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allow us to give. His royal highness is represented in a most amiable light, and as having borne his illness and all its suffering with heroic fortitude. When Sir Herbert Taylor informed him of his danger, he said, "God's will be done; I am not afraid of dying; I trust I have done my duty; I have endeavored to do so; I know that my faults have been many, but God is merciful, his ways are inscrutable, I bow with submission to his will... I own it has come upon me by surprise; I knew that my case had not been free from danger; I have been always told so, but I did not expect immediate danger, and had I been a timid or nervous man the effect might have been trying. I trust I have received this communication with becoming resolution."

a mile, we met the post-boy who had at last succeeded in procuring a nail; and this answering our purpose, we arrived about four o'clock in the morning at Huntingdon."

Now, if Mr. Cooper intends this anecdote to exhibit his uncle in a favorable point of view, there must be some hidden virtue in keeping a poor devil half the night shivering in the cold, which we candidly confess our inability to discover; but if on the contrary, he relates it as an instance of extreme selfishness, we think it a very fair oneat the same time, we must say, that in our opinion, the anecdote might very judiciously have been omitted.

which has been heaped upon them: even his great work on Dislocations-decidedly his best-is not without its inaccuracies. Ă physician or surgeon in high practice, we expect, more than any other professional man, to make notes of the cases that come before him, in order to afford a future clew to the detection of disease, and an insight to the best mode of treatment to be pursued for its alleviation or cure; but notwithstanding Sir Astley Cooper's great experience, he has left to the world, comparatively speaking, very little useful information, and has transmitted to us but a very slight portion of the immense fund of professional knowledge which he must have acquired in so vast a field. In fact, Sir Astley Cooper has left very little but an immense fortune, and the echo of his fame-the one of which may be very useful to the pockets of his family, the other to their pride, but neither by any means likely to confer benefit on society in general, nor any strong claim upon its gratitude.

We must now bring our notice of this work to a conclusion, and in doing so, will offer a few brief remarks which suggest There are no anecdotes of any interest, themselves to us. It is not for us in reviewrelating in any way to the many high and ing the biography before us, to make any distinguished persons whom Sir Astley criticisms on the writings of Sir Astley Cooper had attended; and indeed, alto- Cooper. We shall only say, that we do not gether, the work is very deficient in this consider them deserving of the high praise respect. If the author's object was to paint the character of Sir Astley Cooper in such a strong and favorable light, we think he should have left in the shade, instead of bringing forward one or two instances of what we should call downright selfishness. We shall give one of the anecdotes to which we allude, and if our readers can trace in it any appearance of that great kindness of disposition and thoughtfulness for the distress of others, which Mr. Cooper tells us his uncle was so distinguished for, we will acknowledge our error at once; but at present, we must confess, that we can see in it no trait of kindness, or thoughtfulness, save what is displayed towards the "first numeral." Mr. Cooper says "I was once myself travelling with him, when the hind-wheel came off, but the carriage did not turn over. The misfortune hap pened in the middle of the night; I immediately got out, and asked my uncle if he would not alight; to which he replied, ' undoubtedly not; put up the window, and you and the post-boy make all right.' We found that the only accident was the loss of the linch-pin, which had caused the wheel to roll off; so that we raised the carriage, put the hind-wheel on, but were still at a loss, for we could not find a substitute for the linch-pin. I sent the post-boy forward to look for a nail in some cottage. After he had been gone about ten minutes, my uncle became impatient, told me to get upon the horse and drive on until we met the post-boy, at the same time saying, 'if you keep quite straight the wheel will not come off again.' After going a distance of about VOL. II. No. II. 12

In love of his profession, Sir Astley Cooper was never surpassed; he had scarcely a thought beyond it; every hour was given up to it, and if any thing called him for a time from its pursuit, he would return to it with as much eagerness as if almost his very existence depended on it. At home or abroad, he never lost an opportunity of acquiring information respecting it; in short, his fondness for it was a passion which lasted until life itself had ceased to last. He possessed, too, every qualification for success-manners, appearance, great readiness and presence of mind, knowledge

178

of his profession, and though last not least,
a private character uniting kindness of dis-
position, with high feelings of honor, and
unblemished integrity. Of his decision and
readiness, we will mention an instance
which, although not mentioned by his biog-
rapher, we remember, if we mistake not,
to have heard from the lips of Sir Astley
himself: He was attending a man who had
dislocated his shoulder, and was endeavor-
ing to make him let the injured arm hang
by his side in such a manner, as would have
enabled him to restore the joint to its pro-
per position. The poor man was sitting up
in his bed, vainly striving to obey Sir Ast-
ley's directions; for in spite of his endea-
vors to let the arm hang "dead" by his side,
the muscles preserved their tension and
would not relax sufficiently. Sir Astley, as
if he had given over the attempt, told
the man to move himself back in the
bed, and then watching the moment when
the patient's attention was otherwise di-
rected, and the muscles consequently un-
prepared for resistance, he seized the limb,
and by a sudden jerk restored it to its
socket.

