Japan and the Japanese, by Talbot Watts, M.D., from the press of Neagle, New-York, contains some documents relating to Japan, and several illustrative engravings tolerably well done; but the work, as a whole, is a "hodge podge," hardly worth the trouble of a reading. The Works of Edgar A. Poe; Redfield, NewYork, 1852.-A new and revised edition of the prose and poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, to whom the English reviewers have of late taken a fancy. What Savage was in his day, and Coleridge in his, has Poe been in ours-the ruined man of genius, and dying he left not his equal. As a poet, a writer of tales, and a critic, he is alike unique; not much to be commended for the direction of his taste, nor to be recommended as a model, but, in his way, admirable and worthy of profound study. His walk was narrow, but in it he was a master, and worked powerful spells; as "The Raven," among his poems, and "The Fall of the House of Usher," among his stories, bear witness. His criticism is keen and acute, often unjust, but always sharp and discriminating. Altogether, we consider him the most remarkable author America has yet produced, and in his life and works a psychological curiosity. He will appear in our series of American writers. Reflections on Flowers, by Rev. James Hervey. This little work, by the author of the " Meditations among the Tombs," has been republished by Taylor of this city, in a neat and attractive form. It contains some dozen colored floral engravings, and is elegantly bound. It is always a favorite with juvenile readers, and, saving its meretricious style, deserves to be. Messrs. Carlton & Phillips have issued "The Pocket Diary for 1853." Besides the usual Calendar, it contains valuable tables of religious statistics, blank leaves for daily memoranda, "minister's memoranda" adapted for Church accounts, general memoranda, &c., constituting an exceedingly. convenient manual. The historical series of Messrs. Abbott has been enriched by another entertaining volume, "The History of Romulus." Nothing is added to the well-authenticated facts of history in these volumes, but the peculiar style of the author throws over them many of the charms of fiction. The plates are numerous and attractive. (Harper & Brothers, New-York.) Redfield, New York, has issued a most entertaining and valuable contribution to American historical literature, ander the title of "The Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley," &c., by John Gelmar Shea. Besides Mr. Shea's own articles-historical and bibliographical-the volume contains the original Narratives of Marquette, Alowez, Membre, Hennepin, and Anastase Douay. We have had in our own language Marquette's Voyage and Map, but the narrative has been an imperfect transcript of the original, and the map is especially inaccurate. Mr. Shea gives us both with minute correctness. There is genuine romance about these canoe voyages of the early French missionaries, and their value as historical data is inestimable. The volume is got up in a style highly creditable to the publishers. "Daughters of Zion" is the title of a new series of Biblical characters, from the pen of Rev. Mr. Burchard, Its plates, which are well executed, we have seen before. Such sketches of Scripture personages are not favorites with us; they are becoming superabundant, and they are generally rhetorical perversions of the simple, but incomparable, portraitures of the Bible. Mr. Burchard has produced a work which compares well with others of its class. Messrs. Harpers have issued "Cornelius Nepos," edited by Professor Anthon. We have several times given our opinion of Dr. Anthon's labors in classical literature, and need not repeat it here. The present volume will be valued by Latin teachers and students. Cornelius Nepos is an attractive text-book, but he was guilty of egregious blunders and some bad Latinity. Professor Anthon has critically rectified these defects. His notes are abundant, constituting more than half the volume. A very interesting reprint, "Footsteps of our Fathers," has appeared from the press of Gould & Lincoln, Boston. It is a description of struggles for religious liberty, and gives a most localities and events distinguished in English impressive picture of "the phenomena of relig ious intolerance." Not only is the lesson of the book valuable, but its interest is profound. We can recommend it as one of the most entertaining books of the season. It contains some thirty-six engravings, the execution of which might be much improved. Putnam has issued, as one of his Semi-monthly Series, "The Eagle Pass; or, Life on the Border," by Cora Montgomery-a work too hastily thrown off, but full of vigorous passages and entertaining incidents and descriptions of frontier life. The authoress lashes our national officials of the Texan frontier without mercy, and, indeed, deals out blows in all directions. She has some heretic doctrines on slavery, but her views of the Mexican peon system will be found of interest and value to the friends of humanity. New Professor Newman's "Regal Rome" has been published in very neat style by Redfield, NewYork. It will be esteemed by students of Roman history an invaluable introduction to that