Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have issued the fourth volume of their beautiful edition of the Collective Writings of Thomas De Quincy, containing The Cæsars, a work characterized by the subtilty of reflection, curious learning, and original felicities of expression, for which the author is pre-eminent.
Life on the Plains of the Pacific, by Rev. Gustavus Hine (published by Geo. H. Derby and Co., Buffalo), is the title of a work devoted to the history, condition, and prospects of Oregon, with a description of its geography, climate, and productions, and of personal adventures among the Indians. It contains a detailed history of the Oregon Mission, drawn from the most authentic sources, including the notes and journals of the first missionaries on that station. The journal of the author, commencing with the departure of the missionaries from New York in 1839, presents an interesting narrative of the largest expedition of this kind that ever sailed from an American port, and is enriched with a great variety of facts and incidents that occurred in the wide field of observation that forms the subject of the volume. Without pretending to the graces of literary composition, the writer has produced a work of sterling value. His authority will no doubt be appealed to with confidence on all matters pertaining to the important scene of his labors.
Hints to Sportsmen, by E. J. Lewis (published by Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia), is a regular-built treatise on all the mysteries of the sporting craft. The author writes like an experienced shot. His book is not only a valuable manual for the sportsman, but a tempting volume for the lovers of spirited description.
Curran and his Contemporaries, by Charles Phillips (published by Harper and Brothers), is a reproduction of the celebrated work of Counselor Phillips, having been subjected by the author to a thorough revision and amendment. It describes the interesting period of Irish history during which Curran was the leading member of the Bar, with great vivacity and force. Touching lightly on the politics of the times, it presents a series of personal delineations, which are drawn to the life by the enthusiastic and genial author. The freshness of his recollections affords an abundance of piquant anecdote, which, with his warm sympathies with the Irish character, gives a perpetual liveliness and glow to the narrative, redeeming it from every approach to dullness, and sustaining the interest of the reader to the close of the volume.
Louisiana: Its Colonial History and Romance, by Charles Gayarre (published by Harper and Brothers), is a republication of the lectures of the author on "The Poetry, or the Romance of the History of Louisiana," with the addition of seven new lectures, bringing the subject down to the departure of Bienville, the founder of the colony, in 1743. Among the interesting topics discussed in the second series of lectures, are the formation of the Mississippi Company, the History of Law's financial career, the foundation of New Orleans, the Manners and Customs of the Natchez tribe, the wars between the Indians and the Colonists, and others, which bring the romantic incidents connected with the colonization of Louisiana into prominent view. The period was fertile in singular adventures, presenting abundant materials for the poet or novelist. Mr. Gayarre has made a felicitous selection of topics, which, under the brilliant coloring of a lively imagination, are presented in a picturesque and attractive form. The substance of his work is founded on the conclusions of exact historical research, while the drapery in which its scenes and characters are arrayed form a graceful accompaniment to the severity of truth. With a perpetual vivacity of style, and a profusion of glowing imagery, Mr. Gayarre never becomes tedious or insipid. His volume is always delightful as a poem, if it is not complete as a record, and will hold a high place among the popular contributions to the "Romance of History."
E. C. and J. Biddle have published An Elementary Treatise on Statics, by Gaspard Monge, translated by Woods Baker, a work which has obtained a distinguished reputation in the scientific literature of France, by its clear and correct style, its rigorous demonstrations, and its well-connected propositions. It is adapted to fill a place, for which no adequate provision has been made by the usual treatises on the subject in the English language. Most of these are voluminous, and suited only to the more advanced classes of students, or else composed chiefly of practical and descriptive details. The present volume treats the subject in the synthetic method, and can be understood without difficulty by those who are familiar with Euclid's Elements.
Warreniana.—Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have issued a reprint of this celebrated jeu d'esprit, which still retains its popularity, together with the Rejected Addresses, to which it forms an appropriate companion. The peculiarities of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, Christopher North, Washington Irving, Scott, Moore, Brougham, Wilberforce, and other names of sufficient eminence to provoke a quiz, are hit off with capital success. The most astringent features are always relaxed in the perusal of these amusing pages.
J. S. Redfield has issued an edition of Jung Stilling's Theory of Pneumatology, and of Cahagnet's Celestial Telegraph, which are filled with the latest information on the whole subject of ghosts, presentiments, visions, and the world of spirits, obtained professedly from the most authentic sources. Stilling's work is introduced with a Preface by Rev. Dr. Bush, highly commending its purposes and character. The "Celestial Telegraph" beats Jackson Davis and the Rochester Knockings all hollow. Whoever is curious in the literature of the supernatural will find enough here to satisfy the most craving love of the marvelous.
Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have published a volume of Poems, by Henry T. Tuckerman, distinguished for the sweet and graceful fancies, the fluent aptness of expression, the joyous sympathy with nature, and the refined delicacy of taste by which most of the writings of the author are characterized. The vein of tranquil reflection which pervades them, and the chastened utterance of feeling which vails rather than embodies strong emotion, though not among the elements of popular poetry, will recommend them to the congenial reader.
J. W. Moore, Philadelphia, has published a useful little volume for students in design, entitled The Theory of Effect, by An Artist. It is intended not only for the use of beginners, but of those who have attained a proficiency in the art, while they are unacquainted with the principles on which the correctness of their pictures depends. The rules of Effect are laid down with great precision and minuteness, and illustrated with several neat engravings by Hinckley.