11 MARCH 1854, Page 18

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Boors.

Evenings im my Tent ; or Wanderings in Baled Ejjareed. Illustrating the Moral, Religious, Social, and Political Conditions of various Arab Tribes of Sahara. By the Reverend N. Davis, F.R.S.S.A. With nu- merous Illustrations.

History of the French Protestant Refugees, from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to the present time. By Charles Weiss, Professor of History at the Lycee Buonaparte. Translated, with the assistance of the Author, by Frederick Hardman.

Dante's Divine Comedy : The Paradise. Translated, in the original Ternary Rhyme, by C. B. Cayley, B.A.

Hy Schools and Schoolmasters; or the Story of my Education. By Hugh Miller, Author of "The Old Red Sandstone," "Footprints of the Creator," &c. &c. • History of Oliver Cromwell and the English Commonwealth, from the Execution of Charles the First to the Death of Cromwell. By M. Guizot. Translated by-Andrew R. Scoble. In two volumes.

The Chronicles of Merry England, rehearsed unto her People. Book L—VL By the Author of "Mary Powell." [In this volume the author of Mary Powell takes the story of English his- tory from before the arrival of Brutus the Trojan till the time of Stephen, and will probably continue the work to a later period. The evident fables are presented as doubtful matters, if not so doubtful as they really are ; and perhaps the writers assertion is true that we ought all to know something of characters and incidents, whether purely fabulous or based on traditions, which Milton did not disdain to record in a grave history, Shakspere and others to illustrate in poetry. The execution is very good ; the authentic parts having been carefully, read up, and displayed in a painstaking manner. Those men who mark epochs—as Alfred and Canute,—are fully dwelt upon. The Chronicles of Merry England will furnish much solid information in a lively half-poetical style.] The Heroines of History. By Mra. Octavius Freire Owen. With eight Illustrations by Gilbert. (Faurand-twenty biographies of remarkable women of various times— Jewish, classical, mediaeval, and modern. Of course the lives must be brief ; but the work would have admitted of more information than it contains, commentary often predominating over facts. The object of the writer is to impart instruction and exhibit female heroism. Some of the lives are bardly adapted for this purpose,—Cleopatra, for example, whose character, however, is truly depicted; Aspasia, who is represented by Mrs. Owen in a manner which history as generally received does not bear out.] Walter Hurst; or Early Struggles at the Bar. By Herbert Greville Pelham, Esq. In two volumes.

(The primary subject of this fiction is indicated by its title of "Early Strug- gles at the Bar." The struggling of Walter Hurst, however, is through difficulties of a very rare kind, with more than one love matter intermingled ; the persons and scenes that an adventurer and practitioner may become con- nected with being also introduced into the story. It is written with a sort of coarse reality ; but it wants the elevating character of true art. It is another of Messrs. Routledge's cheap fictions, containing the matter of three volumes at a guinea and a half, for, we believe, one-fourth of the sum.] The Heiress of Somerton. In three volumes. [So far as time and place are concerned, The Heiress of Somerton is .i tale of modern life • but it is deficient in manners and character as well as in story. Indeed, story in any connected or critical sense it has none, though there is a continuation of occurrences, fluctuating between the commonplace flatness of daily life and a melodramatic exaggeration.] Lyra Greeca : Specimens of the Greek lyric Poets, from Callinus to Senates. Edited, with Critical Notes and a Biographical Introduction, by James Donaldson, M.A., Greek Tutor to the University of Edin- burgh. [This-volume contains specimens of the Greek lyric poets, from Callinus to modern writers ; the word lyric being used in a large sense. The specimens are preceded by an historical notice of Greek poetry, in the form of biogra- phical notices of the poets, and are followed by notes. The volume is got up an the style of a schoolbook.] The True Theory of a Church ; or the Right Principle of Christian Con- federation Elicited and Developed. By the Reverend Thomas G. Horton, Minister of Tonbridge Chapel, London. [Four lectures in favour of the Independent view of the Church, painted cti:tr a little en beau. They are published at the request of the au- to whom they have been addressed both in London and Derby.] Truth Maintained. By James Biden, Monckton House, Anglesey, Hants ; Author of " The True Church."

