This is, in the main, an excellent work on practical religion. From its fervent spirit and sound common sense, it came very near being such a one as we could have recommended for the perusal and attentive study of the great body of Christians in our country. Unfortunately, the author, by sundry flings at other Christian communities, and by the use of nicknames, as Quaker, Romanist, Dissenter, etc., in speaking of them, has restricted its usefulness chiefly to the members of his own communion, the Protestant Episcopal Church. To such, it will doubtless prove highly satisfactory and beneficial. A very few omissions would have procured for it the wide range of acceptance and power of working good to which its intrinsic excellence would then have entitled it. When will our religious writers learn that the great battle now is not among the various sections of the Christian camp, but with an outside enemy, indefatigable, learned, plausible, and every day gaining ground? Who can tell but that a careful examination of, and more accurate acquaintance with the principles and practice of divisions serving under the same great Captain, might dissipate many a prejudice, and reconcile many a difficulty? One of the first requisites is, that all learn _to know_ and _to speak_ the truth about one another. THE SPIRIT OF THE FAIR. 1864. 'None but the brave deserve the Fair.' Editorial Committee: Augustus R. Macdonough, _Chairman_; Mrs. Charles E. Butler, Mrs. Edward Cooper, C. Astor Bristed, Chester P. Dewey, James W. Gerard, jr., William J. Hoppin, Henry Sedgwick, Frederick Sheldon, Charles K. Tuckerman. New York: John F. Trow, Publisher, 50 Greene street. In recommending to our readers this neatly bound volume of the daily product of the great 'Metropolitan Fair,' we cannot do better than extract the little introductory notice of the publisher, who says: 'By the request of many patrons of the 'Spirit of the Fair,' the publisher purchased the stereotype plates and copyrights of the paper, for the purpose of supplying bound copies for permanent preservation. The talented ladies and gentlemen who conducted the 'Spirit of the Fair,' during its brief and brilliant career, have, by their well-directed efforts, made a volume worthy of preservation, both from its high literary excellence, and from the recollections with which it is associated. Its pages are illuminated with the writings of the most distinguished authors. Every article in the paper first saw the light of print in the 'Spirit of the Fair.' Poets, Historians, Statesmen, Novelists, and Essayists furnished contributions prepared expressly for its columns; and their efforts in behalf of the noble charity which the paper represented, should alone entitle the volume to be cherished as a most valued memento and heirloom.