vivid sketch, entitled, "_L'Homme Rouge_," or "The Red Man." There was
an under-plot of sentiment in the story, we well remember, but the great
feature of the romance was, that whenever there was a fire to happen in
any part of Paris, whether by accident or design, there suddenly
appeared "_L'Homme Rouge;_" sometimes in the midst of a party of
revelers at a masked-ball; sometimes surprising nuns at their devotions,
and not unfrequently where crime was hatching, or unnatural orgies
making night hideous. But he was a good, benevolent deity, and always
came to warn against or to suppress conflagration. Such, it would
appear, and without fable, hereafter, will be the man who can command
the great "Fire-Annihilator," which is making such a sensation, and
proving so unerringly effective in England. A man, bearing one of these
easily-carried machines, enters his blazing domicil, all a-glow with a
bright flame, which is curling its forked tongues around every thing
which resists its progress, and touching a spring, a cloud of smoke-like
vapor issues forth, before which the flame flickers, grows pale, and at
once fades entirely out, and the conflagration is stopped. It has been
tested in so many instances, that its success is now considered wholly
infallible. A company for the sale of the "Annihilator" has been formed
in this country, the "central bureau" of which is in New York, the
president being Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, of the American Congress. The
age of rail-roads, magnetic telegraphs, and fire-exterminators, will
signalize this era as one of the most remarkable in the world's history.
* * * * *
Seneca complains that the ancients had compelled him to borrow from them
what they would have taken from him, had he been lucky enough to have
preceded them! "Every one of my writings," says Goethe, in the same
candid spirit, "has been furnished to me by a thousand different
persons, a thousand different things: the learned and the ignorant, the
wise and the foolish, infancy and old age have come in turn, generally
without having the least suspicion of it, to bring me the offering of
their thoughts, their faculties, their experience. Often have they sowed
the harvest I have reaped. My works are an aggregation of human beings,
taken from the whole of nature." It is in the power of any writer, says
a commentator upon this passage, to be original, by deserting nature,
and seeking the quaint and the fantastical. "When I was a young man,"
says Goldsmith, "being anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually
starting new propositions; but I soon gave this over, for I found that
generally what was new was false."
* * * * *
Dean Swift's remark at the close of a charity-sermon, from the text "He
that giveth to the poor lendeth to the LORD," is well known--("If you
like the security, down with your dust!") But the two following
eccentricities of speech, which are attributed to him, we never saw
before: "My brethren," said he, on one occasion, "there are three sorts
of pride--pride of birth, of riches, and of talents. I shall not now
speak of the latter, none of you being addicted or liable to that
abominable vice!" "I fear," said he, on another occasion, to his flock,
"I fear, when I explained to you, in my last charity-sermon, that
philanthropy was the love of our species, you must have misunderstood me
to say _specie_, which may account for the smallness of the collection.
You will prove, I hope, by your present contributions, that you are no
longer laboring under the same mistake!" A surer way of securing a good
collection was recently adopted by a benevolent lecture-giver in a
sister city. The audience were admitted _free;_ but when the lecture was
closed, no one was permitted to pass out until he or she had disbursed
twenty-five cents!
* * * * *
Some fourteen years ago there appeared in one of the English magazines
an amusing article, showing up the aristocratic stupidity of the large
and costly English annuals, which were indebted almost exclusively to
the nobility for their contents. Until then, we had not been made aware
that the Duke of Wellington was a poet. But it seems that we were
mistaken; the "noble Duke" is a master of the military sonnet, a
specimen of which is subjoined. Its "terse composition," the "boldness
of its character," its "laconic simplicity," and martial
"determination," were very highly commended by the editor:
Halt! Shoulder arms! Recover! As you were!
Right wheel! Eyes left! Attention! Stand at ease!
O Britain! oh, my country! words like these
Have made thy name a terror and a fear
To all the nations. Witness Ebro's bank
Assays, Toulouse, Nivelle, and Waterloo,
Where the grim despot muttered, "_Sauve qui peut!_"
And Ney fled darkling. Silence in the ranks!
Inspired by these, amidst the iron crash
Of armies in the centre of his troop,
The soldier stands--immovable, not rash
Until the forces of the foemen droop;
Then knock the Frenchmen to eternal smash,
Pounding them into mummy. Shoulder, hoop!
Thus the "Conquerer of Napoleon" conquers the stubborn rhyme!
* * * * *
"I suppose," writes a contemplative and elegant modern English author,
now unnamed, but who can not long remain _stat nominis umbra_, "that it
has happened to most men who observe their thoughts at all, to notice
how some expression returns again and again in the course of their
meditations, or, indeed, of their business, forming, as it were, a
refrain to all they think or do, for any given hour. Sometimes, too,
this refrain has no particular concern with the thought or business of
the day, but seems as if it belonged to some under-current of thought
and feeling. This at least is what I experienced to-day myself, being
haunted by a bit of old Spanish poetry, which obtruded itself, sometimes
inopportunely, sometimes not so, in the midst of all my work or play.
The words were these:
'How quickly passes pleasure away
How, after being granted.
It gives pain:
How, in our opinion,
Any past time
Was better,'
(than that we passed in pleasure). It was not that I agreed with the
sentiment, except as applied to vicious pleasure; being rather of Sydney
Smith's mind, that the remembrance of past pleasure is present pleasure;
but I suppose the words chimed in with reflections on the past which
formed the under-current of my thoughts, as I went through the wood of
beeches which bounded my walk to day.... In a moment I went back, not to
the pleasures, but to the ambitious hopes and projects of youth. And
when a man does reflect upon the ambitions which are as characteristic
of that period of life as reckless courage or elastic step, and finds
that at each stage of his journey since, some hope has dropped off as
too burdensome or too romantic, till at last it is enough for him to
carry only himself at all upright in this troublesome world--what
thoughts come back upon him! How he meditates upon his own errors and
short-comings, and sees that he has had not only the hardness, oiliness,
and imperturbability of the world to contend with; but that he himself
has generally been his worst antagonist. In this mood I might have
thrown myself upon the mound under a great beech-tree that was near, the
king of the woods, and uttered many lamentations; but instead of doing
any thing of the kind, I walked sedately by it; for, as we go on in
life, we find we can not afford excitement, and we learn to be
parsimonious in our emotions."
* * * * *
One of the Boston newspapers, in allusion to the great Railroad Festival
which is about taking place, as the last sheets of our Magazine are
passing through the press, observes: "The Canadian Judiciary Courts
have adjourned for the whole of the next week, in order to give an
opportunity to our Canadian friends to be present at the great Railroad
Jubilee, to be celebrated in our city. They are expected to arrive in
great numbers on Tuesday of next week. That day will be devoted to an
examination of our city. On Wednesday there will be a formal reception;
and the City Government will accompany their English guests to the
Bunker Hill Monument and _other_ places of _interest_." Now we can not
dissociate that word 'interest,' from the same word which forms the
nucleus of an anecdote, which we will venture to relate, in illustration
of the _kind_ of 'interest' which a loyal English subject might be
supposed to feel in paying a visit to Bunker Hill. At Bladensburgh
battle-field, there is a very non-committal guide who shows visitors
over the ground, enlightening those who are ignorant as to the character
of the ground, where the different forces lay, how they advanced, and
the like. The guide, however, is a 'prudent man,' for his situation
depends upon being 'all things to all men' who may chance to be obliged
to avail themselves of his services. If he is showing an English party
over the ground, he fancies that he knows it, and therefore 'governs
himself accordingly;' if an American party, he throws his 'balance of
power' in the other scale. But he was sadly puzzled _once_. He could get
no 'cue' from the gentleman and his friend, who had secured his
services, as to whether they were English or Americans--the conversation
was so vague and so limited. "Why was it," said one of these visitors,
"that the Americans _fled_ on this occasion?" "Fled!" he exclaimed, as
if with impromptu dignity--"_fled!_" "Yes," said his interrogator, "why
did the Americans retreat on that occasion?--why did they run away!"
"Retreat!--run away!--guess _not!_ Yes: well--perhaps they did. Yes; I
b'lieve they did. The reason was, that somehow or 'nother they _didn't
seem to take no interest!_"
* * * * *
Most readers have heard the story of the connoisseur in the fine arts
who said one day to a friend, "I wish you would come down and see a
picture I bought last week. I'd like to have you give me your _candid_
opinion of it. A friend of mine had the impudence to say this morning
that it was not an original! I should like to hear _another_ man say
that it was not an original! But you come and see it, and tell me
honestly what you think of its authenticity." It strikes us that a man
would not be apt to give a _very_ "candid" opinion under those
circumstances. This freedom of opinion is not unlike the liberty of
action said to have been granted by Col. M'Lane to the troops under his
command, before going into winter-quarters at Valley Forge. They were
suffering for provisions and clothing, and Congress had been repeatedly
petitioned for that relief which it was not in their power to bestow.
