Chapter XXII (2)

TO JOHN SMITH, JR., OF ARKANSAS: _My Dear Sir_:--I
thank you sincerely for your kind defence of me against
the unfounded aspersions of an editor of a Boston
paper. Your course was precisely what was to be
expected from a just man, and a contemporary who has
known me from my boyhood. The editor alluded to,
charges me with a crime that I abhor. It is
substantially as follows: "_That the ballad of
'Woodman, spare that tree,' was not written by me, but
by the late Samuel Woodworth, who, while in a state
intoxication, sold it to me, in a public bar-room, for
a paltry sum_." A more infamous charge was never made,
and the whole story, from beginning to end, without any
qualification whatever, is an unmitigated _falsehood_.
The history of the song in question is simply this: In
the autumn of 1837, Russell, the vocalist, applied to
me for an original ballad, and I wrote him "_Woodman,
spare that tree_," and handed it to him with a letter
which he afterwards read at his concerts, and published
in the newspapers of the day. It also accompanied the
first edition of the music. Mr. Woodworth never saw or
heard of the song until after it appeared in print. I
am not indebted to any human being, dead or alive, for
a single word, thought, or suggestion, embodied in that
song. It is entirely original and entirely my
composition, and this is also true of _all_ the
productions I have ever claimed to be the author of,
with the exception of the play of "Brier Cliff," which
is founded upon a novel by Mrs. Thayer, and the opera
of the "Maid of Saxony," dramatized from a story by
Miss Edgeworth. In both instances I duly acknowledged
my indebtedness to the authors from whom I derived my
materials for those pieces. The attack upon Mr.
Woodworth is also shameful in the extreme, and is in
keeping with the whole affair. A more pure and
honorable man never drew the breath of life, and it is
due to his memory to say that he was not less
remarkable for his habits of _temperance_, than for his
many excellent qualities of head and heart. I do not
think that he was ever intoxicated in the whole course
of his life, and he was too upright a man to lend
himself to such a bare-faced imposition as I am charged
with practising through his agency. If he were alive to
answer for himself, he would spurn, as I do, these
malicious fabrications. The whole of the charges made
against me are _untrue in every particular_, and what
motive any one can have for circulating such vile
slanders in private life, or for proclaiming them from
the house-tops of the press, baffles my ingenuity to
determine. Those who know me will doubtless consider
this vindication of myself entirely unnecessary. If I
were to follow my own inclinations I should not notice
the scandalous libel; but, as you justly remarked, "a
slander well hoed grows like the devil," and as my
silence might possibly be misunderstood, I deem it a
duty I owe myself to contradict the infamous and
malicious aspersions of the Boston editor, and to
declare, in the language of Sheridan, that "there is
not one word of truth in all _that gentleman_ has
uttered." In conclusion, I would say, that my defamer
has either been imposed upon, or that he is one of
those lawless bravos of our profession who really
imagine, because they are "permitted to print they are
privileged to insult." Again, thanking you for your
courtesy and kind interposition in my behalf, I remain,
my dear sir, yours very cordially.

GEORGE P. MORRIS.

* * * * *

PROFESSOR TORREY, of Vermont University, has published the fourth volume of his translation of Neander's _History of the Christian Religion_--a work which must have rank with the great historical compositions of Niebuhr and Grote, which have or will have superseded all modern histories of the two chief empires of antiquity. The volumes of Professor Torrey's very able translation of Neander's History are regularly republished in rival editions in England, and so he loses half the reward to which his service is entitled. Puthes, of Hamburg, advertises the eleventh part (making half of another volume), which Neander left in MS. This will, of course, be reproduced by Professor Torrey.

* * * * *

Another translation of the _Divine Comedy_ has been made in England. It is by a Mr. C. B. CAYLEY, and is in the original ternary rhyme. From a hasty examination of it we incline to prefer it to Wright's or Carey's; but we have seen no version of DANTE that in all respects satisfies us so well as that of Dr. THOMAS W. PARSONS, of Boston, of which some ten cantos were published a few years ago, and of which the remainder is understood to be completed for the press. Speaking of Dante, reminds us of the fact that Mr. Richard Henry Wilde's elaborate memoir of the great Italian has not yet been printed. Mr. Wilde wrote to us not long before his death that he had been occupying himself in leisure hours with the revision of some of its chapters, and we have no doubt that the work is completed. If so, for the honor of the lamented author, and for the honor of American criticism, it should be given to the public.

* * * * *

From a forthcoming volume by ALICE CAREY, _Recollections of Our Neighborhood in the West,_ (to be published early in December by J. S. Redfield,) we copy a specimen chapter, under the title of "The Old Man's Death," into another part of this magazine. It has no particular excellence to distinguish it from the rest of the work; indeed it is rather below than above the average of Miss Carey's recent compositions; but we may safely challenge to it the scrutiny of critics capable of appreciating the finest capacities for the illustration of pastoral life. If we look at the entire catalogue of female writers of prose fiction in this country we shall find no one who approaches Alice Carey in the best characteristics of genius. Like all genuine authors she has peculiarities; her hand is detected as unerringly as that of Poe or Hawthorne; as much as they she is apart from others and above others; and her sketches of country life must, we think, be admitted to be superior even to those delightful tales of Miss Mitford, which, in a similar line, are generally acknowledged to be equal to any thing done in England. It is the fault of our literary women that they are commonly careless and superficial, and that in stories, when they attempt this sort of writing, they are for the most part but feeble copyists, without individuality, and without naturalness. We can point to very few exceptions to this rule, but among such exceptions Alice Carey is eminent. The book which is announced by Mr. Redfield is without the tinsel, or sickly sentiment, or impudent smartness, which distinguish some contemporary publications by women, but it will establish for her an enviable reputation as an original and most graphic delineator of at least one class in American society--the middle class, in the rural neighborhoods, with whom rest, in our own as in other countries, the real distinctions of national character, and the best elements of national greatness.

