works of its kind. We say this at least of one side; which presents a gracefully disposed group of five female figures. In the centre, raised upon several steps, is a seated personation of Liverpool; and she is crowning a bust of the architect, Elmes. In the foreground stands Architecture, who is showing the plan of the edifice to History, who is seated opposite to her: and behind the latter stand Justice and Music, for whose use the structure is raised. In the background the magnificent edifice is seen. The reverse of the medal presents this legend, within a wreath of laurel : 66 ST. GEORGE'S HALL, LIVERPOOL. H. Lonsdale Elmes, Architect. The Foundation Stone laid June 28th, 1838, by William Rathbone, Mayor. Opened for public use September 18th, 1854, John Buck Lloyd, Mayor."

M. Mariette has returned to Paris after having completed his explorations of the ruins of Memphis. The most important result is the discovery of the famous Serapeum, or temple of Serapis, which was supposed to have been entirely destroyed. The sand and rubbish have been com. pletely cleared away from the remains of this great and most ancient monument. It contains numerous representations of Apis, and statues of Pindar, Homer, Lycurgus, Pythagoras, Plato, and Euripides; and it is preceded by a sort of alley or passage, on each side of which are Egyptian sphynxes, about 600 in number, and which is terminated by a number of figures, representing in a strange way the Grecian gods united with symbolical animals. Thus a striking proof of the junction of Egyptian and Grecian art has been obtained. Mariette has also discovered the tomb of Apis. It is cut out of the solid rock, and consists of a vast number of chambers and galleries. In fact, it may be compared to a subterranean town. In these rooms and galleries were found a great number of monoliths, containing dates which will be of much chronological utility, and others bearing epitaphs on, or, if we may use the expression, biographical notices of, certain

M.

of the oxen which were severally worshipped as Apis. There have also been found statues as old as the pyramids, and in an astonishing state of preservation; they are executed with great artistic skill, and are totally free from that inelegant stiffness of form which characterises early Egyptian sculpture. Some of these statues are in granite and are coloured, and the colours are quite fresh. A number of statues of animals, but not so well exe. cuted, (one of these representing Apis, almost as large as life, and coloured,) have likewise been discovered; with numerous bronzes, jewels, vases, and little images. All the statues and other movables have been conveyed to Paris, and are to be added to the Museum of the Louvre. The greatest credit is due to M. Mariette for his skill and industry in making his discoveries; they are only inferior in historical and archæological importance to those of Mr. Layard at Nineveh. The precise site of Memphis was until quite recently a matter of great doubt, and when that was discovered it was not thought at all likely that any remains of the temple of Serapis could be brought to light.

Some German gentlemen have succeeded in discovering the Temple of Juno, near Argos, which was buried in the earth. They have ascertained its length, width, and height, and have found in it remains of a great number of marble statues.

Excavations made in lands belonging to the Propaganda at Rome have led to the discovery of a chapel near the Via Momentana, containing the Tomb of Pope Alexander I., who suffered martyrdom in 116. The tomb forms an altar, and bears an inscription indicating that it was erected by a prelate in the fourth century. The chapel is in a better state of preservation than might have been expected from its antiquity, and it contains remains of beautiful decorations.

The Scientific Congress of France of next year is to be held in the town of Puy en Velay, and the Archæological one at Chalons sur Marne.

At

personal names, and therefore assumes an appearance of more permanent value. the same time, as there is much that is continually changing in all human institutions, an Editor of the Official Handbook will probably find enough to do at least once in every three years. In the present instance we have an entirely new governmental department, in the office of a Secretary of State for War; and it is still too soon, it

appears, to give an account of its perfect organization. The history of the Metropolitan Sewers is also, unfortunately, still imperfect. It contains many very ugly words, such as impracticable, conflicting, disorganized, and irresponsible; ending in the unsatisfactory conclusion that the commissioners, unsupported by government, tendered the resignation of their offices in March 1854. It is to be hoped that Mr. Redgrave, in his next edition, may be enabled to give a very different report. There is still room for some other improvements. A description is given of Exchequer bills; without any allusion to the new Exchequer bonds. The account of the "trial of the pyx," as it is called, is not so clear as it should be. We know no foundation for the assertion in p. 24 that the proctors of Doctors' Commons practise in the College of Arms: and it is not consistent that an account should be given of the office of the Lord Lyon in Scotland, and not of that of Ulster King of Arms in Ireland. Indeed the account of the government of Ireland is altogether less full than it should be. It is not quite correct to state that the rank of Duke was dormant in England from 1572 until the creation of the Duke of Buckingham by James I. in 1623, inasmuch as Prince Charles was created Duke of York in 1604, and the Duke of Richmond had been residing in this country from the accession of James under his Scotish title of Duke of Lennox, and moreover, when he was made an English Duke with Buckingham, he had one day's precedency given him before the latter.

