Chapter XXV (2)

For fifty years these poor Jews have been without the guidance of a rabbi, and there is not one left who can read a word of Hebrew. In a dozen years, probably, the last trace of the Jews in China will expire. The travellers gave money to the mournful congregation in the synagogue, and received leave to copy the inscriptions, about which the Jesuits had previously informed us. Moreover, they obtained, and have brought home, eight Hebrew manuscripts; six contain portions of the Old Testament, namely, of Exodus, chapters 1-6, and 38-40; of Leviticus, chapters 19, 20; of Numbers, chapters 13, 14, 15; of Deuteronomy, chapters 11-16, and chapter 32; with portions of the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and Prophets. The other two manuscripts are of the Jewish Liturgy. The leaves of these manuscripts "are of a species of card-board, on which the words, as it were, are engraved with a point; the binding is in silk, and bears evident marks of being of foreign origin. Two Israelitish merchants, to whom these books were shown at Shanghae, spoke of having seen similar ones at Aken, and the presence here and there upon the margins of Persian words, interspersed with Hebrew annotations, seemed to indicate that the books came originally from some western country of Asia, perhaps Persia, or some of the high provinces of India, where Persic has from time immemorial been the language used among people of education. Although the annotations mentioned are numerous, and apparently referring to different epochs, no trace of any Chinese character is to be discovered, nor any of those marks or signs which immediately betray Chinese origin. No date exists by which the age can be determined."

We hope the statement is correct which tells us that these manuscripts are to be deposited in the British Museum. Fac-similes are at the same time promised, printed in Hebrew, accompanied with a plan of the synagogue, made on the spot by the Chinese travellers, and the journal of our junior hero, written in English and Chinese. The journal in English would not be a very ponderous affair, the entire expedition having occupied only two months--the residence at Kai-foung-fou, five days. We may usefully remember how the good Chinese, rising so fearfully betimes, did justice to the generosity and zeal of their patroness. Are there not men of might at work upon investigations for the public, who, at their ordinary rate, might have come to abandon this business in forty years, after eliminating fifty pounds of blue-book?

_Authors and Books._

LUDWIG FUERBACH, the last great philosopher of Young Germany, whose doctrines have been complacently declared as "more utterly irreconcilable with pietism or orthodox Christianity than those of any of his predecessors," has at length published his course of lectures "On the Existence of Religion," delivered at Heidelberg, from the month of December 1848 to March 1849. With regard to the apparent apathy with which he has regarded the great political events of these latter days, and the reproach that he has taken no active part therein--in which he forms a somewhat unfavorable contrast with Fichte and other great thinkers of the last generation--he remarks: "It will not appear strange that these lectures have not before been published; for what could, at the present day, be more seasonable than a remembrance of the year 1848? And by this souvenir I would also remark, that these lectures have been my only public intimations of activity during the so-called time of the Revolution. My own share in all the political and unpolitical deeds and movements of those times, was merely that of a critical beholder and listener, for the very simple reason that I could take no part in aimless, and consequently headless (silly) undertakings, having foreseen, or at least felt, from the very beginning of the whole movement, that such would be its result. A well-known Frenchman lately put me the question, Why I took no active part in the revolution of 1848? I replied, Mr. Taillandier,[14] if another revolution should break forth, and I take an active part therein, then may you, to the terror of your God-believing soul, be certain that this would be an overpowering revolution, bringing with it the judgment-day of monarchy and hierarchy. This revolution I should, alas! never survive. But I now also take an active part in a great revolution, but one whose true effects and results will be first developed in the course of centuries. For you know, Mr. Taillandier, according to my theory--which recognizes no Gods, and, consequently, no miracles in the sphere of politics--according to my theory, of which you know and understand nothing, though you assume to pass judgment on me instead of studying me, if TIME and SPACE are the fundamental conditions of all being and existence, of all thought and action, of all prosperity and success. Not that believers in God were wanting to the parliament, as some one humorously asserted in the Bavarian State council-chamber--the majority, at least, were believers, and the good Lord always sides with the majority--but because it had no comprehension of place or time, on which account it came to such a disgraceful and resultless end."

This, certainly, will appear to most readers to be, despite its bitterness, a lame and weak apology for neutrality, though we imagine that but little good could result from the intensest activity, when directed by such principles. Taillandier has also, in his own unassuming way, done, for so young a man, a full share of work "in the great revolution, whose true effects and results will be first developed in the course of centuries."

* * * * *

AUGUST KOPISCH, well known as the collector and translator of _Agrumi_--a choice selection of Italian Popular Songs--has recently published by Ernest and Korn of Berlin, a _Description and Explanation of the Monument to Frederic the Second_. A far more elegant work on the same subject, with no less than twenty excellent views of the monument, taken from as many points, appears from Decker, to which we may add another by Kohlheim, illustrated with a selection of ancient and modern poems relative to the memory of "Old Fritz."

* * * * *

We observe from a prospectus recently sent forth by the publisher, J. G. Muller, in Gotha, that the _Janus_, a well known and ably edited quarterly, devoted to medical literature, history, biographies, and statistics, the publication of which was suspended in 1848, on account of the political difficulties which then agitated Germany, is again to make its appearance, under the editorial charge of Doctors Bretschneider, Henschel, Hensinger, and Thierfelder, who will be aided in their efforts by many learned correspondents and contributors in different countries. Like most revived publications, it will be published in a style superior to its original, and to judge from the type and paper of the prospectus, which is given as a specimen of that with which the work is to be issued, its appearance will be truly exquisite.

* * * * *

FRANZ KUGLER the great historian and critic of Art, has made his appearance in a small _brochure_ of thirty pages, entitled, _Three Articles upon Theatrical Affairs_,--which, however, appears to have met with but little admiration, if we may judge from the hard knock which a reviewer gives it with the word--"Unpractical as the suggestions are, which we find allied to these observations, they would still give us no occasion for remark, had not Herr Kugler made them a pretence for political discussion." Apropos of Kugler we may observe that a very excellent work entitled _Denkmaler der Kunst_ (Souvenirs of Art), consisting of very neatly engraved and very extensive illustrations of Art in all ages and nations, intended specially as a companion work to the Berlin professor's _History_, has just been published for the first time in a compact form by Ebner and Seubert of Stuttgart. Among its authors or contributors we see the names of Dr. Ernst Guhl, Jos. Caspar, and Professor Voit of Munich.

* * * * *

The conclusion of the late JOHANN VON MULLER'S _History of the Swiss Confederation_ has just appeared from the hands of MM. VULLIEMIN and MONNARD. The work was commenced in 1786; when Von Muller died it was brought down to the year 1489; and it has since been continued by four other authors in succession. Robert Glutz-Blozheim took up the narrative where Von Muller stopped, and continued it to 1516; after his death, John Jacob Hottinger described the progress of the reformation in the German cantons; but on coming to the part which the French cantons took in this great movement, it was decided to employ a native of that part of the Confederation, and the work was accordingly given to Louis Vulliemin, who completed the history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He was followed by E. Monnard, Professor in the University of Bonn, who carried it as far as the second peace of Paris, in 1815. Both he and M. Vulliemin had already translated into French the volumes of their German predecessors. Their own volumes are now being translated into German, and the entire performance will soon be printed in both languages.

* * * * *

An interesting contribution to the religious and metaphysical history of Germany in the last generation will be found in the _Autobiography_ of BRETSCHNEIDER, now being published in parts, by his son-in-law Horst. It is described as a faithful as well as interesting narrative of the life of its deceased author and subject, who must fill a prominent place in the history of that great theological development of which his country has recently been the scene. He was a rationalist, but without aiming at the rejection or annihilation of the Christian supernaturalism. The sense of dependence on God, which was the foundation of Schleiermacher's theory, he regarded as stupid mysticism, and the general tendency of the more recent philosophy as obscure, abstruse, scholastic, and useless. He was a vigorous and unsparing controversialist, and the greater part of his writings are of that character.

* * * * *

DR. WURTH, the dramatist and theatrical director, has published a play "with choruses, dances, _and melodramas_ (_?_) entitled _The Gipsey Queen of Hungary in the year 1849_."

* * * * *

Those of our Philadelphia friends, who are conversant with foreign literature, will do well to patronise Herr CHRISTERN, who has recently opened an establishment of French, German, and Italian works at No. 232 Chesnut-st. Mr. Christern has been for several years the superintendant of the extensive bookstore of Kaisar, the eminent bibliographist in Berlin. We are happy thus to recommend Herr Christern as a scholar, well acquainted with something more than the mere titles of his wares.

* * * * *

Among "divers diversities," we note that the passion for Slavonic literature, which has received such an impetus during the last two years, has induced HERR SIEGFRIED KAPPER to write, after ancient Servian legends and heroic lyrics, a poem entitled _Lazar der Serbencar_. A new edition of CLEMENS BRENTANO'S _History of the brave Kasperl and fair Annerl_, has also been published at Berlin by the "United Bookselling Establishment," with an illustration. GLASSBRENNER, the humorist, (who is, however, we believe, not identical with his Rabelaesian pen-brother BRENNGLASER,) publishes by Simion of Berlin a third edition of his poems, while the more recent numbers of _Die Grenzboten_, the _Monatscrift_ and the _Europa_ are rich in a variety of articles surpassing in general interest any thing of the kind which we have for a long time witnessed in German periodical literature. It is to be wished that our own literati and miscellaneous intellectual purveyors would make a far more extended use of these German monthlies than they have hitherto done. Except the _International_, the _Tribune_ is almost the only periodical in the country that makes any considerable use of the German literary journals.

* * * * *

IMRESI, _die Ungarischen Fluechtlinge in d. Tuerkei_, (Imresi, or the Hungarian Refugees in Turkey), being a collection of data relative to the history of the emigration of 1849, from the journal of an exile, returned from Turkey, translated from the Hungarian, with additions by VASFI, has just appeared at Leipzig. "The _data_ alluded to in this article," remarks a German review, "principally concern the personal history of the Hungarian exiles in Turkey. In point of time it reaches to their departure from Widdin to Shumla. Many articles are added drawn from newspapers and private sources, relative to their adventures, to the fortune of those who have emigrated to America, and to the influence of England in these matters. A certain chapter on Turkish manners and customs, containing nothing which has not been already better described by other writers, might as well have been omitted."

* * * * *

THORWALDSEN'S _Jugend_ (or The Youth of Thorwaldsen) is the title of a work composed from the correspondence, manuscripts and notes of the illustrious artist, written originally in Danish by Hans Wachenhufen, and translated by J. M. Thiele, (if we mistake not, the eminent theologian). "The style and execution is somewhat stiff and dry, which may, however, be partly the fault of the translator, who appears to have deemed it his duty to condense as much as possible; and has in consequence apparently detracted in a degree from the easy, confidential tone with which it is inspired. Nor is the translation entirely free from errors and provincial expressions."

