Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

He can go to the Academy, and

his Louvre ; listen to interesting lectures on the useful Arts; he can if he pleases wander into

the Garden of Plants; He may enjoy the cooling shade of his Bois de Boulogne, a beautiful wood near Paris, twice as large as all Boston, full of ponds, lakes, flowers, statuary and fountains.

All these things are his, to use and enjoy without fee or reward. Everything dedicated to the public is so much added to the private fortune of those whose situation admits of their enjoying it. Does a city lay out a park,then Mr. Trott, the hand-cartman, who rejoices in just one room in an attic, has so many broad acres added to his domicil.

Is a library made free, then Mr. Trott's tenement is enlarged, he has a library room attached, where he may go and loll on his arm chair, and call for his book, and enjoy his property. Is a gallery of art added,-then Mr. Trott's tenement is enlarged again. Mr. Trott is a lord in all but name."

LIFE'S MORNING.*-This is a very beautiful volume, printed on tinted paper, elegantly bound, and containing "words of counsel and encouragement for youthful Christians," in prose and verse. It will serve admirably as a gift book.

SKETCHES FROM LIFE. Second Series.-This is a book of some two hundred anecdotes, intended to illustrate the influence of Christianity in the different relations of life. They are selected from those which have been already published in the "American Messenger," and form a collection which will be highly prized, we doubt not, in every family where there are youthful readers.

HASTE TO THE RESCUE.-No book has been more popular among those who have been laboring practically for the spiritual good of the ignorant and degraded, than the well known book, published in England two or three years ago, entitled "English Hearts and English Hands." It has prompted to many self-sacrificing labors, on the part of the wealthy and educated, in all parts of our own country, in behalf of the poor and the destitute. We have heard the inquiry made many times whether it was possible to accomplish the same kind of work as successfully in this country. This question we are not prepared to answer, but we are happy to inform all who were interested in the book of which

• Life's Morning; or, Counsels and Encouragements for Youthful Christians. Boston: J. E. Tilton & Co. 1860. 18mo. pp. 266.

Sketches from Life; or, Illustrations of the Influence of Christianity. Second Edition. American Tract Society. 12mo. pp. 486. 1860.

Haste to the Rescue; or, Work while it is Day. By Mrs. CHARLes WNew York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1859. 18mo. pp. 224.

[blocks in formation]

we have spoken, that in this new book, Haste to the Rescue, there is an account of the results of the labors of another English lady, taken from her daily journal, who was incited by the story in "English Hearts and English Hands" to commence similar efforts in her own neighborhood. Her sympathies were enlisted particularly for those who were suffering from the use of alcoholic drinks, and her success in reclaiming great numbers who were going down to the drunkard's grave, and then leading them to a knowledge of Christ, was quite remarkable. The preface to the book is written by the authoress of "English Hearts and English Hands."

THE MISSING LINK.*—All who are interested in city charities should read this book. It is an account of what has been accomplished in London by female colporteurs, or "Bible women," among that class who rank below the decent poor, and who swarm in the dark courts and alleys of such "dens" and "rookeries" as the Seven Dials, Spitalfields, Bethnal Green, and Shoreditch. The success which has been met with among these people, who are physically, morally, and spiritually unclean, is quite remarkable, and the report of it will be very encouraging to those who are seeking to do a similar work for the dark places of our own large cities.

THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.-Hon. Judge Mason of Iowa, who made himself so popular with the inventors of the country while he held the office of Commissioner of Patents, has, we learn, associated himself with Messrs. Munn & Co., at the Scientific American Office, New York.

THE AMERICAN ALMANAC FOR 1860.t-The reputation of this Almanac is so well established, that it needs no word of commendation from us. For thirty-one years it has furnished an amount of astronomical, statistical, and miscellaneous information, which is to be obtained nowhere else within the same compass. The present volume, the first of the fourth series, has interesting papers upon Donati's comet of 1858; the Law of Storms; and the Aurora Borealis and Australis.

LORD BACON'S WORKS.-Messrs. Brown, Taggard, & Chase, of Boston, have in press the complete works of Lord Bacon, to be issued in superb style in twelve crown octavo volumes. They intend to make

*The Missing Link, or, Bible women in the homes of the London poor. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 302. 1859.

The American Almanac, and Repository of Useful Knowledge, for the year 1860. Boston: Crosby, Nichols & Co. pp. 392.

this new edition of Bacon, for which a great necessity exists in the market, the beginning of a series of standard works of the first class. Every effort will be made to issue the volumes in a style of excellence and magnificence that shall surpass anything yet produced by book makers at home or abroad. Messrs. Houghton & Co., of the noted. Riverside press at Cambridge, have these works in hand. The books. will be printed upon the finest tinted paper, and bound in a style which for beauty and durability will commend itself to all tastes. Lord Bacon's works will be followed by a complete edition of the writings of Sir Walter Scott, including his novels and poems, and his life by Lockhart.

HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE.-Messrs. A. Williams & Co., of Boston, propose to publish soon a History of Williams College, which has been prepared by Rev. Calvin Durfee, aided by Prof. A. Hopkins and others. Besides an introduction by Gov. Washburn, it will contain seventeen chapters, embracing a sketch of the life of the Founder, and early friends and patrons of the College; a memoir of the several Presidents, and the history of their respective administrations; an account of the buildings, libraries, apparatus, and progress in the college studies; besides a large space has been given to the religious history of the Institution. It is a work of labor and research; and every possible care has been taken to render it accurate and reliable.

Dr. WORCESTER'S QUARTO DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.*We have received, at the last moment, a copy of Dr. Joseph E. Worcester's Quarto Dictionary of the English Language, containing 1854 pages. Its external appearance is in every way creditable to the publishers. We have only time or space to refer our readers to some interesting Articles :-pp. 41, 42, where the author has a more thorough investigation of the word or phrase, all to, than we have elsewhere seen; p. 362, where the transition of day star" from its original meaning "lucifer," or "morning-star," to "the sun," is elucidated by the usage of the poets; p. 615, where the multitudinous meanings of the verb to get are illustrated by an extract from Dr. Withers; p. 1558, where the application of the name turtle to the tortoise is elucidated by an interesting passage from C. Folsom, Esq.; p. 1257, where we find a discussion concerning ride and drive; p. 672, where the spelling height and drought is strenuously advocated. We hope to be able in some future number to review this work more at length.

* A Dictionary of the English Language. By JOSEPH E. WORCESTER, LL. D. Boston: Hickling, Swan, & Brewer. 1860. 4to. pp. 1854.

THE FINE ARTS.

PHOTOGRAPHIC COPIES OF PAINTINGS.-We have lately had the pleasure of examining a collection of photographic copies of paintings from the establishment of Augustus Runkel, 618 Broadway, New York. Our readers are well aware of the great improvements that have been made in the art of photographing, within the past few years. The contrast between the impressions now taken, and those taken only two or three years ago, is very marked. There is now a uniformity of softness and clearness which extends through the whole picture, and there is an absence of that indistinctness which has heretofore been so decided an objection to all photographs. The improvement of which we have spoken has been especially great in the copies that are made of engravings and paintings. Mr. Runkel, of New York, has made this department of the art his especial business. His collection is very large and rich, embracing copies of a great number of the most celebrated paintings. We will mention, as among them, nearly all the Madonnas of Raphael, many of the finest paintings of Murillo, nearly all of Ary Schaeffer with which we are familiar, many of Rosa Bonheur, of Landseer, and of Turner. We have also seen an excellent copy of that most remarkable painting of Kaulbach-which is perhaps not surpassed in modern artthe fresco which adorns the walls of the new Museum in Berlin, "The Destruction of Jerusalem." But we do not propose to give the whole catalogue. We advise our readers, on visiting New York, to visit the rooms of Mr. Runkel. The price of his photographs is very low, averaging about three dollars each, so that for a very moderate sum, comparatively, a person may procure for his portfolio copies of all the best paintings in the world, which in beauty and delicacy of finish approach that of good engravings. Mr. Runkel proposes to visit New Haven and Hartford in April next, for the purpose of taking photographs of the public buildings in both cities, and is now ready to receive orders for taking at the same time views of private residences. An advertisement, containing his address in New York, will be found at the end of the present number, on page 6 of the "Advertiser."

1

THE

NEW ENGLANDER.

No. LXX.

MAY, 1860.

ARTICLE I-HUMBOLDT, RITTER, AND THE NEW
GEOGRAPHY.

Humboldt's Kosmos. Four Vols. 8vo. Stuttgardt. 18451858.

Ritter's Erdkunde. AFRICA. One Vol. 8vo. ASIA. Eighteen Vols. Berlin. 1822-1859. 8vo.

Guyot's Earth and Man. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 12mo.

ONE of the well known master-pieces of Raphael, which adorn the stanze of the Vatican, presents to our eye "the School of Athens," an assembly of philosophers studying, teaching, arguing, and disputing within the porch of a temple of science. Aristotle and Plato, the former extending his hand over the visible earth, the latter pointing upward to the unseen world,-representatives of material and speculative philosophy,-form the center of the group, while around them Socrates, Diogenes, Pythagoras, and Epictetus, with a score of lesser luminaries, are engaged in earnest discussion. The 19

VOL. XVIII.

« AnteriorContinuar »