Under this state of things, Colonel M'Lane paraded his band of suffering
soldiers, and thus addressed them: "Fellow-soldiers, you have served
your country faithfully and truly. We've fought hard fights together
against our common enemy. You are in a bad way for comfortable clothes,
it is true, and it grieves my very heart to see you tracking your feet
in blood on the frozen ground. But Congress can not help it, nor can
General Washington or I. But if any of you wish to return home, you can
go. Let such of you as would like to go home step out four paces in
front--_but_ the first man that steps out, if I don't shoot him my name
is not M'Lane." It is perhaps needless to add, that not a solitary
"volunteer" homeward was to be found.
Editor's Easy Chair.
After our more severe Editorial work is done--the scissors laid in our
drawer, and the Monthly Record made as full as our pages will bear, of
history, we have a way of throwing ourselves back into an old red-backed
EASY CHAIR, that has long been an ornament of our dingy office, and
indulging in an easy, and careless overlook of the gossiping papers of
the day, and in such chit-chat with chance visitors, as keeps us
informed of the drift of the town-talk, while it relieves greatly the
monotony of our office hours.
We have before now sailed over seas with some rollicking, red-faced
captain, who, after a good day's run with his yards well braced to the
wind, would, as evening began to fall, and the breezes to lull, rig out
his studding-sail booms, and set new bits of canvas to catch every puff
of the dying zephyrs. In like manner, we, having made our course good,
out of mere whim, add to our sail, and mean to catch up in these few
additional pages, those lighter whiffs from the great world of opinion,
which come floating to us, as we sit here in our EASY CHAIR.
Nor are we altogether bent on choosing mere gossip; but, rather, we
shall be on the watch for such topics or incidents as give a handle to
the conversation of the town; and instead of treating them in any such
philosophic fashion, as most writing men think it necessary to do, we
shall try and set them down with all that gloss, and that happy lack of
sequence, which makes every-day talk so much better than every-day
writing.
There are hundreds of monthly occurrences which go into the journals as
mere skeletons of facts; and yet, if a body had but the art of embalming
by language, that fleshy covering which the every-day talk is sure to
wrap about them, they would prove (these facts, we mean) the
cheerfullest companions in the world.
And this is just the thing that we shall try to do. If the Cubans, down
in Havanna, shoot some fifty men, we shall not be content with entering
it upon our record: we shall not take up what we consider (as the Daily
Journals consider they do) some impregnable position, and thunder away
at some one else who has an equally impregnable position of precisely
the opposite character; but we shall try and get hold of the actual
situation of this new provision for the town maw, in that great
feeding-place of the town, viz.--Public Talk. We shall say who are the
most voracious feeders, and may possibly comment, in an amiable humor,
upon the different modes of consumption.
* * * * *
The French have a most happy way of commuting the dull coinage of
every-day facts into the most mailable matter in the world: and as we
sit in our EASY CHAIR, and catch up, as we sometimes do, a leaf of a
Parisian journal, we find ourselves unconsciously creeping into the
heart of some street-story, which, in any English journal, would have
been the merest item of Police!
Take, for instance, a single one--entered on all the commercial sheets
after this fashion: "We understand that a suicide was committed under
deplorable circumstances, not long since, in the Rue St. George. It
appears that a French gentleman, owing to pecuniary embarrassments, had
long been melancholy, and last evening killed himself with the fumes of
charcoal. It is reported that he had been twice married, and (_horribile
dictu_) that he exhumed his first wife, previous to committing the fatal
deed. He leaves a very respectable property."
Now look at our EASY CHAIR survey of such an unfortunate matter:
"Monsieur B----, a widower of great respectability, was married to his
second wife several years previous to the Revolution of 1848. The
embarrassments which this event occasioned to several of the most
considerable of his debtors, involved him in pecuniary difficulties of a
serious character.
"Being of a sensitive nature, and unable to meet at that period his more
immediate engagements, he became the victim of an intense mortification,
which no efforts of his friends could relieve, and which gradually
settled into entire mental alienation.
"He had still ample fortune, and lived in the enjoyment of his usual
luxuries. His attentions to his new wife (who is represented as
exceedingly beautiful) were, of course, less decided and punctilious
than before, but there were observed no indications of any special
hostility.
"Things wore on in this way for a year or more, when it was observed
that Monsieur B---- absented himself at a certain time of the day for
many hours, from home, without allowing his wife to suspect his
whereabouts. His man[oe]uvres to prevent pursuit, and avoid observation,
were most adroit, and utterly forbade detection.
"Meantime the guardians of the cemetery of _Père le Chaise_ had observed
at a certain hour of the day a well-dressed individual make his
appearance at the gates, and disappear upon the heights, within the
inclosure of a little Gothic tomb, erected to the memory of Madame
B----.
"The guardians having ascertained that the visitor was the husband of
the deceased lady, with true Parisian politeness, avoided any special
observation.
"It was ascertained afterward, however, that he employed these stolen
hours in laboring upon the tomb--a pocket-knife, his only implement, and
a single crazy hope--(which will appear in the sequel)--his only aim.
Having, after four or five months of daily toil, finished his work, he
waited only the absence of his wife to carry into execution his plan.
For this he had not long to wait; she had promised a visit to the
country; and upon the very day following her departure, Monsieur B----
hurried to his old rendezvous at _Père le Chaise_, and with the same
knife with which he had worked his way into the stone sarcophagus in
which the body of his first wife reposed, he severed the head from the
trunk, transported it under cover of his cloak to his home; placed it
before him upon the table; kindled a brazier of charcoal; wrote a last
word to his living partner, and then, with his pipe in his mouth, and in
face of the ghastly head from the tomb--he died upon his chair!"
There is in this story, insufferable as it may seem to delicate-minded
readers, strong illustration of the French love of the horrible--of
French passion--and of that French spirit of Dramatism, which would turn
even the vulgarity of suicide into the heroism of a Tragedy.
* * * * *
Reading on, as we do, in our EASY CHAIR way, our eye falls upon another
bit of French romance of a different style: it will probably never come
to the eyes of half of our readers in its Paris shape, so we employ a
lazy interval of our weightier duties to render it into old-fashioned
English:
Every body knows that the rage for gaming in Paris, specially in private
circles, has been for the last eight or ten years--excessive. And if any
weak-minded American has "dined out" there, within that time, he has
very likely been mulcted in a very pretty sum (after coffee was removed)
at _écarte_.
But, this is not to our story, which, in translating, we shall take the
liberty of vamping into the easiest possible shape--for ourselves.
Monsieur X---- was some descendant (grandson, for aught we know) of a
certain Marshal of the Empire of France, and inherited from him (if
report spake true) a handsome fortune of some five hundred thousand
francs; or, in American coinage, one hundred thousand dollars. This is
quite enough to live on pleasantly in Paris, or, for that matter, any
where else.
Of course, Monsieur X---- was a mark for such mammas as had marriageable
daughters; and as the French mothers always manage these affairs
themselves, and are, beside, very thoroughly schooled in the ways of the
world, Monsieur X---- stood a very poor chance of escape. In fact, he
did not escape, but was married one fine morning to a very pretty
mademoiselle, who had the credit of possessing rare virtues, and whom
our hero (Monsieur X----), for a wonder, did really and truly love.
We mention this as even a greater rarity on the other side of the water,
than on this; and every body of ordinary observation knows that it is
rare enough with us.
They lived happily through the honey-moon, and much to the surprise of
his friends, for a year or two afterward. But at length it was observed
that he wore very long faces, and dined frequently by himself at the
Café de Paris, and did not even smile at the broadest of Grassot's comic
acting. As he was known to be a young man of very correct habits, the
inference was (not always a just one, by the way) that the wife was in
fault.
The truth was, that with a disposition naturally amiable and yielding,
she had been seduced by those married friends who knew of her husband's
resources, into an intense love of cards. As a natural consequence she
became ever eager for play, morose in her habit, and petulant of manner.
The husband bore this all very quietly for a while, revolving in his own
mind what could be done, and paying his wife's drafts upon him without a
murmur. Days and weeks passed by, and the change wore grievously upon
his spirits.
At length, he chose his course, and pursued it--after this manner.
He entered with apparent gayety into his wife's amusements, and
introduced her, through the interposition of a friend, into one of the
most famous gambling salons of Paris. As usual, she took her seat at the
table where the stakes were largest. Her antagonist at the play was a
stout old gentleman who wore a careless manner, but who after the first
round or two played with remarkable success. When madame's losses had
amounted to a considerable sum, he proposed "double or quits." Madame
accepted and--lost.
The gentleman proposed the same game: madame accepted and lost!
The gentleman proposed the same trial a third and fourth time; and
madame, supposing him to be an eccentric old gentleman, who was willing
to furnish her with this opportunity of winning again the money,
accepted each time his proposal, and uniformly--lost.
Still the play went on, until madame's losses had amounted to the
extraordinary sum of four hundred thousand francs, when the old
gentleman pleaded an engagement, and retired.
Madame X----, in an agony of trepidation gained her home, and throwing
herself at her husband's feet, confessed and regretted the folly which
had ruined them.
The husband was naturally astounded: "But," said he, controlling his
emotion, "the losses must be met. There will remain some seventy
thousand francs of my estate, and with that we can live comfortably in
the country. For myself, I do not at all regret this: but, my dear (for
his old affection lingered), I fear that you may sink under the
privations you must encounter."
His goodness overcame her; she avowed not only her willingness but her
great joy in becoming the companion of his exile.
