Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

"Probably the time is not far distant when the arts and
sciences, and even literary genius, may be deemed no less
worthy of this distinction than the slaughter of a thousand
men. But how, in the midst of our vast expenditure, spare so
prodigious a sum as five hundred a year to six, and three
hundred a year to six more!"

* * * * *

A MR. CHUBB has published in London, in a small volume, a paper which he read before the Institution of Civil Engineers, on the construction of locks and keys. It embraces a history of the lock and key from the earliest ages, illustrated profusely with wood cuts. It forms an instructive and entertaining essay; but we think Mr. Chubb might have learned something more of the subject in the lock factories of Newark and this city.

* * * * *

MR. TICKNOR'S History of Spanish Literature has been translated into German, and is announced for publication by Brockhaus.

* * * * *

MR. DICKEN'S "David Copperfield" is at length completed, and Mr. Wiley has published it in two handsome volumes, profusely illustrated. There is a variety of opinions among the critics as to its rank among the works of "Boz"; but it is not contended by any that it evinces a decay of his extraordinary and peculiar genius. We copy a paragraph which strikes us as just, from the _Spectator_:

"This story has less of London life and town-bred character
than most of its predecessors; but what may thus be gained in
variety is lost in raciness, breadth, and effect. The peculiar
classes forced into existence by the hotbed of a great city,
and owing a part of their gusto to town usage, may be narrow
enough if compared with general nature, but they are broader
than the singularities whom Mr. Dickens copies or invents as
representatives of genteel country life, or human nature in
general. In the mere style there is frequently an
improvement--less effort and greater ease, with occasional
touches of the felicity of Goldsmith; but we should have
thought the work was likely to be less popular than many of the
previous tales of Mr. Dickens, as well as rather more open to
unfavorable criticism. Any prose fiction that is to take rank
in the first class, must have what in epic poetry is called a
fable,--some lesson of life embodied in a story that combines
the utile and the dulce. This fable should not only please the
reader by its succession of coherent events, and by the variety
of its persons and fortunes, but should touch by appeals to the
common kinship of humanity, and teach worldly conduct of
ethical lessons by particular incidents, as well as by the
general development. And when this end is attained, whether by
design or instinct, technical rules are readily forgotten; even
the great rule of unity of action can be dispensed with. It
does not appear that Mr. Dickens has the critical training
necessary to feel the importance of this principle, or a
knowledge of life sufficiently deep and extensive to enable him
to embody it unconsciously, as a well-chosen story will always
compel an author to do. So far as _David Copperfield_ appears
designed with any other object than as a vehicle for writing a
number of sketches, it would seem intended to trace the London
career of an inexperienced young man, with infirmity of
purpose, a dangerous friend, and no very experienced advisers.
Any purpose of this kind is only prosecuted by snatches; "the
theme" is constantly deserted, and matters are introduced that
have no connection with the hero further than his being present
at them, or their occurring to his acquaintance. In fact, from
the time that David Copperfield emerges from boyhood, the
interest in _his_ adventures ceases, beyond that sort of
feeling which many readers entertain of wishing to know 'how it
ends.'"

* * * * *

MR. DAVID DUDLEY FIELD, of this city, one of the three commissioners who prepared the amended Code of the State of New-York, abolishing the distinction in procedure between law and equity, being in England for a brief visit, was invited by the leading members of the Law Amendment Society to give some account of the great changes effected here in the administration of justice. He complied, and a meeting of the Society was summoned specially to hear him. The result is much remarked upon in nearly all the London journals. Mr. Field is a clear headed man, master of his subject, perspicuous in his rhetoric, and distinct in his elocution, so that our new constitution was most advantageously displayed before his learned and critical hearers. The _Spectator_ says of the subject:

"The visit of Mr. Dudley Field to England, and his interesting
statements to the members of our Law Amendment Society, are
real events in the progress of law reform in this country. The
injustice which the English people submit to in the revered
name of Law, and in the sacred but in their case profaned name
of Equity, is more enormous than the future historian will be
able remotely to conceive. The keystone of the barbarous Gothic
portal to Justice in our common-law procedure was struck out
some twenty years ago, when the logical forms of legal contest
were reduced to their now moderate number; other heavy blows
have further undermined the ruin, and almost cleared away
whatever was feudal in that portion of the edifice; and then
came the raising of the new and noble portal of the County
Courts. Still, in all but the most trivial litigation the delay
and expense are such that justice can only be had at a
percentage utterly disgraceful to a nation either honest or
merely clearheaded and commercial. We still preserve a
diversity of tribunals, to administer laws that ought not to be
inharmonious; and we are prevented from making the laws
harmonious by the difficulties of finding tribunals able to
rule the concord and administer the whole field of law as a
single empire. In this case, as in a multitude of others, our
young relations across the Atlantic have done that which we
only longed to do. In this rivalry of nations, far above all
other rivalries, they have pushed development of institutions
which they received from forefathers common to us both, to a
more rapid perfection than we. Mr. Dudley Field is one of three
men who framed a constitutional law for the State of New York,
under which the courts of legal and equitable jurisdiction have
been successfully merged; the enactment has succeeded in
practical working; and the spectacle of "Equity swallowing up
Law" has been so edifying to the citizens of his State, that
three other States of the Union have resolved to enact, and
four further States have appointed conferences to deliberate
upon, a similar procedure. It is impossible--however
narrow-minded lawyers may object--that what Americans find
practicable and beneficial should be either impracticable or
disadvantageous to Englishmen."

* * * * *

A second part of the "Historical Collections of Louisiana," by B. F. French, has been published by Mr. Putnam. It contains some interesting papers, among which are translations of an original letter of Hernando de Soto, on the Conquest of Florida, of a brief account of de Soto's memorable expedition to Florida, from a recently discovered manuscript by a writer named Biedma, and Hackluyt's translation of the longer narrative "by a gentleman of Elvas." It is to be followed, we understand, by a second volume.

* * * * *

ELIHU BURRITT is one of those people who are filled with the comfortable assurance of their own greatness. He seems always to regard the mob of men as very diminutive creatures, while his introverted glances are through a lens which reveals a character of qualities and proportions the most extraordinary. This is unfortunate. It renders Mr. Elihu Burritt, _par excellence_, the bore of his generation. He is really a person of very small abilities; of very little information, considering the opportunities presented by his travels; and the "_learned_ blacksmith" has no learning at all. He had, indeed, an unusual facility in acquiring words, but he knows nothing of languages; not having in any a particle of scholarship; of the philosophy, even of his mother tongue, being as ignorant as the bellows-hand in his smithy at Worcester. But because of this not uncommon faculty of acquiring words--acquiring them as Zerah Colburn did a certain mastery of figures, without being able to comprehend any principle of mathematics--Mr. Everett, or some one else, advertised him as "learned," and ever since he has neglected his fit vocation to crowd himself into conspicuous places, all over Christendom; to blow continually his penny whistle in the ears of the little people called philanthropists; to speak and write in addresses and letters immense aggregations of ambitious platitudes, to pontiffs, emperors, kings, parliaments, etc., respecting their particular affairs, all of which addresses and letters are as cogent as the barkings sent by a lap-dog toward the moon, and receive from all sorts of people, except diminutives and impertinents whose profession is "philanthropy," just about as much consideration as Dian yields to the fast-yelping cur. It is all unfortunate, for poor Elihu Burritt will never be persuaded that he is a subject of derision only, instead of admiration; that men pause to regard him as a miracle of conceit and assurance rather than as a prophet; and that his commonplaces about "olive leaves," "calumets," "universal brotherhood," "fatherland," etc., have no more influence than the maudlin rigmarole of the madman whose preternatural force is lost in senility. It is time for Elihu Burritt to go back to his shop: the world wants a new fool.

* * * * *

JOHN MILLS, remembered by some unfortunate New-Yorkers as John _St. Hugh_ Mills, has written half a dozen tolerable novels since he went home, and he is now publishing, in the _United Service Magazine_, a series of papers illustrative of his American travels, in which he illustrates his knowledge and veracity by certain anecdotes, which are described as having occurred on "_the western prairies of Louisiana_."

* * * * *

PRESIDENT HITCHCOCK, of Amherst College, who is capable of a very conclusive treatment of the subject, has in the press of Philips & Sampson, a work on the connection of Geology and Religion.

* * * * *

DR. LATHAM'S very important work on the "Varieties of Man," we are glad to hear is to be republished by the Appletons. Though much less voluminous than the work of Pritchard, and therefore less particular generally in its illustrations, it may be regarded as decidedly the most masterly and satisfactory production that has yet appeared in ethnology. The prospect of its republication affords us the more satisfaction, because the superficial and flippant infidelity of Dr. Robert Knox has been reproduced here by a respectable publishing house, and widely diffused. The "Races of Man," by Dr. Knox, is what is called a clever book; the Yankees might style it "smart;" but it is no more entitled to consideration as an exhibition of scholarship, intellectual strength, or fairness, than the rigmarole of the Millerite or the Mormon.

* * * * *

THE HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW AND QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, is a new periodical, commencing with the year, of which the general character is indicated by the title. It is edited by Dr. Marcy, author of "The Homoeopathic Theory and Practice," one of the most eminent scholars and successful practitioners of the new school; Dr. Herring, of Philadelphia, whose name is familiar to the students of German literature and science, and who was one of the most trusted friends of Hahnemann; and Dr. Metcalfe, who has been known as an able lawyer and ingenious critic, and who is regarded as a very accomplished physician. Under such direction, the Homoeopathic Review can hardly fail of success. It will certainly, we think, commend the doctrines of the Hahnemannists to the favorable consideration of all thoughtful readers, and compel those who have been accustomed to deride the new principles to a courteous treatment of them. Mr. Radde is the publisher.

* * * * *

The cheapness of good books and good editions is one of the wonders of our time. American publishers have done much toward bringing literature into the homes of the poor, but the cheap books manufactured in this country have, for the most part, been badly printed, and in every respect so wretchedly put together, that they were hardly worth preserving after a first reading. The English are now competing vigorously for the popular market here, and mainly, through the house of Bangs & Brother of this city. Bohn and other great London publishers are supplying us with well printed, well bound, and excellently illustrated books, at prices altogether lower than those for which the American manufacturers have offered or can afford them. To sell such a book as _Lodge's Portrait Gallery_, in eight volumes, with all its finely engraved heads, for ten dollars, one must have the world for a market; and so with the long list of important writings in the compactly but correctly and elegantly printed volumes of Bohn's Standard Library--the best and cheapest popular series ever issued in any country.

