'WANDERINGS ON THE SEAS AND SHORES OF AFRICA.'--The first
part of this serial work has at least the effective merit of making
us earnestly desire its successor. The author, Dr. BACON, a
brother as we learn of Rev. LEONARD BACON, New-Haven, Conn.,
has embodied in it his observations and adventures, during a residence
of seven months at Monrovia, Liberia, of nine or ten months at Cape
Palmas, two months at Sierra Leone, two months on the River Gambia,
nearly two months on the Senegal, and numerous voyages along the coast
of Senegambia and Guinea, from the Great Desert of Sahara to the Gold
Coast; with visits to various missionary stations, slave factories,
trading places, and native towns before undescribed. 'It presents a
large mass of entirely new facts, of the most valuable and important
character on the subjects of the slave-trade, colonization, Christian
missions, African commerce, etc. It furnishes, also, the results of
considerable experience and medical practice in the peculiar diseases
of the coast, with various observations on the topography, geology,
natural history, and ethnography of extensive regions hitherto scarcely
known by name. These facts are given precisely in the order in which
they came to the voyager's knowledge, in connection with a personal
narrative replete with adventures of a remarkable kind, detailing
wanderings, sufferings, and dangers among savage tribes, and extreme
exposures to storms and shipwreck.' With the exception perhaps of 'Two
Years before the Mast,' we remember no work which affords so vivid a
description of the sea, and the astronomical wonders of the Southern
heavens, as these 'Wanderings.' They possess great merit, and afford
promise of various excellence in future numbers.
Since the foregoing was 'committed to types,' we have received a
second number of the work; and find the promise of the first more
than redeemed. We foresee that the plain-speaking of the writer bodes
no good to the cause of Liberian colonization. He tells us only what
he has _seen_, and what he _knows_ to be true. Arrived at Monrovia,
we find him at board with the black governor, whose 'lady' is his
laundress, although belonging of course to the 'berry fust circles of
good siety.' We derive some curious facts from Dr. BACON,
connected with colonization matters: for example; that in the main
the colonists, from the highest to the lowest, are a hypocritical,
ungrateful, and frequently dishonest people; that the books (the
refuse, too often, of the libraries of those among us who claim to be
'_benefactors_' of Liberia) which are sent from America, are not read
but are torn up, eaten by cockroaches, or otherwise destroyed; that
our Bibles and Tracts are as useless to the ignorant natives as if
they were in Hebrew; that fruitful as the country has been represented
to be, the dependence for even the necessaries of life is on foreign
supplies, the flour and a large proportion of the meat being imported;
the writer 'never saw fifty stalks of sugar-cane in the fields of the
colonists,' nor could he obtain an ounce of 'Liberian coffee,' the
stories which reach us concerning the Liberian 'coffee plantations'
being wholly humbugeous, and intended only for effect here. Among
the writer's colonial patients, was 'a daughter of THOMAS
JEFFERSON, who had with her a niece, the grand-daughter of the
great American President and apostle of democracy, who bore a most
striking resemblance to his common portraits!' This is not pleasant to
think of. The American opinion of 'the venerated ASHMUN' it
appears greatly needs revision. He is proved to have been 'an unworthy
man and a deceiver;' so much so, indeed, that the writer freely
expresses his 'contempt and abhorrence of his character,' which were
so great as to cause the Doctor, on his return to America, to cause
the _name_, which had been placed in a stereotype work, 'at the end
of such a catalogue of saints as 'BRAINARD, MILLS,
MARTYN, PARSONS, FISKE, MILNE,' to
be beaten into the solid metal page, that it might no longer disgrace
its association!' These facts may be unpalatable to the American
Colonization Society, but that they _are_ facts, there can be little
doubt; since they proceed from the mouth of the Society's accredited
agent, under whose auspices he repaired to and resided at Liberia.
MR. LUNT'S POEM ON CULTURE.--A neatly-printed little volume,
in dress of modest drab, lies before us, containing 'Culture; a poem
delivered before the Boston Mercantile Library Association,' in
October last, by GEORGE LUNT, Esq., an honorary member of the
institution. The first glance made us reluct at encountering in the
outset the writer's formidable-looking preface. 'If this,' thought
we, 'be what the Italians term _la salsa del libro_, 'the sauce of
the book,' there is much more of the condiment than of the meat.' We
were gratified to find however in this mere 'preface' an able essay
upon a theme which has more than once been discussed in these pages;
namely, the _true_ philosophy of poetry, and its influence, actual
and collateral, upon society, in contradistinction to utilitarianism,
and those principles of expediency, which 'repudiate' imagination,
and vitiate our perception of truth. The poem itself abounds in good
thoughts, vented with much music of expression; all which we could
abundantly prove, had we space for extracts. As it is, we must ask such
of our readers as may have at command the volume before us, to turn to
the twenty-fourth page of the poem, and admire with us the illustration
of 'Mind,' in more senses than one, which may there be found; and when
they have exhausted that admirable passage, let them turn to another,
which we had also marked for insertion, commencing on the thirty-fourth
and ending on the thirty-sixth page. Next to presenting good things,
perhaps some kind reader may admit, is the pointing them out. 'And
here, may it please the court, we rest.'
'THE OPAL: A PURE GIFT FOR THE HOLYDAYS.'--This is an
exceedingly pretty moral and religious annual, edited by N. P.
WILLIS, illustrated by J. G. CHAPMAN, and
published by JOHN C. RIKER, Number Fifteen Ann-street. The
illustrations, nine in number, are mainly in the light and pleasing
style of etching, which Mr. CHAPMAN has rendered so popular,
and in subject alternate with Scripture scenes and fancy-sketches
of a domestic or religious character. The literary articles are
from the pens of well-known American writers, including, beside the
Editor's, those of WILDE, HERBERT, ALDRICH,
BENJAMIN, HOFFMAN, CHEEVER, ROBERT
MORRIS, PALMER, TUCKERMAN, Mrs. EMBURY,
Mrs. SEBA SMITH, W. H. BURLEIGH, etc. We commend
the work cordially to our readers, regretting that we can find no
space for extracts, at the late hour at which the volume reaches
us; save only the following explanatory passage from the preface:
'Religious books, devoted solely to the inculcation of the precepts
of piety, are all-important as one branch of instruction and reading.
But GOD, who made all things for his creatures, and gave
them taste, fancy, and a sense exquisitely alive to the beautiful,
intended no ascetic privation of the innocent objects which minister
to these faculties. The mirth, and the playful elegances of poetry and
descriptive writing are as truly within the paths of religious reading
as any thing else which shows the fullness and variety of the provision
made for our happiness, when at peace with ourselves. Nothing gay, if
innocent, is out of place in an annual intended to be used as a tribute
of affection by the good.' The work is 'opal-hued, reflecting all the
bright lights and colors which the prodigality of GOD'S open
hand has poured upon the pathway of life.'
'JEANIE MORRISON.'--This beautiful and touching ballad of the
gentle MOTHERWELL has been set to music by 'DEMPSTER,
the true-blue Scot,' as BURNS called his namesake, and
dedicated to his friend JAMES T. FIELDS, Esq., Boston. The
music, as we gather from capable judges, is in good keeping with the
feeling and sweet simplicity of the verse; and surely higher praise
need not be awarded to it. The poem itself would have done honor to
BURNS, and a nearer approach to his style we scarcely remember
ever to have seen. How fervent, how natural, this retrospect of a
first, fresh boyish love:
'MY head runs round and round about,
My heart flows like a sea,
As one by one the thoughts rush back
O' spring-time and o' thee.
O morning life! O morning love!
O lightsome days and lang.
When honied hopes around our hearts
Like simmer blossoms sprang!
O, mind ye, love, how oft we left
The deavin,' dinsome town.
To wander by the green burnside,
And hear its waters croon?
The simmer leaves hung o'er our heads,
The flowers burst round our feet,
And in the gloamin' o' the wood
The throstle whistled sweet.'
The publisher of 'JEANIE MORRISON' is Mr. Oliver
Ditson, Boston; but we infer that it is also for sale at the
principal music-stores in this city.
POEMS BY BARRY CORNWALL.--Messrs. WILLIAM D. TICKNOR AND
COMPANY, Boston, have just given to the public a neatly-executed
volume, containing 'English Songs and other Poems,' by BARRY
CORNWALL. It will be an acceptable offering to American readers.
PROCTER is a very charming, _heart-full_ writer. To adopt the
language of another, there is an intense and passionate beauty, a depth
of affection, in his little dramatic poems, which appear even in the
affectionate triflings of his gentle characters. 'He illustrates that
holiest of human emotions, which, while it will twine itself with the
frailest twig, or dally with the most evanescent shadow of creation,
wasting its excess of kindliness on all around it, is yet able to
'look on tempests and be never shaken.' Love is gently omnipotent in
his poems; accident and death itself are but passing clouds, which
scarcely vex and which cannot harm it. The lover seems to breathe out
his life in the arms of his mistress, as calmly as the infant sinks
into its softest slumber. The fair blossoms of his genius, though light
and trembling at the breeze, spring from a wide, and deep, and robust
stock, which will sustain far taller branches without being exhausted.'
'THE WRONGS OF WOMAN.'--'The forsaken Home' is the sub-title
of the second part of this series by CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH,
whose English fame is not greater than her reputation in America.
Here now is a picture of domestic struggles and privations; of female
suffering and sorrow; of a deserted home and hopeless, ill-requited
toil; which bears incontestable evidence of being but too faithful to
its original; and it is so affecting, we may add _revolting_, that we
marvel somewhat that those doughty philanthropists who manifest so
much sympathy for the 'neglected and the down-trodden' on this side
the Atlantic do not lessen the radius of their humane telescopes,
and 'take a short look about home' for objects of commiseration and
charity. That our readers may see how much this is needed, we commend
them to a perusal of the volume before us, which may be found at M. W.
DODD'S book-store, Brick-church Chapel.
THE 'MYSTERIES OF PARIS.'--We little thought, when we
presented the first English translation of a scene from this remarkable
work, that in less than two months it would be borne on the wings
of rival American presses into every nook and corner of this vast
republic. But so it is. The MS. of Mr. CHARLES H.
TOWN, from which we quoted, was seized with such avidity by the
Brothers HARPER that the translator was left without leisure
to smooth over and soften the too literal features of his work,
having quite enough to do to finish it in time for the printers. The
'NEW-WORLD' edition, translated by Mr. DEMMING, now
near its completion, is executed with fidelity and good taste, is well
printed, and has been favorably received at the hands of the public.
The rival editions will each be entirely exhausted by the current
demand; and in view of their cheapness, few will be disposed to invoke
'a plague on both the houses' whence they proceed.
ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY: SILK CULTURE.--Messrs.
GREELY AND M'ELRATH have published, in a cheap but substantial
form, for the use of schools and academies, the _tenth edition_ of
GALES'S 'Elements of Natural Philosophy.' The general plan of
BLAIR'S work is preserved in the volume, which embraces the
principles of mechanics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, acoustics, optics,
electricity, galvanism, magnetism, and astronomy, and is illustrated by
several hundred wood-engravings. The same publishers have put forth an
illustrated pamphlet upon the culture of silk, with historical sketches
of the silk business, in Europe and the United States; the natural
history of the silk-worm, mulberry-tree, etc.; a useful work, and one
which supplies an important desideratum to silk-growers.
NEW PUBLICATIONS OF THE BROTHERS HARPER.--'Woman an Enigma,
or Life and its Revelations,' a new production of the author of
'Conquest and Self-Conquest,' is much affected of the ladies; to which
fact we are indebted for our inability to speak more at large of its
merits. 'The Banker's Wife,' or 'Court and City,' a novel by Mrs.
GORE, is also warmly commended by the public press, but we
have not found a moment's leisure to devote to its perusal. In the way
of _Anti-Puseyism_, we have 'The True Churchman Warned against the
Errors of the Time,' with notes by Dr. ANTHON, and 'The True
Issue Sustained, or an Exhibit of the Views and Spirit of the Episcopal
Press in relation to the recent Ordination of Mr. CARY.' All
these publications are characterized by the usual neatness of works
from the HARPERS' press.
'NATURE AND REVELATION.'--The object of this work is to show
the present condition of the churches, and the change now to come upon
the world, by the Second Advent, in Spirit, of the MESSIAH,
with interpretations of the Prophecies in Daniel and the Book of
Revelation. The different states of the church, under the Apostolic,
Roman, Vandal, Reformed, and present eras, are considered, as well as
the new order and era of things which is now to succeed, in which the
old churches and nations are to pass away, under the influence of the
true gospel. The volume is from the pen of H. N. VAN AMRINGE,
author of 'The Seals Opened, or a Voice to the Jews,' and is published
by R. P. BIXBY AND COMPANY, Park-Row.
PUBLICATIONS OF MESSRS. BURGESS AND STRINGER.--These gentlemen
are doing good service to the public in the series of useful little
books which they are placing before their countrymen. We find on our
table neat yet cheap editions of Mrs. ELLIS'S 'House-Keeping
Made Easy,' adapted to our own meridian by an American Lady; a book
on 'Knitting, Netting, and Crotchet Work,' revised and enlarged;
ABERNETHY'S 'Family Physician, or Ready Prescriber,' an
excellent little volume; and a 'Lecture on the Oregon Territory,' by
PETER A. BROWNE, LL. D., of Philadelphia.