图书图片
PDF
ePub

THE EDITOR'S TABLE.

IN commencing our Magazine we were told that the only way to gain a large circulation was to spend our money upon show rather than upon substance; to make the pictures everything, and the reading matter nothing, or at least of that whipt-syllabub character-milk-sop poetry and love-stories-which comes about as near to nothing as those imaginary mathematical lines that are ever drawing nearer, though they never actually meet! We confess such was not our measure of the public taste. We had not so learned the American character. While, therefore, we determined that our Magazine should not be behind any in regard to its embellishments, we rested its claims to success mainly upon its literary merits. We aimed to secure, as constant contributors to the Magazine, the very best class of writers, and to fill its pages with matter that would be useful and instructive, and at the same time attractive. Experience has proved the correctness of this opinion. No Magazine, so far as we are aware, ever had such a sudden and full measure of success. It has found its way into an important class of the community who have hitherto not been Magazine readers, who have been rather opposed to such works as dissipating and frivolous, but who find, in a Magazine such as we furnish, the very best antidote to that vicious taste for trashy novels which is doing so much to deprave the public mind. To all such readers, and indeed to all our readers, we desire to say that we shall continue in the same line in which we have begun. While we shall remit nothing of

our diligence in regard to whatever affects the external appearance of the Magazine, we shall ever bend our main efforts to the maintenance of the character it has already acquired for literary excellence. We intend, indeed, that the succeeding volume shall be superior, in every respect, to its predecessors.

PREMIUMS.-The system of granting premiums to subscribers will be discontinued after the year 1850. Money heretofore expended on premiums will be used hereafter in embellishing the book itself. Those wishing to secure our superior premium plates can only do so by commencing with either of the volumes for the present year.

OUR JULY NUMBER.—The first number of our new volume will contain, besides a brilliant coloured Title-Page, and a tinted engraving of Summer, some fourteen or fifteen embellishments illustrating the life of WILLIAM PENN, the founder of the Keystone State. Among these will be a finely executed line engraving representing the celebrated Treaty with the Indians, and another, a superb mezzotinto likeness of Penn with flowing locks and in armour, before he had donned the Quaker garb. This likeness is engraved from the original portrait painted from life in Ireland, in 1666. The biographical sketch accompanying these embellishments is from the pen of Edward Ingraham, Esq., of this city.

As we are printing only a limited quantity of the July number beyond our regular edition, those wishing to possess this number separately, will do well to make early application. One Dollar remitted free of charge will secure five copies.

THE COMMENCEMENT OF VOLUMES.-Sartain's Magazine is divided into two volumes yearly, commencing severally in January and July. We have full sets from January 1850. Subscribers therefore can commence with either January 1850, or July 1850.

MRS. ESLING'S POEMS. Lindsay and Blakiston are preparing to publish a volume, entitled "Broken Bracelet and other Poems," by Mrs. Esling (formerly Miss Waterman). Mrs. Esling is agreeably known to the public, both under her present and her maiden name, as a contributor to the leading magazines. Her volume will be an acceptable offering to a large circle of admirers.

[blocks in formation]

So wrote that noble-hearted woman, Frederika Bremer, just ten years ago, in one of the loveliest tales of domestic life that was ever penned; and so were the words translated by that other noble-hearted woman, Mary Howitt, in 1842; and this was the first time that the name of Jenny Lind was made familiar to the British and American public.

The unrivalled mistress of song, now in the meridian of her glory, is about to visit our shores. Among the thousand notes of welcome that greet her approach, we doubt whether any will be more grateful than that to be found in our present number, from the pen of the same good and gifted woman, who first made her known to these western climes, and who by a pleasant coincidence is now at the same time a sojourner amongst us.

BURNS'S HIGHLAND MARY.

Among the many things written on this subject, we recollect nothing more beautiful than the opening stanzas of a poem in the March Number of Blackwood. The poem, as a whole, is not well sustained. But the first three or four stanzas strike us as uncommonly fine. We quote them.

1.

O loved by him whom Scotland loves,
Long loved, and honoured duly
By all who love the bard who sang
So sweetly and so truly!

In cultured dales his song prevails,

Thrills o'er the eagle's aëry,

Ah! who that strain has caught, nor sighed For Burns's "Highland Mary ?"

II.

I wandered on from hill to hill,
I feared nor wind nor weather;
For Burns beside me trode the moor,
Beside me pressed the heather.

I read his verse-his life-alas!

O'er that dark shapes extended :With thee at last, and him in thee, My thoughts their wanderings ended.

III.

His golden hours of youth were thine, Those hours whose flight is fleetest; Of all his songs to thee he gave

The freshest and the sweetest. Ere ripe the fruit, one branch he brake, All rich with bloom and blossom; And shook its dews, its incense shook, Above thy brow and bosom.

TITLED LITERATI.

Christopher North is something of a democrat after all. In discoursing of the English practice of conferring baronetcy, knighthood, and the like, upon literary men, he says, "We should extremely regret to see literary men becoming candidates for these honours. They do not want them; they have already taken a title from their works. The title-page of their book is their best order of knighthood. The 'Author of Waverley!'-can any prince's sword dub a man with a title like that, or any title that shall be remembered by the side of it? These distinctions are becoming common amongst scientific men of eminence, and what is the result? Not that those are more honoured who possess them, but that many who possess them not, feel slighted and aggrieved. And yet the common forms of language are enough to show how superfluous such titles are, to both literary and scientific men of distinguished merit; for no sooner does a man become famous than all prefix whatever to his name is dropped. The highest honour is to be stripped bare to the simple surname. It is plain Newton or Locke men speak of. No one talks of Sir Isaac's Principia. A Sir Joseph Banks may keep his title. But even a Sir Humphry Davy has some difficulty to retain his. Whenever the language of the writer rises into panegyric, we have remarked that it becomes plain Davy. We hear and read always of one Faraday. The living man has already obtained this highest of nominal distinctions, to be without a prefix. For ourselves, we know not whether it is Mr. or Sir that is omitted; but we know this, that if the Sir is yet to come, it will drop off, it will not stick."

BOOK NOTICES.

MAHOMET AND HIS SUCCESSORS. By Washington Irving. There is an air of wild romance about these volumes which gives them a peculiar fascination. This may be in part owing to the peculiar character of the Arabs, as the author would very modestly have us believe. But recollecting, as we do, the many grievously heavy tomes on the same subject which have been heretofore issued, we cannot but feel that we must seek for the fascination nearer home. It is Mr. Irving, and not the subject, that has beguiled us. With that industry in the collection of facts

which has characterized all his writings, and with that peculiar felicity of manner, not less characteristic, by which he adorns whatever he touches, he has produced a work authentic as a history and yet as seductive as a professed work of fiction. For sale by A. Hart, Philadelphia.

ALLSTON'S POEMS AND LECTURES ON ART. Baker & Scribner. We are informed by the editor of this volume, Mr. Dana, that on the death of Mr. Allston, it was determined by his literary executors to prepare his biography and correspondence, and publish them in connexion with his writings, the whole making two volumes of the size of the present. A delay has unfortunately occurred in the preparation of the biography and correspondence; and, as there have been frequent calls for the publication of his poems and of his lectures on Art, it was thought best to give them at once to the public in their present form, without awaiting the completion of the whole design. We are given to understand, however, that when the biography and correspondence are published, they will be in form and size to match the present volume. It is the second instalment of a rich legacy, the first being as yet unpaid and past due.

REDWOOD. By Miss Sedgwick. We are glad to see that Mr. Putnam, having nearly completed his valuable editions of Irving and Cooper, has commenced an edition of Miss Sedgwick's Works, uniform in size and appearance with the former. "Redwood," the first of the series, first appeared about fifteen years since. Its reappearance, in its present elegant attire, will be welcomed by many old friends, and by a large reading public that has come upon the stage since that time.

HUME'S ENGLAND. Harpers' Edition. No library is accounted complete which has not a copy of this standard historical work, and no opportunity, probably, has ever occurred, since its first publication, to procure a good copy at so small an expense. This edition is in six volumes, small 8vo. and is sold at retail at the small price of forty cents a volume in neat muslin binding. The work has been brought out with great rapidity. In our last number we had the pleasure of announcing only the first volume. The whole work is now complete. The publishers announce Milman's Gibbon's Rome, in the same style and at the same price. For sale by Dewitt & Davenport, New York.

WHITE-JACKET; or the World in a Man-of-War. By Herman Melville. Harpers. We have not been able to read this inviting volume-and much to our regret, for we doubt not, from the character of Mr. Melville's former volumes, the readers of "White-Jacket" are destined to a rare entertainment. Mr. Melville says in a preliminary note that in 1843 he shipped as an "ordinary seaman" on board of a United States frigate, then lying in a harbour of the Pacific ocean. After remaining in this frigate for more than a year, he was discharged from the service upon the vessel's arrival home. The experiences of that year form the basis of the present volume.

