delight his friends. Isaac Watts laid down his consecrated harp at seventy-four; and Trumbull, the author of McFingal,' preserved till eighty-two the bright, clear intellect, whose strains had animated both the camp and the cottage. The illustrious Metastasio detained the admiring ear of Italy until eighty-four; and Milton, at sixty-six, opened his long-eclipsed eyes on 'cloudless light serene,' leaving to the world the mournful memories of Paradise Lost," with living strains of heroic and sublime counsel. Mason was seventy-two ere the 'holy earth,' where his 'dead Maria' slumbered, admitted him to share her repose; and the tender Petrarch, and the brave old John Dryden, told out fully their seventy years. "Those masters of the Grecian lyre, Anacreon, the sweet Sophocles, and the fiery-souled Pindar, felt no frost of intellect, but were transplanted as evergreens in the winter of fourscore; at the same advanced period, Wordsworth, in our own times, continued to mingle the music of his lay with the murmur of Rydal's falling water; and Joanna Baillie, to fold around her the robe of tragic power, enjoying until her ninetieth year the friendship of the good, and the fruits of a fair renown; Montgomery, the religious poet, so long a cherished guest amid the romantic scenery of Sheffield, has just departed at the age of eighty-two; and Rogers, who gave us in early life the Pleasures of Memory, now the most venerable poet in Europe, and probably in the world, is cheered at ninety-three with the love of all who ever came within the sphere of his amiable virtue." In the same article she thus talks on the subject of Woman's Rights : "The idea is altogether a mistaken one, that equal rights' for woman implies that she has a right to do anything that men do, and vice versa. Every man has not a right to do or be what every other man does or is; for this would destroy society and bring the world to chaos and an end. Every man and woman has a right to do that which he or she is best fitted to perform, as his or her share of the world's work, and be protected in his or her person, and in the enjoyment of the proceeds of his or her labor, whatever that may be. This labor should be accredited at its proper value, according to its importance in the general economy; and when woman's own proper work is paid for according to its value, it will be esteemed as honorable as any other, and there will be no women to spare as rivals in the men's department of labor." "The ordinary voice of woman in public speaking reminds us of the inquisitorial punishment of a drop of water upon the head, falling steadily, and at regular intervals.' The first fifteen minutes it is very pleasant; the second it becomes wearisome; the third it is annoying; the fourth it is distressing; and before we could get through the second hour, we should feeling, almost irresistibly impelled to shriek out, if we were so fixed that we could not stop our ears occasionally to break the monotony. The best female speakers we have, yet heard had no more variation in their tones than the fall at the end of a sentence, and rise at the close of a question. From the beginning to the end of an address or sermon, no matter how long or how short, every succeeding sentence was spoken exactly like its predecessor; and, with the pause between, came upon our brain drop, drop, drop, until the braying of a speaking trumpet, the boom of a cannon, or squeal of a mouse, would have been a great relief." APOCRYPHA. There is a great deal more apocrypha mixed up with history than most persons are aware. Truth is a great destroyer of romance, and assures us that many immortal sentiments were never uttered. Who has not read, asks a writer in Chambers's Journal, in the appalling history of the execution of Louis XVI., the beautiful sentence put in the mouth of the Abbé Edgeworth when the unfortunate monarch was on the point of receiving the deadly blow of the guillotine: "Son of St. Louis, ascend to heaven!" Have we not all, on hearing these pious and exalted words, been touched to the heart; and did one of us ever doubt the accuracy of the record? The priest must have said so, is the common notion. Not only did all the important historians of the French Revolution, M. Thiers included, vouch for the accuracy of that scene, but, whether in the hut or the palace, in the home of the republican or of the royalist, everybody takes the words of the Abbé Edgeworth for a granted truth. And, nevertheless, the worthy clergyman declared publicly in writing, more than thirty years ago, that the words were a mere invention: he never uttered them on the scaffold of the Place de la Révolution. It would be an easy task to demonstrate that mouth of Napoleon Bonaparte are nothing but the greater number of the words put in the popular fiction. But go to the farm and the workshop, there the cry of the sentry-"And if you are the Petit Caporal, you shall not pass"-and other familiar discourses between the mighty emperor and his affectionate soldiers are more readily believed than the address at the foot of the Pyramids or the adieu of Fontainebleau. There exist thick volumes full of apocryphal Napoleon anecdotes: in this respect he is inferior to none, not even to Frederick the Great of Prussia. There is also a word commonly attributed to the celebrated General Kleber, who succeeded Bonaparte in Egypt as commander-in-chief, and who is said, by nearly all the historians, to have flattered the future dictator by exclaim"You are as great as the world." The truth is, that the simple and heroic Kleber never uttered these words; for he, like his republican colleagues, Dessaix and Alexandre Dumas, foresaw and feared the ambitious designs of the talented Corsican. Every history of the two French restorations of 1814 and 1815 relates that the Duc d'Artois, afterward King Charles X., in making his entrée into Paris pronounced the words, "Nothing is changed in France; there is only one Frenchman more." Happy words in the mouth of a prince returning from exile, and happy the Bourbons if they had always kept these words in mind! But, here again, we must declare that this promising sentence was never uttered. The famous Talleyrand, of cunning memory, had in the evening of that eventful day a rather select party assembled at his hôtel, and asked the company, as a matter of course, "What did the prince say?" The general answer was, "Nothing at all." "But," exclaimed the sly diplomatist, "he must have said something;" and addressing a well-known political writer, he continued, "B-, you are a wit; go into my closet and make a mot." B- went, and came back three times; his wit was at fault, and his ideas did not satisfy the company. At last he returned a fourth time, and pronounced with triumphant emphasis the above-mentioned patriotic words: "Nothing is changed in France; there is only one Frenchman more." Talleyrand applauded: the Duc d'Artois had found his mot; and the next day the papers made it known to the world, and, as an old French author says, "In this manner history is written." Book Notices. THE Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the year 1855 are published by Carlton & Phillips in a pamphlet of one hundred and seventy-eight pages. The increase in the membership for the year is given as sixteen thousand and seventy-three. In the year previous the increase was thirty thousand seven hundred and thirty-two. Fourteen of the thirty-nine conferences report a decrease during the year. The largest increase was in Iowa, three thousand three hundred and seventy; Michigan, two thousand four hundred; NewYork, two thousand two hundred and ninetynine; Wisconsin, two thousand and twenty-six; Illinois, one thousand seven hundred and sixty one; Baltimore, one thousand three hundred and twenty; Rock River, one thousand two hundred and ninety-nine. The total number of traveling preachers in the connection is set down at five thousand four hundred and eight. Last year it was five thousand four hundred and eighty-three, being a decrease of seventyfive. The deaths during the year amounted to fifty-three, more than half of them being less than forty-five years of age. The locations were ninety-five. Of preachers in the effective ranks, about one hundred are engaged in education as presidents and professors in colleges, and principals and teachers in academies. Thirty are employed as agents for schools and colleges. Forty are agents for the Tract Society, the Sunday-School Union, the American Bible Society, and the colonization cause. The amount raised for missions is said to be $197,973, being thirty-one thousand and seventy-six less than during the year 1854. The average for each member was, in 1854, twenty-nine cents and two mills; in 1855 it is twenty five cents and a half. The highest average was from the New-England Conference, being fifty-nine cents and seven mills; the Cincinnati, fifty-one cents and four mills; the New-York East, forty-five cents; the Providence, forty cents and a half. Then follow, being less than forty cents each, the New-York, the Philadelphia, the North Ohio, the Baltimore, and the New-Jersey. Protestant Episcopal Church.-The Journal of the last annual convention of the diocese of New-York makes a volume of nearly three hundred pages. The number of churches in the diocese is two hundred and sixty-four; of clergymen, three hundred and four. Thirteen churches have been consecrated during the year, and the total number of communicants, twenty thousand three hundred and fifty-seven. The canonical and other collections amounted to two hundred and eight thousand dollars. There were no reports from forty-eight parishes. Memoir of Mrs. Lucy T. Lord, of the Chinese Baptist Mission, is a simple narrative of the short life of a self-denying woman who gave herself to the work of missionary toils and sacrifices in a foreign land. It is issued in grand style by the Baptist Publication Society, with some suitable introductory remarks from the pen of Dr. Dean, in which, after enumerat ing the names of many female missionaries who have been called away by death, after but a brief service, he says:— "As we pause and shed a tear over their memory, we may ask THE CAUSE OF THEIR EARLY DEPARTURE. "Surely this was not because their associates in labor and companions for life, living in pagan lands, needed less their society than if dwelling in their native country, nor that their own sex in heathenism needed less their influence and instruction than would their sisters in Christian lands. "Neither can we find the cause of their early death in the climate of China, which presents all the varieties of temperature found in