h are lively and picturesque, and at
the same time, as we have reason to believe, remarkable for their exact
fidelity. We think the success of this work must decide the vocation of
the author. He has already gained a reputation in American literature of
which he may justly be proud. We shall look with interest for the future
creations of his genius, which with the increasing polish of their
execution, we are confident, will not lose their natural fragrant
freshness, nor their bold masculine vitality.

_The History of Cleopatra_, by JACOB ABBOTT, a new volume of his
Historical Series, publishing by Harper and Brothers, presents a subject
of considerable delicacy for the pen of its grave and highly ethical
author. He seems to be aware of the difficulty at the outset. "The story
of Cleopatra," he observes, "is a story of crime. It is a narrative of
the course and the consequences of unlawful love. In her strange and
romantic history we see this passion portrayed with the most complete
and graphic fidelity, in all its influences and effects, its
uncontrollable impulses, its intoxicating joys, its reckless and mad
career, and the dreadful remorse, and ultimate despair and ruin in which
it always and inevitably ends." But Mr. Abbott has disposed of the
uncongenial theme with his accustomed ingenuity and good sense. Without
vailing the character of the voluptuous queen, or concealing the
poetical aspects of her romantic history, he delineates the events in
her life, for which she is now chiefly remembered, with a naive
simplicity that becomes piquant from its apparent artlessness. Nor does
he indulge, to any disagreeable excess, in the superfluous moralizing
which a less shrewd writer would have deemed essential to the effect. He
leaves the story to assert its own moral. The reader, who chooses, may
find it for himself.

C.S. Francis and Co. have republished a new volume of _Poems_, by
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, containing "Prometheus Bound," "A Lament for
Adonis," "Casa Guidi Windows," and a variety of miscellaneous pieces.
They bear the authentic impress of Mrs. Browning's peculiar genius,
abounding in bursts of noble inspiration, combined with the workings of
earnest reflection, and expressed in a style which is no less remarkable
for the richness of its classic adornings, than for its wild, erratic
strength, and its frequent displays of an almost puerile simplicity.
The typographical appearance of this volume is very nea