31 MAY 1845, Page 17

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

From May aut to May 29th.

BOOKS.

Memoirs of the Naval Worthies of Queen Elizabeth's Reign; of their gallant Deeds, daring Adventures, and Services in the infant state of the British Navy. With brief Biographical Notices of the respective Commanders. Illustrated by numerous Autograph Letters and other unpublished Manuscript Documents. By John Barrow, Esq., F.R.S., Author of "The Life of Drake," &c.

Lives of the Queens of England, from the Norman Conquest; with Anec- dotes of their Courts, now first published from official Records and other authentic Documents, private as well as public. fly Agnes Strickland. Volume VIII.

On Certain Tests of a Thriving Population. Four Lectures delivered be- fore the University of Oxford, in Lent Term 1845. By Travers Twisa, D.C.L., F.A.S., Professor of Political Economy, and Fellow of University College, Oxford.

Verdicts of Coroner's Juries : The Case of the late Mr. Cordwell. By P. F. Curie, M.D.

[In the office of Coroner Mr. Wakley has earned more notoriety than repute, and his repute will not be improved by the present publication. The inquest on Mr. Cordwell took place, it will be remembered, about ten weeks back; his death having occurred after he had been four days under the care of Dr. Roots and Mr. Headland. Previously to this time, however, he had been attended by Dr. Curie; and as he had been directed by that gentleman, on account of fever, to abstain from sustenance during a period of ten days, the Jury unanimously expressed "the strongest feelings of indignation and disgust"; in which Mr. Wakley, who just before the verdict had recommended Dr. Curie to say nothing, "as there was no charge against him," "emphatically" concurred. . Wakley, being uninformed of the masons for which Dr. Curie had ordered the abstinence, except that it was on accountof fever, has thus evidently committed himself to the doctrine, that ten days in such cases is, under any circumstances, an improper period. Dr. Curie now shows, by a host of interesting cases, and of quotations from authorities—Dr. Andrew Combo, Dr. Craigie, Dr. Andral, Dr. Elliotson, and others—that such an idea could only result from ignorance; and the Surgeon-Coroner is adroitly placed at variance with the most experienced writers of his profession. Apart from this, Dr. Curie's lucid statement of Mr

Cordwell's " case " shows that it was rationally considered, and that there IS certainly no evidence but that it was rightly treated.]

The Triumph of Evil; a Poem, in eight cantos. By the Reverend John Hobart Caunter, B.D., Domestic Chaplain to the Earl of Thanet, Vicar of Hailsham, Sussex.

