The _Atlantic_ remained for nineteen days at Liverpool; and during all

that time she had to lie in a part of the river called the Sloyne, in

consequence of none of the dock-entrances being wide enough to allow her

to pass in. Her breadth, measuring across the paddle-boxes, is 75 feet;

of the vessels of Cunard's Line, about 70 feet; and the widest

dock-entrance is barely sufficient to admit the latter. The _Great

Britain_, though longer than any other steam-ship that ever entered the

Mersey, is not so broad, as, being propelled by the screw, she has no

paddle-wheels. A dock at the north shore is now in course of

construction expressly for the accommodation of the _Atlantic_ and her

consorts.

For several days during her stay at Liverpool the _Atlantic_ was open to

visitors on payment of sixpence each, the money thus realized (upward of

L70) being paid over to the trustees of the Institution for the Blind,

whose church and school are now being removed to give greater space

round the station of the London and Northwestern Railway. On the day of

my visit crowds of people were waiting at the pier for the steamer that

was to convey them to the _Atlantic_. Whitsuntide visitors from the

manufacturing districts were hastening on board the numerous vessels

waiting to take them on pleasure excursions to the Isle of Man, North

Wales, or round the light-ship at the mouth of the river. There was

great risk of making mistakes in the hurry; and the remark of an old

sailor, that the vessel could "easily be known by the Yankee flag flying

at the fore," served only still further to confuse the many, who could

not tell one flag from another. However, a small tug-steamer soon

appeared with a dirty piece of bunting, just recognizable as the famous

"star-spangled banner," flying at the fore; and her deck was in a few

minutes so crowded, that orders were issued to take no more on board,

and away we steamed, leaving about a hundred people to exercise their

patience until the steamer's return. A man at my elbow, who afterward

appeared in the capacity of money-taker, whispered, "There's the

_captin_" and on looking up the gangway, I saw

"A man of middle age,

In aspect manly, grave, and sage,"

looking calmly in the direction of the colossal ship of which he was the

commander; his complexion browned by exposure to sun and wind, storm and

spray; and his whole demeanor indicating the calm strength acquired by

long familiarity with the elements in their roughest moods. As we

approached the ship, her appearance was not prepossessing. She is

undoubtedly clumsy; the three masts are low, the funnel is short and

dumpy, there is no bowsprit, and her sides are painted black, relieved

only by one long streak of dark red. Her length between the

perpendiculars--that is, the length of her keel--is 276 feet; breadth

(exclusive of paddle-boxes), 45; thus keeping up the proportion, as old

as Noah's ark, of six feet of length to one of breadth. The stern is

rounded, having in the centre the American eagle, clasping the starred

and striped shield, but no other device. The figure-head is of colossal

dimensions, intended, say some, for Neptune; others say that it is the

"old Triton blowing his wreathed horn," so lovingly described by

Wordsworth; and some wags assert that it is the proprietor of the ship

blowing his own trumpet. The huge bulk of the _Atlantic_ was more

perceptible by contrast with the steamer--none of the smallest--that was

now alongside; for though the latter was large enough to accommodate

about four hundred people on deck, yet its funnel scarcely reached as

high as the bulwarks of the _Atlantic_. The diameter of the

paddle-wheels is 36 feet; and the floats, many of which, split and

broken, were lying about in the water, are nearly 15 feet long. The

depth of the hold is 31 feet, and the estimated burden 2860 tons, being

about the same as the _Great Britain_, and about 500 tons more than the

ships of the old Cunard Line.

Like all the other Atlantic steamers, the run of the deck is almost a

straight line. Around the funnel, and between the paddle-boxes, is a

long wooden house, and another is placed at the stern. These contain the

state-rooms of the captain and officers; and in a cluster are to be

found the kitchen, the pastry-room, and the barber's shop. The two

former are, like similar establishments, replete with every convenience,

having even a French _maitre de cuisine_; but the latter is quite

unique. It is fitted up with all necessary apparatus--with glass-cases

containing perfumery, &c.; and in the centre is "the barber's chair."

This is a comfortable, well-stuffed seat, with an inclined back. In

front is a stuffed trestle, on which to rest feet and legs; and behind

is a little stuffed apparatus like a crutch, on which to rest the head.

These are movable, so as to suit people of all sizes; and in this

comfortable horizontal position the passenger lies, and his beard is

taken off in a twinkling, let the Atlantic waves roll as they may. The

house at the stern contains a smoking-room, and a small apartment

completely sheltered from the weather for the steersman. The

smoking-room communicates with the cabin below, so that, after dinner,

those passengers so disposed may, without the least exposure to the

weather, or annoyance to their neighbors, enjoy the weed of old Virginia

in perfection. This smoking-room is the principal prospect of the man at

the helm, who, however, has to steer according to his signals. Before

him is a painted intimation that one bell means "port," and two bells

mean "starboard;" a like intimation appears on the large bell in the bow

of the ship; and according to the striking of the bell, so must he

steer.

Proceeding below, we come to the great saloon, 67 feet long, and the

dining-saloon, 60 feet long, each being 20 feet broad, and divided from

each other by the steward's pantry. This pantry is more like a

silversmith's shop, the sides being lined with glass-cases stored with

beautifully-burnished plate; crockery of every description, well

secured, is seen in great quantities, and the neatness of arrangement

shows that the gilded inscription, full in the sight of every

visitor--"A place for every thing, and every thing in its place"--has

been reduced to practice. Above the tables in the dining-saloon are

suspended racks, cut to receive decanters, passes, &c. so that they can

be immediately placed on the table without the risk attendant on

carrying them from place to place. The two saloons are fitted up

in a very superior manner: rose, satin, and olive are the

principal woods that have been used, and some of the tables are of

beautifully-variegated marble, with metal supporters. The carpets are

very rich, and the coverings of the sofas, chairs, &c. are of the

same superior quality. The panels round the saloons contain

beautifully-finished emblems of each of the states in the Union, and a

few other devices that savor very strongly of republicanism. For

example, a young and beautiful figure, all radiant with health and

energy, wearing a cap of liberty, and waving a drawn sword, is

represented trampling on a feudal prince, from whose head a crown has

rolled in the dust. The cabin windows are of beautifully-painted glass,

embellished with the arms of New York, and other cities in the States.

Large circular glass ventilators, reaching from the deck to the lower

saloon, are also richly ornamented, while handsome mirrors multiply all

this splendor. The general effect is that of chasteness and a certain

kind of solidity. There is not much gilding, the colors used are not

gaudy, and there is a degree of elegant comfort about the saloons that

is sometimes wanting amid splendid fittings. There is a ladies'

drawing-room near the chief saloon full of every luxury. The berths are

about 150 in number, leading out, as usual, from the saloons. The most

novel feature about them is the "wedding-berths," wider and more

handsomely furnished than the others, intended for such newly-married

couples as wish to spend the first fortnight of the honeymoon on the

Atlantic. Such berths are, it seems, always to be found on board the

principal river-steamers in America, but are as yet unknown on this side

of the water. Each berth has a bell-rope communicating with a patented

machine called the "Annunciator." This is a circular plate about the

size of the face of an eight-day clock, covered with numbers

corresponding with those of the state-rooms. Each number is concealed by

a semi-circular plate, which is removed or turned round as soon as the

rope is pulled in the state-room with the corresponding number. A bell

is at the same time struck to call the attention of the stewards, who

then replace the plate in its former position, and attend to the

summons.

The machinery which propels the ship consists of two engines, each of

500 horse-power, the engines of the old line being also two in number,

but only about 400 horse-power each Such cylinders, and shafts, and

pistons, and beams are, I believe unrivaled in the world. There are

four boilers, each heated by eight furnaces, in two rows of four each.

The consumption of coal is about fifty tons every twenty-four hours;

"and that," said one of the engineers, "is walking pretty fast into a

coal-mine, I guess!" According to the calculations of the very wise men

who predicted the failure of Atlantic steam navigation, such a vessel as

the _Atlantic_ ought to carry 3700 tons of coal; but it will be seen

that one-fourth of that quantity is more than enough, even making

allowance for extra stores to provide against accidents. In the

engine-room is a long box with five compartments, each communicating

with a wire fastened like a bell-pull to the side of the paddle-box.

These handles are marked respectively, "ahead," "slow," "fast," "back,"

and "hook-on;" and whenever one is pulled, a printed card with the

corresponding signal appears in the box opposite the engineer, who has

to act accordingly. There is thus no noise of human voices on board this

ship: the helmsman steers by his bells, the engineer works by the

telegraph, and the steward waits by the annunciator.

Two traces of national habits struck me very much. Even in the finest

saloon there are, in places where they would be least expected, handsome

"spittoons," the upper part fashioned like a shell, and painted a

sea-green or sky-blue color, thus giving ample facility for indulging in

that practice of spitting of which Americans are so fond. Again, much

amusement was caused by the attempt of one of the officers in charge of

the communication between the small steamer and the _Atlantic_ to

prevent the gentlemen from leaving the latter until the ladies had

seated themselves on the former. The appearance of the deck, crowded

with ladies only, and a host of gentlemen kept back, some impatient to

get down, but the greater part entering into the humor of the thing, was

quite new to English ideas. It is but fair to add that the ladies did

not seem to like it; and that, when the steamer again came alongside, it

was not repeated.

Upon the whole, this Atlantic steamer is really worthy of the great

country from which she has come. If, in shape and general appearance,

she is inferior to the old vessels, she is decidedly equal, if not

superior, to them in machinery and fittings. Her powers as regards speed

have of course yet to be tried. One voyage is no test, nor even a series

of voyages during the summer months: she must cross and recross at least

for a year before any just comparison can be instituted. The regular

postal communication between Liverpool and the United States will

speedily be twice every week--the ships of the new line sailing on

Wednesday, and the old on Saturday.

But other ports besides Liverpool are now dispatching steamers regularly

to America. Glasgow sent out a powerful screw steamer--the _City of

Glasgow_, 1087 tons--on 16th April, for New York, where she arrived on

3d May; thus making the passage in about seventeen days, in spite of

stormy weather and entanglements among ice; the average time taken by

the Liverpool steamers during 1849 being fourteen days. Her return

voyage, however, made under more favorable circumstances, was within

this average, the distance being steamed between the 18th May and the

1st June. A vessel called the _Viceroy_ is about to sail from Galway to

New York, and her voyage is looked forward to with considerable

interest. The _Washington_ and _Hermann_ sail regularly between Bremen

and Southampton and New York, and the _British Queen_ has been put on

the passage between Hamburg and New York. All these enterprises seem to

indicate that ere long the Atlantic carrying trade will be conducted in

steam-ships, and sailing vessels superseded to as great extent as has

been the case in the coasting trade.

FOOTNOTES:

[25] The _Atlantic_ has just made the passage direct in ten days and

sixteen hours.

[From Sharpe's Magazine]

THE LITTLE HERO OF HAARLEM.

At an early period in the history of Holland, a boy was born in Haarlem,

a town remarkable for its variety of fortune in war, but happily still

more so for its manufactures and inventions in peace. His father was a

_sluicer_--that is, one whose employment it was to open and shut the

sluices, or large oak-gates which, placed at certain regular distances,

close the entrance of the canals, and secure Holland from the danger to

which it seems exposed, of finding itself under water, rather than above

it. When water is wanted, the sluicer raises the sluices more or less,

as required, as a cook turns the cock of a fountain, and closes them

again carefully at night; otherwise the water would flow into the

canals, then overflow them, and inundate the whole country; so that even

the little children in Holland are fully aware of the importance of a

punctual discharge of the sluicer's duties. The boy was about eight

years old when, one day, he asked permission to take some cakes to a

poor blind man, who lived at the other side of the dyke. His father gave

him leave, but charged him not to stay too late. The child promised, and

set off on his little journey. The blind man thankfully partook of his

young friend's cakes, and the boy, mindful of his father's orders, did

not wait, as usual, to hear one of the old man's stories, but as soon as

he had seen him eat one muffin, took leave of him to return home.

