PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
B00E8.
Lines of the Prime Ministers of _England, from the Restorationto the Present Time. By J. Houston Browne, Esq., LL.B., of the Inner Temple, Barrister- at-law. Volume I. Charmoine, a 7'ale of the Great Athenian Revolution. By Edward A. Leathern, MA. In two volumes. The Three Chances. By the Authoress of "The Fair Carew." In three volumes. Dawn and Twilight : a Tale. By the Author of" Amy Grant," In two volumes. The Colonel's Daughters, or Life is but a Dream : a Tale. By Mrs. Clete. The Basely Retreat ; or a Pear in Bengal before the Mutinies. By two Meters. In two volumes.
A Three-Weeks Scamper through the Spas of Germany and Belgium. By Erasmus Wilson, F.R.S.—This volume contains an account of a holi- day run, via Calais, to the Spas of Germany and Belgium; a narrative of adventures relieving- descriptions of the drinking and bathing; and a me- dical account of the waters and their virtues. Three weeks was too brief a period to do much with so many things, involving as it did the neces- sity of the tourist being always on the wing. The baths themselves are not. altogether a fresh subject. Dr. Granville and Dr. Lee took a more or less general survey of the whole series, years age; and single places have had their single describers. Many popular tourists have touched upon the obvious features of these watering-places; to say nothing of the cele- brated Bubbks from the Brunnens, now some quarter of a century old. These things militate against the attraction of the subject, as the want of time for close observation sometimes impels the author to dwell too long upon the minutiaa of externals or on the details of his journey. Hence, the character of the book, so far as relates to general matters, is rather diffuse; but the appendix on the nature and uses of mineral waters is ekse enough. This remark, however, applies to the whole—so many pages for se few weeks. There are frequent passages of agreeable de- scription and useful remark, while a lively, cheerful, holiday-making spirit, animates the book.
Buchan. By the Rev. John B. Pratts—A zealous and painstaking de- saripticm of & district in Aberdeenshire; in which the boundaries are 'need, the productions enumerated, the scenery, antiquities, legends, and peculiar features exhausted, with some allusions to manners and customs of a- traditional age. The scientifin elegies are left to others; but their results are popularly touched upon, whether geological operations have influenced the nature of the soil, or botany has clothed it. The full minuteness of some parts is better adapted to interest a resident than a distant reader ; but if we are to have knowledge we must have zeal. In Mr. Pratt's case this zeal has produced a thorough topography, as well in the text as the appendix.
The History of Court Fools. By Dr. Doran, Author of "Queens of the House of Hanover," Fen—The subject of this volume would seem better adapted to Dr. Doran's wide range but hasty manner of readmg, his uncritical way of dealing with authorities, and his snatching at anything, good, bad, or indifferent, than to the biography of Queens, the history of Knighthood, or the story of dethroned Monarchs. Such, however, is not the case. His three more solid works, inacenrate and sometimes poor as they were, exceed in attraction this History of Court Book The inferiority may in part arise from the undue extension of the subject in comparison with the materials of value or authenticity that exist, for the author embraces the Ancient and Oriental world. The great cause of the felling-off even in mere amusement seems, however, to be haste. Materials are taken without regard to their critical value, but even to, their fun or jocularity; and well-known stories, not always very striking in themselvea, are- injured in the telling. The more matter-of-fact parts are the best—as the history of English Court Fools; but even this is forced, and overlaid with matter whose authenticity the author himself doubta or disbelieves. Yet there is some curious reading in this branch of the subject, with more substance and indications of manners than in the other divisions The Anniversaries. Poems in Commemoration of Great Men and Great Events. By Thomas H. Gill—The subjects of these verses are days remarkable in themselves, as New Year's Day, or the Lenge, st Day; or as the anniversary of some particular event, as Palm Sunday, Good Friday, January 26th set apart to St. Paul, April 23d the Birthday of Shakspere, June 23d the Battle of Plessey. Religious or grave subjects form the staple of the pieces; and, with very few exceptions, a religions sentiment pervades the poem, even when the theme does not directly suggest religion. In this the writer appears to obey the bent of his studies as well as his native bias. Except where he imitates Macaulay in his Ballads, Mr. Gill's poetical model is the religions poetry of the seventeenth century. This study, coupled with his own devotional feel- ing gives its character to The Anniversaries. They are rather gravely earnest in sentiment, with a certain loftiness of style, than distinguished by what is strictly poetry.
