The Diplomacy of the Revolution: An Historical Study. By WILLIAM HENRY This little work is evidently the fruit of a discriminating and comprehensive study of our Revolutionary history. The subject of which it treats is one of great interest, and of an importance that increases with every step of our national progress. In the volume before us it is treated within limits suited to the character of an essay, in a manner that shows the author to be fully equal to the task of preparing the diplomatic annals of the country had the epoch arrived when such a work were called for. In giving us, however, this fruit of his truly liberal and patriotic study, he has called public attention to a subject too little regarded even by those who are not unfamiliar with American history, but a subject which nevertheless may well be placed in the scale of importance side by side with either the military or the legis lative achievements of the Revolution. A similar essay of equal interest might be written, we are persuaded, on each one of several other eras of our national history. The scholarly spirit and accurate knowledge which are evinced in the present volume, we sincerely hope will be employed on yet other works relating to kindred subjects. The author is a citizen of South Carolina, and we are glad to know that a citizen of that state, who wields so able a pen, is employing it on subjects so truly national in their character. A Step from the New World to the Old and back again; with Thoughts on the 2. vols. D. Appleton Good and Evil in Both. By HENRY P. TAPPAN. & Co. 1852. These handsome volumes are the fruit of a trip of some six months to several of the leading countries of Western and Central Europe. Though their author sketches only those scenes and objects which lie along a familiar and much traveled path, we have read his descriptions with unusual interest. His pages are filled with a lively spirit, and his reflections are natural and forcible, and far removed from commonplace. In the brief period which he allowed to himself for the entire step from the New World to the Old and back again, he appears to have made excellent use of his time, for he visited and observed, apparently with minuteness and care, many of the spots of leading interest in England, Scotland and Hollandpassed up and down the Rhine, and traveled in Switzerland, Belgium and France. To one who desires to refresh his recollections of these delightful lands, or, all untraveled himself, to follow in imagination a thoughtful and observing tourist over their most interesting scenes, we know of no more agreeable or useful volumes in our recent literature than these of Professor Tappan. The narrative is unpretending and sprightly-the style, chaste and appropriate, and the comparisons of the good and evil in the Old World and the New are judicious and instructive. The work is also pervaded throughout with generous moral sympathies and with the urbane and courteous spirit of an intelligent and well-bred gentleman. Up Country Letters. Edited by PROFESSOR B- National Observatory. The abovementioned brief and unsuggestive title furnishes our only clue to the authorship or origin of this singular volume. Without the least knowledge of who wrote it or how it came to be written, or what object, if any, it was designed to accomplish, we have looked it through with no little interest. The letters, which are either written up the country, somewhere in the state of New-York, or addressed thither, are distinguished for their quaint and quiet humor, and for the delightful naïveté which pervades them. The indolent moods of an invalid withdrawn from the busy world, the incidents and characters of domestic life in the country, interspersed with the records of a voyage, and notices of a wandering in foreign lands, these make up the staple of the book, which, however, is indebted for the interest it inspires far more to the style and manner than to its topics. The letters are somewhat in the spirit and manner of Charles Lamb, and they reflect a mode both of thought and expression which shows that the writer has mused fondly and reverently over the charming pages of the Last Essays of Elia, and that he possesses a taste congenial with that of their moody and meditative author. The Friend of Moses; or, a Defence of the Pentateuch as the Production of This work, which is one of large plan and compass, is the production of a Christian scholar and minister, and has been undertaken and carried out in the laudable design of defending the authenticity and inspired character of the Pentateuch against the attacks of modern skeptics. The substance of the book was originally published in the columns of a southern journal, in the form of essays, apparently elicited from the author by the appearance of certain lectures hostile to the authority of the Mosaic books, which, if we may conjecture from some extracts now and then introduced by Dr. Hamilton, were rather a feeble and shallow rifacciamento of the views of the most negative of the German theologians. Dr. Hamilton appears to have conducted his investigations with diligence and ability, and to have communicated them in a style that has claims to literary merit. We hope that the author will find his reward in being made the instrument of confirming the faith of Christians, as well as of furnishing them with sound and intelligent views on the mutual relations of science and revelation. There is appended to the work an interesting and valuable article on the Indebtedness of Modern Literature to the Bible. LL. D., comprising his MisCommercial, Congregational 8vo. New-York: Robert 1850. Also by the same pub The Select Works of Thomas Chalmers, D.D., cellanies, Lectures on Romans, Astronomical, and Posthumous Sermons. In four volumes. Carter & Brothers, No. 285 Broadway. lishers: 12mo. 1850. 12mo. 1850. Chalmer's Natural Theology. 2 vols. Only the last of these volumes is a very recent publication; the others appeared some time ago, though they have not till now been brought to our notice; but it is not too late to advert to the good service which has been done by the Messrs. Carter, in furnishing the American public with such an excellent edition of the works of the great Scotch philosopher and divine. The first of the four octavo volumes, to which is prefixed a brief memoir of Chalmers, contains miscellaneous works, consisting of introductions to various religious works, contributions to "The Christian Instructor," "The Eclectic Review," and the "North British Review;" some of these we do not remember to have elsewhere met with among the published writings of Chalmers. The second contains the Lectures on Romans; the third, a series of forty Parochial Sermons, followed by nearly as many posthumous discourses; and the last of the volumes includes, along with a few occasional discourses, the celebrated Astronomical Sermons, the Series on the Depravity of Human Nature, and the Commercial Sermons. The duodecimo volumes comprise a uniform series, embracing the Evidences, the Natural Theology and the Moral Philosophy. These volumes, containing writings too well known and too highly appreciated to need here any commendation, form a fitting accession to the Messrs. Carter's list of valua ble publications; and they well deserve the attention of the numerous readers and admirers of Chalmers. Heroines of History. Illustrated. York: Cornish, Lamport & Co. This work consists of a series of biographical sketches of women of ancient and of modern times, remarkable for their talents and virtues and heroic fortunes. As heroines of antiquity we have Semiramis, Zenobia, and Boadicea; from medieval times, Berengaria of Navarre, Petrarch's Laura, and Joan of Arc; and a goodly list of the celebrated women of modern times, from which may be mentioned, as the most prominent historical personages, Isabella of Castile, Lady Jane Grey, and Maria Theresa. The history of Beatrice Cenci also finds a place in the volume, and the sad tale of her monstrously unnatural wrongs, as well as the unnatural crime to which they brought her, is extremely well told; the loveliness and the terrible fate of this woman found poetic expression in Shelley's tragedy, and were seized and fastened in an imperishable, everliving form, in the celebrated portrait by Guido. The whole volume seems the result of careful study, and well deserves perusal. Edited by MARY E. HEWITT. New1852. 12mo. Pp. 336. The University Speaker.-A Collection of Pieces designed for College Exercises in Declamation and Recitation. With Suggestions on the appropriate Elocution of particular Passages. By WILLIAM RUSSELL, author of a Series of Reading Books, etc., etc. Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and Company. 1852. 12mo. Pp. 528. We know of no one so well fitted as Mr. Russell, by tastes and habits and long experience, as an instructor in elocution, to prepare a successful book of this character. For a long course of years he has given instruction in reading and in declamation in many of the first academies and higher literary institutions of the country; and multitudes, whose present professional duties bring them before the public as speakers, remember those early lessons and exercises in school and college with grateful respect. The present volume has sprung partly from his own need of some proper book to put into the hand of his pupils, and partly from the earnestly expressed wishes of teachers that he would undertake its preparation. The extracts, taken from a wide range of English and American literature, are classified, according to their rhetorical character, in four parts. The first part, Academic Oratory, includes extracts from lectures, addresses, and essays on moral and literary subjects; the second, National Oratory, takes in specimens of British and of American eloquence; the third, Ideal Oratory, fictitious speeches ascribed to historical characters, and the fourth part contains poetic extracts for recitation. Each part is preceded by valuable suggestions respecting the styles of expression and elocution appropriate to the several departments of oratory which the extracts illustrate. The pieces are selected with taste and judgment, and their frequent recitation and declamation cannot fail to promote improvement in speaking, as well as the discipline and liberal culture of the mind. An agreeable exception to the usual books of travel in this country we have in "America as I found it," by the Mother of Mary Lundie Duncan. (New-York: Robert Carter and Brothers. 