of poetry, free from affectation, and a dash of genuine humor pervade it. No one can rise from the perusal in any but a happier frame of mind. The characters are true to the life. Old Peabody, a patriarch, overflowing with the milk of kindness towards the whole human race; the griping merchant, and suborned wife; the wealthy Mrs. Carrack, an argosy with silken sails, laden with wealth and pride; her son made up of puppyism, Paris coats and, patent leather; the hearty, homely, farmer folk from the West; the sorrowing mother; the rollicking sea-captain; the true and firm-hearted grandson, and his gentle Miriam; and last of all, the ever important Mopsey, "the lassie wi' the bonny locks," are the prominent characters in the pleasant play. We have not seen a more agreeable gift-book.

Béranger: Two hundred of his Lyrics done into English Verse. By WILLIAM YOUNG. New

York: G. P. Putnam.

In the wide range of French poetry, the verse of Béranger is perhaps the most difficult to translate. Coming, evidently, warm from the heart and appealing to the sensibilities of the reader, witty and ludicrous, idiomatic, and full of every, day phrases of the people, these Lyrics present obstacles insumountable to a translator of ordinary powers. That Mr. Young has been very successful is admitted by the critics, and in this opinion we cheerfully acquiesce. That he has shown extremely bad taste in his introductory preface is equally clear. He apologizes for translating a work of Republican tendency. "Place, and peculiar circumstances," says Mr. Young, "render it pardonable that an Englishman, strongly and steadily attached to the monarchical institutions of his native land, should make this reservation when aspiring to lay before the citizens of a Republic a work which breathes the very essence of Republicanism."

The editor of any paper, the author of any book, compiled and published in the United States, were wiser to keep such sentiments, if he possesses them, confined to his own bosom. If "peculiar circumstances" compel him to seek a support in a country whose institutions are repugnant to him, let him at least evince sufficient gratitude to the land that feeds and protects him, to abstain from gratuitous insult. It is very evident that such anti-American feeling is far from popular with us. We wish our author many editions with a new and widely different preface.

Biographical Essays. By THOMAS DE QUINCEY. Boston: Ticknor, Reid & Fields.

This volume is one of a series of the writings of De Quincey, in the course of publication by this eminent Boston firm.

The collection of these famous essays, which lay scattered through so many of the magazines of the day, was a happy thought and a most welcome one to the reading public.

De Quincey is, we think, the very best magazine writer of the age. Full of knowledge as he is on all topics of literature; learned in all the

great languages ancient and modern, with a remarkably clear and forcible style; keen in his wit, and with remarkable powers of analysis, he is undoubtedly somewhat conceited, and the confidence he has in his own powers in that particular, betrays him sometimes into a carelessness in which the reader will find him tripping. As an evidence of this we may refer to his observations on the question of the condition of Shakspeare's boyhood, page 35. He speaks contemptuously of the question as having no practical bearing He says: "The tree has fallen; it was confessedly the noblest of the forest, and we must therefore conclude that the soil in which it flourished was either the best possible; or, if not so, any thing bad in its properties had been disarmed, and neutralized by the vital forces of the plant, or by the benignity of nature." He says it is a mere question of curiosity; whereas to us it appears the most practical of all the Shakspeare questions. Certainly, to know the constituents of the soil and other conditions in which a plant grew, is almost the only practical question to us about it. Its inherent vital forces and the "benignities" of nature are only for our admiration and reverence. But we refer to this only as a specimen of the nodding of the Homer. The volume contains admirable essays on the life of Shakspeare, of Pope, of Charles Lamb, of Goethe, and Schiller.

The Companion. After-Dinner Table Talk. By CHETWOOD EVELYN. New-York: G. P. Putnam.

A book of jests is rightly esteemed to be the most stupid of volumes, but by a "book of jests" is implied simply a bundle of Joe Millerisms bound together, and forming about as agreeable a «Companion" as would one of those human hyenas, who go about the world with their faces moulded by long practice into one eternal grin.

different stamp, and comprises the choice sayings Mr. Evelyn's "Companion" is a work of a far of many of the eminent wits of all ages, from Seneca to Sydney Smith, who, as the Rev. Mr. Stiggins, would express it, is our author's" particular vanity." Scintillations from Cowley, Walpole, Lamb, Ben Jonson, Sir Thomas Browne, Swift, Walton, and Fuller, sparkle throughout the book, in which no man can find a dull page.

