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148
LITERARY.
WILLIAM W. MANN, Editor.
The Southern Field and Fireside
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— —
TO CORRESPONDENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS.
Wo acknowledge the reception of two poems:
“ Over the Hill,” and “ A Reminiscence.”
We recommend the young gentleman who
sent us the lines commencing
“ The hand that liens,”
to send them immediately in manuscript, and by
mad, after the young lady to whom they are ad
dressed. He will thus gratify her more, we are
sure; and save himself the mortification (if wo
should insert them, as he requests) of seeing
them preserved on the files of the Field and
Fireside. He will write by and by, we are
confident, verses that we would gladly publish.
The “ Reveries of a Pedagogue,” are received,
and respectfully declined.
“ The Old Chestnut Tree,” we decline with
much regret. The lines abound in poetical sen
timent, but really the writer must practice at
rhyming some time longer before we can accord
admittance into our columns.
“ A Highway Attack ” must, also, be declined;
it does not possess the attraction of style, or of
graphic incident, that would entitle it to accep
tance.
The writer of the article entitled “Washington
and the Indian Chief,” would doubtless prove a
valuable contributor, but the spaco which that
pen would occupy, is already quite engaged.
>»i
FROM OUR PARIS CORRESPONDENT.
Paris, Sept. Bth. 1859.
Italy has again the privilege of absorbing
public attention. Victor Emmanuel’s reply to
the Tuscan deputation, who brought him last
Sunday the solemnly declared wish of the Tus
can people to make part of an Italian kingdom
under his constitutional rule, is the topic of gen
eral talk. Its first reading raised in many a
feeling of disappointment: they had been ex
pecting. quite unreasonably, a full acceptance or
an absolute rejection. Such persons overlooked
the fact that accepting the otter and taking pos
session of the thing ottered were, in this case,
by no means the same tiling—between the two
acts there would probably have been a war with
Austria, who still holds the fortresses that com
mand the Lombard frontier, and keeps an im
mense army in Venetia—or they overlooked the
other fact, that Napoleon’s “ programme” was not
entirely renounced because one part of the prom
ised performances was not given just as laid down
in the bills. I have not an implicit faith in the
% promises of Louis Napoleon—though he has
broken as few as any of the Continental Mon
archs in the last ten years—we may except the
King of the Belgians. But Louis Napoleon’s
tenacity of purpose and eminent ability may be
counted on. It was he who effectively dictated
to his Ally the sentiments of his last Sunday’s
discourse. A very sensible, politic, and deeply
significant discourse it is. You will probably
find a place in your columns for this important
document, and will observe that it is a condition
al acceptance of the wishes of the Tuscans to
clear their country of the last vestiges of foreign
domination by the constitution of a strong Italian
kingdom, capable of defending the indepen
dence of the Peninsula. But the speaker re
minds them that their wishes can only be fully
accomplished by future negotiation; in the con
duct of which he will, in virtue of their solemn
ly expressed desire and of the rights it confers
upon him, act as their attorney with the Powers
of Europe, and with the Emperor of the French.
Awaiting their result with well-founded hope,
he exhorts them to perseverance, which, in the
end, assures the triumph of just causes.
I was saying that the purport of this speech
was dictated by the French Emperor: I do not
come to that conclusion solely from the internal
evidence it offers, nor from a priori reasoning.
Beside several probable things looking that way,
this one thing is certain: that in the interval of
time between the appointment of the Tuscan
delegation to bring the vote of the Assembly to
Turin and their departure for Turin, the Count
d’Arese went from Turin to St. Sauveur. The
relations of that personage with the Sardinian
king, and hiS peculiarly intimate personal rela
tions with the French Emperor, are well known.
It is certain, then, that this otherwise unaccount
able delay in the movements of the Tuscan mis
sion, gave the Emperor abundant opportunity to
edit Victor Emanuel’s reply. We all know that
Louis Napoleon is not a man likely to neglect
opportunities.
No man better than he understands the wis
dom of “ waiting on Providence.” He will have
his European Congress. Your columns have
recorded my constant belief in its probability.
Public opinion is now regarding it as a necessity.
