The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-05-17
VOL. TX.

art of condensing. Too many Of them carry
into the book, which requires conciseness, the
style of the pulpit, which tolerates ampIfcs.
ton.
ELLEN MoNrGoXERI's BOOKSHELF BY the author Of lie
"wide, Wide World, +" Dollars and Cents &c.
Mr.. RvrHERFoRD's CHILDREN. Second volume New
York: G. p Putnam & Co. For sale by Taylor
Maury, Washington.
Dear "Ellen Montgomery" much beratej
though she has been by critics, both American
and English, still speaks to all the hearts which
have throbbed with hers in the Wide, Wide
World" We have here the second volume q
her " Bookshelf" as fresh, dewy, and unpre.
tending as cluster of strawberries in the gras.
of spring morning. To those who have out.
grown their youth sufficiently to despise child
ish stories" it will not commend itself b.,
we prophecy for the brusque ways and naive
sayings of" Sybil" and /" Chryssa wide pop.
ularity, among more than denizens Of the nur.
sery like themselves.
RACHEL KILL BY the author of Scenes and Character,
in College," &c. New York: NJ w Dodd Il Co Fo,
sale by Gray Ballantyne, Washington
Half century ago, it was the task of a story
writer to collect within the compass of his pa.
ges the most marvellous, thrilling, heroic Incl
dents, that ever had being in reality or in i'm.
agination. The more improbable were his com.
binatiOns, the more highly was public curiosity
stimulated, and the more brilliant was his sue
cess. A powerful reaction from this high-Aovn
style of writing has thrown the novelists Of the
present age upon common life, its gentle ioys,
Its fieeting sorrows, its natural and everyday
occurrences, for many Of their most powerfully
wrought themes. This is well. But when a
step beyond this is taken, and a writer, without
originality of conception, nicely of observation,
or appreciation Of human nature, descends into
the commonplsces of life, and undertakes to
present us with mawkish dilution Of its every.
day flow, We turn from it in disgust. 1t is a
marvel to us how the patience of the author
held out through three hundred pages of such
a work as Rachel Kell.
LIVES or THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND before the Norma
Conquest BY Mrs. Matthew Hail. Philadelphia
Blanchard Il Lea. For sale by Franck Taylor Wal.
ington.
Miss Agnes Strickland, through her perse.
vering researches and communicative pen, ha,
long since made us familiar with the Queens
regent and consort of the British throne, from
the date of the Norman Conquest. But of their
predecessors, the lively Brton and fair haired
Saxon Queens, we have had hitherto only shad-
owy and contradictory legends. In the words
of the introduction, "no one has before been
found to go back to search amid dusty and
worm-eaten records, for details illustrative of
the vast mine of history, with all its hidden
stores of wealth, from the first to the eleventh
century"
In this untrodden and dmly-lighted path,
Mrs. Hall has CLEANED the statistics and anec-
dotes that fill up her pages; treasure, doubt.
less, to the antiquarian though rather too dry,
at times, for the taste of the general reader
Yet all will note with interest the names and
records of Boadcea the Brave; of Helena, the
mother and co-worker of Constantine of Der.
tina, the first patroness of Christianity upon the
British Isles; of Judith, the stepmother and
Good, the idol of Saxon generations succeed,
ing. Woman lacked neither her share of the
labors nor of the honors of those stirring "old
times" She seems TO have been more nearly
the acknowledged equal of her yoke-fellow man,
than in the ages succeeding the Conquest; shar.
ing his battles and banquets, and eating even
"from the same trencher with her lord, at grand
entertainments Many curious bits of inform
alton about old fashions and customs may be
found in this work. 1t will repay the scholar
for perusal.
KkSSErB; or, The Rear Guard OF the Grand Army. By
the Author of The Heir OF Redclyfr" IIearts-a-e'
&c. New York: ID. Appleton Co. For sale by K
Farnham, Washington.
Ever since the Heir Of Redclyile" found
its way to the sympathes of thousands, public
interest has Immediately fastened upon any
production of the same pen. Miss Yonge, as
we learn from the English Reviews is the
mistress of this graphic and delight-giying pen.
"Heartsease," the immediate successor Of her
C. T.. l.,