Chapter VII (6)

This work is the Essay, to the author of which was awarded one hundred guineas, in London, by the Committee, selected to read the articles on behalf of the munificent donor. It is a work of great ability, thoroughly exposing all the fallacies which men indulge in, as an excuse for using intoxicating drinks, and driving the last vestige of excuse from the drunkard. It is a work that should be read by every young man in America.

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_Eldorado, or Adventures in the Path of Empire: compromising a
Voyage to California, via Panama; Life in San Francisco and
Monterey; Pictures of the Gold Region, and Experiences of
Mexican Travel. By Bayard Taylor, author of “Views a-Foot,” etc.
With illustrations by the author. New York: Geo. P. Putnam. 2
vols. 12mo._

The popularity of the author of these delightful volumes is indicated by the rapid sale of the first edition, which was disposed of on the day of publication. The work will add to Taylor’s reputation in respect to every quality of mind and disposition for which he is deservedly distinguished. It so combines the observer with the poet, that the reader soon becomes the author’s companion, seeing what he sees and feeling what he feels. His descriptions of scenery are beautiful representations; a few quiet and magical sentences bring pictures right before the eye; and when his subject happens to be the vegetation of the tropics, he gives us not only foliage but fragrance. The whole book is pervaded by that genial and happy spirit, which lends fascination to all of Taylor’s writings, and converts his readers into friendly partisans. We have not space at present to indicate the stores of information and delight which the volumes contain, but will extract one paragraph on a Pacific sunset, as a specimen of the ease with which the author’s facile style rises to eloquence. “Why,” he exclaims, “has never a word been said or sung about sunset on the Pacific? No where on this earth can one be overvaulted with such a glory of colors. The sky, with a ground-hue of rose toward the west, and purple toward the east, is mottled and flecked over all its surface with light clouds, running through every shade of crimson, amber, violet, and russet-gold. There is no dead duskiness opposite the sunken sun; the whole vast shell of firmament glows with an equal radiance, reduplicating its hues on the glassy sea, so that we seem floating in a hollow sphere of prismatic crystal. The cloud-strata, at different heights in the air, take different coloring; through bars of burning carmine one may look on the soft, rose-purple folds of an inner curtain, and, far within and beyond that, on the clear amber-green of the immaculate sky. As the light diminishes, these radiant vapors sink and gather into flaming pyramids, between whose pinnacles the serene depth of air is of that fathomless violet-green which we see in the skies of Titian.”

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_The Life and Religion of Mohammed, as Contained in the Sheeãh
Traditions of the Hyât-ul-Kuloob. Translated from the Persian.
By Rev. James L. Merrick, Eleven Years Missionary to the
Persians. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co. 1 vol. 8vo._

This is altogether the most important and trust-worthy work relating to Mohammed ever translated into English, giving, as it does, “a full view of his life and religion, with sketches of his ancestors, companions, and times, blended with maxims and legends illustrative of Oriental manners.” To the theologian it is invaluable, while to the general reader it is as interesting as an Oriental romance, being in the form of narrative, with frequent flashes of magnificent poetry. The account of the birth of Mohammed, especially, is exquisitely beautiful. As a specimen of the style, we give a paragraph embodying Sawadbin-Karib’s testimony. “Four days after the birth, Sawadbin-Karib, a man celebrated among the Arabs for his knowledge, came to congratulate Abdulmutalib, and see the child of whom he had heard many marvelous accounts. On going to the house of Aminah they were informed that he was asleep. When the cover of the cradle was removed to gratify them with a sight of the wonderful babe, _such lightning gleamed from his blessed countenance that the roof of the house was cloven by it, and the visiters drew their sleeves over their dazzled eyes_.”

