2 SEPTEMBER 1843, Page 18

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED,

From August 18th to Augasalst.

Boosts.

The Vital Statistics of Sheffield. By G. CaLvEax HOLLAND, Esq., M.D. The President's Daughters; including Nina. By FRP.DEBIKA. BREMER. Translated by Malty HOIYITT. In three volumes.

Wyandotte, or the Hutted Knoll. By J. FENIMORE COOPER, Esq., Author of "The Pathfinder," &c. La three volumes.

Prospectus and Specimen of Mr. Murray's Colonial and Home Library. (The literary feature of the week is not publications, but the promise of pub- beations. Mr. MURRAY, of Albemarle Street, is about to introduce apparently asgreat a change into the book-trade as poor CONSTABLE contemplated, when he assembled SCOTT and others round his table, and, ore rotundo, a, LOCKHART describes him, poured forth his grand speculation ; producing from returns to the assessed taxes, &c. the number of persons who spent a fixed sum on footmen, dogs, horses, and what not, and then, by a logical deduction, framed a decree which should have had the effect of carrying ConsTABLE's myrmidons to the door of every housekeeper as regularly as the taxgatherer. The panic of 1825 destroyed, among other things, the scheme of CONSTABLE: may that of his enterprising London successor prove more fortunate! The plan of Mr. bloaaav's Colonial and Home Library originated in the late change of the law of copyright. Till the passing of that act, foreign edi- tions of English books circulated in all our Colonies ; those of North America being chiefly supplied by the "cheap and nasty." American reprints. The law, if enforced, will put an end to this trade ; and as the bulk of the colonists cannot afford our high-priced books, they are apprehensive of a literary dearth. The British Possessions in North America will realize the idea of a classical hell upon earth : each belle esprit will be another Tantalus—books con- tinually tempting him across the border, which yet he can never touch. The Canadians have already addressed the English press on the subject, and the Complaint and Remonstrance is printed in the City article of the Times.

To remedy this evil, or rather to prevent it, is the object of Mr. MURRAY'S stew speculation. "In order," he says, "that the highly-intelligent and edu- cated population of our Colonies may not suffer from the withdrawal of their accustomed supplies of books, and with a view to obviate the complaint that a check might in consequence be raised to their intellectual advancement, Mr. Murray has determined to publish a series of attractive and useful works, by approved authors, at a rate which shall place them within reach of the means not only of the colonists, but also of a large portion of the less wealthy classes at borne, who will thus benefit by the widening of the market for our literature: and the Colonial Library' will consequently be so conducted that it may claim to be considered as a 'Library for the Empire.' Owing to the very low price placed upon the numbers of this series, the undertaking can succeed only if it meets with strenuous support from the Colonial Government at home and abroad in giving effect to the Jaw, and in supporting the just rights of British genius, industry, and manufactures, by preventing illicit Importation of foreign reprints. It is also necessary for its progress and success that it be favoured with the patronage of the reading public in all parts of the British dominions; and the chief aim and object of the publisher will be to render it worthy of emir countenance.

." Mr. Murray's Colonial Library' will furnish the settler in the hack- woods of America, and the occupant of theremotest cantonments of our Inditut dominions, with the resources of recreation and instruction, at a moderate price, together with many new books within a short period of their appearance m England; while the student and lover of literature at home, who has hitherto been content with the loan of a book from a book-club, or has been compelled to wait for its tardy perusal from the shelves of a circulating library, or perhaps has satisfied his curiosity by the scanty extracts in magazines or reviews, may now become possessed of the work itself, at the moment of its publication, and at a cost of little beyond that entailed by either of the methods above•men- Honed. Be may at the same time lay up a permanent library in a condensed and portable form.

" It will no doubt prove a source of satisfaction to the lovers of Englisk literature in the Colonies to know that they are enjoying the intellectual gra- tification of the works of native authors without doing any wrong or injury to those authors' interests."

The first work will be SOUTHEY'S Life of Nelson, with the author's last ad- ditions and corrections—price two shillings! ] Cowper's English Version of the Odyssey of Homer ; carefully revised and corrected, with a Commentary in explanation of the practical pur• pose of the text. By OPTIE, F.R.S., &c. In two volumes.

