of use both to parents and their offspring. That he has a proper conception of the subject will be evident from the following remark; A good education is of much greater importance, and more to be desired, than a large fortune; and the best education is that which fits a person for the greatest usefulness in the world,'

Art. 24.

RELIGIO U S.

Sacred Meditations, and devotional Hymns, with some Essays in Prose, composed on various Occasions of Life, and published for the Use of the intelligent Mind in its serious Moments. By a Layman. Crown 8vo. pp. 301. 75. 6d. Boards. Murray.

Persons may possess good sense without enjoying the graces of poetry piety and taste are not always united; and hence it often happens that hymns and sacred meditations in verse, however replete with devotional and improving sentiments, are destitute of those elegancies of diction which captivate the lovers of the Muse. We are sorry to be forced to declare that this observation applies to the present volume: for though we have been induced to respect the author for the pains which he has taken to cultivate his mind, to cherish the principles of religion, to counteract the seductions of the world, and to promote in himself and others a serious regard to a future state of being; though we find in his prose-essays many practical observations which manifest a heart filled with love to God and man; yet, when we read his poetical effusions, he seems to lose the respect to which he had become intitled, and the Christian philosopher sinks into the tame rhymer. Some good thoughts occur, in prose, on the Use of the Sabbath; and we shall transcribe a part of the essay:

To impress our minds with a proper sense of religion, we must take the same course which we should pursue to imbibe a knowledge of botany, chemistry, painting, or any other art or science. We must study it, practise it, and occasionally let our reflections be occupied by it. Religion will no more come gratuitously into the mind than electricity, or Hebrew, or Greek. Nature supplies the capability to receive it; the soil in which it may be planted; the feeling which will improve it, and often the desire of possessing it. But nature must be educated to it; and due means must be used for its cultivation, or the natural sensibility for it will be in time absorbed and lost amid the more impetuous impressions which arise from the passions and employments of life.'

Sunday is a day expressly consecrated to the Deity and his adoration. All the business of life is then suspended by law and custom. We are invited to attend public prayer; and we have the leisure of a whole day to apply as our judgment thinks most fit. Now every individual, who really desires to cultivate his devotional feeing, will do well to make use of his Sunday for that purpose. Such an appropriation of this day will be no intrusion on the forms and occupations of life. It is but using the day for its natural and appointed purpose. It is employing it as reason dictates, if religion be of Divine descent, and as some of the best and wisest men have practised and recommended,'

The

The poem on the same subject thus concludes:

• Each Sabbath is a little pause
Between the world and me.
My selfish troubles it suspends;
It makes my soul more free.
That wise seclusion it provides,
Which human passion needs;
That rest from care, from pleasure too,
Which our best purpose feeds.

Each Sabbath, then, I turn aside,
Oh World! from thy pursuits:
'Tis sacred to th' Eternal Cause;
And sacred be its fruits!'

A poem intitled Good Friday has these stanzas:
• For faithful Memory points to man
That dismal hour of gloom,
When mad Judæa's leaders ran

To crucify Ah! whom?

The Lord of Life! who meekly came

To purify the heart;

To kindle virtue's brightest flame,

And future heaven impart.'

In volumes of devotional poetry, when the pieces are numerous, nothing is more common than the same thought worked over and over again till it becomes quite fatiguing. We could have wished that the present Layman' had not fallen into this fault. He strums too often on the same string: but the carelessness and tameness of his verse constitute a fault less tolerable than the repetition of the same thoughts. He thus begins a poem which is called A Parent's Wish

Thy goodness, Lord! my little nest
Has with these four sweet cherubs blest.
Teach me to form their tender hearts
Nobly to act Life's changing parts;
Their moveable desires to guide,
And rouse their minds to Virtue's pride,
Until the blissful habit grow,

Thy love to seek, thy precepts know.'

The Layman' is no doubt a good parent, but surely not a good poet.

Art. 25. A Selection from Bishop Horne's Commentary on the Psalms, By Lindley Murray, Author of an English Grammar, &c. 5s. Boards. Longman and Co.

12mo.

This selection has been made for the very commendable purpose of leading young persons to admire and study those beautiful and devout compositions, the Psalms of David. Mr. Murray has chosen por

tions of a pious and practical nature, which are calculated to elevate the mind to God, and to impress it with thankfulness and holy obedience. His compilation may therefore be recommended as an useful manual.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 26. The Literary Diary; or improved common-place Book: to which are prefixed, An explanatory Treatise; An Abridgement of the Aurifodina of Drexelius, by Bishop Horne; and an Index, formed with some Variations, on the celebrated Plan of Mr. Locke. 4to. 16s. Taylor and Hessey. 1811.

Our long experience in literary labour has impressed us so strongly with the importance of attentive notation, as to lead us to record in our pages even the humbler attempts which are made to aid the industry of the student. Of the different diaries or common-place books recommended to scholars, none possess more the merit of simplicity than that of Mr. Locke. His plan was to consider, in the first place, to what word or title the memorandum to be entered most naturally referred: this word or title he wrote in a large character at the beginning of the paragraph in his common-place book; and he inserted a reference to it in his index, under the same word or title. "Suppose," he says, " you wish to note down a passage which refers to the head Beauty: if there is as yet no place allotted in your book for words beginning with Be, turn to the first blank page in your book, and write a paragraph under the head Beauty. Allot two pages or more for each initial syllable, such as Ba, Be, and, on commencing a new page, never fail to enter it in the index." To this method, Mr. Locke adhered in his collections for a long series of years, without experiencing any inconvenience from what would appear to many persons a course too simple to answer for the almost endless variety of subjects which occur to a man of reading. The present Diary is intended as an improvement on that of Mr. Locke, and begins with the following table of general subjects:

The memoranda, or particulars for notation, will in course vary according to the studies of the individual; and no difficulty will occur in his introducing farther divisions, or subdivisions, of any subject which may particularly interest him. The advantage of classing together the notes or remarks on any particular department of study is sufficiently obvious. In Mr. Locke's plan, the indexnotices are too concise, and there is a want of connection between the different paragraphs in the same page: objections which induce us to look to the admirable perspicuity of his mind as the

chief source of that satisfaction which he is contented to ascribe to the method which he adopted.