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_Gleanings from the Poets, for Home and School. A New Edition,
Enlarged. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1 vol. 12mo._

The title of this volume is an honest title, accurately describing the contents. The poems are selected from a wide variety of English authors, and consist of pieces which have not been worn threadbare by previous publication in school-reading books. Some of the selections will be new to most readers of poetry, such as the narrative poems of French and those of Mary Lamb. We notice two poems by Tennyson not included in the edition of his works. “The Skylark” is here, not only in Shelly’s rapturous lyric, but as he was viewed by the imaginations of Wordsworth and Hogg. Wordsworth’s wonderful “Ode on the Intimations of Immortality from the Recollections of Childhood,” the grandest and subtlest of modern odes, is given in full. We notice also a number of pieces by Vaughan, Quarles, and holy George Herbert, not generally known. The Prioress’s Tale is reprinted in Chaucer’s old spelling, its quaint phraseology truly embodying its intense sweetness of sentiment. Altogether, we think that “home” to be deficient in which this volume has not its place.

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_Redwood: A Tale. By the Author of “Hope Leslie,” etc. New York:
George P. Putnam. 1 vol. 12mo._

This novel, the third volume of Mr. Putnam’s elegant re-issue of the works of Miss Sedgwick, is especially interesting, as giving the best account we have ever read of life among the Shakers. The effect of the doctrines of that singular sect upon individual character is traced with masterly discrimination. The story is also one of the most interesting which even Miss Sedgwick’s genial fancy has invented, and fastens the attention which it once engages.

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_The Origin of the Material Universe. Boston: Phillips, Sampson
& Co._

This pamphlet is exceedingly ingenious and interesting, and is worthy of extensive circulation. It is a highly wrought description, on scientific principles, of the manner in which the earth was formed, and the events connected therewith from its existence, in a fluid state to the time of the Mosaical narrative. The theory of the writer is ably sustained, and, whether true or not, has the effect to stimulate and fill the imagination, and spur it to the contemplation of grand and majestic images.

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_Zanoni. By Sir E. Bulwer Lytton. New York: Harper & Brothers._

The Harpers have included this work in their cheap “Library of Select Novels,” which has now reached its one hundred and forty-second number, and is probably the cheapest work ever issued. There are few novel readers to whom Zanoni is not familiar, and of all the author’s productions it best bears the test of reperusal. Its feverish power exacts a feverish interest, which is as unhealthy as it is stimulating; but this intellectual dram-drinking is now so common that the charge of morbid sentiment brought against a book operates as a puff.

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_Household Words. A Weekly Journal. Conducted by Charles
Dickens. New York: George P. Putnam. Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4._

Mr. Putnam, with his usual enterprise, has contrived to make an arrangement with Bradbury and Evans, of London, to publish Dickens’s Journal contemporaneously with its appearance in London, and to afford the English edition itself at what Mr. Chevy Slyme would call the “ridiculously low price of six cents.” The Journal is full of stories and sketches of a genial character, admirably adapted for the fireside of home. To the uncounted number of people who constitute Dickens’s public, the “Household Words” will be a welcome visitant.

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_Letters of a Traveler; or Notes of Things seen in Europe and
America. By William Cullen Bryant. New York: George P. Putnam. 1
vol. 12mo._

This handsome volume is composed of letters, running over a period of sixteen years, and recording impressions of travel in Europe and America. The heart and imagination of Bryant consecrate and color the whole series: and though the scenes he describes have often been described by others, they appear new and fresh as mirrored in his pages. The serene but searching, the tolerant but earnest, mind of the author, gives the same life and charm to his prose as to his verse. The style is characterised by the grace, delicacy and thoughtfulness, the sober beauty, and “superb propriety,” native to his mind; and the cadence of his sentences leaves a lingering music in the reader’s brain, long after the book has been closed. The scenes and incidents of the volume are of exceeding variety. Paris, Florence, Pisa, Venice, London, Edinburgh,—Richmond, Charleston, St. Augustine, Mackinaw, Savannah, Havana, Boston, Portland,—the Peaks of Derbyshire and the White Mountains,—these widely distant places are but points to indicate the number and dissimilarity of the topics which come under the author’s view. Every lover of Bryant should possess this volume.

