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many extracts from the work under review, which, however, we are obliged to omit for want of space. Our readers will not regret this, as, we doubt not, we have said already enough to induce their perusal of the volume.

The Life of Peter Van Schaack, LL.D., embracing Selections from his Correspondence and other Writings during the American Revolution, and his Exile in England. By his Son, HENRY C. VAN SCHAACK. "Superanda fortuna ferendo." New York: D. Appleton and Co. 1842.

The Official and other Papers of the late Major-General Alexander Hamilton. Compiled chiefly from the Originals in the Possession of Mrs. Hamilton. Vol. I. New York and London: Wiley and Putnam. 1842. The History of Political Parties in the State of New York, from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to December, 1840. In 2 volumes. By JABEZ D. HAMMOND. Albany: Stereotyped and printed by C. Van Benthuysen. 1842.

THE above-named works, all highly valuable in their respective kinds, we notice now only by their titles, to acknowledge their reception, and to indicate to our readers the fact of their publication. We do no more on the present occasion, for the reason that we intend to make them each hereafter the subject of a more full-dress review. We have long contemplated the task, now too long perhaps delayed, of presenting to the readers of the Democratic Review a pretty full and elaborate article on Hamilton and Jeffersonthe great antagonist master-spirits of their respective schools of political philosophy. The appearance of this elegant volume of the Papers of the former-worthily edited by the Rev. Dr. Hawks-will afford a convenient opportunity for the performance of the intention.

The life of Mr. Van Schaack is a novel and highly interesting contribution to our national literature of the Revolution. The task of biography has been executed by his son in a manner highly creditable alike to his good feelings, good sense, and good taste. While he manifests a just and laudable earnestness in his desire to vindicate his father's memory from any odium that should attach to it from his opposition to the Revolutionary war, he at the same time does so with so much modesty and moderation of language, as well as clearness of statement, as not only fully

to succeed in his object, but also to do so in a manner entitled to high commendation for its own sake.

Judge Hammond's work will doubtless find its way into the hands of every politician (and who in this country is or ought to be excluded from that designation?) of the State of whose history he treats and of many others besides. We will simply say here, in general terms, that it is written in a spirit of candor and impartiality, as well as with a degree of knowledge and ability, worthy of the source from which it proceeds.

Random Shots and Southern Breezes. By L. F. TASISTRO, Esq. 2 vols. 12mo. Harper & Brothers. New York: 1842.

IN advance of the appearance of the entire work, which has been retarded by the effects of their recent fire, the publishers have sent us for inspection the first volume of Mr. Tasistro's forthcoming work. We have read it through with no slight degree of entertainment, and have no doubt that the book will prove as taking as its title. We should be glad to prove our words, which would be but an easy task, by quoting a few of the passages which our instinctive editorial pencil hasnoted for the purpose, but are compelled, by the crowding pressure upon our concluding pages, to forego the wish, with the exception of a single extract subjoined by way of a brief specimen, on the ex uno disce omnes principle. The plan of these volumes is novel and agreeable. Mr. Tasistro is something of a rover. At the period to which they refer, he was engaged on a starring theatrical tour through some of the cities of the South and West, commencing with New Orleans. He writes and sketches as he goes his observations of places and things, men and manners, interspersing the whole with a variety of miscellaneous criticism and reflection, on any interesting topic that may chance to present itself in his way. We understand that he contemplates a similar volume every year, so long as the public may continue to find them as agreeable in the reading as they are in the writing. Being a man of cultivated literary taste and accomplishment, of a happy facility of language and style, with no small degree of experience of society and knowledge of the world, he is peculiarly qualified to make them pleasant and popular. We might select many graphic and spirited extracts from the sheets lying before us. We take much at random, the following sketch of his first impression of New Orleans:

"It is an instinct of our nature to judge by externals. In the present state of the world, I know this instinct is apt sometimes to lead us astray; but it is, upon the whole, a very valuable one, and I generally, to a certain extent, yield myself up to it. I suffer it to influence, but not to fix me.

"No one can visit a strange country with less prejudice against the inhabitants of it than I had against those of the South; and yet my first impressions of the Crescent City,' as New-Orleans has been called, were anything but agreeable. It seemed, at first, to contain all the horrors of NewYork, without any of its general character of ex. ternal grandeur. The filth of the streets, and the eternal din of carts loaded with cotton, and driven by coarse, hideous-looking negroes-the antithesis of everything spirituel in human nature-struck me as truly execrable. The endless succession of plain, brown, dirty-looking bricks piled up for houses, with plain, square holes for windows and doors, equally execrable!

