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ART NOTICES.

E. M. WARD. This talented and rapidly rising artist, the author of our embellishment in this number, of "Benjamin West's First Effort in Art," is a nephew to Horace Smith, one of the authors of "Rejected Addresses." He was born in London in 1816, and when quite young, manifested a decided love for the fine arts. At the age of fourteen he received one of the premiums of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts in his native city, on account of the merit displayed in a pen-and-ink drawing submitted to the committee, in competition with other youthful aspirants. His original designs made about

this period in illustration of the works of Washington Irving and those of his uncle, excited great expectations. Accordingly, he was placed in a situation to commence seriously and in earnest, a formal series of studies suited to prepare him for the successful pursuit of art as a profession. He advanced rapidly, and received flattering encouragement from such men as Sir Francis Chantry and Sir David Wilkie, the latter furnishing him with a recommendatory letter as a probationary student in the Royal Academy, of which institution he is now an associate, and with the prospect of an early admission into the ranks of its Academicians. At the age of twenty he visited Rome, where he remained upwards of two years, availing himself of the excellent facilities afforded there, not merely for the study of the finest works of past time, but in that most necessary branch of study, the lifemodel. From thence he passed to Munich, and studied fresco painting under the celebrated Cornelius. In 1839 he arrived once more in London, and made his debut with the picture of "Cimabue and Giotto," which at once drew attention to him, and raised expectations which since then have been fully realized, although he is yet only in his upward course.

His works have been occasionally familiarized to the American public. His picture of "Dr. Johnson Reading the MS. of the Vicar of Wakefield in Goldsmith's Lodgings," was engraved for the Eclectic Magazine, and published in the number for January, 1848. The Art-Union of London issued a lithographic print of his picture of "La Fleur's Departure," and "Goldsmith on his Travels," has also been engraved. The late Mr. Vernon, famous for his munificent encouragement of modern art, pur

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chased the picture of "Dr. Johnson in the ante-room of Lord Chesterfield," and as the whole of that superb collection is now in course of publication in the Art-Journal (a work that is doing more for the diffusion of taste in art and art manufactures in the United States than perhaps all other causes together), it will soon be accessible to all on both sides of the Atlantic.

His subjects are generally chosen from those depart ments of literature less frequently adopted as furnishing materials for artistic illustration, and his method of treating them displays a thorough education in all the means of his art. Industry and application are no less apparent than inventive genius, and by this happy union in Mr. Ward, the highest anticipations exist as to his future eminence in the walk of "familiar domestic history," which he has selected as his province.-J. S.

We acknowledge our indebtedness to Messrs. Goupil, Vibert & Co. for their courtesy in permitting the copies for this Magazine of one or two of the prints they published from pictures belonging to the French school of art. The engravings referred to were issued last spring, and it was an oversight that due thanks were not tendered at the time.

BOOK NOTICES.

SHIRLEY. By the Author of "Jane Eyre." New York: Harper & Brothers. Shirley is at once worse and better than its predecessor. It has not the faults-real or imputed of Jane Eyre. That is to say, there is nothing in the book about which even a question as to its morality or propriety can be raised. On the other hand, as a work of the imagination, it has not the same power. The interest is divided between too many, and being divided it is of course weakened. At the same time it contains many powerful passages. It has special scenes equal to anything in the former work. In clear and bold delineations of character-a species of writing in which the author excels -it is superior to the former. There are more characters introduced, giving the author a fuller opportunity to display in this respect his peculiar power. We refer not merely to the leading characters, such as Shirley, Caroline, Robert and Louis Moore, Yorke, and Helstone, which are conceived with a precision truly wonderful, but also to the minor and subordinate characters, every one of which, no matter how casually introduced, has an individuality almost Shakespearian. Take, for example, the three

curates, the two old maids, or the sketches of the six little Yorkes in the chapter entitled "Briarmains." Every one of these sketches shows the hand of a master-not merely a keen observer of the externals of humanity, but a psychological chemist-a man (—or woman) capable of analyzing the subtle workings of the human soul in its most occult processes. Still, rich as the work is in its details, and suggestive as it everywhere is of thoughts and feelings that spring up, like newly opened fountains, from the depths of one's own internal consciousness, it does not as a whole produce that powerful impression which was left on the mind by its predecessor.

the author seems to us no more settled than before. We read the first half of the volume with almost a conviction that the writer was a man. There was everywhere manifest a knowledge of affairs, an intimate acquaintance with the out-door world, such as is certainly very rare among writers of the gentler sex. To this indeed there are excep‐ tions. No man, for instance, who has ever handled pistols for real use, would have let Shirley keep her dread watch that "summer night" (p. 298) without ascertaining first of all whether the pistols in question were loaded or not. This is just one of those small things which, in weaving a work of fiction, a man who writes from knowledge always recollects, while a woman, who ex officio knows nothing about it, is very apt to overlook. On the other hand, there are so many instances of this very kind, where the writer seems to be perfectly at home in manly affairs, that the doubt vanishes, and we feel for the moment that none but a man has written the book. Yet as we proceed towards the close of the volume, and see the familiar, the truly wonderful acquaintance which the author has with the female character, we are half disposed to doubt the foregone conclusion, and to agree with Mary Howitt, who in her last letter says, in speaking of Shirley, "we suppose there can now be no doubt that the author of Jane Eyre is a woman!"

We are requested by the American publishers to say that Shirley is given by them in two forms-the Library edition, 12mo. in muslin, and the cheap popular style in paper covers.

LIFE OF ASHBEL GREEN, D.D., LL.D. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. All who know anything of the character and habits of Dr. Green, and of the origin of the present publication, will be prepared even before examination to regard it as a most valuable contribution to the original and authentic materials of American history. No man living in the church of which he was a member, except perhaps the venerable Dr. Miller of Princeton, was more remarkable throughout his long life for his methodical habits. His mental and his physical machinery seemed to move with an exactitude, which we are wont to expect only in material processes. In connexion with this, he is known to have commenced very early in life a daily register of his personal experiences and observations, which he continued till within a few days of his death. This register was made in a cipher of his own invention, and known only to himself. A few years before his death, he commenced transcribing from this diary such passages as seemed to him worthy of commemoration. These passages form-they were intended by the author to form-his autobiography. Very few of them, however, are strictly private. The author, during much of his life, stood more intimately related than any other one man to American Presbyterianism. He was, for many years before his death, the only surviving member of the Synods by whom the General Assembly of that church was formed and its articles adopted. Besides this, he was to his latest day deeply tinctured with the old-fashioned patriotism of the last generation. Under the influence of this spirit, while yet a boy, he was impatient for the arrival of his sixteenth year, that he might be permitted to shoulder a real musket (in the anticipation of this event he had learned the use of this instrument by drilling with a wooden one) and to march against the invaders of his native soil; he was intimately acquainted with Dr. Witherspoon, one of the signers of the Declaration; he was one of the two chaplains to the Continental Congress during its sessions in Philadelphia, the other being the venerable Bishop White; he saw in this capacity much of Washington and the other great men of that period; he always felt a deep interest, he sometimes took an active part, in public affairs. Such having been his temper and his relative position in life, his reminiscences assume the character of public documents, while, as being based upon a contemporaneous record, they have a special character for authenticity that will always make them valuable.

