a sufficient support to ensure its continuance. We have before us the numbers for June and July. The former contains a beautiful colored lithograph, representing a splendid seedling Camellia Japonica, of a new variety, raised by Mr. Edward Kurtz, a member of the Maryland Horticultural Society. By a vote of the Society, the plant has been named Camellia Japonica wauatah Kurtzü. There are excellent original articles, on various departments of horticulture, and interesting extracts from foreign publicatious. Regarding the rearing of flowers as an elegant and interesting occupation, we would willingly encourage all well-directed efforts to facilitate the art, and render its results certain. The Horticultural Register' is a work that we can conscientiously recommend.

Six Months in a House of Correction.

This is the title of an excellent, unpretending little book, lately published in this city. It has excited no small degree of curiosity, and has been abused and commended, by the gentlemen of the press, according to the particular taste and political or religious prejudices of each. Some have ascribed it to Mr. W. J. Snelling, well known as a fabricator of satires and lampoons; others have given the credit of it to Mr. Benjamin F. Hallet; and others have charged it to the pen of George Pepper, Esq., editor of the Catholic Sentinel. We do not pretend to settle the claims of authorship among these gentlemen.

The book purports to be the narrative of Mrs. Dorothy Mahoney, a native of the Emerald Isle, who was committed to the House of Correction on the testimony of false witnesses, and is a plain, unaffected narrative of the facts in the case. When she arrived in this country, she fell in love with a Protestant Irishman, and, through his influence, or rather that of her passion, fell into the company of the reverend and celebrated Ephraim K. Avery, and other clergymen of various Protestant denominations, by whom she was nigh being dissuaded from the Catholic faith. Coming to Boston, to marry her heretical lover, she had the misfortune to be apprchended by the police, through whose instrumentality she was thrown into prison, where she remained four months and three days. She apologizes for calling her book Six Months,' by pleading the example of Miss Reed, and, we think, with great propriety, as that lady does the same. The rest of the book is the narrative of Miss Mahoney's sufferings in the House of Correction, and her escape from it related with a minuteness of detail and a simplicity of style, which are, in themselves, conclusive evidence of its authenticity. Tears involuntarily roll down our cheeks, as we peruse the account of Miss Mahoney's sufferings. The skeptical may scoff, and the bigoted may scold; but we are firm in the opinion, that a poor Catholic girl, perverted from the principles of her religion, by hypocrites, and abandoned by them when their aid was most needed, is as worthy of our compassion and sympathy as any inmate of a nunnery. Miss Reed never suffered half so much, in the convent at Mount Benedict, as Miss Mahoney did in the House of Correction. We think her book just as much entitled to regard as Miss Reed's.

Respecting the authorship, a word or two. Mr. Snelling is entirely out of the question. He is, indeed, known to be a hack writer; but it is equally sure, that he knows nothing of religious creeds, of which this volume shews a profound knowledge. Therefore, whatever might have been his love of gain, he could not have written this book. Of the editor of the Boston Advocate, we have our doubts.

He may have put forth such a work in order to attract attention to his other production Six Months in a Convent.' Such a proceeding is possible and probable; but it is mere supposition. There are sundry sly hits at Catholicism, in the body of the work, which seem to favor the belief. Among others, is a cut at himself, which looks more like evidence than anything it contains. But, Mr. Pepper seems the prominent candidate for the honor of the authorship, by which we do not mean that the book is a work of mere invention, but that he had the task of jointing and dovetailing the materials, just as Mr. Hallet did those of Miss Reed. The style is evidently peppery; the preliminary remarks and the apoligetic Letter to Irish Catholics,' purport to come from him. The arguments are in his manner, as much as that of Mr. Hallet. Add to this, it is rumored abroad that he entertains a Platonic friendship for Miss Mahoney, such as he charges the Advocate with cherishing for Miss Reed. We do not, however, believe a word of these stories, and feel ourselves authorized, by what we have heard of the characters of both the gentlemen, to deny, in the most positive terms, that the Advocate ever professed any regard for Miss Reed, or the Sentinel for Miss Mahoney, beyond what propriety would justify. But, there is another and more serious charge against them, which we would fain have them contradict. If they were not the authors of the book in question, why do they array themselves in borrowed plumes? Why do they not give Miss Mahoney credit for her own, and let her amanuensis have the honor of his work? There are several Hibernicisms in the volume, which have slipped the notice of the editor, but which shew, conclusively, that it must have been dictated, or written by an Irishman. It is unworthy of gentlemen, so distinguished in the world of letters as the editors of the Advocate and Sentinel, to glorify themselves with laurels which ought to be on the crest of another.

