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1852.]
most beautiful unreasonableness. Their only lo
gic is the logic of smiles and tears. But we have
seen that logic achieve the most wonderful results,
and drive home the most inconceivable conclu
sions !
Buncombe.
We passed the whole of last summer amid the
mountains of Buncombe. Besides its beautiful
scenery, there is a lightness and buoyancy in the
atmosphere of this region which exhilarate like
wine. As one imbibes it, he almost fancies that
it was never yet burthened by the sigh of a human
being. We advice every person whose temper or
temperament is at all dependent upon “skiey in
fluencess,” to pass a summer in Buncombe.
A Model Woman.
Mrs. Oakes Smith has been engaged in proving
Cleopatra to be a sort of Goddess, the “type-wo
man” of her sex ! If strong-mindedness is to be
the quality on which we are to found our admira
ration of woman, we would recommend Mrs.
Smith to substitute, in the place of Antony’s beau
tiful wanton, the great Catharine of Russia, or
more preferable still, the first Bloomer that ever
existed, the ancient and world-renowned Semi
ramis.
Caloric Engine.
We are glad to see that this invention of Erric
son is likely to be successful. We feel some in
terest in an experiment which, if it do not fail, will
obviate all the dangers connected with the useful,
but teirible agency of steam.
A Bore.
From Dickens’s Household Words, we extract
the following humorous description of a bore. We
read it with peculiar interest as we have met, more
than once, just such a person ourselves. No doubt
there are thousands who can say as much.
“It is unnecessary to say that we keep a bore.
Everybody does. Our bore is admitted on all
hands to he a good-hearted man. lie may put
fiity people out of temper, but he keeps his own.
He preserves a sickly solid smile upon his face,
when other faces are ruffled by the perfection he
has attained in his art, and has an equable voice
which never travels out of one key or rises above
one pilch. His manner is a manner of tranquil
iuterest. None of his opinions are startling.
Among his deepest rooted convictions, it may be
mentioned lhat he considers the air of England
damp, and holds that our lively neighbours—he
always calls the French our lively ne’ghbours—
have the advantage of us in that particular. Ne
veitheless, he is unable to forget that John Bull is
John Bull all the world over, and that England
with all her faults is England still.
“Our bore has travelled, lie could not possibly
be a complete bore without having travelled. He
rarely speaks of his travels wnhout introducing,
sometimes on his own plan of construction, mor
sels of the language of the country :—which he
always translates. You cannot name to him any
little remote town in France, Italy, Germany, or
jjwiizeiland, but he knows it well ; stayed there
a fortnight under peculiar circumstances. And
talking of that little place, perhaps you know a
statue over an old fountain, up a little comt, which
is the second —no, the thud—stay—yes, the third
turning on the right, after you come out of the
post house, going up the hill towards the market ?
You don't know that statue ? Nor that fountain ?
You surprise him l They are not usually seen
by travellers (most extraordinary, he has never
yet met with a siugle traveller who knew them,
SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE.
except one German, the most intelligent man he
ever met in his life !) but he thought that you
would have been the man to hud them out. And
then he describes them, in a circumstantial lec
ture half an hour long, generally delivered behind
a door which is constantly being opened from the
other side ; and implores you if you ever revisit
that place, now do go and look at that statue and
fountain !”
Amusing Curiosities.
We copy the following amusing curiosities from
the Carpet Bus, which may prove interesting to
our readers:
Our little friend “Wint” has been picking up
some curiosities for the new’ Museum. Among
other things he sends us—
A piece of string from the snarl of a dog.
The rope with which the boy hung his head
w’hen his father scolded him.
A shred of one of the silken bonds of love—
old and much faded.
He appends the following conundrum :
Why was the joker, Cann, like an inhabitant
of America ] Because he was a mery Cann.
Well done, little ’un, you’re one for making fun.
Young Hyson.
We copy the following interesting paragraph
from the Dutchman : —“A friend of ours is such
a believer in Young Hyson, that he doubts whether
a single murder was e"er committed in the pre
sence of a tea-pot. The herb of herbs may make
people loquacious—add to the scandal pow’ers of
old maids—but that it ever gave rise to a single
inhuman thought, he as much doubts as he doubts
that nightmares will have eolts.
