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154 which alone distinguishes the bounds of truth from those of fiction. By the work of the late venerable librarian of Stowe, the authenticity of the Irish Chronicles is placed beyond dispute; and the Essay of Mr Dalton on the religion, learning, arts, and government of Ireland, abounds with research on these several subjects, alike creditable to his industry and his judgment. Let us hope that the same service which these and other sensible Irishmen have achieved for their country's ancient history, will be effected also for the modern, by the work which is now expected from Mr Moore.

have already had an opportunity of making our readers acquainted with Mrs Somerville's valuable work 'on the Mechanism of the Heavens.' As the contents of that volume were of too abstruse a character to be accessible to any but mathematical readers, the author prefixed to it a preliminary dissertation, containing a general and popular view of the subject which she proposed to investigate, and a rapid sketch of the Physical Sciences which have the closest alliance with Astronomy. The interest which this work excited in the scientific world, created a desire on the part of its less gifted readers to possess a still more popular and enlarged view of the subjects of which it treats; and Mrs Somerville was naturally anxious to gratify a wish, which, in reference to the diffusion of popular science, had also, we believe, been expressed by the same distinguished individual who had suggested the composition of the original work. The author has therefore recast this preliminary dissertation; and by introducing the subjects of Meteorology, Electricity, Galvanism, and Magnetism, she has produced the present work 'On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences.' The volume is dedicated to the Queen in the following lines, which indicate the simplicity and modesty of character that distinguish the accomplished author:—'If I have succeeded in my endeavour to make the laws by which the material world is governed more familiar to my countrywomen, I shall have the gratification of thinking that the gracious permission to dedicate my book to your Majesty has not been misplaced'.

While Mrs Somerville thus assigns to herself the task of making the laws of the material world more familiar to her