PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

From March 27th to April 24.

BOOKS.

Sermonspreached at St. Paul's Cathedral, the Foundling Hospital, and several' Churches in London; together with others addressed toe Country Congregation. By the late Reverend Sydney Smith, Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Dramas for the Stage. By George Stephens, Author of " The Manuscripts of Er&ey,"Ize. In two volumes.

The Life of the Right Honourable George Canning. By Robert Bell, Author of The History of Russia," &c.

Thoughts on Animalcules; or a Glimpse of the Invisible World revealed by the Microscope. By Gideon Algernon Manta, Esq , LL.D., FRS.; Au- thor cf the " Wonders of Geology," &c.

[This is a clever attempt at popularizing the wonders of the inviable world, done in the manner of the fashionable lecturer.. Everything is made clear, and unfolded with 'a bland elegance of style, or of something deeper than style—of character. The commonplaces or topics of the subject are noticed, and set off with quota- tions from poets, or graver authorities; the striking facts in the history of the discovery of animalcules are told in fitting places; if anything wcirnd encumber

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by over-detail, the reader is referred to some other book for the nformation; thq more interesting particulars connected with these wonderful "little ones" are presented with simple suavity. A style of personal address is displayed in describing the wonders that observation, especially through the microscope, unfolds; so that readers, almost seeing what is done, may know how to re- peat the experiment, without troublesome or expensive inquiries—a common pool or stream " will furnish the creatures and their medium. The volume is illustrated by coloured plates, representing magnified portraits of animalcules. Partly in notes, partly in the appendix, Dr. Mantell breaks a lance, in courteous fashion, with the unknown author of the Vestiges.]

Flora Calpensis: Contributions to the Botany and Topography of Gibraltar and its neighbourhood; with Plan, and Views of the Rock. By E. F. Kelaart, M.D., F.L.S., F.G.S., Army Medical Staff, &e.. [This is one of those books, now becoming so common, which exhibit a classified list of plants found in a particular district, with occasional remarks; and whose attraction is limited to botanists. The region of Gibraltar gives more of freshness

and curiosity to /the names than are possessed by the Flora of a home district, because knowledge is imparted or suggested. Dr. Kelaart also adds some des- criptions of Gibraltar, its inhabitants, and their mode of living, with inter- esting observations on the climate and diseases: he also conducts the botanist on several excursions that may be made in the neighbourhood of the fortress: and

these things give more life and variety than is usually found in a mere Flora. The special object of the book, however, of necessity limits its interest to the bo- tanist; or to those about to visit Gibraltar, either in a passing call or for a longer time. To such tourists the Flora Calpensis will be found a very superior guide. The book is beautifully printed.]

The Modern British Plutarch; or Lives of men distinguished in the recent History of our Country, for their talents, virtues, or achievements. By W. C. Taylor, LLD. of Trinity College, Dublin; Author of "A Manual of Ancient and Modern History," &c.

[Thirty-eight lives of individuals conspicuous in literature, public life, and prac- tical art like Smeaton, or the more speculative but not less useful branch of ab-

stract science like Davy! must of course be briefly dismissed in a single volume,

and partake more of notice than biography. Dr. Taylor,. however, has succeeded in his main object,—that of furnishing the rising generation with a short account of persons who were contemporaries with their fathers and grandfathers, but whose

names are little more than known to themselves. The space at Dr. Taylor's disposal has been well used; the leading events in the lives and the striking traits in the characters of the persons being rapidly ran over, or summarily presented in a readable manner. Perhaps some of the lives might have been advantageously omitted, and more space devoted to the remainder. Goldsmith, Cowper, and Franklin, for example, have bad their biographies presented in so many forms, that it cannot be lack of means which induces want of knowledge respecting them.] OX4 Hundred Original Tales for Children; a Class-book to teach the Art of Reading in less time and with h,reater ease than the usual methods, and to cultivate at an earlier period the imagination and,ressoning faculties of youth. Illustrated with wood-engravings. By Joseph Hine.

