conscientious portion of them are subject to from a misjudging public, seems to form the staple commodity of the work. Public opinion and private judgment are, however, brought into further contrast by the indirect advocacy of talent against mere social position, the hero, Walter Carew, a man of station and fortune, marrying a Mademoiselle Pirzheim, a musical genius, but placed in several situations that are highly shocking to conventional persons.

The novel is well worthy of perusal for several qualities, and there are in it many gleams of characteristics that are valuable, as sounding in a new though slight and narrow track, the depths of human nature. The author has considerable capacity for original observation, and an impressive style of communicating his experiences. As a story, it is not felicitously designed. One half of it concerns the domestic affairs of a quiet, not to say "hum-drum" family of English middle life, all respectability and propriety: and the other half the adventures of foreign adventurers, amidst the most romantic localities, all excitement and desperation. The framework also adds to the complexity and wearisomeness of its too elaborate details, the work purporting to be a history, written by a very prosy old bachelor, whose interpolating remarks very often mar the vraisemblance and interrupt the narrative. Nor is there any of that interest excited towards the characters which it is peculiarly the province of this kind of literature to create. The good people, it cannot but be acknowledged, are very good; and the bad one ought to detest; but somehow or other, one seems to care for none of them, though it would be difficult to state how it is, one is so indifferent towards them. We take it, that it must arise from the protrusion of the author's idiosyncrasy, through the thin drapery of character he throws over his lay figures.

The ability, and there is great ability in the work, consists in its occasional sketches and scenes, and it has altogether more of dramatic than descriptive power; and several of its passages are faithful transcripts of life and its customs and processes, and prove the author to be well acquainted with many modes of existence and character. This, indeed, sometimes degenerates into personalities, and there is one scene, and probably more, though we have not been able to detect them, in which a notorious dealer in works of art is portrayed to his very words. Mr. Chorley is to a certain degree a champion of talent, particularly of the professors of the fine arts, and has an irrepressible indignation towards those contemptible pseudo-patrons who manifest themselves in two shapes; being either sordid and impudent traders, who, while robbing the artist of his fair remuneration, affect an encouragement of art; or else, belonging to that equally or even more contemptible class, who, assuming on their rank and position, patronize rising ability in order to minister to their own consequence and vanity, with a chilling and supercilious insolence and meanness, that is even more distressing to genius than the coarse assumption of the impudent trader. We should be

glad, however, if there was greater breadth and firmness in the author's satire, and that it was more free from a self-sufficient and petulant tone. It is, however, a work worthy of attentive perusal, and of a permanent place in our literature, as containing the evidence of a keen and observant witness of social affairs.

FOREST AND GAME LAW TALES. By HARRIET MARTINEAU. Vol. III. Fcap. 8vo. London: E. Moxon.

We see no reason to alter our sentiments as expressed towards the first volume of this series. As the tales come down to our own period they have somewhat more of vraisemblance, and the authoress is always on the side of humanity; however, it is, after all, but special pleading, and too much is often proved. The wants and the rights of the poor can no longer be tampered with, and they have now more to fear from too much than from too little interference. It is dangerous to confound charities with rights. Loss of independence as a class is more injurious than neglect from the rich; the best counsel is to teach them to work out their own claims in the social scheme.

THE PRYINGS OF A POSTMAN. Post 8vo. London: Smith, Elder, & Co. THE idea of this volume is good as a vehicle for the exemplification of character, but it cannot be said to be well carried out. It is not entirely deficient in this particular, nor without occasional gleams of interest; but the world and its curiosity would not have lost much if the Postman of Stockgate had proved faithful to his trust and delivered his letters as directed instead of to the public.

WESTERN CLEARINGS. By Mrs. C. M. KIRKLAND, author of "A New Home," &c. Sq. 12mo. London: Wiley and Putnam.

THE WIGWAM AND THE CABIN. By W. GILMORE SIMMS. Second Series.. Sq. 12mo. London: Wiley and Putnam.

TALES FROM THE GERMAN OF HEINRICH ZSCHÖKKE. Bу PARKE GODWIN. Second Series. Sq. 12mo. London: Wiley and Putnam.

THREE publications forming a portion of "Wiley and Putnam's library of Choice Reading," printed and published in America, and reissued here with new title pages. As they possess the interest of foreign literature, and consequently a degree of freshness that is advan

tageous, we doubt the policy of endeavouring to make them appear to be European productions.

The lady's book-" Western Clearings"-contains fourteen stories, so that if any one is tedious, it cannot be said to be long. Nor to any one interested in new manners and praiseworthy efforts can they be tedious. The west, "the far west," is a land of hope and adventure, and any illustration of it must have some degree of interest, and as such is worth reading. Novelty of matter, however, unfortunately does not necessarily produce novelty of style, and we are disappointed at finding in American literature a wearisome echo of our mode. Mrs. Kirkland is very good and very observant, and so is Mr. Gilmore Simms, but somehow there is the old flavour in their style, and though we know much of the material is new, still the cookery makes it appear stale. This comes of that universal yet unpleasant human tendency, imitation. Formula is so easily followed, and so difficult to create. We must therefore take the dishes as we find them, and there is excellent food in all of them.

The "Translations from Zschökke" seem faithful and spirited, and he has a vigour of narration and composition that make the reading his tales not a duty but a pleasure.

TALES FROM BOCCACCIO, with Modern Illustrations; and other Poems. Fcp. 8vo. London: R. Bentley.

