name of the author is not given. If the work were published anonymously in German, that fact should be stated-if it were not, the name of the author should not be suppressed. As a literary performance the work is a highly creditable one; and we should be pleased to know whether we are to give the Reverend Mr. Morris the praise due to clever authorship or careful translation. The happily brief preface states that: All the facts presented in this highly interesting "Life Picture," are supposed to have occurred within the first ten years of the Reformation in Germany; and although the plot is fictitious, every word which Luther is made to utter has been spoken by him in some other connection, so that we have the very language of the Reformer most skilfully woven iuto an attractive story, that cannot but tend to improve the leisure moments devoted to the "Blind Girl of Wittenberg." Apart from the historical interest inseparably attached to the name of Martin Luther, the story of the "Blind Girl" is of itself abundantly entertaining and attractive. The tone of the period in which the incidents are laid, is well maintained, and the style of the composition is appropriately elevated without ever becoming turgid or pedantic. The work may be read in two lights. First, for the story of the beautiful blind maiden, Margaret Homberg, her trials, her sufferings, her love, and her triumph-and again, for the merit of the theologieal disquisitions which agitated the mind of the "great Reformer," and his zealous colaborers, Philip Melanchthon, John Brigenhagen, Justus Jonas, Veit Deitrich, and Baron Von Wildenfels. Renowned as is the fame of the great doctor, and intense as may be the devotion with which his deeds have inspired his followers, his own lot was far from being a happy or an enviable one. It is an easy matter for a man reared in the Protestant faith from childhood, to glory in its precepts and rejoice in its freedom; but such a man can never sufficiently estimate the mental torture through which a mind such as Luther's must have passed, ere he could shake off the trammels of a creed which carried back its traditions to the dread drama of Calvary, and veiling its mysteries behind the accumulated clouds of fifteen centuries of blind obedience, held the human mind in awe throughout the civilized world. To assail the implicit faith of even one man is at all times a hazardous experiment. It may be easy to raise doubts and provoke discussion, but when the barriers of a faith, however uninformed and simple, are broken down, it is difficult to substitute such fresh convictions as will preserve the mind in its balance, and preventing the wild riot of sceptical speculation, ensure to the convert a degree of happiness equal to that enjoyed in his former state. How much more fearful the responsibility of the man who, warring with the established faith of millions of his fellow-men, stands prepared to risk their happiness on his confidence in the truth of his own new theories! That Martin Luther felt the full weight of this responsibility, and frequently trembled in his inmost soul for the results of his reforms, is made very plainly manifest, from his own language as rendered in this volume. The chief moral sought to be enforced by this novel is the unappeasable misery of the conscious ness of unatoned guilt. Andrew Homberg, a woodengraver in the town of Wittenberg, is residing there with his two daughters, at the opening of the story,-Margaret, a blind patient martyr, and Catherine, a vain beauty. Homberg is a man of dark morose disposition, who lives under the oppressive load of concealed crime. In early life he had resided in Milan, and there becoming acquainted with a beautiful young woman who was betrothed to a wealthy citizen, conceived for her a violent passion, and finding all efforts to win her from her engagement unavailing, he attempted the assassination of his successful rival, and having dangerously wounded him, flies from Italy under the belief that he has accomplished his base design. He lives on to his old age with the incubus of this dread guilt weighing down his soul and darkening his whole life. Having married on his return to his own country in Germany, his first child, Margaret, was born blind, and in the bitterness of remorse he regards this infliction as the curse of Heaven on his guilt. The innocent child becomes the object of his stern hatred, and his whole affection is centered on his second child, Catherine, in whose bright eyes he imagines that he can read the forgiveness of his crime. Meantime his intended victim, Leonardi Pinetta, lives, and his son growing up to manhood, visits Wittenberg, in compliance with the dying request of his mother, that he may be the means of recalling Homberg to contrition, and relieve his soul from the weight of murder. The young Italian becomes enamored of the op- that is one thing we are master in, we will not allow Mrs. Caudle to dust our books or arrange our papers; there we have made a stand and asserted our authority where were we? oh, blow off the dust and find him out. How kind the friend who would take the trouble for us, for we must get the information; otherwise, without date, &c., how could we compare the style, thoughts, &c., of the said author with any other? Now all these wants and requirements, not of a luxurious person, (we disclaim being such,) but simply of one who has a spare half-hour, are delightfully met in these volumes. So acceptable have they been found, that this is already the third edi tion. Each extract is suited to fill up thirty minutes, and is headed by a brief biographical, and, where necessary, critical notice of the author. We are strongly tempted to quote a great many gems, but must confine ourselves to one which we find here-a favorite sonnet of ours, by Blanco White. If you know it, you will like to meet it again; if you do not know it, you will thank us for a worthy addition to your acquaintance; it runs as follows:Mysterious night! when our first parent knew Thee, from report divine, and heard thy name, Did he not tremble for his lonely frame,This glorious canopy of light and blue?" Yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, With Biographi-Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, By CHARLES KNIGHT. Third edition. 4 vols. London and New York: And, lo! creation widened in Man's view. Hesperus, with the host of Heaven, came, George Routledge & Co. Who could have thought such darkness lay conceal'd whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood reveal'd, Within thy beams, O sun! or who could find, That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind! Why do we then shun death with anxious strife? If light can thus deceive us, wherefore not life? It will be well to remember, in reading this work, that it is written in a spirit of ardent admiration for the great founder of Protestantism. Yet it may be read with interest and advantage by all classes of religionists, and will well repay perusal. Half Hours with the best Authors. cal and Critical Notices. It is What day has not its spare half-hour? or, if you But for such a precious half hour, we must have dred and sixty-five half hours herein provided for, We should mention that there are just three hunevery seventh one being suited to the Sabbath, so that, by the end of the year, the reader has formed quite an extensive acquaintance with divines, as well as with profane authors. Lectures on English History and Tragic Poetry, as Illustrated by Shakspeare. By HENRY REED, late Professor in the University of Pennsylvania. "Dramatica est veluti Historia Spectabilis ; nam constituit imaginem rerum tanquam presentium. Historia, autem, tanquam præteritarum."