The Kingdom of PRUSSIA consists of two distinct territories, at a

distance of about forty miles from each other, with Hesse-Cassel and

Hanover intervening. It has an area of 108,214 square miles, with a

population, at the end of 1849, of 16,331,187, of whom about 10,000,000

are Protestants, and 6,000,000 Catholics. The finances are in a very

healthy condition. According to the budget of 1850, the amount of the

revenue was 91,338,449 crowns; the ordinary expenses of government,

including the sinking fund of the public debt, of two and a half

millions, were 90,974,393 crowns, to which is to be added expenses

extraordinary and accidental, to the amount of 4,925,213 crowns, showing

a deficit of 4,561,158 crowns. The public debt, of every description,

including treasury notes, not bearing interest, is 187,160,272 crowns of

which the interest amounts to 4,885,815, absorbing less than

one-eighteenth of the public revenues. The army, upon a peace-footing,

consists of 121,100 regular troops, and 96,100 _Landwehr_ of the first

class, forming a total of 217,200. Upon the war-footing the numbers are

augmented to 528,800. The Landwehr is divided into two classes, the

first embracing every Prussian between the ages of twenty and

thirty-two, not serving in the standing army, and constitutes an army of

reserve, not called out in time of peace except for drill, in the

autumn; but called into active service upon the breaking out of war. The

whole country is divided into arrondissements, and no one belonging to

the Landwehr can leave that to which he belongs, without permission of

the sergeant-major. In every considerable town dépôts of stores are

established, sufficient to provide for this force, and a staff under

pay, so that they may be at once organized. When assembled for drill,

the Landwehr receive the same pay as the regular army. When they are

ordered beyond their own arrondissement, their families become the legal

wards of the magistracy, who are bound to see that they are provided

for. The Landwehr of the second class consists of all from thirty-two to

forty years who have quitted the first class. To them, in case of war,

garrison duty is committed. The _Landsturm_ or levy _en masse_, embraces

all Prussians between the ages of seventeen and fifty, not belonging to

either of the above classes; this forms the final resource and reserve

of the country, and is called out only in the last extremity.

The Empire of AUSTRIA, containing an area of 258,262 square miles,

embraces four principal divisions, inhabited by different races, with

peculiar laws, customs, and institutions. Only about one-fourth of its

population is comprehended within the German Confederation, though she

now seeks to include within it a great portion of her Slavic

territories. The population, as laid down in the chart of the "Direction

Impériale de la Statistique Administrative," is made up of the following

elements:

Germans 7,980,920

Slavonians 15,170,602

Italians 5,063,575

Romano-Valaques and Moldavians 2,686,492

Magyars 5,418,773

Jews 746,891

Miscellaneous races 525,873

----------

Total 37,593,125

The national debt, after deducting the effects belonging to the

sinking-fund, amounts at the beginning of the present year to

997,706,654 florins, the interest upon which, 54,970,830 florins,

absorbs more than one-third of the revenues. The receipts for the year

1848 were 144,003,758 and the expenditures 283,864,674 florins, showing

a deficit of about 140,000,000; this, however, is exceptional; the

deficit for the first quarter of 1850, reaching only to 18,000,000

florins. The regular army, prior to the revolutions of 1848, consisted

of about 230,000 men, which might be increased in time of war to

750,000. But so large a portion of the forces of Austria are required to

keep in subjection her discontented Italian and Hungarian territories,

that she could not probably detach, if unsupported by Russia, 200,000

men for effective service. The navy consists of 31 armed vessels,

carrying 544 guns; 15 steamers, of which two are of 300 horse-power, the

others smaller; besides gun-boats.

The RUSSIAN Empire occupies considerably more than one-half of Europe,

its area being 2,099,903 square miles. The population according to the

most recent estimates is about 62,000,000. Of these about 21,000,000 are

serfs of the nobles, and belong to the soil; 17,500,000 formerly serfs

of the crown, who may be considered personally as freemen, having been

emancipated; 4,500,000 burghers; and the remainder are nobles, either

hereditary or personal; the latter dignity being conferred upon all

civil and military officers, and upon the chief clergy and burghers. No

satisfactory statistics exhibiting the present state of the financial

and military affairs of the empire are accessible. The _Almanach de

Gotha_ of the present year omits the statistical details previously

given; and is unable to furnish more recent details. It is understood,

that the revenues and expenditures for some years past have been about

$81,000,000. The public debt is stated at 336,219,492 silver roubles.

The army is given, in round numbers, at 1,000,000. It is supposed that

in case of war Russia is able to send into the field not less than

800,000 men. This immense disposable force, absolutely under the control

of the Emperor, renders the power of Russia imminently dangerous to the

peace of Europe. By a course of masterly policy, directed to one end,

the influence of the empire has been gradually extended toward the

centre of Europe; and the only conceivable means of checking it seems to

be a confederation of all the German States, so close, that they shall

in effect constitute but one nation. It is this consideration which,

underlying the whole current of European politics, renders the present

juncture of affairs so critical. The great question of the supremacy of

race--the question whether the Teutonic or the Slavic race shall

predominate, and direct in the affairs of Europe--rests apparently upon

the events which are about to transpire.

The remaining nations of Europe are too feeble in numbers, or too

enervated in character, to exercise any great influence upon the current

of events. The hope once entertained, that a union of the ITALIAN race

was to take place has been frustrated, and the Peninsula, containing a

population of nearly 25,000,000 inhabitants is broken up into petty

governments each more despicable than the other. TURKEY in Europe has

about 15,500,000 inhabitants, but the Ottoman race, is hardly more than

a military colony, and numbers but little above a million; while the

Mohammedan religion has less than four millions of adherents; the Greek

church alone numbering eleven and a half millions. Three-fourths of the

population, therefore, both in race and faith have less affinity for

Turkey than Russia, into whose hands they are ready to fall. SPAIN, to

check whose power was the great object of all Europe two centuries and a

half since, is now utterly bankrupt in character and means. Every year

shows a large deficit in her revenues, although she pays the interest

upon but a fraction of her public debt, which amounts to fifteen

thousand five hundred millions of reals, the interest of which, at six

per cent. would, if paid, absorb the whole of the revenue. The navy,

which as late as 1802 numbered 68 ships of the line and 40 frigates had

sunk in 1849 to 2 ships of the line, 5 frigates, 14 brigs and corvettes,

and 15 small steamers of from 40 to 350 horse-power, and of these hardly

any, it is said, were fit for service. PORTUGAL has experienced a like

decline, every year showing a deficit; the interest of her debt of about

$90,000,000, absorbing fully one-third of her revenues. GREECE is hardly

worthy of the name of a kingdom. In a word, incurable decay seems to

have fallen upon all the nations of Southern Europe. The political

condition of HOLLAND, BELGIUM, SWITZERLAND, DENMARK, and SWEDEN may be

called prosperous, but they have little weight in the affairs of Europe.

Last and least of all, the little Republic of SAN MARINO, in reality the

oldest of all the existing governments of Europe, with a population of

but 8000, sits upon her rock, where for fourteen centuries she has

watched the rise and fall of the mighty states around her. In all except

her venerable antiquity she seems a caricature upon larger nations, with

her army of 27 men, her three estates, nobles, burghers, and peasants,

her two "capitani regenti," elected for six months, and her secretaries

for foreign and domestic affairs. But weak as she seems, she was a state

when Britain was but a hunting-field for Danish and Saxon pirates; and

may still exist when Britain shall have become as Tyre and Carthage.

GREAT BRITAIN.

The opening of Parliament is fixed to take place on the third of

February; in the meanwhile Government will have leisure to decide upon

its course with respect to the Catholic excitement, which has continued

to rage with an intensity out of all proportion to the cause which has

excited it. The simple act of appointing bishops to the various

dioceses, has been construed into an arrogant encroachment upon the

prerogatives of the Crown, and an attack upon the liberties and

independence of the people. The surprise of Hannibal, when lying before

the walls of Rome in hourly expectation of the surrender of the city,

could not have been greater at learning that an army had just been

dispatched for foreign conquest, and the very spot where he was encamped

sold for a high price at public auction, than that of the English at the

news that the sovereign of a petty principality, who had been driven

from his dominions by his own subjects, and was brought back and

sustained only by foreign arms, should coolly map out their country

among his own dependents. The papers are filled with remonstrances,

addresses, petitions, speeches, and protests from every body to every

body. Twenty-six archbishops and bishops, comprising the whole episcopal

bench, with two exceptions, united in a solemn protest to the Queen

against this treatment of England as a heathen country, and the

assumption of ecclesiastical dominion by the Pope. The Bishop of Exeter,

having his hands rid of the Gorham difficulty, refused to sign this

document, and prepared for presentation to her Majesty an address of his

own, of portentous length, couched in that cumbrous phraseology affected

by ecclesiastical writers. This was returned to the author by the

Secretary of State, with the very curt announcement that it was not a

document which he could properly lay before her Majesty. Addresses were

presented on one day from the authorities of London, and from the

Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. That from Oxford was read by the

Duke of Wellington, that from Cambridge by Prince Albert, as the

Chancellors of the respective universities. The addresses expressed

attachment to the royal person and the principles of the Reformation;

and indignation at the Papal aggressions upon the royal supremacy; with

earnest petitions that prompt measures might be taken to repress all

foreign encroachments upon the rights of the Crown and the independence

of the people. The London address contained, moreover, significant hints

at innovations, principles, and practices nearly allied to those of

Rome, sanctioned by some of the clergy, and expressed a desire for the

preservation and purity of the Protestant faith. The replies of the

Queen, having of course been prepared beforehand by the Ministry, are of

some consequence, as foreshadowing the probable course of Government.

They were all to the same general purport: she thanked them for their

expressions of attachment to her person and Government; and declared

that it should be her constant endeavor, as supreme governor of the

realm, to maintain the rights of the Crown and the independence of the

people, against all encroachments of foreign powers; and to promote the

purity and efficiency of the Reformed Church. It was noted as a somewhat

singular circumstance that the room at Windsor where these deputations

were received, contained portraits of Pope Pius VII. and Cardinal

Gonsalves. Among the most singular petitions to the Queen, was one from

the women of Windsor, urging her Majesty to guard them from the

"intolerable abuses of the Papal hierarchy," which would "enforce upon

as many of the people as possible the practice of auricular confession;

and from the bare possibility of this practice being pressed upon us and

our children, we shrink with instinctive horror." The Scottish Bishops

have addressed a letter to their English brethren, sympathizing with

them under this attack, and pledging their "influence and ability in

restraining this intolerable aggression on the rights of the venerable

church." An old law of Elizabeth has been hunted out, making the

importation of relics, crucifixes, and the like a penal offense, and

though the penalties are repealed, it is still a misdemeanor; some of

the more zealous opponents of Romanism demand that this should be put in

force; and also that all such articles be stopped at the custom-house.

They would also have the exhibition and sale of them prohibited, as

being "a means of enticing men into idolatry," and they add, as idolatry

is "no less a sin than fornication, there seems no solid reason why

those who obtrude idolatrous objects upon the public gaze, should not be

punished as offenders against public morals, as much as the venders of

obscene prints." The general excitement has manifested itself in some

unlooked-for quarters. During the performance at the theatre of _King

John_, the representative of Cardinal Pandulph was hissed continually,

and could hardly go on with his part; when Mr. Macready, as King John,

pronounced the passage--

"No Italian priest

Shall tithe or toll in our dominions,"

the whole theatre rang with deafening applause. The immediate effect of

this agitation will, undoubtedly, be most severely felt by what is known

as the Tractarian party in the Church of England, one portion of whom

will be forced forward to Catholicism, and the other driven back to the

great body of the English Church. Mr. Bennett, whose church in London

was attacked by a mob, on account of certain alleged Romish practices,

has resigned his charge. This is looked upon as of some importance, from

the fact of its being the church attended by Lord John Russell in

London; and that the resignation was brought about by the Bishop of

London, who has himself been accused of similar tendencies. The general

sentiment of the Nonconformist and Dissenting Press is, that the quarrel

is one between two hierarchical establishments equally hostile to them;

and that, whoever gets worsted, it must result in their own advantage.

The conduct of Cardinal Wiseman has throughout been marked with great

skill and foresight. The ceremony of his enthronization took place as

privately as possible, in order to avoid a mob; on this occasion he

delivered a sermon, characterized by his usual ability and tact, which

was of course published in all the papers, thus obtaining all desirable

publicity. It is as yet uncertain what steps Government will take. There

are rumors of dissensions on this question in the Cabinet, which must

result in its dissolution; but they seem to come from quarters where the

wish is father to the thought; at least they are not authenticated.