Let me play the oracle here. The case is a se
riously complicated one. The probability is,
perhaps, strengthened by the phrases of Victor
Emmanuel’s speech and the apparent incompe
tence of the Zurich Conference to do the work
it set about. But Austria has the strongest
reasons for objecting to the Congress—cannot,
with any respect for the principles of its exis
tence as an Empire, well submit to the discussion,
much less tlie sancti n in full European court, of
the right of a people to cast off one ruler and
choose another. Hence a powerful motive for
her to seek a private arrangement with France
and Piedmont, to whom she might make large
sacrifices of realities for the sake of preserving
appearances. And thus there may be some foun
dation for the rumors which pretend that she
will give up Mantua and Peschiera—will consti
tute an independent kingdom in Venetia—nay,
XKK g©WS?KJSM KX&XtU MMX BIEKBXJWS.
! will give up Venetia —for certain valties received
in monies and forms —rather than submit to the
humiliation of relinquishing them under force of
a Congress vote. And so the rumor gains cre
dence that Franz Joseph has proposed and Louis
Napoleon accepted a personal interview in
Queen Hortense’s old Chateau of Arenenberg, in
Switzerland, where Captain Louis Bonaparte,
Captain in the Swiss Artillery, formerly dreamed
foolish dreams of French Empire, and wrote
Reveries Politiques and a Manuel d'Artillerie a
' f usage des officiers de la Republique Helvelique.anA
of American Republican Students at West
Point This rumor runs that Franz Joseph will
renounce the old Austro-Italian policy—now be
come highly expensive and unprofitable—for the
sake of an intimate Austro-French alliance, and a
fat slice of to-be-dismembered Turkey. This
would undoubtedly be a good bargain for the
party proposing it. The Frenchman wou'd not
accept it, if it probably has not been proposed by
any but newsmongers and journalists, whose
imaginations were set agog by Richard Metter
nich, the Austrian ambassador at Paris, his last
week’s journey to St. Sauveur. The personal
interview, however, is barely possible. Louis
Napoleon's ambition would not object to a single
handed settlement of some of the more thorny
difficulties of the Italian question. And many
of them must be settled, if at all, by negotia
tion, for, according to public law of Europe, they
would not fall within the limits even of right to
decision' belonging to a Congress: the office of
such a body being rather to consult, regulate,
sauction.
Meantime, and here is the essential point,
Tuscany is, and the other Duchies will be pres
ently, provisionally annexed to the Kingdom of
North Italy—and every day of this provisional
state of things tends to its final confirmation,
and makes the diminished chances of a return
to their deserted thrones of the runaway Dukes,
beautifully less. There is good ground of hope,
also, that the Romagna has secured for itself a
partial liberation from Papal misrule, whose
“paternal” and “mild” qualities were so sig
nally illustrated the other day in the sack of Pe
rugia. There, as in the other States of Central
Italy, the movement goes on with a singular,
calm steadiness, displaying so little of the wonted
extravagances of European revolution, that none
but the extravagant Legitimist and clerical fac
tionists he e give it that name. There, as else
where, the National Assembly is composed, in
large majority, of the aristocracy of birth and
talent —of men who have large material interests
in the prosperity of the country.
Aong the names of deputies recently chosen
to the Parman Assembly, you will notice that of
Verdi, the celebrated operatic composer. He is
a man of sense, property and moderation, “ al
though an artist,” as Joseph Prudhomme would
say. The real cause, however, of his nomina
tion and election to an Assembly which every
one knows will vote for the annexation of Parma
to the new Italian kingdom, is perhaps to be
sought, not in his musical reputation, nor in the
supposed statesmanlike qualities of the man, but
in tiie mere letters of his name.
When the famous New Year’s Address of Na
poleon to Baron Hubner, last winter, raised the
hopes of the Italians, Austrian laws, police and
bayonets were there to check all utterance of
them in speech or print, barring and crossbarring
every conceivable outlet to patriotic feeling. That
is, every outlet conceivable in the blunt, brutal
sense of the “ Tedeschi." The theatre was under
severe censure, to guard against the known
Italian readiness to catch at remote allusions
and translate them to a present application.—
Music alone was left free—excluding, of course,
patriotic airs. And yet the subtle-witted people
found one unguarded point where they could
break through the triply barricaded silence.