"What a delightful thing it would be if we could habituate our minds and senses to employ them. selves about nothing else save that which is pleasing and gratifying! to have no eyes but for beauty, no ears but for music, no thoughts but for plea santness; to admit no memcry but of joy, no forethought but of hope. But is this a possible state to arrive at? I am afraid not: but that should not deter us from striving after it.

"That which makes us content with the thing we are, for instance, and with all that is about us, binds us to earthly and tangible reality with a chain that is the more strong from its being invisible, and from our having no desire to break it. It keeps the mind in perpetual subjection; checks the growth of all its faculties except the very worst; and, in the end, inevitably destroys the very best. But that which induces us to fly from ourselves, though it often leads to more fatal consequences than the other, may have a contrary effect. The human mind cannot exist without love and admi. ration; they are its daily food-food that is scattered about for it everywhere. It is true, that when the mental appetite becomes vitiated, and cannot relish what it finds strewed about its feet, it may starve; but, on the other hand, it may be driven to seek its food at a distance. Hatred of itself and of humanity may force it to seek refuge in other worlds-in the world of books, the world of thought, the world of nature; and let it but once gain a true insight of these, and all its finer faculties must expand. Its fancy and imagination, which are always progressive, and yet always young, will then travel through all the regions of possible or impossible existence; and if they return without finding a dwelling-place, they will yet bring back with them stores from which they may for ever after create worlds of their own. affections, too, will then recognise their kindred with humanity; they will learn the true objects on which they should be made to rest; and will find that if they can, for a while, expatiate in external nature as in their country, they can, after all, have no home but in the human heart. The mind's vitiated appetite will then be corrected; its taste for the simple and true will revive, and all will be right again.

The

"After all, the approach to New-Orleans, if not the most pleasing, is by far the most remarkable part of the journey up the Mississippi. But the view of the city itself from the wharf, or rather the hollow which it occupies, is the most singular sight I ever beheld. I really, at the first view of it, felt quite a shock at the idea of living in such a place. In the low countries of Europe they have dikes, and are otherwise well guarded against all chances of inundation; but here the whole city is exposed to imminent danger from every overflow of the river, which is apt, at times, to play the most extraordinary freaks, destroying property to an immense amount, as an earnest of what it might do, should it, one of these fine days, think proper to erect its crest a little higher than usual, when not all the saints in the calendar could save the city from utter devastation. However, on coming

a little closer, the town did not look quite so bad. So, after a great deal of trouble, confusion, and loss of time in getting clear of the cotton pyramids that everwhere obstructed my passage, I ventured into it, and soon found myself extremely well accommodated at the Exchange, or, as it is more commonly called, the St. Charles Hotel.

"Notwithstanding that I was well prepared for striking and novel sights on my first entrance into New Orleans, the reality of what I saw far exceeded anything that I had imagined. Everything, indeed, seemed to be on a larger scale than what I had been accustomed to see. I felt as if I had got on the surface of a larger globe than that on which the Northern States are situated. The steamboats on the North River, for instance, are, in point of size, like baby toys compared with those I have seen in the South. Indeed I can in no way bring to my mind so striking a feeling of the contrast in this respect, as by fancying one of those trading between Cincinnati and New Orleans placed at any of the wharves between Fulton and Bull's Ferry. gular screamers,' with its deck weighed down to Imagine to yourself, gentle reader, one of these rebales of cotton, stowed in every direction, and cothe water's edge by a cargo of several thousand vering every inch of space, so as to leave nothing but the tops of the reeking chimneys exposed to view-imagine, I say, such a thing as this, triumphantly ploughing its way through the beautiful valley of the Mississippi, bellowing forth in sounds of thunder, its proud defiance to the world, as if every floating mountain of merchandise, secretly put in created object in nature, compared with it, was but a cipher; and then bursting into port like a motion by some supernatural agency, elbowing everything out of its way that dares to come within fifty yards of its track, and then you may have some idea how these things are managed in the South.