The most important economic movement is the effort which is made in

every direction to increase the sources of supply of cotton, or to find

some means of substituting flax for those manufactures, of which cotton

is now the sole material. The importance of these measures becomes

obvious when it is recollected how great a portion of British capital

and industry is invested in the cotton manufacture, and to what an

extent they are indebted to the United States for the supply of the

indispensable material. The United States furnish about four-fifths of

the cotton used in Great Britain; and the supply from other sources is

diminishing; a decided failure of the cotton-crop here, or a war, which

should interrupt the supply, would produce greater distress in England

than did the failure of the potato-crop in Ireland. The West Indies

cannot be looked to at present for any large supply. The cotton of

India, though well adapted for the old method of manufacture, is too

short in staple to be advantageously wrought by the machinery now in

use, and it has been found that American cotton transplanted there soon

deteriorates, and on the whole, efforts to extend the culture there have

failed. Australia seems at present the most promising quarter from which

to expect a future supply.

The Highlands of Scotland are now suffering as severely from famine as

did Ireland during the worst year of the potato failure. The cause of

the distress is said to be the absolute entailment of the landed

property, which keeps the country in the hands of those who are too poor

to cultivate it; and the only remedy is to break the entails, so as to

suffer capital to be laid out upon the land, and thereby furnish

employment, and produce subsistence for the resident population.

The Cunard steamers, finding that the Collins and the New York and Havre

lines have at last equaled them in the speed and safety of their

vessels, and far exceeded them in beauty and comfort, have apparently

resolved to test the question of the supremacy of the sea by the

relative capacity of purses. While the Franklin was loading at Havre,

the Cunarders suddenly reduced the price of freight from $40 per ton to

$20, and finally to $10, from Havre to New York by way of Liverpool;

which is, in fact, carrying from Liverpool to New York gratis, the cost

of conveyance from Havre to Liverpool, and transhipment, being fully

$10. This is understood to be the commencement of an opposition,

undertaken in a like paltry spirit, against all the lines of American

steamers. It remains to be seen whether those who have been defeated in

a fair and honorable competition in science and skill, will succeed in

so contemptible a contest as that they purpose to wage.

The present increased value of silver, in all countries, is accounted

for in the commercial papers, not by the excess of gold from California,

but by special and temporary circumstances in the commercial world. The

enormous armaments in Germany require a large amount of silver to pay

off the soldiers. The prevalent feeling of insecurity has caused the

hoarding of large amounts in small sums, of course in silver, which has

reduced the amount in circulation. In addition to which, Holland has

made silver only, a legal tender, which has occasioned a desire on the

part of bankers who have gold on deposit, to convert it into silver;

these, together with an apprehension that the amount of gold from

California would in time diminish its relative value, have caused a

temporary demand for silver, which has, of course, raised its price.

FRANCE.

The Legislative Assembly continues in session, but the proceedings are

mostly of local interest. The committee presented a report in favor of

the policy of neutrality, recommended by the President in relation to

the affairs of Germany, and brought in a bill appropriating a credit of

8,640,000f. to defray the expenses of the 40,000 additional men demanded

by the President's Message. After a sharp discussion, the resolutions

were adopted, and the bill passed, by a majority of more than two to

one. This is the only test-question, thus far, between the Government

and the Opposition, and shows that the "Party of Order" are in a decided

majority. A bill has been passed appropriating 600,000f. toward

establishing cheap baths and wash-houses. The communes desiring aid from

this fund are to furnish plans for the approval of the Minister of

Commerce and Agriculture, and to provide two-thirds of the necessary

funds, Government providing the other third, in no case, however, to

exceed 50,000f. A report was presented by M. Montalembert, in favor of

a bill for the better observance of the Sabbath in France. The prominent

points were: that labor on public works should be suspended on the

Sabbath and fête days, except in cases of public necessity; and that all

agreements binding laborers to work on the Sabbath or on fête days,

should be prohibited; this provision, however, not to apply to the

venders of comestibles, or to carriers, and those engaged upon railways,

the post, and similar employments. The proposition met with no favor.

Letter-writers say that the Elysée is marked by scenes of luxury and

profligacy scarcely paralleled in the days of the Regent Orleans and of

Louis XV. The President is known to be deeply involved in debt, and the

Assembly has been called upon for a further dotation, which will of

course be granted, in spite of the resistance of the Opposition. Fines

and imprisonments of the conductors of the newspapers are growing more

and more frequent.

GERMANY.

The scales have turned on the side of peace. The Gordian knot is to be

untied, if possible, not cut. The affairs of Germany are to be decided

by articles, not by artillery. The crisis seems to have been brought

about by a peremptory demand from Austria, that Prussia should evacuate

the Electorate of Hesse-Cassel within forty-eight hours, under the

alternative of a declaration of war. At the same time a dispatch arrived

from Lord Palmerston, hinting that in the event of war, the other powers

could not preserve their neutrality. Thus brought face to face with war,

both Austria and Prussia were frightened. A conference was proposed

between Prince Schwartzenberg and Baron Manteuffel, the Austrian and

Prussian Ministers. This took place at Olmutz, where articles of

agreement were speedily entered into. The essential point of the

agreement is, that all measures for the pacification of Germany shall be

taken jointly by Austria and Prussia. If the Elector of Hesse-Cassel can

not come to terms with his subjects, a Prussian and Austrian battalion

are to occupy the Electorate. Commissioners from the two powers are to

demand the cessation of hostilities in the Duchies, and to propose terms

to Denmark. The formation of a new German Constitution is to be

undertaken by a Conference, meeting at Dresden, Dec. 23, to which

invitations have been sent jointly by the two powers, who are to stand

in all respects on an equality. In the mean time both are to reduce

their armies, as speedily as possible, to the peace footing. This

agreement of the Ministers was ratified by the two sovereigns. In

Prussia the opposition in the Chambers was so vehement that the Ministry

dared not meet it, and adjourned that body for a month, till Jan. 3, the

longest period practicable, in the hope that by that time the issue of

the Dresden Conference might be such as to produce a favorable change.

In the mean time, opposition to the proposed measure has sprung up from

an unexpected quarter. Austria had hitherto acted in the name of the

Diet; she now coolly ignores the existence of that body, and proceeds to

parcel out all the power and responsibility between herself and Prussia.

The minor German States find themselves left entirely out of the

account. They remember the old habit of powerful states, to indemnify

themselves at the expense of the weaker ones, for any concessions they

have been forced to make to each other; and suspecting some secret

articles; or, at least, some understanding not publicly avowed, between

the two powers, they tremble for their own independence. The sense of a

common danger impels them to a close union, but they are destitute of a

rallying point. A portion of them, with Austria at their head, had

declared themselves the Diet; but if Austria, the constitutional

president, withdraws, the Diet can not have a legal existence. The

Dresden Conference, therefore, meets, with three parties, having

separate interests and fears: Austria, Prussia, and the minor

States--the governments, that is, of all these--while behind and hostile

to the whole, is the Democratic element, predominant probably among the

Prussians, strong in the lesser States, and not powerless even in

Austria, hostile to all existing governments, or to any confederation

they may form, whether consisting of a _duality_ of Austria and Prussia,

or a _triad_, composed of these and a coalition of the minor States; but

longing, instead, for a German _unity_. The cannon is still loaded; the

priming has only been taken out.

The last advices from Dresden, of Dec. 28, bring us an account of the

opening of the Conference by speeches from the Austrian and Prussian

Ministers. That of the former was highly conservative in its tone,

dwelling mainly upon the advantages secured by the old Confederation.

The speech of the Prussian Minister, on the contrary, hinted strongly at

the inefficiency which had marked that league. The proceedings, thus

far, have been merely preliminary. The return of the Elector of

Hesse-Cassel to his dominions, under the escort of Austrian and Prussian

troops, was marked by sullen gloom on the part of the people.

Preparations for the forcible disarmament of Schleswig-Holstein by

Austrian and Prussian forces are actively going on; it is feared that

the Duchies will make a bloody and desperate resistance.

The internal condition of Austria is far from settled. So arbitrary have

been the proceedings of Government, that even the _Times_ is forced to

disapprove of them, and to wish that instead of Russia, the Empire had a

constitutional ally. The discontents among the Croats and Servians are

as predominant as were those among the Hungarians, and a coalition

between the Slavic and Magyar races, whom Government has hitherto played

off against each other, is by no means improbable. Government dares not

assemble the Provincial Diets, being fully aware that they would set

themselves in opposition to its measures. In Hungary, the few natives

who have accepted office under Austria, are treated by their countrymen

as the veriest Pariahs, and the officials of Government are thwarted and

harassed in every way possible.

ITALY.

The political affairs of the different Italian States are in no wise

improving. The Roman Government finds its Austrian allies somewhat

burdensome guests. They demand that the Austrian corps of 20,000 men,

which entails an expense upon the impoverished Ecclesiastical States of

6,000,000 francs per annum, should be reduced to 12,000. Austria

declines, at present, to make the reduction. The American Protestants

have been allowed to have a chapel within the city, while the English

have been compelled to be satisfied with one without the walls; this

privilege has been withdrawn.----The Austrian Governor of Venice has

issued a proclamation directing that the subscriptions for the relief of

Brescia, which was destroyed by Austrian bombardment, shall be closed;

on the ground that the pretense of philanthropy was merely a cloak for

political demonstrations.----At Leghorn domiciliary visits of the police

have been made, the reasons for which have not transpired.----The state

of affairs in Sardinia has been set forth in the following terms in a

speech in its Parliament: "There is in Sardinia no safety for property;

there is neither law nor justice. Not to speak of thefts, assaults,

injuries to property innumerable--look at the assassinations: two

hundred within a short time. Assaults and highway robberies have

increased and are daily increasing. There is one assassination to every

thousand inhabitants. Murders are committed by day and by night, in

towns and villages, in castles and dwellings. Children of thirteen years

are murderers. The judges are terrified, and dare not execute justice.

In England you must pay, but you have safety for your life. But here

Ministers take one half our income for the State, and then suffer

scoundrels to rob us of the other half. Let Government look to it. If it

says it can do nothing, it does not deserve the name of Government: it

is the very opposite of what should be called Government." The

correspondent of the Augsburg _Allgemeine Zeitung_ declares this to be a

true account of the state of things in Sardinia.

SPAIN.

There has been a disruption in the Cabinet. The Minister of Finance,

finding that there would be a deficit of some 240,000,000 of reals,

nearly one-fourth of the entire revenue, proposed a reduction of

expenditures in various departments. This the other Ministers would not

consent to; and the Minister of Finance, finding that he would be called

to solve the difficult problem of making payments without funds, or

resign his post, chose the latter as the more feasible if not the more

agreeable alternative. A surplus of revenue is, of course, anticipated

the coming year. But the calculations of Spanish financiers never prove

to be correct.

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, PERSONAL MOVEMENTS, ETC.

UNITED STATES.

At the New England Society's Dinner, Mr. WEBSTER made a most felicitous

allusion to the _Mayflower_, à propos to a confectionary model of that

vessel which graced the table: "There was," said he, "in ancient times a

ship which carried Jason in his voyage for the acquisition of the Golden

Fleece; there was a ship at the battle of Actium which made Augustus

Cæsar master of the world; there have been famous ships which bore to

victory a Drake, a Howe, a Nelson; there are ships which have carried

our own Hull, Decatur, and Stewart in triumph. But what are they all, as

to their chances of remembrance among men, to that little bark

_Mayflower_? That Mayflower was and is a flower of perpetual blossom. It

can stand the sultry blasts of Summer, resist the furious tempests of

Autumn, and remain untouched by the gales and the frosts of Winter. It

can defy all climates and all times; it will spread its petals over the

whole world, and exhale a living odor and fragrance to the last syllable

of recorded time!"

Mr. STEPHENSON, of Charlestown, has lately completed a statue of great

merit both in conception and execution. It represents a North American

Indian who has just received a mortal wound from an arrow; he has fallen

forward upon his right knee, the left leg being thrown out in advance.

The right hand which has drawn the arrow from the wound, rests upon the

ground, the arm with its little remaining strength preventing the entire

fall of the body. The statue is wrought from a block of marble from a

quarry just opened in Vermont, which is pronounced not inferior to the

famous quarries of Carrara.

