5 JANUARY 1861, Page 21

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Essay on Human Happiness. By the Honourable C. B. Adderley. M.P. Part II.—The first part of the Essay received its due praise from us. It was, as far as it went, excellent. This second part is a worthy sequel to it. It is characterized by the same large and unwavering religious faith, and the same logical appliance of such faith to the work of this world. Here is our life; while we are here, it is our duty to live with our thoughts, our hearts, and our affections here ; not wandering away into the vague future in which we cannot work now. "Ncno is the accepted time, now is the day of Salvation." This great truth, BO overlaid as almost to be smothered amid the false doctrine of mistaken Christrian sects, is at the foundation of Mr. Adderley's admirable little work on "Human happiness." To do God's work—i. e., every good thing we can lay our hand or open our hearts to do—is the duty and the happiness of every man on earth. What his duty may be in a future state will be as clearly revealed to him there, we have little doubt. In our present age and country, men may be divided (according to Mr. Adder- ley) into three classes :—those who have been set free by the work of their ancestors from the necessity of working to lice—in the common animal sense ; those who are partially freed by education or inheritance from toiling for daily bread merely, and those who, from want of in- herited means of living, and from want of education, must needs toil day after day through their lives, that they may live. The present essay considers the condition, the duties, and the happiness which belong to the first of these classes. What he has to say on the subject it behoves, every one belonging, directly or indirectly, to that class to read atten- tively, and use to his profit as much as lieth in him to do.

.Poetical .Reading-Book. (Constable's Educational Series.) By J. D. Morell, W. Ihne.—This is an advanced book in Constable' edneationid

course, one of a kind essential to the student of the English language ; and undoubtedly this is the best book for the study of poetry for those who have already studied prose in this systematic and sensible course of reading. It contains a good selection of poetry. Passages are so divided and marked as to help the pupil to analyze grammatiaally, and to pro- nounce correctly what is written. It is very useful to teachers of the young, as well as to those who teach themselves.

The Oyster; Where, How, and When to Find. Breed, Cook, and Eat it. —Certain of general sympathy, the author of this book pours forth much learning, taste, and gastronomic experience on this delicious mollusc. In every page he 'seems to be chanting, in an undertone,

"Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my Native ? " The book is altogether a pleasant mixture of eating and cooking and digesting, and zoology, and ancient classics, and modern pleasant supper- parties. According to the author, the French owe much of their liveliness to eating so many oysters. How, then, about British want of liveliness ? Why do we take our pleasures so madly. To be sure, oyster suppers are generally only sad when they are over, and have to be paid for, in more ways than one. British oysters are lauded to the utmost by this author—they are a great credit to the country and should be as much loved and honoured among us as Magma Cheerio. What he has to say should be listened to by all who swallow oysters, and agreeable writing with gusto.

Twelve o'Clook. A Christmas Story. By the Author of "Grand- mother's Money."—There is some cleverness in the story narrated here; but the manner of telling it is altogether bad. It is a comic ghost story, or a story meant to be comic, but which is only disagreeable because it turns into ridicule an infirmity of our nature, which should be sacred. The narrator is an unjust steward, who is ninety-four years old, and who has long been considered idiotic by his friends, but whose absurd and in- coherent talk about the ghosts eif use squire and other dead people are soppoaed to be artistic enough in effect on a reader. We are bound to confess that, in spite of the real talent of the author, we find this book very hard to read.

The Mother's Thorough Resource Book.—A little book that would be more valuable if it did not attempt to do so much. The whole duty of woman, of physicians, moralists, and teachers, towards the rising genera- tion is contained in this book. It professes to instruct on every point of difficulty in the rearing of a child. This is manifestly a mistake, and almost hinders the good that the book might do - for it is compiled from various authorities, and some of them are excellent; so that any inex- perienced or unthinking mother, who looks into these pages for help in a special difficulty, will sometimes find it. But she ought to be able to know what is good, and what is not in the advice given. In that ease, abe would do generally as well without the book as with it. Though, occasionally, a sensible woman may find here a word that will avail to put her on the right Morse of action with her child's body or mind.

Every-day Chemistry. By Alfred Sibson.—A very good book on the influences of the great natural agents that foster human life and render - it enjoyable. It does not take precisely the same ground as the Che- mistry of Common Life, though it is very nearly allied to it; nor does it pretend to compete with Liebig's Familiar Letters, although to most _English readers it would have much of their merit as a means of general improvement, physical and mental. The chapters on " Food " form of _course the half of the book, and their contents are such as the works above-mentioned, as well as Dr. Lankester's and other lectures have made familiar to most persons. The chapters on the "Chemistry of Ourselves," and "On Fire, in relation to its usefulness to Man, are well worth attention, as they are full of knowledge made into useful prac- tical information.

