Professor of Midwifery and the Diseases of Women and Children.-David Materia Medica and Pharmacy.-Anthony Todd Thomson, General Jurisprudence and International Law.-J. Austin, English Jurisprudence.-Andrew Amos, Barrister at Law, NEW PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.-This office having become vacant by the resignation of Sir Humphrey Davy, a meeting of the Society for the purpose of choosing a successor took place November 29, 1827, when Mr Davies Gilbert was elected President. BOCCACCIO.-Professor Ciampi has discovered, in the Ducal library at Florence, among the MSS. collected by the celebrated Magliabecchi, a memorandum-book of Boccaccio. This document contains a record of the studies of the author of the Decameron,' interspersed with a number of curious circumstances relating to the history of that distinguished novelist and his contemporaries. The MS. has been published with learned notes by Ciampi. ITALIAN COMEDY.-One of the most eminent among the dramatic writers of the nineteenth century in Italy, is Alberto Nota, a Piedmontese lawyer. He was born at Turin in 1775, and received a good education to qualify him for the degree of doctor of law. But nature had destined him rather for a comic poet than a civilian; and his favourite authors were Molière and Goldoni. Even in his childhood he amused himself in adapting their scenes to a little theatre for puppets. At the age of ten he composed sketches of comedies, which he afterwards recited to his school-fellows. His dramatic studies did not, however, prevent him from exercising official employments, both in the criminal court at Turin, and in some departments of public administration. In 1811 he was nominated deputy imperial procurator at Verceil. These circumstances are deserving of attention, as Signor Nota appears to have profited by the opportunities which his professional situations afforded him for making observations on some of the characters developed, with a strict regard to truth and nature, in his comedies. Having been deprived of office, he was obliged for two years to have recourse to his pro fession as an advocate; but, at length, after some reverses of fortune, he obtained the administration of several districts, and at present he is director of that of St Remo, which formerly made a part of the republic of Genoa. Signor Nota commenced his career as a dramatist in 1802, and his first essays procured him the approbation of those celebrated literati, Paradisi and Monti. He has since justified the favourable opinion they had conceived of him, by the works which he has successively submitted to the notice of the public. No less than ten editions of his comedies have been printed between 1816 and 1826, of which that of Turin, 1818, is said to be the best; though the last edition is more complete, as containing three new pieces, La Pace Domestica,' Domestic Concord; 'I Dilettanti Comici,' The Comic Amateurs; and Amor Timido,' Timid Love. Among the best of Signor Nota's productions are, I Primi Passi al Mal Costume,' The First Steps to Corruption of Manners; Il Progettista,' The Projector; and Ammalato per Immaginazione,' The Imaginary Sick Man. Some of his pieces, which have been exhibited at the Italian theatres, have not yet been printed; and of one of his inedited compositions, (the subject of which is the attachment of the celebrated Tasso to the princess Leonora, sister of the Duke of Ferrara,) report speaks in terms of high commendation.Revue Encyclopédique. 6 No. II.-NEW PUBLICATIONS. 1.-Biography. SIR JONAH BARRINGTON's Personal Sketches of his own Times, being his individual Recollections of distinguished Personages, remarkable Events, High Life, and Irish Manners, for the last Fifty Years. 2 vols. 8vo. Reminiscences of Thomas Dibdin, of the Theatres-Royal Drury Lane, Covent Garden, &c. 2 vols. 8vo. Private Memoirs of Sir Kenelme Digby, Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Charles I, written by himself; including the Secret History of his romantic Attachment to the beautiful but unfortunate Lady Venitia Stanley: now first published from the original MS. with an introductory Memoir. 4to. The Tale of a Modern Genius, or the Miseries of Parnassus. 3 vols. 12mo. This is an autobiographical memoir of Mr J. F. Pennie, the author of two epic poems, a tragedy, and various other works, which have failed to procure him those honours and profits which he fondly anticipated as the reward of his labours. His narrative ist interesting, and may be instructive to those who have yet to learn that industry is the surest road to wealth and independence; and that those who wish to derive pecuniary advantage from their literary talents must consult the taste of the public. Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Opinions of Dr Samuel Parr. By the Rev. W. Field. 8vo. with a Portrait. Musical Reminiscences of an Old Amateur, chiefly respecting the Italian Opera in England for fifty years, from 1773 to 1823. The second edition, continued to the present time. London, 1827, 8vo.This work, which comprises much amusing and some important information relative to the biography of modern musical composers and performers, is attributed to the Earl of Mount Edgecumbe. The Life of Carl Theodore Körner (written by his Father), with Selections from his Poems, Tales, and Dramas. Translated from the German, by G. F. Richardson, author of Poetic Hours.' 2 vols. 8vo. -The subject of this memoir, after studying at Fribourg, Leipsic, and Berlin, was appointed poet to the court theatre of Vienna. When the Germans rose in arms against the oppressor of Europe, on his retreat from his Russian expedition, Körner was one of the first to take arms. He entered as a volunteer into the corps of Lutzow, fought with energy and heroism, and being wounded by a musket-shot, fell dead on the field, in the neighbourhood of Schwerin, on the 26th of August 1813. These Selections' are made from the seventh collective edition of the works of Körner, published at Leipsic in 1823, 5 vols. 8vo. Memoir of Mr Thomas Holloway the Engraver, published by one of his Executors, 1827, 8vo. Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Character, Literary, Professional, and Religious, of the late John Mason Good, M. D. &c. By Dr Olinthus Gregory, Professor of Mathematics in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, &c. 8vo. These memoirs are divided into three sections, in the first of which the author has traced the leading incidents in Dr Good's life, and endeavoured to show their influence in the formation of his intellectual, literary, and professional character; in the second, he has given analyses of greater or less fulness, according to the nature and interest of the subjects, of his principal published works, as well as of two which are yet unpublished; and in the third, he has endeavoured to mark the changes in his religious sentiments, and to trace, so far as he was able, the connexion between the circumstances in which he was successively placed, the trains of emotion which they occasioned, and their permanent issue in the avowal of sentiments which have always been found powerfully influential upon the conduct, and evinced their complete and undisputed energy upon his. Such is the statement of the plan and objects of his work, which Dr Gregory has given in his preface. The third section is likely to excite but little interest, except among persons whose religious sentiments coincide with those of Dr Good and his biographer; and we can hardly help lamenting that it was not altogether omitted, or greatly abridged, to make room for details and anecdotes illustrative of the personal and professional character of one who displayed a striking example of ability as a physician, and industry as an author. The Modern Jesuits, a biographical work: translated from the French of L'Abbé Martial Marcet de la Roche Arnauld. By Emile Lepage. 12mo. A Second Volume of Reminiscences; with a Correspondence between the late Dr Parr and the Author. By Charles Butler, Esq. 8vo.-The first volume of this publication appeared in 1822. The Life of Grotius, and a succinct Account of the Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of the Netherlands. By Charles Butler. 8vo. Historical Enquiries respecting the Character of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellor of England. By the Hon. Geo. Agar Ellis. 8vo. Public Characters of the present Time: vol. 1st, 12mo.--These cursory biographical sketches relate chiefly to persons of eminence in the state, or on the bench; but the votaries of literature and science are not excluded, and the present portion of the work contains notices of Mr Abernethy and Dr Birkbeck. Annual Biography and Obituary for 1828: vol. xii. 8vo. Mems, Maxims, and Memoirs. By William Wadd, Esq. F. L.S. Surgeon Extraordinary to the King. 1827, 8vo. This work is arranged in three departments: the first is a chronological record; the second consists of remarkable facts in the history of medicine; and the third, of personal anecdotes. The memoirs include a series of medical practitioners, from Sir Theodore Mayerne, physisian to James I, to the late Dr William Woodville, physician to the small-pox hospital at St Pancras. A few years ago Mr Wadd published a work, entitled Nuga Chirurgica, consisting, like the present, of contributions to medical biography. The Gold-headed Cane: with numerous wood engravings of portraits and subjects of interest. 8vo.-This is another collection of professional anecdotes, strung together by means of a fiction somewhat similar to that adopted in Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea.' Those celebrated physicians, Radcliffe, Mead, Askew, Pitcairn, and Baillie, are the successive owners of the gold-headed cane, which, on retiring from active service, like other veterans, employs its leisure in compiling reminiscences of its masters and their contemporaries. Memoirs of Pestalozzi; being the substance of a Lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, Albemarle street, May, 1826, by the Rev. C. Mayo, LL.D. Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. 2nd edit. 1828, 8vo. Sketches in Biography, designed to shew the Influence of Literature on Character and Happiness. By John Clayton, Esq. 12mo. Lord Byron and his Contemporaries. By Leigh Hunt. 4to. The Life of Edward Jenner, M.D., F.R.S., Physician Extraordinary to the King, &c. with Selections from his Correspondence. By John Baron, M.D., F.R.S. 8vo. The Life of Sir Julius Cæsar, Knt. with Memoirs of his Family and Descendants. By Edmund Lodge, Norroy King at Arms. 4to. The Life, Diary, and Correspondence of Sir William Dugdale, Knight, sometime Garter Principal King at Arms. Edited by William Hamper, Esq. F.S.A. 4to. The Religion of Christ the Religion of Nature. Written in the condemned cells of Newgate. By Jorgen Jorgenson, late Governor of Iceland. 8vo.-This work is accompanied by a biographical preface, from which it appears that Jorgenson was born at Copenhagen, of humble parentage, in 1780; and after having been engaged in the mercantile sea-service, he returned home in 1806. In the late war he commanded a Danish privateer, and being captured off Flamborough Head, he was allowed his freedom on parole in London; when he left this country clandestinely, and went to Iceland, where the people being discontented with the Danish government, a revolution took place, and Jorgenson himself became governor. He was however displaced, arrested, and brought to England. After having been committed to the hulks at Chatham, he was again allowed his liberty on parole, and ordered to Reading, where he experienced all the evils of vice and poverty. After several vicissitudes, he was convicted of theft in May 1820; but afterwards liberated, on condition of leaving the country within a certain period. He exceeded the time, was arrested, and sentenced to death, which punishment was commuted for transportation; and after remaining some time in Newgate, he was, in October 1825, banished to New South Wales for twenty-one years. Dictionnaire Historique, ou Histoire Abrégée des Hommes qui se sont fait un nom par leur Génie, leurs Talens, leurs Vertus, leurs Erreures, ou leurs Crimes, depuis le commencement du Monde, jusqu'à nos Jours. Par l'Abbé F. X. de Feller. Septième edition. T. iii. et iv. Paris 1827. 8vo. These volumes, with the two preceding them, published in the beginning of the same year, form the commencement of a reimpression of a biographical compilation by a Flemish Jesuit, first printed in 1781, and since augmented by succeeding writers. The present edition contains a great number of new articles, as well as corrections and improvements of the old ones. The first article in volume iii. is BETTINELLI, and the last in volume iv. is CIMON; whence it appears that the plan of the work, as now arranged, must be very extensive. Biographie Universelle, Ancienne et Moderne, ou Histoire, par Ordre Alphabétique, de la Vie Publique et Privée de tous les Hommes qui VOL. I.-NO. I. |