PROGRESS OF PUBLICATION.

OF the various volumes before us, three seem peculiarly to demand attention, from their portly size, and the gravity and importance of their subjects. As we cannot positively undertake at any time to read them with fitting attention, and as we know not if we did so that the readers of a newspaper would give the requisite atten- tion to our report, we will endeavour at once to convey a notion of their contents and of the powers of their authors, 5:5 that those whom the subjects-interest may have recourse to the originals. The titles are

The Constitution of Society as Designed by God.

The Philosophy if Morals. 13y ALEXANDER SMITH, M.A. In 2 vols.

The Constitution of Society, though in one volume, contains as mhy pages as the Philosophy of Morals, numbering no less than 639, with a preface to boot. The author, though nameless, is not without ambition, his object being to rival NEWTON, by expound- ing the laws of the moral world as clearly as Sir Isaac esta- blished those of the physical. What gravitation is to matter, says he, association is to mind ; but, with the modesty of true genius, he does not claim the merit of perfect originality for his discovery. He has founded his system upon the works of LocKE and "succeeding writers ;" though, if we have correctly caught the scope of our author's meaning, he applies the word " assomas tion" in the gross and carnal sense of associating or mixing in society, whilst his prototypes used it in the metaphysical SLIIISC of association of ideas. Au roste, the work is divided into three parts,—the first handling the Divine Law, and the three modes of association, Perfect, Imperfect, and Vicious; the second part treats of Human Laws ; and the third of the various States of Society alluded to in the Bible, commencing with the rather limited asso- ciation Before the Fall, and coming down, or rather going on, to the Restoration of the Jews, and the "Heavenly Association 'S after the Day of Judgment. Enough of the Constitution of Society as Designed by God. We may add, upon second thoughts, (which are best, says the proverb,) that we shall never return to it.

From the slight examination we have given the Philosophy of Morals, it appears to be a work of a very different stamp. The general arrangement and the leading divisions of the matter are clear, and adapted to the subject. al% SMITH may not have read so many books as our moral Newtonian friend, but he has read them in a rational and understanding spirit ; and those he alludes to are connected with his studies. Of his style, his mode of treat- ment, and his matter, our dipping manner of reading will only allow us to say that they appear to be above the average. The nature of the book is metaphysical. The object of the author is to issvestigate by a new and extended analysis the faculties and the standards employed in the determination of right and wrong, and hence to throw a new or at least a fuller light on the princi- ples of theology, jurisprudence, and politics. Continuing our classification, we come to Poetry ; of which we have three tonics.

The Rural Muse. Poems by JOIIN CLARE. The Bride of Siam A Poem.

Sonnets. By the Rev. CHARLES STRONG, A. M.

The Rural Muse is an agreeable collection of poems on rustic subjects ; though the thoughts are rather wire-drawn, and deficient in the concentration which verse requires to possess either strength or spirit. The Bride of Siena is a tale of love, jealousy, and death, founded upon the notice of La Pia in DANTE S Divina Coin edict— 'I Siena gave me life;

Alaremma took it from me; that he knows, Who me with jewelled ring did first espouse."

The wife, whose guilt or innocence is here left doubtful, is in the poem before us rendered the victim of an unsuccessful su tor, who inflames her husband Nello with jealousy. He confines La Pia to a tower in the Maremma; where she falls a victim to the pestilential air, just as her innocence is discovered ; and Nello arrives in lime to bury her. There is some interest, though no novelty, in the story ; and the versification is respectable, though it scarcely rises to poetry. In the accomplishments which study and art can give, the Reverend CHARLEi STRONG surpasses his class-fellows ; and his fifty-two Sonnets are various in subject, and many of the subjects themselves not ill-adapted for egotistical reflection. But we have already stated our indifference to this mode of composition ; and NIr. STRONG cannot overcome the antipathy which MILTON and WORDSWORTH fail in conquering.

The next volumes of a distinct class are Quarterly Reviews; three of which are on our table.

The British and Forciyn Review ; or European Quarterly Journal.

NO. 1.

Cochrane's Foreign Quarterly Revitu,, No. II. The London Review, No. II.

The first of this catalogue is a new undertaking, of much more editorial promise than performance. The contributors evince little of scholarship or of knowledge; so that there is nothing va- luable in the book, either old or new : they want the certainty and precision which an adherence to principles gives to a theorist; and this want is not supplied by a practical acquaintance with affairs: even in mere workmanship the Review is deficient—there is no unity in the whole, and not much ability in the execution of its parts. Of its criticism, our eontemporay the Examiner has already dispossd : its political articles are little better than its li- terary. The papers on Poland and on Home Politics are late in the day; the article on France, though better-timed, is detic!ent hi grasp and purpose ; the remarks on Russia have all the exaggeration of a declaimer—the fears and the facts resem- ble those of Mr. Croaker in the Goodnatared Man, and the tone reminds us of the sophist lecturing Hannibal on the art of war. The most workmanlike article is that OD Corporation Reform: but it only attempts to give a sort of resma of the Commissioners' Report, useful no doubt, had it appeared earlier.

In perfect contrast to the British and Foreign, is the Second Number of Cockrane's Foreign Quarterly Review : it dis- plays the usual variety of mincl, subjects, and treatment, which its editor has always beea remarkable for collecting and com- bining.

The Second Number of the London maintains, but does not add to, the reputation of the First. The two most valuable or imme- diately useful articles are "The Government and People of Austria," and "Retrenchment—Military Abuses." Not that these exhaust the respective subjects, or display peculiar powers of composition ; but the information is fresh and specific, and evidently furnished by men who have an actual knowledge of what they are writing about. "The Canadas and their Griev-, ances" is also a good paper, which sets the misgovernment of those Colonies in a clear point of view ; though the statements are too general, strongly to impress the action of the grievances on the reader's mind. In literature, the Philosophical Reformers are still deficient.

The Diary of a Solitaire, is the rough and raw journal of a commonplace mind, kept during a pedestrian excursion through a part of Switzerland. It narrates, in a plain and homely way, the hotels where the author stopped, the prospects that met his view, the thoughts that rose in his mind during his wayfaring amid the Alpine solitudes, and the difficulties which he encoun- tered, and which would most likely beset any one else who at- tempted to thread the mountains as our Solitaire did, without a guide. There is added to the text, a useful summary of results, in the shape of a skeleton tour, stating the places of starting, the number of miles traversed each day, the time occupied, and the distance passed. There is prefixed to it a very silly preface, and a very silly introduction, written in consequence of the dissolution of the MELBOURNE Ministry in November, but which the writer evidently thinks will bring Conservatism to par :

" Could Troy he saved by any single hand,

This gray-goose weapon would have made her stand." There is also a dedication to Sir ROBERT PEEL, as "a states- man who, with the tmnscendant talents of Winetast Pori, and with the undaunted courage of America's defender, the Earl .of CHATHAM, unites towards the arts the munificent patronage ot a Medicis and towards his fellow men the mild dignity of the indi- vidual Christian." We believe Sir ROBERT is courteous; we know he is candid, for he tells us so; and we have heard that he is an elegant scholar, How he will unite the display of all these qualities in returning thanks for his presentation copy, we cannot divine, unless, like us, he has a Catalogue, and at times merely acknowledges the receipt.

Did not the titlepage of The Drama Vindicated, with copious Notes, tell us that its author was a collegian, we should have guessed so from the production; which is amazingly like an exercise. From beginning to end, the matter has a relation to the theme, but very little connexion with it : there is no reason, but much authority, and a plentiful sprinkling of classical quota- tions. Mr. DeNNIAar commences with THESPIS, and comes down to GARRICK, putting forth during this long review a good deal of for- gotten knowledge, with here and there a fact which is not popularly known. As a vindication, the essay is little worth ; for it merely assumes, that if the drama were better, it would be more useful ; but it has some merit as a coup d'ecil of dramatists and the drama.

Woman as She is, and as She should be, is an endeavour to de- termine the social position of the ladies, and there to place them, by degrading the sex in the eyes (or rather in the minds) of the gentlemen. The author is a man of reading, and he is ready with numerou3 qumations from writers of more wit than gallantry. : he is also a man of method, and discusses under different heads the intellectual and moral characters of women, as well as their amusements, studies, and pursuits, with a quaintness which occa- sionally reminds us of the old divines, but with more passion than reason. Throughout his two volumes, he displays a soreness that has too much of peraonal feeling; to render his opinions of much weight and his remarks on the •6 lamentable want of female dis- crimination in an estimate of the opposite sex,- would almost inti- mate that he has reasons for his rage.

Mr. Thomas Dosee is publishing, in sixpenny numbers, a text- book for Reformers, moral and religious, social and political, en- titled The School qf Reybrm, in the shape of a dictionary of quo. tations ; comprising the opinions, aphorisms, and memoirs of etni- neat writers and Reliamers of all times, including Biblical texts, arranged under diffeient heads,—as, for instance, Armies, Ballot, Courts, Constitution, Debt, Education. Where the subject has not been previously viewed in the light of Reform, Mr. DOLBY supplies the omission,—as in the case of Game-laws, where he indulges in a banteling attack on field sports. The idea of this publication is ingenious ; and the compiler brings to his task zeal and enthusiasm as well as reading and research. It will be com- pleted in ten octavo numbers, closely printed ; of which four have reached us.

The Tourists ConTanion from Leeds, through Selby to Hull, by Rod-road and Steam-packet, by Enwaen P.aesoss, of Leeds, is an intelligent and well-written guide-book, containing all the local information that is interesting and useful to residents and strangers ; including historical sketches, topographical notices, and directory matter.

Though it is impossible to keep a grave face in looking over the handsome and well-spaced pages of the Court and Country Com- panion,—where the most ordinary ceremonial courtesies of ad- dressing and subscribing letters and memorials are described with as much precision as the more rarely occurring form of pre- sentation at court,—tbe smile should convey no disparaging notion of the utility of this manual of the forms observed in pri- vate society and busineas in addressing individuals and public bodies. Many a respectable country gentleman, who finds him- self in town and obliged to communicate with official people, will find this mute master of the ceremonies a convenient pocket com- panion; while, to the foreigner, even the advice to use good letter-paper, and scaling-wax instead of wafers, may not be superfluous.

An English Dictionary, printed in a very clear and indeed almost bold type, and with the superaddition of wood-cuts to each ;otter, in a size to go into the waistcoat pocket, is a luxury that .are were not prepared for even in this day of miniature books. SHARPE'S Diamond Dictionary is to the original quarto JOHNSON what a Lilliputian folio would be to Gulliver's duodecimo, with this advantage, that it is easily legible. The in- troduction of designs in a dictionary, is a novelty that deserves especial welcome. The illustrations are scenes from SHAKSPEARE ; and the choice is appropriate, for what writer has made better use of words ? They are drawn by HARVEY, and en- graved on wood by Tiaoarsoss; each design being interwoven with the framework of an initial letter. Where space allowed, a tail- piece is also introduced. Thus, what with the utile and the duke, the thumb lexicon is full to bursting. The hook insect glistens in green and gold.

Half-a-dozen Serials have dropped in since the commencement of the month; the two most important of which are from Mr.

VALPY.

1. The Third Volume of' Mr. HUGHES' very agreeable and in- structive History of George the Third, forming the Sixteenth Volume of VALPY'S England. It begins with 1778, and comes down to 1785; embracing the more eventful times of the Ame- rican War, and the early years of PITT; and besides the pleasure it will afford as an historical narrative, may be usefully kept as a book of reference.

2. The Third Volume of POPE, containing the Dunciad, the Messiah, the Pastorals, and the translation of the First Book of the Thebais. To the best and most elaborate literary satire that was ever written, the editor has carefully appended all the prose arguments and illustrations, with a very full and judicious selec- tion of notes, more necessary to the Danciad than to any modern classic, from the obscurity of its heroes.

3. The Twenty-fifth Volume of our old friend the Mirror; as full as ever of capital cuts, and amusing and various matter.

4. The Second and last Volume of Du LAMARTINE'S Voyage en Orient ; forming the Second Number of Mr. CHURTON'S Standard French Works.

5. The Eighth Number of the Reverend CHALES B. TAYLER'S Social Evils and their Remedy. A little work which has been improving ever since the author has given us less of political economy, of which he knows little, and more of religion, of whose workings he knows much.

6. The Fifth Number of the Student's Cabinet Library of Use- ful Tracts; containit.g Professor ROBINSON'S " Concise View of Education in the German Universities," a work of considerable use, but better adapted to more advanced inquirers than to stu- dents.