The New York Herald Newspaper, October 26, 1874, Page 5

LITERATURE Autumn Books in England and America. American Biography and History. Benjamin Franklin and Horace Greeley. WHO WERE OUR AMERICAN ANCESTORS 2 | General Activity of the Fall | Book Trade. ae Glimpses of France Under Louis Napoleon. TRUE STORY OF CAPTAIN KIDD. The Autobiography of an American Girl. The Life of Frankl ‘The Hon. John Bigelow, well known If diplomacy and journalism, has conterred a real service on American literature by his new edition of the “Life of Franklin.” This work, in three volumes, comes to us from the press of those enterprising and public spirited vooksellers, J. B. Lippincott & Co., of Philagelphia. It is one of the best speci- mens of bookmaking we have seen. ‘The paper ts genuine and white, the type work open and meant for reading, while the portrait of Franklin in the opening pages 1s a fine steel reproduction of the Pastel picture done from life by F. Duplessis in 1788, n which we see the man Franklin more clearly than in any of the hundreds of prints and pictures now in existence, Mr. Bigelow’s work is on a novel plan. It is unlike the elaborate work of Sparks, which is more a contribution to biog- fapby than @ real work. Nor does it resemble the full and most meritorious book of Parton, in which that painstaking and brillant historian paints the man from studies, but in the true Parton view. Mr. Parton’s nook on Frank- Un—his best, we think—ts really a memorial of tne man and his times, the man being now and then obscured by his times, Mr. Bigelow takes up the autobiography, which comes down to 1775, when he returned trom England, where he had been the agent of the colony of Pennsylvania, This auto- biography, already as much of a classic as Boswell’s “Life of Johnson,” does not cover the mobt event- fal time of Franklin’s iife. For to him it was given, as, indeed, it has been given to few men, that bis work sheuld grow more and more ser- jous and useful until the end, His last thirty years were the most eventiul of his life, and he lived until he was over eighty-four, It was during these years that he took part in the Revo- Tution, acted as Minister to France for the revolt- ing colonies, and did perhaps more vuan any other map, except Washington, to secure the indepen- dence of America and its recognition as a nation. Taking up Franklin’s life in 1775, when the auto- biography closes, Mr. Bigelow carries the narra- tave on by quoting irom Franklin’s letters and writ- ings. And, as few other eminent men have writ- tep as complete a record of his own lite, the main trouble of the writer has been the fulness of ma- terial. We shall not now attempt to follow the narration of the life of this illustrious and remarkable man—but rather to ramble through these pages and pick up an Mlustration here and there that may be uew to our readers, and enable us to understand his incom- parable wisdom, patience and skill. THE PARTY OF VIRTUE. We are first impressed with a paper which he re- Produced in 1788, then eighty-two, in which he al- tudes to “a great and extensive project,” which bad first come to him in 1731, when he was about twenty-five. Here are the heads of the project:— “That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revo- lutions are carried on and effected by parties.” That “the view of these parties is their present general interest, or what they take to be such.” ‘That “while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has bis particular private interest in view,” and that the time had come tor “rats- ing a united party of virtue, by forming the virtuous and good men of all nations into a regular body, to be governed by suitable, good and wise rules, ‘which gooJ and wise men may probably be more ‘Unanimous in their obedience to than common People are to common laws.” This party he pro- Posed to found upon acreed, the main points of which should be:—-‘That there is one God, who made all things; that He governs the world by His providence; that He ought to be worshipped by adoration, prayer and thanksgiving; but that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to man; that the soul is immortal, and that God ‘will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here or hereaiter.” It was Franklin’s intention to sound a secret society among the young and single only, each member of which should exercise Dimeelf with thirteen weeks’ examination and practice of the virtues before admission, and that the members should engage to afford their advice, Basistance and support to each other in promot- ing one another's interests, business and advance- ment in lie; that the society should be called “Yhe Free and Easy’—‘iree as being of the general practice and habit of the virtues} free from the dominion of the vice,” and free from aebt, “which exposes & man to confinement, and & species of slavery to his creditors.” This scheme came to nothing, but Franklin, in his eighty-second year, commends it a8 good scheme, and one by ‘which “a man of tolerable abilities might work great changes, and accomplish great affairs among mankind.” ENGLAND, The bitterness which animated Franklin in hi feelings toward England only came with the war. “I have long been of opinion,” he wrote, when Mifty-three yeare old, “that the foundations of tne future grandeur and stability of the British em- Pire lie in America, and though like other founda- tons they are low and little now, they are, never- theless, broad and strong enough to support the Greatest political structure that human wisdom ever erected.” “All the country from the St. Law- rence to the Mississippi will, in another century, be filled with British peopie’’—this was in 1767, ninety years before gold made the Pacific empire— “the Atiantio sea will be covered with your trading sbips, and your naval power therein, constantiy increasing, will extend your influence round the Whole globe and over the world.’ These prophe- Gies Were made ata time when there were 150,000 souls in Pennsylvania—one-third German and an- other third Quakers—and the whole number of ¢ White men in the colomies was 300,000, and It shows how accurate were the antictpations of this great man as to the fature of america, BEFORE THE REVOLUTION, Franklin’s work in the Revolution is so much @ matter of history that we may spare a recital of itnow. There are many instructive glimpses of bis London Itfe, notably an amusing letter about his home, in which he represented himself as “Dr, Fat Sides.” We also find nim lament- mg the election of John Wilkes, ‘a man of bad Character, not worth @ farthing.” This did not prevent his introducing Thomas Paine as “an ingenious, worthy young man,” anxious tu find a Place as “clerk, assistant tutor in @ school” “or assistant surveyor,” “of all of which I think nim capable.” The lords were unfit to govern a herd of swine, and “hereditary legislators” were of ee ee ee a ae Re eT ann Mam Se TST ENTE Ne Seem MMEMN NET Tern Sy MWR IMepe yr lens NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1874.—TRIPLE adont as mnch usé as “nereditary professors of | mathematics.” When the negotiations preceding the Revolution were pending Franklin saw much of the great Lord Chatham. On one occasion Chatham called at the modest little house on Craven street, just off the Strand. “He stayed with me near two hours, his equipage waiting at the door, and being there while people were coming from church it was much taken notice of and talked Of, as at that time was every little circumstance that men thought might pos- sibly any way affect American affairs. Such a visit from so great @ Man o2 60 Important a gues- tion not @ little Matvered my vanity.” Again an Interview of four hours. His Lordship’s “not easily interrupted, and I had such pleasure tn hearing him that I found little inclination to inter- rupt him.” He also gives us @ painful picture of the under world of Great Britain ag it was a hun- dred years ago. “Ihave,” he says, “lately made @ tour through Ireland and Scotland, In those countries @ part of the soctety are landlords, great noblemen and gentlemen, extremely opulent, ving in the highest afiuence and magnificence. The bulk of the peopie are tenants, extremely poor, living in the most sordid wretchedness in dirty hovels of mud and straw, and clothed only in Tags.” ‘In the possession and enjoyment of the various comforts of life, compared to these people, every Indian is a gentleman, and the effect of this Kind of civil society seems to be the depressing multitades below the savage state that a few may be raised above it,’” ‘PARIS AND LIFE IN FRANCE. His first visit to Paris was tn 1767, and he men- tions seeing the King dine in state at Versailles. This was King Louis XV., father of the unfortu- nate well-beloved. Franklin had audience at Ver- sailles. The King spoke ‘very graciously and very cheerfully; 18 @ handsome man, has a very lively Jook, and appears younger than he is.” But Franklin was a loyal man then and no Frenchman should go beyond him ‘in thinking my own King and Queen the very bestin the world and the most | amiable’—a very loyal aspiration which did not prevent his signing the Declaration of Indepen- dence nine years later, Paris he found “a pro- digious mixture of magnificence and negligence, with every kind of elegance, except that of clean- liness, which We call tidiness,” The French were very polite, would not seize two dozen bottles of Bordeaux at the St. Denis gate, when they snew he was an American. ‘The theatres were open on Sunday.”? He made his second appearance in Paris, more than ten years later, agent of the colonies, one of the famous men of the world, “an old man with gray hair appearing under a marten fur cap.” He went to the Hotel Hamburg, on the Rue de la Université, in the royal quarter, near where te Invalides now stand, But this was too public @ situation for a lion, and so he moved out to the suburban Passy, then an outlying yil- lage, ROW & part of the mighty city. The desire to enter into our Revolutionary army became a mania among Frenchmen. “The noise of every coach now that enters my court terrifies me. I am afraid to dine abroad, being almost sure of meeting with some ofiicer or officer's triend, Who, as soon as I am put in a good humor by @ glass of champagne, begins his at- tack on me.” He was presented to the king, sainted sixteenth Louis, ordained to lose his head, in March, 1778. “He was accompanied by twenty insurgents,” said witty Mme. Du Def- faud, writing to Walpole, and “wore a dress of reddish brown (mordoré) velvet, white hose, his hair hanging loose, his spectacles on his nose, and ®& white hat under his arm.” A month or so later there was a scientiNc dinner to hear | D’Alembert, the famous mathematician, ‘“per- | Ppetual secretary,” one of the encyclopedists and associate of Voltaire. At this dinner Voltaire was present. Presently there arose a general cry that M. Voltaire and M. Franklin should be introduced. They rose and bowed. ‘his would | not do; the company, let us suppose, somewhat gone in champagne. They arose and took each other by the hand; but this would not do, and the puzzled philosopher could not divine the mean- ing of the din, Whereupon one intelligent diner-, out cried, “Il faut s’embrasser A la trangaise,” or, im other words, that they should embrace in French fashion, Whereupon the “two aged actors” “embraced each other by hugging one another in their arms and kissing each other's cheeks,” to the disgust of Puritan John Adams. Later still we find Voltaire blessing Franklin’s grandson, William Temple, in this fashion: “God and liberty—the only benediction suitable for a grandson of Franklin.” LOVE AFFAIRS. We have a glimpse, also, of Mme. Helyetius, the love of mis old age. Franklin was never above the charms of womanhood. There appears one letter written when the philosopher was seventy- four, in response to her refusal to marry nim. He told of @ dream—that he visited the Elysian Fields and there met M. Helvetius, dead husband of his living love, who told him he had married again. “Ashe finished these words the new Mme, Helvetius entered, and I recognized her immediately as my former American friend, Mrs. Franklin! {reclaimed her, bat she answered me coldly, ‘I was a good wife to you for forty-nine years and four months—nearly half a century—ie that content you, 1 have formed a new connection here which will last to eternity.’ Indignant at this refusal of my Eurydice, immediately resolved | to quit these ungratetul shades and return to this good world agatn vo behold the sun poo you. Here Iam! Let us avenge ourselves !? Then again another gallant letter:— ‘Mr. Franklin never for- gets any party at which Mme. Helvetius is en- gaged, He even believes that if he'were engaged to go to paradise this morning he would beg per- mission to remain on the earth until half-past one to receive the embrace promised him at the Turgots’.”” HIS WISDOM AND TEACHINGS. We gather irom these journals and letters words ofadvice and wisdom. Here is his view of State churches :—“If,” ne said, “Christian teachers had continued to teach as Christ and His apostles did, without salaries, and as the Quakers now do, | imagine tests would never have existed, for J think they were invented not so much to secure religion itself as the emoluments of it. When a religion is good I conceive it will support itself; and when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support it, su that its professors are obliged to call upon the civil power, it is a sign, I apprehend, | of its being a bad one.” “Nothing,” he says else- | where, “can contribute to true happiness that is in- consistent with duty, nor can a course of action conformable to it be finally without an ample re- | ward. For God governs, and He is good.” Here is | the advice to a young married man:—“Treat your wile always with respect. It will preserve respect for you not only from her but from all that observe | it. Never use a slighting expression to her, even | in jest; lor slights in jest, after frequent bandy- ings, are, apt to end in angry earnest, Be stu- | dious in your profession and you will be learned, Be industrious and frugal and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate and you will be healthy. Be tn general virtuous’ and you will be happy.’ Speaking further of marriage, “I knew,” he writes, “a wise old man who used to advise nis young friends to choose Wives out of a bunch; for where tiiere were many daughters, he said, they im- Proved each other, and from emulation acquired more accomplishments, knew more, could do more, and were not spoiled by parental fondness, a8 single children often are.” Here also is another axiom to Ralph Izard:—‘‘Always suppose one’s friends may be right till we find them tn the wrong, | rather than to suppose them wrong until we find’ them in the right.” Speaking of vanity, he says, “The eyes of other people are the eyes that ‘ruin us. Ifall but myself were blind 1 should want neither fine clothes, fine houses, nor fine furni- ture.” He ridiculed the Order of the Vincinnati and opposed the eagle as our national bird, “I wish the baid eagle had not been chosen as the representa- | tive of our country. He is a bird of low morai character. He does not get his living honestly,” | “He ts never in good case, but like those among men wo live by sharping and robbing, he is gen- erally poor and often very lousy. Besides ne ts a rank coward; the little king bird, not bigger than @ sparrow, attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district.” “The turkey is a much more re- spectadie bird and ‘8 native of America.’ He ts, beside (altuough a ttle vain and silly, it is true, but not the worst embiem tor thut), a bird of cour- | Franklin to Greeley. | not written a pretentious book. | Was spent in opposition | upon Seward. age. Bod would Qt hesitate to attack a British SHEET, grenadier who should presume to invade his farm- yard with a red coat on.” The Life of Horace Greeley: It 18 not unfitting that we should pass from John E, Potter & Co., of Philadelphia, send us “The Life and Times of Horace Greeley,” vy L. D, Ingersoll. The book 4s well printed, with many illustrations of prominent events in the life of Mr. Greeley and of some of the men who fourished with him. Mr, Ingersoll has “I have not written,” he says, ‘so much for scholars and men of letters as for the people;” and he endeavors to present the true outlines of a lise of beautiful sim- plicity, of real grandeur, of vast influence, de- | voted to the elevation and happiness of al! men. The author gives us the events of Mr. Greeley’s career mainly as they are given in Mr. Parton’s fascinating biography, a@ book which, notwith- standing tts crudities of style, has done more than all else toward fixing the place of Mr. Greeley in our history. Mr. Ingersoll does not attempt an analysis of Mr. Greeley’s character. He may feel, perhaps, that 10 18 too soon to speak of a maa as he really was, until at least the loves and hatreds are hushed, until the sod has had time to grow green upon his grave. We can respect the mo- tive for this reserve; but in most lives, and in none, perhaps, more than that of Mr. Greeley, the truth 1s always best when promptly told. Horace Greeley was 4 much greater man than his genera- tion regarded him, if in some few respects not so great. His character lacked growth, He closed his life with practically the same convictions with which he began it. The prejudices of his child- hood toned