REVIEW
OF NEW BOOKS .
HOW TO REMIT.-In remitting for this Magazine, name, at the top of your letter, your post-office, county, and State. If possible, procure a post-office order on Philadelphia. If a post-office order cannot be had, get a draft on New York, or Philadelphia, deducting the exchange: if a draft cannot be had, send greenbacks, or notes of National Banks. Pay the postage on your letter. The United States postal currency, but no other, taken for fractions of a dollar. Be particular to address the letter to CHARLES J. PETERSON, No. 306 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, Pa. "WE MISSED IT EVERYWHERE."—A lady writes :-"I have done, this year, without ' Peterson, ' the first time for several years, and have been completely lost without it. We missed it on the center-table, we missed it in the family, all were wishing that they had ' Peterson.' I now inclose my subscription for 1869."
THE EXTRACT OF MEAT, so much used for making stock for soups, gravies, etc., should be employed cautiously. In large quantities it acts as a poison, and kills with every appearance of paralysis of the heart. "I WOULD NOT do without ' Peterson' for five dollars a year," writes a lady. " I think it superior to any other magazine published." MARRY NOBODY merely for showy accomplishments. It is the solid qualities which bring happiness.
WHERE NO PREMIUM is asked , we will send, for 1869, as we did for 1868, three copies of " Peterson" for $4.50.
REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS . Mabel's Mistake. By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. 1 vol., 12 mo. Philada: T. B. Peterson & Brothers.- Mrs. Stephens can do what few other authors have ever done, she can write both a novel and aromance, and write each well. Critical readers will understand the distinction. Thackeray and Dickens wrote and write novels, but never romances ; Sir Walter Scott wrote both, and so does Bulwer. " Mabel's Mistake" is a novel. It is one of the best, too, that Mrs. Stephens has written. The heroine is delineated with charming delicacy and naturalness : the secondary characters are drawn with vigor, especially the selfish father, and Laura, and Ralph ; and the incidents are handled so skillfully, that the interest never flags. If we except " Fashion and Famine," and " The Soldier's Orphans," " Mabel's Mistake," will be, perhaps, the most popular of all this author's many novels. But it is in romance writing, strictly speaking, that Mrs. Stephens has won her proudest laurels. It is when the glamour of the Past is upon her; whenher imagination is kindled by heroic deeds; when she moves amid the pomp and tragedy ofcourts ; when she is telling the story of an Anne Boleyn, of a Mary Stuart, of a Queen Elizabeth, or of Marie Antoinette, that her fullest powers seem to be awakened. We should call her the American Mulbach, only she is better, in every way, than Mulbach. She has more imagination : she brings the past more vividly before you. The volume is neatly printed. Five Hundred Employments Adapted to Women. By Virginia Penny. 1 vol., 12 mo. Philada: J. E. Potter & Co.The object of this book is to show women where productive fields oflabor are, to state the average rate of pay, and to assist in enabling every one to find the employment best adapted to her tastes. The Woman's Kingdom. By the author of“John Halifax." } 1 vol., 8 ro. New York: Harper & Brothers.- A very suporior novel, perhaps the best the author has yet written. Edna, the heroine, is a noble character. We cordially commend the work.
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Under the Willows, and Other Poems. By James Russell Lowell. 1 vol., 16 mo. Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co.- No collection of Lowell's poems, if we except the " Biglow Papers," has been made since 1848. We heartily welcome, therefore, this volume, rich with the ripe fruitage of the last twenty years. We remember well the original volumes, two small duodecimos, bound in gray paper, and how they commended themselves to every reader of taste and imagination ; but the contrast between what would now be considered their rather ordinary appearance, and the refined elegance of the book before us, was hardly greater than between the earlier poems and these. We have always ranked Lowell first among American poets. His imagination is loftier, his genius broader than any cotemporary. In his earlier volumes there were sufficient proofs of this ; but in the present one, the proofs accumulate. A man's genius is shown not by the quantity he writes, but by its quality. Coleridge wrote very little poetry, but there are bits in Christabel and the Ancient Mariner, which no other modern English poet could possibly have written. What Coleridge was to English poets, Lowell is to American ones. "The most Shaksperian mind since Shakspeare," aptly says a late critic. We regret that our limited space forbids our pointing out, in detail, some of the rare beauties of this volume. Sermons by Henry Ward Beecher. 2 vols., 8 vo. New York: Harper & Brothers.-These sermons have all been preached in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, but have been carefully revised by their author before publication. " Every one," in the words of Mr. Beecher, “ has a real and definite aim." They are not only in theory practical sermons, but they have been drafted from the actual field of work. They are full ofthe fervid eloquence which distinguishes this eminent divine. The volumes are handsomely printed, and have a portrait of the author as an illustration. Theatrical Management in the West and South. By Sol. Smith. 1 vol., 8 ro. New York: Harper & Brothers.- The author of these reminiscences was a favorite actor and manager, chiefly in the south and south-west, for nearly forty years. During his long career, he had many curious adventures, and saw much of many phases of life. His anecdotes are often irresistibly droll and comic. The book is copiously illustrated, by Darley, the best, we think, of our American designers. The Morrisons. By Mrs. Margaret Hosmer. 1 vol., 8 vo. Philada: T. B. Peterson & Brothers.- A new edition of a very creditable novel : a story of domestic life. A Thousand Miles' Walk Across South America. By Nathaniel H. Bishop. 1 vol., 12 mo. Boston: Lee & Shepard.The narrative of a pedestrian-trip , by a young gentleman of Massachusetts , across the Pampas and Cordilleras. A very interesting book. The Philosophy of Domestic Life. By W. H. Byford, M. D. 1 vol., 12 mo. Boston: Lee & Shepard.- Marriage, family government, education, legal and family relations, and management of family affairs are some of the subjects discussed in this little treatise. Major Jones' Scenes in Georgia. With Sixteen Illustrations by Darley. 1 vol., 12 mo. Philada: T. B. Peterson & Brothers.--This volume contains the whole of " The Chronicles of Pineville," one ofthe best collection of comic stories in the language. The illustrations by Darley are capital. Sydnie Adriance. By Amanda M. Douglas. 1 rol , 12 mo. Boston: Lee & Shepard.- A new novel by the author of "In Trust," " Stephen Dane," etc., etc. Changing Base. By William Everett. 1 vol., 16 mo. Boston : Lee & Shepard.—A very nice story for juveniles, well printed and illustrated. Rural Poems. By William Barnes. 1 vol., 16 mo. Boston : Roberts Brothers.-A neat edition of some very beautiful poems. A choice book, handsomely illustrated.
