glosses of present discussions, and it is only just to the actors of those times to turn back and look at those points as they did themselves. Mr. Hildreth seems to us, from the incomplete examination which we have been able to give to the volumes now issued, to have been eminently successful in furnishing to his readers the means of fair judgments. He has reproduced the period, to which his history relates, with great clearness and completeness. He is unsparing in his comments, and the reader may think with him or not as he pleases; but he is full and candid as to facts, and, we think, may be trusted with confidence. His style is clear and forcible, and the impressions he makes are distinct and permanent. His volumes cover comparatively unappropriated ground, and are indispensable to the intelligent reader. He has not written the philosophy of our history, but he has given the reader the facts on which he may weave his own philosophy. Rhetoric and embellishment he especially eschews, as suitable only for fourth of July orations, and poor for those. The volumes are handsomely printed, and are uniform with the first series, which embraces our revolutionary and colonial history.

The Aias of Sophocles; with Critical and Explanatory Notes. Cambridge. Published by John Bartlett, Bookseller to the University. 1851.

If the publication of this elegant volume of a Greek play is called for to any such extent as can remunerate the publisher, we may be entitled to form the most gratifying conclusions touching the present condition of the study of Greek literature among us. It is a book of 342 pages, admirably printed on fine, clear paper, with a broad margin and beautiful type, both the Greek and the English,-containing the text, illustrated by extended notes, of one of the tragedies of Sophocles, which, though one of the noblest of them all, is far from being universally read in American Colleges, and, indeed, is not read in all the colleges of New-England. Both the publisher and editor certainly deserve the thanks of the lovers of Sophocles and of the Greek Drama, for bringing before them, in such a beautiful and attractive form, a work which they have too often been obliged to meet in the company of bad paper, type, and printing. The text of this edition is chiefly Brunck's, but the various readings adopted by editors from other manuscripts than those of Brunck are mentioned, and frequently discussed. A large part of the notes (which constitute four-fifths of the book) consists of a skillful and scholar-like collation of the notes of the more distinguished English and German commentators, such as Brunck, Elmsley, Porson, and Hermann, Lobeck, Wunder, and others. It was the object of the editor to clothe in an intelligible English form, and to arrange and combine in one book, the results of the labors of these distinguished scholars. This task, by no means easy, and not altogether agreeable, he seems to have accomplished in a very happy manner; its literary execution is excellent; and we have been struck with the condensed brevity and with the elegant precision with which he has set forth and balanced against each other, numerous and varying opinions and discussions of difficult passages. Still we could not but entertain some apprehension, in reading some of these notes, respecting the practical uses of such laborious, though ever so well executed resumes of the labors of the various commentators of Sophocles. For college students they are quite unsuitable, as they would only confuse their minds, and effectually preclude their reaching the sense of the author. On the other hand, the Professors of Greek, though they would gladly have at hand such a work, yet in their preparations for their classes, or in their

private reading, prefer to go to the original sources, and make up their opinions for themselves. Notes of this character are, therefore, unpractical as instruments of education; and they have not the highest value, if regarded as strictly philological. But the notes in this volume are not exclusively of this character. Notwithstanding the disclaimer of the editor in his preface, it seems to us that he has done something more than merely "to throw open the labors of the great names already mentioned." The grammatical notes, and the references to approved grammars, such as Buttmann and Krüger, are well designed for the instruction of the 'student; and the illustrations of various passages by parallel passages from English poets, will contribute greatly to promote his literary culture. We have read with great interest some of those literary notes which illustrate the action and the characters of the piece; especially the beautiful delineation of the character of Tecmessa, (v. 915,) and the view presented (v. 822) of the difficult artistic question touching the conclusion of the tragedy.

The name of the editor of this volume does not appear. We are given to understand, from the preface, that it is the work of an English scholar, recently resident in Cambridge. The work is dedicated to Hon. Edward Everett; and in the preface reference is made, "in the most emphatic and grateful terms, to the inestimable aid received in the progress of the work" from "the Eliot Professor of Greek in Harvard University."

Christian Melodies: A Selection of Hymns and Tunes, designed for Social and Private Worship in the Lecture-Room and the Family. Edited by GEORGE B. CHEEVER, D.D., and G. E. SWEETSER. New-York: A. Š. Barnes & Co.

This selection embraces about four hundred hymns, with upwards of eighty different tunes of various metres, suitable to be sung in social worship or around the family altar at the hour of domestic devotion. Many of the hymns will be recognized as the familiar songs of many a pious generation that is gone; while a few will be welcomed as strangers worthy to be placed in their goodly company. The design of having hymns and tunes united in the same book is certainly a judicious one, and favorable to accuracy and good taste in the exercise of singing. The manner in which the design is carried into execution in the volume before us, evinces alike the literary judgment and the Christian carefulness of the accomplished clergymen who have superintended the work.

