Newspaper Page Text
] -49, should send on their names and the money im
uediately. No one can possibly regret taking the
work.
Graham's Magazine, for December. Philadelphia.
Samuel D Patterson & Cos.
Graham is certainly “ hard to beat.” The pre
sent issue gives token of progressive excellence. —
The plates arc decidedly attractive —one of them a
portrait of one of the Editors, J. Bayard Taylor,
(he loot-traveler in Europe. The papers are spirit
ed and interesting. The line mezzotint, “ Over
board in the Gulf,” and the story which illustrates
ji, deserve especial mention. Success —abundant
.access for the coming year—to such enterprize as
Graham evinces. May the circulation he doubled!
<Dur <£ossCj) (Eolitwn.
Among the numerous expressions of congratula
tion and kind wishes which our Prospectus of “ The
Schoolfellow” has elicited from various parts of the
South, we have selected the following from our ever
welcome correspondent, “ Inez,” as a fair specimen
of the tone of all —while it will commend itself to our
readers by its peculiar grace of manner. We thank
Inez” most cordially, and earnestly solicit her
(ontrihutions to the pages of our Juvenile Monthly.
“Dear Mr. Editor —Let me thank you for your
proposals to publish the ‘Schoolfellow;’ for really
it seems to me a most happy thought, and I can
hardly doubt that thousands will respond as cordial
ly as Ido to your call for support. 1 send you the
names of three of myTittle friends as subscribers.
My sister ‘ Moggie’ told me this morning: ‘Now,
sna, I shall have a paper of my own as well as you.
You always say the Gazette is your paper, and are
afraid some of us will tear it or lose it; and when
my Schoolfellow comes, it will lie all my own, and I
shall take good care of it, like you.’ Charlie says
he is ‘ very glad Mr. Richards is going do print a
book for boys,’ and he hopes it will have a good ma
ny pretty pictures in. Excuse all this, dear sir,
which, perhaps, is very foolish; but lam pleased to
think you will afford the children such a treat
monthly. I have penned the following lines as a
sort of invocation for the Schoolfellow, if you don’t
think them too foolish for publication.
* Ever faithfully yours, Inez.”
Come, dear children, let me tell you
What a treat will soon be yours ;
Never in your life befel you
Greater good from Fortune’s stores.
*Tis not a week’s or month’s vacation,
Or a handsome kite or doll —
The gift of some beloved relation,
Very pretty —and that’s all.
Xo ! it is a kind Schoolfellow,
Always thinking of your good,
Merry, too, as Punchinello,
When he’s in a playful mood;
One who’ll never speak unkindly,
With a smile forever bright—
One who'll load you —but not blindly—
In the pleasant path of right!
One who’ll make your duties lighter,
And your lessons help j r oulearn ;
One who’ll make your pleasures brighter,
And your warmest love will earn.
Do you ask me where a treasure
Such as this you all may gain 1
Listen, and with cordial pleasure,
1 will make my riddle plain.
‘Speak,’ you say then, ‘speak—who is it V
’Tis a charming little book,
That will make a monthly visit
To your favorite, happy nook;
And upon whose pretty pages
Pictures, like sweet smiles, there'll be —
Pleasant tales of by-gone ages—
Which we never more shall see.
Now, dear children, if you’re wishing
Such a Schoolfellow as this,
I will tell you the condition
Which insures you such a bliss —
Tis to send, each one, a dollar
1 o the Schoolfellow’s abode;
I hen, upon each eager scholar,
Will his visits be bestow’d !
An esteemed friend says, in a letter received to
day, “ The character of your Magazine, as set forth
ln th® Prospectus, is admirable, and highly calcula
*ed to develop and strengthen the intellect of the
young, to form in them a correct taste by presenting
Models of literary excellence —to induce habits, and
therefore a taste for reading, which will not be for-
Sott® when the halcyon days of youth are past.” —
And another friend, a distinguished instructor of
youth, now at the head of an important Seminary,
Writes as follows:—“ Something like the Schoolfel
low has long been needed in our Southern schools
families. I wish you to send it to my son,
‘N’hool for the next session, I will send you a list of
flames. I regard this as a very important move
ment, and I repeat— l hope it will succeed.” .. . .
i c h ave received a copy of a neat pamphlet enti-
Bed, “ The Vindicator,” a satire on “Charleston:
MunriagM & hi? &ie& & y aa s b it s ♦
a Poem,” —which we have read with an interest 1
that would have been increased, we presume, ii wo
could have seen also the luckless object at which it
is aimed. We gather from the satire, itself, that
some lady, under the Horn de ruse of Almara—a
daughter of the North, but at present a recipient of
Southern hospitality—has been ungrateful enough
to write an objurgatory poem on sundry persons and
things in the good city of Charleston, and, perhaps,
on Southern manners generally. Wo can more than
half guess who it is that undertakes the defence,
though we will not run the risk of making a mis
take. So wo must call him Anon. In the ‘Vindi
cate n,’ we find a comparison of Northern and
Southern Poets, Artists and Literary Journals, pro
voked, it would seem, by Almara’s sneers at the lat
ter, and the author makes a goodly array of bright ■
examples to prove thai “ t hey are not to be [sneered]
at!” There is a capital hit at the venders of
“ Nut-megs made of wood
Unblushing sold, and warranted as good ;
Westphalian hams of purest Northern pine,
Put up in white-washed bags as very line !”
Our modesty forbid? us to quote the author’s tri
bute to the “Gazette;” for which, however, wc can
do no less than thank him moat cordially—especially
as in all probability we are personally strangers.—
There are some pleasant and graphic sketches of
Southern Life in the Vindication, which we would
like to quote, but our limits forbid. It closes with a
handsome and well-deserved compliment to the
chivalry of the South, as exhibited on the battle
fields of Mexico, and uniting forever the names of
Butler, Trezvant, Blanding and others, with those
of Palo Alto, Buena Vista, and Chapultepec.—
Whatever may have been the provocation for this
satire, the writer has not lost sight of courtesy in his
reply.
— ■***>
(Due Book
d?- Publishers and Authors who desire to have their
Books noticed in this Gazette are requested to send cop”
ies to Editor through Stringer L Townsend, New-York,
or Carey &. Hart, Philadelphia.
Tire Odd-Fellow’s Offering, for 1549. Embel
lished with twelve elegant Engravings. Edited
by Pascal Donaldson. New Y’ork: Edward
Walker.
Wc have not the pleasure of a personal acquaint
ance with “ Odd-Fellowsliip,” but we are very sure
that it must he a noble and philanthropic Order, to
have won the regard of so many good men as are
found in its communion. Its external manifesta
tions are all good and praiseworthy, and it is very
gratifying to observe that it fosters a love of the
Fine Arts and Literature. The volume whose title
is announced above, is the eleventh that has borne
its name —and this is far more beautiful than its
predecessors —a token of its popularity ivith the bro
therhood to whose interests it is devoted. The “Of
fering” is one of which any order of men might be
proud, for in artistic and literary excellence, it has
few, if any, superiors. Some of the Engravings
strike us as being exquisite —especially those entitled
“Employment of Time” and “The Pie Nic.”—
Among the writers are numerous distinguished mem
bers of the Order, besides some unconnected with it,
and a number of ladies —including Mrs. Osgood,
Mrs. Neal, Mrs. Eames, and Mrs. Smith. Among
the gentlemen, we notice the names of Simms, Los
sing, Arthur, and Chandler.
Mr. Walker, the Publisher, has spared no expense
to adorn the volume, which wc pronounce abundant
ly deserving the support of the Order.
Orators of the American Revolution. By E.
L. Magoon. One vol. 12in0., pp. 456. New
Y’ork : Baker & Scribner.
The writer of this volume is a clergyman residing
in Cincinnati, where he fills a wide sphere of useful
ness. He has recently made himself known beyond
his parish, by his vigorous and thoughtful writings
and his popular oratory —and we err in judgment
if his reputation will not be enhanced by the volume
under notice.
It is certainly worthy of remark, how prolific of
books the American Revolution has suddenly be
come. First, wc had Headley’s somewhat meretri
cious volumes on Washington and his Generals —
then Carey & Hart’s work on the same theme. —
These were followed by the Public Men of the Rev
olution—that work, by Mrs. Ellct’s Women of the
Revolution—and now wo have the “ Orators” of
that eventful period. There must be something
Revolutionary in the atmosphere—perhaps a sort of
electric sympathy with revolving France. Be that
as it may, the American Revolution is now present
ed to the public eye in almost every possible aspect
—warlike, civil, domestic, and forensic. Who will
write the Clergy and the Lawyers of the American
Revolution, and so complete the panorama !
Mr. Magoon’s book is not a common-place pro
duction. It exhibits a mind of superior order —fine
powers of analysis—nice discrimination—and quick
appreciation of the true excellence of oratory. We
arc pleased with our author’s classificaoion of his
subjects —as, for instance, James Otis, the Orator of
Intrepid Passion—John Hancock, Dignified Cava
lier of Liberty—Alexander Hamilton, the Master
of Political Sagacity—John Randolph, the Imper
sonation of Sarcasm, &c.
