LITERARY NOTICE S.

NAUTICAL ROUTINE AND STOWAGE: with Short Rules in Navigation. By JOHN M'LEOD MURPHY and W. N. JEFFERS, Jr., Passed Midshipmen, United States' Navy. In one volume. pp. 144. New-York: HENRY SPEAR, corner of Wall and Pearl-streets.

Ir any of our readers would truly realize the thousand important matters that enter into the almost sublime art of navigation, we would commend them to an examination of this extremely well-executed and profusely-illustrated volume. We speak now not so much of those who are more particularly interested in the subject-matter of the work, sea-captains, merchants, underwriters, etc., to whom of course it cannot but prove invaluable, as to the merely general reader, who has stood perhaps a hundred times and surveyed the multitudinous cordage, pencilled against the sky, dotted with blocks and tackle, and crossed and recrossed with the hempen filaments, in our noble packet-ships; or has felt, while at sea, the almost supernatural power by which the huge fabric was borne across the trackless waste of waters to the haven where she would be.' The work is thoroughly practical, a great portion of the matter which it contains having been gathered at sea, preserved in notes, and afterward carefully arranged in form. Particular pains have been taken to render the article on 'Spars and Rigging' as thorough as possible, and to refer to every improvement in marine equipments. The best and most experienced riggers have been consulted, so that the author has been enabled to combine the opinions of men of the highest professional standing. The subject of 'Stowage' is treated at large; and it is one of great importance; for the most trivial variation in the disposition of the weight with which a vessel is charged has been known to effect a material variation in her stability, floatation and velocity.' The facts and directions in this department of the work are drawn from the most authentic sources, and embody the rules and practice observed by the best stevedores of the present day; a class to which the knowledge of this branch has been hitherto almost exclusively confined. There is a chapter upon • Evolutions,' many of which are entirely new, and 'from the lips, not the pens' of some of our most intelligent practical American merchant sailors. The division of the work which treats of 'Navigation' is exceedingly well supplied. The rules and rigid methods for determining positions at sea are collated from the very best authorities, and embrace all such methods, observations and remarks as tend at all to elucidate the subject. No pains nor expense have been spared to make the voluminous tables as correct as they possibly can be made. They were read four times before stereotyping, and three times from the plates, and then sent to the author, who revised them by those of the highest authorities. The methods of reducing the elements in

the nautical almanac, for finding the latitude and time, for rating and keeping account of the chronometer, of clearing the lunar distance, etc., are of kindred accuracy, while the typography of the tables is of great clearness and beauty. The 'Nautical Routine' cannot fail to acquire an immediate and extensive popularity.

THE SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE. BY JOHN RUSKIN, author of Modern Painters,' etc. In one volume. pp. 189. New-York: JOHN WILEY.

THE American publisher has performed what we cannot doubt will prove an acceptable service to the public in issuing this work; although it is not probable that in all cases the writer's views will be embraced; on the contrary, in this comparatively new country, where true architecture, like every thing in the nature of true art, is of slow growth, there are many things laid down which if appreciated will be condemned, but which will be much more likely not to be appreciated at all. We avail ourselves, with much condensation, of a clear exposition of the character of the work given by Pour contemporary of the 'Albion' weekly journal, leaving our readers thereafter to seek, in the pages of the book itself, for a more complete development of its contents:

"THE quaint title of the work requires a word of explanation. The Seven Lamps are neither more nor less than guiding spirits, or ruling principles, under whose influence the author contends that all architectural works should be designed, executed and regarded In some instances, it seems to us, that his peculiar doctrines are pushed out to absurd extremes; in many the plain truths forcibly laid down are equally worth the notice of those who plan, and of those who pay for buildings. Church architecture occupies a very large, in fact the principal part of Mr. RUSKIN's attention, and being himself evidently imbued with strong religious feelings, he sometimes so blends Art and Religion together, that it is difficult to separate them. The Seven Lamps described and illustrated are those of Sacrifice, Truth, Power, Beauty, Life, Memory, and Obedience. In the first named, Sacrifice, a somewhat far-fetched effort is made to inculcate as matter of duty the employment of costly materials and expensive labor in the construction of sacred edifices, on the ground that the costliness is sacrificial, and is acceptable to God under the New Dispensation, as it was expressly commanded under the Old. The second, the Lamp of Truth, is to be ever before the eyes of the Architect, warning him from wood painted in imitation of marble, and from buttresses that can palpably afford no support, or that obviously are not wanted, if they could, and from many such like architectural deceits, to enumerate which we have not room. So severe is Mr. RUSKIN on this point, that he even objects to the use of ornaments cast, in place of those wrought by hand, because the latter give evidence of cost and labor. This is trimming the second lamp, to bring it up to the standard of the first. We like the third division of the book, that treats of Power, better than any of the others. Form, situation relatively to surrounding objects, and the wondrous effects of light and shade, are set forth as mainly productive of powerful effect. The treatment of the Lamp of Beauty is far less satisfactory, tinctured as it appears to be with some of Mr. RUSKIN's peculiar views. He reprobates the prevalent custom of applying decorative art to the purposes of ordinary life. We congratulate ourselves upon its application twenty times a day. (And so do we, and every other man of sense!) It is difficult to explain in a few words the meaning of the Lamp of Life. We take it, however, as expressive of that vitality which we recognise in all truly great works, speaking alike in the design of the genius who planned, and in the bold, vigorous execution of the workman, as though one thought had animated both the hand and the head. Occasional deviations from strict rules are instanced by the author as specimens of the earnest vitality of. the architect, and the deep expressive cutting in some unimportant decorations as the effect of the same principle operating on the mason. The Lamp of Memory, the sixth, should prompt such historical symbolizing of the decorative parts of architecture, as may be both useful and becoming. This has been done to a great and unnoticed extent in many of the best buildings of the middle ages. By a slight straining also of this point of the subject, the architect is urged to a prospective as well as retrospective exercise of memory. He is bidden to think of those who are to follow, as of those who have preceded us.'

The work contains an abundance of admirable hints to professional men, and ample entertainment to others. There are fourteen illustrations on stone, copied from the artists' sketches. They are coarse, but exceedingly vigorous, the style of his drawings being characterized by strength rather than finish.