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also peculiar; but on all matters where he had access to public documents, his statements are correct. The Annuaire is, on the whole, a better book than would appear from these amusing specimens.

-Since the Abbé Gaume's Ver Rongeur, the French press has produced no book more provocative of controversy than that of M. Montalembert, entitled Des Interets Catholiques au XIX® Siecle (Catholic Interests in the Nineteenth Century), which in a few weeks has passed through two editions at Paris. It is an able defense of constitutional, parliamentary government, against the assaults now made upon it by the crowd of Catholic writers in France, eager to cast themselves at the feet of Louis Napoleon and absolutism. It contendsas its author for years has contendedthat liberty is not only more consistent with the doctrine and the discipline of the Church, but more favorable to its growth and glory than any absolute system of government. In support of this position, the history of the last fifty years is made to contribute a series of striking facts; the contrast which the result of this period of parliamentary rule and free discussion exhibits to that of the previous period of absolute political authority is set forth with great power and effect, while the Napoleonic Catholics, who have forsaken their former belief in freedom to adulate the despot of the day, are cauterized with concentrated bitterness of sarcasm which great moderation of language only heightens. M. Montalembert, however, holds that liberty and democracy are as antagonistic as liberty and absolutism. He has no faith in what is called new ideas. The rule of the masses is in his eyes but the tyranny of the mob; universal suffrage a folly; and the Constitution of England the highest form of political wisdom. Catholics in this country will read his book with satisfaction, not only on account of its exultant statements of the progress of their church, but from its vigorous protest against the ill-judged and erroneous attempts of certain writers to identify Catholicism with absolutism in politics, and the suppression of the liberty of the press, of parliamentary discussion, and of other forms of human rights.

-Two histories of the Restoration are now appearing in successive volumes at Paris. The one, by M. Vaulabelle, is the work of years, is written in the most conscientious spirit, and with infinite research; the other, by M. Lamartine, is the work of a few months, and is written with all that dramatic haste, and that inflation of style which characterize this most illustrious of hack writers, and which

he relieves by radiant flashes of genius, and a certain elevation of sentiment. Both are republicans in doctrine, but M. Vaulabelle is never led away from his principles by erratic flights of fancy, nor is he guilty of the frequent glaring errors of fact which blot the brilliant pages of the poet. Vaulabelle has just published his sixth volume, and Lamartine his seventh, to be presently followed by the eighth and last.

-Protestant controversialists will find an arsenal in the Origines de l'Eglise Romaine, by M. André Achinard, of Geneva. He undertakes to give the history of the dogmas, and of the hierarchical development of the Roman Catholic Church, and we can testify that his book is written in a commendable style of moderation and dignity. He concludes with an elaborate argument in favor of both the doctrines and the practical results of Protestantism.

-One of the most interesting phenomena of that age of confusion and destruction, the 18th century, was the appearance, amid the skepticism and the raillery of France, of that mystical sect whose chief representative was the famous St. Martin. The doctrines of these mystics, and especially of their leader, are the subject of a book by M. Caro, of Rennes, which we cordially commend to all students of philosophical literature. It is entitled, Essai sur la vie et la Doctrine de Saint-Martin, and forms a volume of some three hundred pages.

-Readers of the more recent literature of France would do well to look into the book of M. Menche de Loisne, on the Influence of French Literature from 1830 to 1850, on the Public Mind and Morals (Influence de la Litterateur Française). M. Loisne is a rigid moralist, a pious religionist, and a sturdy conservative, and mercilessly condemns the extravagances and errors of his celebrated countrymen. Without agreeing in all his criticisms, we have read him with interest and attention. But it is a melancholy book which thus places the brand of corruption and evil upon the entire literature of a nation, and upon writers whose genius the world unites in celebrating. Alas, that there is so much truth in his condemnation !