The Parliamentary Companion for 1855. By Charles Dod.-The Editor of this very useful work has not found his old enemy Father Time less active in working changes during the year 1854 than in previous seasons. No fewer than thirty-five new members have entered the House of Commons. Various changes have taken place in the ministry, and an unusual number of promotions, particularly in naval and military appointments, in consequence of the war,all of which with much other new information combine to render this edition very desirable even to those who are possessed of the last.

CHRISTMAS TALES.-1. The Rose and Ring. By Michael Angelo Titmarsh. 2. The Discontented Children. By Mary and Elizabeth Kirby.-3. The Blue Ribbons. By A. M. Drury.-4. The Seven Poor Travellers. Household Words. 5. Playing at Settlers. By Mrs. R. Lee. From a pile of Christmas books we select the few we have had time to read.

No. 1, by Mr. Thackeray, abounds in characteristic cleverness and dry humour. It is somewhat too elaborate as a piece of sport for children, and requires some special aptitude or information to be relished by any under 12 or 14, except for the sake of the capital illustrations.

No. 2 is a strange tale, burthened with objections which every child will feel and suggest. Beginning in a prosy, countrygentleman's-house style, it suddenly entertains the pretension of bringing a fairy in, where never fairy, we will venture to say, had been permitted before. Then marvels enough, in all conscience, are put forward.

Two children, desiring to exchange the tiresome life and lessons of their home for what they deem the luxury of the woodman's cot, the liberty of cowslip gathering, and of learning lessons "only on Sundays," are, in correction of their wicked wish, transformed by a fairy according to their desire. They awake in the cottage, while the cottager's children, who had partaken of a like desire for ehange, find themselves installed in the luxurious rooms of the squire's dwelling. The first incident or two is given in a spirited manner; the absurdity begins below stairs, and nothing can be worse managed than the encumbering difficulties with the parents. The vulgarity and entire ignorance of the children do indeed excite surprise and anger on the part of the rich mamma, but the absolute impossibility of such a mental transformation is so glaringly apparent, that the author gets deeper in the mire at every moment. In like manner, the sudden cessation of power to perform the common occupations of cottage life excites indignation only on the part of the woodman against his children. He attributes it of course to ill-will. Hence the trial is not real. The relative positions are not those commonly sustained by either party, and the fairy agency is thoroughly clumsy and inefficient. There is cleverness enough to vex the reader at the spectacle of its misapplication.

No. 3. Far different is Miss Drury. Here, indeed, is the genius of fairy life. even though the true fairy be not there, Nothing can be prettier, simpler, nor to our minds more natural than the little imaginative boy's belief in his good fairy

nothing more touching than the mixed spirit of Christian martyrdom with that fanciful belief, which leads to such heroic fidelity to his promise. "The Blue Ribbons" has given one more beautiful association with the name of Marie Antoinette, and it is altogether as graceful a story as we have read for many a day.

No. 4. Mr. Dickens and his coadjutors tell their Christmas tales with quite as much spirit as time and space permit.

And lastly, No. 5, "Playing at Settlers," is a pretty and pleasing sketch.

The Old Chelsea Bun House. By the Author of Mary Powell. Square 8vo.Since the days of Daniel Defoe, that master of the art of telling an assumed autobiographical narrative with a winning simplicity and a most engaging veri-similitude, few writers have been more successful than the Author of Mary Powell: and she has combined with that skilfulness an attention not merely to historical costume and incident, but to the expressions of contemporary style and thought, in which she has scarcely had any predecessor that would endure to the same extent the scrutiny of an experienced critic. In her present composition the humours and follies of the last century are exposed with the same quiet satire, and contrasted with the like effective pathos, which have distintinguished her former productions. The epoch of the story is that of the Earthquake panic, which frightened the metropolis from its propriety in the year 1750.

An edition of Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield (published by Grant and Griffith) deserves particular commendation for the excellence of its illustrations, which are designed by Absolon. This tale has been long a favourite subject-book with our artists but we have never seen any designs more pleasing or more truthful than these.

The Christian Annotator; or, Notes and Queries on Scriptural Subjects. Vol. I. We have looked over the numbers of the first volume of this unique publication with considerable interest. Indeed we may say that its pages convey both amusement and instruction. It is conducted in a very good spirit; and, though the Editor by no means conceals his own views upon various points of doctrine, philology, and history, he allows his correspondents full liberty to state their opinions and advance their arguments.