When Macbetlo, I Lombardi, or any other opera
by the same author was announced, it filled La
Scala, and from pit to ceiling there was a loud
enthusiasm for Verdi, long inexplicable to the
Austriau portion of the audience: Erviva Verdi,
Erviva Verdi! Erviva VERDI! Potz-tausend!
Donnerwetter! ist es moglich! at last ex
claimed the policemen, slowly pricking up their
long ears, slowly opening their heavy eyes.
Victor Emmanuel, Re D’ltalia! Scuheigen, Sie
still, Lumpengesindel!
If two-thirds of my letter are taken up with
talk of Italy, it is because I am your correspon
dent from Paris, whence talk now drifts mainly
toward Italy. After the war was over, public
interest turned away somewhat from that direc
tion. We were occupied with gathering in the
new crop of glory brought home by the army,
who brought with them the large part of our
pretended Italian sympathies, which now revive
again, less noisily indeed, but more healthfully,
and to us more creditably, than ever.
To change the theme. The suicide season has
begun in Paris. Half a dozen cases are recorded
within the past ten days. A gentleman passing
the bridge of Solferino a few nights ago, noticed
a girl apparently much agitated, leaning over
the parapet. He suspected something was wrong,
questioned her, and learned that she had arrived
from her home in the country that day to visit
her old grandfather, whom she had not seen for
many years. The grandmother had refused her
admittance: hinc illae lachrymae. The gentle
man offered her money, if that was needed, to
pay her passage back to Laon; and so comfort
ing the poor creature with more friendly words,
went on. Before lie reached the end of the
bridge, he heard a heavy splash in the water—
he cried for help—it was too late. Next day
the body was exposed to the gaze of strangers
curious to see the sights of Paris, on the stone
table at the Morgue. A man went home the
other evening, a rentier in comfortable circum
stances, and was vexed to notice that the stair
case had not been well waxed that day. He
proposed a game of piquet to his wife: she re
fuses on the score of a tooth-ache: lie pettishly
exclaims, “this life is intolerable —everything
goes wrong—l have made three calls to-day,
and found no one at home—l wish I was dead,”
and left the room. An hour later he was found
dead; he had hung himself like the Duke of
Penthievre, (if the Duke did hang himself f) to
the espagnolette of a window. Shall I go on
with the list ? It will number 4,000, more or
less, in France, 600 in the department of the
Siene alone, before this time next year. The
whole number in 1857 was 4,189 in France, of
whom 675 in this department, say 600 for Paris
alone; and this among the gayest, wittiest peo
ple, in the gayest capital of the world. The
morose, spleeny English, furnished but a third
as many suicides in the same year. These facts
provoke to various comments which your read
ers may make. I offer but this one, that women
have more wisdom, more courage to endure
life’s ills, of which they certainly have their full
half share, than men. At least, their names
occupy but a quarter of this list of fools and cow
ards.
The number and extent of fires, and the ac
companying loss of property and life—which our
national vanity is apt to claim as an American
specialty—has been equalled, if not surpassed,
this summer, as in preceding summers, in Eu
rope. Reliable documents now before me
prove
But I think I gave my word of honor, last
week, to treat of cheerful themes, and here l am
talking about deaths and conflagrations! V ell,
speaking of women and their sense and courage
—they are always pleasant subjects—let me say
a word of Ernestine Drouet. She is a school
mistress, lives somewhere up in the Faubourg
de Temple, in a small apartment —very neat and
prettily arranged, I fancy: no, very neat and
prettily, I am sure —with an old father and
mother, whom she helps to support. Now here
is the singular proof of her sense and courage.
