PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

BOOKS.

Notwithstanding the momentous incidents of the week, in the settlement of the Oregon question and the unsettlement of Government at home, the week has been a busy one in the publishing world, and more new books have poured in upon us at once than have come together for many a day. Many of them, too, came late, as if the bibiiopoles had paused upon the issue, but, finding that "the world must turn upon its Aida" in despite of Downing Street, Osborne House, or the White House, they took heart of grace and sent forth their wares—perhaps thinking there might be a de- mand for them during the dulness of the interregnum. They consist chiefly of fictions of the regular stamp—though Marryat's may prove an exception; and travels over welIknown ground—except Count St. Marie's Visit to Algiers.

A Tour to and from Venice, by the Vaudois and the Tyrol. By Louisa Stuart Costello, Author of A Summer Among the Boeages and the Vinea," &c.

_Personal Recollections of a Ten Months' Residence in Berlin; also, Ex- tracts from a Journal kept in Paris during the Crisis of 1839. By Major Whittingham, C.B., Twenty-sixth Cameronians.

A Visit to the French Possessions in Africa. By Count St. Marie, formerly in the French Military Service.

Original Familiar Correspondence between Residents in India; including Sketches of Java, &e. The Privateer's-man One Hundred Years Ago. By Captain Marryat, In two volumes.

The Three Students of Gray's /no; a Novel. In three volumes. By William Hughes, Esq., Contributor to Blackwood's Magazine of "It's All for the Best."

Second Love, and other Tales, from the Note-book of a Traveller. In three volumes.

Hints on Angling, with Suggestions for Angling Excursions in France and Belgium; to which are appended, some brief Notices of the English, Scot- tish, and Irish Waters. By Palmer Hackle, Esq. [The author of this volume is an enthusiast and a character, who has devoted his life, or at least his leisure, to the pursuit of the gentle art in Scotland, Ire- land, France, and Belgium; for though he has angled in England, he mourns over the growing scarcity of fish, owing, he says, to the combined influences of pre- serving and poaching, the poacher avenging the selfishness of the preserver. Hence, in despite of faults, the book has considerable interest, from the freshness of many of the facts, and the sense and experience visible in the directions. The author may ncessionally write too much, especially about his own opinions; some of his directions about tackle, and his descriptions of fish, must of necessity be common ; but we see clearly that he has tested the commonest knowledge by his own prac- tice, and added to it by many curious and useful observations,—so that the whole wears an air of life. The feature of the book, however, is the portion of it which relates to France and Belgium, now brought within less time than the Tweed was distant twenty years ago. The general advice and particular description of localities will be found very useful to the British angler about to try his luck across the Channel; and they are not unningkd with incidental sketches of the

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manners and customs of the people, having an interest for more than anglers. We would, however, advise every one to avoid the wordy and rigmarole Intro- duction.

Stable-Talk and Table-Talk; or Spectacles for Young Sportsmen. By Harry Ilieover. Volume IL

[A continuation of the former volume, and probably, like that, reprinted from some sporting periodical. The merits and defects are much the same as before - but we think there is greater artifice in the choice of the subjects, smacking. more of the article-writer on the look-out. A pleasant portrait of the author is prefixed to the volume as a frontispiece.]

Infamy and Parental Love; a Didactic and Domestic Poem. By the Rever- end Christopher Blencow Dunn.

[The object of the Reverend Christopher Dunn is to inculcate temperance and morality, that parents may be healthy, and maternal nursing, with the study of physiology, that children may grow up still healthier. The execution of the is scarcely equal to the importance of its subject. In structure, there is no ciency of didactic art ; the author digressing to various topics, and amongst others to the origin of life, which he may perhaps pursue a shade ioo physiologi- cally: but the essential character of the production is a series of hortative essays or homilies turned into verse.]

Francis Tamo ; The Indian Girl; and other Poems. By a Colonist. [The verses of a Colonist seem to consist of two kinds,—one, where the meaning is hazy and the verse well sounding enough; the other, where the sense is more definite, but the style becomes prosaic. The scene of the longer tales is laid in New Brunswick; and Byron is the author's model. The miscellaneous poems are mostly upon general subjects common to all writers of verse. A perception of nature and a feeling of poetry are scattered through the volume; but we are afraid the ore is of that kind which would scarcely repay the labour of working.] The Child's Vision; or the Angel and the Oak. By the Author of " The Priestess."

