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9. The Life of Petrarch. By THOMAS CAMPBELL, Esq. Philadelphia: 1841. Carey and Hart.

PETRARCH is one of the names which have ceased to denote an individual, and now represent an abstraction, or, as the French most happily term it, une celebrité. As a poet, he is praised by every one and read by very few; as a man of learning and an elegant prose writer, he is known only to scholars, as the imagined to-thelast faithful, single hearted, wholly devoted, self-denying lover of Laura, he is the impersonation of pure Platonic affection, in the opinion of all who have never taken pains to learn his true character; in this last respect, his recent biographer has not thought it necessary to perpetuate the prestige, and we think it will be difficult for any one, after reading his work, to preserve the idea which he may have before entertained of Petrarch's superiority to earthborn passions. We observe that Mr. Campbell is particularly cautious in the language he uses in speaking of the love of Petrarch; "its utterance," he says, "was fervid and eloquent, and its enthusiasm enduring;" "he holds up the perfect image of a lover, and is regarded as a friend to that passion;" even this is quite strong enough after the account he gives of his neglect of the mother of his children. But although the biographer has raised neither himself nor his subject in a moral estimate, he has certainly produced a far more agreeable and interesting life than before existed in the English, and, indeed, in any language, of one of the master spirits of the age in which he lived.

10. A Plea for the Intemperate. By D. M. REESE, M. D., late Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic in the Albany Medical College. New York: 1841. J. S. Taylor and Co.

THIS little "tract for the times," is the offspring of a benevolent feeling, and commends itself to the attention of all who interest themselves in the restoration of the inebriate. The author, with practical skill, has well set forth the insidious way in which intemperance in alcoholic drinks steals its march upon its victim; and, with graphic power, has stated the influence which even moderate drinking, as it is called, operates upon the physical and intellectual constitution, and, ultimately, how it vitiates and destroys the moral sense. With true philanthropy, he refuses to deliver up the intemperate, hand and foot, to his own vile practices. The better to secure this laudable object, he projects a hospital, or sober-house, exclusively devoted to this unfortunate and neglected class of society. His plea is ably sustained, and the plan proposed well worth the consideration of those who interest themselves in the cause of humanity.

ART. XIII.-NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

The Works of Lord Bolingbroke. With a Life. Philadelphia: 1841. Carey and Hart. 4 vols. 8vo.

THE lovers of English literature are greatly indebted to the American publishers for enabling them to enrich their libraries with the standard works of the language at less than half the expense of imported copies. The character of Lord Bolingbroke as an eloquent and elegant writer is too well known to need our testimony in his favor, but if any one should entertain doubts as to the value of his writings, he need only look into the life prefixed to the excellent edition of his works recently published by Messrs. Carey and Hart, of Philadelphia, and he will find opinions cited from Pitt, Lord Brougham, and other high authorities, that must satisfy him of the incorrectness of his estimate. They are not unexceptionable, but they are as indispensable to a well-chosen library as Bacon's, Locke's, or Johnson's.

Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons. Phila.: 1841. Carey & Hart.

READERS of the right sort of books must be increasing in numbers very rapidly among us, if we may judge by the change in the character of the new publications. A few years since, it would have been difficult to find a publisher for a historical work of such extent as Turner's Anglo-Saxons, even of acknowledged highest merit, as this is. Occasionally an English copy found its way into the country, but the price was too high for buyers of books in general, although it is a book for which there is no substitute in the language. We rejoice to see it placed within the reach of American purses.

Sutton's Disce Mori: Learn to Die. New York: 1841. D. Appleton and Co.

