From The Star.--"The reading public are indebted to the Duke of Manchester for two very interesting and highly valuable volumes. The Duke has turned to good account the historical treasures of Kimbolton. We learn a good deal in these volumes about Queen Elizabeth and her love affairs, which many grave historical students may have ignored. A chapter full of interest is given to Penelope Devereux, the clever, charming, and disreputable sister of the Earl of Essex. The Montagu or Manchester family and their fortunes are traced out in the volumes, and there are anecdotes, disclosures, reminiscences, or letters, telling us something of James and Charles I., of Oliver Cromwell, of Buckingham, of 'Sacharissa,' of Prior, Peterborough, and Boling-broke, of Swift, Addison, and Harley, of Marlborough and Shovel, of Vanbrugh and Congreve, of Court lords and fine ladies, of Jacobites and Williamites, of statesmen and singers, of the Council Chamber and the Opera House. Indeed, it would not be easy to find a work of our day which contains so much to be read and so little to be passed over." From The Observer.--"These valuable volumes will be eagerly read by all classes, who will obtain from them not only pleasant reading and amusement, but instruction given in an agreeable form. The Duke of Manchester has done good service to the literary world, and merits the highest praise for the admirable manner in which he has carried out his plan." THE LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING, Minister of the National Scotch Church, London. Illustrated by his Journal and Correspondence. By Mrs. Oliphant. Third and Cheaper Edition. "We who read these memoirs must own to the nobility of Irving's character, the grandeur of his aims, and the extent of his powers. His friend Carlyle bears this testimony to his worth:--'I call him, on the whole, the best man I have ever, after trial enough, found in this world, or hope to find.' A character such as this is deserving of study, and his life ought to be written. Mrs. Oliphant has undertaken the work, and has produced a biography of considerable merit. The author fully understands her hero, and sets forth the incidents of his career with the skill of a practised hand. The book is a good book on a most interesting theme."--_Times._ "Mrs. Oliphant's 'Life of Edward Irving' supplies a long-felt desideratum. It is copious, earnest, and eloquent. On every page there is the impress of a large and masterly comprehension, and of a bold, fluent, and poetic skill of portraiture. Irving as a man and as a pastor is not only fully sketched, but exhibited with many broad, powerful, and life-like touches, which leave a strong impression."--_Edinburgh Review._