EDITORIAL. ART NOTICES. EMBELLISHMENTS OF THE JULY NUMBER. "OBERWESEL ON THE RHINE," has been selected as the subject for the vignette on the title-page of our present volume, of which this is the first number, and is herewith presented to our readers in the full confidence of their approbation. It is by FINDEN, whose exquisite taste has been exercised with such a fine appreciation of every beauty in the various objects of interest along the picturesque region of the Rhine, as to give the reader who ponders over the legends of that romantic dream-land illustrated by his art, a realization of all the weird and superstitious fancy that for ever invests its traditionary lore. Among the thousand places that attract the attention of the traveller who makes the pilgrimage of the Rhine, from Cologne to the gloomy vaults of the Pfalz, there are none which possess more interest than Oberwesel. Floating along the shadowy river, imbued with all the romantic spirit of the truth and fiction that renders every object memorable, gazing down into the panorama of skies which are perpetually mirrored on its bosom, you suddenly behold through an opening in the mountains, a beautiful town, its Gothic architecture creeping halfway up a gentlyrising hill that stretches its vine-dressed slope down to the very edge of the Rhine. A nearer approach to the shore gives you a sight of the shattered walls that still bear the traces of that havoc which befell the warlike town when the bishops of Trèves, the Biscayans of Louis XIV., and the revolutionary spirit of France, each in turn, invoked such destruction as the dreadful enginery of war ever leaves upon the barriers that are raised against the invader on his march to conquest. The view in our picture is composed of the more important objects of the scene. Upon the crest of the mountain overlooking the town, is the ruin of the Schonberg, to which is attached a legend that gives it the most absorbing interest for the association it bears in the history of the "Seven Cruel Sisters," of whose fate it has become the monument. Its history goes back to the tenth century, at which time the seven scoffing ladies were transformed. according to the tradition, into seven rocks, which may yet be seen lifting their fantastic shapes out of the sullen Rhine. The en The Pfalz, celebrated for its tragedy, is sufficiently in the vicinity of Oberwesel to demand some attention while we are on this subject. It was the Palatine palace, and has been called "The Stone Ship of the Rhine." It is very picturesque in structure, and when partly obscured by mist, which is often the case, it looms up with all the proportions and form of a full-rigged vessel at sea. trance was built upon a gigantic piece of solid marble, called the "Rock of the Counts." In it were cells and dungeons for prisoners of state, and a small apartment for the Countesses of the Palatine, in which they were compelled to remain at certain seasons without any recreation save that which they could find by visiting the vaults beneath the river, in the lowest of which was a well of water that had its origin from springs beneath the bed of the Rhine. Among the many interesting legends which are related of the Pfalz, is that of the good Countess Guda, of the ancient line of Nurigen. Her beauty was of such surpassing loveliness as to cause the extreme jealousy and hatred of her husband, the Count Hermann, Palatine of Gutenfels, who, at the instigation of a wicked brother, Ludwig, caused Guda to be imprisoned in the Pfalz for many years. A few months after her imprisonment, she became the mother of an heir to the Palatinate. The infant was secretly carried away by the governor of the Pfalz, Hugh von Roth, who believed the child to be the son of the Emperor, whom he had once surprised at the feet of the Countess, in the gardens of the Gutenfels, previous to her imprisonment. Having religiously kept his secret, and having departed by stealth with the infant from the Pfalz, his retreat had never been discovered, and he was never again heard from until after the death of the hateful Count Hermann, upon whose decease the artful Ludwig, the Count's brother, assumed the honours and rights of the Palatinate. At this moment, an army led by the Emperor, besieged the Pfalz, and rescued the long-imprisoned Guda, to whom was restored, in the camp of the Emperor, the young Count Hermann, then grown to manhood. It is only necessary to add that the Emperor was victorious, and that the amiable and virtuous, though much-wronged Guda, had the satisfaction of beholding her son in the rightful possession of his heritage, the Palatinate of the Gutenfels. "DANIEL IN THE LION'S DEN."-This is a beautiful specimen of line engraving by JOHNSON, after RETHEL. The original picture, with figures life-size, is at present in one of the picture galleries at Frankfort on the Maine. The picture commends itself by the beauty of its execution, and the expression on the countenance of God's favoured child, whose innocence was thus manifested to those who had wished his destruction. "ALONE AT THE RENDEZVOUS."-After A. DE DREUX. This is a most captivating picture, presenting as it does, at once, the two most beautiful objects in nature-a magnificent woman, and a noble horse! The spirit of the animal is finely rendered, and will be appreciated by those ladies among our subscribers who are fond of that invigorating and health-giving exercise-horsemanship!