go precisely where you please, you could hardly do better, in our humble judgment, than to pursue the route we selected. Be that as it may, however, you will allow us to sketch the outline.

It was a sultry day, near the first of July, that we left the city for Albany in the steamer Rip Van Winkle; for you must know that the famous sleeper is now wide awake, and by some transmigration quite as wonderful as his long nap, is now flying up and down the Hudson. We always patronize him when we have occasion to go up the river, as we do not find any one on this route that we like so well. Other people can do just as they like, though. There are other boats, plenty of them. Much has been said and sung of the beauty of the scenery of the Hudson; but we have never seen it exaggerated; though we have gazed upon it a great many times, it is now scarcely less attractive to our eye than it was when we first ascended the river. What grandeur is there in the Highland scenery, when viewed by moonlight! Every tourist should have a night view of the Highlands; and really it matters little whether the moon lights up the scene or not. We saw it the last time by the gleaming of the stars only, and it has never appeared more inexpressibly grand. In some respects, indeed, the steep and rugged mountains that tower above us as we wind our way through the gorge, appear to better advantage thus, than if a stronger light fell upon them. Their outlines are not so perfectly defined-there is more room for the imagination to play-and the sombre aspect of those overhanging rocks only increases the awe with which we gaze upon them. Apropos of this scenery, however, the all-conquering hand of man is taming it gradually. Even now St. Anthony has been robbed of a great portion of his nose. It has been recklessly split off, just because it happened to be good material for building purposes. What a profanation! Anglo-Saxons on this side of the Atlantic are the veriest Goths that ever lived, when they get a scheme for making money into their heads. We can't forgive the barbarians who spoiled St. Anthony's Nose, by blowing it so hard.

Soon after our arrival at Albany-though not until we secured an excellent breakfast at Stanwix Hall-we took the cars for Saratoga Springs. We found this far-famed retreat as gay as ever. Everybody tries to enjoy himself and herself at Saratoga. Even invalids, who have travelled many miles to try the effect of the water upon constitutions broken down and literally in ruins, are cheerful or endeavor to be cheerful. But here, too, the truth flashes upon many a one, for

the first time, that there is but a step between him and death. At the hotel where we stopped was a young lady who, in company with her father, had performed a long and weary journey to learn, alas! that Death had her already in his embrace, and that no power on earth could save her.

But we must not forget that we are presenting an outline only of our tour, reserving a more detailed sketch for a future time.

cuse.

After spending a few days at Saratoga, rendered doubly pleasant by the company of friends whom we accidentally met, we took the cars in the morning, and before night, we were in SyraThe next morning we exchanged the cars for a packet-boat, and proceeded in this manner to Oswego, on Lake Ontario. This route, to one who designs to visit Niagara-and we perceive we shall have to anticipate our story, and tell our readers that this is exactly the thing we proposed to do at the outset is far preferable to the railroad west of Syracuse. At Oswego we took passage in the Lady of the Lake for Lewiston. This steamer is ably commanded by Capt. R. B. Chapman, and is fitted up in fine style. It has seldom been our lot, in travelling by steamboat, to meet with more obliging and gentlemanly officers than those of the Lady of the Lake. We owe them all, and especially the Captain, many thanks for their politeness, and for their efforts, so well-directed, to make the trip a pleasaut one By the way, the best route to Niagara Falls, from this city, is, after all, by the way of Lake Champlain, the St. Lawrence River, and Lake Ontario We should have taken this route, but for a visit we desired to make to some friends residing in the interior of the State. We arrived at Lewiston soon after daylight. Lewiston is within the sound of the mighty Niagara, and climbing the bank of the river, we listened and heard its voice for the first time. Then taking the cars we were presently at the Eagle Hotel, only a few steps from the American fall.

This is a meagre outline, is it not, reader? But it is much after the fashion of some ministers that we wot of, who in their sermons invariably spend the first half hour in building a scaffold for the main edifice, or in other words, telling what they are going to do when they get ready.

