Victory Feast,' are admirably done; and go far toward atoning for such entire failures as 'The Cranes of Ibycus' and 'Pegasus in Harness.' 'The Battle' is exceedingly vigorous; and The Farewell to the Reader' worthy of all praise. In The Artists,' the Baronet has succeeded, by dint of great labor, in ruining the measure and perverting the sense of the original, or rather mystifying it, by his additions and alterations. Had he rendered it into plain prose, he would have been more successful. He has endeavored to do too much, and has failed altogether. We have seen a far better translation than his, of 'The Song of the Bell.' We referred to, and quoted from it, in a late number of the KNICKERBOCKER; and we have before us, from the pen of C. B. BURKHARDT, Esq., an accomplished translator of his native German into English, a much better version than Mr. BULWER'S, of Honor to Woman.' But we must draw our remarks to a close, with the recommendation of the volume before us to every lover of the German and of the productions of one of the most distinguished bards who has written in that comprehensive and difficult language.

OBSERVATIONS IN EUROPE, PRINCIPALLY IN FRANCE AND GREAT-BRITAIN. By JOHN P. DURBIN, D. D., President of Dickinson College. In two volumes. New-York: HARPER AND BROTHERS.

WE have been agreeably disappointed in reading these two handsome volumes. The route through which they conduct the reader has been made so thoroughly known by the shoals of travellers who have passed over it, that the announcement of another book descriptive of the tour awakens apprehension rather than hope in the mind of one who proposes to be its reader. But Dr. DURBIN has actually given freshness and decided interest to this hackneyed theme. He has a graphic method of describing the common incidents of a journey, which makes them highly attractive, and a quick discernment to catch new beauties and discover additional charms in every thing which comes under his notice. The strictly narrative portion of the work, that which sketches Dr. DURBIN's progress from place to place upon his journey, is not without attraction, and is very agreeably diversified by incidents, both pleasant and pathetic. But the best and most valuable parts are those which present the writer's views of the various institutions, political, social and religious, of the countries which he visited. He describes them all well, and with discrimination; and his criticisms express uniformly the opinions of one who is felt to be a candid, intelligent and conscientious judge. He takes no opinions upon trust, but examines, judges and reports for himself. Upon many points his readers will seldom agree with him, but they will always read his observations with respect, and give them great weight in the formation of their own opinions. Dr. DURBIN gives a full and vigorous examination of the policy and character of the French government, and his general conclusions differ widely from those which are most current upon the same topics. He judges LOUIS PHILIPPE and his policy very severely; but we are free to confess that he supports his opinions by copious reasons, forcibly and effectively urged; and his review of this, as well as those of other subjects, will be read with universal interest. His description of Paris, with the plan of its famous military fortifications, is the clearest and most satisfactory we have ever met. He examines in the same close and vigorous manner the institutions of Great-Britain, and his observations upon these topics are marked by more candor, as well as by a greater degree of discrimination, than most that has heretofore been written upon these subjects. His account of the history and prospects of Methodism will have a very deep interest for the members of that very large and respectable denomination, of which Dr. DURBIN is a distinguished divine. We cordially commend his interesting volumes to the attention of our readers, regretting that we have not space to speak at greater length of their merits, as well as to present a few of the passages we had marked for transfer to our pages. It is worthy of mention, perhaps, that in an age' of poor paper and bad printing, these volumes are remarkable, on the other hand, for their excellence in these respects.

AMERICAN CRIMINAL TRIALS. BY PELEG W. CHANDLER, Member of the American Antiquarian Society and of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Volume II. pp. 387. Boston: TIMOTHY H. CARTER AND COMPANY. London: A. MAXWELL, Lincoln's Inn.

WE regard Mr. CHANDLER'S 'Criminal Trials' as a work of great interest and value; and in a notice of the first volume, gave our reasons somewhat at large, in favor of its general acceptance at the hands of the American public. It is written and compiled with evident labor and care, and in a style which, while it is simple and unpretending, is yet replete with attraction. The trials embraced in the volumes before us are those of BATHSHEBA SPOONER and others before the Superior Court of Judicature, for the murder of her husband, JOSHUA SPOONER, of Brookfield, Massachusetts, in 1788; of Colonel DAVID HENLEY, before a General Court-Martial, for improper conduct as an officer of the American army, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1788; of Major ANDRE, before a Board of General Officers, by order of Gen. GEORGE WASHINGTON, in 1780; of JOSHUA HETT SMITH, before a Court-Martial, on a charge of aiding and assisting BENEDICT ARNOLD, New-York, 1780; and of the Rhode-Island Judges of the Superior Court of Judicature, for their judgment in the case of TREVETT against WHEEDEN, on information and complaint for refusing paper bills for butcher's meat, in 1786. Of the first trial, which produced great excitement at the time, no authentic report has until now appeared. Many facts new at least to us are embraced in the interesting trials of HENLEY and ANDRE; while that of SMITH developes some of the secret incidents of the ARNOLD conspiracy. The case of the Rhode-Island Judges was remarkable for the principle involved in it, and the array of legal talent engaged in the defence. The work executed with great typographical neatness, and is embellished with an authentic portrait of the young and lamented Andre.