Oijlr Sooli Jqble.
A Book for the Home Circle. By Mrs. C. M. Kirk
land. From the pressof C. Scribner, New-Yoik.
“A Companion for the Evening Book,” says
the title-page of this beautiful and attractive vol
ume, and our examination of it warrants us in
saying that it is eminently worthy of the associa
tion with that elegant gift-book of last Christmas.
The excellent taste of the author is quite as con
spicuous as her talent, in the pleasing sketches
which occupy its pages. They are chiefly, if not
all from her own pen, and are strongly maiked
by the good sense and healthful sentiment which
characterize her writings. They are also emi
nently graphic, and will amuse no less than they
will instruct the reader. The publisher has per
formed his part of the work with scarcely less
credit. The volume is beautifully printed on fine
paper, and embellished with numerous highly fin
ished line engravings. Such books, as holiday
presents, are worth a legion of the ordinary annu
als—a class, by the way, rapidly becoming ex
tinct.
The Israel of the Alps, p History of the Persecutions of
the Waldenses. Translated from the French of the Rev,
Alexis Muston, DD., Loudon. Imported by Bank's, Bro
flier & Uo., New-York.
This is a most graphic and interesting volume,
for the English version of which we are indebted
to the pen of William Hazlitt. There is certain
ly no subject in the history of the church around
which cluster more vivid associations of patient
suffering, noble heroism, sublime laiih, and endur
ing love, than around the history of that people
which this book so poetically and truthfully calls
“The Israel of the Alps.”
A somewhat careful examination of this vol
ume, has led us to the conclusion that there is no
book which can well supply its place as a com
prehensive and faithful account of the long sulfer
ing Vaudois—those
“Slaughtered saints whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine Mountains cold.”
We particularly commend it to all who desire
to know how they “kept the faith,” through all
the terrible persecutions of unrelenting enemies
for upw’ards of five hundred years. The numer
ous illustrations which are scattered through the
volume are really graceful and valuable embellish
ments.
The Life and Acts of John the Baptist, and the Re
lation of his Ministry to the Christian Dispensation. By
the Rev. Wm. C. Duncan, M.A. from the press o! Cor
nish, Lamport & Cos., New-York.
Mr. Duncan has rendered a valuable service to
the theological student, and indeed to the religious
world at laige, by this contribution to theological
literature. The title-page and preface modestly
set forth that it is but au adaptation of a Get man
Monograpity, but the reader at all acquainted with
the Johannes der Taujer of Ltibeck—to winch
our author refers—will discover that the laige ad
ditions which have been made to the text of that
work, besides the numerous and elaborate notes
explanatory of it, fairly entitle it to the rank ol
an original production. It is a well-digested and
carefully wrnteu history of the Baptist, and fur
nishes what has been heretofore a desideratum in
English religious literature.
Picturesque Sketches of London, Past and Present.
By Thomas Miller, London. Imported by Bangs, Brother
& Cos., New-York,
I he readers ol the Illustrated London JVews—
a work without its equal in the world—will re
member a series of exceedingly graphic and enter
taining sketches ol the Great Metropolis, from the
pen of Thomas Miller, which appeared in ihe
pages of that journal for many weeks. Those
sketches form the nucleus of the volume before
us. They have, however, undergone a careful
revision by the author, and the accession of much
new and valuable material to fit them for a per
manent shape. The volume is properly embellish
ed with well executed wood-cuts, which have
been executed from accurate original drawing.-.
There is much in this book to excite the wonder
of the reader, and we kuow of no work which
will enable him to realize—
“how vast, how wonderful, how complicate”—
is London !
The Temperance Offering, for 1853. Edited by T. S.
Arthur. Prom the press of Cornish, Lamport & Cos.,
New-York.
This handsome volume appeals directly to a
class of readers, and ot the community, whose
philanthropic labours create and supply the mate
rial lor some of the most touching stories and
sketches which can grace the annals of Litera
ture. It is beautifully printed, embellished and
bound, and with the name of Mr. Arthur on its
title-page, can scarcely fail of being popular.
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