man's castle in the GIRONDE, and PAU in the Lower Pyrenees. The principal object of the Author is to present lively but truthful pictures of the mode of life which his countrymen lead abroad, as well as that of the natives, with various classes of whom the Exile mixed freely on the most friendly terms.

History, Opinions, and Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., from the Tatler, by Steele and Addison : With Introduction, Notes, and Literary Illustrations. By H. R. MONTGOMERY, Author of "Thomas Moore, his Life, Writings, and Contemporaries," &c. Pp. 320, with 11 Photographs. Crown 8vo. price 10s. 6d. cloth. [Oct. 30, 1861.

THIS volume is designed as a companion to the

other justly celebrated production of Addison and Steele, "Sir Roger De Coverley," in the detached and consecutive form, and embodies the narrative portion of the Tatler, which has a personal interest and a development of character highly dramatic.

The INTRODUCTION glances historically at the state of society, when Addison and Steele commenced their periodical lucubrations, in a way which it is believed has not been previously done, and traces succinctly the circumstances attending the origin of the work. It took its name from a pamphlet by Swift, in which he employed his characteristic grave irony in turning the weapons of an astrological impostor, who traded on popular credulity, against himself, and with the aid of the other wits succeeded in keeping society for some time in convulsions of laughter. Swift was one of Steele's earliest coadjutors in the work; Addison followed; and contributed permanently. "Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., Astrologer," says Lord Macaulay, writing on Addison, "was an imaginary person, almost as well known in that age as Mr. Paul Pry or Mr. Samuel Pickwick is in ours." The notoriety, however, is the chief point of resemblance, for though Mr. Bickerstaff is a humorist of the most delightful description, yet his humour is that of genteel comedy, not farce, and while combined with the teaching of a philosopher and scholar, is at the same time imparted with the air of an agreeable friend. Mr. Hazlitt says, "Mr. Biekerstaff himself is a gentleman and a scholar, a humorist and a man of the world, with a great deal of nice, easy naïveté about him." His themes, though of the most various description, are such as 66 come home (to use Bacon's expression) to men's business and bosoms," and are treated with such a charm of manner, as would have made any subjects interesting, even though they had been as unpromising as that of Swift when

he wrote upon a broomstick. Mr. Bickerstaff's sympathy with humanity was unlimited in its range, and he dwelt on topics which must always be most interesting. He brought the most agreeable sort of raillery to bear upon the follies of men, from which he sought to divorce them by getting them to laugh with him at their absurdity. His teaching is never delivered in a dry didactic form or in an oracular tone; but insinuated in a dramatic form and illustrated by sketches of character. His great aim cannot be so well or briefly stated as by a sentence of his concluding paper, to allure my reader with the variety of my subjects, and insinuate, if I could, the weight of reason with the agreeableness of wit." The writers were the founders of English periodical literature. The novel did not then exist. Swift it is true, and De Foe, at a subsequent period of the same age, produced works of fiction; but the authors inaugurated the classical tale in a style resembling that which on a larger scale has delighted so many readers in the Vicar of Wakefield. Of the tales and narratives of Bickerstaff, Mr. Forster thus speaks in his recent volume:

"All these tales have an artless, unpretending simplicity, and a charm quite unpremeditated, but which is yet combined with a reality and intensity of pathos, affecting to a degree that the equally brief narrations of any other writer have never, in our judgment, equalled." (Biographical Essays, pp. 192-3.)

A series of eleven PHOTOGRAPHS, from designs by T. STOTHARD, H. SINGLETON, H. THOMPSON, LOUTHERBERG, CRAIG, and other artists, strictly illustrative of the sketches and historiettes, impart, it is hoped, an additional feature of interest to the volume, in keeping with its literary character. These Illustrations are reproduced from engravings in expensive editions of the Tatler long out of print. The NOTES and literary illustrations, besides embodying the information contained in the annotations to the best editions of the Tatler on technical and minor points, dwell on the more interesting allusions in the essays, referring to memorable events, places, and persons, with a fulness commensurate with their relative importance.

the poem by presenting, as the first abode for the outcast angels, the ruins of a long-extinguished sun, tombed in the solid night of starless space."

66

The mode of expulsion from heaven, the flight of the whole host of rebel angels, driven forth through the infinite space by some unseen Power, as by a blast of "dark lightning," is then briefly pictured. In Book II. the lost angels are met in council. Satan informs them that God designs to bring forth the children of Israel from Egypt, and urges all to oppose this to the uttermost. In Book III. Moses and Aaron appear before Pharaoh. He will not believe in the God of Israel; and angrily refuses to let the Israelites go into the wilderness to sacrifice. As warnings, or as punishments, the plagues are then inflicted.