* * * * *

Among the most exquisite works recently published in Germany we observe a second greatly augmented and improved edition of _Alte und neue Kinderlieder Fabeln, Sprueche und Rathseln_, or, Old and New Songs, Fables, Sayings, and Riddles for Children, with illustrations by W. von Kaulbach, C. v. Aeideck, G. Konig, A. Kreling, E. Neureuther, the humorous and popular Graf. v. Poeci, L. Richter, C. H. Schmolze, M. v. Schwind, Stauber, &c. We have been thus particular in mentioning these names, that those who have not as yet seen the work may form some idea of the excellence of its illustrations. The only objection indeed which we have to find is, that the text (despite its title) is too far subordinate to the illustrations. A work of this description should at least have comprised _a majority_ of those songs heard in every Germany nursery, and which are given with such _naive_ truthfulness in _Des Knaben Wonderhorn_. In several instances these old songs were evidently the sources whence the spirit of the illustration was derived, which illustration is here applied to a limited scrap of the original; as for instance, in the exquisitely spirited and droll picture of _das bucklig's Mannlein_, or the hump-backed dwarf, by _Schwind_, which is far more applicable to the droll, demi, diabolical popular ballad of that name, than to the old scrap of verse which it over-illustrates. But as an album of admirable designs the work is unrivalled. The engraving of the mother and child illustrating the ballad of _Schlof Kindlein_ is truly beautiful, conceived in a spirit of naive fantasie, peculiarly applicable to the odd yet childlike song. _Das Glocklein im Hersen_, in which Christ is represented as opening the gate of Heaven to a child, by W. Kaulbach, in its pious, gentle beauty, almost transcends praise. Our notice already exceeds limit, yet we cannot leave this gem-book without specially and further commending The Toy-dealer of Nuremberg, a masterpiece of domestic life, by L. Richter, and _Es staig eim Herr zu Rosse_, or A Rider mounting his Horse, by Schwind, which forcibly recall the romantic etchings of Albert Durer.

* * * * *

A convention of Sclavic scholars, under the auspices of the Servian literary society of _Matica Ilirska_, in Agram, will probably soon be held, to consider the possibility of combining the different Sclavic dialects into one language. This will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, on account of the degree of cultivation which the languages of the Sclavic stock have attained.

* * * * *

A translation of JOHN MILTON'S _Areopagitica_, a Speech for the Liberty of unlicensed Printing, to the Parliament of England, in 1644, has recently been executed by Dr. RICHARD ROePELL, Professor of History at the University of Breslau, and published by Veit and Co. of Berlin.

* * * * *

"In every revolution, good or bad, there are blind fanatics and selfish intriguers ready to take part, and loafers and vagabonds (_Bummler und Gamins_) willing to raise their voices." This is the remark of a German medical critic on a recent hydropathically insane composition, entitled _The Sin-register of the Medical Art of Healing_. In this work the _servum pecus_ of allopathic physicians are richly abused, partly with biblical quotations and partly with original anathemas. Another on the same subject and in the same curious style, is entitled, _Gustav Schwab, the noble bard of Suabia_, by GOTTLOB WASSERMAN (or Praise-God Water-man). In this work the anti-Sangrado author proves to his own satisfaction, that the _noble bard_ came to his death in consequence of having been imprudently bled, on one occasion, some six months previous to his death.

* * * * *

At the end of June an eighth edition of OSCAR VON REDUITZ'S _Amaranth_, was announced, and it has already been succeeded by a ninth. Many of the poems in this collection are in Uhland's romantic vein, and abound in the artistic spirit. To this we may add a _Mahrchen_ in verse, (or Child's Tale,) a beautiful fantasie of birds, brooks, leaves, and sunshine, reminding us at times of _The Story without an End_, at others of Sara Coleridge's _Phantasmion_. But as it is one of those gilded fascinations which invariably charm on a first perusal, we leave to some more accurate reader the task of judging more critically as to its literary merit.

* * * * *

A translation of Shakspeare's Plays into the Swedish language by HAGBERG, Professor of Greek in the University of Lund, is now in course of publication. Of this twelve volumes have appeared; and although the first edition consisted of no less than two thousand copies, the whole have been sold off, and a second edition is in preparation.

* * * * *

The lectures of NEANDER, _On Church History_, etc., are soon to appear, in fifteen volumes, edited by Professor JULIUS MULLER, of Halle. The Interpretation of the Gospel of St. John, will form the first part of the work.

* * * * *

German books and pamphlets on the Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition, are already in the market, or have indeed been extant for some time. _Der Krystall Palast im Hyde Park_, is among the last in this line.

* * * * *

M. POUSSIN, recently the minister of France to this country, has in preparation a volume for popular circulation on the comparative merits of the French and American constitutions.

* * * * *

The Prussian minister VON RADOWITZ has published a second series of his _Dialogues on Church and State_, of which the first series appeared in 1846.

* * * * *

BARON DUDEVANT, husband of GEORGE SAND, the French papers lately declared had died in an obscure apartment in Paris; but it appears, on the contrary, that he is still living, in true baronial style, at his chateau on the Garonne. A correspondent of the _Tribune_ says, "he never reads his wife's romances, and that his decease was believed in Paris, for several literary gentlemen of eminence are said to have laid their hands and fortunes at the feet of the large-hearted woman" who was supposed to be a widow.

* * * * *

AUGUSTE COMTE has just published the first volume of a new work, his _Systeme de Politique Positive_. In his great work, _Philosophie Positive_, he was forced by his method to proceed objectively--from the world up to man; he now proceeds subjectively--from man to the world. This system of Positive Polity he calls a Treatise of Sociology, instituting the Religion of Humanity.

