This is the age of utility, and the little volume published under the
above title is altogether characteristic of the age. Its contents are
calculated to feed and foster the spirit of inquiry which is abroad.
People are beginning to find they are not so wise as they had hitherto
conceived themselves to be, or rather, that their knowledge on every-day
subjects is very scanty. We are therefore pleased to see in the present
"Companion" a popular paper on Comets; a series of attractive
Observations of a Naturalist; papers on the Management of Children,
Clothing, Economy in the Use of Bread and Flour, and a concise account
of Public Improvements during the year. All these are matters of
interest to every house and family in the empire. There is, besides, an
abundance of Parliamentary papers, judiciously abridged, from which the
reader may obtain more information than by passing six months in "both
your Houses," or reading a session of debates. The Table of Discoveries
is likewise a valuable feature; and the Chronological Table of European
Monarchs is almost a counterpart of a "Regal Tablet" sent to us, some
weeks since, for the MIRROR, and promised for insertion. There is,
however, one feature missing, which we noticed in the "Companion" of
last year, and we cannot but think that, to make room for its
introduction, some of the parliamentary matter in the present volume
might have been spared. The editor will be aware of our
disinterestedness in making this suggestion, and we hope will give us
credit accordingly.
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