When we pass from the classic regions of Greece to the sterile land of Judea, we naturally expect to find the elegy assume a new and different character. Among the Hebrews, the plaintive tone of elegy was severe and awful; and, surrounded with all the emblems of mortality, it bewailed the misfortunes that overspread that fatal land. Occasionally, however, it assumes a softer tone, and clothes its sentiments with imagery, in which tender and affecting compassion prevails. But, when it enlarges on the ills of life with the piercing accents of wild and outrageous grief, when, delivered over as a prey to the devouring pangs of conscience, it bursts into expressions of despair and wrath, it would be in vain to inspect the books of other nations to find terms more bold and energetic, or more impressive on the feelings of man. What can be more terrific than the complaints of Job, mingled as they are with sensations of bitterness and sorrow. His frightful curses on the night that gave him conception,-on the day that brought him to light; his yearning after the eternal silence of the tomb; in short, every thing combines to exhibit that originality which makes the Jewish nation an exception to the rest of mankind, and which separates their literature from that of every other nation by such steep and rugged boundaries, as imitation will never attempt to surmount. The greater part of the Psalms are also elegies, which are frequently admirable for their feeling and simplicity. That which represents the Israelites as exiles from the dear land of their forefathers, and beside the waters of Babylon, insulted by their oppressors, who ask them for songs of triumph and merriment, while they are sinking under the burthen of slavery, is the most sublime of all the songs that the love of country has ever inspired. There is not one idle expression in its composition; every thing is brief, rapid, and pointed, and hardly is the dart discharged when it pierces the heart. The harps that in the Holy City resounded the praises and the power of the Most High, were sorrowfully suspended on the branches of the willows that grew on the banks of the Euphrates. This circumstance alone, so simple and so affecting, most powerfully attest, the miseries into which the wretched Israelites were plunged. The psalm concludes with a burst of rage against Babylon, and affords another symptom of the genius of that singular tribes which detested all other nations, and was itself an object of abhorrence with them. In these effusions, it is not the artifice of composition that prevails, or the studied arrangement of words, or the felicities of diction, that seem to grow out of Grecian literature, as the natural products of that soil. No-we must not look into the Bible for uniform elegances, the artful contrivance of transitions, and the charm of novelty, kept up both in sentiment and style, but for an abrupt energy, a noble disorder that would be the last effect of art, if it was not essentially the effect of nature, the boldness and grandeur of the imagery, the interest and bustle of the drama, and that all-invigorating exertion of imagination that bestows on every thing a body, a soul, a spirit, and a countenance. Where can we find an elegy more noble, tender, and affecting, than the lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan? Like the speech of Evander, in Virgil, expressive of his forebodings about his son, whom he sends to battle with Æneas, this composition seems to proceed from a mother's heart. Among the Hebrews, the elegy never belied its sublime character of deploring the miseries of the country, or the bitter disappointments of friendship wounded in the tenderest point, so far as to give in to the degradation of devoting its lyre to love. But, among the Romans, it was sacrificed to that passion, the joys and sorrows of which it celebrated and described in the style of the elegiac poets of Greece, whose works, though lost to us, revive, in a certain degree, in the compositions of their ingenious and docile pupils. Catullus is not, properly speaking, an elegiac 'Si qua recordanti benefacta priora voluptas,' Tibullus and Propertius are, among the Roman writers, the true models of amatory poetry. The verses of the former breathe all the fire of love, and all the care and accuracy of his composition are no drawback on his poetical inspiration. The name of Cynthia is the only one that echoes to the But, though imprecation is the figure which, lyre of Propertius; still, it seems, he was unsucperhaps, abounds most in these sacred writings, cessful and unhappy in his choice. He is conyet in the books of the prophets we meet with stantly engaged in a strain of lamentation, and several mournful dirges on the disasters of Jeru- his complaints weary the reader by their monosalem. Among this inspired tribe, Jeremiah un- tony and want of spirit. Yet Propertius, in the doubtedly takes the lead. He is the prince of the opinion of most readers, divides the elegiac sceptre Hebrew Elegiac poets, and he seems powerful with Tibullus, the lover of Delia, who has elevated enough, as Bossuet has well observed, to render that branch of poetry to a degree of dignity in his expressions equal to the calamities themselves. celebrating the Eternal City, that Horace has atIn him we meet with the afflicting portrait of all tained in lyric poetry, when he soars above the subthe miseries that can befal an entire people. We limity of Pindar. Tibullus, though less ardent and see Israel delivered over to captivity,-its princes impassioned than his rival, is more tender, deliexpelled by the victors, like herds of cattle,-cate, and natural; and he succeeds in inspiring Jerusalem given up to pillage, stripped of its inhabitants, and reduced to the lowest abyss of disgrace and ignominy. Even the common necessaries of life are denied to the inhabitants of the Holy City; its priests groan in anguish, its virgins are the victims of wailings and lamentations, and its mothers are doomed to devour the produce of their wombs. midst of this misery, when all the horrors of war, famine, and slavery combine against the people, there is no consolation expressed; nothing occurs but insult and contempt, and the power of the sword that is bathed in blood. Yet, under the hands of this great painter, every thing is alert and alive; the paths that lead to desolated Sion are overspread with tears, because no one now comes to witness its holy solemnities. In the bullus softens the heart, and draws from us tears that delight.' ་ Nature seems to have gifted Ovid with every quality of a poet, yet he frequently deviates from her inspirations into false wit, affectation, and bad taste. He is the brilliant bard of pleasure and voluptuousness, in his 'Art of Love; but, in his 'Heroic Epistles,' he catches the true tone of elegiac