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_Essays Upon Authors and Books. By W. Alfred Jones. New York:
Stanford & Swords. 1 vol. 12mo._

The writer of this valuable little volume is favorably known among all who favor independent thought, exercised in the domain of literary criticism and characterization, as the author of “The Analyst” and “Literary Studies.” The “Essays” are thirty in number, covering a wide variety of topics, and indicating that kind of literary knowledge which looks through books into the spiritual constitution of their authors. Mr. Jones is a professor of the condensed in composition, and seems ever ambitious to cram his matter into a small space, and short, sharp, curt sentences. Perhaps he sacrifices mellowness in thus aiming after the laconic, but his fault is of so rare a nature in these days of verbose expansiveness, that to blame him for it were to fall into a worse one. Among the many essays which induce us heartily to recommend this volume to the reader, are those entitled “Traits of American Authorship,” “Home Criticism,” “The Two Everetts,” “Hoyt’s Poems,” “Hugh Latimer,” “Sir Philip Sidney’s Defense of Poesy,” “R. H. Dana,” “Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy,” “The Literature of Quakerism,” “Æsthetical Fragments,” “Thomas Moore,” and “Lord Bolingbroke.” Mr. Jones’s culture sweeps over the field of English literature, and some of his most interesting essays relate to quaint authors, whose names are in few mouths, but who are capable, in capable hands, of being made interesting even in this age. We need not say that the moral character of Mr. Jones’s criticism is as high as it’s mental, and that his book may be safely taken as a guide to young as well as to experienced readers.

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_The Hungarian Revolution. Outlines of the Prominent
Circumstances attending the Hungarian Struggle for Freedom.
Together with brief Biographical Sketches of the Leading
Statesmen and Generals who took part in it. By Johan Pragay. New
York: George P. Putnam. 1 vol. 12mo._

This volume carries with it more authority than any as yet published on the Hungarian Revolution. The author had an official station in the Ministry of War under Kossuth’s administration, and was Adjutant-General of the Army. As the work of a soldier and statesman actively engaged in the conduct of the war, it is as reliable as it is interesting.

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_Hints Toward Reforms, in Lectures, Addresses and Other
Writings. By Horace Greely. 1 vol. 12mo._

The author of this volume is well known as the editor of an influential political journal, and as a sturdy, independent, benevolent, strong-minded and warm-hearted reformer. The topics he discusses are those which deeply interest the popular mind at this time—labor, temperance, land reform, capital punishment, free trade, protection, etc.; and Mr. Greely grapples with the knottiest questions which those themes suggest with a firm will, and an eager intellect. Bating some doubtful opinions and some bad rhetoric, the volume conveys a good impression of the author’s many excellent qualities of mind and character. We cannot better describe the object of his work than by employing his own words. “It aspires,” he says, “to be a mediator, an interpreter, a reconciler, between Conservatism and Radicalism—to bring the two into such connection and relation that the good in each may obey the law of chemical affinity, and abandon whatever portion of either is false, mistaken, or outworn to sink down and perish. It endeavors so to elucidate and commend what is just and practical in the pervading demands of our time for a Social Renovation that the humane and philanthropic can no longer misrepresent and malign them as destructive, demoralizing or infidel in their tendencies, but must joyfully recognize in them the fruits of past and the seeds of future Progress in the history of our Race.” The idea in this passage is one which a conservative of the school of Burke would have no reason to disown. The difficulty is in the different things meant by the two parties, when they use the words “false, mistaken, and outworn.” Time, and the course of things, not any particular intellect, must settle the dispute; although we hope that Time, if he can take “Hints,” will accelerate his pace a little, at our author’s particular request.

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_Talbot and Vernon. A Novel. New York: Baker & Scribner. 1 vol.
12mo._

The author of this volume is guilty, as Pitt said of himself, “of the atrocious crime of being a young man,” and appears now for the first time before the public. But, though young, he has evidently seen and experienced more than most old men. His knowledge of life has been obtained from a residence in the Great West, and by a Campaign in Mexico. The present novel is one of much interest and power, indicating great freshness, quickness, and force of mind, and is particularly rich in promise. The scenes in Mexico, including the description of the battle of Buena Vista, and the whole trial scene toward the end of the volume, are especially felicitous.