* * * * *

EMILE DE GIRARDIN announces a new pamphlet, the title of which sets one thinking, _La Revolution Legale par la Presidence d'un Ouvrier_. (The Revolution Legal through the Presidency of a Workman.)

* * * * *

LAMARTINE has published the first volume of _The History of the Restoration of the Monarchy in France_. It is intended as a sequel to his History of the Girondins, and this initial volume comprises the closing days of the Empire, the last great struggle of Napoleon with the combined armies in 1814, and the abdication at Fontainbleau. The tone throughout is derived from the partizan feelings of the present time. Its characteristic is an elaborate and determined depreciation of the emperor. The author's apparent ambition is to be striking, and he sometimes is successful: to be just or wise is scarcely in his nature. For ourselves, we are so well acquainted with the life of Napoleon--with the workings of that most powerful practical intelligence that God has yet suffered to exist among mankind--that we are not in any way affected by these efforts of a hungry rhetorician to disparage him. In his new book, as in his _Girondins_, M. Lamartine has not chosen to give us any authorities. What he says as to facts may be true, but we have only his word for it; and long ago, before M. Lamartine became a great man in affairs, we learned from his _Pilgrimage to the Holy Land_, that his word is of very little value. We confess an admiration for parts of his _Elvire_ and for some of his minor poems, but it is the youthful poet we admire, not the author of the sickly sentimentalism in his recent romantic memoirs, far less the historian, who to get himself out of difficulties induced by early extravagancies can play marketable tricks with the most awful shade that moves in the twilight of men's memories about the world.

* * * * *

MICHELET, driven from his chair in the University, is publishing in the _Evenement_ his new work, _Legendes de la Democratie_. The preface is remarkable for its naivete. "This book," he says, "is the true _Legendes d'Or_ (golden legend)--free from all alloy, and in it will be found nothing but the truth.--Nay more, every one who reads it will become a wiser and a better man." A happy author, to have such faith in his book!

* * * * *

M. GUIZOT'S _History of the Representative Form of Government_, is prepared from a course of lectures delivered by the author in the reign of Louis the Eighteenth. The preface contains frequent allusions to the politics of the day, and the eminent author refers in it to his attempts to reconcile authority with liberty. M. Guizot's style is clear, but destitute of warmth or ornament, and his works have reputation chiefly for their judicial carefulness and honesty--qualities not so common in France as to be reasonably neglected there.

* * * * *

M. PROUDHON, the socialist "philosopher," has written, in the prison, in which it has been deemed necessary to shut him up, a new work, entitled _General Idea of Revolution in the Nineteenth Century_. Among the topics of which it treats are the Reaction of Revolutions, the Sufficient Reason of Revolution in the Nineteenth Century, the Principle of Association, the Principle of Authority, Organization of Economical Forces, and Dissolution of Government under an Economical Organization. The elements of every revolutionary history, according to Proudhon, are the previous regime which the revolution seeks to abolish, and which, by the instinct of self-preservation, may become a counter-revolution; the parties which, according to their different prejudices and interests, endeavor to turn it to their own advantage; and the revolution itself.

* * * * *

DR. BUSHNAN, of Edinburgh, under the title of _Miss Martineau and her Master_, has published a temperate but conclusive refutation of the _Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature and Development_, by Miss MARTINEAU and Mr. GEORGE ATKINSON. The shallow performance in which these persons displayed their atheism was treated by the learned with contempt. Douglass Jerrold said the sum of their doctrine was contained in the formula, "There is no God, and Miss Martineau is his prophet," and those who considered the _Letters_ more seriously, for the most part expressed surprise and pity--never any one an apprehension that such wretched stuff could unsettle a conviction of the feeblest, or confirm a doubt of the most skeptical.

* * * * *

ISAAC TAYLOR, whose "Natural History of Enthusiasm," has been much read in this country, has in press _Wesley and Methodism_.

* * * * *

Not long ago it was stated that a Mr. SIMONIDES had discovered at the foot of Mount Athos a great number of important Greek MSS. We ventured to express some doubts on the subject, and we now perceive that Mr. RHANGABE, Professor of Archaiology in the University of Athens, has published a critical examination of these pretended discoveries, in which he proves very satisfactorily that every manuscript of an ancient work which Mr. Simonides has allowed others to examine, and every work which he has published, has turned out to be a modern fabrication. A more real discovery has been made by persons engaged in removing the earth for the foundations of a house near the Acropolis. Fragments of inscriptions, and several relics of sculpture and architecture, have been dug up, and it is thought they prove that the senate house, metroon, and other buildings in which the Athenian archives were preserved, stood in the vicinity. Apropos of M. Simonides, in a letter from Constantinople it is alleged that from the examination of ancient manuscripts in different Greek convents, he has discovered an indication that the original of the _Acts of the Apostles_ is buried in an island in the Sea of Marmora, and that he has caused an application to be made to the Turkish government for leave to search after it, which, it is said, is opposed by the Greek Patriarch, from fear that the discovery of the important document may lead to new schisms in the church!

* * * * *

We mentioned in a recent number of the _International_ the discovery and publication of a supposed MS. work by Origen. In the June number of the _Quarterly_ it is carefully reviewed, and in several of the theological journals it has received the attention due to a work of its pretensions. We see now that the Chevalier BUNSEN has in the press of the Longmans _Five Letters to Archdeacon Hare, on Hypolitus, Presbyter of the Church of Rome, author of the recently discovered book ascribed to Origen, and the bearing of this work on the leading Questions of Ecclesiastical History and Polity_.