The plan of the work is the same as that of the well-known "Notes and Queries," with this difference-that its questions and answers are strictly confined, as the title indicates, to biblical subjects. The variety, however, which this limitation allows, is such as to render it a very agreeable miscellany. In addition to matter strictly religious and doctrinal, there is much that will prove attractive to the classical scholar, the historian, the naturalist, the mathematician, and the general reader. Among

the names of the contributors are some which deservedly rank high in the religious, learned, and literary worlds; and among those who content themselves with initials are evidently some of no ordinary stamp.

To clergymen, especially, we would recommend it, as being not only a pleasant medium of passing away some of the hours devoted to private reading, but as containing information and hints not readily or easily to be found elsewhere. It is also a convenient channel of making an inquiry or suggesting a thought which might not so properly find place in another periodical.

We think the issue is wisely confined to twice a month: a weekly number of the present size would demand more time for its perusal than many of its readers could probably spare; for, though the articles are generally short, they for the most part involve much matter for thought and reference.

We cannot conclude without congratulating both the Editor and his Correspondents upon the courteous and, we may say, Christian tone in which their controversies are carried on. It is not always that candour and calmness mark the pages of differing theologians.

We doubt not that the volumes of this work will ultimately and permanently be reckoned among the useful helps of the Biblical student.

Odessa and its Inhabitants. By an English Prisoner in Russia. 12mo.-This is an amusing little volume, intended apparently as a companion to the Narrative of Lieutenant Royer, noticed in our last number, and professing to be written by one of his fellow-prisoners of the Tiger, though the author has concealed his name. He tells us, however, that he was "born of German parents, naturalized British subjects, who resided at Taganrock," and informs us that in his childhood the Russian language became to him as familiar as a mother-tongue. He says he entered the English navy in 1847, as a midshipman, and that he was one of the officers of the Tiger when she was captured, but he remained a prisoner at Odessa, instead of sharing the fortunes of Lieutenant Royer. Our officer appears to have been left very much at his liberty in Odessa, and to have spent his nights in going to gay parties and flirting with Russian belles, and he gives us many anecdotes of the domestic manners of the people among whom he was residing in this agreeable manner. The most interesting part of the book is, we think, the narrative of the author's visit to the country seat of Count Potocki, and of his hunting adventures with the Tartar Khan, who was remark

able for his skill in hawking, a sport which seems to be very popular in the Crimea. After a detention of about three weeks, our officer was liberated in an exchange for Russian prisoners, and returned to become again a midshipman, on board the Victory.

Our space will not allow of our entering more into the subjects treated in this little book, which we have no doubt will find many readers. It is written, indeed, in a very pleasing style, which draws us on through chapter after chapter, by the simplicity and air of truthfulness which pervades its narrative. Nevertheless, there are sentiments in it connected with the present position of this country towards Turkey and Russia with which we confess we do not entirely agree. We cannot feel that the fact of Turkish children spitting upon Christians, insisted upon by Lieut. Royer and by his brother officer, or that of the alleged hospitality and kindness shown by the Russian population to the prisoners, have any thing whatever to do with the question of the present war. The former is a natural prejudice which would exist under similar circumstances with any people, until they be taught better. How many little villages are there still in remote parts of civilised and enlightened England in which a Turk, if he presented himself suddenly there, would be mobbed and hooted by the children; yet surely this would not be considered as a circumstance to influence the political relations of the two countries. We have to deal with governments and not with peoples, who, unfortunately in the case of Russia, are but the tools and victims of their rulers; according to the old proverb, Quidquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi. The intimation at the close of the volume, which we must state is placed in the mouth of a Russian officer-that the war might have been avoided if England and France would have joined with Russia in the partition of Turkey, will we are sure find an echo in no English breast, either on the ground of honesty or on that of policy. Setting aside a few objections of this kind which might be made to the book, we can only speak of it as agreeably written and interesting, and calculated to spread a better knowledge than Englishmen in general possess of the character of Russian society in the higher classes, and especially in fashionable towns like Odessa.

The Geography of Strabo. Translated with Notes. Vol. 1. Post 8vo. Bohn's Classical Library. --We are glad to see this translation undertaken, as it is the first in English, a deficiency which must be attributed to the imperfect state of the

text, and the difficulty of geographical identification. The six first books are translated by Mr. Hamilton, whose knowledge of the subject fully qualifies him for the task; and the remainder by Mr. Falconer, son of the Oxford editor of the Greek original. The text of Kramer has been followed. The work will be comprised in three volumes, the last of which will contain an index of places, with modern names, and an account of manuscripts and the principal editions. In the mean time the reader must consult the pages of Dibdin, Harles, and Moss, for the bibliography of the subject, though indeed they do not bring it quite down to the present time, and the want of a continuation begins to be felt.

