5 DECEMBER 1846, Page 19

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

BOOKS.

_Lucretia, or the Children of Night. By the Author of "Rienzi," &c. In three volumes.

The Will, or the Half-Brothers; a Romance. In three volumes.

Florentine History, from the Earliest Authentic Records to the Accession of

Ferdinand the Third, Grand Duke of Tuscany. By Henry Edward

Napier, Captain in the Royal Navy, F.R.S. In six volumes. Volume IL Characteristics ofMat of Genius. In two volumes.

The tendency of the age to mechanical decoration in connexion with literature, which we noticed last week, is extending itself even to smaller publications. The approach of 'Christmas doubtless contributes to induce the bibliopoles to throw more of taste and even richness into the getting-up of their publications, in order to render them more presentable as gift-books for the approaching season-' but we do not remember to have seen such numbers before us at once as during the pre- sent week. From Herdsmen and Tillers of the Ground down to Tales about Shipwrecks, more or less of prettiness, and here and there of almost gorgeousness of garb, characterizes the entire list.

The Herdsmen and Tillers of the Ground; or Illustrations of Early Civili- zation. By Mrs. Percy Sinnett. Lille object of this volume, like one which preceded it, is to furnish matter for Yee outlines of a history of civilization, by exhibiting mankind in their primitive or "savage " condition. If we remember rightly, the predecessor of Herdsmen and Tillers of the Ground was occupied with the American Indians Esquimaux, and tribes in a similar state. The book before us deals with people a step or two in advance of the hunter's and fisher's life; treating of the nomads nations -of Asia and Eastern Europe—the Siberians, Mongols, and Cossacks; the more agricultural tribes of Africa, especially the wanderers of the Great Desert, toge- ther with the mountaineers of the Caucasus; and the Nogay Tartar settlers on the Sea of Asoph, who are agriculturists by order of Russia. The book is a compilation, but an able one—painstaking, clear, and well knit together. Herds- men and Tillers of the Ground is a very elegant and agreeable description of national characteristics, deriving an added interest from the object of the writer. If the reflections with which it is occasionally interspersed are not taken from the travellers who furnish the materials, she may almost aspire to a philosophical rank.] January Eve; a Tale of the Times. By George Soane, B.A.

Soane forestalls a charge that might be brought against him of imitating

by pronouncing Boz inimitable, and by stating that one tale which he was charged with imitating from the Christmas Carol was published:before that work. In this January Eve there is some resemblance to the tales of Dickens that ap- pear at Christmas time; but it is all external. Mr. Soane wants the genial spirit, though partaking largely of claptrap, which enables Dickens to appeal to the sympathies of the mass of mankind, and the tact which induces him generally to avoid things repugnant to the feelings, even when carrying his readers among the -very dregs of society. In both these important points Mr. Soane falls short. Ills January Eve deals too much in politics after the old Tory style of painting " village politicians " at a public-house; and the principal character of the tale is a not very pleasing person. The scheme of the story is to make a village Radical poacher, Tom Starlight, develop himself as a tyrant when raised to sudden -affluence by the art of a rich Indian uncle who feigns death in order to try him, 'andappears in propria persona when Mr. Starlight is found wanting. This con- laivance is stale enough; and there is little of novelty in the other characters, or of :keeping in the tale.] Partners for Life; a Christmas Story. By Camilla Toulmin. With Illus- trations by John Absolon.

[The reconciliation of a rich and haughty merchant to his two sons—one of whom had married a governess, and the other run into debt and fallen in love— farms the denouement of this story of mercantile and domestic life. The good angel of the, lot is the proud merchant's cheerful and kind-hearted partner; and the happiness of all parties is consummated at a Christmas dinner. The persons and scenes are of the kind that one meets with in books rather than in actual life; for though there is nothing absolutely impossible in the cir- cumstances, and there are many touches of commonplace truth in description, the characters are vague and unreal for want of individuality, and there is an artifi- cial air about the whole story. Miss Tonlmin aims at simplicity of style, and is sometimes facetious, sometimes pathetic; but her powers and manner are better suited to youthful than adult readers, and would have figured to better advan- tap, probably, in a juvenile story. Mr. Absolon's illustrations are praiseworthy for the artist's attempt to give a graceful air to modern persons and ordinary costume without sacrificing verisi- militude, and to blend poetical ideas with common occurrences. The book is pretty, outside and inside.]

