PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

From August lit to August 7th. BOOKS.

The World Surveyed in the Nineteenth Century; or Recent Narratives of Scientific and Exploratory Expeditions, undertaken chiefly by command of Foreign Governments. Translated and (where necessary) abridged by W. I). Cooky. Volume L—Parrot's Journey to _Ararat.

My Marine Memorandum Book. By Hargrave Jennings. In three volumes.

Memoir of George Heriot; with the History of the Hospital founded by him in Edinburgh, and an Account of the Heriot Foundation Schools. By William Steven, D.D., late Head Master of Heriot's Hospital. [George Heriot, the Court goldsmith of James the Fast's time, and the noble pile, built by Inigo Jones, that adorns Edinburgh and commemorates the licence of its founder, are well enough known; but until the publication of this. volume, we believe, no complete and authentic account of Heriot's Hospital hair appeared. Two centuries have elapsed since Heriot left property, acquired by hie own industry, that realized nearly four-and-twenty thousand pounds sterling even at that time, for the erection of a building and the endowment of a charity for the maintenance and education of freemen's sons of Edinburgh. The judicious investment of the funds by the Governors has made Heriot's Hospital one of the wealthiest institutions ever founded by a private individual. The ground belong- ing to the charity extends over a great part of Edinburgh and the neighbour- hood, embracing the whole of the New Town; and the present state of the revs - nue is such thatthere is an annual surplus of 3,0001. upon an expenditure of about' 10,0001. This surplus is devoted, in the spirit of the benevolent founder, to the support of other schools in Edinburgh, known as the "Heriot Foundation Schools:' s account of the establishment, progress, and management of these educe-. timid charities, is compiled from the records of the institution, and includes soma curious documents characteristic of the period; which are given in an appendix. The memoir of George Heriot is meagre, but sufficient for the purpose: the bulk of the volume is occupied with a detailed history of the Hospital and other Schools. Heriot's will and marnage-contracts, the disposition of his property, and the sta.-2 tutes of the Hospital, are the most interesting portions of the appendix.] Time Prince of Orange; an Historical Romance of the Dutch Protestant Revolution. In three volumes.

[The subject of the fiction is well chosen, with an eye to the market; the popular appetite for horrors and dread of Popery being both ministered to in this narrative of the revolt of the Netherlands against the tyrannical rule of Spain, rendered in- tolerable by the atrocities and exactions of the infamous Duke of Alva. But that dark and sanguinary page of history demands a vivid imagination and mastery in the art of fiction, which the writer does not possess.] The publications of the week run much in classes,—ex. gr. poetry, lectures reprints. Of these, the poetry is, at all events, the newest, and consists of four- volumes.

1. CreaftS King of Lydia; a Tragedy, in five acts. The Illustrations by Field Talfourd, Esq. 2. Time Coming of the Mammoth; time Funeral of Time; and other Poems.- By Henry B. Hirst. 3. Line/aim, or the Festival; a Metrical Romance of ancient Scinde. With Minor Poems. By the Author of" The White Rose Wreath," &c.

4. Songs, Ballads, 4r.

1. The story of Crams King of Lydia is taken from a tale in Herodotus. After Solon's departure, Crcesus bad a dream that he should lose his son Atys by- a pointed iron. To evade the prophecy, he got Atys married, and mewed hint up from war and hunting:. In the mean time, Adrastus, having slain his brother, arrives at the court of Crcestis to be purified from blood, and wins the regards of the monarch; so that Atys is intrusted to his care, when a party assembles to destroy a wild boar that is ravaging the country. The fulfilment of the prophecy takes place of course: Atys is accidentally slain by Adrastus, who destroys him- self on the tomb of his friend. The only addition of any co uence made to the original by the anonymous writer of this tragedy, is to in' ..uce a daughter of Crcesus' and represent her as attached to Adrastus. Under any circumstances, the story does not seem well adapted to the drama, from its deficiency in action. For the modern drama it is altogether unfit; as the source of its interest rests upon the mythological notion of Divine hostility, to a particular person or family,—a feeling now incomprehensible, and which, judging from some comedies of Aristophanes, had early died away even at Athens. These inherent difficulties are not overcome by any learned invention or dramatic art.- The slender opportunities the original story offered for action are not improved: the characters come on to speak, and go off when they have spoken. The cus- toms of the ancient Lydians are not observed, much lees the manners or tone of antiquity. The spirit and conduct of Crows/ King of Lydia is that of 'moderns in masquerade.

