Chapter I: Preface: To the Fourth Volume (1)

The conclusion of the Fourth Volume of a periodical may be accepted as a sign of its permanent establishment. The proprietors of the INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE have the satisfaction of believing that, while there has been a steady increase of sales, ever since the publication of the first number of this work, there has likewise been as regular an augmentation of its interest, value, and adaptation to the wants of the reading portion of our community. While essentially an Eclectic, relying very much for success on a reproduction of judiciously selected and fairly acknowledged Foreign Literature, it has contained from month to month such an amount of New Articles as justified its claim to consideration as an Original Miscellany. And in choosing from European publications, articles to reprint or to translate for these pages, care has been taken not only to avoid that vein of licentiousness in morals, and skepticism in religion, which in so lamentable a degree characterize a large portion of the popular literature of this age, but also to extract from foreign periodicals that American element with which the rising importance of our country has caused so many of them to be infused; so that, notwithstanding the fact that more than half the contents of the INTERNATIONAL are from the minds of Europeans, the Magazine is essentially more _American_ than any other now published.

For the future, the publishers have made arrangements that will insure very decided and desirable improvements, which will be more fully disclosed in the first number of the ensuing volume; eminent original writers will be added to our list of contributors; from Germany, France, and Great Britain, we have increased our literary resources; and more attention will be given to the pictorial illustration of such subjects as may be advantageously treated in engravings. Among those authors whose contributions have appeared in the INTERNATIONAL hitherto, we may mention:

MISS FENIMORE COOPER, MISS ALICE CAREY, MRS. E. OAKES SMITH, MRS. M. E. HEWITT, MRS. ALICE B. NEAL, BISHOP SPENCER, HENRY AUSTIN LAYARD, PARKE GODWIN, JOHN R. THOMPSON, W. C. RICHARDS, W. GILMORE SIMMS, BAYARD TAYLOR, ROBERT HENRY STODDARD, ALFRED B. STREET, THOMAS EWBANK, E. W. ELLSWORTH, G. P. R. JAMES, DR. JOHN W. FRANCIS, MAUNSELL B. FIELD, DR. STARBUCK MAYO, JOHN E. WARREN, A. OAKEY HALL, HORACE GREELEY, RICHARD B. KIMBALL, THE AUTHOR OF "NILE NOTES," THE AUTHOR OF "HARRY FRANCO." REV. J. C. RICHMOND, REV. H. W. PARKER, JAMES T. FIELDS, R. S. CHILTON.

The foreign writers, from whom we have selected, need not be enumerated; they embrace the principal living masters of literary art; and we shall continue to avail ourselves of their new productions as largely as justice to them and the advantage and pleasure of our readers may seem to justify.

NEW-YORK, December 1, 1851.

CONTENTS:

VOLUME IV. AUGUST TO DECEMBER, 1851.

Alred.--_By Elmina W. Carey_, 27

Alexander, Last days of the Emperor.--_A. Dumas_, 233

America, as Abused by a German, 448

American Intercommunication, 461

American Literature, Studies of.--_Philarete Chasles_, 163

American and European Scenery Compared.--_By the late J. F. Cooper_, 625

Anacreon. Twentieth Ode of.--_By Mary E. Hewitt_, 20

Animal Magnetism. Christopher North on, 27

Ariadne.--_By William C. Bennett_, 315

Autumn Ballad, An.--_By W. A. Sutliffe_, 598

August Reverie.--_By A. Oakey Hall_, 477

Art Expression. 401

Arts among the Aztecs and Indians.--_By Thomas Ewbank._ (Ten Engravings.) 307

_Arts, the Fine._--Monuments to Public Men in Europe and America, 130.--Mosaics for the Emperor of Russia, 130.--Tenarani, the Italian Sculptor, 131.--Group by Herr Kiss, 131.--English and American Portrait Painters, 131--Mr. Pyne's English Landscapes, 131.--Paintings by British Officers in Canada, 131.--Ovation to Rauch at Berlin, 131.--Healy's Picture of Webster's Reply to Hayne, 131.--Newly-discovered Raphael, 131.--Daguerreotypes, 131.--Letter from Hiram Powers, 279.--Monument to Wordsworth, 279.--Monument to Weber, 279.--Works of Cornelius, 279.--Greenonga's Group for the Capital, 279.--The Twelve Virgins of Raphael, 279.--Tributes by Greece to her Benefactors, 279.--Paul Delaroche, 417.--Winterhalter, 417.--New Scriptures in the Crystal Palace, 417.--London Art-Union, 417.--American Art-Union. 417.--Powers's Eve, 417.--Leutze, 417.--The London Art-Journal on the Engravings of the American Art-Union. 561.--The Philadelphia Art-Union, 561.--The Western Art-Union, 562.--Mr. Healy's Picture of Webster's Reply to Hayne, 562.--Mr. Lentze's Washington Crossing the Delaware, 562--Illustrations of Martin Luther, 562.--Lentze's Washington. 743.--Colossal Statue of Washington at Munich, 703.--Kaulbach's Frescoes, 703.--Cadame's Compositions of the Seasons, 703.--Portraits of Bishop White and Daniel Webster, 703.

