lute will can perform-an example of the force with which the iron determination of one carnest man can subject all weaker wishes and desires to his controlling power.

At the present moment especially, when the evils and the dangers of Jesuitism are so loudly descanted upon by a certain fraction of our free and enlightened fellow-citizens, would it not be well to "fall back upon first principles," and study in these volumes the purport, the significance, and power of the society which St. Ignatius organized? That it is secret, our Hindoo friends can surely not object to; that it exacts implicit obedience is in conformity with the practice they adopt; and between St. Ignatius Loyola dead, and St. James W. Barker alive and active, we see nothing but the difference of breath and the substitution of the present for the past.

The translator has well fulfilled his task, and the classic diction of Father Bartoli is rendered with all but faultless purity. It is but due to Messrs. Dunigan to add, that the volumes are a credit to our art; and the portrait which embellishes the first is an admirable engraving of the only likeness of Loyola now existingone we have gazed upon in the Palace of Hampton Court, London.

Book of Men, Women, and Babies. By Dr. Porter, of New-York. Dewitt & Davenport.

THIS readable and handsome volume may be considered as the natural corollary to Barnum's baby-show; and we recommend it earnestly to all that class who could or did enjoy the last quarter-drawing speculation of the "prince of humbugs." This book is more thorough than was Barnum-we do not care to say more shameless; but it does broadly and bluntly profess to instruct us how to "obtain, rear, and develop natural, healthful, and beautiful children!" It gives us an account of past prize baby-shows-enters into some very prurient details to which we do not care to allude; and, on the whole, would form a very valuable vade mecum to those experienced lady-jurors who deliver verdicts on the fineness and the fatness of the rising generation.

Our Countrymen. New-York: Ensign, Bridgman & Funning. 1855.

THE design of this book is among the number of those which are obviously good; and the book itself a most interesting national work-one that no American library should be without, containing as it does biographical sketches, tersely and graphically written, of all who have aided more or less in founding our institutions, or in conferring lustre on them after they were founded. We are told that the Roman youth were excited to great and virtuous deeds by the sight of the images of their illustrious ancestors. Should not the aspirations of our young countrymen be awakened and cherished by the more potential ministrations of a book which tells of men worthy to be imitated as examples and studied as warnings?

Peeps from a Belfry; or, the Parish Sketch-Book By Rev. F. W. Shelton. NewYork: Charles Scribner.

WHATEVER emanates from the pen of "Salander," "Crystalline," and "The Rector of St. Bardolph's," can not fail to challenge attention, nor in the present, as in past instances, to elicit a grateful and patriotic admiration. Mr. Shelton looks

down from his belfry, not like a priestly daw reflecting how high he is above his parishioners; but rather as a genial though reflective observer, fully impressed with a sense of his responsibilities, and capable of viewing the varied scenes and characters of life as if from a level point of view.

The volume is made up of nine separate stories, each illustrative of a different phase of life. As varied in style as in subject, they form some of the most pleasant reading we have lately had the pleasing labor to be called upon to notice.

Spiritualism. By John W. Edmonds, and George T. Dexter, M. D. New-York: Partridge & Britain.

THE eye hath not seen and the ear hath not heard such startling revelations as we here find embodied from the "kingdom come" in solid type and on the very best of paper. We were inclined to suspect, at first, that the authors might be myths-mere nomina umbrarum; but they, no doubt wisely foreseeing the natural probability of such a suspicion, have vouched their substantiality and manhood by two excellent likenesses inserted in front of the volume. That they are sincere in their belief, no thinking man who reads either their present or their former volume will hesitate to admit; that they have made many converts is a melancholy proof of the ignorance and credulity of the age: for sincerity of faith does not necessarily imply correctness; nor do the numbers who may swell the ranks of superstition make superstition one whit the more respectable.

Let us give to the authors all due credit for the care, and elaborate though unconscious sophistry, they have employed: their joint volume may be read with advantage by all who would understand the fundamental and most intimate theories of the new creed which it is attempted to start. And now, having done the writers justice, let us thank the publishers for the beautiful and accurate edition they have put before us. Let all students of psychology and spirit-mediumship pass judgment on the book.

The Controversy between Senator Brooks and ↑ John, Archbishop of New-York, growing out of the Speech of Senator Brooks on the "Church Property Bill," in the New-York State Senate, March 6th, 1855, arranged for publication, with an introductory preface by W. S. Tisdale, is the title of a pamphlet of about a hundred pages recently issued from the press of Dewitt & Davenport. The public are already pretty well acquainted with the merits of this controversy; and it is sufficient for us to say that it is the only complete report of that rather long dispute; and is a desirable work for all the followers after "Sam" as well those who believe he is and ought to be in alliance with "Sambo," as those who believe he is and ought not to be. To all other political philosophers also, as well as all lovers of the kinds of learning in which it deals, we commend the work as worthy a place among their literary and political curiosities.

The United States Tariff, arranged by E. D. Ogden, entry-clerk in the CustomHouse of this port, and published by Rich & Loutrell, 61 William street, has already reached its fourth edition. This work is got up in a neat and convenient form, and ought to be in the possession of every man engaged in commercial pursuits, as well as every one who desires to understand the revenue-laws of the country. It con

tains rates of duties payable on goods, wares, and merchandise imported into the United States from and after the first day of December, 1846; as also the recent circulars and decisions of the Treasury Department, in relation to commerce and the revenues; together with tables of foreign weights, measures, currency, etc., reduced to the standard of our own country, and all the forms in use under the regulations of our commercial statutes. As a book of reference for every body, it is worth three times its cost.

Blanche Deerwood, a Tale of Modern Life, is the title of a neatly gotten-up book from the press of Bunce & Brother, 126 Nassau street. The plot, which involves enough of love, romance, and desperation to attract the attention of the majority of readers, is laid at our own door; and the reader is first placed, in imagination, amid the highlands of a nameless but probably near river, and from thence, having looked about him, he is permitted to lift the veil from neighboring scenes of intrigue, hope, and despair. Some of the characters are finely drawn, and some of the scenes well painted. We have no idea who the author is; but the book seems to have been written by one not three score and ten, but with something of an experimental basis to support the adornments of the tale; and though the experience of the author appears to have been subject to considerations of latitude and longitude, the work is not without merit, and will compare favorably with its kindred.

An English Woman in Russia. Impressions of the Society and Manners of the Russians at Home, by a Lady ten years' resident in that Country, is the title of a work just re-published by Scribner. The volume contains several good illustrations, and a vast amount of interesting and curious information from the pen of one who tells what she has seen and heard. The work has had an extensive sale and popularity on the other side of the water, and is of a character to deserve a like success here.

Ernest Grey; or, the Sins of Society. A Story of New-York Life. By Maria Maxwell, with six fine illustrations by M'Lenan. New-York: T. W. Strong, Nassau street. 1855.

WE have seldom been so much pleased, and at the same time so much pained, as while perusing this too true picture of New-York life. We found the portraits of that class of much-imposed upon, patiently-enduring needlewomen, drawn with a master pen, and the story of their wrongs told by one who evidently feels all the kindliness of a sister. We earnestly hope the book may reach many lady-readers; for it can not fail to awaken, in favor of that unfortunate class, a consideration to which a long and patient endurance of suffering has fully entitled them. Not the least interesting part of this delightful and instructive book, we consider the passages devoted to the system of prison discipline. With all the earnestness and kind-heartedness of a true woman, the authoress sets forth how much is yet to be done before our prisons become institutions for the reform as well as for the punishment of the criminal. As it is our intention again to refer to this book in connection with the subject of prison discipline, we shall for the present confine ourselves to this short notice.