recently put forth by Mr. GEO. P. PUTNAM, of the Anglo-American
house of WILEY AND PUTNAM, London, has been received with a becoming
spirit by the English press. It has been most favorably noticed in
the 'London Review,' 'Examiner,' 'Athenæum,' 'Literary Gazette,'
and other influential journals; and its publication has secured
to the writer the attention and friendship of several of the most
distinguished literary and scientific gentlemen of the British
metropolis. This timely pamphlet, in fact, has opened the eyes of
the English people to the progress of science and belles-lettres
in America, and has served to enlighten them as to the extent of
their literary obligations to this country. Widely noticed by the
press, and stitched in all the principal reviews and periodicals of
England, the 'American Book-Circular' has already been productive of
great good to the reputation of our vigorous but infant 'republic
of letters.' * * * 'FLANEUR,' whom we welcome, has made sundry
inquiries in preceding pages concerning certain terms and sayings
which have long and generally obtained among pen-and-ink writers
of romances and novels, native and foreign. There are other common
sayings and comparative-adages, toward one or two of which we should
be glad to direct the researches of the reader, 'on the present
occasion.' 'Poor as JOB'S turkey,' has always puzzled us. Is there
any authentic record of the personal condition of that afflicted
bird, or of the causes which threw it into a decline? Why has it
been handed down to us as the very CALVIN EDSON of its tribe? 'Not
worth a Tinker's d--n' is another adage, whose origin is involved
in mystery. When was the standard of value established for that
intangible commodity of this particular artizan? Was there ever
a 'sliding scale' for it, or such a thing as a 'first-quality'
article in its kind, before it became a synonym for _nothing_?
We have already asked who that 'DICK' was, who wore such an 'odd
hat-band' that its memorial has been perpetuated even unto this day?
'We shall resume this important subject in our next discourse.' *
* * THE sudden death of WILLIAM ABBOTT, Esq., of the Park Theatre,
has been announced in nearly all the public journals of the United
States. We had the pleasure to know Mr. ABBOTT well. He was first
introduced to us, on his arrival in America, by a private letter
from Miss LANDON, who spoke of his literary and social qualities
in terms of cordial admiration and praise, which subsequent
acquaintance convinced us were well deserved. To marked amenity and
cheerfulness of manner, Mr. ABBOTT united literary acquirements of
great extent and variety; a thorough knowledge of society; and a
frankness of deportment which won, and a sincerity which retained,
many friends. He was a most gentleman-like actor; and will be missed
and mourned not less by his professional brethren than by those
whose acquaintance with his talents and many good qualities was
unconnected with his dramatic career. * * * HOW very prettily this
little Love-passage is rendered! Our correspondent lets us hear from
him quite too seldom:
TO ALMEDA: FROM THE SPANISH.
THINK you, my love, if ever fate
Should cast a shadow o'er our bliss,
That you or I could e'er forget
In darkest hours our _Good-night Kiss_?
Ah no! though hopes should melt in tears,
And fade for ever days like this,
Sad memory through the longest years
Would hover round our _Good-night Kiss_.
_Boston, June, 1843._
J. T. F.
THE appearance on our table of an exquisitely beautiful card of
invitation to the great _Dinner at Faneuil Hall_ on the Seventeenth
of June (a kindness of the 'Committee of Arrangements,' for which,
although unfortunately adscititious, we desire to render our cordial
acknowledgments) reminds us to speak of _another_ species of card,
from the same press, which we must believe is little known, but
which only _requires_ to be known, to be found in the possession of
every tasteful lover of the Beautiful. Mr. DICKINSON, of Boston,
has recently completed a variety of ornamental cards, of various
sizes, large, medium, and _petite_, one use of which we desire to
indicate to our metropolitan readers; not without the hope also
that the information will not come amiss to our readers every
where; for the cards are 'awaiting' as well as 'under _orders_.'
