PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

BOOKS.

Two Discourses delivered in the Middle Temple Hall. By George Long, Barrister-at-law, &c. With an Outline of the Course.

The History of the Sikhs; containing the Lives of the Groomes, the History of the Independent Sirdars, or Missule, and the Life of the great Founder of the Sikh Monarchy, Maharajah Runjeet Singh. By W. L. 31`Gregor, M.D. Surgeon First E. B. Fusiliers, late E. L. Infantry. History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789 Co the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815. By Archibald Alison, F.RS.E., Advocate. Volume the First. Seventh edition. A Treatise on the Plague, more especially on the Police Management of that disease. Illustrated by the plan of operations successfully carried into effect in the late Plague of Corfu. With Hints on Quarantine. By A. White, M.D. Deputy Inspectsr-General of Military Hospitals, and late Superintendent of the PlAgu i e n Corfu, F.ICC.S.L.

The Potato Plant, its Uses and Properties: together with the causes of the parent malady, the extension of that disease to other plants, the question of famine arising therefrom, and the best means of averting that calamity.

By Alfred Smee, F.RS., Surgeon to the Bank of England, &c. Illustrated with lithographs.

[There is a good deal in this volume on the history, botany, and chemistry of the potato plant; but the point of most practical interest is the notice of the existing potato plague and its remedy. Mr. Sines declares that " the action of tempe- rature, light, soils, and manures, may influence the plant, but that they do not produce the present alarming epidemic." This he ascribes to an animal parasite, one of the family of the Aphides which he names the Aphis vastator. This insect, with all its tribe, perpetually exists, and lives like its kin upon vege- tation; but latterly it has greatly increased, and is the cause of the destruction of the potato. The manner of effecting this destruction is by preying on the juices of the plant. The removal of one portion of the sap destroys its proper qualities; the materials for its growth are no longer secreted; the growth itself is arrested, the vital action is impaired, the plant ceases to live, and decomposition ensues.

There are various modes of destroying the aphis vastator, by means of other insects, birds, artificial waters, and an attentive cultivation; but none of them are practical. We cannot command the natural means; the artificial are too expen- sive. Mr. Since appears to thick that a greater attention to the medical pro- fession should be shown by the authorities, and that councils of health should be established. This may be very proper in itself, but we do not see its bearing upon potatoes. The most practical conclusion is that we should recur to nature. The potato seems to have been over-civilized, the tuber having been cultivated at the expense of the leaves; and Mr. Smee considers that we should get a more robust and less sickly plant, one more capable of resisting attack, by causing the potato " to revert as much as possible to the wild state." But if it thus becomes un- palatable to the aphis vastator, may it not be equally so to man? What would a hard winter do?) The Doctor, ¢c. Volume VI.

[On the death of Southey, he left among his manuscripts enough materials to fill two volumes of the learned, discursive, curious, and various Doctor. The copy, though complete as regards its topics, appears to have been unarranged and nit- revised ; which task has been undertaken by the author's son-in-law, the Reve- rend Mr. Warter; while the proofs have been carefully read by Mrs. Southey. Mr. Waster considers that the posthumous volumes will not accurately represent the author's plan, as he intended to have enlarged it by the introduction of more in- terlocutor& The leading subjects of the sixth volume are—that singular fanatic Asgill, who conceived that man might pass to heaven without death; num- bers and anagrams; is old age a passable or preferable condition ? with a variety of other subjects on the curiosities of literature and learning, or the inci- dents and practice of life. As regards composition, there is no trace of incom- pleteness in the volume; but perhaps some of the topics are trivial, and might. have been removed with advantage to the matter. It is possible, too, that Southey was pushing his Doctor further than he would naturally go, and making him a vehicle for using up his waste, rather than for exhibiting the cream of his miscel- laneous thoughts and reading. The structure of the book would, no doubt, enable an author to go on as long as he had anything left to quote or say: but even in continued essays the reader at last flags, if the writer does not. As a miscellany, this volume may be recommended for its learning, thought, and style: having no essential novelty or striking character, it is too late in the day for criticism or quotation.]

A Narrative of the Recovery of H. M. S. Gorgon, (Charles Hotham, Esq., Captain,) stranded in the Bay of Monte Video, 10th May 1844. By Ast- ley Cooper Key, Commander R.N., (late Lieutenant of H. M. S. Gorgon.) [During a severe gale in May 1844, the steam-ship Gorgon was driven from her anchorage in the Bay of Monte Video—owing, Captain Key considers, to the lightness of her anchors and the weakness of her cables—and forced on shore. Luckily, a current carried her just clear of some rocks; but she was driven by the power of the winds and waves high up on the sand, where she remained deeply embedded. Many considered that she could never be got off; but the de- termination, science, and resource of Captain Hotham, her commander, backed by the untiring pertinacity of the crew, and the assistance of the other vessels of war in the harbour, both British and foreign, eventually dug and lifted her out. The methods by which this was accomplished, and the new means resorted to when the more common methods failed, are described at length by her then Lieu- tenant, now Captain, Key; the text being continually illustrated by plates, without. which, indeed, it would hardly be intelligible. The subject is of course for pro- fessional men, or professors and practitioners of mechanics.] The Progress of the Nation, in its various Social and Economical Relations, from the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. By Cl. R. Porter, Esq., F.R.S., &c. A new edition.