poetry. Much art was requisite to avoid the tediousness and monotony of such subjects, yet it must be acknowledged that Ovid frequently succeeds in the attempt. In his Tristia,' which spring from the heart of the poet, one would think that he would reach the perfection of elegy; but unhappily, the sensations arising from banishment, an insufferable evil among the ancient Romans, seems to have dried up all the sources of his genius; for he is forced, cold, and unnatural, and he expresses his grief in a manner to induce us to imagine that he felt it not. We must exempt, however, from this censure, his poetical parting adieu to his family when he was quitting Rome. But it is truly lamentable to behold this victim of despotism, frequently kissing the hand that smote him, and heaping the basest adulation on the vile tyrant that injured him; and, in this light, all the interest that might attach to the sufferer, is lost in the indifference felt for a person so totally destitute of dignity and spirit. However, the elegy that was occasioned by the death of Tibullus, proves Ovid to possess all the beauties and refinements of the art. commendable form, should be assigned to the Bard Perhaps the palm of elegiac poetry, under its most of Mantua, as his poetry affords that deep impression of tenderness and melancholy which constitutes the charm of elegy, and would have bordered on the perfection of Christian morality, if he had devoted his talents to this mode of composition. from his native fields, in the first pastoral, which The plaintive lamentations of a shepherd, driven so delighted that excellent judge Fenelon, the second and the tenth eclogues, which display, with so much nature and eloquence, the tortures, sufferings, and delirium of unrequited love, give some weight to this opinion, as does likewise the charming passage on the death of Marcellus, and a multitude of other beautiful parts of the 'Æneid.' In the fine ode of Horace on the death of Quintilius Varus, there is every beauty of the plaintive elegy, which 'Sait, les cheveux épars, gemir sur un cercueil.' It is a matter of no importance that the poet invokes Melpomene at the commencement of his mournful strains. This ode is not only a splendid tribute of tears and regrets to the memory of a departed friend of Horace, but also a consolation to Virgil, the tender and affectionate Virgil, who lost, in the same person, the warmest and the dearest of his own friends. We have detained the reader so long with the ancients, that we must reserve what we have to say on the elegiac poets of modern times for another article. REVIEWS OF BOOKS. BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. A General Biographical Dictionary, containing a Sum- sympathy into the hearts of his readers, by the THERE is prefixed to the 'Biographia Britannica,' a very particular account of the different historical or biographical dictionaries that had been published before its own appearance. Most of these were either very defective in the infor readers by the reference made to it in smaller works, or in the compilations of local historians. Several other publications, however, have appeared at different times, containing more or less biographical information, and compiled with different degrees of accuracy and caution. But, useful and necessary as such works undoubtedly are or occasional reference, there are not, perhaps, any which can be properly regarded in that light when employed either as summaries by the historical student, or as fit sources of information for the careful inquirer. Frequently compiled in haste, and composed of materials which have been put together without examiation, they are seldom to be found containing accounts full enough for the one, or sufficiently substantiated for the other. The great uses of biography as a science are, its exemplary influence, its illustration of the different branches of ethical study, and the assistance which it affords the general historian. Every memoir, according to its particular subject, will be of service in one or the other of these respects, when properly composed. But it may be easily seen, that, in regard to the two former purposes which this species of composition is intended to serve, it requires a wide scope and very ample materials. Without these, it can neither develope character, nor afford examples. Its individual portraits will be too minute to show any likeness, and yet too roughly traced to be studies of human nature in general. They will want every thing but the dimensions of the figures, and only be of use to those who view them in that light. Compilations of short memoirs, therefore, such as biographical dictionaries, are to be regarded only as useful works of reference. When they are put into the hands of a student as of value in any other respect, or are consulted upon any doubtful point of a celebrated man's moral character, or particular conduct on some difficult occasion, they are improperly employed, and seldom answer any good purpose. Our reason for making this observation is to point out what seems to be the objects at which the editors of such works ought to aim. An account of the productions of the different authors mentioned; an accurate notice of dates, and of the periods during which the individuals flourished, whose names are introduced; a concise narrative of the events of their lives, unmixed with speculative observations, and a full and frequent reference to original sources of information;-these appear to be the legitimate objects of such publications, and those which, when obtained by judicious management, render a biographical dictionary a work of real utility and importance. In what degree it departs from its proper character, as a work of occasional reference, and pretends to give original views of events or persons, it becomes amenable to a different kind of examination, and will be found imperfect, unless containing all the features of a complete biographical library. This, of course, ordinary dictionaries cannot do; and, consequently, their estimates and summings up of good and bad qualities, the praise and blame awarded to the individuals mentioned, and the attempts made at the delineation of their different characters, are for the most part either ill founded, or so apparently unsubstantiated, that no reader ought to establish his judgment upon what is thus asserted. In a history, or regular memoir, the student is furnished with the means of deciding on the merits of a character himself, or of comparing what the writer says with the inferences that seem to belong to the facts related. But when, at the close of a notice, the compiler of a Biographical Dictionary asserts this or that of some celebrated personage,-when he gives the character of a statesman, decides on the truth or hypocrisy of a religionist, or