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Edition of Modern Beatitudes, we should certainly
include the following : Bless >d is the political Edi
tor? for he always has a lender! But we poor
knights of letters —and who, alas! produce poor let
ters of nights—acknowledging no party, and boast
inf'’ ourselves not unfrequently of our neutrality, are
still always sighing for a leader; and when we are
fortunate enough to get one for an occasion, there is
ever the painful uncertainty of the reception our
choice may meet with from the ten thousand inter
ested parties. There is such a conflict of opinions
n? to the character a leader should bear. Some ap
prove the sober and sedate —others, again, the lively
and gossiping ; some affect the lofty and command
ing-others the gentle and conciliating. One be
lieves in the philosophical —another in the practical;
this one insists upon the methodical—that upon the
careless. Amidst all this contrariety of taste and
preference, what shall the poor Editor do, who feels
that from these dissonant sources comes his only
support 1 To please all, and offend none—how shall
he choose his leader 1 We know this is a difficult
question, and one that has puzzled older and wiser
heads than ours; but we have our idea on the sub
ject, and it is this: Let him —let all of us who drive
the quill —choose one leader, and that one our own
conscience. To its dictates let us listen—to its de
mands let us be attentive. With oureonscience for
a leader, we shall seldom go astray ; and if we satis
fy our conscience, they will probably be satisfied
and pleased whose pleasure and gratification we hold
equal to our own. What think you, dear reader, of
our choice of a leader ?
Lightning Rods,
A writer in the Scicntr/ic American suggests the
propriety of carrying lightning rods to the water in
the wells connected with dwellings—in cases where
the soil around is dry, and it isinconvonienttoreach
moisture by digging under the wall of the house. —
As it is sometimes the case that buildings to which
rods are attached, are struck by the electric fluid in
consequence of the conductor terminating in the dry
earth, the suggestion is a valuable one, and should
claim the attention of those erecting conductors.
<Dur Gossip Column.
Our esteemed friend and correspondent, Miss Ma
ry E. Lee, of Charleston, has been, for weeks, dan
gerously ill, and we trembled, at the arrival of every
post, lest the sad intelligence of her demise should
he borne to us. It was, therefore, with no ordinary
pleasure that we opened a letter this morning, and
found within it, and accompanying some beautiful
verses from the German, which will appear next
week, a few tremulous lines, written by her own
baud, in pencil, and affording us grateful assurance
that the crisis of her illness has been safely passed.
We earnestly trust she may be spared long to adorn
the walks of social life, where her amiable qualities
-hiue so brightly and so purely—and also to fling
the soft yet brilliant halo of her genius over the
beautiful themes, and objects, and associations of
every-day life —making delicious music of the “nev
er-tiring rain” —giving new and touching language
to flowers—and, like a true woman and a sweet po
et, contributing to the happiness of all who are con
versant with her writings, llow cordially we re
joice in her convalescence —let this simple but heart
ielt tribute to her character attest The
return of our correspondent, Flit, to the city, will
be a source of gratification to many—while others
will he sorry, we feel sure, to miss his pleasant pic
tures of Lake and Mountain scenery. May we not
hope to compensate the latter by the letters of our
attentive friend, E. F. G , whose first despatch from
‘he Highlands of Scotland can hardly fail to reach
us by the Cambria, whose arrival has been announ
oe(h .... Welcome, thrice welcome, fair Inez,
to a seat at c ir table —nor will we mar the pleasure
ff your presence by that chiding which we had re
solved, mentally, to bestow upon you for your long
absence. And you have been ill, you say. Had we
xnown it, you should have had our poor prayers for
1 speedy recovery. But we must let all our readers
share in the gratification your “ October offering”
has afforded us, and we crave your pardon for pre
senting also the closing passage of your note: —
* *’ I have been thinking, of late, of a plan to in
crease the circulation of the Gazette, and I think you
will not regard it as at all impracticable, especially
; >s I know how flattering an opinion you are pleased
t 0 hold of the influence of woman. I propose, then,
uat you appeal to the young ladies in behalf of the
1 ‘Uzctte, and call upon those who really value and
,ove to prove their regard by iheir works. Eve
'y young lady, who reads the Gazette, could, with
merest exertion, and with all maidenly modesty,
-“1 some names to your list I pledge myself for
oc subscribers before the first of November, and I
uope you will make a strong appeal to my young
i'ters in the South to do likewise. lam sorry that
‘ (an Ben d you no worthier offei-ing than thennnex
, ranza G in token of the esteem of vour friend,
Inez.”
MSJTTMi&IEI & Air B®A IB ¥ ®ASBIT IT B*
AN ACROSTIC ON OCTOBER
%
BY INEZ.
O’er the deep woods a yellow robe is cast;
Chill is the breath of Autumn’s mournful blast ;
Tossed are the sere leaves rudely in the air;
On every hand the Earth is growing bare;
Brown are the meadows, and the flowers are dead ;
Each joy that of the Summer comes is fled;
’Round Nature’s form the funeral pall is spread!
Touching the ‘appeal’ which Inez suggests, we
think it will be enough to inform our fair young sis
ters of her generous wishes and purpose in behalf of
the Gazette. We are willing, at least, to leave the
subject with them for their own decision. .. .
By a private letter from Augusta, we are sorry to
learn that there is some unaccountable irregularity
in the arrival of our paper in that city—our corres
pondent advising us that it is sometimes as late as
Tuesday before it is received. Now, we beg our
kind friends in Augxista to believe us, when we say
that twice, and twice only, since the Gazette was
commenced, have we failed to pxxt every copy for
them into the mail leaving on Saturday. If it has
failed more than twice to reach their office on Sun
day morning, the fault is not ours. So anxious are
we, however, to ensure regularity, that we beg our
patrons to apprise us of any similar failure in future,
and we will endeavor to find out the cause of it. . . j
. . We have laughed “ consxxraedly” over the Lon- !
don Charivari of the 16th ult., and, as our Bowl of
Punch is not roplenished this week, we will afford ?
our readers a few sips at our own table. The illus- j
trations of Flunkeiana grow more and more excel
lent; and the last exhibits the “ Serious Flunkey,”
who, with a most lugubrious coxxntennnee, and with
a hat, all draped in weeds, in his hands, is replying
to an equally wo-begone looking woman, the lady of
the house, Flunkey says, “ I should require, Mad
am, forty pounds a year, two suits of clothes, two
ats, meat and hale three times a day, and Piety
H indispensable !” Cavaignac’s File for French
Newspapers is an admirable hit at the system of
gagging the press, which is in force in Paris. Im
paled upon a sword are Le Republique, Lampion,
Pere Duchesne, Vrai Republique, and other sup
pressed Journals; while, accompanying the picture
are the statistics of the soldiers, balls, bullets and
cartridges, obtained from various printing-offices
Punch tells us that Cavaignac has ordered the men
to be enrolled in a regiment to be called the Nonpa
reil, to whom the iron, lead and paper, are to be ap
propriated for State service ! The principal feature
is a most admirable Irish Cartoon, which, to be ap
preciated, must be seen On Tuesday night
last, a large assembly of ladies and gentlemen as
sembled in the Baptist Church to hear an address on
Temperance, delivered by the Rev. S. Landrum.
The “ Sons of Temperance,” robed in their rega
lia, appeared in strength, and the noble young men
of the College Temperance Society joined with them
in procession. Mr. L’s address was a forcible illus
tration of the evils of Intemperance and their reme
dy. In the latter part of the discourse, the Speaker
presented some reasons for regarding the Sons of
Temperance as the best organization to effect a pre
sent reform —and we cordially approve those reasons.
The Division here is flourishing greatly, and beneath
its brotherly iEgis are already gathered the reform
ed inebriate and the once blinded victim of the mod
erate drinking delusion. God speed the Sons of
Temperance in their benevolent efforts, and crown
with His benediction the brotherhood who acknow
ledge no badge but that which is the emblem of
“ Love, Purity and Fidelity.” .... Anoldlady,
who, though a member of a Church, had not been
exceedingly faithful to her covenant, received, one
day, a pastoral visit. The worthy minister, after
conversing with sister G. for some time, proposed to
read and pray with her. She pointed him to a Bi
ble on a shelf in the room, and, as he opened it, a
pair of spectacles were exposed to view, and the good
old lady very innocently exclaimed—“ Why, la!
now, if there aint my specs, that I haven’t seen
these three years. Who’d a thought they was in
the Bible 1”
Notices to Correspondents.
J. H. L. —Your kind interest in the success of the
Gazette demands and receives our grateful acknowl
edgments. We sent the ‘extra’to you to be em
ployed, as we felt assured it would he, for the ad
vantage of our Journal—and shall occasionally send
others. We have received your favors duly.
J. A. T. —We are in receipt of the MSS., and re
new our thanks.
Isaiah Allspice. —We will give our readers “a
taste of your quality” very soon, and cordially wel
come you as “ a regular contributor.”
Leila Cameron. —Your last favors are most wel
come. “ Alone” is very beautiful, and will appear
next week. The other stanzas are scarcely less ac
ceptable.
We are deficient of No. 22 of the Gazette, and
shall feel obliged to Editors anti subscribers, who do
not keep files, if they will send us that number by
mail.
£fje American s)n*ioMcal shcss.
The Union Magazine for October.
This number evinces no decline in the beauty or
interest of this popular monthly. The Editor, Mrs.
Kirkland, is in London “sight-seeing” for the bene
fit of her readers, who, since they cannot see for
themselves, will doubtless ho pleased to do so by
such a talented proxy. The plates in this number
are decidedly good. “ The Bitter Morning” is both
humorous and natural. We have, ourself, sat up in
bexl, with the clothes drawn closely about us, look
ing in dismay on the trophies of Jack Frost inoxxr
very room. The broken pitcher, and the icicles on
the lips of the decanter of water, tell their own sto
ry —eloquently, if coldly. *
The Southern Literary Messenger for October.
This is an excellent number, containing art icles of
great and varied interest . The first paper is a vigo
rous essay on the Rationale of Verse, by one of the
most original and peculiar writers of the day, Edgar
A. Poe. Park Benjamin contributes a Translation
of Lamartine's fine Essay on Poetry. Tuckerman
gives us an excellent article on the poet, Sterling.
Mr. Cooke concludes the Gregories of Hack wood;
Legare and others occupy the Muses’ department;
and the Editor gives us, evidently, candid opinions
of various books that have recently occupied the
public eye.
The Knickerbocker for October.
Racy and readable as ever, from Alpha to Omega.
Among other papers, we find the second of a series
entitled, “ Historical Sketches in Georgia,” in
which some clever hand is condensing the somewhat
attenuated material of our early annals. The ques
tion, “What should be America’s example!” is
presented in a thoughtful, earnest spirit, and should
awaken attention to our duty as a great and power
ful nation, “ the observed of all observers,” as we
appear upon the great stage of human action and
destiny. The Knickerbocker never lacks ‘ the gay,’
and we have the usual bountiful supply of it this
month.
The Portland Transcrii t. Edited by E. Gould.
Portland, Maine.
This handsome weekly journal comes to us with
the familiar words, *■ Please Exchange ;” to which
we reply—“ Yes, sir, and thank you, too.” The
Transcript is a credit to Portland, both in its me
chanical and intellectual appointments.
The Literary World. Messrs. Duyckinck: N.
y ork.
Agreeably to the announcement of our New-York
correspondent, this valuable and popular journal has
passed into the hands of the Messrs. Duyckinck,
who have the requisite means to sustain it. We
are happy to perceive that its late talented Editor,
Mr. Hoffman, is engaged as a frequent contributor.
We think the purpose of the new proprietors to give
the journal a more general tone an excellent one,
and we cordially tender them our best wishes in
their important enterprise.
<Dur 3300 k Cntole,
Peter Schleaitl in America. One vol. 12mo.
pp. 494. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart.
A more remarkable ar:d captivating book than
this, has not fallen under our notice for a long
The reader who is acquainted with the wonderful
j history of “ Peter Schlemil, the man who lost his
1 shadow,” by Adalbert Von Chamisso, and done in- ,
to English, in 1846, by William Howitt, will have
an inkling, perhaps, of the nature of the book before
1 us. To others it will be a great mystery. “ Peter
i Schlemil” was a poor student —a German, of course,
who sold his shadow to the Gentleman in Black —a
polite soubriquet for his Satanic Majesty! —for a sort
of Fortunatus’ purse. With his adventures, as told
jby Chamisso, we have nothing to do, however; our
purpose is to introduce him to our readers as a visit
j or to the new world, whither he came to avoid the
: Gentleman in Black. The latter, however, pursues
him, and is one of the most conspicuous personages
in the book under notice. It opens with an account
of a grand party at Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s, in “ Ba
bylon the less,” as New York is called, which broke
up in some disorder from a plentiful affusion of sper
maceti from the candles, laving and melting in the
air, admitted to cool the rooms injudiciously heated.
The Gentleman in Black detains Mrs. Smith in her
drawing-room after the guests depart; and, after
condoling with her upon the accident, and securing
her good will by removing all traces of the sperm
from carpets and sofas, as if by magic, they begin a
most animated conversation, in which the author
contrives to deal pointed but good-humored satire
upon the faults of the age, in social, moral and reli
gions matters.