THE CONVICT SHIP. By Colin Arrott Browning, M.D. Lindsay & Blakiston. The author of this interesting volume is a surgeon in the British navy. He was placed in charge of some two or three hundred convicts during their transportation to the penal colony of Van Diemen's Land. Being a man of a truly Christian spirit, he deliberately undertook the reformation of these criminals, during their voyage. The results of his labours are given in the present publication. The book is remarkable, not so much for its style, as for the facts which it contains. Dr. Browning narrates with great simplicity and straightforwardness the steps which he pursued with these unpromising subjects. The results were of a character to awaken very strongly public attention in Great Britain, where the book has passed rapidly through four editions, and we doubt not a similar impression upon the public mind will follow the republication of the work in this country. The work is introduced to the American public with a recommendatory preface by the Rev. James H. Fowles, of Philadelphia.

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

THE MERCERSBURG REVIEW. The March number of this | Parnell, and Bolingbroke, and some fifty pages of miscelwork confirms the favourable opinion already expressed in regard to it. The articles are not numerous, but show learning and ability. They are chiefly metaphysical and theological.

PICTORIAL LIFE and AdventureS OF JACK SHEPPARD. By William Harrison Ainsworth. T. B. Peterson. Complete in one volume. Price 50 cents.

BYRNE'S DICTIONARY OF MECHANICS, ENGINE-WORK, AND ENGINEERING. Parts VII. and VIII. of this great work has been received from the publishers, D. Appleton & Co., New York.

THE THREE ROYAL MAGI. By Prof. Blumenthal. Philadelphia: Henry Perkins. This is partly a translation, and partly an adaptation, of a German work. It is a legend of the birth of our Saviour, and is of a most curious, and to us altogether novel character. The writer shows an intimate acquaintance with the state of the world at the time of the advent, and has woven his erudition into a fiction of peculiar interest. Though only intended as a story book for children, we have read no book during the month with more eager interest. It is embellished with several good tinted engravings by Devereux.

A DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH SYNONYMES. By the Rev. James Rawson, A.M. Lindsay & Blakiston. Most readers are familiar with the large work of Crabbe on this subject. In that, and other similar works, the relations of the words grouped together as synonymous are explained and defined. These explanations and definitions, acute and ingenious as they are, and important as they are for the purposes of study and investigation, are yet often in the way for the purposes of immediate reference, during the progress of composition. Mr. Rawson, in the preparation of his work, has given no remarks or definitions, but simply grouped together the words of kindred meaning, intending his book to be rather to assist the memory than to inform the judgment-a book for the table, not for the shelf.

WOMAN IN AMERICA. By Maria J. M'Intosh. New York: D. Appleton & Co. We have read this essay with much satisfaction. Miss M'Intosh shows in several introductory chapters the position and mission of Man in America, and asserts that he has to a good degree fulfilled that mission, but Woman thus far has greatly misunderstood both. Man gives tone to political, Woman to social life. But in the former we are as a nation independent, self-relying, and moving onward with a calmness marking just confidence in our powers, while in social life we are a nation of imitators, the apes of every folly, the apologists of every vice to which European custom has given a sanction. To American women we must look to rectify the errors of American society. From them we may hope to derive a life freer from factitious distinctions, controlled more by enlightened convictions and less by conventional forms, a life nobler, more spiritual, more in conformity with Christian principles than any the world has yet seen. Such is the tenor of the opinions advanced in this valuable essay. Miss M'Intosh's style of writing is cultivated and chaste, and if sometimes wanting in vigour, is never marred by a vicious straining for effect. Her views of life are sober, but discriminating and thoughtful, and the whole tone of her book is that of a true, because a conservative progress. MARY ELLIS. American Sunday School Union. We have sometimes thought the Sunday School Union erred in withholding from the public the names of the authors of the books which they publish. We suppose, however, it is better as it is. The neat little volume, whose title we have quoted, is understood to have been written by a lady of this city, the author of "The Country School-House." Both books are written in an easy, familiar, and winning style, and though not characterized by much power, are yet well suited to be useful.

GOLDSMITH'S MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. Putnam's Edition. We are indebted to J. W. Moore of this city, for Vol. III. of the new edition of Goldsmith's works, containing "The Vicar of Wakefield," the biographies of Voltaise, Nash

laneous criticism. The critical papers, and the biographies of Voltaire and Nash are now first collected. The present is a favourable opportunity for those who wish to supply themselves with a valuable and at the same time cheap copy of the works of this great writer.

