* * * * *

_The Life of Peter Van Schaack, LL. D. Embracing selections from

his Correspondence, and other writings during the American

Revolution, and his Exile in England. By his son, Henry C. Van

Schaack. One vol. 8vo. pp. 500. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

Philadelphia: Carey & Hart._

This is a novel and interesting contribution to our historical

literature, Mr. Van Schaack was an eminent young lawyer in the city of

New York during the period immediately preceding the Revolution, and was

on terms of intimacy with John Jay, Richard Harrison, Gouverneur Morris,

and other master-spirits of that time. He was opposed to the declaration

of independence in the colonies, and to the resort to arms in its

defence, and for his opinions was banished to England. While abroad he

was placed in situations to see and to learn much in regard to the

movements of both parties, and his strictures on the policy of the

British, notices of public characters, etc., throw additional light upon

the most important era in our history. He was a pious and well educated

man, with strong powers of observation, classical taste and much skill

in the use of language; and his son has done the country an acceptable

service by publishing his memoirs and writings. A fine portrait by

Gimbrede, from a painting by Colonel Trumbull, adds to the beauty and

value of the volume.

* * * * *

_An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of

England, by Bishop Burnet. With an Appendix, containing the

Augsburg Confession, Creed of Pope Pius IV., &c. Revised and

Corrected, with copious Notes and additional References, by the

Rev. James R. Paige, A.M., of Queen’s College, Cambridge. One

volume, 8vo. New York: D. Appleton & Co._

The valuable notes from the most distinguished theological writers of

the sixteenth century, biographical sketches of celebrated divines and

controvertists, indices, etc. which the learned editor has added to the

great work of Bishop Burnet, must cause this edition to supersede every

other as a manual for students. It is printed in Messrs. Appleton and

Company’s usual style of elegance and _correctness_.

* * * * *

_The Writings of Rev. William Bradford Homer, with a Memoir, by

Edwards A. Park. One vol. 12mo. Pp. 420. Boston: Tappan &

Dennet. Philadelphia: H. Perkins._

From the interesting memoir by Professor Park we learn that Mr. Homer

was a native of Boston; that he was educated at Amherst College and the

Theological School at Andover; and that he died in 1841, at South

Berwick, in Maine, where he was settled as minister over a

Congregational Church. His literary remains consist of addresses,

religious discourses, and notes on the classics, all of which are

distinguished for elegance of taste and correct and appropriate thought.

It is hardly necessary so to speak of a volume from the Boston press, as

well printed.

* * * * *

_History of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign

Missions. Compiled chiefly from the published and unpublished

documents of the Board. By Joseph Tracy. Second edition,

carefully revised and enlarged. One vol. 8vo. New York: M. W.

Dodd, 1842._

The American Missionary Society has doubtless done more for the

promotion of religion and civilization than any other association in the

world. Its progress, condition, and prospects must, therefore, be deeply

interesting to the better classes of men in every country. The work

before as is written with great care and ability, and brings the history

of the society’s operations down to the commencement of the present

year. It is compactly printed and illustrated by several engravings.

* * * * *

_The Poetical Remains of the late Lucy Hooper, with a Memoir, by

John Keese. One vol. 12mo. Philadelphia, Carey & Hart. New York,

Samuel Colman._

Lucy Hooper died last year in the city of Brooklyn, near New York, at

the early age of twenty-four years. She had previously become widely

known by her contributions, in prose and verse, to the periodicals,

distinguished alike for their elegant diction, purity of thought, and

womanly feeling. The Memoir, by Mr. Keese, is an admirable specimen of

character-writing, and the work altogether is one of the most

interesting of its kind published in this country. We regret our

inability to give a more extended notice of it in this number of our

magazine.

* * * * *

EDITOR’S TABLE.

To Readers And Correspondents.—It affords us great pleasure to state

that the publisher of this magazine has entered into engagements with

James Fenimore Cooper, the most popular of our country’s authors, by

which we shall be enabled to present in every number, after that for

September, an article from his pen. Mr. Cooper has never before been

connected with any periodical. His works are so familiar to every reader

in the old or the new world, that it is unnecessary to speak at length

of the increase in interest and value our magazine will derive from his

contributions.

Of Professor Longfellow’s poems several have already appeared in this

magazine. He has recently completed a drama, in three acts, entitled

“_The Spanish Student_,” the MS. of which is in our possession. It is

the most elaborate, and will unquestionably prove to be the most popular

of his poetical works. It will appear, entirely or in part, in our next

number. Professor Longfellow is now abroad, in quest of health. From an

exquisite poem addressed to him on the day of his departure, by his

friend George S. Hillard, we quote the following stanza, joining

heartily in the invocation—

Ye gales that breathe, ye founts that gush,

With renovating power,

Upon that loved and laurelled head,

Your gifts of healing shower:

And jocund Health that loves to climb

The breezy mountain side;

Wake with your touch, to bounding life,

His pulse’s languid tide!

