Queen Catharine’s Sorrow is a ballad of mournful minstrelsy.  Next is the Bard’s Address to his youngest Daughter, by Mr. Hogg—­beginning

  Come to my arms, my dear wee pet! 
  My gleesome, gentle Harriet!

with all the sweetness and affection of shepherd love.  The Poet’s Oak, by Allan Cunningham, is a beautiful finish to the volume, which is altogether equal to any of its compeers.

The Illustrations, twelve in number, may challenge comparison with those of any similar work.  Lyra, the frontispiece, after Wood, by T.A.  Dean, is one of the loveliest creations of art; Vesuvius, after Turner, by Jeavons, is a most elaborate picture of that sublime spectacle of Nature; Echo, from Arnald’s picture in the last exhibition, is finely executed by Goodall; and with still greater fidelity, Wilkie’s Reading the News, is engraved by H. Robinson; but spirited and finished as it is, we must object to the quantity of smoke from the joint on the baker’s board, and more especially from the pie; besides which, the bakehouse must be at some distance.  The picture has a pleasant accompaniment, by Mr. Charles Knight.  Catharine of Arragon, and Mary Queen of Scots and the Commissioners of the Scottish Church, are so purely historical as almost to tell their own tale; the first, after Leslie, by W. Humphreys, is in every line a lesson.  The remainder of the plates are of unequal merit, and the elegantly embossed plum-colour leather binding is even an improvement on that of last year.

* * * * *

The Amulet.

This has always been with us a favourite work, and we rejoice to say that the present is equal to any of its predecessors.  It is more sprightly than its title implies, and even less sombre than the Friendship’s Offering; and the interest of most of the prose articles is far from perishable.  Two of them by Dr. Walsh—­Are there more worlds inhabited than our globe?—­and the First Invasion of Ireland,—­are excellent papers, though too azure for some who have not the philosophical mind of Lady Mary S——­d.  Among the Tales, the Two Delhis; Annie Leslie, by Mrs. S.C.  Hall; the Glen of St. Kylas, by Mr. Carne; the Anxious Wife, by the Editor; a Tale of Pentland, by the Ettrick Shepherd; and the Austral Chief, by the Rev. Mr. Ellis,—­may be read and re-read with increasing interest, which is not a general characteristic of “Annual” sketches.  Our extract is one of the most buoyant pieces in the volume—­

A CASTLE IN THE AIR.

By Miss Mitford.[5]

    [5] This ingenious lady is the most indefatigable of all
        lady-writers of the present day.  Her “Sketches” will soon reach
        the famed “One Thousand and One.”  At this moment too, our
        favourite authoress is engaged on two tragedies for the patent