PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Boons.

Land, Labour, and Gold: or Two Years in Victoria ; with Visits to Sydney and Van Diemen's Land. By William Hewitt. In two volumes.

The _Encyclopedia Britannica ; or Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature. Eighth edition. With extensive improvements and additions and numerous Engravings. Volumes VU. and V11.1.

• A Latin-English Dictionary, based upon the Works of Forcellini and Freund. By William Smith, LL.D., Editor of the Dictionaries of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Biography, and Geography. [This Latin-English Dictionary by 1)r. Smith is based upon the elaborate work of Forcellini, originally published at Padua in 1771, and Freund's German edition, in which improvements as well as additions to the original were made. Reference has been continually had to the American transla- tion of Freund, poor as that book turns out to be in many point.; and Dr. Smith has had recourse to other sources of information, as well as to his own knowledge. The result is an unrivalled book for the position it is intended to fill,—that is, a middle place between the extensive work of Forcellini or his ts anslators, and the school dictionaries, which are designed for beginners, or boys of the lower forms.

To attain the object of furnishing the advanced student with an interpre- tation of the meaning of every Latin word that may be met with "in the existing records of the language, from the earliest period down to the fall of the Western Empire," and yet to attain the end in a moderate space, great freedom of treatment has been used as regards the form and illustrative examples of the fundamental sources. Forcellini was very irregular in ar- ranging the order of the signification of words ; and though Freund made improvements in this direction he left much to be done. In Dr. Smith's Dictionary, "a careful definition of the primary meaning of every word is first given, and then follow the derivative significations, arranged in their natural order so far as this can be ascertained. The etymological meaning has always been regarded as the original one; and in the case of primitive words the physical signification is assumed to have preceded the figurative and moral." The etymology of Forcellini is the weakest part of his work, and Freund has not made much advance in that branch of the subject. To the etymology Dr. Smith has paid the greatest attention. He states—" In working out this department, I have consulted every book upon the subject that seemed likely to be useful; and to scholars both in this country and abroad I am under considerable obligations, which have been acknowledged in their proper places." Attention has been given to other features of a less philological kind, but which contribute to the utility of the work, by allowing more matter to be introduced in a smaller compass,— anoh as the substitution of references for the quotation of passages where no peculiar purpose was answered by their retention.]

View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages. By Henry Hallam, LL.D., F.R.A.S., Foreign Associate of the Institute of France. In three volumes. Volume I. Eleventh edition.

[While the steady demand for the poems of Tennyson, and of even less dis- tinguished writers, effectually answers the frequent assertion that this is not an age to encourage poetry, the sale of Hallam's historical works equally disposes of the complaint that the British public will not pay for the time and labour necessary to sound historical composition. A reputation con- tinually growing for nearly forty years, (the Middle Ages first appeared in 18180 and the steady sale of ten editions in an expensive form, prove that when time and labour conjoined with the requisite ability appear, the world will reward them better than the productions of more flashy or bril- liant litterateurs. Fortified by this long-continued approbation of the more scholarly and critical classes, Mr. Murray has undertaken to present the his- torian of the Middle Ages in a popular form and at a price, when all things are considered, about the cheapest of undertakings in this age of cheapness. A handsome volume of above fire hundred pages, as full of typographical matter as is consistent with neatness of appearance and easy reading for the eyes, is to be had for six shillings. Three volumes will complete the Middle Ages, ten the author's Historical Works ; and each work may be pur- chased separately. Is this eleventh edition the supplementary notes to the Middle Ages published after the first appearance of the work are recast, and appear as notes or annotations to the chapters to which they relate.] Life with the Zulus of Natal, South Africa. By G. II. Mason of Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, and Pieter Maritzberg, Natal. In two parts. (The Traveller's Library.)

[Mr. Mason was some years since a Cambridge student ; but his friends had evidently mistaken his vocation—he was better adapted for active than closet work. This fact exhibited itself in weariness over his books, and a determination to emigrate to Natal; in which he was joined by his brother. The two started with a capital of a few hundreds, a large portion of which was lost by the wreck of the vessel in which it had been embarked ; of some of the remainder they were cheated by a land-speculator, who seems to have carried on his schemes with the permissive connivance of Government ; needless difficulties occurred with the land-allotments which they had paid for in England; in short, the brothers found themselves in such a plight at Maritzberg; the inland capital of Natal, that many in their position would have been driven to drink or desperation. This crisis, however, brought out the colonizing capabilities of the two Masons. They "put their pride in their pockets," turned their hands to any labour that offered, speculated judiciously with their slender means, and worked in a way which if it were equalled at home would raise any man to competence. Just as their pro- spects were brightening and their career apparently assured, they were re- called to England, for the author of this work to betake himself again to college, and his brother by "important business."

