NOTICES.

D'AUBIGNE'S HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. Four Volumes in One. Revised Edition. Robert Carter, 58 Canal-street, New York.-This work needs no praise. Both in this country, and in Europe, it has acquired a reputation unrivaled by any other history of the same event. If any of our readers desire to obtain a perfect picture of the Reformation under Luther, and to see the seeds of all the historical events since that period, the work of D'Aubigné must be read in preference to any other now extant. The mechanical execution of the book is worthy of all praise; and it has been to us a sort of mystery, how so large and elegant a work could be afforded at so low a price. Containing nearly eight hundred pages of closely printed and doublelined matter, on beautiful paper, and bound in neat cloth covers, it is offered to the public for a single dollar! We know of no work, English or American, which we can so heartily recommend to every Christian family in the land.

BURNET'S NOTES ON THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. Derby, Bradley & Co.: Cincinnati.-This is a book of over five hundred pages, neatly printed, well bound in cloth, and on a topic of common interest. So far as we have read it, we have the highest possible opinion of its merits. Mr. Burnet was the first settler, we believe, of what is now Cincinnati; and his details of early life, and of the first settlement of the western country, are both amusing and abundantly instructive.

AMERICAN HISTORY, comprising Historical Sketches of the Indian Tribes, a description of American Antiquities, with an Inquiry into their Origin and the Origin of the Indian Tribes-a History of the United States, with Appendices, showing its connection with European History-a History of the present British Provinces, of Mexico, and of Texas. By Marcius Willson. William H. Moore & Co., Cincinnati, and Mark H. Newman & Co., New York. 1847.-We give the complete title-page of this work, because it will present as good a view of its contents as any thing we could write. We have not, of course, read the book consecutively through; but have examined here and there with some care. It appears to be written well, and will, doubtless, be favorably received. The only defect we seemed to discover in it, is a want of such marginal references and quotations, as critical readers of history in our day require. For a schoolbook, however, this objection would not apply. But we shall examine it more thoroughly at a future time.

SERMONS ON MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS, by the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Senior Preachers of the Ohio and North Ohio Conferences. Methodist Book Concern: Cincinnati. 1847.Having seen this work in manuscript, and watched its progress through the press, we could speak of it with more minuteness than we intend. Let it suffice to say, it is an interesting volume, full of good evangelical discourses, overflowing with truth and love. They are all most commendable productions, and receive an additional value from being the work of our esteemed bishops, and of those old veterans of the cross, who, many years ago, unfurled the banner of the cross in the great valley of the west. Glad are we, that, though late, they have at last had a chance to speak through the press. Their unwritten sermons, delivered with living

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power all through the land, have been, for many years, the pride and glory of our host; and now, being written down, and put into a convenient form for preservation and future use, they will be cherished by thousands of their spiritual children, and be eagerly perused at a future day. May the blessing of God reward them for their earthly toil, and attend this their offering to generations yet unborn! The Preface, by Dr. Thomson, is a lively production, finely setting forth the claims and merits of the book; and from personal knowledge, we can speak in the highest terms of the carefulness, good taste, and abilities of the editor, Rev. F. Merrick, in his difficult and laborious task.

ANECDOTES OF WESLEY, with a Supplement. By Rev. A. Carroll. Methodist Book Concern: Cincinnati. 1847.-This is a small octodecimo of less than a hundred pages, containing many excellent sayings of Mr. Wesley, and numerous stories illustrative of his character and life. It is a very pleasing work, and will be interesting to all, who revere the memory of the good man of whom it treats.

cess.

