lie returned, amidst the applause and congratulation of his approving countrymen, to occupy the station which was only considered, by those who knew the talents of the man, too humble a tribute to his merits. A few months have elapsed, in which, if report speak not with more than its accustomed fallacy, he has found that all the prospects, which were held out to him before his arrival, have proved false; that all stipulations entered into, with regard to those considerations, to which every man of common prudence must look, have been wilfully, deliberate ly, and basely broken. Mr. Leslie is about to quit, may have already quitted for all we know-the shores of hisalas, that we should write the words, of his ungrateful country. He has done well, and nobly! An artist must regard not his own feelings, his own emoluments, his own dignity alone, but that of the fraternity. If Mr. Leslie had submitted to this vile treatment, the character of all the gentlemen attached to this noble and intellectual pursuit would have been lowered in the eyes of the world. Mr. Leslie has done well to shake the dust from off his feet, and return to regions which have the taste to discriminate between painters and daubers, and the sense and liberality to manifest their gratitude for their services, their respect for their abilities.

If we write warmly, it is that we feel warmly. With whom the disgrace rests we know not, nor do we care. With political parties we have nothing, we wish to have nothing, in common; but in a matter such as this, which reflects discredit on the taste, the judgment, the liberality, nay more, the national honor of our whole community, we will raise up our voice at least against it; and tell the men who, for the paltry consideration of dollars and cents, have suffered a man like Leslie to retire in disgust, that America will not thank them, that Europe will laugh them to scorn, and that the world will hold them up to the gaze of posterity as thankless and ungrateful. It is said that Mr. Weir is to succeed to the vacated chair. This appointment may be deemed satisfactory by the Directors, but they may rest assured that it will not be deemed so by the world at large. Mr. Weir is a young man of talent, though his paint ings are liable to the heavy charge of mannerism, and with care, pains, and practice, may possibly be, at some future period, what Mr. Leslie has been for years, a first rate painter. Had the nomination fallen in the first place on Mr. Weir, of course, it would have been generally considered just and proper; but when, after dragging Mr. Leslie across

the Atlantic, merely, as it would seem, with a view to outrage his feelings, a set of persons pretend to elevate Mr. Weir to the same level with him, and to hold him up as one capable of filling Mr. Leslie's shoes, we can only say that the proverb of Horace will here apply,Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus

mus.

NEW PUBLICATIONS. In the general dearth of these, owing to the pressure of the times, as it is said, and to the prevalence of works partaking in too great a measure of the politics of the day, to suit our purposes, we can add but little under the present head.

POEMS by SAMUEL ROGERS. IMPORTED BY JOHN WILEY, 22 NASSAU-STREET. Of all the embellished works which we have seen, we unhesitatingly award the palm of beauty to this. The illustrations from designs by Turner, executed with a degree of exquisite finish that renders them equal to the finest engravings, are, without exception, the most lovely and masterly sketches that ever have been published as vignettes. We would particularly specify those which are appended to the voyage of Columbus-the departure from Palos-the discovery of the light by Columbus himself—the landing of the Europeans-and the demons exciting the storm, which had well nigh buried the discovery of America in total oblivion-which are in themselves scarcely less poetical than the poetry they are intended to adorn. Many of the British views are no less beautiful than those which we have here mentioned; and the whole volume is got up in the very first style of paper and typography. With regard to the merits of the Pleasures of Memory, there can be but one opinion; and, although we do not altogether conceive that Mr. Rogers has supported, in his later pieces, the very high reputation which he had acquired in the commencement of his career, we have ever considered this one of the sweetest and most pleasing, if not the most powerful or striking, of modern poesy. Latterly he has become somewhat indolent in his composition; his versification, although eminently smooth and harmonious, has become deficient in strength, too rambling, and diffuse in its texture, and entirely too conversational, to rank high as poetry; and it is moreover remarkable that, wherever the rythm of any poem becomes diffuse, the matter will for the most part follow it, in becoming rambling, and even tame; not that the observations into which we have diverged can be applied to the poetry contained in the very beautiful volume

