EDUCATION.

Visit of General Lafayette to the Lafayette Female Academy, in Lexington, Kentucky, May 16, 1825, and the Exercises in Honour of the Nation's Guest; together with a Catalogue of the Instructers, Visiters, and Pupils of the Academy. Lexington, Ky. 1825. Svo. pp. 32.

Gen. Lafayette visited the "Lexington Female Academy," which on the occasion took the name of the "Lafayette Female Academy," in the afternoon of the day on which he was received at Transylvania University. He was addressed by the Principal of the Academy,-by a committee of the pupils,--and by several individuals from among them. The performances, both in prose and poetry, are printed at length in a pamphlet under the above title. Some of them do credit to the good talents and good taste of the young ladies, and all of them are filled with expressions of gratitude to our country's benefactor, and evince a laudable patriotism.

This interesting and flourishing institution was established in 1821, under the care of Josiah Dunham, A. M. who, we believe, was formerly Principal of a similar establishment in Windsor, Vt. It has, since that time, received and given instruction to 343 different pupils, drawn to it from several of the Western states. The number of young ladies now at the institution is 135. Nine instructers and instructresses are engaged in the seminary, and pupils are taught all the branches which they are usually taught in our best female academies; and those who desire it are instracted also in the accomplishments of Drawing, Music, and Dancing. It is interesting to observe with what zeal the Western states of the union are pressing on in the progress of improvement in their systems and means of education. We doubt very much if New England, the boasted land of schools, contains a "Female Academy" which surpasses that at Lexington, Ky. in the number of its pupils, or in the variety of branches taught. We know not to what degree of perfection the science of instruction has been carried there; but whether it yet be in as good a state as it is here or not, it must soon be. The public attention is turned to the subject in good earnest, and that always ensures improvement, and as great a degree of perfection as the age requires.

Robert Fowle. Boston. 1825. 18mo. pp. 34.

Among the multitude of books which are almost daily issuing from the press, written professedly for children, we so rarely light upon one which, in our view, is adapted to their capacities, that it is with no small degree of pleasure, we recommend this to the notice of our readers. The making of children's books is one of the most difficult, as well as most useful employments, which can engage the best cultivated minds. It requires much more discrimination, and much more knowledge of the human mind and heart, to write a book perfectly suited to the capacities of children of six years old, than it does to make a treatise suited to their capacities at any future period. "Robert Fowle" is a story, the scene of which is laid in this city, and the characters are such as would probably occur only in a city. But the most difficult point is achieved. It is suited to the capacities of children at an early age; and will leave none but the best impressions on their tender minds and hearts. Impressions made at this age frequently give a cast and direction to the developing character, which are more abiding than any that can afterwards be made. The author of "Robert Fowle " may confer obligations on the community, which few have the ability to do, if they had the disposition; but it is to be hoped, if he attempts another child's book, he will describe scenes and events, with which a greater number of children can be fairly supposed familiar, as upon this its interest and usefulness will in a great degree depend.

LAW.

Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States, February Term, 1825. By Henry Wheaton. Vol. X. New York. 1825. 8vo. pp. 504.

This volume contains, besides what is stated in its title, sixty-six pages filled with official documents relating principally to the slave-trade, and decisions of the Engglish Courts upon several cases, and a Spanish Decree and Portuguese Edict touch

ing the same subject. To these documents references are made in the course of the Reports. To the whole is annexed an index to the principal matters in the volume.

MEDICINE.

Contributions to Physiological and Pathological Anatomy. By John D. Godman, M. D. Lecturer on Anatomy and Physiology. Philadelphia. The New-England Journal of Medicine and Surgery. Vol. XIV. No. 3. Boston.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The African Repository, and Colonial Journal. Vol. I. No. IV. Washington, D. C.

Philadelphia Magazine. No. 6.

An Oration, delivered on Monday, Fourth of July, 1825, in Commemoration of American Independence, before the Supreme Executive of the Commonwealth, and the City Council and Inhabitants of the City of Boston. By Charles Sprague. 8vo. pp. 31. Boston.

The New York Review, and Atheneum Magazine, No. 2, for July, 1825. Boston Monthly Magazine. No 2, for July, 1825. Boston.

An Oration, delivered in the Capitol in the City of Washington, on the Fourth of July, 1825. By Ashbury Dickens, Esq. Washington, D. C. An Oration, delivered at Lexington, on the Fourth of July, 1825. By Caleb Stetson. Cambridge. 1825. 8vo. pp. 20

An Oration, delivered at Lancaster, Mass. in celebration of American Independence, July 4, 1825. By Joseph Willard. Boston. 8vo. pp. 24. A Discourse, addressed to the New Hampshire Auxiliary Colonization Society, at their first annual meeting, Concord, June 2, 1825. By Daniel Dana, D. D. Minister of the Gospel in Londonderry. Published by the request of the Society. Concord. 1825. 8vo. pp. 24.

The Society, before whom this discourse was delivered, has been lately organized, by the choice of His Excellency Governor Morril for President, and several of the most distinguished men in New Hampshire for Vice Presidents and Managers. "The object to which its views shall be exclusively directed," as stated in the constitution, is the colonization on the coast of Africa, with their own consent, of the free people of colour of the United States; and this Society will contribute its funds and efforts to the attainment of that object, in aid of the American Colonization Society." Dr Dana states the enormous and increasing evils of "Slavery" and the "Slave trade," and urges moral and religious motives for an effort, in conjunction with the efforts which are made by distinguished individuals in other parts of our country, to free ourselves from the greatest curse which rests upon us. The evi's of slavery are not to be charged upon any part of our country, nor even upon this generation; they have been entailed upon us by others. Many of the most intelligent and largest slave-holders in our country are as anxious, and even more so, to free themselves from the evil, than any philanthropists can be, who have never felt it so directly. But innumerable difficulties present themselves in the way of any project for the purpose. Even the American Colonization Society, under the patronage and sanction of the government of the United States, together with all the Auxiliary Societies which have been organized to aid in accomplishing its object, though they combine the wealth, and are directed by the intelligence, of the most enlightened and philanthropic individuals in every part of our country, seem to us almost totally inadequate to the magnitude of their undertaking. The evil is too deep-rooted to be eradicated by any means which have been, or can well be brought to bear upon it. It is interwoven with the constitution of the United States, and is blended with all the institutions of many of the subordinate states. If no private and local interests were to be invaded, and no obstructions on this account to be encountered and overcome, it must take many generations to produce any very sensible diminution of its effects. It may be mitigated, by well directed efforts of the

benevolent and philanthropic, but all human means (would to God it were otherwise!) seem, at present, too feeble to remove it.

NATURAL HISTORY.

Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York. Vol. I. No. 9. for June, 1825.

POETRY.

A Defence of Col. William Lovetruth Bluster, in a Letter to William Wagtail, Esq. done into Verse, by Mr Aminidab Sledgehammer, Poet Laureate of Catahoola. 12mo. pp. 11. New-Orleans.

THEOLOGY.

Four Sermons on the Atonement. 1st. The Necessity of the Atonement. 2d. Its Nature. 3d. Its Nature. 4th. Its Extent. By Nathan S. S. Beman, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Troy. New-York. The Missionary Herald. Vol. XXI. No. 7. for July, 1825. Reply to the Review of Dr Beecher's Sermon (delivered at Worcester, Mass.) which appeared in the Christian Examiner for January, 1824. By the Author of the Sermon. Price 25 cents. Boston.

A Sermon, delivered in Newburyport. By the late Rev. Christopher Bridge Marsh, formerly Pastor of the North Congregational Church in this town. Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 20. Newburyport.

The Christian Spectator. Vol. VII. No. 7. for July, 1825.

A Funeral Sermon on the Death of the Rev. John Summerfield, preached in Light Street Church, June 26th, 1825. By the Rev. Samuel Merwin, containing a brief Account of his Life, Last Illness, and Death. 8vo. Baltimore.

A View of the Human Heart. By Barbara Allan Simon, Author of the "Evangelical Review of Modern Genius." Intended for the Instruction of Youth in the Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity, &c. Illustrated by numerous copperplate Engravings. New York.

Biblical Repertory. Vol. I No. 3. for July, 1825. Princeton, N. J. A Sermon, in two Parts, preached to the Church in Brattle Square, with Notes Historical and Biographical. By John G. Palfrey, Pastor of the Church. 8vo. pp. 81. Boston.

The Literary and Evangelical Magazine. Vol. VIII. No. 7. Richmond, Va.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The Fashionable Tour, in 1825. An Excursion to the Springs, Niagara, Quebec, and Boston. 18mo. pp. 169. Saratoga Springs.

This makes three little volumes, which we have seen within a few weeks, all of which have for their object to give short and instructive descriptions of the various places now become the resorts of those who travel for pleasure or for health. The title of this book is not very distinct, and gives us no idea of what we are to expect from a perusal of it. It would make all the difference in the world, whence a man started in his "excursion to the Springs, Niagara, Quebec, and Boston;" and he might have come from Canada. Ohio, or the Moon, for aught we are informed in the title of this volume. It is very important to have a clear, full, and honest title page to every book; as many have only time to read that part of most publications. It is the business of the author or the publishers, certainly not of reviewers, to supply this great defect in many of the books which are daily issuing from the press.