_Authors and Books._--The Story of Talns, and the Sardonic Laughter, by Merehlen, 122.--A German Treatise on Free Trade, 122.--Curious Medical Works in Germany, 122.--Weiseler on the Theatre, 122.--Woodcuts of celebrated Masters, 123.--Recent German Poetry, 123.--Venedy's Schleswig-Holstein in 1850, 123.--Souvenirs of Early Germans, 123.--Gutzkow, Reimer, and Gubitz. 123.--Mundi's Macchiavelli and the Course of European Policy, 123.--New German Novels, 124.--Baner's Documents respecting the Monastery of Arnsburg, 121.--Mss. of Peter Schlemil, 124.--Professor O. L. B. Wohl's Poetic and Prosaic Home Treasury, 124.--German opinion of Miss Weber, 124.--Professor Zahn at Pompeii, 124.--Barthohl's History of German Cities, 124.--Cornell on Feurebach, 125.--New Book of the Planets by Ernst, 125.--Waldmeister's Bridal Tour, 125.--German version of George Copyway's Book, 125.--German Survey of American Institutions, 125.--Russian Literature, 125.--Jewish Professors in Austria, 125.--Dumas's new Works, 125.--Madame Reybaud, 125.--New Volume of Thier's History of the Empire, 125.--Mignet's Life of Mary Queen of Scots, 126.--Cormenin on the Revision of the Constitution, 126.--Literary Episodes in the East, by Marcellus, 126.--Victor Hugo. 126.--Madame Bocarme, 126.--Signatures to Articles in the French Journals, 126.--Arago's loss of sight, 126.--George Sand to Dumas, 127.--Vacherot on the Philosophical School of Alexandria, 127.--Mss. of Rousseau, 127.--Unpublished works of Balzac, 127.--M. Nisard, 127.--M. Gautier, 127.--Guizot's History of Representative Government, 127.--Mademoiselle de Belle Isle, 127.--Rev. T. W. Shelton, in Sharpe's Magazine, 127.--Rev. Charles Kingsley, author of Alton Locke, 127.--Bowring's Translation of Schiller, 128.--New English Poems, 128.--New Novel by Warren, 128.--Judge Woodbury's Works, 128.--The North American Review, 128--Life of Judge Story, 123.--Contributions to the History of the West, by Lyman C. Draper, 129.--The Dublin University Magazine on Streets Frontenac, 129.--Mrs. Southworth in England. 129.--Return of Mrs. Mowatt, 129.--Miss Beecher's new Work on the Writings of Women, 129.--Ludwig Feuerback, 268.--August Kopish on the Monument to Frederic the Great, 269.--The _Janus_ Review, 269.--Franz Kugler on the Theatre, 269.--Von Muller's History of the Swiss Confederation, 269.--Memoir of Bretschneider, 269.--Dr. Worth, 269.--Herr Christern's Book Store, 269.--German Periodicals, 270.--The Hungarian Refugees in Turkey, 270.--The Youth of Thorwaldsen, 270.--Old and New Songs and Fables for Children, 270.--Convention of Sclavic Scholars, 270.--German Translation of Milton's Areopagitica, 270.--Eccentricities of German Medical Literature, 271.--German Poems, 271.--Shakspeare in Sweden, 271.--Neander's Lectures, 271.--George Sand and her Husband, 271.--New work by Comte, 271.--Lamartine's New History, 271.--Michelet's _Legendes de la Democratie_, 272.--Guizot's History of Representative Government, 272.--Prudhon's Idea of Revolution, 272.--Miss Martineau and her Master, 272.--Rumored Discoveries of Greek MSS, 272.--Bunsen on the supposed MS. of Origen, 272.--New English Poems, 272.--Herodotus and the Discoveries of Nineveh, 273.--Sir James Stephen's History of France, 273.--J. S. Buckingham, 273.--Mrs. Jamieson, 273.--New Books of Travels, 273.--Dr. Wilkinson and Henry James, 273.--New Novels, 273.--New Books on the Apocalypse, 274.--Finchman on Ship Building, 274.--The Grenville Papers, 274.--Sir W. Parish on Buenos Ayres, 274.--Works of Bishop Whately, 274.--Macaulay's New Volumes, 274.--Poems of Edith May, 274.--Ware's European Capitals, 274.--New Romance by Thomas H. Shreve, 274.--More about American Reviews, 275.--Poem on Woman, by J. W. Ward, 275.--Novellettes of Musicians, 275.--Dr. Huntington's Alban, 276.--Simms's Poetical Works, 276.--Dr. Tyng and Bickersteth, 276.--Mr. Putnam's forthcoming Souvenir Books, 276.--Kitto's Biblical Cyclopedia, 276.--Episodes of Insect Life, 276.--History of Oneida County, 276.--Mrs. Nichols's Poem's, 276.--New Translations of the Bible, 277.--Sale of Dr. Jarvis's Library, 277.--Ik Marvell's New Work, 277.--Mr. Longfellow's New Poem, 277.--Books on the Mechanic Arts, 278.--Dr. Wainwright's Work on Egypt, 278.--Mr. Jefferson's MSS. Work on Grammar, 278.--Dr. Williams on the Lord's Prayer, 278.--Works of John Adams, 278.--Publications of James Munroe, 278.--German Magazines, 403.--German Poets, 403, 405.--Freilegrath, 403.--New edition of Brockhaus' Lexicon, 403.--German View of Lamartine, 403.--Prutz in a Novel, 403.--Stahl on Paris, 404.--Kohler on Ancient Cameos, &c., 404.--Children's Picture Books, 404.--Latin Life of Zumpt, 404.--New work by Robert Remak, 405.--The German Element in English Language, 405.--Count Blumberg on the Higher Classes, 405.--Auerbach's German Evenings, 405.--Gailhabaud's Monuments of Architecture, 405.--A Life Spent in Studying Thrushes, 405.--Gust's Bibliotheca Biographia Lutherana, 405.--New work on Monarchy, 405.--New German Works on the Middle Ages, 406.--Konig and Gelzer on Luther, 406.--The Bible and the Almanac, 406.--Austrian Biographical Dictionary, 406.--New Book by Hans Andersen, 406--Zeise, the Danish Novelist, 407.--Poems of Tegner, 407.--Bohemian Songs, 407.--Italian Histories of To-day, 407.--Bible Plays by Wiese, 408.--Colins on Socialism, 408.--Memoirs by Captain Laconte, 408.--Villemarque's Breton Poems, 408.--Perrymond _vs._ Thiers, 408.--The French Orators, 408.--Histories of the Reformation in France, 408.--M. Guizot, 409.--Jules Janin, 409.--Montbeillard on Spinoza, 409.--Punishment of a Socialist Dramatist, 409.--Marriage of "Bon Gaultier," 409.--Visits to De Quincy and Burns's Sister, 410.--The "Baroness Von Beck," 410.--Thackeray's New Novel, 410.--Literary Pensions in England, 410.--Tributes to James Montgomery, 410.--New editor of the Westminster Review, 410.--New Lives of Mary, Queen of Scots, 411.--Publications of Moore & Co., of Cincinnati, 411.--Rivers of the Bible, 411.--Mexican Documents collected by the Abbe Bourbourg, 412.--Mr. Schoolcraft and the Publishers, 412.--Mr. Simms's New Tragedy, 412.--Dr. Albro's Life of Shepherd, the Puritan, 412.--New Edition of Fielding, 413.--Theory of Human Progression, 413.--The Nile Boat, 413.--Kitto's Bible Illustrations, 413.--Poore's Life of Napoleon, 413.--Indications of the Creator, by George Taylor, 413.--Parkman's History of Pontiac, 413.--De Quiney's Works, 413.--Mrs. Judson, 413.--Hart's Female Prose Writers of America, 414.--Mrs. Lee's Memoirs of Buckminster, 415.--Rochefoucauld, 415.--Dr. Huntington and his Novels, Letters, and Life, 415.--New Works in Press by the Harpers, 415.--By Redfield, do., 416.--New Work by Dr. Boardman, 416.--Carl Immerman's Letters on the Theatre, 551.--Kohl's last book of Travels, 551.--L'Eco d'Italia, 551.--Narcissa Zwichowska, 551.--Baron Baerst on Cooking, 551.--Brinckle's-Butterfly Book, 552.--Stein's History of the Social Movement in France, 552.--Dr. Schleiden's Work on Animalculae, 552.--History of Education, by Kranse, 552.--Handbook of Catholic Pulpit Eloquence, 552.--Popular Songs of Southern Russia, 552.--Hogarth's Works in Germany, 552.--Dr. Andree's Work on America, 553.--Studies of German Lore, 553.--Hase's New Prophets, 553.--Wanderings in Slavonia, 553.--A reply to the Countess Hahn-Hahn's last book, 554.--A Review of Lamartine's Parasite History, 554.--Humboldt's Kosmos, 554.--History of Polish Literature, 554.--Russian Archaeology, 554.--Siegfried Weiss on German Trade Policy, 554.--Periodicals in Asia, 554.--German Translation of Hawthorne, 554.--The German Universities, 555.--New German Poems, 555.--Literary Statistics of Poland, 555.--Work on Russia by Tegoborski, 555.--Ritter's History of Philosophy, 555.--De Flotte on the Sovereignty of the People, 555.--Nineveh, 555.--New Series of Eugene Sue's Mysteries of the People, 556.--Second Part of Michelet's History of the French Revolution, 556.--Julian's History of Porcelain Manufacture, 556.--Felix de Verneihl on the Cologne Cathedral, 556.--Andre Cochat on French Workingmen's Associations, 556.--New edition of George Sand's Works, 556.--Letter from Alexander Dumas, 556.--Alfred de Musset, 557.--Translations of Comte's Philosophy, 557.--Jules Janin's new Romance, 557.--Ferdinand Hiller, 557.--James T. Fields, 557.--New Histories of the Mexican War, 557.--Horace Mann on the Sphere of Woman, 557.--General Morris not guilty of Plagiarism, 558.--Torrey's Translation of Neander, 558.--Translations of Dante, 559.--Alice Carey's Recollections of Our Neighborhood in the West, 559.--Modern Miracles, by Henry Ingalls, 559.--New Novel by Mr. James and Mr. Field, 559.--History of the German Reformed Church, 559.--Professor Hackett's Commentary on the Acts, 559.--The Whale, by Herman Melville, 559.--Mr. Herbert's work on Ancient Battles, &c., 560.--Glances at Europe, by H. Greeley, 560.--Hungary and Kossuth, 560.--Richard B. Kimball, 560.--Mr. Judd's Margaret, 560.--Pendant to Professor Creasy's _Decisive Battles of the World_, 693.--Correspondence respecting the Thirty Years' War, 693.--German collection of English Songs, 693.--German Philologists, 693.--Weil's History of the Califs, 693.--The Germans in Bohemia, 693.--Andree's Work on America, 694.--Works on Spinoza, 694.--New Goethean Literature, 694.--The British Empire in Europe, by Meidinger, 694.--The Play of the Resurrection, 694.--German History of French Literature, 694.--New work on German Knighthood, &c., 694.--German Romanee in the 18th Century, 695.--Madame Blaze de Bury's New Novel, 695.--Richter's History of the Evangelical German Churches, 695.--German Life of Sir Robert Peel, 695.--Zimmermann on the English Revolution, 695.--History of Norway, 695.--Reguly, the Hungarian Traveller, 695.--Political Notabililities of Hungary, 695.--Speeches, &c., by King William of Prussia, 695.--Pictures from the North, 695.--History of the Swiss Confederation, 695.--Bem's System of Chronology, by Miss Peabody, 695.--French Almanacs, 695.--M. Croce-Spinelli's Work on Popular Government, 696.--Works by the Paris Asiatic Society, 696.--Caesar Daly on Parisian Architecture, 696.--Fignier's Modern Discoveries, 696.--The _Annuaire des Deux Mondes_, 696.--Calvin's Inedited Letters, 697.--Lacretelle, 697.--Critical Studies of Socialism, 697.--Memoirs of Mademoiselle Mars, 697.--The Institute of France, 697.--Grille on the War in La Vendee, 697.--History of the Bourgeoisie of Paris, 697.--_Archives des Missions Scientifiques_, &c., 697.--Travels in Africa, 698.--Spirit of New Roman Catholic Literature, 698.--Garcin de Tassy on Mr. Salisbury's Unpublished Arabic Documents, 699.--New Travels in Palestine, 698.--The Abaddie Travellers, 699.--French, English, and American Missionaries, as Scholars, 699.--The Westminster Review, 699.--A Grandson of Robert Burns, 699.--Friends in Council, &c., by Mr. Helps, 699.--New English Announcements, 700.--New Dissenters' College, 700.--Sir Charles Lyell and the "Free Thinkers," 700.--Prof. Wilson, 700.--Miss Kirkland's Evening Book, 700.--Works by Mrs. Lee, 701.--Mr. Boyd's edition of Young's Night Thoughts, 702.--"Injustice to the South," 702.--Splendid American Gift Books for 1852, 703.--New American Works in Press, 703, &c. British Humorists.--_By W. M. Thackeray_, 24

