BOOKS ON THE TABLE.
1. Dr. LARDNER has just published a most valuable manual of Chemistry in his Cyclopedia. The author is Mr. DoNovAN. In a short space, it appears to us to contain a luminous compendium of all the elements of nature looked at in a chemical point of view. We do not say that this work supersedes others of the kind—the long popular Catechism of Mr. PARKES, &C. &c. : but as far as our recollection goes, as an elementary and at the same tune practical work, we should prefer it for our own reading to any other.
2. Hours of Reverie, or the Musings Viz Solitaire, by Louis, H. R. COUTIER, authoress of "La Montagne de St. Lie." This is a singular composition, by, we presume, what is called a romantic young lady. " The following lines were written in those hours, that, more or less, occur in every one's career—when we sit down unconscious of all around, and the soul seems at once swollen with the eventful past, the gliding present, and immense but mysterious futurity—when, in its lone chambers, the heart reviews its loves, its hopes, its fears." Nothing can be more intelligible than the condition of this young poetess. Let it, however, be recollected, that she writes in a foreign tongue; and that, on this score at least, much indulgence should be shown. The case of the young lady, we fear, is desperate, unless immediate remedies of a wholesome kind—such as dancing, walking, company, pie-flies in summer, and social fireside evenings in winter, joined to brisk walks in the frost or vigorous gallops in the thaw—be applied. Listen to the poor Mademoiselle.
In loneliness I've dwelt, May be, too much;—my bosom has recoil'd On its own self, and gnaw'd its own delights For want of other food. I've felt, 0 felt !
Remembrance of the past 's a mazy wild : Twas more, much more, perchance, than ought to 've dwelt Within a maiden's breast; it was a rush Of daring thought, that overflow'd my mind, A something in mine inward self, too restless, Too powerful.
3. No. XXXIII. of the Classical Library contains Dr. FRANKLIN'S translation of SOPHOCLES; of which nothing more needs be said, than that, though prosaic, it is the best. But Mr. VALPV, the editor and printer, ought to be warned against old type and bad paper. Let him look at the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, or Dr. LARDNER's, for examples of the manner in which these series are to be got up.
4. Mr. CUNNINGHAM'S Arithmetical Text-book is the completest practical book of arithmetic we have met with; schooled as we were in W.A.LKINGHAM and BO:VNYCASTLE.
5. The Ninth Volume of the, Life and Works of Lord Byron has just stepped forth, arrayed in most fashionable attire. Its paper, its plates, and its type, are all as if taken from the last Literary Magasin des Modes. Besides a body of occasional pieces, this volume contains the Giaour, the Bride of Abydos, and the corsair: here is a trilogy ! If poets now contended each with their three works, like LESCHYLUS and SOPHOCLES of old, which would bear away the crown ?
6. Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica is a piece of Highland dilettanteism. It contains a catalogue raisonne, but not so raisonne as it should be, of all the works published in Celtic,—OssiAN, of course, excepted. The work does credit to the industry and enthusiasm of Mr. REID: further we do not, cannot, risk our critical authority.
7. Parts III. and IV. of the Encyclopedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture, are welcome. We sit and examine Mr. LOUDON'S plans for cottages till we pine over life in the city, and dream of his ground plans and elevations. There are few more useful men than Mr. LOUDON at the present day, in or out of his line. His Magazines are both amusing and instructive; his Encyclopmelias are gigantic depositories of knowledge; and his scheme for grand Sewers on each bank of the Thames, worthy of a statue —bis bust ought to be reposited in the Temple of Cloacina Divinior.
8. KIDD'S little Picturesque Pocket Companion to Dover is a specimen of the improvement which is finding its way into every species of publication, more especially those connected with the fine arts. The little wood-cuts in this small and cheap work are strikingly true and well finished. We would recommend, la future editions, a slight route from London to Dover, on a single page, with some description of the objects on this beautiful road 9. It gives us pleasure to perceive that the "Physician" has resumed the "Passages from his Diary" in Blackwood. They were, and are likely to continue to be, a collection of the most interesting periodical papers that have appeared in any magazine. The chief subject of the present Passage, is a heart-rending description of the death of a charming young creature, by lightning; dissolution being preceded by trance, and a short resuscitation. The tendency of this able writer is to the exaggerated: he should be aware of this fault : it may be detected in the "Thunderstruck," arid is very visible in the "Boxer." He is too extravagant and impassioned, for a physician; and sometimes the vehemence of his expressions indicates rather the efforts of convulsion than the calmness of conscious power.
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