three times the entire crop now raised in
this country. Such being the case, has not free labor a _right_ to
demand that these fields be thrown open to it, without being degraded by
comparison to and competition with slaves? Our author consequently
suggests that Texas, at least, shall be made free, and a limit thereby
established to slavery in the older States. It would cost less than one
hundred millions of dollars to purchase all the slaves now there, and
the completion of the Galveston railroad would have the effect of giving
to Texas well-nigh the monopoly of the cotton supply. Such are, in
brief, the main points of this pamphlet, which we trust will be
carefully read, and so far as possible tested by every one desirous of
obtaining information on the greatest social and economical question of
the day.

A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. By Joseph E. Worcester, LL.D.
Boston: Swan, Brewer & Tileston. 1862.

To boldly declare in favor of any _one_ dictionary at the present day,
would be as bold, and we may add as untimely and illogical a proceeding
as to endorse any one grammar, when nothing can be clearer to the
student of language than that our English tongue is more unfixed and
undergoing changes more rapidly than any other which boasts a truly
great literature. The scholar, consequently, generally pursues an
eclectic system, if timid conforming as nearly as may be to 'general
usage,' if bold and 'troubled with originality,' making up words for
himself, after the manner of CARLYLE, which if 'apt,' after being more
or less ridiculed, are tacitly and generally adopted. But, amid the 'war
of words' and of rival systems, people must have dictionaries, and
fortunately there is this of WORCESTER'S, which has of late risen
immensely in public favor. We say fortunately, for whatever discords and
inconvenience may arise at the time from the rivalry of different
dictionaries, it can not be doubted that each effort contributes vastly
to enrich our mother-tongue, and render easier the future task of the
'coming man' who is, years hence, to form from the whole one perfect
work. Our own verdict in the matter would, accordingly, be, that we
should most unwillingly dispense with either of the great candidates for
popular orthographic favor.

RELIGIO MEDICI, A LETTER TO A FRIEND, CHRISTIAN MORALS, URN BURIAL,
AND OTHER PAPERS. By Sir Thomas Browne, Kt., M.D. Boston: Ticknor
and Fields. 1862.

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