placed first in order in the language from whence it is received, and the cognate words according to their families. The editor has been sparing in illustrative quotations, and with much judgment has generally confined himself to the English Bible, the great standard of 'English undefiled." In explicating terms of science and art, he has been assisted by some of the ablest men in philosophical and scientific literature; and we have never been disappointed on referring to such technical words and phrases. Their definitions and illustrations are admirably clear, correct, and comprehensive. Almost every word admitting of pictorial illustration or diagram is accompanied by a well-executed wood-cut; and these amount to the prodigious number of upwards of two thousand three hundred. And to render this Dictionary as complete as possible, there are added pronouncing vocabularies of Greek, Latin, and Scripture proper names, and of modern geographical names. This portion is by Professor Porter, of Yale College, United States, and is accompanied by brief rules for the pronunciation of the principal European languages. We can only regret that there are difficulties in the way of the enterprising publishers blending the Supplement with the work. Notwithstanding the enormous expense and labour they have bestowed on the Dictionary and the addenda, we hope that the support they shall receive will enable them, at no distant day, to combine them alphabetically. The amplest success is but the due reward of the service which they and the accomplished Editor have rendered every Englishman who reveres and loves his mother tongue. A Pastor's Sketches: or, Conversations with anxious Inquirers respecting the Way of Salvation. By J. S. Spencer, D.D., Pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, New York. With an Introduction and Editorial Notes by J. A. James. London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co. 1855. MR. JAMES is intent on doing good; and his productions have a value beyond computation, because they are the seeds of great things," by being the seeds of eternal results. We thank him for introducing to us a very impressive book, both for Ministers and Churches. The Introduction is most forceful, and ought to be read by every Minister who understands, or wishes to understand, the real ends of his high vocation,-to win sinners to Christ, and to build up the Church. Two points are wisely and earnestly enforced,—a kind of preaching intended and adapted to produce conversion; and the careful and judicious treatment, by private conversation, of individual cases of persons under religious concern. Dr. Spencer's book is admirably calculated to illustrate the second point. Some of the Sketches are full of a profound practical philosophy, the skill of one who well understands spiritual therapeutics. There is a directness and a boldness in Dr. Spencer's mode of dealing with pastoral cases which we greatly admire. His success in the instance of "The Miserable Heart" could only have been secured by such practice. It might be expected that we should differ from our valued author on some points connected with personal salvation; for, whatever may be said by the use of illustrations, we hold to the doctrine of an imparted Brief Literary Notices. spiritual life to those who were dead in trespasses and sin. we "born again.” 555 Then are The volume before us is full of suggestions to Christian Ministers especially; and to them we strongly commend it. Wine: its Use and Taxation. An Inquiry into the Operation of the Wine Duties on Consumption and Revenue. By Sir James Emerson Tennent, K.C.S., LL.D., &c., &c. London: James Madden. 1855. THIS is a most exhaustive inquiry into the policy of the wine duties. The whole subject is thoroughly investigated, under the lights of history and statistics; and the conclusions come to are not only supported by ample reasonings, but bear the stronger impress of truth, since they are opposed to the previous opinions of the writer. After giving the arguments adduced by the advocates of a shilling duty, in place of the present duty of 58. 9d., the author inquires if the necessary quantity of suitable wines could be procured from the different wine-growing countries of Europe. Of the aggregate produce of these countries, he shows that the greater portion can never be available, partly from the inferior quality of the vintage, and partly from the injury done to certain kinds by transport and keeping. In France mainly would have to be sought the surplus quantity required; but the author is of opinion that, with a growing demand from North America, California, and Australia, France could not possibly supply us with suitable light wines, to any thing like the amount required to replace the revenue. The change contemplated by some persons would throw upon France the onus of providing 20,000,000 gallons, where she has hitherto supplied only about 400,000 gallons. But Sir James inquires how far the reduction of duty would recall the taste of our countrymen for light French wines, and he thinks that evidence is not favourable to the idea of such return to former habits; at least, without such a protracted temporary loss to the revenue, as no Chancellor of the Exchequer would contemplate with equanimity. He shows also, that the wine-growers of the South of France are more anxious to reduce internal taxation on wine in France, and that it is an error to suppose that France imposes prohibiting duty on British manufactures merely as a reprisal for our duties on her wines. The whole subject is carefully investigated, and we must refer such of our readers as take an interest in this department of commercial polity to the work itself. The British Workman, and Friend of the Sons of Toil. Nos. I.