* * * * *

Dr. CROLY has just published a new volume of poems, under the title of _Scenes from Scripture_. The greater part of them had previously appeared in annuals, &c. C. B. CAYLEY has given to the world a new version of the _Divine Comedy_, in the original terza rhyme; EDMUND PEEL, a poet of Mr. Robert Montgomery's class, has published _The Fair Island_, descriptive of the Isle of Wight; ROBERT MONTGOMERY himself has nearly ready his some-time promised _Poetical Works_, for the first time collected into one volume, similar to the octavo editions of Southey, Wordsworth, &c., including some original minor poems, and a general preface, (only the printing being in the style of Wordsworth.)

* * * * *

The first of the old historians to be edited in the light of the modern discoveries in Assyria, is _Herodotus_, to appear in a new English version, translated from the text of Gaisford, and edited by Rev. GEORGE RAWLINSON, assisted by Col. RAWLINSON and Sir J. G. WILKINSON, with copious notes, illustrating the history and geography by Herodotus, from the most recent sources of information, and embodying the chief results, historical and ethnographical, which have been arrived at in the progress of cuneiform and hieroglyphical discovery. This edition will be printed for Mr. Murray in four octavo volumes. The translation has been undertaken from a conviction of the inadequacy of any existing version to the wants of the time. The unfaithfulness of Beloe, and the unpleasantness of his style, render his version insufficient in an age which dislikes affectation and requires accuracy; while the only others which exist are at once too close to the original to be perused with pleasure by the general reader, and defective in respect of scholarship.

* * * * *

SIR JAMES STEPHEN, whose brilliant contributions to the Edinburgh Review are familiar through Mr. Hart's Philadelphia edition, has nearly ready _Lectures on the History of France_, and _The History of France_, compiled, translated and abridged from the works of De Sismondi, and of other recent French authors, and illustrated with historical maps and chronological and other tables.

* * * * *

J. S. BUCKINGHAM, the author of fifty volumes of _Travels_, (of which eight large octavos are about our own unfortunate country,) has at length succeeded in his long contest with the East India Company for indemnification for his losses as an oriental journalist. The bill before parliament for restitution has been withdrawn, the court of directors and the government having agreed to settle upon him a pension of four hundred pounds per annum.

* * * * *

We perceive that the British government has bestowed a pension of five hundred dollars a year on Mrs. JAMESON. We think of no Englishwoman who is more deserving of such distinction. Mrs. Jameson has spent a pretty long life in the most judicious exercise of her literary abilities, and as a critic of art she is unquestionably superior to any woman who has ever written on the subject. One of her most popular works, the _Beauties of the Court of Charles the Second_, will be issued in a splendid edition, with all the original portraits, in a few weeks, by the Appletons of this city.

* * * * *

SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON has published _Critical Discussions in Philosophy, Literature, and Education with University Reform_, chiefly from the Edinburgh Review, but now corrected, vindicated, and enlarged.

* * * * *

Several new books of _Travels_ have lately appeared or are in press in London. Among them are _Eight Years in Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor, from 1842 to 1850_, by F. A. NEALE, late of the Consular service; _A Naturalist's Sojourn in America_, by P. H. GOSSE; a _Journal of a Boat Voyage through Rupert's Land, and along the Central Arctic Coasts of America_, in Search of the Discovery Ships under command of Sir John Franklin, with an Appendix on the Physical Geography of North America, by Sir JOHN RICHARDSON, C. B., F. R. S., &c.; the _Personal Narrative of an Englishman Domesticated in Abyssinia_, by MANSFIELD PARKINS; _Contrasts of Foreign and English Society_, or, records and recollections of a residence in various parts of the Continent and of England, by Mrs. AUSTIN; _Narrative of Travels to Nineveh, in 1850_, by Hon. FREDERICK WALPOLE, R. N. author of "Four Years in the Pacific;" _Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines, in 1848-50_, by ROBERT MACMICKING; _Recollections of a Ramble from Sidney to Southampton, via Panama, the West Indies, the United States, and Niagara_, (anonymous.)

* * * * *

J. J. GARTH WILKINSON has just published in London _The Human Body and its Connection with Man, illustrated by the Principal Organs_, and it is dedicated to Mr. Henry James of New-York, the author of _Moralism and Christianity_. "My dear James," says the author, "this book is indebted to you for its appearance, for without you it would neither have been conceived nor executed. I dedicate it to you as a feeble tribute of friendship and gratitude that would gladly seek a better mode of expressing themselves. It may remind you of happy hours that we have spent together, and seem to continue some of the tones of our long correspondence. _Valeat quantum!_ It could not lay its head upon the shelf without a last thought of affection directed to its foster parent. That prosperity may live with you and yours, and your great commonwealth, is the prayer of, my dear James, your faithful friend," &c.

* * * * *

Of new novels the most noticeable appear to be _The Lady and the Priest_, by Mrs. Maberly; _The Tutor's Ward_; _Clare Abbey_, by author of "The Dicipline of Life;" _Marion Wethers_, by Miss Jewsbury; _Castle Deloraine, or the Ruined Peer_, by Miss PRISCILLA SMITH; and _Quakerism, or the Story of My Life_, a splenetic attack on the society of Friends.