As a mere piece of biography, a book of more general

The question of its authorship-or rather of the sex of and popular interest might have been made by adopting

EDITORIAL.

a plan somewhat different from that which has been pursued. At the same time, however, and in the same degree that this was done, would the value of the work have been diminished, as an original contribution to American history. We commend, therefore, the wisdom of Dr. Jones, to whom was assigned the difficult task of bringing out this biography, and also of the family whose wishes were consulted in regard to the matter, in retaining as nearly as possible intact the original record of this venerable octogenarian. The book may not command as many readers now, as it might have done, had the matter been thrown into the crucible of authorship, and a new, succinct, symmetrical biography been written. But we feel assured that its permanent value is enhanced just in proportion as its temporary popularity has been sacrificed. It has that kind of value which increases, instead of diminishing, with age. Its value will be greater, and will be more appreciated, a hundred years hence than it is now. The student of history in 1950 may smile, as we do now, to find it gravely recorded that on a particular day and hour the venerable patriarch of American Presbyterianism "lost his cow,' or "purchased cantelopes and oysters;" but he may also find in the same accurate record, what perhaps might not otherwise be credited, that in the presidency of Dr. Witherspoon a student of Princeton could be admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, who did not know the Greek alphabet, and the Latin Salutatory be assigned to one who could not construe it after it had been written for him by the President!

But we have already extended this notice much beyond what we intended. We can only say in conclusion, that while the work has not, and was not meant to have, that popular cast which would commend it to the general reader, yet to Presbyterians, and especially to Princetonians, in whatever part of the wide republic they may be found, the volume is one of very peculiar interest and value.

RICHMOND'S DOMESTIC PORTRAITURE. New York: Carter & Brothers. It is not always those who seek distinction as authors, that succeed in being most read. Those writers ordinarily are most read and exert most influence on the minds of men, who seek authorship as a means, not as an end. Legh Richmond is an instance of this. He wrote not to win golden opinions, but as a minister of Christ to gain souls; and yet how widely have his works been scattered, by how many millions have they been read! What novel or poem even of Scott or Byron, has had as many readers as the "Shepherd of Salisbury Plain?" The present volume consists of certain portions of the author's writings not heretofore published, arranged and edited by the Rev. E. Bickersteth, with a preliminary essay. It will form a valuable addition to the stock of useful and unexceptionable religious literature.

COMPLETE WORKS OF HENRY KIRKE WHITE.

Robert Carter

& Brothers. 420 pps., 8vo., with a Portrait. To those who want a copy of Kirke White suitable for the library, the present edition affords a favourable opportunity. It contains Southey's Life of the poet, together with the Remains as edited by him. The volume is got up in a style of elegance suitable to the subject, and we hope will find its way into very many families. It is indeed one of those works which every family should aim to possess.

GLIDDON'S ANCIENT EGYPT. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson. Thirteenth Edition. No American has done so much as Mr. Gliddon towards making Egypt, ancient and modern, known to us. This he has done both by his lectures delivered publicly in various places, and by the present volume containing in a condensed and very cheap form the most important results of his inquiries. The work is a quarto pamphlet of 68 pages closely printed, with very numerous engravings, and sold at the low price of 25 cents.

YOUNG'S NIGHT THOUGHTS. Robert Carter & Brothers. New York. With a Portrait. A most commendable edi tion of an author that every reader wants to own. It is convenient as to size, being a medium 12mo, is printed on

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good white paper, with type of respectable dimensions, and generously leaded.

SHAKESPEARE'S DRAMATIC WORKS. New Edition. Phillips & Sampson: Boston. We have received parts iii., iv., and v. of this edition, and find them fully equal to the expectations raised by the proprietors. quisite line engraving of the leading female character. Each number contains a play complete, and is ornamented with an exThe edition when complete will be one in all respects admirable for private or public libraries.

THE MYSTERIES OF BEDLAM; or, Annals of a London Madhouse. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson. We have seen very complimentary notices of this work from the English press, in which the following epithets, among others of like kind, were applied to it, "vivid and animated pictures," "astounding facts," "framework of romantic beauty," "deep and absorbing interest," "profound dramatic inte rest," "fine graphic style." We have not read the whole of it, in truth we lacked patience to do so, but from what we could gather in our unsuccessful effort, we have formed the opinion that the work has been praised beyond its deserts.

LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT. By Jacob Abbott. New York: Harper & Brothers. We cannot but regret the frequent instances of carelessness manifest in the composition of these otherwise excellent books. "It was the landing, &c., which constitutes the great event of the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in England, which is celebrated in English history as the epoch which marks, &c.," 45. "The sacredness which invested them from the storms p. of violence and war which swept over everything which the cross did not protect," p. 77. "The contest which ensued was a terrible struggle, which continued for two centuries, during which the Anglo-Saxons, &c.," p. 52. "It was more than two hundred years after this before the Britons were subdued," p. 57. "Physiologists consider that there are five of these races," p. 35, (he means "suppose" or "believe.") "Was hurled by one of Brutus's followers from the summit of one of the chalky cliffs which bound the island into the sea," p. 19, (does he mean the cliffs bind the island into the sea?-that is what he says.) "Tolerable authentic," p. 14, (for tolerably.) We quote these at random, to show the kind of faults to which we allude. We could multiply the instances indefinitely, but it is unnecessary. We know not to how many volumes the series will be extended. But we do hope that in the preparation of those yet to come, the author will not lend the weight of his popularity to such a slip-shod style of writing.

IIUME'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. New Edition. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, & Co. We renew our notice of this edition of Hume with much pleasure. It is in a form and style which seems to meet with very general favour. Being uniform with the edition of Macaulay commenced by the same publishers, it will when completed be an excellent standard work for the library. Vols. V. and VI. have been received. For sale by J. W. Moore, also by Thomas, Cowperthwaite & Co., Philadelphia.

SACRED SCENES AND CHARACTERS. By J. T. Headley. New York: Baker & Scribner. Mr. Headley has faults of style which even his best friends and most ardent admirers admit. At the same time he has many and great excellencies, and he is without doubt among our most acceptable writers. In the present volume he has chosen a task well suited to his powers. He has selected a few of the most familiar scenes and characters of sacred history, and made them topics for that species of fervid and glowing rhetoric in which he delights. Each topic is also illustrated with a handsome engraving from original designs by Darley. The volume is a moderate sized octavo. It is printed on thick white paper, is neatly bound and gilt, and makes a very pretty gift-book.

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF SCOTTISH LIFE. By Prof. Wilson. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. There is a peculiar charm about these Tales, distinguishing them beyond any

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of the other writings of the same author. They belong to the very few which one likes to read over again. There are few readers who will not be pleased with the opportunity of obtaining a copy in such a convenient and tasteful form. The edition is in small 12mo., and is ornamented with twelve original designs by Croome, Billings, and others. COOPER'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Pilot. New York: George P. Putnam. We notice this volume not, of course, to speak of the work, but of the very excellent uniform edition of all of Cooper's novels now going through the press. Mr. Putnam is certainly doing a public service in giving these fine standard editions of the works of our leading authors. In these, the works have received what we presume will be the final revision of the writers, and are presented in the form in which they will go down to posterity.

MAZELLI AND OTHER POEMS. By Geo. W. Sands. Philadelphia, Lindsay & Blakiston. The two leading poems in this volume are "Mazelli, A Tale of Indian Life;" and "The Misanthrope Reclaimed," a drama in four Acts. In addition to these there is quite a number of short poems, stanzas, album verses, &c., the whole making a neat volume of 156 pages.

ANECDOTES OF THE PURITANS. New York: M. W. Dodd. A very excellent and amusing little volume. No author's name is given, but the publisher assures us that the facts related have been drawn from authentic sources, and we feel sure that most of them will be quite new to the great majority of our readers.

