The next day, being the Sabbath, I attended divine service in Stratford church; and when the shades of evening began to fall, prepared for my journey back to London. Solitary in body, although over-full in mind, I had left the town some distance behind me, when, arriving at a turn in the road, beyond which, I knew, every sign of the place would be shut out, I said to myself that Í would take my 'last look.' A knoll, or little hill, afforded me the opportunity for this; I ascended. There, in the calm distance, was the place immortalized by the genius of a man of whom it has been truly declared, he was not of one age, but for all time;' the fields where he had wandered in boyish glee; the church beneath whose antique aisle his body had been buried! Had I been a painter, what a picture could I have limned from the figures then flitting in my mind's eye! What a picture could I now describe, could I command the limits! Then, indeed, was my soul fully conscious of the might, the glory of Shakspeare; then, uncovering my head, and bending reverentially toward the beautiful, foliated spire of Stratford church, and with something like a moisture gathering in my eye, did I say, 'Farewell!' I knew it was forever, and then went, saddened, on my way.

LITERARY NOTICES.

HARPERS' NEW CLASSICAL LIBRARY: THE WORKS OF TACITUS: the Oxford Translation Revised, with Notes. In two Volumes: pp. 960. New-York: HARPER AND BROTHERS, Franklin-Square.

WE welcome, with hearty satisfaction, this excellent series of classical books. That which has been locked up, in 'unknown tongues,' to thousands of readers, is now presented in a language which all our people can understand: and the result will be an increased love of, and demand for, the classical works of antiquity. The publishers succinctly set forth their object. They say that 'the want of a Series of LITERAL TRANSLATIONS of the Greek and Latin authors who are usually studied in the American course of Academic education, has been long felt by the most intelligent and assiduous classical teachers. That they are capable of being abused by the indolent and unfaithful pupil, is no plea against their utility when employed in their legitimate place. A translation of an ancient writer into English, as perfectly literal as is permitted by the idioms of the respective languages, affords an invaluable aid to the instructor in the accomplishment of his arduous task. If executed with fidelity and skill, it saves much time and labor in the consultation of dictionaries, and embodies the best results of philological acumen and research in the shortest possible space. Pages of learned commentary are thus concentrated in the rendering of a single word. The works now issued are reprints from 'BOHN'S CLASSICAL LIBRARY,' brought out uniform with the English edition, and comprise faithful translations of the principal Greek and Latin classics. Each work is given without abridgment, and includes short suggestive notes, adapted to the comprehension as well as the actual wants of the student. Copious and accurate indices are appended to every translation. No version will be adopted without ample and thorough revision, correcting its errors by the lights of modern research, and placing it on a level with the present improved state of philological learning. This NEW CLASSICAL LIBRARY has received a cordial welcome from the whole corps of American classical teachers. The important uses of such a work in their daily avocations are too obvious to require discussion. Nor is the interest of the series confined to teachers by profession. Every reading man, though destitute of a knowledge of the ancient languages, feels a laudable curiosity to form an acquaintance with the incomparable models of literary art which they have preserved. In the literal translations with which he is furnished by the present series, he will find the information that

he seeks, enabling him to comprehend current classical allusions with facility, to become familiar with the true spirit of the ancients, and to share in conversation and studies which presuppose a knowledge of Greek and Roman antiquity.’ Well printed, on good, strong paper.

VOICES FROM THE SILENT LAND: OR CONSOLATION FOR THE AFFLICTED. By Mrs. H. DWIGHT WILLIAMS. In one Volume: pp. 322. Boston: JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY. Cleveland, Ohio: JEWETT, PROCTOR AND WORTHINGTON.

WHEN We remember, that as to all in the wide-spread country, stretched beyond the sight, so also to those in populous cities pent, DEATH Sooner or later stops at every man's door, a work like the one before us may be regarded as having an universal application, and as calculated to convey to all an almost universal significance:

'THE mildest herald by our fate allotted

Beckons, and with inverted torch, doth stand,
To lead us with a gentle hand

Into the Land of the dear Departed

Into the SILENT LAND!'

And to this thought the compiler of the present volume modestly as justly assuming nothing as original in its preparation, has well adverted in her preface: "INTO the Silent Land!' Ah! who can say that the foot-steps of none he once loved on earth have entered the shadows of that pale realm?' Death, sooner or later, cometh to all: the white and venerable locks of the aged, the maturity of manhood, the ruddy freshness of youth, whose flashing eye is salient with life and health, and the tender bud of infancy-all soon, too soon, fall before the scythe of the pitiless destroyer.

THE air is full of farewells to the dying,
And mournings for the dead.'

