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Transitory as woman's charms are, they last longer than this, even under the most unfavorable circumstances. But in the name of common sense, why is a love story, a murder story, or any other story, anything the better for being dated January," than it would be if dated “December?" What benefit does an historical sketch of the times of Charles I. or Louis XIV. derive from being dated January, more than if it were dated December? Could we not wait another week or two for the information it contains, as patiently as we did the rest of our lives?

But the most absurd and ridiculous attempt of all, is to comment in December on the current events of January. If this is impossible; if after all, no events can be discussed as current in December, but such as are so, does not the fact of labelling those events "January," rather tend to make them "stale" than "fresh ?" This has been illustrated but too ludicrously during the late presidential election, when magazines and weekly papers, purporting to have been published after the result was known to the inhabitants of the most obscure hamlet in the United States could only speak of it as if it were still in the womb of the future.

Supposing the most important occurrences take place to-day, in what magazines could they be even alluded to? Surely not in a December one, since that was published more than a month ago—about the middle of November. It would be equally impossible to notice them in a January magazine which was published at least a week ago; so that if a revolution took place this afternoon, at Washington, or Albany, or if an earthquake occurred that destroyed half New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, we might not expect to find one word about it in any earlier magazine than the February number! The most important annual reports, issued in the middle of December, must wait for the same number; if they were issued on the first day of December, the earliest number in which they could be noticed would be that for January; whereas the reports issued in the middle of January, or earlier, have to wait for the criticism of our monthlies until the March numbers are "ready."

The truth is, that no work worth printing, as an intellec

tual production, has ever lost any of its value, or "freshness," for being laid aside a few weeks. It is the most valuable that have been so laid aside in all ages. The Homeric poems were but little known until Pisistratus caused. them to be collected and transcribed; they were so old at this time-five hundred years before Christ-that no one could tell when they were written. Yet they were not stale in any sense, nor are they to-day, more than two thousand years later! Does the date alter the value of the works of Dante, Shakspeare, or Milton? if it does, is it not by making the older editions the most valuable? Paradise Lost had been rejected by several publishers before the author could get any one to give him even £5 for it. More recently Oliver Goldsmith was unable to procure the most ordinary necessaries of life, while his admirable Vicar of Wakefield lay beside him, as if it were waste paper; and it might have lain there for years longer, had Dr. Johnson not gone in person to procure a publisher for it. Gray's Elegy, De Foe's Robinson Crusoe, Corneille's Polyeucte, and many other celebrated works we could mention, were little thought of when "fresh" or "new." If the productions of the intellect that possess any value, do not, like good wine, improve by time, at least they no more suffer from time than gold does. It is only productions that have but a fictitious value, that degenerate in this

way.

We hold, however, that our confrères have a perfect right to issue their journals as far in advance as they choose. If it be their good will and pleasure to label the numbers they issue in January, "March," or even "August," we shall have no complaint to make; nor shall we have any fault to find with those kind and obliging critics, who about the same day every month inform their readers so approvingly, that Smith's magazine, for next month, is "now ready." Even when they do so, after having previously given long extracts. from the "advanced sheets," with an intimation that all the gems may be had in extenso, in a few days, we shall not ble in the least.

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All we ask is, that we be allowed equal liberty ourselves. We are not prophets; nor do we care to be "fast"-except

when on horseback. We have, therefore, never pretended to issue our journal before the time mentioned on the face of it; nor shall we in the future. In our first prospectus we promised to issue the work in March, June, September, and December, respectively, and accordingly there never has been a number of it issued on any other month, earlier or later.

Some have regarded us as slow on this account. There are those who think us "late," because we do not issue our September number in August, our December number in November, &c., &c., although not one of our subscribers or patrons has ever reproached us with being one or the other. The reason is, that both are not merely intelligent; they are persons who think as well as read. Such do not expect journalists, more than other sinners, to perform miracles; they know that if we are slow and late, because we do not pretend to outstrip Time, the editors of the greatest periodicals in the world are slow and late.