To analyze the book would occupy too much
space, and we must merely say that Mrs. Smith is a
woman of great beauty of person and character, and
her position in society affords ample ma’erial for dis
cussions, episodes, scenes and pictures of varied in
terest. Fourrierism, Homeopathy, High Church
Notions, I’useyism, Swedenborgianism, and a score
of other topics, are incidentally discussed. Peter’s
adventures in crossing the Atlantic invisibly are ad
mirable, and his subsequent misfortunes in Babylon
the less—the loss of his purse, and of his felt-shod
seven-league boots —are all narrated with spirit.
Peter also becomes an acquaintance and a warm
friend of Mrs. Smith, and is enabled to warn her
against the schemes of tho Gentleman in Black, who
had acquired much influence ovcf her, by offering to
furnish her with “lamps that would never grow
dim,” the great object of her desire, after the disas
ters of her party —all the result, as Peter afterward
showed her, of the schemes of his enemy.
The hook abounds with admirable episodes and
sketches, one of which will be found in our Eclectic
Department this week. The author is a man of
great versatility of talent. He is a keen observer
and a philosopher. He possesses a fine humor, with
great good nature —a quick perception of the false,
and a desire to promote the true.
it is needless to say, perhaps, that the moral of
Chamisso’s story was to show the value of reputa
tion—which Peter Schlemil lost, in selling his shad
ow for gold. The author of Peter in America has
availed himself of the old fiction to give us the re
sult of Peter’s unobserved observation of men and
things at the present day, and to look into the me
chanism of society—revealing strange elements and
principles, and sources of action.
We commend this volume to every reader who h.v
a taste for genuine wit, for vivid portraitures of life,
for the exposure of fallacies in faith and practice,
and in short, to till who read for the double purpose
of gaining amusement and instrxiction.
Modern French Literature. By L. Raymond
de Vericour. Revised, with Notes alluding par
ticularly to writers prominent in late jolitical
events in Paris, by William Staughton Chase,
A. M. One vol. 12mo. pp. 448. Boston: Gould,
Kondall & Lincoln.
Wo cordially welcome this valuable Epitome of
the modern Literature of France. A work of the
kind was greatly needed in this country, to counter
act the impression on the publio mind, that modern
French Literature was to be judged by the produc
tions of Sue, Dumas, Paul de Kock, et id omne ge
nus —an inference as incorrect as it is derogatory to
the true genius of French Literature. We are told,
in the modest preface of the American Editor, that
“since 1830 tho incessant activity of the French
mind has annually yielded, in books, pamphlets, and
monthly, weekly and daily journals, a quantity of
printed matter, which would form, in octavo leaves,
counting tho copies of each edition, an average of
two hundred and forty million volumes. In this
mass are many worthless, and worse than worthless
productions, by some of which it is feared that mod
ern French writers are often indiscriminately judged
in the United States. But there are also contained
in it numerous works, which ai'e both unexceptiona
ble in spirit and excellent in form.”
The Editor, when at Paris, sought to become ac
quainted with the respectable Literature of France,
and desired, also, to give tho public the benefits of
liis researches. As the most effect ual method of ac
complishing the latter object, he has translated and
edited, with copious instructive and authentic: notes,
the valuable work of M. de Vericour, which,'dn the
original, had great reputation and distinguished
merit.
We are highly gratified with the result of his la
bors, and unhesitatingly pronounce the work to be
the best, and, indeed, the only reliable view of mod
ern French authorship accessible to the public. It
is a graphic and historic sketch of Mind in France
during the nineteenth century, with retrospective
observations on the intellectual character of preced
ing periods. The work is not only historical and
narrative, hut it is analytical and philosophical, pre
senting judicious and liberal views of the various
phases of Literature and the various structure of
Mind. The extent and importance of Modern
French Literature, as exhibited by M. de Vericour,
Avill doubtless be a source of surprise to many who
have not been conversant with the first critical Jour
nals of Paris. The names of Lamartine, Beranger,
Thiers, Guizot, Chateaubriand and Arago, are
known, it is true, to most American readers; but
these are a few stars, only, in the splendid constella
tions that have illumined the Literary firmament of
France. In the Appendix we find a list of nearly
four hundred contemporaneous authors, who are
now mostly living—many of whom are famous for
productions in one or other of all the departments of
Literature Os these writers and their works, M.
de Vericour gives us concise but cantlid and compre
hensive views. The style of the book, as rendered
by Mr. Chase, is graphic and perspicuous, and we
cordially t hank him for his valuable editorial labors.
The Publishers, a’so, deserve the thanks of the
reading public for thus informing them of the sour
ces and the character of the intellectual productions
of a country so interesting and prominent asFrance.
The book is marked with the accustomed elegance
of their press—than which, we are free to say, none,
in all our country, contributes more to the intellectu
al and moral improvement of the reader,
183