words for the Warfare of Life, from Dr. Martin Luther; The Song without Words; Mary the Handmaid of the Lord; Poems.

Some of these were published before her Schönberg-Cotta book, and now share in the celeority of their common parentage. The sale of her books in the United States alone has reached nearly 200,000 volumes.

MISS ANNE MANNING has written a large number of works in the style of the Schönberg-Cotta books, though not so exclusively religious in their intention. The one which first gained eelebrity was The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell, the Wife of Milton. It purports to be a contemporary record by Mary Powell, giving an account of her courtship, marriage, repudiation, and reconcilement, and is the most perfect imitation of such a record ever attempted. The other books by the author, written in the same style, form a series, known as the Mary Powell Books. They are The Household of Sir Thomas More; Cherry and Violet, a Tale of the Great Plague; The Faire Gospeller, Mistress Anne Askew; Jacques Bonnevel, or The Days of the Dragonnades; The Spanish Barber.

The Mary Powell Books are among the most charming fictions to be found in the language.

MRS. ANNE SHEPHERD, 1857, was a native of Cowes, Isle of Wight, and a daughter of Rev. Edward Houlditch. She was the author of two religions novels, Ellen Seymour, and Reality, and of a volume of Hymns adapted to the Comprehension of Young Minds. One of these, which ought to make her name live in perpetual remembrance, is that beautiful hymn which has sent gladness to so many millions of young hearts: "Around the throne of God in heaven

Thousands of children stand;

Children whose sins are all forgiven,

A holy, happy band.

Singing glory, glory, glory,

Glory be to God on high."

A. L. O. E. BOOKS. One of the most prolific writers of Sunday-school books is a lady who veils her name under the initials A. L. O. E. Her works alone make almost a library, nearly fifty volumes, and are among the best of their kind.

VII. MISCELLANEOUS.

The Howitts.

WILLIAM AND MARY HOWITT, with their sons and daughters, and some other members of the family, seem to form a group by themselves. Their writings and their doings have for some reason always been of special interest to Americans. A somewhat more extended notice of them, therefore, will be given than in the case of some others of equal celebrity.

WILLIAM HOWITT, 1792, was born of Quaker parentage, in Heanor, Derbyshire. His ancestors on both sides had lived for many generations in the same neighborhood. The pastoral and old world character of the district made a deep impression upon his boyish imagination, and have stamped themselves with a quaint individuality upon numerous pages of his writings. He was educated at Ackworth, Yorkshire, the public seminary of the Society of Friends. His school-days past, he still devoted himself with unwearying enthusiasm to the study of languages, ancient and modern, as well

as to Chemistry, Botany, Natural and Moral Philosophy. He wrote poetry as a schoolboy, and from early life showed a marked predilection for rural sports.

MARY HOWITT, 1800, was originally Mary Botham. She was married to Mr. Howitt in 1821. Like her husband, she came of "the stock of the martyrs." She was born amongst the iron forges of the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire, although her childhood and youth, until her marriage, were spent at the pleasantly situated little town of Uttoxeter, in Staffordshire, where her father's family had possessed property for some generations. The similarity of tastes in literature and an enthusiastic love of the beauties of natural scenery, which has continued with William and Mary Howitt throughout their life, formed the basis of a friendship which ended in marriage, and has linked their names together in many volumes, both of prose and poetry, beloved of thousands throughout Great Britain and America.

Their first appear

The first year of their married life was spent in Staffordshire. ance in print was in 1823, in a joint volume, The Forest Minstrel. This was followed, soon after, by Eyam and Other Poems. During this period also they became widely known by their contributions to the Annuals, which were just then beginning their

career.

Between 1831 and 1837, while living at Nottingham, William Howitt published The Book of the Seasons; Pantika, or Traditions of the Most Ancient Times; and A Popular History of Priestcraft. Mary Howitt in the same period published her most important poetical work, The Seven Temptations, a novel called Wood Leighton, and her earliest volumes for the young, namely, Sketches of Natural History, and Tales in Prose and Verse.

In 1837 Mr. Howitt quitted Nottingham, where he had been engaged in business, and settled with his family in the pleasant village of Esher, in Surrey, where both he and his wife devoted themselves exclusively to literary pursuits; finding relaxation in the society of their children and of a few intimate friends, and in the enjoyment of their garden and of the beautiful surrounding country. During their three years' residence at Esher, William Howitt produced, in rapid succession, some of his most popular works, The Rural Life of England, Colonization and Christianity, the first series of Visits to Remarkable Places, and his first work for the young, The Boy's Country Book. Mary Howitt during the same time published two of her most popular volumes of poetry for young people, Hymns and Fireside Verses, and Birds and Flowers; also, several volumes of a series of short prose tales, entitled Tales for the People and their Children.

