sults of that crusade against classical learning and good old “pedantry,” which, if not checked, will end in the total subversion of all distinction between scholarship and ignorance, close up the great fountains of ancient wisdom, and place us in a worse position, than that in which our ancestors were found at the revival of letters.

A. G. M.

8.-The Farmer's Library and Monthly Journal of Agriculture. Edited by JOHN S. SKINNER. No. 12. June, 1846. Greely and McElrath: New-York.

THE name of Skinner appended to the title page of an agricultural book, is in some sort, a guarantee of its good character. In conducting the present work, this gentleman has lost none of that georgical reputation which he acquired in the management, for a long series of years, of the "American Farmer." The "Farmer's Journal" is however, a work of a higher literary character, devoting its pages to those views of philosophical agriculture, which have made so complete a revolution in the theory and practises of modern planters and farmers.

9.-Pictorial History of England. New-York: Harper & Brothers. 1846. Part I.

THE enterprising firm of the Harpers deserve our thanks for their republication of this entertaining work. This is the age of illustrated books and cheap literature, and neither prose nor poetry, truth nor fiction can be expected to be read or even glanced at unless either copiously decorated with cuts and copper-plates, or printed on execrable paper without binding, and sold at a shilling. They are the two extremes of literature, both equally popular, and in many respects, equally exceptionable. But of the two, we certainly prefer the illustrated works, as infinitely more respectable in appearance. The one before us combines beauty of decoration with an excellent typographical execution of the text.

10.-Memoir of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. By WILLIAM SMITH. Boston. James Munroe & Co. 1846. 12mo. pp. 157.

OF FICHTE much was said when he lived, and has been continued to be said since his death, both favorable and unfavorable. In his day he filled a prominent space in the literature of Germany, being at one VOL. X.-NO. 19.

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time, the ardent disciple of Kant, and the able expounder of his philosophy, and subsequently the promulgator of another still more spiritual, of his own erection. The war between the idealism of Fichte, and the transcendentalism of Kant has long occupied the schools and the scholars of the most mystical of countries. His religious opinions were not generally esteemed orthodox, but their greatest fault is perhaps, not so much that they did not agree with the recognized doctrines of the age, as that they were too metaphysical and of too much tenuity to suit the concerns of every day life, and the intellectual standard of every day people. The charge of atheism, he himself so powerfully and conclusively refuted, that none has had the hardihood to renew it. His life, though that of a scholar, was eventful and interesting. In the beginning, his hard fate was to struggle on for years, laboring under the chilling influence of penury, from which in his later days, he was rescued, only to engage in the even more bitter contests of polemics. The history of these struggles and contests, is well depicted in the book before us, whose re-publication is a valuable gift to the American public. We may add, by the way, that the American editor has appended an excellent preface, in which the character of Fichte and of his opinions, is briefly treated with great ability and impartiality.

11.-The Life of Martin Luther: gathered from his own writings. By M. MICHELET. Translated by G. H. SMITH, F.G.S., &c. NewYork: D. Appleton & Co. 1846. 12mo. pp. 314.

MICHELET is a profound but not an impartial writer. He knows the truth for he has deeply searched for it, but he does not always utter it, or at least if he gives the truth, it is not "the whole truth and nothing but the truth." We must, therefore, in reading such a work as this, come to it with grains of allowance, and then we shall find it well worth perusal. Its character, he himself gives, in the initial sentence of his introduction. "It is neither the life of Luther, turned into an historical romance, nor a history of the establishment of Lutheranism, but a biography consisting in a series of transcripts from Luther's own revelations." As such it is valuable, because it is in some sort an autobiography of the great reformer. It is Luther that speaks, but Luther speaking with the voice of Michelet, a biographer not always friendlynot always just. He who intends to read this book for instruction, of which it contains much, must remember this fact, when he sets about making up his mind, on the merits or faults of the great reformer, on the authority of his French biographer.

12.-Life of Rev. Samuel H. Stearns, late Minister of the Old South Church in Boston. New edition. Boston: James Monroe & Co. 1846. 12mo. pp. 244.

THIS is the life and the memorials of a man of taste, of learning, and better than that, of pure Christian piety. It has already been before the public, whose good opinion of it is best expressed in the fact that this is a new edition. Books that are not really good seldom pass through the first.

13.-Animal Magnetism, or Psycodunamy. By THEODORE LEGER, Doctor of the Medical Faculty of Paris, &c. New-York: D. Appleton & Co. 1846. 12mo. pp. 402.