THE SOUTHERN LADY'S COMPANION. Published for the Methodist Episcopal Church South. M. M. Henkle & J. B. M'Ferrin, Editors: Nashville. April, 1847.-This new monthly has been on our table for two or three months; but our Notices for several numbers of our work having been put to press before the Companion came to hand, we have not been able even to mention it before. The Southern Lady's Companion for April was evidently prepared with much care, and this number does credit to its editors, and to the south. Being intended to supplant the Repository in the southern states, it might be supposed we should be tempted to speak disparagingly of the work. But that sort of jealousy we never feel. If the brethren in the south can do better than we and our more able predecessors have done, we shall rejoice in their reputation and sucTo depreciate an author, or his works, merely because he does not live in the same latitude or longitude with ourselves, is a narrowness, which, we thank God, has never fallen to our lot. We must honestly confess, however, that the Companion, well-furnished and well-executed as it is, has disappointed us in some respects. Its editors, so long and so laboriously connected with the weekly press, seem to have become, to a slight degree, insensible of the higher beauties of a good English style. There is a richness, an elegance, a refinement in fine classical composition, which their offhand newspaper efforts have partially obscured from their view. We could point out some blemishes in their style, did we not feel much more disposed to praise than to blame. Nor shall we complain, that several of their best articles are extracted from other publications, as they have not professed to intend a work entirely original and new. Nor would it be just and fair to judge any periodical by its first number, so many are the obstacles to complete success in the first attempt. Upon the whole, we are pleased, and shall continue to speak of the Lady's Companion as its future merits may seem to demand.

THE WESTERN LANCET AND MEDICAL LIBRARY,

for May, has come to hand, richly freighted with interesting and instructive articles. Its amiable and talented editor is doing a good work. May he prosper as he deserves!

THE HERALD OF TRUTH, for May, is on our table.

We are not prepared to speak of the peculiar opinions of this interesting journal; but of its literary and artistic excellence, we can conscientiously speak in the very highest terms.

EVILS AND REMEDY OF INTEMPERANCE, an Address, by Rev. D. W. Clarke, is a timely and practical discourse, well adapted to the occasion which called it forth.

THE MOTHER'S MAGAZINE, edited by Mrs. Whittlesey, has made its regular appearance, and is a very interesting and useful work.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 1847.This is an able report, and should be read by all who can procure a copy, and have the time to read. There are facts in it which should be more generally understood. THE HOME MAGAZINE AND FIRESIDE READER, Rev. D. Mead, Editor, is one of the most acceptable exchanges we receive.

THE LADIES' GARLAND, for May, contains a beautiful frontispiece, and a treat of fine articles about interesting things.

THE CHRISTIAN WREATH, for March, was mislaid, and we are sorry we can say so little of its merits at this time. Among its contributors we see some names, with which we were familiar in other days. It is worth twice the price for which it is sold.

THE LITERARY REGISTER, for April, is the last but not the least of the excellent monthlies and quarterlies with which we have the pleasure to exchange. It is a very useful work, is edited with much discretion, honesty, and talent, and will no doubt accomplish a great work in an entirely new field.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

POPE PIUS IX is represented as possessing a disposition more amiable and tolerant than that of any of his predecessors. If this be so, and there seems to be little reason to doubt it, it speaks well for the present age, and proves the rapid advance of civilization among all classes. It affords encouragement to Protestants to engage in reforming the apostate mother, rather than in calling for fire from heaven to consume her. The priests, it is true, will never consent to give up their power; yet it is equally true that the people will never submit to perpetual thralldom. Europe is not disposed to tolerate such ecclesiastical tyranny as now exists. Thousands are now thinking of its overthrow. And the Pope, whether he side with the priests or the people, will soon find himself in the crater of a volcano.

THE Rev. Benjamin Harvey, the oldest preacher of whom we have any knowledge, died at the residence of his son, in the town of Frankfort, Herkimer county, N. Y., on the 18th of March, at the age of one hundred and twelve years. He served under Washington, and delivered, in his one hundred and eleventh year, several lectures in New York city on Biblical literature. He was able to read the Bible until near the close of his life without the use of glasses. A few moments previous to his death, while adverting to the time when a new song was put into his mouth, he exclaimed, with great fervor, "It was a new song then-it has been new all along the journey, but now it is sweeter than ever;

and very soon I shall strike it in glory, many notes higher unto Him that loved me,

'Where anthems of rapture unceasingly roll,

And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul.'”

A PHRENOLOGIST of New York city, by the name of Fowler, has undertaken the task of proving the Bible a fable, and religion sheer fanaticism. His position is, that phrenology is a science of truth, all truth, and nothing but truth, and that the Scriptures are incompatible with its teachings; therefore, the Bible is false. This is logic of the most extraordinary and vindictive type. It reminds us of a French geologist, who announced to the world, some time ago, that the burial time for Christianity had arrived, since geology and revelation were at variance. But as yet neither Christianity nor its teachers are dead, and we presume the Bible will continue to live, and be read, and believed, notwithstanding Mr. O. S. Fowler has informed us, by an ex cathedra pronunciamento, that it is a lie. "An ox lowed; will the heavens therefore fall?"

MACVEY NAPIER, the talented editor of the Edinburg Review, has laid down his pen, and is now sleeping with the dead. He was a man of polished intellect, engaging manners, and generous disposition. He leaves behind a name which will be cherished with sentiments of the liveliest regard by all who knew him.

A FEW moments previous to his death, Sir Walter Scott sunk into a short repose, from which awaking, one who stood near by observed, "Sir Walter has had a little repose." "No, Willie," said the dying author 66 no repose for poor Walter but in the grave." What a melancholy comment on the last hours of the great novelist!

DR. JOHNSON was an eccentric character. He was continually reproaching himself with lying too long in bed. He said he was always sinning-always repenting-always doing worse. His customary hour of rising was eleven o'clock, A. M. He resolved to reform, and to rise at eight; but we have it on the authority of his biographer, that he at length died full of years without having once seen the sun rise, except in some Homeric description written thirty centuries before. Alas, for the Doctor! the fact of the sun's rising was no matter of sight with him, but purely an act of faith!

LORD BYRON was born in London, January 22, 1788. He was married to Miss Milbanke, at Seaham, January 22, 1815. He was taken ill January 22, 1824, and died at Missolonghi, April 19, of the same year. His last words were, "I must sleep now."

A POOR philosopher was once reproached by a pert youth with, "What an old coat and shabby hat you wear!"""Tis true," replied the philosopher, "my coat and hat are old and shabby enough; if they choose to whine and fret, let them; it is nothing to me."

AN infallible mark of a simpleton is to hear him decry religion, and talk of the folly of its professors. It shows most conclusively that he neither knows what religion is, nor what it requires. Better for him to reform his life, and mend his heart before mending the lives of others.

REV. SHARON TURNER, who is best known to popular readers by his Sacred History of the World, died, recently, in England, at the advanced age of seventynine. This history, however, is a work of no great

་

authority. His best work, and the one by which he will live, is his three volumes of Anglo-Saxon History. Mr. Turner, though neither a perspicuous nor a brilliant writer, has many good qualities, and is mentioned with respect by many distinguished authors, among whom are Scott, Southey, and Hallam.

ROBERT HALL, it is well known, paid great attention to Miss Steele, the poetess, and hoped, ultimately, to win her heart and secure her hand. Unfortunately, he failed. Being subsequently in a company of ladies and gentlemen, one of the former observed, "Try us, Mr. Hall; perhaps you will not find our hearts all steel." Perhaps not," instantly replied the divine, gathering his brows and elevating his voice, "perhaps not; but instead of a heart all steel, I shall find a face all brass." This, of course, was an end to all farther insult and repartee.

CHARLES DICKENS, the English novelist, has realized something over four thousand dollars by the sale of his "Battle of Life;" and there seems a fair prospect of his realizing some thousands more. Goldsmith obtained sixty pounds for his "Vicar of Wakefield," and thought he was doing well. Would philosophers consider the difference in pay of these authors an omen of the decline of the taste for fictitious reading, or otherwise?