our own country. There are there, as well as here, certain localities which are hostile to health; but if there should be found in China might there also be found a New-York climate in a a New-Orleans climate in a New-Orleans latitude, then New-York latitude, and places that are no more sickly than places here at the same distance from the equator. The eighteen provinces of China, situated between twenty degrees and forty degrees north latitude, and furnishing a home for a healthy and numerous population, are diversified with bills and valleys, lakes and rivers, and may reasonably furnish about as various and salubrious a climate as these United States. China, instead of the deadly winds of Africa, the rainy seasons of India, or the jungle fevers of Burmah, enjoys the regular seasons of spring and summer, autumn and winter, which prevail in the like latitudes in this country; and it presents similar geological formations, and the corresponding botanical productions of the United States of America. "Nor can we find the cause of this mortality in the diet and dwellings of missionaries. It is true that in many places the market does not furnish in kind all the varieties of food found in this country; but in most places we may find either the article, or a substitute for nearly all kinds of food to which we have been accustomed. A missionary's income may not allow him to avail himself of the luxuries which are procurable at his station; still with his moderate salary he may generally obtain what is necessary for health. As to his dwelling, though it may not afford all the comforts of a home habitation, it still may be adapted to the climate and the customs of the country, and afford him a necessary and healthful shelter. "We must, therefore, look to some other cause for the premature death of so many women connected with the mission to the Chinese. "The true cause is found, I think, in THE CHARAO TER AND EXTENT OF THE WORK EXPECTED OF THEM. "Such is the state of public sentiment on this subject that in too many instances they go forth to attempt what is called a missionary's work, instead of attending to the duties of a missionary's wife. Thus attempting to do what they cannot perform, they sacrifice health and life in the vain endeavor, and, what is more, neglect the duties of their sacred calling and domestic relations. "In this country, where the people are by no means disposed to make too moderate demands on the time and strength of the pastor's wife, they would not so violate their own humane sense of propriety as to expect the pastor's wife to attend to the care of her husband, the nurture of her children, and the duties of her household-the hospitalities to strangers, kindness to the poor, and visitations to the sick-the watch-care of the terh od, with the management of the societies for charity, and meetings for devotion-after all this, demand that she should also act as the matron of an orphan asylum, or teach a country school. Still, in our thoughtlessness, we seem to think that the same women, subject to the same frailties of humanity, can go abroad to a strange country-to an untried climate-and there do all this: and superadd to it the work of making books, and giving tracts, and preaching the Gospel-and what is still more, that they must do this through the medium of a difficult language, which must first be learned. "This sickly sentiment in the Churches has fostered a similar feeling in those who are candidates for foreign service; and they have come to think that to leave the high and romantic sphere in which they had thought to move, and come down to the common du ties of the wife, was lowering the dignity of their calling, and that these domestic services would not be called missionary work.' "Should any urge that a sensible Christian woman need not be careful about the influence of public sentiment, we have only to reply, that the sensibility of a sensible woman cannot easily rise above the influence of public sentiment: but though her judgment may pronounce it unjust, she will strive to meet it, though It may cost her life; and it is the secret thought that she is not accomplishing what the public expect, though that expectation may be unreasonable, which is the worm at the root of her joys, and which withers her happiness and her health. "This sentiment is productive of mischiefs multiform and mortal. It robs the missionary of the solace of domestic life, and the sympathy he needs in his public work; it leaves his children exposed to all the deadly influences of heathenism without maternal care and cultivation, and ends in the wasted health of the mother and the wife; who, instead of affording him support, becomes the object of his sympathy, and either draws him from the missionary field, or leaves him there to mourn his early bereavement with the sole care of his motherless children. "There may be women, who form an exception to the general rule, whose domestic cares are so light as to leave them time and strength for teaching; but others who do nothing of this, but who labor to render their home a heaven, and their husband happy by lightening his cares, training his children, soothing his sorrows, sympathizing in his success, and lending their counsel and cooperation in his duties, may be said, in the highest sense, to perform the