Lord L'Estrange did not proceed at once to Riccabocca's house. He was
under the influence of a remembrance too deep and too strong to yield
easily to the lukewarm claim of friendship. He rode fast and far; and
impossible it would be to define the feelings that passed through a mind
so acutely sensitive, and so rootedly tenacious of all affections. When
he once more, recalling his duty to the Italian, retraced his road to
Norwood, the slow pace of his horse was significant of his own exhausted
spirits; a deep dejection had succeeded to feverish excitement. "Vain
task," he murmured, "to wean myself from the dead! Yet I am now
betrothed to another; and she, with all her virtues, is not the one
to--" He stopped short in generous self-rebuke. "Too late to think of
that! Now, all that should remain to me is to insure the happiness of
the life to which I have pledged my own. But--" He sighed as he so
murmured. On reaching the vicinity of Riccabocca's house, he put up his
horse at a little inn, and proceeded on foot across the heath-land
towards the dull square building, which Leonard's description had
sufficed to indicate as the exile's new home. It was long before any one
answered his summons at the gate. Not till he had thrice rung did he
hear a heavy step on the gravel walk within; then the wicket within the
gate was partially drawn aside, a dark eye gleamed out, and a voice in
imperfect English asked who was there.
"Lord L'Estrange; and if I am right as to the person I seek, that name
will at once admit me."
The door flew open as did that of the mystic cavern at the sound of
"Open Sesame;" and Giacomo, almost weeping with joyous emotion,
exclaimed in Italian, "The good Lord! Holy San Giacomo! thou hast heard
me at last! We are safe now." And dropping the blunderbuss with which he
had taken the precaution to arm himself, he lifted Harley's hand to his
lips, in the affectionate greeting familiar to his countrymen.
"And the Padrone?" asked Harley, as he entered the jealous precincts.
"Oh, he is just gone out; but he will not be long. You will wait for
him?"
"Certainly. What lady is that I see at the far end of the garden?"
"Bless her, it is our Signorina. I will run and tell her that you are
come."
"That I am come; but she cannot know me even by name."
"Ah, Excellency, can you think so? Many and many a time has she talked
to me of you, and I have heard her pray to the holy Madonna to bless
you, and in a voice so sweet--"
"Stay, I will present myself to her. Go into the house, and we will wait
without for the Padrone. Nay, I need the air, my friend." Harley, as he
said this, broke from Giacomo, and approached Violante.
The poor child, in her solitary walk in the obscurer parts of the dull
garden, had escaped the eye of Giacomo when he had gone forth to answer
the bell; and she, unconscious of the fears of which she was the object,
had felt something of youthful curiosity at the summons at the gate, and
the sight of a stranger in close and friendly conference with the
unsocial Giacomo.
As Harley now neared her with that singular grace of movement which
belonged to him, a thrill shot through her heart--she knew not why. She
did not recognize his likeness to the sketch taken by her father, from
his recollections of Harley's early youth. She did not guess who he was;
and yet she felt herself color, and, naturally fearless though she was,
turned away with a vague alarm.
"Pardon my want of ceremony, Signorina," said Harley, in Italian; "but I
am so old a friend of your father's that I cannot feel as a stranger to
yourself."
Then Violante lifted to him her dark eyes, so intelligent and so
innocent--eyes full of surprise, but not displeased surprise. And Harley
himself stood amazed, and almost abashed, by the rich and marvellous
beauty that beamed upon him. "My father's friend," she said
hesitatingly, "and I never to have seen you!"
"Ah, Signorina," said Harley (and something of his native humor, half
arch, half sad, played round his lip,) "you are mistaken there; you have
seen me before, and you received me much more kindly then--"
"Signor!" said Violante, more and more surprised, and with a yet richer
color on her cheeks.
Harley, who had now recovered from the first effect of her beauty, and
who regarded her as men of his years and character are apt to regard
ladies in their teens, as more child than woman, suffered himself to be
amused by her perplexity; for it was in his nature, that the graver and
more mournful he felt at heart, the more he sought to give play and whim
to his spirits.
"Indeed Signorina," said he demurely, "you insisted then on placing one
of those fair hands in mine; the other (forgive me the fidelity of my
recollections) was affectionately thrown around my neck."
"Signor!" again exclaimed Violante; but this time there was anger in her
voice as well as surprise, and nothing could be more charming than her
look of pride and resentment.
Harley smiled again, but with so much kindly sweetness, that the anger
vanished at once, or rather Violante felt angry with herself that she
was no longer angry with him. But she had looked so beautiful in her
anger, that Harley wished, perhaps, to see her angry again. So,
composing his lips from their propitiatory smile he resumed, gravely--
"Your flatterers will tell you, Signorina, that you are much improved
since then, but I liked you better as you were; not but what I hope to
return some day what you then so generously pressed upon me."
"Pressed upon you!--I? Signor, you are under some strange mistake."
"Alas! no; but the female heart is so capricious and fickle! You pressed
it upon me, I assure you. I own that I was not loth to accept it."
"Pressed it? Pressed what?"
"Your kiss, my child," said Harley; and then added with a serious
tenderness, "And I again say that I hope to return it some day--when I
see you, by the side of father and of husband, in your native land--the
fairest bride on whom the skies of Italy ever smiled! And now, pardon a
hermit and a soldier for his rude jests, and give your hand, in token of
that pardon, to--Harley L'Estrange."
Violante, who at the first words of this address had recoiled, with a
vague belief that the stranger was out of his mind, sprang forward as it
closed, and in all the vivid enthusiasm of her nature, pressed the hand
held out to her, with both her own. "Harley L'Estrange--the preserver of
my father's life!" she cried, and her eyes were fixed on his with such
evident gratitude and reverence, that Harley felt at once confused and
delighted. She did not think at that instant of the hero of her
dreams--she thought but of him who had saved her father. But, as his
eyes sank before her own, and his head, uncovered, bowed over the hand
he held, she recognized the likeness to the features on which she had so
often gazed. The first bloom of youth was gone, but enough of youth
still remained to soften the lapse of years, and to leave to manhood the
attractions which charm the eye. Instinctively she withdrew her hands
from his clasp, and, in her turn looked down.
In this pause of embarrassment to both, Riccabocca let himself into the
garden by his own latch-key, and, startled to see a man by the side of
Violante, sprang forward with an abrupt and angry cry. Harley heard and
turned.
As if restored to courage and self-possession by the sense of her
father's presence, Violante again took the hand of the visitor.
"Father," she said simply, "it is he--_he_ is come at last." And then,
retiring a few steps, she contemplated them both; and her face was
radiant with happiness--as if something, long silently missed and looked
for, was as silently found, and life had no more a want, nor the heart a
void.
FOOTNOTES:
[20] Continued from page 253.
[21] As there have been so many revolutions in France, it may be
convenient to suggest that, according to the dates of this story,
Harley, no doubt, alludes to that revolution which exiled Charles X. and
placed Louis Philippe on the throne.
[22] Have you fifty friends?--it is not enough. Have you one enemy?--it
is too much.
[23] At home--"In the serene regions
Where dwell the pure forms."
THE WHITE LAMB.
A STORY FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS.
BY R. H. STODDARD.
Once in a far country, for which you might search all the geographies of
the world in vain, there lived a poor woman who had a little daughter
named Agnes. That she was poor, and had a child, was by no means
wonderful; for poor people are common in all parts of the earth; and so
for the matter of that, are children too; for which the good God cannot
be enough thanked.
But this poor woman and child were not altogether like the thousands who
surrounded them, as I shall show you in the course of my little story.
For the mother was exceeding goodly, and the child was exceeding fair;
and goodly too, so far as a child could be. Not that children cannot be
as good, aye, and better than most grown people; but in that country
they were very bad and ignorant.
It is true that there were schools and academies there, and great
colleges time-honored and world-renowned; but somehow or other the
people were no better, but on the contrary rather worse for all these
blessings. Whether they neglected good, or good neglected them, is not
for us to inquire now; but certain it is that the greater part of them
grew up in ignorance and vice. Now they need not have grown up in vice
unless they had preferred it to virtue; though they could hardly have
escaped a life of ignorance. There were many priests there to teach them
the folly of sin in this world, and its eternal punishment in the next.
They were very energetic in picturing the misery of sinners; but in
spite of all they could say, and do, they preached to thin and careless
congregations: in consequence of which many of their salaries were
unpaid from one year's end to another.
Most of the men spent their Sabbaths in bull-baiting and dog-fighting;
most of the women in gadding from house to house with budgets of
scandal; while the children ran off to the woods to snare birds and
gather berries, and oftentimes to fight out a match made up the day
before. Black eyes were by no means uncommon, with plenty more in
perspective when those were healed.
This was the life of the mass of people, though I am happy to say there
were many exceptions, in men, women, and children, who went to the
chapel, as all good Christians should; and lived up to the precepts of
the Good Book, as all good Christians do; among whom was the mother and
child that I began to tell you about.
And not only did the good woman go to church on the Sabbath, and on all
the appointed holidays and feasts, but she endeavored to make her life a
perpetual sabbath unto the Lord. But the child, because she was of a
tender age, could not always accompany her, nor understand why she must
always clasp her hands, and kneel down in the pew, when the vicar did
the same in his little pulpit. But she was a good child for all that, as
the story will show, and loved her mother with an exceeding love.
When she was about three years of age, her mother died. Her death,
however, was by no means unexpected. The only wonder was that she had
lived so long, she was so thin and sickly. Her husband had been dead a
little over a year. He left her nothing but his child and poverty; a
common legacy among the poorer sort of people in that country. After his
death she toiled late and early to maintain herself and babe. Many a
dawn she rose before the sun, and the sun rose there very early. Many a
night she saw the moon set, and it sets very late at certain seasons of
the year; but her labors were never done. The labors of the poor never
are until death comes. When death came to her, she rested from her work,
and her work followed her.
It was a fine day in spring when they buried her. The fresh green earth
was full of dew, the soft blue sky without a cloud. It was a day to make
one certain of immortality. Few and unconcerned were those who bore her
to the grave; they would rather have gone to a merry-making; mere
neighbors and nothing more: the dead woman left no friends, or
relatives; only her child.
When they reached the churchyard, they found the old sexton beside the
grave, leaning on his spade, ready to fill it again at the shortest
notice. The vicar put on his bands, and read the funeral service. "Dust
to dust, ashes to ashes, but the spirit to God who gave it." The coffin
was lowered into its narrow house and the earth thrown upon it, while
the minister of Christ exhorted the people around.
Little Agnes being left to herself by those who had charge of her,
strayed down the winding paths, and was soon hidden among the
grave-stones, which were very thick; for the dead of ages were buried in
that little churchyard. At first she wondered why she had been brought
there; but the sky was so blue above her, and the earth so beautiful
around, that she soon forgot it. The shadow of Death, which falls
heavily on the hearts of men, passes like a light mist over the soul of
a child.
Large butterflies with crimson and golden wings were flying to and fro
in the air, and the wild bee pursued its honey-making in the buttercups.
She sat down in the long grass, and began to weave the blue violets, as
she had seen the basket-maker weave his rushes. Not a month before, a
little girl of her own age was laid with many tears in the mound at her
feet; but the dew hung there as brightly as in the deep meadows, and the
sunshine filled the place, like the smile of God. Nature mourns not like
man for the dead whom she has gathered to her bosom in peace.
By and by little Agnes began to grow drowsy, and in spite of all she
could do to keep awake, she found her eyes closing and her head nodding
on her breast; so she repeated the prayer that her good mother had
taught her to say before going to bed, and committed herself to the care
of her Heavenly Father, and in a moment was fast asleep, and walking in
a dream with the Angels.
In the mean time the good vicar, having finished his exhortation, and
the people having departed, began to wonder at her absence, and searched
for her down the path which he remembered to have seen her take. Looking
right and left among the grave-stones, and calling "Agnes," with a
sweet, low voice, he came to the spot where she had fallen asleep. She
was sleeping still, and beside her stood a little lamb, innocent and
beautiful. Its fleece was whiter than the driven snow, and glistened in
the sunlight like gold. There was a golden collar around its neck, with
an inscription in an unknown tongue; and its eyes were exceeding tender
and beautiful. There were no folds in that country, and how it could
have come there was a mystery which the vicar could not explain; nor
could the child when she awoke. She only remembered to have seen it in
her dream, following a Shepherd in the pastures of Paradise.
As the vicar stood lost in amazement, it drew near him, and looked up in
his face with its tender and beautiful eyes, and then at the child, and
then in his face again, as much as to say--Here is a poor motherless
one; she has no friends in the wide world; who will take care of her, if
you do not? Indeed, he fancied that it did say so; and that a voice
softer than silence whispered to him, "Feed my Lambs." His heart was
touched with pity, and he lifted her up in his arms and bore her to the
vicarage.
It was not long before the news spread through the neighboring towns,
and many of their dwellers came to see the White Lamb and the young
child, who grew daily more beautiful and good. The pious seemed to grow
better the moment they beheld the loving pair; and the wicked, who had
sat for years under the droppings of the sanctuary, or mocked at the
goodness of Heaven afar off, grew thoughtful and penitent, and were soon
numbered among the people of God.
