A

fluid to mount with the matters to which it is attached, as smoke or vapor?

Does it not seem to have a greater affi

through Le Perche, Le Bocage, &c. By W.D. Fellowes, Esq. 8vo. pp. 188. nity with water, since it will quit a solid to This is a pretty work, and at a pretty unite with that fluid, and go off with it in price. The paper is fair and good, the vapor, leaving the solid cold to the touch, printing excellent, the coloured engravand the degree measurable by the thermo-ings (about a dozen) very tasty, the information very inconsiderable, and the cost very considerable, being no less than one pound one shilling! The Citizen at Vauxhall, when his family were swal

meter ?

The vapor rises attached to this fluid, but at a certain height they separate, and the vapor descends in rain, retaining but little of it, in snow or hail less. What becomes of that fluid? Does it rise above our at-lowing the slices of ham so thin and mosphere, and mix with the universal mass leaf-like, exclaimed, at each mouthful, "There goes two-pence;" and in like manner may the devourer of this similarly scanty intellectual repast groan at every page, There goes two-pence.' In short, the volume is neat, and the price

of the same kind?

Or does a spherical stratum of it, denser, as less mixed with air, attracted by this globe, and repelled or pushed up only to a certain height from its surface, by the greater weight of air, remain there surrounding the globe, and proceeding with it round the sun?

In such case, as there may be a continuity or communication of this fluid through the air quite down to the earth, is it not by the vibrations given to it by the sun, that light appears to us? And may it not be, that every one of the infinitely small vibrations, striking common matter with a certain force, enters its substance, is held there by attraction, and augmented by succeeding vibrations, till the matter has received as much as their force can drive

into it ?

Is it not thus that the surface of this globe is continually heated by such repeated vibrations in the day, and cooled by the escape of the heat when those vibrations are discontinued in the night, or intercepted and reflected by clouds?

Is it not thus that fire is amassed and makes the greatest part of the substance of combustible bodies?

Perhaps, when this globe was first formed, and its original particles took their place at certain distances from the centre, in proportion to their greater or less gravity, the fluid fire, attracted towards that centre, might in great part be obliged, as lightest, to take place above the rest, and thus form the sphere of fire above supposed, which would afterwards be continually diminishing by the substance it afforded to organized bodies, and the quantity restored to it again, by the burning or other separating of the parts of those bodies.

Is not the natural heat of animals thus produced, by separating in digestion the parts of food, and setting their fire at liberty?

Is it not this sphere of fire which kindles the wandering globes that sometimes pass through it in our course round the sun, have their surface kindled by it, and burst when their included air is greatly rarefied by the best reir burning surfaces?

May it not have been from such considerations that the ancient philosophers supposed sphere of fire to exist above the air of our atmosphere?

A Visit to the Mondery of La Trappe, in 1817:itle Notes Taken during a Tour

excessive.

at some leagues distance. The Monks have their heads enveloped in large cowls; they others faces, so that two brothers might innever break silence, and never see each habit adjoining cells, and eat and worship together for years, without knowing who was their fellow penitent. On entering, every individual renounces his worldly name, and assumes that of Frere Charle, Benedict, &c. Their food consisted of about 12 ounces of the brownest bread, soaked in water, two raw carrots, or a little salt. Of these materials they made two cabbage or other vegetable, and a little meals, filling up the rest of the time with prayer and labour. They have rarely cheese, and never meat, fish, or eggs. During a repast, one of the monks, standing, read passages from scripture, reminding them of

