MISCELLANEOUS.
A MEMOIR OF SEBASTIAN CABOT, with a Review of the
History of Maritime Discovery. Illustrated by Documents
from the Rolls, now first published.
“Put forth in the most unpretending manner, and without a name, this work
is of paramount importance to the subjects of which it treats.”
—Lit. Gezette.
“The author has corrected many grave errors, and in general given us a clearer
insight into transactions of considerable national interest.”—Ib. “Will it not,”
says the author, with just astonishment, “be deemed almost incredible, that the
very instrument in the Records of England, which recites the Great Discovery,
and plainly contemplates a scheme of Colonization, should, up to this moment,
have been treated by her own writers as that which first gave permission to go
forth and explore?”—Ib. “We must return to investigate several collateral
matters which we think deserving of more space than we can this week bestow.
Meanwhile we recommend the work as one of great value and interest.”
—Ib.
“The general reader, as well as the navigator and the curious, will derive
pleasure and information from this well written production.”
—Courier.
“A specimen of honest inquiry. It is quite frightful to think of the number of
the inaccuracies it exposes: we shall cease to have confidence in books.” “The
investigation of truth is not the fashion of these times. But every sincere inquirer
after historical accuracy ought to parchase the book as a curiosity: more
false assertions and inaccurate statements were never exposed in the same compaes.
It has given us a lesson we shall never forget, and hope to profit by.”
—Spect.
HISTORY OF THE NORTHMEN, OR NORMANS AND
DANES; from the carliest times to the Conquest of England
by William of Normandy. By Henry Wheaton, Member
of the Scandinavian and Icelandic Literary Societies
of Copenhagen.
This work embraces the great leading features of Scandinavian history, commoncing
with the heroic age, and advancing from the earliest dawn of civilization
to the introduction of Christianity into the North—its long and bloody
strife with Paganism—the discovery and colonization of Iceland, Greenland,
and North America, by the Norwegian navigators, before the time of Columbus
—the military and maritime expeditions of the Northmen—their early intercourse
of commerce and war with Constantinople and the Eastern empire—the
establishment of a Norman state in France, under Rollo, and the subjugation of
England, first by the Danes, under Canute the Great, and subsequently by the
Normans, under Dake William, the founder of the English monarchy. It also
contains an account of the mythology and literature of the ancient North—the
Icelandic language prevailing all over the Scandinavian countries until the
formation of the present living tongues of Sweden and Denmark—an analysis
of the Eddas, Sagas, and various chronicles and songs relating to the Northern
deities and heroes, constituting the original materials from which the work has
been principally composed. It is intended to illustrate the history of France
and England during the middle ages, and at the same time to serve as an introduction
to the modern history of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
AN HISTORICAL INQUIRY INTO THE PRODUCTION
AND CONSUMPTION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS,
from the Earliest Ages, and into the Influence of their Increase
or Diminution on the Prices of Commodities. By
William Jacob, Esq. F. R. S. In 8vo.
“Mr. Jacob's Historical Inquiry into the Production and Consumption of the
Precious Metals is one of the most curious and important works which has
lately issued from the press. The influence of the precious metals on the industry
of mankind is acknowledged to be great; though, perhaps, the notions respecting
the precise mode of its operation were obscure, and undoubtedly the
history of its effects had never been traced with accuracy and ingenuity. Mr.
Huskisson, who had maintained a friendship with Mr. Jacob for more than five-and-twenty
years, first put the author on the investigation; it is one of the minor
obligations which the country owes to that enlightened statesman.”
—Spectator.
“It was written at the suggestion of the late Mr. Ruskisson, and displays
the fruits of much industry and research, guided by a sound judgment, and embodying
more learning than is usually brought to bear on statistical or economical
subjects. We recommend the book to general attention.”
—Times.
