Works of art, or of the imagination are rarely improved by reconstruction. Poems, least of of them can find employment by applying to EDMUND COLE, proprietor of the California Exchange, who is endeavoring to get up this popular dance. all, are ever made the better by after touches. Another want' advertised, strikes us as being If the poet, in the present glow of his fancy, does not express his thought as he could wish, it is in the last degree improbable that he will be able to do so in the cold seclusion of his closet. And, if, having wreathed it, as he may suppose afterwards, with a redundancy of ornament, he We are greatly pleased with the naïveté of the shall undertake, when the poetic fury has passed following announcement We away, to prune it down, the chances are ten to one that he will mutilate and deform it. have been forcibly struck with this in reading a The Faun over his Gobpoem by Stoddard, let," re-written for the May number of the International, which was originally published in the Messenger for June. 1849, and then entitled The Broken Goblet." No one can read the He therefore announces himself as a candidate for the office of Recorder of the city of San Francisco, to discharge the duties of the office, assisted by his knowledge of German, French and Spanish, to the satisfaction of two versions without being struck with the infehimself and every body else, subject, however to the nom-licity of the changes. We give a few parallel ination of the great Whig Reform Party. The Literature of the sell-mob seems to have have made its way to the Pacific, as we may infer from the only book advertisement that we notice; NOISY CARRIER'S PUB' ISHING HALL, Washington Block, up Stairs, Central Wharf. The subscriber has for sale at the above place, a great variety of useful, thrilling, interesting and amusing works, among which are the Sea Lark, the Dark Sybil, the Turkish Slave, or the Mahometan and his Harem, the Black Knight, the Haunted Bride, Red Rupert, Lucy Marline, Hugh Capet or Count of Paris, the Child of Sierra, or the Gipsey Brigand, Alphonso or the Mystic Riders of the Agu Hessan, Zuleika, or the Castilian Captive, the Bell of Madrid, or the Unknown Mask, Bel Isabel, or the Conspirators of Cuba, the Prophet of the Bohman Wald, Big Thunder, or the Chief of the Anti-renters, the Rover of the Reef, the Golden Eagle, or Privateer of '76, Wharton the Whale Killer, Leopold the Avenger, which will be sold very cheap. The worthy bibliopole, who offers for sale these choice publications, appends to the list some counteracting agents which we should conceive to be, in the highest degree, necessary. ALSO, for sale, 90 doz. of Dr. Harpy's Bitters, used by most of the bars in the Eastern States, and Curtis & Perkins' Pain Killer. A bit of a wag who thinks of coming home holds out a tempting inducement to the capitalist "NOTICE TO EMIGRANTS.-A gentleman who has been in California two years, desiring to return to the "white settlements" on the Atlantic, offers to sell his chances in California, for the moderate sum of $20,000. Appreciating his great prospect of making a pile soon, and his past experience in viewing the Elephant, nothing would induce him to make such a sacrifice except the most liberal disposition. The advertiser will receive Moffat & Co.'s coin and ingots at par value. G. S." passages italicising some lines in the original that have been omitted in the second version, to the injury, as it seems to us, of the general effect. Original. Alas, my goblet, Pan was engraven on it, rural Pan, Version of "The International." My goblet was exceeding beautiful, Original. And on the shore were maids with waving scarfs, Version of "The International." My goblet was exceeding beautiful. But I have broken my divinest cup And trod its fragments in the dust of Earth. Original. But all is vanished, lost, forever lost! Version of "The International." But all is vanished, lost, forever lost! And trod its fragments in the dust of earth! Besides these and many other omissions in the Faun's lament, there are left out in the new poem both the introduction and the conclusion of the original, which tell the story how the shepherds found the faun, in Arcady of old, asleep beneath an oak, and bound him to the tree with strings of grape vine, and made his song the condition of his liberation. The conclusion is so beautiful that we quote it here, referring the reader to Vol. 15 of the Messenger, page 349, for the whole poem. The swains unbound the faun, delighted with him ;- To seek our straying flocks: I've marred it some, I have been sleeping-drunken with the wine, The original is said to be " From the German," but as the author has omitted this heading also. we suppose it was merely a ruse. Apropos of Stoddard, we learn with delight that Ticknor, Reed & Fields have in press an edition of his collected Poems. The Revue des Deux Mondes of the date of May 1st contains a long and interesting review of Alton Locke. The writer thinks that Socialism can never make any alarming progress in England because of the antagonism of the English character, and the religion and institutions of the country. John Bull is altogether too reserved and unsocial an animal to become gregarious or frateruizing. He says "One may say of the English nation that it is composed of a multitude of Englands in miniature, (de petites Angleterres) that each individual is himself a little island, having his own original products and his peculiar resources." The reviewer is of opinion that the tendency of Alton Locke is so far from socialistic, that the reverse is the fact. We observe, in the last number of the Southern Quarterly Review, among other attractive artiticles, a noble recognition of Northern Literary excellence. It is a discriminating and well-considered essay on Mr. Everett's Orations and Speeches, in which the high merits of that eminent orator are warmly acknowledged. We happen to know, but doubt whether we are at liberty to mention, the name of the author. He is a distinguished resident of Charleston. When may we expect such praise of anything Southern from that parochial observer, the North American? Professor Sylvester, who, some years since, occupied the Chair of Mathematics in our State University, has been directing his attention to M. Foucault's experiment of making visible the diurnal revolution of the earth. Professor Sylvester has written a letter to the London Times, in which he concedes the entire success of the demonstration, but says it is absurd for people who are unacquainted with mechanical and geometrical science to attempt it. It is well that the experiment does not require a small portion of common sense, or Professor Sylvester himself could not have made any progress in it at all. The New York Correspondent of the Washington Republic, speaking of the retirement of Mr. Raymond from the editorial department of the N. Y. Courier and Enquirer, says, "As a newspaper writer, Mr. Raymond has great fluency and facility, rather than great power; and if the merit of writing were to be measured by a yard-stick, he would be justly entitled to the appellation of the greatest prose writer we have produced. He has an admirable talent at filling up a column, and can spread an idea, or the shadow of one, over an inconceivable space." This estimation of merit by the yard-stick is certainly a novel idea. jokes, but we do protest with all our strength against the borders of Virginia, as truthful delineations in any one works of Mrs. Southworth being received beyond the particular of life and society in this state. A new edition of the Golden Ass of Apuleius, be regarded here in any other light than as very good translated by Sir George Head, is among the atest literary novelties of London. It comes from the press of the Longmans. The critics speak favorably of the work of the translator. For sale by Nash & Woodhouse. Notices of New Works. THE MOTHER-IN-LAW; OR THE ISLE OF RAYS. A Tale. By Emma D. E. Nevitt Southworth, author of "Retribution, or the Vale of Shadows;" "Shannondale;" "The Deserted Wife;" etc., etc. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 200 Broadway. Philadelphia: G. S. Appleton, 64 Chestnut Street. 1851. This is the "latest and newest" work from the pen of Mrs. Emma D. E. Nevitt Southworth-a lady who has of late, through the agency of the enterprising firm of Appleton & Co., been flooding the United States with the "Deserted Wife," "Shannondale," and other volumes of questionable or rather wholly unquestionable morality. MOUNT HOPE; or, Philip, King of the Wampanoags : The romantic history of the fugitive regicides, Goffe and Whalley, who dodged the officers of the second Charles through New England, from the Restoration to to the day of their death, is one of the most interesting episodes of our colonial history. We wonder that Cooper never acted upon the suggestion, thrown out by Sir Walter Scott in a well-known note to Peveril of the Peak, to bring these remarkable men before the reader and to embody in the form of romance the many poetic traditions that survive of their character and personal qualities. Mr. Hollister has attempted to do this, and the result has not been such as might have been expected from the author of the Spy. Still his book has decided merit. The title in itself is enough to attract the reader's notice, as it is connected with the fate and fortunes of the most striking figure that stands out upon the canvass of those troublous days, when the red-man was roused to a fearful revenge by the fraud and injustice of the white race. Out of such materials, the iron judges and the iron chief, Mr. Hollister must, indeed, have deplorably failed, if his book did not possess a certain degree of interest. A book was published some years since, in New Haven, which presented, in very graceful narrative, the legend of the It is almost impossible to convey a distinct idea of the nature of the immorality we refer to; for with one or two exceptions (a scene for example on a steamboat in "The Deserted Wife,") there are no positively immoral passages in Mrs. Southworth's writings. It is rather in the tone, the coloring, the general moulding of character and feeling that this lady's strong, unfeminine, thoroughly" White Lady of the Mist" who was supposed to have French organization betrays itself. We hope she will some supernatural agency in supporting the regicides, in pardon us if we are in error, but having just run over this their concealment, within the Cave of West Rock. The her latest and strongest work, we have come to the con- name of the author was not given, but we recollect to clusion that the authoress of "The Mother-in-Law" is a have read the volume with great pleasure. The tombs of diligent and admiring reader of the more exceptionable Goffe and Whalley are yet pointed out to the stranger, productions of the present French School of Romance in New Haven, and of late years a handsome monument writers. The fault lies not in indelicate scenes, but in has been erected to their compatriot, Dixwell, who was highly indelicate allusions and incidents of the plot— also the object of kingly persecution. The flight of these such as a careful perusal could only make evident. men, as a subject for fiction, offers an inviting theme to the novelist, despite all that has been written concerning it, by various hands. We should like to see it properly worked up. God forbid, however, that "The Deserted Wife," etc., should be bought and read to verify our remarks! There could be few greater evils in our estimation, than the introduction of these warm, highly-colored, "artist" pro- Mr. Hollister has reason to congratulate himself on the ductions, (as Mrs. Southworth no doubt would charac-handsome appearance of his volume. The clear print, terize them,) into a Virginia family of young girls and and presentable form of the book will induce many to read boys. We cannot, and we do not pretend to, deny Mrs. it, who would have been deterred from its perusal in the Southworth much talent. Her style though at times al- small type and double columns of the ordinary novels. together too ambitious and diffuse, and in many passa- For sale by Morris & Brother. ges highly Frenchified, is ready and flowing-her characters, if they betray no deep insight into the human heart are well conceived-and her plots are generally, with the exception of the last half of every volume, good. The plot of the "Mother-in-Law," the best to be found in any of her works, with a little more care might have been made very striking. Mrs. Southworth has of late turned her attention to a subject which we advise her, with all respect, to abandon at once. We mean the description of what she conceives to be Virginia Society. We cannot go into particulars, but will state in a few words our private opinion, “which," as Mr. Poe says, we now take the liberty of making public," that balder, more exaggerated, more utterly truthless representations of the outer or inner life of Virginians, were never thrust upon a bamboozled community. These things will not THE DANGERS AND DUTIES OF Tthe Mercantile PRO- We should be at no loss whatever in setting Mr. Hillard down as a Bostonian, from the title page of this little publication. And merely because it affords no clue, but the name of the publishers, to the locus in quo. Observe. It is “An Address delivered before the Mercantile Library Association." Where this excellent body carries on its laudable pursuits, we are not informed. It may be in Detroit, or in Galveston, for aught that we are told to the contrary. The explanation is extremely simple, and eminently characteristic of Mr. Hillard's place of resi- | oil, or some of them low fellows." But we will do him dence. Of course there is but one "Mercantile Library the justice to say that in prose he is at times very feliciAssociation" in the world, and that is in Boston, and tous, and the aforesaid Crock of Gold' will bear us out when he says "the Mercantile Library Association," we in the opinion. The present volumes are stated to be the should be blockheads if we did not understand it. first two of a complete series of the works of the author. He writes for one of them a particularly silly preface da Barring the assumption of the title, we find Mr. Hillard's address not only unexceptionable, but, in all rested at Philadelphia, which is enough to make any sensible pects praiseworthy. It is written in a pure and nervous style, and embodies many excellent suggestions to the class of merchants. One hint, we think well worth quoting: "To a young man away from home, friendless and forlorn in a great city, the hours of peril are those between sunset and bed-time, for the moon and stars see more of evil in a single hour than the sun in his whole day's circuit. The poet's visions of evening are all compact of tender and soothing images. It brings the wanderer to his home, the child to his mother's arms, the ox to his stall, and the weary laborer to his rest. But to the gentle-hearted youth who is thrown upon the rocks of a pitiless city, and stands "homeless amid a thousand homes," the approach of evening brings with it an aching sense of loneliness and desolation, which comes down upon the spirit like darkness upon the earth. In this mood, his best impulses become a