When she was a mere child, she wrote verses,
and was taken to Berauger, who read them and
applauded them. With his praise, the wise old
poet gave counsel. [I open a parenthesis here,
to slip in a remark, the truth of which you may
find confirmation in his autobiography: that the
poet Beranger, apart from his poetic faculty,
bore wonderful resemblances to Ben. Franklin—
not in the accidental fact that the poet was a
printer as well—but in the thorough practical
ity of his practical philosophy. If your read
ers do not find proof of this in the work I have
indicated, they will at least find a most agreeable
pastime in the search for them through its inter
esting pages.] With the praise, then, was pre
sented this counsel, “ Eemember my child,” said
the old man, “that my best songs date from the
time when I was earning 1,200 francs by the
most distasteful sortofwork. I sangthatyouth
is hsppy, in a garret. Genius has an eternal,
talent a long youth. Talent or genius then, do
not be afraid of the garret; do not be afraid of
labor: Pegasus carries to the hospital none but
those who will not dismount to attend to the re
quirements of every day life.” The girl took
the praise with the advice. Nine young men
out of ten would have taken only the first, let
their hair grow, spoiled a great deal of good
paper in wailing and railing against a common
sense world for not losbg its common sense in
their behalf, ruined tleir stomachs with bad
brandy, and closed the r useless career in the
Hotel I)ieu or the Seiie. Madamoiselle went
on to fit herself for a t.acher, and earned and
earns an honest living—meantime cultivating
and mattiring her poeti.'al faculty, which grows
and ripens, like all other good faculties, nowhere
better than hard by the path of duty, through
this “ God's garden ” <f ours. The result and
recompense of all whiei are, that two weeks
ago, the French Acadeny alloted to her, over
130 competitors, the prze offered by tjjat body
for the best poem, haviig for its subject “ The
Sister of Charity in fie Nineteenth Century."
The MS., No. 131, bor- tlie fitting epigraph:
“ Come unto me, all ye liat labor and .are heavy
laden, and I will give yiu rest.” Having passed
the severe ordeal of Academic criticism, and re
ceived the eulogy its merits so well deserved,
from tlie mouth of one if the most eloquent and
elegant of modern critic: 1 authors, M.Villemain,
it was read in the annial session of the Acad
emy, two weeks since, lefore an audience such
as Paris only can furnish on such an occasion—
an audience composed of those standing highest
in social and literary creles of the metropolis,
whose attentive silence, more than once inter
rupted by warm applause, confirmed the Acad
emic decree. As you wculd guess from the title
of the poem, it deals somewhat with grave
themes. The Sister of Charity in the Nineteenth
Century passes her life by and at the bedside
of the sick and dying. The better glories of the
Crimean and Italian campaigns belong to her.
It is she that illumines, by her holy helping pre
sence, the dark side of war, of which bulletins
and newspapers and triumphal processions down
the decorated Boulevards, show only the tawdry
facings. Amid the physical and moral woes
But I am on parole to be cheerful, and, in spite
of myself, keep falling into these lugubriosities.
Well, ’then, read this: The French mints of
Strasburg and Paris are coining gold with the
utmost activity—at the rate of four millions a
day. Under the reign of Napoleon 111., they
have already struck off 2,000,770,864,775 francs
in gold, and 176,908,251 francs in silver. If
that is not a cheerful bit of information, what
Could be? How it chinks down musically on
the mind's acceptance—billions and millions
rattling, rolling, roaring—golden, gorgeous, daz
zling—like the grand finale of the fifth act. the
orchestra at its loudest, and everything blazing
magnificently at the back of the stage—then
down falls the curtain—Virtue is not rewarded
after all —You go out as poor as you came in.
But the momentary vision is pleasant to the im
agination.
The Antique “ Victory ” of Brescia. —The
following interesting details relative to the fine
antique bronze of “Victory,’’ at Brescia, of
which the municipality of that town are about
to present a cast to the French Government, are
condensed from the Gazette de Lyon :
In 1852, a learned Bresciau archaeologist dis
covered some remains of a temple, dedicated to
Vespasian, opposite the forum of the ancient
Brixia. Aided by the authorities, he cleared
away the rubbish, aiid found in the middle of
the building, which had been evidently destroy
ed by fire, a bronze statue, about eight feet
high, in excellent preservation, and representing
a Victory or winged Muse writing on a shield.
