the President, advising that a certain contract should be given to a certain firm in Philadelphia, as it would be worth 450 votes to the administration in the coming election. This letter was endorsed by the President, and forwarded by him to the Secretary of the Navy. We cannot go into details; but the revelation of systematic jobbing at the dockyards, with the full knowledge of the chiefs, was something startling. And, as if to place the general conclusions beyond doubt, Mr. Buchanan wrote his curious 'Pittsburg' letter, deploring in the strongest language the spread of corruption and the general decline of integrity among public men. Finally, the recent deliberate treason of three members of the cabinet, and the proved frauds of one of them, need only to be recalled to mind to give us a conception how deeply immorality of every sort must have eaten into the heart of political circles in America. Of the mingled dishonesty and weakness displayed by the retiring President in all matters relating to the Secession Movement there is no need that we should speak. Probably a great crisis was never met in so contemptible and undignified a manner. But the time has not arrived for commenting on the history of that strange conjuncture. Nor, in conclusion, have we left ourselves space for pointing the moral of the sketch we have endeavoured faintly to portray. Both America and England will be strangely blind and supine if they do not each according to its need-profit by the lessons of the Past at this grave but golden opportunity;—America, to rectify her errors; England, to take warning against the imitation of them ;-America to re-curb the democratic taste for encroachment and absolutism; England, to avoid unchaining it. BOOKS OF THE QUARTER SUITABLE FOR READING SOCIETIES. The History of England from the Accession of James II. By Lord Macaulay. Vol. V. Edited by his Sister, Lady Trevelyan. Long mans. [Not inferior to the earlier portion of this great work.] Ancient Law; its Connection with the Early History of Society and its Relation to Modern Ideas. By Henry Sumner Maine. Murray. [Reviewed in Article V.] The Diary and Correspondence of Charles Abbot, Lord Colchester, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1802 to 1817. Edited by his Son. With Portrait. 3 vols. Murray. Memoirs of the Courts and Cabinets of William IV. and Victoria. From original Family Documents. By the Duke of Buckingham, K.G. 2 vols. With Portraits. Hurst and Blackett. The Private Diary of Travels, Personal Services, and Public Events, during Missions and Employments with the European Armies in 1812-14, from the Invasion of Russia to the Capture of Paris. By the late General Sir Robert Wilson, C.M.T. Edited by his Nephew and Son-in-law the Rev. Herbert Randolph, M.A. 2 vols. With Map. Murray. The Spanish Conquest in America; and its Relation to the History of Slavery and to the Government of Colonies. By Arthur Helps. Vol. III. Parker, Son, and Bourn. The Constitutional History of England, from the Accession of George III. 1760-1860. By Thomas Erskine May. Vol. I. Longmans. [An interesting record of the constitutional history of George the Third's reign.] Lectures on the Apocalypse. By the Rev. F. D. Maurice. Macmillan. [Noticed in Article IX.] The Dangers and Safeguards of Modern Theology, containing Suggestions offered to the Theological Student, under present Difficulties. By Archibald Campbell, Lord Bishop of London. Murray. [A book partly written for 1846, and partly for 1861. It shows a devout, tolerant, and liberal spirit; but will scarcely do much to aid the student in liberating himself from intellectual difficulties.] The English Cathedrals of the Nineteenth Century. By A. J. Beresford Hope, Esq. Murray. Half-hour Lectures on the History and Practice of the Fine and Orna mental Arts. By W. B. Scott. With Woodcuts. Longmans. 530 Books of the Quarter suitable for Reading-Societies. English Puritanism and its Leaders. By Principal Tulloch. Blackwood. Revolutions in Religion, forming the Second Volume of "Revolutions in English History." By the Rev. Robert Vaughan, D.D. Parker, Son, and Bourn. Port Royal: a Contribution to the History of Religion and Literature in France. By Charles Beard, B.A. 2 vols. Longmans. [Reviewed in Article VIII.] On Translating Homer. Three Lectures given at Oxford. By Matthew Arnold. Longmans. [One of the most perfect specimens of true critical genius that we have ever met with; and yet failing, as we think, entirely to establish the superior claim of hexameter to blank verse as the true medium for a translation of Homer. Mr. Arnold's clear and delicate criticism is perhaps slightly disfigured by the supercilious grandeur of the Oxford style.] Serbski Pesme; or National Songs of Servia. By Owen Meredith. Chapman and Hall. [However little accuracy as translations these English reproductions of Servian ballads may possess, they have beauty, spirit, and real fascination for a cultivated reader; that there may be schoolboy errors in the grammar even of the title itself, is a fault not likely to be offensively obvious to many English scholars.] Education in Oxford; its Methods, its Aids, and its Rewards. By J. E. Thorold Rogers, M.A. Smith and Elder. [A useful book, written by a man with a thorough knowledge of Oxford, and with a sound judgment to distinguish the erroneous principles which still unfortunately limit the usefulness of the University.] Recreations of a Country Parson. Essays, consolatory, æsthetical, moral, social and domestic. A Selection from the Contributions of A. K. H. B., to Frazer's Magazine. Second Series, completing the work. Parker, Son, and Bourn. [Pleasant essays equal to the first series.] Health, Husbandry, and Handicraft. By Harriet Martineau. Bradbury and Evans. Lectures chiefly on subjects relating to Literary and Scientific and Mechanics' Institutes. By H. Whitehead, M.A., J. C. Whitehead, M.A., and W. Driver. Bosworth and Harrison. [A volume of sound and shrewd practical lectures, containing the solid experience, as well as the acute thought of educated and practical men, chiefly on the management of book-societies, literary institutions and associations with kindred objects.] Autobiography, Letters, and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi. Edited with Notes, &c., by A. Hayward, Esq. Q.C. 2 vols. With Portrait and Plate. Longmans. [Reviewed in Article VI.] Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville (Mrs. Delany), including Letters from some of the most distinguished Persons of the time. Edited by the Right. Hon. Lady Llanover. 3 vols. With Engravings. Bentley. Books of the Quarter suitable for Reading-Societies. 531 The Campaign of Garibaldi in the Two Sicilies; a Personal Narrative. By Commander C. S. Forbes. With Plans and Portraits of Garibaldi and the King of Naples. Blackwood. [A clear and interesting narrative, illustrated by good maps and plans.] The Medical Missionary in China; a Narrative of twenty years Experience. By William Lockhart. Hurst and Blackett. A Residence in Jutland, the Danish Isles, and Copenhagen. By Horace Marryatt. With Map and Illustrations. 2 vols. Murray. [Entertaining.] The Russians at Home. Unpolitical Sketches, showing what Newspapers they read, what Theatres they frequent, and how they eat, drink, and enjoy themselves; with other matters relating chiefly to Literature and Music, and to Places of historical and religious interest in and about Moscow. By Sutherland Edwards. Allen and Co. [A very amusing book, with much really useful information, though a little too much made up.] The Great Sahara. Wanderings South of the Atlas Mountains. By the Rev. H. B. Tristram, M. A. Murray. Seasons with the Sea-horses; or, Sporting Adventures in the Northern Seas. By James Lamont, Esq. With Illustrations. Hurst and Blackett. The English Sportsman in the Western Prairies. By the Hon. Grantley Berkeley. With Illustrations. 1 vol. Hurst and Blackett. Anahuac; or, Mexico and the Mexicans, ancient and modern. By Edmund B. Tylor. With Illustrations and Map. Longmans. Vacation Tourists, and Notes of Travel in 1860. Edited by Francis Galton. With Map and Illustrations. Macmillan. Gryll Grange. By Thomas Love Peacock. Parker and Bourn. [Quite as witty and amusing as " Headlong Hall," "Nightmare Abbey," and the other tales which first gained Mr. Peacock the reputation of an intellectual satirist, in the days when Shelley was his correspondent and admirer.] Elsie Venner. A Romance of Destiny. By Oliver Wendell Holmes. Macmillan and Co. Agnes Tremorne. By T. Blagden. 2 vols. Smith and Elder. [A romantic tale containing a fine appreciation of Italian art.] Market Harborough; or how Mr. Sawyer went to the Shires. Chapman and Hall. The Moor Cottage. A Tale of Home Life. Macmillan. My Share of the World. By Francis Browne. 3 vols. Hurst and One of Them. By Charles Lever. Chapman and Hall. NN |