only as his chosen people could the vine of Jacob flourish, and his branches overspread the land. "Yet, though the vine flourish, and the grape appear, if the root turn to another lord, it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring.' "Reproving the common saying in Israel, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge,' with what majesty does the prophet take occasion to vindicate the justice of God! Behold as I live, saith the Lord!...... Behold all souls are mine. As the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall live.' And so through the whole chapter, proclaiming justice, and preferring mercy. "The minor prophets are not behind these great examples in the beauty and exquisite propriety of the imagery they have drawn from But I have already quoted examples enough. In reviewing the various texts wherein the vineyard or produce is spoken of in Scripture, especially the Old Testament, the curious antiquary may learn many particulars of the manners and customs of the ancient nations of the East; and there are also curious facts to prove the unchanging nature of traditional custom, but these do not concern my present purpose. "In the New Testament the vine shares with the lily and the wheat field, the fig and the olive, the honour of illustrating the parables of our Divine Teacher. 6 ...... "In the sermon on the Mount, he asks, in illustration of the sentence concerning bad men, by their works shall ye know them,'. Do men gather grapes of thorns?' And, in speaking the two parables-the first of the labourers, who, though entering the vineyard at different hours of the day, received each his just reward; and the second of the rebellious labourers, who first turned out their lord's appointed messengers, and finally abused and slew his son. How beautifully has the preacher chosen scenes familiar to the minds and senses of his hearers! "But beyond all the fruits of the earth is the fruit of the vine honoured and hallowed: Jesus himself hath consecrated it. "The beginning of miracles which Jesus did, says the disciple whom he loved, was to turn water into wine, and to bestow it upon newmarried persons; sanctifying thus the first natural institution that holds human society together, and that pre-eminently distingiushes man from the rest of the animated creation. "The last blessing bestowed on man, before his final suffering, and after he had declared himself the true Vine, was, in his character of a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek, to deliver, through his apostles unto all mankind bread and wine, saying, as he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, Drink ye ALL of it; for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for the remission of sins.' From Lady Calcott's interesting article on the "bramble,” we quote the following good remarks: "The beautiful moral, inculcated by our Saviour in the last text in 6 which the bramble is mentioned, Every tree is known by its fruits; for of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble-bush gather they grapes,' is but an enforcement of the blessing on the pure in heart. Another form of the precept, given before by the Holy Spirit, is, 'Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life!' Such an example as that of the bramble, taken from the common things seen every day, recalls the words of life far oftener and better than to wear them on the arm, or to bind them upon the brow. We cannot walk abroad but the very hedges speak to us of Him from whom we have received the doctrine that makes us wise unto salvation.". The lily furnishes Lady Calcott with interesting matter for discourse. "All the poetical passages in the Old Testament (she declares) shrink into nothing before the exquisite simile in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says, 'Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.' "Is Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, has beautifully alluded to the above passage in his own simple but exquisite style:there nae description o' the beauty o' nature in the Bible? All the Christian world mair dearly loves the lily o' the field, for sake of a few divine words." To the same purport is the sentiment conveyed in the following sonnet to the lilies of the field, written by the late amiable Mrs. Hemans: "Flowers! when the Saviour's calm benignant eye Then in the bosom of your purity A voice he set, as in a temple-shrine, That life's quick travellers ne'er might pass you by, And though too oft its low celestial sound By the harsh notes of work-day care is drown'd, The article on the melon contains some curious information relative to its uses in the East as a refreshing fruit. We recollect that Moorcroft, speaking of the melons of Cashmere, says, that "healthy people, who live on melons almost wholly during the season, speedily become fat;" and the same effect is reported in regard to horses fed upon melons at Bokhara. "Melons were among the things anxiously desired and much re gretted by the Israelites, during their progress through the wilder ness; and, indeed, their desires were not unnatural, when parched among the sands of Arabia, and remembering the cool juicy fruits of the Nile. Yet was their discontent a rebellion against their God, who, in a supernatural manner, had delivered them from a cruel bondage, and was even then leading them to that good land which he had promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. "The citrulla, or water melon, though not highly flavoured, is one of the most refreshing fruits of a hot climate. The very sight of the crisp flesh bedewed with its cool watery juice is invigorating, and seems to give spirit to the happy beggar of the south, who is rich enough to purchase a slice, just as wine and strong drink do to one in a cold climate, but without their evil effects. The various kinds of musk melons, all of them to be seen in Egypt, deserve a place next to the water melon, as cooling and adapted to the climate, notwithstanding the prejudice against eating them which many persons entertain; a prejudice, indeed, felt and acknowledged by Hesselquist. "It is not possible, at this distance of time, to determine which was the fruit lamented by the Hebrews, because, among other reasons, we have no means of knowing which species was most cultivated at that period, or whether all that