Though in our temperate climate, the injurious effect of extreme heat on wool is not greatly to be apprehended, yet the author thinks it should not be neglected, and lays it down as a maxim, that in proportion to the regularity of temperature, in which sheep are kept, and to the regular supply of nourishment which they receive, the fibres of the wool will preserve a regular even fineness. re In the fifth chapter Mr. Bakewell gives a physiological account of the nature of wool, hair, silk, feathers, and horn; shewing that they are formed of the same substance, and that all, except feathers, grow in nearly the same manner: from the microscopical observations of Lewenhoeck, afterwards repeated by Mr. Bakewell, each fibre of hair and wool appears to be formed of a number of fine filaments united by a common tegument or skin; and from the experiments of Monge and others relative to the operation of felting, these fibres are proved to have certain sharp projections pointing towards their roots, which permit them to move freely in one direction, but prevent their turn; their existence is manifest, from this species of motion always occurring on rubbing them between the fingers, though they are so very minute as not to be visible by the most powerful microscopes; some suppose them to be pointed like thorns growing from a briar, but others with more reason imagine them to be sharp edged zones, somewhat conical, each lapping a little over the one next beneath it, in the same way as these observed at the roots of horns. This conformation is the cause of felting; for the fibres of wool curling and twisting naturally in all directions, are interwoven, by repeated pressures, from their being only capable of advancing but not of returning, until the resistance from the hooks and angles, formed by the curls, prevent their having any further progress but straight fibres, as those of fur, are incapable of felting in their natural state, because they do not interweave on pressure, but only proceed directly forward and pass by each other; but by dipping them in a mercurial solution they become twisted, and then felt equally well as wool. To prove the truth of this theory Mr. Bakewell tried the following experiment, which it is best to relate in his own words. "I took a staple of coarse wool, of considerable length, with the hairs lying regularly in one direction. At the distance of an inch from each end, I made a tight ligature with a thread; I measu red the middle of the staple between the threads, and then proceeded to miil it, by compressing it with my hand in a sotinued the operation until each end of lution of soap and warm water. I conthe staple beyond the thread was felted into a hard knob or button, which could not be separated by the fingers. The middle of the staple remained unfelted, the hairs quite distinct from each other, and it was not in the least shortened by the process, either in the wet state or when dried. In the middle part of the staple, between the two threads, the being tied, and could not acquire the rehairs were kept in the same direction by trograde motion, or adhere by the surfa hairs at the end of the staple being at ces catching hold of each other. The liberty to double and move in different directions, were soon felted together into a smooth hard and round knob, in which the ends or points of the wool were entirely buried." The felting quality of wool the author supposes may be injured by lime, both by its causticity destroying the minute ridges, or edges of the zones, on which its felting quality depends, and by making it harder, drier, and less supple. Some interesting observations are inserted in this chapter, on those animals which produce a fine fur or wool beneath a coarse covering of hair, and of the value of the fine wool produced in this way on the south sea seal from which Messrs. Fryers, of Rastrick near Halifax, inanufacture cloth and those beautiful shawls which exceed in softness those of India or Persia. The sheep of Buenos Ayres produce a fine wool in this manner, beneath a coarser fleece; the external wool is as remarkable for its great length of staple, which is in many instances twenty inches long, as the short internal wool is for fineness; which latter has nearly the appearance of the coarser kinds of Vigonia wool; a breed of oxen is also found near Hudson's bay, which produces a finer and softer wool than that of the Vicuna; the introduction of these animals into England Mr. Bakewell earnestly recommends, and takes occasion from the remarks likely to be made on the apparent oddity of shearing wool from bullocks, to give a most just reprenension to the supercilious ignorant, who are but too common; surely ignorance can never appear in a more disgusting form than when it assumes the mask of wisdom. The following observations of Mr. Bakewell on this subject deserve particular no tice. "The sneer of assumed sapience may be excited by this suggestion accom panied by this exclamation 'what! shear wool from the backs of balls! "Wa sever any idea so preposterous Let us, however, bear in mind, that the horizon of ignorance is as contracted as the narrow bounds of its own limited experience: every thing beyond