The literalism of the Panorama has lately been invaded by an effort

toward the Ideal. Pilgrim's Progress has been made the subject of an

extensive work of this kind by two young artists of New York, Messrs.

MAY and KYLE. They have met with great and well deserved success. Their

work embodies the spirit of BUNYAN, and presents all the scenes of any

interest in his famous dream. The seizing of the popular preference for

panoramas for the purpose of converting it from a wondering curiosity at

the reproduction of actual scenes, to the admiring interest awakened by

an imaginative subject, was a happy instance of tact too rarely found in

artists; and the eagerness with which the public welcomed the change is

another evidence of the general advancement in taste to which we have

before alluded.

W.S. MOUNT, the only artist among us who can delineate "God's image

carved in ebony," or mahogany, has just finished a picture in his

happiest style. It represents a genuine sable Long-Islander, whom a

"lucky throw" of the coppers has made the owner of a fat goose. He holds

his prize in his hands, his dusky face radiant with joy as he snuffs up

in imagination the fragrant odors to come. The details of the

picture--the rough coat, the gay worsted comforter and cap, disposed

with that native tendency to dandyism, which forms so conspicuous an

element of the negro character, are admirably painted. The effect, like

that of every true work of art, and unlike that of the vulgar and brutal

caricatures of the negro which abound, is genial and humanizing. The

picture is in possession of Messrs. Goupil and Company, 239 Broadway, by

whom it will soon be sent to Paris, to be lithographed in a style

uniform with the "Power of Music," and "Music is Contagious," of the

same artist. This house will soon publish engravings from one of

WOODVILLE'S characteristic pictures, "Politics in an Oyster House," and

from SEBRON'S two admirable views of Niagara Falls.

W.H. POWELL is in Paris, at work on his large picture for the Capitol at

Washington. He has recently finished "The Burial of Fernando de Soto in

the Mississippi," of which a fine print, executed in Paris by Lemoine,

has been published. The committing of the body of the grand old

enthusiast to the turbid current of the Father of Waters, of which he

was the discoverer, is a splendid subject, and is treated by Powell in a

manner full of deep poetic feeling.

Prof. HART, of Philadelphia, one of our most elegant belle-lettre

scholars, is preparing a volume of "The Female Prose Writers of

America." It is to form a royal octavo of five hundred pages, elegantly

printed, with numerous portraits, executed in London, in the best style

of line and stipple engraving. We are authorized to state that the

Editor will be happy to receive from authors and their friends materials

for the biographical and critical notices.

Mrs. HALE'S "Female Biography," from which we furnished some extracts in

our last Number, is nearly ready for publication. It will form a large

octavo of about eight hundred pages, containing numerous authentic

portraits.

Mr. G.P. Putnam announces as in preparation for speedy publication a

series of Manuals for popular reference, designed to compress into a

compact form a comprehensive and accurate view of the subjects of

general history, science, literature, biography, and the useful arts.

They are to be prepared by authors of undoubted qualifications, on the

basis of Maunder's and other recent compilations; and to be published in

a style uniform with the "World's Progress." The office of a compiler

and classifier in literature assumes a new importance, and has new

claims upon the gratitude of the student, in these days when the life of

a man is too short for him to make himself acquainted, from the original

sources, with any one branch of knowledge. The same publisher also

announces a "Life of Washington," by WASHINGTON IRVING; "The Monuments

of Central and Western America," by FRANCIS L. HAWKS, D.D.; a

"Commentary on Ecclesiastes," by MOSES STUART; and new works by Dr.

MAYO, Author of "Kaloolah," by J. FENNIMORE COOPER, Hon. E.G. SQUIER,

and the Author of "Rural Hours."

The Opera has not had the success of last season, in spite of the

addition of Signorina PARODI to the company of last year. Parodi is

admitted to have a remarkably fine voice, and to be not without dramatic

talent, although prone to exaggeration, but she is not generally thought

equal to the claims set up for her, and, what is of more importance, she

does not fill the house so well at two dollars and a half as was

expected. Toward the end of her first series of performances at New York

she drew quite large audiences, and made many admirers among persons of

acknowledged taste.

A project is on foot to build a very large Opera House near the site of

the old one. The proprietors are in Paris, we believe, and they hope to

join MARTI, the great Havana manager, with them. The undertaking is

based on the supposition that in this country it is better to appeal to

the many than the few. The basis is good, where the many have the taste

to which to appeal; but an opera audience must be a steady one, and it

remains to be seen whether a taste for the opera is yet sufficiently

diffused here to insure large audiences always, at remunerating prices.

The Havana company do not make their expenses on their summer visits,

even at Castle Garden, but in the summer all that they receive is gain.

Mr. PAINE'S "water-gas," after serving for months as the butt for

ridicule, appears about to take its place among the ascertained facts of

science. Whatever may be true respecting his theory that water is wholly

converted into hydrogen or oxygen, which we certainly believe to be

erroneous, there is little room to doubt that he possesses the means of

producing hydrogen from water, with great facility, and in any quantity;

and that the hydrogen acquires a high illuminating power by passing

through spirits of turpentine. If one-half that well-informed men

believe in respect to this discovery is true, it is the most important

one made in the department of physical science within the century.

Count DEMBINSKI, who bore so prominent a part in the Hungarian struggle,

and who is represented as a very accomplished engineer, is now engaged

as a dealer in cigars in New York. The condition of the political

refugees from Germany in other parts of the world is less desirable than

even this. In London many of them hawk Lucifer matches about the

streets. In Australia doctors and professors break stone on the

highways. Two barons and an artist, from Berlin, are thus employed; a

Hamburgh physician deals in milk; and the son of a Berlin manufacturer

is a cattle-driver.

Missionaries in Western Africa report the existence of a regularly

written language among a people there discovered. The alphabet is said

to be syllabic like the Ethiopic and Cherokee; each character, of which

there are about a hundred, representing a syllable. This fact, if

authenticated, taken in connection with the existence of a very highly

developed language in some of the rude African tribes, suggests many

interesting problems in ethnographical science.

GREAT BRITAIN.

The Earl of CARLISLE, formerly Lord Morpeth, delivered recently two

lectures before the Mechanics' Institute at Leeds. One of these, upon

the Poetry of Pope, was a pleasant criticism and eulogy upon the poet.

The second lecture was devoted to an account of his own travels in

America, some eight years since; being the first account he has publicly

given of his observations and impressions. In speaking of persons he

confined himself to those whose historical celebrity has made them in a

manner public property; and his observations upon individuals and

institutions were characterized throughout by a tone of moderation and

good-feeling. The phenomenon of a live lord lecturing before an

association of mechanics seems to have startled the good people of Leeds

no little; and to have caused an excitement that reminds one of an

American Jenny Lind ovation viewed through a telescope reversed. A due

sense was manifested of the noble lord's condescension in appearing in a

character so novel as that of a public lecturer, and afterward revising

the lectures for publication. Copies of the lectures are to be sent to

similar associations in the neighborhood that they may be read to the

members. The lectures, though very creditable to his lordship, would

certainly not have received such an enthusiastic reception had the

author been Mr. Brown or Smith.

WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR writes through the Examiner, to and at Lord

Brougham, respecting the claims upon the nation of literary men in

general, and of Southey in particular. He says that since Southey

commenced writing in behalf of the Church, more than twenty millions

have been paid to the English bishops, of which the Bishop of

London--(the Master C.J. London of the exquisite satire in the last

Number of the New Monthly, entitled "A Crisis in the Affairs of Mr. John

Bull," than which nothing keener has been written since the days of

Swift, and which is worthy of forming a supplementary chapter to the

"Tale of a Tub")--has received well-nigh a million; all of whom have not

done for the Church a tithe of what Southey accomplished. He thinks that

if money enough to reward amply a half-score of the men whose genius has

adorned and exalted their age, can be expended in building stables for a

prince hardly tall enough to mount a donkey, the nation would not be

ruined by appropriating five hundred a year to six, and three hundred a

year to as many more of the chief living geniuses.

Sir CHARLES NAPIER--(there are three Napiers, all equally ready with the

sword and pen, and with the Bishop of Exeter probably the four most

impracticable and crotchety men now alive: William, major-general,

author of the "Peninsular War," "Conquest of Scinde," and other works;

Charles J., major-general, commander-in-chief in India, author of the

oddest dispatches and general-orders on record; and Charles,

rear-admiral, and author of the pamphlet of which we are about to

speak)--has issued a publication in which all the horrors which Sir

Francis Head foresees in a French invasion and conquest of England are

abundantly magnified. The admiral proves, to his own satisfaction at

least, that England is at any moment liable to fall a prey to French,

Russian, or American rapacity.

A life of EDWARD WILLIAMS, a Welsh poet of the last century, has just

been published in London, which is said to contain a good deal of

pleasant literary gossip. We find mentioned in it a rencontre with the

great Dr. Johnson, which is characteristic, and interesting enough to be

repeated. Mr. Williams seems to have been fond of lounging in book

stores, and on one such occasion was thus occupying a leisure hour, and

quiet corner, in this banqueting-room, "when a large, ungraceful man

entered the shop, and seating himself abruptly by the counter, began to

inspect some books and pamphlets lying there. This austere-looking

personage held the books almost close to his face, as he turned over the

leaves rapidly, and the Bard thought petulantly; then replaced them on

the counter, and finally gave the whole a stern kind of shove out of the

way, muttering as he rose, 'The trash of the day, I see!' then, without

word or sign of recognition to the bookseller, rolled himself out of the

shop. When he was gone, the Bard inquired of his friend who that bluff

gentleman might be. The reply was, '_That bluff gentleman_ is the

celebrated Dr. Johnson.'" This excited the desire of Mr. Williams to see

him again, and he accordingly took another opportunity to meet him; and

in order to have an excuse for speaking to him, presented three Grammars

to him, and "solicited the favor of Dr. Johnson's advice which of them

to choose, observing that the judgment of such a masterly writer must be

the most valuable he could possibly obtain. Johnson either disregarded

this really graceful compliment to him as a model author, or he was in

an ungracious temper--no uncommon condition with him--for taking the

volumes into his hands, he cast an equivocal look, between a glance and

a scowl, at the humble stranger before him, hastily turned over the

several title-pages, then surveyed him from head to foot, with an

expression rather contemptuous than inquisitive; and, thrusting back the

Grammars in his huge fist, rather _at_ the inquirer than toward him,

delivered this oracular reply '_Either of them_ will do for _you_, young

man.'"

The portrait of Sir ROBERT PEEL, painted by Lawrence some years ago, is

said to be the only one by which the statesman wished his person to be

handed down to posterity. The judgment of a person of his exquisite

taste, as well as the reputation of the painter, stamps this as the only

truly historical portrait. An engraving from this picture, which is

pronounced to do full justice to the painter, has been executed, and can

not fail of a wide circulation. Copies will soon, without doubt, be

brought to this country.

The question of copyright in England, to authors not subjects, is not

yet decided. Mr. Ollendorf, author of the "New Method" of learning

languages, who though not a British subject, resides a part of the time

in England, authorized a publishing house to issue an edition of one of

his works. Another publisher imported an edition of this work, published

at Frankfort, without the author's consent, and sold it at half the

price of the former. Mr. Ollendorf and his publishers applied for an

injunction to restrain the sale of the pirated edition, and to compel an

account of the money already received. This was granted provisionally,

the court deciding that the decision which has been supposed to deny the

privilege of copyright to foreigners, did not apply to cases where the

author was a resident in England, and had assigned his rights to British

subjects.

A copying telegraph has been invented by Mr. F.C. BAKEWELL. The message

to be transmitted is written with varnish upon a strip of tin-foil,

which is rolled around a cylinder which is made to revolve by clockwork.

A point of steel presses upon this cylinder, which is so arranged as to

form part of the electric circuit, which is of course interrupted when

the point is in contact with the non-conducting varnish-letters. Upon

the receiving cylinder at the other end of the line, is placed a slip of

paper, saturated with muriatic acid and prussiate of potash; upon this

paper a steel point presses, connected with the conducting wire, the

electric current passing along which changes the color of the paper to

blue; but when the current is broken by the varnish-letters at the other

end, the color is not affected. Both cylinders are then made to revolve

at precisely the same rate, in such a manner that the points of steel

describe a series of lines upon their surface. These lines become blue

on the paper, except at the point where the current is broken, so that

the letters appear white on a ground composed of blue lines. By varying

the relative size of the cylinders, the copy may be made either larger

or smaller than the original. By this telegraph, therefore,

communications in cipher may be dispatched. The chief difficulty thus

far experienced, is in producing a perfectly corresponding rate of

revolution of the two cylinders; but this is certainly not

insurmountable.

