SONNET.—FROM THE ITALIAN.

[5]Frank Forester’s Field Sports of North America. Vol. i. p 161.

[5]

Frank Forester’s Field Sports of North America. Vol. i. p 161.

———

BY GIDDINGS H. BALLOU.

———

Whatis it to the fields of heavenLight hath given,Radiance glowing, unexpected,And from soft imbosomed bowers,And od’rous flowers,Hath sweet Spring to us directed?See! by gentle May upholden,Beech-tree oldenJoyful welcomes springing leaflet;Spring the flowers of glorious tinting,Fair imprintingMeadows kissed by smiling wavelet.Ah, ’tis Lilla, ever charming,Soul-disarming,Gathers flowers, her hair adorning!Dearest Lilla, dost discoverWith thy loverSpring and Summer now returning?Flows for thee the tiny river,Cheerful giver,Early green and freshness bringing;Springs for thee the joyous morning,Heaven adorning,All the air with praises ringing.Shepherds, shepherds, to the chorus!See, before us,Binds with flowers her hair dark flowing —While our hearts all homage will her —Dearest Lilla,Sing her name with praises glowing!

Whatis it to the fields of heavenLight hath given,Radiance glowing, unexpected,And from soft imbosomed bowers,And od’rous flowers,Hath sweet Spring to us directed?

Whatis it to the fields of heaven

Light hath given,

Radiance glowing, unexpected,

And from soft imbosomed bowers,

And od’rous flowers,

Hath sweet Spring to us directed?

See! by gentle May upholden,Beech-tree oldenJoyful welcomes springing leaflet;Spring the flowers of glorious tinting,Fair imprintingMeadows kissed by smiling wavelet.

See! by gentle May upholden,

Beech-tree olden

Joyful welcomes springing leaflet;

Spring the flowers of glorious tinting,

Fair imprinting

Meadows kissed by smiling wavelet.

Ah, ’tis Lilla, ever charming,Soul-disarming,Gathers flowers, her hair adorning!Dearest Lilla, dost discoverWith thy loverSpring and Summer now returning?

Ah, ’tis Lilla, ever charming,

Soul-disarming,

Gathers flowers, her hair adorning!

Dearest Lilla, dost discover

With thy lover

Spring and Summer now returning?

Flows for thee the tiny river,Cheerful giver,Early green and freshness bringing;Springs for thee the joyous morning,Heaven adorning,All the air with praises ringing.

Flows for thee the tiny river,

Cheerful giver,

Early green and freshness bringing;

Springs for thee the joyous morning,

Heaven adorning,

All the air with praises ringing.

Shepherds, shepherds, to the chorus!See, before us,Binds with flowers her hair dark flowing —While our hearts all homage will her —Dearest Lilla,Sing her name with praises glowing!

Shepherds, shepherds, to the chorus!

See, before us,

Binds with flowers her hair dark flowing —

While our hearts all homage will her —

Dearest Lilla,

Sing her name with praises glowing!

THE FINE ARTS.

National Academy of Design.—The twenty-fifth anniversary of this institution was held on the first of last month, at the new galleries, No. 663 Broadway, in the rear of the Stuyvesant Institute. It is extremely gratifying to the friends of Art to know that this excellent nursery of artistic talent has now suitable buildings for its accommodation, and the display of the productions of the painters of New York. It was only last fall that definite arrangements were made for the construction of this building, and already, as if at the bidding of the genii who ministered to the wants of our youthful friend Aladdin, it has sprung into existence. This result has been effected by the constant exertions and devoted attentions of the building trustees, Messrs. Durand, Cummings, Ingraham, Edmonds, Sterges and Leupp. The new edifice is situated in the heart of the fashion of the metropolis; the galleries are five in number, all intercommunicating, well lighted, airy, spacious and elegantly neat. Thecoup d’œilof the whole, when filled with works of art for exhibition, will present one of the most animating and beautiful scenes which the city can afford. The artists of New York have a right to be proud of this edifice, and we do not doubt that the public will be equally proud of those splendid productions with which they will adorn its walls. At the advanced period, when we write this article, it is impossible to give any definite account of the present exhibition; but the notes of preparation, the foreshadowings and the glorious promise of an array of talented names, are the tokens that it will be of unusual brilliancy. Every exertion will be made to giveéclatto the opening, and more pains will be bestowed on this display, that itsdebutbefore the public may be dazzling and defiant of criticism.

