صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Where, twisted round the barren oak,
The summer vine in beauty clung,
And summer winds the stillness broke,--
The crystal icicle is hung.

Where from their frozen urns mute springs
Pour out the river's gradual tide,

Shrilly the skater's iron rings,

And voices fill the woodland side.

Alas!-how changed from the fair scene,
When birds sang out their mellow lay;
And winds were soft-and woods were green-
And the song ceased not with the day.

But still wild music is abroad,

Pale, desert woods! within your crowd
And gathered winds, in hoarse accord,
Amid the vocal reeds pipe loud.

Chill airs, and wintry winds! my ear
Has grown familiar with your song;
I hear it in the opening year-

I listen, and it cheers me long.

H. W. L.

THE LAKE OF A THOUSAND ISLANDS.
Lake of the desert! thou art fair,

But not so fair as thou hast been;
Thy dimpled breast once shone as clear,
And bright as purest angel's tear,
Who weeps for sinful men.

How art thou faded! still and deep
Thy heaving waters slowly glide;
While o'er thy form wild flowrets creep,
As if to deck thy deathlike sleep

With their own blushing pride.

Bright o'er thy breast a thousand isles

Shone in the evening's purple glow; And all thy waves were decked in smiles, And sported in a thousand wiles,

But they are silent now.

When parting twilight sunk to rest,
And clothed thy form in shadows dim,
How sweetly murmured o'er thy breast,
As steal the notes of Peris blest,

Thy trembling vesper hymn.

Yes, thou art fallen-thy temples, shrines,
Where bowed of yore a kingly head,*
Wide spreading ivy now entwines,
And round thy spires the cypress climbs-
The symbol of the dead.

Dread silence o'er thy ruined aisles
Entwines the garland of decay,
To decorate those mouldering piles,
When nature's tears have quenched the smiles
That marked their better day.

No more the peasant by thee kneels,
And mutters low his simple prayer;
And, as his fervent offering steals
O'er thy blue waters, inly feels

His crimes are pardoned there.

Thy thousand isles are fading now;

And o'er thy dark wave's curling crest
The night wind whistles faint and low,
And pearly clouds their mantles throw,
To shade thy gloomy rest.

Thy star hath set! Oh never more
Shall men behold thee in thy pride;
But as they gaze along thy shore
Where slumbers now thy echoing war
And wildly heaving tide,

*This lake is situated near Rome, and is the same where was formerly a temple to Faunus, and whither king Latinus is represented by Virgil, as betaking himself to ask advice of the god concerning the marriage of his daughter Lavinia with Turnus. Tour in Italy. By an American.

[blocks in formation]

INTELLIGENCE.

SANSCRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

about the twelfth century before the Christian era. He promises to continue the work, and to translate other episodes of the same poem, from manuscripts which he has copied at Paris and at London; especially from a complete manuscript copy of the Mahabharata, which Mr Hamilton kindly communicated to him. The present volume contains, first, the voyage of Arjouna into the air; secondly, the defeat of the giant Chidinebah, killed by Bhima, Arjouna's brother; thirdly, the misfortunes and lamentations of a poor brahmin, in consequence of the cruel commands of the giant Baka, who was also vanquished and killed by the same Bhima; lastly, the history of Sanda and Oufa Sanda, two brothers, warmly attached to each other, until their love for the same female bred the most deadly hatred between them.

COAL FORMATION WITHIN THE UNITED
STATES.

Professor J. Griscom, who is extensively and advantageously known by his "Year in Europe," has recently published an interesting account of the coal formation in this country, and particularly of the anthracite coal of Pennsylvania, which is now commonly known as the Lehigh coal. He begins with remarking upon the important advantages which Great Britain has derived from her coal mines, and certainly does not overrate the important benefits which we might expect from an adequate and cheap supply of this invaluable fuel.