As frames for medium and small engravings, we certainly know of
nothing so tasteful and so appropriate. In color various; of tints
inconceivably delicate; and with borderings of the most chaste yet
elaborate and distinct _bas-relief_; they are 'just the thing' for
the purpose we have indicated. We shall be happy to afford 'the
ocular proof' to any one who may doubt the justice, or impugn the
good taste, which we conceive to characterize as well the cards
as our encomiums! These admirable specimens of American taste and
skill may be found at the establishment of the Messrs. WOODWORTH's
(late BONFANTI's) and at NESBITT's in this city. * * * THE interest
still excited by the slightest object connected with the name of
NAPOLEON has recently been curiously illustrated by the opening of
a 'NAPOLEON Museum' in London, consisting of a vast collection of
mementos of the great hero and his associates, from the day of his
birth to the time of his burial. Among them is a morceau of his
penmanship in his latter days, on the back of a card, the ominous
nine of diamonds, which has caused a good deal of merriment to the
cockneys, although it strikes us they should 'laugh on the wrong
side of the mouth.' The imperial prisoner appears to have been
making an attempt to commit some English words to memory, and to
have noted down the difference between _hungry_ and _angry_--words
which must have sounded marvellously similar in his ears, from the
mouths of his English visitors: 'Are you 'ungry?--are you angry?' We
do not wonder at his perplexity. His memorandum runs thus upon the
card: 'Are you 'ungry?'--'_Avez vous faim?_' 'Are you angry?--'Etes
vous en colere?' * * * '_Polemics_' is an article catholic and
cogent in spirit and argument, _but_ it is TOO LONG for an essay.
(We wish we could impress upon our didactic correspondents the
necessity of at least _comparative_ brevity!) Rev. THEODORE PARKER,
in the following, has expressed every fact and argument which our
correspondent has expanded over eight letter-sheet pages! Indeed,
himself shall be the judge:
'WHO shall tell us that another age will not smile at
our doctrines, disputes, and unchristian quarrels about
Christianity? Who shall tell us they will not weep at the folly
of all such as fancied Truth shone only in the contracted
nook of their school, or sect, or coterie? Men of other times
may look down equally on the heresy-hunters and men hunted for
heresy, and wonder at both. The men of all ages before us were
quite as confident as we, that their opinion was truth; that
their notion was Christianity, and the whole thereof. The men
who lit the fires of persecution, from the first martyr to
Christian bigotry down to the last-murder of the innocents, had
no doubt their opinion was divine. No doubt an age shall come,
in which ours shall be reckoned a period of darkness, like the
sixth century, when men groped for the wall, but stumbled and
fell, because they trusted a transient notion, not an eternal
truth. But while this change goes on; while one generation of
opinions passes away and another rises up; Christianity itself,
that pure religion, which exists eternal in the constitution of
the soul and the mind of GOD, is always the same.'
'FANCY'S VISION,' says a correspondent, in a running commentary
upon the poetry of our May number, 'is very well done for a Scotch
song; although I think BURNS and others have too well occupied that
field, for foreign imitators to expect to glean much. It seems a
little unnatural for Americans to compose in the Scottish dialect,
however simple and well-adapted to love-lyrics that English-Doric
may be thought. Some Scotticisms, such as 'bonnie,' 'burnie,'
'wimplin,' etc., are very sweet; but others, in my view, such
as 'hame,' 'drap,' etc., are inferior to the English. Perhaps,
however, the writer is a Caledonian.' To be sure she is; and 'that
makes a difference;' yet we do not disagree in the main with our
correspondent. By the by, speaking of Scottish poetry, here is a
specimen of the true thing. It is from the pen of an esteemed friend
and contributor, and has been widely circulated, and as widely
admired, both at home and abroad:
THE WEE VOYAGER.
WRITTEN ON SEEING IN A GLASGOW NEWSPAPER THAT THE CREW OF A VESSEL
DISCOVERED A HARE FLOATING IN THE FRITH OF FORTH UPON A SHEET OF ICE
TO THE OCEAN.
BY JAMES LAWSON.
AN' where are ye gaun ye wee voyager,
Wi' look sae fleyed or blate?