We Americans have a cant phrase, applied to a person possessing great colloquial powers-" He talks like a book." Could any one be met with who could talk like the book before us, he would be an after-dinner companion worth meeting, and would prove the most successful of "diners-out."

America Discovered. A Poem in Twelve Books. By AN AMERICAN. New-York: Trow.

Epic poems have of late years become, as it were, an annual infliction, and this is perhaps the most serious dispensation that has yet befallen us. Had Columbus succeeded as badly in the discovery of our Continent as we have in that of our author's talent, we fear that the "Battle of Bunker Hill" would yet remain unfought.

Conchs of Ruby: A Gift of Love. By T. H. CHIVERS, M.D. New-York: Spalding & Shep

ard.

The publication of this book is one of those extraordinary things which men will sometimes do, and for the doing of which no mortal man can give anything approaching to a reason. It would make a fitting dessert for a heavy dinner of“ America Discovered." One verse par example:

"By her side Cherubic Asta,
With white limbs like alabaster,
Plays along Heaven's emerald pasture-
Ganymede of joy below-
While her saintly soul sings Pæans
In the Amaranthine Eons

Of high Heaven with her dear Fleance
Of the days of long ago."

The Ministry of the Beautiful. By CHARLES JAMES STACK, of the Middle Temple. Philadelphia: A. Hart, late Cary & Hart.

A series of conversations on the influences of nature. We open the book and quote at random. The following sentence will commend it to many minds:-"Most wisely has nature given to childhood a love of the wonderful and the beautiful; and of all pernicious cants, one of the worst is that, which, under pretence of loving truth, crams the memory and stimulates the intellect when full play should be given to the fancy and the heart."

The World's Progress: A Dictionary of Dates, with Tabular Views of General History, and an Historical Chart. Edited by G. P. PUTNAM. New-York: G. P. Putnam, 155 Broadway.

1851.

Mr. Putnam is one of those laborious men whose aid is so needful to the scholar and the student. The Dictionary of Dates is an admirable book of reference, and in chronology is faultless. The tables are well arranged, presenting at a glance the remarkable cotemporary events of each period or year. The paper and print are exquisite, and the work is not less remarkable as a specimen of American art, than for the singular minuteness and indu-try of the editor. A library without it is wanting in a prime necessity.

History and Geography of the Middle Ages, for Colleges and Schools. Chiefly from the French. By GEORGE W. GREENE. D. Appleton & Co. This book seems to be an admirably arranged manual of mediæval history for the purposes intended. Indeed, to all it will serve as a safe guide through the dark labyrinth of the period of which it treats. The experience of the learned editor has enabled him to make a contribution to school literature much needed.

Memories of the Past. By MARCUS T. CARPENTER. New-York: Baker & Scribner.

A volume of poems very prettily issued. The mellifluous voice of woman, we find, if properly

We have only been able to take a cursory look through this volume; but from what we see we are sure we may strongly recommend its perusal. Although, as the title page (which we give above) would suggest, we may expect some imitation of Dickens's style,-and this will be obvious to the reader in the first chapter,-yet it is not without its originality and much graphic power. There is also obvious throughout the book, an earnest purpose of good, a high appreciation of religion, and a strong good sense in its inculcation.

The Diosma: A Perennial. By Miss H. F. GOULD. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co.

genius of the fair authoress in the production, This is a collection of poems in which the and her taste in the selection, of pure and graceful poetry, have been happily combined to make a volume worthy of a place on every lady's table. It is as pleasant a gift-book as could be selected

The Sportsman's Vade Mecum. By "DINKS." Edited by Frank Forrester. New-York: Stringer & Townsend.

A small volume of some eighty pages, containing much useful information of the canine race in few words, and also a few hints of sporting generally. It is beautifully got up.

The Artists' Chromatic Hand Book, being a Practical Treatise on Pigments, &c., &c. By JOHN P. RIDNER. New-York: G. P. Putnam.

A book apparently of value to the young artist, but so entirely practical that we can only judge of its merits by the favorable opinions of practical men.