now adorn the markets of Cairo and Alexandria had then reached the perfection they now display. "The modern people of Syria and Palestine salt and dry melon seeds, and use them fried, as a pungent and rather coarse condiment, with rice, lentils, and other pulse. "The Arabs of the coast of Barbary have for many centuries practised the best arts of gardening, which in their prosperous times they introduced into Spain: among these arts is that of engrafting melons and other cucurbitaceous plants, in order to ameliorate the fruit and increase its quantity. In our northern climates, the melon tribe is not sufficiently valued to induce our gardeners to so much pains-taking." We conclude by congratulating the public on the completion of this book; and we cheerfully and cordially give our strongest recommendation of Lady Callcott's instructive and beautiful volume to the public at large, for we feel assured that very few are to be found who will not love the flowers and fruits of the earth all the more when they are made sensible of the high interest that surrounds such of those productions of nature as are mentioned in the sacred writings. 137 ART. VIII.-The Foreign Quarterly Review. No. 58. July, 1842. London: Chapman and Hall. 2. The Athenæum. December. 3. The Westminster Review. October. Hooper. 4. The British and Foreign Quarterly Review. December. Taylor. IT is impossible to look around the literary world without feeling that the inexperienced reader is like a traveller in a strange country, of which he knows not the language, and the character of whose inhabitants is to him a yet unsolved problem. The student is in search of information-the idle man of amusement; and there are a thousand volumes perpetually rising up on all sides, promising to each the object of his enquiries. So vast are their numbers, that a new science has arisen out of their increase; and whereas, in times past, some men studied facts and other men phrases, now there is necessarily a class who study books, not for the sake of their subjects, but for the sake of themselves. They are read in title-pages and editions. They know the reputation of works, the truths contained in which are yet unattained. And thus there is a kind of register going on of standard works, which are perpetually being reduced to classes, and orders, and ranks, according to the collective experience of book readers, till, after a certain time, longer or shorter as the case may be, the character of a book becomes fixed, and he who buys it knows perfectly well how far he may safely take it as a guide. Again, in the case of a novel or tale-a poem, whether epic or lyric, an amusing essay, a humourous narration-he who sits down to read is beforehand well acquainted with the degree of pleasure he may expect from the book he chooses as his companion during the moments of relaxation. Thus bibliography (or, might we invent the word, we would call it bibliology) is one of the most useful departments of modern knowledge, combining as it does criticism and literary history. But bibliology is slow in its operation, inasmuch as it depends upon the verdict of a multitude of readers; and many a good book obtains but few, and those few not rapidly. Many another, which possessed acknowledged merit, is written upon a subject so ephemeral, that though of great moment when it appeared, the topic and the publication are forgotten together, before it can have been classicized by the science of bibliography. There is, therefore, a necessity for a guide to yet unclassicized books, in order to prevent the loss of time to readers in making their choice, which must necessarily arise from the vast multitude of new books which are continually poured forth from the press. For this purpose the art of reviewing was invented; and it was a matter of course always presupposed, that the reviewer occupying so important, and, with regard to authors, irresponsible a post, was thoroughly acquainted with the subject of the book which he reviewed, and, at the same time, perfectly impartial towards the writer. Such is the theory of reviewing, which is at once just and most expedient. It brings the book upon which the art is exercised much sooner than, by its intrinsic merits alone, it could be brought before the notice of the public; and it guides the student, who would otherwise be without a pilot on the almost boundless sea of literature. The completeness of modern scholarship, which, if not more profound, is certainly far more extensive than that of old times, may be attributed in no small degree to the invention of the art of reviewing. Nor can the mind well conceive a more dignified position than that occupied by a man of learning and ability, who, having made successful trial of his own powers, is placed in the seat of judgment over those of others. But this admirable invention is one, the abuses of which have grown to so great an extent as to make it, with many, a question, whether, in its present state, the critical press is really an aid or an injury to the cause of literature. And so important does the investigation appear to us, that we shall proceed to take our readers a little behind the curtain, and show them some of the springs whereby the critical machine is worked. We doubt not that by so doing we shall give great offence to many, but this we cannot help, nor indeed are we very careful about it. A tradesman, employed by a certain witty and popular writer, made a charge so extravagant, that it was naturally disputed. After a very slight resistance to the proposed reduction, the tradesman took fifty per cent. off his bill. "What a fool he was! (said the wit, while relating the circumstance to a friend), for he might have been sure that I should never employ him again after so barefaced an attempt to impose upon me; therefore, had I been in his place, I would have stuck to my old charge, and got as much as I could, being quite certain that it would be the last opportunity I should have." This story may be applied in various ways, but the use which we shall make of it is as follows. We must give offence to all Whigs, Radicals, and political Dissenters, by simply speaking the truth, without controversy. We shall be sure never to gain their goodwill by anything that we are likely to do, and therefore shall not hesitate to speak very plainly. We have told this story, and made |