expression of goodness, as make her absolutely lovely. She is rather fat than thin, and her beauty is matured more than faded. Her conversation is delightful, full of variety and anecdote. She is an enthusiast in politics, and on what is called the Liberal side; but there is such a feminineness in all she says and does, that even her politics could not alloy the charm of her agreeableness. She has a most extensive acquaintance with literary persons, and her conversation is a stream of lively anecdote continually flowing." She was intimately acquainted with Southey, and Dr. Arnold, and Wordsworth, of whom she tells the story that he had so little interest in sculpture that he went to sleep in Florence when lookat the Venus de Medici! She knew La Harpe, and Bunsen, and Mazzini, of whom she says that Dr. Arnold declared him “ perfectly honest and truly disinterested." devoted friend of the celebrated Italian republican, and says of him: "If ever there was a soldier that took righteousness for his breastplate that soldier is Mazzini." Few biographies are so interesting and instructive as this.

She was herself a

THE GERMAN ELEMENT IN THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.*The title of this book would lead one to expect rather more than is to be found; but we do not say this in the way of adverse criticism, for the volume is a valuable and an interesting one. It contains sketches of the lives of two men of German birth, whose services in our War of Independence will always be remembered with gratitude by the American people-Baron von Steuben, and General John Kalb. The story of their career is told in an animated and breezy way, which cannot fail to awaken in every reader something of the enthusiasm with which the accomplished author regards everything which pertains to the Revolution. Old Gen. Steuben is perhaps the most picturesque character of the war. Kalb first visited this country in 1768, as the confidential agent of Choiseul, to report to the French government the state of feeling in the colonies towards England. His report gives very valuable information. When he came a second time with Lafayette, in 1777, it seems that he was actually instructed by De Broglie to intimate to Congress that France would make it an imperative condition of assistance that a foreign military and political leader," should be placed at the head of *The German Element in the War of American Independence. By GEORGE WASHINGTON GREENE, LL.D. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 12mo, pp. 211.

affairs! On reaching Philadelphia, Kalb had the tact to see at once that it was best to keep his own counsel, and leave his "instructions" in his portfolio. A chapter on the "German mercenaries" closes the book; which is good as far as it goes, but the reader is left with the feeling that the story is only half told. It is to be hoped that Mr. Green will add another chapter, and complete this part of the work.

*

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON.*This is the first of a series of publications which will do much to revive the spirit of patriotism in the country. During these next eight years we shall all live over the eventful days of the Revolution, sharing with our fathers in their privations and sufferings and rejoicing with them in their final triumph. The town of Lexington has done well to put on permanent record in this handsome manner what was said and done on the 19th of April last, when so many thousands gathered in that historic village, to listen to a recital of what took place on that famous "green" one hundred years before. The oration delivered by Mr. Richard Henry Dana, Jr., was worthy of the occasion. The very roll of the drums can be heard in it. "We broke no bonds. We were We were free-born." * never bound. "We were not the revolutionists. The king and the parliament were the revolutionists. They were the radical innovators. We were the conservators of existing institutions. They were seeking to overthrow, and reconstruct on a theory of parliamentary omnipotence. We stood upon the defence of what we had founded and built up under their acquiescence, and without which we could not be the free and self-governing people we had always been. We broke no chain. We prepared to strike down any hand that might attempt to lay one upon us. There was not one institution, law, or custom, political or social, from the mountain-tops to the sea-shore, that we cared to change." Besides the oration of Mr. Dana, the volume contains the Poem written by Whittier for the occasion, and all the Addresses then delivered.

* Proceedings at the Centennial Celebration of the Battle of Lexington, April 19, Boston: Lockwood, Brooks & Co. 1875. 8vo, pp. 170.

1875.

-

BELLES LETTRES.

THE SHIP IN THE DESERT.*-This last volume from Mr. Miller has not given us as much pleasure as the " Songs of the Sun-Lands," noticed last year in the first number of this journal. As a foreign critic has said, "Whatever the faults of style which disfigure his poems, and they are many and flagrant,-there can be no doubt that he possesses the genuine poetic faculty," and this, put forth with a certain audacity of treatment, on the sierras, cañons, plains, and wild border life of our new world, accounts for the enthusiasm his first appearance excited abroad. He does not appear to as much advantage in one longer poem, such as we have here, where the narrative amounts to little, and is obscure at the best. Familiar as he has become with certain modern poets, as shown even in occasional partial imitations of their manner, he might be expected by this time to have rid his composition of palpable blemishes arising from want of early culture. His versification is impaired by repeated use of such words as 'sires' and towers,' as if they were two syllables, and 'contemplate' with the accent misplaced. 'Antelope' is vulgarly used as a plural. He is addicted to 'pouting lips' in his personages. He seems to grow repetitious also in his descriptions. Yet these pages abound in brilliant imagery and picturesque allusion. The work is dedicated to his dear parents,' and the preface, addressed to them, is crowded with characteristic recollections, though perhaps excessively elaborate.

