"Lo! Babylon has fallen, her palaces lie low,

O'er many a faded building the silent waters flow;

Unseen by man they linger, like thoughts beneath the breast,

Which lurk in gloomy quiet, but ne'er may be confessed.

"Twas here her bridges proudly braved Euphrates' sweeping tide,
Their day is gone, no longer the stately ship may glide
Between the lofty arches, or by the marble pier;

The breeze is all that curls the wave, and solitude is here.
See yonder grassy mountain, 'twas there a temple stood,
Now o'er the prostrate ruins the turf has drawn its hood;
Beneath its shapeless masses the wild beast makes his den,
And walks his midnight vigil in streets that know not men;
The owlet's shriek rings wildly when evening casts its gloom,
As spirits of the dead bewailed their fallen city's doom.
Unconsciously the mind beholds these scenes restored again,
Her kings and warriors pass before the eye in mingled train.
Where stood her gates of brass? and her mountain bulwarks where?
Where rolled her chariots beneath her gardens hung in air?
No more to cool the breezes her bubbling fountains shine,
No more her golden vases hold their floods of rosy wine :
The hum of bustling nations, the feast, the dance, have fled,

And thrice a thousand years have cast their shadows o'er the dead :
They sleep, and who shall wake them? no sculpture marks their grave,
They lie, as lie the valiant beneath the rolling wave.

The Arab fears to pasture his flocks upon thy site,

The footprint of the lion warns the shepherd boy to flight.

Thus wealth and power must perish, and beauty's bloom decay,
Nor one faint line remain to show the tomb wherein they lay."

It is, altogether, a volume that does much for the author's fame, and promises more.

Monomania. BY DRY NURSE.

The author of " Monomania" has adopted the popular, and, albeit not subscribers to the vox populi vox Dei doctrine, we think the right view of the question; and we sincerely wish, for the sake not only of our "noble queen," but of our "lives and safeties all," that the poem had the power of an act of parliament. It is possible-scarcely probable that there are those of the writing, as well as of the reading generation, who have not read Byron; but, if there be, our author is not among the number. But we would say that he has rather caught the spirit than imitated the style of the great bard in his mirth and mischief. There are point and pungency in almost every stanza of this poem, and this is no mean praise.

"Imbecility," says our satirist, is

"A game certificate for shooting men."

The evidence of the "mad doctors," a common but most happy epithet, is most cleverly versified.

"No matter,' say the doctors, that he knows

The difference which exists 'twixt wrong and right;

No matter, if the bullet as it goes

Through your sane carcase, chance to kill you quite;

No matter if he stops to blow his nose
Before he fires, to try and clear his sight;
Such trifles are no matter-for, alack!
The wretched man's a Monomaniac!

'He is not mad, and yet he is not sane,
A morbid sort of ante-hanging feeling
Affects his understanding, and 'tis plain

To us (the faculty) there has been stealing
Across the prisoner's unsteady brain

Some flights of fancy which were past concealing,
And therefore we have come to this conclusion-
"The prisoner labours under some delusion.'

"Tis true he can distinguish right from wrong,
(Except when inconvenient to perceive it)
"Tis likewise true, strange fantasies belong

6

To his disease, though some may not believe it,
The fancy he adopted was so strong,

Except restrain'd by force, he could not leave it.
Some one had something done which did not suit him,
Which naturally made him wish to shoot him.

'On matters unconnected with this whim

Of shooting those with whom he was offended,
He was quite sane; you'd find no fault with him
On other subjects; his disease extended,
Poor man! no further than to life and limb;

His fancy went thus far, and there it ended:
He simply had a wish, with gun or knife,

To take, if possible, a human life.

For thirty years I've tended the insane,

And never yet have been deceived by any;

These thirty years have not been passed in vain,
I walked the hospitals in Aberg'enny,

And I pronounce with confidence and pain,

Of sane folks in the world there are not many;
And certainly, the prisoner at the bar,

Of all this company 's the maddest far.'"

