Traveller, make bare thy feet,
Thou tread'st on holy ground
Freedom keeps her vigils here,
And breathes her spirit round.

That sod-'twas moistened once
With freeman's blood"-yon mound,
"Tis a hero's monument--

Thou tread'st on holy ground!"

Videlicet Scipio!

THE CONFESSION.

By the dim radiance of yon lighted star,
Which shines above, so lonely and so far;
By the deep magic of this silent hour,
By memory's rapture, and sensation's power,

By all the feelings of pervading bliss,
Which throng the spirit in a time like this,
The thousand fantasies of hope and fear,
Now dimly felt-now exquisitely dear-

I love, I love.

I love, I love.

Clasped in my hands, let me but press thy own
Unto this heart, that lives for thee alone.
Its burning glow, its deep, full throb will tell,
Better than vows, how fondly and how well

I love, I love.

And, dearest, come! that soft and conscious blush,
The spirit's language in the soul's deep hush.
Thy bosom heaving with the half-told sigh,
The hope, the passion, melting in thine eye-
This trembling hand-this unresisting form
Show words were weak to tell how pure, how warm

I'm loved, I'm loved.
ORCATIUS.

LITERARY NOTICES.

OF NEW WORKS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Our table is covered with what may be considered fair representatives of every department in the literary world. Of its commercial enterprise we have a noble example in these costly volumes of Burke, to which however we will do more fitting justice at an early period, and in another volume of Conner & Cooke's unequalled edition of Scott. Of its taste, we have these lovely Annuals attractive in their golden beauty, and speaking proudly for our land in their exquisite decorations and highly finished contents. Of its acquirements we have numerous works upon Education, from the elaborate treatise on Algebra, to the Peter Parley's Arithmetic for children. We have the Novel and the Tale, the Poem and the Sketch Book, the weighty biography and the humorous notice; all produced from the ever teeming sources of its power in the short evolution of a lunar month. In keeping pace with the current literature of the day, our course shall be as heretofore, impartial. We have been accused of showing unwarrantable favor to some books, and of dealing out undue severity to others. Such is not the fact. Our censure and our praise are alike unbiassed, alike the result of a careful examination-and in all cases will continue to be the same. In this spirit we proceed to our task. And first let us deal with our graceful and glittering visitants, the Annuals. Our English friends of a similar class we will reserve for an article in an early number, and take up the

RELIGIOUS SOUVENIR, a Christmas, New Year's, and Birth Day present, for 1834. Edited by G. T. Bedell, D. D. Philadelphia; Key & Biddle.

In this, by far the best of our native Annuals, both publishers and editor have done their duty to render it unquestionably one of the most attractive volumes we have ever seen. Its appearance is extremely beautiful. The very binding has about it an air of chaste elegance, superior to any of the gaudy ornaments of its annual contemporaries, and happily befitting the character of the work. The engravings are of a description highly creditable to the country. The frontispiece, a true likeness of our Saviour, copied from the portrait carved on an emerald, by order of Tiberius Cæsar, which emerald the Emperor of the Turks afterwards gave out of the Treasury of Constantinople to Pope Innocent VIII., for the redemption of his brother taken captive by the Christians,' is engraved by George B. Ellis, in a style of extraordinary merit. There is an expression of unearthly benevolence in the fine countenance, and an unutterable purity in the expression of the features, happily caught and preserved with great power by the artist, while the legend attached to the portrait seems to give an authenticity to the expression, which in this case inexpressibly heightens the effect. We consider this fine engraving a gem of American art.

