The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-06-05 00:00:00

LITkIIATUI?E.

The Naturalist's f ibrarg Conducted by Sir William
Jardine, Rat., &c. &e. Entorno
logy. Vol. Beetles. . Br James, Duncan, Member
of the Wernerian Society,. &c. Edinburgh, W. H.
Lizars;,.Liverpool, Grape'.
The eighth volume of the series, and the second oft
Entomology, has just been placed in our hands, and in ad-
dition to the favourable notices we have already given, we
have only to say that the present beautiful and interesting
volume has at kast •equal claims spun public patronage
with any •of the preceding ones. The-frontispiece is a
very spirited portrait of that eminent .naturalist John
Ray. The vignette is exquisitely beautiful. And it is
impossible not to feel admiration and even astonishment
at the 'labour, the research, and the minute detail evinced
in rendering the work not only so perfect but so intelligi-
ble to the general reader. The object of the work will
be best explained in the following extract from the intro-
duction to the present volume :
In prosecution of our design- to illustrate all the principal
branches of zoology, we non lay before our readers a volume
on entomology, being the fourth department of the animal king-
dom to which the Naturalist's Library now extends. Seven
volumes on ve7^tebrate animals have been published, viz., four on
orni- hology, two on the mainnialia, and one on icthvolog.y.; and
it gives us pleasure to know that our work is continually rising in
the estimation of the public, a.circumstance evinced by the In-
creasing-sales of every successive volume, which have reached
an extent greatly surpassing our most sanguine expectations.
In the noinerous and infinitely varied objects which this
di 7ision presents to our notice are to be found ample materials
for pictorial representation, as well as most interesting historical
details; and it may be safely affirmed that figured illustrations
are much more needed in relation to them than in the case of
the higher animals. While the latter have been rendered fa-
miliar to most in their general figure and attributes, both
through the medium of hooks and by the frequent exhibition of
living examples, comparatively few attempts have been made
to make us acwiainted with' the forms and appearance of the
latter of anature at all calculated to be accessible to the general
public. This is particularly the case with entomology; for,
while the descriptive and historical parts of the subject have
been worthily treated in several cheap publications, represen-
tations of the'objects' themselves are still to be sought in scarce
and costly volumes, which are only to be found in the hands of
the professed student of the science, and in many cases areeven
beyond his reach.' Hence it has followed that a knowledge of
the properties and habits of insects has become much more
general than an acquaintance with their specific forms—that
most school-boys, for example, are familiar with the curious
proceedings of the burying‘beetle, while few of them could re-
cognise it if it happened to cross their path: In these circum-
stances,' we trust that we have performed an acceptable service
by furnishing a volume so copiously illustrated, at a price alto-
gether unprecedented among' publicatiOns on this subject. No
pains have been spared to render it, deserving of the favour so
liberally accorded. to the rest of our series; and, when it is
borne in mind that no fewer than one hundred and ten insects
are represented; almost entirely from nature, no one at all ac-
quainted with the expense of preparing original drawings, and
of engraving and colouring so many objects, will fail to appre-
ciate its beauty and cheapness.

