calls A Stage-Coach Discomfiture,' the gist of which we embrace in the following. He was in a stage-coach, riding out of New-Bedford with a beautiful young lady, whom he had met before in the town, and was expatiating to her upon the beauty of the surrounding scenery, the distant view of the green-blue ocean, sprinkled with white gleaming sails, and so forth. It is very beautiful, is it not?' asked our enthusiastic friend. Yes,' was the reply; New-Bedford is a pretty place- but ile is miserable cheap there now!' Has it been any of our readers' good for ་ tune to peruse in The Sun' newspaper a correspondence, in relation to the Mexican war, between two scribblers signing themselvesUPERMAKOS' and 'CARACTACUS?" More precious bombast, a grandiloquence more thoroughly Chinese, we never encountered. But hear the deliberative, thoughtful, ever-studious CARACTACUS,' as he modestly styles himself: UPERMAKOS knows not CARACTACUS. It has been said of him that he in feature a faint resemblance bears to the distinguished and greatest citizen that has ever yet smiled benevolence in the country now known as the United States of America. If any virtue is discoverable then in feature, or if character is, as some say it is, depicted in the features; if UPERMAKOS reveres the noble WASHINGTON, he will be so obliging as to coudescend to believe that CARACTACUS could not mean, and does not intend, to dot a syllable that is not clothed in the language of Truth's idolized dignity. Such being the intent of CARACTACUS, he hopes the intelligent UPERMAKOS will pause, and coolly and deliberately, not hastily, passionately or revengefully, nor even with a desire to excel in fanciful imagery, or inuendo, weigh the pith of his expressions. CARACTACUS, humble as true dignity ought to be, never proposed to battle with UPERMAKOs for the rights of Mexico. CARACTACUS perceives a treaty is opposed to that of his. Be it so. It is in the Sun, and perhaps in a few days CARACTACUS may carelessly run his eye down the items of it. For the present however he is under the reluctant necessity to check that which appears to him to be a childish effort in UPERMAKOS to supplant in a day a document which CARACTACUS has deliberated upon for now nearly two years.' ... And so forth and so on.' It would be amusing, we have no doubt, to compare all this magniloquence with the personnel of the writer; a small, seedy individual, let us suppose him, coming out from a porter-house, with a reddish face. W. H. and G. T. A.' shall hear from us soon by letter. Thanks to 'R. H.' for his kind words and grateful reminiscences; and a thousand thanks (and acceptance bounteous') to the kind UNKNOWN, who has made us happy with a munificent present, all the way from' Alexandria, Va. Would that we could thank him by name for his beautiful gift!NED BUNTLINE,' whose brief and graphic stories in this Magazine have made him so widely and favorably known, has in the Boston press a novel entitled The Last Days of Callao, or the Doomed City of Sin.' He has laid himself out' upon it, and we cannot doubt that it will prove a tale of more than common interest. Another from his pen, called 'The Virgin of the Sun, a Romance of Peru,' will speedily follow the first. A VERY subtle thing is good taste, and very sure are the possessors of it of being well rewarded. In reading the beautiful catalogue of Messrs. TIFFANY AND YOUNG; in going through their establishment, filled to repletion with articles of taste and vertu, in every variety of richness and beauty; we were reminded of that quality in the purveyors of that vast collection, which is as distinct, and almost as rare, as true genius; a refined, delicate, appreciative good taste. But we are only saying what every town-reader knows already.・・・ THE letter of a friend in Florida, written by an open window, looking out upon orangetrees loaded with blooms and fruit,' was read by us when 'drumlie Winter, dark and drear,' was giving Gotham his first embrace, and the wind, like a spiteful grimalkin, was 'yowling' in fitful gusts around our silent sanctum. This is a great country,' past all denial ! .. SOME scandal-monger at Washington has given forth that he heard the lady of a United States' Senator say, in speaking to her physician of a female friend of hers, that she was dreadfully afflicted; she was so lame that she could neither lay nor sit.' The Doctor suggested roosting' as being, perhaps, under the circumstances, the best substitute for the wished-for repose. A VERY 6 vague remark in our Georgia correspondent's letter, (' E. D.,') reminds us of the reply of a negro, who being about to be despatched on an errand, was asked if he knew where Saint PAUL'S church was. E'yah! yah! yah!' he cachinnated; I wish I had as many dollars as I know where Saint PAUL'S church is! It was n't quite settled how much this would give him! WE are out in sufficient time to call the attention of our metropolitan new-year-present-giving readers to the rare books, engravings, etc., which Messrs. CooLey, Keese and HILL, at the corner of Dey-street and Broadway, are every evening holding up to the view of an admiring public.' Call, and test whether these things be so.' ... 