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in no other of his poems. And yet there are moods in which we would prefer his 'We are Seven," or one of his little poems on Lucy, to all its labored vehemence and crudded splendor.

We have never seen the "old man eloquent," but can well picture him to our fancy. Yonder he stands, under the shadow of the fine wood near his cottage, reading a portion of the "Recluse" to the echoes!

"Ah, Bard, tremendous in sublimity,
Could I behold thee in thy loftier mood,
Wandering alone, with finely frenzied eye,
Beneath some vast, old, tempest-swinging wood,
Awhile with mute awe gazing I would brood,
Then weep aloud in a wild ecstasy."

He has a forehead broad and high, and bent under the weight of brooding thought; a few gray hairs streaming over it; an eye which, when still, seems to "see more in nature than the eyes of other men," and when roused beams forth with preternatural meaning; a face furrowed with thought; a form bent with study; a healthy glow upon his cheek, which tells of moorland walks and mountain solitude; a deep-toned voice; he excels in reading his own poetry; is temperate in his habits; serene in his disposition;

has been fortunate in his circumstances and family connexions; has lived, and is likely to die, one of the happiest of men. His religion is cheerful, sanguine, habitual; and we need not say how much it has done to color his poetry and to regulate his life.

It is much to have one's fame connected vitally with the imperishable objects of nature. It is so with Burns, who has written his name upon Coila's plains, and rivers, and woods, in characters which shall never die. It is so with Scott, who has for monument the "mountains of his native land," and the rustling of the heather of Caledonia, as a perpetual pibroch of lament over his ashes. So we believe that the memory of the great man whose character we have been depicting, is linked indissolubly with the scenery of the Lakes, and that men in far future ages, when awed in spirit by the gloom of Helvellyn-when enchanted by the paradisal prospects of the vale of Keswick-when catching the first gleam of the waters of Windermere or when taking the last look of Skiddaw, the giant of the region-shall mingle with every blessing they utter, and every prayer they breathe, the name of William Wordsworth.

Mr. Coke arrived in Vienna on the 9th of October in last year; two days after the formidable movement in that capital took place. He remained there during the crisis; and here we have the simple record of what he saw and suffered. The author is unpretending in manner and in matter. He says nothing of the causes that led to the revolt, and once crowned it with a temporary success; nothing of the progress of the insurrection-who commanded and who obeyed; what ideas were in the ascendant-what the people said and thought, hoped and feared, during the struggle. If he knew nothing of these matters, why write a book on the subject; and publish it under a title which suggests so much more than its pages contain? There is still a good deal of mystery about that October outbreak; and the event itself was one of those curious episodes in history which will possess a powerful interest for the future student of our ages, But Mr. Coke's is not the book which the reading public will require. He gives no general view-no connected account of the whole affair. He tells only what he saw; and, unfortunately for his reader, Mr. Coke saw very little-and that little hardly worth a record.

The book has consequently neither head nor tail; it is neither right nor wrong. It is not so much

Ross's narrative the man of millions appears in any thing but an amiable light. All the disasters of the expedition are attributed to his parsimony, petulance, and ignorance. Mr. Ross was himself too deeply interested in the success of the scheme to admit of his being a fair judge of his superior's motives; but such strong facts as are here put forth, speak in a language which needs no comment to heighten their damnatory effects.

It is not our province to dwell upon the demerits of Mr. Astor and his mode of commercial colonization. The shores of the Columbia, on which he failed to establish a permanent settlement, are now, under better auspices, resounding with the axe and the hammer of a new set of adventurers; a State will by and by grow up in those magnificent regions; Astor's expedition will then become a part of a nation's history; and this work of Mr. Ross will become an historical document. But in the mean time its chief interest for us lies in the fact of its being one of the most striking pictures of a life of adventure which we have read for a long time. The book is as full of instruction, however, as of amusement; and the latter ingredient is so ample that we fancy few will lay it down who have once taken it up till the closing is reached.-Athenæum.

FELLOW.

Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River; being a Narrative of the Expedition fitted out by John Jacob Astor to establish the "Pacific Fur Company" with an Account of some Indian Tribes on the Coast of the Pacific. By ALEXANDER Ross, one of the Adventurers.

The words Astor and Astoria are familiar to most English readers. Few will require to be told that Astor is the name of a princely merchant of New York-a German by birth, but a citizen of the United States by adoption-and that Astoria was the name of a colony which he founded at the mouth of the Columbia River about thirty years ago. The genius of Washington Irving has rendered the story of this unfortunate settlement familiar to the public-but the romancer has dealt with it according to the usual license of his craft; here, for the first time we have a complete account of the matter in sober prose. And what an extraordinary story it is! In Washington Irving's version of the

Professor Longfellow, the American poet, has attempted, in this little hook, imported by Mr. Wiley, to render a prose story the vehicle of poetical truths. These are to be found, more or less, in every page of "Kavanagh;" but the author has been not quite successful in the medium chosen for their development. The story, which is in itself slight, is generally suspended to make way for the speculations which it should have embodied. The persons are abstract and shadowy; and in the endeavor to make his portraits real, Mr. Longfellow has been over-literal in his transcript. Characterization is only to be gained by the predominance of one or two striking features; while here the distinctness of the actual is impaired by too great minuteness in its reproduction. Indeed the province of Art is not to reproduce a reality, but to depict the mental impression which it leaves. He, for instance, who would catch the general effect of a building must not stand so near it as to perceive the crevices in the mortar. That which is specific in any object must be secured by subordinating to it those qualities which are common to other objects of the same class. From a disregard of this principle, individuality of portraiture has been lost in the work before us; and what is occasionally natural and felicitous often degenerates into the trivial. fair, however, to add that the early pages of the story are those which this error chiefly affects.

