change. The reader gets Mr. Chadwick's own dogmatic assertion of the new statement, and gets nothing more. We cannot refer to a more striking example of this unsatisfactory manner of dealing with the facts of the biography, than that which occurs in the account of Defoe's memorable preface to the hardly less memorable volume of "Consolation against the Fears of Death," by Drelincourt. What we can find space for of Mr. Chadwick's narrative is as follows:

"About this time," he says, "a poor unfortunate author, of the name of Drelincourt, was so rash as to publish a dull, heavy book, without consulting his friends in the booktrade, who knew well what would take with the public as purchasers. Well, this Drelincourt published his truly heavy book unadvised, and paid the penalty; for the public would neither read nor buy, so the poor fellow had to keep the whole impression, unsold, on his hands. In his difficulty, to him a great one, he applied to Defoe for advice, who told him that a marvellous preface might sell the book, and that he would write one for him, to be fixed to the whole impression, yet unsold. This preface was written and prefixed as agreed upon, when, marvellous to relate, the impression was not only readily sold off, but the work went through forty editions, and had such a sale as no other book in England ever had, excepting Bunyan's great work, the Pilgrim's Progress."

In exposure of this extraordinary statement it is hardly necessary for us to remind our readers, that the "poor unfortunate author of the name of Drelincourt" was one of the most eminent Christian teachers of his time, happily as prosperous in worldly circumstances as he was unfeignedly pious and painstaking in all charitable works; that the "dull, heavy book," so rashly published, was one of the most popular of those devotional works, by the same author, some of which had, even when Bayle wrote, gone through more than forty editions, and been translated into German, Flemish, Italian, and English; that so far from Drelincourt having applied to Defoe for advice, there is no ground for believing that Drelincourt was ever, at any time, in England, whilst there is the fullest evidence that he died when Defoe was only eight years old; and, finally, that when the calamity which Mr. Chadwick has so absurdly attributed to the venerable Drelincout happens actually to himself in relation to his present publication, and the poor fellow has to keep the whole impression, unsold, on his hands, it may perhaps occur to him that he is then only reaping what he had before sowed, and that unsaleable lumber is the inevita

ble last state of every book which is made up of no materials but ignorance, and folly, and conceit,

Mr. Chadwick's form of speech is a very becoming one for what it has to communicate; it is coarse, inaccurate, obscure, affected, and absurdly stilted wherever it is designed to be in a more than common degree clear and energetic. His manner of writing, even without his implied assertion of the fact, would have satisfied us that he heartily despises rhetoric and style. He treats his readers to such dainty specimens of language as 'greasy old etchy pamphlets," and "a conspiracy stinking in the nostrils as the pestiferous blast of brimstone;" and to such graces of construction as "a legacy of worth and truth, which kept the state together, for the whole tumble-down-church-tower-tottering reign of that poor, weak, though honest-minded woman, Queen Anne; and kept her from an ignominious flight, an outcast, and a pauper to a foreign land." But probably the most amusing instance that we could select of these elaborate absurdities of speech is that in which Mr. Chadwick, in support of his position that Swift was much inferior to Defoe as a prose-writer, tells us that the former was

"A quippy, slack-wire performer, conjurer, or Mister Merryman, capering and throwing somersets upon the boards of literature. Yes! Swift could dance the slack-wire, or throw a somerset upon the tight-rope of letters, as a grimy, ruddled, pipeclayed buffoon, or Mister Merryman: he was a very conjurer in rhetoric, a man of quips and quirks in language, but as a writer of the English language, he was far inferior to Daniel Defoe."

In the two sentences which we have

just quoted, Mr. Chadwick has so exactly given the measure of his own capacity in judgment, taste, and style, that our readers will need no further help to a just appreciation of his silly and presumptuous work.