ONE of the pleasantest trips, for a short one, from our city, when the mercury is up near the point of blood-heat, is down the New York bay and up the Shrewsbury inlet. We have tried it several times this summer, and have been not a little delighted with it. The steamer Orus, commanded by Captain Price, leaves every day for

the inlet, and those who are fond of sea-bathing and fishing, can scarcely select a more favorable excursion. There is an excellent hotel at Port Washington, situated some two miles above the Sandy Hook bar, on the banks of the Neversink river, where every desirable accommodation is afforded to visitors. This hotel is under the management of Mr. Thorp, a gentleman who possesses both the ability and the disposition to keep a good house. One of the principal attractions of this spot, in our estimation, is the obliging disposition of the blue-fish. They seem to have very few scruples about the matter of biting, and receive the hook as readily as a green countryman usually does when he makes his first appearance in the city. There is the least diffidence and coquetry about these same blue-fish, of any of their race that we are acquainted with, Apropos of fishing, since there are a great many people who think the amusement cruel, and opposed to all the dictates of humanity, and the kinder feelings of our nature, we must quote a paragraph from an article written by an enthusiastic fisherman-an article that sets the matter in a light quite different from the one in which it is viewed by the ultra-humane school. "I confess," says this enthusiast, "I confess I should not take so much delight in fishing, if I believed the victims of my powers of persuasion had all those delicate sensibilities which many people ascribe to them. I do not believe they have. The fish is very low in the scale of animal life. Is it rational to suppose that he feels pain as keenly as a deer or a fox? But waiving the philosophy of the thing, look at the facts. What angler of any experience has not caught the same sunfish twice within a couple of minutes? That fish must have a very blunted nervous sensibility, who will have his jaw torn with a hook, and seize it again as soon as it falls into the water. Some years ago, two young gentlemen were fishing in a lake, I believe for perch, and their stock of bait became exhausted. They then picked out the eyes of the dead perch, and baited their hooks with them. It is well known by most fishermen that many fish will take such a bait as soon as any other. These gentlemen caught several perch in this manner. One of the fish so caught, struggled a good deal as the angler was removing him from the hook; and in the struggle the hook was loosened, and came in contact with one of the eyes of the perch, which was torn out, and the perch slipped through the angler's fingers, and was lost overboard. The hook, with this bait upon it, was thrown into the water, and in a few minutes the fugitive was caught again, having taken his own eye for a bait! What do you

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think of that, Mr. Philanthropist? I confess, moreover, that I should not take half the delight I now do in fishing, if my aquatic friends did not add greatly to the interest of a dinner. When I throw my line into the water, I consider the act in the light of an invitation for them to dine with me. They are extremely pleasant companions at the table. I should hardly know how to get along without their company, in the summer, especially. I never placed a temptation in the way of a fish in my life, as I recollect, unless I thought him capable of playing his part at the table. And another thing: if they should happen to escape the fisherman, they would probably fall into the jaws of some greedy shark or other. Besides, it is a part of their business to thin out the ranks of the smaller fish. And I want to know-as it is mercy to the poor fish that many people say so much about-I want to know why we can't afford a little mercy for the lower classes. Look at the aristocracy of the thing. How does it come to pass that a great fish is so much more doserving of mercy than a little one? I pause for a reply."

NEW LADIES' MAGAZINE.-We have just been glancing over the prospectus of a new monthly, to be published in Chicago, and to be called the "Ladies' Western Magazine, and Garland of the Valley." It is a good title, and we should think the plan a desirable one. Moreover, a good, well-conducted, literary magazine, of the lighter class, established at this point, could not fail to be a successful one, we think-certainly it could not, if there is as much of the esprit du corps among the western people as we have been accustomed to give them credit for. But to launch such a ship, to start it on its voyage, and to guide it skilfully and judiciously, require on the part of the editor a great deal of peculiar tact, to say nothing about a nice, discriminating, literary taste -more, we fear, than the Western Magazine can command. The truth is, the prospectus is very badly put together; and if the editor does not mind the helm better, he will wreck his vessel before he gets her out of the harbor. See how he thumps her against the rocks: "The fact that there is not, west of the Lakes, nor south for a distance of some four hundred miles from the latitude of Chicago, any permanently established Lady's Work-exclusively nor principally designed as such, and published for the section of country referred to-thus leaving a very extensive and a very delightful portion of the West dependent for works of the kind on a supply from the East or from the South; while at the same time

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there exists in the mind of the western reader, no particular preference to those works, only that created by the want of similar and equally meritorious ones produced at home; but on the contrary, a western work of acceptability would hold in this respect a decided advantage over those coming from a distance-together with the greater consideration of what the West' is destined in all respects very soon to become-are

indications of an opening favorable to the Lady's Western Magazine, sufficient, perhaps, to induce the belief that the enterprise is not altogether premature; and while other points of a less local character might be alluded to, it is deemed that the consideration of these by the public, and the confidence of the same, if it can be gained, will secure to the work a proportionate share of the common support."

