ART. V.-Bingley's Useful Knowledge; or an Account of the various Productions of Nature, Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal, which are generally employed for the use of Man. 3 vols. 12mo. London, Baldwin & Co. 1817. (In press by A. Small, Philadelphia.) (From the Edinburgh Magazine.)

THI

HIS work well entitles its author to rank among the friends of youth. It is really what it pretends to be, a repository of useful knowledge, containing a clear and interesting account of many of those productions which are useful to man in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms.

That part of it which treats of animals has been executed on a plan similar to that of Mavor, Bigland, and others; and the subjects of the two first parts are to be found in systems of mineralogy and botany; but there is no work with which we are acquainted, in which so much valuable information in all these departments is comprised within the same extent. There is, we are persuaded, no class of readers to whom this book will not be both amusing and instructive. To those who have already studied the subjects in larger works, it will serve to recall the particulars which are most interesting, and may be advantageously employed as a book of reference. Those, on the other hand, who have not entered upon such inquiries, will find a great deal to gratify their curiosity conveyed in an agreeable manner. To young persons, especially young ladies, who have seldom an opportunity of studying large systems of natural history, we would particularly recommend this work. If it vere read in small portions daily, and an account of the pupils p.ogress rendered, either in writing or in conversation, the young would soon be found to have acquired more information on the topics of which it treats, than many who have perused larger systems in a vague and cursory manner. Besides affording much information as it is arranged on the plan of the best systems, it will insensibly accustom the mind to the classifications of natural history, and thereby prepare the reader for the study of more extensive works.

We must not, however, forbear to mention some slight defects, which we would much wish to see supplied, whenever it comes to another edition. In addition to the general index, there should be a separate index to each volume. In the first volume, only some of the families of minerals are enumerated, and for no other reason than that the Table might all be contained in one page. Another defect in the same part of the work is, that little is said of what are called compound rocks, or even of the different soils; and nothing at all of what every one has often occasion to hear mentioned, we mean the manner in which the earth is supposed to have been formed. Now we think that it would be interesting, and at the same time easy, to give a short account of these rocks, and above all of the different kinds of soils, and also to give some idea of what is meant by the theories of the earth. Another subject which we should have expected to see noticed, is fossil re

mains. In this there is much to interest and amuse; and it certainly falls within the author's plan. All these things would add little to the size, while they would greatly increase the value of the publication. It is proper also to remark, that the author might have taken more frequent occasion than he has done to impress on the minds of his readers the appearances of wisdom and goodness which are so often to be met with in the works of nature. In books intended for the use of the young, this is a duty that ought never to be omitted; and the performance of it constitutes one great excellence in the writings of Bigland and Mavor. Of the style and manner we cannot give a better idea, than by making an extract almost at random, which may be considered a fair specimen of what the book contains.

"The common pear is a well-known garden fruit, derived from an English stock, the wild pear tree (Pyrus communis), which grows in hedges and thickets in Somersetshire and Sussex. It would be an endless task to describe the different known varieties of the cultivated pear. Some of these are very large, and others extremely small: some have a rich and luscious flavour, and others, as the iron pear, are so hard and disagreeable to the taste, as to be absolutely unfit to eat. Pears are chiefly used in deserts; and one or two of the kinds are stewed with sugar, baked, or preserved in syrup.

"The fermented juice of pears is called perry, and is prepared nearly in the same manner as that of apples is for cider. The greatest quantities of perry are made in Worcestershire and Herefordshire. The Squash, the Oldfield, and the Barland perry are esteemed the best. Many of the dealers in champaigne wine are said to use perry to a great extent in the adulteration of it: and indeed, really good perry is little inferior in flavour or quality to champaigne.

"Of the wood of the pear tree, which is light, smooth, compact, and of a yellowish colour, carpenters' and joiners' tools are usually made, as well as the common kinds of flat rulers, and measuring scales. It is also used for picture frames that are to be stained black. The leaves impart a yellow dye, and are sometimes employed to communicate a green colour to blue cloth."