We reluctantly close a volume which far outstrips, in all the essen. tials of a satire, anything that has appeared for many years, and stamps the author as a genius of no common order. We cannot doubt that the success of this publication will be such as to tempt the writer again into the field.

Hydropathy. The Theory, Principles, and Practice of the Water Cure shown to be in accordance with Medical Science and the Teachings of Common Sense. Illustrated with many Important Cases. By EDWARD JOHNSON, M.D., author of "Life, Health, and Disease." With Nine Engravings.

Some years ago, we had the pleasure to introduce to our readers in "The Metropolitan" a series of valuable letters on medical science,

entitled "Letters to Brother John," which were afterwards collected and published in a separate form, under the title of "Life, Health, and Disease." These letters were written by Dr. Johnson. Whilst we congratulate the author on the public appreciation of his labours, observing the sixth edition announced, our readers will be prepared for our having been somewhat prepossessed in favour of the volume before us. We were so, and we are happy to state we have not been at all disappointed. In the discussion of his present subject, we recognise the same sound judgment and philosophical acuteness which distinguished Dr. Johnson's former production. Much as the "Water Cure" is now talked of, it is gratifying to possess a volume like the present.

In his preface the Doctor informs us, that, in the autumn of last year, Captain Claridge, who first introduced the Water Cure to England, having seen his work, "Life, Health, and Disease," and being struck with its views, called on him, and the result of this inter view was, that he determined to visit Graefenburg. He did so, and there witnessed the practice, felt convinced of its importance, and determined to communicate the conclusions he had come to in the work before us. Our readers will not expect from us a detail of the subject in our brief space; in fact, this would not be possible, for the whole is a continued series of principles and deductions. The result, however, is, that the Doctor is fully persuaded that in the Water Cure a remedy of great power is pointed out, and that it only requires discretion in the use of it to render it a lasting and extensive benefit. Alluding to the objections which have been raised, he thus concludes. "There is no well-educated medical man in England who dare, for his reputation's sake, refuse to admit, that a remedy which can produce (at will) the most profuse perspiration, and which can (also at will) lower the temperature and the velocity of the heart's action to any given degree (even to the extinction of life)-I say there is no well-educated man who dare deny that such a remedy must possess an immense power over diseases of all kinds."

A Short Treatise on Life Assurance, with the Rates of all the Offices in London, Mutual, Mixed, and Proprietary, alphabetically arranged. By FREDERIC LAWRANCE, Esq., Secretary to a Fire Office.

We wish this treatise were in the hands of the head of every family in the kingdom. It supplies just that kind of information and advice which it is so desirable should be universally known. The short preface is so explanatory of the nature and objects of this valuable little work, that we cannot do better than copy it.

"To remedy a complaint so often made, that in all the works hitherto published on the science of life assurance, technicalities have so abounded as to render the greater part of the matter almost unintelligible to the general reader, for whose information and guidance they purposed to be published,' the author has been induced to attempt a condensed but explanatory treatise, showing the rise and progress of life assurance-its great benefit to the assured whilst living, and to his friends and relatives at his decease-its applicability to every contingency which can possibly occur in mercantile operations-showing the mode by which any descrip

tion of life policy may be effected, and the way to do so, with the rates of all the offices in London at present in existence, alphabetically arranged; so that the whole subject may be made clear and instructive, and, if possible, entertaining to the general reader, in the hope that numbers may be brought to consider the question seriously who have never yet entertained a thought on the important advantages and utility of life assurance, and may be induced to enrol themselves amongst those already assured. With this object, and solely with a view to increase the number of policy holders, this small work is published at a price (one shilling) which must come within the means of thousands of persons. The author most distinctly wishes it to be understood that he does not intend to advocate the interest of any one particular office, each will be allowed to stand on its own merits, and no doubt will meet with the proper proportion of business arising from an increased knowledge of the science."

