over, out, together, up; and to give battle, a pitched battle, a drawn battle, to turn the battle to the gate, and battle royal. The work is further enriched by many proper names, as those of the Heathen Deities, and by many foreign terms, such as oasis and Machiavellian, which have been naturalized into the language, and are of such frequent use that a definition of them is absolutely necessary to any one who would understand the sense of our best writers; and at the end are vocabularies of Classical, Scriptural and Geographical Proper Names, with the pronunciation clearly exhibited. 66 So far as we have examined the work, the definitions appear to be correct; but Liturgy, we believe, is never used in the restricted sense of the communionservice of the Church of England, and Litany should have been described as a particular part of the Church service; a tiger is not correctly described as a servant in livery, who rides with his master or mistress," but, if this sense of the word be admitted at all into the Dictionary, should rather be "a boy in livery, who rides behind his master's cab;" and a maiden assize is certainly not that "at which no one is condemned to die," but "at which there is no criminal trial whatever." As to pronunciation also we may remark, that the e in there is not identical with the a in pray, but is considered by the best orthoëpists to be a sound, sui generis, between the a of fate and the e of met. With respect also to the "Introduction" on Language and Etymology, we may be allowed to express our surprise that Dr. Webster, who visited Paris with a view to the perfection of his work, makes no special mention of the Monde Primitif of the Court de Gebelin, some of whose principles appear to be reproduced by him. As this is an American Dictionary of the English Language, and it is designed in the first and principal place for the use of Americans, it was of course right to include many words which have only a Transatlantic use, such as boatable, as applied to a shallow river, navigable only by boats, and appropriation, "the setting apart by vote of a sum of [public] money, to be expended for a given purpose." Still we doubt the propriety of giving currency to such a verb as to slump, and we should have thought that it was hardly necessary, even in the United States, to insert a caution against the use of balance for remainder, as, "The balance of the evening was spent in study." These, however, are points of inferior moment, and detract not from the general merit of the work, which appears to us far more complete than any thing of the kind that had preceded it in our language. The larger edition, though containing a much greater quantity of matter than the former, has, by the use of smaller type and greater compression, been brought into the compass of a single volume of 1449 pages quarto; this is the copy which will be consulted by students; but for more general use there has also been published simultaneously an abridgment, of 1289 pages royal octavo, containing all the words and the most important etymologies to be found in the quarto edition. "The definitions," as we are informed in the Preface, "remain unaltered, except by an occasional compression in their statement. All the significations of words, as exhibited in the larger work, are here retained, but the illustrations and authorities are generally omitted. In doubtful or contested cases, however, they are carefully retained." Both copies may be had in London, and we earnestly recommend them to all those who desire to possess an accurate and comprehensive Dictionary of their native language, în a compendious form and beautifully printed. S. W. Sermons on Christian Communion, designed to promote the Growth of the Religious Affections, by Living Ministers. Edited by T. R. Sullivan. Pp. 391. Boston. 1848. UNDER a new title and in a different form, Mr. Sullivan here gives us another volume of the "Liberal Preacher." The volume contains thirty-one discourses by as many American divines, ten of whom minister to Boston churches, and twenty-one to other churches in various parts of the States. The subjects are very miscellaneous, but are treated generally in a Christian spirit. The title given to the volume is descriptive of about one-third of its contents. That an interesting series of discourses on subjects growing out of the Christian Supper, combining Scripture criticism and narrative, exposition of doctrine, and moral and spiritual application, might be composed, we are ready enough to admit; but it would be better done by one than by many, because one mind alone could give unity of purpose and assign the proper proportions to each part of the subject. Although the volume now before us is not exactly what it purposes to be, we receive it with thankfulness as a series of discourses of great value, some of them characterized by earnest Christian feeling, others by skilful dissection of the human heart, many of them by considerable poetical beauty, and some rising to true eloquence. We will specify those that have particularly struck us. Mr. Huntington, of the South Congregational Church, Boston, contributes Sermon IV., on "The Simplicity of Christian Duty." It is a thoroughly earnest appeal, and is treated with the simplicity which becomes the topic. Mr. Brooks, of Newport, gives considerable novelty to the trite subject of the "Christian Race." Mr. Bellows, of New