labored to employ an old story for new purposes. It would have been far better to leave Peter Schlemihl in Germany, than to attempt to transport him to America. Some excuse may be given for the author however, in the fact that he did not originally contemplate a volume, but only a series of jeux d'esprit for the Knickerbocker Magazine.

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The object of the story is to launch the shafts of satire, at the follies of the time. In these follies the writer includes first and foremost the mysteries of fashionable life, with the high pretension, the stately inanity, and the vulgar and purse-proud arrogance, which are their common accompaniments, especially in the commercial metropolis, styled by our author, Babylon the Less." These, however, are not the first object of his attack, but his aim is more serious and his mark one that is nobler and of higher consequence. The follies and freaks of opinion, which are current in this our hemisphere, especially of religious opinion, are seen to be the final end of the author's satire, and on these he expends the best of his strength. Accordingly, the solemn pretensions of Rome, grave as the inquisition, yet ridiculous as a bull from the vatican, are encountered with much array of learning and several tedious discussions. The equally ridiculous claims of the younger sister of Rome's younger sister-the high church pretensions of the American Epis copal church, which aims to wear with imposing effect, the old wigs and the faded canonicals that she borrows from the non-jurors of England, are set off with less theology, but with much better effect in the cap ital story of Rev. Dr. Verdant Green, and of Mrs. Van Dam's proposition for a second marriage. Dr. Dewey's church in Broadway, and the theol. ogy that it teaches, comes in for a share of the satire. The ablest portion of the volume, in our view, is the eleventh chapter, in which are

set forth the various shades of opinion adopted by those called liberal Christians. The extreme doctrines of Prof. Norton in regard to the Old Testament, the mysterious and orac ular nothingness of the followers of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the painful enquiries and comfortless results of a circle of ladies, called free-inquirers, "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," and the eloquent flatteries of one another by the "mutual admiration society" of a certain New England city, are all exhibited with some cap. ital touches, with an occasional stroke of great power. We have rarely read a description that is more touch. ing, than that of Helen Percy's death. bed. This Helen Percy represents an accomplished young lady, who had been trained to reject the his toric truth of the gospel narrative, and the reality of Christ's supernat ural mission. Alas! we fear that the melancholy story of this death. bed, will find its reality in more than one accomplished and amiable lady, and that if the thoughts and fears of the heart in many such cases were to be but spoken, they would reveal the same hopeless desolation and heart-broken agony. The visit to the Rock Creek community is done to the life, as every one will testify who has had personal knowledge of one of these establishments. As to the various scenes at the springs,the love-making, the elopements, and the happy marriages at the end, if they are all well, there is too much of a good thing. It strikes us also, that the author is a little more theological and sectarian in his phraseology than is desirable for a book, which is to be read in various religious circles, and by men and women of no faith in particular.

The Crescent and the Cross; or Romance and Realities of East ern Travel; by ELIOT WARBUR TON, Esq. New edition, complete in one volume. New York: Geo.

P. Putnam, 155 Broadway. 1848. 2 parts in one volume, pp. 268 and 242.

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a

THIS work has already been before the public, as one of the series styled the Library of Choice Reading." It is now issued separately by Mr. Putnam, and is presented in form additionally attractive. Those who have read the work will readily greet it, as one of the most brilliant and fascinating of modern books, in which the scholar and the gentleman, the sportsman and the English tory, are as attractively represented, as is possible. The author gives us his observations, with a heartiness which is always exciting. He does not spare us his prejudices, which are not however offensive. His in sight into the things that deserve notice is unusual. His discrimination in selecting the points worth describing is peculiar, and the spirit of his narration is admirable.

He begins at Southampton, at which port he takes passage in an oriental steamer for Alexandria. He gives us life at sea, and his passing observations upon Gibraltar, Algiers and Malta. He detains us at Alex andria, then conducts us to Cairo, of which he gives an extended account, with full observations on the men and things which are to be seen in Egypt. Then we have life upon the Nile, in detail, with copious descriptions of what is to be seen along its banks. Nubia is next noticed, and Cairo is visited a second time. After these, Syria, Mt. Lebanon, Jerusalem, the most conspicuous places in the Holy Land, the Dead Sea, Damascus, Constantinople and Greece, occupy a second part.

Few books carry the reader more pleasantly along, sustain and reward his interest more uniformly, and leave him with a more pleasant impression. And yet you never forget that the author is in body, soul and spirit, an English

man.

An Oration delivered before the Society of Phi Beta Kappa, at Cambridge, August 24, 1848. By HORACE BUSHNELL. Cambridge: George Nichols. 1848. 8vo, Pp. 39.

