OUR BOSTON LETTER. Stereoscope-Southworth and Hawes-Normal Schools-Engravings-Landing of the Pilgrims-Water Color Paintings-Dr. Cotting on Consumption-Literary Notices-Lectures.

IN no one of the arts has there been a more rapid advance than in that of photography. One beautiful discovery after another has brought it to a very high degree of perfection, and fairly placed the sun in lively competition with art in the work of portrait and landscape taking. Of late the daguerreian art has been most happily applied to the illustration of an interesting optical discovery, made by Professor Wheatstone, styled the stereoscope. It is evident, that with our double vision, while one image is made upon the retina, we take in more of the object than would be visible with but one eye. The stereoscope is arranged with reference to this fact. Two pictures are taken from a different point of view, some two and one half inches to the right or left of each other-this being the distance between the eyes-and the two views are made to produce a single impression, not as seen in the picture, but as scen in nature, standing out from the background, and by a perfect optical illusion presenting the appearance of a solid body or of statuary. Such was the stereoscope. A practical difficulty was however discovered in the operation of this instrument; for while it brought the picture out from the background, it did not always preserve a correct relation of the parts. It would give a perfect view of all objects in the same plane, while other portions would appear out of drawing, too far forward, or behind, distorting the image. By the natural vision this discrepancy is corrected by changing the position, by a vertical notion of the eye, or by the habit of comparison. applying this beautiful discovery to daguerreian pictures this discrepancy became peculiarly apparent, and presented an interesting optical problem for study and solution.

In

Messrs. Southworth & Hawes, who rank among the first of our artists in this branch of the profession, and who are besides gentlemen of liberal scholarship, having become interested in stereoscopic experiments, and continually oppressed with this practical difficulty, simultaneously fell upon the discovery of the cause. It occurred to them that in forming an image of an object we not only received an impression through both eyes, but corrected this impression by a vertical motion. They therefore took the second picture for the stereoscope, not only two inches to the right of the other, but raised two inches out of the plane of the other. This experiment proved perfectly successful; the image not only, at once, became statuesque, but remained correct in drawing, every part preserving its proper perspective. This discovery of the stereoscopic angle, or angle of vision, the ingenious discoverers have made their own, in its practical application, by letters patent, taken out both in England and in this country. In addition to this they have invented an admirable portable case, for the exhibition of the pictures; and by the happy adjustment of reflectors and the use of a magnifying glass, with the most perfect harmony, the double pictures, of the size of life, become one; and all the effect of a room of statuary is produced, as one representation after another passes before the eye. By a simple form of mechanism, fifty or more double daguerreotypes are arranged in the box, and, by the movements of one or two levers, turned by a small wheel, the pictures are made to glide noiselessly before the eye. For this apparatus, also, a patent has been taken; and the proprietors are prepared to supply purchasers of the instrument with all the necessary appliances for a successful and beautiful exhibition. For academies, for public or private exhibitions, and even for families, a more delightful and instructive entertainment could not be secured than that afforded by this admirable optical panorama.

Normal schools sustained by the state for the education of teachers have become established institutions in Massachusetts, and are providing annually an increasing class of well-trained female teachers for our primary and grammar schools. There are now four in operation in the state under accomplished instructors, and a wide and promising field for the development of the mental activity and for honorable toil is open by them before the intelligent young females of our commonwealth. The city of Boston has followed the example of the state, and among her schools has established a Normal School for girls, in which, out of her own "raw material," she may provide herself with the best trained and most accomplished assistants and teachers for her schools.

A noble edifice, costing $11,000, exclusive of the land and furniture, has just been finished and dedicated for a State Normal School in Salem, Mass. The mayor of the city, in his address at the opening services, claimed for Salem the discovery of "free schoolism." Within some eight or ten years after its settlement, the selectmen of the town voted that in all cases where the parent was unable to pay for his children to go to school, the deficiency should be made up by the public tax. This the mayor considered the germ of the great idea of the public school system. Professor Felton, of Cambridge, gave the young ladies assembled upon the occasion such wholesome advice as, it is hoped, will not soon be forgotten. He warned them against the iron rule of fashion, urging them not to neglect their physical systems. Speaking of the tyranny of dress, he gave a mortal thrust at the bonnets of the day. He said that an eminent medical gentleman in Essex County recently told him, that since the present fashion of bonnets, his call to attend cases of ophthalmia had increased five hundred per cent., and he had found them the most difficult that he had ever managed. He stated, also, that he had found one young woman willing to follow his prescription, which was either to wear a bonnet which could protect the eyes from the perpendicular effect of the light, or else to wear green goggles-she chose the green goggles!

