children of the old town of Marlborough came up to the scene of their festivities. With a kind discretion, the chosen orator of the day refrained from inflicting upon his crowded congregation, wearied with much marching, with painful heat, and with intolerable dust, the accumulated detail of history which he had prepared, substituting the short welcome of half an hour for the solid essay of two hundred pages. The labor, however, was not to be lost; and what was designed at first to be only an occasional address, has become a fitting memorial of the festival, and a permanent testimony to the honor and importance of the town.* Mr. Hudson is not a boastful chronicler, nor does he unduly magnify little acts into critical and momentous exploits. He leaves the facts to tell their own tale and to make their own impression. And the impression which they leave is, that in manly virtues, in courage, perseverance, independence of thought, energy of will, devotion to the country, the fathers of Marlborough are not behind those of any Puritan settlement. There are some doubtful transactions in the record, it must be confessed. The Indian title was certainly extinguished with more vigor than fairness, and it requires some special pleading to defend the method which was used to secure this fertile reservation. The religious disputes, too, seem to have been singularly protracted and bitter, not so much of sect against sect, as of members of the Church with each other. It was hard to persuade a minister to settle in Marlborough, and not easy to keep him there, after he had ventured to cast in his lot with the people. This misfortune was partly owing to local divisions, and partly, no doubt, to a certain sturdy self-will, which has characterized the leading races of the region. It is a rare thing, we think, that a minister of any denomination has died in Marlborough in the charge of his parish. For all that, the people are good "churchgoers," and the houses of worship are better filled than in many towns, where they seem to be more peaceful. Mr. Hudson has produced a work excellent in its kind, with very few errors, and those of small importance. We can only wish that the engravings were more numerous, both of portraits and of buildings, and that more of the antiquities and scenery of the town were pictorially represented. Few towns in New England have more commanding sites and more picturesque beauty than this town of Marlborough, with its rounded and wooded hills, its rich pastures, and its transparent waters. THE recent volume of selections from De Quincey † is an excellent *History of the Town of Marlborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its First Settlement in 1657, to 1861. With a Brief Sketch of the Town of Northborough, a Genealogy of the Families in Marlborough to 1800, and an Account of the Celebration of the Two-Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town. By CHARLES HUDSON, a Native of the Town. Boston. 1862. 8vo. pp. 545. Beauties selected from the Writings of THOMAS DE QUINCEY, Author of "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater," etc. Boston: Ticknor and Fields. 1862. 12mo. pp. 432. compilation, whether regarded as a collection of choice extracts or as illustrating the general character of his voluminous writings. It is ir regularly divided into six parts. The first, which is entitled "De Quincey's Early Life," fills rather more than a third of the volume, and gathers up into a tolerably connected sketch many of the autobiographical notes which are scattered through his different works. The next division includes four of those remarkable "Dreams" which form so curious a part of his "Confessions." Under the head of "Narratives," we have the well-known and striking story of "The Spanish Nun" and "The Easedale Romance." The fourth division includes three essays, of which the best is the paper on "Joan of Arc." Following these papers are several notices from his biographical and critical essays, comprising brief notes on Shakespeare, Milton, and several of De Quincey's contemporaries. The last part consists of "Detached Gems," and comprises only short extracts, such as would ordinarily be looked for under such a heading. We ought to add, that the selections appear to have been uniformly made with judgment and good taste; and though it is impossible in such a volume not to miss many passages or entire papers which one would have been glad to see, we doubt if a better or more characteristic compilation could have been made. A GREAT service is done to classical teachers by Mr. Taylor's little book.