THE POETICAL WORKS OF RAY PALMER.-Our readers are already favorably acquainted with Dr. Ray Palmer, and his hymns need no introduction nor recommendation. But this volume, besides being a complete edition of his poems, including his recent longest work, "Home, or the Unlost Paradise," already fully noticed in our Journal, is one of the most beautiful gift-books for the It is a splendid specimen of paper, type, and binding, befitting the amiable and sacred quality of the contents. In common with a multitude of his friends, we welcome the life-like portrait of the author. The volume is fitly inscribed to Dr. Mark Hopkins. Most of the poems have been before published in one form or

season.

*The Ship in the Desert. By JOAQUIN MILLER. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1875. pp. 205.

The Poetical Works of Ray Palmer. Complete Edition. New York and Chicago: A. S. Barnes & Co. 1876. 8vo, pp. 372.

another, and some are well known treasures in our Hymnology, but others are new. They are classified here as "Hymns and Sacred Lyrics," "Translations," "Home," (nearly ninety pages,) and "Miscellaneous Poems." Several pages of Appendix contribute comments, and among these we are glad to see the origin and some incidents of the history of the hymn beginning, "My faith looks up to Thee," which has given the writer a place that many volumes of theology might have failed to win in the hearts of the church universal.

MISS PRESTON's "CARTOONS."*-This is one of the most enjoyable of the poetical contributions of the season. There are fourteen short descriptive poems founded on well known events in the lives of the "old masters." In the first, the story is told of Leonardo da Vinci's long protracted efforts to satisfy himself with a portrait of "Mona Lisa." The second relates the confession of his crime, wrung from him by remorse, by Andrea del Castagno, who had assassinated his friend, Domenico Venetiano, in order that he might be the sole possessor of the secret which he had confided to him respecting the then new method of painting in oil. The titles of some of the others which follow are "Victoria Colonna to Michael Angelo; " "Sebastiano at Supper;" "Raffaele and Giulio Romano in the Sistine;" "Poussin and his Master; “Albrecht Dürer and the Baron's Daughter." Following these are twenty poems founded on legends of the middle ages; and thirtyfive on subjects of contemporary interest. These "cartoons" are themselves worthy the hand of a master; and compare favorably with those of a similar character by Robert Southey. They are not spun out. The interest is well sustained throughout; and there is a simplicity and a directness in the style; a harmony in all the parts; and an element of pathos, which will make the collection a favorite one with a large class of readers.

WHITTIER'S SELECTIONS FROM THE SONGS OF THREE CENTURIES. It is no small matter to have as a guide through the innumerable volumes of poems which have been published in the last three centuries, one in whose taste we can have such confi

*Cartoons. By MARGARET J. PRESTON. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 12mo, pp. 240.

Songs of Three Centuries. James R. Osgood & Co. 1876.

Edited by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. Boston: 12mo, pp. 352.

dence as we have in that of the poet Whittier. Besides, to one who is somewhat familiar with the metrical authors of this period, it is interesting to see what extracts such a man will make as illustrations of their "wisest thoughts and rarest fancies." Mr. Whittier's object has been evidently to make an attractive book, and his plan has led him to confine himself to the lyrical productions and briefer poems of the authors quoted, and to give great prominence to the poetry of the present century. The Selection is a charming one; and yet we will mention, as an illustration of the difficulty of doing such a work to the satisfaction of all, that the two first among the present writer's favorite living authorsone an Englishman and the other an American--whose names he looked for, are represented only by a single short poem-and that by no means one of their best. Perhaps, too, there is no reason why it should not be added that the works of both these authors are published by the firm who publish Mr. Whittier's present Selections.

man.

GUIDO AND LITA.*-The celebrity which attaches itself to the author of this poem will secure for it doubtless many readers. It is a new version of "the old, old story"-how Guido, who was nobly born, loved Lita who was the daughter of a lowly fisherThe scene is laid in the Riviera di Ponente, or the southern slope of the Maritime Alps, which is just now more than ever the favorite resort of British tourists. In the tenth century it was exposed to constant piratical invasions from the Saracens who had established themselves in Corsica and Sardinia, and were fast acquiring a foothold on the main land. At last the inhabitants rallied, and, with the help of Pisa and the Count of Provence, drove out the Mohammedan invaders. It was in this troubled period that Guido and Lita lived and loved. Of course there were obstacles in the way of their happiness. But, at last, it was by the signal services which each rendered to their countrymen in repelling one of these Mohammedan raids, that all obstacles were removed and they became husband and wife.

THE BERTRAM FAMILY.t-It is the verdict of the reading public generally that the "Schönberg Cotta Family" excelled all the other

* Guido and Lita. A Tale of the Riviera. By the Right Hon. the MARQUIS OF LORNE. With illustrations. New York: MacMillan & Co. 1875. 12mo, pp. 102. The Bertram Family. By the author of "Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family." New York: Dodd and Mead, Publishers. pp. 336.