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Harpers' Story Books.

This is one of the most useful publishing enterprises of the day. The stories are written by Jacob Abbot, and published monthly. They are issued at the same time with Harpers' New Monthly Magazine, and the two together, can be had at the low price of five dollars a year. We recommend them to the favorable consideration of our readers.

History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States; with Notices of its Principal Framers. By GEORGE TICK NOR CURTIS, Vol. I. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1855. (pp. 518.)

The Origin and Formation of the Constitution of the United States is a subject which has long demanded a distinct and accurate record. Mr. Curtis has every qualification and facility for the work which he has undertaken. The character of the Author, the magnitude of the subject, and the jealousy with which the Rights of the state, and the powers of the General Government are regarded, give assurance of a full investigation, and a perfectly reliable History. This work will supply a most important chapter in our Political annals. It will be eagerly read and studied by the multitude now interested to know the real significancy of the Constitution, as its meaning is illustrated in a detail of the opinions of its Framers, and the events which attended its adoption. This first volume presents the Constitutional History of the United States, from the commencement of the Revolution to the assembling of the Convention of 1787, together with biographical notices of Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Franklin, Morris, King, Pinckney, Wilson and Randolph. We await the publication of the second volume to present a more extended account of this valuable work.

American Congregational Year Book, for 1855. Volume Second. Office of the American Congregational Union, 346 Broadway, New York.

We regret that a want of funds delayed the publication of this work, or diverted the Trustees of the Union from issuing a volume uniform with that of 1854. And yet we are not sure that this will not be the most acceptable,-it is less expensive, and more convenient as a book of reference. The Editor, Rev. Mr. Atkinson, has compiled this volume with great care, and as we understand, published it at his own risk. We trust the book will not be neglected by the churches, for whose benefit it was prepared. The statistics of the churches are arranged by states: the names of towns where churches are located, being in alphabetical order. There is also an alphabetical list of ministers; and biographical notices of ministers who have 20*

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Notices of Books.

[May,

died during the year 1854. Much other valuable information will be found in this volume, worthy of preservation, and almost indispensable to Congregational ministers.

Satire and Satirists. By JAMES HANNAY, Author of "Singleton Fontenoy," &c. (pp. 235.) 1855. Redfield, New York. S. Babcock, New Haven.

This work presents a very agreeable collection of passages from Satirical Literature. It is a popular and pleasant exhibition, originally in the form of lectures, of the character and works of distinguished Satirists; embracing among others in the list, Horace, Juvenal, Boilean, Butler, Dryden, Swift, Pope, Churchill and Burns. Although Mr. Hannay has endeavored to show that the great Satirists were good and lovable men, yet one can with difficulty escape the conviction that in many instances, wit and wickedness were very closely allied. There is both interest and instruction in the book.

Of our own day, Mr. Hannay says: "The general notion is that the heroic satire is dead. Nay, we are sometimes told, that the day of Satire is past; that literature is disgraced by such fighting; and that we must all be friendly, and peaceable, and respectable. For my own part, I am slow to believe these theorizers. The roses which pleased Horace come fresh as ever into life before my window. Is the spirit of Horace less eternal than these transitory roses? The cry is always of death now. Eloquence is dead; and our Senate wants it no more, we are told; and we shall have no Burkes and Ciceros,-nothing but argumentative bagmen henceforth. But let the heart and the passions come into play in some noble stir, and we shall see! Tis the same with poetry, and all the arts and satire; the man and the time come together, and they rise together to the life everlasting. * * * The spirit of satire is alive, and working now in various forms. I believe that in its peculiar and genuine form of the Satire proper there is still plenty for it to do. And, as an agency, fighting is highly useful still in this world; indeed it would be far healthier for all of us, to fight out our beliefs, (if needful in the satiric form,) rather than to veil malignity under the pretense of decorum, and gratify evil passions in vulgar and secret ways."

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BOOKS RECEIVED.

*

We are obliged to postpone the notice of several volumes, just received from Harper & Brothers, by the hand of E. Downes, New Haven.

An Introduction to Practical Astronomy, with a collection of Astronomical Tables. By Elias Loomis, LL. D. of the University of New York. (pp. 497.)

Foster's First Principles of Chemistry, adapted specially for Classes.

Country Neighborhood. By Miss E. A. Dupuy, (Library of Select Novels.)

The Life and Correspondence of the Countess of Blessington. Two volumes. (pp. 547 and 599.) By R. R. Madden, author of "Travels in the East," "Infirmities of Genius," &c.

Tricolored Sketches in Paris, during the year 1851-2-3. (pp. 368.)

Harpers' Story Book, No. 5.

We have received the following books from John P. Jewett & Co., Boston, through Thomas H. Pease, which we design to notice in our next Number:

Catholic and Protestant Nations Compared in their threefold relation to Wealth, Knowledge, and Morality. By Rev. Napoleon Roussell, of Paris.

Louis Fourteenth and the Writers of his Age: Lectures delivered in French in New York: by Rev. J. F. Astiè. Translated by Rev. E. N. Kirk.

Sabbath Evening Readings of the New Testament, St. Luke. By Rev. John Cumming, D. D.

The Saint's Inheritance: or the World to Come. By Henry F. Hill, Geneseo, N. Y.

We have also reserved for future notice, English, Past and Present, by Trench; from Redfield, through Thomas H. Pease. Discourses and Speeches delivered at the Celebration of Semi-Centennial Anniversary of Monson Academy, Monson, Mass. By Rev. Charles Hammond and others.

St. Domingo: its Revolutions and its Hero, Toussaint Louverture. By C. W. Elliott.

Sermons on the Providence of God, as exhibited in the Physical World, and in the Certainty and Freedom of Human Action. By Rev. W. S. Curtis, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Discourse on the Death of Rev. James Flint, D. D., Senior Pastor of the East Church in Salem, Mass. By Rev. Dexter Clapp.

The Heritage of the Pilgrims. An Oration delivered before the New England Society, New York. By Wm. M. Evarts.

Specimen of Lippincott, Grambo & Co's Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World,-which, if it be a fair specimen, promises a most excellent work.

The Eighth Annual Report of the General Agent of the Board of National Popular Education. By William Slade. Discourse on Ancient and Modern Divination, by G. H. M'Ilvane, Rochester, N. Y.

Diary of the Rev. Solomon Spittle: dedicated to the Chewing, Smoking and Snuffing Clergy, and pious Laity of the United States. This is a broad satire on the use of Tobacco. We received with it a long criticism, for which we have no space. The Critic does not agree with Sir Walter Raleigh, who says of this narcotic that it is

"Rest, for the weary, to the hungry, food,

The last kind refuge of the wise and good."

ECCLESIASTICAL REGISTER.

Quarterly list of Ordinations and Installations.

Rev. A. G. Pease, installed at Norwich, Vt., Jan. 3.
Mr. W. D. Sands, ordained at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Jan. 3.
Rev. N. B. Graves, installed at Allen's Grove, Wis., Jan. 3.

Mr. E. P. Smith, ordained at Wayne, Iowa, Jan. 3.

Mr. Henry K. Craig, ordained at Bucksport, Me., Jan. 4.

Rev. Horace Wellington, installed at St. Johnsbury Center, Vt., Jan. 4.
Rev. J. C. Hart, installed at Revenna, O., Jan. 9.

Rev. D. Sewal, installed at South Paris, Me., Jan. 4.

Rev. Daniel March, installed at Brooklyn, N. Y., Jan. 11.
Mr. James B. Miles, ordained at Charlestown, Mass.

Mr. Augustus J. Hibbard, ordained at Salem, Wis.

Rev. Edward B. Emerson, installed at Heath, Mass., Jan. 24.
Rev. Thomas K. Fessenden, installed at Ellington, Ct., Jan. 30.
Rev. John Willard, installed at Fair Haven, Mass., Jan. 23.
Rev. G. W. Perkins, installed at Chicago, Ill.

Mr. J. M. Stone, ordained at Walpole, N. H., Jan. 31.
Rev. Asa T. Loring, installed at Norway, Me., Jan. 3.
Rev. Dana Lamb, installed at Springvale, Wis., Jan. 17.
Rev. J. N. Cundall, installed at Rosendale, Wis., Jan. 17.

Mr. Charles Scott, ordained at Marlboro, Vt.

Mr. Archibald McDougall, ordained at Sherburne, N. Y., Feb. 14.

Mr. John Mellish, ordained at Kingston, N. H., Feb. 14.

Rev. Willard Child, installed at Castleton, Vt., Feb. 14.

Mr. Jonathan B. Sewal, ordained at Lynn, Mass., Feb. 28.

Mr. Joseph B. Johnson, ordained at Plymouth, Mass.

Mr. T. H. Hawks, ordained at West Springfield, Mass., March 7.

Rev. S. R. Hall, installed at Brownington, Me., March 7.

Rev. D. H. Hamilton, installed at New Haven, Ct., Howe St. Church, March 1.
Mr. Roswell Foster, ordained at Waltham, Mass., March 14.

Mr. E. B. Hilliard, ordained at Hadlyme, Ct., March 15.
Rev. S. S. Hughson, installed at Rushville, N. Y., March 20.
Rev. Amasa Loring, installed at Edgecomb, Me., March 20.
Rev. T. G. Colton, installed at Monson, Mass., March 28.

THE

NEW ENGLANDER.

No. LI.

AUGUST, 1855,

ART. I.-DANGER OF SEPARATING PIETY FROM PHI-
LANTHROPY.

THE Apostle John, in more than one passage of his first Epistle, connects together the love of God and the love of the brethren,-making the former the fountain from which the latter flows, and each the evidence of the other's existence. Nor can it be doubted, that if it had lain within his scope, he would have bound together as closely the love of God and of mankind, and have taught us that philanthropy is the necessary companion of piety.

It is certain that the whole spirit of Christianity runs in favor of such a close union between the affections of practical religion. If we look at Christ, the example, at his precepts, at the necessary fruits of Christian truth in the believing soul, we shall arrive at this conclusion. Nor shall we find reason to question it, if we discover what results religion, even in its imperfect Jewish form, accomplished; or trace through the ages since Christ came, the lives of Christian men; or contrast with these exhibitions of character those which heathenism under all its forms presents to us. Everywhere piety and love to

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