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harbours, which rise gradually from the water's edge to an
elevation of two hundred feet. It is more than a mile in
length ; and its greatest width is about three quarters of
a mile, the streets entering the open steppe on the south.
It was partly defended on the west, towards the land, by a
loopholed wall, which had been pronounced by one of the
first engineers of Russia as perfectly useless ; and plans
for completely fortifying the place in that direction were
said to have been made ; but whether the work has since
been carried out we know not, though we have a deep con-
viction that strong defences will be found to exist there by
the time a besieging army arrives. These, however, being
d, can neither be of sufficient magnitude nor

Ledly rail

_.
strength to offer a serious resistance to a long continued
fire of heavy artillery ; and unless these fortifications are
on a most extensive scale, and embrace a very wide circuit,
may be commanded from so many points, that,
ttacked with heavy guns of long range, their speedy
eduction becomes a matter of certainty. None of the sea
lotteries or forts are of the slightest service for defence

on the land side. Indeed the great fort, " St. Nicholas,"
has not a gun pointed in that direction; and such an
armament would be perfectly useless if it existed, as that

part of the hill on wllich the town stands rises behind it
to a height of two hundred feet. In fact, all the fortresses
and batteries, both to the north and south of the great bay,
are commanded by higher ground in the rear.

The speculations of Mr. Scott as to the defensive
capabilities of Sevastopol, although now matter of
minor importance, are yet by no means desti-
tute of interest. The narrative of travel and
observation given to the public by Mr. Scott proves
him to be a judicious and clear-sighted investigator
of whatever came in his way. His book is well
deserving of a careful perusal, as it throws much
light upon various matters connected with Russian
policy and the internal condition of the country ;
at the present time it is peculiarly interesting and
useful.

The Works of Philo Juclaus. Translated from
the Greek, by C. D. Yonge, B.A. London :
Henry G. Bohn.
The volume, of which the preceding is the title,
is the first of the author's works, and is one of Mr.
Bohn's Ecclesiastical Library. Philo was a learned
Hebrew, the contemporary ofJosephus, and a man
held in much esteem by his countrymen, and also
by the Greek philosophers. His writings bear
testimony to his independence of thought, as well
as to his learning. The present volume contains
well-considered treatises, or essays, on various
topics connected with sacred history, commencing
with an essay on the " Account of the Creation of
the World, as given by Moses." Philo has been
charged, and not without reason, with an over-
subtlety of reasoning; and this elaborateness, not
to call it by so harsh a name as defect, is manifest
in many of the essays contained in the present
volume, several of the subjects tending in no small
degree to a development of the casuistic faculties,
where they exist in only moderate degree; but
where the tendency, as in the case of Philo, is
natural and almost inveterate, such subjects as
" Cain and his birth," and "The Posterity of Cain,"
cannot fail to excite their action to a great extent.
In the volume, however, the biblical student will
find much to interest and instruct him ; and by its
publication at a cheap rate, Mr. Bohn has conferred
an obligation on an extensive class of readers.

The Combustion of Coal and the Prevention of
Smoke, chemically and practically considered.
By C. W. Williams. London : John Weale.
Liverpool : W. Webb.

The subject of smoke prevention is one in which
the public generally have a deep interest, and more
particularly that portion of the public who, from
living in manufacturing towns, or seaports in which
extensive steam-navigation is conducted, are pecu-
liarly exposed to its action. It has unfortunately,
however, till lately been considered, popularly at
least, that the proprietors of works in which the
smoke was created had but a secondary interest in
its abatement. Practical investigation has led to
the conviction that in this case, as in many others,
disregard of public convenience is paid for by the
offender in increased expenditure ; that, in short,
if the furnace proprietor will consult his own
interest, the truthful monitions of that guide will
lead to a diminution of public inconvenience. This
will readily appear, when it is borne' ifiVnd that
the dense masses of black smoke, issuing from
furnace chimneys and engine funnels, is neither
less nor more than comminuted masses of unburned
coal, floated into the atmosphere, polluting its
purity, instead of contributing to the power of the
engine or the action of the furnace. This fact is
strongly insisted on and plainly demonstrated by
Mr. Williams, whose attention to the subject has
been unremitting for a period of nearly thirty years.
The practical value of his labours has been fully
demonstrated in the working of the City of Dublin
steam-vessels plying between this port and the
Irish capital ; and the efficiency of his theory has
been proved in numerous instances, particularly in
Manchester. The volume before us enters minutely
into the chemistry of combustion, and, grounded on
that, proceeds safely and surely in deducing the
economy and convenience of the plans he recom-
mends. The book is eminently practical and
useful.