"The absolute importance of a plentiful supply of fuel, not only to health and domestic comfort, but to the successful prosecuWhile England is doing little or nothing tion of almost every branch of manufacturing to promote the study of the Sanscrit lan- industry, needs not the formality of demonguage and literature, which, from her poli- stration. The extraordinary competition tical and commercial relations, ought to which the British nation maintains with all excite the strongest interest; and while the rest of the world, is inseparably conFrance makes the learned of Europe wait nected with the abundant supplies of coal too long for the communications which they which her mines afford; and when the pehave a right to expect from a country, which, riod arrives (which doubtless is still very besides the treasures of its libraries, pos- distant) in which this supply shall approxisesses so many learned men, versed in ori-mate to its termination, her vast internal ental literature; we see in Germany works in Sanscrit, and upon the Sanscrit, rapidly succeed each other, equally distinguished by the merit of the execution, and by the important aid which they afford towards the study of this new branch of oriental literature. It is owing to the enlightened and munificent protection of his majesty the king of Prussia, and the labours of M. A. W. Schlegel and Mr Boff, that Germany has for many years taken the lead of all the other continental nations in the study of the Sanscrit. The latter gentleman has just published a comparative analysis of the Sanscrit, and the languages connected with it; he has also published a volume from the Sanscrit, translated into German verse, containing several of the episodes of the Mahabharata, the most extensive poem known; being a kind of mythological, poetical, historical, and philosophical encyclopedia, comprehending narratives relative to the history of Hindostan, from the creation of the world to the reign of Youdhishtirah, who was living at the incarnation of Vishnou,

resources, the commercial elevation, and the dense population of that country, must experience a reduction, and be finally brought down to the standard which her newly planted forests may be able to sustain. But how striking is the fact that with her mines of coal, that island, at the distance of three thousand miles, is able to supply the city of New York with an article so essential as the fuel of its hearths-to supplant the wood of our interior-a material so abundant, within less than one hundred miles, as to be a nuisance to the labourer, which it costs him much labour and expense to destroy. The dearness of fuel, at the present time, is a serious obstacle to the prosperity of manufactories in various parts of our seaboard, and a heavy tax to the inhabitants of our principal cities. Every scheme, therefore, which shall open new resources, at a reasonable expense, for an article so indispensable, cannot fail, it is presumed, to become of high importance to the public welfare, and lucrative to those who shall embark in it."

creased, as it can then be brought to New York and Boston at much less expense than at present. Some of our readers may be interested by Mr Griscom's statement respecting the employment of this fuel in furnaces.

He asserts, that, although the measure | ridges of high land, in which it is not known or the location of the mineral wealth of the that coal exists; but supposing from this esUnited States is not precisely ascertained, timate, we make the enormous deduction of yet it is known, that the coal formation one half, there will then remain five thouwithin our limits is more abundant than that sand millions of tons, a quantity sufficient to of any other country. Bituminous coal ex- supply New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, ists in numerous basins scattered over the (supposing those cities to contain eighty "In an experiment which I witnessed in whole of a vast region, extending from the thousand houses, and each house to consume a blacksmith's shop, a bar of iron about two sources of the Ohio on the north, to the five tons in a year) during a period of twelve inches wide and five eighths thick, was head waters of the Tombigbee on the south, thousand five hundred years! It appears rea- brought to a good welding heat in a comthe valley of the Susquehannah on the sonable, therefore, to infer from data not mon forge in less than three ninutes; and east, and the alluvium of the Mississippi on unworthy of reliance, that the Wyoming a nail rod was sufficiently heated in fifteen the west. The supply of this coal may be and Lackawannock vallies contain a body seconds The best of the coal on the Lackconsidered quite inexhaustible; and the of coal sufficient to supply all the wants of awannock burns with considerable blaze. eastern part of the formation is not inac- the eastern and middle sections of the United In the instance just mentioned in the smith's cessible to the principal cities of the north- States, for a period which may be consid-shop, the blaze was eighteen inches high, ern and middle states. But the learned ered as infinite, and also to serve the pur- but the light which it emits is inferior to Professor considers this coal as altogether poses, if needful, of an extensive exportation. bituminous coal. Certificates have been ob inferior in value to the harder or anthracite Should the projected intercourse between the tained and published, of the superior value coal. In this he is certainly correct, and waters of the Hudson, Delaware, and Sus- and economy of this coal, from blacksmiths, if he is equally so in his estimate of the quehannah be carried into complete effect, brewers, distillers, gunbarrel makers, for the quantity of this coal, many ages must pass, and the coal be brought to the Atlantic purpose of rolling and slitting mills, &c. and before we are driven to use the somewhat markets at the prices contemplated, it seems there can, I apprehend, be but little doubt similar, but inferior, coal, which is found in not improbable that the current of European that with fire-places and furnaces properly this vicinity. intercourse in the article of fuel will be re- constructed, it can be advantageously emversed, and that instead of importing coal ployed in all cases in which a strong and from England, American coal will be ex-durable heat is necessary; and, as it burns ported to France, Holland, or more particu- without smoke, its peculiar fitness for cerlarly to the countries of the Baltic. tain operations is very manifest."

