The Fagot of French Sticks, is the title of Sir Francis Bond Bead's new work, which we perceive is about to be reprinted by Mr. PUTNAM, of New York. His previous lively and spirited books of travel excite an expectation which this appears to disappoint. Most of the critical journals, except some of those strongly sympathizing with the political views of the author, express this disappointment in greater or less degree. The Examiner thus disposes of it:

Books upon nothing are permissible to certain writers to men of fancy, whose imagination can cover the barrenness of a theme; to sentimentalists, who can make pathos out of a horn snuff-box, or extract floods of humor from the first postillion or grisette; to the philosopher who can draw a moral from the most vulgar objects of life, or to the wit who can infuse his own comicality into them. But the author before us possesses none of these characteristics in that eminent degree which entitles him to present the world with two volumes upon nothing. Of humor, indeed, several of his former writings displayed not a little; but the source has apparently been dried up. We are quite at a loss to discover what kind of impression Sir Francis Head intended to make upon the reader by his present sketches, which are little calculated to instruct, and certainly not vastly to amuse."

The Literary Gazette gives its sincere, though qualified applause.

We are glad to observe that a new edition is preparing for publication of the works of Dr. Isaac Barrow, "compared with the original MSS.," the announcement says, "and enlarged with materials hitherto unpublished; edited for the Syndics of the University Press, Cambridge."

Wesley and Methodism, by Isaac Taylor, reprinted in a handsome 12mo by Messrs. HARPER, New York, obtains a long and highly commendatory notice in the Literary Gazette. The scope of the work is thus stated:

"One division of Mr. Taylor's book relates to the substance of Methodism,' as distinguished from the form of Methodism,' still extant under the name of Wesleyanism, after one of the originators of the movement. The substance of Methodism he states to consist of these four elements-1. A belief, amounting to a vivid feeling, of the truth and importance of the great doctrines of the Christian system. 2. A sense of personal relationship to these truths, felt by each individual, as opposed to the Church idea of Christianity, beyond which the Church of Rome knows nothing, and to which the Church of England, in all her public offices, gives much prominence. The need of what is called 'experimental religion' is made in Methodism to throw into comparative insignificance all questions of outward form or of ecclesiastical order. 3. The consciousness and the enjoyment of a new life, manifesting itself sometimes in unusual sensations of peace, or love, or joy, sometimes breaking forth into external demonstrations in the rude and unlearned, but in better constitutions leading to growing humility, faith, holiness, and zeal. 4. As an element of the Methodism of the last century was what is termed 'evangelic philanthropy,' an active and diffusive spirit and practice of doing good, arising from mo

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AMERICAN BOOKS.

Mr. Young's Version of Béranger, published by PUTNAM, is treated by the Athenæum with as much severity as if the worthy translator were not a native Englishman. After stating some of the peculiar difficulties of rendering such an author as Béranger into English, the critic proceeds :

"None of these unquestionable general truths seem to have been apprehended by Mr. Young;or else he does not possess the expressive power of the poet who is to render foreign poets. His work justifies both suspicions,-and suggests the ungrateful toil of one who has set himself to copy a cameo with a sledge hammer,-to touch an enamel with a coach-painter's brush. For the malice of the vaudeville couplet, Mr. Young gives us the homely 'mischief' of the Clare Market ballad. The tender yet popular singer-the naïf and poignant satirist-the boon companion who wears his vine-wreath, not as a Silenus but as a Faun would wear it,-is here presented as a being little more subtle or accomplished than the rhymesters who versified Marshal Haynau's visit to the Brewery, and who now, like Wisdom, are crying in the streets concerning the antecedents and destinies of Bloomerism. Is not such a character deserved by a versifier who employs such flowers of speech as the go,' 'draw it mild,' ‘old clo,' 'shocking bad hat,' &c., --and who does not even use his vernacular' pure? This, such nondescript words as old hunk,' (for 'old hunks,') because a word was wanted to rhyme with drunk,-as Liz,' by way of translating Lisette, rather drearily illustrate. In brief, want of power, want of poetry, and want of taste characterize Mr. Young's translations."