[From time to time on the occasion of their publication, we have noticed the lead- ing facts and conclusions of Mr. Porter's volumes as they appeared singly. The collection of the separate publications into one volume has led to an entire revision of the whole, to adapt the statistics to the change in the facts; but, such is the rapidity of movement now-a-days, that some ot Mr. Porter's Arguments on free trade are almost obsolete, because the principle he contended for has been estab- lished. In a time of leisure, we might have recurred at length to the contents of the volume, and the progress it has to record; but as there is no essential no- velty about it, and the opening of the season already brings as much of new mat • ter as we can find space for, we must be content with noting the fact of the com- pression of The Progress of the Nation into a single handsome volume.]

The Christmas Holydays in Rome. By the Reverend Wm. Ingraham Kip, M.A., Author of " The Double Witness of the Church," &c. Ldited by the Reverend W. Sewell, B.D., Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. [This little book is the work of an American clergyman who passed his Christ- mas holydays in Rome; and it appears in England under the auspices of the Reverend W. Sewell. The present book is a creditable enongh specimen of his judgment; being various, cheerful, and exhibiting sufficient reading to appretiate and profit by the antiquities of the Eternal City; whilst Mr. Kip has sufficient liberality to separate what is good in Romanism from what is bad. The Christ- mas Holydays in Rome, however, is more adapted for America than England. Rome, its antiquities and approaches have more novelty to Americans than Euro- peans, who have had them presented in all forms and all styles, from Eustace to the last tour, or fiction whose scene is in Italy. There is also too much of the practised orator expanding historical commonplaces. It is, however, a pleasant book; and has a character about it as the impressions of an American citizen upon Rome, and of an American Protestant of Popery.] The Boat and the Caravan; a Family Tour through Egypt and Syria. [The subject of this book is a voyage up the Nile, and a journey from Cairo to Jerusalem and Damascus. The framework is of a juvenile character, and pro- fesses to give an account of the tour of Mr. Dalton, a retired merchant, and his family; but the incidents and descriptions are said to be real, and founded upon the occurrences of an actual journey. We think this is likely to be the case, be- cause, though there is no novelty (how could there be?) in the common events and scenes of the ground gone over, the characters and some of the personal incidents have life and novelty. It is agreeably written; and will be found instructive and entertaining for children, for whom it is designed. It will also be as useful to the adult as books of greater pretension, if he has not read modern travels through Egypt and Syria.] The Supplement to the Penny Cyclopcsdia of the Society for the Diffusion qf Useful Knowledge. Volume IL Habernaria—Ziumber. [The present supplement extends from H to Z. Besides supplying °minim, bringing down information to the present time, and inserting new articles upon subjects not ready or realized during the progress of the Cyclopedia, opportunity is taken to extend subjects insufficiently treated. The volume is rich in biogra- phies, handled for the most part in a living style, with nothing of the encyclo- pedia about them.] Notes, Analytical and Expository, on the Book of Revelation. By J. Arnet Storey. [These Notes handle parts in succession, sometimes a single verse, sometimes several together; and differ from a commentary only by beans printed as text. They are partly critical, or explanatory of the customs or facts alluded to; but their main object is to expound the prophecy.] Poems. By Ralph Waldo Emerson. [There is no "advertisement" to this volume, to say whether these pieces are collected, reprinted, or new. The volume is elegantly got up; the contents we have not yet had time to look at.] The Difficulties of English Grammar Removed; or English Grammar Sim- plified. Third edition. By J. Best Davidson. [The feature of this third edition is an important one—much greater cheapness.] Instructions in Practical Surveying, Topographical Plan Drawing, and Sketching Ground Without Instruments. With Plates and Wood-cuts. By G. D. Burr, Prof. Second edition. Stories selected from the History of England, from the Conquest to the Revolution. For children. Fourteenth edition. Illustrated with twenty- four Wood-cuts.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS.