The most remarkable feature of this is its perfect
resemblance to tlie famous statue known as the
Venus of Milo, which had been found about four
years before m an island of the Archipelago.—
The likeness is far too close to be accidental; it
is evident one was copied from the other, or both
from some common original. The only differ
ence between them is found in tne drapery.—
The bust of the Brescian statue, instead of being
nude, is covered with a close tunic most admi
rably executed, its light and delicate folds con
trasting strongly with the heavy tissue- of the
pepluu. which envelopes the statue of Milo.—
The head-dress, features, expression of the coun
tenance, and attitude are exactly alike in the
two ; but tlie foot is broken off in the Venus of
Milo, while in the Victory of Brescia it is per
fect, and rests on a crushed helmet. In the left
hand the latter holds a shield, while the right
is writing or pointing to a name written on it.—
In the bronze folds of the Brescian statue a
bronze statuette, about twenty inches high, was
found; but what it represents, or why it was
concealed there, the antiquarians of Brescia have
not been able to explain ; perhaps those of Paris
may be more fortunate.
—
The Charleston Marine School. —“ A friend”
sends us a pamphlet containing the “ Rules of
the Trustees of the Charleston Marine School,
and says that a notice going the rounds of the
papers, and copied into the Field and Fireside,
speaking of this School as similar to the “Float
ing School” at Baltimore, is erroneous. He says
that the C. M. S. is the first and only regular
Marine School in the United States ;” that in it
“ the boys live on board of the vessel in the
river: are bound as apprentices, and receive an
English as well as a Nautical education —being
practiced occasionally by sailing about the har
bor. At present the vessel is undergoing a
regular overhauling by the boys.”
• NEW BOOKS.
[We publish, weekly, under this head, a list of new
publications, carefully selected from all our exchanges.
The list embraces all works, Foreign as well as Domes
tic, which we think may be valuable, or to which cir
cumstances may give general or special interest, wheth
er Literary or Scientific, History or Fiction, Prose or
Poetry, Religious, Moral or Political. The notice simply
gives the title of the hook, name of the author, pla e of
publication, and name of Publisher.]
Religious. —Historical Sketches of Hymns ; uieir
writers and their influence. By Joseph Belcher, D. 1).
New Tork: Sheldon A Co.
Christ in His Ordinances. A Sermon, preached in
King's Chapel, Boston, the Sixth Sunday after Trinity,
July 11, lssS,by the Right Rev. Horatio Southgate, D.
D, New York : Daniel Dana, Jr.
“ Stone Him to Death or, the Jewish and Christian
Dispensations. Compared and Contrasted with the
Fourth Commandment New York : W. A. Townsend
A Co.
An Explanation of John's Revelations. By a Sadducee.
Pamphlet. Paterson, N. J.: Yanderhover, Irish & Co.
Sacred Poems. By N. Parker Willis. With more
than one hundred engravings on wood, executed by N.
Orr A Cil, from original drawings by Darley, Ehninger,
Chapman, Eytinge, etc. New York : Clark, Austin &
Smith.
Miscellaneous.— A History of the Whig Party, or
some of its main features, with a hurried glance at the
formation of parties in the United States, and the out
lines of the History of the Principal Parties of the
country to the present time, etc., by K. McKinley
Ormsby. Boston : Crosby, Nichols A Co.
Parties and their Principles, A manual of Political
intelligence, exhibiting the origin, growth and character
ol' National Parties. Withan Appendix,containing val
uable and general statistical information. By Arthur
Holmes. New Y'ork :D. Appleton & Co.
British Novelists and their Styles; being a critical
sketch of the History of British Prose Fiction. By Da
vid Masson, M. A., author of “ The Life and Times of
Milton.” Boston : Gould & Lincoln.
Camp's Philanthropic Letters to the Million. Dedicat
ed to Father Dayman. No 11, on Natural Happiness,
The Spirit of Washington. Salus Populi Suprema Lex
Esto. By F. F. F. lamp. Pamphlet, pp. 16. New
York : F. A. Brady. 1559.
Popular Sovereignty in the Territories : The dividing
line between Federal and Local Authority. By Stephen
A. Douglas. Pamphlet, pp. 46. New York : Harper A
Brothers.
The Life and Travels of Alexander Von Humboldt.
With an introduction from the pen of Bayard Taylor,
Esq., by R. 11. Stoddard. With anew steel portrait,
from the original photograph in the possession of Mr.
Bayard Taylor. New York: Rudd and Carleton.
