PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Boons.

Recollections of the Last Four Popes, and of Rome in their Times. By H. E. Cardinal Wiseman.

Letters from Spain in 1856 and 1857. By John Leycester Adolphus, M.A.

The Resources of Estates: being a Treatise on the Agricultural Improvement and General Management of Landed Property. By John Lockhart Morton, Civil and Agricultural Engineer, London ; Author of Thirteen Highland and Agricultural Prize Essays. History of England from the Fall of TVolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. By James Anthony Froude, M.A., late Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. Vo- lumes III. and IV.

The Only Child : a Tale. By Lady Scott. In two volumes.

The Most Holy Book of Psalms literally rendered into Bnglish Terse, according to the Prayer-book Version. By Edgar Alfred Bowring.—The preface and the version itself show, what is indicated by the title, that Mr. Bowring, taking the Prayer-book as his original, has endeavoured to turn the Psalms into verse in as literal a manner as possible. We have no faith in literal versions of poetry from another language : prose will give the sense and spirit with greater force, and avoid the lameness and constraint of versifying when tied to the merest literal mean- ing. This objection to literal versifying applies with still greater force when you work from a copy, however excellent, instead of an original; while there is a source of dissatisfaction which is avoided in translation from a foreign tongue. Nothing is more singular than the effect of words in poetry. Change a word, or transpose it; you may have a prettier expression or a smoother line, but it often becomes

poetaster verse. Sometimes a word or two altered will break a spell or become absolutely ridiculous. No doubt, a genuine poet, working con amore, may do a great deal with anything; though great poets have not succeeded with the Psalms. But Mr. Bowring is not a great poet, and the fetters in which ho binds himself continually subdue what spirit he may naturally possess. His chef d'oeuvre, which he instances as a lucky example of his plan, seems to'tell against him. The accent on " have ' in the couplet cited, impedes the flow; the omission of "bread" loses the simple force of the passage; the necessity of rhyme almost gives en air of doggerel to the close.

" An instance may serve to convey a general idea of the object aimed at. Take the beautiful passage in the Thirty-seventh Psalm, ' I have been young, and now am old ; and yet saw I never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.' Tate and Brady give this as follows—

From my first youth till agn,prevaird, I never saw the righteous flill'd, Or want o'ertake his num'rous race.'

It will be seen that scarcely a word of the original is left here, and that al-

though the general signification of the passage may be tolerably preserved, its nervous and touching simplicity has entirely disappeared. And yet how

easily does it fall into rhyme, with hardly the alteration of a word- ' I have been young, and now am old, and yet I ne'er beheld

The righteous man forsaken, nor his seed to beg coropell'd.'

Other instances of the principle could of course be given, but this one may suffice to explain it."

The chief recommendation of the version is that it presents the Psalms in the fashion of the day so far as regards poetical manner. We doubt whether it will supersede " Tate's poor page," or even Sternhold and Hopkins, who yet, we-believe, in some congregations " glad the heart with psalms " ; still less supersede " The Psalms of _David in Metre," commonly used in Scotland, with all their uncouth inversions, Thut homely power and faithful adherence to the actual text.

The Nature and Purpose of God as Revealed in the Apocalypse. Part Second.—Whether this interpretation of prophecy, especially in reference to Rome and the New Jerusalem, has reached its finis," we cannot positively say ; as the author has only arrived at the transition state which is to herald the millennium, and new illustrations of his views may be looked for continually. " The 1242 years represented by a thousand two hundred and threescore days are proved to be reckonable from the years 606-'8, and are therefore terminable in the years 1848-'50." The accomplishment of prophecy in this epoch was shown by the downfall of monarchy in France, and of the civil power of the Pope ; and though both seem to have revived again, yet there certainly has been a good deal of commotion in the world, especially as regards Britain. " May it not be said with strict and literal truth, that this is a time of trouble so great as has not been since there was a nation, even to this same time' ?" What is worse, these national troubles are likely to last some twenty years longer : then, however, they will terminate with the millennium.

Essays on Various Subjects connected with the Prehistorical Records of Ancient Europe, especially of that Race which first occupied Great Bri- tain. By John Williams, AN., Oxon., Archdeacon of Cardigan, Author of " Gomer' " &c.—A series of essays, in part reprinted from " Trans- actions" or similar works, partly original. The subjects are archmolo- gical, and relate to that early age which, if not utterly without written notice, is so far " prazhistoric ' that our knowledge often depends upon inferences drawn from passing allusions of ancient authors, or fragments of lost works. There is an essay on the early intercourse between the Eastern and Western world, another on the Non-Hellenic portion of the Latin language, a third on the antiquity of Celtic coins, a fourth on the ancient Phoenicians and their language. These and other papers all bear, or are made to bear, on the history of the real Ancient Britons, now represented by the men of the Principality, to which the worthy Archdeacon of Cardigan belongs. The book contains the result of a good deal of reading, and shows a most moiling spirit ; but these qualities are somewhat marred by theo- ries, not to say hobbies, of the author. He holds and teaches, that the first man, " as an intellectual, moral, and spiritual being, -had nothing to learn from experience." Science may give us a mastery over material things, and improve our carnal comforts and secular knowledge ; but for the moral and spiritual we must go back to Adam. Authors trace the true religious notions found among ancient peoples to the Mosaic writings. Such is not the fact ; they are derived from patriarchal traditions, spread abroad before Moses. The great object of Archdeacon Williams, however, is to exalt the civilization, arts, wealth, and glory of the Ancient Britons, in the prmhistoric period, and even up to the Roman invasion.

A Manual of _Domestic Medicine and Surgery. By J. H. Walsh, F.R.C.S., Author of "A Manual of Domestic Economy."—The object of this publication is not to encourage every man to physic himself and friends, unless from natural bias or his arrival at the age of forty he has already predetermined to undertake the task, and then Mr. Walsh will prevent him from doing mischief as much as may be. There is, how- ever, one class who in case of sickness or accident may be "expected to do something," as emigrants in a thinly-settled district; and for such persons Mr. Walsh deems his manual may be necessary. The book is divided into three parts ; the first containing an exposition of the nature, causes, and symptoms of disease ; the second its treatment ; and the third a very elaborate glossary, embracing a dictionary of medical terms, &e., and also serving as an index. This threefold arrangement has been adopted on an idea of its utility.

"Thus, -supposing that the person who is making the search is wholly ignorant of the contents of Part I., and yet has to make out the nature of a particular attack of disease, then Part M. will come to his assistance in this way : let him take some prominent symptom presented by it, such as painful ; then turning out Bitsarnnea, painful, in Part M., he will find that it is a symptom of inflammation of the substance of the lunge, 76; of pleurisy, 79 ; of a broken rib, 440 ; or of muscular pain, 81. He will at once know if it is possible the rib can be broken ; and if not, then the disease is either one or other of the three mentioned besides. Turning to pages 76 and 79, the diagnostic symptoms there mentioned will readily indicate to which of those two diseases the case is to be referred, or if to neither, then by the exhaustive process of reasoning, it must be one of mus- cular_pain."

And Lord help the patient !

We attach no great value to popular domestic manuals of medicine except in the simpler cases of ailments to families remote from inedi-: cal aid, As long, however, as people will buy them, -people-will pro-

duce them; and Mr. Walsh's book is good of its kind, and brought up to the time. It is of course a compilation as regards diseases and re- medies, but the incidental remarks show independent opinion.

The Hair and Beard, and Diseases of the Skin. By George Seaton, M.D., &c.—The substance of two lectures delivered at the Ethnological Society, of which the author is a member. The little book gives a popu- lar account of the uses of hair, the various fashions in which it has been dressed on the head and treated on the face, as well as its structure and properties, together with an exposition of skin diseases. There is no- thing new in the exposition ; but it is plainly done, with a 'touch of pleasantry.

The Good Soldier : a Memoir of Major-General Sir Henry Havelock, Bart. Compiled from Authentic Sources, by the Rev. W. Owen.—Be- yond a few unimportant letters from Havelock himself, and some bald reminiscences from persons who knew him, this cheap life of the Indian hero contains no addition to the biographical matter that has already been the round of the newspapers. The filling-up consists of extracts from nar- ratives of the campaigns in which Havelock was engaged. Those of the Burmese, Affghan, and Mutiny wars, are from his own pen, aided by other historians in the Affghan war : the Sikh and Persian campaigns are from other writers altogether. The memoir is no great affair, but it gives an idea of the experience which -formed the soldier.

The "second edition" of " The Views and Opinions of General Jacob " is a timely work, now that the change of Ministry will probably induce more discussion and delay in the new bill relating to the Government of India than might have been attainable under the triumphant majority of Lord Palmerston on that subject. In some cases the book is rather a selection of opinions than a complete treatise, and military matters pre- dominate. But the topics are very various,—civil administration, North-West frontier, the present condition of India. Mr. Murray has sent forth a neat edition of Mrs. Jameson's well-known " Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters," with upwards of seventy il- lustrations, not elaborately finished, but of striking and characteristic effect.

The Views and Opinions of Brigadier-General John Jacob, C.B., Aide-de- camp to the Queen, Aide-de-camp to the Governor-General of India, &c. &c. Collected and Edited by Captain Lewis Pelly, Author of " Our North-West Frontier." Second edition.

Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters, and of the Progress of Painting in Italy. By Mrs. Jameson. New edition, with numerous Illustrations. Vacation Thoughts on Capital Punishments. By Charles Phillips, A.B., one of her Majesty's Commissioners of the Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, in London. Fourth edition, enlarged.

A Latin Grammar. By T. Hewitt Key, M.A., late Professor of Latin in Dniveraity College, London, now Professor of Comparative Grammar, and Head Master of the Junior School. Second edition, corrected and enlarged.