From Esher the Howitts removed to Heidelberg, in Germany, partly for the education of their children, and partly also to perfect themselves in the German language and literature. During his residence in that country, William Howitt wrote The Rural and Domestic Life of Germany, and German Experiences, and he translated a manuscript, written at his request by a German acquaintance, called The History of the Student-Life of Germany. Whilst residing at Heidelberg, William and Mary Howitt were drawn to the study of the Swedish and Danish, and Mary Howitt was thus led to the translation of the works of Fredrika Bremer, then just rising into fame, and later to the translation of the earlier works of Hans Christian Andersen, both of which authors she first introduced to English and American readers. William Howitt also wrote A History of Scandinavian Literature, a work of great research, illustrated with copious specimens from the poets, which were translated by Mary Howitt.

In 1842 they returned to England, and took a residence in the immediate neighborhood of London. Here William Howitt produced the second volume of his Visits to Remarkable Places, and another juvenile book, Jack of the Mill; whilst Mary Howitt was engaged in German and Scandinavian translations. She published also, about

this time, The Children's Year, a diary, kept for twelve months, of the lives of her younger children. Her object was to give to her youthful readers a story “every word of which should be true." She wrote afterwards another little book on the same plan, My Cousins in Ohio, giving the experiences of the children of her youngest sister, Mrs. Anderson of Cincinnati. Both volumes were at once popular.

In 1846, the Howitts were occupied with the publication of The People's Journal, an advocate of social progress, and, on its failure, undertook a periodical of their own, Howitt's Journal, of like character with the other, and with a like result. After laboring at the enterprise for two years, they retired from the field, wiser and sadder than when they went in.

Their next publications were The History of Scandinavian Literature, already mentioned, -Homes and Haunts of the Poets, Madam Dorrington of the Dene, and The Year-Book of the Country, by William Howitt; and, by Mary Howitt, The Heir of Wast-Wayland, and several books for children, among which Mary Leeson and Steadfast Gabriel deserve especial notice.

Upon the discovery of the gold-fields in Australia, William Howitt, accompanied by his two sons, set sail for Melbourne in 1852, being then in his sixtieth year. The fruits of his two years' sojourn in that colony are found in three works, Land, Labor, and Gold; Australian Boy's Book; and a novel, Tallangetta. During the absence of her husband and her sons, Mrs. Howitt with her two daughters took up her residence in the pleasant London suburb of Highgate; and, assisted by her eldest daughter, Anna Mary, saw through the press several of her husband's works. She also compiled A History of the United States, edited a juvenile magazine, The Dial of Love, wrote several juvenile books, and translated Miss Bremer's work on America.

After Mr. Howitt's return from Australia in 1854, he and his family continued to reside at Highgate until 1867. During this time, the literary industry of himself and his wife did not abate. Between the years 1856 and 1862, he wrote five and a half volumes of A Popular History of England, a work designed especially for the instruction of the people. The work was begun, and half of the first volume written by another pen, Mr. Howitt taking up the subject with the reign of Edward I., and bringing it down to the end of the reign of George III. It was followed by a political novel, The Man of the People, descriptive of the state of England half a century ago, and illustrating the social principles advocated in his History and in many of his other writings.

In 1863, he published a work of great research, The History of the Supernatural; and in 1865 another work of careful research, though relating to an entirely different subject, The History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. He published in 1863 a small volume, Letters on Transportation as the Only Means of Effectual Convict Reform, and another, Letters on the Revolting Cruelties practised under the Game Laws, showing those laws to be the most prolific source of convictism.

Mary Howitt meanwhile produced several new juvenile books, Mr. Budd's Grandchildren, Stories of Stapleford, and The Poet's Children. She also published in 1864 a three-volume novel, The Cost of Caergwyn, the scene of which is laid in Wales. This novel, the result of a careful study of the scenery, people, legends, manners, and customs of the Principality, contains probably the most delicate, accurate, and highly finished delineations of human character and of natural scenery which have come from the pen of this experienced writer. It was the result of several summers spent by her in Wales, where she had been greatly impressed by the local coloring and the peculiar characteristics both of the romantic scenery and of the ancient Celtic race.

In 1865, Her Majesty Queen Victoria granted William Howitt a pension from the Civil List, in acknowledgment of his and his wife's long and valuable literary services.

In 1867, William and Mary Howitt, with their daughter Margaret, removed from Highgate to the place of their former residence, Esher, in Surrey, fifteen miles from London. Here William Howitt completed a work which, requiring much research, had occupied him more or less for two or three years, The Northern Heights of London. It may be regarded as a third volume of the "Visits to Remarkable Places.”

Mary Howitt meanwhile composed a series of simple, popular ballads, the subjects homely, but full of pathos and of a religious tendency, admirably adapted to touch the hearts of the laboring class. She also wrote at this time several ballads and short poems for the young; a juvenile story, John Oriel's Start in Life; and another juvenile volume, Our Four-footed Friends, a tale intended to cultivate in the young mind a sympathy with the animal creation. A series of papers on Birds and their Nests inculcated the same sentiments.

