New-York, have in press the Literary Remains of the late WILLIS
GAYLORD CLARK, including the _Ollapodiana Papers_, with several
other of his Prose Writings, not less esteemed by the public;
including also his '_Spirit of Life_,' a choice but comprehensive
selection from his Poetical Contributions to the Literature of his
Country; together with a Memoir: to be edited by his twin-brother,
LEWIS GAYLORD CLARK, Editor of the KNICKERBOCKER Magazine. The
publishers do not consider it necessary for them to enlarge upon
the character of the writings which will compose the above volume.
The series of papers under the title of _Ollapodiana_ will be
remembered with admiration and pleasure, by readers in every
section of the United States. Their rich variety of subject; their
alternate humor and pathos; the one natural, quiet, and
irresistibly laughable; the other warm from the heart, and
touching in its tenderness and beauty; won for them the cordial
and unanimous praise of the press throughout the Union, and
frequent laudatory notices from the English journals.
Reminiscences of early days; expositions of the Ludicrous and the
Burlesque, in amusing Anecdote; Limnings from Nature; and 'Records
of the Heart,' were among their prominent characteristics. It is
not too much to say of the other Prose Writings which the volume
will contain, that although of a somewhat different character,
they are in no respect inferior to the _Ollapodiana_, in their
power to awaken and sustain interest. The _Poetical Writings_ of
Mr. CLARK are too well known to require comment. They have long
been thoroughly established in the national heart, and have
secured for the writer an enviable reputation abroad.'
The work will be embraced in four numbers, of ninety-six~pages each,
stereotyped upon new types in the best manner, and printed upon fine white
paper; and the price will be but twenty-five cents for each number. Need
we ask the interest of our friends, of the friends of the Departed, in
behalf of the volume in question? · · · THE ITALIAN OPERA, at Sig. PALMO'S
new and beautiful temple in Chambers-street, has taken the town captive.
_I Puritani_ was first produced, and to overflowing houses at each
representation. _Belisario_ is now running a similar successful career. We
shall have occasion in our next to advert more at large to this very
popular establishment, and to notice in detail the _artists_ (with and
without the _e_) who compose its prominent attractions. · · · SINCE the
direction given by an afflicted widow to some humane persons who had found
the body of her husband in a mill-race, full of eels, 'Take the eels up to
the house, and _set him again_!' we have seen nothing more affecting than
an anecdote of a widower at St. Louis, who, on seeing the remains of his
late wife lowered into the grave, exclaimed, with tears in his eyes:
'Well, I've lost sheep, and I've lost cows, but I never had any thing to
cut me up like this!' As CARLYLE says, 'his right arm, and spoon, and
necessary of life' had been taken away, and he could not choose but weep.
· · · THE typographical error to which our Natchez friend alludes was
corrected in some two or three thousand sheets; hence we dispense with his
trifling errata. 'I remember a clergyman in New-England,' once wrote an
accomplished contributor to us, 'that when 'the rains descended and the
floods came and the winds blew,' carried away in the pulpit in the height
of his ardor the wrong house, and left that _standing_ that was built upon
the sand. After the service was over I ventured to observe to my uncle,
Parson C----, (whose assistant had been preaching) that this seemed to be
a new reading to the parable, and that I wondered when Mr. A---- had
discovered his error, as he did at the time of re-iteration, that he did
not correct it. My uncle defended his curate, and observed that if he had
_then_ corrected himself, he would have carried away _both_ houses, which
was utterly in opposition to all Scripture. Part of the audience, said he,
were asleep; and many of the rest so drowsy that, so long as one of the
houses was taken off, the moral was enforced upon their perceptions as
well by the one as the other. If he had made a _thorough_ correction, he
would have roused the attention of the whole parish, and nothing else
would have been talked of for nine days. When a man has made an error he
had better let other people make a discovery; and this truth, my lad, said
he, you will understand better when you grow up.' Let us conclude with an
expression of great force and newness: 'Comment is unnecessary.' · · ·
'T.N.P.'s article, as he will perceive, is anticipated by the initial
paper in the present number. How does he like the new definition of
Transcendentalism: _Incomprehensibilityosityivityalityationmentnessism_?'
To us, it seems 'as clear as mud!' · · · THE graceful 'penciller' of the
'_New Mirror_' weekly journal copies the beautiful '_Lines to a Cloud_'
from our January number, with the remark: 'This BRYANT-like, finished and
high-thoughted ('a vile phrase') poetry was written by a young lady of
seventeen, and is her first published production. She is the daughter of
one of our oldest and best families, resident on the Hudson. If the noon
be like the promise of the dawn of this pure intellect, we have here the
beginning of a brilliant fame.' We think '_The two Pictures_,' from the
same pen, in our February issue fully equal to the fair writer's
_coup-d'essai_. By the by, it would have been but simple courtesy, as it
strikes us, to have given the KNICKERBOCKER Magazine credit for the lines
in question. · · · NUMEROUS articles in prose and verse are on file for
insertion, touching which we shall hope soon to have leisure to advise
with the writers by letter.
* * * * *
'AMERICA WELL DEFENDED' would not be inappropriate as a true designation
of a beautifully printed pamphlet before us, from the press of Mr.
BENJAMIN H. GREENE, Boston, containing a 'Letter to a Lady in France on
the supposed Failure of a National Bank, the supposed Delinquency of the
National Government, the Debts of the several States, and Repudiation:
with Answers to Inquiries concerning the Books of Capt. MARRYAT and Mr.
