of Napoléon, recuil. par ordre chronologique, de ses Lettres, Proclamations, Bulletins, Discours sur les matières civiles et politiques, etc., Formant une histoire de son regne écrite par lui même, et accompagnée de notes historiques. The first volume only has thus far appeared, commencing with the campaign in Italy of 1796, and ending with the battle of Austerlitz; but as this is confined to military details altogether, while the work promises full particulars of all that the great chief said or did, in war, politics and administration, there is no telling when we shall reach the last volume. It will be, however, an unquestionably valuable contribution to history. It will give us Napoleon as he appeared in his own works, and not as he is estimated by writers. By the way, there is a curious passage in the memorial, in which he speaks of the different views that had already been taken during his lifetime, of his character and policy. "I am disputed on every hand," he says," the thoughts of my battles, the intention of my orders, are all decided against me. They often ascribe profundity and sublimity to things which on my part were the most simple in the world: they impute to me projects which I never entertained; and they question whether I did not contemplate a universal monarchy. They reason tediously about the point, whether my absolute authority or arbitrary acts spring from my character or my calculations, whether they were produced by my inclination or the force of circumstances, whether my constant wars came from my taste or were simply defensive,-and whether my inordinate ambition, so reproached, arose from avidity of conquest, lust of glory, love of order, or devotion to general happiness," &c. He then says subsequently, that these men in their positive affirmations are more skilful than I, for I should be often greatly embarrassed to say what my full purposes were. I did not strive to bend circumstances to my ideas, but allowed myself to be led by circumstances; for who can beforehand meet fortuitous occurrences, wholly unexpected accidents? How many times have I been compelled to change essentially? I pursued general views, rather than any predetermined plans. The man of cominon interests, what I thought to be for the good of the greatest number, these were the works to which I was anchored, but around which I floated for the greatest part of the time at hap-hazard."

This

confession is curious, because it shows how much genius is, after all, a mere ability to take advantage of events, and how little

any preconceived plan of human action has to do with the development of events.

-The lovers of Montaigne will find no little pleasant reading in M. Etienne Catalan's Manuel des honnètes gens, which is an attempt to inform the practical philosophy of the great French essayist. He gathers together, as he says, the elements which properly constitute the philosophy of Montaigne, interpreting and developing them, and introducing such maxims and sentences as may be entitled to special regard, either for their excellent sense or the propriety of their expression. His book takes its name from a mot of Cardinal du Perron, that Le livre des Essais doit ètre, le brèviaire des honnètes gens."

-The Athenæum Française, under the head of studies of "Anglo-American Female Poets," gives an elaborate account, with translations, of the life and writings of Lucretia Maria Davidson, by M. THALES BERNARD; who begins by averring that "America is the daughter of France," and that the latter, having warmly received "Cooper, Emerson, Poe and Prescott," ought not to slight the obscure names of our literature. He then narrates the principal incidents of Lucretia's history, interspersing the recital with translations of her verses into prose.

-The book of the month in Paris is the Souvenirs of M. Killemain, the distinguished historian and professor, who, like Dr. Veron, Dumas, Lamartine, and all other Frenchmen, does not consider his literary life complete without an autobiography. Having been connected for the last fifty years with many of the most important personages of the age, a man himself of character and standing as a writer of remarkable talent, his book is at once piquant and reliable. We shall give some account of it, as soon as it reaches this side of the Atlantic.

-The Swiss Review narrates an anecdote of Bêranger, the great song-writer of France, which is an honorable testimony to the character of the venerable poet. He had placed all his savings, to the amount of about thirty thousand francs, at interest in the hands of a mercantile friend, who came to him one day, and returned the money. But why do you do so? asked the poet. Because, was

the reply, "My house is likely to fail, and as you are old and poor, I have thought you ought to be secured in time." No! returned Béranger, I am only one of your creditors, and must take my chance with the rest. The consequence was, that after the failure he received merely his ten per cent, which was the regular division of the

assets of the firm. He lives now on the scantiest pittance derived from the sale of his works. Is there a merchant among us who would have acted as honorably? We fear not.

-The ABBE FALLAR has written a history of the Church in North America, entitled. Mémoires particuliers pour servir à l'histoire de l'Eglise dans l', Amerique du Nord. It is not, however, a regular history, so much as a contribution to history, as its name imports; and is occupied chiefly with the biography of important personages, and monographs of the principal ecclesiastical establishments, especially in Canada. Sister Bourgeoys, the founder of the first congregation established at Villemarie for the education and conversion of the savages, and Ma'mselle d' Youville, founder of the community of the Sisters of Charity, furnish the materials for his first three volumes, with incidental references to the fortunes of the establishments to which they belonged.

