23 DECEMBER 1854, Page 29

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

BOOKS.

A History of the _English Peer-law, in connexion with the Legislation and other circumstances affecting the Condition of the People. By Sir George Nicholls, K.C.B., late Poor-law Commissioner, and Secretary to the English Poor-law Board. In two volumes.

Lives of the Queens of Scotland, and English Princesses connected with the Regal Succession of Great Britain. By Agues Strickland, Author of " The Lives of the Queens of England." Volume V.

A Handbook for Young Painters. By C. R. Leslie, R.A., Author of "The Life of Constable." With Illustrations.

The Englishwoman in Russia : Impressions of the Society and Manners of the Russians at Home. By a Lady, ten years resident in that country. With Illustrations.

Anti-Slavery Recollections : in a Series of Letters, addressed to Mrs. Beecher Stowe, written by Sir George Stephen, at her request.

Stua'les from Nature. By Dr. Hermann Masius. Translated by Charles Bober. Illustrated by C. Hasse, of Leipsic. [This volume might properly have been entitled rhapsodies on trees and birds, with a few additional subjects from amphibious and land animals. Dr. Hermann Masius describes the features of his subjects, and mingles therewith some learned information touching the ideas attached to them by different peoples. He also falls into loose thoughts about them, which he pours forth in a rather florid strain. The translator, however, is in raptures with it all, and some undoubtedly may deem it almost poetical. To us the Studies are devoid of distinct character. They do not instruct by complete information, nor well present the definite images of things. The volume is illustrated by a number of striking wood-cuts ; the execution of which is somewhat black in shadow, and much too glaringly white in the lights.] The Frost upon the Pane ; a Christmas Story. Edited by W. B. Rands. [Frost upon the Pane falls into the category of a Christmas tale by an en- cumbering framework, some accessories, and the seasonable feeling thrown

into the manner of telling the story, rather than by the nature of the story itself. This, indeed, is old both in its idea and its elements ; being a tale of true love crossed by a villain, with somewhat exaggerated distress. The style resembles that which Dickens carried to efflorescence if be did not in- troduce it—au attempt to throw " good feeling" into the description of in- animate objects as well as common incidents, which as often leads to over- detailed affectation as to genuine effect.] A Boy's Adventures in the Wilds of Australia; or Herbert's Note- Book. By William Hewitt.

[The natural features and productions of the colony of Victoria, the charac- teristics of the diggings and the diggers, with adventures in the hush, and striking stories of some of the new colonists before or after they became such, form the staple of Mr. William Howitt's book. The form into which the mat- ter is thrown is that of a youthful colonist's diary. This mode admits of continual variety, but at the same time produces a desultory kind of cha- racter.] The Water-Lily. By Harriet Myrtle. With Illustrations by Hablot K. Browne, engraved by Thomas Bolton.

[A prettily got-up book, with a prettily-told story, designed to show, by a series of pretty incidents, that happiness must be sought for by the rich in

the discharge of kindly duties to the poor. As in most didactic tales, an ob- jection might be raised, not indeed to the moral inculcated, but to the man- ner in which the heiress, Dora Ludlow, is induced to throw aside her selfish discontent and undertake the discharge of her duties. Grant but this and all is plain sailing.]

Essays on the Characteristics of a Superior Popular _Literature. By William Bathgate. [A series of essays about popular literature, of a commonplace yet vague character.]

The Head and Heart ; or Wisdom and Affection.

[A penny periodical of tales, topics or essays, auecdotes, poetry, and miscel- Lnies, collected into an octavo volume.] A Treatise on Greek Tragic Nitres : with the Choric parts of Sophoeles metrically arranged. By the Reverend W. Linwo'id, M.A., 11.E.A.S., late Student of Christchurch, Oxford.

The time is prolific in poetry. Seven publications are before us, three of which are on the war, and have caught something of the fire and reality of their subject, slight in structure and elaboration as all of them are. In "The Death-Ride" of the Light Brigade, Mr. Marston commemorates the charge i

of the Light Cavalry at Balaklava, n a brief poem of much earnest feeling, and in a style and metre striking from quaintness and peculiarity. The form of the poem puts the verse into the mouth of one of the soldiers ; and this gives rise to an occasional incongruity of sentiment, in making the hero criticize too much like a bystander. The Reverend Chenevix Trench has added a few new poems to some that have already appeared in the Times on the present war, and two from a former publication on the Cubul dis- aster and Moolraj's murder of Agnew and Anderson. The well-known stanzas on Alma, from the Times, are the best of the whole, and have received the compliment of being translated into Greek by Lord Lyttelton. "East and West" rather wanders from the true subject, the he- roic deeds of the combatants, to classical and niedieeval allusions on the ancient struggles of Greece and the Crusaders against the Orientals, and to political reflections on Germany and sonic other countries of Europe. The verse, however, is weighty. "Abdul Medjid and other Poems" is in the main a reprint of fugitive verses from periodicals, English and American. They are well adapted for popular acceptance in magazines ; being fluent, musical, and not devoid of imagery. They are, however, somewhat too much like annual verses to render collection indispensable.