* * * * *

Mr. HENRY INGALLS, a writer of considerable abilities, displayed chiefly in anonymous compositions on questions in law, writes to a friend in New-York from Paris, that he has devoted two years to the investigation of pretended miracles in modern Europe; that the number of alleged miracles in the Roman Catholic church of which he has exact historical materials, is over one thousand; that the analyses of these will be amply suggestive of the character of the rest; and that his work on the subject, to make three or four large and closely printed volumes, will conclusively show complicity on the part of the highest authorities of the church, in "the frauds that are now most notorious and most generally acknowledged."

Mr. Ingalls is of opinion that his work will be eminently curious in literary, philosophical, and religious points of view, and that it cannot fail of usefulness, especially in illustrating the silly credulity which has obtained in such poor juggleries as have lately been practiced by the Smiths, Davises, Fishes, Harrises, and other imposters and mountebanks of this country.

* * * * *

Among the new works in press by the Appletons is a new novel entitled _Adrian, or the Clouds of the Mind_--the joint production of Mr. G. P. R. JAMES and Mr. MAUNSELL B. FIELD. Such partnerships in literature were common in the days of Elizabeth, and in our own country we have instances in the production of _Yamoyden_, by Sands and Eastburn, &c. Mr. Field is not yet a veteran, but he is a writer of fine talents and much cultivation. Among the original papers in the present number of the _International_ is a poem from his hand, under the title of _Greenwood_.

* * * * *

The first volume of a _History of the German Reformed Church_, by the late Rev. Dr. LEWIS MAYER, has been published in Philadelphia; and Professor SCHAFF, of Mercersburg, has printed in German the first volume of a _History of the Christian Church, from its Establishment to the Present Time_. Dr. MURDOCK, the well-known translator of Mosheim's History, has published a translation of the celebrated Syriac version of the New Testament, called the _Peshito_.

* * * * *

PROFESSOR HACKETT, of the Newton Theological Institution, has added to his claims of distinction in sacred learning by a very able _Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles_, (published by John P. Jewett & Co., of Boston). It is much praised by the best critics. The last _Bibliotheca Sacra_ complains that there is a decline of activity in this department, and that in theology and biblical criticism no important works are now in progress.

* * * * *

Mr. MELVILLE's new novel, _The Whale_, will be published in a few days, simultaneously, by the Harpers and by Bentley of London.

* * * * *

Mr. HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT, with the general character of whose works our readers must be familiar, will publish immediately (through Charles Scribner), _The Captains of the Old World, from the Persian to the Punic Wars_. The volume embraces critical sketches of Miltiades, Themistocles, Pausanias, Xenophon, Epaminondas, Alexander, and Hannibal, as compared with modern generals--not _lives_ but strategetical accounts of their campaigns, reviewed and described according to the rules and views of modern military science--the armature and mode of fighting in all the various nations--the fields of battle, from personal observation or the best modern travels--with the modern names of ancient places, so that the routes of the armies can be followed on any ordinary map. The causes of the success or failure of this or that action are shown in a military point of view, and the characters of the men are epigrammatically contrasted with those of the men of the late French and English wars, involving incidental notices and critiques of modern fields. The work is of course spirited and well proportioned, and as Mr. Herbert is confessedly one of the best critics of ancient manners and history, it will scarcely need any reviewer's endorsement to insure for it an immediate and very great popularity.

* * * * *

A new edition of _St. Leger, or the Threads of Life_, by Mr. KIMBALL, has just been published by Putnam, who, we understand, has now in press a sequel to that remarkable and eminently successful novel. Mr. Kimball's abilities as a writer of tales are not as well illustrated in this performance as in several shorter stories, which will soon be collected and reissued with fit designs by Darley. In these we think he has exhibited a very unusual degree of pathos and dramatic skill, so that scarcely any compositions of their class in American literature have such a power upon the feelings or are likely to have a more permanent fame. Mr. Kimball is one of the small number among our young writers who do not disdain elaborately to _finish_ what they choose to submit for public criticism.

* * * * *

A new edition of Mr. JUDD's remarkable novel of _Margaret_ has just been published, in two volumes, by Phillips & Sampson, of Boston, and the same house has nearly ready _Memoirs of Sarah Margaret Fuller_, in two volumes, edited by William H. Channing and Ralph Waldo Emerson. It will probably embrace a large selection of her inedited writings.

* * * * *

The Rev. Dr. TEFFT, of Cincinnati, has published (John Ball, Philadelphia and New-Orleans,) a very interesting and judicious work under the title of _Hungary and Kossuth, or an American Exposition of the Hungarian Revolution_. Dr. Tefft appears to have studied the subject well and to have made as much of it as was warranted by his materials.