-A classic romance under the name of Olympia has been published by M. LOUIS SAGLIER, with a view to the illustration of female life among the ancient Greeks. Olympia is a Spartan, who is painted in the three-fold character of a young girl, a wife, and a mother. We first encounter her participating in the games of the gymnasium, with her young female companions; we next find her accepting a husband obediently from the hands of her father, although she was in love with somebody else; and then we see her, as the wife, rejecting a base proposal of her husband, and yet as the mother disclosing to the State a conspiracy in which her only son was implicated. The object of the author, in this two-fold dilemma, is to show the despotism of the idea of the State, in ancient times, and at the same time to depict the sentiment of the true woman trampling over the law as presented in the proposition of her husband. The work is written with facility and elegance, but the details are not always of the most edifying kind, out of France.

A report of the proceedings of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, on the 5th December, speaks in the most favorable terms of a paper read by Dr. D. Brainard, President of the Rush Medical College of Chicago, on the treatment of bites made by venomous serpents. His experiments, it appears, were made generally on pigeons, which he caused to be bitten by serpents known technically as of the species of crotolapherus trigeminus, rigidly observing the effects, and then applying his remedies. Dr. Brainard's mode of re

covering his pigeons was by the infiltration into the wounds and the surrounding parts of the lactate of iron and iodine of potassium, both in a state of aqueous solution. He caused them to penetrate by means of a small syringe, and in nearly every instance succeeded in saving the life of the poisoned animal. A committee, consisting of Daméril, Magendie, Flourens and Deleure, was appointed to consider the subject of his paper.

GERMAN. From the press of Arnim at Berlin, we have three characteristic German tales (Drei Märchen), or legends, as they are more properly called, which are full of fantastic spirit and humor. The first of them "The daughter of the King of the Moon," which is to be read at night as the anonymous author advertises us, is almost as wild as the best stories of Hoffman, with a touch of the graceful legendary feeling of Tieck. They are all, however, so marked by local peculiarities that they would hardly repay translation into English.

- There is in course of publication now in Germany, a work on the Memorials of the Old Christian Architecture in Constantinople, from the fifth to the twelfth century. (Alt-christliche Baudenkmale Constantinopels vom V.-XII. Jahrhunderte.) This magnificent work will exhibit in forty plates of the largest foliosize, either engraved, lithographed, or in colored impressions, delineations of various architectural remains, particularly views and details of Agios Johannes, Agios Sergius and Bacchus, Agia Sophia, Agia Irene, Agia Theotokos, Agios Pantokrator, as well as of the hall of the Hebdomon, and, for comparison, churches in Asia Minor from the work of Texier. The importance of the Byzantine style has long been acknowledged by modern Art. There have, notwithstanding, hitherto been wanting geometrical surveys of the most prominent monuments of this style, to enable the student to appreciate its peculiarities and minor details. Deeply as this want has been felt, there stood obstacles almost insurmountable in the way of its being remedied, particularly with regard to a geometrical survey of St. Sophia's Cathedral at Constantinople. German assiduity and perseverance has at last, under the auspices of the King of Prussia, succeeded in clearing those obstacles, and effecting a most accurate survey of that prototype of Byzantine Architecture, descending to the minutest particulars, and also of the rest of the Christian architectural remains of Constantinople.

Between 1762 and 1766, AUGUST LUDWIG VON SCHLÖZER prepared a Russian Grammar during his stay in St. Petersburg. This first part, as well as the commencement of the second, was printed for the Imperial Academy of Sciences of that place; the work had proceeded as far as the eleventh sheet, when its continuation was prohibited, and the whole edition suppressed. A copy of these eleven sheets, which nearly comprehended what had been completed in MS. is, therefore, a rarity; and one single copy only is, as far as we are aware, at present extant. This work, as is well known, was the first to venture on a scientific treatment of the Russian language, and is therefore to be published by the family of the author.

-The sixth and concluding part of the first volume of J. VENEDEY'S History of the Germans from the earliest times to the present (Geschichte des deutschen Volkes von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart), has just been issued. It embraces German antiquity from the first appearance of Germans on the stage of history, to the downfall of the Carlovingians. The second volume, already completed in MS, will contain the history of the German Emperors and the contest of the Popes against the empire. The third volume will comprise the history of the Reformation to the Westphalian Peace; the fourth volume will contain modern history. This work is distinguished by diligent research, and a vigorous and graphic style.

-Another volume, the fourth of BERTHOLD AUERBACH's Village Stories of the Black Forest, (Schwarzwälden Dorfgeschichten), has just appeared.

