1 Lombardi, are examples in point; though the trio is disfigured by an arpeggio accompaniment for a violin solo. During the approaching new season, could not the management be persuaded to give us La Somnambula?-a pearl which has lost no lustre since it has seen the light. It is admirably adapted to the abilities of the company, and would rival Lucia in filling the treasury; but we have no hope of hearing it, nor anything of BELLINI. The Havana Opera Company have determined to go to Boston first-unwisely, we think. We have no Niblo's Garden now, and nothing will fill the Park Theatre in warm weather; not even a double company, imported at an expense of twenty thousand dollars. Our music has occupied so much of our space as to give us no opportunity to speak of other matters, which we the less regret, as little has been done in the Drama of late, and the National Academy's Exhibition will claim our attention in our next number. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. Chambers' Cyclopedia of English Literature. Edited by ROBERT CHAMBERS. Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, Boston. Burgess & Stringer, New-York. THIS admirable work presents to the reader in a condensed form, the whole series of English authors, from Langland and Chaucer down to the present day.— Not only is he made acquainted with them, as it were, personally, through a biographical sketch, and wood engravings of the principal authors, with a detail of the interesting events connected with their history and writings, but their productions are presented to the reader in their appropriate chronological order. The volumes are divided into five periods: 1st, from the earliest times down to 1400; 2d, 1400 to 1558; 3d, 1558 to 1649; 4th, 1649 to 1689; 5th, 1689 to 1727. The immense popularity of this work in England is evinced in the fact that 40,000 copies were sold in three years. The American publishers have added to the 300 elegant English illustrations a number of fine steel and mezzotint engravings of the principal authors. Literary history is not a mere philological history of critical erudition; it rises into the philosophy of books. The actual condition of a people is reflected from the enduring pictures, by the gifted beings who have transmitted them to posterity. Such authors are, for the most part, the creatures of public opinion in the age in which they live. An epoch in the history of a people is always marked by the existence of a great man; and contemporary ready writers transmit to us the public and domestic story; and thus books become the intellectual history of a people. Fortunately authorship is not confined to hereditary rank or entailed estates. All grades of society have furnished the brightest specimens of intellectual worth; and hence the manners of a whole people rise before us in the works of ancient writers. The volume with which the public are presented by Messrs. Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, embodies all these in a cheap and elegant form. History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Valley of the Mississippi by the three great European Powers, Spain, France and Great Britain, and the subsequent occupation, settlement and extension of civil government by the United States, until 1846. By JOHN W. MONETTE. In 2 vols. Harper Brothers. These volumes are a most important addition to American history. In an authentic and clear manner, they point out the first penetration of each nation of Europe into this vast continent,-showing the progress of settlement, until each, coming from different points, meet in the great valley of the Mississippi, and are merged in the sovereignty of the Anglo-Saxon race-laying the foundation of that mighty empire which one day is to claim Mississippi for its centre. These volumes are altogether too important, and fraught with too intense an interest to be dispatched in a passing notice; and we shall, in the coming number, devote some pages to a review of them. Modern Chivalry; or the Adventures of Capt. Farrago and Teague O'Regan. By H. H. BRACKENRIDGE. Second Edition since the death of the Author. Carey & Hart, Philadelphia. These small volumes form a part of the Library of Humorous American Works, published by Carey & Hart, and are well illustrated. Its character is, as represented in the preface, that of a satire on the folly, presumption, and extravagances or dishonesty which too often shows itself amid the rank growth of popular liberty. The adventures of Capt. Farrago and his man are well-told and humorous. New French Reader. By A. G. CALLOT. D. Appleton & Co. This work comprises selections from the first dramas of France, arranged in a progressive order, admirably adapted to initiate the learner into the idioms and familiar style of the French language. It supplies a great want. Quadrupeds of North America. By JOHN JAMES AUDUBON, F. R. S., &c. &c., and the Rev. JOHN BACHMAN, D. D., &c. &c. New-York. J. J. Audubon. We