_The Berber, or Mountaineer of the Atlas,_ by WILLIAM S. MAYO, M.D., published by G.P. Putnam, is toned down to a very considerable degree from the high-colored pictures which produced such a dazzling effect in _Kaloolah_, the work by which the author first became known to the public. The scene is laid in Morocco, affording the writer an occasion for the use of a great deal of geographical and historical lore, which is introduced to decided advantage as a substantial back-ground to the story, which, in itself, possesses a sustained and powerful interest. Dr. Mayo displays a rare talent in individualizing character: his groups consist of distinct persons, without any confused blundering or repetition; he is not only a painter of manners, but an amateur of passion; and hence his admirable descriptions are combined with rapid and effective touches, which betray no ordinary insight into the subtle philosophy of the heart. The illusion of the story is sometimes impaired by the introduction of the novelist in the first person, a blemish which we should hardly have looked for in a writer who is so obviously well acquainted with the resources of artistic composition as the author of this volume. Harper and Brothers have issued the Fifth Part of _The Life and Correspondence of_ ROBERT SOUTHEY, which brings the biography down to the fifty-fifth year of his age, and to the close of the year 1828. The next number will complete the work, which has sustained a uniform interest from the commencement, presenting a charming picture of the domestic habits, literary enterprises, and characteristic moral features of its eminent subject. Mr. Southey’s connection with the progress of English literature during the early part of the present century, his strong political predilections, the extent and variety of his productions, and his singular devotion to a purely intellectual life, make his biography one of the most entertaining and instructive records that have recently been published in this department of letters. His son, Rev. Charles Cuthbert Southey, by whom the work is edited, has acquitted himself of his task with admirable judgment and modesty, never obtruding himself on the notice of the reader, and leaving the correspondence, which, in fact, forms a continuous narrative, to make its natural impression, without weakening its force by superfluous comment. The present number contains several letters to our distinguished countryman, GEORGE TICKNOR, Esq., of Boston, which will be read with peculiar interest on account of their free remarks on certain American celebrities, and their criticisms on some of the popular productions of American literature.