"A traveller

Babylonian bricks, p. 61. who has recently explored the ruins of Babylon, remarks that on many of the bricks he found ten lines of Babylonian writing stamped across the angles of the brick. These inscriptions appear to have been stamped upon the brick while in a soft state, by a block of wood, and consist of a series of arrow-headed characters, all knowledge of which is entirely lost. Mr. Rich says, 'No idea of the purpose these inscriptions were intended to answer, can be formed from the situation in which the bricks are found. It is such as to preclude the possibility of their being read, until after the destruction of the buildings they composed. At the ravine of the mound of the Kasr or palace, I was present at the extracting above a hundred of them, and found that they were all placed on the layers of cement with their faces or inscribed parts downwards, so that the edges only, which formed the front of the wall were visible, and from subsequent observation I ascertained this to be the case in every ruin where they are found, a proof that they were designedly placed in that manner.' The prospect of one day seeing these inscriptions decyphered and explained, is not so hopeless as it has been deemed. From the specimens now before us, some points may be established, the importance of which those skilled in the art of decyphering will readily acknowledge. The language may safely be pronounced to be Chaldee; the system of letters an alphabetical and not a symbolical one, and each figure on the bricks a single letter, and not a word, or a compound character. The number of the different characters, with their variations, may therefore be easily ascertained. Any one, however, who ventures on the task, should have a thorough knowledge of the Chaldean language, as well as indefatigable application. Aided by these qualifications, and furnished with a sufficient quantity of specimens, he might undertake the labour with some prospect of success. Some of these bricks may be seen in the British Museum, as well as the inscribed cylinders."

Flaxman's Lectures on Sculpture. 2nd Edition. 8vo.-This edition is a great improvement on the former, possessing an additional lecture, and many additions, with an address on the death of Flaxman, by Sir R. Westmacott. Though we must in truth say that the lectures of this amiable and excellent artist never satisfied us, either as to the curiosity of the materials or the philosophy of the reflections; and though we still expect some production on sculpture, like the essays on the GENT. MAG. VOL. XIII.

sister art by Reynolds and Opie; nevertheless the student will find much worthy of his attention in the history of the art as here given; and the man of taste will thankfully listen to the remarks of one of the most eminent of modern sculptors on those works which it formed the study of his life to appreciate and emulate.

Thoughts on Duelling and the Christian Character. 1840.-We remember the time when duels were as plenty as blackberries, every theatre, coffee house, and race-course furnishing their heroes. With the spread of better and more Christian feelings, these barbarous acts of lawless and ignorant times are now but little known. Neither the voice of society nor the majesty of the law would now bear the ruffians who used a few years since to bully the timid, and swagger through their time, like so many Thrasos or Bobadils, fancying ferocity was courage, and a quarrelsome disposition the proof of manly spirit. We venture to say that in a few years a duel will be so rare as rarely to be heard of; and even now we think that the feelings of the community go so together with the law of the country that there will be little difficulty in altogether suppressing such acts of folly, madness, and guilt, especially as they are now so

Poems, by John Sterling. 1839. The Sexton's Daughter is the chief poem in the volume. It is too long, and is deficient in materials, considering that it occupies the space of a hundred pages, The versification and verbal expression are good, but the effect of the whole is languid. We should say that the author should endeavour to condense his thoughts, and take care that he does not fall into an imitation of Wordsworth. We think the following stanzas well expressed, producing the picturesque effect designed. "There is an old and costly room of state, With roof deep groin'd of blazon'd shields and flowers; 2 Q

And arras rich, with gold and silver bright, Hangs round the walls, and shews green forest bowers.

And figures blent of giant, dwarf and knight,
Of lady fair, and palfry, hawk and hound,
Amid these leafy cells the gaze invite:
Invite, yet mock,-for leaves half close them
round.

In order set are works of regal price;

Quaint carven chair and table, chest and lute;

And web of scarlet, black and gold device, Spread o'er the floor, makes every footstep mute. [stone The window shafts and loops of branching Are gemmed with panes of each imperial hue; Where saints and angels, from the stars new flown,

With streams of crystal splendour flood the view," &c.