As he went along by the canals, then quite full, for it was in October,

and the autumn rains had swelled the waters, the boy now stopped to pull

the little blue flowers which his mother loved so well, now, in childish

gayety, hummed some merry song. The road gradually became more solitary,

and soon neither the joyous shout of the villager, returning to his

cottage-home, nor the rough voice of the carter, grumbling at his lazy

horses, was any longer to be heard The little fellow now perceived that

the blue of the flowers in his hand was scarcely distinguishable from

the green of the surrounding herbage, and he looked up in some dismay.

The night was falling; not, however, a dark winter-night, but one of

those beautiful, clear, moonlight nights, in which every object is

perceptible, though not as distinctly as by day. The child thought of

his father, of his injunction, and was preparing to quit the ravine in

which he was almost buried, and to regain the beach, when suddenly a

slight noise, like the trickling of water upon pebbles, attracted his

attention. He was near one of the large sluices, and he now carefully

examines it, and soon discovers a hole in the wood, through which the

water was flowing. With the instant perception which every child in

Holland would have, the boy saw that the water must soon enlarge the

hole through which it was now only dropping, and that utter and general

ruin would be the consequence of the inundation of the country that must

follow. To see, to throw away the flowers, to climb from stone to stone

till he reached the hole, and to put his finger into it, was the work of

a moment, and, to his delight, he finds that he has succeeded in

stopping the flow of the water.

This was all very well for a little while, and the child thought only of

the success of his device. But the night was closing in, and with the

night came the cold. The little boy looked around in vain. No one came.

He shouted--he called loudly--no one answered. He resolved to stay there

all night, but, alas! the cold was becoming every moment more biting,

and the poor finger fixed in the hole began to feel benumbed, and the

numbness soon extended to the hand, and thence throughout the whole arm.

The pain became still greater, still harder to bear, but still the boy

moved not. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he thought of his father, of

his mother, of his little bed, where he might now be sleeping so

soundly; but still the little fellow stirred not, for he knew that did

he remove the small slender finger which he had opposed to the escape of

the water, not only would he himself be drowned, but his father, his

brothers, his neighbors--nay, the whole village. We know not what

faltering of purpose, what momentary failures of courage there might

have been during that long and terrible night; but certain it is, that

at day-break he was found in the same painful position by a clergyman

returning from attendance on a death-bed, who, as he advanced, thought

he heard groans, and bending over the dyke, discovered a child seated on

a stone, writhing from pain, and with pale face and tearful eyes.

"In the name of wonder, boy," he exclaimed, "what are you doing there?"

"I am hindering the water from running out," was the answer, in perfect

simplicity, of the child, who, during that whole night had been evincing

such heroic fortitude and undaunted courage.

The Muse of History, too often blind to (true) glory, has handed down to

posterity many a warrior, the destroyer of thousands of his

fellow-men--she has left us in ignorance of the name of this real little

hero of Haarlem.

[From Cumming's Hunting Adventures in South Africa.]

ADVENTURE WITH A SNAKE.

As I was examining the spoor of the game by the fountain, I suddenly

detected an enormous old rook-snake stealing in beneath a mass of rock

beside me. He was truly an enormous snake, and, having never before

dealt with this species of game, I did not exactly know how to set about

capturing him. Being very anxious to preserve his skin entire, and not

wishing to have recourse to my rifle, I cut a stout and tough stick

about eight feet long, and having lightened myself of my shooting-belt,

I commenced the attack. Seizing him by the tail, I tried to get him out

of his place of refuge; but I hauled in vain; he only drew his large

folds firmer together: I could not move him. At length I got a rheim

round one of his folds, about the middle of his body, and Kleinboy and I

commenced hauling away in good earnest.

The snake, finding the ground too hot for him, relaxed his coils, and

suddenly bringing round his head to the front, he sprang out at us like

an arrow, with his immense and hideous mouth opened to its largest

dimensions, and before I could get out of his way he was clean out of

his hole, and made a second spring, throwing himself forward about eight

or ten feet, and snapping his horrid fangs within a foot of my naked

legs. I sprang out of his way, and getting hold of the green bough I had

cut, returned to the charge. The snake now glided along at top speed: he

knew the ground well, and was making for a mass of broken rocks, where

he would have been beyond my reach, but before he could gain this place

of refuge, I caught him two or three tremendous whacks on the head. He,

however, held on, and gained a pool of muddy water, which he was rapidly

crossing, when I again belabored him, and at length reduced his pace to

a stand. We then hanged him by the neck to a bough of a tree, and in

about fifteen minutes he seemed dead; but he again became very

troublesome during the operation of skinning, twisting his body in all

manner of ways. This serpent measured fourteen feet.

MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS

The death of President Taylor is the leading event of interest in our

domestic record for the month, as it has been the leading topic of

public attention throughout the country. He died at half-past ten

o'clock on the evening of Wednesday, July 9th, after an illness of but

five days, the last of which alone was deemed dangerous. Exposure to the

sun in attendance upon the public celebration of the Fourth, imprudent

diet on returning home, and neglect of medical remedies until too late,

aggravated rapidly and fatally the disease which he had contracted,

which few of our army officers escaped, and from which several have

already died, during his Mexican campaign. On the afternoon of Wednesday

his alarming condition was announced in the two Houses of Congress, both

of which at once adjourned: and they only met the next day to make

arrangements for his funeral, which took place on Saturday, and was

attended by a large military display, by the officers of government and

the representatives of foreign nations, and by an immense concourse of

his fellow-citizens. His death was announced on Thursday by the Vice

President, MILLARD FILLMORE, upon whom the duties of the Presidential

office at once devolved, by virtue of the provisions of the

Constitution, in a Message to both Houses of Congress, and suitable

words of eulogy were pronounced, in the Senate, by Senators DOWNS, of

Louisiana, WEBSTER, of Massachusetts, CASS, of Michigan, KING, of

Alabama, PEARCE, of Maryland, and BERRIEN, of Georgia; and in the House

by Mr. Speaker COBB, of Georgia, Messrs. CONRAD, of Louisiana, WINTHROP,

of Massachusetts, BAKER, of Illinois, BAYLY, of Virginia, HILLIARD, of

Alabama, JOHN A. KING, of New York, MCLANE, of Maryland, and MARSHALL,

of Kentucky. Mr. FILLMORE, on the same day, took the oath of the

Presidential office in presence of both Houses of Congress, and thus

quietly, quickly, and peaceably was effected a transfer of all the

Executive powers of this great nation--a transfer never effected without

difficulty, and often causing commotion, turmoil, and bloodshed in the

less free and more conservative nations of the Old World. In the

preceding pages of this Magazine will be found a condensed outline of

the life of the late President, which obviates the necessity of further

reference in this place. His decease was celebrated by public obsequies

in all the principal cities of the Union, and has awakened a universal

and intense sentiment of regretful grief.

Immediately upon the death of President TAYLOR the members of his

Cabinet tendered their resignations to President FILLMORE, but at his

request, and for the safety of the public service, they retained their

offices for a few days, to give him the desired opportunity for care and

inquiry in selecting their successors. That selection was made as soon

as practicable, and on the 15th the President made the following

nominations, which were at once confirmed by the Senate, which had

previously and by a unanimous vote, chosen SENATOR WILLIAM R. KING, of

Alabama, to preside over its deliberations:

_Secretary of State_ DANIEL WEBSTER, Mass.

_Secretary of the Treasury_ THOMAS CORWIN, Ohio.

_Secretary of the Interior_ JAMES A. PEARCE, Md.

_Secretary of War_ EDWARD BATES, Missouri.

_Secretary of the Navy_ WILLIAM A. GRAHAM, N. C.

_Attorney General_ JOHN J. CRITTENDEN, Ky.

_Postmaster General_ NATHAN K. HALL, N. York.

It is understood that Mr. PEARCE declines the secretaryship of the

Interior, but no official nomination has yet been made to fill his

place.

No business of public importance has been transacted in Congress. In the

SENATE the Compromise Bill, reported by Mr. CLAY from the Committee of

Thirteen, continues under debate. Mr. WEBSTER, on the 17th ult., made a

very eloquent speech in its support, declaring himself earnestly in

favor of admitting California, of providing a Territorial government for

New Mexico, without the anti-slavery proviso, which he deems

superfluous, and of settling the question of boundary between Texas and

New Mexico. He said he should have preferred to act upon these measures

separately, but he was willing to vote for them as conjoined in the

bill. Speeches were also made by several Senators against the bill, and

some amendments, offered to obviate objections entertained to it in

various quarters, were rejected. No decisive action has been had upon it

up to the time of putting these pages to press.

The chief action in the HOUSE, of general interest, relates to what is

known as the _Galphin Claim,_ the history of which is briefly as

follows: Prior to the year 1773 George Galphin, the original claimant,

was a licensed trader among the Creek and Cherokee Indians in the then

province of Georgia. The Indians became indebted to him in amounts so

large that they were unable to pay them; and in 1773, in order to give

him security for his claims, they ceded to the King of Great Britain, as

trustee, a tract of land containing two and a half millions of acres.

The trust was accepted, commissioners were appointed, some of the lands

were sold, and the proceeds applied to the payment of the expenses of

the commission, but none was then paid to the claimants for whose

benefit the trust had been created. The sum found due to George Galphin

was L9791, for which amount a certificate was issued to him by the

Governor and Council in May, 1775. Meantime the war of the Revolution

broke out, and its successful result destroyed the trust, and the lands

were no longer subject to the control of the king. After the war was

over the state of Georgia granted these lands to those of her soldiers

who had been engaged in the war, and who became actual settlers upon

them. The descendants of Mr. Galphin applied to the state of Georgia for

the payment of their claims, as Georgia had merely succeeded to the

trusteeship of the King of England. The claim was prosecuted and pressed

for many years without success, it being contended that, as the lands

had been used to pay for services in the Revolution, the government of

the United States was properly liable for the private injury that might

have been sustained. In 1848 the Legislature of the state of Georgia

passed resolutions directing their Senators and Representatives in

Congress to urge the payment of these claims upon the General

Government; and Hon. GEORGE W. CRAWFORD was engaged by the claimants as

their agent, and was made interested to the amount of one-third of the

claim. Congress, at the session of 1848, passed a bill directing the

Secretary of the Treasury to examine and adjust the claims, and to pay

out of the public funds whatever might prove to be due. The Hon. R. J.

WALKER, then Secretary of the Treasury, examined the question, adjudged

the claim valid, paid the principal sum which he found to be due,

amounting to $43,518, and left the question of paying interest upon it

to the next Cabinet. In that Cabinet Mr. CRAWFORD held a seat, having

first transferred his agency for the claimants to Judge BRYAN, but

retaining his interest in the claim. The matter was pressed upon the

attention of the Secretary of the Treasury, who consulted the Attorney

General as to the legality of paying interest on a claim of this kind.

