bilitating the stomach, and increasing the disposition to nervous and hypochondriacal disorders.

It is well remarked by Dr. Palin that the food, which preserves the female cottager in bloom and vigor, would be ill suited to the delicate female who is the inmate of some splendid mansion: since the digestive organs of the former, under the influence of free exercise and pure air, can extract abundant nourishment from substances on which the feeble stomach of the latter could not act; and therefore any attempt to render the lady healthy and strong, by prescribing to her the fare of the country-girl, would be productive only of disease.We were much pleased with the author's remarks on the efficacy of a nutritious animal diet, in diminishing nervous sensibility. In a practical point of view, the observation is valuable; and its accuracy is well illustrated by the benefits which have been derived from the employment of such a regimen in one description of insanity: for instances are not wanting in which, by this treatment, a complete cure of such cases has been effected.

The present advanced state of civilization, and intellectual improvement, has led this author to consider the effects which are likely to result from it with regard to the female constitution; as also the dangers that may arise from a premature developement of the mind, and an undue attention to its culture at the expence of the health and vigor of the body. His views on these topics are commendable, and peculiarly deserve the attention of all who would render their children happy and virtuous, as well as accomplished. Dr. P. distinctly disapproves those attempts which have been made to communicate to the young a variety of information in the form of amusement; and he argues strongly and convincingly on the necessity of training the female mind in habits of strict attention, and infusing into it a degree of energy which our present modes of education are but little calculated to communicate.

Of dress, as exciting an influence on the health of females, we have scarcely room to speak; although there is nothing in our modern management of females which we consider as so grossly erroneous.

It is said,' observes Dr. Palin, to have been one of the extravagant humours of the late Emperor Paul of Russia to forbid, in the depth of winter, all his subjects, civil or military, the use of any sort of pelisse: after which he published an ukase, enjoining them to stand still and open their cloaks as he passed by, in order that he might see they were dressed according to his order. This

affords

affords not a bad picture of the capricious tyranny which fashion exercises over her votaries.'

In the course of this work, many judicious observations are introduced on the advantages to be derived from the removal of delicate children from their native homes, to warmer situations in our own island, or on the Continent; thus enabling their constitutions to gather strength, and their health to be confirmed, under the influence of a more genial climate. Towards the close of the volume, also, the author has entered into a somewhat extended discussion of the benefits of seaair, sailing, and removal to a warm climate, in consumptive cases. All these, however, as curative means, appear to us out of place in a work professing merely to consider the causes which influence the formation of the bodily constitution, and lay the foundations of strength or debility, health or disease. The last section we must also regard as an excrescence: for it refers to distortions of the spine, which are treated in a previous part of the inquiry, and in a much more clear and satisfactory manner. So conscious of this circumstance, indeed, is the author himself, that he has introduced several quotations from his preceding remarks on this subject.

Altogether, we have been much gratified by the perusal of this publication, and feel assured that it will be read with advantage and satisfaction by all those who experience an interest in the education of females. The views which it contains are distinguished by their correctness and philosophical spirit; and the practical instructions which it offers, though seldom possessing novelty, are highly judicious, and have in general been carried into execution with the most beneficial results. We are sorry, however, that we cannot conclude without observing that the order pursued by the author is not always the most perspicuous; and that his style is sometimes deformed by intricate and pedantic phraseology, which a little exertion would have enabled him to avoid.

ART. XI. Reginald Dalton. By the Author of Valerius, and Adam Blair. 3 Vols. Crown 8vo. 1l. 11s. 6d. Boards. Blackwood, Edinburgh; Cadell, London. 1823.

THE
HE number of really good novels which issue- or we may

from the

press

has become a matter of some say rush perplexity to us. Though we have a keen appetite for them, yet, with the utmost exercise of our powers, we are scarcely able to devour them all; and when occasionally compelled to overlook one of these new novels, we feel somewhat like a

gourmand who witnesses the departure of a rich delicacy from the table, of which, in despite of his energetic mastication, he has found himself unable to partake. Amid the crowd of novels, English, Irish, American, and Scotch, of which last a quadruple alliance in Scotland seems determined to give us a regular periodical supply, we had almost forgotten' Reginald Dalton,' whose merits certainly claimed our earlier attention, and will not permit us finally to pass him unnoticed.

The author of Valerius, and Adam Blair,' who as such is well known to the public, is generally supposed to be a gentleman of considerable reputation in the literary circles of Edinburgh. It is, we apprehend, chiefly to be attributed to the success of the " Waverley novels," that so many men of distinguished talents have within these few last years devoted their pens to works of imagination: for, fifteen years since, all the popular novelists of the day, with a very few exceptions, prefixed Mrs. or Miss to their names: viz. Miss Edgeworth, Miss Austen, Miss Benger, Miss Owenson, the two Misses Porter, Mrs. West, Mrs. Brunton, Mrs. Opie, &c. &c. Since that period, however, the ladies have been almost driven from the field of fiction by the hosts of powerful writers of the masculine gender who have occupied it. The most serious incursion has been made by our neighbours the Scotch, the well-known "Unknown" leading the way, and being followed (if report may be trusted) by Professor Wilson, Mr. Lockhart, and Mr. Galt, with Mr. Hogg in the rear. Ireland sent Mr. Maturin, and America contributed Mr. Brown, and more lately Mr. Cooper, author of The Spy, The Pioneers, and The Pilot, three very able novels. To these names we might add a number of inferior note, though by no means of despicable characters; such as the authors of The Monks of Leadenhall, the King of the Peak, and Pen Owen and Percy Mallory. These masculine writers have at length almost entirely superseded their feminine predecessors. Even Miss Edgeworth's pen has been idle since the publication of her Patronage; and Miss Anna Maria Porter's romantic heroes now seldom make their appearance. Mrs. Opie's Tales have become "few and far between;" and, if we except the fair writer of "The Favourite of Nature," no new female writer has for some years past appeared before the public with any claims to celebrity as a novelist.

