petual Santa Claus and unending holiday. Fan- little beggar-boy lying under the wood-pile, cy him forgetting Christmas! Why, he has been known to take part in the healthful and familiar sport of "game-cocks," as if he were no higher than the rest of us, and, being properly backed, to open the contest with such animation that the next moment his heels were threatening the ceiling, and there was great fear among us younger and shorter spectators that the backers would not be able to reach the further end of him in season to bring him up to time. Not all of us can have Longobaldo at our Christmas feasts; but, good lack! because we can not pledge old Santa Claus in Lagrima Christi from glass of Murano, must we therefore insist upon sucking vinegar from a cruet? Herbs with contentment-what a dish, and oh, what a sauce! "Dear mother"-is it not the touching tale with which the higher virtues are urged upon the youthful mind?—" Dear mother," said the | POETRY. "what do poor little boys do in the cold nights who have no log of wood to cover them?" You can buy as much Christmas happiness with a little money as with a great deal. And when the holy season overtakes you in Rome, and going from one splendor to another, from beholding the cradle in Maria Maggiore to hearing the midnight mass by the French Jesuits, you learn that the Pope has blessed the golden rose and sent it to that long-suffering heroine, Saint Isabella of Spain, or that warrior with Principalities and Powers, Louis Napoleon, you will feel that the golden rose of Christmas should be sent not to a mere monarch, but to that good soul in all Christendom who has made most hearts happy upon Christmas-day. Yes, as you say, how shall we discover him? But we can all try to deserve the rose. And that is about as well as having it. Ask Scrooge if it is not. Editor's Book Cable. WE thank Messrs. Appleton for giving to the | photograph of Marco Bozzaris, sent to him by an stitutes the vignette of his title-page. As we read over these poems of his earlier years, and note how few children of his old age are here, we can not but regret the rule he laid down for himself to write nothing in his later life, nor fail to feel that, had he chosen so to do, the store-house of his mind, filled as it was to overflowing with quaint and curious lore, might have given to the world many a treasure now lost to us. Alas! that such royal souls as his should ever seem to ignore the words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him: "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink!" or that they should dream their life-work ended while they still live. But for this the corner house so long known as the home of the poet Halleck and his sister might have been not famous, merely, but sacred to his most blessed memory; so that all New England would indignantly resent the sacrilege which has now converted it into a common tavern. unknown reader in Greece, a copy of which con public in an inexpensive form the poems of FITZ-GREENE HALLECK, whom posterity will rank, not among the greatest, but among the most melodious of America's poets. Nominally edited by JAMES GRANT WILSON, they are really collated, and to a considerable extent annotated, by their author, under whose direct supervision they were arranged for publication. The collection embraces all his poetical publications, with some now for the first time appearing in book form. As our eye glances over this product of his lifetime the poet himself seems to stand before us, in his long coat of invisible blue buttoned up to his full white beard, and his never-failing umbrella tucked under his arm. We see him as we have often seen him in his village home, and hear him repeating, as he delighted to do, the literary gossip of his earlier years, the story of his first introduction to the public with his old friend and poet-partner, Drake. We hear him tell how, in sport, these then, young clerks struck off their first productions, "The Croakers;" how, with fear and trembling, hiding their names, they sent them in to the Evening Post; and how their PROFESSOR LEAVITT has undertaken, in the warm reception, first by the discerning editor, and tragedies of Afranius and the Idumean,* to rethen by an appreciative public, gave to his career produce the life of the past. The task was a its literary character. We remember the genial difficult one. On the whole it has been accominterest he took in the literary life of Guilford, plished with decided success. The scene of the and the cordial encouragement he afforded to its former poem is in the last hours of Rome. A juvenile Shakspeare Club, long after increasing Goth is seated on the throne. Afranius, a Roinfirmity forbade his participating in its exercises. man, a Christian, bound to the king who has beA courteous and gallant old gentleman was he, friended him, bound more closely to his adopted with always a kindly greeting for the young; es- daughter, with whom he has exchanged the vows pecially young ladies: one who could walk a of love in secret, is yet looked to by his countrymile or more, as we remember once he did, to men to participate in schemes for the extirpation return to its owner an album in which he had in- of the Goths and the emancipation of his native scribed a sentiment and subscribed