To the HARPER'S PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. Part First. close of the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. By Alfred H. Guernsey and Henry M. Alden. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1866. Folio, pp. 380. This great work was commenced during the terrible struggle of the late Civil War, and, being published in serial numbers, was designed to narrate and illustrate events as they occurred. An introductory chapter traces briefly the rise of that sectional question, that element of national discord, American slavery. The form of the work, which seems at first inconvenient, was chosen in order to introduce Maps and Illustrations on a large scale. There are Plans of military and naval movements, pictorial representations of scenes and incidents of the War, and great numbers of Portraits of the leading actors on both sides of the deadly contest. The history is, of course, written from a Northern stand-point, and by men who make no concealment of their opinions; but they claim to base their statements throughout upon authentic documents. The close of the War has opened up new sources of information, and another volume similar in size will probably bring the History to a close. The volume, with its folio pages in double columns, contains as much matter as five ordinary octavo volumes. There is scarcely an important incident of the war which is not here given in its order and in detail; and the official Documents on both sides, such as Presidential Messages and Proclamations, Congressional Speeches, Military and Naval Reports, Statistical tables, &c., &c., present a mass of the most valuable information, concerning a National Conflict which will take its place in history as the most marked and determining event of modern times, and whose bearings and results we scarcely, even now, begin to appreciate. We only add that the Messrs. Harper, with their abundant resources for a work of this description, have published it with the most lavish liberality. We hope to see at the end of the whole a full Index, for purposes of reference. THE GLORY AND SHAME OF ENGLAND. By C. Edwards Lester. In two volumes. New York: Bartram & Lester. 1866. 12mo. pp. 304, 297. There is ability and information enough in this book to make it a mark and a power. The author in re-writing his former work, published several years ago under the same name, has gathered a large mass of new materials, and he understands the art of book-making sufficiently to array his facts in popular and effective style. Thus, his new Chapters in proof of the active sympathies of the British Government and the British Press during our late Civil War, and his collection of official statistics and reports of the ignorance, the poverty, the social and moral degradation, the appalling crimes, and intense wretchedness of the lower classes of England and Ireland at the present day, are indisputable facts, which for many reasons it is well to have at hand; terrible facts, they are, which ought not to be concealed. Yet the work is full of objectionable and offensive matter. Its braggart style, its unsparing denunciations provoke the reader to ask, who, and what is this Mr. C. Edwards Lester? What is his history? What are his antecedents? Bitter invective is a dangerous weapon for any man to employ, and he rarely or never uses it at all, who can use it safely. In another respect, the book is a weak one. While the author hates the English Government only less than he hates her Church, and while he points the finger of scorn at England's "shame," yet, when he comes to speak of England's glory," he betrays himself, and shows his own incapacity to appreciate the elements of which that "glory" consists. In the same spirit he pours out his highly wrought rhetoric in praise of the extremest radicals of England at the present day, and the revolutionary measures with which they are seeking to upset the Government. He is one of those men who would glorify Pym and wreathe a chaplet for Prynne. Yet, as turkey-buzzards have their uses, so in all ages and countries the most unprincipled radicals are employed by Providence to uproot deep-seated abuses. We have no sympathy with Mr. Lester in his admiration of such instrumentalities, while we have full faith in the wisdom of Him, Who will make the wrath of man to praise Him. The book has real value, much as its spirit and aim are to be disapproved. SHAKSPEARE'S DELINEATIONS of Insanity, Imbecility and Suicide. By A. O. Kel. logg, M.D., Assistant Physician State Lunatic Asylum, Utica, N. Y. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 1866. 12mo. pp. 204. Dr. Kellogg has evidently been a close student of Shakespeare, and his volume is made up of Essays contributed to the "American Journal of Insanity," between the years 1859 and 1864. He makes, as a physician, the singular confession, that a closer observation of the delicate shades of this disease, as witnessed in the wards of a large hospital, have led him to change his opinion, in some respects, of Shakespeare's delineation of Insanity, and to appreciate more perfectly the great dramatist's fidelity to nature. The characters which the Doctor selects as illustrations of Insanity, are Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet, Ophelia, Jaques and Cordelia. He thinks that the incongruities and strange paradoxes which are to be found in these splendid creations of Shakespeare's genius, and which have puzzled the wit of the best