February yet 1868. NEW BOOKS.. We have before us a neatly printed (12mo.) volume of some three hundred pages from the house of James Miller, Broadway, entitled "Life of Maximilian I., late Emperor of Mexico, with a Sketch of the Empress Carlota, by Frederic Hall, one of His Majesty's Legal Advisers." Mr. Hall, if we are not mistaken, is a New Yorker and a prominent lawyer, late from California, and latest from Mexico, where he was engaged in the defence of Maximilian before the court martial which con. demned the unfortunate Emperor to death. Mr. Hail gays in his preface that it was not his purpose to give a history of the Mexican empire under Maximilian, "but to detail his personal qualities and actions, and to concisely state the facts and law pertaining to his trial; adding thereto a short biographical sketch of his affectionate and talented spouse, the Empress Carlota." The first chapter of the book, however, gives us a very interesting outline of the rise and development of the Austrian empire, and the genealogy of the House of Hapsburg down to the present time. Then follows a sketch of Maximilian, from which it appears that he was a most accomplished Prince, a man of a generous nature, a fine scholar, an industrious and extensive traveller, a learned statesman, a popular ruter and, under all circumstances, an amiable gentleman, a genuine Christian and brave as Julius Cæsar. Next we have a sketch of "Poor Carlota," in which her personal attrac tions, graces and accomplishments as a woman are represented as in perfect harmony with the suporior gifts of her imperial consort Then we have a graphic account of the Castle of Miramar (the splendid retreat of Maximilian on the Adriatic), and from that point his remarkable and romantic adventures and vicissitudes to his bloody death at Querétaro-a very interesting story from a writer whose heart was in his work. The illustrations (lithographs) of the book are a portrait of Maximilian in his imperial robes, the Empress Carlota, the Castle of Miramar (one of the very prettiest in itself and in its situation of all the royal palaces of Europe), and the place, with its three heaps of stones and crosses on the dreary hillside, where Maximilian, Miramon and Mejia were executed. We have seldom met with so small a volume so full of solid historical matter, or with its mass of facts so neatly woven into one of the most attractive stories of romance. 2338 312 |