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RECENT BRITISH PUBLICATIONS.

DR. LARDNER'S Railway Economy, published in London by TAYLOR & Co., and republished in a neat 12mo. vol. by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York, is thus characterized by the Railway Times:

No work has as yet appeared-(certainly not in England)-which has so thoroughly and comprehensively investigated the elements of the railway system.

The Athenæum speaks of it thus:

It informs the student of all that is at present known of the general outlines of the subject. It warns him of the difficulties that remain to be over

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Ripley's History of the War with Mexico, origi

come,-indicates the truths which appear to be al-nally published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New ready established,-and, at all events, places before him a comprehensive and frequently a minute chart of the entire field of inquiry.

The Builder thus:

A great compendium of interesting and important matter written in a style excellently well adapted to a miscellaneous public perusal, and ought to be in the possession of every shareholder, and of all indeed in any way interested in railways.

Tait's Magazine thus:

The most elaborate work on railways-their tendency, their origin, progress, advantages, defects, and prospects of amendment-that we have yet

seen.

Life of II. R. H. the Duke of Kent, by Rev. Erskine Neale, M. A., published by BENTLEY, London, is spoken of as a very interesting work. The Specta

tor says:

The author has given us a clear narrative of the principal features of the Duke's Life. He appears to have had access to the Papers and Correspondence of the personal friends of the Duke. For his gallant conduct in the West Indies the Prince received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, the only member of his family who earned that compliment for services actually rendered in the field.

The Britannia remarks:

The interest attaching to this work is unbounded. The biography and vindication of the father of Her Majesty cannot but command attention. All must acknowledge the ability, earnestness, and devotion with which it is written. The biography is full to overflowing with interesting details.

Leaves from a Lady's Diary of her Travels in Africa. 2 volumes, published by COLBURN, London. The Chronicle says of the work:

These exceedingly interesting volumes contain a very lively and graphic narrative of the author's |

York, and republished in London by Low, the Athenæum speaks well of it:

The vindication of the American policy is asserted in Mr. Ripley's volumes. The author is a brevetmajor in the United States Army, and first lieutenant of the second regiment of Artillery; and appears in many respects to be sufficiently well qualified for giving a professional analysis of the international conflict which he has undertaken to record. It was after thirty years of peaceful government that his own republic found itself engaged in war with a neighboring one. The real cause of the contest, however, was much older than its immediate occasion. Mr. Ripley traces it to the difference in origin of the two Republics :-to their differences in character and in religion.

Reginald Hastings, a new historical Romance, by Eliot Warburton, has been reprinted by HARPER & BROTHERS. The press generally lauds the work. The Literary Gazette says:

As a historical romancist, Mr. Warburton takes a first rank. The present romance possesses all the value of a history. It is replete with power and interest. The work must be read with the vivid feeling created by powerful descriptions of events which no invention could surpass, and exhibitions of character excited to the highest pitch of which human nature is susceptible by the most extraordinary circumstances of national crises and individual perils.

The John Bull says:

Mr. Warburton's "Reginald Hastings" belongs to a high order of historical romance. The story is told with great dramatic effect, the characters are delineated with admirable distinctness, society in those troublous times is depicted with no less fidelity to truth than artistic power. The contrast between the high-toned cavalier and the fanatical puritan is admirably drawn.

The Morning Herald says:

We do not hesitate to predict for this work a popularity commensurate with the historical importance

of the events therein so truly and so charmingly portrayed. Never have the Civil Wars of England been invested with greater fascination or interest. Few works of fiction could present us with more startling incidents or more striking contrasts. In "Reginald Hastings" we have the high-minded and chivalric cavalier communicating to us his own dashing and dangerous career, and making us familiar with the social life and manners of the eventful period in which he lived, and bringing vividly before us the leading distinguished personages who had so large a share in the military and political events of the time. We have the courtly and crafty Digby, | the court wit and beauty Lady Carlisle, the gallant Rupert, and the high-minded Falkland; Charles, with his crowd of fawning, selfish favorites; Cromwell, Pym, Holles, and Felton; and along with the more stirring incidents of the war is skilfully interwoven as tangled a maze of love as ever tried the constancy of gallant knight.

