three, has accordingly a special value, as a richly illustrative monument of the period which it covers, and as the permanent witness of its author's fame.

SHELDON & CO., of New York, render a timely and valuable service in their series of brief biographies,*- manuals for popular reading, yet not compilations, but chapters from standard historians. "Hannibal" is the portion of Arnold's Rome which bears testimony to his rather undue admiration, as we think, of the genius and patriotism of the great Punic captain; and "Thomas à Becket" is one of the noble chapters from Milman's masterly History of the Church of the Middle Age. The great histories can never quite become the popular ones; and the general public is excellently served by such an introduction to them.

IN Mr. White's brilliant volume of French History † is just the encouragement and help one needs in tracing his way through the perplexed and enormous annals of Modern Europe. If the life of any one nation is to be taken for the central and leading one to connect the tale of ancient civilization with our own, surely it is that of France; and yet there is none, perhaps, for which it has been so difficult to refer to a satisfactory guide. The very multitude of admirable and copious recent histories in French has hitherto made it still more perplexing. This volume is strictly meant for popular reading, is lively, racy, witty, evidently well booked, but sacrificing nothing to the dignity of history; if it has a fault, it is in being a little over "smart," and if anything is likely to mar the clear, vivid impression of its paragraphs, it is the multiplying of proper names inevitable when a thousand years are told in half as many pages. We trust the publishers will speedily follow this by a republication of Mr. White's "Eighteen Christian Centuries."

THE seventh volume of the "New American Cyclopædia" almost merits a special notice under the department of History and Biography, so rich is it incidentally in these departments. An alphabet is as arbitrary a thing as statistics; yet, like these, it groups its material in unexpected and not quite irrational ways. The series of historic Edwards and Edwardses, Elizabeths and Francises, with the great chapters of England, France, and Europe, and the American names of Everett and Franklin, here found, are illustrations of this subtile fact. We have spoken already of the literary and mechanical style of this most serviceable publication; and need only record the fact of its steady progress towards completion.

Ir is with regret that we have been obliged to pass by the really extraordinary series of novels and tales in which recent English literature displays such wealth and vigor. We trust at least to record and

*Hannibal; Thomas à Becket. New York: Sheldon & Co.

History of France, from the Earliest Times to 1848. By Rev. James White. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 8vo. pp. 571.

characterize those few which have been conspicuous in the book-lists of these past months. The school of fiction to which the present period is giving birth seems to us as marked a phenomenon as that presented by any one age or school of literature. The last, and one of the very best, is a New England story,* just put forth in its completed form, of which we only chronicle the publication, presuming it to be already familiar to all readers.

A VERY pleasant sort of parlor literature receives an addition in the volume of "Home Dramas"† collected by Mrs. Follen. Our old friends, Berquin and Miss Edgeworth, are introduced here to new generations of children; and along with them we have a very entertaining collection of plays, charades, &c., helping out the intellectual, witty, and painstaking fashion of home diversions so happily in vogue. THE "Vicissitudes of Italy" has been pronounced to be the best summary that has appeared of recent Italian history. It is detailed enough, accurate, and on the whole well told, although we miss the picturesqueness and life that the subject would admit of. The point of view is the moderately conservative, and the sympathies are with the Sardinian monarchy. But, while full praise - and none too high — is awarded to D'Azeglio, Cavour, Garibaldi, and Victor Emanuel, Mazzini and his followers are throughout treated, not merely in a spirit of antagonism, but with bitter, and we think unfair hostility. It should be considered that Charles Albert's conduct, which can now be explained, but could not at the time, gave Mazzini good reason to distrust him, and that Mazzini is as honest in his republicanism as D'Azeglio in his preference for a monarchy. Mazzini's present position proves that he is not an impracticable visionary, as represented.

IN the late Dr. Alcott's forty years' experience § we find a great amount of shrewdness, good sense, and entertaining anecdote; a good deal, also, of that sincere, half-morbid, one-sided, and crotchety notion of men and things,- forbidding meats, and holding that no apology can justify the use of butter, so common with a large class of popular medico-critics. For some of Dr. Alcott's writings we have a sincere respect, and for his "Young Man's Guide" in particular, recollections of personal gratitude besides. But his experience as a man of unhealthy habit, struggling with disease as well as ignorance and error, in the capacity of patient too as well as doctor, is no fair gauge of the sensations of robuster men. The book is a very curious and amusing picture of a rather obscure side of modern New England life, and is a mark honestly made in a needed direction.

The Minister's Wooing. By Mrs. H. B. STOWE. Boston: Brown, Taggard, and Chase.

