15 JANUARY 1853, Page 16

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Books.

An Historical Memoir of Frti Dolcino and his Times; being an Ac- count of a general Struggle for Ecclesiastical Reform, and of an Anti- Heretical Crusade in Italy, in the early part of the fourteenth century. By L. Mariotti, Author of "Italy, Past and Present," &c. _Essays on Political and Social Science, contributed chiefly to the Edin- burgh Review. By William R. Greg. In two volumes. The Bleary of the United States of America from the Adoption of the Federal Constitution to the end of the Sixteenth Congress. By Rich- ard Hildreth. In three volumes. Volume Di On the Lessons in Proverbs: Five Lectures, being the substance of Lectures delivered to Young Men's Societies at Portsmouth and else- where. By Richard Chenevix Trench, B.D., Vicar of Itchenstoke, Hants, &e.

The Heir of Radelyffe. By the Author of "The Two Guardians," &e. In two volumes.

Ruth-; a NoveL By the Author of "Mary Barton." In three volumes.

The _Life of Field-Ilfarshat the Duke of Wellington. By J. 11 Stec- queler, Req., Author of "The British Officer," &a. In two volumes. NPfith numerous Engravings. Volume II. [Mn Stocque/er's second volume of the biography of Wellington opens with the campaign of Waterloo, and continues the Duke's political and civil life to the "last scene of all." Except the earlier chapters, the events are not so various and, stirring as in the first volume, which was a continued narra- tive of great exploits ; but the concluding portion, if not better done than the preceding part, is fresher. More writers than we can reckon have dealt with the Duke's wars. A full account of his political career was a newer field, and Mr. Stocqueler goes over it unflinchingly ; painting his unpopu- larity for many years, and its causes; dwelling especially upon his desernon Of Canning, and his strong opposition to the Reform Ministry and their mea- ewes . but he omits to mark clearly the reason of the change in the estima- tion of the Duke. The publication of the Despatches, heralded by Napier's Quotations, put the Duke's • intellectual character in a truer light, while age

mellowed his moral and social character. It was not popular fickleness, bo a, eltange in the man himself, with fuller materials for judging of him. The style of the Life is not supereminent, sometimes it almost degenerates; into along; and perhaps sufficient allowauce is hardly made for the Duke's

life in the censure pegged upon the brusque manlier of his later letters. The biography is well planned : it is a life of the Duke of Wellitigton—not the story of his times. The narrative, whether military or civil, is limited to the events in which the Duke was directly engaged, with no more of col- lateral matter than suffices to render them intelligible.] Woman s Record; or Sketches of all Distinguished Women, from "the Beginning " until A. D. 1850, Arranged in four suss. With Selec-

tions from Female Writers of every age. By Sarah Josephs Hale, Editor of "The Lady's Book," &e. Illustrated by 230 Portraits, engraved on Wood by Leming and Barritt. [A goodly volume in double columns, containing something like two thou- sand lives of remarkable women, from Eve to Jenny Lind and other-living celebrities, as well aa some ladies who are not celebrated in Europe—for the book is an American importation. The lives vary in length from a few pages to a few sentences; and are frequently accompanied by wood-

cuts, Semiramis and Tarayris figuring among the Likenesses! The writer

avows a special moral and religious purpose in connexion with the mission of woman, and divides her lives into four tens : 1. To the advent of Christ ;

2. To the year 1500; 3. Women who lived and died between 1500 and the

present time; 4. Living celebrities, chiefly writers. The purpose of the authoress gives a distinguishing character to the work in the introduc- tions to each mm and the occasional remarks upon particular lives. The lives themselves are of course mere compilations, and not remarkably well done.]

The Origin and Progress of the Art of Witting; a connected Narra- tive of the Development of the Art, its Primeval Phases in Egypt,

China, Mexico, &c. ; its Middle State in the Cuneatic Systems of

. Nineveh and Persepolis, to its Introduction to Europe through the me- dium of the Hebrew, Phrenician, and Greek Systems, and its subse- quent Progress to the present day, By Henry Noel Humphreys, Au; thor of "The Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages," &o. Illus. trated by a number of Specimens of the Writing of all ages, and a series of Fee-similes from Autograph Letters, from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century.