WE have debated whether we should notice this strange book, but as we suppose it was sent to us with a desire on the part of its producers that it should be commented upon, we shall not refuse to do so. It might be superciliously dismissed as the work of some crack-brained and impertinent individual, who, either not knowing, or foolishly despising all the usually received and understood decencies of society, recklessly abandons them. Boccaccio very properly has long been a book which decent individuals only read in a selected edition; the selection, therefore, of one of his most irreverent stories would alone be a signal instance of bad taste, but when this is made a medium for introducing personal attacks on men already known to the world in various ways it is grossly indecorous. The style is so exaggerated that it precludes the idea of there being any intended malice, but it is not therefore the less impertinent both to the public and the individuals concerned. Such intemperance of conduct can only be attributed to ill-regulated animal spirits, which breaking into untimely boisterousness imagines itself witty. These remarks apply more particularly to the first tale, but the whole book is an unpleasant mixture of attempted wit, and a bewildering mysticism. It is certainly the product of more than one writer, and they seem to belong to a class that has no faculty of measuring things by a reasonable

standard. They possess good and fine ideas, but they have no judgment to guide them: they have no sense of fitness, and no perception of proprieties. They seem as if, should they be inclined to be gallant, they would insult some meek old woman, or if witty commence a guffaw in a sick chamber. They have no real notion in what wit consists, and seem to think audacity and coarseness its principal characteristics. The book would not be worth even such notice, did it not contain some passages bespeaking fine perceptions and poetical expression. Though coarse, not to say indecent, and irreverent, not only as regards religious feeling, but human nature itself, it is not positively vicious, and seems rather the result of a disordered imagination than the involuntary violence of a robust constitution. We should not be surprised to find it the product of the grave fathers of large families, who have indulged in what they deem a little worldly frolic. It is, however, too much like the frolicsomeness of middle-aged gentlemen, whose forced animal spirits are apt to lead them into unseemly and disreputable dilemmas. We regret that what is good in it, and there is much that is fine, must be sunk by the overwhelming trash, and hope never again to have to peruse such revolting and abortive attempts to attract notoriety. There is sufficient evidence of power to command attention in a legitimate career, without aiming at a style totally unsuited to the genius of the writers.

SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY, a Tale of the Court of Charles the Second. By the Author of "Maids of Honour." In 3 volumes, post 8vo. London : H. Colburn.

It is somewhere related that Steele used to annoy Addison by threatening to carry the worthy and most respectable knight into a few town frolics, and on his proceeding to carry the threat into execution, and determining to place the worthy Sir Roger in a disreputable situation, that Addison put an end to the respectable old gentleman's career. It might be a matter for speculation whether the creator of the character would have objected to the proceeding of the present author, who has reversed the proceeding, and given us the early career of this earliest of a race of genuine English characters which have been continued by kindred geniuses through Mr. Allworthy, Squire Western, Parson Adams, down to Mr. Pickwick in our own time.

The object of Mr. Frank Ranelagh, as the unknown author designates himself, has not, however, sought so much to elaborate a character up to its development in declining life by Addison, as to make an opportunity for displaying a considerable acquaintanceship with the manners and characters of the court and town at the time of the Restoration. The superstition of the age, and the public events, are also occasionally dealt with; but, in the general acceptation of the title, it cannot be

termed an historical novel, although it treats of historical personages. All the well-known characters of this too well-known period. appear in its pages, from the King to Tom Chiffinch, and from Catherine of Braganza to Nell Gwynne, and from Nell Gwynne to Mistress Knight. To attempt to give the conversation of such beaux and belles esprits is always dangerous, for though the brightest must occasionally speak as plainly as their less gifted neighbours, yet when thus formally introduced, they are expected to manifest their superiority to ordinary mortals. If, however, they make in these pages no very superior manifestations, they have a vivacity of tone and liveliness of utterance which pass them off very satisfactorily with the reader. We do not object to the practical jokes and vicious propensities attributed to Lord Rochester, but we must take a little exception to charming Nelly's portrait, in which the natural aristocracy of her bearing is not sufficiently intimated. The charming creature who could divide the attention of the best-bred men with the elegant Miss Stuart and the other high-born ladies, must have had grace of manner as well as intellectual vivacity and personal charms. She is to be regarded as the symbol of the superiority of natural powers over conventional, and as a proof that wit, talent, and beauty know no distinctions of rank. We hardly think she would have condescended to think the removing a chair when her rival in wit was about to sit down, was a happy repartee. Her conduct to Mistress Knight, which is alluded to here, was certainly gross for those days, but it was not without a laughable humour in its results.

The author has been very diligent in collecting every anecdote that is characteristic of the men and period, and his book is pleasing and entertaining, being written in a very lively style. It would be out of place to examine it by the rules which should govern the highest kind of this species of composition. It is written to amuse and entertain, and it will be found to have completed its aim, and, on the whole, to give a very fair notion of the time and manners. It has of course its darker passages, and a mystery, which is duly involved in the first and evolved in the third volume. The rigid historian and antiquarian may find anachronisms; but no one can accuse it of being dull, and it will pass a few hours much more satisfactorily, and even instructively, than many works of graver pretensions. No circulating library will be able safely to dispense with Sir Roger de Coverley, and it will not be the least of its merits, if it should induce a few readers to turn to the papers of Addison to renew or gain acquaintance with the admirable original.