LETTERS TO A YOUNG MAN, AND OTHER PAPERS. By Thomas De Quincey, author of "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater," etc. etc. Exclusive of the "Letters," five in number, this volume contains seven essays: 1. Theory of Greek Tragedy; 2. Conversation; 3. Language; 4. French and English Language; 5. California and the Gold Mania; 6. Ceylon; 7. Presence of Mind; in all which the great reputation of the author as an instructive and philosophical writer is fully sustained.
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF HIS EXCELLENCY, JOHN BIGLER, Governor of the State of California. Such is the title of a pamphlet sent us from the press of George Kerr, State Printer, Benicia, and the address is worthy of being thus distributed over the whole country. It is a clear and able exposition of the progress and resources of that wonderful portion of our Union. Aladdin, with his genii, could hardly have effected greater changes than gold and the genius of American freedom have effected in California. We are much obliged to the friend who sent us this excellent address. The name of Bigler should be highly honored in Pennsylvania.
WESTERN DEMOCRATIC REVIEW. George P. Buell, Editor and Publisher: Indianapolis, Jan., 1854. This is a new periodical, whose table of contents embraces a variety of subjects, social, political, poetical, biographical, and miscellaneous. We welcome every such manifestation of the growth, the prosperity, and the mental vigor of the Great West. The editor is evidently a man of ability and enterprise, and his articles, varied as they are, are all written with spirit, and show a truly liberal and patriotic mind.
THE SOUTHERN QUARTERLY REVIEW. C. Mortimer, Publisher: Charleston, S. C. We have often wondered that, excepting in political matters, the South has so long been willing to do without a literature of its own. We are glad to see that, at last, a publication devoted to subjects of general interest, as well as to politics, seems to meet with the success it deserves. The articles in it are written evidently with care and thought, and, although generally of too abstruse a nature to interest ladies, there are one or two lighter articles, pleasant chronicles of the olden time, which can hardly fail to please. Rich as South Carolina is in such themes, both from its old Huguenot ancestry, and from the characteristic earnestness with which it threw itself into the Revolutionary struggle, it needs only some one with the patient and devoted spirit of the antiquary to rescue from oblivion many scenes and incidents of romantic interest. The political articles, exclusively Southern as they are in thought and sentiment, yet, by their earnestness and acumen, justify the boast that the South is the birth-place of politicians.
From PARRY & MCMILLAN (successors to A. Hart late Carey & Hart), corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia:—
THE PLANTER'S NORTHERN BRIDE. A Novel. By Caroline Lee Hentz, author of "Linda," "Rena," "Eoline," etc. etc. We have not had time to become acquainted with the true character of this novel. We have read sufficient, however, to enable us to say that it is an effort to reconcile the difficulties that are sometimes supposed to exist between "true" lovers on account of their geographical positions. The name of the popular author will be the best recommendation we could give of her work. The volumes sent us are of the cheap edition, with paper covers, price fifty cents each. We are told that an edition is published with six engravings, two volumes, cloth gilt, $1 50. We might have been enabled to speak more confidently of the merits of the work, had we been favored with the plates.