death, and of the shortness of human existWith the exception of a very few re-ence; another went round the whole commarks on the reestablished order of La munity, and on his knees kissed their feet Trappe, there is scarcely one novel feature in succession, throwing himself prostrate in the book; and though Mr.Fellowes puts our Saviour; a third remained on his knees on the floor at intervals before the image of it forward under extremely modest pre- the whole time, and in that attitude took tensions, he ought to have seen that the his repast. These penitents had committed price corresponded with these profes- some fault, or neglected their religious dusions, rather than with the name of la ties, of which, according to the regulations, Trappe. The memoirs of the Vendean they had accused themselves, and were in War, and of La Roche-Jacquelin; his consequence doomed to the above modes of torical anecdotes of Henry IV., the Con-boarded, with a single covering, generally penance. Their bed is a small truckle, stable Clisson, Madame Sevigne, &c.; long quotations from Delille and other grave is always open in the church-yard for a blanket, and no mattress nor pillow. One poets; are indeed strung together in a the next that dies. pleasing gentlemanly way, but they are far too dear at a guinea-Hinc illa lachrymæ. We shall endeavour to extract the marrow of it for our readers, that it may not be altogether profitless.

their mazes.

taken the vows; lay brothers; and Frères There are Monks of the Order, who have Donnés: in all about one hundred, besides novices, who are principally boys, and do not wear the dark brown habit, mantle and hood. The Trappists of the its hidden site in a deep forest, and diffi- and Religieux de Cœur. Their mortificaThe Abbey of La Trappe, so called from first order are divided into Frères Convers, culty of approach, is so recluse as hardly tions and hardships seem insupportable to to be known to the people of the surround-human nature, and indeed their deaths are ing districts at the distance of twenty seldom long delayed. The lay brothers take miles. The paths through the forest are the same vows and follow the same rules; only to be threaded with the aid of guides, they are principally employed as servants, of whom there are very few acquainted with and in transacting the temporal concerns these parts, though the woods have been brothers given for a time, not for life; but Wolves are still numerous in of the Abbey. The Frères Donnés are much thinned since the revolution. Tra- to renew serious impressions. They do not velling from Mortaigne, Mr. F. speedily belong to the order, but sojourn temporarily surmounted such obstacles and dangers as after any peculiar dispensation of Proviexist, and in the evening arrived at the modence. On the great festivals they rise at astery. Its appearance inspires religious midnight; otherwise, at three quarters past awe. The total solitude-the undisturbed one o'clock. At 2 they assemble in the and chilling silence, which seems to have chapel, where they perform different serthe still lakes, reflecting the deep solem- in the open air, Winter and Summer, in ever slept over the dark and ancient woods, vices till 7: they then labour unremittingly nity of the objects around them, all im- heat or cold, till near 11; and at that hour, press a powerful image of utter seclusion preceding it by another short service in the Such is the voluntary fate of these austere From a quarter after 11, they read till noon; and hopeless separation from living man. chapel, they take their first slight repast. fanaties, and their gloomy schemes of pe- repose an hour; work again in the garden ken notions of piety, or horror for com- vespers from 4 to 6. At 7 they again enter nance and privation, worthy of their mista- till 3; read and meditate till 4; and attend tire to rest. the chapel, and at 8 they leave it and re

mitted crimes.

A lay brother, acting as Secretary, did the honoars of the Institution to the traveller in the absence of the Père Abbe, who was visiting a convent of Female Trappists

Such is the system of abstinence, mortification, and solemn seclusion pursued

There in the contests of the village green
Was Alan foremost, føremost in the page
Of village lore, while yet his boyish heart
Beat only for the meed of honest praise :
There dawn'd his manhood, and a parent smil'd
On Wedlock's bond, to bless as bright a maid
As e'er imparted happiness to man.
Alas, ill-fated pair, who thought the world
Pure as themselves! Ere one short summer
pass'd,

by these devotees. The foundation took | The following is almost the only escape
place in 1140, under the pontificate of into narrative. The tolling of the village
Innocent II., and in the reign of Lewis bell introduces the story of one of its
VII. The second Count de Perche is families:
called the founder; and the celebrated
St. Bernard, first abbot of Clairvaux,
the great preacher of the Cruzades, su-
perintended the work. The Abbé de
Rancé reformed it from ages of corrup-
tion and accumulated vice, from 1660
to about 1700; and to him it owes its
existing severities and reputation. Dri-
ven from their refuge by the Revolu- Detested warfare drew him from his home
tion, many of the monks fled to Eng-To guilt and wretchedness:--but two fond hearts,
land, and found an asylum in Dorset- So lately blended, still refused to part.
shire, through the benevolence of Mr. Together to inhuman scenes they went,
Weld. Many of them have since re-
turned to their old abode; and if heaven
is to be the reward of ascetic virtues,
there seems to be no surer road thither
than by the Monastery of La Trappe.

