allies, particularly Prussia, the passion haineuse is unqualified by any alleviating consideration, and is at times accompanied by contempt. Only a few days were allowed for the existence of this work in France; it being suppressed on the application, as it has been said, of the allied powers, but more probably by means of the French police alone, actuated as the government is by an anxious wish to avoid any offence to other courts. The composition runs in short pithy sentences, addressed much more to the passions than to the judgment; the author bringing against the allies a number of ridiculous charges, such as an intention of partitioning France; and urging the Bourbons to look for the union of their subjects, not in a conciliating treatment of parties, but in pointing the energies of the nation to one grand object, the assertion of its independence. These, and the other inflammatory passages with which the pamphlet is filled, may dispose our readers to consider France as in a very troubled and precarious state: but we would remind them that our neighbours are in the habit of talking largely and confidently; and that a prodigious interval prevails between |