Boker, George II.--_By Bayard Taylor_. (Portrait.) 156

Bohemian Glass. (Six Engravings.) 291

Ballad of Sir John Franklin.--_By George H. Boker_, 473

Bryant, and his Works, William Cullen. (Portrait.) 588

Bull Fight at Ronda, 681

Calvin Colton, Rev., and his Works. (Portrait.) 1

Castle of Belvor: An Incident in the Life of Arago, 41

Count Monte-Leone. (Concluded), 42, 202, 327, 500

China, Our Phantom Ship, 67

Chest of Drawers.--_By an Attorney_, 73

Cicada, The.--_By H. J. Crate_, 164

Charlemagne, Times of.--_By Sir Francis Palgrave_, 169

Calhoun, Private Life of John C.--_By Miss M. Bates_, 173

Copenhagen, 238

Cooper, J. F., Portrait and View of his Residence, _Frontispiece_.

Cooke, Sketch of Philip Pendleton. (Portrait.) 300

Chamois Hunting, 344

Cleopatra's Needle, 367

Cheap Postage System, 370

Country Gentleman at Home.--_By C. A. Bristed_, 389

Cooper, Reminiscences of J. Fenimore.--_By Dr. Francis_, 458

Cooper, Public Honors to the Memory of Mr., 456

Chimes, The.--_By E. W. Ellsworth_, 487

Carlyle's Life of John Sterling, 599

Calcutta: Social, Industrial, Political, 611

Captain and the Negro, The, 646

Crebillon, the French AEschylus, 520

Dramatic Fragments.--_By R. H. Stoddard_, 17

Decorative Arts in America, 171

Deserted Mansion, 227

Dirge for an Infant--_By R. S. Chilton_, 487

Death in Youth.--_By H. W. Parker_, 598

Dutch Governors of Niew Amsterdam.--_By J. R. Brodhead_, 597

Drinking Experiences: A Temperance Lecture by "Nimrod," 621

_Deaths, Recent._--General Arbuckle, 139.--Mrs. Thomas Sheridan, 139.--Bishop Carlson, 139.--Sir J. E. Dalzell, 139.--Chevalier Parisot de Guyrmont, 139.--General James Miller, 140.--General Uminski, 140.--Viscount Melville, 140.--Mr. Dyce Sombre, 140.--Bishop Medrano, 140.--The Earl of Shaftesbury, 141.--Mr. Thomas Wright Hill, 142.--Melchior Boisseree, 142.--Christian Tieck, the Sculptor, 142.--Rev. Stephen Olin, D.D., 282.--Baron de Leideni, 282.--Edward Quillinan, 282.--Harriet Lee, 282.--Dr. Julius, 282.--Rev. Azariah Smith, 282.--General Henry A. S. Dearborn, 283.--D. M. Mon, 228, 283.--General Sir Roger Sheafe, 283.--M. Daguerre, (Portrait), 283.--Rev. Dr. Lingard, (Portrait), 285.--Marshal Sebastian, 287.--J. Fenimore Cooper, 428.--Rev. T. H. Gallaudet, 428.--Judge Beverly Tucker, 428.--Levi Woodbury, 429.--General McClure, 429.--Lorenz Ocken, 429.--Count Killmansegge, 430.--H. E. G. Paulus, 430.--Joseph Rusiecki, 430.--John Gottfried Gruber, 430.--The Earl of Clare, 431.--Sir Henry Jardine, 431.--Mrs. Sherwood, 572.--Rev. James H. Hotchkiss, 572.--General Henry Whitney, 572.--Commodore Warrington, 572.--Professor Kidd, 573.--The Earl of Donoughmore, 573.--William Nicol, 574.--Mr. Freeman, the Missionary, 574.--James Richardson, 574.--William Willshire, 574.--J. R. Dubois, 575.--Gustav Carlin, 575.--Archibald Alexander, D. D., 705.--J. Kearney Rogers, M.D., 705.--Rev. Wm. Croswell, D.D., 706.--Granville Sharpe Pattison, M.D., 706.--Mr. Stephens, author of _The Manuscripts of Erdeley_, 706.--Mr. Gutzlaff, the Missionary, 707.--Don Manuel Godoy, the Prince of the Peace, 708.--George Baker, 708.--M. de Savigny, 708.--Archbishop Wingard, 708.--Samuel Beaseley, author of _The Roue_, 708.--H. P. Borrell, 708.--James Tyler, R. D., 708.--Emma Martin, 709.--Yar Mohammed, 709.--Alexander Lee, 710.--Prince Frederick of Prussia, 710.

Exile's Sunset Song.--_By John R. Thompson_, 26

Egypt, The last Joseph in, 185

English in America.--_By the author of "Sam Slick,"_ 186

Egypt under Abbas Pasha,--_By Bayle St. John_, 259

Earthquake in Europe, The Last, 467

Fleischmann, Herr, on Life in America, 158

Fallen Genius.--_By Miss Alice Carey_, 288

Flying Artist, 398

Franklin, Inedited Letter of Dr., 472

Fragments from a New Volume of Poems.--_By Thomas L. Beddoes_, 550

French Flower Girl, The, 641

Fragments of a Poem.--_By H. W. Parker_, 189

Great Fair at Rochester. (Fifteen Engravings.) 438

Gold-Quartz and Society in California, 472

Greenwood.--_By Maunsell B. Field_, 476

Ghost Story of Normandy, 512

Gerard, and the Baron Munchausen, in Africa, M. Jules, 587

German Handbook of America, 598

Gondolettas: Two Songs.--_By Alice B. Neal_, 597

Hahn-Hahn, The Countess Ida, 17

History of a Rose, 117

Huntington, Dr., on Copyright, 308

Heroines of History: Laura.--_By Mary E. Hewitt_, 480

Habits of Frederick the Great, 528

Herman Melville's New Novel of "The Whale," 602

_Historical Review of the Month._--The United States: Elections, &c., 567.--Foreign Relations, 567.--Mexico, 568.--South American States, 568.--Great Britain, 568.--France, Italy, Russia, &c., 569.--The East, &c., 569.--The American Elections, 704.--Kossuth in England, 704.--Europe, and the East, 704.

Imaginary Conversations at Warsaw.--_By Walter Savage Landor_, 98

In the Harem.--_By R. H. Stoddard_, 164

Illustrations of Motives, 280

International Copyright, 386

Jules Janin and the Paris Feuilletonistes, 18

Jungle Recollection.--_By Captain Hardbargain_, 110

Jews in China, 264

Jefferson, Mr., on the Study of the Anglo-Saxon Language, 468

Landscapes, Swedish.--_By Hans Christian Andersen_, 20

London, Paris, and New-York, 100

Ladies' Fashions. (Illustrated.) 142, 288, 431, 575, 710

Latham, on the People of the Mosketo Kingdom, 471

My Novel: or, Varieties in English Life.--_By Sir E. Bulwer
Lytton_, 80, 243, 371, 534, 688

Moir, David Macbeth.--_By George Gilfillan_, 233

Music.--_By H. W. Parker_, 327

Meeting of the Vegetarians, 402

Newspaper Poets: Charles Weldon, 201

Nauvoo and Deseret: The Mormons. (Six Engravings.) 577

_Noctes Amicitiae._--English Opinions of the "American Department" in the Crystal Palace, 563.--Ridiculous Convention of Women, at Worcester, 563.--Bloomerism in London, 563.--Defenders of the Catholic Practices, 563.--Anecdote of Tom Cook, 563.--Capital Anecdote of Charles XII, 564.--A Superfluous Amount of Name, 564.--G. P. R. James in the Law Courts, 564.--Nursery Rhymes, 564.--The London Printers, 564.--The Japanese and French Civilization, 565.--Extraordinary Suicides in Paris, 565, &c.

October.--_By Alice Carey_, 371

Obelisks of Egypt, 469

Old Man's Death, The.--_By Alice Carey_, 529

Ottoman History, The Three Eras of, 643

Parodies, A Chapter of, 23

Passages in the Life of a Dutch Poet, 65

Phantasy, A.--_By R. H. Stoddard_, 169

Paris, Reminiscences of, from 1817 to 1851, 182

Poulailler, the Robber, 216

Questions from a worn-out Lorgnette.--_By O. A. Hall_, 187

Reminiscence, A.--_By Alice Carey_, 360

Remarkable Prophecy, 474

Revolutions in Russia.--_By Alexander Dumas_, 616

Story Without A Name.--_By G. P. R. James, Esq._,
(Concluded), 28, 189, 316, 487, 604

Stuart of Dunleath, 119

Sailors, Institutions for, in New-York. (Six Engravings.) 145

Scenes in the Old Dominion (Six Engravings.) 151

Styles of Philosophies.--_By Rev. J. R. Morell_, 180

Shadow of Lucy Hutchinson, 239

Saxe, John G., and his Satires. (Portrait.) 289

Sandwich Islands To-Day. (Two Engravings.) 298

Shadow of Margery Paston, 363

Saint Escarpacio's Bones.--_From the French_, 483

Sonnets: Truth--The Future, 499

Sliding Scales of Despair, 592

Songs of the Cascade.--_By A. Oakey Hall_, 602

Spendthrift's Daughter: In Six Chapters, The, 664

_Scientific Discoveries and Proceedings of Learned Societies._--The British Association, 137.--Asiatic Society, 137.--Paris Geographical Society, 137.--Royal Society of Literature, 137.--Paris Academy of Sciences, 138.--London Royal Institution, 138.--Berlin Academy of Sciences, 138.--Improvements in Photographs, 138.--Colonel Rawlinson on the last Discoveries of Nineveh and Babylon, 426.--New attempts to discover Perpetual Motion, 426.--Document respecting the discovery of Steam Navigation at Venice, 427.--English Athletes, compared with Greek Statues, 427.--Discoveries at Memphis, 427.--Scientific Conventions, 427.--The Russian Academy, 571.--Scientific Congress in France, 571.--Paris Academy of Sciences, 571.--Ethnological Society, 571.

