In connection with this discovery, several facts were brought to light indicating a milder climate near the Pole. Crowds of marine birds, the advance of vegetable life, the melted snow upon the rocks, and the rise of the thermometer in the water, suggested the supposition of a climatic melioration toward the Pole, although Dr. KANE declines engaging in the discussion of the question.

In conclusion, we cannot but repeat the expression of our sense of the heroism, energy, and intelligence of the intrepid chief of the expedition. His modest narrative has a certain auto-biographical fascination, unconsciously revealing the highest order of manly qualities, while in the interest of its incidents, it is almost superfluous to say it surpasses the most exciting wonders of romance. Á vein of beautiful humanity pervades its composition, and even in the describing of the most desperate scenes, a lurking humor often peeps forth, showing the impotence of uncongenial circumstances to depress an elastic and generous nature. The ethical lesson of these volumes is a no less precious gift to the reader than its scientific instruction and picturesque delineations.'

With this farther report upon Dr. KANE's great work, we take our leave of it in these pages; glad that there will hereafter be bound up in the KNICKERBOCKER two well-deserved tributes to an undaunted, humane, and gifted explorer, and well pleased that we should have had a hand in perpetuating his name and his fame.'

ENGLISH TRAITS. By R. W. EMERSON. Boston: PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & Co. 1856. Pp. 312.

Svo.

DICKENS writes for all who speak the English language. Mr. EMERSON addresses only his 'class.' This class consists of the cultivated men of both England and America, and by these the book bearing the above pithy title was seized as eagerly as the last chapter of Little DORRIT by the 'rest of mankind.' We have waited a long time for it, for the author has taken time to make it short. We have neither the time nor the inclination for an elaborate review of this book, but shall leave that task to other and abler pens, contenting ourselves with a few extracts: "The English have more constitutional energy than any other people. They think with HENRI QUATRE, that manly exercises are the foundation of that elevation of mind which gives our nature ascendency over another; or with the Arabs, that the days spent in the chase are not counted on the length of life. They box, run, shoot, ride, row, and sail from pole to pole. They eat, and drink, and live jolly in the open air, putting (mark this Young America) a solid bar of sleep between day and day. As soon as he can handle a gun, hunting is the fine art of every Englishman of condition.'

Mr. EMERSON finds the Englishman 'to be him of all others who stands firmest in his shoes. They have in themselves which they value in their horses, mettle and bottom.' 'On the day of my arrival in Liverpool, a gentleman, in describing to me the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, happened to say: 'Lord CLARENDON has pluck like a cock, and will fight till he dies.' And what I heard first I heard last, and the one thing the English value is pluck. The cab-men have it; the merchants have it; the bishops have it; the women have it; the journals have it; the Times newspaper, they say, is the pluckiest thing in England: and SYDNEY SMITH had made it a proverb

that little Lord JOHN RUSSELL, the minister, would take the command of the Channel fleet to-morrow.' Again, on the same subject, he says: 'I apply to Britannia, queen of seas and colonies, the words in which her latest novelist portrays his heroine: 'She is as mild as she is game, and as game as she is mild.' The English delight in the antagonism which combines in one person, the extremes of courage and tenderness. NELSON, dying at Trafalgar, sends his love to Lord COLLINGWOOD, and like an innocent schoolboy that goes to bed, says: 'Kiss me, HARDY,' and turns to sleep.'

We take a paragraph or two from the chapter headed 'Truth,' Mr. EMERSON'S epigrammatic style tempting us to quote almost at random. He says: The Teutonic tribes have a national singleness of heart. The German name has a proverbial significance of sincerity and honest meaning. The arts bear testimony to it. The faces of clergy and laity in old sculptures and illuminated missals, are charged with earnest belief. Add to this hereditary rectitude the punctuality and precise dealing which commerce creates and you have the English truth and credit. The government strictly performs its engagements. The subjects do not understand trifling on its part.