- The correspondence of Goethe must be inexhaustible; for in addition to his Briefwecksel with Schiller, Zelter, Bettiner, Carus, and others, we are now presented with his letter, to Councillor Schuetz, Briefwecksel Zwischen Göthe a. Staatsrath v. C. L. F. Schultz.

-The comparative study of languages, which more than any thing else has furnished a key to the origin of races, is nowhere prosecuted with so much industry and vigor as in Germany.

The gram

mar and vocabularies of Bopp, and other learned authorities, have solved many questions on which tradition is silent, and become among the most curious monuments of nations. One of the latest works of this kind is the Grammatica Celtica of Dr. J. C. Zeuss, of Leipzic, who has gathered from the various libraries of Europe, the most interesting particulars

in regard to the ancient Irish, British, Cambrian, and Cornish dialects. It is divided into six parts: the first treats of letters and their permutations from one dialect to another; the second treats of the noun and pronoun; the third of the verb; the fourth of particles; the fifth of derivation and composition; and the sixth of the construction of prose and verse. The different dialects are compared with each other, in every respect, and their analogies and diversities clearly marked.

A SPECIAL EDITORIAL NOTE FOR THE PEOPLE SOUTH OF MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.

A Southern paper, in giving a very favorable and discriminating criticism of our February Number, adds to it the following P. S.:

"In acknowledging the receipt of the January number of "Putnam," we commended it to public patronage on the ground that it was wholly an American publication. We have recently received a communication declaring that this is an error-that Putnam is wholly a Northern publication, and that Southern writers, who propose to contribute to its columns, are not only excluded, but treated with neglect and discourtesy. We hope that there is some error or mistake in the case, and that Putnam will be able to place himself rectus in curia with his South ern readers and contributors."

The personal feeling manifested in this complaint will be sufficient to divest it of all force, for it was evidently written by some person who fancied he had been neglected by us, or that his merits had not been properly appreciated. And we do not pretend to say that he was not quite right in thinking so. We know very well, that a good many worthy people, and excellent writers, have had to wait much longer for a reply to their communications than was at all agreeable to our own sense of propriety; but the seeming neglect which they might with reason complain of, has been a matter of absolute necessity; for we make it a point to read the articles that are sent to us before deciding whether or not they can have a place in our Monthly, and we have adopted the democratic principle of, first come first served. Reading manuscripts, in nine cases out of ten illegibly written, and writing letters to their authors, requires a good deal of time; and then, too, when an article may be regarded as desirable on account of its literary merits or its subject, the exigencies of the Monthly may prevent its immediate use; it may be too long, or too short, or it may be too similar in its character to another article which

had been accepted before it; all these considerations must often perplex the editor of a magazine, and prevent his giving an instant reply to a correspondent, and also compel him to reject communications which would be otherwise desirable. But it was not for the purpose of saying these very obvious truths that we have noticed the Southern complaint in question. We are accused of not being American because we are Northern. The South, or at least that part of it which is embodied in the person of our particular friend in question, will not permit us to enjoy the common instincts of patriotism, but will cut us off from our inheritance, because we happen to live on the wrong side of Mason and Dixon's line. It was a son of New England who uttered the patriotic sentiment, "I know no North, no South;" but our Southern friends say they "know no North, only a South." There are numberless publications calling themselves after the South, to indicate their sectional character and their antagonism to the North. The Southern Quarterly, the Southern Literary Messenger, and so on; but if there be a single periodical or other institution north of Mason and Dixon, whose title breathes such an un-American and sectional spirit, we are ignorant of its existence. As to the particular charge against ourselves, nonsensical as it will sound to every body who has been in the habit of reading our Magazine, we have only to reply, that the present number of the Monthly contains four articles which were sent to us from as many slave States, and that every number of the work, from the beginning, has contained one or more articles from the pens of Southern writ

ers.

Our sole aim is to publish the best literary productions which the country can afford; and whether they come from Maine or Missouri, Vermont or Virginia, is a matter of not the slightest weight in deciding on their availability. As to our mere personal interests, we can very well afford to be perfectly independent of all sectional preferences, for at least seven eighths of our circulation is in the free States; and, if we could be influenced by any such paltry motives as the "somebody down South" imputes to us, the result

would not be to our pecuniary disadvantage. But our great aim in the conduct of this Magazine has been to make it, first, purely American and original; and, next, to render it as profitable to the public and ourselves as it could be done. We have, thus far, abundant cause for being satisfied with our exertions, and for entertaining increased hope in the literary resources and intellectual activity of our thriving nation. Wherein we may possibly have erred, has been in giving place to contributions from the far East, the far West, the far North, and the far South. that our Magazine might properly represent the whole Union, which, if written nearer our own door, might not have been accepted.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

THE AMERICAN PLANTER; or the Bound Labor Interest of the United States. By M. A. Juge. NewYork: Long & Brother. 1854.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS. By Andrew Brown. New-York: Redfield. 1854.