We find nothing else worthy of being selected from this volume, as it is not in our power to copy any of the drawings, which are better entitled to commendation than the narrative which envelops them. For the sake of those who love reading, we conclude, as we began, with protesting against such extravagant prices.

THE HOURS, a Poem in Four Idylls. By Henry Hudson, Esq. 8vo. pp. 180. The author of this poem is evidently an accomplished scholar, and has a fine feeling and taste for composition, which must please, even where we may think the more brilliant tones of inspiration and genius are wanting. His flight seems to us to be in mid-air; it is graceful and flowing; but the soaring heights of Parnassus are at least as far above his track, as the grovelling earth is below. The level beauty of the style, and smoothness of the versification are worthy of much praise: what we should have also been glad to applaud rather than lament the absence of, is fire and spirit, grandeur of thought, and some daring sublimity to break the even tenor of the song. We shall not however detain our readers with remarks, but, by copying a few of the most striking passages, submit the Idylls to public decision. The four parts are divided into MORNING, NOON, EVENING and NIGHT, each being described, with its effect on various landscapes in various countries. There is thus rather a sameness in the subject, which will hardly sustain so long a poem with- out the relief of incidents or episodes. Of these Mr. Hudson is very sparing, and inferior as he is to Thomson, he has relied more on his descriptive powers than that great master of Nature's harp.

hands

Where bloodshed less contaminates the soul
Than the corrosive scenes of selfish vice,
Which startle first, then o'er the victim steal
With yet a deeper, more repulsive die [dye].
There, in a band to plunder long inured,'
Where shameless appetite, habitual crime,
And licence uncontrol'd, had scarcely left
One virtuous lineament, their guiltless loves
Rais'd the loud laugh of scorn; their theftless
The hate of infamy. Example taught,
Seduction tempted long, subdued at last,
In the contagious precincts of a camp
Wither'd the once pure partner of his joys,
And soon to loss of innocence and shame
Disease and death succeeded. Thus bereft
Of every hope, with each endearment gone,
Bold desperation urged him willing on;
Became his last resource, and he who once
The deeper draught that deadens every pang
Had in each generous contest peerless shone,
Warp'd to depravity, still found no peer.
At length disbanded, to his peaceful home,
Half pleas'd, he turn'd his steps. How flush'd
his cheek,

hill

How beat his heart, when from yon tow'ring
The well-known landscape broke upon his view;
The lofty elms still waving o'er the green,
Where he so oft had rul'd the boyish sport;
The cottage peering through the woodland maze,
Where long, where still an aged parent dwelt
To bid him welcome. Ah! the transient spark
Of joy was soon extinct; his altered mien,
And far more altered habits, now no more
Could win the heart: from his unpractis'd hand
The tool of industry fell useless. Vain,

Too late was each weak effort of reform:
Yet would he strive, and oft-times ponder o'er
The brighter prospect of his early years,
So soon, so sadly clouded; till perchance
In shame, despair, he mark'd the averted eye
Of those who once ne'er met him but with smiles,
Who pitied, shunn'd him now; or trac'd the

scenes,

Whose every object mutely seem'd to ask
For her, who once so lovely, once so loved,
Had with him joy'd so oft to lay the schemes
Of future happiness-the mingled pang
Burst the full channels of a struggling heart,
And closed at once the catalogue of woe.

offer one extract more from the last
Idyll, Night-it draws a picture of a re-
gion uncommonly interesting at this era:

