ical opinions (at least for the time being) were conservative; but his principles (?) were decidedly freetrade, as they were open to, and available for, any and every market where they could fetch their price. He began his career by a diametrically opposite road to his friend; for, whereas Mr. Ponsonby Ferrars winced under and could not brook the slightest merriment at his own expense, but tried to awe every one into an overwhelming deference for his august person, Mr. Benaraby more wisely preferred the 'short cut to popularity,' and rather sought to be laughed at than otherwise, being of Cardinal de Retz's opinion, that 'Qui fait rire l'esprit, est Maitre du Cœur.' And, besides, he was well aware that if he devoted his exterior to the laughing hyænas of society, and allowed them their mirth at all his ruffles and his ringlets, and the other tomfooleries of his costume, it only made his wit and wisdom, by the force of contrast, tell with double effect, like the withering political sarcasms of the Neapolitan Policcinello,' which come trebly barbed from so unexpected and grotesque a source." Of Dickens, we have this account, with which we close our selections of scandal: "Opposite to him sat, as if not quite at his ease on so fine a chair, and in so aristocratic a room, a Mr. Carlo Dials, another star of the literary hemisphere, who, having graduated about the streets, his pavé pictures were unsurpassed; he had obtained the sobriquet of the Aldgate Aristophanes-the pothouse Plutarch would have been more appropriate. Like the rest of Mr. Ponsonby Ferrars's clique, he thought to redeem by printed morality and philanthropic fine sentiments the practical immorality of his own life, and the arid absence of all good feeling. He was not agreeable in society, as he always, like the beggars, appeared to be keeping any stray good thing that he might chance to pick up till he got home, when it was duly booked:' or it might be that his hair, of which he had an immense profusion, overlaid his brains, and that that made him appear stupid." -Miss MITFORD appears, in the evening of life, in a new volume of tales, entitled "Atherton, and other Tales," which appear to have been written under great physical disabilities. About two years ago, she was thrown from a pony-chaise, by which accident she was so crippled, as to have been obliged to keep her room since, almost unable to rise, or lift one foot before the other. Even in writing, she was obliged to have the ink-glass held for her, in order to enable her to drop the pen in the ink. Yet, in this enfeebled state, she composed Atherton, by far the longest of any of her stories. It is a wonderful instance of the power of the mind over the body. We do not see that it is inferior, in any respect, to any of her previous writings, while it is marked by many of the same characteristics, the genial descriptions of English scenery and country life, the natural and hearty sentiment, the quiet touches of feeling, and the cordial sympathy, with genuine character. As a story, it has few incidents, which are rather affecting than animated, but the conversations are always lively, and the moral tone excellent. The heroine, Katy, a farmer's daughter, who suddenly becomes a princely heiress, the gossiping mother, Mrs. Bell, the noble old matron, the grandmother, the kindly old bachelor lawyer, the embarrassed noblemen, are all drawn with remarkable fidelity and discrimination of portraiture. The other tales have already appeared in one of the English annuals. His -Few writers on musical subjects are better known than HENRY F. CHORLEY, long the musical critic of the London Athenæum, whose most recent work is called "Modern German Music: Recollections and Criticisms." It is a record of experiences obtained during several visits to the north and south of Germany, in the study of the art in which he is a distinguished connoisseur. opinions are freely expressed. and will not give satisfaction to all classes of critics; but they are always intelligent, and seemingly unbiased. He thinks Glück the greatest of opera composers, compares Handel to Shakespeare, discovers defects in Beethoven, and does not quite share in the orthodox admiration of Mozart. But, the reminiscences of Mr. Chorley are more agreeable than his criticisms, especially those relating to his beloved friend, Mendelssohn. Here is a description of the great composer, as he first saw him: "I thought then, as I do now, his face one of the most beautiful which has ever been seen. No portrait extant does it justice. A Titian would have generalized, and, out of its many expressions, made up one which, in some sort, should reflect the many characteristics and humors of the poet-his carnest seriousness-his childlike truthfulness-his clear, cultivated intellect-his impulsive vivacity. The German painters could only invest a theatrical, thoughtful-looking man, with that serious cloak which plays so important a part on the stage, and in the portraits of their country; and conceive the task accomplished, when it was not so much as begun. None of them has perpetuated the face with which Mendelssohn listened to the music in which he delighted, or the face with which he would crave to be told again some merry story, though he knew it already by heart. I felt, in that first half hour, that in him there was no stilted sentiment-no affected heartiness; that he was no sayer of deep things, no searcher for witty ones; but one of a pure, sincere intelligence-bright, eager, and happy, even when most imaginative. Perhaps there was no contemporary at once strong, simple, and subtle enough, to paint such a man, with such a countenance." -We had begun to think that Dean Milman's "History of Christianity" was to have no sequel, when we were surprised to see one announced, under the 1854.] title of "History of Latin Christianity; including that of the Popes to the Pontificate of Nicholas V. It is a continuation of the old work, inasmuch as it begins with