"On the eastern side of this bituminous region exists another coal formation of far greater importance than the former, to the immediate prosperity of the more popular sections of the union. This is the region of anthracite coal, occupying an extensive valley, through a considerable portion of which flows the river Susquehannah and its tributary stream the Lackawannock. This variety of coal is here found in great abundance, and of a finer quality, it is believed, than in any part of the world yet explored. The length of this remarkable coal field may be taken at more than one hundred miles, commencing at a point near Harrisburg, on the Susquehannah, and running northeasterly almost in a straight line to the head waters of the Lackawannock, not far from the borders of Broome county, in the state of New York, and comprehend ing in its range the highlands at the head of the rivers Schuylkill, Lehigh, and Lackawaxen, which empty into the Delaware. Its breadth may be safely taken, it is presumed, at an average of three miles, making a surface of three hundred square miles, or nearly one thousand millions of square yards. The thickness of the contiguous beds in several places where the coal has been wrought, exceeds thirty feet, or ten yards; and it is well known, from examination of a section of the whole formation, in places where, by a disruption of the waters, the various beds are exposed, that the thickness of the several workable strata exceeds forty-five feet, or fifteen yards; but assuming ten yards as the medium thickness, the whole number of cubic yards within the district above specified, would be ten thousand millions.

"The greatest objections to it as a domestic fuel, are the comparative difficulty of ignition, and its burning without much flame. The former of these, as experience has amply shown, is well overcome by the use of charcoal, or billets of dry wood, for the purpose of kindling, and the intense glow which a grate of it affords, is a pretty good compensation for the blaze of bituminous coal or hickory wood. Its durability, during combustion, saves two-thirds of the trouble of attendance on fires; and in nurseries, and other places in which a fire throughout the night is needful, nothing can be compared with it for safety and facility of management. So sensible are the inhabitants of the districts within reach of the mines, of these advantages, that they prefer to use it although their wood costs them nothing. I was credibly informed, while at Carbondale, that some of the inhabitants of Montrose sent thither for coal, though at the distance of thirty miles, over a very rough road, and paid for it one dollar and a half per ton, in preference to wood delivered at their doors at seventy-five cents per cord! At Wilkesbarre it is the principal fuel, being used in both parlors and kitchens; and the fires, in many instances, are not allowed to expire through the win ter; for by the addition of fresh coal on going to bed, the fire is found in full activity in the morning. Its adaptation to the purposes of the smith, is abundantly acknowledged by its universal employment in places where it can be obtained without too great cost."

"It is easily proved by calculation, that a cubic yard of this coal weighs rather more than two thousand two hundred gross weight We can bear testimony to the correctfor unavoidable waste, there will be as many ness of some of Mr Griscom's remarks as to tons as cubic yards, namely ten thousand the domestic uses of this coal; and if the millions within the ascertained region, sup- works intended to make a communication posing the strata to be continuous through-between the Delaware and North River are out. This, however, is not to be imagined, completed, the economy of using it here, in as the region is in several places broken by preference to other fuel, will be greatly in

BURNING A HOLE THROUGH IRON WITH

SULPHUR.

If the following had not received so high a sanction as that of Professor Silliman, we should certainly be inclined to rank it among those statements which are more strange than credible. As it is, we may be permitted to doubt whether all the circumstances are told, or, if told, whether they are related with exact accuracy. It is taken from a No. of Professor Silliman's Journal of Science and the Arts.

