instalments of one hundred dollars. One of the conditions of this endowment being, that the State of Kentucky, or the city of Lexington, should contribute an equal amount to that furnished by private bounty, the State legislature, being not yet prepared to make the appropriation, transferred part of its authority over the University to the city of Lexington, which, thereupon, with a noble liberality, endowed it with the sum of seventy thousand dollars; appropriating, from this amount, forty-five thousand dollars to the building of a Medical College and the provision of a Medical library and apparatus, and five thousand dollars to the increase of the library of the Law school. The Medical and Law departments of the University have, for many years, been in high repute. The former numbers, this year, about two hundred and forty students; the latter about sixty. To revive the Academical department, which has been less prosperous, the pecuniary means are mainly as follows;

Real estate, including the College buildings, and
land adjoining

Morrison fund, for the support of a professor of
Mathematics

Appropriation by the city of Lexington
Avails of the recent subscriptions by individuals,
more than

$100-000

20.000

20.000

35.000

Making an amount exceeding $175,000 In possession of this property, in addition to the receipts from students, the prospects of the Academical department wear a very encouraging appearance; and we confidently expect, as well as earnestly desire, to see the hopes entertained by those truly intelligent and meritorious citizens, who, by pecuniary aid, and still more by personal exertion, have taken part in this movement, amply fulfilled by the event. Kentucky has few sons, to whom she is under weightier obligations, than to them.

Besides the University at Lexington, there is a College, under Catholic management, at Bardstown; the Presbyterians have one at Danville; the Methodists, at Augusta; the Baptists, at Georgetown; and the Cumberland Presbyterians, at Princeton, in the Southern or Green River section of the State. There is also a College at Shelbyville, not know under what administration.

we do

10.

- A l'Abri, or the Tent Pitched. By N. P. WILLIS. New York: Samuel Colman. 12mo. pp. 172.

THIS little volume is made up of letters, written by Mr. Willis while living in the country, and first published in the "New York Mirror." They are composed in a sprightly, dashing style, and present very agreeable pictures of country life, and now and then very lively descriptions of scenery. But they are occasionally disgraced by a spice of dandyism, both in thought and style, which Mr. Willis would do well to throw aside, as a folly of literary youth, unworthy to be cherished in riper years. Yet even with this deduction, which, in the eyes of many readers no doubt, will be found a great attraction, the book is one of the most readable of the season. Open it anywhere, and you find something agreeable and sprightly. Mr. Willis's prose style has the elements of rare beauty and excellence; but he writes too much, and too hastily, and deforms his writings altogether too much with the mincing and affected phraseology of the fashionable scribblers and novelists. All this will do well enough for readers of circulating libraries, but fails to command the respect of men of sense.

NOTE

TO ARTICLE I. OF THE PRESENT NUMBER.

WHILE the Article on Prison Discipline was passing through the press, we received the report of the Committee of the Legislature of New York, who, during the past winter, visited the State Prison at Sing Sing. We have never attended to a more melancholy disclosure. From this report it appears, that the board of inspectors of this prison, instead of taking upon themselves the discharge of the duties required by law, have, in effect, surrendered their principal duties, and committed the entire management and control of that prison, its offices and affairs, to the agent. "The agent has uniformly appointed the assistants; fixed their salaries; at his pleasure removed them; and the board of inspectors have never done more than to give their assent to his acts." The agent has furnished, at his discretion, all articles for the use of the prison, and provisions for the convicts, and has conducted the "sale of all wares and articles produced at the prison." "The

assistant-keepers have entered upon the duties of their appointment without taking the oath of office," and they all "exercise discretionary and unlimited power in the punishment of convicts," subject, indeed, to a provision requiring a written report of each case of punishment, which provision, however, has been commonly evaded.

It also appeared in evidence, that the convicts, under this system, were not supplied with a sufficient quantity of wholesome food; that, during the year 1837-8, convicts failed to perform their usual tasks, and, when reprimanded for such omissions, they would allege, with tears in their eyes, their inability, arising from want of food, to sustain them; that, when they applied for additional food, they were frequently beaten away by the superintendent of the kitchen without it; that, instead of the legal rations of beef and pork, codfish had been substituted, at one time, from August to January; and that, instead of molasses with mush, the grease skimmed from the pots was substituted; and that the convicts were, on various occasions, seen snatching offal from the swill-barrel, in order to satisfy the cravings of hunger. It was also proved before the committee, that cruel and unreasonable punishments have been often inflicted within the prison. "For small offences, eighty or a hundred strokes upon the bare back and legs have been given by an instrument which multiplies every stroke by six; that severe "punishments have been inflicted on persons manifestly insane; one thousand lashes were inflicted on a maniac, in the space of a week;" "convicts have been disabled by scourging," so as to require treatment at the hospital; "assistant keepers have stripped and whipped a convict, for insults offered to such officers before conviction; " discharged convicts have been seized and compelled to work again at the will of officers.

