Swift, if our memory serves us aright, compares abstracts, abridgments,
and summaries to burning-glasses, and has something about a full book
resembling the tail of a lobster. The French too have a proverb--"as
full as an egg"--but these home similes will hardly give the public an
idea of the vast variety of useful matters which these two _Year Books_
contain.
The _Almanac_, besides an excellent arrangement, astronomical,
meteorological, and philosophical, contains a list of common indigenous
field plants in flower, and even the taste of the epicure is consulted
in a table of fish in season, at the foot of each month. The
Miscellaneous Register includes nearly all the Court, Parliament, and
other Lists of a Red Book; and a List of Mail Coach routes direct from
London, with the hours of their arrival at the principal towns, is
completeness itself: but how will these items be deranged by Steam
Coaches? Among the Useful Tables, one of Excise Licenses is especially
valuable.
The _Companion_ is even more important in its contents than last year.
An Explanation of the Eras of Ancient and Modern Times, and of various
countries, with a view to the comparison of their respective
dates,--stands first; next are "Facts pertaining to the course of the
Seasons," under the "Observations of a Naturalist;" an excellent paper
on the Tides; and a concise Natural History of the Weather--to be
continued in the _Companion_ for 1831; this is a delightful paper. The
Comparative Scales of Thermometers are next, with a wood-cut of the
Scales and Explanation. We have only room to particularize a
Chronological Table of the principal Geographical Discoveries of Modern
European Nations; a paper on French Measures; and a List of our
Metropolitan Charitable Institutions, their officers, &c. The
Parliamentary Register is as copious as usual; the Chronicle of the
Session is neatly compiled; and a rapid Sketch of Public Improvements,
and a Chronicle of Events of 1829 will be interesting to all readers. In
short, we can scarcely conceive a work that is likely to be more
extensively useful than the present: it concerns the business of all; it
is perhaps less domestic than in previous years; but as "great wits have
short memories," its scientific helps are not overrated.
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