in Michelet's history, but it is not readily perceived by common readers, and is only discernible after the eye has become accustomed to the glare of his style, and looks at events and persons from the position chosen by the historian himself. Guizot groups all his facts under two or three grand generalizations, and leaves the latter impressed on the mind, even if the facts themselves slip through the memory; Michelet's imagination fastens more tenaciously on individual facts, and presents these in such vivid lights, that the philosophic frame which really encloses the pictures, is liable to be overlooked. Both of these French historians are well worthy the study of Americans.

NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. April, 1847. Boston: Otis, Broaders & Co.

The April number of this aged quarterly sparkles with more than its wonted brilliancy. The two most flashing articles are those on Nine New Poets and The Modern Timon. The first is a scorching piece of sarcasm directed against the poems of Emerson, Channing, Story and six other American poets. Though very pleasant and readable, the article is still presumptuous and unjust. After so severe a castigation of faults, the writer was bound to say something in praise of the merits of his victims. But his object seems simply to have been to tomahawk the bards, and hang up their scalps as trophies in his critical wigwam. The article on The Modern Timon is lit up by a blaze of wit. Its authorship has been assigned to James Russell Lowell. If this be true, it does credit to the versatility of his talents.

THE STORY OF RAYMOND HILL, and other Poems, by John Dennison Baldwin. Boston: Wm. D. Ticknor & Co.

Contrary to the customary prudence of treating with cautious coldness the new comer into the fields of literature, we have no hesitation in giving Mr. Baldwin, though a stranger to us, a warm shake of the hand. He possesses no small degree of the poetic faculty, with a fresh and lively fancy, originality of conception, and a melodious flow of language: and though it is easy to ferret out faults in both the matter and the style of his poems, there is not the difference, in this respect, between what he calls his "firstlings" and the productions of more practised poets, that

would commonly be expected. The maturity of judgment which be will doubtless soon gain through a better acquaintance with the world, will correct his main defects. The following beautiful lines are taken from what he regards as the most imperfect portion of his leading poem:

"The light and loveliness of Nature,

With sweet enticement, charm and grace
The life of every loving creature

That feels and breathes in her embrace.
And yet, the all o'erflowing splendor,
Through every sight and every tone
Forever melting, warm and tender,
Flows not from outward shows alone.
The landscape shineth, in its glory,
To such as inwardly rejoice;
The blossom tells an angel's story,

To such as know the angel's voice."

We might quote finer passages in abundance, if our limits would permit. We are glad to see that our young author is alive not only to the sentiment of beauty and grace, but to the noble and soul-stirring impulses of the reforming spirit of the times. Witness the following nervous lines, in which he portrays the opposition with which the champion of moral truth is commonly assailed in the discharge of his duty:

The book is brought out in the neat style in which the pub

lishers usually issue their editions of poets.

LECTURES TO YOUNG MEN, on Various and Important Subjects, by Henry Ward Beecher. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co.

This work which has been already circulated, and strongly praised, in all parts of the country - does not treat on the general duties and responsibilities of young men ; but may more properly be called a book of warning, in respect to some of the more prominent evils which beset their way. We know of no work addressed to the same class of readers in which these evils are pointed out in such masterly and forcible language, and in which the sad end of the transgressor is presented to view with such vivid and appalling reality, as in these lectures. We have no space for extracts at this time; but there are several passages which we may make use of hereafter. Masculine strength and fire, constitute the prominent characteristics of the work; but we have been struck with the rich poetic beauty which glows here and there in its pages, and cannot forbear to quote one eloquent specimen :

"Moss will grow upon grave-stones; ivy will cling to the mouldering pile; the misletoe springs from the dying branch; and, God be praised! something green, something fair to the sight and grateful to the affections, will yet twine around and grow out of the seams and cracks of the desolate temple of the human heart."

AUNT KITTY'S TALES, by Maria J. McIntosh. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 12mo.

