* * * * *
No man is more enshrined in the heart of the French people than the
poet BERANGER. A few weeks since he went one evening with one of his
nephews to the _Clos des Lilas_, a garden in the students' quarter
devoted to dancing in the open air, intending to look for a few
minutes upon a scene he had not visited since his youth, and then
withdraw. But he found it impossible to remain unknown and unobserved.
The announcement of his presence ran through the garden in a moment,
the dances stopped, the music ceased, and the crowd thronged toward
the point where the still genial and lovely old man was standing. At
once there rose from all lips the cry of _Vive Beranger!_ which was
quickly followed by that of _Vive la Republique!_ The poet whose
diffidence is excessive, could not answer a word, but only smiled and
blushed his thanks at this enthusiastic reception. The acclamations
continuing, an agent of the police invited him to withdraw, lest his
presence might occasion disorder. The illustrious songwriter at once
obeyed; by a singular coincidence the door through which he went out
opened upon the place where Marshal Ney was shot. If he were now in
the vein of writing, what a stirring lyric all these circumstances
might suggest.
* * * * *
AUDUBON AND WASHINGTON IRVING--THE PLAGUE OF RAILROADS.--The voyager
up the Hudson will involuntarily anathematize the invention of the
rail, when he sees how much of the most romantic beauty has been
defaced or destroyed by that tyranny which, disregarding all private
desire and justice, has filled up bays, and cut off promontories, and
leveled heights, to make way for the intrusive and noisy car. But the
effects of these so-called "improvements," upon the romantic in nature
will be forgotten if he considers the injury and wrong they cause to
persons, and particularly to those whose genius has contributed more
to human happiness than all the inventions in oeconomical art.
The Nestor of our naturalists, and in his field, the greatest as well
as the oldest of our artists, AUDUBON, with the comparatively slight
gains of a long life of devotion to science, and of triumphs which had
made him world-renowned, purchased on the banks of the river, not far
from the city, a little estate which it was the joy as well as the
care of his closing years to adorn with everything that a taste so
peculiarly and variously schooled could suggest. He had made it a
pleasing gate-way to the unknown world, with beautiful walks leading
down to the river whose depth and calmness and solemn grandeur
symboled the waves through which he should pass to the reward of a
life of such toil and enviable glory. He had promise of an evening
worthy of his meridian--when the surveyors and engineers, with their
charter-privileges, invaded his retreat, built a road through his
garden, destroyed forever his repose, and--the melancholy truth is
known--made of his mind a ruin.
WASHINGTON IRVING--now sixty-seven years of age--had found a
resting-place at _Wolfert's Roost_, close by the scenes which lie in
the immortal beauty that radiates from his pages, and when he thought
that in this Tusculum he was safe from all annoying, free to enjoy
the quietness and ease he had earned from the world, the same vandals
laid the track through his grounds, not only destroying all their
beauty and attraction, but leaving fens from which these summer heats
distilled contagion. He has therefore been ill for some weeks, and
as he had never a strong constitution, and has preserved his equable
but not vigorous health only by the most constant carefulness, his
physicians and friends begin to be alarmed for the result. Heaven
avert the end they so fearfully anticipate. He cannot go alone: The
honest Knickerbocker, the gentle Crayon, and the faithful brother
Agapida, with Washington Irving will forever leave the world, which
cannot yet resign itself to the loss of either.