ART. VI.-Gypsies.

COWPER was such an accurate observer of human nature, and so simple in his descriptions, that his poetry will never be out of fashion, until the eye is weary of seeing the beauties of creation, and the heart of feeling the varied emotions which natural scenes excite. We admire Hogg's description of the Scottish gypsies, when he asks,

"Hast thou not noted on the bye-way side,
Where aged saughs lean o'er the lazy tide,
A vagrant crew, far straggled through the glade,
With trifles busied, or in slumber laid;
Their children lolling round them on the grass,
Or pestering with their sports the patient ass?
-The wrinkled bedlame there you may espy,
And ripe young maiden with the glossy eye,—

Men in their prime, and striplings dark and dun,-
Scathed by the storm and freckled with the sun:
Their swarthy hue and mantle's flowing fold,
Bespeak the remnant of a race of old:

Strange are their annals!-list, and mark them well

For thou hast much to hear and I to tell."

Every one, who has observed the gambols of children, will be ready to think, that he can see the sturdy little urchins of these gypsies plucking hairs from the tail of the patient ass' to make themselves snares, or tying a bush to it, that they may have the pleasure of laughing at his attempt to run away from the annoyOn the same subject, Leyden has given a flowing description, which is beautiful, indeed; but which rather gives you an idea of a fancy piece, than of a picture drawn from life. He sings in strains mellifluous,

ance.

"On Yeta's banks the vagrant gypsies place

Their turf-built cots; a sun-burnt swarthy race!
From Nubian realms their tawny line they bring,
And their brown chieftain vaunts the name of king:
With loitering steps from town to town they pass,
Their lazy dames rocked on the panniered ass,
From pilfered roots, or nauseous carrion fed,
By hedge-rows green they strew the leafy bed,
While scarce the cloak of tawdry red conceals
The fine-turned limbs, which every breeze reveals;
Their bright black eyes through silken lashes shine,
Around their necks their raven tresses twine;
But chilling damps, and dews of night, impair
Its soft sleek gloss, and tan the bosom bare.
Adroit the lines of palmistry to trace,
Or read the damsel's wishes in her face,
Her hoarded silver store they charm away,
A pleasing debt, for promised wealth to pay.
But, in the lonely barn, from towns remote,
The pipe and bladder opes its screaking throat,
To aid the revels of the noisy rout,

Who wanton dance, or push the cups about:
Then for their paramours the maddening brawl,
Shrill, fierce, and frantic, echoes round the hall.
No glimmering light to rage supplies a mark,
Save the red firebrand, hissing through the dark;
And oft the beams of morn, the peasants say,

The blood-stained turf, and new-formed graves, display.
Fell race, unworthy of the Scotian name!"

We accuse neither of these bards of plagiarism; but we have neither forgotten, nor ceased to love, that part of the Task,' in which the author says,

"I see a column of slow rising smoke
O'ertop the lofty wood, that skirts the wild.
A vagabond and useless tribe there eat
Their miserable meal. A kettle, slung

Between two poles upon a stick transverse,
Receives the morsel-flesh obscene of dog,
Or vermin, or at best of cock purloin'd

From his accustomed perch. Hard-faring race!
They pick their fuel out of ev'ry hedge,

Which, kindled with dry leaves, just saves unquench'd
The spark of life. The sportive wind blows wide
Their flutt'ring rags, and shows a tawny skin
The vellum of the pedigree they claim.
Great skill have they in palmistry, and more
To conjure clean away the gold they touch,
Conveying worthless dross into its place;
Loud when they beg, dumb only when they steal.
Strange! that a creature rational, and cast
In human mould, should brutalize by choice
His nature; and, though capable of arts,

By which the world might profit, and himself,
Self-banish'd from society, prefer

Such squalid sloth to honourable toil!