now before us; these being his earlier productions, which nearly raised their author to a par with Moore and Campbell, an elevated station in truth, and one which we hardly conceive him ever to have merited, and to which he will not, we fear, be deemed entitled in after ages. No doubt can, however, be entertained of the fact, that the author of the Pleasures of Memory is one among the ablest writers of the Georgian age, and the present volume the master-piece of his pen. We are aware that some critics of the day hold, or affect to hold, him superior to Campbell or to Tommy Moore; but although comparisons are, as it is said, odious, we will venture to affirm that there is no more equality between the writers of Hohenlinden or the Irish Melodies and him of Italy than there is between either of the above and the immortal Shakspeare. This, however, is not, perhaps, exactly to the point; we will therefore conclude as we began, by stating our extreme admiration of this literary gem, and by recommending it sincerely to the notice of all that class of readers who can appreciate rich, heavy, creamcolored, hot-pressed paper, elegant typography, and exquisite vignettes. If there be those who cannot admire these, we pity them, and—are silent.

SERIES OF SCHOOL BOOKS, BY OLIVER ANGELL, A. M., PRECEPTOR OF FIRST DISTRICT SCHOOL, PROVIDENCE. We have not had the leisure to give so full an examination to this little work, as we could have desired; as far, however, as we have looked into them, they appear to be judiciously compiled, and likely to be of service to the rising generation. Beginning from the earliest step, at which education can be said to commence, they form a set of six small volumes in progressive stages, ending with a select reader composed of passages from good authors, chosen generally with good taste; although we found some articles in it which we hardly consider fit to be held up to the admiration of boys. We are convinced that the powers of observation in boys commence at an age much earlier than is usually imagined; and if of observation, consequently of admiration, and next of imitation; and we have little or no doubt, but that the style of any person's writing is influenced, in a great measure, through after years, by the judicious or injudicious choice of subjects, which are put into their hands, while their minds are, like a waxen tablet, ready to receive the most delicate impressions. It is, perhaps, one of the subjects most generally interesting to all classes of persons, this same topic of education; much has been done towards its extension and improvement

since the commencement of the present century, yet much remains to be done hereafter. Many works now given to children are infinitely beyond the comprehension, not of children only, but of many adults; and, in most elementary works, it will be found that the definitions and explanations are far more intricate than the words, which it is their province to render easy to the imperfect comprehension. For instance, we find in every grammar such words as modifications! Now, we should greatly like to be informed where there is a child to be found -not of five or six years old, to whom such books are most frequently given, but of ten or even twelve years, who can give the least explanation of the ideas awakened in his mind by such a sounding flourish as this. While the ideas are few, the only method of conveying new ones, is by assimilating that which is to be acquired to some already awakened notions, by pointing out the distinctions, and so on, ad infinitum. Now, a child not only can by no means understand such words as these, but there can be no means of even conveying to the limited understanding an idea of their possible signification: and the poor little imps are compelled to force down by rote, that of which they cannot even guess at the meaning, and are railled at, and perhaps punished, for their dullness, by the pedagogue who should rather scourge his own absurdity for placing such things in such hands.

THE WORKS OF HORACE, WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, SELECTED FROM THE LARGER EDITION. BY C. ANTHON, LL.D. NEW YORK, G. & C. & H. CARVILL, 108 BROADWAY. This is no more than an abridged edition of Dr. Anthon's former edition, adapted for the use of learners, as the other was eminently so for maturer scholars. The learned editor has apologized, as it were, in the preface for two things, neither of which, in our opinion, stand in need of any apology. The one the absence of various readings, critical notes, and reasons for conjectural emendations, which though of course most interesting to the true lover of classic literature, are almost beyond the capacity of boys, how well-prepared soever they may be in the rudiments of the language; and we regret to add, that there are as yet but few, even of the riper scholars in our land, at the same time willing and able to devote their understandings to these minutia, which constitute in fact the niceties of the Latin, as of every other language. The other thing which Dr. Anthon has, somewhat erroneously, thought it necessary to mention in an apologetic strain, is the introduction of explanatory notes, easy to be compre