We learn from the New York papers, and from other sources, that all the artists of that city will offer “tastes of their quality” to the public. Huntington, who has been exhibiting nearly all his prominent works for his own benefit, states in the catalogue that his latest efforts have been retained privately for the opening of the new gallery. Durand has a new work, of which report speaks in the most rapturous terms; this, with others of his elaborate and highly finished compositions, will be displayed. Cummings, Ingraham, Gray, Edmonds, Elliott, Cropsey, Stearns, Kensett, Gignoux, Cafferty, Edouart, Audubon, and others, will contribute portraits, compositions, landscapes, etc. In fact, the artists have determined by every means in their power to make the first exhibition in the new building both brilliant and attractive. We hope by our next number to be able to speak more fully of this exhibition.

The Philadelphia Art Union.—It is but a few years only since the first plan of an Art Union was suggested in Germany, and already they are in existence wherever the beautiful is venerated and art admired. In this country we have Art Unions in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Newark and Cincinnati. The Philadelphia institution differs from all the rest in its mode of distribution, and follows, we believe, in every respect the London one, which has been by far the most successful ever started. In New York the managers purchase pictures and distribute them. Under this arrangement it frequently happens that the person who draws a prize is disappointed, because he has not obtained some particular picture in the collection which pleased his fancy. The Philadelphia plan is to divide the proceeds of the subscription money into various sums, which are allotted to the subscribers, who with the certificates, when successful, can choose any picture which may suit their taste, provided it is by an American artist, and on exhibition in some accredited gallery of art in the country. The annual distribution of the Philadelphia Art Union takes place on the 6th of this month, and we are pleased to learn that its prospects are most flattering. The engraving for this year is fromHuntington’scelebrated picture of “Mercy’s Dream,” which will be executed in a mixed style of line, stipple and mezzotint byA. H. Ritchie, of New York. This composition is derived from Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, where Mercy relates to Christiana the sweet dream she had in a solitary place, where she saw a winged messenger approaching, who placed a crown upon her head, and invited her to a golden gate, etc. The landscape of this picture is clothed in the first shades of evening, and the figures of Mercy and the Angel form the attraction of the work. In calm, spiritual expression, anatomical precision, delicacy of coloring, and perfect keeping, there is no modern work which can surpass this.

The Free Gallery of this Institution, located at No. 210 Chestnut Street, has doubtless had a most beneficial influence in disseminating a taste for Art, and preparing the public for its just appreciation. The walls of this gallery have been constantly supplied with much-admired pictures, and a crowd of visiters are always in attendance. We hope hereafter to find much pleasure in referring to the new pictures exhibited in this gallery. The effects which are dependent upon the success of the Art Union, are shown by the great impetus which has been given of late years to many extremely varied branches of manufactures and commerce by a judicious encouragement of the Arts of Design. It has been found, more particularly in Europe, that numerous classes, hitherto considered as inoperative and useless, have been supplied with employment, and entire districts revivified, as it were, by the establishment of certain manufactures, whose excellence depended mainly upon the skill of the artist. The surest means of effecting this result, is to create a public taste, and not merely comply with it as it exists at large; and it may be brought about by offering rewards for the best designs, by the publication of the best specimens of Art at cheap prices, by the erection of free galleries of painting, and chiefly by the encouragement of Art Unions. With such objects in view, and such results to achieve, the multiplication of these institutions in our country must be regarded as a cheering indication of the true progress of the age, and the precursor of a widely diffused love of the Beautiful in Art, which cannot but tend to the general improvement of the useful arts. All such results must be effected by our citizens at large, for we cannot expect legislative aid, and hence it is that we feel the necessity of impressing upon the public attention the operation of the Art Unions, as the great popular plan for fostering talent, infusing a love for the beautiful in Nature and Art, and cultivating those studies which invariably mark national progress in civilization, refinement and general happiness.

New Jersey Art Union.—We announce with great pleasure that an association of the friends of art in Newark have drawn up the programme of an Art Union, and made a stirring appeal to the citizens of the State for encouragement and co-operation. A free gallery will be opened immediatelyat Newark, and pictures purchased for distribution among subscribers. For the present, no engraving will be contracted for, and this heavy item being dispensed with, will increase the sum to be appropriated for the purchase of paintings. We most cordially wish the enterprise success, and trust that our New Jersey friends will be prompt in sending their names toThomas H. Stephens, the Corresponding Secretary, at Newark.

