has ciates. specimen of the earliest unquestionable | Dibdin's account of it used to form one of my date; it is a bull of Pope Nicholas V., granting stock stories, and now I can add that I have had plenary indulgence to all Christians bearing arms the precious volume in hand; it is in the Althorp against the Turks, who at that period were push-Library, having been purchased by the late Lord ing on their conquests in the Mediterranean; the Spencer for about £900, when it was sold under date is 1453. Another of the next year has evi- a decree to satisfy the claims of the Duke of dently been altered in the date, by the insertion Roxburgh's heirs, to whom it had belonged, with a pen of an I to the M.CCCC.LIII., proba- when bought by the Marquis of Blandford. The bly that the copies remaining from the preceding whole history of this volume, from the time of year might answer for 1454, and save the ne- its being discovered in the Library of the Moncessity of a new impression. Nicholas V. died astery, until it came into Lord Spencer's hands, in March, 1455, and was succeeded by Callixtus is most curious: it has now found a proper restIII.; it was therefore necessary to issue a new ing-place, and reposes quietly among its fit assobull. Accordingly we find that the one of the date of 1455 is in entirely different type, and the I cannot quit the subject of the Althorp Libracomparison of the two furnishes the best argu- ry, without observing, that every thing there is in ment in favor of the priority of Gutenberg's Bi- proper keeping, every copy is a choice one, all ble printed at Mentz, (now known as the Maza- books of prints are proofs before the letters, the rin Bible,) to that of Pfister; printed probably binding of every volume is of the best and richbetween 1456 and 1460, but without date or place, est kind, and they are kept as neatly and as free Pfister's remarkable F being found on the last from dust as fresh books. The number is not dated bull. Copies of both these Bibles are in very great, 56,000 volumes only, but that is the Althorp Library, and of the first there is a enough to include every thing worth having. As copy in New York, but it cannot be seen. Next to the paintings and other works of art, which in order is the earliest Bible with a date-that of form the embellishments of the Ædes AlthorpiFaust and Scheffer, printed at Mentz, 1462, of anæ, they are just such as one would desire to which Lord Spencer has a magnificent copy on see in such a princely residence; but I have alvellum, and then a suite of the early Bibles in all ready trespassed too long on your patience to languages; in every case, the first edition in each enter upon an account of them now. Never language is found in this library. The earliest have I spent a more agreeable or a more interprinted book with a date is the Psalter of 1457, esting day than that of my visit to Althorp, and of which there is a copy in fine preservation. nowhere have I met a kinder and more courteThe earliest English Bible is the one translated ous reception. from the Latin and Dutch, by Miles Coverdale, and printed by him in the Low Countries in 1535, as it was not permitted to be done in England, being before Henry VIII. had decided for the Protestant faith. All the other English versions to the time of the received one, follow in proper order in the library. NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. CLASSICAL SERIES, by Drs. Schmitz and Zumpt. C. Julii C. JULIUS CAESAR'S COMMENTARIES ON THE GALLIC In first editions of the Greek and Latin Classics, the Library is equally rich; not one of the rare ones is wanting. I never thought much of Alduses until I saw the Althorp set in vellum, and now I know how beautiful they are. Until the addition of the Cassano Library to his collection, Lord Spencer had no copies of the very rare Naples Horace and Juvenal; finding them in the possession of the Duke of Cassano, he offered him six hundred pounds sterling for these two small volumes, which offer the Duke declined, unless Lord Spencer would extend his purThese publications have been on our table for some time, chase to the whole library; it was in this way and as editions of a classic author, so celebrated and so that the Cassano Library happened to be bought much used, deserved an earlier notice. Editions of Cæsar by him. Don't fret, I've little more to add. You are indeed "plenty as blackberries." But a few years remember Dibdin's glowing account in his Bibli- ago, Prof. Anthon put forth a mammoth one, which appaomania of the Valdarfar Boccaccio, for which rently contained every thing which could possibly be desired by any one, and certainly more than is desirable for the Duke of Marlborough, when Marquis of young heginners. Yet it was far from preventing the preBlandford, paid, or rather agreed to pay, £2260. 