*HELPS, ARTHUR, is a name less familiar to the British public than it will be when it is openly associated with certain writings which, in an anonymous form, have been widely read and highly admired. In 1811 a new English author made his modest ddbut in a work entitled Essays written in the Intervals of Business.' From the same pen there came 'Catherine Douglas ; a Tragedy,' and ' King Henry the Second; an Historical Drama,' both published in 1843. The author's next publication was 'The Claims of Labour ; an Essay on the Deities of the Employers to the Employed; to which is added an Essay on the Means of Improving the Health, &c., of the Labouring Classes.' This appeared in 1845, and was followed by Friends in Council : a Series of Reading and Discourse thereon, I847-49; to which were subsequently added two other works, namely, 'The Conquerors of the New World and their Bondsmen ; being a Narrative of the Principal Events which led to Negro Slavery in the West Indies and America,' 1848; and 'Companions of my Solitude' (a kind of sequel to' Friends in Council'), 1851. While these writings were being widely circulated, and the author was being spoken of under his assumed designation as the author of ' Friends in Council,' it was no secret in literary circles that the thoughtful writer was Mr. Arthur Helps, a gentleman of independent means, who had been educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (where he had graduated B.A. in 1835),
had subsequently for some years held an official appointment in one of the chief departments of civil service, and had at length retired to enjoy literary and philosophic leisure on his property near Bishop's Waltham io Hampshire. As Mr. Helps, though ho had published anonymously, never wished to conceal the fact of his being the author of the writings that have been mentioned, it has been thought no breach of etiquette by hia friends to refer to him by name in connec tion with his literary succees ; and recently he has given his own authority for this, by publishing one more extensive and elaborate work with his name on the titlo.page. This work, which is an expan sion of one of those already named, is entitled The Spanish Conquest in America, and its relations to the History of Slavery and to the Government of the Colonies, by Arthur Helps, 2 vols., 1855: Like all Mr. Helps' writings, it is remarkable for its simple English style and its calm wisdom ; but, being on a larger scale than his essays, it permits the display of qualities not there so visible. It is, in fact, a valuable history; and those who know its merits, and who know also that Mr. Helps is still (1856) in the prime of life, augur from it many more admirable contributions to English literature from the came quiet and graceful pen.