Handbook of Astronomy. By Dionysius Lardner, D.C.L. Second edition, revised and edited by Edwin Dunkin, F.R.N.S.—This new edition of Dr. Lardner's well-known handbook of Astronomy is well printed and carefully edited, so as to look as attractive as it is useful to the scientific student.

The Magic of Science. By James Wylde.—Among the many books written to make science " pleasant " to young people, this is one of the very best. It is simple, free from technical terms as much as possible, and yet the experiments are described with scientific accuracy. The secret of their charm to the young lies in the fact that most of the ex- periments may be performed without a laboratory or chemical apparatus. An ordinary play-room, with a few utensils and appliances, improved by . the performer, will suffice for great wonders.

27uve Gems in One Setting. By A. L. Bond.—The three gems are "The Poet's Song" by Alfred Tennyson, "Field Flowers" by Thomas Campbell, and "The Pilgrim Fathers" by Mrs. Hemans." Each verse of the Laureate's poem is enclosed in a setting or coloured frame-work in a spurious style of manuscript decoration, with a little picture descrip- tive of the sentiment, enclosed in the lunette above, also done in chromo- lithograph. The idea is not bad, but the style does not at all comport with the fanciful sentiment of the poem ; neither does the work do justice to the particular mode of setting pearls before the eye. "Field Flowers" is more happy in the illustration; but here again, the borders lack the lightness, delicate tracery, and the purity of tint which always belong to wild flowers. The vignettes in the "Pilgrim Fathers" are the best of any., though still very deficient in true landscape tints. The best setting is the binding, which is really extremely pretty, on the new plan of sunk panels, the centre one of which contains a small moonlit landscape.

The 4,1 Album, Sixteen Facsimiles of Water-colour Drawings.— The art of imitating water-colour drawings has now been brought to such a pitch of rivalry with the originals, that at the first glance it is often difficult to tell which is the work of the brush, and which the impress from the stone. But the aquarelle is of too airy and ethereal a build to be bandied rudely ; and it is for the comfort of Miss Cattermole, Duncan, Hunt, and other eminent colourists, that we say honestly there is very little prospect of their art suffering any debasement from the ad- vance of lithography. The exact purity and truth of Nature's tints are never quite within the grasp of the mechanical artist. This very elegantly- bound album is a fair specimen of colour-printing; and, in one or two instance; the imitation of the original drawing is sufficiently good to make it a very acceptable suggestion of a picture which we cannot posses; though we should hardly like to do such injustice to the originals as to say that the facsimiles might be mistaken for them.

The Book of South Wales--the Wye and the Coast. By Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall.—This volume forms a pleasant guide-book enough, and the illustrations of many of the picturesque spots by the way are profusely scattered through its pages. They are exceedingly good specimens of wood-engraving, and evidently taken from the drawings of an artist thoroughly alive to all the best views of the different interesting subjects. As to the descriptions, it is scarcely necessary to say that they are written in the agreeable manner for which the authors are se ranch esteemed.

Boons.

Tales from Greek Mythology. By George W. Cox, M.A.

The Lost Tribes and the Saxons of the East and of the West : with new views er Buddhism, and Translations of Rock-records in India. By George Moore, M.D.

Egypt in its Biblical Belations and Moral Aspect. By J. Foulkes Jones, B.L. Bermuda; its History, Geology , Climate, Prodacts,Agriculture, Commerce, mid Goverament, from the Karliest Period to the Present Time ; with hints to In- valids. By Theodore L. Godet, M.D.

The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature; containing an account of rare, curious, and useful books. Part VI.

The Two Cosmos. A tale of fifty years ago. Two volumes.

Lady Elinor Mordaunt; or Sunbeams in the Castle. By Margaret Maria Gordon.

The Life of William Scoresby, M.A., D.D., F.R.SS. L. and E., Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, Sm. By his .Nephew.R.E. Scoresby- Jackson.

Arctic Explorations ; the Second Grinnell Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, 54, 55. By Mishit Kent Kane, M.D., U.S.N.

Mysteries of Lire, Death, and Futurity; illustrated from the best and latest authorities. By Horace Welby.

Fit to be a Duchess : with other stories of Courage and Principle. By Mrs. Gillespie Smyth.

The Picture History of England; in eighty beautiful engravings, accompanied by an Historical Summary.

The Bummer Tour of an Invalid.