The Avenger, a Narrative; and other Papers. By THOMAS DE QUINCEY, Author of “Confessions of an Opium-Eater,” etc.  Boston:  Ticknor & Fields. 16mo.

This is the twenty-first volume of De Quincey’s miscellaneous writings, collected by the indefatigable American editor, Mr. James T. Fields.  It contains “The Avenger,” a powerful story of wrong and revenge; “Additions to the Confessions of an Opium-Eater”; “Supplementary Note on the Essenes,” in which the theory of the original paper is supported against objections by some new arguments; a long paper on “China,” published in 1857, and full of information in regard to that empire; and “Traditions of the Rabbins,” one of the most exquisite papers in the list of the author’s writings.

The Life of George Herbert. By GEORGE L. DUYCKINCK.  New York:  1858. pp. 197.

We have too long neglected to do our share in bringing this delightful little book to the notice of the lovers of holy George Herbert, among whom we may safely reckon a large number of the readers of the “Atlantic.”  It is based on the life by Izaak Walton, but contains much new matter, either out of Walton’s reach or beyond the range of his sympathy.  Notices are given of Nicholas Ferrar and other friends of Herbert.  There is a very agreeable sketch of Bemerton and its neighborhood, as it now is, and the neat illustrations are of the kind that really illustrate.  The Brothers Duyckinck are well known for their unpretentious and valuable labors in the cause of good letters and American literary history, and this is precisely such a book as we should expect from the taste, scholarship, and purity of mind which distinguish both of them.  It is much the best account of Herbert with which we are acquainted.

Lectures on Metaphysics. By SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON, BART., Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh.  Edited by the Rev. Henry Longueville Mansel, B.D., Oxford, and John Veitch, M.A., Edinburgh.  Boston:  Gould & Lincoln. 8vo.

Few persons, with any pretensions to a knowledge of the metaphysicians of the century, are unacquainted with Sir William Hamilton.  His articles in the “Edinburgh Review” on Cousin and Dr. Brown, and his Dissertations on Reid, are the most important contributions to philosophy made in Great Britain for many years.  The present volume contains his Course of Lectures, forty-six in number, which he delivered as Professor of Metaphysics; and being intended for young students, they are, as compared with his other works, more comprehensible without being less comprehensive.  The most conclusive proof of the excellence of these Lectures is to be found in their influence on the successive classes of students before whom they were pronounced.  The universal testimony of the young men who were fortunate enough to listen to Hamilton has been, that his teaching not only inspired them with an enthusiasm for the science, and gave