PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
Boors.
The History of the Early Puritans, from the Reformation to the open- ing of the Civil War -in 1642. By J. B. Marsden, M.A., Vicar of Great Wimmden.
The Decline of England. By Ledru Rollin. Volume L Essays, Political, Historical and Miscellaneous. By Archibald Alison, LL.D., Author of the " of Europe," &c. Volume 11 A &cinerary of the Roman Civil law; illustrated by Commentaries on and Parallels from the Mosaic Canon, Mohammedan, English, and Foreign Law. By Patrick Coiquhoun, M.A., St. John's College, Cam- bridge, &c. Volume .L Part If.
Instinct and Reason ; deduced from Electra-Biology. By Alfred &nee, F.R.S.
The Dramistie Works of Thomas Heywood. With a Life of the Poet, and Remarks mins Writings. By J. Payne Collier, Esq. Volume L (Printed for the Shakespeare Society.) The Old Oak Chest ; a Tale of Domestic Life. By G. P. R. James, Esq. Author of "The Gipsy." In three volumes.
Ada Grerille ; or Woman's Constancy. By Peter Leicester, Esq., Au- thor ef "Arthur of Brittany," &c. In three volumes.
Narrative of Scenes and Events in Bay, from 1847 to 1849. Including the Siege of Venice. By Lieutenant-General Pepe, Commander-in- chief of the Army of Expedition of Naples, and of the Forces of the Venetian Republic. Translated from the unpublished Italian Manu- script. In two volumes.
Eldorado, or Adventures in the Path of Empire : comprising a Voyage to California, vii Panama ; Life in San Francisco and Monterey; Pic- tures of the Gold Region ; and Experiences of Mexican TraveL By Bayard Taylor, Author of " Views Afoot," &c. With Illustrations by the Author. In two volumes.
M. Tullii Cieeronis Cato Major sire de Senectute, Latins sire de Ainicitia, et Epistolie Selector. With Notes and an Index, by George Long. [The most striking_feature of this book is its preface, which is in reality an essay on the teaching of Latin ; and could Mr. Long's ideas on the subject be earned out in this age of quackery, we should have more Latin scholars, if we had the masters to form them. Mr. Long's theory is founded upon Roger Ascham's ; or rather, it is Asoham's plan revised and adapted to the age. The word which beet characterizes it is thorough : whatever the pupil does into be done thoroughly ; the lemon is to be reiterated till it is mastered in all its aspects—declension, construction, translation, retranalation. This is troublesome and slow, in these days of rapid getting on : but what will the , balk of teachers say toa ‘sal to throw aside the dictionary for a young putitl,,and all the nunle helps, aids, and " Latin made" barbarous,. which pour EOM the press in such profusion? Latin, Mr, Long holds, can only he iearned from Latin authors : dictionaries, commentaries, aro., may he: necessary, but they are necessary evils.; nor can notes ever be made suffi- ciently full to infonn very young pupils, or adapted to theirparticular caps- city. The master must be his awn commentator upon the individual case.
The various details of Ascham's plan and.Long's improvements, with the fillings-up in the early stages, which Queen Elizabeth's master passed over, will be found in Mr. Long's preface. The EpistoLv Selects are in a great measure taken from the selection of Sturmius, recommended by Asc.. The notes are brief, and designed as suggestive helps; a short account of each piece precedes it ; and the book may be used in the common way without. adopt- ing Mr. Long's view of the beet mode of teaching Latin. The-preface, however, should be _perused by all who feel an interest m lingual teaehing, for the di- rect way in which the writer drives to the depth of his subject, and the racy English style in which he expresses himself.]
A Pgrular History of iferninalia ; comprisingii Familiar Aertannt of their Classification and Habits. By Adam rite., F:L.S., Aesistant. Zool. Dep., Brit. Miss. Voices from the Woodlands, descriptive of Forest Trees, Ferns, Mosses,; and Liehens. By Mary Roberts. [These handsome volumes both emanate from the same publiahers they re, semble each other in external form ; and both are occupied on the same at- tractive theme of natural history. Mr. White's Maimnalia is a skilful' compendium of the physiological characteristics and habits of the mast. remarkable animals, in which scientific knowledge is suede plain, rather than_ science sacrificed to popularity. In Voices from the Woodlands, Kiss Ro- berts aims at an ambitious mode of composition ; • endeavouring to combine_ an account of the forms, localities, and uses ofplants, with something of poetical fancy. The lichens, the mosses, the ferns, and the forest-trees, tell their own story. As a matter of theory, it may be objected that dramatic consistency is not maintained : the interlocutors are only vegetables speaking at starting, and Miss Roberts soon falls into her own style. This, however, is so agreeable, and she brings so well together the beauties, the uses, ands the wonders of the vegetable world, that practically the reader is rather. a gainer than a loser by the critical deficiency.] Letters of a Traveller; or Notes of Things seen in Europe and America. By William Cullen Bryant. [A. collected series of letters written from various places during the last fifteen or sixteen years, the greater part of which has already appeared in - American periodicals. 'They contain a plain, unaffected, and sensible ac- count of the places the author visited, and the impressions produced upon his mind; but are too desultory in subject, and too devoid of plan if not of painstaking, to be worth collecting for a foreign public, especially after the event. The letters resemble those which a well-informed and able man would write to a private friend, rather than a continuous account of foreign coun- tries, or sketches of remarkable places at home, intended for the public. For example, two visits to London are dismissed in three or four letters, and if we exclude exhibitions, in one letter ; a letter and a half suffices for two visits to Paris, and about half a letter for Venice.] Remit of Meditations on the Bible ; or an Inquiry into Truth. By a Layman. [The "Layman' had been for years in the habit of 'writing thmmentaries on his Bible reading; but not being a scholar, he distrusted his style. He • therefore applied to a friend to revise his meditatioes • who undertook the. task on condition that the joint stock composititaashouid be published. The result of their labours is thirteen essays ; which are very like sermons, and quite as readable as many sermons.] Homoeopathy and its _Principles Explained. By John Epps, M.D. (Pub- fished by the English Homceopathic Association.)