[A charming fable, designed to inculcate religion and loyalty in the young mind by exciting curiosity and sympathy. An angel is supposed to show to a child the growth of a forest; various scenes that may have occurred beneath an oak from the Druids to the present time: the beneficent doctrines of-Christianity are con- trasted with the sanguinary rites of the Druids; and incidents in the lives of Alfred, William Rufus, Margaret of Anjou, Charles the Second, and George the Third, are described as taking place in the child's sight. The attack on Crom- well is not in the amiable and Christian spirit of the rest of the book]

Abbotsmere; or Illustrations of Home Education. By Mary Gertrude, Author of " Phillip Randolph, a Tale of Virginia."

[A tale illustrative of the evil effects of spoiling a child by too much indulgence, and what in an older person would be called flattery. This mistaken system of education is balanced by a more rational plan, exhibited in the family of an aunt of the heroine. Some social incidents are mingled with the didactic examples ,• and the tale may be recommended as an agreeable and even interesting story of its kind.]

Revenge ; or the History of Arthur Phillips. By R. Bedingfield, Esq., Author of " The Misers Son," &c.

[The moral improbabilities of the melodrama are often enough put into fictions; but the mode of doing it, and the cast of the writer's mind, are generally above his matter. In Revenge everything is upon a par. The book seems to be one of those high-low-life stories that are published in parts, and has been sent to the Spectator by mistake.] Clarence; or a Tale of our own Times. By Miss Sedgwick,Author Of " Hope Leslie," 8r.c. (The Parlour Novelist)

[Another cheap volume, reprinted from the American Miss Austen,—if, indeed, Hiss Sedgwick bas not more romance than the Englishpainter of daily life.] Manual of Practical Assaying; intended for the use of Metallurgists, Cap- tains of Mines, and Assayers in general. By John Mitchell, Member of the Chemical Society.

[With the exception of Berthier's "Mae des Essais par la voie sache," the state of assaying, or the art of extracting the metal from the ore, very much resembles that of all scientific pursuits in former ages, when learners had to acquire their knowledge from oral instruction with the ft.Nuent uncertainty of whether their master was really competent to ieach them. Mr. Mitchell's object, in his Manual of Practical Assaying, is to place the art of assaying among those which may be studied in treatises, after such knowledge is acquired as precept cannot impart, and frequent experiment would enable a tyro to acquire imperfectly, and at greater cost than by paying a teacher. The basis of the volume is derived from Berthier, with various additions from the author's own experience, and English practice. The book is well arranged, and of a strictly practical character.]

The Surgical, Mechanical, and Medical Treatment of the Teeth; including Dental Mechanics. Illustrated with one hundred and thirty-nine Engra- vings, drawn by Felix Roffe, and executed by W. Cleghorn. By James Robinson, Surgeon-Dentist to the Metropolitan Hospital, &c. This volume differs from other books on the subject of dental surgery chiefly in the neatness of its many plates and the extent of its range, which commences with the state of the art among the ancients, and terminates with a full but strictly practical account of the mechanical part of the dentist's profession. The principal novelties are Mr. Robinson's opinions that irregularities of the teeth may be cor- rected at a more advanced age than is generally believed, and that the appearance of the teeth will indicate the existence of consumption and scrofula: the last opinion is not altogether new.] Beckmann's History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins. Volume L (Bohn's Standard Library.)

[The. popularity of Beckmann's well-known mixture of gossip and learning touching curious and striking facts in science, art, mechanics, &c., is shown by the number of editions it has gone through. In the present reprint for Mr. Bohn s Standard Library, the translation has been revised, the text corrected as regards errors of opinion and old-fashioned modes of exhibiting names, and new infortna Lion adapted to the present time added in notes.]