It has been determined to devote the money raised for a memorial to the

late Duke of Cambridge, to the foundation of a charitable institution.

Two plans have been proposed, between which the choice will probably be

made. One is to build a set of almshouses for the widows of

non-commissioned officers. The projector supposes that if the building

can be erected, the institution may be maintained by contributions from

the army. The other plan is to establish a sanitary institution, open to

the poor of every class. The merits of the "good duke," as far as they

have been made apparent, appear to be comprised in the fact of his

having been the least disreputable of all the sons of George III.; in

having eaten more charitable dinners than any man upon record; in having

spent the £17,000 a year, given him by the nation, to the last penny;

and having left behind him two children to be supported by public

bounty. Punch thinks that the £12,000 a year given to his son, the

present Duke of Cambridge, is quite sufficient to prevent the English

nation from forgetting the father.

There are in London 491 charitable institutions, exclusive of local and

parochial trusts, many of them having branches and auxiliaries. Of these

97 are medical and surgical charities; 103 institutions for the aged; 31

asylums for orphans and destitute children; 40 school, book, and

visitation societies; 35 Bible and missionary societies. These

associations disburse annually about £1,765,000, of which £1,000,000 is

raised by voluntary contributions; and the remainder arises from funded

property and the sale of publications.

A society has recently been formed at Windsor, under the patronage of

the Queen, Prince Albert, and the Duchess of Kent, for improving the

condition of the laborers in several adjacent parishes. At a recent

meeting 21 persons were selected, on account of superior neatness,

industry, and general good character, who received a reward of from 15

to 30 shillings, together with a framed certificate signed by Prince

Albert.

Great attention on the part of philanthropists continues to be paid, in

several of the large cities of England, to the subject of Ragged

Schools, though the most formidable obstacles are encountered to their

success. Mere teaching is found to be of little avail, unless means of

industry can also be provided. A curious anecdote, illustrating this

point, is told of one of these schools in London. A clergyman went to

the school on Sunday evening to address the larger class of boys. There

was a good attendance; and he addressed the children on the sanctities

of the Sabbath and the penalties of a life of crime. He thought he had

made a powerful impression on his hearers; and was about to conclude

with a suitable peroration, when as the minute finger of the clock

touched the five minutes to eight mark on the dial, the whole audience

rose, and without a word left the room. The teachers followed in

surprise; and overtaking one of the urchins in the street, asked where

he was going. "To work," was the brief reply. "To work! Why, don't you

know this is Sunday?" asked the religious instructor. "Of course," said

the lad, "and ain't the folks just a goin' to come out of chapel?" The

clergyman was enlightened: after his persuasive discourse, as he

thought, the audience had risen to pick pockets! Incidents like this

have led nearly all the schools to combine labor with their instruction.

The projected "excursion trips" to the Great Exhibition, which have been

started by some enterprising Americans, have attracted the attention of

intelligent persons in England, who predict that this will be found to

be the commencement of a very important movement for cheapening

intercommunication between the two countries. Hitherto the improvements

in ocean navigation, have only been attained by keeping the rates of

passage at a high mark: but with the experience of railways as a

starting point, it can not be doubted that a voyage to Europe will soon

be brought within the means of all.

Mr. Stephenson, the engineer of the Britannia Bridge, has gone to Egypt

to examine the route proposed for a ship canal between the Mediterranean

and Red Seas. The survey is undertaken jointly by England, France, and

Austria, each sending an engineer for the purpose. When the route is

fixed upon, it is hoped that funds for the work will be furnished by the

three powers; if not, the Pacha will concede the privilege of

constructing it to a joint stock company.

The whole of the household goods left by Daniel O'Connell, at Derrynane

Abbey, have been sold by sheriff's sale at public auction. A short time

since they would have produced an immense sum as relics of the

Liberator; they now brought no more than £364 3_s._ 6_d._

FRANCE.

Some months since a committee at the head of which was LEVERRIER, the

astronomer, reported to the French Chambers in favor of a telegraphic

apparatus submitted by Mr. Bain. Messages were transmitted between Paris

and Lille, at the rate of 1500 letters per minute. In accordance with

the report an apparatus was placed upon the line between Paris and

Calais. The dispatch of the Paris correspondent of the _Times_ of Dec.

5, was transmitted by this apparatus at the rate of 1200 letters a

minute, in a character perfectly legible. On the first of March the

French telegraphs are to be opened to the public. By the proposed tariff

a message of 300 words from Paris to Calais, 235 miles, will cost about

nine dollars.

GUIZOT, has prefixed to the republications of his treatises on Monk and

Washington two characteristic prefaces, in which the opinion is more

than hinted that what France wants at present is Monk, the restorer of

Monarchy, rather than Washington, the founder of a Republic.

A LIFE OF TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE, by M. St. Remy, a native of Hayti, has

been published at Paris, of which _La Semaine_ says: "Toussaint

Louverture, the heroic personification of the black race, was one of the

most extraordinary men of modern times. A son of a race hitherto

oppressed, filled with a noble emulation, and desirous of sculpturing

the figure of some of those great men who have fixed the destiny of

their country, has commenced the pious task with the history of this old

slave, whose genius raised him to the rank of general of the French army

in St. Domingo. The sophisms of the partisans of negro slavery have too

long held up to ridicule the efforts made by a people of African origin

to take rank among civilized nations; and it belonged to a man of color

to prove by an illustrious example that the Deity wished but to vary his

works, not to establish a hierarchy of subjection, by giving to the skin

a color black or white. The great crime of Toussaint was that of having

bravely resisted Leclerc, who came to reduce again to slavery a country

which had been made free. On the 8th of October, 1801, Bonaparte said,

in a proclamation addressed to the inhabitants of St. Domingo: 'The

Government has sent to you General Leclerc. He brings with him a large

force to protect you against your enemies, and the enemies of the

Republic. If you are told, these forces are destined to deprive you of

your liberties, do you reply, The Republic will not suffer them to be

taken from us.' On the 2d of May, 1802, slavery was re-established by a

decree under the same signature. When he was embarking aboard the vessel

which was to convey him to Europe, Toussaint uttered these words: 'In

overthrowing me, they have only overthrown the trunk of the tree of the

liberty of the blacks. It will spring up again, for the roots are many

and deep.' He was a true prophet; for of 50,000 soldiers successively

embarked for St. Domingo, not a fourth part ever returned to France. The

old troops of Moreau, who had covered themselves with glory upon the

banks of the Rhine, were decimated in that fratricidal contest, in which

both parties fought, singing the Marseillaise Hymn. But, says M. St.

Remy, 'while the mulattoes and the blacks mingled together, fought for

their freedom, the First of the Blacks died of inanition on the 27th of

April, 1803. The rats, it was said, had gnawed his feet.' From the

commencement of his captivity, Toussaint had repeatedly written to the

First Consul that he might be brought to trial; but his letters, replete

with touching simplicity, remained unanswered. The man who had once held

in his hand the destinies of the American Archipelago, was but an old

Negro, torn from his wife and children, buried alive, and condemned, by

an implacable policy, to death. And so died Toussaint Louverture, who,

born a slave, was in turn a brave soldier, a victorious commander, an

intelligent administrator, and an enlightened legislator. The

Constitution which he gave to Hayti, before the arrival of Leclerc,

shows him to have been fully aware of the wants of his country. He

proclaimed civil and political equality, and encouraged agriculture and

commerce, by abolishing monopolies; and in view of what is now taking

place in Hayti, we may be astonished that this old slave was more

enlightened than those who have succeeded him in the government. We have

not pretended to give an analysis of the work, but the facts we have

recounted may serve to give an idea of the interest which attaches to

this new publication of M. St. Remy, who has been heretofore known by

his History of Hayti."

A TREATISE ON THE THEORY OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, by M. Berryat St. Prix,

is spoken of as a work of great interest and ability. It is preceded by

a General Introduction, setting forth the fundamental principles of

Constitutional Law, and the characteristics which distinguish it from

Administrative Law. The author then proceeds to treat in detail of the

difficult question of sovereignty, traces the history of the numerous

changes in the political relations of France, and analyzes the ten or a

dozen different Constitutions which have succeeded each other. A

parallel is drawn between the new Constitution and its immediate

predecessor, and that of the United States. The questions of the natural

right to property, and of the right to labor are also discussed.

Some curious facts have been stated illustrating the effect of the

French Revolution of February upon the circulation of newspapers. It

stimulated their publication and sale to an almost incredible extent. It

is stated that one single printer, M. Boulé, actually sold for months

together between 200,000 and 300,000 copies _daily_, of four or five

different journals of which he was the printer. He had eleven presses at

work day and night, and in the course of a short time not only managed

to pay off several thousand pounds of debt, but even to make a very

considerable fortune. The journals he printed were chiefly what is

called Red or Ultra-Democratic; and such was the _fureur_ of the public

for them, that the hawkers used to demand "papers" without caring what

they were. All the newspapers were paid for in pence, and it was

literally _sou_ by _sou_ that Boulé enriched himself.

The four principal cemeteries of Paris contain in all 23,340 permanent

tombs. Of these Père-Lachaise has 15,750, Montmartre 4260, and Mont

Parnasse 3330. The total number of interments in all these cemeteries

since they were opened in 1804, is 1,380,000; so that these four

cemeteries contain 300,000 more inhabitants than the living city from

which their population is drawn.

GERMANY, ETC.

CARL FERDINAND BECKER, the celebrated writer on the Philosophy of

Grammar, whose death we noticed in a recent Number of the New Monthly,

presents a somewhat singular instance of eminence being attained in a

pursuit not commenced till late in life. He was born in 1775, and

studied at the seminary for priests at Hildesheim, where he received an

appointment, which he subsequently resigned rather than embrace an

ecclesiastical life. He then studied medicine, and published several

medical treatises. We afterward find him sub-director of the gunpowder

and saltpetre manufactory at Göttingen, into the mechanical processes of

which he introduced many improvements. In 1813, he was appointed

physician to the General Army Hospital, at Frankfort; this being

subsequently discontinued, he settled as a private physician at

Offenbach. Here his long-suppressed fondness for philological pursuits

was renewed; but he had reached his fiftieth year before he published

his first grammatical work. The older German grammarians founded their

systems upon the bare forms of the parts of speech, while Becker assumed

the signification of them, in as far as they are components of a

sentence, and serve as the expression of thought, as the foundation of

his system. He looked upon language as the organic expression of

thought, and all special forms of speech, as the expression of

particular relations of thoughts and ideas. By this mode of treatment he

avoided much of the dryness and insipidity belonging to mere grammatical

speculations, and brought to view the more genial elements of the

philosophy of language. His mode of treating his materials was

philosophical rather than historical--in which he offers a striking

contrast to Jacob Grimm, whose works show an equally familiar

acquaintance with the history and the philosophy of language.

BRUNO BAUER, the Coryphæus of German Rationalism (unless Strauss may be

thought to be a rival for that questionable eminence) whose last work is

devoted to the somewhat useless task of proving, with a superabundance

of logic and contemptuous irony, that the late Frankfort Parliament

effected nothing, and knew nothing, has run through a singular career.

He was born in 1809, and in his twentieth year commenced the study of

theology at Berlin. Five years later he became private teacher in the

University, at which time he belonged to Hegelian school of orthodoxy.

