The work was designed as a parting gift from the sponsor to the godson, from the parent to the child, and we feel confident that it will thus be rendered of extensive utility, and that our more advanced readers, solicitously watching over the early impressions of their younger friends, will avail themselves of the powerful aid of Mr. Dale's inestimable essays. THE ZOIST: No. VIII., a Journal of Cerebral Physiology and Mesmerism, and their applications to Human Welfare. H. Baillière, Regent-street. LETTERS IN MESMERISM. By HARRIET MARTINEAU. MEDICAL REPORT OF THE CASE OF MISS HM. By T. M. GREENHOW. Highley, 32, Fleet-street. "Prove all things" being our motto, we have never joined in the hue and ery against Mesmerism, but have endeavoured to preserve our mind in a state favourable to an impartial judgment on the facts brought under our notice. If not disposed to pour contempt upon Mesmerism, before we had any opportunity of observing its phenomena, still less have we been inclined to do so since the opportunity has been afforded us. It is four years since we first witnessed any experiments in animal magnetism. We have since been present on many occasions when persons have been thrown into various states by mesmeric influence. On some of these occasions, the operators have been persons in humble life, with whose characters we have been well acquained, and the persons operated upon have, from our knowledge of them, been quite incapableof p laying a part in the scenes we have witnessed. We have, also, conversed with some who have been most successful operators, although ignorant of everything connected with mesmerism, except the manner of making the passes which are supposed to convey the mysterious influence which produces the various extraordinary phenomena of animal magnetism. In the number of the Zoist now lying before us, there is a engthened article, containing reports of various cases of clairvoyance, as exhibited by Alexis Didier, a French youth, who was for some time in London during the last summer. In none of these reports do we find any statement of facts more extraordinary than those which we ourselves witnessed, at a private display of the powers of Alexis, when every precaution was taken to avoid deception, and at which not only were we convinced of the genuineness of the experiments, but several of our friends also, who were previously most determined sceptics. With the evidence we have collected before us, we would say to those who have not been at the trouble to examine the subject-" refrain from expressing any opinion: read, think, behold, and then, judge for yourselves.' We need say nothing to recommend the letters of Miss Martineau to attention. They are every way worthy of the most respectful and profound consideration of the public in general, and of students in philosophy in particular. The medical report of Mr. Greenhow might, we think, have been spared in its present form. Having carefully perused it, we cannot say that it has in the slightest degree changed the opinion we had formed on reading the account of the case from the pen of Miss Martineau. The report is of some value to those who believe in Mesmerism, inasmuch as there is nothing in it, but the bare opinion of Mr. Greenhow, that some slight amendment in the health of Miss M, was apparent to him previous to the visit of Mr. Spencer Hall, in opposition to the experience of the patient, and the calm and careful observation of the various stages of her recovery throngh the agency of mesmerism We would say with the illustrious Gall: Mesmerism may be "TRUTH, though opposed to the philosophy of Ages." BLARNEY CASTLE; a Descriptive Poem. By JOHN HOGAN. 2d edition. This poem is an attempt to pourtray the quiet, but no less beautiful, scenery of Blarney, and, doubtlessly, the village, so celebrated in Irish song, is deseving of poetic record. Its own existing features well entitle it to notice, but apart from this, as likewise the distinguished place it holds in the history of a once proud nation, there is celebrity enough attached even to the name of Blarney to stamp importance upon every inch of its locality. The very mention of its castle, for instance-an edifice which has not only become identified with the entire country to which it belongs, but is also recognised as far and wide as the English language itself, cannot fail to excite a wide, and general, and deep interest. Of this interesting and very picturesque memorial of by-gone times, we have a glowing, yet not unfaithful description; perhaps, the following brief details respecting the edifice-substituting our own plain prose for Mr. Hogan's fervid poetry-may not be altogether out of place in our present notice. Blarney Castle, the property of the Jeffery's family, occupies a pleasant and picturesque situation. The edifice consists of the remains of an old castellated pile on the northern side of a precipitous ridge of limestone rock about one mile in length, which rises from a deep valley, washed at its base by a small but beautiful river, called the Awmartin. There is a large square and massive tower remaining, in which are a few windows, and many apertures for the discharge of missiles. In the highest part of the castle wall, below the battlement, the celebrated stone is pointed out to visitors-" the wondrous Blarney Stone "-so reputed for the power it possesses of imbuing every one who kisses it, with the privilege of deviating from veracity with an unblushing countenance. The natural scenery of this demesne is very beautiful, and the little recluse vale, called the Rock Close, is a spot so charming, that the elves and fairies might select it as a fitting site for their midnight revels. The more modern edifice has been added at a much later period, and is but in slender accordance with the old fortress. The Jeffery's family, it appears, were connected with the court of Sweden. Although Mr. Hogan's style appears somewhat immature and slightly formed, yet his verses are characterized with much enthusiasm, fancy, and love of nature, and he describes scenery with considerable and picturesque effect. His poem, he tells," is the offspring of feeling During its incipient stages, I had no idea that it ever would put forth the lineaments of a poem. The scene therein embodied were the favourite haunts of my early youth, and when far away, without the hope of again beholding them for a long, long time, the remembrance became at last endowed with life, and I gave it birth." The perusal of the present work induces us to anticipate with pleasure the appearance of Mr. Hogan's future poetical effusions. KNIGHT'S WEEKLY VOLUMES. Charles Knight and Co., Ludgate Hill. THE LIFE OF SIR THOMAS GRESHAM, No. 28.