'DID you know Doctor WEIR?" asked an inquisitive gentleman in one of the Philadelphia cars, of a Northampton county Dutchman. 'Doctor VEER?' he replied; well den, yaäs, I know'd him a little. I seen him once-t. We was on dat shteam-poat vat vash plow'd up mit te p'iler bu'stin' by Pittsburgh dere; and w'en I vash goin' on de shore by de plank, he and de shmoke-pipe vash comin' down. I never seen him pefore nor since!' THE voluminous proceedings of The Saint Nicholas Society leave us very little space; but we must say a word or two concerning a couple of pictures we have lately enjoyed. The first is Mr. PowELL's Columbus, in his Interview with Cardinal Fonesca. It is a composition of great excellence in its conception, and in its execution truly admirable; and it has greatly raised our estimate of the young and gifted artist's genius. The figure and countenance of the great COLUMBUS, of the dignified yet haughty Cardinal, and of the Bishop of Brugos, leave nothing to be desired; while other and less prominent figures are in good keeping with these, and with the sentiment of the scene; while the architectural and other accessories are equally felicitous. But as we shall have more to say of this elaborate painting hereafter, we leave it for the present, to say a single word of HARVEY's 'View from the Kaatskill Mountain-House.' Imagine yourself on the spot, with the whole diversified radius which it commands spread out before you, and you have the picture. It is perfectly magical. The extent, the atmosphere, the shades of coloring, broad or minute; the objects, mountain, river, village, forest-clump, parti-colored fields, winding roads — all are there, and all are to the life. It is a triumph of art, of which Mr. HARVEY may well be proud. . . We do n't usually meddle with polemical matters, and have taken no part in the 'High' or 'Low Church' question; but are inclined in this connection to ask whether the Episcopal Floating Chapels' on the East and North rivers are not 'High' or 'Low' churches, according to the state of the tide? And speaking of tides, we have another query, of a scientific character, to propound. There is a man on the south side of Long-Island, a man the periphery of whose aldermanic 'corporation' is a marvel to strangers, who lives almost wholly upon the hydraulic clams' of that region, which are so proverbially 'happy' at high water. So great is the affinity of his gastric demands with the sea, that it is a well-attested fact in the neighborhood that his belly rises and falls with the tide. There is more in this than meets the eye, if Philosophy could but find it out.' We give in this number an unusually large amount of matter; yet we leave out, and with much regret, four pages of gossipry, already in type; embracing, among other things, a notice of our friend Prof. Hows's Shaksperian Readings,' which every body should hear; of the 'Croton Filter,' an important and almost indispensable domestic improvement; a record of the Complimentary Dinner to Professor Mapes; two theatrical notices; several notices of new books, pictorial journals, literary addresses, etc.; together with a programme of articles accepted, on file for insertion, or under consideration. Of these anon.' ... LITERARY RECORD.-Here are four very interesting works, from the old-established house of STANFORD AND SWORDS, Number 139 Broadway. They are; 'Recantation, or the Confessions of a Convert to Romanism,' a tale of domestic and religious life in Italy, edited by the Rev. WILLIAM INGRAHAM KIP, author of The Christmas Holidays in Rome,' etc. The book is a reprint from the London edition; and to the authenticity of the interesting scenes and conversations described and recorded by the writer, (who was long a resident in Tuscany and the Papal States,) the American editor bears his unhesitating testimony. The volume is replete with interest. Scarcely less attractive is the handsome reprint of an English work by the popular author of 'Lady MARY,' and 'Records of a Good Man's Life,' Rev. CHARLES B. Taylor, M. A., entitled 'Margaret, or the Pearl' Full of natural incident, and simple and pleasing in style, its popularity may be safely predicted. SPENCER'S History of the Reformation in England,' from the same press, is a work which exhibits great exactness and precision in regard to the facts and circumstances connected with the English Reformation. The author has consulted all available authorities to verify his statements, and claims to have been strictly just and fair toward all persons and parties. 'Sword's Pocket Almanac for 1847' is published. It is a Vade Mecum for all churchmen; containing as it does a list of the clergy in each diocess of the Union, with an alphabetical list of the same; together with all the requisite statistics of the Episcopal Church in the United States. ・・・ AGAIN do the Messrs. APPLETONS 'open rich' in the matter of books, They have sent us 'The Complete Works of Thomas Campbell,' with a Memoir of his Life, and an Essay on his Genius and Writings, beautifully printed and superbly illustrated with fine steel engravings; The Rose,' a pretty annual, of long standing, and popular, with charming matter and pictures; Prof. FROST's 'Book of Anecdotes,' profusely illustrated with cuts, and teaching the moral of history by real examples; 'Graham's English Synonymes,' the best work of its class we have ever encountered, and indispensable to every good writer: with' Arnold's Practical Introduction to Greek Prose Composition,' from the fifth London edition; a practical fact, which leaves nothing to be said in favor of the work.