-GEORGE W. DEWEY. BOOK NOTICES. LEFT OVER FROM JUNE. MARY ERSKINE. By the author of the Rollo Books. Harpers. This dainty volume forms Number Three of the "Franconia Stories." Its appearance is hailed with pleasure. GREEN PASTURES FOR THE LORD'S FLOCK. By the Rev. James Smith. Robert Carter & Brothers; New York. The announcement that this work is reprinted from the thirtyeighth London edition, is certainly strong presumptive evidence in its favour. It is a book of practical piety, somewhat after the plan of Jay's Exercises, only shorter. It consists of 365 pages, one for each day in the year. Each page contains the day of the month, a short text of Scripture at the top, a meditation covering most of the page, and a verse of some hymn at the bottom, containing a sentiment similar to that expressed by the text and the meditation. LORD HOLLAND'S FOREIGN REMINISCENCES. Harpers. The prominent part which the late Lord Holland took in all European affairs for so long a period, gives a more than usual importance to these reminiscences. It seems, from the announcement, that they were left in a completed state, ready for publication, though not intended originally to be published so soon. They are edited by his son, the present Lord Holland, and are given without alteration. ANALYTICAL GEOMETRY AND CALCULUS. By Prof. Elias Loomis, A. M. Harpers. Professor Loomis is among the most successful cultivators of mathematical science that we now have. In his present work, he professes not to have written for mathematicians, but for the mass of students of average abilities. He has accordingly given special attention to the development of the fundamental principle of the Differential Calculus. The work will no doubt attract the attention of all engaged in the higher departments of instruction. MOUNT HOPE. By G. H. Hollister. Harpers. Our author says most truly, that the leading characters among the early New England settlers, already begin to have a legendary character. The time is not distant when they will affect the imagination precisely as the creations of the early mythology affected the ancient Greeks. Mr. Hollister has created a romance, of which the hero is King Philip, so celebrated in New England colonization. The conflicts of the Pilgrim Fathers and the Red Men form, of course, the staple of his book, which is one of stirring interest. WILLIAM PENN. By William Hepworth Dizon. Lea & Blanchard. Mr. Dixon has undertaken to change William Penn from a myth to man. Every reader of Macaulay will understand the allusion. It is admitted that the previous biographies are vague, lifeless, and transcendental. If Mr. Macaulay has done the great Quaker some harm, he has also done him the service to stir up a spirit of zealous inquiry, one of the fruits of which is to be seen in the present biography. All the voluminous documents on this subject which have been published since Clarkson's biography was written, have been subjected to a BOOK NOTICES. rigorous examination, and the facts of his life-his ideas, his actions, his gait, his person, his business, his amusements, the furniture of his house, the setting out of his table, everything that makes individuality of character, are all fully authenticated, and brought vividly before the mind of the reader. There is a separate chapter deFoted especially to the "Macaulay Charges." By LOUISIANA; ITS COLONIAL HISTORY AND ROMANCE. Charles Gayarre. Harpers. 546 pp., 8vo. The colonial history of this country has already receded to such a distance from the garish present, as to afford legitimate materials for romance-better materials than existed in the Highlands of Scotland before the great Wizard of the North laid upon them his enchanting spell. It wants but the spell of genius to give to early American history a legendary character infinitely more affecting to the imagi. nation than anything existent in the history of the old world. Native writers are beginning to appreciate this fact; and the best of our recent fictions have been, in subject as well as style, wholly indigenous. Mr. Gayarre's work is not a work of fiction, and yet he does not claim for it the character of severe history. It is rather the romance of a history that in its severest aspects is wildly romantic. His style of treating the subject is, like the subject itself, dashing and cavalier-like. Who could write otherwise of De Soto, and Iberville, and Bienville, and those other gallant heroes, by whom the fair domain of Louisiana was won and held? YOUATT AND MARTIN ON CATTLE. New York. C. M. Saxton. The work of Mr. Youatt was prepared originally for the "Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," and published under their sanction. It has an excellent reputation in England, and is introduced to this country under the editorial auspices of Mr. A. Stephens. It contains a history of the various races of cattle, their origin, breeding, and merits, their capacity for beef and milk, their anatomical structure, and the nature and treatment of their diseases. It is illustrated with one hundred woodeuts. THE CELESTIAL TELEGRAPH. By L. A. Cahagnet. J. S. Redfeld; New York. For sale by Zieber. This book is of the same kidney with its predecessor. It professes to give the secrets of the life to come, as revealed through magnetism. The existence, the form, and the occupations of the soul after its separation from the body, are proved (?) by many years' experiments, by means of eight ecstatic somnambulists, who had eighty "perceptions" of thirtysix deceased persons of various conditions. The