LITERARY RECORD.

'Prayers for the Use of Families.'—Here is a volume of some three hundred pages, containing upward of seventy prayers, designed to meet all conditions of mankind, and all the wants of humanity. The author, Rev. William Jay, of England, has aimed to be very plain and simple in his diction, since prayer admits of no brilliance, and rejects studied ornament. He has not substituted finery for elegance, nor the affectation of art for the eloquence of feeling; but has wisely avoided a strained, inflated style, unintelligible to the ignorant, lamented by the pious, and contemned by the wise. This is as it should be. It is remarkable that in the Bible no prayer is recorded, in which the figure employed is not as familiar as the literal expression. An appendix is added, containing a number of select and original prayers for particular occasions; short addresses, applicable to certain events and circumstances, and which the reader may insert in their proper place in the main prayer, or use at the end of it. A work like this, from a competent pen, may supply with many families an important desideratum. The volume is published by Mr. M. W. Dodd, Brick Church Chapel, opposite the Park.

'The Wyandotte, or the Hutted Knoll,' is the title of Mr. Cooper's last work, recently published by Messrs. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia, in two well-executed volumes in the pamphlet-form. It embodies legends of the sufferings of isolated families during the troubled scenes of colonial warfare, which are distinctive in many of their leading facts, if not rigidly true in the details. We gather from the prefatory remarks of the author, that in these volumes he has 'aimed at sketching several distinct varieties of the human race, as true to the governing impulses of their educations, habits, modes of thinking, and natures.' How this aim has been accomplished, we are quite unable to say. We trust however that the friend who transported the work from our table into the country, will at least repay us for the gratification of which he has deprived us, by returning it when he is through with it, that we may be ourselves enlightened, and enabled to enlighten our readers, concerning the character of the work.

Thompson's History of Long-Island.—A second edition—revised and greatly enlarged, and included in two handsome volumes—has just appeared, of Mr. B. F. Thompson's history of Long-Island, from its discovery and settlement to the present time. The work embodies many interesting and important matters, connected with the first settlement of our country and its colonial and revolutionary history; and includes notices of numerous individuals and families, and a particular account of different churches and ministers. In short, the indefatigable author has availed himself of every source of authentic and valuable information which could add to the interest or usefulness of his work; which we should not omit to mention embraces two large and well-executed maps, and is illustrated by numerous lithographic engravings of edifices and other objects of interest on the island; and including the author's 'counterfeit presentment.' Messrs. Gould, Banks and Company are the publishers.

'The Karen Apostle.'—Messrs. Gould, Kendall, and Lincoln, Boston, have issued in a handsome little volume, 'The Karen Apostle, or Memoir of Ko-Thah-Byu, the first Karen convert; with Notices concerning his Nation. By Rev. Francis Mason, Missionary to the Karens.' The first American edition is revised by Prof. H. J. Ripley, of Newton (Mass.) Theological Seminary. The work is 'sent forth in the hope that the interest which has been felt in behalf of the Karens may be deepened, and that the cause of missions to the heathen in general may be promoted by the striking proof of the power of the gospel exhibited in its pages.' The work is illustrated by maps, in part from manuscript, and by one or two well-executed engravings on wood. The specimens of Karen literature appended to the volume do not afford a very exalted idea of the writings of that sect; nevertheless, they possess a certain interest in the connection which they sustain in the volume.

New Music.—We have before us, from the extensive and popular establishment of Messrs. James L. Hewitt and Company, Broadway, 'Woodside Waltz,' by Miss Marion S. McGregor; 'Grand Austerlitz March and Quickstep, arranged as a Duet, for the Piano-forte,' by George W. Hewitt; 'The Alpine Horn, a Tyrollean,' by John H. Hewitt; and 'Robin Buff, a Ballad,' the music by Mr. Henry Russell.

'When Thou Wert True.'—This is a very charming Song; the words by F. W. Thomas, Esq., the music by John H. Hewitt, inscribed to Mrs. Robert Tyler, and just published by James L. Hewitt and Company, Broadway. If the noble-looking portrait upon the title-page represents Mrs. Tyler, she is justly entitled to the praises with which the journals have teemed, touching the grace and beauty of her person. The following are the words:

I.

II.

III.

'Alhalla, or the Lord of Taladega: a Tale of the Creek War.'—Thus is entitled a narrative poem by Henry Rowe Colcraft, better known as Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq., an old correspondent of this Magazine. The story turns upon the contests of the Muscogees, their exertions, their discomfitures, and their final fall. It opens at a distant northern point, within a short period after the close of the Creek war, and occupies two days and nights in its action. Its style is a union of the dramatic with the narrative and descriptive; a conjunction well adapted to the character of the story and the nature of its personages. There are appended to the main poem a few selected miscellanies, among which we recognize three or four clever effusions, originally given to the public in these pages. Messrs. Wiley and Putnam are the publishers.

'The New Purchase.'—Our task for these departments of the Knickerbocker was completed, when we received from Messrs. Appleton and Company, a native novel, in two volumes, entitled 'The New Purchase; or Seven and a half Years in the Far West.' By Robert Carlton, Esq. We have not found leisure to read one of its pages; but if we may judge of its merits from the encomiums of two or three of our contemporaries of the daily press, it should prove a work of the most sterling attraction. To say that 'Mary Clavers' must 'look to her laurels,' there being an equally gifted laborer in a kindred field, strikes us as very high praise. We hope, but doubt, to find that precaution in any degree necessary.

'Usury: the Evil and the Remedy.'—The pages of this department of the Knickerbocker were mainly in the hands of the printers, when we received the newspaper folio entitled as above. We are left but space therefore barely to state, that this essay on usury differs entirely from the usual mode of treating that subject, in that it does not rely on the penalties for the repression of the evil, but proposes to root out its existence by a practical, beneficent mode of removing the temptations to, and occasions for, usury. It is for sale at Burgess and Stringer's, corner of Ann-street and Broadway.'

New Works from the American Press.—We have before us several excellent publications, which came too late for notice in the present number. Among them, we may mention three entertaining volumes from the press of Messrs. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia, 'The Court of England,' from 1688 to George the Third; 'Nature and Revelation,' or the Second Advent; the beautiful 'Illustrated Prayer-Book' serials of Mr. Hewet; and Peabody's Dartmouth College Address. These publications, with others which we lack space even to mention, will be adverted to in our November number.

FOOTNOTES:

Transcriber's note:

Minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.

Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where the missing quote should be placed.

The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.