missionary work of a missionary's wife." There is nothing which has more need of reform than church music. Congregations of religious worshipers too generally appear to regard the praises of the Most High as a thing to be done by proxy, by a chorister who is paid for his services, and by a few young persons who are known as the choir. Mr. Richard Storrs Willis, well known for his devotion to music, scientific and practical, has just published an interesting and timely little volume upon the subject, entitled, Our Church Music; a book for Pastors and People. He regards singing not as a mere entertainment, but as an integral and most delightful part of religious worship, points out with great force many of the objectionable features of the church music of the present day, and makes many important suggestions for its improvement. Mr. Willis also discusses with ability, although we should perhaps dissent from some of his conclusions, the subject of hymnology, the themes suitable for hymns, and the adaptation of tunes. We commend the volume to all who take an interest in the subject. Charles V., at the time he ceded to his son the sovereignty of Flanders : : History of the Reign of Philip the Second, by William H. Prescott. (Boston: Philips, Sampson & Co.) The first and second volumes of this long-expected work have made their appearance. It includes the stirring events of European history, from the abdication of Charles V. to the death of Queen Isabella. Among the more prominent of these incidents may be mentioned Philip's marriage with bloody Queen Mary, the Spanish war against the Protestant religion and the triumph of Romanism, the siege of Malta, the romantic history of Don Carlo and Elizabeth of France, his step-mother. As a historian, Mr. Prescott is always faithful and pains-taking, and at times impressively eloquent. His style is remarkably clear, and his language for the most part pure and simple. He has no affectation, and his pages are utterly void of everything like egotism. We append a few extracts. The following is his portrait of "Charles was, at this time, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. His form was slightly bent-but it was by disease more than by time-and on his countenance might be traced the marks of anxiety and rough exposure. Yet it still wore that majesty of expression so conspicuous in his portraits by the inimitable pencil of Titian. His hair, once of a light color, approaching to yellow, had begun to turn before he was forty, and, as well as his beard, was now gray. His forehead was broad and expansive, his nose aquiline. His blue eyes and fair complexion intimated his Tentonic descent. The only feature in his countenance decidedly bad was his lower jaw, protruding with its thick, heavy lip, so characteristic of the physiognomies of the Austrian dynasty. "In stature he was about the middle height. His limbs were strongly knit, and once well-formed, though now the extremities were sadly distorted by disease. The emperor leaned for support on a staff with one hand, while with the other he rested on the arm of William of Orange, who, then young, was destined at a later day to become the most formidable enemy of his house. The grave demeanor of Charles was rendered still more impressive by his dress, for he was in mourning for his mother; and the sable hue of his attire was relieved only by a single ornament, the superb collar of the golden fleece, which hung from his neck." At the marriage of Philip and Mary no provision had been made for the important office of giving away the bride. The historian says: "After a brief conference, it was removed by the Marquis of Winchester and the Earls of Pembroke and Derby, who took it on themselves to give her away in the name of the whole reaim; at which the multitude raised a shout that made the old walls of the cathedral ring again. The marriage service was then concluded by the Bishop of Winchester. Philip and Mary resumed their seats, and mass was performed, when the bridegroom, rising, gave his consort the kiss of peace,' according to the custom of the time. The whole ceremony occupied nearly four hours. At the close of it, Philip, taking Mary by the hand, led her from the church. The royal couple were followed by the long train of prelates and nobles, and were preceded by the Earls of Pembroke and Derby, each bearing aloft a naked sword, the symbol of sovereignty. The effect of the spectacle was heightened by the various costumes of the two nations the richly tinted and picturesque dresses of the Spaniards, and the solid magnificence of the English and Flemings, mingling together in gay confusion. The glittering procession moved slowly on to the blithe sounds of festal music, while the air was rent with the loyal acclamations of the populace, delighted, as usual, with the splendor of the pageant. In the great hall of the episcopal palace, a sumptuous banquet was prepared for the whole company. At one end of the apartment was a dais, on which, under a superb canopy, a table was set for the king and queen; and a third seat was added for Bishop Gardiner, the only one of the great lords who was admitted to the distinction of dining with royalty. A spa "Below the dais, the tables were set on either side through the whole length of the hall for the English and Spanish nobles, all