PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED,
From August 2d to .elugust8th. Booics.
Nem Illustrations of the Lire, Studies, and Writings of 'Shakespeare. By
the Reverend JOSEPH DETER, F.S.A. First and Second Parts.
historic Fancies. By the Honourable GEORGE SYDNEY SMYTHE, M.P. Second edition.
Persecutions of Popery : Historical Narratives of the most remarkable Persecutions occasioned by the Intolerance of the Church of Rome. By FREDERIC SHOBERL. In two volumes.
A Winter in Italy. In a series of Letters to a Friend. By Mrs. AssTON YATES. In two volumes.
Historical Essay on the Rise and Early Progress of the Doctrine of LifeContingencies in England, leading to the establishment of the first Life Assurance Society in which ages were distinguished. By EDWIN JAMES FARREN.
[To those who feel any interest in the subject of life-assurance, or who are curious to trace the gradual progress of science from the first dawn of speculation and conjecture to its establishment upon principles and observation, Mr. FARBER'S little book may be safely recommended. Without vagueness on the one band or too minute a detail on the other, the author presents a complete view of the outlines of the subject, and upon a scale judiciously arranged according to the importance of the materials. The publication of GRAuNT, a tradesman of London, who in 1662 first called attention to the uses that might be made of the Bills of Mortality, and suggested the form of ascertaining the value or expectancy of life-the paper of Dr. HALLEY the astronomer, who in 1693, from the tables he procured from Breslau, first framed life and annuity tables on scientific data and with mathematical accuracy of calculation-the improvements of DE MOIVRE on HALLEY'S method, in 1725-and finally, the publication of SIMPSON in 1742, which placed the doctrine of life-assurance on nearly its present basis-are all noticed at length ; whilst the subordinate and intermediate publications are cursorily dismissed. In going over these records of discovery, it is curious to notice how the principle seemed to have been present to the mind of the first discoverer, GRAUNT, although, from want of scientific knowledge and sufficient data, he was unable to do more than present it dimly, if he even saw the uses to which it could be turned. It is equally interesting to Bee how HALLEY, when his mind was directed to the subject, seized upon the broad features, and fixed them in a form available for present use and future improvement ; and how each improver discovered a subordinate principle simplifying and carrying out to practice the idea of HALLEY. Looking back, it also seems odd to observe how long "practical " men disregarded the deductions of science. For a long time after HALLEY advanced the simple proposition that the probability of life depended upon the age of the person, and exhibited the result of his calculations as to the worth of annuities at different periods, Government went on granting them without regard to age, and lifeinsurance-offices fixed their premiums in much the same manner. Nay, nearly sixty years after HALLEY wrote, thirty years after DE MOIVRE had published "Concerning the Expectation of Life and the Probabilities of Survivorship," and about twenty years after Sliarsow's treatise, the Crown Officers refused the great Equitable Office a charter, because "the success of this scheme must depend upon the truth of certain calculations taken upon tables of life and death, whereby the chance of mortality is attempted to be reduced to a certain standard," &c. How this " scheme " succeeded as an "association," is well known • and with the establishment of the Equitable Society Mr. FARREN concludes his little book. It would be improved by the incorporation of some particulars respecting the progress of the subject on the Continent of Europe.] The Despatches of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington. Compiled from Official and other Authentic Documents, by Colonel GunwooD, C.B., &c. Volume the second.
[This second volume completes the despatches and documents relating to India; containing a variety of materials discovered since the first publication of the Wellington Papers, and an appendix of letters filling nearly 80 pages and relating to the year 1800, whose drafts accidentally turned up since the commencement of the present edition. An elaborate index is attached to the work, so as to render these two volumes perfectly complete in themselves; and this idea of separateness is preserved in the lettering of the volume, without affecting its continuity for those who purchase the whole. The binding is in appropriate scarlet and gold; and though the volume must contain some sixty or reventy per cent more letterpress than the volumes of the original edition, yet the page does not look crowded or the type small. It forms an excellent specimen of bibliography-solid, yet handsome. The contents we may perhaps endeavour to return to, if we find our copy perfect ; but we miss some numbers of the first volume.] On the Regulation of Currencies : being an Examination of the Principles on which it is proposed to restrict within certain fixed limits the future Issues on credit of the Bank of England, and of the other Banking Establishments throughout the country. By JOHN FULLARTON, Esq. [This publication comes rather too late in the day for any practical purpose, seeing that the principles involved in the new arrangements connected with the renewal of the Bank Charter are established by law. But perhaps the author has an eye to prophecy. Mr. FULLARTON is a follower of Mr. TOOKE SO far as Mr. TOOKE goes, and is of course opposed to Colonel TORRENS, Mr. JONES LOYD, and most other authorities whose opinions are worth anything.] An Etymological French Dictionary. By JAMES HEARD, Author of "A Practical Grammar of the Russian Language," &c. [Rather a classified vocabulary than a dictionary ; the primitive words of the French language, as opposed to derivatives and compounds, being arranged under the heads of substantives, adjectives, and verbs, with the leading or primitive meaning. The alphabetical arrangement of the termination of substantives to discover their gender, is formed upon a convenient plan.] Remarks on the Influence of Mental Cultivation and Mental Excitement upon Health. By AMARIAII BRIGHAM, M.D. With a Preface, by JAMES SIMPSON, Esq., Advocate, Author of "The Philosophy of Education."
[A small and neatly-bound reprint of an American book on a useful subject, which has already appeared in this country, and, we think, in various forms.] My Crochet Sampler. By Miss LAMBERT, Authoress of "The Hand book of Needlework," &c. With numerous Illustrations.
[Explicit directions for making a number of useful and ornamental articles in this simple and elegant sort of knitting; with numerous diagrams, showing how a great variety of patterns are to be wrought. The instructions are so plain and complete, and the process appears so simple, that the learner needs no other teaching.] The Poetry of Real Life. A new edition, much enlarged and improved. First series. By HENRY ELLISON. [An enlarged and revised edition of some poems that were first published in 1833.] Odell's System of Short-Hand. Thirty-second edition. [This is the smallest system of stenography we have seen; bat the brevity is all the'lanter, if, as would seem to be the case, it is sufficient.]
Previous page
