The Press.
London, England, 1854-03-11 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

joyed great experience in the Mediterranean Sea, he
has succeeded in producing an excellent work. Al•
though more immediately useful to the professional
reader, history, ancient and modern, is so agreeably
interwoven with nautical and hydrographic technica-
lities and details that all may peruse the book with
pleasure and advantage. The index and the mar•
ginal notes are clear and copious, both points of
great importance in a work of this nature. Admiral
Smyth's charts have long been used in the navy.

Wanderings of an Antiquary. By Thomas Wright,
Esq., F.S.A. London : Nichols and Son.
Mn. WRIGHT cannot graduate amongst archieologists
of the highest rank, and his present volume is only a
reprint of a miscellany of papers contributed to the
Gentleman's Magazine—little more, in fact, than a
record of various summer tours to spots of historical
interest. But his excursions were not only agreeable
to himself but are interesting upon paper. His
" Wanderings " will not instruct antiquarians, but
they may assist dilettanti archteologists when plan-
ning their next summer excursions. The exploration
of the Saxon and Roman remains, especially in the
south-east of England, is commended by a variety of
interesting particulars well recounted. The volume
is dedicated to Lady Londesborough, and is illus-
trated with some cleverly-executed drawings.

Russia Self-condemned. Seciret and Inedited
Documents connected with Russian History and

Diplomacy, lz.c. Translated and Edited by John
Reynell Morell. London : Bogue.
WE consider it a judicious enterprise at this moment
to translate the collection of documents " pour
" p/upart secrets and inedits " for which it is said
Europe is indebted to Prince Adam Czartoryski.
The most interesting for their bearing on the present
crisis are the despatches antecedent to the war and
treaty of Adrianople, and which occupy about fifty
pages of the present work. As far as we can judge
at a rapid glance the translation is executed with
fidelity and good taste.

Gibbon's Roman Empire. With Notes by Dean
Milman and Guizot. Edited by Dr. William
Smith. London: Murray. _

THIS is an admirable adaptation of the taste for
cheap literature. A fine library edition of the great
historian at a price which, other things taken into
account, is as cheap as a railway novel, marks an
epoch in publishing arrangements. In addition to
material excellence, the combination of celebrities
denoted by the titlepage, a portrait and two maps in
this first volume, the collation of the text and careful
verification of the notes and references, the latter a
most important feature, as a contemporary judiciously
points out, because the editions of many of the works
employed by Gibbon are now obsolete, combine to make
this edition in every sense the cheapest, because the
best. We have little doubt that its production will
reward the publisher as handsomely as it is com-
mended to the public by its superior merits.

Poetical Works of Dryden. Edited by Robert Bell.

- - _
Vol. 11. London : J. W. Parker and Son.
THE present volume of this cheap and good edition'
of " Glorious John" contains "The Medal," " Mac
Flecknoe," " Religio Laici," " The Hind and Pan-
ther," the version of " Palamon and Arcite,"
The introductory remarks on the various pieces are
generally judicious and informing.