When Dr. Ure tells us that from the year 1804, when he conducted the
schools of chemistry and manufactures in the Andersonian Institution, up to
the present day, he has been assiduously engaged in the study and
improvement of most of the chemical, and many of the mechanical, arts; that
during that period he has been habitually consulted professionally by
proprietors of factories, workshops, and mines, to rectify what was amiss
in their establishments, and to supply what was wanting, he shows clearly
how great were his qualifications for the preparation of _A Dictionary of
Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, containing a clear exposition of their
principles and practice_: and it is therefore little wonder that a work
undertaken with such advantages should have reached what is now before us,
a "fourth edition, corrected and greatly enlarged." Dr. Ure has, in this
edition, turned to good account the many novelties of an interesting and
useful nature first displayed in the Great Exhibition, and his two portly
volumes may be consulted with advantage not only by manufacturers and
professional men, but by lawyers, legislators, and, in short, all who take
an interest in those achievements of science to which this great country
owes its pre-eminence.
Unnoticed by reviewers, and unaided by favour or influence, Mr. Keightley
tells us that his _Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy_ has reached its
third edition. So much the better, for it proves that the book has merits
of its own, and those merits have won for it a place which will keep Mr.
Keightley's name in memory as long as a love for classical literature and
tasteful learning remains; and this, we suspect, will be longer than Mr.
Keightley anticipates. As the success which has attended this valuable and
original exposition of classical mythology renders it unnecessary to say
one word as to its merits, we may content ourselves with stating that this
edition has been carefully revised, has received numerous additions, and,
although it is beautifully got up, is published at lower price than its
predecessor. {289}
The children of Lady Falmouth are blessed with a mother who possesses that
invaluable gift, the art of making learning a pleasure; and we doubt not
many a loving mother will be glad to find her labours lightened by the
recently published _Conversations on Geography, or the Child's first
introduction to where He is, what He is, and what else there is_, by
Viscountess Falmouth, Baroness Le Despencer. These conversations strongly
remind one of Mrs. Marcet's, and we can give them no higher praise.
Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the partial or impartial
character of M. de Custine's work upon _Russia_, it contains much matter
which will be read at the present important crisis with considerable
interest; and in reprinting it in their _Traveller's Library_, at a price
which will place it within the reach of all classes of readers, Messrs.
Longman have taken steps for securing to _Russia by_ M. De Custine a
wide-spread popularity.
Our valued correspondent MR. SINGER has kindly sent us a copy of a little
offering to the manes of Shakspeare and Tieck, of which he has printed a
few copies for private distribution. It is _The Midsummer Night, or
Shakspeare and the Fairies, from the German of Ludwig Tieck_, by Mary C.
Rumsay. The work, one of exuberant fancy, was written when Tieck was only
sixteen, but only published by his friend Bulow in 1851. It is translated
with great ability; and we regret, for the sake of the many who would wish
to possess it, that MR. SINGER did not carry out his original intention,
and publish it in aid of the funds for the monument to Tieck.
_The Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology_, No. I., March, 1854, is
the first of a very valuable periodical, the nature and object of which are
plainly indicated by its title. One very useful feature is its _Contents of
Foreign Journals_, in which it records all the important contributions on
sacred and classical philology inserted in the chief periodicals of the
Continent.
We have before us the publications of _The Arundel Society_, or _Society
for Promoting the Knowledge of the Fine Arts_, for the fourth year: and
they are indeed of a nature to effect the great object for which the
Society was instituted. They consist of eight engravings on wood from
drawings made by Mr. Williams, who was sent by the Society to Padua
expressly for the purpose, from the frescos of Giotto in the Arena Chapel.
The woodcuts have been executed by Messrs. Dalziel. With the rest of these
prints will be issued a short description of the chapel and its frescos,
prepared by Mr. Ruskin.
The Second Part of Mr. Netherclift's _Autograph Miscellany_ contains
fac-similes of the original depositions of their marriage by James II. and
Anne Hyde; of an original letter from Luther to Cromwell, afterwards Earl
of Essex; of a letter from Glover, Somerset Herald, to the Earl of
Leicester; and of that portion of Sterne's _Sentimental Journey_ in which
is related the episode of "The Dead Ass."
The success which has attended the publication of Miss Burney's _Diary_,
or, to give the work its more correct title, _The Diary and Letters of
Madame D'Arblay_, has induced Mr. Colburn to commence a new edition of it
in seven three-shilling volumes.
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