-V. London: Partridge and Oakey. THIS handsome sheet, filled with sound and entertaining literature, and sprinkled with fine engravings, is issued monthly at the charge of one penny. What the "Band of Hope Review" supplies for children, the "British Workman" offers to the adult and labouring population. It is not, indeed, all that an intellectual workman will require; but the most educated artisan may welcome it to his dwelling, and be gratified to see it in the hands of his wife and children. We commend our humble but very useful contemporary to the liberal patronage of all who desire the improvement of the workingclasses. Let those who complain, with so much reason, of the wide spread and fatal influence of cheap unwholesome literature, prove their sincerity by furthering the success of this publication. If those who leave religious tracts at the houses of the poor, were to accompany the loan by the gift of a Number of the "British Workman," their visits might be looked for with a livelier interest, and thus a way be made for the reception of spiritual truth. Glaucus: or, The Wonders of the Shore. By Charles Kingsley, Author of "Westward Ho!" "Hypatia," &c. Cambridge: Macmillan and Co. 1855. EMINENT as are Mr. Kingsley's talents, and full of interest as are all his writings, there are none of his works which we can contemplate with more satisfaction, or recommend with less misgiving, than the little volume before us. It is a graceful and persuasive attempt to recommend the love and study of nature to those whose summer holidays are spent by the sea-shore. He urges such persons to exchange the languid pursuit of pleasure, with its attendant ennui and disappointment, for the calm and ennobling observation of the natural wonders and beauties which abound upon the sea-margins,the cliffs and sands of our watering-places. He shows that no special preparation is requisite, that no formal assumption of the character of naturalist is necessary, and that such progress as may even enlarge the boundaries of science may be made without any great sacrifice, either of time or trouble. His illustrations are chosen with great taste and judgment; his descriptions are curt, graphic, and welldefined; and, above all, his references to the great First Cause of all these marvels are in the true spirit of a Christian philosophy. Passing Thoughts. By James Douglass, of Cavers. Part I. Edinburgh: Constable and Co. 1855. MR. DOUGLASS is known to a large circle of serious readers as one of the most able and intelligent of living Christian authors. His works, however, are more weighty than numerous; and any addition to their number is a just subject of congratulation. Towards the close of an honourable and studious life, he appears to have formed the idea of arranging his thoughts upon a variety of literary topies, and of giving them to the world under his own hand. Such a series is commenced in the pamphlet before us; and when we say, that its headings include the names of Goethe, Rousseau, and Humboldt, the reader may partly guess the nature and value of the instruction put within his reach. It is exactly upon the characters of these eminent literary masters, and upon similar and related topics, that the Christian world needs such a guide as Mr. Douglass, whose ability and accomplishments are sufficient guarantees of a liberal and candid judgment, and whose religious principles assure us of the high moral standard that will constantly be kept before him. The section on Brief Literary Notices. 557 Rousseau is full of pertinent reflections, and comprises, in the main, a fair and comprehensive estimate of that embodied paradox. The author looks all round his subject calmly and patiently; he betrays none of that disgust which a religious mind of narrower proportions and less liberal education would be apt to show; and though the standard is still present in its inflexible dignity, the deviations are regarded with that true charity which is an element in every just and Christian estimate. We commend these valuable "Thoughts" to every serious reader, and especially to those who love to range through the more eminent and classic paths of European literature. The author does well to gather up the fragments of such a studious and religious life; and the more baskets they fill the better. Constable's Miscellany of Foreign Literature:-Wanderings in Corsica: its History and its Heroes. Translated from the German of Ferdinand Gregorovius by Alexander Muir. In Two Vols.