FAMILY CLASSICAL LIBRARY

THE Publishers have much pleasure in recording the following testimonials in recommnendation of the Family Classical Library.

"Mr. Valpy has projected a Family Classical Library. The idea is excellent, and the work cannot fail to be acceptable to youth of both sexes, as well as to a large portion of the reading community, who have not had the benefit of a learned education."-Gentleman's Magazine, Dec. 1829. "We have here the commencement of another undertaking for the more general distribution of knowledge, and one which, if as well conducted as we may expect, bids fair to occupy an enlarged station in our immediate literature. The volume before us is a specimen well calculated to recommend what are to follow. Leland's Demosthenes is an excellent work."-Lit. Gazette.

"This work will be received with great gratification by every man who knows the value of classical knowledge. All that we call purity of taste, vigour of style, and force of thought, has either been taught to the modern world by the study of the classics, or has been guided and restrained by those illustrious models. To extend the knowledge of such works is to do a public service."-Court Journal.

"The Family Classical Library is another of those cheap, useful, and elegant works, which we lately spoke of as forming an era in our publishing history."-Spectator.

"The present era seems destined to be honourably distinguished in literary history by the high character of the works to which it is successively giving birth. Proudly independent of the fleeting taste of the day, they boast substantial worth which ean never be disregarded; they put forth a claim to permanent estimation. The Family Classical Library is a noble undertaking, which the name of the editor assures us will be executed in a style worthy of the great originals."-Morning Post.

"This is a very promising speculation; and as the taste of the day runs just now very strongly in favour of such Miscellanies, we doubt not it will meet with proportionate success. It needs no adventitious aid, however influential; it has quite sufficient merit to enable it to stand on its own foundation, and will doubtless assume a lofty grade in public favour."-Sun

"This work, published at a low price, is beautifully got up. Though to profess to be content with translations of the Classics has been denounced as 'the thin disguise of indolence,' there are thousands who have no leisure for studying the dead languages, who would yet like to know what was thought and said by the sages and poets of antiquity. To them this work will be a treasure."-Sunday Times.

"This design, which is to communicate a knowledge of the most esteemed authors of Greece and Rome, by the most approved translations, to those from whom their treasures, without such assistance, would be hidden, must surely be approved by every friend of literature, by every lover of mankind. We shall only say of the first volume, that as the execution well accords with the design, it must command general approbation."-The Observer.

"We see no reason why this work should not find its way into the boudoir of the lady, as well as into the library of the learned. It is cheap, portable, and altogether a work which may safely be placed in the hands of persons of both sexes."-Weekly Free Press.

PROSPECTUS

OF THE

LIBRARY OF SELECT NOVELS.

FICTITIOUS Composition is now admitted to form an extensive and important portion of literature. Well-wrought novels take their rank by the side of real narratives, and are appealed to as evidence in all questions concerning man. In them the customs of countries, the transitions and shades of character, and even the very peculiarities of costume and dialect, are curiously preserved; and the imperishable spirit that surrounds and keeps them for the use of successive generations renders the rarities for ever fresh and green. In them human life is laid down as on a map. The strong and vivid exhibitions of passion and of character which they furnish, acquire and maintain the strongest hold upon the curiosity, and, it may be added, the affections of every class of readers; for not only is entertainment in all the various moods of tragedy and comedy provided in their pages, but he who reads them attentively may often obtain, without the bitterness and danger of experience, that knowledge of his fellowcreatures which but for such aid could, in the majority of cases, be only acquired at a period of life too late to turn it to account.

This "Library of Select Novels" will embrace none but such as have received the impress of general approbation, or have been written by authors of established character; and the publishers hope to receive such encouragement from the public patronage as will enable them in the course of time to produce a series of works of uniform appearance, and including most of the really valuable novels and romances that have been or shall be issued from the modern English and American press.

There is scarcely any question connected with the interests of literature which has been more thoroughly discussed and investigated than that of the utility or evil of novel reading. In its favour much may be and has been said, and it must be admitted that the reasonings of those who believe novels to be injurious, or at least useless, are not without force and plausibility. Yet, if the arguments against novels are closely examined, it will be found that they are more applicable in general to excessive indulgence in the pleasures afforded by the perusal of fictitious adventures than to the works themselves; and that the evils which can be justly ascribed to them arise almost exclusively, not from any peculiar noxious qualities that can be fairly attributed to novels as a species, but from those individual works which in their class must be pronounced to be indifferent.