arranged-a perilous point of etiquette-with due regard to their relative rank. The royal table was covered with dishes of gold. cious beaufet, rising to the height of eight stages, or shelves, and filled with a profusion of gold and silver vessels, somewhat ostentatiously displayed the magnificence of the prelate, or of his sovereign. Yet this ostentation was rather Spanish than English, and was one of the forms in which the Castilian grandee loved to display his opulence. "At the bottom of the hall was an orchestra, occupied by a band of excellent performers, who enlivened the repast by their music. But the most interesting part of the show was that of the Winchester boys, some of whom were permitted to enter the presence, and recite in Latin their epithalamiums in honor of the royal nuptials, for which they received a handsome guerdon from the queen." The battle of Gravelines is thus graphically related : "Termes saw that no time was to be lost. He caused himself to be removed from his sick bed to a litter, and began his retreat at once. On leaving Dunkirk he fired the town, where the houses were all that remained to the wretched inhabitants of their property. His march was impeded by his artillery, by his baggage, and especially by the booty which he was conveying back from the plundered provinces. He, however, succeeded in crossing the Aa at low water, and gained the sands on the opposite side. But the enemy was there before him. "Egmont, on getting tidings of the marshal's movements, had crossed the river higher up where the stream was narrower. Disencumbering himself of artillery, and even of baggage, in order to move the lighter, he made a rapid march to the sea-side, and reached it in time to intercept the enemy. There was no choice left for Termes but to fight his way through the Spaniards or surrender. "Ill as he was, the marshal mounted his horse and addressed a few words to his troops. Pointing in the direction of the blazing ruins of Dunkirk, he told them that they could not return there. Then turning toward Calais, There is your home,' he said, and you must beat the enemy before you can gain it.' He determined, however, not to begin the action, but to secure his position as strongly as he could, and wait the assault of the Spaniards. "He placed his infantry in the center, and flanked it on either side by his cavalry. In the frout he established his artillery, consisting of six or seven falconets-field-pieces of smaller size. He threw a considerable body of Gascon pikemen in the rear, to act as a reserve wherever their presence should be required. The river Aa, which flowed behind his troops, formed also a good protection in that quarter. His left wing he covered by a barricade made of the baggage and artillery wagons. His right, which rested on the ocean, seemed secure from any annoyance on that side. "Count Egmont, seeing the French thus preparing to give battle, quickly made his own dispositions. Ie formed his cavalry into three divisions. The center he proposed to lead in person. It was made up chiefly of the heavy men-at-arms and some Flemish horse. On the right he placed his light cavalry, and on the left wing rode the Spanish. His infantry he drew up in such a manner as to support the several divisions of horse. Having completed his arrangements, he gave orders to the center and the right wing to charge, and rode at full gallop against the enemy. "Though somewhat annoyed by the heavy guns in their advance, the battalions came on in good order, and fell with such fury on the French left and center that horse and foot were borne down by the violence of the shock. But the French gentlemen who formed the cavalry were of the same high mettle as those who fought at St. Quentin. Though borne down for a moment, they were not overpowered, and after a desperate struggle they succeeded in rallying and in driving back the assailants. Egmont returned to the charge, but was forced back with greater loss than before. The French, following up their advantage, compelled the assailants to retreat on their own lines. The guns at the same time opening on the exposed flank of the retreating troopers, did them considerable mischief. Egmont's horse was killed under him, and he had nearly been run over by his own followers. In the meanwhile the Gascon reserve, armed with their long spears, pushed on to the support of the cavalry, and filled the air with their shouts of victory! "The field seemed to be already lost; when the left wing of the Spanish horse, which had not yet come into action, seeing the disorderly state of the French as they were pressing on, charged them briskly on the flank. This had the effect to check the tide of pursuit and give the fugitives time to rally. Egmont meanwhile was mounted on a fresh horse, and, throwing himself into the midst of his followers, endeavored to reanimate their courage and re-form their disordered ranks. Then, cheering them on by his voice and example, he cried out, We are conquerors! Those who love glory and their fatherland follow me!' and spurred furiously against the enemy. "The French, hard pressed both on front and on flank, fell back in their turn, and continued to retreat till they had gained their former position. At the same time the lanzkenechts in Egmont's service marched up, in defiance of the fire of