* * * * *
Mr. SEBA SMITH, so well known as the author of the "Letters of Major
Jack Downing," and to a different sort of readers for his more serious
contributions to our literature, has just completed the printing of
an original and very remarkable work, upon which he has been engaged
about two years, entitled "New Elements of Geometry," and it will soon
be published in this city by Putnam, and in London by Bentley. It will
probably produce a sensation in the world of science. Its design is
the reconstruction of the entire methods of Geometry. All geometers,
from the dawn of the science, have built their systems upon these
definitions: _A line is length without breadth_, and _A surface is
length and breadth, without thickness_. Mr. Smith asserts that
these definitions are false, and sustains his position by numerous
demonstrations in the pure Euclidean style. He declares that every
mathematical line has a definite _breadth_, which is as measurable as
its length, and that every mathematical surface has a _thickness_,
as measurable as the contents of any solid. His demonstrations, on
diagrams, seem to be eminently clear, simple, and conclusive. The
effects of this discovery and these demonstrations are, to simplify
very much the whole subject of Geometry and mathematics, and to clear
it of many obscurities and difficulties. All geometers heretofore
have claimed that there are _three kinds_ of quantity in Geometry,
different in their _natures_, and requiring units of different natures
to measure them. Mr. Smith shows that there is but _one_ kind of
quantity in Geometry, and but one kind of unit; and that lines,
surfaces, and solids are always measured by the same identical unit.
Besides the leading features of the work which we have thus briefly
described, it contains many new and beautiful demonstrations of
general principles in Geometry, to which the author was lead by his
new methods of investigation. Among these we may mention one, viz.,
"The square of the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle equals four
times the area of the triangle, plus the square of the difference of
the other two sides." This principle has been known to mathematicians
by means of arithmetic and algebra, but has never before, we believe,
been reduced to a geometrical demonstration. The demonstration of
this principle by Mr. Smith is one of the clearest, simplest, and
most beautiful in Geometry. The work is divided into three parts,
I. The Philosophy of Geometry, II. Demonstrations in Geometry, and
III. Harmonies of Geometry. The demonstrative character of it is
occasionally enlivened by philosophical and historical observations,
which will add much to its interest with the general reader. We have
too little skill in studies of this sort to be altogether confident
in our opinion, but certainly it strikes us from an examination of the
larger and more important portion of Mr. Smith's essay, that it is an
admirable specimen of statement and demonstration, and that it must
secure to its author immediately a very high rank in mathematical
science. We shall await with much interest the judgments of the
professors. It makes a handsome octavo of some 200 pages.
* * * * *
M. FLANDIN, an eminent dilettante and designer attached to the French
embassy in Persia, has published in the last number of the _Revue des
Deux Mondes_ an interesting memoir of the ruins of Persepolis, under
the title of "An Archaiological Journey in Persia." On his route
to the ruins he witnessed melancholy evidence, in the condition of
the surface and population, of the improvidence and noxiousness of
Oriental despotism. He tells us that the remains of the magnificent
palace of Darius are dispersed over an immense _plateau_, which looks
down on the plain of Merdacht. "Assuredly, they are not much, compared
with what they must have been in the time of the last Prince who
sheltered himself under the royal roof. Nevertheless, what is now
found of them still excites astonishment, and inspires a sentiment of
religious admiration for a civilization that could create monuments so
stupendous; impress on them a character of so much grandeur; and give
them a solidity which has prereserved the most important parts until
our days, through twenty-two centuries, and all the revolutions
by which Persia has been devastated. The pillars are covered with
European names deeply cut in the stone. English are far the most
numerous. Very few, however, are of celebrated travelers. We observed,
with satisfaction, those of Sir John Malcolm and Mr. Morier, both of
whom have so successfully treated Persian subjects."
* * * * *
EMILE GIRARDIN states in his journal that he paid for the eleven
volumes of Chateaubriand's Posthumous Memoirs as they appeared,
piecemeal, in his _feuilleton_, the sum of ninety-seven thousand
one hundred and eight francs. They occupied a hundred and ninety-two
_feuilletons_, and cost him thus more than a franc a line. Alfred de
Broglie has made these memoirs the test of a paper entitled "Memoirs
de Chateaubriand, a Moral and Political Study," in the _Revue des Deux
Mondes_. It is a severe analysis of the book and the man. He concludes
that Chateaubriand was one of the most vainglorious, selfish and
malignant of his tribe. He, indeed, betrayed himself broadly, but
surviving writers, who knew intimately his private life--such as St.
Beuve--have disclosed more of his habitual libertinism. The Radical
journals, and some of the Legitimists, turn to account the portraits
left in these memoirs of Louis Philippe, Thiers, Guizot, and other
statesmen of the Orleans monarchy. They are effusions of personal and
political spite. Chateaubriand hated the whole Orleans dynasty, and
has not spared the elder Bourbons.
