LECTURE BY J. RANDOLPH TUCKER, ESQ., of Winchester, before the Young Men's Christian Association of Alexandria, Va., February 14, 1856. Published by Request of the Association. Alexandria. Gazette Office. 1856.

The

Our apologies are due to the author for not having noticed more promptly this admirable lecture, a failure which has resulted from the fact that our copy of it was for some time mislaid. The delay has not been so great, however, as would appear from the date of the lecture's delivery, for it was not until some months after that time, we believe, that the pamphlet was brought out. If our commendation comes late, it is unstinted and sincere. Mr. Tucker is a gentleman of great cultivation and remarkable depth of thought, and his present essay displays at once the scholar and the thinker. subject of it is the Christian Religion considered with reference to its Divine Origin, and in the course of the argument the author defends revelation against Hume, in the assault made by that eminent sceptic upon Miracles, with so much power and success that we are convinced he might have risen as rapidly in theology as he has done in law and politics. The Young Men's Christian Association of Alexandria has done well to publish this Lecture which will not only add to Mr. Tucker's already enviable reputation, but make a very salutary and deep impression on the minds of all who read it.

SPECIMEN PAGES OF DR. KANE'S ARCTIC EXPEDITION: To be published in Two Volumes Octavo, by Messrs. Childs & Peterson, No. 114 Arch Street, Philadelphia;

The few pages of Dr. Kane's forthcoming work, which have been sent us, make us very impatient for the appearance of the whole. The paper is beautifully white and firm, the typography is exquisite, and the illustrations, both on steel and wood, are of the very highest excellence. The volumes will be unsurpassed by any of the same character that have yet come from the American press. Each will contain 500 pages, and together they will give twenty-two fine steel engravings, three hundred admirable wood cuts, and four accurate maps showing the progress of the Expedition. We need not add a word as to the literary execution of the work. Dr. Kane's name is a sufficient guaranty of the value and interest of the narrative. Messrs. R. F. & C. F. Johnston are the agents for procuring subscribers in Richmond.

MEMOIRS OF CELEBRATED CHARACTERS. By ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE. In Three Volumes. Volume Third. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1856. [From A. Morris, 97 Main Street.

In this volume of M. De Lamartine's brilliant sketches of celebrated characters, we have five very striking portraitures-Tell, Madame De Sévigné, Milton, Antar, and Bossuet. In treating of Antar, the pastoral civilization of the East is delineated in warm and poetic colouring, and throughout the whole volume we see the marks of that power and grasp of intellect which distinguished the "History of the Girondists." The pa

per on Milton is remarkable as a French characterization of the great English

poet.

MODERN GREECE: A Narrative of a Residence and Travels in that Country, &c. By HENRY M. BAIRD, M. A. New York: Harper & Brothers. [From A. Morris, 97 Main Street.

A very interesting narrative, illustrated by sixty engravings on wood, which sets before the reader the present condition of the classic land of Greece. The writer travelled much in the Peloponnesus and acquainted himself with the character of the people, their manners and institutions. The historical part of the work is brought down to the affair of Dr. King and its settlement in 1855 by our fellow-townsman, Roger A. Pryor, Esq.

AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: An Oration before the Connecticut Beta of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity at Trinity College, Hartford, 1856, July 15. By BENJAMIN APTHORP GOULD JR. Hartford: Press of Case, Tiffany & Co. 1856.

A very noble plea for a higher instrumentality of learning in the United States, by a gentleman who, in the prosecution of his own lofty studies, was compelled to seek assistance in an European University. Professor Gould urges with great eloquence and earnestness the opening up of a great American fountain of knowledge, and in the following passage shows the necessity that exists for it:

"Hardly the screaming steam-horse and the rattling car can typify the speed with which the materials and manners and thoughts and tendencies of our nation are forming, moving and giving place to their successors,with which our institutions are modifying, our aims shifting.

