The next needs some preface. The king, accompanied by Ronald and a page, is hunting in what is thought to be frequented ground. Here they are met by five ill-favoured men, who invite them to their hut, and whose hospitality, through the loss of their own boat, they are obliged to use. Not liking their companions, however, they resolve to watch by turns through the night. The King watches first, then Ronald, then the page. To Allan's eyes was harder task, The weary watch their safeties ask. And o'er his head the dazzling spars -Hark! hears he not the sea-nymph speak Upward he casts his dizzy eyes Murmurs his master's name,—and dies !'—pp. 116–118. The following passage will shew how interesting Mr. Scott's manner can make the mere common-places of poetry. Seek not the giddy crag to climb, His cur's wild clamour he shall chide, Then tell, with Canna's Chieftain came, To yonder turret grey. Stern was her Lord's suspicious mind, So soft and fair a thrall! And oft when moon on ocean slept, Upon the castle-wall, And turn'd her eye to southern climes, And every breeze is mute, Upon the lone Hebridean's ear Steals a strange pleasure mix'd with fear, The murmur of a lute, And sounds, as of a captive lone, That mourns her woes in tongue unknown. Strange is the tale-but all too long Already hath it staid the song That Yet who may pass them by, crag and tower in ruins grey, Nor to their hapless tenant pay The tribute of a sigh !—pp. 137-139. Every canto is introduced, as in the "Lady of the Lake," with a stanza or two in the measure of Spencer. They are not, in general, very happy; but the Conclusion is extremely beautiful. Go forth, my Song, upon thy venturous way; And grac'd thy numbers with no friendly name, By generous friendship given-had fate allow'd, While still a pilgrim in our world below! Which hid its own, to sooth all other woe; We must not conclude without again adverting to the common-places, about which Mr. S occasionally permits himself to employ his rhymes. Who, but himself, would have undertaken these ancient images? "O wake, while dawn, with dewy shine, Wakes Nature's charms to vie with thine! She bids the mottled thrush rejoice To mate thy melody of voice; The dew that on the violet lies Mocks the dark lustre of thine eyes; But, Edith, wake, and all we see Of sweet and fair shall yield to thee !'-p. 8. More disagreeable than these, however, are the strained and affected images which he often gives us from his own store. 'Answer'd the Bruce, "And musing mind Might here a graver moral find. These mighty cliffs, that heave on high Their naked brows to middle sky, Indifferent to the sun or snow, Where nought can fade, and nought can blow, May they not mark a monarch's fate, Raised high 'mid storms of strife and state, Beyond life's lowlier pleasures placed, His soul a rock, his heart a waste?'-p. 103. 'And now the eastern mountain's head (So earthly power at distance shows; Reveals his splendour, hides his woes.')—p. 123. It seems now almost hopeless to mention the carelessness of this Poet's diction,--the splashing manner in which he throws on his colours. If the proper word will not suit the rhyme, or the verse, some metaphorical one may be found that will; and so metaphors come upon us, sometimes without any kind of introduction, and sometimes staring at one another in all the incompatibility of ill-sorted companions. "Miscreant! while lasts thy flitting spark, Give me to know the dark." purpose Till stretch'd upon the bloody lair -p. 120. Each rebel corpse was laid!'-p. 132. "Was that your galley, then, which rode Not far from shore when evening glow'd?"-p. 107. We cannot but fear that Mr. S.'s biennial productions will at length appropriate to him the motto, Cœpisti meliùs, quàm desinis.' Art. V. Outlines of Natural Philosophy, being Heads of Lectures delivered in the University of Edinburgh, by John Playfair, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. xvi. 651, with 7 Plates. Price 19s. 6d. Edinburgh, Constable and Co.; London, Longman and Co., 1812-1814. THERE are but few cases, we apprehend, in which an au thor is entirely justifiable in sending a production from the press, unaccompanied by a preface; and certainly the present does not constitute one of the instances we should select as entitled to the exception. For when a work like these "Outlines" is laid before the public, in which the Author presents a series of propositions, sometimes followed by remarks and illustrations, sometimes confirmed by demonstrations, sometimes succeeded by notes and references, and at others, left to make their own impression, independently on any of these aids, every reader is inclined to put a variety of questions respecting so strange a mode of procedure, which it should be the business of a preface to meet and resolve. Why, it may be asked, in mat ters susceptible of demonstration, does not the Author always demonstrate? Why, again, does he confirm and illustrate, only by fits and starts ? Why does he, in some cases, make ample references to Authors for the supply of deficiencies, and in others, make none? It may be said in reply, He demonstrates and illustrates only occasionally, because he would have the best possible chance of doing so elegantly and effectually. Or, perhaps with more correctness, He has proceeded thus, because he simply proposed to give "Outlines," or "Heads of Lec"tures," and this is all his title promises. Still it may be asked, Why does he publish "Outlines" merely? Should it be replied, He does it for the accommodation of the students at Edinburgh, it may further be inquired, Why, then, are the volumes sold in London also? And if it be answered, He will most probably publish the entire Course of Lectures, as soon as he can find time to prepare them for the press, it is natural again to ask, Then why has not he told this to the world? When an Author publishes a work which is obviously and avowedly incomplete, it is due alike to the public and to his own character, to state whether he means it should always so remain, or intends, at some future period, to occupy the whole space he has thus circumscribed. We make these remarks out of no disrespect to the learned Professor, but because we regret that he should countenance a ridiculous innovation upon the established and decorous practice of authors. This innovation commenced, if we are not mistaken, about twenty years ago, among some mathematical writers at one of the English Uni-versities we hope, since the practice is now extended to a Northern University, that we are not in future to regard this strange omission as the privilege of all who write from the professor's chair. But we have said enough to mark our opinion of this whimsical peculiarity, and shall now proceed to the work itself. The first volume contains, besides an introductory set of definitions and remarks, a connected series of propositions, under the distinct heads of Dynamics, Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, Aerostatics, and Pneumatics. These divisions, it will be at once seen, are not arranged according to the usual notions of scientific men; nor do we perceive any advantages that have resulted, or that can result, from the deviation. When bodies (our Author remarks) are free to obey the impulses communicated to them, the science which treats of their motion is called dynamics. • When bodies, whether by external circumstances, or by their connection with one another, are not left at liberty to obey the impulses given, the principles of dynamics must receive a certain moVOL. III. N. S. 2 M |