The germ of his subsequent views, however, may be found in his "Kritik

of the Old Testament Writings," in which he represents "the myths of

Judaism in their successive transformations, as a development of the

national sentiment of the Jews." He first fairly broke ground with

orthodoxy in 1839, when he began to apply his principles of criticism to

the New Testament narratives. He commenced with the Gospel of John,

which he regarded as a work of the imagination, with but here and there

a historical trace--a work merely "founded upon facts." He had,

meanwhile, been transferred to the University of Bonn, where he

proceeded with his three volumes of criticisms upon the other

Evangelists, at the conclusion of which he found he had reached a point

which he could hardly have anticipated at the outset. In the first

volume he had begged that the judgment of his readers might be

suspended, "for however bold and far-reaching the negations of this

volume might appear, it would be manifest that the most searching

criticism would most fully set forth the creative power of Jesus and of

his principles;" and even in the second volume he seems to allow to the

main facts set forth in the life of Jesus a historical verity; but at

the conclusion of the work he makes it doubtful whether such a person as

Jesus ever existed. Bauer now occupied the anomalous position of a

theological teacher who represented the Gospels to be mere works of the

imagination, possessing no higher historical value than Xenophon's

Cyropædia, or Fénélon's Telemachus, characterized Matthew and Luke as

stupid copyists of Mark, denounced theologians as hypocrites, and the

science of theology as the dark stain upon modern history. It is no

wonder that the Prussian Minister of Worship felt himself impelled to

inquire of the Theological Faculty, what was the position of Bauer in

relation to Christianity, and whether he should be allowed to exercise

his functions. The Faculty were embarrassed: on the one hand, they

feared that freedom of inquiry would be trenched upon were he silenced;

and, on the other, that the cause of religion would be injured were he

allowed to teach. Finally, a middle course was adopted, and he was

allowed to teach in the philosophical faculty; and his former friend and

admirer, Marheineke proposed that he should be appointed to a

professorship, on the ground that he might thus "get his bread, and not

be compelled by necessity to write." The next year (1842) the permission

to teach in the University was withdrawn, and now commenced a warfare of

journals, pamphlets, and books, in which Bauer's colossal irony and

cold, trenchant logic shone conspicuous. He proved to his old Hegelian

friends, that the true Atheist was their master himself, and strove to

force from them the confession that they had either been deceived

themselves, or had been willfully deceiving others. In 1843, Bauer

closed his career as a writer upon theology by a work entitled

"Christianity Revealed," in which he recapitulates all the views he had

put forth. This was confiscated by the government of Zurich, where it

was published, and his publisher, Fröbel, punished by imprisonment. He

now turned his attention to criticism of social and civil affairs,

through which we have not space to follow him. He opened a bookstore, in

conjunction with his brother Edgar, a congenial, and still more violent

spirit, who was subsequently sentenced to a four years' imprisonment,

for some publication displeasing to government. Here the brothers

published their own works, and became involved in a dispute with the

Prussian censorship, and the elder was obliged to modify many passages

in a book already printed, before he was allowed to publish it. He

commenced an extensive history of the French Revolution, but we can not

learn that he brought it further than to the close of the last century.

He established a periodical which continued but a year, in which he

entered into contest with the "masses, in that sense of the word which

includes also the so-called educated classes--the masses, who will not

take the trouble to find out the truth by its proofs"--a body including,

apparently, in his opinion, every one except himself. The political

convulsions of the last two years, have brought out the veteran

Ishmaelite in two characteristic works. The first of these, _The

Revolution of the Burgesses in Germany_, is devoted to a bitter and

unsparing denunciation of every sect and party, as pusillanimous, and

insignificant; and the second, recently published, is a cool and

contemptuous dissection of the dead carcass of the late Frankfort

Parliament.

The printing and bookselling house of Brockhaus at Leipzig, is one of

the most complete and extensive in the world. It was founded by

Friedrich Aug. Brockhaus, the father of the present proprietors. He was

born in 1772, and was educated for the mercantile profession. He

established himself at first in his native town of Dortmund, from whence

in 1802 he emigrated to Holland. Here he was altogether unsuccessful,

gave up his business, and set up a bookstore in Amsterdam. This was in

1805, when the state of things in Holland was extremely unpropitious for

every undertaking of a literary nature. The kingdom was united to the

Republic of France, and the French officials, on some pretext or other,

confiscated a great part of Brockhaus's stock. Advanced into middle

life, and three times unfortunate in business, the stout struggler

determined upon one more throw for fortune, and won. Having, while in

Holland, obtained the copyright of Lobel's Conversations-Lexicon, he

settled at Altona, and devoted himself to the preparation and

publication of this work with a zeal and energy that commanded success.

He soon felt that Leipzig was the only sphere commensurate with his

talents, and removed to the intellectual centre of Germany in 1817.

There he established several periodicals, which gained for him both

reputation and profit. Among these were the _Zeitgenossen_, the

_Literarische Conversationsblatt_, which is still published under the

name of _Blätter für Literarischen Unterhaltungen_, and the _Urania_,

for a long time the repository of the choicest gems of German poetry. He

also undertook the publication of Ersch's _Handbuch der Deutschen

Literatur_ and Ebert's _Bibliographischen Lexicon_. His greatest

enterprise, however, was the publication of the celebrated

_Conversations-Lexicon_, of which he was himself the principal editor,

and to which more than two hundred of the most eminent literary and

scientific men of the time were contributors. He died in 1823, leaving

his business to his two elder sons, by whom it has been greatly

extended. The oldest of these, Friedrich, born in 1800, after having

made himself practically acquainted with the art of printing, traveled

abroad for the purpose of learning all improvements in the art, and upon

the death of his father assumed the direction of the mechanical portion

of the establishment. The second brother, Heinrich, born in 1804, took

charge of the literary and commercial department. They carried on the

publication of the great work of their father, of which the ninth

edition, into which are incorporated two supplements, which they had

previously published under the title of the _Conversations-Lexicon of

the Present_, and the _Conversations-Lexicon of the most recent Times

and Literature_, has just been issued. The establishment of Brockhaus at

Leipzig is a fine quadrangular pile of buildings, with an open square in

the centre, in which is carried on every operation connected with

publication, from casting the type to issuing the completed work.

The Leipzig Book-Fair is the index by which the literary activity of

Germany is measured. It is the custom in Germany for every German

publisher to have his agent in Leipzig for the sale and distribution of

his works. The Easter Fair is the principal one for the sale of new

books. The catalogue for the present Michaelmas Fair contains the names

of 5033 new works published in Germany since the Easter Fair, at which

the number was 1200 or 1300 less. The present catalogue forms a volume

of 384 pages, and contains more works than that of any fair since the

revolution of 1848. The number of new books published in Germany

averages 175 weekly, or 9100 a year. Taking the literary life of a

student at 30 years, he must read nearly 300,000 volumes, in order to

keep up with the current literature of Germany alone.

The Royal Foundry at Berlin, which has for a long time been occupied by

artists for studios and workrooms, has during the late warlike

demonstrations in Germany been devoted to its original purpose, the

fabrication of the "ultima ratio regum." Among the works of art which

are nearly completed is a colossal monument to Frederick the Great. The

sculptor Rauch has been commissioned to execute a _bas-relief_ for the

pedestal, representing the well-known incident when the prince, a lad of

some seven years, was playing at ball in the room where Frederick was

writing. The king forbade the sport, and took away the ball. The prince

asked that it might be given back to him, and getting no answer placed

himself sturdily before the king, with the words: "The ball is mine, and

I wish to know if your Majesty means to give it up peaceably?"

Frederick restored the ball, saying, with a laugh, "This lad here would

certainly not have suffered Silesia to be taken."

A biographical sketch of the life of Alexander von Humboldt, by Prof.

Klincke, of Brunswick, which has just appeared, possesses peculiar

interest to scholars from the minuteness with which Humboldt's course of

study is detailed; and for the idea which it affords of the multifarious

and vast attainments of this greatest of living scholars.

A publication, resembling in appearance and design "the Gallery of

Illustrious Americans," has been commenced at Leipzig. The first number

contains portraits from Daguerreotypes, with accompanying biographical

notices, of the King of Prussia, Alexander von Humboldt, and the painter

Cornelius.

The third volume of Humboldt's Cosmos has been announced by Cotta, of

Stuttgart and Tübingen. It will appear almost simultaneously in a

translation both in England and America. The same publisher has issued a

charming volume of tales by Gottfried and Johanna Kinkel. It is rare

that a true poet, like Kinkel, is blessed with a wife equal to him in

poetic gifts; and the two, perhaps, have never before united in the

production of a work which leaves the impression that in the authors one

and the same soul is pitched upon the masculine and the feminine key.

The volume contains a series of tales and sketches in which happy

invention is combined with great powers of construction; deep feeling

with broad and genial humor, developed now in the masculine and now in

the feminine aspects. Running like an undertone through the feelings of

gladness excited by these tales, is a melancholy remembrance of the

gloomy fate which in these ominous times has befallen two beings who but

a short time ago were contending in such pleasant rivalry in the

exercise of the imaginative power.

To the voluminous correspondence of Goethe already published, another

series has been added, in the letters between him and Reinhard, a German

diplomatist in the French service, possessed of many high and excellent

qualities. These letters add another to the many illustrations of the

rare completeness and universal accomplishments of Goethe.

The Austrian military commander at Buda Pesth, in Hungary, has forbidden

the transmission of all pecuniary or other contributions to be sent to

the London Exhibition; and threatens the execution of martial law

against all who infringe the decree.

A tunnel under the Neva, at St. Petersburg, similar to that under the

Thames, has been projected by the Emperor Nicholas, who has directed

plans for the work to be prepared by M. Falconnet, a distinguished

French engineer. The bridges of boats which connect the portions of the

city lying on the two banks of the Neva, are all withdrawn in

anticipation of the freezing over of the stream, after which the only

practicable communication is by the ice. Before the ice has become firm,

and while it is breaking up, the communication is difficult and

hazardous. If the tunnel be practicable, it will therefore be a work of

the highest utility.

The Russian government has prohibited the publication of translations of

the modern French novels, in consequence of which the attention of the

caterers for public taste, has been turned to the less exciting

comestibles of the English novels. We see announced three separate

translations into Russian, of Thackeray's Vanity Fair; Jane Eyre, The

Caxtons, Maryatt's Valérie, Dombey and Son, are also translated.

SPINDLER, whose "Jew" has been pronounced the best historical romance of

Germany, has published a humorous novel, under the title of "Putsch and

Company," which is highly praised.

The Neapolitan government has prohibited the circulation of Humboldt's

Cosmos, Shakspeare, Goldsmith, Heeren's Historical Treatises, Ovid,

Lucian, Lucretius, Sophocles, Suetonius, Paul de Kock, Victor Hugo, E.

Girardin, G. Sand, Lamartine, Valéry's L'Italie, Goethe, Schiller,

Thiers, A. Dumas, Molière, all the German philosophers, and Henry

Stephens's Greek Dictionary. We happened not long since to have occasion

to examine the Prohibitory Index of Gregory XVI., issued in 1819; the

names of the books prohibited in which reminded one of lists taken from

the muster-rolls of Michael and Satan, only there were more from the

former. Among the forbidden books were Grotius on the Law of War and

Peace, Bacon's Advancement of Learning, Milton's Areopagitica, and

Paradise Lost, unless corrected. The Paradise Lost or Lycidas, after

having undergone the requisite inquisitorial corrections, would be a

rare curiosity of literature. If Italy does not degenerate into

barbarism, it will not be for the want of the most strenuous endeavors

of her rulers.

One of the most beautiful alabaster vases in the Vatican, possessing a

historical interest, as being the one in which were deposited the ashes

of the sons of Germanicus, or as some say, those of Augustus himself,

has been recently destroyed by an accident. It stood upon a pedestal

near a window which was burst open by a violent wind. The heavy curtains

of the window were blown against the vase, dashing it to the floor, and

shattering it into so many fragments that restoration is pronounced

impossible.

OERSTED, the celebrated chemist, the discoverer of Electro-magnetism,

has just completed the fiftieth year of his professorship in the Royal

University of Copenhagen. On this anniversary the King of Denmark

presented him with the grand cross of the order of Dannebrog. The

University presented him with a new insignia of his Doctor's degree,

including a gold ring, bearing the head of Minerva in cameo. And the

citizens made him a present of the use for life of a beautiful villa in

the outskirts of Copenhagen, which was still more acceptable and

valuable from having been the former residence of the poet

Oehlenschlager. Oersted is nearly in his eightieth year; but his

recently-published work, "The Spirit in Nature," evinces that he retains

the full possession of his mental powers.

The "passion-plays" or "mysteries," which were such favorites during the

middle ages, have their sole remaining representative in the village of

Ammergau, in Upper Bavaria, where they are celebrated, every ten years,

with great pomp and solemnity. In the year 1633, a fearful pestilence

fell upon that district, and the inhabitants made a solemn vow, that if

it were removed, they would every ten years set forth a solemn

representation of the "Passion and death of the Saviour." The pestilence

ceased, and from that time the vow has been most religiously observed

among that secluded and enthusiastic people. The representation consists

of a series of tableaux representing the principal incidents in the

closing scenes of the life of the Saviour, which are given in a sort of

amphitheatre, of which the stage is roofed over, the audience being

exposed to those sudden storms common in all mountainous regions. The

representation lasts some eight hours, and is witnessed by many

thousands of spectators. The German and French papers contain long

accounts of that which took place a few months since; and speak in high

terms of the artistic character, and solemn and devotional effect of the

whole performance.

A life of UGO FOSCOLO, an Italian refugee in England, has appeared at

Florence. He is held up as a model and example to his countrymen.

Foscolo was undoubtedly a man of no inconsiderable genius and of great

acquirements; but to form an idea of his moral characteristics, we must

imagine a man with Hobbes's theory of the identity of right with might

and desire, without Hobbes's blameless life; with Byron's laxity of

moral sentiment and conduct, without Byron's generosity; with Sheridan's

reckless carelessness in respect to pecuniary affairs, without

Sheridan's cheerful and kindly disposition; with Coleridge's want of

mastery over his intellectual nature, without Coleridge's high purposes

and keen sense of duty; with Johnson's rude and intolerable humor,

without Johnson's royal humanity. Too proud, while in England, to repeat

his lectures on Italian literature, because he thought his audience came

only to gaze at him, he was not too proud to receive pecuniary aid from

those to whom he was already deeply indebted; or to squander in luxury

and debauchery the little fortune of his own illegitimate daughter, left

her by her maternal relations: a daughter whom he abandoned until this

fortune was bequeathed her. If Italy has only such saviours to look to,

she will gain little by throwing off her present masters.

The Vicomte D'Arlincourt publishes, under the title of "_L'Italie

Rougé_," a history of the revolutions in Rome, Naples, Palermo,

Florence, Parma, Modena, Tuscany, Piedmont, and Lombardy, from the

election of Pius IX., in June, 1846, to his return to Rome in April,

1850. The author visited Italy to gather materials, and his work, which

is drawn from authentic sources, brings to light many new facts, and

striking traits in the characters of the principal actors in the affairs

of Italy.

A statue in honor of the celebrated astronomer Olbers has been erected

in a public square at Bremen. He was by profession a physician, and

enjoyed a very extensive practice. His fame as an astronomer rests upon

his discovery of some of the asteroids; the suggestion and confirmation

of the theory that they are fragments of a shattered planet; and

especially upon his method of calculating the orbits of comets, from the

few observations of which they are susceptible. In 1830 was celebrated

the "jubilee" of his having reached the fiftieth year of his doctorate,

upon which occasion he was honored by all those tokens of respect which

the Germans are so fond of lavishing on such occasions. He died March 2,

1840, at the age of 82.

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE is mainly known to the world, in general through

the medium of German translators and critics. The names of

OEHLENSCHLAGER and ANDERSEN are sufficient evidence that it is not

unworthy of cultivation. We find in the _Grenzboten_ a notice of a new

Danish Romance which though reminding one strongly of Fouque's Undine,

has in its treatment something of the grim mirth, and gigantic humor of

the old Vikings. The tale is entitled the Mermaid, and is founded upon

the fancy of Paracelsus, that the mermaids though created without a soul

may acquire one by a union with a human being. This idea is developed

with more drollery than delicacy in the tale in question. The mermaids

instead of, as in the orthodox conception, terminating in a fish's tail,

waddle about upon flat, clumsy feet, covered with scales. When a person

is drowned, he is laid upon a table, in a condition bearing all the

marks of death, except that he retains a perfect consciousness. If,

however, a mermaid becomes enamored of him, he comes to life as a

merman, and swims about in company with dolphins and such like

sea-monsters; and if he desires to ascend to upper air, he can do so, by

taking the body of some other drowned person. The hero of the romance is

introduced as lying drowned upon the table, in company with two other

corpses, that of a faithless woman and her betrothed. The jealousy of

the dead man, and his doubts whether the other two corpses do not excite

similar feelings, are set forth with broad humor. He however gains the

affection of the queen of the sea, and so becomes a merman, while the

other two bodies are left lying on the table, until two other mermen

assume them for the purpose of paying a visit to _terra-firma_. The hero

at last wishes to revisit upper air, and the body which he assumes

happens to be that of a famous _bon-vivant_, by which he is brought into

a number of embarrassing situations; he becomes betrothed to one who

loves not his _new_ but his _old_ self, and thus is enamored of his one

"_him_" while she despises his other. He meets the two persons who had

been lying with him upon the table; yet it is not they, but the two

mermen, who have taken possession of their bodies. This continual

interpenetration of different souls and bodies, by which the personages

are always forgetting their identity, has a very comic effect, which,

however, is marred by the grave and sentimental tone which is given to

the whole narrative. At last the hero, who is a sad scoundrel, succeeds

in enticing his sea-queen ashore, where he exhibits her for money, as a

sea-monster.

OBITUARIES.

Among the recent deaths we notice the following: GUSTAV SCHWAB, a German

poet of some note, belonging to the school of Uhland, aged fifty-eight.

On the morning of the day of his death, he was entertaining a party of

friends, by reading to them a translation he had just completed from the

poems of Lamartine.----Count BRANDENBURGH, the Prussian Minister. He was

an illegitimate son of the grandfather of the present King of Prussia,

born in 1792. He was educated for the army, and passed through various

stages of promotion, until 1848, when he was appointed general in

command of the 8th _corps d'armée_. The same year, when the cause of his

master seemed irretrievably lost in the revolutionary storm, he took the

helm of government, and under his guidance the storm was weathered. His

death was probably occasioned by chagrin at the result of the Warsaw

Conference, where Austria gained a complete triumph over Prussia.----M.

ALEXANDRE, a famous French chess-player, and author of two volumes upon

that game, at an advanced age.----M. SAUVE, for more than half a century

chief editor of the _Moniteur_. He assumed the charge of the French

official paper in 1795, and left it only when compelled by the

infirmities of age, after the Revolution of February. During this long

period he acted as sponsor to all the governments which arose one after

the other, with a dexterity and pliability which Talleyrand might have

envied.----General BONNEMAIN, ex-peer and Marshal of France, who had

served through all the campaigns of the Empire and the Republic.----Sir

LUMLEY ST. GEORGE SKEFFINGTON, author of a number of dramatic works of

considerable merit.----Mr. RAPHALL, one of the two Catholic members of

Parliament who voted against the Jewish claims. He was a man of great

wealth, and is said to have given within the last few years £100,000 for

the building purposes of the Church. He was of Armenian descent, a

singular instance of a person of Oriental extraction rising to eminence

in the Occident.----M. CHARLES MOTTELEY, one of the most enthusiastic

and successful book-collectors of France. His collection was especially

rich in Elzevir editions, and in rare and beautiful books. A very large

sum was offered for it by the British Museum, but he refused to suffer

it to leave France, and gave it to the French nation. The collection is

to be kept separate, and to bear an inscription commemorative of the

donor.----Lord NUGENT, Member of the House of Commons for Aylesbury. He

had occupied a number of political stations of importance, and was

throughout his life a firm advocate of liberal principles. The Greek

Revolution of 1823, found in him a warm supporter; and he did much to

ameliorate the condition of the refugees whom the issue of the war in

Hungary threw upon the shores of England. Lord Nugent was an author of

no mean reputation; his "Memorials of Hampden" is an exceedingly

well-written, and in the main accurate and impartial biography of the

Great Commoner, and elicited one of the most brilliant of Macauley's

early reviews. He was also the author of a book of Eastern travels,

entitled "Lands Sacred and Classical," and a number of political

pamphlets on the liberal side.----KARL AUG. ESPE, one of the most

laborious of the hard-working scholars of Germany. He was the editor of

Brockhaus's Conversations-Lexicon of the Present, and of the eighth and

ninth editions of the Conversations-Lexicon, as well as of works of

decided merit in various departments of science.----MARTIN D'AUCHE, the

last survivor of the French National Assembly of 1789. Though one of the

most insignificant of men, the part he acted in the "Oath of the

Tennis-court," one of the most famous scenes of the early part of French

Revolution, has given him a place in history. The government, alarmed at

the boldness of the deputies of the Third Estate in declaring themselves

the National Assembly, independent of the other Orders, and proposing to

effect radical and sweeping reforms in the state, excluded them from

their chamber. The deputies assembled in an empty Tennis-court, in great

excitement, where an oath was solemnly proposed that they would not

separate, but would meet, at all hazards, until they had formed the

Constitution. The oath was taken unanimously, with but one exception,

that of poor Martin d'Auche, then deputy from Castelnaudry. There was at

first some danger to his person, in the excitement of the moment; but it

was hinted that he was not altogether in his right mind, and he escaped,

being even suffered to inscribe some sort of a protest on the records.

In David's picture of the scene he is represented with folded arms, amid

the groups who are taking the oath by raising the right hand. This oath

of the Tennis-court, the first actual collision between Royalty and the

National Assembly, may be looked upon as the starting-point of the

Revolution.

Literary Notices.

_Memoirs of the Life and Times of General John Lamb_, by ISAAC Q. LEAKE

(published by J. Munsell, Albany), is an interesting narrative of the

political and military life of one of the revolutionary patriots of New

York, who died at the commencement of the present century. His active

services in the war of the Revolution, and his eminent position in the

subsequent party controversies, are described with impartiality and

force. His character is succinctly portrayed by his biographer in the

following passage: "Few men have acted more manfully the parts which

have been allotted to them. As a pioneer of the great events which

wrought out the Revolution, he was second to none in perseverance and

intrepidity. As a soldier in the field, he was never surpassed in valor

and constancy by any the most daring. As a citizen, neighbor, and

philanthropist, he was distinguished for his public spirit; respected

for his suavity; and admired for his benevolence."

_The Memoir and Writings of James Handasyd Perkins_, edited by WILLIAM

HENRY CHANNING, published in two volumes by Crosby and Nichols, Boston,

is an enthusiastic tribute to the memory of a remarkable man, who, by

the simplicity, earnestness, and benevolence of his character, the

originality and beauty of his intellect, and the devotion of his life to

practical philanthropy, had won an unusual share of admiration and

reverence. Mr. Perkins was born in Boston, where his father was a

merchant of distinguished eminence, but, on arriving at the age of early

manhood, he removed to the city of Cincinnati, and from that time became

a favorite with all classes, and soon bore a conspicuous part in the

social, religious, and literary relations of that metropolis. The sketch

of his juvenile life here presented by his biographer, with whom he was

intimately connected, both by the ties of blood, and by strong

intellectual affinities, abounds with pleasing reminiscences of a happy

childhood, and is highly characteristic of the peculiar influences of a

New-England home. His subsequent career at the West exhibits a noble

picture of manly endeavor, stern self-reliance, rare mental activity and

enterprise, and a generous devotion to the interests of the public. From

the specimens of his writings contained in these volumes, most of which

have been published in different periodicals, we are impressed with a

profound sense of the vigor and justness of his intellect, the wealth of

his imagination, the versatility of his tastes, and the extent and

accuracy of his attainments.

Crosby and Nichols have issued an edition of selections from the

_Letters of William Von Humboldt to a Female Friend_, under the title of

_Religious Thoughts and Opinions_. They are devoted to subjects of a

grave, reflective character, and present a highly favorable view of the

wisdom, earnestness, and moral elevation of the distinguished author.

_Protestantism and Catholicity compared in their Effects on the

Civilization of Europe_, by the Rev. J. BALMES, is republished from the

English translation, by John Murphy and Co., Baltimore, in a large

octavo volume. The work, which has signalized the name of its author as

one of the ablest modern defenders of the Catholic faith, was originally

written in Spanish, and was soon translated into the French, Italian,

and English languages. It is devoted to an illustration of the superior

influence of Catholicism in a social and political point of view,

maintaining the favorable effects of that religion on social

advancement, and subjecting the claims of Protestantism to a stringent

examination. As a powerful statement of the arguments in behalf of the

secular supremacy of Catholicism, it may be read with interest by those

who wish to study both sides of the controversy, which is now raging

with so much violence in England.

_University Education_, by HENRY P. TAPPAN, D.D. (published by G.P.

Putnam), is a discussion of the general theory and objects of the higher

education, of the history of literary institutions in modern times, and

of the present condition of the so-called American Universities. The

author arrives at the conclusion, that the attempt to adapt our colleges

to the temper of the multitude, to the supposed demands of the popular

mind, does not promise any valuable results, since the political

condition of the country is such that a high education, and a high order

of talent do not generally form the sure guarantees of success. The tact

of the demagogue triumphs over the accomplishments of the scholar and

the man of genius. The education given in our colleges does not promote

the acquisition of wealth and of political influence, and hence is not

valued by a commercial people, with free political institutions. Dr.