tis opinions untilthe end. He wasa temperance leader, although, as he once nalvely | said, the only time he took wine he became very il. His temperament shrank (rom narcotics and stimulants, from the firmg of cannon, tonacco and | alconol, They gave him exquisite annoyance, and | he preached against them with the vigor of hatred. He learned to hate Napoleonism as a child. Napo- leon’s power once led him to consider that poten- tate as & possible arbiter between the North and the South, but he was never hearty in the feeling. The first Napoleon was his especial dislike, and next to Napoleon Andrew Jackson, He bad great love for the people, based largely upon a hurried acquaintance with the writings of Fourier. The dream of his life was that every laboring man should ga West, own @ pig, and in time become | posom of the sea. It is the philosophy, the earnest | the true coal. There 1s a register of the names of an old line whig, The whig party was the only party in which he truly believed. Republicanism he acceptec impatiently and with reluctance, and the questions whicn really interested him were not guestions of humanity, but of economy and | ence beionging to the name of Maria Monk— | finance. Pain or the thought of pain was a constant | distress to him, and it led to his horror of war and capital punishment. So much of his active life that he never was doctie in support of a party in power. He was exacting and sometimes querulous witn au- thority, and during Lincoln's time never ceased to tease the President, His estimate of Lincoln Was not very high, half statesman and half horse Jockey, ana it is remarkable that, althougn nis journal was the organ of the advanced re- publican party, his especial dislikes were Sum- ner, Phillips, Thaddeus Stevens, Stanton and Butler, He overcame the dislike to Sumner tn latter years, but never really forgave him ior hav- ing been born in Boston and educated in a col- lege, He never likea Grant. This was pecause Grant was a soldier. (1 all of our soidiers he pre- ferrea Thomas. His literary tastes were suarked. Milton was his iavorive poet, Gibbon his favorite Prose writer. He thought Jown Hay one of the best of the growing authors, He was fond of Browning and had a despica- ble opinion of Poe. It was because, he said, Poe had treated some women he knew badly. Byron’s serious poems were pleasant to him, and when all the world was denouncing Swinburne he | ‘Dolores’? | took the utmost delight im his rhythm. he thought one of tie finest poems in the language. He had a strange notion that Catholicism was in- compatible with repubiicanism, and went so Jar in this belief as to sympathize with Maximilian in Mexico, He did not believe in colleges or in any language but English. His especial horror among the vices was incontinence. This sin he never forgave. He thought young women should learn to sew and cook and stitch shoes beiore learning to play on the piano, He never toid @ secret. In the detail of political man- agement he was singularly sagacious, with an amount of wisdom under ail that has not been excelled in his time, proudest and most sensitive man in North America. He showed those qualities in his war We entirely agree with Mr. In- gersoll in his estimate of Mr. Greeley’s influence in securing Seward’s defeat. It was a masterpiece Of strategy, cunning and political skill. As we nave said, the time has come for a proper estimate of Mr. Greeley and his work. His name has been used asa type of folly by his enemies, and as an advertisement for many varieties of Dusiness by his friends. On one side he has been depreciated, on the other exaggerated. No such man ever lived as the ideal Horace Greeley, whether we accept the ideal of enmity or of friend- ship. The reat Horace Greeley was a very great | Tuileries. It is the record of a life’s journey more | Iv as ne story of a poor child, a girl ignorant and | torian remarks:—lt was a mere accident that Kidd was banged as a pirate instead of being feasted as a victor.” Mr. Abbott tells his story simply, and nis book is well calculated to make the boys’ hair stand on end these coming long evenings. “Maria Monk’s Daughter.” A handsomely printed and bound and a liberally General Literature. In this age of “cramming” and superficial cul. | ture in many of our schools and colleges every | Well directed effort on the part of those who have devoted their talents and lives to tne promotion Of education, to cultivate a love tor the English Classics, deserves the commendation and support of the newspaper press. We therefore take {iustraced octavo volume of 000 pages, bearing | Reemmre in calling attention to the frst of a series the mysterious but suggestive title of “Maria | Of Volumes preparea by ‘ona Benet B | Monk's Daughter:” an autobiography, by Mrs. L. | 5Prasue, and just published by J. W. Schermer. St. John Eckel, Hes before us. “Marin Monk’s horn & 0o., which aims to supply @ Want in school Daughter!” From the great body of our readers uketey The'-volpms: heron os ‘yess ‘po: | of the present day such inquiries as these will | reprint aatyerhe " ee ye pag are | arise, “Who and what was Maria Monk, and for | Pref statement of the genealogy of the Eng} admirable suggestions for expressive what was she so greatly distinguished, that Mrs.’ Yeupasas, adeiratio ones * reading, and copious philological criticisms, Eckel, in prociaiming herself the daughter of ts selections from haucer, Spenser and Mil- mythical personage of the past, apparently be- . bags ts ton, Shakespeare's “Macbeth” and Bunyan’s lieves that she will command the public sympathy, ndensed confidence and support?’ Is tt the mantle ADANAe, .AEPatd, | SomAtNOR wish. 001 : and well written biographies of these illustrious ke Herds le di ACs | lghts ww the firmament of let:era. We are informed “Maria Monk’s Danghter” it rout casa in the preface tnat the succeeding volumes, like herself to the world? Is it ae roca pt reat | the present, will be devoted to the development of name which she thus claims as har ‘rightful ine | een RR DEED IED OA WARCRINR: BO IAM heritance, and does she ai ba Ne | est in its critical study. In the third voiume a , aim to dazzle us with its duced {rom the pas- spleniors in the announcement? On, no. There | *Ste™ Of FB LORS. wah, be, dedage is nothing of soctal, titerary or saintl: ié-emin- sages examined, and the concluding volume will . 7 ry Bree | contain a classification of the authors quoted aud & review of the whole fleid of English literature. ANCESTRAL NAMES IN AMERICA, J. W. Barton sends us a sumptuous volume, rich nothing of goodness or brightness, nothing of which a daughter can boast, but everything of wickedness, darkness, degradation and shame | in | from which daughter may shrink with all the advantages of type, presswork and Paper, called the “Original lists of persons of peers enciy diaiiayy JANA DIOR, «SEOs juality, emigrants, religious exile: litical and for what purpose has Mrs, Eckel | IUally, a! » e m ) Tebels, serving men sold fora term of years, ap- been “ a Induced to publish this vook as “Marts ) Prentices, children stolen, maideas pressed, Monk’s Daughter ?? Whatcan she gain, and what | | yours,’ Se. ~ 2 teen a in love with her. She trified with tim a tong time, finaily became engaged to him, and, it 18 said. ac- cepted irom him jewels and £6,000, with which to pay ber mantugmakers’ biils. ‘Due wedding day Was arranged, nd last Friday they went to te opera and. the Park, On Saturday torning she jet home alone, and, procesaie to St. George's church, was married to Lord Hastings, @ young man of ber own age, very ugly, and sessed of & slight fanit—a passiou for cards and wine. After the ceremony they started for the country, and ac tue first station she wrote to her father, the Mar- quis 0) Angiesey:—“Dear Papa—As | knew you | Would never consent to my marriage to Lora Hasungs, | was married to lim to-day. I remain &c. She also wrote te Mr. Chaplin:— “Dear Harry—When you receive this I shal! be the Wue of Lord Hastings. Forget yours. very vie @ Florence.” Poor Mr. Chaplin, who ts six feet high, and has yellow hair, is tn despair. In 1865 there is a glimpse of Mr. Gladstone, “a man Of genius and a child; “something of the child, the statesman and the fou,” or, a8 we would say it, goose. “Five or six deans were @% the house and every morning the guests Tegaled themselves with a little prayer in common.” “There was a sort of half-cooked roll for breakfast, the digestion of whicn gives ono infinite trouble for the rest of the day.” “In ad+ dition to this there was Welsh ale wich was very celebrated.” Then we have Bismarck, “a tail German, very polite and far trom navy, apparentiv destitute of soul Dut all Mind,” and his wile, with “the largest feet beyond the Rune.” We see Eugénie “making a collection of everything that ever belonged to Marie Antoinette.” In 1869 everything began to go to the bad. ‘There is no longer a Spain, soon there will be no Holy See." Then came 1870, and war, which he deemed a thing that could not be avoided. In Paris the war was more popular thaa it has ever been even among the bourgeois. On September 23 Meriméo i ired lied. seen Sedan, but not the siege of has she not to lose by this repulsive revelation ¢ | 924 others who went trom Great Britain | died. He had . to the American plantations in the years | Paris. She answers this question to her complete vindi- | twee. ‘anh Pee By yeau Gee ean ype tio 600 " x Litera: Chit: . cation in this exceedingly interesting story of her | den Hotten.” Mr. Hotten explains that these ry strangely active and eventful life. We have said that it is an exceedingly interest- ing story, but it is more than this. It 1s pro- foundly impressive and instructive. It ts one of those records of tacts which are stranger and stronger than the inventions of tiction. It is a | history, richly colored with all the required fan- cles and roma nces of an absorbing novel, It is a chapter of designs, incidents and accidents, as | ay useful purpose. We have, however, papers steadily tending through all obstructions to a | that must be of great value to those crowning glory and satisfying peice as tends the | stream jee vhe Raaeayauie bee to the maternal Wena anata ane Maier sclae 8 One O Re eels gu records are taken from original manuscript pre- served injthe State paper department of the Pub- lic Record OMice in London, and it embraces the | Names of the emigrant ancestors of many thou- \ sands of American families, Asa contribution to | the new study of genealogy this book will be of ; Value. Itis clumsily done, and is rather a mess of | information thrown together than digested with philosophy, of ® life devoted to a search | ll the passengers from Lonaon for the year 1635, for the truth, teaching the way to success by | embracing the voyage of fifty-three vessels, There example, through many trials and sorrows. | are lists oJ the living and dead in Virginia in 1623, It {8 @ drama, abounding in stirring and | Some Of these names are odd and others are widely contrasting situations, from the squalor | familiar. Ebedmelech Gastrell lived at the College and wretchedness of a New York tenement house | Land. We see also Roger Preston, Nicholas Bayley, to the splendors of an imperial reception at the | Barnard Jackson, Randail Howlett, Ann Ashley, | Richard Atkins, John Smith, William Tyler, Ann wonderiul in its acnievements than all the dan- | Atkinson, John Jeerson, Joun Harrington, Edward gers, obstructions and enemies overcome by | Marshall, Elizabeth Garnett, F. Mason, W. Epps, Christian through his heroic ptigrimage until ne | Mary Maddison, widow, “who came in The Stars. stands in full view of the Delectable Mountains, | 3° Pryor was arrested as a rebel in Monmouth’s | revellion and sent out in 1685. Jo Bland took the neglected—a waif, without a friend or a nome, | Oaths of coniormity and sailed to become the | adrift apon the world, ragged and wretchea, | ‘under of his family in Virginia, | apparently helpless and hopeless, jeered at and de- FAMOUS NAMES, spised, a vagrant, a drudge, living under constant It 1s curious to note the names that nave since torture, awake or asleep—it is the story, we say, | become famous in our history. Of the Prest- of such an unfortnuate as this, advanced through | dents we fiud no Washington, There are her own resolute will and perseverance to the | Many Adamses and one John Jefferson, who society of scholars, poets, philosophers, nobles, | Came over in the Bona Nova in 1625, obtaining princes and crowned heads, and to the dispensa-.| 250 acres of land at the mouth of the Chicka- tion of imperial favors, it isthe story ofa woman hominy, and was probably not without bis in- thus exalted who has sacrificea all these things fuence in producing the Declaration of Inde- | and the strongest of all earthly affections and the | Pendence. We find a Captain Isaac Maddison at | most inviting of social advantages to herconvic- | Sherton Hundred Islana—twenty diferent famt- tions of retigious auty#*It is the testimony of a | Hes of Jackson, ten of Harrison and five of, Tyler. woman who, from her unhappy surroundings and | Zachary Taylor, aged twenty-seven, arrived in sufferings, and her desperate struggle for exist- | 1635, and in the same sbip was E. Lincoln. We ence asa child, was readily taught bya devoted | have Peirces and Johnsons in any quantity and a infidel husband to read and believe the pernicious | Zeth Graunt, eventually Grant, who came in 1631, teachings ol such false lights as Gibbon, Hume ana | We find no trace of the ancestry of Monroe, Van Voltaire, but who, finding in their feast of reason | Buren, Polk, Fillmore or Buchanan. We see noevi- | only husks and chaff, next sought for the bread | dence of tne house of Greeley. Sumner does not ap- He was the | of life, and found it at the foot of the Cross, pear nor Calhoun. There are adozea Websters and This record of the extraordinary vicissitudes of uly one Clay. John Sherman came in the early Mrs, Eckel’s busy career would meet all the | Cay to do his part toward conquering Georgia. usual requirements of an autobiography, if limited | The Lees began to fourish early in Virginia, as we to the moral in a worldly view of her rise from | Note a dozen families of the name. degradation to distinction, from beggary to amu- | Emerson, Parker, Phillips and Everett, but no ence, from rags to regal robes and diamonds; but | Whittier, Hawthorne. Longfellow, Thoreau or far broader and higher is the moral of her story, | Holmes. The family of Smith began early to It is @ remarkabie illustration of those conspicu- sert its predominance—as we mect More than ous qualities of the go-ahead American—the faith | 8!Xty families bearing that useful and highly cele- in a Sxed purpose and the pluck, the dash, the | brated name. Mr. Hotten’s book 18 full of oppor- snap, the boldness and perseverance whereby | tunities for curious study, and will be welcome even a poor, ragged girl from the street Arabs tO those who are curious in knowing what we may remove mountains, But the pervading | Were in the beginning, and what brought us Lere, plea and the crowning moral of this THE LETTERS OF PROSPER MERIMEE, book are reparation and indemnity from Richard Henry Stoddard has perjormed a real. the daughter jor the mother’s book of | service to literature in his ingenious compilation calumnies scattered broadcast over the land | Of bric-B-brac series, the fourth volume of which | nearly forty years ago against the Catholic Churcn | comes to us from Scribner. hese books are in Maria Monk’s “Awful Disciosures.” This book | printed neatly, with attractive bindings, and are was a pretended revelation by an escaped nun of | sold for $1 50. We have bad no books from the | dark and dreadful crimes alleged to have been’! Press for some time so well worth the money, and illustrious man, with rade but marvellous | glits, his 1ife a monument of industrial achieve- ment, moulded and animated by the noblest am- bition. Helabored to make the world better, and although be had as many angles in his character as Dr. Johnson and lacked the serene wisdom and broad philosophy of Franklin, he was in many re- spects as great a man as either, much resembled them in the attributes of his charucter and genius, of higher personal purity and cleanliness of life than either. His life 1s one that cannot be too earnestly studied by the young men of America. It 1s full ot wisdom and truth and emulation to nobie, worthy deeds. Mr. Ingersoll deserves credis for having made this contribution to our proper knowledge of one of the distinguished men of this century. Captain Kiad. We shall probably never tire of pirates and mur- derers, and consequently Mr. John 8. C. Abbott's Dew book on “Captain William Kidd and others of the pirates and buccaneers who ravaged the seas, the islands and the continents of America 200 years ago.” This is one of a sertes of “American pto- neers and patriots,” and is neatly printed by Dodd & Mead. It ts hard to find a place jor Cap- tain Kidd among our “pioneers” or “patriots,” but Mr, Atbott having made himself famous by, his lives of various Bonapartes could do usno more national service than to write the exploits of Cap- tain Kidd. Mr, Abbott justly says we have no in- telligent idea of Kiad. He is simpiy a legend to We see also | Under the harrowing title of ‘Literary Strag~ giers” Mr. Robert Cowtan will treat of the pains, difficulties and sorrows of authorship in the chief countries of the world. It will