Gliddon’s Panorama of the Nile.—This magnificent work has been exhibited in New York and Boston with greatéclat. Mr.Gliddonis favorably and extensively known as a lecturer on hieroglyphical literature, and has rendered popular throughout our country, the wonderful discoveries and theories of the Champollionists of ancient mythological history. As a work of art, the superiority of this panorama cannot be doubted, when we mention the facts, derived from the Boston Transcript, that while such artists asWarren,Bonomi, andFahey, in England, aided by numerous assistants, conceived and executed the painting; Martin, the famed depictor of “Belshazzar’s Feast,” volunteered the exquisite moonlight, sunset, and other transparent scenes, where the effects of fire, light, and heat are produced with magical skill,Carbouldvolunteered the magnificent Arabian horses, and Weigall the boats, and similar objects that actually seem to spring forth from the canvas. The spectator of the panorama begins his supposed voyage at Cairo, ascends the eastern bank of the Nile to the second cataract, and descends on the western bank, as far as the location of the Sphinx. The interest is not in the ancient associations alone, but Turks, Arabs, Bedouins, Nubians in their variegated costumes, Mohammed Ali and his court, the manners, customs, and usages of oriental life, with the various geological, botanical, zoological, and even atmospherical singularities of the land are faithfully depicted. Even the music which accompanies the exhibition is characteristically of Eastern origin, and novel airs of Egypt, Arabia, Turkey, Greece, etc., are introduced. The whole may be considered as a work of infinite attraction, and of a high order of art.

Le Roi d’Yvetot.—This comic opera, byAdolphe Adam, is but little known in this country, except the overture, and it is very recently that it has been presented, for the first time, to a London audience. It was first produced October 1849, in Paris, at the Théâtre Royal de l’Opéra Comique, and made a very decided impression. It is founded on the politicalchansonof Béranger, and of course the caricatures of royalty, and the hits at the nobility, are the very life of the drama. The music is full of vivacity and elegant melody. It is somewhat singular thatAdamis an expert organist, and composes a fugue or a comic strain with equal facility; his sacred compositions are very grand, and he has a remarkable skill in adapting music to the most fantastic ideas and expressions in a libretto. Many of his works in theopera buffaare well known in our country—the “Postilion de Lonjumeau” and “Le Brasseur de Preston,” in particular, while the mournful sweetness and touching simplicity of his ballet music, in “Giselle,” have been often felt and enjoyed. We live in hopes that some day we may hear “Le Roi d’Yvetot” —

——the kingIn history little known,Who thought that glory, useless thing,Would not become his throne.A cotton night-cap graced his brows,Which Jeannette, mistress of his house,Gave him as crown. O dear!Oh! what a funny king was here.

——the king

In history little known,

Who thought that glory, useless thing,

Would not become his throne.

A cotton night-cap graced his brows,

Which Jeannette, mistress of his house,

Gave him as crown. O dear!

Oh! what a funny king was here.

Meyerbeer’s“Prophete” was given fifty times at the Grand Opera in Paris, when it was withdrawn for a time, as MadameViardothad to visit Berlin, to fulfill an engagement. MadameCastellan, so well remembered in this country, sung the part ofBerthein this opera.

Verdihas selected the subject of Shakspeare’s “Tempest,” for the libretto of his next opera. The genius ofVerdiwill luxuriate in the storm of the elements and the fierce contentions of passion, but he will never be able to illustrate the spirit of the “dainty Ariel,” or the innocent devotedness ofMiranda. We should think, however, that he will construct a magnificent composition upon the many sublime themes and graphic word-paintings of the great bard.

REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.

The Scarlet Letter, a Romance. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields. 1 vol. 12mo.

In this beautiful and touching romance Hawthorne has produced something really worthy of the fine and deep genius which lies within him. The “Twice Told Tales,” and “Mosses from an Old Manse,” are composed simply of sketches and stories, and although such sketches and stories as few living men could write, they are rather indications of the possibilities of his mind than realizations of its native power, penetration, and creativeness. In “The Scarlet Letter” we have a complete work, evincing a true artist’s certainty of touch and expression in the exhibition of characters and events, and a keen-sighted and far-sighted vision into the essence and purpose of spiritual laws. There is a profound philosophy underlying the story which will escape many of the readers whose attention is engrossed by the narrative.

The book is prefaced by some fifty pages of autobiographical matter, relating to the author, his native city of Salem, and the Custom House, from which he was ousted by the Whigs. These pages, instinct with the vital spirit of humor, show how rich and exhaustless a fountain of mirth Hawthorne has at his command. The whole representation has the dreamy yet distinct remoteness of the purely comic ideal. The view of Salem streets; the picture of the old Custom House at the head of Derby’s wharf, with its torpid officers on a summer’s afternoon, their chairs all tipped against the wall, chatting about old stories, “while the frozen witticisms of past generations were thawed out, and came bubbling with laughter from their lips”—the delineation of the old Inspector, whose “reminiscences of good cheer, however ancient the date of the actual banquet, seemed to bring the savor of pig or turkey under one’s very nostrils,” and on whose palate there were flavors “which had lingered there not less than sixty or seventy years, and were still apparently as fresh as that of the mutton-chop which he had just devoured for his breakfast,” and the grand view of the stout Collector, in his aged heroism, with the honors of Chippewa and Fort Erie on his brow, are all encircled with thatvisionary atmosphere which proves the humorist to be a poet, and indicates that his pictures are drawn from the images which observation has left on his imagination. The whole introduction, indeed, is worthy of a place among the essays of Addison and Charles Lamb.

With regard to “The Scarlet Letter,” the readers of Hawthorne might have expected an exquisitely written story, expansive in sentiment, and suggestive in characterization, but they will hardly be prepared for a novel of so much tragic interest and tragic power, so deep in thought and so condensed in style, as is here presented to them. It evinces equal genius in the region of great passions and elusive emotions, and bears on every page the evidence of a mind thoroughly alive, watching patiently the movements of morbid hearts when stirred by strange experiences, and piercing, by its imaginative power, directly through all the externals to the core of things. The fault of the book, if fault it have, is the almost morbid intensity with which the characters are realized, and the consequent lack of sufficient geniality in the delineation. A portion of the pain of the author’s own heart is communicated to the reader, and although there is great pleasure received while reading the volume, the general impression left by it is not satisfying to the artistic sense. Beauty bends to power throughout the work, and therefore the power displayed is not always beautiful. There is a strange fascination to a man of contemplative genius in the psychological details of a strange crime like that which forms the plot of the Scarlet Letter, and he is therefore apt to become, like Hawthorne, too painfully anatomical in his exhibition of them.

If there be, however, a comparative lack of relief to the painful emotions which the novel excites, owing to the intensity with which the author concentrates attention on the working of dark passions, it must be confessed that the moral purpose of the book is made more definite by this very deficiency. The most abandoned libertine could not read the volume without being thrilled into something like virtuous resolution, and the roué would find that the deep-seeing eye of the novelist had mustered the whole philosophy of that guilt of which practical roués are but childish disciples. To another class of readers, those who have theories of seduction and adultery modeled after the French school of novelists,and for whom libertinism is of the brain, the volume may afford matter for very instructive and edifying contemplation; for, in truth, Hawthorne, in The Scarlet Letter, has utterly undermined the whole philosophy on which the French novels rest, by seeing farther and deeper into the essence both of conventional and moral laws; and he has given the results of his insight, not in disquisitions and criticisms, but in representations more powerful even than those of Sue, Dumas, or George Sand. He has made his guilty parties end, not as his own fancy or his own benevolent sympathies might dictate, but as the spiritual laws, lying back of all persons, dictated to him. In this respect there is hardly a novel in English literature more purely objective.

As everybody will read “The Scarlet Letter,” it would be impertinent to give a synopsis of the plot. The principal characters, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, Hester, and little Pearl, all indicate a firm grasp of individualities, although from the peculiar method of the story, they are developed more in the way of logical analysis than by events. The descriptive portions of the novel are in a high degree picturesque and vivid, bringing the scenes directly home to the heart and imagination, and indicating a clear vision of the life as well as forms of nature. Little Pearl is perhaps Hawthorne’s finest poetical creation, and is the very perfection of ideal impishness.

In common, we trust, with the rest of mankind, we regretted Hawthorne’s dismissal from the Custom House, but if that event compels him to exert his genius in the production of such books as the present, we shall be inclined to class the Honorable Secretary of the Treasury among the great philanthropists. In his next work we hope to have a romance equal to The Scarlet Letter in pathos and power, but more relieved by touches of that beautiful and peculiar humor, so serene and so searching, in which he excels almost all living writers.

Latter Day Pamphlets. Edited by Thomas Carlyle. No. 1. The Present Time. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co.

The reader of Carlyle will find nothing new in principle, and little new in phraseology, in this pamphlet, but it is still fresh and racy, and exhibits the author hammering as lustily as ever on his old anvil, with his old tools. The picture given of the poor simple Pope, with the New Testament in his hand—the pitying contempt with which Lamartine is alluded to—and the view of American democracy—will be found the most readable portions of the pamphlet. Lamartine, with his fine French phrases and sentimentalities, looks small enough as subjected to the surly tests of such an Icelandic critic as Carlyle—“a most eloquent, fair-spoken literary gentleman, whom thoughtless persons took for a prophet, priest, and heaven-sent evangelist, and whom a wise Yankee friend of mine discerned to be properly ‘the first stump-orator in the world, standing, too, on the highest stump for the time.’A sorrowful spectacle to all men of reflection during the time he lasted, that poor M. de Lamartine; with nothing in him but melodious wind andsoft sowder, which he and others took for something divine, and not diabolic! Sad enough: the eloquent latest impersonation of Chaos-come-again; able to talk for itself, and declare persuasively thatitis Cosmos! However, you have but to wait a little, in such cases; all balloons do and must give up their gas in the pressure of things, and are collapsed in a sufficiently wretched manner before long.” The wise Yankee friend alluded to here is, we suppose, Mr. Emerson.

Carlyle, though he seems with De Tocqueville, to consider Democracy inevitable in Europe, still despises and hates it, and thinks that even in America it is nothing more than “Anarchyplusthe constable.” His view of the United States, sufficiently contemptuous as a whole, closes with a bitter, sardonic jest, which we think will make the tour of the world, and injure us more than a thousand Trollopes and Basil Halls. He asks, “What great human soul, what great thought, what great, noble thing that one could worship, or loyally admire, has yet been produced there?” We might answer this question easily, but Carlyle answers it in a sufficiently provoking manner—“What have they done? They have doubled their population every twenty years. They have begotten, with a rapidity beyond recorded example,eighteen millions of the greatest boresever seen in this world before—that, hitherto, is their feat in History.”

As regards Great Britain, Carlyle considers that the only practical way to remedy its evils, is to reject all cant about liberty and constitutional government, and enslave the lower classes. He accordingly recommends to the English government a plan of enforced labor, and puts an imaginary speech in the mouth of the Prime Minister, addressed to the “floods of Irish and other Beggars, the able-bodied Lackalls, nomadic or stationary, and the General Assembly, outdoor and indoor, of the Pauper Populations of these Realms.” This speech sounds well enough as a joke, provided a man can view a horde of men as he would so many horses, but it is ridiculous as apractical exposition of principles. It is certain that in one hour after a British minister had made such a declaration, army, navy, and party would melt away from him, and he would be on the gallows or in Bedlam. As a politician, Carlyle is little more than a philosopher of sneers and negations, without one positive practical principle. His idea of government implies a falsehood in fact, reposing on the monstrous assumption that civilized society is composed of a vast collection of men, little better than brutes, who would endure the tyranny of a smaller number of despots, little better than Carlyle.

Modern Literature and Literary Men: Being a Second Gallery of Literary Portraits. By George Gilfillan: New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 12mo.

Mr. Emerson has remarked that “it makes a great difference in the force of a sentence whether a man be behind it or no.” We hardly think that there is a true man behind the best of Mr. Gilfillan’s sentences. He has a mind of much sensitiveness to his own merits, and some to the merits of others, and welters readily into the expression of both; but his inspiration seems to spring from presumption and whisky-punch. The reader is teased into attention by Mr. Gilfillan’s confident manner, without having his attention rewarded by intimacy with Mr. Gilfillan’s nature. There is merit in his occasional thoughts, and truth in his detached remarks, but the impression of the whole is of a slush of shining words. The subject is only an occasion for the author to pour out his own memories and fancies, and thus to exhibit himself. The movement of his mind is half-way between a strut and a reel, and his faculties are ever in a state of pert intoxication. He paws rather than handles a great poet, and we never witness his approach to a Milton or Wordsworth without a shudder. Having in his intellect no presiding will or even principle, his compositions are an anarchy of opinions and terms, without any intellectual conscientiousness or austere regard for the truth of things; and their popularity is the result of that sack of the dictionary which has made so much of our popular literature a mere debauch in words.

Cosmos: a Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe. By Alexander Von Humboldt. Translated from the German, by E. C. Otté. New York: Harper & Brothers. 2 vols. 12mo.

The noble head of Humboldt which adorns the title-page of this edition gives at once a favorable impression of his capacity to treat even the vast subject which here has tasked his powers. The head is high, broad, massive, androomy—spacious enough for knowledge as universal as his, and strong enough to use that knowledge, and not be used by it. The work promises to be one which will leave its mark on the century. Even in England it is acknowledged by some men of science to be the greatest mental product of the time. The advantage which Humboldt holds over most savans is his appreciation of the two aspects under which nature may be viewed, and the two uses she serves. He combines the philosopher and the poet, looking for beauty as well as truth, and seeing also that there is a point where they unite. “Cosmos” contains a vast amount of generalized knowledge to satisfy the understanding; but it is also replete with gorgeous descriptions of natural scenery to fill and stimulate the imagination. We know of few works which can be more profitably read by enthusiasts either for the exclusively scientific or the exclusively poetic method of observing nature.

The East: Sketches of Travel in Egypt and the Holy Land. By the Rev. J. A. Spencer, M. A. New York: George P. Putnam. 1 vol. 8vo.

This work is elegantly printed and appropriately illustrated. The field of the author’s travels is of exceeding interest, and the mere title, “The East,” is sufficient to stir the imagination and kindle the curiosity of all “the West.” Mr. Spencer is a scholar, a Christian, and, we may add, well versed in English Composition, but he has chosen to preserve the epistolary form in which he recorded his first impressions, and this he has done without having in his letters much of that familiar charm which is the justification of the practice. If the traveler be Lady Montagu, or Horace Walpole, or Gray, or Cowper, or Byron, or even Lord Chesterfield, we should be inclined to wish to read his letters rather than his formal “tour;” but few writers are gifted with a genius for epistolary composition; and Mr. Spencer is not one of the few. There is much in his volume which might have been omitted with positive advantage. His style is the very reverse of epistolary, and yet he says a great many things having all the unimportance of chat without its raciness. With this exception we think the book an excellent one, containing valuable information clearly conveyed.

The Optimist. By Henry T. Tuckerman. New York: George P. Putnam. 1 vol. 12mo.

This is the most delightful of Mr. Tuckerman’s many volumes of essays. It contains twenty-two papers, on as many subjects, is written in a style which evinces a graceful mastery of the resources of language, and is no less fluent in thought than in expression. Perhaps the most pleasing quality of the volume is its wealth of illustration. The writer’s mind is not only affluent in comparison and imagery, but his literary culture is so extensive as to give him a command of those sources of fascination which come from felicitous allusions to the world of authors and books. The object of the volume is finely stated, in an elegantly written preface, to be the search for the good in life, as that good is exhibited to one who can comment kindly on society, and interpret the true and beautiful in common experience. The best papers in the volume are those on New England Philosophy, Art and Artists, Lyric Poetry, Eye-Language, Flowers, Costume, Music, and Conversation. The volume should be on the shelves of every man who has the heart and imagination to enjoy the English essayists, for to that goodly company it is a positive addition.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By Edward Gibbon, Esq. With Notes by the Rev. H. H. Milman. A New Edition, to which is added a Complete Index of the Whole Work. In six volumes. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co. Vols. 1 & 2.

This is a cheap reprint of the latest and best edition of Gibbon, and when completed will place one of the greatest historical productions in the world within the reach of the most limited means—the price of the whole not amounting to four dollars. Milman’s edition is in some degree founded upon Guizot’s French edition, and includes the principal notes of the latter. Both Milman and Guizot have gone carefully over Gibbon’s authorities, and while they have thus been enabled to correct his misrepresentations, they have also added much which he overlooked, or which has been brought to light since the period in which the history was written. Of the book itself, it may be said, that in the combination of vast erudition with philosophic thought, it is the object of emulous despair to all succeeding historians. The subject is the greatest within therange of historical composition, and Gibbon has so nearly exhausted it that even a philosophical historian like Guizot is contented to be but an annotator when he approaches it. The general reader, after many repeated perusals of the work, continually returns to it for the depth and acuteness of its reflections, the richness and weight of its style, and that masterly irony, sapping a solemn creed with “solemn sneer,” which, though sometimes an expression of the author’s moral deficiencies, and in a few instances disgracefully disingenuous, is still a weapon which makes falsehood and prejudice wither when it merely gleams, and perish when it strikes.

A Few Thoughts for a Young Man. A Lecture, delivered before the Boston Mercantile Library Association. By Horace Mann. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields.

The author of this eloquent lecture is known principally for his great services to the cause of popular education—a cause which he has adopted with his whole soul, and into which he has thrown whatever of fire there is in his blood and of intelligence there is in his brain. The present address flames with the peculiar characteristics of his genius—vehement, rapid, and epigrammatic in style, large, generous, independent and original in thought. We disagree with some of the positions he has assumed, but we know of few books which contain, in so small a space, so much to breathe energy and aspiration into the souls of young men as this warm gush of blended thought and knowledge, from a soul eminently energetic and aspiring itself.

The Modern Housewife. By Alexis Soyer. Edited by an American Housekeeper. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 12mo.

This book we can commend to all ladies who are, or hope to be, housewifes. It simplifies the whole art of cooking, and has a receipt for every dish which the Heliogabalus imagination of man has conceived. It has been edited, seemingly with great care, by some gentleman amateur of the table, and contains directions for the food equally of rich and poor, the dyspeptic and the ostrich stomach.

Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Thomas Chalmers, D. D. LLD. By his Son-in-Law, the Rev. William Hanna, LLD. New York: Harper & Brothers. 3 vols. 12mo.

The first volume of this important work has just been issued, containing long extracts from the doctor’s early diary and correspondence, and full accounts of his life and writings to the year 1814. As the biography of a good and eminent man, furnishing, as it does, the means of understanding the process according to which his character grew into such large proportions. The work promises to be one of the most valuable of the season.

The Red Rover. By the author of “The Spy,” “The Pilot,” etc. Revised, Corrected, and Illustrated with a New Introduction, Notes, etc. by the Author. New York: Geo. P. Putnam. 1 vol. 12mo.

We well recollect the excitement in the novel-reading world produced by this book on its first publication. The rush on the circulating libraries was continued for a couple of months, and even boys were considered behind the age, unless they had read it. In its present cheap and elegant form, and enriched by the revision of the author’s maturer judgment, we hope it will have another term of popularity.

Elements of Natural Philosophy. By Alonzo Gray, A. M. Illustrated by 300 Wood Cuts. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1 vol. 12mo.

This work is designed as a text book for academies, high schools, and colleges, but it is well adapted also for the general reader. Principles are stated with equal clearness and accuracy, and the examples and illustrations are happily selected. The author evidently understands the avenues through which scientific knowledge must pass in order to reach the learner’s mind.

Hume’s History of England. Vol. 6. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co.

This volume is the last of the Boston edition of Hume—an edition which places one of the most valuable and fascinating works in the language within the reach of readers of the humblest means. We are glad to see that the same enterprising house, intend to issue an edition of Gibbon in the same style, and at the same low price.

Foreign Endorsement.—It must be amusing to the subscribers of Graham’s Magazine, to see the American Press praising the story of “The Village Doctor,” published in “Blackwood’s Magazine” last year as thefirsttranslation of that excellent French story. The article appeared in “Graham’s Magazine” more than two years before, i. e. in the October and November numbers, 1847, and had therefore been read in this country by at least one hundred thousand readers, before it was copied by the weekly press in this country from Blackwood.

The truth is, the American Magazines contain every month articles which would make the fortune of a London or Edinburgh periodical, which are passed over in silence, but the most inferior article of English stamp is endorsed as something extraordinary, merely because itisEnglish. This should be corrected.

Mr. Leonard Myers, who translated the story of “The Village Doctor” for us, has just had published by Messrs. Lippincott & Co., a capital story from the French, called “Money-bags and Titles.” It is a very creditable volume in every respect; the story is well told and contains some admirable hits at the follies of the age. It can be sent by mail, and is published at the price of fifty cents the volume.

A Capital Story.—The Saturday Courier has been publishing, for the past few numbers, a story of more than usual excellence, called “Linda,” by Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, whose stories heretofore in this admirable family paper have made so much stir among readers of light literature. Her story of the “Mob-Cap” ran through several editions, and is still praised as one of the most effective articles that ever appeared in a periodical. Mr. M‘Makin will find that “Linda” is destined to make a fresh demand for articles from the able pen of this lady, and we are sure he will receive the thanks of his hundred thousand readers for his liberality in thus catering to their refined taste.

HOur correspondent, Richard Coe, Jr., is about to publish a volume of his beautiful poems—a neat edition for the centre-table at the price of one dollar per volume. His address is 33 Church Alley, Philadelphia, where any of his friends will be supplied.

NO JOY I’LL SEE BUT IN THOSE SMILES.

WRITTEN BY

JOSEPH A. NUNES.

COMPOSED BY

JAMES BELLAK.

Published by permission of Mr. E. L. Walker, No. 160 Chestnut Street.

I’ll think of thee, that thought aloneCan never from my mem’ry flee,In ev’ry breeze I’ll find a toneThat whispers nought but love and

I’ll think of thee, that thought alone

Can never from my mem’ry flee,

In ev’ry breeze I’ll find a tone

That whispers nought but love and

theeAnd ev’ry sound that greets my ear,And ev’ry object that I see,Will be to me more sweet, more dear,When mingled with the thought of thee.Should fortune smile, and hope be bright,And from the world be nought to fear,Oh! what can add to that delightBut the one thought that thou art near.Then pleasure, with its thousand smiles,Will vainly strive this heart to free:No joy I’ll see but in those smiles,No rapture feel away from thee.And when existence’s span is runAnd death impatient waits for me,My soul, as to its earthly sun,Will turn a lingering look on thee:E’en when the last sad scene of lifeShall mingle with the shades of death,My spirit, in its latest strife,Will bless thee with its parting breath.

theeAnd ev’ry sound that greets my ear,And ev’ry object that I see,Will be to me more sweet, more dear,When mingled with the thought of thee.

thee

And ev’ry sound that greets my ear,

And ev’ry object that I see,

Will be to me more sweet, more dear,

When mingled with the thought of thee.

Should fortune smile, and hope be bright,And from the world be nought to fear,Oh! what can add to that delightBut the one thought that thou art near.Then pleasure, with its thousand smiles,Will vainly strive this heart to free:No joy I’ll see but in those smiles,No rapture feel away from thee.

Should fortune smile, and hope be bright,

And from the world be nought to fear,

Oh! what can add to that delight

But the one thought that thou art near.

Then pleasure, with its thousand smiles,

Will vainly strive this heart to free:

No joy I’ll see but in those smiles,

No rapture feel away from thee.

And when existence’s span is runAnd death impatient waits for me,My soul, as to its earthly sun,Will turn a lingering look on thee:E’en when the last sad scene of lifeShall mingle with the shades of death,My spirit, in its latest strife,Will bless thee with its parting breath.

And when existence’s span is run

And death impatient waits for me,

My soul, as to its earthly sun,

Will turn a lingering look on thee:

E’en when the last sad scene of life

Shall mingle with the shades of death,

My spirit, in its latest strife,

Will bless thee with its parting breath.

Transcriber’s Notes:

Table of Contents has been added for reader convenience. Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained. Obvious type-setting and punctuation errors have been corrected without note. Other errors have been corrected as noted below. For illustrations, some caption text may be missing or incomplete due to condition of the originals available for preparation of the eBook.

page 304, soulfull look, and ==>soulfullook, andpage 306, reader, with what exhuberance ==> reader, with whatexuberancepage 308, some of her satelites ==> some of hersatellitespage 310, eyes were rivited upon ==> eyes wereriveteduponpage 318, To batten and gorge on ==> Tofattenand gorge onpage 341, of Amherstbergh, Canada west, ==> ofAmherstburg, Canada west,page 341, by incessant harrassing, which ==> by incessantharassing, whichpage 346, and whom libertinism ==>and for whomlibertinism

page 304, soulfull look, and ==>soulfullook, and

page 306, reader, with what exhuberance ==> reader, with whatexuberance

page 308, some of her satelites ==> some of hersatellites

page 310, eyes were rivited upon ==> eyes wererivetedupon

page 318, To batten and gorge on ==> Tofattenand gorge on

page 341, of Amherstbergh, Canada west, ==> ofAmherstburg, Canada west,

page 341, by incessant harrassing, which ==> by incessantharassing, which

page 346, and whom libertinism ==>and for whomlibertinism

[End of Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXVI, No. 5, May 1850]

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