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CRITICAL NOTICES.

Lectures on the Lord's Prayer. By WILLIAM R. | tion; the composure of the Areopagus carried ist WILLIAMS. Boston: Gould & Lincoln,

A series of most admirable discourses by a profound and pious thinker, on a subject of universal application and interest. We enrich our page by the following extract from the preface, remarkable for its force and beauty:

"Could we write the history of mankind as it will be read by the Judge of all the earth in the last day, how much of earth's freedom, and order, and peace would be found to have distilled, through quiet and secret channels, from the fountain full and exhaustless of this single prayer. It has hampered the wickedness which it did not altogether curb; and it has nourished individual goodness and greatness in the eminence of which whole nations and ages have rejoiced.

the struggles of Thermopyla. Now the work of Hale, thus the household manual in the dwelling d the youthful Washington, contains a long, labored and minute series of Meditations on the Lords Prayer. How much of the stern virtue that shore serenely over the troubled strifes of the Comm wealth and Protectorate, and over the shameless profligacy and general debasement of the restored Stuarts, came from the earnest study of that Prayer, only the Last Day can adequately show. We can see, from the space it occupies in Hale's volume, what share the supplication had in his habitual and most sacred recollections. We seem to recog nize, in his earnest, importunate deprecation of the sins from which society held him singularly free, and in his urgent and minute supplications for all grace and for those especial excellences in which his age and land pronounced him to have most eminently attained, the secret of his immunity and his virtue. Is it fanciful or credulous to infer that, directly or indirectly, in his own acquaintance personally with the work, or in his inherited admiration of the author's character, our Washington derived his kindred excellences from Hale; and that healing virtue thus streamed from the robes of the Saviour on the mount, as He enunciated this form of supplication-streamed across wide oceans and intervening centuries, into the heart and character and influence of him whom our people delight to hail as the Father of his Country!

"No human analysis can disintegrate from the virtue, and freedom, and prosperity of modern Christendom, the proportion and amount of it which is distinctly owing to the influence of this single supplication."

What forming energy has gone forth from the single character of Washington, upon the destinies of our own land and people, not only in the days of our Revolution, but through each succeeding year! He only who reads that heart which He himself has fashioned, can fully and exactly define the various influences which served to mould the character of that eminent patriot; yet every biographer has attributed much of what George Washington became to the parental training and the personal traits of his mother. To Paulding, in his Life of Washington, we owe the knowledge of the fact, tha this Christian matron daily read to her household, in the youth of her son, the Contemplations of Sir Matthew Hale, the illustrious and Christian Judge. The volume is yet cherished in the family as an heir-loom, and bears the marks of much use; and one of its essays, 'The Good Steward,' is regarded by the biographer as having especially left its deep and indelible traces on the principles and character of the youth whom God was rearing for such high destinies. And certainly, either by the direct influence of the book and its These admirable lectures form one of the most lessons on the son, or by their indirect effect upon valuable contributions to the subject that has yet him through that parent revering and daily con- appeared in so popular a form. The eminent ausulting the book, the Christian jurist and statesman thor has devoted many years to the elucidation of of Britain seems, in many of his characteristic the harmony between the inspired Revelation and traits, to have reappeared in this the warrior and the discoveries and conclusions of modern scientific patriot to whom our own country gives such ear-research in the magnificent field of Geology and nest and profound gratitude. The sobriety, the its kindred sciences, (one of the grandest subjects balanced judgment, the calm dignity, the watchful of human contemplation,) and has brought to the integrity shunning the appearance of evil, the tem-task a mind thoroughly furnished both as a theolo pered moderation, the controlling good sense, car-gian and a scientific savan. We regard the arguried to a rare degree that made it mightier than ments which he puts forth as impregnable both as what is commonly termed genius,-all were kindred traits, strongly developed in the character alike of the English and of the American worthy. In Washington's character, this seems among its strangest and rarest ornaments, its judicial serenity

The Religion of Geology,and its connected Sciences.
By EDWARD HITCHCOCK, D.D., LL.D. Boston:
Phillips, Sampson & Co.

"Calm, but stern; like one whom no compassion could

weaken,

Neither could doubt deter, nor violent impulses alter:
Lord of his own resolves-of his own heart absolute

against the skeptical materialist on the one hand, I facts or even the laws of things or existences, but and those who still contend for the literal interpre- to be morally and intellectually developed by tation of the Scriptures on the other. There can these-to become a conscious thought, worthy be no more profitable study than this work to all and capable of being the appreciator of the great parties. Creator and Pervader of all.