York, in Sermon XII., "Faith in Christianity as a Fact," roots up and casts to the winds the newest form of infidelity with an unsparing hand. This is a good specimen of faithful preaching to the times, which we cordially welcome. He beautifully remarks, "It were as easy to separate the veins from a marble slab without crumbling the stone, as to disentangle the miracles of Christ from his moral precepts and his holy character." Dr. Gannett treats with his usual power, mingled with tenderness, "Trust in God." In Sermon XIV., Mr. Peabody, of Portsmouth, plainly and honestly points out some of the "Obstacles in the Way of Christian Obedience." The "Christian Home" is beautifully described by Mr. Chandler Robbins; and under the rather quaint title of "Household Impediments," Mr. G. E. Ellis dwells on the difficulties of practising a true home religion. In Sermon XVIII., Dr. Putnam, of Roxburgh, exposes with great success all the pleas that have been urged against the religious education of our children. In Sermon XXI., by Mr. Hall, of Providence, we observe an instance of more than questionable taste. The subject, "Christ's Love for Man," leads the preacher to rehearse some of our Lord's miracles of mercy; and when he comes to the resurrection at the gate of Nain, he recites, not the matchless narrative of the evangelist, but a poetical paraphrase. Now, this is one of the last passages of Holy Writ on which such an experiment should be tried. The paraphrast can only escape offending by a close adherence to the original, and even the inversions necessary to the metre are displeasing. A freer use of Scripture language and illustration would improve several of these discourses. Dr. Dewey has contributed a very striking sermon (preached on Good Friday) on "The Remembrance of Christ." He makes good use of the idea of the “Christian Year," and pleads for the wisdom of investing particular seasons with sacred associations. He describes with his own remarkable pictorial power the various ways in which, in Catholic countries, Christ is brought before the remembrance of the people. Dr. Dewey is bold and fearless beyond any living preacher in the selection of topics and illustrations, and in the rich colouring and picturesque attitudes of his groups. If he often achieves remarkable and beautiful effects, he occasionally startles by introducing minute, not to say ludicrous objects, out of keeping, and calculated to produce a smile where all should be solemn. The spirit of the Dutch painters will not suit the Christian preacher. As an instance of this, we would mention his specifying amongst Catholic customs, the use of "the three-cornered hat" as "an emblem of the Trinity," and "the hair left around the shaven crown," as a "sign of the crown of thorns." Dr. Frothingham gives us a very striking sermon on the institution of the Supper. We should have liked the sermon better if it had not the strained title of "Paradoxes in the Institution of the Supper." But to one statement in the sermon we are disposed to take exception. At p. 331 he intimates that even if the resurrection had never taken place, the disciples would have continued to celebrate the Last Supper. We can scarcely agree to the propriety of this representation. Had Jesus continued to slumber in the tomb, his disciples would have been disappointed and deceived men, and the observance of the Supper would have only served to recal the delusion under which their Master had laboured. Mr. E. Peabody's (of Boston) defence of the observance of the Lord's Supper is imbued with very beautiful feeling. Mr. Cyrus Bartol's sermon on "The Saviour's Joy," treats a not common view of our Lord's character with remarkable discrimination. We have left to the last Sermon III. in this volume, by Mr. Sylvester Judd, of Augusta, on "The Worth of the Soul." We know not whether we are right in supposing him to be a youthful author. He certainly shews power, but he sadly lacks taste, and appears to us to have selected a dangerous model. Amidst passages of great force and beauty we find the most incongruous ideas and grotesque illustrations. Thus, in illustrating his text, What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? he observes, "The question put by Christ is resolved into one of pure finance. It is tantamount to the algebraic inquiry, What is the value of x? The soul is a certain bulk, and we must find another bulk of corresponding dimensions and weight. This answering quantity is composed of two elements, time and pain; the value of the soul is thought to be equal to the time it shall endure and the pain it shall suffer. Or, briefly, the soul is as time and pain."