The name of William Cullen Bryant—dear to the lovers of elegant

literature wherever the English tongue is spoken—appears now, for the

first time, on our pages. We have elsewhere given some opinions on his

character as a poet, in which we doubt not every reader will concur.

“Henri Quatre, or the Days of the League” was republished in this

country immediately after its appearance in London, and universally

pronounced one of the best romances in the language. It has since passed

through several editions, and is now incorporated with the standard

works of fiction. The author, it will be perceived, has become a writer

for this magazine, and the admirable story entitled “_De Pontis_,” of

which the first part is given in the preceding pages, will sustain his

high reputation.

Charles Fenno Hoffman, the accomplished author of “A Winter in the

West,” “Wild Scenes in the Forest and the Prairie,” “Greyslaer,” “The

Vigil of Faith,” etc., has also become a regular contributor, and our

next number will contain a tale in his best manner.

Theodore S. Fay, author of “Norman Leslie,” “Reveries of a Quiet Man,”

“The Countess Ida,” etc., and now United States Secretary of Legation at

Berlin, will continue to write for our pages.

Henry T. Tuckerman, author of “Isabelle, or Sicily,” “The Italian Sketch

Book,” “Rambles and Reveries,” etc., has likewise been engaged, and an

article from his pen will appear in September.

Alfred B. Street, one of the best descriptive poets now living, has

forwarded to us a beautiful poem which will also be published in the

number for the next month.

One more part will complete Mr. Herbert’s spirited tale, “The Sisters.”

We have received another article by this popular writer, which will soon

be laid before our readers.

Niagara Falls.—This number of our magazine appears in the midst of “the

hot season,” while the warmest aspirations of its readers are for “the

cool retreats, the woodlands, and the waves.” In August no place is more

attractive than _Niagara_—as our friend Schoolcraft, who understands

better than any one else the Indian tongues, says the name should be

pronounced—and the following letter from the _Cataract House_ will

therefore be read with interest, especially by those who intend to visit

the scenes it so admirably describes.

CATARACT HOUSE, Niagara Falls, July, 1842.

_Friend Griswold_:—Years, though not many, have weighed upon me since

first, in boyhood, I gazed from the deck of a canal-boat upon the

distant cloud of white vapor which marked the position of the world’s

great cataract, and listened to catch the rumbling of its deep thunders.

Circumstances did not then permit me to gratify my strong desire of

visiting it; and now, when I am tempted to wonder at the stolidity of

those who live within a day’s journey, yet live on through half a

century without one glance at the mighty torrent, I am checked by the

reflection that I myself passed within a dozen miles of it no less than

five times before I was able to enjoy its magnificence. The propitious

hour came at last, however; and, after a disappointed gaze from the

upper terrace on the British side, (in which I half feared that the

sheet of broken and boiling water above was all the cataract that

existed,) and a rapid tortuous descent by the woody declivity, I stood

at length on Table Rock, and the whole immensity of the tremendous

avalanche of waters burst at once on my arrested vision, while Awe

struggled with Amazement for the mastery of my soul.

This was late in October; I have twice revisited the scene amid the

freshness and beauty of June; but I think the later Autumn is by far the

better season. There is then a sternness in the sky, a plaintive

melancholy in the sighing of the wind through the mottled forest

foliage, which harmonizes better with the spirit of the scene. For the

Genius of Niagára, O friend! is never a laughter-loving spirit. For the

gaudy vanities, the petty pomps, the light follies of the hour, he has

small sympathy. Let not the giddy heir bring here his ingots, the

selfish aspirant his ambition, the libertine his victim, and hope to

find enjoyment and gaiety in the presence. Let none come here to nurse

his pride, or avarice, or any low desire. God and His handiwork here

stand forth in lone sublimity; and all the petty doings and darings of

the ants at the base of the pyramid appear in their proper

insignificance. Few can have visited Niagára and left it no humbler, no

graver than they came.

The common fault of visiters here, as of sight-seers elsewhere, is that

of haste. Two hours are devoted to a scene which requires days, if not

weeks, for its proper appreciation. Niagára, like St. Peter’s at Rome,

enlarges on the vision; the mind must have time to expand ere it can

grasp all its giant proportions. The first view always deludes and

disappoints the gazer with regard to the height of the perpendicular

fall; the vast scale on which Nature has fashioned her wonder-work

deceives; the depth, and breadth, and volume, detract from the altitude;

and I doubt if the larger number of new comers would not estimate the

height at less than one half the one hundred and sixty feet which the

line gives from surface above to surface below. Observation, however,

soon corrects the error; if not, a walk down the interminable stairway,

and a gaze upward at the ocean which seems to be poured from a window of

heaven, will do it at once.

The giant masonry of Nature, which has so long interposed a barrier

against the draining of Lake Erie into Ontario at a rush, and the

consequent overwhelming of all the dwellers upon the latter and the St.

Lawrence by a deluge, is evidently wearing away; I can perceive a

decided change since I first stood here, seven years ago. The main or

British fall is receding near the middle, and thus exchanging its

original (or recent) form of a horseshoe for that of an irregular wedge.

By this process the beauty and grandeur of the cataract are sensibly

diminished. I understand that the recession here, under the pressure of

so vast a body of water, has been so rapid as essentially to diminish

the amount of water flowing on the American side of Goat Island, even

within twenty years. Five hundred will probably suffice to dry this

channel altogether; five thousand may or may not suffice to bring on the

great convulsion which will destroy the falls entirely, change Lake Erie

into a sandy valley divided by a rapid river, leave one half the Erie

Canal without water, and change the whole face of Nature from Detroit to

the Ocean, And why from Detroit only? It _may_ be that a barrier of rock

equally firm prevents the immediate occurrence of a similar convulsion

at the mouths of the Huron and Michigan, and thus the cataract will but

be transferred to a point much nearer the Superior; yet I should deem it

quite as likely that the final submersion of Niagara, if instantaneous,

as it very probably will be, when the rocky barrier has been sapped and

broken down so nearly through as no longer to afford adequate resistance

to the intense pressure of Lake Erie, will be the signal for a

convulsion so mighty as to change the whole topography of Central North

America.

Since I wrote the foregoing, I have slept to the music of the great

cataract, my window looking out on the foaming and hurrying waters of

the American current, just before it is precipitated over the ledge. It

has rained through a good part of the night, though the roar of the

waters drowned completely the noise of the storm, and the morning is wet

and forbidding, while a heavy fog or cloud detracts much from the

grandeur of the scene. My morning walk along the American shore has been

less satisfactory than any previous observation, the water suspended in

vapor somewhat shrouding the spectacle, while that falling or fallen

detracts likewise from the comfort of all but web-footed travellers. No

matter—I did not meditate any precise description of the Fall, and

shall not attempt it. The readers of your Magazine, I presume, are

mainly of the class who have either been here or intend to see for

themselves at a fitting season. And beside, description avails very

little in such a case. It is only by its comparisons and assimilations

of the unknown with the known that description enlightens—and what has

the world to compare with Niagara?

A few hints to visiters must close this hasty epistle. They tell you,

good friends, that the best view of the Cataract is that from the Canada

side; and so it is; but it is far from being the _only_ good or even

necessary view. The details are essential to the completeness and

fulness of your impression, and those are only gleaned from hours of

intent observation from all positions. The very best view is probably

that from Table Rock; the next best perhaps that from under the same, on

the point just before passing behind the grand curtain, when having

descended the winding stairway and scrambled over some rods of shale

between the beetling cliff and the whirling basin, forcing your way

through an eternal tempest of wind and rain such as upper earth endures

but once in many years, you stand at length directly face to face with

the mighty torrent, and put your hands, if you please, into the edge of

its very self. You look up, and the columnar sea seems pouring from the

very sky overhead; you now learn to appreciate more justly the vast

height of the Fall; as you gaze, the impending water seems to advance

upon, and the next moment likely to dash over and whelm you.

But these are not alone as points of deepest interest; and I think some

of the many views from Goat Island scarcely inferior in impressiveness,

while superior in softness and beauty. The noble forest, the velvet

turf, the glowing sun-beams, the unconstrained stillness of all things

save the Great Cataract itself, fitly blend with and modify the first

sensations of unapproachable grandeur and power. The stern severity, the

austere majesty of the scene is softened down; and we return to our

primal knowledge of Nature under no stepmother aspect, but as a

sympathizing confidant and friend. I must break off.

Yours,

H. G.

* * * * *

John Fitch.—Our readers will be pleased to learn that Miss Leslie is

preparing for the press a Memoir of this remarkable man, to whom the

world is really indebted for the most important of modern discoveries.

While Fitch was in London Miss Leslie’s father was one of his warmest

friends, and the papers of her family enable her to give many

particulars of his history unknown to other biographers. A year or two

since, we wrote a brief account of the eccentric and unfortunate

inventor, which led to an interesting correspondence with several

eminent persons who had been acquainted with him. Among the letters

which we received was the following, from the venerable Noah Webster,

LL. D., of New Haven.

_Dear Sir_:—In your notice of John Fitch you justly remark that

his biography is still a desideratum. The facts related of him

by Mr. St. John to Mr. Stone, and published in the New York

Commercial Advertiser, are new to me; and never before had I

heard of Mr. Fitch at _Sharon_, in Connecticut; but I know Mr.