An' where are ye gaun ye wee voyager,
On sic an unco gate?
Ye're sailin' awa in a cauld cauld bark,
An' nae a frien' beside ye;
Ye're sailin' awa in a frail frail bark,
Without ane helm to guide ye.
Ye hae nae a mast, ye hae nae a sail,
Nae bield frae win' to hide ye;
An' the lift cours' down wi' a threatenin' glow'r
Sae ill maun sure betide ye.
The gloamin is mirk, and the gurley sea
Is yaupin to rin ower ye;
The big pellocks soom, an' the wild maws wing,
As watchin to devour ye.
The wraith of the storm shaws her grim grim face,
The petrel skreighs aloud;
An' the yird looks sick, an' the lift as t'wad fa'
For nature's funeral shroud.
Then wherefore sail ye in this frail frail bark
At sic an uncany hour?
Come your ways wi' me (the skipper then cried)
Frae gurly ocean's power.
An' his coggly punt the gude skipper launched,
Upon the roarin' wave;
An' stoutly he skulled wi' his stumpy oar
The voyager to save.
Then, giegly he reached the wee timid puss,
An' snatched her frae the flood;
An' now the wee maukie that sailed the sea,
Rins in the bonny green wood.
This would be 'ower Scotch,' perhaps, for an English ear, but that
the very _sound_ of the doubtful words is expressive of their
meaning. * * * THE '_Reminiscence of Little Burke_' is not to our
taste. He was an extraordinary urchin, certainly; but like all
_very_ precocious children, he grew to--_nothing_. We have always
utterly detested infant theatricals. We know of no more ridiculous
a sight than one of these dramatic juveniles 'strutting like a
Lilliputian grenadier; trying to knit its brow, and flourish its
little falchion at an over-grown victim of its vengeance,' who is
bending half way down, to hear more distinctly the penny-trumpet
tones in which he is threatened. 'Little BURKE'S' father had no
very exalted opinion of his son's genius! 'Oh, no! by no means!
oh, certainly not!' * * * WE cannot resist the employment of
a line or two, though sadly pressed for space, to commend to
citizens and strangers the establishment of the _American Museum_,
as conducted by its present indefatigable proprietor. It was our
intention to have particularized some of the numerous attractions
of this very popular resort; but as these are constantly changing,
our intelligence would be likely to prove 'JOHNNY THOMPSON'S
news' at the end of the month in which we write. The corps of
gentlemen-singers, for example, who adopted the 'Ethiopian' garb,
were alone worth a walk of miles to hear. Think of a charming
_duet_, in the most perfect time and harmony, on a pair of tongs and
an accordion! * * * WE derive from a lady-friend, to whose kindness
our readers have heretofore been indebted, the stanzas translated
from the German by FITZ GREENE HALLECK, Esq., in preceding pages.
They were withheld originally from publication; the fastidious
taste of the writer suggesting infelicities, which we are certain
will escape the scrutiny of less refined critics of 'the gentle art
of song.' * * * SOME newspaper 'down east' has been instigated to
hint that the lively and gossipping New-York correspondence of the
Washington 'National Intelligencer' is written by JOHN NEAL! As if
it were possible to mistake the pleasant style of Mr. WILLIS, for
the labored yet slovenly _no-style_ of 'OMNIUM SCRIBLERIUS!' One
might as well attribute the authorship of 'Thanatopsis' to 'Sir
WILLIAM MARSH, of Apple Island, Boston Harbor!' * * * THE paper
elicited by the article upon '_Forensic Eloquence_' in our last
number, is somewhat too kindred in character with that excellent
performance, to be at present admissible. As the MS. is left to our
option, however, with permission to 'add, clip, or destroy,' we
annex a passage which will be new to many of our readers:
'CÆSAR, who was himself an accomplished orator, and knew all the
windings of the art, was so shaken on the occasion of TULLY's
oration, that he trembled, dropped his papers, and acquitted
the prisoner. Many attributed this to the force of TULLY's
elocution; but it seems rather to have been the effect of
CÆSAR's art. He played back the orator's art upon himself. His
concern was feigned, and his mercy artificial; as he knew that
nothing could so effectually win TULLY to his party, as giving
him the pride of having conquered CÆSAR.' In relation to the
different _styles_ of eloquence, the same writer observes: 'The
pathetic orator who throws a congregation of enthusiasts into
tears and groanings, would raise affections of a very different
nature, should he attempt to proselyte an American congress;
and on the other hand, the finest speaker that ever commanded
the House, would in vain point the thunder of his eloquence on
a Quaker meeting. VOLTAIRE tells us, that 'in France a sermon
is a long declamation, spoken with rapture and enthusiasm; in
Italy, it is a kind of devotional comedy; in England, it is
a solid dissertation, sometimes a dry one, which is read to
the congregation without action or elocution.' A discourse
which would raise a French audience to the highest pitch of
enthusiasm, would throw an English one into a fit of laughter.'