* * * * *

Many very correct writers are very poor authors, and there are abundance of good books with imperfect rhetoric; yet we have a right to ask some attention to the details of style in a literary critic. Professor Henry Reed has a delicate appreciation in poetry, but his remarks are nearly always marred by verbal infelicities incompatible with a knowledge of literary art. Thus, within a few pages of his Memoir of Gray, just published, he says of Jacob Bryant, who has been dead a century, that "he _has_ recorded;" that "Gray retained a high admiration of Dryden's poetry, _as_ was strongly expressed," &c.; that an ode published in 1747, "being the first publication _of_ his English verse" (meaning his first publication in English verse); that Gray could not "break through the circumspection of so contracted a system of metaphysics _as that of Locke's_;" that "it is apparent from what Gray _has_ done" (as if Gray were now living, or present), &c. &c. &c. &c. &c., all through every thing he publishes. Such things in a professor of mathematics would attract no attention, but they will be observed in a "Professor of English Literature."

* * * * *

Mr. BANCROFT is not, as we were led by some newspaper to state in the _International_, engaged in printing his History of the Revolution; and when he does give it to the press, it is by no means likely that he will have to leave New-York to find a publisher for it. The History of the Colonization of America--introductory to the History of the United States--has secured for Mr. Bancroft a place among the greatest historians; he has now the assurance that he is writing for other ages; and he will not endanger his fame, nor fail of the utmost perfection in his work, for any needless haste. This second part of his History will probably occupy five volumes; and although the story has been written by many hands, with more or less fulness and various degrees of justice, Mr. Bancroft will have studied it from beginning to end in the original materials, of which his collection is by far the best that has ever been made. If upon this field any one successfully competes with him for the historic wreath, he must come after him, and be guided by his light.

* * * * *

HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT, LL. D., is occupied, as his official duties permit, in the composition of memoirs of his long and honorably distinguished life. His great work upon the History and Condition of the Indians, now in press, and to be published in some half-dozen splendid quarto volumes by Lippencott, Grambo & Co., of Philadelphia, will contain the fruits of his observations in that department which he has made so peculiarly his own, and upon which he will always be the chief and highest authority; but his personal adventures, and his reminiscences of his contemporaries, will form the subject of this additional performance.

* * * * *

DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON, the father of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Connecticut, and the first President of King's College, now Columbia College, in New-York, was one of the most interesting characters in our social history. His abilities, learning, activity, and influence, entitle him to be ranked in the class of Franklin (who was his friend and correspondent, and who printed, at his press in Philadelphia, several of his works), as a promoter of the highest civilization in the colonies. Except the Memoirs of Franklin, we have hitherto had no more attractive specimen of biography than the book known as Dr. Chandler's Life of Dr. Johnson. Franklin's Memoirs, it is well known, never came before the public in the form in which they were written, until a few years ago, and it has lately been discovered that Dr. Johnson's had suffered a similar disadvantage. Dr. Johnson amused himself in his old age by writing recollections of his life and times, which, after his death, were placed in the hands of Dr. Chandler, who changed them from the first to the third person, omitted many particulars which he did not deem it expedient to publish, and added others which the modesty of Dr. Johnson had not allowed him to write. The book thus made by Dr. Chandler was printed by his son-in-law, the late Bishop Hobart, who probably was not aware of its origin. But Dr. Johnson's MS. has now been discovered, and it will immediately be given to the public, under the supervision of the Rev. Mr. Pitkin, of Connecticut, who is adding to it many notes and illustrative documents. It is very much to be regretted that so little of the extensive correspondence of Dr. Johnson with the chief persons of his time in the literary and the religious world abroad, has been preserved; but the book will contain numerous letters by his more eminent contemporaries which have not appeared elsewhere.

* * * * *

Somebody has made the "discovery" that General Charles Lee, of the revolutionary army, was not unwilling to be considered the author of "Junius;" and two or three of our contemporaries have been busy with the subject of the internal and other evidence in the case. These critics are about as wise as the editor of an evening paper who published one of the old Washington forgeries, lately, as an important historical document. It was "characteristic," that the chief wrote so familiarly to his wife of affairs! In the same way, the history of the _Book of Mormon_ (originally composed as a religious novel by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding), appears as a curious and altogether new exposure! We shall not be surprised if the same journals advise us that Walter Scott wrote the Waverley Novels.

* * * * *

EMILIE GIRARDIN has a new book _L'Abolition de la Misere_, in which he proposes the entire abolition of suffering. He has "found the philosopher's stone."

* * * * *

Somebody is writing for the _United Service_, "Reminiscences of a Voyage to Canada," and we have looked into a couple of his chapters to see what sort of stuff, respecting America, is thus submitted to the officers of her Majesty's Army and Navy. The style of a fellow who talks of his "fellow countrymen" (not meaning, as the words do, persons who live with him in rural neighborhoods), is scarcely deserving of criticism; but the silliness of the falsehoods of this latest English traveller among us, may be referred to as illustrating the causes of the common prejudices in England against the United States. After describing his arrival at the Tremont House, in Boston, he says:

"A clerk [meaning our old friend Parker], dressed in the height
of fashion, presided at the bar [meaning the office] at which
we applied for rooms, wherein to perform our duties of the
toilet. The one to which I was directed contained several beds
without curtains, from which the occupants had evidently but a
short time previously taken their departure. This was however a
matter of indifference, as I imagined the apartment would have
been entirely at my own disposal. In the course of a few
minutes however, the door was opened, and in walked an
individual, who, depositing a small carpet bag on the floor,
commenced operations of a similar nature to those I myself was
engaged in--not a word was at first exchanged between us; he
eyed me critically, I returned the compliment, till at length I
was favored with 'Stranger, I guess you are from Europe' (a
strong accent on the last syllable), immediately followed by
questions as to where I was going, what was my business, &c.
This was somewhat amusing, so I informed my gentleman I was
journeying to New-York, whereupon he told me I should see an
'almighty fine city.' His curiosity being next attracted by my
portmanteau, which was lying open on a chair, he strode up and
peered into it most attentively. Thinking I might as well
follow his example, I did the same by his carpet bag; whereupon
giving a grunt of dissatisfaction, he collected his valuables
and soon after took himself off."

Thirty years ago, the Duke of Saxe Weimar published a western story of a coachman who said, "I am the gentleman what's to drive you." Our very original _United Service_ tourist tells of a visit to Mount Auburn, and adds:

"Whilst driving back to the hotel I happened to remark, 'That
is the _man_ who drove us from the steamer in the morning.'
Upon which 'Jehu' quickly replied, 'I reckon I'm the
_gentleman_ that drove you.' This information was received on
our part with all the respect due to the elevated rank of our
charioteer."

In a paragraph about luggage:

"The American trunk is a ponderous solid affair made of wood,
secured with braces of iron, studded with brass or iron nails,
and usually having the name or initials of the owner, and
frequently the state of which he is a native, painted on it in
large white letters. Owing to this custom, the traveller is
liable to be addressed by any peculiarity appertaining to his
trunk being affixed thereto. Thus a gentleman passing through
the states, found himself designated as 'Mr. Air Tight,'
because this simple term was marked on the outside of a
tin-box, and no affirmations on his part could induce the
bystanders to believe to the contrary. They 'reckoned it was on
his box,' and that was sufficient."

Of the personal appearance of the Americans:

"To a stranger newly arrived from England, the absence of fresh
complexions and of bright and cheerful faces among the male
part of the creation is very striking. They are gaunt, sallow,
cadaverous looking creatures; their general, far from
prepossessing, appearance, in no way improved by the habit of
wearing long, straight hair, combed entirely off the face, the
bare throat, the never absent 'quid,' and that abominably nasty
habit of constant expectoration."

And this trash is from one of the most reputable periodicals published in London--the one of all most especially addressed to _gentlemen_.

In the next number of his "Reminiscences" the author promises a sketch of the city of New-York, for which his authority will probably be Mrs. Trolloppe, Mr. Joseph Miller, and the last pick-pocket who went home to London.

* * * * *

The "Peace Congress," in which we have most faith--the only one that is likely to exert any very desirable influence, is that to assemble next year in Hyde Park. This will be a display of works rather than one of words; and _apropos_ of its lingual character, which will show very conclusively that as yet "all the nations of the earth" are not "as one people," we find in _The Leader_ this paragraph:

"The Exhibition of 1851, seems to promise a whole literature of its own. Journals are already established for the record of its proceedings. Useful information will be at a premium--unless there should happen to be a "glut;" while in the shape of translations and dialogue-books, every facility will be offered to foreigners. What a Babel it will be! How the English ear will be rasped by Slavonic and Teutonic gutturals, or distended by the breadth of Southern vowels. It will be a marvel if this incursion of barbarians do not very much affect the purity of our own tongue, and damage the tender susceptibility of the London ear, already so delicate that when an actor says--as it _sometimes_ happens--"_Donnar Elvirar_ is coming," the whole audience rises in a mass to protest against the outrages on taste. We are told the Athenians were also merciless critics in such matters. Nay, there is a famous anecdote perpetually cited as an illustration of Athenian delicacy in matters of pronunciation, that Theophrastus was known to be a foreigner even by a herbseller. People who wonder at every thing recorded of the Greeks, will regard us probably as reckless iconoclasts if we break that by a stone flung from common sense; but really, with the daily experience of Scotchmen and Irishmen before us, we must say the most wonderful part of the anecdote is, that it should have been recorded. Theophrastus came from Lesbos--if we remember rightly--and his pronunciation, therefore, naturally preserved some of the Lesbian flavor, as Carlyle's does that of Annandale. Would any critic compliment the cockney on delicacy of ear because it detects the accent of Carlyle, or Sheridan Knowles, to be other than its own true London accent? Yet, this is precisely what critics do with respect to the Athenians."

* * * * *

MILTON, BURKE, MAZZINI, and DANIEL WEBSTER, present the most extraordinary examples of the harmonious and effective combination of political and literary genius, that have appeared in modern times. There have been and there are now many politicians who are eminent as authors: but these are preeminently great in both statesmanship and letters. Mazzini is now the chief apostle of republicanism in Europe, as Milton was in the time of the Protector. He devises and executes the schemes which promise advances of liberty and happiness, and he is equal to the defence with the pen of every thing he essays in affairs. "Young Italy," since it was put down by French bayonets, has had as little quarter from parasite writers as from patristic governors; but Mazzini has come to her defence with as vigorous a pen as that with which Milton vindicated the people of England against the hireling Salmasius, under similar circumstances. In another part of this number of the _International_, we have copied from the London _Examiner_ a reviewal of Mazzini's work on the Italian revolution. We should be glad to see it criticised by Mr. Walsh also, or by Professor Bowen, in his _North American Review_.