'paration of others; how many we cannot say. Mr. Spen cer alludes to several-Andrews', Leverett's, &c., and here [ume may be thoroughly mastered, got up and retained” by are two more, which have recently appeared. The first, all students who set a proper value on Classical AntiquiSchmitz's, is a small, neat volume, with a very conve- ties. niently arranged map in miniature of Gaul, (Transalpina and Cisalpina,) and very brief, yet clear and sensible explanatory notes. They are not copious enough; but mea-THE GERMANIA AND AGRICOLA OF TACITUS; With notes gerness is a much smaller objection than excessive expansion, especially when the latter is occasioned by much liberal translation. The editor is a German scholar of high reputation now residing in Edinburgh, and author of an abridged Roman history. Mr. Spencer's edition has more pretension, size and completeness. The expediency of large editions of school classics may well be doubted. Yet they may perhaps be allowed, where an author is commonly used for mere beginners, as Cæsar, or where he is exceedingly obscure, as Tacitus or Juvenal. for Colleges. By W. S. Tyler, Professor of the Greek and Latin Languages in Amherst College. New York. D. Appleton & Co., 200 Broadway. Philadelphia. Geo. S. Appleton, 148 Chesnut Street. This is a neat and well-printed volume, prepared with great care and labor. It seems ton to have been not a mere professional labor, but one of love. The author tells us that it is his first essay in this department, and displays a discrimination, enthusiasm and power as a writer, which promise high excellence. The want of a good edition of TaciMr. Spencer has certainly executed his task very well. tus must have been long felt by American teachers, and He has perhaps rather too freely amended the commonly this commencement of an attempt to supply the deficiency, received text, and occasionally translated too much without should be hailed with approbation by all lovers of the clasaccompanying explanations. But he is brief and sufficient-sics. Mr. Tyler seems to be imbued with a sincere and ly clear and full in the exposition of those points of gram- warm admiration of his author, but, if we may be allowed mar, geography and antiquities, which are suggested by the the criticism, has chosen rather too ambitious a style for an text. The student never will be wearied by his notes, al-annotator. He has however no mean talent, has laboriousthough he may be occasionally baffled by references to book3 ly collated the different manuscripts and editions, and often not within his reach. The life of Cæsar prefixed to this is far more just than the one written by Dr. Schmitz, who appeared to be quite carried away by his admiration of the hero. This we conceive to be a serious objection to a book in the hands of boys, sufficiently prone, without extraneous influence, to be dazzled by military glory. We have seen recent proof that this is far from being confined to boys, in the most extravagant of all eulogies on Cæsar, introduced into a preface to the lives of the Apostles. interests the reader by reference to parallel passages in other authors. This last we consider very judicious, especially when he compares Tacitus with the authors of the Augustan period, from whose purity he had, with all his genius, evidently degenerated. But while Mr. T. has done so much towards fixing and elucidating the text, that the student of his edition will seldom have any difficulty in understanding the author, yet, to use his own words, he sometimes "carries him on the broad shoulders of an indiscriminate translator." It is certainly preferable, whenever it can be done, to explain the sense of the original and the idioms of the language without actual translation, especially free translation, which, in a majority of instances, prevents the student from farther exertion. But in an author so difficult as Tacitus, it is very hard to do this without drawing out the notes to an inconvenient length. We heartily thank Mr. Tyler for what he has done, and have little doubt of his "ability to make it better at a future day." THE CAXTONS: A FAMILY PICTURE, By Sir E. Bulwer This book certainly supplies a desideratum in our clas sical school literature. It is a reliable manual of both ROLAND CASHEL, By Charles Lever. Illustrated. Complete Greek and Roman antiquities-brief, clear, and embracing in Two Parts. Part 1. New York: Harper & Brothers. all the results of scholastic research. It is preferable to After some months domination in the empire of fiction, the Potter, Adams, &c., because the author has availed him- Bells and Mr. Titmarsh have given place to the old regime self of the lights thrown on various subjects by the inves-and once more "the author of Pelham" and the volatile tigations of Niebuhr, and many other modern scholars. It Harry Lorrequer hold sway. Bulwer, however, is Bulwer is better as a text book, than Fiske's Manual, because it is" with a difference," for "the Caxtons" is quite unlike anyless voluminous and minute, and less encumbered by a thing we have seen from his pen. It is more carefully fismultiplicity of indexes. Yet we cannot see why Bojesen's could not be arranged with only one index, and we know that this would add to its convenience. It is well gotten up, under the supervision of Mr. Spencer we believe. The sanction of those German scholars, who translated it into their own language, and of Dr. Arnold, who edited it in England, renders any commendation on our part superfluous. We will venture, however, to differ from the great English scholar in one point, viz. the propriety of using set questions in teaching any book whatever. We hope that, in the language of Dr. Arnold, "the vol ished than his first efforts, though with not so much of plot, and differs altogether from his latest works, (which were skilfully elaborated) in design. "The Caxtons" is a series of highly graphic and agreeable sketches of men and things, strung together in a manner that is an evident imitation of Tristam Shandy. When we took up "Roland