The lamb and child were seldom separated. Little Agnes was very unhappy
when parted from it, and it seemed equally unhappy in its turn when
parted from her. Sometimes they used to sit for hours together; she
poring over the vicar's antique missal, which by this time she had
learned to read, and the lamb at her feet, looking up in her face with
its tender and beautiful eyes. Sometimes in the warm summer days they
went off together to the woods and lanes; sometimes, to the meadows
where the daises grew in tufted grass; and little Agnes was wont to
braid them in a wreath around her brow. She said one day on returning
that she would soon wear a wreath of stars. As regularly as the Sabbath
came, they went to the chapel together, side by side. The sexton made a
path for them, as they walked up the broad aisle which was now crowded
with earnest and devout listeners. Their accustomed place was on the
cushioned seat that ran around the altar. When the choir sang their
anthems, the voice of the child was heard above the deep bass singers,
and the full-toned organ; yet it was softer and sweeter than the voice
of a dove. When the vicar read the morning and evening service, her
responses fell on the hearts of all like dew; and a halo seemed to
encircle her as she listened to the words of life.
The people began to consider it a miracle. Cock-fighting and
bull-baiting fell into disrepute; drinking and gaming, to which the
greater part of them had been bred from childhood, lost _caste_ as
amusements, and other vices declined in proportion. It was evident that
a great change was going on in the hearts and habits of all. Profane
oaths and light jests, which even the gentry condescended to indulge in
(as they did in other things better left to their inferiors), were
banished from all society, even that of travelling tinkers, time out of
mind a coarse set of fellows. Feuds handed down from father to son were
dropped at once, and old enemies met with kind greetings, and parted
friends. Every body seemed to prosper, and nobody was the worse for it.
Beggars began to lay aside their tatters, and wear good substantial
garments. There was no longer any need to beg, for work was plentiful.
Cottage windows, once stuffed with old hats, rejoiced in the possession
of new panes of glass; and new cottages were being builded every where,
and every body declared it was the work of the White Lamb.
Spring melted into summer, and summer was now on the verge of autumn.
The fields were full of harvesters, reaping and binding up yellow
sheaves, and barns were open all day, and boys might be seen within,
storing up fruit for the winter. Every day added some new grace to the
child; but those who were experienced in such matters, mostly mothers
who had lost children, said she was dying. Her bloom was too unearthly,
her eye too spiritual to last. She was no longer able to run to the
woods and fields: a walk to the little summer house at the end of the
vicar's garden, only a stone's throw from the door, was sufficient to
make her very weary. Nor could she visit the chapel unless carried
thither, which was a source of great grief to all the villagers.
Day by day she grew more lovely and feeble; and the lamb grew more fond
of her: they could not for a moment separate them. It clung to her days
as she sat in her little chair leaning on pillows; and nights it crept
to her feet as she lay upon her couch dreaming of the angels. Its white
fleece seemed to grow more white, and its eyes more tender and
beautiful. And it often looked at the fading child, and at the far blue
sky, shining through the lattice, and its glance seemed to say--Heaven
is waiting for this little slip of earth, and it must soon go.
Autumn came at last, and the child was dying. It was morning, and she
lay on her couch, with half the village around her. Her eyes were fixed
upon the sky, and her arms were entwined about the lamb, who lay with
its head in her bosom. The vicar knelt down, and prayed. He could not
bear to lose the light of his household, though he knew that the angels
were waiting for her on the threshold of heaven. When he arose she
slept. Ages have passed since then, and she still sleeps; and will sleep
till the heavens and the earth shall have passed away. The next day was
the Sabbath, and they bore her to the little churchyard where her mother
was buried. Their graves were dug side by side. All the children and
maidens, dressed in white, followed her bier; and half the mothers in
the village wept as if she had been their own child; and the Lamb,
looking whiter than ever, walked in their midst. But when the services
were over and the coffin lowered into the grave, it looked once at the
far blue sky, and then turned away, and walked down the path which
little Agnes had taken at her mother's funeral. No one dared to stop it;
but all watched it with breathless attention until it disappeared among
the grave-stones. Some of the boldest, and the vicar among the rest,
followed to where it seemed to disappear, but could find no further
traces. Nobody was ever able to account for it, but every body believed
it to have been a miracle, manifested for their salvation,
notwithstanding a wise philosopher who wrote a large folio to prove that
it never existed at all. Its memory is still preserved with veneration
in that country, and from that day to this, the people have continued
godly and pious.
--And so ends the story of the White Lamb.
* * * * *
M. Romieu, an ultramontane writer, quoted with much parade by the
_Tablet_, says of France:--"The most exact picture of our epoch is drawn
in the phrase, 'that not a woman is brought to bed in France who does
not give birth to a Socialist.'" On this the _Nation_ remarks:--"In what
a dissolute condition _la jeune France_, with all its bibs and tuckers,
must certainly be! Only imagine Madame de Montalembert brought to bed of
twin Phalansteriens! The lady of M. Jules Gondou, _redacteur de
l'Univers_, of a horrid little Fourierist! The nursery of M. de Falloux
in red pinafores, squalling out _Soc.-de-moc._ canticles! Never before
such danger in swaddling clothes!"
Authors and Books.
A curious work, which will not be devoid of interest to the historian or
_belles-lettres_ antiquary, has recently been published at Leipzig,
under the title of _Die Alexandersage bei den Orientalern_ (or the
Legend of Alexander as it exists in the East), by Dr. FREDERICK SPIEGEL.
With the exception of King Arthur, no personage plays a more extended
role in the romantic European legends of the middle ages, than
Alexander; but our readers may not be generally aware that the feats of
this great conqueror are still perpetuated under a thousand strange
forms even on the remote East, generally under the name of Iskander. "No
historic material has ever been more widely extended than this history
of Alexander, and there are even yet races in the interior of Central
Asia who declare themselves directly descended from him;"--precisely, no
doubt, as certain very respectable families extant at the present day in
Hungary and Italy prove themselves lineal descendants of Julius Caesar,
AEneas, and even Noah. "In the earliest times, even in the very scene of
his exploits, Alexander became a hero of legend-like and
exaggerated histories, a collection of which, bearing the name of
_Pseudo-Callisthenes_, as editor, is yet preserved; and from this came
the innumerable Alexanderine romances of the middle ages, which at
length totally obscured the true accounts of the conqueror. In the East,
also, and particularly in Persia, he has been made the subject of many
great epic poems. The relation existing between all these legends, which
have sprung up at such different times, and under such extremely varied
circumstances, is an interesting problem for the literary historian, and
the book we have mentioned is valuable, since in it every thing relating
to the Persian portion thereof, is given in full." From the index, an
admirable analysis of its contents, and a somewhat extended abridgment,
which we have perused, we may assert that few works more curiously
interesting have for a long time been published.
* * * * *
Of great interest to antiquaries and positive utility to artists, is the
_Trachten des Christlichen Mittelalters_ (or Dresses of the Christian
Middle Age), by J. VON HOFNER. As they are all taken from _contemporary_
works of art, they may be relied on for correctness. The part last
published consists of the second division, embracing guises of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Among others, the reader may find
Armour of the sixteenth century, the Dress of a lady of rank in the
middle of the same century, a French dress of the fifteenth century, and
a tournament helmet of the same period. Such books serve better than any
reading to impress on the minds of the young correct ideas of past
manners and times.
* * * * *
We observe a German version of _The Popular Nomenclature of American
Plants_, under the title of _Die Volksnamen der Amerikan. Pflanzen_, by
BERTHOLD SEEMANN, published at Hanover, by Ruempler. Of this book a
German reviewer remarks, that "the knowledge of the popular local names
in systematic botany has hitherto been neglected in such an
unaccountable manner, that the appearance of the above-cited work has
awakened a joyful surprise among all who are capable of appreciating its
value. This well-deserving traveller, whose name at present is in every
mouth, has in a great measure by his own exertions, and partly from the
works and indications of Aublet, Bridges, Cruickshanks, De Candolle,
Gardner, Gilles, Hooker, Humboldt and Bonpland, Lindley, la Llave and
Lergarga, Martius, Miers, Pursch, Ruaz and Pavon, Torrey and Gray,
Cervantes and Bustamente, carefully and scientifically collected above
two thousand of the names with which the different races of the American
Continent designate the most important of their plants. Moreover, he has
fully succeeded in conforming these names, almost without exception, to
the systematic scientific terminology by which they are known, or at
least has given their family. With this work a path has been opened
which will prove servicable not only to the botanist but also to the
philologist, and which we trust will in future be trodden frequently by
the author and other travellers."
* * * * *
Of the interesting historical compositions lately published, we may cite
by FR. GERLACH _Die Geschichte der Roemer_ (or History of the Romans),
and _Die Geschichtschreiber der Deutschen Vorzeit_ (or The Historians of
the early German Times), the fifth volume of which has just appeared,
containing the Chronicle of Herimann, according to the edition of the
_Monumenta Germaniae_. We have also, with a colossal title which we in
part omit, three volumes of the _Fontes Rerum Austriacarum_ (or Austrian
Sources of History), published by the historical commission of the Royal
Academy of Sciences in Vienna. This is spoken of as a really wonderful
collection of curious documents. The sources of Austrian history have
been at all times sadly neglected, and this work may in a great measure
supply the deficiency. In the same department we have also the second
volume of MIGNET'S _History of Mary Stuart_, from an English version of
which we have already quoted somewhat largely in this magazine.
* * * * *
To the historian and geographer COUNT KARL FREDERIC VON HUGEL'S account
of _Karbul-Becken and the Mountains between the Hindu Kosch and the
Sutlej_, will be found fresh and interesting.
* * * * *
The third continuation of the third year of the _Historisches
Taschenbuch_ (or Historical Pocket-book), of FREDERICK VON RAUMER
published by Brochkaus of Leipzig, has just made its appearance. The
most interesting article which it contains is entitled, "The Sikhs and
their Kingdom," by Karl Friederich Neumann. "Such an account by so
well-informed a writer," says a German review, "is of no little
interest." As every eminent European scholar, who has distinguished
himself by manifesting an interest in American affairs, deserves to be
particularly known in this country, we translate for the _International_
a short account of Professor Neumann, which we partially extract from a
MS. sketch written by himself in the summer of 1847. Carl Friederich
Neumann, Professor of Oriental Languages and History at the University
of Munich, and one of the most learned sinologists of modern times, was
resident in China during the years 1829 and 1830. In Canton, he became
possessor of a large library of Chinese books, from which he has since
drawn the materials for works distinguished by their originality,
erudition, and untiring industry. Previous to this visit to China, and
to better qualify himself for it, he had, after finishing his studies at
the Universities of Heidelberg and Goettingen, remained for a long time
at Venice, Paris, and London, occupied exclusively in the studies of
Oriental languages and history. After his return from China, he was
appointed in 1838 Professor of the Chinese and Armenian tongues at the
University of Munich. Professor Neumann has ever been remarkably
unprejudiced with regard to America, and we were first induced to seek
his acquaintance on hearing his frequent praises of our country, while
attending these lectures. He is the author of a number of works in the
Latin, French, German, and English languages, all of which he writes
with facility. He also ranks high as a mathematician and student of
natural philosophy. His most curious work is contained in a small
pamphlet, entitled _The Chinese in California and Mexico in the Fifth
Century_, proving from ancient Chinese chronicles, whose accounts are
substantiated by our subsequent knowledge of natural phenomena therein
described, that those countries were, in the fifth century, visited by
Buddhist priests at the time mentioned.
* * * * *
A late number of the _Europa_ contains a notice of the _London Art
Journal_. We have not time to read the article, but suggest that the
least which a Leipzig reviewer _should_ say of this periodical, is, that
it contains infinitely more news relative to the present condition of
art in Germany, than the _Kunst Blatt_, or Munich _Art Journal_ itself.
There is hardly any magazine of which we make more use in the
_International_, than the London _Art Journal_.
* * * * *
One of the most practical handbooks of a higher order for the use of the
learned, in _Roman Antiquities_, is that by W. BEEKER, ex-Professor at
Leipzig--the third part of which has just made its appearance. The parts
already published contain the first part of the State Government of
ancient Italy; the Provinces ('of which we have here for the first time
a complete statistical account'); and the State Constitution. The
publisher promises that in the coming volumes there will be given the
departments of Finance and War, Jurisprudence, Religion and Private
Antiquities. In connection with this we may cite the _Legis Rubriae pars
superstes_, a beautifully lithographed _fac-simile_ of this classic
curiosity, and also by Dr. ADAM ZINZOW _De Pelasgicis Romanorum Sacris_,
which is a treatise on those oldest of the Roman local legends which the
author considers as Pelasgic.
* * * * *
In our forgetfulness of such "opium reading" we are oft apt to imagine
the days of mysticism and the supernaturalism gone by. Germany, however,
occasionally reminds us that the world is ever prone to return to the
spectre-haunted paths trodden by its forefathers. One of the latest
_recallers_ of this description, is a second and very considerably
enlarged edition of Dr. JOSEPH ENNEMOSER'S _Historio-Physiological
Inquiries into the Origin and Existence of the Human Soul_. Of a
somewhat similar school, we have the second volume of the collected
works of FRANZ VON BAADER, and separate from these, by Dr. FRANZ
HOFFMANN, _Franz Baader in his relations to Spinoza, Leibnitz, Kant,
Jacobi, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel and Herbart_. Six groschens worth of
stout and vivid abuse of the atheist FEUERBACH has also been published
by Blaesing of Erlangen.
* * * * *
We have already called attention to the tenth edition of BROCKHAUS'S
_Conversations-Lexikon_, now publishing serially at Leipzig. The
twenty-first part is before us, and we again take occasion to commend
the work to our readers. We know no other encyclopaedia which compares
with it in universal excellence and utility, and this edition is a great
improvement upon its predecessors. In the biography of living personages
of distinction it is especially rich; in this respect alone it deserves
to be found in the libraries even of those who own the earlier editions.
The biographies of American statesmen and scholars are given with detail
and correctness.
* * * * *
A work which may be of some interest to the belles-lettres antiquarian,
has just been published by Schmidt, of Halle: _The Sources of Popular
Songs in German Literature_. Such a performance is more necessary for
the songs of Germany than for those of any other nation, since no where
else is there so much which really requires explanation to the moderns.
* * * * *
A most agreeable book is _Schiller and his Paternal House_, lately
published at Stuttgart, by Herr SAUPE. The great poet is here depicted
in the midst of his father's family, all of whom loved him dearly, and
respected as much as they loved.
A Hamburg journal says a good and sharp word about the mania of the
Germans for hunting up the literary remains of Goethe and Schiller. The
volumes of memoirs, correspondence, diaries, and other relics of these
great men, would make a library far exceeding in quantity all the
volumes they published themselves. Nothing so much proves the absence of
great and significant persons in the literature of the present day as
this almost convulsive clinging to the immortal deceased, and the
endless endeavor to talk and write about them, and publish every thing
that can be twisted into a connection with their history or writings.
Presently we shall hear of the republication of the school-books they
studied, with all the thumb-marks and pot-hooks then scribbled by the
future great men. This is said on occasion of DOeRING'S _Schiller and
Goethe_, which the writer thinks might as well have been unwritten.
* * * * *
The number of books on military subjects published in Germany, must
astonish the American not accustomed to see at every corner a
_gendarme_, or behold his bayonet protruding occasionally from behind
the scene-paintings of a theatre, where he is posted to preserve order.
In two numbers of a weekly review, we find notices of no less than
fourteen books on strictly military matters. For readers who take an
interest in such subjects, we translate the titles of few: _The Battles
of Frederic the Great; The Armies of the Present Day and their Future
Destiny; Military Fireworks in the Royal Prussian Army; The Organization
and Formation of the Bavarian Army and the Military Budget;_ and _A
Short Abridgment of Naval Artillery_. With these works we may also cite
De GUSTAV SIMON'S new essay On _Gunshot Wounds_, which is said to
contain valuable contributions to this branch of surgery.
* * * * *
The thirtieth volume of _The Library of Collected German Literature_,
contains _Der Waelsche Gast_ (or the Italian Guest), by THOMASIN VON
ZIRELARIA: an old German poem of the Middle Ages, now published the
first time, with philologic and historical remarks by Dr. HEINRICH
RUCKERT; and by K. A. HAHN we have _Die Echten Lieder von den
Niebelungen_ (or The True Songs of the Niebelungen), according to
LECKMANN'S criticisms.
* * * * *
A biography of the late eminent philologist, KARL LACHMANN, written by
his pupil, MARTIN HERTZ, has recently been published by W. Herz of
Leipsic. With the Life itself are given several important posthumous
literary relics of the great scholar.
* * * * *
The _History of German Literature_ now publishing at Leipsic by Dr.
HENRY KURZ, seems to be one of the most perfect and admirable works of
the kind ever undertaken. It will contain in all 1600 octavo pages with
portraits, fac-similes, monuments, residences of authors, and every sort
of pictorial illustration that can increase the value and interest of
the work. Copious extracts will be given from the writers spoken of, and
from the whole range of German literature. Two parts have already been
published; the first goes back to the earliest times and comes down to
the middle of the twelfth century, and the second to the middle of the
fourteenth. Though printed in elegant style, and adorned with so many
fine wood cuts, the parts are sold at about twenty-two cents:
twenty-five parts complete the work.
* * * * *
J. E. HORN has published, by Wigand of Leipsic, two volumes on LUDWIG
KOSSUTH--the first volume treating of Kossuth as agitator, and the
second of Kossuth as minister. "We have in the author a most determined
admirer of the Hungarian chief; one whose respect for the hero is not
however expressed in enthusiastic encomiums; but he attempts by a clear
and sensible analysis of his deeds, of the circumstances upon which they
depended, and the consequences to which they have led, to excite in the
reader a corresponding conviction."
* * * * *
The reader who likes to take history in an entertaining form is
recommended to BEHSE'S _History of the Austrian Court, Nobility, and
Diplomacy_, of which two volumes are just published in Germany. They can
make no just claim to philosophical thoroughness, but are full of
readable anecdotes and interesting glimpses of character.
* * * * *
Among recent curious translations of Oriental literature published in
Germany, we observe the _Quarante Questions Addressees par les doct
Juifs au Prophete Mahomet_ (or The Forty Questions addressed by the
learned Jews to the prophet Mahomet.) The work is accompanied with a
Turkish text and glossary, for the use of Orientalists.
* * * * *
The second volume of the second edition of BOeCKH'S celebrated _Die
Staatshaushaltung der Athener_ (or Political Economy of the Athenians),
has just been published by G. Reimer, of Berlin. So thoroughly has this
edition and particularly this volume been revised, and so materially
increased, that it may be regarded as almost a new work.
* * * * *
Among artistic philosophic works, we see mention of one entitled
_Aesthetic Inquiries into the Modern Drama_, by HENMAN HETTNER. With its
merits we are not acquainted, but the subject, if properly treated,
might serve for an extremely interesting and useful work.
* * * * *
Almost every writer on Egyptian theology, from Jablonsky to Bunsen, has
endeavored to identify, among the manifold gods of their Pantheon, the
eight older deities mentioned by Herodotus, in the 145th chapter of the
_Euterpe_. In a note to his _Chronologie der Aegypter_, Lepsius
announced the discovery, that this series originally consisted only of
seven, and was subsequently enlarged to eight. In a quarto volume, first
issued at Berlin, _Uber den ersten Aegyptischen Goetterkries und seine
geschichtlich-mythologische Entetchung_. (On the First Series of
Egyptian Gods, and its Historico-Mythological Origin,) a dissertation
read before the Royal Academy of Berlin, he supplies the monumental and
other evidence of this discovery, and gives the names of these deities
_majoram gentium_.
* * * * *
SMIRDIN, a publisher of St. Petersburg, who some time since commenced
the issue of a uniform edition of the more prominent authors of Russia,
of which he has already published thirty volumes, has now begun a new
edition of Karamsin's _History of the Russian Empire_. It will be
completed in ten volumes; the first is already published. This is
regarded as the best history of Russia extant, though it notoriously
misstates many facts in order to flatter the imperial house and sustain
its absolute authority. It has previously passed through five editions,
and it is estimated that twenty-four thousand copies of it are in
Russian public libraries and the hands of private persons.
* * * * *
The traditional literature of Germany, already very rich, has received
an important addition in the _Sagenbuch der Bairischen Lande_ (Book of
Traditions of the Bavarian Provinces), of which the first volume has
just been published at Munich. These sagas are collected by the editor,
Mr. A. SCHOePPNER, from the mouth of the people, from out-of-the-way old
chronicles, and from the ballads of the poets. They are full of natural
humor and poetic beauty.
* * * * *
S. DIDUNG has lately written _The Fundamental Laws of Art, and the
German Art-Language, with Poems dedicated to the German Spirit_. This
singular mixture of subjects under one title seems peculiar to Germany,
where authors occasionally have recourse to curious expedients in
book-making.
* * * * *
PROF. WILHELM ZAHN has printed the fourth part of the third continuation
of _The most Beautiful Ornaments and most Remarkable Pictures from
Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae, with several Sketches and Views_, and a
new German edition of HAGMANN'S _Sketches_, got up in excellent style.
* * * * *
MISS BREMER'S records of her visit to the United States will appear as
_Homes of the New World_.
* * * * *
One HERR FROST, who flourishes as Director of the Institution for the
Blind at Prague, has published a novel under the title of the _Wandering
Jew_. It is intended to counteract the bad influence of Eugene Sue's
romance of that name. The hero is a great believer in Sue's socialist
theories, and attempts to instruct a rural community in them, but is
repelled and put to shame by their sturdy good sense.
* * * * *
By the learned and celebrated jurist MITTERMAIER, of Heidelberg, we have
_The English, Scottish, and North-American systems of Punishment, in
connection with their Political, Moral, and Social Circumstances, and
the particulars of Practical Law_. The work is represented by a reviewer
as fully indicating, by the singular copiousness of its contents, "its
author's wonderful and greatly celebrated industry in collecting
(_sammelfleiss_)."
* * * * *
MITTERMAIER, the eminent German jurist, has just published at Erlangen
an elaborate work upon _The English, Scotch, and American Criminal
Practice_, in its relations with the political, moral, and social
situation of those countries. The work goes into the minute details of
the subject. It is calculated to exercise a profound influence upon
criminal practice in Germany.
* * * * *
Mr. HERMANN WEISS is about to publish in Germany _A History of the
Costumes of all Ages and Nations_.
* * * * *
A very valuable and interesting chapter of French literary history, is
M. DE BLIGNIERE'S _Essay on Amyot and on the French Translators of the
Sixteenth Century_, lately published at Paris in an octavo volume. Amyot
was the first to render Heliodorus, Plutarch, and Lenginus into French,
and his excellence consists in a naive sincerity, which, while it seeks
only the true version of his author, lends to it unconsciously the most
pleasing impression of the translator himself.
* * * * *
A new French translation of the works of _Silvio Pellico_ has appeared
at Paris, from the pen of M. LEZAUD. It includes the Memoirs of the
celebrated Italian, and his _Discourses upon Duties_. The translation is
praised by no less a critic than Saint Marc Girardin.
* * * * *
A FRENCH translation of the _Rig-Veda_, that is, of the most ancient of
all the _Vedas_, is just finished at Paris, where the fourth and last
volume appeared about the middle of January. The translator is M.
LANGLOIS of the Institute.
* * * * *
In the year 1851 there were published in France 7,350 works in different
languages; the average yearly product of the previous ten years was only
6,456; of musical works in 1851, there were 485.
* * * * *
There is now appearing serially at Paris a _History of the Bastille_,
from its foundation in 1374, to its destruction in 1789. It is to
contain a full narrative of its mysteries, its prisoners, its governors,
its archives, the tortures and punishments inflicted upon prisoners,
with revelations of the whole internal management of this great prison,
and also a great variety of adventures, dramatic, tragical and
scandalous. The dish is to be completed and spiced with some rich
glimpses of the mysteries of the French police during the period
referred to. The authors of this publication are Messrs. ARNOULD,
ALBIOZE, and MAGNET. The last named has sometimes been employed to help
Alexander Dumas as a playwright. These writers also announce that when
they have got through with the Bastille, they shall attack the Castle of
Vincennes, and give the history of the same from its foundation to the
present day. They propose first to consider it as a royal palace, under
which head they will narrate a variety of orgies and debauchery; next as
a fortress, when they will narrate sieges and battles; and finally as a
state prison, when they will give the history of the leading prisoners
there confined, with an account of the dungeons, the torture chambers,
&c., and kindred particulars. This work will be illustrated with steel
engravings.
* * * * *
COUNT MONTALEMBERT is engaged upon a work whose materials has been
fifteen years in collecting. It is to be entitled _Historie de la
Renaissance du Paganism, depuis Philip-le-Bel jusq'a Robespierre_
(History of the Revival of Paganism, from Philip the Handsome to
Robespierre.) Mr. Montalembert, who is universally known as an ultra
Catholic, holds that the noblest era in history was that part of the
middle ages, when the Catholic faith was at the climax of its influence
and splendor. What distinguishes modern times is paganism, and the
essence of paganism is modern education and science. Classical education
is especially a bad thing. One great hope of this age lies in the
reestablishment of the jesuits and the religious education they will
confer.
* * * * *
Several eminent scholars are in the list of candidates for the Greek
Professorship of Edinburgh, but the struggle is considered to be between
Dr. William Smith, whose classical dictionaries have gained him a high
reputation, Mr. Price, for many years a successful teacher at Rugby,
Professor M'Dowell, of Queen's College, Belfast, and Professor Blackie,
of Aberdeen. The election occurs March 2d.
* * * * *
DR. J. V. C. SMITH has just published (Gould & Lincoln, Boston) _A
Pilgrimage to Palestine, Embracing a Journal of Explorations in Syria,
Turkey, and the Kingdom of Greece_.
* * * * *
In illustration of the advancement of learning in Turkey, the London
_Literary Gazette_ mentions, that when the department of the Ministry of
Public Instruction was created four or five years ago in Constantinople,
it became apparent that there existed a desideratum of Moslem
civilization necessary to be supplied as soon as possible--a _Turkish
Vocabulary_ and a _Turkish Grammar_, compiled according to the
development of modern philology. The Grammar has now been published,
compiled by Fuad Effendi, _mustesher_ of the Grand Vizier, assisted by
Ahmed Djesvid Effendi, another member of the Council of Instruction.
Translations will be made into several languages, the French edition
being now in preparation by two gentlemen belonging to the Foreign
Office of the Sublime Porte, who have obtained a privilege of ten years
for its sale.
* * * * *
SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON has just brought out a complete collection of
his _Poems_, except only, we believe, the once pretty famous book of
_The Siamese Twins_. His _My Novel, or Varieties of English Life_, is
nearly finished, and he will give to the world a new three volume novel
in the course of the spring. He is also bringing out, with final
revisions, notes, &c., all his prose writings, in a neat and cheap
edition. In the new preface to _Alice, or the Mysteries_, he says: "So
far as an author may presume to judge of his own writings, no narrative
fiction by the same hand (with the exception of the poem of _King
Arthur_) deserves to be classed before this work in such merit as may be
thought to belong to harmony between a premeditated conception, and the
various incidents and agencies employed in the development of plot."
* * * * *
LADY BULWER LYTTON has written two extraordinary letters to the _Morning
Post_, of a review in that paper, of her _School for Husbands_, hinting
at what _might_ have been said about some of the minor faults, had the
book been written by any body else, and going out of her way, to remind
us that her husband is a plagiarist. Repeating one of Mr. Joseph
Miller's anecdotes of a larceny of brooms, ready made, she says. "And so
it is with the great _Bombastes_ of the Press--Sir E. Bulwer Lytton.
Truly, therefore, may he exclaim:--
"----Non ulla laborum:
O Virgo nova ni facies inopinaque surgit,
Omnia percipi atque animo mecum ante peregi."
And well may a _sapient, moral_, and _impartial_ press uphold so great
an empiric."
* * * * *
LORD COCKBURN, one of the Scottish judges, is preparing a _Memoir of
Lord Jeffrey_, with selections from his correspondence. "The ability,
judgment, and taste of Henry Cockburn, as well as political sympathy and
personal friendship," the _Athenaeum_ says, "give him every fitness for
being the biographer of Francis Jeffrey."
* * * * *
The last number of the London _Quarterly Review_ presents a new
candidate for the honor of the authorship of JUNIUS, in the person of
the second Lord LYTTLETON--best known in his lifetime for profligacy,
and since, for the curious circumstances attending his death, which are
well related in Sir Walter Scott's _Demonology and Witchcraft_. The
reviewer proves Lord Lyttleton capable of writing the letters; that he
had motives to write them; that his conduct on other occasions is
consistent with Junius's anxiety to preserve his incognito; and that
there are curious coincidences between his character and conduct, and
many characteristic passages in the letters. This directs research to a
new quarter; but though a good _prima facie_ case of suspicion is made
out, that is all. Positive evidence is wanted. A writer in the London
_Athenaeum_, who long ago demolished the claims of Sir Philip Francis to
be considered Junius (Lord Mahon's judgment to the contrary
notwithstanding), and who has since pretty satisfactorily disposed of
the dozen or more other prominent claimants, has, we think, conclusively
answered the _Quarterly's_ claim in behalf of Lord Lyttleton. We should
like to know who the critic of the _Athenaeum_ supposes to be the Great
Unknown. In one of the volumes of the _Grenville Papers_, just published
in London, the author says:
"With respect to the letters addressed to Mr. Grenville by the
author of 'Junius,' which will be printed in the concluding
volumes of this correspondence, it will be sufficient to say
for the present, that there is not a particle of truth in all
the absurd tales that have been invented, as to their
preservation or discovery. In the proper place I shall have an
opportunity of explaining that there was no mystery attaching
to them, beyond the anonymous nature of the author's
communication."
This is rather unfavorable, as far as it goes, to the hypothesis of
Lyttelton's having been the author. It throws us back upon Sir David
Brewster's claim in behalf of Mr. Maclean. Upon that theory, probably,
the archives of London House could throw some light. It may be
mentioned, with reference to this subject that the _Grenville Papers_ go
far to substantiate Lord Shelburne's title to the designation of
_Malagrida_.
* * * * *
We find in the _Athenaeum_ an account of a curious case, having
considerable interest for the lovers of old Italian literature, which
has just been decided by the Sacred Council in Rome.
"About seventeen years ago the Count Alberti, then a
sub-lieutenant in the Roman army, announced to the world, that
he had in his possession, many of the unpublished papers of
TORQUATO TASSO, written with the poet's own hand; and also a
large collection of documents, throwing new light on certain
passages of his career,--particularly on those, which up to
that time, had been considered the most mysterious and
disputable--his first connection with Alphonse d'Este, the
proud Duke of Ferrara, and the real causes of his imprisonment
and liberation. Of course, the world was somewhat skeptical as
to the truth of this announcement; and Alberti either could not
or would not satisfy the doubts of the unbelieving by a plain
statement of how, when, and by what means these precious papers
came into his possession. Four years later, however, Candido
Mazzaroni, a bookseller of Ancona, purchased a portion of them
for publication,--and they were given to the world under the
title of _Interesting Documents on the Entrance of Torquato
Tasso into the service of Alphonse d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and
on the Presents he received at that memorable Period_. In the
following year--that is, in 1839--Count Alberti sold the
remainder of his manuscripts to Signor Giusta, a bookseller of
Lucca, who published them under the title of _The real Causes
of the Imprisonment and Liberation of Torquato Tasso proved by
History and authentic Documents_. Now came the unpleasant part
of the affair to the noble owner of the mysterious manuscripts.
No sooner was this second book announced in the papers, than
Signor Mazzaroni brought an action against the count for having
sold him forged documents and autographs. On this charge
Alberti was arrested, and in due time a commission was named by
the tribunal to examine the documents in question. In
consequence of the slowness which characterizes all judicial
proceedings beyond the Alps, it was not until September, 1844,
that this commission gave its opinion, declaring the said
documents to be forgeries. Alberti was accordingly condemned to
seven years' imprisonment. He appealed against the sentence,
and demanded that the whole case might be re-examined from the
beginning. Thereupon, a second commission was named, with
larger powers; and before this body the count laid the proofs
of authenticity which he possessed. He proved to their
satisfaction that the manuscripts in question had been left by
the Abbe Maranetonio to Prince Ottavio Falconieri, from whose
library they had come to him. The Court admitted his evidence,
quashed the former sentence, and ordered the prisoner to be set
at liberty. The cream, however, of the affair is, that the
second Commission took nearly seven years to arrive at this
conclusion,--so that the Count's imprisonment had about expired
by efflux of time when the Sacra Consulta declared it to be
unmerited."
* * * * *
MR. BANCROFT is about publishing a history of the American Revolution in
three volumes. It is announced by Bentley in London, and will be brought
out here by Little & Brown, of Boston, the publishers of his History of
the United States. The present book is altogether distinct from that
history, upon which the author is still busily engaged. During the years
of his foreign residence, MR. BANCROFT has been storing the richest
materials for his great work; and the public, which in the broad
perception and brilliant style of the first volumes of his History
recognized the master, awaits with eagerness the conclusion. After the
long silence of Mr. BANCROFT, the present volumes will be doubly
welcome. The first volume, which will appear before the others, treats
of the causes of the Revolution.
* * * * *
The Hon. JOHN G. PALFREY, L.L.D., has just published (by Crosby and
Nichols, of Boston) the third and fourth volumes of his very able work
on the _Jewish Scriptures and Antiquities_. It is about ten years, we
believe, since the first and second volumes appeared. Without finding
fault with Dr. Palfrey's politics, we are glad to chronicle his return
to the pursuits of scholarship.
* * * * *
MR. GEORGE W. CURTIS has in press another volume of Eastern travel, in
which the public will welcome the sequel to his very successful _Nile
Notes of a Howadji_, one of the most brilliant books the last year added
to English literature. We understand, from those who have been favored
with a sight of the manuscript, that the _Howwadji in Syria_ will be
somewhat graver in its tone than its predecessor, as befits a book which
records the impressions of Palestine and the Arabian desert, but, that
it will breathe the same Oriental atmosphere, and abound in the same
graceful humor and flowing imagination which lent so great a charm to
that work. No traveller so truly reproduces the soul and sentiment of
these ancient and mysterious countries of the Orient as Mr. Curtis, and
this makes him as much preferable, for our reading, to the collectors of
dry statistics and the jotters down of petty daily adventures, as the
artist who paints a lovely person in the full glow of beauty is to a
tedious gossip who describes the color of her gloves or the material of
her bonnet. The one gives you a living reality; the other mere accidents
and circumstances.
* * * * *
The poems of WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED are in press, by Redfield. Miss
Mitford, in her _Recollections of a Literary Life_, just published in
London, says of these writings: "That they are the most finished and
graceful verses of society that can be found in our language, it is
impossible to doubt. At present they are so scarce that the volume from
which I transcribe the greater part of the following extracts is an
American collection, procured with considerable difficulty and delay
from the United States." The collection referred to was made by the
editor of the _International_, for the same love Miss Mitford feels for
its delightful contents, and was published many years ago by Langley, a
bookseller in the Astor House. It is the only volume by Praed ever
printed, and it has been long out of the market. Mr. Redfield's new
edition will be much more complete.
* * * * *
MR. R. H. STODDARD, the poet, is preparing a volume of fairy tales for
children. Poets were always the friends of fairies; they it is who bring
them within the sphere of human sympathies. That Mr. STODDARD is the
very Laureate of Titania, to sing her summer revels, the rare delicacy
of perception and graceful music of the volume of poems published by him
in the autumn, is the certificate.
* * * * *
Rev. H. N. HUDSON continues his admirable edition of Shakspeare. Early
drawn to the study of the poet, and pursuing that study against every
disadvantage, until he had embodied, in a series of lectures, his views
of Shakspeare and impressions of his plays, we well remember the
excitement which greeted his public reading of them in Boston, before
the literary aristocracy of the Athens of Massachusetts. A shimmering
brilliancy played along his analysis, rather of fancy than of
imagination,--almost rather of conceit than thought; but they approved
him a most competent critic, and this edition shows his admirable
editorial qualities.
* * * * *
The _History of Classical Literature_, by R. W. BROWNE, which has lately
been much praised by London critics, has been republished by Blanchard &
Lea, of Philadelphia. The volume commences with Homer and closes with
Aristotle; and the plan pursued is to give a biography of each author,
an account of the period in which he flourished, and then a criticism on
the character of his works. All the chapters are written with a careful
remembrance that the general, and not the strictly scholarly, reader, is
being addressed; and hence a comprehensive historical air most desirable
in a book assuming to be a history rather than an analysis of a
literature. The _Iliad_ is examined as a poem, but also as affording
evidences of the manners, customs, and civilization of the east at the
time at which the poem was composed. The philosophers are enumerated;
but their philosophy is examined more with reference to its indications
as to society than for its bearings on the schools. Demosthenes is dealt
with as the orator than as the politician. The story of Socrates is
told, not for the individual, but for the universal model. In every
respect, the work is ably executed.
* * * * *
A survey of the literature of the Southern States is in preparation by
JOHN R. THOMPSON, editor of the _Southern Literary Messenger_. It will
make an ample volume in octavo, comprising biographical and critical
notices of the chief writers of that part of the Union, with liberal
extracts from their characteristic productions. Mr. Thompson is a fine
scholar, and has taste, and a thorough acquaintance with the
intellectual resources of the South, and his work will be interesting
and valuable, in many ways, though we suspect that it will fail of the
accomplished editor's intent to show a general unfairness toward
southern writing by northern cities. We have nothing to offer here as to
the causes, but we hold it to be a maintainable fact that the south has
not contributed her part to the intellectual riches of the country. We
may, perhaps, discuss the subject fully on the appearance of Mr.
Thompson's volume, with which, we are sure, the south will have abundant
reason to be satisfied.
Historical Review of the Month.
American diplomacy is pushing on into the Orient. A treaty has been
negotiated with Persia, by Mr. Marsh, our ambassador at Constantinople,
which guarantees to our commerce all the advantages enjoyed by the most
favored nations. The overtures for this treaty came from the Shah
himself, through his envoy at Constantinople, and were promptly met by
Mr. Marsh, acting under the instructions of Secretary Clayton. It now
remains to be seen whether our trade with the Persian kingdom will grow
to much under the favorable influence of the new compact. Up to the
present day Persia does not figure very largely in the annual returns of
the treasury department.