his autograph. land, and is forced to join in them against his A generous man, that proved his hospitality by will. The conflict of patriotism, gratitude, Christhe severest test which ever tries a littérateur- tian principle, and manly love are well portrayed; giving to his friends free access to his library, the atmosphere of the poem is that of the times; and making it a public benefaction. Gossipy, sometimes garrulous, in his old age, and as much delighted as a child with true appreciation; show-Roman Martyrs and other Poems. By the Rev. JOHN Afranius and the Idumean. Tragedies: with the ing, with charming naïveté, to his friends the M. LEAVITT. New York. 1869. and if the ending is rather melodramatic, that, I made great progress since the days when Dr. Cheewe suppose, must be looked for in a tragedy. ver published, in 1830, his "Studies in Poetry." In the "Idumean" Professor Leavitt has been Of such collections the most admirable of the less successful. The scene is laid in Palestine during the last days of Herod the Great. The chief actors in it are his children. For the portraits of Alexander and Aristobulus we fancy he would find it difficult to produce historic authority. And while the romancer may invent scenes, or even characters, he can not rightfully give historic names to his own creations. He may paint as many fancy faces as he likes. But if he undertakes to give us a portrait it must be true. WHITTIER is the poet of New England, though there are at least two others who would contest with him the right to be crowned her Poet-Laureate. His themes are almost always chosen from his own home-life. His pen is never so happily employed as when portraying New England scenery and experience. With the quiet simplicity which belongs to his Quaker character he has done for her modern life what Longfellow essayed and failed to do for her past in his tragedies. Nothing more delicious has ever dropped from his pen than this last idyl of his, Among the Hills. The poem was originally published in the Atlantic under the title of "The Wife"-a better and more significant cognomen than its second one. A prelude has since been appended, nearly as long and quite as exquisite as the original. A string of pearls throughout, it is at no little sacrifice that we refrain from gathering from them a few for our own pages; but our limits forbid. Nothing but a transcript of the whole could convey its chief beauty, its simple moral-the value of mating the true and unaffected grace of the city to the honest, manly worth of the country, that toil may be redeemed from drudgery by a genuine grace, and labor may go hand in hand with love. Ten miscellaneous poems complete the volume. FIELDS, OSGOOD, AND CO. also publish Under the Willows, a collection of JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL'S shorter poems. It does not profess to be complete, and only two of the poems are new. But collected from various sources, many of them will be new to the general reader, and the collection will whet the appetite of all lovers of this strong and singularly varied writer, whose pen is equally powerful in such an exquisite idyl as "The Vision of Sir Launfal," and such broad but genuine humor as the "Bigelow Papers," for the fulfillment of the hint afforded in an accompanying note of a fuller edition of his works at some future day. A complete collection of his poems is a desideratum in American literature. year in all qualities which go to make valuable a work of this description is Dr. SCHAFF's Christ in Song.* Unique in conception, devout in spirit, scholarly in research, and beautiful in typography, it will be welcomed alike as a gift-book by puzzled friends, as a contribution to the history of poetic literature by the curious, as a rare collection of religious poetry by all whose souls answer to its pulsations, and, chiefest of all, as a memorial to Christ by all who love Him. One who should look in on Dr. Schaff, see him at his desk, thinned and furrowed by excessive study, and surrounded by his favorite companions-volumes in German, volumes in Greek, volumes in Hebrew, or who should judge of his mental characteristics solely by that most elaborate and scholarly of theological publications, his American edition of "Lange's Commentary," would not select him for such a work as he has undertaken here. And yet, combining as he does, with rare scholarship and erudition, amounting almost to a bibliomania, a warm and loving Christian heart, aglow with living sympathies and earnest Christian experience, America could furnish no man so well adapted for this work as this divine, who imbues the scholarship of Germany with the life of America. In a beautiful volume of seven hundred pages he has combined all the richest offerings which song has ever poured forth at the feet of Jesus in every age and from every tongue. Originals are brought to the light. Modern alterations that are not amendments are done away with. Old hymns reappear in the original forms in which they issued from their authors' hands. And the briefest possible notes tell us in four or five lines the name of the author, his time, his character, and something of the history of the changes which his verse has undergone. The catholic heart and broad scholarship of the editor have enabled him to make his collection a representative of the adoration of the world. Above one-fifth of the hymns are translations from the Latin and Greek. Nearly as many more are from the German. Selections from Syriac, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Danish hymnology are all included. Every branch of the Church is with equal impartiality represented. Calvinist and Methodist, Roman Catholic and Protestant, lay down their swords of theological warfare, and unite in loving companionship in their song. For after all, battle as we may about religious ideas, in the realm of religious experience all sects are one; and no chemistry can detect a difference between the loving faith of Wesley and of Watts, of the Protestant Kelly and of the Roman Catholic Fortunatus. Not least beautiful in the selection are some new translations by Dr. RAY PALMER, an introductory (original) by him, and a finale (orig PHILOSOPHY. A REMARKABLY exquisite little volume in typography and illustration is Putnam's republica-inal) contributed by the publisher. tion, from the pages of his Magazine, of W. W. HOWELL'S poetical romance of travel, No Love Lost, though the poem does not impress us as equaling in beauty the dress in which the pub-Mental Sciencet is a success or not depends upon lisher has clothed it. WHETHER Professor NOAH PORTER'S Work on Christ in Song. Hymns of Immanuel, Selected from all Ages, with Notes. By PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D. In collections of poems the literary world has New York: Anson D. F. Randolph. 1869. Among the Hills, and other Poems. By JOHN G. WHITTIER. Boston: Fields, Osgood, and Co. 1869. †The Human Intellect. With an Introduction upon Psychology and the Human Soul. By Professor Noal PORTER, D.D., of Yale College. New York: Charles Scribner and Co. mental action in his own children; let him then come down to New York and attend Professor Dalton's course on the nervous system; let him dissect a brain or two, or procure from Professor Lemmercier one of his admirable models, and trace the net-work of nerves to ear and eye and nostril; let him pursue this course of original observation with the same patient assiduity with which he has studied the theories of Englishman and Scotchman and German, of ancient and modern; and then, putting together the results of his observations, careless whose theories they controvert and whose confirm, indifferent wheth what is really wanted on that subject. What he | it is her instrument. He that would learn ashas aimed to do is admirably done. The aim tronomy must know how to use the telescope alone is subject to criticism. If what the intel- and to watch for himself the stars. He that lectual world needs is a well-assorted thesaurus would be a practical geologist must learn the of the orthodox opinions of accepted scholars on language of the rocks. Professor Porter has the subject of metaphysics, not thrown together studied the metaphysics of the books. There is in confusion, but carefully examined, digested, nothing to indicate that he has investigated the and arranged, with their best thoughts carefully mind for himself. Let him leave his library; culled and clearly stated, with the current an- let him watch with pains-taking the mental and swers to their opponents ably given, the whole moral life of the hundred or more of students expressed in language simple and perspicuous that compose his college classes; let him run up so that school-boys can comprehend it, and yet to Hartford and spend a score or more of afteraccompanied with detailed references so that noons watching the mental life of the insane; let scholars have a clew to further investigations-him observe the first outcroppings of thought and if this is what the intellectual world wants, then certainly Professor Noah Porter has admirably supplied the want. He is a disciple of Sir William Hamilton. He reproduces his master's method, and to a considerable extent his thoughts. Yet he has followed him to original sources, and studied himself in the same schools. His book is far less original than that of the Scotch philosopher, but is probably better adapted for a text-book. It is less comprehensive than Haven's, but more complete in detail; perhaps not more scholarly, but certainly more scholastic. And it is a welcome evidence of improvement since the days when Upham's "Mental Philos-er they be scholastically orthodox or heterodox, ophy" was the approved text-book of orthodox anxious only that they point toward the truth, thought in all schools and colleges. Professor and he will have taken the first step toward liftPorter has very happily, too, availed himself of ing metaphysics out of the slough of scholasticism a typographical expedient long since employed in which it is now mired, and of elevating to the in other scientific text-books, now first, we think, rank of a true science that which is entitled to be resorted to in metaphysics, and has distinguish- the cap-stone of the whole temple. Until some ed the general principles by large type, the illus-one shall arise with mind comprehensive enough trations of those principles by a smaller type, to essay this task we must be content to learn by and the detailed discussions of the different rote the theories of our fathers, and to welcome, schools by one still smaller. Probably what in lieu of any thing better, such an admirable our schools and colleges demand is not a treat-compend of them as Professor Porter has afforded ise that shall teach their pupils to study each for us. himself the mind, and learn by personal observation its operations, but one that shall tell them what the scholars have thought about it. Professor Porter, therefore, has probably judged wisely, and written for the market. Nevertheless, we confess that we have read Professor Porter's book with a feeling of real disappointment. It contributes nothing new; it simply gathers up the old. And the old is of very little value. Mental Science is a misnomer. There is no such thing. The simplest principles are in dispute. Hypotheses are substituted for facts; a priori reasonings for observation. It is now about in the state in which astronomy was during the Middle Ages. The inductive method has never been faithfully applied to it. It is true that Sir William Hamilton has interrogated consciousness-a little. It is true that the phrenologists have examined the organs of thought-in a crude and bungling way. But both are partialists. Both contend for a theory. While Science waits patiently, still veiled, like the Egyptian goddess, the inscription over her temple still the same, "I am she that was, and is, and shall be; and who is he that will draw aside my veil?" This Professor Porter certainly has not done. He inveighs against Materialism without defining it. He writes without appreciation, if not without knowledge, of the undoubted facts respecting the brain and its functions in mental life. Denying that it is the generator of thought, he but reluctantly admits that TRAVELS. HARPERS give us the second volume of Dr. BELLOWS's European letters,* marked with all the admirable characteristics which have given to the first volume a peculiar popularity. The au thor possesses an admirable power of observation, which he uses with such good judgment as to give us graphic accounts of the things most entertaining and interesting to American readers, without the exaggeration on which writers of lively books of travel too often depend, and without the intrusion of purely personal and accidental likes and dislikes, which, however interesting to personal friends, have no interest to the general reader. In this volume the author takes us through Italy and the East. His political reflections, very brief but very pertinent, on the condition of Greece and Italy, possess a peculiar interest at the present time, when the Eastern question is agitating Europe. THE Indian troubles in the West, the solution of which seems as distant as ever, save as the gradual extinction of the tribes removes it altogether from American politics, gives a peculiar interest to the two volumes of J. Ross BROWNE.† * The Old World in its New Face. Impressions of Europe in 1867-1868. By HENRY W. BELLOWS. Vol. II. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1869. † Resources of the Pacific Slope. A statistical and descriptive Summary of the Mines and Minerals, Cli The character of The Resources of the Pacific Slope is well indicated by its title. It is an official report presented to the Secretary of the Treasury. It is a voluminous and bulky volume, not intended for the general reader, nor likely to pass into general circulation; but a thesaurus of information for any one who desires to study the character of the Far West. Unfortunately, the utility of such reports is almost wholly lost to the public for the want of either index, table of contents, or even running captions. The Apache Country is written in the popular vein which has rendered Mr. Browne one of the most popular of modern writers of books of travels, and is composed largely, if not altogether, of papers with which the readers of this Magazine are already familiar. It is fortunate for the world that Sinbad the Sailor has descendants, and that there are men who can observe so accurately and write so felicitously as Du Chaillu and J. Ross Browne, who are drawn by an attraction, inexplicable to themselves, to leave the comforts of their own home for the hardships, the fatigue, and the hair-breadth escapes of the camp and the wilderness. The story of this tour through Arizona and Sonora is admirably told; and none the less authentic for the dashes of genial humor which enliven it. It is elaborately illustrated, but sadly needs a good map of the country. ued by American readers for the new, fresh, and kindly views which it affords of American society, and of some of the most perplexing problems in American politics, by a foreigner in hearty sympathy not only with American progress, but with all that contributes any where to the advancement of the race in freedom, education, civilization. The book is illustrated and well provided with maps. It is incomparably the best, if not the only, adequate attempt to delineate the domain of the Anglo-Saxon race and its work in the world. NOVELS. WHILE our table is covered with books of poetry, illustrated books, and books of travels, we look in vain for an American novel, or in truth for an American novelist. We have, indigenous to the soil, humorists, poets, moralists, historians, very readable magazine writers; but our novels, with one or two single exceptions, are poor copies of transatlantic productions, while the most popular ones are reprints of English books, or translations from the French or German. No one has arisen to take the place of Cooper or of Hawthorne. And Mrs. Stowe, who, we had hoped, would do for us what Dickens has done for England, has laid aside the pen of the romancer for that of the essayist. Of the half-dozen stories that lie on our table we fail to find a single original one above the average merit. nam & Son) is a translation from the German of FRANZ DINGLESTEDT, the director of the Court Theatre at Vienna; introduces certain phases of German society-chiefly its artistic and theatrical life-and possesses a certain superficial sparkle, which reminds one of the glare and tinsel of the stage from which it issues. The same house reprint from the pages of Putnam's Magazine Too True; a Story of To-day. This little book DILKE'S Greater Britain* comes to us with warm commendations from the English press. Of these the Gordian Knot, by SHIRLEY It unquestionably stands pre-eminent among BROOKS (Harper and Brothers), possesses the books of travel, and is the work of a man of well-known characteristics of its author, is clevno ordinary character. The idea is unique; the er, in the English sense of that term, and readvery title taking. There is a greater Britain able, but no remarkable contribution to the litthan Great Britain. Its empire extends wher-erature of romance. The Amazon (G. P. Putever English thought has gone, English institutions have been planted, the English tongue is spoken. This is really the British Empire. To introduce his readers to it, to widen their scope of thought, to enlarge their ideas, first of their own race, then of humanity, to show to English people what England really is-this appears to be the author's design. For this purpose he has "followed England round the world;" has visited America, Polynesia, Australia, and India; and has told the story of his travel in a manner quite as original as the thought which prompted him to undertake it. No ordinary person would have planned such a tour. No ordinary person could have told its story. A man not only of quick observation, but of broad sympathies and of catholic views, able to appreciate ideas that in the lesser Britain he had never seen, his book is wholly free from that supercilious contempt for all things un-English which destroys the value of the books of so many of our transatlantic travelers; and it will be especially val for the story is a short one-gives promise of better things from the same anonymous writer in the future. The narrative is not overwrought. The characters are in the main true to life. There are some passages of genuine beauty. And if, as we judge is the case, it is penned by an inexperienced writer, we shall hope that the want of ease which characterizes much of its dialogue will be overcome by practice in future writing. Gloverson and his Silent Partners, by RALPH KEELER (Lee and Shepard), is a book of some value, tinged with the author's evident partiality for German literature, imbued with a peculiar humor, its best feature, and containing mate, Topography, Agriculture, Commerce, Manufac- some characters, well drawn, that can hardly tures, and miscellaneous Productions of the States fail to give the reader a kindlier thought of his and Territories west of the Rocky Mountains; with a fellow men and kindlier purposes toward them. Sketch of the Settlement and Exploration of Lower The great defect, almost a fatal one, is the proCalifornia. By J. Ross BROWNE, aided by a Corps of Assistants. New York: D. Appleton and Co. 1869. fanity which is put into the mouth of Gloverson. Adventures in the Apache Country. A Tour through That a man may be warm-hearted and yet foulArizona and Sonora: with Notes on the Silver Re-mouthed we shall not deny; but we are as little gions of Nevada. By J. Ross BROWNE. Illustrated by the Author. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1869. Greater Britain. A Record of Travel in Englishspeaking Countries during 1866 and 1867. By CHARLES WENTWORTH DILKE. With Maps and Illustrations. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1869. inclined to introduce such a character to our parlors in literature as in real life. Sidney Adriance, by AMANDA M. DOUGLASS (Lee and Shepard), does not lack elements of power, but is overcrowded with characters, tedious in details, and 66 unhealthful in its moral tone. The conversa- ties of his character, heightened as they were in tions of its hero and heroine are chiefly fencing his later years by indulgence in the actor's vicematches with sharp swords of satire; and the a resort to stimulants-intensified his fame and chief lesson it seems to teach is how to couch clothed all he did with a peculiar and attractive cutting and disagreeable things under forms so interest. The most uneven of actors and the far courteous that society will at least tolerate most unreliable of men, an extravagant and them. We hardly know whether to account erring spirit, allied to madness, would sometimes MAYNE REID'S Child Wife (Sheldon and Co.) take possession of him and bring him away from an American work. It is, we believe, the first the theatre the moment the performance was to product of his pen since he has become a natu- begin." Mr. GoULD, who knew Booth personralized citizen of the United States. The scene ally, and who followed him through successive is laid partly here, chiefly abroad; the charac-engagements, studying with enthusiasm his evters, some of them Americans, some foreigners, ery word, accent, gesture, has undertaken in this few natural; the plot impossible; the incidents memorial volume to reproduce his hero's repreunreal; the whole story of the most degenerate sentations, a task which leads him into delicate sensational school; a melodrama only worthy and appreciative criticisms of Shakspeare himof a third-rate theatre. self. His work will be accepted, not only as a memorial of the actor, but as a valuable interpretation of one of Shakspeare's best interpreters, and so a worthy and thoughtful critique, valuable to all who delight in the great poet of human nature.* THE DRAMA. GENIUS treads close on the heels of madness; indeed it might be defined a kind of madness. Between the wild frenzy of the one and the erratic power of the other there is a singular similitude. Certain it is that the genius of the elder Booth was of the wild, weird kind which is cousin-german to lunacy. The very eccentrici The Tragedian; an Essay on the Histrionic Genins of Junius Brutus Booth. By THOMAS R. GOULD, New York: Hurd and Houghton. 1868. OUR Monthly Record of Current Events. UNITED STATES. millions annually are expended for the military UR Record closes on the 30th of December. force, a large portion of which is employed in the Congress convened on the 7th, and a large execution of laws both unnecessary and unconmajority of both Houses being present, proceed-stitutional." The receipts from internal revenues ed at once to the transaction of business. The President's Message was transmitted on the 9th. 66 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. The Message opens by calling attention to the disorganized condition of the country under the various laws which have been passed upon the subject of reconstruction," which, he says, "after a fair trial, have substantially failed and proved pernicious in their results, and there seems no good reason why they should longer remain upon the statute-book. The Message continues: The attempt to place the white population under the dominion of persons of color in the South has impaired, if not destroyed, the kindly relations which had previously existed between them, and mutual distrust has engendered a feeling of animosity which, leading in some instances to collision and bloodshed, has prevented that co-operation between the two races so essential to the success of industrial enterprises in the Southern States. The President proceeds to contrast the present state of the country with what it would have been had his scheme of reconstruction been carried out. He urges the repeal of the Tenure of Office Bill, and of the laws which interfere with the President's constitutional functions as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and which deny to the States the right to protect themselves by their own militia. The expenditures of the Government have since 1791 increased 8618 per cent., while the population has increased only 868 per cent. In 1791 they were a little more than a dollar for each person; in 1860, two dollars; and in 1869 they will be nearly ten dollars. "One hundred and customs have during the last three years gradually diminished. The public debt during the year will have been increased by $46,500,000. The President recommends that immediate measures should be commenced for the payment of the debt within a few years. The rate of interest, he urges, should be diminished. The Secretary of the Treasury suggested 5 per cent.; Congress passed a bill fixing it at 44, while many suppose that 3 per cent. would be amply sufficient. The President makes suggestions far beyond this. Bondholders, he says, receive 6 per cent. in gold, equal to 9 in currency; these bonds are then converted into banking capital, so that in all the holders of Government securities may receive 17 per cent. Moreover, the amount which the Government obtained "was in real money 300 or 400 per cent. less than the obligations which it issued in return. The President thus sets forth his plan : Our national credit should be sacredly observed; but in making provision for our creditors we should not forget what is due to the masses of the people. have already received upon their bonds a larger It may be assumed that the holders of our securities amount than their original investment, measured by a gold standard. Upon this statement of facts it would seem but just and equitable that the 6 per cent. interest now paid by the Government should be applied to the reduction of the principal in semi-annual installments, which in sixteen years and eight months would liquidate the entire national debt. Six per cent. În gold would at present rates be equal to 9 per cent. in currency, and equivalent to the payment of the debt one and a half time in a fraction less than seventeen years. This, in connection with all the other advantages derived from their investment, would afford to the public creditors a fair and liberal compensation for the use of their capital, and with this they should |