(" The cry is still they come." Another batch of gift-books is before us, of a more directly Christmas or holyday kind than we have yet had. First and fore- most of these for hearty fun, freshness, and character, both in the literature and the art, is Mrs. Perkins's Ball. By M. A. Titmarsh. The framework or germ of this jeu d'esprit is simple, as it ought to be; the mirth and fun are in the filling up. Mr. Titinarsh teaches "drawing, French, and the German flute," in the family of Mr. Perkins, and receives an invitation for himself and an eligible friend. The Mulligan of Ballvmulligan, (location un- known,) an Irish chieftain, who repudiates the title of Mr." as a Saxon insult, invites himself to accompany Mr. Titmarsh; and the doings of "the Mulligan," with the characters and conduct of the rest of the party, creating, as in a drama prper, the incidents of the piece, form the subject of Mrs. Perkins's Ball. Mirth is the aim of a trifle of this kind, and laughter is the truest criticism. The jeu d'esprit, however, has more in it than suffices to create a passing smile or guffaw. It is a satirical picture of the "entertainments" and weaknesses of the middle classes, without agrain of bitterness or malice. The pictures, too, are animated by a kindred spirit, and not only illustrate the text but support it. The Mulligan in all dresses, but especially in full dress, realizes the Mile-nail to the eye; Mr. Minchin, the serious young barrister of the Western Circuit, pulling off his clogs and putting on his pumps in the hall, with the fine flunky looking down with insolent but goodnatured indifference, as at a person who walks to a party, is capital: but, taking text and illustration together, the best is Mr. Renville Renville, of the Foreign Office—" such an ass, and so respectable"; he is a living picture of the sucking Red-tapist. But all are fresh from reality, without any intervening medium.

The Yule Log, for Everybody's Christmas Hearth; showing where it grew, how it was cut and brought home, and how it was burnt. By the Author of" The Chronicles of the Sloane." Illustrated by George Ornikshank. The Yule Log is not an imitation but a complete plagiarism from The Chimes of Dickens. There is a story carried on in a dream; there are the spirits of the Log, as of the Chimes; there are a series of scenes illustrating the writer's no- tions of the moral of certain laws and usages; and, after various troubles to dif- ferent persons, in much worse taste than Dickens ever ventures upon, the princi- pal character wakes out of his dream, prepared to lend his neighbour some money to make up his rent, and possibly to eschew avarice; the whole closing with a merry-making. The plagiarism, however, is formal: the spirit of Dickens has not been caught. We miss in The Yule Log the living though literal descrip- tions, the felicitous sketches of character, the forcible exposure of cant and con- ventionalisms, even if the writer, while exposing them, falls into a cant of his own, as well as the congruity with which Dickens exhibits certain social evils even while exaggerating them and presenting them in a onesided way. The writing is often forcible in The Yule Log; but the best piece of it, the account of the old beech which furnishes the log, with the fairies assembling under it, and the wind trying to overthrow it, is also borrowed from Box.

The Charmed Roe, or the Little Brother and Sister. Illustrated by Otto Speckter. This is an original tale, with original tinted plates, and a very fresh look about the whole getting-up: but we must confess that the mechanical tops the mental. The story is an imitation of the fairy tale, retaining the obvious and not the best of the fabulous in the old productions, but suffering the unity to evaporate. "The little Brother and Sister" have a cruel stepmother, who is also a witch. To escape from their misery, they leave home and wander into a wood; where the brother, drinking in a bewitched stream, is transformed into a roe. The two live together and grow up in the forest; when a king hunting the roe is led to their cottage, marries the sister, and eventually the witch is punished and the charm dissolved. There is some tenderness in the opening, where the little chil- dren tell their troubles and leave their home: but the remainder is poor, disre- garding the consistency which should be observed in fable, and the morals pointed are worse than none.

The Fireside; a Domestic Tale. By Percy B. St. John. The lesson to be impressed by this "Domestic Tale" is prudence in money matters. The agents are, a young and affectionate wife, badly brought up, and tempted into extravagance and concealment by her mother. Something of novelty is given to the materials by laying the scene in New York; and the story is plea- santly and effectively presented, though with a strong dash of the theatrical.

Christmas and Christmas Carols.

This little brochure contains a rather encyclopedic account of Christmas doings in the olden time, with a selection of carols, ancient, and sometimes, it strikes us, modern. They are illustrated by wood-cats; whose imitation of the forms at least of the old German style harmonizes well with the simple verses they accompany.

The Fairy Ring; a new Collection of Popular Tales. Translated from the German of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, by John Edward Taylor. With twelve Illustrations, by Richard Doyle. Second edition. This new edition appears just in time to form a Christmas present of a larger and better kind. Mr. Taylor has revised the translation, and added some new stories.

Bean-Flower and Pea-Blossom. By Charles Nodier. Embellished with numerous Illustrations from Designs by Tony Johannot. Genius Goodf?Ilow and the Wood-cutters Dog. By Charles Nodier. Em- bellished with numerous Illustrations from Designs by Tony Johannot. Good Lady Bertha's Honey-Broth. By Alexandre Dumas. With one hun- dred and twenty Illustrations by Bertall. The Life and Adventures of Punchinello. Adapted from the French of Oc- tave Feuillet, and embellished with one hundred Designs by Bertall. These are specimens of a new speculation, which is to consist of modern chil- dren's Marlea, Written by "great authors," properly illustrated from designs by

"great artists," with the design of superseding each old-fashioned tales as "-Blue Beard" and "Little Red Riding Hood," severely criticised in the prospectus. The numbers before us each contain a single tale in a very pretty covered brochure, with a frontispiece in colours, and an immense number of wood-cuts scattered through the pages. The titlepages give the names of the authors and the illus- trators.]