* * * * *
GUIZOT has been for thirty years in political life, many of them
a minister, and was long at the head of the government of Louis
Philippe, but is now a poor man. Recently, on the marriage of his
two daughters with two brothers De Witt, the descendants of the great
Hollander, he was unable to give them a cent in the way of marriage
portions. This fact proves the personal integrity of the man more
than a score of arguments. Not only has the native honesty of his
character forbidden him to take advantage of his eminent position
to gain a fortune, but the indomitable pride which is his leading
characteristic, has never stooped to the attractions of public plunder
or the fruits of official speculation. Guizot is not up to the times,
and hence his downfall, but future historians will do justice alike to
his great talents and the uprightness of his intentions.
* * * * *
One of the best works yet produced on the History of Art, is by
Schnaase, of Düsseldorf. The first three volumes have been published
and translated into French and English, and have met with great
success in both those languages. The fourth volume is just announced
in Germany. Artists and other competent persons at Düsseldorf who
have seen the proof-sheets, speak in the highest terms not only of its
historical merits, but of the excellence of its criticisms.
* * * * *
The fifth volume of the _History of Spain_, by Rousseau St. Hilaire,
includes the period from 1336 to 1649. The professor has been employed
ten years on his enterprise; he is lauded by all the critics for his
research, method, and style. We have recently spoken of this work at
some length in _The International_. The PARIS ACADEMY OF INSCRIPTIONS
and Belles Lettres is constantly sending forth the most valuable
contributions; to the history of the middle ages especially. It is
now completing the publication of the sixth volume of the Charters,
Diplomas, and other documents relating to French History. This volume,
which was prepared by M. Pardessus, includes the period from the
beginning of 1220 to the end of 1270, and comprehends the reign of St.
Louis. The seventh volume, coming down some fifty years later, is also
nearly ready for the printer. Its editor is M. Laboulaye. The first
volume of the Oriental Historians of the Crusaders, translated into
French, is now going through the press, and the second is in course
of preparation. The greater part of the first volume of the Greek
Historians of the same chivalrous wars is also printed, and the work
is going rapidly forward. The Academy is also preparing a collection
of Occidental History on the same subject. When these three
collections are published, all the documents of any value relating
to the Crusades will be easily accessible, whether for the use of the
historian or the romancer. The Academy is also now engaged in getting
out the twenty-first volume of the History of the Gauls and of France,
and the nineteenth of the Literary History of France, which brings the
annals of French letters down to the thirteenth century. It is also
publishing the sixteenth volume of its own memoirs, which contains the
history of the Academy for the last four years, and the work of Freret
on Geography, besides several other works of less interest. From
all this some idea may be formed of the labors and usefulness of the
institution.
* * * * *
M. LEVERRIER, the astronomer, has published a long and able argument
in support of the free and universal use of the electric telegraph.
He has supplied a most instructive and interesting exposition of the
employment and utility of the invention, in all the countries in which
it has been established. The American and the several European tariffs
of charge are appended. He explains the different systems, scientific
and practical, in detail, and gives the process and proceeds. He
observes that the practicability of laying the wires _under_ ground
along all the great roads of France, which will protect them from
accidents and mischief, will yield immense advantage to the Government
and to individuals. He appears to prefer Bain's Telegraph, for
communication, to any other, and minutely traces and develops its
mechanism. A bill before the French chambers, which he advocates,
opens to the public the use of the telegraph, but with various
restrictions calculated to prevent _revolutionary_ or seditious
abuses; to prevent illicit speculations in the public funds, and
other bad purposes to which a free conveyance might be applied. The
director of the telegraph is to be empowered to refuse to transmit
what he shall deem repugnant to public order and good morals, and the
government to suspend at will all private correspondence, on one or
many lines.
