e he
met some extraordinary adventures, and is about to communicate them to
the public in a volume. Jacques Arago is eminent in Paris not more for
his abilities as a man of letters than for his fastidiousness, devotion,
and success as a _roue_. If Love is sometimes blind, he is keen-sighted
for the sightless Arago, who boasts of having loved and been loved by
the most beautiful women of France.

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The military history of the Napoleonic period has received a new
contribution in the _War of 1806 and 1807_, just published at Berlin, by
Col. Hoepfner, in two volumes. It is prepared from documents in the
Prussian archives, and illustrated with maps and plans of battles. Not
only does it add to our previous stock of information as to the military
operations in Germany during these eventful years, but it serves at the
same time as a history of the dissolution of that state which Frederic
the Great erected with such labor and perseverance. We have here, in
short, a picture of the downfall of the old Prussian military-system.

* * * * *

A new work on FRENCH HISTORY during the middle ages is _La France au
temps des Croisades_, by M. Vaublanc, which has lately made its
appearance at Paris, in four handsome octavo volumes. It is the fruit of
long and conscientious researches, and is written in a style of
seductive elegance. The author is no dry chronicler, or plodding
statician, but an artist, fully alive to the picturesqueness of his
topic. He carries his reader with him into the time and the scenes he
describes, and makes him a participant in the romantic and adventurous
life of the period. His book is thus as entertaining as it is
instructive.

* * * * *

A convenient book of reference for those who deal with the more
recondite and interesting questions of history is the _Statistique des
Peuples de l'Antiquite_, by M. Moreau de Jonnes, just published at
Paris. It is a work of great erudition and even originality. All sorts
of facts as to the social condition of the Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks,
Romans, and Gauls, may be gathered from it. Another new work of a
similar character is entitled _Du Probleme de la Misere et de sa
solution chez tous les Peuples Anciens et Modernes_, by M. Moreau
Christophe. Two volumes only have been published; a third is to follow.
Price $1.50 a volume.

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