Mr. JOHNSON gave a written opinion in favor of its payment. Mr. MEREDITH

paid the interest, amounting to $191,352, Mr. CRAWFORD receiving his

share. The subject has been before Congress for several weeks, and has

excited a very earnest and somewhat acrimonious debate. The House, on

the 8th, adopted a resolution affirming that "the claim of the

representatives of George Galphin was not a just demand against the

United States," by a vote of 142 yeas and 49 nays. The same day they

adopted another resolution, declaring that "the act of Congress made it

the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to pay the principal of said

claim, and it was therefore paid in conformity with law and precedent,"

by a vote of 112 yeas and 66 nays. A third resolution, declaring that

"the act aforesaid did not authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to

pay interest on said claim, and its payment was not in conformity with

law or precedent," was also passed, 118 yeas and 71 nays. Soon after the

adoption of these resolutions, Mr. CRAWFORD addressed a letter to the

House asking that a suit might be commenced against him for the

recovery of the interest which he had received, and payment of which the

House had condemned, in order to bring the question to the test of the

judicial tribunals. No further action has yet been had upon the

subject.--The House has also taken action on the application of Mr. HUGH

N. SMITH, a delegate from New Mexico, chosen by a convention of her

people, to be admitted upon the floor of Congress, not of course to take

any other part in the business of that body than to be heard upon

questions affecting the rights and interests of his constituents. In the

early part of the session the application was referred to the proper

committee, the majority of which reported against his admission. On the

19th the whole subject was laid on the table--equivalent to Mr. SMITH'S

rejection--by a vote of 105 yeas, 94 nays, and 29 absent. This disposes

of the question for the present session, although substantially the same

issue will indubitably come up in some new form.--The next day a similar

resolution was adopted rejecting the application of Mr. BABBITT to be

admitted as a delegate from the Territory of Utah, or Deseret.

The authorities of CUBA have decided to release the American prisoners

taken from the island of Contoy, beyond Spanish jurisdiction. This will

probably terminate all difficulties between the two governments growing

out of this affair.--Considerable currency has been given to a story

stated by correspondents of the London press, that the Spanish Gen.

NARVAEZ had grossly insulted the U.S. Minister at Madrid, refusing in

public to hold any intercourse with the representative of a nation which

tolerated and countenanced pirates and assassins. The story is entirely

discredited by direct advices.--The State Convention of Ohio called to

revise the Constitution has adjourned until the first Monday in

September.--A very destructive fire occurred at Philadelphia on the

night of the 9th ult. Although not in the chief business part of the

city, property to the amount of more than a million of dollars was

destroyed, and over _thirty_ lives were lost by the explosion of various

materials in the buildings burned The occurrence has elicited from Prof.

ROGERS, of the University of Pennsylvania, a letter stating that, in his

opinion, saltpetre by itself is not explosive, but that the great

quantity of oxygen which it contains greatly increases the combustion of

ignited matter with which it may be brought in contact, and that this

may evolve gases so rapidly as to cause an explosion.--The cholera is

prevailing with a good deal of fatality in some of the western cities.

In Cincinnati the number of deaths has averaged 20 to 35, and has been

as high as 65: in St. Louis it has been still higher, and in Nashville,

Tenn., it has been quite as large in proportion to the population. At

the latest advices it seemed to be diminishing. It has not made its

appearance in any of the eastern cities.--The case of Prof. WEBSTER,

convicted at Boston of the murder of Dr. PARKMAN, has been definitively

decided. Soon after the trial he sent in a petition for a full pardon,

on the ground of his entire innocence and ignorance of the whole matter,

solemnly asserting, and calling God to witness, that he knew nothing

whatever of the manner in which Dr. Parkman's remains came to be found

in his room. A few days afterward he sent in another petition, praying

for a commutation of his sentence. It was presented by the Rev. Dr.

PUTNAM, who had acted as his spiritual adviser, and who laid before the

Council a detailed confession, which he had received from Prof. Webster,

in which he confessed that he killed Dr. Parkman with a single blow from

a stick, but claimed that it was done without premeditation, in a moment

of great excitement caused by abusive language. He gave at length a

statement of the whole transaction. After considering the subject fully

and carefully, acting under the advice of the Council, Governor Briggs

decided against the application, and appointed Friday, the 30th day of

August, for the execution of the sentence of the Court. Upon that day,

therefore, Prof. Webster will undoubtedly be hung.--A good deal of

public interest has been enlisted in the performances of the new

American line of Transatlantic steamers, running between New York and

Liverpool. There are to be five steamers in the line, but only two of

them have as yet been finished. These two are the _Atlantic_ and the

_Pacific_, the former of which has made two trips, and the latter one,

each way. On the morning of Sunday, July 21st, the _Atlantic_ arrived at

New York at 3 o'clock, having left Liverpool on the 10th, at 11 o'clock

A.M.--making the passage in ten days and sixteen hours, the shortest by

several hours ever made between the two ports. Her passage out was also

very short. These trips have confirmed the opinion which has very

generally been entertained, that the Americans would speedily have a

line of steamers on the ocean superior in speed, comfort, and elegance

to those of the Cunard Company which have hitherto enjoyed so high a

reputation.--Mr. E. GEORGE SQUIER, U. S. Charge near the government of

Nicaragua, has returned to this country on a brief visit. We learn that

he has made a very full record of his observations upon the country in

which he has been residing, and that very volumnious papers from him on

the subject are in possession of the State Department. It is to be hoped

that they may be given to the public.--The initial steps have been taken

in Virginia toward an enterprise of decided importance to the southern

states if it should be carried out: it is nothing less than the

establishment of direct intercourse by a line of steamers between some

southern port and Liverpool, for the export of cotton and other articles

of southern growth, and for the transmission of southern correspondence,

&c. The meeting of delegates was held at Old Point on the 4th of July,

and committees were appointed to make proper representations on the

subject to Congress and the state Legislature, and to take such other

steps as they might deem essential.--A convention was held at Syracuse

of persons favorable to maintaining the existing Free School System of

the State of New York. The necessity for such action grows out of the

fact that the principle is to be submitted to the popular suffrage in

November. The Legislature of 1848 passed a law making education in the

common schools of the state absolutely free to all the children who

might choose to attend, making the law dependent for its validity on its

adoption by the people. Accordingly it was submitted to them in

November, 1848, and was sanctioned by a majority of over 90,000. It

accordingly went into effect. At the last session of the Legislature,

however, petitions were sent in, in great numbers, some of them praying

for the entire repeal of the law, and others for its essential

modification. The opponents of the law resisted the principle that

property should be taxed for purposes of education, inasmuch as men of

property would thus be compelled to pay for educating children not their

own. Others objected mainly to details of the law, and to the injurious

effect of the established mode of collecting the rate bills. The two

branches of the Legislature not being able to agree upon amendments of

the law, and not wishing to discard the principle on which it is

founded, agreed to submit it again to the popular suffrage. The

Convention in question assembled accordingly, to aid the law. Hon.

Christopher Morgan, Secretary of State, presided, and an address and

resolutions affirming the principles on which the law is based, and

calling on the people to give it their renewed support, were

adopted.--Col. FREMONT has received from the Royal Geographical Society

of London a medal, in token of their sense of his eminent services in

promoting the cause of geographical knowledge. It was presented through

the U.S. Minister.--MR. JOHN R. BARTLETT, who was appointed by the

President Commissioner to run the boundary line between Mexico and the

United States, in accordance with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, has

set out upon his mission. The point of departure is to be upon the Rio

Grande, and the Commissioners of the two countries are to meet at El

Paso. This will be the most extensive line of surveys ever made in the

United States, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and mostly

through a country wholly unknown.

* * * * *

From MEXICO we have advices to the 1st of July. The Presidential

election, which was to occur soon, was becoming a topic of general

discussion. There are several candidates, among whom Gen. Almonte, Gomez

Farias, and Domingo Ibarra are the best known in this country. Congress

was to have assembled, but not a quorum of the members could be

collected. The cholera was raging with excessive and terrible fatality.

From the 17th of May to the 16th of June there had been in the city of

Mexico 7,846 cases, and on the last day named there were 230 deaths.

Among the victims was Don Mariano Otero, a distinguished statesman and

lawyer. In San Luis and other sections it was prevailing with great

severity. The financial affairs of the State of Durango were in such a

condition that an extra session of the Legislature had been called in

order to save them from total ruin.--Advices have been received of the

conclusion of a treaty with the Mexican Government by the U.S. Minister,

Mr. LETCHER, by which is ceded the right of transit by railroad across

the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. This step has been taken in accordance with,

and probably in consequence of, the position taken upon the subject by

President TAYLOR in his first message to Congress. The late President

POLK, when he sent out Mr. TRIST to negotiate a treaty of peace with

Mexico, authorized him to offer five millions of dollars for the right

which has now been secured without the expense of a dollar: and Mexico,

moreover, has now stipulated to protect the parties constructing the

work, as well as the work itself after it shall have been completed. The

benefits resulting from this treaty, if the work shall be completed,

will be of the most important character. As an auxiliary measure to the

Nicaraguan Canal, it will tend very powerfully to unite the Atlantic and

the Pacific states.

* * * * *

From CALIFORNIA we have intelligence to the 17th of June. San Francisco

has been visited by two successive fires which had destroyed property to

the amount of several millions of dollars. A large proportion of the

goods burned were consigned by New York merchants to their agents in

California, so that the loss will fall very heavily upon them. As

insurance could not readily be effected the loss will be large. Nearly

three millions of dollars in gold dust have reached the United States

during the month. The foreigners resident in California had resisted the

payment of the tax of twenty-five dollars per month levied by the state

laws, and some difficulty was anticipated in enforcing payment, but at

the latest accounts this had been obviated, and every thing was quiet.

The intelligence from the mines encourages the belief that the quantity

of gold dug this season will be greater than ever before. From the

valleys of both the Sacramento and the San Joaquin very large amounts

were constantly obtained, and new mines have been found as far north as

Oregon, and as far south as Los Angelos. From the Mariposa mines many

very beautiful specimens of the gold-bearing quartz have been procured.

Difficulties had arisen with the Indians in different sections of the

country, and several severe battles between them and detachments of U.

S. troops had been fought. They grew mainly out of the hostile

disposition of the Indians which is often excited and encouraged by the

lawless conduct of the whites. Measures were in progress which, it was

hoped, would restore quiet and security. It is stated that the property

in San Francisco as assessed for taxation amounts to three hundred

millions of dollars.

* * * * *

From NEW MEXICO we have intelligence of some interest. It seems that the

people, becoming impatient of the delay of Congress in acting upon the

question of framing a government for them, and probably taking the hint

from the declared sentiments of President TAYLOR, resolved to form a

government for themselves. Public meetings were accordingly held, and

resolutions adopted, requesting Governor MUNROE to call a convention of

delegates from the several counties to form a State Constitution. Col.

MUNROE accordingly issued a proclamation to that effect, and a

Convention met at Santa Fe on the 15th of May. The session lasted eight

or ten days, and a Constitution was adopted, which was to go into

operation in July. The boundaries of the state were defined, and slavery

was prohibited. An election was soon to take place for members of the

Legislature. Two Senators and one Representative in Congress were to be

elected, and application was to be made for the immediate admission of

the State into the Union.

* * * * *

Of LITERARY INTELLIGENCE there is little of general interest. The

distinguished English novelist, Mr. G. P. R. JAMES, arrived with his

family at New York on the 4th of July, and will spend several months in

visiting different sections of the United States. There are very few

Englishmen who would be more cordially welcomed to this country than Mr.

JAMES. His long and most honorable and productive career as an author

has made him universally known, and his works have been very widely read

in the United States as well as in England. The officious and

impertinent gossip of a portion of our newspaper press led Mr. JAMES to

publish a note disclaiming the intention of writing a book upon this

country. We regret that he should have found it necessary either to

announce such a purpose, or to form it. This country has nothing to lose

from the published observations of a man at once so competent and so

candid. Mr. JAMES had for fellow-passengers Count DEMBINSKI, who was a

major in the Hungarian service and nephew of General DEMBINSKI, whose

name is so well known to the whole world in connection with that gallant

but ill-fated struggle. Count D. was also aid to KOSSUTH, and fled with

him, accompanied with his wife, whom he had married at Temeswar during

the war, to Turkey, whence he came to this country. He is a young man of

great talent and accomplishments, and will probably make the United

States his home.--The anniversary of the Declaration of American

Independence was celebrated on the 4th throughout the country with the

usual demonstrations. Orations were delivered in nearly all the

principal cities of the Union, some of which have since been published.