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Six Months in a House of Correction' contains many lessons of morality and policy. It shews, that it is dangerous to offer witnesses a premium for perjury. It proves that it is dangerous to quit old paths for new ones, though they may seem more fair and pleasant. It demonstrates the impropriety of delegating irresponsible authority to dignitaries, such as sheriffs and jailors. We hope that the author, whoever he may be, will give us something further and more conclusive on this last head, for we look upon this little book as his coup d' essai merely, in the world of municipal politics. Above all, we do hope that the publisher of Six Months in a House of Correction' has set apart a four-pence-ha'-penny, for every copy that he sells, for the benefit of the unfortunate Miss Mahoney, as those of 'Six Months in a Convent' have done for that of Miss Reed. Whether we have been correct, or not, in our conjecture, as to the author of it, we do insist upon knowing the names of the Committee of Publication;' and the rather, as our inquiries brought out the publication committee of Six Months in a Convent.'

The Italian Sketch-Book.

A most charming little work, to be read of a summer afternoon-written in a gentle, gentlemanly and scholar-like style; a work that will make you think and think and dream and dream of Italy! Dear Italy! when shall we behold thee, and thy many places of beauty, so pleasantly described by the author of this volumewho can be no other than our friend and correspondent, H. T. Tuckerman, Esq., just returned to the clouded sky of his native land, with his heart running over with the love of the beautiful and the grand.

Reader, if you would pass a quiet and cool day — if you are a little unwell and dispirited send instantly for the Italian Sketch-Book. Your head-ache will be gone; and when you sink to sleep, (not till you have read the book) you will dream of those distant and fairy climes, where

'A wind, ever soft, from the blue Heaven blows,

And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose.'

We have no patience with a critic who has the heart to sit down and deliberately analyze such an unpretending volume as this-when the whole has given him much pleasure. This work is happily named. It is composed of sketcheslike those which an amateur-artist may collect together, during a solitary tour, in his portfolio- not pretending to any studied excellence, or exactitude in the drawing or perfection of finish; but easy, free and striking; reviving many agreeable recollections in the minds of those who have visited the scenes, and conveying, to those who have not, a very happy idea of their picturesqueness and beauty. Florentine' strikes us as a harmonious and admirable picture.

The

An Oration, pronounced before the Inhabitants of Boston, July the fourth, 1835, in Commemoration of American Independence. By George S. Hillard. Boston: J. H. Eastburn.

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This is a beautiful production. The thoughts are appropriate, instructive and pointed; the language is finished, imaginative, and rich with all the graces of the accomplished writer; the spirit of the oration is of the highest and purest order — breathing the strongest devotion to the cause of religion, morals, and our country. We most heartily commend it to the perusal of all our readers, not omitting those who were of the numerous audience that listened, with such unprecedented rapture, to the young man eloquent,' on the occasion of its delivery, and who, we doubt not, like ourself, will read it with an additional pleasure. We feel a satisfaction, which we hardly know how to express, that the great day of commemoration in our country was devoted, in Boston, to sentiments like those uttered by Mr. Hillard, adorned with all the attractions of scholarship and literature. The duties of patriotism are never so holy, in our view, as when the graces of composition, like the richest ointment, are employed to hallow them. Mr. Hillard's oration is truly national. 'Let not rivers and mountains and geographical divisions,' he eloquently says, 'bound our sympathies. In all domestic institutions and family jars, we must cherish that feeling, which, in a foreign land, thrills the frame and suffuses the eyes of the American citizen, as he sees the well-known stars and stripes floating upon the breeze not the symbol of a State-not the badge of a section—but with the dignity and honor and power of the whole country reposing in its ample folds.' Admirably said! We almost see, in palpable presence, the ensign of the republic (our country - Mexico has gone to the fainting ranks of monarchy) playing and dallying with the foreign winds, and inviting the absorbed and affectionate gaze of every true American. The oration is full of passages of the highest eloquence, couched in language of a Tyrian die, which we should be pleased to extract; but we must forbear.

The Life of Aaron Burr. By Samuel L. Knapp. New-York: Wiley & Long.

So long a time has elapsed, since the publication of this book, as almost to take it out of our critical cognizance. We, however, have thought it best to do what we deem our duty, even though it be out of season fearing lest our silence, according to the construction of consent which is sometimes put upon that equivocal conduct, should be accounted an admission of merit, or, at least, freedom from defect, in the present book - an implication, which, by this notice, we intend utterly to extinguish.