* * * * *

The recent work of Dr. GREGORY on Animal Magnetism has attracted much attention, and from some intimations in the papers we suspect it is to be criticised in _Letters on the Truths contained in Popular Superstitions, with an Account of Mesmerism_, by Dr. HERBERT MAYO, F.R.S., to be published by Blackwood.

* * * * *

Two new works on the _Apocalypse_ are to be added to the immense number already printed, for New-York publishers. We not long ago undertook to ascertain how many expositions of the great mystery had been written in this country, and paused at the sixty-fifth title-page. One of the forthcoming works is an ingenious composition by the Rev. Mr. James of the western part of this state, and the other (to be published by Mr. Dodd) is by a clergyman in Connecticut. Longmans advertise in London _The Spiritual Exposition of the Apocalypse_, as derived from the writings of Swedenborg, and illustrated and confirmed by ancient and modern authorities, by the Rev. Augustus Clissold, of Exeter College; and the Rivingtons have in press a _Commentary on the Apocalypse_ by the Rev. ISAAC WILLIAMS, of Trinity College. England indeed is quite as prolific of such works as the United States.

* * * * *

MR. JOHN FINCHMAN, "master shipwright of her Majesty's Dockyard, at Portsmouth," has published a _History of Naval Architecture_, which is praised as a just exposition of the progress and supremacy of English ship-building. Our Mr. Collins could have furnished him, as illustrations for an additional and very interesting chapter, drawings of the _Pacific_ and the _Baltic_, which would perhaps make the work a "just exposition of the supremacy" of American ship-building, of which this Mr. Finchman seems never to have been informed.

* * * * *

Of collections of Letters on Affairs, that to be published immediately by Mr. Murray, under the title of the _Grenville Papers_, promises to be among the most important. It will comprise the Private Correspondence of Richard Grenville, Earl Temple, and his Brother, the Right Honorable George Grenville, and their friends and cotemporaries--formerly preserved at Stowe and now for the first time made public, and it is given out that it will contain material for the formation of a pretty conclusive judgment as to the authorship of Junius.

* * * * *

Among books that will bear a republication, if written with even average ability and fairness, is _The Present State of the Republic of the Rio de la Plata_ (_Buenos Ayres_), its Geography, Resources, Statistics, Commerce, Debt, etc. described, with the History of the Conquest of the Country by the Spaniards, by Sir WOODBINE PARISH, F.R.S. Formerly British Consul General and Charge d' Affaires in that country.

* * * * *

LORD MAHON'S _History of England, from, the Peace of Utrecht_, volumes 5 and 6--the First Years of the American War: 1763 to 1780--was to appear in August.

* * * * *

A new book has just appeared in London on the Pitcairn's Islanders.

* * * * *

An advertisement of the works of Archbishop WHATELEY contains thirty-six titles. He appears to be one of the most voluminous writers among the bishops, as well as one of the most sensible and learned.

* * * * *

MR. MACAULEY has at length completed two more volumes of his _History of England_, and they will be published the coming autumn by Longmans.

* * * * *

The _Poems of Edith May_, from the press of E. H. Butler of Philadelphia, will be one of the most beautiful of the illustrated books of the season. Mr. Butler is an artist in book-making, and he has never published anything more elegant. The lady who writes under the pseudonym of "Edith May" is a genuine poet, and the volume will be popular.

* * * * *

WILLIAM WARE, one of those delightful authors whose names are always uttered by appreciating readers in tones of affection, has just published (Phillips, Sampson, & Co., of Boston,) _Sketches of European Capitals_. The work includes his views of Ancient Rome, St. Peters and the Vatican, Florence, Naples, the Italians of Middle Italy, and London, and in his preface he tells us that "the volume comes into existence, like so many others now-a-days, as a convenient way of disposing of matter previously used in the form of lectures;" and adds, modestly, "It is a volume of light reading for the summer roadside, and though, like the flowers of that season, perishing with them, one may be permitted to hope that, like some of them, at least it may exhale a not unpleasing fragrance while it lasts." Such a fate awaits no book by the author of _Probus_ and _Zenobia_, of whom this performance is by no means unworthy.

* * * * *

The HARPERS have in press _Drayton, a Tale of American Life_, in which is traced the career of a young American from the workshop to places of trust and honor; and a friend, who has read the manuscript, speaks in warm terms of the frequent beauty of the style, the warmth of the coloring, the animation of the narrative, and the general progress and development of the story. The author is THOMAS H. SHREVE, for the last ten or twelve years one of the editors of the _Louisville Daily Journal_, and for twenty years well and most favorably known by frequent and elegant contributions to western literature. _Drayton_, we are advised, is not one of those easy pieces of writing which are known as very hard reading, but has engaged the attention of the author, at periods of comparative leisure, for several years past. Within a few months it has been entirely recast and rewritten; and, if our correspondent be not very partial in his judgment of the merits of the work, the public will find in its patriotic and democratic pages a mine of poetry and fine reflection.