snare to him, and he is led astray because he is social, affectionate, sympathetic, and warmhearted. If there be a young man thus circumstanced within the sound of my voice, let me say to him that books are the friends of the friendless, and that a library is the home of the homeless. A taste for reading will always carry you into the best possible company, and enable you to converse with men who will instruct you by their wisdom and charm you by their wit, who will soothe you when fretted, refresh you when weary, counsel you when perplexed, and sympathize with you at all times. Evil spirits, in the Middle Ages, were exorcised and driven away by bell, book, and candle; you want but two of these agents, the book and the candle." Our thanks are due to G. M. West & Brother, the Richmond agents, for the International Monthly Magazine for May. We have received from the same house the last number of the Boston Edition (Phillips, Sampson & Company) of Shakspeare's Dramatic Works. It contains the tragedy of Othello. The plate of Desdemona has been unavoidably delayed, but will be furnished in the first number of an edition of Shakspeare's Poems which the publishers, encouraged by the success of their edition of the Plays, design to bring out, in uniform style. THE CROCK OF GOLD, and other Tales. By Martin Farquhar Tupper, D. C. L., F. R. S. Author of "Proverbial Philosophy," etc., etc. Authorized Edition. Philadelphia: Published by E. H. Butler & Co. 1851. AN AUTHOR'S MIND, Miscellaneous Essays, Probabilities. Same author and publishers. 6 man lay it down forever, and is guilty also of the niaiserie of dedicating the series to the American People, who are expected to pay for the compliment by buying immense editions of it. J. W. Randolph has these volumes for sale. THE HOUSE of the Seven GABLES. A Romance. By Our valued contributor, Mr. Tuckerman, has so fully THE AUTO-BIOGRAPHY AND MEMORIALS OF CAPtain OBADIAH CONGAR; for fifty years mariner and ship master from the port of New York. By Rev. HENRY T. CHEEVER, author of the "Island World of the Pacific, etc. New York. Harper & Brothers. 82 Cliff Street. 1851. from the very cursory perusal which more important enThis seems to be a very excellent little work judging gagements have forced us to content ourselves with. New York, who, unsupported and alone, determined, at an Capt. Congar was a veteran sailor and ship-master of early period of his life, rigidly to preserve the sanctity of the sabbath, and persisted in his resolution to the end of his days. He would never set sail on the sabbath, or on that day permit his men to engage in any labor but those "works of necessity" imperative on board a ship. On one of these occasions he refused to order all sail to be set, when a most favorable breeze had sprung up and several of his passengers were very anxious to be sped on their The Rev. Mr. Cheever says of his auto-biography voyage. "The character it gradually developes is the real one of a humble, conscientious, active and practical Christian mariner. ** It is a character the groundwork of which is altogether natural and common, being neither much above nor any below the ordinary level of human abilities, but so ribbed-braced and undergirded by strong moral principle and the fear of God that it was far more than ordinarily effective for good in its day and generation." Upon our word, two very brave volumes, beautifully gotten up. As for their contents, perhaps the less said the better. But no, we recant that. The Crock of Gold' we have always thought a very pretty story, and there may be good things that we have not stumbled upon, in We commend the work to the careful perusal of all; the "Miscellaneous Essays:" It is something in their but more especially will every Christian who reads it be favor, certainly, that they are not written in poetry, for filled with admiration of this sturdy-hearted mariner whenever Tupper poetizes we like to be out of the way. who buffeted the storms of an originally vicious character He talks verse, as the elder Mr. Weller says, like "a bea-, as successfully as the surges of the Atlantic during his dle on a boxing day, or Warren's blacking, or Rowland's fifty years of service. WILHELM MEISTER's Apprenticeship and Travels. From the German of Goethe. In Two Volumes. A New Edition, Revised. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, & Fields, 1851. This is by far the most beautiful edition we have ever seen of the Wilhelm Meister; a work which is scarcely less remarkable than the Faust of its great author. The translation is by Carlyle, and the first volume contains a preface written in pure and vigorous English. It is fair to say that this preface was written as far back as 1824. No one, we feel certain, whose opinion of Carlyle has been made up from the grotesque productions which have of late years come from his pen, would ever suppose that so intelligible an Essay on the peculiar merits of Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels was written by him. Concerning the work itself, we have our own opinions which differ very widely from the general