Trot on the Island.--_By C. Astor Bristed_, 54

To the Author of Eothen.--_By Barry Cornwall_, 315

The King and the Outlaw.--_By an Old Contributor_, 482

Verses.--_By R. H. Stoddard_, 22

Visit to the "Maid of Athens," 116

Visit to the late Dr. Lingard.--_By Rev. J. C. Richmond_, 172

Veneer, Fraser's Magazine on English, 306

Visit to the Aberdeen Comb-Works, 856

Vagaries of the Imagination, 638

Veiled Picture: A Traveller's Story, The, 648

Watering Places, A Glance at the. (Fifteen Engravings.) 4

Webster, Noah, LL. D. (Portrait and birthplace.) 12

Waterloo, Tricks on Travellers at, 164

Wives of Southey, Coleridge, and Lovell, 241

Wallace, William Ross. (Portrait.) 444

Windsor Castle and its Associations. (Two Engravings.) 585

THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE

_Of Literature, Art, and Science._

Vol. IV. NEW-YORK, AUGUST 1, 1851. No. I.

REV. CALVIN COLTON.

Mr. Colton is a man of very decided abilities, voluminous and various in their manifestation, and assiduously cultivated during a long life, in which he has never failed of the curiosity, ambition, and industry of a learner. The untiring freshness and hopefulness of his spirit is shown by his undertaking the study of the French language not more than three or four years ago, and obtaining such a mastery of it as to read with delight its most abstruse authors, and to preach in it with fluency and even with eloquence. It is characteristic of him that he is always earnest, and that he considers whatever he has to do worthy of his best abilities, so that in writing of theology, economy, polity, or manners, he arrays in order for each particular subject all the forces of his understanding, and makes its discussion their measure and illustration. He has been in an eminent degree devoted to literature as a profession, and although he has produced works which may be deemed unfortunate in design or defective in execution, it must be admitted that he is entitled to a highly respectable position as a thinker and as a writer, and that in opinion and in affairs he has exercised a steady and large influence.

He was born in Long Meadow, Massachusetts, graduated at Yale College in 1812, studied divinity at Andover, and in 1815 took orders in the Presbyterian church. For several years he was settled in the village of Batavia in western New-York, but his voice failing in 1826, he became a contributor to several of the principal periodicals occupied with religion and learning, and in the summer of 1831, after an extended tour through the western states and territories, proceeded to London, as a correspondent of the New-York Observer.

In England, he led a life of remarkable literary activity. In 1832 he published a _Manual for Emigrants to America_, which had a large sale among the middling classes; and _The History and Character of American Revivals of Religion_, of which there were two or three editions. In 1833, in a volume entitled _The Americans, by an American in London_, he replied, with an unanswerable display of facts, to the libels on this country by British travellers and reviewers; and published _The American Cottager_, a religious narrative. _A Tour of the American Lakes and among the Indians of the North-West Territory_, in two volumes, and _Church and State in America_, a vindication of the religious character of the country and the voluntary principle for the support of religion, in reply to the Bishop of London, who had endeavored to show that the United States were going back to paganism because the church was not here connected with the state.

Returning to New-York, in 1835, he published _Four Years in Great Britain_, in two volumes, which were soon after reprinted, with some additions, in a more popular form. In 1836 he gave to the public anonymously, _Protestant Jesuitism_, a criticism of the constitution, extreme opinion, and unwise action of many of the benevolent and religious societies; and having taken orders in the Episcopal church, _Thoughts on the Religious State of the Country, and Reasons for preferring Episcopacy_, a work which was much read and the cause of much critical observation in Great Britain as well as in the United States.

From that time Mr. Colton has written very little on any subject intimately connected with religion, but directing his attention to public affairs, has been as conspicuous in the state as he was previously in the church. In 1838 he published _Abolition a Sedition_, and _Abolition and Colonization Contrasted_, in which he contended with equal earnestness and ability that the entire subject of slavery is beyond the limits of the proper action of the national government, and that there is no justification of its discussion, except in the states where slavery is established, or for the wise and really philanthropic purpose of promoting African Colonization. In 1839 he again took up the argument of our social relations with Great Britain, in a work written in Philadelphia, but published in London, under the title of _A Voice from America to England, By an American Gentleman_. The plan was judicious: it was not so much to express opinions as to state facts which should compel opinions in the adverse audience he addressed. While mainly defensive, he was at the same time bravely critical. He contended that in its constitution our government was republican and not democratic, but that the extraordinary force of public opinion among us has made it democratic in fact. A large portion of the work was devoted to the several ecclesiastical polities existing here, which he treated with singular freedom and originality, so that the frequent impertinences of ignorant laymen and obtrusively-meddling women, in the affairs of churches, rendering the clerical profession humiliating and difficult to a person of manly character and cultivation, were stated without any hesitation or attempt at concealment. The entire performance is still attractive for frequent sound observation upon institutions, judicious criticism of manners, happy illustration, and good humor, and its opportune appearance was advantageous to the best fame of the country.

In 1840 he made a more distinct and powerful impression than ever before, by the publication of _The Crisis of the Country, American Jacobinism_, and _One Presidential Term_, a series of tracts under the name of "Junius," which were circulated in all the states by thousands and hundreds of thousands, and were supposed to have had great influence in the overthrow of the democratic administration. In 1842 he edited at Washington a paper called _The True Whig_, and in 1843 and 1844 he brought out a second series, embracing ten publications, still more popular than the first, of the _Junius Tracts_.