* * * * *
THE WORKS OF REV. LEONARD WOODS, D.D., lately Professor of Theology in
the Congregational Seminary of Andover, are in course of publication,
and the third and fourth volumes have just appeared, completing the
theological lectures of the venerable Professor, making in all one
hundred and twenty-eight. In these, the student is furnished with
a complete body of divinity as generally received by the orthodox
denominations in New England, and has presented in a clear, condensed
manner, the matured results of a long life of thought and study
devoted to these subjects.
The fourth volume is occupied with theological letters. The first
121 pages contain those to Unitarians; next follows the Reply to
Dr. Ware's Letters to Unitarians and Calvinists, and Remarks on Dr.
Ware's Answer, a series remarkable for courtesy and kindness toward
opponents, and clearness and faithfulness in the expression of what
was regarded as truth. Following these, are eight letters to Dr.
Taylor of New Haven; An Examination of the Doctrine of Perfection,
as held by Mr. Mahan and others, and a letter to Mr. Mahan; A
Dissertation on Miracles, and the Course of Theological Study as
pursued at the Seminary at Andover. One more volume will complete the
works of this long active and eminent divine.
* * * * *
THE REV. ORVILLE DEWEY, D.D., we learn from the correspondence of the
_Christian Inquirer_, is living upon the farm where he was born, in
Sheffield, Massachusetts, having, in the successive improvements of
many years, converted the original house into an irregular but most
comfortable and pleasant dwelling. The view from the back piazza is
as fine as can be commanded anywhere in Berkshire, and should the
shifting channel of the Housatonic only be accommodating enough to
wind a little nearer the house, or even suffer some not impossible
stoppage which would convert the marshy meadow in front into a lake,
nothing can be conceived of which could then improve the situation. In
this lovely retirement, Dr. Dewey endeavors to unite labor and study;
working with his own hands, with hoe and rake, in a way to surprise
those who only know how he can handle a pen. He is preparing, in a
leisurely way, for a course of Lectures for the Lowell Institute, upon
a theme admirably suited to his previous studies, and in which it is
evident his whole mind and heart are bound up. We are glad to know
that it is not until winter after next that this work must be taken
from the anvil.
* * * * *
DR. HOOKER, we learn, has again proceeded to a new and unexplored
region in India, in the prosecution of his important botanical labors.
THE AUTHOR OF THE AMBER WITCH, the Pomeranian pastor, Meinhold,
has been condemned to three months' imprisonment, and a fine of one
hundred thalers, besides costs, for slander against another clergyman
named Stosch, in a communication published in the _New Prussian
Zeitung_. The sentence was rendered more severe than usual in such
cases by the fact that Meinhold, who appears to possess more talent
than temper, had previously been condemned for the same offense
against another party. The _Amber Witch_ is one of the "curiosities of
literature", for in the last German edition the author is obliged to
prove that it is entirely a work of imagination, and not, as almost
all the German critics believed it to be when it appeared, the reprint
of an old chronicle. It was, in fact, written as a trap for the
disciples of Strauss and his school, who had pronounced the Scriptures
of the Old and New Testaments to be a collection, of legends, from
historical research, assisted by "internal evidence". Meinhold did
not spare them when they fell into the snare, and made merry with the
historical knowledge and critical acumen that could not detect
the contemporary romancer under the mask of the chronicler of two
centuries ago, while they decided so positively as to the authority of
the most ancient writings in the world. He has been in prison before.
* * * * *
"THE NIGHT SIDE OF NATURE[1]", by Catharine Crowe, so well known as
one of the cleverest of the younger set of literary women in England,
we have already mentioned as in the press of Mr. Redfield; it is
now published, and we commend it as one of the most entertaining and
curious works that has ever appeared on the "wonders of the invisible
world". We quote from the judicious critic of the _Tribune_ the
following paragraphs in regard to it:
[Footnote 1: The Night side of Nature; or, Ghosts and Ghost Seers. By
Catherine Crowe. New York. J.S. Redfield.]
"The author of this work is an accomplished German scholar. Without
being a slave to the superstitious love of marvels and prodigies, her
mind evidently leans toward the twilight sphere, which lies beyond
the acknowledged boundaries of either faith or knowledge. She seems
to be entirely free from the sectarian spirit; she can look at facts
impartially, without reference to their bearing on favorite dogmas;
nor does she claim such a full, precise and completely-rounded
acquaintance with the mysteries of the spiritual world, whether from
intuition or revelation, as not to believe that there may be more
"things in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in our philosophy."
In this respect, it must be owned that she has not the advantage of
certain religious journals in this city, like the _Christian Inquirer_
and _The Independent_, for instance--which have been so fully
initiated into the secrets of universal truth as to regard all inquiry
into such subjects either as too vulgar for a Christian gentleman,
_comme il faut_, or as giving a "sanction to the atheistic
delusion that there may be a spiritual or supernatural agency" in
manifestations which are not accounted for by the New-England Primer.
Mrs. Crowe, on the contrary, supposes that there may be something
worthy of philosophical investigation in those singular phenomena,
which, surpassing the limits of usual experience, have not yet found
any adequate explanation.
"The phrase 'Night Side of Nature' is borrowed from the Germans, who
derive it from the language of astronomers, designating the side of
a planet that is turned from the sun, as its night side. The Germans
draw a parallel between our vague and misty perceptions, when deprived
of the light of the sun, and the obscure and uncertain glimpses we
obtain of the vailed department of nature, of which, though comprising
the solution of the most important questions, we are in a state of
almost total ignorance. In writing a book on these subjects, the
author disclaims the intention of enforcing any didactic opinions. She
wishes only to suggest inquiry and stimulate observation, in order to
gain all possible light on our spiritual nature, both as it now exists
in the flesh and is to exist hereafter out of it.
"It is but justice to say, that the present volume is a successful
realization of the purpose thus announced. It presents as full a
collection of facts on the subject as is probably to be found in any
work in the English language, furnishing materials for the formation
of theoretic views, and illustrating an obscure but most interesting
chapter in the marvelous history of human nature. It is written
with perfect modesty, and freedom from pretense, doing credit to the
ability of the author as a narrator, as well as to her fairness and
integrity as a reasoner."
* * * * *
MR. MILNE EDWARDS presented at a recent meeting of the _Academy of
Sciences_, in the name of the Prince of Canino, (C. Bonaparte), the
first part of the Prince's large work, _Conspectus Generum Avium_.
* * * * *
M. GUIZOT has addressed a long letter to each of the five classes
of the Institute of France, to declare that he cannot accept the
candidateship offered him for a seat in the Superior Council of Public
Instruction.
* * * * *
SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON is to be a candidate for the House
of Commons, with Col. Sibthorp, for Lincoln. He has a new play
forthcoming for the Princess's Theatre.
* * * * *
MISS STRICKLAND has in preparation a series of volumes on the Queens
of Scotland, as a companion to her, interesting and successful work on
the Queens of England.
* * * * *
THE MARQUIS DE FOUDRAS has published _Un Caprice de Grande
Dame_--clever, but as corrupt as her other works.
* * * * *
MR. HERBERT'S NEW BOOKS.--The _Southern Quarterly Review_ for July
has the following notice of "Frank Forester's Fish and Fishing in the
United States and British Provinces," recently published by Stringer &
Townsend:
"There are few of our writers so variously endowed and accomplished as
Mr. Herbert; of a mind easily warmed and singularly enthusiastic, the
natural bent of his talent inclines him to romance. He has accordingly
given us several stories abounding in stately scenes, and most
impressive portraiture. Well skilled in the use of the mother tongue,
as in the broad fields of classical literature, he has written essays
of marked eloquence, and criticisms of excellent discrimination and a
keen and thorough insight. His contributions to our periodicals have
been even more happy than his fictions. With a fine imagination, he
inherits a _penchant_ and a capacity for poetry, which has enabled him
to throw off, without an effort, some of the most graceful fugitive
effusions which have been written in America. His accomplishments are
as various as his talents. He can paint a landscape as sweetly as
he can describe it in words. He is a sportsman of eager impulse, and
relishes equally well the employments of the fisherman and hunter.