* * * * *

Mr. GREELEY has just published in a handsome volume (De Witt & Davenport) his _Glances at Europe_, consisting of the letters written for the _Tribune_ during his half year abroad. We frequently entirely disagree with the author in matters of social philosophy, but we have the most perfect confidence in the honesty of his searching after truth, and in these letters, which were written under very apparent disadvantages, and are here put forward modestly, we are inclined to believe there is for the mass of readers more that is new in fact and sensible in observation than is contained in any other volume by an American on Europe. Even when writing of art, Mr. Greeley never fails at least to entertain.

* * * * *

Mr. JOHN L. WHEELER, late the treasurer of the state of North Carolina, has in the press of Lippencott, Grambo, & Co., of Philadelphia, _Historical Sketches_ of that State, from 1584 to 1851, from original records, official documents, and traditional statements. It will be in two large octavo volumes. Dr. Hawks has for some time had in preparation a work on the same subject.

* * * * *

One of those wrongs for which there is no sufficient remedy in law, has been perpetrated by Derby, Miller & Co., of Auburn, in getting up a life of Dr. Judson, to anticipate that by the widow of the great missionary and deprive her of the best part of the profits to which she is entitled. Their excuse is, "A public character is public property, and we will do with one as we please."

* * * * *

MRS. H. C. CONANT, (wife of the learned Professor Conant of the university of Rochester), has published (through Lewis Colby) _The Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians, practically Explained by_ Dr. AUGUSTUS NEANDER. Mrs. Conant, as we have before had occasion to observe, is one of the most able and accomplished women of this country, and this version of Neander is worthy of her.

* * * * *

A small volume entitled _Musings and Mutterings by an Invalid_, has been published by John S. Taylor. The style is rather careless, sometimes, but the work appears to be informed with a genuine earnestness, and to be underlaid with a vein of good sense that contrasts strongly with much of the desultory literature brought out in similar forms.

* * * * *

Dr. LARDNER's _Handbooks of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy_ have been republished by Blanchard & Lea, of Philadelphia (12mo., pp. 749); carefully revised; various errors which had escaped the attention of the author corrected; occasional omissions supplied; and a series of questions and practical examples appended to each subject. The volume contains treatises on mechanics; hydrostatics, hydraulics, pneumatics, and sound, and optics.

The Fine Arts.

The London _Art Journal_ for October praises Mr. BURT's engraving of Anne Page, issued this year by the _American Art-Union_, and thus refers to the principal engravings announced for 1852:

The prospectus of this society for the present year
announces a large engraving by Jones, from Woodville's
picture of "American News;" a small etching of this
work accompanies the "Bulletin," to which reference has
just been made. The composition is clever, but we must
warn our friends on the other side of the Atlantic,
that it is not by the circulation of such works as
this, a feeling for true Art will be generated among
their countrymen. The subject is common-place, without
a shadow of refinement to elevate its character; it is,
we dare say, national, and may, therefore, be popular;
but they to whom is intrusted the direction of a vast
machine like the American Art-Union, should take
especial care that all its operations should tend to
refine the taste and advance the intelligence of the
community. Our own Mulready, Wilkie, and Webster, have,
we know, immortalized their names by a somewhat
analogous class of works, in which, nevertheless, we
see humor without vulgarity, and truth without
affectation.

* * * * *

The Philadelphia Art-Union issues this year two very beautiful engravings from the well-known masterpieces of Huntington, _Mercy's Dream_ and _Christiana and her Children_, from the celebrated collection of the late Edward C. Carey,--an appreciating patron by whose well-directed liberality the arts, especially painting and engraving, had more advantage than has been conferred by any other individual in this country. _Mercy's Dream_ has been engraved by A. H. Ritchie of this city, and _Christiana and her Children_ by Andrews & Wagstaff of Boston, each on surfaces of sixteen by twenty-two inches; and we know of no more perfect examples of combined mezzotint, stipple, and line engraving. The management may well be praised for such an exercise of judgment as secures to the subscribers of the Art-Union two such beautiful works.

A recent visit to Philadelphia afforded us an opportunity to visit its public galleries. Among the additions lately made to that of the Art-Union is one of the finest compositions of Mr. Cropsey, in which the characteristics of the scenery of Italy are combined with remarkable effect. From a bold and vigorously executed foreground, marked by chesnut and cypress tress, the eye is attracted by groves and streams, and convents and palaces, and ruined temples and aqueducts, reposing under such a sky as bends over that land alone, away to shining and sleeping waters that seem to reach close to the gates of paradise. _The Coast of Greece_, by Paul Weber of Philadelphia, is in the grand and imposing style of Achenbach. There is a breadth and massiveness and solemn grandeur in this picture which clearly indicate that the artist, who has hitherto given his attention altogether to landscapes, has in such efforts his true vocation. _Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert_, by A. Woodside, is a cabinet picture which would be regarded as good beside any of the many great productions which illustrate the same subject. In color and composition it is excellent. Mr. Woodside is the painter of a large and attractive picture, _The Introduction of Christianity into Britain_, which was among the prizes of the last distribution of the American Art-Union. _Lager Beer_, by C. Schnessele, is a genre picture, illustrative of German character in Philadelphia at the present day. The scene is an interior of a large beer saloon, by gaslight, in which a dozen or fifteen persons with brimming cups are gathered round a table where a trio are singing songs of the fatherland. The drawing, grouping, light and shade, are highly effective. Mr. Schnessele is a Frenchman, a pupil of Delaroche, and has been in the United States about three years. His works exhibit that skill in detail and general execution which is a result of a cultivation very rare among American painters. _Waiting the Ferry_, by W. T. Van Starkenburgh, is a landscape with cattle and human figures, with some of the best qualities conspicuous in Backhuysen's works of a similar character. _Cattskill Creek_, by G. N. T. Van Starkenburgh,--a brother of the last mentioned painter,--is full of the beauty of that condition of nature which soothes the restless spirit of man, when

She glides
Into his darker musings, with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware.

