"Sir,—I understand that a publisher who at second hand is the owner of a book of mine called "The History of Louis Philippe," intends to issue the work under the title of "Mysteries of a Royal Family." I have written the history of Louis Philippe, just as I have written the histories of Louis XIV., and Louis XV., and Louis XVI., the history of the revolution, and the history of the empire. I have sold this series of historical works to a single publisher, M. Dufour. I never had the intention to provoke the scandal indicated by the title with which I am threatened in substitution for the one that I had given to the work. In the life of Louis Philippe and the royal family there is nothing mysterious. A fatal obstinacy in a course leading to an abyss: there's for the king. For the queen there is goodness, self-sacrifice, charity, religion, virtue. For the deceased royal prince and his living brothers, there is courage, loyalty, gallantry, intelligence, patriotism. You see in all this there is nothing mysterious. If he persists in giving to my book a title which I regard as infamous, the courts of justice shall decide between me and the publisher. May God keep me from invoking aught but historical truth with regard to a man who touched my hand when a king, and my heart, when an exile."Alex. Dumas."
"Sir,—I understand that a publisher who at second hand is the owner of a book of mine called "The History of Louis Philippe," intends to issue the work under the title of "Mysteries of a Royal Family." I have written the history of Louis Philippe, just as I have written the histories of Louis XIV., and Louis XV., and Louis XVI., the history of the revolution, and the history of the empire. I have sold this series of historical works to a single publisher, M. Dufour. I never had the intention to provoke the scandal indicated by the title with which I am threatened in substitution for the one that I had given to the work. In the life of Louis Philippe and the royal family there is nothing mysterious. A fatal obstinacy in a course leading to an abyss: there's for the king. For the queen there is goodness, self-sacrifice, charity, religion, virtue. For the deceased royal prince and his living brothers, there is courage, loyalty, gallantry, intelligence, patriotism. You see in all this there is nothing mysterious. If he persists in giving to my book a title which I regard as infamous, the courts of justice shall decide between me and the publisher. May God keep me from invoking aught but historical truth with regard to a man who touched my hand when a king, and my heart, when an exile.
"Alex. Dumas."
Conduct of this sort—the changing of titles, in violation of the wishes of authors, or any change in a book, by a publisher—is atrocious crime, for the punishment of which a revival of the whipping-post would not be inappropriate. There have been many such cases in this country, and to some of them we may hereafter call particular attention.
One of the most truly successful of the younger living French writers isAlfred de Musset. His works are principally poetic and dramatic. He originated a style of pieces calledCaprices, which have become exceedingly popular not only from their own point and spirit, but from the incomparable manner in which they are rendered on the stage of theThéâtre Français. M. de Musset's reputation has been achieved since the revolution of July. The last number of theGrenzbotendevotes a long leading article to the discussion of his works and his position in the world of letters. We translate the following paragraph: "We find in him an elegance of language, a truth of views, even though they be true only for him individually, a sensibility to all the problems of the soul and heart, and a freedom from the usual French prejudices, which lay a strong claim to our attention. He never falls into that shallow pathos with which Victor Hugo in his 'greatest moments' sometimes covers an intolerable triviality; phrases never run away with him as they do so often with the king of the romanticists, whose profoundest monologues not seldom turn out to be empty jingle. In clearness, delicacy and grace, he can be compared, among the modern romanticists, with only Prosper Merimée and Charles de Bernard. They also resemble him in the fear of being led away by general modes of expression and reflection. They strive only forindividualtruth; but he differs from them in the breadth and multiformity of his perspectives, and in a singular power of assimilation which is based on extensive reading. In fact, the combinations of his wit and fancy often go so into the distant and boundless, that we think we are reading a German author." The critic then compares De Musset with Byron; the latter is more original and spontaneous, the former richer and more comprehensive. The questions Byron discusses have forced themselves upon him; those of De Musset are of his own invention. For the rest he has been greatly influenced by Heine and Hoffmann, as well as by the Faust of Goethe. The more important of his works are:Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie(1830);Un Spectacle dans un Fauteuil(1833);Poésies Nouvelles(1835-40); the same (1840-49);Les Comédies Injouables, a collection of small dramatic pieces (1838);Louis, ou il faut qu'une porte soit ouverte ou fermée,Les deux Martiesses,Emmeline,Le Seuet de Javatte,Le Fils de Titien,Les Adventures de Laagon,La Confession d'un Enfant du Siècle; romances published between 1830-40. De Musset is still a young man. A good deal has been said at sundry times about his admission to the French Academy, but the vacancies have been filled without him.