Two Lectures on the Currency, delivered in the year 1858. By CHARLES NEATE, Esq., Fellow of Oriel College; Professor of Political Economy in the University of Oxford. (Oxford and London: John Henry and James Parker.)—Thirty six summers ago, the author of these lectures surprised the scholars of two nations, and did honour to those of his own, by carrying off, at the yearly competition of the Colleges of Paris, the great prize for French composition. The unprecedented triumph was a noble testimony to the ability and diligence of the young English gentleman by whom it was de

livered. Here, we have some of the maturer fruits of his developed powers.

The two lectures which Mr. Neate now publishes might serve as models of collegiate instruction. Clear, simple, and exact in statement, they are full of information on the important subjects which they treat of, and of explanation on the subordinate difficulties-the points of dispute and doubt - which those subjects comprehend. The first of the two lectures is "On the Report of the Bullion Committee of 1810," and the second "On the Bank Charter Act of 1844." Mr. Neate's exposition, in the first lecture, of the principles which regulate exchanges, and his explanation, in the second, of the relation which exists between the coin or bullion and the paper-issues of the Bank, are examples of his happy faculty in making the abstrusities of economical science easy to be apprehended by those who are unused to them. But the whole texture of the two lectures is indicative of the same ability in rendering the results of deep and critical thought both definite and plain.

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In a preliminary notice we are informed that the lectures are "now published in compliance with the directions of the Founder of the Professorship," and that they are part of a series in which a sketch was given of the history of the currency from the passing of the Bank Restriction Act to the present time." This motive to publication makes the merit of the lectures more remarkable.

The Sonnets of William Shakspere, Rearranged and Divided into four parts. With an Introduction and Explanatory Notes. (London: John Russell Smith.)

Shakespeare is always welcome, in whatever dress or with whatever purpose he may happen to approach us. In this instance, however, he comes in elegant array, and with the excellent design of doing away with the difficulty which has been hitherto found inseparable from the Sonnets.

The Sonnets are reprinted in a new arrangement, which involves the division of them into four parts; and, in a wellwritten preliminary essay, the editor explains the clue which is to be obtained by these changes. According to this explanation, the first part contains all that can be now recovered of a beautiful but imperfect poem, "essentially a work of art;" the second and third parts are the lamentable remains of poetical epistles; and the fourth part, in which all the amatory sonnets are included, is to be

regarded as a collection of "Sonnets to a Lady." A cursory perusal of the Sonnets, under this new arrangement, suggests nothing to discountenance the editor's ingenious views concerning them. His explanation is at least a plausible one, and it will-if proof against a rigorous criticism-cast a gleam of new and interesting light into this hitherto mysterious portion of our great dramatist's performances.

It should be added that, according to the editor's conviction, the dear and noble friend to whom the poem and epistles were addressed was the young Earl of Southampton; and that the "Mr. W. H." the onlie begetter of the Sonnets, of the original dedication, is not to be taken as a reference to William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, but simply to some Mr. W. H. by whom the Sonnets had been begotten in the sense of having been collected by him for the purposes of Mr. Thomas Thorpe's imperfect and unauthorized publication.

Some Years After: a Tale. (Oxford and London: J. H. and J. Parker.)— This book puts forth no pretensions to be a story, as that term is generally interpre'ed, that is, it does not aim at presenting a picturesque and interesting panorama of incidents, such as people are amused to follow and authors are liked for exhibiting. The author has taken no pains to make an artistic and attractive tale. He has drawn literally from nature, and not from nature in its most poetical aspects. He stedfastly eschews whatever savours of romance. His men and women, to be sure, marry, but they do so in a rational and ordinary way that causes little excitement; none of his characters have more than an average share of faults and merits; and not a single individual in his tale turns out to be other than is seen from the beginning. The story is not exclusively religious, but it has a religious tendency whether there is anything symbolic in its design, we cannot quite satisfactorily determine. As to its purely literary qualities, the style is cultivated and unaffected, and the narrative in good keeping.