the artillery, and got possession of the guns, running the men who had charge of them through with their lances. The fight now became general; and as the combatants were brought into close quarters, they fought as men fight where numbers are nearly balanced, and each one seems to feel that his own arm may turn the scale of victory. The result was brought about by an event which neither party could control and neither have foreseen. "An English squadron of ten or twelve vessels lay at some distance, but out of sight of the combatants. Attracted by the noise of the firing, its commander drew near the scene of action, and, ranging along store, opened his fire on the right wing of the French, nearest the sea. The shot, probably from the distance of the ships, did no great execution, and is even said to have killed some of the Spaniards. But it spread a panic among the French, as they found themselves assailed by a new enemy, who seemed to have risen from the depths of the ocean. In their eagerness to extricate themselves from the fire, the cavalry on the right threw themselves on the center, trampling down their own comrades, until all discipline was lost, and horse and foot became mingled together in wild disorder. Egmont profited by the opportunity to renew his charge; and at length, completely broken and dispirited, the enemy gave way in all directions. The stout body of Gascons who formed the reserve alone held their ground for a time, until, vigorously charged by the phalanx of Spanish spearmen, they broke, and were scattered like the rest. "The rout was now general, and the victorious cavalry rode over the field, trampling and cutting down the fugitives on all sides. Many who did not fall under their swords perished in the waters of the Aa, now swollen by the rising tide. Others were drowned in the ocean. No less than one thousand five hundred of those who escaped from the field are said to have been killed by the peasantry, who occupied the passes, and thus took bloody revenge for the injuries inflicted on their country. Two thousand French are stated to have fallen on the field, and not more than five hundred Spaniards, or rather Flemings, who composed the bulk of the army. The loss fell most severely on the French cavalry; severely indeed, if, according to some accounts, not very creditable, they were cut to pieces almost to a man. The number of prisoners was three thousand. Among them was Marshal Termes himself, who had been disabled by a wound in the head. All the baggage, the ammunition, and the rich spoil gleaned by the foray into Flanders, became the prize of the victors. Although not so important for the amount of forces engaged, the victory of Gravelines was as complete as that of St. Quentin." Atrocious Judges. Lord Campbell's volume with this title, being lives of judges infamous as tools of tyranny and instruments of oppression, has been recently published, with an appendix containing the case of Passmore Williamson. It is edited, with an introduction and notes, by Richard Hildreth, whose name is a sufficient guarantee for the truthfulness of its statements and the soundness of its logic. It ought to be widely circulated and studied, that from the clearly-drawn record of what judges have done the people may see what, if unchecked, judges may still do. There is nothing like public opinion in its power to check abuses. Judge Kane will hardly venture to perform another act like that which has placed his name in the catalogue before us. Modern Pilgrims; showing the improvements in Travel, and the newest method of reaching the Celes tial City, by George Wood. Two vols. 12mo. (Boston and New-York: J. C. Derby.) The only tolerable imitation of Bunyan's allegory we have ever seen was a short article, published some years ago, entitled The Celestial Rail-Road, from the pen of Hawthorne. From that exceedingly well-written allegory Mr. Wood derived the hint which has resulted in these ponderous and tedious volumes. The wit, what there is of it, is exceedingly diluted, and the satirical touches often misplaced and unjust. The names of his principal personages betray an abortive attempt to imitate the quaintness of the Bedfordshire tinker, and cause a smile at the far-fetched attempts of the author to be keen and pointed. Thus he gives us Lady Die of a Rose; Lady Lust in Flesh; Right Reverend Bishop High and Dry; The Family of the Turn-up Noses; Brother Shovel and Tongs; Brother Rouse-all, the Presiding Elder. That such a farrago should find readers is only less surprising than that a man with the talent of the author could waste his time in writing it, and be so utterly destitute of friends as to be permitted to give it publicity. W. Gilmore Simms is a romance-writer of great fertility, and his tales have had a wide circulation. Redfield, of this city, has in course of publication new and revised editions of his "Border Romances of the South," with illustrations by Darley; and we have before us the third of the series, being Border Beagles; a Tale of the Mississippi. It is in the best style of the author, and is an exciting story. We have already adverted to the project of publishing the "little folks" of the celebrated Dickens, in separate volumes, for children. The task of selecting and arranging, so as to keep up the symmetry of the narratives, has