THE REVIEWER'S TABLE.

mestic Economy, Vol. I. of the Cupar Academy.

John Britton and E. AV. Brayley. Thomas Lowndes.

7. Exercises and Derivations of the Eng-

l. THE present volume of the Cyclopeedia is dedicated to the mysteries If Brewing, Baking, Wine-making, arid Distillation, with a chapter on Vinegar. The author, Professor DONOVAN, has had ample opportunity tf studying his subject to advantage. His practical knowledge is great, and his knowledge of books, and what books can teach, not snail. We pass over that part of the work in which the latter is sliawn,—and in which we find, as a whimsical proof of the country uf the author, opium and tobacco-smoke classed under the head of intoxicating liquors. The practical part is more interesting, and has more novelty. Of barley bread, Mr. DONOVAN says—" Although not agreeable, it is tolerably nutritious." He is wrong: new-made barley scones are delicious. He ought to eat them in Strathmore, where they are rolled out almost to a wafery thinness. When kept for a few hours, however, barley bread becomes tough and hard. The in- structions for Malting are minute and curious. The object is to produce such a degree of germination as is necessary to convert par-

tiallythe starch of the grain into sugar. The grain is steeped until it can be easily crushed between the finger and thumb, the water being once

or twice changed during the process : the steeping takes about sixty hours at most The barley is then put into the couch, where it remains from twenty-six to thirty hours, until it begins to germinate: it is then spread out in thin layers on the floor, until the radicle has protruded about half an inch, and until the plume has shot but not protrudPd : the barley is now malt, and only requires to be kiln-dried. The whole process of malting takes about fourteen or fiftten days from the time of the barley being put into couch. The drying process should be gradual, and the degree of temperature should be very little higher than is necessary to expel the moisture from the malt. Barley made into malt loses about 8 per cent. Oats, and wheat also, make good malt ; and both kinds form a valuable addition to barley malt in the brewing of beer. Rice requires very long steeping' and Indian corn can only be malted by being sown and allowed to grow four or five inches. We cannot follow Mr. DONOVAN through the brewing process, his remarks on which are equally instructive and cr The proportions of very strong and moderately strong ale and table- beer are-40 bushels of malt and 50 lbs. of hops, for 8 barrels of very strong and 12 of table ; the same quantity of malt and 30 lbs. of hops, for 14 barrels moderately strong, or 12 barrels with 10 of table. Where the latter only is required, the quantity of hops is 25 lbs., and the number of barrels of beer 30. On the whole, whether we look to this volume as a scientific or as a practical treatise, it does much credit to its author, and to the work of which it forms a part.

2. Of Mr. CUNNINGHAM.S qualifications for narrating the lives of the eminent Painters of the English school, we expressed a favour- able opinion in our notice of his former volume ; which we are not disposed, on a perusal of this, to retract or modify. It is a pleasing book, full of interesting facts, well told. The principal lives are those of the venerable President WEST, the rugged misanthrope BARRY, OPIE, and FUSELI. The volume also contains notices of BLAKE, BIRD, and MORLAND. To MORLAND, a man without a single feature in his character to attract respect or esteem, we think too much space is assigned. No purpose of pleasure or profit is served by tracing the wanderings of such a drunken, idle, despicable being. The account of BIRD, of Bristol, is valuable for some interesting anecdotes which Mr. CUNNINGHAM had the good fortune to collect in his casual inter- course with that painter. Speaking of ()PIE'S lecture on _invention, his biographer says "there is much to commend in it." Ile might have remarked, that the quotation on which he bestows this praise, but indifferently exemplifies the painter's theme. It is a mere copy of Imlac's description of a poet in Rasselas ; many of the sentences being ad verbunz the same. BLAKE published a volume of poems when he was thirty ; they were said to be written when he was be- tween twelve and twenty. Mr. CUNNINGHAM gives the following

lines as sweet poetry. They do indeed appear to have been written

under the inspiration of eau suede.

"Pipe a song about a lamb—

So I piped with merry cheer.

Piper, pipe that song again—

So I piped—he wept to hear. Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe,

Sing thy songs of happy cheer—

So I sung the same again, While he wept with joy to hear."