-The third volume of HAXTHAUSEN'S Studien über Russland (Studies on Russia) has appeared. It is written like the preceding volumes, in a laudable tone of calmness and moderation, but like most works on Russia, cannot be altogether relied on. Baron Haxthausen does not speak Russian, and during his life in that country was constantly in intimate relations with courtiers and

government agents. Accordingly he sees every thing in rose color, and often arrives at conclusions which a better knowledge of the facts would have saved him from. A much more useful work is M. DE TEGOBORSKI's Etudes sur les Forces Productives de Russie (Studies on the Productive Capacities of Russia). The author is a man of great ability, has been employed in the administration of the empire, and knows whereof he writes. No other statistics of Russia yet given to the world are so trustworthy as his. The second volume, recently published, treats of the culture of flax, hemp, silk, the vine, of horticulture and sylviculture, and of manufacturing industry in various branches, as they are carried on in the empire. A third volume is yet to appear. His book is worthy the attention of political economists, and of industrialists in every country, for its value is by no means confined to that of which he treats.

-A curious chapter of Russian history may be found in the Memoires Secretes of Villebois, published from manuscripts left by that adventurer, who was an aid-decamp to Peter the Great, and served also under Catharine I. The book is written with all the naiveté of the time, in delightful old French. We have read nothing with more gusto among all the pile of literature that has recently passed through our hands.

-The past five years have been especially rich in books and dissertations upon Mirabeau, and now we have another to add to the list, by Dr. Lewitz, a German professor, who makes it his business to defend Mirabeau against all his foes. Only the first volume has yet been published, bringing the biography down to the conclusion of the famous trial at Aix, which was the beginning of his popularity, and laid the foundation for his subsequent political career. The account of Mirabeau's prolonged struggle with his father-one of the most striking passages in his whole history-is given with graphic power. The author undertakes also to depict the social condition of France, but does not succeed in it. He is also guilty of exaggerating what was good in Mirabeau, and of keeping what was bad too much in the background, to afford a just idea of his character.

-Countless are the additions which time and German fecundity never cease to make to the already infinite Goetheliterature, as they call it. One that we could not afford to spare, is the Frauenbilder aus Goethe's Jugendzeit (Women of Goethe's Youth), by H. DUNTZER. It presents to us some of the many graces and goddesses who surround

ed the youth of the great poet, and in various ways influenced his career. We here again make the acquaintance of Frederica of Sesenheim, of Cornelia, the poet's sister, of Anna Sybilla Münch, of Anna Elizabeth Schönemann (immortalized as Lili), of Auguste Stolberg, and of Goethe's mother. Perhaps the best of the sketches is the last. We hope Mr. Düntzer will pursue his inquiries farther, and paint for us other ladies from the same famous gallery, in their actual colors, and with all those interesting details which the poet himself has naturally withheld. The same author has published an essay on Goethe's Prometheus and Pandora, in which he argues that those works bear the same relation to the problem of art that the two parts of Faust have to the problem of knowledge. It has an interest only for a narrow circle of readers. Briefwechsel und mundlicher Verkehr zwischen Goethe und dem Rathe Grüner (Correspondence and Oral Intercourse between Goethe and Councillor Grüner), relates to scientific matters, and especially geology and mineralogy. Councillor Grüner resided in Bohemia, a favorite region with Goethe, not merely for its picturesque charms, but for its scientific phenomena. Hence this correspondence, which has no value or interest aside from the name of the poet, and the light it casts upon his scientific history. Weimar und Jena (Weimar and Jena), by ADOLPH STAHR, mainly discusses Goethe, though a number of other persons and subjects are introduced. Mr. Stahr, one of the most fluent and agreeable of light newspaper writers, here attempts to defend Mdlle. Vulpius, the wife of Goethe, at the expense of Madame von Stein, who was his most intimate friend, and according to his own admission, exercised a greater influence upon him than any other woman except his sister. So far the book is a failure. splendidly illustrated edition of Faust is now being published in parts by Cotta, of Stuttgart. The plates are engraved on wood and steel, after designs by ENGELBERT SEIBERT. Two parts have been issued. We have examined them with pleasure. We cannot say that the artist equals the genius of the poet who wrote that wonderful drama, though no less praise is claimed for him by the critics in some of the best journals of Germany. But if what has now appeared be an index of what is to follow, he has produced an original and striking work. The designs are bold, profoundly thought out in their details, and true to the poem in their character. The engraving is admirable, as are the paper and printing. There will be eight parts, with thirteen large steel

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engravings, and seventeen large, and some sixty small wood ones. The cost of the book in this country will be some ten dollars.

