form such an immense extent and variety of study and attainment. It is impossible not to read the book through, and it is impossible not to read the whole of it. The notes, which constitute perhaps the larger part of the volume, are in themselves an encyclopædia of curious and interesting facts, intermingled with acute and sagacious remarks and reflections. Some of Mr. Marsh's statements and deductions, however, we should be inclined to question were they not made by so careful an authority. For instance, he refers to the fact that the writers of antiquity make scarcely any allusion to the phosphorescence of the sea, and conjectures as one mode of accounting for it, that whales being then less hunted than in modern times, were far more numerous, and the luminous animalculæ, their food, were thus more generally destroyed. In alluding to the greatly increased and increasing demand for lumber within a few years past, he informs us that not less than three or four thousand well-grown pines are annually converted in the United States into twenty million lucifer matches, -that our railroads have already called for about one hundred and sixteen millions of ties, and are annually robbing our forests of thirty millions more, and adds the appalling statement that in the city of Paris alone there are manufactured every year over twentyeight millions of drums for boys, with fifty-six millions of drumsticks. Could any argument for the preservation of forests be stronger than this?

It is fortunate for this country that so able an advocate for the trees as Mr. Marsh has already arrested the public attention. We doubt not that if the present work could be read by the American people as universally as its interest deserves and its importance demands, its beneficial influence upon their material prosperity in the course of a single generation would be almost incalculable. We trust that many future editions may be called for, and if a new title at every edition shall widen its circulation, we will not complain of such change.

MANUAL OF THE CONSTITUTION.*-After a somewhat careful examination of this book, we take pleasure in commending it as the best "Manual of the Constitution " for the purposes of educa

* Manual of the Constitution of the United States. Designed for the instruction of the American Youth in the Duties, Obligations, and Rights of Citizenship. By ISRAEL WARD ANDREWS, D.D., President of Marietta College. Wilson, Hinckle & Co.. 137 Walnut street, Cincinnati; 28 Bond street, New York.

tion, and for general practical use, which has come under our notice. The author says in his preface that it grew out of the necessities and experience of the class-room; that he found himself greatly embarrassed in the instruction of students by the want of some work combining, with an exposition of constitutional principles, a summary of the legislative provisions in which they have been embodied. The work before us accordingly contains, in a condensed form, not only a treatise on the Constitution article by article, but a large amount of historical and legal information illustrating the development, and practical application and workings of these Constitutional provisions in the government of the country. The material is judiciously selected and arranged, and answers may be found on every page to questions which otherwise could be solved only by laborious research. Thus under the heading "Clause 7, To establish post-offices and post roads," we have nearly six pages of matter relating to the rise and growth of the Post-office Department; statistics of its organization and operations, salaries of officers, and cost of transporting mails; the laws relating to mailable matter and postage, with the changes that have been made at different periods in the postal rates; the systems of registration, money orders, and free delivery; account of the growth and abolition of the franking privilege; accounts of the laws relating to mail routes, and a discussion of the proposed adoption of the telegraph by the Post-office Department. A work so copious in its plan and details might easily have been made too voluminous for its principal purpose, but the author has well preserved the juste milieu between barrenness and over-abundance, and has produced a book not only very useful for purposes of reference, but quite interesting to the student and general reader.

WHITTIER'S HAZEL BLOSSOMS.*-Mr. Whittier, in calling this collection of his latest poems "Hazel Blossoms," like Mr. Longfellow in naming his last volume "Aftermath," adverts thoughtfully and gracefully to his own life as in its autumnal season and to any presumed lack of vigor in its productions. But the second crop of grass is reckoned as sweet as any other, if not as available for all purposes, and we own no falling off of satisfaction when

"Last of their floral sisterhood

The hazel's yellow blossoms shine,

The tawny gold of Afric's mine."

* Hazel Blossoms. By JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. Boston: Jas. R. Osgood & Co. 1875. pp. 133.

These two poets, at once admired and beloved by cultivated readers and also by "the common people," give us their mellow and rich fruitage without associations or suggestions of decay. Mr. Whittier has penned nothing more characteristic of his best gifts than the prefatory verses in this volume, particularly where he sings:

"Sufficeth me the gift to light

With latest bloom the dark cold days;

To call some hidden spring to sight
That, in these dry and dusty ways,

Shall sing its pleasant song of praise."

The principal poem in the collection, covering sixteen pages, is his tribute to Summer, which impresses us with its discrimination and candor no less than its fervor and force. Fourteen poems follow, most of which will be at once recognized as already admired in magazines, such as "The Friend's Burial," "John Underhill," and "Conductor Bradley." Besides every more exclusive claim of a poet, the author has the merit of bringing to light, and most happily idealizing in his verse, many historical and biographical incidents, which are henceforth associated with his own fame. We need not say that whatever may be his theme, it is not only adorned by his poetic art but hallowed by his high moral nature. This volume is further enriched by the addition of nine poems from the pen of his deceased sister, Elizabeth H. Whittier,-" the few poetical pieces which she left behind her," as he tells us in an introductory note, and which are thus published "in compliance with the desire of dear friends." Like so many of her brother's productions, they fitly commemorate incidents or persons that deeply interested her, and show that she partook of his imaginativeness and sensibility. His many friends who were strangers to her personally were yet touched by the intelligence of her death, as knowing how large a part she had made of the happiness of his home in Amesbury, and to those who, like the writer, have since been privileged to visit him there, the recollection of her portrait associates itself most pleasantly with these productions of her pen, which cannot but be welcomed with her brother's in this beautiful volume.

