A rich bequeathment, and beloved the more, For they were good as great-brave spirits born to soar! "Tis not alone the poesy of form, The melody of aspect, the fine hue Of lips half blushing, odorous and warm, Of eyes like heaven's own paradise of blue ; Past youth, past hopes, past loves, no shroud may dull; Wresting from death and darkness undecayed Oh, heart! too early wert thou doomed to know Then, ah! for ever sacred be that art Direct from heaven, and not from human skill! The eyes some new expression seems to fill; And half I know thee dead-half hope thee living still!' The Juvenile Annuals, we leave our young folk to criticise, with a hint to the Editors, that much might be learned from the unsophisticated criticisms of such instinctive judges. For example, the Little Queen,' in Ackermann's Juvenile, would gain the suffrages of 'children of all ages' in favour of its admirable adaptation to its purpose. And the Cabinet of Curiosities, the Day of Pleasure and the Journey to Paris, in Mrs. Watts's New Year's Gift, will obtain the same unbought and decisive commendation. A morning and evening prayer for a little child,' in the latter volume, almost tempt transcription: we are pleased to notice contributions of this cast, and these are good of their kind. The next volume on our list, belongs to a class which bespeaks the critic's indulgence, rather than his applause. A jester was, in the olden time, a privileged person, whom scarcely the chaplain durst encounter. All that we can say for Mr. Harrison's volume, is, that it abounds with comicalities without personalities, jokes sometimes a little coarse, but never indelicate, wit that never tries its edge upon wisdom, puns that sometimes cut, and cuts that pun; (for besides the jests corked up in the Author's rhymes, there is a stock of humour in the wood, supplied by Brooke ;) and in short, although to be at once merry and wise is a high attainment to which this volume does not exactly aspire to conduct the reader, yet, to those who have a taste for this sort of 'wine and walnut' entertainment, Mr. Harrison may be commended as a safe and pleasant caterer. We would rather meet him, however, in a graver capacity. 6 Lastly, as if to reprove us for our tolerance of this Humourist, comes the grave and reverend Amethyst, introduced by a doctor of laws, and a doctor of medicine, and announcing its object to be, to instruct and to edify, rather than to amuse." On this account, the Editors have refrained from adding to the price of their work by costly embellishments.' The setting of the Amethyst' (they say) is plain, but the metal is pure and the gem genuine. Both, therefore, are calculated to retain their value and lustre, long after the tinselled and ephe'meral toys of more fashionable literature have glittered their 'little hour, and been forgotten.' As the Editors have, in these words, so satisfactorily reviewed their own labours, it is the less necessary for us to say much about them. Of the solid excellence of many of the contributions, no other evidence needs be offered, than the names of the writers, among whom are J. J. Gurney, the Rev. H. Grey, the Rev. Edward Craig, the Rev. D. Russell, W. M'Gavin, Esq., the Rev. Dr. Collyer, the Rev. John Sandford, &c. Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Edmeston, and Bernard Barton have each furnished a piece of sacred poetry; and there are various contributions in prose and verse by the Editors. Cordially approving of the design of the volume, of its sentiments, and its tendency, we feel no disposition to criticise its contents; although we must think, that, if the principle of accommodating the method of instruction to the habits and tastes of those we wish to benefit, on which the Editors of this Annual profess to have acted, be a legitimate one, it might discreetly have been allowed to modify and enliven the contents, as well as to determine the external appearance of this Annual. We shall rejoice, however, to find that it obtains readers on either side of the Tweed, who are not offended at its grave theological character. Good sense, we frankly admit, is far more valuable than genius; wisdom more precious than wit; orthodoxy better than refined taste; sermons more instructive than tales and as it is better to visit the house of mourning than the house of feasting, so, to the serious or the sad, the Amethyst is adapted to supply edification and consolation, not to be obtained from the Humourist. And now, gentle reader, we leave thee to make thy choice from this rich and varied as sortment. Art. V. A Treatise on the Nature and Causes of Doubt, in Religious Questions; with a particular reference to Christianity. With an Appendix on some common Difficulties; Lists of Books, &c., &c. 12mo. pp. 194. Price 5s. London, 1831. THIS little work has one very strong claim to our attention, and to that of persons afflicted with the mental palsy of doubt,—that it is written by one who has laboured under the miserable infirmity of universal scepticism, and who is qualified by his own experience to minister wisely as well as tenderly to a mind so diseased. It has cost the Writer pain, to force his mind into trains of reminiscence, which, if he had consulted his own happiness solely, he would willingly have foregone'; but he has made this attempt to clear the path of inquiry for others, in the spirit enjoined by Our Saviour's command to Peter, in anticipation of his fall, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren ". The unfeeling, contemptuous, bitter way in which too many champions of orthodoxy inveigh against sceptics and infidels, in the aggregate, as ill accords with the spirit of Christianity as with the dictates of wisdom and sound discretion. True it is, that an evil heart of unbelief' is the real source of all sinful error; and doubt, where belief is a duty, is both error and sin. But scepticism is but one modification of that universal disease which has tainted our common nature; and he who knows most of his own heart, will be the least disposed to rail against those from whom Divine Mercy has made him happily to differ. Christianity will never make way among mankind, but in its own spirit. At the present time, it becomes of peculiar importance to