ficient development entailed by it at the last, as well as from a defect in the mode of the final development, it has, however, resulted, that this profound moral is not impressed with a quarter of the force it might have been; and thus the very idea, which, if any thing, constitutes the unity and sufficient reason of the work, is not realized; indeed we should not wonder if by many readers it were not perceived at all.

We have made these somewhat extended remarks upon this novel, not merely because this class of writings has become one of the most general and powerful elements among the intellectual and moral influences of the age, and might therefore be supposed to claim our attention; for our press teems with silly and stupid novels of native and still more of foreign product, which we feel no call to notice, because their sheer, unredeemed silliness and stupidity, is quite enough to defeat the attempt to read them, on the part of sensible persons, or else to limit their harm to the time wasted in the reading of them, on the part of silly people whom our influence can never reach. But we have noticed this work because it is, in many respects, of a far higher order than the bulk of current novels with all its defects, we regard it as a work of genius. If we are not mistaken in attributing it to a mind not yet fully matured and self-possessed, and one, therefore, in which reflection and the practice of production will perfect the faculties of judgment and of construction then we say that the writer of this work has evinced powers, which, if exerted and directed aright, will give him a great influence over the most cultivated and thinking portion of the young minds of the country. We are anxious that the moral spirit of this influence should be pure and lofty, on the side of all that is good and right: then let the author's powers have their full development, and freest action.

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12. Babylon: A Poem. By C. W. EVEREST. Hartford: 1838. Canfield and Robins. 8vo. pp. 48.

We cannot, in the exercise of that judgment which the author, by sending us his book, has invited-award any very high praise to this production, considered as a poem; nor can we say there is enough of poetry in it to make it clear that the author possesses the gift of genuine poetic power, which might hereafter show itself in a true poem. This piece displays some talent for rhyme, some ear for melody and rhythm; but no creative genius. The staple of the poem consists of mere centos of common poetic thought and

expression, often extremely hackneyed, and sometimes deformed by palpable falsities and meannesses of imagery or language; and at the best, scarcely anything but "brave words" the body without the soul of poetry. As a specimen, a very favorable one too, of the piece, and yet illustrating nearly every thing above remarked, take the following stanza:

"The City spread abroad her sheltering arms,
To shield her fleeing sons in danger's hour.
There safe at rest, they smiled at War's alarms,
Nor feared their vaunting foe's eluded power;

Nor recked that gathering clouds of wrath might lower:
While free, without, came Persia's joyful son,
Gay as a lover to his lady's bower:

And ere the day's eventful light was done,

Close pressed his guarded lines in siege round Babylon."

There are four really fine lines, and nearly the only ones which we can find that possess any beauty or any poetic merit :

"Alas, for human greatness! and alas,
For glory's splendor on a mortal brow,

The stateliest realms must down to ruin pass,
And mightiest monarchs to a mightier, bow."

If these be a genuine product of the author, and not a cento, that is, whatever there may be that is like them, (and there is plenty,) yet if these lines are his own, (and we shall not question it,) we will not say but he may yet write something worth a warmer praise than we can bestow upon this piece, especially, if he be a young man; for, the aloofness of his topic from his personal feelings, the sense of melody evinced, and lastly, though in a less degree, the play of fancy he has shown in combining even common and hackneyed images are things which we generally consider specific accompaniments of poetic power.

13. A Grammatical Analysis of Selections from the Hebrew Scrip tures, with an Exercise on Hebrew Composition. By ISAAC NORDHEIMER, Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Munich ; Professor of Arabic, Syriac, and other Oriental Languages, and acting Professor of Hebrew in the University of New York. New York: 1838. Wiley and Putnam. 8vo. pp. 148.

IN a former number, we called the attention of our readers to Doctor Nordheimer's "Critical Grammar of the Hebrew Language," and recommended it to the biblical student, as a work manifesting a thorough acquaintance with the subject, a profound

knowledge of the philosophy of language, unusual originality, and a degree of precision and perspicuity by no means common in this class of publications.

The publication before us is, properly speaking, a continuation of the author's grammar, and is to be followed, as we are told in the preface, by a treatise on Hebrew Syntax. Thus the student of the sacred tongue will be furnished with a complete grammatical apparatus, which, with the lexicographal helps already in use, may enable him, with comparatively little trouble, to read and analyze the Hebrew scriptures.

In casting our eye on the "Grammatical Analysis," we could not but admire the neatness and elegance of its typographical execution. Like its predecessor, the Grammar, it bears honorable testimony to the care and taste of the superintendent of the press, and so far as we have examined, its accuracy is not inferior to its beauty. In a work of this kind, correctness of references, and clearness of typography, are circumstances very far from unimportant.

In the matter of the work, too, we are glad to perceive evidence that the author has looked at every reference with his own eyes, has carefully prepared every part of his work, and thus has secured to it an accuracy for which the learner will be the more grateful in proportion as he advances.

