Bunsen, if he had been gifted with that kind of genius which dominates the mind of the discoverer, his mind was intent upon a great project which he did not delay to put into execution. This was nothing less than an endeavor to do for the Southern heavens that which his father and himself had done for the Northern ones. This project he carried into execution in the year 1834, by taking his celebrated 18-inch reflector, of 20 feet focal length, made by himself, and a smaller refractor, to the Cape of Good Hope, and erecting his observatory at Feldausen, near Table Bay. Here for four years of self-imposed exile his industry was simply unparalleled. It requires an intimate acquaintance with the working of large reflecting telescopes of the construction adopted by Sir John Herschel to appreciate the tremendous labor and patience involved in the work he had set himself to do. Those who have only seen astronomical observations carried on in an observatory where for the most part equatorially mounted refractors, with observing chairs allowing the utmost ease to the observers, are employed, can form no idea of the extreme discomfort of him who is perched high up, on a small stage, standing for the most part in the open air; yet this was Herschel's self-imposed duty not only in his Cape observations, but in the earlier work to which we have before referred. Such was his industry that he by no means confined himself to his "sweepings," double star observations, and "nightwork" generally. Some of the most beautiful drawings of sun spots that we possess are to be found in the volume in which his work is recorded, entitled "Results of Astronomical Observations made during 1834-38 at the Cape of Good Hope, being the Completion of a Telescopic Survey of the whole Surface of the Visible Heavens, commenced in 1825"; a volume, let us add, which was published partly at the expense of the Duke of Northumberland. In addition to all the new knowledge of old nebulæ, and descriptions of those he had discovered in the Southern hemisphere, Sir John Herschel took advantage of the position at the Cape to delineate the magnificent nebulæ of Orion, as well as that surrounding Argus, and to determine the places of all the included stars visible in his large instrument. The fidelity of these drawings is something wonderful.

We may fitly complete our notice of Sir John Herschel's work by referring to the two catalogues which within the last few years he has presented to the Royal and Royal Astronomical Societies—one of all known nebulæ, in which are brought together all the observation of Messier, his father, himself, Lord Rosse, Lassell, Bond, aud others; the other, a seventh catalogue of double stars, completing the former lists presented to the Royal Astronomical Society during the years 1827-37

So much in brief for Herschel's observations and experimental work. As a scientific writer he was equally diligent. Immediately after taking his degree, in 1813, he commenced writing on mathematical subjects, and afterwards these were changed for physical studies. In the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal and in various encyclopædias articles of unsurpassed excellence and clearness are to be found from his fertile pen, for instance, his articles on Meteorology, Physical Geography, and the Telescope, which have been reprinted in a separate form. Some of this work appeared before he went to the Cape, as also his Preliminary Discourse on Natural Philosophy and his Treatise on Astronomy. In all these there is evidence of Herschel's great power as a writer, and of his appreciation of the importance of natural knowledge in itself.

There are many kinds of popular scientific writing. In one we find a full knowledge and complete grasp of the subject associated with a power of manipulating language and a vein of poetry, the greatest charm of all being the perfect suppression of the writer. The field of nature explored alone meets the eye, and one reads on as if under a spell; there is nothing to cloud the scene. In another kind we have large knowledge and almost equal fluency, but the poetry runs riot into sensationalism, and nature is studied under difficultiesthe author, the showman, is everywhere. In yet another kind we find power of writing and some knowledge; but here the harvest is not for the reader, but for the writer, who therefore hesitates not to spice his articles highly, in order that his inaccuracies may escape detection by the majority of his readers.

We cannot pursue this analysis farther; suffice it to say that Herschel's more popular writings were supreme in the highest class. And, with all his consciousness of

intellectual powers, he was never tempted into the weak vanity of scepticism. Very lately he observed of a well-known work upon the origin of species, that, if its author had only recognized a Creator, he would have made one of the greatest discoveries of science.

Herschel's latest scientific publication was his Outlines of Astronomy, first published in 1849, a work which would have almost if not quite sufficed to make the reputation of any ordinary man; it has already run through several editions, and has been translated into several languages, Chinese among the number. The last publication which bears his name was the fruit of that vigorous old age which sought recreation in change of occupation; and it is characteristic alike of the versatility of Herschel's genius and of the immortal interest of the Homeric poems that his final volume should have been a translation of the Iliad into English hexameters. Sir John Herschel had long been accustomed to charm his friends by sparkling vers de société, and in his leisure hours he would divert himself with indulging in the composition of Latin verse.

