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tend in the Plain with advantage against the combined Russian compact infantry and cannon; but many of the Cabardian tribes have followed him into the interior of the great Tschetschuya, leaving behind them their villages to be destroyed by the Cossacks, and only carrying away with them their arms. These tribes have considerably increased Schamyl's army, which already consisted of 20,000 men, when he crossed the Terek. Although the bold plan of this renowned chief did not wholly succeed, his intrepidity is, however, to be admired. He had spread alarm even to the walls of Tekaderinadid, the capital of the Tschernomerian Cossacks. At no time had a Tschetschentsian chief ventured to undertake so long and bold a march through a triple line of Russian fortresses. So great was the consternation among the Russians, that General Luders did not think himself safe at Stauropol, the head-quarters of the Russian army of operations, which he has tily left, marching in the direction of the fortresses on the borders of the Kuban.

M. de Mas-Latrie, who had been charged by the Minister of Public Instruction with a scientific mission in the East, has just returned home, after visiting Syria, Balbec, Sidon, Tyre, Egypt and Cyprus. He staid some time in the last named place, and procured there a number of original documents relative to the Middle Ages, as well

as several antique objects, which he has presented to the Bibliotheque du Roi. The most remarkable object which he speaks of as having seen in his travels is a large slab of basalt, covered with cuneiform inscriptions, and bearing the figure of a king or priest, holding a sceptre in the left hand. This curious monument, which appears to belong to the period of the Assyrian Art, could, M. de Mas-Latrie believes, be easily obtained possession of.

In India the triumphant success of the British has met with some check at the Fortress of Kote Kangra, belonging to the Sikhs, which still holds out against all the efforts and artillery of the English army which has invested it; and, what is worse still, there is no prospect as yet of its being taken. It is said to be equal to Gibraltar, and absolutely impregnable. The Sikh commander of this extensive place is called Killadar, which signifies "the handsome lion." An immense treasure in gold and silver is said to be contained in the fortress, and the greatest anxiety prevails to reduce it. The "handsome lion" has refused to listen to any terms, and rejects every offer, while the place and the garrison are proof against the bombs and every missile of the British army. The English are greatly irritated by the delay, and fear, if longer continued, the treasure may by some means escape their grasp.

CRITICAL NOTICE.

STANDARD LIBRARY.-Roscoe's Life of Leo the Tenth. London, Bohn; New York, Bartlett & Welford.

It has been conceded on all hands, that one of the most classical and elegant pieces of writing in our language is the Life of Lorenzo de Medici, the father of Leo the Tenth, by the distinguished Merchant Author, of Liverpool. Even an ordinary treatment of such a subject as the times and career of the brilliant Florentine would be of very great interest. Leo X. was one of the most remarkable men that Italy, a country for several centuries prolific in great men, ever produced. Ambitious and accomplished, his plans of aggrandizement were made to embrace the widest reign of taste the establishment of Literature, and the cultivation of the arts-rendering his period the second Augustan age. In addition, moreover, to the number of splendid men and the stirring events belonging to his own time, a satisfactory account of the career of Leo X. must take in a large portion of Florentine history, connected with the annals of the Medicean Family, and many preceding characters and events, whose course affected the condition of Italy and of Europe. Such a biography, there

fore, would, in fact, form a large part of Italian history, and that altogether the most brilliant and varied. And such is Roscoe's life and character of Leo. It is quite as full as any history of that period need to be. It is written, too, not only with a singular union of dignity and grace, so that in point of style it may be compared with any narrative in the English language, but with those higher requisites of history, thorough candor and humanity. Roscoe may have had his prejudices, but he has shown very few of them in his work. This is espe cially evident in his portraiture of Cæsar Borgia. He does not forbear to give the true and terrible character of the man, but it is done with such modifications, as belong to the reasonable spirit of impartial history. Cæsar Borgia was acknowledged to have great talents-and, as to character, no man has ever become utterly inhuman. This work has had high praisebut nothing, we think, that it has not deserved.

We so utterly dislike the reciprocal piracy system of republication on both sides of the Atlantic, that we are glad to see good books introduced at such low prices as are these volumes of "The Standard Library," by Messrs. Bartlett & Welford.

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whose course affected the condition of Italy

as are these volumes of "The Standard Li

and of Europe. Such a biography, there- brary," by Messrs. Bartlett & Welford.

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