-CARL RITTER, the Geographer, has published Ein Blick auf Palaestina und seine christliche Bevölkerung (A Glance at Palestine and its Christian Population). It is valuable for biblical students especially, though interesting to others. It contains the most recent investigations on the geography and physical structure of the country, and a thorough history of the various Christian sects that inhabit it, showing that of them all, the Armenians have alone maintained themselves.

No

-A book which we cannot too highly commend, is Grimm's Deutsches Wörterbuch (German Dictionary), of which the first parts have made their appearance, and which is continued with laudable regularity and promptitude. dictionary was ever the fruit of profounder study or more comprehensive learning. It is almost as valuable to the student of the English as of the German language; for in revealing the occult sources of the one, it casts the truest light upon the other.

-Die Wissenschaft des Staates, oder die Lehre vom Lebensorganismus (The Science of the State, or the Doctrine of Living Organization), by P. C. PLANTA, a Swiss gentleman, is an attempt to deduce the true laws of society from those of external nature, not to show that they are identical, but rather that they are harmonious, and that from one the other may be inferred. The first part treats of Man and the Cosmos, the second of Society and the State. Polarity is the fundamental principle of all material and spiritual life. The difference between human and animal life consists in the fact, that man represents every form of animal organization, and is devoid of instinct, and must learn to act for himself. The family is a product of the polarity of male and female; the state of the same principle expressed psychologically in the idea of right, and physiologically in that of economy. The author opposes the Hegelian metaphysics. His book is full of talent, and will be found interesting by those who have time and taste for such exceedingly abstract speculations.

-Interesting and valuable in every point of view, to the antiquary, the student of Biblical history, the geographer, and the reader of travels, are the Briefe aus Aegypten, Aethiopien, und der Halbinsel des Sinai (Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Peninsula of Sinai), by RICHARD LEPSIUS. The whole is contained in a single volume, dedicated to Alexander von Humboldt. The more

important results of the expedition sent out in 1842 by the Prussian Government, with Lepsius at its head, are given in the great work called Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia. That book is devoted, however, mainly to the hieroglyphics, architecture, and topography of the countries; the present one gives the personal history and adventures of the expedition, narrates the circumstances under which the various studies and observations were made, and describes the treasures of art which it brought home; and at the same time abounds in suggestions and explanations of high value to whoever desires thoroughly to study the antiquities, the history, and even the present condition of these remarkable countries. volume contains thirty-nine letters, and an appendix of annotations and explanatory remarks. It will be followed by a sec ond, containing a variety of treatises on points of Egyptian art and history, either written during the expedition, or from studies made by the author on the spot.

The

-Dr. ALBRECHT WEBER has published

a volume of academical lectures on the History of Indian Literature, of interest to students of the Vedas and of Sanscrit, but not to the general scholar, for whose use mere translations are all that is required. Such a translation has been published at Paris by M. THEODORE PAVIE. It is of the tenth book of the Bhagavat Pourana, relating the history of Krichna, and the substance of his doctrine.

-A book replete with German erudition, patience, and scholastic enthusiasm, is Dr. K. B. STARK'S Gaza und di Philistäische Küste (Gaza and the Philistine Coast). We confess that we have turned over its learned pages with new astonishment at the devotion with which the human mind can pursue the most difficult topic, and the most remote from all immediate interests, through the labyrinths of obscure antiquity, and the misrepresentations of centuries of ignorance, in order to establish some fact apparently of little importance to the world at large. But scholars know how to appreciate such achievements, and to such we cordially commend this work. To students who seek to understand the inmost penetralia of classical and Biblical history it has a great value.

-General VON RADOWITZ has published, under the title of Gesammelten Schriften (Collected Writings), two volumes, containing his speeches in the Parliament of Frankfort, with a disquisition entitled Iconography of the Saints, and another upon the Devices of Chivalry. We always read Mr. Radowitz with a sort of unpleasant suspicion that he is a char

latan, which his undeniable ability, and the affluence of learning which he manifests, cannot entirely remove. In this book the best part is the speeches, for they are clear and plausible at least. The Iconography of the Saints shows the mystical and queer side of the General's mind, the misfortune of which is, that if the author understands it himself, his readers must often be doubtful what he is driving at.

