one in all respects. It is devoted to Belgium, a country unsurpassed in the beauty and interest of its picturesque remains of architectural art ;—and the choice has been made among these with taste, judgment, and effect. We know not where else to point at a more beautiful and striking work of its class than the view of the Town Hall of Ghent with its adjacent buildings, the general and picturesque effect of which has been greatly heightened by the introduction of an historical and dramatic interest by representing it as the scene of the insurrection against Charles V. the views of Mechlin and Antwerp cathedrals, the town of Dinant, and the town hall &c. of Louvain, are also gems in their way. But the gem par excellence is the view of the Tower of Crevecœur, on the Meuse, which is quite equal to any of Turner's views of a similar kind. The literary portion of this volume is by Mr. Thomas Roscoe, and it takes the form of a pleasant and useful guide and companion to an extended and well-chosen tour in the interesting country to which it relates.

LEGENDS OF VENICE.-The title of this volume very aptly explains its object -that of illustrating, by tale and picture, the legends connected with the past history of the most romantic of cities. The pictorial illustrations are by Mr. J. R. Herbert, and the legendary part by Thomas Roscoe. The general design of this work is too vague and ideal to be a very happy one; for we live in a day when realities have taken the place of imaginations, even in the least real and most imaginative temperaments. Our Books of Beauty must busy themselves with the real living and breathing beauty about us, or they will fail to attract; the day of " Byron Beauties" is wellnigh gone. Still, this is a rich and graceful volume, and some of its illustrations are designed and executed with much feeling and talent. The most striking plate is that illustrating the story of "The Mistaken Hand." "The Elopement of Bianca Capello" is also very graceful and spirited. The designs are all unusually elaborate, and seve ral of the tales have a strong romantic interest.

THE JUVENILE SCRAP-BOOK again appears under the direction of Mr. Ellis, and is as pretty a present for youth, as regards its pictorial illustrations, as can well be imagined. Its engravings are extremely various, and of a quality to improve and cultivate the taste of art; and art being offered as the chief attraction of publications of this class, so far all is well. But the preface of the editor reminds us forcibly of the difficulties under which the literary portions of such works are produced. The plates, it appears, "were chosen solely for their merit as pictures," and were not examined by the editor till, at a distance of six hundred miles from home, she took them up to concoct them into a book. Doubtless, the merit of producing a good book under such circumstances is doubled; but the secret were perhaps better not told. Some of the plates,-the Frontispiece, for instance, the interior of Milan Cathedral, St. Michael's Mount, and the Missionary's Grave-are quite as good as most that grace the more costly and ambitious works of the season, and the volume is creditable to all parties concerned in it.

THE PARLOUR TABLE-BOOK is the last on our list among the gift-books of this month. Its merit and attraction consist in a large amount of amusing and instructive laconics, chiefly from the celebrated prose writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is in fact a Book not exactly of Beauty, but of Beauties-most of them from writers thoroughly-well known, and in the hands of most of those who aspire to the title of "readers" in the present

day. It must therefore be regarded more in the light of a "juvenile scrapbook," or the "commonplace-book of the general reader," than a work addressing itself to more cultivated or critical tastes; and in this light it deserves popularity. It includes, however, some pleasing writing by the editor, both prose and verse. Its only illustration, consists of an allegorical frontispiece prettily cut in wood, and a vignette title-page.

NOTES ON NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Rhyme, Romance, and Reverie. By J. B. Rogerson.-The not too critical lovers of light miscellaneous reading, will find many things to gratify them in this volume-the result of the leisure hours of one occupied with the toils and cares of the world-toils and cares that can be relieved by no other relaxation at once so pure and so solid as that springing from pursuits of this nature. The pieces are of a varied colour and character-grave and gay-prose and verse-tale, essay, legend, lyric, love stanzas, &c. &c., all brief and unambitious, and the whole betraying that love for literary pursuits, which none ever entertained without being the wiser, the better, and the happier for it.

