The Westminster Review has passed into the hands of John Chapman, the well-known publisher of works on Rationalistic theology. The Leader rather naïvely remarks, "We rely too much on his sagacity to entertain the fear, not unfrequently expressed, of his making the Review over theological, which would be its ruin."
Among the prominent forthcoming works announced by the English publishers, are the following:—"A Lady's Voyage round the World;" from the German of Ida Pfeiffer, from which some interesting extracts have already appeared in Blackwood.—"Wesley and Methodism," by Isaac Taylor—"Lectures on the History of France," by Professor Sir James Stephens—A condensed Edition of Dr. Layard's "Discoveries at Nineveh," prepared by the Author for popular reading—A second volume of Lamartine's "History of the Restoration of the Monarchy in France"—An improved Edition of the "Life and Works of Robert Burns"—Richardson's "Boat Voyage," or a History of the Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin.
It is said that the recent discoveries of Colonel Rawlinson in relation to the inscriptions on the Assyrian sculptures have awakened the British Government to the great historical value of those monuments—and that a sum of £1500 has been placed at his disposal to assist toward the prosecution of excavations and inquiries in Assyria. Colonel Rawlinson will, it is understood, proceed immediately to Bagdad; and from thence direct his explorations toward any quarter which may appear to him likely to yield important results.
Mr. William Weir, a literary veteran of ability and accomplishment, is about to publish, from the papers of one who mixed much with it, another view of English literary society in the days of Johnson.
A pension of £100 a year on the civil list has been granted to the family of the late Rev. James Seaton Reid, D. D., Professor of Church History in Glasgow, and author of the History of Presbyterianism in Ireland, besides other works on theology.