The Doctor's Little Daughter. By Eliza Meteyard (Silverpen). Illustrated by Harvey. London: Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Co. 1850. THIS is one of the most charming volumes for the young that we have for a long time perused. It is from the pen of a lady whose name is well known to the readers of periodicals, especially of Douglas Jerrold's Magazine' and Eliza Cook's Journal,' for many able articles in all that relates to the social and progressive condition of the people. This volume assumes the form of an autobiography, and from the life-like character of the scenes and personages introduced, we should say that it must be very much the author's own experience. We can see plainly in it the germs of that generous and glowing interest of the writer in everything that concerns human welfare and advance. The father of little Alice Tyne, the heroine of the story, a country surgeon, is one of those noble and kindly people who are a blessing to the population amongst which Providence sends them. His intense love of nature, and intense love of man, is infused into the heart of his little daughter in their rambles through a beautiful country and amongst his rural patients, and are precisely such as were calculated to produce a writer like the authoress, devoted to the work of instructing, elevating, and advocating the cause of the masses of the people.

The scene of the story is laid in a fine part of the country-from various circumstances we should say Shropshire or Worcestershireand the woods, and hills, and ruins, are limned with a deep love and a strikingly graphic pen. The families and individuals to whom we are introduced have an old-world character and originality about them that proclaim them to be realities, and very fresh and attractive ones. The story of Alice Tyne is, in the main, a sorrowful one. Her noble-hearted father attends more to other people's interests than to his own; falls into difficulties and distress, and dies early; but this shadow of the picture is so nobly relieved by a variety of pleasant lights, as to fall on the reader only as a pleasing melancholy. We have not for a long time read a book of any kind so rich in the freshness of its characters, or in the scenes which they inhabit. The old cathedral-the old sea-officer-Will Shakspere, the sailorthe nobleman, and his beautiful house and grounds-the gypsies-the salmon-fishing at night-the old Catholic priests, and their organ and garden-Alice's fishing excursions with her brother Will, with his Homer, his Pindar, or his Tacitus in his creel-her visits to the bookbinding shop of Tanner, the Wesleyan Methodist-the blind musicmaster, and the old quartermaster of the regiment to which her father had been surgeon, are all genuine sketches from life. The quartermaster is an original which, had we room, we would transfer to these pages.

The volume is beautifully illustrated from designs by Harvey, and altogether does equal honour to the author and the publishers. We would fearlessly place it beside Howitt's Boys' Country Book,' as a Girls' Country Book, rich in all that pertains to the country life of a girl.

God and Man: being Outlines of Religious and Moral Truth, according to Scripture and the Church. By the Rev. Robert Montgomery, M.A. London: Longman and Co. 1850. MR. MONTGOMERY has certainly shown some sense of fitness in his selection of a title for his book, inasmuch as that title conveys to the mind no definite idea whatever; and it is to be regretted, that he did not follow out the same principle in the body of the work; in which case, we should have had an ordinary volume of miscellaneous sermons. Instead of this, the author has adopted the semblance of arrangement, and classified into the form of chapters the most unconnected portions of his ministerial compositions. Thus, under one general division, we find the three following topics in immediate succession:- The immediate presence and personal agency of God-The Christ-Social omnipotence of the press.' Another suggestive feature in the title is the expression, according to Scripture and the Church.' It might have been supposed that the authority of Scripture was sufficient of itself, and could derive no corroboration from the Church, even if the Church bore any uniform testimony to divine truth, which it does not. Perhaps, before adopting this unmeaning form of words, it would have been well for Mr. Montgomery to have answered the following queries proposed to such persons by Archbishop Whately, in his second essay on the Kingdom of Christ,' section 22. While,' says his Grace, questions are eagerly discussed as to the degree of deference due to the decisions of the universal church, some preliminary questions are often overlooked, such as, When and where did any one visible community, comprising all Christians as its members, exist? Does it exist still? Is its authority the same as formerly? Where (on earth) is its central supreme government, such as every single community must have? Who is the accredited organ empowered to pronounce its decrees in the name of the whole community? And where are these decrees registered?'

