dress; and we doubt much, but that among her spolia opima, was a little basket of bon bons from our own hand.

There is this sweet glimpse from the over-worked Coliseum:-"The sun searched with a delicious warmth the recesses of the Great Ruin-the blue sky roofed it in with tender glory, and looked with limpid clearness through the beautiful arches, as they rose, tier above tier, into the morning air, and from every rift and crevice, and stony receptacle, where an inch of soil could lodge, curtains of exquisite wild spring flowers fell over the brown rich masses of masonry delicate garlands wound themselves around the bases of huge fallen columns-full tufted bushes of dark green verdure rocked and swayed in the spring breath along the ranges where the heroic Roman people had thronged the seats of their great slaughter house,-and high up against the transparent sky, light feathery wands of blossom sprang from the huge walls, crowning the grim battlement with their most fragile beauty."

And this is as true as it is beautiful. Pleasant anecdotes lie scattered along the volume, which, Mrs. Butler had the good sense to perceive, would be needed, to relieve, nowadays, any book on Rome.

Passionate lines of verse, too, are sown up and down, full of feeling, and her own feeling doubtless-but for that very reason appearing a little unfavorably amid the general gossip of the book.

We do not think the work will throw much new light on Italy, or on Italian character, or that Mrs. Fanny expects as much; at the same time, there is in it a great deal of shrewd observation, mingled with the careless jottings of travel. We particularly commend, for its truthfulness, this paragraph on American women, hoping they will profit by it, and that Mrs. Butler, when she visits us, will add her powerful example to her amiable precept: "So great and universal is the deference paid to the weaker vessel, indeed, in the United States, that I think the fair Americans rather presume upon their privileges; and I have seen ladies come into crowded steamboats and railroad cars, and instantly assume the seats, that have been as instantly resigned by gentlemen upon their entrance, without so much as a gracious word, or a look of acknowledg ment; so certain is the understanding that every accommodation is not only to be furnished, but given up to them, and this not to young, pretty, ladies, but to women old or young, pretty or ugly, of the highest or lowest class. Though the virtue on the part of the American men is certainly very great, I think it has made their women quite saucy in their supremacy, and altogether unblushing in their mode of claiming and receiving it."

The Philosophy of Magic, Prodigies, and Apparent Miracles; from the French of EUSEBE SALVERTE: with notes illustrative, explanatory, and critical, by ANTHONY TODD THOMSON, M.D., F.L.S., &c. In two volumes. Harper & Brothers. New York: 1847.

The late Eusebe Salverte, a French gentleman of Republican principles, and a scholar of great learning and judgment; indeed, if we may trust Arago's eulogy of him, "one of the most learned men of our age, in languages, science, and political economy," undertook to examine the stories of miracles and prodigies related by ancient historians, in a philosophical spirit; for a sceptical sneer, substituting a scientific explanation. We have read his work with great attention, and cannot but set a very high value upon it as a truly philosophical production, likely to do infinite service to science and liberal learning. It is certainly an important step towards a better opinion of human nature to have relieved the great writers of antiquity from the odium of falsehood which has fallen upon them, since, through the discoveries of modern times their narratives of miracles and prodigies have become exceptionable or ridiculous. Could they rise from their tombs, they could not but thank the learned Salverte for the service he has done their reputations in this ingenious and truly delightful work, the "Philosophy of Magic."

Dr. Todd, the translator of these v ol umes, has very judiciously omitted the explanations of scripture miracles. "I have felt it my duty," says he, "to expunge from their pages every passage relating to the sacred volume, and at the same time to change somewhat the title of the work, by substituting the words " apparent miracles," for "miracles."

It is well known that the Egyptians worked miracles by magic; but the Fathers of the Church believed this magic to be of demoniacal origin, and a trick of the devil. We have but to read Salverte, to understand that whatever magic they used must have been grounded in practical chemistry.