Chapter the first of "Some Years After" opens upon a Brighton boarding-school, in one of the apartments of which establishment three young ladies are engaged in talking over the important matter of leaving school. One of these girls is the type of the fashionable young lady, another of the giddy and thoughtless young lady, the third of the original and natural, but not very amiable, young lady. The last

is the one with whose fortunes we have most to do. She is an orphan, and has but three relations in the wide worldan aunt, who is on the Continent; a brother, who is in India; and a married sister, who is of very little use to anybody. On leaving school, Florence Ashley-so the heroine is called-goes to pay a visit to her godmother; and this visit forms an important event in her life, inasmuch as it is the means of introducing her to the friend who is henceforth the leading star of her existence. This friend is Gertrude Seymour, a beautiful and interesting girl, upon whose life, delicate health and a certain early sorrow have combined to cast a shadow. Gertrude Seymour, however, is no gloomy murmurer, or disconsolate damsel who sits weeping out her days,-

"With true love showers."

When very young she was affianced to an English clergyman, who at length forsook her and his Church, for Rome. The circumstances of the desertion inflicted a deep wound, which she never recovered, but of the precise nature and depth of which we are left a little in the dark.

Under the influence of Gertrude Seymour, Florence Ashley's character softens and strengthens. She becomes more patient under the small annoyances of life, and more prepared to encounter its larger trials, altogether more disciplined and right-minded. And all her Christian virtues are soon called into exercise by the very friend who helped to nurture them. Gertrude, in the course of a few years, falls the victim to a fatal malady, and poor Florence, after tending her through a weary illness, has to see her laid in the grave. The stroke is heavy, but the young mourner is not left comfortless in her affliction. Amidst her grief she could feel that it was a merciful Father's hand that had dealt the blow, and that sorrow and loss of our loved ones is sent to wean us from earth, for that "where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also."

Florence Ashley finally becomes the wife of a clergyman in the Church of England, and we take leave of her with children growing up around her. Of the two girls who are her companions upon the reader's introduction to her, the fashionable one marries Florence's brother, who, in the progress of the narrative, comes home from India; and the other contracts a hasty mariage de convenance with a wealthy and vulgar stockbroker.

The Fair Evanthe: a Poem, in Five Cantos; and other Poems. By the Rev. JOHN PEAT, M.A. (London: Rivingtons.)

Lays of Middle Age, and other Poems. By JAMES HEDDERWICK. (Cambridge: Macmillan and Co.)

The Twelve Foundations, and other Poems. By the Rev. H. C. ADAMS, &c. (Cambridge: Macmillan and Co.)

WE have deferred our notice of these several books in the hope of discovering in them something that would justify a favourable word, but repeated examination only confirms our first impression of their worthlessness. There are, however, degrees of comparison to be detected in their demerits. If Mr. Adams's poems are bad, Mr. Hedderwick's are worse, and Mr. Peat's the worst of all. The verses of the last gentleman are, indeed, as lamentably lame in metre, and vulgarly inaccurate in construction, as they are utterly destitute of fancy, thought, or feeling. Let the reader take as an example these lines from Mr. Peat's description of his model man. we assure him our quotation is correct :"The stamp of nobility burnish'd his brow,

Gentle-noble he was-and grand any how! He was one of nature's 'gentlemen,' whom all men must confess,-

But whom, alas! the wicked oft are combining to oppress."

Mr. Hedderwick's verses are undoubtedly less nonsensical than these, but there is, nevertheless, nothing even in them which enables us to solve the portentous question which the author himself puts in a passage of his principal poem :

"Wherefore more books? Why dip another pen In the ink

Not, we are sure, in Mr. Hedderwick's instance, for any entertainment or instruction which the public can by any possibility derive from his performance.

The productions of Mr. Adams bear witness to that degree of dexterity and polish in versification which long practice will most commonly occasion. Thoughts, images, and feelings, which are doing daily service in the world as current, commonplaces of intelligence, come out, in versification of this order, in a novel and not unbecoming dress, and afford a certain degree of gratification to a certain kind of minds; but the minds which are gratified by them are those which are not cultivated enough to desire and delight in better works.