* * * * *

A few words more of _American Reviews_. The subject is important; a great periodical in which the best intelligence of the country shall have expression, is necessary, for many purposes, and never was more necessary than now. The _Princeton Review_, the _Christian Review_, the _Biblical Repository_, the _Bibliotheca Sacra_, the _Methodist Quarterly Review_, the _Church Review_, _Brownson's Quarterly Review_, and several others, are in large degrees devoted to particular religious interests, and though for the most part conducted with much learning and discretion, do not altogether serve the purpose for which an American Review of Literature and Affairs is demanded. The _North American_, as we have before intimated, has no character; it occasionally has good articles, but it has no principles; it is sectional, which is pardonable, but displays neither the knowledge nor the tact necessary to a sectional organ. The mineral riches of our lake region, plans for connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific, the Cuban question, our relations with other republics, the extraordinary phenomena of Mormonism, the efforts of certain American women to unsex themselves, and numerous other subjects of present interest in this country, have been amply discussed in British and other European Reviews during the last year, but not one of them has been mentioned in the work to which, from its pretentions, readers would naturally look for its most masterly exposition. It may be said that the _North American_ is devoted to philosophy, learning, and literature rather than to affairs: we have heard this defence, even in the face of its elaborate papers on Hungary and Austria; but let us see how it occupies such a ground: the bright and especial intellectual boast and glory of New England is Jonathan Edwards, of whom Dr. Chalmers says that he was "the greatest of theologians," Sir James Mackintosh that "in power of subtle argument he was perhaps unmatched, certainly was unsurpassed among men," Dugald Stewart that "he cannot be answered," and Robert Hall that he was the "mightiest of mankind:" such a character was undoubtedly worthy of its criticism, but in the half century of its existence the _North American_ has never once noticed him! We have an illustration much more pertinent, especially in as far as the present editor of the _Review_ is concerned: The late Hartley Coleridge was a man of peculiar and very interesting qualities, and it may be admitted that he possessed considerable genius; but a pretence that his life was as remarkable or that his abilities as displayed in his writings were as eminent as those of Edgar A. Poe, who died about the same time, would be simply ridiculous; yet we believe every quarterly and nearly every monthly Review published in Great Britain has had its article on Hartley Coleridge, while even the name of Edgar A. Poe has never appeared in our self-styled "great national journal." And Maria Brooks, admitted by Southey, Wordsworth, Charles Lamb, Fitz Greene Halleck, and many other masters of literary art, to have been the greatest poet of her sex who ever wrote in any language or in any age, though she was born and educated in the shadow of the college in which more than one of the editors of the _North American_ have been professors, was never once honored with its recognition.

We do not know that it will strike others so, but it seems to us that John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, Hugh S. Legare, R. H. Wilde, J. J. Audubon, Mathew L. Davis, Albert Gallatin, Henry Inman, Chancellor Kent, Dr. Judson, Dr. Jarvis, Dr. Morton, Dr. Troost, M. M. Noah, Mrs. Osgood, and many other Americans who have recently completed variously illustrious lives, and so come before the world for a final judgment, are subjects quite as deserving and appropriate for the _North American Review_, as those which it has been accustomed to pick up in the byways of the literary world abroad; and we cannot understand why the facts connected with our own development and destiny, facts which engross and baffle the attention of the profoundest thinkers in the older nations, should give place in the only Review we possess, to such foreign, antiquated, and altogether unimportant topics as continually occupy its pages.

* * * * *

MR. JAMES W. WARD, of Cincinnati, a short time ago delivered before one of the literary institutions of Ohio, a poem on _Woman_, which has been noticed in terms of high commendation. A correspondent who heard it says it was devoted in about equal parts to the foibles and the virtues of the sex, the former of which it laid bare with a most trenchant blade, while the latter it portrayed with elegance of diction, and an evident love for all that is pure, elevated, and beautiful in woman's proper character. The slave of fashion, the politician in petticoats, and the "bloomer" in br---- pettiloons, the female "progressive," the scold, the slattern, and the butterfly, were all held up to merited rebuke: then came "the true woman," whose character as sister, wife, mother, friend, and "comforter," was dwelt on long and fondly, and portrayed in the language of true poetry and manly devotion. Mr. Ward is not much known out of the literary circles of the West, but several of his short poems have had a wide circulation in this country and in England.

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A volume entitled _Novellettes of the Musicians_, has been published by Cornish, Lamport, & Co., with Mrs. ELLET's name on the title-page as its author, but most of its contents are translated from the German, and the rest are hardly worth claiming. Yet the book altogether is entertaining, and is handsomely executed, with several striking portraits.

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The Rev. Mr. HUNTINGTON, once a village doctor, then a congregational minister, next an Episcopal clergyman, and now a Catholic priest, made his mark a year or two ago in the novel of _Alice or the Mysteries_, in which there was displayed a great deal of talent as well as a very peculiar morality. He has just added to his works (by Putnam) a tale called _Alban_, in which a hero somewhat like himself is conducted through various pursuits into the faith, and by pleasantly related vicissitudes to a good condition. The scene is in New-York and New-Haven, and of Roman Catholic novels we know of scarcely one more readable. Mr. Huntington perhaps gives us a reflection of his experience in this advice addressed to one of his characters:

"That is why I turn to literature with such predilection,"
said the young man, greatly excited by Mr. De Groot's way of
talking. "Letters," resumed Mr. De Groot, after a long
glance around his endless book-shelves, "are a pursuit that
surpasses every other, in enjoyment, and nearly every other
in dignity. We must have our own literary men. We can't
afford to let other nations write our books for us. That
were worse than policy which would hire them to fight our
battles. There is a thought and there is a sentiment which
belongs to _us_, and which we are in a manner bound to
elicit. But--I am sorry to interpose so many _buts_, young
sir--you are to consider that you must live. You cannot live
by literature. It is difficult any where, but in this
country it is impossible. As pride distinguishes the
Spaniard, revenge the Italian, lust the Saxon, and
sanguinary violence (they say) the Celt, so pecuniary
injustice is our national trait, we steal the author's right
in every book we publish, native or foreign. Now, Atherton,
you can't live by a craft where people hold themselves at
liberty to _steal_ what you have produced."