[A revised edition of the lectures on llomceopathy delivered by Dr. Epps at Exeter Hall in 1849 ; published at the request of the Committee. An ap- pendia of various matters.is added, including the trial of Mr. Pearce.]
Anne Boleyn; a Tragedy. By George H. Boker, Author of "Cahn/neer &c. [An American 'importation, which by no means intimates that the lost art of dramatic writing is likely to be revived in the New World./
SERIAL.
A History of British Birds. By the Reverend F. 0. Mortis, BA., Member of the Ashm.olean Society. With an Illustration of each Species, accurately coloured. Part L [The chief feature of this new serial is cheapness. The first number contains four-and-twenty well-printed pages of letterpress and four coloured engra- vings, for a shilling. The Reverend Mr. Morris, who contributes the litera- ture' advances no claim to originality in any shape ; but his descriptions of the birds and their habits are popular and anecdotical. His planni-to con- sider every bird British that has been seen in the islands; so that the Griffon vulture and the Egyptian vulture appear in the number before us, as well as the Fish eagle and the Golden eagle.]
ILLUSTRATED WORKS ANIf PRINTS.
The Gallery of Illustrious Americans; containing the Portraits and Biographical. Sketches of Twenty-four of the most Eminent Citizens of the Republic, since the Death of Washington. Daguerreotypes by Brady ; engraved by D'Avignon. Edited by C. Edwards Lester, as- sisted by an Association of Literary Men. Nos. I. and IL [A handsome and interesting work ; to comprise American citizens, " who from the tribune and in the field, in letters and the ads, have rendered the most signal services to the nation since the death of the Father of the Re- public." It will be marked by no political exclusiveness : "neither art nor literature can afford to give to party what belongs to mankind." "In our judgments of public men we should endeavour to meet the awards of pos- terity. In America, more than in any other country, death is needed to sanctify the memory of the great." The portraits are lithographed by D'Avignon after daguerreotypes by Brady ; biographical sketches are added by Mr. Edwards and his assistants. In the two numbers before us, the litho- graphs are executed with considerable distinctness and spirit. They are of some size, the head and face probably exceeding two inches in perpendicular length. The biographical notices are clear, and clearly printed, and not too long to be perused as accompaniments to the engravings. The two portraits are those of General Zachary Taylor and Senator John Caldwell Calhoun. The characteristics of Taylor appear to be energy, frankness; and goodhn- moured benevolence. Calhoun 't, portrait bears out the descriptions of his intellectual power : the forehead is high and straight; the eyes glare after the type common to the Anglo-American ; the lower part of the face is firm andeterzi—the chin protruding, not pleasantly; the expression is charac- terized by thoughtfulness, vigour and hardness. In England these por- traits will be welcomed for that kind of information as to the character of public men which is only to be derived from a sight of their personalespeet] The City of Durham, from the Observatory Fields. [A. clear and effective view of a fine cathedral town. The cathedral, how- ever, is not taken in the best aspect : like that of Lincoln, it;de.Aves from its long line of roof something, of the character proper to a liganine4dinshousei and would thus be better viewed in a "three-quarter" ascot, heck or front.] - Portrait of Lord Gough. [A bold officerlike veteran, dashingly portrayed ; that is, this,portrait. tau*
bs dashing, if feeble.foxeshartening had not-defeated the artist's effort to sup- ply a left arm.] . .
Portrait of Richard William IIimillen, Esq., F.R.S., Secretary to the Society of Dilettanti.
[A portrait which " looks like a likeness." It is that of a gentleman whom we-have not-the-pleasure of knowing anything about, but assume to be wel- com.s to his fries in this respectable effigy.' •
PAsuinLETS.
actions and Resources of (lie West Indian Colonies. A Letter to the Bight Honourable W. E. Gladstone, M.P., late Secretary of State for theColonies. By. the Honourable B. Stanley, M.P.