It was in an old town of Brittany (we believe, for the paper is not at
hand) that they lived quietly and cosily together, in a mossy old
chateau. Their table was frugally served, and their servants were of the
neighboring peasantry: in place of the old joyous rides in the Bois de
Boulogne, they now took strolls together under the wood that shaded the
chateau. Thus, for ten years they lived, growing into each other's
affections, and rejoicing in the loss which had won them to a real
enjoyment of life, and of each other's love.
"It was indeed a happy loss," said she.
"It was none at all," said the husband, and with a caress he handed her
the certificates for some five hundred thousand francs, in the most
available of French funds!
"Your antagonist," said he, "was a sure winner, but his services were
purchased by your husband, and now that he has won you to his love, and
to a sense of your own dignity, he makes over to you this recovered
fortune."
And the French chronicler goes on to paint a pretty scene as a hint for
those dramatists who choose to put the affair on the stage. And he
further says that the story is well authenticated, as he might prove by
giving the parties' names; but upon consideration, he favors us only
with an X.
If the story is a lie, all we can say is, that Eugene Guinot must take
the blame of it: and judging from his experience, we think the blame
will sit lightly on him.
* * * * *
We have wandered so far from the town, that we had half forgotten that
there was any town at all. But, after all, there lies but a step
nowadays between Paris and New York--a step over sea, and a step over a
very narrow bridge of morals. True, we have not yet imported the salon
gambling, except in a quiet club-way, where surely vagrant bachelors, it
would seem, have as good right to stultify themselves, as they have in
most other situations in life. It is to be doubted, however, if gaming
does not presently come into the round of amusements. Old methods do not
last long in our growing society: and as evidence, we may note the
abandonment, the present year, of the fancy balls, which, for four or
five seasons back, have made the very Elysium of a summer's festivities.
What matter has been made of it under the new dispensation of
undisguised ball costume, the papers have not much informed us: indeed
it is richly observable, that when the fashions of the day withdraw from
_outré_ action, and shed those enormities of feature which excite the
stare of the vulgar--just so soon the public press respects their
modesty, and gives them the award of silence. As a consequence (for the
_sequitur_ may not appear, in the illogical order of our after-dinner
arrangement) little has been said this year of the "dress balls" of
Saratoga and Newport: and the catalogues of watering-place Deities have
been transferred from the flash-papers, to the roll-books of the
marriageable men. A few sharp days of early September (not far from the
date of our writing) will have driven our city people away from those
shores, where the eastern fogs come sailing in laden with agues, and
dropped them down here and there, along those sheltered hill-sides of
inland repute, which bask in a summer morning, and which, by and by,
will smoke with the kindling glory of an Indian summer.
As yet few have found their way to the town itself: and those few find
the streets full of bustle, of strangers, of dust, and of Cuba. It
strikes a man oddly, who has been taking his siesta the summer through,
under the shadow of country-grown trees, and in the hearing of birds,
until he has grown into a sort of assimilation with country habit and
country talk, to rebound upon a sudden, from the hard, frosted
hill-sides into the very centre of this great furnace of business--and
to find it all sweltering and panting with its labor, just as it did six
months gone by, and just as it will do in six months to come! Your
country idler, with the conceit of the city on him, somehow conceives
the idea, that without him there will be less noise, and less commotion:
and yet he may go and come, and take his thousands, and bring his
thousands, and shout at his loudest, and the great city, quite careless
of it all, still sends up from her pebbled veins, and her sweeping
quays, the same unceasing roar.
* * * * *
We have forewarned our reader, or should have done it, that we shall
shift our topic in these our after-dinner musings, as easy as the
turning of a leaf. Our eyes have just now fallen upon a passage in Mr.
Greeley's last letter from Europe, in which he speaks of the appearance
of the English women, and commends, with a little more than his usual
ardor of expression, their perfection of figure. He attributes this, and
very justly, to the English lady's habit of out-of-door exercise. We had
thought that this fact was known: that it was known years ago, and that
our fair country-women would catch a hint from it, that would throw
color into their cheeks and fullness into their forms. And yet, sadly
enough, our ladies still coop themselves in their heated rooms, until
their faces are like lilies, and their figures--like lily stems!
We have alluded to the matter now, not for the sake of pointing a satire
surely, but for the sake of asking those one or two hundred thousand
ladies, who every month light our pages with their looks, if they do
indeed prize a little unnatural pearliness of hue, and delicacy of
complexion, beyond that ruddy flush of health (the very tempter of a
kiss!) and that full development of figure, which all the poets, from
Homer down, have made one of the chiefest beauties of a woman?
If not, let them make of themselves horsewomen: or, bating that, let
them make acquaintance with the sunrise: let them pick flowers with the
dew upon them: let them study music of nature's own orchestra. Vulgarity
is not essential to health: and a lithe, elastic figure does not grow in
hot-houses.
For ourselves, we incline heartily to the belief, that if American women
have a wish to add to the respect, the admiration, the love, and (if
need be) the fear of the men, they will find an easier road toward that
gain, in a little vigorous out-of-door exercise and a uniform attention
to the great essentials of health, than in any new-fangled costumes, or
loudly applauded "Rights."
We have grown unconsciously heated with the topic, and this added to the
90° by Fahrenheit, which is steaming at our elbow, must cut short the
first installment of gossip from our red-backed easy-chair.
New York, _September, 1851_.
Literary Notices.
The Oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University, on
_The American Mind_, by Rev. William B. Sprague, is superior to the
average run of anniversary discourses. Chaste, vigorous, and eloquent in
expression, eminently genial and catholic in spirit, pervaded equally
with a genuine love of learning, and a glowing patriotism, it abounds in
wise and generous counsels, adapted to the present times, and displays
frequent touches of pathos and wit. The tribute to the memory of
Buckminster, at the close of the oration, is an admirable specimen of
classical eulogy.
_The Farmer's Every-Day Book_, by Rev. John L. Blake (published by
Derby, Miller, and Co., Auburn), is a unique collection of varieties by
a veteran manufacturer of books, whose educational works have had an
extensive influence on the youth of our country, and whose ripened
experience is devoted to productions of practical utility for the adult
mind. A mass of information is accumulated in this volume, which must be
welcome to the cultivator of the soil, in his choice intervals of
leisure, on a winter's evening or a rainy day. It is arranged under
appropriate heads, expressed in lucid and attractive language, and
combined with excellent moral suggestions. The author has derived his
materials from every available source. He has shown a sound judgment in
their selection. Nothing is admitted which has not a real claim on the
attention of the reader, while there are few topics of interest to the
farmer which are not discussed with more or less detail. The articles
from Mr. Blake's own pen are distinguished for their liveliness and good
sense. His book is equally adapted to the modest farm-houses of New
England, and the log-cabins of the Western Prairie.
Harper and Brothers have published a sumptuous edition of _The Nile
Boat; or, Glimpses of the Land of Egypt_, by W. H. Bartlett--another
agreeable volume on the manners and customs of the Orientals, with
numerous sketches of their scenery. Mr. Bartlett's course was similar to
that of which we have such a charming memorial in the "Nile Notes," by a
Howadji; and it is interesting to compare the descriptions of two
travelers, who look at the same objects from such entirely different
points of view. Mr. Bartlett's first point is Alexandria, from which he
departs for Cairo, whence he passes up the Nile, visits Thebes, Esneh,
and Edfou, ascends the cataracts, and explores the weird ruins of
Philae. The style of this volume is quiet and unpretending. It is
illustrated with a profusion of engravings, from drawings made on the
spot by the author, many of them with the camera lucida. They exhibit
the principal monuments of the Pharonic period, as at Thebes, the later
Ptolemaic style, as at Edfou and Philae, with some of the most beautiful
specimens of the Arabian, at Cairo, besides many others of an
interesting and instructive character. The volume is an admirable
specimen of typography, and deserves a place in every library.
Of the swarm of _Annuals_ for 1852, we have received _The Iris_, edited
by John S. Hart, LL.D., and _The Dew-Drop_, a smaller volume, both
published by Lippincott, Grambo, and Co. _The Iris_ is issued, with its
usual splendor of embellishment and typography, with one especial
feature for the present year, which can not fail to enhance its interest
and value. This is a collection of drawings of some of the most
remarkable objects connected with the Indian traditions on this
continent, made by Capt. Eastman, of the United State's Topographical
Corps, who was stationed for nine years on our northwestern frontier,
among the Indian tribes in the vicinity of Fort Snelling. The traditions
themselves have been wrought up into poems and tales by the wife of
Capt. Eastman, depicting the vicissitudes of Indian life, and the
passions of Indian character. A great part of the letter-press of the
volume consists of these sketches, which, for the most part, are
executed with a firm and graceful hand. Besides these there are several
pieces which are gems of literary excellence. "The Cenotaph," by E. W.
Ellsworth, in memory of Capt. Nathan Hale, who died nobly in the service
of the Revolution, is a quaint ballad, displaying a strange union of
pathos and Yankee humor. Edith May, Mrs. Mary E. Hewitt, and Alice Carey
each contribute characteristic poetical pieces.