One cannot but be struck with the change going on in the public taste in reference to the pictorial art. It is but a late event that fine engravings of the best paintings in oil have been multiplied and offered at prices which bring them within the means of persons of limited fortunes. A good painting is too expensive for ordinary buyers, but copies of the finest works of art, old and new, admirably engraved, are fast finding their way to this country from the full portfolios of England and Continental Europe. These splendid pictures are crowding the indifferent paintings from public and private walls, and creating a more correct taste in the community. Mr. Parker, whose windows on Cornhill are standing temptations to all the passers-by, and whose rooms are thronged with admiring visitors, is continually adding rich importations of large and rare pictures from Europe to his stock. He has just received Simmons's admirable engraving of Lucy's great painting of the Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers The picture is a volume in itself, eloquently, although silently, reciting the solemn and sublime events of that memorable disembarkation. Every figure is a distinct character, and the whole group seems translated into life and to be again enacting before you the very scenes its pictorial presentation records. It will be both an ornament and a teacher of art and piety in any dwellings which it may adorn. Special attention has been given, of late, to painting in water colors in Europe. An artist friend, who has just returned from England, assures us that the finest paintings he ever looked upon are of this description, and galleries are filling up with them. They are said to be exceedingly rich in coloring, and to retain their delicacy and distinctness longer than paintings on canvass. Mr. Parker has taken measures to provide our amateurs with an opportunity for a personal inspection of these new experiments in art.

Of late, highly interesting examinations have been conducted and are still in progress in this vicinity, in reference to consumption, the scourge of our northern climate, and the angel of death that most often spreads its wings over our firesides. Dr. Cotting, the accomplished curator of the Lowell Institute, has published the results of his observations in the city of Roxbury, where he has been for years a successful and respected practitioner. Some of his conclusions, amply sustained by statistics, are at variance with the preconceptions of the public, both professional and unprofessional. As to change of climate, he says: "Nor have we from these cases any assurance that a change of climate has been of decided benefit to individuals. Some of them sought relief within the tropics; some westward; some northward. But they all failed in obtaining the desired end; and some, after privations whose recital makes even the stranger's heart to ache, have expired far from country, kindred, and home." Of cod-liver oil, so many gallons of which, horrible as it is to swallow, poor sufferers are painfully attempting to force down their stomachs, the doctor says: "In some cases it seemed to be assimilated, and to furnish a deposit of fat and corporeal volume, greatly to the encouragement of the patient; but in the larger portion it deranged the digestive organs, created nausea, and impaired the appetite. A few seemed to thrive under its administration; but an exploration of the lungs showed that the amendment

was only apparent and partial. So far as a truly impartial endeavor could discern, its only useful purpose was an article of food in the few cases where any benefit seemed to be derived from it. In no single instance could an absolute arrest of the disease, for even a limited time, be unmistakably attributed to the effects of the oil. A strong argument for its uselessness as a remedy to prevent the development of consumption may be found in the fact that the ratio of deaths from that disease to the whole number from all causes among us, where more oil has been taken than perhaps in any other locality, has increased during the period of the greatest devouring of the oil from one in six to one in five." His hygienic suggestions are worthy of consideration. “Clothing, food, and exercise," he says, "must receive the chief attention. Clothing, warin, woolen, and to an amount rarely worn in this region, summer as well as winter; food, generous, nutritious, including meat from fatted animals, and not unfrequently stimulants; exercise, in the open air, both active and passive, every day, wet or dry, in storm or shine, winter or summer. The winds and storms, if sufficiently guarded against by abundant and suitable clothing, (even the muchabused east winds,) can be more safely encountered than physicians have always been willing to admit. There is seldom a day throughout the year when, if suitable for the well, it may not be better for consumptives, at least in the incipient stages of the disease, to take the air, than to remain within doors."

