ART. XXIV.-The Colonies of the British Empire. By MONTGOMERY MARTIN. London: Allen and Co. 1839.

Ir is impossible to do anything like justice to this vast treasury of facts and knowledge by a short notice, unless we present the concise summary of its contents. Well then, it comprises the Statistics of the Colonies of the British Empire in the West Indies, South America, North America, Asia, Australasia, Africa, and Europe. These statistics give the area, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, shipping, Custom-duties, population, education, religion, crime, government, finances, laws, military defence, cultivated and waste lands, emigration, rates of wages, prices of provision, banks, coins, staple products, stock, moveable and immoveable property, public companies, &c. of each colony; with the charters and engraved seals; from the official records of the Colonial Office; with maps, &c. After this enumeration one cannot wonder that this royal octavo volume should extend to above six hundred double-columned pages, and above three hundred more as an Appendix. But the wonder is that any one man should have had courage to undertake and a capacity or the means to produce the valuable work here completed. It is, in fact, a perfect library of our colonial history and condition; and never could have appeared so seasonably as at present. The maps, plans, and other engraved articles, will command particular attention; and some of them, the first map, for example, on which the British possessions are distinctively coloured, will fill the heart of every man with throbbings of various kinds, if he be capable of earnest contemplation and reflection.

ART. XXV.-Stale Trials: Specimen of a New Edition. By N. T. MOILE, Esq., of the Inner Temple, Special Pleader. London: Simpkin and Marshall. 1839.

SPECIAL Pleading, indeed, and enough of horrors to satisfy the lovers of the most harrowing excitement. There are three trials, viz., those of Anne Ayliffe, for Heresy; Sir William Stanley, for High Treason; and of Mary, Queen of Scots. This same new edition is rather a ponderous affair; for the metre, together with the notes which are curious and afford proofs of extensive reading of a particular sort, fills an octavo of some four hundred pages. We must not withhold from Mr. Moile the praise of very considerable cleverness, and of a command of ideas; but we do not think that his method of introducing State Trials as a subject for poetic embellishment or enforcement, is indicative of a fine poetic temperament.

ART. XXVI.-Vegetable Organography or an Analytical Description of the Organs of Plants. Part I. By M. DE CANDOLLE. Translated by HOUGHTON KINGDON. London: Houlston and Stoneman.

1839. THIS edition of one of its celebrated author's most valuable elementary works, cannot fail to prove acceptable and highly useful to the English student of Botany. The part before us is vigorously translated; it is got up in a handsome style, and contains a satisfactory specimen of the plates which are to illustrate the minute parts of vegetable anatomy. When completed it will form two handsome octavo volumes. We are glad to learn that it is to be followed by a translation of the same author's work on Vegetable Physiology.

ART. XXVII.-The Deluge: a Drama, in Twelve Scenes. By J. E. READE, Esq., Author of Italy," &c. London: Saunders and Otley.

1839.

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THIS is a poem thrown into a dramatic form, rather than that the transitions in the dialogue, or that the variety and character of the incidents, are dramatic. There is not much of a story, or rather that story will not excite much sympathy in the human bosom. Mr. Reade's genius, and the manner in which he has cultivated his poetic powers, we take to be different from what are required to the production of an effective and stirring drama, even although he were to confine himself to human feeling, action, and passion. His poems are for the closet: the intensity of his conceptions, the beauty of his imaginings, the polish of his diction, the accuracy and music of his verse, all of which are remarkable, being for the serene, the meditative, the philosophic mind.

We know that it has been objected to Mr. Reade, that he is rather a dealer in other people's wealth than a coiner. But it appears to us that this opinion has arisen more from the fact of his choosing themes which Byron and others have identified with their names, than from palpable imitations of treatment, or plagiarisms of thought. It is true that from being professedly an enthusiastic and most assiduous student of poetry, as well as constant wooer of the muse, according as the goddess has implanted her inspiration in his own bosom, there is much risk of bestowing his own dress upon what some of the princes among his predecessors have forestalled. But let us not be unjust as well as ungenerous to one, who, unlike the vast majority of recent and contemporaneous writers of verse, does not come before the public without anything like adequate preparation, with no exalted idea of the requirements, the province, the power of poetry.

We no not see that we could do any measure of justice to Mr. Reade by such garbled extracts as we have room for. Indeed "The Deluge is a work that to be appreciated must be wholly read and digested. It is no sing-song common-place piece, that may be gauged by quoting an isolated passage or two. Instead of specimens we shall merely glance at the outline of the tale; leaving it to our readers to test our few observations by a perusal for themselves, which will amply repay them, both as respects the poetry and the moral.

Moses has said that "The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." Following up the idea which some commentators have maintained, Mr. Reade has betaken himself to the period of the Deluge, and introduced Irad one of the sons of Noah, and Astarte of the race of Cain, of whom Irad is deeply enamoured. But the Angel Oraziel, after many struggles of her affection towards the son of Noah who most constantly and tenderly continues to love the lady, becomes the accepted lover. The Deluge is at hand, according to poetic justice; the angel is summoned to heaven; Irad accompanies the Patriarch to the Ark; and the descendant of Cain meets with the reward which awaits the doomed and the false.

Before closing this hasty notice, we ought to mention that Mr. Reade states in an advertisement, that The Deluge" was written previous to the publication of Byron's Cain" and Moore's" Loves of the Angels;" confirming our views in regard to his alleged plagiarisms and imitations.

ART. XXVIII.-Archbishop Leighton's Theological Lectures.

Ward and Co. 1839.

London:

THE rivalry which now exists in furnishing reprints of standard works in every department of knowledge and taste, is one of the most welcome signs of the times, and promises to work a mighty change among classes who hitherto have been debarred from cultivating an acquaintance with the master-spirits of our country. Here we have, price sixteen-pence, Leighton's Theological Lectures, without abridgment, in medium octavo, and neatly, nay elegantly got up, forming part of a series that is to pass under the title of "Ward's Library of Standard Divinity." The enterprize is of that important nature, not merely in a literary, but in a religious sense, that we shall quote the publisher's announcement in regard to it.

It is their intention they say, "to present in this Series, in an elegant, and correct, and cheap form, the choicest productions of the Howes, the Halls, the Taylors, the Owens, the Flavels, and the Bunyans, as well as many works of a more modern date, of the same general character. Each work selected for publication will be complete in itself, printed with the utmost care, from the most correct editions, without alteration or abridg ment, in an elegant and uniform style, so that any selection from the whole may be bound together at the option of the purchaser. The frequency of publication will be determined by the extent of support, the series may enjoy, and by the care requisite to produce each successive work in the most correct style."

The present Lectures are to be succeeded by Howe's "Redeemer's Tears wept over Lost Souls," price One Shilling; and Brook's “Unsearchable Riches of Christ," reprinted from the edition of 1671. We cannot for a moment suppose that the demand for such invaluable treasures, to which such easy access is thus to be afforded, will be otherwise than immense not only in this country but in America, and wherever the English language is understood.

ART. XXIX.-Oliver and Boyd's Edinburgh Almanack for 1839. For a long series of years this has been by far the best Almanack that we ever saw or heard of. Year after year it is improved; for, continuining the property of the same parties, alterations and amendments can be introduced with comparatively little trouble, and at an expense that effects them but slightly. Heuce the comprehensiveness, the excellence, and the cheapness of this most useful and entertaining of all Annuals.

ART. XXX.-Sketches and Essays. By W. HAZLITT, now first collected by his Son. London: Templeman. 1839.

HAZLITT'S peculiarities are more boldly developed in some of these papers than in any of his compositions that have ever been before published. They first appeared in certain periodicals, where they failed not to shine, though sometimes as erratic lights. We heartily welcome them in this new and handsome form, and as a portion of a singularly original writer's complete works. They in fact contain very many singularities in which real genius and tender or lofty sentiment are the distinguishing quali

ties.

ART. XXXI.

1839.

1. The Life and Character of St. John, the Evangelist and Apostle. By F. A. Krummacher, D.D. Edinburgh: Clark. 2. The Student's Cabinet Library of Useful Tracts. No. XXXI. Philosophical Series. Vol. I. Part I. Edinburgh: Clark. 1839. THE author of the Life and Character of St. John, a translation of which is before us, ranks among the very first of the German divines. It is good for the English mind to be seasoned and made acquainted with foreign riches. In the second work we have Jouffroy's Philosophical Essays; the spirited and enlightened publisher having for years been regularly bringing within the reach of all students, many of the most valuable yet rare or generally forgotten tracts and gems to which modern times, both at home and abroad, have given birth.

ART. XXXII.-Selma.

A Tale of the Sixth Crusade.
and Elder. 1839.

London: Smith

THE author of this volume calls it a "novel in rhyme," and intimates that it was written during a period when indisposition prevented him from pursuing more grave or mighty affairs. There is spirit and vivid. ness in many parts of the Tale, but we question if either the theme, the style, or the rhyme would have been thought of by the author, even although he had beat about anxiously for something to beguile time and remove the sense of pain or dreariness, if he had never read Sir Walter's poems in prose and verse.

ART. XXXIII.—Rollo at Play; or, Safe Amusements. By the REV. JACOB ABBOT, of Boston, Massachusetts.

A LITTLE Work full of stories to interest and instruct children, naturally and sweetly told. The author, of course, draws his materials and frames his pictures in accordance with the tastes and juvenile sports prevalent in his own country; and hence, a striking illustration of national manners, and of such as are characteristic of the peculiar circumstances of the United States of America arises, that deserves the attention of mature years and philosophic minds.

persons of

ART. XXXIV.-Scenes at Home and Abroad. By HERBERT Byng Hall. London: Saunders and Otley.

1839.

A VOLUME of delightful tales and sketches, several of which have been much admired as they appeared in periodicals, and all of them worthy of being published in a form that will ensure for the collection a more lasting consideration than the ephemeral nature of periodical publications can command.

ART. XXXV.-The Popular Cyclopædia. Glasgow: Blackie and Son. 1839.

THE Second Part of Volume Sixth of this admirable and excellently edited work. It carries us from "Sun Dial" to "Wavre," and therefore it must soon be completed.

ART. XXXVI.-An Exposition of Quackery and Imposture in Medicine. With Notes, by W. WRIGHT, Surgeon-Aurist, &c. London: Hodson. 1839.

DR. Caleb Ticknor o. New York is the author of this work as well as of the "Philosophy of Living." By both he has shown himself a practical philanthropist. The exposure of imposture and quackery in the present case is done with skill, smartness, and power. The Notes very considerably enhance the original value of the production.

ART. XXXVII.-The Silurian System. By R. J. MURCHISON, F. R. S. &c. London: Murray. 1839.

MR. MURCHISON, who is Vice-President of the Geological Society of London, General Secretary to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and an eminent geologist, has here given a system, "founded on Geological Researches in the counties of Salop, Hereford, Radnor, Montgomery, Caermarthan, Brecon, Pembroke, Monmouth, Gloucester, Worcester, and Stafford; with Descriptions of the Coal-Fields and Overlying Formations." The origin of the title of the work, and its plan may be gathered from the following prefatory statement:

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Having discovered," says Mr. Murchison, "that the region formerly inhabited by the Silures, celebrated in our annals for the defence of the great Caractacus, contained a vast and regular succession of undescribed deposits of a remote age, I have named them the Silurian System.' The introductory chapter details the state of the subject when this inquiry commenced, the origin and progress of the work, and the objects to be attained by its completion. The first part, embracing descriptive geology, concludes with a review of the most striking phenomena of the ancient epochs which I seek to illustrate; the second describes the fossil animals which are embedded in the strata. The map, coloured sections, and numerous woodcuts, mark the subdivisions of the surface and the structure of the sub-soil; while the fossil animals are figured in separate plates. Finally, lest some of my readers should imagine, that he whose proper study is the frame-work of the earth, is indifferent to the beauties of its outline, I beg to offer a few pictorial sketches of this fine region, alike eulogised by the poet for its fertility and the valour of its people."

Great Britain is remarkably rich in respect of mineralogical and geological treasures; and consequently since the science has begun to occupy the study of scientific minds, our country can boast of some of the most distinguished discoverers and writers on the subject in the world. The present work, the result of much laborious investigation, and previous acquirements, is an unusually valuable contribution. We think that the term System is not too strong for what is here disclosed and commented upon; the discoveries and the theory being of that nature, however, as to require a close analysis to exhibit its beauty and impressive nature in testimony of infinite wisdom and power, a task which we do not attempt on this occasion.