"Colonel Evasin, director of the arsenal of Metz, in a letter to Gay Lussac, states the following experiments:

I placed a bar of wrought iron, about sixteen millemetres in thickness, (six tenths of an inch) into a common forge, fed by fossil coal, and when it was welded hot, drew it out, and applied to its surface a stick of sulphur six tenths of an inch in diameter. In fourteen seconds the sulphur had pierced a hole through the iron, perfectly circular. Another bar of iron, two inches thick, was pierced in fifteen seconds. The holes had the exact form of the sticks of sulphur employed, whether cylindrical or prismatic. They were, however, more regular at the side at which the sulphur came out, than on that on which it was applied.

Steel bars, formed of old files welded together, were pierced more quickly than iron, and presented the same phenomena.

Cast iron, heated nearly to the melting point, underwent no alteration, by the application of sulphur to its surface. The sulpour did not even leave a mark. I took a piece of this cast iron and fashioned it into a crucible, and put it into some sulphur and iron. On heating the crucible, the iron and sulphur were quickly melted, but the crucible underwent no change.

An. de Chimie, Jan. 1824.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

ENGLISH TEACHER AND EXER-
CISES.

edge of those tongues [the French and Italian], and an ignorance of our own." A knowledge of other languages is truly desirable, and the acquisition of them ought, in a proper degree, to be encouragCUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Co. No. 134 Wash-ed by all friends of improvement; but it is ington street [No. 1 Cornhill], have for sale, new editions of these neat and valuable School Books.

The English Teacher contains all the Rules, Notes, and important Observations in Murray's large Grammar, which are introduced in their proper places, and united with the Exercises and Key in perpendicular collateral columns, which show intuitively both the errors and corrections through all the exercises in Orthography, Syntax, Punctuation, and Rhetorical con

struction.

The Exercises form a neat 18mo volume

of 252 pages, on good paper and neat type, for the particular use of pupils in schools; and being a counterpart to the Teacher, corresponds to it in design and execution. The Key is left out of this volume for the purpose of giving the scholar an opportunity of exercising his judgment upon the application of the rules, without a too ready and frequent reference to the key.

The Promiscuous Exercises in each of the four parts of False Grammar, in both volumes, have figures, or letters of the alphabet, introduced, referring to the particular rule or principle by which nearly every individual correction is to be made.

Great care and vigilance have been exercised to prevent defects of the press in these editions, as well as to correct the numerous errors which have found their way into the various editions of these works now in circulation. There can be no hazard in saying, that there is no American edition, either of Murray's Exercises or Key, so correct as the English Teacher, and the Boston "Improved Stereotype Edition of the English Exercises."

These very neat and handsome school manuals will perform much service, save much time, and furnish teachers, private learners, and schools with those facilities which will enable the attentive and indus trious student to trace with precision, pleasure, and profit, the great variety of principles, which, like the muscles of the body, spread themselves through the English language.

319

with Questions for examination, with additional Notes and Illustrations, a Frontispiece representing the Solar System, &c. &c., being a greatly improved edition. By the Rev. J. L. Blake.

Alger's Murray, being an Abridgement of Murray's Grammar, in which large additions of Rules and Notes are inserted from the larger work.

devoutly to be wished, by every friend to
the interests of our country and of English
literature, that American youth would show
a zeal, in this respect, exemplified by the The English Teacher, being Murray's
matrons of ancient Rome; and, like them, Exercises and Key, placed in opposite col-
suffer not the study of foreign languages to umns, with the addition of rules and obser-
prevent, but strictly to subserve the cultivations from the Grammar;-an admi-
vation of their own.
rable private learner's guide to an accurate
It is confidently believed that the Eng-knowledge of the English language, and
lish Teacher and Exercises are excellently also an assistant to instructers.
adapted to produce a radical improvement Alger, jr.
in this very important department of Eng-
lish education. With these aids, individu-
sand pupils, with a little instruction in
parsing, may alone become not only profi-
cients, but skilful and just critics, in one of
the most copious and difficult of all lan-
guages, our own,
Feb. 1.

VALUABLE SCHOOL BOOKS,

PUBLISHED and for sale by LINCOLN &
EDMANDS, 59 Washington-street [53 Corn-
hill.]

By T.

Murray's Exercises; a new and improved stereotype edition, in which references are made, in the Promiscuous Exercises, to the particular rules to which they relate. Also for sale, the School Books in general use.

**In issuing the above works, it has been the object of the publishers to elevate the style of School Books in typographical execution; and they cherish the expecta tion that instructers and school committees

will, on examination, be disposed to patronise them.

