5 JANUARY 1850, Page 22

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Books.

Tan New Year has been distinguished by an extraordinary influx of pub- lications, many of considerable mark and merit, but, when closely looked et, not so promising as they might at first appear for purposes of literary review, since they have long outlived that stage of being. Except a few that fall into the category of eommon trade routine, the week's arrivals may be divided into three classes : 1. Books for probable notice ; 2 New edition; which are more numerous and important than usual; 3. Publica- tions of which a short account will suffice, and which class, indeed, is slighter than usual.

History of Spanish Literature. By George 'Bailor. In three volumes. The Life of John Calvin. Compiled from Authentic Sources, and parti- cularly from his Correspondence. By Thomas H. Dyer.

The Life and Correspondence of the late Robert Southey. Edited by his Son, the Reverend Charles Cuthbert Southey. In six volume. Volume Representative Tien; Seven Lectures. By R. W. Emerson.

The London Prisons: with an Account of the more Distinguished Per- sons who have been confined in them. To which is added, a Descrip- tion of the chief Provincial Prisons. By Hepworth Dixon.

The following list contains new editions of a higher kind than usual,

and some of a superior class. Such is Mr. very handsome edi- tion of' the Life and Voyages of Columbus and his Murray'sCompanions, now com- pressed into three volumes and combined in one work. Mr. Aletander Black has completed the first volume of Mr. Bellingham's translation of Sismondi.' History of the French, the publication of which in parts be- gan about Midsummer. Mr. Alison's History of Europe seems to be ap- proaching its termination, for the end of this tenth volume begins the Russian campaign. The Selections from the Essayists of Queen Anne's day, made by Mrs. Barbauld many years since, on the principle of retain- ing what was permanent or characteristic and rejecting the temporary and commonplace, are published by Mr. Moron in a style of sober elegance, and will form a useful present to the literary student, or the reader who is not confined to the new books of the present day. Dr. Cumming's Lec- tures on the Seven Churches wants the warrant of time which the previous books possess, but the "fourth thousand" of the fttlepage implies popu- larity : the volume is turned out in a smart garb.

Dr. Nichol's Architeture of the Heavens is something more than a new edition, having been entirely rewritten, and almost recast This change has been rendered necessary by the advances that have bean made in as- tronomical knowledge since 1838 ; but the chief inducement to Dr. Ni- chol's labour has been the great discoveries made by the celebrated Hesse telescope, all which have been placed at his disposal, and are incorporated in this edition. It also appears in an ampler size ; is very handsomely printed ; and adorned by some striking designs, from the pencil of the late Mr. David Scott.

The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus; together with the Voy- ages of his Companions. By Washington Irving. A new and revised edition. In three volumes.

The History of the French. By Jean Charles Leonard di Sismondi. Translated by William Bellingham, of Lincoln's Inn. Volume I. History of Europe, from the Commencement of the French Revolution to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815. By Archibald Alison, LL.D., F.R.S.E. New edition, with Portraits. Volume X. Selection: ,from the SNetator, Taller, Guardian, and Freskaider ; with a Preliminary Essay. By Mrs. Barbauld. In two volumes. A new edition.

Apocalyptic Sketches ; or Lectures on the Seven Churches of Asia Minor. By the Reverend John Cumming, D.D. Fourth thousand. The Architecture of the Heavens. By J. P. Nichol.

Daily Bible Illustrations ; being Original headings for a Year, on ash- Tets from Sacred History, Biography, Geography, Antiquities, and Theology. By John Kitto, D.D., F.S.A., &c. Antediluvians and Pa- triarchs. January—March.

[In general purpose this book resembles a good many others that have ap- peared at various times, intended to furnish busy readers with a few pages of matter for daily perusal. The distinguishing feature of Dr. Kifto's under- taking is, that without losing sight of the serious character proper to Scrip- tural exposition, he brings to it a great deal of historical knowledge and scientific discussion, illustrating the more human parts of Scripture by Oriental manners, customs, and records, and the more miraculous by science, as in the opening chapters on creation. It should be observed that Dr. rate stands for the literal interpretation, not the mythical explanation.] The Juvenile Calendar and Zodiac of Flowers. By Mrs. T. K. Hervey. With twelve Illustrations of the Months by Richard Doyle.