Dr. Wayland, of Brown's University, is now carrying through the press of Phillips, Sampson & Co., a "Treatise upon Mental Philosophy," a digest of his class lectures upon this science. It will make a stout duodecimo of five hundred pages; and coming from one whose volumes upon moral and political philosophy have been so successful, it will undoubtedly be received with favor, both by academic and general students.

Jacob Abbott, who has been upon a tour in Europe, is engaged upon an interesting series of juveniles, which are finely published by Reynolds & Co. There are to be six volumes of travels in Europe: Switzerland is just out, and London, Scotland, and the Rhine will follow in course. The volumes are beautifully illus trated, and written in the charming and instructive style of the author. We saw one of our New England governors, lately returned from a European tour, quite absorbed in the volume upon Paris, while traveling in a railway car, a short time since.

Ten volumes of Dr. Cumming's works have been published by Jewett & Co. The sale is very large, which certainly is a hopeful sign of the times, as these books are eminently Scriptural and evangelical. The nine exegetical volumes will be published in handsome, uniform bindings, and inclosed in a case, to be offered as a series for presents during the holidays. A beautiful and a wholesome gift, indeed, will they

make.

In the next edition of the Plurality of Worlds, the publishers will append the answer which has been prepared by its author to the objections which have been advanced in the leading reviews to his theory. The answer will also be published separately for the benefit of those who have purchased the first edition. Gould & Lincoln, who publish the above, will also soon issue a didactic work which has been well received in England, entitled "Christianity_viewed in some of its Leading Aspects," by A. P. J. Foote, author of Incidents in the Life of the Saviour. The author of that very popular book for boys, called Clinton, has in their press another volume for the same lively readers, to be styled "Oscar."

The seventh and eighth volumes of "Lingard's History of England" have been delivered to the trade by Phillips, Sampson & Co.

Messrs. Ticknor & Fields, who have taken the poets of the nineteenth century under their special care, have just introduced a new aspirant to the public attention. At the opening of the great theater in Boston, a few weeks since, upon unsealing the envelop containing the name of the successful competitor for the prize poem, spoken on the occasion, Thomas W. Parsons was announced as the author. His collected poems, forming a handsome volume of the serial size published by this house, fully justify the honor of print and binding with which they have become embodied. In the same neat style of publication, Whittier presents his prose articles, contributed from time to time to the public prints, to his numerous readers. They are perennial flowers preserving their verdure and fragrance unaffected by time. No one

will blame him for arresting these fugitives and binding them to perpetual service. They also announce a new and enlarged edition of "Mosses from an Old Manse," by Nathaniel Hawthorne; "Meinorable Women," by Mrs. Newton Crosland; and "Illustrations of Genius, in some of its Relations to Culture and Society," by Henry Giles.

Munroe & Co. will soon issue "Will's Chemistry;" it being a translation from the German of Professor Will, of the University of Giessen. The translation is by Daniel Breed, M. D., of the United States Patent Office, and Dr. Skinner, of the Washington Medical College. It will form an octavo volume. They will also publish at an early date a revised and abridged edition of "Stewart's Philosophy, with Critical and Explanatory Notes," by Francis Bowen, Professor of Moral Philosophy in Harvard University. This will form a large 12mo. of five hundred pages.

Jenks, Hickling & Sloan are bringing rapidly through their press a new and revised edition of the "History of Greece," by William Smith, LL. D., editor of the Dictionary of Roman Antiquities, &c. This edition is issued under the editorial supervision of Professor Felton of Harvard University, and will contain copious notes illustrative of the text. The accomplished editor will also append an additional chapter upon the Modern History and Present Condition of Greece. Having lately returned from the scenes of classic story, the professor will be enabled to give special interest and value to this standard work. Weber's Outlines of Universal History, by the same publishers, revised and improved by Francis Bowen, of Harvard College, is taking its place in the English department of most of our New-England Colleges and higher academies. It is at the head of compendious histories of the world.