[These stories are designed to supply what Mr. Hine considers a desideratum— tales of sufficient length, interest, and ease, for the young; those, he says, which combine the two last qualities being few in number, and also too short. As far as regards number of syllables, simplicity of meaning in the words, easiness of composition in sentences or paragraphs, and length, the end is sufficiently at- tained in these One-Hundred Original Tales. Whether the interest is so well achieved, is more doubtful. In the tales or fables we have read, the incidents seem somewhat flat, and the story expanded by extraneous descriptions, rather than ex- tended by various circumstances. Children, however, may form a different opin- ion; though we suspect, they are keen judges of all that is within their range.] Petra; a Poem. Second edition. To which a few short Poems are now

added. By John William Burgos; B.A. of Worcester College. [The leading poem in this little book formed the Oxford Prize Poem for 1845; and in this second edition the author has added some occasional productions, chiefly on sacred subjects. One, an address in 1842 to Mr. Newman, as the poet's pastor, followed by a species of continuation on his lapse, has a more than poetical in- terest. There is a poetical spirit, trained by scholarship, in this volume, which may lead to greater things.]

The Vital Statistics of Glasgow, for 1843 and 1844; drawn up by appoint- ment and under the authonty of the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Town- Council. By Alexander Watt, LL.D., City Statist. [We believe this is a species of annual publication, compiled by the order of the authorities of Glasgow, and containing a great many statistics, relative to the po- pulation, births, deaths, and marriages of the city, chiefly comparative with the preceding year. There are also various papers and tables of a more general cha- racter. If every city in the island emulated Glasgow, we should have a large body of valuable statistics.] Knight's Penny Magazine. Volume L [This new series of the `Penny Magazine," which we noticed on the appearance of the first number, has now reached a volume; and it forms an elegant book for the parlour-table.] A Brief View of Homeopathy; with Hints as to the Treatment of the more common Accidents and Complaints; and several striking Cases, principally of disorders of the nerves and digestive organs. By Neville Wood, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

The publishing-trade, which had rather slackened since the alterations in the Corn-laws and the Tariff were introduced to Parliament, has revived again, pro- bably in anticipation of the Easter holydays. Besides the various publications that have the novelty of appearing for the first time, or as a mere new edition, we have before us a batch of what may be termed business books. In point of sub- stance and literary merit, they may probably be superior to some of their newer bsethren—nay, possibly standard works; but they differ in the main from com- mon publications,, by belonging to some issue or speculation, which gives them a character apart from their literary quality. We are more disposed to say " such a book has appeared in such a series," than to discuss the book itself. A Discourse of Matters pertaining to Religion. By Theodore Parker, Mi- nister of the Second Church in Roxbury, Mass.

[Thin volume forms one of the Catholic series; whose numbers chiefly consist of translations and American reprints. It contains the substance of five lectures de- livered in Boston in 1842, which were subsequently published. Their tenets, if tenets theycan be called, are of an extremely Unitarian kind; not far perhaps from the views which Blanco White seems to have held, when he had passed beyond the Unitarian- ism of Channing and other ministers of an orthodox character. The general prin- ciples of these Discourses are, that theology overlays religion, the spirit of which is deeply seated in the human mind anterior to revelation; and that Christianity-is an eternal truth, quite independent of Christ, and known in its maxims and elements before his advent,. though he was selected by the Divinity to reveal it in fitting time and completeness. The book displays a good deal of theological reading, a quiet force and closeness ofstyle with much of that covert sarcasm and faculty of delineating in words, which ;revellers ascribe to the Unitarian preachers of America.] Lectures on the Pilgrim's Progress, and on the Life and Times of John Banyan. By George B. Cheever, D.D., of New York. [This also is a reprint from an American book: it forms one of a series of " cheap ,lications of a popular and instructive character," though not appearing under a ct title. Dr. Cheever's religious views are of a very opposite kind to those of Mr. Parker; being, in fact, akin to Bnnyan's own upon the subject of &race.] Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe. By J. C. L. Sismonde de Sismondi, of the Academy and Society of Arts of Geneva, &c. Translated from the Original, with Notes and a Life of the Author, by Thomas Roscoe. Second edition, including all the Notes from the last Paris edition. In two volumes. (Bohn's Standard Library.)