Letters to my Pupils; with Narrative and Biographical Sketches. By Mrs. L. H. SIGOURNEY. New-York: Carter & Brothers. 1851. 18mo. Pp. 341.

A volume full of beautiful sentiments and pictures of character, and executed with the same delicacy of taste which belongs to all the productions of its amiable and most respected author. It is made up of two parts, of which the first comprises letters addressed by Mrs. Sigourney to her numerous and now widely-scattered pupils; and the second is made up of brief sketches of those who have passed from among the living since they ceased to be her pupils at Hartford. Both the letters and the sketches are tributes of affection for the living and the dead, which evince the most delicate and truthful sentiment in the teacher, and will be welcomed with eager interest by her surviving pupils, and her numerous other friends in all parts of the land.

Midnight Harmonies; or Thoughts for the Season of Solitude and Sorrow. By OCTAVIUS WINSLOW, M.A. New-York: Carter & Brothers. 1851. 18mo. Pp. 249.

This is a collection of thoughts, generally in prose, on a series of subjects well chosen for the meditations of one, who, like the author at the period of its composition, is watching in solitude and sorrow around the couch of suffering, and is called upon to administer consolation to the afflicted, or what is not less difficult, to apply the balm to his own wounded heart.

Lectures on the Lord's Prayer. By WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1851.

The treatises which have been written on the Lord's Prayer, as Dr. Williams remarks in his modest, but learned, preface, "would form of themselves no inconsiderable library." They have appeared in the language of nearly every Christian country, and been associated with nearly every system of theology-but the divine prayer itself has lost none of its inexhaustible freshness, and teaches new lessons of piety, and suggests, in each succeeding age, new reflections to the mind of the devout student of its all-comprehensive and sublime petitions.

We have been especially reminded of this truth, as we have read these beautiful and touching lectures. They make us feel as if we had never before studied this prayer aright-as if we had repeated it all our lives without taking into our minds a tithe of its significance, or rising in any other than the most imperfect degree, to the heights of rapt devotion to which it leads. We close the volume with something far deeper than a mere feeling of interest and delight. We are pervaded with a sentiment of awful reverence for the divine thoughts which are uttered in the prayer, and of profound gratitude to the writer, who, in these lectures, has unfolded so much of its hidden significance, and wrought its sublime and ennobling petitions into so many of the hopes and events, the duties and relationships of the human soul. No work of deeper interest or of greater spiritual power, has lately been added to our religious literature. Its spirit is as catholic as the prayer on which it comments; the Christian reader, of any denomination, will find in it a fountain of instruction and of spiritual culture such as is seldom to be met with away from the Bible itself.

The Popular Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature. Condensed from the larger work. By JOHN KITTO, D. D., F. S. A., &c., &c. Assisted by Rev. JAMES TAYLOR, D. D., of Glasgow. Illustrated by numerous engravings. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1851. pp. 800. 8vo.

The original Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature is nearly twice the size of the present volume. The material is here condensed to eight hundred octavo pages, under the supervision of Dr. Kitto himself, and contains, it is believed, all that the ordinary student could desire in illustration of the literature and antiquities of the Bible. It is compiled from a great variety of sources, all of them of the highest and most recent authority, and has received special contributions from a large number of eminent historical and biblical scholars on both sides of the Atlantic. It thus presents, in a single volume, and at a price which places it within the reach of nearly all who may desire it, a vast amount of accurate and interesting information touching the most important subjects of Scripture history. We welcome its publication in this country with peculiar pleasure; for we regard it as likely to be emi

nently useful in promoting a more thorough and intelligent study of the Holy Scriptures. To clergymen-especially those whose libraries are of limited extent to teachers in Sunday schools-to parents who would throw interest around their domestic readings of the Bible-to all who desire better to understand the word of God-we confidently recommend this volume as one which will render them invaluable assistance, both in their attempts to improve themselves and to become useful to others.

Cyclopædia of Anecdotes of Literature and the Fine Arts. By KAZLITT ARVINE, A. M., author of the "Cyclopædia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes." Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1851.

We had no expectation of finding a Cyclopedia of Anecdotes so interesting a book. The collection is made with untiring industry, and, as it seems to us, with great good judgment and taste, and embraces a vast amount of such information as every one might wish to possess relating to Literature and the Fine Arts. This species of knowledge is becoming every day more and more valuable and important in the present state of society. The volume meets a want which is widely felt among all classes of people.