Sermons preached at Cambridge. 1839. By Henry Melvill, B. D. 8vo. - Mr. Melvill always writes with knowledge and eloquence. His language is copious and flowing; his arguments fairly and forcibly stated, and he appears completely free from the bias and prejudices of any sect. These Sermons, delivered at Cambridge before the students, were printed at their desire. The first, on "Idle Words," is excellent, and the fifth Sermon, "The Greater than Jonas," is admirably constructed, and written with great feeling. In all there are passages of superior elegance. We are very sorry to find Mr. Melvill saying in his advertisement"that the publication called 'The Pulpit' so injures him by printing his discourses, as scarcely to leave him any property in the produce of his own thought and toil." This, indeed, is using the Temple of God for the purposes of Mammon !

Voyages of the Dutch Brig Dourga through the Moluccan Archipelago, &c. By Kolff, jun. 1840.-It appears that the numerous islands lying between the Moluccan and northern coasts of Australia have been but little known, and no account of them has been made public, with the exception of one book. These islands were never visited by Europeans previous to 1636. The Dutch first gained possession of some of these islands, and carried on a lucrative trade with Japan; but their monopoly induced other nations, as the French and English, to cultivate spices in the Isle of Bourbon, and on the west coast of Sumatra. The foundation of Singapore by Sir Stamford Raffles, in 1819, was a wise measure, formed on statesman-like views, and made an important era in the history of the Indian Archipelago. There is much interesting and entertaining information in these volumes. It is a curious fact in the distribution of animals-" that monkeys do not

exist on the Ki and Tenember islands, and that, throughout the whole Moluccan Archipelago, they are only to be found on the island of Batchian, near the south end of Gilolo."

Sketches of a Missionary's Travels in Egypt. By R. M. Macbriar. 1839.Mr. Macbriar is not a very learned traveller, and not sufficiently particular, for our taste, in his accounts of objects well worthy of remark. His observation on the cedar of Lebanon is a strong proof of this (p. 112); but his volume is written with ease and in good taste and feeling, and will form an entertaining companion, and a useful one, to those who follow his footsteps. His account of the Slave Trade, still existing in undiminished horors on the western shores of Africa, is very afflicting, and calls loudly for the strong arm of national interference.

Prince Albert, and the House of Saxony, with a Particular Memoir of the Reigning Family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. By Frederick Shoberl, Esq. 8vo. (Colburn). This interesting resumé of the history of one of the oldest and most distinguished families among the sovereign houses of Germany, is at once well timed and well considered, qualities which are seldom found united in works the publication of which is hastened to meet some temporary occasion. Mr. Shoberl published an "Historical Account of the House of Saxony," so long ago as the period of the marriage of Prince Leopold and the Princess Charlotte of Wales: and, relying upon the advantages of his personal knowledge of Germany, and the best sources of information, he now comes forward, as he did then, to flout away the many false, absurd, and erroneous stories, which ignorance and misconception naturally send abroad, and to gratify the laudable curiosity of the people of England, respecting the "birth, parentage, and education" of one respecting whom they now have every right to seek that satisfaction. We shall not here quote those passages of the work which are of most popular and immediate interest, as they have already gone the round of the daily papers; but we shall content ourselves with a reference to two or three other curious points. We find that the first Albert Duke of Saxony died in 1260, and that the present Prince Royal of Saxony, -the first born to that dignity (in 1828), is also named Albert. Frederick the Second, who died in 1483, left two nephews his heirs, named, as the present Princes