'When any breach of promise occurred in the old days of prerogative, it was resented by the people as an intolerable grievance. And in modern times, any slipperiness in the government in political faith, or any repudiation or crookedness in matters of finance, would bring the whole nation to a committee of inquiry and reform. Private men keep their promises, never so trivial. Down goes the flying word on the tablets, and is indelible as Domesday Book.' 'English veracity seems to result on a sounder animal structure, as if they could afford it. They are blunt in saying what they think, sparing of promises, and they require plain-dealing of others. ALFRED, the type of the race, is called the Truth-Speaker. They hate shuffling and equivocation, and the cause is damaged on which any paltering can be fixed.'

The doctrine of the Old Testament, says EMERSON, is the religion of England. The first leaf of the New Testament it does not open. It believes in a PROVIDENCE Which does not treat with levity a pound sterling. They are neither Transcendentalists nor Christians. They put up no Socratic prayer, much less any saintly prayer, for the QUEEN's mind; ask neither for light nor right, but say bluntly, 'Grant her in health and wealth long to live.''

We ourselves have always had a great respect for the man who rides in his own coach, and partly understand the feelings of the pious PEPYS, quoted by EMERSON on this point: 'Abroad,' says PEPYS, 'with my wife, the first time I ever rode in my own coach, which do make my heart rejoice and praise God, and pray Hiм to bless it to me, and continue it.'

We have given our readers a few passages, taken almost at random from the book. It would be coxcombery in us to criticise or praise it. We simply say that we think every man will be more virtuous' for reading such books. The strength and manly relf-reliance of the author are in a manner infused into the reader. The book is as invigorating as a horseback ride, or a pleasant walk, in the bracing air of these cool October mornings.

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND.' A MATTER-OF-FACT ROMANCE. BY CHARLES READE, Author of CHRISTIE JOHNSTONE,' 'PEG WOFFINGTON,' etc. In two volumes. Pp. 423, 424. Boston: TICKNOR AND FIELDS. 1856.

THIS work, after we had perused it with unwonted pleasure from titlepage to 'Finis,' lay upon our table for only one single day, before it was spirited away; and whoever did 'so convey the same,' did 'his spiriting gently' enough; and we must say, has evinced so much good taste and judgment in his selection, that we 'decline to prosecute' and shall not 'appear' against him. Meantime, while through the 'conduct aforesaid' we have been prevented from doing our duty 'in the premises,' an able contemporary, the Boston Christian Examiner' for November, has been more fortunate and its appreciative and critical views are in such exact accordance with our own, as we read the volumes, that we adopt and indorse them in each and every particular:

In this powerful sketch of a few phases of real life in our own times, Mr. READE has amply redeemed the promise implied in his previous works. Less brilliant in coloring, it is even more vigorous in touch, and more various in interest, than either 'PEG WOFFINGTON' or 'CHRISTIE JOHNSTONE.' Dealing with an entirely different set of characters, and aiming to produce a deeper and more permanent impression upon his readers, our author has achieved a still more remarkable success, and has given us a work which, though marked by some defects, must yet place him among the first English novelists of the day.

'The characterization exhibits the same wide acquaintance with human nature, and the same rare insight into human motives, which were so apparent in his carlier and less elaborate productions. His men and women are neither impossible combinations of discordant qualities, nor are they mere personifications of abstract ideas. Though they are sometimes idealized and exaggerated, they are generally just such persons as we may have to deal with at almost any moment in some of the multifarious relations of life. Who, for instance, does not recognize the fidelity of the portrait of SUSAN MERTON - the very type of an average woman of her class? So, too, in the characters of GEORGE FIELDING, the honest farmer, and of TOM ROBINSON, the keen-witted and sharp-eyed thief, his truth to nature is equally noticeable. Such characters as EDEN, the single-hearted and devoted minister of our faith, scorning all thought of earthly advancement, and suffering much to save the wretched inmates of a prison; HAWES, the tyrannical and bloodthirsty governor of the jail; and MEADOWS, a scheming villain building up wickedness even while cherishing some noble and generous impulses Yet the character of HAWES is understood to have been drawn from life; and few will doubt that such men as EDEN and MEADOWS may sometimes be found. The minor characters are scarcely less real and life-like.

are more rare.

