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lines only are given of such as need merely to be recalled to the memory of any who ever sing; but of others, equally prized, but less likely to be remembered, the full score is given.

The doxologies are for the most part set to noble chorals of such strong, straightforward character that they cannot fail to become friends and intimates at once. In them, as in all the tunes, the compass of ordinary voices has been considered; and although nothing has been left undone which could give beauty to melody or scholarly variousness to harmony, the whole has been brought within the range of all singers.

A novel and peculiar feature of the book is its "Stanzas to be sung impromptu.” Occasions often arise at social meetings or special services, when it becomes desirable to sing a portion, or even the whole, of some homely, hearty hymn, but, while "the spirit moves," the opportunity is lost in the search for the words or the fit air, or in an attempt to "set the tune." To meet this want, Dr. Adams has brought together a variety of such stanzas, suited to all times and places, and, coupled with each, the first line of a familiar melody, that the propitious moment may be enjoyed and improved.

It will of course be understood that the tune appointed for each hymn is printed directly above it, all four parts being given at length, the two trebles printed in a not unusual way upon one staff, the tenor and bass having each separate lines. Therefore no difficulty in singing the hymns can be felt even by the inexperienced, especially as one stanza is printed with the notes to show the exact adaptation. In fine, 66 Church Pastorals" is a work worthy of an extended circulation and capable of great usefulness. It can serve every purpose of public worship, for it embraces all services of the Sabbath congregation or the week-day gathering, and it touches upon all thoughts and feelings of religious assemblies; it is not above the tastes and abilities of an earnest congregation, nor beneath the notice and use of the independent choir. More than this, it has a particular value for the home and the fireside. Every household knows some quiet hour when the family-voices seek to join in the happy harmony of some unpretending hymn, and when the only limit to

such grateful music is the failure of memory or the meagreness of the library, which furnishes only the hymns, or, giving the tunes, supplies only a part of the words, for few families possess both sorts of books in plenty for their convenient use. This volume offers all, the hymn, solemn, hopeful, sad, or jubilant, and united to it a tune, perhaps remembered from recollection's earliest days, perhaps unknown and untried, but suiting well the spirit of the words, and ready at an instant's desire to express the sentiment or emotion that rises for utterance. If "Church Pastorals " had no other merit, this alone would make it worth possessing by all who love and ever practise sacred music.

A thorough and elaborate index includes in one ingenious list all references, whether to hymns, tunes, or metres; and the inaccuracies which will creep into even as handsome typography as this are unimportant, and rectified as quickly as observed. The size is convenient, and the shape comely.

Illustrations of Progress: A Series of Discussions by HERBERT SPENCER. With a Notice of Spencer's "New System of Philosophy." New York: D. Appleton & Co.

MR. HERBERT SPENCER is already a power in the world. Yet it is not the vulgar apprehension of power which is associated with notoriety that we claim for him. He holds no position of civil authority, neither do his works compete with Miss Braddon's poorest novel in the circulating-libraries. But he has already influenced the silent life of a few thinking men whose belief marks the point to which the civilization of the age must struggle to rise. In America, we may even now confess our obligations to the writings of Mr. Spencer, for here sooner than elsewhere the mass feel as utility what a few recognize as truth. The reader acquainted with the admirable papers upon Education, which have been republished and extensively circulated in this country, has recognized their author's fresh and vigorous spirit, his power of separating the essential from the accidental, as well as his success in grasping the main features of a subject divested of frivolous and subordinate details. That he possesses a

thinking faculty of rare comprehensive-
ness, as well as acuteness, will be allowed
by all who will study his other works now
in course of republication in New York.

Mr. Spencer is at present engaged in an heroic attempt to construct a sufficing system of philosophy, which shall include Biology, Psychology, Sociology, and Morality. The great interest to mankind of the discussion proposed, as well as Mr. Spencer's claims to be intrusted with it, are set forth with singular clearness and felicity in the essay which introduces the present volume. Whatever success the latest discoveries in science render possible to solid intellectual force assisted by the keenest instruments of logic will doubtless be attained.

