A DISCOURSE ON THE LIFE, CHARACTER, AND POLICY OF COUNT CAVOUR.  By VINCENZO BOTTA, Phil.  D. New-York:  G.P.  Putnam, No. 532 Broadway. 1862.

This excellent address which, in its present form embraces 108 octavo pages, first delivered in the Hall of the New-York Historical Society, has since been repeated to one of the most cultivated audiences ever assembled in Boston, on both occasions eliciting the most cordial admiration from all who were so fortunate as to be present.  Of the ability of the eminent Dr. Botta to write on this subject, it is almost needless to speak.  A late member of the Italian Parliament, and formerly Professor of Philosophy in the College of Sardinia, intimately acquainted with the great men of modern Italy, as with those of the past, in their writings, and cast by personal experience amid stirring scenes, he is singularly well qualified to write of Cavour, for whom it was reserved to achieve, in a great measure, the work which the vain longings of an enslaved people, and the heroic efforts of centuries, had been unable to accomplish.’  The work before us is, in fact, far more than its very modest title would lead us to infer.  It is, in fact, a comprehensive and excellent history of all that great political revival of Italy of which Cavour was the centre—­a work as admirable for scholarly clearness as for the evidently vast knowledge on which it is based.  It is needless to say that we commend its perusal, with right good-will, to all who take the slightest interest in historical studies or in the politics of modern Europe.

THE KORAN.  Translated by GEORGE SALE.  With a Life of Mohammed.  Boston:  T.O.H.P.  Burnham. 1862.

Good authority in Arabic has declared that, after all the many versions of the Koran extant, there is none better than that by ’George Sale, Gentleman,’ first published in 1734.  We therefore welcome the present edition, and with it even the very old-fashioned Life of Mohammed given with it—­a ‘life’ so very narrow in its views and antiquated in its expression, that it has acquired a certain relish as a relic or literary curiosity.  We learn with pleasure that this is the first of a series of the Holy Books of every nation, to embrace translations of the Vedas, the Zend-Avesta, the Edda, and many others.  Thoreau suggested many years ago—­we think in Walden—­that such a collection should be published together for the world’s use, and we rejoice to see his wish realized.

JEFFERSON AT MONTICELLO.  The Private Life of Thomas Jefferson.  From entirely new materials, with numerous fac-similes.  By Rev. HAMILTON W. PIERSON, D.D., President of Columbia College, Ky.  New-York:  Charles Scribner, No. 124 Grand street.  Boston:  A.K.  Loring. 1862.

‘The Private Life of Jefferson at Monticello’ is too ambitious a title for a little work of 138 pages, octavo though they be.  It is, however, an extremely valuable and interesting collection of anecdotes, fac-simile documents, and casual reminiscences of Thomas Jefferson, as preserved by Captain Edmund Bacon, now a wealthy and aged citizen of Kentucky, and who was for twenty years the chief overseer and business-manager of Jefferson’s estate at Monticello.  In it we see the author of the Declaration and the statesman as he was at home, generous, peculiar, and far-sighted.  Very striking is the following reminiscence of Captain Bacon: