From The Saturday Review.
MRS. BROWNING.

MRS. BROWNING, whose death has caused general regret, was a genuine poetess, and no other Englishwoman has approached so nearly the higher regions of her art. From childhood her thoughts and dreams appear to have found their natural expression in verse, and her earliest poems are but fanciful representations of a simple girlish life. Al

suffered under a tedious and apparently hopeless illness. Her touching expressions of pain, of tenderness, and of piety, have perhaps attracted warmer feelings of regard from unknown readers than the more ambitious performances of a later and happier period. The weariness of the sick-room and the compulsory exclusion from society may account for a certain morbidness of tone, and also for frequent laxity of execution; most all the descriptions of English scenery but the plaintive poetry is too imaginative in her works refer to the beautiful district and thoughtful to degenerate into querulous where her family resided under the western utterances of personal suffering. If defects slopes of the Malvern Hills. Sheep-paths in verbal polish and accuracy allow the on mountain sides, gorse-blossoms and Here- poems to survive, they will always possess a fordshire orchards, give an air of freshness genuine attraction for the sentimental and and reality to many passages which might the young. After her recovery and her marotherwise be censured as exaggerated and riage, it is well known that Mrs. Browning sickly; but her intellectural culture seems resided almost exclusively in Italy, and forto have been derived from books rather than eign life is almost more fatal to English asfrom external observation or from social ex-sociations than the confinement which is enperience. It may be collected from many allusions in her writings that she had in her youth read, not only the Greek classics, but the principal Greek Fathers of the Church; and although she probably never attained a scholarlike knowledge of the language, her studies indicate an extraordinary power of attainment, as well as an intellectual ambition in which few women could participate. Her acquaintance with the best models of language exercised no perceptible influence on her own compositions, for her style was always incorrect, careless, and essentially modern. A fine ear for verse was one of her most remarkable gifts, and her metrical taste seems in the first instance to have been formed from the flowing and musical rhythm of Shelley. In maturer years she felt, like all her contemporaries, the influence of Mr. Tennyson's genius, though some of her writings are constructed on the coarser and more artificial model of Poe, and her popular Cry of the Children belongs to the lachrymose school of Hood. Her latest works are most original in metre as well as in thought, and yet they derive additional interest from the constant traces which they present of entire sympathy and intellectual identification with the poet whose name she bore.

It would be improper to refer to Mrs. Browning's personal history, except in so far as it is recorded in her published writings. From the poems which were published in 1844, it may be collected that she then

forced by illness. With the true feminine instinct of clinging to what is nearest and most familiar, a poetess in voluntary exile soon concentrates her affections on her acquired home, and looks back on the country of her birth and her youth, like the Lotuseater, with half-closed and dreamy eyes. Mrs. Browning's last poem incurred general censure for its negation of patriotism and its utter injustice; yet it was evident that her denunciations of her own country were the honest expression of an unconscious belief that England existed only for the sake of Italy or of Florence. The partiality and personal bias which affect the ordinary judgments of women may render their meddling with political questions inexpedient; but, when the interference occurs, honest prejudice goes far to excuse the mistakes which it causes. The literary disadvantages of a foreign resident consist rather in an involuntary alienation of thought from the images and feelings which belong to English life. In the poem called Casa Guidi Windows, Mrs. Browning assumes that her readers are as familiar as herself with Florentine allusions, and, in her ill-judged dithyrambics on the war of 1859, she frequently indulges in complimentary or ironical references to persons who are necessarily unknown to her countrymen and readers. Her tendency to exclude herself from the circle of English thought was probably increased by the example of a genius far deeper

and more comprehensive than her own. Mr. | formerly observed, the most conclusive proof Browning's imagery and his subjects belong that no woman can hope to achieve what almost exclusively to the South of Europe, and the only considerable poetess who ever married an original poet may well be excused for copying, and perhaps exaggerating, his casual peculiarities.