The Heavens and the Earth; or, Familiar Illustrations of Astromony. By the Rev. THOMAS MILNER. (Religious Tract Society, 18mo.)—Mr. Milner is well known by his labours in the cause of popular science. Of the "Gallery of Nature," now

in course of republication by Messrs. Chambers, which may be regarded as a standard work, this little volume appears to be an abridgment. It takes the young reader through the starry heavens, points out the various phenomena, and, above all, points out the One Great Cause and Ruler of all.

The Titles of our Lord, (Religious Tract Society,) is by an almost blind Clergyman, the Rev. J. M. RANDALL, but is none the worse for that, for the work contains fourteen very pleasing and devout meditations upon the titles of our Lord: one especially deserves notice considering the author's affliction, "The Light of the World."

Lectures on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans. By the late Rev. CHARLES MARRIOTT, B.D. Edited by his brother, the Rev. JOHN MARRIOTT. (Oxford and London: J. H. and Jas. Parker. 12mo.)There are few who knew the late Rev. Charles Marriott but will desire to possess this volume of sermons upon a portion of Holy Scripture which he had studied so long and so well. But apart from the interest in the volume caused by the respect and esteem in which the author's memory is held, these sermons are deserving of attention for the practical lessons they convey and the proof they give, if proof be needed, that all Scripture is useful for instruction. The Epistle to the Romans has usually been the book, of all others, on which theologians have been most divided, and on which some of the wildest antinomian views have been founded: leaving all these polemical views far behind him, Mr. Marriott has drawn forth so much wisdom and so many loving counsels to the young, to the aged, to the faltering and to the staid Christian, that all may learn something for their benefit.

The volume is one that is alike fitted for study in the closet, or for family reading, but to clergymen especially the lectures will be found exceedingly valuable as models for plain, familiar, practical, and eminently evangelical discourses.

Strictures on Mr. Collier's New Edition of Shakespeare, 1858. By the Rev. ALEX ANDER DYCE. (John Russell Smith. 8vo.) -It is not our intention to go into this controversy further than to state the nature of it, which we can best do by using Mr Dyce's own words. Mr. Collier is bound to reply to the charge, and doubt

less will do so. Shakesperian readers will be gainers by the controversy, but friends of both parties will regret the spirit of Mr. Collier's critiques upon Mr. Dyce's readings, and will also regret the tone of Mr. Dyce's reply. In his Preface, the latter gentleman says:

"Besides bringing against me in his Preface sundry charges which are utterly false, Mr. Collier has over and over again, when speaking of me in his Notes, had recourse to such artful misrepresentations,

as,

I believe, was never before practised, except by the most unprincipled hirelings of the press. I do not make this statement unadvisedly; let Mr. Collier,-who is fond of addressing the public about himself and his grievances,-gainsay it if he can; he may, indeed, attempt to excuse his false charges on the miserable plea that he wrote in haste, without sufficient enquiry,' &c., &c., but the proofs which I have adduced of his deliberate misrepresentation are too strong to admit of even an attempt to invalidate them."

Such is a specimen of the strong language used by Mr. Dyce in his Preface; after this he proceeds to notice the passages seriatim in which Mr. Collier has attacked him by name or implication in the various plays.

Studies in English Poetry. By JOSEPH PAYNE. (Hall, Virtue, & Co. 12mo.) -When a school-book has reached its fourth edition, as this has done, it may be considered in the light of a school classic, and to require but little further praise; that this selection has been successful is owing, we believe, not only to the good taste with which the pieces have been selected, but much is due to the accompanying annotations which so fully explain youthful difficulties.

