whole was done under the immediate directions of the late king. In one small room were placed the portraits of his Majesty George III. of Great Britain, the kings of France, Germany, and Prussia, who were contemporary with Stanislaus. In the centre of this royal group is his own portrait. We next visited the summer palace of Stanislaus, situated on the banks of the river, about three miles from the city. The road passes through the suburbs of Kraka, and enters into a beautiful avenue, divided by nine rows of trees, which terminate in a large circular octagon, from which branch off eight other avenues, each, at a short distance, crossed by others, and forming a kind of labyrinth. One of them passes a deep cut, made through a ridge of clay, on the top of which are erected elegant barracks for soldiers. Below this bank, in a sequestered vale, and on the edge of a small lake, near to the Vistula, is the elegant and beautiful summer palace of the late king. All which the exquisite refinement of education, and a chastened genius could invent, have been executed—no obtrusive gothic irregularity offends the eye, no voluptuous indelicacy hurts the feelings; neither magnitude nor vain shew disgust the taste. all is elegance, simplicity, and perfection. The house is small, and of an oblong form, between two narrow lakes, which wash its very foundation; from which it is sometimes called la Maison de Bain. The rooms are beautifully painted and gilded-the pannels and doors are formed of elegant glass mirrors, and the floors inlaid with Mosaic work. "About one hundred yards from the palace, in a retired grove, is situated the theatre, built partly from the model of Vespasian's amphitheatre. The stage is divided from the audience by a stream of water, and was intended to represent the ruins of the temple of the Sun at Palmyra; the whole is beautifully covered with the dark foliage of the surrounding trees. The part allotted to the spectators consists of a circular series of steps, the last row of which supported a range of statues. The whole is uncovered, and the performance was usually exhibited in the afternoon. To behold a theatric exhibition in so retired and calm a spot, and under the cooling shade of trees, must have afforded an exquisite treat to the lovers of the Drama. In an adjoining thicket was placed the concert-hall, where Pan and his Sylvan train might have responsed to soft sounds of music. Such was this beau tiful spot, planned and executed by the good Stanislaus, who, with short-sighted hope, promised himself a quiet and sequestered abode, in which the evening of his life might have passed, and the pressure and turbulence of the government have been softened. This amiable prince beautified the environs of his capital from his private fortune; and, while he expended it in adorning the public grandeur of the capital, his ungrateful nobles wrangled, and allowed their glorious independence to be subdued, the sceptre of the realm to be broken, and the monarch to abdicate the throne, and end his days in a foreign land." P. 425. ART. ART. XV. A Manual of Latin Grammar. Intended to combine the ancient Plan of Grammatical Institution, originally enjoined by Royal Authority, with the Advantages of Modern Improvement, with Prefatory Hints and Observations on the Methods of commencing and pursuing Classical Leorning in Schools, and by private Study. By John Pye Smith, D. D. DR. Smith, who, if we are rightly informed, is Divinity Tutor at the Independent Academy at Homerton, commences this Manual with the following preliminary observations. "In the reign of King Henry VIII. a Latin Grammar, with an English Introduction, or Accidence, was composed by William Lily, Dr. John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, and other distinguished scholars, and was enjoined by the authority of that learned but arbitrary sovereign to be only and every where taught for the use of learners' throughout his realm. The exquisite knowledge, care and accuracy manifested in that well known work must appear to every unprejudiced person. But within the last hundred and fifty years the venerable Common Grammar,' has been assailed by many objections and cavils, and an innumerable host of new grammars and introductions have been forced upon the public attention. The captivating promises of the novel plans have procured to some of them an extensive adoption, that uniformity of grammatical institution, the beneficial effects of which our ancestors so justly appreciated, has long been exploded; and the consequence has been, a lamentable weakness and deficiency in the classical learning acquired at a great proportion of our schools and private seminaries." Dr. S. laments that so little time is devoted "for laying the foundation deep and firm in Lily's Grammar." And that many persons "look back on six or seven years of professed classical education, but which has proved an useless sacrifice of time, and a cruel mockery of hope, principally because it was not founded upon a solid and accurate grammatical institution." There is some truth in the above remarks. Speaking of "the Eton Grammar" the author thus expresses himself. "The Eton Grammar is extensively adopted in private and public schools. It is an abstract from Lily, and I must confess my opinion, that it is inferior in usefulness to the original. The high tone of erudition and classical taste which is sustained at Eton College has probably been attributed to the use of this elementary book, and so many have promoted its implicit adoption; but that effect is more rationally to be ascribed to the eminent talents of the masters of that royal foundation, and the knowledge, accuracy, and classical purity, which have become traditionary among the scholars." This tribute of merited respect to Eton College, and to the learned conductors of its education, is followed by critical remarks on Ruddiman's and Dr. Adam's Grammars. may "Ruddiman's Rudiments," says Dr. Smith, "the popular grammar