D.'s story of '_The Whistling Bridegroom_' is very good, but 'drawn
too fine' for the strength of the fabric. Briefly, it is this: A
clergyman is uniting two persons in marriage; and when he arrives at
the point in the service where he directs the bridegroom to 'take
the bride by the hand,' the former pays no attention to him, but
looks steadfastly upon the floor, and indulges in a subdued whistle.
The direction is repeated, but again the only notice taken of it
is a continuation of the whistling, _sotto voce_. A third time the
_command_ is given, and the only response is the unique musical
accompaniment aforesaid. The clergyman pauses, thinking himself
intentionally insulted, when the blushing bride, who had doubtless
been thinking of other things, raised her eyes, saying: 'He's deaf,
Sir; and it's his way to whistle to himself, when he's any thing
on his mind!' The explanation was satisfactory; and 'the deaf was
_made_ to hear' the next repetition of the important direction. * *
* 'PRETTY good,' but not _quite_ probable, we think, the wonderful
'_Lusus Naturæ_' described by our Kentucky correspondent! _Did_ he
really think we should nibble at that hook? There is a wind-mill, we
are informed, on the coast of Holland, which lays eggs and breeds
young ones; but its family is not near so remarkable as the Kentucky
wonder of our new contributor! Would he have the goodness to 'try
again?' We fancy it must have been with him that the western story
of the '_Prock_' originated; a singular animal, with its legs, on
one side of its body, very short, to enable it to 'graze on the
inclined planes of nature!' It was caught, we remember, by 'heading
it,' which reversed the animal, and rendered his legs useless, by
changing their position! _Vive la Bagatelle!_ * * * THE recent death
of Hon. HUGH S. LEGARE is an event which deserves a particular
record in these pages. He was one of the ripest scholars of whom
the Union could boast; and in all regards reflected high honor upon
our literature. He always wrote from a _full_ mind. Let any one
turn to the papers which he furnished for the 'Southern Review' and
our own New-York Quarterly, and it will be seen how forcibly they
illustrate the justice of this encomium. Had Mr. LEGARE lived, our
readers would soon have had an opportunity of admiring his literary
performances in the pages of the KNICKERBOCKER. In a late letter
to the Editor, written only a few days previous to his leaving
Washington for the last time, Mr. LEGARE incidentally exhibits the
patient research of which he was about to reap an adequate reward,
in the new and high career of public service upon which he had
entered. 'My studies,' he writes, 'have for many years been of a
very severe and serious cast, looking all of them, more or less,
to useful results in active life, and most of them connected with
political economy and jurisprudence.' Works of recondite research
and striking views, such as those of NIEBUR, SAVIGNY, and others of
that illustrious German line, had richly furnished his _adversaria_
and port-folios; and it was from these that he was to have enriched
and diversified our pages. The death of such a man, in the prime of
life and in the midst of his usefulness, is a public loss, which
cannot fail to be widely and deeply felt. Honorable and high-minded
in all the relations of life, Mr. LEGARE met his last hour with
perfect composure. In dying as in living, he was the admiration
of his friends. * * * WE saw the other day what its possessor
termed a '_Dogberry-o'-type_ likeness' of MILLER, the Prophet--a
counterfeit presentment of a cunning old humbug, 'on its very
_face_.' Its exhibition led to a story of one of MILLER'S converts,
which we thought worth remembering. A matter-of-fact old gentleman
in New England, whose wife was a thoroughgoing 'Destructionist,'
was awakened out of his sleep by his 'possessed' rib, one cold and
stormy March night, with: 'Husband! did you hear that noise? It's
GABRIEL a-comin'! It's the sound of his chariot-wheels!' 'Oh, psha!