3. We noticed the first volume of this cheap and elegant publica- tion in our 77th Number. The present contains the remainder of De- mosthenes, and Sallust. The editor has attended to our suggestion to collate the translations ; he gives ROSE'S Sallust with improve- ments. The third volume will contain the Georgics of Virgil by SOTHEBY, the Eclogues by Archdeacon WRANGHAM, and part of the Eneid by DRYDEN. Mr. VALPY will find advantage in mingling the labours of various translators as he advances. The present volume contains a fine head of DEMOSTHENES and one of SALLUST.

4. Mr. BRITTON and Mr. BRAYLEY deserve the thanks not only of antiquaries, but of the general reader, for their Memoirs of the Tower. The subject is curious, and much labour and research are shown in the treatment of it. The former descriptions of this ancient fortalice were either meagre and unsatisfactory, or of so ponderous dimensions as to scare rather than attract attention. A book at once accurate and full, without superfluous minuteness, was wanted, and Messrs. BRITTON and BuAvLEv have furnished it. The work is inscribed, with much propriety, to one

" Unrivalled in peace, unconquered in war'!— the Duke of WELLINGTON. The first two hundred pages are devoted to the history of the Tower from the reign of the Conqueror to the present day ; the remainder contains a description of its various de- partments, both- in their original appropriations and in their present condition. The Tower is a lit le.world of curious sights .Lalthou h as COWPERreisrit-- -s, ey sell them plaguRear." Seven shillTi5s " a head, is a monstrous sum for a peep at a crown, a few mangy monkeys, and a parcel of "jingling jackets." One shilling for each department of the exhibition would be amply sufficient, and the receipts would be greater at that price than they now are. Indeed, any charge, however small, for a view of what is strictly national property—the i jewels and the armoury—is undignified, and harda.scleqZ,..lhe beasts! are, we believe, private property ;(and-lhe collection is descrigerg respectable. These memoirs are illustrated by 'a frontispiece and vignette, and eighteen wood-cuts by BRANDON and WRIGHT.

5. The story of Forrester is tedious and complicated and there are at least a dozen of episodical under-plots. The incidents succeed

each other with puzzling rapidity, and they are too frequently the effect of trifling and disproportionate causes. In the pathetic portions there is an approach to maudlin, and in the humorous to pertness and commonplace. - We have a murder, a confession, a peniteht lady, two elopements, and sundry other matters, pressed into the author's service, which would have been better omitted. Yet the book, with all these defects, displays considerable powers. The pic- ture of a mixed company at a watering-place, in the first volume, is well drawn. The style is lively ; and the reader, if he be sometimes perplexed, is hardly ever wearied. There is a silly introduction, which does injustice to the tale: it had very nearly frightened us from enter- ing upon it.

6. This volume contains "The Black Dwarf," and the beginning of "Old Mortality." Of the embellishments we have spoken in another place. The literary additions in this volume are not great, but they are curious. A short notice of " Bowed Davie," the singularly-formed being who gave rise to the hero of the story, partly from the Scots Ma- gazine, and partly from the reminiscences of Sir WALTER SCOTT, who saw him in 1797, is prefixed to the "Black Dwarf." The periodicals, it will be recollected, were loaded with anecdotes and notices of this man, shortly after the publication of the tale, in which some of his peculiarities and his remarkable person are so vividly drawn. The Scots Magazine describes DAVIS as detesting children. A gentleman - who went to school in DAVIE'S neighbourhood once informed us that this was not the case ; that, on the contrary, DAVIE was fond of boys, unless when they teased or mocked him; and that one of his com- mon practices was to collect a number round him, while he read to them some favourite piece of poetry. Our informant added, that when the strain was of a solemn or pathetic character, tears not unu- sually coursed over his rugged cheeks, as he read to his youthful audience. Neither was he altogether so cynical as he is represented ; for he was a frequent, if not a daily guest at the "smithy," the great resort of the gossipers and politicians of the neighbouring hamlets. The late Dr. FERGUSON, whose mansion was in the neighbourhood of DAVIE'S little dwelling, used to patronize him, and often lent him books to amuse his solitude. The Doctor considered DAVIE as a man of strong though untutored understanding, and of much origi- nality. It was, it appears, Sir WALTER SCOTT'S intention to make a much longer tale of the "Black Dwarf;" hut he was dissuadaby a critic, whom the public, as well as he, will consider "friendly." "Old Mortality is preceded by some interesting particulars of the Cameronian wanderer who bore that title. His real name was ROBERT PATERSON: he was born in the parish of Hawick, in the county of Roxburgh, in 1715. He settled in after-life in the parish of Morton, where he married. In 1746, he was plundered, and kept for some time a prisoner, by the retreating Highlanders, for declaring that the arm of the Lord was raised against the bloody and wicked . house of SrtrAur. His wandering life began in 1758, from which time he wholly neglected his family, for the singular and romantic occupation described in the novel, of renewing the inscriptions on the tombstones of the miserable people who fell victims to the tyranny of CHARLES the Second, during the attempts to establish episcopacy in Scotland. In his pious travels, the door of every Cameronian in Scotland was freely opened to him ; but he sometimes preferred the more independent enjoyment of a village inn. Sir WALTER'S in- formant has given the following frugal bill, found in his pocket-book after his death.

"Gatehouse of Fleet 4 Feb. 1796. "Robert Paterson debtor to Margaret Chrystale.

"To drye lodginge for seven weeks - £0 4. 1 To four auchlet of aitmeal - - 0 3 4 To 6 lippies of potatoes - - 0 1 3 To lent money at the time of Mr. Reid's sacrament _ 0 6 0 To 3 chappins of yill with Sandy the keel-man - 0 0 9

40 15 5 Recd. in part - 010 0 Unpaid - - £0 5 5"

• The chappin of yill (ale) is equal to four quarts ; so that honest ROBERT'S potations wit* his friend were deep, though not of the strongest Sandy the keel-man (dealer in keel, or red chalk, for marking sheep) is still alive. Old Mortality died in 1801, at the advanced age of eighty-six ; and, by a singular chance, the spot where he was interred is unknown ; and thus he who worked so assi- duously to preserve the memory of others, lies himself without a stone to point out his resting-place. His eldest son still lives, in respectable circumstances, in the village of Balmaclellan ; another son is settled at Baltimore, in America.

termination and sometimes without any change, convert several thousands of English words into their synonymes in those two lan- guages. Such, for example, is the numerous class of words in ion, which are common to French and English, and which may be Latinized by merely cutting off the final letter: such also are our words ending in tor, which are at once Latin and English, and may be converted into French by changing o into eu;• our words ending in ty, which become French by changing y into e, and Latin by changing y into as; and many others, where the conversien is equally easy. Hitherto these analogies have been employed for the purpose of enabling the pupil with more facility to understand the foreign lan- guage. gr. Gnankyr; a public teachein the pleasant little. town of Cupar, in Fife, is, so far as we know, [ the first that has formally re- commended the use of them to the mere English scholar, with a view to the better comprehension of his own language. Mr. GRAHAM'S plan is ingenious, and deserves imitation. In idiomatic English, the Latin derivatives bear to the Saxon the proportion of about one to nine; but the former are, for the most part, the only words that require explanation. Mr. GRAHAM has constructed sentences in which the Latin derivatives predominate ; and to these he subjoins a table, in which the Latin, and in some cases the Greek root, is given with its signification. It is the business of the boy, where the ana- logies are easily traced, to connect the form of the English with the form of the Latin word, and the meaning with the meaning. In this process his advances are cheered by discoveries, the merit of making which is, in some measure, his own ; and the Words which he has been employed in comparing, are fixed on his memory, not technically, but intellectually—the English word is indelibly associated with the Latin, and conversely. It is no slight recommendation of Mr. Gnanass's method, that it does not put on the odious form of task work ; his lessons are, in fact, agreeable amusements to a boy of the least under- standing or application. Though Mr. GRAHAM'S direct object is to give the pupil a more complete knowledge of English, the latter im- bibes, of course, a corresponding knowledge of Latin ; and we can readily believe that boys who have been drilled for some time in his system, will find little difficulty in comprehending short and simple sentences in that language. It is thus not only valuable to those who go no farther than a mere English education, but is an excellent pre- paration for the study of the classical tongues. Few things are more gratifying, on entering on the study of a foreign language, than to find a number of its vocables whose forms are familiar to the eye : it is like meeting known faces in a foreign land. Mr. GRAHAM eon- eludes with a table of the analogies of Greek, Latin, and English ; and a few observations on language, partly compiled, partly original. -Tee latter are ingenious, though we think their soundness may, in some points. be questioned. On the whole, we recommend this book as a valuable adjuvant in the education of youth. 