Feb. 1.

JUST PUBLISHED,

Walker's School Dictionary, printed on
a fine paper, on handsome stereotype plates.
The Elements of Arithmetic, by James
Robinson, jr.: an appropriate work for BY R. P. & C. WILLIAMS, 79 Washing-

the first classes in schools.

The American Arithmetic, by James Robinson, jr; intended as a Sequel to the Elements. This work contains all the general rules which are necessary to adapt it to schools in cities and in the country, embracing Commission, Discount, Duties, Annuities, Barter, Guaging, Mechanical Powers, &c. &c. Although the work is put at a low price, it will be found to contain a greater quantity of matter than most of the School Arithmetics in general use.

The Child's Assistant in the Art of Reading, containing a pleasing selection of easy readings for young children.

cents.

Price 12

The Pronouncing Introduction, being Murray's Introduction with accents, calculated to lead to a correct pronunciation.

The Pronouncing English Reader, being Murray's Reader accented, divided into It is to be regretted that so few fully un-paragraphs. Enriched with a Frontispiece, derstand the grammatical and accurate exhibiting Walker's illustration of the Inconstruction of their own language. There flections of the Voice. The work is printed is a fashion already too prevalent in our on a fine linen paper, and solicits the pubcountry, which has long obtained in Eng-lic patronage. land, particularly among the superior class

ton-street, Boston,

A Letter from a Blacksmith to the Ministers and Elders of the Church of Scotland, in which the manner of Public Worship in that Church is considered, its inconveniences and defects pointed out, and methods for removing them humbly proposed.

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. Eccl. v. 2.

the understanding also. 1 Cor. xiv. 15.
I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with

From a London edition. For sale as

above, and by the booksellers throughout

the United States.

[blocks in formation]

several important particulars.
lished, and will be otherwise improved in

WELLS & LILLY, HAVE in press, and will shortly publish, A New Digest of Massachusetts Reports. Adams' Geography; a very much approv- By Lewis Bigelow, Counsellor at Law. The es of society, and which has by no means ed work, which has passed through numer-work will embrace all the Reports now pubbeen conducive to a general and extensive ous editions. With a correct Atlas. cultivation of the English language. The Temple's Arithmetic, with additions and subject of allusion is an extravagant predi-improvements. Printed on fine paper. lection for the study of foreign languages, Eighth edition. to the neglect of our own, a language The Pronouncing Testament, in which which by us should be esteemed the most all the proper names, and many other useful and valuable of all. This extrava-words, are divided and accented agreeably gance has been justly censured by Mr Wal- to Walker's Dictionary and Classical Key; ker in the following remark. “We think," -peculiarly suited to the use of Schools. says he, "we show our breeding by a knowl

Conversations on Natural Philosophy,

EVENINGS IN NEW ENGLAND.

CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Co. have just published, and have for sale,

Evenings in New England; intended for Juvenile Amusement and Instruction. By an American Lady.

320

H. C. CAREY & I. LEA, Philadelphia-Have in Press, COOPER (Sir Astley) on Fractures and Dislocations. With Notes and additions, by J. D. Godman, M. D. In octavo, with 20 plates.

Guide to the Lakes. In 18mo, with Maps and Plates.

Tales of a Traveller. Second edition. Coxe's American Dispensatory. Sixth edition.

Weems' Life of Marion. New edition. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia. Johnson on the Liver. 8vo. English Common Law Reports. By Sergeant and Lowber. Vols 4 and 9.

A Treatise of the Diseases of Children. By W. P. Dewees, M. D.

Chitty's Pleadings. Fifth American edition. With Notes and References, by E. D. Ingraham, Esq. 3 vols, royal 8vo.

A Treatise on the Law of Coporations. By T. J. Wharton, Esq. Royal 8vo.

Digest of American Reports. By T. J. Wharton, Esq. Vol. 4, containing the Reports of the Eastern States. (Vols 1 and 3 published.)

Dictionary of Pathology and the Practice of Medicine. In one large vol. 8vo. Joyce's Scientific Dialogues. 3d American edition.

[blocks in formation]

Memoirs of Richard Henry Lee, of Vir- Bat. 1715. ginia. 2 vols. 8vo.

