the manly part of man, that finds its incitement in the provokatives of religious warfare. The accomplished historian finds a romantic field, in describing the haunts of the Moriscoes on the plateaus, and mountain crags, and terraces of the Alpujarras; and his pen enlivens with poetic glow, as he details the almost superhuman exertions of the Spaniard to ferret out his foes among the snow-capped elevations of their mountain home. The remainder of Book V.-comprising near a hundred pages -is given to the "Wars with the Turks." The romantic history of Don John of Austria, is given with great minuteness of detail; and the battle of Lepeuto, which forever broke the prestige of Turkish victory, is graphically described. The remainder of the volume-comprising Book VI.-is given to the "Domestic Affairs of Spain;" in which we have much novel matter touching the personal history of Phillip II.-his taste, manners, habits, and government. We shall eagerly await the appearance of the fourth and probably closing volume.

5. The Grammar of English Grammars, with an Introduction, historical and critical; the whole Methodically Arranged and amply Illustrated; with Forms of correcting and of parsing, Improprieties for correction, Examples for parsing, Lessons for examination, Exercises for writing, Observations for the advanced student, Decisions and Proofs for the settlement of disputed points, Occasional Strictures and Defences, an Exhibition of the several Methods of Analysis, and a Key to the Oral Exercises: to which are added Four Appendixes, pertaining respectively to the Four Parts of Grammar. By Goold Brown. Second Edition-Revised and Improved. New York: Samuel S. and William Wood. 1858. 8vo. pp. 1070.

We have been unwilling to abridge this lengthy title-page, inasmuch as it gives a succinct and exhaustive enumeration, in general terms, of the contents of a book which, in point of bulk, thoroughness, criticism, principles and rules, is unquestionably before all other treatises on English Grammar. The book is in no sense a compilation-it is, from its nucleus to its completion, the author's own production; and it forms one of those instances-as rare as they are noble-in which an individual mind has conceived a vast purpose, and faithfully executed it. It combines the results of hard study and reflection, for more than a quarter of a century, on the nature, essential forms, and laws of our language. It would require many pages of elaborate review to bring before the reader the peculiar merits of so complex a work. Here we shall content ourselves with calling special attention to a central feature. The book does not attempt to make the study of grammar easy. Light work does not invigorate the nerves or toughen the muscles-of the mind any more

than of the body. The author's plan is to inlay, as it were, the true philosophy of grammar in the student's mind—making him a "law unto himself" in the proper use of words in sentences; and the method is routine-constant drill. The student has much to learn, but more to do; and if he will work his way through the volume, he cannot fail to come from the task a practical as well as theoretical grammarian.

To teachers, Goold Brown's "Grammar of English Grammars," has an especial value. In the course of his daily avocation, instances must frequently occur, in which he will need its rules for a guide, and its authority to confirm. Teachers in Grammar Schools particularly, should look upon their tables as incomplete which do not have this work side by side with the | Dictionary. And all professional persons, whether lecturers, preachers, editors or lawyers, will find occasional, perhaps frequent reference to it, of valuable service. It is very voluminous; is handsomely printed on strong paper; is substantially bound; and altogether makes a very noble octavo.

6. Lectures upon the Philosophy of History. By William G. T. Shedd. Andover: W. F. Draper. pp. 128.

Discourses and Essays. By William G. T. Shedd. Andover: W. F. Draper. 1859. pp. 271.

Professor Shedd has a place with the first thinkers and writers of the day; and we think that no one can now be placed before him in those departments which more particularly belong to him. His book entitled, "Lectures upon the Philosophy of History," is an extraordinary specimen of the metaphysical treatise; and the charm of its rhetoric is not less noticeable. He gives first the abstract idea of history; which he defines to be Development. In the analysis of this, he reasons, first, that the facts of history have a necessary connexion-nothing is isolated, nothing exists independently; but all the parts are bound together. Next, we are reminded that the connexion of parts in the historic procession is natural—not accidental; and, further, that the connexion is organic. The organic connexion is distinguished from a mere mechanism; and Kant's definition is quoted and approved: An organism is "a product in which each and every part is, reciprocally, means and end." Further. the organic connexion of the historic parts implies inward and unceasing motion. A stop in history is a dead stop; the same as a stop in a body's life is death. Again, the organism of histo ry has potentiality at its basis. A new potentiality is never pat into the same process; for this would be creation and not development. From beginning to end, history merely evolves latency

9. Sermons of the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, of London. Fourth Series. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman & Company. 1858. pp.

445.

We have read several of these sermons with the curiositynot an unworthy one we trust-to discover, if possible, the secret of the author's sudden and almost unrivalled popularity. We are impressed by the conviction that he is rigidly sincere; that his thought comes immediately from his mind, hot as the furnace it leaves; and that his language, wholly spontaneous, exactly fits his idea, and serves his purpose. He is not an artist, his rhetoric is not finished, his illustrations often offend cultivated taste, and his imagination is not chastely poetic. But he is full of his purpose, and comes to men with that directness that never fails of the result. We confess that our first impression-based upon newspaper reports and sketches-was unfavorable. But effects must have adequate causes; and the man who can speak such sermons as fill the volume before us, must have strong qualities of mind and emotion. It seems too formal to commend a book which so many are already eager to obtain.

10. Sermons to the Churches. By Francis Wayland. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman & Company. 1858. pp. 281.

66

A book on any subject, or series of subjects, from a man of such acknowledged ability as Francis Wayland, will be cordially welcomed by the higher class of thinkers on both sides of the great waters; for the late president of Brown University has an European, not less than American, fame. The design of the sermons here printed is, the author tells us, to urge upon individual Christians the duty of personal effort for the conversion of men." There are eight in all, on The Apostolic Ministry; The Church, a Society for the Conversion of the World; Christian Worship; A Consistent Piety the Demand of the Age; Slavery to Public Opinion; The Perils of Riches; Prevalent Prayer; Responsibility for the Moral Conduct of Others. Their characteristic simplicity, their substance of mature thought, and unostentatious rhetoric will, with sensible readers, far outweigh all objections on the score of peculiar theology and sectarian bias.

11. Sermons for the New Life. By Horace Bushnell. Fourth Edition. New York: Charles Scribner. 1859. pp. 456.

The titles of the twenty-three sermons comprised in this volume are characteristic of the author, and sufficiently indicate his quality of spirit and aim. Take such as these for examples: Every Man's Life a Plan of God; The Hunger of the Soul; Ob

ligation, a Privilege; Respectable Sin; the Power of God in Self-Sacrifice; Spiritual Dislodgment; Christ as separate from the World. In each case, the mere caption starts a train of noble thought, and puts the reader into sympathetic relation with the mind that proceeds to discourse. To some readers, Bushnell is not always clear; there is a large element of mysticism in his mental structure; and his mind is intuitional rather than logical. But he has a nobility of nature which makes him felt powerfully for good; and no published production from his brain can fail of readers.

12. History of Friedrich the Second, called Frederick the Great. By Thomas Carlyle. Volumes i. and ii. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1858. pp. 485, 556.

The entire work is to comprise four volumes. What we now have, therefore, is but the first half. We know not by what terms to characterize a book which is so essentially unlike any other book, that language lacks the appropriate epithets for description. The author's primitive contempt for the canons of rhetoric has been modified somewhat; yet he is the same strange being, and his sentences are expressive of their author's identity. His admiration for the Great Frederick is genuine; else he I could never have had a zest--such as we see evinced in the first volume--for such minute researches into the roots of the genealogical tree. Frederick was pre-eminently a man of action-of deeds; and for such men Carlyle's affection amounts to a sort of mania. Voltaire is cuffed not a few times in the course of the narrative; he wrote lies about Frederick, so our author plainly intimates. The books abounds with portraiture of character; and swarms with human beings, rather than with their events. The narrative is a spectacle, more than a record. Here is Carlyle's unrivalled power. It is a rare gift. He that has it need not sigh for fame. That he will make his mark is a necessity of his being.

13. Shahmah in Pursuit of Freedom; or, The Branded Hand. Translated from the Original Showiah and edited by An American Citizen. New York: Thatcher & Hutchinson. 1858. pp. 599.

Shahmah is a Kabyle-the distinguishing name of a race living in the mountains of Algiers, in whom the love of liberty is proverbially strong. Distinguishing between the generic notion of freedom, and the specific form proper to man, as man, Shahmah is dissatisfied with the kind of freedom prevailing with his tribe -sees that it does not correspond to the true destiny of humanity, and he determines, by philosophizing and experimenting, to attain a better ideal, and so comes to our America! His sights

and experiences here make the bulk of a singularly interesting story. The aim, it is clearly seen, is an exposure and rebuke of the peculiar sins and shams of the nation. An earnest spirit breathes in every line; and, despite of occasional eccentricities, the book will amply repay the labor of reading.

14. The Religious Aspects of the Age, with a Glance at the Church of the Present and the Church of the Future. New York: Thatcher & Hutchinson. 1858. pp. 179.

This handsome book contains a series of Addresses delivered before the Young Men's Christian Union of New York, on the thirteenth and fourteenth days of May last-an anniversary occasion. The speakers were, Samuel Osgood, D.D.; T. J. Sawyer, D. D.; Rev. O. B. Frothingham, Rev. Henry Blanchard, Rev. C. Miel, Rev. B. F. Barrett, E. H. Chapin, D. D.; Henry W. Bellows, D. D.; Rev. A. D. Mayo, Rev. T. W. Higginson, Rev. B. Peters, Richard Warren, Esq., and Horace Greeley. No further statements are needed to denote the essential character of the book, or to furnish further guarantee, that whoever procures and reads it, will make a profitable investment of time and money.

15. Every Woman her own Lawyer. A Private Guide in all Matters of Law of Essential Interest to Women. By George Bishop. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald. pp. 374.

The design of this book is announced to be to enable woman to be her own legal adviser, and to render, in every case, her legal redress. It seems to us, that it will serve even a higher purpose-enable her to avoid the difficulties which call for legal redress. Though law is not our department, we find in this volume sufficient evidence that it is prepared by one who is learned in such matters. Its arrangement and abridgments are not the work of a novice. There are so many cases in which women are peculiarly the victims of law, that there is need of such a treatise as this, to point out for them the path of safety as well as of escape. We should add, that the book gives the laws of the several States respecting marriage, divorce, the property of wives, and all points pertaining to the legal dangers and rights of woman.

16. The Progressive Speaker and Common School Reader: comprising choice Selections for Reading, Recitation, and Declamation, with the Principles of Correct Utterance, simplified in Exercises for the Voice. By an Eminent Practical Teacher. Boston: Sanborn, Bazin & Ellsworth. 1858.

We have given this book a careful examination, and we express an opinion, formed with some deliberation, that while it has