Tappan accordingly maintains that as our seats of learning do not answer

to the commercial and political spirit of the country, they should be

made to correspond to the philosophical or ideal--the architectonic

conception of education. This would adapt them to every want of the

human mind and of society, for if men are educated as men, they will be

prepared for all the responsibilities and duties of men. We should then

in due time have great examples of the true form of humanity, showing

the charms, and power, and dignity of learning. Education would appear

in its true light, as the highest aim of man, not a mere machine for the

facile performance of the business of the world, and a powerful check

would be given to the excessive commercial spirit, and the selfish

manoeuvres of demagogues which now prevail to such a disastrous extent.

Men of true cultivation would then have their legitimate influence in

all the relations of society, throwing a new aspect over the arts,

commerce, and politics, and producing a high-minded patriotism and

philanthropy. Great ideas of fundamental principles would be shown to be

more mighty and plastic than all the arts, tact, and accomplishments of

expediency. The host of penny-a-liners, stump orators, discoursers upon

socialism, bigots, and partisans would give way before sound writers,

true poets, lofty and truthful orators, and profound philosophers,

theologians, and statesmen. We should have a pure national literature,

and a proud national character. The multiplication of colleges after the

same imperfect model will only serve to increase our difficulties.

The time has arrived, then, in the opinion of the author, for

an experiment of a different kind. The educational system of

this country can be reformed only by the establishment of genuine

Universities--institutions, where in libraries, cabinets, apparatus, and

professors, provision is made for a complete and generous course of

study--where the mind may be cultivated according to its wants--and

where in the lofty enthusiasm of ripening scholarship, the bauble of an

academical diploma is forgotten. With such institutions, those who wish

to be scholars, would have some place to resort to, and those who have

already the gifts of scholarship would have some place where to exercise

them. The public would then begin to comprehend what scholarship means,

and discern the difference between sciolists and men of learning. We

should hear no more talk about discarding Greek and Latin, for there

would be classical scholars to show the value of the immortal languages

and the immortal writings of the most cultivated nations of antiquity.

There would be mathematicians prepared for astronomers and engineers.

There would be philosophers who could discourse without textbooks. No

acute distinctions would be drawn between scholastic and practical

education; it would be seen that all true education is practical, and

that practice without education is ignoble; and scholarship and the

scholar would be clothed with dignity, grace, and a resistless charm.

The work of founding Universities of this character, Dr. Tappan

maintains, has been delayed too long. They are natural and necessary

institutions in a great system of public education. To postpone their

creation is to stop the hand upon the dial-plate which represents the

progress of humanity. No part of our country, he supposes, presents

equal facilities for carrying out this magnificent plan as the city of

New York. The metropolitan city of America, the centre of commercial

activity, the vast reservoir of wealth, it takes the lead in the

elegancies and splendor of life in the arts of luxury and amusement. At

the same time, it is the great emporium of books and of the fine arts,

the resort of musical professors, artists, and men of letters. The high

degree to which it has carried commercial enterprise, the extent of

wealth and luxury in its society demand the vigorous life, and the

counterbalancing power of intellectual cultivation. It should add to the

natural attractions of a metropolitan city, the attractions of

literature, science, and the arts, as embodied in a great University,

which drawing together students from every part of the Union, would

strengthen the bonds of our nationality by the loftiest form of

education, the sympathy of scholars, and the noblest productions of

literature.

While we can not accord with Dr. Tappan's sanguine expectations of the

effect of such an institution as he has described either in checking the

prevalence of worldliness, selfish ambition, and insane devotion to gain

which mark the whole of modern society, European no less than American,

or in giving a wise and harmonious development to the energies of

youthful genius, we can not but admire the noble enthusiasm, the high

sense of the scholar's vocation, and the genuine intellectual ability

with which he has presented the subject to the attention of the public.

He has opened an important field of discussion; but it demands the best

thoughts of the most comprehensive and sagacious minds to do it justice.

We hope that his treatise will not be overlooked in the swarm of current

publications, and that the subject, which he has started, with so much

energy, will be pursued to its legitimate conclusion.

_The Bards of the Bible_, by GEORGE GILFILLAN, republished by Harper and

Brothers, exhibits the characteristics of fervor, liveliness of fancy,

and affluence of illustration, which distinguish the writings of the

author, with a greater coherence and depth of thought than we find in

his literary portraitures. In the first chapters of the volume, the

author discusses the general character of Hebrew Poetry, making free use

of the views of Herder, Eichhorn, and Ewald, though without servilely

following their steps, and then considers in detail the poetry of the

Pentateuch, of the Book of Job, of the Historical Books, of the Book of

Psalms, of Solomon, of the Prophetic Writings, and of the New Testament.

He approaches the sacred volume with freedom, and yet with reverence,

blending the spirit of searching criticism, with a warm enthusiasm for

its inspiration and character. Without attempting to cast doubt upon its

superhuman aspects, he dwells with affectionate ardor on its traits of

domestic tenderness, of natural beauty, and of poetical imagination,

connecting the sublime and awful conception of the Oriental bards with

whatever is richest and most impressive in the associations of modern

experience. The union of devotional sentiment and poetic fancy, which

forms such a prominent feature in this gorgeous volume, will recommend

it to the lovers of Holy Writ as well as to readers of cultivated taste.

No one will hesitate to forgive Mr. Gilfillan's exuberance of

imagination and his not unfrequent indulgence in verbosity, for the sake

of his earnestness of heart, and his glowing and often graceful

eloquence.

_Webster's Revised Dictionary. Octavo Edition._ (Harper and Brothers.)

It is now three years since the Revised Edition of Dr. Webster's

Dictionary came from the press. The public have, therefore, had full

time to decide upon its merits; and the decision has been, both in this

country and Great Britain, that it is far superior to any work of the

kind in our language; that it is, in the words of a distinguished

English scholar, "one of the necessaries of life to a literary man." The

_Octavo_ Edition, the one now before us, is designed to present, in a

convenient form and at a low price, the most important matter of the

larger work. It omits the more learned etymologies and extended

quotations from other works; but gives _every word_ and _every shade of

meaning_ with exactness, though often in a more condensed form. It is

thus much fuller, in proportion, than any other abridgment of a

dictionary.

There are two peculiarities of the Octavo Edition which belong neither

to the large work, nor to any other dictionary. The first is a Synopsis

of Words differently pronounced by different orthoepists. This presents

at a single view all the disputed cases of pronunciation in our

language; with the decision of distinguished orthoepists, in respect to

every word of doubtful pronunciation, the reader is referred to a list

where he may consult all the important authorities at a single glance.

The other peculiarity relates to _Synonyms_. Our language being derived

from so many different sources, is singularly rich in synonymous words.

It is therefore a matter of lively interest to every one who would write

well, to have some great repository of synonyms always at hand, to which

he may repair at any moment, when he wishes to convey his ideas with

peculiar exactness of meaning or variety of expression. A dictionary is

the natural and appropriate place for such a collection. Accordingly in

the Revised _Octavo_ Edition after the definitions of each important

word, we find a list of all the other words in our language which have

the same _general_ sense and application. The volume contains many

thousand lists of this kind which must obviously have cost great labor

in their compilation. The costly work of Perry is the only one which has

ever been executed on this plan, and as this contains only the words

given in Johnson, it is necessarily incomplete. We quote a single

instance which may stand for hundreds and which shows the remarkable

copiousness of our language.

"TO SUPPORT. _Syn._--To bear; hold up; sustain; maintain; endure;

verify; substantiate; countenance; patronize; help; back; second;

uphold; succor; relieve; encourage; favor; nurture; nourish; cherish;

shield; defend; protect; stay; assist; forward."

Besides the dictionary proper, the Octavo Edition contains Walker's Key

to the pronunciation of Classical and Scripture Names, with some

thousands of additional words from later writers; and a Vocabulary of

Modern Geographical Names, with their pronunciation, compiled by the

author of Baldwin's Universal Gazetteer, whose accuracy in this respect

is so generally acknowledged. It is a gratifying proof of the

advancement of the art of printing, in the United States, that a large

Royal Octavo volume like this, of more than _thirteen hundred_ pages,

can be afforded on excellent paper, with a clear type, and in stout

binding, for about three dollars. An abridgment of Dr. Webster's

Dictionary has recently been issued in London, in a miserable style of

execution, the definitions being not more than half as complete as those

of the volume before us, without the Synopsis and Synonyms or other

appendages of this work; and is sold at _four_ dollars a copy.

_Celebrated Saloons_ by _Madame Gay_ and _Parisian Letters_ by _Madame

Girardin_, translated from the French by L. WILLARD (Boston, Crosby and

Nichols) is an agreeable collection of gossip and anecdotes illustrative

of the manners of Parisian society. The translation is executed with

care, retaining to a considerable extent the graces of the original.

James Munroe and Co., Boston, have issued a volume of _Home Ballads, A

Book for New Englanders_, by ABBY ALLIN, exhibiting a more than ordinary

degree of poetic merit, pervaded with a pleasing vein of domestic

sentiment. Some of the peculiar features of New England character and

scenery are hit off with excellent success.

_History of My Pets_, by GRACE GREENWOOD (Boston, Ticknor and Co.) is a

spirited and beautiful little volume intended for juvenile

entertainment, but commending itself by the freshness of its style, and

the sweet pathos of the narrative to readers of every age.

_The Island World of the Pacific_, by Rev. HENRY T. CHEEVER, published

by Harper and Brothers, is a work that can not fail to command an

extensive circulation, with the present important relations between the

Sandwich Islands and the United States. It is designed to present a

correct picture of the best part of Polynesia, as it appeared to the

observer in the year 1850. The most popular works on the subject refer

to a much earlier date, while changes are effected with such rapidity in

that part of Polynesia which is the subject of this volume, that

revolutions may take place in the lapse of seven years. This book,

accordingly, meets a general want of the times, by giving a true and

life-like exhibition of the Island World of the Pacific at the close of

the first half of the nineteenth century. The author writes from

personal observation: his sketches are forcible and impressive; he has a

lively sense of the picturesque in nature, and sometimes indulges his

taste for the comic; though more frequently he fortifies his

descriptions with moral reflections and extracts from favorite poets,

until the reader is tempted to cry, "Hold! enough!" We know not,

however, where to look for information on the subject in a more readable

form, and have no doubt that this volume will be eagerly sought by the

traveler to the Pacific, as well as by the general reader.

_Memoirs of the Life and Ministry of the Rev. John Summerfield_, by JOHN

HOLLAND, has been published in an abridged form by the American Tract

Society, containing the original memoir, with the omission of certain

parts which seemed to be of less general interest, and the insertion of

several of the most characteristic letters of Summerfield. In its

present shape, it is a delightful tribute to the rare and beautiful

character of its greatly beloved subject.

The _Greek Exile_ (published by Lippincott, Grambo, and Co.) is an

autobiographical narrative of the captivity and escape of CHRISTOPHORUS

PILATO CASTANIS, during the massacre on the Island of Scio by the Turks,

with an account of various adventures in Greece and America. It relates

a variety of startling incidents, with which the life of the author has

been strangely diversified.

_The Prize Essay on the Use and Abuse of Alcoholic Liquors_, by WILLIAM

B. CARPENTER, has been reprinted from the London edition by Crosby and

Nichols, for the Massachusetts Temperance Society. It is accompanied

with explanatory notes by the American Editor, and an original preface

by John C. Warren, M.D., of Boston, who expresses the opinion that the

"work of Dr. Carpenter is the most valuable contribution to the aid of

temperance which it has received since the productions of L.M. Sargent,

Esq."

_The Mother's Recompense_, published by Harper and Brothers, is the

Sequel to the domestic story of _Home Influence_, by GRACE AGUILAR, the

entire work having been written nearly fifteen years ago, when its

author was little above the age of nineteen. Although the last illness

of Grace Aguilar prevented this story from receiving a careful revision

for the press, it will be found to do no discredit to her refined and

elevated genius, and to breathe the same pure, kindly, and feminine

spirit which distinguishes her former productions.

_The Diosma_, by Miss H.F. GOULD (Boston, Philips, Samson, and Co.), is

the title of a new volume, consisting in part of original poems, which

are now for the first time presented to the public, and in part, of

selections from the fugitive pieces of several popular English writers.

The contributions from the pen of the author fully sustain her

reputation for a lively fancy, and a certain graceful ease of

expression, while the gatherings she has made from other sources attest

the purity of her taste, and her magnetic affinities with the delicate

and the lovely.