Why the science of the ancients should have fallen into oblivion, is also explained. "If any one," says Salverte, "remain sceptical regarding (the existence of a real science of chemistry in the arcana of the temples,) he may convince himself by reference to the analogy displayed in the progress of alchemy prior to the rise of true chemistry, to have there a type of the empirical manner in which the sciences were studied, cultivated and fostered, in the ancient temples. The priests searched after, and sometimes produced, astonishing phenomena; but neglecting the theory of

the principles, and preserving no record of the means employed," (every science is founded in its own history)," they rarely succeeded twice in obtaining the same results ;" and those which they did obtain, like the fireworks of old-fashioned chemical lecturers, were directed more to the eye than to the mind, and so contriv. ed as to astonish without enlightening. "Their great object was to conceal the processes, and to retain exclusive possession of their secrets." "The ancients," says Buffon, "reduced all sciences to practice. All that did not immediately concern society, or the arts, was neglected; and, as they regarded man in the light of a moral being, they would not allow that things of no palpable utility were worthy of his attention." This universal precept was applied in all its force to the study of occult science; but nothing was expected from the knowledge it imparted, except the power of working miracles. "From such" an utilitarian view, "the consequence could only have been the acquire ment of a partial knowledge, accompanied with great ignorance in other respects; and, instead of a science, whose connected parts so depend upon and suggest one another that the utility of the whole effectually preserves the details from oblivion, every part held an isolated position, and ran the risk of being altogether lost; a danger rendered more probable every day by the increase of mystery."-pp. 187-8.

In fine, the book is worth any man's time to read it, and contains nearly everything desirable to be known on the subject of the ancient superstitions, the temples and the arts of priest-craft.

The Constitutional History of England, from the Accession of Henry VII to the Death of George II.: by HENRY HALLAM, Author of Europe in the Middle Ages, &c. (1 Vol., large 8vo.) New York: Harper & Brothers. 1847.

It is almost useless to say anything in the small limits of a notice of such a work as Hallam's Constitutional History. It is on the list of law studies as a primary book, to be read in connection with Blackstone. Those who mean to use it with advantage would do well to read their Blackstone first, and they will understand Hallam none the worse for it. The author is a decided monarchist, and treats the sectaries and Republicans with the great est contempt; yet for all that he is well read in the Parliamentary historians, and

uses Cromwell with respect. This work is the reverse of anecdotical-it is a histo ry of the forms of the English Constitution.

1844; or, The Power of the S. F A Tale-developing the secret action of Parties during the Presidential Campaign of 1844. BY THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH.

This book, as far as we have read it, seems to be an attempt to show, that the Whigs of New York City-or at least a part of them-in the Election of 1844 endeavored to obtain a large number of votes here, by secret betting and mercenary operations among the gamblers and denizens of the lowest parts of the cityin just the same manner as the author of the "Mystery of Iniquity" described schemes to obtain false votes to have been entered into by the Democrats. Of the degree of credit due to either exposition, readers can judge. The "Power of the S. F." is told with some vigor, and displays a talent for description-but it is not pleasant reading, for it deals almost entirely with dissolute scenes, with char acters worthless and abandoned, and with the devices of political hypocrisy a nd chicane.

History of the Conquest of Peru, with a preliminary view of the Civilization of the Incas. By W. H. PRESCOTT. New York. Harper & Brothers.

Mr. Prescott's new work on Peru has just been issued in two splendid volumes from the press of the "Harpers :" the English critics are heroic in praise of it as an artistic and most powerfully and picturesquely written work.

A Voyage up the River Amazon, including a Residence at Para. By WILLIAM H. EDWARDS. New York.

These travels certainly go over a most delightful and splendid region of country. We have always thought, with the author, that it is a matter of surprise, that those who live upon the excitement of seeing and telling some new thing, have so seldom betaken themselves to our southern continent. The book treats of a variety of scenes, and is very pleasant reading. It may be made the occasion of an extended view of the scenery and resources of that magnificent country, which is so little known.