-Since 1830, FREDERIC VON RAUMER has published an annual of historical and political essays, by various authors, under the title of Historisches Taschenbuch (Historical Pocket-Book). The issue for 1853 contains five articles, none of them by the editor. The first is an account of Count Christopher von Dohna; the second, by Dr. Barthold, continues a curious history, begun last year, of the religious movement of the Erweckten (the Awaked), or pietists in Germany, during the close of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century. These religionists taught that learning was comparatively useless, that regeneration was an active process of repentance, despair, and final hope in the divine grace, and otherwise rebelled against the usages and organization of the dogmatic, scholastic, formal Protestantism which had grown up after the death of Luther. Dr. Barthold's essay is written with great detail, and is valuable rather for the professional student than the general reader. Dr. Weber, of Heidelberg, also continues the discussion of Milton's prose writings. Justice is done to the manly heart and the noble head of that glorious old champion of human rights. A curious chapter of Ger man aristocratic history is the biography of Caroline, the great Landgravine of Hesse, by Bopp, of Darmstadt. Moriz Carriere contributes an article on the History of Christian Art, which none but a German could have written, and few but Germans will read; it is one of those vast applications' of philosophic formulas which the Teutonic mind delights in, but which require a translation into language less abstract and general, in order to be useful to the more practical students of other nations. Mr. Carriere distinguishes the history of Christian art into three periods, viz.: that of Myth, or Ecclesiasticality, that of World-actuality, and that of Divine (gottinnig) Humanity; and then proceeds to demonstrate the truth of this classification in a very rapid and comprehensive review of architecture, painting, music, sculpture, and poetry.

-Die Volksvertretungen in Deutschland's Zukunft (Popular Representation in Future Germany), is the title of a very VOL. I.-8.

stupid book by Mr. August Winter. It is an attempt to construct a State on pretty much the same method that the German artist painted his famous camel, that is, from his own moral consciousness and original ideas. The various trades and professions are to be organized in separate guilds, and their head men are to form legislative assemblies, rising from those of the simple parish, through various hierarchical degrees, up to an imperial parliament, while counts and princes fill the aristocratic scale, and the king stands at the summit of the whole. Democracy Mr. Winter regards as proper in a very primitive and savage state of society.

-A book akin to the Episodes of Insect Life, which last year gained such popularity in this country and England, is the Skizzen aus der Pflanzen- und Thierwelt, by Dr. HERMANN MASIUS. With exact scientific knowledge, as the foundation, Dr. Masius has built up a structure in which persons of every age and class can take delight as well as find instruction. He is at once a savan, a lover of healthy, happy nature, and an artist. The chapters on Birds are especially attractive. A book in English should be made not exactly of it-for the parts which apply to German birds and trees are not well adapted to translation-but after it.

-Historical and ethnographic scholars will find Dr. WUTTKE'S Geschichte des Heidenthums (History of Heathendom) worthy their attention. The first volume, which has alone been published, opens with a survey of the first beginnings of history, and of the development of savage nations. and treats of the Huns, the Mongols of the middle ages, the Mexicans, and Peruvians. With a great deal of learning and of excellent sense, Dr. Wuttke fails not to combine a due proportion of fleshless and fantastic German speculation, quite remote from the severity of true science. His style is, however, a model of clearness and elegance.

-The attempt has often been made to reproduce antique life in modern romances, and thus to give us an immediate concep tion of Greek or Roman society. No effort of this sort has ever been more successful than FREDERIC JACOB's Horaz und seine Freunde (Ilorace and his Friends). We heartily commend it to all who like to take the results of almost boundless learning in the most agreeable way. It is at once an interesting story, and a genuine representation of the time it undertakes to revive.

-KARL GUTZKOW, one of the most considerable romance writers now living in Germany, has just published a volume of autobiography, called Aus der Knaben

zeit (From my Boyhood), which has some charming passages, but generally has no interest for American readers.

