Notices of New Works [pp. 314-320]

Notices of New Works.
LECTURE BY J. RANDOLPH TUCKER, ESQ.,
of Winchester, before the Young Men's
Christian Association of Alexandria,
Va., February 14,1856. Published by
Request of the Association. Alexan dria. Gazette Office. 1856.
Our apologies are due to the author for
not having noticed more promptly this
admirable lecture, a failure which has re sulted from the fact that our copy of it
was for some time mislaid. The delay
has not been so great, however, as would
appear from the date of the lecture's de livery, for it was not until some months
after that time, we believe, that the pam phlet was brought out. If our conmmen dation comes late, it is unstinted and sin cere. Mr. Tucker is a gentleman of great
cultivation and remarkable depth of
thought, and his present essay displays at
once the scholar and the thinker. The
subject of it is the Christian Religion
considered with reference to its Divine
Origin, and in the course of the argu ment the author defends revelation
against Hume, in the assault made by that
eminent sceptic upon i)iracles, with so
much power and success that we are con vinced he might have risen as rapidly in
theology as he has done in lawland politics.
The Young Men's Christian Association
of Alexandria has done well to publish
this Lecture which will not only add to
Mr. Tucker's already enviable reputation,
but make a very salutary and deep impression on the minds of all who read it.
SPECIMEN PAGES OF DR. KANE'S ARCTIC
EXPEDITION: To be published in Two
Volumes Octavo, by Messrs. Childs &
Peterson, No. 114 Arch Street, Phila delphia;
The few pages of Dr. Kane's forthcoming work, which have been sent us, make
us very impatient for the appearance of
the whole. The paper is beautifully white
and firm, the typography is exquisite,
and the illustrations, both on steel and
wood, are of the very highest excellence.
The volumes will be unsurpassed by any
of the same character that have yet come
from the American press. Each will contain 500 pages, and together they will
give twenty-two fine steel engravings,
three hundred admirable wood cuts, and
four accurate maps showing the progress
of the Expedition. We need not add a
word as to the literary execution of the
work. Dr. Kane's name is a sufficient
guaranty of the value and interest of the
narrative. Messrs. R. F. & C. F. Johnston are the agents for procuring subscribers in Richmond.
MEMOIRS OF CELEBRATED CHARACTERS.
By ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE. In
Three Volumes. Volume Third. New
York: Harper & Brothers. 1856.
[From A. Morris, 97 Main Street.
In this volume of M. De Lamartine's
brilliant sketches of celebrated charac ters, we have five very striking portrai tures-Tell, Madame De Sevigne, Milton,
Antar, and Bossuet. In treating of An tar, the pastoral civilization of the East
is delineated in warm and poetic colour ing, and throughout the whole volume
we see the marks of that power and
grasp of intellect which distinguished the
"History of the Girondists." The pa per on Milton is remarkable as a French
characterization of the great English
poet.
MODERN GREECE: A _Na,rative of a Resi dence and Travels in that CounITtry, &c.
By HENRY M. BAIRD, M. A. New
York: Harper & Brothers. [From A.
Morris, 97 Main Street.
A very interesting narrative, illustra ted by sixty engravings on wood, which
sets before the reader the present condi tion of the classic land of Greece. The
writer travelled much in the Peloponne sus and acquainted himself with the char acter of the people, their manners and in stitutions. The historical part of the
work is brought down to the affair of Dr.
King and its settlement in 1855 by our
fellow-townsman, Roger A. Pryor, Esq.
AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: An Ora tion before the Connectictt Beta of the
Phi Beta lKappa Fraternity at Trinity
College, Hartjbrd, 1856, July 15. By
BENJAMIN APTHORP GOULD JR. Hart ford: Press of Case, Tiffany & Co.
1856.
A very noble plea for a higher instrumentality of learning in the United States,
by a gentleman who, in the prosecution of
his own lofty studies, was compelled to
seek assistance in an European University. Professor Gould urges with great
eloquence and earnestness the opening up
of a great American fountain of knowledge, and in the following passage shows
the necessity that exists for it:
"Hardly the screaming steam-horse
and the rattling car can typify the speed
with which the materials and manners
and thoughts and tendencies of our nation
are forming, moving and giving place to
their successors,-with which our institutions are modifying, our aims shifting.
1856.]
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