Mr. Longfellow's new poem, "The Golden Le

gend,' published by TICKNOR, REED & FIELDS, Boston, and republished by BOGUE, is warmly received. The Athenæum says:—

"A new poem by Prof. Longfellow is sure to be welcome. His fresh imagery, his gracefully chosen epithets, and the delicate beauty of his thoughts, whatever be the mould into which he chooses to cast them, give him an unquestioned place in the Hall of the Poets. His present subject, to whatever objections it may be open as a theme, is peculiarly happy for the choice which it gives him of accessories of scenery and time, and for the variety of material which this choice places ready to his hand. Waving the question of the propriety of a medieval legend in a time when the heart of the world is busy with the labor of Progress which it has in hand, and when the Bard should be doing his part of the work, we recognize Mr. Longfellow's happy treatment of the quaint and picturesque materials on which he has chosen to exercise his muse."

The Literary Gazette echoes the strain:"Mr. Longfellow has written two books-Hype rion,' in prose, and Evangeline,' in verse-which are sure to keep his name long fresh, wherever the English tongue is spoken. A well-stored mind, a graceful fancy, and glowing heart, are indeed apparent in everything that falls from his pen; but in the works we have named, more especially the latter, the power of moving the affections and stamping indelible pictures on the memory, proclaim the presence of the poet."

Layard's Popular Account of the Discoveries at Nineveh has been handsomely reprinted by Messrs. HARPER AND BROTHERS.

In the compass of a single volume, and at a very moderate price, we have the results of the most interesting series of investigations which have been made in modern times into the history of the past. Four years ago, a single case, not three feet square, in the British Museum, contained all that was known to exist of the two most famous cities of antiquity. A few incidental notices in Holy Writ, and frag ments of profane historians of doubtful authority, in which it is impossible in many cases to distinguish fact from fiction, were all the historical records of the first dynasties which ruled the East. Since that time the researches of Layard have brought to light inscriptions and works of art furnishing materials from which there is every reason to hope that the history of Assyria may be constructed upon a basis more satisfactory than that of any nation of antiquity, whose records have not been written by inspiration. This volume, abridged by Layard from his larger work, presents, in a more compact form, all the results and facts of his previous volumes, and cannot fail to prove even more widely acceptable. It contains no change of opinion on any material point, for the views which he at first advanced have been confirmed by his subsequent discoveries, and by the continual progress that has been made in deciphering the ancient inscriptions. It may, therefore, be confidently accepted as presenting an accurate statement of the present state of our knowledge of Assyrian antiquities. Independent of the light thrown on numerous topics of Biblical interest by the discoveries made, the history of the investigations abounds in curious and instructive details of the life and manners of the Arabs, with whom the author was thrown into very intimate rela tions.

lord among wits," died at his house in Brompton Mr. Harry Luttrell, "a wit among lords and a Crescent on the 19th inst., in the eighty-first year of his age. He was the friend of Sydney Smith and of Mr. Rogers, and the wit who set the table in a roar at Holland House, when Whig supremacy in the patronage of letters was rather laughed at in political circles. Like many other men of reputation for happy sayings, his printed performances do little justice to the talents which he himself possessed.

— M. Duprez, so long celebrated as the tenor of the French opera, has become a composer; his first work, an opera, called “L'abime de la Maladetta," was produced for the first time at the Theatre de la Monnaie, at Brussels, on Monday last.

been the production of an opera in three acts, by The principal musical event of the week has Felicien David, at the Opera National, called La Perle du Brésil It created extraordinary interest in the musical circles and amongst the public, as it is the first piece David, though so widely known by his Desert, his Eden, and other ode-symphonies, has prepared for the stage.

Dr. Mainzer, a composer of great merits, and a teacher of extraordinary success, died recently at Manchester, at an advanced age.

- Alexan 'er Lee, author of several of the much

with it, he always pronounced it partridges. A friend of the writer observed to her, that it could hardly be considered as a mere piece of negligence, for it appeared to him that the boy, in calling them partridges, was making game of the patriarchs. Now, here are two distinct meanings contained in the same phrase: for to make game of the patriarchs is to laugh at them; or to make game of them is, by a very extravagant and laughable sort of ignorance of words, to rank them among pheasants, partridges, and other such delicacies, which the law takes under its protection and calls game; and the whole pleasure derived froin this pun consists in the discovery that two such meanings are referable to one form of expression."