Iceland, Greenland, &c.-This new volume of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, comprises an historical and descriptive account of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. There is an inexhaustible interest attaches to these singular countries, about which, notwithstanding their difficulty of access and inhospitable climate, have long attracted the attention of travellers and writers from all parts of the civilized world. The present volume offers a comprehensive and carefully-prepared abstract of all the information which has hitherto been made public concerning these countries-their history, geography, botany, geology, &c.; the moral, political, literary, social, and physical condition of their inhabitants in past as well as prosent times--in short, every ,hing which the most curious inquirer would desire to know concerning them. The volume is full of interest and information-both of them of the most salutary kind.

The Lost Angel. By T. Hawkins Esq.-The thoughts in this brief but somewhat ambitious poem, are better than the mode in which they are expressed-which is too obscure to please the general reader. We may venture to assure the author-in reply to the appeal he makes to critical opinion, as decisive of his future career as a writer -that poetry of this particular nature, busying itself with the thoughts, images, and imaginations of a past world,-if it be not (like virtue) "its own reward" to the poet, will, in these days of utility, meet with no other. The volume is one of Mr. Pickering's beautiful specimens of typography.

Discourse on the Enlarged Belly, &c. By R. Frankum-This little tract has the merit of containing many judicious practical remarks on diet, exercise, and medical treatment, especially addressing themselves to the dyspeptic patient. The discourse takes a popular rather than a professional form, and may be read with advantage by all.

A Grammar af the German Language. By H. Apel.-This Grammar is a laudable and, to a considerable extent, a successful attempt to introduce into this country the new principles in regard to the genius and construction of the German language as applied in schools and colleges, but which have been little, if at all, introduced into the teaching of that language in our own country. It merits the attention of all elementary students of that tongue.

A Faithful History of the French Revolution-A new History of the French Revolution was scarcely needed; but the subject is one of such profound as well as universal interest, that we can scarcely have too many versions of it. The present is a popular and an extremely portable one-the latter being its best quality.

Nouvelles Annals des Voyages.-Of the two livraisons of this excellent periodical, one contains an interesting Memoir of the Political, Administrative, Military, and Legislative Institutions of the English Colonies in all parts of the world, by the Viscount de Santarem. And a Notice on Mozambique. By Sir James Alexander. The other number contains the continuation of M. Thomassy's remarks on the relations of France with the Empire of Morocco; and Remarks on the Physical Character of Abyssinia, by M. Ruppell. Each also includes the usual amount of critical notices on recent works.

Desultory Sketches of Barbadoes.-This little volume of tales and sketches, was written, it appears, to " wile away the tedium of a long voyage." The anonymous author has, therefore, to a certain extent, had his reward, and will probably not look very sanguinely for one of a more sordid nature. The tales and sketches will nevertheless be read by his friends with interest; the pictures of life and manners which they include, will be new to many; and the main object of the publication will, in all probability, be obtained.

Lectures on Logic.-A useful elementary book, having for its object to illustrate the principles of logic, as taught by the illustrious Locke. The volume is expressly intended and adapted for the use of students, schools and colleges, and is calculated to advance the important study to which its pages are devoted.

The Handbook of the Rhine.-This pretty little and well-informed guide and companion "up the Rhine" contains, in a space fitted to the waistcoat pocket, and for a price not worth naming, all the data that are needful to be known in order to secure to the traveller a perfect enjoyment of the varied délices attending a voyage on that "beauteous and abounding river." Localities, exchanges, passports, hotels, steamboats, railroads, each and all are touched upon, just enough-either more or less would be an inconvenience. It includes, also, a map of the river's course, from Cologne to Philipsburg,

Select Remains of the late Rev. J. Cooke. 2 vols.-These volumes are a reprint from a larger puublication, by the late Dr. Redford, of Worcester, containing lengthened memoirs of the writer. The miscellanies now again offered to the world are altogether of a religious nature, and touch on a vast variety of topics, all of them of more or less import to the christian of every denomination.

Heber and other Poems. By T. Ragg.-Like the prose of the volumes just noticed, these poems are nearly all of a religious nature, and they will find their share of favour among religious readers. As the production of a self taught man, and written, many of them, under the most painful circumstances, they have great merit, and ought to command a larger share of general attention and favour than we fear will await them in these most unpoetical of times.

INDEX

TO THE

THIRD PART OF 1840.