صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

The Early Jesuit Missions in North America. Translated by Rev. WILLIAM Ingraham Kip, M. A. Wiley & Putnam, New-York.

The Jesuit missionaries were the earliest pioneers of Christianity and civilization in the western wilds of our country. Whatever opinions may be entertained with respect to the principles of the order, no dispassionate person who reads these volumes can deny, that the struggles and sufferings of these men rendered them worthy apostles of the glorious cause they had espoused.

The work is compiled and translated from letters written by several members of the mission to their respective friends-embracing a period of 35 years, and the first bearing the early date of 1722. During this period, it may be well imagined, they had many exciting adventures with the Indians, which would form ample materials for a thrilling romance. These, however, are told in a simple, minute, and matter of fact style, that carries conviction with it; and whilst rendering the work more instructive, reflects still greater credit upon the labours and spirit of the missionaries.

The struggles of several of these pious men were crowned by martyrdomthe last and best evidence of their faith in the doctrines they had undertaken to disseminate. Altogether, the work forms a valuable and interesting addition to the library of the above extensive publishers.

Hutton's Book of Nature; Revised and Improved. By Rev. J. L. BLAKE, D. D. Harper Brothers.

This small volume contains a microscopic view of the great works of nature in the formation of the earth and its inhabitants, the sea and its occupants, as well as the great solar system and the wondrous worlds of which it is composed. It is so arranged, as to impart correct ideas of those great features of the universe to the young in an amusing manner.

The Principles of Science applied to the Domestic and Mechanic Arts, and to Manufactures and Agriculture. By ALONZO POTTER, D. D. Harper Bro

thers.

This work contains a great deal of useful matter, and also much that is of injurious tendency. As far as the principles of science are explained and adhered to, it is commendable; but the introduction of an electioneering tirade of that celebrated charlatan, Nicholas Biddle, as a chapter on American iron, is far from being instructive to the judicious, although it may make the unthinking laugh at the exhumation of such exploded theories. The enumeration of the amount of silk, wines and iron imported into the country, as the sums expended in extravagance, when they are but the medium of payment for farm produce sold abroad, was a singular instance of impudent quackery in one, who ruined thousands of widows and orphans by taking their money and giving them promises.

S. S. S. Philosophy. By the Author of " Kate in Search of a Husband." Lowell, Mass.: Merrill & Heywood.

This is a collection of the writings of one whose novels of " Jessie's Flirtations" and Kate in Search of a Husband," have been exceedingly popular; and the interest is not diminished by the fact that they are the production of an "American factory-girl," a personification of that Yankee versatility to which the manufacture of "aphorisms and aprons," satinets and sentences, checks and chapters, webs and wisdom, are alike facile.

The Pleasures of Taste, and other Stories. Selected from the Writings of Miss Jane Taylor. By Mrs. SARAH J. HALE. Harper Brothers.

This is an admirable selection, guided by the acknowledged taste of Mrs. Hale, from the popular writings of Miss Taylor, for the instruction and amusement of youth of both sexes.

Pictures of Early Life. By Mrs. EMMA C. EMBURY. Harper Brothers.

A collection of tales, by Mrs. Embury, highly interesting and instructive; and of a character which should place it in the hands of youth, as well to instruct as to interest and amuse.

Specimens of the Poets and Poetry of the Ancients. By WILLIAM PETER, A. M. Carey & Hart, Philadelphia.

This is a noble selection of the best English translations of the Greek and Latin poets-affording specimens of each from Homer, 950 years before Christ, to Avienus, at the close of the 4th century-a scope of near fourteen centuries. A little biographical sketch of each poet is also prefixed to their respective works; the whole forming a most agreeable collection of the peculiar poetry of the ancients, upon whose minds the circumstances of Paganism, a southern climate, and the position of woman in the social circle,produced results widely different from those wrought out in later years by the progress of Christianity, the growth and influence of chivalry, and their joint efforts in raising the condition of the female sex. Bearing these circumstances in mind, there is much in the ancient authors to afford the greatest pleasure. The volume before us, containing a selection of them by a gentlemen of taste, is a desirable addition to every library.

Chaucer and Spencer. In two parts. Wiley & Putnam.

These two volumes form Nos. 25 and 26 of the Library of American Books.Part No. 1 consists of selections from Spencer's Fairy Queen, by Mrs. C. M. Kirkland; and Part 2. selections from the poetical works of Geoffry Chaucer, by Charles D. Deshler, Esq. Mrs. Kirkland informs us, in her preface, that her motive in thus re-producing the works of Spencer has been solely to extend the acquaintance of the American public with their beauties; and to this end the selections have been made with especial reference both to subject matter and poetical merit,—the spelling being modernised wherever such a change would not injure the thyme and rhythm. It is certainly a great acquisition to every library, to have an American edition of the great English poet. What Mrs. Kirkland has done for Spencer has Mr. Deshler performed for Chaucer, whose admirers are fond of honoring as the founder of English poetry.