The Epoch of Creation: The Scripture Doctrine Contrasted with the Geological Theory. By ELEAZAR LORD. With an Introduction, by RICHARD W. DICKENSON, D.D. New-York: Charles Scribner.

We place our notice of this work in juxtaposition with that of the above, inasmuch as it is an argument directly upon the other side of the question discussed by President Hitchcock. It is undoubtedly able; the best argument, as a whole, on its side, that has come under our notice. Yet we must confess that to our mind it is utterly insufficient, and we fear not calculated to do the good intended by its author.

If the meaning and intention of the first chapter of Genesis, and other parts of Scripture that have any reference to natural facts and phenomena, is at all an open question, (and how it can be considered otherwise we cannot conceive, when so many of the learned and pious have argued it,) it is certainly most rational to adopt the view that best harmonizes with what at least appears to us to be the facts and legitimate deductions of science. The whole superstructure of modern Geology, as a science of principles, Mr. Lord denies, or at least doubts; its deductions, which come from the very necessity of our reasoning upon its facts, he ignores; and he would have us draw no inferences-eliminate no laws; although he must be aware that such deductions and such inferences of laws are every day being confirmed by new facts predicted from such deductions and inferences. Such views are in our opinion in conflict with human development and progress, both intellectually and religiously. The facts of the great arcana of Nature are but the frame-work-if we

may so speak-of the informing spirit of Law and it is this latter alone that appeals to the highest principles in the intellectual nature of man. To discover the principles of things has been the great educational stimulant of our nature through all ages, and the desire has been implanted in the human soul by the AUTHOR of Nature for this highest of all purposes. Can we then believe a theory that will only allow the mind to store up barren facts! Mr. Abbott observes, speaking of the topography of that wonderful region, the valley of the Nile: "The human mind, connected with a pair of eagle's wings, would have solved the mystery of Egypt in a week; whereas science, philosophy, and research, confined to the surface of the ground, have been occupied for twenty centuries in accomplishing the undertaking." So from the mount of God, with the eye of inspiration, Moses might have revealed to us the structure of the earth, as well as the fact of its construction; might have demonstrated to us the mathematics of the heavens, as well as stated the simple and sublime fiat that bade them be and they were But this, even we can see sufficient reason for not doing. It is not the highest purpose to know the

The Works of Shakspeare: The Text carefully restored according to the First Editions; with Introductions, Notes, original and selected, and Life of the Poet. By the Rev. H. N. HUDSON, A.M. In eleven volumes. Boston and Cambridge: James Monroe & Company. Volumes

I. and II.

We have looked with much interest for this edition of the great master, since it was announced as in preparation, knowing as we did the eminent qualifications of the editor for his task. Several of the essays of Mr. Hudson which have been contributed to the columns of this Review, and afterwards published among his Lectures, have made our readers acquainted with his profound study of the bard, and the remarkable powers of criticism and analysis which he exhibits in his elucidations of the wonders and beauties of his plays. We beg to refer our readers to Mr. H.'s editorial preface for what he designs, and we doubt not will accomplish in this edition. We have little doubt but it will be altogether the best popular edition yet published. The volumes before us are executed in a most admirable style, both in matter and manner; with observations and notes both judicious and acute; printed on beautiful paper, with remarkably clear and elegant type. They are of the duodecimo form, of all others the most convenient for so constant a necessity as Shakspeare. We predict an unbounded popularity for the work.

Drayton: A Story of American Life. NewYork: Harper & Brothers.

bestow upon this volume hardly enables us to The slight glance which we have been able to judge of its merits. The story is a truly American one, the career of a youth of genius, rising from a shoemaker's apprentice to the highest honors of the bar. The style is somewhat inflated, and yet there is a facility of narrative and expression which, whilst that indicates an unpractised hand, this gives promise of a capacity for something better.

Literary Reminiscences, from the Autobiography of an English Opium-Eater. By THOMAS DE QUINCEY. In two volumes. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields.