Leigh Hunt's Autobiography, a most interesting work, about to be issued from the press of the HARPERS, in this city, is pleasantly viewed by the journals. The New Monthly Magazine introduces its critique in the following way:

Everything that comes from the pen of Leigh Hunt is pleasant reading. However desultory and wanting in method and continuity, however redolent of the perversities and idiosyncracies of the individual, there is an agreeable naïveté, a love of all that is simple, good, unaffected, and a charm of style and language, which never fails to win the reader's

attention and interest.

Mr. Bayard Taylor's Eldorado, originally published by MR. PUTNAM, of New York, and reprinted by BENTLEY, London, is highly spoken of. The Athenaum says:

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| humble origin, he, by his own exertions, attained high distinction among his countrymen. His life was, in great part, that of a student. His youthful days were passed in preparation for his profession. His manhood was engrossed by forensic labors. Old age found him crowned with the honors of a faithfully-earned judicial renown." Yet, amidst all the engrossing avocations of his active career, he neglected none of the amenities of life. His intercourse with a wide circle of friends, seems to have been "embellished with all the graces which a benevolent heart, a playful temperament, and a happy facility of discourse, were able to impart ;" and as a natural consequence, he was beloved by all who had the advantage of being acquainted with him.

From the fragment of an autobiography extending over ten years of Wirt's childhood, are given some interesting extracts, in the form of reminiscenses of that period of the future Attorney-General's life. These are written with great spirit, and in a pleasing style, and serve to awaken regret that the autobiography was not continued. It must, however, be allowed that the numerous letters which are given afford no mean substitute for a regular narrative, since they afford much insight into the mind of the amiable writer, and relate to persons of note and events of great interest at the time they were written; penned, as they were, without the most distant view to publication, they exhibit the writer in his inoments of free and unreserved communion with those whom he held in the highest esteem; in the words of his biographer, "his letters sufficiently indicate the character of his manners;" and they as fully illustrate "his affection toward his family, his attachment to his friends, his charity and benevolence toward mankind, his courage, his self-respect, and his integrity."

Tennyson's New Poem, In Memoriam, about to be republished by TICKNOR, FIELD, & Co., is enthusiasti cally praised by the London literary journals. The Athenæum has a fine critique. The Westminster Review thus speaks of it:

Of a surety there is but one known poet, now living, who could have produced this exquisite volume. David and Jonathan, Damon and Pythias -all that old tradition has given us of devoted, loving friendship between man and man-highman-is here embodied. No mere sense of attachment, which may exist among the commonest of mankind, but the perfect perception of all that is highest and finest-all that is true, and beautiful, and religious, in the noblest sense, linked these two great hearts together. Alas, that they should have been separated!

This is a capital book:-in whichever way it is considered, brimful of instruction. What a comment on and illustration of the times we are living in, is the fact that the new Eldorado is already an old story! Not only have its towns, churches, courthouses, theatres, burst up from the earth so rapidly that, like the grass in Wordsworth's ballad, you can almost hear them growing."-but we distant people have already been treated to a golden library almost voluminous enough to satisty Miss Kil. mansegg herself. The marvel has not lost its bright-souled ness, but the shining thereof has lost its wonder by reason of its plenteousness. This premised, we must add that, among the hundred volumes already issued on the subject, Mr. Bayard Taylor's seem to us altogether the best and liveliest. Not merely does he possess an open mind, he has also a discerning eye (as a pilgrim to Eldorado should have), and a neat hand at description. An entire early chapter of the discovery, for instance, is conveyed in the grumbling complaints of a woman with whom Mr. Bayard Taylor fell in while sheltering from the rain one evening near the Sacramento.

Memoirs of William Wirt, by John P. Kennedy, and originally published by LEA & BLANCHARD, Philadelphia, is highly commended by the West

minster Review:

An interesting memoir of one of the most eminent men of his day. Sprung from a comparatively |

Death put our lives so far apart,
We cannot hear each other speak."

Not now can this volume be dwelt on, for it is not of the ephemera. Suggestive of all high and holy thoughts, we leave its sympathetic appreciation to be dealt with in a future number. Meanwhile, we bid all weary-laden spirits receive it for a hymnbook, that cheers even in its mournfulness-the poetbreathings of a heart whose sorrow seventeen year's lapse has served only to chasten, not to extinguish. May some kindred spirit one day be found to wed them to fitting music.

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