in the French. The whole work, however. does not belong to M. de Circonet, for there are forty pages out of the four hundred which belong probably to the reputed author; but in these forty pages are a half-dozen grave historical mistakes.

-If the German public does not know as much about the United States as many of our own citizens, it cannot be for the want of books on the subject. The latest of these that we have seen is the "Travels between the Hudson and the Mississippi," (Wanderungen zwischen Hudson und Mississippi) by MORITZ BUSCHE, who appears to have spent some years in America, especially about Cincinnati and its neighborhood. He writes intelligibly of our affairs, without prejudice, and for the most part in approval. We have not found much that is new in the work, although the author proves himself a diligent observer and an acute critic. The chapter which has interested us most is an elaborate one on Negro Melodies, in which some twenty or thirty of the most popular negro songs, such as "Oh, Susannah," ""Uncle Ned," "Rosa Lee," &c., are translated into the German.

-N. J. ANDERSON, one of the most distinguished Swedish naturalists, who was appointed by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm to accompany the Swedish Circumnavigation, has published a highly interesting description of this expedition under the title "Eine Welt-Umsegelung," published by C. B. Lorck in Leipzig. This work is to be considered as a precursor to one which will embody the purely scientific results of this expedition.

-Americans need go abroad no longer for all their German literature, seeing that a new literary Magazine has been set on foot by some Germans of Milwaukee. It is called the Atalantis, and is highly respectable both in its appearance and its contents. American, German and miscellaneous topics are discussed in its pages with dignity and talent. Among the articles we remark an introductory on the literary prospects of the United States, with some fine discriminating observations on our national character, an essay on the Pacific railroad, a treatise on the school system of Michigan, a translation of Dr. Franklin's letter on slavery, a new novel, and a pleasant dissertation on the devil, considered esthetically, or as that personage appears in books. One can scarcely believe it, as he reads this periodical in German, that a few years since, the place where it is now published, was a favorite campingground of the wild Indians.

FINE ARTS.

The immigrants from the old world who enrich us most by their contributions to our prosperity, are the artists, whose elemental speciality we most need. It is an easy thing, for those who are willing, to dig a canal, or lay a rail, but to add a grace or an ornament to social life is not so easy, let the will be never so strong. It is one of those cases where the will does not always find the way. The artistic instinct, though it comes by nature, is of little value without proper cultivation; and that is the point where we most feel our need of reinforcement from the old world. We have plenty of genius for art in the rough, but the requisite polishing to give it value is what we have not an abundance of. Every artist, therefore, who comes here to better his fortune and give us the benefits of his talent, is of greater value than whole ship loads of hod-carriers.

The engraved portrait of Thackeray which hung in the shop-windows last spring-the original of which belongs to Lord Ashburton-and that of Tennyson, the Italian head which all his lovers have studied with delight in the Boston edition of his poems, and an earlier head of Willis prefixed to the illustrated edition of his poetry, have made us familiar with the work of Samuel Lawrence, an Euglish artist whose name has long been familiar to us as one of the most eminent of his profession. He has recently arrived among us, personally introduced by the pleasantest letters, which say nothing good of him that his performances since his arrival have not fully justified. His portfolio is enriched by a three-quarter length sketch of Thomas Carlyle, presenting a likeness of the man which no sympathetic student of his works would fail instantly to acknowledge, even had he never seen the original; and a head of Rogers, the last of a generation of great poets. These works of Lawrence's are in crayon. That of Rogers is a sketch for a picture which he painted last year in London. Since he has been here he has been engaged upon several heads, and among them that of the historian Bancroft. Lawrence has not lost his eye nor his hand, as some singers lose their voices, in crossing the sea. The same qualities of surprising likeness, arising from subtle perception of the essential character of the subject, distinguish them all. There is a vitality, a reality, an individual spirit about them, which assure the spectator that he is seeing the very meaning of the person represented. Like all gen

uine workers, he respects nature too much to flatter, but, like all true artists, he detects the peculiar charm of every countenance. It is the result of long study and observation educating the natural eye. A man is born a portrait painter as he is born a poet. First, there is the eye to perceive things as they are and not as they seem; then there is the hand to obey fearlessly the direction of the thought. The young men and young women go to the exhibition of the academy, and are very gently witty upon the "Portrait of a Gentleman," "Portrait of a Lady." which decorate those walls. But Titian, Leonardo, Velasquez, Rubens, Vandyck, were portrait-painters. They understood the scope and meaning of that department of their art. Their portraits are not only individual emperors, doges, and burgomasters, but they are also Spain, Venice, and Germany. They are among the great shrines of travel and study. Raphael's portraits of Popes Julius Second, and Leo Tenth, are ranked with the Transfiguration and the Foligno by all lovers and amateurs. They show the same genius, conscience, and skill.

Next month, on the commencement of a New Volume, we shall present the public with an engraved portrait of the author of the Potiphar Papers, from a drawing by Mr. Lawrence, the first one he executed in this country, and the best among all the capital ones we have seen by him. This will be the first installation in OUR VALHALLA, but it will be succeeded by a portrait monthly-some en buste and some full length, executed in the best style of engraving, of the contributors to our Monthly.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

RUSSIA AS IT 18. By Count A. Gurowski. Appleton & Co. 1854.

CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN MEXICO. By an officer of the 1st Regiment Ohio Volunteers. G. P. Putnam & Co. 1854.

MELLICHAMPE, A Legend of the Santoo. By W. Gilmore Simms. Redfield, 1854.

THE BRIDE OF THE ICONOCLAST. A Pocm. Boston: James Munroe & Co. 1854.

THE BOW IN THE CLOUDS. Discourses by George Ware Briggs Boston: James Munroe & Co. HOMEOPATHY; its tenets and tendencies, theoretical, theological, and therapeutical. By James Y. Simpson, M. D. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. 1S54.

THE VOICE OF LETTERS. Ancient proprieties of Latin and Greek, the standard of English letter customs. By Joseph B. Manning. James Munroe & Co. Boston: 1854.

THE RECALLED AND OTHER POEMS. By Jano Ermina Locke. James Munroe & Co. Boston: 1854.

THE DIVINE CHARACTER VINDICATED. By Rev.
Moses Ballou. Redfield. 1854.
MINNIE HERMON; or, THE NIGHT AND ITS MORNING.
A Tale for the Times. By Thurlow W. Brown.
Auburn Miller, Morton & Mulligan. 1854.
THE FORESTERS. By Alexander Dumas. Appleton
& Co. 1854.

MERRIMACK; OR, LIFE AT THE LOOM. A Tale. By
Day Kellogg Lee. Redfield. 1854.

THE HISTORY OF CROMWELL. 2 vols. From the French
of Guizot. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard.
THE POEMS OF CHARLES CHURCHILL 3 vols. Little,
Brown & Co. Boston: 1854.

THE POEMS OF Edward Young, D. D. 2 vols. Little, Brown & Co. Boston: 1854.

THE PLANTER'S NORTHERN BRIDE. By Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz. 2 vols. Philadelphia: A. Hart. 1854.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL TEXT-BOOK, containing selections from the writings of Daniel Webster, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Washington's Farewell Address, &c. New York and Boston: C. S. Francis & Co. 1854. MARIE LOUISE; or, The Opposite Neighbor. By Emilie Carlin. New York: Appleton & Co. 1854 MY SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL-MASTERS. By Hugh Miller. Boston: Gould & Lincoln.

SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED; Judge Edmonds Refuted. By John Bovce Dods. New York: Dewitt & Davenport.

THE POETICAL WORKS OF W. H. C. HOSMER. 2 vols New York: Redfield.

A YEAR WITH THE TURKS. By Warrington W. Smyth, M. A. New York: Redfield.

THOMAS A. BECKET, and other Poems. By Patrick Scott. London.

THE WINTER LODGE; or, Vow Fulfilled. By James Wier. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co. LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF A COUNTRY MERCHANT. By J. B. Jones, Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co.

TRIALS AND CONFESSIONS OF AN AMERICAN HOUSEKEEPER. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co.

THE ART-STUDENT IN MUNICH. By Anna Mary HOWITT. Boston Ticknor, Reed & Fields 1854.

CRYSTALLINE; or, the Heiress of Fall Down Castle. A Romance. By F. W. Shelton. New York: Charles Scribner. 1854.

DESPOTISM IN AMERICA. An Inquiry into the Nature, Results, and Legal Basis of the Slaveholding System in the United States. By Richard Hildreth. Boston: J. P. Jewett & Co. 1854. THE WHIMSICAL WOMAN. By Emilie F. Carlin. New York: Charles Scribner. 1854. AFRICA AND THE AMERICAN FLAG. By Commander Andrew H. Foote, U. S. N. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1854. NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE TO THE NORTHWEST COAST OF AMERICA IN THE YEARS 1811-1814. By Gabriel Franchère. Translated by J. V. Huntington. New York: Redfield. 1854.