phon will certainly be pleased, and the Examiner may be forgiven too for a simile which, after all, only shows its loyalty to the old theory,that the Major ran away from Hood, and attempted to fall back on Washington through Savannah. The Athenæum, however, goes far beyond its contemporaries, and, with true love for the ideal, paints the invasion in these colors: "Except the squadrons which charged at Worcester and Naseby, no army was ever set in the field like that of Sherman. Many of the rank and file were gentlemen, — poets, writers, advocates, preachers, bankers, landlords; such men as would mix in London society, and be members of Pall Mall Clubs. Many of the cavalry rode their own mares; many of the infantry had bought their own arms. They were persons of estate, accustomed to good houses and rich living. . . . . What were they going to do? One thing was clear, they were going to defy all military rules, and, at the risk of their lives, to enlarge the art of war." Is this a reference to the bummers? Since it has become customary to advise an author to change, condense, or in some way revise whatever he happens to write, in compliance with the fashion, but without desiring to see any alteration in the body of the Major's book, a suggestion may be of value to him with reference to his title-page in future editions. A trifling alteration would make it a truer index of the contents of the volume; and truth, the Major will admit on reflection, has even higher claims than modesty; a mere transposition would make it read, "The Story of the Great March, by Brevet Major George Ward Nichols. From the Diary of a Staff Officer, Aid-de-Camp to General Sherman, etc., etc." 12.-The Sunday Book of Poetry. Selected and arranged by C. F. ALEXANDER. Cambridge: Sever and Francis. 1865. 16mo. pp. viii., 335. [Reprint.] THIS little volume fitly takes place in the "Golden Treasury" series. It is one of the best of recent collections of sacred poetry. It is so partly because many of the poems are neither hymns nor prayers; their religious bearing being felt rather than avowed. The general good judgment and the liberality of taste displayed in the selections make up for the absence of critical fastidiousness on the part of the compiler, which is occasionally shown in the admission of pieces destitute alike of poetical merit and of simplicity of feeling. That the compiler belongs to the Church of England is made evident by the character of some of the selections; but the book has no such sectarianism about it as to prevent its being used with pleasure by those who are not offended by the opinions of Herbert and Cowper. The selections have a wide range, and run back from the poets of our own day to those of the seventeenth, and even the sixteenth century. A fault we are ready to find with the book here and there — the more readily because the editor has shown so much carefulness of choice that she might herself feel the force of the criticism — is, that many of the poems in it addressed to, or written about, children, like most of those of the same class to be found elsewhere, are marked by a fastidious sentiment which makes it at once impossible and undesirable that they should interest children "from eight to fourteen," for whom the volume is particularly intended. Verses of the stamp of those of Keble on "Saying the Creed" (p. 137), or of the well-known lines by Mr. Willis (p. 273) descriptive of the devout infantine astronomer, can little benefit any child; while Mrs. Judson's maternal gush (p. 152) about her loving birdling" with "silken-fringed rose-leaves on her starry eyes," is somewhat tiresome even to one fond of children. 66 It would seem, too, as if distance must wonderfully magnify poetical beauties, if in England Mrs. Sigourney's verses on "The Lost Day" (p. 129) are thought well of, with their first line, "Lost! lost! lost!" which sounds like a converted echo, an echo "under conviction" of the cry of the goblin dwarf in "The Lay of the Last Minstrel." Putting by the side of these feeble eight verses Mr. Emerson's noble eight lines called "Days," the contrast between "the grand style" and a common style may be fully felt. But to make up for these and other poor American effusions, there are copious and sufficiently well-chosen extracts from Mr. Longfellow, who has expressed so many of the purest and most delicate emotions with the highest truth and simplicity. Indeed, the volume contains many both familiar and unfamiliar poems of great beauty. 13. The Ballad Book: a Selection of the choicest British Ballads. Edited by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM, Author of "Day and Night Songs," etc. Cambridge: Sever and Francis. 16mo. pp. xlvii., 397. [Reprint.] MR. ALLINGHAM has arranged in this pretty and pleasant volume seventy-six of the old ballads chosen for those characteristics which secure them general popularity. It is a selection not meant for the scholar, certainly not intended for the special student of ballad literature, but to bring anew before the public what charmed our fathers and our more distant ancestors. And it is, as such a collection always must be, a delightful book, from the character of the poems themselves, and from the associations and suggestions connected with them. The old English and Scotch ballads have the perennial charm of simplicity of feeling and directness of expression. Aladdin's old lamp is worth more than the new ones, and our poets (of Mr. Allingham's standing) do well when they exert themselves to rub up the old, rather than to make new lamps. But let not too much polishing be done; above all, let no recasting be attempted. It is a literary crime to make an old thing new; yet this has been Mr. Allingham's temptation. We owe him thanks that he has yielded to it so little. He has, in fact, done no more than most of his brother editors have done before him; but are we to have these ballads, many of them so famous, and now so familiar, rearranged for each successive generation? Mr. Allingham