・・・ MESSRS. WILEY AND PUTNAM's publications, which we regret we have present space only to indicate, are, in their 'Library of Choice Reading,' that delightful book of IZAAK WALTON's, containing the Lives of Wotton, Hooker, Herbert and Sanderson;' a pretty Christmas annual, liberally illustrated, and embodying Glimpses of the Wonderful throughout the World ;' and The Works of Richard Baxter,' including his celebrated 'Call to the Unconverted.'. FROM the BROTHERS HARPERS we have 'Beauchamp,' a new novel by JAMES; and in the very first chapter the old identical 'dark-complexioned horseman' that might have been seen' by any person who has read any one of his last twenty novels; a continuation of the admirable Pictorial History of England;' two clever volumes by Prof. FROST, containing the 'Beauties of French and English History;' and Dr. HOOPER's Physician's Vade-Mecum, or Manual of the Principles and Practice of Physic,' an enlarged and improved edition. ・・・ THREE handsome volumes, containing 'The Sisters of Charity' and ‘Julia Ormond,' have appeared from the press of Mr. EDWARD DUNNIGAN, in Fulton-street. They form the first issues of his 'Home Library,' a series that promises exceedingly well.・・・ MESSRS. BARTLETT AND WELFORD, Number 7 Astor-House, have just published a catalogue of illustrated books, embracing works the extent and splendor of which surpass any thing we have ever seen of the kind; and we think few of our readers are aware to what beauty and luxury the typographic art has been carried. In the collection is a copy of MACKLIN's edition of the Bible, which is truly a magnificent work. It fills six very large folio volumes, and is printed in a type large enough to be read across a room, and is unencumbered by either note or comment. Fine line-engravings are interspersed in the text, and the binding, in blue morocco, is of the most sumptuous description. This great book was published by subscription at seventy pounds sterling, or three hundred and sixty dollars, unbound. They have also DANIEL'S 'Oriental Scenery,' in six volumes, 'elephant-folio,' containing one hundred and eighty exquisitely-colored engravings, exhibiting the gorgeous scenery of the East. In this work are views of the stupendous temples of India; the temples, palaces and ruins of ancient Delhi; the gorgeous and beautiful picturesque mosques of the Mohammedan dynasties, and the works which have originated with their present rulers, the English; with many other books, of equal and even more rare attraction. MESSRS. WILEY AND PUTNAM will immediately publish, Mrs. Jameson's Characteristics of Women,' with twelve elegant steel plate engravings; Tschudi's Travels in Peru,' a new and highly interesting volume on that almost unknown region; Spencer's Fairy Queen,' edited by Mrs. KIRKLAND; Chaucer, his Life and Poetry;' 'Supernaturalism in New-England,' by J. G. WHITTIER; Songs and Ballads by Samuel Lover,' an entirely new edition, revised by the author; with Izaak Walton's Angler,' Sketches from Flemish Life,' etc., etc. ART. I. THE ENTHUSIAST. BY L. WARD SMITH, ESQ., II. STANZAS: MONTEREY. BY J. HONEYWELL, III. THE TWO BROTHERS OF CHINA: A TALE. BY S. JULIEN, V. THE SEXTON OF TIME. BY W. H. C. HOSMER, ESQ., VI. THE BRAZILIAN NEGRESSES. BY HARRO-HARRING, VII. SONNET: COLERIDGE'S GENEVIEVE, VIII. A MEMORY IN THE DESERT. BY MRS. M. E. Hewitt, IX. THE EGYPTIAN LETTERS. NUMBER FOUR, X. DEATH OF THE YOUNG: A FATHER'S LAMENT, XI. MODERN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS: IN A LETTER TO THE EDITOR, XIII. 'WE ARE ALL FOR THE GRAVE.' BY J. CLEMENT, . XIV. THE SPY OF THE MOHAWK. BY HON. WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL, LITERARY NOTICES: 1. THE NEW TIMON: A ROMANCE OF LONDON, 171 2. THE NORTH-AMERICAN REVIEW FOR THE JANUARY QUARTER, 3. A LECTURE ON AMERICAN PROGRESS. BY GAMALIEL BAILEY, JR., . 4. THE ADOPTED SON: A HISTORICAL NOVEL. TRANSLATED FROM THE DUTCH, 173 EDITOR'S TABLE: 1. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE KINGDOM OF POETRY, . 172 .174 2. THE BATTLE OF THE WINES: A RELIC OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, 176 3. NAVAL SKETCHES: SCENES IN HAVANA,. . . . 4. GOSSIP WITH READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS, 178 180 1. 'LO HERE! AND LO THERE! AND THE SHAKERS: AN EXPOSTULATORY EPISTLE, NOTICE. COUNTRY SUBSCRIBERS who are in arrears should recollect to make returns for what we send them. Remittances to be made to JOHN ALLEN, 139 Nassau-street, New-York. MR. T. P. WILLIAMS is our Agent to receive the names of Subscribers in the West and South. terested in the circulation of this facilitating his designs. Editors and others kindly inMagazine, will oblige us by O. D. DAVIS and JOHN STOUGHTON, Jr., are canvassing for subscribers to this work in the state of New-York. Entered, according to the act of Congress, in the year 1846, In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York. |