Not merely our system of self-government, but a myriad of other agencies, more numerous than human ingenuity could devise or tongue enumerate, are uniting to swell the breeze which fills the unreefed sails and yet more strongly than the tide still bears us on. But whither? Aye whither! Hopes and fears, auguries of good and omens of ill, confusedly mingled, distract and perplex us. The landmarks are all unknown and we can not tell whether this mighty current, this unceasing and still rising gale are bearing us to some unruffled Pacific sea, or hurrying us on to a relentless Maelstrom. It is the time for action. Thank God that there may still be time to discipline and instruct the crew, and to secure the helm! Men of science and of letters, patriot scholars of America, let me adjure you one and all to lay hands to this mighty work. Think of it, dream of it, talk of it, write of it, agitate it at home and abroad, discuss it in your domestic circles and your places of business, offices, countinghouses, reading-rooms, in your social gatherings and your public meetings. Let the public mind be imbued, permeated, saturated with a sense of the crying need of some great American university, some centre of thought and study and research and culture. Do this-and believe me, it will come. The sooner the better, for we needed it long ago; and we must have it very soon or not at all. Only put your shoulders to the wheel and we shall have it now.

"The attention and efforts of good and wise men have already been earnestly directed to the attainment of this end or at least of some progress in this direction. It was the keen sense of this need which led to the establishment of the scientific schools at Cambridge and New Haven,institutions which have already been found worthy of imitation in numerous other colleges. It stimulated the eminent scholar, who until recently presided over Brown University, to prepare and urge and carry into effect a complete plan for the re-organization of that college, with the intention of making it a university in fact as well as in name. It prompted enthusiastic hopes in behalf of Columbia College in New York, to struggling endeavors in Philadelphia, to earnest and all but successful effort in Albany, and the foundation of a National University Association, which has already held several meetings in that munificent and public-spirited capital. It has enlisted general interest and stimulated active exertion in the city of New York, where even now some of its advocates are sanguine

of ultimate and not remote success. Let us all unite to aid the patriotic and holy cause. The place is a secondary question. Be it California, thither our youth and our wise men shall flock as to a second Mecca, and the Golden Gate be transfigured into a gate of glory. Be it Louisiana, there shall its myrtle and its olive find a new use and a nobler significance. Be it in the far North-west, the matchless fertility of its soil shall be but a feeble type of the new race of its sons. Be it in Virginia, or in our own New England, so shall she forever retain the proud title of Mother of Great Men. Be it in the Empire State, it shall be her noblest, most resplendent crown."

WHITE ACRE vs. BLACK ACRE. A Case at Law, Reported by J. G., a Retired Barrister, of Lincolnshire, England. J. W. Randolph, 121 Main Street, Richmond, Va. 1856.

SCRIPTURAL AND STATISTICAL VIEWS IN FAVOR OF SLAVERY. BY THORNTON STRINGFELLOW, D. D. Same Publisher.

Here are two works from the press of a Richmond publisher, pertinent to the times and the great question which now agitates the country. Under the form of an allegory, the author of "White Acre vs. Black Acre" relates with great humour the history of the quarrel between the North and South with reference to slavery. Mr. Madison wrote a short paper in a similar strain thirty-five years ago, but our modern reporter has greatly expanded the narrative and brought it down to the present day. So skilfully is the allegorical outline carried on, however, that there is nothing but the introduction of certain negro melodies of recent origin, to negative the fiction set up in the preface, of its being "A MS. of the Reign of Queen Anne." The Rev. Mr. Stringfellow's Scriptural Defence of Slavery is too well known to need any praise at our hands. We rejoice to see a new edition of it and trust it will be circulated far and wide throughout the land. It is perfectly conclusive on the subject of the entire agree ment of Slavery with the religion of Christ and admits of no answer. No Southern gentleman should fail to place a copy of it in his library.

The Hills of the Shatemuc is the title of a new novel by Miss Warner, from the press of the Appletons. It is distinguished by naturalness, simplicity and pathos.