Chapter XXII: Part 22

Aaron Burr; General Jackson; John Jacob Astor; Stephen Girard; La Fayette; Audubon; the Barings; Robert Fulton; David Parish; Samuel Swartwout; Lord Aberdeen; Peter K. Wagner; Napoleon; Paul Delaroche; Sir Francis Chantry; Queen Victoria; Horace Vernet; Major General Scott; Mr. Saul; Lafitte; John Quincy Adams; Edward Livingston; John R. Grymes; Auguste Davezac; General Moreau; Gouverneur Morris; J. J. Ouvrard; Messrs. Hope & Co.; General Claiborne; Marshal Soult; Chateaubriand; Le Roy de Chaumont; Duke of Wellington; William M. Price; P. C. Labouchere; Ingres; Charles VI., of Spain; Marshal Blucher; Nicholas Biddle; Manuel Godoy; Villele; Lord Eldon; Emperor Alexander, etc. etc.

“He seldom looks at the bright side of a character, and dearly loves--he confesses it--a bit of scandal. But he paints well, describes well, seizes characteristics which make clear to the reader the nature of the man whom they illustrate.”

The memoirs of a man of a singularly adventurous and speculative turn, who entered upon the occupations of manhood early, and retained its energies late; has been an eye-witness of not a few of the important events that occurred in Europe and America between the years 1796 and 1850, and himself a sharer in more than one of them; who has been associated, or an agent in some of the largest commercial and financial operations that British and Dutch capital and enterprise ever ventured upon, and has been brought into contact and acquaintance--not unfrequently into intimacy--with a number of the remarkable men of his time. Seldom, either in print or in the flesh, have we fallen in with so restless, versatile and excursive a genius as Vincent Nolte, Esq., of Europe and America--no more limited address will sufficiently express his cosmopolitan domicile.--_Blackwood’s Magazine._

As a reflection of real life, a book stamped with a strong personal character, and filled with unique details of a large experience of private and public interest, we unhesitatingly call attention to it as one of the most note-worthy productions of the day.--_New York Churchman._

Our old merchants and politicians will find it very amusing, and it will excite vivid reminiscences of men and things forty years ago. We might criticise the hap-hazard and dare-devil spirit of the author, but the raciness of his anecdotes is the result of these very defects.--_Boston Transcript._

His autobiography presents a spicy variety of incident and adventure, and a great deal of really useful and interesting information, all the more acceptable for the profusion of anecdote and piquant scandal with which it is interspersed.--_N. Y. Jour. of Commerce._

Not the least interesting portion of the work, to us here, is the narration of Nolte’s intercourse with our great men, and his piquant and occasionally ill-natured notice of their faults and foibles.--_N. Y. Herald._

It is a vivid chronicle of varied and remarkable experiences, and will serve to rectify the errors which too often pass among men as veritable history.--_Evening Post._

The anecdotes, declamations, sentiments, descriptions, and whole tone of the book, are vivacious and genuine, and, making allowance for obvious prejudices, graphic and reliable. To the old it will be wonderfully suggestive, to the young curiously informing, and to both rich in entertainment.--_Boston Atlas._

As an amusing narrative, it would be difficult to find its superior; but the book has peculiar interest from the freedom with which the author shows up our American notorieties of the past forty years.--_Courier._

THE UNITED STATES JAPAN EXPEDITION.

An Account of Three Visits to the Japanese Empire, with Sketches of Madeira, St. Helena, Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Ceylon, Singapore, China, and Loo-Choo. By Col. J. W. SPALDING, of the United States Steam Frigate Mississippi, Flag-ship of the Expedition, with eight Illustrations in Tint. 12mo., cloth, $1 25.

The book embraces a novel field in “Japan,” and a wide one in the world, but the author has made a long voyage seem a short one, in the interest which his graphic and instructive pen has thrown about every league of his progress. The style is flowing and animated--Japan and the Japanese are dashed off in life-like pictures. We advise all who have the slightest curiosity to become acquainted with that secluded and remarkable people, and to obtain a connected and spirited account of the great American Expedition to Japan, to purchase the admirable work of Col. Spalding.--_Rich. Dispatch._

Col. Spalding is a man whose character in the community in which he has heretofore resided places him above suspicion, so that his narrative may be implicitly trusted. He is withal a racy writer, and a person gifted with very uncommon powers of observation.--_Baltimore Patriot._

It describes all that the intelligent author saw, in a clear and very agreeable manner, and mentions many things of a personal character, which, of course, would form no part of an official report.--_Baltimore American._

There is a freshness and vividness in his descriptions which makes the book more than commonly attractive.--_Puritan Recorder._

Mr. Spalding writes with great ease and perspicuity. His powers of description are fully adequate to any occasion which requires their exertion, as is abundantly evidenced in the present work.--_Petersburg Intelligencer._

A very readable journal of the Japan Expedition, by an officer which, though aiming only at re-producing the impressions of the writer’s mind, gives a good view of the strange scenes and characters which the opening of that country disclosed.--_N. Y. Evan._

Mr. Spalding’s work gives the results of his observations precisely as they occurred to him at the time, his mind being singularly unbiassed by the enthusiasm of those by whom he was surrounded. He looks upon things with a cool, discriminating eye, neither over-estimating nor undervaluing the advantages of our new relations.--_N. Y. Herald._

It is the first account of Perry’s Expedition, and will always be more popular than any government report.--_St. Louis Leader._

“Every Inch a King.”--_Harper’s Magazine._

The Private Life of an Eastern King, from the MS. of a member of the household of his late Majesty, Nussir-u-Deen, King of Oude. By WM. KNIGHTON, author of “Forest Life in Ceylon,” &c. 12mo., cloth, 75 cents.

The whole story reads like a lost chapter from the Arabian Nights.--_Lon. Athenæum._

Gives a better insight into purely eastern manners than any work we know of.--_London News of the World._

This amusing volume lets the reader very much behind the scenes, as regards haut ton in Asia. Since the appearance of the Arabian Nights, there has been no such exposition of the sayings and doings of eastern royalty.--_N. Y. Daily Times._

Lucknow, the capital, is noted for its extraordinary menagerie of wild animals, and one of the chief amusements of the court appears to have been to witness them fight. Some very exciting contests are narrated, and the book contains much of interest to the sportsman. It also conveys a vivid picture of eastern manners, as seen in all their familiarity; and some of the adventures recorded are scarcely less wonderful than those of Hajji Baba.--_Boston Traveller._

The career of the cabin-boy barber, who exercised such great influence over the crown, and so much to his own advantage, having amassed the sum of £240,000 before he returned, is a very curious one, and well told. On the whole, this is one of the most amusing books of the season.--_Boston Telegraph._

He lifts the curtain and unfolds the minutiæ of the daily life of an absolute sovereign. We learn more of eastern manners and Hindoo peculiarities than from stately historians or elaborate geographies. We can commend it as an entertaining volume.--_Religious Herald Richmond. Va._

Transcriber's Notes:

Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.

Bold type is shown thus: =shout=.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.

Perceived typographical errors have been changed.