A LECTURE ON THE LATE IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM NAVIGATION AND THE ARTS OF NAVAL WARFARE. With a brief notice of ERICSSON's Caloric Engine. By JOHN O. SARGENT. NewYork and London: WILEY AND PUTNAM.

THIS is the title of a pamphlet of sixty-four pages, put forth in the style of typographical elegance which characterises every thing from OSBORN's press. The author, Mr. John O. SARGENT, has never before, we believe, attached his name to any literary production; and yet perhaps few writers, equally young, have written and published so much. While an undergraduate at Cambridge, he was one of the editors of The Collegian,' a monthly magazine far superior to any thing of the kind before or since attempted by university students. Among his collaborateurs were the late W. H. SIMMONS, the lamented and popular lecturer, and Dr. O. W. HOLMES, the poet. Mr. SARGENT'S contributions to this work were remarkably clever, and gave abundant evidence of the literary talents which he has since exhibited. The political papers which, while a laborious student at law, Mr. SARGENT found leisure to contribute to a prominent daily journal in Boston, brought him into public notice as a vigorous political writer, and procured him a connection with the 'NewYork Courier and Enquirer' daily journal, the columns of which, previous to the election of Gen. HARRISON, will bear creditable testimony to his editorial ability and industry. He is now in active and successful practice of the legal profession in this city.

The present lecture was delivered before the Boston Lyceum in December last, and the author has published it by way of reply to the numerous applications he has received for its repetition in other places. One of the principal topics is a description of ERICSSON's new propelling apparatus; an invention which promises to create another epoch in the art of navigation. The success of the propeller seems to have been abundantly tested in the case of the United States war-steamer Princeton, to which it has been applied with the most

satisfactory results. It may be remembered that there was a trial of speed between the Princeton and the Great Western British steamer, last October, and that the former gained a decided victory. Here is a practical evidence of the merits of the invention, in opposition to which nothing can be said. The following extract indicates some of its advantages:

'STEAMERS as hitherto constructed may be well enough employed in maintaining communication between distant shores and distant fleets, or in towing ships of war into position; but they are not capable of mingling in the combat. It is difficult, however, to imagine a more formidable or more safe machine of warfare than the Princeton. Not only can she act upon data of seasons and distances, with an accuracy that winds or waves can but little disturb, but she can move secretly and silently upon her prey. There is no cloud of smoke to track her path by day, and the noiseless action of her submerged propeller gives no warning to the enemy of her approach by night. Tempests cannot thwart her; calms cannot delay her progress. By the location of her moving power below the waterline, it is protected from the missiles of the enemy. She can select her own time and place of attack. She can never be forced into an engagement, and in a thousand situations in which the crippled lineof-battle ship or the crippled paddle-wheel steamer would be at the mercy of the enemy, the Princeton may retire from a superior foe, and with her unimpaired moving power, retain a position from which she may mark her very retreat with destruction and death.'

Not the least interesting part of this lecture is the biographical sketch of Mr. ERICSSON, who in his contributions to mechanical science has been equalled by few men of the age. The whole discourse is interesting and eloquent; and, what is still better, perfectly new in its materials. It will of course claim the attention of all persons interested in the advancement of the art of navigation, and there are none by whom it may not be read with profit.

GIBLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD: OR, SKETCHES OF MY SCHOOL-MATES. By Mrs. A. J. GRAVES, author of Women in America.' In one volume. pp. 216. Boston: T. H. CARTER AND COMPANY and BENJAMIN B. MUSSEY.