Before concluding our notice, we would beg to enter our strong and decided protest against the appearance in print of certain anecdotes which grew out of Sir Astley Cooper's professional attendance on the Earl of Liverpool. Without questioning for a moment their authenticity and correctness, we regret that such memoranda should ever have been made by the subject of the memoir himself, and still more that they were deemed suitable for publication by his nephew.

Our estimate of the physician's mission is a very high one: and he who is called on to see suffering humanity in all its weakness, in all its imbecile prostration, should guard himself rigidly against the possibility of shaking the world's confidence in his honorable secrecy, by disclosures such as these we have alluded to. We would rather forego all the pleasure of such biographies than see them tainted with a fault like this.

On the whole, as a work of general interest, as well as the life of a man who attained to a distinguished position, the volumes possess a good deal of merit, and will form a desirable addition to the libraries not only of the medical profession, but also of private individuals.

THE NEW PRUSSIAN CENSORSHIP.-The censors have begun with a professor, Marheinecke, to whose lecture on the theological importance of Hegel's philosophy the imprimatur has been refused. Illustrated Polytechnic Review,

BIRDS.

BIRDS.

BY MRS. JAMES GRAY.

From the Dublin University Magazine.

Joyous and happy creatures

Roamers of earth and air-
Free children of the woods-
Bright glancers o'er the floods,

Your homes are everywhere;
Dear are ye, and familiar to the heart,
Making of nature's loveliest things a part.
Ye are upon the mountains,

With proud and lonely flight;
Ye are upon the heath,
The dear blue heaven beneath,

Singing in wild delight;
The rock doth shelter you, and many a nest,
Amidst the ledges by the lake, doth rest.

Ye skim the restless ocean,

White plumed, like fairy things;
Ye haunt the inland river,

And the sweeping willows quiver

With the rustle of your wings;
Through the dark pines your homeward way ye
take,
Or drop to your lone nests in bush or brake.
To you morn bringeth gladness-
The first red flush of day,
Breaking your rest, appeals
Unto your hearts-unseals

The silent songs, that lay
Like dreams, within you through the quiet night,
And now burst freshly forth to hail the light.

You slumber with the sunset

Scarce doth the day wax dim-
Scarce doth the first star glitter,
When from your nests you twitter,

Your happy vesper hymn;
Like one, who, to the woods her lone way winging,
Fills the deep night with her impassioned singing!
Solemn are woods at midnight,

When through the heavy shade,
Scarcely a moonbeam finds
An entrance where the winds

Stir through each green arcade;
But dear to you that safest solitude,
Where on your rest no mortal may intrude.
And joyful is your waking,

Amidst the sighing trees,

In the sweet matin hours,
When smile the opening flowers-

What want ye more than these?
Ye seek no praise your songs as sweetly sound,
As though a crowd of worshippers stood round.

Ye are the poet's emblem,

So doth his song gush free-
So winged and glad his spirit,
Doth his high gift inherit,

Pouring its melody

Beneath clear skies, and if they darken, keeping
Song ever in his heart, though it be sleeping.

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AMERICAN WORKS.

From the Examiner.

1. The Iliad of Homer, from the Text of Wolf, with the English Notes, and Flaxman's Designs. Edited by C. C. Felton, A. M., Eliot, Professor of Greek in Harvard University. Boston, U. S.: Hilliard and Co. 1837.

2. The Clouds of Aristophanes, with Notes. By C. C. Felton. Cambridge, U. S.: Owen. 1841. 3. A Greek Reader, for the Use of Schools. By C. C. Felton. Hartford, U. S.: Huntingdon, 1842.

4. A Selection of Greek Tragedies, with Notes. By T. D. Woolsey, Professor of Greek in Yale College. Two vols. Boston, U. S.: Munroe

and Co. 1837.