the period of time in which the former closed, but it is still a comA brief introducplete work in itself. tion, going over the history of the religion in Rome, during the first four centuries, in which much use is made of the recently discovered "Hippolytus," is a fitting connection of the two books. By Latin Christianity, the author means the Christianity which was adopted in the city of Rome, and then spread over the greater part of the Roman world, distinguishing it from Greek Christianity, which was the first form which the religion of Jesus took during the years of its promulgation. Jerome, Ambrose, and Augustine, he regards as the chief founders of its doctrine and discipline. He describes at large the character and influence of these men, and the modifications which were gradually introduced into the ancient faith by the institutions of the Roman His narrative is always clear, world. though diffuse, and sometimes eloquent, while his opinions are unusually liberal for one who occupies a post of high dignity in an established church. The principal events have been already treated in English by the masterly hand of Gibbon, and in German by Mosheim and Neander; but Dr. Milman is so fine a scholar, and such an agreeable writer, that his history may be welcomed as a valuable addition to the literature of the period. ers -It is impossible not to suppose that One 681 vast amount of entertaining knowledge FRENCH.-M. ALFRED NETTEMENT M. Nettement begins his work with the -"The Desert and Soudan" (Le Desert et le Soudan) is the name of a new book of African travel, by Count D'ESCAYRAC DE LAUTURE, recording the adventures of some eight years' wanderings in the immense plains which stretch from Algiers to the 10th degree of latitude, and are called Sahara, or Soudan. The volumes contain, besides the usual incidents of travel, some new and original observations upon Islamism, and a curious study of the different races which people North Africa. In respect to the latter, indeed, nothing seems to have escaped the author. Their manners, their religions, their politics, and their past histories, have been analyzed and grouped with patient observation and skill. The influences of climate upon the instincts, habits, and laws of nations. give the writer occasion for remarks which will be found, we think, useful illustrations of the steps by which mankind advances from barbarism to civilization. The style of this work is clear.—a Frenchman can hardly write obscurely,lively, and precise, but better in its scientific than in its narrative parts, which are too reserved and succinct. -A young gentleman-M. DE FERRIERE LE VAYER-who was secretary to the French embassy to China, has given the results of his visit to the Celestials, in a work called "A French Embassy in China ("Une Ambassade Française en Chine"). We should rather say, the results of his observations, than of his official life, for there is little diplomacy, and a great deal of actual life in his book. It cannot be said that there is much which is new in his book, and what there is, seems to come with more authenticity from one in his position, than from ordinary trav ellers. -M. EMMANUEL DE LERNE entertains us with a study of men who are not only great men, but lovers ("Amoureuses et Grands Hommes "), and thus parades the attachments to women of Molière, Goethe, Richelieu, and others, in a kind of sketch half romance and half biography. Like ali specimens of "amphibology," as Col. Benton has it, it is somewhat disagreeable, an uninstructed reader not knowing two thirds of the time what is romance and what truth. For our part, we detest this mingling of truth and fiction. and greatly prefer an entire and downright, to a concealed or painted falsehood. -Luther is for the most part remembered only as the great religious reformer; but M. A. SCHEFFER, of Stuttgardt, presents him in a scarcely less important light, in an account of his labors in aid of popular education ("De l'Influence de Luther sur l'Education du Peuple"). He shows, that the same strong arm which shook the walls of Rome, was equally efficient in pushing forward the enlightenment of the masses. He organized schools even more rapidly than he disorganized churches, seeing in the former the surest and best means of supplying the place of the latter, and of securing in perpetuity the advantages of the immense movement he had in hand. -One of the best books on Russia that we have read, is by M. CHARLES DE SAINT-JULIEN ("Voyage Pittoresque en Russie"), who appears to have spent many years in exploring the domestic life of the Muscovites. As his title indicates, he has little to do with the politics of the empire, though he does not neglect to glance at it now and then; his descriptions consisting mainly of pictures of popular manners and external aspects. What goes on from day to day, among the poople, is what we learn from him, and not the supposed secrets of cabinets and poicies of the Czar. His travels begin amid the splendors of St. Petersburg, and end (where the travels of a good many Rus sians themselves end) in the icy solitudes of Siberia; but on the way, we are ta ken over Finland, as far as Torneo, the most northern city, thence to Archangel, where a grand snow-storm is brilliantly described; then down to Moscow, the ancient fortress of the Czars, then along the course of the Wolga into Central Russia. to Astrakan and its fairs, to Kazan and its fortress, and finally to the Caucasus. and its mysterious mountains. As a study of the various races embraced in the Russian empire, this book has great value, and we are sure must have been written before the recent war was declared, it is so free from the prejudices which every Englishman and Frenchman holds it to be his duty to express in re gard to the Russians. et -A second volume of M. SAINT MARC GIRARDIN'S Recollections of Voyages and Studies (Souvenirs de Voyages d'Etudes), is not as strictly uniform as the first, to which we have formerly