Among the minor directions for keeping a common-place book, the editor of this Diary recommends it to the student to insert a number (1, 2, 3, &c.) in the margin of every original paragraph. These numbers are useful both for connection and reference. If, for instance, a passage in p. 4., be commented upon in page 39., paragraph 48., the figures placed in the margin of page 4., opposite to that passage, will be a sufficient indication where such comment may be found.'-The time bestowed on making, in a notebook, an analysis of a didactic work, will in general be found to be well employed; since in this, as in other things, the division of labour proves equally conducive to expedition and to facility of execution. The drudgery of penmanship may be lessened by taking brief notes on a first perusal, and by dictating them in an extended shape for the common-place book to an amanuensis. The late Lord Kaimes was accustomed to say that he never understood a subjectthoroughly until he had written on it.

The present Diary is merely a paper-book, neatly ruled and bound, with an index prefixed on a plan similar to that of Mr.' Locke. It contains likewise an abridgment, by the late Dr. Horne, of a tract known by the high-sounding name of the "Aurifodina of Drexelius," an essay on the utility of taking notes. Though we cannot help thinking that the materials in this little essay might have been better arranged, it contains several useful hints and admonitions.

Art. 27. The Perpetual Balance; or Book-keeping by Double Entry, upon an improved Principle; exhibiting the general Balance, progressively and constantly, in the Journal, without the Aid of the Ledger. By John Lambert. 8vo. pp. 104. Richardson.

In mercantile counting-houses, books are kept, in the first instance, by daily entries, and afterward by collective monthly statements. A particular transaction, in money or bills, is entered on the day of its occurrence in the book to which it belongs; and, at the end of the month, all transactions of the same description are embodied in one enumeration in the journal. The ledger is or ought to be nothing more than an index to the journal, containing merely a brief reference to the monthly entries detailed in the latter: but, as the ledger, however concise in its explanations, must unavoidably comprise a great number of accounts, it seldom happens that a general balance or list of the sums at Dr. and Cr. is made out more than once in a-year. It has, in consequence, frequently occurred that frauds have been committed by clerks, and have remained undetected until the close of the year. Mr. Lambert specifies several unfortunate examples of this description, and then proceeds to recommend a method which is calculated in his opinion to afford a steady check on all such irregularities. Nothing, he adds, could be more conducive to the promotion of habits of fidelity; since he has not (p. 7.) the least doubt that ⚫ nine out of ten, who have made free with the money of their employers, intended to replace the sums abstracted, before they supposed it possible for them to be discovered.' Commendable

Commendable, however, as is Mr. Lambert's object, neither his proposed alterations nor his manner of explaining them will be found to discover a thorough acquaintance with his subject. A practised book-keeper will be mortified, on opening his tract, to find (p. 42.) an adherence to the old plan of a day-book; a plan now generally relinquished for the far superior method of monthly entries from the subsidiary books. Next comes (p. 58.) his journal, which, though less objectionable in its form, has no particular feature of novelty or utility. The opposite sides of the journal-page are made to balance: but it is somewhat unusual to find the credit-entries on the left, and the debits on the right. The ledger is exhibited (p. 72.) in the common form, and is followed (p. 83.) by what the author calls the Perpetual Balance; in other words, a method of keeping the journal in such a way as to enable the principal clerk, or a partner in the house, to make out a general enumeration of balances with less trouble than is experienced on the present plan. The basis of Mr. Lambert's system consists in classing, in the ledger, all personal accounts under two general heads, accounts payable, and accounts receivable; referring the enumeration of each description of accounts to a subsidiary ledger.- Without discouraging an attempt of this nature, we must remark that the idea is by no means new; and that his journal-page (p. 84. et seq.) is unnecessarily complicated. We view with more indulgence his attempts (p. 30. and 99.) to explain to retail-dealers the practicability of applying the method of double entry in their transactions. Much remains to be done in this respect for we believe that retailers have seldom a direct check over their servants, and must often draw their conclusions respecting the safety of their goods from no more definite premises than the general propriety of a young man's behaviour,-The chief fault of Mr. Lambert's essay consists in its diffuseness and want of perspicuity. In so dry and uninviting a subject as book-keeping, a writer should spare no pains to make every thing intelligible; and the true way to do this is to attend to the often repeated but still neglected maxim of rendering ourselves familiar with a subject, by continued reflection, before we, profess to instruct others.

Art. 28. An Attempt to explain, define, and appretiate the Liberty of the Press, with a View to its Importance, as connected with the Rights and Welfare of the People. Dedicated, by Permission, to the Right Honourable Lord Erskine. 8vo. pp. 77

and Robinson. 1812.

Wilkie

At the commencement of this pamphlet, the author attempts a definition of libel, and insists that, notwithstanding all the difficulties alleged in this respect, the nature of libel is as susceptible of explicit statement as that of any other offence. He explains it to consist in publishing improper things of such a nature as to call for the decision of a jury. The liberty of the press is, according to him, of somewhat older date than is commonly imagined; although nothing decisive was legislated on this subject till after the Revolution. From that date, the press continued on a footing of considerable but undefined freedom, till the year 1792, when the right of juries to "give a general verdict of guilty or not guilty, on the whole matter at issue,?'