this is considered as absurd or impossi ble. Had these sapient sneerers lived in a period prior to the application of the labours of the silkworm to the lux ury or the convenience of man, with what contempt would they have treated the observer of Nature, who having re marked some of the properties of silk, and anticipated its use, had hence ventured to predict, that in some future age, the imperial purple, the royal mantle which was to invest the shoulders of the mightiest potentates, would be fabricated from the cobweb of a grub.” Mr. Bakewell also particularly recommends the different varieties of the Vicuna and the Pacos to attention, among the animals suited to our climate; the wool of the Vicuna cleared from hair is worth 30s, a pound, and the flesh is equal to venison: some of these animals are nearly white. They are found in latitudes much colder than ours in South America. A male and female of these valuable animals are now exhibiting in London; and it is much to be hoped, that Mr. Bakewell's recommendation will sufficiently interest some of the many active and intelligent improvers of breeds of useful animals, to prevent the present opportunity of continuing the breed of Vicu as in this country from being lost. In addition to Mr. Bakewell's observations on these animals, it may be of use to mention, that Byron, in his voyage round the world, states that he found a species of them at Port Desire in Patagonia, which is in 46° south latitude, and has a colder and more severe climate than England; their flesh was excellent meat, and they were of skin and offal. They are also large as to weigh 24 Cwt. exclusive found to be extremely useful in carrying burdens, and will travel long journies with a load of from 150 to 200 lbs. in places impassable to other animals. SO In the appendix Mr. Bakewell has inserted some further interesting observations on the effects of limestone and chalk, in different the advantage of the Merino breeds degrees of induration, on wool; on of sheep; on the natural casting of the fleece; the injurious effect of suffering wool to remain piled in an unwashed state; and on the necessity of shelter for sheep and cattle in this climate: he is particularly eloquent on the latter subject; and gives a most interesting picture of the effects of snow storms, on the Cheviot hills, and the fells of Westmoreland and Cumberland, and the still bleaker mountains of Scotland, beneath which whole flocks of sheep are frequently buried, and totally lost. The volume concludes with a postcript, which gives an account of Mr. Lasterie's directions for building sheep houses; of annual and biennial shearing; of the effect of the climate of St. Domingo on sheep; and of the judicious precautions of the ancients to preserve the whiteness of their wool; to which they were so attentive that they did not trust to the colour of the fleece alone, but carefully examined the mouth and tongue of the ram, and if the least blackness or swarthiness appeared, he was immediately rej cted from the flock, that he might not communicate the colour to the lambs; as appears from the following passage in Virgil.-Geo. III. 389. "Illum autem, quamvis aries sit candidus ipse, Nigra subest udo tantum cui lingua pa lato, Rejice, ne maculis infuscet vellera pulis Nascentum.". Mr. Bakewell earnestly recommends the same attention to wool growers in this country. In the next edition of this useful work we take for granted, that Mr. Bakewell will pay some attention to the arrangement of his materials; and by classing in separate heads the information which is now so scattered and mixed, so as to produce some confusion, make the whole more clear and impressive. We also beg leave to recommend to his notice the breeds of fine woolled sheep of Connemara in Ireland, and of Shetland; some account of which would add considerably to the interest and utility of his work; as they have the advantage of being inured to our climate, and might furnish some materials for proving (particularly the former instance) the beneficial effect of uniformity of temperature on the fineness and softness of wool. CHAPTER XVIII. MISCELLANIES. ART. 1. The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in Eighteen Volumes. Illustrated with Notes, Historical, Critical and Explanatory, and a Life of the Author, by WALTER SCOTT, Esq. 18 vols. 8vo. IT has long been a reproach to our nation, that while we have hardly a single writer of any repute whose works have not been collected together after his decease, and many even anticipate during their lifetime this important labour which naturally devolves upon their executors, a complete edition of Dryden (to whom, perhaps, our literature owes more than to any other individual author) did not exist; and we derived, in common with all the admirers of both, a great degree of pleasure from the intelligence that a real poet had it in his contemplation to erect so just and suitable a monument to one of the most venerable patriarchs of his art. Mr. works of Dryden, he found himself compelled to admit into the publication, and next notices some unfortunate circumstances which deprived him of the promised support of friends on whom he had relied for essential