study. Niebuhr has transformed the primeval aspects of the Roman history. man differs from him in many important respects, and should be read in connection with him. The present volume is short, but unusually comprehensive. It treats of Alban, Sabine, and Etrusco-Latin Rome, and especially attempts to assign to each people its relation to the great resultant whole. Literary Record. MR. BRYANT, of the Post, is now in Europe he designs to make the usual tour of Egypt and the Holy Land. He still keeps up his connection with the Post, and his letters will be a treat to its readers. The Central Christian Advocate (connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church) is about to be commenced at St. Louis under the editorial care of Rev. W. D. R. Trotter-a gentleman who wields a ready and spirited pen. Rev. Dr. Clark, of Poughkeepsie, has been appointed editor of the Ladies' Repository of Cincinnati. Dr. Clark is a ripe thinker and able writer. The Repository has acquired a good reputation both for its literary and moral excellence. It is one of the very few periodicals for ladies in this country which really deserve their respect. The publishers announce that while they will maintain its literary merit, they will adapt it hereafter more particularly to its specific purpose as a publication for females. This is good policy, for by thus placing it on a special basis they will secure it against competition from more general works. There is, too, a large range of topics relating to the interests and duties of the sex-its peculiar literature, its fine biographies, the new questions of its " rights," &c., &c.-which cannot fail to afford abundant material. The Rev. E. O. Haven, of this city, has been appointed to a professorial chair in the University of Michigan. Rev. Dr. Robert Baird has been chosen President of Washington College, Pennsylvania. The Doctor has long been known as the zealous and able Secretary of the American and Foreign Christian Union. We learn, says Norton's Literary Gazette, that a biography of Humboldt, written by Professor Klencke, is about to be translated for publication in England; that W. J. Boone, D. D., Missionary Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States to China, is about to publish, in London, a treatise on the "Notions of the Chinese concerning God and Spirits;" that Mr. J. O. Halliwell proposes a new edition of Shakspeare, to be issued in twenty folio volumes, to be completed in six years, at a cost of forty guineas; only one hundred copies are to be printed; it will correspond in size to the first collected edition of 1623, and will contain numerous fac-similes from that imprint. Mr. Finden, the great engraver, and the author of an illustrated work called "Finden's Byron Illustrations," and several others of a similar character, died September 20th. Martin F. Tupper, Esq., has written a dirge on the death of the Duke of Wellington, of twenty-three stanzas in length. Fraser's Magazine slaughters poor Tupper without mercy. Professor Ranke, author of the "Lives of the Popes," is at Brussels, engaged in writing a work on French History in the Seventeenth Century. The Boston Transcript states that Mr. Bancroft has the fifth volume of his History of the United States in the hands of the stereotypers. Of the fourth volume, issued, the very large number of twenty thousand copies is said to have been already sold. The report of Mr. Panizzi states that the Library of the British Museum, at the close of 1836, contained two hundred and thirty thousand volumes of printed books, and has since increased to four hundred and sixty-five thousand, showing an annual increase of sixteen thousand volumes. The amount of shelving at present provided is fifty-five thousand four hundred feet; and the trustees have now to which will be added to the library during the provide room for the eighty thousand volumes coming five years. Joshua Bates, Esq., of the eminent house of Baring, Brothers & Co., has made the very liberal donation of fifty thousand dollars, for the purchase of books for the Boston Public Library. Harvard College. This ancient institution is at present in a flourishing condition. The catalogue shows the number of undergraduates to be three hundred and nineteen; professional students and resident graduates, three hundred and thirty; making a total of six hundred and forty-nine. At a late meeting of the New-York Historical Society, a proposition was made to print the catalogues of printed books, manuscripts, maps and charts, portraits, prints, busts, coins, and medals, embracing the library and cabinet of the New-York Historical Society. The Genesee College, and the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, which are associated in their operations, constitute the largest literary institution, of the higher grade, on this continent. college has about eighty in its regular classes, while over five hundred a year are taking irregular instruction in it; and the seminary, now twenty years old, will report for the past year between twelve and thirteen hundred students. The Methodists in France recently held their first Annual Conference at Nismes. An alteration was made in their Church government, so that "each district will