PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED,

From July 12th to July ISM.

BOOKS.

High Life in New York. By JONATHAN SLICE, Esq., of Weathersfield, Connecticut. In two volumes.

Walter Clayton.

[The tide of this novel indicates that the scene is laid in England, towards the latter end of the last century, and for the most part in London. Walter Clayton, the hero and lover, is a young man of large property, who has a vil- lanous rival in a ruined roué of rank. By the arts of this person, he is got to London, drawn into gambling and had company, and accused of being a parti- cipator in the Riots of London. The schemes of worthy Sir Thomas Dixon, including an abduction of the heroine, are foiled towards the conclusion of the third volume, and the novel ends in the approved fashion. The author has an idea of the external customs of the age, apparently picked npfrom novels rather than from real authorities ; at any rate he has formed no true estimate of its real character. He exaggerates the greater freedom of out-door familiarity conse- quent upon the greater distinction of ranks, and makes his story consist of a series of absurd and improbable accidents, though some of the accidents might be probable taken singly. Every thing is consequently forced and theatrical. The composition, as mere writing, is good ; and there is bustle and movement in the story.] • Facts and Fictions, illustrative of Oriental Character. By Mrs. POSTANS, Authoress of "Catch," &c. In three volumes.

[ A series of short tales and travelliug-sketches, republished from the Asiatic Journal, in which they originally appeared. The bulk of them relate to Indian life and characters, but not all ; fur there is an account of a pilgrimage to St. Bernard, a day's exploration at Syracuse, a visit to St. Helena, and several sketches in Egypt.] Tales and Sketches from Real Life. By Mrs. Ilaaarcr BEECHER STOWE.

[A neat and cheap reprint of some American tales. They appear to be de- signed for juvenile readers ; but they have a more forward air about love and other subjects, than is usual in English stories of a similar class: although this gives them greater value as a picture of American manners. We recognize some of the tales as former acquaintances, and it is possible that they have all ap- peared in this country.]

The Vital Statistics of Glasgow. By ALEXANDER WATT, LL.D., &c. [This is a very elaborate and useful publication, reflecting great credit on the Corporation of Glasgow, and their city statist Dr. WATT. It exhibits in mi- nute detail, and in many varieties of phase, the deaths and marriages in the city, and the births so far as they are recorded. The deaths are more espe- cially elaborated ; not as a matter of mere singular display, but with a view to get at the physical laws which appear to govern the amount of deaths at dif- ferent ages, from the different diseases. The causes of the excess of mortality in certain districts over other districts, and of one locality over another in the same district, are also investigated. Among these causes, Dr. WATT mentions drainage and ventilation as important : he assigns a good deal to want of clean- liness, to intemperance, and something to atmospheric influence, but more than all to destitution. It is remarkable how disease and mortality increase with distress or bad times; the increase appearing to fall upon the destitute.] Proceedings of the First Anti-State-Church Conference, held in London April 3u, May 1 and 2, 1844. [This little volume contains a report of the proceedings of a three-days meet- ing held in London by delegates from different Disseuting congregations which are opposed to the union of Church and State. The general object, according to their own account, which this Conference seeks to promote, is "to cure, were it pos- sible, the great moral disease which, by the fretting and festering influence of the Establishment, has long been working down into the very heart of society. The remedies which a timid practice would apply are to be repudiated; because whatever falls short of effectual relief must not only be a mockery to hope, but in the end exasperate and contirm the evil. They are aware of the pain Which a thorough probing of the wound, and a succession of smarting applications, may inflict, accompanied, it may be, with the temporary resentment of the sufferer; but nothing ought to prevent the fulfilment of a high and holy duty." The steps that have yet been taken appear to consist in holding six sittings, at which certain resolutions embodying the opinions of the Conference were proposed and carried, and six papers read, and " placed upon the records of the Conference." Of these resolutions and papers the publication before us consists; and the scope of the whole may be sufficiently understood by saying that they embody the principal objections that have been urged against an established church, with some smart enough remarks on the Government patronage of different religions in our Colonial dominions. The style and temper of the papers may be guessed from the extract already quoted.] An Elementary Treatise on Algebra, Theoretical and Practical. By JAMES THOMSON, LL.D., Professor of Mathematics in the Uuiversity of Glasgow. [This is a decided improvement upon all our preexisting algebraical text- books. It is evidently the work of a learned and accurate mathematician, and at the same time of one whose experience in teaching has made him acquainted with what is required by and intelligible to youth. Dr. THOISSIOres familiarity with the works of Continental mathematicians has enabled him to incorporate into his elementary treatise much matter that will be new even to seam teachers; while his sound judgment has kept him from any innovations in points of style and form, which might have rendered the work repulsive and oemparatively useless to that class. One of the most marked advantages pos- sessed by this manual over its fellows is, the simplicity and distinctness with which not a few important propositions hitherto the exclusive property of ad- vanced mathematicians, are made to take their place in an elementary system. Two of the notes merit particular remark. The illustration of the algebraic process for solving problems, in Note A., conveys a favourable impression of the author's talents for elementary tuition ; and the valuable remarks on the in- accuracies which frequently our in mathematical composition, in Note D, deserve the attention of not a few of our moat learned English geometers. Mathematics might have been expected to prove of all intellectual pursuits the most conducive to the formation of a terse, neat, and accurate style; and yet more tawdry and inaccurate composition is to he found among no class of English writers than among mathematicians. Dr. THOMSON is right : this defect in English mathematical literature is only to be amended by developing a more correct taste in the young.]