give a varied pic- ture of literary life, but it is too much to hope that it will warn off any ambitious youth from book-writing. The November Atlantic has a most interesting sketch by Oliver Wendell Holmes of the late Pro- fessor Jetfries Wyman. The publihsers of the weekly literary journal, Beery Saturday, announce that after Ociover 31 that journal will be merged in Littell's Living age. The combination will leave the Living Age the only eclectic weekly published in this country. The Adantte for November has a semi-humorons, semi-serious sketch of a Southern negro woman, by Mark Twain, Jacob Wainwright has, it is stated, written @ Narratiye of tne latter’ days of Dr. Livingstone And of his own vicissitudes during the journey to Zanzibar with the great traveller's body. The story 18 already in tne press. The Karl of Southesk will publish at Edinburg ‘Saskatchewan and the Rocky Mountains; a Diary and Narrative of Travel, Sport and Adventure."” The “English Portraits” of the famous French critic Sainte-Beuve are in tue London press of Daldy. The third volume of Datling’s “Life of Paimer- ston,” completed by another hand, stops eighteen years before the death of Palmerston. Anew edition of the ‘“Oider and Modern Ballads and Songs of Lancashire’ will be issued in one Volume by Routledge & Son, A volume of Mr. Whivtier’s verse is always as welcome in its way as a new poem by Tennyson or Longiellow, The latest collection of his tugitive pieces appears this day. The volume is called azel Blossoms,” and contains all of Mr. Whit- tier’s poems which have appeared since the previous collection of his works was published. The principal poem in the present collection is Mr. Whittier’s ode on “Sumner’—a poem which may be regarded as a fair specimen of the poet’s bap- plest efforts. It is not tue highest kind of poetry— | Indeeg, it ts poetic rather than poetry—bat it ts so smootu in rhythm, 80 pure 1m tone, so sweet and gentie in expression and so generous and yet so just in appreciation, that {113 better than if it was grand, sulemo and funereal verse. Few men would have bad the courage to write of Sumner:— What it he felt the natural pride Uf power in noble use, too true With their humiiities to hide ‘the work he did, the love he knew? And it is just such (rankpers as chis which the more readily induces the reader to accept the poet’s judgment of his friend as one Who tollowed Duty where she want. “The Prayer of Agassl: isa fine tribute to the | philosopher, and the ballad of “Joun Ondernill” is | one of those pictures of early New fSogland thought, purpose and feeling which are the most | charming things Mr. Whittier has done. We inter that Mr. Whittier has now gathered all the fugitive pieces he has written up to the present time into this volume, including even u1s poem in the cur- | rent number o/ the Atlantic Monthly. Appended | to the volume are a few pieces by Elizabeth H. committed in @ Catholic convent at Montreal, and for @ time its effect was a widespread, fearful and mischievous agitation againat the Roman Catholic Charch. The reparation, embracing the discios- ures of Maria Monk’s degraded and reckless life | They introduce usto {famous authors, and tell us in an hour as much good as the average mina cares | to know, This, perhaps, will not satisfy the scholar or the insatiate delyer into books, but it forms good reading habits and shapes the mind ‘and miserable death, and the narrative of all the | toward a higher appreciation of all that is vulu- varying fortunes of the daughter to the building | by her in Dutchess county of the little Catholic church of St. Genevieve, and thence down to her hamble lite as a devoted believer, 1s a reparation which amply attests the fulness of her conversion and her convictions of duty and her absorbing de- votion in the service of her Lord and Saviour, A brief extract or two irom the volume will serve to indicate the driit of the courageous littie woman’s eXtraordinary history, and her natural and wholly unaffected style as a writer. In the ex- tract which follows, she is speaking of her father’s family, in which as ao eight-year-old, she played the character of “Lic! The family had been getting more and more able in literature. it was work like this that and Mr. Stoddard deserves to be congratulated upon naving added a new feature to our literature. The volume before us, the fourth of the series, embraces the tetters of Prosper Merimée, with chapters of the recollec- tions of Lamartine and George Sand. It is singu- lar how little we find worth recollecting in the recollections of Lamartine. He was a sentimen- talist and rhetorictan, a French Lord Byron with tendencies to holy orders. Born in 1790, we have a those times the wages of women servants were thirty francs @ year, something more than six miserable, and their home was now so wretched ‘hat the father dreaded to come near it, Although | Mr. St. Jonn received the annuity left him by his | uncle, it did no’ seem to better his condition; jor | his Jamily would live ior a few days sumptuously, | and like veggars for the rest of the year. They | had long since done witnout a servant. Georgina, | who was in her tenth eins did all the | indoor work, while Tick did ali the errands. The | oniy trouble about sending Tick on errands was | dollars, “six yards of unbieached linen for shifts,” two paire of wooden shoes, a petticoat, | and a dollar for a New Year's present. He tells us how he descended the crater of Vesuvius with Humboldt. There is a strange story of the King, Louis XVIIL, being wheeled in a triumphal progress through the gal- Jeries of the Louvre to enjoy the works of art, made Charles Knight so famous and useful a man, | few lurid glimpses of the French Revolution. In | that tney could never depend on her. If she met | | an organ-grinder she felt as though it