Under the modest title of Sketches of Natural History, and
in the simple guise of a child's book, MARY Howerr has given us a series of vivid poetical pictures of natural scenes and of the life of individual animals, which, though level to the capacities of chil- dren, may instruct and delight men and women. She exhibits the beast, the bird, the insect, and the flower, the seasons, and distant lands, with the accuracy of a naturalist, the distinctness of a painter, and the fancy of a poet : her language is as plain as a primer, while her verse flows as free and metrically as the rhythm of WORDSWORTH Or SHELLEY, whether its tone be playful or serious, its style homely or lofty. We used to think the Origi- nal Poems of the Miss TAYLORS the perfection of the union of the simple phrase of prose with the music of verse ; but MARY Howirr's Sketches excel them. The child, with the aid of this little volume, will learn to read the beauteous picture-book of na- ture with the mind as well as the eyes: a world of bright and happy scenes is opened to its young imagination. The meanest insect and the humblest flower serve as the key to open up the charms and wonders of creation, and to raise the infant mind from nature up to nature's God."
The little volume is tastefully got up, and well printed, in a bold clear type. Each poem is illustrated by a figure of its sub- ject, engraved, in a finished style, on wood, with force and dis- tinctness.
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