book gives a description of these deceased persons, their con versation, &c., and the proofs (?) of their existence in the What next? spiritual world! THE GIRLHOOD OF SHAKESPEARE'S HEROINES. By Mary Comoren Clarke. New York. Putnam. It is hardly necessary to say that the lady here named, is the author of theShakespeare Concordance," a work on which she exHer design in the present series, pended sixteen years. is one altogether more imaginative. She imagines each of Shakespeare's women as a girl, and weaves a story to suit the character. The reader, after being thus let into the secret of the previous history of the heroine, up to the time that she appears in the Shakespearian drama, is prepared to enter upon the perusal of the drama itself, with fresh zest, and an enlarged comprehension of its meaning. It is, in other words, only another and a very ingenious and entertaining mode of commenting on the meaning of Shakespeare. The heroines, whose characters Mrs. Clarke has thus attempted to develope, are fifteen in number, each making a small volume by itself, to be issued periodically. Four of these have been already received, namely, Portia, The Thane's Daughter, Helena, and Desdemona. NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. The last number of this veteran quarterly contains many valuable articles. Among them we have read with special interest, one highly commendatory of Robinson's Lexicon of the New Testament, another on Thierry's Historical Studies, and a third on recent elementary works on Physical Science. Each of these articles shows the hand of a master. The others may be of equal merit; but we have not read them, and therefore cannot say. PRINCETON REVIEW. The April number of this work contains six leading articles, as follows: "Foreign Missions," "Decolampadius," "Life of Socrates," "Modern Theories of Education," "Apostolical Ministry," and "Reply to Prof. Park's Remarks." There is the usual number of literary notices, and, as a new feature, an interesting summary of recent literary intelligence. The work is greatly improved in appearance. PAMPHLETS, SERIALS, &c.-Blackwood for March, published by Leonard Scott & Co.; for sale by Zieber, Philadelphia.-London Labour and the London Poor, by Henry Mayhew, Harpers, Part 24, 25 cents; for sale by Zieber. -Knowlson's Complete Farrier, a work for every one that owns a horse; T. B. Peterson, 25 cents.-Byrne's Dic tionary of Mechanics, Nos. 26 and 27; D. Appleton & Co., cents. MARY BELL. By the author of the Rollo Books. Harpers. This is another of those exquisite "Franconia Stories" with which Mr. Abbott is now delighting the juvenile H. world, being the fourth of the series. BOOK NOTICES FOR JULY. HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANTS OF FRANCE, FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. By G. De Felice, Professor of Theology at Montauban. Translated, with an Introduction, by Henry Lobdell, M. D. New York. 1851. Edward Walker. Svo. pp. 624. This work claims to be a complete history of those religio-poli tical struggles which, through scenes of persecution, outrage and massacre, recurring at various intervals from 1523 to 1815, at length brought about the establishment of constitutional religious toleration in France, though public opinion still continues to interfere with the perfection of religious freedom, and occasionally threatens renewed attacks upon the civil rights of Protestants. The author, as we are informed in the Introduction by the translator, is a Swiss by birth, though resident in France from the time of the commencement of his ministerial He is considered peculiarly eloquent in the pulcareer. pit, and enjoys a high literary reputation, as an author and essayist upon religious, moral, and political topics. This work was originally based upon a successful prize essay, offered before the Society of Toulouse for the Publication of Religious Books; but it has since been enlarged into an extensive volume. The style is clear, temperate, and unpretending, and the narrative is singularly free from vindictiveness, though nct divested of proper warmth, hold calmly his equal antagonism between the advocates directness, and energy. Professor De Félice appears to of the Roman Catholic Church on the one hand, and the antichrists of the Reign of Terror and the modern Socialists on the other, displaying, if not expressing with equal terseness, the opinion of the Translator, as stated in these words in his Introduction. "Socialism is the other extreme of Catholicism."-"Both systems subordinate the individual, to the civil or reli gious society. The State is to the one, what the Church is to the other." A complete history of the French Protestants, by a Protestant, has been a desideratum, and this well-written work cannot fail to prove deeply interesting in a land in which there dwell so many descendants of the exiled victims of those terrible persecutions which it describes;-men who have contributed important elements of character in aid of the formation of the American race. THE PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS: Translated from the Cours de Philosophie Positive of Auguste Comté. By W. M. Gillespie, Professor of Civil Engineering, and Adj. Prof. of Mathematics in Union College. N. Y. 1851. Harper & Brothers. 