PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

BOOKS.

Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland, of Sunnysick. Written by Herself. In three volumes.

Rough and Smooth; a Novel. By the Author of "Recollections of a French Marchioness." In three volumes.

[The " idea " of Rough and Smooth is taken from " The Gamester," with modern modifications and complications, that lower without benefiting the original theme. Adrian Home, the husband, is a foolish clerk; Ellen Moreton, who marries him against the advice of her friends, must be pronounced foolish at; the friend, Miles Davenport, who ruins the husband and tries to seduce the wife, is a mere sharper, and ends in making one of Horne. A kind of double plot, in which Richard the runaway brother of Adrian figures, introduces some sea adventure; and there are a good many scenes in the "flash" or Nowgate fashion. The author has a smart though rather artificial style, which serves him in sketching "characters" and describing scenes of a common kind of society; but he seems unequal to a fiction that should challenge criticism.]

The week has been fertile in poetry.

Poems. By Julia Day. Second series.

[These poems exhibit the same qualities as the first series: the imagery is appro- priate, the style gracefully simple, and a poetical feeling is displayed throughout. But the world looks for improvement in a writer whose first book was one rather of promise than of full performance save in the humbler kind of poetry: "an au- thor who does not advance will appear to recede." The cause of this stationary position we believe to be the great gift of a satisfied disposition; but poetry is a self-struggle.

-" How severely with themselves proceed The men who write such verse as we can read 1" The exceptions to our remark upon the volume are those poems which relate to actual life,—as "The Two Mendes"; a contrast between the condition of the high- born beauty dressed for a court-ball, and the life of the Maude who made the dress, and whose health and sight have sunk under her labours.]

The Restoration of the Jews; and other Poems. By Sir William Ash- burnham, Bart. [This is a posthumous volume. The late Sir William Ashburnham passed his life in retirement, and would seem to have amused himself with writing poetry. Hia manuscripts were consigned to his widow for publication, and the book before us is a selection therefrom. The volume contains one hundred and thirty-seven sonnets, some miscellaneous poems, chiefly religions, and fables, songs, &o. They exhibit an amiable feeling, a healthy moral sense, and a full though quiet appre- ciation of domestic life and home duties. The style is plain, and of an old- fashioned school, but not bald. Had Sir William been more buffeted about, he might have produced more forcible verse; for he occasionally rises to vigour,—as in his "Ode on the Fall of Napoleon Bonaparte," written in May 1814.) Poems. By John Harwood, a Minor. [The principal poems in this volume are " The Captive " and " Basil." The former is an imitation of the Giaour, as "Basil " is of Beppo and Don Juan: i and it is not merely the style that is echoed, but the structure that is copied. There is sound and fluency in the smaller poems, but they are often imitative of something—of the ballad, or Macaulay—though the imitation may not be so ob vious.] Episodes of Insect Life. By Acheta Domestica M.E.S. Second series. [This volume is a great improvement on its predecessor. There is as mach variety, fancy, and power of popular illustration and exposition, without the artifice and affectations of manner that impaired the effect of the first series. This improvement seems to have had an influence upon both the style and the matter; for the style is closer, and the matter more interesting. At the same time, the writer is still too prominent; but this defect is extrinsic, and mmiigght be removed by revision. The typographical part of the book is very altogether, it will form a nice Christmas present.] .Edda; or the Tales of a Grandmother. History of Denmark, Second Part, from the Death of Canute the Great, A. D. 1035, till the Accession of the Oldenburgh Dynasty, A. D. 1448. Edited by Philojuvenis. [The completion °Pa very superior book of its kind; for although apparently ad- dressed to the young, it is fitted for the perusal of persons of any age, as furnish- ing a very good account of the history of Denmark for three centuries.] 011a Podrida. By Captain lilarryat, RN., C.B., Author of "Peter Sim-

ple," &c.

[The compression into a single neat volume of the selection from his fugitive papers that Marryat collected and reprinted nearly ten years ago.] An Introduction to the Study of the Mind. Designed especially for the Senior Classes in Schools. By Daniel Bishop. ILLUSTRATED WORKS AND PRINTS.

