For our supply of the comforts and luxuries of life, we lay the world
under contribution: fresh from every quarter of the globe we draw a
portion of its yearly produce. The field of literature is well-nigh as
broad as that of commerce; as rich and varied in its annual fruits;
and, if gleaned carefully, might furnish to our higher tastes as large
an annual ministry of enjoyment. Believing that a sufficient demand
exists to warrant the enterprise, THOMAS CONSTABLE & CO. propose to
present to the British public a Series of the most popular accessions
which the literature of the globe is constantly receiving. Europe
alone,--its more northern and eastern lands especially,--offers to the
hand of the selector most inviting and abundant fruits; Asia may
supply a few rarer exotics; whilst in America the fields are whitening
to a harvest into which many a hasty sickle has been already thrust,
and from which many a rich sheaf may be hereafter gathered.
Fully aware of the extent and difficulty of such an effort, the
Publishers will spare no pains to make the execution of their
undertaking commensurate with its high aim. They have already opened
channels of communication with various countries, and secured the aid
of those who are minutely acquainted with their current literature;
and they take this opportunity of stating, that even where no legal
copyright in this country can be claimed by the author or publisher of
a work of which they may avail themselves, an equitable share of any
profit which may arise from its sale will be set aside for his
advantage.
The Series will be made as varied as possible, that there may be
something in it to suit the tastes of all who seek instruction or
healthful recreation for the mind,--and its range will therefore be as
extensive as the field of Literature itself: while, at the same time,
it shall be the endeavour of its editors to select, for the most part,
works of general or universal interest.
The Publishers are unable to state the exact periods at which their
MISCELLANY OF FOREIGN LITERATURE will appear, but they believe that
the number of volumes issued during the first year will not exceed
six; so that taking the average price per volume as _Three Shillings
and Sixpence_, the cost to Subscribers would not exceed _One Guinea_;
while, by the addition of a _special_ title-page for each work issued,
those persons who may wish to select an occasional publication will be
saved the awkwardness of placing in their library a volume or volumes
evidently detached from a continuous Series.
EDINBURGH: THOMAS CONSTABLE & Co.
LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & Co. DUBLIN: JAMES M'GLASHAN
AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.
LIST OF WORKS
PUBLISHED BY
THOMAS CONSTABLE AND CO.
WORKS BY L. F. BUNGENER.--Authorized Translations.
In Two Vols., small 8vo, with Frontispieces, price 7s.,
FRANCE BEFORE THE REVOLUTION; or, Priests, Infidels, and Huguenots, in
the Reign of Louis XV.
"A rich historical treat"--_Bell's Weekly Messenger._
"Written throughout with earnestness and power; its
principal scenes and incidents are described with great
dramatic effect, and its characters are boldly and
clearly drawn."--_Morning Post._
"More interesting reading is very rarely met
with."--_Atlas._
"According to the opinion of a competent judge, there
has been no historical fiction, the work of a French
writer, within the last Fifty years, comparable to this
most remarkable and instructive performance."--_Tait's
Magazine._
VOLTAIRE AND HIS TIMES. In One Volume, uniform with "France before the
Revolution," price 5s.
"The Author's sentiments are of the right stamp, and
the deductions he draws are forcible and clever; indeed
there is no Continental writer of the present times
more thoroughly acquainted with the phases of this
epoch, or more capable of elucidating them than M.
Bungener."--_Bell's Weekly Messenger._
"Full of interest as a book to be read, full of matter
as a book to be studied."--_Edinburgh Guardian._
"M. Bungener dissects with a masterly and unsparing
hand, the imposing pretensions of the French
Philosophers, and lays bare the hollowness and
corruption which were but imperfectly concealed under a
mask of superior wisdom and virtue."--_Morning Post._
_By the Count Agénor de Gasparin._
THE SCHOOLS OF DOUBT AND THE SCHOOL OF FAITH. _Translated by
Authority._ Crown 8vo, price 5s.
"A valuable contribution to the literature of the
Christian Evidences, and a masterly defence of the
canonicity and divine authority of the Sacred
Scriptures."--_Literary Gazette._
"An able plea for the strictly Protestant
interpretation of the Scriptures."--_Athenæum._
"We know no book which furnishes so convenient a manual
of the class of topics to which it relates, and we
shall be surprised if it does not become very
extensively popular."--_Dublin Daily Express._
"In respect of talent we can compare this book with
'The Eclipse of Faith,' which is one of the best
polemical treatises of modern times, and which it very
much resembles."--_Bell's Weekly Messenger._
LOUISA VON PLETTENHAUS; or, The Journal of a Poor Young Lady.
Translated from the German. With Woodcut Frontispiece, designed by J.
B. Cloth, gilt edges, price 3s. 6d.
"A romantic and engaging story."--_Nonconformist._
"If a fiction, it is certainly one of the most happily
conceived and charmingly executed with which we have
met for a considerable time."--_Northern Warder._
"Written in a spirit of gentleness and Christianity
that must commend it especially to the
young."--_Morning Post._
"A singularly interesting chapter in the heart's life
of a young girl."--_Edinburgh Advertiser._
"Beautifully true to nature, full of the most touching
pathos, most lovely Christian sentiment, and what is
not always found in the same companionship, most
thorough sound practical good sense."--_Youths'
Magazine._
LORENZO BENONI; or, Passages in the Life of an Italian.
Cheap Edition, Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d.
Handsome 8vo, Cloth, gilt, 12s.--Illustrated by J. B.
Crown 8vo, Cloth, gilt, 5s. " "
"Worthy to be ranked among contemporary works whose
season is the century in which their authors
live."--_Examiner._
"This work should be as extensively read as Uncle Tom's
Cabin."--_Bell's Messenger._
"On the score of style alone this volume is a
remarkable curiosity."--_Quarterly Review._
"Few works of the season will be read with greater
pleasure than this; there is a great charm in the
quiet, natural way in which the story is
told."--_Atlas._
"The Author's great forte is character painting. This
portraiture is accomplished with remarkable skill, the
traits both individual and national being marked with
great nicety without obtrusiveness."--_Spectator._
"Under the modest guise of a biography of an imaginary
Lorenzo Benoni, we have here, in fact, the memoir of a
man whose name could not be pronounced in certain parts
of Northern Italy without calling up tragic yet noble
historical recollections.... Its merits, simply as a
work of literary art, are of a very high order. The
style is really beautiful--easy, sprightly, graceful,
and full of the happiest and most ingenious turns of
phrase and of fancy."--_North British Review._
"As lively in its tone as '_Gil Blas_,' and full of
those descriptions of contemporary manners among
foreigners--those narratives of foreign contemporary
events and sketches of foreign contemporary character
that must always command the highest
interest."--_Standard._
"This is one of the most remarkable volumes that has of
late come to our hands.... A lively Autobiography which
bears the seal of fidelity in every
sentence."--_Morning Advertiser._
"Wise, virtuous, noble, cultivated, refined, matured by
sorrows, is the mind which gave it birth. Let it go
forth to amuse, to teach, to warn, to encourage, to
comfort; in all ways to do good."--_Eclectic Review._
_Now Ready_,
THE SHADY SIDE. By a Pastor's Wife. Price 1s.
"We remember nothing in fictitious narrative more
pathetic,--we might say, so pathetic."--_Standard._
Transcriber's Note: Three pages of material relating to "Constable's
Miscellany of Foreign Literature" have been moved from the front of
the book, and placed after the title page and at the end of the book.
In addition, the following typographical errors present in the
original book publication have been corrected for this electronic
edition:
In the Preface, "The race of the Hunydis" was changed to "The race of
the Hunyadis".
In "Dear Relations", a quotation mark was added after "Well, you
rascal!", "linen drawers with ringes" was changed to "linen drawers
with fringes", "explaining the pyschology" was changed to "explaining
the psychology", and "fill his cap with sweatmeats" was changed to
"fill his cap with sweetmeats".
In "The Bardy Family", a quotation mark was added after "the whole
building may be protected", "but-end" was changed to "butt-end", and
"hastened to meet m" was changed to "hastened to meet him".
In "Crazy Marcsa", a period was added after "cloak bordered with fur".
In "Comorn", a quotation mark was added after "as he does our
enemies", and "sideling" was changed to "sidling".
In "Gergely Somoly", "Some said that this Mistress Deborah" was
changed to "Some said that this Mistress Debora", a period was added
after "I am an oculist, aunt", and quotation marks were added around
"Esztike is not here".
In "The Unlucky Weathercock", a quotation mark was moved from after
"sir" to after "ask" in the sentence "Where do you come from, sir? if
I may presume to ask."
In "The Brewer", a period was added after "the peasants in some
districts", and an exclamation mark after "Nagyuram".
In "The Szekely Women", quotation marks were added after "before and
after his death!" and "then you may enter our town", quotation marks
were removed after "My white dress" and before "I only wore it once",
and "trangression of duty" was changed to "transgression of duty".
In "A Ball", "badness of confectionry" was changed to "badness of
confectionary".
Several names are spelled inconsistently. Except as noted above, these
have been left as they appeared in the original text.