5. The Gorgias of Plato, Chiefly according to
Stallbaum's Text, with Notes. By T..D. Wool-
sey. Boston, U. S.: Munroe and Co. 1842.
6. Herodotus, from the Text of Schweighauser,
with English Notes. Edited by C. S. Wheeler,
A. M., Tutor in Greek in Harvard University.
Boston, U. S. Two vols. 1842.

WHILE the Newspaper press of America is doing all in its power to give Europeans an unfavorable impression of the Republic, and to spread the belief that bad taste, vulgarity, and vile personal slander, are the greatest recommendations to favor with readers of the United States, it gives us no ordinary pleasure to welcome from that great country unquestionable evidences of a zeal for erudition, of an elevated tendency of mind, of admirable knowledge and acquirement, and of a desire to extend the familiarity of the truly good and beautiful. The series of books, whose titles appear above, is an index of a growing taste for classical attainments, and of a laudable desire on the part of those citizens of the United States whose profession it is to acquaint youth with the literary treasures of ancient Greece, to render those treasures as accessible as possible. Professors Felton and Woolsey, and Mr. Wheeler, deserve the warmest thanks of their fellow-citizens.

ing to a discussion rather than a straight-forward explanation, finds in a line or two the information he requires; and it is better in the early stages of his studies that he should adopt even an hypothesis as certain, than that he should be at once thrown into the midst of critical contests, which interrupt the connexion of the text. In after life, if he makes a study of philology, he will find sufficient opportunities for following elaborate disquisitions.

Mr. Mitchell, when he published his editions of the comedies of Aristophanes with English notes, was actuated by the obvious want of any edition student; and however his accuracy may be callthat could fairly be placed in the hands of a young ed in question by some critics, the merit of introducing a new and advantageous form of Greek classics cannot be denied him. A similar desire to that which had for its result Mitchell's Aristophanes has evidently caused the produc

tion of the several American editions enumerated above. The like feeling prevails through the undertakings on both sides of the Atlantic. There is the same endeavor to free classical studies from that dryness which invariably repels volatile youth; the same purpose of rendering the authors attractive by familiar exposition of their allusions, and comparison with things known; the same attempt to place the student on a point of view from which he may best contemplate the works of antiquity, by emall the collateral information connected with bodying in a concise, easy, and unrepulsive form them. For the early student we should prefer Professor Felton's Clouds to that by Mr. Mitchell, for while the American has (professedly) availed himself of the labors of the Englishman, and, though with plenty of wit and originality of his own, has evidently taken him for his model in the familiarity and occasional drollery of his explanations, he shows infinitely more judgment in confining himself to what is actually wanted, and does not encumber his book with references unless very sparingly given, is peculiarly useless to other authors-a species of information which, to the beginner.

It must be distinctly understood that the object of these several editions is not to strike out new lights for the learned world, not to offer new views for the inspection of professed scholars, but to furnish students with readable editions of the Greek classics: editions that shall form a happy medium between the text without comment, which is so often unwisely put in the hands of the learner, and those ponderous annotations which can only serve to perplex him. Hence the notes are explanatory and illustrative rather than critical,* and their conciseness cannot be too much praised. The student, instead of wading through masses of notes, and then com-sity. The Clarendon press could hardly send

scription of the several editions. Though edited Our purpose is not to enter into a detailed deby different professors, their plan is pretty much the same. Their texts are those of the highest European scholars; they are all fully yet briefly illustrated by English notes; and all are preceded by such introductions as render them complete in themselves, and furnish the student with that amount of historical and other information which enables him to pursue his journey in a region not altogether strange. All are exceedingly well printed in a good clear type, and are volumes as well fitted for the library of a private gentleman as for the school-room or the univer

It should be observed, however, that in editing Gorgias, Professor Woolsey, who had adopted Stallbaum's edition of 1828, was induced to make several changes in the text, and that he afterwards found the same changes had been made by Stallbaum in his edition of 1840. This shows that there is no absence of critical labor and acumen; qualities which in all the works of Professor Felton are indeed sufficiently apparent.

forth a better specimen of Greek than the Herodotus of Mr. Wheeler. Professor Felton's Homer is in some degree distinguished from the others, as it is a successful attempt to familiarize the student with the beautiful in plastic art, while he is becoming acquainted with the charms of antique poesy. The engravings after Flaxman are executed in a superior style, and we very much question whether, with all our pre-emi

RAZE.

nence above the Americans in the elegancies of THE PYRENEES.-A PIC-NIC AT COARlife, we could produce a school-book that should by its beauty vie in any degree with the Homer of Professor Felton.