Vegetable Materia Medica, or American Medical Botany. By W. P. C. Barton, M. D. Second edition. In 2 vols. 4to, with 50 coloured plates.

Q. Curtius, apud Elzeviros.

Amstel.

1670.
Ovidii Opera. Edidit Burmannus. Traj.
Bat. 1714. 3 vol.

Valerius Maximus. Lugd. Bat. 1640.
Tacitus. Edidit Boxhornius.
Lucanus.

1651. year

Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of the St Peter's, Lake Winnipeck, Lake of the Woods, &c. performed in the 1823, by order of the Hon. John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, under the direction of Stephen H. Long, Major U. S. Engineers. Compiled from the Notes of Major Long, Messrs Say, Keating, Colhoun, and other gentlemen of the party, by William H. Keating, A. M. &c. &c. &c. Professor of Mineralogy and Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, and Geologist and Historiographer to the Expedition. In 2 vols. with plates.

The Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences; supported by an Association of Physicians, and edited by N. Chapman, M. D. No. XVI.

Reports of Cases argued and determined in the English Courts of Common Law. Vol. 3d, containing, 1st, Holt's Nisi Prius Reports, and 2d, Starkie's Nisi Prius Reports.

Jan. 1.

VALUABLE BOOKS,

LATELY received from Germany, and for sale by CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Co. No. 1 Cornhill.

Edidit Farnabius. Amstel.

mentarius.

Edidit J. Tollius. Traj. ad Rhen. 1694. 4to. Bound in parchment.

Titus Lucretius Carus De Rerum Natu

ra. 4to. Birminghami, 1772.

C. Velleius Paterculus. Edidit Burman

nus. 8vo. Lugd. Bat. 1744.

Porphyrii Opera. Edidit Jacobus de Rhoer. 4to. Lugd. Bat. et Amstel. 1792. Handsomely bound in parchment.

C. Plinii Secundi Panegyricus, curante J. Arntzenio. Amstel. 1738. 4to. Handsomely bound in parchment.

Panegyrici Veteres, editi a H. J. Arntzenio. Traj. ad Rhen. 1790. Pauli Orosii Opera, campus. Lugd. Bat. 1767.

2 tom. in 1. Edidit S. Haver.

Aristophanes Comœdiæ, emendatæ a Ph. Invernizio. Lips. 1794-1821. 8 bandę. German binding.

Aristophanes' Wolken, Eine Komödie Griechisch und Deutsch. Berlin, 1811. 4to. German binding.

Pindari Carmina, curavit Heyne. Lips. 1817. 3 vol.

Pindari Carmina. Edidit Beckius. Lipe. 1811. 2 tom.

Ciceronis Epistolæ. læ, 1809. 6 tom. 8vo. Martialis (M. Val.)

Edidit Schutz. Ha

in einem Auszuge

Lateinisch und Deutsch, von Ramler. Leip. 1787. 5 bande, 12mo. German binding. Recensuit Gierig.

Plinii Panegyricus. Lips. 1796. 8vo.

Tacitus, ex recensione Ernesti. Lips. 1753. 2 tom.

Cleomedis Circularis Doctrina de Sublimibus. Edidit J. Bake Lugd. Bat. 1820. Lydus (Joan. Laur.) De Magistratibus Reipublicæ Romanæ. Lugd. Bat. 1812, 8vo.

Theocriti Carmina, cum Veteribus SchoFlorus. Edidit Salmasius. Lugd. Bat. liis. Edidit J. Giel. Amstel. 1820. 12mo.

1657.

Horatius Flaccus. Traj. Bat. 1713. Velleius Paterculus, Amstel. 1678. Cicero de Officiis. Amstel. 1690. M. Valerius Martialis. Amstel. 1629. Xenophontis Memorabilia Socratis. Recensuit Chr. G. Schultz.

Livii (Titi) Historiæ, curante Drakenborch. Stutgardiæ, 1820-3. 6 vol. Curtii (Quincti) Alexander Magnus. 12mo. Lugd. Bat. 1658.

Platonis Opera, Gr. et Lat. 12 vol. 8vo. Biponti, 1781.

Quintiliani Opera. 4to. Xenophontis Opera, Gr. et Lat. ex recensione E. Wells. 4 vol. 8vo. Lips. 1801. Curtii Rufi (Quincti) Alexander Magnus. Hag. Com. 1708. 8vo.