This Tour opens with a short description of Philadelphia, then passes to New York, describing the principal towns on the route. From New York the author takes us up the Hudson to Albany, giving short accounts of the villages and cities on both

banks of the river. From Albany he proceeds to Saratoga, makes the usual excursion to Lake George, and then leaves Saratoga for Utica. All the principal places on the routes are sketched, and anecdotes and facts relating to them are stated. From Utica we are taken to Niagara, and thence by Lake Ontario to Montreal and Quebec, almost as soon as we can write a sentence. The return from Quebec is by way of Lake Champlain and Burlington, through Albany, to Boston. And another route, also more direct, from Burlington to Boston, is described. Those about to take this journey, or any part of it, will find the book full of interesting facts relating to the various places through which they must pass.

AMERICAN EDITIONS OF FOREIGN WORKS.

A Treatise on the Conduct of the Understanding. By John Locke, Gent. Boston. 1825. 18mo. pp. 132.

Locke's Essay on the Conduct of the Understanding is too well known and too highly appreciated to derive any advantage from our commendation. We will, therefore, only express the pleasure we feel at seeing this valuable tract printed in a form which gives every student access to it, without the expense of buying the whole "works" of the author. We know of no book of the same size with this, which will afford the student a better exercise for his mind, or give him a better knowledge of the common obstacles, which present themselves in the way of the inquiries which he must constantly make in a course of liberal studies. John Locke, Gent. is a patriarch, after all, in the science of Metaphysics, and we are sorry to see him thrust aside so unceremoniously, to give place to later writers. He may be wrong in some of his speculative opinions in metaphysics, but these a judicious instructer may correct. He undoubtedly has sometimes a homely manner of expressing himself. But his ideas are always clear, and he never attempted to adorn them at the expense of clearness. He will give more and a better discipline to the minds of his young readers (which is certainly one principal object in studying metaphysics) than all the round about and splendid vagaries of Stewart, or the eloquent talk of his successor Brown.

The History of the Emperors who have reigned in Europe and Part of Asia, from the Time of Julius Cæsar to Napoleon. Translated from the French, by Mrs Sarah Ann Harris. New York.

History of the Expedition to Russia, undertaken by the Emperor Napoleon, in the year 1812. By General Count Philip De Segur. With a Map. 8vo. pp. 546. Boston.

Operative Mechanic and British Machinist, being a practical Display of the Manufactories and Mechanic Arts of the United Kingdom. By John Nicholson, Esq. Civil Engineer. 2 vols. 8vo. One of Plates. New York.

The Lives of the Novelists. By Sir Walter Scott. Philadelphia.

The Forester. By the Author of "Lights and Shadows." 1 vol. 12mo. New York.

A Tour in Germany and some of the Southern Provinces of the Austrian Empire; in the Years 1820, 1821, and 1822. By John Russell, Esq. Reprinted from the second Edinburgh Edition. 8vo. pp. 469. Boston.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.-The article on Italian Lyrical Poetry, though in type, is necessarily postponed, on account of the unusual length of the Reviews and the List of New Publications.

Published on the first and fifteenth day of every month, by CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Co., No. 134 Washington-Street, Boston, for the Proprietors. Terms, $5 per annum. Cambridge: Printed at the University Press, by Hilliard & Metcalf.

1. An Address to the Public from the Trustees of the Gardiner Lyceum. Hallowell. 1822. 8vo. pp. 8.

2. Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Gardiner Lyceum, Address to the Public. Gardiner. 1824. 8vo. pp. 16.

with an

As this is the first institution, on a liberal scale, which has been established in New England expressly for the benefit of farmers and mechanics, we suppose that some account of its plan, progress, and situation, cannot fail to be interesting to our readers. This account will be principally taken from the Addresses to the Public of the Trustees and Principal of the Lyceum, which have been published at various times since its incorporation in 1822.

It had its origin in the wants of the community,-wants similar to those which have led to the establishment of lectures for mechanics in many parts of Great Britain and in some of the cities of the United States, and in the desire of useful, practical knowledge, which is more and more felt through all parts of a country, in proportion as it becomes more free. The greater part of our mechanics and farmers have little or no knowledge of the scientific principles of their arts. The eminent practical sagacity for which they are distinguished must often be exhausted in the discovery of methods, which would be deduced with perfect ease from simple principles in geometry and natural philosophy. But these sciences, together with chemistry and other analogous branches of knowledge, have been rarely taught, except at college,