As far as the frontiers of knowledge where the intellect may go, there is no living man whose guidance may more safely be trusted. Mr. Spencer represents the scientific spirit of the age. He makes note of all that comes within the range of sensuous experience, and declares whatever may be derived therefrom by a careful induction. As a philosopher he does not go farther. Yet beyond this the heart of humanity must ever penetrate. Let it be true, as it doubtless is, that, when the understanding by process of logic seeks to demonstrate the Cause of All, it finds a barren abstraction destitute of personality. It is no less true that God reveals Himself to the human feeling without intermediate agency. For the religious sentiment Mr. Spencer finds an indestructible foundation. While maintaining that man can grasp and know only the finite, he yet holds that science does not fill the whole region of mental activity. Man may realize in consciousness what he may not grasp in thought.

Of the other doctrines of Mr. Spencer we attempt no exposition. His attitude towards theology is to us more satisfactory than that of any recent thinker of the first class. But whatever his conclusions, every true man will respect and encourage that rectitude of mind which follows the issues of its reasoning at any cost. It was not the philosopher in his brain, but the fool in his heart, who said, "There is no God." It is of little matter what inappropriate name narrow people may have chosen for Mr. Spencer. Here is a conscientious investigator who finds duty everywhere, who labors to give men truths which shall

elevate and reform their lives; but he believes that the hope of humanity was potentially shut in an egg, and never in an ark. And there is the "reader upon the sofa," church-member he may be,-who tosses aside " Vanity Fair" with the reflection that a gossiping of London snobs is human life, and that the best thing to be gird at it. Which of these two, think you, done is to pay pew-rates and lie still and is the modern representative of King David's "fool"?

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perfluity of commending to scholars the We would not be charged with the suwritings of Mr. Spencer. They have long ago found them out. It is to the mass of working men and women who make time for a solid book or two in the course of the year that we submit their claims. While those who have the leisure and training to realize Mr. Spencer's system as a developed unity must necessarily be few, no reader of tolerable intelligence can fail to find much of interest and suggestion in its several parts. With a common allowance for the abstruse nature of the subjects of which he treats, Mr. Spencer may be called nology will not be found troublesome in a popular writer. His philosophical termithose of his writings which will first attract says," and the treatise on the reader. The "Social Statics," the "EsEducation" are very clearly, as well as most gracefully, written. And after these have been mastered, most readers will not be repelled by the less easy reading of the " Principles of Psychology," and the "New System of Philosophy." All these works are rich in materials for forming intelligent opinions, even where we are unable to agree with those put forward by the author. Much may be learnt from them in departments in which our common educational system is very deficient. The active citizen may derive from them accurate, systematized information concerning his highest duties to society, and the principles on which they are based. He may gain clearer notions of the value and bearing of evidence, and be better able to distinguish between facts and inferences. He may find common things suggestive of wiser thought-nay, we will venture to say, of truer emotion -than before. For Mr. Spencer is not of that school of "philosophy " which teaches the hopelessness of human effort, and, by implication, the abandonment of

moral dignity. From profound generalizations upon society, he rises to make the duty of the individual most solemn and imperative. Above all, he has this best prerogative of really great thinkers, — he is able to change sentiments to convictions.

If we have not particularized the claims of the single volume whose title is at the head of our notice, it is because all that Mr. Spencer has written moves towards one end and is equally worthy of attention. The essays here given are selected from two series, the first published in 1857, the second in 1863. The present arrangement has been chosen by the author as more suitable to develop the general purpose which governs his work. While the doctrine of Evolution is more or less illustrated in each of these papers, the variety of subjects discussed must touch at some point the taste and pursuit of any reader. From "Manners and Fashion "" to "The Nebular Hypothesis" is a sweep bold enough to include most prominent topics with which we are concerned. Indeed, we can recall no modern volume of the same size which so thoroughly credits its author with that faculty of looking about him which Pope thought it was man's business to exercise. There are the current phrases, "seeing life," and "knowing the world," which generally used to signify groping in the dirtiest corners of the one and fattening lazily upon the other; but if it were possible to rescue such expressions from their vulgar associations, we think that a candid reader would apply the best conceptions they suggested to the writer of the discussions here collected. The world as it is to day is seen by Mr. Spencer as by few living men. The sciences, which taken singly too often seem only good to expel the false, have been summoned together to declare the true. Not Nature alone, but Humanity, which is greater than Nature, must be interrogated for answers that shall satisfy the ripest reason of the age. By the rare gifts of comparison which turn to

