PROGRESS OF PUBLICATION.

THE " pressure from without" continues; and nearly forty vo- lumes are before us, demanding judgment,—though some of them are rather tardy suitors, and may come to us as to a court of appeal. Of these various claimants, we will first note the arrival of the most promising, and then, putting them aside for future consi- deration, proceed to dismiss the smaller deer.

At the head of our reserved authors, stands no less a person than the late Chancellor—" HENRY, Lord BROUGHAM, F. R. S. and Member of the National Institute of France." The title of his book is A Dis- course of Natural Theology ; the book itself is introductory to two other volumes by his Lordship, and " his worthy and accomplished coadjutor," Sir CHARLES BELL, illustrative of PALEY'S Natural 'Theo- logy. The object of this preliminary discourse is to show the nature of the evidence and the advantages of the study. As the Tories have been telling all kinds of tales about Lord BROUGHAM'S present taste in apparel, we first looked to the dress of the volume; which, we are happy to declare, is richly chaste—in keeping with the dignity of the subject, and the grave character befitting the author, yet tasteful and attractive withal. As yet, we have only been able to read the Dedica- tion to Lord SPENCER: from it we seem to gather, that however politics may have suffered by the dismissal of the Ministry in No- vember, literature will have gained by the completion of this under- taking. We also learn—quod minim reris—that the LORI SPENCER Is a dab at Natural Theology, and has himself accumulated mateiials for a book upon the subject, if he can but be persuaded to write it.

POLITICAL ECONOMY

Comes next to Natural Theology ; and in this branch of science we have but one volume, though the subject of that is very important, and its treatment we doubt not able. The-principles of Colonization, the actual foundation of a new colony, its prospects of success, and its probable effects upon the trade of Great Britain, seem all touched upon in Colonel TORRENS'S Colonization of South Australia,—to which

we shall take an early opportunity of recurring.

FICTION

Takes the next place in our list ; and in this class of literature we have five works. From MARRYAT—and, in a lesser degree, perhaps from the author of " Stories of Waterloo"—amusement at least may be safely predicated ; and we will hope the best for the remainder. Here is the catalogue.

The Pacha of Many Tales. By the Author of "Peter Simple." In 3 vols.

My Lffe. By the Author of" Stories cf Waterloo." In 3 vols. Villiers; a Tale qfthe Last Century. In 3 vols.

The Lastilf the Corbes, or the MacMakon's Country. By the Rev. JOHN WRIGHT, A.M.

The Enthusiast. A Tale, altered from the German of SPINDLER, and forming the 14th volume of the L.brary of Romance.

TRAVELS

Present us with two publications ; one in Baibary, new ; the other in Syria, of an older date, and a translation from the work of DE LA- maims:I:, noticed hereafter. They rejoice in the titles of Algiers, with Notices of the Neighbouring States of Barbary. By PERCIVAL BARTON LORD. 111 2 vols.

A Pilgrimage to the Holy Land; comprising Recollections,Sketches,and Reflections made during a Tour in the .East. By ALPIIONSO DE LAMARTINE. In 3 vols.

BIOGRAPHY,

In strictness, would afford us two subjects, but that the Life of MIL- TON is more conveniently relegated to another head. The woik we catalogue in this class, has not the freshness of novelty to grace it, and its author is one of the appellants we alluded to ; but the subject of the biographer was a marked and curious character, mentally,.monilly, poli- tically, and literary. His times, too, were stirring, his Mends and con- temporaries men of genius or celebrity ; and he lived in an age when the manners of the great had received the highest polish, and their pub- lic and private morals the last corruption. In a period of leisure, we expect instruction and amusement from

Memoirs of Lord Bolingbroke. By GEORGE WINGROVE COOKE, Esq. In 2 vols.

POETRY.

The Tragedies of Harold, and Canwens. By H. St. G. TUCKER, Esq. Frithiols Saga. By ESAIAS TEYNER. Translated from the Swedish.

Harold de Burun. A Semi-Dramatic Poem, in Six Scenes. By

HENRY AUSTEN DRIVER.

Poems. By Miss EMMA MARY GOLDIE.

SPECULATIONS.

Two new speculations connected with the poetical works of MILTON are before us, and demand a line of welcome ; for, be the abilities of the editors what they may, the diffusion of the original in any shape must work good—raising the standard of taste, and elevating the tone of the public mind. The more ambitious and imposing undertaking of the two is Mr. MACRONE'S new edition of the Poetical Works of John Milton, Edited by Sir EGERToN BRYDGES. The First Volume contains the Life of the poet, by the editor ; of which we have only read enough to say, that it is written with his usual elegance of style and gossipy pleasantness of research, though tinged with a little of his usual bitterness towards rival and successful authors. In externals, the volume is worthy of competing with any of the editions in rogue: type, paper, and binding are alike elegant, and the last ornamented with some Brydgian heraldics, hieroglyphics of griffins and spread eagles, whose occult meaning the curious in riddles may aim at disco- vering.

A new Life of Illirrolv, and by Sir EGERTON BRYDGES, Will require a further notice. The Reverend J. R. MAJOR'S First Four Books of Milton's Paradise Lost, with Notes, may be dismissed at once, with our hearty commendations and good wishes. The Notes are both critical and explanatory; their basis is the elaborate commentary of Bishop NEWTON, enriched by selections from other writers, and a few original ones by the editor. The publication is said to be designed for the use of schools; but both the cast of thought and matter of the commentary adapt it to a higher class of readers than mere tyros. Souvenirs, Impressions, Pens&s, et Paysages, pendant un Voyage en Orient, by M. DE LAMARTINE, the poet. form Volume *First of a new serial, entitled STANDARD FRENCH WORKS, and is the original of the work in three volumes octavo catalogued under the head of Travels. The selection for a coin mencement has been happily enough made ; for there is no modern French author who deserves to be better known in England than M. DE LAMARTINE, as well because of his talents, which are of ahigh order, as of the pure tone of morality which pervades his writings. His Eastern Journey is full of delightful reading, and of animated descriptions. It is the prose of a poet; but at the same time of a man of sense, endowed with ample powers of observa- tion and a keen perception of natural beauty. The mechanical execu- ticn of the work IS commendable; the price extremely moderate ; and for the beauty of the type, and the correctness of the text, so far as our perusal extends, it may be placed by the side of any publication from the DIDOT press. Like the two preceding speculations, it has our best wishes.

The following works admit of little classification ; they are all sui generis, and all, no doubt, of use and importance in their several spheres ; but it is not in their nature to require much criticism, or fur- nish long notices.

The subject of Mr. COCKBURN'S Corporations of England and Wales renders it curious at all times ; its bearing upon the great mea- sure of the day, would give it interest and importance if it had none in itself; the public character of the author (who was one of the Cor- poration Commissioners) seems a guarantee for calmness and correct- ness of statement ; whilst his situation of necessity gave him access to the best information, and must have rendered him more alive to all the points of interest, than a mere compiler, not engaged in the busi- ness, could ever become, however skilful he might be. The materials from which the facts and information before us are drawn, are the Re- ports of the Commissioners; the object of the work is to present in a brief compass, and in a uniform and intelligible shape, the pith of the matter contained in those voluminous documents. The first volume, which alone is published as yet, contains a view of the present condi- tion of about one hundred and forty Boroughs, in twenty-two counties ; exhibiting them as regards their Constitution, Powers, and Financial Resources, with the way in which they have exercised, and generally (we suppose it may be said) abused them.

Mr. KELLY has properly followed up his work on Usury by a Practical Treatise on the law of Lye Annuities ; as it is by their means that the Uusury-laws are set at defiance, and needy country gentlemen and others obliged with loans at something beyond the market-rate of interest and the fair premium for the risk of loss. The book has not the popular amusement which the former work contained in the histo- rical parts, (for this plan of raising money on annuities is a compa- ratively modern form of borrowing) ; but it is full, intelligible, and practical. Upon its law it is not ler us to puss a judgment ; but as it contains the Statutes relating to the subject, there is always an appeal from the comment to the text. The volume, it may be sail, contains a number of precedents, and a mass of information connected with insurance-offices ; an essential part of the subject, since it is by their means that the law's fiction of the loss of the principal lent is prevented from being realized.

Rambles in Northumberland, and on the Scottish Border, is half tour half guide-book. The author takes us from place to place, and whilst telling us what is worth seeing at each, gives us incidentally a narrative of his own adventures, with memorials of' the buildings, deeds, and worthies connected with the spot in the olden time. There is something both of point and character in "STEPHEN °mesa the Younger," but his style would be none the worse for judicious lopping.

The important events of PARK'S life are contained in his travels ; the narrative of which combines the truth and interest of biography with the surprising changes of romance. In the anonymous Life of Mango Park, sent from FaasEit's of Edinburgh, the account of his first journey is judiciously abridged ; all that is known about his second and fatal one is clearly told ; and the few circumstances of his private career are brought together. This is one of the very cheap volumes—only 3s. fid.

The Juvenile Research is a tiny work which has travelled from the Verulam Academy, Calcutta, to Wellington Street ; and as a stranger and a curiosity, requires a welcome, though neither its class nor its character demands an elaborate introduction. The four or five little tracts before us form the first numbers of a periodical established by the young gentlemen of the Verulam, and edited, we opine, by its re- spected principal. Of course, in such an undertaking, youths ad- dressing themselves to youths, we are not to look for originality or power ; but the papers display a respectable degree of shrewdness, cleverness, and skill in composition ; and the writers exhibit a com- mendable love for collecting and dealing with facts. The Spectator feels obliged to the editors of the Research for their attention; and if he thought his voice could reach to the city of palaces, would prefer the same request as the venerable Lord ELDON made on an occasion when a similar respect was shown him, though not in a similar form—that the young gentlemen might have a half- bolyday.

The Table of the Kings and Queens nf England, from the Conquest, contains a list of our Sovereigns, with the years of their accession and death ; the names of their parents and consorts ; a column of "cha- racters," which are drawn with more distinctness than felicity ; and a summary of" Principal Events," beginning with the battle of Hastings, and ending with the resignation of Sir ROBERT PEEL.

Essay on the floppiness of a Life to Come is a translation from the French, upon a subject on which neither wisdom wdom nor genius can rise higher than conjecture, and that of an unsatisfying kind. It is doubt- ful whether a human being could even comprehend the happiness of heaven ; it is possible, if the attempt were made, that he might, with his fleshly corruptions, undervalue its rewards ; and it is certain, were the knowledge necessary, it would have been revealed.

Mr. CIIURTON has rendered a service to the lovers of light reading, by publishing a new edition of JACQUEMONT'S charming Letters from India, in a handy form and at a cheap price. Besides one additional illustrations, the work has been carefully revised ; advantage taken of the criticisms in the Quarterly to correct some slips and errors ; whilst our hints upon the subject of delicacy and discretion, have been partly, if not wholly, attended to.