But even were it otherwise-were novels of every kind, the good as well as the bad, the striking and animated not less than the puerile, indeed liable to the charge of enfeebling or perverting the mind; and were there no qualities in any which might render them instructive as well as amusing the universal acceptation which they have ever received, and still continue to receive, from all ages and classes of men, would prove an irresistible incentive to their production. The remonstrances of moralists and the reasonings of philosophy have ever been, and will still be found, unavailing against the desire to partake of an enjoyment so attractive. Men will read novels; and therefore the utmost that wisdom and philanthropy can do is to cater prudently for the public appetite, and, as it is hopeless to attempt the exclusion of fictitious writings from the shelves of the library, to see that they are encumbered with the least possible number of such as have no other merit than that of novelty.

PUBLISHED BY J. & J. HARPER, NEW-YORK.

STANDARD WORKS,

PUBLISHED BY

J. &. J. HARPER, 82 CLIFF-STREET

NEW-YORK.

And for Sale by the principal Booksellers throughout the United States.

HISTORY OF THE JEWS. By the Rev. H. H MILMAN. In 3 vols. 18mo. Illustrated with original Maps and Engravings.

Until the appearance of Professor Milman's admirable work, there was no History of the Jews, deserving of the name, except that of Josephus: and he lived at a period too remote, and too limited in its knowledge, to enable him to do justice to the subject. The notices to be found in various Universal Histories are meager and unsatisfactory; and a narrative at once Christian and liberal in its tone, spirited and elegant in its language, and adequately depicting the manners, wars, religion, and policy of the most remarkable of nations, was still wanting. The nature of the present work is strictly historical-not theolocgial-yet it elucidates many obscure passages in the Old Testament, employs with great skill the casual evidence of heathen writers, and throws new light on the manners and customs of the Hebrews by frequent references to the pages of the oldest travellers.

"Professor H. H. Milman is one of the most chaste and classical writers of the age. The History of the Jews embraced in the volumes before us, has already passed through three editions in England, and is highly and justly commended by many of the most respectable periodicals."-N. Y. Journal of Commerce.

"It is written in a very interesting manner-in a more phil. sophical spirit, and with more depth of reflection, than is generall found in histories of this nature. It is not wanting in historical con densation, and the colouring of the style is lively and picturesque."N. Y. Evening Post.

"The narrative of the various and highly interesting events in that period flows on in a chaste style; and a thorough knowledge of his subject is evident in every page. The work is spirited, well arranged, and full of information, and of a wise and well-cultivated spirit."-Athenaeum.

"The style in which it is written is remarkably lucid and elegant; attractive by its general smoothness and simplicity, yet animated and forcible."--Baltimore Republican

LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

By J. G. LOCKHART, Esq. In 2 vols. 18mo. With Engravings.

This celebrated work contains an epitome of all that has been proved to be true concerning the character and actions of the most extraordinary man of the last thousand years. The English language possesses no other authentic epitome of his history; and, notwithstanding the smallness of the limits within which it is compressed, the narrative throughout clear, distinct, and copious. The life of Napoleon, doubly interesting when relieved of the tediousness of useless detail, has never been better to'l.

The work is written with commendable impartiality, and the author has been careful to interweave with his narrative all the new lustrations and anecdotes furnished by Bourrienne, and other French writers, whose memoirs have appeared since the publication of the great work of Sir Walter Scott, from which a large portion of his materials was derived. As an evidence of the amazing popularity of this History, it is stated that more than 27000 copies have been disposed of in Great Britain alone.

LIFE OF NELSON. BY ROBERT SOUTHEY, Esq., LL.D. 18mo. With a Portrait.

This Biography has been pronounced one of the Laureate's most successful efforts: the enthusiastic and romantic character of Nelson furnished a congenial subject, and he has treated it with consummate ability. The errors of the fortunate and gallant admiral are fairly and fearlessly exposed; while the nobler elements of his mind, his heroic courage, his perseverance, and his insatiable appetite for glory, as well as the great actions in which they are displayed, are described and illustrated with a happy choice of language and most felicitous effect.

"Southey's fine and popular biography of Nelson was very much wanted, and is now to be had very cheap, in a neat and convenient form."-N. Y. Com. Advertiser.

LIFE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. By the Rev. JOHN WILLIAMS, A.M. 18mo. With a Map.

This volume fills a blank in the historical library, and furnishes an excellent manual for the student. It is not confined to the mere exploits and adventures of the Macedonian hero, although they constitute the leading topic, but contains a masterly view of the times in which he lived, and of the manners, arts, and sciences of the Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Arabs and Indians, and other nations whom he visited or conquered. The story is well and elegantly told, and conveys a more distinct and accurate idea of the ancient Napoleon than is to be found in any other history. In the perusal, the curiosity of the reader is gratified as well as stimulated, and his mind is moved to profitable reflection.

"The style is good. and the narrative well conducted. A modern history of this famous warrior cannot fail to be interesting."-NewYork Daily Advertiser.