been happily executed. In the language of the compiler, these famous stories are "brought down from the library to the nursery, the parlor-table to the child's hands." The series consists of "Little Nell," "Oliver and the Jew Fagin," "Little Paul," Florence Dombey," "Smike," and "The Child-Wife." (Redfield, New-York.) " Cyclopædia of American Literature; embracing Personal and Critical Notices of Authors, and selections from their Writings, from the earliest period to the present day; with Portraits, Autographs, and other Illustrations, by Evert A. Duyckinek and G. L. Duyckinck. In two volumes. (New-York: Charles Scribner.) We have received the first volume of this work, an elegantly printed royal octavo of 676 pages, in double columns. In its arrangement the work is chronological; and, beginning with George Sandys, author of the first literary production penned in America of any merit, and published in 1626, it comes down to Pinkney, whose Travels in France were issued in quarto from a London press in 1809. So far as we have examined it, although some names are omitted that we expected to find, and there are a few whose right to a place is questionable, the work has been performed with fidelity, and evinces great industry on the part of the authors. The "selections" are judiciously made, and the autographs and portraits with which the volume is profusely embellished greatly enhance its value. The second volume will be looked for with great interest. Rose Clark is the title of the last story, in a duodecimo of some four hundred pages, from the very prolific pen of Fanny Fern. It is marked by the peculiarities of her style, and will be read with interest by those who take pleasure in this class of novelettes. (New-York: Mason & Brothers.) Aunt Edith, a reprint from the English edition, is a story rather tediously spun out, but inculcating lessons of sound morality and practical Christianity. (Carter & Brothers, New-York.) 66 Of the same general character is Amy Lee, by the author of Our Parish," from the press of Brown, Buzin & Co., Boston. Judging from the number of similar tales recently published, they must suit the popular taste and remunerate both authors and publishers. Amy Lee is quite equal to the average in the interest of the story and in the delineation of character. The new Quarto Bible from the press of Carlton & Phillips is a model of typography and artistic beauty. The plates, twenty-five in number, are beautiful steel engravings, and the exceedingly low price at which the volume is sold will insure a large number of purchasers. For the pulpit and for the use of families it is all that can be desired. The Methodist Quarterly Review for January, 1856, is more than usually denominational. The first article, entitled "The Tract Movement," from the pen of Rev. J. T. Crane, is highly eulogistic of our own incipient efforts in this direction, and pays a well-deserved compliment to our laborious and efficient corresponding secretary, who is, and must be in fact, its principal executive officer. Jackson's Life of New ton is ably reviewed, and some of the biographer's mistakes are pointed out by the Rev. W. C. Hoyt, who does not use his pen as frequently as we could wish. Professor Nadal reviews Dr. Schaff's book on America, and ably exposes that bigoted theologian's "flippant abuse and self-complacent slander" of a sister Church with rather more minuteness than the miseraexceedingly well-written paper on "the Eastern ble twaddle deserved. Dr. Perry furnishes an War," which he traces to its originating causes, and the events of which to the present time re briefly narrates. It is the reviewer's opini:n that "the true-hearted friends of humanity everywhere, and especially every American, must conflict." The article on the Remains of Latin sympathize with England and France in the Latinorum Reliquiæ" betrays the hand of a Tragedy, founded on Ribbeck's "Tragicorum scholar, and will be interesting to literary students generally; while the Memoirs of Dupin, the celebrated but venal French advocate and judge, are touched up with that sprightly vivacity which is always attractive to the general reader. There is also an interesting letter from Paris, devoted mainly to a recent French publimerism; and a letter from Germany, with brief cation on sleep-dreams, somnambulism, and mes notices, from the pen of the editor, of forty-six recent American publications. The most determined stickler for the discussion of practical subjects can certainly find no fault with this number. Plain Talk and Friendly Advice to Domestics; with Counsel on Home Matters. (Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co.) A well-meaning attempt to improve the character and condition of servants, which cannot fail to be useful in those places where employers are not at the mercy of Roman Catholics, as is the case, almost without exception, in this city. Here, the favor seems to be conferred by those who seek "situations ;" and their ignorance, and fear of the "heretics" with whom they live, will prevent the reading of the volume, or the derivation of any benefit from its pages. That class, however, who are chiefly addressed by our fair, but unknown author, “ country domestics," cannot fail to be benefited by advice given in such a friendly spirit, and so manifest an anxiety for |