[When the satirist declared that " Learned commentators view Is Homer more than Homer knew,"

he never could have anticipated the commentary of OT Tn. This learned Theban is not content with single passages of profound knowledge, or even with an occasional allegory—he makes Homer acquainted with the Jeraisls dispensation, either immediately or mediately, and bestows upon him a fuller spirit of foreknowledge than any of the Jewish prophets possessed : for, in this commentator's view, the Odyssey is a complete system of allegorical prophecy as regards the modern social and even religious world. From the acknowledged obscurity which attends upon allegory in general, it would be difficult to con- vey an idea of the Odysseyan interpretation of OT T/2; but we may note a few of his notions. He infers that the wanderings by which the hero acquired his experience and wisdom, typify the future circumnavigation of the globe; though he allows the right of free judgment on this point to the reader. The visit Neptune pays to the Ethiopians, leaving the field clear to the other gods to favour Ulysses, is a prophecy relating to the slave-trade and its ultimate downfal. Telemachus represents "the rising generation in a reforming age," (the Italics are the author's); and his boat with twenty rowers is neither more nor less than the Greek alphabet." The Cyclops are a type of ecclesiasti- cal despotism, and Calypso of the Christian church ; the Phrecians, who hospitably received Ulysses, represent such of the higher classes as are favourable to the granting of reforms when the people apply for them ; and the suitors and their destruction—bat or Ta shall expound this for himself.

" After all his toil and travel, it is the lot of the hero to be restored to his country sleeping; an indication surely of a change to be effected in society,. during a profound and continued PEACH. But the deaosesurst which eusues, the reader will perhaps say, is sufficiently sanguinary. So indeed it is, is the figures eniployed; but the true Inter- pretation (as regards ourselves) may present itself with irrefragable certainty under the form of actions and suits at law. of proceedings in Chancery. if legislative enact. smuts, of associations for ejecting benevolent and corrective changes, by voluntary sad reasonable proceedings, approved by society at large."

It is a matter of small consequence in such an edition, but still it is a trait worth noting, that or ri makes "no pretensions to Grecian learning"; but, on the strength of BARNES'S Latin version, he "ventures to suggest"' At variety of corrections in COWPER'S text.] The Odes of Horace. Translated by JOHN SCRI.EN. [Mr. Scarier; says that his "chief aim has been to render the Odes into English as literally as the laws of rhythm would allow": an end which he has achieved, and not unsuccessfully. The Odes as they here stood are a poetical or at least a versified construe : the sense of HORACE is mostly given, and his mode so far as literalness can express it ; but the spirit of his diction and the graces of his manner are gone.

An example will give an idea of the manner in which the body of poetry may be imitated whilst the soul escapes. We will take a very well-known passage from the Third Ode of the First Book.

" Stout oak, I ween, and triple fold Of brass begirt his bosom bold. Who first his fragile vessel gave To sail upon the ruthless wave; Where Africus, in riot-rage.

And stormy Amino engage; Nor fear'd the mournful Hyades, Nor angry Notes' boisterous breeze, Than Whom no greater power presides To lush or lull the Adrian tides.

What form of death could terrify The man who view'd, with tearless eye. Sea-monsters huge—the tempest's shocks- Aerocemunia's ill-famed rocks ?

The prudent deity in vain The earth dissevers from the main.

If still our vessels, impious, leap The bounds of the forbidden deep."]

The Last Days of Francis the First, and other Poems. By JOBE TEIOMAS MOTT.