* The selections are from the authors commonly studied,—the first chapter of Cæsar's Commentaries, and Xenophon's Anabasis, the first thirty-three lines of the Æneid, etc.,—and the questions are of the most searching character. A young teacher may use the book and carry out its system as far as he pleases, and in his own way; but he cannot fail to get valuable hints and valuable information from the experience of one of the oldest and most successful classical teachers in New England. NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. THEOLOGY. Baptism the Covenant and the Family. By Rev. Philippe Wolff (late of Geneva). Translated by the Author, with some Additions. Boston: Crosby and Nichols. 12mo. pp. 345. Faith treated in a Series of Discourses. By J. W. Alexander. New York Charles Scribner. 12mo. pp. 444. The Church in the Army; or, the Four Centurions. By Rev. Wm. A. Scott. New York: Carleton. 12mo. pp. 443. Discourses and Essays. By William G. T. Shedd. Andover: Warren F. Draper. 12mo. pp. 324. * Method of Classical Study: Illustrated by Questions on a few Selections from Latin and Greek Authors. By SAMUEL H. TAYLOR, LL.D., Principal of Phillips Academy, Andover. Boston: Brown and Taggard. 1861. 12mo. pp. 154. Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, with Historical and Explanatory Notes. By Brooke Foss Westcott. With an Introduction by Horatio B. Hackett. Boston: Gould and Lincoln. 12mo. pp. 476. The Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry. By Isaac Taylor. New York: William Gowans. 12mo. pp. 303. HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. A Discourse on the Life, Character, and Policy of Count Cavour. By Vincenzo Botta. New York: G. P. Putnam. 8vo. pp. 108. The Life and Irving. Vol. I. Letters of Washington Irving. By his Nephew, Pierre M. POETRY. Last Poems by E. B. Browning. With a Memorial by Theodore Tilton. New York: James Miller. 32mo. (Blue and gold.) NOVELS AND TALES. Cadet Life at West Point. By an Officer of the United States Army. Boston: T. O. H. P. Burnham. 12mo. pp. 367. The Old Lieutenant and his Son. By Norman Macleod. Boston: T. O. H. P. Burnham. (Paper.) Can Wrong be Right? By Mrs. S. C. Hall. Boston: T. O. H. P. Burnham. (Paper.) The Queen of the Danube, a Story of Montenegro. By X. B. Saintine. (Translated.) New York: James Miller. The Bay Path; a Tale of New England Colonial Life. By J. G. Holland. New York: Charles Scribner. 12mo. pp. 418. MISCELLANEOUS. The New American Cyclopædia ; a Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. Edited by George Ripley and Charles A. Dana. Vol. XIV. ReedSpire. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 8vo. pp. 850. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances, for the Year ending June 30, 1861. Washington: Government Printing Office. 8vo. pp. 302. A Report to the Secretary of War of the Operations of the Sanitary Commission. Washington: McGill and Withern. pp. 107. Annual of Scientific Discovery; or, Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art for 1862. Edited by David A. Wells. Boston: Gould and Lincoln. 12mo. pp. 415. Beauties selected from the Writings of Thomas De Quincey. Boston: Ticknor and Fields. 12mo. pp. 432. Ninth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture for 1861. Boston: William White. 8vo. pp. 303. Companion to the Rebellion Record; being a Supplementary Volume. Edited by Frank Moore. New York: G. P. Putnam. 8vo. pp. 108. (Paper.) PAMPHLETS. Christian Worship; a Sermon preached in Waterville, Maine, by D. N. Sheldon. Bangor : Wheeler and Lynde. pp. 11. Fourteenth Annual Report of the School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth. Boston: William White. pp. 10. Sermon on the Death of Cornelius Conway Felton, President of Harvard University. By A. P. Peabody. Cambridge: Sever and Francis. pp. 30. Third Report concerning the Aid and Comfort given by the Sanitary Commission to Sick Soldiers passing through Washington. By F. N. Knapp. pp. 29. Annual Report of the Pennsylvania Institution of the Deaf and Dumb. Philadelphia: Crissy and Markley. pp. 37. INDEX TO THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER, NEW SERIES, VOL. X. JANUARY TO MAY, 1862. - hen, Les Déicides, 436- Lamb's Seven - - American Board and Slavery, 140- - - 1 - England Constitutional History, 133 Fra Angelico, Life of, 301. Mormons, 452. National Hymns, 152. New Zealand, Hursthouse, 301. France, History, by Ranke, 438- Miche- Noble, L. L., "After Icebergs," 368-383. Geibel's Poems, 150. Government, the best, 313-336-Mill's Revolution of 1821, 414. -Albanians, Lanfrey, the Church and Philosophers, 443. - May, Constitutional History of England, 133. - Oliver, H. K., Hymn Tunes, 306. Parker, Theodore, Prayers, 297, 384. Reformation and its Results, 255-273- Schleiermacher, Life and Correspondence, Schlosser and his Histories, 242–254. - Spencer, Herbert, Reconciliation of Science Tracts for Priests and People, 433. Treason, Ethics of, 392-403. 297 Cambridge: Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co. |