NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
Mr. Hepworth Dixon, who is already favourably known as the author of a Life of Howard, has just published William Penn, an Historical Biography. It is unquestionably a book of considerable talent; and even those who may be most inclined to dissent from the
author's views of the political principles of the Quakers (and we suspect many of the Quakers themselves will be found among that number), will admit that in treating him not as a mere Quaker, as preceding biographers had been too much disposed to do, but as "a great English historical character—the champion of the Jury Laws—the joint leader, with Algernon Sidney, of the Commonwealth men—the royal councillor of 1684-8—the courageous defender of Free Thought—the founder of Pennsylvania"—Mr. Dixon has succeeded in the task which he had proposed to himself, namely, that of transforming William Penn "from a myth into a man." His vindication of this great man from what he designates "The Macaulay Charges" would not, however, have lost one iota of its efficiency, had it been couched in somewhat more measured terms.
Mr. Murray announces The Grenville Papers; being the Private Correspondence of Richard Grenville Earl Temple, his brother George Grenville, their Friends and Contemporaries, as in the press. It will contain some letters from Junius, and Mr. Grenville's Diary, particularly during his premiership, from 1763 to 1765. The fifth and sixth volumes of Lord Mahon's History of England from the Peace of Utrecht are also at press.
Lady Theresa Lewis is nearly ready with a work which cannot but be of great interest. It is entitled Lives of the Friends and Contemporaries of Lord Chancellor Clarendon, illustrative of Portraits in his Gallery; with an Account of the Origin of the Collection; and a descriptive Catalogue of the Pictures. It will form two volumes, and be accompanied by illustrative portraits.
Mr. Colburn announces a new library edition of Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England. Although revised and considerably augmented by new materials which have been placed at Miss Strickland's disposal since the appearance of the earlier impressions of her book, this edition is to be comprised in eight monthly volumes.
Books Received.—The Buried City of the East: Nineveh. A popular view of the discovery of the remains of the great city, compiled principally from Botta, and illustrated with numerous woodcuts, affords information enough, perhaps, for those who may be unable to consult the stirring narrative of Layard himself, but must send to his pages a great number of readers, in whom it can only serve to waken a lively interest in this great triumph of individual perseverance.—The Iliad of Homer, literally translated, with explanatory Notes, by T. A. Buckley, B.A., is the new volume of Bohn's Classical Library; and the Editor expresses his hopes "that it will be found to convey, more accurately than any which has preceded it, the words and thoughts of the original." The work has obviously been executed with great care; and the notes, though brief, are to the point.
Catalogues Received.—John Miller's (43. Chandos Street) Catalogue No. XXI. of Books Old and New; J. Russell Smith's (4. Old Compton Street) Catalogue Part III. of Choice Useful and Curious Books, English and Foreign; and Catalogue of a singular Collection of 25,000 Ancient and Modern Tracts and Pamphlets, Part II.