MISCELLANEOUS.

LITERARY IMPOSITIONS.-The Count Mariano | perfect indifference for his own works: they Alberti sold to a bookseller at Ancona several were continually reprinting, without his being unedited manuscripts of Tasso, some of which he ever acquainted with it. If an edition of the interpolated, and others forged. In 1827, he de-Henriade,' or his tragedies, or his historical or clared himself in possession of two till then un- fugitive pieces, was nearly sold off, another was known poems in Tasso's handwriting; after-instantly produced. He requested them not to wards he produced four other autographs; and then a volume containing thirty-seven poems, which he offered for sale to the Duke of Tuscany, whose agents, however, declared them to be spurious and modern. He then produced a file of Tasso's letters, which were regarded as genuine; till, in 1841, when, on his property being sequestered, the whole affair proved a tissue of almost unexampled forgery.

The literary world is now very generally of the belief that that very beautiful poem, John Chalkhill's Thealma and Clearchus, first published by Isaac Walton (1633), was actually the production of that honest angler.

เ

The copies of the English Mercurie' (regarded as the earliest English newspaper) in the British Museum, have been discovered to be forgeries, and Chatterton is supposed to have been concerned in their fabrication.

At least a hundred volumes or pamphlets, besides innumerable essays and letters in magazines or newspapers, have been written with a view to dispel the mystery in which for eighty years the authorship of Junius's Letters has been involved. These political letters, so remarkable for the combination of keen severity with a polished and brilliant style, were contributed to the 'Public Advertis r,' during three years, under the signature of Junius, the actual name of the writer being a secret even to the publisher of that paper. They have been fathered upon Earl Temple, Lord Sackville, Sir Philip Francis, and fifty other distinguished characters. At present, an attempt is again being made to prove them the productions of Mr. Lauchan Maclean; but we need scarcely wish for anything like a positive or convincing result.

Some time before his death, Voltaire showed a

print so many. They persisted, and reprinted
them in a hurry without consulting him; and,
what is almost incredible, yet true, they printed
a magnificent quarto edition at Geneva without
his seeing a single page; in which they inserted
a number of pieces not written by him, the real
authors of which were well known. His remark
upon this occasion is very striking-'I look upon
myself as a dead man, whose effects are upon
sale.' The mayor of Lausanne having established
a press, published in that town an edition called
complete, with the word London on the title-
page, containing a great number of dull and con-
temptible little pieces in prose and verse, trans-
planted from the works of Madame Oudot, the
Almanacs of the Muses, 'the Portfolio Recover-
ed,' and other literary trash, of which the twenty-
third volume contains the greatest abundance.
Yet the editors had the effrontery to proclaim on
the title-page that the book was wholly revised
and corrected by the author, who had not seen a
single page of it. In Holland some forgeries were
printed as the Private Letters' of Voltaire, which
induced him to parody an old epigram :—

Lo! then exposed to public sight,
My private letters see the light;
So private, that none ever read 'em,

Save they who printed, and who made 'em.
Steevens says, that not the smallest part of the
work called Cibber's "Lives of the Poets" was
the composition of Cibber, being entirely written
by Mr. Shiells, amanuensis to Dr. Johnson, when
his dictionary was preparing for the press. T.
Cibber was in the King's Bench, and accepted of
ten guineas from the booksellers for leave to pre-
fix his name to the work and it was purposely
so prefixed, as to leave the reader in doubt

whether himself or his father was the person de-a young man at Wurzburg, of the name of signed.

William Henry Ireland having exercised his ingenuity with some success in the imitation of ancient writing, passed off some forged pap rs as the genuine manuscripts of Shakspeare. Some of the many persons who were deceived by the imposition, subscribed sums of money to defray the publication of these spurious documents, which were accordingly issued in a handsome folio volume. But when Ireland's play of Vortigern' was performed at Drury Lane as the work of Shakspeare, the audience quickly discerned the cheat; and soon afterwards the clever impostor published his Confessions,' acknowledging himself to be the sole author and writer of these ancient-looking manuscripts.

Poor young Chatterton's forgery of the poems of Rowley, a priest of the fifteenth century, is one of the most celebrated literary impositions on record. Horace Walpole, in a letter written in 1777, says, Change the old words for modern, and the whole construction is of yesterday; but I have no objection to anybody believing what he pleases. I think poor Chatterton was an astonishing genius.'