hail with pleasure the appearance of this valuable addition to our national literature and native science. The great ornithologist was assisted in the production of this magnificent work by Dr. James Bachman, a gentleman who, for learning and accuracy of information, probably stands at the head of the science of mammalogy in this country, and whose two daughters were united in marriage to the two sons of Mr. Audubon, John W. and Victor G. Such a union of devoted enthusiasm, high science and great learning, could not but have produced a rare monument of national genius. The country over which investigations have been extended, comprises the British and Russian possessions to the north, the whole of the United States and its territories, and California and Mexico, down to the Tropic of Cancer. The vast labor of collecting the history and habits of quadrupeds, was performed by both authors from personal observation, and through that of the friends of science-Dr. Bachman being mostly responsible for the designation of species and the letter press. Some of the drawings were executed by J. W. Audubon, who is now engaged in Europe making figures of arctic animals. Mr. V. G. Audubon executed many of the back grounds. It is gratifying to observe, that a respectable list of subscribers is appended to the volume, but far short of what should be the case; and we trust, for the honor of the country, and the future success of science, that it will swell in number and amount. History of the Roman Republic. By J. MICHELET, Member of the Institute of France; Author of "History of France," &c., &c. Translated by Wm. Hazlitt. D. Appleton & Co., 200 Broadway. Our readers are doubtless acquainted with the peculiar clearness and vivid freshness of the style of M. Michelet. The soundness of his judgment, the extent of his researches, and the faithfulness of his pictures, eminently qualify him to command respect as a historian; while the methodical and masterly manner in which he introduces his readers to the scene of his story, and unfolds the picture before them, gives it the interest of a romance rather than the usual dry details which history presents. The impartiality with which the author philosophizes, while his mind is filled with the rights of the people, so long oppressed by tyrannic governments, wins the admiration of the student. The mind of the reader is not mystified by different and irrelevant digressions; but the main story in its truthfulness is kept before him, until the whole is completed to his mental view in a bold and well-defined picture. The volume before us forms No. 25 of Appleton's Literary Miscellany-a new series of choice books, without which no library can be complete. Travels in Peru. By Dr. J. J. VAN TSCHUDI. Wiley & Putnam, New-York. Dr. Tschudi is a naturalist of considerable reputation, one who spent five years in Peru, exploring the least-frequented regions of that country, its mountain wildernesses and vast forests-its towns and cities, mostly in pursuit of his favorite studyHis professional occupation did not, however, interfere with his collecting an ample store of the most interesting observations on the ways and doings of the very singular people among whom he sojourned. These he has narrated in a manner at once spirited and agreeable. He vividly portrays the mighty works of nature that he encountered; the toils and hardships, the pains and pleasures of his wanderings, in those strange regions. As an instance of the agreeable style of the book, we subjoin the Dr.'s description of the ladies of Lima: "The women of Lima are far superior to the men, both corporeally and intellectually; they are affectionate mothers, though their conduct in other respects is any thing but exemplary. It is certainly not for the sake of pleasing their husbands that they cling with invincible obstinacy to the use of their national walking guards, the saya y manto, in which they take their pleasure in the streets, making keen play with the one eye they leave uncovered, and quite secure in that disguise from detection, even by the most jeal ous scrutiny. The veil is inviolable; any man who should attempt to pluck off a woman's manto would be very severely handled by the populace. The history of their lives comprises two phases: in the full bloom of their fascinating beauty their time is divided be tween doing naught and naughty doings; when their charms are on the wane, they take to devotion and scandal. A young lady of Lima "Rises late; dresses her hair with orange or jasmine flowers, and waits for breakfast, after which she receives or pays visits. During the heat of the day she swings in a hammock, or reclines on a sofa, smoking a cigar. After dinner she again pays visits, and finishes the evening either in the theatre or the plaza, or on the bridge. Few ladies occu py themselves with needle-work or netting, though some of them possess great skill in those arts. The pride which the fair