LIFE OF CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. New York: M. W. Dodd. Chaucer wrote a long narrative poem, entitled "The Praises of Good Women." Had he lived some centuries later, he might have found materials for his work of a much less questionable character than some that he has introduced. In nothing has England been more distinguished in these later days than in its remarkable women. We refer to such women as Hannah More and Maria Edgeworth, who, by their writings, their conversation, their personal character, and their active beneficence, became towards the close of their lives a distinct element of power in the state. Such is the position which, among others, Harriet Martineau and Mary Howitt are at this moment either possessing or acquiring. Of all the eminent Englishwomen who have very recently engaged the attention of the American public, none, perhaps, have engaged it so much as the lady generally known as "Charlotte Elizabeth." Previously to her death, which occurred in 1846, she prepared an autobiography under the title of "Personal Recollections," which brought her Life down to very nearly its close. Since her decease the memoir has been completed by her surviving husband. The work will be read with much interest by Americans. It is ornamented with a newly-engraved portrait of her, said to be an excellent likeness.

A WHEAT SHEAF: gathered from our own Fields. By F. C. Woodworth and T. S. Arthur. New York: M. W. Dodd. Among the many books intended for young people, there is no one which we can recommend with more satisfaction than this. It is made up of some forty or fifty short stories, written alternately by Mr. Woodworth and Mr. Arthur; each story being illustrated with some apt pictorial device. The authors are extensively and very favourably known. They are skilful in narrative, the kind of writing which with children always bears away the palm, and their writings have the distinct object to enforce duty or inculcate truth. No parent need hesitate who wants for his child a book at once attractive and useful.

REDBURN: His First Voyage. By Herman Melville. New York: Harper & Brothers. There is a wild, fascinating spirit of adventure about Mr. Melville, not only in what he relates, but in his manner of relating it. He glories in doing nothing secundum artem. His manner of telling a story is as original as his manner of acting it. His pranks, whether among the parts of speech, or on the deck of a brig, are such as bring their own forgiveness in

the very breath that says "the graceless scamp!" His adventures, and his descriptions of them, are like nothing living or dead. He imitates nobody; he is evidently "a law to himself." Surely it is refreshing in this age of stereotyping and fac-similes, to meet with one so unique, so perfectly individual.

romance.

FRONTENAC, a Metrical Romance. By Alfred B. Street. New York: Baker & Scribner. The early colonial history of this country, and the incessant border warfare between the colonists and the aborigines, have already receded so far into the distance as to become legitimate subjects of Mr. Street has chosen for his poem the struggles between the French Canadians under Count Frontenac, and the Iroquois, or the famous Five Nations, who occupied the vast region lying south of Lake Ontario. To the historical materials at his disposal he has added others of his own invention, and has worked them up with much skill, into a graceful and interesting Metrical Romance. It is in nine cantos, and is accompanied with illustrative historical notes.

ROLAND CASHEL. Harper & Brothers. This capital story by Lever, is at length completed, to the joy of all lovers of fun on both sides of the Atlantic.

PASTORAL REMINISCENCES. By Shepherd K. Kollock. New York: M. W. Dodd. To young clergymen just entering upon their ministerial duties, a volume of "pastoral reminiscences" is like the report of "medical cases" to the young physician. In both cases, they give the new practitioner the opportunity of profiting by the experience of those who have been longer engaged in the work. In the opinion of the venerable Dr. Alexander of Princeton, who has introduced the present volume to the public with a very characteristic preface, Mr. Kollock's book contains nothing which will be found offensive to any real Christian of any denomination, while his views are uniformly sound and evangelical, and his style plain and perspicuous, without any ambition to say fine things. It is accordingly cordially recommended to the attention and careful perusal of all into whose hands it may come, but especially to young pastors and candidates for the ministry.