assistance in his undertaking. In consequence of this disappointment, he says, tion of his labours, and the consequence "HE has both to dread the imperfecof perhaps an over-zeal to render his edition complete. In the first respect, although he has many thanks to return for information readily afforded, it has sometimes been received after the irrevocable operations of the printer had taken place. On the second point, he may have been too lavish in historical notes, and entered too Scott may, perhaps, experience deeply into the secret history of the peramong his northern friends some cold salutations or averted courtenances for the want of proper national feeling which led him to engage in collecting the works of John Dryden, an Englishman and Anti-Covenanter; but his good sense must despise, as it has neglected, the narrow provincialism of feeling, which dictates so ridiculous an aspersion. We cannot fairly pass judgment on the mode in which Mr. Scott has executed his present task, without previously stating from his advertisement the general view with which he entered on the performance of it, the difficulties attending it, and the extent of his design in its accomplishment. He first apologizes for the number of coarse and immoral pieces which, as an editor of the entire sons and times to which Dryden's satirical Mr. Scott then expresses his obligations to particular friends for the valuable assistance of their libraries, and concludes by explaining his views in the introductory memoir concerning the life and writings of his author, which (considering the ample justice already done to the subject by former writers) must be allowed to be one of the most difficult tasks he had to perform, considering himself bound by the ancient and immemorial custom of editors to undertake it. With regard to the mass of information collected by Mr. Scott in his notes illustrative of Dryden's Political and Satirical Works, which, he seems to fear, may expose him to censure, as being too irrelevant or too indiscriminate, we can only say we know not how to quarrel with a proceeding which has been the means of affording us so much entertainment. It is not very easy to invent rules for the restriction of the editorial privilege in this respect; and to point out the particular instances of unnecessary detail or amplification would not be a very easy task, as no two judges perhaps would agree upon what ought to be retained and what rejected. With regard to the life of his author, if any reader could have expected any novelty of fact or anecdotes, after Malone's laborious investigations,all such expectations are, we think, sufficiently guarded against by Mr. Scott's own words on this subject; and, perhaps under the necessity which we must suppose him to have felt of writing something, he could not adopt a more judicious course than that which he has pursued. This "Biographical Memoir," as he calls it (which is, in fact, little more than a general critical survey of Dryden's writings as connected with his own peculiar circumstances and with the literary history of the age in which they were written) occupies the whole of the first volume; and, taken a separate piece, is, in our opinion, a very sensible, amusing, and well executed sketch of the subject, not the less interesting from its exhibiting the views and sentiments of a Poet with respect to the nature and degree of the obligations which he owes to as one of the first masters of his art. We must confess, that regarding this memoir as a sort of symbol of Mr. Scott's poetical doctrines, we observe with pleasure the genuine admiration which he seems to entertain for his great author, and the confidence with which he holds him up as the safest rule of faith for the direction of genius; since we may with some reason hope that what Mr. Scott sees and teaches, he may also be determined to practise; and nothing certainly can be better calculated to make him abjure those heresies in poetry of which he has been often, with too much justice, accused, than a true relish and habitual study of the real excellencies of Dryden. But while we express so favoura ble an opinion of Mr. Scott's performance, considering it alone and without reference to the general publication of which it forms a part, it is our duty to observe upon a vice of editorship, which we think highly deserving of censure; that, of all the ingenious and entertaining criticisms with which it abounds, there are hardly any which are not (almost totidem verbis) repeated in the several parts of these eighteen volumes containing the respective works to which they refer. Many of our readers were, very possi bly, as well as ourselves, somewhat startled at the first annunciation of "The Works of John Dryden in eighteen volumes;" but notwithstanding this apparent disproportion of bulk and matter, we should, for the reasons above mentioned, have passed over with very slight animadversion any editorial exuberances which could fairly have accounted for the phænomenon. But we think this indulgence should by no means be permitted to extend to needless repetitions or to the defence of open and undisguised book-making. We suspect that Mr. Scott has in fact incurred very |