Thus, for example, if it be asked which is the ablest and most famous periodical in Europe, the general reply will be "The Edinburgh Review." We cheerfully admit, not only that this is the reputation it has always enjoyed, but that it has eminently deserved it. No periodical anywhere has done more good, yet according to a certain class of our critics, it is "always late," since a number of it has never been published before the month mentioned on the face of it. Sometimes it has been published at the beginning of the month, sometimes in the middle, and sometimes towards the close: nay, there have been occasions when it did not appear until the opening of the following month. Then, indeed, it was admitted to be late, but none pretended that it was a whit the less interesting, or the less valuable on this account.

Incredible though it may appear to the class alluded to, its editors have always claimed the right to delay it a week, two weeks, or three weeks, according as the public interest seemed to warrant them in doing so. Every one acquainted with the history of that celebrated periodical is aware that it has often been delayed two or three weeks for an important debate, a general election, or the ratification of an im

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ANCIENT ETRURIA.

[December, portant treaty, &c. But it is only necessary to glance at the work as printed at home in order to see what little importance its conductors attach to the difference of a few days, or even weeks, in the time of its publication. In each number of several volumes now before us, which have been published at intervals of years, it is announced at the close of the reading matter, that the number for the ensuing quarter will be issued some time during the first month of that quarter; thus at the close of the January number we read, "No. CXXVII. will be published in April;" at the close of the April number, " No. CXXVIII. will be published in July," &c., &c.

We mention the "Edinburgh," however, only as an example; all the other great periodicals of Europe, including those of Paris, Berlin, Vienna and Florence, pursue the same course. There is not a city of any extent in Europe, or America in which the Revue des Deux Mondes, or the Revue Contemporaine has not subscribers, but never does either attempt to outstrip time a single day, for the purpose of increasing its "freshness," or diminishing its "staleness."

ART. VIII.-1. Storia degli antiqui popoli italiani. MICALI, Rome. 2. Annales de l'Institut de correspondanee archeologique de Rome. 3. Die Etrusker. K. O. MULLER, Breslau.

4. Alphabetum veterum Etruscorum. AMADUZZI, Rome.

5. Saggio di lingua etrusca e di altre antiche d'Italia. LANZI, Rome.

6. On the Antiquities discovered in Etruria. By C. MULLIGAN, London.

Of all the ancient nations of Italy none appears to have such claims upon our notice as that of the Tuscans. Their celebrity at a time when Rome as yet had no existence, the superiority of their political institutions, their progress in navigation, commerce, and many other arts of civilized life, when the surrounding nations were all enveloped in ignorance and barbarism, are circumstances which even at the

present day, must excite inquiry, and command alike the attention of the historian and the philosopher. Whence this improvement in civilization, this rapid advancement in political growth, is a question which immediately suggests itself to every inquirer, and for which he seeks in vain for an answer in the scanty fragments of antiquity, which shed but a faint and glimmering light on the annals of this singular and illustrious people.

So evident, indeed, has the insufficiency of historical information on the origin of the Tuscans appeared, that many antiquaries of celebrity in the last century, despairing of obtaining any clue from the conflicting testimony of ancient writers, have not hesitated to quit altogether the beaten track of history, and to venture amidst the alluring mazes of conjecture. The consequence of this mode of investigation was easy to be foreseen; system followed system, till there scarcely remained any nation of acknowledged antiquity, to which the honor of having colonized Etruria was not ascribed.

Thus it was supposed that the Tuscans might be descended from the Egyptians,* the Canaanites,† or the Phonicians. Others, again, contended for their Celtics origin. The multiplicity of these opinions is the best proof of the little dependence that is to be placed on systems which trust for support to conjecture alone. The records of history, even where they seem most to fail us, will be found a safer and surer guide than reasoning which is founded on mere assumption and hypothesis. It is, then, with the united aid of history, and conjecture used with moderation, that we shall endeavor to feel our way through this intricate subject; and there are three sources from which we derive information respecting the origin of ancient Tuscany, viz.: The accounts of Greek writers, those of the Romans, and the existing national monuments discovered in Etruria.

With respect to the Romans, it is well known that they concerned themselves little about inquiries into the origin of

* Dempster. Italia antiqua, lib. i. p. 79. Swinton. De Lingua Etruria, p. 92. VOL. XVIII.-NO. XXXV.

† Maffei. Degli Italia prim., p. 218-228. § Pellosetier. Hist. des Celtes, lib. i. p. 178, 10