PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Boom.

Four Years of the Court of Henry VIII. Selection of Despatches written by the Venetian Ambassador, Sebastian Giustinian, and ad- dressed to the Signory of Venice, 12th January 1515 to 26th July 1519. Translated by Eawdon Brown. In two volumes.

Studies from History. Volume I. Richard I. and the Third Crusade.

Mohammed II. and the Fall of the Greek Empire. By the Reverend William H. Rule, Author of "The Brand of Dominic," &c.

The House of Baby; or Our Lady of Darkness. In three volumes. Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Edited by Robert Bell. Volume

L (Annotated Edition of the English Poets.)

Our Camp in Turkey, and the Way to it. By Mrs. Young, Author of " Cutch," &c.

The Vision of Prophecy, and other Poems. By James D. Burns, M.A. Helig's Warning ; a Cymric Legend of the Seventeenth Century. By

• Lady Marshall.

Lyric Notes of the Russian War. Part first. By Ruther. Poems. By Aubrey de Vere.

The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854: with an introductory Summary, Notes, Index, and an Appendix, containing the "Merchant Shipping Acts Repeal Act, 1834," &c. Edited by William Digby Seymour, Esq., M.P. (for Sunderland), Barrister-at-law. [Whether Mr. Cardwell's late "Shipping Act" be, as some lawyers call it, a "code," or, as Mr. Sergeant Shee terms it, a "digest," it is without doubt a remarkable result of well-considered labour. Acts of Parliament, passed for the most part under pressure that could no longer be resisted, were Incon- gruous, contradictory, and doubtful as to what was or was not abrogated by successive statutes. By Mr. Cardwell'', measures, forty-seven statutes have been repealed, beginning with the 8 Elizabeth, "touching sea-marks and mariners," and ending with the 17 and 18 Victoria, to "admit foreign ships to the coasting-trade." Such law as still survived is embraced in the new act, with a variety of regulations adapted to the present condition of mari- time and mercantile customs, and to the new powers given to the Board of Trade as a sort of nautical tribunal.

Mr. Seymour has done good service to the public in editing this neces- sarily long and elaborate act, with some addenda, a popular summary, and very copious notes, critical, explanatory, and legal. The expositions in these annotations are clear, the remarks sensible, and the criticisms, as the writer observes, "free." When it is considered that this act must often be interpreted by what is called "the common-sense view," perhaps the objec- What if a brother never tell dons on particular parts may be considered too curiously. They, however, The tale to those who love him wel! ? serve to warn disputants of " breakers ahead," and in case of any future

The love forget to heat within ? Esperanza ; or the Home of the Wanderers. By Ann Bowman, Author

Yet blameless of her soldiers blood, [With " Robinson Crusoe" and his numerous imitators for examples, there Nor taking to herself the guilt is no difficulty in planning a tale of wild adventure. The books of travel Of what their spotless hands have spilt, and geographical exploration that have been so rife in our generation furnish Looks England down upon the flood." ample matter for description of nature and natural history : though this fact

It may be questioned, however, whether this handling is not cuts both ways, the knowledge of the reader checking the writer's flights of fancy. The only mode left open for a genuine imitation of De Foe is by rather the result of imitation than art. " Ruther "—a nom de dramatic consistency in the circumstances that originate the adventures, us guerre—is a very close copier of Tennyson, not merely in the well as in the adventures themselves, and the circumstances under which they metre of " In Memoriam," but in the remote, fanciful, and quaint take place. Esperanza has uot these qualities to a great extent; the charac- treatment of the theme. This error, indeed, Tennyson rarely corn- tees have too much of a conventional air ; the incidents and conclusion are mite when the subjects imperatively demand simplicity and direct- unlikely. The framework is that of a clergyman'sfamily emigrating to ness—as in " The May ueen," "Lady Clara Vere de Pere " ; Valparaiso, but set on sAnhore in consequence of a mutiny. The adventures mostly occur among the des and the Pampas.] sent case, Ruther opens with an invocation to Change, and then Tales of Flemish Life. By Hendrick Conscience. (Miscellany of Fo-

[Four stories of Flemish life. The manners and ideas are unmistakeably ne- wsy to the " enervate Turk" and " cruel Czar." There is stuff tional, the tales are well adapted to embody them, and they possess both in- in the writer, but it will require a good deal of care and some la- terest and variety in their subjects : but they suffer from a tendency in the boar to bring it out in the most effective way. author to carry everything too far. His simplicity and good feeling verge upon the maudlin; he aims at exciting interest by circumstances which touch upon the sordid ; and the writer too often comes before the reader in his own cha- racter. We suspect that the translator of foreign novels should exercise a discreet judgment on his original, freely pruning and adapting for the Eng- lish market.]

