PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Breeds of Poesy. By a L. F. Bombay: Printed at the Education Society's Press, Byealla.—These verses appear to have been printed for private circulation only. Such, at least, is the only meaning we can attach to the figurative statement in the preface, that G. L. F. "casts them on the waters, not of the great sea of the world, but of the narrower, humbler rivulets of Friendship and Love." If this be so how came they into our hands ? G. L. F.'s original decision was a r wise one, and we wish he had adhered to it: for we cannot conscien- tiously dispute the justice of the title which, with real or mock mo- desty, he has assigned to his productions. However, there may per- haps be some chance of future improvement, for he announces that "Thenceforth he gathers of the Bose of Sharon only." We are very glad to hear it; but we don't in the least know what he means. . Adulterations Detected; or, Plain Instructions for the Discovery of Frauds in Food and Medicine. By Arthur Hill Hassell, MD , Ana- lyst of "The Lancet Sanitary Commission." Second edition. Long- man and Co.—This work is a technical supplement to the author's more popular book, entitled "Food and its Adulterations," and is in- tended to serve as a manual for analysts under the Adulteration of Food and Drink Act. It describes concisely and clearly the adultera- tions to which each particular article of consumption is subjected, and furnishes plain instructions, microscopical and chemical, for their dis- covery. The new edition contains a verbatim copy of the act above mentioned, which will be useful for reference. The Busy_Hives around Us : A variety of Trips and Visits to the Mine, the Workshop, and the Factory. London: James Hand Sons.—The title of this volume is quite sufficient to give an adequate idea of the nature of its. contents. The different departments o the national beehive to which the author has paid visits are various enough; including the coal-mine, the cottoh and woollen mill, the glass-works, the printing-house, the locomotive factory, and the whole- sale warehouse. In the account which he gives of the processes by which each of these branches of industry is carried on, he dwells ex- clusively on the marvellous character of the results produced, entirely declining the more ardrious task of giving any kind of rational expla- nation of the means .by which they are attained. Amusement, not instruction, is clearly- the sole object at which he aims. There is abundance of internal evidence that the book is the work of a hand which has had considerable practice in literary labour of a certain kind; and it will, we think, prove to be acceptable to boys of a mode- rately inquiring turn of mina—a class of readers for whom it is, we imagine, mainly designed. '1. Handbook of Elocution and Oratory. 2. Handbook of Natural and Experimental Philosophy. 3. Handbook of Amusing and Instruc- tive Experiment:3.-1%es° three volumes constitute a fresh instalment of the series of manuals by means of which Messrs. Cassell, Fetter, and Galpin propose to furnish the rising generation with a stock of cheap and reliable information on every conceivable branch of human knowledge. So laudable a design is worthy of all encouragement ; but we are constrained to acknowledge that the first of the handbooks now before us is far from being a favourable specimen of the series to which it belongs. It is the work of Miss Edith Heraud, an actress whose name may possibly be familiar to some of our readers. This lady appears to be scarcely sufficiently conscious of the difficulty of the task which she has undertaken to perform. She addresses herself tohleturer the debater, the preacher, the after-dinner orator, and • tfid actor; and proposes, within the narrow compass of one hundred duodecimo pages, to convey to each all the instruction necessary to enable him to attain to the highest eminence in his respective line; and yet she wastes no inconsiderable portion of the hunted space at her disposal in would-be humorous illustrations of the sufficiently obvious fact that a good speaker is better than a bad one, while there is but little in the rules that she actually lays down which would not have spontaneously suggested itself to any person of ordinary capacity who had ever bestowed a thought on the subject. We have always thought that elocution could only be taught orally, and the success of Miss Heraud's attempt isnot such as to induce us to alter our opinion on this point. The Handbook of Natural Philosophy is in every respect a. better work. The information which it contains is necessarily of the most elementary character, but it is accurate as far as it goes, and is conveyed in a clear and intelligible manner. The not very novel collection of chemical and electrical experiments, together with a few arithmetical puzzles, tricks with cards, and such-like diversions, which constitutes the third Handbook, will be an acceptable present to an -.ingenious boy, but scarcely deserves a place in Messrs. Cassell's series.