Os the style of the book, we may remark that it
is worthy of its attractive topics ; dignified, without
being pompous; graceful, without degenerating in
to the sentimental j earnest, without false enthu
siasm ; and polished, without diminishing its vigor.
Tho models it presents are worthy to be hold in the
highest regard by the j'oung men of our day, who
desire to distinguish themselves in the forum or at
the bar.
Robert Burns, as • Poet, and as a Man. By
Samuel Tyler, of the Maryland Bar. Ono voi.
12m0., pp. 209. New York: Baker & Scribner.
Robert Burns is so entirely identified with the
present generation, that more or less interest belongs
necessarily to every book of which lie end his im
perishabl • gcniu3 arr the themes. It is, however, a
task of no liltle hazard or boldness, for a young au
thor to undertake an culogiumon tho Ayresl lire Poof,
while the eloquent and life-hreathing pages of John
YVilson on his “ Genius and Character,” are scarce
ly out of the hands of the reader
Wo do not design ro say that Air. Tyler should
not have written the book wc ere noticing, but sim
ply that it will naturally bring to mind the worl: of
Christopher North,and, in the comparison, must suf
fer prejudice.
Air. Tyler writes eon amove, and this is a recom
mendation of his book—for if an author would win
the attention of his readers, h ‘ must write from his
heart. YVe have not discovered much that is new
in his book; and, indeed, if (here were much, wc
should be compelled to question its truth, for at this
late day little remains to be revealed of a charactci
so well known as Burns.
To Mr. Tyler’s verdict on the character of the
man, whom he describes as “ glorious inliis intellec
tual character, and magnanimous in his moral,”
we would gladly yield a full assent, if we did no.,
fear that in so doing we should sacrifice the convic
tion of the mind to the feeling of the heart. That
BurnS had lofty and noble and endearing traits of
character, we know and fed : hut that his weakness
was altogether excusable, his vices venial, and hh
moral character “ magnanimous,” not even the per
suasive eloquence of his noble countryman and pane
gyrist could assure us.
Air. Tyler’s style is marked by occasional breaches
of taste. Many of his sentences commence with the
conjunction “and” —thefniL of carelessness—per
haps haste —but hardly excusable on that plea. As
a fervent tribute to Burns —whose genius has made
his birth-place classic and his name immortal—this
volume must command readers, and they will, with
out doubt, bo refreshed and gratified,
A Fable for Critics. New York: Geo. P. Put
nam.
We have been not a little amused with this clever
brochure , which is not only very odd, bul at the
same time contains many palpable hits at many of
the literary lions of the day. The author must be
a mad wag—for even his very title page, including
the imprimatur, is done into rhyme—and the pre
face is a jumble after the stylo of Cowpcr’s famous
rhyming letter. The author assures himself, and
the reader, that his book will certainly sell, and
bases his expectations on ihe desire the poets of the
country will have,each to see his brot her bard abused
in it! Just hoar him on this point:
“ So the excellent Public is hereby assured that
the sale of my book is already secured. For there is
r.ot a poet throughout the whole land, but will pur
chase a copy or two out of hand, in the fond expec
tation of being amused in it, by seeing his betters
cut-up and abused in it. Now, 1 find, by a pretty
exact calculation, there arc something like ten
thousand bards in the nation, of that special variety
whom tho Review and Alagazinc critics call lofty
and true, and about thirty thousand {this tribe is
increasing) of the kinds who are termed full of jrro
misr and pleasing. The Public will see by a glance
at this schedule, that they cannot expect me to be
over-sedulous about courting them, since it seems I
have got enough fuel made sure of for boiling my
pot ”
The scene of this Satire-Fable is laid at the Court
of Apollo, where the subjects of criticism successive
ly appear. The writer is an adept at strange rhymes
and not less au fail with the peculiarities of the
popular poets and prose writers of our country —a
considerable number of whom pass under his notice.
We have onty room to afford our readers a glance
at the humor of the hook, which appears to us to be
somewhat impudent, though perhaps free from the
malice which too often distinguishes satirical efforts.
There arc, it is true, some hard hits in the book, as
witness tho following verses, in which the author
proposes to shew an excellent substitute for capital
punishment, by compelling criminals to read certain
books:
“Now, instead of all this, I think I can direct
you all %
To a criminal code both humane and effectual; —
I propose to shut up every doer of wrong
With these desperate books, for such term, short or
lon g, ,
As by statute in such eases made and provided,
Shall be by your wise legislators decided —
Thus: Let murderers be shut, to grow wiser and
cooler,
At hard labor for life on the works of Miss ;
I’etty thieves, kept from flagranter crimes by their
fears,
Shall pern so Yankee Doodle a blank term of years—
That American Punch, like the English, no doubt—
Jus., tho sugar and lemons and spirit left out.”
