CURRENT LITERATURE.

As there is nothing like beginning at the beginning, M. Kohl commences his history of the discovery of America* with a brief notice of the early explora- tory expeditions of the Phcenicians and Egyptians. His narrative, however, is altogether free from pedantry and affectation, and is thoroughly adapted to all orders and degrees of comprehension. The true purport of its idea is completeness, for it includes the history of the colonization as well as of the discovery of America, winding up with some sensible observations on the consequences resulting from the latter event to commerce, naviga- • A Popular History of the Discovery of America, from Columbus to Franklin. By J. G. Kohl. Translated by Major R. IL Noel. In two volumes. Chapman and Hall. tion, science, religion, and politics. The "million" have reason to be grateful for a book that so largely extends the boundaries of their know- ledge, and furnishes such abundant materials for fancy and reflection.

Had Mr. Lloyd* been content to record his experiences of colonial life in a simple and natural manner, he would have produced a book of con- siderable interest. Unfortunately, he has preferred the dramatic to the narrative form, and indulges in overstrained dialogue of a would-be face- tious character. His humour, however, is by no means refined, nor his faculty of delineation at all equal to his self-complacency. At the same time, his reminiscences of the condition of Van Diemen's Land a quFter of a century ago are not a little curious, especially in reference to the exploits of Captain Brady and his ruffian band of bushrangers, and Mr. Robinson's wonderful achievement in persuading the aborigines to

lace themselves under the protection of the Government. Indeed, e

the souls and instruct the consciences of parishioners, there was P there

• 7'hirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria. By George Thomas Lloyd. Houl- ston and Wright

1' The Bomance of Natural History. By Philip Henry Gosse, F.R.S. James Nisbet and Co.

t Oliver Goldsmith : his Friends and his Critics A Lecture by the Right Honour- able James Whiteside, Q.C. Hodges, Smith, and Co.

§ Poems. By the late Marie J. E. Fotherby. Edited by her Husband. Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Co.

U Works by the late Horace Hayman Wilson, MA., F.R.S. In twelve volumes. Trubner and Co.

Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum. Described by Samuel Sharpe. John Russell Smith.

•• P. Virgslii Morsels Bucolica, Georgian et sEneis. With English Notes. By C. 1). Tonge. Richard Bentley.

ft LecOSS Gradual de Tradoction et de Lecture. By Henri van Latin. TrObner and Co.

tt Dictation Exercises. By Elizabeth H. Sewell, Longman and Co.

Tasmania and Victoria,—it is only to be regretted that it has not been imparted in a more agreeable manner.

Marvellous and ill-authenticated stories appear to possess a singular charm for Mr. Gosse.f If he does not actually believe in mermaids and the great sea-serpent, he certainly hovers on the brink of credulity. As a contribution to the study of natural history his book is utterly unreliable, however amusing it may be as the companion of a leisure hour. Besides, it would be unfair to expect of a romance-writer a very strict adherence to facts, or a too nice examination into evidence. Mr. Gosse has culled a posy from a fair garden, and if he be accused of looking rather for what is rare and curious than for the beautiful or the useful, he may truly reply that he never professed to do more than gather what pleased himself, in the hope of meeting many others with a similar taste.

A vindication of the "Vicar of Wakefield," or of "The Deserted Village," against Lord Macaulay's severe and unjust criticism, is scarcely needed at the present day, but the genial duty has been so well discharged by Mr. Whiteside4 that we are disposed to pardon his Lordship's defective appre- ciation, for the sake of the reply it has elicited. At the commencement of the year, Mr. Whiteside undertook to deliver a lecture before the Dublin Young Men's Christian Association, and in a happy moment selected the career of Oliver Goldsmith for the subject of his discourse. A more enter- taining lecture, or a fairer and more loving estimate of the character and writings of the childlike poet and essayist, could not be desired, and it may be safely imagined that the audience who listened to the learned gentleman's eloquence will look upon the evening of the 8th of January as one of the most agreeable they have ever enjoyed.

It is uot usually a recommendation to a collection of poems to be told that they have been printed at the suggestion of admiring friends, but an exception must be made on behalf of the late Mrs. Fotherby's tender and graceful effusions. § They are, one and all, imbued with such gentle earnestness, such pure refinement, such genuine piety, that it is impossible to read them without feeling an almost affectionate interest in the young and gifted minstrel, cut off in the pride and promise of early womanhood. If devoid of much power or originality, they will attract respect and sym- pathy from many a reader who would remain unmoved by loftier and bolder strains. There is something, indeed, particularly touching in the lines headed "The Time to Die," composed in the full sense of approaching dissolution.

The reissue of a collected form of the principal works of the late Pro- fessor Wilson" is at least a proof of enterprise on the part of the publishers. The first volume, which alone has yet appeared, contains his Essays and Lectures on the Religions Sects of the Hindoos, revised and edited by Dr. Reinhold Rost, and will no doubt be acceptable to the very limited circle of scholars who take any interest in such matters. Admitting to the fullest extent.the depth and soundness of the late Professor's erudition, we must yet be permitted to regret that his style was not somewhat leas stiff and pedantic, and that while succeeding to the learning of Sir William Jones he was not also endowed with a few sparks of that distinguished Orient- alist's glowing imagination, which clothed every subject he touched in the bright hues of a poetic fancy. If from the superstitions of the Hindoos we would pass to the symbolical records of the ancient Egyptians, we shall find a faithful and satisfactory guide in Mr. Sharpe's concise description of the mysterious monuments of that people now in the British Museum!' In a convenient and portable volume the author of the "History of Egypt" imparts the exact sort of information which visitors to the Museum crave to possess, while even advanced scholars may refer with advantage to his careful arrangement of the historic series of antiquities according to their chronological order.

The rising generation are indebted to Mr. Yonge for an admirable edition of Virgil** enriched with explanatory and illustrative notes judiciously placed at the end of the volume, thereby avoiding the usual objection to foot-notes, that they distract the attention of the pupil while construing his lesson in school. As every French master now thinks it necessary to com- pile his own series of "Elegant Extracts," no particular blame can be attached to M. Henri van Laun for following the example of his contem- poraries:ft Besides, his selection is really unexceptionable, and is peculiarly adapted for the use of beginners, in that it commences with very easy pieces which gradually give place to those requiring a greater intimacy with the language. "Orthography taught by Quibbles" would have been the appro- priate title of Miss Sewell's tiny instructor= Her plan of teaching how to spell correctly is likely to be popular with the small folk, as it contains the elements of fun, and its execution is certain to provoke much merri- ment. Ex. gr.: "A strange story is told of Rollo and his Northmen, who, in former days, undertook to sail across the seas and seise the city of Rouen, the capital of what is now called Normandy. One sees at once that this was a bold determination, for neither the King of France nor any monarch of sane mind would be likely to cede Rouen or the country round it. The see of Rouen was one of the richest sees in France, and the land bordering on the sea was very fruitful. The seed sown there was productive," &c., and so on ad libitum.

If butchers and brewers understand their own interests they will lose no time in buying up and suppressing The Poet of the Age.' The decline of the poetic faculty in the present times is roundly attributed to beef-eating and porter-drinking, two very abominable practices and utterly abhorred by the Muses. There are other co-operative causes, such as cant and the intrusion of women upon "the flowery but devious walks of literature." The true poets of their respective ages have been Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton, Pope, and Byron. Keats might have risen to that proud eminence had he not been "snuffed out" by the Quarterly, for this satirist repeatedly adopts that oft-repeated fable. As to Wordsworth, "In paling, sentimental lay, He peddled all his powers away."

Crabbe, again, was with seaside rubbish crammed, From dunghill still to dunghill drawn, Of sties and stews the kindred spawn."

A poet is wanted, and "one of heavenly birth," but "No Tennyson with trick and trope, Unknown to Shakspeare, Milton, Pope, Whose tiny thought, but half express'd, To blind conjecture leaves the rest; For ever painting, as he sings, Some butterfly with borrow'd wings."

It has been said that no man should be pronounced happy before his death, but it is devoutly to be hoped that an exception may be made in favour of "the divine Williams." If not happy on earth, far less can he have been so in Hades, with a million of commentators heaped upon him, "Till of this flat a mountain (they) have made, To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head Of blue Olympus."

Another "party," who says that he is not "acquainted with any parties critically acquainted with Elizabethan literature," has entered the field, quite prepared to do battle against all comers. Now and again he certainly does suggest an emendation not to be despised, but for the most part his suggestions are wild and untenable.t This anonymous "Commentator" is of opinion that in his youth Shakspeare was "an apothecary's apprentice, the Student of Nature,"—employing capital letters to express the stupen- dous idea. Then, "the buried Majesty of Denmark" was the poet's father, and the Queen his mother—" of all his female creations the most poetical,— of all the most practical, high-spirited, and affectionate, dotingly fond of her son, and as much doted upon by the living as by her former husband." Having given the measure of Hercules his foot, we leave to our readers the rule-of-three problem to find out the stature of Hercules himself.

A new edition of Mr. Hampden Gurney's Chapters from French Higory,t is only the prelude to many more. It is almost to be regretted, however, that he did not confine himself exclusively to the three interesting epochs he especially proposes to illustrate. There are the chivalrous reign of 1.011is IX., the romantic episode of Joan of Arc, and the heroic struggles of Henry IV. The connecting "curtains," to use a military phrase, are weak and comparatively useless, and greatly impair the strength of his entire position. Take any intervening period at hazard. Of the memorable engagement at Slays, it is merely said that Edward III. "commanded a numerous fleet in person, and gained a decisive victory." This is trite, so far as it goes, but it was owing to the opportune arrival of the Flemish ships from Bruges and Ghent that the battle was finally decided in his favour. And from that moment a close alliance was formed between the sturdy burghers of those wealthy cities and the English monarch, which not only proved of great assistance to him in his subsequent wars with France, but materially promoted the progress of commerce and the freedom of the middle classes in England. Still we are grateful to Mr. Gurney for his con- cise and truthful narrative of three eventful periods of French history, and would urge him to do the same good office with regard to other countries— particularly Spain and Italy.

By a rapid transition we pass from the wars of the League, and the still earlier contests for the crown of France, to a review of the marvellous de- velopment of British colonies on a continent in those days unknown to Europe. Though to some extent a reprint of the articles "Australasia" and "Australia," in the "Encyclopedia Britannica,"§ the handsome volume now published by Messrs. Black, has been so often revised and added unto, that it is, in fact, a new work. So wondrous is the progress of the colonies, whose history is narrated by Mr. Westgarth, that the statistics of any one year become the laughing stock of the one that follows. To use a homely similitude, they resemble a tall lad growing out of his clothes. Every suc- ceeding year requires the enlargement of their borders. Trade, population, wealth, and refinement advance at a pace that excites the astonishment, perhaps the envy, of the stationary countries of the Old World. Within an incredibly short space of time the landmarks now set up by Mr. West- garth will lose their significance, unless to demonstrate the folly of esti- mating the age of a people by the years it has existed. For the moment, his work is invaluable for purposes of reference, and considering the many difficulties he has had to encounter, his success is highly creditable to his in- dustry and perseverance.

The path of virtue has from time immemorial been represented as rough and thorny, impeded by hideous obstructions, and surrounded by dangers and delusions. Perhaps the most disagreeable and decidedly the most frequent obstacle to be encountered by those who are desirous of pursuing that path in respectable English society at the present day is the constant tutoring they receive on all hands, and the vast number of "good books" they are more or less obliged to nod over. An impediment of this kind has

• The Poet of the Age : a Satinial Poem. With Introductory Remarks on the De- cline of Poetry. Robert Hardwicke.

t The Footsteps of ,Shakspere; or, a Ramble with the Early Dramatists. John Russell Smith.

Chapters from French History. By Mr. Hampden Gurney. Longman and Co.

§ Australia : its Rise, Progress; and Present Condition. By W. Westgarth, Esq. Adam and Charles Black.

been recently set up by the minister of Monkton Free Church.* By much use of italics, exclamations, and interrogations, that reverend gentleman has succeeded in heaping 200 pages of edifying comment on the first eleven verses of the first chapter of the Second Epistle of St. Peter, the remainder of the volume being devoted to the second and third chapters. Anything weaker than the digestion of a Scottish Presbyterian will inevitably break down in presence of this ungainly boundary pillar beside the "heavenward path." Another Scottish controversialist has brought a lion into the same steep and narrow passage in the form of a treatise on Regeneration. Many worthy people, we believe, are in the habit of reserving certain books for Sunday reading, quite regardless of. the interruption to the chain of argument, and to such we can readily imagine that Dr. Anderson's dis- quisitions will prove highly acceptable.

Mr. Edward Miall disputes the title-deeds of the Church of England.: He denies the existence of the Church of England as a corporate unity in relation to national ecclesiastical endowments. It is simply a "politico- ecclesiastical expression"—a "system of ecclesiastical faith, government, usage, and service as established by law.' " The bishops and clergy have no other claims than such as are personal, individual, and separate. They constitute in their aggregate capacity the Church, just as the whole body of military men in the service of the State constitute the army, but they have no corporate or distinctive rights. Neither does constitutional law recognize any claim on the part of the Protestant Episcopalian community as against the nation. They certainly derive the greatest advantage from the ecclesiastical endowments of the nation, but they have not "a single right in the Church which other subjects of the realm, whether absenters or dissenters, do not equally possess." In like manner Protestant Episco- palianism, as an ecclesiestical polity, is nothing more than the result of parliamentary decision, the Church endowments remaining always with the State-Church, whether Roman, Episcopalian, or Presbyterian. In fact, the "whole system of parochial Church endowments originated in public law," and may therefore be changed or suppressed whenever public opinion shall authorize and require it ; and, according to Mr. Miall, the time is at hand fcr some such exposition of the will of the nation.

A book for all orders and conditions of men has been provided by the thoughtful piety of Dr. Goulburn. § Like knowledge, religion is repre- sented as being spread over a wide area, but shallow and of a low type in individuals. Personal religion should be both active and contemplative. The angelic life, which consists of adoration and service, is the proper model for Christians to imitate. Prayer, self-examination, and devotional study are all indispensable, but become fruitless if separated from the ordi- nary routine of common life. Scrupulously abstaining from evil, cheerfully supporting inevitable trials, and doing all the good in one's power, are the practical illustrations of Christian piety. So much for Dr. Goulburn. A somewhat more gloomy view of man's pilgrimage on earth is taken by the Rev. Baldwin Brown,l1 who seems not a little disposed to regard this world as a wilderness, in which there may be here and there a fountain of sweet waters shaded by the graceful palm, but these are rare exceptions on the surface of the dreary-waste with its arid sands, delusive mirage, and wells of bitterness. No wonder, then, that he is anxious to speed the exodus of the soul and guide it in its devious wanderings to the "good land that is beyond Jordan. On the other hand, the author of A Present Heavenif undertakes to show how man may be happy here below, and, indeed, insists that happiness is the assured lot of all "who have Chosen for their portion Him whose nature is One with infinite, unalienable Joy." As a help to devotion, the Rev. William Bright" has collected a large and varied assortment of prayers for all sorts of occasions, taken for the most part from Western rituals older than Anglo-Saxon Christianity, though some are of a later date, while a few have been borrowed from the Eastern Liturgies of Jerusalem and Alexandria. These pious effusions possess the virtue of brevity, being remarkably terse, vigorous, and thoroughly to the point. But for hymns and spiritual songs commend us to the series pub- lished by Messrs. Longman and Co.tt Many of these are exceedingly beautiful even if regarded only from a profane point of view, and are infi- nitely superior to the humdrum rhymes that are usually forced to do duty as mediums of praise and thanksgiving.

Dr. Tullochn enlarges on the warnings and good advice addressed to youth in the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Ecclesiastes. He counsels the young to put away sorrow from the heart and evil from the flesh, to be diligent in the affairs of life, and, while indulging in the innocent amusements natural to their time of life, not to forget that they will here- after be called upon to give a faithful account of their stewardship.

Democracy in America. By Alexis de Tocqueville. Translated by Henry Reeve, Esq. A new edition. In two volumes. (Longman and Co.) On the Received Text of Shakespeare's Dramatic Writings, and its Improvement. By Samuel Bailey. (Longman and Co.) A History of France, from the Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Second Empire in 1852. Illustrated by Engravings on Wood. (John Murray.) Gifts and Graces. By the Author of • The Rose and the Lotus." (Bell nd Daldy.)

The Theretetus of Plato' with a Revised Text and English Notes. By the Rev Ls wis Campbell, M.A., 8cc. (Oxford: University Prem.) Charges and Sermons on Special Occasions, during a Ministry of Fifty Years. By Andrew Reed, D.D., 8tc. (Ward and Co.)

Lovell's General Geography, for the Use of Schools. By J. George Rodent', LLB., &c. (Sampson Low, Son, and Co.) Selections from the Works of Plato. Translated from the Greek, by Georgians. Lady Chatterton. (Richard Bentley.) The Church of Israel: a Study in Prophecy, from the Twenty-sixth Chapter of Le- viticus, with an Essay on the Chronology of Scripture. By William Wilson, M.A., dc. (Hamilton, Adams, and Co.) .

Readings on the Prophets—Isaiah—and Familiar and Popular Exposition for Sun- day Reading. By the Rev. John Cumming, D.D., &c. (Richard Bentley.) • The Heavenward Path; or, Progress and Perfection in the Life of Faith. By the Rev. W. Wilson, M.A. W. P. Nimmo.

i• Regeneration. By Wm. Anderson, LLD. Adam and Charles Black.

Title-Deeds of the Church of England to her Parochial Endowments. By Edward Iiie1L Longman and Co.

§ Thoughts on Personal Religion:: being a Treatise on the Christian Life in its Two Chief Elements, Devotion and Practice. By E. Ifeyrick Goulburn, In two vols. Rivingtons.

The Soul's Exodus and Pilgrimage. By James Baldwin Brown, B.A. Smith, Elder, and Co.

§ A Present Heaven. By the Author of "The Patience of Rope." A. Strahan and Co.

*4' Ancient Collects and other Prayers Selected for Devotional Use from various Rituals. By William Bright, M.A. J. H. and Jas. Parker.

ft Hymns for the Church of England. Longman and Co. U Beginning Life: Chapters for Young Men on Religion, Study, and Business. By John Tulloch, D.D. A. Staahan and Co.