Chapter VIII (6)

In this volume we have the “Dreams” of the Four Seasons, Boyhood, Youth, Manhood, and Age, in which the experience of those epochs is set forth in a soft, imaginative twilight, diversified with passages of felicitous description, and with genuine strains of tender, pathetic beauty, which could come only from the heart of genius. His home-life in the country is a perpetual source of inspiration to Ik. Marvel, in his highest and best creations. He describes rural scenes with a freshness and veracity, which is the exclusive privilege of early recollections. In this respect, “the child is father to the man.” His pages are fragrant with the clover-fields and new hay, in which he sported when a child. With feelings unworn by the world, he lives over again the “dreams of his youth,” which are so richly peopled with fair and sad visions, drawing an abundant supply of materials for his exquisite imagination to shape, and reproducing them in forms that are equally admirable for their tenderness and their truth. What a striking contrast does he present to those writers who trust merely to fancy without the experience of life—whose rural pictures remind you of nature as much as the green and red paint of an artificial flower reminds you of a rose.

In the Dedication of this volume to Washington Irving, the author gracefully alludes to the influence of that consummate master in enabling him to attain the “facility in the use of language, and the fitness of expression in which to dress his thoughts,” which any may suppose to be found in his writings. This is a beautiful testimony, alike honorable to the giver and the receiver. The frankness with which the acknowledgment is made, shows a true simplicity of purpose, altogether above the sphere of a weak personal vanity. And the contagious action of Mr. Irving’s literary example on susceptible, generous minds can scarcely be overrated. The writers now on the stage are more indebted to that noble veteran than they are apt to remember, for the polished refinement of expression which he was the first to make the fashion in this country. They may indeed discover no more resemblance between Mr. Irving’s style and their own, than there is between that of Mr. Irving and Ik. Marvel. In this case, we confess, we should not have suspected the relation alluded to by the latter. We trace other and stronger influences in the formation of his style than the example of Mr. Irving. But the beneficial effect of a great master of composition is not to be estimated by the resemblance which it produces to himself. The artist does not study the works of Raphael or Michael Angelo in order to imitate their characteristics. His purpose is rather to catch the spirit of beauty which pervades their productions, and to learn the secret of method by which it was embodied. In like manner, the young writer can not yield himself to the seductive charm of Mr. Irving’s golden periods, and follow the liquid, melodious flow of his enchanting sentences, without a revelation of the beautiful mysteries of expression, and a new sense of the sweetness and harmony of the language which he is to make his instrument. He may be entirely free from conscious imitation, but he has received a virtue which can not fail to be manifested in his own endeavors. If he be a man of original genius, like Ik. Marvel, he may not indicate the source from which his mind has derived such vigorous impulses; but his obligation is no less real; though instead of reproducing the wholesome leaves on which his spirit has fed, he weaves them into the shining and comely robes that are at once the dress and the adornment of his own thoughts.

_Florence Sackville_ (Harper and Brothers), is the title of a highly successful English novel, dedicated to the poet Rogers. In the form of an autobiography, the heroine relates the incidents of her life, which are marked by a great variety of experience, including many passages of terrible suffering and tragic pathos. The story is sustained with uncommon power; the characters in the plot are admirably individualized; showing a deep insight into human nature, and a rare talent for depicting the recondite workings of passion. A lofty and pure religious sentiment pervades the volume, and deepens the effect of the thrilling narrative.

_Clovernook_, by ALICE CAREY. (Published by Red field). The author of this series of rural sketches enjoys a well-earned reputation as a poet of uncommon imaginative power, with a choice and expressive diction. Her specimens of prose-writing in this beautiful volume will serve to enhance her literary fame. They consist of recollections of Western life, described with great accuracy of detail, and embellished with the natural coloring of a picturesque fancy. Few more characteristic or charming books have recently issued from the American press.

A new edition of that quaint, ingenious allegory, _Salander and the Dragon_, by FREDERIC WILLIAM SHELTON, has been published by John S. Taylor. We are glad to find that the originality and fine moral painting of this remarkable work have found such just appreciation.

_The First Woman_ is the title of an instructive essay on the female character, by Rev. GARDINER SPRING. It is written with clearness and strength, and contains several passages of chaste eloquence. The author would establish the position of woman on the old platform, without yielding to the modern outcry for the extension of her rights. (Published by M. W. Dodd).