Louisiana; its Colonial History and Romance. By CHARLES GAYARRE. NewYork: Harper and Brothers. 1851. 8vo. Pp. 546.

We have been disappointed, on a careful perusal of this work. The "Romance," in its title-page, from some brief notices, we supposed to be a series of legends and traditions, interwoven with a few fragments of real history, such as are to be found in most of the "histories" and "sketches" of that notable country, but a short period past called the "Far West." The book is, indeed, as the author denominates his first lecture, “THE POETRY, OR THE ROMANCE OF THE HISTORY OF LOUISIANA." But it is the poetry of style, and the romance of facts with which the gifted author has sought to beguile the attention of the reader. In the preface to the first series, (for the work is a compilation of popular lectures,) dated March 1, 1848, the author says,

"Last year, as circumstance or accident would have it, I was invited by the managers of the People's Lyceum to deliver a lecture before the society. The invitation was flattering, but came in a most inopportune moment. The legislature was then in session, and, as Secretary of State, my duties and my daily relations with the members of that honorable body were such as to allow me very little leisure. I could not decline, however, the honor conferred upon me; and with a mind engrossed by other subjects, and a hurried pen, I wrote the first lecture, which is now introduced as the leading one in the volume."

The author, notwithstanding his "hurried pen" in the composition of his first lecture, has given ample proofs of careful investigation of the facts pertaining to the early history of his native state. In search of health, he had previously spent several years in France, where, as an antidote to ennui, he explored carefully the archives of Paris relating to Louisiana, and gathered many facts from the family records and traditions of the early explorers. These materials, clothed in rich and somewhat gorgeous imagery, he has employed with success in the work. The incidents and characteristics of Ibberville, Bienville, Maurepas, Pontchartrain, Crozat, Father Montigny, Father Davion, Cadillac, St. Dennis, John Law, with his enormous bankbubble, D'Artaguette, Grondel, and a host of other pioneers in Louisiana, furnish a rich series of original sketches in biography. The origin, cus

toms, numbers, traditions, laws, and destruction of the Natchez, are delineated with the skill of an artist. The eight lectures which fill the volume carry forward the history and romance of Louisiana to 1742. We hope the author will offer the public another volume or two from his romantic pen. The typographical execution, with large type, does credit to the press of the Harpers.

League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, or Iroquois. By LEWIS H. MORGAN. Rochester: Sage and Brother. 8vo. Pp. 477.

It is a gratifying fact that the present generation is likely to gain some knowledge of the aborigines of our country, besides that which has been usually taught in the nurseries, or even that which has been derived from authentic history in the narratives of Indian wars. Little indeed has been commonly known of the Indians as to their real character, their political condition, their domestic life, their occupations in time of peace, their religion and worship. But a new era is dawning. A new relish for antiquities seems to be springing up among us, and several writers have made Indian life a patient and faithful study. The book before us relates to the remarkable nations known as the Iroquois. It illustrates their political and social condition, and shows a degree of civilization to have prevailed among them far higher than has generally been supposed. It embraces the structure and history of the League which made them famous in war, and which certainly was a remarkable federation, indicating great political sagacity and practical skill. The account of the religion and religious rites of the Iroquois given in the volume, is exceedingly interesting.

To what extent the book is to be regarded as authority, we are not able to determine. The author was thrown among the Iroquois in early life, and was adopted as a Seneca. Much of what he has collected is gathered from national traditions. His book is written in a style full of spirit and life, though not always condensed, or without needless repetitions. It indicates a considerably broad, if not a highly finished, culture, and certainly is one of the most attractive works which has lately fallen into our hands. It should be added, that the volume itself is an elegant one-a substantial octavo, on clear type and paper, and containing numerous portraits and illustrative cuts. It reflects great credit upon the publishers.

Memoirs of William Wordsworth, Poet Laureate, D. C. L. BY CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, D. D., Canon of Westminster. Edited by HENRY REED. Two volumes. Vol. II. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields.

The concluding volume of these memoirs gives a higher idea of Wordsworth's activity, with reference to public and political questions, than would be suggested by its predecessor. We have here his opinions on the most important topics of legislation agitated during the last half century in England. Many of his views are striking, and their expression betokens great earnestness and sobriety of thought. It is needless to say, that his ideas of Church Establishments, and other subjects brought to view in his correspondence, seem to us radically erroneous. They are based on postulates which we cannot concede, but which he reasons upon as if they were axioms. But the opinions of such a man are interesting, not so much for their intrinsic weight, as for the light they throw upon his personal character, and upon the designed tendencies of his verse. On the whole, though in parts heavy, and, from the plan on which they are constructed, necessarily