New

LATIN-ENGLISH LEXICON. By the Rev. Joseph Esmond Riddle, and the Rev. Thomas Kerchever Arnold. York; Harper & Brothers. We would fain say a wordthe limited space allotted to these notices unfortunately allows us to say only a word-in behalf of the object of such a publication as this. If our scholars are ever to hold a reputable rank as Latinists, it must be by a freer use of Latin composition as an exercise in studying the language. No language is effectually learned but by composing in it. Reading and translating a language merely can never give one a command of it. We might as well expect to become dancers by seeing others dance, or mechanics by inspecting a tool-shop. Use is the law of language, in a wider sense even than Horace meant it. We must ourselves use a language as a vehicle of thought, before we really and thoroughly understand its usages and idioms. Not till we begin to think in a language, do we begin to understand and appreciate it. We hope to see the time-and the evidences of its approach are not few nor doubtful-when the classical languages will be studied in this country in a manner more accordant with the true philosophy of language-when the boy will commence writing Latin and Greek as soon as he commences reading them-when the translation from English into Latin and Greek will proceed pari passu with the translations from those languages into English, and that, not only in a few elementary grammatical phrases, but in the higher walks of free original composition. Then, and not till then, shall we have a scholarship among us that is no longer one-sided and curt, but full, symmetrical, and exact.

For the more elementary exercises in the art of Latin composition we have many excellent manuals-Anthon's, M'Clintock's, Arnold's, and others. But beyond the range of mere exercise books, the means within the reach of students have been very meagre and unsatisfactory. In

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truth, nothing worthy of the name of an English-Latin Dictionary has ever before been published. The present work is virtually, as its authors say, without a predecessor. It is the only English-Latin Dictionary that a student can consult with a reasonable hope of finding what he wants, or with any certainty of being able to trust what he finds. The authors are so favourably known by their previous labours, that the public will be disposed to take almost upon trust their fidelity and accuracy in the present instance. Their work is based upon the German-Latin Dictionary of Georges. The American edition by Professor Anthon, is enriched by a valuable Dictionary of Proper Names not in the English work. The book makes a large octavo volume of 754 pages.

We should do a great injustice not to remark the extreme care and judiciousness of the typography. The arrangement of the different kinds of type, and of the various typographical devices is such that one can find what he wants with ease and certainty. In all the long articles the leading points are made to stand out in clear relief, and strike the eye at once on opening the page. This is a matter of very great practical moment, as every scholar knows who has ever had to grope his way through the trackless wilderness of the German Lexicons.

THE NEIGHBOURS. By Frederika Bremer. New York: George P. Putnam. What a new world was opened to American hearts by the publication of "The Neighbours?” Before that event, we had some vague notion that there were such countries as Sweden and Norway, for we had studied Geography and had seen them very plainly on the map. But as to any real living faith in their existence, any definite assured conviction that they were inhabited by men and women of like passions with ourselves, any clear apprehension that these dear people of the Northland were closely akin to ourselves in their modes of thought and life, and especially in whatever relates to the domestic affections-it was a discovery. It was a revelation at the hand of genius. A new domain had been added to the empire of the imagination. Towards the author from whom we had received this sudden accession of intellectual wealth, there arose in the community a feeling not merely of admiration, but of gratitude. We had received a favour for which we would fain make some suitable return. Among the pleasing evidences that this feeling has not yet died out is the beautiful new edition of the author's works now in course of publication, by Mr. Putnam of New York. This edition enjoys the benefit of Miss Bremer's supervision, and a new preface by herself written since her arrival in this country. The volume is ornamented with a fine likeness of the author, and an engra ving of her residence. It is printed in handsome style, uniform with the works of Irving and Cooper, by the same publisher, and is known as "the Author's Edition"

FAIRY TALES FROM ALL NATIONS. By Anthony R. Montalba. New York: Harper & Brothers. The author of this collection informs us that the tales have been selected from more than a hundred volumes of fairy lore of all nations, and that none of them, so far as he is aware, has ever before been translated into English. In running somewhat hastily over the volume we find fairy tales from the Danish, Sclavonic, Arabic, Hebrew, German, French, Swedish, Sanskrit, Norman, Italian, in fact from almost every literature of mediæval and modern times. These are illustrated by a large number of admirable wood-cuts, after designs by Richard Doyle. If we may infer anything from the fate of our own copy of the work, this book of Fairy Tales is destined to have a most taking popularity among the young people.