Mr. Winner has some vigorous heads of old men, and other artists whom our limits will not suffer us to mention particularly are represented by various creditable works.

As the plan of the Philadelphia Art-Union is essentially different from that of any other in this country, we quote from a circular in its last "Reporter" an explanatory paragraph:

"The distinguishing and most important feature in our
plan, is that which gives the annual prize-holders the
right of selecting their prizes from among the
productions of American Art in any part of the United
States. This plan was adopted as the one which would
best secure the object for which we have been
incorporated, viz., "The Promotion of the Arts of
Design in the United States." It is evident that the
distribution of fifty prize certificates among our
members, as was the case at our last annual
distribution, with which the prize-holders themselves
could purchase their own pictures any where in the
United States, is preferable to any plan which empowers
a committee, composed of a limited number of managers,
with the entire right to control the funds involved in
the purchase, and make the selection of such a number
of pictures. In the one case, individual taste, and
local predilection for some particular style of art, or
certain class of artists, may influence the decision of
a mere picture-buying committee in the selection and
purchase of the whole number of the prizes; but in the
other case, the various taste of a large number of
prize-holders, residing in different sections of our
vast country, is made to bear upon Art, and,
consequently, there must ensue a diffusion of knowledge
upon a subject wherein those persons themselves are the
interested parties. Should a subscriber to the
Art-Union of Philadelphia, residing in St. Louis, be
allotted a prize certificate of one hundred dollars, he
has the option to order or select his picture in that
city, and thereby encourage the Fine Arts at home, just
the same as if that Art-Union were located where he
lived, and with just as much advantage to the artist as
though it were the result of that progress in art, in
his vicinity, which should cause the production of such
a picture. And there can be no doubt of the judicious
selection on the part of such a subscriber. No man with
a hundred dollars to spend for a picture, would be
likely to make such a purchase without having some
knowledge on the subject himself, or without consulting
persons of acknowledged taste in the matter; thereby
insuring more general satisfaction to all concerned,
than would a picture of the same value awarded by
chance from the selection of a committee located in
another part of the country. No committee, no matter
how great its judgment, or how well performed its
duties, could effect a more satisfactory arrangement;
for in our case the prize-holder and the artist are the
contracting parties, without the intervention of the
Art-Union, or the payment of any commission on either
side. Another argument in favor of the Art-Union of
Philadelphia is the fact, that by this plan the
Managers are merely the agents who collect the means
which are necessary to promote and foster the Arts of
Design in our rapidly progressing country, while the
prize-holders themselves actually become the persons
who make the disbursements. Thus giving to the people
at large the means to exercise a public and universal
taste in the expenditure of a large sum--the aggregate
of small contributions--large as the liberality of our
countrymen, by their generous subscription, may assist
us in accumulating."

* * * * *

The _Western-Art Union_ of Cincinnati has lately published a large and excellent engraving by Booth, of _the Trapper's Last Shot_, and for the coming year, it will give in the same style, _The Committee of Congress Drafting the Declaration of Independence_, from a painting by Rothermel--Mr. Jefferson represented reading the Declaration to the other members of the committee before it was reported to the Congress. For prizes of the next distribution the Union will have a bust of Washington, and one of Franklin, in marble, by Powers, and a beautiful medallion in relief by Palmer, and two pictures are engaged or purchased from Whittridge, two from Rothermel, two from McConkey, one from Read, one from Mrs. Spencer, one from Ranney, and one from Terry, besides others from Sontag, Duncanson, Eaton, and Griswold, and other western painters.

* * * * *

Mr. HEALY has finished his large picture of _Daniel Webster replying to Robert Y. Hayne, in the Senate of the United States_, and it has been some time on exhibition at the rooms of the National Academy of Design. The canvas is twenty-six feet in length by fifteen in breadth, and embraces one hundred and thirty figures. Many persons not senators are introduced, and it is difficult to conceive a reason for this, in the cases of several of them, who were not then, if they were ever, at Washington. The picture has good points, but on the whole we believe it is admitted to be a failure--so far as the fit presentation of the illustrious orator is concerned, a most complete and melancholy failure. Engravings of it however, if well executed, may perhaps compete with Messrs. Anthony's immense piece of mezzotint, studded with copies of Daguerreotypes, which has been published under the title of Mr. Clay's last Appearance in the Senate.

