3. On the Power and Operation of Habit. These disquisitions must be considered as totally irrelevant to the proper subject of inquiry, unless the author can persuade his readers, that the words external nature comprehend not only the material world, but also the dispositions, and affections, and feelings of the human mind; in fact, all that is external to one individual mind. But taking it, as he does, for granted, that his definitions are correct, his whole essay is in fact a disquisition on the moral powers, and mental faculties, nothing more nor less, with some observations on the affections and habits which act upon the structure, or influence the well-being, of society. Under this head, are some judicious but not novel remarks on the effect of Tithes and Poor Laws. The author however again starts off from his track, and plunges into an abstract speculation on the connexion between the intellect and the will; with a digression on the difference between will and desire; on attention as a faculty of the mind; and he closes his book with a dissertation "on the Defects and Uses of Natural Theology." It will be seen that we have openly and honestly spoken our opinion on the plan of this work, and that we have considered it as widely deviating from its subject, and consequently laying itself open to animadversion. The author's mind, we believe, was familiar with the moral and economic subjects which he discusses; they have formed the basis of many of his works, and have been his favorite theme. We do not consider them as at all devoid of the highest interest, nor do we say that they are not treated of on the best and highest principles; but they ought not to have formed the ground-work of a treatise on the effects of the material world on the mind of man. We must also (as we are great fault-finders) say, that too much of these disquisitions is declamatory, rhetorical, and diffuse; dwelling long and earnestly, and with much amplification of argument, on points that a philosophical mind would have either considered as already settled, or passed over in brief and rapid consideration. There is much that would be reckoned as suitable, if unfolded in the moral and religious disquisitions of the pulpit; but that we think too common-place, or too much enlarged on, for a treatise that ought to have been elaborated with the greatest care. Such, for instance, are the arguments addressed to those who wish to consider the character of the Deity as formed of universal, and perfect, and all-absorbing tenderness and benevolence. Now really this would be, as we have often heard it, a fit subject for a preacher, addressing himself to persons of no superior powers of reflection or thought; but it ought not to have been pushed forward into such prominence here; and this we say also of some other disquisitions. While, therefore, we give all the praise in our humble power to bestow, to the purity of the Doctor's principles, the goodness of his feelings, the soundness of his doctrines, the excellence of his advice, and even sometimes the vigor and brilliancy of his expositions; we must at the same time loudly protest against the style in which he has thought fit to array his thoughts. It is (we speak charitably) the very worst we ever read, devoid of grammar, of idiom, of grace, of elegance; sometimes vulgarly low, but generally inflated and pompous; full of cumbrous ornament and glitter; perfectly anti-philosophical, abounding in words we never heard this side the Tweed, and which would be much better fitted for a Glasgow pulpit, than an academic treatise. We had marked many of these objectionable passages; but the task was unpleasant and invidious, and they increased too fast on our hands. We are perfectly certain, that Dr. Chalmers never formed his taste on the study of our great English writers; but we see everywhere traces in it, of pulpit-composition, of that style whose object is to arrest the attention, to arouse the feelings, to fill the imagination, and to satisfy the ear, even at the expense of that correctness, and elegance of refined sensibility, which ought to form the groundwork of every good style. Mr. Fox found how much his habits of oratory had disqualified him from possessing that chaste and more reserved manner which history demanded. We conceive that even in a greater degree Dr. Chalmers's attractions as a popular preacher have injured him as a writer. However, we will say no more. He has, in his own country, examples the finest that can be produced. He has the plain conciseness of Reid, the classical force and elegance of Adam Smith, the melodious and measured flow of Dugald Stuart, and above all, the native graces, the refined simplicity, the beauty, the delicacy, the reserved and polished eloquence of Hume. Had he studied the last-mentioned author alone, we consider that his Essay would have been, in its philosophical analysis, and its phraseology, very different from what it is. ART. V. Memoirs of Baron Cuvier. By Mrs. R. LEE (formerly Mrs. T. Ed. Bowdich). 