BY LOUISA STUART COSTELLO.

From the Dublin University Magazine.

It would hardly seem that January was a time for pic-nics, nor is it often so in the south of France more than in England, that sweetest of all countries, most neglected and most unjustly censured for its climate, which is infinitely better than the seekers after. novelty will allow. I do not know how a pic-nic in January would answer in general in England, but arranged under the circumstances of our expedition to Coarraze on the 25th, it could scarcely have failed.

One little volume, which finds its way into the list at the head of this article, may perhaps be specially singled out, as it does not fall into the same class with the rest. This is Mr. Felton's Greek Reader, which is one of the best and completest school-books we have ever seen, containing in one short volume a course of reading, in prose and verse, from Esop and Anacreon to Thucydides and Aristophanes. Like the editions we have just described, it is illustrated by notes and historical explanations, and concludes with a lexicon of all the words, so that the student may use it with no other book but his grammar. It resembles the collection of Professor Dalzell, being at the same time more condensed in form. We recommend it to the consideration of our Pau is one of the gayest places imagiown school authorities, only counselling them to take advice with Professor Felton himself, nable; scarcely one evening passes withand reprint it honestly, if they reprint it at all. out a féte. English, Spaniards, and AmeFrom the prefaces to these works we may ricans have nearly pushed the French gather that classical learning is at present in its inhabitants from their stools, and those infancy in the United States. Mr. Woolsey de- who remain are rather looked upon as clares that his notes to Alcestis would have been visitors amongst the intruders, who, like less copious "had the study of the tragic poets cuckoos, have turned the original birds out been more widely diffused and perused under The French give very few better auspices" in his country; and Mr. Felton of their nests. evidently introduces Aristophanes as a novelty to parties, but the English are never quiet; his fellow-citizens, while he congratulates them one soirée creates another, and one new on the extension of a taste for ancient tragedy in expedition suggests a newer. One bright consequence of Mr. Woolsey's Selections. But the infancy is a promising one; the Professors have produced, in a few years, works which, in their kind, may be weighed with any of those published in Europe without fear of a disadvantageous comparison; they are laboring with zeal and in harmony, generally setting forth the merits of each other; and from the signs of the times it is not impossible that America may one day, in despite of her atrocious newspapers, take a place among the learned countries of the world.

sunny day in the afternoon, when the blue sky and soft air asserted that it was summer, and was only contradicted by the leafless trees and desolate aspect of the hills, which insisted on the season being that of winter, a gay party of "every body in Pau," met together in the high terrace of the Park of Castel Beziat, and were seen standing in groups, laughing and talking, and devising for the future. The mountains were at this moment so clear and so close, that it seemed almost possible to see NEW POSTAGE TREATY BETWEEN ENGLAND AND the bears coursing each other through the FRANCE. The new postage treaty with France was ravines and across the plains of snow, exconcluded last week, according to Galignani's Mes- tending from peak to peak, glittering in the senger on Monday. The postage of letters not exceeding half-an-ounce in weight is to be the uniform golden sun, which reflected their sides of charge of 10d., payable either in France or Eng-tale and ice like fabled heights of lookingland. The treaty also regulates the correspondence glass or crystal. The near coteaux, though between France and our colonies, and affords fur- no longer covered with vines, by their somther facilities for the transmission of letters through bre hue and cold brown color, brought France: It will no longer be necessary to prepay letters for certain parts of Germany, for Piedmont, Tuscany, or the Neapolitan States; and the French postage on letters for those countries, and on letters passing through France for British India, will be inuch reduced. The Morning Post expresses a belief that important treaties on the subject are in progress with other European Governments.

