Mr. Frost has succeeded in his attempt to present the leading incidents in the history of our national marine in an attractive form. The Book of the Navy is one of those “books for the people” which awaken only patriotism, pride and emulation. The Appendix, containing selections of naval lyrical pieces and anecdotes, seems to have been prepared with less care than the historical part of the work. The best American naval songs are Edwin C. Holland’s “Pillar of Glory” and the “Old Ironsides” of Oliver W. Holmes, neither of which appears in Mr. Frost’s collection, while it embraces some which have no allusion to the navy, and others too worthless in a literary point of view to deserve preservation. The volume is very elegantly printed, and is embellished with several portraits on steel, and other engravings from designs by Croome. * * * * * _Family Secrets, or Hints to those who would make Home Happy. By Mrs. Ellis. Two volumes, duodecimo. Philadelphia, Lea & Blanchard._ This work is composed of a series of tales, each illustrating a principle or enforcing a moral. The first volume contains, Dangers of Dining Out, Confessions of a Madman, Somerville Hall, The Rising Tide, and The Favorite Child; the second, First Impressions, and The Minister’s Family. The characters are usually well-drawn, and the interest of some of the stories is deep and well sustained. * * * * * _The Life of Jean Paul Frederic Richter, Compiled from various Sources, together with his Autobiography. Translated from the German. Two volumes, duodecimo. Boston, Little & Brown._ The name of Jean Paul has become so familiar to American and English readers, that this work will doubtless supply a great desideratum with many ardent admirers of German literature. Our ideas of Jean Paul do not coincide with those of most critics. We have great respect for his genius, the purity of his thoughts, the extreme delicacy of his sentiments, and his almost universal learning; but we think his style forced and unnatural, and the amount of his wit, sarcasm, humor and hyperbolical refinement, altogether disproportionate to the “littleness” of his subjects. He is the most poetic of prose writers, and his autobiography furnishes many happy illustrations of this assertion. In our opinion, however, he indulges far too much in _didacticism_, a style which we dislike equally in poetry or prose, and which is seldom chosen by men of great intellect. He is a _feminine_ writer, and much which in his works appears and is applauded as poetry, is in truth only high wrought feminine delicacy. He is accordingly much read and admired by women. But we doubt whether in all his productions there is a well drawn character of a _man_. When we look upon his heroes we cannot but remember Hotspur— “I would rather be a cat and cry mew Than one of those self same ballad mongers.”