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narrow gathered lace ruffle. Corsage gathered a little at the waist. Sleeves loose, straight, and rather short. There is a design of flowers down in front, and at the edges of the sleeves; the rest is in seed spots. Belt like the skirt, and with long ends.

Small round cap of white lace. This cap is of three divisions, one of white lace, flat upon the head and extend

a little distance from the edge is a row of narrow network | plain. Corsage of white lace, finished at the neck by a trimming, passing all round and descending in a V upon the corsage, almost to the end of the point in front. Below the square opening within this V, is embroidery work in silk, of two shades of green. A basquine is formed by the little wings at the side, extending toward the hips. The point of the corsage is very long and rounded. Sleeves rather large, trimmed round the lower part like the edge of the corsage. From under this appears a very full volanting to the forehead, and one on each side of the head. The with large rounded dents, subdivided by smaller ones, and ornamented with two rows of network, and above each larger dent with a pretty rose, the buds and foliage of which, placed at its sides, form a garland. Very ample under-sleeves of two rows of white lace. Around the jupe are two very wide flounces, ornamented like those on the sleeves, except that the dents, the roses, and the garland are all larger and wider.

Small cap of lace, with sharp dents, it is of one circular piece, gathered below at the back of the head. On each side, falling from the temples, are thick tufts of narrow ribands, pink and green mixed, formed in circles or rings. Hair upon the forehead in little flat curls.-Coiffure à la Joséphine.

latter are formed each of two roses, enclosed in shells of black velvet, and these in shells of white lace. Hair in puffing bandeaux.

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FIG. 4.

TOILETTE PAREE.

FIG. 3.

HOME TOILETTE.

FIGURE 3. Home Toilette.-Robe with two skirts of gray pearl rose satin dépoli. The upper skirt is cut around the bottom in undulations, and above and following the wavings are four rows of galons placed flat. A wide row of fringe, the upper part of coarse thick grain, and the lower thin and fine, is fixed round the edge. Second skirt

FIGURE 4. Toilette Parée.-Robe of green taffetas. Corsage low. Long pointed busk. Sleeves short and plain. Skirt very full. Attached to the corsage is a berthe of black lace, held at the shoulders and at the middle by bunches of roses with foliage. From the middle bunch depend three green ribands. Chemisette of white lace. The skirt is trimmed with three flounces of black lace. The upper flounce is gathered up at the side by two little bouquets like those on the corsage. For the second the lace is sewed to the skirt all round, except at the two sides, where it is festooned by bouquets larger than those above. The third is like the second, except that the bouquets are still larger, and have three ends of green riband depending from each.

The front hair is drawn back to the crown of the head. On the right is a row of small roses, and on the left a nœud of green ribands, with long loose ends falling to the shoulder; between these is a connexion formed of a narrow strip of black lace.

EDITORIAL.

BOOK NOTICES.

HUME'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Messrs. Phillips & Sampson, of Boston, in issuing the sixth and last volume of their excellent edition of Hume, announce that it will be followed by an edition of Gibbon, in the same popular and commendable style. For sale by J. W. Moore, Philadelphia.

ETIQUETTE FOR LADIES. J. & J. L. Gihon, Philadelphia. Many ladies, married and unmarried, might save themselves a world of trouble and mortification, by having this little book by them for occasional reference. "Etiquette," it is true, is based upon good sense and charity. So is Cookery based upon Physiology and Chemistry. But for the practical purposes of life, a Cookery Book is a very useful article, notwithstanding;-so are Manuals of Etiquette, like this just published by the Messrs. Gihon.

DESULTORIA. Baker & Scribner. The author of "Desultoria," under the fiction of the "Recovered MSS. of an Eccentric," has given us a curious and charming miscellany of opinions, criticisms, sentiment, and what not-the gist of much reading and thought without the prolixity of more formal discussion. For sale by J. W. Moore, Philadelphia.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. By the Rev. Matthew Harrison, A. M. Philadelphia: E. C. Biddle. We regard this volume as a valuable and seasonable contribution to English literature, and sincerely thank the American publishers for reproducing it here. We would warmly urge all our young writers and scholars-and the veterans too-to procure a copy. It is not a grammar, but an able and enlightened discussion of the leading disputed points of English Grammar, prefaced by an historical sketch of the rise and progress of the language.

