The work itself is written in sharp, snapping style, each sentence exploding like a percussion cap, and abundantly charged with French enthusiasm and French affectation. The translator has happily seized the spirit of the book, especially its tone of military precision and authoritativeness. The work is comprehensive in its subjects, sketching the prominent orators of the Constituent Assembly, the Convention, the Empire, the Restoration, and the Revolution of July. The portraits of Mirabeau, Danton, Napoleon, M. de Serre, General Foy, Constant, Royer Collard, Manuel, Sauzet, La Fayette, Odillon-Barrot, Dupin, Berryer, Lamartine, Guizot and Thiers, are exceedingly interesting, as introducing us to men who are familiar to everybody by name, but of whose personal appearance and style of oratory few readers have had an opportunity of knowing much, from the descriptions of an independent eye and ear witness. The volume is very readable in spite of its affected conciseness and elaborate rhodomontade, and we have little doubt conveys many accurate impressions of the French politicians and orators whose merits it discusses. We know of few volumes better calculated to give the reader a notion of the modern French mind. Where the author, however, criticises politicians to whom he is opposed in principle, he falls generally short of his mark. He has little notion of the meaning of wisdom as applied to action.
The Life of Wesley; and Rise and Progress of Methodism. By Robert Southey, L.L.D. Second American Edition, with Notes, &c. By the Rev. Daniel Curry, A. M. New York: Harper & Brothers. 2 vols. 12mo.
This is an excellent edition of a most valuable and fascinating biography. Its diction has all the charm of Southey’s fluent and graceful style, and the subject is made intensely interesting by the singular felicity of its treatment. No person who has in his nature the slightest religious feeling can read the book without instruction and delight. The present edition is enriched with the notes and observations which Coleridge penciled in his copy of the work. They are exceedingly characteristic, and worth all the rest of the notes put together. The American editor’s remarks are often presumptuous and out of place. They serve no good purpose, except in a few instances where they correct some mistake in matters of fact. As a whole, however, the edition is a very good one, and may be said to supplant all others. It will doubtless have a vast circulation, not merely among the Methodists, but among all classes, literary and sectarian. We will guarantee that no reader who once commences the book can leave it unfinished. It is as interesting as one of Scott’s novels.
The Horse and his Rider. By Rollo Springfield. New York: Wiley & Putnam. 1 vol. 16mo.
This is a captivating little volume, half way between a book for men and a book for boys. It is full of information and interesting anecdotes, contains a number of elegant illustrations, and is written in a style of much simplicity and clearness. The author almost exhausts the subject for the general reader. That portion devoted to the turf is especially racy. The intelligence and humanity of the noble animal have full justice done to them. The volume might be called a voice from the animal kingdom.
Notes on the Early Settlement of the North-Western Territory. By Jacob Burnet. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 8vo.
The author of this volume is one of those who write history, not from books or hearsay, but from direct observation of events, or from a connection with the actors. The work has, therefore, great value and great freshness. To all who are interested in the vast region to which it relates, it presents strong claims to attention.