In 1870, the Howitts were enabled to gratify a long cherished wish of spending a season in Italy. The summer was given to Switzerland. While there, the FrancoPrussian war broke out, and William Howitt uttered an indignant protest against the alleged cruelties of the Prussians, in a Poem in blank verse, The Mad-War-Planet. Mary Howitt at the same time wrote a book, called A Pleasant Life, which is in fact a continuation of the story of "Mary Leeson," and contains a development of the author's ideas on education, mingled with experience of Swiss life and descriptions of Alpine scenery. The winter of 1870 and '71 was spent in Italy.

William and Mary Howitt celebrated their Golden Wedding in Rome, April 16, 1871, a large circle of friends, English, American, German, and French, gathering around them in kindly welcome.

The summer of 1871 was spent by the Howitts in the mountain region of Austrian Tyrol, with the expectation of residing again in Rome in the winter of 1871-2.

One of the noticeable things in the career of these two authors is the manner in which their lives, their works, their very names are blended in the popular estimate of them. Ebenezer Elliott, the Corn-Law Rhymer, expressed the idea, when he said their names always reminded him of a "William-and-Mary shilling," with their two heads side by side. Another noticeable feature in their career is the warm interest which their writings have always excited in the United States, a tribute of respect which, from their own warm American sympathies, has been very gratifying to them. William Howitt, as his writings show, has been for many years an earnest advocate of what is called "Spiritualism."

Early in their married life, William and Mary Howitt ceased to dress as Friends, or to conform to the other peculiarities of the Society of which by birth and education they were members, and later in life they withdrew entirely from membership in the Society. But to the spirit of the writings, lives, and principles of the Friends they have always been firmly attached, and they have given a noble example of this spirit in their own beautiful lives.

ANNA MARY HOWITT, the oldest daughter of William and Mary, is also a partaker of their literary and artistic tastes.

She is favorably known to the public in the combined character of author and artist. Besides assisting her mother in various literary enterprises, she has published two works of her own which have been well received, An Art-Student in Munich, and The School of Life. In 1859, she was married to Mr. Alfred A. Watts, only son of the late Alaric A. Watts the poet, and an early friend of William and Mary Howitt. Mrs. Watts has sympathized entirely with her father, William Howitt, in his views on "Spiritualism," and has written much on the subject for the Spiritual Magazine. She and her husband also have contributed to this magazine a sories of metaphysical

poems, which are published in a volume, under the title, Aurora, a volume of verse, by Husband and Wife.

MARGARET HOWITT, the youngest daughter, on the marriage of Anna Mary, succeeded to the pleasant office of assistant secretary to their mother.

Margaret helped her mother particularly in collecting materials for the novel, The Cost of Caergwyn. In 1863-4, she spent a year in Sweden, in order to perfect herself in the knowledge of the Scandinavian tongues. Here she was the guest of her mother's friend, Fredrika Bremer. On the death of Miss Bremer, Margaret Howitt published an interesting volume, Twelve Months with Fredrika Bremer, in Sweden. She has also translated from the Swedish, and published, both with and without her name, numerous articles for the magazines.

RICHARD HOWITT, 1799-1869, a brother of William, was settled for some years as a physician in Australia.

He published, in 1845, as the result of his sojourn there, a volume entitled Impressions of Australia Felix, consisting of a charmingly written diary, and of various poems suggested by the novel objects and scenery around him. He is also the author of three volumes of tasteful poetry, Antediluvian Sketches and Other Poems, The Gipsy King and Other Poems, and Wasp's Honey or Poetic Gold.

Robert and William Chambers.

ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1802–1871, and WILLIAM CHAMBERS, 1800authors and publisher, of Edinburgh, are known and honored wherever English books are read, or the English language is spoken.

By their sagacity and enterprise, these brothers have unaided accomplished what the vast and unwieldy Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge undertook, - they have made knowledge cheap in Great Britain, and they have diffused it as no other agency before ever did in that country. They began as booksellers, and, combining authorship with trade to an extent not usual, have had a wonderful success. Both in what they have written and in what they have published, their object has been to present those subjects which were of interest to the greatest number of readers, to make them attractive in style and form and easily understood, and at such a low rate of cost as to secure a large circulation. The idea, of course, has no novelty. Many have thought and tried the same thing. The peculiarity in the work of these men has been the sagacity and sound judgment which have marked all their enterprises. The separate works written by Robert Chambers are: Traditions of Edinburgh; Popular Rhymes of Scotland; Pictures of Scotland; History of the Scottish Rebellion; Life of James I.; Scottish Ballads and Songs; Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen. He was also the principal editor of the Encyclopædia of English Literature. The separate works of William Chambers are: The Book of Scotland; Things as they are in America; A Tour in Holland; Peebles and its Neighborhood; Improved Dwelling-House for the Humble, etc.

The brothers jointly in 1832 began the Edinburgh (weekly) Journal, which was their first great success. It obtained almost immediately a circulation of 50,000, which