* * * * *

Since SIR FRANCIS HEAD went home from Canada, and finished the last edition of his "Bubbles" and "Travels," and the funny anathema of poor Mr. William Lyon Mackenzie, in the _Times_, he has been very quiet, except now and then, when he has given an explosive and amusing paper in the _Quarterly_. But now he has published a new book, on "The Defenceless State of Great Britain," in which, the _Examiner_ says "he has made up for lost time." Says the critic, "It is calculated to rouse all the old women in the country. Such a fee-fa-fum of a book we never read. The Duke's letter to Sir John Burgoyne was nothing to it, and it beats even Lord Ellesmere hollow." The baronet thinks every thing portends a French invasion, and he advocates the largest "war footing."

* * * * *

The REV. DR. BLOOMFIELD, whose edition of the Greek Testament is so well known in this country, has just published two volumes of additional Notes, critical, philological, and explanatory, in fulfilment of a promise made in the third edition of his New Testament, in 1839. This promise was, that he would make no further change in the notes to the New Testament, but reserve all additions for a separate supplementary work. That work, after the direct labor of eleven years, is now published; forming a companion to all the editions of Bloomfield's Greek Testament except the first two. The annotations relate to a critical examination of the readings of the text, with the reasons for that selected, philological notes on the meaning of words, and exegetical annotations on the verbal interpretations of passages.

* * * * *

MR. COOPER has a new book in press which, in New-York, will produce a profounder sensation, than any he has yet written. It is entitled "The Men of Manhattan," and reveals the social condition of the city, past and present, as it is known only to the author of "The Littlepage Manuscripts." Mr. Cooper is a thorough New-Yorker; he is intimately acquainted with all the sources of her past and present and prospective greatness; and he has watched, with such emotions as none but a gentleman of the old school can feel, the infusion and gradual diffusion of those principles of plebeianism and ruffianism, from discontented improvidence, immigration, and other causes, which threaten to destroy whatever has justified the wisest pride; and to sink--not raise--all the mob of people to a common level. He has his whims, and though they have won for him little popularity, we regret that they are not shared more largely by the public, which will never appreciate his merits as a censor, until the best features of our civilization are quite obliterated.

* * * * *

MR. JUDD, the author of "Margaret," an original, indigenous, striking, and in many respects brilliant New-England story, and of "Philo," a crude, extravagant, ridiculous mass of versified verbiage, has lately published (through Phillips & Sampson, of Boston,) a new work entitled "Richard Edney, or the Governor's Family; a Rus-Urban Tale, simple and popular, yet cultured and noble, of morals, sentiment and life." It is worthy of the author of "Margaret." Though it evinces very little of the constructive faculty, it illustrates in every page a quick and intelligent observation, a happy talent for characterization, and great independence in speculation.

* * * * *

Mr. C. P. CASTANIS, formerly known in this country as an agreeable lecturer upon various subjects connected with Modern Greece, has just published (through Lippencott, Grambo & Co., of Philadelphia), a narrative of his captivity and escape during the massacre by the Turks on the Island of Scio, together with various adventures in Greece and America.

* * * * *

MR. E. G. SQUIER, whose large work upon American antiquities, published by the Smithsonian Institute, made for him a most desirable reputation, is now engaged in the preparation of an elaborate work upon the remains of ancient civilization in Central America, to contain the results of investigations during his recent official residence there.

* * * * *

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE'S new work, "The House of Seven Gables," is in the press of Ticknor, Reed & Fields, of Boston.

* * * * *

MISS FENIMORE COOPER, whose beautiful work entitled "Rural Hours in America" has been so much and so justly applauded, has a new volume in the press of Putnam.

* * * * *

In the new novel of "Olive," republished by the Harpers, (which is much praised by the London critics), the heroine, who has a lofty, noble nature, full of poetic feeling and enthusiasm for art, determines to devote herself to its study, urged on by a desire of liquidating a debt contracted by her father. _Apropos_ of the purpose of her life, and the sphere of her sex:

"She became an artist--not in a week, a month, a year. Art
exacts of its votaries no less service than a lifetime. But in
her girl's soul the right chord had been touched, which began
to vibrate into noble music, the true seed had been sown, which
day by day grew into a goodly plant. Vanbrugh had said truly,
that genius is of no sex; and he had said likewise truly, that
no woman can be an artist--that is, a great artist. The
hierarchies of the soul's dominion belong only to man, and it
is right they should. He it was whom God created first, let him
take pre-eminence. But among those stars of lesser glory, which
are given to lighten the nations, among sweet-voiced poets,
earnest prose writers, who, by lofty truth that lies hid
beneath legend and parable, purify the world, graceful painters
and beautiful musicians, each brightening their generation with
serene and holy lustre--among these, let woman shine! But her
sphere is, and ever must be, bounded; because, however lofty
her genius may be, it always dwells in a woman's breast.
Nature, which gave to man the dominion of the intellect, gave
to her that of the heart and affections. These bind her with
everlasting links from which she cannot free herself,--nay, she
would not if she could. Herein man has the advantage. He,
strong in his might of intellect, can make it his all in all,
his life's sole aim and guerdon. A Brutus, for that ambition
which is misnamed patriotism, can trample on all human ties. A
Michael Angelo can stand alone with his genius, and so go
sternly down into a desolate old age. But there scarce ever
lived the woman who would not rather sit meekly by her own
hearth, with her husband at her side, and her children at her
knee, than be the crowned Corinne of the Capitol.

"Thus woman, seeking to strive with man, is made feebler by the
very spirit of love which in her own sphere is her chiefest
strength. But sometimes chance, or circumstance, or wrong,
sealing up her woman's nature, converts her into a
self-dependant human soul. Instead of life's sweetness, she has
before her life's greatness. The struggle passed, her genius
may lift itself upward, expand and grow mighty; never so mighty
as man's, but still great and glorious. Then, even while she
walks over the world's rough pathway, heaven's glory may rest
upon her up-turned brow, and she may become a light unto her
generation."

* * * * *

DAUTZENBERG, a Flemish poet, has issued at Brussels a volume of small compositions, which, apart from freshness of fancy and beauty of thought, are remarkable for the correctness and smoothness of their form. The Flemish tongue is used by him with a lyrical success that would reflect honor on a writer in the more melodious dialects of Southern Europe. He has also licked that jaw-cracking tongue so far into shape, that it serves for regular hexameters.

* * * * *

MISS STRICKLAND'S LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND, republished by Lea & Blanchard of Philadelphia, in ten or twelve volumes, is a work of very great interest and value, for its illustrations of the higher and progressive British civilization. Her Lives of the Queens of Scotland, soon to be issued from the press of the Harpers, resembles generally her former work, by the success of which it was probably suggested, as much as by the desirableness of the biographies of the Northern Queens, as "adjuncts" to the lives of those of England. A good deal of matter was collected in reference to the later Queens of Scotland during the biographer's researches for the Queens of England; and this, augmented by further inquiries among public and private archives, especially among the muniment-chests of noble Scottish families, forms the materials of the present undertaking. The "lives" do not begin till the Tudor times, when the nearer relationship with England imparts a greater interest to the subject, not only from the closer communication between the courts, but from the prospects of the Scottish succession to the English crown.

* * * * *

JOHN S. DWIGHT, of Boston, has recently delivered an admirable lecture before the Mercantile Library Association of this city, on "Operatic Music," illustrated by a critical examination of Rossini's _Don Giovanni_. Mr. Dwight's rare musical learning and accomplishments, his exquisite taste in art, and his remarkable felicity of expression, were displayed to singular advantage in this masterly lecture, and won the cordial applauses of the most appreciative critics in his large and highly intelligent audience.

* * * * *

A History of the Greek Revolution is soon to be given to the public by Baron PROKESH OSTEN, who for many years was Austrian ambassador at Athens, and who now fills the same office at Berlin. Of course his book will be published at Vienna.

* * * * *

A NEW EDITION OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF GOeETHE, in thirty volumes (it would look much better and be far more convenient in fifteen), is advertised in Berlin. Two volumes are ready, and the whole are to be issued before the close of 1851.

* * * * *

W. G. SIMMS, LL. D., is referred to in the _Southern Literary Gazette_ as having delivered in Charleston lately an elaborate poem entitled "The City of the Silent," on the occasion of the consecration of a beautiful rural cemetery near that city.

* * * * *

DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES is writing a biographical sketch of the late Dr. Parkman, to form a part of a work called "The Benefactors of the Medical School of Harvard University," of which the poet is himself one of the professors.

* * * * *

PIERRE DUPONT, the Parisian Socialist poet, has lately issued a new book containing six songs that have not before been published. Dupont is as much a favorite with the people as Beranger, and though he does not equal the latter in originality of fancy and gayety of spirit, he even excels him in revolutionary point and enthusiasm. His songs are heard in every workshop and at every popular banquet, their words and music are universally familiar, and when the clubs were permitted, each meeting was opened and closed with a song of Dupont's, the whole audience joining in the chorus. This was done instinctively and without previous arrangement. It often happened, too, that after some orator had delivered an ardent speech, Dupont would appear at the tribune with a new song which he had composed on the inspiration of the moment. Now each new political event is sure of a response from this poet; one of his late productions is the _Chant du Vote_ (vote song), in which he denounces the attempt of the Government to destroy universal suffrage. Perhaps his most powerful production is the _Marsellaise of Hunger_; the hold this has taken on the public may be judged from the fact, that when at the theatre of the Porte St. Martin a piece was performed, called _Misery_, founded on incidents in the Irish famine, when the curtain went down at the end of the first act, the beholders spontaneously set up this song. So in the same theatre, when the piece representing the downfall of Rome was performed (this piece afterwards became famous through its prohibition by the Government), one of the spectators in the pit began the chorus of Dupont's Soldier's Song:

"Les peuples sont pour nous des freres
Et les tyrans des ennemis,"

the whole house joined in, and the performance had to be interrupted till the song was ended. The _Chant des Transportes_ wherever it is heard moves the people to tears and indignation. The Peasant's Song prophecies the time when independent industry shall render the earth blooming with fertility, and the corn and wine shall "be free as warmth in summer weather." While the majority of his poems are political and social, some of them are full of love and appreciation of outward nature. In one, the Romance of the Poplar, this sentiment is finely combined with the spirit of liberty.