'The plot is extremely complicated; but in its management the writer shows great judgment, and the incidents are evolved with the utmost skill and discrimination. The scenes in the jail and in Australia, in particular, are wrought out with wonderful vigor. Nowhere have we seen a more vivid picture of life in Australia, both before the discovery of gold and during the early stages of the gold fever, than is presented in these chapters. The whole story fascinates the reader with an irresistible power.

It is clear, however, from the most cursory reading, that Mr. READE has aimed at something more than the construction of a merely interesting tale. The work bears throughout the mark of an earnest purpose; and though it can scarcely be said that the interest of the story has been subordinated to the enforcement of the moral, it cannot be doubted that a chief purpose of the author was to utter his protest against the system of solitary confinement, and to make his readers share his deep-seated indignation.'

THE MUSICAL BOUQUET, AND INSTITUTE CHOIR: A Collection of Songs, Duets, Trios, and Choruses. Together with a New and Complete Course of Elementary Instructions and Lessons in Singing. For the School-room and Social Circle. New-York: IVISON AND PHINNEY.

We have here something new and something fair to the eye. Its external and internal merits must secure for the Musical Bouquet' many friends. In three points, it is assumed, this work may challenge successful competition: first, in the character of its melodies; secondly, the beauty and tenderness of the words, with some exceptions; and finally, in the mechanical execution. The stereotypers, Messrs. MILLER AND HOLMAN, are entitled to great credit for their share of the work, which certainly is an ornament to the unrivalled skill of our American mechanics. The valuable labors of Mr. BRADBURY are too well known to require mention in these pages, while Mr. CONVERSE ranks second to no man of his years. As a rising star we commend him to public notice, and we call attention to his efforts in the volume under consideration, as an earnest of what he may achieve upon the completion of his present studies in Europe.

We have alluded to the excellence of the poetry; and cite as a specimen the following lines from the pen of a contemporary editor, J. B. PLIMPTON, of Elmira :

'WHEN night-winds are wailing

Like spirits in thrall,

And Death walks in darkness
Through hamlet and hall:
Kind angel of mercy,

Wherever they are,

Watch over the slumbers
Of loved ones afar.

'Where'er they may wander,
By land or by sea,
THOU FATHER of angels,

We trust them with THEE!
Be THOU to earth's pilgrims
The day-beam and star,
The staff of the weary,
To loved ones afar.

'While life hath a pleasure,

Or hope hath a cheer,

While the heart can feel kindness,

Or sorrow a tear,

I ne'er can forget them,

Nor fail in the prayer,

That GOD will watch over

The loved ones afar!'

JOHN PHOENIX'S FOURTH-OF-JULY ORATION IN OREGON. Our readers have known JOHN PHOENIX as a Surveyor, a Topographical Engineer, a Humorist: but they have now to listen for the first time to him as a Fourth-of-July Orator. The matter is explained by the following

Correspondence.

'JOHN PHOENIX, Esq., Sergt. Major, etc.

'Fort Vancouver, W. T., June 15, 1856.

'DEAR SIR: 'I am requested by a number of your brother officers, and other gentlemen, to solicit you to deliver the oration at the celebration of the approaching Fourth of July, at this post.

'Very respectfully,

'Your friend and obdt. servt.,

'H. C. H., 1st Lieut 4th Infantry.'

'Portland, Oh! Tea, 17 June, 1856.

'DEAR SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your very polite invitation to address a number of my brother officers, and other gentlemen, on the coming glorious anniversary, at Vancouver.

'In the words of a celebrated Roman emperor, when asked to take a drink, I reply, 'I will do it with great pleasure,' and shall immediately prepare myself for the discharge of the agreeable duty thus devolving upon me.

'Your invitation, Sir, arrived upon a most opportune occasion. Eighty years (or thereabouts) ago, this day, our respected ancestors marched up the side of BREED's Hill by a flank, to the following spirit-stirring tune:

'On! tweedle dum twee,

Oh! tweedle dum twee,

Oh! tweedle-tweedle, tweedle dum twee.'

And after getting there, feeling sick at their stomachs from fatigue, threw up a line of breastworks and trenches, that took the British very particularly by surprise. Behind those breast-works, Sir, our gallant ancestors stood shoulder to shoulder, and received the red-coated minions of the British monarch with a galling and destructive fire, that