Emily Vernon ; or Filial Piety. Exemplified by Mrs. Drummond, Au- thor of "Lucy Seymour," &c. [The influence of an amiable and religious daughter on her father is one feature of Emily Vernon ; the misery produced by deceit and self-will an- other. The manner of the book is that of the juvenile tale ; but the inci- dents, including love and marriage, are mature, and rather belong to the novel. The story wants animation.] Faggots for the Fireside; or Tales of Fact and Fancy. By Peter Par- ley. With twelve tinted Illustrations. [Peter Parley has prepared his usual Christmas volume for his juvenile friends, though not perhaps on the whole with his wonted diligence. Faggots for the Fireside, as may be supposed from the name, is a bundle of stories and anecdotes. The best is "'The Boy Captive," the tale of an American White boy carried off by Indians, but finally restored to his mother ; the story being made a vehicle for a description of Indian customs. The longest tale is "The Children of the Sun" ; a sort of romance connected with Pizarro's invasion.] Time and Truth reconciling the Moral and Religious World to Shake- speare, &c. [A batch of opinions, facts, quotations, and what not, about Shakspere's genius, his various commentators, and so forth. One object of the writer is to show that the great poet is fit for family reading, and that the Dissenters do wrong not to read him.] Sonnets of Cambridge Life. By William Nind, M.A., Fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge.

[These sonnets, and a few occasional poems that are not sonnets, are mostly on topics connected with University life or pursuits. They exhibit a certain degree of force, and the effect of scholarly training ; but they are somewhat slight for publication.]

A Popular History of British Mosses; comprising a general Account of their Structure, Fructification, Arrangement, and general Distribution. By Robert M. Stark, Fellow of the Botanical and Royal Physical So- cieties of Edinburgh. Popular British Conchology. A familiar History of the Molluscs in- habiting the British Isles. By George Brettingham Sowerby, F.L.S., Author of "Manual of Conchology," &c. [Both these volumes form part of a series in which Mr. Reeve the publisher has aimed at encouraging the pursuit and popularizing the study of natural history by books that please the eye by their getting-up, and attract etten- tion by the striking features of their subjects, without puzzling too much by learned terms or scientific details. The primary object of both these pub- lications is the same—that of directing the reader to the amusement and in- struction he may find at home. Almost everywhere he turns his regard to "British Mosses" ; while the Conchology offers nearly the same facilities, since it includes snails, &c., as well as salt or fresh water shell animantia.] Introductory Text-Book of Geology. By David Page, F.G.S.

[A plain and interesting exposition of the uses, facts, and principles of

geology, copiously illustrated with diagrams. It is intended as a text-book for a student wishing to acquire the elements with a view to further progress in the science ; but it may be advantageously read for its clearness and mastery by persons who only wish to obtain a general knowledge of geology and the evidence on which it rests.] First Steps in Economic Botany, for the Use of Students : being an Abridgment of Popular Economic Botany. By Thomas Croxen Archer, Professor of Applied Botany and Zoology at the Collegiate In- stitution, Liverpool, &c. [This manual is to a considerable degree a clever abstract of the author's larger book on "Popular Economic Botany." The present cheap edition is published for the Department of Science and Art, Marlborough House.] Truth's Conflicts and Truth's Triumphs; or the Seven-headed Serpent Slain : a Series of Essays, with an Allegorical Introduction on some chief Errors of the Day. By Stephen Jenner, M.A., late Curate of Camden Church, Camberwell.

[" The seven-headed serpent, slain" by Mr. Jenner, is the Church of Rome, with its Tractarian allies in the Church of England. The essays are based on a series of sermons, and treat on the Papal errors as they generally appear in the present day, such as symbolism.]

Manual of Civil Law, for the use of Schools, and more especially of Can- didates for the Civil Service ; consisting of an Epitome in English of

the Institutes of Justinian, carefully expurgated, with an Introductory Chapter. By E. R. Humphreys, LL.D., Head Master of Cheltenham Grammar School.

[A clear abridgment of the Institutes of Justinian, with such omissions as seemed necessary for the class of young students for whom the compilation is designed. Each " title " or chapter is followed by questions for ex- amination.]

The Works of Fables Virgilius Afaro. From the Text of Heyne and Wagner. With a Biographical Memoir, by the Reverend Henry

Thompson, M.A., formerly Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, Vicar of Chard. Illustrated with Engravings from the most authen- tic sources.

[A good edition of the text of Virgil, illustrated by two hundred wood. engravings from ancient sculpture, manuscripts, and various works of au- thority.] New Series of Latin Exercises. No. IL Latin Exercises for the Lowest Form. By the Reverend Alfred Barrett, M.A., of Worcester College, Oxford.

A New Practical and Easy Method of Learning French, upon the Sys- tem most used on the Continent for the study of Languages ; with nu- merous Exercises and Examples illustrative of every rule. By E. Hue- son, Teacher of the French and German Languages. A Simple Catechism of Geograpl. y. Particularly adapted to the capa- city of very young Children. By Mrs. Gibbon, Author of "Simple Catechisms of the Histories of England and France."

[Of these very elementary school-books, Mr. Barrett's Latin Exercises ex- hibits a full knowledge of his subject, and judicious ideas of teaching. M. Musson proclaims that by his method "teachers and governesses may without trouble impart the French language to their pupils." In the Sim- ple Catechism, the broad facts of geography are plainly presented ; the Bri- tish Isles being the most fully dealt with.]

Mr. Badham's "Prose Halieutics" is reprinted from Fraser's Magazine, with considerable additions : lest we should not return to the book, it may at once be recommended as agreeable tattle about fish, in which much learning and some actual knowledge are conveyed in a lively form. The se- cond series of "Literary Addresses" contains thirteen speeches delivered on various occasions by eminent men ; among which are Peel's, Campbell's, and Macaulay's addresses to Glasgow University ; Bulwer's to that of Edinburgh; Brougham's to the Manchester Mechanics' Institution. The capital two-shil- lings-worth of Sydney Smith consists of articles on the Catholic Question—a contrast to present opinion—and of the well-known letters to Archdeacen Singleton. Mr. George Giltillan has collected a third volume of his portraits of eminent characters, with a preface defending himself for writing in peri- odicals.

Prose Balieuties, or Ancient and Modern Fish Tattle. By the Re- verend C. David Badham, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Phy- sicians, Curate of East Bergholt; Author of "Insect Life," 8ze. Literary Addresses delivered at various Popular Institutions. Second series. Revised and cprrected by the Authors.

Selections from the Writings of the Reverend Sydneit Smith. Parts III. and IV. (The Traveller's Library.) A Third Gallery of _Portraits. By George Gilfillan.

An entirely New S'ystena of Conjugation, by which the principle of all time e French Verbs can be understood n a few hours, &c. By Mons. Mariot De Beauvoisin, Author and Editor of several Works on the Study of the French Language. Second edition, with great improve- ments.

Maurice Tiernay, the Soldier of Fortune. By the Author of "Sir Jasper Carew,' &c.

ALMANACN.S.

The British Almanack of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know- ledge, for 1855.

The Companion to the Almanack ; or Year-book of General Information, for 1855.

[Twenty-eight years is time enough for the scope and character of an annual to be known, especially one so celebrated as the Brieish. We must not, how- ever, pass it by without calling attention to a capital account of the cam- paign, done in an historical spirit, and coming down to the telegraphic de- spatch of Inkerman—apparently from the pen of Charles Knight ; as well as to a learned but lively sketch, by De Morgan, of the nature of the belief in the Copernican sy steno before its truth was shown by the telescope and Gal- Rico.]

ILLUSTRATED WORE&

Mar:n(0n ; a Tale of Flodden Field. By Sir Walter Scott, Bart. With all his Introductions and the Editor's Notes. Illustrated by eighty Engravings on Wood from Drawings by Birket Foster and John Gil- bert.

[The gift-book par excellence, for those who wish to combine gorgeous ex- ternals, profuse illustration or decoration, and typographical excellence with a literature, which, whatever the sternly classical may hold, is readable and popular in the highest degree. Mar»zion like the previous volumes, "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," and "The Lady of the Lake," is full of attrac- tive wood-cuts. Of these eighty cuts, some are portraits of scenery, or edifices entire or ruined ; in some the designer draws upon his imagination to conjure up the actors of the poem.] The Deserted Village. By Oliver Goldsmith. Illustrated by the Etching Club.

The Vicar of Wakefield; a Tale. By Oliver Goldsmith. Illustrated by George Thomas. [Two pretty editions, with wood-cute, and printed in the semi-oldfashioned style now reviving and always agreeable to the eye. The illustrations to the first are copies from the original etchings, published some years since ; the plates being now destroyed, and the book not very accessible. The en- deavour to render the aspect of one method of execution in another may ac- count for an extra harsh blackness in some of the cuts. Mr. Thomas seems to have been too much on his good behaviour in treating the Vicar of Wake- field ; he loses his freedom of handling and character, and the result is not happy : nor, indeed, is the art of the Etching Club as here displayed, though the muster includes some good men, much above prettiness.] Pa.mers.

Florence Nightingale. Drawn by Miss Bonham Carter ; Lithographed by R. I. Lane, A.R.A.

Admiral Sir Edmund _Lyons. Lithographed by J. H. Lynch. [Two good faces, each for its owner's function in the Russian campaign and the "battle of life." Miss Nightingale is represented reading,—a quiet, gentle figure, perfectly simple. The sketch is not an elaborate one, bur done with feeling ; and the amateur lady from whose hand it comes—a hand not unknown before—is, we understand, a near relation of the admirable sitter.

Sir Edmund Lyons's is a characteristic head ; dashing, hard, and sailor- like, with a touch of humour. It is rendered with considerable spirit.]