It is some consolation to know that the great man at whose labors we have rap idly glanced died full of honors in a ripe old age. Too often the merits of an English man of science are for the first time recognized when he has gone from among us. This was by no means Herschel's case. His scientific labors received the highest honors which the Royal Society, the Paris Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Astronomical Society can bestow. A baronetcy was conferred upon him on his return from the Cape, where let us add, all his observations were made at his own expense. St. John's College conferred upon him the first of its Honorary Fellowships; Oxford granted him her D.C.L; and Marischal College, Aberdeen, claimed him as its Rector. But he was never

President of the Royal Society or of the British Association.

The distinguishing feature of his character was the quality which we can best describe by a very trite but expressive appellation, simplicity. The price of intellect and the vanity of cleverness-qualities different in themselves, though often confounded-where equally absent from his nature, while that self-reliance which is their better counterpart never failed to assert itself. The womanly jealousies and partisanships which too often discredit the career of philosophers were abhorrent to his nature, while in the scramble for titular distinctions his form could never be descried. His spirits were those of a boy, happy not only in the enjoyment of life, but in the consciousness of being able to give the highest pleasure to others, while his sympathy was ever ready and ever judicious.

It is a welcome indication of the growing feeling of the value and dignity of scientific work that the remains of Sir John Herschel should rest in Westminster Abbey, close to the grave of Newton. Of his private life in his beautiful home of Collingwood, at Hawkhurst in the rich Weald of Kent, we should have much to say if we could bring ourselves to expose to the public gaze the interior of a household singular for the unbroken affection which united all its members, the earnestness and purity of its aims, the talent, the taste, and the gracefulness of all its pursuits. The lady whom Sir John Herschel made the partner of his life was in every way worthy of him, with an intellect to apprehend his deepest studies, a self-forgetting devotion to ease every labor, a beauty and gentleness which lightened the philosopher's study with all the charms of graceful happiness. The children who grew up under such auspices reflected the virtues and abilities of their parents, while in Alexander Herschel we find the third generation of a family of science.*

[We are compelled to omit the usual Literary Notices this month, in order to make room for the large amount of Foreign Literary Notes which has accumulated on our hands.-EDITOR.]

Mr. Murray, the London Publisher, will issue in November Mr. Grote's "Aristotle," on which the author was engaged for many years before his death. It will be published as Mr. Grote left it.

Mr. Browning's new poem Balaustion's Adventure is dedicated to the Countess Cowper.

Mr. Robert Buchanan has been compelled by sickness to abandon his public readings, and it is said they can never under any circumstances be renewed.

*Sir John died on May 11th, 1871.

The Rev. Dr. Beard, of Manchester, is engaged on "An Autobiography of Satan," which will be published in the autumn.

moral condition of France under the Orleans monarchy and the second Empire.

A History of the Siege of Paris, by M. Louis Blanc, and a Diary of the Siege, by M. Léon Gautier, are announced.

Allan Ramsay's "Tea-Table Miscellany, a Collection of Choice Songs, Scotch and English," has been reprinted from the fourteenth edition, in two handsome little volumes on toned paper, for a Glasgow publisher, Mr. John Crum.

Mr. Henry Crabb Robinson's Diary will shortly be published in Dresden, in a German version, from the pen of Herr K. Eitner, under the title of "Recollections of Germany from 1804 to 1864."

A new library edition of Fielding's works in ten volumes is announced in England; it is to be edited by Dr. J. P. Browne. The edition is limited to 750 copies, of which 250 are already bespoken for America.

A French officer, who was taken prisoner in the late war, has profited by his imprisonment, and in a volume entitled "L'Allemagne," published in Rouen, gives his countrymen a very able account of the German nation and character.

The printing of the great fragment of the Metrical Chronicle of Jacob van Maerlant (33,000 verses), which was discovered at Vienna two years ago, has been commenced at Leyden. The work will be finished by the summer of 1872.

Björnson, the Norwegian novelist, was obliged, it is said, to publish most of his works at his own expense, but is quite well off now. He receives a comfortable salary as a preacher of a village church near Drontheim, and his copyrights yield him about five thousand dollars a year.

It is estimated that the Strasbourg library will contain nearly two hundred thousand volumes by the 1st of October. The law-library of the late lamented Vangerow, the great Heidelberg jurist, said to be one of the most complete on the European continent, has recently been added to it.

Dr. Cornish in his "Waverley Manual," a volume compiled to facilitate reference to Scott's prose works of fiction, answers the mistaken assertion that Sir Walter's works are out of fashion, by remarking that the Edinburgh publishers, Messrs. A. & C. Black, have seven separate editions of the novels always on sale, besides the Centenary Edition now publishing.

