Life and Eloquence of the Rev. Sylvester Larned, First Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in New Orleans. By K. R. GURLEY. New York: Wiley & Putnam, 161 Broadway. 1844.

Pulpit eloquence is a distinct field in oratory, and its requisitions on all the resources of the speaker are as great, certainly, as are found in any department of the art. If its subjects are less varied than those of an every-day worldly nature--which may admit of doubt-they will yet bear to be more frequently recurred to; if they appear not of such immediate, and therefore pressing concern, they are yet of infinitely vaster import, and present themselves to the mind with such breadth and extension as belong to the prospects of immortality. And in this country its field is doubtless more distinct, and makes greater exactions, than in any other. For the turn of our people is decidedly towards oratory; and as the mass here are unquestionably more intelligent than in any other land, they will expect far

more of their sacred teachers.

The discourses of the Rev. Sylvester Larned have been looked for now for several years, and great expectations, founded on universal report, had been formed with respect to their merits. Oratorical efforts, however, which when delivered produced the greatest effect, often appear, when perused in writings, to have no qualities justifying such an impression; so much of the power of eloquence belongs to the voice, the eye, the least motion of the hand. This fact, united with the great expectation which had been raised, would come in the way at once to disappoint the readers of Mr. Larned's Sermons now published. Yet, though his person "combined dignity, grace, and strength," though "his countenance well expressed his soul, and his voice was persuasion,"-none of which aids to impression can now be of avail-yet no one of those who may peruse these discourses in his own chamber, can fail to be struck with their many high qualities. After reading them, we cannot greatly differ from the opinion of his biographer, that "nothing irrelevant, nothing superfluous, is admitted;" that "he enters at once, and proceeds stead. ily onward in his argument, never pausing, and never deviating from his main design;" that "his words are things, his illustra. tions arguments, and even his ornaments seem but to clasp the simple drapery of great and majestic thoughts." If with all this he had, as is urged, the rare talent of being eloquent without seeming sensible of it, of hiding from himself and others the power by which he moved them, he was certainly an orator.

Commerce of the Prairies: or the Journal of a Santa Fé Trader during eight expeditions across the great Western Prairies, and a residence of nearly nine years in Northern Mexico. Illustrated with maps and engravings. By JOSIAH GREGG. Two volumes. New York: Henry G. Langley, 8 Astor House. 1844.

We do not suppose that any number of books, written from personal observation and adventure on the great prairies of the west, by those capable of describing what they saw and met with, would weaken our interest in a new volume depicting the same wonderful country. There is so much of new and varied incident still to be met with -so much of her fresh solitudes still left to Nature-so much that is unchangeably magnificent in its immense scenery-so much room to be free--that the imagination, among its green-swelling prairies, mounds, and vast rivers, with buffalo herds, and lines of dark forest belting the distance, very readily loses itself for the fiftieth time. Though Pike and Long, therefore, gave such full accounts of their journeys from the Mississippi to the mountains, and Murray, Irving, and Hoffman, and more recently the graphic narrator of the "Santa Fé Expedition," have added to scenes of the prairie many graces of style, the present somewhat loosely-arranged narrative of Mr. Gregg seems effectually to reawaken our interest.

Mr. Gregg's narrative is peculiarly rambling; but for that very reason, it has the more variety, which is, of course, in such a work, one great element of attraction. He gives some new information about the more distant Mexican territories, and a good deal that is new about many wild tribes of Indians. It is a book, in brief, pleasant to read, and one to which we should recur in writing about that region of the continent.

Elements of Logic, together with an Introductory View of Philosophy in general, and a Preliminary View of the Reason. By HENRY P. TAPPAN. New York and London: Wiley & Putnam.

1844.

Prof. Tappan is most favorably known in the field of philosophical inquiry by his able Review of Edwards on the Will. The present work on the very difficult field of logic will add to his reputation. It is divided into Primordial Logic, Inductive Logic, and Deductive Logic-presenting, in a more attractive form than is usual, a full discussion of all the principal elements of the subject. It is too large a subject, however, to be laid aside by us with a brief reference. We shall give it an extended notice on another occasion.