-He who gazes upon that noble pile in the centre of fair London City, "where merchants most do congregate," and who estimates aright the importance of the transaction which there take place, will feel more interest in its history than in that of and grey ruin which this land contains. The interest which such an individual feels may be cheaply gratified. Mr. Knight has put it within the power of the English reader to obtain, for one shilling, the biography of the great founder of the first Royal Exchange. The evil that men do, live after them; It has not been so with Sir Thomas Gresham. There are many things in his character which are unlovely. We admire not his Vicar of Bray propensities, nor his narrow-minded views of commercial science, nor the acts by which he acquired much of his wealth. But these we will not allow ourselves to dwell upon. Though in theory he was often wrong, as well as in particular deeds, in practice he was more frequently right and deserves to be remembered for the service he has performed for the Čity of London and the world at large. It would not be difficult to name men at the present day who, like Sir Thomas, hold views on the subject of commercial legislation which are alien from the interests of their country, who are nevertheless practically working out the development of sound principles, and will hereafter deserve to be spoken of as the benefactors of their own and after ages. An esteemed cotemporary has justly said: He was as loose in his commercial principles as in his religious faith; he recommended restrictions and monopolies, while he was himself a free-trading smuggler of the first head; and, though his prosperity depended on commerce, he was as great a recreant to his order as the supporters of monopoly in Manchester: "In all times nothing could be further from our royal agent's mind than the great laissez faire doctrine: on the contrary, his doctrine was faites peur. He writes to Cecil-'If you will enter upon this matter, you must in no wise relent by no persuasion of the merchants; whereby you may keep them in fear and in good order; for otherwise if they get the bridle, you shall never rule them. * As the merchants be one of the best members in our commonwealth, so they be the very worst if their doings be not looked into in time, and themselves forced to keep good order,' Let his errors, however, be forgotten, and his acts of atonement and their great results be cherished in grateful recollection. We have now no fear for the success of those great principles on which the trade and commerce of this and every other country should be founded. "The whole globe Should be of commerce made the scene immense; In Leeds, in Caiao, Lima, or Bombay, Should help with harmony to turn around, With unyielding heart, your hardy labours ;— Mix with the melody of distant lands: When, through new channels sailing, You shall clothe the distant children of the sun, Through all the realms that stretch Even from the stormy Cape to proud Japan." The reign of monopoly draws to a close. Industry shall yet enjoy its own, and England see many Gresham's without his errors, The Pursuit of Knowledge under DiffICULTIES, Nos. 29 and 30. -We would advise every young man in the empire to sit down and peruse Foster's Essay on Decision of Character, and then spend two shillings in the purchase of this new and cheap edition of "The Pursuits of Knowledge under difficulties " It will, we think, be impossible for him to go through the last named book, without finding something in it suited to his peculiar circumstances and habits, and the bent of his own inclinations and faculties. Instead then of regarding himself as the victim of an uncontrollable fate, he will aspire to win for himself, by honourable exertion, a position of credit and usefulness, and will so live as to improve himself and his condition, and to leave the world better than he found it. CABINET PICTURES OF ENGLISH LIFE. Chaucer, No. 30.-This is the first of a series of descriptions of national manners in periods which are past, drawn from the writings of our best authors in different ages. The stirring times o the Plantagenets are, in the volume before us, depicted by our own Chaucer-not, however, in the language of that ancient bard simply, but with the aid of a key to the right understanding of what he has written, so that he may no longer be to us as one who speaks in a foreign tongue, but as one describing the inner life of the English people, at the period in which he lived, in a manner fully comprehensible by those who are only acquainted with English as at present written and spoken. The idea is a very happy one, and the execution of this, the first volume of the series, affords the promise of a delightful collection of instructive and pleasing illustrations of life in bygone times. SAUL; a Dramatic Sketch: Josephine to Napoleon, &c. &c. R. Kimpton, Hand Court. The verses contained in the present volume are of the very highest order. The dramatic sketch is certainly very fine, but we infinitely prefer the poem entitled "Josephine to Napoleon," a composition reminding us something of Pope's "Eloisa to Abelard." Full of poetry and passion, it resembles that great original, not only in charming melody of versification, but in its variety of illustration, and force, and facility of diction. We subjoin a portion-the concluding lines-of this interesting poem. And wilt thou not, when earth within her breast. As a fond mother folds her child to rest, Shall give her shelter to my lifeless form, And all my love, which none could know, are hid, Whose warm affections with thy fortunes grew, p. 78. The subjects of the minor poems, many of them translations from the Greek and Latin writers, are treated with much delicacy, and written in a chaste and elevated style. THE MOSAIC WORKERS OF VENICE. From the French of George Sand. H. C. Clarke and Co., Old Bailey. Though this tale is from the pen of one who has written much,“which dying she might wish to blot," it is not only unexceptionable, but p aiseworthy. It is a powerfully written narrative of the struggles to twotalrented brothers, long exposed to the envious persecutions of unprincipled rivals, but ultimately triumphant, and permitted to enjoy the fame and emolument due to their genius. The friends of cheap literature are under great obligations to Mr. Clarke, who has not only given us beautiful reprints of some of our most popular English works, but also many of the most interesting and valuble translations and reprints of the writings of the authors in Germany, France, and the United States. NOTHING IN RHYME AND PROSE. BY GEORGE BOLTON. Saunders and Otley, Conduit-street. This volume-a miscellany of prose and verse-presents a combination of fun, humour, and a queer species of melo-dramatic pathos; and if we except an occasional and perfectly inexcusable outbreak of some unseemly oatl s and slang, is a pleasantly enough written book. It contains, along with many clever sketches of character, some passages of real interest and easy drollery, and "Nothing!" will, doubtless, prove acceptable to a very numerous class of readers. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. The SEVENTH VOLUME of the MAGAZINE will be commenced in our March No., which will contain an Index, &c. for the Sixth Vol. We are compelled to postpone many Notices of a variety of Books and Pamphlets until our next Number. |