Christianity in its various Aspects, from the Birth of Christ to the French Revolution. By E. Quinet, of the College of France. Translated, with the Author's approbation, by C. Cocks, Professor of the Royal Colleges; Translator of " Priests, Women, and Families," &c. (Cheap edition.) [One of Mr. Cocks's translations from the modern mystical school of Frenchmen, who use the facts of history as a means for putting forth their personal and na- tional interpretations thereupon: the real matter bearing a very slender proportion to the writer's opinions, and those being somewhat of the dreamiest.] The Works of G. P. R. James, Esq. Revised and corrected by the Author. With an Introductory Preface. Volume IX. Darnley. [This new edition of one of Mr. James's earliest works has received various cor- rections in the antiquarian parts; it having been written without the facility of recurring to books, in an old chateau in France. The main feature of novelty is in the preface; where Mr. James gives an account of the first conception of the work, and dwells with a not ungraceful feeling on the saddening influences of " gliding years," even when we are successful.] Belford Regis; or Sketches of a Country Town. By Mary Russell Mitford, Authoress of' " 81.c. (Standard Novels.) [Belford Regis is rather a series of tales and sketches, exhibitive of life in a country town., than a regular fiction. But no matter: the reading purchaser of the Standard Novels will think it more justly entitled to a place in the collection than novels which represent no life at all.]

John Bull's Trip to Boulogne and Calais, accompanied by his Wife Sally. In which is introduced Professor Polichinelle's new French Course for Two Months' Residence on the Continent. By the Author of " Sketches in France," &c. [Some lessons on French grammar, with a vocabulary of words in general use, embodied in the framework of a citizen and his wife making a trip to Boulogne, where the lady takes lessons of a professor, and the language-master also serves as a guide to the place. The information may be useful to many; but the vehicle in which it is presented is somewhat coarse.] The Poor Cousin; a Novel. In three volumes. Edited by the Author of " The Scottish Heiress," &c.

NEW SERIAL.

The Comic History of England. By Gilbert Abbott a' Beckett. Illustrated by Leech. No. I. LA jocular narrative of the grave events of English history, in which facts are cared for as well as fun, and dates are not disregarded for drolleries. Mr. Leech's burlesque illustrations are in the spirit of this facetious history, but more out- rageously absurd; and both text and cuts are laughable.]

PAMPHLET.

Animadversions on the Library and Catalogues of the British Museum. A Reply to Mr. Panizzi's Statement, and a Correspondence with that Officer and the Trustees. By Sir Harris Nicolas. [This pamphlet contains a reprint of the articles published in the Spectator in reference to the Library and Catalogues of the British Museum; the Correspond- ence between Sir Harris Nicolas and Mr. Panizzi upon a complaint of delay in the delivery of books made by the former; the address of Sir Harris to the Trustees of the Museum; and the very official answer of their Secretary,—who, leaving unnoticed the most material parts of the complaint, states, " that if you, or any other gentleman in the habit of frequenting the Reading-room, conceive that you have any cause to complain of its management, your representations, if addressed in writing, will always receive full attention." To these documents Sir Harris appends a variety of observations in the shape of a preface. or a running com- mentary; especially bringing out the needless complexity and liability to error of the present system, when the press-mark and title ought to suffice, and comment- ing on the conduct of the Trustees. We suspect, however, that that body is pen- proof. The only mode of dealing with the subject of proved abuses in the British Museum is through the House of Commons. Some Member who is competent to the task should use the forms of the House to suspend the annual grant, till the smile are remedied, or at least an inquiry instituted: stop the supplies!]

ILLUSTRATED WORK.

A Chart Illustrating the Architecture of Westminster Abbey. Drawn and Lithographed by Francis Bedford junior.

[This pictorial "chart consists of a set of nine views of the most characteristic features of Westminster Abbey, interior and exterior, drawn on stone with ex- quisite neatness, and surrounded by a rich Gothic border composed of some details of ornament. The design of this beautiful group of pictures is to illustrate the several styles of Gothic in Westminster Abbey; which is accomplished by a single page of explanation on the cover that encloses this elegantprint. The Chart would be ornamental in a frame as well as useful in the pocket.]