St. John very well, and cannot discredit his testimony any more

than I can Mr. Stone’s memory. The substance of the account

given of Mr. Fitch by the indefatigable J. W. Barber, in his

Connecticut Historical Collections, is as follows: John Fitch

was born in East Windsor, in Connecticut, and apprenticed to Mr.

Cheney, a watch and clock-maker of East Hartford, now

Manchester, a new town separated from East Hartford. He married,

but did not live happily with his wife, and he left her and went

to New Brunswick, in New Jersey, where he set up the business of

clock-making, engraving, and repairing muskets, before the

revolution. When New Jersey was invaded by the British troops,

Mr. Fitch removed into the interior of Pennsylvania, where he

employed his time in repairing arms for the army.

Mr. Fitch conceived the project of steam navigation in 1785, as

appears by his advertisement. He built his boat in 1787. In my

Diary I have noted that I visited the boat, lying at the wharf

in the Delaware, on the ninth day of February, 1787. The

Governor and Council were so much gratified with the success of

the boat that they presented Mr. Fitch with a superb flag. About

that time the company aiding Mr. Fitch sent him to France, at

the request of Mr. Vail, our Consul at L’Orient, who was one of

the company. But this was when France began to be agitated by

the revolution, and nothing in favor of Mr. Fitch was

accomplished; he therefore returned. Mr. Vail afterwards

_presented to Mr. Fulton for examination the papers of Mr.

Fitch_, containing his scheme of steam navigation. After Mr.

Fitch returned to this country, he addressed a letter to Mr.

Rittenhouse, in which he predicted that in time the _Atlantic

would be crossed by steam power_; he complained of his poverty,

and urged Mr. Rittenhouse to buy his land in Kentucky, for

raising funds to complete his scheme. But he obtained no

efficient aid. Disappointed in his efforts to obtain funds, he

resorted to indulgence in drink; he retired to Pittsburgh, and

finally ended his life by plunging into the Alleghany. His books

and papers he bequeathed to the Philadelphia Library, with the

injunction that they were to remain closed for thirty years. At

the end of that period, the papers were opened, and found to

contain a minute account of his perplexities and

disappointments. Thus far the narration of Mr. Barber, who

refers for authority to the American edition of the Edinburgh

Encyclopedia. It may be worth while for some gentleman to

attempt to find these papers.

N. WEBSTER.

Rufus W. Griswold.

The papers to which Dr. Webster alludes in the above letter have been

examined by Miss Leslie, and the curious details they contain of Fitch’s

early life, his courtship, unfortunate marriage, captivity among the

Indians, experiments, etc. will be embraced in her work, which will

undoubtedly be one of the most interesting biographies in our language.

* * * * *

William L. Stone, author of “The Life of Brant,” “Life and Eloquence of

Red Jacket,” “History of Wyoming,” etc., is now engaged on another

important historical work to be called “The Life and Times of Sir

William Johnson.” It will embrace accounts of the French wars in America

from 1743 to 1849, and from 1754 to 1761, which resulted in the conquest

of Canada. With this interesting period no writer is more familiar than

Mr. Stone, and he will unquestionably produce a volume of great value.

* * * * *

Segur’s Life of Charles VIII.—Among the new works soon to appear is the

Memoir of Charles VIII., King of France, by Count Philip De Segur,

author of the “History of Napoleon’s Campaigns in Russia,” etc.,

translated by Richard R. Montgomery, of this city. It is one of the most

interesting books ever written. In its style it resembles the Chronicles

of Philip de Comines.

* * * * *

Mr. Stevens, the Traveller.—Mr. Stevens, with Mr. Catherwood who

accompanied him as draughtsman, has returned a second time from Central

America, and is now busily engaged on a new work in regard to the

curious antiquities of that country. It will be published by the

Harpers, during the autumn.

* * * * *

William Gilmore Simms.—Mr. Simms has become editor of “The Magnolia,” a

monthly literary magazine, recently established at Charleston. No man in

the South is so well qualified for the office. We give him joyfully the

right hand of fellowship.

* * * * *

Mr. Cooper.—“La Few Follet, or Wing-and-Wing, a Nautical Tale,” by the

author of the “Spy,” will appear in a few weeks. The scene of the story

is the Mediterranean, in 1799. It will be published simultaneously in

Philadelphia and London.

* * * * *

John Augustus Shea.—This gentleman has in press a collection of his

poetical writings, of which we shall take due notice on its appearance.

* * * * *

Transcriber’s Notes:

Table of Contents has been added for reader convenience. Archaic

spellings and hyphenation have been retained. Obvious punctuation and

typesetting errors have been corrected without note.

[End of _Graham’s Magazine, Vol. XXI, No. 2, August 1842_, George R.

Graham, Editor]