character of some of the author's opinions, and the peculiar air and tone of feeling which will be noticed by an American reader,— the work will be found extremely interesting to every thoughtful and intelligent reader. Dr. Olshauser. has a high and established character for piety and learning, and is one of the ablest champions of Orthodoxy against the so called Rationalism of Germany. 16. Historical Sketches of the Old Painters. By the Author of "Three Experiments of Living." Boston: Hilliard, Gray, & Co. 1838. 12mo. pp. 296. AN author, who has made his debut before the public in a very popular book, has to sustain a severe trial on his re-appearance- -he is not permitted to fall a hair below his own established standard of excellence, without great loss of favor. We seem to see a confirmation of this remark in the case before us- the stamp of the author of the "Three Experiments," will certainly give it currency, but it must prove very pure coin, or it will pass only as an inferior alloy. It is not always remembered, that the degree of interest in books varies with their subject; it is expected of a favorite author, that he will create an interest in every thing upon which he writes. The story just referred to had not only great intrinsic merit to procure for it ready and universal favor; it also had the advantage of embodying a strong public opinion at a most opportune time. Ours is an utilitarian age, and it is vain to proceed on the contrary supposition; the history of Dr. Fulton and Jane's rise and fall in the world was a profitable lesson, which all could understand; few find pleasure in reading about "Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff." The stories of the old painters are pleasantly and well told, almost as well as that which forms the author's popular anonym; but how many thousands there are, who want to know about the art of living, for one who knows or cares to know about the fine arts. There lies the secret ; the one comes home to the concerns of all, the other reaches a very small number. For our part, we like such an evidence as this volume furnishes, that a person of the good sense of the author of the "Three Experiments," believes what is beautiful is useful, as well as that what is useful is beautiful; and do therefore cordially approve of his or her effort to satisfy "the thirst for amusement from so healthy a fountain." It is not a book to be referred to as authority in the history of artists, and must therefore be excused for admitting some mere on dits" among its facts. Not 66 are withstanding several trifling inaccuracies, the sketches generally drawn to the life, and by their ease and spirit, remind one of the unfinished but beautiful head by Stuart of the greatest of modern painters, him to whom the volume is dedicated. 17. Sachem's - Wood: a Short Poem, with Notes. New Haven: B. & W. Noyes. 1838. Svo. pp. 30. HERE, as we conjecture, is something new, after a long silence, from the pen of the author of Hadad, and the Percy's Masque. It is thus prefaced: "FELLOW-CITIZENS :-The sweet-blowing breezes of these regenerated times, have stimulated a before drooping fancy, (even in extremely warm weather!) to the task of weaving a few rhymes; which, as they relate to local matters, I beg you to accept as a testimony of renewed pleasure and pride in my native State. NEW HAVEN, 30th July, 1838." The rhymes are light and graceful, thrown off with octosyllabic facility, and seem to be a sort of christening ode, on occasion of changing the name of the author's residence from HIGH-WOOD to SACHEM'S-WOOD. There are the reasons for the change, with pleasant descriptions of the scenery, and reminiscences of the olden time, when the Pequot Chief Sassacus haunted the woods, and of the first white settlers They who, in Newman's barn laid down and of the author's Father, the late James Hillhouse, so long known and so universally respected and loved, under the sobriquet of the Sachem. - This little poem is to us extremely pleasant reading, far more so than many a one of more poetic pretensions. We like the tone of it its graceful and gracious spirit. And then the "NOTES," especially the two long ones which occupy nearly all the space, about the author's father and grandfather—we like them even better than the "rhymes," as, we doubt not, does the author also. They give us what it is really refreshing to the heart to find that we have any stock of some "venerable images of the elder day." They are worth whole volumes of solemn matter, brought out now-a-days by the so-called spirit of the age; -- they do more to quicken the imagination and to nourish the best affections of the heart. We wish we had space to extract them, as well as some of the poetry; but cannot spare the room we would like to give, and must send our readers to the pamphlet itself. Edited by 18. Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature. GEORGE RIPLEY. Volumes First and Second. Containing Philosophical Miscellanies, translated from the French of Cousin, Jouffroy, and Benjamin Constant, with Introductory and Critical Notices. BY GEORGE RIPLEY. Boston: Hilliard, Gray, & Co. 1838. 12mo. pp. 383. 376. 