We have also from the same publishers a collection of original Essays on Life, Sleep, Pain, and other similar subjects, by Samuel H. Dixon, M.D. They present a variety of curious facts in the natural history of man, which are not only full of suggestion to the scientific student, but are adapted to popular comprehension, and form a pleasant and readable volume.
George P. Putnam has republished Sir Francis Head's lively volume entitled A Faggot of French Sticks, describing what he saw in Paris in 1851. The talkative baronet discourses in this work with his usual sparkling volubility. Superficial, shallow, good-natured; often commonplace though seldom tedious; brisk and effervescent as ginger-beer, it rattles cheerfully over the Paris pavements, and leaves quite a vivid impression of the gayeties and gravities of the French metropolis.
James Munroe and Co., Boston, have issued the third volume of Shakspeare, edited by Rev. H. N. Hudson, whose racy introductions and notes are far superior to the common run of critical commentaries—acute, profound, imbued with the spirit of the Shakspearian age, and expressed in a style of quaint, though vigorous antiqueness.
The same publishers have issued a Poem, called the Greek Girl, by James Wright Simmons, thickly sprinkled with affectation on a ground-work of originality;—a charming story, by the author of the “Dream-Chintz,” entitled The House on the Rock;—and a reprint of Companions of My Solitude, one of the series of chaste, refined, and quiet meditative essays by the author of “Friends in Council.”
Sorcery and Magic is the title of a collection of narratives by Thomas Wright, showing the influence which superstition once exercised on the history of the world. The work is compiled with good judgment from authentic sources, and without attempting to give any philosophical explanation of the marvelous facts which it describes, leaves them to the reflection and common sense of the reader. It is issued by Redfield in the elegant and tasteful style by which his recent publications may be identified.
Ravenscliffe, by Mrs. Marsh, and The Head of the Family, by the author of “Olive,” and “The Oglevies,” have attained a brilliant popularity among the leading English novels of the season, and will be welcome to the American public in Harper's “Library of Select Novels,” in which they are just reprinted.
Miss Mitford's Recollections of a Literary Life (republished by Harper and Brothers) will be found to possess peculiar interest for the American reader. In addition to a rich store of delightful personal reminiscences, genial and graceful criticisms on old English authors, as well as on contemporary celebrities, and copious selections from their choicest productions, Miss Mitford presents several agreeable sketches of American authors and other distinguished men, including Daniel Webster, Halleck, Hawthorne, Whittier, Wendell Holmes, and so forth. She shows a sincere love for this country, and a cordial appreciation of its institutions and its literature. The whole book is remarkable for its frank simplicity of narrative, its enthusiasm for good letters, its fine characterizations of eminent people, and its careless beauties of style. A more truly delightful volume has not been on our table for many a day.
Mr. T. Hudson Turner, one of the ablest of British archæologists, and a contributor to the Athenæum, died of consumption, on the 14th of January, at the age of thirty-seven.