-P. 23. Again, thus singularly does our author illustrate the capacity of the human soul: "What astronomy has done, in bringing down the big heavens into our school-rooms, mapping out the stars, throwing wheel-bands over the orbits of comets, and inserting metronomes in the mechanism of creation; what geology has done, in disinterring the history of the earth from the sepulchre of ages, teach the same fact. Raphael, with his pallet; Canova, with his chisel; Milton, with his pen, illustrate the capacity of the soul. Bonaparte, from whose intellect leaped the live thunder-bolts of war, and whose hand shook the nations as in a dice-box, is an instance in point, so far as mere strength and resources are concerned. The covering of the sea with ships, of the wilderness with habitable towns, the elaboration of the cocoon into gobelin tapestries, of clay into Etruscan vases, the conversion of trees into coaches, of rocks into palaces, are similar denotements." Further on, Mr. Judd spoils a very fine passage descriptive of Christ's mission by this foolish conceit: "We are wont to look upon Christ as a sort of trajectile, cast by Almighty force from Bethlehem to Calvary; as a kind of miraculous machine working its way through Judea" (p. 29). Mr. Judd remonstrates with those who "narrow down vast spiritual powers to dollars and cents;" and, believing him to possess spiritual power capable of far better things than these, we would remonstrate with him, and entreat him not to degrade high Christian topics by clothing them in pompous technicalities and unseemly drolleries. Let him do justice to himself, and leave these things to those capable of nothing better. If our space permitted, we would gladly quote some of the better passages of his sermon.-Notwithstanding the blemishes we have felt it our duty to point out, the volume is calculated to enjoy a wide popularity, and we strongly recommend it to the attention of our readers. Introduction to Zoology, for the use of Schools. By Robert Patterson. Part II. Vertebrate Animals, with upwards of 160 Illustrations. In this second and concluding portion of his work, Mr. Patterson well sustains the character which we assigned to him, in noticing the first portion of his Zoology. He is not only well read in books of Natural History, but is an independent observer. He writes clearly, and selects with good judgment those topics which will both impress and improve the young. This is one of the few school books which will prove attractive, out of as well as in school, and interest others besides the young. The illustrations, without any pretensions as specimens of graphical art, are clear expositors of the characteristics described in the text. They are (with due acknowledgment) chiefly taken from the "Elémens de Zoologie" and "Cours Elementaire" of M. Milne Edwards. One or two extracts will better recommend the work than any further observations of ours. The Shark. "A beautiful example of beneficent design is afforded by a peculiarity of structure observable in the young of Sharks and Skates, while still imprisoned in the egg case. From the gills there are projecting filaments; each of these contains a minute blood-vessel, and serves thus to expose the blood to the purifying action of the water, within the horny egg case. These appendages, like those of the Tadpole, hereafter mentioned, are only temporary; but they fulfil at an early period of growth the function which is afterwards so efficiently performed by the gills. "A more striking example of providential care is perhaps afforded by the arrangement which furnishes to the Sharks the means of keeping their formidable array of teeth fit to execute at all times their fearful office. They must be liable to be displaced and broken, and if fixed in sockets, as our teeth are, and no means provided for a successive series, it is obvious that these formidable monsters of the deep would in time perish from inability to seize their prey. But this is avoided by the tooth not being fixed in sockets, but attached to a cartilaginous membrane. The first row of teeth stands erect, the others are laid flat behind. The membrane continues to grow and advance forward; the outer teeth drop out; the membrane itself is thrown off or absorbed, and the row which was originally second takes the place of the first, all the teeth in it standing erect, until, in the course of time, they make way for a third series, which is followed by others in succession.”—Pp. 242, 243. The Eagle. "The power of vision in this tribe is very extraordinary. It generally kills its own game, but not invariably. Mr. Thompson records the capture of three of these birds at Glenarne Park, county Antrim, the bait employed in each instance being the body of a duck or a lamb. So great is the quantity of food they collect when rearing their young brood, that a poor man in the county of Kerry got a comfortable subsistence for his family, during a time of famine, by robbing an eagle's nest. A similar occurrence took place at Glenariff, county of Antrim, in the early part of the present century. One of a pair of Eaglets, taken from a nest there, was so placed, that during the summer its parents supplied it with rabbits and hares in such abundance, that its owner obtained a sufficiency of animal food besides for himself and family. When intent on following his game, the Eagle evinces great boldness. On one occasion, an Eagle appeared above a pack of hounds, as they came to a fault on the ascent of Devis, the highest of the Belfast mountains, after a good chase. As they came on the scent again, and were at full cry, the Eagle for a short time kept above them, but at length advanced, and carried off the hare, when at the distance of three to four hundred paces before the hounds.' With similar audacity, he dashes down among a 'pack' of grouse, and so puzzles and confuses the birds, that he seizes and carries off two or three before they know what has happened, and in the very face of the astonished sportsman and his dogs. "It may be observed that the prey is invariably seized with the talons, the beak being used for the purpose of tearing it up. This is contrary to popular