26 DECEMBER 1863, Page 21

CUltRENT LITERATURE.

ful and characteristic letters in their English dress (already reviewed in our columns in the original German). The translation seems to be very faithful alld conscientious. A few passages here and there struck us as obscure or imperfect ; but on comparing them with the original, the imperfections proved in almost every case to be in Mendelssohn himself, W:10 appears to have been conscious of this defect, if we may judge from a letter to his father on page 76. The book is well got up, and is prefixed by a fine steel engraving from a likeness of Mendelssohn taken after death by Hensel,—a beautiful portrait, which brings the noble and somewhat care-worn face before us with touching reality.