The ablest one that has fallen under our notice was delivered by Mr. E.

P. WHIPPLE before the authorities of Boston. He spoke upon Washington

and the Principles of the Revolution, holding up the former as a model

of greatness, combating the popular notion that he was not a man of

genius, and dwelling upon the fact that our revolution was fought, not

on abstract principles, or in the assertion of abstract rights, but for

the redress of practical evils and the attainment of practical ends. It

was a timely, able, and judicious address, and was marked by the

peculiar vigor of style and of thought, injured by an occasional

straining after effect in expression and phrases, which characterize the

writings of Mr. WHIPPLE. Senator FOOTE, of Mississippi, delivered an

address before the Washington Monument Association at the National

Capital; it was a strong appeal on behalf of united and harmonious

councils, and was both timely and effective. Hon. J. W. EDMONDS, of New

York city, delivered the address at Washington's Head Quarters at

New-burgh, which the Legislature of New York, very properly and

creditably, took measures at the last session to preserve as a permanent

monument of the revolution. E. A. RAYMOND. Esq. delivered an address at

Rochester, which was a skillfully condensed summary of the growth of the

country, and especially of its political development.--A new Historical

Society of the Episcopal Church has just been formed at Trinity College,

Hartford, Conn., of which Bishop BROWNELL has been chosen

President.--The inventor of the Ramage printing press, which, until

superseded by subsequent improvements, was an important step in the

progress of printing, ADAM RAMAGE, died at Philadelphia on the 9th of

July. He was a native of Scotland, and was nearly eighty years old at

the time of his death.--MARGARET FULLER, well known in this country as a

gifted and accomplished lady, and author of several works of marked

value and interest, perished on the 19th of July, by the wreck of the

ship Elizabeth from Leghorn, in which she had taken passage with her

husband, the Marquis d'Ossoli, and her child, in returning to her native

land from Italy, where she had been spending several years. Her loss

will be deplored by a large circle of personal friends, and by the still

larger number of those who knew her only through her writings. She was

the eldest daughter of Hon. Timothy Fuller, formerly a lawyer of Boston,

but more recently a resident of Cambridge. She was remarkable for her

thorough intellectual cultivation, being familiar with both the ancient

and most of the modern languages and their literature--for the vigor and

natural strength of her mind--for her conversational powers, and for her

enthusiastic devotion to letters and art. She was at Rome during the

recent revolution, and took the deepest interest in the struggles of

that day. She had been for some time engaged upon a work on Italy, which

it is feared has perished with her. Her husband and child were lost at

the same time. Mr. Henry Sumner, of Boston, also perished.--RALPH WALDO

EMERSON is traveling in the region on the Upper Waters of the

Mississippi.--No original books of special interest have been published

during the month. In our department of Literary Notices mention is made

of those which are of most importance.--Mr. PRESCOTT, the historian, is

traveling in Europe. He is announced as having been present at a recent

meeting of the London Archaeological Society.--Mr. H. N. HUDSON, whose

lectures on SHAKSPEARE have made him widely and favorably known as a

critic, has been engaged by a Boston publishing house to edit a new

edition of the works of the great Dramatist, which will be published

during the coming year. Mr. Hudson's ability and familiarity with the

subject will enable him to make a very valuable and interesting

work.--GARIBALDI, who achieved distinction in the defense of Rome

against the French, is coming to New York, where he was to be honored

with a public reception from the authorities.--The capture of Stoney

Point was celebrated this year at that place, for the first time. HUGH

MAXWELL, Esq., of New York, delivered the address. The celebration is

hereafter to be annual.--In no department of mechanism is the progress

of the age more conspicuous than in printing presses, as is shown by the

fact that Messrs. Hoe and Co., of New York, are now constructing a press

which will work from 15,000 to 20,000 per hour. It will be thirty-three

feet long, with eight printing cylinders, and will cost about

$21,000.--A newly invented locomotive engine, intended for use in the

streets of cities, has just been put upon the Hudson River Railroad at

its termination in New York. It consumes its own smoke, and is entirely

inclosed from public view--presenting the appearance of a simple

baggage-car. The engine is of ninety horse power.

* * * * *

News from LIBERIA has been received announcing that the government has

at last been able to effect the purchase of the Gallinas territories,

including the whole from Cape Mount to Shebar, except a small strip of

five miles of coast which will soon fall into their hands. The chief

importance of this purchase springs from the fact that Gallinas has been

for many years the head quarters of the slave-trade--an enormous number

of slaves having been shipped from there every year. The government paid

$9500 for the territory, and further agreed to appoint commissioners to

settle the wars in the country, and open trade with the interior tribes,

as well as to settle among them and instruct them in the arts of

civilized life. This may prove to be an important step not only toward

the suppression of the horrible traffic in slaves, which the united

efforts of England, France, and the United States have hither to been

unable to effect, but also toward the civilization of Africa, a result

to which no philanthropic mind can be indifferent.

* * * * *

In ENGLAND by far the most important event of the month is the sudden

death of Sir ROBERT PEEL. On the 29th of June he had called at

Buckingham Palace to pay his respects to the Queen, and was riding away

upon horseback, when his horse swerved slightly and threw him to the

ground; he fell sideways, striking upon his left shoulder. He was at

once raised up by several gentlemen who rushed to his assistance, and

said that he was very much hurt indeed. He was taken to his residence

and received all the attention of the highest surgical skill, which,

however, was less effective than would have been anticipated on account

of the intense pain which he suffered. He lingered until near midnight

of the 2d July, when he expired. A partial examination of his body

showed that one of his ribs had been broken and was pressing upon his

lungs. His family declined a public funeral tendered by the government,

and his remains were interred at Tamworth. Both houses of Parliament

adjourned, and demonstrations of profound regret and respect for his

character were general. An outline of his life and political career will

be found in the preceding pages of this Magazine. His death is justly

considered an event of great political importance. It was generally

anticipated that he would soon be called upon to resume the office of

prime minister, and universal confidence was felt in his large

experience, his eminent ability, and his intimate acquaintance with the

condition and events of the United Kingdom.

The Greek question was still under discussion at our last advices: it

has led to events of no small importance in connection with the politics

of England and the fundamental principles of the British constitution.

On the 17th of June, in the House of Lords, Lord STANLEY moved a

resolution censuring the government for having adopted coercive measures

to enforce claims against Greece, doubtful in point of justice or

exaggerated in amount. He supported his motion at great length, entering

into a detailed history of the whole matter, and accusing the government

of having, through its foreign minister, insisted on exorbitant demands,

oppressed the weak, and endangered the peace of Europe. He was sustained

by the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Brougham and others, and was answered by

the Marquis of LANSDOWNE who, with others, defended the government. The

resolution was _carried_ by 169 to 132, showing a majority against the

government of 37. On the 20th, Mr. ROEBUCK called the attention of the

Commons to the vote of the Lords, and desired to know whether the

government would adopt any special course of conduct in consequence of

it. Lord JOHN RUSSELL replied that they should not alter their course in

respect to foreign powers at all, and that they did not feel called upon

to resign because the House of Lords had passed a vote of censure. That

house did not represent the nation: whenever the House of Commons should

adopt such a resolution the ministry would quit office. On the 24th, for

the purpose of enabling the Commons to express their opinion upon the

subject, Mr. ROEBUCK moved a resolution declaring that the principles on

which the foreign policy of the government had been regulated were

calculated to maintain the honor and dignity of the country, and in

times of unexampled difficulty, to preserve peace between England and

foreign nations. The motion was warmly opposed by Sir James Graham and

others, and was advocated with equal zeal. Lord PALMERSTON defended the

foreign policy of the government in a speech of five hours, marked by

great ability and eloquence. After going over the whole ground fully and

in detail, he concluded by challenging the verdict of the house, whether

the principles which had guided the foreign policy of the government had

been proper and fitting, and whether, as a subject of ancient Rome could

hold himself free from indignity by saying, "Civis Romanus sum," a

British subject in a foreign country should not be protected by the

vigilant eye and the strong arm of his government against injustice and

wrong. The debate was then adjourned, and had not been resumed at our

latest advices. The ministry seems very firmly to have taken the

position that England can be governed without the House of Lords, and

that its foreign policy is not to be shaped according to their wishes,

but according to the popular will, as represented by the Commons. This

position indicates the strong tendency which prevails in England even,

toward popular and democratic government. Lord John Russell, on the

20th, also remarked, in reply to the intimation that the foreign policy

of the government was calculated to foment differences between England

and other nations, that he could answer for it that Lord Palmerston, so

long as he should continue in office, would act not as a minister of

Austria, Russia, France, or any other country, but as the minister of

England. The declaration was received with great applause, not only in

the house but throughout the country. It is understood that the

diplomatic misunderstanding between France and England, growing out of

the Greek question, has been settled. No other business of general

interest in this country has been before Parliament during the month.

Inquiries were made in both Houses as to the Cuban expedition, and the

ministers stated that it was fitted out against the most strenuous

efforts of the American government, which has, nevertheless, been very

strongly censured for its inability to prevent it.--The government has

issued orders restricting very considerably the posting and delivery of

letters on Sunday, which has elicited very clamorous complaints in every

part of the country. Lord BROUGHAM in speaking of the matter in

Parliament, doubted the power of the government to issue such orders,

and said that it was causing a vast increase of Sunday travel and work

throughout the kingdom, as messengers were now dispatched to obtain

indispensable intelligence formerly received by mail. Lord Ashley had

carried a motion in the House of Lords to suppress Sunday labor in the

post-office, by a vote of 93 to 68.--Sir Edward Buxton on the 31st of

June, moved a resolution against exposing the free-grown sugar of the

British colonies to unrestricted competition with the sugar of

slave-trading countries. It failed, however, by 275 to 234.--A bill

prohibiting intra-mural interments, has passed the Commons. The

remaining transactions of Parliament have no general interest.

The Queen while riding with the Prince in an open carriage, on the 27th

of June, was struck across the face by a respectably dressed man, armed

with a small cane. Her bonnet was cut through, and a severe wound was

inflicted upon her forehead. She attended the opera, however, in the

evening, and was received with great enthusiasm. The assailant proved to

be a discharged officer, named Robert Pate, subject to attacks of

insanity. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to transportation for

seven years.--Very shortly, fifteen screw steamers will ply between

Liverpool and various ports in the Mediterranean.--Meyerbeer, the

composer, has received the degree of Doctor from the University of

Jena.--Dr. GUTZLAFF, who is preaching at Berlin and at Potsdam, on

behalf of the Chinese mission, expresses a confident hope that the

Emperor of Japan will be converted to Christianity.--Mr. CORBOULD, the

artist, has received the commands of her Majesty to paint a large

picture of the grand coronation scene in the opera of "La Prophete," as

represented at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent-garden.--Mr. GIBSON, of

Rome, now in England, has received an order for a colossal group, in

marble, of figures of her Majesty, Queen Victoria, supported on either

side by Justice and Clemency. The figure of the queen will be ten feet

in height; the side figures, eight feet. This group will occupy a place

in the new Houses of Parliament.--The Duke of CAMBRIDGE died on the 8th

of July. He was the seventh and youngest son of George III., and was

seventy-six years old at the time of his death.

Many accidents to vessels in the Northern Atlantic have arisen during

the season from floating icebergs. The ship Oriental, of Liverpool, was

lost, with all her crew and cargo from this cause, on the 27th of April;

and on the 29th of March, the English ship Signet, with all on board,

also foundered. Eighteen or twenty other vessels are known to have been

lost in the same manner, their crews having escaped. New hopes of the

safety of Sir John Franklin have been suggested by these reports. It is

supposed that these vast fields of ice are portions of the slowly

released masses, the growth of many preceding winters, which were first

broken two winters ago by the strong southwest and southerly gales over

all the North Atlantic and North Pacific; but which, in consequence of

their bulk and extent, were again condensed before they could be fairly

swept into the Atlantic, and thus offered continued obstruction to the

release of Franklin and his ships. Nor would this appear to be

impossible, assuming detention in the ice to have been the only danger,

and that continued means of subsistence were accessible.--The Steamer

_Orion_, plying between Liverpool and Glasgow, was wrecked June 18th,

off Port Patrick, in a smooth sea, by striking upon a rock, and over two

hundred lives were lost.--The baptism of the infant prince was

celebrated June 22d, the Duke of Wellington being one of the sponsors,

and the ceremony being performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who

named the royal infant, "Arthur William Patrick Albert."

* * * * *

The English LITERARY INTELLIGENCE of the month is summed up in the

Household Narrative, from which mainly we copy. It remarks that the

class of books which has received the largest additions, is that of

biography. Mr. Edmund Phipps has published extracts from the diaries and

literary remains of the author of _Tremaine_, with biographical and

critical comment, under the title of "_Memoirs of the Political and

Literary Life of Robert Plumer Ward_;" and the book has been made more

interesting than the subject would have seemed to promise, by the fact

of Mr. Ward's intimate connection, both in private and public life, with

the leading tory statesmen of the administrations of Addington,

Perceval, and Liverpool. The political and administrative

characteristics of the Duke of Wellington have probably never had such

vivid illustration.--Mr. Leigh Hunt has published his "_Autobiography,

with Reminiscences of Friends and Contemporaries_," of which very

copious extracts were given in the July number of this Magazine. It will

be issued in a few days from the press of the Harpers. Some of it is the

republication of a former work, but the greater part is original, or at

least so changed by interpolations, recantations, or additions, as to

produce the effect of novelty.--The Reverend Mr. Field, an enthusiast

for the separate and silent system of imprisonment, has published a new

_Life of Howard_, dedicated to Prince Albert, of which the design

appears to be to counteract the evil tendency of a recent memoir of the

philanthropist, remarkable for what the reverend enthusiast calls "the

advocacy of democratic principles, and the aspersion of a godly

prince."--Each in a goodly-sized volume, we have had a sort of general

biographical notice of _Celebrated Etonians_, and of _Speakers of the

House of Commons_, the first by an able man, quite competent to the

subject.--Miss Pardoe has edited the first volume of a series of

_Memoirs of the Queens of Spain_, of which the author is a Spanish lady,

resident in America. An ingenious northern antiquary has published

memorials of one of the old border mansions, called Dilston Hall, which

amounts in effect to an interesting _Memoir of the Earl of

Derwentwater_, who suffered in the Jacobite rebellion. And, finally, Mr.

Andrew Bisset has done good service to both history and biography by a

very careful publication of the _Memoirs and Papers of Sir Andrew

Mitchell,_ Lord Chatham's embassador at the court of Frederic the Great,

and one of the very ablest of English diplomatists.

To the department of philosophy a somewhat remarkable contribution is to

be noticed, under the title of _The Progress of the Intellect as

exemplified in the religious development of the Greeks and Hebrews_. The

writer is Mr. Robert William Mackay. Its design is to explain by a

rationalistic process all the religious faiths and beliefs which have

exerted the greatest influence over man, and to refer them exclusively

to moral and intellectual development. In this design the writer may, or

may not, have succeeded; but it is certain, making all draw-backs on the

score of what has probably been borrowed from German investigation, that

the book has high pretensions to eloquence and research, and reminds us

of a time when publication was less frequent than now, and a single book

might embody the labor of a life. For its antidote in respect of opinion

and purpose there has been published, not inopportunely, after a

peaceful slumber of nearly two centuries in the library at Wotton, _A

Rational Account of the True Religion_, by John Evelyn. Here the design

is, by all possible arguments and authorities, to confirm our faith in

Christianity.

We must speak very summarily and briefly of the publications in general

literature. Of books of travel and adventure, the most attractive and

interesting in point of subject is, _Five Years of a Hunter's Life in

the Far Interior of South Africa_, by Mr. Roualeyn Gordon Cumming, a

kinsman of the Chief of Argyll, in whom a love of deer-stalking seems to

have gradually expanded into dimensions too gigantic to be satisfied

with any thing less than the stalking of the lion, the elephant, the

hippopotamus, the giraffe, or the rhinoceros. The book is filled with

astonishing incidents and anecdotes, and keeps the reader very nearly as

breathless with excitement as the elephant and lion-hunter himself must

have been. Copious extracts from the work will be found in the preceding

pages of this number.--Mr. Aubrey de Vere has published some very

graceful _Picturesque Sketches of Greece and Turkey_; and the brave and

high-minded old General Pepe has given the world, _A Narrative of Scenes

and Events in Italy from 1847 to 1849_. Mr. Johnson, the distinguished

geographer of Edinburgh, has issued the most complete _General Gazetteer

of the World_ that has yet been comprised in a single volume; and as

part of the republication of the treatises of the Encyclopaedia

Metropolitana, in separate and portable volumes, we have to mention an

interesting volume on Greek Literature by Mr. Justice Talfourd, the

Bishop of London, and other accomplished scholars.--In poetical

translation, a new version of _AEschylus_ by Professor Blackie, of

Aberdeen, has been issued; and in poetry, with the title of _In

Memoriam_, a noble and affecting series of elegies to the memory of a

friend (son of the historian Hallam), from the pen of Mr. Alfred

Tennyson.

Considerable interest was excited by the unswathing of an Egyptian mummy

at the residence of Lord Londesborough, at which Mr. Birch of the

British Museum, describing the embalming process, and following in this

the narrative of Herodotus, said the subject had evidently suffered from

the use of bitumen and the application of heat, as the bones were

charred and the muscles calcined. DR. CORMACK has published a letter in

the _Athenaeum_ expressing and sustaining the opinion that all mummies

were prepared in this way.--A recent number of Galignani contains an

interesting item of intelligence. It may be remembered that GOETHE in

1827 delivered over to the keeping of the Government of Weimar a

quantity of his papers, contained in a sealed casket, with an injunction

not to open it until 1850. The 17th of May being fixed for breaking the

seals, the authorities gave formal notice to the family of Goethe that

they would on that day deliver up the papers as directed by the deceased

poet. The descendants of the poet Schiller also received an intimation

that, as the papers were understood to concern their ancestor likewise,

they had a right to be present. The casket was opened with all due form,

and was found to contain the whole of the correspondence between Goethe

and Schiller. It is added, that these letters are immediately to be

published, according to directions found in the casket. A new society

has recently been formed in London for the investigation of the laws and

nature of epidemic diseases, of which Dr. Babington has been chosen

President. Another has been instituted for the collection of facts,

observations, &c, in Meteorology, of which Mr. Whitbread is to be the

first President. ROGERS the poet was severely injured by being knocked

down by a cab in the streets of London. Being 87 years old his case was

considered precarious, though at the last accounts he seems to have

partially recovered.--Several meetings have been held at the house of

Mr. Justice COLERIDGE for the purpose of initiating a subscription to do

honor, in some form, to the memory of Wordsworth, and have resulted in

the formation of a powerful committee, with the Bishop of London at its

head. The objects which this committee have in view are--to place a

whole length effigy of the deceased poet in Westminster Abbey--and, if

possible, to erect some monument to his memory in the neighborhood of

Grasmere. The list of subscriptions is headed by the Queen and her Royal

Consort, with a sum of L50.--Some singular decisions have recently been

made by the Vice Chancellor. It seems that a Mr. Hartley deceased in

1843, left directions in his will that L300 should be set apart as a

prize for the best Essay on "Natural Theology," treating it as a

substantive science, and as adequate to constitute a true, perfect, and

philosophical system of universal religion. It was ruled by the Vice

Chancellor that this bequest was void, on account of the evident

tendency which the essay so described would have to demoralize society

and subvert the church. Another decision, arising out of the same

trial, is yet more curious. Mr. Hartley had left L200 for the best essay

on Emigration, and appointed the American Minister trustee of the fund.

This bequest was also declared void, on the ground that such an essay

would encourage persons to emigrate to the United States, and so throw

off their allegiance to the Queen! The race of Justice Shallows seems

not to be extinct.

* * * * *

In FRANCE, after the passage of the electoral law, a bill was presented

for increasing the President's salary to 3,600,000 francs per annum. Its

introduction created considerable feeling. The committee to which it was

referred reported in its stead a bill granting 1,600,000 francs to

defray expenses incurred at the President's inauguration: and this was

afterward modified so as to grant 2,160,000 for the expenses of the

President, in which form it was adopted by the Assembly, by a vote of

354 to 308, a majority of 46 for the government. This is regarded as a

government triumph, but it was not won until after a sharp struggle, and

it has increased very considerably the public disaffection.--New laws

for the restriction of the press have also been brought forward. The

amount of caution money which newspapers are required to deposit is

increased, and the system of postage stamps is introduced. During the

discussion of these laws on the 8th of July, a scene of some warmth

occurred in the Assembly. M. Rouher, in the course of a speech, spoke of

the revolution of February as a great catastrophe, for which he was

immediately called to order by Girardin, recently elected a member by

the department of the Lower Rhine, as well as by others. The President

refused to call him to order, but rebuked those who had interrupted him.

The laws in regard to the press have been declared "urgent" by a vote of

370 to 251.--A man named Walker has been arrested on his own confession

of a design to assassinate Louis Napoleon, for which purpose he had

waited several hours for him to pass out of his gate. He proves to have

been insane.--M. Thiers has been on a visit to London, where he was

received with distinction. He visited Louis Philippe, whose health is

said to be failing.

* * * * *

In GERMANY the settlement of the Constitution makes little progress. The

Saxon chambers were suddenly dissolved on the 1st, to evade a

discussion in the Second Chamber on an address to the sovereign,

expressing dissatisfaction with the conduct of the government on the

German question; and the Second Chamber broke up in solemn silence,

withholding the usual cheers for the king. The Wurtemburg Diet, for a

similar reason, was prorogued on the 4th. The German senate has given

its consent for the meeting of the Peace Congress at Frankfort, and its

sessions will commence on the 23d of August. It is to be a New World's

Convention of the Friends of Peace.

* * * * *

The King of PRUSSIA has recovered from the wound inflicted by the

assassin Sefeloge. A royal decree has been published at Berlin,

curtailing still further the Freedom of the Press. The system of

"caution-money" is re-established, with the government powers of

canceling the license to sell newspapers, and of refusing conveyance by

post to obnoxious journals; and certain offenses against the press laws

are "withdrawn from the competency of a jury." Among the journals

affected by the decree is the London _Punch_, which has been proscribed

in the city of Konigsberg and its province, and placed on the list of

journals that are no longer permitted to pass through the post-office.

