olic. Some we cannot approve; and yet we read them with an uncommon satisfaction. The interviews which he records, were held with Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Emmons, John Quincy Adams, two pseudo-apostles, and with a fashionable lady at Calais, France. With the exception of a few things, any reader will be rewarded by the perusal of these conversations. He has furnished many interesting facts concerning Chalmers. His visit to Dr. Emmons and his happy concise refutation of his abominable system of theology are really impressive. The attempt to convert him by two Mormon emissaries is a capital instance of the serio-ludicrous, and the case of the fashionable lady is full of melancholy reflection. The interview with John Quincy Adams develops the religious views of that eminent statesman, as held upwards of 25 years ago. They doubtless changed for the better, as he advanced in life. His eulogium upon the Bible is a part of our literature. But the evangelical piety of the man admits of a solemn doubt. Lives of the brothers Humboldt, Alexander and William. Translated and arranged from the German of Klenke and Schlesier. By Juliette Bauer. With portraits. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1853. Two men of such exalted rank have, seldom, if ever, figured so conspicuously in the literary and the scientific world as the Humboldts. Their names are identified with the intellectual progress of the age. William, the elder, held distinguished offices under the Prussian government, but was yet more distinguished for his philological researches; especially into the Basque, Sanscrit, North American, and Malay languages. The younger, Alexander, is considered to be the most learned man in the world. He is now residing near the Prussian Court, and is the living library whence the king, every afternoon, derives his knowledge of the great world around him. His travels and researches, as a philosopher, have raised him to the summit of fame, and he is building his own monument, in the concluding volumes of the Kosmos." The lives of such men belong to posterity, and ought to be reproduced with fulness and fidelity. We cannot answer for the completeness with which the work is executed in this instance, but we are prepared to assure the reader, that his stock of information will be greatly enriched by these two biographies. If they are somewhat dry, we do not, in such cases, so much demand enthusiasm as accuracy. All the principal events of their lives are given, with a very clear insight into their respective characters and pursuits. Shakspeare and his time. By M. Guizot. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1853. The celebrated Frenchman gives proof of his versatile powers in his strictures upon the great English dramatist. We could not anticipate any other than a strictly philosophic criticism from such a source. He commences with a view of modern dramatic poetry, and civilization, and the circumVOL. VII.-20 stances which formed the character of the poet. He then supplies histori- cal and critical notices of the principal plays. but, we think, upon the whole, just. He concedes the affluence of Shakspeare's genius, but holds him defective in management; as all impartial judges must. The work includes an article on Shakspeare's Othello, and dramatic art in France, by the Duke de Broglie. The whole is worthy both of the author and the subject, and will cultivate, in a high degree, the critical judgment of the reader. Corneille and his Times. By M. Guizot. Harper & Brothers: New York. 1853.. What Shakspeare was to England, Corneille was to France, though, in universality of renown, the former has greatly surpassed the latter; while the latter is superior in elegance and symmetry. A very similar method of treatment is pursued in this, as in the former volume. It is a master's hand tracing the dramatic element in the nation, with its distinctive development; while, its great living impersonation, as in the preceding case, stands fully revealed before us. We recommend to the admirers of dramatic poetry, these valuable disquisitions. Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses connected with the regal succession of Great Britain. By Agnes Strickland. Vol. III. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1853. The whole of this volume is occupied with the history of Mary Stuart. queen of Scotts. Miss Strickland accomplishes for female sovereigns what has so frequently been done for their royal husbands. She brings them into that full view to which they are entitled, and from which, many, to a great extent, have been secluded. The part which these ladies performed in the drama of the times, is singularly affecting, as portrayed by the remarkably graphic pen of the fair authoress. She has ransacked the musty annals of the past, and recovered many a memorable relic from oblivion, and placed the whole into a gallery of pictures, reminding us equally of human grandeur, misery and sin. The life and works of Robert Burns. Edited by Robert Chambers. In four volumes. Vol. IV. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1852. This volume concludes the best edition of the Scottish Bard ever issued from the press. It is an historical repository of the workings of his poetic muse. What renders it peculiarly valuable, is the connection of the several poems with the events which originated their composition. Burns was the poet of nature, Shakspeare of character, and Milton of the imagination. All must have employed this faculty, but none so exclusively as the last. All his personages are creatures of the imagination. Shakspeare's are impersonated human traits. Burns's notes are the simple melodies of humanity finding expression in the practical details of life. This fact must forever make him a general favorite. His poetry is undoubtedly good, though his morals were as certainly bad. The course of Faith; or the practical believer delineated. By John Angell James. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1853. The radical idea of this treatise is, the ceaseless activity and universal application of true faith; in opposition to the multiform errors into which it is frequently resolved. No mistakes are more frequent or fatal than those concerning faith, since our whole salvation is predicated of its habitual exercise. All of its relations are here specified, which it pervades and consecrates. The author is an evangelical minister, a pleasing and instructive writer, whose praise is already in all the churches of Christ; and this production will enhance it yet more in the estimation of all God's people. His remarks are frequently beautiful and profound. Female Piety: or the young woman's friend and guide through life to immortality. By John Angell James. New York: Carter & Brothers. 1853. The fruitful pen of this devoted servant of Christ is ever and anon dictating some useful lesson to mankind; setting forth the unsearchable riches of Christ to all ages and sexes, and in every condition of life. We know of no class of works whose aim is more directly and exclusively religious, or more likely to realize their object. The contents of this tribute to the sex are extremely interesting. The opening chapter is an earnest of the rest; "the influence of Christianity on the condition of woman." Had we either time or space we would present an outline of his course of observation. If we shall awaken a desire to peruse it, we shall have served the reader more than the publisher. The martyrs, heroes and bards of the Scottish covenant. By George Gilfillan, M. A. New York: Carter & Brothers. 1853. The period embraced in these pages is one of most eventful in history. It originated characters and scenes which have impressed themselves on the whole Protestant world. A great battle was fought for religious liberty, and won, in those awful days of persecution. But as it tried, so it made men; men of valor; men of genius, and men of God. The correct history of that period, discriminating the good and the evil of the actors, is a treasure to the church, and to the cause of civil liberty. Few are more gifted for such a task than the author. His congenial spirit, his critical skill, and his descriptive pen fit him for a duty which he has fully discharged in accordance with his established reputation. Follow him through his book, and you will return with a renovated conviction of the sustaining power of a sincere faith in the word of God, and of the sacrifices with which your present indemnity has been purchased. A stranger here: The memorial of one to whom to live was Christ, and to die gain. By the Rev. Horatius Bonar. New York: Robert Carter and Brothers. 1853. We have here the biography of a nameless young lady, of Edinburgh, educated in France, participating in the spirit of that gay Capital, and finally converted to God. Her subsequent life was remarkable for the thorough ness and intensity of her piety. She breathed its genuine atmosphere, and walked in its peaceful paths with delight, as free from ostentation as she was from guile. While there is nothing in this book to attract the eye of the worldling by its glare, it is replete with the glorious spectacle of “pure and undefiled religion." Memoir of Mrs. Harriet Newell Cook. By Mrs. L. H. Sigourney. Robert Carter & Brothers. 1853. The subject of this memoir was the wife of the present estimable secretary of the American Tract Society; a wife worthy of one of the worthiest of men. She was lovely in life and in death. This tribute to her memory is drawn by a hand whose workmanship in poetry and prose, all consecrated to religion, is a part of our history. Without any artful contrivance, the celebrated authoress builds this affecting monument to female excellence. We have a double motive to examine it; the subject and the writer; and both will compensate us abundantly for our pains. Historic doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte, and historic certainties respecting the early history of America. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1853. This celebrated tract of Archbishop Whately was published in 1819, and was occasioned by the argument of Hume on miracles, to which it is a satisfactory reply, on the ad absurdum principle of logic. It was the cause of many different, and some amusing speculations at the time of its appearance; but its deduction is perfectly legitimate. If Hume be right, Buonaparte's existence is a fiction. We are not aware that it has ever been published in this country before, although the book has been well known to intelligent readers. We advise our patrons to secure this curious but powerful little volume, as furnishing one of the methods of defence from the shafts of infidelity, and of confirmation as to the laws of historic evidence. Living to Christ. A mother's memorial of a departed daughter. With an introduction by the Rev. Asa D. Smith, D. D. New York: R. Carter & Brothers. 1853. Into the sympathies of remote and unaffiliated families, we may not be supposed to enter, and there is frequently, a mistaken public importance attached to mementoes of affection. Yet every striking example of religion is a trophy to the cross, and ought to be rescued from the silence of the grave. Its very unobtrusiveness is its brightest charm. Such is the memorial before us; and though it will not captivate the lovers of romance, it will speak in the still small voice" to many a quiet and sedate mind. It will speak to children, as to the beauty and value of early piety, and to parents, as to the fruits of godly discipline. Either of these is a lesson of unspeakable worth. Daughters of China; or sketches of domestic life in the celestial empire. By Eliza J. Gilbert Bridgman. Carter & Brothers. 1853. As of other countries, so of China, our knowledge is generally of the outer and not of the inner life. A true history is based always on the latter. All without it, is a fallacious exponent of the character and genius of a people. And one essential element of this inner life, is the condition of woman; because it is the latent fountain of national influence. An insight into this phase of so unique a social condition as that of China, is given by one who still resides in that country, to which our American churches are, at this time, directing their attention with so much interest. Its object is to deepen and widen this interest. It is a truly affecting, as well as an instructive account concerning the manners and customs of that strange and idolatrous people. A Winter in Madeira; and a Summer in Spain and Florence. By John A. Dix. Fifth edition. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1853. A book which has gone into the fifth edition, has passed its ordeal; a mark of credit which very few have the fortune to wear. It is not so much the style which has advanced this volume to its position, as the satisfactory account which it furnishes of the island and the continent. It is both descriptive and critical in its character. The length of time which the author enjoyed, was sufficient to form his judgment with some accuracy; and though several years have elapsed since its first publication, the permanency of European society leaves its statements unaffected by change. A First History of Greece. By E. M. Sewell. Appleton & Co. 1853. The author is doing good service to the rising generation by giving them, in suitable form, the histories of Rome and of Greece. A well written history is not only a charming but most useful book for young persons. A love for history is a love for realities, and a certain remedy for the passion for novels, now so universal and hurtful. Appleton's Popular Library. 1852. 1. Essays from the London Times. 2. Lives of Wellington and Peel. These two volumes are unusually valuable for their biographical sketches. The most powerful English pens contributed these sketches to the most influential newspaper in the world. There is a completeness and finish about them we have never seen in periodicals of the kind. The sketch of Wellington is truly admirable. The Summer and Winter of the Soul. By Rev. Erskine Neale, M. A. New York: M. W. Dodd. 1853. This title is somewhat obscure, but its subject-matter is perfectly perspicuous, and highly useful. It sets forth the painful vicissitudes of Christian experience; those violent contrasts which are, in some degree, common to all Christians, by adducing illustrious examples; characters of note in the literary and religious world. In addition to these, it describes, as a warning, those fearful states into which others have fallen. The author seems to have entertained a very benevolent object, but has not pur |