DECK AND PORT. By the Rev. Walter Colton. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. Mr. Colton, so well and favourably known by his former publications, has here given us, in a stout duodecimo of four hundred pages, a lively account of his cruise to California in the U. S. Frigate Congress, with sketches of Rio Janeiro, Valparaiso, Lima, Honolulu, and San Francisco. It is to be followed, we perceive, by another volume, entitled "Three Years in Alta California." The present work is embellished with a finely engraved likeness of Commodore Stockton, and several tinted lithographs, which give the book a very pretty appearance.

MACKAY'S POPULAR DELUSIONS. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. No history is more instructive than the history of folly, and among the lessons which history teaches, none is more striking than the recurrence of the same set of follies in the course of ages. It does really seem, on looking over Mr. Mackay's book, as if there was no new folly under the sun. For every type of popular delusion which may now exist, some parallel antetype would seem to be found among the exploded theories whose history is here recorded. Indeed, there is commonly no more successful mode of resisting the progress of one of these moral epidemics, than to hunt up and republish some such forgotten piece of history. Although, therefore, Mr. Mackay's volumes profess to be only a history of exploded popular delusions, the very narrative has the effect of argument and most efficient argument-against many of the delusions now rife in the world. We were about to say that the work was very seasonable-but when could it be out of season? Such a work is always needed.

LIEBIG'S COMPLETE WORKS. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson. This is, we believe, the first time that Liebig's Chemical Works have been given in this country, entire in one volume, at least in so cheap and convenient a form. Here we have, first, the work on Agricultural Chemistry, second, the work on Animal Chemistry, third, the familiar letters on the applications of Chemistry to Commerce, &c., all included in one octavo volume of three hundred pages and sold at the low price of one dollar.

LYNCH'S DEAD SEA EXPEDITION. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard. In consequence of the success of his former and larger publication, Lieutenant Lynch has given it in a condensed and cheaper form, intended for general circulation. It is a small-sized octavo of three hundred and thirty-two pages, with a new map reduced from that belonging to the Government. In this cheaper form it will no doubt find its way into the hands of many who were interested in the subject, but were unable to bear the expense of the more costly work.

The very

MRS. ELLET'S WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION. New York: Baker & Scribner. Mrs. Ellet has made for herself the niche which she occupies in the enduring temple of Amenobody before her seems to have thought of, and has made rican literature. She has hunted up a subject which it interesting by her industry and talents. marked favour attending the publication of her former volumes has encouraged her to go on with the subject and produce a third. The present volume is on the same plan as the two former. In truth, it is only a continuation of the same work. It contains twenty-two distinct biographies, commencing with one of uncommon interest and value in regard to Mrs. Annis Stockton of Princeton.

GIBBON'S ROME. Boston Edition. Messrs. Phillips, Sampson & Co. continue to issue at rapid intervals their editions of this standard work. It is to be completed in six volumes, small octavo, with a full index, and notes by Milman. It corresponds in appearance to their edition of Hume which has won such general favour. Volumes I. and II. are received.

sale by Dewitt & Davenport, New York.

WOMAN IN FRANCE. By Julia Kavanagh. Philadelphia: | out-of-the-way things this great scholar picked up. For Lea & Blanchard. In no country or age, probably, has woman played so conspicuous a part in public affairs as in France during the eighteenth century. The influence she exercised was not always of the most reputable kind, but that it was great and pervading, no one at all versed in political history will call in question. The author of the present volume has aimed to show something of the extent of this influence, by sketching the lives of those women who figured in French politics and diplomacy during the last century, mingling the biographical details with general illustrations of the state of social morals during the later days of the old French monarchy.

MEMOIRS OF AN HUNGARIAN LADY. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard. Theresa Pulszky, the writer of this sprightly volume, is an Hungarian exile resident in England. After an historical introduction of nearly a hundred pages, she narrates with much animation the leading events of the late unsuccessful revolution, mixed up with a good deal of personal adventure. There is also a valuable appendix, containing the most important state papers issued by the various parties in this most calamitous struggle. These papers have been much referred to of late, but have not been heretofore readily accessible. They add much to the value of the volume.

THE METHODIST QUARTERLY REVIEW. New York: Lane & Scott. The leading articles in the April number are "Wesley the Catholic," "John Quincy Adams," "The Demoniacs of the New Testament," "Ancient Enclosures and Mounds in the West," "Ticknor's Spanish Literature," &c. The last-named article is from the pen of Prof. Felton of Cambridge, and is highly eulogistic of the work it reviews, but not more so than it deserves. There is also an article from Prof. Johnson of the Ohio Wesleyan University, discussing the meaning of the word, as connected with the question of demiurgic days. We have rarely seen an abler specimen of exegesis, and never so satisfactory a discussion of this particular point.