* * * * *

From PORTUGAL we have intelligence of difficulties with this country,

growing out of claims on that government which have been in existence

for many years. The amount claimed is about $300,000. The principal one

grows out of the destruction of the American ship, the General

Armstrong, during the war of 1812, by a British fleet, while lying in

the neutral port of Fayal, and therefore entitled to the protection of

the Portuguese government. According to the law of nations, Portugal is

responsible for her failure to protect her; and although Great Britain

is the party in equity responsible, the United States have to look, in

conformity to law, only to Portugal. The claims have been unsuccessfully

pressed for a number of years; but the administration of General Taylor

demanded an immediate settlement. Our Charge, Mr. Clay, under

instructions, had required an answer to his demands within twenty days,

and an American squadron had meantime arrived in the Tagus to enforce

them. Some uneasiness was felt as to the issue, but it was believed that

the Portuguese government would yield.

LITERARY NOTICES.

LIFE AND LETTERS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL. Edited by William Beattie.

In two volumes, 8vo, pp. 1077. New York: Harper and Brothers.

This charming piece of biography is already familiar to the reading

public in this country, from the copious and flattering notices it has

received from the British journals and reviews. It will be welcomed in

its present complete form by every lover of literary history, no less

than by the admirers of the favorite poet of "The Pleasures of Hope."

The author had _abundance of materials at his command_, and has executed

his task with commendable industry and good taste. In any hands, the

subject could not be without intense interest, and as it has been

treated in the volumes before us, possesses a fascination rarely found

in any recent production. Free use is made of the letters of CAMPBELL,

many of which are of the highest order of epistolary composition,

abounding in those delicate and expressive touches which reveal the

heart of the man and the genius of the poet in the purest and most

beautiful light.

The American edition is introduced by a letter of WASHINGTON IRVING to

the publishers, in which our admirable countryman relates some personal

reminiscences of CAMPBELL with so much felicity and exquisite grace,

that we can not avoid transferring them to our pages:

"My acquaintance with Campbell commenced in, I think, 1810,

through his brother Archibald, a most amiable, modest, and

intelligent man, but more of a mathematician than a poet. He

resided at that time in New York, and had received from his

brother a manuscript copy of "O'Connor's Child; or, the Flower

of Love lies bleeding," for which he was desirous of finding a

purchaser among the American publishers. I negotiated the

matter for him with a publishing house in Philadelphia, which

offered a certain sum for the poem, provided I would write a

biographical sketch of the author to be prefixed to a volume

containing all his poetical works. To secure a good price for

the poet, I wrote the sketch, being furnished with facts by his

brother; it was done, however, in great haste, when I was 'not

in the vein,' and, of course, was very slight and imperfect. It

served, however, to put me at once on a friendly footing with

Campbell, so that, when I met him for the first time a few

years subsequently in England, he received me as an old friend.

He was living at that time in his rural retreat at Sydenham.

His modest mansion was fitted up in a simple style, but with a

tact and taste characteristic of the occupants.

"Campbell's appearance was more in unison with his writings

than is generally the case with authors. He was about

thirty-seven years of age; of the middle size; lightly and

genteelly made: evidently of a delicate, sensitive

organization, with a fine intellectual countenance and a

beaming poetic eye.

"He had now been about twelve years married. Mrs. Campbell

still retained much of that personal beauty for which he

praises her in his letters written in the early days of

matrimony; and her mental qualities seemed equally to justify

his eulogies: a rare circumstance, as none are more prone to

dupe themselves in affairs of the heart than men of lively

imaginations. She was, in fact, a more suitable wife for a poet

than poet's wives are apt to be; and for once a son of song had

married a reality and not a poetical fiction.

"I had considered the early productions of Campbell as

brilliant indications of a genius yet to be developed, and

trusted that, during the long interval which had elapsed, he

had been preparing something to fulfill the public expectation;

I was greatly disappointed, therefore, to find that, as yet, he

had contemplated no great and sustained effort. My

disappointment in this respect was shared by others, who took

the same interest in his fame, and entertained the same idea of

his capacity. 'There he is, cooped up in Sydenham,' said a

great Edinburgh critic to me, 'simmering his brains to serve up

a little dish of poetry, instead of pouring out a whole

caldron.'

"Scott, too, who took a cordial delight in Campbell's poetry,

expressed himself to the same effect. 'What a pity is it,' said

he to me, 'that Campbell does not give full sweep to his

genius. He has wings that would bear him up to the skies, and

he does now and then spread them grandly, but folds them up

again and resumes his perch, as if afraid to launch away. The

fact is, he is a bugbear to himself. The brightness of his

early success is a detriment to all his future efforts. _He is

afraid of the shadow that his own fame casts before him_.

"Little was Scott aware at the time that he, in truth, was a

'bugbear' to Campbell. This I infer from an observation of Mrs.

Campbell's in reply to an expression of regret on my part that

her husband did not attempt something on a grand scale. 'It is

unfortunate for Campbell,' said she, 'that he lives in the same

age with Scott and Byron.' I asked why. 'Oh,' said she, 'they

write so much and so rapidly. Now Campbell writes slowly, and

it takes him some time to get under way; and just as he has

fairly begun, out comes one of their poems, that sets the world

agog and quite daunts him, so that he throws by his pen in

despair.'

"I pointed out the essential difference in their kinds of

poetry, and the qualities which insured perpetuity to that of

her husband. 'You can't persuade Campbell of that,' said she.

'He is apt to undervalue his own works, and to consider his own

little lights put out whenever they come blazing out with their

great torches.'

"I repeated the conversation to Scott some time afterward, and

it drew forth a characteristic comment.

"'Pooh!' said he, good humoredly, 'how can Campbell mistake the

matter so much. Poetry goes by quality, not by bulk. My poems

are mere cairngorms, wrought up, perhaps, with a cunning hand,

and may pass well in the market as long as cairngorms are the

fashion; but they are mere Scotch pebbles after all; now Tom

Campbell's are real diamonds, and diamonds of the first water.'

"I have not time at present to furnish personal anecdotes of my

intercourse with Campbell, neither does it afford any of a

striking nature. Though extending over a number of years, it

was never very intimate. His residence in the country, and my

long intervals of absence on the Continent, rendered our

meetings few and far between. To tell the truth, I was not much

drawn to Campbell, having taken up a wrong notion concerning

him from seeing him at times when his mind was ill at ease, and

preyed upon by secret griefs. I had thought him disposed to be

querulous and captious, and had heard his apparent discontent

attributed to jealous repining at the success of his poetical

contemporaries. In a word, I knew little of him but what might

be learned in the casual intercourse of general society,

whereas it required the close communion of confidential

friendship to sound the _depths of his character and know the

treasures of excellence_ hidden beneath its surface. Besides,

he was dogged for years by certain malignant scribblers, who

took a pleasure in misrepresenting all his actions, and holding

him up in an absurd and disparaging point of view. In what this

hostility originated I do not know, but it must have given much

annoyance to his sensitive mind, and may have affected his

popularity. I know not to what else to attribute a circumstance

to which I was a witness during my last visit to England. It

was at an annual dinner of the Literary Fund, at which Prince

Albert presided, and where was collected much of the prominent

talent of the kingdom. In the course of the evening Campbell

rose to make a speech. I had not seen him for years, and his

appearance showed the effect of age and ill health; it was

evident also, that his mind was obfuscated by the wine he had

been drinking. He was confused and tedious in his remarks;

still, there was nothing but what one would have thought would

be received with indulgence, if not deference, from a veteran

of his fame and standing, a living classic. On the contrary, to

my surprise, I soon observed signs of impatience in the

company; the poet was repeatedly interrupted by coughs and

discordant sounds, and as often endeavored to proceed; the

noise at length became intolerable, and he was absolutely

clamored down, sinking into his chair overwhelmed and

disconcerted. I could not have thought such treatment possible

to such a person at such a meeting.

"Hallam, author of the Literary History of the Middle Ages, who

sat by me on this occasion, marked the mortification of the

poet, and it excited his generous sympathy. Being shortly

afterward on the floor to reply to a toast, he took occasion to

advert to the recent remarks of Campbell, and in so doing

called up in review all his eminent achievements in the world

of letters, and drew such a picture of his claims upon popular

gratitude and popular admiration as to convict the assembly of

the glaring impropriety they had been guilty of--to soothe the

wounded sensibility of the poet, and send him home to, I trust,

a quiet pillow.

"I mention these things to illustrate the merit of the piece of

biography which you are about to lay before the American world.

It is a great act of justice to the memory of a distinguished

man, whose character has not been sufficiently known. It gives

an insight into his domestic as well as his literary life, and

lays open the springs of all his actions and the causes of all

his contrariety of conduct. We now see the real difficulties he

had to contend with in the earlier part of his literary career;

the worldly cares which pulled his spirit to the earth whenever

it would wing its way to the skies; the domestic afflictions,

tugging at his heart-strings even in his hours of genial

intercourse, and converting his very smiles into spasms; the

anxious days and sleepless nights preying upon his delicate

organization, producing that morbid sensitiveness and nervous

irritability which at times overlaid the real sweetness and

amenity of his nature, and obscured the unbounded generosity of

his heart.

"The biography does more: it reveals the affectionate

considerateness of his conduct in all the domestic relations of

life. The generosity with which he shared his narrow means with

all the members of his family, and tasked his precarious

resources to add to their relief; his deep-felt tenderness as a

husband and a father, the source of exquisite home-happiness

for a time, but ultimately of unmitigated wretchedness; his

constant and devoted friendships, which in early life were

almost romantic passions, and which remained unwithered by age:

his sympathies with the distressed of every nation, class, and

condition; his love of children, that infallible sign of a

gentle and amiable nature; his sensibility to beauty of every

kind; his cordial feeling toward his literary contemporaries,

so opposite to the narrow and despicable jealousy imputed to

him; above all, the crowning romance of his life, his

enthusiasm in the cause of suffering Poland, a devotion carried

to the height of his poetic temperament, and, in fact,

exhausting all that poetic vein which, properly applied, might

have produced epics; these and many more traits set forth in

his biography bring forth his character in its true light,

dispel those clouds which malice and detraction may at times

have cast over it, and leave it in the full effulgence of its

poetic glory."

THE LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF ANDREW COMBE, M.D. By George

Combe. Philadelphia: A. Hart. 12mo, pp. 424.

The remarkable popularity of the works of ANDREW COMBE on Physiology and

Hygiene, in this country, will make the present biography an object of

interest with a very large number of readers. It is written with

singular impartiality, indeed with too little of the spirit of

affectionate admiration, by the celebrated George Combe, whose own

writings on the constitution of man and the observance of physical laws,

have made him a general favorite in many intelligent circles, which have

no peculiar interest in the special department of science with which his

name has been identified. Each of the brothers has the merit of

presenting important principles in plain language. With utility for

their motto, they have written for the mass of the people, and, perhaps,

have done more for the diffusion of popular knowledge, than many authors

whose intellectual pretensions are far superior to their own. Destitute,

to a remarkable degree, of every ray of imagination, with no approach to

the creative power, which is the test of genius, their writings are

marked with a robust common sense, a patience and clearness of

statement, and a fertility of simple, homely illustration, which account

for their deep impression on the popular mind.

In early life, the subject of this memoir displayed none of the

brilliant qualities which give promise of future eminence. He was shy

and reserved in his manners, and with no facility in the use of words,

though often showing a certain droll humor in his actions. His progress

in learning was slow, though this may be ascribed in part to the

injudicious method which was pursued in his education. While engaged in

his medical studies, he first made the acquaintance of Dr. Spurzheim, an

event which decided the direction of his mind for the remainder of his

life. This soon ripened into intimate friendship, which was cherished by

frequent personal intercourse with Spurzheim during a visit at Paris. He

at once became a zealous convert to the doctrines of Phrenology, making

them the basis of his medical practice, and his anthropological system.

