21 JULY 1832, Page 19

BOOKS ON THE TABLE.

THE Books on our Table are unusually numerous this week, whether owing to the slowness of our progress through them, or to the activity of the publishers in producing new stores. The latter is more probably. the cause. Anxious to catch the last warming rays of the season, the bookseller hurries with his manu- facture to the sun, before the commencement of the Lapland half-

year of London—the "dead time of the year," as it is called; when the carriages no longer thunder through the squares, when. concert-rooms are silent, and exhibitions present closed doors or empty walls to the unhappy country visitor of the months or August and September.

Of the Books we refer to, some are valuable; some are amusing, and only so far valuable ; while others are slight, and intended chiefly for the hour or day. To some we shall return at leisure, in order to give a more thorough notion of their merits, and more . strongly recommend them to the attention of such as are discerning enough to esteem our judgments : others must be content with a simple critical registration of birth—we may go so far as baptism, and stand the literary godfathers, if the creature looks intelligent and promising.

In bulk, and perhaps too in value, the work that excels all those before us, is Mr. FisuEa's CompanUm and Key to English History. It is a work of great labour, industry, and we should think of accuracy. It forms a copious Stemmata Regalia of Eng- land ; being, in fact, the family or genealogical history o!' the va- rious royal families that have sat upon the English throne, with all their collateral branches, and the different lines into which the royal blood has ultimately flowed. is properly called a• "Companion and Key to English History." Such inquiries gieatly • aid the student in pursuing the thread of our annals, but they have too often been made the staple of history. The history of England, as it is too often written, is a series of biographies of English Kings : the people and their state are of less consequence, in such works, than the royal appetite or the royal robes. This must and will be altered. In the mean time, we warn Mr. FISHER • against being eloquent: when he transgresses into the moral and time didactic, he talks nonsense. He is a meritorious compiler, however ; and we thank him for his book, and recommend it for a place ill every library. A valuable portion of it is the Supple- ment, consisting of an alphabetical and genealogical list of all the British titles of nobility, with the changes that have taken place ill the families of the holder.. This important part of the work is neither more nor less than a transcript of Sir Ilimus NICOLAS'S Compendium of the Peerage. We know not whether such a vio- lation of copyright will be permitted, but we do not even perceive an acknowledgment of the source whence it is taken.

The Bengal Annual, for 1831, has just made its appearance in this hemisphere. It is a copious collection of miscellaneous compositions in verse and prose; and is exceedingly creditable to the literary taste prevalent in India. The list of contributors is very numerous ; and the contents are, on the whole, very superior to the Annuals of this country, with the exception of the engrav- ings, and of these there are none. One reason of the superiority of theBengal Annual is, that none of the contributions are paid for: length and breadth, therefore, never enter the author's mind; neither does he write because he wants money, but because his thoughts want vent. The whole of the work has an Indian com- plexion (down to the very paper, which looks agreeably bilious); and conveys, altogether, a very good idea of life and manners and. scenery, in that most interesting quarter of the globe. Information respecting India, is not, however, likely to be a desideratum in future. We have scarcely despatched Captain. Muwnst and his amusing Sketches (Captain Mu NDY, by the way, we are informed, is not to be considered an Irishman), before an- other Captain favours us with his Excursions. We shall read. Captain SKINNER'S Excursions in India with pleasure.

FrOiSSart and his Times, by the late BARRY ST. LEER, I'S a book we promised ourselves the pleasure of noticing this week. We must defer it. We have seen enough to remark, that the .

title Froissart and his Times is a catchpenny title. The work is a series of detached essays on different epochs of history, the materials of which are principally drawn from FROISSART; but there is no general view of the age of FROISSART, neither as to events, manners, nor morals, except a short essay under this title in the beginning of the second volume. The whole are, in fact, detached 'historical sketches, that have been found among Mr. BARRY ST. LEGER'S papers, and having been put into the hands of an editor, appear in their present form. We had no idea that Mr. BARRY ST. LEGER had been so industrious a man. His talents were known to be considerable ; and their reputation during his lifetime would have been proportionate, but he unfortunately took the line of dandyism in manners, and thus masked many good qualities and very great abilities. He died far too early, and it is not often that the careless world says this with sincerity.

Mr. FRAZER'S Highland Smugglers is a treat we reserve for next week.

It gives us great satisfaction to see the Jurist on our table again. Numbers VII. and VIII. contain many valuable papers and notices on Law and its reforms. This work deserves the patron- age of every enlightened man interested in the improvement of the administration ofjustice.

Mr. CARNE has commenced a work of great interest, en- titled Lives of Eminent Missionaries. We cannot yet speak fully of its execution, but we think well of Mr. CARNE'S qualifications for the task. This volume, among other subjects, contains the life of that glorious old fellow CHRISTIAN FREDERIC SWARTZ, to whom but justice seems to be done.

Mr. Basin Woonn has reprinted a pretty little work of Ame rican origin, called the Well-spent Hour; and has also, we seer completed the second part of his Bible Stories. Mr. FREND, SO long known for his exertions in the cause of ra- tional improvement, has published a Plan of Universal Education. It is part of a work he had intended to leave behind him in manu- script; but seeing, we suppose, that the time for carrying improve- ment into the great subject of education had come, even before he had expected its arrival, he has drawn this portion from his in- tended legacy, and applied it to present use. It is, in few words, the Conduct of a Large School, from the beginning to the end, and is full of valuable hints. We shall probably return to it.