The “Prose Writings of William Cullen Bryant,”[L] edited by Parke Godwin will meet with a cordial welcome from all readers of good literature. They appear in two volumes, and properly belong to a set called “The Life and Works of William Cullen Bryant,” forming the fifth and sixth volumes of the set. It was the thought of the editor at first to publish entire the orations, addresses, and various letters of Mr. Bryant, but careful consideration led him to think that this would extend the work beyond desirable limits; so it was confined to a few selections from the various departments in which the author displayed his power. Volume V of the set, or I of the “Prose Writings,” contains several “Literary Essays,” “Narratives,” and “Commemorative Discourses” on Cooper, Irving, Halleck, and Verplanck. Volume II contains “Sketches of Travel,” “Occasional Addresses,” comprising those on Shakspere, Scott, Burns, Goethe, Schiller, and many others; and “Editorial Comments and Criticisms.” The selections are all timely and well adapted to catch the reader’s fancy and interest. There can scarcely fail to come to one, however, who is the possessor of these books, a feeling of regret that the editor did not follow his original intention and give more of the writings of the author. The wish to have at hand the complete works of the great American, and to have them in as attractive a form as that in which Mr. Godwin has arranged them is strong enough to far outweigh his unjustifiable fear of making too voluminous a collection. FOOTNOTES [J] Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, the Astronomer-Poet of Persia. Rendered into English verse by Edward Fitzgerald, with an accompaniment of drawings by Elihu Vedder. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1884. Price, $25. [K] Atala. By Chauteaubriand. Translated by James Spence Harry. Illustrated by Gustave Doré. Introduction by Edward J. Harding. Extra cloth, full gilt, $5.00: full Morocco, extra, $10. New York: Cassell & Co. 1884. [L] Prose Writings of William Cullen Bryant. Edited by Parke Godwin. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1884. BOOKS RECEIVED. Euphrasia and Alberta. Poetic Romances. By John Ap Thomas Jones. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1884. French Conversation. By J. D. Gaillard. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1885. Journal of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in Philadelphia, May, 1884. Edited by the Rev. David S. Monroe, D.D. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe. The Life of John Howard Payne. Author of Home, Sweet Home. With illustrations. By Gabriel Harrison. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1885. Elements of Geometry. By Eli T. Tappan, LL.D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1885. Elements of English Speech. By Isaac Bassett Choate. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1884. The Life of the Rev. Philip William Otterbein. By the Rev. A. W. Dewey, A. M. With an introduction by Bishop J. Weaver, D.D. Dayton, Ohio: United Brethren Publishing House. 1884.