The story of the outward voyage, and the descriptions of Natal as it ap- peared in an early stage of its settlement, are told fully and fluently. The interest of the book is in the personal narrative—in the account of the shifts, not always depressing or even unpleasant, to which early settlers must be ex- posed, and the disappointments resolutely met and overcome, which will overtake the inexperienced or unfortunate with little fault of their own. The voyage and the descriptive parts are rather overdone, though it might be diffi- cult to curtail except by excision; but as the author contemplates another book outof his present experience, we think the two might as well have been made one.] Monastic Institutions • their Origin, Progress, Nature, and Tendency.

By Samuel Phillips bay, formerly of the Order of the Presentation. [The striking features in the history of themonkish orders, from their ori- gin in the third and fourth centuries, till the suspension of their vitality to- wards the close of the seventeenth, are pretty familiar to the reading public in several forms. The same may be said of their leading founders, from Antony the Hermit to Ignatius Loyale. The evils and abuses to which monkery gave rise have been a fertile topic of remark : nor has the utility of the institution been overlooked ; though the assailants have had the ad- vantage both in numbers and spirit. The bulk of Mr. Day's volume on Monastic Institutions contains little but what may be found in works easily attainable; but the scattered information is well selected and agreeably pre- sented. The author's opinions are strong against the institution, but mode- rately expressed. We do not know any book that contains so much informa- tion and exhibits so just a view of the subject in so small a compass.] The Poems of William Shakspeare. Edited by Robert Bell. (The Annotated Edition of the English Poets.)

[Independently of the neatness of typography and real cheapness which distinguish the Annotated Edition of the English Poets published by Messrs. Parker and Son, this volume of Shakspere's Poems has a good life of Shak- spere. Mr. Bell sensibly and succinctly presents the reader with the pith of what has been discovered respecting the poet and his family, and furnishes some judicious bibliographical and critical introductions to the particular poems.] The Sisters; a Tale.

[A well-written didactic tale to show the importance of religious principles: The interest—perhaps the logical effect of the story—is marred by over- straining the point. In an artiatical sense, there is an unpleasant multipli- cation of distress, and too much of turning ,casualties into what are called judgments.] A Day in Nismes : a Sketch. By Beata Elizabeth Macaulay. [A series of sketches of Nismes and its vicinity. The topics are various enough ; consisting of antiquities, modern buildings, natural features, his- torical reminiscences, and existing manners, set in a framework which seems fragments of a tour, if not of more than one journey. The Day in Natnea is rather elegant and clever, but very slight.]

Bradshaw'. Illustrated Guide through Paris and its Environs. Con- taining a splendid Map of the French Empire ; also a Plan of Paris and its Environs, and other Steel Engravings- illustrative of the French Metropolis. [We are uncertain whether this is a new guide to Paris or merely a reissue in reference to the Exhibition. lie that as it may, Bradshato's through Paris is a plain, practical, and useful book, for those who content. plate a short visit. The sights are arranged in explorations of from one day to ten days.]

The Museum of Science and Art. Edited by Dionysius Lardner, D.C.L., formerly Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy-in University College, London. Illustrated by Engravings on Wood. Volume VI.

[Clocks and watches, microscopic drawing and engraving, the locomotive, the thermometer, the new planets, and magnitude and minuteness, consti- tute the subjects of this sixth volume of Dr. Lardner's Museum of Science and Art,—one of the most informing of the cheap scientific publications of the day ] The Mercantile and Bankrupt Law of Prance: a practical Treatise on the Laws and Regulations which govern Commercial Transactions in France, and on the Proceedings in Faillite and Bankruptcy. Spe- cially designed for the use of Merchants and Traders. By Henry Davies, Solicitor, and Emilie Laurent, Avoue. [A concise, clear, and informing coup d'ceil of the mercantile law of France, which may be recommended to any one interested in the subject.] Dictionnaire de I 'Administration Fran caise. Par M. Maurice Block. Premiere Livraison.

Peatrimars,

Cossack Buie, and Bunion Influence in Europe, and over Germany. A few Notes and Suggestions for the present crisis. By Alexander Graham Dunlop.

Shall the State Educate the People? A new View of the Question, in two Letters to Lord Stanley, M.P. By Thomas Wrigl y.

" The Key of Knowledge"; a Sermon preached in Bristol Cathedral, on Sun- day, May 6, 1855. By Edward Girdle- stone, 81.A., Canon of Bristol, and Vicar of fit. Nicolas with St. Leonard, Bristol.

The Admission of Jews into Parliament the Subversion of the British Constitsi- tion. A Plea for the Maintenance of our National Christianity. With an Introductory Letter of Dedication to Sir Frederick Thesiger, Q.C., &c. By the Reverend Robert Bruce Kennard, MA., St. John's College, Oxford.

A System of Rhetoric, in a method en- tirely new. By John Stirling. Di)., late Vicar of Great Gaddesden, Hert- fordshire.

Report of the Movement for Erecting a Monument t, the Memory of Duncan Ban Alacintyrdt the Glenorchy Bard, &e. Prefaced by a Biographical Sketch of the Life and Character of the Sant..