Rodrick, to practise a more serious deception upon Professor Berenger, at the commencement of the last century. Rodrick cut a great number of stones into the shape of different kinds of animals, and monstrous forms, such as bats with the heads and wings of butterflies, flying frogs and crabs, with Hebrew characters here and there discernible about the surface. These fabrications were gladly purchased by the professor, who encouraged the search for more. A new supply was accordingly prepared, and boys were employed to take them to the professor, pretending that they had just found them near the village of Eibelstadt, and charging him dearly for the time which they alleged they had employed in collecting them. Having expressed a desire to visit the place where these wonders had been found, the boys conducted him to a locality where they had previously buried a number of specimens. At last, when he had formed an ample collection, he published a folio volume, containing twenty-eight plates, with a Latin text explanatory of them, dedicating the volume to the Prince-Bishop of Wurzburg. The opinions expressed in this book, and the strange manner in which they are defended, render it a curious evidence of the extravagant credulity and folly of its author, who meant to follow it up with other publications; but being apprised by M. Deckard, a brother professor, of the hoax that had been practised, the deluded author became most anxious to recall his work. It is therefore very rare, being only met with in the libraries of the curious; and the copies which the publisher sold after the author's death, have a new title-page in lieu of the absurd allegorical one which originally belonged to them.

DETACHED THOUGHTS FROM JEAN PAUL RICHTER-We should never mourn for one that dies at fifteen. There die the first dawnings of love with the spring-flowers in its little heart. I would visit the grave of such an one in the spring, merely that I might be glad.

In all probability the exact nature of Macpherson's connexion with what are called 'Ossian's Poems' will never be known. Although snatches of these poems, and of others like them, are proed to have existed from old times in the High lands, there is no proof that the whole existed. Macpherson left what he called the original Gaelic poems to be published after his death; 'but,' says Mr. Carruthers, they proved to be an exact counterpart of those in English, although, in one of the earlier Ossian publications, he had acknowledged taking liberties in the translation. Nothing more seems to be necessary to settle that the book must be regarded as to some unknown extent a modern production, founded upon, and imitative of, certain ancient poems; and this seems to be nearly the decision at which the judgment of the unprejudiced public has arrived.' A species of literary imposition has become common latterly, namely, placing the name of some distinguished man on the title-page as edi. Spring passes away, and so must thou. Is thy tor of a work the author of which is not mention-cheek of roses fairer than the rose which must ed, because obscure. This system, done with a also fade? Thy song, other than that of the view to allure buyers, is unjust towards the con- nightingale, which is also silenced? Lie down cealed author, if the work really merit the sup- calmly in thy dust, thou human flower. That port of an eminent editor, for it is denying a dust will yet be the pollen of a fairer one; and man the fair fame that he ought to receive; and earth has no more that it can do to thy blossomif the work be bad, the public is cheated by the ing soul. distinguished name put forth as editor and guarantee of its merits. Still, however, the tardiness of the people themselves in encouraging new and unknown writers of merit, is the reason why publishers resort to this trick to insure a sale and profit.

DRUNKENNESS IN CORK.-What will greatly surprise English readers is the following return from Cork, the home and head-quarters of the great Apostle of Temperance. "According to the Cork Constitution, the number of drunkards committed to the City Bridewell, for twelve months, ending the first of April, in each of the following years, was as follows:

Several ingenious deceptions have been played off upon geologists and antiquaries. Some youths desirious of amusing themselves at the expense of Father Kircher, engraved several fantastic figures upon a stone, which they afterwards buried in a place where a house was about to be built. The workmen having picked up the stone while digging the foundation, handed it over to the learned Kircher, who was quite delighted 1843 with it, and bestowed much labor and research

Year.

1841

1842

in explaining the meaning of the extraordinary Something more potent than Mathewism is refigures upon it. The success of this trick induced quired at Cork.

SELECT LIST OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

Great Britain.

Autobiography of John Aubrey, (1625) by John Britton.

The Enchanted Knights; a Romance, from the German of Musaeus.

Notes on the Wandering Jew; or, the Jesuits and their Opponents, by John Fairplay.

Biographical History of Philosophy, by G. H. Lewis. 4 vols. 18mo.