DICKENS.' We have read this production with warm admiration of its calm
and dignified style, the grouping and invariable _pertinence_ of its
facts and arguments; and the absence of every thing which savors of
_retaliatory_ spirit, in its animadversions upon the misrepresentations of
the United States by the English press. Expositions are offered of the
character of the old United States' Bank, as contradistinguished from the
'United States' Bank of Pennsylvania;' of the origin and nature of our
public debts, national as well as of the separate States, etc. The themes
of love of money, gravity of manners, of slavery, lynch-law, mobs, etc.,
are next considered; and the pamphlet concludes with some remarks upon the
strength of our government, general results of our experiment, and our
growing attachment to the Union. The author we understand to be Mr. THOMAS
G. CARY, a distinguished merchant, who has brought the observation and
knowledge of a _practical_ life in aid of his reasoning, throughout his
pamphlet. It has passed, we are glad to learn, to a speedy second edition;
and we cannot but hope that it may be re-published in England. It could
not fail to produce great good, in the rectification of gross errors in
relation to this country.
PARLEY'S CABINET LIBRARY.--In this work Mr. GOODRICH proposes to furnish
the public with forty numbers, at twenty-five cents each, of biographical,
historical and miscellaneous sketches, designed for the family circle, and
especially for youth. The first two numbers consist of the lives of famous
men of modern times; as SCOTT, BYRON, BONAPARTE, BURNS, BURKE, GOETHE,
JOHNSON, MILTON, SHAKSPEARE, BACON, etc. The next two numbers are devoted
to famous men of ancient times; as CÆSAR, HANNIBAL, CICERO, ALEXANDER,
PLATO, etc. The fifth and sixth numbers contain the 'Curiosities of Human
Nature,' as ZERA COLBURN, CASPAR HAUSER, etc. The seventh and eighth
contain the lives of benefactors: as WASHINGTON, FRANKLIN, HOWARD, FULTON,
BOWDITCH, etc. We notice also, in the biographical series, the lives of
celebrated Indians and celebrated women. The historical sketches will
present a series of striking pictures, illustrative of the history of the
four quarters of the globe. The miscellaneous department will embrace
arts, sciences, manners and customs of nations, a view of the world and
its inhabitants, etc., etc. The intention of the author is to furnish a
library of twenty volumes, devoted to the most interesting portions of
human knowledge, with the design of rendering their subjects interesting
and attractive to the general reader. Several of the numbers are now
issued; and judging from these, we are happy to give the work our hearty
approbation. The sketches will not be found to be _mere_ sketches, drawn
from cyclopedias: the author has evidently gone to the original sources,
and culled with care the most interesting points on each subject. A
contemporary expresses surprise that he has been able to say so much that
is striking, just and new, in so brief a space; a praise in which we fully
concur. The work entitled 'Curiosities of Human Nature' is one of the
deepest interest, and is calculated to suggest profound reflections as to
the capacities of the human mind. The two numbers devoted to the American
Indians, as well as other volumes, present a good deal of new and curious
matter. The life of JETAU, the Indian VOLTAIRE, is very striking. The
Benefactors will be read with gratification by every one who loves to
dwell upon the actions of those who have been great in doing good. The
moral tendency of these works is excellent, and they may be read with
pleasure as well as profit by old and young. They are happily adapted to
the family as well as the school-library; and we are glad to know that
they have been adopted for the latter purpose in some of our principal
cities. They will constitute a wholsome check upon, as well as an
agreeable substitute for, most of the trashy and pernicious literature
that is now so freely poured upon the public. Mr. JOHN ALLEN, at the
office of the KNICKERBOCKER, is the agent for this city.
'WONDERS OF THE HEAVENS.'--A superb large quarto volume has recently been
put forth by Messrs. ROBERT P. BIXBY AND COMPANY, entitled, 'The Wonders
of the Heavens: being a Popular View of Astronomy, including a full
Illustration of the Mechanism of the Heavens; embracing the Sun, Moon, and
Stars, with descriptions of the planets, comets, fixed stars,
double-stars, the constellations, the galaxy or milky way, the zodiacal
light, aurora-borealis or northern-lights, meteors, clouds, falling-stars,
aërolites, etc.; illustrated by numerous maps and engravings.' We cannot
too highly commend this volume to our readers. The author, Mr. DUNCAN
BRADFORD, has kept constantly in view one object, viz: to make his subject
plain and interesting to the people. Instead of mingling mathematics with
his great theme, to such an extent as to alarm the neophyte at the very
threshold of the temple of astronomy, he has with a wise judgment selected
from the best works, including the latest, those parts that were least
encumbered with the abstruse and the unintelligible; and the illustrations
serve to make his sublime teachings still more clear.
ROGERS' POEMS.--We have not seen a more beautiful volume for a twelvemonth
than the new illustrated edition of 'Poems by SAMUEL ROGERS, with
revisions and additions by the author,' recently issued by Messrs. LEA AND
BLANCHARD, Philadelphia. It is indeed in all respects an _exquisite_ work;
being printed upon the finest drawing-paper, with a large clear type, and
illustrated with ten engravings on steel, from paintings by the very first
artists in England. The volume opens with the 'Pleasures of Memory,' and
contains every thing from the author's pen which his maturest
consideration has deemed most worthy of preservation. We cordially commend
this admirable work to the attention of every reader of the KNICKERBOCKER
to whom it may be accessible.