SAILORS' PLEASURES.

I should think that before the time of Dibdin the British public had but little faith in the representation of Jack's pleasures when at sea. Dibdin was pensioned by Pitt to write what a son of the musician, in a memoir of him, calls 'War Songs." Men were wanted for ships, and the inspirations of the bard were courted and paid for to serve as an auxiliary to the pressgang. It was inevitable that Dibdin should heap every glowing colour he could think of upon his canvas. It was not Jack who was to be courted; he was already there. No sailor was to be seduced by Dibdin's strains. The tar knew the life too well to be fooled by rhymes referring almost wholly to lovely Nan and blushing Poll, to bowls of punch and endless forecastle jollifications, though he heartily admired the music to which these alluring and deceitful notions were set, and sang the songs as enthusiastically as if he believed in them. Dibdin wrote for landsmen, for the youth of the agricultural districts, for the frozen-out bricklayer, for the starving gardener, all of whom were to be transformed by the boatswain's rattan into very sturdy active mariners, quite equal to the duty of rolling up canvas and fighting for England, Home, and Beauty. The yokel, of course, would know nothing about the sea, and he was to be easily fascinated, as though he was some little schoolboy, by melodious invitations to a life on the ocean wave, where guineas were as plentiful as hips and haws before a hard winter, where the fiddle was always playing a merry jig, where dark-eyed or yellow-haired girls were as numerous as the ports at which the saucy frigate or the cathedral-like line of battle ship called. He would eagerly cock an attentive ear, for instance,

kind necessarily resulted in persuading the landgoing public that the sailor's life, whether afloat or on shore, was the very jolliest of all imaginable careers. Jack, who was in the secret, might protest, point to his messkid, to his rude uncomfortable home in the 'tweendecks, tell of a hundred hardships, expose his wounds, exhibit a back flayed with a cat-o'-nine tails, and ask when he had served his country, lost his eyes or his limbs, what other fate was before him but the workhouse or the business of howling out songs in the streets? But the public knew better! The truth was to be found in Dibdin's songs and the scores of compositions written in imitation of this master; and though, to be sure, when Dibdin had served the ministerial purpose, his pension was taken from him, and he was meanly and outrageously used by the people whom he had been fool enough to hire himself out to as a hack; yet his insistance upon Jack's joys at sea made a tradition of the absurdity. The word of a man who knew absolutely nothing whatever of the ocean calling, who had never witnessed an engagement at sea or made a voyage, whose verses are quite exasperatingly full of mistakes in their reference to nautical terms and the like-Dibdin's word was accepted; and the public, unwilling to limit his assurance to the navy, extented the nonsense to the merchant service; so that to this very hour a mass of the population of the greatest maritime country on the face of the world scarcely doubts that when a sailor goes to sea, no matter in what sort of craft, nor under what kind of flag, he has little more to do than to dance hornpipes, toast his distant sweetheart in jorums of rum punch, or lean, pipe in mouth, over the windless end, spinning yarns with his shipmates whilst the wind blows his vessel along.

Now what am I to say of sailors' pleasures at sea? I pretty well know what they consist of. It would not be true to affirm that Jack had no pleasures; but the catalogue is so dismally meagre that I vow there is scarce anything to be said about it. It is the slenderer in this age for the want of grog, to begin with. The economical owner, who seldom exhibits any but a remunerative concern in Jacks condition, has put an end to the daily tot, though here and there, I believe, one may hear of it as being served out every Saturday night. Possibly, as sailors aboard English ships are in these days chiefly foreigners, the old customary cheerful thimbleful served out at the capstan when the bird-like pipings of the boatswain's silver whistle had summoned the crew, is not missed.-W. CLARK RUSSELL, in The Romance of Jenny Harlowe ; and, Sketches of Maritime Life.

Notes.

Friedrich Spielhagen will publish his autobiography serially in a new German weekly, Deutschland.

Fin de Rêve by Georges Duruy, a novel which was recently published in Paris, is in reality a biography of Léon Gambetta.

The Young American. A Weekly Journal of Entertaining and Instructive Literature for Schools and Families, is a weekly started in this city.

Mr. Swinburne has written a critical article upon the works of the late Wilkie Collins. It will appear in the Fortnightly Review for November.

Prometheus is the name of a new weekly started in Berlin. It will be devoted to the discussion of the latest discoveries of applied natural science.

The New York Saturday Review of Science, Art, Literature, Politics, Society, Music and Drama, is a weekly, the first number of which was issued on October 5th.

Harper's Bazar for October 11th contained an article on "Will Power in the Nursery" by Christine Terhune Darrick, which fully deserves the undivided attention of parents and edu

cators.

Il Bugiardo (The Liar) is the name of a new daily paper published in Rome. The paper

does not claim, as most dailies do, to be infallible, and consequently may tell the truth occasionally.

Messrs. Frederick A. Stokes & Brother have just published the sixth series of The Good Things of Life. Will not Life try to publish something dull for once, to break the monotony of unqualified praise?

No fresh "Dickensiania" have been discovered among the papers of the late Wilkie Collins. Almost all the correspondence of the deceased novelist was committed to the flames when he last changed houses.

The Globe is the name of a new quarterly review of World-literature, Society, Religion, Art, and Politics. It is edited by William Henry Thorne, the author of Modern Idols. The editor declares in a prefatory note that "I have long believed that a first-class literary review could and should be published in this country." There certainly is room for The Globe if it fulfills the promises made by the excellent contents of its first number.

I Will Ne'er Consent, by Dolores Marbourg, is the first volume of "The Belford American Novel Series," published by the new house of Belford & Co., of New York. As the name (or probably rather the pseudonym) of the author indicates, the book has been written by a woman. The story makes the impression of a rough draft of the third act of one of Sardou's plays.

The Pariah, Mr. F. Anstey's new novel, tells the story of a London 'Arry, who at twenty years is suddenly required to take his place among the county people. Its sentiment is a trifle sickly, but its chief fault lies in its outrageous "padding." It contains all the faults peculiar unto the English author whose contract with his publishers demands a three-volume novel. In the American edition (J. B. Lippincott) the book is just 150 pages too long. These pages probably represent the 3rd volume.

The Transatlantic, a Mirror of European Life and Letters, to be published as a fortnightly, issued its first number on October 15th. It is superbly printed in Elzevir type on superior paper, and gives on its cover a portrait of the new idol of literature, Henrik Ibsen, the first installment of whose "Rosmersholm " is also given. The number further contains: Mother Savage, by Guy de Maupassant; An Afternoon with Zola, by Ange Galdemar; Hope and Resignation, by Ernst Eckstein; A Piece of Music, by de Stenger, etc.

Messrs. Lee & Shepard announce for early publication: Queen Hildegarde, by Mrs. Laura E. Richards, the daughter of Julia Ward Howe; Feathers, Furs, and Fins; or, Stories of Animal Life for Children, by C. Emma Cheney, Kate Fannatt Woods, Mrs. D. P. Sanford, and others; and, The Earl's Return by Owen Meredith, a magnificent holiday edition illustrated with about 50 original illustrations by W. L. Taylor, engraved by Andrew. The publishers sent Mr. Taylor direct to Normandy, the scene of the poem, to draw his subjects from nature.

Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons have brought out a new edition of The Adventures of Captain Mago; or, A Phoenician Expedition B. C. 1000, by Léon Cahun. It gives a vivid picture of the world as it was a thousand years before the Christian Era. Among the personages introduced in the book are: David, Salomon, and a descendant of Samson, Jonah, of the village of Eltekeh, in the tribe of Dan. The book occupies a unique position in juvenile literature. It is far more interesting than the best works of Jules Verne, and cannot be too strongly recommended.

Christmas Books.

FOR GROWN FOLKS.

Books and Editions specially recommended for Holiday Gifts.

The Bankside Shakespeare. In 20 volumes.This edition of Shakespeare gives the text of the earliest version of each play printed in the life-time of William Shakespeare, paralleled with the 1623 or First Folio Text, both texts being numbered line by line and scrupulously collated with both the Folio and Quarto texts. All the antique and pedantic ornaments of the Quartos and Folios are reproduced, every line is numbered, whether speech, stage direction, exit or entrance; every typographical slip, misplaced punctuation, error in orthography, or inverted letter in both texts is copied exactly, that readers may judge for themselves as to the value of conjectural readings or corrections based upon these inaccuracies. Each play is printed separately, de luxe, in the best style of the Riverside Press, on laid paper, uncut, boards. Only 500 copies are printed from type, and hand numbered, under the supervision of the New York Shakespeare Society. This edidition of Shakespeare is a work of national importance.-Brentano's, 20 volumes, Half white vellum, uncut edges, subscription, $50.00.

The Cruikshank Dickens. Edition de Luxe.The best edition of Dickens ever published. As much of Dickens' early success was due to the marvellous illustrations made by Cruikshank, Phiz and others, which were submitted to, and approved by Dickens before they were accepted, (early impressions of which command enormous prices), it has been deemed of the first importance that these be used in preference to anything else. Early impressions have accordingly been obtained, at great expense, and competent artists secured to re-etch them, line for line. All the original etchings, embracing over four hundred subjects, will be given in this edition, and the impressions will be printed on Imperial Japanese paper. Some of the original volumes were illustrated by wood-engravings, as "Barnaby Rudge," "Old Curiosity Shop," etc., and the publishers have been so fortunate as to obtain from the English publishers, Chapman & Hall, electrotypes from the original wood blocks, which have never been printed from. These, over two hundred in number, will also be printed on Imperial Japanese paper. Among the great artists whose

44

work is included in these volumes, are: Cruikshank, Seymour, H. K. Browne (Phiz), Marcus Stone, Cattermole, F. Walker, Doyle, Leech, Maclise, Landseer, etc. In many instances extra plates are given, which are contained in no other edition of the present day, which is one of the many features which make this edition so desirable, for instance, in "Pickwick Papers," the plate "Mrs. Bardell Faints" was changed in later editions; in this edition, however, the original as well as the subsequent plate are given; also, in "Oliver Twist," the plate "Rose Maylie and Oliver" was cancelled by order of Mr. Dickens, and copies containing this plate are excessively rare. A copy of this plate (preferred by many to the one substituted for it) is given, together with the new one. The title page of each work will contain a beautiful wood-engraving by Andrew, of the author as he appeared when the story was written. important and usually not known portraits will thus be given. In the matter of type and page, the publishers have bestowed much care and study, their aim being to secure a beautiful face of type and a page that should please the eye in every respect. The edition will be strictly limited to 500 numbered copies, bound in cloth, with paper titles, gilt top, uncut edges. A printed list of subscribers will be furnished with the last volume.-Brentano's, subscription 45 volumes, ea. $2.50.

Some

The Marble Faun. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Illustrated. The famous American classic has at last appeared in an edition which is in every regard worthy of its author. Paper, print and margins are everything that can be desired, and the binding, in red and white, with gold decorations, is in perfect keeping with the book it covers. The chief attraction of this edition, however, are the photogravures which illustrate it. They are fifty in number, and superbly executed. Among them are: The Faun of Praxiteles, The Dying Gladiator, Guido's Beatrice Cenci, Piazza del Popolo, Canova's Studio, The Arch of Constantine, The Roman Forum, The Medici Gardens, The Laocoön, Michel Angelo's The Three Fates, A Fresco by Giotto, The Transfiguration by Raphael, Saint Peter's, Apollo Belvedere, The Arch of Drusus, Venus de' Medici, The Pantheon, The Tomb of Raphael, etc. A steel portrait of Hawthorne prefaces the first volume.-Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 2 vols., 8vo. Gilt top, cloth, 6.00; polished calf, 12.00. A large-paper edition, limited to 150 copies, printed on linen paper, with photogravures printed on India paper, full vellum binding, in box, 20.00.

requirements of the renewed interest in American history. An attempt will be made to give, in Washington's own words, an account of many civil, military, and political events of his life which are of importance to the historian. Of the immense official corresponder ce which Washington conducted during the Revolution, only a very small part was printed by Mr. Sparks; and a large number of letters throwing important light upon military movements, the motives and the consequences, were rejected, The more important parts of this correspond

ence will be utilized in this new edition, and thus, for the first time, a full and satisfactory account of many leading movements, both civil and military, will be available to the reader. It is the intention of the editor not only to carefully examine all the Washington manuscripts in the Department of State at Washington, but also to include in full or in part the many and valuable private diaries, journals, letters, and memoranda, little of which has yet been printed, and from which alone the true nature of the man may be best known. The contemporary correspondence, and the researches of later historians, will be drawn upon to explain doubtful points, and to verify or correct statement of facts. The edition will be complete in about 14 Royal 8vo volumes, and will be limited to 750 sets.-G. P. Putnam's Sons, N. Y., 5.00 per volume.

Recent Ideals of American Art.-A reproduction in photogravure and typophotogravure of the best contemporary American paintings, especial attention having been paid to the prize pictures of the National Academy and the American Art Association, while the owners of the leading private galleries in this country as well as the artists themselves have given and are giving their co-operation to the publishers. The plates are made from photographic negatives taken from the original oil-painting or watercolor, by Goupil & Co., of Paris. The colorvalues of the paintings have been faithfully preserved, and the reproduction is so perfectly faithful that even the handling of the brush peculiar to the artist has been given. Among the painters whose best works are represented, are: Edwin A. Abbey, F. A. Bridgman, Elihu Vedder, Winslow Homer, Geo. Inness, G. S. Truesdell, W. L. Picknell, A. H. Thayer, and others equally eminent. The work will be complete in twenty-five parts, each containing three large photogravures, six pages of text, and an average of four typogravures. Two parts are issued each month.-D. Appleton & Co., N. Y.; Subscription, 25.00.

City Legends. By Will Carleton. Illustrated.The contents of Mr. Carleton's new volume of poetry are divided into seven chains. The illustrations are nineteen in number, including the frontispiece: "Into the Bay-the great, wide, wealth-fringed Bay."-Harper & Bros., N. Y. Full seal, 4.00; cloth, gilt top, 2.50; cloth, 2.00.

The Rivals. By Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Illustrated by Frank M. Gregory. This superb edition of Sheridan's best known work contains fifty illustrations, five of which are water-colors reproduced in fac-simile by the photo-aquarelle process. The remaining forty-five are black and white wash drawings, printed from photographic clichés.-White & Allen, New York. Artists' Proof Edition, strictly limited to 150 copies, Imp. 4to, 20.00, Reg. Ed., cloth, gilt top, 12.50.

The Life of George Washington. By Washington Irving. Centennial edition. This magnificent edition of Irving's Life of Washington was published in commemoration of the hundreth anniversary of Washington's Inauguration. It contains 132 steel plates, many of which are printed on India paper, and 42 wood cuts, battle-plans, etc., the greater part on Japan paper inlaid in the text. The steel plates include portraits of most of the statesmen and generals of the Revolutionary times, which are not accessible in any other single work. The work is printed upon the finest ragged-edge vellum paper, gilt top, and is bound in cloth, with leather backs. The edition was limited to 300 sets, of which but a few remain.-G. P. Putnam's Sons, N. Y., 5 vols., 50.00.

Thackeray's Works. Illustrated Library Edition. This edition consists of twenty-two volumes, and is more complete than any other edition of Thackeray ever published in England or America. Even the shortest sketches and most unstudied trifles are included, making this edition of inestimable value to the lovers and students of Thackeray. The edition is fully illustrated, embracing very nearly all the illustrations (over 1600 in number, large and small), which have ever been made of Thackeray's works, by himself and by the numerous artists who have illustrated the different editions of his books. A distinguishing feature of this edition, and one which will strongly commend it, will de a series of biographical and bibliographical introductions to the volumes, giving such information with regard to the time and the circumstances of the writing of the several books as are in any respect desirable or necessary for a fuller understanding of the same. The edition is tastefully bound.-Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1.50 per volume.