concludes the short memoir of an author by a summary criticism on his style, &c,-the reader is obliged either to take the opinions started without further inquiry, or have recourse to other sources of information to prove their correctness. draw a line; and, regarding our labours as daggned for practical benefit, the occupation of our pages with doubtful matter of this nature would be clearly unprofitable'-Pp. iv., v. We must do Mr. Gorton the justice to say, that he appears to have executed his task in perfect conformity with the sentiments he has expressed in his preface. It would be false to say that we have not discovered a tendency to peculiar opinions in some of the articles; but there is so much fairness in the manner with which every thing is stated that seems to militate against them, and so little of any thing that belongs to the evil feeling of party spirit, that no work, perhaps, of such a varied character could be found executed with such fairness and honesty. In respect to the usefulness or literary merit of this publica tion, it deserves to be considered, so far as the view we have taken of its contents enables us to It is from a neglect of this consideration that so many publications of the kind are totally unworthy of a place on the book-shelves of any attentive reader. Pretending to give information which works of their description are unfitted to afford, they are generally deficient in that which it is their proper purpose to supply. In point of accuracy also, they are not frequently to be depended upon, and it is often easier, and always safer, to gain the information required by applying at once to original sources. Another cause of frequent imperfection is an attempt at giving too many notices, and a heaping together of names without regard to the limits which both the size and nature of these works impose. The consequence of which has been, a considerable degree of confusion in some parts, an abridgment of information where it was most wanted, and an importance given to objects which hardly deserved attention. In these respects, however, the editor of the pub-judge, as superior in several respects to those lication before us has acted with good sense and which have preceded it. We have already excaution; and we cannot give a better idea of his pressed our opinion as to what ought to be the undertaking and of its merits than by quoting object of such works, and this we think obtained the part of his preface which refers to his by the one before us. It would be preferable, as efforts in avoiding errors of the kind referred to. we before said, in speaking of the subject gene'Great pains have been taken to supply the required rally, if no attempt were made at characterising information in a spirit of well-principled but manly im- men, or their works, when little opportunity is partiality; and for this purpose the whole has been re- afforded for judging of the truth of the opinions written. Professions of this sort, in relation to an started. The faults, what few there are in the abridgment, may be held superfluous; but some very very useful publication we are noticing, may all, pitiable instances of the contrary might be supplied perhaps, be traced to this source, and they, of from kindred works, and possibly from none more than that which at present takes the lead in this very according to the particular views of different course, will be considered faults or the contrary, department. This fault, which is sometimes attributable to the spirit of party, often to religious predi- readers. Mr. Gorton's publication is altogether lection, and not unfrequently to individual peculiarity, one of great excellence, calculated to be useful is perhaps more injurious in a work constructed for the to a large number of students, and deserving exconveyance of accurate general impressions, than in tensive popularity. We may also mention, that those of greater detail, in which the matter itself not it is sufficiently large to contain every thing neunfrequently corrects the false bias of the writer. At cessary, but not too extensive for the ordinary graphical Dictionary, both as tending to produce a disall events, it is particularly uncongenial with a Biopurposes of study, filling, in this respect, an open proportionate attention to one or two classes of chaspace in the fields of biographical literature. racter, and a prejudiced neglect of others of sterling merit. An attempt has therefore been made to preserve the requisite impartiality, without the sacrifice of a single just claim to the approbation of any party, or to the encouragement of all-always employing the word party in its best sense, and excluding mere intolerant and interested factions on all sides. 'Several inquiries having been made in respect to the principle of the selection, during the progress of the work, it may not be amiss to supply a little information on the subject in this place. First, as to lives which are essentially historical, vidual distinguishes him from and amidst the transac- reigns and certain other characters of our own country, We have also been called to account for our omission of scriptural lives. Our chief reason is, that the setting aside rabbinical tradition, is in the hands of every one; and that its connexion with divinity, and various other circumstances, renderscriptural biography a department of itself. Nor are we alone in this omission, which, doubtless, for similar reasons, has taken place in almost every other abridgment as well as in our almost exclusive source of information on this head, THE POETICAL ALBUM. The Poetical Album, or Register of Modern Fugitive The Poetical Album' differs materially from all the other selections which we have seen during the last few years, by its including among its contents the flowers of poetry which have blushed almost unseen' on the desert pages of comparatively obscure periodicals, while the general practice has been to draw only from well-known sources, and from volumes whose popularity already places them in every one's hands. Mr. Watts has studiously avoided the adoption of such pieces as were likely to be introduced in any collected copy of their author's works; and, in turning over his volume, we meet in every page something new from old favourites, and something valuable from new acquaintances. We may add that some of the brightest names amongst the pages of The Poetical Album Byron, our British poets have contributed to enrich Campbell, Moore, Scott, Rogers, Coleridge, Croly, Wordsworth, L. E. L., Shelley, Mrs. Hemans, Crabbe, Bowles, Montgomery, Mise Baillie, Barry Cornwall, and many others, are all to be found in the list of quoted authors; but to us even these are not so pleasing as the verses from the pens of writers less known to the public. At the head of the latter, we must place the 'Four