Arian king, and his virtue amid surrounding corruption. His birth was noble, and his education complete: he passed eighteen years in the schools of Athens, and employed his maturer years, alternately in the pursuits of science, and in the duties of social and political life. It cannot, at this distance of time, be ascertained, whether it was from the fearless patriotism of his conduct, or from his actual concern in a conspiracy against the intrusive Government, that he became obnoxious to the Gothic monarch, by whom he had previously been favoured and promoted; but the fortunes of Boethius changed; he was thrown into prison, and perished in 524, by a death of torture. His treatise, de Consolatione Philosophie, was written in the tower of Pavia, during the dreary period of his incarceration; and if posthumous fame may compensate for personal suffering, the manes of Boethius have long since been appeased. Whether the criticism of modern times would be equally favourable with the judgement of antiquity, we shall not put to the hazard of experiment. It would be in wretched taste, to attempt the slightest deduction from a richly merited celebrity; and we shall pass, without comment, from the original to the translation.

It adds even to the glory of Boethius, that he should have so powerfully excited the admiration of Alfred. There is not, in the history of the world, a biography more extraordinary, nor a character more illustrious, than may be traced in the circumstances of his life and reign. Conspicuous by his bravery and conduct among the great leaders of his time, distinguished as the legislator and great justiciary of his realm, exemplary in all the high duties of a monarch, it only remained that he should add the honours of learning to the virtues of the man, and the splendid qualities of the patriot king.

His translation of Boethius is an able but singular production. Not contented with a dry and verbal rendering of his author, Alfred frequently and successfully grafts on the original, sentiments and expressions altogether his own. A list of the principal passages thus introduced, occurs in Sharon Turner's History of England, and, more completely, in Mr. Cardale's preface. One of these we shall cite as an example of Alfred's style of thought and language, as well as of the characteristic and expressive manner in which it is here rendered by Alfred's Translator.

One thing thou must necessarily first know; why God is called the highest eternity. Then said I: Why? Then said he: Because we know very little of that which was before us, except by memory and by information, and still less of that which shall be after us. alone is properly present to us, which at the time is; but to him all is present, both what formerly was, and what now is, and what after us

That

shall be; it is all present to him. His riches increase not, nor moreover ever are lessened. He never recollects any thing, because he never forgets any thing. He neither seeks nor enquires after any thing, because he knows it all. He searches for nothing, because he has lost nothing. He pursues not any thing, because nothing can fly from him. He fears nothing, because he has none more powerful, nor indeed any like him. Always he is giving, and nothing of his ever diminishes. Always he is almighty, because he always wills good, and never any evil. There is not need to him of any thing. Always he is seeing; he never sleeps. Always he is equally gracious. Always he is eternal, for the time never was when he was not, nor ever will be. Always he is free. He is compelled to no work. By his divine power he is every where present. His greatness no man can measure; yet this is not to be understood bodily, but spiritually, even as wisdom is, and righteousness; for he is that himself. But what are ye then proud of? or why lift ye up yourselves against so high power? for ye can do nothing against him. For the Eternal and the Almighty always sits on the throne of his power. Thence he is able to see all, and renders to every one with justice, according to his works. Therefore it is not in vain that we have hope in God; for he changes not as we do. But pray ye to him with humility, for he is very bountiful and very merciful. Lift up your minds to him, with your hands, and pray for that which is right and is needful to you, for he will not refuse you. Hate and fly from evil as ye best may. Love virtues and follow them. Ye have great need that ye always do well, for ye always do in the presence of the eternal and the almighty God, all that which ye do. He beholds it all, and he will recompense it all.

Amen.'

It will be seen from the cast of this passage, that Mr. Cardale has modelled his translation strictly after the fashion of his original, and that, while he has exercised much skill and dexterity in managing the peculiarities of his author, and in preserving the antique simplicity of the Anglo-Saxon forms, he has been also successful in producing examples which may, to a certain extent, serve as correctives of an undue tendency to the preference of classical, and the rejection of native systems of composition. He has, in fact, gone through the whole of his task with distinguished ability, and at the same time with a most gratifying abstinence from every thing in the shape of parade and self-exhibition. His preface contains, within the compass of seven or eight pages, matter enough for an entire dissertation; it gives a critical account of the MSS., a statement of the principles on which the translation has been made, and a well-discriminated detail illustrative of the character and contents of the work, both as written by Boethius and as rendered by Alfred. A brief but comprehensive Note on the AngloSaxon Dialects', corrects the ultra-refinements of Hickes, on the varieties of the Saxon language prevalent in England. Independently of the pure and regular' idiom of the parent

country, that laborious Writer traced out three historical variations. 1. The Britanno-Saxon-spoken during the period which elapsed from the Saxon conquest to the Danish invasion. 2. The Dano-Saxon-from the event last mentioned, to the Norman subjugation. 3. The Normanno-Dano-Saxon, which followed the usurpation of William the Conqueror. Mr. Cardale's able refutation of this theory is well worth transcribing.

Dismissing the supposed Britanno-Saxon, as unworthy of consideration, the principal remains of the Saxon language may be arranged in two classes; viz. those which are written in pure Anglo-Saxon, and those which are written in Dano-Saxon. These, in fact, were the two great dialects of the language. The former was used (as Hickes observes) in the southern and western parts of England; and the latter in the northern parts of England and the south of Scotland. It is entirely a gratuitous supposition, to imagine that either of these dialects commenced at a much later period than the other. Each was probably as old as the beginning of the Heptarchy. We know that among the various nations which composed it, the Saxons became predominant in the southern and western parts, and the Angles in the northern. As these nations were distinct in their original seats on the continent, so they arrived at different times, and brought with them different dialects. This variety of speech continued till the Norman conquest, and even afterwards. It is not affirmed, that the dialects were absolutely invariable. Each would be more or less changed by time, and by intercourse with foreigners. The mutual connexion, also, which subsisted between the different nations of the Heptarchy, would necessarily lead to some intermixture. But we may with safety assert, that the two great dialects of the Saxon language continued substantially distinct, as long as the language itself was in use ;-that the Dano-Saxon, in short, never superseded the Anglo-Saxon. In a formal dissertation on this subject, citations might be made from the Saxon laws from Ethelbert to Canute, from the Saxon Chronicle, from charters, and from works confessedly written after the Norman conquest, to shew that, whatever changes took place in the dialect of the southern and western parts of Britain, it never lost its distinctive character, or became what can with any propriety be termed Dano-Saxon. After the Norman conquest, both the dialects were gradually corrupted, till they terminated in modern English. During this period of the declension of the Saxon language, nothing was permanent; and whether we call the mixed and changeable language Normanno-Dano-Saxon' or SemiSaxon', or leave it without any particular appellation, is not very important. An additional proof that the two great dialects were not consecutive, but contemporary, might be drawn from early writings in English, and even from such as were composed long after the establishment of the Normans. We find traces of the pure Anglo-Saxon dialect in Robert of Gloucester, who wrote in the time of Edward I., and whose works are now understood almost without the aid of a glossary; whereas the language of Robert Langland, who wrote nearly a century later, is more closely connected with the Dano-Saxon and so different from modern English, as to be sometimes almost unintel

ligible. Though these differences have been gradually wearing away, our provincial glossaries afford evidence that, even at the present day, they are not entirely obliterated.'

In a brief compass, this is a history of the English language: and in the same vigorous, sound, unaffected, and unembarrassed style, does Mr. Cardale deliver all his statements and explanations. He has produced a work of great interest and excellent execution; and we trust that from so thorough an Anglo-Saxon scholar, we shall have frequent illustrations of a literature which has still among its stores wherewithal richly to repay curious and indefatigable research. The volume is exceedingly well got up, with new type, ornamented initials, rubricated title-page, and a clever wood-cut vignette from a design by Willamant.

