SIR JAMES STEPHEN'S _Lectures on the History of France_, is an exceedingly interesting work, of which we hope to see an American edition. The author is well known in this country, by the largely circulated volume of his _Miscellanies_, published in Philadelphia, a few years ago. The present work consists of discourses delivered by him as professor of History in the University of Cambridge, and though not of the highest rank among systematic histories, it is inferior to very few in occasional grouping and character painting. * * * * * The third volume of Mr. MERRIVALE's _History of the Romans under the Empire_; the ninth and tenth volumes of Mr. GROTE'S _History of Greece_; and a seventh edition of SHARON TURNER'S _History of the Anglo-Saxons_, are among the most interesting English announcements in historical literature. * * * * * The _Life of Dr. Chalmers_, by Dr. Hanna, will extend to four volumes; the third, just re-published by the Harpers, is the most interesting yet issued. We observe that a volume of _Reminiscences of Chalmers_ has been published in London, by Mr. JOHN ANDERSON. * * * * * ALICE CAREY'S _Clovernook, or Recollections of our Neighborhood in the West_, has just been published by Mr. Redfield, in one volume, illustrated by Darley. To those who have read one of the introductory chapters of this work which we copied into the _International_ for November, it seems quite unnecessary to say any thing in illustration or commendation of the author's genius; they will be likely to purchase _Clovernook_ as soon as they are advised of its appearance. We have nothing in our literature, descriptive of country life, to be compared with it, for effective painting or for truthfulness. The scene is laid in Ohio--near Cincinnati--while a suburban village is gradually growing up from the simple cottage in the wilderness till it becomes a favorite resort of patrician families; and few novelists have been more happy in describing the "progress of society," or exhibited, in such performances, more humor, tenderness, or pathos. We have from Ticknor & Co., of Boston, a second series of _Greenwood Leaves_, by the public's old favorite, GRACE GREENWOOD. The tales which it embraces are in the author's happiest vein, and the letters are dashing and piquant, but liable to some objections which we might make in a longer notice. The same publishers have issued a capital book for children, entitled _Recollections of My Childhood_, by the same author. CAROLINE CHEESEBRO is another young magazinist, whose productions have been very popular. Her _Dreamland by Daylight_ (published by Redfield), a collection of tales and sketches, contains much fine sentiment and displays a ready fancy and a just appreciation of social life, but she has a little less individuality than Miss Carey or Grace Greenwood. * * * * *