OUR friends at Cambridge are famous, we believe, for the pleasant manner in which they manage their literary festivals. Grace, refinement and wit, with a gentle excitement of the intellect, are very justly esteerned by them as essential requisites. When then a grave Connecticut divine appeared to furnish the entertainment, they must have trembled with not a little apprehension, lest he should not be equal to the occasion. They would not perhaps be afraid of the heterodoxy of his opinions, but their hereditary and traditional impressions, in respect to the sourness of the Connecticut scholars, might lead them to fear lest he should give them too much of a sermon. If any of them indulged in these fears, they were doubtless speedily relieved after Dr. Bushnell commenced his oration. We trust they were better pleased with the playfulness of this performance, than they are likely to be with his theology, unless he shall convert them to Connecticut ways of thinking.

The theme of this address, is Work and Play, which we observe, is carefully excluded from the titlepage, and is rather mysteriously hidden from the reader by a somewhat studied introduction. We should not like to be answerable for the philosophical correctness of the distinction, which has somewhat more of the aspect of a conceit, than of a well grounded and accurate definition.

But apart from these, it serves very well to string together a variety of beautiful descriptions, of forcible and striking observations, on the pursuit of wealth, the drama, war, courage, literary genius, poet

ry, eloquence, philosophy, and the Christian faith. Each of these themes is made to follow the other by a fine gradation of thought, and the moral and religious tone of the whole is nobly sustained. We extract the following, as having pleased us, for the felicity of its painting.

"Now the living races are seen, at a glance, to be offering in their history, everywhere, a faithful type of his own. They show him what he himself is doing and preparing,-all that he finds in the manifold experience of his own higher life. They have all their gambols, all their sober cares and labors. The lambs are sporting on the green knoll, the anxious dams are bleating to recall them to their side. The citizen beaver is building his house by a laborious carpentry, and the squirrel is lifting his sail to the wind on the swinging top of the tree. In the music of the morning, he hears the birds playing with their voices, and, when the day is up, sees them sailing round in circles on the upper air, as skaters on a lake, folding their wings, dropping and rebounding, as if to see what sport they can make of the solemn laws that hold the upper and lower worlds together. And yet these play-children of the air he sees again descending to be carriers and drudges, fluttering and screaming anxiously about their nest, and confessing by that sign that not even wings

can bear them clear of the stern doom of

work. Or passing to some quiet shade, meditating still on this careworn life, playing still internally with ideal fancies and desires unrealized, there returns upon him there, in the manifold and spontaneous mimicry of nature, a living show of all that is transpiring in his own bosom,-in every flower, some bee humming over his laborious chemistry and loading his body with the fruits of his toil,-in the slant sunbeam, populous nations of motes quivering with animated

joy, and catching, as in play, at the golden particles of the light with their tiny fingers. Work and play, in short, are the universal ordinance of God for the living races, in which they symbolize the fortune and interpret the errand of

man. No creature lives that must not work and may not play."-pp. 5, 6.

A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty; con. taining among many surprising and curious matters, the unutterable ponderings of Walter the Doubter, the disastrous projects

of William the Testy, and the chivalric achievements of Peter the Headstrong-the three Dutch Governors of New Amsterdam: being the only authentic history of the times that ever hath been or ever will be published. By DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER. The author's revised edition. Complete in one volume. New York: Geo. P. Putnam, 155 Broadway, and 142 Strand, London. 1848.

MR. PUTNAM is now publishing a complete edition of the works of Washington Irving-works which ought to be in the hands of every American family. Knickerbocker's History of New York, the first of the series, has already appeared, and does honor in its execution to the taste of the enterprising publisher. It is printed on the best paper, with type beautifully clear and distinct, and its binding is neat and elegant. Scarcely anything can be said in praise of the distinguished author, which would not be a mere been said before; yet we may be repetition of that which has often permitted to notice the acknowledged beauty of his style, which we think has never been excelled, and his graceful wit, which plays as brightly yet as harmlessly as the northern lights. New Amsterdam as it existed in the days of its renowned rulers, Walter the Doubter, William the Testy, and Peter the Headstrong-its tranquil Dutch burghers and their notable wives, furnished a fit occasion for the display of both these qualities, and its history is a suitable introduction to an edition of the writings of Irving.

The Planetary and Stellar Worlds.

By O. M. MITCHELL, A.M., Director of the Cincinnati Observatory. New York: Baker & Scribner. 1848.

To those who listened to the eloquent lectures comprised in this

volume as they were delivered in Boston, New York, Brooklyn, and in other cities, no commendation of them can be necessary. We have never heard a lecturer who, without the aid of an orrery or of diagrams, made the great facts of astronomy so perfectly intelligible to a popular assembly, as did Mr. Mitchell in his brief course; nor have we ever listened to a more delightful flow of language-the simple and lucid language of science, and yet the lofty and glowing language of poetry than was poured forth in these lectures, without manuscript or note, as if it were the spontaneous effusion of the speaker's soul.

The perseverance of Mr. Mitchell in erecting his Observatory under difficulties and at an amount of personal sacrifice which few men would have endured for the mere love of science, his zeal in the path of observation and discovery, and his devotion to American science, entitle him and his works to the favorable regard of the public.