G.P. Putnam has issued an elegant illustrated edition of _Poems_, by

S.G. GOODRICH, comprising a selection from the productions of the

author, which have made him favorably known to the public as an

agreeable versifier. They are characterized by a lively fancy, a ready

command of poetical language, and the elevation of their moral

sentiments. The embellishments of the volume are executed with great

artistic skill.

_Woodbury's New Method of learning the German Language_ (published by

Mark H. Newman), is an admirable manual for German students, combining

the excellencies of a simple text-book for beginners, and a copious and

authentic work of reference for more advanced pupils. In its method, it

is not surpassed by any Grammar now in use, blending the theoretical

with the practical, with excellent judgment, and passing from the

rudiments of the language to its more recondite principles, by a natural

gradation, eminently adapted to secure the progress of the learner. It

has already been extensively adopted by judicious teachers, and its

general introduction would tend to facilitate the acquisition of the

German language by American students.

_Poems of Sentiment and Imagination_, by FRANCES A. and METTA V. FULLER

(published by A.S. Barnes and Co.), is a collection of the poetical

contributions of those favorite Western writers to various popular

journals, with several pieces that have not before appeared in print.

Genial, fervent, and tender, colored with the picturesque hues of a pure

enthusiasm, and breathing a warm spirit of domestic affection, these

poems appeal to the noblest emotions of the heart, and command

admiration by awakening the sympathies. We welcome them as the first

fruits of a noble harvest at no distant day.

_The Lives of the Queens of Scotland_, by AGNES STRICKLAND, Vol. I.

(Harper and Brothers), contains the biographies of Margaret Tudor, the

consort of James IV. of Scotland, and of Magdalene of France, the first

consort of James V., prepared from the most authentic documents, and

written in a style of chaste and simple elegance, appropriate to the

subject. The two succeeding volumes of this series will be devoted to

the life of Mary Stuart, which was commenced before the publication of

the Life of Elizabeth Tudor, in the _Queens of England_. Each of the

Lives will form a distinct narrative in itself, presenting a graphic

picture of the progress of civilization and refinement, the development

of the arts, and the costume of the periods which they describe. The

work will embody many original royal letters, with a variety of facts,

anecdotes, and local traditions, gathered in the desolate palaces and

historic scenes, where every peasant preserves in his memory the

chronicles of the past. The author expresses the wish that her volume

will not be limited to one class of society, in spite of the subject of

which it treats, but that it may impart pleasure to the simple as well

as to the refined, and be read with equal zest by children and parents,

by the intelligent operative and the cultivated scholar. The manner in

which she has executed her task leaves no doubt of the fulfillment of

her hope.

The last number of THACKERAY'S _History of Pendennis_ is issued by

Harper and Brothers, an announcement far from welcome to the thousands

who have followed the career of the exemplary Pen and his associates

through the manifold windings of fashionable life in London. Their

history, however, is not of so ephemeral a character as the scenes in

which they acted. Thackeray has too great skill in quietly depicting the

foibles of humanity, for his descriptions to be soon forgotten. He deals

out such effective touches with such grave retenue of manner, that they

do not weary the reader by their repetition. Their fidelity to life is

attested by their at once suggesting so many resemblances. Arthur

Pendennis and the virtuous Major are not the exclusive products of

English soil. You may see them in Broadway at any hour of the day. With

his universality, growing from the fact that his likenesses are drawn

from nature, and not arbitrarily created, the pungent satires of

Thackeray will long retain their flavor. They administer a bracing

medicine to the effeminacy of the age, and must exert a wholesome

influence.

Harper and Brothers have issued the last number of SOUTHEY'S _Life and

Correspondence_, winding up the biography of this eminent man of

letters, with the graceful modesty which has been exercised throughout

the whole progress of the work by the affectionate and judicious Editor.

With the ample materials at his command, he might have produced a far

more ambitious and brilliant history, but we think he has shown his good

sense in reserving that task for writers who sustained a less intimate

and delicate relation to the subject. The personal biography of Southey

is contained, to a great extent, in his frank and voluminous

correspondence. No one can read this without delight, on account of the

transparent sincerity of the details, the high tone of feeling with

which it is pervaded, and the inimitable sweetness and almost antique

simplicity of the style. It gives a more distinct idea of the essential

peculiarities of Southey's character than can be obtained from any other

source. A critical survey of his writings, and his social and literary

position, would involve a complete history of contemporary literature,

and would furnish a text for one of the most delightful volumes which

have appeared for many years. Such an attractive subject will no doubt

appeal to the ambition of some writer qualified to do it justice, and

meantime, we are grateful for this tribute of filial veneration to the

honored patriarch of English Literature.

_The Decline of Popery and its Causes_ (published by Harper and

Brothers), is the title of a Discourse delivered in the Broadway

Tabernacle by Rev. N. MURRAY, D.D., in which the history of the Roman

Catholic religion is briefly portrayed, and several arguments adduced to

show its probable decadence among enlightened nations. Among the causes

of the decline of Catholicism presented by Dr. Murray, are the

circulation of the Bible, the increasing intelligence of the race, the

frivolous legends of the priests, the despotic character of Popery, and

the rapidly increasing influence of Protestantism. The Discourse evinces

extensive historical research, and uncommon controversial shrewdness.

_Henry Smeaton_, by G.P.R. JAMES (Harper and Brothers), is the latest

production of that fertile novelist, and will be read with fresh

interest by the numerous admirers of his genius, who have recently added

the pleasure of his genial acquaintanceship to the charm of his graphic

creations. The scene of this novel is laid in the reign of George the

First, and abounds with rich historical illustrations, and glowing

delineations of character. The plot, without outraging probability by

its extravagance, is constructed with a good deal of ingenuity, and

sustains the interest of the most hardened novel-reader through its

spirited details to the final happy denouement.

A Leaf From Punch.

[Illustration:

_Sharp (but vulgar) little Boy._ "HALLO, MISSUS, WOT ARE THOSE?"

_Old Woman._ "TWOPENCE."

_Boy._ "WHAT A LIE! THEY'RE APPLES."

[_Exit, whistling popular air._]

]

[Illustration: A TETE-A-TETE.]

[Illustration: EXPECTED OUT SOON.]

[Illustration: GOING DOWN TO A WATERING PLACE.]

[Illustration: ATTRACTION.]

[Illustration: 19TH CEN'TRY.]

[Illustration: PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE.]

[Illustration: A NARROW ESCAPE.]

[Illustration: DIVISION OF LABOR.]

[Illustration: ANIMAL ECONOMY.]

[Illustration: A HOLIDAY AT THE PUBLIC OFFICES.]

Fashions for Later Winter.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--CARRIAGE AND MORNING COSTUMES.]

The continuance of cold weather throughout this month will permit no

change in material for out-of-door costume differing in warmth from

December and January. Cloaks of various elegant patterns and rich

material are worn; chiefly velvet, with elegant ornaments. The most

admired style for a cloak is black velvet, having three rich _agraffes_,

or fastenings, of _passementerie_, drooping with long, graceful,

soft-looking tassels; the first _agraffe_ closes the cloak at the

throat; the second is put on at about the middle, and the third at the

lower part. Five rows of chain lace black satin, border the cloak all

around, as well as the sleeves. Another elegant style is a cloak of

_narcarat_ velvet, a kind of deep red, lined with white satin, quilted

in flowers and leaves, and encircled with a band of martin sable of

considerable depth; a cape, or _stole_, of the same kind of fur descends

upon the side of the front so as to join the lower band. There is also

upon the sleeves, which are cut square and very wide, a deep band. Those

of a more matronly description are generally trimmed with nine rows of

waved _galons_ upon the sleeves, the fronts being encircled with five

rows of the same kind of trimming; a rich fringe a quarter of a yard in

depth, having a netted or waved beading, is placed in addition to the

rows of _galon_ upon the lower part of the cloak.

The MANTEAU ANDRIANA is an elegant garment, made of violet velvet,

having a small _capuchon_, or hood, decorated with a rich fancy trimming

in _passementerie_, to which are attached at regular distances long soft

tassels; very wide sleeves, in the Oriental form, decorated to match

the _capuchon_. The lower part of the cloak is ornamented with a kind of

shell work in _passementerie_; upon the front are placed _Brandebourgs_

in Spanish points.

The figure on the left in FIG. 1, shows an elegant style of CARRIAGE

COSTUME. A dress of blue silk; plain high body; the waist and point of a

moderate length; the skirt long and full, with two broad flounces pinked

at the edge. _Paletot_ of dark purple velvet, trimmed with black lace;

the sleeves very wide at the bottom, and finished by a fall of broad

black lace, set on very full. The skirt has two rows of lace at the

back, terminating at the side seam, the top one headed by a trimming of

narrow lace. The fronts are ornamented in their whole length by rows of

trimming of black lace, placed at equal distances. Bonnet of yellow

satin and black velvet; the form of the front round, the corners nearly

meeting under the chin.

The figure on the right, Figure 1, shows a beautiful style of MORNING

COSTUME--a _jupe_ of French gray watered silk, long and immensely full.

_Coin de feu_ of dark green velvet, fitting tight, and buttoning to the

throat. It has a small square collar, something like that of a riding

habit, and a full frill of narrow lace standing up. The sleeves are of

the pagoda form; the trimming is a very rich silk _guimpe_, of quite a

novel design. Under-sleeves of cambric or lace, with two scalloped

falls, and fulled at the wrist.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--BALL COSTUME.]

Figure 2 exhibits an elegant BALL COSTUME. A low dress of white crape,

worn over a _jupe_ of white satin; the body plain; a deep _berthe_

falling over the plain short sleeve, embroidered with white floss silk.

The skirt is very full. It has three broad flounces, scalloped at the

edge, and embroidered _ceinture_ of very broad white satin ribbon. The

head-dress is of pale blue satin, trimmed with gold.

The taste, this winter, among the extremely fashionable is decidedly for

gorgeous Oriental patterns, both in material and style. A very pretty

pattern for an EVENING DRESS is made of a material called _Organdi_. A

double _jupe_ is embroidered in straw-colored silk. The pattern of the

embroidery forms upon the upper skirt sheaves of wheat, and ascends to

the waist; upon the under skirt the sheaves form a wreath of much

smaller pattern, allowing a space between this row of embroidery and

that on the upper skirts. The body is decorated with a _berthe_, which

forms in front a kind of heart, the lower part or point being attached

with a _noeud_ of straw-colored satin ribbon.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.]

[Illustration: FIG. 4.]

BONNETS.--Those which are most worn this season are extremely open in

front, as seen in figure 3, but close at the ears. They are moderately

trimmed, consisting of _rûches_ of lace, leaves and flowers of velvet,

_noeuds_ of ribbon and velvet, and feathers. The interior is sometimes

decorated in a fanciful manner, having _garnitures_ composed of _choux_,

or a bunch of ribbons of the same color as the bonnet, only in different

shades: for example, a _chou_ of green ribbon composed of the lightest

shades, the bonnet of a very dark green. Most of the crowns are made of

the _jockey_ form, that is, round, but not plain, being generally

covered with folds or fullings, according to the fancy and taste of the

_modiste_. The curtain is now an important part of the bonnet, and

requires great care in the placing, as it gives a very youthful

appearance to the bonnet, if properly put on.

HEAD-DRESSES are now extremely rich and tasty in their appearance.

Figure 4 shows a pretty style of _coiffure_ for a miss, in a ball

costume, the flowers being natural, if possible. Some of the latest

novelties for head-dresses are those composed of gold ribbon, or silver

and silk intermixed, the colors being of the finest character. Some are

formed of long velvet leaves in shaded green, pink, and white; while

others, of a _grenat_ color, are sable and gold. Several pretty little

head-dresses for home costume have appeared, composed entirely of shaded

ribbon-velvets, or a square net-work of various colors, which have a

novel and picturesque appearance.

FASHIONABLE COLORS are dark, rich, and full, such as _grenat_,

_narcarat_, dark green, reddish brown, violet, and a reddish gray; while

white, amber, purple, and pink predominate for evening dresses.

Transcriber's Notes:

Words surrounded by _ are italicized.

Captions added to captionless illustrations.

Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired, other punctuations have

been left as printed in the paper book.

Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent

spellings have been kept, including:

- use of hyphen (e.g. "playthings" and "play-things");

- accents (e.g. "Níagara" and "Niagara");

- any other inconsistent spellings (e.g. "burned" and "burnt").

Pg 254, word "of" added (a work of great interest).