† Home Dramas for Young People. Compiled by ELIZA LEE FOLLEN. BOSton and Cambridge: James Munroe & Co.

The Vicissitudes of Italy since the Congress of Vienna. By A. L. V. GRETTON. London and New York: Routledge, Warner, and Routledge. 1859. 16mo. pp. 320.

Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders. Boston: J. P. Jewett & Co.

Or the same class are two little works sent us, on Alcohol and Tobacco,two, certainly, of the great mischief-breeders in the highwrought, unwholesome mode of civilization in which too many among us dwell. Their argument is doubtless needed and timely. Physiologists and historians have concurred in speaking with seriousness, and even alarm, of the past and probable effect of these violent medical agents, which have become great staples of trade and luxury. But even the briefest popular treatise ought, for its best effect, to speak in the calm, unexaggerated language of science, and proceed mainly by a strict exposition of authentic and average facts.

THE death of the author of "Aguecheek" is a real loss to our literary community. His ability, genial spirit, and graceful style would no doubt have been turned to good account had he lived. The volume before us is made up, in about equal proportion, of reminiscences of travel and of miscellaneous essays, on the whole very pleasant reading. The fault of the book is its ultra-conservative tone, altogether unworthy of a young American. We are pleased with his hearty vindication of French and Italian character and manners, so often unjustly aspersed by American writers, and glad that he does not spare the faults and foibles of his own country; but are sorry that he does this, not in an appreciative, American spirit, but in that of an admirer of despotism. It is one thing to vindicate Napoleon III. from unfair judgments, another to eulogize him as the greatest and best of sovereigns, and to justify his disregard of oath in seizing the crown by comparing it with Washington's breaking the allegiance implied in his acceptance of a commission under Braddock. The author disregards historical truth in speaking of "the sanguinary and sacrilegious Roman republic," and exhibits throughout the work the spirit, not of a judicious conservative, but of a blind reactionaire.

NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

THEOLOGY AND RELIGION.

A Commentary, Explanatory, Doctrinal, and Practical, on the Epistle to the Ephesians. By R. E. Pattison: Boston: Gould & Lincoln.

pp. 244.

12mo.

Life's Morning; or, Counsels and Encouragements for Youthful Christians. Boston: J. E. Tilton & Co. 16mo. pp. 266.

Lessons from Jesus; or, The Teachings of Divine Love. By W. P. Balfern. New York: Sheldon & Co. 16mo. pp. 324.

Smooth Stones taken from Ancient Brooks; being a Collection of Sentences, Illustrations, and Quaint Sayings, from the Works of that renowned Puritan, Thomas Brooks. By Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. New York: Sheldon & Co. 18mo. pp. 269.

Sunday Morning Thoughts; or, Great Truths in Plain Words. Sunday Evening Thoughts; or, Great Truths in Plain Words. By Mrs. Thomas Geldart. New York: Sheldon & Co. 16mo. pp. 219, 206.

God in His Providence. A Comprehensive View of the Principles and

* Aguecheek. Boston: Shepard, Clark, and Brown. 1859. 12mo. pp. 336.

Particulars of an Active Divine Providence over Man. By Woodbury M. Fernald. Boston: Otis Clapp. 12mo. pp. 437.

ESSAYS, ETC.

Moral Philosophy, including Theoretical and Practical Ethics. By Joseph Haven, D. D. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 12mo. pp. 366.

British Novelists and their Styles: being a Critical Sketch of the History of British Prose Fiction. By David Masson. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 16mo. pp. 312. (See p. 461.)

Political Economy: designed as a Text-Book for Colleges. By John Bascom, A. M., Professor in Williams College. Andover: W. F. Draper. 12mo. pp. 366.

Logic of Political Economy, and Other Papers. By Thomas De Quincey. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 12mo. pp. 387.

Orations and Speeches on Various Occasions. By Edward Everett. Vol. III. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. 8vo. pp. 847. (See p. 464.)

Historical Vindication. A Discourse on the Province and Uses of Baptist History. By S. S. Cutting. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 12mo. pp. 224.

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders; or, The Cogitations and Confessions of an Aged Physician. Boston: J. P. Jewett & Co. 12mo. pp. 384. (See p. 466.)

The History of the Religious Movement of the Eighteenth Century called Methodism. By Abel Stevens. Vol. II. From the Death of Whitefield to

the Death of Wesley. New York: Carleton & Porter. 12mo. pp. 520. A Memoir of the late Rev. George Armstrong, of Bristol, (England,) with Extracts from his Journals and Correspondence. By Robert Henderson. London: Edward T. Whitfield. 8vo. pp. 400. (See p. 464.)