Specimens of English Dramatic Poets who lived
about the time of Shakspeare. With notes,

By Charles Lamb. London : Henry G. Bohn

The fame of Charles Lamb, as a pleasant anno-
tator and judicious dramatic critic, requires no
enforcement at this period or from us. In the
collection before us we have a great deal to in-
struct and not a little to delight us. The selec-
tion has been made with great care and good taste,
and in his preface he says with truth as well as
boldness, " I have expunged without ceremony all
that which the writers had better never have
written," and, he might have added, that was so
extensive that the task of excision was indeed a
Herculean and many would have thought a thank-
less one. So thought not " Elia ;" he has care-
fully separated the chaff from the corn, and pro-
duced an interesting volume. In reprinting
this collection, Mr. Bohn has evinced his usual
judgment and good taste, and added to the
"family literary treasury" many dramatic jewels
which, accompanied by their grosser settings, were
quite inadmissible to such a place. It deserves to
be, and will, we have no doubt, become a highly
popular volume.

Orr's Circle of the Sciences. Parts VIII. and
IX. London and Liverpool :W. S. Orr and Co.
These, the August and September numbers of
this excellent scientific series, continue to support
the pretensions with which the work was started,
and justify the encomiums bestowed on it by the
press. It is admirably suited to excite and gratify
the curiosity of the young, and to refresh the
memory of the more mature student.

The Dublin Monthly Journal of Industrial Pro-
Nos. IX. and X. Dublin :W. B. Kelly.

This serial is well entitled to the honourable
name it bears. It is conducted with assiduity and
judgment, and is admirably adapted to aid in the
development of the industrial resources of Ireland.

Our Friend. A Monthly Miscellany.
London: John F. Shaw.

No. X.

This sedate and respectable periodical continues
to win its way in general esteem by deserving it.
Its contents are varied, and all have a tendency to-
wards the elevation of the lower classes. It is
cheap as well as useful.

The Lord's Day and the British People. An
Argument for Both. By A Believer. London :
H. Wooldridge.

An earnestly-written and well-considered pam-
phlet, directed to warn all classes against the open-
ing of the Crystal Palace on any part of the Sunday.
The author brings the artillery of his arguments
to bear chiefly against those who see in the move-
ment an attempt to improve the mind and elevate
the intellectual status of the working masses, by
affording them what are called elevating and
refining pleasures and recreations on Sundays, the
only days they are by these advocates believed to
possess leisure for such studies. Instead of vitu-
peration, the author addresses sound and conclusive
reasoning to those parties, pointing out the fallacy
of such an opinion, and clearly showing the
dangers and evils society would have to encounter
from the recognition of such principles. His argu-
ments are judiciously selected, and they are en-
forced
in an earnest and unassuming style—in a
style indeed likely to disarm opposition and to
win conviction.

, or the. London Charivari,
SERIALS.--Punch
thnofe pasthat enjoyed the almost exclu-
sivehas for a long
Russia,
furnished by the
possession
it has among the
despotic preserves of
and plentiful is the game' Austria, and Prussia,
congregated hybrids of
pre wontet t o
tyranny with cowardly hypocrisy uasndant'd grasping
, andphseledreths
wasime-serving
selfishness. The great Napoleon
writhe under the ridicule cast upon his
pretensions by British caricaturists
squibs published by. the press. to his disadvantage
as sufficient to justify a national quarrel. If thee
meek castigations he received acted with such
potency, what must be the effect, on the trio of
noble brothers, of the flagellations bestowed with
such dexterity by rffnen 1-The Christian