We are glad to welcome Mr. Paulding back again to the land of romance, even though he enters it with a somewhat jaunty air, and a somewhat scornful toss of his head. There is a bitter, if we may not call it saucy, brilliancy about our author, which we think is rather a recommendation than otherwise, and in the present volumes he has exhibited it to his heart’s and gall’s content. The work is dedicated, in a humorously reckless and critic-defying preface, to the “most high and mighty sovereign of sovereigns, King People,” and scattered through the novel are abundant pleasant impertinences, sufficiently marked by individual whim and crotchet, to stimulate the reader to go on reading, even should the interest of the story flag. We have only had time to dip into the work, here and there, but have read enough to know that it “means mischief,” and that it has more than Mr. Paulding’s common raciness and plain speaking. * * * * * The approach of the holydays is, as usual, marked by the advent of new publications. Among the most beautiful that have been laid upon our table are _The Life of Christ_, by the Rev. H. Hastings Weld, and a new edition of Dr. Johnson’s admirable _Rasselas_. These works are published by Messrs. Hogan & Thompson, in the most finished and approved manner, conforming in style to _Paul and Virginia_, and the _Vicar of Wakefield_, issued by the same gentlemen last year. We cannot speak too highly of the typographical execution of the volumes before us, or the magnificent binding in which they are enclosed. Both are superb, and reflect credit alike on the publishers, and the artists who have invested with new charms, two volumes which deservedly merit a place in every library. * * * * * _The Poet’s Offering_, is the title of a splendid volume of nearly six hundred pages, edited by Mrs. HALE, and published by Messrs. GREGG & ELLIOTT. It is beautifully illustrated, and will, we think, prove one of the most popular gift books of the season—for it is a gift book—as the fair editor justly remarks, on a new plan, the contents of which are of more value than the cover, and she does not assume too much, when she declares that in this volume will be found the most perfect gems of genius the English language has preserved since the days of Spenser. More than four hundred authors are quoted, and in the arrangement of the book, great care has been taken to exhibit the peculiar excellencies of each writer. That Mrs. Hale has acquitted herself admirably in the execution of an arduous undertaking, is an unquestionable fact, and her efforts have been nobly seconded by the liberality of the publishers, in sparing neither labor nor expense to prepare for the public taste a most beautiful, valuable, and acceptable volume. * * * * * [Illustration: Anaïs Toudouze LE FOLLET