an impartial and philosophical mind; and as a narrative of events it is as minute as is possible for a compendium so condensed. We know no book so well suited for elementary instruction in modern history, and we hope to see it introduced into all our seminaries in which that study is pursued. 4.- Atlantic Steam Ships-some Ideas and Statements, the result of considerable reflection on the subject of navigating the Atlantic Ocean with Steam Ships of large tonnage: (made known in 1830, and published in one of the city journals in 1832.) By ITHIEL Town. Also, the arrival, description, and departure of the two first British Steam Ships, Sirius, and Great Western: thus fulfilling, in a great measure, the above ideas and suggestions. To which is added, a variety of statistical and other information. New York: Wiley and Putnam. 1838. 12mo. pp. 76. THIS work came to our hands after the article on steam navigation, in the present number, was in type. We have now to mention it as perhaps the most complete specimen of book-making with the scissors, which has issued from the press of the United States. The publishers are under very great obligations to Mr. Town, for the use of his name, and we hope, have paid him well for it. We fear, however, from appearances, that they have not thought it necessary to apply to that gentleman for permission to use, what he had, by publication in a journal, made common property. In this case, he may congratulate himself in being able to disavow being conscious of aiding in this catch-penny concern. We have to mention that the portion of the pamphlet in question which is written by Mr. Town, is able and well drawn up. It is not, however, of such a powerful character, as to be likely to create a strong sensation, and we do not wonder that it passed at the time of its first publication, without producing any effect. It is now rather too late to bring it forward again; for the experiment he proposes has already been accomplished by parties other than those to whom it is addressed. The rest of the pages are filled up with extracts from the newspapers, giving an account of matters and things pertaining to the arrival of the two steam ships, the toasts which were drank, and the cheers which were uttered on that joyous occasion; and the paper of Mr. Town serves in relation to them, the office which poems were once said to be written for, namely, to furnish an excuse for printing a deal of irrelevant prose. The articles which are thus appended to the paper of Mr. Town, and for which his name is made the voucher, are ephemeral in their 1838.] 66 nature, and would have escaped criticism, had they not been thus What Davenport's electrical discoveries have to do with steam navigation we are at a loss to imagine; the pages which might otherwise have remained blank in the form, are eked out with a history of these researches, à propos des bottes. 5.-Travels in Europe; namely, in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. By WILBUR FISK, D. D., President of the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut. Fourth Edition. New York: Harand Brothers. 1838. pp. 688. per THE "getting up"-as it is called-of this work, has evidently been a labor of love with the Harpers; they have bestowed so much more expense in making a handsome volume than they commonly bestow upon publications of this class. The reason is obvious, and it is certainly a very amiable one. We have some question in our minds, however, touching the words "Fourth Edition,' the number of days that borne upon the title page of our copy;have elapsed since the first publication of the work seeming to us incredibly small for the sale of three bona fide editions. But this is not our affair. What we have to remark is, that this volume purports to be the record of observations and reflections of the author, made "during a tour of about sixteen thousand miles, performed in the course of fifteen months, through some fifteen or twenty different sovereignties, whose inhabitants speak a great variety of different languages and dialects, and of whose laws and customs" he was "in many instances ignorant." 232 Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society. [July, Most persons would be apt to imagine that a traveller flying through foreign countries at this rate, and under such circumstances, would see very little worth recording, and would make very few reflections worth any body's attention; at all events, that he could not possibly fill so large a volume with any thing worth readinghis observations must necessarily be so hasty and imperfect, and his judgments and conclusions so superficial and unsound. For ourselves, however, we were persuaded before looking into the book, that if any body in such circumstances could see and record any thing to the purpose, it was Dr. Fisk. For in our opinion there are few men who more habitually go about with their eyes open, and who better know how to use them; and few men who have more of a certain excellent quality of judgment—a combination of plain good sense and shrewdness. Then again, particular circumstances have led him to pay special attention to several matters not commonly regarded by the bulk of tourists. As the head of a college, he has looked at the systems of education, the state of the universities in France, Prussia, and other places-As a methodist clergyman, he has given particular regard to the religious condition of the countries he has visited, and especially to the state of his own communion in England, and to the questions between the Dissenters and the Established Church. On this subject, as well as some others, it is easy to see that our author is under the influence of some very natural prejudices. If we had space, and thought it worth the while, we might show the incorrectness of some of his statements and opinions, We content ourselves, however, with recommending the work, on the whole, as containing considerable valuable information on several subjects of interest, and as expressing the views of a very sensible and excellent man-not a very high authority on questions of Art, but with an eye to see, and a plain, vigorous mind, to apprehend as much of the important objects that present themselves in such a tour, as almost any man. The tone and spirit of the work, we need not say, is pure and good, -- 6.-Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, volume 4. An Historical Discourse on the Civil and Religious Affairs of the Colony of Rhode Island, By JOHN CALLENDER, M. A. With a Memoir of the Author; Biographical Notices; Annotations, &c, By ROMEO ELTON, M. A. &c. Providence: Knowles, Vose, and Company. 1838, 8vo. pp. 270. THE materials for a complete and satisfactory history of our country are scarcely accessible to the American student. They 1838.] Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society. 233 are, to a considerable extent, contained in cumbrous piles of documents that lumber the record offices of the different states, or of the parent country, and in publications of an early date, known only to the painful inquirer, and rarely to be met with in any quarter. Serious, and almost insurmountable obstacles, are thus interposed to the faithful prosecution of historical research, without the possession of pecuniary means much more ample than students in general are able to command. The only practicable remedy for this state of things, seems to be looked for in combined efforts for the collection and preservation of such materials as exist in an accessible form, by those who either themselves take an interest in such inquiries, or are disposed for the public benefit to facilitate the labors of others. It is with this object in view, that Historical Societies are established in some parts of the country, and promise to be eminently useful to the future historian. Among these associations, that of Rhode Island is honorably distinguished, for the zeal and success with which its members have prosecuted their researches. The volume before us furnishes fresh proof of the efficiency of their labors, in contributing to the general fund of historical knowledge; combining, as it does, much original matter, with a republication of old and scarce documents, illustrative of the early condition of the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It consists mainly of Callender's Historical Discourse, comprising the events of the first centennial period, which was originally delivered in the year 1738, at Newport, and printed the following year at Boston. This discourse is well known as containing the only connected account of the early history of Rhode Island, extant; and for this reason it has been in great demand among collectors of books relating to America. It has never before been republished, and copies had in consequence become extremely rare. The labor of preparing this edition for the press, has been performed by Professor ELTON, of Brown University, one of the publishing committee of the society, who has enriched it with much additional matter, of an interesting and important character, comprisng memoirs of distinguished persons, original documents, and copious annotations. The whole work forms a valuable accession to the historical literature of the country, and cannot fail to be read with pleasure, by all for whom subjects of this nature possess attractions. It only remains that some competent hand should take the thread of narration where it was left by Callender, and continue it through the succeeding century, to present a satisfactory and complete view of the annals of Rhode Island. The period comprising the war of the revolution would necessarily form the most important portion of such a work; and as that colony not only took an active and highly creditable part in the contest, but also was the theatre of many brilliant exploits and stirring operations when animated by up the presence of the hostile forces, the story would be one of peculiar and almost fascinating interest. Among the original settlers of Rhode Island was an episcopal clergyman, the Reverend William Blackstone, who was living on the peninsula now occupied as the site of Boston, Massachusetts, on the arrival of John Winthrop and his fellow colonists in 1630; but finding, as he said, the "Lords brethren" of the puritan colony no better than the "Lords bishops" of the mother country, he removed to Rhode Island about the time Roger Williams laid the foundation of that colony. The biographical notices of Roger Williams and Bishop Berke ley are well written and important. It appears that the latter composed his celebrated work, "Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher," while residing at Newport, about the year 1730; and the precise spot is still pointed out, which was the favorite retreat of that learned and ingenious writer. The place was about half a mile southerly from Whitehall, where, "in the most elevated part of the Hanging Rocks, (so called,) he found a natural alcove, roofed, and open to the south, commanding at once a beautiful view of the ocean and the circumjacent islands." Here, too, he composed those elegant lines, of which the concluding stanza is often quoted: "Westward the course of empire takes its way; The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day; TIME'S NOBLEST OFFSPRING IS THE LAST." 7.-Cæsar's Commentaries on the Gallic War, and the first book of the Greek Paraphrase; with English Notes, Critical and Explanatory, plans of Battles, Sieges, &c., and Historical, Geographical, and Archaeological Indexes. By CHARLES ANTHON, LL.D., Jay Professor of the Greek and Latin Languages in Columbia College, New York, and Rector of the Grammar School. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1838. 12mo. pp. 493. To the young student, with this edition of Cæsar in his hands, the Gallic Wars are quite another story from what they were in our schoolboy days. To interpret Cæsar's battles, was then a task second only to fighting them; and it would certainly have been, for most boys, a lighter feat to swim "the arrowy Rhone," than to make their way unaided across Cæsar's famous bridge. Such then was Cæsar and most of the school classics-"sealed books;" not indeed in the literal sense, for they were well-thumbed, but books unintelligible, opened without being read, or read without being understood, or understood at length only at the expense of a thousand minutes needlessly wasted, and a thousand trials of temper, both to teacher and scholar, gratuitously inflicted, from the boy being thrown unaided upon difficulties beyond his strength. |