10 APRIL 1847, Page 17

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

BOOBS.

A Treatise on the Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, and its Relation to the Principles and Practice of Christianity. By William Stroud, M.D. Home Influence; a Tale for Mothers and Daughters. By Grace Aguilar.

In two volumes.

The Protestant Reformation in France; or Eatery of the Hagonots. By.

the Author of "Father Darcy," "Two Old Men's Tales," &e. In two volumes.

Hill-Side and Border Sketches; with Legends of the Cheviots and the Lam- Triermair. By W. H. Maxwell, Author of "Wild Sports of the West," &c. In two volumes.

Jacques Cceur, the French Argonaut, and his Times. By Louisa Stuart

Costello, Author of "Memoirs of Eminent Englishwomen," &c. First Impressions of England and iGs People. By Hugh Miller, Author of the "Old Red Sandstone," &e.

The Lffe and Adventures of Zamba, an African Negro King; and his Ex- perience of Slavery in South Carolina. Written by Himself. Corrected and arranged by Peter Neilson.

The Fall of Nineveh; a Poem. By Edwin Atherstone. In two volumes. [We have a strong impression that this poem is a new edition or issue, and that it has been before the public for some years; though we have not as yet been able to trace out the fact. But, old or new, The Fall of Nineveh is rhetorical rather than poetical. The style consequently is much better adapted for description or reflection, than for narrative, or dramatic action, where the author and his com- position should be altogether sunk, and the diction serve as a medium to express ideas, varying as they vary. In the rhetorical school this cannot be: the speaker or writer is ever foremost; and, as another consequence, it is pretty certain that we not only have him, but his age.

" Colchus an Assyrius ; Thebbt nutritus, sit Argilf,"

is no concern of his. We have satraps thinking like English patriots, an Oriental queen speaking as a virtuous British consort might do, whose husband was a profligate, with little touches of domestic life that according to all accounts do

not belong to the harem; while even the "royal sage, Sardanapalas" himself,

displays traits of sentiment and style that rather belong to the West than the East. Mr. Atherstone's model is Milton; an author who should be imitated with as much caution as a middle-sized man should don the uniform of a

Herculean Guardsman. Mr. Atherstone has enthusiasm, and a freshness which

may pass for energy in telling his story. Poetry, however, The Fall of Nineveh

cannot be called: it is rather inverted prose. Take an instance of what we mean, from the opening— "On Nineveh's proud towers the sinking sun

In cloudless splendour looks ; nor through the earth Like glory doth behold. In golden light

3lagnificent the mighty city stands,

Empress of nations ; nor her coming doom Aught feareth ; nor the voice of prophet old Rememb'reth ; nor of her iniquities Repenteth her ; nor the avenging hand Of Heaven incensed ;loth dread : but with her pomp Made drunken, and the glory of her might, Her head in pride exalteth ; and to fate, As to a bridal or a dance, doth pass."

With nothing more than a restoration of the words to their natural order, and the occasional substitution of a plain for a vague or pompons term, this may be turned into prose, perhaps as powerful as the verse, and more definite. Ecce-

The sun, sinking in cloudless splendour, looks on the proud towers of Nineveh ; nor throughout the earth does he behold a like glory. The magnificent city stands in golden light, empress among the nations ; nor remembers the voice of the prophet ; nor Rum her coming doom ; nor dreads the avenging hand of incensed Heaven : but, drunk with her power, riches, and glory, passes to her fate as to a dance or a bridal."]

History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; its Causes and Con- sequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, and on the Continent. By Augustin Thierry. Translated by William Hazlitt, Esq. In two volumes. Volume L (Bogue's European Library.) [The publications in the Libraries of Messrs. Bogue and Bohn are not only valuable and cheap in themselves, bat must ere long be the cause of cheapness in others. When people can get a work, including the cost of translation, at the low charge of these enterprising publishers, they will not like to pay a higher price for other standard books. The distinguishing features of this edition of The Conrest of Englatzdby the Normans are the inclusion of the Pieces Justifi- catives; in other words, the most striking or curious of the authorities, as the Roll of Battle Abbey, and the supplementary notes of the editor, with his trans- lation of all the charters granted by Henry the First and his Norman successors.]

-Annals of the Colonial Church. By Ernest Hawkins, B.D., Author of

"Historical Notices of the Missions of the Church of England in America." —Diocese of New Brunswick.