Limenas take in their dainty little feet knows no bounds. Walking, sitting, or standing, swinging in the hammock or lying on the sofa, they are ever watchful to let their tiny feet be seen. Praise of their virtue, their understanding or their beauty, sounds not half so sweetly in their ears, as encomiums be stowed on their little feet. They take the most scrupulous care of them, and avoid every thing that might favor their enlargement. A large foot (Pataza Inglesa, an English foot,' as they say,) is an abomination to them. I once heard a beautiful European lady deservedly extolled by some fair dames of Lima, but they wound up their eulogies with these words: pero que pie valgame Dios! parece una lancha! (but what a foot, good heavens! it is like a great boat!) and yet the foot in question would by no means have been thought large in Europe. 6 The Fireside Friend, or Female Student. Being advice to Young Ladies on the important subject of Education. By Mrs. PHELPS. Harper Brothers. The author states in the introduction, that the design of this work is "to awaken the minds of the young to the importance of education, and to give them just ideas of the nature, design and practical application of various branches of study," and it seems to fulfil the object. That the public appreciate the work, is evinced in the fact of the many successive editions through which it has passed in England and America. The Institutes of Medicine. By MARTIN PAYNE, A. M., M. D., Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and Materia Medica, in the University of NewYork, &c. Harper Brothers, New-York. In this noble volume the author has ably carried out his "avowed intention, of maintaining throughout such a consistency of facts and of laws that stamp the whole work as the Philosophy of Medicine. The views contained in it are well adapted to the student in medicine, and to the more advanced. For the advantage of the student, he has aimed at such a method as he might command, and such illustration as might not seem irksome to the latter. A copious general index is affixed to the volume. Amenities of Literature. Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature. By J. D'ISRAELI. Harper Brothers. These are two valuable volumes for a small sum of money. The author tells us, that a history of the vernacular literature had occupied his mind for many years. It was his design to trace from their beginnings, the rise, the progress, and the decline of opinions, and to illustrate, as the objects presented themselves, the great incidents in our national annals." He was arrested in his studies" by loss of sight, and the present papers are a portion of my projected history." They are of exceeding interest, and a highly valuable addition to every library. Rambles About the Country. By Mrs. E. F. ELLET. Harper Brothers. This is an agreeable little volume, portraying the journeyings of the fair authoress, whose writings are familiar to the readers of the Review in many tales which we have published. An Exposition of the Apocalypse. By DAVID N. LORD. New-York: Harper Brothers. A just exposition of the Apocalypse would doubtless be found not only to confirm the views presented in the other Scriptures of the great objects of the Divine government, and exalt our apprehensions of the work of redemption, but adapted in a high degree to assist the people of God to the duties which they are now called to fulfil in their conflict with the powers that oppose them. There are indications in the Revelation that the Church is to enjoy extraordinary aids toward the close of its struggle with Antichrist, and be raised to an eminent height of wisdom and fidelity. The representation, that all the witnesses who utter their testimony immediately before the seventh trumpet are to be slain, shows that, unlike the confessors of former ages, they are all-unterrified by threats, and undismayed by inflictions to persevere in their steadfastness to the end; and the representation, that they are all to be speedily raised from death in reward of their fidelity, indicates that it is to be peculiarly decisive and acceptable to God. This exposition of the book, issued by the Messrs. Harper Brothers, unlike those of former commentators, exhibits it as possessing this adaptation to instruct the Church both in its present position, and in the scenes that are at hand. The view it presents of the designs of God vary very much from those which are generally entertained. The great movements that have marked the few last years are exhibited in new aspects, and indications presented of approaching changes wholly unanticipated by others, of the greatest moment to the people of God, the false Church, and the civil governments. No views can be imagined fitted in a higher degree to excite a profound interest in all religious denominations in Great Britain, than those which it presents of nationalized and dissenting churches, and the events that are soon to mark