Remotest Greenland's shores-untrodden tracts
Extending to the Pole, or westerly
Stretch'd towards the barrier strait, that now
admits

Th' adventurous navigator, and unfolds
Some unseen prospect to his curious eye.
Continue still their direful sport the fleet,
That yearly dare with devious keel to cleave
The Hyperborean billows, now awhile
Open and navigable, in the chase

Of whales high spouting the columnar flood.
Mark'd by the watch-boat some dread monster
lies

Broad floating on the surge, then sudden pierced,
Immerges, seeking in his lowest haunts
To disengage the line: vain effort, soon
To sight ascending feels he the fresh wound,
And deep retires again; again upris'n,
Lashes horrific the resounding brine,
His vast unwieldy strength expending fast
In idle rage, then gor'd with num'rous wounds,
To bold pursuers his huge bulk resgins.
While

To bear away the spoil, bound homeward ere
many a broad-winged vessel hovers near
September threatens, with huge piles of ice
Closing around, to shut out all return.

Introduction to Entomology, or the Natu-
ral History of Insects. By William
Kirby and William Spence &c.
We promised to return speedily to these
interesting volumes, and now take up
the eleventh letter in the first, which
treats of the affection of insects for
their young," as the subject of a brief
epitome.

The love of their offspring among larger animals, as it is more obvious, has attracted more of the admiration of mankind, without deserving it more entirely than the extraordinary affection for their progeny displayed by many minute creatures. The Polar bear, the dog, the hen, &c. have all been celebrated for their parental excellences, but the most renowned examples cited in their favour do not surpass the usual care and courage with which many insects provide for or defend their young. And what renders the solicitude still more remarkable is, that numerous tribes never live to see their successors, but die in exerting their last efforts for the future provision of their children.

The dragon-fly is an inhabitant of the air, and could not live in the water: yet in this element, which is alone adapted for her young, she ever carefully drops her eggs. The larvae of the gad-fly (Estrus Equi) No part can afford a fairer specimen are destined to live in the stomach of the of the writer's merits than the above. horse. How shall the parent, a two-winged His perceptions are full of truth, andy, convey them thither? By a mode truly extraordinary. Flying round the animal, his painting just and natural; yet there she curiously poises her body for an instant, is a deficiency of force, and so little while she glues a single egg to one of the of originality, that we almost refer the hairs of his skin, and repeats this process whole to preceding poets. We shall till she has fixed in a similar way many

the application of the slightest moisture at tended by warmth, hatch into little grubs. Whenever therefore the horse chances to lick any part of his body to which they are attached, the moisture of the tongue discloses one or more grubs, which, adhering to it by means of the saliva, are conveyed into the mouth, and thence find their way into the stomach. What is most wonderful is, that the gad-fly places her eggs only on those parts of the skin which the horse is able to reach with his tongue; nay, she confines them almost exclusively to the knee or the shoulder, which he is sure to lick. What could the most refined reason, the most precise adaptation of means to an end, do more?

bag, or you restore it to her, her actions demonstrate the excess of joy.

Bonnet records an instance of one, from which an ant-lion dragged her bag, and she preferred perishing with it to being removed from the spot. Her attachment to her young is equally strong and hen-like.

hundred eggs. These, after a few days, on | lifted up the bird, changed its place, turned charms. If she succeeds in regaining her it and arranged it in the grave, and from time to time came out of the hole, mounted upon it and trod it under foot, and then retired below and pulled it down. At length, apparently wearied with this uninterrupted labour, it came forth and leaned its head upon the earth beside the bird, without the smallest motion, as if to rest itself, for a full hour, when it again crept under the earth. The next day in the morning the bird was an inch and a half under ground, and the trench remained open the whole day, the corpse seeming as if laid out upon a bier, surrounded with a rampart of mould. In the evening it had sunk half an inch lower, and in another day the work was completed and the bird covered. Thus in fifty days the four beetles buried twelve carcases, viz. four frogs, three small birds, two fishes, one mole, and two grasshoppers, besides the entrails of a fish, and two morsels of the lungs of an ox. In another experiment a single beetle buried a mole forty times its own bulk and weight in two days.