Idem, cum Notis Variorum. 1684.

Amstel.

Ciceronis Opera Omnia. 4 vol. in 3. Colon. Allob. 1616.

C. Crispus Salustius, et L. Annæus Florus. Ex typis Baskerville. 4to. Birminghamæ, 1773.

Taciti (Cornelii) Opera, quæ extant. Re-ro, censuit Lipsius. Antverpiæ, 1607. fol.

Catulli, Tibulli, et Propertii Opera. Ex typis Baskerville. Birminghamæ, 1772.

4to.

Chr. Gottl. Heyne Publius Virgilius Mavarietate lectionis et perpetuâ adnotatione illustratus. 4 vol. Lips. 1803. Ciceronis Opera. 10 vol. in 9. 18mo. Amstel. 1658-9.

Dionysii Longini de Sublimitate Com

zer.

Procli Diadochi et Olympiodori in Platonis Alcibiadem Commentarii. Edidit CreuFrancof. ad Mon. 1320-2. 3 vol. 8va Opuscula Græcorum Veterum Sententiosa et Moralia. Gr. et Lat. Edidit Orellius. Tom. II. Lips. 1821. 8vo.

THE Publishers of this Gazette furnish, on liberal terms, every book and every periodical work of any value which America affords. They have regular correspondents, and make up orders on the tenth of every month for England and France, and fre quently for Germany and Italy, and import from thence to order, books, in quantities or single copies, for a moderate commission. Their orders are served by gentle men well qualified to select the best editions, and are purchased at the lowest cash prices. All new publications in any way noticed in this Gazette, they have for sale, or can procure on quite as good terms as those of their respective publishers.

CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Co.

CAMBRIDGE:

PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS,

BY

HILLIARD AND METCALF.

THE UNITED STATES LITERARY GAZETTE.

Published on the first and fifteenth day of every month, by Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. No. 1 Cornhill, Boston.-Terms, $5 per annum, payable in July. VOL. I.

REVIEWS.

BOSTON, FEBRUARY 15, 1825.

make it prudent to tempt their forbear

ance.

We drop these intimations, upon the Tales of an American Landlord; containing principle of the economy of preventive Sketches of Life south of the Potomac. measures, for the benefit of our imaginative New York. 1824. 2 vols. 8vo. countrymen and country women; desiring WE read American novels, and indeed them in a friendly way, to lay it to heart, American works of any kind, with a deter- especially the latter. We are indeed too mination to be as well pleased, and to think chivalrous, knowingly, to war with the fair and speak as well of them as our taste and sex; but the ladies, in these cases, do not conscience will permit, and hold it but a always favour us with their names, and we, venial error, to allow ourselves to be a little on our part, make no pretensions to the unduly biassed in favour of home manufac-spirit of divination. Thus, it may chance, that tures. We feel reluctant, therefore, to pass an unfavourable judgment on the work before us. We think the author has read and admired the novels of the Scottish Unknown, till he has persuaded himself (no uncommon mistake, by the way,) that he is able to write something of the same kind; but, if we may judge by this specimen, he has assuredly mistaken his vocation. It is not enough to be delighted with the works of the novelist of the North, nor even to have them by heart. There are many readers in the same case, who have never suspected themselves of possessing the ability to imitate the objects of their admiration; as there are others, who, notwithstanding a secret feeling, that they are not altogether inadequate, content themselves with imagining the ease of an attempt which they never have, nor ever will make, and live and die in the consciousness, that they could astonish and delight the world, if they would.