Sibyl and other Poems. By John Lyttelton. London : Smith, Elder

and Co.—The prevailing impression left uponour mind by the pe of these poems is one ot disappointment. There is a ring about many of Mr. Lyttelton's lines which is very pleasant and attractive to the ear; but, as soon as we turn our attention from sound to sense, we find that, too often, his lines, though full of sound and fury do in reality, signify nothing. This fault can be traced more or less distinctly throughout all-his poems; but it is especially perceptible in that which, by virtue of its superior length and pretensions, gives its title to the volume. The following, for instance, are "prove 'orts" enough, but have they any real meaning?—

" In her large brilliant eyes I first drank beauty, and my soul was stired And rippled in their glance, until it gleamed

As ocean pierced by starlight, and gave forth Such songs as to those far and cold-eyed stars The surges sing at midnight."

Mr. Lyttelton has studied, with considerable success, the way of saving things; he must now occupy himself in endeavouring to find something to say. If he can succeed in supplying this want out of his own brain, he may, we think, take a more than respectable place among the minor poets of the day; but if not, we advise him to give up verse-writing,, for we are inclined to agree with the Lady Sibyl's opinion that any.- thing is

"a better trade

Than versifying other people's thoughts."

The French Treaty and Tariff' of 1860. Edited by H. Reader Lack,, Esq., Secretary to the British Commissioners for Promoting_the French Treaty. London and New York: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.—Thia volume is intended for the use of those mercantile classes to whom it is a matter of vital importance to be thoroughly familiar with the rate of duty at which various articles of commerce are now admitted into. France. It contains, besides a brief sketch of the condition of our commercial relations with France from 1786 to the present time, a textual reprint of the Commercial Treaty of last year, together with all the supplementary articles and conventions by which that treaty has since been modified oreularged, as well as a collection of statistical tables, and explanatory notes. The editor has performed his task well and carefully, and his work will find a place in every counting-house as a very useful, if not an absolutely indispensable, book of reference. _Worm of the Lams relating to Bankmiptey and Insolvency. A Second Letter to Sir Richard Bethell, Ent., M.P., her Majesty's Attorney- General. By Bennet Hoskyns Abrahall, MA., Barrister-at-Law and a Registrar of the Court of Bankruptcy, London. London : V. and R. Stevens and Sons.—In this pamphlet Mr. Abmhall is good enough to pat the Attorney-General on the back, and assure him that he, for one, thinks his Bankruptcy Bill a very admirable and well-con- sidered measure. He goes through the main points of the proposed reform, and signifies his more or less unqualified approbation of each.. Since Mr. Abrahall is of opinion that our existing system of bankruptcy laws requires, not total reconstruction, but only partial and judicious. reform, it is not improbable that the success of the measure which is. now rapidly passing through the House of Commons will be a source of more unmixed satisfaction to him than it will be to Sir Richard Bethel himself.

Home Ballads and Poem. By John Greenleaf Whittier. Boston: Ticknor and Fields ; London: Sampson Low, Son, and Co.—Mr.. Whittier is already well known to the British public as one of the most musical and graceful of American poets. The present volume will not tend to diminish the reputation which he has already acquired. Take, for instance, the following illustration of "the sweet uses of adversity-

" That o'er the crucible of pain Watches the tender eye of love, The slow transmuting of the chain Whose links are iron below to gold above."

There is vigour, too, in these lines, which form part of a poem sug-

gested by a print of. Ary Scheffees " Christus Consolator," Anse-

neanised by the omission of the black man :

"And, ever while the spiritual mill goes round, Between the upper and the nether stones, Unseen, unheard, the wretched bondman groans, And urges his vain plea, prayer-smothered, anthem-drowned."

The piece entitled "The Gift of Tritemius" shows that Mr. Whittier' admires, and has endeavoured to imitate, Leigh Hunt's inimitable "Abou ben Adhem."

Hannibal: a Drama in Two Parts. Smith, Elder, and Co.—Now =joie hoinini contingit adire Corinthum. Mr. Henry Taylor has signally succeeded in the very difficult task of writing a drama not designed. for the stage: the anonymous author of Hannibal has as signally- failed. The subject which he has selected is a good one, but the manner in which he has treated it is vapid and common-place to the last degree. What can be said for a heroine of whose conversation with her lover the following is a fair sample : "Sophonisba. You speak most gloomily. And do you, then, Wholly despair of our affairs in Spain ? Masanissa. To you, a woman living here at ease,

'Tis vain to speak of war's perplexities And changes. You could never understand them.

. • • . .

06, Masanissa, you are changed, most changed ! The ambition growing in your soul so fast Will swallow up your love. Too true I feel it, Our days of childhood are for ever over.

Mae. . .. Tate comfort; For if Hamilcaes sons but do. their part, The war will soon be over. Fare thee well Till then, and then no more, my Sophonista [Exit. Sop/i. The history of my life is over now; Whatever may become of me, 'tis over. The arrow has struck home into my heart, And when I pluck it from me I shall die. (Exit."

