is still and lovely enchantments, as if they were not. This new volume
contains a complete romance, the _Zwei Schwestern_ (Two Sisters), which
cannot be read without touching the inmost heart, while it delights the
fancy. Spindler has a humorous novel, whose hero, a travelling clerk or
bagman, meets with a variety of amusing adventures. Like many other
books of the comical order, it is tedious when taken in large doses. The
reader, at first amused, soon lays it down. Caroline von Goehren appears
with a series of _Novellen_, which receive no great commendation. The
_Ostergabe_ (Easter Gift), by Frederica Bremer, which has just appeared
in Germany, is spoken of as her best production. It contains pictures of
northern life, and of those domestic influences which Miss Bremer so
delights to glorify. The _Gesammelte Erzaehlungen_ (Collected Tales) of
W. G. von Horn, lately published at Frankfort, are worth the attention
of those whose novel reading is not confined to our own language. The
style is clear and pleasing, and the characters full of truth and
naturalness. The _Erzaehlungen aus dem Volksleben der Schwerz_ (Tales of
Popular Life in Switzerland) by Ieremias Gotthelf, also deserves a
respectful mention. Gotthelf is a religious moralist, who sets forth the
doctrines of virtue, religious trust in God, and the blessed influence
of domestic life, in a pleasing and effective manner.

* * * * *

DR. SCHAeFFNER'S _Geschichte der Rechtsverfassung Frankreichs_ ("History
of French Law"), just published, is noticed with high praise by the
_Frankfurt Oberpostamts Zeitung_. The work has just been completed by
the publication of the fourth volume, which only confirms the reputation
which the earlier portions gained for the author among the jurists of
all Europe. Dr. Schaeffner, with equal learning and perspicacity, sets
forth the relation of French law, and the changes it has undergone, to
the history of the political institutions of the country. In this
respect the work interests a much wider public than is ordinarily
addressed by a juridical treatise. It opens with an account of the
conflict between the elements of Roman and German law in France. Then it
exposes the establishment of the feudal aristocracy and its contests
with the power of the Church; next, the culmination of the royal
authority, based on a bureaucratic administration, its final fall into
the hands of the triumphant revolution, and i