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reasons are shown for believing that they are not of Hindu origin. Their source, however, is undoubtedly Asiatic; and in this respect they differ from the great body of truths and teachings embraced in the Hindu astronomy. That these were derived from the Greeks, and introduced into India after, though not long after, the Christian Era, is argued in the summary of results at the close of the Appendix, on strong, and, as it seems to us, conclusive grounds; though we see that Mr. Burgess, in an added note, expresses his dissent from these conclusions, and maintains the independence of the Hindu system. The discussion is one of the highest interest for the history of science, and we commend it to the notice of all who are devoted to astronomical studies, in the assurance that they will find here instruction not to be found anywhere else, in regard to the character, sources, and date of the Indian astronomy.

Those who may wish, without reading the whole book, to find all that it contains on any particular subject, are enabled to do so by the exact and copious index at the end.

TRAVELS.

BURTON'S LAKE REGION OF CENTRAL AFRICA.*-Mr. Burton's Account of the "Lake Regions of Central Africa" has an important bearing on the long disputed problem of the sources of the Nile. For many years it has been known that in the heart of the continent, somewhat south of the equator, farther north than Dr. Livingston went, farther south by many degrees than Barth's most southern point, there were large lakes, of which the natives told surprising stories to the missionaries and tradesmen on the coast. Early in 1857, Mr. Burton journeying inward from Zanzibar, began those explorations, which continued through more than two years, and enabled him to make a most important contribution to our knowledge of African Geography. With his companion, Speke, two lakes were explored. The first, called Tanganyika, lies on the thirtieth meridian and between the third and eighth parallel. Its mean breadth is estimated at twenty miles, and the length at two hundred and fifty, making its area

* The Lake Regions of Central Africa. A picture of exploration. By RICHARD F. BURTON. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1860. 8vo. pp. 572.

about five thousand miles ;-that is, a little smaller than our own Lake Ontario, which is estimated at five thousand four hundred. The altitude of the lake is about one thousand eight hundred and fifty feet above the sea level, the water is fresh and deep, full of varieties of fish, and on the shores are many villages. No outlet to the lake was discovered, and Mr. Burton suggests that the waters maintain their level by the exact balance of supply and evaporation.

The second lake explored, Nyanza, (not the same lake as Nyassa), or Ukerewe, lies north and east of Tanganyika, on the thirty-third meridian, and north of the third parallel. It is two thousand feet higher than the lake just described. The water is likewise fresh. This lake was not so thoroughly explored as the other, and there is great uncertainty still in respect to its northern extent. The whole length was rudely estimated at two hundred and forty miles. The breadth in one place was assumed to be about eighty miles. There is good reason for believing that this lake is one, perhaps, the principal feeder of the Nile. Captain Speke, the companion of Burton, has gone on a second expedition to this region, while Mr. Burton himself by recent advices is reported to be at the Great Salt Lake of our own country, studying the Mormons. Burton's qual ities as a traveler and his style as a writer are already well known. A shrewd observer rather than a man of science, entertaining rather than philosophical, he is at the same time so full of enterprise in his journeys, and so full of spirit in his narratives, that his volumes add equally to our knowledge and our enjoy

ment.

COTTAGES OF THE ALPS.*-In these days, when such hosts of people are traveling post-haste over all the countries of Europe, it is refreshing to meet with one who has done something more than go where every one else goes, and see what every one else It is true there is a charm in making the grand tour, even though it is done in the most hurried way. We once met with a Philadelphian, who had set out from Paris for a run over the continent, with the expectation of spending just one day in each

sees.

*The Cottages of the Alps; or, Life and Manners in Switzerland. By the Author of "Peasant Life in Germany." New York: C. Scribner. 1860. pp. 422.

12mo.

of the great capital cities, with the exception of Vienna, where, for some unaccountable reason or other, he was to spend two days! If a person can go in this way, and in no other, by all means let him go, and he will carry the pleasantest recollections of it to the last day of his life. But this is not traveling. It is flying! The authoress of this book proceeded in a very different manner. She traveled leisurely. She made herself acquainted with the customs and manners, the pursuits and the occupations of the people. She talked with them, and visited them in their "cottages." As might be expected, therefore, her book on Switzerland is very unlike any other of those which have heretofore been written by our countrymen. It contains a great deal of information with respect to each one of the cantons, which is not easily accessible elsewhere. This, of course, gives her book a peculiar value; though we think she would have added to its popular interest if she had given us fuller details of her own personal adventures. Few people like to travel alone. Most of us like a compagnon de voyage.

