Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
of sketches of campaigns in the Peninsula , in North America , in France , and in South America , together with several adventures of a personal character , concluding with the experiences of a London prison , of which tlie captain is , for what we know to the contrary , still a governor . The " Castlereagh Correspondence , " * is a vast undigested mass of letters and despatches , of which something mig ht have been made if the
noble editor had thought it right to give the work the necessary time and labour ; as it is , no one is ever likely to wade through the collection , nor iudoed would he derive much profit from the performance of the Herculean tusk , without he had as much knowledge of all the events aud transactions there alluded to , as the writer himself had . In poetry ancl verse there is little that is really worthy the attention of our readers . Robertson ' s translation of Tasso ' s " Jerusalem Delivered , "t
like every other attempt to render it into English ( and several have been made ) , is marred by the scrupulous fidelity which the translator endeavours to attain , and which , though to a certain extent meritorious , detracts greatly from the pleasure with which an English reader would read the poem . It is , however , the best that has been done ; and undoubtedly great credit is clue to Captain Robei-tson for the sincere zeal and generous admiration with Avhich he has followed every line of the original .
To notice all the serial publications of the day is a task which fairly sets us at defiance , so numerous are they , and so rapidly do works of this description follow upon one another . The volumes of the railway libraries and shilling series of all kinds may now be counted by hundreds , and they are daily on ihe increase . The best of the former description are unquestionably those of Messrs . Longman , Murray , and Chapman and Hall ; and of the latterMr . Bolm , Messrs . Ingram aud Cooke , Messrs . lloutledge ,
, and Mr . Bentley , carry off the palm . Of scientific works the Messrs . Reeve have lately published some very excellent treatises on elementary and practical geology J and botany . § To these gentlemen , those who take an interest in such studies are largely indebted . Much has been already done to popularize science ; and it is works such as these that prompt active minds to engage in pursuits adding materially to the sum total of human knowledge . We must not
forget Dr . Cocks ' s work on sea-weeds , || a clever and ably written volume , intended alike for the collector and student . In the department of practical science , the last three months have been unusually bald , there being literally nothing of sufficient novelty to call
for even a short notice . Perhaps one of the most interesting Exhibitions connected with matters of art is that which has been lately held at Gore House ; where , under the superintendence of the Department of Science and Practical Art , several magnificent and interesting specimens of cabinet work , furniture , and tapestry , as well as works , the production of students in the schools of art receiving Parliamentary grants , have been displayed . Mr . Redgra \ 'o in the introduction to the catalogue thus describes the collcctiou ° : — " The styles , " he says , " principally represented are
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
of sketches of campaigns in the Peninsula , in North America , in France , and in South America , together with several adventures of a personal character , concluding with the experiences of a London prison , of which tlie captain is , for what we know to the contrary , still a governor . The " Castlereagh Correspondence , " * is a vast undigested mass of letters and despatches , of which something mig ht have been made if the
noble editor had thought it right to give the work the necessary time and labour ; as it is , no one is ever likely to wade through the collection , nor iudoed would he derive much profit from the performance of the Herculean tusk , without he had as much knowledge of all the events aud transactions there alluded to , as the writer himself had . In poetry ancl verse there is little that is really worthy the attention of our readers . Robertson ' s translation of Tasso ' s " Jerusalem Delivered , "t
like every other attempt to render it into English ( and several have been made ) , is marred by the scrupulous fidelity which the translator endeavours to attain , and which , though to a certain extent meritorious , detracts greatly from the pleasure with which an English reader would read the poem . It is , however , the best that has been done ; and undoubtedly great credit is clue to Captain Robei-tson for the sincere zeal and generous admiration with Avhich he has followed every line of the original .
To notice all the serial publications of the day is a task which fairly sets us at defiance , so numerous are they , and so rapidly do works of this description follow upon one another . The volumes of the railway libraries and shilling series of all kinds may now be counted by hundreds , and they are daily on ihe increase . The best of the former description are unquestionably those of Messrs . Longman , Murray , and Chapman and Hall ; and of the latterMr . Bolm , Messrs . Ingram aud Cooke , Messrs . lloutledge ,
, and Mr . Bentley , carry off the palm . Of scientific works the Messrs . Reeve have lately published some very excellent treatises on elementary and practical geology J and botany . § To these gentlemen , those who take an interest in such studies are largely indebted . Much has been already done to popularize science ; and it is works such as these that prompt active minds to engage in pursuits adding materially to the sum total of human knowledge . We must not
forget Dr . Cocks ' s work on sea-weeds , || a clever and ably written volume , intended alike for the collector and student . In the department of practical science , the last three months have been unusually bald , there being literally nothing of sufficient novelty to call
for even a short notice . Perhaps one of the most interesting Exhibitions connected with matters of art is that which has been lately held at Gore House ; where , under the superintendence of the Department of Science and Practical Art , several magnificent and interesting specimens of cabinet work , furniture , and tapestry , as well as works , the production of students in the schools of art receiving Parliamentary grants , have been displayed . Mr . Redgra \ 'o in the introduction to the catalogue thus describes the collcctiou ° : — " The styles , " he says , " principally represented are