8vo. pp. 351. London, 1833. Longman & Co. 12s. MRS. LEE'S volume is divided into four parts; the first containing all the leading circumstances of Cuvier's life; the second an account of his works; the third the history of his legislative career; and the last, anecdotes illustrative of his character. The summary of his life is given in the following chronological list. A. D. 1769. (August 23) Born. 1779. Entered the Gymnase of Montbéliard. 1784. (May 4) Entered the Académie Caroline, in the University of Stuttgardt. 1788. Left Stuttgardt to return to Montbéliard. Entered as tutor into the family of Count d'Hericy, in Normandy. 1793. Death of M. Cuvier's mother. 1795. (Spring) Came to Paris. Appointed Membre de la Commission des Arts. Appointed Professor at the Central School of the Panthéon. A. D. 1795. (July) Made assistant to M. Mertrud, and entered the Jardin des Plantes; sent for his father and brother; commenced the Gallerie d'Anatomie comparée. (December) Opened his first course of lectures, at the Jardin des Plantes, on Comparative Anatomy. 1796. Made a Member of the National Institute. 1798. Proposal made to M Cuvier, by Count Berthollet, to accompany the expedition to Egypt, which offer was refused. 1800. Appointed Professor at the College de France, on which M. Cuvier resigned the chair at the Central School of the Panthéon. Elected Secretary to the class of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the Institute. 1802. Named one of the six Inspectors-General of Education (Études). Went to Marseilles, &c. to found the Royal Colleges. 1803. Made perpetual Secretary to the Class of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the Institute. Resigned Inspector-Generalship of Education. Married to Madame Duvaucel. 1827. (June 14) Appointed Censor of the Press; which appointment was instantly refused. Charged with the government of all the non-Catholic religions. 1828. (September 28) Death of Mademoiselle Clementine Cuvier. 1830. Resumed lectures at the Collége de France. Paid a second visit to England. 1832. Created a Peer. (May) Appointed President of the entire Council of State. We shall merely select a few passages from the characteristic anecdotes, as proof of the talent with which Mrs. Lee has produced this interesting biography. "No one enjoyed a ludicrous circumstance more than he did; no one was happier at the performance of a comedy; for, when I was living in Paris, a ridiculous afterpiece was frequently represented on the stage, called "Le Voyage à Dieppe," in which the professors of the Jardin des Plantes were brought forward in the most amusing way possible; and such was M. Cuvier's uncontrollable risibility at its performance one evening, that the people in the pit several times called out to him to be quiet. The nerves of M. Cuvier were particularly irritable by nature, and frequently betrayed him into expressions of impatience, for which no one could be more sorry than himself, the causes of which were immediately forgotten; and the caresses and kindnesses which were afterwards bestowed, seldom seemed to him to speak sufficiently the strength of his feelings at his own imperfection. "That love of order which so prevailed in great things, was, by M. Cuvier, carried even into the minutiae of life. His dissecting dress, it is true, was not of brilliant appearance, but it was adapted to the occasion; in this he would frequently walk about early in the summer mornings, in the open air, or pace up and down the galleries of anatomy; but on all other occasions his toilette was adjusted with care. He himself designed the patterns for the embroidery of his court and institute coats, invented all the costumes of the university, and drew the model for the uniform of the council, which drawing accompanied the decree by which it was established. I was very anxious to see him in his university robes; and having mentioned my wish, he came into the room where I was sitting, when decked in all the paraphernalia for a grand meeting. The long, flowing gown of rich, violet-colored velvet, bordered with ermine, added to his height, and concealed the corpulence of his figure; the cap, of the same materials, could not confine his curls; and, brilliant with his ribands and his orders, the outward appearance fully accorded with the internal man. "He could not bear to be inactive for an instant; and once, while sitting for a portrait which was to face the quarto edition of his Discours sur les Révolutions du Globe,' Mlle. Duvaucel read to him the Fortunes of Nigel.' He had a map of London at his elbow, which the artist allowed him occasionally to consult; and the Latin of King James often excited a smile, which was a desirable expression for the painter; but unhappily the engraver was not a faithful copyist, and this published portrait is any thing but a resemblance. "One thing used particularly to annoy him, which was, to find an Englishman who could not speak French. It gave him a restraint, of which many have complained, but which, on these occasions, solely arose from a feeling of awkwardness on his own part at not being able to converse with his foreign guest. "No one ever rendered greater justice to the merit of his predecessors