From The Spectator, 6 July. troops, but by the people from among whom THE STORM-CLOUD IN CENTRAL EUROPE. those troops are recruited. But, on the other AFFAIRS in Austria seem ripening fast. hand, the Hungarians have gained advantages For the second time in twelve years the king which may compensate even for their great of Hungary has cast down the gauntlet to his loss. They have linked themselves at last subjects. Yielding, after a long hesitation, to into the revolution. The Liberal party the traditional impulses of his race, the em- throughout Europe is watching them, not, as peror of Austria rejected the address of his in 1848, as a nation fighting out an ancestral Diet, and on the 1st inst. the rescript accus- quarrel, but as a people striving for freedom ing its framers of treason and the Diet of dis- against a government they nevertheless acloyality was read in Pesth. If the Diet will knowledge. They have, too, acquired an ally, reconsider its language, it may continue to ex-bound to their fortunes by links such as no dipist; if not, it will be at once dissolved. As lomacy could weld. The rescript was read usual in a crisis, the emperor seeks in Italian in Pesth on the 1st July. On the following blood the aid his own subjects are powerless day the premier of Italy rose to pronounce a to afford, and Count Coronini is to do for speech which, if M. Reuter has done his duty, Austria in Hungary what Eugene of Savoy is a clear declaration of war. "We are armdid for Austria in the Low Countries. The ing," said the stern noble, with an audacity Hungarian fortresses have been regarrisoned, the world has not yet learned to expect from and the state of siege is postponed only for the an Italian, "not only to defend our soil, but answer of the Diet. An appeal has been to restore it to its natural and legitimate made to the Reichsrath, and Count Clam-Gal- boundaries. Europe," he continued, “will las, chief of the Austrian aristocracy, pledges shortly acknowledge our incontestable right to the German population to a hearty support of perfect our independence." It is difficult not the crown. On the other hand, the Hunga- to believe that the speaker had heard the rerians are furiously excited. Their leaders fusal decided on in the Austrain cabinet, and can scarcely restrain the citizens from attack-knew that his proud challenge, which in other ing detached parties of soldiers, and the levy days would have set loose the Austrian armies of taxes by force will be openly resisted. It as certainly as the summer sets free the ice, is just possible that M. Deak may devise a was a summons to Hungary as well as Italy, compromise which will hold back both parties would strike a note of encouragement in Pesth till the Italians are fully armed, but the signs as cheerful as that it rings in Caprera. It is, which precede civil war, and the rumors which at all events, certain that this is the permaherald its actual outbreak, are all once more nent policy of the Italian ministry, that they abroad. look to the contest between Hungary and its The single security for peace is the pre-king as the Venetian opportunity, and that sumed inability of Hungary to fight, and of they are prepared, if need be, to march to the this too much is made. The Hungarians deliverance of Venice at the head of the revdoubtless are in one or two respects in a worse olution. The power of such an alliance in position than in 1848. Then the national furthering the Hungarian cause cannot be army stood on its own soil, a nucleus for the overestimated. It is not merely that Italy force which in a few months compelled the brings with her the aid of an army, which it emperor to place his first kingdom at the feet will require half the strength of Austria to of an ally. Then, too, the emperor was at war resist, with possibly a still more potent army with sections of his remaining subjects, re- in the background; it is not only that the straining Vienna as well as attacking Pesth, Italian king is obeyed by a servant whose using martial law in Prague as well as flog- mere name acts like a spell on the disaffected ging nobles on the Theiss. It is impossi- of all races, and is as powerful among Croats ble to deny that the absence of an organ- as among Neapolitans; but the Italian govized force places M. Deak at great disadvan- ernment has been formed by accretion round tage by the side of Kossuth. It is useless to an old and strongly organized monarchy, question that the creation of the Reichsrath, which can supply to allies the very requirevain as we may believe the concession to be, ments of which they stand in need. Italy can has strengthened the emperor's hand, that he find Hungary generals, arms, cadres, and a will be supported this time not only by his battle-ground. It matters little whether the

contest be fought out round the Quadrilateral House of Hapsburg must coerce Hungary, or

or at Pesth, and an Hungarian legion swollen suffer the empire to sink into a powerless fedby deserting regiments into an army, would eration. Recent events have shown, howfind on the Mincio chiefs, artillery, and its foe. ever, that the danger of this result has Nor is Hungary itself so powerless as marti- passed, that there is a cohesion among the nonnets believe. A nation of twelve millions, ac- Hungarian provinces other than that procustomed to arms, full of the military instinct, duced by imperial authority. The Reichsrath and protected by mountain and forest, is at all can rule Austria peacefully enough, even if times, whether prepared or taken by surprise, Hungary is permitted to rule herself. Supa terrible foe on its own soil. Military occu- pose, therefore, the "wild" address not only pation sounds formidable, but the military oc- received but accepted, in what position would cupation of a country a third larger than Eng- the emperor have been placed? He would land is an operation whose cost a government have been sovereign of two great countries, with ruined finances, and a commerce yet to each sufficient to take a front rank in Eucreate, may find it impossible to sustain. The rope, each contented with his rule, and bound worthy Germans who think the Hungarians together by an offensive and defensive alliuncivilized, because they prefer free speech to ance. In each his personal authority, though free speculation, and political knowledge to limited in the one case by ancient laws, and scientific thought, will bear anything sooner in the other by his own act, would still be far than effective taxation. The citizens of beyond that possessed by any constitutional Vienna may be willing to crush Hungary, monarchy, while in each it would have been without being willing to contribute a house tax possible to secure in the Diet an influence towards that end. The revenue of Venetia sufficient to make the sovereign the first and would be at once extinguished, while Bohemia most effective of political chiefs. The dominand Gallicia, and the rest of the heterogene-ions of the House would be as wide as they ous provinces which the reigning house holds together by a sort of regal glue, will pay exactly as much as they are compelled to pay to maintain the unity their own representatives perpetually resist. Within a month of the commencement of war, Austria, unless she gains a victory so signal as to re-establish her credit, will be in the position of the government of France in 1789-bankrupt to the point at which daily cash is no longer to be procured. The great victory is of course possible; but with England and France hostile to invasion, Italy forgetting her factions in the common calamity, and the revolutionists of the world calling to arms, a great victory would not terminate all the hopes of the two nations. War, such as that of Austria against Italy, is not of the class which ends in a coup d'etat in a tent at Villafranca. It is a struggle which the attacked may as well perish as lose; and in which the invader only enjoys the dangerous privilege of retreat. Austria defeated would be a dukedom, and, victorious, only the possessor of provinces drawing breath for the renewal of a strife which, in the nature of things, cannot end.

In rejecting the address, the emperor places at stake not only his dynasty, but the empire it has collected; and all for what? There is a strange opinion current in England that the

are now, and far more secure; the army as numerous, and far more loyal; the revenue as extensive, and far easier to collect. The action of the empire, even, would be nearly as rapid, for the emperor could commence offensive movements with his German soldiers, and leave to the Hungarian Diet the inevitable protection of his rear. The union of Austria and Hungary under the Hapsburgs would have been just as real as the union of England and Scotland under the Stuarts, and might have led to a similar end. The Germans do not despise the Magyars, or the Magyars detest the Germans, more than Englishmen and Scotchmen then contemned and hated each other. All just demands conceded, the conservative feeling, that loyalty which always tends to accrete to an ancient throne, would have revived with the strength of a reaction. With one king on both thrones, incessant intercourse through railways already constructed, common interests, and a common and liberal system of commerce, administrative disunion must at last have been an annoyance. There is no need to unite laws, or even to abolish a national tongue: German, as the medium of intercourse with Europe, is sure to become the lingua franca of Hungary, and in a century the House might have gained, with the consent of the people, the

object it has striven in vain for a century to obtain. Venetia, it is true, must have been held by German forces alone, but so it must now, and the retention of Venetia is not indispensable to the dignity of the empire it impoverishes. The province will certainly not be retained the longer because Hungary is eager to assist it to escape.

It seems almost incredible that a prospect so fair should be destroyed by the pride of the emperor and the political pedantry of his

advisers. The die has, however, been cast, and, however long the actual conflict may be delayed, there is henceforth war between the Hungarian kingdom and the Austrian empire. How long the flames may smoulder it is difficult to predict, but Italy and France have each too keen an interest at stake to suffer the fire to go out for want of stirring. Unless some wholly unexpected event should intervene, Austria, in the spring, will be once more on its trial for its life.

Let the remedy be applied forthwith. Let Lord Campbell's proposition be carried out at

once.

BOOKS WITHOUT INDEXES.-Sir: I beg you A carefully prepared index to a set of one of the to call the attention of the most learned of the most important of late American publications, medical profession to an indication of mental was reduced perhaps one half, to diminish the obliquity upon the part of authors and publish- editor of an English work, boasts, in the exexpense of paper and print! An American ers (especially those of the United States), which treme of his stupidity, that he has saved the has already worked incalculable evil in the Re-American purchaser of the book he edits the public of Letters, and threatens to work more. expense of an index! Within the last few years, as is well known to literary men, many authors who have devoted anxious days and nights of careful research to various departments of learning, have published bulky volumes professing to contain the results of such investigations, but presenting to the eye of the reader nothing save a confused mass of matter, almost totally useless for want of an alphabetical index. So much for authors; and if they be partially excused on the plea of that want of practical common sense to which mental abstraction is supposed to be unfavorable, what shall be said for publishers, men of business, who are sometimes found willing to risk their capital by printing-perhaps even stereotyping -such confused masses of matter, without insisting upon the addition of a copious alphabet

ical index?

"So essential," remarks his lordship, "did I consider an index to be to every book, that I proposed to bring a bill into Parliament to deprive an author who publishes a book without an index, of the privilege of copyright; and, moreover, to submit him for his offence to a pecuniary penalty." (Preface to Chief Justices, Vol. III.)

After "author," above, add "or publisher," and let such a bill be passed at its next legislature by every state which boasts an author, publisher, and printing-press. What would be thought of an architect who built a large house and left it without staircases for exploration? What, then, shall be said of an author or publisher who sends a book into the world without an index? S. A. A.

Is it a fear of trouble upon the part of the author, a dread of expense on the part of the publisher, that disgraces literature by indexless-N. Y. Tribune, October 27, 1860. books?

But will the author let the toil of years be lost to a large part of the world-for lost it surely is -rather than add a few days or weeks of labor to make the whole available? Will the publisher risk thousands of dollars on the plates of what should be a valuable work, and yet grudge the outlay of a few more dollars for the paper and print of an index? A man unaccustomed to books, after reading this article, would be apt to say "Such stupidity is incredible; surely this writer cannot be in earnest." Alas, it is too true! I have known of instances where indexes were objected to by publishers, because they were too minute-took up too much room!

ANOTHER Louis XVII. has been discovered to swell the list occupied by the late Rev. Mr. Williams, among others. A watchmaker called Trévisan died lately in Zara, in Dalmatia, and on his death-bed communicated a secret that he was the unfortunate dauphin; that after escaping from that cobbler of bad memory, Simon, he went to London, thence to Scotland, and finally to Padua, where a married couple named Trévisan took him up and gave him their name. The authorities thought this story of so much consequence that they had his portrait taken and have instituted inquiries.