Mr. A. Reynolds of Mobile, has just completed a work
entitled “ Calhoun and his Conteiujioraries,” containing
a full biography of the great statesman, and sketches of
some of his contemporaries.
Dr. J. W. Palmer, the reputed translator of Michelet's
L'Amour, has in press a translation of “The Moral His
tory of Women,” by Legouve, a lecturer in the College
of France.
The Wheat Plant, Its origin, culture, growth, devel
opment, composition, varieties, diseases, etc., etc., togeth
er with the history, culture, and varieties of Indian
Corn, etc. By John Klippart, Corresponding Secretary
of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, Member of the
Academy of Natural Sciences, Cleveland; Honorary
Member of the Western Academy of Natural Sciences,
Cincinnati,etc. Illustrations. New York ; A. O. Moore
A Co.
The Devon Herd Book, edited by Sanford Howard,
editor of the Boston Cultivator. Boston: Blown, Tag
gard & Chase.
Educational— Elements of lienee, designed for use
in Grammar, and Primary Schools. By George Moore.
New York : Mason Brothers.
Moral Philosophy—lncluding Theoretical and Practi
cal Ethics. By Joseph Haven, I). J)., late Professor of
Moral and Intellectual Philosophy in Amherst College.—
Boston : Gould and Lincoln.
The Universal Speaker, containing a collection of
Speeches, Dialogues, and Recitations, adapted to the use
of Schools, Academies and Social Circles. Boston:
Brown, Taggard A Chase.
A Treatise on Elementary and Higher Algebra. By
Theodore Strong, LLD., Professor of Mathematics and
Natural Philosophy in Rutgers College, New Brunswick,
N. 8 New York’: Pratt, Oakley A Co.
The Science of Education ; and Art of Teaching. In
two parts. By John Ogden, A. M. Cincinnati: Moore,
Wilstaek, Keys A Co.
Another number of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's Ger
man Dictionary, the seeond of the third volume, has ap
peared. The publisher, 8. llirzel, Leipzic, announces at
the same time that the seventh number of the seeond
volume, and third number of the third volume, will soon
leave the press.
Life for a Life—by the author of “John Halifax'”
My Third Book—A collection of Tales. By Louise
Chandler Moulton, author of " This, That and the Other.”
Walter Thornley ; or, A Peep at the Past. By Mrs.
Sedgwick.
The Old Plantation, and What I Gathered There in an
Autumn month. By James Hungerford, of Maryland.
Fobeign.—What Will He Do With It ? By Pisis
tratus Caxton. A Novel. By Sir E. Bulwer Lytton,
Bart.
Love me Little, Love me Long—a novel, by Charles
Reade, author of “ Christie Johnstone.”
My Lady Ludlow—a novel, by Mrs. Gaskell, author of
“ Mary Barton.”
Adam Bede —a novel, by George Elliott, author of
“ Scenes of Clerical Life.”
The Romance and its Hero—By the author of “Magda
len Stafford.”
Gerald Fitzgerald, “ The Chevalier.” A Novel. By
Charles Lever, author of “ Charles O’Malley.”
The Bertrams—A Novel. By Anthony Trollope.
The Laird of Nurlaw —a Scottish story, by the author
of “ Margaret Maitland.”
Messrs. Saunders, Olley A Co., London, are about to
publish translations of Balzac's works, and announce as
forthcoming " A judicious selection, suited to the English
taste,” the work to be performed by Mr. J. Haw kins
Simpson, author of “ Poems of Oiscn.”
The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton, Inventor of
the Spinning Machine called the Mule By Gilbert J.
French. London : Simpkin, Marshall A Co.
Walton's Lives of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert,
and Sanderson. A new edition, to which is now added
a Memoir of Isaac Walton, by Win. Dowling, Esq., Bar
rister at Law, w ith illustrative Notes, numerous Por
traits and other engravings, index, etc. London: Bell
A Daldy.
Memorial and Letters Illustrative of the Life and
Times of John Graham, of Claverhouse, Viscount Dun
dee. By Mark Napier. London : Hamilton A Co.
“ Shelley Memorialsedited by Lady Shelley.—
“ Through Norw ay with a Knajisack by W. M. Wil
liams.