_The Dew-Drop_ is exquisitely embellished, and contains selections from
the writings of several of the best American authors. Among them we find
the names of Longfellow, Boker, Tuckerman, Stoddard, Edith May, Miss
Lynch, Miss Sedgwick, Mrs. Child, and other popular celebrities.
_Uncle Frank's Willow-Lane Stories_ is a budget of pleasant narratives
for children, from the pen of Francis C. Woodworth, whose contributions
to juvenile literature are always distinguished for their cordial and
lifesome sympathy with the young heart. These stories are taken from
country life, and are full of juvenile adventure and incident. The
volume is illustrated with neat wood-cuts. (Published by Charles
Scribner).
_Drayton_ (published by Harper and Brothers), is a new American novel,
presenting several fine examples of character-painting, with a plot of
more than common interest. The hero, who passes from the shoemaker's
bench to a high place in the legal profession, is not a bad specimen of
American go-ahead-itiveness, softened down by numerous redeeming traits.
We think the anonymous author has displayed a degree of ability in this
volume which promises a future career of decided brilliancy.
_The Epoch of Creation_, by Eleazar Lord (published by Charles
Scribner). An elaborate volume, devoted to the defense of Divine
Revelation against the encroachments of modern science, with especial
reference to the alleged results of geological research. The leading
idea of the work is expressed in the following paragraph of the
Introduction, of which, though by another hand, the whole treatise is an
expansion and illustration. "The work of creation was necessarily a
supernatural work; and hence all reasoning from the general laws of
nature, which in their operation were subsequent to the work of
creation, is as irrelevant in explanation of the Mosaic account, as the
argument drawn from universal experience in disparagement of the
miracles recorded in Holy Writ." Mr. Lord, accordingly, in explaining
the teachings of Scripture on the work of creation, defends the literal
sense of the Mosaic history. He maintains that the six days of the
creation are to be understood in their most obvious acceptation, and
that the attempt to reconcile them with the theory of a more ancient
date of the material universe, is absurd in point of philosophy, and
fatal to the interests of revealed truth. In the course of his argument,
the author takes occasion to present several searching criticisms of
Hitchcock, Miller, Pye Smith, and other eminent geologists, who have
regarded the question in a different point of view. His work will be
read with interest, at the present day, when so much attention has been
drawn to the religious and scientific issues in controversy. Mr. Lord
presents an earnest and able defense of the theological view, in
opposition to what may be considered as the prevailing opinion of the
scientific world. He writes with clearness and force. He is master of
considerable logical skill. Without the vivacity of style, or the
brilliancy of rhetoric which distinguishes the productions of many of
his opponents, he aims mainly at the lucid expression of the arguments
in the case, which he sustains with shrewdness and ability. No one can
mistake his evident zeal for the interests of revelation; or accuse him
of the slightest taste for scientific novelties.
_The Theory of Human Progression_ (published by B. B. Mussey and Co.,
Boston). The purpose of this book, which we should suppose was written
by a Scotch Presbyterian, is to show the natural probability of a reign
of justice on the earth. It is written in a hard, dry, ultra-logical
style, tinctured with the spirit of Scotch and German metaphysics, and
deducing the most stringent conclusions in regard to social justice from
the language of the Bible. The author is an original thinker. He has
little respect to custom or precedent. With great acuteness and
discrimination, he points out the unavoidable inferences from the
premises, which he assumes, and which, in most cases, he derives from
the doctrines of Scripture. We rarely find such radical views of
society, combined with such orthodox principles of theology. If the
volume had been written with greater simplicity and liveliness of style,
its effect would have been immeasurably enhanced.
_Forest Life and Forest Trees_, by John S. Springer (published by Harper
and Brothers). This is a genuine American work, redolent of the pine
forests of Maine, and filled with fresh and glowing descriptions of the
life of a New-England backwoodsman. The writer was reared in the midst
of the scenes which he portrays with such distinct outlines and such
natural coloring, and has spent several of what he regards as the most
pleasant years of his life in the toils and adventures of a "down east"
lumberman. Hence he moves among the "strange, eventful" incidents of his
story, like one who is perfectly at home, jotting down his exciting
narrations without the slightest effort or pretension, and introducing
his readers by the simplest transitions to the very heart of the remote
wilderness. His work is divided into three parts, namely, The Trees of
America, The Pine Tree, or Forest Life, and River Life. The first part
is a valuable compilation selected from the most authentic materials on
the dendrology of New-England, accompanied with judicious original
comments. In the remaining portions of the book, we have a variety of
reminiscences of a residence among the wild mountains, forests, lakes,
and rivers of Maine, adventures of lumbermen in the pursuit of their
perilous calling, fresh pictures of the sublime scenery with which they
are surrounded, and a fund of amusing anecdotes. Several instructive
details are given in regard to the lumber trade. The volume is
illustrated with numerous wood engravings, which will give a distinct
idea of many of the localities and scenes described by the author.
Although making no claims to literary excellence, in the technical sense
of the term, we are sure this book will become a universal favorite with
the "reading millions" of America, from Canada to California.
_Service Afloat and Ashore, during the Mexican War_, by Lieut. Raphael
Semmes (published by Wm. H. Moore and Co., Cincinnati), has already
asserted a successful claim on the public favor, a large edition having
been exhausted, and a second being on the eve of appearance. It is a
work of standard merit, and does honor to the growing literature of the
West. More substantial in its character than one would anticipate from
its finical, book-making title, it presents a well-digested summary of
the political history of Mexico, of her relations with the United
States, and the various complications that led to the war of 1846. The
author was personally engaged in the siege of Vera Cruz, of which
terrible operation he gives a vivid description, drawn up both with
military precision, and with appropriate poetical coloring. He afterward
joined the army of Gen. Scott at Jalapa, was present at the battle of
Churubusco as aid to Gen. Worth, and accompanied the victorious troops
to the Mexican Capital. With an excellent opportunity for observation,
and no small experience of military affairs, he has subjected the
movements of the American army to a critical scrutiny, and presents his
conclusions with soldier-like frankness and decision, though evidently
aiming at impartiality. His remarks on the course of Gen. Scott are
often severe, though he pays a warm tribute to the many admirable
qualities of that eminent commander; but his deepest enthusiasm is
called forth by the chivalrous and romantic character of Gen. Worth.
Whatever opinion may be formed of the correctness of his comments on
delicate military questions, it must be admitted that they are put forth
in fairness and good faith, and if not to be regarded as conclusive,
they afford a valuable aid in deciding the judgment of the impartial
reader. The style of Lieut. Semmes is usually chaste and vigorous. In
the mere narrative of historical events it sometimes flags, calling for
the application of the whip and spur; but in the description of scenes
of stirring interest, of battles, and marches, and shipwrecks, it
kindles up with the occasion, and becomes glowing and vehement, often
presenting passages of wild and startling beauty. We congratulate the
noble-spirited author on the signal success of his work, and hope that
we shall again hear of his name in the field of literature, as well as
in the service of his country.
_The Lady and the Priest_, is the title of a striking English novel,
reprinted by Harper and Brothers, founded on the romantic history of the
Fair Rosamond, Henry the Second, and Queen Eleanor. The wily priest,
Thomas a Becket plays an important part in the plot, presenting an
expressive contrast by his ambition and cunning to the innocent,
confiding, and deeply injured Rosamond. As a specimen of the English
historical novel, this work will compare favorably with the best recent
productions of the London press. The development of the story is
skillfully managed, and grows more and more interesting with each step
of its progress.
_Vagamundo; or, The Attaché in Spain_, by John Esaias Warren. (Published
by Charles Scribner.) The title of this work is descriptive of its
character. It is a good-humored record of a touch-and-go,
genteel-vagabondish residence of several months in "old romantic Spain,"
where the position of the author gave him access to much "good society,"
and his tastes led him into a variety of odd, rollicking adventures,
which he relates with an easy audacity that becomes quite fascinating
before you arrive at the close of the volume. The strength of the author
lies in his cordial, careless, jovial freedom. He shows such a
quintessence of frankness, such a gay, contagious good-fellowship, as to
disarm our habitual sternness as critics. His book contains little
wisdom, and less wit, but for a dashing, effervescing, sparkling
effusion of anecdote and adventure, commend us to its hilarious pages.
There are trifles here and there, indeed, at which the over-fastidious
may take offense, as in duty bound; but readers who are not frightened
with a little exuberance of youthful frolic will find it a tempting
volume.
A neat reprint of Hugh Miller's _Scenes and Legends of the North of
Scotland_, has been issued by Wm. H. Moore and Co., Cincinnati. It
consists of a collection of interesting Scotch traditions, historical
episodes, and personal anecdotes, presented in the garrulous,
descriptive style, which has made the author popular among numerous
classes of readers. Miller is a staunch, thorough-going Scotchman; in
his opinion, there is no country like Scotland (and we too love
Scotland); and no man in Scotland like himself (to which we demur); and
this perennial self-complacency diffuses a kindly warmth over his
writings, even when we find little to attract us in the dryness of his
subjects.
A. Hart, Philadelphia, has published an edition of Miss Benger's
_Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots_, which portrays the history of the
ill-fated queen in true and vivid colors. The work contains a variety of
interesting anecdotes of the court of Henry II.
Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have published an additional volume of William
Motherwell's _Poems_, from the Glasgow edition. They include songs,
fragments of verse, and other pieces not contained in the former
volumes. They are distinguished for the characteristic simplicity,
unction, and pathos of their gifted author.
A new edition of the _Memoirs of the Buckminsters_, father and son, by
Eliza Buckminster Lee, is issued by the same house--a volume of rare
interest and beauty. Its pictures of rural life in New England are drawn
with exquisite grace, as well as perfect fidelity, forming an
appropriate embellishment to the affecting history of the subjects of
the memoir.
_Plymouth and the Pilgrims_, by Joseph Banvard (published by Gould and
Lincoln, Boston), is a popular compend of the events in the colonial
history of Plymouth, illustrated with numerous engravings. It is
intended to form the first of a series, devoted to the history of the
United States, and consisting of at least twelve volumes. The narrative
in this volume is derived from authentic sources, but exhibits no
remarkable skill in its construction.
A new treatise on the _Elements of Geology_, by Samuel St. John, has
been issued by George P. Putnam, adapted to the use of students in the
higher seminaries of learning. It has evidently been prepared with great
care and excellent judgment. Omitting the controverted and more abstruse
points of theoretical geology, it aims at presenting a clear statement
of the facts, which may be regarded as established in the present state
of the science, and this is accomplished, we think, with the best
success.
_Sketches of European Capitals_, by William Ware. (Published by
Phillips, Sampson, and Co., Boston). Rome, Florence, Naples, and London,
are the capitals to which this admirable volume is devoted. Although
passing over beaten ground, Mr. Ware has treated his subjects with
freshness and originality. He copies no one; consults his own excellent
taste in preference to any authorities; gives his impressions as they
are made from his own point of view; and describes them with equal
simplicity and boldness. His language is usually felicitous and choice.
He is a keen dissecter of character, and has presented us with some
highly-finished specimens of his skill in this kind. His remarks on the
present condition of Italian society are discriminating and forcible.
Coming from a genuine lover of freedom, they are entitled to great
weight. The obstacles to the establishment of Italian independence,
arising from internal jealousies, and the want of national unity are
exhibited in a strong light. Mr. Ware was not favorably affected by the
manifestations of English character, which he witnessed on English soil.
On this point he expresses himself without the least reserve, in a vein
of acute and biting criticism. Various other topics are handled in this
volume, and all of them with freedom and manliness. Differing from the
author in many of his artistic judgments, we like the prevailing tone of
his work--its honesty, its unaffectedness, its vigor, its humane
spirit--to say nothing of its language, which, as we have already
hinted, is a model of classical and elegant English.
Harper and Brothers have republished the first volume of Lamartine's
_History of the Restoration_, from which we have given several extracts
among our selections. It is decidedly the most important work of its
prolific author since the "History of the Girondists." Bold in
conception, abounding in lofty speculations, colored with a rich glow of
moral emotion, it displays in the highest degree of perfection, the
singular power of brilliant word-painting, and the felicitous artifices
of rhetoric of which Lamartine is such a consummate master.
_Rule and Misrule of the English in America_, by the author of "Sam
Slick the Clock Maker" (published by Harper and Brothers). In the
present work, Judge Haliburton leaves the field of humor and satire for
grave political discussion. It is written in the interests of
monarchical government, taking the United States as a warning against
the evils of democracy. With this view, the writer traces the
introduction of the popular principle into this continent, the means of
its early establishment, and the provisions for its support and
continuance. He endeavors to show that the success of republicanism in
the United States has been owing no less to a wonderful combination of
accidental causes, than to the ability, energy, and practical skill of
the American people. Hence he argues that this form of government is not
applicable to England or France, and still less to other European
countries. Some of his speculations have the merit of ingenuity; they
will awaken interest, as showing the effect of our institutions on an
outside observer; but they can not be regarded as models of political
acuteness or sagacity.
Phillips, Sampson, and Co. have published the first number of a new
_Life of Napoleon_, by Ben. Perley Poore, in which the author
controverts the opinions of Scott and other tory writers on the subject.
It shows a good deal of research, and is written in an animated style.
* * * * *
Tuckerman's _Characteristics of Literature_ is briefly noticed in the
_London Athenæum_, as a "series of suggestive papers," whose "criticisms
are for the most part sound and moderate, but exhibiting no great extent
of reading, nor any profound and subtle appreciation of literary beauty.
Sometimes they remind us of Channing--of whose style Mr. Tuckerman is
evidently an admirer; but they lack his clearness of thought and
brilliancy of color, his intensity of conviction, and continual
reference to fixed canons and principles." The _Athenæum_ is
systematically cold to American writers; nor does it do justice to Mr.
Tuckerman in its criticism; yet it is right in tracing the influence of
Channing both in his style and turn of thought. No one who was
conversant with that "old man eloquent" in the latter years of his life
could escape all tincture of the love of moral beauty which was the
master principle of his nature. His contagious influence is seen in the
harmonic proportions, the clearness of expression, the equilibrium of
thought, and, we may add, the sensitive timidity of opinion which mark
the writings of his unconscious disciple almost as decidedly as they did
his own.--Dr. Ungewitter's _Europe, Past, and Present_, is spoken of in
the same journal in terms of lukewarm approval.
* * * * *
The Copyright Question, so far as the English courts of law is
concerned, stands thus.--The Court of Exchequer is at variance with the
Court of Queen's Bench:--and the case on which the next decision will be
made, is that of Murray _v._ Bohn with respect to the copyright of
certain works of Washington Irving. Mr. Routledge, against whom Mr.
Murray had brought the law to bear, has surrendered, and admitted that
he has injured the plaintiff to the extent of two thousand pounds. Mr.
Bohn, however, stands out; and the point which he has now to prove in an
English court of law is, priority of publication of Mr. Irving's works
in America. Plaintiff and defendant have each, we are informed, sent a
special commissioner over to America on the subject.
* * * * *
The death of Mr. Gibbon, one of the most munificent patrons of modern
British art, is announced. In the _genre_ school he has the credit of
having called into existence some of the best efforts of many young
artists of celebrity, by whom his liberality and protection will be
gratefully remembered. To that and landscape pictures he principally
confined himself as a collector, having little sympathy, so far as
collection is a test, with the historical school of painting.
* * * * *
At Clifton, on Friday the 1st of August, died the patriarch of English
authoresses--we might add of English authors--Miss Harriet Lee, at the
age of ninety-five. To most of the generation now busied with fiction,
drama, and poetry, this announcement will be a surprise: so long
protracted was Miss Lee's life, and so many years have elapsed since her
last appearance in the world of imaginative creation took place. To
readers of our time, Miss Lee is best known as having in her "German's
Tale" of the "Canterbury Tales" (a miscellany of little romances by
herself and her sister), furnished Lord Byron with the plot of his play
of "Werner." More old-fashioned novel readers, who are given to weary at
the philanthropy, philosophy, and preaching which threaten to turn our
thousand and one tales into something more like "Evening Services" than
"Arabian Nights," will find in her vigor and clearness of invention a
merit which of itself deserves to keep the name of the novelist alive.
Miss Lee's further title to mortuary honors is a play, or plays, acted
with small success--and which has, or have, gone the way of Hannah
More's triumphant "Percy," and Madame d'Arblay's withdrawn tragedy.
Harriet Lee survived her sister Sophia twenty-seven years: Sophia having
died at Clifton, in 1824.----In London on the 4th died Lady Louisa
Stuart--aged nearly ninety-four--the youngest daughter of the Minister,
Earl of Bute, and the grand-daughter of Lady Mary Wortley Montague--the
lady to whom we owe the charming "Introductory Anecdotes," prefixed to
the late Lord Wharncliffe's edition of Lady Mary's Works. Lady Louisa
remembered to have seen her grandmother, Lady Mary--when at old
Wortley's death that celebrated woman returned to London after her long
and still unexplained exile from England. Lady Louisa herself was a
charming letter-writer; and her correspondence with Sir Walter Scott
will, it is said, fully sustain the Wortley reputation for wit, and
beauty of style, while it will exhibit a poet in a very different
character from that in which another poet figures in his celebrated
correspondence with her grandmother, Lady Mary. Some of Scott's letters
to Lady Louisa are included in Mr. Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter.
* * * * *
A pert English traveler, of a class which has shared too largely in the
hospitalities of facile Americans, gives an amusing caricature of a New
York Literary Soiree, to which he had by some chance gained
admittance:--"I went to stay at a Mr. S.'s country house, about six
miles out town, and was there introduced to his father, who has one of
the best collections of pictures in New York. They were kind enough to
take me to a literary réunion given by one Miss ----, an American
authoress of some note, who always opens her house on that evening, and
to point out to me many of the notabilities in the New York world of
letters. Many of them were real 'lions,' and not a few only wore the
skin. The latter classes made themselves undesignedly very amusing, and
were mostly little men, who had published and circulated a novel or two
largely among their friends, which in their own opinions entitled them
to turn down their shirt collars, allow their hair and beards to grow at
random, and to assume the appearance of men in whom mind had become so
predominant over body, as to render the latter quite a minor
consideration. They did not open their lips all the evening, but were to
be seen in pensive attitudes with their arms leaning on chimney pieces,
and looking pleasantly at vacancy, or seated on solitary ottomans,
contemplating the company with a sort of cynical stare. They wished, in
fact, to be considered as living in an atmosphere of dreams, and nobody
offered to disturb them. Mr. N. P. Willis, to whom I was introduced,
afforded a very pleasant contrast to these little lions, and laughed and
talked on many subjects like an ordinary being. Miss ----, too, has
nothing of the pedant, and very little of the professed 'blue' about
her, and wound up the amusements of the evening by gracefully leading
off in a polka. During the evening a 'hush' was circulated all round the
room, and on inquiry I found that a Herr something, very like
Puddlewitz, 'was going to play his thoughts,' and forthwith a foreign
gentleman with as much hair as one face could conveniently carry, sat
down at the piano. From the nature of the music, I should say that
Puddlewitz's thoughts were of a remarkably mild and sentimental nature,
and not at all in keeping with his ferocious aspect. After the polka the
little lions began to rouse themselves and dispel the mental web which
their thoughts had been working round them for the last two or three
hours, and we all gradually dispersed."
* * * * *
A curious instance of LITERARY STRATEGY is presented in the London
edition of _Vagamundo, or The Attaché in Spain_, the sprightly work of
our countryman, Mr. Warren, which we have noticed above. It seems that
he had made an arrangement with a London publisher to bring out an
edition at the same time with its appearance in this country. Every
thing from the manuscript that could betray its American origin is
eliminated, and it is thus issued apparently as a native born English
production, "dyed in the wool." A start is obtained on the American
publisher, and the work is put into the market two or three months
before its publication in New York. Our first impressions of it as a
lively gossiping book were received from the English copy some time
since, which surprised us as a remarkable specimen of the free and easy
style, for English growth.
* * * * *
Of Andrews' Latin Lexicon, the _London Athenæum_ speaks as follows: "It
can not now be said that there is any lack of good Latin and Greek
Lexicons among us. Whatever our classical deficiencies may be, they must
not hereafter be attributed to the want of such a _sine qua non_. Within
the last twenty--even ten--years most valuable additions have been made
to our lexicographical stores. Entick, Ainsworth, Schrevelius, and a
host of other worthies who long reigned over us, have at length been
banished to make room for their betters. Even Donnegan--after a brief
but successful career--has met with an inglorious fall.
"Besides our own dictionaries, we have those of our transatlantic
brethren. Some few years ago they sent us over a large Latin Dictionary
by Leverett; and now another of still higher pretensions (Freund's
Latin-English Lexicon--edited by Dr. Andrews) has found its way here....
Whatever time, attention, and care can do toward making the work
complete and correct, seems to have been done, and we all know how much
the excellence of a dictionary depends upon these points,--especially
when they are accompanied by competent scholarship, as we have every
reason to believe they are in the present case. The result is, what
might be expected, a rich repository of philological information,
clearly expressed and well arranged....
"In conclusion, we are glad to have an opportunity of introducing so
excellent a work to the notice of our classical and philological
readers. It has all that true German _Grundlichkeit_ about it which is
so highly appreciated by English scholars. Rarely, if ever, has so vast
an amount of philological information been comprised in a single volume
of the size. The knowledge it conveys of the early and later Latin is
not to be gathered from ordinary Latin Dictionaries. With regard to the
manner in which it is got up, we can speak most favorably. Never have we
seen a better specimen of American typography. Every page bears the
impress of industry and care. The type is clear, neat, and judiciously
varied. A pretty close inspection has not enabled us to discover any
errors worth mentioning."
* * * * *
A contributor to the _London Times_ has collected a mass of curious
statistics in regard to the rise and progress of RAIL-ROAD LITERATURE in
England. His essay in that journal has recently been issued in a
separate pamphlet. Among other interesting statements, we find the
following facts, which are singularly illustrative of English habits:
"The gradual rise of the Railway book-trade is a singular feature of our
marvellous Railway era. In the first instance, when the scope and
capabilities of the Rail had yet to be ascertained, the privilege of
selling books, newspapers, &c., at the several stations, was freely
granted to any who might think proper to claim it. Vendors came and went
when and how they chose, their trade was of the humblest, and their
profits were as varying as their punctuality. When it became evident
that the vendors of books and papers were deriving large sums of money
from their business, the directors of the several companies resolved to
make a charge for permission to carry it on; and tenders were duly
advertised for, regard being had to the amount offered, and by no means
to the mode in which it was proposed to prosecute the work. In some
cases £200, and in others as much as £600 per annum have been deemed a
fair rental for the book-stall at a London terminus. At one of the most
important stations in the metropolis, a bookseller, who at one time
professed himself unable to contribute £60 by way of rent to a benefit
society established for the servants of the company, offered two years
afterward £600 when the privilege was put up to public auction. The
extent to which literary trash has been sold at these railway
book-shops, may be conceived, when it is stated that a large profit has
still remained for the bookseller after paying the very large
rent-charge to the company.
"A movement has, however, been made on the North-Western Railway to put
an end to this unwholesome condition of things. The stalls have been
taken by a spirited bookseller and news-agent, determined to supply none
but works of sterling literature; and the leading publishers have
responded to this movement by the reproduction of some of their most
valuable copyrights in shilling and half-crown volumes. The little
reprint of Lord Mahon's 'Narrative of the Insurrection of 1845,' appears
to have been the first step to improvement. It caught our eye, as it had
already fortunately arrested the attention at more than one railway
station of Mr. Macaulay, the historian. The sight of it suggested to
that brilliant writer the idea and title of a 'Traveller's Library,' and
at his instigation--for which we here tender him our thanks--Messrs.
Longman commenced the cheap and popular series known by this name, and
adorned by Mr. Macaulay's own charming productions.
"As we progressed north, a wholesome change, we rejoice to say, became
visible in railway book-stalls. We had trudged in vain after the
schoolmaster elsewhere, but we caught him by the button at
Euston-square; and it is with the object of inducing him to be less
partial in his walks that we now venture thus publicly to appeal to him.
At the North-Western terminus we diligently searched for that which
required but little looking after in other places, but we poked in vain
for the trash. If it had ever been there, the broom had been before us
and swept it clean away. We asked for something 'highly colored.' The
bookseller politely presented us with Kugler's 'Handbook of Painting.'
We shook our head and demanded a volume more intimately concerned with
life and the world. We were offered 'Kosmos.' 'Something less
universal,' said we, 'benefits the London traveler.' We were answered by
'Prescott's Mexico,' 'Modern Travel,' and 'Murray's Handbook of France.'
We could not get rubbish, whatever price we might offer to pay for it.
There was no 'Eugene Sues' for love or money--no cheap translations of
any kind--no bribes to ignorance or unholy temptations to folly. 'You'll
soon be in the _Gazette_' we said commiseratingly to the bookseller. The
bookseller smiled. 'You never sell those things,' we added mildly.
'Constantly; we can sell nothing else.' 'What! have you nothing for the
million?' 'Certainly; here is 'Logic for the Million,' price 6s.; will
you buy it? 'Thank you, but surely books of a more chatty
character----.' 'Chatty--oh, yes!' 'Coleridge's Table Talk' is a
standard dish here, and never wants purchasers.
"Every new work of interest as it appeared was furnished to the stalls,
from Macaulay's 'England' down to Murray's 'Colonial Library,' and
purchasers were not slow to come for all. Upon many good books, as well
of recent as of more remote publication, there has been an actual run.
'Macaulay' sold rapidly, 'Layard' not less so. 'Stokers and Pokers,' a
sketch of the London and North-Western Railway, published in Murray's
'Colonial Library,' sold to the extent of upwards of 2000 copies.
Borrow's 'Bible' and 'Gypsies in Spain,' are always in demand, and St.
John's 'Highland Sports' keep pace with them. Graver books have equally
steady sale. Coleridge's works are popular on the rail. 'Friends in
Council,' 'Companions of my Solitude,' and similar small books grasping
great subjects, and written with high philosophical aim, are continually
purchased. Poetry is no drug at the prosaic terminus if the price of the
article be moderate. Moore's 'Songs and Ballads,' published at 5_s._
each; Tennyson's works, and especially 'In Memoriam,' have gone off
eagerly; the same remark applies to the Lays of Macaulay and to the
Scotch Ballads of Aytoun.
"The style of books sold depends more upon the salesman than on the
locality; but there are exceptions to the rule. At Bangor, all books in
the Welsh language must have a strong Dissenting and Radical savor.
English books at the same station must be High Church and Conservative.
School-boys always insist upon having Ainsworth's novels and any thing
terrible. Children's books are disdained, and left for their sisters.
'Jack Sheppard' is tabooed at the North-Western, and great is the wrath
of the boys accordingly. Stations have their idiosyncracies. Yorkshire
is not partial to poetry. It is very difficult to sell a valuable book
at any of the stands between Derby, Leeds, and Manchester. Religious
books hardly find a purchaser in Liverpool, while at Manchester, at the
other end of the line, they are in high demand."