[A handsome little book with a variety of useful points. There is a list of i

the most prevalent flowers, birds, and insects in each month ; an account of the customs, festivals, and noted days, with the homely rhymes in which popular observation has embalmed the characteristics of the weather. There is also a monthly essay on some insect and its phxnomena, with a fairy or fanciful tale relating to a flower.] Walks and Talks ; or Aunt Ida's Talcs for Young Persons. By a Lady. [Twenty-two stories, of which seventeen are translations' mostly from the and five are original. They are set in a species of framework ; Aunt Ida and her little companions making excursions, which give rise, more or less appropriately, to the telling of the tales.] The Illustrated Year-Book of Wonders, Events, and Discoveries. Edit- ed by a Popular Writer. [A dozen papers, part original, but the greater portion extract, deseri eve of some of the most remarkable events during the past year; for the onli things that can in any way be called discovery are the Tubular Bridges and the sketch of Mr. Layard's Explorations at Nineveh with their results. A. coal-mine on fire, the French at Rome, Ragged Schools, the Conquest of the Punjaub, Emigration, the Californian Gold Diggings, and similar matters, can-

not be called ovenes, though the subjects may be current and interesting.]

Miranda ; or Three Steps, and Which is the Best. [The three steps in this fairy tale are knowledge, kindness, religion : the heroine, in pursuit of happiness, tries the first with only a temporary suceess ; and is not much happier in the practice of charity, till it is founded on religion.] King Bend's Daughter; a Danish Lyrical Drama. By Ifenrilifettt. Translated by Theodore Martin- Diaryof an Officer of the Brigade of Savoy in the Canipac =ut- bardy. By Gabriel Maximilien Ferrero. Translated by the Fanny di Petsano. tThe author of this Diary accompanied the army of Charles Albert from its first entrance into Lombardy, in March 1848, until its final retirement within itn *WA territories, in the following August. Of what fell within his own wbaervation the officer kept a journal, adding emeething more from the gossip of the camp. The Diary tells nothing new ; but it conveys a lively notion of what the campaign was to an individual; and gives an idea of the ried- mentese military service, which seems much laser than ours.] - Outlines of Physical Geography, Descriptive of the Inorganic Matter of the Globe, and Distribution of Organized Beings ; designed for the use of Schools. By Edward Hughes, F.R.G.S., &c. With eight Maps, compiled by William Hughes, F.R.G.S., &e.

[Another of those 'works on geography that aim at storing the mind with ideas of the structure and pluenomena of the globe, instead of stuffing the &actuary with =died facts. The arrangement is orderly, the descriptive text plain, and the maps though small are clear. The book in reality is a very small miniature of Johnston's Physical Atlas with textual additions from other sources.] A Manual of Explanatory Arithmetic • including numerous carefully- constructed h.Namples, for the use of Elementary and other Schools, and Private Pupils. By Edward Hughes. [Them are two good features in this little book : the sums set are often on questions with which children are familiar, and the principles of the differ- ent formulae are explained in the simplest way. Mr. Hughes professes to dis- card rules; and so he does literally, but the pupil teaches himself the spirit of the rule.] The Home Circle. Volume L [The collected volume of a weekly periodical which we noticed at its com- mencement. Tales, sketches, essays, useful information, miscellaneous mat- ters, with chess for gentlemen and fancy work for ladies, form the substance of the book : its object was to substitute healthy for morbid reading in cheap literature.] The Star of the Wise Men • being a Commentary on the Second Chapter of St. Matthew. By Richard Cheuevix Trench, B.D. Letters to my Children on Moral Subjects. By Reverend J. E. Bennett, M.A. Volume One in a Thousand ; or the Days of Henri Quatre. By G. P. R. James, Esq. (Parlour Library.)

New MAGAZINE.

The Public Good; a New Monthly Magazine, devoted to the Advocacy of Great Principles, the Advancement of Useful Institutions, and the Elevation of Man. No. I. January.

[Strong Liberalism of all sorts, in matter and view, expressed in a style where a combination of force and fancy is aimed at, as if a demagogue or an Exeter hall orator were to try and introduce one of the Graces on to the platform. It is "the mission of The Public Good to promote the interests of the community by elevating the individual, and to increase the happiness of mankind by the spread of intelligence and virtue. It will endeavour to put away social evils by social instrumentalities, political evils by political means, and individual evils by individual efforts. It will show that the pee plc are the only source of legitimate power," with other whilom Whig "toasts or sentiments." But The Public Good is beyond Whiggery. It will advocate religion, but not establishments ; at least so we interpret a fine sentence. It will oppose war and death punishment ; advocate tem- perance, if not teetotalism; and aim at the "mess sans in corpore sand" by important dietary and sanatory improvements." Anti-Slavery, early closing, and all kindred moveinents, will meet with its support; so will education; and in short, ".all the great moral questions which affect the interests and destinies of humanity." And as this is the age of cheap- ness, it will all be done at twopence a month.