"The most amusing sight to me, however, as I stood on the deck of the Fairfield, gazing on the vast quantity of interesting objects flitting by, was a curiously constructed machine, unlike anything I ever beheld, either on land or water, which the people of the country call a flat-boat; and a very odd affair it is, to a certainty. This presents another remarkable instance of that go-ahead system which forms so important a feature in the American character, and by which the present generation has been enabled to outstrip all former ages in the great race of amelioration and improvement. Had no other mode of conveyance for the exportation of except through the regular medium of a steam-boat, provisions from the up-country presented itself New Orleans would have been deprived of many luxuries with which its market now is so abundantly supplied; for, whatever might have been the demand for the article imported, the profits accruing from a ready sale could harely have sufficed to pay freight. The rapidity of the current, by rendering the return of sailing boats a matter of impracticability, placed a still greater obstacle in the way of trade. To the ingenious mind of the Mississippian, however, the facility by which these difficulties could be obviated soon became manifest. He saw that temporary vessels might be shapeless logs together, which could easily be set constructed with very little cost by knitting a few afloat, and then sold for waste timber as soon as the object was accomplished. When the first of these primitive specimens of naval architecture made its appearance at the wharves of New-Orleans, the apparition must certainly have excited considerable merriment. The crew of a flat boat is generally composed of five or six dare-devils, armed to the teeth with bowie-knives and pistols; the sworn foes of unadulterated water; equally alive to the attractions of a fight as of a mint julep; the loudest in their applause of a theatrical performance, and invariably noisy everywhere: they are, in short, a concentrated essence of good and evil, and may truly be said to constitute, not the cream, but the cayenne and mustard of ordinary life in New-Orleans."

MONTHLY LITERARY BULLETIN.

AMERICAN.

MR. COOPER'S NEW WORK. A new work by Cooper, entitled "Le FeuFollet, or Wing-and-Wing, a Nautical Tale," is nearly completed and will soon be put to press. The scene of the narrative is the Mediterranean, the time 1799.

A NEW WORK BY LONGFELLOW.-PROFESSOR LONGFELLOW, prior to his departure for Europe, placed in the hands of his publishers the manuscript of a new Dramatic Poem, entitled "The Spanish Student," which the public may expect to see during the summer.

Mr. BRYANT has a New Volume of Poems

just ready, entitled "The Fountain and other Poems," comprising his recent fugitive pieces.

WILEY & PUTNAM have in press a new work by MR. A. J. DOWNING-Designs for Cottage Residences, adapted to North America; including elevations and plans of the buildings, and designs for laying out the grounds. The re-publication of PROFESSOR BRANDE'S excellent Dictionary of Literature, Science and Art, has recently been commenced in this city by WILEY & PUT

NAM.

In a former number we invoked the attention of our readers to the distinguishing merits of this important Cyclopedia. It comprises the entire circle of knowledge, including all the modern improvements of science down to the present day, a feature peculiar to the work each department having been under the superintendence of the most proficient scholars of Europe, whose names alone afford a sufficient guaran tee for their able and faithful accomplishment of their task. It is characterised by a succinctness and brevity so desirable in a book of ready reference; and although the entire work will be complete in one handsome octavo, so admirably condensed are both matter and style, that it will in fact contain not only more than ten times the amount of valuable information to be found in any similar work extant, but be equally legible.

C. K. MOORE, of this city, has issued in a neat volume 18mo. "The Protestant Exiles of Zillerthal;"-a narrative of deep interest, detailing the story of their persecutions and expatriation from the

Tyrol, on separating from the Romish church, and embracing the Reformed faith.

It is stated that MR. WELTHAM, a former husband of Mrs. Kenney, who was accused and acquitted of murdering her third husband, has in press a "Life" of the lady; and that it will shortly be published at Bangor, Maine.

A work of considerable attraction and value has just been published by MR. SEARS, of this city, entitled "Bible Biography," comprising the history of the lives and characters of the leading personages mentioned in Holy Writ. This volume should unquestionably find a welcome at every fireside throughout the country: its contents are as interesting as they are important and instructive, and the judicious editor has, by the aid of numerous pictorial embellishments, contrived to present us with one of the most attractive and at the same time useful books that have appeared this side the Atlantic.

J. C. RIKER, of this city, has in preparation for the fall season, an exceedingly ingenious and attractive novelty in the way of Albums, which is to be called "A Floral Scripture Album;" the intention of which is, as we gather from a cursory glance, to teach Scripture histories and incidents, by Floral Language. The work will comprise about twenty floral plates finely colored, with which scroll work and scenic etchings will be incorporated-the effect of which is exceedingly beautiful. It is to be richly bound and gilt.