My Youthful Companions. By the Author of " My Schoolboy Days." [In the framework of this little book, a supposed old gentleman gives a series of accounts of his school-companions, both in youth and after-life. They have not any striking interest in the matter; and the manner is not equal to many juvenile works--too fine and too artificial, as if the writer were condescending to write to the capacities of children.] The Sequel to Old Jolliffe. Written in the same Spirit, by the same Spirit. [A little romance of common life, in which " Old Jolliffe " is the benevolent power that raises the poor and wretched to happiness and prosperity, and gives lessons of charity to lus neighbours. The style is somewhat affected in its home- liness; but the pretty pictures that the writer paints in words, and the kindly " spirit" of the story, disarm objection.) Rural Pickings; or Attractive Points in Country Life and Scenery. By the Author of " Points and Pickings of Information about China," &c.

[The topics of this volume are the various features of rural scenery, intermingled with sketches, ' anecdotes and short stories, as well as poetical quotations. So far as the character and matter are concerned, it bears a resemblance to some of Thomas Miller's books on the same subject; but, though well and earnestly written, it wants the freshness and apparent accuracy of that writer's descrip- tions. Miller seems to have drawn his landscapes from nature, or rather, nature has impressed certain scenes upon his mind: the author of Rural Pickings appears to have been more indebted to his memory and fancy than to direct observation. His pieces are compositions rather than transcripts, and his feelings upon and about the scene predominate over the description of the scene itself.] My Own Annual; an Illustrated Gift-Book for Boys and Girls. Edited by Mark MerriwelL LA series of papers for the juvenile reader, partly selected, but chiefly original; combining fiction and information. Some are biographical—as the notice of Ma- 'hemmed Ali; others contain the information of geography and the animation of travels—as the account of Jerusalem; there are fairy tales for those who like them, juvenile stories for those who prefer more seeming matter of fact; and the lover of natural history will not find himself altogether neglected. The mechani- cal, however, it must be owned is the chief point in the volume: it is the binder with his scarlet and gold, the engraver with his hundred cuts of various merit, ”whogivee a prominence to the publication, that its own literary character would Metliemand.ferit.] Christmas Rhymes; or Three Nights' Revelry.

[An elegant volume of verse and pictures, the production of a family party: two sisters, Elish and Frances Lamont, contribute the " Rhymes " and their illustra- tions, and the Brothers Lamont are the publishers. A modest preface, and indi- cations of talent, though but imperfectly developed, dispose one to receive this voluntary offering with the favour that all graceful and agreeable attempts at entertainment are entitled to at holyday times.

The " Christmas Rhymes" consist of ballads of romantic legends and local superstitious, supposed to be narrated by those of the guests, assembled to keep Christmas in an old baronial hall, upon whom the lot falls to entertain the com- pany; a description of the festivities and the characters assembled serving as the setting to the stories.

Elish Lamont possesses a flow of versification, and a vague, dreamy, sugges-

tive kind of narrative, of suited to the class of subjects. Her designs are re- markable for a sense of the beautiful, and a perception of character in expres- sion; though the want of skill in art obscures these qualities.] The Horse and his Rider; or Sketches and Anecdotes of the noble Quadru- ped, and of Equestrian Nations. By Rollo Springfield. [A selection of anecdotes of horses and horsemen, with information about the horse, freely taken from various sources, and cleverly pat together. The number of anecdotes, individual, national, and from natural history, renders the matter very readable; and some dashing plates add a gift-book appearance to the volume.] Tales about Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea. By Peter Parley, Author of Tales about Europe," Ste. Embellished with forty-nine Engravings. [Narratives of some of the most remarkable shipwrecks; connected together by the personality of the narrator, and told in Peter Parley's peculiar style. The little book is full of interest from the character of its subjects.] The £neid of Virgil; with English Notes, Critical and Explanatory; a Metrical Clavis; and an Historical, Geographical, and Mythological Index. By Charles Anthon, LL.D. &c. Edited, with considerable alterations, and adapted to the use of English schools and colleges, by the Reverend W. Trollope, [Another edition of Anthon's £ueid; which was prepared before the appear- :ince of its two predecessors, but delayed through the death of Mr. Tegg. The principle on which the English editor, the Reverend Mr. Trollope, has pro- ceeded, is rather to take Anthon as a basis, than to reprint him. He very materi- ally cats down the translations of common passages, which it is the business of the pupil to construe for himself, and adds new matter bearing " upon peculiari- ties of language and construction? It is probable, notwithstanding Hr. 'frollope's omissions, that further condensation and excision might advantageously be applied. ] The New Speaker, and Holyday Task-Book. Selected from Classical Gniek, Latin, and English Writers. By the Reverend W. Sewell, B.D., Fellowand Tutor of Exeter College, Oxford. [A selection of passages from Greek, Latin, and English writers, of a grave and argumentative character; oratorical rather than dramatic, though designed for recitation by pupils at school. Mr. Sewell truly. considers that boys are rarely able to assume a character: perhaps the same inability exists as to their giving proper utterance to lofty moral or political speculations, because they cannot under- stand them. The simplest style of composition in the outset is best adapted to form a good reader or speaker. A youth mouthing the orations of Cicero, or those speeches which Livy and other historians invent for their characters, must be one of two things—flat, or turgid; and the same remark may be made as to Burke and others of his rank.] A New French Grammar, according to the standard of the French Aca- demy; for the use of English learners. With Exercises. By Deldrit Pontet, a native of Paris, &c.

[The chief features of this grammar are the introduction of new and nice points of pronunciation and other mooted questions, with the authorities appended, and the elaborate character of the exercises to each example. Properly studied, the gram- mar seems fitted to supersede an exercise-book altogether: but the earlier exer- cises cannot all be used by the pupil, as he is sometimes called upon to assign the person, tense, and mood to verbs, and so forth, before he has learned them.)

The Obligations of the World to the Bible; a series of Lectures to You

Men. By Gardiner Spring, D.D., New York.

Vital Christianity: Essays and Discourses on the Religion of Man and Ate Religion of God. By Alexander Vinet, D.D., Professor of Thwl.w. Lausanne, Switzerland. Translated, with an Introduction, by Robert Turnbull, Pastor of Harvard Street Church, Boston.

[ Two cheap reprints of American publications; one of which, oddly enough, hi a translation from the French,—less instigated, however, by the foreign reputation of Vinet, than by the recommendation of D'Aubigne, who spoke of him to Mr. Turnbull as the "Chalmers of Switzerland."]

Analysis of the Latin Tongue. Intended for the use of Schools. By the late

Reverend Thomas Cooke, Master of the Endowed School of Middleton.

New edition, enlarged and revised, by the Reverend C. H. Clifford, A.B. [The reprint of a work which was written as an introduction to Conderius, when that book was in fashion. This analysis might then be useful as giving the stu- dent a vocabulary, and exercising him in the inflections and the leading rules of syntax. It is now superseded by publications that, by beginning with the govern- ment of the genitive case, enable the pupil to commence earlier than in the boa before us, which opens with verbs.] Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson. Written by his Widow. To which is prefixed, the Life of Mrs. Hutchinson, written by Herself. Fifth edition. To which is now first added, an Account of the Siege of Lathom House, defended by the Countess of Derby against Sir Thomas Fairfax. (Bohn's Standard Library.) [This reprint contains the notes andadditions of the Reverend Julius Hutchinson, the original editor. Chronological dates and references, with a general index have also been added; and, in compliance with a suggestion in the Edinburgh Review," a few obsolete words and minor defects of phraseology have been spar- ingly altered for those of modern usage": an alteration of a very questionable kind. The "Siege of Lathom House is printed from an original account of un- certain authorship, of which two manuscripts are in existence—one at Oxford, one in the British Museum.] Lives of the Italian Painters. Michel Angelo, by R. Dappa, LL.B. Raffaello by Quatremere de Quincy, Perpetual Secretary of the Academie des Beaux Arts. (Bogue's European Library.) [This volume contains the best critical biographies extant of the two greatest artists in the world. Mr. Duppa's life of Michel Angelo is a careful compilation from Vasari and other authorities, with some dry, formal criticism; valuable chiefly for its facts. The life of Itaffeello, by M. Quatremere de Quincy, ou the contrary, is an animated and learned discourse on- the genius and art of the painter, rather than a biography. Both books, however, will be acceptable in the dearth of is formation about the great Italian painters]

SERIALS.