Two episodes are interwoven with the main subject. A Hebrew youth and maiden, betrothed to each other, are introduced. Moses beholds them, and at once feels that they are specially chosen by God for some great end, unknown. An angel descends, and tells him that, "if pure they live, and pure they die," from their posterity shall spring the Messiah. This is overheard by Beelzebub: and Satan, in council, resolves that they shall be so tempted as to ensure their fall. The first temptation is to be through the carnal appetite: and two Spirits are therefore appointed to the task of inflaming their passions.

Out of this springs the second episode. The Spirit who, through a dream, attempts to foul the soul of the maiden, is so struck by the exquisite purity of her nature,- so moved by the fervour of her prayer, even during that ill-designing vision, that the long-lost bliss of heaven comes back upon remembrance: he is smitten with remorse, and resolves to abandon the bad service of hell, and to defy its utmost vengeance. He dares not pray to his offended Creator, yet humbly owns that his punishment is far less than his desert. Adopting the notion propounded by Origen-or perhaps some yet earlier writer and hinted at by Milton, the Author represents this repentant Spirit as being finally pardoned, and restored to happiness in heaven. The purpose of these episodes is to afford, by variety, some relief from the too probable monotony attendant upon the description of a series of plagues. They are an out-growth from the chief subject, but they are not discordant with it. The poem concludes with the passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites, and the total destruction of Pharaoh and his host. It will scarcely be questioned that the subject of the poem is sufficiently great to justify the use of poetical machinery. The author has, however, restricted this to Angels only: except so far as the text of Scripture compelled him, he has not presumed to represent Deity.

HE object attempted in this volume is to reTHE produce three of the most remarkable dramatic pieces of Calderon in the very peculiar and varied versification of the original, of which the asonante vowel rhyme is the chief. No such experiment has ever previously been made in English verse to anything approaching the same extent. In this, however, it has not been tried as an experiment, much less through a vain ambition of naturalising this southern exotic among our more robust and familiar forms of metre. It has been adopted, after mature con sideration, as the only mode of enabling an English reader to form a true conception, not only of the structure, but of the character and spirit of one of Calderon's dramas. Calderon was great as a dramatist, but perhaps greater as a lyrist; unless, therefore, a lyrical form be preserved in the translation somewhat analogous to the original, much that is essential and characteristic is necessarily lost. Almost all the critical writers who have investigated this literary problem are unanimous that the blank verse of the Elizabethan drama (even the brilliant specimens afforded by Beaumont and Fletcher's most celebrated plays), is no equivalent for the melody and richness of Calderon's longer descriptions. In the dialogue it may be admissible, and even convey something which to English ears may be better than the original: but it is not the original nevertheless, and will therefore neither satisfy the English reader who is seeking for accurate information, nor the Spanish scholar who may turn to the work for an artistic reproduction.

If we reverse the process the truth of this posi tion is manifest. Hamlet or Othello translated by a Spanish writer into the short lyrical asonante lines which are the standard dramatic metre of his language would not be likely to lead to a greater misconception of the essential characteristics of Shakspeare's genius than would be the Constant Prince or the Devotion of the Cross of Calderon, if translated into English dramatic blank verse. No doubt short lyrical measures more in accordance with English associations and not so remote from the essential spirit of the Spanish original

could be found: but here other difficulties arise. It established forms of verse were employed, such as those used by Butler, by Swift, or by Scott, the structure of the translation would divert the attention of the reader from the original, by recalling recollections of those writers. If the translator invented a metre for himself, it would be so coloured by his own individuality as to be equally fallacious as a version or transcript. These considerations appeared to leave the Author of the present volume no choice but to adopt the metre of his original as far as he could be able to do so, by such command as he possessed of the English language, which was perhaps never before subjected to so severe a test as in this long and laborious attempt.

The Dramas themselves are both interesting and curious. The first, Love the Greatest Enchantment, is the Story of Circe and Ulysses, not merely retold with additions, but substantially reconstructed; the Homeric fable being treated by the Spanish poet as if it never had been used for poetical purposes before. There is a comic underplot which is referred to with much praise by Southey in a critical article on the early Spanish drama.

The second poem, The Sorceries of Sin, is remarkable for the singular metempsychosis which the same Hellenic legend undergoes at Calderon's hand. It should be added, in reference to it, that the present version is the first yet attempted in English of the singular class of dramatic mysteries to which it belongs.