No suffering, no anguish, is like unto that of the deeply heart-stricken mourner, as he bendeth over his forever-hushed, but beloved, dead. Often, at such times, the heart and soul, though wonderfully stirred, feels a grief 'too deep for tears.' A link of the chain that bound him to earth has been rudely riven; and the vanity of this life, the nearness of eternity, with its allabsorbing interests, are felt and acknowledged. Such sad visitations of Providence induce within us an insatiable desire to know more of the future; and the flight thitherward of the spirit of one who in life has been very dear, perhaps the dearest, seems to cast a soft halo of light into that future. Then the Christian finds the blessed promises of GOD, and the death and resurrection of CHRIST unspeakably precious; he feels the need of the Heavenly COMFORTER, and, while seeking to cast all his care on HIM, 'knowing that HE careth for him,' what may have seemed the dark and distant future is illumed with an almost unclouded noon-day brightness. Every earthly woe, every trial and care, can be mitigated by the consoling and sustaining influences of our holy religion. GOD has promised to 'comfort all who mourn,' if, in the time of their sorrow, they seek HIM.

Prayer, and reading the Word of GOD, will not only afford sweet consolation in the deepest affliction, but prove a tower of defence, a shield against the temptations that frequently assail us at such times. Another source of comfort is to be found in the perusal of the writings of good and holy men who have felt the same bitter heart-grief, and whose works abound with passages most touchingly fitted to console under the heaviest afflictions; teaching us how to meet, bear, and wisely use all such chastenings for our spiritual advancement. Our literature, too, contains much prose and poetry addressed to the heart-stricken, desponding, and desolate, who, in times of bereavement, love to linger among the graves of their household,' and dwell upon the state of the departed.

'These Voices from the Silent Land' have been collected in the freshness of a very deep affliction, and completed before its daily-gushing anguish had passed away. The compiler's aim and object is to induce some to make a good and wise use of afflictive dispensations, to see the hand of GOD in them all, and to feel that the JUDGE of all the earth will do right.' She can only desire that the perusal of these pages may prove as sweet and soothing a source of consolation to others as their preparation has been to herself. The women of the United States, however elevated and affluent their station, are rarely entirely free from the perplexities and anxieties of domestic cares, and can seldom find sufficient leisure to peruse or examine all the works from which this volume has been gathered; therefore it is designed more particularly for my countrywomen whom GOD, in infinite wisdom, may have caused to pass under the rod of affliction.'

Three hundred and twenty-two articles, in prose and verse, mostly in verse, attest the industry with which kindred or cognate selections have been made.

AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE DEBATES OF CONGRESS, from 1789 to 1856. Вy THOMAS H. BENTON, Author of the Thirty Years' View.' New-York: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, Numbers 346 and 348 Broadway.

THE valuable series, of which the volume before us forms a part, is to be completed in fifteen volumes, of seven hundred and fifty pages each, and will comprise what is now contained in over one hundred volumes. The contents of the present book are derived from GALES AND SEATON'S 'Annals of Congress,' from their 'Register of Debates,' and from the 'Official Reported Debates,' by JOHN C. RIVES. 'In this work members of Congress, members of the State Legislatures, lawyers and politicians, and, in fact, all intelligent and patriotic citizens, will have ready at their hands a complete Political History of the United States, from the adoption of the Federal Government to the present day. The Debates of Congress have been accruing for a period of nearly seventy years, and fill more than one hundred volumes - one-third of them quartos. They contain the history of the working of the Government from its foundation; show what has been done, and how it was done; and shed light upon the study of all impending questions; for there is not a question of the day, and will not be while our Government lasts, which may not be illustrated by something to be found in these debates. This abridgment will not be restricted to the speeches of celebrated orators, but extend to the business-men, and to the plainest speakers.'

BEATRICE CENCI: A TALE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. Translated from the Italian of F. D. GUERAZZI. By Mrs. WATTS SHERMAN. In four Books: pp. 1159. NewYork: MASON BROTHERS.

Two rival editions of this work appeared almost 'stimultuaneously' from two prominent metropolitan publishing-houses. It is conceded, we believe, Certain it is, that here the

that the one before us is the better of the two. story is well told, and we are assured by those well qualified to judge, that the translation is rendered with great fidelity. 'But what of the story?' Why, this it is of that class which we most decidedly do not affect. Yet there are readers -and judging from the success of the edition before us, doubtless 'their name is legion' — who love to ‘sup full of horrors.' To such we leave the perusal of Sig. GUERAZZI's book. We hold fully with our contemporary, 'The Albion' weekly journal, that it is a work which should never have been translated at all. 'The Tragedy of the same name, by SHELLEY, has made many students of English poetry familiar with one of the most terrible and repulsive episodes of medieval history, but it is by no means desirable that plain prose should supply the world with a fuller detail, even though the record be gleaned from the most authentic sources. That the author is one of the persecuted and suffering Italian exiles is a matter of no moment. Much as we grieve for his oppressed and hapless country, we hold that he cannot increase or stimulate the world's sympathies in its behalf, by showing how rotten it was to the core