8vo. pp. 260. This is a translation of that portion of the first volume of the Cours de Philosophie Positive, which embraces all that is usually included under the term Mathematics. It treats in a most masterly manner of the object, grasp, and natural limits, of the whole science and each of its departments, together with the several relations, interlockings, and parallelisms of the latter. Each division, or, as we might express it, separate kingdom of analysis-each great branch of the calculus, using the term in its most extended sense, as including all processes or generic methods by which "to determine certain magnitudes from others by means of the precise relations existing between them, (for such is the beautiful definition given of the term Mathematics.) is fully considered, separately and in its connexion and dependenciesits essential nature, applications, and capacities, whether developed or possible. Terse, and to the last degree condensed, the work astonishes by the combined vastness of view and concentration of thought which it displays. In its totality, it is of course but partially intelligible to any but those who have made very considerable progress in the science; but it is impossible to read it, even with a slender knowledge of the subject, without feeling that one is dealing with a giant mind. Yet with all this profundity, which is forced upon the conviction of the student far more powerfully by the very sketch-like generality of the work, its meaning will perpetually open upon the mind of a tyro as he advances in his studies, from the first Algebraical text-book to the highest questions in astronomy and the most difficult applications of calculus to the science of imponderables. Everywhere, it would serve both as a guide and map of the territory already traversed. The peculiarity of certain phrases, however, somewhat | severely tax the understanding, and perhaps the translator may be suspected of the rare fault of occasionally adhering too rigorously to the precise mode of expression of the author. It may also be regretted-as all extremely profound men are prone to neglect collateral illustrations of their subject, which, though not necessary, furnish great facilities to the young-that the translator did not venture to increase the number of practical or "concrete" applications of abstract formulæ. What pictures are to the student of natural history, examples are to the mathematical pupil; and, as abstract reasoning is the se verest of all exertions for the young brain, no collateral adjuvant should be neglected. As the book must go through future editions, we make this suggestion, with all modesty, to the learned translator. EPISODES OF INSECT LIFE. By Acheta Domestica, M. E. S. New York: J. S. Redfield. Boston: B. B. Mussey & Co. 1851. 8vo. pp. 320. This is a highly amusing volume of excellent paper and amply leaded luxuriance, bound and gilt in the regular "keep this side up" style so popularwith publishers-at present, and illustrated with intricate gilding on the cover, and well-executed vignettes throughout, in a very happy vein of bizarrerie, in which insects are made to personify various phases of humanity, in attitude and costume. This is done, moreover, in a manner altogether above the range of vulgar caricature; the humour being always gentlemanly, and often Attic. The contents respond very faithfully to the title; for there are frequently "episodes" within episodes, and many of them very good, and with the exception of a few dull passages, all of them calculated to awake a pleasant smile, or a scarcely less pleasant sigh. This is a book for drawing-rooms and watering-places, and certainly highly novel and entertaining. While mingling the pleasant with the useful, it presents many facts, which, however well known to naturalists, will leave something worthy of remembrance in the mind of most readers of the class for which it is evidently designed, the votaries of fashion and people of leisure, who rarely trouble the sciences, and when they do so, limit themselves to the regular ten minutes of a morning call. As a good and fair specimen of the author's subject and manner, we venture on the following extract from one of the episodes, giving a picture of a battle between a nest of Rufian Ants and a colony of the Fuscan Ants, the latter of which, as is well known, are often reduced to systematic slavery by the former. "Now comes the tug of war. The defenders are assembled in front of their city, fighting for their queen, their lives, and the liberty of their infant population. The assailants, their main body having now come up, are fighting for glory and for plunder, and above all, for the rape of Fuscan babies, to become the future slaves of their own rising generation. Oh! for a Homer's pen to describe the universal ardour and the individual prowess of our pigmy Amazons. By far more numerous are the dusky Fuscans, though in discipline and personal strength they are much inferior to the warlike Rufians. Of the latter we have spoken, hitherto, as Lilliputians, but now we have to treat of them as opposed to a tribe of very inferior stature. "The battle-field, an area of some four feet square, is strewed with dead and dying. Sulphureous fumes exhale around. Single combatants by thousands, each so eager in their respective contests as to seem unconscious of all besides, have spent their ammunition; but with rancour undiminished, behold them now, limb to limb, head to head, seized by each other and held in savage grip-now wrestling upright, now rolling in the dust; long does the dubious strife continue, till a third, Rufian or Fuscan, comes to turn the balance and throw death into the ascending