A Vindication of the Right of the Bishops to Sit and
Vote in the House of Peers. By the' Reverend Peter
Heylyn, D., with Introductory Remarks on the
features of the present. time, as compared with those of
the period just preceding the Cival Wars in England.
London : William Pickering, and Whittaker and Co.
This pamphlet, we believe, has been in print before, but
in another Enna, and, we have no doubt, has been exten-
sively read. The introductory remarks, however, are, we
unsterstand, from the pen of a very able and intelligent
clergyman of the church of Engl ind, and they are entitled
to the attention of thcse who wish to avert a revolution,
and preserve to our successors the most sacred institution
of the country. The following extracts will give to the.
.reader some idea of the reverend gentleman's argument
and his principles:—
In the heart-rending sufferings of a great nation we recognise
something like a retributive justice, awarded by that righteous
and superintending Being who, in; the exercise of his moral
government of the world, presides over the destinies of empires,
and: so ordains that nations as well as individuals " shall eat
'of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own de-
vices." Their sin is, by a process of divine wisdom and equity,
'converted into their punishment. To the clamour of a mis-,
guided people, modernly designated "the pressure from with-
'out," excited by designing, selfish, and ambitious demagogues
for their own ultimate advantages, Charles the First abandoned.
his faithful minister, (Strafford,)—a loyal, upright, conscien-
tious subject, and, gradually, the church of God.; and, in,return,
he became a victim tothe same crafty and furious adversaries.
The House of Peers yielded to the same clamour, by abolishing
`part of itself to gratify the popular leaders, and vainly hoping
to save its remaining portion, .and in its turn received from
those leaders the reward of its unprincipled and pusillanimous
compromise. The nation, deluded by pretensions and promises.
yielded up itself to the sinuous guidance of demagogues, and
was amply recompensed with the loss of every thing dear to
itself and beneficial to its welfare. And for nearly twenty years
the nation abundantly reaped the bitter fruits of its disloyalty,
rebellion, fanaticism, and infidelity.
The mistaken, not to say impious, policy that established reli-
gious institutions of tried and generally approved character
must be sacrified to promote or to preserve some imagined or
even real civil good is an expediency which not less marks a
godless mind than indicates the abandonment ofa nation to some
impending and righteous judgment. "Them that honour me, I
will honour; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteem-
ed," has been declared by Him who can turn into foolishness
the sagest human counsels, and prostrate to the dust the loftiest
empire. The promise and the admonition are not less applica-
ble to states than to jndividuals. And woe to that professedly
christian state, whefa its rulers and councillors, suspended and
oscillating between the adoption of some political expedient and
the preservation of the religious institutions of their country, so
far forget the honour and abandon the cause of the King of
kings as to pronounce the impioui fiat, "THE CHURCH MUST
co." Charles and his councillors were prevailed upon to adopt
the sacrilegious policy. Louis the XVI. followed the fatal step.
But the concession or rather sacrifice of principle by both mo-
narchs, so far front averting, only secured the dreaded catas-
trophe. In France in the eighteenth, as in England in the-
seventeenth century, " the church fell among the first victims
of spoliation, as having the least power to resist."
* *
It may be, and it frequently is urged, that the church can he
in no danger now since its ministers of every grade, as a body,
are so exemplary in their lives, so assiduous in their pastoral
duties, so well qualified for their high and holy vocation, and
daily becoming more deeply rooted in the hearts of their flocks.
But it must not be assumed that these valuable qualities which
adorn the clerical profession are adapted to soften the rage or
abate the hostility of the church's adversaries. The contrary
effect is produced, and naturally produced, inasmuch as the ob-
ject of those adversaries is removed to a greater distance, and .
rendered more difficult of attainment. In a former black era
of our national history excellency of character was no defence
to the calumniated clergy from the malevolence of the wicked
and the hypocrite. The testimony in favour of the persecuted
clerical order in the seventeenth century is invaluable, because
awarded by one who cannot be even suspected of prejudice in
favour of the church or its ministers. " The epithet of the
' ignorant and vicious priesthood' was commonly applied to all
churchmen addicted to the established discipline and worship,
though the episcopal clergy in England during that age seem
to have been, as they are at present, sufficiently learned and
exemplary." But "the severities exercised against the episco-
pal clergy" were such as " naturally affected the royalists, and
even all men of candour, in a sensible manner. lly the must
moderate computation it appears that one-half of the established
clergy had been turned out to beggary and want for no other
crime than their adhering to the civil and religious principles
iu which they had been educated, and for their attachment to
those laws under whose countenance they had at first embraced
that profession." "The sacred character which gives the priest-
hood such authority over mankind, becoming more venerable
from the sufferings endured for the sake of principle by these
distressed royalists, aggravated the general indignation against
their persecutors."

Stanfield's Coast Scenery ; a series of views in the Bri-
tish Channel, and on the coasts of Eno-land,Scotland,
•. b
Ireland, France, Germany, and other picturesquepor-
lions of the European continent. From original
drawings taken expressly for the work. By Clarkson
Stanfield, Esq., R.A. Dedicated, by permission, to
the-King. London : Smith, Elder, and Co.
The title of this work perfectly explains what it is. In
the first number .we are presented with four engravings
by C. Stanfield. First, St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall ;
second, St. Michael's Mount, Normandy; third, Fal-
mouth ; and fourth, Botallack Mine, in Cornwall. The
scenery is well selected, with the exception of Falmouth,
which is a decided failure. The plates arc executed with
,great care and ability, and the historical remarks are
highly interesting.

A Bioaraphical Dictionary,. containing Lives c..9' the
most Enrinent Persons of all Ages and Nations.—
By E. Belichambers, Esq. London : Bell and Co. ;
Simpkin and Marshall.
This is a very useful work, and will no doubt be exten-
sively circulated, although we must confess that we should
not have esteemed it the less had the compiler dispensed
with the 320 plates which he is facetious enough to call
portraits. However, these very defects may prove the
greatest attraction to children ; if. so, all is right.