Yet even these, though feigning sickness oft,
They swathe the forehead, drag the limping limb,

And vex their flesh with artificial sores,

Can change their whine into a mirthful note,
When safe occasion offers; and with dance,

And music of the bladder and the bag,

Beguile their woes, and make the woods resound.
Such health and gayety of heart enjoy

The houseless rovers of the sylvan world;

And, breathing wholesome air, and wand'ring much,
Need other physic none to heal th' effects

Of loathsome diet, penury, and cold."

We doubt not that our readers have often wished for a minute account of these strange people, of whom every Irishman and Scotchman has much to say, for the amusement of his American friends; but of whom scarcely one can give any satisfactory history. In our country, we have seen, now and then, a solitary travelling tinker, with a pair of saddle-bags over his shoulders, full of the necessary implements for repairing old kettles and pewter basins: we have seen, too, mules enough: and in the good city of Philadelphia, we have been amused with a little ass, no larger than a stout ram, attached to the little vehicle of " a needy knife grinder;" but a clan of tinkers, a troop of gypsies mounted, with or without saddles, on the long-eared race, never visited one of our western glens. The half civilized Indian tribes, which still remain in some portions of our country, and especially in New England, come the nearest to the description of the Scottish gypsies. A clan of them occupy a place called Mohegan, in the county of New-London, in the state of Connecticut. They are rendered incapable of selling their land, or they would have exchanged it long ago, for cider. Their territory is but miserably cultivated because they despise toil, and spend the warm months in wander?

ing through the country. Not unfrequently, two or three families stroll about in company, headed by some gigantic, tawny sachem, who is followed in Indian file,' by the younger men, their squaws and children. A blanket is generally thrown over the shoulders of each person, to conceal a few tattered garments, and to cover a young child, who is laced to the back of its parent. They resort to the swamps for young ash trees, out of which they make brooms. and baskets, for sale, in their peregrinations. They lodge in barns, with and without leave, and beg cider from door to door. One of a clan only enters a farm house at a time, and solicits their favourite beverage for the company, which they quaff in the highway, in the order of seniority. When they tarry at any place for a little while, to prepare articles for traffic, they erect a hut of bark, called a wigwam, and seat themselves in it on the ground. Their quarrels are not few, and in thieving they are remarkably expert. In short, they lack but a few of the inglorious accomplishments of the Scottish gypsies, of whom we shall now proceed to give some account, from a mass of mater, contained in a new and entertaining periodical work, The Edinburgh Monthly Magazine.

Of this source of our information we would premise, however, that it is indebted for many of its interesting communications to the present bards of Scotland. We are informed by a most re'spectable correspondent in Edinburgh, that this very account of the gypsies, was compiled, in a great measure, from conversations with the celebrated Walter Scott, Esq.; who has made it his study to become acquainted with all the curious and romantic particulars, of his far-famed, poetical, philosophical, and wildly religious, native land. To this Magazine we are indebted for the review of Lalla Rookh, which we have commenced, and had given credit for it, in its proper place; but by some unaccountable accident, the printer omitted it, after the proof had left our hands. The gypsies were originally from the east; and made their first appearance in Scotland in 1506, or about that time, as appears from a letter of James IV, to the king of Denmark. They pretended that they had come from Egypt on a holy pilgrimage, by order of the pope. The writer of notices respecting them in the periodical work just referred to, says,

"That this wandering people attracted considerable attention on their first arrival in Christendom in the beginning of the fifteenth century, is sufficiently evident, both from the notices of contemporary authors, and from the various edicts respecting them still existing in the archives of every state in Europe. Their first appearance and pretensions were indeed somewhat imposing. They entered Hungary and Bohemia from the east, travelling in numerous hordes, under leaders who assumed the titles of Kings, Dukes, Counts, or Lords of Lesser Egypt, and they gave themselves out for Christian Pilgrims; who had been expelled from thatcountry by the Saracens for their adherence to the true religion. However doubtful may now appear their claims to this sacred character, they had the address to pass themselves on some of the principal sove