Sketches from Dover Castle'during a Storm' by the author of 'Rouge et Noir;' 'Lines to a Dying Infant,' by Miss Bowles; 'Lines written in Richmond Church-yard,' by G. Hubert Knowles; A Farewell to England,' by J. Richie; "To the spirit of Poetry,' by J. S. Clarke; The Village Church,' by the Rev. J. W. Cunningham (the celebrated Vicar of Harrow ;) Gypsies,' "The Northern Star Sailed o'er the Bar, Bound to the Baltic Sea: In the morning grey She stretched away— 'Twas a weary day to me. "And many an hour, In sleet and shower, By the light-house rock I stray, And watch till dark For the winged bark Of him that's far away. "The church-yard's bound I wander round, Among the grassy graves; Is the North wind drear, 'Oh! roam not there Nor pour the fruitless tear! Thy plaint of woe The dead, they cannot hear. "The Northern Star Is set afar, Set in the raging sea; O'er the sandy bed, And the billows spread That holds thy love from thee!' To these we subjoin the following stanzas, which first appeared in The Belfast Northern Whig,' from the pen of a young man named M'Carthy, now no more. 'Napoleon Moribundus. Quæsitam meritis.' "That name shall be storied in records sublime, 'My airy form on some lofty mast In fire-fraught clouds shall appear, 'Yes! plunge my dark heart in the infinite sea, Whose mandate to millions was doom?' From these specimens it will be seen, that many of its selections are from sources little known to the public, though well deserving preservation in a permanent form. Since its compilation, in 1823, a great deal has been written, which, of course, the editor could not include in the work before us; but, in a second volume, which he is now preparing, he proposes to bring down the series of fugitive poetry to the present date. CLASSIFICATION OF WINES. tables of the quantities imported into Great Britain, and the North of Europe, and the cost at which such importations have been made. But we have too long detained the reader from the work itself, and we think the following account of the manner of making the red wine will be acceptable to all those-and they form the majority-who have never been in a wine country. 'Before beginning the vintage, it is necessary to be assured that the fruit which is to be gathered has attained the proper and necessary maturity; for on this almost always depends, in a great measure, the quality of the wine. 'The vine-dresser or cultivator is liable to fall into one of two errors, which, though very different and opposite to each other, are not less hurtful to the wine, especially to the red, which is more delicate and susceptible of injury in making, than the white. "If the proprietor gathers his crop too soon, and before the grape has attained to the fit degree of maturity, he is likely to make raw (vert) wine, which is the greatest fault it can have, and the most difficult to correct the wines having this defect becoming generally hard when old. This happens often when the summer has been cold and rainy, which retards the shoot; as also when, at the epoch of the vintage, the rains prevent the grapes from attaining the due degree of maturity and perfection which is necessary to make good wine. 'The other error, though of less consequence, is leaving the grapes till they are too ripe, which may then rot before gathered. The wine made from them acquires a sweetish taste, which causes it to work a long while in the barrels, and renders it sour and difficult to keep. The wine attacked by this vice requires greater care than any other; for, if neglected ever so little, either in the racking or filling, it easily becomes sour. However, it is better to gather late than too soon. The vine-dresser, too, ought to seize the proper time when the vine has come to perfect maturity, to gather the grapes so as to make good wine. The wine, if it has suceeded, ought to be clear, transparent, of a fine soft colour, a lively smell, and balsainic taste, slightly piquant, but agreeable, inclining to that of the raspberry, violet, or mignonette, filling Classification and Description of the Wines of Bordeaux ; the mouth, and passing without irritating the throat, to which are perfixed, Notices of the History and Cul-giving a gentle heat to the stomach, and not getting ture of the Vine, Process of Making Wine, &c. By M. Paguierre, ancien Courtier de Vin. 12mo, pp. 158. 5s. William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and T. Cadell, London. 1828. 'IF sack and sugar be a sin,' says honest Jack Falstaff, God help the virtuous!' and we cry amen to that 'sweet prayer' of the 'tun of man.' So long as the web of life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together;' so long as pain succeeds pleasure and sorrow joy; so long will some stimulus be too quickly into the head. 'The proprietors of the vineyards, after having prepared the wine-vessels, and cleansed and rinsed them with spirits of three-sixths* or with brandy, gather the grapes together, and pick them. This is done as soon as they are gathered. Their first care is to make a principal vat of the best fruit, which is called the mother cask (cuve mère), into which, after picking, they put the first and best grapes which arrive, till they are from fifteen to twenty inches deep; after which, The lines below are, we believe, quite unknown necessary to mankind to drown the pangs of they throw about two gallons of old Cognac or Armag to the public: 'Night.-By E. Elliott, Esq. Night! thou art silent; thou art beautiful; But not in fear.-At once, he bounds away; sorrow, and to satisfy the cravings of a natural thirst. Blessings, say we, therefore, on the man who first invented wine, and may he too have his 'exceeding rich reward,' who teaches the young vine how to shoot, and the grape to yield its juicy fragrance. Among those who thus deserve well of their kind, M. Paguierre, the author of the treatise at present before us, stands pre-eminent. This gentleman is a retired wine-broker, resident at Bourdeaux, whose life has been spent in obtaining that knowledge which he now gives to the public. That this was a species of information much wanted in this country, no one will be hardy enough to deny, and here in a small portable volume, at the moderate price of five shillings, we have the result of years of inquiry and experience as to the propagation, management, and culture of the vine, the principles on which wines are classed in growths, and the causes of difference in quality and value. Nor is this all. The process of making red and white wines-the ripening, preservation, racking, and sulphuring, are largely treated of, and the state in which wine is exported to the different markets clearly described; added to this, we have in the work before us, a description of the red and white wines of Bordeaux, and several appendices, giving a general elassification of the wines of France, with nac upon them, and then another bed of picked grapes, followed by two gallons more of brandy, and so on till the vat is full. When full, they throw two or four gallons of spirits of trois six, according to the size of the vat, taking for proportion about four gallons 3-6ths for a wine-vat from thirty to thirty-six ton. In the very bad years, such as 1816, 1817, or 1826, the crop not being able to ripen, and the juice unable to enter into fermentation, it was necessary to excite it by artificial heat from chafing dishes, &c.; but this seldom happens. 