There is very much in these discourses, the moral and religious tendency of which is excellent; and the style, though incurably vicious, does not so continually present to the reader the image of the poetaster and the fop as we were prepared to expect. But of the logical faculty Mr. Montgomery is as nearly as possible destitute. Hence the volume before us is a collection of inconsistencies, in which, with perfect unconsciousness, the author occasionally insists upon such principles as utterly neutralize all the tame truth spread over the rest of his performance. In controversy, he is feeble to the last degree, and were he well advised he would never enter upon it. On the subject of sacramental efficacy, he wisely adopts this method, citing the opinions of others, but only exposing so much of his own, as to indicate that his mind is in fetters, which it has not the strength to break, and that his tastes incline him more to superstition and priestcraft than to the philosophic simplicity of the religion of the New Testament.

The author's treatment of the State-church question is so indicative of bigotry and vagueness of perception as to be quite humiliating. We find him at p. 248, declaring that we are now suffering the mysterious curse of sacrilege,' entailed by the alienation of the enormous mass of

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consecrated wealth,' held by the Romish Church until the era of the Reformation. Anxious to show that the connexion between the Church and the State never had a beginning, he speaks (p. 251) of the closer approximation between the civil and the ecclesiastical power which occurred during the reigns of Henry II., Edward III., Henry VIII., and Charles II.,' and says that these were only the historical manifestations of moral convictions which pre-existed in the minds of these monarchs !' As an illustration of the absence of all settled views on this subject from the mind of the author, we may adduce two brief passages, which occur within two pages of each other, and are as felicitously contradictory as could be desired. They are in the following words :—

'Protestant dissent, Roman schism, Sectarian fanaticism, and every form of heretical teaching, have had their representatives in parliament; and hence, through the vast pressure on the civil power from dissenterism, the legislature is becoming more and more paralyzed when it attempts to deal with the one church of the country.' (P. 249.)

The State in this country has up to the present moment been so vitally influenced by the spiritual life of the Church, that it exceeds all the magical power of dissenting absorption to drain out this influence from the State; and, if it could do so, what a skeleton of political helplessness would our boasted constitution then appear!' (P. 251.)

We repeat our advice to Mr. Montgomery to eschew logical controversy as he would a mortal sin. Better of the two that he should fall by the wiles of the malicious muse. In that failure the tenuity of his intellectual powers would not be so conspicuously shown in contrast with the noisy pomposity of his pretensions.

Sermons on Subjects of the Day. By Gilbert Elliot, D.D., Dean of Bristol. London: Darling.

THIS is a volume of protest against Tractarianism, which we have read with great pleasure for the sake of the exhibition it gives us of an energetic, vigorous, clergyman of the Arnold school bracing himself up like a man to grapple with the present position of his Church, and preach to his hearers about dangers that stare them in the face instead of the evils of Philistines and Pharisees, that have been in their graves for a millennium. The author is not, we suppose, technically an Evangelical; he is too manly and outspoken, as well as too liberal (and we were going to say sensible) for that; but if his sermons are to decide," he is a Christian man, and one who has worked himself clear of a great deal that blinds and deadens Christianity in the Church of England. Had we room for a quotation or two, we should be glad to make them, for it is long since we have met with such thorough boldness, in presenting what we deem right sentiment about ritualism, sacraments, and Christian priesthood, from a churchman as we find here. Some of our Establishment friends would think it a doubtful honour to have pleased democratic political Dissenters.' We are mistaken in our estimate of the author of these sermons, if, Dean as he is, he will refuse our hearty word of cheer.

Five Views in the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. By Bayle St. John. Drawn on stone, by Aumont and Housselin. London: Chapman and Hall. 1850.

THESE drawings are intended to illustrate Mr. Bayle St. John's popular volume, Adventures in the Libyan Desert,' published last year by Mr. Murray. They are interesting as offering a representation of scenes never before depicted by the artist's pencil, and comprise the view of Garah; distant view of the Oasis of Sinah; general view of the Oasis; view of thefountain of the sun; and view of the ruins of Ombedydab, or temple of Jupiter Ammon. The scenes are remarkably curious, and some of them extremely picturesque. French lithographers, the first in the art, were employed, and the result has been five exquisitely tinted drawings, admirably executed, and remarkable for their delicate finish. The map has been most elaborately prepared and finely engraved. It presents the traveller's route from Alexanderia to the little known, but interesting Oasis of Siwah, and every spot is marked with the most faithful

accuracy.