ascertain, by every means that experience or philosophy can suggest, the best mode of dealing with this wide-spreading mischief. The sceptical tendency of the present age, even our philosophers have acknowledged to be an evil of the most alarming nature'; although Mr. Dugald Stewart, who so characterizes it, thought that it would prove only 'a temporary 'evil' ;—an evil incident to the transitive state between implicit credulity and sound knowledge, in which society seems at present to be placed. If human nature laboured under no hereditary disease, it might be so. The intellectual weakness in which, as this philosophical writer remarks, the credulity of the vulgar, and the scepticism of the few, alike originate, might be cured by the diffusion of pure religious knowledge; and no personalities, jokes sometimes a little coarse, but never indeli cate, wit that never tries its edge upon wisdom, puns that sometimes cut, and cuts that pun; (for besides the jests corked up in the Author's rhymes, there is a stock of humour in the wood, supplied by Brooke ;) and in short, although to be at once merry and wise is a high attainment to which this volume does not exactly aspire to conduct the reader, yet, to those who have a taste for this sort of wine and walnut' entertainment, Mr. Harrison may be commended as a safe and pleasant caterer. We would rather meet him, however, in a graver capacity. Lastly, as if to reprove us for our tolerance of this Humourist, comes the grave and reverend Amethyst, introduced by a doctor of laws, and a doctor of medicine, and announcing its object to be, to instruct and to edify, rather than to amuse.' On this account, the Editors have refrained from adding to 'the price of their work by costly embellishments.' 'The setting of the Amethyst' (they say) is plain, but the metal is pure and the gem genuine. Both, therefore, are calculated to re'tain their value and lustre, long after the tinselled and ephe'meral toys of more fashionable literature have glittered their little hour, and been forgotten.' As the Editors have, in these words, so satisfactorily reviewed their own labours, it is the less necessary for us to say much about them. Of the solid excellence of many of the contributions, no other evidence needs be offered, than the names of the writers, among whom are J. J. Gurney, the Rev. H. Grey, the Rev. Edward Craig, the Rev. D. Russell, W. M'Gavin, Esq., the Rev. Dr. Collyer, the Rev. John Sandford, &c. Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Edmeston, and Bernard Barton have each furnished a piece of sacred poetry; and there are various contributions in prose and verse by the Editors. Cordially approving of the design of the volume, of its sentiments, and its tendency, we feel no disposition to criticise its contents; although we must think, that, if the principle of accommodating the method of instruction to the habits and tastes of those we wish to benefit, on which the Editors of this Annual profess to have acted, be a legitimate one, it might discreetly have been allowed to modify and enliven the contents, as well as to determine the external appearance of this Annual. We shall rejoice, however, to find that it obtains readers on either side of the Tweed, who are not offended at its grave theological character. Good sense, we frankly admit, is far more valuable than genius; wisdom more precious than wit; orthodoxy better than refined taste; sermons more instructive than tales and as it is better to visit the house of mourning than the house of feasting, so, to the serious or the sad, the Amethyst is adapted to supply edification and consolation, not to be obtained from the Humourist. And now, gentle reader, we leave thee to make thy choice from this rich and varied as sortment. Art. V. A Treatise on the Nature and Causes of Doubt, in Religious Questions; with a particular reference to Christianity. With an Appendix on some common Difficulties; Lists of Books, &c., &c. 12mo. pp. 194. Price 5s. London, 1831. THIS little work has one very strong claim to our attention, and to that of persons afflicted with the mental palsy of doubt, that it is written by one who has laboured under the miserable infirmity of universal scepticism, and who is qualified by his own experience to minister wisely as well as tenderly to a mind so diseased. It has cost the Writer pain, 'to force his mind into trains of reminiscence, which, if he had consulted his own happiness solely, he would willingly have foregone'; but he has made this attempt to clear the path of inquiry for others, in the spirit enjoined by Our Saviour's command to Peter, in anticipation of his fall, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren ". The unfeeling, contemptuous, bitter way in which too many champions of orthodoxy inveigh against sceptics and infidels, in the aggregate, as ill accords with the spirit of Christianity as with the dictates of wisdom and sound discretion. True it is, that an evil heart of unbelief' is the real source of all sinful error; and doubt, where belief is a duty, is both error and sin. But scepticism is but one modification of that universal disease which has tainted our common nature; and he who knows most of his own heart, will be the least disposed to rail against those from whom Divine Mercy has made him happily to differ. Christianity will never make way among mankind, but in its own spirit. At the present time, it becomes of peculiar importance to ascertain, by every means that experience or philosophy can suggest, the best mode of dealing with this wide-spreading mischief. The sceptical tendency of the present age, even our philosophers have acknowledged to be an evil of the most alarming nature'; although Mr. Dugald Stewart, who so characterizes it, thought that it would prove only a temporary 'evil' ;-an evil incident to the transitive state between implicit credulity and sound knowledge, in which society seems at present to be placed. If human nature laboured under no hereditary disease, it might be so. The intellectual weakness in which, as this philosophical writer remarks, the credulity of the vulgar, and the scepticism of the few, alike originate, might be cured by the diffution of pure religious knowledge; and no |