In the autumn of the latter year, when the fortunes of the whig party seemed to be entirely broken, when full half the nation felt a personal grief for the defeat of a leader, added to the mortification of political discomfiture, Mr. Colton determined to write the life of the chief he had followed with unwavering admiration and unfaltering activity. Casting aside all other cares, so that his every thought might be given to the work until its completion, he set out for Kentucky, where he was sure of the friendly assistance of Mr. Clay in whatever concerned the investigation of facts. In November, 1844, he reached Lexington, where Mr. Clay laid open to him the stores of his correspondence, and the documentary history of his career. The work was finished in the spring of 1846, and published in two large octavos; and so great was the demand for it, that the first impression of five thousand copies was sold in six months. It is unquestionably an able performance, and from the circumstances under which it was composed and the conclusiveness of some of its arguments it is probable that it will always be regarded as a valuable portion of the material for contemporary political history; but, it appears to me very unequal in execution, and signally unfortunate in design, if considered either as a biography or a history. For the subjective rather than the chronological arrangement of the facts in it there is however this defence, that it rendered the work much more easy of citation, and therefore more valuable as a magazine for partisan controversy. The influence it obtained may be illustrated by reference to a single point: for a quarter of a century the staple of declamation against Mr. Clay, the opposition which thrice cost him the presidency, was his supposed bargain with John Quincy Adams; but since the appearance of Mr. Colton's exposition of this subject any person in an intelligent society would forfeit the consideration given to a gentleman who should repeat the charge.

For several years the attention of Mr. Colton had been more and more attracted to the literature and philosophy of political economy. In 1846 he printed his first work in which it is formally treated, _The Rights of Labor_, in which he asserted, illustrated, and with unanswerable logic vindicated the American doctrine of the privileges and dignity of Industry; and in 1848 he gave to the world his last and most important work, _Public Economy for the United States_. From the formation of the first system of society the subjects embraced in this production have employed the most powerful intellects of all nations. But though illustrated by the liveliest genius and the profoundest reflection, they have not until recently assumed even the forms of science. We cannot tell what formulae of economical truth passed from existence in the lost books of Aristotle. The father of the peripatetic philosophy undoubtedly brought to public economics the severe method which enabled him to construct so much of the everlasting science of which the history goes back to his times; but whatever direction he gave to the subject, by the investigation of its ultimate principles and their phenomena, his successors, and the writers upon it since the revival of learning, have generally been guided by empirical laws, which in an especial degree have obtained in regard to the economy of commerce. Scarcely any of the literature or reflection upon the subject has gone behind the bold hypotheses of free trade theorists, which have been as unsubstantial as the fanciful systems of the universe swept from existence by the demonstrations of Newton. Not only have economical systems generally been made up of unproven hypotheses, but they have rarely evinced any such clear apprehension and constructive ability as are essential in the formation and statement of principles; and down to the chaos of Mr. Mills's last essay there is scarcely a volume on political economy which rewards the wearied attention with any more than a vague understanding of the shadowy design that existed in the author's brain.

In the eminently original and scientific work of Mr. Colton we see economy subjected to fundamental and ultimate methods of investigation of which the results have a mathematical certainty. We have new facts, new reasonings, new deductions; and if the paramount ideas are not altogether original, they are discovered by original processes, and their previous existence is but an illustration of the truth that the instinctive perspicacity of the common mind often surpasses the logical faculty in recognizing laws before they are discovered from elements and relations. Mr. Colton has not rejected the title "_political_ economy" because he proposed to enter a different field, or because the subject and argument have no relation to politics, but chiefly because the term has been so much abused in the rude agitation of what are commonly called politics, that he does not think it comports with the dignity of the theme; and the second part of his title is adopted from a conviction that the economical principles of states _are to be deduced from their separate experience and adapted to their individual condition_. The task which he proposed to himself is, the exhibition of the merits of the protective and free trade systems as they apply to the United States. He expresses at the outset his opinion that the settlement of the question is one of the most desirable, and will be one of the most important results which remain to be achieved in the progress of the country; and we can assure him that the accomplishment of it will be rewarded by the best approval of these times, and an enduring name. The second chapter of his work is a statement of the new points which it embraces. By new points he does not mean that all thus described are entirely original, though many of them are so; but that on account of the importance of the places he has assigned them as compared with those they occupy in other works of the kind, they are entitled to be presented as new. Many of them involve fundamental and pervading principles that have not hitherto appeared in speculations on the subject, but which are destined to an important influence in its discussion. Some of the most prominent are, that public economy is the application of knowledge, derived from experience, to given positions, interests and institutions, for the increase of wealth; that it has never been reduced to a science, and that the propositions of which it has been for the most part composed, down to this time, are empirical; that protective duties in the United States are not taxes, and that a protective system rescues the country from a system of foreign taxation; that popular education is a fundamental element of public economy; that freedom is a thing of commercial value, and that the history of freedom for all time, shows it to be identical with protection.

Recently the renewal of his voice has enabled Mr. Colton to devote more attention to the favorite pursuit of his life, and he is a very frequent preacher, in French or English. He resides in New-York.

A GLANCE AT THE WATERING PLACES.

All the gay world of the cities, and even of the villages and country homes, who can do so, by the first of August are "going," or "gone," as Mr. John Keese says of a last invoice, to the watering places, and other summer resorts, which serve as fairs for the disposal of valueless time and "remainders" of marriageable daughters. With the crowds intent on speculation are a few invalids, a few students of human nature, and the common proportion of mere lookers-on, who have no purpose but to be amused. Times have changed, manners have changed, since Paulding gave us his _Mirror for Travellers_, though Saratoga still maintains the ascendency she was then acquiring, and for certain inalienable natural advantages is likely to do so for a part at least of every season.

New-York is the grand rendezvous: once settled in our hotels, the splendid Astor, the comfortable American, the busy Irving, the gay New-York, or the quiet Union Place or Clarendon, the stranger has little desire to go further, until the last and imperative demands of Fashion compel him to abandon the study of those noble institutions we described in the last _International_, and to forego the observation of those great public works in which the energy of our rich men has flowered, or those appointments of Providence which render New-York a rival of Dublin, Naples, or Constantinople, in scenic magnificence.

Many indeed who come from distant parts of the country, linger all summer in the vicinity of the city, in the hottest days quitting Broadway for a sail or drive, to the Bath House, Rockaway, Coney Island, New Brighton, Long Branch, or Fort Hamilton, where they dine, or perhaps stay over night. At Fort Hamilton, indeed, Mr. Clapp is apt to keep those who venture into his hotel, with its luxurious tables, pleasant rooms, cool breezes from the ocean, and fair sights in all directions, for a much longer time; and every one of these places, in the hot months, has attractions that would make a visitor at the Spas of France, Germany, or Italy, could he wake in them, think he had eluded the watchful guard St. Peter keeps at the gateway of another retirement, to the which, it may be feared, the gay world has far less anxiety to go.

Ascending the Hudson, from the social metropolis of this continent, to which all "capitals" of states or nations, from Patagonia to Greenland, are in some way subject and tributary, the traveller finds the palace in which he rides, continually near embowered pavilions for the public, and clusters of private residences, which but add to their enjoyableness. Cozzens's Hotel at West Point, is perhaps as well known as any house of the same class in the world, and its picturesque situation, as well as the admirable manner in which it is kept, will preserve for it a place in the list of favorite resorts. The Catskill Mountain House, in the midst of grand and peculiar scenery, on the verge of a rock two thousand and five hundred feet above the Hudson--seen with its various fleets at a distance from the long colonnade--is thronged even more than West Point. There are other pleasant houses on the river, and many turn from its various points to visit newer or less crowded places than Saratoga along the lines of the western railroads, as Trenton Falls, Sharon Springs, or Avon, or further still, the towns by the borders of the great lakes.

