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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