Crosby & Nichols have in press a "Commentary on Romans," by Rev. A. A. Livermore; "The Belief of the first three Centuries concerning Christ's Mission to the Underworld," by Frederick Huidekoper; "The Life and Character of Rev. Sylvester Judd;" "The Works of Ann Letitia Barbauld, with a Memoir."

Bancroft will issue very soon, through the press of Little, Brown & Co., the sixth volume of his "History." The beautiful Aldini edition of the Poets, published by this house, increases by continued additions, and we learn the enterprise is generously sustained by the reading community. The last volumes contain the poems of Akenside, Parnell, Tickell, and Gay, in two volumes.

With all the attractions presented by the theater and opera, for the use of which immense sums have been expended during the last season, the lecture still promises to be the great feature of the winter's entertainment. Several literary and scientific courses are already announced, and the first talent in the country has been secured to sustain them. There will be four or five gratuitous courses before the Lowell Lyceum; the first of which is to be given by Professor Felton, with Modern Greece for his subject. The Mercantile Library will present its usual brilliant array of literary names, and crowd the temple with its immense audiences. The Transcript says that "one of our most popular speakers informs us, that within six weeks he has declined upward of forty invitations to deliver lectures. Another of our friends, who appeared before several societies in this vicinity last winter, declined one hundred and ninety invitations to repeat his lectures. Several of our well-known lecturers spoke upon upward of fifty nights last winter, and a few of the speakers most in demand lectured from eighty to a hundred times during the season. One of the most popular lecturers of the country traveled upward of ten thousand miles last winter, and addressed upward of ninety thousand people. For a hundred days, he averaged a hundred miles of travel a day, in order to meet his engagements. A friend, who is an eloquent extemporaneous speaker, informed us, that he had received nearly a thousand dollars for a single lecture, and the subject had so expanded upon his hands, that although he never spoke beyond an hour, he had material enough to occupy three hours upon the theme, and yet he had never written out a word of the lecture!" The Anti-Slavery Society will secure the delivery of a course of lectures upon topics peculiarly adapted to the times; and two courses of Sabbath evening sermons will be preached before the Christian Associations of young men.

This is the day of free speech, and every man that has the "pen of a ready writer finds an appreciating audience. There will be considerable license in all this freedom of address; but truth is omnipotent, and God is at the helm! B. K. P.

The Gentile Nations-A Plea for Infant Baptism Stories of the Norsemen-Kenneth Forbes--Bohn's Series Jay's Morning and Evening Exercises Life of Carvosso-Firmilian; or, the Student of Badajos-Fitzherald; or, the Temptation-The Better Land; or, the Believer's Journey and Future Home-Grandpierre's Glance at America-Sunday School Hymn Book-Fowlers and Wells' AlmanacsThe Living World-The Religious Denominations in the United States-The Scout-Nautical Maga

zine and Commercial Review--Heroines of History -Milton's Works-Goldsmith's Poems and Essays. MESSRS. CARLTON & PHILLIPS, New-York, have issued the third and concluding part of Smith's "Sacred Annals." It is entitled The Gentile Nations, and forms a stout octavo of more than six hundred and sixty pages. The preceding works of the series have enabled the reading public to estimate its merits, and, bating the defects of the author's style and some rather startling but plausible original hypotheses, these three publications must be admitted to be among the most substantial issues of our theological literature for the last ten years. The chief characteristics of the present volume are, that it first sketches skillfully the religious history of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Second, it comprises the important results of the late Egyptian, Persian, and Assyrian researchesan invaluable advantage. Third, it forms a complete connection of sacred and profane history. The publishers have got up the work in excellent style; it reminds us of the better class of English publications.

We are indebted to the same publishers for A Plea for Infant Baptism, by the Rev. Moses Hill-a very small volume but comprising an unusual amount of argument. Mr. Hill defines elaborately the relation of the Abrahamic covenant to the Christian dispensation, and makes the continuation of the former into the latter the basis of his argument, insisting that the facts and words of Scripture relating to his subject are to be viewed in the light of this hypotheses, and that, thus viewed, "they all speak with a clearness for infant baptism which cannot be misunderstood." We recommend this brief essay to all parties on the question, as among the ablest extant.