The Book of Ruth. Illustrated by the Lady Augusta Cadogan. [Published, we presume, on account of thesnceess attained by Lady Waterford. The story is simply and intelligently told in a series of eight designs, here etched. An ardstical hand is traceable in the forms. The fair amateur has been imbued with a strong feeling derived from the old masters, and has caught a little of their manner in conception, action, and composition; insomuch that some of the figures tell decidedly as reminiscences. The action is not always jastified by anatomical practicability. The design representing the erode of Huth, particularly, ex- emplifies these defects. But Lady Augusta Cadogan really possesses a faculty of cultivated imagination which some of our professed artists might envy, with a certain freedom and vigour of design which ought to spur her to further study. It is stated in the volume that it is " published for the benefit of charitable institu- tions in the parish of Lower Chelsea."]

Fruitsfrom the Garden and the Field.

[Fruits by Mr. Owen Jones combined in graceful ornamental groups; the na- tural forms being bent, however, to a conventional mould—as though the fruits bad become docile, and had grown tamely to accommodate the bookbinder. The colours are imparted by block-printing, with extraordinary force and relief of effect, and with much delicacy, considering the mechanical difficulties of the pro- cess. The binding is stamped; and gold is plentifully used in heightening the ornamental effect.)

The Babes its the Wood.

[A handsome version of Lady Waterford's beautiful designs to the "Babes in the Wood," slightly reduced in size, and coloured after the original by a process of printing. Thirteen blocks are used, for an equal variety of tints. With so great a number, absolute accuracy is difficult; and in the prints before us we see marks of displacement : in the design where the father is dictating his will, this displacement has caused a sort of penumbra to the face of the lawyer. For simi- lar reasons, the outline is less certain than it was in the etching, and the effect of the drawing is at once heavier and feebler. The general effect, however, is rich and forcible ; and as a whole the volume is a very handsome one] View of the Lower Harbour of Otago, from Port Chalmers. View of Part of Dunedin, and Upper Harbour, from Stafford Street. [Scenes, very fairly portrayed, from the fine watery expanses of the New Zealand coast bays, the natural harbours which so tempt the emigrant. The lower har- bour is a noble landlocked sound, with ships riding at anchor in the quiet waters.]

ALMANACRS.

Letts's Diary, fur 1850. [One of the numerous Diaries of Messrs. Lett, which extend from No. 1 to above 50rand which vary in size from a card-case to a folio. The one before us is No. 10, one of the class recommended to clergymen, physicians, the Army and Navy, &c. Besides a manuscript diary of three days to an octavo page, and an almanack, there is a large mass of information of the kind usual in business annuals, as well as advertisements that have their own uses too.] Letts's Indispensable Almanack, for 1850. [This contains the printed information mentioned above as forming part of the diary, with a sort of almanack journal, of a page to each month; and a line to each day, and columns for registering the variations of the thermometer.] United Kingdom Life Assurance Almanack, 1850. The Patent Journal Almanack, 1850. Registration Almanack, for 1850. [Sheet almanacks, somewhat remarkable for conveying special information, and terming a mode of advertising. The United Kingdom emanates from the Life Office of that title, and is rather a smart affair, resplendent in scarlet and gold borderings, besides being mounted on rollers. The calendar of The Patent Jour- nal is surrounded by cuts of the most sightly articles for which patents have been taken out. The great feature of The Registration Almanack is the perspi- cuous directions for getting married—that is, under the Act. In all three the usual information of almanacks has a reference to the special subject of the title.] The Post-office Official Monthly Director. [A sheet published every month, containing all the information which the public need to know, and indispensable to persons with extensive correspondence. The calendar is the most consistent of any we ever saw. The remarkable events are limited to mails due and despatched.] re The Removal of the Cholera; a Sermon. By the Dean of Westminster.

A Supplement to the Revolution in Mind and Practice of the Human Race, &c. By Robert Owen.

The Law Expenditure of Railway Companies, considered with a view to its speedy and effectual reduction. By Peter 'slime Macpherson.

An Account of several entirely new Patent Processes for Purifying the Waters of Cities, Towns, and Private Dwellings, as well as on bhip- board at Sea, &c. By John Horsley, Patentee.

Short Essay on the Invariably Successful Treatment of Cholera with Wafer. By C. C. Schieferdecker, M.D., &c.

Kinesipathy; or the Cure of Diseases by Specific Active and Passive Move- ments. By Augustus Georgii.