critics, are to be accounted for on the supposition that they were insane. On this point we turn the Doctor over to the special admirers of the great bard. The Doctor's fools and imbeciles are Bottom, Elbow, Dogberry, Shallow, Malvolio, Bardolph, Nym, Pistol, Launce, and Caliban. Othello, of course, stands as the suicide. The wonderful knowledge which Shakespeare exhibits of every form of mental disease is perfectly marvellous; and it led an eminent physician to acknowledge: “although two centuries and a half have passed since Shakespeare wrote thus, we have very little to add to his method of treating the insane." Yet, the lawyer is equally amazed at Shakespeare's mastery of the forms and technicalities of that science; and Schlegel, the great German critic, has exhausted his power in showing how the great Poet can play with the most intricate questions and deep mysteries in the whole range of Psychology. Moralists bear witness to his keen appreciation of every possible degree of moral excellence and depravity. Indeed, here is where he seems most at home. We wish some one would set forth Shakespeare as a Theologian and Churchman; and show how thoroughly he exposes some of the worst corruptions of modern Romanism. The Romanists have tried to lay claim to him, but they drop him at once when closely pressed. His thorough familiarity with the Holy Scriptures, and his frequent reference to them, has been illustrated by several writers. ENGLISH TRAVELLERS AND ITALIAN BRIGANDS. A Narrative of Capture and Captivity. By W. J. C. Moens. With a Map and several Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1866. 12mo. pp. 355. The author, Mr. Moens, and an English Clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Aynsley, in the Spring of 1865, were, with their wives, upon a visit to Southern Italy and Sicily. They barely avoided capture by brigands in Sicily, while witnessing the magnifi. cent spectacle of an eruption of Etna, and only escaped by a very clever deception. But afterwards, when on a visit to the splendid ruins of the old Temples at Pæstum, they were seized by a band of about thirty of these daring robbers and murderers, who still prowl about the mountains of Southern Italy. His companions were released, but Mr. Moens was held as a hostage for the payinent of the whole price of their redemption, which, after about three months, was delivered over, amounting to over twenty-five thousand dollars. The narrative of his sufferings while concealed in the mountains, is full of interest, for he is a fine writer and withal a Christian man; and it is given in his own words, and in the Diary of his devoted wife, whose agony of suspense can well be imagined. But this is not the special point of importance. All this took place in Italy, the Italy of the Nineteenth Century! The cutthroats were Roman Catholics; nay, religious in their way. And yet human life and property are no more secure among them than among the wild Comanches of our Western border. There is not, we venture to say, in all Christendom, such utter depravity and moral degradation as here at the very home and fountain-head of Popery, in a land crowded with Bishops, and priests, and monks, and nuns. This is the fact to be explained, and which the cause of Christianity and of civilization demands shall be explained. APPLETON'S HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN TRAVEL. The Southern Tour; being a complete guide through Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. 41* VOL. XVIII. With descriptive sketches of Cities, Mountains, &c., &c.; and Maps of the leading routes of travel and the principal Cities. By Edward H. Hall. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1866. 12mo. pp. 142. In making an extensive tour through the Southern States a few years ago, we found a former edition of this "Hand-Book of Southern Travel" all that could be desired. THE ECLECTIC MAGAZINE OF FOREIGN LITERATURE. July, August, and September. 1866. New York: W. H. Bidwell. The Eclectic contains the cream of the best Foreign Periodicals. The September No., especially, is full of good things. A HISTORICAL SERMON. Preached in St. Andrew's Church, Bloomfield, Ct., April 8, 1866. By the Rev. J. E. Heald, late Rector of Trinity Church, Tariffville. New Haven Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor. 1866. 8vo. pp. 15. St. Andrews, Bloomfield, was one of the early Parishes in Connecticut, having been organized in 1740. The manner in which the "freedom of conscience" Puritans treated the Church and the Church Clergy, may be seen in the following extracts from Mr. Heald's sermon: "For ten years he (the Rev. William Gibbs,) continued to labor among them, with acceptance and success, when, on refusing to pay a tax laid for the support of Mr. Mills, then the Congregational Minister at Hop Meadow, he was seized, thrown over a horse, and, with hands and feet bound together in such a manner as to make his limbs supply the place of a girth, he was conveyed to jail. The result of such harsh treatment was far more serious, no doubt, than his persecutors intended. He was soon released from confinement, by the efforts of his wardens; but his mind had received a shock from which it never recovered. He became insane, and went down to his grave, after nearly twenty-three years of suffering, "under the Icloud which had so long hung over him." On the 22d day of March, 1777, he passed away; his mortal remains were sorrowfully laid to rest beneath the chancel where he had ministered, and among the sleeping members of the flock he had served so well " The next Clergyman in charge, was the Rev. Roger Veits, Uncle of the late Rt. Rev. Bishop Griswold, a man of estimable talents and character. "But he fared little better at the hands of his Puritan neighbors than Gibbs, his friend and predecessor. He too, on suspicion of aiding in the escape of certain Royalists who were confined in the damp caverns of Copper Hill mines, was furnished with temporary lodgings in the Hartford jail; and, as though this was not sufficiently humiliating, he was put in irons. The Church was not destroyed by the trials through which it passed; it was rather purified and strengthened." Now these are not solitary instances. And the question which Churchmen, who are worthy to represent those men and the cause which they loved, will not hesitate to ask, is, have these Puritans lost one jot or tittle of their bitter hate of the distinctive principles of the Church? or of their lust of power? They come now, fawning, and cooing, and billing around such Churchmen as are weak enough to be betrayed by a kiss into a sacrifice of the points at issue. We have never seen the first proof of the slightest change in spirit and temper. The real danger of the Church is greater now than it was then, as it is harder to resist the blandishments of flatterers than the weapons of an open foe. The true secret of Church life and growth is precisely that now which it was then. THE NOBLE AMBITION OF A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE. An Address delivered in Christ Church, Hartford, June 27, 1866, before the House of Convocation of Trinity College. By Rev. B. H. Paddock, M.A., Rector of Christ Church, Detroit. Hartford. 1866. 8vo. pp. 26. In his conception of the Christian College, what it should be, and what it should do, in contrast with the popular acceptation, Mr. Paddock's Address deserves a wide circulation. The following new publications have been received: BATTLE-PIECES and Aspects of the War. By Herman Melville. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1866. 12mo. pp. 272. AN INTRODUCTORY LATIN BOOK, intended as an Elementary Drill Book on the Inflections and Principles of the Language, and as an Introduction to the author's Grammar, Reader, and Latin Composition. By Albert Harkness, Professor in Brown University. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1866. 12mo. pp. 162. POOR MATT; or the Clouded Intellect. By Jean Ingelow. Author of "Studies for Stories," &c. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1866. 8vo. pp. 125. SHERBROOKE. By H. B. G.; author of "Madge." New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1866. 12mo. pp. 463. PHEMIE KELLER. A Novel. By F. G. Trafford; Author of "Maxwell Drewitt," &c., &c. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1866. 8vo. pp. 142. LAND AT LAST. A Novel, in three Books. By Edmund Yates; Author of "Broken to Harness," &c., &c. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1866. 8vo. pp. 147. FELIX HOLT, the Radical. A Novel. By George Eliot; Author of "Adam Bede," &c., &c. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1866. 8vo. pp. 184. INSIDE; A Chronicle of Secession. By George F. Harrington. With Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1866. 8vo. pp. 223. THE HIDDEN SIN. A Novel; With numerous Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1866. 8vo. pp. 189. DR. MANNING'S PASTORAL LETTER, on the Re-union of Christendom. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1866. 8vo. pp. 66. This sophistical Letter, which assumes what is false, what it does not pretend to prove, will receive attention hereafter. PROFESSOR JOEL PARKER'S Two Lectures, in the Law School of Harvard College, on Revolution and Reconstruction. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 1866. 8vo. pp. 89. Judge Parker has given in these Lectures a lucid statement of the present position of the States under the Constitution; a question which, in some way, is soon to be brought before the American people for decision. The Lectures are timely; unless passion, and vengeance, and cupidity, and corruption have rendered the voice of reason powerless. PROF. S. EDWARD WARREN'S Notes on Polytechnic Schools. New York: John Wiley & Son. 1866. 8vo. pp. 58. CATALOGUE OF BURLINGTON COLLEGE. Preparatory Department. 1866. 12mo. pp. 20. REGISTER OF ST. MARY'S HALL. Burlington, N. J. 1866. 12mo. pp. 37. Both these Institutions promise now to equal the anticipations of their founders. Dr. Ten Broeck proposes to dispense with all shams in the management, instruction, and discipline of the College. REPORT of the Memphis Colored Orphan Asylum. Memphis, Tenn. 1866. 8vo. pp. 20. SECOND ANNUAL REPORT of the "Sheltering Arms." New York. 1866. 12mo. pp. 23. BISHOP EASTBURN'S FOURTH CHARGE: The Bible Society's Jubilee Year. Boston. 1866. 8vo. pp. 24. REV. DR. F. C. EWER'S SERMON, in memory of the Rev. Dr. H. W. Ducachet, Jan. 28, 1866. Philadelphia. 8vo. pp. 44. FIFTIETH ANNUAL REPORT of the American Bible Society. New York: 1866. 8vo. pp. 151. SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT of the Trustees of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. 1866. 8vo. pp. 55. A STATEMENT respecting the Mission House of the P. E. Church. Philadelphia. 1866. 12mo. pp. 14. Griswold, Geo. C. Annunciation, New York City. Holy Trinity, Philadelphia, Pa. Annunciation, New York City. Annunciation, New York City. |