Two juvenile volumes have been sent us by the same house, Stories of the Norsemen and Kenneth Forbes: the former is a series of biographical pictures, taken from the history of the Norwegian invasions of England-the latter a little tale showing fourteen modes of Scripture instruction, as exemplified by a Christian mother, and including no insignificant amount of Biblical criticism. The mechanical style of these books is worthy of special commendation. The cuts are numerous and unusually fine.

Four more volumes of Bohn's unrivaled series lie on our table, through the courtesy of Messrs. Bangs & Brothers, the American agents. The first two comprise the History of Magic, by Ennernoser, a German, who has almost exhausted the fertile subject. They have been translated by William Howitt, and edited by his amiable wife, Mary Howitt, both of whom

We have repeatedly referred to Bohn's serial publications as unquestionably the best and cheapest ever attempted by the English press. Our estimate of them is confirmed by every new number. They are edited with great care, are mostly standards, and their typography is liberal and even elegant.

Carter & Brothers, New-York, have issued a complete edition of Jay's Morning and Evening Exercises, in four volumes-one for each season. This work is a classic in our devotional literature, too well known to need a word of commendation. We only remark that its mechanical style is very neat, the paper good, the type large, and the binding substantial.

Robert Hall says that he sought invigoration for his spiritual nature in the biographies of Wesleyan Methodism. One of the very best of these is the Life of Carvosso, a remarkable personal demonstration of the power and uses of faith. A translation of it, in the Swedish language, lies upon our table, got out by the Methodist Tract Society, from the press of Carlton & Phillips, New-York. It is one of the neatest issues of these superior publishers. They have also the English edition in various styles.

No recent work has produced a greater sensation in England than Firmilian; or, the Student of Badajos. A spasmodic tragedy, by F. Percy Jones. It is attributed to Professor

Aytoun of Blackwood's Magazine, and its design, though somewhat ambiguous, is to parody and satirize the new spasmodic school of English writers, as exemplified in Carlyle, Gilfillan, Tennyson, Alexander Smith, Bailey, and Dobell, particularly in the Balder of the latter. The story is well conducted, the imagery brilliant and daring, the versification remarkably successful, and the satire keen but delicate. The satirist, in fine, excels the whole poetic tribe which he chastises, and affords a decisive proof of the facility with which the pseudo poetry of the day can be produced, and of its consequent vapidness, notwithstanding its af

fectation of vitality and intensity. Redfield has issued an excellent American edition.

A very entertaining story has been published by Carter & Brothers, bearing the title of Fitzherald; or, the Temptation. It is a translation from the German with emendations, and its

lesson, most impressively presented, is that neither innate principle, nor careful training, can enable the heart to withstand temptation without the observance of the Scripture precept, “Watch and pray." This house is deservedly noted for the substantial worth and elegance of its publications. Its juvenile books especially appeal, as all such works should, to the eye of the reader; the present volume is really beautiful in all respects.

Gould & Lincoln, Boston, have published a work entitled The Better Land; or, The Believer's Journey and Future Home-a tribute from the pen of Rev. Mr. Thompson, of Roxbury, Mass., to his people, on leaving them for Europe. After some delightful essays on the " passage," "way-marks," &c., of the way, the mass of the volume is made up of dissertations on the recognition of friends in heaven, children in heaven, beauty of angels, activity in heaven, the resurrection body, &c. The book is replete with good and consoling thoughts.

The same publishers have issued a translation of Rev. Mr. Grandpierre's Glance at America. Mr. Grandpierre is a distinguished French Protestant clergyman: he traveled in this country lately, and writes in these pages the impressions of his visit: they relate mostly to our religious and educational interests, and are very complimentary, though somewhat meager. He writes for his own countrymen, not for us, and his book has little interest for American readers.