The Illustrations, by Mr. Field Talfotud, are similarly defective: the scenes and costumes are rather Italian than Greek, and arches- and domes appear in the

architecture. They are not devoid of the merit of idea and intention, but the draw- ing is so ludicrously weak and bad that the designs are hardly appreciable: Ring raxasua figures in the frontispiece ten heads high, and in a position requiring a ,prop.tn save him from falling. 2. The Coming of the Mammoth. Mr. Hirst is an American, who during "the intervals of his preparation for the bar" amused hitneelf by penning stanzas, which were published in different periodicals, and are here collected; with some apparently original verses. Taken altogether, the poems are occasional .ormiacelhumous; for though the volume contains several tales, they are brief and .simple, little more than an incident told. "The Coming of the Mammoth," an -Indian tradition versified, is not an exception to this remark: though the longest poem in the book, it is not the most successful. Mr. Hint is not able to reach the grandeur of the primeval ages of the Red Indian- when the human race was threatened with extinction by the ravages of a giant mammoth, and the Deity himself had a struggle to destroy the creature of his own bands. The other poems are frequently pretty, or something more; they are fluent, harmonious—but echoes. The best, to our liking, are " laabelle " and "Ge- raldine"; the style of the last, as well as of some others, caught from Tennyson or Coleridge. Lindala, or the Festival, is a tale of Scinde, laid in the time of the Apostle St. Thomas: be rescues two lovers from the death to which they have been doomed by a villanons Brahmin, who wanted the bride for himself. The author of Lindah has succeeded no better in portraying Eastern manners than the author of Crcesus in Lydian; and his verse never approaches the vizi& via of poetry, though his choice of the Alexandrine gives a certain sound to his narrative.

4. Songs, Ballads, 4c., is a collection of occasional poems lay a youth or very ,young man, who has rather prematurely rushed into print. The verses are not without a twang of poetry: but the writer has much to do in the way of pruning redundancies, condensing his style, and distinctly presenting his thoughts, before he can grow into a poet. Before that time, we think it probable that he will have outgrown versifying.] The lectures araiwo.

A Retrospect of the Religious Life of England; or the Church, Puritanism, and Free Inquiry. By John James Tayler, B. A. Four Lectures on Civil Liberty and Expansion of Intellect, as connected with human happiness; delivered at the Philosophical Institution of Wal- sall. By J. H. Harvey.

The substance of the Retrospect of the Religious Lift of England was origi- nally delivered in a series of lectures; but when some of the audience requested their publication, Mr. Tayler found it necessary to recast his materials. The book is a review of our Church history, considered under three heads,—the Church, by which Mr. Tayler means the class of religionists who lean to the authority of tradition as well as Scripture, and place the right of interpretation in the Church; the Puritans, whose distinguishing characteristic is to stand upon Scripture alone, and their own reading of it; Free Inquiry, embracing the writers from Lord Herbert of Cherbury to Bolingbroke, who differed from the infidels and sceptics of the Continent, and their followers here, by having a religious mind, and a disposi- tion to Mceive Christianity as a moral system. The narrative cannot always maintain!these distinctions; for it treats events pretty fully—the widest excep- tions as well as the fullest development of the rule, and freely intermingles com- ment with the facts: but such are the views deduced from the survey. To origi- nalreseanch Mr. Tayler makes no claim; but he has brought a calm discriminating spirit to his task, and his remarks are entitled to the praise of originality, which praise may be extended to his plan of treatment. A Retrospect of the Religious Life of England will be founds philosophical compendium of our religions his- toty, excluding martyrdoms and the more stirring events of persecutions. The Pour Lectures on Civil Liberty and Expansion of Intellect are equally diehlect—two to each subject. Like the preceding work, they were delivered at a public institution and are published by request; but Mr. Harvey's audience was not so discriminating, as Mr. Tayler's---or not so lucky. The handling is rather poor, and the views commonplace.]

The trItmelations or reprints of well-known works are numerous.

Works of Sir E. Blamer Lytton, Bart. "Night and Morning."

Wokles of Sir E. Bawer Lytton, Bart. "7...snoni."