The enterprising publisher Mr. Bohn has seat forth volumes enough to require a list to himself. Foremost among them is an "Index of Dates," designed primarily as a species of companion to this bookseller's enlarged edition of Blair's Chronological Tables, and embracing particulars that- could not be included in that work. The Index is also capable of independent use, and is much more than its title implies. Indeed, it is rather a dictionary of mates followed, when necessary, by biographical particulars, of events sometimes teaching upon histories/ asetimption, of names of countries, absolutely becoming a skeleton history, or of offices, as Bishops, containing a summary of facts connected with them; dates being quite subordinate to matter, though the date is affixed to each. What minute things are exhibited may be gathered by a single-instance. After a long list of sovereign and noble Raldwins, we read " Baldwin, tried for printing Junius's Letters, and acquitted, July 13, 1770"; with another allusion to the man under the head of Junius. The Index of Bates is indispensable to the study and the desk. "The Odyssey" is the completion of Pope's Homer; the great dis- tinction of the edition being the illustrations from Flaxman's designs. The " Zoology " is a completion of a revised and enlarged edition of Dr. Carpenter's well-known treatise. "Sturm" tells his own story. As Index of Dates : comprehending the principal feats in the Chronology and History of the World, from the Earliest to the Present Time; alphabetically . Being a complete Index to the enlarged edition of Blair's Chrono- logical. By J. Willoughby Bosse. In two volumes. Volume 1. A.—J. The Odyssey of Homer, translated by Alexander Pope. To which are added the Battle of the Frogs and Mice, by Parnell ; and the Hymns, by Chapman and others. With Observations and brief Notes, by the Reverend J. S. Wat- son, MA., M.R.S.L. Illustrated with the entire series of Flaxman's Designs. Zoe-logy; being a Systematic Account of Me general Structure, Habits, In- stinots, and Uses of the principal Families of the Animal Kingdom, as welt as of Mr chief Forma of Anil Remains. By William 11 Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S., Lecturer on Natural History and Comparative Anatomy at St. Tho- mas's Hospital. A new edition, thoroughly revised, by W. S. Dallas, )?.L.8,,Ste. In two volumes. Volume IL Morning Commesnings with God; or Devotional Meditations for every Day in the Year. By Christopher Christian Sturm, Author of "Reflections on the Works of GM fix
," . Translated from the German, by W. Johnstone, A.M. Seventh edition. .
The Physiology of Temperance and Total Abstinence: being an Examination of the Effects of the excessive, moderate, and occasional use of Alcoholic Liquors on the healthy Human System. By William B. Carpenter, M.D., F.E.S., F.G.S., Examinerin Physiology in the University of London, en.
Two more volumes, and the great reprint of that unrivalled chronicle of fashionable life and a fine gentleman's idea of history, " Walpole's Letters," will be completed; when we may have something to say of the whole. The illustrations of the present volume are chiefly of ladies . full-length portraits of the Duchess of Choiseul and Madame Du Def- feud, forming a social picture; with kitkabs of the celebrated beauty Chudleigh, not looking so handsome as her fame, the Countess of and, as a companion, Charles Edward Stuart the Pretender. Charlotte Brenta's " Villette " is a half-crown edition, forming part of Messrs. Smith and Elder's "Cheap Series of Actions." The utility as a guide, and the variety of its traditional and historical gossip, have carried "A Week at the Bridge of Allan" to a seventh edition. Mr. Mitchell's "Newspaper Pram Directory" embrace* all the new as well as the established jou:mats in London mid the Provinces, Scotland and Ireland. The 1.atters of Horace Walpole, Bart of Orford. Edited by Peter Cunning- ham. Now first Chronologically arranged. In nine volumes. Volume VII. Follette. By Correr Bell, Author of" Jane Eyre," Ste. New edition. A reek at Bridge of Allen; comprising an Account of the Spa, and a series of six Bxcursiona to the interesting Scenery of Central Scotland. By Charlei. Roger, LL.D., F.S.A. Scot. Illustrated with numerous. Engravings. Seventh edition. The Newspaper Press Directory, and Advertiser's Guide. By Charles Mitch- ell. Thoroughly revised for the year 1858.
BAYLE Sr. JOHN'S, MONTALIGNN.-31CairS. Chapman and Hall in- vite our attention to an. extract from a letter of Mr. Eagle St. John, in reference to the notice of "Montaigne, a Biography," in the Spectator of January S. The substance is to the ere'. ct that the error of making Louis the Twelfth the father of Francis the First was typographical; a further typographical oversight causing the omission of the Errata to both volumes, which are now sent, to us. The one in question should have stood- thus-- "Page 21, line 29, for his father's read his predecessor's."
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