LEONARD, SCOTT & Co.'s REPRINTS OF THE BRITISH REVIEWS. The publishers have commenced sending us these valuable works, and we shall take pleasure in noticing their contents from time to time. We have never heard but one opinion as to their value. The chief difficulty with many who have desired to become subscribers has been the expense. This difficulty is in a great measure overcome by the comparative cheapness of the American reprint. The works republished are five, viz. Blackwood, the Edinburgh, the London Quarterly, the Westminster, and the North British. Any one of them may be had for $3 a year, any two for $5, any three for $7, any four for $8, and all five for $10.

We have received the Reviews for January, and Blackwood for January, February, March, and April, all rich with reading matter of sterling value.

BULWER'S NIGHT AND MORNING. The Harpers have issued a new edition of this work in their library of select novels. It is given, like all the works of this series, unabridged and unaltered. Price 25 cents.

THE BOSTON SHAKESPEARE. Messrs. Phillips, Sampson & Co., are proceeding steadily with their splendid edition of the works of the great dramatist. Numbers 13 & 14. just received, contain "The Taming of the Shrew," and "The Winter's Tale," and are each ornamented with a first class line engraving executed in London. The heroines here represented are Katherine, and Perdita-both of them admirably conceived and executed.

[blocks in formation]

LAMARTINE ON ATHEISM. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co. In this small and beautifully printed tract, the eloquent republican endeavours to rouse his countrymen from the practical atheism into which they have fallen. He contrasts the opinions and practices of Frenchmen with those of Englishmen and Americans, and shows with much force, and in his own peculiar style, the ruinous political tendency of French materialism. For sale by T. B. Peterson, Philadelphia.

CARLYLE'S LATTER-DAY PAMPHLETS. New York; Harpers: also, Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co. Carlyle is a first-rate grumbler. We have no love for grumbling. But when it is done, we like to see it done well, and heartily. No one can complain, in this respect, of "The Latter-Day Pamphlets." The tract on "Model Prisons" is a universal, sweeping condemnation of everything done or doing by the Prison Discipline Societies and their friends, from Howard to Dorothea Dix. "The Present Time" is equally complimentary to republicans in general, and to us Americans in particular. "Downing Street" is a general overhauling of the British government.

THE PRINCETON MAGAZINE. The first number of this new periodical has been received. It has a pleasant aspect, and is well stored with valuable contributions. Hailing from "Princeton," and edited by a gentleman so well known to the alumni of the institution as William C. Alexander, it will no doubt find readers and subscribers in every part of the United States. We wish it a long and prosperous career.

NED ALLEN, OR THE PAST AGE. By David Hannay. New York: Harper & Brothers. This is a very interesting and agreeable novel. There is a freshness and heartiness of feeling running through it which affords ample compensation for some want of incident and weakness in the delineation of character which are also apparent. The author's chief strength lies in the conduct of the dialogue, which is sensible, spirited, and well sustained, and in a just appreciation of home joys and home comforts, which he exhibits somewhat after the manner of Miss Bremer, the Swedish novelist of domestic life. The style, too, is remarkably happy in the dialogue, but in the descriptive parts it lacks directness, and in many instances, from the long, intricate sentences with which it abounds, it becomes involved and obscure. This fault appears, however, to arise more from want of care than from want of ability; a hint, therefore, may lead the author to avoid it in succeeding works which we hope to see from his pen.

THE PETREL; OR LOVE ON THE OCEAN. A Tale of the Sea, by Sir Admiral Fisher, of the English Navy. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson. "The Petrel" is a decidedly successful effort in that difficult branch of the novelist's art, the writing of an ocean tale. It is full of bold sketches of character, picturesque description, wild adventures, and hair-breadth escapes, all woven so naturally into the story that discovering no effort to ensnare his interest, and thrown off his guard by seeming reality, the reader surrenders his whole mind to a pleasing though stirring and even anxious delusion. The love story, which of course forms a part of it, is well imagined, and well told. This is the author's first book, and few first efforts are so successful. It is of itself sufficient to give him just claims to an honourable place among writers of this class of works. HOLBROOK'S RAILROAD GUIDE. For those who are going to travel in any part of the United States, by railroad or steamboat, this is the most perfect vade mecum we have

ever seen.

THE PRINCETON REVIEW. Philadelphia: Wm. H. Mitchell. The April number of this valuable Review contains a long biographical article on Robert Blair, a discussion of Presbyterianism in Virginia, reviews of Newman's Hebrew Commonwealth, Lord's History of Modern Europe, Buchanan's Unity of the Human Race, Egypt and Nineveh, Walter M. Lowrie, Harrison's History of the English Language, &c.

« 上一页继续 »