The ichneumons deposit their eggs on the bodies of large beetles, grubs, &c. which they destroy for food as soon as they become larvæ; and so accurate are the calculations, that the supply always lasts precisely so long as is necessary. Of the 200 species of wild bee which we have in this country, all are remarkable for their precautions to support their offspring. The mason-wasp seals up its egg hermetically, and opens the cell at regular intervals after it is hatched, to deposit a grub or fly for the sustenance of the larva. Some enclose food in wax, in pollen, in holes in the earth, in wood, &c. &c. with the eggs, and leave the whole of the remaining process to unerring nature; while others, at the proper time, revisit their nests and extricate or feed or otherwise bestow parental attention upon their young. little beetle (Necrophorus Vespillo, F.) performs gigantic labours in this way:

One

The details of the operations of bees and ants, which live in societies, add greatly to the interest of the Letter whence we have selected these notices, but recent popular publications have rendered these too commonly known to invite us to repeat the strange incidents in our Gazette.

ANALYSIS OF THE JOURNAL DES SAVANS

FOR MARCH, APRIL, AND MAY.

Owen's History of the Origin, &c. of the
British and Foreign Bible Society.
M. Silvestre de Sacy speaks in a very

The organs of insects are wonderfully adapted to their habits. Those who de-favourable manner of the labours of this posit their eggs on the bodies of caterSociety. He observes (as we have had more than once occasion to remark ourpillars that feed exposed on the leaves of selves in the Literary Gazette) that besides plants, have short stings or oviposi- the grand object of the society, it must be tors: others which attack larvæ deeply of the greatest utility in promoting the imbedded in sand or wood, have very knowledge of languages. It is particulong stings to insert their eggs into the larly," says he, "from the intimate union bottom of these recesses. Many moths formed between the Society and the Mishave a tuft of hair which they clip off to sionaries in India, that literature will derive inestimable advantages. Encouraged by wrap their eggs in, so that they may preserved at a proper temperature; and Missionaries have doubled their zeal, and the assistance of the Bible Society, these having performed the last duty of enve- it is difficult to form an idea of the activity loping them in this, the mother expires. and extent of their labours. What the science of language will owe in a few years to the united efforts of the Missionaries and of the Bible Society, would not have been obtained in a century, or rather would never have been obtained without the impulse given by so powerful a lever." Grammaire des Grammaires, &c. By M.

be

The

The common ear-wig-this curious insect so unjustly traduced by vulgar prejudice, still more nearly approaches the haA dead mole placed on a garden-bed bits of the hen in the care of her family. disappeared in three days; and on digging She absolutely sits upon her eggs as if to where it had been laid, it was found buried hatch them-and guards them with the to the depth of three inches, and under it greatest care. Her eggs being scattered, four beetles, which seemed to have been she will collect them one by one with her the agents of this singular inhumation. Atjaws into a heap, and assiduously sit on the end of six days the mole was swarming them as before the interruption. with maggots, apparently the issue of the young ones resemble the parent, except in beetles, which, it was rightly concluded, wanting elytra and wings, and, strange to had buried the carcase for the food of their say, are as soon as born larger than the future young. The experiment was tried eggs which contained them. They immediwith a glass vessel properly secured and ately shelter like a brood of chickens under half full of earth, upon which two frogs the belly of the mother, who very quietly In less than twelve hours one suffers them to creep between her feet, of the frogs was interred by two of the bee- and will often sit over them in this posture tles: the other two ran about the whole for hours! day as if busied in measuring the dimensions of the remaining corpse, which on the third was also found buried. A dead linnet was then introduced, and a pair of beetles were soon engaged upon the bird. They began their operations by pushing out the earth from under the body so as to form a cavity for its reception; and it was curious to see the efforts which the beetles made by dragging at the feathers of the bird from below to pull it into its grave, The male, having driven the female away, continued the work alone for five hours. He

were laid.