* * * * *

ARAGO'S great work, which was some time since announced in the _International_, is now nearly complete and will soon be given to the public. The scientific and literary world of Europe expect it with impatience. It is said even that Alexander von Humboldt intends to be its translator into German, but this is not probable. It is also rumored that the author gives an appendix in which he for the moment abandons science for politics, in order to pay off some of the attacks he has suffered from Proudhon. Our own opinion is that he had better stick to his trade and leave Proudhon alone.

* * * * *

CHARLES SUMNER has published (through Ticknor, Reed & Fields of Boston,) two volumes of his "Orations and Addresses." Mr. Sumner is a scholar of the finest and rarest capacities and accomplishments. He is of the school of Everett, but has more earnestness, and consequently more compactness of expression, and more force. He enters heartily into all the 'progressive' movements of the day, and is of many the intellectual leader. His bravery is equal to every emergency into which he may be led by a search after truth, and to all combats he brings arms of the truest metal and most exquisite polish. There are in New-England many more fervid and powerful orators, but we know of none whose orations are delivered with a more pleasing eloquence. We have not leisure now to review Mr. Sumner's volumes; but if among our readers there are any who desire to see displayed the "very form and spirit" of the new age, we commend them to "The True Grandeur of Nations," and the other discourses, speeches, and essays, here published.

* * * * *

"THE MANHATTANER IN NEW-ORLEANS" is the title of a small volume, from the press of J. S. Redfield, which was written by an accomplished New-York lawyer who had resided some time in the Crescent City. It is a very graphic and delightful picture of the social life of the metropolis of the South; betraying a quick insight, a genial appreciation of what is manly, and fairness in regard to every thing. We have had need of such a book, for hitherto we northerners have generally known less of our southern neighbors than even Professor Bowen knew of the Hungarians, before Mrs. Putnam enlightened him. We are sorry that Mr. Hall, to whom we are indebted for "The Manhattaner in New-Orleans," intimates that it is the last book for the preparation of which he will ever have withdrawn his attention from the law.

* * * * *

"ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, MARGARET FULLER D'OSSOLI AND GEORGE SAND," is the title of an article in which the characters and genius of these three remarkable women is discussed, in the last number of _The Palladium_, a new English monthly.

* * * * *

IKE MARVEL'S "Reveries of a Bachelor," (printed by Baker & Scribner), appears to be the "book of the season." All the critics praise it as one of the choicest specimens of half-romance and half-essay, that has appeared in our time. But for ourselves--we have not read it.

* * * * *

The subject of "Junius" is again discussed in "Junius and his Works, Compared with the character and Writings of the Earl of Chesterfield," by W. Cramp, just published in London.

* * * * *

PARKE GODWIN'S beautiful story of "Vala," suggested by the career of Jenny Lind, has been issued in a luxurious quarto, by Putnam.

The Fine Arts.

GIFT FROM THE BAVARIAN ARTISTS TO KING LOUIS.--The artists and artisans of Munich have combined to make to ex-King Louis of Bavaria a gift such as monarchs have not often received. It consists of a writing-desk and album. The desk is of oak varnished, adorned with rich carving, and with locks and the Bavarian arms in gilt bronze enamel. The carving contains the most charming figures representing the various arts and trades. The album is bound in crimson velvet, the clasps and ornaments of gilt bronze. On the outside is a medallion, designed by Widnmann, set in brilliants, representing King Louis surrounded by artists. A smaller medallion stands in each corner, one representing architects with plans and models by Hautman; sculptors and bronze workers with the statue of Bavaria, by Halbig; historic painters by Esseling; and landscape and genre painters by Widnmann. Between the two upper medallions is a rich ornament with the arms of the four tribes of Bavaria in enamel, and the inscription "Louis I. King of Bavaria:" between the lower medallions is a similar ornament with "The German Artists, A. D. 1850." All the ornaments are in the old German style of the fifteenth century. In the Album are 177 sheets, each containing a contribution from some artist. The title-page is by Esseling. Kaulbach has a drawing of unusual freshness and beauty, representing the King calling to new life, at Rome, the neglected art of Germany. But we have not space to speak of the works of individual artists in this remarkable collection. It is enough to say that every distinguished painter and sculptor in Germany is represented in it.

* * * * *

CHARLES EASTLAKE has been chosen _President of the Royal Academy_, and the Queen has made him a knight. Sir Charles Eastlake is in some respects a great painter, and he has produced many works which evince very remarkable talents. Among the few pictures by him which evince _genius_, is that owned by Mr. Henry Carey Baird, of Philadelphia, of "Hagar and Ishmael." He has done something in literature, and from his own account of himself we quote, that, like Haydon, he was born at Plymouth, a soil congenial to art, for in its environs was also the birth-place of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Like Rembrandt, Reynolds, and so many before them, Eastlake showed an early aversion to the Latin Grammar. He fled the Charter-house school; and a glimpse of Haydon's picture of "The Dentatus," which was at that period exhibited at Plymouth, made him a painter. After studying in the Academy two years, under Fuseli, he produced "The Raising of Jairus's Daughter." This won him a patron, in Mr. Harman, by whom he was commissioned to make studies of the miracles of art, at that time collected in the Louvre by Napoleon. Here also Lawrence, Haydon, Wilkie, and we believe Allston also, came at this time to study. In the Louvre Eastlake made his first acquaintance with the wonders of Roman art. But the pleasant task of copying these old masters was relinquished on the sudden return of Napoleon from Elba. At a not much later period, the fallen hero became himself the subject of his pencil. Eastlake made a sketch of the ex-Emperor as he appeared from the gangway of the Bellerophon, when at anchor in Plymouth roads, interesting as the last delineation of a noble visage, then untinged with chagrin. In 1817 and 1819 he visited Italy and Greece, rather stirring up their living treasures than measuring antiquity with the inch rule of the archaeologist. Nor yet did Eastlake confine himself to the external forms of art and nature; he then laid the foundation of that intimate knowledge of the arts, be they called formative, architectural, plastic, or pictorial, the able elucidation of which renders his writings so valuable. Thus, whilst all the technical skill of ancient colorists is found in his style of painting, all the principles on which Dutch and Venetian masters proceeded are found in his writings. Those who reflect on the unceasing labors of the Secretary of the Fine Art Commission, will be rather inclined to believe that the title of President was alone wanting to render Eastlake the legitimate leader of art in England. We need only mention his translation of Goeethe's "Theory of Colors," the "Notes to Kugler," and the "Materials for a History of Oil Painting."