A volume of _Select Poetry for Children and Youth_, with an Introduction, by TRYON EDWARDS, D.D., is published by M. W. Dodd. It is based upon an English selection of acknowledged merit, but with important additions and improvements by the American editor. Excellent taste is shown in its preparation, and it must prove a welcome resource for the mental entertainment of the family circle.

_The Sovereigns of the Bible_, by ELIZA R. STEELE (published by M. W. Dodd), describes, in simple narrative style, the influence of monarchy in the political history of the chosen nation. Closely following the Old Testament account, it is in a great measure free from the tawdry finery, gingerbread work, and German-silver splendor which shine with such dazzling radiance in many modern attempts to improve the style of the sacred records.

_The Snow-Image and Other Twice-told Tales_, by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. (Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields). This collection of stories is introduced with a racy preface, giving a bit of the author’s literary autobiography. The volume is not inferior in interest to its fascinating predecessors.

_Summerfield; or, Life on a Farm_, by DAY KELLOGG LEE. (Auburn: Derby and Miller). This volume belongs to an order of composition which requires a true eye for nature, a genial sympathy with active life, and a happy command of language for its successful execution. The present author exhibits no ordinary degree of these qualities. His book is filled with lively pictures of country life, presented with warmth and earnestness of feeling, and singularly free from affectation and pretense. It finely blends the instructive with the amusing, aiming at a high moral purpose, but without the formality of didactic writing. We give a cordial welcome to the author, and believe that he will become a favorite in this department of composition. The volume is issued in excellent style, and presents a very creditable specimen of careful typography.

_The Podesta’s Daughter and other Poems_, by GEO. H. BOKER. (Philadelphia: A. Hart). The principal poem in this volume is a dramatic sketch, founded on Italian life in the Middle Ages. It is written with terseness and vigor, displaying a chaste and powerful imagination, with an admirable command of the appropriate language of poetry. The volume contains several miscellaneous pieces, including snatches of songs and sonnets, which evince a genuine artistic culture, and give a brilliant promise on the part of the youthful poet.

_What I Saw in New York_, by JOEL H. ROSS, M.D. (Auburn: Derby and Miller). A series of popular sketches of several of the principal objects of interest in our “Great Metropolis.” The author has walked about the streets with his eyes wide open, noticing a multiplicity of things which are apt to escape the negligent observer, and has described them in a familiar conversational tone, which is not a little attractive. Strangers who are visiting New York for the first time will find an abundant store of convenient information in this well-filled volume—and all the better for the agreeable manner in which it is conveyed.

A useful volume for the emigrant and traveler, and for the student of geography as well, has been issued by J.H. Colton, entitled _Western Portraiture_, by DANIEL S. CURTIS. It contains a description of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa, with remarks on Minnesota, and other Territories. In addition to the valuable practical information which it presents in a lucid manner, it gives several curious pictures of social life and natural scenery in the West. No one who wishes to obtain a clear idea of the resources of this country should fail to consult its very readable pages.

One of the most important London publications of the present season, _Lectures on the History of France_, by Sir JAMES STEPHEN, is just issued by Harper and Brothers in one elegant octavo volume. They were delivered before the University of Cambridge, and comprise a series of brilliant, discursive commentaries on the salient points of French history, from the time of Charlemagne to that of Louis XIV. Of the twenty-four Lectures which compose the volume, three are devoted to the “Power of the Pen in France,” and discuss in a masterly style, the character and influence of Abeilard, Bernard, Montaigne, Descartes, Pascal, and other eminent French writers. Apart from its valuable political disquisitions, no recent work can compare with this volume as a contribution to the history of literature.

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Among the works in preparation by Messrs. Black is a _Memoir of the late Lord Jeffrey_, by his friend Lord COCKBURN. This biography will possess peculiar interest, from Lord Jeffrey’s literary position as one of the originators, and for so many years editor of the _Edinburgh Review_. His connection with Byron, originating in fierce hostility, and terminating in warm friendship, as well as his connection with many other distinguished men, and the grace of his epistolary style, will also impart an interesting character to its contents.

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Mr. JERDAN is proceeding rapidly with his _Autobiography and Reminiscences_, the commencement of which will relate to the youth of some of the highest dignitaries of the law now living, and the sequel will illustrate, from forty years of intimacy, the character and acts of George Canning, and nearly all the leading statesmen, politicians, _literati_, and artists, who have flourished within that period.

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It is reported that Lord BROUGHAM is beguiling his sick leisure at Cannes, with the composition of a work to be entitled, _France and England before Europe in 1851_, a social and political parallel of the two foremost nations of the world.

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An English _Memoir of the Last Emperor of China_ is announced from the pen of Dr. GUTZLAFF, the lately-deceased and well-known missionary to that strange empire, from which intelligent tidings are always welcome.

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A second edition is printing of CARLYLE’S _Life of Sterling_. His first book the fine _Life of Schiller_, took some five-and-twenty years to attain the second-editionship, which is bestowed upon his latest book after as many days.

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A second edition is under way of the Rev. CHARLES KINGSLEY’S glowing novel, _Yeast_, which is regarded by many as the best of all his books, dealing as it does with the rural scenes and manners which are familiar to him at first-hand.

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The last announcement of a new work in the department of history or biography is that of a forthcoming Life of Admiral BLAKE, “based almost entirely on original documents,” by Mr. HEPWORTH DIXON, the biographer of JOHN HOWARD and WILLIAM PENN, and the delineator of London prisons. Mr. Dixon has a taste for the selection of “safe” subjects, and ROBERT BLAKE is surely one of the “safest” that could be chosen. The Nelson of the Commonwealth, without Nelson’s faults and frailties.

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An elegant translation of CHARLES DICKENS’S works, well got up, and well printed, is being published in Copenhagen. The first part commences with _David Copperfield_, from the pen of Herr MOLTKE.

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The collected poems of D. M. MOIR, the “Delta” of _Blackwood_, lately deceased, are announced by the Messrs. Blackwood, with a memoir by THOMAS AIRD. “Delta” was an amiable and benevolent surgeon, at Musselburgh, a little fishing village, a few miles east of Edinburgh, and had nothing about him of the conceit which a little literary fame generally begets in the member of a trifling provincial circle. Whether his musical and rather melancholy verses will be long remembered is doubtful; but a tolerably enduring reputation is probably secured to his _Mansie Wauch_, a genial portraiture of a Scottish village-original, in its way quite as racy, though not so caustic, as GALT’S best works in the same line. Mr. Thomas Aird, his biographer, is the editor of a Dumfries newspaper, and himself a man of original genius. D. M. Moir, by the way, ought not to be confounded with his namesake and fellow contributor to _Blackwood_, GEORGE MOIR, the Edinburgh advocate, a man of much greater accomplishment, the translator of SCHILLER’S _Wallenstein_, and author of the _Fragments from the History of John Bull_, a satire on modern reform, in the manner of Dean SWIFT’S _Tale of a Tub_.

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The Council of King’s College, London, have appointed Mr. JAMES STEPHEN, son of Sergeant Stephen, author of the _Commentaries_, to the Professorship of English Law and Jurisprudence, vacant by the resignation of Mr. Bullock.

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At Belfast, the Chair of Logic and Metaphysics has been, by the Lord Lieutenant, assigned to Dr. JAMES M’COSH, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, author of one of the most profound works that have appeared of late years—_The Method of the Divine Government, Physical and Moral._

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Mr. HAYWARD, the translator of Faust, has written to _The Morning Chronicle_ to insist on the improbability that there is any truth in a paragraph which has been going the round of the papers, and which described the late convert to Catholicism, the fair and vagrant Ida, Countess von HAHN-HAHN, as parading herself in the streets of Berlin in the guise of a haggard penitent, literally clad in sackcloth and ashes!

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Lord MAHON, in the last volume of his _History of England_ that has been published, has a good deal to say upon Junius, and his decision upon that vexed topic will be heard with interest: “But who was Junius?... I will not affect to speak with doubt when no doubt exists in my mind. From the proofs adduced by others, and on a clear conviction of my own, I affirm that the author of Junius was no other than Sir Philip Francis.” The _Literary Gazette_ also says, “We are as much convinced that Sir Philip Francis was Junius as that George III. was king of Great Britain.”

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In an elaborate article on the intellectual character of KOSSUTH, the _London Athenæum_ remarks, “Of the minor merits of this remarkable man, his command of the English language is perhaps that which creates the largest amount of wonder. With the exception of an occasional want of idiom, the use of a few words in an obsolete sense, and a habit of sometimes carrying (German fashion) the infinitive verb to the end of a sentence—there is little to distinguish M. Kossuth’s English from that of our great masters of eloquence. Select, yet copious and picturesque, it is always. The combinations—we speak of his words as distinct from the thoughts that lie in them—are often very happy. We can even go so far as to say that he has enriched and utilized our language; the first by using unusual words with extreme felicity, the latter by proving to the world how well the pregnant and flexible tongue of Shakspeare adapts itself to the expression of a genius and a race so remote from the Saxon as the Magyar.”