THIS is a volume destined to effect great good, wherever it shall be heedfully perused. It is written in a style of marked naturalness and simplicity, which wins at once upon the reader; and the inculcations of the author are of the most useful and wholesome kind. The book consists of a series of twelve pictures, drawn from human nature as it is found, and not from any ideal representation of what it may become. Nothing higher is attempted by the author than to exhibit different varieties of female character as seen in girlhood, and to follow them to their full development in womanhood, to prove the natural connection that exists between these two important periods. As the girl is, the woman will be, unless some powerful counteraction has intervened. In drawing her portraits from the inmates of a boarding-school, instead of taking them from the members of a family around the domestic hearth, it was easier to find the requisite varieties, and to study human nature as it usually presents itself unchecked in its tendencies in youth, and consequently seeking its own element amidst surrounding circumstances in maturity. And by exhibiting a boarding-school under the most favorable conditions in which it is possible to place one, and where more is attempted than is usually done, toward the formation and modification of character, it is seen how little power can be exercised, even by the best of teachers, in counteracting evil tendencies, or in establishing a firm foundation of moral principle. "The great responsibility,' says the author, of making men or women what they should be, rests not upon teachers, upon whom God has not laid it, but upon parents, and upon them alone. It is in their hands that the present life and future destiny of each child are chiefly placed, and for which they alone will be called on to render an account at the great day of reckoning.' We could wish that we had space to illustrate the justice of the praise which we have awarded to this excellent volume, by quoting from its pages' AMANDA MALVINA BURTON, or Fashionable Ambition,' and 'SARAH SHERMAN, or the Mechanic's Daughter;' but our limits are imperative; and we can only commend these, with the other spirited sketches embraced in the work, to the thoughtful regard of our readers.

'PARIS IN HER DRESSING-gOWN.'-It is not a little laughable, to one who knows the world of New-York' only, to obtain now and then a glimpse at the wires, three or four thousand miles away, which move the puppets of pseudo-fashionable society among us. But to show, to those who are of our initiated, the feeble second-hand affectations of the travelled 'apes of apes' in our midst, we shall ask the attention of our metropolitan readers to the following faithful sketch of Paris in her Dressing-gown,' rendered into English for our pages with the speed of transplanted Parisian fashions, from a recent sketch by EUGENE BRIFFAULT.

PRIVATE life has been wisely and justly protected, so far as it respects individuals; but that of a people can only shelter itself in glass-houses. Details of the Parisian mode of living we shall endeavor to lay before you; and that which we especially desire to sketch, is Paris chez lui - Paris at home. If you possess any curiosity concerning costumes, take a glance at Paris in her dressing-gown. The carnival, which displays during three days its whimsicalities in our streets, dwells all the year in the most sumptuous apartments of our monumental habitations. There it is fixed permanently; it is the carnival in lodgings. There you will find costumes of every form and color. Fantasy, with its most capricious vagaries, usurps the place of taste: the grand essential and important point is, to be different from the common herd. Before all and above all, to be original, at any price.

What a grotesque gallery! The very wisest follow the greatest fools. There is no need of a new ASMODEUS to discover these mysteries: let us enter and look around.

That which is commonly called the Middle Ages and Gothic bric-à-brac, is still turning many heads. The old feudal castles are despoiled and copied, in order to furnish and encumber our dwellinghouses, so narrow and confined, when brought into comparison with the habitations of old giants. Do not be surprised to find in this entresol of the Rue de Provence an armory as complete as that of a Burgrave. Here is a panoply, perfect in every part: to place this human shell in a space so small, it has been found necessary to bend the knees; yet notwithstanding this, the helmet of the iron spectre touches the ceiling! Here we are in a crowd of ottomans, side-boards, cupboards of dark heavy wood, twisted, sculptured, incrusted and carved in a miraculous manner. Small statues, vases covered with bas-reliefs, pictures, damask, brocade, fill every disposable place. This sanctuary, hung with thick curtains, receives but a doubtful light; every thing looks strangely sad; each object, each utensil, each piece of furniture, seems out of place: their use is hardly known, and they appear to demand for what purpose they are there. The master enters to receive us. He wears the costume of a chevalier unarmed. His long robe of brocade is confined around his waist by a silk-and-gold cord. His throat is bare; his pantaloons fit closely to his figure; his shoes are of velvet; his cap low, round, and without a feather, but bordered with miniver; he has no poignard in his girdle, but he plays with a small dagger of exquisite workmanship. The commencement of the conversation is very embarrassing. Naturally one would suppose that with such a man, and in such a place, the talk should be of deeds of prowess and falconry. He however relieves you from your perplexing situation; he asks your opinion of the last opera. fast: this proud noble has no venison hung up. This gentleman is the fraction of a stock-broker.