The Family Christian Almanac for 1849. New York : American Tract Society.

This Almanac, as a specimen of taste, is one of the finest things ever published, and in all other respects it seems a model of excellence.

A First Book in Spanish; or a Practical Introduction to the study of the Spanish Language. By JOSEPH SALKELD, A.M., author of A Compendium of Classical Antiquities," &c. New York: Harper and Brothers.

We have been very favorably impressed with this book. It contains full instructions in pronunciation, a grammar, exercises on the Ollendorff method of constant imitation and repetition, reading lessons, and a very creditable vocabulary-the whole of which is adapted for the use of private learners, or for classes under an instructor.

The Silent Comforter. A Companion for the Sick Room. By LOUISA PAYSON HOPKINS. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln.

A very neat and tasteful miniature volume, with short articles in prose and poetry, designed for the spiritual improvement of such as are suffering from illness. It is an admirable production, and cannot fail to be of essential benefit in the sick chamber.

The Dying Robin, and other Tales. By JOSEPH ALDEN, D.D., author of "Alice Gordon," "Elizabeth Benton," "The Lawyer's Daughter," &c. New York: Harper & Brothers.

We are always pleased to see a new volume from our friend and contributor, Prof. Alden. We regard him as, on the whole, one of the best writers for children and youth in our country. He never fails, in his tales, by his simple and truthful plot, and his affectionate and confiding manner, to enlist the sympathies of the reader; and what is more and better, the moral and religious influence of his works is happy in

the extreme.

History of the French Revolution of 1789. By LOUIS BLANC, Member of the Provisional Government of France. Translated from the French. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard,

We have received the second part of this work, though we have scarcely found leisure to examine it. Louis Blanc has some pleasing peculiarities as an author. We cannot help liking his racy and brilliant style, though as to his notions in respect to political economy, and some of his philosophy, we are far enough from agreeing with him. In the main, he is a good historian, with all his faults, and at the present time especially, when he is so intimately connected with the thrilling events transpiring in France, he will be read with no common interest.

Chambers's Miscellany of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln.

This work has reached its twenty-third number. We have already more than once alluded to it as, in our opinion, the best of its kind that has come under our observation, and the successive numbers as they are published only confirm that opinion.

The Proper Mode of Keeping the Sabbath. Being Sabbath Manual No. IV. By Rev. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D. New York: American Tract Society.

A most excellent treatise, which few will fail to read through if they should have access to it. Success to it. There is need enough of it.

A Grammar of the English Language, in a Series of Letters. By WILLIAM COBBETT. New York: John Doyle. We have already mentioned approvingly a grammar of the French language by this author, and this of the English language strikes us as equally good.

Sanders' Fifth Reader. For the use of Academies and the Highest Classes in Common and Select Schools. By CHARLES W. SANDERS and JOSHUA C. SANDERS. New York: Mark H. Newman & Co.

There is a multitude of books of a similar character to the one with the above title; but we have never seen one which on the whole pleased us better. The instructions in rhetorical reading and speaking, are full and judicious, and the selections are peculiarly happy.

Kings and Queens. or, Life in the Palace. Consisting of Historical Sketches of Josephine and Maria Louisa, Louis Philippe, Ferdinand of Austria, Nicholas, Isabella II., Leopold, and Victoria. By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. New York: Harper & Brothers.

This volume is very timely, and must be generally acceptable. The sketches of the different monarchs are in the wellknown style of Mr. Abbott, and the book is handsomely printed and illustrated.

The Church in Earnest. By JOHN ANGELL JAMES, author of the Church Members' Guide," &c. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln.

An excellent work from the pen of one of the most devoted, gifted, and practical of all our English writers. He never writes without an aim, and a worthy one-never aims at an object without reaching it.

Mary Grover, or the Trusting Wife. A Domestic Temperance Tale. By CHARLES BURDETT, author of "The Convict's Child," &c. New York: Harper & Brothers. This tale is in Mr Burdett's happiest vein. That is saying a good deal, in our estimation; for we regard him as an extremely pleasing and useful writer.