[The collection into a volume of a series of nine sixpenny parts, each main- taining a truth, generally on religious doctrine, but sometimes only on a matter of discipline. The object of Mr. Biden is to forward a new reforma- tion.] The week has been fertile in verse if not in poetry. The most popular in subject and treatment is "A Dozen Ballads for the Times," by the author of "Proverbial Philosophy." They cannot, indeed, be considered very high poetry ; they have not thoughts that breathe and words that burn" : they cannot compete, for example, with the homely strength and spirit of the lyrics in which Burns poured forth his discontent. They consist of appro. priate thoughts and good feelings tersely expressed, on our social evils, so far as regards the hardships and neglect of poverty, the grasping oppression of trading wealth, the sinful indifference of fashionable thoughtlessness. The agricultural labourer, the factory slave, the clerk and the shopman, under the title of "The Quill and the Counter," the needlewoman of course, the outcast, the servant of all work, and slop-jobbing, are among the loading subjects; and they give an instant interest to the verse, which the genius of the writer might not altogether impart.

" A Batch of War Ballads," by the same author, is not equal to the "Bal- lads for the Times." Mr. Tupper wants the fire of Tyrtssus; and his ten- dency to critical reasoning, which serves him well enough iu the exposition of social topics, is not adapted to direct warlike exhortation. There is also too much of balancing pros and cons. Now we have an appeal to soldiers and sailors, then a picture of the miseries of war ; attacks upon the Czar are counterpoised by half-hinted doubts of Louie Napoleon : but doubt or hesita. tion are as much out of place in a war lyric as in a battle-field. Colonel Mitchell's close translation of the Lusiad is a curious book, but not likely to prove a hit in a popular or paying sense. It is quite true that the Lusiad is a remarkable and in a literary sense an interesting work ; giving in the feelings and spirit of its author an idea of what the Portuguese nation was two or three generations earlier, with many features of more general but in- ferior attraction. To apprehend these, however, the original must be read ; for, practically, a translation does one of two things—produces a new work, or exhibits the original minus its poetry. The last is the way. of Colonel Mit- chell. He strives to convey the form and meaning of the original as closely as possible ; coining now words when the old do not suffice or sometimes when rhyme presses, and aiming after an English counterpart of the Lusiad. This, as we have said, gives a curious interest to the book, sustain- ing the attention better than commonplace prettiness; though it will not suffice for a whole epic, especially about a distant time, remote manners, and a subject which is rather commercial than heroic, though it may, as Colonel Mitchell intimates, be "superior to the destruction of a city, a navigation in the Mediterranean, a garden of Eden, or a descent into Hell,"—if such is really a true description of the three great epics of the world and of the Vision of Dante.

The most prominent feature of " Morbida " is self-sufficiency. There may be a poetical spirit in the writer, which labour, discipline, and exercise might conduct to the production of a poem. As yet, the qualities, whatever they may be, show themselves in vague and dreamy outpourings, with a strong touch of egotism, though one hardly knows what about. But there is no hope of the author, if we judge him by his own account. Many of the pieces were written hastily, some at a single sitting. He further tells us, in his preface—" Several are unfinished, almost all unpolished, and some much mutilated also. I am conscious that I ought to endeavour to amend much of what I now commit to the press, and not to shoot these clearings of my desk there ; but I do not think it worth while to expend my pains on such materials."

The "Poems" of Mr. David Bates are an importation from America. Their character is fluent and pretty commonplace. Here and there we find a new thought, or a novel illustration, expressed in appropriate language ; but the mass reminds us of Annual poetry.

" Lyra Australis," as the title indicates, were composed in the South- ern hemisphere. The pieces indicate accomplishments, taste, and poetical feeling ; but they are short of poetry even in a mechanical sense. The fair writer wants the art to develop her subjects clearly and to present her thoughts in the most effective form. She wants, too, the faculty of se- lection, of choosing from a mass of things those which really belong to the principal idea she intends to treat.