* * * * *

The illustrations of the life of MARTIN LUTHER published at Hamburg, from the pencil of GUSTAV KOeNIG, of which the fourth series has just appeared, continue to receive the praise which has been bestowed on the previous series. The first, which came out in 1847, consisted of fifteen engravings, the second in 1848 of ten engravings, the third in 1849 of ten, and the fourth, which concludes the work, has thirteen. The accompanying letter-press is furnished by Professor Gelzer, and though very elaborate, is spoken of as only partially successful. The illustrations on the other hand are said by competent judges to leave nothing to be desired, and as far as the earlier series are concerned, we can almost agree with even so unbalanced commendation. Mr. Koenig has every where taken care to give faithful portraits of the personages represented, which adds to the value of his work, for foreign readers especially. At the same time his compositions are undeniably most spirited and effective.

* * * * *

The long expected work of LEUTZE, _Washington Crossing the Delaware_, is now at the Stuyvesant Institute, and it appears generally to have given the most perfect satisfaction to the critics; to be regarded indeed as the best picture yet given to the world in illustration of American history. Our readers will remember that we have already given in the _International_ a particular description of it, from a German writer who saw it at Duesseldorf: so that it is unnecessary here to enter further into details on the subject. We are pleased to learn that Messrs. Goupil, who own it, intend to have this work engraved in line by Girardet in the highest style, and upon a plate of the largest size ever used. The print will indeed cover a surface equal to that of the famous one of Cardinal Richelieu, which some of our readers will not fail to remember.

Noctes Amicae.

The "figure we cut" in the Crystal Palace was for a long time a subject of sneers by amiable foreign critics, and a cause of ingenuous shame by too sensitive young gentlemen in white gloves, who went over from New-York and Boston to see society and the show. We remember that Mr. Greeley was said to be making himself appear excessively ridiculous by writing home that we should come out very well notwithstanding we had no Kohinoor, and but little to boast of in the way of fancy articles in general. An excellent neighbor of ours down Broadway, who left London before the tide turned, sent a letter to the _Evening Post_, we believe, of the regret felt by the "respectable Americans in Europe" that we had been so weak as to enter into this competition at all. But see what the _Times_ has said of the matter since the first of October:

"One point that strikes us forcibly on a survey of the
last few months is, the extraordinary contrast which
the attractive and the useful features of the display
present. It will be remembered that the American
department was at first regarded as the poorest and
least interesting of all foreign countries. Of late it
has justly assumed a position of the first importance,
as having brought to the aid of our distressed
agriculturists a machine which, if it realizes the
anticipations of competent judges, _will amply
remunerate England for all her outlay connected with
the Great Exhibition_. The reaping machine from the
United States is the most valuable contribution from
abroad to the stock of our previous knowledge that we
have yet discovered."

Again:

"It seems to us that the great event of 1851 will
hereafter be found blemished by a _grand oversight_.
Attracted by the novelty and splendid success of the
occasion, we have certainly yielded more admiration to
the grand and the beautiful than to the unostentatious,
the practical, and the useful. The captivating luxuries
which are adapted to the few have entered more largely
into our imaginations and our hearts, than those
objects which are adapted to supply the homely comforts
and the unpretending wants of the many. We have thought
more of gold and silver work--of silks, satins, and
velvets--of rich brocades, splendid carpets, glowing
tapestry, and all that tends to embellish and adorn
life, than of the vast and still unexplored fields
which the necessities of the humbler classes all over
the world are constantly opening up to us. France has
thus been enabled to run quietly away with fifty-six
out of about one hundred and sixty of our great medals,
while to the department of American "notions" we owe
the most confessed and the most important contribution
to our industrial system."

Again:

"Well worthy of notice is the Maynard primer, a
substitution for the percussion-cap, which is simply a
coil of paper, at intervals in which spots of
detonating powder are placed. The action of the doghead
carries out from the chamber in which it is contained
this cheap and self-acting substitute for the ordinary
gun apparatus, which is a vast economy in expense as
well as in time. In its character the invention is one
which admits of being easily adapted to every
description of firearms at present commonly in use, and
that at a trifling cost."

In the same pleasant way are noticed our Mr. Hobbs, his locks, and a score or so of similarly ingenious productions; and as for Mr. Palmer's _leg_, it is declared the chief astonisher contributed by all the world--so perfect, indeed, that some of the journals recommend a general cutting off of natural understandings in order to adopt the always comfortable and well-conditioned substitute introduced by our countryman.

* * * * *

A considerable number of shameless women and feeble-minded men met in convention--a sort of caldron of sickly sentimentalism, brazen atheism, and whatever is most ridiculous and disgusting in the diseases of society,--at Worcester in Massachusetts, on the 14th of October, and continued in session three days. A Mrs. Rose (who, we understand, generally makes the leading speeches of the Tom Paine birth-night festivals in New-York), and Abby Kelley Foster, and William L. Garrison, were among the principal actors. The main propositions before this convention, so far as they can be ascertained from the newspaper reports, involve the setting aside of the laws of God as they are revealed in the Bible; the laws of custom in all savage and civilized, pagan and Christian communities, in every age; and the laws of analogy--vindicating the existing order of society--in every grade of animated nature. Complaints have been made that persons of character, like the Rev. H. W. Beecher of Brooklyn, in some way sanctioned the mummery by writing letters to its managers. Such eccentricities may be pardonable, but the public will be sure to remember them.

* * * * *

A female, probably a cheap dress maker, named Dexter, has been lecturing in London on the "Bloomer costume;" and it appears to have been assumed by her, as well as in many English journals, that this ridiculous and indecent dress is common in American cities, where, as of course our readers know, if it is ever seen, it is on the persons of an abandoned class, or on those of vulgar women whose inordinate love of notoriety is apt to display itself in ways that induce their exclusion from respectable society. _Punch_ has some very clever caricatures of "Bloomerism," but it would surprise the conductor of that sprightly paper to learn, that, except persons who walk our St. Giles's at late hours, scarcely any New-Yorker has ever seen such a dress.

* * * * *

There have never been remarked so many sudden deaths and suicides in Paris and in the suburbs, as within the last few weeks. The following is one of the most extraordinary cases of suicide:

"The body of a young man was found floating in the
Seine, near St. Cloud. The corpse appeared to have
remained some days in the water. The deceased appeared
to have been about 25 years of age, and to have
belonged to the higher class of society. His features
were handsome, his hair brown, and his beard long and
black. His linen was of the finest quality, and his
other clothing made in the latest fashion. A small
glass bottle, corked and sealed, was suspended from his
neck, in which was a paper writing, containing the
following words:--"I am about to die! young, it is
true! and if my body be discovered a complaint may
perhaps be made. This I do not wish. An angel appeared
to me in a dream, who said to me, 'I am the Genius of
France. Royal blood circulates in your veins; but
before you occupy the sovereign power, which parties
are disputing in France, you must go to see the Eternal
Sovereign of all things.... God! ... die. Let the
waters of the Seine swallow your body. Fear not, you
shall revive when the hour of your triumph shall have
struck! I have spoken!' and the angel disappeared. I
have accomplished his desire. But I leave this writing
in case the celestial envoy may have deceived me. I
pray the Attorney-General to prosecute him,

"THE FUTURE KING OF FRANCE."

The body has not been claimed, and the police authorities have instituted an inquiry to discover his family.

* * * * *

The following clever and extraordinary story is told in the Paris _Droit_:

"A commercial traveller, whose business frequently
called him from Orleans to Paris, M. Edmund D----, was
accustomed to go to an hotel, with the landlord of
which he was acquainted. Liking, like almost all
persons of his profession, to talk and joke, he was the
favorite of everybody in the hotel. A few days ago he
arrived, and was received with pleasure by all, but it
was observed that he was much less gay than usual. The
stories that he told, instead of being interesting as
formerly, were of a lugubrious character. On Thursday
evening, after supper, he invited the people of the
hotel to go to his chamber to take coffee, and he
promised to tell them a tale full of dramatic incident.
On entering the room, his guests saw on the bed, near
which he seated himself, a pair of pistols. 'My story,'
said he, 'has a sad _denouement_, and I require the
pistols to make it clearly understood.' As he had
always been accustomed, in telling his tales, to
indulge expressive pantomime, and to take up anything
which lay handy, calculated to add to the effect, no
surprise was felt at his having prepared pistols. He
began by narrating the loves of a young girl and a
young man. They had both, he said, promised, under the
most solemn oaths, inviolable fidelity. The young man,
whose profession obliged him to travel, once made a
long absence. Whilst he was away, he received a legacy,
and on his return hastened to place it at her feet. But
on presenting himself before her he learned that, in
compliance with the wishes of her family, she had just
married a wealthy merchant. The young man thereupon
took a terrible resolution. 'He purchased a pair of
pistols, like these,' he continued, taking one in each
hand, 'then he assembled his friends in his chamber,
and, after some conversation, placed one under his
chin, in this way, as I do, saying in a joke that it
would be a real pleasure to blow out his brains. And at
the same moment he pulled the trigger.' Here the man
discharged the pistol, and his head was shattered to
pieces. Pieces of the bone and portions of the brain
fell on the horrified spectators. The unfortunate man
had told his own story."

* * * * *

We find in the _Evening Post_ the following notice of the citation of Mr. G. P. R. JAMES in the courts, under the head of "Brown Linen against Law Calf:"

"Immediately previous to the sort of intermittent
equinoctial which has recently prevailed, the full
bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, presided
over by Chief Justice Shaw, were at session at Lenox,
in the county of Berkshire. Among the cases that were
brought up for adjudication, was an action of _trespass
quare clausum fregit_, brought by a farmer against a
number of individuals, who in common with many others,
had, at a time last winter, when the public highway was
rendered impassible by ice and snow, made a temporary
road over the farmer's grounds without leave or license
first had and obtained. Mr. Sumner, of Barrington, the
leading counsel of the county, appeared for the
defence, and in enforceing his views, took occasion to
read from Macaulay's late History of England, several
passages to illustrate the state of land communication
in that county, at the time of which he writes. From
that author it appears that upon one occasion, worthy
Mr. Pepys, our friend of the 'naif' diary, while
travelling somewhere (we think in Lincolnshire, but
have not the book before us for reference), got his
'_belle voiture_', as Cardinal Richelieu used to call
his antediluvian vehicle, stuck in the mud so that it
could not be extricated, and Mr. Sumner went on to
argue, that by the common law, Mr. Pepys then was, and
anybody now is, justified, in cases of necessity, in
passing over private domains without becoming liable to
the owner in damages. Mr. Porter, recently District
Attorney, was for the plaintiff, and, in answering that
part of his adversary's argument, to which we have
above alluded, claimed the indulgence of the court to
state, that a certain author had been quoted upon the
other side, who had hardly as yet been recognized as
authority in a court of justice, upon a mere law
question, at least; that such being the case, he
claimed the liberty to read from another writer, the
late historiographer royal of Great Britain, a
gentleman whose statements were certainly entitled to
overrule the others in a question of that sort; and
thereupon Mr. Porter commenced reading the first
chapter of Mr. G. P. R. James's new novel of 'The
Fate,' in which he so indignantly denounces the falsity
of Macaulay's picture of the social condition of
England two centuries ago. This created no little
merriment, both on the bench and among the gentlemen of
the robe, all admitting that it was the first time
within their knowledge, that the black linen and the
brown paper had usurped the place of the consecrated
law calf, before an American tribunal at least."

* * * * *

A French critic has just revealed a portrait of the favorite of Lamartine and numerous other writers on the Revolution--St. Just, from which it appears that he was the author of a long poem entitled _Orgaut_. The opinion which the historians have caused the public to form of this man was, that he was a fanatic--implacable, but sincere--a ruthless minister of the guillotine, but deeming wholesale slaughter indispensable for securing, what he conscientiously considered, the welfare of the people. He was, we might imagine, something like the gloomy inquisitors of old, who thought it was doing God service to burn heretics at the stake.

A correspondent of the _Athenaeum_ observes, that "To
justify this opinion, one would have expected to have
found in a poem written by him when the warm and
generous sentiments of youth were in all their
freshness, burning aspirations for what it was the
fashion of his time to call _vertu_, and lavish
protestations of devotedness to his country and the
people. But instead of that, the work is, it appears,
from beginning to end, full of the grossest
obscenity--it is the delirium of a brain maddened with
voluptuousness--it is coarser and more abominable than
the 'Pucelle' of Voltaire, and is not relieved, as that
is, by sparkling wit and graces of style. In a moral
point of view, it is atrocious--in a literary point of
view, wretched. The discovery of such a production will
be a sad blow to the stern fanatics of these days, who
look on the blood-stained men of the Revolution with
admiration and awe--who make them the martyred saints
of their calendar--and whose hope by day and dream by
night is to have the opportunity of imitating them. Of
the whole band St. Just has hitherto been considered
the purest--he has always been accepted as the very
personification of 'virtue' in its most sublime form.
Even the immaculate Maximilien Robespierre himself has
never had the honor of having admitted that he
approached him in moral grandeur. And now, behold! this
'virtuous' angel is proved to have been a debauched and
loathsome-minded wretch! But, to be sure, that was
before he began cutting off heads, and wholesale
murders on the political scaffold redeem a multitude of
sins."

* * * * *

A few days ago the French President received a gift of the most rich bouquets from the market women of Paris, and at the same time an application for permission to visit him at the palace. This was granted, and full three hundred of the flower of the female merchants in fruit and vegetables of the faubourgs, dressed in their utmost finery, were received by the officers in attendance, and ushered through the saloons of the Elysee.

The London _Times_ correspondent says:

"After admiring the furniture, paintings, &c., they
were conducted to the gardens, where they enjoyed
themselves for some time. Refreshments were then laid
out in the dining-room, and they were invited to
partake of the President's hospitality. The champagne
was passing round pretty freely when the President
entered. They received him with acclamations of '_Vive
Napoleon!_' The President, after the usual salutations,
took a glass of wine, and proposed the toast, '_A la
sante des dames de la Halle de Paris!_' which was
responded to in a becoming manner; and '_La sante de
Napoleon!_' was in turn proposed by an elderly matron,
and loudly cheered. The ladies were particularly
pleased at finding the bouquets presented yesterday
arranged in the dining-room. Louis Napoleon chatted for
some time with his visitors, and expressed, in warm
terms, the pleasure he felt at seeing them under his
roof. The ladies requested that one of their
companions--the most distinguished for personal
attractions, as for youth--should be allowed to embrace
him in the name of the others. _Such_ a request no man
could hesitate to grant, and the fair one who was
deputed to bestow the general salute advanced, blushing
and trembling, to perform the duty. Louis Napoleon went
through the pleasing ceremony with much credit to
himself, and apparently to the great satisfaction of
those present. In a short time the visitors asked
permission to retire, after again thanking the
President for the honor he did them. Before separating
they united in one last and loud acclamation of '_Vive
Napoleon_.'"

* * * * *

JOHNSON J. HOOPER, the author of _Captain Simon Suggs_, and several other works similar to that famous performance in humor and in the characteristics of southern life, is editor of _The Chambers Tribune_, published somewhere in Alabama. Few papers have as much of the quality which is commonly described by the word "spicy." In a late number we have an election anecdote which will serve as a specimen. The hero is Colonel A. Q. Nicks, of Talladega. We quote:

"The Colonel had incurred, somehow, the enmity of a
certain preacher--one who had once been ejected from
his church and subsequently restored. The parson,
besides, was no favorite with his neighbors. Well, when
Nicks was nominated, parson Slashem 'norated' it
publicly that when Nicks should be elected, his (the
parson's) land would be for sale, and himself ready to
emigrate. Well, the Colonel went round the county a
time or two, and found he was 'bound to go;' and
shortly after arriving at that highly satisfactory
conclusion, espying the parson in a crowd he was
addressing, sung out to him: 'I say, brother Slashem,
begin to fix up your _muniments_--draw your deeds--I am
going to represent these people, _certain_! But before
you leave, let me give you thanks for declaring your
intention as soon as you did; for on that account I am
getting all of your church and the most part of your
neighbors!' The parson has not been heard of since."

* * * * *

In a late number of Mr. CHARLES DICKENS'S _Household Words_, there is an amusing and suggestive paper on Nursery Rhymes, wherein the ferocious morals embalmed in jog-trot verse are indicated, for the reflective consideration of all parents. A terrible case is made out against these lisping moralists: slaughter, cruelty, bigotry, injustice, wanton delight in terrible accidents and awful punishments for trivial offences, ferocity of every kind--such a mass of "shocking notions" as would people our nurseries with demons, were it not for the happy indifference of children to anything but the rhyme, rhythm, and quaint image.

* * * * *

In France, we have the _Univers_ regretting that Luther was not burnt, and that the church has not still the power to use the stake; and in England we have the _Rambler_, a journal which is considered the organ of the moderate party, as distinct from that of the _Tablet_, boldly expressing wishes and hopes of an even more debatable character. The creed of the king of Naples is authoritatively declared to be that of every Catholic. In a late number it is said--

"Believe us not, Protestants of England and Ireland,
for an instant, when you see us pouring forth our
liberalisms. When you hear a Catholic orator at some
Catholic assemblage declaring solemnly that 'this is
the most humiliating day in his life, when he is called
upon to defend once more the glorious principle of
religious freedom'--(especially if he says any thing
about the Emancipation Act and the 'toleration' it
_conceded_ to Catholics)--be not too simple in your
credulity. These are brave words, but they mean
nothing; no, nothing more than the promises of a
parliamentary candidate to his constituents on the
hustings. _He is not talking Catholicism, but nonsense
and Protestantism_; and he will no more act on these
notions in different circumstances, than _you_ now act
on them yourselves in your treatment of him. You ask,
if he were lord in the land, and you were in a
minority, if not in numbers yet in power, what would he
do to you? That, we say, would entirely depend upon
circumstances. If it would benefit the cause of
Catholicism, he would tolerate you: if expedient he
would imprison you, banish you, fine you; possibly, _he
might even hang you_. But be assured of one thing: he
would never tolerate you for the sake of the 'glorious
principles of civil and religious liberty.'"

Again, it is said--

"Why are we so anxious to make the church wear the garb
of the world? Why do we stoop, and bow, and cringe
before that enemy whom we are sent to conquer and
_annihilate_? Why are we ashamed of the deeds of our
more consistent forefathers, _who did only what they
were bound to do by the first principles of
Catholicism_?... Shall I foster that damnable doctrine,
that Socinianism, and Calvinism, and Anglicanism, and
Judaism, are not every one of them mortal sins, like
murder and adultery? Shall I lend my countenance to
this unhappy persuasion of my brother, that he is not
flying in the face of Almighty God every day that he
remains a Protestant? Shall I hold out hopes to him
that I will not meddle with his creed if he will not
meddle with mine? Shall I lead him to think that
religion is a matter for private opinion, and tempt him
to forget _that he has no more right to his religious
views than he has to my purse, or my house, or my
life-blood_? No! Catholicism is the most intolerant of
creeds. It is intolerance itself, for it is truth
itself. We might as rationally maintain that a sane man
has a right to believe that two and two do not make
four, as this theory of religious liberty. Its impiety
is only equalled by its absurdity."

We refer above to the _Univers_, the organ of the Roman Catholic party in France. The editor of that print, at a dinner recently given for Bishop Hughes, at the Astor House, was complimented in a toast by our excellent collector, Maxwell, who, of course, endorses the following choice paragraph:

"A heretic," observes the editor of the _Univers_,
"examined and convicted by the church, used to be
delivered over to the secular power, and punished with
death. Nothing has ever appeared to us more natural, or
more necessary. More than 100,000 persons perished in
consequence of the heresy of Wicliff; a still greater
number by that of John Huss; it would not be possible
to calculate the bloodshed caused by the heresy of
Luther, and _it is not yet over_. After three centuries
we are at the eve of a recommencement. The prompt
repression of the disciples of Luther, and a crusade
against Protestantism, would have spared Europe three
centuries of discord and of catastrophes in which
France and civilization may perish. It was under the
influence of such reflections that I wrote the phrase
which has so excited the virtuous indignation of the
Red journals. Here it is:--'For my part, I avow frankly
my regret is not only that they did not sooner burn
John Huss, but that they did not equally burn Luther;
and I regret, further, that there had not been at the
same time some prince sufficiently pious and politic to
have made a crusade against the Protestants.' Well,
this paragraph might have been better penned; but as I
have the happiness to belong to those who care little
about mere forms of expression, I will not revoke it. I
accept it as it is, and with a certain satisfaction at
finding myself faithful to my opinions. That which I
wrote in 1838 I still believe. Let the Red
philanthropists print their declaration in any sort of
type they please, and as often as they please. Let them
add their commentaries, and place all to my account.
The day that I cancel it, they will be justified in
holding the opinion of me which I hold of them."

Far be it from us to meddle with the quarrels of the theologians--even by reprinting any attack an adversary makes on the worst of them. We merely copy these paragraphs from famous defenders of the Catholic Church, as an act of justice to her, against those slandering Protestants who say she has changed--she, the infallible and ever consistent!

* * * * *

The "leading journal of the world" occasionally indulges in a pleasantry, as in this example: