PROGRESS OF PUBLICATION.
THE bibliopoles appear to be rousing themselves to action after their late leisure.
Mr. Fox has sent forth the Old World and the New; which contains the observations and reflections of the Reverend ORVILLE DEwEY, an American clergyman, during his tour in the United Kingdom and part of the Continent. From the little we have read, it seems real, sensible, and not without interest. Mr. BENTLEY has published A Residence in France, and a Second Visit to Switzerland, by COOPER, the author of the Spy; which appears to be a kind of continuation to his former Excur- sions in Switzerland.
We have had before us for some time a work that has puzzled us as to its treatment. Its title is Brittania after the Romans; it is published by Mr. HENRY G. Bonn. It is of the quarto size, beautifully printed, in a style worthy of a name so distin- guished in rare bibliography ; and only 250 copies are struck off. Its object is to illustrate the religious and political revolu- tions of Britain in the fifth and succeeding centuries. last- filling his purpose, the author gives rather an interesting views: the history of the province under the Romans, and a very full can- jectuml and disquisitional account of the British bards, the deri- . vatiou of the name of "Brittania," the invasion of HENGIST, and "what resounds
In fable or romance of Dater's son, Begirt with British and Armoric knights,"
with a variety of matters interesting to the antiquary„iropor in their points, if any could be settled, to the British historian, but without attraction to the world at large, and inadmissible, in their details, into the columns of a newspaper.
Critical Remarks on Life and Mind, is a publication in defence of the immateriality of the soul, against the tendency to materialism so prevalent amongst the physiologists of the day. The book is well-intentioned, and well-written ; but the author is too deficient in logical or rather ontological science, to treat such an abstruse and recondite subject with the rigorous and philosophical exact- ness which it requires.
DARTON and Son have just published a Map of the Country Thirty miles round London, on a sufficiently large scale to in-. elude every village, park, by-road, and spot dist.nguished by a name, yet by no means too large for convenient reference. It appears to be accurate, and is engraved with neatness. The commons, woods, and hills. are not indicated ; nor is it material. The lines of the Birmingham, Southampton, and Greenwich Railways, are laid down.
What an age we live in ! Here, in the Practical Mechanic's Pocket Guide, are the points and pith of the principles of animal, wind, water, and steam power ; the weight, strength, and strain of materials ; and tables of practical facts deduced from these sciences, exhibited in a clear form for reference. All' this, too, is in shape no bigger than a moderate-sized card-case. It is mid- turn in parco mechanical philosophy for the waistcoat-pocket.
Our annual copy of the Prize List if the Edinburgh Academy has duly arrived ; pleasantly reviving old recollections, contenting us by the conviction that the youth of the North are as briskly studious as their predecessors, and gratifying us by showing, that in spite of the "melancholy prejudice against classical education in Scotland,- the pupils of the Academy are still capable of com- posing the usual quantity of Greek and Latin in prose and verse.
Besides the books that are, and the regular formal notices of books that are to be, there are two announcements, the cir- cumstances attending which may require a line of notice. Cap- tain JAMES FAWCKNER, a loser by the recent fire at Plymouth, is about to attempt to alleviate his late sufferings by the narration of some former ones, that he underwent when wrecked on the Western coast of Africa ; in the course of which narrative, we are promised a plain and simple account of some of the native tribes of that wild and little-known country, as well as of some hairbreadth escapes and adventures. The other book is to be entitled Recollections of the Storming of the Castle of Ba- dajoz, and other Military Reminisceneci, by Captain 1,1`CAnTuv; and he likewise is scarcely a voluntary author. Mr. Rontstsox, the biographer of PicTox, having, with the frankness that dis- tinguishes him, printed in his book a private letter of the subal- tern to his commander, without " by your leave or with your leave," the gallant Captain thinks he may as well publish for his own credit and profit, as figure in the pages of another.
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