NOTICE.

Art. X. Edwin; or Northumbria's Royal Fugitive restored: a Tale of Saxon Times. By J. Everett. pp. 192. London. 1831. THIS is a pleasing and simple Tale of the early times of our Saxon forefathers. The design of the Author has been, as he informs us, to delineate the rude state of the kingdom, prior to the general diffusion of Christian knowledge, and the subsequent triumph of Christianity over heathenism in its Saxon form. It may, therefore, be properly regarded as a religious Poem; and for the purity of sentiment it contains, and for its animating representations of the power of Christian truth, we can cordially recommend it to our readers. The Author has selected the stanza so successfully employed by Mr. Montgomery in his "Wanderer in Switzerland"; a form of verse not the most easy to manage, with great and striking success, through a long poem. It requires all the poet's art to prevent it from falling into something like monotony. Mr. Everett seems, however, to have been aware, that this measure, while it is, perhaps, less adapted to the highest flights of genius, is yet admirably calculated to embody all that is simple and graceful in poetic feeling. Simplicity of expression and diction is, however, another matter; and the Author has something to learn and attain to in this respect. We give, by way of specimen, a few stanzas from the conclusion of the first book. The Author is describing the first burial-ground of the Christians in Britain.

'One sweet spot is girt around,

Where the body may repose;

Beauteous flowers bedeck the ground,
And the hedge displays the rose.

To the sun's reflected beam,
Like a mirror in the light,
Near it, glides a limpid stream,
Sparkling in the gazer's sight.
'Flowing on-it knows no rest;
Clouds and beams, in sportive train,
Course across its peaceful breast,
As it hastens to the main.

Pure as Charity, and free,

Noiseless are its blessings strew'd,
Freshening every flower and tree,
Waving on its banks renew'd.

So let peace this breast pervade,
Love its ceaseless streams afford,
Till the wilderness is made

Like the garden of the Lord!'

ART. XI. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

In the press, Elements of the Differential and Integral Calculus, comprehending the Theory of Curve Surfaces and of Curves of Double Curvature. Intended as a Sequel to the Analytical Geometry. By I. R. Young.

The Holy City of Benares will be Illustrated in a Series of beautifully finished Plates, delineating the most striking objects to be found in this extensive and distinguished seat of Hindoo Learning. The whole executed by James Prinsep, Esq., during his Ten Years' Official Residence in Benares.

The Rev. William Liddiard, Author of the "Legend of Einsidlin," is about to publish a Tour in Switzerland, in One Volume 8vo., interspersed with Poetry connected with the various Scenes for which this beautiful Country is so preeminent.

Captain Head is now preparing a Series of Views to Illustrate the very interesting Scenery met with in the Overland Journey from Europe to India, by way of the Red Sea, through Egypt, &c., with Plans and accurate Maps of the various Routes; Descriptions of the Scenery, and useful Information for the guidance of future Travellers.

Biblia Sacra Polyglotta textus archetypos versionesque præcipuas ab ecclesia antiquitùs receptas, necnon Versiones recentiores Anglicanam, Germanicam, Italicam, Gallicam, et Hispanicam, complectentia. Accedunt Prolegomena in textuum archetyporum, versionumque antiquarum crisin literalem, auctore Samuele Lee, S. T. B. Academiæ inclytæ Fredericiana Hallensis, S. T. P. Societatum, Asiatica Sc. Parisiensis Socio Honorario, Asiatica Britanniæ et Hiberniæ Regalis item Socio, Literaria Regia Associato Honorario, Philosophica Cantabrigiensis Socio, necnon Lingua Hebrææ apud Cantibrigienses Professore Regio. This important Work will form one volume folio, and be published in the course of the month of July.

In the course of July will appear, A Translation of the New Testament into Hebrew, printed with the Points. Other editions of the same:-Hebrew and English, Hebrew and Greek, Hebrew and German, and Hebrew and French.

The long-expected Prolegomena, by Professor Lee, in Quarto, is ready for delivery to the Subscribers.

Just ready for publication, The Second Edition, corrected and enlarged, of "The Village Blacksmith; or Piety and Usefulness Exemplified, in a Memoir of the Life of Samuel Hick, late of Micklefield, Yorkshire."

In the press, The Reign of Terror; the Sacred Grove; and other Poems. By James Everett.

