PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Tie Wits and Beaux of Society is a collection of biographical sketches formig a sequel to The Queens of Society, a work by the same authors which was published a few months ago, and has achieved a success wherewith they appear to be well content. They say in the first sen- tence of their preface to the new volumes, "The success of the Queens of Society will have pioneered the way for the Wits" and Beaux." Be it so. We have not the least unwillingness to admit either the fact or the inference. The new volumes are neither better nor worse than their predecessors, and those readers who were pleased with the latter will no doubt receive the former with equal favour, and ask for more. Nor is there any fear that they will ask in vain. The supply of such books can never fall short of the demand, for the commonest literary journeywork suffices for their production, and the materials wrought up in them are of the most accessible kind ; two or three boxes from Mudie's library might comprise them all. Let it not be supposed that we con- demn these books simply because they are compilations. The value of the compiler's art is incontestable, and its higher efforts simply an amount of patient and intelligent research, and a critical faculty, which command the respect of all judicious readers ; but 11 y a fagots et fagots, and the book of the Wits and Beaux belongs to one of the lowest grades of literary compilation. It adds nothing to the existing stock of knowledge in the way either of discovery, correction, or elucidation ; and its bor- rowed matter is embodied in a fabric of the trashiest texture. Behold a specimen of the latter in this egregious bit of nonsense from the memoir of Richard rhinsley Sheridan. It is patched upon the history of Sheri- dan's first marriage.

" Nonsense ; Sherry in love, the idea is preposterous. Sherry, the dis- reputable, the licentious, the Bardolph,' as he was afterwards called, still more the Genius—was Genius ever in love ? Yes, he was in love for a time —only for a time, and not truly. But, be it remembered, Sheridan's evil days had not commenced. He sowed his wild oats late in life,—alack for him !—and he never finished sowing them. His was not the viciousness of nature, but the corruption of success. 'In all time of wealth, good Lord deliver us!' What prayer can wild,. unrestrained, Unheeding Genius utter with more fervency ? I own Genius is rarely in love. There is an egotism, almost a selfishness about it, that will not stoop to such common worship. Women know it, and often prefer the blunt, honest, commonplace soldier to the wild erratic poet. Genius, grand as it is, is unsympathetic. It de- mands higher—the highest joys. It will not smack its lips over a beef- steak. Its banquet may be the richest, just to be tasted; or the poorest, just to try hunger. Genius claims to be loved, but to love is too much to ask it. In very sooth, it is not more nor less than madness; and who ever

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saw a madman n love ? Who ever knew a madman cherish even the corn- soonest passion ? No Genius is a disease, the mind overpowering the body. It is incapable of the honesty, despises the honour, of a pure love affair. And yet at this time Sheridan was not a matured Genius. When his develop- ment came, he cast off this very love for which he had fought, manceuvred, and struggled, and was unfaithful to the very wife whom he had nearly died to obtain."

Strange Surprising Adventures of the Venerable Gooroo Simple, 4-c. pur- ports to be a free English paraphrase of a popular satire on the Brah- mans, current in its detached portions in several paris of India. It is a collection of eight extravagantly funny tales, appropriately illustrated with fifty drawings on wood by Alfred Crowquill. The volume is very handsomely got up, and will probably be iound worthy of close com- panionship with the Marvellous Adventures of Master Owl-Glass, pro- duced by the same publisher.

Tercentenary of the Scottish Reformation is a condensed record of papers read, and proceedings which took place at the late commemoration in Edinburgh.

Wellington's Career, a Military and Political Summary. By Lieu- tenant-Colonel Hamley. This is a reprint of an admirable article first published in Blackwood's Magazine. We are very glad to see it in a separate shape. Colonel Hamley promises other attempts to elucidate military operations," and we trust he will keep his word.

Make your Game. By George Augustus Sala. One of Mr. Sala's fanciful works on men, manners, and customs. It belongs to the class called "funny," and is written in that exaggerated style so popular with a not over-refined order of minds. The book is profusely illustrated and intended for railway reading.

First and Last ; a Poem.—Eleonora; a Poem.—Two very bad poems, or rather no poems at all, but absurd pretences. The first is a great offence, for there are more than 250 pages of the most intolerable rob- bery and murder of Milton's "Paradise Lost." It actually begins with these words printed without quotation marks- " My theme the ways of God to man." And goes on thus- " Bestow Great Spirit on thy suppliant, bending low," &e— the poorest paraphrase of Milton's invocation ; and after many tedious pages (" Let no wight therein, read") it ends with a long speech from Adam in his old age, who "lays bare the future" in a stupid way. • Eleonora contains only fifty-five pages, but they are of the most con- temptible sort of stilted versification about a young lady in the time of Edward III. Perhaps the reader will consider that he has had enough of this work -when he has read the following which is not "set down in malice," but really given as an average specimen- " Yes Eleonora was surpassing fair, Robed were her shoulders with long golden hair, That as it fell restrained in modest grace Told of calm thought. And oh ! those eloquent eyes That ever seemed on what they had to say, E'en from sweet lips to bear the palm away, Lips that in tarn with all their artless wiles Of separate or commingling sighs and smiles Would oft the palm regain. Ah ! who could tell Upon which charm the heart might fondest dwell ? • And, oh that neck !—But 'tis the soul, the soul, That gave the life, the glory to the whole." We should not have noticed these two volumes at all, but that we see many such things in the course of a year coming from obscure corners of London and the provinces, and these bear on their title-pages the names of two of our highest London publishers. Of course they have not pur- chased the copyright ; but they should not allow their names to stand as a semi-guarantee that such rubbish is worthy to be printed and published by them.