1852.) It is written by a woman of intelligence and cultivation, of warm social sympathies, and of delightful religious spirit, and it records, in a straightforward, unpretending manner, impressions and views gathered during a visit to this country. The author came not to write a book, but to see and observe and learn for herself, to meet old friends and make new ones, and especially to get within the circles of religious influence, and hold intercourse with truehearted Christian people of all names and communions. She finds much to commend, and some things to censure, and her praise and censure are dealt out alike with frankness and independence, without any flattery on the one hand, or the merest tinge of bitterness on the other. In successive chapters she discusses, not profoundly, indeed, but with intelligence and spirit, various matters pertaining to life and manners, religion, education, benevolent institutions, and social usages, illustrating her views by scenes drawn direct and fresh from her own experience. It is an agreeable and instructive book, and it is imbued with such a spirit of charity and real goodness, that one is made better by reading it. Conversations with Goethe in the Last Years of his Life. Translated from the German of ECKERMANN. By S. M. FULLER, (Marchesa Ossoli.) New edition. Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and Company. 1852. 12mo. Pp. 414. The recent sad end of the gifted translator of Eckermann's Goethe invests with a fresh and melancholy interest this new edition of her book. It was a literary task, well accordant with her cherished tastes and studies, which she executed with faithfulness and elegance. The rank and merits of the original work have been long since defined and established. As a faithful record of conversations, made by one who was long and intimately acquainted with Goethe, and who entertained for him a profound reverence as well as a grateful affection, it is of great value as an exponent of the character and opinions of the greatest and most celebrated of the literary men of Germany. There is not probably so fresh and lively an interest felt in this country in regard to Goethe's life and career, as when Miss Fuller's work first appeared; but it will doubtless find new readers, and all who are acquainted with it will be glad to see it in this new edition. The mechanical execution of the volume is excellent. A New Harmony and Exposition of the Gospels, etc. BY JAMES STRONG, A. M. Illustrated by Maps and Engravings. New-York: Published by Lane & Scott, 200 Mulberry-street. 1852. 8vo. Pp. 569. This seems to us a very able and scholar-like work, the fruit of long and laborious study, and of extended biblical as well as general literary culture. The Harmony, which it contains, mostly follows Dr. Robinson's in respect to the events, but otherwise has been settled independently by the author, and newly-arranged by a skilful union of the plan of Newcome and that of Townsend. Like Newcome, the author gives the several Gospels in parallel columns, but at the same time has a leading text in larger type, as the basis of a full and continuous narrative; into which, in inserted clauses, all important omissions are wrought from the other texts. The plan of the Exposition is a most ingenious one, and entirely adequate to the wants of ordinary readers, and hardly less for those of scholars. Directly under the Harmony, Mr. Strong has given, in modern style, and one which is very clear, simple and forcible, a version directly from the Greek text, which is intended to give, free from every difficulty, and made out from the best critical and exegetical helps, the exact sense of the original. In examining various parts of the Exposition, we have admired the simplicity by which the author has solved exegetical difficulties, without separate remarks upon the printed words and phrases, and the repetition and circumlocution incident to such a plan, by a full, continuous version of his own, which is still at the utmost remove from a wordy paraphrase. Three Appendices embody very thorough discussions of the Time of Christ's Birth, and the Topography of Jerusalem, and a very carefully prepared Index and Analysis of the Gospel History. The work is also furnished with numerous and well-executed maps and engravings, and it is printed throughout in a style of finished elegance, which does great credit to the press of Joseph Longking, from which, as appears from the titlepage, it has issued. An Exposition of some of the Laws of the Latin Grammar. BY GESSNER HARRISON, M. D., Professor of Ancient Languages in the University of Virginia. New-York: Harper & Brothers. 1852. 12mo. Pp. 290. This is a work of a character unusual in this country,-prepared with no expectation of its being used as a school-grammar, or of its passing into a large circulation, but with the high aim of promoting among teachers, and the more aspiring among students, a more scientific knowledge of the Latin language. The author gives evidence of having carefully kept up with the researches so successfully pursued by German writers, in the wide field of comparative philology, and makes his studies, and the results to which they have brought him, tributary to a more rational arrangement and exposition of the chief phenomena in the inflections and syntax of the Latin language. We are glad to see a book published among us, of such a high philological character, and we earnestly commend it to all who are engaged either in teaching or in studying Latin. The Messrs. Appleton's Popular Library continues to progress, and fulfils the promise of furnishing agreeable and useful reading for all classes of people. Some of the most recent issues are A Journey to Katmandu, or the Nepaulese Ambassador at Home. By Lawrence Oliphant; The Book of Snobs, a characteristic work of Mr. Thackeray's: and A Book for Summer Time in the Country. By Rev. R. A. Willmott. The last is a charming book, written by a highly cultivated man, full of pleasant sketches of rural life and scenery, interwoven with thoughts and observations pertaining to the opinions and literary history of distinguished writers, and illustrative passages from the poets. |