-Chronicles of Wolfert's Roost, and other Papers. By Washington Irving. Author's Edition. Ir the future volumes of Constable's Miscellany prove as interesting and instructive as those already before the public, the undertaking will be entitled to a very large measure of success. The enterprising publishers appear resolved to admit into the series none but works of first-rate character. In giving to each work a special title-page, they have refused to avail themselves of one of the trade artifices usually resorted to in connexion with such publications; in this evidently acting under the conviction that the separate works will be able to win the public favour on their own merits, and quite independently of this or any other series. "Wanderings in Corsica: its History and its Heroes," is a sterling work on a subject which has the advantage of being not yet worn threadbare. The author evidently commenced his travels with an object, which he never loses sight of in matters of merely minor interest. He says nothing of the bad dinners he was obliged to eat, or of the long bills he paid; so that readers who set a value on these little gossiping details, will do well not to open the book. We believe, however, that most of those who meet with it will not only give it a first perusal, but assign it an honourable place in their library, as a valuable book of reference,-a character which it will well sustain. The writer has consulted a large number of learned authorities, and does not disdain to mention his obligations to the "English Boswell," who, we must confess, cuts rather a sorry figure as the sole representative of English literati. On the subject of the Buonaparte family, one on which people find it difficult just now to avoid extravagance, either on one side or the other, he writes with great calmness and good sense, besides contributing a large mass of new and authentic illustrative matter. In all respects it is a most excellent volume. The same may be said with equal truth of the second work on the list, although no two books could well be more distinct. But it is absolutely revolting to all our earliest and best associations to find our old favourite, Washington Irving, set down in this same category of foreigners. Why, he is English to the very core. His tastes and sympathies, his pleasures and aversions, are all English; and his style is studiously modelled on that of our best writers. Here we are reminded of the essayists of the famous Addisonian era, then we have a touch of Sterne, and now Goldsmith reveals himself. Indeed, the volume before us is peculiarly rich in examples of this kind. We can hardly believe that we are not commencing one of the serious papers in the "Spectator," when we fall upon such words as the following: "No man is so methodical as a complete idler; and none so scrupulous in measuring and portioning out his time as he whose time is worth nothing." Geoffrey Crayon's autograph attached to the paper, instead of the well-remembered CLIO, appears altogether an anachronism. The Life and Adventures of the Boblink under many aliases, as detailed in the "Birds of Spring," might be a leaf torn out of White's "Natural History of Selborne.' We should like to have reproduced here, had our space permitted, some of the many charming passages in this book, long since associated with some of our most innocent and happy hours,-for only portions of the volume are published for the first time. We have already lived them over again since we cut into the leaves, and can hardly imagine any one with a soul so dead, or a purse so bare, as not to be able to find a spare coin wherewithal to purchase for himself, or his sisters, or his brothers or cousins, this, as we think, the most delightful of Washington Irving's miscellaneous volumes. Institutes of Metaphysics: the Theory of Knowing and Being. THE author uses the term Metaphysics, as being synonymous with philosophy, when the latter term is used by itself. And, assuming that philosophy, even though it be true, is of no value unless it be reasoned," (that is, be "an unbroken chain of clear demonstration from first to last,") he concludes that, "although we have plenty of disputations and dissertations on philosophy, we have no philosophy itself." He says, "People write about it and about it, but no one has grasped with an unflinching hand the very thing itself. The whole philosophical literature of the world is more like an unwieldy commentary on some text which has perished, or rather never has existed, than like what a philosophy itself should be. Our philosophical treatises are no more philosophy than Eustathius is Homer, or than Malone is Shakspeare. Hence the embroilment of speculation; hence the dissatisfaction, even the despair, of every inquiring mind, which turns its attention to Metaphysics. There is not now in existence a tribunal to which any point in litigation can be referred, not a single book which lays down, with impartiality and precision, the institutes of all metaphysical opinion, and shows the seeds of all speculative controversies. Hence, philosophy is not only a war, but it is a war in which none of the combatants understands the grounds, either of his own opinion, or that of his adversary. The springs by which these disputatious puppets are worked, lie deep out of their own sight." |