The Order of Daily Service; the Litany and Order of the Administration of the Holy Communion, with Plain-Tune, according to the use of the United Church of England and Ireland.

As a specimen of black-letter typography, this is highly creditable to Messrs. Robson, Levy, and Co.; albeit, in point of taste, we think the borders of the pages somewhat too heavy. We should have described it as a black and red-letter book, inasmuch as the initial capitals and a considerable portion of the smaller type is in red ink. It hath a very missal-like look about it, and in these controversial days of the church may, at first sight, be regarded with suspicion by one party, and affection by the other: but there is little or no cause for either feeling. The editor, in his preface, calls it a Manual of Plain Chant, and goes into a very long and very interesting dissertation on the subject, concluding with the following more especial reference to the work under consideration.

"It now only remains to say a few words of the following compilation. That something of the kind was much wanted is admitted by Dr. Burney; and when it is considered that above a century and half have elapsed since the publication of the most recent work professing to be a directory for the plain-song of cathedral service, and, owing to the extreme rarity both of that and the earlier formularies already noticed, that the practice of choirs has for a long period rested solely on tradition, it is hoped that no apology will be required for the present undertaking, even though the editor is unable to boast of the qualifications which Dr. Burney seemed to reckon indispensable for the labour. If the book has no other merit, it has at least that of completeness, so far as the Order of Daily Service and the Office of the Holy Communion are concerned. The publication of Marbeck, as has been already stated, wanted the Litany; that of Lowe, nearly all the plain-song given in Marbeck's book, except the intonations of the versicles and suffrages, which are inaccurately printed: there was not, therefore, in existence any publication in which the scattered fragments of plain-song were brought together. Besides, the first Prayerbook of Edward VI., to which Marbeck adapted plain-song, differs from that now in use, both at the commencement of the Morning and Evening Prayer, and in the office of the Communion: the music, accordingly, required to be re-adapted, to suit the changes made at the revision of 1662; and though Lowe, in the preface to his work, professed to do this, it is quite certain that he made no attempt of the kind. Whether the attempt has succeeded in the present work must be left to the judgment of the learned and musical reader. Few changes have been made that were not absolutely necessary; and the additions are such as no one versed in the ancient rules of choral reading would find any difficulty or have any scruple in making.”

We cannot dismiss this volume without again referring to the typography, the effect of which on the eye is extremely pleasing. It is a work that will be especially welcome to those who are fond of, or take an interest in, the service of our cathedrals.

Marriage: a Poem in Four Cantos. By the Rev. DR. HENRY EDWARDS. Third Edition.

"Marriage, a Poem."-Had we found these words in Maunder's dictionary, we should have had some doubts as to their correctness,

inasmuch as we conceived marriage to be a very matter-of-fact kind of thing, and that all the poetry and romance of the "tender passion" belonged to courtship. We were on the point of congratulating, in " set phrase," our author on his being the "exception which proves the rule," and holding him up to our readers as the "rara avis" who had carried poetry and romance over the border;" but a glance at the dedication restrained our eloquence: the reverend and learned author writes not from experience, but anticipation, and paints matrimony couleur de rose, like the binding of his gay volume, which, be it known to the reader, is dedicated to "my Bride-elect." But we beg pardonperhaps we are wrong, and, like his book, his approaching nuptials may be his third edition of marriage. Seriously speaking, we are disposed to give the writer-who, be it remarked, assumes to himself the title of poet in the first line of his dedication-the credit of the best possible intentions; and for the rest, we are reluctantly forced to say, that he would have done better if he had left out the rhymes, and made a sermon of his subject. It would have been a dull one, it is true; but it would have been free from the pretence to poetry. Let old maids and bachelors list and tremble at the denunciations of the writer, and contrast the horrors to which he would consign them, with the delights which they obstinately refuse to taste.

"But ye, sad worthless ones, who stand aloof,
Though Hymen oft invites, shall meet reproof.
Octavius censured-punished ;—and shall I
Permit these elves unblamed to live and die?
Hasten! join hand and heart in Hymen love,
Or else all heaven and earth in wrath I'll move;
All Nature shall assume her blackest form,
And overwhelm you in one vengeful storm.
A consort's love and commune will augment,
Ye maids and bachelors! each day's content:
Change, like the fabled power on classic ground,
The thorny couch into a bed of down;
Wind up the string of life, and oft impart
Fresh vital heat to the transported heart;
Viands a more delicious flavour give;

Improve tenfold the dwelling where you live;
Making the rudest, tamest prospect, fair-
The lawns more verdant-more serene the air;
Vivacity increase around the fire;

Your lambkins laughing, gamb'ling till they tire;
Make summer's evening rambles light and gay-
The spring more blooming-and gild autumn's ray;
Music to groves, fragrance to flowers, bestow-
Bright'ning the heavens above and all below;
Luna with greater grace in Spring shall rise,
The sun more splendid set on summer skies;
To solitude tranquillity impart,

And solitude as tranquil to the mart;
Give to each room the peaceful, pleasant dove,
And make your home the type of heaven above:
Angel spectators shall rejoice and say,

Who on the rugged earth more glad than they?"

What a

Popular Tales and Legends.

jewel of a book," would this have been to us in our boyhood, and how we envy our young friends who have not read the wild and wonderful legends it contains! It is professedly a compilation, in which the editor takes no more credit than is due to him for propriety of selection, having a reference to the morals of his juvenile patrons. The book is very captivating in its form and exterior, and especially so in its illustrations, which are of wood, spiritedly designed, and executed with the exquisite delicacy which characterizes the art of wood engraving in the present day.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Feudal System. A Prize Essay, read in the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, June 28th, 1843. BY HENRY BOOTH BY BARRY, Medical Scholar of Queen's College. A very interesting essay upon a very interesting theme. The author's style is clear, forcible, and elegant, and he has the not very common merit of looking at each side of his subject with an equal eye. We must add the expression of our surprise at seeing such a lengthy list of errata, now an obsolete appendage to a volume of any description.