* * * * *

NEW PICTURE BY KAULBACH. The King of Bavaria has ordered from Kaulbach a picture some twenty feet high, to represent the Apotheosis of a Good Prince. The lucky potentate is to be painted rising from the tomb, and conducted up to heaven by attending angels, where the Saviour, enthroned between the cherubim of Power and Justice, receives him with open arms. The purple mantle and crown, the signs and adornments of earthly might, sink from the transfigured monarch upon the tomb, around which the Seven Works of Mercy bear witness for him, while the Seven Deadly Sins lie under the earth asleep and in chains. The idea of the composition was suggested by the King. Kaulbach has advanced so far with its execution that the cartoon is nearly completed.

* * * * *

THE ROYAL RUSSIAN PORCELAIN MANUFACTORY, at Berlin, is known over the world for the elegance and excellence of its productions; most of the porcelain transparencies which are so common in all countries, and so much admired, are from this source. An honorary council has just been named to have the supervision of the artistic department of the institution. Among its members, are the eminent painter CORNELIUS, the sculptor RAUCH, and the architect HULER.

* * * * *

Mr. HEALEY, according to a letter by Mr. Walsh in the _Journal of Commerce_, is proceeding rapidly in Paris with his picture of the American Senate, during the debate so famous for the passages between Mr. Webster and Col. Hayne. Mr. Healey is said to be a very worthy person, and it is to be regretted that his skill and genius are not equal to his morals, in which case we might not despair of his producing a work not altogether unworthy of this subject. Some accident introduced Mr. Healey to the late King of the French, who gave him various orders, the reception of which was so noticed in the journals as to be of the greatest possible advantage to him. He was suddenly elevated in the common opinion to the condition of the first rank of artists. But he is really a painter of very ordinary capacities. We have probably some hundreds who are very much superior to him. It is impossible to point to even _one_ portrait by him that is remarkable for any excellence; and all his fame rests, rather than upon his productions, upon his having received orders from Louis Philippe. We remember the general surprise with which groups of his portraits, displayed in the rotunda of the capitol, were viewed by critics. The "study" of Daniel Webster, upon whose every feature God has set the visible stamp of greatness, was among them, and it looked like the prim keeper of the accounts in a respectable grocery-store. So of all the rest. Men sat to him from deference to the wishes of the King, but every body felt that he was not an artist. Accidents and newspapers may confer a transient reputation, but they can endow no one with abilities; and to espouse the cause of newspapers against the cause of nature is a grievous wrong, in the end, to both newspapers and nature.

* * * * *

AN ELEGANT work of much value to the students of modern art has lately appeared at Berlin, under the title of _Rimische Studien_ (Roman Studies), from the pen of VON KESTNER, a diplomatist by profession. The author, who by the way is a son of the famous CHARLOTTE, the heroine of Goeethe's "Werther," dwells with the utmost partiality on these German artists, who have developed their talents by long and intimate acquaintance with Roman art, and who are now at work in the fatherland. To the productions of "Cornelius," he devotes a great deal of space. The special purpose of the work, as the author says in his preface, is to glorify Germany in the great creations of its artists.

* * * * *

THE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY of Paris, at one of its recent concerts, gave a piece of original Russian music, called the "Song of the Cherubim," by BORTNIANSKY, a composer who has written a good deal for the Imperial Chapel at St. Petersburg. It is a chorus without accompaniment, and is spoken of by the critics as most original and striking, in fact unlike any thing familiar to Western or Southern ears. We can easily conceive of a peculiar style of music being produced from the bosom of the Greek Church. Those who have heard the melancholy and touching, half-barbaric music usually employed in its ritual, will not be surprised that out of it there should arise a quite new order of compositions.

* * * * *

THE GOeETHE'S INHERITANCE--an extensive collection of models, engravings, sculptures, carvings, gems, minerals, fossils, original drawings, &c., collected by the great poet,--is to be sold at Weimar, for the benefit of his heirs, two grandsons. A _catalogue raisonnee_ has been published by Fromman, at Jena, and it makes a very interesting book. It is suggested in the _Art-Journal_ for December, that if the collection were distributed in separate lots, in America, or England, or Germany, the heirs would realize three or four times as much as they will by a single sale for the whole, which they have determined upon. Letters upon the subject may be addressed to Baron Walther Von Goethe, at Vienna.

* * * * *