WOOD PAVING-The Railway Magazine says"Regent-street is the finest paved street in the world, now that it is cleansed by the machine. Keep wood paving clean, and there can be no slipperiness; and the more streets are paved with wood, the less slippery they will be, as no mud can rise to the surface, if a good concrete foundation be laid under it."

out the back-ground of the transparent purple Pyrenees in fine relief. Every peak was sharply traced upon the blue sky, from the enormous pyramid of Bagneres, above the valley of the Adour, along the line, where a space opens towards St. Sauveur, and Vignemole's shadow gleams far off, where the jagged sides of Costerillou lead the eye on to Gabisos and the Pics of the Eaux Bonnes, and the great monarch of the Val D'Ossau raises his triple crown, diademed with snow, and the high chain

of Aspe sinks gradually away from view. All this, though seen so often by the promenaders in the park of Pau, has every day new attractions, so magnificent is the prospect of these gorgeous mountains and their murmuring attendant, the ever-clamoring Gave, which rushes impetuously along its interrupted bed, and leaps, and winds, and chafes, and glitters, without pause or delay, spurning all control, and making itself what course it pleases for its bright green waters through the sands and shingles which strive to choke its passage. Meantime the gay party increased every moment in size till the whole walk was filled with smiling faces, and the whole air rung with lively voices. A pic-nic, it was contended, would be very possible; and to lose the opportunity of the fine day was a positive misdemeanor. What so easy and what so pleasant as to order all the carriages, and let the gentlemen all mount their horses, and to-morrow morning set out for Coarraze? The castle where Henri Quatre studied, under the eye of his gov. erness Susanne de Bourbon, Baronne de Missons, or under that of the pretty jar. diniere, who taught the ready prince the lore never since forgotten, de conter Fleu

rette.

Some sage voices were faintly heard, whispering of colds and draughts, and damp grounds, and snowy mountains, but the laughter and approval drowned the sounds, and it was all agreed on without opposition, and an hour fixed- Patés, and champagne, and Bayonne hams, and all that the pastry-cooks of Pau could furnish, were soon ordered, and the sun went down in crimson and gold, promising fair and kindly. All were to meet again at several parties in the evening, and arrange the spot of meeting and starting for the following day: but when the hour came for the revels of the night to begin, behold! torrents of rain had deluged the streets, and the uncertain climate had shown its tyranny.

Every one, however, was too busy to lament; the music was so pleasant, the dancing so agreeable, the petits-jeux so entertaining. "Let the storm rage on," no one heeded it, no one had inclination to think of to-morrow; nevertheless, in the pauses of amusement a voice seemed to sigh for Coarraze, which was echoed here and there: there had been little romances imagined, little tête-a-têtes projected, which, as a young Irish friend observed, are meetings "almost alone;""and it is so much better not to put off things," said a pretty philosopher, shaking her ambrosial curls:

"To-day is ours-what do we fear?

To-day is ours-we have it here."
Happy climate of Pau, where one hour
has no idea what the next will bring forth!
The morning rose in smiles, and, though
the mountains were hid in a veil of mist,
the sunbeams were hovering above it,
watching an opportunity to induce them to
come shining forth; half a hundred little
billets came showering about to ask, “Are
we to go?" "Ought we to venture?"
"Don't you think we can
?" 66 Surely we
need not hesitate," &c. &c., until at length
one "voice potential" gave the word, and
by twelve o'clock the monde was en route.

"Lo que ha de ser, no puede faltar,"
"That which is to be, cannot fail,"

was engraved above the old gateway of the
tower of Coarraze, and so it was with us;
for fate had destined that we should go
and should succeed.

In summer time the drive from Pau to the tower and chateau is charming: the pretty hills are festooned with rich vines from top to bottom. At the village of Bizanos you pass a height crowned with magnificent pines, which forms a feature in the landscape from Pau, and relieves the monotony of the continuous foliage elsewhere. Here was formerly a place of meeting during the last days of carnival, where games of all kinds went on, and where all was gayety and hilarity amongst the people. La salade des Broutons was there eaten and enjoyed, and the obsequis of mardi-gras were celebrated amidst the popular patois cho

rus:

"Si t'en bas jou que demouri, Adiü praube Carnabal!" But all that is national or peculiar is dying fast away in France; and in this distant nook of Navarre, their old customs are discontinued. Bizanos is now only a village of washerwomen, and its pleasant castle a country-house-to let. From the ground is a glorious view into the mountains; and the town of Pau, across the Gave, stands proudly out on its hills, though its chateau of Henri IV. is concealed by a mound; the extensive building of the college, which, near, has no attraction, is by distance turned into a commanding fabric, having all the effect of a citadel, and thus looks as fine as the castle and donjon which predominates on the side opposite Gelos and Jurançon.

The plain beyond is called La Limagne, of Béarn, and is not unlike that chosen spot of Auvergne so vaunted: for fruitfulness and cultivation abound; corn and

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