[One of the most entertaining books of the curiosities of familiar things pub_ .- fished for a long while. Mr:Humphreys traces the progress of writing with judgment and research from its most primitive form in the picture-records of Mexico, through its subsequent modifications in the peoples of the ancient and modern worlds, down to the peculiarities and shades of diffiirence in, handwritings of the present day. The text is illustrated by numerous wood-cuts and lithographs, plain and illuminated; whieh make the book as gay to the eye as it is instructive and amusing. Many of the letters and il- luminations are, besides, very beautiful in themselves, and deserve to be studied as specimens of pure form united with fancy : indeed, the changes in the medireval alphabets afford almost as significant indications of the varying temper of the timis as their painting, sculpture, or architecture.. The volume is handsome throughout : but the grandeur of the carved bind- ing is perhaps somewhat excessive for a book whose math character is floc the ornamental.]

The Key to the Mystery. By Edward Richer. (The Spiritual Library.) [What next in the form of fiction—or at least in dramatic dialogue ? This

volume of the series called "The Spiritual Library" professes to explain the emblematic language of the Apocalypse as discovered by Swedenborg ; the ecstatic condition of mesmerism being the means by which the Swede pene-.

trated the meaning of the Apostle. The preface to the /rey to time Mystery

affirms that "the source from which Swedenborg derived this knowledge was that of vision, or ecstasies, or clairvoyance—in short, communication with the spiritual world. St. John asserts that he was in this state when he be- held the scenes which he has described in the Book of Revelation " ; whence the fitness of Swedenborg for the interpretation is deduced.]

A Dictionary of Symbolical Masonry, including the Royal Arch De- gree; according to the System prescribed by the Grand Lodge and Supreme Grand Chapter of England. Compiled from the beet Ma- sonic Authorities. By the Reverend G. Oliver, D.D., a Past Deputy Grand Master, &o.

[An explanation of "terms used in masonry," as the formula runs, drawn from the highest authorities, or written by Past Deputy Grand Master Oliver, D.D., himself. It is mostly plain sailing ; though the uninitiated reader may sometimes doubt the value or application of what he reads. But he must not judge hastily—the book is not intended for such as he : "it contains a summary view of the whole system of Blue Masonry * * * intelligible to the fraternity, and mysterious to the profane."]

Poems, Sacred and Miscellaneous. By Henry Grazebrook. [The greater part of the religious poems are on Scriptural texts, and the miscellaneous pieces mostly have a touch of gravity. The occasional poems are the best : the author is not equal to such themes as the Crucifixion.] History of Rome. By the Reverend R. W. Browne, M.A. (Gleig's

School Series.) [A very excellent summary of Roman history; combining (for the early period) the fabulous narratives with the modern inferences, and presenting the leading facts for the whole time in an attractive form.]

The most remarkable new editions are those of the thoughtful, learned, and original Sermons of the present Bishop of Norwich, of which some no- tice was given in the Spectator for 1845; and Mr. Thomson's sensible and original treatise on logic, entitled "Laws of Thought," noticed in the volume. of this journal for l819. Besides additions, this last-named work contain' an appendix on Hindoo Logic, furnished by Professor Max Muller.

Scripture and the Authorized Version of Scripture: being the sub-

stance of two Ordination Sermons, with an Appendix containing Notes and Glossary of Words which have become obsolete in the sense which they bear in the Translation of the New Testament By Samuel Hinds, D.D., Bishop -of Norwich. Second edition, with addi- tions.

An Outline of the Necessary Laws of Thought; a Treatise on Pare and Applied Logic. By Witham Thomson, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Queen's College, Oxford. Third edition, much enlarged. The Philosophy of Geology. By A. C. G. Jobert, late Editor of the "Journal de Geologie," &e. Stereotyped edition. [The third. The Bible and the Working Classes. By Alexander Wallace, lithnhurgh, Third thousand.

Who's Who in 1853. Edited. by C. IL Oakes, M.A.

PAMPHLETS.

Maynooth Tried and Convicted, &c.

Confession and Absolution, &e. By a Bystander. A Letter to those Ladies who met at Stafford House in particular, and

. to the Women of England in general, on Slavery at Home.

Cursory Remarks on Recruiting and Recruits. By Frederick Roberts,, Staff-Surgeon of the Second Class.

• ..DicAraturgentiisse Mown Ton Karl Arad.