'The mère cuve being filled, it is shut hermetically, and is well covered with blankets, in order that the air may not penetrate. This vat is left in this state for three weeks or a month without being touched; taking care to visit it from time to time in case of accident. A small brass cock is put in the side of the vat, at about the height of a third of its depth from the bottom, in order to be able to judge at will of the progress of the fermentation, and to know the moment when, the ebullition having subsided, it may be racked off and put into casks, prepared beforehand by scalding and rinsing with a little spirits of trois six. 'It is known that the liquor is fit to be drawn off, when it has become cool and is sufficiently clear. 'While the mère cuve is at work, the vintage is continued in the usual manner; i. e. as the grapes are brought in and picked, they are trodden in the press, and put with their stalks into the vats, where the fermentation takes place naturally. These vessels are not entirely filled; about one foot or fifteen inches are * Esprit de trois siæ, is spirit of wine of the highest proof, left for the fermentation, which sometimes overflows, especially when the vintage has attained perfect maturity. The vintage being finished, and the vats covered lightly, they are left to ferment, taking care to visit them twice a-day. To rack them, you must wait till they are quite cold, which is from eight to twelve days.' The following observations on the important art of bottling wine, of the customs of various countries in this regard, and of the manner in which wines are worked, mixed, and flavoured for the English market, we deem particularly worthy the notice and attention of the English reader: 'OF BOTTLING WINE. This operation should take place in fine weather, if possible in March or in October; because at these two epochs the wine being clearer, we are more certain of its not leaving any sediment in the bottle; and this, especially for the choice wines, which ought to remain long in bottle before being used. 'Before you bottle off a barrel, you must force it with seven or eight whites of eggs, very fresh, or with isinglass fining prepared for the purpose; after which, you must leave it to repose ten or fifteen days, according to the weather, taking care to keep the cask always close and well bunged, or, to avoid the inconvenience of filling it up, the bung may be put to the side, immediately after the operation. It will clarify as well, and in this state you must draw it off into bottles. N.B.-Great care must be taken to keep the bunghole clean during all this time, for fear of the egg, which may stick to it, becoming mouldy, and giving a taste to the wine. To force properly, the number of eggs must be in proportion to the quantity and quality of the wine, as also to its age. The common and new wines require more isinglass than the fine and old ones, because these last are much freer from tartar and dregs; besides, if too many eggs were put to the old wines, not only it would take away too much of the colour already faded by age, but would deprive them of a part of their flavour and smell. It must also be observed, that, when the wines are racked off, or put into bottles, they lose momentarily great part of their flavour, which evaporates during the operation. This ought not, however, to give any inquietude, because, the casks once racked off, the wine regains its flavour in about a month or six weeks; and, in bottles, as it is in small quantities, its primitive qualities return in all their vivacity at the end of five or six months. Each country has its customs. In France as in Holland, every one wishes for natural wines; and it is for that reason that Holland imports her wines from France upon the lees, in order to manage or take care of them after the manner of the country. In the north, especially in Russia and Prussia, experience has taught men to prefer importing wines from France at two or three years old, because they are already freed from the greater part of their dregy and tartar. 'In England, every one being long accustomed to drink strong Port wines, Madeira, and heady Spanish wines, the pure wines, such as we gather them, are not so much esteemed, because they are found, in comparison with the others, not sufficiently strong tasted, and too cold. Our natural wines, however, are infinitely preferable for the health, to the spirituous, heady Spanish wines; the Bordeaux wines especially are highly recommended by the faculty for the sick, jand those menaced by consumption, or suffering from nflammation in the chest. 'But, in order to give the Bordeaux wines some resemblance to those wines of Spain and Portugal which are used in England, to render them of the taste preferred in that kingdom, from the effect of long habitthe greatest part of our wine merchants who trade with England, are obliged to work them, that is to say, to mix them with other wines by means of a particular operation. This is the reason why in general the wines shipped for England are not pure, and can no longer be known to be the same, when compared with those which remain at Bordeaux, such as they are produced in the Department of the Gironde. The operation consists in mixing a certain quantity of Hermitage, and other kinds of fine strong wines of the south, which give fire to the Claret, but which render it dry when old, turn it of a brick red colour, and cause a deposit of sediment when it has been some time in bottle. When, by the effect of mixing several sorts of wines, a working or fretting results which might injure the quality, they take some mineral crystal, reduce it to powder, and put an ounce into each barrel, beat up with a proper quantity of isinglass, and rack off the wine about fifteen days after, when it has got clear, and has entirely ceased to work. To give odour (bouquet) to the wine, they take two drams of orris-root (racine d'iris) in powder put into a fine rag, and let it hang about fifteen days in the cask; after which it is taken out, because the wine has then acquired sufficient odour; you may also, if desired, put the powder into the barrel, beat up with fining, and fifteen days after it may be racked off. higher flavoured, and at the same time to prevent the Many persons, to make wine appear older and injuring its quality, employ raspberry brandy, (esprit framboisé;) in this case the dose is two ounces for each cask; this spirit is well mixed with the wine, and fifteen or twenty days after, the wine has acquired a certain degree of apparent maturity, which is increased by a kind of odour which this mixture gives it. 