To the readers of Mr. Bayle St. John's Adventures in the Libyan Desert,' this series of views will be extremely interesting. We feel assured, that those who feel truly curious in the revelations of travel, will avail themselves of this opportunity of becoming familiar with a region, at once so extraordinary and so little known.

Aletheia; or, the Doom of Mythology. With other Poems. By William Kent. London: Longman and Co.

ANY one acquainted with Elizabeth Browning's Pan is dead,' will have comparisons suggested on reading Aletheia, of a kind not favourable to the latter. But though not likely to be one of the great gods of poetry, Mr. Kent has sometimes a sweet song, and is always in full sympathy with the beautiful and the pure. The other poems are better than the more elaborate former part of the volume; they display considerable power. But why does Mr. Kent inflict a mytholo gical glossary of a hundred pages on us, containing such recondite information as, Ambrosia, the food of the gods, tasting sweeter than honey and smelling odorously.' 'Delphi, the most famous oracle in the world, dedicated to Apollo.' Juggernaut, a sanguinary idol of the Hindoos?'

A Sunday in London. By J. C. Capes, M.A. London: Longman & Co. MR. CAPES has strung together a number of fictitious incidents of a very common-place character, for the purpose of illustrating the state of the poor of London, and of proving that all religious communities are insufficient. His own panacea is the relaxation of the Puritan Sunday,' and the adoption of other amusements, since, he says, 'when England again laughs like a child, there will be some chance of her praying like a saint.' We do not think his volume likely to hasten the advent of either member of the antithesis.

Nineveh and Persepolis; an Historical Sketch of Ancient Assyria and Persia. With an Account of the recent Researches in these Countries. By W. S. W. Vaux, M.A. London: Hall, Virtue, and Co.

THE object of this work is to bring together within a moderate compass what has been done by travellers, and whatever knowledge can be acquired from other sources, so as to present a convenient digest,' brought up to the present state of our knowledge of Assyrian and Persian remains, of much valuable information at present scattered through many scarce and expensive volumes. That accuracy of statement and judiciousness of selection, which are the main qualifications of such a work, appear to belong, to a large extent, to the author who has furnished a complete hand-book to the study of the history and antiquities of these countries. A full and clear, though rapid sketch of these ancient monarchies, extending to their modern condition, is followed by some interesting details of early eastern travel; and the remainder of the volume is devoted to the labours of Botta and Layard in Assyria, Porter in Persepolis, and the marvellous representation by Lassen and Major Rawlinson, of the cuneiform inscriptions. The volume is an admirable summary of these valuable contributions to a long subsequent history. Correct, clear, although condensed, the work of a gentleman thoroughly acquainted with the subject, and withal interesting to the laziest readers, it cannot be too highly spoken of.

Lectures on Medical Missions. Delivered at the Instance of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society. Edinburgh: Sutherland and Knox. THE value of Medical Missions is only beginning to be appreciated. We rejoice to see that there exists one association for the purpose of sending out such missionaries, and that it has vigour sufficient for the production of such a volume as this. The lectures are all good; some of them of eminent power and beauty. The lecturers are Professor Miller, Rev. Wm. Swan, Wm. Brown, Esq., Rev. Jonathan Watson, Dr. G. Wilson, Dr. J. Coldstream; Dr. Alison supplies a prefatory Essay. We heartily wish success to the object that these gentlemen ably advocate.

Memoir of the late James Halley, B.A. By the Rev. W. Arnot. Glasgow: Bryce. Third Edition.

THIS memoir well deserves the distinction of a third edition. If it has not yet found its way among all our readers, we would earnestly urge its perusal, especially by young men of education. It is one of the most beautiful pictures, in our religious biography, of a man enriched with all knowledge counting it all loss for that knowledge which excelleth; of a man full of strong desires for a course of labour for God lying peacefully down and dying contented, though he had been permitted to do nothing.