PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
THE year opened with expectations that have been disappointed. The politician expected rare debates upon Lord DURHAM and Canada—never were debates so flat ; the faithful looked for some miraculous change in the composition of the Government, which should bring new strength—a change was made, but the strength is wanting ; the sanguine men were bid to hope that Lord Mat, BOURNE'S Ministry would " occupy a higher and stronger popular ground"—the sanguine men have been mortified and held in deri- sion ; the ladies, and the Jitney trades, expected a brilliant season every one interested is complaining of' its dulness. If any persons indulged hopes of a literary kind, they have fared no better than their neighbours : the book season has produced very few works of merit, or even character, and those few derived their claim to interest from their subjects. being books of travels. The best of the others had neither wide nor permanent attraction ; the majo- rity were copies or compilations—particular thoughts stolen from the learning of other men, or manner, style, subject, and matter, borrowed from writers of poetry and fiction, and each rendered tame or ridiculous in the attempt to appropriate them. And the season appears about to close consistently. The last fortnight has produced little which has any pretence to weight or novelty: encyclopmdias, dictionaries, new editions, law books, and indifferent fictions, make up the staple material of the pile before us.
BOOKS.
Inaugural Addresses by Lords Rectors of the University of Glasgow; to which are prefixed, an Historical Sketch and Account of the Present State of the University. By JOIIN BARRAS HAL The Educator : Prize Essays on the Expediency and Means of Elevating the Profession of the Educator in Society. By JOHN LAcon, Esq., J. A. fienatin, Esq., Rev. E. lisnomosi, J. SIMPSON, ESq., and Mrs. G. It. PORTER. Under the sanction of the Central Society of Edits cation.
Bogota in 1830-7 : being a Narrative of an Expedition to the Capital of New Grenada, and a Residence there of eleven months. By 3.
STEUART.
Memoirs of a Cadet. By a Bengalce.
Life of .ilrargaret Beau fiat, COuntess rtf Irelanond nd Derby, Mother of King Henry the Seventh. By CAROLINE A. IlarsTED. [Though full of troubles and eventful incident, to little is known of the details of the life Of MARGARET BEALTORT, mother of HENRY the Seventh, to resider it adapted for an independent biographical work ; its proper position being, in a series. For this, however, the author is not responsible, the subject having been chosen by the Directors of' the Gresham Commemoration : butuitws d
was her power to have given effect to the striking features in the fortunes character of the Countess of ]ttcumoxp, by presenting theta distinctly and alone ; instead of overlaying them by an inflated style, sinking a true sense of distinction in courtly panegyric, and letting the interest of the main subject be lost sight of in masses of historical and genealogical matter, however curious parts of it may be.]
Studies and Examples of the :11bdern School of English Architecture— The Travellers Clab-housc, by CHARLES BARRY, Architect :
illus-
trtett by Drawings made by 31. liewerr, and engraved by 31. J. II. LE KEUX. Accompanied by an Essay on the Present State of Archi- tectural Study, and the Revival of the Italian Style, by \V. H. LEEDS, Editor of the Illustrations of' the Public Buildings of ',undo'', &e. [A handsome volume of outline plates, elevations, sections, plans, and details of the Travellers Club, prefaced by an eulogistic description of the edifice, en- grafted upon sonic discursive remarks on the state of architecture and the pub- lic taste. This is intended to be the first of a series of illustrations of contem- porary architecture : and so far as the plates arc concerned, nothing can be better. A more beautiful specimen could hardly have been chosen to set out with than this compact and chaste building, which exemplifies the taste and judgment of the architect in its graceful and harmonious proportions, its finished elegance, and the unity and simplicity of the design. Mr. LEEDS'S Essay is quite inadequate to the subject—indeed he scarcely enters into it : we learn nothing whatever of the present state and progress of architecture as a science in this country, and his observations on the "Italian style" are vague and unsatisfactory. Some account of the expense and materials of the building would have been desirable.] The Manor of Glenmore ; or the Irish Peasant. By a Member of the Irish Bar. In three vols.