We learn from La Turquie that the Ottoman Government has put the Imperial Museum at Constantinople under the direction of Mr. Goold, and that the establishment is being placed on a respectable footing. It is rich in local antiquities, and has a remarkable collection of historical arms. Mr. Goold, having classified his Museum, has published a catalogue, with illustrations by local photographers, chiefly the Messrs. Abdullah, Arme

nians.

researches pursued during fifteen years, the most important of which were made in the Archives of the Hôtel de Ville.

Mr. Walter Besant and Mr. E. H. Palmer are engaged upon a joint work on the History of Jerusalem, from the days of Herod to modern times. It will contain, among other things, the story of the short-lived Christian Kingdom, and -which will be new to most readers-the life of Saladin, as told by the Arab chroniclers. The book will appear in October.

A hieratic papyrus, part of a treatise on Medicine, has been presented to the British Museum by the Royal Institution. Some of the recipes date from a very early period, and one is said to have been discovered at a later period, which was formerly in use in the days of Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid. Other recipes Amenophis III., of the eighteenth dynasty. are stated to have been in use in the reign of

More than four-score years have elapsed since the Daily Universal Register (established in 1785) changed its name to the Times, "which" (it was said of the name) "being a monosyllable, bids defiance to corruptors and mutilators of the language." The change was made on New Year's Day, 1788. Five years later the circulation of the paper did not exceed 1,000 copies! A history of the above-named journal, from its foundation to the passing of the Reform Bill, is now in progress, and is likely to appear in the autumn.

The School of Typography, established in Leipzig a few years since, is to be considerably extended as regards its course of teaching. It alwho are not only instructed in the technical knowlready educates a large number of young artisans, edge relating to their profession, but also in foreign languages and other subjects of which an accurate knowledge is desirable for a typographer. For the sake of authors as well as printers, it is to be wished that some corresponding institution existed in America.

The Fortnightly Review for July contains an eloquent although guarded criticism on the genius of the dramatist Ford, by A. C. Swinburne. The writer declines to assent fully to the enthusiastic estimate of Charles Lamb; and after balancing Ford's special merit of sweetness and intensity of human sentiment against his special shortcomings in occasional dull license, and a certain sluggishness both of humor and imagination, proceeds to place him in the second rather than the first rank of the illustrious Elizabethans,

A valuable service is about to be rendered to German literature, and the students of it in foreign countries, by the publication, under the editorial auspices of MM. Paul Heyse and Hermann Kurz, of a selection of the best German novelettes, hitherto scattered amid the voluminous works of a variety of authors. The three volumes already published comprise such masterpieces of fiction as Kleist's "Verlobung in St. Domingo," Tieck's

"Gemälde," Keller's "Romeo und Julia aus dem Dorfe," with others of equal merit. The publisher is R. Oldenburg, of Munich.

Miss Christina Rossetti has in the press a

volume, named " Sing-song: a Nursery-Rhyme

Book," being a set of brief snatches of song fitted for a nursery audience,—now tender, now quaint, but not (as our readers may guess) following in those paths of exquisite and illimitable absurdity which Mr. Edward Lear has made his own in the

pages of the "Book of Nonsense." The volume will be published by Messrs. Routledge, in England, and also in America. It will be profusely illustrated with woodcuts designed by Mr. Arthur Hughes, and engraved by Messrs. Dalziel.

The Rev. G. W. Cox, M.A. (author of "Mythology of the Aryan Nations") and Mr. E. Hinton Jones are preparing a work to be entitled "Popular Romances of the Middle Ages," in which they will endeavor to give, in a popular prose form, some of the earlier Metrical Romances. It is to comprise the stories of "Arthur," "Roland," "Bevis of Hampton,' 66 Guy of Warwick," "Sir Tristram," Merlin," "Havelok," Olger," ," and "Beowulf," together with notes and an introduction tracing the comparative mythology of these stories in their relation to elder myths.

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It has been a long-disputed question whether the discovery of printing was made by the German Guttenberg, of Mayence, or the Dutchman Coster, of Haarlem. A valuable contribution to this controversy has lately appeared in the Augsburg Gazette, under the title "Die Haarlemer Costerlegende," by Dr. A. van der Linde, who, although himself a native of Haarlem, shows, on historical and typographical grounds, that the important invention of movable types, which is in fact printing itself, is undoubtedly due to Germany, while the priority ascribed to the Haarlem citizen rests on mere patriotic legends.