China Political, Commercial, and Social: Treaties and Intercourse with England, Russia, France, America, &c. By R. Montgomery Martin, Late her Majesty's Treasurer for the Colonial, Consular, and Diplomatic Ser- vices in China, Sro. Part L [In generalplan this publication resembles the author's British Colonies, though in details, from the nature of the subjects. It is also akin to Mr. Montgomery Martin's earlier book, both in its merits and defects. China displays the results of a good deal of reading, and brings together a great many facts; but the reading has not been of a very critical kind, and the facts are rather put to- gether than digested. From the nature of the subject, perhaps, the Topographical section is the neatest and completest ; Banking and Currency the most interest- ing as apparently drawn from living knowledge, not jumbled up from books or Chinese official documents. The Bill and Banking system is curious from its strong resemblance to what ours is now. Some of the Chinese promissory notes are not so transferable as British—rather securities than negotiable instruments. When due, they are not presented by the last holder, but sometimes passed in suc- cession from endorser to endorser, and paid by each. The most " simple and ef- fectual mode," however, is for the holder, with all the endorsers, to wait upon the drawer,—an improvement upon the European mode of dunning singly.] Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son, Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation. By Charles Dickens. With Illustrations by H. B. Browne. No. III.

[The piecemeal mode of publication almost deters us from reporting progress in Mr. Dickens's works. It is excessively inconvenient for the critical reader, and not very good, we suspect, for the writer. It tends to prevent a due appor- tioning of light and shade, since every " part" mast be sparkling—must have some excitement, though the development of story and character might profit more by a quieter style of treatment. And the critic scarcely knows how to estimate the structure from the single bricks. What looks good now may be rendered improper by the sequel, and vice versa. However, Mr. Dickens's un- critical readers are many, and it is his choice to please them. To venture a guess, Dombey and Son makes good progress. It is marked by all the writer's mannerisms, but also by his peculiar powers. Master Paul, the " Son," comes upon the scene as a substantive person at the age of five; and the early indica- tions of his character promise novelty and interest. Other new characters ap- pear, mostly real, and cleverly sketched.] The Irish Railway Guide. No. I. [A revised reprint, from the Handbook for Ireland, of notices of such prominent objects on the different lines of railway as can be observed by a traveller rapidly whirled along. To these topographical descriptions are added lists of the tames of departure of trains, and coaches running in conjunction with them, as well as of the fares, regulations, and so forth. The charges are lower than on the English lines, often much lower.] Gatherings from Spain. By the Author of "The Handbook of Spain"; chiefly selected from that work, with much new matter. Part L (Murray's Home and Colonial Library.) [The parts omitted from the Handbook of Spain are chiefly the antiquarian mate- nals which somewhat overlaid that work, or specific information only useful to the actual traveller. These Gatherings consist of the historical, anecdotical, and descriptive matter; and the additions are of a similar general character. In future, the Handbook will appear without the topics now transplanted to these Gather- ings from Spain.]

ILLUSTRATED WORKS.

The Waverley Novels. Abbotsford edition. Volume XII. [This is the conclusion of the most compact, complete, and handsome edition of the Waverley Novels; a body of fiction almost unrivalled for the extent and va- riety of knowledge and research as well as of inventive power displayed in the works of one author. There have been several imaginative writers as voluminous as Walter Scott; but few so vigorous, various, and refreshing. The Abbotsford edition of the Waverley Novels is unique in regard to the quantity and quality of its illustrations. These twelve volumes contain two thousand wood-engravings of the most elaborate execution, and a hundred and twenty steel plates by the best line-engravers. Wilkie, Landseer, Leslie, and Idulready, are among the painters who have contributed designs; the landscapes include some fine pictures by Turner, Stanfield, Roberts, Allem, and Hill; and portraits, views, and delineations of antiquarian objects, by artists of talent, enrich every chapter. Nothing, in short, that the pencil can supply in the way of illustrating the persons, costumes, usages, and arts of the time and countries where the scenes of the story are laid, has been omitted. These graphic records of the past are eminently valuable as illustrating the novels and romances of Scott; which represent scenery and characters, events and usages, whose originals are traceable in the annals of the time.

The concluding volume has for its frontispiece Wilkie's admirable group of the Scott family, in rustic guise,—in point of character and effect a mas- terpiece of art; and in its pages we are shown the library where the author of Waverley wrote and studied, the bed in which he died, and the tombstone that covers his mortal remains.

This edition forms a noble monument to the genius of Scott, that is worthy to be built up in every book-case in Christendom.]

Burns' Illustrated Catalogue; a list of Popular Works recently published; with Descriptive Notices, and Specimens of the engravings, letterpress, &c. [This selection of specimen-pages from the various illustrated publications of Mr. Burns, comprises examples of the style of several eminent English designers who have drawn upon wood; including Messrs. Cope, Creswick, Dyce, Herbert, Hors- ley, Pickersgill junior, Selena, Tenniel, &c.; and it contains some finely-executed engraving on wood by some of the best artists. Altogether, it exhibits the taste and enterprise of the publisher, and the skill of the artists and printer, in a favour- able light.]