The remarkable collection of Northern Irish Antiquities and Historical
Relics, exhibited at Belfast on the occasion of the British Association
meeting in that city, has led to the publication of _The Ulster Journal of
Archæology_, which is to be conducted by gentlemen of the province, and
principally devoted to the elucidation of the antiquities and ancient
history of Ulster. Ulster, it will be remembered, is historically
remarkable as being the last part of Ireland which held out against the
English sway, and which therefore retained its ancient customs until a
comparatively recent period. Ulster was also the battle-field of the
ancient native Irish chieftains and the Scandinavian Vikings. The
antiquaries of Ulster have therefore done wisely, while the tangled web of
Northern Irish History can yet be {249} unravelled by existing aids--while
the men who are now the depositories of family and local history are yet
among them--to commence this Journal; and in the tact and good management
displayed in the selection of the materials of their opening Number, they
have not only done wisely, but done well also. May they go on and prosper!
At a moment when all eyes are looking anxiously for the new volume of
Nineveh Discoveries, we have received a work of kindred character and of
very high value. It is entitled _Lares and Penates, or Cilicia and its
Governors; being a short historical account of that province from the
earliest times to the present day, together with a description of some
Household Gods of the Ancient Cilicians, broken up by them on their
conversion to Christianity, first discovered and brought to this country by
the author_, W. B. Barker, edited by W. F. Ainsworth; and the interest
which this title naturally excites is fully maintained upon a perusal of
the work. Although, by readers who care little for its archæological
features, the work will be read with the highest satisfaction, it is one
which will afford to the antiquary information of the greatest importance;
while to many, the announcement that the remarkable monuments of the
ancient Cilicians, so happily discovered by Mr. Barker, were discovered by
him in the city dignified by the birth of the great apostle of the
Gentiles,--and that the mutilation of these works of art, once the objects
of religious regard, was probably the consequence of the missionary visit
of Paul and Silas to Tarsus,--will probably be the strongest recommendation
which this work could receive.
We have received three Catalogues which call for such mention as should
direct to them the attention of our bibliographical friends. One is of the
splendid Library of Mr. Dawson Turner, which will occupy Messrs. Sotheby
and Wilkinson for thirteen days in its disposal. The next, _Bibliotheca
Americana_, is of a most remarkable collection of American Books on sale by
Mr. Russell Smith. The third is of an extensive collection of Theological
Works on sale by Mr. Straker. The last two are made more valuable by the
addition of useful indices.
BOOKS RECEIVED.--_A Manual of Photography_, by Robert Hunt, _Third Edition
enlarged_. It is sufficient to say that Professor Hunt's volume is at once
the most elaborate, as his acquirements will ensure its being one of the
most scientific works extant upon this now popular subject.--_Memoirs of a
Maître d'Armes, or Eighteen Months at St. Petersburgh, by_ A. Dumas;
_translated by_ The Marquis of Ormonde, is one of the most amusing and
graphic among the many amusing and graphic volumes which have already
appeared in the _Traveller's Library_.--_Cyclopædia Bibliographica._ Part
VI. Mr. Darling's useful Cyclopædia maintains its character.--_The Fall of
Jerusalem_, by the Rev. Dr. Milman. This endeavour to direct the public
mind, through the medium of this dramatic poem, to the striking and
incontestable evidence of the full completion of Prophecy in the Fall of
Jerusalem, is a valuable addition to Murray's _Railway Reading_.--We must
here acknowledge the receipt of two other volumes of poetry: _Beauty, a
Poem_, by the author of _Silent Love_, an admirer and not unsuccessful
imitator of Pope; and _Love in the Moon_, by Patrick Scott, a work in which
scientific observation is combined with great poetic feeling and
considerable power.--_The Pilgrim's Progress of John Bunyan, for the Use of
Children in the English Church, edited by the Rev. J. M. Neale_. The object
with which this beautiful edition has been prepared is so plainly stated,
that we need only wish the book as wide a circulation as it deserves.--_The
Family Shakspeare_, &c., by Thomas Bowdler. The fourth volume of this
reprint of Mr. Bowdler's carefully revised edition of Shakspeare, contains
the three Parts of Henry VI., Richard III., Henry VIII., and Timon of
Athens.
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