A spirited and capital sketch of Emerson tempts
us to n long extract, but we must resist. Os Emer
son, tho critic says:
“ ’Tis refreshing to old-fashioned people like me,
To moot such a primitive Pagan as he,
In whose mind all creation is duly respected
As parts of himself—just a little projected;
And who’s willing to wor-diip the stars and the sun,
A convert to—nothing but Emerson.**
Bryant is, not altogether iuaptly, compared to an
ice-berg:
k * Unqualified merits, I'll grant, if you choose, he
has ’em,
Bul he lacks (he one merit of kindling enthusiasm;
11 he stir you at all, it is iust, on my soul,
Bike being stirred up with the very North Pole.”
Then follow Whittier and Dana, the latter ah.
stractodly loitering along, involved in a j>aulo-post
future of song”; and
*‘ There swaggers John Neal, who has wasted in
Alai no
The sinews and cords of his pugilist brain ;
Who might he.vo been poet, but that, in its stoad, ho
Preferred to believe that ho was so already.”
Air. Cooper’s claim to tho title of the American
is denied by the rhymer-critic, who says:
“lie has drawn you one character tho’ that is new,
One wild-flower he’s plucked, that is wet with the
dew
Os this fresh Western world, and, the thing not to
mince,
He has done naught but copy it ill ever since:
l lis Indians, with proper respect be it said,
Are just Natty Bumpo daubed over with red,
And his very long Toms an 1 tho same useful Nat,
Rigged up in duck pants and a Sou’-wcster hat.”
Afier some further portraitures and some honest
i rebuke at the servile conformity of everything in tho
“ New World” to the fashions of tho “Old”
“ There comes Poe, with his raven-like Barnaby
Rudgo,
Throe-fifths of him genius, and two-fifths sheor
fudge!”
Tho fair authoress of “ Philothca” is shewn up
with her amiable woaknc a s—a credulous love of the
wonderful. Although he is not to take our author’s
random brushes for reliable pictures, the reader will
nevertheless agree with the following tribute to Ir
ving:
Bo a true poet-heart, add tho fun of Dick Steele,
I hrow in all of Addison—minus tho chill,
With the whole ol that partnership’s stock and good
will;
Mix well, and while stirring, hum o’er as a spell,
The fine old English Gentleman, simmer it well,
Sweeten just to your own private liking, then strain,
‘That only the finest and clearest remain ;
Let it stand out of doors till a soul it receives.
From the warm, lazy sun, loitering down thro’ green
leaves,
And you’ll find a choice nature, not wholly deserving
A name cither English or Yankee—just Irving.”
The Fable is generally attributed to James Rus
sel Lowell, a New England poet of some reputation,
and if tho supposition be correct, wc have in the fol
lowing paragraph an auto-portraiture:
“ There is 1 jowell, who’s striving Parnassus to climb,
With a whole bale of isms tied together with rhyme ;
He might get on alone, spite of brambles and boul
ders—
But he can’t with that bundle he has on his shoul
ders :
The top of the hill he will no’er come nigh reaching
Till he learns the distinction betwixt singing and
preaching.”
Now, wo are half inclined to deny the supposed
authorship, for we rarely see an artist successful at
his own likeness, and surely the above is a fae sim
ile! But to resume:
“ There goes Jlallcck, whose Fanny’s a pseudo Don
Juan,
With the wickedness out that gave salt to the true
one.”
A true bill, Mr. ./Esop— and we feel really the
force of the concluding verso of the sketch—and
“ Can’t but regret, (seek excuse where wo may,)
That so much of a man lias been peddled away.”
We have already occupied too much space with
this clever trifle, and dismiss it with the assurance
that the reader will find it acceptable “ pour passer
le temps.”
/•I*” 1
Young Men Admonished; In a Series of Lectures.
By Joseph R. Thompson, Pastor of the Broadway
Tabernacle Church. One vol. 12mo. pp. 278.
New York : Leavitt, Trow & Cos.
The young men of our country should thank the
author of this volume for his valuable admonitions.
YVe cannot too highly commend them to their re
gard, abounding, as they do, with wisdom and
truth. The work is divided into seven Lectures,
which were delivered successively from the pulpit to
i large crowd* of youthful auditors. The topics are
‘as follows:—Temptations to Dishonesty; Tempta-
I tions to Intemperance ; Temptations to Gambling ;
Profaneness and Sabbath-Breaking; Living for
Pleasure; Vice Progressive j The Bible the Young
Alan’s Guide.
Such books as this are a blessing to the world,
and will leave a hallowed influence upon the mind of
i the reader.
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