The spider (Aranea Saccata L) common under clods of earth, with a white globular silken bag about the size of a pea, in which her eggs are, attached to the extremity of her body, clings to her treasure like a miser--no danger can force her to quit this precious load, which she carries every where with her.

Are her efforts ineffectual? A stupefying melancholy seems to seize her, and when deprived of the first object of her cares, existence itself appears to have lost its

P. Girault Duvivier. 2 vols. 8vo. This is the third edition of a work highly useful to all who study the French language. "If the Academy," says M. Raynouard, "should ever publish a grammar, the work of M. Girault Duvivier will greatly facilitate the execution of it. When I express myself in these terms, I think that I have passed an eulogium upon this work which sufficiently indicates its importance and its merit."

Adam's Roman Antiquities, translated into

French from the 7th edition. The English reader needs no information respecting this universally esteemed work. M. Daunou observes that it is almost as extensively used in Germany as in England; and it is the more probable that the French translation will have the same success, as it is written with perfect purity, and all the elegance compatible with the subject. M. Daunou takes occasion to remark on some older works of the same description, but he prefers to them all the work of Mr.

Those who are inclined to follow step by step, for the space of eighteen months, a traveller who does not think fit to make himself known, who meets thousands of individuals of whom he relates anecdotes, without mentioning their names, who makes memorandums of the most trifling puerilities, interlarding them with quotations from Virgil and Horace: let them read the Souvenirs des Antilles. It appears that the author first of all drew up his Journal for his own amusement, without any idea of publishing it; and when he came to submit it to the press, unfortunately he was not near the sources from whence he derived his information.

more than this in England, we wish him
Joy, and advise him to return thither as
speedily as he can.-Critique signed B-e
in the Gazette de France.

ITALIAN LITERATURE.
[Lionardo da Vinci.]

We have already mentioned the new
edition of the Treatise on Painting by the
celebrated Lionardo da Vinci, with the
addition of several articles never before
published. The great celebrity of this
treatise, even in its former imperfect state,
induces us however to make our readers ac-
quainted with the nature and extent of the
additions in question.

The MS. of this edition was happily discovered in the Vatican Library by Signor Guglielmo Manzi, librarian of the Barberini Library, aided in the publication by the Chevalier Giovan Gherardo de Rossi, who also compared the text with the part already printed in several editions, and enriched it with many very useful notes, placed at the end of the volume, and by the pencil of M. Rossi, who has copied the drawings from the text itself.

The new parts in this volume are Books I. V. VI. VII. and VIII. so that the number of new Chapters is three, besides the important additions inserted at the conclusion, or in the middle of the Chapters that have been printed before.

99 66

Almost the only thing worthy of notice in these Recollections, is a dispute which arises in the Diligence from Philadelphia to New York, between the author and an Irish officer, respecting the merits of the Thus the Comparison of Painting, PoeFrench, English, and American women. try, Music, and Sculpture," which forms To say the truth, the French ladies are not the subject of the 1st Book, is new, in which very gallantly treated; they are reproached we particularly notice the articles "How he with laughing on all occasions, assuming an who despises painting does not love philoair of too great confidence, and having suc-sophy or nature; The painter is the masceeded in ruling the other sex without op- ter (Signore) of all kinds of people and of position. The author then introduces a all things;" Which is the greater injury little picture of conjugal manners, which to the human species, to lose the sight or we shall decline quoting. After a few the hearing? "How painting promotes mutual concessions, the two travellers per- all human works by the subtil speculations fectly coincide on the following point: that belong to it; "Of the difference, that the English women, particularly in and, at the same time, of the similitude of the superior classes, excel those of every painting and poetry ;" "How music should other country, in elegance of form, fairness, be called the younger sister of painting;" and embonpoint, natural grace, modesty of "What science is mechanical, and what is deportment, and above all, in the incon- not mechanical;" "How sculpture is a ceivable magic of an enchanting tone of less effort of genius (è di minore ingegno) than painting, and many natural parts are wanting in it," &c.-M. de Rossi in his notes, thinks the author displays much ill humour towards sculpture, and speaks of it in a tone of depreciation which seems unsuitable to a man who professed it; but expresses a conjecture, that he perhaps declaimed against sculpture on account of the rivalry between himself and Buonarroti.

voice.