[The dozen occasional poems of which this volume consists are smooth and Rowing; but they have nothing in their sentiments or their diction to separate them from the mass of annual verses. There seems a certain stage in allots when the mechanicals have reached such perfection, and the cultivation of them mechanicals is so widely extended, that every one with the slightest aptitude may attain a formal excellence. Sculpture and architecture had probably reached this point in Greece, and still more in the colonies of Asia Minor : It- terature had perhaps attained it in Rome; as it certainly has in England. It iS not that productions of this kind are always bail; but they are common. Could all of the class perish save two or three, they would be valued like apples in the Tropics: being so numerous they are valued like apples in an orchard- district.] Abel. Written, but with great humility, in reply to Lord Byron's "Cain." By OWEN HOWELL. [Mr. HOWELL'S humility is more apposite than his controversial poetry. Abel is no "reply" to Cain, because it is not at all like it or on a level with it. Lord Bs-noses sceptical "mystery" was not very profound, but it was a picturesque and forcible expression of doubts and passions that agitate men, in something of a dramatic shape. This Abel has nothing mysterious in it : it is a mild and amiable sermon, put into blank verse, and shaped into a col- loquy, first between Abel anti Lucifer, and then between Abel and Michael. It expresses some common doubts feelings, and aspirations of religious people, but neither forcibly nor dramatically.] A Week at Killarney. By Mr. and Mrs. S. C. HALL. [Mr. and Mrs. LIALL's Week at Killarney is an offshoot of their larger work on Ireland. The local information necessary for the tourist has been collected in the course of a trip made for this especial purpose, and incorporated with the topographical and descriptive matter relating to that portion of the country. The different routes are first separately laid down ; the features of the scenery and the antiquities of the places along the route are indicated ; and a separate chapter is devoted to "business notes,"—comprising the inns, their accommo- dation' and charges, conveyances and their fares, guides, &c. Killarney, its mountains and lakes, glens and waterfalls, are then described; not yerhaps wish the eloquence of some preceding writers' yet with sufficient distinctness to convey a hint of the characteristics of the district, the fine engravings of CHESWICK'S beautiful views, and the numerous wood-cuts of ruins, rocks, and other picturesque and curious objects, well supplying the place of minute verbal painting. The legends and sketches of character interspersed enliven the travelling-sketches ; and bring out Mrs. HALL'S feminine tact in delineating traits of individuality. Five days are dented to the beauties of Killarney,— one, we suppose, being left to allow for the very probable chance of a compelled sojourn within doors: each day's excursion is planned with a view to the visiter's convenience. The attractions of the place are not to be enumerated in • sentence; but the mere mention of Mucross Abbey, Tore Waterfall, Man - mr/on Mountain, the Gap of Dunloe, the "Black Valley," the Isle of "Fair innisfallen," with its ruined abbey embowered in luxuriant evergreens, and the echoes from the "Eagle's Nest "—not forgetting the renowned echo that an- swered Paddy Blake—may serve togive a hint of some of the various features- and if the miter should arrive at the time of a stag-hunt, the measure of en : joyment will he full. The only drawbacks to the pleasure of this trip are the showers and the beggars.] A Summer's Day at Windsor, and a Visit to Eton. By EDWARD JESSE, Surveyor of her Majesty's Parks and Palaces. A new edition. [The thorough knowledge and brief and business-like manner in which the information is stated by Mr. JESSE, coupled with the beauty and utility of Mr- MURRAY'S illustrations, have given great attraction to this guide to Windsor. Yet brief as Mr. Jesse is in many parts, he appears to deem it necessary to make up a quantum list". of the cicerone's verbiage in some respects. Besides other poetry, he prints the whole of GRAY'S Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College—as if anybody who would care about it would care about meeting it there. This, however, is better than fragments of verse, unless, as in the case of Herne's Oak, they illustrate an object to be seen.]

The Iodated Waters of .Fleilbrunn in Bavaria, considered with reference to their efficacy in the treatment of scrofulous, cutaneous, and other

diseases. By Sir ALEXANDER MACKENZIE DOWNIE, M.D., &c. [A brief account of a spa in Upper Bavaria, condensed from a celebrated Ger- man work by Dr. WETZLER on the Waters of Heilbrunn. The waters are principally efficacious in scrofulous and cutaneous disorders; and the object of the publication is to call the attention of the British public to this spa. But it would be well both for physician and patient to consider, that at present, whatever the efficacy of the waters may be, the place contains no proper accommodation for an English invalid ; and we question whether such a person could comfortably get thither without a heavy expense.]

The Book of Precedents of Examinations, Orders of _Removal, and other Instruments in Parochial Settlement ; with proofs, exemplifications, and cautions. By PARCEL H. GAEL, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, and one of her Majesty's Justices of the Peace. [This is an attempt to teach the law of parochial settlement by an exhibition of its practice. A series of business precedents are given under every branch of the subject; to which are prefixed general observations and annotations accompanying the forms. Thus the rural authority who has to act, or who wishes to act under the law, selects the precedent he thinks applicable to the case: if he doubts, or is ambitious, or there is any peculiarity in the matter, he may read the notes upon his form ; if he is still puzzled, he may study the general account of that section of the law, and thus by degrees acquire a practical knowledge of the law of settlement. The plan is ingenious—perhaps something more : for it is by this means that men gather living knowledge, and that Nature herself teaches us. The execution is full and painstaking ; though we think the volume will require some prelimininary practice to use it.] The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Cram.

[Coarse and cheap.]

SERIALS.