[A well-done digest of the statistics of the Church of New Brunswick, and of the character and exploits of the ministry, up to the present day; for exploits the hard work and mode of living rendered the duty of a pastor in the colony, unless among a few town parishes of late years. The materials are mostly derived from the archives of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The volume is illustrated by a good map of New Brunswick.] On the Remediable Evils attending the Life of the People engaged in Professions, Commerce, Trade, and Labour. By J. Evans Riadore, M.D. F.L.S., Ste. [Facts connected with the moral and sanatory condition of the poor, and of the industrious classes generally, as regards confinement and over-work; drawn from public reports and the works of philanthropists. These statistics Dr. Evans Ria- dose arranges under different heads, and enforces by various remarks.] Familiar Illustrations of the Theory and Practice of Assurance: being Notes of a Lecture delivered in various towns of England. By W. L. Hillman.

[Mr. MIlman handles a good many subjects; expounding the principles and practice of fire, life, and marme insurance, with a glance at the new plan of yelelity-assurance, where the office for a certain annual premium grants a bond to employers available in case of defalcation on the part of their servants. There are no new facts or views in this book; but the statistics are full. Those on fire- insurance strike us as the least common.]

A Synopsis of Criticisms upon those Passages of the Old Testament in which Modern Commentators have differed rom the Authorized Version; together with an Explanation of various acuities in the Hebrew and English Texts. By the Reverend Richard A. F. Barrett, MA., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Volume I. Part II.

[The second part of this useful and valuable work completes the first volume, and the book of Deuteronomy.] The Phantom Ship. By Captain Marryat, R.N., Author of "Peter Simple," &e. (Standard Novels, No. CVI.) [These standard novels of Mr. Bentley are growing to be a sign of the times. One hundred and six volumes of almost contemporary fictions, and many of them originally published by the bibliopole himself, is a striking series, even if some of them are not first-rate.] The Natural History of the Gent. By Albert Smith.

ILLUSTRATED WORKS AND PRTNTS.

Heath's Illustrated New Testament; embellished with a series of beautiful Illustrations, and each page surrounded by an elaborate decorative -bor- der. Drawn by the first artists, and engraved in the highest style of the art on wood, under the superintendence of Mr. Charles Heath. Parts to IV.

[A very handsome edition. It is printed in a large octavo size, on Snapper, and as to legibility is well salted for family reading. Each page is decorated with a fanciful border, of a design different from the rest; and mostly, we observe, drawn by M. V. Beauce. The text is also illustrated by many designs engraved on wood. Among the names of the artists we notice M. Seance, M. H. Valentin, and Mr. Warren. The designs are not very forcible in composition or expression, but they are generally graceful; and the French artists have their usual life and facility of drawing.] Portrait of the late Thomas Campbell. Painted by F. C. Thompson, Esq., R.H.A.; engraved by William Overend Geller.

[The picture from which this engraving is taken we have not seen, and therefore cannot tell whether the print is like the painting: the picture has the poet's certificate of its being not only a work of consummate art, but also a fine likeness: the engraved version is certainly not a close resemblance to Thomas Campbell. The picture was made in 1833: according to the print, it represents a man much younger than the poet was then: perhaps that was the ground of his preference.] La Madonna della Torre. From the Original Picture in the possession of Samuel Rogers, Esq. Raphael pinzit; W. H. Watts delineavit et sculpsit. [Raphael's inventive imagination is shown in nothing more than in the wonderful variety of design in innumerable representations of the Virgin and Child that he painted, simple and graceful as they all are. The "Madonna della Torre," or Our Lady of the Tower"—so called from a feature in the distant landscape—is a beautiful and celebrated specimen of its class. It is here pleasingly though somewhat feebly engraved.]

MAPS.

A Series of Modern Maps; constructed upon a system of Scale and Propor- tion, from the most recent Authorities, by John Sharpe; and engraved on steel by J. Wilson Lowry. Part I.

[A series of neatly-executed maps, of rather a large size, for a very small price. The peculiarity of the atlas is indicated in the word "corresponding," though that is equivocal and suggests another meaning. It is usual to have a scale of measurement for each map, the size of which accords not with the proportion of state to state, but with the paper on which it is printed. The maps are of a uniform breadth and length, but the scale of each in miles is different; and the student of geography is misled as to the relative space of different states. In this series there will be only four scales,—one, we presume, for continents, one for states, and so on; the scale of each will correspond with the rest of its class; a very good idea.]