FEW persons are able to illustrate and enforce the Book of Proverbs; but Mr. Arnot is well adapted to the work he has undertaken and so ably executed. He has an accurate scholarship, a clear perception, a rigorous logic, strong convictions, and ardent sympathies; and can give manly expression to his thoughts in words that burn.'

The

volumes before us are not critical or expository in the ordinary sense of these terms. They consist of short, pointed, and pithy papers founded on the Proverbs of Solomon, and designed to illustrate them, but directed to the hearts and consciences of the people of our own day. They form a collection of Christian ethics exactly suited to these times. They are homilies for men of business, and for social life. Fully acquainted with the character of a busy people and with the Scriptures, he boldly brings both together-unmasking the sins that stain the transactions of business, and the diseases that prey upon society, enforcing the laws which ought to regulate men in every sphere, and summoning all, as they shall answer at the bar of the great Judge, to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.' While radiant with evangelical light, and glowing with a fervid piety, and sparkling with apt illustrations, there is in these volumes a rich practical philanthropy.

The various papers are not too long to weary, and they have a freshness of illustration to charm the reader. We sincerely wish that young men entering upon active business had these volumes in their libraries. Under so sagacious a counsellor as Mr. Arnot, they would be likely to grow up in the love and practice of whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. There are few temptations to which youth is exposed but are touched upon by the royal preacher. No book is more fitted to be a young man's companion in business than the Proverbs of Solomon. Its sententious sayings are the wise saws' for 'modern instances;' and with so genial a guide to their interpretation and application as Mr. Arnot in his Illustrations,' the aspiring youth will find that he can do better than condescend to sin to insure worldly success. Many fine passages might be quoted; but we prefer enticing our readers to procure and peruse the work for themselves.

It

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is elegantly got up and published at a very moderate price. Of the first volume eleven thousand have been circulated, and the second will doubtless follow in a similar circuit.

Essays, Physiological and Critical, on the Principles of Temperance. By Frederick Richard Lees, Ph. D. London: Tweedie. 1858.

THIS volume is a collection of essays on subjects more or less connected with Temperance. Some of them are highly scientific, others keenly controversial, and all of them severely logical. Dr. Lees is a clear reasoner, scrupulously exact in his words of debate, and ready to meet an adversary from any quarter, and to examine, and, if necessary, to refute, every objection that can be raised against his views. Those, therefore, who peruse the valuable works which he has contributed to Temperance cannot fail to derive much instruction, or to be intellectually quickened. The Physiological History of Alcohol,' which occupies eighty pages of this volume, is an argument of great research and power. It was originally written in 1848, ten years in advance of Professor Miller's 'Alcohol, its Place and Power,' which propounds the same doctrine. The doctor of philosophy, though he has not written so popularly, has written more scientifically, logically, and learnedly than the professor of surgery. We recommend our readers to peruse this valuable essay. The Plea for the Primitive Diet of Mankind' is a prize essay in favour of vegetarianism, and contains some very interesting statements, as also does the essay On Longevity. The controversial papers that follow are by no means the least valuable portion of the volume. They discuss the objections that have been urged against total abstinence by divines, medical practitioners, and literary reviewers. Dr. Lees is quite at home alike in biblical exegesis, physiology, ethics, and politics; and his works merit the thoughtful perusal of the studious in each of these departments of knowledge.

·

James Montgomery: A Memoir, Political and Poetical. By J. W. King. London: Partridge and Co. 1858. THERE was needed a brief biography of the bard of Sheffield, and Mr. King has ably supplied it. The volume before us sketches the whole career of

James

James Montgomery, and contains a discriminating review of his works. The author has reverence and affection enough to keep him always en rapport with his hero: but his fine poetic taste, analytic skill, and sound critical acumen, have enabled him to present such an estimate of the poet-editor as posterity will approve. His style is vigorous, often slap-dash, but pictorial and poetical. This book will supplant the seven-volumed biography by Mr. Holland, in which the life of James Montgomery was in danger of oblivion. Masters and Workmen. A Tale for the Times. By Sarah E. B. Paterson, Author of Sister Agnes,' &c. London: Nelson and Sons.

6

A GOOD tale written with a view to improve Masters and Workmen' in their individual and relative characters. It commends a stronger, healthier sympathy between employer and employed, disapproves of combinations of one class or the other, and counsels the possession of piety as the best means of social reform. It deserves a circulation in our busy spheres of industry, alike in the mansions of the employer and the cottages of the working men. Its thoughtful perusal would aid to improve them both. Its style is engaging, and its descriptions life-like. Norchester will readily be recognised by all acquainted with the Tyne. Monkchester was, we believe, its ancient

name.

Morning Dew Drops; or, the Juvenile

Abstainers. By Mrs. Clara Lucas Balfour. London: W. and F. G. Cash. THIS work is written in a pleasing style, and adapted to the intelligence of youth. It is replete with much information on the Temperance question, and discusses the subject with considerable ability. It is withal pervaded with a fine spirit, and can scarcely fail to impress the reader, whether juvenile or adult. The Temperance cause depends greatly upon the rising generation; and we trust this book will be extensively perused, and be successful in forming many 'bands of hope.'

Good, Better, Best; or, Three Ways of making a Happy World. By the Rev. J. W. Alexander, D.D., New York. With Introductory Notice by the Rev. R. S. Candlish, D.D. T. Nelson and Sons, London, Edinburgh, and New York. 1858.

THIS is a tale without a very deep plot or great dramatic power; but it is well written, and contains much wisdom. Two young persons of intelligence, sympathy with suffering humanity, and anxiety to do good, are the chief characters portrayed. They are guided, or rather disciplined, in their inquiries and benevolent schemes by a sagacious uncle, who has seen much of the world, learned much by experience, and has himself been a practical philanthropist. The remedies suggested by this work are those which are needed by society, and they stand in the relative worth of the felicitous title, Good, Better, Best. It is good to care for the body, by promoting cleanliness, industry, and sanitary reform. It is better to care for the mind, by extending and improving the education of the people; but it is best -not, however, by neglecting or disparaging the other two-to care for the soul, and aid in the preparation of man for the high destiny which he may attain in an immortal existence.

The Purgatory of Prisoners; or, an Intermediate Stage between the Prison and the Public; being some account of the Practical Working of the New System of Penal Reformation introduced by the Board of Directors of Convict Prisons in Ireland. By the Rev. Orby Shipley, M.A. Second Edition. London: Masters. 1858.

THIS pamphlet deals with a question of deepest importance to society, and may be recommended to the careful consideration of those who are interested in the improvement of criminals. The ticket-of-leave system has been much maligned by the press, very unjustly we conceive, and as will be shown more fully in this review. It is important, therefore, that facts such as Mr. Shipley brings before the public should be considered; for if they establish the proposition that tickets-of-leave may be safely given to a large proportion of those who have been punished for their crimes, the sooner that such a system as has been in operation in Ireland is extended all over the United Kingdom the better. It has been frequently remarked that a large per-centage of those who pass through our public prisons return to penal servitude. The different results of the course pursued by the Board of Directors of Irish Prisons are very striking. In 1854 the present Board of Directors came to

the

the helm of convict affairs: the present system of humanising and Christianising convicts came, though very imperfectly, into existence.' Since that period they have sent 1300 prisoners through a probationary course in their intermediate institutions. With a discharge of between five and six hundred criminals upon tickets-of-license, in a period of twenty months, only seventeen revocations of liberty have taken place. In other words, in round numbers, three per cent. of "exemplary" Irish prisoners, after a definite training in an intermediate establishment, relapse either into irregularity of life or into absolute crime.'

The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley. By Thomas Jefferson Hogg. Vols. I. and II. London: Moxon. 1858. MR. HOGG, in 1832, wrote some papers on Shelley in the New Monthly Magazine,' and Mrs. Shelley, the accomplished widow of the poet, meditated a biography, for which she had prepared a few notes, when she was arrested by the merciless hand of her father-in-law, who threatened to stop the supplies granted to the mother of his heir, if she should write anything for the press. Twenty years have since passed away, and Mr. Hogg, who is in many respects best fitted to prepare a life of his departed friend, has addressed himself to the task. The two first volumes are before us, and two are yet to be published. Biographers have not always the highest discrimination, and Mr. Hogg has his failings. He has a recklessness of thought, and a want of reverence, somewhat like Shelley, whom he estimates too partially. His style is vigorous and expressive, but often very abrupt. New paragraphs are introduced without any explanation. The connecting link of the history is often awanting. Nevertheless, the portraitture of Shelley is singularly faithful. Mr. Hogg was a college companion of the poet, and shared in his expulsion from Oxford. It is ever to be regretted that so fine a mind as was possessed by Shelley should have been so neglected by those who ought to have trained it. His home education was sadly deficient, and it appears that the University professors and tutors took little pains with their gifted pupil. Thus his mind ran wild, and adopted the most erratic and destructive opinions; his conduct became wilful; and, too early superior to

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parental control, he was entangled in an ill-advised marriage, which in no degree contributed to his welfare. In the second volume Mr. Hogg narrates some of the wanderings of the poet and his wife, who could never rest in any one place, and were frequently in financial straits from want of forethought and economy. In the course of a few years they were resident in Edinburgh, York, Keswick, Dublin, Killarney, North Wales, Devonshire, and in the neighbourhood of London. During their migrations they were accompanied by Mrs. Shelley's sister Eliza, who seems to have become an evil genius to the poet. Destitute of ideas, occupying many hours in the important exercise of brushing her hair, the dictator of her sister's feelings and movements, she aided to make Shelley unhappy at home.