their career; or of the character of the civil rulers of the European kingdoms, their past and future agency, and the destiny that awaits them. That the work will there be read with eagerness and exert important influences, no one aware of the condition of the parties into which the British churches are divided can doubt. The disclosures it makes of the Divine purposes cannot fail to attract also the consideration of all denominations here, and work great changes in the views and expectations with which the people of God are to continue the work of communicating the Gospel to the nations, and testifying against the usurpations and blasphemies of the Antichristian powers. The Pre-Adamite Earth: Contributions to Theological Science. By JOHN HARRIS, D. D., President of Chesnut College. Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, Boston. This is the first of an admirable series of contributions to theological science, by the able author. The attempt is made-and with success, we think, to develope and sustain the great truth, that there is a "theology in nature," which is alternately one with the theology of the Bible. In tracing the evident marks of design in its formation, which the earth exhibits, the mind is carried irresistibly up to the great intelligent Author of that design. This process is gone through in the work before us in an able and exceedingly interesting manner. The volume is furnished with a comprehensive index, and its execution reflects great credit on the publishers. Life of Napoleon. By WILLIAM HAZLITT. Wiley & Putnam, New-York. The existence and career of Napoleon was not alone that of a man of transcendent genius and fortune; it marked the great struggle of democracy and the rights of the people against tyranny and aristocratic privileges. From this fact alone has it arisen, that the influence of aristocratic governments has been exerted to misrepresent and malign the great French leader of the people. In attempting to vilify him they suppose that they are putting down the democratic spirit. Hence the student is not only surprised but disgusted with the tissue of falsehood and prejudice he every where meets with in English productions whenever Buonaparte is the subject. This feeling alone produced in Hazlitt the desire to do justice to Napoleon, and through him to the popular movement he headed; and nobly has he fulfilled his task. Messrs. Wiley & Putnam have conferred a great favor both on the public and the republican cause by the production of this volume, which we have set aside for a more extended review. THE TWENTY-NINTH CONGRESS. THE Congress which terminated its sittings March 4, 1847, has doubtless been one of the most remarkable in the history of the country. Its first session terminated August 10, 1846, 12 M., after 253 days-the longest on record. The 2d session expired in 53 days. By its enactments, more national and long debated questions have been finally and successfully brought to a close, than by those of any one of its twenty-eight predecessors. UNITED STATES SENATE, No. 1.-The vote on the bill to provide for the war with Mexico, and recognizing the existing as the act of Mexico, passed the Senate-Ayes 40, Nays 2. Present, not vot ing-John M. P. Berrien, George Evans, John C. Calhoun. Absent J. W. Chalmers, A. C. Greene, W. H. Haywood, John Fairfield, S. S. Phelps, Daniel Webster, Jabez W. Huntington, J. W. Miller, J. A. Pearce, Ed. A. Hannegan, John A. Dix. No. 2.-August 6. Vote on a resolution of Mr. M'Duffie, that Congress should appro priate a sum of money to enable the President to negotiate a treaty of peace with Mexico. Yeas 33, Nays 18. No. 3.-July 28. Vote on ordering the tariff bill to a third reading. Ayes 27, Nays 27. When the Vice-President, explaining his position, gave his casting vote for the bill. No. 4.-Tariff bill-final passage. Ayes 28, Nays 27. Mr. Haywood of South Carolina resigned his seat to avoid voting on the bill. No. 5.-Passage of the bill to authorize a loan of $22,000,000. Ayes 43, Nays 2. No. 9.-Vote to exclude Mr. Ritchie from the floor of the Senate. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Ayes 27, Nays 21. Yeas 42, Nays 10. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.10. Conn. NNN Y YYY Texas. YYYYYNYNNY N. C. Y Tenn. YN YYNNYYY Johnson, Reverdy Md. YY NN NNY Y `Allen, Atherton, Huntington, Archer, Haywood, Ashley, Jarnigan, Atchison, Badger, N. C. Johnson, H. Barrow, Bagby, Benton, Jenness, Lewis, Levy, M'Duffie, Ill. Y Y Y Y Y N Y N N N S. C. YYYYNY Y Y Y Pa. YYNN YNNNY N. H. Morehead, Cass, Colquitt, Phelps, Chalmers, Pearce, Crittenden, YY Pennybacker, Cameron, Rusk, Cilley, Semple, Clayton, J. M. Simmons, Clayton, Tho's Del. N NNY Corwin, Ohio. Y Y N N N Y N N Y Y Sevier, Texas. YYYYY YY Y R. I. YNNNYYNYYY Pa. YYNNYYYNN Ark. YYYYYNY NY Miss. YYYYY Vt. YNNNYYNYYY Mass. YNNYYNYYY Woodbridge, Mich. YNNN YNYYY NNYYNYYY Westcott, Fla. Y Y Y YYNYYYN Y Tenn. YYYYYNYNNY Hannegan, Ind. NYYYNYNN |