hended and suited to the mind, while yet in its waxen state-on all points of his tory, and mythology, at all connected with the text. These notes would doubtless appear dull, tedious, and unnecessarily minute, to one who understands the constitution, history, and literature of Rome as well, or perhaps better than those of his own land; but so would the primer appear dull and useless to the accomplished English scholar; and a man must indeed be foolish, beyond all degrees of recorded folly, who cannot perceive and understand, that the strong meat, which is but nutritious to the appetite of the adult, is rank poison to babes and sucklings.

We are glad to observe that the editor has bestowed much pains upon his prosodiacal laws and schemes of rythm. There is no portion of classical education more miserably neglected throughout the United States, than the rules of metrical quantity; while, at the same time perhaps, no portion is more essential to the composition of a scholar and a man of letters. Men here, possessed of a general knowledge of the Classics, and able to read the dead languages fluently, and without resorting to Schrevelius or Scapula, are constantly making errors in their pronunciation, for which a fourth-form boy at a public school in England, would be flogged a plusieurs reprises. We hope that this blot upon our national school of classics may shortly be eradicated, and we are aware of no more probable method of producing so desirable a result, than that of furnishing beginners with works of standard merit, such as that which lies before us; instead of the miserable compilations, which swarm in all our institutions, and which every petty, pelting pedagogue, who can decline hic, hæc, hoc, thinks himself at liberty to put forth in an emended form.

LIVES OF EMINENT PAINTERS, BY ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, VOLS. IV. AND V. BEING PART OF THE SERIES OF HARPER'S FAMILY LIBRARY-Have this day made their appearance, completing this valuable portion of the useful work to which they are attached. The present volumes contain the lives of Jamesone, Ramsay, Rumney, Runciman, Copley, Mortimer, Raeburn, Hoppner, Owen, Harlow, and Bonington, included in the fourth; and those of Cosway, David Allen, Northcote, Beaumont, Lawrence, Jackson, Liverseege, and Burnet, in the fifth. No work has probably been issued from the press of any country that has gone farther to diffuse abroad among those classes of society in particular, to whom the sources of knowledge used to be within our memory as a corked phial or a sealed letter, that species of information which is most prac

tical and valuable to mankind, than this series of the Family Library. No pains have been spared by the liberal and enterprising proprietors, to render it what it ought to be, a book of standard and general utility; and from the whole series, already swelled to a long list of volumes, it would be difficult to select more than one or two which are superfluous, or which could have been made superior within the prescribed limits of such a publication. The success of the Family Library is no longer, we are happy to say, experimental, or in the slightest degree, doubtful; for it would be indeed grievous, if it were found that the reading public were unwilling to extend due patronage to any thing, which in so high a measure must contribute to its own advantage.

Mr.

PARK THEATRE.-MR. POWER. That most agreeable, most lively, and most thoroughly Hibernian actor, Power, has lately concluded a successful and universally applauded engagement at the Park. We are not aware that any performers of the day, not even the tragic Kembles, or the melodious Woods, have acquired the same degree of favor in the eyes of the public as Mr. Power. On his first arrival on our shores, the public hardly knew, from his first appearance, what estimate they ought to form of his abilities; so different was his representation of Irish characters, whether in high or low life, from any that had been previously given on the American boards. Power's first engagement was the commencement of an era in the particular line on which he has lavished all his talents, and the broad humor which he concentrates into his Irish peasant, or the refined and delicate wit, and amiable blundering, which he infuses with so much spirit into his Irish gentleman, were equally distinct from the coarse, boisterous, brawling vulgarity which had passed current on the stage, before his coming to shed a new light on the most reckless, most merry, and at the same time most pathetic, of all earthly personifications, that of the genuine Hibernian. After a while their eyes became, as it were, accustomed to the dazzling brilliancy of this new luminary; for a time, like men brought suddenly from midnight darkness into the full blaze of daylight, they were unable to see clearly; minute objects escaped their vision, injured as it had been, and weakened by the misapplication of its faculties. By degrees, however, recovering from this obliquity of sight, they began again to distinguish objects-they found themselves able to discriminate the neat hits, the slight but masterly touches, the quiet and subdued

