try has furnished him with peculiar advantages for treating topics. Dr. Smith's illustrations by wood-cuts have been ret some of them improved, and their number increased. W there can be no doubt that the work, in its present form, wil popular History of Greece.

6. The Physical Geography of the Sea. By M. F. Maury, Lieut. U.S. Navy. New York: Harper & Brothers. &c. 1855. 8vo. pp. 274. [With Charts.]

One would suppose that the physical geography of the S be rather an undiversified subject,-that a description of the of waters," affording but little scope for variety of details, mu cease to interest. If any one has an impression of this kind, read Dr. Maury's treatise, and be set right. We have scarc with a work that has given us more instruction and pleasure have found in perusing this. Under the author's clear and treatment, the ocean no longer seems a mere mass of waters ried except by storms and tides; it becomes a living thing were, an immense vital organ, composed of a wonderful conge powers, and performing a wonderful part in the natural econ our terraqueous globe. Its currents and drifts, the tempera its different parts, the depths of its several basins, its conter mountains, table-lands, and profound vallies that occupy its its action on the atmosphere, and the counteraction, its proce evaporization, the courses of the winds bearing its vapors to gions where they are precipitated in rain or snow, the great m routes across its expanse, and how they are determined by and atmospherical phenomena,—all are set forth in a plain. and very impressive manner. We seem to gain almost as defi idea of the geography of the sea, and of the circuits of the wi we have of the geography of the land. What adds greatly profit and interest of the reader, he is made acquainted with servations, experiments, and scientific methods, by which the facts are ascertained, and with the philosophical principles on they depend. The series of Plates, at the end, illustrate the c of the sea, and the courses of the winds, in the same way th common maps illustrate the face of the continents.

7. The Works of Philo Juædus, the Contemporary of Jos translated from the Greek, by C. D. Yonge, B. A. Vol. i. Lc Henry G. Bohn, &c. 1854. 12mo. pp. 515.

Two or three volumes of this set have already appeared, t we have received only the first. We notice the publication, f sake of those who wish to become acquainted with Philo's do and method, but who shrink from the vexatious task of followi winding, and often fine-spun, thread of his speculations and co

through the Greek original. His works are about the earliest source, now extant, of that Eclectic Philosophy which subsequently made so great a figure at Alexandria. Several of the Christian fathers, of the first centuries, drew largely from him. This was especially the case with those of them who contributed the most towards forming what eventually became the Orthodox system of divinity. In his speculations, we find some of the germs of the doctrine of the Trinity. We find the Gnosis of the Alexandrian Christians almost matured by him; and in him we also find the allegorical and spiritualizing methods of interpretation developed in all their extravagance and whimsicality. Whoever would trace back the doctrines of the ecclesiastical system to their roots, and whoever would account for many of the notions held by the ancient fathers, should study Philo.

8. You Have Heard of Them. By Q. Redfield: New York. 1854. We have here a series of sketches of some prominent celebrities in the artistic and literary world. Some forty or more characters, mostly actors, actresses, composers, and singers, are described by one who claims to write from personal knowledge. "Q" represents, we believe, a Mr. Rosenberg, who, through his position as literary and operatic critic for some foreign journal, enjoyed the opportunity of introductions to persons that attracted public regard. The sketches are lively, though somewhat vulgar and rouè-ish in tone, and there is no lack of scandal in the volume, for persons who relish that literary condiment.

K.

9. Memoirs of the Life, Exile, and Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon, by the Count De Las Cases. With Portraits and other Illustrations. A new Edition in four volumes. Redfield: New York. 1855.

Mr. Redfield is evidently ambitious of the foremost rank among the publishers who deserve popular gratitude. His press has provi ded some of the most fascinating literary reading in "Moore's Life of Sheridan," "Macaulay's Speeches," the lectures of Mr. Trench on Proverbs and Words, and the glorious series of "Noctes Ambrosianæ." Now we have the Las Cases Memoirs printed in convenient form and at moderate cost. It is wholly needless for us to speak at length of their value, or of their charm. Those who have read them in more costly editions will eagerly avail themselves of the opportunity to own them, that they may have the privilege of frequent recurrence to their seductive chapters. It is the vivacity of "Boswell's Johnson" brought to the interpretation and portraiture of the most marvellous genius of modern times, that these volumes offer to

us.

They give us Napoleon's career and fortunes illumined, as it were, from behind, the paler colors of history vivified by the light of his own criticisms, explanations, and confessions.

Nothing can be more interesting than to look behind the scenes,

and listen to the conversation of a great man in privacy and mis tune, to know how such an intellect and temper as Napoleon's k the reverses of the world and the loneliness of such a destiny as Helena unveiled. But how much more valuable is the privil when we find his daily, informal talk devoted to explaining his pla characterizing his generals, analyzing the causes of his ill-succ unfolding his reserved intentions, revelling in his once vast hop and predicting the political combinations of the coming years in 1 rope, and the future of her civilization! Such is the literary p gramme of these volumes just issued by Redfield. In connect with "O'Meara's Napoleon," for which we were recently indeb to the same press, they give us a far more life-like conception of 1 genius and character of the Emperor than the most pretentious brilliant history of his career.

Moreover, besides the views of Napoleon on great questions State policy, and elaborate papers on some of his most importa battles, (such as the remarkable paper on the blunders of Wellingt in the conduct of the Waterloo campaign,) we find in the journal Las Cases, revelations of the literary tastes of the Emperor, of 1 views of religion and education, of his estimates of the great captai of the past, and of the influences that shaped his destiny. The si gular combination of mental greatness and littleness of temper, stoicism and irritability, of simplicity and pretence, of dignity a boyishness, which makes his character such a riddle, is vividly illu trated in the incidents of his exile, and his bearing under the inh man policy of his keepers. It is remarkable how many of the cha acteristic sayings of Napoleon, and representative features of h character, in the most brilliant literary pictures of him, such as M Emerson's, are drawn from these memoirs at St. Helena by La Cases. Most persons, too, we believe, will find ample justificatio in their pages for the sharp and witty description of his characte drawn by the Abbé de Pradt, and quoted on the 269th page of th first volume: "The mind of Napoleon was vast: but after the mar ner of the Orientals: and through a contradictory disposition, it d scended, as it were, by the effect of its own weight, to details whic might justly be called low. His first idea was always grand, an his second mean and petty. His mind was like his purse: munif cence and meanness held each a string. His genius, which was a once adapted to the stage of the world, and the mountebank's show resembled a royal robe joined to a harlequin's jacket. Endowe with wonderful and infinite shrewdness; glittering with wit; seizin or creating in every question new and unperceived relations; abound ing in lively and picturesque images, animated and pointed expres sions, the more forcible from the very incorrectness of his language which always bore a sort of foreign impress; sophistical, subtle, and changeable to excess,-he adopted different rules of optics from thos

by which other men are guided. Add to this the delirium of excess, the habit of drinking from the enchanted cup, and intoxicating himself with the incense of the world; and you may form an idea of the man who, uniting in his caprices all that is lofty and mean in the human character, majestic in the splendor of sovereignty, and peremptory in command, with all that is ignoble and base, even in his grandest achievements, joining the treacherous ambush to the subversion of thrones,-presents altogether such a Jupiter-Scapin, as never before figured on the scene of life." Many of the plausible principles that give such false coloring to Mr. Abbott's new life of Napoleon, are drawn from these memoirs; and yet no more efficient antidote can be found, after all, than these very volumes supply to the sentimental puerilities of that work.

K.

10. Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind. By Dugald Stewart. Revised and abridged, with Critical and Explanatory Notes, for the use of colleges and schools, by Francis Bowen, Alvord Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy in Harvard College. Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe & Co. 1854. pp. 490.

The

We have taken great pleasure in renewing our acquaintance, through this volume, with the wise and graceful chapters of Dugald Stewart. Those who look for abstruse or startling speculations in high metaphysics, will find nothing to feed their appetite in these sober but fascinating disquisitions. They deal with the physiology of the mind, if we may use such a figure, not with its anatomy, and not at all with the slippery problems of ontology. The forces by which, and the ways in which, the mind does its work, are laid bare with a patient analysis and a most delicate discrimination. titles of the chapters are: "Of Attention;""Of Conception; "Of Abstraction;""Of the Association of Ideas," showing the influence of this law on our speculative conclusions, our judgments in matters of taste and morals, &c.; "Of Imagination," with its relations to art and genius and character; and "Of Reason," with reference to the laws of belief. The editor has performed his task very faithfully, and has condensed two volumes of Stewart's Essays very skilfully into one. It is an excellent manual, and one which will improve the student's taste in English writing, while it stimulates him to an acquaintance with the deeper problems of philosophy. We earnestly commend this volume to all who have not made themselves familiar with the most charming interpreter of the Scotch school of metaphysicians.

K.

11. The Principles of Metaphysical and Ethical Science, applied to the Evidences of Religion. A new Edition, revised and annotated for the use of colleges. By Francis Bowen, A. M. Boston: Hickling, Swan, and Brown. 1855.

Prof. Bowen, the editor of the work last noticed, appears here as

a philosophical author. The chapters of this volume were origi delivered, in substance, as lectures before the Lowell Institute. deal with the highest and the ever-recurring philosophical th which intertwine themselves with religion,-"The Idea of Cau "Fatalism and Freewill;" "The Nature and Functions of science; ""The Origin of Evil; "The Goodness of God," The work is designed to be a compend of the principles of ethics metaphysics, so far as they affect the foundations of religious b Mr. Bowen is a very faithful and a very clear writer, and his umes claim the attention of every student in the higher regio thought.

12. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. A Romaunt. By Lord By A new Edition. Edited by Thomas Moore, Esq. Boston: Phil Sampson, and Company. &c. 1855. 12mo. pp. 235.

We insert this title-page, not as an occasion to extol a poem is above all praise, nor to speak of this volume in particular, bu direct the notice of our readers again to Messrs. Phillips, Samp and Co.'s cheap and elegant editions of English Poets. Suc Publishing-House as theirs has been is a benefaction to those w like ourselves, are too poor to buy costly books, and who yet er with a peculiar sense of gratification the luxury of a thoroughly] pared volume on beautiful paper and large neat type.

13. The Life of Rev. Hosea Ballou; with accounts of his Writi and Biographical Sketches of his Seniors and early Cotemporaries the Universalist Ministry. By Thomas Whittemore. &c. Vol. Boston: James M. Usher. 1855. 12mo.

Embracing sixteen years of Mr. Ballou's Life, from the close his editorship of the Universalist Magazine in 1828, to the set ment of his first colleague, in the School-Street Society, 1844. this volume the narration is continued in the manner of the pre ding volumes,—the biography being equally full, indeed exhausti and interspersed with copious extracts from Mr. Ballou's writi in the order in which they appeared, together with accounts of occasions in which he took part, and notices of all the events affe ing our Denomination during this period. It is hardly needful say that the work continues to be, as it has hitherto been, an abu dant repository of materials for our religious history. Let us h say, what it gives us great pleasure to mention, that the indefatigal author is engaged in preparing a new and much enlarged edition his "Modern History of Universalism." We are sure that all o brethren will bid him "God-speed," in the laborious task, and trust that, when it shall be accomplished, they will show practical that they appreciate the service.

The present work will be concluded in another volume.

E