Introduction to the Pentateuch: an Inquiry, Critical and Doctrinal, into the Genuineness, Authority, and Design of the Mosaic Writings. By the Rev. Donald Macdonald, M.A., Author of "Creation and the Fa.11. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark.—Mr. Macdonald is an uncom- promising advocate of the authenticity, genuineness, and full inspira- tions of the five books whose authorship is commonly attributed to Moses. At the present time, when there is a strong and increasing tendency to extend to the Scriptures the application of the ordinary rules of historical and philological criticism, those, he says, who hold the Bible to be a sacred book, must be on the alert; and since, in his opinion, none of the works which have hitherto appeared on his side of the question are entirely adequate to meet the present crisis, he proposes

to supply the deficiency by means of the two bulky volumes which are i now before us. There s no doubt that Mr. Macdonald has, upon the whole, done his work well and conscientiously, or that he shows an intimate acquaintance with and a thorough devotion to his subject. Nor, on the other hand, can it be denied that his answers to many of the objections which have been urged against the Pentateuch are far from being so conclusive as he conceives them to be. His observa- tions on the non-existence of any material discrepancy between the Mosaics and scientific accounts of the Creation are particularly vague and feeble; and lathe sections in which he treats of the allusions to a future state, and the objections which have been raised to certain re- presentations of the Divine character, in the Pentateuch, there is a great deal of what, if it were applied to any other subject, not even himself could fail to recognize as special pleading of the flimsiest and most unsatisfactory description. But the worst fault that we have to find with Mr. Macdonald is one which, unfortunately, he shares with nearly all disputants on his side of the question, we mean that of im- puting to this opponents unworthy motives, without attempting to substantiate his insinuations by even the faintest shadow of proof. What right has he to assert that all those who think it right to exa- mine the Scriptures by the ordinary and established rules of evidence and criticism, are actuated, not by a love of truth, bat by an hostility to the moral and religious character of the Bible, and by "an aversion to the holiness and righteousness which mark the character of God given in the Old Testament" ? Surely this readiness to think evil is in more decided opposition to the spirit of the New Testament than any amount of critical examination of the Pentateuch can possibly be to that of the Old. Besides, it is the worst possible policy; for any lawyer will tell Mr. Macdonald that, for an advocate to abuse the opposite counsel is regarded as an infallible sign that he is conscious of the weakness of his own case.

Manual of Modern Geography : Mathematical, Physical, and Political. By the Rev. Alexander Mackay, A.M., F.R.G.S. Edinburgh and London: Blackwood and Sons.—In the two essential points of completeness and compactness, this is by far the best geographical manual with which we are acquainted. Mr. Mackay is fully alive to the now generally acknow- ledged truth that, to the student of geography, an accurate description of the main physical features of a country is of far more real importance ihan a mere enumeration of its towns. Accordingly, in describing each country, he directs his attention primarily to its river-system ; and, since this feature has, in nearly all cases, been chiefly instrumental in determining the posi- tion of the towns, he rightly employs it as affording the best and most natural basis for their systematic classification. The information conveyed by Mr. Mackay is not confined merely to the topography of the various countries which he describes; but extends to their climate, geology, mine- ralogy, botany, ethnography, and even to their language, literature, and political institutions. The brevity with which these various points are ne- cessarily handled, has not prevented their being treated with a completeness quite sufficient for the purposes of the book. Mr. Mackay's manual fully deserves, and we heartily hope that it will meet with, a success commen- surate with the vast amount of time and labour which he must have ex- pended on its compilation.

The Martyr-Boy of Pistoja. A Ballad-Poem, founded on Fact. By the Bev. G. D. Houghton, B.A. London : Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.—Mr. Houghton is not the only man who read with deep interest and indignation the account which appeared some months ago in the Athenmum, with the well-known signature "Th. T.," of the murder of Attilio Frosini in 1849; but it is a matter of sincere congratulation that he is, as far as we know, the only person who has conceived the idea of "giving to this pathetic story a longer existence by recording it—I wish I could say, embalming it—in verse." We fear that Miss Trollope's prose will gain nothing by being twisted into such verse as this : Absolv'd and weary sleep him took Into her quiet haven, Until the thundering guard-house clock Awoke him, striking seven."

Mr. Houghton is quite at liberty to employ his leisure time in distorting good prose into bad rhyme ; but we earnestly advise him for the future not to submit the results of his labour to public criticism.