Mr. Cunningham tells several amusing anecdotes in his "Handbook of Modern London." One is of Dr. South, whose habit of punning in the pulpit is well known. When appointed chaplain to the Merchant Tailors' Company, he took for the text of his inauguration sermon the words, "A remnant of all shall be saved." In a Bible printed at Stationer's Hall, in the year 1632, and still shown there, the important omission of the word not in the seventh commandment, which is printed, "Thou shalt commit adultery," brought down Laud's anger on the Company, and the infliction of a heavy fine for the immorality of the precept. A less serious mistake is thus narrated: "The City was commonly called Cockaigne. The name Cockney-a spoilt or effeminate boy-one cockered and spoilt-is generally applied to people born within the sound of the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow. When a female Cockney was informed that barley did not grow, but that it was spun by housewives in the country, 'I knew as much,' said the Cockney, 'for one may see the threads hanging out of the ends thereof.'

Fenelon's Telemachus, which has long since been translated into all the European languages, but which had never been rendered into any Eastern tongue, is just being published in Hebrew, in Posen, (Prussian Poland.) This edition is especially intended for the Jews of Russia, and the publisher, M. Samniter, has obtained permission from Nicholas to import into his dominions as many copies as he can sell, free of all duty.

-The Library of the Paris Observatory has just received a valuable addition to its scientific catalogue. When Lalande, the French astronomer, died in 1807, he left a vast number of manuscripts to be divided among his numerous heirs. One of his descendants, an officer in the army, has been for a long time engaged in attempting to get these manuscripts together again. In this attempt he has at last succeeded, and has made a present of the whole, forming thirty-six volumes, to M. Arago. The latter, fearing that they might again become separated, has, in his turn, caused them to be deposited at the Observatory.

-Miss Martineau's opinion of Dr. Paley is thus expressed in her new history::-"One of the Cambridge men who opposed Horne Tooke's having his

degree in 1771, was Paley, then a tutor in the University. Paley died first, in 1805, having distinguished himself in a very different line. He was too clear and strong an advocate of the principles of liberty and the rights of conscience to have any chance, in those days of high preferment; and he rose no higher in the Church than the sub deanery of Lincoln. He was a clear headed man, who could say at will exactly what he thought; and that talent, at a time when the solemn pomposity of Johnson's imitators began to be wearisome, obtained for Paley a reputation as a thinker, which the lapse of half a century has shown to be very far beyond his deserts. He was clear, but not deep; strong, but not comprehensive; orderly, but not elevated. The subjects he attempted-as in his Moral and Political Philosophy, his Evidences of Christianity, and his Natural Theology-were too deep and too high for his order of intellect; and though the charms of his manner and the clearness of his method secured a long term of popularity for these works, the higher and larger thought of men since born has made us wonder at the acceptance so long given to Paley's inadequate definitions, loose reasonings, and low moral propositions. Utility and expediency are his universal solvent; and the method of their application in the philosophy and practice of morals, politics, society, and ecclesiastical matters, seems as uncertain as the principle is loose and questionable. They accord but too well with his own celebrated saying, in regard to the profession of religious belief -that he "could not afford to keep a conscience." Dr. Paley died, as has been said, very early in the century; but his works exercised till lately so strong an influence over the minds of statesmen, divines, and educators, that he may be considered as belonging to our own time, as well as to the preceding half century."

TANCRED. The engraving accompanying this number is from a subject contained in Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered-one of the heroes of which epie Tancred was a Sicilian, and embarked with his is Tancred, the companion of Godfrey of Bouillon. friend, Bohemond, on the great crusade in 1096, ing. He joined Godfrey on the plains of Chalcedon, and soon became conspicuous for his valor and darwhere was formed the celebrated compact of which Tasso speaks. At the great siege of Nice, Tancred was the soul of the engagement; and in a subsequent battle at Dorylæum, his intrepidity saved the army of the crusaders when surrounded by 200,000 Seljooks. Tancred also led the way in the long and perilous march to Jerusalem, more than a thousand advanced work, which still bears the name of Tanmiles. On reaching the Holy City, he captured an cred's Tower. His career in Palestine was one of

splendid and incessant triumph. He was created Prince of Galilee, and exhibited both in his administrative career and his military enterprise, the gallant, disinterested, noble conduct which has made his character the favorite of poet and painter alike, and his name the highest ideal of chivalry. Tasso's glowing verse has immortalized him, as the peculiar glory of the crusades, and the model Christian hero.