THE MEMOIRS OF THE LATE HANNAH L. MURRAY. By Gardiner Spring, D.D. New York: Carter & Brothers. Those, if there are any, who do not know the staid and venerable character of the author of this volume, will find it difficult to believe that so much goodness and such brilliancy of parts and of fortune as are here set forth, could have lived so long in the midst of us, and yet have been so little known. Miss Murray certainly was a remarkable

woman. Her actual life seems to have been a continued poem, as her written life has all the appearance of a romance. In scholarship she excelled the Lady Jane Grey, and at least equalled Elizabeth Barrett. She had the exquisite sensibility of Fanny Osgood, with the serene and happy temperament of Hannah More, and the charming playfulness of Frederika Bremer. She had rare beauty, rare fascination of manners, much of this world's goods, and still more of those spiritual treasures which are not of this world. With the sensitiveness of a dreamer, she led a life of the most industrious and persevering activity, even surpassing the bounties of her purse by the labours of her hand. She was the "treasurer" of the Infant School Society, the "secretary" of the Widows' Society, the leading "manager" of the House of Industry, was never absent from the weekly lecture or the evening prayer-meeting, and yet had time as well as taste both to read and to write poetry, and to keep herself conversant with the elegant refinements of literature, ancient as well as modern, that of other lands as well as her own. A woman so gifted-so remarkable in all respects-deserved the commendation she has here received at the hand of her friend and pastor.

THE MONUMENTS OF EGYPT. By Francis L. Hawks, D.D. LL.D. New York: George P. Putnam. Discoverers are not always the best expositors. The very faculties which are most fitted for investigation disqualify to a certain extent for exposition. On the other hand, it not unfrequently happens that by a legitimate use of the original researches of others, a man who is not himself an original explorer may succeed, far better than those who are, in making the fruits of their labours known to the generality of mankind. Such a labourer is Dr. Hawks. He has never visited Egypt, and yet he has written one of the most instructive books on its monuments that has yet appeared. He has carefully examined the great original works on Egyptology which have been published within the last three-quarters of a century, and sifting carefully the facts from the mere processes by which they were obtained, and selecting from the great mass of facts those which are of leading and primary importance, he has constructed a work which to the general reader will be found to possess a greater interest than perhaps any other one to be found relating to the "monumental" kingdom. Dr. Hawks's book is ornamented with a large number of wood-cuts, illustrative of the topics discussed. It also contains, in the form of an appendix, the notes of a voyage up the Nile, by an American, whose name is not given. The whole forms a splendid octavo volume, fitted, as it is intended, to be a companion to the "Nineveh" of Mr. Layard.

By the

A VISIT TO THE MONASTERIES IN THE LEVANT. Hon. Robert Curzon. New York: George P. Putnam. No nation has produced a greater number of travellers than the English-not the Halls and Trollopes and others of that ilk, but such as Mungo Park, Layard, Bruce, or even old Sir John Mandeville, who with all his credulity and mendacity, had still the stout heartedness, the love of adventure, and the keen practical sagacity of the true traveller. The world in almost every department of its interests, commercial, political, literary, and religious, is deeply indebted to this class of men. Among the more recent instances in which great practical benefits have resulted from their adventures, may be mentioned this of Mr. Curzon. The ancient manuscripts which he has brought to light among the neglected monasteries of the Levant, some of which are now in his possession, and some in the possession of the British Museum, are little inferior in interest and importance to the ruins of Central America, described by our countryman, Stephens, or those of Nineveh, by Mr. Layard. In reading Mr. Curzon's narrative, one is amazed that after all the investigations for ancient MSS. which have been made by biblical scholars since the days of the Reformation, such a mass of literary treasures should suddenly come to light, and in places where any one of common sagacity might have expected to find it at any time during these last three hundred years.

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