Literary Intelligence [pp. 564-573]

Literary Intelligenee.
The Christian Retrospect and Register: a Summary of the Scientific,
Moral, and Religious Progress of the first half of the nineteenth century,
By Robert Baird. New York: Published by M. W. Dodd, Brick
Church Chapel, City Hall Square. 1851, pp. 420.
This work was not received in time to do any thing more than
announce its appearance. A more extended notice may be
expected in the number for October.
LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.
Ruskin's Stones of Venice just published, developes still farther his aesthetic;ystem. It is an account of the connection of
Venitian Architecture with that of the rest of Europe. He traces
the history of Venitian art in its relation to its history as a State.
One of his most characteristic notions is, that all lovely architectural forms are taken directly from natural objects. He is
one-sided, appreciating the Southern Gothic, but blind to the
merits of the Northern. Also, looking at Greek art through
the medium of the Renaissance or Revived classical style presented by Palladio, Sir C. Wren, and Inigo Jones, he depreciates it unduly. There is a high moral and religious tone
about Mr. Ruskin's writings; his "Modern Painter" contains
passages that enrich the heart as well as the imagination. It
is a rare thing indeed, to have as we do in his books the utterance of an enthusiast who is learned.
Dodd has just published the letters and journals of Henry
Martyn. It is a stout sizeable 12mo., and contains nothing that
has heretofore been published. This book will be at least a
psychological curiosity. It will doubtless be edifying, and if it
destroys some of the romance that has hung around Martyn by
putting us so unreservedly into possession of his most private
thoughts and feelings, it cannot destroy our reverence for him
as a Christian hero and martyr. The Rev. Charles Kingsley,
of whose "Alton Locke" we spoke in the last number, has
lately delivered at London, a long lecture on the application
of Christian Socialism to the relations of landed property. It
is to be immediately published.
Finney's Theology, and his Lectures on Revivals have lately
been republished in England by Tegg. During his stay in the
metropolis, numbers of his sermons were printed and scattered
[JULY
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