This is one of the most powerful of Carlyle’s many productions, and, as a biography, is to be ranked among the best in English literature. It bristles as usual with the author’s harsh scorn of every thing he is pleased to call cant, falsehood, and moonshine; but there are glimpses in it of deep and genuine tenderness, and, of all his works, it best indicates the humanity of the man. The mental characteristics of Sterling himself, are drawn with a loving and friendly yet discriminating pencil, and the few events of his life are narrated with singular skill. The sketches of Sterling’s friends and contemporaries, especially the portrait of Coleridge, add much to the interest of the volume. There are specimens also of a sort of savage humor equal to Carlyle’s best efforts in that kind. The style, though full of vigor and flashing with imagery, is as craggy and uneven as ever; exhibiting, in the constant recurrence of a few slang words, how formal after all is this inveigher against formulas, and how his hatred of affectation becomes itself a sort of cant. But the soul of the book is sound and manly; and no one can read it without feeling that he has been in communion with a deep and great, if somewhat embittered nature. * * * * * _Putnam’s Home Cyclopedia Hand-book of the Useful Arts. By T. Antisell, M. D. New York: George P. Putnam. 1 vol. 12 mo._ _Hand-Book of Universal Biography. By Parke Godwin. New York: George P. Putnam. 1 vol. 12mo._ These volumes belong to a series of six, each complete in itself, under the general title of “Putnam’s Home Cyclopedia.” They will be found very useful and valuable to all classes of readers, containing a vast amount of classified information in the most compact form. The Hand-Book of the Useful Arts should be in the possession of every mechanic in the country. The Universal Biography, by Parke Godwin, is based on Maunder’s book on the same subject, but re-written, extended, corrected, and in every way improved. The whole series will make an invaluable library of reference. Each volume contains some eight or nine hundred closely printed pages. * * * * * _The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, from Marathon to Waterloo. By E. S. Creasy, M. A. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1 vol. 12mo._