belief; and the error deserves to be pointed out, as we find it pervading the descriptions of some of our most gifted poets; as, for example, in the magnificent simile employed by Byron : 'Even as the Eagle overlooks his prey, Marino Faliero. "From the small number of Eagles we possess, compared with that of most other native birds, we consider ourselves fortunate in having on one occasion come suddenly upon four Eagles, amid their own wild haunts. It was in September, 1833, 3 1 VOL. IV. when ascending Mangerton mountain, at the Lakes of Killarney, near to the little lake called the Devil's Punch-bowl, we found four of them preying on a full-grown sheep. They rose majestically into the air as we approached. The people who were with us supposed the sheep, being perhaps sickly, had been killed by the Eagles. The flesh of the neck was completely removed, although that of every other part was untouched. We were assured that two Eagles will occasionally pursue a hare, one flying low, coursing along the ground, the other keeping perpendicularly above the terrified animal. When the lowest Eagle tires, they change places, and pursue the same system of tactics, until the hare is completely wearied out. We were told the same circumstance a few days afterwards near Tralee, and again near Monasterevan. Our informant, in every instance, stated the fact as having fallen under his own knowledge, and not as a matter of hearsay. "The nest or eyrie of the Eagle is associated in our minds with highly poetic imagery; but it is regarded in a different light by those who live in the vicinity, and suffer by the predatory habits of its inmates. By them it is viewed as the abode of the spoiler, and the nursery of a future race of aërial tyrants. Various means for its destruction are accordingly resorted to; among others, that of lowering a lighted brand into the nest. This was the plan pursued on one occasion at Roshen, county Donegal; the nest was consumed, three unfortunate Eaglets fell scorched and dead to the ground, and the old birds from that time deserted the mountain. A similar mode of destruction has been resorted to at times in other localities; and this, no doubt, suggested to Campbell the splendid description of the burning eyrie in the Wizard's prophetic warning to Lochiel."-Pp. 332-335. The Kirkdale Cave. "There was a period when a Tiger, larger than that of Bengal, and with proportionably larger paws, roamed over Europe. Its remains have been found in Enland, and Professor Owen speaks of it as the Great Cave Tiger.' To the Very Rev. Dr. Buckland, Dean of Westminster, we owe a detailed account of a discovery even more interesting, that of a cave at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, which had been inhabited by Hyænas. These animals are now met with only in Asia and Africa. They live principally upon carrion, thus presenting the same analogy to the Tiger that the Vulture does to the Eagle. They also devour the remains left by other beasts of prey, and crunch the bones, which they are enabled to do by the great strength of their jaws. The teeth of Hyænas found in the cave at Kirkdale, give evidence, Dr. Buckland states, of the existence of two or three hundred individuals. They belonged to an extinct species first made known by Cuvier, and exceeding in size the largest species of Tiger. The whole extent of the floor of the Kirkdale cavern was strewed with bones of different animals, broken and splintered, and bearing evidence of the action of jaws which, even in the more diminutive species at present existing, are known to be sufficiently powerful to bite off the leg of a dog at a single snap. From the facts which his researches elicited, Dr. Buckland infers, that the cave must have been for a long series of years the residence of Hyænas, and that they dragged into its recesses the other animal bodies, the remains of which are found mixed indiscriminately with their own. "It is a strange tale that, within the caves of Yorkshire and other English localities, those powerful beasts had dwelt, and at night had roamed abroad and sought their prey; and no less strange are the facts brought to light by the examinations of the remains of those animals on which they fed. They consisted of the Great Cave Bear and Tiger, the Mammoth, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamos, the 'Irish Elk,' wild Oxen of colossal size, and other mammalia belonging to an extinct Fauna. "We speak of the brevity of life; but our language applies to the life of an individual. Let us expand our thoughts and reflect on the brevity of life assigned, not to an individual, but to a species. Here several quadrupeds are named, all large and powerful, yet none of them has left a descendant among living tribes. They lived their appointed time, performed their allotted work, then passed away, and have been succeeded by other species, whose structure is no less perfect, and who fulfil no less efficiently what is given them to do. "The question naturally arises, how the various members of this ancient Fauna came into one small island? The answer given by those who have most attentively studied the evidence bearing upon the subject, is, that these countries were not at that time separated from the continent of Europe. The geological structure, the fossil remains, and the existing Floras, all testify the same fact, and render the conclusion irresistible."-Pp. 435-437. |