you old fool!' replied the gude man; 'do you s'pose GABRIEL is such
an ass as to come _on wheels_, in such good sleighing as this? I
tell you it's the wind; turn over, and go to sleep!' We believe
she did. * * * THE '_Confessions of a Belle_' is not a new title,
and it _strikes_ us that we have encountered some of its incidents
before. The _lesson_, howbeit, is an excellent one. THEODORE HOOK
speaks forcibly to this point, in a portrait of one of his female
characters: 'With all this blaze of notoriety, did any body esteem
her particularly? Was there any ONE man upon earth who on his
pillow could say, 'My GOD! what an angel is FANNY WILDING!' Had she
ever refused an offer of marriage? No! for nobody ever had made
her one. She was like a fine fire-work, entertaining to look at,
but dangerous to come near to; her bouncing and cracking in the
open air gave a lustre to surrounding objects, but there was not a
human being who could be tempted to take the exhibition into his
own house.' * * * IF 'J. P. S.' will look once more at our remarks,
touching which he 'begs leave to demur,' he will find that we differ
very little from himself. His pride of opinion runs to a point, and
reminds us of a reply we once heard a quaint old Friend make to the
eager question of a group around him, touching the relative speed
of two steam-boats which were running a race, and a very even one,
through Long Island Sound. 'Don't you think we've gained on her,
in coming the last forty miles?' 'Yes,' replied the Quaker, with
great gravity; 'I should say we _had_.' 'Well, how _much_, should
you think?' 'I maybe mistaken,' responded our Friend, 'but, I should
say, _about an inch_!' We believe this 'close observer' was not
again appealed to for his judgment in the premises. * * * WE do
not much affect parodies, generally, but the following, from the
London '_Charivari_,' is too good to be lost. It is entitled '_The
Macadamized_,' and is set to the air of 'The Monks of Old:'
'MANY have told of the roads of old,
What a swamp of muck they were:
But a Macadam-way, on a rainy day,
Would make a street sweeper swear.
For it goes beyond the Slough of Despond,
In its hopeless state of slush:
And it grows, ha! ha! to your clothes, ha! ha!
In spite of the hardest brush.
'And when it is fine, if the sun should shine,
You're no better off than before:
For it turns to dust and at every gust
It settles in every pore:
And it tries, as it dries, in a cloud to rise,
And peppers your coat and your hat:
And it flies, ha! ha! in your eyes, ha! ha!
And makes you as blind as a bat!'
'_The Croton Fever_,' by 'STRAWS, JR.' has good points. Some of
its humor is 'rather _fine_,' certainly, but only because it is
_strained_. The satire, however, is in one instance just. A friend
in a sister city, recently returned home from a visit to New-York,
writes us that he is henceforth a Baptist, greatly preferring
_immersion_ to _sprinkling_, of which latter practice of ours, he
entertains a vivid recollection. 'In short,' he writes, 'I never
saw such a set of incorrigible _squirts_ as you have in Gotham.
