much later.  The manufactures of the people supplied their own wants; they brought from Egypt the arts of weaving woollens and linens, stuffs made of fine goats’ hair, and probably cotton; of dying in various colours, and bleaching, and of embroidering; of many kinds of carpenter’s work; of building, some of the rules of which were regulated by law; of making earthenware vessels; of working in iron, brass, and the precious metals, both casting them and forming them with the tool; of gilding, engraving seals, and various other kinds of ornamental work, which were employed in the construction of the altars and sacred vessels of the Tabernacle.”

Among the illustrative passages we notice the following exquisite paragraph on the—­

HEBREW POETS.

“THE three most eminent men in the Hebrew annals, Moses, David, and Solomon, were three of their most distinguished poets.  The hymns of David excel no less in sublimity and tenderness of expression than in loftiness and purity of religious sentiment.  In comparison with them the sacred poetry of all other nations sinks into mediocrity.  They have embodied so exquisitely the universal language of religious emotion, that (a few fierce and vindictive passages excepted, natural in the warrior-poet of a sterner age,) they have entered with unquestioned propriety into the ritual of the holier and more perfect religion of Christ.  The songs which cheered the solitude of the desert caves of Engedi, or resounded from the voice of the Hebrew people as they wound along the glens or the hill-sides of Judaea, have been repeated for ages in almost every part of the habitable world, in the remotest islands of the ocean, among the forests of America or the sands of Africa.  How many human hearts have they softened, purified, exalted!—­of how many wretched beings have they been the secret consolation!—­on how many communities have they drawn down the blessings of Divine Providence, by bringing the affections into unison with their deep, devotional fervour.”

The present volume extends from the time of Abraham to the Babylonian Captivity.  It is illustrated with three excellent maps, and a few wood cuts; but we are convinced that we need add nothing further of its contents to recommend the History of the Jews to the attention of our readers; for it is one of the most splendid and fascinating works in our recollection.

* * * * *

LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE.

The Fourth Part of this well-arranged publication, is “The Pursuit of Knowledge under difficulties illustrated by Anecdotes.”  The matter is judiciously divided into chapters, as “Strength of the Passion for Knowledge—­Humble Station no Obstacle—­Obscure Origin—­Artists rising from the lower to the higher classes—­Late Learners—­Early Age of Great Men—­Self-educated Men—­Literary Pursuits of Soldiers—­Merchants,