scale. In another quarter, see perhaps a dozen combatants of either party, all firmly linked together in a living chain, dashing, writhing like a wounded snake, in serpentine convulsions, till snap goes a link beneath a mortal blow; but in an instant the dissevered portions reunite, and struggle on with double fury. "Look now at that powerful, long-limbed Rufian, and the active little Fuscan, her opponent; the latter springs like a cat o' mountain on the chest of her bulkier foe; but dearly does she pay for her temerity. Caught in the grasp of the Amazonian Ajax, she is crushed, and falls strangled to the earth. She falls-but let not her conqueror exult;-a sister heroine, no bigger than herself, and like herself, carrying in a little body a mighty mind, beholds and vows to avenge her fate. She, too, springs upon the Rufian, but with more effective grasp, her powerful jaws enclosing, as in a vice, one limb of her athletic antagonist. The Rufian severs in twain the body of her assailant; its lower half falls and is trampled in the dust; but horrible to see!) the upper portion still retains its hold, supported by the jaws which death has double-locked. The fixed eyes continue to look up angrily into the living face, the rigid arms to encircle the warm body of the wounded Rufian. Vainly she strives to shake off the carried, perforce, about her, the slaughtered Fusean's head and shoulders, frightful trophy of her dear bought victory!" This work is evidently of English origin-one of those reprinted or published simultaneously here and in London, to secure, in some degree, the advantage of the great American market. The examples of insect life given in illustration of the text and comments are of species almost exclusively British. This is to be regretted, but it does not materially affect the value of the work for the special purpose of its author, which is, simply, to create an increased taste for the study of Entomology,-a science extremely rich in interest, even for the general reader, when treated in a popular manner, as in the admirable treatise of Kirby and Spence, an American edition of which was published, some years ago, by Carey and Hart, or Carey and Lea, Philadelphia. Though technical naturalists and collectors are usually among the most jealous people in the world of the reputation of their rivals, there is, perhaps, no study in the whole range of sciences better calculated to improve both head and heart than that of philosophical zoology. We regret, therefore, to perceive in the volume before us, some disposition to indulge in comments decidedly mal apropos, on institutions of which the author is practically ignorant; but so heartily goodnatured and social is his style in other respects, that we lay down the book with a sigh that we cannot crawl out of our own little hole in the mortar and gnaw at a hard crust, by the wintry hearth, with this prince of achetas (crickets). There can be no doubt we should find him acting as he writes, "Like a fine old English gentleman, All of the olden time." LIFE OF ALGERNON SIDNEY; with Sketches of some of his Cotemporaries and Extracts from his Correspondence and Political Writings. By G. Van Santvoord. New York, 1851. Charles Scribner. 12mo. pp. 334. Sidney was one of the fathers of that movement which eventuated, under Divine direction, in the establishment of rational republicanism. He died a martyr to that cause to which our social altars are erected, and it is time that American writers should examine with American eyes, and illustrate with American feeling the history and character of those great men who perished in the struggle of the British Revolution. Heretofore, the popular knowledge of the efforts and opinions of those who were the true pioneers of modern freedom has been gained in this country almost exclusively from British historians, whose views of men and things continue, even to this hour, irretrievably intertangled with the prestige of ancient institutions. He that has been educated, and has acquired literary distinction, under a system that acknowledges the Divine right, if not of monarchy, at least of social grade, can hardly be expected wisely to instruct those whose ideas and principles are in radical opposition to much that he has been taught to honour, not upon logical conviction, but through blind faith and the habitual acquiescence of childhood and a narrow pseudo-patriotism. The political independence of the United States was the glorious conquest of their youth, but a most unfortunate mental dependence upon what is miscalled "the parent country," (for America is the child of many fathers) has been perpetuated too long into the ripe years of their manhood, because we still derive from foreign sources the mass of that solid literature which not only moulds the mind in its opinions, but even modifies its structure and determines in great measure its development, as material food does that of the animal frame. Though in matters of history our knowledge must be compiled, by necessity, from the records and traditions of the country in which the occurrences described take place, yet never can the story of a martyr or an unsuccessful movement be rightly told, when the narrator owes natural fealty to those men and institutions which have planted the stake or crushed the rebellion. It is for these reasons that we welcome with uncommon pleasure the Life of Algernon Sidney, by an indigenous compiler. The work appears in a very desirable dress, as to paper, type and binding; it is written in a calm, lucid, chaste and correct historic style, and we think must certainly remunerate the publishers, and we hope the author, far better than works of solid merit usually do. A HISTORY OF GREECE, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES, TO THE DESTRUCTION OF CORINTH, B. C. 146; mainly based upon that of Connop Thirlwall, D. D., Bishop of St. David's. By Leonhard Schmitz, F. R. S. E. New York, 1851. Harper and Brothers. 