name two representatives, who, with the president and secretary of the Conference, will form the stationing committee." It is said that the remains of Thomas Hood lie in Kensal Green Cemetery without even an inscription. Several gentlemen, members of the Whittington Club, have recently been endeavoring, by subscription, to raise a memorial over his grave. Among those who have already contributed, we notice the names of the Duke of Devonshire, Samuel Rogers, the poet, the Earl of Carlisle, and Lord Dudley Stuart. Nathaniel Hawthorne has received from Chapman & Hall, London, $1,000, for the privilege of republishing in England his "Blithedale Romance." A donation of $7,000 has been given to Dartmouth College, by George C. Shattuck, M. D., for the erection of an Observatory, on condition that the trustees will raise the sum of $3,000 for the purchase of instruments. The White Water Female College and Academy, Centreville, Indiana, is prospering under the care of Rev. Cyrus Nutt and an effective faculty. The catalogue reports one hundred and ninety-one students for the last academic year. One of the Paris journals has quoted largely from Le Scarabée d'Or, a correct translation of Edgar A. Poe's Gold Bug. A note informs readers that it is part of a complete translation of Poe's Works. This writer is a favorite with the French. Most of his horrible tales, rendered with more or less faithfulness, have already appeared in the different periodicals of Paris. It has been proposed to place a memorial to the poet, Wordsworth, in the church now rebuilding at Cockermouth, England. It is the place of his birth; he received the first elements of his education in the endowed school adjoining the church-yard. His father, also, was buried near the chancel; and here, in his gray hairs and honors, he often stood and communed in spirit with his departed parent; but as yet no public testimony has been raised in a locality so much associated with the poet's personal history. It is intended to take advantage of the present opportunity, and that the great fivelight east window of the chancel should be a "memorial window," filled with Scriptural subjects, and inscribed to the memory of Wordsworth. Messrs. Phillips, Sampson & Co. announce that they have in preparation a new work, by the author of "Sunnyside," and the first of a new series of volumes on the plan of "Chambers's Miscellany." The writings and speeches of Senator Seward, which are to be published during the winter, include his letters written during a tour in Europe, papers on imprisonment for debt, speeches in the senate, a number of literary essays, etc. The London Literary Gazette says, that at the Asiatic Society, Mr. Norris read lately a paper on the so-called Median inscription of Behistun, which he trusted he could show to be in a Scythic dialect, analogous in many of its forms, and most of its grammatical structure, to the language called Ugrian, including the Magyar and Ostiak, and the several tongues still spoken on the banks of the Volga, more especially the Volga Finnish. In concluding the reading, he said that the only names of a people found on the rock, not immediately taken from the Persian original, was one that might be read Amardi or Avardi, and he thought that this was one of the tribes who spoke the language which he was engaged in investigating. He suggested also that the Avars, who were found upon the Volga, toward the decline of the Roman empire, might have been allied to the same race. A Paris bookseller advertises a production of 66 The the National printing office at Vienna, Antiquities of Peru," (in Spanish,) by de Rivere, and de Iscudi, directors of the National Museum of Lima. It is a quarto, with a folio atlas of fifty-eight colored plates. The work exhibits the archæological treasures of the ancient empire of the Incas. There is also advertised an Essay on the Foundations of Human Knowledge, and the Characteristics of Critical Philosophy," by M. Cournot, an eminent geometrician and Inspector-General of Public Instruction; also a treatise "On the Faculties of the Soul," comprising a history of the principal psychological theories, by M. Adolphe GarFaculty of Letters. Also a new edition of the nier, Professor of Philosophy in the Paris by Kasimetski, interpreter of the French Legatranslation of the Koran, from the Arab text, tion in Persia, and two volumes of the "HisAge," by R. Reuss, Professor in the Faculty of tory of Christian Theology in the Apostolical Theology, and at the Protestant Seminary, in Strasburg. A writer from France, in the New-York Observer, says: "As to German Universities, which enjoyed before so much liberty, they are now subjected to an inquisitorial watch. The professors of law, of sciences, of philosophy, history, theology even, have received orders to be very circumspect, very reserved in their lectures; that is to say, in plain terms, they must avoid, under penalty of being deposed from office, impugning the political views of the governments. Literature has also experienced the effects of this sad reaction. Independent poets are silent, and Roman Catholic poetry (what a connection of words!) gleams over the German horizon. There is a school of young authors, who, seconded by