'The bouquet which by these means is given to the common or ordinary wines, never replaces perfectly the natural flavour which distinguishes our choice wines of Medoc and Grave, which ought to embalm the palate. It is very easy to distinguish the fictitious bouquet which has been given to the wine, if you have ever so little habit of tasting; for the smell of the iris as well as the raspberry, always predominates in the wines which have been worked, and forms a striking contrast with the natural flavour of the same wines.' The following description of Barsac, a wine those who relish it: much used in England, will be appreciated by 'These wines are distinguished by their strength and their flavour in good years; they are generally lively and sparkling, and unite, with these good qua. lities, a great deal of mellowness. Russia, and all the north, consume them; so does England. The first growths in High Barsac, are, Coutet, Madame de Filhot; after come Bineau or Roborel, Perrot, Dumirail, Veuve Dubos, Dubos, Mercier, and Saluces de Laborde. All these wines differ in price, 15 to 20fr. The qualities inferior to them are in great number, and differ in the price from 50 and even 100fr. per ton below above-mentioned. They may be put in bottle after four or five years, where they improve; but, if they pass ten or twelve years, they grow hard and dry.' The following account of the prices at Bordeaux, with the accompanying observations, will give the reader some slight insight into the mysteries of the London wine trade: Average price, charged by the first houses at Bor- Insurance and freight Interest, expense of premises, &c. to time of sale, 8 per cent. s. d. 50 1 8 0 0 6 0 2 5 price, instead of having them cooked up with Hermitage or Beni Carlo, and passed off upon us as noted growths at cheap rates.' Let the reader mark this well, and let him follow the advice of Dr. Johnston, as to the purchase of tea, in the matter of wine also, in the thorough conviction that a cheap is seldom, if ever, a good article. In conclusion, we say, let us have good wine, whatever be the cost. WOLFF'S MISSIONARY JOURNAL. Missionary Journal of the Reverend Joseph Wolff, Missionary to the Jews. Comprising his Second Visit to Palestine and Syria, in the Years 1823 and 1824. 8vo, pp. 392. 8s. James Duncan. London, 1828. AMONG the remarkable individuals with whom modern times are acquainted, Mr. Wolff holds a prominent station. The events of his early life have been as varied and singular as ever checquered the career of the most adventurous existence. His youth and the first years of his manhood were past in the painful and hazardous struggles of a proselyte; in establishing the convictions that induced him to forsake the religion of his forefathers, and preparing himself to attack the system which he conceived held them in a deplorable state of darkness. His mind was as singularly constituted as his situation was strange and difficult. It was active; determined in its search after truth, but tinged with a deep and overpowering enthusiasm. Had he, therefore, been placed under the most favourable circumstances, his character, there is little doubt, would still have presented many of the remarkable features which at present distinguish it. But on his conversion to Christianity he was without guidance, and was confounded by the most erroneous views of its nature that could be given. He became a Roman Catholic, was a second time the recusant of his profession, wandered from one country to another, not only as a citizen of the world, but as, perhaps, the only man in Europe, proclaiming at once his belief in the religion of Scripture, and his determined independence of all sects, creeds, and professions without exception. With these opinions this singular man came to England, and took up his residence at Cambridge. While staying there, we happened to have an opportunity of seeing him in contact with men of a very different description to himself, and the University hardly presented at the time a more curious spectacle than this converted Jew and Catholic, and unsectarian Chris6 4 4 tian, pursuing his studies surrounded with all the circumstances and scholastic pride of established Protestantism and academical pomp. Mr. Wolff, however, did not become a member of any college, but was prepared for his intended journey to the East by two or three persons, among whom was Professor Lee, who favoured his views. His attainments appear to have been considerable in all the different branches of knowledge that have any reference to the great objects of his pursuit. They are not of a kind to be judged of by many persons, and the peculiar character of his mind, as well as the subjects on which it is employed, prevent their being fairly estimated; but no tellectual strength, ever freed himself from man not possessed of more than ordinary in. such a crowd of errors as those which successively surrounded Mr. Wolff; and, curiously varied as is the Journal before us, it contains evidence of very extensive and careful research, carried on with the diligence of a well-prepared understanding. Independent, however, of the author himself, this publication is well worth the attention of the general reader. There is none from which so good an idea can be drawn of the actual state of the Jews, in the venerated but lost land of their fathers; and, though much of the matter will be uninteresting and tedious to persons not sympathising with the writer in his zeal and particular opinions, the volume will be found to possess enough of what is curious and useful to the careful observer, to repay the trouble of a 16 13 6 4 19 0 73 3 6 £79 7 10 This sum (equal to about 31. 10s. 6d. per lozen) is, then, what the wine actually costs the importer before he can bring it to market; but, as he must have a profit on his business, he should get something more than this, even when the wine is sold immediately; and, if he keep it to acquire age, he must, besides, be paid for his risk, and the locking up of his capital, as well as all the other charges affecting his business. If what is here stated be just-and we think it cannot be proved to be otherwise-it must be a mere delusion in any person in this country to suppose he can get first growth wine of a fine vintage, below the rate current among respectable merchants. It is true that, at this moment, we may purchase at Bordeaux, from some shipping houses, warranted Chateau Margaux vintage 1825, at 1000 francs per hogshead; but, as it is perfectly well known that the whole produce of that estate was sold immediately after the vintage at very nearly that price, and that, after near three years' keeping, 1000 francs is a fair price for good third growth wine, we may judge what degree of confidence can be had in such warranters and their warrantry. 