Now and then it happens, however, as in the present instance, that the amateur shakes off that wholesome disposition to procrastination, which has protected the reading community from many a volume, which, like Basil's Journal, only waited for to-morrow; shuts his eyes to the dangers, which lurk behind the periodical presses of the time; ventures to put forth his twin volumes in fair paper covers, blue, yellow, or marble, as the case may be, and waits, in trembling anxiety, to see from what quarter the critic is to spring upon his literary offspring. In general, the American author escapes easily. The public read and forget, his friends praise, and the reviewer lays a patriotic and gentle hand upon the harmless ephemera. These are halcyon days for poets and tale-tellers; but they should remember, that they hold their privileges by a precarious tenure; that the nationality of critics is but a broken reed to rest upon; that the nature of these animals is not longsuffering; and that, however gentle and playful they may appear in particular circumstances, their disposition to rend a hapless scribbler, is a too well authenticated trait in their character, to

in belabouring some offending wearer of the
cloak of darkness our lashes may fall upon
forms no way calculated to endure them, and
shatter nerves which nature never strung
for rude encounters. We advise the fair
authors, therefore, in all cases, to let a little
of the blue investment peep out from beneath
the sable coverture;-just to make patent
so much of an azure instep, as will enable
us to account satisfactorily to our readers,
for our mansuetude in the cases supposed

The leading characters, in these Tales,
are Colonel Berkley, a profane man of the
world; his son George, a religious young
man; an old methodist preacher; Mrs Bel-
cour, and her two daughters, Maria and
Eliza; Lord Umberdale, an English noble-
man; Mr Arley, his brother, a dissipated
spendthrift; Mr Courtal, a lawyer; Colonel
Hopewell, an old soldier; and Marmaduke
Scott, a Scotch clergyman.

Miss Eliza Belcour is contracted by her parents, in her infancy, to George Berkley, whom she has never known, and of course dislikes. She falls in love with an unknown young gentleman, who turns out to be George Berkley, in time to reconcile her duty and inclination. Her sister, in like manner, gives her heart to the Honourable Mr Arley, who, having disencumbered himself of his property in England, and, flying from the terrors of the law at home, appears in America under the assumed name of Percy, associates himself with a gang of sharpers, and lays siege to the affections and fortune of Miss Belcour. Some remains of honour protect her from the consequences of this plot, and it is afterwards discovered to her by an accident, which consigns Mr Arley to temporary confinement. In the mean time, Lord Umberdale appears on the stage, seeking his dissipated brother. In the course of his search, he meets, and becomes enamoured of Maria,-who transfers her regard to him, with a facility which can hardly be excused by his personal likeness to her former suitor. Before an actual declaration takes place, circumstances bring the brothers in contact; a reconciliation is the result; Mr Arley repents, reforms, and marries

No. 21.

Maria, whose original flame has revived, while Lord Umberdale returns to England with the willow.

Such is a general outline of the story, which we cannot think very interesting. We are too well experienced in the contrivances of novelists, to be much entertained by complicated plots and incognito heroes. With respect to the individual characters, we think Colonel Berkley's conversion improbable, while his son is at best an object of very cool approbation. Mrs Belcour manœuvres, as the mother in the novels of all ages has manoeuvred, but with little spirit and little ingenuity; the daughters are good girls enough, but nothing more; Mr Courtal is a very unsuccessful attempt to imitate Counsellor Pleydell; and the clergyman is a caricature, which bears as much likeness to life as caricatures generally do.

But the principal objection to this work, is the perpetual and undisguised attempt at imitation. Almost every sentence is framed so as to remind us of the god of the author's idolatry. We mean every original sentence, for we might almost call the work a cento, so abundant are the quotations from Scott, Shakspeare, and others. It should have been considered, that, though an occasional quotation or allusion, like a jewel judiciously placed, may set off what would be agreeable without it; a profusion of ornaments adds nothing to beauty, and renders homeliness only more remarkable; and that, while memory may assist talents, and reading minister to invention,-they can seldom conceal their defects, and never supply their places.

We object further to the offence against poetical justice, in the dénouement of the tale; Lord Umberdale is despatched in sorrow, and Arley carries off the prize, for which both contended. Whether marriage, with the object of one's affection, be the most valuable blessing and reward offered in this sublunary scene, or not, is a question about which opinions differ materially. The affirmative, however, is pretty generally admitted in Utopia, of which country the characters, and, by courtesy, the writers of novels, must be considered citizens. To this reward, therefore, the nobleman, who is represented as uniformly virtuous, had the clearest title, and it is at once contrary to the law of the land alluded to, and in opposition to the dictates of the moral sense of any land, to award it to one, whose only claim is founded on good feelings whose dictates have been generally disregarded, and a recent conversion which may possibly be permanent. We mention another objection with considerable hesitation. It is founded

۱۱

« السابقةمتابعة »