This circumstance has produced a very considerable change in the character of our modern works of fiction. The tone of sentiment which pervades them is naturally more manly and vigorous; and the reader is not offended with numerous instances of that weak and sometimes (absit invidia) mawkish sen

sibility,

sibility, which was observable in the works of very able female writers; and examples of which may be found even in the romances of Mrs. Radcliffe. A more general acquaintance with life and manners, also, is displayed in these masculine novels; together with a much keener perception of the humorous.Miss Edgeworth is the only female writer who has succeeded in the comic novel. On the other hand, in the delineation of domestic scenes and manners, the ladies decidedly display superior talents, and in painting a hero they certainly excel their rivals. In the love-passages of their works, we know not exactly to which class of writers we should give the preference; though, as in galantry bound, we feel inclined to award it to the fair candidates. We believe that the sentiment itself is more deeply, more purely, and more faithfully felt by them.

Valerius, Adam Blair, and Reginald Dalton, are decidedly masculine novels, and are all full of spirit, energy, and powerful feeling. The author writes con amore, with an evident taste and relish for his subject; and his descriptions are never cold, languid, or flat, but rich, warm, and even passionate. Our readers will not have forgotten the high coloring of Adam Blair, and a portion of the same spirit is observable in all this gentleman's writings. His pages are full of what the French call enjouement; a most valuable quality in a novelist, for it seldom fails to attract and fix the sympathies of his readers: who, when an author evidently writes under the impression of strong feelings and keen perceptions, accompany him willingly and joyfully, and are affected as he was affected. Even in cases in which they would not otherwise sympathize with him, they are sometimes led away by this reflection of feeling. For our own part, we are no very ardent worshippers of the vetus Bacchus, and yet we can (after a manner) relish those vigorous descriptions of joviality with which the pages of Reginald Dalton abound.

In point of plot, this is a very respectable novel, possessing a reasonable share of mystery, and of course a due proportion of interest. The author erects the usual huge barrier of difficulties between his hero and his heroine, which, according to the general law and custom of novelists, he finally demolishes, and condescends to make the creatures of his fancy happy. The actores fabulæ are drawn with great truth and vivacity but we have some objections to urge against the hero. We have for several years past noticed, with con siderable alarm and distress, the change which has been taking place in the heroes of our novels: for it seems, at the present day, to be considered as quite unnecessary that the person, who ought to occupy the prominent station in the

story,

story, should be in any manner elevated above the individuals who surround him. We fear that Sir Walter Scott is the origin of this pernicious practice, for in some of the Scotch: novels the hero is really subservient to a mad beggar or an antiquated serving-man. Now we confess that we have stillso much of our antient prejudices about us, as to wish to see a hero invested with some distinguishing qualities which may compel us either to admire or to hate him; and we deem it a little hard that we should be required to listen to the adventures of a person who has no claims to our sympathy. It is on this ground that we rest our objections to the character of Reginald Dalton; who is a young gentleman of remarkably moderate pretensions in every respect, with the exception of a comely countenance, and a singular faculty of running into debt, to the great inconvenience and even ruin of a kind father. From this slight sketch of his qualifications, our readers may perhaps be in doubt whether in the result the hero will be hanged or married:-but, to relieve them, we beg to state that matrimony is his final doom. With the heroine we have no cause of quarrel. Of the other characters, many of which are very ably painted, Mr. Keith, an old Catholic priest, the guardian of Ellen Hesketh the heroine, is perhaps the best. Macdonald, an over-reaching Scotchman, we should scarcely expect to find in a work on the title-page of which we see the imprint of " Edinburgh." The vicar of Lannwell, father of Reginald, is with some infirmities one of the most pleasing portraits in the novel :- but we have not space to particularize the crowd of personages who figure in these pages.

The scene of a considerable portion of the events here delineated is laid at Oxford; and the picture which the author has given of the habits and manners of the young gownsmen is highly spirited and amusing, though (we kope) it may be considered as somewhat overcharged. The following description of an Oxford Row will perhaps be enlivening to our readers:

By this time the High-Street of Oxford exhibited a scene as different from its customary solemnity and silence, as it is possible

to imagine. Conceive several hundreds of young men in caps, or

gowns, or both, but all of them, without exception, wearing some part of their academical insignia, retreating before a band rather more numerous, made up of apprentices, journeymen, labourers, bargemen a motley mixture of every thing that, in the phrase of that classical region, passes under the generic name of Raff. Several casual disturbances had occurred in different quarters of the town, a thing quite familiar to the last and all preceding ages, and by no means uncommon even in those recent days, whatever

may