Messrs. J. H. and Jas. Parker have added to their valuable series of GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS, Homer's Iliad, Books I. to VI.; the Greek text, with short English notes from the most approved commentators. To their series of HISTORICAL TALES the additions are, The Chief's Daughter, an account of the difficulties of Churchmen for many years after the first settlement of Virginia, and the Lily of Tiflis, a story based upon Georgian Church History, evidently from the pen of one who has made the History of the Eastern Church his study. From the same publishers we have also received The Two Holy Sacraments of the Christian Church, when they may be had, absolutely

necessary to Salvation, by the Rev. JOHN BOUDIER. In this the author complains of finding what every other clergyman has done respecting Baptism, that while few people neglect to have their children christened, a very small number amongst parents or sponsors regard the Sacrament of Baptism in its proper light; and with regard to the other Sacrament, that the number of communicants forms but a very small portion of their congregations. To urge a different state of things is Mr. Boudier's object.-The Power of God and the Wisdom of God, a Sermon preached by the Rev. H. W. BURROWs, at St. Katherine's Church, Regent's-park, on behalf of a Ragged School.-Some Remarks upon the Remonstrance lately addressed to the Archdeacons and Rural Deans of the Diocese of Oxford, a letter addressed by the Rev. HENRY BULL to the Rev. W. R. FREMANTLE on the state of the diocese.

Dodd's Parliamentary Companion. The members of the new Parliament before it takes its place as a deliberative assembly can, by means of Mr. Dodd's invaluable Companion, make the acquaintance of each other, and readily learn "who's who." The name of every member is followed by an account of his parentage, education, offices, &c., what places he has represented or contested, also what political opinions he holds or has expressed. Altogether no fewer than 140 members appear in this Companion for the first time. We have before remarked of Mr. Dodd's book that "it is by far the best work on the subject, and, in fact, the only reliable guide;" each successive impression tends to confirm this opinion.

Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual, edited by H. G. BOHN, has reached its fourth part. In noticing the first volume of this work, we expressed some dissatisfaction at the many omissions observable, but we rejoice to see that the editor is improving as he proceeds. With this part

of the work we have now no fault to find, he has given an excellent list of the writings of Goldsmith, Greene, Hearne, Hood, Hook, Hume, &c., and leaves but little to be desired except that which is inevitable in a work of these limits, the insertion of a large number of names of authors of minor importance.

The Welsh Valley: a Tale. By LILIA AMES. (Nisbet & Co.)—The story opens with the description of a Welsh parish GENT. MAG. VOL, CCVII.

under the charge of a careless clergyman, who in turn is succeeded by one of another stamp. Under the ministry of the latter, Gwen, the daughter of a dishonest miller, becomes religiously disposed, and eventually the means of awakening her father, after he had met with some reverses.

The Life of John H. Steggall, (Simpkins & Co.), has also reached a second edition. This amusing biography is said to be the real history of a man who was a gipsy, a sailor, a soldier, a surgeon, and lastly, a clergyman. It is edited by the Author of "Margaret Catchpole."

The Trilogy; or, Dante's Three Visions: lated into English, in the Metre and Triple Inferno; ; or, The Vision of Hell. TransRhyme of the Original; with Notes and Illustrations. By the Rev. JOHN WESLEY THOMAS. (London: Henry G. Bohn.)This translation of the most terrible of Dante's Visions cannot fail to be both interesting and useful to those who, with curiosity or taste enough to seek for an acquaintance with the most wonderful of modern poems, have not literature enough to understand or enjoy it in the language in which Dante wrote. To this large class of modern readers the volume now before us will be a valuable boon; it does, we think, as much as can be well hoped for to naturalize the masterpiece of the greatest of great Florentines in our English tongue. It combines, with as strict a faithfulness to the original as that of any translation we have seen, a freedom and fluency of language surpassing that of any version in which the manner and metre of the poet are as carefully preserved. By the union of these qualities, Mr. Thomas has succeeded in giving us the glowing pictures and the grand and tender images of the Inferno, in what never ceases to be very genuine poetry. In the translation of a verse, occasionally, he is exquisitely happy.

Mr. Thomas has omitted none of the minor helps to a complete and ready understanding of the great poet's text: in two preliminary essays he has given us a careful summary of all that is known of the poet's life, and a disquisition of considerable interest on his religious opinions; and he has, moreover, accompanied his translation with explanatory foot-notes which are almost abundant in excess. is a matter of course that the publisher's part in the production of the volume has been well executed; it is clearly and handsomely printed, and is, in all respects, a very useful and attractive book.

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