CONTENTS. CONTENTS OF JANUARY NUMBER. V. Webster's Octavo Dictionary VI. Matters and Things in Europe.-(Editor.) 1. The Philosophy of Christian Perfection; 2. Blackstone's Com- mentaries on the Laws of England; 3. Dr. Chalmers' Daily Scripture CONTENTS OF APRIL NUMBER. I. Wesleyan Missionary Society.—(Rev. Dr. Floy.) II. Mystic Arts in our own Day.-(Rev. J. T. Crane.) III. Oil-painting.-(President Wentworth) IV. Neander's Life of Christ.-(Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff.) VII. Philosophy of Christian Perfection. (Rev. Dr. J. T. Peck.) 1. West's Sketches of Wesleyan Preachers; 2. Tyng's Lectures on the Law and the Gospel; 3. Recollections and Reflections of an Old Itinerant; 4. Experience and Ministerial Labors of Rev. Thomas 154912 I. Life of Madame Guyon.-(Rev. Daniel Curry.) II. Mental Discipline.-(Rev. S. M. Vail.) IV. Wesley and his Biographers.-(Rev. W. C. Hoyt.) V. The Pelagian Controversy.-(J. L. Jewett.) 1. Self-education; or, the Philosophy of Mental Improvement; 2. A VI. Westminster Assembly of Divines.—(Rev. Daniel Curry.) 626 633 1. Smith's Patriarchal Age; 2. Owen's Thucydides; 3. Agassiz and Gould's Principles of Zoology; 4. The Englishman's Greek Concord- ance of the New-Testament; 5. True Organization of the New Church; 6. Writings of Cassius M. Clay; 7. James' Church in Earnest; 8. Life and Times of the Rev. Jesse Lee; 9. Abbott's Kings and Queens; 10. Wayland's Elements of Moral Science; 11. Wayland's Elements of Political Economy; 12. Thankfulness; by Rev. Charles B. Tayler; 13. Memoir of Rev. Wm. G. Crocker; 14. The Czar, his Court and People; 15. Home Influence; 16. Discourse on the Death of Prof. Caldwell; 17. Chalmers' Sabbath Scripture Readings; 18. Nevin's Antichrist; 19. Mitchell's Planetary and Stellar Worlds; 20. Carle- ton's Battle of Buena Vista; 21. Man and his Motives, by Dr. G. Moore; 22. Reply to Stuart and Nott; 23. Salkeld's First Book in Spanish; 24. Marriage Ring; 25. Family Altar; 26. Silent Comforter; 27. Young Communicant; 28. Peirce's Notes on the Acts; 29. Modern French Literature; 30. Cyclopædia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes. 287.05 METR V.30 THE METHODIST QUARTERLY REVIEW. JANUARY, 1848. EDITED BY GEORGE PECK, D. D. ART. I.-1. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic. By WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. Tenth edition, 3 vols. 8vo. New-York: Harper & Brothers. 2. History of the Conquest of Mexico; with a Preliminary View of the Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortés. By WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. Eighth edition, 3 vols. 8vo. New-York: Harper & Brothers. 3. Biographical and Critical Miscellanies. By WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. 1 vol. 8vo. New-York: Harper & Brothers. 4. History of the Conquest of Peru; with a Preliminary View of the Civilization of the Incas. By WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. 2 vols. 8vo. New-York: Harper & Brothers. THE publication of Mr. Prescott's "Peru" affords us an opportunity for which we have long waited, to attempt an estimate of his powers as an historian, and to give some account of his works. To him belongs the rare distinction of uniting solid merit with extensive popularity. He has been exalted to the first class of historians, both by the popular voice and the suffrages of the learned. By avoiding all tricks of flippancy or profundity to court any class of readers, he has pleased all. His last history is devoured with as much avidity as the last novel; while, at the same time, it occupies the first place in the pages of the reviews. His fame, also, is not merely local, or even national. It is as great at London, Paris, and Berlin, as at Boston or New-York. His works have been translated into Spanish, German, French, and Italian ; and into whatever region they have penetrated they have met a cordial welcome, and done much to raise the character of American letters and scholarship. In England his success has probably been beyond that of any other American author. The tone of the EnVOL. VIII.-1 glish press toward our publications has too often been either patronizing or insolent. But Mr. Prescott's histories have been spared both the impertinence of condescension and the impertinence of abuse, and judged according to their intrinsic merits. The best evidence, perhaps, of his transatlantic reputation is to be found in his membership of numerous literary associations abroad. We perceive that since the publication of "The Conquest of Peru," he has been chosen a member of the Royal Society of Literature, and also of the Society of Antiquaries. The last honor he shares with but one other American. It is needless to say that a reputation so extensive could only result from sterling excellences. Some of Mr. Prescott's popularity may, doubtless, be attributed to the peculiar disadvantages under which he has prosecuted his historical researches. That a man nearly blind should collect a large mass of rare chronicles and MSS., and attempt the composition of histories requiring the utmost industry, sagacity, and toil, is of itself sufficient to awaken attention and almost to confer fame. But Mr. Prescott's works require no apology founded on the obstacles he has surmounted. They can stand the tests we apply to similar compositions without any call upon the charity of reader or reviewer. Indeed, though the historian cannot dispense with the use of his eyes without being subjected to numberless annoyances which might well discourage the most patient and energetic of men, the value of his history must come, after all, from his own mind and character. It is not the channel through which facts and authorities pass into the head, but the shape in which they come out of the head, which is of the most importance. The real difficulties which Mr. Prescott has surmounted are intellectual, and inherent in his subjects and materials. These difficulties can hardly be appreciated by a superficial reader of his histories. They are not perceived until we consider out of what obstinate materials he has drawn his consistent, animated, and picturesque narrative, and reflected upon that peculiar combination of qualities by which he has been enabled to perform it with such splendid success. The distinguishing merit of Mr. Prescott is his power of vividly representing characters and events in their just relations, and applying to them their proper principles. He thus presents a true exhibition of the period of time he has chosen for his subject, enabling the reader to comprehend its peculiar character, to realize its passions and prejudices, and at once to observe it with the eye of a contemporary, and judge it with the calmness of a philosopher. To succeed in this difficult object of historical art, requires not |