The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-08-04
T H E RE VIE i.

/ i n "a hE u w
Elementary Grammar, Etymology and Synisx Abridged
from the octave edition of the English Language IN
its Elements and Forms" Designed for general use
in common schools ny William C Fowler, late Pro-
lessor of Rhetoric in Amherst College. New York !;
! Harper & Brothers. 1859. For sale by Taylor &
Msury, Washington, d C.
/ We have examined this little volume with
considerable care, and do not hesitate to pro-
nounce it one of the best books for the use of
beginners that we have ever seen. The ar
rangement is admirable, and the definitions
concise. There are no leading questions, but
questions enough to direct the child's attention
to the important points. 1t is rich In eXer-
cises, in analysis and synthesis, and in discus
sion of the idioms of our language. Lastly, it
is attractive in size and dress and, with such
book competent teacher, and an ordinarily
active brain, we cannot conceive how grammar
should fail to be interesting.
/ NJ. T. Cceronis de Offciis, Lbri With maginal
analysis ana English commentary. Edited for the
Syr dies of the University Press, by the Rev Hubert
| Ashton Holden, NJ A, Vice Principal of ChelIenham
College, late Fellow and Assistant Tutor of Trinity
College, Cambridge First American edition. correct
ed and enlarged, by Charles Anthem, LII. D.. PROBES
| per & Brothers 1889. For sale as above
Who the Syndics of the University Press
may be, we have not yet received satisfactory
information but certainly they were very for
tunate in having fine edition of Cicero pre-
| pared for their ediGcation, and the young peo-
PIE of America are still more fortunate in
having a Mr.. Anthem, who touches nothing
| bo ~ o6n 10
prove it. The text is clear and inviting. The
marginal analysis will be found very service
able in following the line of the authors
thought The notes are copious to an extent
which cannot but be delightful to the eyes of
schoolboys, but perhaps no more so than the
calculation of the text demands
Popular Geology Series of Lectures read before the
| Philosophical Institution Of Edinburgh. With De-
scripve Sketches from a Biologists Portfolio BY
Hugh Miller. With introductory resume cf tbs
progress of geological science within the lasi two
yea by Mrs Miller. Bosom Gould & Lincoln New
York: Sheldon Il Co. Cincinnati George g. Ban-
chard 1889. or sale above.
Those who know, and who does not +? the
schools in which, and the schoolmasters by
whom, Hugh Miller was trained up to royal
/
alas ! will lead us no more. The weary feet
have ceased from their journey. The aching
brain is at resi-, and forever. Nay, rather, the
feet, no longer weary, wander delighted over
the hills of heaven; and the treless brain, beat
ing every hour with added vigor dwells with
unceasing Joy on the wonderful works of God.
good and great man, being dead, yet
| speaketh in this volume, which comprises his
last efforts. All that he will ever tell us in this
world is now told; and, let US add well told.
Over the rugged, sharp outlines of science he
has thrown the sunshine of poesy, and presents
landscape on which the eye loves to dwell.
Now he shows us headland iutting out be
yond headland into some rich plain, traversed
by trim hedgerows and green lanes or some
picturesque cottage, overhadowed by its gnarl-
ed elm, rising in some bosky hollow at the
foot of the swelling bank, or weatherstained
precipce, beneath which the restless surf once
broke against the beach,"
Now he takes us down into deep caverns in
which the pillows had toiled for ages, but are
now silent, save when the drop tinkles from
gRRHf ERfefoF F ahd over Projecting but.
tresses of rock, perforated often at their bases
as If by Gothic archways, and thickly mantled
over by liverworts, green and gray, the birch
hangs tremulous from above, or the hazel
shoots out its boughs of brighter green, or the
mountain ash hangs its scarlet berries"
Now, with sweep of that majestic wand, we
are borne back into the far-off past We look
! / Kofr "a r
them glittering in the sunshine in their coats
Of dazzling white, from their SUBMITS halfway
! down to their bases. There are extended forests
| of the native fir on the lower plains, mingled
with the simmer forms and more richly-tinted
foliage of the spruce pine. On the upper
grounds, thickets of stunted willows and strag-
! CLING belts of diminutive birches skirt the
ravines and water-courses, and yellow MOSES
and gray lichens form the staple covering of the
humber hill-sides and the moors. But the dis
tinctive feature of the country is its glaciers.
Fed by the perpetual SHOWS of the upper heights,
the deeper valleys among the mountains have
their rigid icerivers, that in the narrower friths
and lochs of the western and northern coasts
shoot far out, mole-like, into the tide. And, 10!
along the shores, in sounds and bays never yet
ploughed by the keel of yoyager, vast groups of
icebergs, that CLEAN white to the sun, like the
sails of distant fleets, lie moveless in the calm,
or drift slowly along its ripping tide-ways Nor
is the land without its inhabitants, though man
has not yet appeared The colossal elephant,
not naked and dingy Of coat, like his congener
of the tropics, but shaggy, with long red hair,
browses among the woods. There is strong
limbed rhinoceros wallowing in yonder swamp,
and herd ofreindeer cropping the moss high on
the hillside beyond. The morse is basking on
that halftide skerry; and wolf, swept sea-
wards by the current, howls in loud terror from
yonder drifting ice-hoe."
Again he walks with us by the wrecks of UNI
KIN a continents, the beds of nameless rivers,
in the woods of cycles ago. Brown cones and
withered spiky leaves strew the ground and
scarce hundred yards away, there is noble
Avancarian, that raises, sphere-ike, it's proud
head more than q hundred feet over its fellows,
and whose trunk, believed With odoriferous bal
sam, glistens to the sun. The calm stiffness of
the air makes itself family audible in the drowsy
hum of Insects gorgeous light poised dragon
| hy settles for moment on one of the lesser
| ferns and small insectvorous creature, scarce
larger than a rat, issues noiselessy from its
hole, and creeps stealthily towards it. But there
is the whirr of wings heard overhead, and, 10
q monster descends, and the little mammal
| starts back into its hole It's winged dragon