THIS is not so much a treatise on Animal Magnetism, of whose principles and science but little is said, except incidentally, as it is a history of its progress from the earliest ages to the present day, of its existence in remote periods, of the opposition it has encountered from the prejudice of ignorance and the pride of science, of the opinions that have been expressed of its character by the learned, of the contests to which its pretensions have given birth among philosophers, and of its present state in England and America. As presenting therefore the materials for the literature of the science, this work is not without its value, while the entertainment which is always afforded to the inquisitive mind in watching the formation and the growth, of opinions, whether they be true or false, will make it interesting to the opponents as well as to the defenders of Animal Magnetism.

14-Twenty-four years in the Argentine Republic; embracing its Civil and Military History, and an account of its political condition, before and during the administration of Governor Rosas; his course of policy; the causes and character of his interference with the government of Montevideo, and the circumstances which led to the interposition of England and France. By COL. J. ANTHONY KING, an officer in the army of the Republic, and twenty-four years a resident of the Country. New-York: D. Appleton & Co. 1846. 12mo. pp. 324.

A TITLE SO full as this, scarcely needs any other notice of the contents of the work, than to say that the subjects there promised, are treated with considerable skill and ability. The civil wars of the Argentine Republic which have torn that unhappy country with dissension, for so many years, are replete with scenes of thrilling interest.

The iron rule of Rosas has abounded also, in incidents of extraordinary character. Of these scenes and incidents Col. King was not merely a spectator, but an important actor, and he has given us vivid descriptions and lively narratives, which render his book one of the most entertaining that has lately issued from the press.

15.-Elements of Military Art and Science; or a course of instruction in Strategy, Fortification, Tactics of Battles, &c; embracing the duties of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, and Engineers. Adapted to the use of the Volunteers and Militia. By H. WAGER HALLECK, A.M., Lieut. of Engineers, U. S. Army. New-York: D. Appleton & Co. 1846. 12mo. pp. 411.

HERE is a book published in the very "nick of time." While war is on our borders, and battles, sieges, wounds, guns, drums and trumpets are becoming the familiar topics of our daily discourse, every man naturally wishes to know something of the subject upon which he is so often called to talk. Lieut. Halleck's book will supply the desired information. And whether we are about to entertain our friends with an opinion upon strategy or fortifications, upon tactics or logistics, upon frontier defences or army organization, or even upon the much mooted question of the lawfulness of war, material enough to make us pass for oracles, may be found in this really valuable and well written book.

16. The Oregon Territory, its History and Discovery; including an account of the Convention of the Escurial; also, the Treatises and Negotiations between the United States and Great Britain, held at various times for the settlement of a boundary line. And an examination of the whole question in respect to facts and the law of nations. By TRAVERS TWISS, D.C.L., F.R.S., Professor of Political Economy in the University of Oxford, and Advocate in Doctors' Commons. New-York: D. Appleton & Co. 1846.

GREENHOW had written a history of Oregon, especially intended for the meridian of Washington and the politcal opinions of America. England was, in all reason, entitled to another, which should be more liberal to her claims. Such a book is the volume of Mr. Twiss. He is the antagonist of Greenhow, to refute whose opinions the work was written. The subject, however, is now getting "stale and unprofitable ;" yet if there be one desirous of going over it, ab initio, let him read the memoirs of Twiss and Greenhow, and he will be the master of all that has been, or can be said, on either side of the question.

SOUTHERN QUARTERLY REVIEW.

No. XX.

OCTOBER, 1946.

ART. I.-Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, with Elucidations. By THOMAS CARLYLE. London: Chapman & Hall. 1945.

CARLYLE on Cromwell! There was much of high promise in that combination of names-and the heart of the literary world thrilled at the announcement that the life and character of the great English statesman and warrior were at length to be scanned and sifted by an intelligence in many respects kindred to his own. That curiosity has now been sated by the appearance of the promised work, to the rapturous admiration of some, and deep disappointment of others; for few works of late years have been issued from the press which have excited more conflicting and contradictory opinions, than the two bulky volumes, the caption to which heads this article. Under such circumstances, we have felt it our duty, with a work of such importance, not to pronounce a rash or hasty judgment; and have therefore devoted both time and labor to a thorough examination of its contents have contrasted and collated its statements with those contained in the other biographies of Cromwell, and such other sources of reference, as the command of an extensive Library, (that of the So. Ca. College,) placed within our reach; and thus prepared, propose, in the present paper, to convey our frank and unbiassed opinion of this new contribution towards a more perfect portraiture, mental and moral, of the man Oliver Cromwell. VOL. X.-NO. 20.

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