"in one case,

This is bad enough, in all conscience, but the worst remains to be told. Upon the reception of this report, Governor Seward immediately sent a message to the legislature stating the facts, and recommending the removal of the inspectors, in whom by law is vested the appointment of the agent and his subordinates. This recommendation was not acted upon. The inspectors were suffered to remain, and the members of the legislature went home to their constituents, with this report of their committee in their pockets. As soon as the legislature adjourned, the work of reform commenced in the prison, by turning out of office every person who had testified to these shocking abuses before the committee. At least, so state the daily papers. Will the Empire State bear this? A course of similar proceedings occurred during the past No. 104.

VOL. XLIX.

34

year in the prison at Auburn. There, however, to the credit of Western New York, be it said, the public indignation waxed so strong, that the agent saw fit to retire, and his successor has already been appointed.

We mention these circumstances, because we desire to put the community in possession of all the facts in the case. They teach us, that there is no inherent efficiency in any form of prison discipline; but that every system is liable to shocking abuse. None can succeed without vigilant public inspection, and without the efficient superintendence of a board, composed of the ablest and most honorable men in the community. We are happy to say, such men compose the board of inspectors of the Massachusetts' State Prison. We hope that the other States will imitate her example.

NOTE

TO ARTICLE I. OF NUMBER 100.

A LETTER, from a friend at Marietta, points out an error in our recent article upon the history of Ohio. It is therein stated, (Vol. XLVII. p. 48,) that the Reverend Manasseh Cutler was with Mr. Guilford at Columbus, at the passage of the School Law, in 1825. It was not Manasseh, but his son Ephraim. The former died in 1823.

A few other statements in the article are thought by our correspondent to be erroneous. We cannot, on present evidence, consider them so. He says, for instance, that Cutler, and not Parsons, applied to Congress, for the lands on the Muskingum. But in the fourth volume of "Journals of the Old Congress," (at p. 755,) appears the report on Parsons's application, and, at p. 17 of the Appendix, the final report of Congress on the same, with their reference to the Board of Treasury, which led to the communication of Cutler and Sargent.

Again, he thinks, that the territory of the original contract did not run to the Scioto. In the places above referred to, however, that river is named by Congress as the western boundary, and was accepted by Cutler as such. The other boundary was fixed five years later. See "Land Laws," p. 364.

We hope our correspondent will fulfil his purpose of giving a full account of the settlement of the Muskingum from original sources. Some of our statements were, from the nature of the case, made upon individual authority. We used none to which we do not ascribe the highest credit; but we shall cordially welcome any further evidence, whether it contradict or corroborate our present views.

QUARTERLY LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

AGRICULTURE.

Second Report on the Agriculture of Massachusetts. By Henry Colman, Commissioner for the Agricultural Survey of the State. Boston: Dutton & Wentworth. 8vo. pp. 194.

The American Fruit Garden Companion, being a Practical Treatise on the Propagation and Culture of Fruit. Adapted to the Northern and Middle States. By Edward Sayers, Gardener. Boston: Weeks, Jordan, & Co. 12mo. pp. 174.

The American Flower Garden Directory, containing Practical Directions for the Culture of Plants in the Flower Garden, Hot House, Green House, Rooms, or Parlour Windows, for every Month in the Year; with a Description of the Plants most desirable in each, &c. &c. By Robert Bruist, Nursery-man and Florist. Philadelphia: E. L. Carey & A. Hart. 8vo. pp. 380.

The Silk Culturist's Manual; or a Popular Treatise on the Planting and Cultivation of Mulberry Trees, the Rearing and Propagating of Silk Worms, &c. Addressed to the Farmers and Planters of the United States, by John D'Homergue. Philadelphia: Hogan & Thompson. 12mo. pp. 406.

A Treatise on the Culture of the Dahlia and Cactus. By E. Sayers, Author of "The Flower Garden Companion." Boston: Weeks, Jordan, & Co. 18mo. pp. 72.

Dennis's Silk Manual; containing Complete Directions for Cultivating the Different Kinds of Mulberry Trees, Feeding Silk Worms, and Manufacturing Silk to Profit; adapted to the Wants of the American Cultivator, and believed to contain more Practical Information than any similar Work now before the Public. By Jonathan Dennis, Jr., of Portsmouth (R. I.) New York: Mahlon Day & Co. 18mo. pp. 107. BIOGRAPHY AND MEMOIRS.

The People's Presidential Candidate; or the Life of William Henry Harrison of Ohio. Boston: Weeks, Jordan, & Co. 18mo. pp. 211. Biography of Revolutionary Heroes. Containing the Lives of Brigadier-General William Barton and Captain Stephen Olney. By Mrs. Williams, Author of "Religion at Home," &c. &c. Providence: Published by the Author. New York: Bailey & Putnam. 18mo. pp. 312.

The Life of William Wilberforce; by his Sons, Robert Isaac Wilberforce, M. A., and Samuel Wilberforce, M. A. Abridged from the London Edition, by Caspar Morris, M. D. Philadelphia: Henry Perkins. Boston: Perkins & Marvin. 12mo. pp. 544,

Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel Munson and the Rev. Henry Lyman, late Missionaries to the Indian Archipelago, with the Journal of their Exploring Tour. By Rev. William Thompson. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 196.