From an imprudent exposure to cold, Dr. COMBE'S health early received a

severe shock, from the effects of which his system never fully

recovered. His subsequent life was that of an habitual invalid. He was

forced to maintain a constant battle with disease. While spreading the

principles of health in a multitude of households, wherever the English

language is spoken, by his lucid writings on the subject, he was

scarcely permitted for a single day to enjoy the inestimable treasure.

He, consequently, spent no small portion of his time in traveling in

different countries, visiting France, Belgium, Germany, and the United

States, and his letters and observations during these various tours

constitute one of the most interesting features in the present volume.

His death took place on the 9th of August, 1847.

He left the character of a man of sterling integrity, excellent

judgment, admirable candor and fairness of mind, a single-hearted

devotion to truth, and a disposition of rare kindness and disinterested

humanity. His biography will be read with satisfaction, by those who

feel themselves indebted to his writings. It is simple, honest,

unpretending, like its subject. With the singularly prosaic mind of Mr.

George Combe, no one can expect to find it animated with any living

glow. It records the life of a public benefactor, but with as little

freshness or enthusiasm, as if the author were giving a Phrenological

lecture on a collection of skulls.

DR. JOHNSON; HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE AND HIS DEATH. New York: Harper

and Brothers. 12mo, pp. 405.

The author of this volume is not surpassed by Boswell in reverence for

"the Great Old Samuel," but happily is not infected with his

puerilities. His book is a favorable specimen of the right kind of "Hero

Worship," dealing tenderly with every relic of the departed, and

religiously gathering every precious tribute to his memory. It

reproduces a variety of characteristic events and scenes in the life of

DR. JOHNSON, without having the air of a compilation. No source of

information seems to have been overlooked, while the labors of previous

writers are so digested and arranged as to give the effect of an

original production. The main subject to which the volume is devoted, is

the illustration of Dr. Johnson's religious character, but numerous

attractive episodes are also introduced, which relieve it from all

tendency to monotony. The last incidents in his life are described with

peculiar interest. Several chapters are wholly occupied with his

Churchmanship, and under different heads, we have a spirited description

of his humanity, his treatment of dissenters, his views of monastic

life, his sympathy with Roman Catholics, and his superstition, all the

statements being fortified with quotations from his own language.

Various questions of collateral interest are discussed by the author, as

suggested by the topics under review, and are usually treated with equal

ability and religious feeling. The work will doubtless be received as a

valuable complement to our Johnsonian literature.

* * * * *

_Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution_, published by Harper and

Brothers, has reached its fifth number, and fully sustains the wide

reputation which it has acquired, as an elegant, spirited, and

instructive work on American history. The union of narrative and

description, which forms a leading feature of the series, is managed by

Mr. Lossing with remarkable dexterity, and gives a perpetual charm to

the composition. In the five numbers already issued, we have a graphic

survey of the scenery and historical reminiscences of the portion of the

State of New York and of Canada, which is embraced within the routes of

our fashionable summer tourists. They describe the principal theatre of

the French and Indian Wars, and many of the most interesting localities

of the American Revolution, including Glenn's Falls, Lake George,

Ticonderoga and Champlain from Whitehall to St. John's, Montreal,

Quebec, the St. Lawrence to Kingston, Lake Ontario, Niagara, and a part

of the Upper Valley of the Mohawk--all truly classic ground to the lover

of American history. Whoever would obtain an accurate and indelible

impression of the great battle-grounds of the Revolution, while seeking

recreation in a summer jaunt, should not fail to make these beautiful

numbers his traveling companions.

Harper and Brothers have reprinted SYDNEY SMITH'S posthumous Lectures

entitled _Sketches of Moral Philosophy_, which is introduced with a

commendatory letter by Lord Jeffrey, written but a few days before his

death, wherein he says that these Lectures "will do their author as much

credit as any thing he ever wrote, and produce on the whole a stronger

impression by the force and vivacity of his intellect, as well as a

truer and more engaging view of his character than what the world has

yet seen of his writings. The book seems to me to be full of good sense,

acuteness, and right feeling--very clearly and pleasingly written--and

with such an admirable mixture of logical intrepidity, with the absence

of all dogmatism, as is rarely met with in the conduct of such

discussions." The versatile author discusses a great variety of topics,

slenderly connected it is true, with Metaphysics or Moral Philosophy,

and on this account has left a far more readable volume, than if it had

been rigidly devoted to the questions which it professes to treat. His

remarks are always lively, pointed, and apposite, betraying a familiar

knowledge of the world, and a quick perception of the bearing and

character of current events, while their caustic wit is usually

attempered with an inexhaustible fountain of good humor.

We have received _The Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil_, volume 2d, from

the veteran editor of whose zeal and ability in maintaining the doctrine

of "harmony" and mutual dependence between all the great branches of

domestic industry, it affords abundant evidence.

Mr. Skinner contends, with every appearance of assured conviction, that

as our country spreads over so many latitudes, and embraces climates and

resources more various and abundant than any other, our policy, too,

should be peculiar; and that instead of importing iron, cloth, and other

manufactures, for which we have materials, or capabilities

inexhaustible, we should import _men_, as the best of all importations,

whose demands, while occupied with other industries, would create a

steady and remunerating market for the products of agriculture, which,

he insists, would be, of all things, the surest guarantee for

improvements in the _art_ of terra-culture. This enterprise is one of

the ablest of the kind, to illustrate the importance of placing the

consumer by the side of the agriculturist; and whether reference be had

to the long services of the editor in the cause of cultivators of the

soil, or the earnestness and power with which he and his correspondents

enforce their doctrine, there can be no hesitation in saying, that those

who unite with them in opinion will do well to give encouragement to

_The Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil_. It is but justice to add, that it

is well printed on fine paper, giving no less than 64 pages monthly, at

the rate of $5 for two subscribers, or $3 for one. Edited and published

by that old and tried soldier in the cause--the founder of the first

agricultural journal in the United States--J. S. SKINNER, 79,

Walnut-street, Philadelphia.

Phillips, Sampson, and Co. have published a new edition of _The Rebels_,

one of the earliest and most popular novels of the admirable Mrs. Child.

Its character is too well known to authorize criticism at this time, and

its reproduction in the present edition will gratify the troops of

friends, with whom the author is a distinguished favorite.

One of the most remarkable books of the month is _The Logic and Utility

of Mathematics_, by CHARLES DAVIES, LL.D., published by Barnes and Co.

It is not intended as a treatise on any special branch of mathematical

science, and demands for its full appreciation a general acquaintance

with the leading methods and routine of mathematical investigation. To

those who have a natural fondness for this pursuit, and enjoy the

leisure for a retrospect of their favorite studies, the present volume

will possess a charm, not surpassed by the fascinations of a romance. It

is an elaborate and lucid exposition of the principles which lie at the

foundation of pure mathematics, with a highly ingenious application of

their results to the development of the essential idea of Arithmetic,

Geometry, Algebra, Analytic Geometry, and the Differential and Integral

Calculus. The work is preceded by a general view of the subject of

Logic, mainly drawn from the writings of Archbishop Whately and Mr.

Mill, and closes with an essay on the utility of mathematics. Some

occasional exaggerations, in presenting the claims of the science to

which his life has been devoted, must here be pardoned to the

professional enthusiasm of the author. In general, the work is written

with singular circumspection; the views of the best thinkers on the

subject have been thoroughly digested, and are presented in an original

form; every thing bears the impress of the intellect of the writer; his

style is for the most part chaste, simple, transparent, and in admirable

harmony with the dignity of the subject, and his condensed

generalizations are often profound and always suggestive.

_The Gallery of Illustrious Americans_, edited by C. EDWARDS LESTER,

Esq. has reached its seventh number, which contains a portrait and

biographical sketch of the distinguished ornithologist, J. J. AUDUBON.

The engraving presents a delightful view of the intellectual and

expressive features of the veteran forester, savan, and artist, while

the sketch by Mr. Lester gives a rapid and satisfactory summary of the

principal incidents in his adventurous life. The daguerreotypes by

BRADY, and the lithographs by D'AVIGNON, throughout this series, are

highly creditable specimens of their respective arts. The biographical

notices are carefully written and beautifully printed. The previous

numbers embrace Taylor, Calhoun, Webster, Wright, Clay, and Fremont--and

that our readers may form some idea of the striking fidelity of the

Portraits, we present, in a previous page, the well-known likeness of

our late President, copied on wood by Lossing, from the first number of

the work.

A. Hart, Philadelphia, has reprinted from the English edition, _The

Phantom World_, from the French of CALMET, with a Preface and Notes by

Rev. HENRY CHRISTMAS, giving a general survey of the history and

philosophy of spirits, apparitions, ghosts, elves, fairies, spooks,

bogles, bugaboos, and hobgoblins. It will probably meet with an

extensive circulation in these days when Connecticut divines are haunted

by infernal visits, and the Rochester sibyls are on exhibition in New

York.

_Dies Boreales, or Christopher Under Canvas_, is republished from

Blackwood's Magazine in a neat edition, by A. Hart, Philadelphia, and

will meet with a warm reception from the innumerable admirers of the

noble, eloquent, impassioned, kaleidoscopic, frisky, and genial old

Christopher.

Among the valuable scientific serials now issuing from the New York

press, is _The Dictionary of Mechanics, Engine Works, and Engineering_,

edited by OLIVER BYRNE, and published by D. Appleton and Co. Of this

work we have thirteen numbers, which bring the subjects, in alphabetical

order, to the article on "Etching," the last number completing the

elaborate description of the "Steam Engine," which in itself forms a

treatise on a leading branch of practical science, and may be commended

in high terms to the attention both of the general reader and the

professional engineer. It is rarely that such a mass of important

information is condensed into so lucid and pleasing a form, attractive

no less by the clearness of its scientific details, than by the bright

picture which it gives of the progress of the useful arts in modern

times.

Another work, of similar value, is _A Treatise on Marine and Naval

Architecture_, by JOHN W. GRIFFITHS, a serial which has reached its

seventh number, and has elicited the warmest encomiums from

distinguished constructors and engineers. The style is a fine model of

scientific discussion, presenting the first principles of naval

architecture with precision, compactness, and simplicity, abounding with

graphic descriptive details, and preserving a spirited freedom and

boldness in the most intricate and difficult expositions. The superior

character of its contents, with the low price at which it is afforded,

will insure it a wide circulation among American mechanics, who can not

fail to gain both a pecuniary and an intellectual advantage from its

perusal.

_Specimens of the Bridges, Viaducts, &c., on the United Slates

Railroads_, by GEORGE DUGGIN, deserves an honorable place by the side of

the two preceding serials, as an important contribution to the science

of civil engineering in this country. The sixth number has already made

its appearance, being the commencement of an elaborate treatise on

Bridge-building, illustrated with sketches of the most remarkable

specimens in this branch of architecture. The multiplicity of works like

those we have just alluded to, and the great and instant popularity

which they attain, present a cheering proof of the prevalence of

scientific curiosity, and of the mental activity which leads to thorough

investigation, among the leading artisans of the United States.

_The Second Book in Greek_, by John M'CLINTOCK, published by Harper and

Brothers, is the complement to the previous volume, entitled _First Book

in Greek_, which, as a practical manual in this branch of philology, has

elicited the warmest approbation of judicious teachers. Dr. M'Clintock

has brought the resources of a ripe and generous scholarship to the

preparation of this work, which, with the other volumes of his

Elementary Series in Greek and Latin, is a highly honorable proof of his

sound learning and correct taste. The present work gives a full view of

the Greek Syntax, with copious illustrations, and extracts from

Xenophon's Anabasis, Homer, Anacreon, and sentences from the Greek

Dramatists. Its peculiar merit consists in the progressive manner in

which the various difficulties of Greek combination are unfolded, the

pupil being thus led forward, by a natural sequence, to a mastery of the

complicated idioms of the language, and trained imperceptibly to a

perception of its rich and wonderful beauties.

Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia, have republished _Impressions and

Experiences of the West Indies and North America in 1849_, by ROBERT

BAIRD, an intelligent Scotchman, apparently of the legal profession, but

with little of the talent essential to the composition of a popular book

of travels. His remarks on the United States are in a more

discriminating tone than is often attained by English tourists, but the

whole tone of the volume is, for the most part, so prosy and commonplace

as to make its perusal an intolerable bore.

Tallis, Willoughby, and Company are publishing a beautifully embellished

edition of _The Life of Christ_, by the Rev. JOHN FLEETWOOD, with

original illustrations by Warren, who has attained a distinguished

reputation, as a delineator of Oriental scenery, characters, and

costumes. It is to be completed in twenty-five parts, of which two have

been issued, in a style of elegant typography, highly creditable to the

taste and enterprise of the publishers. The biography of the Saviour by

Dr. Fleetwood is written with decorum and gravity, reproducing the

consecutive events of the sacred narrative in symmetrical order, and

presenting with becoming reserve, such moral reflections as are

naturally suggested by the different topics of the sublime history. The

work is happily distinguished from several recent attempts on similar

themes, by its freedom from the ambitious and disgusting pretension of

dressing up the severe simplicity of the Oriental writers in the tawdry

and finical robes of modern rhetoric.

_The Shoulder-Knot_, by the Rev. B. F. TEFFT, published by Harper and

Brothers, is a work of more than common originality, intended to convey

important views of life, through the medium of fiction, and containing

many passages of remarkable vigor and beauty. The story is derived from

facts in the history of Louis XIII. of France, who, with his Queen, the

admirable Anne of Austria, the Queen Mother, the selfish and passionate

Mary, and the consummate master of intrigue, Cardinal Richelieu, is made

to act a leading part in the development of the narrative. The author

displays less skill in the artistic blending together of the principal

incidents of the plot, than in his isolated descriptions and

conversations, many of which indicate a high order of talent. The whole

story is pervaded with a wholesome and elevated religious tone, showing

the power of fictitious creation to illustrate the most vitally

important truths.

Stringer and Townsend have published a _Supplement to Frank Forrester's

Fish and Fishing in the United States_, by W. H. HERBERT, correcting

some errors which had crept into the principal work on that subject, and

completing the memoirs of the finny tribes under the democratic

institutions of America, with the jaunty airiness of description, and

genuine relish of natural scenery (as well as of fried fish), which have

given such a wide celebrity to the flowing and unctuous pen of Frank

Forrester.

The _Morning Watch_ is an anonymous poem, published by GEORGE P. PUTNAM,

breathing an atmosphere of tender, religious sentiment, and showing

considerable descriptive power. It has not, however, sufficient vigor of

imagination to atone for the intense subjectivity of thought which

throws a dim haze over the best-conceived passages.

J. ROSS BROWNE'S _Report of the Debates in the Convention of California_

on the Formation of the State Constitution, is a curious historical

document, and will possess still more interest when the antiquities of

the modern Eldorado shall become the object of learned research.

_The Mothers of the Wise and Good_, by JABEZ BURNS, D.D., reprinted by

Gould, Kendall, and Lincoln, Boston, is a collection of interesting

incidents, showing the effects of maternal influence on the formation of

character, and tracing the excellence of many eminent men in various

walks of life, to the pure and exalted virtues with which they were

familiar in early life, within the sacred retirements of the domestic

circle.

The seventh number of _Carlyle's Latter-Day Pamphlets_, issued by Harper

and Brothers, is a mere seven-fold repetition of the ancient discontent

of the author, whose mirth is changed into a permanent wail, and for

whom the "brave o'erhanging firmament has become only a foul and

pestilential congregation of vapors." The subject of this number is the

"Statue of Hudson," the great deposed Railway King. It says much more of

statues in general, than of this particular one of Hudson's. Like all

the recent productions of Carlyle, it reminds us of the strugglings of a

sick giant, whom his friends in mercy should compel to take to his bed

and turn his face to the wall.

An elegant edition of _The Illustrated Domestic Bible_, by the Rev.

INGRAM COBBIN, is publishing in numbers by Samuel Hueston. It has brief

notes and reflections by the editor, and copious pictorial

embellishments, illustrative of Oriental scenery and manners. The work

is to be completed in twenty-five numbers.

Stanford and Swords have reprinted a neat edition of _Earnestness_, or

_Incidents in the Life of an English Bishop_, by CHARLES B. TAYLOR,

whose rare talent for applying the resources of fiction to the

illustration of religious truth has given him an enviable reputation

with a large circle of readers. The present work will be found to

possess equal interest with the previous religious stories of the

author.

_Amy Harrington_, by the author of _The Curate of Linwood_, another

spirited religious novel, directing a battery of red-hot shot against

the Tractarian or Puseyite movement in England, is republished by J. C.

Riker. It is written in a tone of uncommon earnestness, and contains

some passages of genuine pathos and eloquence.

_The Vale of Cedars_, by GRACE AGUILAR, republished by D. Appleton and

Co., is a novel of more than ordinary power, indebted for its principal

interest to its vivid description of the social condition of Spain

during the reign of Isabella. The volume is introduced with an

interesting biographical sketch of the able authoress, who died in 1847.

Crosby and Nichols, Boston, have republished _Chronicles and Characters

of the Stock Exchange_, by JOHN FRANCIS, a work describing the progress

of financial speculation in England, with great liveliness of

delineation, and illustrated with a variety of personal incidents and

scenes of the richest character. The volume is intended to give a

popular narrative of the money power of England, in a manner at once

interesting and suggestive, and it accomplishes its purpose with eminent

success.

_Wah-to-yah, and the Taos Trail_, by LEWIS W. GARRARD published by H. W.

Derby and Co., Cincinnati, is a record of wild adventures among the

Indians, by a rollicking Western youth, who never misses the opportunity

for a scene, and who tells his story with a gay saucy, good-natured

audacity, which makes his book far more companionable than most volumes

of graver pretensions. Commend us to young Garrard, whoever he may be,

as a free and easy guide to the mysteries of life in the forest.

_Poems_ by H. LADD SPENCER, published by Phillips, Sampson, and Co.,

Boston, are rather remarkable specimens of juvenile precocity, most of

them having been written in the days of the author's earliest boyhood,

and some of them during his twelfth year, and at a period little less

remote. Their poetical merit must, of course, be inconsiderable, and

they are not sufficiently curious to warrant publication.

D. Appleton and Co. have issued a novel entitled _Heloise, or the

Unrevealed Secret_, by TALVI, the gifted authoress of _The Sketch of the

Slavic Language and Literature_, which is entitled to special

commendation among the recent productions of American literature.

Without the machinery of a complicated plot, and in language that is

almost sculpturesque in its chaste simplicity, it possesses an intense

and unflagging interest, by its artistic delineation of character, its

profound insight into the mysteries of passion, and the calm, delicate,

spiritual beauty of its heroine. Its subtle conception of the nicest

variations of feeling, is no less remarkable than its precision in the

use of language, the work, for the most part, not only reading like the

production of a native, but of one familiar with the most intimate

resources of idiomatic English. A very few exceptions to this remark in

some portions of the dialogue, whose naivete atones for their

inaccuracy, only present the general purity of the composition in a more

striking light. We sincerely trust that the writer, who has been so

happily distinguished in the field of literary research, will be

induced, by the success of this volume, to continue her labors in the

province of fictitious creation. Nothing is wanting to her assurance of

an enviable fame in this department of letters.

_The Initials_ is the title of an English novel, reprinted by A. Hart,

Philadelphia, illustrative of German life and character, and in all

respects of more interest than would be predicted from its ambiguous

designation.

_The Lorgnette_, published by Stringer and Townsend, continues to make

its appearance once a fortnight, and well sustains the reputation it has

acquired, as a brilliant, searching, and good-humored satirical

commentary on the many-colored phantasmagoria of the town. The name of

the author is still a dead secret, in spite of numerous hints and winks

among the knowing ones, and he is shrewd enough to prefer the prestige

of concealment to the tickling of his vanity by publicity. The most

noticeable feature in his work is its quiet, effective style of

composition, which is utterly free from the pyrotechnic arts of so many

current pretenders.

SUMMER FASHIONS.

FIG. 1. PROMENADE DRESS.--For walking in public gardens, _barege_

dresses, plain or figured, are generally adopted; but _glace_, or damask

bareges are the most _recherches_. Dresses of shot silk form also

charming toilets. The skirts are less full than those of last year--but,

to compensate for it, they are trimmed with graduated flounces up to the

waist--as many as five are worn, and they are pinked and stamped at the

edges. The bodies are tight, and open in front; a cord connects the two

sides of the corsage, and buttons, either of silk, colored stones, or

steel, are placed on the centre of this cord. The sleeves are wider at

the bottom than at the top, and are trimmed with two small flounces;

from beneath them a large lace sleeve falls over the hand, leaving the

lower part of the arm uncovered. This form of sleeve is very becoming to

the hand.

Mantelets are very slightly altered; they are, however, rather more

closely fitted to the figure than last year; they are all made of

_taffetas glace_, and trimmed with pinked _ruches_ of the same material

for young persons, and with wide black lace for married ladies.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--PROMENADE DRESS.]

FIG. 2, is a Pelerine of a pattern quite new; made of embroidered net,

trimmed with three rows of _point d'Alencon_, and ornamented with a

large knot of _ribbons Bayadere_. Another pattern is of Indian muslin

_Canezcu_, embroidered and trimmed with _malines_, open and buttoned up

in the back.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--PELERINE.]

FIG. 3 is a neat costume for a little girl.

Dress of glace silk, shaded in light green and lilac. The skirt trimmed

with four rows of fringe of green and lilac silk intermingled. The

corsage low and plain, with a pelerine which passes along the back and

shoulders, and is brought down to the front of the waist in a point.

This pelerine is edged with two rows of fringe. The sleeves of the

dress, which are short, are edged simply with one row of fringe.

Attached to these short sleeves are long sleeves of white muslin made so

as to set nearly close to the upper part of the arms, but finished

between the elbow and the wrist with three drawings separated by bands

of needlework insertion. Above these drawings there is a frill which

falls back on the arm. The neck is covered by a chemisette of muslin,

finished at the throat with a trimming of needlework, turned over.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--LITTLE GIRL'S COSTUME.]

FIG. 4. HOME DRESS.--Morning cap trimmed with Valenciennes and gauze

ribbons, cut out in the shape of leaves, muslin _guimpe bouillonne_,

with embroidered _entre-deux_; the gown _en gros d'Ecosse_, with facing

and trimmings cut out; _pagode_ sleeves, with a white muslin puffing

ornamented with a very large _bouillonne_.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--HOME DRESS.]

In the engraving (FIG. 5) is represented a BALL COSTUME, with a graceful

head-dress, composed of a vine garland with grapes; on each side hangs a

bunch of grapes (several little hunches are preferred). The novelty of

this year is to be observed in the length of the branches, which come

down on the shoulders, mixing with long curls. This head-dress is worn

also with _bandeaux_, but then the garland must be thicker in the lower

part. The leaves are of different colors, from the various shades of

green to the autumnal red tint. This kind of garland is made also of

ivy, with small red balls. The gowns are of _taffetas d'Italie_--_white,

rose_, or _blue_ (their shades are to be _glaces de blanc_): the body is

trimmed with a _berthe_, made of two rows of _blonde_; the front

ornamented with a puffing of white net laced with satin ribbons the

color of the gown.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--BALL DRESS.]