The LondonLeaderannounces an abridged translation ofAuguste Comte'ssix volumes ofPositive Philosophy, to appear as soon as is compatible with the exigencies of so important an undertaking. TheLeadersays: "a very competent mind has long been engaged upon the task; and the growing desire in the public to hear more about thisBaconof the nineteenth century, renders such a publication necessary." But we do not believe in the competence of any one who proposes anabridgmentof Comte: the idea is absurd. In this country, we believe, two full translations of the great Frenchman are in progress—one by Professor Gillespie, of which the Harpers have published the first volume, and another by one of the wisest and profoundest scholars of the time—a personal friend of Comte, thoroughly familiar with his system, and master of a style admirably suited for philosophical discussion.
Jules Janinhas published a new romance calledGaîté Champêtre. The preface has reached us in the feuilleton of theJournal des Débats. It is in the usual elaborate, learned, and fanciful, but most readable style of the author. He defends his calling as a mere man of letters, a student of form and style, in short an artist.
We mentioned not long ago (International, vol. iii. p. 214,) the pleasant letters ofFerdinand Hillerto a German Gazette, respecting his experiences among authors and artists in Paris. We see that Herr Hiller has been engaged by Mr. Lumley as musical director to Her Majesty's Theatre in London and the Italian Opera in Paris. He has filled the appointments of director to the Conservatoire and Maître de Chapelle, at Cologne, for some considerable time. His post at the Conservatoire is to be occupied by M. Liszt. He will be an important accession to society as well as to the theatres in those cities.
Dr. R. G. Latham, whose important works onThe Varieties of Man,The English Language,the Ethnology of the British Empire, &c., are familiar to scholars, and have proved their author the most profound and sagacious writer, in a wide and difficult field of science, now living, has in press an edition of theGermaniaof Tacitus, in which his philological acquisitions and his skill in conjectural history will have ample room for display.
Mr. James T. Fieldswas a passenger in the steamer Pacific, which left New-York on the 11th ult. for Liverpool. Mr. Fields will pass the coming winter in France and Italy.
We hear of four new histories of the war with Mexico, one of which will be in three large volumes, by an accomplished officer who served under General Scott.
Mr. Horace Mannis engaged on a work illustrating his ideas of the character, condition, and proper sphere of woman. He does not quite agree with Abby Kelly.
The old charge that
"Garth did not write his own Dispensary,"
"Garth did not write his own Dispensary,"
has been revived with exquisite absurdity in the case of General Morris and the song of "Woodman, Spare that Tree!" We have not seen the original accusation which appeared in an obscure sheet in Boston, but we give place with pleasure to the letter of the poet. We can imagine nothing less "apt and of great credit," as Iago defines the requisites of a judicious calumny, than this figment. The characteristics of Morris's style are exceedingly marked, and are altogether different from those of Woodworth, who was an excellent songwriter and a most worthy man, but was as little like Morris in his literary manner as two men can be who write in the same age and country. There are among our living poets few fairer and purer literary reputations than that of General Morris; few that, in a covetous mood, one would be more disposed to envy. It lives not in the tumult of reckless criticism and the noisy dogmatism of friendly reviews, but in the sympathy and enjoyment of thousands of refined and feeling hearts. His calm, delicate, and simple genius has won its way quietly to an apprecient admiration that no assaults can disturb, and it may now look down upon most of its contemporaries without jealousy and without fear. It will shine in its clear brightness when many clamorous notorieties of the day are quenched in night and silence. The charge of the Boston editor is a mere buffoonery. He could not expect that so ridiculous a fabrication would be believed by any body. It is a device of common-place, stupid malice, designed only to annoy a very amiable man. Had we been of counsel with the poet we should have advised him to take no notice of the foolish slander; but as he has seen fit to write a very interesting note on the subject, we are happy to preserve it here. The gentleman to whom the note is addressed gives the following account of the circumstances:
"Some two or three months ago, the editor of the Boston Sunday News, took General Morris's literary character to task, and charged him with having obtained the famous song of 'Woodman Spare that Tree,' from the late Samuel Woodworth. In a word, he charged that the General was not the author of a celebrated poem, which has long been before the world in his name."As the editor in question was a friend of mine, and as I knew that he had done General Morris great injustice, I wrote him a long letter, in which I attempted to set him right, and thus induce him if possible to render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's. In other words, I hoped he would correct his misstatements. Instead of complying with my expressed hope, he thanked me for my letter—very kindly published it; but, in the very same paper, repeated his original charge. In common justice to General Morris, I beg leave to remark, in closing this note, that I have known him intimately and well the last thirty years, and that I never knew a poet or author in any department of literature who was more strictly original. He is incapable of the petty conduct attributed to him, and would scorn to wear honors that belong to another. A more honorable, high-minded gentleman never lived."
"Some two or three months ago, the editor of the Boston Sunday News, took General Morris's literary character to task, and charged him with having obtained the famous song of 'Woodman Spare that Tree,' from the late Samuel Woodworth. In a word, he charged that the General was not the author of a celebrated poem, which has long been before the world in his name.
"As the editor in question was a friend of mine, and as I knew that he had done General Morris great injustice, I wrote him a long letter, in which I attempted to set him right, and thus induce him if possible to render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's. In other words, I hoped he would correct his misstatements. Instead of complying with my expressed hope, he thanked me for my letter—very kindly published it; but, in the very same paper, repeated his original charge. In common justice to General Morris, I beg leave to remark, in closing this note, that I have known him intimately and well the last thirty years, and that I never knew a poet or author in any department of literature who was more strictly original. He is incapable of the petty conduct attributed to him, and would scorn to wear honors that belong to another. A more honorable, high-minded gentleman never lived."
Home Journal Office, New-York,September 22, 1851.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 unmitigatedfalsehood. 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 ofallthe 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 oftemperance, 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 areuntrue 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 allthat gentlemanhas 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.
Home Journal Office, New-York,September 22, 1851.
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 unmitigatedfalsehood. 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 ofallthe 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 oftemperance, 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 areuntrue 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 allthat gentlemanhas 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'sHistory 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 theDivine Comedyhas 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 ofDantethat 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 byAlice 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 entitledAdrian, or the Clouds of the Mind—the joint production of Mr.G. P. R. Jamesand 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 ofYamoyden, 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 theInternationalis a poem from his hand, under the title ofGreenwood.
The first volume of aHistory of the German Reformed Church, by the late Rev. Dr.Lewis Mayer, has been published in Philadelphia; and ProfessorSchaff, of Mercersburg, has printed in German the first volume of aHistory 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 thePeshito.
Professor Hackett, of the Newton Theological Institution, has added to his claims of distinction in sacred learning by a very ableCommentary on the Acts of the Apostles, (published by John P. Jewett & Co., of Boston). It is much praised by the best critics. The lastBibliotheca Sacracomplains 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—notlivesbut 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 ofSt. 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 tofinishwhat they choose to submit for public criticism.
A new edition of Mr.Judd's remarkable novel ofMargarethas just been published, in two volumes, by Phillips & Sampson, of Boston, and the same house has nearly readyMemoirs 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 ofHungary 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.Greeleyhas just published in a handsome volume (De Witt & Davenport) hisGlances at Europe, consisting of the letters written for theTribuneduring 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 Sketchesof 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 byDr.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 entitledMusings 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'sHandbooks of Natural Philosophy and Astronomyhave 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 LondonArt Journalfor October praises Mr.Burt's engraving of Anne Page, issued this year by theAmerican 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 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 DreamandChristiana 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 Dreamhas been engraved by A. H. Ritchie of this city, andChristiana and her Childrenby 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 glidesInto his darker musings, with a mildAnd healing sympathy, that steals awayTheir sharpness, ere he is aware.
She glidesInto his darker musings, with a mildAnd healing sympathy, that steals awayTheir 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, individualtaste, 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 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, individualtaste, 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."
TheWestern-Art Unionof Cincinnati has lately published a large and excellent engraving by Booth, ofthe 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.Healyhas finished his large picture ofDaniel 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 ofMartin Lutherpublished at Hamburg, from the pencil ofGustav König, 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. König 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 ofLeutze,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 theInternationala particular description of it, from a German writer who saw it at Düsseldorf: 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.
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 theEvening 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 theTimeshas 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."
"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 agrand 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."
"It seems to us that the great event of 1851 will hereafter be found blemished by agrand 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."
"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'sleg, 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.Punchhas 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 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 ParisDroit: