“Mr. Herron has fully understood and appreciated the evils inseparably connected with the plans of railway super-structure so much in use here and in Europe, in which the rails are supported upon isolated blocks of stone or sleepers of timber . . . . His object has been to devise a plan in which all the parts forming the structure shall be adequately supported; while, at the same time, they shall be so connected that no portion will be liable to independent displacement, either laterally or vertically.”
Letters from Abroad to Kindred at Home. By the author of “The Linwoods,” etc. 2 vols. Harper and Brothers: New York, 1841.
Miss Sedgwick has given us, in these volumes, her notes of travel through England, Italy, and other parts of Europe. The book is written in an easy, almost conversational style; it abounds in anecdote and what we should call allowable gossip; and, if it were only a little racier, would be a model for tourists. We like particularly the little details of persons and manners, in which our author has indulged—one gets, in perusing them, an excellent idea of the society in other countries. This is what we want, and where the author does not intrude on privacy, we cannot see that he or she is to be condemned. Miss Sedgwick’s choice of words might—to our minds—be purer: her style is often disfigured by provincial phrases of the worst kind.
The Life and Adventures of Valentine Vox, the Ventriloquist. By H. Cockton. With numerous illustrations, by Phiz. 1 vol. Carey and Hart.
This is a work of considerable humor—one of that class, which, without much originality, manages to become popular, as much from the fun it contains, as from the style in which the story is told. The illustrations are not as happy as those of Phiz in general. The book is neatly printed, in the style of the Nickleby series.
SECRET WRITING.
On the tenth of August, a letter addressed to us by some gentleman who had assumed the nom de guerre of Timotheus Whackemwell, was received at this office, from Baltimore. It enclosed a cypher, and says, “if you succeed with it I will set you down as perfect in the art.” Thinking that in the chirography we recognized the hand of our friend, Mr. J. N. McJilton, of Baltimore, we addressed him by return of mail, with the solution desired. Mr. McJilton, it appears, however, was not the correspondent. The solution ran thus—