AN OUTLINE OF THE GEOLOGY OF THE GLOBE, and of the United States in particular. By Edward Hitchcock, D. D. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co. 1858. THE COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL, with an Original Biography and Notes. Edited by Epes Sargent. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co. 1854.

OUTLINES OF A MECHANICAL THEORY OF STORMB. By T. Bassuett. New-York: D. Appleton & Co. 1854.

HUMAN ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND HYGIENE By T. S. Lambert. Hartford: Brockett, Hutchinson & Co. 1854.

LINNY LOCKWOOD. A Novel. By Catherine Crow. New-York: D. Appleton & Co. 1854.

THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL QUARTERLY REVIEW. Vol. I., No. I. New-York: H. Dyer. 1854. HYDROPATHIC COOK-BOOK. By Dr. R. T. Trall. New-York: Fowlers & Wells, 1851.

POEMS, SACRED, PASSIONATE, AND LEGENDARY. BY Mary E. Hewett. New-York: Lamport, Blakeman & Law. 1854.

A SCHOOL COMPENDIUM OF NATURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY. By Richard Green Parker. New-York: A. S. Barnes & Co. 1854.

BENEDICTIONS, OR THE BLESSED LIFE. By Rev. John Cumming, D. D., F.R.S.E. Boston: J. P. Jewett & Co. 1854.

POEMS, DESCRIPTIVE, DRAMATIC, LEGENDARY, AND CONTEMPLATIVE. By W. Gilmore Simins. 2 vols. New-York: Redfield. 1854.

LITTLE BLOSSOM'S REWARD. A Christmas Book for Children. By Mrs. Emily Hare. Illustrated. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co. 1854

SKETCH FIFTH.

THE FRIGATE, AND SHIP FLYAWAY.

"Looking far forth into the ocean wide,
A goodly ship with banners bravely dight,
And flag in her top-gallant I espide,
Through the main sea making her merry flight."

ERE

RE quitting Rodondo, it must not be omitted that here, in 1813, the U.S. frigate Essex, Captain David Porter, came near leaving her bones. Lying becalmed one morning with a strong current setting her rapidly towards the rock, a strange sail was descried, which—not out of keeping with alleged enchantments of the neighborhood-seemed to be staggering under a violent wind, while the frigate lay lifeless as if spell-bound. But a light air springing up, all sail was made by the frigate in chase of the enemy, as supposed -he being deemed an English whale-ship -but the rapidity of the current was so great, that soon all sight was lost of him; and at meridian the Essex, spite of her drags, was driven so close under the foamlashed cliffs of Rodondo that for a time all hands gave her up. A smart breeze, however, at last helped her off, though the escape was so critical as to seem almost miraculous.

Thus sayed from destruction herself, she now made use of that salvation to destroy the other vessel, if possible. Renewing the chase in the direction in which the stranger had disappeared, sight was caught of him the following morning. Upon being descried he hoisted American colors and stood away from the Essex. VOL. III. -23

A calm ensued; when, still confident that the stranger was an Englishman, Porter despatched a cutter, not to board the enemy, but drive back his boats engaged in towing him. The cutter succeeded. Cutters were subsequently sent to capture him; the stranger now showing English colors in place of American. But when the frigate's boats were within a short distance of their hoped-for prize, another sudden breeze sprang up; the stranger under all sail bore off to the westward, and ere night was hull down ahead of the Essex, which all this time lay perfectly becalmed.

This enigmatic craft-American in the morning, and English in the evening-her sails full of wind in a calm-was never again beheld. An enchanted ship no doubt. So at least the sailors swore.

This cruise of the Essex in the Pacific during the war of 1812, is perhaps the strangest and most stirring to be found in the history of the American navy. She captured the furthest wandering vessels; visited the remotest seas and isles; long hovered in the charmed vicinity of the enchanted group; and finally valiantly gave up the ghost fighting two English frigates in the harbor of Valparaiso. Mention is made of her here for the same reason that the buccaneers will likewise receive record; because, like them. by long cruising among the isles, tortoisehunting upon their shores, and generally exploring them; for these and other reasons, the Essex is peculiarly associated with the Encantadas.

Here be it said that you have but three eye-witness authorities worth men