Col. Knapp is a literary hack, ever ready to run before the public, whether for the sake of literary notoriety surely, not for an honorable fame- or as a means of earning his bread, we cannot tell. All his works, from his volume of 'NewEngland Biography'-as empty a book as was ever printed-down to the 'Life of Col. Burr,' are written in the style of the worst kind of fourth of July orations, 'besmeared with a showy coloring and false lustre, in which a Sophomore, of the better sort, would hardly indulge. Classical allusions are thrown out as freely as the peltings of a Roman Carnival. The introduction of the present volume opens with a long allegorical allusion to Osapho, a Lybian king,' the point of which we have not been able readily to divine. With Col. Knapp, imagination is all-in-all. Such common, every-day matters as facts, he passes by, to reach after some gaudy butterfly, whose wings have brushed over his mind. His life of Burr contains only those incidents in the life of that extraordinary man, which were most accessible, and with which, indeed, the whole public were already familiar. We hardly looked for anything new, when we turned over its pages, and, little as we expected, we must confess our disappointment. The duel with Hamilton occupies not a little space; the correspondence is given, with the addition of a letter never before published, written by Burr, after the mournful issue of the meeting, to Dr. Hosack, inquiring with regard to the hopes which were entertained of the recovery of his victim. This fact, and letter, Col. Knapp has paraded as 'lately discovered.' The volume is stuffed with a tedious account, taken from the published trial of Burr, of all the long drawn out' proceedings of that occasion. Biographical notices are introduced, mostly at random, of many of the distinguished men, who flourished contemporaneous with the principal hero. The volume should be entitled, 'The life of Aaron Burr and others.' One object of the author seems to have been, to obtain a re-hearing, from the public, on the character and conduct of the great condemned—and, if possible, a reversal of that calm judgment against him, which has been pronounced by no common tribunal of justice, but by the unbroken voice of a whole people. One of the most noble objects in our history, and most striking illustrations of the operation of our institutions—which gives us promise of their security is the fate of this man: untouched by any formal bill of pains and penalties, and unattainted by any course of law, yet, by the operation of the moral feelings of his fellow-countrymen, degraded from the lofty station his talents had acquired, and excluded, by no other ostracism than public opinion, from the honors and offices, which his intellectual abilities would have adorned.

LITERARY ANNOTANDA.

THE REPUBLIC OF LETTERS. -The form of this highly valuable re-publication of the most approved works in the English language, has been judiciously changed from quarto to octavo. The number before us, very handsomely printed on fair paper, presents the celebrated essays of Elia, by Charles Lamb. We shall attempt no criticism upon this charming production; but simply wish to turn the attention of the lovers of good literature to the happy selection made for the publication, by the lady to whose taste the choice has been committed. She is to be guided hereafter by the valuable suggestions of Washington Irving, Gulian C. Verplanck, E. Everett, and Charles F. Hoffman; and 'The Republic of Letters' will undoubtedly present a series of valuable and highly interesting works. We are, in general, no favorers of cheap copies of those productions of the first masters, which have been, of late days, so profusely multiplied; but, when a book, even though it appear periodically, claims the public favor, so truly deserving it as this, we do not hesitate to pronounce upon its true merits.

Several works lie upon our table, for future notice; among which are 'HORSESHOE ROBINSON;' a novel worthy of the school of its immortal founder. 'PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION;' a useful treatise, ably translated from the French, by Mesdames Willard and Phelps, from the French of Madam de Saussure. The 'RECORD OF A SCHOOL;' the original little work of a philosophical mind, and calculated to effect much good. Its author is Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody - a lady already known, in the most favorable manner, by her works on history, and as the translator of Degerando on Self-Education. It seems written in a perspicuous style, and should be highly recommended to parents, teachers, and all who feel an interest in the mental improvement of children. TODD'S STUDENT'S MANUAL,' is the title of a third work on education, which lies before us; but we have only space, this month, to present to the publishers and authors of these, as well as of the other books sent to the Magazine, our acknowledgements.

James Munroe & Co., of this city, and booksellers to the University in Cambridge, have in press, and will shortly publish, 'THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS, LITERARY, CRITICAL AND JURIDICAL, OF THE HON. JOSEPH STORY, L. L. D.' now first collected. This collection will include several articles which have never as yet appeared in print. The whole to constitute an octavo volume of five hundred pages.

An admirable work, by Mrs. Child, entitled 'THE HISTORY AND CONDITION OF WOMEN,' to be published by John Allen & Co., we shall take occasion shortly to notice, in an extended review of that lady's works.