-Bacon de Augm. Sc. lib. II., ch. XIII. Philadelphia: Parry & M'Millan. 1855. ..... This author's argument would go to show that Shakspeare's (or any other man's) plays are the best histories of the times of which they respectively treat. As the principle is not made exceptional in favor of Shakspeare, we cannot see how we are to avoid the conclusion that fiction answers better the real purpose of history than does history itself. Perhaps, the author's own argument against Hume will answer his theory better than any thing else that could be adduced. We may say in passing, that the author's aversion to Hume is only equalled by his admiration of Wordsworth-and both are excessive: "I have said there is not an impartial history of England. Worse than all, the most familiar history of England, the classic history Then, again, we like an extensive acquaintance--I mean Mr. Hume's-is the product of a mind that yes, we weigh our words-a few choice friends of could look upon other times, only through those course, but an extensive acquaintance besides. It deadly vapors that are perpetually rising from an is to be supposed, that one wishes to keep up infidel's heart." We think as little of infidels as Mr. with the times; and in these times we do not travel Reed did, but we are not ready to ignore the fact in a coach, six or eight inside, but in a rail-car that there is some description of vapor rising from which seats sixty or eighty; in old times the family every man's heart, and we believe that those rising party lived in their own house and sat down in from the heart of the violently sectarian-Puritan, their own dining-room; now the table d'hôte and the Catholic or Calvinist are equally inimical to truth crowded hotel are the fashion. Not that we have with those rising from the heart of the infidel. The given in to this modern custom-Spartan custom, medium will color the subject, and it matters little we call it, with the slight exception, that they do whether this medium be red, blue or yellow-truth not exactly feed on black broth; but it will be re- is only to be seen in white light. The dramatist membered that, in that ancient republic, every and the historian are alike susceptible to this disbody lived in public, and the children were not ability. But there is another objection to this view, intrusted to the mother's care, for fear she should which will apply to the dramatist, even more strongspoil them; the only difference now being, that the ly than to the historian. mother selects the nurse instead of the State's doing it, as formerly-we know we have made quite a digression, but it is to the point: we are justifying you, dear reader, for your liking to have an extensive acquaintance. You are quite right; we like it ourselves. We take Bacon and Coleridge, Milton and Shakespeare, &c., for our intimate friends, and then like to be acquainted with as many as possible besides. But when we read an extract from an author, in the said half hour, we do not want to get up from the easy chair we have dropped into, to get out the biographical dictionary, blow off the dust-our books, in spite of constant use, will get dusty, and There is a fine idea of Goethe founded so deeply in an insight of human nature, that it needs only a clear expression to obtain credence. It is, that the eye sees only what it brings with it the capacity to see. The lover "sees Helen's beauty in the brow of Egypt," because he has previously learned to love this "brow of Egypt." Thus the mind of William Shakspeare-and if his, certainly all others-would become so thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Elizabethan period in which he lived, that he could never entirely go out of that period-the study of another could never enable him to disassociate himself from this. Wherefore it matters not in what place or time the poet lays his scene, you will find in the play abundant evidence of the spirit of the English age of letters. The character of Kent, so far from being that of a nobleman of the legendary period of the English history, is universally recognized as a perfect picture of an English gentleman of the sixteenth century. Moreover it is not probable that the poet always endeavored to give the spirit of the time of his play, as it is notorious that there was no endeavor to give the form. We know that at a very late period Othello was represented in the red coat of a guardsman. It was doubtless the traditional dress. We do not know how Lear was dressed in Shakspeare's time-but we would have all the chances of probability in our favor did we hazard a guess, that he was dressed in such a manner as to make the pit understand that he was a king, as it would not have understood, had he been dressed properly. Shakspeare would be much more intent upon making his character like what his audience thought it, than like what it was. For these reasons, we think there is no confidence to be placed in our author's principle. The germ of the lectures is found in the motto upon the title page, “The drama is like history made visible, and is an image of things past as if they were present." "I stand," says the author, "upon this sentence, as the text of my lectures, and on the authority of Bacon as sustaining the view I am anxious to present of the imaginative study of history." The plan is to illustrate the history of each period though a lecture upon one of Shakspeare's plays. The legendary period-King Lear; Roman and Saxon periods Cymbaline and Macbeth. The subsequent playsto their respective times. The lectures are marked by a striking originality of thought and happiness of illustration, and the principles laid down are very ably supported. We are pleased to see by the preface that they have passed through several editions, indicating as in does a taste for something better than bad novels. My First Season. By BEATRICE REYNOLDS. Edited by the author of "Counterparts," and "Charles Auchester." New York: W. P. Fetridge & Co. 1856. I did not like to be alone with him, but did not choose to leave the room, lest he should imagine I thought about him at all. He lowered the blind with such impetuosity, that he broke the cord, retaining the tassel in his hand. Then he followed me to the fireplace, and, looking over my head, stared at my reflex in the glass. Finding this out in a few moments, I retreated into a corner, sat down upon a chair, and drew to me the workframe of Lady Barres. I had scarcely taken up the needle, before his lordship turned, pushed a chair before him, by leaning upon its back with his entire weight, and sat down in front of me, upon the other side of the frame. Then passed this conversation: "Of course not." into the water that was nigh the tower; and she saw, in a dream that night, Ranulf de Vaux, with a star on his breast, and lilies and roses in his crown, standing on a place where there was no land. And when a de Vaux shall die a virgin, with his hands crossed upon his breast, the star shall fall, in token that he goeth to GodChrist without spot; but the star sinks with his ashes into the earth." The Way of Salvation, illustrated in a series of discourses. By ALBERT BARNES. Philadelphia: Parry & McMillan (successors to A. Hart, late Carey & Hart). London: Knight & Son. 1855. They are unwise who declare that all doubts proceed from wilfulness. Such a declaration proceeds from a very little, or a very narrow mind. It cannot be questioned that many doubt, because they wish not to find the truth; but, on the other hand, many sincere seekers after truth are troubled with doubts they would gladly be rid of. To this latter class, Mr. Barnes' sermons are especially addressed. But not to these only, for there are few to whose minds some of the difficulties, which have made doubters of other mental constitutions, have not presented themselves. There is a charming courses. The author has drawn the doubts from the experience of his own mind, and can, therefore, feel for others. Seldom have difficulties been more fully stated, or more cogently answered. We are not given generally to extracts from prefaces; but, as the Doctor has taken the trouble to draw up a brief summary of the sermons, we give it for the convenience of our readers:— "I always understood that clever ladies were not spirit of sympathy and tenderness in these disbeautiful." No answer was required. "Do you like the country?" "Very much." "Would you like to see my place down there?" "I have seen as much country as I desire." "You could have new milk, syllabub, and lots of fruit -ladies always like fruit. Don't you feel as if you should like to come? Besides-what ladies think the most of-I've put a very handsome fellow in the pulpit of my church." "I do not care about such things as your lordship enumerates." "Do you like horses?" "Exceedingly." "You don't mean to tell me you can ride?" "I have sometimes ridden in the park." like, you know: I'll give you a mare that will walk up "Then you shall ride all day-I mean as long as you stairs into your bedroom in the morning, and drink out of your chocolate-cup." There is something very charming in the way in which an old maid tells a story-for we take the duced therefrom a very small pup-terrier, black and accommodate himself to what are the actual arrange I should not like that kind of acquaintance with a mare." Lord Barres put his hand into his pocket, and proglossy, and roly-poly like its master, with a red morocco collar on. This animalcule he put down on the workframe; I shook it off, and it tumbled upon the carpet. With inane deprecation, his lordship picked it restored it to his pocket, where it forthwith began and continued a hideous whine. up and character of Beatrice Reynolds, though assumed in other respects, to be true of the authoress, in that of her infidelity to the Shakspearean dogma, "earthlier happy is the rose distilled." More especially is an old maid pleasant (in print), when the autobiographical form of the story assists her natural inclinaIn a moment more his lordship rallied, and walked tion to give sharp scraps of her own veritable history; accounts of the other side of those cir- away to the window; I had hoped he was about to leave the room, but no!-he returned in another incumstances, that the married world looks back upon stant, with a leaf of the scented verbena between his as the poetry of its life-accounts that have all the fingers; which, quite suddenly, he presented to my feeling of confession, and the epigrammatic manner nose. I could have laughed, but restrained myself with of spitefulness. This was the character of a passage scorn; and immediately rising, I rebuked with a glance that we extracted, as very admirable, from the of indignation his imbecile gaze; his eyes seemed ready novel entitled "Lily." This vein permeates the to start out of his head. Availing myself of his embarent book, and has an effervescent crackle that wakes rassment, I pushed the frame against his great stubborn the attention pleasantly, like champagne to one doz-proportions, until he was obliged to move, and escaped. But, as soon as I was outside the door, he tried the faning over dead beer. dle; so I locked him in. pres A capital book, therefore, for those who do not care to go very deep into things, is "My First Season." For the first half of the volume, there does not appear to be any story, it being composed of a series of reminiscences-circumstances grouped in the order of their occurrence often with consider able time intervening-all told in a sketchy way, with a panoramic effect. This, however, becomes an admirably told love-story, in which that longneglected article, a Polish refugee, figures somewhat conspicuously. The pictures of society are that rarity-pictures drawn by one in the society described. The pictures of persons, or character, are generally very graphic. The following description of a lover, and sketch of his courtship, is very lively:Had I not been curious to behold this only son of his mother, I should have retreated upon discovering her mood; but, almost while yet she spoke, Lord Barres appeared, filling the height and breadth of the doorThis being was of immense proportions, so tall as not to seem stout, and so stout as not to look tall. He had a certain sort of symmetry, too; the symmetry one may observe in a very fat baby that has not a bone to show. His hands, red as roses, had apparently no muscle; there being big dimples in the place where knuckles should be developed, and his wrists were marked by creases in the superabundant flesh. His complexion, originally blond, had yielded to a stress of sunshine, and was profusely freckled; his hay-colored hair was weather-bleached at the extremities, and a little straggling stubble composed his whiskers. A bland, foolish expression dwelt in his gooseberry-colored eyes, which would have been actually swinish, but for their human insolence, lurking under flaxen lashes. way. The following is somewhat singular, and is the only thing of the kind that we have seen in a long time nowise overdone. It is the more singular, standing alone, amid so much reality:— into darkness, not caring to take a lamp, when we all I went into my room alone, as the twilight deepened were so hurried and so hushed; and from my window then, though I know not the hour nor the minute, I saw the azure light of which I have spoken before, when a cloud covered the face of the sky, and the moon had long since set. I told George of it three hours afterward, while we were sitting up together, quite expecting to be disbelieved; but he started, and burst into tears. It gend of the family-which I here preserve, in memory was midnight when I, for the first time, heard the leof one whom it was impossible to regret in death. "Ranulf de Vaux, the lily of chivalry, and the bloodred rose of war, entered Jerusalem with Godfrey, on the 15th of July, 1099. The hot march fevered his body, weakened after many wounds, and he could not reach the Holy Sepulcher. Then he cried sore to see Christ's Light, crossing his hands upon his breast. And the heavens opened in the east, and the same star that was over Bethlehem, came out and stood straight over him, and shone down into his breast. And the star found no evil in his breast, and no love nor lust, only the lily of chivalry and the blood-red rose of war. And a voice came out of the star and said, 'What would'st thou in thine hour?' And he answered, 'I would sink into the earth where I lie, that no infidel may handle me.' And the star went down into his breast, and burned up his mortal body, and sank with the ashes into the earth. "And Edyth de Vaux, his mother who bare him, was at her tower of Ayslye, in the Islands of the North. And she, praying toward the east for her son to GodChrist, saw a star, not like other stars, fall out of heaven In their general arrangement, they begin with a consideration of the claims of the Bible as a guide on the subject of religion, and with an effort to show that the acknowledged obscurities in that book should not deter us from accrediting its claims; with a statement of the claims of Christianity, and an attempt to show that the condition of man could not be benefited by the rejection of Christianity, and that the same difficulties precisely lief. The next object is to show that Christianity reveals would remain, with no known method whatever of rethe true ground of the importance attributed to man in the plan of salvation; that the earth is fitted to be a place of probation, and that man is actually on probation; and that in religion, as in other things, he should ments of the Divine government. The next object is to explain the condition in which the Gospel FINDS man -as an actual state which Christianity did not originate, for which it is not responsible, and which is a simple matter of fact, in which all men are equally interested, whatever system of religion may be true or what must be done in order to be saved-an inquiry false; a state which naturally prompts to the inquiry, which springs up in the heart of man everywhere, and is followed by a description of the struggles of a conin reference to which man pants for an answer. This victed sinner, and by an attempt to show what is necessary, in the nature of things, to give peace to a mind in that condition. To meet the case, the mind thus anxious is directed to the mercy of God, and the effort is made to show that it is only an atonement for sin that can give permanent peace to the soul conscious of guilt. The doctrine of Regeneration, or the new birth, is then considered; an attempt is made to vindicate and explain the conditions-repentance and faith-which are made necessary to salvation, and to show not only their place in a revealed system of religion, but their relation to the human mind, and the circumstances in which man is placed; and the whole series is closed by a consideration of the nature of justification, or the method by which a sinner may be just with God. Atrocious Judges. Lives of Judges Infamous as Tools of Tyrants and Instruments of Oppression. Compiled from the Judicial Biographies of John Lord Campbell, Lord Chief Justice of England. With an Appendix, containing the case of Passmore Williamson. Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by RICHARD HILDRETH. New York and Auburn: Miller, Orton & Mulligan. 1856. Mr. Hildreth has selected from the Lives of the Chief Justices, and Lives of the Chancellors, by Lord Campbell, sketches of those Judges who were notorious for disregard of law and decency in their judicial acts, commencing with Roger le Brabacon, 1290, and ending with Robert Wright, 1684. In the life of the latter, Lord Campbell remarks, "I now come to the last of the profligate chief justices of England; for since the Revolution they have all been men of decent character, and most of them have adorned the seat of justice by their talents and acquirements, as well as by their virtues." It may be very fairly presumed that this list of sixteen judges does not include all who have pronounced opinions, bad in law or dangerous in principle, but is composed of those who, in their judicial career, manifested a general corruptness. To this selection Mr. Hildreth has ap pended the case of Passmore Williamson, covertly implying that the judges who pronounced adversely to Mr. Williamson's position, deserve a place in this connection, under the title of Atrocious Judges. Mr. Hildreth is a historian; a rather hard, dry, and rigid historian, who might not unreasonably be supposed to hold his temper in decent control. The issue he has offered is not one of law, or of ignorance or incompetency in its administration, but it is the atrocity of the judges who have interpreted statutes in opposition to Mr. Hildreth's strong convictions. We doubt whether he will be sustained. Of those men who have implicit faith in their own infallibility, two classes may be distinguished: one which assumes that those who disagree with them are simply in error; the other which asserts them to be deliberate scoundrels; and we may not hesitate in assigning the editor of this volume a prominent position among the latter. The merits of the case of Passmore Williamson have, with regard to this volume, not the slightest connection. Laws may be good or bad without affecting the character of a judge; indeed the goodness or badness of law is not always demonstrated by preliminary reasoning, but generally by its practical operation; and perhaps many an honest man has not yet received the lights which illumine the profound depths of Mr. Hildreth's mental caverns. If to the Lives of Atrocious Judges had been appended the Life and Death of Cock Robin, it would have been quite as applicable as the case of Mr. Williamson. Taking away the thin disguise which his delicacy has interposed between his purpose and his book, Mr. Hildreth desires that several American judges, Commissioners, and others, should be classed with such men as Scroggs and Jeffreys, to whose names is attached immortal infamy. In the name of all decency and honor, can his position be supported? Looking at it like men, erring, fallible men, not free from silent and unseen influences, but yet as men striving to do right ourselves and hoping for the same disposition in others; judging not lest we shall be judged, not setting ourselves in arrogant superiority over our fellows, are we prepared to say "well done" to Mr. Hildreth? The abilities of the editor, if applied calmly and carefully to the consideration of any question to which he had given much thought, could not fail of important effects. Free discussion does not, however, consist in unrestrained abuse, and we have been unable to see in this volume, of the matter which he has contributed, aught besides a burning malignity of purpose which its own violence has entirely defeated. It is of a character with those libels which unscrupulous men have in all times circulated, for the increasing of ill-feeling already existing, and for fostering prejudices however unjust. The Lives of Atrocious Judges, separated from such objectionable matter, would form a volume of varied interest and of deep importance. It would awaken our vigilance and strengthen our detestation of injustice. Our jealousy of all encroachments would be aroused, and we should do brave battle against all assumptions of doubtful powers. But if the notions of Mr. Hildreth be carried out to their final results, we shall have no law, no standard; we shall see at one fell swoop all the wisdom of the past destroyed; the fabric of government torn from its foundation; the grand, but imperfect, structure of society levelled with the ground; old traditions, old associations, all veneration, torn up by the roots and scattered to the winds, and standing on a fragment of these ruins, we shall have the comparatively moderate dimensions of Richard Hildreth! There were three witches, three furies, and three fates-and we should as soon have expected to see a fourth added to each group, as to see the remarkable triangle-Barnum, Greely, and Bennett-made a "diamond," by the appearance of a fourth "Life." Here it is, however, an octavo "platform" of three hundred pages, neatly bound in cloth, with an illustration on the outside, consisting of a young female, in a loose dress and short gown, blowing a trumpet over Mayor Wood, to the very evident astonishment and consternation of a large bird on a gridiron ;legend, "Right makes Might"—all done in gilt. As it is usual to "give more laud to dust a little gilt, than gold o'er dusted," this book will, doubtless, have its day of fame; let us hope that it may be forgotten even then. New York is sadly sunken, when the man who holds the highest office in her gift, is one with a mind