It is

On the other hand, there is so much genial and | tender feeling, so much happy suggestion, exquisite fancy, and descriptive beauty in the volume as to overbalance its defects of construction.-Atheneum,

A Journal of Summer Time in the Country. By the Rev. ROBERT ARIS WILLMOTT.

Mr. Willmott is one of those cheerful pietists who regard Nature as the mirror of the Divine goodness. His mind instinctively refers the beauties of creation to their beneficent Author; and from each pleasant sight and sound he meets with in his rural walks, he gathers some new ground of hope and thankfulness, or accession of faith. We never met with any author who more completely realized the idea of Paley, that when the mind is once thoroughly imbued with a conviction of overruling Deity, the world becomes one vast temple, hymning his praise. If any one would learn what charm of coloring is given to the scenes of nature by religious feeling, and what joy of heart they then inspire, let him contrast sketches like these of Mr. Willmott with the dreary facts and unprofitable theories of the material philosopher.

Mr. Willmott possesses a cultivated as well as a pious mind. His understanding is as enlightened as his heart is warm. When he is in a gossiping vein he spreads before the reader the wealth of a mind .richly stored with poetic images; with fine allusions to natural beauties, and with enough of literary anecdotes to compose a new "Curiosities of Literature." It is one of his great merits that he always lets his ideas flow in a natural train, so that the channel, instead of resembling a straight canal, has the bends and windings of a lovely stream running through a varied and smiling country.-Britannia.

Rural Letters, and other Records of Thought at Leisure. Written in the intervals of more hurried Literary Labor. By N. PARKER WILLIS. It is "with intention," (as they say in France,) that we follow Mr. Willis in his specification of the contents of this lively and poetical miscellany. Once-twice—thrice, (for aught we know,) have some among them been already published. The "Letters from under a Bridge," for instance, appeared in this country many years ago; we have seen other portions of the volume in other places; which facts warn us against quoting such graceful and gossiping passages as make this book a pleasant companion for any Lady Grace who keeps up her prototype's wholesome habit of "sitting under a great tree." Male loungers might possibly demand something more of "bone and muscle," in the speculations upon which their minds love to feed during hours of "retired leisure." But why should not there be Letters in all hues to all readers, and for all seasons-thought and poetry assisting? And thought and poetry are both, within certain limits, at the service of Mr. Willis, who stands in need only of bracing processes to produce permanent, in the place of ephemeral, contributions to the light literature of America.-Literary Gazette.

|

Coningsby. By B. D'ISRAELI, M. P.

The most popular novel of modern day is here presented to the public in one neat volume, with a portrait of the author, in the most captivating style of Chalon. In noticing the intent of the work, and speaking of its success, Mr. D'Israeli tells us that "three considerable editions were sold in this country in three months. It was largely circulated throughout the Continent of Europe, and more than fifty thousand copies were required in the United States of America. In the fifth year of its life the author has been called upon to prepare the fifth edition of a work for some time out of print." The sale of the present edition will probably surpass that of all the others put together; it will pass from the circulating library to the family bookshelf, as, apart from its purpose and the merit of the story, its witty and brilliant reflection of that lustre of society which commenced with 1840, will be studied with pleasure when the ideas and manners of the time have passed away.—Britannia.

RECENT BRITISH PUBLICATIONS.

com

The Adventures of a Greek Lady, the adopted Daughter of the late Queen Caroline; prising particulars of the Queen and her Suite, not hitherto known. 2 vols.

Valerie; a new novel. By Captain Marryat. British Homes and Foreign Wanderings. By Lady Medical and Economical Botany By John Lindley. Lister Kaye.

Cola Monti; or a Story of a Gers.

A Second Visit to the United States. By Sir Lives of the Lindsays; or, a Memoir of the Houses Charles Lyell, F. R. S. 2 vols. 8vo. of Crawford and Balcanes. By Lord Lindsay. 2 vols.

8vo.

Anthologia Polyglotta; or, a Selection of Versions in various Languages. By Rev. H. Wellesley, D. D.

A Physician's Holiday; or, a Month in Switzerland during the Summer of 1848. By John Forbes, M. D.

A Manual of Scientific Inquiry, adapted to Travellers. By Sir J. F. W. Herschel.

Handbook for London, Past and Present. By Peter Cunningham.

Biographical Dictionary of all Living Naval Officers, with authentic Details of their Services and Family. By W. R. O'Byrne.

Life of Sir Thomas Munro. By Rev. S. R. Gleig.
New Zealand Sketches. By M. Tyrone Power.
Treatise on Landscape Gardening. By A. J.
Downing.

Handbook of European Literature. By Mrs. Foster.
Genius of Italy. By Rev. Robert Turnbull.
Thoughts on a Pebble. By Dr. Mantell.
Travels in the Interior of Brazil during the Years
1836-1841. By the late George Gardner.
The Handbook of European Literature. By Mrs.
Forster.

The Temporal Benefits of Christianity Exemplified.
By Robert Blakey.

A Catholic History of England. By W. Maccabe, Esq.