MISCELLANIES. By J. T. Headley. Baker & Scribner. This volume contains some of Mr. Headley's most brilliant contributions to periodical literature. He informs us in the preface, that it was not his intention to collect and prepare these for publication for several years to come, but that he has been hurried into it by a surreptitious and unauthorized issue of the same from some other publishing house. We take it for granted that a knowledge of this fact will deter the public from purchasing the surreptitious edition. Every author, in transferring produc

tions of this kind from their transient form to one suited for permanent use, makes numerous alterations and improvements, as Mr. Headley has done in the present instance. Readers, therefore, who value the author's writings at all, will be careful to obtain them in their genuine and authentic shape. For sale by J. W. Moore, Philadel phia.

MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM WIRT. By John P. Kennedy. Lea & Blanchard. Second Edition. The rapid sale of the first edition of this work is the best commentary on its character and value. In some cases a work of this kind is soon bought up on account of something very fresh or exciting in the subject. But in the present case, there is nothing of this kind. Mr. Wirt has been dead now some sixteen years, and has already gone comparatively out of the public mind. The book, by its own merit and excellence, has brought him back. It is a just and fitting tribute to one who ought always to live in the hearts of Americans, and it is from a pen eminently fitted, in every way, for the labour of love which he has so well discharged.

DARK SCENES OF HISTORY. By G. P. R. James. New York: Harper & Brothers. All of James's Novels show great historical reading. He may have made mistakes in some of his historical fictions. What professed historian has not? No living writer has given us so much true history in the shape of fiction, as Mr. James. In the present volume, he has brought together certain deeply interesting portions of history, without the veil of fiction. The topics are "Amboise of France," "Arthur of England," "Perkin Warbeck," the last days of "The Templars," "The Albigenses," the "Conspiracy of Cueva," "Wallenstein," and "Herod the Great." This enumeration of subjects is the best description of the book, which is in truth a most curious and valuable historical miscellany.

POPE'S WORKS. A New Edition. Crissy & Markley, of Philadelphia, have just published a new and very desirable edition of the Poetical Works of Pope, in one volume, 8vo., uniform with the common octavo editions of Coleridge, Byron, Scott, Burns, Shelley, &c. It is prefaced with Dr. Johnson's Life of Pope.

THE MERCERSBURG REVIEW. This is an exceedingly able periodical, published once in two months, by the Alumni Association of Marshall College. It is chiefly theological in its character. The articles in the January number are "The New Creation," "Universal History," "Brownson's Quarterly Review," "The Old Palatinate Liturgy," and "Faith, Reverence, and Freedom."

THE GALLERY OF ILLUSTRIOUS AMERICANS. Brady, D'Avignon & Lester. In the case of a really good work, a true description of it is often its highest commendation. It is so in the present instance. But how to describe it fairly, is the difficulty. We will at least give a bill of items. The publishers propose to issue twenty numbers or parts, each to be complete in itself, and each to contain an engraved portrait and a brief biography of some distinguished American who has flourished since the death of Washington. The portraits are taken from the gallery of Mr. Brady, the well-known daguerreotypist of New York; the engravings are executed under the immediate superintendence of the artist, D'Avignon; while Mr. Lester, as

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EDITORIAL.

editor, is responsible for the literary department. The book is of the size known among the craft as elephantine quarto (at least 22 inches by 16). The letter press is upon very fine paper, almost as thick as common drawing paper, and the engraving on paper nearly equal to Bristol board. The first two numbers of the work give us General Taylor and Mr. Calhoun. The work, either in numbers, or as a bound volume, will make a superb ornament to the drawing-room, and a choice addition to the library.

POEMS BY JOHN G. Saxe. Ticknor, Reed & Fields. We have read most of these poems, and with a pleasure continually increasing. We mean to say, that having read one poem we had a greater relish for the second, and hav. ing read a second, we had a greater relish for a third, and so on. There is something genial and kindly in Mr. Saxe's muse, and like all genial and kindly things, it improves upon acquaintance. He has, besides, some peculiarities of manner, which are not mannerisms, and yet they require the reader to have some little familiarity with them to enjoy their full effect. Mr. Saxe has a facility, almost Hood-like, in mere verbal point-pun, perhaps, it may be called; but it is not without its beauty for all that. Witness the title of his Sonnet to a "Clam," "Dum tacent clamant!"-or the concluding lines of the same,

"Forced, like a Hessian, from thy native home, To meet destruction in a foreign broil! Though thou art tender, yet thy humble bard Declares, O clam! thy case is shocking hard!"

Some of Mr. Saxe's poems of this sort are not unlike, and not unequal, to Goldsmith's "Madame Blaize," and "Death of a Mad Dog." We do not mean to say that Mr. Saxe's poems are imitations, but that they are originals of the same school of art. The two longest poems in the collection, entitled "Progress" and "The Times," are in the regular old-fashioned pentameter couplet of Pope, and not unworthy of that great satirist, either for finished verse or trenchant wit. Mr. Saxe, however, though keen and brilliant, is never bitter or malignant. We shall be right glad to meet him again, and often.

THE CASSIQUE OF ACCABEE, AND OTHER POEMS. By W. Gilmore Simms. Putnam. Mr. Simms deserves special commendation for his choice of subjects. American and aboriginal traditions furnish an ample and peculiarly appropriate field for the exercise of American genius. "The Cassique of Accabee" is an Indian tale of the early settlement of the Carolinas. It is a love tale, full of romance, and not wanting in adventure. The hero is an Indian "brave," the heroine a pale-face captive maid, the mar-plot an unprincipled trader. The scene of the beautiful legend is "Accabee," a lovely but neglected farmstead, on Ashley River, near Charleston. Mr. Simms has shown his judgment as well as his ingenuity in giving to the story a turn quite out of the common way, and yet quite consistent with the established character of the two races thus brought into contact. The other poems in the collection are of various lengths and on various subjects, but all characterized by ability.

ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. By Alonzo Gray, A.M. Harper & Brothers. Prof. Gray states his object to have been to make a text-book which should be a medium between the larger works and those generally used in academies. Among the features of the work that strike us as novel and valuable, are the following. At the head of each section an analysis is given of the contents of the section, in the form of distinct propositions. These are prepared with much care, and are distinguished from the rest of the text by being printed in italics. This analysis is to be committed to memory, verbatim. The other feature is the introduction of examples in the form of problems at the end of the several chapters. These render the principles familiar, and so fix them better in the memory, just as the parsing in grammar, or the sums in arithmetic, make the learner understand more clearly and remember more permanently the doctrines investi

309

gated. We cannot close the volume without mentioning with high commendation the cuts and diagrams, which are very numerous and very good.

A HAND-BOOK OF MODERN EUROPEAN LITERATURE. By Mr. Foster. Lea & Blanchard. This work seems intended to be for literature what the Conversations-Lexicon is for general knowledge-a book of ready reference to help out conversation. It contains a vast amount of information, abridged into a small compass, and so arranged under heads and in tables as to give the greatest facility for immediate use.

GOLDSMITH'S WORKS, Putnam's Edition. The second volume of Goldsmith's Miscellaneous Works, as edited by Prior, has been received from the publisher. It contains the "Citizen of the World," and the "Introduction to the Study of Natural History." This edition is uniform with Irving's and Cooper's Works, now in the course of publication by the same house. For sale by J. W. Moore, Philadelphia.

COOPER'S WORKS. New Edition. Red Rover; Putnam. We have received from J. W. Moore, of Philadelphia, another volume of Putnam's admirable edition of the works of our greatest American novelist. The present volume contains the whole of the "Red Rover."

POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC. Doggett, of New York, publishes an Almanac, containing, besides the usual almanac matter, all the sage and quaint remarks of Dr. Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanac for the years 1733, 4, and 5. It was supposed that a complete series of the Poor Richard Almanacs was not in existence. The present publisher, however, after ransacking many libraries, private and public, has succeeded in obtaining a complete set, and proposes in a series of years to reproduce them all. The Almanac for 1850 contains all the original matter of the first three years of "Poor Richard." It contains also the first part of Franklin's autobiography. The whole is beautifully printed and illustrated.

THE EARLY CONFLICTS OF CHRISTIANITY. By the Rev. Wm. Ingraham Kip, D. D. Appletons. There is in the public mind a vague impression that Christianity, at its first entrance into the world, had a severe struggle to maintain. But what that struggle was exactly, few have any definite and clear idea. Dr. Kip has essayed to overcome this difficulty, not by entering minutely upon the details of the opposition and persecution with which Christianity was at first met, but by showing the principles of opposition that existed in society as constituted in the early ages. These principles are considered under the heads of Judaism, Grecian philosophy, the licentious spirit of the age, barbarism, and the pagan mythology. The work is one of much value.

ANNALS OF THE QUEENS OF SPAIN. By Anita George. Baker & Scribner. We have had lives of the Queens of England and of France. This is the first attempt at the same species of portraiture applied to the queenly ladies of the Peninsula. Besides the novelty of the book in this respect, it will attract attention from its authoress, a native Castilian, but so thoroughly Americanized that no one would suspect the work to be that of a foreigner but from the public announcement. As to the manner in which she has executed her work, we take pleasure in quoting part of a letter from Prescott, than whom no man living probably is better qualified to express an opinion on such a subject. "She has brought the whole range of the Spanish portion of the Peninsula within her plan. For this she has had rare and authentic materials --some of them in the form of old chronicles, rich and glowing; while others are too often of the most dreary and discouraging character. She has mastered their contents, however, with commendable diligence. This was the more easy, as they are in her own Castilian; and as a Spaniard she has also been better able to comprehend and enter into the spirit of the Castilian character and usages of a remote age. In short, having carried her researches into a field hitherto unexplored by the English writers,

and not to a great extent by the Spaniards themselves, she must be allowed to have made an addition to the sum of our historical lore in regard to the Peninsula." For sale by J. W. Moore, Philadelphia.

HISTORY OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. By Jacob Abbott. New York: Harper & Brothers. We like all the books of this excellent series, and this the best of all. They are all good books, and this is especially good. But-we must protest, and we shall continue to protest, against the bad grammar which Abbott continues to inflict upon us. There is less of it in this than in any of the previous volumes. Still there is too much. In fact, any sin of that kind is unpardonable in a writer of Mr. Abbott's rank and pretensions.

One of the mistakes which Mr. Abbott often makes is the use of the past or perfect infinitive after words which in their very meaning refer to present or future action, as, for instance, "expect," "intend," &c. It is obvious, we cannot intend to have done” a thing. Intention refers to the present or the future, not to the past. The principle is the same, whatever be the time of the intention. The action intended cannot be something antecedent to the intention. As we cannot say, "I now intend to have done it yesterday," so, for the same reason, we cannot say, “I intended yesterday to have done it the day before." We have on previous occasions quoted frequent instances of this kind of mistake. There are several in the present volume. One, for instance, p. 221, "He expected to have found," &c.

The use of the transitive verb "to lay," in the sense of "to lie," ("Their plan was to lay in ambuscade," p. 89,) is possibly a misprint. Were it not for the grievous carelessness of the author in very many other cases equally glaring, we would have passed it over as such. But until Mr. Abbott gives us at least one book tolerably free from false syntax, we shall credit all such errors to ignorance.

The most careful writers are often at a loss, in using nouns of multitude, to know whether to make the verb singular or plural. We will therefore forgive all Mr. Abbott's sins, real and imputed, on this head-except such as the following. On p. 93, he says, "the party were at a distance," &c., and immediately below, only two lines off, a "party of twelve horsemen was formed."

"Bithric, after fulfilling the object of his mission, took leave of Matilda coldly, while her heart was almost break. ing, and went away," (p. 106.) This is, perhaps, not bad grammar, but it is at least awkward and confused, leaving it entirely to the mercy of a comma to determine whether it was Bithric, or her heart, that "went away."

FATHER ABBOT. By W. Gilmore Simms. Charleston: Miller & Brown. Mr. Simms's secondary title, "The Home Tourist," gives a good clue to the general character of his book. An imaginary club, of which Father Abbot is the leader, travel about and near Charleston, seeing all sorts of wonderful things-quite as wonderful and as charming as those see who travel annually to Cape May or Saratoga, or take the tour of Europe. Mr. Simms, in other words, would teach his fellow-citizens that it is not necessary to travel to a great distance to see much that is curious, and find much that is pleasurable. We like the idea-and not the less, that in carrying it out, he gives us not a few touches of the genuine Pickwickian.

THE GREAT METROPOLIS. Under this title, H. Wilson, of New York, has published a valuable New York Almanac, for 1850, with an excellent business directory appended.

FRANK FORREST. By David M. Stone. New York: M. W. Dodd. We agree fully with the writer of this volume, that biography, if well written, is always interesting and instructive. For the common mind, it is of all kinds of writing the most instructive. Few readers, young or old, will follow the adventures of the orphan boy, Frank Forrest, unmoved or unbenefited. We recommend the book most cordially.

THE ROSE BUD, THE MOSS CUP, THE DANDELION. By Mrs. E. Oakes Smith. Buffalo: George H. Derby & Co. Mrs. Smith intimates in her general title to these stories, that

they are meant to be somewhat out of the common way. They are, she says, "stories, not for good children, nor [for] bad children, but for real children." She dedicates them also to those mothers "who are willing that Nature should unfold her sweet work in her own sweet way, without forcing it into precocious development." Babies, she says, are to be babies, lulled by "pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man," or "rock a baby buntin," not made to strain their eyes after the stars, and have their poor brains stimulated by an A, B, C, painted upon the ivory given them to assist dentition. "Children are to be children, meekly brought to the Saviour for his blessing, but not with harsh questionings as to his nature; not as pantaletted polemics [which means, we suppose, that they must not say the Catechism], but as lovers of his meekness and truth."

GABRIEL OF WICHNOR WOOD. By Mary Howitt. New York: Collins & Brother. One of Mary Howitt's very best stories, simple, pathetic and instructive. It is a small neat 18mo., illustrated with a pretty wood-cut.

SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS. Number 10, of the beautiful Boston edition of Shakespeare, is received. It contains the "Merchant of Venice," with a portrait of Portia, by J. W. Wright. All who want a copy of Shakespeare which early copies of this choicest and cheapest of American they can read with unalloyed pleasure, should secure

editions.

Fox's BOOK OF MARTYRS. Philadelphia: J. & J. L. Gihon The Messrs. Gihon, of Philadelphia, have commenced the publication of Fox's Book of Martyrs, in a superb style It is in the large quarto form, issued in numbers at 25 cents each, and is copiously illustrated by wood-cuts. The large portrait of Fox, in the first number, is one of the very finest specimens of wood-cutting we have ever seen.

THE KNIGHT OF GWYNNE. By Charles Lever. Philade delphia: T. B. Peterson. Complete in one volume. Price 50 Cents. In the opinion of many, the "Knight of Gwynne," is superior even to "Charles O'Malley." To be even nearly as good, is a sufficient recommendation to all who have read that side-splitting production. For funpure, hearty, irresistible fun-Lever is unsurpassed by any living writer.

AGNES GREY, by the Author of "Jane Eyre," "Shirley," dc. So, at least, says the American publisher, T. B. Peterson, and we know nothing to the contrary. It is spoken of in several quarters, as a work of considerable merit,

whoever is its author.

MARY MORETON. By T. S. Arthur. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson. We make it a point always to read Mr. Arthur's novels. If we have not done so in the present instance, it shall none the less deter us from giving "Mary Moreton" a word of commendation. We feel certain, a priori, that the reader will find in the present volume something to touch his heart, and to make him both wiser and better. If he does not, his experience will be different from what ours has been after every book of Mr. Arthur's that we have ever read--and we have read many.

TEN THOUSAND A-YEAR. Complete in one Vol. Price 50 Cents. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson. If this is not, as the publisher says, "the greatest novel in the English language," it is certainly one of extraordinary metit. We certainly shall never forget the hours spent in its perusal,

as it came out in the successive numbers of Blackwood. We would gladly give five times the present cost of the work to have the pleasure of reading it for the first time.

CONSTANCE LINDSAY: or the Progress of Error. By C. G. H. New York: Harper & Brothers. One of the Harpers' Library of Select Novels. Price 25 cents. The writer (?) is known as the author of "Curates of Linwood," "Margaret Waldegrave," &c. &c. &c.

LIFE OF DAN RICE, Illustrated by Darley and others. If any of our readers want a dollar's worth of fun for one quarter of the money, let them buy this most amusing pamphlet.

ING. Co.

EDITORIAL.

merited.

311

DICTIONARY OF MECHANICS, ENGINE WORK, AND ENGINEER-congratulate the author upon its success, which is justly Oliver Byrne, Editor. New York: D. Appleton & We were too much pressed for space the last month to give to this important work as full a description as it ought to receive. We will endeavour to make atonement by speaking of it more fully now.

The work is designed for practical working men, and those intended for the engineering profession. It will contain, when complete, about two thousand pages, and more than six thousand illustrations. It is printed on fine paper, of large octavo size, and issued semi-monthly in numbers, at twenty-five cents each. Any one remitting to the publishers $10 in advance, will receive the whole work through the post-office free of expense.

The great object of this publication is, to place before practical men and students such an amount of theoretical and scientific knowledge, in a condensed form, as shall enable them to work to the best advantage, and to avoid those mistakes which they might otherwise commit. The amount of useful information thus brought together is almost beyond precedent in such works. Indeed, there is hardly any subject within its range which is not treated with such clearness and precision, that even a man of the most ordinary capacity cannot fail of understanding it, and thus learning from it much which it is important for him to know.

The publishers have expended a large sum of money to get original drawings of machinery in practical use in this country, and have procured almost every work on the subject, whether published in England, France, or Germany, the most essential parts of which being comprised in this Dictionary, render it as perfect and comprehensive as possible. There is a wonderful economy in type, so that each page of the work contains at least four times the number of words found in ordinary pages of the same size. This has also secured to each plate working-drawings of ample size and clearness, so that a mechanic may construct accurately any machine described.

Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4, have been received, and more than sustain, in every respect, the expectations created by the announcements of the publishers.

THE RED INDIANS OF NEWFOUNDLAND. By Charles Augustus Murray. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson. Complete in one volume. Price 50 cents. With very numerous Illustrations. This novel is highly praised by the English peri

odicals.

A DISCOURSE ON HISTORY, as a Branch of the National Literature. By Job R. Tyson, Esq. This discourse, delivered before the Belles-Lettres Society of Dickinson College, shows throughout its pages abundant evidence that the author has himself cultivated, and with signal success, the branch of polite learning whose general cultivation he so eloquently advocates. The "Discourse" is characterized by a judicious and discriminating view of the objects of History, and by timely suggestions as to the mode and extent of its culture in this country.

THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. Such is the significant title of a Monthly Periodical, published in this city, devoted to agriculture and the mechanic arts. It is a work of marked ability and originality, and ought to find its way more generally into the hands of farmers and mechanics. It is edited by J. S. Skinner & Son, Philada.

DISCOURSE ON WOMAN. By Lucretia Mott. Philadelphia: Peterson. While Mr. Dana, during the last winter, was delivering his lectures in Philadelphia, Mrs. Mott, so well known as a public speaker, took occasion to controvert some of the views advanced by the Lecturer, in regard to the character and rights of woman. The public discourse which she delivered on this occasion was fully reported by the phonographers, and after a revision by the author, published by Peterson. The discourse is calm, dignified, and argumentative.

FAITH'S APPROACH UNTO GOD IN DARKNESS. A Sermon, by the Rev. H. N. Wilson, of Southampton, Long Island, at the funeral of the Rev. Samuel Huntting. This is truly an eloquent and impressive discourse. We knew the author to be a man of varied learning, and have seen before several able pamphlets from his pen, but nothing equal to the present in the graces of style and manner. Will not Princeton, at her next commencement, honour herself by publicly recognising the merit of her son?-or will Alma Mater leave to some other College the credit of the deed?

HANDS NOT HEARTS. A Novel. By Janet W. Wilkinson. New York: Harper & Brothers. Paper cover, price 25 cents. A reprint, unabridged, from the English work.

DAVID COPPERFIELD. Part VIII., with two good Illustrations, has been received from the publisher, John Wiley. New York.

WORKS OF EDGAR A. POE. New York: J. S. Redfield. Two volumes of greater interest than these have not in a long time appeared. One is surprised, however, in looking over them, to see how little Poe wrote. Considering the impression which he has made upon the public mind, it is difficult to believe that it was all achieved by the contents of these two small duodecimos. But so it is. For one so

long before the public, he really published very little. The secret of his success was, that to whatever he did publish, he gave the full force of his genius and the utmost finish of which it was capable. He possessed extraordinary and highly original genius, and whenever he attempted authorship, made no half-way work of it, but threw into it his utmost strength. Hence, everything that he published, small or great, produced a decided impression. His poem of "The Raven," for instance, contains only about a hundred lines;--and yet it cost no doubt more labour, and produced an infinitely greater effect, than many of the entire volumes of highly respectable verse annually sent forth from the press. So with his "Lenore," so with "The Bells," so with "The Fall of the House of Usher" and his other stories, so with his essays. His essay on the "Rationale of Verse" is unsurpassed as a model of critical analysis. We have read not a few volumes, ancient and modern, and by scholars of world-wide reputation, on the vexed topic of prosody, and must say that this brief essay, which one may read in an hour, does more to clear up the whole subject, than all the volumes about it we have ever

WAVERLEY NOVELS. Illustrated Edition. New York: Hewitt, Tillotson & Co. The second volume of this splendid edition of the Waverley Novels has been received. It contains the Bride of Lammermoor. The illustrations, ten in all, are more than equal to those contained in the specimen number. They are all finely executed wood-cuts, printed in two tints, very much like the tinted engraving of Spring in the present number of the Magazine. The designs are copied from the most expensive and valuable English edition of the novels that has ever appeared-read. that, namely, known as "The Abbotsford Edition." The price of the English edition was about one hundred dollars. The present reprint, which is on good paper will make twenty-seven octavo volumes, at one dollar per volume. It is altogether the best edition ever at tempted in this country. For sale by Peterson.

ARISTOCRACY; or, Life among the " Upper Ten." By Joseph A. Nunes. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson. We have noticed this work once before, but are happy to take the occasion of the present (the second or third edition,) to

Mr. Willis's letter, prefixed to the volumes, does him infinite credit. We feel constrained, much as we are pressed for room, to insert a small portion of it. We would remark also, in conclusion, that if any of our readers want an additional reason for the purchase of these volumes, beyond the fact of their intrinsic value, it will gratify them to know that the proceeds of the sale are for the benefit of the estimable lady mentioned in Mr. Willis's sketch.

"Our first knowledge of Mr. Poe's removal to this city,

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