Cashel" we were greatly surprised to find ourselves in company with a select circle of piratical black-legs in South America. They talk Span ish and play at monte. Now, thought we, for a novelty in novels. But no sooner do we become partially acquainted with the social habits and mode of life of that rather im-ject when we consider that the attention of all Christenmoral region, than Roland Cashel, (the mauvais sujet that dom and Heathenesse is now directed to the rich Sierras of Dr. Lever takes for a hero) is whisked off to Dublin, there California. The sacra fames of the Sacramento has smitto commence flirting and fox-hunting at the rate of £17,000 ten "mankind from China to Peru." Punch itself has ala year! In short "Roland Cashel" begins to figure in the lowed Lord Brougham a respite from caricature, and instead same scenes that all Dr. Lever's heroes have figured in be- of weekly reproductions of his checked breeches and his fore. We do not complain of this, however, for no one remarkable nose, brings out prints of the gold-diggings with has a greater command of incident than Dr. Lever and no the emigrants that are flocking thereto. We have seen it one says smarter things in the progress of his dialogue. stated that at a recent representation of Robert Le Diable, We look for the second number with interest. in a little town in France celebrated for its white wines These novels may be found at the book store of A. and its red politics, an apology was made for the absence Monis. 1. WHAT I SAW IN CALIFORNIA: Being the Journal of a 2. FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE GOLD FINDERS IN CALI- 3. THE GOLD SEEKER'S MANUAL: Being a practical and of the tenor, who was to sing "L'or est une Chimere" to the "Que dans mes mains pleuve de l'or, Et j'en fais mon affaire !" How this auriferous excitement will turn out at last, remains to be seen, but we venture nothing in the opinion that those nations will derive the greatest benefit from the discovery which pursue the even tenor of plodding industry and commercial enterprise, unaffected by insane schemes of hoarding up masses of the shining ore. To those of our fellow citizens who would learn the statistics of the gold country or who design visiting it, we commend these publications, which may be found at all the 4. THE CALIFORNIA GUIDE Book: Comprising Major 5. WESTERN AMERICA, Including California and Oregon, 6. OREGON AND CALIFORNIA in 1848: By J. Quinn Thornton, &c., &c., with authentic information on the subject of the Gold Mines, &c., &c. In Two Volumes. New York: Harper & Brothers. The Messrs. Appleton have quite distanced all their neighbours of the book trade in the number and variety of their publications on California. They have issued indeed all sorts of treatises, in muslin and stitched paper, containing every thing that it is at all desirable to know about our new possessions on the Pacific, and a great deal more besides,-despatches of commodores, accounts of huge lumps of the precious metal beyond anything that Aladdin saw in the cave of the genii, and statements which tell us how fortunes are made in a day and how one young gentleman sold a barrel of whiskey for $14,000! Some of their books are valuable for the information they give of the geography of the country, its climate and agricultural resources. We are glad to know something of these territories beyond the mere accounts of gold, gold, with which every newspaper is filled. In this respect Mr. Bryant's narrative and the work of Capt. Wilkes are especially usefal, the latter being accompanied with excellent maps of the country from actual surveys. Judge Thornton's volumes are also well worth reading, in the handsome text of the Harpers, although one is sometimes amused with the simplicity of the author's reflections. We do not wonder at the multitude of books on this sub. HISTORY OF HANNIBAL THE CARTHAGINIAN. By Jacob Mr. Abbott deserves and will receive the lasting gratitude of two important classes of society for his series of elementary historical works. The juvenile portion will thank him again and again for telling the stories of great captains and fair queens in plain words, such aa fix events and characters upon the youthful mind. Parents and teachers (whom we regard as the other class) will thank him for investing with interest those studies from which children generally are repelled by the stiff style of the books in which they are presented. The volume before us contains all about Hannibal, the great Carthaginian, how he urged his elephants over the Alps, and fought the battle of Cannae and sent home bushels of rings from the fingers of the Roman knights slain there, together with the subsequent incidents of his life. It is beautifully printed and illustrated. It is for sale by A. Morris. ESSAY ON THE UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE. By Baptist Wriothesley Noel, M. A. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1849. This book from the pen of a most celebrated English divine, has created an unparalled sensation in England, directing public attention to the evils of the Establishment and causing the High Church party to offer a prize for the best refutation of its arguments. The author attacks the Union of Church and State on political grounds, and draws upon the Old and New Testaments to prove it unscriptural. | bers and the “Catalogue of British Authors,” with spiritHe proceeds to show the baleful influence of the union ed comments on each age or school of letters. We vesupon true religion, subjecting pious dissenters to disabilities ture nothing in saying that the views of many of our medand nurturing within the pale of the established faith, a set ern authors, who are wedded to the Germans, would be of fox-hunting parsons, fond of whist and half-and-half, considerably modified by a careful perusal of this volume who preach their neighbors' sermons and love their neigh-in connection with Sir Henry Ellis's admirable chapters bors' wives. The concluding portion of the volume is de- on Literature in the Pictorial History of England. We voted to some suggestions with regard to a more fervid re- believe that the treasures of our own tongue are inferior vival and extension of religion. to those of no modern language and we are pleased to see so excellent a volume to sustain our opinion. It is for sale by J. W. Randolph & Co. Mr. Noel will meet with little favor, we apprehend, at the hands of those who wield or enjoy the patronage of the Established Church, but the disinterested piety which has induced him to resign the ease and emolument of a Rectorship under a system he disapproved, will not fail to ensure him the respect of all and will doubtless lend addi tional sanction to his views. The volume is a neat octavo, and may be found at the bookstore of A. Morris. A CATECHISM OF THE STEAM ENGINE. Illustrative of the Scientific Principles upon which its operation depends, and the Practical Details of its structure, in its application to Mines, Mills, Steam Navigation and Railways. By John Bourne, C. E., editor of a Treatise on the Steam Engine, by the Artisan Club. From the last London edition. New York: D. Appleton & Co. This valuable work is supplemental, and to some extent, introductory, to a more lengthy treatise on the same subject by the same author. It embodies in the form of questions and answers all that can be said of the Steam Engine with its application to various kinds of machinery. The work is cheap, well-printed and of convenient size for the pocket. It may be obtained of Nash & Woodhouse. NARRATIVE OF THE LATE EXPEDITION TO THE DEAD This is a volume of some pretension, with an attractive title, and rather flashy exterior. Those who buy it, how. ever, with the expectation of finding it a faithful "narrative of the late expedition to the Dead Sea" will be most egregiously disappointed. It seems to have been gotten up by the publishers on the principle that “a book's a book although there is nothing in it," to take advantage of public curiosity. which is now rife with regard to the late remarkable voyage of Lieut. Lynch, and also (we cannot help thinking) to forestall his work on the same subject, now in the press of Lea & Blanchard. But our gallant commander is not to be thus treated, and we predict that this attempt to take the wind out of his sails will prove quite ineffectual, or, in other words, that his sales will only be the larger in conse quence. Mr. Montague's book is certainly not the book which public expectation demands. THE LITERARY AMERICAN. G. P. Quackenbos, Proprietor. New York. HISTORY OF MARYLAND; From its first settlement in 1634 to the year 1848. By James McSherry. Baltimore, Printed and Published by John Murphy. 1849. Having taken occasion to commend this literary enterprise, when it was first entered upon, we have seen with great regret in the number for March 24th, a most discreditable plagiarism. The editor has thought proper to put forth as original the very striking translation from the French of Pierre Chevalier, entitled "The Statue of Santa Maria," which was contributed to this magazine for January, 1848, by Miss Mary E. Lee of Charleston, S. C. The two versions are the same in every particular, verbatim et literatim, the only difference being that in the Literary Ameriican the name of the translator is abridged to the initials, M. E. L., and the residence altogether omitted. We can submit with a pretty good grace to appropriations," (we use the mildest term,) of our property by certain monthlies COLLECTIONS OF THE GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. and weeklies, whose offences in this particular are notorious, but we are sorry to see so respectable a paper as the Literary American reduced to such expedients. We trust the matter was the result of inadvertence and we respectfully ask an explanation at the hands of Mr. Quackenbos. The numerous volumes of history which have appeared during two or three years past, drawn from the annals of the States of our Union, attest an increased and gratifying attention to this branch of research. The work before us is a well-written and well-digested narrative of events connected with the history of Maryland, from the landing of the Calverts to the present time. We have no room to enlarge upon its merits here, but would recommend those who desire an excellent history of Maryland to procure it at once. It has reached us through J. W. Randolph & Co. Volume III. Part 1. We are indebted to our excellent friend, Mr. I. K Teft, whose zeal in historical research has made his name wellknown on both sides of the Atlantic, for a copy of this useful publication. The present number contains a vast deal of curious and valuable information with regard to the “Creek Country" and the Indian tribes of Georgia, taken from MSS. of the late Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, the earliest Agent of the United States for Indian Affairs. The Society is indebted for the use of these MSS. to Mr. Te its Corresponding Secretary, under whose guidance the A delightful treatise on the best of subjects, something Institution itself has attained a proud eminence among the between the "Cyclopedia of English Literature" by Cham-scientific corporations of America. OUTLINES OF English LiteratuRE. By Thomas B. Shaw, B. A., Professor of English Literature in the Imperial Alexandria Lyceum of St. Petersburg. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1849. PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM-JNO. R. THOMPSON, EDITOR AND PROPRIetor. ADVICE TO YOUNG LADIES. BY ARBOR VITE, ESQ. NO. 5. make sure of either: but, like the unlucky sportsman, who fires right and left to no purpose at the retreating covey, she is left to deplore the lavish expenditure of caps and powder, without the satisfaction of displaying a single feather of If the following pages should not be found to the birds so long and anxiously pursued. Some, possess that interest for the public, which is re-indeed, convert themselves into human revolvers, quisite for their admission into your valuable and go off, in rapid succession, with random journal; or if, being there published through shots at every point in the compass: but, notyour courtesy, they should not be favorably es- withstanding much noise and smoke, the aim of teemed by your judicious readers, the result would these weapons is too unsteady, and their range be extremely mortifying to my sensibility. And too short, to be effective, without the help of exthis, sir, would be the effect, not so much of traordinary accident. wounded pride, for a modest estimate of my own talents has ever been one of my characteristic distinctions; but of disappointment in my efforts to aid in the culture and development of the most lovely of Earth's productions, the spring buds and blossoms of womankind. I have already remarked, that few are so fortunate as to attain both of the great aims of female ambition. She, who is followed and courted by a multitude of admirers, is not often to be envied in her choice of a protector for life. There is much wisdom in proverbs. We are told by No other motive, indeed, could have prevailed the highest authority, that the race is not always with me to enter the field of literature, at my to the swift: and we are often reminded of the period of life, unskilled as I am in what may be homely illustration, the heroine of which, after called the science and art of mental horticulture. fastidiously rejecting all the straight canes in the But I have been persuaded by the solicitations forest, is at last obliged to be content with a of friends, that a long and intimate acquaintance crooked stick, picked up at the end of it. with polite society, as well in foreign capitals And there are causes obvious enough, which and courts, as in the circles of our own country, conduce to this result. The love of admiration joined to my habitual association with, devotion is an appetite which grows by indulgence, and to, and study of, the most fascinating of the other which, like other morbid appetites, seeks gratifisex, has fitted me, in a peculiar manner, to im- cation, rather in the quantity, than the quality of part useful advice to the young sisterhood, now its food. The belle of the day is invariably surentering upon the untried scenes of the world. rounded by a crowd of fops and flatterers, whose I am solicitous to repay, in the only way now only chance of attracting notice is to flourish in left to me, some part of the obligations I owe to the sphere which her presence illumines. The their predecessors; and if the performance should rules of social intercourse oblige her to receive not correspond to the expectations of those who them civilly: while policy and convenience have encouraged the attempt, I trust to meet prompt her to encourage them by particular with some indulgence, not only on account of marks of faver and condescension. They are my laudable design, but in consideration of my useful-these exquisites-in their way. They having foregone the accustomed aids of natural can handle a fan, or a bouquet-they can regisgrace and elocution, which contribute so much ter engagements for the quadrille-select a box to the charm of polished conversation, and which at the opera-have a pretty taste in jewelry and I have been accounted to possess to an enviable costly books-and sometimes sport fine horses in degree. a new-fangled and dashing equipage. Some The young lady who makes her debut in the can trill opera airs melodiously from beneath a world of fashion and of pleasure, is generally well-dyed moustache: and many more are skiloccupied with one, or both, of two great objects-ful in the foreign dances, which display to such to wit-to secure the admiration and homage of advantage the voluptuous elegance of form. our sex, and to form an advantageous alliance with Now it seldom happens that a young man of some favored suitor, before the close of her day solid merit is distinguished for his proficiency in of triumph. Very few succeed in attaining both these arts of the petit maitre. Some possess such the glittering prize, and the substantial reward, happy quickness and versatility as to acquire a of feminine ambition. Too many, alas! fail to competent share of graces and accomplishments, VOL. XV-32 |