ROME OF TO-DAY.-At the last moment we have received a copy of the American edition of this new work of Edmond About, the well known author of "The Roman Question." It appears as the second number of Dr. J. O, Noyes's "monthly series of twentyfive cent books." We have read several chapters; enough to satisfy us that it will be full of novelty and interest even to those who feel that they are well acquainted with the Eternal City. We shall speak again of the book in our next number. The publisher, Dr. Noyes, will send it to any address, postage prepaid, on the receipt of twenty-five cents.

BIOGRAPHY.

PERSONAL HISTORY OF LORD BACON.*-If spots seen on the sun be not really on the sun itself, but only on the astronomer's glass, they will disappear when the glass is wiped. History has long reported foul moral blots as blurring England's great luminary of learning and wisdom, Lord Bacon. The world has been taught to believe them inherent. Pope calls him—

1861.

* Personal History of Lord Bacon. From Unpublished Papers. By WILLIAM HEPWORTH DIXON, of the Inner Temple. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. pp. 424. [For sale in New Haven, by T. II. Pease. Price $1.25.]

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The object of Mr. Dixon, in the work before us, is to wipe the historic telescope, and show us that the spots are mainly adventitious-belonging to the medium of vision, not to the man-to the position he occupied among bitter enemies, in a bitter age, and to the carelessness or prejudice of later writers, rather than to any special defect in Bacon's own character. As to how far the effort is successful, readers will differ. It is a bold undertaking to breast, and attempt to turn, a current that has so long set in one direction-to reverse the apparently settled verdict of history. But the effort is vigorously and earnestly made, and with an array of original evidence, and force and beauty of presentation, that will, at least, elicit sympathy, and lead to a suspension of judgment. Every honest mind will delight to see a great name cleared, in any degree, of unmerited odium. At all events, a picture of Bacon stands before us on our author's canvas, at once massive, symmetrical and life-like, with the aspect and bearing, not of a moral cripple, but of a true man, and if not without blemish, at least under such a light as to rivet our attention and command our admiration.

This able vindication of Lord Bacon will be welcomed by every scholar, and will contribute not a little to rescue the fair fame of the great philosopher and statesman from the burden of opprobrium which has so long rested upon it. The work of vindication had already been zealously commenced by Mr. Spedding, in his new and complete edition of Lord Bacon's works; and Mr. Dixon, in the volume before us, with the warm sympathy of an advocate in defense of one of his country's leading statesmen, and one of the brightest ornaments of his own profession, has most earnestly and efficiently seconded the undertaking. "To aid in some small part," he says, "in this good work of obtaining from men of letters and science a reconsideration of the evidence on which true judgment will have to run, the new facts, the new letters, the new documentary illustrations comprised in this Review of the Personal History of Lord Bacon are given to the world."

The typography and general "getting up" of this American edition are next to faultless.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DR. CARLYLE.*-A fine, manly countenance, this, that faces the title-page-enough, of itself, to set one upon a perusal of the volume. The original of that portrait could have been no common personage. Of him, indeed, it was, that Sir Walter Scott said, "The grandest demigod I ever saw was Dr. Carlyle, minister of Musselburgh, commonly called Jupiter Carlyle, from having sat more than once for the king of gods and man to Gavin Hamilton, and a shrewd, clever old carle was he."

Be this anecdote authentic, or not, this Dr. Carlyle was a man of note in his day. For fifty-seven years, that is, from 1748 to 1805, he was a Scotch Presbyterian clergyman in the quiet parish of Inveresk, in the town of Musselburgh, near Edinburgh. He was born at Prestonpans, where his father was minister, in 1722, and died in his own parish in 1805. In the epitaph upon his tomb, composed by his friend, Adam Ferguson, the historian, he is described as "Learned and eloquent, liberal and exemplary in his manners, faithful in his pastoral charge, not ambitious of popular applause, but to the people a willing guide in the ways of righteousness and truth."

But though only a parish minister, he mingled largely in society, was intimate with many of the most prominent literary and civil characters of his time, and a favorite among all ranks, especially the aristocracy, who appear to have been not less fond of him than he was of them. A shrewd observer of men, and favored as he was with a wide and varied social experience, he was well qualified in his later years to put on paper the rich and highly entertaining personal reminiscences which he has left us in the volume before us. He commenced writing his autobiography in the year 1800, when he entered his seventy-ninth year. "Having observed," he tells us, "how carelessly, and consequently how falsely, history is written, I have long resolved to note down certain facts within my own knowledge, under the title of Anecdotes and Characters of the Times, that may be subservient to the future historian, if not to embellish his page, yet to keep him within the bounds of truth and certainty." At the time of his death, however, he had only brought the autobiography down to

Autobiography of Rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle, minister of Inveresk. Containing memorials of the men and events of his time. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1861. pp. 471. [For sale in New Haven by T. II. Pease. Price $1.50.]

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