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The Chancellorship of the Dublin University, vacant by the death of the King of Hanover, has been conferred on Lord JOHN GEORGE BERESFORD, the primate of Ireland.

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The Scotch Journals announce the death of one whose name is familiar to many of the scholars of this country, Mr. GEORGE DUNBAR, professor of Greek Literature in the University of Edinburgh.

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The Rev. Dr. SADLEIR, Fellow and Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, died suddenly on the 14th of December, He was a man of liberal views and charitable feelings, and although in a society not remarkable for catholicity of spirit, his advocacy of all measures of progress and freedom was uniform and zealous. He was appointed to the provostship by the Crown in 1837.

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Among recent deaths of literary men, we note that of BASIL MONTAGUE, best known as the editor of the works of Lord Bacon. He was an illegitimate son of the famous Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, by the unfortunate Miss Reay, who was assassinated in 1779, by the Rev. Mr. Hackman, her betrothed lover. The tragic story is told in all the London guide-books, as well as in collections of celebrated trials. Mr. Basil Montague studied for the law, and rose to a high standing in the profession. He was called to the bar by the Honorable Society of Gray’s Inn, in 1798. On the _Law of Bankruptcy_ he published some valuable treatises, the reputation of which gained him a commissionership. With Romilly and Mackintosh he worked diligently for the mitigation of the severity of the penal code. On capital punishments he wrote several pamphlets, which attracted much public notice. Besides his edition of _Bacon_, with an original biography, he published _Selections from Taylor, Hooker, Hall, and Bacon_. He died at Boulogne, on the 27th of November, in the 82d year of his age.

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From France we can expect no more literature for some time, and we must think ourselves fortunate that GUIZOT’S two new works reached us before “society was saved,” as the man says who has earned the execration of the world. These two works are _Etudes Morales_ and _Etudes sur les Beaux Arts_. The former contains essays on Immortality, on the state of Religion in modern society, on Faith, and a lengthy treatise on Education. The second is interesting, as showing us Guizot criticising Art.

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A curious work, entitled, _Les Murailles Revolutionnaires_ (Revolutionary Walls), has been published in Paris. It contains the proclamations, decrees, addresses, appeals, warnings, denunciations, remonstrances, counsels, professions of faith, plans of political reconstruction, and schemes of social regeneration, which were stuck on the walls of Paris in the first few months’ agitated existence of the Revolution of 1848. At that time the dead walls of _la grande ville_ presented an extraordinary spectacle. They were literally covered with placards of all sizes, all shapes, all colors, all sorts of type, and some were even in manuscript. Several times in the course of a day was the paper renewed; and so attractive was the reading it offered to every passer-by, that it not only put an end to the sale of books, but nearly ruined circulating libraries and _salons de lecture_, in which, for the moderate charge of from two to five sous, worthy citizens are accustomed to read the journals. LOUIS NAPOLEON has changed all that. Among other wondrous decrees that have issued from his barracks, is “Bill-Stickers Beware!” The usurper sees danger in the very poles and paste of an _afficheur_!

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There is in Paris, under the sole direction of an ecclesiastic, the Abbé MIGNE, an establishment embracing a printing office, stereotype foundry, and all other departments of book manufacture, which has in course of publication a complete series of the chief works of Catholic literature, amounting to 2000 volumes, and the prices are such that the mass of the clergy of that faith may possess the whole.

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LAMARTINE has given us the third and fourth volumes of his _Histoire de la Restauration_; BARANTE, the third volume of his _Histoire de la Convention_, bringing the narrative down to 1793. THIERRY announces a new edition of his works; and ALEXANDRE DUMAS has commenced his _Mémoires_ in_ La Presse_.

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The most striking of French novels, or of any novels recently published, is the _Revenants_ (“Ghosts”), of ALEXANDRE DUMAS the younger, which exceeds in cleverness, ingenuity, and absurdity all the novels put together of his prolific parent himself. The heroes and heroines of the _Revenants_ are those of three of the most celebrated tales of last century, GOETHE’S _Werther_, BERNARDIN ST. PIERRE’S _Paul and Virginia_, and the Abbé PREVOST’S _Manon L’Escaut_. The book opens with a description of a visit paid by MUSTEL, a German professor, to his old pupil BERNARDIN SAINT-PIERRE, now living at Paris in the sunshine of the fame procured to him by the publication of _Paul and Virginia_.

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It has been remarked that the name of BONAPARTE is unlucky to literature, for they do not understand that, to flourish, literature requires freedom. No king or emperor, if he had all the gold of Peru, could nowadays do as much for literature as the public; and, to please the public, it must be completely free. “Now,” writes the Paris correspondent of the _Literary Gazette_, “if the illustrious Monsieur Bonaparte can make good his position in France, he _must_ be a despot. On no other ground could he stand for a week—it is _aut Cæsar aut nullus_ with him. And, unfortunately, unlike most despots, he has no taste whatever for literature—he never, it is said, read fifty lines of poetry in his life, and can not even now wade through half-a-dozen pages of prose without falling asleep.”

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SILVIO PELLICO, so famous for his works, his imprisonments, and sufferings, is now in Paris.

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Three novels are announced by a German authoress, CAROLINA VON GÖHREN—_Ottomar_, _Victor, and Thora_, and _Glieder einer Kelte_. The authoress (whose real name is Frau von ZÖLLNER) is a lady of noble family, who has married a man of “no family,” and has _not_ died of the _mésalliance_. She is well known in the best circles of Dresden, and has lately taken to fill her leisure with writing novels, which she does with considerable skill. Her compatriot HAHN-HAHN, by her languid airs of haughty aristocracy, seems to have roused the scorn of Frau von ZÖLLNER, who attacks her with great spirit. The new writer commands the sympathy of English readers by her good, plain common sense, and the moral tendency of her books.

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The scientific literature both of Germany and England is about to be enriched by a translation of OERSTED’S chief work, “The Soul in Nature.” COTTA, of Stuttgard and Tübingen, is to publish the one, and Mr. BOHN the other.

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A German translation is announced of the lately deceased Danish poet, OEHLENSCHLAGER’S _Autobiographical Reminiscences_. Oehlenschlager has an old reputation in this country as the author of the fine-art drama, “Correggio,” and of a still finer theatrical version of the Arabian Nights’ tale, “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp,” both of which were introduced to the public a quarter of a century ago in _Blackwood’s Magazine_. During his lifetime, he published a portion of his autobiography, which was very interesting and unaffected; and we can predict a fair popularity to the now completed work.

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Of German fictions, the one that has made the most noise lately is the long-announced novel by WOLFGANG MENZEL, the well-known historian, journalist, and critic, entitled _Furore: Geschichte eines Mönchs und einer Nonne aus dem dreissigjährigen Kriege_ (“Story of a Monk and a Nun from the period of the Thirty Years’ War”), which the German critics praise as a lively and variegated picture of that period of turmoil and confusion.

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HEINE’S new work, _Romanzero_, has been prohibited at Berlin, and the copies in the booksellers, shops confiscated. The sale of eight thousand copies before it was prohibited is a practical assurance of its brilliant success. Gay, sarcastic, and poetic, it resembles all his previous works in spirit, though less finished in form. His _Faust_ turns out to be a Ballet, with Mephistopheles metamorphosed into a Danseuse! In the letter which concludes the work there is much interesting matter on the _Faust Saga_, and its mode of treatment.

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The people of Leipzig have just had their “Schiller-fest,” or Schiller’s festival, in honor of the great national poet and tragedian. Schiller was, indeed, a native of Würtemberg, and he lived in Mannheim and Weimar. But Germany, which has no metropolis, enjoys a great many _capitals_: and as the ancients had a god of the sun, the moon, and the various constellations, so do the Germans have a capital of poetic art, another of music, another of painting, and so on. Leipzig is, or pretends to be, the great literary metropolis, and in this capacity the good city holds an annual festival in honor of Schiller. On the present occasion there was a public dinner, with pompous speeches by Messrs. Gutzkow, Bothe, and Apel, while in the Leipzig theatre Shakspeare’s “Macbeth” was given in Schiller’s adaptation to the German stage.

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The Berlin journals announce the arrival in that city of Doctor ZAHN, so well known for his researches in Pompeii and Herculaneum. His work thereon is one of the most important archæological productions extant. He has passed not fewer than twenty-five years of his life among those ancient ruins.

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The foreign obituary includes the name of Dr. MEINHOLD—a name which will live in connection with _The Amber Witch_ and with the singular circumstances attending the reception of that powerful tale.

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The English admirers of HUMBOLDT’S _Kosmos_ will be glad to learn that an important addition has been made to the commentaries on that great work, by Herr Bronne’s “Collection of Maps for the Kosmos.” The first series, containing six plates, has just been published by Krais and Hoffmann, at Stuttgardt. These six plates are to be followed by thirty-six others, and contain the planetary, solar, and lunar systems, the plain globes, and the body of the earth, and the elevations of its surface, with a variety of diagrams, and a set of explanatory notes.

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An intelligent and appreciative German, SIEGFRIED KUPPER, has been attracted by the fine simplicities and interests of the popular poetry of Servia, and has woven together, out of the lays which commemorate the Achilles-Ulysses-Hercules-Leonidas of Servia, _Lazar, der Serbenczar. Ein Helden-gedicht_ “Lazar, the Czar of the Serbs. A Heroic poem.” “Among the earliest announcers of the beauty of the Servian popular poetry,” says the _London Literary Journal_, “was THERESA JAKOB, the daughter of the well-known German Professor, and now for many years married to the American Dr. ROBINSON, the author of _Biblical Researches in Palestine_. This lady (a translation of whose History of the Colonization of America we lately reviewed) published, five-and-twenty years ago, some translated specimens of Servian song, which quite took captive the heart of old GOETHE, whose praises introduced them to the notice of educated Europe. Other Germans, and even some Frenchmen, followed in the same direction; and our own BOWRING’S _Specimens of Servian Poetry_, is probably familiar to many readers. With the growing importance of the Slavonian tribes, a new interest attaches to their copious literature; and to any enterprising young _litterateur_, in quest of an unexplored field of research, we would recommend the poetry, recent and ancient, of the Slavonic races.”

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The Council of the Shakspeare Society have received a very welcome and unexpected present, in the shape of a translation of Shakspeare, in twelve volumes 8vo., into Swedish verse. This laborious work has been accomplished by Professor HAGBERG, of the University of Lund, and it was transmitted through the Swedish Minister resident in London.

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A Signor ANTONIO CACCIA, an Italian exile, sends from the freer press of Leipzig, a book of practical and philosophic travel: _Europa ed America. Scene della Vita dal 1848 al 1850_ (“Europe and America, Scenes from Life in both hemispheres during the years 1848-50”), which contains, besides a notice of California, a good many useful hints to travelers.

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The librarian of the Emperor of Russia has purchased, for the Imperial Library, a complete collection of all the pamphlets, placards, caricatures, songs, &c, published at Berlin during the revolutionary movement of 1848.

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Dr. SMITH, bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong, has sent to the library of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, a Chinese work _On the Geography and History of Foreign Nations_, by SEU-KE-YU, Governor of the province of Fokeen. Seu-ke-yu is a man of high official station, a distinguished scholar, and very liberal in his views. He commences the geographical part of his book with a statement of the spherical form of the earth, as opposed to the universal belief in China of its being a vast level area, of which the Celestial Empire occupies the central and most considerable part. Numerous maps illustrate the text, being tolerably correct copies from European atlases, the names given in Chinese characters. The work is in six volumes, very well printed, and instead of binding, each part is contained in a wooden case, ingeniously folding, and fastened with ivory pins.

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When the department of the Ministry of Public Instruction was created some four or five years ago in Constantinople, it became apparent that there existed a great desideratum of Moslem civilization, necessary to be supplied as soon as possible—a Turkish Vocabulary and a Turkish Grammar compiled according to the high development of philology. The Grammar has now been published; being compiled by Fuad Effendi, _mustesher_ of the Grand Vizier, a man known for his high attainments—assisted by Ahmed Djesvid Effendi, another member of the Council of Instruction. The work has been printed at Constantinople, and translations will be made into several languages: the French edition being now in preparation by two gentlemen belonging to the Foreign Office of the Sublime Porte, who have obtained a privilege of ten years for its sale.

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Among the new works just out, we notice a Spanish translation of TICKNOR’S _History of Spanish Literature_, by Don PASCUAL DE GAYANGOS y DON ENRIQUE DE VEDIA (_con adiciones y notas criticas_), Mr Ticknor having communicated some notes and corrections to the two translators, who have added from their own stores.

A LEAF FROM PUNCH

A Horrible Business. MASTER BUTCHER.—“Did you take Old Major Dumblebore’s Ribs to No. 12?” BOY.—“Yes, Sir.” MASTER BUTCHER.—“Then, cut Miss Wiggle’s Shoulder and Neck, and hang Mr. Foodle’s Legs till they’re quite tender.”