This is a collected edition of interesting narratives, written by a lady peculiarly calculated to present sound moral principles to the heart and imagination in attractive forms, and to benefit the readers she amuses. Her novel entitled "To Seem and to Be," has been through several editions.

FROISSART BALLADS, AND OTHER POEMS, by P. P. Cooke. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart. 1 vol. 12mo.

We recollect being delighted with the Proem to these Ballads as it was originally published in Graham's Magazine. Though the volume does not altogether come up to the standard of the opening poem, it still contains much sweet, hearty and musical verse, which tells upon the mind as well as the ear. The poetry is fresh and sparkling, bubbling up from the author's mind as from a spring, and replete with fine touches of fancy and sentiment.

HYPERION, by H. W. Longfellow. Boston: Wm. D. Ticknor & Co. 1 vol. 8vo.

Here is a most beautiful edition of the most beautiful of Longfellow's prose works. The matter of the volume is well worthy of its elegant dress. There is hardly a page which does not contain something striking in thought, or felicitous in allusion, or rich and rare in imagery.

CHAMBERS' CYCLOPEDIA OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. This admirable work, which we noticed some time since, has reached its eighth number, and, in addition to its great popularity, has met with the general approbation of those whose studies best qualify them to judge of the merits of its execution.

The following description of a book-glutton, which happens to meet our eye at this moment in the selections from Bolingbroke, teaches a lesson which many students need to learn:

"One of them I knew in this country. He joined to a more than athletic strength of body, a prodigious memory, and to both a prodigious industry. He had read almost constantly twelve or fourteen hours a day, for five and twenty or thirty years, and had heaped together as much learning as could be crowded into a head. In the course of my acquaintance with him, I consulted him once or twice, not oftener; for I found this mass of learning of as little use to me as to the owner. The man was communicative enough; but nothing was distinct in his mind. How could it be otherwise? He had never spared time to think; all was employed in reading. His reason had not the merit of common mechanism. When you press a watch, or pull a clock, they answer your question with precision; for they repeat exactly the hour of the day, and tell you neither more nor less than you desire to know. But when you asked this man a question, he overwhelmed you by pouring forth all that the several terms or words of your question recalled to his memory; and if he omitted any thing, it was that very thing to which the sense of the whole question should have led him or confined him. To ask him a question was to wind up a spring in his memory, that rattled on with vast rapidity and confused noise, till the force of it was spent; and you went away with all the noise in your ears, stunned and uninformed. I never left him that I was not ready to say to him, ' God grant you a decrease of learning!'"

THOUGHTS, selected from the Writings of William E. Channing, D. D. Boston: Wm. Crosby & H. P. Nichols.

To all who are willing to look candidly at the thoughts of a great and good man, whether or not they agree in all respects with his views, this neat little work cannot fail to be acceptable. It contains some of the best aphorisms ever written.

THE AMATEUR, a Semi-Monthly Journal of Polite Literature, Science and Art, is the title of a new quarto paper recently commenced in Madison, Georgia, by Hanleiter & Wheler. Its moral tone and literary character are such as might be expected would be given to it by the excellent contributors whose names appear in the paper. It is not very strongly anti-slavery, of course; but we are agreeably surprised to find it disposed to treat our Magazine with the most cordial civility, notwithstanding our avowed sympathy with the oppressed in every part of the land.

JUVENILE Books.. We have received the following works for the young, which may be safely recommended:-"The Boy of Spirit ""When are we happiest?"-"The Cooper's Son "— and "The Olneys." All of them will interest young readers. The Christian Examiner speaks highly of the latter.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

MR. HILLARD'S LECTURES.

Geo. S. Hillard, Esq. concluded during the last month, his interesting and valuable course of lectures before the Lowell Institute, on the Life, Times, and Writings of MILTON. Throughout the course, the audiences were very numerous, and the last lecture showed no diminution of interest or of numbers. Mr. Hillard considered Milton, not only as a poet, but as a satirist, a scholar, a politician, a controversialist, a theologian, and more especially, as a MAN. The loftiness of his aims, and the purity of his motives, were recognized and enforced in