The success which has attended the endeavour to supply, by means of the
London Library in St. James's Square, the want so long felt by scholars
and reading men, of a library of circulation of works of a higher class
than those to be met with in ordinary subscription libraries, has just
been rendered evident by the publication of the second volume of its
_Catalogue_.
From this it appears that there are now in this admirable
collection--for it is an admirable one--fifteen thousand distinct works
(upwards, we believe, of forty-five thousand volumes), comprising the
best and most expensive works in every department of learning, which
scholars and men of learning may have the use of in their own studies
for the small subscription of two pounds a year. There is little wonder
that the plan has succeeded, for it has been well carried out,--thanks
to the zeal of the Managing Committee, and to the care and attention of
Mr. Cochrane, its able and most efficient Librarian.
_The History of the Restoration of Monarchy in France_, by Alphonse de
Lamartine. Volume the Second.--The brilliant and eloquent narrative
contained in this volume includes the period between Napoleon's
departure from Fontainebleau and his abdication. In the course of this
history we are presented with scene after scene which dazzle us with all
the gorgeous colouring of a panorama; but which, when we come to look
into their details, are found to be almost as obscure and indefinite as
the objects in those attractive works of art to which we have likened
them. The work has all the charms of a romance; but we fear purchases
this reputation by sacrificing the more sober requirements of a history.
_Lectures and Addresses in Aid of Popular Education_, by the Right Hon.
the Earl of Carlisle.--It would be difficult to find a more faithful or
a more gratifying type of the present age than this new part of _The
Traveller's Library_, in which we see one of England's "belted earls,"
and one of the most amiable and accomplished men of his time, recording
the experiences of his travels; and inviting to join him in the delights
which he has gathered from literary pursuits,--not a crowd of titled
listeners, but "a band of the hard-handed working men" fresh from the
anvil and the loom.
_Were Heretics ever burned at Rome? A Report of the Proceedings of the
Roman Inquisition against Fulgentio Manfredi, taken from the Original
Manuscript brought from Italy by a French Officer, and edited, with a
parallel English Version, and Notes_, by the Rev. Richard Gibbings,
M.A.--The _Dublin Review_ for June 1850 having boldly asserted as a
fact, that "the Roman Inquisition--that is to say, the tribunal which
was immediately subject to the control and direction of the Popes
themselves, in their own city, has never been known to order the
execution of capital punishment"--the Rev. Richard Gibbings has
published, in contradiction of such assertion, this important document,
in the history of Father Fulgentio, who was hanged and burned in the
_Campo di Fiore_.