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1852.]
we may as well mention, is the removal from the
mind of Adrian, the cloud of prejudice against
the intermarriage of high-born and base-born,
which, for awhile, separated him from a loving
and noble-hearted woman ; though we cannot help
thinking her very weak withal, in leaving him as
she did. especially as she did not know how very
easily they were to be brought together again at
the desirable moment!
To be brief, we are quite well enough pleased
with the book to hope that it may not be the only
one of our modern Beaumont & Fletcher.
Nicaragua, its People, Scenery, Monuments, &c. By E.
G. Squier. In two vols. Bvo. From the press of D.
Appleton & Cos., New-York.
These two elegant volumes are well-timed, and
can scarcely fail of meeting a generous welcome.
The interest now felt in Nicaragua, as one of the
available points for the location of the proposed
inter-oceanic canal, and also on account of its re
markable natural resources, justify this supposi
tion. The value of such a work as this depends
mainly upon its authenticity. The facilities of its
author, and his personal ability to make use of
them, are the chief things to be considered in esti
mating its claims on the public favour. Mr. Squier
was for some years the American Charge d’Af
faires to Central America, an official position emi
nently favourable to extended and minute obser
vation. To this advantage he superadds that of a
generous enthusiasm in his labours, and a very
considerable share of literary talent in the shaping
of his material. If, then, we can discover fur
ther, in his narrative a spirit of candour, we shall
have no hesitation in regarding him as well quali
fied for the very important task he has undertaken.
Our hasty examination of the volumes before us
has not discouraged us from rendering such a
verdict. More positively, it has impressed us with
a feeling of admiration for the industry, compre
hensiveness, and particularity of his observations.
The work opens with a geographical and topo
graphical view of the country,‘happily extended
to the other States of Central America, with an
account of their physical resources. The second,
and by far the greatest portion of the work, con
tains the author’s personal narrative of his resi
dence there—of his diligent exploration among its
aboriginal monuments, and his view of the coun
try and the people—picturesque, social and moral.
The third part concerns the project of the great
canal which is to unite the two vast oceans—re
views the measures proposed—suggests the proba
ble results, and urges the consummation of the
important scheme.
In the fourth section, the author presents the re
sults of his investigations into the history, variety
and ethnology of the aboriginal inhabitants of
Central America.
Ihe fifth and last division of the work, embo
dies the political history of Central America since
it threw off the Spanish yoke ; a history—says
°ur author—so interwoven with that of its once
component part, Nicaragua, that the separate con
ideration of them is impracticable.
T his outline of the scope of the work is all that
we can venture upon in this notice, and our refer
ence to the manner in which it has executed, both
SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE.
by the author and publishers, must be still more
brief.
The style of the work is perspicuous and unem
barrassed. It might have undergone a process of
condensation without at all diminishing its vigour,
but the length of the narrative will be readily ex
cused, for the sake of its perpetual interest and
novelty. Mr. Squier seems quite as much at
home with his machete among the rank under
growth that hides the “frailes” of Nicaragua, as
did his predecessor, Mr. Stephens, though, per
haps, the latter held the more eloquent pen. The
pictures in lithotint, of the many “frailes,” or
idols, which Mr. Squier discovered, would, of
themselves, fill a portfolio—but they are a moiety
only of the designs with which the work is pro
fusely embellished.
We regard this book as an exceedingly valua
ble contribution to the history and ethnology of
the great American Continent, and we accord
ingly commend it to our readers with unaffected
cordiality.
A Lady’s Voyage Round the World. From the press
of Harper & Brothers, New-York.