The Treatment of Insanity. By JOHN M. GALT, M. D. Harper Brothers,

This volume comprises a compilation from all the most eminent writers on the treatment of insanity in all its diversified forms. A majority of the writers whose matter is here quoted have never been before published in the United States.The volume forms, as it were, a condensation of the experience of the most eminent men of all countries, upon a malady in which more perplexing contingencies arise to the practitioner than perhaps any other, and as such is a most valuable aid.

The American Poulterer's Companion. By C. N. BEMENT. Harper Brothers.

This is a most useful work. The author, Mr. Bement, was, for many years, the landlord of the American Hotel, at Albany; and his large experience comes eminently in aid of his natural disposition for writing upon domestic fowls. The present is the fifth illustrated edition, which has appeared in two years.

The Lives of Columbus and Americus Vespucius. With Engravings. Harper

Brothers.

This neat little volume is the first of a series, of the lives of distinguished persons, adapted to the understanding of the young; and it is well begun, with those whose fortune it was to "call a New World into existence."

Pictorial History of England. Harper Brothers.

No. 16, of this immensely valuable production, has appeared, and its publication goes on regularly. It is a work which should, by all means, be possessed by the people at large.

[blocks in formation]

Report of the Select Committee on Capital Punishment. In Assembly, State of
New-York, May, 1846....

204

III. AMERICA'S GUARD.

By D. P. Barhydt.............

209

IV. RESEARCHES ON MAGNETISM.

Researches on Magnetism, and certain allied subjects. By Baron Von Reichenbach, in the Annalen der Chimie und Pharmacie......

210

[blocks in formation]

VIII. POEMS FOR THE PEOPLE.-No. 3. OUR FLAG.

By D. Drysdale................

232

IX. POLITICAL PORTRAITS WITH PEN AND PENCIL. GEN. T. A. HOW. ARD, of Indiana...

233

[blocks in formation]

XVII. FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW.

Imports of Raw Produce into England, 10 years-Exports do.-Effect on Currency-Influence upon Cotton consumption-Quantity and currents of Bullion -Necessity of Low Duties-Prospects of the Market....

XVIII GOSSIP AND CHIT-CHAT.

Doings at the Opera-Catholic Half Orphan Asylum-American Actors-Bowery
Theatre-Moorish Minstrels--Meeting of the Bar for organizing the Judiciary-
Succor to the Irish-Dwellings for the Poor-Missions in India-An Advertis-
ing Omnibus-Baby-Jumpers....

XIX. MRS. MASON..
XX. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS..

[blocks in formation]

273

279

283

[blocks in formation]

THE science of government, according to the will of the people, as expressed in written constitutions, has, in the United States, made considerable progress only in the last twenty years, and reform has but now received a direction which will secure the enactment and administration of laws for the benefit of the whole people. To the peculiar manner in which the United States were settled, are we indebted for that experiment in self-government, which has been so triumphantly carried out in our institutions. The most liberal European statesmen of the last century, while they acknowledge the right of the people to a certain degree of influence in the national councils, repudiated the idea of trusting them with government. Even the great men of America, when assembled to constitute the republican form of federal government, which the people demanded, by no means reposed unanimously full confidence in the wisdom of trusting the people too far. Many able men distrusted them altogether, and others, considerable in numbers and influence, saw safety only in a strong government," by which was understood the concentration, in the hands of the executive, of nearly all those powers which would increase its authority and influence, but which of right should remain with people in whom sovereignty is inherent. It would seem that the science of government had practically retrograded in the United States, from the first settlement of the colonies up to the formation of the Union, and had not materially advanced in Great Britain, from the revolution of 1688, up to the date of the reform act, a period of a century and a half.

[ocr errors]

In 1688, the supporters of the crown contended for the full exercise of the implied powers of the executive and the most liberal construction of the ancient constitution, and denied the right of the people to change their rulers under any circumstances. The whig party, on the other hand, contended that the assumptions of the executive were so far infractious of the constitution, that, to preserve that rule of government, it became necessary to set aside the reigning family and substitute another. From the time of the Conquest, up to the reign of Charles, that unwritten thing, the British constitution, had been slowly assuming a recognisable shape, through the efforts of the people against the exactions of the crown; and time had so far legitimatised the usurpations of the Normans, that the government had come to

« السابقةمتابعة »