A Dozen Ballads for the Times about White Slavery. By the Author of " Proverbial Philosophy."

A Batch of War Ballads. By Martin F. Tupper.

The Lusiad of Luis de Canwens' closely translated. With a Portrait of the Poet, a Compendium of his Lite, an Index to the principal pas- sages of his poem, a view of the "Fountain of Tears," and Marginal and annexed Notes, original and select. By Lieut.-Col. Sir T. Liv- ingston Mitchell, Kt., D.C.L.

Morbida, or Passion Past ; and other Poems. From the Cymric and other Sources.

Poems. By David Bates.

Lyra Australis ; or Attempts to Sing in a Strange Land. By Caroline W. Leakey.

One of the principal reprints is "Anne of Geiratein" in the Library Edi- tion of the Waverley Novels. Mr. Cooke publishes an illustrated edition of " Caleb Stukely," relieved of "many passages " which on its publication in Blackwood and its separate appearance afterwards "added to its bulk and took from its interest." Messrs. Routledge have started a new speculation under the title of "New Cheap Series," and commence with a new and revised edition of a remarkable subject for a shilling library, M'Culloch's useful and well-timed treatise on " Wages and Labour." Messrs. Parker and Son send forth the "text" of two of the comedies of Plautus ; Mr. Forster, a fourth edition of his "Pocket Peerage" ; and Messrs. Kelly a Supple- ment to their magnum opus, the London Post-office Directory. In the rival Libraries, Mrs. Merrifield has reprinted from the Art-Journal, __and London Lomi:in Magazine, her papers on "Dress as a Fine Art," for Rail- way Reading. The Railway Library contains "Eugene Aram," for eigh- teenpence. In the Parlour Library, the public have, we believe, the first cheap reprints of the Bell family, in "The Tenant of Wildfell A few others explain themselves.

Waverley Novels, Volume XXIII. Anne of Geierstein.

Caleb Stukely. (Illustrated Family Novelist.) A Treatise on the Circumstances which determine the Rate of Wa*Ies and the Condition of the Labouring Classes ; including an Inquiry into the Influence of Combinations. By J. B. M'Culloch, Pe. Second edition, corrected and improved.

T. Macci Plauti Miles Glorioeus. Textu ad Editionem Ritschelianam exacto et scholarum usibus accommodate.

Titi Maeci Plauti Trinutnmus. Textu Ritscheliano scholerum usibus accommodate et brevibus notulis instruct°. The Pocket Peerage of Great Britain and Ireland ; with Genealogical and Historical Notices of the Families of the Nobility, the Arch- bishops and Bishops, a List of Titles of Courtesy, a Baronetage of the United Kingdom, the Privy Council, &c. By Henry Romsey Forster, of the " Morning Post." Fourth year. Revised by the Nobility. Post-Office London Parliamentary Directory, 1851.

Dress as a Fine Art. By Mrs. Merrifield, Honorary Member of the Academy of Fine Arta at Bologna ; Author of " Ancient Practice of Painting," "Art of Fresco-Painting," &c. (Railway Reading.) Eugene Aram. By Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart. (Railway Li- brary.) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. By Acton Bell. (Parlour Library.) Tales by the Reverend George Crabbe, LL.B. (Universal Library.) Whitaker's Educational Register, 1854. Containing a List of the Uni- versities in the United Kingdom, the Colleges connected with the Church of England, the Roman Catholics, and various Dissenting Bodies ; together with a complete List of the Foundation and Gram- mar Schools in England and Wales, &c. &c. Fourth year of Pub- lication.

The Second Book of Thueydides ; with English Notes, and Grammatical References. By the late Reverend Thomas Kerchever Arnold, M.A., Rector of Lyndon, and formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. ALMANACK.

The Cape of Good Hope Almanaek and Annual Register, for 1854. Compiled from the most authentic sources, by B. J. Van de Sandt de Villiers.