Saratoga is now for several weeks the gayest scene of all. At the United States Hotel, with its fine grounds, are the leaders of fashion; at Congress Hall, with its clean and quiet rooms and unsurpassed _cuisine_, are representatives of the substantial families that have had grandfathers, and in the dozen or twenty smaller houses about the village are "all sorts and conditions of men," and eke of women. With drives, dinners, flirtations, drinking of drinks, and, once in a long while, imbibitions of a little congress water, all goes merry as a marriage bell--except with ladies of uncertain ages who are disappointed of that blessed music--until the Grand Ball gives signal for departure to other places.

From Saratoga parties go northward to Lake George, (for which region, of the most romantic beauty, they should be prepared by a perusal of Dudley Bean's admirable sketch of its revolutionary history;) and down the Champlain toward Montreal, whence they return by way of the Ontario and Niagara Falls (where our engraver Orr's _Pictorial Guide Book_ is indispensable to the best enjoyment), or go through the glorious hills of northern Vermont and New Hampshire to the White Mountains. All the last grand region has been most truthfully and effectively represented in a small folio volume of drawings from nature, by Isaac Sprague, described by William Oakes, and published in Boston by Crosby & Nichols. We commend the book to summer tourists.

A considerable proportion of the guests who are at Saratoga in the earlier part of the season, proceed to Newport in time for the Fancy Ball which every year closes the campaign there. Newport increases in attractions. Its historical associations, fine atmosphere, beautiful position, and facilities for sea-bathing, fishing, sailing, riding, and other amusements, are continually drawing to its neighborhood new families, whose cottages add much to the beauty of the town, as they themselves to the pleasantness of its society; and for transient visitors no place in the world has better hotels or boarding-houses.

After the season closes at Newport, and from her Ocean House the last unwilling traveller has taken his way, strewn with regrets, many linger at the more quiet summer haunts scattered through New-England and New-York, particularly at the rural and luxurious hotel of Lebanon--a country palace which a king might covet--filled always with good society; or go southward to the Virginia Springs, which have many attractions peculiar to themselves, and with their unique pastimes, their tournaments, field sports, &c., happily vary a summer's life commenced at the more northern watering places.

The South Carolinians have this year seceded from the northern resorts, and those who do not go from Charleston to the up-country or to Georgia, may well be content with Captain Payne's spacious and splendid hotel on Sullivan's Island--the coolest and most agreeable place by the seaside we have visited, north or south, for years. From the south, and indeed from all parts of the country, parties go more and more every year to the Mammoth Cave, (of which we have in store a particular and profusely illustrated account), and up the great rivers and lakes of the west, all along which, first-class hotels, steamboats, &c., render travel as easy and delightful as on the old summer routes in the middle and eastern states.

--Thus we have taken our readers--some of whom haply cannot this season go by other ways--the circuit of the principal scenes of enjoyment to which the denizens of the hot cities are intent to escape through July, August, and September. If any have till this time hesitated where to go, possibly we have aided them to an election: certainly, we have led them cheaply along the fashionable tour.

NOAH WEBSTER.

The above portrait of the author of _The American Spelling-Book_, of which there have been sold thirty millions of copies, and of the _American Dictionary_, of which his publishers have hopes of selling as great a number, is very life-like; it is from a painting by Professor Morse, and the last time we saw the veteran scholar and schoolmaster, he wore the very expression caught by that always successful artist. Noah Webster's is the most universally familiar name in our history; every body, from first to second childhood, from end to end and side to side of the continent, knows it as well as his own; and he who made it so famous was worthy of his reputation.

Noah Webster was born in Hartford, Connecticut, October 16th, 1758. He was a descendant, in the fourth generation, of John Webster, one of the first settlers of Hartford, and afterwards governor of the colony. In 1774 he was admitted to Yale College. His studies were frequently interrupted during the Revolution, and for a time he himself served as a volunteer in the army, with his father and two brothers. He graduated, with honor, in 1778, in the same class with Joel Barlow, Oliver Wolcott, Uriah Tracy, and other distinguished men, and immediately opened a school, residing meanwhile in the family of Oliver Ellsworth, afterward chief justice of the United States. He soon commenced the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar in 1781; but the poverty and unsettled state of the country prevented any immediate success in the courts, and he resumed the business of instruction in 1782, at Goshen, Orange county, New-York. It was here that he began the preparation of books for the schools. He was led to do so in despondency of success in his profession; but it changed the course of his life. Having exhibited the rude sketch of his initial effort to Mr. Madison (afterwards President), and Dr. Stanhope Smith, Professor in Princeton college, he was encouraged by them to publish the "First Part of a Grammatical Institute of the English Language." The second and third parts of the series soon followed. A generation has not passed since some of these books were occasionally seen in New England. It may be that here and there a copy may still be lurking in the garret of some ancient family, or on the dusty shelves of a collector of antiquities. There is no more striking contrast than that suggested by a comparison of Webster's "Third Part," as it was familiarly styled, with the admirably printed school books now in every family. Webster's were the first school books published in the United States. In 1847 twenty-four million copies of the Spelling Book had been sold, and for several years the demand for it has been at the rate of a million a year.

Dr. Webster did not confine his attention to his own publications; but having learned that a copy of Winthrop's Journal was in the possession of Governor Trumbull, he caused it to be transcribed and published at his own risk. In this way was given to the public one of the most important memorials of our early history, and the first example furnished of printing the documents, and other materials, illustrative of our original experience. Mr. Webster was poor, and the country had never yet evinced any disposition to encourage enterprises of this sort; but he had always a confidence that it was safe to do what was right and necessary, and therefore disregarded in this, as in many other cases, the opinions of his friends that he would incur inevitable loss.

The peace of 1783 involved the whole country in political agitation, at certain points of which the calmest and wisest well nigh despaired of the republic. At that time the influence of the pen was greater than ever before. It seemed that the decision of principles which were to last for centuries was dependent on the force of a single argument, or the earnestness of one appeal. In this conflict the ambitious and self-relying spirit of Mr. Webster led him to take an active part, and from the peace till the close of Washington's administration, he was an industrious and efficient writer. No period in the history of this country was ever more critical; in none were so many principles subjected to experiment, in none was discussion more able, exhausting, and high-toned.