Sea-Kings and Naval Heroes; a Book for Boys. By John G. Edgar. —Mr. Edgar has established a reputation for writing books for boys, and we.,believe his reputation is deserved. The present volume is suited to the temper of the times and is likely to be popular, for it is written with spirit and cleverness. Boys delight in the deeds of semi-barbarous and wholly barbarous heroes ; and probably they will care more for Rollo the Norman, Sweyn the Dane, than they will for Nelson and Col- lingwood ; but Mr. Edgar's account of those civilized sea-kings is so good, that every boy who reads them will (for a time, at least) long to be a middy in the hope of fighting another Trafalgar. It .113 almost laughable to see how warlike everything in England has become, even her children's books. Ten years ago, none but a military, or naval author would have expressed the hope Mr. Edgar does in his preface, viz., that his account of "those who died glorious deaths in the hour of their country's trial, may inspire "some of the rising generation with a noble ambition to emulate the heroic valour and rival the patriotic devotion so often displayed by their progenitors."

The Heroes of Europe; a Biographical Outline of European History from A. D. 700 to A. D. 1700. By Henry G. Hewlett.—None of the heroes treated of in this volume are English, because it is intended as a companion to Mr. Edgar's Heroes of England; in wihch there are no foreigners. Mr. Hewlett having all Europe for a thousand years from whence to choose his celebrities, must have felt an embarras de richesse. He has, however, shown discrimination in his choice, and gives us a goodly company of men whose names will never be forgotten while our race inhabits the earth. He has managed his sequence of great men so as to give a tolerably connected outline of European history from the time of Charles Martel to the death of Louis le Grand. And, although there is no preponderance of French names in this list of worthies, yet the author has not forgotten the fact that the first steps in European civilization after the dismemberment of the Roman Empire were taken by France—" a country which, with all its shortcomings, has from that era to the present been ever distinguished in the vanguard of human pro- gress.' The book will be found very useful in schools, and will lead most intelligent young people to seek more information concerning the heroes they read of here. The historical events are related in accordance with the best authorities, and the author has not embroidered the facts. The style is clear and without further pretension.

Darien; or the Merchant Prince. By Eliot Warburton author of "The Crescent and the Cross."—This fourth edition of Warburton, novel forms the thirteenth volume of the present publishers' Standard Library of cheap modern novels. To many persons of the present day it will be really new, and to many more it will bring the charm of a plea- sant recollection.

The Illustrated Boy's Own Story Book. A series of stories for young people, instructive and amusing, but inferior to the two works noticed above.

The Pioneer of Progress. By John Dennis.—This has nothing to do with Pope and The Dunciad. It is a prize essay on the early closing movement in relation to the Saturday half-holiday and the early pay- ment of wages. It is a serious, sensible, and very well written little book, advocating the early closing of shops, and showing the various ways in which a diminution of labour would benefit the most intelligent of the working classes, and through them improve their inferiors. Such improvement would, as the author clearly shows' be an ever-increasing good to the whole community. It is desirable that all who are interested in this movement should read Mr. Dennis's essay.

Elements of Banking. No one is better entitled to expound the elements of banking than Mr. J. W. Gilbart, the founder and manager of the largest and most successful of our joint-stock associations in that department of monetary science. His little book has passed into a fourth edition, and the perusal will equally instruct the learned in the science of political economy, and the noviciate looking forward to employment in connexion with banks. The work abounds with curious historical details, and gives such advice to the public as will operate judiciously in the form of timely warnings, which are much needed in the present day.

BIISitiC88.—A useful handbook of commercial business, giving the technical terms and abbreviations used in trade, and a table of foreign moneys, weights, and measures. To be studied by juvenile clerks.

Arithmetic for the Use of Schools. By Edward Liddell, Assistant- Teacher, IIomerton College.—One of the best books fur teaching practical arithmetic in commercial schools that we have ever seen. It not only teaches a child how to do sums, but makes him understand the meaning of what he does. Although it is designed for the use of schools, we believe that it would be found of great value in families where the governess has but a hazy notion of the science of numbers, though she may be able to teach her pupil how to do sums in vulgar fractions.

