Village Life in Egypt. With Sketches of the Saïd. By Bayle St. John. Author of “Adventures in the Libyan Desert.” Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields. 2 vols. 18mo.
A book of travels so rare and strange in its incidents and descriptions, devoted to scenes and people so different from those coming within the observation of ordinary travelers, and written with such thorough knowledge of the subject, as this book of Bayle St. John, is a luxury to read. It gives a complete insight into the poor laboring population of Egypt, and palpably exhibits the abysses of degradation and misery into which tyranny relentlessly plunges the people it pretends to govern. The manners and customs which St. John describes, have sometimes the strange effect on the imagination, which might come from reading an account of things as they are in some other planet. The book is admirably written, has, in its diction, that air of luxurious repose which tourists seem to catch from the climate of Egypt, and is a worthy companion to Kinglake’s “Eothen” and Warburton’s “Crescent and the Cross.” It is published, from advance sheets, in Ticknor & Co.’s most elegant and tasteful style.
A Journal kept during a Summer Tour, for the Children of a Village School. By the author of “Amy Herbert,” etc. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 12mo.
This delightful volume is divided into three parts—the first giving an account of a tour from Ostend to the lake of Constance, the second from the lake to the Simplon, and the third from the Simplon through Tyrol to Genoa. It is laden with information, of especial interest to the young, is written in a style of much clearness and simplicity, and is pervaded by that sweet and genial tone of morality and religion, characteristic of all the writing of Miss Sewall.
Comparative Psychology of Universal Analogy. Vegetable Portraits of Character. By M. Edgeworth Lazarus, M. D. New York: Fowler & Wells. 1 vol. 12mo.
The ingenious author of this singular volume makes botany speak the language of Swedenborgianism, Fourierism, mysticism, and many other isms of the day. It is as curious a theory of symbolism as we have ever read, and whatever may be thought of the scientific value of the writer’s statements, they must be submitted to be exceedingly interesting and entertaining.
Men’s Wives. By William M. Thackeray. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 16mo.