t_ is the title of an Oration by
Rev. E. A. WASHBURN, delivered on the 6th of August, before the Literary
Societies of the University of Vermont, and published by Phillips,
Sampson, and Co., Boston. It is an earnest, eloquent, and discriminating
defense of the spiritual views of philosophy, set forth by Coleridge in
England and by the late President Marsh in this country, with a vigorous
protest against the abuses and errors which the author conceives have
sprung up in the train of a false and counterfeit idealism. The Oration
exhibits an intimate acquaintance with the development of philosophic
inquiry, since the reaction against the French Sensualism of the last
century, and the application of more profound and religious theories to
Literature, Society, and Art in recent times. With no effeminate
yearnings for the return of the "inexorable Past," and with a masculine
faith in the designs of Providence for the destiny of Humanity, Mr.
Washburn is alive to the dangers incident to a condition of progress,
and describes them with honest boldness and fidelity. Without pretending
to accord with all his ideas, we must yield the merit to his Discourse
of affluent thought, rich learning, and a style of remarkable grace and
elegance.

_The Memorial_, edited by MARY E. HEWITT, and published by G. P. Putnam,
is one of the most beautiful gift-books for the present season, and in
its peculiar character and design possesses an interest surpassed by
none. It is written by friends of the late Mrs. Osgood, and is an
appropriate and tasteful tribute to her memory. The profits are to be
devoted for the erection of a monument to her in Mount Auburn. Its
literary excellence may be inferred from the fact, that Nathaniel
Hawthorne, the author of "St. Leger," John Neal, W. G. Simms, N. P.
Willis, Bayard Taylor, R. H. Stoddard, Bishop Doane, Bishop Spencer,
George H. Boker, General Morris, George Lunt, A. B. Street, Mrs.
Sigourney, Mrs. Oakes Smith, Mrs. Whitman, and, indeed, most of the
celebrities of the time, in this country, are contributors. The volume
will be welcome, as a choice specimen of American literary talent, and a
graceful souvenir of the distinguished poetess in whose honor it has
been prepared.

_The Evening of Life_, by JEREMIAH CHAPLIN (published by Lewis Colby),
is a collection of devotional pieces, original and selected, intended to
impart "light and comfort amid the shadows of declining years." The
selections are made w