The Practical Housewife. New edition.—A second edition of this use- ful manual and book of reference for mistresses of households is a proof that the first has done its work. We cannot vouch for the truth of the assertion in the preface, that "every married lady who studies it will become a good, practical housewife ;" but we may safely say that the book will be a great help to those who do not become weary in trying to do well as mistress of a household. To be a good practical housewife is not given to all women any more than to be a good man of business is given unto all men. Still, let every woman study the Practical House- wife, and get what help she can from its pages. They are sensible and full of useful information on domestic matters, from the scullery to the nursery.

Etiquette. Also a useful little book in its way—teaching those cus- toms and usages of society which can be taught to any one not "to the manner born." It will help many persons who desire to behave better than they were taught in early youth ; and that, we presume, is the end aimed at by the intelligent -writer of these pages. BOORS.

The Sea and its Living Wonders.- -Translated from the fourth German edition, and partly rewritten by. the Author, Dr.- G. Hartwig. With numerous Wood- cuts, and twelve chromoxylographie plates, by floury Noel Htunplireys.

The Manse ofirsisthead.' Sketehes., gerjous and luunorous, from the Life of a Village Pastor in the Nethelaii4.- `Translated from the Dutch; by 'I'homas

Keightley. .• • •

Strange 'Surprising Adventures of -the Venerable' Gooroo Simple and his

Disciples, ..111Po Doodle, Wiseacre, Zany, and Poodle. Adorned with flfty,Illustrations;drawn on Woctil. By Alfred CrowquilL

. . .

The Sanitary Condition and Discipline of Indian Gaols. By Joseph Ewart,

5.1.13:• With plans,

On the Remote Causes of Epidemic Diseases; or the Influence of Volcanic Ac- tion in the Production of General Pestilences. By John Parkin, M.D. • History of the Venetian Republic, By W. Carew Hazlitt. Volumes III.

The Witrand Beaux of.Society, By Grace and Philip.WIMrton. . With Illus- trations. In two volumes.

The Wortlebank Diary,; and tome Old Stories from Kathie Brtuide's Portfolio. By Rol= Lee. In-three volumes.

Everybody's Book 1. or Gleaning! Serious and Entertaining, in Prose and Verse, from the Scrap-book of.a-Septua,genarian. Edited by John Henry Freese: Tercentenary of the Scottish Reformation, as conimesnorated at Edinburg'', August 1860. With Introduction by the Reverend James Begg„ D.D. Edited by the Rev. J. A. Wylie, LL.D. -- • The Elements of Banking : with Ten Minutes 'Advice Strint keeping a Banker. By J. W. Gilbert, F. R.S. Fourth edition.

Sea-Kings and Naval Heroes, A Book for Boys. By John Edgar, Illustrated by C. Keene and E. K. Johnson.

Make-YonrGante; Or the Adventures of the Stout Gentlethan,:the Slim Gentle- man, and the Man with the Iron-chest, A Narrative of the Rhine and Thereabouts. By George Augustus Sala.

The Illustrated: Boy's Own Story-Book, .With numerous Engravings, from Designs by Bertail, Foulquier,.Castelli, Fee. ' , El-eastern"; .a Poem: In-four Cantos. - Arithmetic for the Use of Schools. By Edward Liddell.

Answers to Arithmetic.

Darien ; or the Merchant Prince. By Eliot Warburton. Fourth edition. Altar Light; a Tribute to the Memory of the Reverend Alexander Fletcher, D.D., London. By the Re erend Macfarlane, LL.D., Glasgow. An Introduction to the Criticism of the Old Testament and ti the Biblical In- terpretation; with an Anal sit, of the Books of the Old Testament andApo- crypha. Originally 'written by'theReverend ThomaS Hartwell Home, B.D. Now revised and 'edited by the Reverend 'John Ayre, M.A., of Gonville and

Coins College, Cambridge. • .,

The Handbook, of Busing s ; a Dictionary of the Terms and Technicalities of Conaideree'; with TaTes' of -Foreign Moneys, WeightS, and Measures. The Handbook of Etiqu,ette ; 'tieing a coMplete Guide to the Usagcs of Polite

Society.

The Heroes of Europe ; a Biographical Outline of European History from A.D.

700 to 1700. By Henry Hewlett. .

First and Last; -a Poem intended to illustrate the ways of God and Ilan.

• Peldron.wrs.

The Irish.Eatreation Question. .Reprinted, with additions from the "West- minster Review," (July, 1860.) The Common," or" Godlie" Band of 1557; being a Comment on that Docu- ment read at the Tereentenary'of the Scottish-RefOrmation, celebrated at -Edinburgh on the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th days of Auguat,1800. By Reve-

rend James Young, Edinburgh. - • . '

The Pioneer of Progress; or the Early Closing Movement in relation to the Sa- turday half-holiday and the early payment of wages. By John Dennis. Prize Essay.

• ALMANACR.

The Farmers' Almanack and Calendar for 1861. By Cuthbert W. Johnson, Esq., and William Shaw, Esq. Continued annually.