Chapter V (5)

_Sketches of Life and Character. By T. S. Arthur. Illustrated
with Sixteen Engravings, and a Portrait of the Author.
Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, 48 North Fourth Street, 1849._

Mr. Arthur’s name, as a delineator of American character and manners, and an earnest and sincere advocate of sound, uncompromising morality, is already familiar to the reading public, not only in the United States but in Europe. His object, in every production of his able pen, is well understood to be utility—utility in the highest sense of the word, that which has reference to man’s eternal wellbeing. In his lighter as well as in his graver effusions, the same exalted object is always kept steadily in view. He writes to improve the characters and exalt the aim of his readers. This is the secret of his wide-spread popularity. Men love and respect those who exhibit a steady, consistent, and persevering adherence to principle. In the princely mansions of the Atlantic merchants, and in the rude log-cabins of the backwoodsmen, the name of Arthur is equally known and cherished as the friend of virtue, and the eloquent advocate of temperance.

The work before us is a judicious selection made by the author himself, from his most popular tales. His numerous admirers will rejoice in an opportunity to possess themselves of so considerable a number of his best performances, not in the fugitive shape of articles for the journals, but in an elegant volume of over four hundred octavo pages, richly illustrated with engravings, and handsomely got up in every respect. We predict for this volume a very extensive sale, and particularly recommend it as a highly appropriate gift-book in the present holyday season. As it is a subscription book, it will be sold only by agents. Mr. J. W. Bradley, 48 North Fourth street, Philadelphia, is the publisher, and persons at a distance can order it from him.

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_History of the French Revolution of 1848. By A. De Lamartine.
Translated by Francis A. Darivage and William S. Chase. Boston:
Phillips; Sampson & Co. 1 vol. 12mo._

This is an admirable translation of a work requiring something more than a knowledge of French to be well translated. The spirit is rendered as well as the letter. The book itself, will outlive all of Lamartine’s other productions, from its connection with a great historical event, even if it were not invaluable as a psychological curiosity. No reader who penetrates into its animating spirit, curious to discover in Lamartine’s individual character the source of its miraculous self-content can resist the impression that the author considers himself so much a god, that he would not be in the least surprised if a band of fanatics should erect a temple for his worship. No man, whose nature was not in his own estimation raised above human nature, could possibly have the face to present such a work as the present to the public eye. It is a sentimental apotheosis of the writer. The reader finds the narrative of the events of the revolution altogether inferior in interest to the exhibition of Lamartine, and he is lost in wonder as he thinks what must be the character of a nation in which such a man could be lifted into power. The author, beyond any man we have ever known through history, fiction, or actual life, can fasten his gaze on himself as mirrored in his self-esteem, and exclaim, “thou art beautiful and good.” Old John Bunyan, in descending one day from the pulpit, where he had preached with tremendous power, was accosted by an old lady with the compliment, “Oh! what a refreshing sermon!” “Yes,” replied Bunyan, “the Devil whispered in my ear to that effect as I came down.” Now this devil is at Lamartine’s ear all the time, but Lamartine mistakes him for an angel.

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_The Puritan and his Daughter. By J. K. Paulding. New York;
Baker & Scribner. 2 vols. 12mo._

We are glad to welcome Mr. Paulding back again to the land of romance, even though he enters it with a somewhat jaunty air, and a somewhat scornful toss of his head. There is a bitter, if we may not call it saucy, brilliancy about our author, which we think is rather a recommendation than otherwise, and in the present volumes he has exhibited it to his heart’s and gall’s content. The work is dedicated, in a humorously reckless and critic-defying preface, to the “most high and mighty sovereign of sovereigns, King People,” and scattered through the novel are abundant pleasant impertinences, sufficiently marked by individual whim and crotchet, to stimulate the reader to go on reading, even should the interest of the story flag. We have only had time to dip into the work, here and there, but have read enough to know that it “means mischief,” and that it has more than Mr. Paulding’s common raciness and plain speaking.

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The approach of the holydays is, as usual, marked by the advent of new publications.

Among the most beautiful that have been laid upon our table are _The Life of Christ_, by the Rev. H. Hastings Weld, and a new edition of Dr. Johnson’s admirable _Rasselas_. These works are published by Messrs. Hogan & Thompson, in the most finished and approved manner, conforming in style to _Paul and Virginia_, and the _Vicar of Wakefield_, issued by the same gentlemen last year. We cannot speak too highly of the typographical execution of the volumes before us, or the magnificent binding in which they are enclosed. Both are superb, and reflect credit alike on the publishers, and the artists who have invested with new charms, two volumes which deservedly merit a place in every library.

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_The Poet’s Offering_, is the title of a splendid volume of nearly six hundred pages, edited by Mrs. HALE, and published by Messrs. GREGG & ELLIOTT. It is beautifully illustrated, and will, we think, prove one of the most popular gift books of the season—for it is a gift book—as the fair editor justly remarks, on a new plan, the contents of which are of more value than the cover, and she does not assume too much, when she declares that in this volume will be found the most perfect gems of genius the English language has preserved since the days of Spenser. More than four hundred authors are quoted, and in the arrangement of the book, great care has been taken to exhibit the peculiar excellencies of each writer. That Mrs. Hale has acquitted herself admirably in the execution of an arduous undertaking, is an unquestionable fact, and her efforts have been nobly seconded by the liberality of the publishers, in sparing neither labor nor expense to prepare for the public taste a most beautiful, valuable, and acceptable volume.

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LE FOLLET

PARIS, Boulevart S^{t.} Martin, 61. _Coiffure de_ Hamelin, _pass. du Saumon, 21—Chapeau de M^{me}._ Baudry, _r. Richelieu, 87_. _Plumes et fleurs de_ Chagot, _r. Richelieu, 81—Eventail de_ Vagneur Dupré, _r. de la Paix, 19_. _Robes de_ Camille—_Dentelles de_ Violard, _r. Choiseul, 2^{bis}_. Graham’s Magazine]

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MY LIFE IS LIKE THE SUMMER’S ROSE.

WRITTEN BY THE LATE
HON. RICHARD HENRY WILDE,
OF GEORGIA.

MUSIC COMPOSED BY
AN AMATEUR.

Presented by Edward L. Walker, 160 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

My life is like the Summer’s rose,
That opens to the morning sky,
But ere the shades of evening close,
Is scattered on the ground to die;
But

on that rose’s humble bed,
The sweetest dews of night are shed,
As if heaven wept such waste to see,
But none shall weep a tear for me.

My life is like the autumnal leaf.
That trembles in the moon’s pale ray;
Its hold is frail, its date is brief,
Restless and soon to pass away;
Yet ere that leaf shall fall or fade,
The parent tree shall mourn its shade;
The winds bewail the leafless tree,
But none shall breathe a sigh for me.

My life is like the print that feet
Have left on Zara’s burning strand;
Soon as the rising tide shall beat,
The track shall vanish from the sand.
Yet as if grieving to efface
All vestige of the human race,
On that lone lone shore loud moans the sea,
But none shall e’er lament for me.

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Transcriber’s Notes:

Table of Contents has been added for reader convenience. Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained. Punctuation has been corrected without note. Other errors have been corrected as noted below. For illustrations, some caption text may be missing or incomplete due to condition of the originals available for preparation of the eBook.

page 323, miserable, loathsame slave! ==> miserable, loathsome slave! page 329, avoid followiug his victim ==> avoid following his victim page 329, with hell in in his ==> with hell in his page 330, and seemed to re-recollect ==> and seemed to recollect page 344, by the Rue St. Honore. ==> by the Rue St. Honoré. page 350, was earthly. She sung of love ==> was earthly. She sang of love page 355, Now, when past away ==> Now, when passed away page 355, “Again their was a ==> “Again there was a page 360, played and sung, and ==> played and sang, and page 366, through the pannels of ==> through the panels of page 366, “How indellibly does ==> “How indelibly does page 366, a true home, and was ==> a true home, and were page 372, trample upon other’s rights. ==> trample upon others’ rights. page 372, of other’s rights or feelings, ==> of others’ rights or feelings, page 374, Napoleon in the presidental ==> Napoleon in the presidential page 374, that Great Britian has ==> that Great Britain has page 375, ricketty old tyranny ==> rickety old tyranny page 377, stone and carved nitch ==> stone and carved niche page 379, is beautifully ingenius; ==> is beautifully ingenious; page 379, of mental developement, ==> of mental development,