NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.
The remarkable collection of Northern Irish Antiquities and Historical Relics, exhibited at Belfast on the occasion of the British Association meeting in that city, has led to the publication of The Ulster Journal of Archæology, which is to be conducted by gentlemen of the province, and principally devoted to the elucidation of the antiquities and ancient history of Ulster. Ulster, it will be remembered, is historically remarkable as being the last part of Ireland which held out against the English sway, and which therefore retained its ancient customs until a comparatively recent period. Ulster was also the battle-field of the ancient native Irish chieftains and the Scandinavian Vikings. The antiquaries of Ulster have therefore done wisely, while the tangled web of Northern Irish History can yet be
unravelled by existing aids—while the men who are now the depositories of family and local history are yet among them—to commence this Journal; and in the tact and good management displayed in the selection of the materials of their opening Number, they have not only done wisely, but done well also. May they go on and prosper!
At a moment when all eyes are looking anxiously for the new volume of Nineveh Discoveries, we have received a work of kindred character and of very high value. It is entitled Lares and Penates, or Cilicia and its Governors; being a short historical account of that province from the earliest times to the present day, together with a description of some Household Gods of the Ancient Cilicians, broken up by them on their conversion to Christianity, first discovered and brought to this country by the author, W. B. Barker, edited by W. F. Ainsworth; and the interest which this title naturally excites is fully maintained upon a perusal of the work. Although, by readers who care little for its archæological features, the work will be read with the highest satisfaction, it is one which will afford to the antiquary information of the greatest importance; while to many, the announcement that the remarkable monuments of the ancient Cilicians, so happily discovered by Mr. Barker, were discovered by him in the city dignified by the birth of the great apostle of the Gentiles,—and that the mutilation of these works of art, once the objects of religious regard, was probably the consequence of the missionary visit of Paul and Silas to Tarsus,—will probably be the strongest recommendation which this work could receive.
We have received three Catalogues which call for such mention as should direct to them the attention of our bibliographical friends. One is of the splendid Library of Mr. Dawson Turner, which will occupy Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson for thirteen days in its disposal. The next, Bibliotheca Americana, is of a most remarkable collection of American Books on sale by Mr. Russell Smith. The third is of an extensive collection of Theological Works on sale by Mr. Straker. The last two are made more valuable by the addition of useful indices.
Books Received.—A Manual of Photography, by Robert Hunt, Third Edition enlarged. It is sufficient to say that Professor Hunt's volume is at once the most elaborate, as his acquirements will ensure its being one of the most scientific works extant upon this now popular subject.—Memoirs of a Maître d'Armes, or Eighteen Months at St. Petersburgh, by A. Dumas; translated by The Marquis of Ormonde, is one of the most amusing and graphic among the many amusing and graphic volumes which have already appeared in the Traveller's Library.—Cyclopædia Bibliographica. Part VI. Mr. Darling's useful Cyclopædia maintains its character.—The Fall of Jerusalem, by the Rev. Dr. Milman. This endeavour to direct the public mind, through the medium of this dramatic poem, to the striking and incontestable evidence of the full completion of Prophecy in the Fall of Jerusalem, is a valuable addition to Murray's Railway Reading.—We must here acknowledge the receipt of two other volumes of poetry: Beauty, a Poem, by the author of Silent Love, an admirer and not unsuccessful imitator of Pope; and Love in the Moon, by Patrick Scott, a work in which scientific observation is combined with great poetic feeling and considerable power.—The Pilgrim's Progress of John Bunyan, for the Use of Children in the English Church, edited by the Rev. J. M. Neale. The object with which this beautiful edition has been prepared is so plainly stated, that we need only wish the book as wide a circulation as it deserves.—The Family Shakspeare, &c., by Thomas Bowdler. The fourth volume of this reprint of Mr. Bowdler's carefully revised edition of Shakspeare, contains the three Parts of Henry VI., Richard III., Henry VIII., and Timon of Athens.