This volume is what it professes to be, "a popular exposition of the great discoveries and theories of modern astronomy;" illustrated with several fine plates of telescopic views. It should have a place in every family.

Elements of Meteorology, with Questions for Examination, designed for the use of Schools and Academies. By JOHN BROCKLESBY, A.M., Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Trinity College, Hartford. New York: Pratt & Woodford. 1848. 240 PP., 12mo.

METEOROLOGY is defined to be that branch of natural science, which treats of the atmosphere and its phenomena. The author of this work, appropriately distributes his subject into six different parts-the Atmosphere, in general, and Aerial, Elec

trical, Optical, and Luminous phenomena, respectively. He justly observes, that the subject is one of universal interest. It embraces one of the most elegant departments of natural philosophy, and conducts the reader through a part of the creation peculiarly illustrative of the handiwork of the Creator. It is, at the same time, one of the most practical of the natural sciences, dealing, as it does, with that kind of knowledge which, in a peculiar degree, comes home to men's business and bosoms. The description of that aerial covering which invests the earth, and at once envelops and sustains all animated nature; the phenomena and causes of winds, hurricanes, tornadoes, and water-spouts; of rain, fogs, clouds, dew, snow, and hail; of electricity and thunder-storms; of the rainbow, mirage, and halos; of meteorites, shooting stars, and aurora borealis; the philosophy which discourses of these familiar objects, so constantly under the observation, and so intimately associated with the comfort and happiness of every member of the human family, must evidently address itself alike to readers of every class.

Since the treatises on meteorology published many years since by Kirwan and Dalton, the elements of this science have been seldom presented in a form suited to the general reader. Minute details of experiments, refined descriptions of apparatus, dry tabular records of observations, and fine spun theories, have too often rendered elementary works on meteorology repulsive to the unscientific reader, who is usually desirous merely of the useful results of such investigations, and concerns himself but little with the recondite methods by which those results were obtained. Professor Brocklesby has rendered a useful service to the reading world, by presenting them with a treatise on the atmosphere and its phenomena,

which abounds in interesting and useful facts, and, at the same time, affords an easy and intelligible explanation of the laws of atmospheric phenomena.

This is the first separate work of the kind we have seen, which in form, style, and matter, appears well adapted for a school-book; and we cordially commend it to the friends of popular education, and especially to the teachers of our schools and academies, as a work not less deserving of their attention, nor less appropriate for a class book, than those which, we are happy to say, are conveying to all classes of American youth the valuable truths of astronomy, chemistry, natural philosophy, physiology, geology, and several other branches of the study of nature.

The History of the Reformation, in the Church of Christ, from the close of the Fifteen Century. By THOMAS GAILLARD. pp. 557, 8vo. New York: M. W. Dodd. 1847.

It seems almost presumptuous for any man to write a popular history of the Reformation contempora neously with D'Aubigné. But the wide diffusion of the sprightly volumes of the Geneva Professor has begotten a taste for works of this class. The history before us, is the production of a gentleman of Alabama, who seems disposed to improve his leisure with interest to himself and profit to the public. We infer, from the preface, that this is the second in a series of volumes; but we do not remember to have seen the first. The writer is evidently an earnest Calvinist and Presbyterian, and, though generally candid, sometimes mistakes opinion for fact. He makes too free use of his authorities. Instead of interweaving his facts in one continuous narrative, he gives us page after page of quotations. This makes the work at

times dry and heavy, and destroys its symmetry. Mr. G. should have thrown his own mind more fully into the history-should have lived among the scenes of which he writes-and then he would have made them live before us. The work, on the whole, however, is creditable to his industry and genius. It covers an interesting period. It traces the progress of the Reforma. tion for two centuries, in Germany, France, England, Scotland, Swit zerland, the Netherlands, and the north of Europe, and sketches its brief course in Italy and Spain. We shall look with interest for the promised volume on the Huguenots.

Sermons and Addresses on various subjects. By Rev. D. L. CARROL, D.D. Philadelphia: Lind say & Blakiston. 1846. 12mo, pp. 372. Sermons and Addresses, &c. By Rev. D. L. CARROL, D.D. (Second Series.) Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. 1847. 12mo, pp. 387.

THE author of these volumes is well known to the public, as hav. ing been a successful pastor and preacher in several important sta tions. He has, as he tells us in the preface to the second of these volumes, been "set aside, from the ac tive duties of the holy office," his hopes are cut off, and he is now stead ily advancing "to the house appoint ed for all the living." These volumes have been given to the public, that he might enjoy the happiness of believing that he is still preaching the gospel, and also, that he might realize something for the supply of his pecuniary wants, in that painful situation which too commonly follows a laborious and self-sacrificing ministry.

These sermons, as far as we have examined them, are clear, lively, faithful, and occasionally eloquent. No man who purchases these vol