PROGRESS OF PUBLICATION.
THE pile of books and pamphlets before us would be overwhelm- ing in the eyes of a novice ; and is almost so to us, who have learned
by experience that the promises of modern volumes often vanish on a close approach, and that what seems to demand many hours of study, either requires not from its character a very close exa- mination, or from its nature is not worth it.
Prominently standing out at the head of the first class, is Colonel NAPIER'S Fifth Volume of The History of the War in the Peninsula; a work whose reputation, not confined to England or to Europe, requires no comment from us, as it can receive no assistance from any criticism of ours, and which if a notice were to be given, now its gloss of novelty is past, would demand more of space and time than a weekly journal could very easily bestow at the approach of the book and political season. Perhaps, however, in the course of our own leisure reading, we may find something either so striking in itself, or so useful in application, as to justify a return to the volume at any time. The Introduction, defending the work from attacks, we have already read. The defence against the little and malicious censures of the Quarterly Review is good ; but if the reader wishes to see two gentlemen completely " doubled up," he may look at the answers to ROBINSON and young Mr. PERCEVAL.
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