of undoubted historical truth upon the important subjects which occupy his pen. His aim has been rather to kindle renewed inquiry, in the hope that the widely different results arrived at by his predecessors in the same field of investigation may be to some considerable extent explained or reconciled. More particularly, he has shown that in the times which followed the Ref ormation the MS. literature of the Waldenses underwent great adulteration, and sought in many instances successfully to remove or lessen the obstacles which have hitherto obscured the recognition of the truth in respect of the older history and position of this sect. In the more positive or affirmative portions of his work, Mr. Dieckhoff has first attempted, in opposition to the usual method of treatment, to determine the starting point from which all historical investigation must proceed, and has next established with greater precision the historical truth itself in relation to his subject. Amongst many other things in this part of his labors, the inquiries concerning the character of the preachers of the Waldenses, their imitation of apostolic life, the relation in which they stood to Protestantism and Catholicism, to monastic institutions and to closely allied sects, as, for example, the Moravian Brethren, their ecclesiastical or clerical functions, and their doctrines, deserve especial mention. Although the author feels constrained to express some apprehension lest the results at which he arrives may not win universal favor, inasmuch as they tend to weaken certain weapons which have been freely employed against the Church of Rome, no real prejudice is inflicted upon the more important interests involved; the fame of the martyrs remains unassailed, and the terrible ignominy of their persecutors and murderers is in no degree lessened. From their descendants, the modern Waldenses, it may be expected that they will now cheerfully abandon such of their prejudices with respect to the position of their forefathers in times previous to the fifteenth century, as have been shown to be unfounded, and which have been so extensively cherished amongst them, as to hinder the hearty acknowledgment of their obligations to the Reformation. It is scarcely necessary to add that this monograph has been prepared from a very diligent study of the original authorities, as is convincingly attested by the very numerous citations from important ancient records and documents.

Although Mr. Dieckhoff has not chosen the form which, abstractedly considered, is best adapted to descriptive historical narration, but has preferred to present his inquiries in the precise order in which he was led onward to his conclusions, a satisfactory apology may be drawn for such a proceeding from the design of his book, whilst criticism is disarmed of its severity by his own frank confession, that he is himself fully conscious of the disadvantages of the course he has pursued. The work he has produced, from the abundance of instructive matter it contains, and the external advantages which have been given it by the liberality of the publishers, will be exceedingly welcome to those for whose benefit it is more especially intended.

A Memorial of the Rev. John Snelling Popkin, D. D., late Eliot Professor of Greek Literature in Harvard University, edited by Cornelius C. Felton, his successor in office. Μετὰ δ' εν τριτάτοςσιν ανασσεν. John Bartlett, Cambridge.

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This volume, in addition to a Biographical Sketch of Dr. Popkin, by his "successor in office," contains three Lectures on Liberal Education, seven on Greek Literature, and five Sermons, the collective product of the eccentric Greek Professor's intellectual labors during eighteen years' occupancy of the chair of Greek Literature in Harvard University, and sixteen years' pastorship of Congregational churches in Boston and Newburyport. No one can rise from their perusal without feeling assured that the traditionary anecdotes in illustration of Dr. Popkin's oddities, which are still current in the learned halls of Harvard, have done much injustice to his memory, and greatly obscured the recognition of his "vigorous, creative and original intellect." The Memorial" addresses itself to the task of vindicating his true position among American scholars, and, in the language of the editor, even seeks to prove that "he had the abilities of a great man, and the moral qualities of a good man; had they been blended in different proportions, and tempered differently, he would have appeared a great man in the world." We cannot persuade ourselves of quite so much, nor are we able, whilst appreciating fully the kindness of the motives which have led to the publication of this Memorial," to recognize either in the mental characteristics of Dr. Popkin, as described by his biographer, the productions of his pen, the extent or permanency of his influence upon the advancement of Greek literature, or the events of his singularly sterile and unfruitful life, the precise grounds upon which Mr. Felton founds the judgment we have quoted. It is certainly difficult to understand from the selections given from his College Lectures, in what just sense "the abilities of a great man" can be claimed for their author, and this difficulty will not be lessened, if we proceed to compare, for example, his reply to the attacks of Wolff, and other distinguished German critics, upon the unity of the Homeric Poems, with the irresistible power of argument and fulness of learning by which Col. Muse, who it must be remembered is not a Greek Professor, has refuted these assaults in the first and second volumes of his "History of the Language and Literature of the Greeks." We take, as a specimen of the Doctor's criticism, the following passage, which we must preface by a confession of our utter inability to comprehend the conditional clause of the opening sentence.