King Henry the Second. An Historical Drama.

It argues aught but an auspicious state of things, in any department of art or commerce, when production increases in an inverse ratio to the demand: such, however, unhappily, would seem to be the case with respect to dramatic literature. At a time when our larger theatres are closed, and all theatrical property is pronounced to be in a state of hopeless depression, the press is teeming with tragedies the last month alone has placed three upon our table. The bards in these days must be more than ordinarily

"Sublime of hope and confident of fame,"

who can venture before the public, in the teeth of the discouragements which beset and surround literature of every grade and description; but the modern dramatic writer is the boldest of the bold. It may be for there is no preface to help our conjectures-that the piece immediately under our consideration was not written with a view to its production on the stage-and we hope for the author's sake that it was not-as he will in that case have been spared a disappointment which only one of a thousand candidates for dramatic honours can be expected to escape. We say this, however, without disparagement to the drama before us, but with reference to the chances of success open even to the most gifted. The principal, and if we may apply the phrase in a personal sense, the most picturesque character in this drama is Thomas à Becket, one of those extraordinary men who stand out so prominently in history, that time, instead of impairing, adds to the boldness of the relief; men whose vices and obliquities have been almost cast into the shade by the splendour of their ability and constancy of purpose.

This is evidently not the production of an unpractised pen-the

dialogue flows easily and naturally, and many of the scenes are managed with great dramatic effect.

The soliloquy of Becket, in the opening of the fifth scene of the second act, is a good specimen of our author's powers.

SCENE V.-Room in the Archbishop's Palace at Canterbury.

Becket (alone.) Twice perjured! faithless to my plighted word,
And to mine order! When my very soul
Was secular, and of all holy things

I thought unworthily, I used to say
It was a monkish dream, a phantasy,
To talk of evil spirits tempting man:

But now I know there are such beings; else,
Could I, of all men, I, have thus in cowardice
And lack of faith, abjured my sacred trust?
Oh, if temptation would remain upon us,
In its full power, as when it bows us down,
Absorbing all our faculties !-

But no, amidst the writhings of remorse,
Whate'er we feel, let truth be truth, and let
Us know, O God, the sinners that we are.
No! it is no excuse to say I did it

From righteous fear of bloodshed; none, whatever :
Kings, princes, bishops, what are all their lives,
What are the lives of all of us compared
To one man's one sin? I'll lay aside at once
My sacred functions, put an interdict

Upon myself I will. I marvel—

Enter an Attendant.

Let him come in.

Attendant. A messenger from court.

Archbishop Becket.

Enter Messenger, who gives the Archbishop a citation to appear before the
Parliament at Northampton.

Archbishop Becket. A fitting answer I will send. [Exit Messenger.
They cite me

To appear before the council at Northampton;

And there I will appear: but never more

King, prelate, earl, or any earthly power,

Shall bend me from the narrow track shed down

On life's dark waters by that heavenly light,
Our only guide-not one hair's shadow's breadth.

[Exit.

We cannot, in passing, refrain from quoting a remark of one of the minor characters of the drama, on "the middle course," which, in spite of the classic maxim, “in medio tutissimus ibis," is rarely found to be a safe one :

Hugh. Thou art a marvellous wit. It is a pity so much merriment should be out of service, as thine is like to be soon, when thy master shall no longer be primate.

Michael. As thine hopes to be,-but look you, my good friend, you of York steer so carefully in midstream, that if your craft should be upset, you will find yourselves in deep waters, suddenly. These middle courses savour much of wisdom, or of care for one's dear self, neither of which are loved to an extreme. Mayhap, too, the best prudence is that which is never found out in a man.

The following scene, immediately preceding that of the murder of Becket, is spirited and characteristic:

SCENE VI.-Room in the Archbishop's Palace at Canterbury.

Enter ARCHBISHOP BECKET, JOHN OF SALISBURY, and Attendants. Archbishop Becket. And so these knights would see me from the King.

Admit them.

Enter REGINALD FITZURSE, WILLIAM DE TRACY, HUGH DE MOREVILLE, and RICHARD BRITO, with armed Attendants.

Fitzurse. We bring you orders from the King.
In private or in public will you hear them?
Archbishop Becket. Just as you please.

[Exeunt Attendants.

Fitzurse. We bid you, in your monarch's name, release

The excommunicated prelates.

Archbishop Becket.

Ho! here!

[Attendants enter.

Before them, hear my answer, insolent!

It is to Rome, and not to Canterbury,

You should have come. That sentence is the pope's,

Not mine. Go, menace him.

Fitzurse.

Thy doing.

Archbishop Becket.

It must have been

What His Holiness has done

In wisdom to avenge the injuries

The Church has undergone, does not displease me.

Fitzurse. You and your company, the king has said it,

Must leave this realm forthwith. Quit then.

Archbishop Becket. No, never shall the sea divide again
My church and me. The honour of the King

Forbids that this can be his message.

Fitzurse.

It is :

Archbishop Becket. Fitzurse, the King permitted me to seek
At the Pope's hands, for justice 'gainst those bishops,

Who have presumed to rob this see of mine
Of its just rights. You must know this.

You heard it.