Memoirs of the House of Commons, from the Convention Parliament of 1688-9 to the Passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. By W. CHARLES TOWNSEND, Esq., A.M., Recorder of Macclesfield. Volume II. [We may perhaps return to this popular exhibition of the sayings and doings of the House of Commons. In the mean time, it may be remarked, that the present volume rather consists of sketches of remarkable Members, and notices of particular subjects—as impeachments, than a regular narrative or history.]

SERIALS.

Tales from Shakspere. By Mr. and Miss LAMB. Volume L (Knight's Weekly Volume.) [A. republication of the well-known work of CHARLES LAMB and his sister ; with the addition of a few scenes from the dramas on which the Tales are founded.] PERIODICALS.

The Theologian; a Chronicle of Ancient and Modern Divinity and Uni- versal Christian Literature. No. I.

ILLUSTRATED WORKS AND PRINTS.

The Wild Sports of Southern Africa ; being the Narrative of a Hunting

Expedition from the Cape of Good Hope, through the territories of the Chief Moselekatse, to the Tropic of Capricorn. By Captain WILLIAM CORNWALLIS HARRIS, of the H. E. L Company's Engineers OR the Bombay Establishment. Fourth edition. This handsome volume, with its numerous coloured plates of wild animals, Nottentots, and the scenes and incidents of the author's adventures in the Zooloo country, presents a great contrast to the homely aspect of the original edition printed in Bombay, which we were the first, we believe, to bring before the reading public in England, in 1839. In this edition it has the outward at- tractions of an annual, while it possesses far more of inherent interest than those picture-books. The scanty costume of the ebony beauties of the kraal ma y disqualify it from figuring on the drawingroom-table ; but the sportsman and naturalist will appreciate its striking delineations of the Zooloo chiefs, and the droves of strange beasts that people the hunting-grounds beyond Port Natal. The sale of three editions of the book proves the popularity of Captain (,now Major Sir WILLIAM) HArtrus's style, and the exciting character of his hvely narrative; for the amount of scientific information contained in this volume is small.

More dull and scientific descriptions of the various creatures Sir WILLIAM BARRIE met with, and larger and more elaborate delineations of them, are, however, to be found in a magnificent work that be has just completed, entitled Portraits of the Game and Wild Animals of Southern Africa. This folio volume, too, possesses pictorial attractions of no common kind, and exhibits the animals in their haunts in the desert, as sketched by the enterprising tra- veller on the spot. The completion of this costly undertaking has been re- tarded by the mismanagement of the party to whom the conduct of the work had been intrusted during the author's sojourn in Abyssinia ; and since his re- turn " the law's delay " has intervened to prevent its appearance. All obstacles have at length been overcome, and this superb supplement to the Wild Sports of South Africa is now before the public; but nothing short of a large sale can repay the heavy cost of its production.] •

The Alphabet of Quadrupeds, partly selected from the works of Old . Masters, and partly drawn from Nature. (The Home Treasury.) [This pretty picture-book of beasts is designed to give the young readers a , taste for art, and some acquaintance with the style of the Dutch painters, whose etchings of cattle a,.d wild animals are copied in the prints. The Alphabet of Quadrupeds would have been more intelligible to the infant *opacity had the pictures been as simple and distinct as the descriptions ; and Memo disparagement to the Old Masters to say that there are moderns who would have sketched them with as much cleverness and greater accuracy. The etchings of FEASER REDORAVE are as artistic as those of the Dutchmen, and the form and character of the animals more clearly delineated. The principal object of Mr. REDO RAVE was to exhibit the creatures themselves ; that of the olden painters was to turn them to picturesque account ; so that the talent of the Dutch masters militates against their success in impressing the minds of children. To appreciate their etchings, the spectator should keep art in view rather than nature.

To solve our doubts, we impannelled a jury of juveniles ; and this is a spe-

cimen of their judgment. REMBRANDT'S lion has a man's face; ALBERT Duare's rabbits are all ears; TENIERS'S monkies are made to look like men; -KARL Du Janones donkey is like a horse, and his pigs look dead ; ADRIAN YANDEVELDE'S sheep was mistaken for a cow ; the dogs of DIRK STOOP and La DOCQ were declared to be too big; the " unicorn " was a puzzle ; and Peet. POTTER'S bull proved the only satisfactory representation. Mr. RED.

GRAVE was the favourite. We suspect the urchins are right.] The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, illustrated by a series of general Views, ,

Plaus, Sections, and Details, from Drawings made expressly for this work, by WILLIAM RICHARDSON, Architect. With an Introduction, and Historical and Descriptive Notices of each Ruin, by the Reverend ED WARD CHURTON, M.A. Lithographed b GEORGE HAMMES. Part II. The Zoology of the Voyage of M. M. S. Sulphur. No. VI. Molluscs, Part I. By R. B. HINDS, Esq.