PM' Principles of Forensic Medicine. By WILLIAM A. GUY, M. B. Cantab.,

Professor of Forensic Medicine, King's College, London, &c. Part I. [This work is designed to furnish the medical student with a brief view of the an upon subjects respecting which the practitioner is liable to be called upon to give evidence, as well as to supply a compendious account of the points to which his attention should be directed, and of the facts and considerations by which his conclusions should be guided. The subjects in this first number are scarcely of a kind for popular notice; but we observe that the arrangement is orderly and the explanation clear. It strikes us, however, that extreme cases have been quoted without sufficient warning as to their value. We do not mean that they are unauthorized, but that the authorities belong to an age of credulity, when monstrosities of all kinds were in vogue. Mr. Gus, too, does not always seem sufficiently attentive to his law. Rape is surely no longer punished with death, as he represents at page 49.]

Essays. By IL W. EMERSON. (SHARI'S Standard Library.) [The:cheaper reprint of a work we noticed at length in a more expensive English edition, sonic two years ago.]

Tecumseh, or the West Thirty Years Since ; a Poem. By GEORGE H. COTTON. (Smith's Standard Library )

[The reprint of an American poem, whose appearance in a native edition we chronicled a short time since. We should have doubted whether its intrinsic merits entitled it to the unprofitable honour of a reprint.]

Boz's Martin Claude:lit, No. IK.

Thornton's History of the British Empire in India, Volume V. Part V. la Novel Newspaper, Part LXVII.—" Isabel; or a Pilgrimage in Sicily." By HENRY T. TUCHERMAN.

PERIODICALS.

Magazines for September—Blackwood's, Tait's, Fraser's, Ainsworth's, Il- luminated, Story-Teller, British, Asiatic Journal. ILLUSTRATED WORKS AND PRINTS.

Gailhabaud's Ancient and Modern Architecture, Part XII.

Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland Illustrated, Part XXVIII. PAMPHLETS.

A Plea for Liberty of Education. A Second Letter to the Right Ho- nourable Sir James Graham, Bart., one of her Majesty's Principal Se-

cretaries of State, on the Educational Clauses of the Factories Bill. By Joan HOWARD HINTON, M.A., one of the Secretaries of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland. Irish Landlords, Rents, and Tenures; with some Observations on the effects of the Voluntary System by which their Church is supported on the Moral and Social Condition of the Roman Catholic Population. By an Irish Roman Catholic Landowner.

The True Character and Certain Consequences of, our Present Currency System, shown by Sir James Graham, Bart., in his " Corn and Cur- rency."

The Defeater Defeated: being a Refutation of Mr. Day's Pamphlet en- titled "Defeat of the Anti-Corn-law League in Huntingdonshire." By issiza HILL, Author of "Daily Bread," &c.

A -Plea for the Poor : a Refutation of the Assertions of the Anti- Corn-law League, and the Honourable and Reverend Baptist W. Noel. By the Poor Man's Friend. Fifth edition. With additions. A Corrected Report of the Speech of H. G. Ward, Esq., M.P.. in the House of Commons. on the 1st of August 1843, on the Irish Church. The Constitutional Charter of the Kingdom of Saxony. Translated from the German, with Prefatory Notes. by HENRY SCHrITZE, Esq. "The End," the Time of Divine Interpretation, and the Duty and Peace of" Waiting for it." A Sermon preached in West George Street Chapel, Glasgow, on Lord's Day, 4th August 1843, on occasion of the lamented death of the Reverend John Morell Mackenzie, A.M., who perished in the wreck of the steamer Pegasus on the morning of 20th July 1843. By RALPH WARDLAW, D.D. With a Documentary Appendix. The System of Late Hours in Business; its Evils, its Causes, and its Cure. By ARTHUR J. KING.

SOME Observations on Propriety of Style, particularly with reference to the Modern Adaptation of Gothic Architecture. By EDWARD HALL, Architect. (From the Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal.) A Journey to Harmony Hall, Hampshire. (From the Morning Chronicle of Tuesday the 13th December 1842)

MUSIC.

A Practical and Theoretical Method for the Pianoforte. By HENRY LEMOINE. Fourth edition.

I cannot forget thee. Ballad written by A. F. WErratecorr, Esq.; Music by Mrs. J. H. YOUNG.

Farewell ! I may not see thee more. Ballad written and composed by Mrs. J. H. YOUNG. Oh! why did I love thee? Ballad written and composed by Mn, J. U. YOUNG.