Shortly will be published, in One Volume, foolscap, a Series of Tales, describing some of the Principal Events that have taken place at Paris, Brussels, and Warsaw, during the late Revolutions; with a few other Miscellaneous Pieces. By F. W. N. Bayley, Esq., Author of Four Years in the West Indies," &c. &c.

Shortly will be published, "On the Prevailing Neglect of Pastoral Duty in Dissenting Churches." By P. Henson.

ART. XII. WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

The Title and Index to Vol. V. will be given in the next Number.

THE

ECLECTIC REVIEW,

FOR AUGUST, 1831.

Art. I.-1. Journal of Voyages and Travels by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq. Deputed from the London Missionary Society to visit their various Stations in the South Sea Islands, China, India, &c. between the Years 1821 and 1829. Compiled from original Documents by James Montgomery. In Two Vols. 8vo. pp. xxiv. 1134, Plates. Price 17. 16s. London, 1831. 2. Polynesian Researches, during a Residence of nearly Eight Years in the Society and Sandwich Islands. By William Ellis. Second Edition, enlarged and improved. In four Volumes. Small 8vo. Price 11. 4s. London, 1831.

3. A Vindication of the South Sea Missions from the Misrepresentations of Otto Von Kotzebue, Captain in the Russian Navy. With an Appendix. By William Ellis. 8vo. pp. 162. Price 3s. 6d. London, 1831.

I

Fit be true, as M. Malte Brun remarks, that the islanders of the South Seas are already better known to us than the inhabitants of Sardinia and Corsica, it is not less true, that they are, in many respects, more worthy of being known. Much as has been written respecting them, further information and additional testimony cannot be regarded as superfluous, since there are some persons who affect to disbelieve, others who malignantly misrepresent the great moral revolution which has taken place in those islands; and falsehoods, repeatedly detected and exposed, are re-issued, and find willing utterers in Quarterly, Edinburgh, and Westminster Reviewers. Besides which, the work is still in progress; and human nature, in those islands, may be considered as undergoing a most interesting process of experiment, every stage of which merits a watchful attention. In the old countries, society has long been

VOL. VI.-N.S.

M

stationary, one generation transmitting its likeness to the next with almost the uniformity of a mould, but the finer lines of which have seemed to become weaker and coarser with every impression. In Sardinia, in Naples, in Austria, in China, men are now, what their ancestors were ages ago,-subdued to the passiveness of machines, worked merely by animal fear or animal passion, condemned to intellectual imbecility by the double despotism of the feudal and the sacerdotal system. In those countries, nothing is progressive, except the work of depopulation and decay. A book of travels describing them a hundred years ago, supplies almost as faithful a description of their present condition, as the report of a tourist fresh arrived; and the testimony of any one competent observer passes for credible evidence of the fact. In the Islands of the Pacific, on the contrary, every thing is in transition; and it has already become difficult to recognize in the Tahiti of the present day, with its reformed manners and Christian civilization, the New 'Cythera' which charmed, by its impure voluptuousness, the imagination of former voyagers. 'A chapter would have been 'wanting in the history of our species,' Mr. Montgomery remarks, in the Introduction to the volumes he has so ably edited, 'or, at best, the contents of it would be exceedingly deficient, if 'the authentic information furnished by resident Missionaries, ' and collected by the late Deputation, were not now rescued from 'oblivion and put upon record, in such publications as Mr. 'Ellis's Polynesian Researches and the following Journal.'

In a few years', he adds, all traces of the former things which are now done away, would have been for ever obliterated. The old, who still remember them, would be dead: the rising generation, of course, are brought up in the knowledge of those better things which are regenerating society throughout all the Christianized islands. This, then, which would have been expedient under any circumstances, has become necessary at the present time, when the grossest fictions are invented, industriously circulated, and in some instances eagerly received, to bring the Missionaries and their labours into contempt.'

It is a trite remark, that there is nothing so credulous as incredulity. How easy and greedy a credence do those yield, who are seeking for reasons to disbelieve! By what rational law of evidence is it, that the concurrent testimony of a number of respectable witnesses, our own countrymen, having all the means of information, and of unimpeachable integrity,-shall at once be annulled and overturned by the unsupported assertions of an unprincipled, ill-informed foreigner, actuated by the meanest prejudice against Great Britain, as well as by the most virulent antipathy to the Protestant faith?-a man who could not by possibility know any thing about either the history or