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20.-The Heart's Ease, or a Remedy against all Troubles; with a Consolatory Discourse,-particularly directed to those who have lost their friends and dear relations: by Simon Patrick, D. D. New-York: D. Appleton & Co. 1841. pp. 320.

This was one of the earliest productions of a man, who was equally respected, in his day, for his learning and his piety. The Epistle Dedicatory is dated 1659. Dr. Patrick was then the incumbent at Battersea,-a living which he received from the family of Sir Walter St. John. In 1689 he was made Bishop of Chichester; in 1691, he was transferred to the see of Ely. His death occurred in 1707, in his S1st year. He published a number of sermons, tracts against Popery, etc.; but his Commentary on the Bible gave him more celebrity than any thing else.

The present volume is all that it professes to be,--a remedy against all troubles. It brings together, with great felicity, the numerous motives to contentment and submission which may be drawn from reason and the Bible. It is characterizedbut not inelegantly-by some of the peculiarities of the 17th century. Though somewhat quaint, the style is easy and graceful. The typography of the volume is worthy of all praise. Nothing more beautiful, we presume, has ever issued from the American press.

21.-The Biblical Cabinet; or Hermeneutical, Exegetical and Philological Library: Edinburgh: Thomas Clark. 1839. Vol. XXIV. pp. 407.-1840. Vol. XXV. pp. 369.

Several of the former volumes of the Edinburgh Biblical Cabinet have been noticed in the Repository with commendation. It is a work of high value in the departments of learning named in its title, and we are happy to perceive, by the receipt of the above volumes, which have lately reached us, that the enterprising proprietor is encouraged to continue its publication. These two volumes are worthy of a place in such a library. The first, Vol. XXIV-is entitled, Sacred Dissertations on the Lord's Prayer: Translated from the Latin of Herman Witsius, D. D., Prof. of Divinity in the Universities of Utrecht and Leyden: with Notes by the Rev. William Pringle, Auchterarder. It is a series of learned dissertations on prayer, its advantages and necessity,-preparation of the mind for right prayer,-gesture in prayer,-stated hours of prayer, the Lord's prayer,-its address and several petitions.

Witsius was a very learned and eminent divine of North Holland, who lived and published several works of great merit during the last half of the seventeenth century; among which were the "Economy of the Covenants," "Dissertations on the Apostles' Creed," his "Egyptiaca et Decaphylon," etc. He lived to an advanced age, and left a reputation for learning and piety, which have commended his works to the diligent study of divines and biblical scholars to the present time. Vol. XXV bears the following title: Principles of Interpretation of the Old Testament; translated from the Institutio Interpretis Veteris Testamenti of John Henry Pareau, Prof. of Orient. Lang. in the University of Utrecht. By Patrick Forbes, D. D., Prof. etc., King's College, Aberdeen. Vol. II. This, too, is a work of sterling worth to the biblical student. Besides the labors of the learned author, it contains a Treatise by the Translator on the structure and study of the Hebrew language, and an appendix illustrative of the principles of interpretation advanced by the author, which add much to the value of the volume.

22.-History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent. By George Bancroft: Vol. III. Third Edition. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown. 1840. pp. 468.

The above is the comprehensive title of the great work which has been undertaken by Mr. Bancroft, and the first three volumes of which are now completed. These volumes, however, are furnished with an additional title, with which they may be separated from the whole work and bound by themselves. It is as follows: History of the Colonization of the United States. This portion of the work is now concluded, and our author announces, at the close of the volume now before us, his intention, if sufficiently encouraged by the "favoring opinion of the people," to go forward and write the History of the American Revolution; the great drama of which he considers as opening with the attempts of France and England to carry into effect the peace of Aix la Chapelle. "At the very time of the congress of Aix la Chapelle, author, "the woods of Virginia sheltered the youthful George Washington, the son of a widow. Born by the side of the Potomac, beneath the roof of a Westmoreland farmer, almost from infancy his lot had been the lot of an orphan. No academy had welcomed him to its shades, no college crowned him with its honors to read, to write, to cipher-these had been

says our

his degrees in knowledge. And now, at sixteen years of age, in quest of an honest maintenance, encountering intolerable toil; cheered onward by being able to write to a schoolboy friend, "Dear Richard, a doubloon is my constant gain every day, and sometimes six pistoles ;"" himself his own cook, having no spit but a forked stick, no plate but a large chip;" roaming over spurs of the Alleghanies, and along the banks of the Shenandoah; alive to nature, and sometimes spending the best of the day in admiring the trees and the richness of the land; among skin-clad savages with their scalps and rattles, or uncouth emigrants, that would never speak English;' rarely sleeping in a bed; holding a bear-skin a splendid couch; glad of a restingplace for the night upon a little hay, straw, or fodder, and often camping in the forest, where the place nearest the fire was a happy luxury; this stripling surveyor in the woods, with no companion but his unlettered associates, and no implements of science but his compass and chain, contrasted strongly with the imperial magnificence of the congress of Aix la Chapelle. And yet God had selected, not Kaunitz, nor Newcastle, not a monarch of the house of Hapsburg, nor of Hanover, but the Virginia stripling, to give an impulse to human affairs, and, as far as events can depend on an individual, had placed the rights and the destinies of countless millions in the keeping of the widow's son."