ILLUSTRATED WORKS AND PRINTS.

The Picture Bible ; a series of beautifully tinted Engravings, illustra-

tive of the Old and New Testaments ; with explanatory Letterpress,

by the Reverend Henry John Rose, B.D., Rector of Houghton Con- quest, and the Reverend John William Burgon, M.A. Part I. [For what reason we know not, the authorship* of them designs seems to be somewhat studiously suppressed. There isno mistaking, however, that they belong to the existing German school, and no denying that they exhibit many of the good qualities of that school,—sound drawing, careful composi- tion, large style, and some thought. One we perceive to be by Steinle, others we incline to ascribe to Fuhrich, and all are clearly the productions of artists of credit. The tinting is well managed, being deeper and warmer than usual in tone, and giving something that approaches to the notion of colour. The letterpress consists of short and familiar readings on the several points of Scripture story depicted. This series, which is announced as ca- pable of indefinite extension if the first part be well received, is a second in- stalment of the laudable and sensibly-directed efforts made by a society for the diffusion of good religious art, in the form, as originally described, of "cottage-wall prints."] The National Drawing-Master and Self Instructor's Practical School of Design. By W. A. Nicholls. Part I.

[This is the first part of a work to be completed in twelve parts, which is advertised as being produced " on a system pronounced by competent authorities to be perfect in principle, enabling all, with facility, to teach themselves or others every branch of drawing." The directions are minute, rudimental, and precise ; the chief point being that the examples and the drawing-paper for copies supplied in the publication are intersected by cross- lines and dots, by which the pupil is instructed to guide himself in placing the strokes. The important point of giving good examples is not, however, observed more strictly than in other ordinary drawing-books.]

St. Martin's Hall; the Great Room.

[A neat lithograph, by Messrs. Ashbee and Dangerfield, showing the room during a public performance, and affording a clear idea of the way in which the performers, the organ, and the audience are placed, how the building is lighted, and other points of the kind.]

PAMPHLETS.

Justice to Scotland. By Alexander Bernie Cochrane, Esq., of Lamington.

The English Government and the Eastern Question. By a Looker-on.

China, her Future and her Past being a Charge delivered to the Anglican Clergy in Trinity Church, Shangliae, October 20, 1853. By George Smith, D.D., Bishop of Victoria.

Future Punishments: Must they necessa- rily be Endless ? The Question ex- amined by the Light of the New Tes- tament. By Quserens.

Who causes Pestilence? Four Sermons, with Preface. By the Reverend Charles Kingsley, Rector of Eversley. Vital Statistics. Part I. On the compu. 'Ling a Rate of Mortality among per- sons affected with various Diseases, and on a set of Tables prepared by the Author. By R. Thompson Joplin, Esq., F.S.S., Actuary to the Athenaeum Life Assurance Society.

The Results of the Census of Great Bri-

tain io 1851. - With a Description of

the Machinery and Processes employ- ed to obtain the Returns ; also, an Ap- pendix of Tables of Reference. By Ed- ward Cheshire, Fellow of the Statis- tical Society, Re. Fourteenth Thou- sand, revised.

Observations on the Government Bill for Abolishing the Removal of the Poor and Redistributing the Burden of Poor- rate ; with a Proposal for more equit- ably redistributing that burden. By Robert Pashley, one of her Majesty's Counsel; Author of " Pauperism and Poor Laws."

The Practicability of Improving the Dwell- ings of the Labouring Classes ; with Remarks on the Law of Settlement and Removal of the Poor. By Cheyne Brady.

The Census and the Catholic Apostolic Church.

Two Papers on Church Music, read be- fore the Liverpool Ecclesiastical Music Society, by the Reverend Augustus Campbell, A.M., Rector of Liverpool.

On the Life and Writings of Oliver Gold- smith ; a Lecture delivered before the Members of the Newark Mechanics' Institute, by Granville Edward Har- court Vernon, M.P.