d several poems of
remarkable merit, referring to the war. In the present we have a work of
higher ambition, and one which is truly well done. In it the horrors of
slavery, the iniquitous abuses to which it so often gives rise--the
tortures, vengeances, murders, and fiendish punishments, which in their
turn follow the crime--are portrayed with striking truthfulness and real
power. The author is evidently no Abolitionist on hear-say--the whole
poem gives evidence of practical familiarity with 'the institution,' and
the sense of truth has inspired his pen in many passages with wonderful
power. The terrible sufferings of an _almost_ white man and slave as
here portrayed, his revenge and punishment at the stake, are as moving
as they are manifestly true to life. We commend this little
pamphlet-poem to every friend of freedom, and sincerely trust that it
will attain the large circulation which it deserves.

SKETCHES OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND DECLINE OF SECESSION. With a
Narrative of Personal Adventures among the Rebels. By W.G. BROWNLOW,
Editor of the _Knoxville Whig_. Philadelphia: Geo. W. Childs. 1862.

A decided character this 'Parson Brownlow,' and a representative man;
truly and bravely American, very Western in his traits; a man fond of
fierce argument and tough antagonisms, and not fearing the death either
by halter or revolver, which he will probably meet some day, for the
sake of Jehovah and his own stern convictions. Not exactly a man of
_salons_ and elegant _reunions_--yet full of real courtesies and gifted
with the kind heart of a true hater of wickedness, which flashes into
fury at witnessing deeds of cruelty and shame. And he has seen many
such--seen what few have done and lived--he has passed through a life's
warfare with men of his own grim obstinacy without his own honesty and
stern Puritan-like morality. We have followed his course for years--we
have met him 'afore-time,' when quite other subjects of quarrel engaged
him, and could have prophesied then with tolerable accuracy what part he
would play when it came to a question between bayonets and prisons for
the truth.

As we have hinted, he is a splendid hater, and a ferocious antagonist, a
prince of vituperators and a very vitriol-thrower of savage sarcasms at
his enemies and those of humanity. And why should he not be all of this,
when we consider that in the stage whereon his part of life is played a
more delicate student of all the proprieties woul