of no higher tone than to resort to this miserable manner of fishing for popularity; one Yet for all this, the present volume would have having a consciousness that she is regarded as a human being; with no disgraceful duties to discharge, but really and essentially one of the family; loving the children, and exciting their love, seeking to promote the happiness and prosperity of all; the relations between the parties are then what they should be, and what we should all endeavor to establish. Though this volume is not such as we can entirely approve of, it is a good beginning and may probably awaken attention to a matter of very great importance. Many a family drags along a miserable existence through the difficulty which arises from incapacity and unpleasantness on the part of servants, a difficulty which can only be remedied by the head of the house. Poor Biddy and Betty have many sins to answer for, but not all which are laid to their door, and it not seldoms happens that they know it. Nothing is so provoking as the sense of being unjustly treated, and consequently, Biddy and Betty are sullen, disobliging, and wasteful. Perhaps they may, and perhaps they may not read a book which tells them what bad girls they are. So apt are we to exaggerate the importance of the individual convenience to the public weal, that we believe most folks would sacrifice a good President for a good cook, and neglect to vote for the most patriotic Alderman, if it interfered with the obtaining of a smart maid of all work. Home Garner, gathered by Mrs. Mary G. Clarke. In the beginning, a Quaker genealogy is established, commencing in one who preceded Penn, in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, and who, as we are several times informed, never had a hole bored through his tongue. The frequency with which this is mentioned, may have an ironical reference to the old gentleman's loquacity, Then a maternal genealogy is established, tracing from a German general; after this a genealogy, tracing from William Penn, is established for the Mayor's wife. Almost all the remaining portion of the volume is devoted This is termed an "intellectual and moral storeto Mr. Wood's political career-his speeches in Conhouse" on the second title-page. It professes to be gress-on the bank, tariff, and naval appropriation bill-being given in full. Each chapter has a cap'gathered from the rich experience of many faith tion telling the subject therein treated; chapter ful reapers." We do not think Mrs. M. G. Clarke XVIIth, and last, is headed "Fernando Wood," very successful as a selector, or as an author. while we had innocently supposed that this gentle-general character of the book would lead us to supman was the subject of the whole volume. This pose her a devout Christian, but the intellect is of a same seventeenth chapter closes with a proposition very low order. A more unmitigated collection of from Iowa, to nominate Mr. Wood for the Presi- common-places, it has seldom been our lot to meet. dency. The proposer's name is "Dow." The volume is accompanied by a portrait-an admirable engraving, and a poor likeness. The We do not question that there is a class of minds that such minds should have the food they like prethat this book exactly suits. But we do not think pared for them. However unfit they may be for"strong meat," yet we would not have all the caseine extracted from their milk, and the thin whey that is left further diluted with an unlimited quantity of Plain Talk and Friendly Advice to Domestics; with If listeners could be obtained in as great abund- seminated. Mrs. Clarke, in an article on "Woman's Rights" which she contributes, very wisely says "where talent and argument are displayed, let them be met with talent and argument," and modestly affirming "of these we do not boast," yet feels constrained under this very conviction of incompetency to write on the subject. The question naturally arises, why does she not let it alone? The injury done by mediocrity, when "rushing in where angels fear to tread," is very great. Admissions are made, and premises granted, which give the arguer over, bound hand and foot, to the opponent. For instance, Mrs. Clarke says:] But what are some of the rights, which are so earnestly and eloquently demanded for woman, by the reformers of society at the present time? Among other things an acknowledgment of equality of talent is claimed. That woman has intellectual capacities equal to man, is so universally conceded, that, for her to argue it, seems an implied admission of conscious inferiority. Observe, a certain right is said to be earnestly demanded, and then it is asserted that this is "universally conceded." Hence the earnest demand is for what is already possessed. We are bold to say to admit this fact, is to admit all that the advocates that it is not "universally conceded." We say that of " Woman's Rights" can possibly desire. We emphatically deny that Woman, much as we honor, respect, admire and love her, have we not a mother, and wife, and sisters ?-has equal powers of mind to man. To admit it, is to place woman in the same position as man. To this we should not object, if the fact were true. But we do not think it is true. The character of woman's mind is essentially dif ferent from that of man's; the latter is reasoning, the former, intuitive. A difference this, which is marked in the whole history of our race, stamped on earth's present generations, and rendering the different avocations of the two sexes necessarily and naturally different, no less than do the physical peculiarities which enunciate nature's law in unmistakable distinctness. The few exceptions which can be pointed out here, if anywhere, prove the rule. In It is rather curious to notice how the pre-existence of the soul begins to turn up here and there. this volume, we find an extract from a Mr. Tilt. Speaking of energy of will, displayed by a child at a very early age, he says, "It is impossible that it can be the result of what he has learned during a few days of a life principally passed in sleep; and we are rather tempted to admit that this strong will is but the continuance of a faculty already familiar to the human soul before it was united to the infant body." Truly we are going back to Pythagoras very rapidly, and, ere many years, shall be full believers in transmigration, and shall have to speak of "our dear brother the jackass." This is all very well in poetry, but becomes rather a serious matter in sober prose. As for the rest of the book, ex uno disce omnia." JUVENILES. YOUTH is the GOLDEN AGE of man, and is perpetual. In the reality of the present is ever reproduced the fable of the past. Imagination, in the early ages of the race, peopled every dell and mountain, field and forest, river, rivulet, and ocean, with a teeming population of supernatural beings visible to the eye of fancy only, but perpetually employed in influencing the actions of men. The poets of every age, acting as the missionaries of fancy, extended and perpetuated her rule over the world. In the spring time of youth she holds imperial sway over all the race, and to many a veteran, too, can she lay claim as still willing worshippers at her seductive shrine. Booksellers are her especial agents in this mundane sphere, and every revolving year, just as mother earth, wrapping on her spotless ermine, woven in the facile textures of the "viewless winds," prepares to face the fierce north king, a fresh army of the soldiers of fancy issues forth from every city and stronghold in the land, bedecked in all the bravery of brilliant-colored garments, and with arms burnished and emblazoned under the hands of the most skilful masters. They come to conquer the minds of the youths of the new year, and secure their dominion over those of the old. We have a goodly array of those gallant cavaliers before us, this week, staring us out of all the actualities of life and demanding our attention from more sober duties. They call on us for letters of introduction to our youthful friends, far and wide, "twixt either pole." They must have it, or we can enjoy no peace. 66 a live in your light for-let us see how long? Well, for the whole Christmas holiday week, certainly. Draw your chairs around, young friends, brush up the hearthstone, trim the lamp, and take up Trap to catch a Sun-beam," and once you are fairly into that trap we can leave you with the certainty of being made happy, and good, and amiable, Adieu, dear young friends; may your new year and every year be happy; and may you never fall into a worse trap than Miss Planche's agreeable one for catching a sunbeam. Let us not forget Harry and Aggie, from our Boston friends, CROSBY, NICHOLS & Co. This toy is composed of several detached horses and riders, which may be combined into the quietest or most exciting equestrian scenes, at the pleasure of the youthful operator. In our sixth number we had the pleasure of noticing another gay group of "Juveniles" supplied by our New York Publishers. They deserved attention. Merry's Museum and Parley's Magazine, edited by ROBERT MERRY, assisted by various contributors. Vol. 1 new series. No. 1, vol. 31 old series. The Mother's Magazine for Mothers and Daughters Vol. 24, No. 1. Published by Messrs. Stearns' 116 Nassau Street, New York. Heigho! "We would we were a boy again," or better yet that we were a little girl. Can there be any stronger evidence of the popularity of the press than the maintenance for years of a periodilittle fluttering heart, those gentle, sweet, inspiring, cal literature for children? Doubtless, to many a and withal, instructive magazines, are as acceptable satchels full of toys at festive time. as the visit of a kind aunt or uncle charged with The present numbers contain a happy variety of instructive trifles, and are neatly and appropriately illustrated. The Schoolfellow, a Magazine for Boys and Girls. New York: Dix & Edwards. London: Sampson, Low & Co. The January number of this nice little Monthly is a very handsomely printed magazine, well freighted with matter suited to its purpose. It conFirstly, then, from the armory of PHILLIPS, SAM-tains ten articles by different hands: a Christmas SON & Co., of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, ballad opening the budget. We notice a well-written, in that part of North America, called New England, juvenile-wise history of the Eastern war, which, we have the honor of introducing The Great Rosy judging from the first chapter, must prove valuable Diamond. By Mrs. ANN AUGUSTA CARTER, with Il- and interesting to young readers. The illustrations lu srations from designs by Billing. Violet; a Fairy Story; and, The Last of the Huggermuggers, American wood-cuts. are ten in number, and are superior specimens of a Giant story, with illustrations, by Christopher nam" employ on the "Schoolfellow If the publishers of "Put"all the resources at their command, they cannot fail to produce that very rare thing, a successful juvenile magazine. Pearse Cranch. Secondly, from the same great city, from the magazine of those other redoubtable dealers in fancy, Messrs. TICKNOR & FIELDS, come "hitching up pantaloons" and " crowding all sail;" Kit Bam's Adventures; or the yarns of an old Mariner, by MARY COWDEN CLARKE, illustrated by George Cruikshank; and, stopping us in the highway, The Magician's Show Box, and other Stories, by the author of Rainbows for Children, with illustrations. Thirdly, and lastly, but by no means leastly, attired in a brilliant cerulean robe, embroidered in gold and garnished out with all suitable appliances by JAMES MONROE & Co., of Boston and Cambridge, comes shining in upon us, Sunbeam Stories. By the author of a Trap to catch a Sunbeam, &c., &c., with illustrations. Having spent the greater part of yester evening in the pleasant company of those gay adventurers, we feel considerably younger, and cannot detect this morning the presence of the usual number of wrinkles in the crow-foot region of our physiognomy. It is well we can recommend one and all of those, say fillibustering propagandists of the dealers of fancy, to all our dear young cronies in every nook and corner of the land. The great Rosy Diamond is a sweet pretty story, well calculated for quiet little children. So is The Violet; but the last of the Huggermuggers is grand grand in the size of the book-the elegant old type, the beautiful engravings, and the delightful binding. It is a gem. The Magician's Show Box contains a wonderful amount of curiosities that we may venture to assert pretty confidently cannot be found in any other box in the country. Open it. Kit Bam can spin about as long a yarn as any old salt we have ever cruised with. We would match him against any old mariner in any snug harbor in any maritime country on the face of the earth, for telling agreeable lies-white lies, well preserved in salt. Give him sea-room, "my hearties." But Sun-Beam-dear bright sun-beam, we would NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1856. Mr. Frederick Parker, Nos. 50 and 52 Corrhill, is our agent in Boston. Pugh, 205 Chestnu; W. B. Zieber, 44 South Third; and G. In Philadelphia the CRITERION may be obtained of T. B. C. Drovin, 38 South Third. Between our writing and your reading, dear reader, will be interposed the imperceptible line which divides two years. Gray old 1855, wrapped in his white mantle, a little bowed in form, but yet vigorous for a dying man, steps into the eternal past, just as blustering young 1856 steps into the evanescent present. This Young fellow, with his boisterous airs, is a terrible tyrant if submitted to. Do not fear him; grasp his cold hand with a thawing grip, and punch the rascal in the ribs with a bold, defiant punch, that shall make his teeth chatter again. Meet him on his own ground, in the streets and fields, and he becomes mild, not as a May morning, but mild-mannered to a great coat and thick boots. But remain in the house, toasting in the chimney corner, or nestling in bed, and when you do venture out you may depend upon getting into difficulty. Winter, or his chief imp, Jack Frost, will be waiting at the door with icicle fingers to tweak your nose and ears, and run his chilly influence tingling down your backbone, making the cuticle an epidermical nutmeg grater. But this appears to be a departure from the speciality of this column. Truth to tell, all we have to say is to be found elsewhere throughout this paper. Our reviews are so varied in subject and character that we have been enabled to embrace almost every topic that comes within our range. Religious, historical, biographical, and scientific books, not to mention the light literature of fiction, including babydom and fairydom, give ample opportunity to say our say, even did we not occasionally take the reviewer's license and forget our text. The war between newspapers and publishers has ended, their bugles sang truce, and the combatants laid down their arins, ever so long ago, a week at least. The wounded are fast recovering, and will be fit for active service before another week; but puffery has received a sore, we hope, a fatal blow. Thus we have lost a subject; we are too magnanimous to kick a fallen foe. Nothing remains for us then but, in all sincerity, to wish you "One and all, great and small, Good luck, good health, good cheer During the progress of the first volume of the CRITERICH, subscriptions will be received for any time less than a year, at the rate of $3 per annum. This will afford an opportunity of becoming familiar with the paper without the necessity of pre-paying for a longer period than may be considered requisite. The CRITERION will be delivered by carriers in New York and Brooklyn, at Six Cents per week. Those wishing to subscribe will please leave their Lames at the office, No. 113 Nassau Street. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. DOMESTIC. Messrs. D. APPLETON & Co., N. Y. announce the following publications: "Barth's Travels in Africa "New World, his Adventures and Discoveries." By from early sheets. "Audubon the Naturalist in the Mrs. Horace St. John. "Claude de Vasci." A Tale. "The Wonders of Science: or, Young Humphrey Davy." "The History of Tom Thumb." By Miss Young. "Life of Queen Hortense, Mother of Louis Napoleon." "Brougham's Contributions to the Edinburgh Review." "The J. S. REDFIELD, New York, has in press, Christmas Tree, and other Tales," adapted from the German, by Frances Kemble Butler. DEWITT & DAVENPORT, New York, will shortly issue "Christine; or, Woman's Trials and Triumphs." By Miss Laura J. Curtis; and the "Hunter's Feast." By Captain Mayne Reid. BLANCHARD & LEA, Philadelphia, will publish "Tyler Smith's Theory and Practice of Obstetrics," with numerous illustrations. "Kesteven's Manual of Domestic Medicine." "Horsley's Catechism of Chemical Philosophy." "Grove's Correlation of Physical Forces," from the fourth London edition. "Lardner's Animal Physics," with illustrations. J. B. LIPPINCOTT & Co., Philadelphia, are preparing "The Gospel and its Elements." By Rev. James Challen; and a new edition of "The Cave of Machpelah and other Poems." By the same author. CHILDS & PETERSON, Philadelphia, promise us Elementary Agriculture on the basis of the French Polytechnic and Normal School Text Book of Girardin," with illustrations by David A. Wells. A. MORRIS, Richmond, announces "Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States," by Major-General Henry Lee, Commander of the Partisan Legion, during the American War. Edited, with a biographical sketch of the author, by S. Adams Lee; with a preface, by Benj. J. Lossing, Esq. Third edition, corrected and improved, with a complete index and table of contents. LITERARY GOSSIP. Kane intends publishing a volume on his late Arctic A correspondent writes to know whether Dr. Expedition, and how soon the same may be expected. We take this occasion to inform our readers generally, that the Dr. has been busily engaged, since his return home, in preparing a full and complete account of this, the most perilous and interesting voyage of the age. Messrs. Childs & Peterson, the enterprising publishers of this city, who have the work in hand, are sparing no expense to make the book worthy of the subject, and judging from the fact that the estimated cost of its production is upward of $20,000, we have every reason to believe that it will be one of the most magnificent and elaborate works ever issued from the American press. The paintings and drawings, from sketches by Dr. Kane, are being prepared by the distinguished artist, James Hamilton, Esq., who has devoted several years to the study of Arctic subjects, in connection with Dr. Kane. There will be twenty fine steel line-engravings, including portraits of Dr. Kane and Mr. Grinnell, executed under the superintendence of J. M. Butler, Esq., who stands unrivalled in this department. The wood-cuts will be engraved in the highest style of the art by Messrs. Van Ingen & Snyder, making in all upwards of three hundred illustrations. We would further state that it will be issued in two handsome octavo volumes, as early as practicable the ensuing year, at the low price of $5 for the entire work.-Graham's Magazine. For some years past no German work of fiction has had such a great, however well deserved, success as Gustav Freytag's "Soll und Haben," a romance, in 3 volumes. Notwithstanding the high price of 5 thalers, the demand for it has continued in a rather gratifying manner, and the fourth edition of the book is nearly exhausted. This is the more noteworthy, if we consider that a comparatively very small sum has been expended for advertisements, that but few copies have been distributed among reviewers, and that the booksellers were not offered any extra inducement on the part of the publisher. Karl Vogt, on Geology; Marignac, on Chemistry; A Congress of eminent publishers and book- M. Dumas is still Dumas the marvellous! He has had a little tiff with the Imperial Government-that mighty power having apparently shaken in its shoes because Alexandre, lover as he is of paradox and Among the number of honorary members of the parenthesis, thought fit to state, in a private letter Leipzig Schiller Union nominated on the occasion of to a friend, the curious physiological fact that his the last celebation of Schiller's birthday (11th Nobody was in Paris and his heart in Jersey and Brus-vember), are King Maximilian of Bavaria, Sir Edsels. Simple folks would have thought that such a dward Bulwer Lytton, and Alessandro Herculano state of things would have been uncomfortable only Carvalho, which latter has translated Schiller's to M. Dumas. But the power that reigns in France works into Portuguese. is not content with a "divided" duty; and the body without a heart has lately been in trouble. andre was put under process; but Napoleon's good Alexgenius stepped in to prevent more wicked laughter in the cafes. So the author of "Monte Christo" is not to be a martyr. What then will he do? In the words of the Daily News correspondent, "he intends to remain in Paris but a very short time, in order to bring out two dramas (one at the Vaudeville, and the other at the Porte St. Martin), and to superintend the publication of a new edition of all his works in 300 volumes, and then to travel for several bring out two new plays and to edit 300 volumes years, visiting China before he comes home." To ought to occupy him at least a month! GERMAN UNIVERSITIES.-The University of Got- Heidelberg has this winter 677 students, 61 less ed, we believe, upon Dr. CHALMER'S Dictionary, and was to be entrusted to the first men of the day, each man to his own speciality. Ten thousand pounds was to be subscribed among the booksellers for the execution of the work, and Mr. SOUTHEY was to be the editor to whose direction the whole was to be submitted. The plan was feasible, and had so much prospect of success that, but for the overweening spirit of interference which actuated one of the bookselling magnates of the day, we believe that this great work would be now actually in existence. It seems, however, that the late JOHN MURRAY attended a meeting of the promoters, and proposed to take half the scheme off their hands, to which proposition, his interest and influence were so great at the time, they could not well refuse to accede, and the plan was accordingly announced, by pros pectus, upon that footing. Guess, however, the amazement of the booksellers at finding their scheme announced in the next number of The Quarterly, as exclusively the property of Mr. MURRAY. In vain they expostulated; in vain they attempted to bring the despot of Albemarle-street to reason; he commanded the market; he had SOUTHEY, and HALLAM, and LOCKHART-in a word, all the best men-under his thumb; and the work could never prosper against his opposition. The consequence was that they abandoned their plan, and we need hardly say that Mr. MURRAY never prosecuted his. This is one of the many benefits for which the nation is indebted to this patron of letters. But that which the entire bookselling trade, minus Mr. MUARAY, could not effect, a Philadelphian gentleman has been quietly, to some extent, executing in distant America. Mr. S. AUSTIN ALLIBONE, by a great and conscientious labor, extending over a long period of time, has completed the compilation of A Critical Dictionary of English Literature, and British and American Authors, Living and Deceased, from the Earliest Accounts to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century." Some sheets of this work having been shown to us, we are enabled to give some account of its nature and plan. In the first place, it will contain upwards of thirty thousand names-a larger number than has ever been collected before in any similar work. Watt's Bibliotheca contains rather less than 23,000 names, and Chalmer's has only 9000. In the next place, each to give some similar statistics. The official list for tracted from well-known and respectable sources, name has a short biographical notice appended; About the University of Leipzig we are enabled and in many cases critical observations, mostly exthis winter contains the names of 809 students, of One volume of number was 808, including 220 foreigners. This will be the full extent of the work, which will thus whom there are 234 foreigners; last summer the are appended to the lists of works. fifteen hundred closely but clearly printed pages shows that Leipzig holds the fifth place among all be within the reach of those whose means do German Universities, of which Munich, with 1731 not permit them to purchase large and expensive that the number of students at Leipzig has conside-in such a task, executed by a single hand; but, students (last winter), ranks first. It is remarkable works. It would be too much to expect perfection rably decreased during the last 25 years; whilst irom what we have seen, we have no hesitation in One of the most distinguished writers of the nine- the list for summer 1831 enumerates 1481, there predicting that Mr. ALLIBONE'S Dictionary will be a teenth century, the Polish poet, Adam Mickiewicz, were only 1101 in 1834, 939 in 1840, and 903 in most valuable work-London Critic. died a few days ago at Constantinople. The lan- 1841. During the first 140 years of its existence, guage in which he wrote is not popularly read in 41,040 young men had made their studies in the England and France; yet the fame of the poet had Leipzig University, and so great was its reputation overcome this all but insurmountable obstacle. In in other countries, that at some periods there were an early issue of the Athenæum we shall endeavor 222 foreigners to 100 natives, and at one time even to place his merits and claims in an intelligible form 331 to 100; but now the proportion is rather differbefore the reader of English. M. Mickiewicz was ent, although the territory of the Kingdom of formerly Professor of Sclavonic Literature in the Col-Saxony is much less extensive in our days, than it lege of France. Lately he has discharged the duties was till some forty years ago. of Librarian to the Arsenal. At the desire of the Imperial Government, he had repaired to Constantinople on a scientific mission; and he there fell a victim to the ravages of cholera. Fears are entertained for Cabinetsrath Niebuhr at Berlin, who is suffering much from a dangerous disease of his eyes. Dr. Robert Schumann, the great composer, is again dangerously ill, and it is feared he will never recover. OBITUARY.-Among the names of those whose decease we see mentioned in the papers, the following deserve a notice: Hofrath Dr. Fuchs, an eminent professor of medicine, died suddenly at Gottingen, on the 2d December. Professor M. H. E. Meier, a famous philologer and antiquarian, died on the 5th December, at Halle, where he has been lecturing for the last thirty years. Bude, a French sculptor of renown, and author of many monuments which ornament Paris, died on the 6th November, aged seventy-five. On the 6th December, Baron Mayer Amschel von Rothschild, the senior of that well known family, died at Frankfort on the Maine, at the age of eighty-four. His death is much lamented in all quarters. By his last will he has appointed a sum of about $50,000 for the foundation of a charitable institution. His only surviving brother SCIENTIFIC. A scientific commission has arrived at Tiflis, under the charge of Prof. Baer. The avowed object is a new survey of the Caspian Sea, with a view to the establishment and extension of fisheries on the shores of that inland water. MOUNTAIN RAILWAY.-A gentleman of the name of Henfrey has taken out a patent, in Piedmont, for a very ingenious method of carrying railway trains over Mont Cenis, or any other similar mountain pass. The extreme simplicity of the means employed rivals that of the celebrated discovery of the way to make an egg stand on end. A railway, of the usual description, will be laid down in a direct line from the bottom to the top of the ascent. The acclivity in the case of Mont Cenis will be from one in ten to one in twelve. Between these two rails a canal is to be dug, three feet nine inches in width, and about thirty inches in depth, which is to be lined and made completely water-tight with iron plates of the description called by engineers "boilerplate." The motive power to be employed is a stream of water, about a foot deep, flowing-or rather rushing-down this canal. It is clear, therefore, that an abundant supply of water on the summit to be reached is a necessary condition of the ALLIBONE'S CRITICAL DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH LITE-scheme. Mont Cenis, however, affords every facility RATURE --Some fifteen years ago there was a plan on in this respect. On the outside of the railway anfoot among some of the principal bookselling firms other cogged rail will be laid down on either side. in London to get up an extensive Bibliographical- On the arrival of the train at the bottom of the hill, biographical Dictionary, such as might rank as a the steam-engine, which has so far brought it on its national work and be a lasting monument for ever journey, will be exchanged for a machine of very to the glory of English literature. The plan was simple and far from costly construction. In the vast and comprehensive. The work was to be found- middle of a frame, about the size of an ordinary The name of the Rev. Robert Montgomery must be added to the list of deaths for 1855. The sensation created some twenty years ago by the appearance of his "Omnipresence of the Deity" and "Satan" will not yet have been forgotten; yet the sensation from its very nature was pretty sure to be ephemeral, and though the tumid and sonorous verse was profitable to its writer, its circulation has not availed to instal him in the list of English poets. Besides these, there were other volumes of verse; mostly on devotional subjects.-Another death claiming a is Baron James Rothschild, at Paris. word of record, is that of the singular authoress Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley, whose volumes of verses some years ago appeared almost in succession as rapid as Mrs. Gore's novels, and who lately had begun to travel and to publish her travels. She was attacked with illness while journeying in the Holy Land, and died at Beyrout. In compliance with the law of the 25th August, 1855, the following Professors of the Acadamie de Genève will lecture gratis before the public. |