force, regardless of right and justice, and when the executive can, or will not apply an enduring check, when all the barriers of the Constitution are beaten down, and the South deprived of her equal right under the Confed eration-then will those who have brought about this state of things have incurred the guilt and shame of the wanton destruction of this beautiful form of Government; and upon their heads will rest the curse. CRITICAL NOTICES. Maury's Sailing Directions. Notice to Mariners: By Lieut. W. F. MAURY, U. S. N., National Observatory, Washington. Approved by the Hon. William Ballard Preston, Secretary of the Navy; and published, by authority of Commodore Lewis Warrington, chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography. Washington: 1850. The peculiar benefits of a National Observatory are beginning already to be felt. The attention of the nation is directed toward it, as toward a centre, from which nothing crude or unscientific can emanate. A spirit of exactness and of research is cultivated in the official mind at Washington, and in the army and navy; and a respectability and importance is given to the Exact Sciences, by the knowledge that they are the indispensable auxiliaries of the government. Upon this consideration, every reader can enlarge for himself. Lieut. Maury states, in this quarto pamphlet, that " every navigator, with the assistance rendered by the Observatory, and here published, may now calculate and project for the path of his ship, on an intended voyage, very much in the same way that the astronomer determines the path of a comet through the heavens. There is this difference, however; the Pilot Chart, with its data, shows the navigator that, in pursuing his path on the ocean, head-winds and calms are to be encountered, and that therefore he cannot, with certainty, predict the place of his ship on a given day. He, therefore, in calculating his path through the ocean, has to go into the doctrine of chances, and to determine thereby the degree of probability as to the frequency and extent with which he may anticipate adverse winds and calms by the way." James Montjoy; or, I've been Thinking: By A. S. ROE. New York: D. Appleton & Co. When a new author takes his place upon the stage of literature, his first attempt deserves something more at the hands of the critic than a general expression of commendation or blame-it deserves discrimination. And yet we hardly know how to give, within the limits of a mere notice, an adequate idea of the work before us. We will begin with its faults, however, if only to have an opportunity to make its merits the final object of our remarks. The author has unwisely deprived his book of the advantage of unity of interest. He has too many leading personages, whose separate adventures engross too much of the reader's attention. Jim Montjoy, the nominal hero, is not so in fact. He plays a very conspicuous part in the first scenes; but as the drama develops itself, he becomes a secondary character. Nor does any one personage take his place. And this is the vital defect of the book. Although the author has, with considerable art, taken up afterwards the separate threads of his narrative, and combined them for the catastrophe, yet, for want of a centre of interest to keep them connected throughout the work, they divide and fatigue the attention. Some of the characters, indeed, have the appearance of copies from living originals. There is an old lame sailor, whose oddities produce a really Corporal Trim-like effect. But generally, Mr. Roe's painting of characters belongs to a school that looks but little to nature for models. The good are too good; the bad, too entirely bad. The blemishes we have noticed are of a serious character in a work of fiction; for they are of that class which mars effect, that main object of art. Yet there are beauties enough in James Montjoy to redeem defects even more fatal. The opening chapters, which relate the adventures of young James with his brother Ned and his friend Sam Oakum, are delightful to read. The simplicity of the action invests the details with an absorbing interest, which reminds one of Robinson Crusoe on his island, and is only attainable in works, which relate the struggles of unassisted man against natural obstacles. The style too of this part of the work is greatly superior to the remainder. It seems to have been cared for as a labor of love. It is plain, almost faultless, and well in keeping with the events of the narrative. As soon as, by the success of the boys, and the introduction of new characters, the plot becomes more intricate, much of the attraction of the tale disappears, together with much of the author's happiness of manner. Mr. Roe's style, in the better parts, is of that kind of which we deemed the secret lost. It has that quiet, calm beauty, which is felt, rather than seen, and wins, without striking, leaving upon the mind a sensation of pleasure, which has stolen in un perceived. To give an idea of this style of writing, definition will not answer-since its merits are of that very character which baffles definition. Nor will quotation answer the purpose. bucket of water would give a poor idea of the magnificent effect of the Hudson river in a landscape. So, of any single passage in this work, whose beauty consists of a succession of beauties, constantly following each other, and gaining strength by accumulation. Unexpected touches of gentle humor, or gentler pathos, minute, A yet unpretending descriptions of charming scenes, a patient, yet never wearisome attention to details-these are some of the qualities which enchant us in this new author. We cannot refrain from quoting the apologue, which he has introduced in guise of preface to this book: "I was once present at a conversation between a goodly couple, in the old New England time, touching the fate of one of their sons, just sent abroad; he was a pet boy, at least with the old lady. "I wish, my dear, that you would write to the firm of What do you call 'em a very particular letter about our Bill, and let them know just what he is; for going so among strangers, the poor child may have rough treatment, merely because they don't know his ways." Moralism and Christianity; or, Man's Experience and Destiny: In three Lectures: By HENRY JAMES. New York: J. S. Redfield. 1850. Three Lectures, of which the first was delivered in New-York, and published in the Massachusetts Quarterly. The second was read in Nov. 1849, in Boston. The third was read and repeated in New-York, in December of the same year. The title of the first lecture is "A Scientific statement of the Christian Doctrine of the Lord, or Divine Man." The second is entitled "Socialism and Civilization, in relation to the Development of the Individual Life." The title of the third is " Morality and the Perfect Life." Our author calls the Divine Man, or God's Image in Creation, by the name of " Artist." His effort, a very great one, is to show that the Artist is he who acts wholly from within; from a pure and divine ideal of the universe, subjectively, as the Germans say, or as we say, after them. The actions of men in civilized society are merely relative they are shaped, for the most part, under the stress of religious and moral obligation. The actions of the individual are the result of two forces; nature, impelling from within,-that is to say "the free nature of the Artist," which always seeks to represent in action its own ideal and its own desire-and society and religion, that is to say, usage and sacred tradition repressing and guiding from without. The latter forces, for the most part, triumphing over the individual nature. This triumph is the triumph of the three kinds of government by which society is regulated; the religious, or traditional, the civil or political, and the social or moral, morals being, of course, customary, and their tone given by society. The complete action of these three powers, or modes of power, on the individual life, is what is called civilization, more or less perfect. Our author is an intellectual rebel against all the three; he wishes to rise above them by substituting something better in their stead. He wishes to perform that gradual work of creation which has been going on since the first appearance of the human race, for many thousand years, and of which the final fruit and consequence thus far, is the educated society of Europe and America. He wishes the individual, by a single effort, to master every spiritual law of that progress; to raise above it, to tread it under foot; to substitute a new and peculiar creation of his own, placing him in a divine and unimpeded relationship with the entire future of God's providence, and making him no longer subject to, but a master and reformer of everything that is established by the voice of Milleniums, and held in highest veneration by the Heroes and the Sages of all past time. A citizen of Boston wishes to do all this. Atlas: Designed to Illustrate Mitchell's Edition of the Geography of the Heavens: comprising 24 Star charts, exhibiting the relative magnitudes, distances, &c., of all the stars, to the 6th magnitude inclusive. Also Nebulæ, Clusters, Nebulous stars, Double and Multiple stars. Together with the Telescopic appearance of the Planets and other remarkable objects in the Heavens. Compiled by O. M. Mitchell, A. M. Director of the Cincinnati Observatory. NewYork: Huntington and Savage, 216 Pearl-st. The publishers have sent us a copy of this most admirable Atlas, for general purposes the best and the simplest we have ever seen. The Heavens are represented in 24 maps; the stars indicated by bright white spots on a black ground; with a scale of magnitudes, and everything necessary for the use of the Student or the observer who wishes to obtain a knowledge of the Heavens. Professor Mitchell is well known in this country as our The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. BY EDWARD GIBBON, ESQ. Boston, Phillips, Samson & Co. 1850. This is a small octavo, six volume, library edition, of Gibbon's Decline and Fall, edited by the Rev. H. H. Milman. A complete index of the whole work is added, and the first volume has an A small, convenient school-edition of Cicero's excellent engraved likeness of Gibbon. It is the Orations; with plenty of notes. A Discourse on the Soul and Instinct Physiologically distinguished from Materialism. Introductory to a Course of Lectures on the Institutes of Medicine. New York University. By Martyn Paine, A. M., M. D., Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and Materia Medica in the University of New York. New York: Edwin H. Fletcher. 1849. We have had no leisure for the examination of Dr. Paine's work, but conclude from a rapid survey of its pages that it will well repay the enquirer in the profound and difficult subject of which it treats. Uses and Abuses of Air. By JOHN H. GRISCOM, New York: J. S. Redfield. 1850. This is a treatise by an experienced Physician, on the influence of air in sustaining life, and producing disease; with remarks on the ventilation of houses and the best methods of securing a pure and wholesome atmosphere in dwellings, churches, court rooms, work shops and buildings of all kinds. most convenient edition which has been published in America. The Life of John Calvin. Compiled from authentic sources, and, particularly, from his correspondence. By THOMAS H. DYER, with a portrait. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1850. One volume, small octavo. This volume is cheaply printed for circulating libraries and popular use. A Handbook of Modern European Literature. This is a brief sketch-a kind of skeleton histo ry-to guide the reader in his choice of authors, giving the names of the most celebrated of all modern languages. Hume's History of England. The Publishers, Phillips, Samson & Co., Boston, have sent us the sixth and concluding volume of their excellent unabridged edition of Hume's History of England. SPECIAL NOTICE.-The present volume is the concluding one of Hume's History of England, unabridged. It embraces a very carefully prepared index to the whole work, which, for purposes of historical reference, was deemed indispensable. The above, in conjunction with the " Boston Li A more important topic than the one treated of in this volume cannot be suggested in the entire range of regimen and diatetics. Every professional man, every master of a Hospital, and indeed every householder, will find instruction of the most important character in this treatise of Dr. Griscom.brary Edition" of Macaulay's continuation of The author shows that a very large proportion of the diseases of civilization are produced by the respiration of an impure atmosphere. Hume, is now the only uniform edition of the two authors published in this country. They are sold together, or separately, at 62 cents per volume. The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey. In six parts. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1850. The price of this entire work, an elegant octavo edition, at twenty-five cents a number, is but one dollar and a half. It is edited by his son, the Rev. Charles Cuthbert Southey, M. A. It is composed, in great part, of the letters of Robert Southey; a literary and social correspondence of extraordinary interest. Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb. By the celebrated M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND. Translated by an able and conscientious translator, Thomas Williams, Esq. For sale by Williams & Brothers, Office of the Morning Star. We have before us a number of school books and class books, sent by the civility of publishers of which we can only give the names and object. Among these we notice Historical and Miscellaneous Questions. By RICHMAL MANGNALL. The first American, from the 84th London Edition. Embracing the elements of Mythology, Astronomy, Architecture, Heraldry, &c., &c., adapted to Schools in the United States. By Mrs. JULIA LAWRENCE. With numerous Engravings on wood. D. Appleton & Co., New York. Pinney's Progressive French Reader. Adapted to the new method, with Notes and a Lexicon. New York: Huntington & Savage. 1850. Companion to Ollendorff's New Method of Learning the French Language. Dialogues, and a Vocabulary. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 1850. White Jacket; or, Life in a Man-of-War: by HERMAN MELVILLE. New York: Harper & Brothers. This book we have received too late for perusal. The chapters we have read, however, decidedly whet the appetite for more; and incline us to think that it will be one of the most popular books of this world-renowned sea author. The reader is taken " on board ship," and introduced into its most minute economy. He is made acquainted with the real sea-dogs, and, whatever turns up, we feel assured, is portrayed with all the graphic skill for which the author is famous. The Optimist by HENRY T. TUCKERMAN. New York: Geo. P. Putnam. 1850. Mr. Tuckerman as a writer of the quiet and meditative class always pleases and profits us. He is one of the genuine essayists, of whom this coun try has duced but few. pro The book befo re us consists of a series of essays on subjects of every day life and literature, and will, we think, become a favorite volume with the reading public. It is a beautifully printed book-as it deserves to be. The East-Sketches of Travel in Egypt and the Holy Land: by the Rev. J. A. SPENCER. New York: Geo. P. Putnam. This enterprising publisher seems determined, at whatever cost, to do his part towards gratifying the insatiable curiosity of the public, in the lands of antique and sacred lore. This is the third book on the subject we have had to notice, in a very short period of time, from his pen. The book before us we can commend as most pleasant, and instructive family reading, being in the form of familiar letters, elegantly illustrated, from original drawings. The author is a well known scholar, and, very happily, uses his learning, without pedantry, to illustrate the objects of interest which he describes in his easy and flowing narrative of his journeyings in the East. He cannot be said to have added anything to the discoveries or theories of the many able writers on the subject, who have preceded him; but he carries the reader along with him, and will enable many to realize the scenes, reflections, and impressions which crowd upon the oriental traveller, better than many writers on the subject, of more pretensions. |