“ Twenty Years in the Church by the Rev. J. Pic
croft.
“ Nicholl’s Literary Anecdotes and Illustrations of the
Eighteenth Century,” the last volume of which lias just
been issued.
Secret History of the Austrian Government; and ofits
Systematic Persecution of Protestants; compiled from
official documents—by Alfred Mlchlels. London: Chap
man A Hall.
Journals of Proceedings connected with the Siege of
Sebastopol. Plates. London: Longman.
The Invasion of Britain, by Julius Ciesar. By Thom
as Lcwin, Esq. London : Longman.
We find the following In the London Critic —“ Mr.
Bohn is shortly about to publish a new edition of the
complete works of Lady Mary Worticy, Montague, edit
ed by Mr. Moy Thomas.”
Letters from Alabama (U. S.) chiefly relating to Nat
ural History ; by Philip Henry Gossc, F. K. 8., author
of “ A Naturalist’s Rambles on the Devonshire coast,”
etc., etc. London : Morgan A Chase.
Tuscany in '49 and '59. By Thomas Adolphus Trol
lope. 1 vol., posts vo. London: Chapman A Hall.
The Duke of Devonshire has just issued, under the su
perintence of Mr. John Payne Collier, a sac simile of the
1604 edition of Shakspeare’s “ Hamlet.” This is the edi
tion published while Shakspeare wasalive, which profes
ses to be, not incorrectly, “newly imprinted and enlarged
to almost ns much againe as it was according to the true
and perfect copie.”
An interesting work has just left the press of MM.
Firmin Didot. Paris, it consists of letters from Mary
Qnecn of Scotts to Bothwell, and documents regarding
the murder of Darnley add the execution of Mary,—let
ters anil documents accurately printed after the original
text. The book forms a sequel to the collection of Prince
Labanotf, and is edited by M. A. Tculett.
International Copyright.— According to Mr. Gris
wold. the acknowledged inferiority, is chiefly, if not al
together, owing to the absence of'a law of international
copyright. The system of legalized freebooty—that
right of border-foray—which enables an American pub
lisher to appropriate the labors of an English author, and
him of his hire, has been, by a most just retribu
tion, the bane of American literature.
THE GREAT EASTERN. V
The English papers by the Arabia contain
full accounts of the sailing of the monster steam- ,
ship Great Eastern upon her trial trip. The
correspondent of the Times , writing from Pur- i
fleet, September 7th, after describing the busy
scenes connected with the closing preparations,
the stationing of the officers at various points, 1
Ac., says:
Then was the order given to go ahead slowly, V
and for the first time the Great Eastern started
into motion, and with the slow, majestic beat of ,
her huge paddles moved grandly down the river.
Then ensued an extraordinary scene. Thous- <
ands upon thousands of people were seen rush
ing to the river side from all points. Boats of
every kind and size were launched, crowded to t
the water’s edge, and the stream and its banks
seemed suddenly instinct with life. There were >
not so much cheers as continuous shouting—a
genuine outburst of enthusiasm and delight.— ,
Even the wan and sickly inmates of the Sea
men’s Hospital ship turned out upon the deck i
or crowded the ports with their worn lhces to
give one shout or wave a cap to the vessel which
swept so grandly by. )
The noble vessel now seemed to be instinct
with life. She had cast off her little incum- V
brances, and was gradually putting forth her
own powers in cleaving the waters. The screw (
now worked thirty revolutions a minute and the
paddles nine and a half, the force used being j
about two-tliirds of her maximum power. Under
these circumstances she gave thirteen and a half
knots; so that, taking into consideration her in- 1
sufficient immersion, and the consequent -imper
fect working of the paddle and screw, her maxi- t
mum speed may he calculated at nineteen knots, or
twenty three measured miles an hour, being double ,
the average of any of the subsidized steamers.
