too great for the endurance of human nature; and he will be pained to see that a nature so noble as Maj. Hodson, can become, under the temptations of power, and the hardening influences of familiarity with scenes of great wrong, an unconscious party to deeds which make the blood tingle. Finally, he will see that the experiences of war are brutalizing in their effect upon the nobler qualities of the human heart. It is sometimes difficult to identify our hero, the pupil of Dr. Arnold, in the author of the letters which describe, with so little of compunction, the havoc which his sword made among the enraged mutineers. As a graphic history of the Indian war, as an unintended yet all the more reliable exposure of British misrule, and as a practical commentary on the brutualizing effects of war, we heartily commend the work.

4. Life Without and Life Within: or Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems. By Margaret Fuller Ossoli. Edited by her brother, Ar thur B. Fuller. Boston: Brown, Taggard, and Chase. 1860. pp. 424.

It is impossible to particularize, within moderate limits, the contents of this book, most of the papers being short, and hence the whole number large. Twenty-four reviews fill but two hundred pages; the longest having Goethe for its theme. Among the subjects are Beethoven, Cary's Dante, Shelley's Poems, Oliver Cromwell, and Emerson's Essays. Margaret Fuller was among the first to appreciate the genius of Emerson; and her tribute to his powers and her estimate of his labors are hearty and profound; though she manifests some impatience with the world for not seeing the greatness that was so palpable to her. Twenty-three papers come under the head of "Miscellaneous." Among other topics one treats of "Fourth of July" in that tone of unfashionable patriotism which is saddened at the nation's lack, rather than exultant over the advantages it has secured. She was more sensitive to the responsibilities of freedom than to its rights. The collection of poems will gratify the taste that admires simple beauty, and that detects a warm heart beating in the rythmic flow of thought. We learn from the preface that the published works of Margaret Fuller are now complete. They will be classics in our national literature.

5. Sermons on St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians; delivered at Trinity Chapel, Brighton. By the late Rev. F. W. Robertson, M. A., the Incumbent. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. pp. 425.

The author fancies that he saw in the state of the Corinthian church a resemblance," in a remarkable degree," to the church in

his own town, in his own day. He found in his midst "the same complicated civilization," the same "religious quarrels and differences of sect," the same social problems, and the " same distinctions of class." His expositions of the Epistles became therefore practical rather than polemical. Assuming religion to be life and not theory, and instruction therein to be, not "the investigation of obsolete and curious doctrines," but "the application of spiritual principles to those questions and modes of action which concern present existence, in the market, the shop, the study, and the street," he has infused into the sermons a life and fervor which at once reach the heart, enlist the sympathy, and fix the attention. The freedom of exposition gives a naturalness of style and a familiarity of application which are too often wanting in formal discourse. The scholastic reader may regret that the sermons are occasionally fragmentary; and every one will naturally wish for the author's suggestions on subjects which are passed over. We are thankful, however, for even an occasional draught from a fountain so pure and deep. same perspicuity of statement, and general simplicity and beauty of style which have characterized preceding volumes, pervade the last issue. Robertson has become one of the class of writers who have their readers-the author rather than the subject being the chief attraction. Few writers ever attain so high a position.

The

6. Notes of Travel and Study in Italy. By Charles Eliot Norton. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. pp. 320.

Italy is inexhaustible in its attractions for the scholastic traveller. Its scenery, climate, works of art, antiquities, and history, all combined, give it an interest beyond what attach to any other portion of the globe. But it is the scholar only that can drink in its charms. To the rustic and the boor it has little interest beyond its climate. Like his predecessor Mr. Hillard, Mr. Norton had, in an unusual degree, the requisite qualifications for travel and study in this classic land. His book is writ ten with the grace of culture, and contains many gems in the way of description which not every reader will be likely to appreciate. A less careful pen would have grouped some of the scenes with more startling effect, but would not have secured so much of confidence in the general impression sought to be made. Fear of drawing false inferences led the author to be " in his deductions from personal observations and experiences. 1 sparing That so cautious a writer does not hesitate to be severe in denouncing many of the corrupt doctrines and practices of the Roman church and government, is strong presumptive proof that

his censures are merited. He is most happy in tracing the literary associations of Italy, as, for example, in what he says of Dante and Shakespeare. He evinces a lively interest in the social condition of Italy, which he considers "full of hope for the future." His book will entertain the reader, and instruct more than entertain. It is beautifully printed.

7. Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct. By Samuel Smiles. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. pp. 408.

We know not when we have seen a book which we could more sincerely wish to see in the hands of every young man, than the one named above. It is truly a noble treatise on a noble subject. The author starts with the true position, that while help from without often enfeebles, self-help always invigorates. He starts with the maxim, "Heaven helps those who help themselves." He reprobates the notion which leads so many to rely upon institutions, rather than themselves. The truly free man is not the one who is nursed and watched and directed at every turn, and assisted at every difficulty, but the one who is let alone, having the good sense to select and the force to use his opportunities.