The third piece, The Devotion of the Cross, is well known to all students of Spanish literature, and is perhaps of all Calderon's dramas the one that has been most highly praised and most deeply censured.

The Spanish text, from the best editions, is printed parallel with the English translation. In the Introduction are given some curious particulars relating to the dramatic art and literature of Spain, chiefly drawn from Spanish sources, and including several passages bearing on the subject taken by permission from unpublished letters by Mr. TICKNOR, the historian of Spanish Literature, to whom the volume is dedicated.

The Tale of the Great Persian War, from the Histories of Herodotus. By the Rev. GEORGE W. Cox, M.A., late Scholar of Trinity College, Oxford; Author of "Tales from Greek Mythology." With 12 Woodcut Illustrations. Fcp. 8vo. pp. 456, price 7s. 6d. cloth.

Dec. 7, 1861.

THERE are few who, even on the first reading, have failed to perceive something of the beauty which pervades the history of Herodotus;

but there are perhaps still fewer in whom the first perusal has not left an impression of strange incoherence and incongruity. The mention of each fresh king or people leads to long and apparently arbitrary digressions, and his work assumes the appearance of history within history, of legend within legend, until the existence of any connecting principle seems doubtful or impossible. Soon, however, the reader begins to see that a distinct religious conviction underlies each personal history. If, after this, he cares to follow the track which opens before him, he will find that this moral or theological conviction has imparted to his history a strictly epical unity: he will see that from the beginning to the end there is a chain of cause and effect quite distinct from that sequence of human and political motive which we are wont to regard as the mainspring of history. Such a narrative can scarcely be divested of its original form without weakening or destroying its vigour and beauty; and if presented in any other shape, it may satisfy the requirements of modern criticism, but it will not be the same history which rose before the mind of Herodotus; it will no longer be the narrative whose beauty is said to have extorted the applause of thousands at the great Olympic games.

This narrative has, perhaps, not yet been presented to English readers. There are many translations of Herodotus, but no translation can be free from some at least of the many defects which are incidental to the work of expressing literally in one language the thoughts and feelings of another. Phrases not without force and beauty in the original become heavy and cumbrous in the translation, while natural and expressive idioms pass into unmeaning and disagreeable verbiage. And if the long episodes and complicated digressions so interrupt the march of the narrative for the reader who studies it in the original language, there can, it would seem, be no necessity to introduce the same interruptions in another. The omission of those portions which do not belong immediately to the main subject of the tale will probably give a more faithful and vivid idea of the original narrative.

This narrative, certainly one of the most beautiful that mortal hand has written down, has been examined with admirable power and judgment by the great critical historians of the present century. The religious sentiment, the human and supernatural sequence of events, with every episode and every incident, has been minutely analysed; but even in their pages the reader will fail to find the history of Herodotus as it appears in his own. It is impossible that he should so find it; and the want may justify the present attempt to clothe in an English dress, and without the restraints imposed on a professed translation,

a narrative rich with all the wealth of Homeric imagery, and never perhaps surpassed in the majesty of epical conception.

In the chapters appended to the Tale of the War, the narrative has been critically examined, not in any vain effort to rival or depreciate the invaluable histories of Bishop Thirlwall and Mr. Grote, yet in the hope that it may tend to settle some points which they have left uncertain, and to present in a different light some facts to which they would seem to have given an unduly harsh interpretation. None perhaps will be found to regret that a less severe judgment may, consistently with historical truth, be passed on a greater man even than Pericles, though neither so pure nor so fortunate, and that at least a plea of unproven guilt may be urged for the illustrious name of Themistocles.

visionary. Thanks to the labours of Robinson and Barclay in America, Williams in England, and Tobler in Germany, a new era has now arisen. Jerusalem and the environs have been more than once surveyed; and with this certain groundwork, passages in Scripture and Josephus, which before were confused or unintelligible, have become plain, and consistent with each other. No doubt further discoveries must be made before perfection can be reached; but, in the meantime, the aim of the present volume is to lay before the reader, in a succinct and summary way, all the results which can be fairly drawn from the researches of English, American, and German travellers and antiquaries down to the present time. At the end of the book is appended a carefully prepared coloured map, which shows at a glance the several quarters of the town, with the sites of the Temple and of all the most remarkable places. With this map in hand, the reader of Scripture, after perusing the Essay itself, will have before him a picture of Jerusalem as it was in the time of the kings and also in the lifetime of our Lord. Here stood the gorgeous palace of Solomon; here was the Temple, with Solomon's Porch, under which our Lord and his disciples were wont to walk; here was the Pool of Bethesda, where the poor cripple was healed; here was the Pool of Siloam, where the tower fell and killed eighteen persons; and above all, here was the Palace of Herod, afterwards the Prætorium of Pilate, where our Lord was tried; and here, without the walls (as they then existed) was the place of execution, called Golgotha, where our Lord was crucified; and here, hard by, was the garden in which our Lord was buried. It is well known that some of these localities have been warmly contested amongst the learned, and more particularly amongst Robinson, Williams, and Fergusson, who are all at variance with each other. In these pages the reader will find the controversy briefly stated, and the conclusions drawn by the author himself after a fair and impartial examination of the evidence.

