The idea of this valuable volume is taken from a remark of Hallam on Charles Martel’s victory over the invading Saracens, which he calls one of “those few battles, of which a contrary event would have essentially varied the drama of the world in all its subsequent scenes.” Mr. Creasy is Professor of History in University College, London, and is well fitted to do justice to his great theme. The battles described are Marathon, Syracuse, Arbela, and Metaurus; the victory of Arminius over the Roman legions under Varus; the battles of Chalons, Tours, and Hastings; Joan of Arc’s victory at Orleans, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the battles of Blenheim, Pultowa, Saratoga, Valmy, and Waterloo. The execution of the work is excellent. The liberality of the author’s mind is indicated by his lofty conception of the power and the mission of the United States, given in the introductory remarks to his description of the battle of Saratoga. * * * * * _Legends of the Flowers. By Susan Pindar. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 16mo._ _Memoirs of a London Doll. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields. 1 vol. 16mo._ _Tales from Catland, for Little Kittens. By an Old Tabby. Boston: Ticknor & Co. 1 vol. 16mo._ These beautiful little volumes are designed for children, and are admirably adapted for their purpose of delighting the young. The stories display ingenuity of invention, and a talent for reaching the minds of children of no ordinary character. The engravings are uncommonly well executed. Those in Ticknor & Co.’s books are from designs by Billings. * * * * * _A Class Book of Chemistry. By Edward L. Youmans. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 12mo._ A capital volume, designed chiefly for academies and schools, but containing matter more important to readers in general than even to school-boys. It is a work in which the leading principles of chemistry are familiarly explained, and applied to the arts, agriculture, physiology, dietetics, ventilation, and the phenomena of nature. The writer is well qualified for his task, for he seems perfectly to comprehend the ignorance of the majority of readers on the subjects he explains, and accordingly directs his explanations primarily to exactly those principles which require illustration, before the mind is fitted to take in their applications. * * * * * _Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses Connected with the Royal Succession of Great Britain. By Agnes Strickland, Author of the Lives of the Queens of England. Vol. 2. New York: Harper & Brothers. 12mo._