alluded. It opens with Celtic Traditions, then passes to Friendship among the Scythians, next to a picture of Barbarous and Feudal society, next are a series of chapters on Christianity among the Germans. and finally a miscellany about Gregory of Tours, the Romance of Reynard the Fox, the Danish tradition of Hamlet, the Pucelle of Chapelaine and Voltaire, and a dissertation on the right to labor. These several subjects are from pieces contributed to the daily papers, and are treated somewhat popularly, yet with unquestionable learning. GERMAN. Any one who looks into the Moriscoes in Spain (Die Moriskos in Spainen), of A. L. VON ROCHAN for an interesting history of the Moorish downnation in Spain will not be disappointed. but he will do better to refer at once to Count de Circonet's Histoire des Mores Mudejares et des Morisques, from which the greater part of it is translated directly without acknowledgment. Indeed the translation in many parts is so faithful that typographical errors and all appear in the German version just as they stand in the French. The whole work, however, does not belong to M. de Circonet, for there are forty pages out of the four hundred which belong probably to the reputed author; but in these forty pages are a half-dozen grave historical mistakes. -If the German public does not know as much about the United States as many of our own citizens, it cannot be for the want of books on the subject. The latest of these that we have seen is the "Travels between the Hudson and the Mississippi," (Wanderungen zwischen Hudson und Mississippi) by MORITZ BUSCHE, who appears to have spent some years in America, especially about Cincinnati and its neighborhood. He writes intelligibly of our affairs, without prejudice, and for the most part in approval. We have not found much that is new in the work, although the author proves himself a diligent observer and an acute critic. The chapter which has interested us most is an elaborate one on Negro Melodies, in which some twenty or thirty of the most popular negro songs, such as "Oh, Susannah," "Uncle Ned," "Rosa Lee," &c., are translated into the German. -N. J. ANDERSON, one of the most distinguished Swedish naturalists, who was appointed by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm to accompany the Swedish Circumnavigation, has published a highly interesting description of this expedition under the title "Eine Welt-Umsegelung," published by C. B. Lorck in Leipzig. This work is to be considered as a precursor to one which will embody the purely scientific results of this expedition. -Americans need go abroad no longer for all their German literature, seeing that a new literary Magazine has been set on foot by some Germans of Milwaukee. It is called the Atalantis, and is highly respectable both in its appearance and its contents. American, German and miscellaneous topics are discussed in its pages with dignity and talent. Among the articles we remark an introductory on the literary prospects of the United States, with some fine discriminating observations on our national character, an essay on the Pacific railroad, a treatise on the school system of Michigan, a translation of Dr. Franklin's letter on slavery, a new novel, and a pleasant dissertation on the devil, considered esthetically, or as that personage appears in books. One can scarcely believe it, as he reads this periodical in German, that a few years since, the place where it is now published, was a favorite campingground of the wild Indians. FINE ARTS. The immigrants from the old world who enrich us most by their contributions to our prosperity, are the artists. whose elemental speciality we most need. It is an easy thing, for those who are willing, to dig a canal, or lay a rail, but to add a grace or an ornament to social life is not so easy, let the will be never so strong. It is one of those cases where the will does not always find the way. The artistic instinct, though it comes by nature, is of little value without proper cultivation; and that is the point where we most feel our need of reinforcement from the old world. We have plenty of genius for art in the rough, but the requisite polishing to give it value is what we have not an abundance of. Every artist, therefore, who comes here to better his fortune and give us the benefits of his talent, is of greater value than whole ship loads of hod-carriers. The engraved portrait of Thackeray which hung in the shop-windows last spring-the original of which belongs to Lord Ashburton-and that of Tennyson, the Italian head which all his lovers have studied with delight in the Boston edition of his poems, and an earlier head of Willis prefixed to the illustrated edition of his poetry, have made us familiar with the work of Samuel Lawrence, an English artist whose name has long been familiar to us as one of the most eminent of his profession. He has recently arrived among us, personally introduced by the pleasantest letters, which say nothing good of him that his performances since his arrival have not fully justified. His portfolio is enriched by a three-quarter length sketch of Thomas Carlyle, presenting a likeness of the man which no sympathetic student of his works would fail instantly to acknowledge, even had he never seen the original; and a head of Rogers, the last of a generation of great poets. These works of Lawrence's are in crayon. That of Rogers is a sketch for a picture which he painted last year in London. Since he has been here he has been engaged upon several heads, and among them that of the historian Bancroft. Lawrence has not lost his eye nor his hand, as some singers lose their voices, in crossing the sea. The same qualities of surprising likeness, arising from subtle perception of the essential character of the subject, distinguish them all. There is a vitality, a reality, an individual spirit about them, which assure the spectator that he is seeing the very meaning of the person represented. Like all gen |