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The Church Review would do well to ponder the arguments in the New Englander, in the Article under consideration. If it insists on calling it a "feeble volley," let it not forget it was intended to be a kind examination of the claims of Highchurchism, showing the legitimate results of its principles, containing no reproaches, no hard names, no imputation of bad motives to Episcopalians.

Waikna; or Adventures on the Mosquito Shore. By SAMUEL A. BARD. With sixty Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1855. pp. 366. New Haven: E. Downes.

This book purports to be a record of six months of adventure in that part of Central America known as the Mosquito Kingdom. The author, who is an artist, could no longer endure the patronage (a word of dreadful significancy to any one who is sure he has a soul) which certain people condescendingly bestow on quiet pale men, who paint their broad red faces on canvas, left New York for the tropics. Not finding the beautiful scenery of Jamaica a fair compensation for its dilapidated plantations, and lazy, filthy negroes, whose incomprehensible lingo deafened him, and whose odor, under tropical heats, &c., he sailed for Bluefields, the seat of Mosquito royalty. The schooner in which he embarked was wrecked on one of the coral keys in the sea of the Antilles, inhabited only by turtles, and visited only by turtle fishers. After two or three weeks of pleasant excitement on this island, with his two companions from the wreck-a negro and an indian-he sailed again for the main land.

At Bluefields, Mr. Bard met an Englishman, Mr. Bell, with whom resided that world-renowned monarch, "George William Clarence, King of all the Mosquitos." His first sight of this royal personage was while at breakfast with Mr. Bell, and

is thus described:

"Meanwhile, we had each finished our first cup of coffee, and were proceeding with a second, when the door in the corner opened, and a black boy, or what an American would be apt to call, a young darkey,' apparently nineteen or twenty years old, shuffled up to the table. He wore only a shirt, unbuttoned at the throat, and cotton pantaloons, scarcely buttoned at all. He nodded to my entertainer with a drawling, mornin' sir!' and sat down to the third cup of coffee. My host seemed to take no notice of him, and we continued our conversation. Soon after. the sloven youth got up, took his hat, and slowly walked down the path to the river, where I afterwards saw him washing his face in the stream.

"As I was about leaving, Mr. Bell kindly volunteered his services to me, in any way they might be made available. I thanked him, and suggested that, having no object to accomplish but to 'scare up' adventures and seek out novel sights, I should be obliged to him for an introduction to the King, at some future day, after Antonio should have succeeded in rejuvenating my suit of ceremony, now rather rusty from saturation with salt water. He smiled faintly, and said, as for that matter, there need be no delay; and stepping to the door,

shouted to the black youth by the river, and beckoned him to come up the bank. The youth put on his hat hurriedly, and obeyed. Perhaps you are not aware that is the King?' observed my host, with a contemptuous smile. I made no reply, as the youth was at hand. He took off his hat respectfully, but there was no introduction in the case, beyond the quiet observation, 'George, this gentleman has come to see you; sit down!'

"I soon saw who was the real 'King' in Bluefields. 'George,' I think, had also a notion of his own on the subject, but was kept in such strict subordina tion that he never manifested it by words."

Unless Mr. Bard is joking, the Mosquito King is merely a "political vanity," to be used in diplomatic jugglery. The account of the Author's excursions along the coast of Central America-his dangers and conflicts and victories-is full of interest, and illustrates a rare and varied experience, or a very fertile imagination.

Church Music; with selections for the ordinary occasions of Public and Social Worship, from the Psalms and Hymns of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Adopted and Recommended by St. Peter's Church, Rochester. Rochester: E. Darrow & Brother. 1855. pp. 158.

This book is designed for Congregational singing; and it is to be hoped that it may do something to secure the general observance of that part of worship in our churches. The tunes selected are, for the most part, familiar, in name at least, to all the people. It seems much more like the worship of God in the sanctuary, when all unite in the songs of praise, than when that service of singing is performed by a few artists. Rev. L. W. Bacon introduces the book with some valuable suggestions. Cora and the Doctor; or Revelations of a Physician's Wife. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co. 1855. New Haven: Thomas H. Pease.

An interesting and exciting story, instructive withal, and will attract a multitude of readers.

Learning to Talk; or entertaining and instructive Lessons in the use of language. By JACOB ABBOTT. Illustrated with one hundred and seventy engravings. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1855. New Haven: E. Downes.

Harpers' Story Books, and Harpers' Picture Books, have won the hearts of the children all over the land. When once introduced into the family, it is impossible to deny the importunity which demands the new Story Book as soon as it is pub lished. No juvenile books could be better adapted to awaken interest, and impart instruction.

Lovell's Progressive Readers, No. 3. By JOHN E. LOVELL, Author of the U. S. Speaker, Young Speaker, etc., etc. New Haven: Durrie & Peck. 1855.

The character and experience of Mr. Lovell are a strong recommendation of his School Books. The Lessons introduced into this Reader are "instructive, entertaining, and elevating" in their tendency; inculcating also the spirit of a true morality.

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Mathematical Dictionary and Cyclopedia of Mathematical Science. By CHARLES DAVIES, LL. D., and Prof. WM. G. PECK. New York: A. S. Barnes: New Haven Durrie & Peck.

We have here, in a closely-printed octavo of about 600 pages, a condensed view of the different branches of the Mathematics, pure and mixed, alphabetically arranged, and exhibiting the present condition of the science. Besides clear definitions of all mathematical terms, and a succinct development of each separate topic, the work contains, also, in connection with particular subjects, a great variety of practical formulæ, and of important physical data. Indeed, the applications of the science to physical investigations, are, perhaps, more fully treated than would be inferred from the title. Particularly is this true in the departments of Geodesy and Surveying. Not only, therefore, is the work well adapted to the wants of teachers and students, but it will be found, also, a highly useful reference book for practical men; and, indeed, generally for all persons of education and intelligence. So thorough and able a digest we can cordially commend to all interested in the science as every way worthy of their attention. A Memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smith. By his Daughter, Lady HOLLAND. With a Selection from his Letters. Edited by Mrs. AUSTIN. 2 vols. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1855. New Haven: E. Downes.

Rev. Sydney Smith has been known in this country chiefly by the publication of his Edinburgh Essays, by his petition to Congress, &c., concerning Pennsylvania repudiation, and by his witty sayings on all subjects and on almost all occasions. These sources of information respecting him were not altogether satisfactory; in other words, they did not reveal the story of his life; they did not afford that intimate knowledge of his career and character, as a man of note and influence, which all naturally desired. At length, ten years after his death, his daughter has given to the public an interesting and unique biography, full of reverence and sensibility and filial partiality. In these volumes are recorded and illustrated the habits of his daily life and the sterling virtues of his character, as an earnest, honest, truth-loving, self-denying man. They will generally be read with satisfaction.

He

Sydney Smith devoted much thought and energy to the reformation of all kinds of abuses in church and state. had a quick sense of justice, and courage to declare his judg ment. And it is not a little singular, that, with scarcely an exception, the reforms which he advocated were in greater or less degree secured, before the close of his life. There is much to excite admiration in the unhesitating avowal of his convictions, when such a course would keep him in poverty, and pre

clude the hope of preferment. The first quarter of a century after his connection with the Edinburgh Review, to use his own language, "was an awful period for those who ventured to maintain liberal opinions; and who were too honest to sell them for the ermine of the judge, or the lawn of the prelate. A long and hopeless career in your profession, the chuckling grin of noodles, the sarcastic leer of the genuine political rogue; prebendaries, deans, bishops inade over your head; reverend renegades advanced to the highest dignities of the church, for helping to rivet the fetters of Catholic and Protestant Dissenters; and no more chance of a whig administration than a thaw in Zembla ;-these were the penalties exacted for liberality of opinion at that period; and not only was there no pay, but there were many stripes." It was not, as some solemn people imagine, because Sydney Smith was a great wit, that he did not attain to higher dignity in the church; but because he told too many plain truths concerning the abuses which were tolerated and protected in the Establishment. If he had been an illiberal churchman, he would not have been a reformer, and might have been a bishop.

As a clergyman, he devoted himself almost exclusively to the humanities of religion. There is little or no evidence in his Memoir of that degree of spiritual-mindedness which properly belongs to and adorns the character of one who has the cure of souls.

Mountains and Molehills; or Recollections of a Burnt Journal. By FRANK MARRYAT, Author of Romeo and the Eastern Archipelago. With Illustrations by the Author. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1855. 12mo. pp. 393. New Haven: for sale by E. Downes.

The author of this volume tells the story of his California adventures in type much as he would, viva voce, to a circle of interested companions by a camp-fire, or in a bar-room. He is lively, graphic, always entertaining, and apparently faithful to nature and facts. An Englishman by birth, and, as he somewhere tells us, educated a midshipman, he starts with gun and hounds, in 1850, on a trip for hunting and general adventure in California. Previous experience of travel, by sea and land, in the East Indies and China, had fitted him to enact the wilder phases of California life, with zest and spirit. With as much of the Yankee as of the Englishman in his composition we find him pliant to every change of fortune, turning his hand now to one thing and then to another, as chances seemed to offer of improving his finances in the land of gold. somehow, his efforts, however energetically conducted, always yielded a wider harvest of adventures than of cash. Whether deer-hunting on Russia river, farming on a squatter's claim,

But,

acting in the incipient theaters of San Francisco, building ironhotels on speculation at " Vallejo," or conducting quartzmining operations in the southern "Diggins," he appears to have been equally unfortunate. Even his stock of personal adventures came near being of little avail to him, inasinuch as his records of them, with his sketches, were all consumed, as he tells us, in one of the great fires that desolated San Francisco. It is this fact that shapes the title of the volume-the recollection of his experiences taking the place of the lost record.

But the scenes through which he passed were so novel, and the impressions of them seem to have been so firmly fixed in his mind, that the sketches before us apparently lack nothing in freshness or vividness from the loss of the manuscripts. The author is abundantly modest and does not attempt to pass himself off for more than he is worth. He makes no attempt to go deeply into statistics or to convey much scientific information. Yet his remarks on men and things are generally accurate and always in good temper. He exhibits some of the faultfinding of which the English are generally accused. Indeed, he takes everything by its smooth handle and finds much in Americans and their institutions, even in their California aspect, to admire and commend. Nor can he refrain occasionally from drawing contrasts between things American and British, by no means complimentary to the latter. This is particularly true in respect to religious and educational matters. In view of the freedom, intelligence, and social equality which he everywhere sees, even in a state so new and anomalous, he cannot help giving the oppressive hierarchy and aristocracy of his native land a hearty rap. He has learned to respect and love Yankee intelligence and enterprise, and while he is not blind to the foibles of the Yankees themselves, he becomes attached to them for their many generous and manly qualities. From the sketch-book of such an adventurer, the reader must not expect anything like a fair view of California life in general, especially an interior view of society of the better sort, even as it existed in 1850 and '51-the period of our author's sojourn. Much less will the perusal of these sketches convey any just impression of California in its more recent aspects. The chaotic roughness, so conspicuous four or five years ago, has, in a good degree, passed away. Sobriety, refinement, elegance, have taken the place of riot and rolicking. San Francisco is, in most respects, socially, not inferior to New York or other Eastern cities. Were our author to re-visit that place in 1855, he would find additional changes to chronicle as great as he observed during his two years' sojourn. He was in California during its most wild and chaotic period.

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