merriment of this unrivalled comedian. They awoke from their doubts to a full conviction that Mr. Power on the stage is actually identified with the being whom he wishes to portray,-that all his art is nature,-that he is the prince of Irishmen, and the king of Comedy. We are happy to be enabled to add, that in Mr. Power's case, the approbation of the public has been testified in the most solid, and of course most gratifying manner, both as regards his feelings and his interests--as we have been assured, by the best informants, that his engagements have been decidedly the most profitable, and his benefit the largest of the season. He has now departed from our city for a time, on a tour through Pennsylvania, and particularly to Pittsburgh, at which place he had been particularly invited to a display of his histrionic talents, by a deputation which waited on him some time since at Philadelphia. May success attend him, no less than the mirth and frolic, which are his invariable companions whithersoever he goes, and the public and private greetings which he calls forth equally from his peculiar friends, and from the larger circle of his professional admirers.

MRS. DRAKE. It was with much reluctance that we were compelled, during the engagement of this lady, to forego the gratification, which by all accounts we should have derived, from witnessing her performance. We have heard on all sides but one relation of the merits of Mrs. Drake. All persons pronounce her a tragic actress of the highest order, and indeed so many of whose taste and judgment we entertain the highest opinion, have spoken to us in the most enthusiastic manner of her performance, that if we ever varied from our established custom of laying before the public no opinions but such as are in truth our own, we should have been tempted to do so in the present instance. While we are on this subject, we must express our sense that, if it be true that Mrs. Drake is able to rival, or even to maintain any thing approaching to an equality with Miss Kemble, she has some right to feel hurt at the reception which she has experienced from the public. And in truth, although we are compelled to admit that we have

not many native, actors of extraordinary merits, we cannot but think that our public have been partially themselves to blame. Several actors we have of very superior talent, especially we would designate Placide, who would, on any stage in the English world,command respect and admiration, and the public are very well disposed to admit this fact; nay, more, to talk largely, and lavish much praise, and many finely sounding words upon American actors. But, alas! they are too apt to fancy, that, when they have sent forth their dicta concerning the respective merits of native and foreign actors, that when they have proclaimed Mr. Parsons equal to Kean, Mrs. Drake superior to Miss Kemble, and so forth, they have done all that can with justice be expected from them; forgetting that long words will not pay even short bills, and that the actor who toils night after night for their gratification, does really, if he merit their good word, merit their more valuable support. These remarks have been elicited from us, by observing that even the best of our native actors can rarely command such benefits as they are entitled,—from their real worth, and still more from the rapturous encomiums with which their ears are continually greetedto hope for and expect. To return to the lady from whom we have so widely digressed; we understand Ingunda, the Gothic Tragedy, which has already been announced, from the pen of a lady of our own city, has been transferred to her from Miss Kemble, who was originally to have presented it to the public. It is, we believe, decided that, on her next appearance, at the end of the present, or in the commencement of the ensuing month, she will become a candidate for popular favor in the new character of Ingunda; and we hope that the play-going world will put on the cap, which will, we apprehend, be found to fit the majority, and patronize the double display of national talent, resulting from the united efforts of an American Tragedian and an American Actress. We have been favored with a sight of the manuscript, and can, without hesitation, pronounce it far above the common run, and hold ourselves bound to pass a fuller sentence on it, when it shall have fairly come before the world.