LITERARY NOTICES.

WORKS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, with a Life of the Author. By Jared Sparks. In 12 vols. New York: Harper & Brothers.

We have noticed several of these volumes as they have been issued, and we are now happy to announce that the work is complete, and that the price of it withal is so much reduced from that of the former edition, that it can hardly fail to make its way among all classes of the community. While it is to be regarded as the most authentic record of those events which are immediately connected with our country's independence, it may also be viewed as a repository of the most grave maxims of political wisdom, and as a most trustworthy guide to national prosperity and virtue. It is due to the patriotism of the age as well as to the memory of Washington and his illustrious coadjutors in the revolutionary struggle, that special efforts should be made to give to this work the circulation to which its extraordinary character entitles it. It is not too much to say that so long as it is suitably appreciated and cherished, our country's liberties will remain secure; for the mind of the nation cannot be in intimate communion with the mind of Washington, without having within itself a principle of self-preservation.

POSTHUMOUS WORKS OF THOMAS CHALMERS, D. D. Harper & Brothers.

It is impossible but that every thing that Dr. Chalmers has written should be carefully treasured by his own generation and transmitted by them to posterity. His posthumous works we believe will extend to some eight or ten volumes. The first three only have yet appeared; and they consist of his observations in connection with his private readings of scripture. We have heard it questioned whether he ever intended them for publication; but be that as it may, the world will be the better for their being published. If there are fewer corruscations of genius than in some of his other works, we know of no other in which there are more striking demonstrations of an earnest and elevated piety. It is not a work of profound criticism, but it illustrates the mind of the Spirit with great beauty, richness and power.

LOITERINGS IN Europe or Sketches of TRAVEL, &c. By John W. Corson, M. D. Harper & Brothers.

This is the production of a highly intelligent traveller, without the semblance of affectation or parade, and with many positive qualities that are fitted to render it popular with all classes. The observations in the appendix on European charities and medical institutions, form an important part of the work, and contain much that will be new at least to most American readers. The style is

simple and natural, and the book altogether takes a high rank among kindred publications.

THE WANDERINGS AND FORTUNES OF GERMAN EMIGRANTS. By Frederick Gerstæker. Translated by David Black. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

We are not quite sure how much of this book is truth and how much fiction, or how the authorship as it is set forth on the title page is to be regarded; but be that as it may, it carries with it an air of great probability, and for aught we can see, may be true to the letter; or if the author has drawn from fancy rather than fact, we have no doubt that he has furnished a fair illustration of what actually exists in real life. It is full of interesting incident, and the man who can read ten pages of it without wishing to keep on, must have the organs of both curiosity and sympathy but very imperfectly developed.

A PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND. By Alphonse de Lamartine. D. Ap. pleton & Co.

This book made a great noise in the world when it was first published some ten or twelve years ago, and it has recently gathered much additional attraction from the unexpected elevation and conspicuity of its author, in connection with the latest revolution in France. The work is in itself a somewhat remarkable one. It breathes the spirit of poetry and the spirit of religion in beautiful combination; and both are cherished and quickened by the hallowed associations which the author's "piigrimage" gathers around him. It is á la mole Francaise throughout; it contains a great amount of splendid imagery and beautiful thought, and valuable information withal, though by no means free from extravagance.

CESAR'S COMMENTARIES ON THE GALLIC WAR. By Rev. J. A. Spencer, A. M. D. Appleton & Co.

We have in this book, besides the text according to the most approved authorities, a sketch of the author's life, extended notes critical and explanatory, a Latin-English Lexicon, and a general index. We can hardly imagine any thing in the way of apparatus that a student of Cæsar could desire, that is not here supplied. The high character of the editor as an accomplished scholar, is itself presumptive evidence that the present work is destined to gain an extensive circulation and meet with high approval.

THE GERMANICA AND AGRICOLA OF TACITUS; with notes for Colleges. By W. S. Tyler, Professor at Amherst College. D. Appleton & Co.

This work has been before the public long enough to acquire a verdict in its favor; as is evidenced by the fact that the present is a "new edition." More than half of the work consists of notes, which appear to have been the result of profound study and extensive research. The life and character of Tacitus are very happily sketched at the beginning.

A FUNERAL ORATION OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF THOMAS COLE, deliv. ered before the New York Academy of Design, New York, May 4, 1848. By William Cullen Bryant. D. Appleton & Co.

This is a beautiful tribute to a most estimable man and one of the princes of the art. No one could have discharged the sad office more tastefully, gracefully, effectively, than he on whom it devolved. The orator has painted the character of his subject with as much truth and power as his subject ever painted the beautiful scenes of nature which employed his pencil.

PRINCIPLES OF ZOOLOGY. By Louis Agassiz and Augustus A. Gould. Bos. ton: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln.

As we do not profess sufficient knowledge of the subject to which this book relates, to pronounce upon it either very confidently or very intelligently, we choose simply to report the testimony of one of the most distinguished naturalists of the country which we have taken pains to obtain: and that is, that it is the most important work on the subject in any language, and that it contains several newly discovered facts or principles of which this is the only existing record.

HUMAN NATURE IN ITS FOURFOLD STATE. By Rev. Thomas Boston. New York: R. Carter.