[A politico-religious novel, picturing the social state of Ireland just previous to Catholic Relief, when "the Association " was in full activity. A love- story is the thread on which are strung sketches of exemplary priests and knavish agents, patriarchal peasants and Orange spies, deluded desperadoes and bitroted " Biblicals; " with descriptions of parish gatherings, masses and murders, trials and ejectments, abductions and executions. The view is one.- sided, and strongly tinged with the colour of the writer's fancy—which. is Green, not Orange; there is more of zeal than mastery, more sentimentality tshaduLc niffpsoi.vier, in the treatment of the subject ; and the style, though fluent, i The Forester ; a Tale of 1698. By MARY LOUISA Bored:. In three vols. [A story, as the titlepage expresses, of the year of time Glorious Revolution. The hero and heroine are in the household of James, and are plunged into the usual, or rather unusual distresses ; the hero beiag accused of murder, and the heroine being subjected to a tale of scandal by the arts of a slighted woman, whose re. venge is forwarded by a series of accidents, such as only occur in romance. There is not much of high art in the structure of the story—little of truth ma the characters or manners ; but the tale is well enough varied by fluctuating fortunes, striking incidents, and the leading political events of the time,—as the flight of James's Queen, his own attempt at escape, ids arrest at Faver- sham, the battle of the Boyne, and so forth. The style also is fluent ; and the descriptions are pleasing, though rather literal.] The Vale of Glamorgan: Scenes and Tales among the Welsh.
[Descriptive sketches of the rural life, scenery, and customs of the peasantry of Glamorgan ; interspersed with fire-side stories and old superstitions. The
little narratives are short, simple, and circumstantial, but withal tame, literal, very distinctly marked; and the explanations are clear, and sufficiently full. stud superficial; wanting the skill by which a clever craftsman conceals the The completeness of the work can only be verified by use.] absence of originality.] The Wonders of Geology. By GIDEON ALGERNON MANTELL, LL.D., SCHMID. By SAMUEL JACKSON. A Story for Children. In two vols. Third edition. [A story stolen from. the Maid and the Magpie—a gardener's, daurghter being [The appearance of a third edition of this work, in so short a time, is a proof accused of taking a ring which had been carried off by jatkdaus. The conduc . of the justice of our judgment on its popular qualities ; and joerhape as goods of the tale is tediously spun out ; and if it be in accordance with German mail- proof that its science is not of the severest, despite the anger of Dr. MAR]ELL'S ers—which we doubt—is very contrary to English. The translation lacks sun- letter-writing friend.] ;helm As the book is intended for children, before it is placed in their hands The Law of Parliamentary Elections. Part I.—From the Issuing of
the Parent or guardian may as well look at pp. 190-1.] the Writ to the Return of the Members. Including the last Alterations
[Costanza, the heroine of the poem, is a young Greek girl : her father, a By BASIL MossrAGU, Esq., Q. C., and W. JOHNSON NEALE, Esq.,
Illaniote chief, having been murdered by the Turks, she is roused to revenge Barrister-at-Law.
the wrongs of her country, and leads the Greek forces against their. oppressors, [Rather a good card, we suspect, at any time, but more especially just now, animating them by her enthusiastic fearlessness, like another. Maid of Sara- when so much attention is drawn to the subject of elections. The names of gossa. A. note to one of the opening stanzas gives a more lively picture of the authors guarantee the correctness of the law : for the orderly distinctness the heroine and her story, than the fie cantos a elaborated verse in the Spen- of the arrangement, and the clear brevity of the style, we can vouch. It is serian stanza; which are wanting in originality, fire, and interest. Most yer- one of the most practical and intelligible law-books we ever met with. The sifiers seem to think that the art of poetry consists in diffusing an idea in a work is divided into three parts, of which the first is before us—" From the mist of fine words, instead of concentrating the glittering rays of fancy into a Issuing of the Writs to the Return of the Members." The other parts will focus. If the mob who write and rhyme with ease, ivould take as much pains consist of " 2. From the Return of the Members to the Trial of the Election to distil their thoughts as they do to dilute them, the floods of verse might by before a Committee. 3. From the Registration of the Voters to the Issuing of
evaporation of words yield a residuum of some drops of poetry.] the Writs."]