has collected of the different ballads the various versions now before the public, attempting to select the stanzas of greatest merit from each copy, and to set forth the story in a complete and consistent form. “A better ballad is the result," is his own judgment upon his work, in one instance avowedly, and inferentially in all. His alterations, generally verbal, are not very great, nor, if alterations are to be allowed at all, very blameworthy. But we can find no suggestion nor see the reason for such changes as, for example, this, of a verse in the Dowie Dens of Yarrow, or, as Mr. Allingham has it, "The Banks of Yarrow." The previously accepted version reads: “O fare ye weel, my ladye gaye, O fare ye weel, my Sarah ! For I maun gae, though I ne'er return Mr. Allingham's reads: "O fare ye weel, my lady dear! And put aside your sorrow; Frae the bonny banks o' Yarrow." The effective and beautiful ballad of "The Cruel Brother" is singularly twisted and turned; and we question the taste which selects that version of Sir Patrick Spens from which are omitted the two picturesque and vigorous verses: — Mr. Allingham speaks in his Preface of Professor Child's most valuable and complete collection of Ballads with the somewhat superficial tone and jaunty manner that pervade all he says, and shows little appreciation of the learning and labor involved in Professor Child's researches. But it may be observed that he makes use of the results of them, especially in those of the Robin Hood ballads which he reprints, for the most part wisely following precisely the version given by Professor Child, though occasionally omitting a verse, and “improving" them by "an abatement of the very strong swearing," to use his words, or by a weakening of forcible expressions, to use our own. With all abatements, the volume is a delightful one, and a charming present for any one of quick imagination and tender sympathies. 14. Notices of the Triennial and Annual Catalogues of Harvard University with a Reprint of the Catalogues of 1674, 1682, and 1700. By JOHN LANGDON SIBLEY, A. M., Librarian of Harvard University, and Member of the Massachusetts and other Historical Societies. Boston. 1865. 8vo. pp. 61. A MOST unattractive title, except to an antiquary of the driest class. Yet we assure our readers—especially such of them as are Cambridge graduates that the pamphlet will give them pleasure, nay, even amusement, no less than instruction. Mr. Sibley has interwoven with his history of the Harvard Catalogues many collateral scraps of College history and personal anecdote, some of them nowhere else accessible except in manuscript records. The work is thoroughly and carefully done, with the utmost neatness of style and method, and printed, too, accurately and beautifully. It is a monograph unique in its kind, and one of the class of publications which are growing at once more difficult and more precious every year, with the obliteration of old historical landmarks, the destruction of documents, and the obsolescence of local traditions. 15.- History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first Exploration, A. D. 1605; with Family Genealogies. By CYRUS EATON, Cor. Member of the Mass. Hist. Society, also of the Wisconsin Hist. Society, and Member Elect of the Maine Hist. Society. Hallowell. 1865. 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 468, 472. MR. EATON is totally blind, and has for his only amanuensis a daughter who is almost helplessly infirm. He has accomplished this work under the pressure of pecuniary difficulties, and seemingly at the utmost disadvantage. The book, however, bears tokens, not of straitened powers or means, but of the most conscientious and faithful diligence. In the history of the original Thomaston, and of the three municipalities into which it is now divided, we cannot think that anything worthy of record has been omitted. While many of the details have merely a local value, there are many more that belong to the country and the time, and that therefore would attract and reward the attention of any reader or student of history. The work in point of style is unambitious, and in faultless taste. The author had previously written a History of Warren, of such merit as to secure the respectful notice of the several Historical Societies to which he has since been chosen. We understand that he has published the work now before us on his own account; and we trust that an appreciative public will liberally reward his labors. LIST OF SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 1. History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe. By W. E. H. Lecky, M. A. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1866. 2 vols. 12mo. 2. History of Rationalism; embracing a Survey of the Present State of Protestant Theology. By the Rev. John F. Hurst, A. M. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. 1865. 8vo. pp. xv., 623. 3. Present Religion: as a Faith owning Fellowship with Thought. By Sara S. Hennell. Part I. London: Trübner & Co. 1865. 12mo. pp. X., 557. 4. Essays on the Supernatural Origin of Christianity, with special Reference to the Theories of Renan, Strauss, and the Tübingen School. By Rev. George P. Fisher, M. A., Professor of Church History in Yale College. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. 1866. 8vo. pp. xii., 586. 5. The Vicarious Sacrifice, grounded in Principles of Universal Obligation. By Horace Bushnell. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. 1866. 8vo. pp. 552. 6. Notes from Plymouth Pulpit: a Collection of Memorable Passages from the Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher. With a Sketch of Mr. Beecher and the Lecture Room. By Augusta Moore. New Edition. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1865. 12mo. pp. 374. 7. Jesus and the Coming Glory, or Notes on Scripture. By Joel Jones, LL. D. Philadelphia: James S. Claxton. 1865. 8vo. pp. 584. 8. Man Moral and Physical, or the Influence of Health and Disease on |