The first number has thirty-two pages of small octavo, closely printed in double columns. Its contents consist of a number of short essays on polities, political economy, morals, and, as far as theme goes, philosophy. In addition to which, there are poetry, tales, sketches, and much miscella- neous information of various kinds.]

ALMANACKS.

Of the almanacks and hand-books none are properly new. The New Edinburgh Almanack of Oliver and Boyd is twelve years old ; and sus- tains its high reputation, rather perhaps increases it. The others, though much younger, do not appear for the first time : and in two, perhaps— Who's Who, and The Scottish Temperance LeagileRegister—the al- manac* is quite subordinate to other purposes. Who's Who is a useful directory to people of station, from the Royal Family down to Sergeants- at-law and Directors. The Temperance Register contains a great many facts respecting the " movement " ; but the list of members is the feature of the book. No one can join "the Scottish Temperance League," to oblige his influential friends, trusting to break his pledge in. a snug way: wherever he is personally known the Register detects him; the Took of the very waiter must put him out of countenance. We observe, bo, they have got hold of some names in England, and elsewhere.

Oliver and Boyd's New Edinburgh Almanack and National Repository, for the year 1850.

Ombrological Almanack, for 1850. By Peter Legh, Esq., A.1L The Post Magazine Almanack, and Court and Parliamentary Register, 1850.

The Scottish Temperance league Register and Abstainer's Almanaek, for 1&50.

Who's Who in 1850.

Messrs. Maclure, Mardwtak4 and Maegregm's Almanack.

[An ornamental scene, lithographed and printed in colours, representing the hall of some baronial mansion, whence a knight is leadinga lady to the joust-lists. Hanging partly in the shade, is an almanaek for the current year. It is one of the petty trifles of the kind which serve as gifts to keep the printers in the minds of their customers ; but Messrs. Maclure, Mac- donald, and Macgregor, have among them a more artistic spirit than is often found m "the shop."] ILLVSTRATED Boors aro PRINTS. • The Court Theatre, and Royal Dramatic Record; being a complete

History of Theatrical Entertainments at the English Court, from the time of King Henry the Eighth down to the termination of the series of Entertainments before her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, his Royal Highness Prince Albert, and the Court, at Windsor Castle, Christmas 1848-9. With Illustrations on Steel, by Finden, from De- signs by Messrs. T. Grieve, Telbiu, and John Aolon. Edited by John. K. Chapman. [A courtly account of the theatrical amusements at Windsor Castle, with a reminiscence of precedents in the time of Elizabeth and. her successors; an exact record of the Royal approval conveyed to Mr. Charles Kean and his coadjators at the clew of each of the recent performances ; with critical re- make on the repetitions of those performances at the Haymarket Theatre— for the theatre at the Castle was "strictly private." The text is illustrated by ornamental playbills,—but whether they were fac-similes of the playbills used at the Castle does not appear • by two vignette scenes, in which Telbiztrepresents the outward view oiWindsor Castle and the Internal view

of its temporary proscenium; and by designs from the pencil of Mr. John Absolon, representing the courtly audience and some scenes in the dramas,— but these really appear to be imaginary, for we cannot recognilikeness either in the Court circle .or in the corps dramatique. Mr. A ha always designs with grace awl feeling. The whole vohnne, however, has the air of a fiction "founded on fact," got up in splendid binding.] .l'uneles Presentation Plate to the Subscribers of the Art-Unions, [Punch has made a handsome New Year's gift—a real piece of plate " pm- sented to the subscribers to the Art Union" ; that is to say a print re- presenting, a china plate of the renowned willow pattern. It is a little cracked, but riveted; and it has a perfectly solid aspect. We see by the sig- nature that "Horace Mayhew di it."]

Paramturrs.

Remarks on the Water Supplyof _London. By Sir William Clay, Bart, M.P.

Extracts from Journals kept during the Revolutions at Rome and Pa- lermo. By the Earl of Mount-Edgeumbe. Day and Aoght in the Winds e Edinburgh. By George Bell, M.D. A Reply to Dr. raughanls "Letter on the late Post-office Agitation." By James Robert Pears, M.A., Master of the Bath Grammar School,

and late Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. The "Present Prices." By the Reverend A. Hustable, Rector of Sutton Waldron, Dorset. The Nonentity of Romish Saints, andthe Inanity of Romish Ordinances. Two Sermons, by Walter Farquhar Hook, D.D., Vicar of Leeds,

The Dramatic Unities of Shakspere : in a Letter addressed to the Edi- tor of Blackwood's Magazine. By the Reverend N. J. Halpin, A.B, ; M.R.I.A.