12mo. pp. 542. This work, originally published in Edinburgh, 1850, is BOOK NOTICES. The designed as a manual for schools, and readers who cannot Many of the works of Mr. Tupper are already well known DICTIONARY OF SACRED QUOTATIONS; or Scripture Themes and Thoughts, as paraphrased by the poets. Selected and Lindarranged by Rev. H. Hastings Weld, Rector of St. James Church, Downington, Penn. Philadelphia, 1851. Bay & Blakiston. 12mo. pp. 456. This is a collection of extracts from Scripture, alphabetically arranged after the manner of concordances, each group of texts being followed by numerous extracts from the poets, which have or are supposed to have a concurrent spirit: but the paraphrase, in many cases, if it exists at all, is so very loose that the relation between text and illustration must be discovered with extreme difficulty. By the author's preface, it seems that this defect is owing rather to the publishers than to him; for he states that the original design was confined to a thin pocket volume, involving only the poetry of Shakspeare, but "they stipulated for a stout duodecimo." This is the alleged reason why the extracts do not present that close resemblance, in all cases, to the very words of Scripture, which might have been preserved in a smaller volume." The book contains many gems of difficult access by any aid to be derived from the table of contents, and we cannot avoid the conclusion that, very considerable as the whole may be, the half had been far greater. THE BALLADS AND SONGS OF WILLIAM PEMBROKE MULCHINOCK. New York: T. W. Strong.-Boston: T. W. Cottrell & Co. 1851. 12mo. pp. 262. This writer, who has accomplished all that he has acquired of mental cultivation in the teeth of very great difficulties, as we learn from his preface, has made himself somewhat known through the weeklies and dailies, as well as by a few articles in publications of somewhat more pretensions. By the very courteous American press, he has been sometimes loudly extolled as a poet, and this volume presents us with a collection of his fugitive articles. If we fail to find in either ballad or song the high poetic merit that some claim to have discovered, the fault will be, no doubt, attributed by them to a deficiency of poetic perception in us, and we shall rest contented with their conclusion. There is an occasional vindictiveness of feeling in his verses, which would be certainly unfortunate for the interests of the class of victims of society with whom he most sympathizes, if they should be tempted to act in the spirit of the songs; and his ideas of "The Way to Freedom." as displayed in the article so styled, in the Chaunts for Toilers," and elsewhere, are somewhat too belligerent for these latitudes; for which, perhaps, they are not in truth designed. The redeeming feature of these poems is the deep, undying love displayed for the cruelly oppressed and down-trodden land of his birth, and their greatest value consists in the light they cast upon the irregular workings of the mind among masses whose physical strength is fearful, while cut off, by the errors of Society, from the means of moral culture, and often from their just and well-earned share of physical comfort. Some passages are thrillingly, though rudely pathetic, and it is for this reason, not because they are truly poetical, that we could wish they should meet the eye of the few among the wealthy who indulge themselves in the relaxation of LAYS OF THE KIRK AND COVENANT. By Mrs. A. Stewart THE PATRIARCHAL AGE; or the Story of Joseph. Phila delphia: Robert E. Peterson. 1851. 12mo. pp. 342. A book for children, cheaply but neatly printed, and ornamented with a number of woodcuts, representing objects of nature and Egyptian art pertinent to the text. MEMOIR OF MRS. MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN; being Recollections of a Daughter. By her Mother. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1851. 12mo. pp. 310. A diary of the life and religious experience of one called early from works to rewards; with an appendix containing twenty-four pages of her infantile and other poems. Mrs. Duncan was the daughter of the Rev. Robert Lundie, of Kelso, and wife of Rev. W. Wallace Duncan, of Cleish, Scotland. She died in 1840, at the age of twenty-five years. A poetical tribute to her memory, by Mrs. Sigourney, prefaces the volume, and it is adorned with a frontispiece, a portrait of her mother, engraved from a daguerreotype, by A. II. Ritchie. Previous editions of this work have made it known to many religious readers. THE ALHAMBRA. By Washington Irving. Author's revised edition. New York: George P. Putnam. 1851. This is the fifteenth volume of the series of the Works of Washington Irving, now in the course of publication by the above-named house. MIDNIGHT HARMONIES, or Thoughts for the Season of Solitude and Sorrow. By Octavius Winslow, M. A. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1851. 