[The story of this play formed one of Mr. JAMES'S multifarious tales ; and A. B. In two vols. Vol. I. after his wont, he has now used it up again in a dramatic shape. The piece [A clear and Lipid narrative of the Duke of WELLINomois's public career, has two or three telling melodramatic situations, and a good deal of bustle; but chiefly compiled from his own Despatches. It strikes us, however, that the the story is not favourable to the development of passion, nor would its eon- substance rather than the spirit of these documents is given.]
duct be very credible to an audience. The continuous narrative of a prose The Forest Planter and Pruner's Assistant : being a Practical Treatise fiction call, utter a fashion, explain those sudden changes of character and on the Management of the Native and Exotic Forest Trees commonly disposition which startle and astound when shown in action.] cultivated in Great Britain, respecting which every useful information
Modern Geography, for the Student, the Man of Business, and all is given. Illustrated by engraved figures. By J. MAIN, A.L.S. .
[The Plane Globe is an ingenious contrivance, consisting of the Northern and 1839 : with a new General Index to the whole work, including all the
in the insides of the two thick covers of a square thin book ; each hemisphere II. BAXTER ; and revised by GEORGE DON, F.L.S.
moving under the brass meridian that confines it in its place, so that problems nipper's South Australia : containing the History of the Rise, Progreso, can be worked with it as with the rotund sphere. The Treatise on Modern and Present State of the Colony. Hints to Emigrants, and a variety Geography, enclosed between the two hemispheres, is clear and. comprehensive; of useful and authentic Information ; embellished with three Maps, containing an immense amount of statistical and other useful information, packed showing the maritime portion of the located districts, the surveyed into a close compass, and so well arranged that individual facts appertaining districts of Adelaide and Encounter Bay, and the city of Adelaide. By to ally country are easily ascertained : fur instance, the latitude and longitude,
population, products, and manufactures of every chief town in the world. Iinsinv CAPPER. Third. edition, considerably enlarged.
The topography of the British Isles is still more fully and minutely described : The Works of Mrs. Hemans ; with a Memoir of her Life, by her Sister. the boundaries and extent of each county—the population, constituencies, and parishes—the average rent of land per acre, the ratio of crime and instruction, Gertrude and Beatrice; or the Queen of Hungary. A Historical Tra-
and the average amount of productions—are stated. The general account of gedy, in five acts. By GEORGE STEPHENS, Author of " The Manus
the different states and kingdoms, though concise, is lively and pregnant with scripts of Erdely," 4lic. Second edition. matter. In a word, the publication is a complete multum in parco of " Geogra- Adventures of an Attorney in Search of Practice.
phy and the use of the Globe." A pair of Celestial Hemispheres are men- SERIALS. tined in the title, but these have not reached us. JOSEPH BENTLEY, the in-
ventor of the Plane Globe, is the compiler of the Geography also ; and his Charley Chalk; or the Career of an Artist : with Illustrations by Jacob labour and ingenuity are admirable : we must, however, as in all similar cases, Parallel. No. I. assume, for it would be easier to write the Treatise than to verify, the general Encyclopedia Britannica. Part CX.
The Hishwical Class Book ; or Readings in Modern History, Chronologi- ledge. Vol. XIV. Li 'non ia—Massachusetts.
This does not, however, supply that want of a knowledge of the previous events PAMPHLETS. which must be felt by young readers who think at all; and which can only he The Stade Duties Considered. By WILLIAM HUT, Esq., M.P.
tory of Europe during an entire century, and the detailed relation of particular BOBERT WILMOT HORTON, Bart.,
lation of synonym corn- es or periphrastic expressions in the text, to assist the co- Canada."
On National Education. By Mrs. AUSTIN. of Kesteven its the county of Lincoln. [A reprint dim article on National Education in France, written four years Information Relative to New Zealand, for the use of Colonists. ago,. and published in the second number of Cochrane's Foreign Quarterly Review. 1t appearance in a separate form has been suggested by the sin- Reflections on the Present Crisis. By MONTA.GUE GORE, Esq. '
question in this country, and the extracts it gives from valuable and unpub- day, June 18,1839. By RICHARD Moscitsms: MILNEs, Esq.
The conciliatory spirit in which the article is written, and the many excellent lug Election. suggestions it contains, render this an acceptable contribution to the friends of educational reform, of whatever creed : we only regret that the authoress had not recast the materials in a more massive shape, embodying the notes with F I 1N E A It T S.
the text. The critical discussion of detached points of a subject, proper to a THE NELSON MONUMENT. renewos inconsistent with that broad generalization best suited to a view of designed for the early student, and those who have
little narratives are short, simple, and circumstantial, but withal tame, literal, very distinctly marked; and the explanations are clear, and sufficiently full. stud superficial; wanting the skill by which a clever craftsman conceals the The completeness of the work can only be verified by use.] absence of originality.] The Wonders of Geology. By GIDEON ALGERNON MANTELL, LL.D., The Flower-Basket From the German of the Rev. CHRISTOPHER F.R.S., Author of " The Geology of the South-east of England," &C.