artful Jesuits, try to revive the laws, the creeds, the superstitions of the middle ages, and to lead back their fellow-choruses in the style of the ancient Greek citizens to the times of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Luther's Reformation is cursed by these venal writers, as the source of pantheism, socialism, and demagoguism. Such is the position of Germany. Among new publications at Paris there is a translation of the tragedy of Gregory of Nazianzum "On the Passion and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ." It is in three acts. The first represents the Saviour's sufferings-the second, his burial-the third, his rising from the dead. The Virgin Mary figures in all three, and is made to bewail the woes of her blessed Son, in the most eloquent and affecting language. She and the other characters are responded to by dramas. We shall commence, in our next number, a series of papers on the Church Dramas of the Middle Ages, which will afford some entertaining illustrations of this section of Christian literature. RELIGIOUS SUMMARY. Religious Summary. FROM the report of the visiting committee, The Jesuits have again taken possession of Loyola, their ancient seat in Spain. Fifty to sixty fathers of the order will reside there in charge of the missions in the kingdom. The order has six houses in Spain, but no college for the instruction of youth. The General Missionary Committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, recently decided on the following appropriations for the current Foreign Missions: Africa, (Liberia,) year: $26,000; South America, $4,000; China, $10, 000; Germany, $10,000; total, $50,000. Domestic Missions: Germans, $43,300; foreigners, (other than Germans,) $10,250; Indian Missions, $13,500; native population, $74,250; total, $141,300. New Missions: France, $2,500; Bulgaria, in Turkey, $5,000; India, Special Appropria$7,500; total, $15,000. tions: For Missions in Norway and Sweden, $750; German Missions in California, $2,000; Sundries, $950. Total, $210,000. It is stated that the Moravian missionaries in Greenland, suffer not a little from the intolerance of the Danish Government; they are not permitted to receive into their communion any additional converts from heathenism, but are directed to send them to the Danish ministers, who are mere mercenaries, that for want of character and qualifications are not suffered to remain in Denmark, but who, by serving a certain term of years in Greenland, and producing a certain number of names in their adult baptism list, are allowed to return from their exile, and enjoy a respectable living in their native land. The inhabitants of Kidderminster are about raising a monument to the memory of Richard Baxter. There is not to be anything sectarian in the movement; and as a proof that such is the case, we may mention that the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Manchester have expressed their approval of it, and promised their assistance. One gentleman in the neighborhood of Kidderminster will give $500. The monument is to be placed in the parish church. sided. The Rev. Ben Oliel, in describing his books was, he said, a great impediment to the One of the "Lectures to Young Men" to take Accounts respecting British Wesleyan Methodism are highly flattering, and there is every prospect of permanent peace and prosperity. Ministers and members are closely united, and the congregations are serious, large and attentive. Dr. E. P. Humphrey has declined the appointment of a professorship in Princeton Theological Seminary. At the Twenty-Ninth Anniversary of the New-York Bible Society, the treasurer's report showed the total receipts for the year to be Twelve $36,635 65. From the General Report we learn that eighty-three thousand and eight families have been visited during the year. thousand six hundred and twenty-one were tous distribution of Bibles and Testaments durfound destitute of the Scriptures. The gratuiing the year amounts to fifty thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven volumes; which shows an increase over that of any other year of ten thousand five hundred volumes. From the report of the General Committee of A meeting of the British Society for the Prop- the fund for educating the sons of the English ance during the year past at the Kingswood and agation of the Gospel among the Jews, was Wesleyan preachers, we learn that the attendWoodhouse-Grove schools, has been two hunlately held in London, to hear from the Rev. dred and sixty-four. The pupils enter at the Ben Oliel, a convert to Christianity, a statement of the condition of the Jewish population of Northern Africa. The Rev. Dr. Leifchild pre-age of eight or nine years, and remain six years, so as to leave the school at fourteen or fifteen respectively. The finances of the two schools named, we regret to state, are somewhat embarrassed. The venerable pastor of the Argyle Church, Bath, England, William Jay, having been lately prevented from performing his ministerial duties by illness, has resigned his charge. Should Mr. Jay survive until the 30th of January, 1853, he will have been pastor over the Independent Church for sixty-three years. nine clergymen. Baptisms, (within a year,) one