WE notice this beautiful reprint of the Disce Mori of Dr. Sutton, chiefly to introduce a remark or two upon the "Devotional Library," of which it forms a part—a collection which seems to us to deserve especial commendation from all who are friendly to the circulation of improving books. It is not yet completed; but, in the volumes already published, and in the high respectability of its publishers, we have a certain pledge that the whole will be of a consistent character. Thus far it is composed of Dr. Sutton's Meditations on the Sacrament and Disce Mori, Bishop Wilson's Sacra Privata. Bishop Patrick's Heart's Ease and Discourse on Prayer, and a volume of excellent religious poetry, entitled Thoughts on Past Years. We know not how, in the same compass, there could be offered to the pious mind, a richer feast of devout meditation, or, to the careless one, more of serious and awakening exhortation to a religious life.

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Carlyle's Heroes, Hero - Worship, and the Heroic in History. New York: 1841. D. Appleton and Co.

ALTHOUGH We are no unqualified admirers of Carlyle's writings, we are by no means insensible to their many beauties; we have found much to delight us in all that we have read of his, and as much, we think, in these lectures on Heroes and Hero Worship, as in any thing he has written. He excels in nothing so much as in the delineation of character, and no where has he exercised this talent with more power than in some of the sketches here drawn, particularly in those of Dante and Shakspeare; Johnson, too, the idol of former days, now no longer worshipped, receives justice at his hands, and is acknowledged as one of England's greatest minds : we like him for that; it shows that he is not governed by the popular sentiment of his day, but thinks for himself, and dares to speak as he thinks. Mr. Carlyle undoubtedly owes much of the favor in which he is held to the supposed originality of his thoughts, frequently nothing more than strangeness of expression; his affected jargon seems an oracular language to many, to us it is most repulsive; but, in spite of it, we find in him so many of the marks of a man of genius, that we frequently find ourselves riveted to his pages.

Brewster's Martyrs of Science. New York: 1841. Harper and Brothers.

THIS is a reprint of a recent English work of great merit, from the pen of Sir David Brewster, containing very interesting biographical sketches of the three great physical philosophers, Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler, all among the most renowned of those who have been immortalized by their labors for the promotion of science. The life of Galileo is made particularly interesting in the account here given of it, by the view which it presents of the proceedings against him at Rome for his alleged heretical opinions in relation to the earth's movement. The biographer considers the conduct of Galileo as highly censurable, and offers more in justification of his opponents than is commonly admitted. The remaining lives of Tycho Brahe and Kepler, who may be regarded in some measure as master and pupil, are scarcely less interesting in themselves than that of Galileo, and that interest is far from being lost out of the portraits which Sir David Brewster has drawn of them. On all accounts we regard this volume as one of the most valuable that has appeared in the Family Library, of which it makes a part.

Carlyle's Specimens of German Romance. Boston: 1841. James Munroe and Co.

GERMAN literature is "going ahead" with surprising rapidity among us, as well by the increasing popularity of the language itself, as by the greater opportunities now offered of becoming acquainted with it through the medium of translations. Goethe and Schiller are no longer the sole representatives of German genius in

England and America; we have passed over the vast interval which separates these two mighty minds from all others in their country, and are beginning to extend our acquaintance among the class of writers who approach nearest to them. The volumes entitled, "German Romance," which have just been issued from the press of Messrs. Munroe and Co., in Boston, contain specimens of some of their most popular writers in that department of literature, as, Musæus, De la Motte Fouqué, Tieck, Hoffmann, and Jean Paul Richter. The lovers of the wild and romantic will find in them enough of the extravagant and terrific to gratify the most decidedly Germanic taste; the selection was made by the translator with a view to furnish specimens of the several modes of German novel-writing. The popular tale is seen in the selections from Musæus and Tieck; the chivalry romance in that from Fouqué; the fantasy-piece in that from Hoffman; the two from Jean Paul are novels, in our sense of the word; Wilhelm Meister, which is the art novel, also belonged to the selection, originally, but it is now published separately.

The Poetry and History of Wyoming, etc. By William L. Stone. New York: 1841. Wiley and Putnam.

THE author of "Wyoming and its History" has acquired a high reputation at home and abroad by his biography of the Indian chieftain whose ravages in this beautiful valley have made its name a hallowed one in our country's annals, and furnished a subject for one of the finest poems in our language. We are glad to find that his success has led him to make Indian history a particular study; it is in this way that we shall arrive at a more accurate knowledge of the people whom we have supplanted, and rescue their traditions from oblivion before the last remnants of the race disappear from the earth. We have before made our acknowledgments to him for his Life of Brandt; we now thank him for the very pleasant volume we have in hand, and we hope soon to welcome his long looked for Life of Red Jacket.

Presidents' Addresses and Messages. New York: 1841. E. Walker.

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WHOEVER has occasion to make frequent reference to state papers, knows how difficult it is, amid the immense mass of our public documents, to lay hands upon the one wanted, and will at once perceive the advantages that would arise from a general systematic arrangement of them, in the same manner as the Addresses and Messages of the Presidents, from Washington to Tyler" are arranged in the volume recently published by Mr. Walker. How far the publisher is remunerated by the public for so useful a labor, we cannot say; we only know that he deserves to be most liberally. His book is a very valuable and convenient one, which should have a place on the shelves of every good citizen of our country.

QUARTERLY LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

(Reprints of Foreign Books are marked with an asterisk )

AGRICULTURE AND GARDENING.

A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, adapted to North America; with a view to the Improvement of Country Residences. With Remarks on Rural Architecture. Illustrated by Engravings. By A. J. Downing. New York: 1841. Wiley and Putnam, 8vo.

Every Man His Own Gardener. By Andrew Gentle. New York: 1841. A. Smith.

The Theory of Horticulture; or an attempt to explain the Principal Operations of Gardening upon Physiological Principles. By John Lindlay, F. R. S. With Notes, by A. J. Downing and A. Gray. New York: 1841. Wiley and Putnam. Boston: C. C. Little and J. Brown.

*Organic Chemistry, in its applications to Agriculture and Physiology. By Justus Liebig, M. D. Edited from the manuscript of the author, by Lyon Playfair, Ph. D. First American Edition. With an Introduction and Appendix, by J. W. Webster, M. D. Cambridge: 1841. J. Owen.

BIOGRAPHY AND MEMOIRS.

Biography and Poetical Remains of the late Margaret Miller Davidson. By Washington Irving. Philadelphia: 1841. Lea and Blanchard.

The Life of Paul Jones. By Alexander Slidell Mackenzie. Boston: 1841. Hilliard, Gray, and Co. 2 vols. 12mo.

*Life of Petrarch. By Thomas Campbell. Philadelphia: 1841. Carey and Hart.

* Life and Literary Remains of L. E. L. By Laman Blanchard. Philadelphia: 1841. Lea and Blanchard. 2 vols. 12mo.

The Martyrs of Science; or the Lives of Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler. By Sir David Brewster. New York: 1841. Harper and Brothers.

The Queens of England, from the Norman Conquest. By Agnes Strickland. Philadelphia: 4841. Lea and Blanchard. 2 vols.

COMMERCE AND THE USEFUL ARTS.

Remarks on Currency and Banking. Having reference to the present derange ment of the Circulating Medium in the United States. By Nathan Appleton. Boston: 1841. C. C. Little and J. Brown.

Suggestions on the Banks and Currency of the several United States. In reference, principally, to the Suspension of Specie Payments. By Albert Gallatin. New York: 1841. Wiley and Putnam.

Reasons for the Inexpediency of Chartering a National Bank. Dedicated to the President of the United States. New York: 1841. Wiley and Putnam. Principles and Practice of Bookkeeping. By Thomas S. Jones. New York: 1811. Wiley and Putnam.

HISTORY AND STATISTICS.

History of the Colonization of the United States. By George Bancroft. Abridged by the Author. Boston: 1841. C. C. Little and J. Brown. 2 vols.

12mo.

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