One of the very best Sunday School Hymn Books which has come under our eye is a compilation edited by Rev. Dr. Kidder, and recently published by Carlton & Phillips. The hymns are numerous and well classified; they are not too long; there is little or none of that pettyism with which children's books are often and wretchedly spoiled, and which in poetry begets a taste for doggerel. It provides for all possible occasions, and is a fine model book of the kind.

Fowlers & Wells are already out with their Almanacs-Hydropathic and Phrenologicalfor 1855. These annuals are always replete with valuable information on various subjects, as well as peculiar information on their special topics.

The Living World, is the title of a monthly periodical, edited by E. D. Babbitt and C. T. Morse, and published in New-York, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. It is arranged on a new and comprehensive plan, consisting of the very cream of the news and statistics of commerce, education, religion; literature, the fine arts, inventions, and discoveries. Each number contains sixteen long pages, or forty-eight columns, being of the size of the usual dollar works, while its terms are only fifty cents a year. It is cheap enough for the million, and elegant enough for the choice few.

Potter, Philadelphia, has issued a large octavo of more than a thousand pages, entitled The Religious Denominations in the United States, from the pen of Rev. Dr. Belcher. It gives the usual outlines of denominational government and creeds, and also a preliminary sketch of Judaism, Paganism, and Mohammedanism. A large portion of the work is made up of such anecdotes and general and miscellaneous matter as will render it readable among the people, while detracting perhaps from the favorable estimate of critical readers. It is interspersed with a superabundance of pictures.

Redfield, New-York, continues the series of Simms's works. The last volume laid upon our table is The Scout. We have heretofore given our estimate of Simms's writings. The mechanical style of this edition is, like all Redfield's publications, substantial and elegant.

Griffiths & Bates, 79 John-street, have started a new magazine, to be devoted to nautical affairs: it is entitled the Nautical Magazine and Commercial Review. The first number is filled with valuable articles on its peculiar topics. The whole number makes a fine appearance, and begins bravely for these hard times, when so many periodicals are disappearing from the literary ranks.

Carlton & Phillips, New-York, have issued a really elegant reprint of Mrs. Owen's Heroines of History. It is an able defense of woman against those Voltarian satirists of the sex, who accuse it of possessing neither of the masculine attributes, "ideas nor beards ;" and consists of some of the most striking examples of female heroism in history. These examples are classified under the heads of "Jewish," "Classical," and "Modern Eras." They extend from Jael to Marie Antoinette. The engravings, eight in No house in number, are exceedingly fine. the United States excels Carlton & Phillips in wood illustrations.

Glorious John Milton would be only worthily bound in solid gold and precious gems; but as these decorations, however befitting, would make him inaccessible to ourself, and the rest of mankind, in these present hard times, we are glad to see Phillips & Sampson's beautiful edition of the blind old bard. The liberal type and fair paper of the present volumes will do much to prevent the poet's misfortune in any of his, we hope numerous, readers. The poems, including his great works, the miscellaneous ones and the sonnets, are prefaced by "Mitford's Life of Milton," with copious notes and A fine steel engraving of the poet ornaments the volumes.

addenda.

The same publishers have also issued, in similar style, Goldsmith's Poems and Essays, with "Aiken's Memoirs and Critical Dissertation on his Poetry," and an "Introductory Essay" by Tuckerman. Those of our readers who are about to purchase copies of these English classics, cannot supply themselves with more admirable editions at the same expense. There are now several rival editions of the series of British poets issuing in both this country and England -none of them excel that of Phillips & Sampson in mechanical excellence.

English copyright and American Authors-De Quincey -Gray's Elegy-Rev. Mr. Rule's Historical WorksAcademy of Inscriptions-Thiers-Dr. Akers-Cardinal Wiseman on the Corruptions of Popular Literature Madame George Sand - Ancient Price of Books-Literary Labor-Wisconsin School FundPopular Education in the United States.