A Literary Novelty in the form of a Dictionary of the English language for schools, constructed on a plan entirely original, and embracing some important features not found in the works of Johnson, Walker, Webster, &c., is about to be published shortly, by Mr. J. C. RIKER.

A Manual of Toxicology, on the basis of

Christison and Orfila, by D. P. GARDNER, M. D., Professor of Chemistry in Hampden Sidney College, Va., Corresponding Member of the New York Lyceum, &c., is in preparation for the press, and will be published by J. & H. G. LANGLEY, early in the fall, in one duodecimo volume.

This work is published to answer the de

mand for a treatise on poisons. It is

intended to furnish the student with a manual, and the practitioner with a concise treatise on the means of detecting poisoning, administering antidotes, and appearing before the coroner with satisfaction to himself and benefit to the community. Hitherto the subject has been neglected both in the schools, and amongst the physicians of this country. It was undertaken in part from the necessity of such a book in the medical department of the New York University, where Toxicology is a recognized study, and from the probability that this improvement will extend to other colleges. The treatise is for the most part compiled from the standard European works on the subject, and the cases from American periodicals. There is also a chapter on poisonous reptiles, and the common families of dangerous plants indigenous to the United States. MR. LE BLANC, of this city, has just commenced the re-publication of Miller's new work, "Godfrey Malvern, or the Life of an Actor." The works of this author are peculiar for minuteness and delicacy of touch, as well as verisimilitude and simplicity of delineation. This new production, from the specimen before us, bids fair to enhance the already wide-spread fame of the basket-makerauthor. It is to be completed in fifteen numbers, each to comprise two very spirited engravings, by Phiz. Mexico in 1842. A complete description

of the Country, its Natural and Political Features, with a sketch of its History brought down to the present year. To which is added an account of TEXAS and YUCATAN, and of the Santa Fe Expedition. C. J. FOLSOM, of this city. We have had the pleasure of inspecting the new and exquisite miniature of General Jackson, the octogenarian chief. This, the last portrait of the General, is a perfect gem, both as to its elaborate workmanship and its resemblance to the living original. Mr. John W. Dodge, the successful artist, has done himself great credit by presenting to the country so valuable a memento of one, destined to take his station with the highest of the true nobility of our land. Mr. D., who has just returned to this city, is about to place his picture in the hands of Mr. Danforth, one of the first engravers in the country, with a view to its speedy publication. We would also invite attention to the

new method of Engraving by the Omnigraph, by BURR, JONES, & Co., 192 Broadway. The merits of this machine consist in the great expedition and extreme accuracy, as well as uni

formity and beauty, with which it accomplishes its purpose. It is peculiarly adapted for engraving maps, plans. surveys, &c., and as it will accomplish the labor of eight or ten hand engravers, it offers every inducement in the way of economy. This valuable machine, which is of English invention, has been recently brought over to the United States by Mr. Jones, the patent of which has been secured.

ENGLISH.

The following are among the recent literary novelties on the other side of the Atlantic :

The Civil History of the Jews, from Joshua to Adrian; with Incidental Notices of Manners, and Customs, Geography and Antiquities, by the Rev. O. Cockayne, M. A.

Lord Londonderry, the well-known tourist and diplomatist, has nearly ready for publication, a Narrative of recent Travels and Voyages through Germany, Austria, on the Danube, into Turkey, Greece, the Ionian Isles, Italy, Spain and Portugal, entitled the "Journal of a Tour to Constantinople by the Danube, in 1840-41, and of a Tour to the

South of Spain in 1839." 2 vols. with illustrations.

Mr. Vigne's work of Travels in Cashmere, Tibet, &c., with numerous illustrations, is nearly ready, and will, it is stated, supply some important particulars of those remote parts of the world not hitherto possessed by our geographical knowledge.

A rather singular work, under the title of The Life and Apology of Edmund Bonner, D.D., sometime Lord Bishop of London, is nearly ready for publication, in one vol. 8vo. English Surnames; a series of Essays on Family Nomenclature, Historical, Etymological, and Humorous; illustrated by Anecdotes, &c., by M. A. Lower. There is announced for publication, by subscription, a New, and, if made out, certainly, a very curious, Elucidation of the subjects on the celebrated Barberini or Portland Vase, and those on the Sarcophagus in which it was discovered, attributing them to Galen, the Physician and Surgeon of Pergamus; by Thomas Windus, F.S.A.