A Selection from the Remains of Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus, by Frederic H. Ringwood.

Trade and Travel in the Far East; or, Recollections of Twenty-one Years.passed at Java, Singapore, Australia, and China, by G S. F. Davidson. A very amusing and instructive work.

Bells and Pomegranates, No. 8 and last, by Robert Browning.

The Aristocracy of England; a History for the People, by John Hampden, Jr.

The Church in the Catacombs; a Description of the Primitive Church of Rome, illustrated by its sepulchral remains, by Charles Maitland, M. D.

A new edition of Sir H. Spelman's celebrated work, History and Fate of Sacrilege. Political Works of David Ricardo, by J. R. McCulloch.

Lectures on Systematic Morality, by Rev. W. Whewell, D. D.; a kind of Commentary on the author's "Elements of Morality and Polity."

Notes and Recollections of a Professional Life, by the late Wm. Ferguson, M. D. Second volume of Bopp's Comparative Grammar of Sanscrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, German, and Sclavonic Languages, translated by Lieut. Eastwick and Prof. Wilson.

Ecclesiastical Reminiscences, by Rev. Mr. Waylen;-a work on the U. States.

Female Characters, by the late H. Thornton, Esq., M. P.

Poems, by Camilla Toulmin.

Germany.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE.

Hellenische Alterthumskunde, aus dem Gesichtspuncte des Staats. Von Wilh. Wachsmuth, Dr. der Phil., &c. 2te. umgearbeitete und vermehrte Ausgabe. Halle, 1844, 46. (A thoroughly revised and enlarged edition of one of the profoundest works which modern research has contributed to our knowledge of Greek antiquity.)

Die Historische Kunst der Griechen in ihrer Entstehung und Fortbildung. Von Friedrich Creuzer. 2te. Verbesserte undTM ver mehrte Ausgabe, besorgt von Jul. Kayser, Gymnasiallehur in Darmstadt. Thlr. 10 Ngr.)

(2

Historia Critica Tragicorum Gracorum. Scripsit Wilh. Car. Kayser, Westfalus, Gottinga, 1845. pp. 332, gr. 8. (1 Thlr. 15 Ngr.) ("A very useful work, and an imlogical literature.") portant accession to the treasures of Philo

Antimachi Colophonei reliquias, premissa de ejus vita et scriptis disputatione, collectas explanavit Henr. Guil. Stoll. 1845. pp. 124. gr. 8. (20 Ngr.) (Antimachus was by the ancients placed next to Homer. This edition of his Fragments is the most complete that has appeared, and is distinguished by learning, judgment, and philological tact and acumen.)

Aristophanis Comoedia, Rec. et aunot. instrux. Fred. Henr. Bothe. Ed. Lec. emendatior. Vol. I. Acharnenses, Equites, Nubes. Vol. II. Vespa Pax, Aves. Lips. 1845. gr. 8. (Pr. 2 Thlr. 20 Ngr.) (An edition distinguished by accurate and tasteful interpretation.)

commentario

Demosthenis Oratio in Aristocratum, Græca emendatiora edidit, apparatu critico, proleguomenis, perpetuo, atque indicibus instruxit Ern. Guil. Weber, Prof. Gymn. Wimar. Jenæ. 1845. pp. 588. gr. 8. (2 Thlr. 20 Ngr.) (A copious and learned edition of one of the most perfect

The Percy Society are about to issue the Poems of the Earl of Surrey, Wm. Browne, Dr. Donne, and Taylor, the water poet. The Camden Society announces a trans-orations of Demosthenes.) lation of Polydore Vergill's History of England; the Autobiography of the Countess of Pembroke.

The Parker Society have announced Archbishop Parker's Correspondence, and the Works of Bishops Ridley, Pilkington, and Hooper.

A book of Highland Minstrelsy, by Mrs. D. Ogilvy.

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Allgemeine Weltgeschichte für alle Stände; mit Zugrundelegung Seines grösseren Werkes, von Dr. K V. Rotteck. 5 Bd. Gesch. der neuesten Zeit, 1815-1840. Nach Dr. K. V. Rotteck's hinterlassenen Vorarbeiten verfasst und herausg, von Dr. Hin. v. Rotteck. Stuttgart, 1845, gr. 8.