Morning and evening, every householder, who can afford it, stands
before his door, playing with his machine; now deluging the walk,
now the pavement, and anon flooding his doors, windows, and blinds
with hissing streams of Croton. When you write DICKENS next, just
tell him that the application of the _douche_ to the pigs, from
hundreds of Croton-pipers, has well-nigh driven those quadrupedal
republicans from the thoroughfares. That's _one_ comfort!' Ah! yes;
and clean streets, and murmuring fountains, and cool side-walks,
are 'comforts' also, 'which they of the adverse faction want.' The
grapes are not _sweet_, and 'that's the humor on't!' * * * THE
Idleberg 'chronicle' will be concluded in our next. The loss of a
sheet of the copy (which has now been re-supplied by the author)
is the cause of the delay. The fourth number of 'Meadow Farm'
will also appear in our August number. The following papers are
filed for insertion, or awaiting adequate consideration: 'Greek
Epitaphs and Inscriptions;' 'The Doomed Ship;' 'Thales of Paris;'
'Chronicles by an Antiquary;' 'My Leg, a Sketch;' 'A Defence of
the Pythagorean System;' 'The Novel-Reader;' 'Disguised Derivative
Words in English;' 'MARY MAY, the Newfoundland Indian;' 'An Old
Man's Reminiscence;' 'Polygon Papers,' Number Ten; 'The Birth-Day,'
by 'W. C.;' 'New Version of an Old Fable;' 'The Count of Paris;'
'The Painted Rock;' 'The Hour of Rest;' 'Sing,' by Lady ALICIA JANE
SPARROW, Ireland; 'Orators and Bells;' 'The Maiden's Burial,' etc.
'The Consumptive' is both labored and common-place. 'Neanias' of
Kentucky is not deemed admissible. * * * SEVERAL publications, among
them a Lecture by EUGENIUS A. NISBET, delivered before the Georgia
Historical Society at Savannah, in March last; 'A Voice from the
Vintage,' by Mrs. ELLIS, etc., will receive attention in our next.
Our Philadelphia Friend, in reply to 'N. S. D.,' shall have a place
in the August number.
LITERARY RECORD.
LATE PUBLICATIONS OF THE BROTHERS HARPER.--Independent of the serial
works of the HARPER's, their ALISON, BRANDE's Encyclopedia, etc.,
which they continue to publish with their wonted regularity, and
in their accustomed style of excellence, we have before us, in a
large and well-executed volume, 'A Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities,' illustrated by numerous engravings on wood, and
containing numerous additional articles relative to the botany,
mineralogy, and zoology of the ancients; by CHARLES ANTHON, Esq.,
the American editor; a work of too comprehensive a scope and of too
great value to be despatched in so brief a notice as the present;
and M'CULLOCH's 'Universal Gazetteer, or Dictionary,' geographical,
statistical, and historical, of the various countries, places,
and principal natural objects in the world, illustrated by seven
extensive and complete maps on steel.' Each article is written with
fulness; the arrangement is concise and clear; and the work may be
referred to on the instant for any subject embraced in its pages.
We should be more indebted to the editor of the American department
if he would give us his valuable _facts_ unconnected with his
_opinions_. His sneer at the voyages of discovery in the north-west,
in connection with his reference to a ship-canal across the
isthmus of Darien, is in bad taste, to say the least of it. Narrow
views in relation to great public enterprises which may chance to
be unsuccessful, are out of place in a noble work like this of
M'CULLOCH, even though they appear in the 'questionable shape' of
acknowledged annotation.
COBB'S JUVENILE READERS.--Mr. LYMAN COBB deserves well of his
country, and especially of its juvenile citizens, for the several
excellent school-books for the young which he has prepared with
great industry and tact, and from time to time put forth. We find
on our table his three progressive 'Juvenile Readers;' and judging
from the necessarily cursory examination which we have been enabled
to give them, we have no hesitation in pronouncing them the best
works of their class we have ever encountered. The author has taken
great pains so to arrange the different lessons as to lead the child
by a regular gradation from easy to difficult reading; to adapt the
subjects to his advancement; and to place before him such matter,
and such only, as shall convey to the juvenile mind correct views,
and just principles of morality. All words of variable or doubtful
orthography are also carefully exhibited. There are numerous other
important merits, and improvements upon kindred works, to which
we have neither time nor space at present to allude, but which we
hope our readers will take occasion to find and admire in the works
themselves. Mr. CALEB BARTLETT, corner of Platt and Pearl-streets,
is the New-York publisher of Mr. COBB's series.