The illustrations of the doctrine of Self-Help drawn from the examples of eminent men are fairly chosen. They are, however, so numerous, as, in most instances to be "busts rather than fulllength portraits, and, in many of the cases, only some striking feature has been noted; the lives of individuals, as indeed of nations, often concentrating their lustre and interest in a few passages." The man who sends out such agency for good as this book-one which so cogently entreats the young to build up noble character, and to scorn the obstacles that may seem in their way-does not live in vain. Let a copy find its way into every family, certainly into every Sunday-school library.

8. History of France, from the Earliest Times to MDCCCXLVIII. By the Rev. James White. New York: D. Appleton and Company. 1859. 8vo. pp. 571.

We are exceedingly pleased with the style, plan, and execution of this work. We can but regard it as the most successful attempt in the way of condensing history of which we have any knowledge. With enough of detail to give the reader something more special than mere generalization, it so admirably groups the facts stated, as to bring out vividly and conspicuously salient and marked epochs; and a careful reader cannot fail to get from its pages a tolerably comprehensive view of the whole national

career of France. To that large class of readers who have not the necessary time to master the annals of a nation, and who yet demand something better than mere abridgements of larger works, or a mere catalogue of disjointed events, we earnestly commend the work before us. The leading personages of French history are graphically described, and are presented in intelligible connection with the great events of which they were at once the masters and sometimes the victims. Charlemagne, Francis the First, Henry the Fourth, Louis the Fourteenth, and Napoleon the First-different as their biographies are-are seen to be true representatives of a national life which with many phases has nevertheless an ethnological unity and developement. A quiet humor makes the volume pleasant reading. It is handsomely brought out by the publishers.

9. The History of Herodotus. A new English version, edited with copious Notes and Appendices, illustrating the History and Geography of Herodotus, from the most Recent Sources of information; and embodying the Chief Results, Historical and Ethnographical which have been obtained in the Progress of Cuneiform and Heiroglyphical Discovery. By George Rawlinson, M.A., assisted by Col. Sir Henry Rawlinson, K. C. B. and Sir J. G. Wilkinson, F. Ř. S. Vol. II. With Maps and Illustrations. New York: D. Appleton and Company. 1859. 8vo. pp. 514.

So far as the reader may depend upon us for information as to the nature and special use of this work, we refer him to our notice of the first volume which appeared in our last. Works of such a nature are best commended by a simple statement of what they are. The present volume contains the Second and Third Books of Herodotus. The appendix to the second book contains eight chapters; each chapter being a commentary on some leading statement of the historian-such, for example, as the claims of the Egyptians to be the most ancient people, and to have led in the arts and sciences. The opinions of Niebuhr and his school of historians, adverse to the authority of Herodotus, seem in a fair way of being reconsidered. It will certainly surprise those who have been curious to look into the subject, to see the amount of fresh proof brought forward by Rawlinson, all tending to reinstate the old historian into the position of authority from which the critics of the last half century had well-nigh ousted him. If the spirit of Herodotus, as certain phenomena are thought to aver, is now interested in the speculations which are current respecting him, he will certainly feel grateful to Rawlinson and his co-laborers for bringing from the grave of centuries the witnesses who can attest his veracity and truthful

ness.

Four essays are appended to the Third Book, on the worship of Venus Urana throughout the East, the Magian Revolution, the Persian system of Government, and the Topography of Babylon. The best service we can render the book is, to urge the reader to give it even an half-hour's examination.

10. The Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scripture Records Stated Anew, with special reference to the doubts and discoveries of Modern Times. In Eight Lectures delivered in the Oxford University pulpit, in the year 1859, on the Bampton Foundation. By George Rawlinson, M. A. From the London edition, with the Notes translated by Rev. A. N. Arnold. Boston: Gould and Lincoln. 1860. Pp. 454.

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The reader who attends carefully to the promise on the titlepage will not look for much that is essentially new in this volume. The author simply promises a restatement of "the Historical Evidences" with such confirmations and illustrations as are, we may say, providentially furnished by the discoveries made by his distinguished brother and other successful explorers in those rich mines of history, more precious than of gold, which have so recently been opened in the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile." The value of these discoveries must not be measured by their quantity (for this cannot be very great,) but by their quality. In this respect they are above estimate; and a new statement of an old subject is demanded that these discoverers may be wrought into the general argument, and not be arbitrarily tacked on to it. Biblical students will not need our advice as to the expediency of possessing the book.

11. The Miscellaneous Works of Sir Philip Sidney, Knt. With a Life of the Author, and Illustrative Notes. By William Gray, Esq., of Magdalen College, and the Inner Temple. Boston: T. O. H. P. Burnham. 1860.

On first opening this volume, the reader will probably imagine that he holds in his hand a veritable imprint of the middle of the sixteenth century, so smartly do paper, type, and binding smack of the mechanical peculiarities of that age of things solidly nice and quaintly beautiful; though he may wonder by what more perfect than Egyptian art of embalming, the page has been kept so pure of the dust and stain and wrinkle of time. He will immediately perceive, however, that the publisher-whose faculty to cater to the tastes of lovers of the antique in literature amounts to instinct,—has had the ingenuity to put "the gentleman" of Elizabeth's court into the typographical garb that would have been his own delight, could he in person have received a