Niebuhr has given an appropriate character of Strabo in his Lectures on Ancient Geography, part of which we transcribe, as the reader may not yet be acquainted with that valuable work.* "Such was the reputation which Strabo enjoyed among the later Greeks, that he was always simply called the geographer (Eustathius never calls him by any other name), just as Aristotle was simply styled the philosopher. His geography is an excellent work, and considering the loss of that of Eratosthenes, it is invaluable, for he was a man of great judgment, but unfortunately it has not come down to us quite entire." (Vol. i. p. 20.) This eulogy is extended by saying that "he had a genuine historical mind, and a true historical tact." But on the other hand Niebuhr observes, that he was unmathematical, and blames him for his ungenerous hostility toward Eratosthenes. The character given by Harles may also be quoted, as it mentions other points, and those of some importance. "In variis literarum generibus bene versatus fuit acutusque philosophus, et per magnam orbis partem susceperat itinera, et ad extrema Æthiopia profectus erat. Trans Alpes tamen Germaniam non adiit. Hinc. . . in descriptione Germaniæ multos commisit errores, fidemque habet minorem. Neque in ceteris rebus omni caret reprehensione." (Lit. Græca, 1812, p. 307-8.) To balance the defectiveness of his account of Germany, we would observe that Heeren esteems his description of Persia very highly, from his being born almost in the vicinity. (See his "Asiatic Nations," i. 208.)

Separate portions of the geography have been edited, in comparison with the statements of other writers, viz. Persia, by John Szabò, a Hungarian, Heidelberg, 1810; Spain, by Bethe, Gottingen, 1809;

* See the Review of it in Gent, Mag. August, 1854, p. 163.

the Caucasus, by Lünemann, Gottingen, 1803, and by Rommel, Leipzig, 1804. These examples might be advantageously followed, as few editors are equal to the entire task on such a scale. A Dissertation "De Strabonis fide" was published by Heinike, Gottingen, 1792, and another "De Fontibus Strabonis," by Heeren, in 1823.

The translator's notes are not too numerous, and they are pertinent. By bringing so much illustrative and critical research within reach a great step is gained for students of ancient geography. The reader will perceive a good specimen of annotation at p. 265. The only error that we observe is typographical, viz. the name of M. Gosselin the French commentator is differently printed in that place and in the preface.

With

The Philosophy of the Infinite. special reference to the theories of Sir William Hamilton and M. Cousin. Henry Calderwood.-Mr. Calderwood pub

By

lishes this work as an illustration and defence of the proposition that man has a positive conception of the Infinite; and to prove that man does possess a notion of an Infinite Being. The author then proceeds to ascertain the peculiar nature of the conception, and the relations in which it is found to arise. In treating this speculative subject, having reference to the higher metaphysics, the author is at issue with Sir William Hamilton, at whose feet he had originally sat to learn philosophy. Among other things learned from such a sage was the employment of independence of thought, an employment in which the author has fully indulged in the present work. It would occupy too much of our space to follow the author's argument, but we probably do enough by announcing the object of his work, and by adding that he is not mistaken in believing that he has made useful contribution to the philosophy of the Infinite, and started "speculations which may lead to the closer investigation of a theme so important and so grand."

The Annotated Paragraph Bible. Part IV. Royal 8vo. This is the first portion which has come into our hands, though the fourth in the order of publication; but ex pede Herculem is a maxim that holds good in criticism, as well as in mensuration. This part contains the prophetical books. The text is printed, not according to verses, but sentences, by which the connection of passages is preserved, but for convenience' sake the verses are noted in the margin. The authorised version is followed. The notes are per

Hast thou thus robb'd me of my early years, Fringing the pathway of despair with flowers, Strewing thy hollow reeds across the gulf, Robing corruption in a cloth of gold, And painting the pale cheeks of pain with bloom! Though, perhaps, the omission of the last line would have strengthened the passage. At p. 160, 1. 18, there is a syllable too much, and the apostrophe What! should have been left out. And what has a tale, belonging to the age of the Crusaders, to do with Lothario-a character in Rowea poet of the last century?

Gayest of all Lotharios. (P. 164.) We would recommend authors to bestow a little more time on the revision of their compositions, instead of leaving the task for the reviewers to perform,