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Rather Too Much Of A Good Thing.

We see advertised some “Crying Dolls.” We must protest against this new kind of amusement. Just as if the real thing was not enough, but we are to have an addition to an evil, that is already sufficiently “crying” in every household. We wish the inventor of this new toy (which might be called “the Disturber of the Peace of Private Families”) to be woke up regularly in the middle of the night, for the next twelve months to come, by one of his own “Crying Dolls,” and then he will be able to see how he likes it. Let one of the Dolls also be “Teething;” for we should not be astonished now to hear of “Teething Dolls,” and “Coughing and Choking Dolls,” with other infantine varieties, and then the punishment of this “monster in human form” will be complete. Dr. Guillotine perished by the instrument he invented. The inventor of the “Crying Dolls” deserves a similar fate. He should be shut up with all his toys in “full cry,” until, like Niobe, the crying was the death of him, and he was turned, by some offended mythological deity, into the “great pump,” of which his invention proclaims him to be the effigy.

Mrs. Baker’s Pet.

Mrs. Baker, feeling lonely during her husband’s absence at his business, has purchased a dog in the streets for a Pet. The animal has been brought home, and Mrs. BAKER has been for some time anxiously awaiting the arrival of the husband to dinner, to introduce him to her new favorite. The gentleman’s latch key has been heard in the door, and Cook has received orders to dish the dinner. Mr. BAKER, Mrs. BAKER, MARY the Servant, and SCAMP the Pet meet at the door of the dining-room. SCAMP commences an infuriated assault of barks and springs, meant for the inoffensive and astonished BAKER, but which have all the appearance of being directed against MARY, who is entering at the moment with the dinner-plates. MARY drops the plates, smashing two, and begins screaming. SCAMP, excited by the row, redoubles his barks, and bounds to and fro on the door mat. Mr. BAKER, who has heard nothing of the dog, is naturally indignant at the reception, and commences an assault upon him with his umbrella. Mrs. BAKER, who feels that the reputation of her Pet is at stake, endeavors to soothe him by ordering him to “Lie down, and be a good dog;” but SCAMP is insensible to the power of moral suasion. A domestic representation of the old play of “Family Jars,” takes place; the leading parts by Mr. and Mrs. BAKER “for the first time;” the orchestra under the direction of MARY and SCAMP. The performance lasts till bed-time; when the gentleman insists that the dog shall pass the night in the yard. This does not meet SCAMP’S approbation, and he expresses his discontent, by a serenade under the windows of Mr. and Mrs. BAKER’S bedroom, which lasts the whole night, and consists in running up and down the howling scale, winding up with a prolonged shake in C above the line. The performance is enlivened by the perpetual raising of the windows from the neighbors’ houses, and an occasional crash in Mr. BAKER’S yard, which is accounted for the next day by the appearance of half a score of boot-jacks of various sizes and patterns.

FASHIONS FOR FEBRUARY.

FIGURES 1 AND 2.—WALKING AND IN-DOOR DRESSES.

FIGURE 1.—WALKING DRESS.—The bonnet is made of terry velvet; the brim is very open at the sides, so as to show the face well, and comes forward at top. The crown is not very deep; it is covered in the first place with a piece of terry velvet, the shape of which resembles a hood, trimmed with black lace two and a half inches wide, and hanging over the curtain. The curtain reaches very high, and falls almost straight, with scarcely any fullness. It is edged all round with lace about an inch wide. Two felted feathers spring from between the hood and the crown, one toward the right, the other toward the left, and entwined together. The inside of the front is trimmed with narrow velvet ribbons and black lace. The sides at the cheeks are filled with bunches of pink volubilis, and loops of black velvet. These bunches of flowers hang down the front with two velvet ends.

Mantle and dress of cloth trimmed with velvet; the mantle is rounded behind and very full. It belongs to the Talma style. The neck is terminated by a little upright collar barely an inch in height, which rises a little on the cravat. The front is closed by three little bands with two button-holes, which are fastened over velvet buttons. The front corners are cut square, but rather sloping, so as to form a point. An inch from the edge a velvet ribbon two inches wide is sewed on flat.

FIGURE 2.—IN-DOOR DRESS.—The head-dress is a Louis XV. puff, made of white blond, satin and velvet ribbons, set on the head. The top consists of two cross bands of ribbon. The round part is formed of two rows of blond flutes. Each of these rows is ornamented with bows of No. 1 velvet. The first row violet, the second yellow. Large bunches of loops of wide satin ribbon, violet and yellow, fill the sides and hollows of the bands; on each side full ribbons which are placed across the head.

Black vest with lappets. This garment sits very close; the skirts are open at the sides and behind, but lap over each other. Satin piping all round the edges. The front is trimmed with two small satin pipings, like frogs, each terminating with a satin button. These sleeves have an elbow, are short, and end in a cuff, opened up the side, and trimmed with three small flaps in satin piping.

Waistcoat of yellow valencias buttoning up straight, with small buttons of the same.

Skirt of silk cloth, is very full, but the plaits are pressed down and kept flat on the hips so as not to swell out, or raise the lappets. These last can be made to sit well by making them lie smooth on the hips. Chemisette composed of two rows of embroidered muslin, fluted and kept up by a satin cravat, tied like a gentleman’s. Three ample rows of embroidered muslin, form the trimming of the under-sleeve.

FIGURE 3.—EVENING DRESS.

EVENING DRESS.—Head-dress of hair only, with a diamond comb. The hair is parted down the middle, and drawn back square from the forehead on each side. One large plat of hair is laid round the top of the head. The back hair is done up in plats and torsades twisted together. The comb is put in straight, and stands rather high. A cashmere _Orientale_. This short garment is cut straight and not hollowed at the waist; it reaches several inches below the hips; the sides are slit up; the sleeves are wide at bottom and open in front. A band of gold lace, about an inch wide, is laid flat all round, about half an inch from the edge, and the same on the sleeves. Two buttons of silk and gold each fasten a small cord ending in a handsome tassel, surmounted by small bows of silk and gold of various sizes. This cord is tied in front. The openings of the sleeves and sides are trimmed in the same manner. The lining is white satin.

Dress of white lutestring. Body low and square, trimmed with several rows of white blond. The top of the skirt is plain for a depth of six or seven inches, and all the lower part is trimmed with vandyked blond flounces. The flounces are very light.

FULL-DRESS FOR HOME.—The cap is a Louis XV. _fanchon_ of _Alençon_ lace. There are two tufts of various flowers on each side; they lie on the bands of hair which are waved and thrown back.

FIGURE 4.—FULL-DRESS FOR HOME.

Waistcoat of black watered silk; festooned edges, high behind, open in front. A row of _Alençon_ lace sewed on flat projects beyond the edge all round the waistcoat. _Basquine_ of terry velvet, trimmed with a broad satin ribbon and plaid velvet of bright colors. The sleeve, wide at bottom, is open behind and trimmed the same. The trimming is drawn in very fine gathers in the middle; the quilled edges are loose.

The skirt of terry velvet like that of the basquine, is trimmed with five flounces lying one on the other. On these flounces are sewed satin ribbons and plaid velvet bands, the top one No. 12, the two others, No. 16, the bottom one No. 22. These ribbons are sewed flat on the flounce, which is not gathered in that part; the gathers of the flounces are preserved between the flat parts. The interval between the ribbons is equal to twice their width. The under-sleeves follow the shape of the others, and have two rows of _Alençon_ lace.

We have nothing new to report respecting the Bloomer costume. The following clever parody of Hamlet’s soliloquy, is quite ingenious:

To wear or not to wear the Bloomer costume, that’s the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in us girls to suffer
The inconveniences of the long-skirt dress,
Or cut it off against these muddy troubles,
And, by the cutting, end them. ’Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To don the pants:—
The pants! perchance the boots! Ay, there’s the rub.
For in those pants and boots what jeers may come,
When we have shuffled off these untold skirts
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long a custom,
For who could bear the scoffs and jeers of boys—
The old maid’s scandal—the young man’s laughter—
The sidelong leers, and derision’s mock,
The insolent press, and all the spurns
We Bloomers of these boobies take!
Who would the old dress wear,
To groan and toil under the weary load,
But that the dread of something after it—
Of ankles large, of crooked leg, from which
Not all escape, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather wear the dress we have
Than turn out Bloomers.

FOOTNOTES

1 Entered according to Act of Congress.

2 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by Harper
and Brothers, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the
Southern District of New York.

3 Concluded from the January Number.

4 Arsenic produces an increased salivation.

5 Continued from the January Number.

6 This is from McCulloch; but the home-consumption duty was lowered in
1842, from 6d. to 3d. per lb., and the consumption is now in all
probability much greater.