'The Intemperate,' engraved by W. B. Tucker, from a painting by Crenier,

is a plate of great force and beauty. The child by the father's side, the mother and her sick brother are admirably finished. So is 'Samuel and Eli,' engraved by Neagle, from the painting of Copley, R. A. The expression of rapt wonderment and attention in the old man's countenance is worthy of high commendation. Mastiff and Child,' has wonderful softness and fine moonlight effect. The gem of the volume, however, is the excellent engraving by J. B. Longacre, from West's great picture, Christ healing the sick in the temple.' The force and character of this mighty performance have been preserved with exceeding truth and high merit. We must award similar praise to the manner in which Robert's magnificent 'departure of the Israelites from Egypt,' has been reduced. The effect is really surprising. 'The Happy Family' is a composition of great beauty, and contains some of the finest points ever caught by a painter, and which it is giving high praise to say has lost nothing in the engraving. Upon the whole, we consider these decidedly the most creditable specimens of the art any of our publishing houses have yet produced, and it will be a high source of gratification to the proprietors, to find themselves placed in this enviable station. The literary contents are well suited to the character of the work, containing a variety of attractive reading, with poetry of great excellence, and in a variety that must please the most fastidious. Dr. Bedell is entitled from Christians to much praise for the manner in which he has executed his task; his 'auræ sententiæ' are not less honorable to his erudition, than they will be grateful to the community. The Religious Souvenir is entitled to liberal encouragement. It is a credit to America.

THE GEOGRAPHICAL ANNUAL, for 1834. Philadelphia; Carey, Lea & Blanchard.

The style of binding in this elegant volume is new and of exceeding richness and taste. If, in the contents, other annuals exceed it in interest or beauty, this is entitled to the palm of incomparable utility. It is an improved reprint of the celebrated Family Cabinet Atlas, which in England was considered a triumph of art, for the extreme minuteness and fidelity with which the maps were executed; and on comparing it with the original, we are happy to say, it is decidedly improved in its American dress. Will it be credited that here in the size of a small pocket volume, we have a complete Atlas of all the countries in the world, engraved in an exquisite style of miniature, which has enabled the artist to give an extent of detail scarcely credible, yet sufficiently accurate for all the purposes of ordinary reference. In addition to this, we have on the opposite page all the post towns, with their latitude and longitude, so that it contains a body of geographical information rarely to be met with in such a com pact form, and of an utility so unquestioned, that every one should possess it. The maps are all beautifully colored, and the whole volume such as exhibits a joint perfection of typography and engraving.

THE PEARL. THE OFFERING. Philadelphia; T. T. Ash.

As works of art, neither of these Annuals are worthy of notice. We have the illustrations of Rogers' Italy, and some other well known prints served up to us

in a style of inferior mezzotint, and palmed upon the public as the superb embellishments of an expensive Annual. It is almost too bad.

The literary contents of both are of a superior order, though juvenile; some of our best writers having thrown in their mites.

THE LADIES' AND GENTLEMEN'S POCKET ANNUAL, for 1834. Containing an Almanac, Officers of the United States Government, Members of Congress, United States Army and Navy List, Foreign Ministers and Consuls, and various other useful information. Also, Blank Paper for memorandums, and a collection of original and select pieces in prose and verse, edited by Edwin Williams, author of the New-York American Register. New-York; J. Disturnell.

Alas for New-York! while her sister cities have so honorably distinguished themselves by literary enterprise, in sending forth, in all the splendor of morocco and gold, hotpressed paper, and engravings, so many lovely volumes to decorate our drawing rooms, at the closing year, it can produce no higher specimen of its enterprise or its art, than an illuminated pocket book. The days of the Talisman are gone, and the genius of our Bryant's, our Halleck's, our 'Herbert's,' have dwindled into an essence of blank leaves and gilt calenders. Never mind Resurgam.' When the city of the Knickerbockers does awake, it will be in her strength. We await in hope.

These remarks imply no disparagement to this useful and elegant little volume, in which Mr. Disturnell has, with great taste, happily transplanted to our shores a class of works of uncommon utility and wide circulation in England. Its recommendation will be found in its titlepage, which we have faithfully transcribed; and certainly every lady and gentleman's pocket will be much improved by its presence.

THE ARISTOCRAT, AN AMERICAN TALE, by the author of 'Zoe.' 2 vols. 12mo. Philadelphia; Key & Biddle.

'The Aristocrat' for a title, with America for the scene at the close of the nineteenth century! In these times, so pregnant with change, what associations will not these circumstances conjure up in the reader's mind. For our part, we opened the volumes with feelings of high curiosity anxious to see whether it was Andrew the Sixth, surnamed the Merry, or Henry the Eighth, surnamed the Reformer;-the Jackson or the Clay dynasty were upon the throne of this transmogrified republic,-at all events, sure of stumbling at least upon an emperor, or perhaps king, lords, and commons, governing according to the last patent principle, one or the other of the many kingdoms in this vast continent, and maintaining the balance of power among what were once but-United States. The legatees in the fable, who ploughed over the field and found nothing but earth for their pains, were not more egregiously disappointed. From our peep into futurity, we can only discover every thing to be in statu quo. Democrats, Federalists, and Republicans, still the dominant factions of the state. Doctors are still oracles, lawyers are still rogues, and 'oh no! we never mention her,' as popular as ever. Nor are these all the wonders, we turn over page after page,

looking for the Aristocrat, until we arrive at Finis,' without finding him after all, (the word occurs we believe five times in the book,) and we rub our eyes when we have finished, to discover that we have been transported into the shadowy dominions of futurity, to peruse the commonest story of murder and robbery, love and magnanimity, that ever was invented.

Now we have no wish to use ungracious severity; any thing that savours of it in our remarks the author has most unequivocally drawn upon himself, by the whimsical, and, in all respects, ridiculous choice of a time, for which there was no possible occasion in his tale, and which, by his taking such little pains to support, has entailed such severe disappointment on his readers, and rendered his whole production so liable to the most pointed objections of criticism. Had this common tale, been written in a common manner, we might have observed upon it in the common spirit of remark. That there were in it many passages of great beauty, fine feeling, and delicate conception. That the characters were natural, sketched with truth, and supported with ability. That his descriptions were spirited, and often eloquent, and that there were many places in which he described natural emotions, with a fidelity equal to nature's self. As it is, we must toss it over, in the vexation of our spirit, to that corner of forgetfulness where it is doomed to lie; conscious that it requires no insight into futurity to discover, that the work is never destined to attain even the ninth rate immortality of a second perusal.

PETER SIMPLE; or, the Adventures of a MIDSHIPMAN, by the author of the "King's Own," "The Naval Officer," &c. Philadelphia; E. L. Carey & A. Hart.

No narrative of late days will so well reward the attention, as these charming adventures. Smollet never wrote any thing half so good; Tom Cringle, was never half so true. There was great happiness in making simplicity of character, the stock on which to graft all the sterling qualities of our nature, and the author has known his power well, and has used it in every case with consummate advantage. There is in the narrative so much masterly ability, that, though many of the scenes are irresistably comical, there is in them nothing of caricature. We laugh and read, and read and laugh, and are constrained to admit that things could not have happened to Peter in any other manner. The adventures with the midshipmen, with Mrs. Trotter, with the press-gang, never were exceeded in fictitious writing. We become interested in spite of ourselves, and follow him with an anxiety we cannot conceal, through all his scrapes, misfortunes, and troubles, from the loss of his tarts, to the search after his equipment. The accessary characters are not less perfect. The first lieutenant with his punishments, the boatswain with his gentility, and O'Brien with his honesty and roughness, continually deceive us into the belief that we are reading a history, not a novel; and the thousand touches of truth and nature interspersed so admirably in the episodes, continue to heighten the delusion. Captain Marryat must have high satisfaction, in producing a work, in all respects so good, that it will not only be universally read and admired, but the characters of which will become household gods, whose adventures stand as fair a chance of being narrated at the fireside, as those of Robinson Crusoe, or Don Quixote.