This little volume, which, by the way, is dedicated to Mr. Herbert, is very elegantly got up and tastefully bound in gilt muslin by Mr. William Moore of this city.
A Hand-Book of the English Language, for the Use of the Universities and Higher Classes of Schools. By R. G. Latham, M. D., F.R.S. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 12mo.
It is hardly necessary to say to any of our readers interested in the history or analysis of the English language, that the author of this learned and able volume is the latest and the best authority in the matter of which it treats. The preface to the present American edition asserts but the simple truth, when it declares that “Dr. Latham now takes rank among the ablest Ethnologists of the age, and that few have been more successful in unraveling the difficulties that involve the origin and formation of the English tongue, in its connection with our early history as a people. He has brought the labors of all who have written upon the various ramifications of the Indo-European languages, to bear upon the elucidation of our mother tongue, with an acuteness of criticism and a breadth of view, that distances all his predecessors or contemporaries in the same field.” It may be added also that Dr. Latham’s method and style are in pleasing contrast to the wavering, uncertain, choose-for-yourself-between-two-ways manner, characteristic of many philologists. His analysis penetrates to the core of the matter, and processes and results are stated with an austere condensation of language, which is jealous of one useless word. As a work wherein to obtain definite ideas of the history and grammatical structure of our language, we do not know its equal.
Arctic Searching Expedition: a Journal of a Boat-Voyage through Rupert’s Land and the Arctic Sea, in Search of the Discovery Ships under command of Sir John Franklin. By Sir John Richardson, C. B., F.R.S. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1 vol. 12mo.
The interest, so general all over the civilized world, felt in every thing which relates to Franklin’s Expedition, will command for this volume an extensive circulation. Sir John Richardson’s account of his long voyage is especially valuable for the large amount of information it gives respecting the climate, the physical geography, the plants, and the Indians of the regions he visited. He has the accurate observation of the man of science, with something of a humorist’s eye for character, and his details of his winter quarters among the Chepewyans is quite amusing as well as instructive. Throughout the volume there is an entire absence of pretension and exaggeration, and every page adds to the reader’s first favorable impression of the author’s modesty, energy, and intelligence.
Essays from the London Times. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 16mo.
This is the first of a series of volumes, to be published under the general title of “Appleton’s Popular Library,” and to include some of the best miscellaneous works of the day. The size is convenient, and the general execution very elegant. The present volume is a good beginning. It consists of essays, selected from the literary department of the London Times, and the production, we believe, of the author of “Caleb Stukely,”—a powerful novel which appeared some years ago in Blackwood’s Magazine. The style is bold, clear, decisive, end business-like, and the matter very attractive. The essay on Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton is full of information which must be new to a majority of readers, and evinces a complete mastery of the subject. Not less interesting are the essays on the Orleans family, beginning with the profligate Regent of that name, and ending with the late King of the French. The infamy in the family’s annals is brought startlingly out. The successive children of the house seem, to use an expression of old Dr. South, “to have been, not so much born, as damned, into the world.” The essays on Southey, Chantrey, Keats, and Ancient Egypt, are likewise excellent.