To this fair and liberal purpose we wish all success-we should be happy to see every individual made perfectly aware of the value and importance of the subject. Here the science is divested of those abstruse calculations on which its deductions are necessarily founded, and with a view to its practical application only has Mr. Lawrance addressed himself in this very able and judicious little treatise. There are some admirable closing remarks, from which we take the following:

"In conclusion, I would call upon all men dispassionately to consider a subject, the vital import of which is paramount to almost all other earthly considerations, and from which the beneficent effects are appreciated and acknowledged by others, when he who has been the happy cause of their bestowal shall have sunk into the silent tomb. Let not the selfish question be urged, What good will it do to me? a man, young, healthy, vigorous, suddenly dies-no time allowed him to accumulate a hoard; and with him goes from the home, comfort and independence. But had he assured-but for a day-the widow's and the orphan's tears of love and gratitude would again and again gush forth long after the heart that loved them had ceased to beat."

The Teeth Physiologically considered; their Development, Disease, Preservation, and Replacement. BY SAMUEL GHRIMES, SURGEONDENTIST.

"So much has already been said," the author informs us, “and written upon the Teeth, that this work may appear a superfluity; yet when I have considered the empiricism that has existed in the profession the attempts of many authors to enveil these organs in a degree of mystery-whilst the works of others more capable of disseminating knowledge have gone too far into the depths of science for the general reader, yet few contained sufficient information fur the student, and added to this have been published in a form, and at a price, that would at once prevent their popularity: I have conceived the idea that a work which should give a general dissertation on a subject of such importance to every individual, was not entirely uncalled for; but whether I have accomplished that object, or whether such were in reality the case, has yet to be decided by that ordeal—the public. It would, therefore, be but an error of judgment were I to review my own production in a preface." Certainly. But

Mr. Ghrimes appears to have been acting altogether under a wrong impression, for we could point him to many works, the object of which has not been "to enveil these organs in a degree of mystery" to others, which have not " gone too far into the depths of science for the general reader," and to many more which contain ample "information for the student." We confess we dislike this mode of disparaging predecessors, and we are, moreover, compelled to add, if the deficiencies here imagined did exist, the present is evidently not the writer to supply them. The phraseology is throughout cumbrous and grotesque in the extreme; and at page 59 we read of gum-bile! -a new disease added to our catalogue.

The Chinese Exhibition.

We have before referred to this admirable collection with well-merited applause, but we do so on the present occasion for the purpose of offering a suggestion. We have heard it said that persons in the middle class often deny themselves the pleasure of witnessing this interesting assemblage on account of the price of admission. Now we do not mean to imply that it is unnecessarily high, considering the great expense incurred, but what we would suggest is, might not the amount contributed be much greater, and the knowledge which the collection is calculated to convey be much more widely diffused if it were lower? We know this was a question with the proprietors of an exhibition of a somewhat kindred character, and the conclusion was in favour of the many. The result proved the soundness of the view, the consequence being an immense and continued increase in the number of visitors. Might not this be the case with the Chinese Exhibition? We merely put it as a question, desiring to see this unique collection resorted to by all who feel an interest in this immensely populous, most singular, and, until of late, isolated people.

LITERARY NEWS.-WORKS IN PROGRESS.

The third edition of Dr. M'Pherson's "NARRATIVE OF THE WAR IN CHINA" is nearly ready; it is to be illustrated by plates, one of which is a portrait of the author, in the costume of a Mandarin.

Dr. Cartwright's "MEMOIRS" will be published early in the present month.

A gentleman has in the press a new Poem, entitled "THE POWER OF ASSOCIATION," a truly poetical subject, and we understand as poetically treated.

"THE BURGOMASTER OF BERLIN" is not, we understand, to appear this month.

Mrs. Jameson's "GUIDE TO THE PRIVATE PICTURE GALLERIES" is not yet completed.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The Circassian Chief, a Romance of Russia. By W. H. G. Kingston. 3 vols post

8vo. 31s. 6d.

The Attaché, or Sam Slick in England. By the author of "The Clockmaker.” 2 vols, post 8vo. 21s.

Meredith. By the Countess of Blessington. 3 vols. post 8vo. 31s. 6d.

August 1843.-VOL. XXXVII.-- NO. CXLVIII.

R