The fact that since the publication of this work, SEVEN-AND-TWENTY THOUSAND copies have been disposed of in this country, beside various editions in America,—will speak more in its favour than the most artful and high-flown praise. It is an epitome of all that has been proved to be true concerning the career of the most extraordinary man of the last thousand years. We possessed no previous epitome of his history; and notwithstanding the smallness of space into which it is compressed, the narrative is clear. The Life of Napoleon, doubly interesting when relieved of the tediousness of useless detail, has never been better told. Volumes so rich in information will be devoured by youth, and are worthy to be consulted by the maturest reader.
The work is written with fairness and impartiality, free from party-spirit, and the author has interwoven with his narrative all the new illustrations and anecdotes furnished by Bourrienne and the other fast-following memoirs of the French press.
THE RUINS OF ANCIENT CITIES.
By Charles Bucke. 2 Vols. Illustrated.
Cities, like men, flourish and decay, and each possess their annals. The poetic conception of personifying these broken records of natural grandeur originated with the editor himself; but, in carrying out his design, he acknowledges Rollin as his guide. This elegant and accurate writer confesses that he does not hesitate to rifle the cabinets of others to enrich his own; that he often transcribed without quoting, and introduced solid reflections borrowed from the sterling works of others. This compilation is also a beautiful bead-roll, the precious production of many minds: it is a fair fabric of costly materials raised by a literary architect, whose industry, experience, and candour, are already acknowledged by the public.
SALMAGUNDI;
OR, THE WHIM-WHAMS AND OPINIONS OF LAUNCELOT LANGSTAFF, ESQ.
With numerous Cuts by George Cruikshank.
The earliest paintings of the greatest masters sometimes differ considerably from those of their maturer years, and not unfrequently surpass them in brilliancy and freshness. If the Salmagundi Papers be compared with the subsequent works of the same author, they will not be found inferior in originality, vivacity, or virtuous tendency. While satire is the adopted weapon of chastisement, it wounds the vicious only. “We have,” say the authors, “no fear of the censures of the wise, good, or fair, for they will ever be sacred from our attacks. We reverence the wise, love the good, and adore the fair: we declare ourselves champions in their cause—in the cause of morality—and we throw our gauntlet to all the world besides.”
THE LIFE OF PETER THE GREAT.
By John Barrow, Esq., F.R.S., Author of the “Eventful History of the Mutiny of the Bounty.” With Portrait.