Two Annuals have arrived alteady, though neither of the first
class. Two Annuals have arrived alteady, though neither of the first class.
I. The En y1;,11 A need fur IS:3,a. 2. The .Mw I:xi:ilea:era fur 1838.
I. The main feature of the English _ mind is comparative cheap- ness. The plates chiefly consist of portraits of noble ladies or views of noblemen's seats, and are selected from some recherche and embellished periodical—we believe the Court Magazine. The literature consists of tales; essays—reveries in substance, what- ever form they may take; and poetry ; with announced genealogies of each fair lady whose portrait adorns the volume, though more space generally seems to be devoted to the pedigree of her lord. It is also probable that the articles are transferred, like the plates ; but they are light and pleasing—quite equal to the general staple of Annuals. and therefore "better ash new."
2. The New Excitement, if not quite equal to some of the earlier volumes, is still one of the best books of the kind : various, strik- ing, interesting in its selections, and mostly real. We have rarely read a more graphic picture of the details of battle than in the account of Colonel FONSONBY'S escape at Waterloo, quoted from the United Service Journal. The French officer assisting him to the best of his power, mei telling him the flying report of WEL- LINGTON'S death—the marksman subsequently coming up, and firing over his body, chatting all the time, and congratulating him, as he retreated, on the arrival of the Prussians—and the night prowlers, bent on plunder and murder if necessary—give a better insight into the battle as it is, than the most laboured piece of historical writing. Nor is the professional coolness with which Colonel PONSONBY yielded to plunder, as a thing of course, less characteristic. A civilian would have remonstrated, perhaps re- sisted, and been killed for his pains. "You will find my money in the small side-pocket," were the directions of the soldier ; and when the operator grumbled at the three dollars, there was the alternative—" Search
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