than any of his other works. It is divided into several books, named
from the different situations or stages of the author's life, or the
subjects which at any period particularly engaged his attention. We
believe it will be more generally read than any poem of equal length
that has issued from the press in this age.

* * * * *

Miss COOPER's "RURAL HOURS"[1] is everywhere commended as one of
the most charming pictures that have ever appeared of country life.
The books of the Howitts, delineating the same class of subjects
in England and Germany, are not to be compared to Miss Cooper's for
delicate painting or grace and correctness of diction. The Evening
Post observes:

"This is one of the most delightful books we have lately
taken up. It is a journal of daily observations made by an
intelligent and highly educated lady, residing in a most
beautiful part of the country, commencing with the spring of
1848, and closing with the end of the winter of 1849. They
almost wholly concern the occupations and objects of country
life, and it is almost enough to make one in love with such a
life to read its history so charmingly narrated. Every day has
its little record in this volume,--the record of some rural
employment, some note on the climate, some observation
in natural history, or occasionally some trait of rural
manners. The arrival and departure of the birds of passage
is chronicled, the different stages of vegetation are noted,
atmospheric changes and phenomena are described, and the
various living inhabitants of the field and forest are made