[A story stolen from. the Maid and the Magpie—a gardener's, daurghter being [The appearance of a third edition of this work, in so short a time, is a proof accused of taking a ring which had been carried off by jatkdaus. The conduc . of the justice of our judgment on its popular qualities ; and joerhape as goods of the tale is tediously spun out ; and if it be in accordance with German mail- proof that its science is not of the severest, despite the anger of Dr. MAR]ELL'S ers—which we doubt—is very contrary to English. The translation lacks sun- letter-writing friend.] ;helm As the book is intended for children, before it is placed in their hands The Law of Parliamentary Elections. Part I.—From the Issuing of
the Parent or guardian may as well look at pp. 190-1.] the Writ to the Return of the Members. Including the last Alterations Costanza of .3listra: a Tale of Modern Greece. In five cantos. in the Qualifications of Members, as fixed by the 1 and 2 Viet. c. 48.
[Costanza, the heroine of the poem, is a young Greek girl : her father, a By BASIL MossrAGU, Esq., Q. C., and W. JOHNSON NEALE, Esq., the wrongs of her country, and leads the Greek forces against their. oppressors, [Rather a good card, we suspect, at any time, but more especially just now, animating them by her enthusiastic fearlessness, like another. Maid of Sara- when so much attention is drawn to the subject of elections. The names of gossa. A. note to one of the opening stanzas gives a more lively picture of the authors guarantee the correctness of the law : for the orderly distinctness the heroine and her story, than the fie cantos a elaborated verse in the Spen- of the arrangement, and the clear brevity of the style, we can vouch. It is serian stanza; which are wanting in originality, fire, and interest. Most yer- one of the most practical and intelligible law-books we ever met with. The sifiers seem to think that the art of poetry consists in diffusing an idea in a work is divided into three parts, of which the first is before us—" From the mist of fine words, instead of concentrating the glittering rays of fancy into a Issuing of the Writs to the Return of the Members." The other parts will focus. If the mob who write and rhyme with ease, ivould take as much pains consist of " 2. From the Return of the Members to the Trial of the Election to distil their thoughts as they do to dilute them, the floods of verse might by before a Committee. 3. From the Registration of the Voters to the Issuing of Blanche of Navarre ; a Play. By G. P. R. JAMES, Esq., Author of Lift of the Duke of Wellington. Compiled from his Grace's Despatches, " The Gentleman of the Ohl School," " The Huguenot," &c. and other Authentic and Original Documents. By GEORGE SOANE, after his wont, he has now used it up again in a dramatic shape. The piece [A clear and Lipid narrative of the Duke of WELLINomois's public career, has two or three telling melodramatic situations, and a good deal of bustle; but chiefly compiled from his own Despatches. It strikes us, however, that the the story is not favourable to the development of passion, nor would its eon- substance rather than the spirit of these documents is given.]
duct be very credible to an audience. The continuous narrative of a prose The Forest Planter and Pruner's Assistant : being a Practical Treatise fiction call, utter a fashion, explain those sudden changes of character and on the Management of the Native and Exotic Forest Trees commonly disposition which startle and astound when shown in action.] cultivated in Great Britain, respecting which every useful information
Modern Geography, for the Student, the Man of Business, and all is given. Illustrated by engraved figures. By J. MAIN, A.L.S. . classes who wish to know something of the Habitable Glebe. Contain- [The ohject of this plain and intelligent treatise on the growth and culture of lug all the Topographical, Physical, Historical, Commercial, and Poli- lorest-trees, is principally to show how, by careful pruning when young, the tical Facts worthy of notice, relating to every Empire, Kingdom, Re- greatest amount of clear-grained timber may he obtained. It is full of useful public, State, and Country in the 'World, especially of the British infitrmation, succinctly conveyed, by a practical and experienced arboricultus Empire. Also, a Treatise on the newly-invented Plane Globe, contain- nat. The author throws out a valuable suggestion for the employment of our in,' a copious definition of scientific terms, and fifty-three problems, surplus labourers in planting waste lands with timber-trees and coppice, that with rules fur performing them on the Plane Globe and Plauetarium, besides being profitable, would furnish future supplies of ship-timber, of which so as to illustrate the pleasing science of Geography, and some of the the country seems likely to be in want.] elements of Astronomy, in the way usually done by the common globe ; Second Additional Supplement to London's Hortus Britannicus ; inelud-
the whole accompanying the Plane Terrestrial Globe. By the Inventor, ing all the Plants introduced into Britain, all the newly-diocovered
JOSEPH BENTLEY. British species, all the kinds originated in British gardens, up to March
[The Plane Globe is an ingenious contrivance, consisting of the Northern and 1839 : with a new General Index to the whole work, including all the
Southern Hemispheres printed on circular pieces of card-board, and inserted Supplements. Prepared under the direction of J. C. LOUDON, by W .