Our readers will doubtless peruse these fascinating volumes, over whose pages are scattered many curious and entertaining stories. The notes on the Return to Nature, the advantages of nudity, vegetable diet, the rights of women, &c., are very amusing. So also is the description of the scholar who read nothing but Greek-Homer once a year, and other authors in a regular three years' course-occupying every day, with the exception of Sunday, when, as became a clerk in holy orders, he read the Septuagint and the New Testament in the original, and took a glance at the newspapers!

Shelley's life, for a considerable period after his expulsion from college, was without an object. He read voraciously, philosophised about the improvement of society, removed from place to place, but had no special study, no pursuit. He was still a minor, though a father, in 1814, when the second volume closes. We shall look with interest for the remaining volumes of a life which was so strange and so sad.

The Good Soldier. A Memoir of MajorGeneral Sir Henry Havelock, K.C.B. Compiled from Authentic Sources by the Rev. W. Owen. Londou :

Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 1858. THIS biography will not suffer from a comparison with the sketch by the Rev. W. Brock. It is an able summary of the events of the life of Havelock, and presents fuller accounts of his campaigns and publications than are given in any other Memoir we have seen.

The

The Crisis of Being. The Progress of Being. By the Rev. D. Thomas, Stockwell. Third Edition. London: Ward and Co.

THESE two small volumes being already in their third edition are now beyond criticism. They are full of original thought, expressed in terse and untechnical language, and press upon young men matters of deepest interest to their well-being.

Theology in Verse; or, Poems on the Fundamental Truths of Christianity, Doctrinal and Practical. By J. P. Shorthouse. London: Aylott and Co. 1858.

THE author of this work entertains some doubt whether it was worth sending to the press,' and we believe many will acquiesce therein. For the learned-for critics,' he says, there will be nothing here but faults.' It is, then, in vain to criticise. We wish the pious author had made plain prose the vehicle of his usefulness.

The New World: the First Chapter of Genesis expounded by the Science of Analogy. A Dialogue in Verse. Birmingham: Hugh Murdoch.

THIS dialogue is akin to the preceding. The miscellaneous pieces are better than the sacred; but true poetry is wanting.

The British Controversialist and Impartial Inquirer. Re-issue. Vol. I. London: Houlston and Stoneman.

THERE are some able papers in this work, of which we may mention the clear and well-written treatise on the Art of Reasoning.' Many questions of great importance are also discussed in a good spirit, and in a way likely to suggest and stimulate inquiry.

Lectures to Young Men. By the Rev. John Morrison, D.D., LL.D. London: Ward and Co.

Glimpses of Great Men; or, Biographic Thoughts of Moral Manhood. By the Rev. A. J. Morris, Holloway. Ward and Co.

DR. MORRISON's work is earnest, thoughtful, and Christian, and calculated to interest young men in their age and the great philanthropic movements now in progress. Mr. Morris writes with great spirit, and his thoughts and illustrations are most suggestive.

Try: a Book for Boys. By Old Jona

than. London: Collingridge. 1858. THE interest of this excellent and illustrated book is greatly increased by the pictorial outline appended to it, of the Rise and Progress of the Bonmahon Industrial, Infant, and Agricultural Schools in the county of Waterford, where the author has laboured with much success to improve his parishioners and encourage industry. In the printing establishment, where boys only are employed, many valuable works have been composed and issued from the press. Such philanthropic

efforts deserve encouragement. Chapeltown; or, the Fellow Students. By an English Congregational Minister. London: Ward and Co. 1857. A TALE illustrative of ministerial experience, and showing its encouraging and discouraging aspects. It is written with good taste, and contains lessons which congregations and young ministers would do well to learn.

Exeter Hall Sermons for the Working

Classes. With Portrait and Memoir of the Bishop of London. Partridge and Co.

THIS volume contains twelve plain, earnest, and eloquent sermous on the great salvation. It is an interesting social sign that this literature in a cheap form finds many purchasers.

Voices from the Garden; or, the Christian Language of Flowers. By S. W. Partridge.

WE have been much pleased with this brochure. It is vastly superior to the common sentimentalism called the 'Poetry of Flowers.' The eye of a naturalist, the heart of a Christian, and the pen of a poet, are manifest in these twenty-eight beautiful poems.

Handel: His Life, Personal and Professional. With Thoughts on Sacred Music. By Mrs. Bray. London: Ward and Co. 1857.

A VERY interesting sketch of the great composer, whose life, as well as his works, have been naturalised in England. It is written con amore.

Memorials of Sir H. Havelock, K.C.B. By James P. Grant. London: Berger.

A FAIR Compilation, but without the personal and family details from authentic sources which render a biography valuable.