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"If it be the whole plan and purpose of an Epic Poem to take the shortest cut to tell a plain story, the whole story of the Iliad' may be told in a few words. Achilles is mad at Agamemnon for taking away his prize: so mad that he will not fight, but shuts himself up in his tent. When the enemy comes too near to his retreat, he sends out his friend to fight him, who is slain. On that he is so much more enraged, that he runs out, and fights

like a madman till he has killed the principal foe who had slain his friend. And there is an end of the story."

The impression produced upon the minds of all, who ponder this highly poetic and appreciative analysis of one of the very noblest products of human genius, will, we think, be strengthened by the personal anecdotes of the erudite writer which are scattered through the Memoir. We quote an ironical illustration of the classic character and exuberant fertility of the Doctor's wit the following description of an interview between himself and his biographer:

"I will mention," says Prof. Felton, "one incident of the olden time that occurred in a visit of mine to the Doctor, which will be understood and rel ished by those who knew him. Some friend had sent me a few bottles of Greek wine, labelled Hellenikos Oinos. Thinking the Doctor might be pleased to see and taste the long-descended offspring of the grape of Anacreon, I took one of them with me, and called at his house, telling him what I had brought. He examined the label curiously; repeated the Greek words several times, walking all the while rapidly round the room, as if he almost fancied himself transported back to the heroic age; then went to a closet, and brought out a rusty corkscrew, with two old fashioned wine glasses. Having drawn the cork with considerable difficulty, he filled the glasses, handed one to me across the table, on which lay an open volume of the Iliad,' and, standing at his full height, gravely proposed, The memory of Homer. The toast to the old Ionian was drunk standing, with a hearty good will, in the presence of his portrait, and many editions of his works; perhaps the only time such a ceremony has ever taken place this side the classical ages."

The Industrial Resources of the Southern and Southwestern States. In 3 vols. By J. D. B. DeBow, Professor of Political Economy &c. in the University of Louisiana. New York. 1852.

- The author of this work, who is most widely known as the editor of DeBow's Commercial Review, a very useful monthly, published at New Orleans, is peculiarly qualified to treat of the commercial and industrial interests of the South and West. The three volumes before us consist of a compilation of the more important articles, which he has from time to time contributed to the Review, with historical sketches of the different states and towns of the Union, statistical accounts of the general commerce and manufactures of the country, and a great variety of similar topics disposed and arranged under alphabetical heads. The amount of information they contain; and that too of a kind which from having been originally communicated to the public in newspapers, journals, legislative reports and other equally fugitive depositaries, was, till the publication of the present work, completely inaccessible to most readers; it is difficult to exaggerate, and we have great pleasure in attesting at once the capability and industry of the distinguished editor.

Analytical Greek Lexicon. London. S. Bagster. 1852.

This exceedingly useful volume has been compiled for the especial assistance of students of the New Testament, and is well adapted to attain the end for which it was prepared. In accordance with its title it exhibits every grammatical form of inflexional words, which is to be found in the Greek text of the New Testament, referring them to the simple noun, pronoun or verb to which they belong. All irregular, with some not very obvious regular tenses, are arranged alphabetically, with reference to the particular verb from which they are derived. Particular attention has been bestowed upon the interpretation of each word; the primary force being first given, and then the various secondary or tropical significations in which it is used by the inspired writers, with citations of the more important passages which illustrate its different shades of meaning.