* * * * *

We mentioned a month or two ago the intention of Mr. Russell, of Charleston, to publish the _Poetical Writings_ of WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS, and we are pleased to see in the _Southern Literary Gazette_ the announcement that they will appear in two handsome duodecimos of from three to four hundred pages each. The publisher remarks very justly in his advertisement that "the works of Mr. Simms recommended themselves peculiarly to the South, as illustrating its history, its traditions and legends, its scenery and its sentiments." In the North they will be welcomed by the author's numerous friends, and by all lovers of poetry, for their manly tone, imagination, and frequent elaborate elegance.

* * * * *

DR. TYNG has added to the _Memoir of the late Rev. Edward Bickersteth_, by the Rev. T. R. BIRKS, an introductory chapter, and the work has been published in two volumes, by the Harpers. Mr. Bickersteth was one of the most excellent and most interesting men in the English church, and this well-written memoir will have a place among standard religious biographies.

* * * * *

The _Home Book of the Picturesque_, to be published by Mr. Putnam, will be upon the whole the most beautiful souvenir volume of the year. The engravings are from pictures of the Bay of New York, by H. Beckwith; the Clove, Cattskill, by Durand; the Alleghanies, North Carolina, by Richards; Snow Scene on the Housatonic, by Gignoux; Cattskill Scenery, by Kensett; Schroon Lake, by Cole; West Rock, New Haven, by Church; Adirondach Mountains, by Durand; the Juniatta, Pennsylvania, by Talbot; Cascade Bridge on the Erie Railroad, by Talbott; the Rondout, by Huntington; Church at West Point, by Weir; Wa-wa-yanda Lake, by Cropsey, &c., and these are illustrated with letter-press by Miss Cooper, Fenimore Cooper, Irving, Bryant, Willis, Bayard Taylor, Magoon, Bethune, and one or two persons quite unworthy of the association to which the publisher admits them. The _Book of Home Beauty_, also to be issued by Mr. Putnam, we judge from a few proofs of Mr. Martin's pictures which we have seen, will be a much more attractive volume than any "Book of Beauty" ever published abroad. The text of this is all from the pen of Mrs. Kirkland.

* * * * *

The _Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature_, by the Rev. Dr. KITTO, has been republished in a fine large octavo, with numerous illustrations by Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, of Boston. We have had frequent occasion to praise the abilities, learning, and excellent taste of Dr. Kitto, who is one of the most attractive writers and most judicious editors engaged in the illustration of the Scriptures. We think the present work will become the most common of all the Bible Dictionaries, as it probably is the best.

* * * * *

Mr. Redfield has reprinted in a style quite equal to that of the original London edition, the second series of _Episodes of Insect Life_, by ACHETA DOMESTICA. This volume relates to insect life in the summer, and is as entertaining as a romance. We have never read a more attractive book in natural history.

* * * * *

MR. POMEROY JONES, of Westmoreland, in this state, has in press at Utica, a _History of Oneida County_, in the preparation of which he has been engaged several years, and the professors of Hamilton College have in preparation a Natural History of the County, embracing its Geology, Botany, Zoology, &c.

* * * * *

A volume of _Poems_ by MRS. REBECCA S. NICHOLS, of Cincinnati, will, we understand, be issued for the next holidays. Mrs. N. has some warm admirers, and this volume is to contain her best productions. We hope its success may equal its deserts.

* * * * *

The fine, thoughtful _Essays Written in the Intervals of Business_, have been reprinted by A. D. F. Randolph, of this city.

* * * * *

The Rev. ISAAC LEESER, one of the Jewish ministers of Philadelphia, whom we have long known as a scholar and man of talents, is engaged on a new translation of the Old Testament, on the basis of the common English version, carefully corrected and improved according to the best Jewish authorities. It is intended by Mr. Leeser so to render the Hebrew text that but few explanatory notes will be needed, and he reasonably hopes that his edition will be commonly adopted by the Jews of this country. Dr. KENRICK, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Philadelphia, has just published (by Dunigan & Brother, New-York,) _The Epistles and the Apocalypse_, from the Vulgate, having previously given to the public a translation of the Gospels; and Dr. Alexander of Princeton, and several other men of learning, have lately been occupied with new versions of particular portions of the sacred volume. It is well known, too, that a society, composed for the most part of members of one of the largest and most respectable denominations of Christians, has been established mainly for the purpose of publishing a revised version of the Bible, but it is not probable that this society will ever accomplish any thing more than an increased "contempt for God's word and commandment." The specimens we have of its scholarship might justify some merriment if they were connected with something less venerable and sacred.

For ourselves we are content with the Bible as it is, and cannot help a feeling of regret that any who profess to be governed by its wisdom are disposed to treat it with so little reverence. Undoubtedly there are some slight verbal inaccuracies in the common version, but they are understood, or may be easily explained in notes: we want here no innovations, no improvements, no progress, except in the observance of the good we understand. Nevertheless, we see with pleasure all the studies with which really learned men illustrate their convictions of the significance of the original. For the chief portion of mankind, in this night in which we live, the sun does not shine with its original splendor, but it is reflected on us by the moon, and we care not how many thousand stars reflect it also according to their capacity.

A new version, by which it is _not proposed to displace the common one_, is to appear from the press of Mr. Colby, in this city, and the high reputation of its author for learning and judgment, is a sufficient assurance that what he does at all he will do in a very masterly manner. The Rev. Dr. Conant, Professor of Biblical Literature in the University of Rochester, says in a letter to his publisher: