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GREAT BRITAIN.

New General Biographical Dictionary.

We have frequently noticed Mr. Reade's poetical efforts in terms of high commendation. There is not one of our living writers who has a deeper and more abiding sense of the requirements of his art, or who approaches his subjects with greater sincerity and earnestness than does the author of these By Rev. Hugh James Rose, B. D. Part XX. Sacred pieces. He is not of the number who ima-London. gine that a set of verses strung together without forethought and steady purpose can be fitting either

Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Or

as respects the purposes of Poetry, or his own char-ford, to Sir Horace Mann, H. B. M., Resiacter. As he himself observes, the great ends of dent at the Court of Florence, from 1760 Poetry are like those of Truth, "with whom she is to 1785. Concluding Series. London. one, the sister and the adorning handmaid-to hold Treatise on the Management and Cultiup the evil and the good in their most impressive vation of Forest Trees. By John Smith. colors." Accordingly he never thinks of applying his art as a mere plaything, but makes its employment a matter of conscience. Most sedulously has he sought to improve his skill by study, by travel, and by careful revision; and we may be sure that when he essayed sacred themes he did not rush unadvisedly into the temple, nor read his texts with an undisciplined imagination.

These Poems have for their subjects some of the

most remarkable events and characters to be met with in the Old Testament, which abounds with passages of the very highest capability for poetical treatment, and which at the same time impose the highest responsibility upon him who approaches them with the design of bringing out parts of the picture more fully than has been done by the inspired penman, or of enlarging a sentiment that may be but incidentally or indirectly suggested by the text. An example from the collection before us may be given to illustrate our meaning, and at the same time, to convince the reader of the beauties which shine in these poems. The lines are taken from the piece called "Jephthah's Vow."

London.

Cowper's Homer's Odyssey, with Commentary. London.

The Gospels Collated. By a Barrister. London.

Wittich's Lexicon to Homer; for Schools and Colleges London.

A Practical Introduction to Life and Fire Assurance. By Thomas H. Millar. Lectures on Tractarian Theology. By I. Stoughton. London.

GERMANY.

Ueber eine wichtige Punkte in der Philosophie: von J. F. Reiff. Tübingen.

Ueber Schelling and Hegel. Ein Sendschreiben an P. Leroux: von K. Rosenkranz. Königsberg.

The shouts of victory rose, the timbrels sounded:
The old men came forth with their laurels green;
And in the dance glad Israel's maidens bounded,
Circling their mistress with triumphant mien :
For Jephthah's honored daughter they surround-zig.

ed,

Der Gegensatz des kirchl. und reinbibl. Supernaturalismus: von I. Wiggers. LeipDas Wahre Geburtsjahr Christi, oder wir

Handmaids of beauty waiting round their queen. sollten 1862 anstatt 1843 schreiben. Ber

She stood among them yet alone,
Peerless and pure as is the moon
Among the lesser planets shown:
Her hair, unbraided now, was strewn
In masses o'er her shoulders bright,
Glistening in threads of amber light!
But where they parted o'er her brow,
And left her temples bare, ye traced
The violet vein that stained their snow;
And where those tresses, interlaced
With their own tangled braids, descended,
Veiling that swan-like neck of pride,
And with her heaving bosom blended,
Shadowing the forms they could not hide,
They looked as they had stolen the rays
Of sunset in their golden maze.

All this is fairly within the scope of the sacred narrative, and certainly a very beautiful enlargeWe think that it would be idle after such a specimen to offer any further words of general recommendation.—Monthly Review.

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