the News, is engraved by H. Robinson; but spirited and finished as
it is, we must object to the quantity of smoke from the joint on
the baker's board, and more especially from the pie; besides which,
the bakehouse must be at some distance. The picture has a pleasant
accompaniment, by Mr. Charles Knight. Catharine of Arragon, and Mary
Queen of Scots and the Commissioners of the Scottish Church, are so
purely historical as almost to tell their own tale; the first, after
Leslie, by W. Humphreys, is in every line a lesson. The remainder of the
plates are of unequal merit, and the elegantly embossed plum-colour
leather binding is even an improvement on that of last year.

* * * * *


The Amulet.


This has always been with us a favourite work, and we rejoice to say
that the present is equal to any of its predecessors. It is more
sprightly than its title implies, and even less sombre than the
_Friendship's Offering_; and the interest of most of the prose
articles is far from perishable. Two of them by Dr. Walsh--Are there
more worlds inhabited than our globe?--and the First Invasion of
Ireland,--are excellent papers, though too _azure_ for some who
have not the philosophical mind of Lady Mary S----d. Among the Tales,
the Two Delhis; Annie Leslie, by Mrs. S.C. Hall; the Glen of St. Kylas,
by Mr. Carne; the Anxious Wife, by the Editor; a Tale of Pentland, by
the Ettrick Shepherd; and the Austral Chief, by the Rev. Mr. Ellis,--may
be read and re-read with increasing interest, which is not a general
characteristic of "Annual" sketches. Our extract is one of the most