The first topic which engaged Mr. Webster's attention was the decision of Congress to remunerate the army, then recently disbanded. This measure was violently opposed in all parts of the country. Meetings were held to organize resistance to the law, and two-thirds of the towns of Connecticut were represented in a convention for this purpose. Mr. Webster was then twenty-five years of age, but he contributed to the leading paper of the state a series of essays, signed HONORIUS, which induced a decisive change in the public feeling; and he received for his important services the thanks of Governor Trumbull. In the winter of 1784--5 he published a tract, _Sketches of American Policy_, in which he advanced the doctrine, that to meet the crisis and secure the prosperity of the whole country, a government should be organized that would act, not upon the states, but directly on the people, vesting in Congress full authority to execute its own acts. A copy of this essay was presented by the author to Washington, and it is believed that it contained the first distinct proposal of the new constitution. About the same time, he exerted himself successfully for what was then called an "International Copyright" law between the several sovereign states; and at a later period he spent a winter in Washington, to procure an extension of the period for which a copyright might be enjoyed. In 1785, he prepared a series of lectures on the English language, which he delivered in the larger towns, and in 1789 published, under the title of _Dissertations on the English Language_. In 1787-8, he spent the winter in Philadelphia, as a teacher. The convention called to frame the new constitution was in session during a part of the year, and after its labors were completed, Mr. Webster undertook to recommend the result to the then doubtful favor of the people. This he did in a tract, entitled _An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution_. In the next year he established in New-York _The American Magazine_, but it was unsuccessful. In 1789 he opened a law-office in Hartford, and his reputation, diligence, and abilities, insured business and profits. He was now married to Miss Greenleaf, of Boston, and enjoyed the advantage of one of the most brilliant literary circles of the country, consisting of Joel Barlow, Lemuel Hopkins, John Trumbull, and others who at that time were eminent for their capacities.

But the political excitement of 1793, caused by the proclamation of neutrality, disturbed his plans, and brought him again into the arena of affairs. The sympathy for the new French republic, natural and pardonable as it was, overran all limits of reason. The popularity and influence of Washington were hardly sufficient for the repression of disorder and violence, and an armed espousal of the cause of the French. Mr. Webster was solicited to devote himself to the support of the administration, and means were furnished for the establishment by him of a daily paper in New-York. He accordingly commenced _The Minerva_, and soon after, a semi-weekly, _The Herald_, which ultimately received the names which they now retain, of _The Commercial Advertiser_, and _The New-York Spectator_.

Another agitation soon followed, if possible, still more alarming--that which grew out of Jay's Treaty with England. The discussions to which this gave rise were earnest, often angry and vituperative, but always able, enlisting the most accomplished men of the country. In these discussions Mr. Webster was, as might have been anticipated, remarkably active. A series of papers by him, under the signature of CURTIUS, had an unquestionable influence on the whole nation. They were extensively reprinted and afterwards collected in a volume. Mr. Rufus King said to Mr. Jay, that they had done more than any others to allay the popular opposition to the treaty. During these conflicts, Mr. Webster often encountered as an antagonist the celebrated William Cobbett, at that time conducting a journal in Philadelphia, distinguished alike for ability and for unscrupulous violence.

While Mr. Webster lived in New-York, the yellow fever prevailed in this city and in Philadelphia, and he wrote a minute and comprehensive _History of Pestilential Diseases_, in two volumes, which was published in New-York and in London. It attracted much attention in its time, and was referred to with interest during the subsequent prevalence of the cholera. He also published in 1802 an able treatise on _The Rights of Neutral Nations in time of War_, occasioned by the interference of the French government with the shipping of the world, and its seizure of American vessels, under the proclamation of a blockade. He also published _Historical Notices of the Origin and State of Banking Institutions and Insurance Offices_, a work of authority and popularity.

In 1798 he removed to New Haven, but retained the direction of his paper at New-York for several years. After disposing of his interest in it he devoted the remainder of his life to literary pursuits.

His first work was a _Philosophical and Practical English Grammar_, printed in 1807. It was in many respects original, acute, and excellently fitted for the purposes of instruction. It was, however, only one of the studies for his subsequent and far more important performance. For more than twenty years he had been a close student of the elements and sources of the English language; he had gradually, as his various occupations permitted, accumulated and arranged materials for its exposition, and he now felt himself at liberty to forego all other pursuits and ambitions to devote himself for the remainder of his life to the great labors which have made his name so honorably eminent in the history of the intellectual advances of his country and of the Saxon family. The preparation of a Dictionary, under any circumstances, must be regarded as a very formidable task, involving even for an enthusiast the most dry and wearying researches, unenlivened by any of the pleasing excitements which vary the monotony and relieve the tedium of ordinary literary pursuits. Mr. Webster from the beginning had a just conception of the duties and difficulties before him; he was assured that no superficial study or careless execution would command or in any degree deserve approval, in one who followed in the track of Johnson. He was not disposed to make the work of that great man a basis for his own; to be simply an editor, whose duties should be fulfilled by additions of the new words and new definitions introduced in seventy years; he determined to make a new and altogether original work; to study the English language in the writings of its most distinguished authors, to inquire into its actual usage in conversation and public discourse, not by loosely gathered and ill arranged groups of synonymes, but by a clear and precise statement of meanings, illustrated, whenever it should be necessary, by various instances. In this work, Johnson had made a beginning; he first conceived the plan of defining by descriptions, instead of synonymes; and he had introduced into his larger dictionary quotations from the best authors. But his work, valuable as it was, was imperfect, even in regard to the words current in his time, and which he succeeded in collecting. But, if Johnson had perfectly accomplished his design, the lapse of seventy years of such extraordinary and various activity in every department of human action and aspiration, would have rendered a New Dictionary indispensable. New sciences and arts had been discovered, which, in their manifold applications to industry, had changed or wonderfully augmented the technology and common speech of every class and description of workers. New experiments had been made in governments; new institutions had been introduced; literature had assumed new forms; and speculation, with perfect freedom and gigantic force, had forged new weapons for its new endeavors. The necessity for a new Dictionary of the English language, indeed is, demonstrated in the simple fact that the first edition of Webster's great work contained twelve thousand words not in Johnson; the second, thirty thousand. This statement does not, however, give a just impression of the difference between Johnson and Webster, or of the actual labor which Webster performed. The new definitions, many of which were fruits, not more of patient research than of nice discrimination, the arrangement of these definitions, so as to exhibit the history of words as it had been slowly developed, cost the author an amount of toil which can with difficulty be measured. We hazard little concerning the importance or difficulties of the work, when we quote the remark of Coleridge, that the history of a word is often more important than that of a campaign.

The etymology of the language, was a subject to which he devoted much attention, and in which he made great advances. To qualify himself for tracing the derivations of English words, he studied some twenty languages, and wrote out a synopsis of the leading words of each, and incorporated the chief results of this extraordinary investigation in the very full and instructive statement of words of similar imports, which in the larger Dictionary is prefixed to English words, and which he prepared for the press also, as a separate work, of about half the size of the _American Dictionary_, entitled "_A Synopsis of Words in Twenty Languages_," which is still unpublished.