-WILLIBALD ALEXIS, the writer of sundry readable romances in the German tongue, has lately completed a historical novel, which he has for some time had upon the anvil, by the publication of the third, fourth, and fifth volumes. Its title is Ruhe die erste Bürgerpflicht (Tranquillity the Citizen's First Duty). A just critic says of it, that it is too historical for a romance, and too romantic for a history. It is very good in parts, but poor as a whole.

-A book full of life and spirit, and worthy of a translation, is JULIUS VON WICKEDE'S Aus dem Leben eines Touristen (From the Life of a Tourist). The writer, a soldier by profession, has been pitched about in France, Algiers, Schleswig-Holstein, every where meets with adventures, that he recounts in a lively, witty, daredevil strain, and with a turn for picturesque description that render him a most agreeable companion.

-Die Brüder aus Ungarn (The Hungarian Brothers), by A. WIDMANN, is a historical novel, ostensibly of the time of the Reformation and the Peasants' War, but really intended to expound the events of the years 1848 and 49 in Germany, and to enforce certain political doctrines in that connection. Of course, the book is a failure, though there are some charming little episodes woven into the story.

-A book which translators might find their advantage in looking up, is EDMUND HÖFER'S Geschichten (Tales), a volume containing eight stories of popular life in Germany, done with great truth to nature, felicity of invention, and poetic interest.

-A volume of Scenes Americaines has just been issued for the benefit of the French nation, by M. CHARLES OLIFFE, a traveller, who last year honored the United States by his explorations. He does not go very much into the great philosophical, political, and economical questions which MM. Tocqueville and Chevalier so elaborately discuss in connection with the western republic, but devotes himself rather to observations upon the daily life and ordinary affairs of the Yankees. M. Oliffe is not a very great man, to judge by his book, and we advise no one to give way to sorrow if by chance he is unable to get a sight at the Scenes Americaines.

-A novel of Mexican life has lately appeared at Paris, in one volume under the title of Costal l'Indien (Costal the Indian), by M. G. FERRY. The author perished in the conflagration of the steamer Amazon, which caused so melancholy a

loss to English letters in the death of Eliot Warburton. The scene is laid in the Mexican war of independence, and Morelos, the famous patriot chieftain in that war, plays a prominent part. The hero of the book is an Indian of the Sierra Madre, and the life of the time and country is depicted with a vigorous air of fidelity, which we confide in the more readily that M. Ferry is known as the author of other trustworthy sketches of Spanish American society and manners.

-Under the title of Le Pays Latin (The Latin Region), M. HENRI MURGER has published at Paris a touching story, which first appeared some year ago in the Revue des Deux Mondes. It is an episode in the life of a student at Paris, wrought out by the author with a great deal of feeling and artistic skill. Told of any other persons than a Parisian student and his mistress, the incidents would be impossible, but here we have no doubt Amid the of their truth to nature. dreary desert of recent French novels, this one is worth reading.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

ELEGANT organisms in the Animal and Vegetable kingdoms are constantly developed under the careful research of scientific inquirers. A new genus of the family of Volvocineæ is described by Dr. FREDERICK COHN of Breslau. It was observed by Dr. VON FRANTZIUS, during his journey to the Tyrol in 1850, that a green mucilaginous coloring of rain-water collected in the hollow of a grave-stone at Salzburg: the color being caused by the presence of innumerable vesicles moving about like Infusoria, each containing eight small green globules arranged around the periphery at regular distances, in other words, the rare wheel-animalcule in a living state. Acting upon this hint, Dr. COHN instituted a series of examinations in the highlands of Silesia, with the view of ascertaining the true nature of the organism. He arrives at the conclusion, that all analogy of structure and indications of natural relationship point to the fact that the Volvocineæ belong, not to the Animal kingdom, but to the Vegetable, and that they should be placed in the class of the Algæ. The formation of this genus is stated to be very beautiful.

-A new Hemipterous insect, forming the type of a new genus, is described by Mr. DALLAS. It is from Sylhet, forming part of the collection made in that country by Messrs. COLTON and TURNER.

-A report from Dr. GRAY and Mr. WATERHOUSE makes complaint of the restricted accommodations of the Zoolo

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