The republication of King Alfred's Will from the old and long exhausted Oxford edition, is a well printed, though slender volume, containing the document itself in the original AngloSaxon, with a close translation on the opposite page. The notes of the first edition are retained; and additional annotations, few but valuable, are subjoined. The 'Preface' has very much the air of having been got up by some one rather green in Saxon lore, who has contrived to supply his own lack of knowledge by large draughts on Mr. Manning's Introduction to the former publication. The Will' is a valuable illustration of the times and characters to which it refers, and the volume is altogether a creditable production.

Art. III. 1. The Botanical Miscellany; containing Figures and Descriptions of such Plants as recommend themselves by their Novelty, Rarity, or History, or by the Uses to which they are applied in the Arts, in Medicine, and in Domestic Economy; together with occasional Botanical Notices and Information. By William Jackson Hooker, LL.D. Royal 8vo. pp. 96. xxiv. Plates. Part I. Price 10s. 6d. London. 1829.

2. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, or, Flower-Garden displayed: in which the most ornamental Foreign Plants, cultivated in the open Ground, the Green-House, and the Stove, are accurately represented and coloured. New Series. Conducted by Samuel Curtis, F.L.S.; the Descriptions by W. J. Hooker, LL.Ď. Nos. 1 to 33. 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. each. London. 1827-1829.

OUR object in this article, is to introduce with all due brevity

to our botanical readers, two publications which appear admirably adapted to their avowed purpose of conveying valuable information in an attractive and accessible form. A few paragraphs will suffice for the New Series of the Botanical Magazine; a work that has long maintained a highly respectable

character, but which now comes forward with increased claims on public patronage. Dr. Hooker's talents, both as a professor and a demonstrator, are of too general knowledge to require eulogy from us; nor will his reputation suffer from the way in which his department of this publication is executed. The descriptions are full and distinct, frequently supplying information. on particulars rather too frequently overlooked in the cursory explanations of periodical works.

In connexion, for instance, with the Cocoa-nut, there is given a satisfactory history of the entire plant, with five illustrative plates, including not only the various parts and stages of fructification with sections, but a picturesque representation of the male and female tree. The descriptive details are both minute and entertaining, and are peculiarly acceptable as giving a popular account of a species of plant respecting which erroneous and imperfect notions had long prevailed, and of which the most complete accounts must be sought in works of forbidding price. The Palms, justly termed by Linnæus, the princes of the vegetable reign, were in his time, the opprobrium of Botany'; nor were they much more accurately known, until the labours of Thunberg and Roxburg, Poiteau, Spix, and Martius, had made their structure more intimately known. individuals of this superb tribe, the Double Cocoa-nut, or Coco Among the de Mer, was the most mysterious; and the tales of which it has been made the subject, might figure advantageously among the fantasticalities of the Arabian Nights. Until the year 1743, it was only known as having been occasionally found floating on the surface of the Indian Ocean, chiefly in the neighbourhood of the Maldives, without its husk, and with the internal part decayed. Rumphius described it as ranking in general estimation among the miracula naturæ, and as the very chief of marine rarities. Putting aside a large aggregate of absurdities, he restricted himself to a more moderate exhibition of incredibilities.

The Double Cocoa-nut is not, he assures us, a terrestrial production, which may have fallen by accident into the sea, and there become petrified, as GARCIAS ab ORTA relates; but a fruit, probably growing itself in the sea, whose tree has been hitherto concealed from the eye of man. The Malay and Chinese sailors used to affirm, that it was borne upon a tree deep under water, which was similar to a Cocoa-nut tree, and was visible in placid bays, upon the coast of Sumatra, &c.; but that if they sought to dive after the tree, it instantly disappeared. The negro priests declared it to grow near the island of Java, with its leaves and branches rising above the water, in which a monstrous bird, or griffin, had its habitation, whence it used to sally forth nightly, and tear to pieces elephants, tigers, and rhinoceroses, with its beak, whose flesh it carried to its nest; furthermore, they avouched, that ships were attracted by the waves which surrounded this tree, and there