In speaking of the religious sanction, the writer considers the Mosaic and Christian revelations. The former, he tells us, was adapted to the time for which it was intended, though in advance of that in which it was given. The Christian revelation was in advance of the time, and was adapted to all future ages. He suggests the possibility of another revelation at some far distant period.

In conclusion, our author tells us, that happiness is to be procured by a proper attention to all the sanctions. All the affective faculties, he says, should be cultivated; every day should have its task. One day may be assigned for the cultivation of one propensity; and the next day for another. We hope that his readers will take his advice rather according to the spirit than the letter. We should not like to find them upon one day sallying forth for a pugilistic encounter with whomsoever they should meet; and upon the next sacrificing hetacombs of animals in order to steel their sensibilities for the necessary performance of the duties of life. Yet the inference unquestionably is, that combativeness and destructiveness, which were implanted for wise purposes, must be cultivated equally with the other faculties to secure a balance of power. Another inference of bad tendency from what is said of combativeness is, that all men were born in a state of natural hostility. The first motions of the infant he considers as indications of this propensity. To us, they appear to be produced, in the first instance, by the stimulus of an element to which they have been unaccustomed, and subsequently by the pleasurable sensation which is found in motion itself.

We have briefly noticed what we believe to be erroneous and unphilosophical in this volume. We would not have those who peruse it drawn into the adoption of a false theory unawares, because there is much that is excellent connected with it, nor would we have what there is valuable neglected, on account of its connexion with an unpopular doctrine.

Pebbles from Castalia. By ISAAC FITZGERALD SHEPARD. Boston: Whipple & Damrell. 1840. - We quite agree with the favorable opinion which has been expressed in every quarter, we believe, of these poems. They show much talent. There is poetry in the volume, as well as lines that end with similar sounds. The writer, we should judge, possesses great facility in throwing his ideas into a metrical form; we hope he will not be betrayed by the ease with which he composes to write too much. Quantity is the lowest mark at which an author can aim. Except that it shows how well he employs his leisure hours, we VOL. XXVIII. - 3D s. VOL. X. NO. II. 34

should almost regret that Mr. Shepard had, at his early age, built so many rhymes. All that he has written, however, is full of an excellent spirit, and will serve a better cause than that of merely gratifying a poetic taste. We like best his descriptions of natural objects, and his expressions of religious sentiment. We quote an example of each; the first, entitled "Description from Nature," the last a sonnet on "Sabbath Evening."

"DESCRIPTION FROM NATURE.

"Rock towers on rock, in native grandeur wild,
Forming one mighty fane, with pillar, shaft,
And architrave, cornice and frieze, firm set,

As when from chaos-night thick darkness fled.

"From out their fissures deep, gnarled oaks have thrust
Their wayward forms, upon the rugged stone
Seeming to vegetate, whose twisted roots
The ragged cliff firm hold, shooting their trunks
In shapeless strength, or up or down, transverse,
Oblique. Some rifted by the lightning's shaft
Hang poising in mid-air, and break ofttimes
Their shattered hold, leaping from crag to crag,
Thundering adown the mount, new impetus
Impelling as along they sweep. Strange sounds
Rise echoing from the abyss beneath,

Faint and more faint, till the last rumbling tells
The resting-place they find at length below;
While 'neath a cliff that juts its beetling form
Far o'er the dark abyss, the eagle's ear,
From out her eyry nest, catches the sound,
As blend her piercing screams in unison.

"From hidden springs, the cooling cascades gush,
Like streams of crystal, sparkling in the light
That steals at intervals the forest through;
And as they dash their rocky pathway o'er,
Unnumbered tribute rills the torrent swell,
Till in one mighty sheeted wave, it leaps
The towering cliff, and plunges in the pool
Foaming below; then upward sends a roar,
That thousand tongues reverberate afar,
The listening mountain through, hymning a song
Of melody sublime, as 't were a choir
Of thunder-spirits, chanting anthems loud
To Nature's Architect, JEHOVAH, God,
In one stupendous, changeless symphony!

"SABBATH EVENING.

"How beautiful! The fading light of day
Is lingering yet on forest, field, and sea;

And now the temple's spire shines dazzlingly,
While parting sunbeams round its summit play,
As 't were a shaft of burnished gold! The lay
Of evening zephyrs comes upon the ear
So delicately soft, I think I hear

Some seraph tones symphonious die away,

While nature chants her Sabbath vesper-hymn!

And now the red light passes; and the skies are dim
Above the west; night's sable veils unroll,

And new-born stars the sleeping waters kiss!

Oh, be like this my closing day! like this
My final rest the Sabbath of the soul!

Gammer Grethel; or, German Fairy Tales and Popular Stories, from the Collection of MM. Grim, and other Sources. Edited by Mrs. FOLLEN. Boston: James Munroe & Co. 1840.- The little volume whose title is here given makes no claims to an original work, even as a translation. It is a selection from an English volume, which received a hearty welcome from Sir Walter Scott on its first appearance, and a beautiful recommendation in a letter, which we thank Mrs. Follen for giving us entire in her preface. The true-hearted man was a genuine lover of fairy tales, and the way in which he speaks of them is the best of all answers to the fidgetty scruples which some good people have about them. "Truth is," writes Sir Walter, "I would not give one tear shed over Little Red Riding Hood, for all the benefit to be derived from a hundred histories of Jemmy Goodchild." This is rather sweeping, but as it strikes at a large portion of the Goodchild family, we care not to qualify it. It reminds one of Mrs. Hemans's account of her interview with the poet Montgomery, in which they joined heartily in complaining" of the fancy which wise people have in the present times for setting one right; cheating one, that is, out of all the pretty old legends and stories, in the place of which they want to establish dull facts." She speaks with delight, too, of the similar taste which she discovered in Bishop Heber; and alludes to these same "German Popular Stories," as being as familiar to her own young auditors at the fireside readings, as to those of Mr. Crabbe.

These are high authorities, if any are in want of authorities, for reading and allowing Fairy Tales. We cannot say that we have a very extravagant estimate of the actual benefit, the utilitarian value of this reading. But for harmless if not healthy occupation, for an occasional good moral, which may stay the longer in a child's mind for the sly manner in which it is tucked in by some "little elf," and above all, for continually fresh,

child-like, real enjoyment, we do value the fairy tales, and mean to read and recommend them, till we see some reason to stop. This collection is admirable of its kind. There is no mistaking its object. You will not have to tell your children that these stories are "not true." Gammer Grethel takes care of that. She is said to have been a real person, and though not with the same name, yet with the identical delightful face given in a portrait here. Some of the stories she tells we have all heard, but most of them are new; some as silly as you can desire; some with an evident object, many with a small appearance of one, and others too simple for all living things, but fairies.

NEW AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

An Historical Discourse, delivered at the Celebration of the Second Centennial Anniversary of the First Baptist Church in Providence, Nov. 7, 1839. By William Hague, Pastor of the Church. 12mo. pp. 192. Providence: B. Cranston & Co. Boston Gould, Kendall & Lincoln. 1839.

The Authenticity of the New Testament. Translated from the French of J. E. Cellerier, jr. With Notes and References, by a Sunday School Teacher. Second Edition. Boston: Weeks, Jordan & Co. 1840.

We have already noticed and commended this work of the younger Cellerier. It is a good sign that a second edition is so soon demanded. But we cannot avoid expressing our regret, that as the translator has seen fit to annex a recommendation of his work, drawn from our former notice of it, he has not also availed himself of our criticisms to make his second edition more correct.

The Star of Bethlehem. A Discourse, delivered in Nashua, Christmas Eve, December 24, 1839. By Samuel Osgood. Cambridge Press. Metcalf, Torry & Co.

A Discourse on the Death of Hon. William Sullivan, delivered in King's Chapel, Boston, September 15, 1839. By John T. Sargent, Minister of Suffolk Street Chapel. Printed by request. Boston: James B. Dow. 1839.

An Address, delivered at the Centennial Celebration in Peterborough, N. H., October 24, 1839. By John Hopkins Morison. Boston: Isaac R. Butts. 1839. 8vo. pp. 99.

An Address at the Centennial Celebration in Wilton, N. H., September 25, 1839. By Ephraim Peabody. With an Appendix. Boston B. H. Greene. 8vo. pp. 103. 1839.

Inaugural Address, delivered August 21, 1838, by Elias Loomis, A. M., Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Western Reserve College. New York. 1838.

White Slavery; a New Emancipation Cause, presented to the people of the United States. By the Author of the District School as it was. Worcester: M. D. Phillips. Boston: C. C. Little and Co., and B. B. Mussey. 1839.

We confess ourselves more interested in black than white Slavery. The whites can take care of themselves. But we do not doubt the existence of the slavery of which the author treats, and hope his little book may do something in the way of emancipation. The style is not at all to our taste, and we should judge its exceeding quaintness would be a hindrance with all readers. It hardly seems as if a man were in earnest who writes so. Yet we know the author to be an earnest man.

The Annals of Chicago, a Lecture, delivered before the Chicago Lyceum, January 21, 1840. By J. N. Balestier. Chicago. Ed. H. Rudd Printer. 1840.

A very interesting and well written historical sketch of this remarkable place. Very minute, too, in its researches, and in the true spirit of an antiquarian; for even Chicago has its antiquities. The site of Chicago was originally occupied by an Indian village. The French were there in 1572, and appear at one time to have made it a military trading post. In 1795 it was ceded by the Indians to the United States. In 1823, when visited by Major Long, it contained but some half dozen families, who lodged in log, not bark houses, as was calumniously reported by the Major. The events of the year 1836, the memorable year of speculation, are feelingly recounted by the author. In the winter of 1836-7, Chicago was incorporated as a city. It can now boast its six churches, namely; Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Unitarian; its banks, its schools, and its lyceum. "In accommodations for the travelling public," says Mr. Balestier, "Chicago has made remarkable progress. In 1835 the taverns were miserable in the extreme. The Sauganash was esteemed the best; but the crowds of strangers, and the scarcity of provisions, rendered every tavern in the place an abode of misery. The luxury of a single bed was almost unknown, and the table had no charms for the epicure. But now, a man may take his ease in his inn, and indulge in all the luxuries of the east." The increase of population has been from 100 in 1832, to over 5000 at the close of 1839. In 1833, there were four arrivals of vessels, whose burthen amounted to 700 tons. In 1836, there were 456 arrivals, whose aggregate tonnage was 60,000. The address is none the worse for a sly humor running through it.

A Review of the late Temperance Movements in Massachusetts. By Leonard Withington, Pastor of the First Church in Newbury, Mass. Boston Munroe & Co. 2d edition.

There is a good deal of truth in Mr. Withington's pamphlet, stated in his own way, which will be seen and acknowledged when the temperance community is a little cooler. At present, it is our belief that