Mr. William Paterson, of Edinburgh, announces a new series of the Early Scottish Poets, in foolscap octavo, edited by Mr. David Laing, uniform with that gentleman's new edition of Sir David Lyndesay; a collection of very rare and curious Ballads, principally historical, edited by Mr. J. Maidment; Alex. Barclay's " Shyp of Fooles of the Worlde," reprinted from Pynson's edition of 1509, edited by Mr. T. H. Jamieson, and, with 112 woodcuts, fac-similed, by Mr. J. T. Reid, from the Basle edition; the "Commonplacebook of Robert Burns," printed from the original manuscript, and the works of Gawin Douglas, four volumes, edited by Mr. J. Small.

Passion Plays were in great favor in Kilkenny during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and part of the seventeenth centuries. The Kilkenny Moderator, in a report of the recent meeting, in that city, of the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of Ireland, in some extracts from the Red Book of the Corporation, produced at the meeting, states that at Midsummer, 1586, one Richard Cogan played Christ. The sum he received for it is omitted; but we learn that while Harry Moore, for acting the Devil, got 8d., the Kilkenny baker, for impersonating the Archangel Michael, received

only 6d. Lace and gloves for setting forth the Maries, with items referring to the costumes of Christ and less important personages,-indeed, the properties generally,-lead to the impression that the Kilkenny Passion and Resurrection Plays were got up with artistic eye to effect.-Athenæum.

In the Rev. W. Lucas Collins's useful little volume, entitled "Cicero," he notices the personal invective which the orator flung, in the Senate, at Piso. Cicero called his opponent "beast!" and exposed his bodily deformities. Mr. Collins finds a modern parallel for this (in the Irish House of Commons), which he takes from Mr. O'Flanagan's "Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland." The "member for Galway, attacking an opponent when he knew his sister was present denounc

ed the whole family, from the toothless old hag that is now grinning in the gallery, to the whitelivered scoundrel that is now shivering on the floor!"

Mr. Halliwell has had the good fortune to discover evidence that Shakespeare acted on two occasions before Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1594, in company with Kemp and Burbage, all three being described as "Servants to the Lord Chamberlain." Critical students of the biography of Shakespeare will at once appreciate the significance of these interesting facts. The poet was then in his thirty-first year. No record of his performances as an actor at so early a period has yet been produced, but the circumstance of his then being a member of the Lord Chamberlain's company is of still greater interest. We now know, what hitherto has been merely a conjecture, that the great dramatist belonged to that body before the Globe Theatre was opened, and when the company were performing at Newington the old play of " Hamlet," the predecessor of Shakespeare's tragedy.

Bride of Lammermoor. ---The marriage contract of the Bride of Lammermoor has quite lately been discovered at St. Mary's Isle, the seat of the Earl of Selkirk. It was evidently unknown to Sir Walter when he wrote the novel. Lord Selkirk is the representative of the family of Dunbar, of Baldoon, and has the family papers in his possession. It was in arranging these that accidentally he came upon this contract of marriage. The four signatures are, David Dunbar (the bridegroom), Janet Dalrymple (the bride), James Dalrymple (bride's father), Baldoon (bridegroom's father). One of the witnesses, James Dalrymple, may have been the bride's brother, who rode behind her to the church, and whose dagger was said to have been used in the murder. A fac-simile has been taken of the document. Judging from this, there is little tremor in the bride's signature. Messrs. Black, we are glad to hear, are going to publish the fac-simile in their Centenary Edition of the Waverley Novels.

Prof. Gilberto Govi has recently edited "Three Letters of Galileo Galilei," one of which had remained up to the present day unpublished, and which Prof. Govi discovered in the Archives of Mantua amongst the correspondence of the Dukes of the House of Gonzaga. The first of these letters is directed to Duke Vincenzo the First, and bears date the 22d of March, 1604: in it Galileo

gives the Duke information respecting a Milanese quack and alchymist, Aurelio Capra, to whom the Duke had had recourse in the hope of receiving precious drugs to restore his shattered health. The second, written on the 22d of January, 1611, is addressed to the poetess Margherita Sarrocchi, who had sent her poem entitled "Scanderbeide " to Galileo. The third letter is dated the 15th of June, 1612, and Prof. Govi has been able to ascertain that it was directed to Cardinal Ferdinando Gonzaga, who, towards the end of A.D. 1612, became, on the death of his brother, Duke of Mantua.