'As we said above, there are many excellent wines in Medoc which are sold cheap, not because they are not good, but because they are not the sorts on which fashion or taste have stamped an artificial value. When our increased intercourse with France shall have made us better acquainted with these, and reconciled us to the use of good wine, though of a little known growth, our wine merchants will be enabled to turn more of their attention to them, and we shall then be supplied with them, under their own proper names, at a fair perusal. Our first extract will present an example of the strange superstitions of the modern Jews, belonging, it will be easily seen, to their rabbinical traditions: 'I ENGAGED Rabbi Joseph Marcowitz to spend with me the whole night once more, to teach me the mystery of the Shem-Hamforash, with which the Jews say that our Lord performed all his miracles, and with which Rabbi Joseph Marcowitz and Rabbi Mendel pretend to be able to perform miracles. Rabbi Joseph Marcowitz often boasted that he gained much money by it: for at Constantinople (and why not at Jerusalem?) he cured a mad man, for which he got 1500 piastres. I declared, however, that I had no belief in it, and that I should never make use of it to perform a miracle, to gain 1500 piastres at Constantinople, but that I wished only to know the secret of it. As the Rabbies pronounce a horrible anathema, against those who reveal the secret of the Shem-Hamforash, to any except to Rabbies, Rabbi Joseph Marcowitz would only comply with my wish, in the night time. He told me, however, that I might mention it to you in England. His wife entered my room during the evening, and said to her husband, "O Rabbi, may you live, O my love, a hundred years! I am afraid that, by your spending the night with Rabbi Joseph, (so I am called by the principal Jews of Jerusalem,) the whole congregation of Israel, in the holy city (may it soon be established and built again!) may talk about it." 'Rabbi Joseph Marcowitz said to his wife, "Go home, my love, and live a hundred years; and let the whole congregation of Israel talk about it: I am Rabbi Joseph Marcowitz; one word of mine will surely silence the whole congregation of Israel. Go home, my love, and sleep very sweetly." His wife went home, and Rabbi Joseph Marcowitz made me acquainted with the Shem-Hamforash, the Ineffable Name, which is as follows: 'In order that you may now understand the whole secret of it, I must, in the first instance, mention to you, that every one of the following verses contains, in the original, 72 (seventy-two) letters: "And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them. "And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these; so that the one came not near the other all the night. "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." See Exodus, ch. xiv. 19-21. "When I write the names of the letters, which compose the name, Jehovah, (,) and add up the numeral amount of the whole, the sum total is like the num ber of the letters in the three verses above mentioned; that is, 72 (seventy-two). 'If one puts together the first letter of each of the words above mentioned, the 19th verse of Exodus xii. will appear, and if one puts together the last letter of every one of the above-mentioned words, Exod. xiv. 21 will appear; and if one takes from the end to the beginning, the middle letter of every one of these words, Exodus xiv. 20. will appear, and this is the mystery of the Shem-Hamforash. 'When Rabbi Joseph Marcowitz told me that he cured, by the Shem-Hamforash, a madman at Constantinople, he observed, that Rabbi Solomon Sapiri could confirm the truth of the fact. I asked Rabbi Solomon Sapiri whether it was true that Rabbi Joseph Marcowitz cured a madman at Constantinople, by the power of the Shem-Hamforash? Rabbi Solomon Sapira observed, that he knew that there was a madman at Constantinople who gave money to Rabbi Joseph Marcowitz, but he knows not whether he was cured by him. The book in which the Shem-Hamforash is printed, is called Sepher Rasiel, which Adam received from the angel Rasiel. On the title-page of that book, the following words are contained "This is the book which the first man has received from the angel Rasiel. And this is the gate of the Lord, the righteous obtain by it the highest degree in the house of the Lord, and become united with the glory of God. It is for the house of Israel the beloved, for the wise and the man of understanding, a blessing and a benediction; and, if applied, it ex tinguishes fire which was laid, so that it cannot break out in one's house, and it is against ghosts, and the plague, so that they cannot abide in one's habitation, and it produces the effect, that, in time of trouble, help approaches, and one is able to explore hidden treasures Ayeshish, Amsterdam.' Pp. 11-14. of gold and silver. Printed in the house of Moses Ben 'We arose early in the morning, at half-past five, and left Jericho for Jerusalem. Instead of proceeding directly for the mountain, we turned to the west, in order to see the mountain on which Christ is said to have fasted. On our way we came to a stream of pure running water, and followed it to its source. It issues from the earth at no great distance from the foot of the mountain Quarantania, and, dividing its waters into two principal streams, supplies Jericho, and waters the plain, which in this part is very fertile. This is the fountain of Elisha.-See 2 Kings ii. 19-22. The Arabs call the Dead Sea Bahar Loot, (the Sea of Lot,) and the Jordan they call Shareeah. 'Sheich Ahmed knew the travellers Seetzen and Burckhardt, under their Oriental names, Moosa and Ibrahim. He spake likewise of Bankes. This journey cost us twenty piastres each. We found it necessary to pay all our attendants much more than we had agreed with them to go for. We should have quoted some of the remarkable conversations which the author held with his people, but they are either too long, or too desultory for our purpose. They are, however, strikingly illustrative of the writer's mind, and of the singular sentiments prevalent among the persons he addressed. At first sight, they may probably appear as the vague and idle babblings of an enthusiast on the one side, and the ignorant dreamings of superstition on the other. But the careful reader will find them valuable for the light they throw on the character of the Jews in general, 'Before we set out for Jericho, I spent Saturday, and some of the peculiarities of their history. May 31, with Mr. Fisk, in examining the Talmud. In We regret, therefore, being obliged to pass them the afternoon, a Jew came and told me that my house over for more detached passages of the Journal. had been broken in, and my things stolen. On exaAmong these the following will be found in-mination it was found that the thieves had taken my teresting: bed-curtain, sheet, coat, and nearly all my shirts, cravats, and stockings. We sent information to the Governor, who sent an officer to look at the house, and assured us that efforts should be made to discover the thief. Brother Fisk was so kind as to furnish me with some of his linen, for I should not have known where to get a shirt at Jerusalem. 