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_Caprices. New York: R. Carter & Brother. 1 vol. 12mo._

This volume of poems, we should say, was the production of a sensitive imagination and reflecting mind, gifted at present with more receptivity than original power, and having a greater experience of Tennyson, Emerson and Longfellow, than of actual or ideal life. The author has a wide command of language, no mean powers of description, and a tremblingly delicate sensibility for the beautiful and the grand, but his present volume is more the promise than the performance of a forcible and original poet. The very title indicates the fitful character of the pieces.

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_The Daltons; or Three Roads in Life. By Charles Lever. New
York: Harper & Brothers. Part I._

The author of “The Daltons” is so widely known for the heartiness and vehemence of his comic narratives that it is only necessary to announce his commencement of a novel to recommend it to attention.

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FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS IN PREMIUMS.

The proprietors of the “Dollar Newspaper,” in this city, offer five hundred dollars in premiums for the eight best stories written for that paper, and sent in before the 1st day of October next—the merits of the stories to be determined by a committee of literary gentlemen, whose names will be given when the award is made. Two hundred dollars is the premium for the best story; one hundred for the next best; fifty dollars each for the two next best; and twenty-five dollars each for the four next best. We have a long acquaintance with the proprietors of the “Dollar Newspaper,” and have not the slightest doubt that their proposition is made in good faith, and that all that they can do will be done to arrive at a just and impartial decision. No writer who is awarded a prize, could have any doubt of the prompt payment of the full amount awarded. The only condition imposed by the publishers is, that the scene of the story shall be American. Here’s a chance for the literati.

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LE FOLLET, boul. S^{t}. Martin, 69 Chapeaux de M^{lle}. Grafeton, pl. de la Madeleine, 5 — Mouchoirs L. Chapron & Dubois, rue de la Paix, 7. Fleurs de Chagot ainé, r. Richelieu, 73, Robes et pardessus Isabelle de Camille. The styles of Goods here represented can be had of Mess^{rs}. L. J. Levy & C^{o}. Philadelphia and at Stewart’s, New-York.

Graham's Magazine 134 Chestnut Street]

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Transcriber’s Notes:

Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained as well as some spellings peculiar to Graham's. Punctuation has been corrected without note. Other errors have been corrected as noted below. For illustrations, some caption text may be missing or incomplete due to condition of the originals used for preparation of the ebook.

page 73, first untuned page ==> first unturned page page 76, and he promisess ==> and he promises page 77, a benificent God ==> a beneficent God page 77, deepth of feeling ==> depth of feeling page 77, Bartholdy, Sphor, Gluck, ==> Bartholdy, Spohr, Gluck, page 78, the rushing Colorada ==> the rushing Colorado page 78, traders of Chihuaha ==> traders of Chihuahua page 88, exploring the the thickets ==> exploring the thickets page 89, little bark of ==> little barque of page 92, or petit-maitre modulations ==> or petit-maître modulations page 95, whose fiancèe you ==> whose fiancée you page 96, a litle expedition ==> a little expedition page 98, Day past away ==> Day passed away page 98, his bark may strand ==> his barque may strand page 102, By some unforseen ==> By some unforeseen page 104, were bestowod ==> were bestowed page 106, Tinturn Abbey ==> Tintern Abbey page 123, sat, pouring over ==> sat, poring over page 126, Avoset, _recurvirosta_ ==> Avoset, _recurvirostra_ page 128, of 12 guage ==> of 12 gauge page 135, Sheeâh Traditions ==> Sheeãh Traditions page 135, the Hyat-ul-Kuloob ==> the Hyât-ul-Kuloob page 135, his usual interprise ==> his usual enterprise page 135, London, Edinburg ==> London, Edinburgh page 135, Peak of Derbyshire ==> Peaks of Derbyshire page 136, accellerate his pace ==> accelerate his pace page 136, awarded a a prize ==> awarded a prize