* * * * *
A writer in one of the London literary journals presents a severe
criticism of the "Bateman children," who are now performing at St.
James' Theatre, under the auspices of our widely-known compatriot, Mr.
Barnum. A part of his strictures is as follows, of which there is much
more of the same kind:
"Mr. Barnum, the American monster-monger, has opened this theatre with
an exhibition which it is disagreeable to witness and impossible to
treat as a matter of art. Two American children, Ellen and Kate Bateman,
stated to be six and eight years of age, are here produced in the
respective characters of _Richard the Third_ and _Richmond_ in the fifth
act of Colley Cibber's tragedy. Ellen, who performs the crooked-backed
tyrant, carefully made up to look like Edmund Kean, has evidently been
drilled by some one well acquainted with the style of that great actor,
and elaborately wrought into a miniature resemblance of him. Not only
the manner, but the voice has been tutored--tone and emphasis have been
imparted, as well as gesture and deportment. To us, who recollect every
phase of the style of the departed tragedian, this exact copy was
something painful and revolting. Similar pains had been taken with the
elder girl Kate--who, armed _cap-à-pie_, strutted and fretted as
Richmond. The delivery of the children has been enormously exaggerated
in their determination to produce effect. They are strained far beyond
their natural powers--and the result is, an impression of caricature and
burlesque."
* * * * *
The Dublin literary circles have recently lost the Rev. Dr. Samuel
O'Sullivan--a political writer of much force and activity, and one of
the leading contributors to the _Dublin University Magazine_. "His style
was close and consecutive--and of late years was marked by a vein of
reflectiveness not often found among Irish writers. He was abler in
attack than in defense--like most polemic authors. The most valuable of
his writings are, a series of elaborate biographical essays on modern
Irish statesmen; which apart from their literary talent have the merit
of originality of matter. For his papers on Lord Chancellor Clare and
Mr. Saurin he was furnished with special facts; and his Chaplaincy to
the Ph[oe]nix Park Military School gave him access to several persons
high in office, whose acquaintance he preserved. He was an entertaining
and instructive companion--fertile in curious original anecdote. His pen
exercised much influence on the Irish Conservative press for several
years: but with the merits or demerits of political controversialists we
meddle not. We hear that it was Dr. O'Sullivan's intention to reprint,
with additional matter, his excellent essays on Flood and Grattan: the
best pictures left us of these Irish statesmen."
* * * * *
The Hakluyt Society have added to their very interesting publications,
Richard Hakluyt's translation of the account of De Soto's _Discovery and
Conquest of Florida_, with an additional account curiously corroborative
of all its substantial details discovered and translated by the editor,
Mr. Rye, of the British Museum. The expedition was not without valuable
results of an accidental kind, though in its main objects it failed so
lamentably; and the narrative now given is extremely vivid and striking.
* * * * *
Another volume curiously illustrative of the past, has been published
with the uninviting title of _Consuetudines Kanciæ._ This is, in other
words, a history of the Gavelkind, and other remarkable customs of the
County of Kent. The author is a skilled antiquary, and gives many sound
reasons for his belief that in not a few of those peculiar customs may
be directly traced the famous and venerable laws of Edward the
Confessor.
* * * * *
Doctor Latham has added to those researches and speculations as to races
which have lately been found to explain so much of the peculiarities of
national habits, customs, and laws, a sketch of the _Ethnology of the
British Colonies and Dependencies_.
* * * * *
Dr. Lingard's valuable library has been bequeathed by the late learned
historian to St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw.
* * * * *
The _Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_ has been seized and confiscated by the
police at Leipzig, for having published, under the head of Great
Britain, a notice, with translated extracts, of the two letters written
by Mr. Gladstone to the Earl of Aberdeen on the treatment of the
Neapolitan state prisoners.
* * * * *
The death of the famous naturalist, Dr. Lorenz Oken, whose theory of the
Cranial Homologies effected a revolution in philosophical anatomy, and
led the way to the admirable researches of Owen, has recently been
announced. The name of Oken is most commonly associated by English
readers with his "Physio-philosophy," a translation of which work, by
Mr. Tulk, was published by the Ray Society. It abounds in admirable
generalizations, unfortunately immersed in much that is false and
fantastic, and clothed in the cloudiest phraseology of German
transcendental metaphysics. Oken's researches and speculations (for he
was as practical as he was dreamy) extended over all departments of
natural history. Of the value he set upon facts, and the industry with
which he collected them, a lasting monument exists in the volumes of the
"Isis," a vast library of abstracts of the science of his time, founded
and conducted by him as a periodical. Few men have had greater
influence on European science than Oken. Until forced to quit Germany on
account of his political opinions, he held a Professorship at Jena.
Latterly he was Professor of Natural History at the University of
Zurich, in which city he died about the last of August, at the advanced
age of seventy-three years.
* * * * *
From Halle, we hear of the death, a short time since, of a voluminous
German writer, John Godfrey Gruber, founder and principal editor of the
"Universal Encyclopædia of Sciences and Arts"--a work which was at first
carried on by him conjointly with Herr Ersch. Herr Gruber was also a
large contributor to the _Litteratur Zeitung_ and the
_Conversations-Lexicon_. His separate works include: "The Destiny of
Man," "The Dictionary of Esthetics and Archæology," "Researches into the
Greek and Roman Mythology," "The Life of Wieland," and "The Dictionary
of German Synonymes." These are but a few of his many writings.
* * * * *
M. Dupaty, one of the forty French academicians, died a few days ago. He
was one of the most obscure of that learned corps. His literary
reputation, such as it was, was based almost exclusively on vaudevilles
and on the libretti of comic operas. He was held in esteem in the days
of Napoleon; but then literary distinction was very easily earned. The
most notable event in the last twenty years of his life was being chosen
(to his own great astonishment) an academician in preference to Victor
Hugo, then at the height of his fame.
* * * * *
The 16th, 17th, and 18th volumes of the complete works of Frederick the
Great have just been published at Berlin. They are entirely occupied
with his correspondence. There are 4000 letters written by
him--two-thirds are in French, the other third, chiefly on military
operations, are in German, and were addressed to his generals. The whole
letters belong to the state archives. The edition of the great
Frederick's works, now in course of publication, was undertaken by order
of the present King of Prussia, and at his expense.
* * * * *
The indefatigable Eugene Sue, notwithstanding his daily labors as one of
the 750 law-givers of the Republic are, or ought to be, rather heavy,
has found time to write another romance, of which the publication has
been recently commenced in one of the daily Paris journals. It is called
"Fernand Duplesis; or, the Memoirs of a Husband;" and is, it appears, to
be an exposure of what in France it is the fashion to call the miseries
and iniquities of married life. Written in great haste, it will (judging
from the opening chapters) be slovenly in style and negligent in
language; but, _en revanche_, it will (as it seems) be of great dramatic
interest, and will throw new light on Parisian society--that strange and
striking assemblage of intrigue and passion, of vanity and folly, of
elegance and refinement, of chivalry and corruption, of much that is
good, and of more that is bad.
* * * * *
Don Hannibal de Gasparis, the Neapolitan astronomer, who has, in the
course of the last few years, discovered no less than five new planets,
has, by a royal decree of the 4th, been named Professor of Astronomy at
the University of Naples.
* * * * *
In Hans Andersen's charming _Memoirs_ we find a graphic sketch of an
interview with Reboul, the baker poet of Nismes, celebrated in
"Lamartine's Journey to the East."--I found him at the house, stepped
into the bakehouse, and addressed myself to a man in shirt sleeves who
was putting bread into the oven; it was Reboul himself! A noble
countenance which expressed a manly character greeted me. When I
mentioned my name, he was courteous enough to say he was acquainted with
it through the 'Revue de Paris,' and begged me to visit him in the
afternoon, when he should be able to entertain me better. When I came
again I found him in a little room which might be called almost elegant,
adorned with pictures, casts, and books, not alone French literature,
but translations of the Greek classics. A picture on the wall
represented his most celebrated poem, 'The Dying Child,' from Marmier's
_Chansons du Nord_. He knew I had treated the same subject, and I told
him this was written in my school days. If in the morning I had found
him the industrious baker, he was now the poet completely; he spoke with
animation of the literature of his country, and expressed a wish to see
the North, the scenery and intellectual life of which seemed to interest
him. With great respect I took leave of a man whom the muses have not
meanly endowed, and who yet has good sense enough, spite of all the
homage paid him, to remain steadfast to his honest business, and prefer
being the most remarkable baker in Nismes to losing himself in Paris,
after a short triumph, among hundreds of other poets.
* * * * *
The Writings of Shakspeare would appear, from the following fact, to be
read with as much avidity and delight in Sweden as in England and this
country. A translation of his plays by Hagberg, Professor of Greek in
the University of Lund, is now in course of publication. Of this, 12
volumes have appeared; and although the first edition consisted of no
less than 2000 copies, the whole have been sold off, and a second
edition is in preparation. Professor Hagberg's translation is most
favorably spoken of by those who are qualified to judge of its merits.
* * * * *
A new theological work by Jonathan Edwards, printed from his own
manuscript, is announced as soon to be issued. The fame of our
illustrious American theologian attaches great interest, in the
religious world, to this new production from his pen.
* * * * *
The Poem entitled "The Ship of Death," which floated into our Editor's
Drawer from an unknown source, was written by Thomas H. Chivers, M.D.,
author of a volume entitled "Eonchs of Rubies," and other poetical
works.
* * * * *
Miss Catherine Hayes the celebrated Irish vocalist arrived in this
country a few days since. Her first concert will be given while the
sheets of our present Number are passing through the press. She is
pronounced in her own sphere to be as unequaled as Jenny Lind in hers;
brilliancy is the peculiar characteristic of the latter, pathos of the
former. Those who have heard her abroad, predict for her a success not
inferior to that achieved by her Swedish compeer. The fact of Ireland
being her native land will of itself insure her a favorable hearing in
America.
* * * * *
We are reminded that the English work entitled "How to make Home
Unhealthy," which was ascribed to Harriet Martineau, in a former Number
of this Magazine, was written by Henry Morley, Esq.
A Leaf from Punch.
[Illustration: "Lor! What a most abominable Glass--I declare it makes
one look a perfect Fright."]
[Illustration: "There's a Bite! Pull him up, Charley, I've got the
Landing Net."]
* * * * *
MUCH TOO CONSIDERATE.
[Illustration: _Robinson._--"There, Brown, my Boy, that's as fine a
Glass of Wine as you can get anywhere."
_Mrs. Brown._--"A-hem! Augustus, My De-ar. You are surely never going to
take Port Wine. You know it never agrees with you, my Love!"]
[Illustration: _Angelina_ (_the Wife of his Bussom_).--"Well, Edwin, if
you can't make the 'Things,' as you call them, meet, you need not swear
so. It's really quite dreadful!"]
[Illustration: _Uncle._--"So, you've been to the Crystal Palace--Have
you, Gus?"
_Gus._--"Yes, Uncle."
_Uncle._--"Well, now, I'll give you Sixpence if you will tell me what
you admired most in that Temple of Industry?"
_Gus_ (_unhesitatingly._)--"Veal and 'Am Pies, and the Ginger Beer. Give
us the Sixpence!"]
Fashions for October.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Walking and Riding Dress.]
October, the beautiful month, standing like a mediator between summer
and winter, is the season for exercise in the open air; especially for
that healthful recreation, riding on horseback. It is the season, too,
of the Indian Summer, when the pleasures of carriage riding and
promenading are greater than at any other time of the year. For the
ladies it should be an _out-of-door_ month; and for them we herald the
decrees of fashion, touching their appearance in the open air.
Walking Dress.--The figure on the left represents a very pretty costume
for promenade. Bonnet, drawn _tulle_ with low crown. The poke is made on
a skeleton of wire covered with yellow silk, and having four pieces
across. Under the wires are fastened small bows of gauze ribbon so as to
form three well-rounded rows. A similar row of bows trims the edge of
the poke inside, and the ribbons composing it are continued along flat.
A gathered ribbon is laid all round and fastens with bows. The crown is
of _tulle_, slightly puffed, and ornamented with five ribbon _ruches_,
supported by five wires covered with silk, which slope toward each
other, and meet near the curtain. The curtain is _tulle_, trimmed with a
plaited ribbon, from which proceed bows astride on the edge. The shawl
is of silk or other light fabric. On the body there are five cross-bands
of silk, goffered and cut at the edges. The top one reaches from one
shoulder-seam to the other and is 2-1/2 inches wide, the other four
gradually diminish down to the waist, where the last one is but little
more than an inch. The trimmings goffered in small flutes are fixed
under a narrow galloon; another galloon is placed a little higher,
leaving an interval of about half an inch between them. A similar
trimming runs round the waist and forms the lappets. The skirt has seven
rows of goffered trimmings gathered like those on the body. The top one
is an inch and a quarter deep, and all increase gradually down to the
lowest, which is 3-1/4 inches. The sleeves are open under the arm from
the elbow downward, and are held together by two goffered cross bands.
The under-sleeves are lace, and form a large puff, which is fastened in
a worked wristband.
Riding Dress.--The figure on the right represents a riding dress. Felt
hat with a terry velvet ribbon as binding for the edges, bows of the
same, and a frosted feather. Body of white quilting, high and tight. The
skirts hold to the body without seam at the waist. They are very round
and full, owing to the cut of the side and the gores. They should come
well over the hips, but not sit too tight. The middle of the body is
open and leaves visible a rich lace shirt-frill very deep and full, and
falling back on itself, owing to its fullness. The lace collar forms a
ruff with two rows. The top and bottom of the body are hooked inside,
but seem to be held by three gold double buttons; these twin buttons are
attached together by a small gold chain. Those at bottom have a longer
chain than the others. The sleeves are straight with a cuff turned up
and standing out from the sleeve. Shirt of plain poplin, trimmed in
front with velvet ribbons nearly half an inch wide, and continued all
round the bottom.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Carriage Costume.]
Carriage Costume.--Dress of _glacé_ silk; body half high, and open in
front; waist long and slightly pointed; the body a tight fit and trimmed
with a rich fancy trimming. The short skirt is very full, rounded at the
corners _a la robes_, and trimmed to correspond with the corsage. The
gathers at the waist are confined by narrow rows of _guimpe_. The skirt
is long and very full, with a row of silk trimming laid on the hem at
the bottom. Bonnet of _paille de riz;_ brim very open. Feathers are
placed low at the right side. Lined with fulled _tulle_, ornamented
with pink satin A shawl of white cachmere, with very deep fringe.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Caps and Undersleeve.]
Caps.--The cap is almost universally worn as a part of morning costume.
Nos. 1 and 2 represent two of the latest styles, adapted for the cool
mornings of autumn. Those of a _negligé_ form are generally composed of
muslin, embroidered _au plumetis_, or cambric, entirely covered with the
richest kind of English embroidery, which sometimes resembles a splendid
_guipure_. When the lappets are not formed of the same material, we see
them of pink taffetas, attached to the cap, with a bunch of _coques_,
composed of the same colored ribbon very full, and put on so as to
replace the full bands of hair.
Undersleeves, so elegant with open dress sleeves, are worn by all. The
style as well as material has many varieties. No. 3 is a very neat
style, made either of embroidered muslin, or lace.
Pelisses are becoming very fashionable, made of plain Italian silk, and
trimmed with a fancy ribbon three fingers in width, and bordered on
either side with two narrow ones, appearing as if woven in the dress. We
may cite, as a most elegant costume in this style, a redingote of
pearl-gray, encircled with a ribbon of a pearl-gray ground, over which
is quadrillé dark-blue velvet, having the narrow rows on either side.
The front of the pelisse is closed with eight or ten rows of the same
kind of ribbon, each end being turned back so as to form a point, from
which depends a small blue and gray mixed tassel. The corsage is formed
with broad facings, encircled to match the lower part of the sleeves.
Jewelry.--The _châtelaine_ is now replaced, in a measure, by waistcoat
chains, attached at both ends, the middle forming a festoon. _Brooches_
are very rich; the finest are cameos set round with brilliants.
_Ear-rings_ are composed of large stones mounted in plain rings, without
pendants. _Bracelets_ are of enamel, sparkling stones, and gold. The
waistcoat button is now a very elegant piece of jewelry.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
PUNCTUATION
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
The oe ligature in the words manoeuvre, Phoenix, etc., has been
replaced with the separate letters in this text version.
Superscripted letters are indicated by a caret character, e.g. y^e.
Small capital text has sometimes been replaced with all capitals,
but not where it occurs in names of individuals, footnotes, or
illustrations.
Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired.
This text contains several examples of inconsistent hyphenation, e.g.
two thirds/two-thirds, and word spacing, e.g. mean time/meantime,
which have been retained in this version, except for "Good by" which
has been normalised to "Good-by".
Pg 582, question mark replaced with exclamation mark (Honor to
Letitia, the mother of Napoleon!)
Pg 680, question mark replaced with exclamation mark (Extremely fine!)
WORDS AND SPELLING
pg 579: "women" changed to "woman" (the best woman in France)
pg 588: "hunddred" changed to "hundred" (a population of but about
five hundred thousand)
pg 602: "Limana" normalised to "Limeña" (Limeña at home)
pg 606: "that" changed to "than" (much less depressed than that)
pg 616: "insted" changed to "instead" (twenty guineas, instead of
sixty)
pg 629: "grostesquely" changed to "grotesquely" (His life was
grotesquely checkered)
pg 631: "reched" changed to "reached" (he reached that last degrading
status in society)
pg 647: "guarrantee" changed to "guarantee" (a guarantee for what he
would have done)
pg 654: "massses" changed to "masses" (rude, unshapen masses)
pg 669: "tast" changed to "taste" (the taste of a man)
pg 675: "scluded" changed to "secluded" (having carefully secluded
her from marriage)
pg 695: duplicated word "been" removed (have been busily engaged)
pg 696: duplicated word "that" removed (It is intended that they shall)
pg 700: "it" changed to "its" (derives its supplies of provisions)
pg 715: "controversalists" changed to "controversialists" (merits or
demerits of political controversialists)
pg 720: "paile" changed to "paille" (paille de riz)