'Excursion to the Dead Sea, the Jordan, and Jericho. 'June 3.-Brothers Fisk, King, and three other German travellers, and myself, set out for the Dead Sea, where Sodom and Gomorrha stood, and the Jordan and Jericho. We took with us two soldiers from the Governor of Jerusalem, and arrived the first evening in the convent of Mar Saba, which is occupied by Greek monks, and some Abyssinians who turned to the Greek religion. Mar Saba is erected, according to the observation of the superior of the convent, in the very ravine of the brook Cedron. The superior told us, that the convent was founded in the time of Justinian, thirteen hundred years ago, by Mar Saba, a pious anchorite. The skulls of those Christians who died for their faith, in the time of Omar, are still preserved here. And unto this time, Musulmans are treading under foot the blood of Christ, and are shedding the blood of his saints! How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge the blood of thy saints, that were slain for the word of God? Sheich Ahmed, an Arab, arrived in the night, accompanied by a dozen armed men, to accompany us as a guard; for Bedouins pay but little respect to Turkish soldiers; we agreed, therefore, that he and four other Arabs should accompany us. 'June 4.—We set out at a quarter before seven in the morning, and rede with our Turkish soldiers, and the wild and free Arabs, over rocky mountains. On the summit of one of them we saw an edifice, which the Turks visit and venerate as the tomb of Moses. Mr. Fisk received from the Greeks the following account of the origin of this tradition. In the time of the Greek empire, a convent was erected on the place by a holy man, whose name was Moses, and his name, as was common in such cases, was given to the convent. When the Musulmans took the country, they mistook St. Moses for the Prophet Moses, and have ever since made pilgrimages to the place. At half-past eleven we arrived at the Dead Sea, where Sodom and Gomorrha stood. We tasted the water, and found it nauseous and bitter beyond any thing we ever tasted. I read there to the German travellers Matthew xi. 11-24. At half past two we arrived at the Jordan, where the Greek pilgrims usually visit it, and where the Israelites passed over it, opposite to Jericho. I read to the German travellers Joshua ii. iii., and to myself alone the fourth chapter of Joshua; again with the Germans Matthew iii., and then I dipped myself in the Jordan, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and prayed for the conversion of the Jews. Before I left Jerusalem, I sent word to the principal Rabbies of Jerusalem, that I should, if the Lord should grant it, pray for them at the river Jordan. Brothers King and Fisk swam across the Jordan, and took a walk in the plain of Moab, in the inheritance of Reuben; I then. read again in my Hebrew Bible, and in the little Bible which dear Mr. Simeon gave me. The whole country around is a desert inhabited by wild Bedouins! 'At six o'clock we arrived at Jericho. We took up our lodgings for the night, men and horses altogether, in an open yard of the castle. The whole number of inhabitants amounts to three hundred souls. The Arabs here around us are true genuine Arabs, who are as free and wild as their desert. I asked one of the Arabs, Which do you like best, the city or the desert? 'Arab. I am the son of the desert, I am not the son of the city! 'June 6.-I found in the library of the High Priest, Rabbi Solomon Sapira, a Hebrew manuscript, written by an anonymous Rabbi, who lived in the year 1472. This manuscript contains a dissertation about Jesus of Nazareth. The writer tries to give five proofs, by which it may be demonstrated that Jesus of Nazareth mentioned in the Talmud, is not that Jesus whom the Gentiles call Christ, Messiah. Rabbi Solomon Sapira had the kindness to make me a copy of it.'-Pp. 102 -105. The following deserves extracting for the account it contains of the Cedars of Lebanon which Mr. Wolff appears to have regarded with reverential curiosity: 'Cedars of Lebanon. 'October 4.-We left Tripolis, and arrived in the evening in the large convent of Maronites, called MarAntonio Kas-haya, where above one hundred dirty, stupid, and ignorant monks reside. They have a printing press, but they only print mass-books. The Superior told us he had heard for a certainty, that the English baptise their children with the blood of a dove. We asked him whether he knew any thing of languages? His answer was worthy of a monk. Of what use" said he "are languages?" Mr. King observed, that the Hebrew and Greek are very useful for the better understanding of the scripture text. He replied, "We have commentators who have sufficiently explained the text." 'The Maronites of this country administer the Sacrament to the laity in one kind; the Greek Catholics in both. They showed Mr. King the Arabic translation of the Bible with the Latin Vulgate. The monks believed the Latin to be Hebrew. Long conversations took place about the doctrines of the gospel, and they lasted almost the whole day, and a great part of the evening. 'Monday, October 6.-We arrived at Canobin, and called on the patriarch of the Maronites. His name is Joseph. He received us civilly, and invited us to dine with him. We left him an Arabic Bible and a Syrian Testament. His title is Patriarch of Antioch and Successor of Saint Peter. He may therefore, with the same right, claim infallibility, as the Bishop of Rome does. 'Tuesday, October 7.-We went to the cedars of Lebanon. I counted thirteen large and ancient cedars, besides the numerous small ones, with which are in the whole 387 cedars. 8th Cedar 4 cubits. 9th Cedar 4 cubits. 10th Cedar 3.6 cubits. 11th Cedar 34 cubits. 12th Cedar 2 cubits. 13th Cedar 2.3 cubits. 1st Cedar 84 cubits. 2nd Cedar 74 cubits. 3rd Cedar 6 cubits. 4th Cedar 5 cubits. 5th Cedar 5 cubits. 6th Cedar 5 cubits. 7th Cedar 4 cubits. 'We arrived the same day at Besherre, and were kindly and hospitably received by Sheikh Georges, who knew well the traveller Mr. Grey, aud our friend Tommaso Alkushi. We gave some Testaments to Priests. |