17 NOVEMBER 1838, Page 18

" Pearls (If Great Price" is the title bestowed, undeservedly,

on a selection of thoughts from the writings of JEREMY COLLIER, known chiefly as the censor of the stage. The character and mo- tives of the divine are successfully vindicated by the editor, in a prefatory biographical sketch; but we think the odium which the author has, in some sense, unjustly incurred, has had the effect of attaching an undue value to his writings in the estimation of the compiler. The "Pearls" of Cowen have lost some of their freshness by time, as well as by the remedy of the dramatic inde- cency he attacked; and show but dimly beside some more precious gems culled from other and older writers to eke out the volume.