THE decision of the House of Lords on foreign copy-right, giving to American works in England only the same advantages which English writers have in this country, and establishing the same rule in regard to all countries, has had noticeable effect on the London trade. We learn from the London Literary Gazette, that in regard to foreign music, on which the question latterly arose, a reduction of price by one-half is announced. Messrs. Boosey and Sons have issued a catalogue of the principal works affected by the decision, including some of the most popular operas of the day. In general literature, the activity of republishers is chiefly shown in regard to American books. Mrs. Stowe's

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Sunny Memories" had recently appeared in two formidable volumes, Messrs. Low and Co. counting on the absence of rival editions, as sole possessors of the copyright in England. As soon as it was known that the exclusive property could not be validly held, the publishers had to announce an edition at eighteenpence, with sixty illustrations, to meet the rivalry of Messrs. Routledge, who announced a cheap edition of the book. Other publishers have since printed still cheaper copies, and we observe an issue commenced, to be completed in six penny numbers. Of more important

American works, such as those of Prescott and Bancroft, the removal of the restrictions on reprinting involves more serious injury to the publishers who had made arrangements with the authors. Mr. Bentley is the chief holder of the now valueless English copyright of this higher class of American literature. Thus, then, for want of an honest copyright law, our authors are to suffer both at home and abroad -the genius of the country is to be sacrificed to the cupidity of its publishers.

The veteran De Quincey, after being neglected by his own country for years, finding consolation meanwhile in "feeding on the daintiness of his own thought," and albeit on opium too, is fast becoming a "living classic"-thanks to the appreciation of American publishers. The English monthlies and quarterlies begin to abound in critiques upon him. He seems yet to be in good vigor. A late writer describes him as one of the smallest-legged, smallestbodied, most attenuated effigies of the human form divine that one could meet in a crowded city during a day's walk; and if one adds to this figure clothes neither fashionably cut nor fastidiously adjusted, he will have a tolerable idea of De Quincey's outer man. But his brow, that pushes his obtrusive hat to the back of his head, and his light gray eyes, that do not seem to look out, but to be turned inward, sounding the depths of his imagination, and searching out the mysteries of the most abstruse logic, are something that you would search a week to

find the mates to, and then you would be disappointed. De Quincey now resides at Lasswade, a romantic rural village, once the residence of Sir Walter Scott.

The original MS. of Gray's exquisite "Elegy ferred in our last number, has since been sold in a Country Church-yard," to which we refor one hundred and thirty-one pounds-thirtyone pounds more than Mr. Penn, of Stoke Pogis, gave for it, some ten years ago. The purchaser was not an autograph collector, not a dealer, not even a Yankee, not even an English nobleman. Will the reader believe it?-the purchaser was a poet, Mr. Robert Charles Wright

son, writer of the Fine Arts' contributions in Aris's Birmingham Gazette, and author of a volume of poems, entitled "The Trance." For Gray's poetical notes Mr. Wrightson paid down, says a London paper, proudly and at once, new and crisp Bank of England notes, with an air of well-justified delight, that he had become the possessor of the original MS. of one of the bestknown poems in the world; in short, that he was a person to be envied,

The Rev. William H. Rule, one of the editors of the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, and author of the "Brand of Dominic," has just got out a new work bearing the title of "The Third Crusade: Richard I., Cœur de Lion, King of England."

This is said to be the first volume of a series of historical subjects, which will comprehend many of the most eminent personages, and nearly all the leading events from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries down to the present time. Each volume will be a distinct original history; and the volumes, when completed, are intended to represent, consecutively and fully, the principal phases of social and religious progress from the barbaric age of the Crusades to that in which we live.

The French Academy of Inscriptions et Belles Lettres has printed an account of its literary operations during the first half of the present year. Among other things, it has brought out the second part of the twentieth volume of the collection of writings of foreign savans on erudite subjects; it has published another volume, the third, of the account of national antiquities; and it has made progress with the literary history of France, the collection of French historians, and the collection of historians of the Crusades, &c.

M. Thiers is occupying the leisure which ejection from political affairs affords him, in writing his book on Italy and the Fine Arts in the Sixteenth Century. M. Villemain is completing the second volume of his Souvenirs Contemporains," the first of which created great sensation in Europe. As to the less distinguished portion of the literary fraternity in Paris it is still doing nothing, and in consequence is still in frightful distress; but some of its more energetic members are trying to establish three or four partly literary partly satirical periodicals.