A PIOUS youth, when dying, remarked, "Mother, I can see a great distance!" The expression is beautiful, and not less true than beautiful; for what reason have we to doubt that the Christian, as he leaves the shores of time, and draws near eternity, arrives in a land where the air grows purer, the light brighter, and his vision more serene and clear? None surely. The mists of earth no longer dim his view-its doubts no longer fill his soul with fear-its scenes no more perplex his heart. Like dying Stephen, his gaze is toward the gates of heaven-his thoughts are far from earth, and his spirit just ready to take its flight to the land of light and changeless bliss.

To die, even among friends and kindred, is a sad thing; but sadder still is it to die far from those we love and esteem. Talk not of the young flowers, and the fair skies, and the cool breezes of the south. These but aggravate our misery, when conscious that we are in the midst of strangers, who have never learned to wait upon our habits, and to whom we cannot unbosom the feelings of our hearts. We are alone, and a more desolate feeling could not visit our souls. O, what meaning in that benediction of the orientals, May you die among your kindred!

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shall be theirs, and that without labor! How many thousands more are in the clouds, building castles, or reveling in the future's fairy land! Time, space, distance, these are nothing to them; they pass with lightning speed through all, and crush, with a giant's arm, every intervening obstacle and difficulty. But do they succeed?-do they? Never-never. Genius, unsustained by persevering industry, degenerates into the most contemptible imbecility-without purposes-without fruits. Better be destitute alike of wit and genius, and rise gradually and slowly in the world's estimation, than have these, and glitter a little while, and then sink into obscurity.

Look abroad into the world. Who is the man respected by his fellow-man? The one who gads the streets, whiffs his cigar. and occupies the chief seats at public corners, and in the market spaces? Not he.

Look again. Who is the leader, the reformer, the hero of his race? The man who talks and blusters in the crowd, and who hardly entertains a sober thought in all his life? Look yet again. How came Paul the wonder of his age? How reached Burke the pinnacle of fame? How won Wesley the meed of honor amid the hottest opposition? By dreams, by sloth, by speculations, and visions? No; they were men of labormen of energy-men of toil. Would you, fond youth, be like unto them? Labor-labor now-labor continually-labor diligently:

"Youth is not rich in time; it may be poor;
Part with it as money, sparing; pay

No moment but in purchase of its worth;

And what its worth? Ask death-beds-they can tell."

IT seems that Mr. Tupper, the elegant author of Proverbial Philosophy, is becoming of late quite transcnedental in his views of matters and things. In his new work, entitled Probabilities, he has favored us with sunOur satellite, he sug

dry speculations on the moon.

gests, must have been struck off from the earth at a tangent, at some anterior period in the history of the universe, and is now the home of immortal evil-the convict shore of exiled sin and misery; where melancholy and despair, with crime and murder, hold eternal sway. This may be fine poetry, but it is poor philosophy. It is true that the revelations of Lord Rosse's telescope inform us, that edifices and ruins of the size of York Minster, and Whitby Abbey are easily perceived; and that rocks and volcanoes are now and then detected scattered over the surface of the moon; but it is not true, that the abodes and occupations of the lost have been ascertained.

Martin Farquhar Tupper is a beautiful writer, and has secured the willing suffrage of a million hearts and readers. Nevertheless, we opine that the present hy

philosopher, while it will require more data than are now in his possession, to establish his theoria novella et

cara.

How many thousands of persons are looking forward to the time when fortune, and fame, and happiness,

PATIENCE is a virtue which our correspondents will, just now, please exercise. We have on hand a very large assortment of poetic articles, and must be permitted to occupy some time in their reading and examination. This, we feel assured, our fair contributors will grant, inasmuch as the Muses and ourself are not very intimately acquainted, and it requires severe effort even for the favored few to scale Parnassus, and sip Castalian waters.