PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
.11,rorn August 291h to September Vb. Boox.s.
Sketches on the Shores of the Caspian, Descriptive and PictoriaL By Wil„ Ram Richard Holmes.
Repeal Prize Essays. Essays on the Repeal of the Union, to which the Association Prizes were awarded; with a Supplemental Essay, recom mended by the Judges.
Political Dictionary; forming a work of Universal Reference, both Constitu- tional and Legal; and embracing the terms of Civil Administration of Political Economy and Social Relations, and of all the more important statistical departments of Finance and Commerce. In two volumes. Volume L CWe noted the apparent characteristic of this work on the appearance of its first number; and a volume confirms our original impression—that it is rather an eneyclopredia of political, legal, and economical tenns, than a dictionary: for the words are seldom merely defined, but the things which they represent are elabo- rately expounded—we often have treatises rather than definitions. Getting more than one bargained for, is, however, no topic of complaint; and the purchaser of the Political Dictionary will not only have his expectations in treatment exceeded, but in subjects also, if by the "Constitutional" of the titlepage he understands the British Constitution. The words or rather the things of ancient classical and modem European society are brought before the reader, as well as those peculiar to the United Kingdom—like the "House of Commons," or merely common—as "Rank," "Bills of Exchange." The Grecian " Areopagus," the Roman practice of" Adoption," the French "Assignat " and "Conscription" will indicate the ex- tent to which purely foreign subjects are introduced. The volume contains a vast compendium of useful Information either for reading or reference. It should he observed, however, that the Political Dictionary is based upon the "Penny CyclopTdia " of the same publisher. Many of its articles are reprinted; others are brought down to the present time, where changes have taken place in the in- terim—as the alterations in the Corn-laws and the Bank Charter by the present Ministry; and some are entirely new.] Of Property, and of its Equal Distribution, as promoting Virtue, Population, Abundance. By George Ensor, Esq. [This posthumous publication of a worthy Irishman, but a quaint and perhaps a crotchety writer, is rather a collection of facts that have a relation to the author's views than of arguments to establish the principles on which those views should be founded. The origin of property, and the best mode of regulating its distribu- tion by law, are the themes of Mr. Ensor. In opposition to or rather in exten- sion of Locke's principle, he maintains that possession, not labour, gives a title to property. But surely, possession implies labour; and a labour in relation, if not m proportion, to the nature or value of the property. We gather fruit with less Lsbour than we till land; whilst tillage with enclosure is an additional labour. As regards the distribution of property, Mr. Ensor is opposed to sudden changes or schemes of equality: he only alms at the abolition of the law of primogeniture. None of his views are supported by extensive or deep argument: the good gentle- than was somewhat dogmatic. The book chiefly consists of a vast number of facts exhibiting the manner in which land is held, or the right in property recognized among different peoples; with a precis of the effects of overgrown wealth in vs.. rums states, and of the abolition of primogeniture in France.] Poems. By Allan Park Paton. [Mr. Paton's volume of miscellaneous poetry has more merit than belongs to the numerous poetical publications that vanity is constantly pouring forth; because the poems appear to record his own impressions of things, and the things them- selves have been spontaneously observed, not pointed out to second-hand observa- tion by books. This gives something both of reality and novelty to several of his pieces; and the matter is not injured by a borrowed mode. Mr. Paton's versifi- cation, though rough and inarnstical, has movement and vigour. He fails in degree rather than in kind. The best of his subjects are either common (rather than commonplace)--as the sufferings of the poor, a tale of rustic seduction- or extreme—as the escape of a vessel from an ice Except where he is avowedly irhitating Freres Whiraecroft, his style does not perpetually recall some other miter: but it is deficient in that largeness or comprehension which conveys the whole by a few touches, prevents iterative description, and is, in short, poetry, so far as poetry depends upon style or diction.]
Poems by a Father and a Daughter.
[beyond an initial signature, which tells nothing, there is no indication as to the respective authorship of the poems, unless we draw an inference from their subjects. One on the Austrian and Russian division of Poland, fifty years ago, most probably belongs to the father, as well as several on events of the early part of the century—such as an Address to Pitt, an Ode on Despard's intended Assassi- nation of George the Third. Some later courtly effusions, going back only about a quarter of a century, may perhaps be claimed by the poetess. The occasional and dramatic poems may belong to both, or either. The style dell is of a bygone date. Gray is the most classic model for the regular and irregular odes; whilst Rowe's Tamerlane, or Brown's Barbarossa, or some other painter of Oriental manners before it was known what Oriental manners were, is the model for one of the dra- mas, Selim, Prince of Chorasan.] The Ruling Passion. In three volumes. [The "ruling passion" meant to be exemplified in this flimsy tale of fashionable life is love; though its passive potency often yields to the more active influences or flirtation and matchmaking. .An old proverb will apply to the literature of this work—" the least said, the soonest mended." It possesses a decorative novelty, however: faces or "pictures" are prefixed to each volume, similar to those which figure on the titlepage of "fashionable" songs.] The Talba, or Moor of Portugal ; a Romance. By Mrs. Bray. A new edition, revised and corrected, with Notes by the Author. (The Talba is a work whose story is founded on the tale of Ines de Castro— more tragic than tragedy, more romantic than romance; and, in its present cheap form, it offers an attraction to the reader of modern historical fiction, who may like to visit Portugal in company with Mrs. Bray, though he may not intend accompanying her through the Low Countries, France, and England.] The Bible and the Child; a Discourse. By James Martineau. An eloquent exhortation to parents to let their children learn the doctrines and duties of Christianity from the example and teaching. of Christ as recorded in the New Testament.] Steilts Royal Pictorial Toy-book. Grammar.
[A simple and clear explanation of the nature of grammar and the various parts of speech; illustrated by familiar examples and little pictures.]
NEW PERIODICAL.
The New London Magazine, and Coffeehouse Miscellany. No. I. [0' The Story of a London Latch-key," a tale of town life, by Albert Smith, is the fixture of this new periodical; which has no distinctive character.]
PRINTS.
Twelve Designs in Outline illustrative of" The Castle o Indolence"; made expressly for the Art-Union of London, by WilliamEisner; and engraved by W. IL Collard, T. Joubert, E. Webb, and E. B. Whitfield. under the head of Fine Arts.]
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