554 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



lignant and mean abuse of the author of " Gertrude of Wyoming," 

 effectually prevented us from wasting our time upon the succeeding 

 pages, which, we take it, are conceived in the same generous spirit. 

 The author may, if he pleases, find the copy he sent for review at our 

 " facetious publishers." 



THE ROMANCE OF ANCIENT HISTORY. FIRST SERIES EGYPT. 

 2 VOLS., POST 8vo. COCHRANE AND M<CRONE. 



IP these volumes did not possess in themselves the elixir vitce of 

 life if they were not intrinsically well digested, entertaining, and 

 instructive even then the critic would be disarmed when told that 

 they are the production of one who never knew the blessing of sight, 

 who dwells in hopeless blindness in a world where he can only be 

 cheered by the converse of friends and the invaluable blessings of 

 memory. The present to him is a vast blank the past teems with 

 visions of poetry which a graceful and classical imagination has given 

 to the world in a simple and affecting garb. May his solitary hours, 

 say we, be hallowed who devotes his talents to the edification and 

 instruction of his more fortunate brethren; and may that "light from 

 heaven" which so eminently guides his pen be to him more than the 

 light from which he is for ever excluded, and cheer him in his "dark 

 day of loneliness !" We had marked many passages as extracts, but 

 our limited space precludes us, for this month at least, from indulging 

 in the gratification. So we leave the work to its fate, conscious that 

 its own modest and unassuming merits will pilot it safely to public 

 favor among its more gaudy and assuming contemporaries. 



THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND. BY HUME AND SMOLLETT, WITH A 

 CONTINUATION BY THE REV. T. S. HUGHES, B.D. VOLS. I., II., III., 

 VALPY. 



ANOTHER of those revivals of our sterling English literature, for 

 which the world is already so largely indebted to the fine taste and 

 laudable enterprise of Mr. Valpy. In the present rage for monthly 

 issues, no work in the whole range of the belles-lettres could have 

 been more appropriately selected, as assuredly no one will be more 

 widely disseminated. Beauty of type, correctness of text, and ele- 

 gance of illustration, are not wanting in this edition to render it worthy 

 of its predecessors and numerous rivals. Mr. Hughes, the learned 

 editor, has hitherto had an easy task of it, or rather he has had no 

 task at all, for his labours do not commence until the elder historians 

 lay down their pens ; and he must be a bold roan who would assert 

 his right to reign in their stead. However, we shall not pre-judge : 

 from what we have seen and heard of his efforts we are disposed to 

 believe that the important task will be executed with talent and re- 

 search; he cannot, at all events, complain of paucity of materiel. 



LETTERS AND ESSAYS IN PROSE AND VERSE. MOXON. 

 THIS volume of Essays is understood to be from the pen of 

 Richard Sharpe, Esq., better known by the name of Conversation 



