Contemporary Literature [pp. 471-473]

CONTE4fPORAR r LITERATURE.
ONTEMPORARY LITERATURE.
THE LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON AND OF HIS
SON ROBERT STEPHENSON. By Samuel Smiles.
Author of "Self-Help," "The Huguenzots," etc. 8vo.
PpA. 50. $3. NVew York: Harpier & Bros. Cin cinnati: Robert Clazrke &' Co.
This is a revised edition of the Life of George
Stephenson and his son Robert, issued some ten
years ago, to which is prefixed a history of the Railway and the Locomotive in its earlier stages. A
memoir of Richard Trevithick is also included, which
will probably be found more complete than any notice
which has yet appeared of that distinguished mechanical engineer. The work is abundantly illustrated
with portraits and specimens of different kinds of
locomotives and scenes of great Railway enterprises,
bridges, deep-cuts, etc. The volume is a most interesting resume of the origin and progress of the railway system, exhibiting by what moral and material
agencies its founders were enabled to carry their ideas
into effect, and to work out results which even then
were of a remarkable character, though they have
since become so much more extraordinary. The
successive editions of the book have been received
with great favor, and the present edition has been
prefaced with careful amendment and revision to
make it of permanent interest. It is as readable as
a romance.
THE INVASION OF THE CRIMEA; Its Ori,,iit, a;ida at
Accouzt of its Progress downz to the Death of Lord
Raglan. By Alexander William Kin,,lake. Vol.
IL. I2mo. P_. 632. $2. New York: larcper
@' Bros. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke &' Co.
Nothing can exceed the minute thoroughness of
Mr. Kinglake's narrative. He seems absolutely to
exhaust the subject, so far as he goes. Not that he
states every thing pertaining to it. That, in the nature of things, would be impossible. But he seems
to have examined every thing pertaining to it, so that
what he does state rests upon solid rock. The narrative is accompanied with numerous plans and
maps, which render the military movements easily
intelligible. The author does not propose to narrate
the whole cause of the war, but only to give the story
down to the death of Lord Raglan. He is in fact the
literary executor of that distinguished commander.
Volume I, after an introduction, giving an account of
the origin of the war, is taken up with a minute description of the battle of the Alma. Volume 2 is in
like manner occupied with the battle of Balaclava.
More than half the volume is given to the two famous
cavalry charges, that by Scarlett's " Thi-ee Hundred," which lasted only eight minutes, and that of the
"Six Hundred," under Lord Cardigan, which has
been rendered immortal by Tennyson's poem, "The
Charge of the Light Brigade." Each of these
charges occupies about one hundred and fifty pages
of closely printed matter, and one feels after reading
them, that the actions deserved the minute attention
that Mr. Kinglake has given them. The actions
themselves, and Mr. Kinglake's account of them, are
equally deserving of study. Nothing more complete
in their kind can well be conceived.
LIFE-SCENES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. With
Maps and Illustrations. By Rev. George zones,
At. A., Chaplain U. S. N. I2mo. Pp. 496. $2.
Philadelphia: 7. C. Garrigues &' Co. Cincinnati:
Geo. S. Blanzzchard 6' Co.
Some months ago we commended a volume from
the pen of Mr. Jones, entitled Life-Scenes from the
Four Gospels, and we heartily recommend to all our
readers who procured that book, to purchase this
one to place beside it. Mr. Jones, familiar from personal observrlioli Od long study with the country
and the people of' the Hioly Land, both of which are
almost equally unchangeable, is able to reflect a great
amount of light on the events of the Old and New
Testament, by filling up their outlines with the scenery of the country, and the peculiar habits of the
people, as they even now exist. The events of the
Old Testament times are dimmed by the mists of so
many centuries, and connected with events so strange
and so different from the customs of life inow, that
they are apt to assume a myth-like appearance, and
to be looked upon as wanting in reality. The object
of the present work is to assist the reader in making
them real, by offering such exhibitions of present
Eastern tent-life as may help to make him understand the peculiar habits, modes of thinking, and
rules of conduct among those ancient dwellers in
tents. The author's method makes the Scripture
scenes full, by means of the knowledge which libraries
and travelers place within our reach, and thus they
become vivid and present to the reader's imagination.
It is a most interesting and instructive volume, and
we commend it to every student of the Bible and
every Sunday school teacher.
THE EARTHLY PARADISE. A Poem. By TVilliam
MAorris. Author of" The Life andd)eath of 7zson.."
From the Third London Edition. I6mo. Pp. 430.
$2.25. Boston: Roberts Brothers. Cincinnati: R.
W. Carroll &' Co.
Mr. Morris all at once burst into full bloom as a
poet by his Life and Death of Jason. The critics
without exception bowed before his genius, and
placed the crown upon his head. The present volume will bring new and costly gems to the crown already won. He is a genuine poet, gifted with qualities rare in themselves, and especially rare in these
days. He wlites evidently with great ease, and his
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