[The primary theme of The Triumph of Evil is the Fall of Man; but Mr. Caunter has designed a species of narrative poem, that shall embrace the leading events of sacred -history to the Deluge, though he closes his present volume with the death of Abel. The unfitness of these primeval and Scriptural subjects for poetry we have often commented upon, and the present attempt does not alter our opinion. Mr. Caunter displays great fluency of diction, and copiousness of invention; he has some poetical spirit, and great facility in the mechanics of his art, as regards sounding words, well-sustained composition, and versification both smooth and strong. But he cannot reach the climax which Milton prayed to attain, " the heighth of this great argument." Sometimes his additions or ex- pansions are skilful; but they are rather clever than great, which the subject re- quires, belonging too much to the character of our everyday life: sometimes they verge upon the ludicrous,—as when the author represents Cain as a sheep- stealer, paying nightly visitations to his brother's flocks: but in either case, the tone is too much of this world. Upon an humbler and an artificial theme the qualities we have marked as distinguishing Mr. Caunter would have conduced to greater success; though his work would ever, we fancy, be rather rhetorical than poetical.] England Won; a Poem. By John G. IL Bourne, formerly Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; Author of "The Exile of Idris," &c. [This is a species of epic poem, with the Norman Conquest for its subject: but we fear Mr. Bourne is hardly equal to so large a theme. His verse is some- what .prosaic; his ideas of an epic on an Anglo-Saxon subject seem imitated from Imitations of classical writers; and the manners have no relation to the days of Harold or William the Conqueror.] Flowers of the Maths and Even Song; or, Thoughts for those who rise early. By Mary Roberts, Author of "Ruins and Old Trees associated with Memorable Events in English History," &c. [This is a charming little volume. Botanical characteristics, rural description, English home feelings, poetry, anecdote, and larger story, are all agreeably inter- mingled, yet without the slightest approach to inflation, or even rising beyond a refined and elegant youthfulness of style. The subjects of Aliss Roberts are those simple wild flowers that open in the morning and close towards the evening, or vice versa. These, to the number of fifteen, are taken in succession; their pecu- liarities and haunts described, often with the scenery in which they are found; quoted or original verses are intermixed with the more strictly botanical account, and occasions used to point a moral or introduce an incident, as the effect pro- duced in Hindostan among the home-sick Anglo-Indians of all ranks, when a few daisy-seeds that had been accidentally carried thither sprung up in the stranger soil. Groups of plants coloured exhibit to the eye of the reader the ac- tual forms of those flowers whose characteristics have been presented to the mind.] Economy; or a Peep at Our Neighbours. [The outpourings of the lady-head of an English family which went from Devonshire to Guernsey in order to economize. In one place the fair writer states as the result of her experience' that three hundred a year in that Channel Island will go as far as six hundred in England; but afterwards she drops to a more probable estimate, assigning one hundred to England and seventy to Guern- sey. Even this rate, however, would appear to be gained in pert by adopting more sordid customs—by doing without things, as much as by baying them cheaper. The style of the work is very flimsy, and all the actual information or interesting sketches of the 875 pages, we really think, could have been put into the odd seventy-five. The rest is mere reverie or writing; as Hamlet tells Polonius, when he asks what he is reading, "words, words, words."] Margaret; or the Gold Nine. From the French of Elie Bertha. [The scene of this translated tale is laid in Dauphine, about the middle of the last century. The "gold mine" is a vein of gold that a noble recluse accident- ally discovered; and his son, by means of it, works a variety of wonders upon the barren country, the happiness of the mountaineers,. and a pair of fugitive lovers, one of whom turns out to be his nephew. There is a good deal of pleasing description, and some clever sketches of character and Alpine life; nor, as the translator observes, is the story disfigured by the vicious morality of the modern French school. The moral atmosphere of Margaret, or the Gold Mine, is how- ever, foreign; as is the general character of the tale,—which, at least to English notions, seems improbable and purposeless in its main incidents.] A Hand-book of Foreign Cookery.' principally French, German,:and Danish: intended as a Supplement to all English Cookery Books. [Mr. Murray has hit upon a true mode of softening national differences, by asking the British public to dine with the Germans, French, and Danes: for how can the bon vivant who has been touched by all these delicacies do other than respect the authors of them? We have had no opportunity of testing the merit of the eight hundred and odd receipts spread out before us, and the proverb touching the proof of the pudding applies to every article in a cookery-book. The subjects, divisions, and subdivisions, are, as may be supposed, very various; the Hand- book appears particularly rich in soups, game, and confectionary or preparations of fruit,. But the foreigners have the confidence to presume to teach a British cook how to dress roast-beef and leg-of-pork If we might attempt to penetrate the heart of such mysteries, we should say that the principle of this cookery is careful cultivation. It is too much the fashion in this country, especially amongst the lower and middle classes' to fancy that many other things besides cookery will do themselves, if once set a-going.] Constructionis Graces Psvectyta, in us= scholarum. Concinnavit Joanne. Gulielrous Donaldson, S.1.B., Wear Schohe Sitomago-Burieasis Kees- ter; Colleg. SS. Trin. spud Cautabrig. nuper Socius. [A little book of rules for Greek composition, ,n in the sense of correct construc- tion; which Mr. Donaldson has written in Latin, partly because he thinks the rules are better retained in the memory. The words may be ; but is their sense better understood? We believe that habit often gives boys a kind of facility in applying a rule in Latin without any true conception of its principle—that they could not state its meaning in their own words.] Travels in England and Wales. By J. G. Kohl. Translated from the German, by Thomas Roscoe, Esq. [A new translation of Kohl's Travels m England, without omissions or abridge- ment. It seems to have been originally published piecemeal, as part of 8. provincial newspaper called the Great Western; and it is said to be very cheap. The binding of the copy before us is neat; the print and paper coarse.]

NEW SERIAL.

Thiers' History of the Consulate and Empire of Napoleon. Translated from the Author's genuine edition, by W. Stapleton, Lsq., Trinity College, Dublin. Part L The "Popular" Library Edition.

[This is a cheap translation of M. Thiers's History, published in weekly numbers and monthly parts, to be completed in a single volume of double-column close print The text is illustrated by notes explanatory of French institu- tions, or descriptive of the scenes of the leading events. At first sight the pub- lication bears a resemblance to Messrs. Whittaker 's Popular Library, Copyright edition; but the "Popular " Library edition is merely an imitation.] NEW PazionaoLL, The Oxford Magazine. No. L May. [This new periodical hardly answers the expectations of its proud title, unless both the mmd and matter of Oxford are behind-hand, imitative, or commonplace. Of its seven principal articles one is from the German, one derived from it. The Maynooth Grant is little more than a peg to hang a censure of Peel upon, and to broach a doctrine which may conceal some Jesuitry, but which looks, as it stands, not very unlike a sectarian's wish for the separation of Church and State. An article on Reform of the Universities, induced by Mr. Christie's motion, is in like manner deficient in breadth and real knowledge of the times; but it contains a proposition that the Universities should set about reforming themselves. The University Galleries is the most appropriate paper in the number; but the crib- dam on the new buildings is scarcely so imminent as an attack upon the architect, Cockerel!, and some complaints about the non-employment of Orford tradesmen, which give it a personal character. A review of "Hawkstone" is somewhat late, unless it had been more complete and powerful. A Tale of the Times is not very new in its subject, which is that of rustic seduction, if seduction it can be called; but it wears an air of greater truth than the generality of these tales, and is more effective from its want of exaggeration; though it contains no conclusion, and excites no sympathy, although it may pity. The next number of The Oxford Magazine is not to appear till November; and the editor is not responsible for the opinions of his.contributora]

ILLUSTRATED WORK.

The Book of Common Prayer Illuminated. Part II.

[The variety and beauty of the typographic embellishments that enrich this sumptuous Prayer-book surpass any previous specimen of ornamental printing. As an instance of the number of different devices, designed by Mr. Owen Jones, for the borders and initial letters of this volume, we may mention that the Marriage-service, which occupies twelve pages in this part, is ornamented by seven different borders and sixteen different initial letters, all printed in red and blue, and displaying as many varieties of intricalh convolutions, typical of the in- dissoluble stringency of the nuptial knot.]