In acquiring a dead language, the pupil's success depends very much on his careful attention to grammatical analysis. It is the design of publications, such as that before us, " reading books," "praxes, ""chrestomathies," as they are usually called, to assist the learner in the process of analysis, explaining to him what may be obscure, by means of a constant reference to the grammatical rules. Doctor Nordheimer has made a very judicious selection of portions of the Hebrew Bible. In what may be called the first part, he gives a grammatical analysis, the less minute in proportion as he advances, of various parts of the Pentateuch, selected chiefly from Genesis and Exodus, but containing one section from Leviticus, and three from Deuteronomy. This part is confined to prose compositions. The other part, which consists of "select portions of poetry," comprehends the most important of the Psalms, which are generally considered as relating to the Messiah, and such sections in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, and Micah, as bear more directly on the same great subject. It is therefore to be presumed, that his book will be extensively used by students of divinity, whether connected with theological seminaries, or receiving private instruction. Throughout his work, the author has confined himself almost invariably to a "grammatical analysis," as the title would lead us to expect.

"The solution of exegetical difficulties has been left almost entirely to the profes sor, or to works expressly devoted to the subject, for the advantageous use of which the student will find himself, by means of his grammatical investigations, well prepared. When, however, the real or apparent difficulty of a passage turns upon a grammatical point, it has been carefully considered; and in this manner, many suggestions have been made, which the critical expounders of the scriptures may not find entirely destitute of interest."- Preface, p. vii.

We cannot but recommend to the author, in subsequent editions, to leave the solution of exegetical difficulties not only "almost," but altogether to the instructor, or to publications, the direct object of which is interpretation. He would thus give a more perfect unity to his work, and leave the whole responsibility of interpretation where it properly belongs.

14. The Stranger in China; or, the Fan-qui's Visit to the Celestial Empire, in 1836-7. By C. TOOGOOD DOWNING, Esq., Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. Philadelphia: 1838. Lea and Blanchard. 2 vols. 12mo.

THE author of these volumes wearies you with the tedious slowness of his progress, and with the minuteness of his descriptions of trivial scenes and objects, in getting from Whampoa to Canton. But once there, he becomes more interesting; and though somewhat of the same needless prolixity of detail continues to mark the work, yet on the whole it contains for the general reader a great deal of valuable information on the state of society, manners, customs, laws, religion, art, agriculture, products, manufactures, etc., of the Chinese; together with a digest of some of the most interesting matters to be found in earlier writers relative to the history, traditions, etc., of that remarkable people.

15. Peter Pilgrim; or, a Rambler's Recollections. By the Author of Calavar, Nick of the Woods, etc. Philadelphia: 1838. Lea and Blanchard. 2 vols. 12mo.

Two volumes of extremely agreeable stories and fancies, instinct with the same free and joyous spirit, the same fine humor, the same quick sight of characteristic traits and graphic style of delineation, which characterized "Nick of the Woods." Without

making any high pretension for the volumes, which we are sure the author would not do, we commend them as affording a very pleasant and no wise injurious pastime. "Merry the Miner," "The Extra Lodger," and "The Bloody Broad Horn," we would signalize as particularly agreeable.

16. Velasco ; a Tragedy, in five acts. By EPES SARgent. New York: 1838. Harper & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 110.

We have read this play with very high gratification, and we consider it creditable to Mr. Sargent, and far superior to most of this class of productions in our country. At the same time there is a distinction which we should make in judging of it, considered as a work designed for representation-to produce, that is, the greatest amount of the finest "stage effect," or considered as a dramatic poem, as a poetic creation designed, under the form of a drama, though not necessarily implying representation, to unfold and embody the profounder action and conflict of the elementary passions of human nature. To this latter class of works belong many of Joanna Baillie's plays, which could never be adequately represented; in this class, we should also include Coleridge's Remorse, notwithstanding the success it met with in representation. Of Velasco we think higher as an acting play, than as a dramatic poem. In order to rank with the great works of the latter class, it should have more depth of thought, and more of the profounder working of the passions, so modified by the traits and incidents of the individual personages, as to produce a new combination and utterance of that which lies at the bottom of the heart of universal humanity.

It is nevertheless a good play; the style is faultless: there are no meannesses of thought or expression-nothing to jar with the sense of propriety. The common stock of universal passion is well combined with the persons and incidents of the piece; the unity of the action is well preserved; the movement is natural and lively; and the conclusion fully satisfies the conditions of tragic catastrophe: indeed, in this last respect, we think Mr. Sargent has shown uncommon skill in producing the conviction that death is the only desirable relief of the lovers from their heart-breaking situation. This modifies our sympathy, and reconciles us to their fate; and thus realizes what we consider the true idea of a tragic catastrophe.