[The- son. of Lord Stanley has published this letter, containing the result of convictions impressed upon hun by a West Indian tour, lest he might not attain a hearing for a sufficiently long speech in the House of Commons, as well as from a wish to put forth his statistics in a correct form. Personal " experience " is the principaljustification of MT. Stanley for publishing his
ominous upon the- subject ; and, no doubt, what he saw has rendered his con- clusions mine certain ; but, like many other writers on West Indian subjects, he zarely tells his readers what lie saw, but collects figures and enters into ar- guments, the greater portion of which is not new ; and which, if appropriate to the queslion are not adapted to move the public mind. Some of Mr. Stailers static:tics; relating to the diminished value of estates, &c., are original, and some are startling; but they could have been procured out going to the 'West ; and, being presented fully, they want the ie.ogeney which a well-chosen fact possesses. In like manner, though Mes Stanleyls.own conviction might not have been so strong, his reasonings might hitsebbeen Pinned without moving from home, The single extended passage of reel living description—that which could only have been drawn upon the spot—is the following picture of desolation in Guiana ; a picture more speaking than whole columns of figures or extracts from blue books, from which every reader proverbially turns away.
regard to the existence of distress, it may appear idle to add further eon- &nation of what is already so abundantly proved ; but 1 cannot refrain from stating briefly the result of my own observations on the road between Georgetown, Deme- rara, and New Amsterdam, Berbice; a line of country which, as you know, comprises all'the most productive and cultivated parts of the colony of Guiana. After passing through four or five miles of land, still partially cleared, we entered a tract which bore little appearance of being in any way reclaimed from its primeval state of forest. The road was a mere foot-track, barely passable for carriages of the lightest descrip- tion; a circumstance which I name on the following account. By the Colonial laws, as.you are doubtless aware, every proprietor is bound to keep in repair so much of the public highway as passes through his own estate : failing to do this, he is liable to:flue; and if the line remain unpaid, the land is chargeable with the debt, and may ultimately be forfeited. Notwithstanding this supposed provision for enforcing the act, not an aeseept hadleen made to comply with its terms ; every single proprietor appeared equally in default ; and on my naturally asking the reason of a seeming neglect on the part of the authorities, I was assured that the nominal owners of the estates through which we were passing had declined to incur any expense for pro- perties which paid them nothing, and had thereby left it optional with the Local Go- vernmentto reimburse themselves—if they could—by taking possession at once. It is needle* to add, that what one party did not think worth retaining the other did net think worthlaking. "I was prepared for desolation, but not for what I saw. The whole road was lined with the, ruins of houses and mills gone to decay; not old ruins, made soupy thelipse of time, but new and spacious dwellings deserted and overgrown with the dense vegetation of the Trollies; sometimes wholly unroofed, and admitting the rain and sun; at others preserved from absolute dilapidation by the unauthorized occupy tion of a Negro family, whom I more than once saw using, the ornamented wood- work of the walls as fuel to boil their pot ; the owner having meantime abandoned all care of his property., after perhaps an attempt to remove some of the more valu- cueing labour, had induced him to relinquish even this; and costly engines, coppers, vacuum-chests, and all the elaborate apparatus of a boiling-house of the first class, had been left to rust among broken-walls, rafters fallen in, and. rooms tenanted only brawls and bats. Palm avenues,and what were once shrubberies, bore witness to the former existence of cultivation; and the remains of a broad and high intrench- ment on each side of a navigable canal, attested the expense formerly incurred in procuring aneasy communication with the sea. We travelled many miles without meeting a human being,—each stage a repetition of the last, and the same evidences of former wealth-and present poverty everywhere visible. Southward, beyond Nett Amsterdam, the high road leading to thesettlements of the Courantyne Creek was effectually barred by the breaking down of a bridge : this occurred more than a year ago. and nothing had been done to repair the damage, although no other communica- tion exists by land, and the prevalence of the trade-wind makes the voyage West- ward exceedingly long and disagreeable. How the inhabitants of that part of the colony received their European letters, or indeed in any way communicated with the civilized world, I did not then ascertain, and have never been able to imagine. " Much of the soil along the.coast-had been originally reclaimed from the sea, and the...dams having been left unrepaired, had given way, admitting the sait-water, and thereby rendering the land-valueless for many years,
Though Mr. Stanley has formed a decided opinion on the West Indian drams, it is due to him to say that he advocates them in a fair spirit and with temperate language.] . •
Justice for Ireland. An Inquiry into some Causes of the Insecurity of
Life and Property in that Country ; with Suggestions for their Remo- val. By Alexander Cheyne, Esq., Barrister-at-law.
- Rational Faith ; Three Lectures delivered at Finsbury Chapel, South Place. By Henry Iresen, A.M.
Common Sense for Housemaids. By a Lady.
And ppealto the Society of Friends, relative to the Fraudulent Conduct of their Members, Emanuel Cooper and William Cooper. By G. Black. Fuljilment of Prophecy ; or Cobbett on the Corn-laws.
letter from the Ghost of Sir Edmund Saunders to the Lord Chancellor Cottertham, on' the Commission for Law Reform.
able machine of the mill. In man • instances the difficult - and of ro- ry 5 expense p