or contemporaries than M. Cuvier. Half a century,' he said, had sufficed for a complete metamorphosis in science; and it is very probable that, in a similar space of time, we also shall have become ancient to a future generation. These motives ought never to suffer us to forget the respectful gratitude we owe to those who have preceded us, or to repulse, without examination, the ideas of youth; which, if just, will prevail, whatever obstacles the present age may throw in their way. "One evening, the various signs placed over the shop-doors in Paris were discussed; their origin, their uses, were described; and then came the things themselves. Of course, the most absurd were chosen; and, last of all, M. Cuvier said that he knew of a bootmaker who had caused a large and ferocious-looking lion to be painted, in the act of tearing a boot to pieces with his teeth. This was put over his door, with the motto, 'On peut me déchirer, mais jamais me découdre.' * "I was in Paris when the celebrated picture, painted by Girodet, of Pygmalion and the Statue, was exhibiting at the Louvre. It caused a general sensation; epigrams, impromptus, were made upon it without end; wreaths of flowers, and crowns of bays, were hung upon it; so that it became a universal theme of conversation. Among other topics, it was one evening introduced at M. Cuvier's; when M. Brongniart (the celebrated mineralogist, and director of the Royal Manufactory of China at Sèvres) found fault with the flesh, which he said, was too transparent; Baron de Humboldt (the learned Prussian traveller, who had lately been occupying himself with the chemical experiments of M. Gay-Lussac) objected to the general tone of the picture, which, he said, looked as if lighted up with modern gas; M. de Prony (one of the mathematical professors of the École Polytechnique, and also director of the École des Ponts et Chaussées) found fault with the plinth of the statue; and many gave their opinion in the like manner, each pointing out the faults that had struck him in this celebrated performance; after which, M. Cuvier said that the thumb of Pygmalion was not properly drawn, and would require an additional joint to those given by nature, for it to appear in the position selected by the painter. Upon this, M. Biot (the mathematician and natural philosopher, who had remained silent all the time), with mock solemnity summed up the whole, showing that every body had been more or less influenced by his peculiar vocation, or favorite pursuit; and concluded by saying, that he had no doubt but that every one of them, if they met Girodet the next day, would congratulate him on the perfect picture he had produced." [From "The London Literary Gazette," for August 24, 1833.] [The novel of Victor Hugo, of which a translation is reviewed below, is mentioned in the first article of this Number of the "Select Journal," pp. 24, 25. To that article the following may serve as an appendix.] ART. VI. — Notre Dame ; - a Tale of the "Ancien Régime." From the French of VICTOR HUGO. With a Prefatory Notice, Literary and Political, of his Romances. By the Translator of "Thierry's History of the Conquest of England by the Normans," &c. 3 Vols. 12mo. London. 1833. THERE is something so essentially different in French and English taste, that we doubt the success of any attempt to reconcile them; and, for ourselves, we are free to confess that we think it no loss It is the fashion of l'école romantique to set up Shakspeare as their idol. We have heard that imitation is the most delicate of flattery, but we never heard that caricature was so considered : now, we appeal to any examiners of the modern French school, in what spirit these soi-disant copies of Shakspeare are made. We ought to feel it as a national degradation, when the immortal name of our noble poet is taken in vain, as the original whence emanates the profane and disgusting, which mark a literature in a state of decomposition: "The shining there, like light on graves, Has cold, rank hearts beneath it." sav The Is it from Shakspeare they draw that frivolous and conceited impiety which makes atheism rather ludicrous than terrible, ing that an English ear, accustomed to the decencies of language, is shocked into gravity by the daring blasphemy of oath and simile which outrage every old respect and every solemn belief? Is it from Shakspeare that they color their revolting and mocking licentiousness? We grant that the coarse manners of his time often led to coarse expression, but never to coarse sentiment. deep emotions of the heart, in his hands, at once asserted their higher nature; the true and the beautiful shone through him; the tender, the delicate, the devoted, these were the attributes with which he invested love. On every nobler subject his genius was true to itself; it flung the dust of its own time from its feet, felt that heaven was its home, and soared thitherward. The imagination of Shakspeare was a spirit whose steps might wander over this lower world, ay, and leave some traces of their progress, but which every touch of feeling or of thought caused to rise into a purer and |