ART. XXXI.-The Act for the Registration of Voters, &c, (6 Vic. cap. 18.) By DAVID POWER.

A MORE needful or useful publication can scarcely be named, however uninviting may be the title. Its plainness and simplicity cannot be exceeded, as any one may speedily satisfy himself by trying his hand at popularizing an Act of Parliament. We give a specimen of the common-sense contents of the book, County Registration being the immmediate subject:

"The following are the days in each year, upon or before which the several matters relative to the county registration are required by the act to be done :

"On or before the 10th of June, the clerk of the peace is to deliver his precept to the overseers.

"20th of June, the overseers are to publish their notice directing persons to send in their claims.

"20th July, claims to vote are to be sent to the overseers.

"31st of July, the list of claimants is to be made out by the overseers. "1st of August, the list of voters to be published.

"25th of August, objections may be made.

"29th of August, the lists are to be delivered by the overseers to the clerk of the peace.

"1st of September, the list of persons objected to is to be published. "Between the 15th of September and the 31st of October, the registration courts are to be held by the revising barrister.

"On or before the 30th of November, the register is to be delivered by the clerk of the peace to the sheriff.

"This register is to remain in force until the 1st of December in the following year."

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THE

MONTHLY REVIEW.

FOR

OCTOBER, 1843.

ART. I.-Austria, Vienna, Prague, Hungary, Bohemia, and the Danube; Gallicia, Styria, &c. By J. G. KOHL. Chapman & Hall.

OUR friend Kohl, fortunately took it into his head to traverse the Austrian dominions, after leaving the Russian soil; and with him travelling is synonymous with close and keen observation, minute and racy description, and smart as well as pertinent remark.

the

M. Kohl's journey commenced at Dresden. He thence bent his way through Bohemia, sojourning for a considerable space at Prague, the capital of the country. Vienna in due course received him, having descended the Danube, after crossing the uplands to Linz on the banks of the river. Exhausting in his own particular way metropolis of the Austro-Germanic empire, he passed into Hungary, penetrating the territory till he reached what is called the military frontier. He afterwards crossed the country by an unbeaten course, at length arriving at Munich. Here his tour terminated; but Moravia and the Austro-Polish provinces of Gallicia and Bukovina fell within the compass of our traveller's work on Russia, and have now been added by the translator, serving to complete the author's travels.

The series of volumes originally is lengthened, having extended to five in number, although in the condensed translation, even with Moravia and Gallicia added, the whole make only two parts of the "Foreign Library." The process of abridgement and compacting necessarily affects more or less the spirit and the matter of the author. This interference, however, does not, we are persuaded, seriously affect the original; neither vitiating the traveller's meaning, nor essentially varying the quality of his style. This at least is certain,—we find the same sort of painstaking scrutiny, of independent thought, and of graphic writing that distinguished his "St. Petersburg." A similar literary mastership and infusion of learning, together with a variety of agreeable tokens illustrative of the Germant character, strike the reader; so that altogether the "Austria" is a worthy companion and follower of our author's former esteemed work, VOL. III. (1843.) NO. II.

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differing only with the subject, and equally participating in the essentials, while the whole wears the stamp of novelty, both as regards substance and shape.

Things which to ordinary travellers would appear dry and unsusceptible of interesting culture, have catching points for the eye of M. Kohl, and readily draw from him the easy yet racy strokes of his pen. It is not alone that his industry is unwearied, his observation felicitous, and his principles cosmopolitan; but that objects and topics which would be bleak and barren to others, teem with riches to his apprehension and fancy. Be it in country or town, he is sure to be constantly alighting upon characteristic matter, that is rife with suggestiveness to him, and in which his mind takes concern. Of course, there are spots and occasions which are uncommonly prolific in his estimation, which obtain his more laboured and searching discourse, and where his minuteness of touch exemplifies the tendency and habit which stamped his "St. Petersburg." In such instances, historical reading, as well as novel and acute noticing, meets the attention, and satisfies the mind; at the same time that there is a composure as well as familiarity of treatment that lets one into the philosophy of the writer's turn and taste.

One feature in the regulraity of our author discovers itself in the systematic sort of fashion with which he goes over a town or district, taking its exterior and different points in order, until he seems to exhaust the whole, his searchings out being microscopic. Prague, for example, occupies him at very considerable length, its antiquities and its bygone condition not escaping attention any more than the condition and manners of its living population. And we like him the better that he does not trouble himself with points of controversy, such as of mystery,-when the speculation and even the solution would not in any sense repay the labour, contenting himself and the reader with a faithful sketch of what he saw, or narrative of what he gathered from others. Thus, with regard to the Jewish cemetery in the ancient capital of Bohemia, we meet with notices which show that it is a place of great antiquity, without, however, pronouncing upon its precise age, the subject being one of controversy. It is more to the purpose to communicate particulars like the following, relative to the peculiar race, and especially relative to the Aaronite branch.