The Life of Luther. Written by Himself. Collected and arranged by M. Michelet, Member of the Institute; Author of "History of France," &c. Translated by William Hazlitt, Esq., of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at- law. (Bogne's European Library) [Both of these serials are old acquaintances, going on with new vigour. Bohn's Standard Library presents the whole of Sismondi's celebrated Literature of the South of Europe, in two cheap but handsome volumes: and Mr. Bogue, in his European Library, offers the reader lffichelet's Luther; which, whatever may be thought of the biographer's conclusions, will attract by his skill, animation, and research.] The Works of G. P. R. James, Esq. Revised and corrected by the Author. With an Introductory Preface. Volume VIII.—" The Robber." The Step-Mother. By G. P. R. James, Esq., Author of "Richelieu," &c. In three volumes.

[There is no new matter in the new edition of The Robber; unless it be a melodramatic frontispiece, where a tremendous leap is taken by a horseman steal- ing a baby. The Stepmother, we believe, is a reprint of one of Mr. James's simultaneous dictations for perrodicals, which appeared in a Sunday newspaper.]

ILLUSTRATED WORKS.

Waverley Novels. Abbotsford edition. Volume X. [This volume completes, we believe, a series that constitute a monument, erected with the aid of the press by the enterprise of the publisher, Mr. Cadell of Edin- burgh, to the memory of Stott. The Abbotsford series of the Waverley Novels may be considered unique in point of the number, variety, and finish of the illus- trative engravings, and the quantity of elucidatory information collected together in a reprint appearing so soon after the author's death. An engraving of the characteristic statue of Sir Walter Scott by Greenshields, and some lovely land- scapes by Creswick, are the chief ornaments of this volume; which contains Woodstock and The Chronicles of the Canongate. Woodstock, Blenheim, Windsor, and Oxford, are pictured by Creswick, with delicate truth and beauty, and exquisitely engraved; and among the portraits and other memorials, those re- lating to Oliver Cromwell are prominent in interest.] Gray's Elegy, Illuminated by Owen Jones.

[Protected by a massive cover of embossed leather resembling carved oak, the superbly illuminated pages of this volume show like gems in a cabinet. Such is the perfection to which the art of chromalithography has been carried in this volume, that it is difficult to detect the evidence of any printing process having been employed: the letters and fanciful borders of gold and colours appear as bright and clear as if done by hand with pen and pencil. Two half-stanzas of the poem, in old English characters, occupy each page, in the centre of which appears an initial letter that blends with the rich broad bor- der surrounding it. Every twopages form a different design, and these are re- markable for quaint elegance and originality; Gothic foliage in fantastical variety, but chiefly of a light and open kind, with graceful curves, forming the mass of or- nament. It is a tour de forceof Mr. Owen Jones's inventive talent and executive skill; and is altogether a splendid curiosity of illuminated printing.]

Our Own Times. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. Na I. [George Cruikshank is here in his proper sphere, illustrating in his own peculiar and inimitable way the oddities that strike one in passing occurrences, and giving play to his whimsical fancy in grotesque graphic comments on men and mannersa Architectural Notices of the Churches of the Archdeaconry of Northampl ton. No. I. Higham Ferren. [The first of a series of elegantly-yrinted and profusely-illustrated descriptions of churches, that, judging from this fine example, deserve to be delineated. Mr. Mackenzie has depiet the exterior and interior with his usual minute exacta ness; and the details and plan are likewise figured.] Ancient and Modern Architecture, Parts XLIV. and XLV.

[These parts, containing illustrations of two very remarkable edifices—the Gothic Church at Assissi, and the Treasury at Mycenee—complete a work that is valuable to students of architecture, whether amateur or professional, for flit choice selection of examples and the full and accurate descriptions and delineations of them. The arehniological disquisitions also add to the interest of the work.3