Magazine, have had a certain, though slow effect." Further, he has established "Book-Societies" throughout England. "I take credit to myself for having been instrumental in propagating such institutions." We can scarcely believe that even Sir Richard Phillips has had power to do any such thing; though certainly his powers in every way are wonderful;-and he has a right notion of what should be done for the improvement of the human race:-" I love the man," says he, "who is a manly man-the man who has genius and feeling enough to fill up the Seven Ages of Shakspeare; and in the study of human nature, I regard the compound of its Ábelards and Heloises, its Petrarchs and its Lauras, as the true philosophy of wisdom." To some this may be unintelligible; but we are quite convinced that Sir Richard Phillips, the Inventor of the Interrogative System, the destroyer of the Newtonian philosophy, the insatiate devourer of Bacon and green*, the propagator of bookclubs, and the yellow-washer of cottages, is in a fair way "to fill up the Seven Ages of Shakspeare," and to reach the climax of "Second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything." What! a French Annual published in London! Aye, truly, and a very pretty thing it is" Le Petit Bijou.-Truly it deserves its name. We see it is by a professor of French, M. d'Emden; and it is exactly the sort of book to put into the hands of a young person studying the language. We have not room to give an extract of length from it;-but we cull the following epigram, which very spiritedly inculcates an excellent moral: Inscription pour une maison de jeu. "Il est trois portes à cet antre. * Sir Richard is a Pythagorean in diet, and lives chiefly on cabbage. END OF THE SECOND VOLUME, London:-Printed by W. CLOWES, Stamford-street. |