Romantic Biography of the age of Elizabeth; or Sketches of Life from the Bye-ways of History, by the Benedictine Brethren of Glendalough. Edited by W. C. Taylor, LL.D., of the Trinity College, Dublin. 2 vols. 8vo.

The Recreations of Christopher North, vol. 1, was to have been published on the 25th inst.

Brief Notices of Hayti, with its Condition,

Resources and Prospects; by John
Chandler.

Tour in Austrian Lombardy, the Northern Tyrol, and Bavaria; by John Barrow, Esq.

Nearly ready-Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan, and the Panjab, including a residence in those countries from 1826 to 1838. By Charles Masson, Esq., 3 vols. 8vo., with Illustrations.

Stonehenge; or the Romans in Britain: a

Romance of the days of Nero. 3 vols. A new and beautiful Drawing Book, containing elementary instructions in the Art, has been commenced in monthly parts, under the patronage of the Council of the Government School of Design at Somerset House.

Also, the First Number of a series of Di

agrams illustrative of the principles of Natural Philosophy, published under the superintendence of the Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge. No. 1, is devoted to the Lever. The plates are drawn on stone and colored. The same institution intend to publish a complete Biographical Dictionary: the first half volume will be published early the present month. It was the original intention of the Society to include in their undertaking only the period from the commencement of historical records to the close of the year 1543 of our Æra; but it has since been determined to undertake the entire work at once. This new biographical work will present many new features of improvement over those of Chalmers, Garton and others, but we regret our limits will only permit us to refer the reader to the printed prospectus issued by the publishers.

Mr. and Mrs. Hall's "Ireland, its Scenery and Character," has progressed to a second volume. This is unquestionably the most beautiful, as it is the most valuable work on the Emerald Isle that has ever appeared.

"The Great Western Magazine," is the cognomen of another Literary Miscellany which is designed for the piratical purposes of culling from the fugitive American literature as our mammoth journals do here without leave or li

cense.

"Japan in the 19th century," described

from the visits of recent Dutch travellers, is just published, in 1 vol. 8vo. Preparing for publication-The Life of Sir David Wilkie, R. A., his Tours in

By

France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany, Turkey, the Holy Land, and Egypt; with his Select Correspondence, and Remarks on Arts and Artists. Allan Cunningham, Esq., 3 vols. 8vo. It is with pleasure we observe the announcement of a new work of fiction, by the justly celebrated author of "Tales of the O'Hara Family," entitled "Father Connel."

A Life of Dr. John Scott, late chaplain to Lord Nelson, is also shortly to appear, which is said to be full of interest. We are glad to see announced as nearly ready for publication, in a 4to. volume, Discourses delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; illustrated by explanatory Notes and Plates, by John Burnet, F. R. S., whose own productions in and on the Fine Arts designate him as being fully able to perform this task in a worthy

manner.

The Portable Commentary, containing the Authorised Version of the Old and New Testaments, with many thousand Explanatory Notes, by the Rev. Ingram Cobbin, M. A., and the Analytical Bible, with upwards of 50,000 original and selected References, in a centre column, and concluding Observations to each Book.

CONTINENTAL.

A new edition of Juvenal by Heinrich, the late professor at our university, is claiming that attention among philologists which it so justly merits. Heinrich devoted a great part of his life to the editing of this author, and it was not till after his death that it was found how much new matter he has furnished for the illustration of this classic. The bookseller Koenig, already so well known as the enterprising publisher of some of the best Sanscrit works lately produced in Germany, has added another to his list of oriental publications; it is "Kammura, liber de officiis sacerdotum Buddhicorum," in Pali and Latin, edited with notes, by F. Spiegel.

Dr. Lipsius has been appointed Professor of Archæology, and he is on the eve of publishing his work upon the Egyptian Antiquities and Oscan inscriptions. M. Panofka is at Berlin. He is likely to succeed M. Koehler in the office of the keeper of the antiquities at St. Petersburg.

"Die bedingte Pressfreiheit, historischkritisch entwickelt und beleuchet von Theodor Heinsius," is a work which at this moment is attracting attention in Prussia.

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