In the three volumes reserved for further consideration, we suspect that conventionalism, in some of its many literary forms, predominates too much : however we shall see.

The Death-Ride : a Tale of the Light Brigade. By Westland Marston. Alma ; and other Poems. By Richard Chenevix Trench.

East and West ; a Song of the War.

Abdul Medjid, a Lay of the Future; and other Poems. By H. B. Mac- donald.

Lyrics of the Heart and Mind. By Martin F. Tupper, Author of "Pro- verbial Philosophy," &c.

Cain. By Charles Boner.

Er Emma: Poems chiefly written in India. By H. G. Keene.

Fiction, in its direct or regular form apart from the talc, is as rife as poetry at this present Christmas time. No fewer than half-a-dozen novels are on our table. Mr. Leitch Ritchie appears, after a long silence, with "Weary- foot Common," a tale of the day. Indeed, such may be said to be the na- ture of the whole batch ; they are in the time, if not of it.

Wearyfoot Common. By Leitch Ritchie, Author of "The Magician," &c. With six Illustrations by Miss M. E. Dear.

Nary Ellis ; or Life and its Mistakes. By A. Probirer.

Phillip Lancaster. By Maria Norris, Author of "The Life and Times of Madame Be Staa" Charles Random; or Lunatics at Large. By Thomas White. In three volumes.

Oakleigh Mascott ; a Novel. By L. Howe. In two volumes.

The County .Magistrate; a Novel. By Lord 15*0*****, Author of "Masters and Workmen," &c. In three volumes.

Mr. Murray has been particularly active this week in supplying new edi- tions of value, and often of a seasonable cast. The third edition of Dr. Wordsworth's "Athens and Attica" appears in a smaller and no doubt cheaper form than its predecessors ; but, as it strikes us, with as many illus- trations in snaps and wood-cuts, if not in plates, as the first quarto. It forms a good table-book, neat in appearances, classical in substance. Our old friend the "Rejected Addresses" is not only as amusing, as ever, but, with its subjects, its notes, and its allusions, it carries the reader back nearly half a century. A fourth edition of Henry Taylor's observations and reflections in the form of "Notes from Life" may not be so appropriate to a holiday season as the other two, but it is fitted for all seasons. Like the Rejected Addresses, the Notes are included in Murray's Railway Reading. The same publisher has also sent forth the seventh and concluding volume of Lord Mahon's History of England in the smaller form. The literature of the book we noticed, on its first appearance, some months ago. Of a different class, but still more necessary, is Dod's Parliamentary Com- panion for 1855. War and the discontinuance of suspended writs has sent forty-one new Members to Parliament, many of them new men ; four Irish and two English Bishops sit in the House of Lords, who had no seat there a year ago; besides smaller changes.

Athens and Attica : Notes of a Tour. By Chr. Wordsworth, D.D., Ca- non of Westminster. With Maps and Plans. Third edition, revised. Rejected Addresses. New edition. (Murray's Railway Reading.) Notes from Life. By Henry Taylor, Author of "Philip Van Artevelde." Fourth edition. (Murray's Railway Reading.) History of England, from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles, 1713-1783. By Lord Mahon. In seven volumes. "Volume VII. Third edition, revised.

Dod's Parliamentary Companion, for 1855.

ALMANACK.

Punch's Alnianack, for 1855. Illustrated by John Leech and John TennieL PAMPHLETS.

Short Reflections, for the use of her Majesty's Forces in the Crimea. By Daniel Moore, M.A., Perpetual Curate of Camden District, Camberwell.

Raining in Streets and Schools; a Lec- ture on the Training System of Educa- tion as originally established at' Glas- gow, delivered at the Educational Ex- hibition, St. Martin's Hall, on 10th August 1854. By William Knighton, M A., Lecturer on Education in the National Society's Training Institution, Whitelands, Chelsea; Author of " Fo- rest Life in Ceylon," &e.

Tee Conduct of the War. A Speech de- livered in the House of Commons on Tuesday 12th December 1854, by the Right Honourable Sidney Herbert, M.P., &c.

The War and its probable Consequences as foreshadowed in Holy Scripture: being the substance of two Lectures deliered in the Parish Church of Cal- verton. Nottinghainshin, on the 19th and 26th February I 8. By the Rever- end S. Oliver, Vicar.

A Manual for the Camp and the Hospital: or Prayers, Sclipture Readings, and