This volume embraces a judicious selection,
perhaps, we might better say, an abridgement
from the German edition of Madame Ida Pfeiffer’s
remarkable travels. We have already given our
readers a passage from its graphic and attractive
pages, and they are probably prepared to appre
ciate the complete volume, which is full of ro
mantic interest. Madame Pfeiffer is a heroine
without doubt, but there is very little really mas
culine in her character. Even her energy and
perseverance, and endurance, are highly feminine,
and while we wonder at her singular, and almost
unparallelled adventures, we are interested not
the less in the subject of them. The following
extracts from the preface to one of her books of
travel, will best explain the motives which
prompted her extraordinary journeyings:
“From my earliest childhood I had always the
greatest longing to see the world. When I met
a travelling carriage 1 used to stand still and gaze
after it with tears in my eyes, envying the very
postilions till it vanished from my sight. Asa
girl of ten or twelve, 1 read with the greatest ea
gerness all the books of travels 1 could get hold
of, and then I transfered my envy to the grand
traveller who had gone round the world. The
tears would come into my eyes when I climbed a
mountain and saw others still piled up before me,
and thought that I should never see what lay be
yond.”
These yearnings were subsequently gratified to
the full, as her book sufficiently attests. The only
portion of the book to which we would willingly
find exceptions, is that which alludes to the mis
sionaries in eastern lands. Madame Pfeiffer tells
us that they live “quite in the manner of opulent
gentlemen, have handsome houses, fitted up with
every convenience and luxury.” “They repose,”
she says, “ upon swelling divans —their wives
preside at the tea-tables—[a serious offence tru
ly !] their children feast on sweetmeats and con
fectionary, in short, their position is one incom
parably pleasanter, and freer from care than that
of most other people, and they get their salaries
punctually paid, and take their duties very easily.”
She makes further strictures upon their mode of
life and their missionary labours—all of which
are calculated to bring them into disrepute among
those who are not too well informed from other
sources, to give easy credence to theo grave
charges. We do not intend to defend the mis
sionaries—an easy task we fancy for religious
critics—but we cannot help saying, that if these
things are true of American missionaries, in In
dia, China, and other Eastern countries, many
intelligent travellers are wilful liars, and tens of
thousands of intelligent persons are daily imposed
upon by those whom they have every reason to
revere and love. Wo are sorry to have to de
clare—but candour compels the declaration—that
taken in the broad sense in which our aulhoress
employs it, her charge is a libel upon the most
disinterested class of men in the world. The
subsequent acknowledgment of the invariable
kindness and courtesy she received from them, is
but an aggravation of the injustice of her charge.
If it be true in a few casfis, still it must, in the
very nature of things, be false in the many—and
we could certainly quote many examples too au
thentic for denial, of a precisely opposite nature.
We should have expected from a woman, a more
generous and kindly estimate of the motives of
the missionaries, and we look upon this portion of
her book as a blemish which impairs its integral
value.
The translation of this volume was made by
Mrs. Percy Sinnett, of England.
The Novelties of the New World, by Rev. Joseph
Banvard. From the press of Gould &, Lincoln, Boston.
[For sale by George Parks St Co.]
We noticed, with commendation, some months
ago, a volume entitled Plymouth and the Pil
grims, the first of a proposed series of American
historical books for the young. The book we have
named above is the second of the series, and pos
sesses, like its predecessor, merits which will
make it popular. Mr. Banvard presents in it a
brief, but sufficiently full account of the early
voyagers to the New World, from Columbus to
Father Hennepin—embracing a period of nearly
two hundred years, from 1493 to 1681. Most of
these sketches are full of interest, and some of
them even of romance, especially those of Ponce
de Leon, whose quest for the fountain of perpet
ual youth parallels the search of the alchemists
for the philosopher’s stone—of the courtly De
Soto, who sank beneath the waters of the Missis
sippi—and of bold John Davis, who explored the
arctic seas of the western world. The style of
the narratives is somewhat rigid, but perspicuous
and explicit. The series will form a comprehen
sive historical view of the early settlement of this
continent, attractive not'only to young persons,
but to those of maturer years. Each volume is
embellished with numerous wood cuts, and very
neatly printed.
A Wonder Book, for Girls and Boys. By Nathaniel
Hawthorne. From the press of Ticknor & Cos., Boston.
“I would I were a boy again,” might well be
the exclamation of the reviewer, as he sat down
to notice this beautiful and delightful book, in
which the myths of antiquity are revived in the
fascinating guise of modern story. While we re
cognize with pleasure the fabled Midas, in the ex-
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