We congratulate the editor and the public on the past success of the
_Amulet_, especially as it proves that a pious feeling co-exists with a
taste for refined amusement, and that advantageously. There is nothing
austere in any page of the _Amulet_, nor anything so frivolous and light
as to be objectionable; but it steers in the medium, and consequently
must be acceptable to every well-regulated mind. Indeed, many of the
pieces in the present volume may be read and re-read with increased
advantage; whilst two only are unequal to the names attached to them.

* * * * *


THE GEM.

_Edited by Thomas Hood, Esq._


The present is the first year of the _Gem_, which, as a work of art or
literature, fully comes within the import of its title. It is likewise
the first appearance of Mr. Hood as the editor of an "annual," who, with
becoming diffidence, appears to rely on the "literary giants" of his
muster-roll, rather than on his individual talent. Notwithstanding such
an editorship must have resembled the perplexity of Sinbad in the Valley
of Diamonds, Mr. Hood's volume is almost unexceptionably good, whatever
he may have rejected; and one of the best, if not _the best_, article in
the whole work, has been contributed by the editor himself. Associated
as Mr. Hood's name is with "whim and oddity," we, however, looked for
more quips, quirks, and quiddities than he has given us, which we should
have hailed as specially suited to the approaching festive season, and