66 THIS is a very praiseworthy undertaking, and we wish it all possible success. The publication, of which these volumes are intended to form the commencement," says the editor, "has special reference to the three leading divisions of Philosophy, History, and Theology; but its plan also includes writings of a popular character, selected from the most finished specimens of elegant literature, and adapted to interest the great mass of intelligent readers. Among the writers from whom it is proposed to give translations, are Cousin, Jouffroy, Guizot, and Benjamin Constant, in French; and Herder, Schiller, Goethe, Wieland, Lessing, Jacobi, Fichte, Schelling, Richter, Novalis, Uhland, Körner, Holty, Menzel, Neander, Schleiermacher, De Wette, Olshausen, Ammon, and Twesten, in German.” A translation, well executed, of some of the most valuable works, judiciously selected, of the writers named in this list, will be an extremely interesting and valuable contribution to the cause of letters, of theology, and of thinking in general. The two volumes now issued, are made up of selections from the writings of Cousin, Jouffroy, and Benjamin Constant, and compose an interesting and valuable body of philosophical essays. The introductory notices are judicious and well written, and the translations are executed with fidelity, elegance, and good taste; perhaps occasionally Mr. Ripley has erred, through an over fastidious shrinking from any strangeness of expression, any thing unusual in idiom. For instance, in the translation of Cousin's preface to the second edition of his Philosophical Fragments, we have the following sentence: "Philosophy rests on observation; but it has no other limits than those of reason itself, just as physical science starts from observation, but does not stop with it, and rises by calculation to the general laws of nature and to the system of the world. Now, reasoning is in philosophy what calculation is in physical science; for after all, calculation is nothing but reasoning in its most simple form. Calculation is not a mysterious power; it is the power of human reason itself; its peculiar character consists entirely in its language." Now, "le calcul," the calculus, is a entific term, used by Cousin in its precisely technical sense, and a great part of the force of his reasoning depends upon its being so taken. Would it not, therefore, have been better to have thus translated it, as Hecker has done in his German version of the same preface? We make this suggestion to Mr. Ripley in all kindness and respect; for, in general, his translations are remarkably well executed, and his undertaking deserves every encouragement. We will only add, at this time, that the work is brought out in the usual beautiful style of the well known publishers. Hereafter, we may take occasion to discuss somewhat at large the character of the modern French and German thinking. 19. The Conspiracy of the Spaniards against the Republic of Venice, in 1618. Translated from the French of Abbe St. Real. Boston: Otis, Broaders, & Co. 1838. 18mo. pp. 108. THIS little work of the Abbe St. Real has long been known as a beautiful episode in history, and needs no mention from us, except as a translation. In this respect it appears to be well enough executed, (for we have not the original at hand;) and as the subject has been made the foundation of one of our standard dramas, the translation will probably be acceptable to those who have not read the original work. 20. A Tale of the Huguenots, or Memoirs of a French Refugee Family, Translated and Compiled from the Original Manuscripts of JAMES FONTAINE. By cne of his Descendants. With an Introduction, by F. L. HAWKS, D. D. New York: John S. Taylor. 1838. 12mo. pp. 266. THIS is an authentic narrative, dedicated by the translator to "the two thousand descendants of the exemplary Christian" by whom it was written, "who are now living in the United States of America." It is, every way, one of the most beautiful, interesting, and instructive things, of the sort, that we have seen. It is a vivid picture of a period of history which has always been strongly exciting to the imagination; and in the remarkable incidents of the writer's life-a Protestant, enduring various persecutions for his faith; flying from his country on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, his trials and sufferings, and the final settlement in this country of most of his children—and in the charming tone of piety that breathes through it, there is every thing to excite interest, and to leave the most salutary impressions upon the heart. Dr. Hawks is entitled to the thanks of the community, for the suggestions which led to the publication of this old relic. 21. General History of Civilization in Europe, from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution. Translated from the French of M. GuizoT, Professor of History, etc., and Minister of Public Instruction. First American, from the second English edition. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1838. 12mo. pp. 346. THIS is too important a work, to be adequately treated in a cursory notice. Our present object is merely to announce, with satisfaction, its recent appearance in this country in an English dress. The translation is spirited, and, in general, appears to be executed with fidelity and good judgment. 22. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, of Nantucket. Comprising the details of a mutiny and atrocious butchery on board the American Brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the month of June, 1827 with an account of the re-capture of the vessel, by the survivors; their shipwreck and subsequent horrible sufferings from famine; their deliverance, by means of the British Schooner Jane Guy; the brief cruise of this latter vessel in the Antarctic Ocean; her capture, and the massacre of her crew among a group of Islands, in the eighty-fourth parallel of southern latitude: together with the incredible adventures and discoveries, still farther south, to which that distressing calamity gave rise. NewYork: Harper & Brothers. 1838. 12mo. pp. 198. NOTWITHSTANDING this circumstantial and veracious looking length of title, the work is all a fiction. It is written with con. siderable talent, and an attempt is made, by simplicity of style, minuteness of nautical descriptions, and circumstantiality of narration, to throw over it that air of reality which constitutes the charm of Robinson Crusoe, and Sir Edward Seaward's Narrative. This work has, however, none of the agreeable interest of the two just named. It is not destitute of interest for the imagination, but the interest is painful; there are too many atrocities, too many strange horrors, and finally, there is no conclusion to it; it breaks off suddenly in a mysterious way, which is not only destitute of all vraisemblance, but is purely perplexing and vexatious. We cannot, therefore, but consider the author unfortunate in his plan. |