24mo. pp. 398. A little devotional volume, prettily printed on very good paper, in a type which will not injure the eyes of the old, or torture the nerves of the weak. It is also widely leaded. These are high excellencies in a work intended be excused for alluding so often to the mere typography for a pocket companion by persons of all ages. We must of books which are not designed chiefly for display; for, no degree of excellence of matter will compensate for defects in this respect, such as we frequently see in works miscalled cheap. Even an editor could often better afford to pay ten times the price of brown paper and slurred, small, aud solid letterpress, than undertake to read much of the in this cheap dress. Our own little purchases are often really valuable matter which comes before him for review determined by these "trifling considerations," and it is A little but justice to our subscribers to allude to them. mental hunger is better than physical blindness. THE FRUIT GARI EN; A Treatise intended to explain the Physiology of Fruit Trees, the Theory and Practice of all Operations connected with the Propagation, &c., &c., of By P. Barry, of Orchard and Garden Trees, dc., dc. New York: the Mount Hope Nurseries, Rochester, N. Y. Charles Scribner. 1851. 12mo. pp. 389. The attempt to cram a preface, an introduction, or an index, into a title page, is not only absurd, but highly injurious to the prospects of the work. Such endeavours probably originate in the idea that purchasers at a book-store, other publishers, and more especially critics in the sanctum, seldom look further than the title and its reverse. This vent. The title of the volume before us is one of the very style often produces the very effect it is designed to preworst we have met with, and we cannot afford space to give it entire. Nothing is lost to the reader, however, by this inability, for the above heading contains all that legitimately belongs to the title, as a generic enunciation of the character of the work, except that it is "illustrated with upwards of one hundred and fifty figures." But this unprepossessing countenance has not prevented our casting an editorial glance over the pages of a writer, whose position and distinction in his proper profession cannot fail to give value to his opinions. American agriculture, within the last ten years, has started from its long, leaden sleep. Science and knowledge are penetrating its dark places. The farmer, whose own hand guides the plow, takes his professional, as well as his literary journal, founds his little library, and purchases books! then, the press,-which at first follows, and afterwards endeavours to guide the popular leaning,- begins to groan under the weight of agricultural sheets. By our side, as we write, lie American editions of works, nearly all of indigenous growth, upon the nursery, the vineyard, the agricultural chemistry, architecture, implements, hyfarm-yard, the manege, the stable, and the grazing farm; giene, and economy; the horse, the ox, the sheep, the dairy, the bee, the domestic fowl, &c.; all, or nearly all, discussed in separate and specific treatises! The greatest of human interests is now wide awake, and these books all sell. If Of course, any one inquire whence springs the vast, the almost hourly improvement of our markets in variety and quality, let him examine, as we often do, the cupboards of the humbler class of farmers, and ransack the book-shelf and odd corners. "Laus Deo!" He will be no longer in doubt. In the midst of petty political squabbling, agrarian, socialist, chivalric, anti-lavery, and a dozen other fermentations-in the midst of "agitation! agitation! agitation!" a calm, but irresistible revolution is advancing with truly American go-aheaditiveness; and when, on some dark morning, one or other of the "isms" has marshalled its rauks for an outburst, that hitherto silent mass which constitutes four-fifths of our population, will suddenly be heard, "Stop! we have learned our interests and our power!" and the farm-horn will cry ha! ha! to the trumpet! It is this that gives especial importance to the increased circulation of agricultural books; for when once habituated to reading and philosophical inquiry, the tremendous force of opinion among the tillers of the ground, a rational and natural conservatism which resists all sudden jars but seeks all safe advancement, will be substituted for that blind conservatism of precedent and wrong which condemns all change, however necessary to the gradual advancement of the species-however predetermined by the laws of nature, and the fiat of her God. -But return we to Mr. Barry. Most of the recent works on horticulture and the nursery which we have seen, have been chargeable, in greater or less degree, with two important faults,- want of precision and clearness in style -and want of fulness and accuracy in the description of manipulations; they are often additionally defective in philosophical arrangement and a proper knowledge of the collateral sciences, to which they necessarily make continual reference. In these respects, the little work of Mr. Barry appears to compare favourably with its predecessors; but it may be feared that the author has endeavoured to embrace too wide a field for proper discussion within the narrow limits of less than four hundred leaded duodecimo pages. The wood-cut illustrations mean what they profess to mean-a rare virtue in works of this class. They are really very good and very pertinent, and he who condemns this book, because the title-page looks unprepossessing, will find himself