PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Passion week, the dissolution, and the coming holydays have produced a. deadening effect on publishing business ; for though some dozen publica- tions have made their appearance, scarcely one of them belongs to the regular " trade." The translation of the younger Coquerel's Letters from Italy on the Fine Arts in their Religious Aspect, is, perhaps, less the result of a bibliopolic than a Protestant feeling ; for the French pastor regards Italian art with some reference to Catholic patronage and Catho- lic ideas, as well as to the test to which the Reformed mind brings the subjects if not the execution.

The Honourable Thomas M'Combie's History of the Colony of Victoria appears to be a well digested and workmanlike affair, avoiding the mi- nute and commonplace details with which Colonial writers generally overlay their subject, while he brings out the pith of discovery-and exploring incidents. Perhaps from the nature of the case there appears a shade too much of newspaper manner in many of the occurrences ; and one peculiarity is inevitable. The period is so very recent, not a quarter of a century past, that most readers are already acquainted with the story in some degree; and this remark more especially applies to the incident which to contemporaries is historical in the highest sense, the gold dig- gings with their results upon the economical condition of the colonists.

Boons.

The Fine Arts in Italy in their Religious Aspect. Letters from Rome, Naples, Pisa, &c., with an appendix on the Inconography of the Immaculate Con- ception. By Ath. Coquerel, Junior Suffragan Pastor of the Reformed Church, Paris. Translated from the French by Edward and Emily Rigginson ; with corrections and additions and an English Preface by the Author.

The History of the Colony of Victoria from its settlement to the death of Sir Charles Hotham. By the Hon. Thomas If•Combie.

%Word. A Village Tale.—This book belongs to a class, so numerous of late, in which literary ability and social observation are employed by their possessors in the form of fiction, rather in compliance with the fa- shion, than under any natural impulse. As a tale, or at least as a story, Ettford is just nothing. There are indeed three marriages ; but the most appropriate, and that with which the reader would most sympa- thise, takes place without his knowing anything about it, occurring as itwere between the acts. The first part closes upon Priscilla Clackitt, apparently rather attracted towards an excellent and elderly divine. The second part opens with the said Priscilla a young matron, " woo'd and married, and a' " in the interval by a friend of the curate, who had never made his appearance. The other two weddings are not very probable or interesting, and quickly dismissed ; one in fact is settled in a page, not more to the surprise of the reader than the lady. The attraction of the book, such as it is, does not, however, depend upon the story, which is nil, or the incidents, which are of the commonest kind, but upon the sketches of village character, and the struggles of Mr. Clackitt, a retired tradesman, and his eldest daughter to become intimate with the family of the Lord of the manor. The vulgar primp and pretence of these two persons, are balanced by the homeliness of Mrs. Clackitt, and the good sense, kindliness, and self-respect of Pris- cilla. There is also an undercurrent of religious purpose in the "tale," Priscilla and her mother being at the outset worldly. In fact, Mrs. Clackitt at first goes the length of maintaining that she is not a "wicked sinner."

These characters and many others are not very marked ; or owe what strength of feature they possess to conventional imitation rather than ob- servation of nature. Neither are the occurrences that serve to develop them of a broad or striking kind ; while to some parts it might be ob- jected that they verge upon the thatrioal. Ahomely, quiet-naturalness is

the distinction as it forms the attraction of "Karin', a Village Tale." The literary execution is not remarkable • but there is a freshness and truth in the mind of the writer which renders the volume more interest, ing than stories of greater power.

A Simple Interpretation of the .Revelations. Together with Three Lec- tures lately delivered in Canada and the United States of America. By Henry Wentworth Monk.—In this publication Mr. Monk is not satisfied with the interpretation of the Apocalypse as to the past or the immediate future, but carries on his work "until the consummation of all things about two thousand years hence." By that time Popery multhe false sects among the Protestants will be destroyed, and the elect gathered together in the new Jerusalem. That place will include some of the tribes of Israel, as well as ofJudah, for the lost tribes.are found by Mr. Monk andlocated to the North of Palestine, that is " in Europe." They.sre not pure but mixed by intermarriages ; in fact, all Europeans are Jews of the Ten tribes, to the same extent as the English are Anglo-Saxons. Mr. Monk's mode of interpretation is more by assertion, upheld by scriptural quota- tion, than by the elaborate reasonings or calculations some expounders of prophecy adopt. This sort of thing would seam to have attraction for readers, as the publication is spoken of as a second edition. Perhaps the first was American.

Communings upon Daily Texts, tending to a life of Practical Holiness. —A volume of thoughts, reflections, and hortatives upon scriptural texts, seldom exceeding a page in length and for the most part below it. They exhibit a religious mind, but rather deal with quotations and such sentiments as association produces in devout persons, than display any great depth or originality of thought.

The Exiles of the Cebenna. A journal written during the Decian Per.. secution. By Aurelius Gratianus.—The second number of Messrs. John, Henry, and James Parker's " Historical Tales," is better than its pre- cursor " Ccecilius Viriathus." This superiority does not arise from any greater knowledge of Roman customs, or facility in displaying them, nor is there more skill or power shown in the art of story-telling. The interest of The Exiles of the Cebenna is owing to the subject. The persecution of a priesthood and the flock, with the backsliding of some, the martyrdom of others, and the adventures of many in fleeing from the Imperial persecution of the Christians in the South of France about the middle of the third century, arc more appropriate as a theme than a particular persecution against a nobleman and his wife, set in motion by enmity and.avarice, and developed in the style of conventional romance. "The Exiles" is an interesting tole, and gives an idea of the character and mode of an ancient persecution, though the ideas and manners are modern.

A Volume of Smoke, in Two Puffs. With Stray Whiffs from the same Pipe.---The model of this verse-writer is Byron in those digressive parta of " Beppo " and " Don Juan," where the ' noble poet " pours out his opinions on things in general. The author of " A Volume of Smoke," however, passes far beyond his prototype. Byron's digressions were comparatively few to say nothing of the force and spirit that was in them. This poetaster is all digression. There is no plan, or subject connected with it ; but after an instinctive attack upon the critics to be- gin with, he gives utterance, in the form of comment, to whatever pleases him. Now it is tobacco ; then the various sects in religion and their disputes ; there is a good deal said about Byron, something about suicide, and so on. The manner is for the most part poor enough. The ideas and sentiments are as old as modern books, the smartness is forced, the tone self-sufficient, and the verses somewhat commonplace. There arc passages which are an exception to the last remark; of which the best is the lines beginning " On happy dreams the poet's store of wealth."

Joan of Arc, and other Poems. By Baunore Berther.—Tales in verse. The story of Joan of Arc is curtly told and by an old Engliah soldier of Henry the Fifth, the " idea" being derived from Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel." A Haunted House is a conventional tale of a jealous sister, an an brutal father, and a false marriage, the dead haunting the house to the terror of the living. A Soldier's love is a series of miscellaneous poems on incidents that might occur in the life of a warrior, or very often of anybody else. There is a sort of common- place fluency in the versification and imagery, but Joan of Are and the other poems must take a low place, even among modern volumes of verses.

The Servant's Behaviour Book. By Mrs. Motherly.—Plain and useful directions to young servants in families of the gentry, and those clues} of society which live in private houses, or houses to which no shops are attached. The girl is taught when to speak and when to be silent ; what to say to her mistress and guests, and in what pitch of voice to utter what she ought to say. She is instructed how to stand and move, how to lay the cloth, cover the table, and Wait afterwards, besides various other matter. The directions may seem minute and homely, but that is proof of their utility. Life is made up of small things, especially life in con- nexion with servants.

Nzw SERIALS.

Beelon's Dictionary of Upiversal Information. Edited and compiled.by S. 0. Beeton and John Sherer. Parts 1 to 6. A to Be.—A dictionary of biography, mythology, and geography, illustrated by maps and wood- cuts, with the pronunciation of the propernames. The prospectus speaks, of History, Bible Knowledge, and Chronological Record ; but these will, either come in at a later period, or they seem to us included under the- heads of biography and geography. The immense amount of condensed. information, the readiness with which it can be referred to, and the ex- treme cheapness of the whole, for the work will cost but six shilling* when completed, are the prominent features. In compressed accounts of this kind much must of necessity . be left out, especially in ar- ticles of biography ; but the wordir Welave turned to have given sufficient information: The number of names rn biography is s.omething astound- ing when the limitatipn of the work is regarded.

Casseil's Illustrated Family Bible.—A work which John Cassell is understood to have had at heart for years. Here we-have the first sheet

of a handsome quarto Bible, on good paper, capitally printed. The foot-, notes do not attempt to vie with the latest style of Biblical analysis', but they elucidate the text in a mode convenient for the ordinargemidev... The book is adorned with designs; engraved on wood. The coat of taw first number is one penny.