Selections from the Correspondence of R. E. H. Greyson, Esq. Edited by the Author of "The Eclipse of Faith." Third Edition. Crown 8vo. pp. 456, price 7s. 6d. cloth. [Oct. 31, 1861.

THE greater portion of this volume consists of

brief essays in the form of Letters on the infidelity which exists in educated society, and on some political, social, literary, and philosophical subjects closely connected with it. The editor is believed to have aimed at imparting, by his mode of treatment, a more lively interest to this class of

subjects than is usually associated with sermons and books having a purely didactic purpose and scope. The rapid sale of the first edition, and the steady demand for the second (now out of print), have confirmed the generally favourable verdict of the press; in spite of a good deal of discordant criticism, which the appearance of the work at first provoked. In a brief advertisement prefixed to the present edition, the editor states that he has received from many quarters intimations that notwithstanding, or perhaps in consequence of, the apparent levity of some of the letters, others of the selection, dealing with some of the most momentous questions that can agitate the human mind, have not been without their use.

THE object of this work is to pursue the Analysis of the Human Mind simply under the guidance of facts taken from the widest survey of human nature, and by the principles of Inductive Philosophy. To accomplish this end it goes. back to the physical basis of all human activity, investigating the primordial forms and conditions. of life, and showing the transition from the vital to the mental processes. It attempts next to develop the general laws of our intellectual activity, and to show how the primary forms of the human intelligence gradually unfold themselves into all the fulness and richness of our Mental Maturity. The various phenomena of the Intellect, the Emotions and the Will are thus drawn out into one connected chain of natural sequences, and all connected with those primary and instinctive activities, out of which they are evolved by the fundamental laws of our mental growth.

nation comparable only to Lord Bacon's." In the Lectures on the Old and New Theology, the writer contrasts sectarian conceptions of religion, which he believes to be essentially the same in all churches, with the more advanced principles which regard life in Christ as the sole ground of Church Communion. The Old Theology he regards as significant of despair for man, the New of hope and consolation. Here, and also in the letter which follows, he claims for the Church the widest possible catholicity, and protests against all sectarian limitations whatever. The author's own theological views appear to coincide, in the main, with those of the Broad Church School generally.

A Defence of the Faith. PART the FIRST. Forms of Unbelief. By SANDERSON ROBINS, M.A., Vicar of St. Peter's in the Isle of Thanet, and Rural Dean. 8vo. pp. 230, price 7s. 6d. cloth. [Nov. 22, 1861. THIS volume contains a view of existing infidelity in relation to the past, and to the future; and traces the descent of present unbelief through some critical periods of Church History. The first chapter contains a general statement of the purpose for which it was written. The second, an account of the Alexandrian School, both of Philosophy and Theology; its founders, and its tendencies, as well as its connection with modern forms of thought. In the third chapter, a sketch of the Scholastic Philosophy is given, so far as it tended to produce or to develop the denial of the faith with which the present age has become familiar; commencing with Roscellin, and closing with the times of Ockham and Duns Scotus. The fourth chapter contains a detailed account of English deism, beginning with Lord Herbert of Cherbury, and ending with Bolingbroke and his contemporaries. The parallel between their arguments, and those of the Essays and Reviews, is proved by extracts; and the favourable opinion of the deistical writings lately expressed is examined. Pantheism is the subject of the fifth chapter; its character and meaning are stated, and its history is traced from the period of the Neoplatonist School, through the middle ages, and the post-reformation period, to the present time; with an especial examination of the doctrines of Spinoza, and his arguments against external evidence, which are shown to be identical with such as are at present reproduced by some English divines. The materialism of the French School is also traced through their writings, from Condillac to Auguste Comte. The systems of Mr. Darwin and Mr. Buckle are proved to be essentially pantheistic. The sixth chapter is occupied with a sketch of the modern.