Be careful how you accept an invitation to break-
He will offer you a boiled egg and a cup of tea.

Step with precaution: every thing here commands silence, invites reflection, and disposes to meditation. This lodging-room is very austere-looking; it is almost without any other ornament save its green hangings and old oaken wainscoating. Do not disturb the man who dwells herein. Cast your eyes on his pale and sunken visage, his dried-up and bony figure, his dishevelled hair, his wrapper of black serge, which entirely conceals the frail and attenuated form! Doubtless under that vestment you will find the penitential hair-cloth. Does he seek the great arcanum? How his serious profile is delineated on the wall! The head thus shadowed forth is worthy of the pencil of REMBRANDT. Let us approach slowly. He raises his eyes toward heaven; he speaks in a low tone; he sits erect; he exclaims: 'I have found it! . . . Good morning, my friends.'

'And what is it that you seek?'

'Parbleu! a finale for a couplet.' He is writing a vaudeville!

How charming and gay is this apartment! How glittering and sparkling! - how splendid, how delicious! All is silk, and ribands, and lace; loves and shepherds; Paphos, Arcadia and Cythère. It is morning at Madame's. What a lovely creature! How seducing and pretty she looks under her lace-curtains, as she lies buried in this profusion of pillows, so spotless and white! Really, I can't help saying that she looks like a rose buried in snow. It is the language of the country. She is about to get out of bed. Her hair is already dressed; she wears a small English lace-cap, without any flowers, but laden with ribands; and is wrapped in a lawn dressing-gown and muslin mantilla. She pushes her feet into slippers of cashmere, steps lightly on the leopard-skin which is placed at the foot of her bed, from thence on her velvet carpet, and with a bound she plunges into the ample arm-chair, which is gently moved toward her toilet, with its transparent and rose-colored draperies, like the altar of a convent.

Ah! here there can be no mistake! - this is a pearl fallen from the casket of the Regency.'

Admirable! You talk like a book'- like a romance of that epoch. She has near her a maid whose bearing is more bold than cunning. Doubtless we shall now see the Abbé, the Chevalier, the poet, the footman of M. le Duc; the leveret, the perfumed billet. But no; listen.

'ANNA, I am at home to no one; to no one, do you understand? These suppers fatigue me horribly...

Doubtless she has supped in the snug apartments of M. le Duc ?

'And beside, this smell of cigars makes me very ill. The little fool of a BERTHA Smoked; the gentleman thought it charming; so I must needs try, and it made me very ill; the private rooms of the Café Anglais are so narrow and confined. Champagne don't suit them any more; they drink iced Madeira or brandy: it is detestable, particularly the next day. Mademoiselle ANNA, give me, if you please, a glass of eau sucrée. Put into it just a drop of rum, I pray you. Let me see the papers.' 'Here are the fashions.'

'No, the theatres! the theatres! Ah! how stupid; always the same entertainment!'

"The courts of law?'

'Ah! yes, the sessions; it is so amusing. Ah! bah! it is too much; no murders to-day; not even an execution.'

What a strange Marchioness! Yesterday she made hats in the Rue Vivienne.

From thence to ASPASIA, there is only a step. Follow me.・・ Here every thing is modelled after the antique. The mistress of these apartments is inspired by her name. She wiles away her leisure hours with cabinet ministers. Look at her as she reclines on this couch, which has been stolen for her from the DIDO of GUERIN. She is enveloped in an ample tunic of white merino, which shows to advantage her voluptuous figure. She unites to the proud beauty of a Roman matron the noble regularity of the Grecian models: on her naked arms she wears heavy bracelets of burnished gold; the agraffe which fastens her floating tunic is formed of a cameo which represents a satyr teasing a nymph. Doubtless she is about to take a perfumed bath in a shell of jasper or porphyry. We shall see her admire herself in one of those golden mirrors which costs the entire revenue of a province.・・・ No: she has sent for a bath from the nearest bathing-house, for which, afterward, she will account with her cook.

.

And this sorrowful-looking young man, so long in the waist, so pale, and so insipid; he has all the airs of LAUZUN, and gives audience to his gallant correspondents; his flowery robe-de-chambre is softly wadded; he wears a honey-comb cap with a top-knot; near to him, on the back of an armchair, hangs his peignoir, trimmed with lace, which he wears when he is at his toilette. His room is fitted up à la Saracen. You would think he had just returned from the Crusades.