FOOTNOTES:[12]Stuart of Dunleath: by Mrs. Norton. New-York, Harpers, 1851.
[12]Stuart of Dunleath: by Mrs. Norton. New-York, Harpers, 1851.
[12]Stuart of Dunleath: by Mrs. Norton. New-York, Harpers, 1851.
The student of classic mythology, who loves with Hammer Purgstall and Kreutzer to dive into the oriental depths of ancient myths, will welcome the recent appearance of a work byLudwig Mercklin, entitledDie Talos-Sage, und das Sardonische Lachen. The story of Talus, and the Sardonic Laughter—a contribution to the history of Grecian legend and art—St. Petersburg and Leipsic, 1851. In this work we learn that the Cretan Talus was beyond doubt the Phœnician sun-god, and that he was identical with the Athenian of the same name. The Cretan Talus, according to the mythological account, was a brazen image, which Vulcan gave to Minos, or Jupiter to Europa. He defended the island by heating himself in the fire and embracing his enemies. More literal commentators have attempted to prove that Talus was a brazen statue or beacon, like the Colossus of Rhodes, placed by the Phœnicians on the Cretan promontory. The Athenian Talus, inventor of the compass and saw, was slain by his uncle Dædalus, who was envious of his talent. The gods changed him to a partridge. After identifying the twain, Mercklin attempts to prove that the elements of this myth are to be sought in the ancient dogmas of lustration, and that they may be still further referred to the worship of Apollo. In connection with this Talus legend, he closely scrutinizes the account of the so called Sardonic laughter, and its relation to the same religious rites. "In conclusion, he discusses those ancient works of art which illustrate this subject, namely, the medals of Phaistos and the celebrated vase of Ruvo, of which he gives a new, and on the whole certainly correct account." In connection with this work we may notice another which appeared in April, entitledBellerophon, byHerman Alex. Fischer. From the subject we infer that this Fischer is identical withVischerwho published three years ago one of the bestÆstheticson philosophies of art, ever written even in Germany. We are told in a short notice, that the author attempts, by a study of the myth of Bellerophon and those works of art relating to it, including the etymological signification of the name, to establish the identity of Bellerophon with the sun-god. Φοντης is by him derived or varied from Θαντης and Βελλερο, explained as identical with ἡελιος, ελη, σελας, and σεληνη.
Some anonymous scribbler in Berlin has recently put forth a treatise on free trade, entitledTempus omnia revelat: of which a reviewer, in conjecturing the cause of its publication, remarks, that "as it treats generally of every thing else besides free trade, it is probable that the Free Trade Union have not deemed it worth while to hear him through."
Among the more recent curiosities of German medical literature, we find thatJos. Heinrich Beisenof Quedlinburg, has written a work on homœpathy as applicable to the diseases of swine.J. Hoppeof Magdeburg, has set forth another, entitledLinen and cotton Garments considered in a medical light, which is highly recommended by a competent judge.C. Gerold, of Vienna, publishes for the Count (and physician—we know not which is the more honorable title)—Von Feuchtersleben, a singular book, entitledZur Diätetik der Seele, Valere aude!which is not, however, as one might infer from the title, a theory of the method whereby the health of the soul itself may be preserved; but the art of regulating our physical well being by a correct management and strengthening of our mental powers. Count Feuchtersleben had already attained a reputation as a writer, and the work referred to, though in many particulars superficial, is not without merit. Last and least, Dr.Gideon Brecher, hospital physician at Pressnitz, publishes through Asher & Co., in Berlin, an octavo onTranscendental Magic, and the supernatural methods of curing Disease, as given in the Talmud, in which he enters largely into Theo-Dæmon and Angelology; as well as dreams, visions, biblical seraphims, cosmic and magic influences of the soul, with a scattering fire of amulets, spells and charms. We congratulate the medical faculty on this important addition to the literature of the healing art.
No department of ancient art is more interesting, or indeed more necessary to the student, than that relating to theatres and other aids to the practical illustration of dramatic art. No characteristic of modern continental life, is so striking to the traveller as the earnestness with which the opera is discussed by all classes, and its powerful influence upon social life in nearly every relation. But even the earnest attention which is directed at the present day in Naples or Vienna to some new incarnation of the all governing spirit of amusement, is nothing when compared with the same as it existed among the ancients, to whom it was literallylife. 'Panem et circenses'—bread and the public games—with these the Roman citizen of the later empire, like the modern lazzarone, with his maccaroni and San Carlino, could dream away life and be happy. Mindful of the importance of this branch of ancient art in its manifold relations,Fried. Wieselerhas recently set forth a book,[13]declared by competent authority to be the best in the world on this subject. He has chosen judiciously from the immense mass of material extant; and according to theprescribed limits conveyed all the information possible. "The first part of the work embraces a series of well executed plans and outlines of ancient theatres, of different countries and ages, with every requisite detail, followed by engravings and descriptions of every particular pertaining to the representation of plays. This is succeeded by an admirable collection of masks, scenes, figures and costumes, illustrative not only of the ancient drama, but also of its subdivisions of comedy, tragedy, the satyr-drama and the Italian phylace, with singing and music. The illustrations are admirably accurate—more particularly the colored plates of the Cyrenæan wall paintings, and the mosaics of the Vatican, by which the rare and costly work ofMilliis rendered unnecessary." More than one eminent German authority speaks in terms of high praise, of the accuracy and unwearied erudition which characterize the accompanying test.
The second and third parts of theHolzschnitte Derühmter Meister, or woodcuts of celebrated masters, have made their appearance, containing, 1st. smaller woodcuts by Hans Holbein the younger (A. D., 1498-1554), being selections from the Dance of Death, and the Peasants' and Children's Alphabets; 2d. a large engraving after Michael Wohlzemuth (1434-1519), being the Glorification of Christ, and a Madonna and child of Hans Bürkmayer's; also, from the Dutch school, after Dirk de Bray (ob. 1680), a portrait of the artist's father, and the celebrated engraving of Rembrandt's, known as the philosopher with the hour-glass. For the information of artists we mention that these copies are executed with exquisite accuracy, and that the work, though gotten up in every particular in the most elegant manner, is afforded at a very moderate price.
Recent German poetry offers little for remark.Tellkampfhas published a poem in hexameters in the style of Goethe's Hermann and Dorothea, founded upon an incident in the battle of Leipsic, calledIrmengard. It has passed into a second edition.Emil Leonhard, a poet not unknown, has written a poem upon Bürger, whose wild life had already furnished Müller subject for a romance and Mosenthal for a drama, and which is too unpleasant to be made attractive even by the poetic talent of Leonhard. We note, however an interesting work, entitledPrussia's Mirror of Honor, a collection of Prussian national songs, from the earliest period to the year 1840. They have much allusion to old Fritz, and are interesting as an indication of the popular feeling, which is always expressed in such songs, toward that national hero.
An interesting contribution to contemporary history isI. Venedy'sSchleswig-Holstein in 1850. A diary.
Herman Fritsche, of Leipsig, has recently published a work by oneSohnland Schubauer, entitledConsecrated souvenirs of the virtues of our earliest ancestors: Collected with the aid of a Philologist. This book we are told contains (though we should never have inferred it from the title), a collection and explanation of old German proper names, both masculine and feminine. The author in his preface gives it as his opinion that since the introduction of Christianity "a dreadful thousand-year-long night has brooded over Germany, and that the best method of dissipating this darkness, would be to revive the old German proper names!" "The poet discovers the sanctity of these primitive German names in the holy star-night, and he will, the higher these rise to the ideal, find in them a full accord with holy nature." His principal sources are the verbal assertions of Dr.Alex. Vollmer: for example in page 1st, where he questions whether "Anno" signifies a year, and decides that it is originally German, froman,unandunst; to which add a G, whence resultsGunst, meaning good fortune, success, or favor!—a bit of ingenuity which reminds us of several scraps of Horne Tooke's comic philology, as well as the glove-maker's motto,Kunst macht Gunst—skill makes (or wins) success. Dr. Vollmer is an amiable and hard-working scholar of immense erudition, and possessed of a boundless enthusiasm on the subject of early German and Gothic dialects. We regret that his learning should be lent to the support of such singular vagaries.
Carl Gutzkow, who seemed by his first literary failure, theWalley, in 1835, to have sunk irretrievably, but has since risen to a brilliant eminence by the publication ofUriel Akasta, theZopf und Schwert, and other writings, has recently put forth another, noticed as theRitter von Geiste.G. Reimerat Berlin, has published the first volume of a second edition ofBöckh'sinestimable work,Die Staatshaushaltung der Athener—the political economy of the Athenians. Prof.Ant. Gubitz, the celebrated wood engraver, publisher of an annual comic almanac, and in fact the father of all the popular German illustrated almanacs of the present day, has written and published three dramas, entitledThe Emperor Henry and his Sons,Sophonisba, andJohann der Ziegler.
Macchiavelli und der Gang der Europäischen Politik(Macchiavelli, and the Course of European Policy), byTheodore Mundt, is the last discussion of the political system of the "Regent of the Devil." The doctrines ofThe PrinceHerr Mundt supposes have influenced the late reactionary events in Germany, and he thinks that work will again be the favorite text-book of despots. His exposition of the character and doctrines of Machiavelli, and his influence on European policy, is an interesting historical study.
The German press is no less prolific of novels than that of England and America. We observe the last monthStories and Pictures from the Bohemian Forest, byJoseph Rank, a romance of provincial life, not without interest;The Children of God, byMax Ring, a story of the court of Augustus the Strong, and of the origin of the sect of the Herrnhutters. Its sketches of character are called sprightly and successful.The Castle of Ronceaux, from an old manuscript, is an episode from the history of the Huguenot war. A piquant title is that of MadameIda Von Duringsfeld'sbook,A Pension(boarding-house)upon the Lake of Geneva, two Romances in one house, which recalls the stories of the Countess Hahn-Hahn before she ceased writing pleasant tales for us, and began histories of religious experience. But with less talent, the present author has more knowledge of men. The book issent la Politiquea little too much. But German ladies who write books love to say a word in them about every thing.
A Pilgrim and his Companionsis still another romance, byLorenzo Dieffenbach, not of a religions tone, as the title suggests, but purely political. It is a story of the German "March-Days," the days of Revolution. The author is bold and large in thought, but the want of sharp outline in his characters indicates the poor or unpractised artist.The Oathis the appropriately melodramatic title of a romance of the Venetian Inquisition, byDavid. It is well written, simple and natural. Remarkable qualities with so passionate a theme.
Ludwig Bauerhas published through G. Jonghaus of Darmstadt, a work which reminds us of theChronica Jocelini de Brakelonda, being theUrkundenbuch des Klosters Arnsburg in d. Wetterau, containing as yet unprinted documents of the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, relating to the history of the monastery. We are happy to observe that notwithstanding the check given to general literature by the recent political troubles in Germany, this department of mediæval antiquity is rapidly advancing. When we remember the immense amount of material as yet unavailable which is still requisite to form an accurate history of the middle ages, withreliableaccounts of its varied literature and customs, or when we reflect on the spoil and devastation which every day brings to the ancient hoard, we should feel grateful to those untiring antiquaries, who thus rescue a few literary gems from the flood of time.
TheManuscripts of Peter Schlemil, naturally awakens attention, but proves to be an extravaganza ofLouis Bechstein, humorous and intelligent withal. But the humor is not intelligible, and the intelligence is not humorous, says a sharp reviewer.
Prof. O. L. B. Wolff, well known to every amateur German scholar in this country and England, as the publisher of the celebratedPoetischer und Prosaischer Hausschatz, or Poetic and Prosaic Home Treasury, has edited and published by Otto Wigand of Leipsic, that singular romance ofCaspar von Grimmelshausen, first printed in 1669, which is, as a picture of German social life during the period of the thirty years' war, extremely interesting. We need, however, hardly caution our lady readers against its perusal. Its title is as follows:Der abenteuerliche Simplicius Simplicissimus. The adventurous Simplicius Simplicissimus. That is the true, copious, and very remarkable biography of an odd, wonderful and singular man,Sternfels Von Fuchsheim, how he passed his youth in Spessart, of his varied and remarkable destinies in the thirty years' war, and of the numerous sufferings, sorrows and dangers which he experienced, with his ultimate good fortune.
A German critic, who of course belongs to the conservative party, writing under date of June 16, says of MissHelen Weber, the inventor of the hybrid costume whichPunchsatirizes as anAmericanabsurdity, that "except in a certain disregard of public decencies there is nothing by which to distinguish her from the mass of vulgar women of the middling classes; she is about thirty-five years of age, and appears to be willing to do or say any thing that may be required for the attraction of observation; from her writings, throw out what is stolen or compiled, and there is nothing left to evince even a mediocrity of talent." This is less favorable than an account we published in an early number of theInternational(vol. i. 463), but it may be quite as just.
When ProfessorZahnsojourned in Naples, he took an active part in the excavations of Pompeii—studies which eventually led to the publication of his meritorious work on this subject. At the same time he faithfully reported the progress of these operations to old Goethe. The poet's replies to these communications on the ancient paintings of Pompeii, its theatres, and other buildings, were replete with those sparks of genius he exhibited on every occasion. This rather voluminous correspondence, long laid up at Naples, has been lately discovered, and will be published by Professor Zahn.
Geschichte der Deutschen Stadte und des Deutschen Burgerthums(History of the Cities of Germany, and of German Citizenship), byF. W. Barthold, is the first of a series of painstaking and exhausting books of German historical materiel, in course of publication by Weizel, of Leipsic. The style of treatment resembles that adopted inThe Pictorial History of England, which will make the work easy of reference.
Dr. Cornillpublishes a dissertation upon Louis Feuerbach and his position toward the religion and philosophy of the present time. The author finds in every thing the famous professor does a farther religious development. But it is very doubtful if Feurbach has advanced at all since his memorable essay in the HalleBook of the Year, upon the relation of philosophy to theology. Since then he has only varied this theme, and his last work, upon the transcendental thesisMan is what he eats, in which the worthy Professor with Teutonic energy seeks to seduce the immorality of the age from the potato disease, the German critics declare to be totally devoid of that bold and thoughtful spirit which formerly fought so well for the emancipation of the understanding from its long scholastic thraldom.
A most mystical and metaphysical treatise is that ofErnst,A new Book of the Planets, or Mikro and Makrokosmos. It sings with Klopstock of the souls of the stars. It speculates with Jacob Böhme, with Retif de la Bretonne, with the Rabbins, and other mighty mystics, upon the origin of thought. The essential difference in speculative science between ether and thought, the unity of matter and spirit, the eternity and evanescence of matter, the thoughts, feelings, and sensations of God, and the final explication of the trinity. All this and more. In fine, says a German critic, it is a very jocose book, strongly to be commended for the consolation of political prisoners.
Waldmeister'sBridal-Tour, a story of the Rhine, Wine, and Travel, is the pleasant and appropriate title of the last book ofOtto Roquette. It is the story of a spring tour along the Rhine. The fire of its wine, the golden gleam of its vineyards, the faint, penetrant delicacy of the grape-blossom, the luring look of the Love-Lei, the mystery of ruins, the distant baying of the wild huntsman's pack,—they all breathe, and bloom, and sound through the little book. It is a genuine song of spring. The poet is young,—he feels, dreams, and sings—what needs poet more?
A German version of Copway the Indian's work is announced under the title ofKah-ge-ga-gah-bouh, Hauptling d'Ojibway Nation: Die Ojibway Eroberung: Translated from the English, byN. Adler, and published at Frankfort-on-the-Main. This we presume is an after-shot from the Peace Convention.
Among the new books announced in Germany we seeThe Institutions of the United States, and their Lessons of American Experience to Europe. It appears to be anonymous. One or two other German works on this country we shall notice particularly in our next number.
Russian literature is gradually made accessible to the general student by German and French translations, and we shall soon begin to learn more of the mysterious despotism that towers like a fateful cloud along the eastern horizon of Europe, in its influence upon social and artistic life. The publisher Brockhaus of Leipsic has recently issued a collection in three volumes of the Russian novelists. Yet, whether from the want of tact in the selection or from the absence of characteristic qualities in the tales themselves, the authors are weakest in their delineation of popular life and manners, in this resembling fine society in Russia, which ignoresRussianism, and believes in Parisian manners, language, and life, every thing but Parisian politics. Among the authors whose works are quoted we noteAlexander Pushkin, the pride of Russian literature, born in 1799, and died in a duel in 1837.Helena Hahn, born in 1815, who, married at sixteen to a soldier, travelled through a large part of Russia, and died in 1832. Her novels were first published after her death, but seem to be not of the highest merit.Alexander Herzen, born in 1812, has zealously studied Hegel, and written a series of humorous tales, the best of which is calledTaras Bulwa. Since 1847 he has been a wanderer, pursued as a democrat, and now proposes to visit the United States.
The Emperor of Austria has appointedAaron Wolfgang Messeley, a Jew, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Prague. M. Messeley had long filled the chair of the Hebrew Language and Literature in the same University. The numbers of Jews now attached as professors to the different universities and educational establishments in the Austrian states is seventeen; of whom fifteen were named by the late Emperor, and two by the present.
Alexander Dumas, who, as a simple story writer is perhaps deserving of the highest place in the temple of letters—whoseThree Guardsmen, with its several continuations, making some twenty volumes, is the most entertaining, and in certain characteristics the best sustained novel written in our days,—announces in Paris a new tale,Un Drame de '93, and he occupies thefeuilletonof thePresseevery week with another,Ange Pitou, of which the scene and time are also France during the first revolution.
Madame Charles Reybaud, authoress ofThe Cadet de Calobriéres, has just published another story,Faustine, wherein provincial life in France is daguerreotyped.
Among the announcements in Paris we notice one of the tenth volume ofThiers'sHistoire du Consulat. The eleventh volume is also said to be nearly ready.
M. Mignethas nearly completed hisLife and Times of Mary, Queen of Scots, the third work on the subject produced in France within a year and a half. Mignet, however, is the most eminent person who has ever essayed this service, and he has had some peculiar and important advantages. He has made use of the collection of letters published by Prince Labanoff; of researches made in the State Paper Office of England by Mr. Tytler, and of other unpublished documents which he has himself collected, in order to form more correct opinions with regard to some of the darkest and most controverted events in the queen's life. These documents, chiefly from the archives of Spain, (to which M. Mignet was enabled to obtain access only at the express request of the French Government,) are of much importance, for they bring to light the negotiations carried on with Philip II. for the deliverance of Mary from her imprisonment—a part of her history to which previous biographers have paid little attention.
In the political literature of France a new pamphlet byCormeninis remarkable. It is entitledRevision, and its substance is this: Having recounted the history of the Republican Charter, elaborated during many months by men especially delegated to the work, and by a suffrage really universal, debated long and earnestly in the committee, amended by the eighteen delegates of the assembly, reviewed by the commission, deliberated by the chamber, discussed by the press,—M. Cormenin establishes that this constitution, so elaborately matured, if it has nothing which promises eternal duration, yet satisfies all the conditions essential to present permanence, and will well lead the nation to that moment, when, personal passion being somewhat allayed, it may be wisely and conscientiously reviewed. This is the pith of the pamphlet. It appeals to no passions, and justifies no excess, and is a notable and intelligent effort at the resolution of the question.
M. de Marcellus, an old French ambassador, has published two volumes entitledLiterary Episodes in the East. His oriental travel dates back as far as 1818, but the beautiful vision has pursued him ever since, and he knew no better way to lay it than by painting it, and making it real. The volume opens with a confession that all travel and all scenery have only reminded him most strongly of his eastern experiences, and that now, chilled with age, and hoping nothing of the future, he has especial pleasure in recurring to the past. It is a series of colloquial, familiar sketches and anecdotes, and will doubtless be a pleasant companion for the eastern tour. M. de Marcellus will follow this work withA Collection of Popular Songs in Greece.
Victor Hugo, who has always been opposed to the punishment of death, and whoseLast Days of Condemned, one of his most powerful fictions, had a large influence every where against the death penalty, was lately before the Court of Assizes in Paris as an advocate in behalf of his son, who was on trial for publishing an article calculated to bring into disrespect the administrators of the law. The veteran poet was allowed to deliver an elaborate and characteristic harangue in defence of the article. He tasked himself for his most brilliant antithetical rhetoric, denouncing the scaffold, and the legislation of death. The son, however, was convicted, and sentenced to a fine of five hundred francs and imprisonment for six months.
Victor Hugo has published a volume containing twelve speeches delivered on various occasions while he has been arepresentant du peuple. They are on the Bonaparte family, the punishment of death, universal suffrage, the liberty of the press, the affairs of Rome, &c., and are all written with the author's customary fine rhetoric; indeed in thought and style they are among his best performances.
Madame Bocarme, who probably was a party to the late murder of her brother, for which her husband the Count de Bocarme is to be executed, was an intimate friend of Balzac. The great novelist dedicated one of his works to her, and another of them was written in the Château de Bitremont. Balzac, while on a visit to the château, was taken to see a farmer, and, as usual, interested himself so much in the cattle, that after an hour's conversation he was amused to find that, the farmer had taken him, H. de Balzac, the brilliant Parisian, for a cattle dealer! The forthcoming memoirs of Balzac will perhaps contain something about this woman, who seems to have won for herself the execration of all France.
The Paris correspondent of theLiterary Gazetteaffirms that, on the whole, the French press has gained by the regulation requiring signatures to original articles. The abler class of contributors have profited greatly, as they have obtained a position in popular esteem, and consequently a claim on their employers, which years of anonymous drudgery would not have secured. Nor have readers, it is remarked, any cause to complain; for "men, remembering that 'those who live to please must please to live,' take far greater pains with the articles to which they have to attach their names, than to those which are unsigned."
M. Arago, the great astronomer, who is passing the summer at the mineral springs of Vichy, is nearly blind, and probably will entirely lose his sight. His brother, who is likewise a man of extraordinary abilities, has been blind many years.
George Sanddedicates her last performance toDumas, "because," she says, "I wish to protest against the tendency that may be attributed to me of regarding the absence of action as a systematic reaction against the school of which you are the chief. Far from me such a blasphemy against movement and life! I am too fond of your works; I read them and listen to them with too much attention and emotion; I am too much an artist in feeling to wish the slightest lessening of your triumphs. Many believe that artists are necessarily jealous of each other. I pity those who believe it, pity them for having so little of the artist as not to understand that the idea of assassinating our rivals would be that of our own suicide."
A Critical History of the Philosophical School of Alexandriais the title of a work of serious philosophical claims, byM. Vacherot. He had already published two volumes analyzing and developing the doctrines of the Alexandrian philosophy. In the present volume he has traced its influence upon the subsequent schools, passing in review Plotinus and his successors. The scope of the work invites and permits a discussion of the profoundest problems that now agitate the world of thought, and M. Vacherot has the credit of acquitting himself adequately and admirably of his task.
Rousseau, on his death, left several papers to his friend Moulton, and the heirs of that person, in 1794, caused them to be deposited in the public library of Neufchatel, in Switzerland. There they have remained unknown until a few weeks since, when M. Bovet, of that town, examined them, and found that they embraced an essay entitledAvant-propos et Preface a mes Confessions, which has just been printed. Of course it will appear with all future editions of the Confessions.
Balzac, besides hisMemoirs, which are soon to appear in Paris, it is now stated left two other works, one a romance calledLes Paysans, finished only a short time before his death, the other a collection of confidential letters to a lady, in which, it is said, he took pleasure in laying bare the secrets of his heart, and his real opinion of men and things.
M. Nisardwas a few weeks ago received into theAcademie Française. He succeeds the late M. Feletz, and has written a history of French literature, a book ofétudeson the Latin poets, and superintended a translation of all the Latin writers.
M. Gautier, formerly a deputy from the Gironde, a peer of France, Minister of Finance, and sub-governor of the Bank of France, has published a volumeOn the Causes which disturb Order in France, and the means of Reëstablishing it.
Guizotis about to publish theHistoire des Origines du Gouvernement Représentatif. This is a new work, being the revised issue of his lectures from 1820 to 1822, which have never yet been printed, except in the imperfectcomptes rendusof theJournal des Cours Public.
Le Drame de '93, byAlexandre Dumas, turns out to be a narrative of the Revolution, in his rapid dramatic style.
M. Pierre Dufouris publishing a work of great value entitled theHistory of Prostitution among all Nations and at all Times.
A cheap edition of the chief writings on affairs, byEmilie de Girardin, is published in eleven volumes.
Mademoiselle de Belle Isle, written by Dumas for Mademoiselle Mars—a sprightly, dissolute comedy, full of the life which animates theMémoiresof the time, and complicated in its construction with the skill of a Lope de Vega—was translated in New-York a year or two ago by Mrs. Fanny Kemble Butler, and brought out at the Astor Place Opera House. Our theatre-going people, however, declined a piece so broadly licentious, and it was soon withdrawn. We see that another version of it has been made in London, and that it has been played there very successfully.
The London editors lack something of the honesty of the Americans: they never give credit for an article, but if making up an entire number of a periodical from American sources, would permit their readers to suppose it all original.Sharpe's Magazineis particularly addicted to this infirmity, and the July issue of it contains our excellent friend the Rev. F. W. Shelton's paper onBoswell, the Biographer, which appeared originally inThe Knickerbocker.
TheRev. Charles Kingsley, Jr., rector of Eversley, best known to American readers as the author of the Chartist novel ofAlton Locke, andYeast, a Problem, has been an industrious writer. He is now about fifty years of age, and besides the above works and a vast number of papers inFraser's Magazine, he has publishedThe Christian Socialist(!),Politics for the People,Village Sermons, andThe Saint's Tragedy—in point of art the best of his performances. We see by the English papers that he preached a sermon lately in Fitzroy Square, London, on the "Gospel Message to the Poor." It was so full of "socialistic" thoughts, and so severe on the richer classes, that the rector of the church, when he had finished, arose in his pew, and protested vehemently against its doctrines. The congregation dispersed in great disorder.
We doubt whether any living Englishman is capable of surpassing Sir Bulwer Lytton's version of the Ballads of Schiller, but Mr.Edgar Alfred Bowring, a son of the well-known Dr. Bowring who has published translations from so many languages, has just published a volume entitledThe Poems of Schiller complete, including all his early Suppressed Pieces, attempted in English. The word "complete" expresses its difference from the many Schillers in English that have previously appeared. AnAnthologyedited by Schiller in 1782, when he had just commenced his career, contains several poems which the critics recognize as his. This remained unknown, however, except as a literary curiosity, till a few months ago; and several of the poems had been omitted in all the collections of Schiller's works. But the republication of theAnthologyhas brought to light the suppressed poems (in number twenty-eight, comprising nearly twelve hundred verses), and those are translated for the first time by Mr. Bowring, whose versions are much commended.
Among the new books of English verse, some of the most noticeable areThe Fair Island, in Six Cantos, byEdmund Peel: in the Spenserian measure, with passages of fair description;Ballad Romances, byR. H. Horne, author of "Orion," &c.—a book containing genuine poetry;The Reign of Avarice, an allegorical satire, in four cantos;Philosophy in the Fens, in the style of Peter Pindar; andMarican, a Chilian tale, byHenry Inglis.
Warren, the author of "Ten Thousand a Year," has just published a new novel under the title ofThe Lily and the Bee, a Romance of the Crystal Palace. The name savors of the huckster, and we shall look for a more melancholy failure than his last previous performance.
Mr. Levi Woodbury'sMiscellaneous Writings, Addresses, and Judicial Opinions, will be published in four octavo volumes, by Little & Brown, of Boston.
TheNorth American Reviewfor the July quarter is in many respects characteristic. Six months after every Review published in Great Britain had had its paper on Southey, and when the subject is quite worn out, theNorth Americanfurnishes us with a leading article upon it, in which there is neither an original thought nor a new combination of thoughts that are old. Colton'sPublic Economygives a title to an article, in which the book is treated superciliously, and some ideas by Henry C. Carey are presented as the original speculations of the reviewer. It is deserving of remark that thePast and Present, and more recent works of Mr. Carey, which among thinking men throughout the world have commanded more attention than any other writings in political philosophy during the last five years, have never been even referred to in this periodical, which arrogates to itself the leadership of American literature. The eighth article of the number is on the Unity of the Human Race, and considering the place it occupies in theNorth American Review, for July, 1851, it is contemptible. It is based on five publications made in England previous to 1847, and ignores all the research and discussion since that time, notwithstanding the facts that the subject never was so amply, so profoundly, or so luminously discussed as during the last year—that the very writers referred to in the article have for the chief part published their most important treatises upon it since 1847—that within six months its literature has received large accessions in France, Germany, and Italy,—and that inour own country, of whose intellectual advancement this Review is bound to give some sort of an index, the four years since Latham's "Present State and Recent Progress of Ethnological Philosophy" appeared, have furnished important works by Albert Gallatin, Mr. Hale of the Exploring Expedition, the Rev. Dr. Bachman, the Rev. Dr. Smyth, and several others, all of which should have been considered in any new, especially in any Americanresumeof the discussion. Johnston'sNotes on North Americais treated with a spleen excited by the author's refusal to recognize the greatness assumed for certain persons connected with Harvard College, and Mr. Bowen is weak enough to say, or to permit a contributor to say, "weunderstand(!) Mr. Johnston has a high reputation," &c. Pish! And what does the reader suppose is the theme—the fresh, before unheard-of theme—of another paper? what new star, in the heaven of mind, demanded most the exploration and illustration of theNorth American Review, for this July quarter, in 1851? The best guesser of riddles would not in fifty years hit upon Mr. Gilfillan's book of rigmarole entitledThe Bards of the Bible, but this performance, which had been criticised in every other quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily, in the English language, that would descend to it, crowds out the subjects of "great pith and moment" upon which a periodical of such claims should have spoken with wise authority.
Our own country is full of suggestive topics for thoughtful, earnest, and learned men, and it is fit that the closet should send out its instruction to calm the turbulence awakened by tempests from the rostrum—that affairs should be subjected to the criticism of experience, and that what is new in discovery, in opinion, or in suggestion, should have quick and popular recognition and justice. We need—we must have—for this purpose a powerful and really nationalReview, to reflect and guide the life and aspirations of the country.
We mentioned some time ago that Mr.William W. Story, a son of the late Justice Story, was preparing for the press a life of his father, and we now understand that the work will soon be ready, in two large octavo volumes, to be published by Little & Brown. It will come too late. Such a memoir would have been very well received any time within a year after Judge Story's death: now the public mind is settled in an unalterable conviction that Judge Story was an over-rated man, and a consideration of the processes by which his fame was acquired is likely for a long time to sink it below its just level. We but echo the opinion of more than one eminent person connected with the very school in which he was a teacher, as well as the common judgment of the leading men of the profession in all the states, when we say that Judge Story was not a great lawyer; two or three of his books were good, but the rest were made for cash profits, and sold by means of ingenious advertising. Now they will answer for the country courts, and the inferior courts of the cities, where no opposing lawyer has enough wit and knowledge to oppose Story against Story, but they are no longer weighty authorities, and every term they are found to be of declining influence. As a man of letters, Judge Story's rank will be still lower. He has left nothing to carry his name into another age. Yet he was a man of much professional learning, of taste, sagacity, an extraordinary command of his resources, and a most amiable and pleasing character, and his memoirs and correspondence, if fitly presented, will constitute an attractive and valuable contribution to the history of American society.
For several years it has been known to many students of our early history, that Mr.Lyman C. Draperwas devoting his time and estate, and faculties admirably trained for such pursuits, to the collection of whatever materials still exist for the illustration of the lives of the Western Pioneers. He has carefully explored all the valley of the Mississippi, under the most favorable auspices—by his intelligence and enthusiasm and large acquaintance with the most conspicuous people, commended to every family which was the repository of special traditions or of written documents—and he has succeeded in amassing a collection of MS. letters, narratives, and other papers, and of printed books, pamphlets, magazines, and journals, more extensive than is possessed by many of the state historical societies, while in character it is altogether and necessarily unique. He proposes soon to publish his first work,The Life and Times of General George Rogers Clarke, (whose papers have been long in his possession, and whose surviving Indian fighters and other associates he has personally visited), in two octavo volumes, to be followed by shorter historical memoirs of Colonel Daniel Boone, General Simon Kenton, General John Sevier of East Tennessee, General James Robertson, Captain Samuel Brady, Colonel William Crawford, the Wetzells, &c., &c. The field of his researches, it will be seen, embraces the entire sweep of the Mississippi, every streamlet flowing into which has been crimsoned with the blood of sanguinary conflicts, every sentinel mountain looking down to whose waves has been a witness of more terrible and strange vicissitudes and adventures than have been invented by all the romancers.
TheDublin University Magazineis not very kind in the matter of the American poem ofFrontenac, but suggests that as the author's name isStreet, he cannot object to being "walked into."
Mrs. Southworth'sstory ofRetributionis being republished inReynolds's Miscellany, edited by G. W. M. Reynolds, the novelist. Those who are acquainted with the productions of Reynolds will perhaps recognize the fitness of the association.
Mrs. Mowatt, who has just returned from a professional residence in England, we understand will soon give the public a collection of her miscellaneous writings, prefaced by Mary Howitt. The authoress ofThe Fortune Hunter, under various signatures, has been a very voluminous as well as a very clever writer. She will in a few weeks appear at the Broadway Theatre.
Miss Beecherhas published (through Phillips & Sampson of Boston), herTrue Remedy for the Wrongs of Women, and the book is much below her reputation. From a person of her character and unquestionable abilities, we looked for a rebuke of those females who have unsexed themselves, such a rebuke as should have brought to life all the latent shame in their natures, and for ever prevented any renewals of the melancholy displays they have made of an unfeminine passion for notoriety. The "wrongs of woman," in the state of New-York at least, are purely ideal; here woman has all the privileges and protections compatible with her destined offices in a civilized society. She undoubtedly has a share of the sufferings to which human nature is subject, but has literally nothing to complain of at the hands of man in the social organization. The individual wrongs of which she is the victim, are for the most part penalties of individual indiscretions, and the remedy for them is to be found in the education of woman for her proper sphere and duties, such education as shall develope her capacities for the relations of domestic life, most of all, for maternity. Miss Beecher treats parties with respect who are entitled to no respect, acknowledges evils which do not exist, and proposes for the elevation of female character plans of very questionable influence.