AUGUST 1, 1866. No. 143 Washington Street, Boston, Aug. 1866. Messrs. ROBERTS BROTHERS' ANNOUNCEMENTS. I. CHARLES LAMB: A Memoir. By BARRY CORNWALL. (From advance sheets by arrangement with Messrs. Moxon & Co.) II. ELEGANT SONNETS: being Selections from the best English and American Poets. Edited by LEIGH HUNT and S. ADAMS LEE. With an Essay on Sonnets and Sonnetteers, by LEIGE HUNT. Now first printed from the original MSS. In 2 vols. 16mo. (To match"The Seer.") III. THE GENIUS OF SOLITUDE. By WILLIAM ROUNSEVILLE ALGER. 1 vol. 16mo. IV. MADAME RECAMIER; her Life and Correspondence. By MISS LUYSTER. 1 vol. 12mo. V. A NOVEL. By JEAN INGELOW. Now first printed from the original MSS. 1 vol. 12mo. VI. JEAN INGELOW'S POEMS. In Blue and Gold. 1 vol. 32mo. VII. JEAN INGELOW'S POEMS. Complete. A superb edition, with upwards of one hundred Illustrations, designed and engraved expressly for this edition. 1 vol. small quarto. VIII. JEAN INGELOW'S STORIES TOLD TO A CHILD. A new and cheaper edition. 1 vol. 16mo. With five Illustrations. MESSRS. ROBERTS BROS.' LATE PUBLICATIONS. ECCE HOMO. Ninth thousand. 16mo. Price $1 50. SPECIAL NOTICE.-The Publishers have now ready: A SUPPLEMENTARY PREFACE TO "ECCE HOMO," by the Author, in twelve pages, uniform with their edition, which can be had gratis by persons who have bought the book, or will be mailed, post paid, on receipt of two cent stamp. Country booksellers will please order their supply from their regular dealer. CHRISTINA ROSSETTI'S POEMS. With four designs, by D. G. Rossetti. 16mo. Price $1 75. This charming volume of poetry is exciting universal attention. The first edition was at once called for. The second edition is now ready. ROBERT BUCHANAN'S POEMS. Comprising "Undertones" and "Idyls and Legends of Inverburne." 16mo. Price $1 75. The new volume, "London Poems," now about being published, will create a demand for this already popular book. ALGER'S POETRY OF THE ORIENT. The third and enlarged edition. 16mo. Price $1 75. JEAN INGELOW'S WRITINGS. POEMS. Nineteenth thousand. 16mo. Extra cloth, gilt top, $1 75. Illustrated edition. 14 plates. Square 16mo. Fancy cloth, gilt POOR MATT; or, The Clouded Intellect. With Illustrations. 16mo. Cloth, gilt, 60 cents. Orders from the Trade for any of our publications will be promptly answered and Catalogues supplied. ROBERTS BROS., Publishers, Boston. GEORGE W. CHILDS, PUBLISHER, Nos. 628 & 630 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA. GEO. N. DAVIS, 119 Rua Direita, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Agent for South America. A. ROMAN, San Francisco, California, Agent for the Pacific Coast. STEPHENS & CO., 10 Calle Mercaderes, Habana, Agents for the West Indies. Subscriptions or Advertisements for the "American Literary Gazette" will be received by the above Agents, and they will forward to the Editor any Books or Publications intended for notice. AUGUST 15, 1866. OUR CONTINENTAL CORRESPONDENCE. It is with regret I inform you of the death of M. Méry, who has for a great many years occupied a respectable rank in French literature. His personal qualities endeared him to everybody thrown within their influence, and he was recommended to a still wider circle by a singularly brilliant wit, a most retentive memory, great commerce with men, greater commerce with books. The stories told of his memory and reading are quite wonderful, even after they have been plentifully sprinkled with grains of allowance. He could, so it was said, repeat the Eneid from the beginning, and he could "cap" any verse in the Latin poets, the obscurest of them not excluded. He was as familiar with French and Italian literature and Italian music. He possessed great skill in all games, and especially in those borrowed from the mathematics, and in which profound combinations commanded success, such as chess. It at first seems matter of surprise a man with his gifts should leave no memorial of his mental endowments. Surprise ceases upon examination of his life. He was addicted to gambling, and the great majority of his works were written to satisfy this passion (as he confesses in the letter I sent you two weeks ago). Wasting his nights over the gambling table, writing with his eye fixed on the clock to complete the "copy" before the grace of debts of honor had expired, the wonder is how he managed to write at all. Suicide would seem to be the only act a man could be capable of under these circumstances. His works raise expectations continually ; the reader is sure the next page will satisfy his hopes until he reaches The End. The works on which he most prided himself are novels whose scene is laid in India and China, which he never visited, and about which we, and especially Frenchmen, were quite ignorant when these novels were written (1839-43.) When an author challenges attention with imaginary travels, however ingenious, adroit, wonderful they may be, I bow and keep on my way, for the value of a book of travels lies in its faithful and particular description of the country; it is a production of eyes and fingers alone. I don't like counterfeits, whatever the skill of the counterfeiter may be. Imaginary travels are but counterfeits. Joseph Méry was born at Aygalades in 1798; he was thoroughly educated in Greek and Latin, and made his first appearance in letters by writing a satire against Abbé Eliçagaray, for which the courts of justice rewarded him with fifteen months' imprisonment. The moment he was liberated he began to write in a newspaper," Le Phocéen," a journal which carried on a violent opposition to the Bourbons; it was edited by Alphonse Rabbe. Méry then established a newspaper called "La Mediterranée," which in process of time absorbed." Le Phocéen," and became the "Semaphore," which is now one of the most prosperous papers in the French provinces. In 1824, he came to Paris, and acted for some time as secretary to Rabbe, who was then writing historical epitomes (which, by the way, led M. Thiers to write the "History of the Revolution;" he and Rabbe were long intimate friends). Soon after his arrival, young Soulé (better known to you as the Hon. Pierre Soulé, the eloquent advocate and statesman of Louisiana), then chief editor of Le Nain Jaune," enlisted Méry among his contributors. But it was not until Méry joined M. Barthélémy in writing poetical satires his name became known. These satires, known by the barbarous names of "Les Sidiennes," "La Villeliade," "La Corbiereide," "Rome et Paris," "La Censure," "La Peyronneide," and “La Guerre d'Alger,” were extremely popular. One of them brought him in $5000, and another $12,000 royalty-large amounts of money for such poems at any time, enormous sums of money in those days. When he received the $5000 mentioued, he had four sous in his pocket, and the first use he made of his newly acquired wealth was to have his beard shaved. After the revolution of July, he wrote "Nemesis," another political satire, and then he went to Italy to pay homage to the Bonaparte family. Between his satires against the Bourbon government he had written a poem, “Napoleon in Egypt." In 1837, he began to write prose. "Le Bonnet Vert" was his first prose work. It was quickly followed by "Les Scènes de la Vie Italienne;" "Un Amour dans l'Avenir;"" Heva,” “ Lâ Guerre du Nizam," "La Floride," etc. He wrote plays and "books" of operas for nearly all the theatres of Paris. He failed to command success as a playwriter. He tells, in his "Souvenirs Contemporains," of the anguish he felt at the miscarriage of some of these plays. He wrote a great deal, too, in the newspapers of the day; sometimes as a dramatic critic, or as literary critic, or as a contributor of stories to the feuilleton. He had long been i!! with two implacable diseases, consumption and cancer. His death has been daily expected since last January. Improvident as he was, his declining days were spared all privation by the generosity of the Emperor, who supplied his wants, paid his funeral expenses, and gave him a grave. His funeral was largely attended. He never married. He has a large family at Marseilles. I am sorry to say Count de Montalembert continues to suffer a great deal. It is said he is so greatly reduced by his illness and the painful ope rations performed on him as not to be recognized. No one is allowed to enter his chamber but his wife and a nurse. Exception, however, was made for Bishop Dupanloup, of Orleans, who passed through Paris a few days since on his way to the mountains of Savoy, where he is accustomed to take his annual estival rest. It is said the Countess de Boigne, who died a few weeks since, leaves two unpublished novels and some very interesting historical memoirs, extending from 1815 to 1848, if not 1865. . . . Joseph Dalton Hooker, Esq., of Kew, has been elected by the Academy of Sciences as its correspondent in th place of the late Sir William Hooker.... M. Théodore de Banville told one of his friends re cently he invariably read twenty pages of M. Victo Hugo's "Contemplations, or Legende des Siedes, before he began to fill his ears with sonorous wor and his mind with metaphors. In Sir James Mack intosh's Life there is a like curious confession; i I remember rightly, he says he read Robertson' Charles V. for an hour or two before proceeding t address the grand jury. Wirt, in his "British Spy tells how an eminent lawyer, of the Richmond ba read Bolingbroke for hours before he would be calle upon to argue cases; and Wirt makes some interes ing, but not altogether true, observations on the effe of this prelection. . . . Here is a sketch of M. Banville: "The person and talents of M. de Bs ville are a violent antithesis, likely to mislead t most sagacious observer. One is justly astonish that a man who is so gentle, so polite, so modest, timid, so constantly ready to bow, to be humb to yield to everybody who, in his company, pi tends to the front rank, the floor and authority, e in literature think differently from other peop One says to himself: What! that round Benedictir like head, bald from forehead to neck; that pa clean-shaved, somnolent face; that physiognor of a sprightly and tired abbé, on which good fe ing spreads its smiles, while exiling impercepti AUGUST 15, 1866. A ders. . . . The angry quarrel between M. Victorien Sardou and M. Paul Feval has been made up by the intervention of friends. . . . We are to have a most interesting museum of medieval seals and documents opened in the building of the Ecole des Chartes. Great exertions are made to have the new reading-room of the Imperial Library ready for opening on the 15th of August. G. S. CESSATION OF AN ONEROUS BURDEN. EDITOR OF PUBLISHERS' CIRCULAR.-Sir: On the first of August the book-publishers, stereotypers, printers, and binders were relieved of an onerous burden-onerous with regard to the time, trouble, and vexation involved, as well as in the amount of money actually paid; I refer to the Internal Revenue Tax. Our law-makers at the same time relieved the manufacturing industry of the country of the taxes heretofore paid on many other articles-chiefly of minor importance; and they did so wisely, for all will agree that these taxes should be simplified, reduced as far as possible, and confined to such articles as will yield what the government needs, with the least vexation and burden to the people. But, as I have good reason to believe, the bookinterest would not have been so wholly absolved and freed from all branches of this tax had it not been for the influential efforts of the late Commissioner, Hon. WM. ORTON, who, although he declined a liberal offer of some of the fraternity who desired him to act as professional counsel in the matter, did nevertheless present and urge before the Committee the expediency for various weighty reasons of erasing this interest entirely from the tax-list. Unless I am greatly mistaken, this was a very important service on the part of Mr. Orton-rendered in good faith to the government as well as to all parties concerned, and on simple principles of justice and national policy. irony to both corners of the lips; what! all that, belying appearances, conceals an insurgent of poetry, the last unrepentant son of the Romantic school?" M. Ferdinand Fabre (whom M. Sainte Beuve called “an able pupil of Balzac") has written a new novel, "Le Chevrier." He says it was suggested by reading Amyot's old translation of "Daphnis and Chloe in the Mountains of Savoy." It delighted him at first, and then he felt aversion to it because it failed to show him modern sentiments. He then determined to write a story to show simply and ingenuously what Christianity has added to the human soul. As he made excursions on foot in the Southern Cevennes Mountains, living with goat-herds and surrounded by herds of goats and wild mountain scenery, he accumulated materials for his story, and wrote it on his return home. He says he wandered with goat-herds in his native mountains, and was thirteen years old before he knew his letters. . . . Paris is puzzling its brains to discover the authoress of a novel published in the "Revue des Deux Mondes," and republished by Messrs. Michel Levy: "Le Peché de Madeleine." The editor of the review would have us believe this is the history of the novel. Early in 1864 it was sent by an unknown hand to the Review's office with a request to examine it, and reply through the postoffice in a letter addressed to given initials. reply was made, but never taken out of the postoffice, and the story was published. . . . Just now M. Ponson du Terrail's name is on every wall in Paris. He went a few days since to an attorney's office to transact some law business. The attorney's clerk asked him his name. He informed him. "Is it one word, sir?" asked the clerk. "Just as you please," replied the popular author, who is kindness itself, and has not oue particle of vanity in his composition. The clerk wrote Ponsonduterrail. . . . The French Emperor has given M. Dübner, the learned and modest German allured to France by the Messrs. Didot (he has done them yeoman's service), a pension of $600 for life. He has been of great assistance to the French Emperor while his Majesty was writing Cæsar's life, and he is now preparing an edition of Cæsar's Commentaries, to be printed at the Imperial Printing Office for the great exhibition. All known manuscripts-even the most famous of all, that which is in the Vatican Library of these Commentaries have been collected, and it is boasted, as it would seem upon good ground of reason, the edition in press will be the most perfect edition of this work yet published. ... In this day, when the transatlantic world is so seriously afflicted with Gallomania, it may be as well to note what wretched scholars the French make. They are acute enough, but they cannot be trusted; they are inaccurate, they are giddy. Messrs. Didot have not only M. Dübner to super intend their classic editions, but Dr. Hoefer to superintend their Biographical Dictionary. I might go on and show how the most important posts here are filled entirely by Germans. French scholarship is beneath contempt. . . . The Academy of Moral and Political Sciences have elected the Duke de Broglie as a member of the Section of Philosophy: M. Bersot in the Section of Morals (in the place of the late M. Gustave de Beaumont), and M. Cauchy in AMONG those who have sustained an irreparable the Section of Legislation, Public Law, and Jurispru- loss by the late terrible conflagration in Portland, dence (in the place of the late M. Berenger). . . . Me., is Mr. H. W. BRYANT, who has lost his collecMrs. Partington's laughable blunders are becoming tion of pamphlets, including a fine assortment of as great favorites in Europe as they are in America. catalogues of books, coin, and autograph sales, cirThey are translated into all the European news-culars and prospectuses, the collections of ten years papers, and her name is fast becoming one of the past. Auctioneers, booksellers, and collectors of household words of the world. I believe B. P. books, who have catalogues that they can spare, Shillaber, Esq., of the "Saturday Evening Gazette," and also any circulars and prospectuses of works of is the author of all of Mrs. Partington's witty blun- limited editions, will confer a favor that would Much is due also to Hon. DAVID A. WELLS, who held the same views, and effectively advocated. them before the Committee. The object of this note is simply to suggest, as a query, whether the publishers who have been thus relieved of a troublesome and expensive burden, would not take pleasure in recognizing the services of Mr. Orton, perhaps of Mr. Wells also, by placing in their private libraries a nice copy of each of their standard publications-or at least some of them— as a token that their services are appreciated? I need not say that I make this suggestion without the knowledge or consent of either of the gentlemen, but I trust it will not be deemed impertinent or improper. Very truly yours, P. NOTES ON BOOKS AND BOOKSELLERS. in your issue of July 16th, suggested a uniformity EDITOR PUBLISHERS' CIRCULAR.-A correspondent,. of size in trade-lists, &c. It is a much needed reform, and I have been glad to see it touched upon in your columns. Almost every bookseller preserves the catalogues of.the trade-sales, and it seems to me that this or near this is the desirable size for all lists or circulars that circulate in the trade. C. AUGUST 15, 1866. be gratefully appreciated by forwarding them to Mr. Bryant. Anything in the shape of a book, coin, or autograph catalogue, old or modern, American or foreign, will be welcome. 'I enter, and see thee in the gloom The congregation of the dead make room 6 and an index, and given an introduction which gives the dates of the different parts of the book, with a history of the manner in which it grew into existence. A VOLUME OF REMINISCENCES.-Mr. William H. A WRITER in the "Nation" thus calls attention to a curiosity of literature which he seems to have Bogart, better known to the public as Sentinel of been the first to notice: "A striking coincidence of the "World," is a veteran correspondent, whose poetic conception and expression occurs in the July connection with the press has given him abundant number of the Atlantic Monthly.' Two poems opportunities of becoming familiar with notable could not well be less alike than Longfellow's On men of the State of New York and the nation. He has Translating the Divina Commedia,' and Bryant's collected in the shape of a volume a large number 'The Death of Slavery.' But they each use the of his reminiscences of men and events, just pubsame image, and embody in similar language—the lished by Carleton. The title-" Who Goes There?" wide dissimilarity of theme and reference, together is most singularly chosen, and does not indicate with the fact that they appear at the same date in the nature of his book. We suppose, however, that the same periodical, adding interest to the parallel. every writer has the prerogative of christening his Longfellow addresses the, shade of the poet saown bantlings without criticism. The collection is turnine :' very rambling and discursive, and contains many pointless anecdotes, but will interest any one who cares to spend an idle hour in perusing it. The author's own personal recollections go pretty well back, and he seems to have improved his opportunities of eliciting from the veterans of his acquaintance their reminiscences of the revolutionary era. Among these is one in regard to Washington, which we have never before seen. It is of the only man who was not awed by the presence of Pater Patriæ. This man, a Mr. James Byrnes, owned some land which Washington desired to have included in his plan of the Federal capital. Mr. Byrnes flatly refused. "Unused to opposition, Washington turned upon him and said, as he only could say it, Mr. James Byrnes! what would your land have been worth if I had not placed this city on the Potomac ?' Byrnes was not crushed; but, undismayed, coolly turned to him and said: George Washington, what would you have been worth if you had not married the widow Custis ?' Bryant addresses the shade which he sends, 'accursed of God,' to take its place 'with baleful mem ories of the elder time:' 'Lo, the foul phantoms, silent in the gloom Of the flown ages, part to yield thee room.'" A BOOK FOR WOMEN.-"Why Not?" is the title of a small book, published by Lee & Shepard, Boston, and written by Dr. Horatio Robinson Storer, a well-known Boston surgeon. It was a prize essay, for which the American Medical Association awarded the gold medal for 1865, and is issued by order of the Association. This endorsement is sufficient proof of the value and trustworthiness of the book, which contains advice of the greatest importance to the health of women. The subject treated is one concerning which there is little accurate information among those most concerned, whose lives frequently pay forfeit for their ignorance. MONTHLY PERIODICALS.-The "Shilling Magazine," edited by Samuel Lucas, M. A., literary critic of "The Times," has ceased to live. Miss Braddon's new magazine will soon appear, it is said, and Mr. Pitman has issued the first number of "The Shorthand Magazine, a Miscellany of Original and Select Literature, Lithographed in Pitman's Phonography." Several years ago one of the Pitman brothers commenced the publication of a weekly journal called "The Phonetic News," every word of which was spelled exclusively as sounded. Thus the paper itself was called "The Fonetic Nuz." It was short-lived, but had become such a curiosity that a large sum has occasionally been paid for a specimen number. AT the great fire in Portland, Me., which broke out on the afternoon of the Fourth of July, and raged for fifteen hours, many valuable libraries were destroyed. Among the largest were those of the Portland Athenæum, Mercantile Association, Rev. Dr. Shailer, and Mr. Oliver Gerrish. A CENTURY OF OPERAS.-Signor Pacini, the veteran composer of Italian operas, announces his hundredth work, which he promises shall be his last, for performance at Palermo. THE KORAN.—Sale's translation of the Koran (Al Koran, the Book, as we say The Bible), is so very carelessly executed that it is surprising a better has not been published, long ago. The Rev. J. M. Rodwell, rector of one of the great parishes in London, has brought out a new version, which is well spoken of by the critics across the water. He has closely rendered the Arabic into English, appended notes A large portion of the book is devoted to pleasant reminiscences of the men who have been prominent in the State of New York before and since the Revo lution. MR. STORY, THE SCULPTOR.-We observe that Chapman & Hall, the London publishers, announce. in one volume royal octavo, "The Proportions of the Human Figure, according to a New Canon, for Practical Use. Iliustrated by Plates. By W. W. Story." We need remind few of our readers, we believe, that Mr. Story is the son and biographer of the late Judge Story, and indeed is himself a member of the Boston bar, and author of several lyric works of standard merit. He diverged, however, into pure literature, first publishing a volume of poems, and subsequently the life of his father, and finally applying himself to sculpture, which art he cultivates in Rome, placed on the International Exhibition of 1862 (London), two examples of his art, the British criticism upon which was: "The most original and the noblest of the statues which departed from the classic type were undoubtedly those of Mr. Story-the 'Sibilla Libica' and 'Cleopatra,' in both of which an Egyptian type was fitly chosen, and which are alike large in style, admirably modelled, and possess an air of majesty, repose, and calm self-possession." Mr. Story is the author of a lively and accurate volume upon Rome, and the poem called "Ginevra da Siena," over 1500 Magazine" for June, was his production also. His lines in length, which appeared in "Blackwood's forthcoming work will be a contribution to the lite rature of Art. AMERICAN NAVY.-The last number of the "Edinburgh Review," just published in London, has a long article entitled "The American Navy during the Late War." |