The tombs of those of Aaron's race are distinguished by two hands graven into the stone, and those of the Levites by a pitcher, to mark the office of the latter to pour water on the hands of the former, when performing their ablutions in the temple. The descendants of Aaron never visit the cemetery during their lives. Any contact with, or even a near approach to, a dead body, is a pollution for them. They may not, therefore, remain in a house in which a dead body is lying. There is but one exception made to this law, namely, when the father of an Aaronite dies, in which case the son may come within three ells of the body, and follow it to the burying

The Jewish laws even prescribe the distance at which an Aaronite must keep when passing a burying-ground, which distance, however, is not calculated from the outer wall, but from the nearest grave. Now, in Prague, it happens that one street passes close to this wall, and that just in this spot the graves not only reach up to the very wall, but that some are even supposed to lie under the pavement of the street. This would, consequently, be a forbidden road to every Aaronite, had not particular arrangements been made to provide a remedy. This has been done by undermining that part of the street, and the empty vaulted space thus obtained, protects the Aaronite against pollution, for, according to the law, one hundred ells of vaulted space are deemed equal to one thousand filled with solid earth.

ground, till within three ells of a grave.

Belonging to the subject of relics and legends, is a pieture seen in the Cistertian convent, Osseg. It is of

A Cistertian of the name of Daniel, who studied and read so indefatigably in his solitude, that the flame of his holy zeal issued forth at his fingers' ends, so that he could hold them, at night, like so many little tallow candles before his book. This allegory is a beautiful one; for no doubt there is within the human breast a self-illuminating power, that enables the possessor to read the mysteries of God without the aid of a teacher; but in the way the painter has placed his subject before us, it loses all dignity, and looks rather as if the artist had designed to turn the matter into ridicule. The Metropolitan church of Prague contains amongst its treasures the following costly articles:

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In one cabinet I counted no less than 32 golden mitres. I took several of them in my hand, and observed to my guide that I thought them heavy. 66 And yet, sir," said the man, archly, our gentlemen are so very fond of wearing them! In various drawers are preserved no less than 368 priestly vestments for the service of the mass, many of them of astonishing richness and splendour. One of them was of a material that might have furnished a mantle, either for a beggar or a prince; it was of common straw, but plated and worked with such surprising art, the the whole looked like elaborate embroidery. Most of these vestments are gifts from Bohemian nobles, and the history of some of these presents may contribute to illustrate the character of the country. Thus, one vestment has been made up from the bridal dress of a Countess Tshernin, another of the coronation robes of Maria Theresa. One of the richest of all, and which is only displayed on occasions of great solemnity, has been decorated by the Prince Schwartzenburg with a number of golden bunches of grapes and vineleaves, and with all the buttons worn on his wedding coat. Each of these buttons is a jewel of considerable value, fashioned into the form of an animal, and set in gold. What wasteful profusion! and what a strange whim, to dedicate the wedding dresses of lords and ladies to the service of the church!

In the University library there is a curious Hussite hymn book, being written and illuminated with singular splendour. The book, says Kohl, must have cost many thousands of florins, being the contributions of every guild and corporation of the city. Each of these

bodies had a few hymns written, and pictures painted to accompany them, and several noble families did the same, each family or corporation placing its arms before its own portion of the book; and hence was formed this gorgeous rarity.

Our tourist has something to say of the celebrated Huss and his followers, whom persecution utterly extinguished. The reaction in this case has had few equals, fire and the sword in many instances adding vigour to sectarianism, instead of utterly rooting out the novelty. Says Kohl,—

Poor Huss raised a flame in which he himself was burnt, as well as many that came after him, but from that flame posterity has derived neither light nor warmth. The history of the Calixtines of Bohemia is a sadder one than that of any other religious sect, for no doctrine ever made its way amid acts of greater violence, and none was ever annihilated by a more ruthless re-action. Lutheranism was also cradled amid fearful storms, but the tempests have spent themselves, and millions have become peaceful participators in the blessings at which Lutheranism aimed. The Hussites raised a mighty conflagration, of which the Austrians succeeded in treading out the last spark; the Lutherans lighted a roaring fire on their own hearths, and their homes, in spite of pope and emperor, have been warmed by its genial influence ever since. Yet Huss, despite of his heresy, lives in the affections of his countrymen. I have often observed in them a strange struggle, on this score, between religion and nationality. As Bohemians they love to take credit for all the great things that the Hussites did, though as Catholics they cannot, of course, approve of them.

It is proper to observe that our worthy friend M. Kohl does not exhibit any decided sympathy with the offenders against state or church establishments. He is a man for order, even when enforced by a ruthless autocrat; how much more when representing the case of a paternal despotism? Just listen to his manner of speech when describing the conduct and condition of the Italian political offenders incarcerated at Szegedin in Hungary:

Szegedin is known to contain no less than five hundred and sixty political Italian captives; a fact which occasioned a great deal of discussion in the last Hungarian Diet, when the celebrated orator, Gabriel Klauzal, Deputy for the Tshongrad Comitat, in which Szegedin is situated, proposed a petition to Government for their liberation. The motion was adopted unanimously by the Chamber of Representatives. Many dreadful stories are circulated in Hungary of the miserable situation and of the ill-treatment which these prisoners have to endure. I shall here simply record the result of my own observations, which I think will suffice to prove the falsehood of some of these culumnious reports.

We passed through the old Turkish gate, and entered a court-yard full of Austrian soldiers, which was divided from an inner court-yard by a wooden grating. At this grating sat women with baskets of fruit, needles, cotton, and other trifles; the inner court-yard was filled with the Italian prisoners themselves. They looked neat and clean, and were dressed in strong gray linen,