estimation of it. Per haps, if occasion offers, we may lay them before the public for what they are worth; but it would require a much greater space than we have now at command even to state them fully, and to fortify ourselves in the position we should take, would protract our remarks much beyond that. The work, at all events, is one of the most striking that the Century has brought forth. We have received these volumes from Morris & Brother. no one will be likely to complain of it, on that account. The typography of the volume is exceedingly good and the series of Cooper's works in the new edition, which is nearly completed, makes a handsome appearance on the library shelves. The Two Admirals may be obtained of Nash & Woodhouse. THE FRUIT, FLOWER, AND KITCHEN GARDEN. By PATRICK NEILL, LL. D., F. R. S. E. Adapted to the United States. From the Fourth Edition. Revised and Improved by the Author. Philadelphia. Henry Carey Baird: Successor to E. L. Carey. 1851. tains to all kinds of plants, vegetables and fruits that can An excellent work, very seasonably published. It peradorn our parlors or set off our dinner-tables, and ought to be in the hands of every lady in the land who has a garden wherein to act upon its suggestions. For ourselves, confined to the bricks and mortar of a city, we are not able to appreciate the contents of the volume, but we have sent our copy to a lady in the country whose elegant taste in such matters will enable her to use it to great advantage. We have received the book through Morris & Brother. THE ALHAMBRA. By WASHINGTON IRVING. Author's ROMANCE DUST from the Historic Placer. By WILLIAM Revised Edition. New York: Geo. P. Putuam. 155 Broadway. 1851. The finest compliment ever paid to Washington Irving was by Dickens, in one of those dinner speeches which he delivered during his visit to the United States, when our people were making asses of themselves in lionizing him. He said that Irving had “peopled the Alhambra, and made eloquent its shadows." We rejoice to be reminded of the author's delightful labours in so attractive a field. Perhaps no one of Irving's works affords a more universal pleasure than this guide-book through the deserted corridors and magnificent ruins of the old Moorish palace. As we go along, the past revives; the crumbling pillars of the delicate Morisco architecture are restored, with their entablatures of porcelain and lapis-lazuli; the fountains play freshly in the morning sunlight, and we may almost fancy we hear the lutes again sounding through the shady courts and gardens of the enchanted place. It is, indeed, a charming volume and cheats the imagination in the pleasantest manner possible. The new and elegant edition of Irving's Complete Works is now finished, so far as the author's previons writings are concerned. We believe some volumes are to follow which have never yet been in print. The fifteen already out are, in the highest degree creditable, in style and appearance, to the publisher, Mr. Putnam. Nash & Woodhouse have them for sale. STARBUCK MAYO, M. D. Author of "Kaloolah," &c., &c. New York: George P. Putnam, 155 Broadway. 1851. This new adventure of Dr. Mayo in the fields of literature, is made up of short and pleasant sketches of personal incident and historical reminiscence, and is a very acceptable volume for the steamboat or the rail-car. One of the subjects" Washington's First Battle, or Braddock's Defeat" is treated in verse after the manner of Macaulay's lyrics. The lines are smooth and sometimes vigorous, though scarcely equal to the Englishman's. Nash & Woodhouse have sent us the volume. THE CESARS. BY THOMAS DE QUINCEY, Author of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater," etc., etc. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, & Fields. 1851. This volume is a gallery of historical portraits and pictures, all of which are painted in words with the singular power and brilliant coloring of the writer as exhibited in his previous works. We cannot say more for it than that it is worthy of the author of the "Confessions of an Opium Eater." It may be obtained of Morris & Brother. 66 THE TWO ADMIRALS: A Tale. By the Author of the Pilot," "Red Rover," etc., etc. New York. George P. Putnam. 155 Broadway, 1851. HARMONY OF PROPHECY; Or Scriptural Illustrations of the Apocalypse. By the REV. ALEX. KEITH, Author of the Evidence of Prophecy." New York: Harper & Brothers: 82 Cliff Street. 1851. Keith has been long acknowledged as one of the highest It has never been settled whether the proper home of authorities on Prophecy. The present volume is a reCooper is upon the ocean, or in the native forest of the view of the Revelations, as compared with, and illustrated Indian. The graphic and stirring portraitures of sea-life by, other passages of Scripture. It has evidently been given in the present volume, are likely to add perplexity a work of great labour and research and will be a most to the question. The story is drawn out to a greater acceptable companion to the diligent student of the divine length than any of the author's previous romances, but word. |