7. Was ist, und was enthält eine Constitution? EMERICH VON LEGRADY. (What is a Constitution, and what is comprehended by it? By E. VON LEGRADY.) 8. Des Constitutionellen Oesterreichers Politischer Ka- ... 117 3. The 11 and 12 Vict., entitled, "An Act for promoting VI.-Travels in Siberia: including Excursions Northwards, down the Obi, to the Polar Circle; and Southwards, to the Chinese Frontier. By ADOLF ERMAN. Trans- lated from the German by WILLIAM DESBOROUGH Coo- LEY. In 2 vols. London: Longman and Co., 1818. 139 VII.-Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John Keats. IX. Die Reformation: ihre innere Entwicklung und ihre Wirkungen. (The Reformation: its Interior Deve- lopment and its Effects.) By J. DÖLLINGER. 3 vols. CONTENTS OF NO. L. ART. PAGE I. The Court and Times of Charles the First; illustrated by Authentic and Confidential Letters. Including Memoirs of the Mission in England of the Capuchin Friars in the Service of Queen Henrietta Maria. Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by the Author of "Memoirs of Sophia Dorothea," &c. 2 vols. 8vo. London: Colburn, 1848. 267 ... ... II. 1. The Irish Relief Measures, Past and Future. By G. 3. The Rights of Industry: or the Social Problem of 4. A Plea for Peasant Proprietors; with the Outlines 6. Copy of the Sixth Report of the Copyhold Commis- 7. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 48, An Act to facilitate the Sale of 8. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 153 (Local and Personal) An Act 9. Report from the Select Committee on the Farmers' ART. 10. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 120, An Act to facilitate the PAGE 11. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 132, An Act for the Appointment of Additional Taxing Masters for the High Court of Chancery in Ireland, and to regulate the Appointment of the Principal Assistants to the Masters in the Superior Courts of Law in Ireland. .. 284 III.-Geschicte der Ost-und westfränkischen Carlinger Vom Tode Ludwigs des Frommen bis zum Ende Conrads I. Von A. Fr. Gfrörer. [History of the Eastern and Western Frankishi Carolingian Monarchs, from the Death of Louis-le-Debonnaire, to the end of the Reign of Conrad I. By A. FR. GFRÖRER.] Two volumes. Freiburg, 1848. ... ... ... ... IV.-1. Graduale Romanum, Typis J. Hanicq, Mechlin, 2. Vesperale Romanum. Typis J. Hanicq, Mechlin, ... ... ... ... ... V.-Memorie dei più insegni pittori, scultori e architetti Domenicani. Del P. L. VINCENZO MARChese, dello spesso istituito. Firènze; Alchide Parenti. (Memoirs of the most celebrated Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, &c.) ... ... ... ... ... VI.-Memoir of William Ellery Channing, with extracts from his correspondence and manuscripts. 3 vols. London, Chapman, 1848. ... 345 371 386 406 VII. Memoirs and Correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh, second Marquess of Londonderry. Edited by his Brother, CHARLES VANE, Marquess of Londonderry, G.C.B., &c. Vols. 1 and 2. London: Colburn, 1848. 429 VIII-Practical Sermons, Preached in 1847-8; to which is added, a Sermon preached on a Special Occasion. By the Rev. F. OAKELEY, M. A. Svo. London: Burns, 1848. ... 454 IX.-Compitum; or the Meeting of the Ways at the Catholic Church. London, Dolman: 1848. ... X.-1. Annals of the Artists of Spain. By WILLIAM STIRLING, 2. Reports of the Commissioners on the Fine Arts; 5th, Notices of Books ... 478 ... 512 DUBLIN THE REVIEW. SEPTEMBER, 1848. ART. I.-Hekla og dens sidste Udbrud, den 2den September, 1845. En Monographi af J. C. SCHYTHE. (Hekla and its latest Eruption, on the 2nd of September, 1845. A Monograph by J. C. SCHYTHE.) 8vo. pp. 154. With 10 lithographed plates, and 2 maps. Copenhagen, 1847. BOUT two years ago, some imperfect notices appeared in the English journals, to the effect that the long slumbering volcano of Hekla, in Iceland, had again woke up into activity. From the Orkneys and Shetland Islands accounts were also received, that a shower of fine volcanic sand or dust, had fallen in September, 1845, in these remote portions of the British dominions, and that this phenomenon was probably occasioned by the outbreak of some volcano in the northern seas. Naturally enough, however, the subject attracted but little attention, except from a few scientific men, and the public was perfectly well satisfied with a representation of Mount Hekla in eruption, which appeared in one of the illustrated newspapers, where that volcano was depicted as a conical rock on the borders of the ocean, belching forth fire and smoke, and sending a copious stream of lava directly down into the waves which boiled around its base. Inaccurate and absurd as this delineation undoubtedly was, we will assert that it was fully commensurate with the amount of actual knowledge possessed by the majority of the reading English public, in regard to the true position and character of this remarkable volcano, and of the island in which it is situated. Iceland is indeed classed by our countrymen in the same category as Spitz VOL. XXV.-NO. XLIX. 1 bergen and Nova Zemlaia; it is to them a frozen land clothed in perpetual ice and snow, where no grass springs, and no bush can exist, and on whose southern shore an ever burning mountain flames up, as a beacon to guide the mariner who shuns the inhospitable coast. The perils of a long sea voyage, the difficulties of an almost unknown language, and the very want of information respecting this remote island, have caused Iceland to remain more or less of a "terra incognita," while every nook and cranny of the continent of Europe have been explored by our adventurous countrymen. We do not possess a single good work on the physical geography of Iceland, such as a hundred years ago was published in Denmark by the diligent investigators, Olaffsen and Povelsen. We have, indeed, scattered and imperfect notices of the natural phenomena it presents, in the travels of Sir George Mackenzie, of Dr. Hooker, and of Dr. Henderson, and one or two more recent observers: while, for its remarkable history, both literary and civil, we can only refer to the volume on Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Isles, published eight years ago in the Edinburgh Cabinet Library. Few indeed, then, are aware, that this northern land is not the ice-bound country that it is generally represented, that the flocks and herds of the Icelander afford no contemptible proof of its general prosperity, and that the numerous warm springs, and the internal volcanic fires smouldering beneath, impart to the soil a degree of fertility that could not otherwise be looked for so near the Arctic circle. * The volume now before us, can be regarded only as a contribution to the geology and physical history of Iceland; but it is evidently the production of a competent and scientific observer. Mr. Schythe had ample opportunities for personally studying the volcano and the surrounding districts, shortly after the eruption of 1845. With the true spirit of an ardent naturalist, he remained for weeks in the neighbourhood of the mountain, and wandered day after day amid the most hideous solitudes, with the firm resolve of seeing all for himself, and of not trusting to the imperfect or exaggerated descriptions of others. In his zeal, *We think it right to observe, that this little volume is admirably compiled and arranged, and for its compass presents us with an exceedingly accurate and complete view of the present state and past condition of Iceland. |