With this beautiful description, our historian closes his third volume, and from this point, proposes to commence, in the next, his history of the causes and progress of the war of the Revolution, and the independence of the United States, achieved by our fathers, not for themselves, and their posterity only, but for the world.

The former volumes of this admirable work, were noticed in the Repository for January, 1839. From a cursory exami nation of the present volume, we do not hesitate to believe that it will fully justify the high opinion which we then expressed of the value of Mr. Bancroft's labors, as an American historian. His opportunities of research have been ample, his views are philosophical and comprehensive, and his style chaste and attractive. To our readers, we earnestly recommend his work thus far, as a most valuable contribution to the literature of our country and the age. To the author, so far as our opinion may have weight with him, we would say, we have no doubt that all who have read his volumes, on the Colonization of the United States, will wait with anxiety the appearance of his proposed work on the American Revolution. We trust it will not be unnecessarily delayed.

23.-The Life of Alexander Hamilton. By his Son, John C. Hamilton. New-York: D. Appleton & Co. 1840. Two Volumes, pp. 430, 563.

The monument erected, in the grave-yard of Trinity Church, to the memory of Hamilton, is a marble pillar,-broken off, as if by violence, several feet below the height proportionate to its massive dimensions. So the rising pillar of his greatness was broken by a violent death; and as the stranger looks in vain, at the base of his monument, for the fragment which is apparently gone from its top, so it will be well if his biographers, in handing his name down to posterity, shall succeed in diverting the attention of all readers from the painful story of his decease. It is with Hamilton, that we are concerned, as the patriot, the companion of Washington, the brave General and the incomparable Statesman. In these relations his name will endure among the brightest ornaments of American history. It is intimately associated with the great events which preceded the war of the Revolution, with the protracted struggles of that war, with the achievement of our country's independence, with the formation of the Constitution of the United States, and the administration of its government during the period of its early and doubtful experiment. During the whole progress of these eventful changes, he was second to no one of his compatriots in the wisdom and weight of his counsels, the efficiency of his action and the influence which he exerted in laying the foundations of the permanent prosperity of our country. "Hamilton," says Guizot, "must be classed among the men who have best known the vital principles and fundamental conditions of a government,”แ a government worthy of its mission and of its name. There is not in the constitution of the United States an element of order, of force, of duration, which he has not powerfully contributed to introduce into it and to cause to predominate."

When it is considered that "the wealth of nations is their illustrious few," it is not a little surprising that the biography of one so distinguished has been so long delayed. The preparation of such a work, however, had been committed to several gentlemen of distinguished abilities, who, from vari ous and sufficient causes, failed to perform it, until it has devolved, by common consent, upon his son, a gentleman well qualified for the undertaking. The two volumes already published contain a sketch of Hamilton's early life, and the progress of his opinions through the period of the Revolution, until they were matured and nobly defended in the convention

of 1787, in Philadelphia, when the present Constitution of the United States was formed. The work thus far is a history, not only of Hamilton, but of his Times. It is a history of the Revolution, and of the Constitution. The mass of information which it contains, and the documents which it preserves are highly creditable to the diligence and careful research of the author. It is written in a chaste and perspicuous style, and may be regarded as one of the most intensely interesting, as well as important publications of its class, which has ever appeared in our country. We shall wait with solicitude the completion of a work so well begun, and thus far, so successfully prosecuted.

We are happy to add that the mechanical execution of this valuable work is in the best style of the New-York press. 23.-The Flag Ship: or a Voyage around the World, in the United States Frigate Columbia; attended by her Consort, the Sloop of War John Adams, and bearing the Broad Pennant of Commodore George C. Read. By Fitch W. Taylor, Chaplain to the Squadron. NewYork: D. Appleton and Co. 1840. Two Volumes. pp. 388, 406.

To make the circuit of the world is a much less wonderful achievement than it was in the days of our fathers. Yet the accomplishment of such a voyage is an event of no little interest, even in our times. It is of course attended with many hazards and a great variety of incidents, and affords an opportunity, to the literary voyager, of acquiring much useful information. The materials, therefore, gathered by our author, during his late voyage in the Columbia, must be supposed to be ample for the composition of a book at once entertaining and instructive. We were accordingly glad to hear the announcement of these volumes, by Mr. Taylor; and the beautiful style of execution, in which they have come from the hands of the publishers, has more than equalled our expectations. They contain also a considerable variety of interesting information, which will be valued by intelligent readers. But our author, we think, has unhappily failed in the symmetry of his work. His object appears to have been to recommend religion, and the cause of missions, to the favorable regard of the more refined circles of the worldly and the careless. But the perfection of art, for such a purpose, would be to conceal the indications of art. This principle, Mr. T. has not sufficiently regarded. While, therefore, we approve of his general object, and take pleasure in acknowledging

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