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impressing for good the present condition of our national character. By giving us fuller realizations of liberty and justice his writings will tend to increase our selfreliance in the great emergency of civilization to which we have been summoned. Our Progressive Independence," so brilliantly illustrated by Dr. Holmes, emancipating us from foreign fine-writing, leaves us free to welcome the true manhood and mature wisdom of Europe. In the time of our old prosperity, amusing a leisure evening over Kingsley or Ruskin, we were tempted to exclaim, with Sir Peter Teazle, "There's nothing half so noble as a man of sentiment!" But in these latter days we have seen "Mr. Gradgrind" step from Dickens's wretched caricature to bring his "facts" to the great cause of humanity, while "Joseph Surface "reserved his "sentiments" for the bloody business by which Slavery sought to subject all things to herself. We have seen the belles-lettres literature of England more deeply disgraced than when it smirked before the harlots of the second Charles, or chanted a blasphemous benediction over George IV. But the thought and science of the Old World it is still our privilege to recognize. And it can hardly be necessary to say that the sympathies of Mr. Spencer, like those of Mill and Cochin, have been with the government and loyal people of the United States. And so we take especial pleasure in mentioning that a considerable interest in the American copyright of his writings has been secured to the author, and also, despite the facilities of reading-clubs and circulating-libraries, that they are emphatically books to own.

Poems. By FREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN. Boston Ticknor and Fields.

THESE poems show by internal evidence that they are the productions of a man of refined organization and delicate sensibility to beauty, who has lived much in solitude and tasted of the cup of sorrow. Of decided originality in intellectual construction it cannot be said that they give emphatic proof: the poet, as Schiller has said, is the child of his age, and Mr. Tuckerman's poetry not unfrequently shows that he has been a diligent student of those masters in his art who have best caught

and reproduced the spirit of the times in which we dwell. It has one quality to a high degree, and that is, a minute knowledge of the peculiarities of the natural world as it appears in New England. In his long woodland walks, he has kept open an eye of observation as practised as that of the naturalist. The trees, the shrubs, the flowers of New England are known to him as they are to few. He is tempted to draw too largely upon this source of interest in other words, there is too much of description in his volume. Life is hardly long enough for such elaborate painting. We may admire the skill of the delineation, but we cannot pause sufficiently before the canvas to do full justice to the painter. Those poems in which Mr. Tuckerman expresses the emotions of bereavement and sorrow are those which have the highest merit in point of thought and expression. They are full of tenderness and sensibility; but the poet should bear in mind that strings which vibrate such music should be sparingly struck.

It may be somewhat paradoxical to say so, but it appears to us that the poetry of Mr. Tuckerman would be improved, if it had more of prose in it It does not address itself to common emotions and everyday sympathies. His flour is bolted too fine. One must almost be a poet himself to enter into full communion with him. In intellectual productions the refining process should not be carried too far: beyond a certain point, what is gained in delicacy is lost in manliness and power.

Possibilities of Creation; or, What the World might have been. A Book of Fancies. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.

THE author describes his work as a treatise of the Bridgewater class. We should rather describe it as a reductio ad absurdum in Natural Philosophy. A great deal of humor, ingenuity, and information are brought into play to turn the world upsidedown, for the very laudable purpose of demonstrating that it is better to be right side up, -a method of demonstration curi

ous and interesting enough, if comprised in a single essay, but rather long-drawn-out, when spread over four hundred pages. Suppose, for instance, is the writer's mode of argument, a malicious demon let loose, with power to set the earth topsy-turvy, on condition of keeping it still an earth. With what exultation does he bestride the Himalayas to watch the convulsions which he causes! How does he kick his heels against the mountain-flanks, in ecstasy at seeing men bleached and blistered with the chlorine or nauseated with the sulphuretted hydrogen which he has substituted for our wholesome and pleasant air! Or what should we do, if potato-roots had happened to be moistened with gin instead of water? What if men, instead of standing godlike erect, had been great balls of flesh, rolling along the ground as best they could, if Young's poetical figure had been a practical truth, and this globe were the Bedlam of the universe, if the fixity of Nature had been shattered, and we sat down at our feasts to find the soup bitter as strychnine, the wine changed into vinegar, and mild ale fiery as vitriol? What if wrinkles and gray hairs came in the twinkling of an eye, -if children were born with matured minds, -if no one were capable of anger, and men started at the same point to arrive at the same conclusions ? In short,

"If all the world was apple-pie,

And all the sea was ink,

And all the trees were bread and cheese, What should we have for drink?"

To all which startling inquiries we are fain to say, that, if Merrie England sits under her present squally skies in such a frame of bliss that she must have recourse to her imagination, when she wishes to contemplate a nice little imbroglio, she must be awarded the palm for being what Mark Tapley would call "jolly under creditable circumstances." For ourselves, we frankly confess that we find quite trouble enough in steering among the realities of creation, without caring to venture far out among its possibilities.

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Cudjo's Cave. By J. T. Trowbridge, Author of "Neighbor Jackwood," etc. Boston. J. E. Tilton & Co. 12mo. pp. 504. $1.50.

Sadlier's Catholic Almanac and Ordo for the Year of our Lord 1864. With Full Returns of the Various Dioceses in the United States and British North America. And a List of the Archbishops, Bishops, and Priests in Ireland. New York. D. & J. Sadlier & Co. 12mo. paper. pp. 330. 50 cts.

The Natural History of Secession; or, Despotism and Democracy at Necessary, Eternal, Exterminating War. By Thomas Shepard Goodwin, A. M. New York. John Bradburn. 12mo. pp. 328. $1.25.

Squadron Tactics under Steam. [By Authority of the Navy Department.] By Foxhall A. Parker, Commander United States Navy. New York. D. Van Nostrand. 8vo. pp. 172. $5.00.

Father Mathew: A Biography. By John Francis Maguire, M. P., Author of "Rome: its Ruler and its Institutions." New York. D. & J. Sadlier & Co. 12mo. pp. xxi., 557. $1.50.

Eliza Woodson; or, The Early Days of one of the World's Workers. A Story of American Life. New York. A. J. Davis & Co. 12mo. pp. 425. $1.25.

Letters to a Lady. By Wilhelm von Humboldt. From the German, with an Introduction by Charles Godfrey Leland. Philadelphia. F. Leypoldt. 16mo. pp. 257. $1.00.

Four American Poems, metrically translated into German. By Charles Theodore Eben. Philadelphia. F. Leypoldt. 16mo. paper. pp. 51. 25 cts.

The Art of Conversation; with Directions for Self-Education. New York. G. W. Carleton. 12mo. pp. 234. $1.25.

Tales from the Operas. Edited by George Frederick Pardon. New York. G. W. Carleton. 12mo. pp. 263. $1.00.

Historical Memoir of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans. Compiled from Authentic Sources. Boston. Patrick Donahoe. 16mo. pp. 344. $1.00.

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The Laws and Principles of Whist stated and explained, and its Practice illustrated on an Original System, by Means of Hands played completely through. By Cavendish. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 16mo. pp. 94. $1.25.

Mount Vernon, and other Poems. By Harvey Rice. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 221. $1.00.

La Gaviolta: A Spanish Novel. By Fernan Caballero. Translated by J. Leander Starr. New York. John Bradburn. 12mo. pp. 281. $1.25.

The Color-Guard: being a Corporal's Notes of Military Service in the Nineteenth Army Corps. By James K. Hosmer, of the FiftySecond Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. Boston. Walker, Wise, & Co. 16mo. pp. xii., 244. $1.25.

Life of William Hickling Prescott. By George Ticknor. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 4to. pp. x., 491. $7.50.

Tales of a Wayside Inn. By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 12mo. pp. viii., 225. $1.25.

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A Woman's Ransom. By Frederick William Robinson, Author of Grandmother's Money," etc. Boston. T. O. H. P. Burnham. 12mo. pp. viii., 412. $1.50.

Sunshine: A New Name for a Popular Lecture on Health. By Mrs. Dall, Author of "WomIan's Right to Labor," etc. Boston. Walker, Wise, & Co. 16mo. paper. pp. 64. 35 cts.

The Wife's Secret. By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. Philadelphia. T. B. Peterson & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 480. $1.50.

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Work and Play; or, Literary Varieties. By Horace Bushnell. New York. Charles Scribner. 12mo. pp. 464. $1.50.

The School-Girl's Garland. A Selection of Poetry. In Four Parts. By Mrs. C. M. Kirkland. Second Series. Parts Third and Fourth. New York. Charles Scribner. 16mo. pp. 360. $1.25.

England's Liability for Indemnity: Remarks on the Letter of "Historicus," dated November 4th, 1863; printed in the London “Times," November 7th; and reprinted in the "Boston Daily Advertiser," November 25th. By Charles G. Loring. Boston. W. V. Spencer. 8vo. paper. pp. viii., 46. 25 cts.

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