The History of the Reformation in Sweden. By L. A. Anjou, Councillor to the King of Sweden. Translated from the Swedish by Henry M. Mason. New York: Sheldon & Co. 12mo. PP. 668.

Historical Sketches of Hymns, their Writers and their Influence. By Joseph Belcher, D.D. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. 12mo. pp. 415. (See p. 449.)

Life of Hannibal. By Thomas Arnold, D.D. Life of Thomas à Becket. By Henry Hart Milman. New York: Sheldon & Co. 16mo. pp. 320, 246. (See p. 465.)

By William C. Rives.

History of the Life and Times of James Madison. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. Vol. I. 8vo. pp. 660. (See p. 451.) The Monarchies of Continental Europe. The Empire of Russia, from the Remotest Periods to the Present Time. By John S. C. Abbott. New York: Mason Brothers. 12mo. pp. 528.

The Puritans: or, The Church, Court, and Parliament of England during the Reigns of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth. By Samuel Hopkins. 3 vols. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. Vol. I. 8vo. pp. 549.

Leaders of the Reformation: Luther, Calvin, Latimer, Knox, the Repre sentative Men of Germany, France, England, and Scotland. By John Tulloch, D.D. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 12mo. pp. 309.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.

Life in Tuscany. By Mabel Sharman Crawford. New York: Sheldon & Blakeman. 12mo. pp. 353. (See p. 459.)

Highways of Travel: or, A Summer in Europe. By Margaret J. M. Sweat. Boston: Walker, Wise, & Co. 12mo. pp. 364. (See p. 460.)

Fiji and the Fijians. By Thomas Williams and James Calvert. George Stringer Rowe. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 8vo.

Edited by

pp. 551.

POETRY AND FICTION.

The Works of William Shakespeare, &c., &c. By Richard Grant White. Vols. VI., VII, VIII. (Histories.) Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. 1859. 8vo. pp. 564, 468, 453.

The Rectory of Moreland; or, My Duty. Boston: J. E. Tilton & Co. 12mo. pp. 339.

My Third Book; a Collection of Tales. By Louise Chandler Moulton. New York: Harper & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 434.

Henry St. John, Gentleman, of "Flower of Hundreds," in the County of Prince George, Virginia. A Tale of 1774-75. By John Esten Cooke. New York: Harper & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 503.

Peterson's Cheap Waverley. The Highland Widow; The Surgeon's Daughter.

Peterson's Cheap Edition of Charles Dickens. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Almost a Heroine. By the Author of "Charles Auchester," &c. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 12mo. pp. 399.

Germaine. By Edmond About. Translated by Mary L. Booth. Boston: J. E. Tilton & Co. 12mo. pp. 341.

EDUCATION.

A Natural Philosophy, embracing the Most Recent Discoveries in the Various Branches of Physics, and exhibiting the Application of Scientific Principles in Every-Day Life. By G. P. Quackenbos. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 450.

The I. II. III. Philippics of Demosthenes.

With Historical Introductions and Critical and Explanatory Notes. By M. J. Smead. New Edition, revised. Boston: James Munroe & Co. 12mo. pp. 249.

The Student's Hume. A History of England from the Earliest Times to the Revolution in 1688. By David Hume. Abridged. Incorporating the Corrections and Researches of Recent Historians, and continued down to the Year 1858. Illustrated by Engravings on Wood. New York: Harper & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 789.

JUVENILE.

Emilie the Peacemaker. By Mrs. Thomas Geldart. New York: Sheldon & Co. 16mo. pp. 179.

Jessie Allison; or, The Transformation. By Mary A. Richards. New York: Sheldon & Co. 16mo. pp. 234.

(See p. 466.)
With eight Illustrations.

Home Dramas for Young People. Compiled by Eliza Lee Follen. Boston: James Munroe & Co. 12mo. pp. 441. Harry Lee; or, Hope for the Poor. New York: Harper & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 381. Mary Lee. By Kate Livermore. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 18mo.

Pp. 161.

The Boy's Own Toy-Maker. A Practical Illustrated Guide to the Useful Employment of Leisure Hours. By E. Landells. With numerous Engravings. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 24mo. pp. 153.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Breakfast, Dinner, and Tea, viewed Classically, Poetically, and Practically; containing numerous Curious Dishes and Feasts of all Times and all Countries, besides three hundred Modern Receipts. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 16mo. pp. 351.

Rab and his Friends. By John Brown, M. D.

Boston: Ticknor & Fields.

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