On the publication of the first volume of Mr. Peter Cunningham's edition of
_The Works of Oliver Goldsmith_, we did not hesitate to pronounce it "the
best, handsomest, and cheapest edition of Goldsmith which has ever issued
from the press." The work is now completed by the publication of the fourth
volume, which contains Goldsmith's Biographies; Reviews; Animated Nature;
Cock Lane Ghost; Vida's Game of Chess (now first printed as it has been
found transcribed in Goldsmith's handwriting from the original MS. in the
possession of Mr. Bolton Corney), and his Letters. And after a careful
revision of the book, we do not hesitate to repeat our original opinion. It
is a book which every lover of Goldsmith will delight to place upon his
shelves.
We have to congratulate Mr. Darling, and also all who are interested in any
way in theological literature, on the completion of that portion of his
_Cyclopædia Bibliographica_ which gives us, under the names of the authors,
an account, not only of the best works extant in various branches of
literature, but more particularly on those important divisions, biblical
criticism, commentaries, sermons, dissertations, and other illustrations of
the Holy Scriptures; the constitution, government, and liturgies of the
Christian Church; ecclesiastical history and biography; the works of the
Fathers, and all the most eminent Divines. We sincerely trust that a work
so obviously useful, and which has been so carefully compiled, will meet
with such encouragement as will justify Mr. Darling in very speedily going
to press with the second and not less important division--that in which, by
an alphabetical arrangement of subjects, a ready reference may be made to
books, treatises, sermons, and dissertations on nearly all heads of
divinity, theological controversy, or ecclesiastical inquiry. The utility
of such an Index is too obvious to require one word of argument in its
favour.
The subject of the non-purchase of the Faussett Collection by the Trustees
of the British Museum was brought before Parliament by Mr. Ewart on
Thursday, 1st June, when copies were ordered to be laid before the House of
Commons "of all reports, memorials, or other communications to or from the
Trustees of the British Museum on the subject of the Faussett Collection of
Anglo-Saxon Antiquities."
BOOKS RECEIVED.--Miss Strickland's _Lives of the Queens of England_, Vol.
VI. This volume is entirely occupied with the biography of Mary Beatrice of
Modena, the Queen of James II., in which Miss Strickland has availed
herself of a large mass of inedited materials.--_Selections from the
Writings of the Rev. Sydney Smith_, forming Nos. 61. and 62. of Longman's
_Traveller's Library_, and containing his admirable Essays on Education,
the Ballot, American Debts, Wit and Humour, the Conduct of the
Understanding, and Taste.--_Critical and Historical Essays, &c._, by the
Right Honourable T. B. Macaulay, _People's_ Edition, Part III., includes
his Essays on Lord Mahon's War of Succession, Walpole's Letters, Lord
Chatham, Mackintosh's History of the Revolution, and Lord
Bacon.--_Annotated Edition of the English Poets_, edited by Robert Bell.
This month's issue consists of the second volume of the _Poetical Works of
William Cowper_.
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