moving under the brass meridian that confines it in its place, so that problems nipper's South Australia : containing the History of the Rise, Progreso, can be worked with it as with the rotund sphere. The Treatise on Modern and Present State of the Colony. Hints to Emigrants, and a variety Geography, enclosed between the two hemispheres, is clear and. comprehensive; of useful and authentic Information ; embellished with three Maps, containing an immense amount of statistical and other useful information, packed showing the maritime portion of the located districts, the surveyed into a close compass, and so well arranged that individual facts appertaining districts of Adelaide and Encounter Bay, and the city of Adelaide. By The topography of the British Isles is still more fully and minutely described : The Works of Mrs. Hemans ; with a Memoir of her Life, by her Sister. In six vols. Vol. II.
parishes—the average rent of land per acre, the ratio of crime and instruction, Gertrude and Beatrice; or the Queen of Hungary. A Historical Tra-
and the average amount of productions—are stated. The general account of gedy, in five acts. By GEORGE STEPHENS, Author of " The Manus
ventor of the Plane Globe, is the compiler of the Geography also ; and his Charley Chalk; or the Career of an Artist : with Illustrations by Jacob
correctness of his multitudinous facts.] The Penny Cyclopedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know- cal and Biographical, from the Reformation in 1517, to the Accession [Both containing good subjects. The part of the E ncyclopedia Britannica has of Queen Victoria, in 1837; with Notices of the most remarkable In- Rivers, ROManCe, and a portion of Roman History—the last a judiciouS ventions and Discoveries, and Chronological Tables of Contemporary narrative of the recorded fleets with NIERUHR'S explanatory Commentary. Sovereigns, By JOHN DAVENPORT, Author Of " The Life of Ali The volume of the Peony Cyclopedia is of ampler bulk and fulness : besides a
Puha," &c. &c. great number of subjects in natural history, it has a good account of London,
[The compiler of these excerpts from history has attempted to give coherence and several other cities or shires; in science, it has a paper on Logarithms; and continuity to scattered passages contaiuing accounts of remarkable and in biography, all the Louises, and a capital MI: of Marlborough—the min- treats and characters, by introducing summaries of the state of Europe pre- tory estimate of this great commander strikes us as being very judicious.] ceding and subsequent to each of the four centuries embraced by his extracts.
supplied by study. The difference also of scale in the brief survey of the his- Reform in 1839 and Reform in 1831. By the Right Honourable Sir
occurrences, is so striking, that a sense of disproportion is produced, any thing G.C.H., &c.Correspondence between the Right Honourable Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, but favourable to the object of giving entireness to a collection of scattered Bart., and J. B. Robinson, ksg., Clary' Justice of Upper Canada, upon parts. The chronological succession is a point gained, however; and the tables the subject of a Pamphlet lately published entitled "Ireland and of contemporary sovereigns are useful. The other novel feature is the interpo-
Facts Illustrative of the Miele in which the Law is Administered by Conn..
prehension of the juvenile reader : this is very often superfluous, and not us!- try Magistrates : being a Narrative of the Case of BENJAMIN HAND. frequently enfeebles the sense without making the meaning clearer.] LEY, Esq. and the Rev. WILLIAM WATERS, Magistrates for the Parts gularly apposite nature of the remarks to the present state of the Education A Speeds on the Ballot. Delivered in the House of Commons, on Tues.
hshed documents in the possession of the French Government, consisting of A Hclp to the hesitating, and a Decision for the Undecided; or a Few Reports to the King and the Chambers on the subject of National Education. Words to those Electors who are inclined to be Neutral at the impend.