This work is a sort of condensed body of divinity. It has been for now more than a century a standard work in the department to which it belongs. Its author was in his day, and has been ever since, a man of might in the ranks of orthodox theology. Scarcely any book could be more acceptable than this to the great mass of religious readers.

THE PULPIT ORATORS OF FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND: Sketches of their Character and Specimens of their Eloquence. By Rev. Robert Turnbull. R. Carter.

The title of this book contains a full description of it: it is only necessary to add that the author or the editor has performed his work with excellent taste and altogether with uncommon skill and ability. We have here specimens of both the earlier and later preachers of France and Switzerland accompanied with graphic sketches of their lives and an estimate of those qualities in which lay the secret of their power. The book is emphatically multum in parvo. It was a happy thought of Mr. Turnbull; and thousands will thank him for it.

RELIGION TEACHING BY EXAMPLE. By Richard W. Dickinson, D. D. R. Carter.

The design of this book is to give utterance to the facts of the Bible for the benefit of the world. If the general idea of the work is not new, there is an air of originality and freshness in the execution, well fitted to attract and enchain, and we may add, reward, the reader's attention. It is written in a clear and

forcible style, is full of vigorous, well digested and weighty thought, and is an important contribution to that department of our religious literature that is designed not merely to enlighten the understanding or gratify the taste, but especially and chiefly to reach the conscience and the heart.

CHOICE WORKS OF MATTHEW HENRY; with a Biographical Sketch by James Hamilton, of London, R. Carter.

Matthew Henry's name has long since become a passport to any work whose title page is honored to bear it; and though the public taste has undergone many changes in respect to religious publications, there is something about the works of this old divine that renders them popular every where and at all times. The pieces contained in this volume are among the most celebrated to be found in all his works; and the subjects to which they relate are of vital interest to every true Christian. The biographical sketch is from the pen, and worthy of the pen, of one of the most attractive writers of the present day.

THE LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. By J. T. Headley. New York: Baker & Scribner.

There are at least three reasons why this book is destined to meet with a rapid and extensive sale. The first is, that its author has acquired by his previous productions an almost unbounded popularity, and that whatever comes from his pen is sought for with great interest, and devoured with the utmost avidity. There is a bewitching grace about his style, which well nigh entrances most readers, the effect of which the sternest criticism may strive in vain to neutralize. The second reason is that the subject of the work is one of the great subjects of the age; it is one upon which the opinion of the world is in the act of undergoing a marvellous change; through the labors of Carlyle and others a new and glorious form has come up in place of the very personification of political ambition and religious frenzy. And it is impossible that any thing should be written about Cromwell now that is not read, and read extensively. The third reason is that the execution is worthy of the subject and the author: the work is of course characterized by great beauty and power, and is a vigorous and manly vindication of the injured name of one of the princes of the race, and will no doubt do much to set his character in the right light with posterity.

LETTERS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS TO HIS SON, ON THE BIBLE AND ITS TEACHINGS. Auburn: Derby, Miller & Co.

These letters are so well known, having found their way since the death of the lamented writer into many of the newspapers, that it is only necessary to say concerning them, that they appear in a beautiful miniature edition-a form every way worthy of the lessons of truth and wisdom which they inculcate.

A GOSSIPPING LETTER.

MY DEAR MADAME PIROUETTE:

I understand you have a large school devoted to the instruction of the rising generation, where all the branches of a polite English education are thoroughly taught. You will excuse the minute inquiries I have made respecting your establishment, when you learn that my two daughters, Blanche and Effie, have just arrived at that interesting period of life when the mind expands and assumes with pride, all the sterner duties of womanhood. I say stern, because in my opinion, woman "is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward," and wherever she is placed, there will be a multitude of duties to be performed, which she can no more divest herself of than she can of her existence. Acting upon this prin. ciple, I have endeavored to give my girls such an education as would enable them to meet any emergency which they might be called to encounter. They have been taught to bear disappointment, to persevere through great obstacles, and to govern their temper; and with all a parent's pride, I was flattering myself with the hope that when they should become mistresses of families, they would show to the world, the benefits derived from my oft-repeated lessons. In the joy of my heart, I could not help communicating my views to Mr. Lighthead, an intimate friend of my husband's, and whose opinion we have always looked upon as indispensable in all matters of importance, but to my great mortification, he begged leave to differ entirely with me, on the subject of the edu cation of females, and even insinuated that I was entirely behind the age both in theory and practice. That the idea of placing females on a par with the male part of the creation was a species of hallucination equal to the “Salem witchcraft." True the thing had been tried faithfully for the last twenty years in several cases coming under his own observation, and generally speaking, had entirely failed. He thought that the simple fact of their being physically weaker than men, was proof positive of the inferiority of their mental capacities; and with all due deference to me, he assured me, that no gentleman of this enlightened age would think of consulting his wife upon any subject more abstruse than that of selecting the furniture of his house, or the amount of her "pin money." And for his part, he would prefer a wife who could mend a hole in his coat and make good puddings and preserves, to all the numerous sciences ending in ology that had ever been taught. He had no idea of having a stocking" in his family; if she could only darn stockings it was all he wished. And as to languages, it was high treason against the happiness of man, to allow them to speak more than one; that their natural facility in that respect, should be restrained rather than encouraged, and he was supported in this opinion by all wise men from Solomon to the present day. Let any one having planned and executed some darling project and just waiting to receive the fruit of his

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