12 MARCH 1836, Page 19

The second volume of the Lives of Eminent Foreign Statesmen,

in LARDNER'S " Cabinet Cyclopsedia," has been undertaken by Mr. JAMES; and contains RICHELIEU, ONENSTEIRN, OLIVAREZ, and MAZARIN. The author's researches for his historical novels have doubtless informed him as to facts connected with the subjects of his book; and he has put his materials together with care, and produced a readable volume. Still, it is too formal to be very interesting. The frame may be biography, but the character is historical ; a failing inseparable, perhaps, front the nature of the undertaking, but capable of being relieved by a greater degree of personal peculiarities titan Mr. JAMES has infused into it.