Baron Wolfgang von Goethe, the younger of Goethe's two grandsons, has commenced to print (for the present, we are sorry to learn, for private circulation only) the result of his many years' researches in the archives of Rome, Florence, and Venice, referring to the ecclesiastical history of Italy during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, The work is entitled "Studien und Forschungen über das Leben und die Zeit des Cardinals Bessarion, 1395-1472. Abhandlungen, Regesten und Collectaneen von Wolfgang von Goethe,”—and the first number of the first part has just been distributed, as an earnest of the whole. Friends who have been favored with copies praise the work highly. It is considered to be full of well-digested, new, and important matter, and hopes are expressed that it may soon become accessible to the lovers of history at large. Wolfgang von Goethe, the younger, was formerly attached to the Prussian embassy, Rome, and made his literary debut, it will be remembered, some twenty years ago, with a little volume of poems and a philosophical

drama.

Mrs. Stowe's Last Novel.-The Saturday Review says of "Pink and White Tyrany," Mrs. Stowe's last novel:-"On the whole, Mrs. Stowe appears to us to have coinmitted the most fatal sin of a novelist, that of being distinctly dull, How far this is her fault in leaving the ground on which she is naturally strongest, and how far it is a necessary consequence of the monotonous exterior of American society, is a question which we shail not seek to investigate. Only we regret that a book which is meant to enforce an excellent moral should hardly possess the one qualification for enforcing any moral, good or bad-that, namely, of being generally readable. We hope that the next time we meet Mrs. Stowe it may be on the ground where she has been able to discover materials for composing good novels as well as second-rate tracts. There is just a trace or two of her old power in one or two places; but we are sorry that we are confined to a mere passing glimpse, for example, of the stern preacher who tells Miss Lillie that he shall pray that her beauty may be destroyed by the small-pox as the only chance for the salvation of her soul."

Honoring the Rossettis.-When the question of removing to Italy the remains of Ugo Foscolo was before the Italian Parliament, one of the Neapolitan deputies, General Mariano d'Azala, asked the Government to render a similar honor to the remains of Gabriele Rossetti. This very popular and admired Neapolitan poet (father of the Dante Gabriel Rossetti of our own days) was a fervent Liberal in the darkest period of the

Bourbon rule, and, being exiled after the treacher ous suppression of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Naples in 1822, he went to England, obtained the Professorship of Italian Literature in King's College, London, engaged in Dantesque studies of uncommon range and significance, and, dying in 1854, now lies buried in Highgate Cemetery. The Minister Correnti favored the motion of General d'Azala, intimating, however, that the initiative in the matter should be taken by the city of Naples. The distinguished revolutionary liberal, Count Ricciardi, and other Neapolitans, have adopted the project warmly; and there is every likelihood that it would have taken effect, setti family, all permanently domiciled in England, were it not that the living members of the Rosare disposed to leave the repose of the grave undisturbed.

W. D. Howells. -For the rapidly-increasing popularity of its humorous productions, the literature of the United States is considerably indebted to Mr. W. D. Howells, whose present collection of descriptive papers (Suburban Sketches) will not diminish the favor with which he is regarded by many readers. In no degree consequent on fantastic spelling or extravagancies of caricature, the effects of his sketches result from fidelity to human nature, subtle pleasantry, and power to rouse the gentler sensibilities by pathetic hints and droll suggestions. Seldom attempting to create riotous merriment, he is an artist whose success is evidenced by the quiet smiles, rather than by the laughter, of his perusers. In places the composure and serene deliberateness of his style remind us of Miss Mitford's village-sketches; but he more often displays himself as the affectionate disciple and agreeable imitator of Charles Lamb. Had Elia been an American of the present, instead of an Englishman of the last, generation, he would have given us such a portraiture of feminine merit and eccentricity as the sketch of Mrs. Johnson, whose culinary power was the fruit of a felicitous commingling of Indian wildness and African indolence. On the other hand, to an author whose originality and distinctive merits are scarcely less obvious than his imitative skill, it is only just to admit that, had he been a Londoner and Lamb's precursor, he would have found his business and delight in studying and exhibiting the humors of Cockneydom as shrewdly and whimsically as he observes and delineates the vagabonds and holiday-makers of Boston.Athenæum.

Manuscripts of John Locke.-Among the "Shaftesbury Papers," the valuable contribution made by the present Lord Shaftesbury to the literary treasures of the Record Office, the discovery has been made of the framer's draft of the original, or " First Set," of the Fundamental Constitutions for the Government of Carolina, of which Lord Shaftesbury's ancestor, the Lord Ashley of the period, was one of the Lords Proprietors. A small vellum-bound volume, comprising seventyfive leaves of manuscript, in the writing of John Locke, contains these original "Constitutions." Their numerous corrections, also in Locke's penmanship, show the attentive reconsideration given by the framer to his scheme of government. Historical inquirers and sceptics have long sought for conclusive evidence that John Locke was the real