To some considerable extent therefore, it subserves the purposes of a Concordance as well as of a Lexicon. In brief it may be said that with the assistance it affords, the only indispensable preliminaries to an accurate and appreciative study of the New Testament, are a familiarity with the Greek character, and a knowledge of the general principles of Greek Grammar, which last may be improved, as the reader may require, by reference to the very excellent grammatical tables prefixed to the body of the volume. It is almost unnecessary to add, that the externals of the book exhibit the same elegance of style, which characterizes all the publications that issue from the press of Mr. Bagster.

The Blithedale Romance. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ticknor & Co. Boston. 1852.

The great celebrity which Mr. Hawthorne's former writings enjoy in both hemispheres ensures for any production of his pen a very numerous circle of readers. The Blithedale Romance will not, however, exalt his literary fame, nor, unless we greatly err, ever attain the widely extended popularity of The Scarlet Letter or The House of the Seven Gables. The construction of the story is so hazy and unfinished, the majority of the characters so imperfectly developed and unreal, and many of the details so exceedingly repulsive, that we should be almost inclined to question, were it not for the attractions of the author's style, the "curiosa felicitas" of his diction, and his remarkable skill in minute and truthful description, if the book could be read through by even a small per centage of the thousands who will be induced by the prestige of Mr. Hawthorne's name to address themselves with eager anticipation to a perusal of its pages. Whatever the degree or amount of its success, it is impossible to deny that it will be indebted for all to the sheer force of good writing, and it may safely be predicated that another such production will be fatal to the popularity of its author.

To impart to our readers a correct conception of a story whose execution is so imperfect, and of characters whose portraits are given in such

dim and meagre outline, is exceedingly difficult. The best character in the work is undoubtedly that of the narrator of the story, Miles Coverdale, a person of gentlemanlike bearing, poetic tastes and kindly sensibilities, who unites himself with a number of other individuals in establishing a kind of Fourrierist or joint-stock community at Blithedale. The mode of life here pursued; its obstacles, imbecilities and lack of reality; is the subject of clever, but by no means ill-natured satire. At Blithedale, Coverdale meets Hollingsworth, a professed philanthropist and the possessor of considerable genius, whose energies are concentrated upon a favorite project for the reformation of criminals, which he prosecutes with a fierceness and perseverance, that disdain to pay heed to the infirmities or affections of others, and even array themselves in opposition to every principle of fair and honorable conduct, which appears to hinder the immediate realization of his scheme. The two heroines of the work, Zenobia, an imperious, wealthy and accomplished woman, and Priscilla, a timid, poor and gentle girl, are both in love with Hollingsworth. Zenobia and Priscilla are half-sisters; a fact unknown to the former; being both children of the same father, who is portrayed as utterly bankrupt in character and reputation. Zenobia is the child of his prosperity, Priscilla of his misery. With these personages are associated a Professor Vanterwelt, a scoundrel with great physical beauty and considerable learning; an individual called "Old Moodie;" and Silas Forster, the bailiff or manager of the Blithedale estate. Certain obscure intimations are suggested of a secret marriage which Zenobia had formerly contracted with Vanterwelt, whilst Hollingsworth is vaguely represented as guilty both of trifling with her affections, in order to obtain possession of her fortune, and of endeavoring to destroy the Utopian project which he found to interfere unfavorably with the successful prosecution of his own. All these particulars, however, are involved in great uncertainty, and can only be made out by a kind of divination on the part of the reader. Scarcely more intelligible is the connection between Vanterwelt and Priscilla, whom he one night exhibits as a veiled lady in a magnetic trance, and over whom he seems to exert some inexplicable power.

The catastrophe, although in itself powerful and well written, does not illustrate the story with which it stands, so far as we can discover, in no intelligible connexion; and is in addition extremely unnatural and repul sive. The impassioned Zenobia drowns herself in a fit of jealousy occasioned by Hollingsworth forsaking her for Priscilla, in consequence, as it seems, of his discovering that her wealth was not so great as he had supposed. Here again we are left without the befitting and necessary expla nations, nor do we know whether or not the author intends to represent Vanterwelt as her husband. That a woman so highly favored in position, in native force of character, and in acquired accomplishment, should conceive a violent passion for an unrefined and selfish blacksmith, is suffici ently outrageous, but that she should without overpowering cause incontinently drown herself, is an incident, which is not merely unnecessary, but