29 AUGUST 1846, Page 19

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Boons.

The Life of Wesley; and Rise and Progress of Methodism. By Robert Southey, Esq., LL.D. Third edition. With Notes by the late Samuel Tay- lor Coleridge, Esq.; and Remarks on the Life and Character of John Wes- ley, by the late Alexander Knox, Esq. Edited by the Reverend Charles Cuthbert Southey, ILA., Curate of Cockermouth. In two volumes. The Fawn of Sertorius. In two volumes. Reminiscences of Australia, with Hints on the Squatter's Life. By Christo- pher Pemberton Hodgson.

Memoirs Official and Personal; with Sketches of Travels among the North- ern and Southern Indians; embracing a War Excursion, and descriptions of Scenes along the Western Border. By Thomas L. IiPlenney, late Chief of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Author of "The History of the Indian Tribes of North America," &c. Two volumes in one.

Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John Adams. Edited from the Papers of Oliver Wolcott, Secretary to the Treasury, by George Gibbs. In two volumes.

[We have had but little time to look into these bulky volumes; which seem to engraft the history of a party on the life of a party officer, and to owe much of its original materials to a selection from his correspondence—mostly private, though on public topics. The combination is not the most effective form of accomplishing either the history of the Federal party in America till Jefferson overthrew it, for the life and career of Secretary Wolcott; from the necessary mixture of subjects, and the great length to which the intermingling of public history, private narra- tive, and original illustrative documents necessarily extends, the two volumes only passing over about eight years. We perceive that they notice many inte- resting subjects in American political history; and we imagine they will furnish some curious means of comparing the old and the new, or rather the former and the present Democracy.ith this idea of the work, and the remark that Mr. Gibbs is a strong and unflinching Federalist, with the loftier tone and closer style that belonged to that down-trodden party, we must leave these volumes for the present.]

Exercises on Mechanics and Natural Philosophy; or an easy Introduction . to Engineering. By Thomas Tate, Mathematical Master of the National Society's Training College, Battersea.

{Mr. Gulliver was right in the conclusions he drew from his visit to Laputa, that mathematical philosophy is not available in the daily business of life, being i too troublesome and long-about. As soon as a principle is established as an ac- knowledged truth and becomes the property of all mathematicians, the next thing is to discover some ready road to its use, so as to make it available in actual affairs, and by men who could not work or even understand the mathematical processes by which the arithmetical rules are ultimately reached. Such an object as this has animated Mr. Tate in these very clear, curious, and useful Ex- eresses on Mechanics; in which what were the most abstruse and difficult cal- culations are brought down to the comprehension of all persons acquainted with the common rules of arithmetic. For the vast quantity of useful knowledge con- tained in a small compass, and available either for arithmetical study or business application, this little publication is of great value: unless used with care, there may be a doubt whether its very excellence may not induce the young engineer to slight the higher study of mathematics.]

A Treatise qf the First Principles of Arithmetic, after the method of Per By Thomas Tate, Mathematical Master of the National Society's Training Institution, Battersea.

[A simple and concise exposition of the rationale of the rules of arithmetic and of the properties of numbers, as explained by the method of Pestalozzi; which tenches more in the outset than many learners know who have got the multipli- olden-table by rote and gone through the first five rules on the old system.] A Concise Grammar of the German Language, on the principles adopted in the Schools of Germany; in which the Declension is facilitated and sim- plified, and the relation of Prepositions pointed out and familiarized, in a series of easy and comprehensive examples. By G. IL C. Egestorff, the Translator of Klopstock's "Messiah."

[Mr. Egestorff's Concise Grammar is a very clear and sufficient display of the accidence of the German language, animated by a more scientific and even phi- losophical spirit than is usually found in grammars of mach greater preteca.on. This spirit is shown not only in the arrangement and exposition of the principles, i

but in the absence of all idle endeavours to change the nature of diulties. When there is no short cat, Mr. Egestorff does not attempt one, but warns his reader that there is none.) Ballads of the East, and other Poems. By HP. r The poems in this publication are mostly ballad subjects founded on Oriental incidents; but, though the mere outline is Eastern, the filling-up strikes as as being European. This would seem to argue lack of knowledge, or of imagination, or both. The style of the author is of the rhetorical school, and lie appears to have taken Macaulay for his model. The subjects generally possess effective incidents in themselves, which are well enough brought out by the author; but he scarcely rises to poetry.]

The Cairn: a Gathering of Precious Stones from many hands.

[A handsome portable volume, of a miscellaneous character, consisting of original contributions and extracts of all descriptions—anecdotes and epigrams, facts and fancies, biographical notices and historical incidents, aphorisms, speeches, bon- mots, and even recipes. The " stones " of which the cairn is composed are not all " precious"; but the heap is a numerous and odd collection, and if some worth- less pebbles are found in it, there are many curious and beautiful fragments. The book is one of those " modern antiques " that are the fashion of the day —.square in shape, with bordered pages, wide margin, and parchment back, and printed with old-fashioned types. The round form of the old letters, their thickened turnings, and the space between each, make them very distinct and readable; far preferable in that respect to the modern French type, which dazzles the eye with a mass of thick black strokes, so close together, and with hair-lines so fine, that the n and IA, the e and c, are with difficulty discriminated.]

The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford; including numerous Letters now first published from the Original Manuscripts. New editioh. In six volumes. Volume II.

[Among the subjects of this second volume of Mr. Bentley's new speculation, is the Jacobite invasion of 1745. The portraits are those of the Countess of Suffolk, Sir Horace Mann, and Walpole's friend Bentley, nephew of the Bentley.]