These will probably be the most popular of this elegant series of volumes of the miscellaneous writings of De Quincey, by this enterprising house. The wonderful grace and beauty of his language, the shrewd observation, the profound analytical capacity, and the appreciative sympathy with all that is either refined or great in literature, qualify this author, we had almost said beyond all others, for such a purpose as is undertaken in these

essays: namely, to represent to us the great liter- | subject, scenery, and treatment. We can promise all ary geniuses of his time and acquaintance-Davy, those who have not read it a treat; and those who Godwin, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, Edward read the first edition, now so long since publi-bed Irving, Talfourd, &c. These, with the many most will eagerly possess themselves of this new one. interesting circumstances of his own literary career, will make the work a never-failing favorite with all for whom literature has charms beyond the vulgar things of sense.

Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland.
New-York: D. Appleton & Co.

This is a "quaint and curious volume," but of such unquestionable genius that no one with the faintest appreciation of quiet and truthful earnestness of character, and with any taste for simplicity of antique modes of thought and speech, can open it without being fascinated by the quiet and quaint pictures that the author, with such skill, maketh to pass before his mental eye. It is altogether wholesome and good.

Io: A Tale of the Olden Fane. By K. BARTON.
New-York: D. Appleton & Co.

We must reserve our judgment of this book for a better opportunity of perusal. The scene is laid in ancient Greece, and the author has evidently a feeling of classic enthusiasm. His manner and style is, however, strained and overwrought. Such, at least, is the impression that the opening chapters make upon us.

Episodes of Insect Life. By ACHFTA DOMESTICA,
M.E.T. Second Series. New-York: J. S.
Redfield.

This volume is no less attractive and beautiful than the first, of which we have already expressed our opinion. Truly admirable contributions they are to popular scientific knowledge, with all the grace and attractiveness of fairy tales, notwithstanding their accuracy of detail and minuteness of scientific knowledge. There is no falling off in the elegance with which the enterprising publisher has gotten up the work. We know of no such centre-table attraction.

Swallow Barn; or a Sojourn in the Old Dominion.
By J. P. KENNEDY. Revised edition, with twenty
Illustrations by Strother. New-York: George
P. Putnam.

Elements of Thought; or Concise Explanations of
the Principal Terms employed in the severa
Branches of Intellectual Philosophy. By Is
TAYLOR. New-York: William Gowans. Second
American, from the Ninth London Edition.

By giving the full title of this little work, and adding our testimony to the many before us of the admirable manner in which the design of the author has been executed, we perform a duty to the public as well as to the publisher. To the student of philosophy, with whom so much de pends upon the proper definition and clear under standing of terms, this work should never be wanting.

The Sea and the Sailor; Notes on France and
Italy; and other Literary Remains of Rev. Wal-
ter Colton. With a Memoir, by Rev. HENRY I
Cheever. New-York: A. S. Barnes & Co.

We have had occasion to notice the several

other works of this pleasant and popular author. This is probably the most interesting of the series making us acquainted as it does with the personal the versatility of his genius, and the variety of history of the author, and exhibiting more fully his accomplishments.

Vagamundo; or the Attaché in Spain. Including
a brief Excursion into the Empire of Morocca.
By JOHN ESAIAS WARREN. New-York: Charles
Scribner.

Mr. Warren has given us in this work his adventures, feelings, and reflec ions during a six months' residence in Spain.

Entering as he does truly into the very spirit of that most romantic land, with a ready pen and enthusiastic temperament, he could not well, and has not failed to make a charming book. His style suits his subject, and his subject his style; and therefore we may predict that his book will be a favorite.

Chambers's Papers for the People. Vol. I. Philadelphia: J. W. Moore.

This republication is, we believe, a fac-simile of the original Edinburgh edition of this popular miscellany. This, therefore, will be sufficient to say of the neatness and taste with which it is issued. The name of Chambers is a sufficient guarantee of the excellence of the contents.

Familiar as the name of this book has been to us, we had not, before this beautiful edition was put into our hands, seen it; and although we were prepared to expect a work of no ordinary merit from our knowledge of the later and graver writings of the distinguished author, we confess to having our expectations more than realized. A To our fresh enthusiasm over this elegant edition, with its humorous and graceful illustrations, and clear brilliant type, it appears a worthy companion of the somewhat similar volumes of Washington Irving; not unlike his Bracebridge Hall, of-shall we say-equal grace and humor, with the advantage of being more national in its

Wreath around the Cross; or Scripture Truths
Illustrated. By Rev. A. MORTON BROWN. With
a Recommendatory Preface by JOHN ANGELL
JAMES. Boston: Gould & Lincoln.

The purpose of this work, and the recommendation with which it comes, will insure its welcome among the class of readers for whom it is designed.

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