in Scotland, is a book of great excellence, but most unaccountably and unfortunately it takes not the slightest notice of prosody. On the basis of Ruddiman, the late Dr. Adam, of Edinburgh, whose indefatigable life was always directed to pure usefulness, constructed his Latin and English Grammar, a work which will seldom fail to afford the learner whatever information he need. Its pages, however, are so crouded, and the portions requisite to be committed to memory, are so intermixed with comment, that the attention of a child is overwhelmed, and his recollection obscured. Dr. Adam's Grammar is not adapted for the purpose of initiating learners, so much as for pupils whose attainments and whose judgment are considerably advanced: to such it cannot be too much recommended." P. 3. The author of the grammar before us, informs ns, that he has designed it "To serve either as a preparative for Lily or Adam, to each of which it is adapted nearly in the same way as Mr. Lindley Murray's Abridgement is to his justly popular English Grammar, or as of itself a sufficeient grammatical introduction, for enabling the learner to proceed at once to the proper course of reading and pausing." Dr. S. takes occasion to express his disapprobation of the editions "In usum Delphini." We think that this Latin Grammar may not be an useless auxiliary in some parts of a classical education. ART. XVI. The First, or Mother's Dictionary for Children, containing upwards of Three Thousand Eight Hundred Words, which occur most frequently in Books and Conversation. By Anna Brownwell Murphy. 4s. 6d. Darton. THE fair author of the present work is one of the Edgeworth School. We confess we cannot perceive any peculiarly new feature in this Dictionary, most of the words being as correctly explained in various works of a similar nature. We cannot approve of "thunderbolt" being explained " lightning," when a ball of electric fire" would have been almost as concise, and a much more accurate expression. ART. ART. XVII. Natural History of Quadrupeds, for Children. THE present work is chiefly extracted from that portion of Dr. Goldsmith's History of the " Earth and Animated Nature," which relate to Quadrupeds. The author might, with great advantage and profit, have gleaned from other writers, and augmented the fuud of juvenile information. We observe that the kangaroo, a most curious animal, unknown in the time of Goldsmith, is not in this collection. The opossum and rein deer, of Lapland, are also omitted. ART. XVIII. The Ornaments discovered; a Story. By the Author of " Aunt Mary's Tales." 16mo. pp 191. Darton, junior. 1815. THIS is a singular title, and somewhat enigmatical. We were happy to discover that the ornaments of the mind are here designated, and the story which in many places is interesting, is destined to impress on the young mind this maxim, “That amiable manners, and a well regulated mind, are the only truly valuable ornaments." There are some pretty lines addressed to a Primrose Bud. ART. XIX. The History of Little Davy's New Hat. THIS is a simple village tale, fitted to the capacities of children, and inculcating sentiments of good nature and charity. ART. XX. The Expeditious Arithmetician, or Preceptor's Arithmetical Class-Book: containing Sir separate Sets of Original Questions, &c. Seven Parts. By B. Danby and J. Long. Huil. THE design, as stated by the authors of this arithmetical classbook, is to teach youth effectually the first principles of arithmetic, by methods of greater ease, correctness, and celerity, than by those which are generally used. In connection with other works on the rudiments of arithmetic, the present performance may be of some utility; but we certainly do not perceive those traits of novelty, which the authors led us to expect; neither do we think the science is more simplified in this than in many other elementary books of arithmetic. ART, ART. XXI. The Philosophic Mouse, or a pleasing Expla nation of some Philosophic Subjects included in the Narrative of a Mouse. THIS Philosophic Mouse is an entertaining little companion; and unfolds to us many curious subjects connected with natural and experimental philosophy. The nature of air, the construction of the air pump, the magnifying power of the microscope, and the wonderful properties of electricity are elucidated. Mr. Greaves, in describing the different nature of gasses of which atmospheric air is composed, gives the following description of carburreted hydrogen gas, or heavy inflammable air, which is now used in lighting up our public buildings and streets. "It is nothing more than hydrogen-gas holding carbon in solution. This gas is likewise the cause of the explosion of gunpowder, not the only cause, for something more is requisite. The component parts of gunpowder are nitre, charcoal, and sulphur. The nitre, when ignited, produces oxygen-gas; the charcoal, curburrated hydrogen-gas, or heavy inflammable air, the sulphur at the same time that it ignites, the charcoal and nitre explodes the gasses that are thus generated by the ignition." P. 24. This apologue is most ingeniously written. The mouse is supposed to narrate the experiments tried upon him, and the reader is at once initiated into some of the chief branches of that noble and sublime science, Natural Philosophy. ART. XXII. Collectanea Latina; or Easy Construing Lessons, from the best Latin Authors. For the Use of Junior Scholars in Grammar Schools. By the Rev. W. Allen, M. A. Master of the Grammar School, Bolton-le-Moor. 159 pp. Law and Whittaker. 1815. A WELL digested and easy introduction to the Latin tongue. The respective divisions answer to the syntactical rules, as arranged in the Eton Grammar. ART. XXIII. A French Delectus, or, Sentences und Passages from the most esteemed French Authors. By the Rev. Israel Worsley. AMIDST the numerous elementary turboks on the French Language, this Delectus may rank as a useful work. The Author has not been guided by the decision of the French Aca demy |