hundred and seventy-nine; confirmed, fifty-two; communicants added, seventy-eight; whole number, two hundred and sixty-one. The St. Louis Christian Advocate says, there are four Churches of German Methodists in St. Louis, and one in St. Charles, Mo., all doing well and flourishing. The German Catholics of Bromberg recently formed a procession, with their spiritual advisers at their head, and declared themselves converts to Protestantism. In Nova Scotia and New-Brunswick the Baptists, in 1800, numbered nine hundred and twenty-four. At the present time they number over sixteen thousand. We are indebted to an article in the Watchman and Reflector for the following facts, relative to the progress of the Baptists in the British empire. In the United Kingdom there are one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five churches, and one thousand three hundred and ninety-one of these churches embrace one hun- At the Holston Annual Conference of the dred and forty thousand six hundred members. Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which was Three-fourths of them are in Engiand, and one-recently held, sixteen preachers were admitted fourth in Wales. Ireland has only thirty-one churches, fourteen of them having five hundred and twenty-one members. The Baptists have but few churches in Scotland. The one thousand three hundred and ninety-one churches from which returns were received, report a clear increase of four thousand eight hundred and seventy-five members; a great falling off from that of the preceding year-twelve thousand. The number of village stations reported, is one thousand four hundred and sixty-four, and of children in Sunday schools, one hundred and sixty-one thousand one hundred and ten. In the reports of the Boston Young Men's Methodist Missionary Society, we find that the receipts for the year averaged one dollar for every Methodist in Boston. The corps of instructors in the Andover Theological Seminary is again complete. Rev. Professor Barrows, lately of the theological department of Western Reserve College, is to be associated during the coming term with Rev. Dr. Stowe, who was recently inaugurated professor of Sacred Literature. The foundation-stone of St. Andrew's, the first Presbyterian Church on the Rock of Gibraltar, was recently laid. Liberal donations have been made by his excellency the Governor, Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Gardiner. There are twenty-five weekly Baptist papers in the United States; thirteen monthly publications, and the Quarterly Review. Of the twentyfive weekly papers only ten are in the Northern States; only two in Massachusetts. It is sup posed that there are one hundred and fifty thousand copies of these publications circulated weekly. In the town of Pembroke, England, stands a very fine elm-tree, beneath which, it is said, both John Wesley and Rowland Hill have preached. The tree is venerated by the inhabitants, and carefully preserved. The late Miss Mary Saum, of Maryland, has left a legacy of about twenty thousand dollars to the Superannuated Fund Society of the Maryland Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church. The Protestant Episcopal Church, in the diocese of Texas, numbers sixteen parishes and on trial. The conference is composed of between eighty and ninety effective men, and has within its bounds a white membership of twenty thousand two hundred and thirty-four, and a colored, of two thousand nine hundred and forty-two. Dr. Clarke, of the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, in an able article on the Reformation in Ireland, says that "Irish Romanism is not only perishing in its native soil, but, transplanted to American soil, it seems to succeed no better. In sixteen years-that is, from 1828 to 1844according to their own showing, the Catholic Church lost, from her Irish emigration in this country, about two millions! Though Romanists may affect to charge ignorance upon the abettors of Protestantism, it is quite clear that Popery cannot long exist where free inquiry is tolerated." We learn through the editor of the SouthWestern Baptist, that about five thousand persons have been baptized and received into the Baptist Church, in Alabama, during the past twelve months. There are nine regular missionaries, and from four to seven colporteurs supported by the American Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Jews, at an annual expense of $12,000. It is said that there are about twenty presses and two hundred and fifty operatives employed in the manufacturing department of the American Tract Society. Gratuitous distributions of tracts and books are made annually, to the amount of $45,000. Besides this sum, $20,000 are appropriated, yearly, to the distribution of religious publications in foreign and heathen lands. There are three hundred and ninety-four Sabbath schools within the bounds of the Cincinnati Conference, in which there have been four hundred and ninety-five conversions during the past conference year. The Synod of the Associate Reformed Church of the West have received a donation of $500 from Mr. Samuel Barnett. It is to be expended in erecting suitable dwellings for the missionaries of that Church in Damascus, Palestine. |