These form part of the uniform edition of Buhver Lytton's prose works. Their only novelty is the preface to Night and Morning and the dedication to Zanotti; both of which are fuller of Sir Balmer than of anything else. We learn that the late ameliorations in the criminal law are owing to his Paul Clifford ; and that he has borne the brunt of censure for making the poor a subject for fiction, whilst imitators—apparently Dickens, Jerrold, and others of that school—receive praise for pursuing the path which the great "Originator" discovered. This applies to Night and Morning and some other works. Zanoni has not met a re- ception proportioned to its merits. In his dedication to Gibson the sculptor, the author says—" I, Artist in words, dedicate, then to you Artist whose ideas speak in marble, this well-loved work of my matured maraheod. I love it not the less because it has been little understood, and superficially judged by the common herd. It was not meant for them." Surely this test is borrowed from Mr. Bayes, Who thus addresses his friend Johnson—" I know you have wit, by the judgment you make of this play; for that's the measure I go by: my play is my touchstone. 1Vhen a rnan tells me such a one is a person of parts, 'Is he so?' say I: what do I do but bring him presently to see this play: it he likes it I know what to think of him; if not, your most humble servant." Fitz of Fitz-Ford; a Legend of Devon. By Mrs. Bray. The Prairie-Bird. By the Right Honourable Charles Augustus Murray, Author of "Travels in North .America." (Standard Novels.) MTh. Bray's Fitz of Fitz-Ford is included in her uniform edition now publish- ing: it has no other novelty than a dedication to the Duke of Bedford. The Prairie-Bird forms the ninety-eighth number of Mr. Bentley's Standard Novels, reprinted from the three-volume edition.

Marco Visconti From the Italian of Tomaso Grossi.

The Rectory of Mora. By Fredrika Bremer, Authoress of "The Neigh- bours," &c. (Smith's Standard Library.)

Marco Visconti is the first volume of an attempt to render Grossi's romance into English; and it emanates from the same publisher as I Promessi Sposi of Manzoni, which lately appeared. The Rectory of Mora is a translation, for Smith's Standard Library, of Fredrika Bremer's last fiction, which we gave an account of when it appeared from Mr. Howitt's pen.]

The Pharmaceutical Latin Grammar; being an easyIntroduction to Medical Latin, the London Phammeopceia, and the perusal of Physicians' Pre. seriptions. By Arnold James Cooley, Author of the " Cycloptedia of Practical Receipts and collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, and Trades," Sm.

[This little book has rather fuller lists of words than is usual with Latin gram- mars, and contains some observations on grammar in general, for those who have neglected its study. Medical Latin., however, is the feature of the book. Its ex- ercises are the prescriptions of physicians and its examples are drawn as much as may be from words useful in medical matters. In the declension of substantives, for instance, we have "pelvis, a,powder," instead of "lapis, a stone"; "hawser; a draught," supersedes "gradue ; and the muse gives place to " mistura, a mix- tate.°1 A Succinct and Conaprehesuive Grammar of the English Language. * the Reverend George King. A new and much-improved edition.

[A very small affair, embracing rhetoric as well as grammar, and of rather an old-fashioned style, though it appears to have been approved of.]

A Text-book to Heresy; or the Evils of Tractananism and-Puritanhim com- pared. By a True Son of the Church. [A measured diatribe against Romanists, Tractarians, Eviujelicals, and Dissent- ers; emanating from an Irish member of the Establishment.] The 1Vorld's Slippery Turns; or Mind how you Wed! A play in three acts. By John Whitsed.

ILLUSTRATED WORKS.

The Book of Common Prayer Illuminated, Part PT.

[One remarkable feature of this highly illustrated Prayer-book, namely, the miniature outlines of famous pictures by Raphael and other of the great masters, we have not hitherto noticed, for want of a sufficient number of them to form a judgment of their merits. The present part supplies the desired proofs of their satisfactory execution. The spirit of the original designs is preserved in the reduced copies, and the minutest details of form are rendered with fidelity and delicacy: even the expression of the faces may be traced in them, though the size of the heads is extremely small. And, considering that these are outlines of grand works, such as the Cartoons, brought into the dimensions of a handbreadth, and cut in wood, the beauty and precision with which they are executed is extra ordinary. They are drawn by George Scharf junior, a young artist of ability, under the superintendence of Mr. Gruner; and engraved by Vizetelly.] Undine; a Romance from the German of be la Matte Fonqud. A new translation, with eleven illustrations, designed by Tenniel, and engraved by Bastin. [This translation of the" ravishing" romance Undine, as Sir Walter Scott styled it, appears to have been conscientiously made; and a certain quaint simplicity di style is neither uupleasing nor inappropriate. The designs are clever, but with a theatrical taint; and the expression of the faces is not always successfully pre- served in the cuts.]