We believe the editor of the present volume to be Mr. Thomas Pringle, of whose taste and fitness for the task, we spoke in our "Spirit of the Annuals" for 1829. It contains five or six striking prose articles, and, we think, fewer poetical pieces than the former volume. Among the tales entitled to special mention, as evincing considerable talent and more than the ordinary interest of mere sketches--are Il Vesuviano, a Neapolitan Story--the Voyage Out, by Mrs. Bowdich--the Lover's Leap, a Highland Legend, by Leigh Ritchie--a tale of the White Bristol, (30 pages) from the powerful pen of Mr. Banim--the Fords of Callum, by the Ettrick Shepherd--Mourad and Euxabeet, a Persian Tale, by Mr. Fraser--and Whatever betide--for the right, a tale of Old London--the titles of which will give the reader some idea of the rich and varied contents of the prose department. The Outline of a Life, by Mr. Kennedy has all the "fitful fancy" of his earlier productions, but the piece selected by us for quotation, is LUCIFER. _By J.A. St. John_.[3] [3] We have abridged this tale to suit our limits, though we trust not at the expense of the interest of the author. The style is rich and tender, and well suited to this class of works, although we cannot help thinking some of the details unnecessarily protracted. In the volume it occupies 22 pages. In an ancient chronicle of Arezzo, which still remains in manuscript in the church of St. Angelo, in that city,[4] there is found the very extraordinary story of the painter Spinello Aretino, to which Lanzi alludes briefly, in his History of Painting in Italy. No farther notice has, I believe, been taken of it by any other writer whatever, although it appears to me to be singularly well calculated to gratify or to excite the curiosity of those who love to pry into the mysteries of human nature, and to mark the strange avenues by which mortals sometimes approach the gates of death. [4] Vide Catal Manuscript. Sanct Ang. No. 817. 4to. Rom. 1532.