ut shaped somehow as
with the hammer of Vulcan, with three strokes that might have helped to
forge an AEgis. The treasures of his mind are of a similar description
with the mind itself; his knowledge is gathered from all the kingdoms of
Art, and Science, and Nature, and lies round him in huge unwieldy heaps.
His very language is Titanian; deep, strong, tumultuous; shining with a
thousand hues, fused from a thousand elements, and winding in
labyrinthic masses.' We recommend Jean Paul to universal study; he will,
in spite of all his grotesque and broken arabesques, amply repay it.

BROKEN COLUMNS. Sheldon & Co., 335 Broadway, New York.

An anonymous novel, by one who says: 'I shall not say I have not
aforetime walked openly in the highway of literature, but on this
occasion the public must indulge me with the use of a thick veil; a
veil, albeit, which will allow me to observe whether smiles or frowns
mark the public countenance.'

The author will without doubt find both smiles and frowns on the faces
he would regard. His characters are novel, the situations eccentric, the
denouements unexpected. Love is made the solvent and reformer of vice.
The sinner seems not actually depraved, but ever ready to return to the
path of virtue. Forgiveness is the elixir of reformation and
regeneration. Charity controls the inner life. The work contains
passages of great beauty, though the style is often broken and rugged.
It is philanthropic, and full of pity for the erring. We fail to
understand the characters, because we have never seen coarse vice
associated with tenderness and refinement. It is true, as our author
says, that 'in seeking the reclamation of our fellow creatures, we are
nothing less than co-workers with God.' But it is a solemn task, and
charity itself is subject to the laws of eternal justice.

THE OLD MERCHANTS OF NEW YORK CITY. By WALTER
BARRETT, Clerk. Second Series. Carleton, publisher, 413
Broadway, New York.

The first series of this book had a circulation so extensive that its
author gives to the world another volume. The motto of the work seems to
be, 'The crowning city--whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers
are the _honorable_ of the earth.' It is not a series of biographies,
but light, gossiping sketches of persons, things, manners, the
eccentricities of noted men, the transfers of well-known pieces of
property, the changes in firms, the improvements in streets and
buildings,