of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Ernest and Albert, who were the founders of two distinct lines, which still subsist in the house of Saxony. The Albertine, or younger branch, supplanted the elder or Ernestine line, in the year 1547, when the Elector John-Frederick I. was taken prisoner by the Emperor Charles V. and his dominions declared forfeited, in consequence of his firm adherence to the doctrines of the Reformation, as declared in the Confession at Augsburg. From this memorable Elector descend in the male line all the modern houses of Saxe-Meinengen, Saxe-Altenburg, and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; together with others now extinct. The line of Saxe-Coburg, originally Saxe-Saalfeld, was the youngest and least endowed of all. By a succession of fortunate alliances its rank has gradually advanced; and the extent of the present Duke's dominions are more than double what they were before 1815, now comprising 795 English square miles. The first wife of the present Duke (and mother of his Royal Highness Prince Albert) was Louisa Dorothea, Princess of Saxe Gotha, niece to the last Duke of the former House of Gotha, which became extinct in 1825. Louisa-Dorothea was great-granddaughter of Frederick III. brother to Augusta Princess of Wales, the mother of King George the Third. Prince Albert is thus related to the other branches of the Royal Family of Great Britain, as well as to Queen Victoria through his aunt the Duchess of Kent. We shall now make a few extracts in reference to those who have absurdly brought forward Prince Albert's descent from the first Protestant Elector of Saxony as a sufficient answer to the scruples of Protestant England, when she asked for a declaration of the faith of the future Consort of her Queen. We will not exclude what we find in p. 109, that the Elector Frederick Augustus I. the ancestor of the present King of Saxony, was elected King of Poland in 1697, "having previously, in order to qualify himself for that dignity, exchanged the

Protestant for the Catholic faith, to which his successors have ever since adhered."* He was of the Albertine line: but again, in p. 169, we find, that Frederick IV. Duke of Saxe Gotha, (the great-uncle of Prince Albert,)" in 1807 adopted the Catholic faith in Rome;" and in p. 208, that George-Frederick-Augustus, (the uncle of Prince Albert), "married in 1816, a Catholic lady, Marie-Antoinette Gabrielle, daughter of Prince Francis von Kohary;" and further (p. 209), that "As he became the founder of a Catholic line of the House of Coburg, all his children having been brought up in that religion, he was obliged at his marriage to renounce, by a particular act, the right of succession to the patrimonial possessions in Saxony, on behalf of himself and his descendants." It is this Prince whose son has become the Consort of the Queen of Portugal, and whose daughter's marriage with the Duc de Nemours is now upon the tapis. Of these facts some rumours had reached the ears of the people of England, and they knew that the Prince, who was once the consort of their Princess Charlotte, had become the sovereign of catholic Belgium; their fears, therefore, were natural, and they might fairly claim some better assurance than the appeal to a genealogical descent from a Protestant confessor who flourished three centuries ago. They must look rather to the education and personal character of the living Prince. He was educated at the Protestant University of Bonn in Prussia; and for his sentiments we are told in p. 241, he "has often declared himself prouder of the distinction" of being descended from the Elector John-Frederick I. "than of any personal advantage that he enjoys." We trust that this pride is founded on religious conviction; and shall now conclude by extracting one of the many interesting historical anecdotes with which Mr. Shoberl has diversified his pages. We select it from its bearing upon English history, and the opinions which

66

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:

foreigners seem to have entertained of the wealth of England, even three centuries ago:

"This prince had the misfortune to unite the ambition of recovering the dominions and dignities of which his father had been dispossessed, with extreme credulity; qualities which rendered him an easy dupe to designing persons, and finally occasioned the loss of his states and his liberty. Thus we find, that he was selected in 1558, by a female adventurer, who pretended to be his aunt, Anne of Cleves, the divorced wife of Henry VIII. of England, as a fit subject for her impositions. She pretended, that the report of the death of the princess, whom she personated, was false; and that she had escaped to the Continent with prodigious wealth in money and jewels, among which were the Crown jewels of England, a great part of which treasures she promised to the Duke and his brothers. After she had thus amused him for a year and a half, the accounts which reached him from various quarters ex

At

cited suspicion; the pretended Queen underwent various examinations, in each of which she told a different story respecting her origin and circumstances. length she was led to the scaffold, as if for execution, and there solemnly declared, that she was an illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Cleves. The family of the latter, however, denied all knowledge of the fact; and one John von Froemont, in a letter to the senate of Nüremberg, whom she had solicited to take charge of part of her treasures, says that, after great trouble, she was at length brought to confess, that she was the daughter of a count, and had been waiting-woman to Queen Anne, whose seal and other valuables she had contrived to secure after her death; that, moreover, she had been mistress to Henry VIII. and the principal cause of his separation from the Queen. She was doomed to solitary imprisonment; but whether death released her from it, or she was set at liberty after the deposition of John Frederick, is not known."

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