CORRESPONDENCE OF WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, D.D., AND LUCY AIKIN, FROM 1826 TO 1842.*-It seems as if there were more

*Correspondence of William Ellery Channing, D.D., and Lucy Aikin, from 1826 to 1842. Edited by ANNA LETITIA LE BRETON. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1874. pp. 426.

tor.

instances in England than in this country, though indeed we have here notable examples too, of families partaking of high literary culture and eminence, in several branches and through more than one generation. The Aikins were thus distinguished. Lucy Aikin, herself well-known as a historian and biographer, was a daughter and a brother of men who figured in the literature and science of their time, and a niece of Mrs. Barbauld. It appears that Dr. Channing, having met her at Mrs. Barbauld's house, sent her his Essay on Milton, for which she returned her acknowledg ments, and "thus began a correspondence which continued for nearly twenty years, and ended only with his death," which took place in 1842. It was agreed between the writers that "the whole of the correspondence should belong to the survivor," and upon her death in 1864 it was committed to her niece, the present ediNo doubt it would have been published sooner but for Miss Aikin's long life of eighty-three years, and would have appealed to fresher recollections of Dr. Channing. He is well enough remembered, however, to give great interest to his part of the corre spondence, and, indeed, his old admirers will find a peculiar pleasure in this new access to his mind in its free and animated intercourse with a friend so appreciative and gifted. Parts of his letters are omitted in deference to his own disparaging estimate, and the responsibility for the selection and publication is assumed by his nephew and biographer, Rev. W. H. Channing, in conjunction with the editor. Of the two correspondents, Miss Aikin, we think, will interest the largest number of readers, her sex putting her at no disadvantage in this kind of composition. We hardly find in either the grace and sparkle of the most eminent letterwriters. Both attract us, however, by fine thoughts, high aims, warm sympathies, and their well-known excellences of style. In this last respect, indeed, Dr. Channing's writings, whether his letters or discourses, should have a high place among "studies" in rhetoric, especially for the purity of language and simplicity in the structure of sentences, that along with his chastened fervor drew to him so many readers at home and abroad, and made him even more fascinating in public address. Of course compliments are not wanting between such correspondents, as when Miss Aikin tells him of her pleasure in hearing "a literary friend decidedly pronouncing Dr. Channing the most eloquent living writer of the English language." (p. 16.) Their subjects are diversified, and now to older readers the more interesting as shown under the

aspects of that generation and history,-English politics, moral reforms, questions in philosophy, and theological controversies, chiefly from the English stand-point, and in the tone of the Unitarianism of that day. It is amusing to see with what confidence judgments were passed and expectations cherished on opinions and systems that survive and flourish still; how easy it was to construe orthodoxy into narrowness, fanaticism, or hypocrisy. It would be amusing, if it were not sad, to see the present position of the "advanced followers of the so-called "liberals" of that time, who would have recoiled as soon as any from such developments. In temper toward the "orthodox" the American preacher appears to more advantage than the English lady, who betrays her vehement antagonism to the system and spirit of the "Evangelicals," while compelled to acknowledge their missionary and philanthropic zeal, sense of duty, and exemplary goodness. (p. 30.) And Dr. Channing, perhaps partly from his position, has a higher appreciation of the Puritan character. To us her frequent and petulant flings at Calvinists and their opinions savor more of the uncharitable "narrowness" she is so ready to impute, than of the "liberality" arrogated by her set.

PROFESSOR TORREY'S LECTURES ON FINE ART* * come to us under the disadvantages of being a posthumous publication, which disadvantages have been overcome to a large extent by careful editing from loving hands. It consists of fifteen chapters, with an appendix, and although it is ordinarily hazardous to pronounce with confidence upon any theory of art, we are confident that this will be pronounced one of the most carefully considered and the most thoroughly philosophical contributions to this subject, which have ever been given to the public by any American writer. The author was one of our most accomplished scholars, with a dash of genius in his nature, and he delivered these lectures for a series of years to the students of the University of Vermont with very great acceptance. They are eminently suggestive and independent, and although it might be objected by some critics that they are somewhat technically metaphysical, this does not interfere with their adaptedness to the general reader, who will bring to their perusal a thoughtful and earnest attention.

*A Theory of Fine Art. By JOSEPH TORREY, late Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy in the University of Vermont. New York: Scribner, Armstrong, & Co.

1874.