in the position of those who judge goodness of heart by beauty of countenance. In all other respects, the volume is well got up, and every farmer who cultivates fruit, instead of foolishly leaving the task entirely to nature, should buy it, and place it with its fellows on that upper shelf of the cupboard, or that other corner in the garden-seed and tool house. WAVERLEY POETRY; BEING THE POEMS SCATTERED THROUGH THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. Attributed to anonymous sources, but presumed to be written by Sir Walter Scott. Boston, 1851. Monro and Francis, 12mo, pp. 268. This, as the publishers inform us, is the completion of the compilation printed by the Constables of Edinburgh in 1822. That volume embraced the poetry of Scott's Novels from Waverley to the Pirate:-this completes the selection of all the poetry original with Sir Walter, or translated by him, to the conclusion of the series, which embraces fourteen additional tales. Of course this book will be highly prized, for reference and quotation, by every literary man. POEMS. By Mrs. E. H. Evans. With a preface by her brother, T. H. Stockton. Philadelphia, 1851. Lippincott and Grambo, 12mo, pp. 251. There is a proverb, expressed in less terse and pointedly antithetical terms, that means to say tolerable poetry is utterly intolerable: but this unpretending little book presents us with much that is not only tolerable, but even highly pleasant in its way, without rising to the dignity of decided mark. It seems not to aim at fame, but rather the promotion of domestic heartfulness, and it will fill a blank hour agreeably at the firesides of many, who feel the sweet power of numbers, as the untutored heart answers to melody and the simplest of the ballad, without being able even to enjoy the loftier charms of harmonic combination or the broad touches of the master in song, who suggests, rather than delineates a picture, and who speaks only to poets; standing in the same relation to the humbler rhythmist that the great painter assumes towards the more elaborate limner. This book will bring no discredit on the writer, and there are more who will feel with her than will cavil at her gently toned and musical rhymes; but we are glad that natural, though unnecessary diffidence induced her to pen the following very happy "Apologetic" as a procm. APOLOGETIC. Because the Nightingale "Tranceth the grove, till every leaf seems thrilling, And the rich melody Shakes the bent flowers, the air with perfume filling, And proves himself to be LETTERS TO MY PUPILS; WITH NARRATIVE AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. By Mr3. L. H. Sigourney. New York, 1851. Robert Carter and Brothers, 16mo. pp. 341. Mrs. Sigourney is so universally known as a writer, and public opinion upon her merits has been so frequently expressed, that a simple notice of a work from her pen suffices. This volume has a frontispiece, from a daguerreotype, engraved by Richie, representing preceptress and pupil: and, as far as the memory of ten years warrants us in judging, the resemblance is a good one. THE POCKET COMPANION FOR MACHINISTS, MECHANICS, AND ENGINEERS. By Oliver Byrne, Professor of Mathematics, Coll. of Civil Engineers, London. New York, 1851. 24ma, pp. 144. Bound in Pocket-book form, illustrated with wood cuts and three steel engravings, of the steam engine. A collection of a great number of tables, formulæ, and practical rules of calculus, applied to the daily business of mechanics and others, in a vast variety of pursuits and professions. Being the work of a highly distinguished mathematician and practical civil engineer and topographer, it cannot fail to be of great use in the hourly business of life, to all practical men who can justly claim the title of mechanics. WOMAN'S TRIALS, OR TALES AND SKETCHES FROM THE LIFE AROUND US, and, MARRIED LIFE. ITS SHADOWS AND SEXSHINE. By T. S. Arthur. Philadelphia, 1851. Lippincott and Grambo. Two very neat little tomes of a series entitled Arthur's Library for the Household. The writer's reputation and his peculiar style have long ago been judged and de cided by the public. His stories are very popular with a wide circle of readers, and the pleasure of greeting these additional efforts in the direct line of his usefulness is in no degree dashed by the fear that in his hands, the wand of fiction will ever be made a lever for the passions or for the degradation of morals. DEALINGS WITH THE INQUISITION, or Papal Rome, her Priests and her Jesuits. By Rev. Giacinto Achilli, D. D Late Prior and Visitor of the Dominican Order, Hord Professor of Theology, and Vicar of the Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace, dc. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1851. 12mo. pp. 351. We never meet with a modern story of religious bickering or oppression without feeling inclined to cry out with poor Cowper, "Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness!" &c. But fortunately, the imprisonment and sufferings of Dr. Achilli have become familiar subjects of discussion through the daily press, and have aroused the warmth of American sympathy. This work will plead its own cause with the people, and can be benefited only by an advertisement. A GRANDMOTHER'S RECOLLECTIONS. New York: Charles Scribner. 1851. 12mo. pp. 235. The childish and youthful adventures of a very good little lady, though sometimes wild, like most young folks. A happy picture, by the heroine, of a grandmother that was a grandmother, and |