He is a naturalist, as well as a sportsman, and brings, to aid his
practice and experience, a large knowledge, from study, of the habits
of birds, beasts and fishes. He roves land and sea in this pursuit,
forest and river, and turns, with equal ease and readiness, from
a close examination of Greek and Roman literature, to an emulous
exercise of all the arts which have afforded renown to the aboriginal
hunter. The volume before us--one of many which he has given to this
subject--is one of singular interest to the lover of the rod and
angle. It exhibits, on every page, a large personal knowledge of
the finny tribes in all the northern portions of our country, and
well deserves the examination of those who enjoy such pursuits and
pastimes. The author's pencil has happily illustrated the labors of
his pen. His portraits of the several fishes of the United States are
exquisitely well done and truthful. It is our hope, in future pages,
to furnish an ample review of this, and other interesting volumes, of
similar character, from the hand of our author. We have drawn to them
the attention of some rarely endowed persons of our own region, who,
like our author, unite the qualities of the writer and the sportsman;
from whom we look to learn in what respects the habits and characters
of northern fish differ from our own, and thus supply the deficiency
of the work before us. The title of this work is rather too general.
The author's knowledge of the fish, and of fishing, in the United
States, is almost wholly confined to the regions north of the
Chesapeake, and he falls into the error, quite too common to the
North, of supposing this region to be the whole country. Another
each volume as that before us will be necessary to do justice to the
Southern States, whose possessions, in the finny tribes of sea and
river, are of a sort to shame into comparative insignificance all the
boasted treasures of the North. It would need but few pages in our
review, from the proper hands, to render this very apparent to the
reader. Meanwhile, we exhort him to seek the book of Mr. Herbert, as a
work of much interest and authority, so far as it goes."
* * * * *
MR. PUTNAM is preparing some elegantly embellished works for the
holiday season. Among others, an edition, in octavo, of Miss Fenimore
Cooper's charming _Rural Hours_, embellished by twenty finely-colored
drawings of birds and flowers; _The Picturesque Souvenir_, or Letters
of a Traveler in Europe and America, by Bryant, embellished by
a series of finely-executed engravings; and _The Alhambra_, by
Washington Irving, with designs by Darley, uniform with the splendid
series of Mr. Irving's Illustrated Works, some time in course
of publication. We have also seen a specimen copy of a superbly
illustrated edition of _The Pilgrim's Progress_, printed on
cream-colored paper, as smooth as ivory; and the exquisite designs by
Harvey, nearly three hundred in number, are among the most effective
ever attempted for the elucidation of this first of all allegories.
Professor Sweetser's new work, _Menial Hygiene_, or an Examination of
the Intellect and Passions, designed to illustrate their Influence on
Health and the Duration of Life, will be published in the course
of the present month. Professor Church's _Treatise on Integral and
Differential Calculus_, a revised edition; _The Companion_, or _After
Dinner Table Talk_, by Chelwood Evelyn, with a fine portrait of Sydney
Smith; _The History of Propellers, and Steam Navigation_, illustrated
by engravings: a manual, said to combine much valuable information on
the subjects, derived from the most authentic sources, by Mr. Robert
MacFarlane, editor of the _Scientific American_; and Mr. Ridner's
_Artist's Chromatic Hand-Book, or Manual of Colors_, will also be
speedily issued by the same publisher. Mr. Putnam's own production,
_The World's Progress, or Dictionary of Dates_, containing a
comprehensive manual of reference in facts, or epitome of historical
and general statistical knowledge, with a corrected chronology, &c.,
is expected to appear in a few weeks. Mr. Theodore Irving's _Conquest
of Florida_ is also in progress.
* * * * *
It is said that Meyerbeer has already completed a grand opera with the
title of _L'Africaine_, and is now engaged on a comic opera. This is
probably nothing more than one of the trumpets which this composer
knows so well how to blow beforehand. Meyerbeer is not greater in
music than in the art of tickling public expectation and keeping the
public aware of his existence.
* * * * *
The _Lorgnette_ has just appeared in a volume.
* * * * *