During the time that the vessel was going at i
the speed of thirteen and a half knots, or fifteen
miles, the engines worked with an ease that,
when their size and power are considered, was 1
perfectly astounding. There was scarcely any
vibration on the vessel, and, as fur as could be )
gathered from outward objects, one might much '
easier have imagined one’s self writing in a Pa- ,
risian saloon than in the'state cabin of the Great
Eastern, flying down the Nore. One thing con- *
nected with the vessel is as remarkable as her
other characteristics. Even when going thirteen
knots an hour there was an utter absence of )
“swell” in her wake —even less, as far as could
be judged from the deck, than is made by the )
ordinary penny steamers, and not one half as
much as was thrown up by our own tugs.— ,
Even a pail of water standing on one end of the
paddle-boxes did not show the least symptoms l
of vibration.
It appears that to the latest moment an en
deavor was made by Mr. Lever to secure the /
charter for the first trip of the Great Eastern,
and that although the terms offered were ad- >
vanced to £30,000, the directors considered it
desirable to decline the proposal. (
On the afternoon of the 9th, when the Great
Eastern was oft'Hastings, a feed pipe casing in {
the forward funnel, which had been introduced
on the ground of economy in heat, and to keep
the heat of the funnels from the cabin, exploded t
with terrific force, blowing the funnel into the
air, and tearing to pieces the grand saloon and >
lower deck cabins, through which the funnel '
passed, and otherwise doing great damage to (
the internal fittings. Three firemen were found
in a dying state, and soon expired, while eight {
others were injured, two of whom subsequently
died. One fireman was lost overboard, having
fallen into the water or jumped into it to escape }
scalding. The injured men were generally pro
gressing favorably, although two or three of >
them were in a precarious condition. The nu- *
merous guests on board had only quitted the
grand saloon, through which the funnel passed,
and in which they had been dining, a few min- j
utes before the explosion took place. But for
this the consequences would have been me st
serious. The explosion is stated to have proba- }
bly been one of the most terrific which a vessel
has ever survived, and which none in the world V
could have withstood, save a structure of such ®
marvelous strength as the Great Eastern. She
not only resisted it, her frame sustaining no in
jury whatever, but it made so little difference in j
the movements of the vessel that the engines
were never once stopped till she reached Port
land. It is asserted that great objections had ;
been made to the casing around the funnels, but
the Directors persisted in adopting the plan, v
notwithstanding it had been tried and abandon
ed in the Collins and other steamers.
The Great Eastern. —Asa matter of curios- l
ity, we append the tonnage of the Great Eastern,
as compared with the principal vessels of the
United States Navy: J)
Names. Tonnage.
Pennsylvania 3,241 y
Columbus 2,480
Ohio : 2,757
North Carolina 2,633
Delaware 2,633 t
Vermont 2,633
New Orleans 2,805
Alabama 2,683 f
Virginia 2,633
New York 2,633 y
Total 28,131
Great Eastern. 26,000
Her tonnage is nearly as great as the combined t
tonnage of the ten tremendous line of battle
ships—including the once unrivalled Pennsyl
vania—that are registered on the United States p
Navy list. —[Richmond Dispatch.
——— y
The Real Planter and the Politician
who Plants. —A friend communicates the fol
lowing to the F. and F.: c
Mr. P. R , of Alabama, is well known for t
his industry and very successful planting. His
brother, G. R , after devoting most of his
life to law aud politics, has taken to talking /
about raising stock, and making hay.
Some years ago, Solon Robinson called the v
political planter the model Farmer of the South,
on account of the hay which ho made, and the
multitude of his ploughs. The old gentleman
of Alabama, taking it in dudgeon that his broth- l
er, who had never made a pound of cotton nor
full supply of corn, should enter the field of his
triumph and carry off the palm, has lately sent /
him a quantity of corn, upon hearing that liis
crib was empty. The politician succumbed at v
once, by writing to his brother, “ I acknowledge 1
the corn.”
II > ; r
The Roll op Honor.—The following is a list t
of Revolutionary soldiers on the rolls of the State • 3
of Georgia and Alabama who are regularly re
ceiving their pensions, and their age in 1859: a
GEORGIA.
Names. County Residence. Age. J
Micajah Brooks, Polk, 98 years. \
Wm. Coggin, Gordon, 104 “
John Hames, Sr., Murray, 107 “ c
John McMillon, Habersham, 99 “ *
Jon. Nicholson, Union, 96 “ 3
ALABAMA.
Reuben Stevens, Chambers, 97 years p