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CRITICAL NOTICES.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
849 ¦¦¦ - : ;
Critical Notices.
CRITICAL NOTICES .
Untitled Article
Tales and Conversations . By Emily Cooper , London , 1832 . Price 3 j .
We can safely recommend this little book for a Christmas or birth-day present to young * persons , No friend need be afraid of putting- it into their hands . It is characterized by sound judgment , rare common sense , a calm and sweet temper , patient assiduity to convey instruction , and a pure and benignant spirit . It is just the book that , were it alive , would make a most trustworthy , unfailing ; , and excellent governess . It contains nine compositions , of different classes , and adapted to interest different ages . Their titles are Marian ; Genius and Industry ; Alexander the Great ; the Legacy ; the Green Lane ; a Country Visit ; Queen Margaret , a drama ; an Apologue ; and Wood ford . With some
slight difference of merit in their execution—though but little , for Miss Cooper ' style is unambitious , and she accomplishes what she proposes to herself—there is an uniformity of excellence in their tendency . We extract the commencement of "Alexander the Great " -to show that together with the qualities which may inspire parents with confidence in her writings , the author has also the faculty of so entering into the minds of children , their modes of thought and reflection , as to create in them that interest which is essential to their improvement : —
' " Let us read the History of Alexander the Great , mamma ; I like to read about great men , " said Hector O'Brien . " Great does not always mean good , " said Hector ' s sister , Emma . ' " A great many people are good , only a few are great , " said Hector . " Great , surely , means good in the superlative degree . " * " By no . means , " said Emma ; " those * persons who have been called great were often very wicked people : do you remember the last line of one of Gray ' s odes , which my father read to us ? " Beneath the good how far , but ? far above the great "
4 iC I do not understand that , " said Hector . ' " What do you mean by great ? " said Hector ' s little brother John : " do you mean great , large , like the Irish giant ? I am sure , if you do , there is no goodness in that . " . ' " No , nonsense , no ! " said Hector : " Alexander the Great was not a giant ; he was rather short , I believe . " * ' * Well /* said John , " one day I went with my father to try to find out a Mr . Clark , and we asked at several cottages where Mr . Clark lived , and many people said , * Do you mean the great Mr . Clark , Sir V but my father said No : ' and I asked my father what they meant by the great Mr . Clark ; and he said they meant a gentleman who lived
in a great house , and had a large farm , and that these people called him great because he had a large estate ; but my father did not seem to care about him at all . So I suppose Alexander the Great had a great palace and a great kingdom , like Mr . Clark ' s great farm . " < «• Very much like Mr . Clark ' s great farm , indeed , John ! ' replied Hector smiling . * No , I do not think any one would have called Alexander great , just for having a great kingdom : it was because he
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1832, page 849, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1826/page/57/
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