7. Any one in the least degree acquainted with the structure of English, is aware that a very considerable portion of it is derived from Latin, sometimes directly, but more frequently through the medium of French ; Greek also has furnished us with a large class of vocables, mostly scientific. In French, and in some Latin grammars, there are 'commonly rules given, by which the pupil may, by a slight change of 8. Few accidents that can happen to a vessel are more dangerous, and with more difficulty remedied, than the loss of a rudder. The makeshift rudder of PACKENHAM is extremely ingenious, but involves a great waste of valuable spars, and it is far from being so manage- able or efficient as is desirable. Captain Liston-, wisely considering that prevention is better than cure, proposes a method of hanging rudders, by Which, when an accident does happen, not only may the old rudder be made to perform its duty again, but with comparatively speaking little trouble and expense. The method by which the rudder is at present hung, is precisely the same as was practised in honse- . doors some threescore years ago, and which is still retained in certain old mansions in the country. The hinge is formed somewhat in this fashion Esse ' • the larger part is bolted to the rudder, and the shorter turns M a hole on the extremity of a band of iron fixed fo the stern- post. The anterior surface of the rudder and posterior surface of the stern-post form each an angle-of 142°. The centre of motion being in the apex a the angle, thus, X . t is evident in this arrange- ment, that the rudder forms a bent lever, and the stem-post a ful- crum: and when a heavy sea strikes the former, the almost necessary consequence is, the destruction of the pins on which the rudder turns. Now these pins being part of the rudder-hinge, !the breaking of them is the destruction of the hinge altogether. Captain Luton's plan is to cast the part that is bolted to the rudder, and that on which it revolves, in separate pieces, so that when the one is broken, the other and more important part may be still fit for service. In this way, a spare set of pins, which will cost but a trifle, will serve all the purpose of a spare set of rudder bands; for Captain 'anon remarks, • that it is almost invariably the pins that break; and he proposes to secure this in all cases, by making the pins so weak, that they must give way to a less force than is required to destroy the other parts.

9. The Bibliographer's Manual is meant to supply, with regard to books whether rare or curious, that relate to Great Britain and Ireland, or that have been published there, the defects of the ponderous and elaborate work of WATTS. The Bibliographia, it is known, con- tains no notice of the character, collation, or price of the books which it otherwise describes. Mr. Lamson's work is a valuable present to the scholar. The articles are carefully written ; and the work is clearly and distinctly printed.

10. This is an excellent number of BI.ACENVOOD'S Journal of Agri. culture—rich in "facts," instructively detailed. There is a curious paper on natural pastures, somewhat learned indeed, but inte- resting. This is followed by a dissertation on the Ox tribe (the third of a series on the Domestic Animals), in which the errors of BUFFON are corrected, and the shades of differences between the wild and tame varieties of the most useful of all quadrupeds are accurately pointed out. These are the principal papers, but there are many otheis of value, among which we may notice an excellent one on the Malt- duties. The appendix to this number contains some valuable Prize Essays of the Highland Society, illustrated by plates and diagrams.

11. Our friend Ebony, we observe, has got a beautiful new type ; and the old gentleman is so vain of his handsome dress, that nothing will serve him but he must show it off in a double number. in fact Maga looks superb—not like an aged spinster in a suit of refreshed padnasoy, desperately bent on the conquest of some neighbouring apothecary, (which is the common aspect of other periodicals on their first appearance in an "entirely new letter"), but bright and blooming, and giving and receiving grace from her hahiliments, like a lovely young girl on her bridal morn. The papers in these two numbers are numerous, many of them excellent, few of them bad. There are several reviews—one on ATHERSTONE'S "Nineveh," very severe and very humorous—a good one on Bowi.ns' "Days Departed," another on Danansf S "German Tour." The notice of Moone's "Byron," a subject to which our attention was directed two weeks ago, pleases us least of all,—probably because we like our own notice better. There is a strange fearful story, called the "Headsman," a German tale, and an Arabian tale called " Motasser," which have both great merit in their way.