Such is the definitive judgment pronounced on the English women; and they are thus proclaimed the most beautiful in the world. As to the American ladies, the author of the Recollections thinks they have somewhat degenerated, and that they are very unfortunate in not inclining to the embonpoint like those of the mother country.

The fact is, that our traveller never stops at any place without quitting it immediately; he merely steps out of the diligence, to go on board the steam-boat; otherwise he would doubtless have done justice to the fair ladies of North America, instead of so hastily declaring that they have degenerated. He would certainly have remarked that, in general, out of ten young American women, five are extremely beautiful, three pretty, and two by no means ordinary. If he find

The Precepts to the Painter," which are in the second book, are also new, as well as the curious articles in the same book, "Of the life of the painter in his study;' "What should the genius of the painter resemble?" "Of the judgment of the painter;" "Dell' essere universale;" "Of the pleasure of the painter;" "Of the games or exercises (Ginochi) which designers should practise;" "Whether it is better to design in company or not?" "Of the method of drawing by night, a relief;"

"Of the choice of beautiful objects;" "Of beauties and deformities;" How the good painter has to paint two things, man and his mind; and how the sight penetrates a greater mass of air directly than obliquely."

There are several new articles in the third and fourth books, many of which shew the skill of Lionardo in anatomy; such are the following: "Of the motions of man in the countenance;"" Of the position of the limbs ;""Of the proper motions which shew the movement of the mind of the mover (de moti proprj dimostratori del moto della mente del motore ;") "Of the motions of man and other animals," &c. &c.

"

In the fourth book are new observations on the drapery which covers the figures: "On draping figures with grace;' On the mode of draping them ;""On loose or close dress ;" On the few folds of the drapery."

99 66

The fifth book, which is wholly new, treats "Of light and shade, and of perspective;" the 6th "Of trees and verdure;" the 7th, "Of the nature of clouds ;" the 8th," Of the horizon."-It may easily be gathered from the fifth book how well Lionardo was versed in optics and aerial perspective; and in running over some articles of the sixth, we should be inclined to think him also well skilled in natural history, especially in botany and vegetable physiology. Of the eighth book nothing was hitherto known, except the article which treats of the "Reflection of the horizon in the water."

Vol.

Stephani Antonii Morcelli præpositi Eccle-
sia Clarensis, Africa Christiana.
I. et II.
After the many similar works relative to
various countries by Sammartani, Ughelli,
Le-Quien, &c. we have at length a “Chris-
tian Africa," which was wanting to com-
plete the Christian geography of the world,
and nobody perhaps was more capable of
supplying this desideratum than the learned
writer, who is equally versed in the learn-
ing of Greece and Rome, and in ecclesias-
tical history and erudition.

The nature of this great work, which is full of indications of places arranged in alphabetical order, of facts chronologically disposed in a long series of years, does not admit of a perfect analysis.

In the preface the author gives an account of the method which he has followed. He has undertaken to describe the honours, the successions, the vicissitudes, of the African Church: he has carefully examined all the writers on this subject, not merely following the opinions of the more recent, but depending on the authority of the more ancient. He has made use of all the monuments, of the acts of the martyrs, of the councils, of the codices of the Christian Emperors, the letters of the Popes, ancient histories and ancient inscriptions. He has profited by the labours of Sirmondo and Le Quien, but has not entirely followed the order of the latter, because he desired to