looked mean | Lamartine pushing the cuatr, the progress taking our history, and he proposes to give us the truth, | He has become almost as legendary as Robin Hood, and romantic young men in straitened circumstances go roaming around to find his treasure, which, captured {from Spanish argosies, was buried somewhere around our sub- urbs, The true story of Kidd, as Mr. Abbott tells it, ig that he was a merchant In the city of New York in 1695, having been a privateersman against the French. He was induced by Lord Beliamont (then our Governor) to take command of a pri- vaveer for the purpose of making war upon the buccaneers and Frenchmen. The money to supply the ship was furnished by Livingston, a New Yorker (founder of the famous Livingston fam- ily), and by a party of English noblemen and per- 80n8 Of high degree, among them tue famous Lord Somers, the Dake of Shrewsbury and others. Thus equipped Kidd sailed out on his errand of catching French ships. But matters went tll with him, and under pressure of necessity he took to seizing the ships of the Great Mogul aod Dutch mer- chants, This led to his being proclaimed as a Pirate, the high people with whom he had veen associated being expressly vindictive under the Pressure of a public indignation which regarded them as partners in Kidd's piracy. In 1699, after an absence o{ four years, Kidd, with an anxious mind, returned to New York, and from thence to Boston, stopping at Gardiner’s Island, where, it is said, be buried some of his treasure. Afver dangling around Boston for some time Lord Belia- montarrested him amd sent him home to England. In tne meantime an attempt was made to impeach Oxford and Somers as partners in his piracy; and | Somers was All 80 his trial became a party question. ‘absolved, and on May, 1701, Kidd was hanged. | ceive their a | Ib ts issued trom the press of the United States | England was agog with nis doings, and, as @ Lis , Puviiauiag Vompauy, of this city, Jor the author, and poor to pass im by without giving tim some- | four hours, and an amusing narrative of how he Au thing, and the money that was intended to buy a loaf of bread would often be put into the out- | Waited for a whole morning on the roadside, near stretched paw ofa monkey. The father used some- | Lake Leman, tosee Mme. De Stat pass, which tunes tagive Geoteins, fe rey to ee for | she didin acarriage with Mme, Recamier. The the family ; but she woul have to conceal it [rom | * | the motuer lest se Would lorce it from her for ; Most instructive part of this Dok 1s devoted to beer. Oitentimes the mother would go off andthe | Merimée. This keen observer seems to have had children sisting aisconsolote around tae, stove, | some of the qualities, of Roche‘oucauld.end.a Vol. | te youngest crying with hunger, The giris, too, | taire. Weare constantly discovering the oddest were hungry, but they were long accustumed to | phrases, cynical axioms—thus :—‘Frankness ts not | Whittier, the sister of the poet, now deceased. it | was a happy and generous thought in the brother | to embalm ber poems in the same covers with his own verse. Books Received. | Prosper Merimée’s Letters to an Incognita, with Recollections of Lamartine and George Sand. | Edited by R. H. Stoddard. New York: Scribner, | Armstrong & Co, | A Handbook of the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Giving Its History | and Constitution, 1785-1874. By Rev. William | Stevens Perry, D. D. New York: Thomas Whit- taker. | Toinette; A Novel. York: J. B. Ford & Co. | The Building of a Brain. By Edward H. Clarke, | M.D. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co. The Life of Horace Greeley, with Graphic Notices | of Eminent Journalists, Pohticians and Statesmen of his Time. By L. OD. Ingersoll. Ilustrated, | Philadeipnta: J. E. Potter & Uo. | The Philosophy of Literature. By Henry Chanliter. New An Essay. By B. | A.M. Philudelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Hat- | felfinger. | ‘The Lite of Benjamto Franklin, Written by Him- self; now tirst Edited from Original Manuscripts and from His Printed Correspondence and other Writings. By John Bigelow. (Three volumes.) Philadelphia: J. P. Lippiucott & Co. Masterpieces of English Literature. B. Sprague. (In four books.) Vol. 1. J, W. Schermerborn & Co, The Genesis of the New England Cnurches. By Leonard Bacon. New York: Harper & Brothers, A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, being a Connected View of the Principles of Evi- dence aud the Methods of Scientific Investigation. New York: Harper & By Homer New York: that. Passing over all the other hardships of her girl- hood, and her diligent studies as a woman, and her marriage to “a shiftiess” young dreamer, we ave the following as frankly revealing her open- ing life at Vanity Fair:— In January, 1858, | accompanied my husband to | Washiugton ‘and entered into its intrigues and | trivolities with @ zest and earnestness of woich only a giddy mind filled wita vanity To be thrown ation was Wiat my beart craved; and it had obtained its desire, and tor the drat time in my life my ambition was gratified. It was in Washington society that I fret learned the Magical power of woman over man, and even over the destinies of a State. Sul @ close student in qualifying herself with languages, encyclopedias, &c., for the fine arta of | society, aud always turning her acquisitions to | business purposes, we soon find her in Paris, and at an imperial bi She says of her frst recep- tion at Court :— I made & most extravagant outlay on my toilet, 1 wore @ pearl necklace aud 4 set of diamonds, and a@ white silk dress puffed with tuile, Then she tells how she was introduced, and how, at supper, she “sat atthe first table, near to their Majesties (Napoleon and Kugénie), and with the diplomatic corps; and how she became acquainted with our Minister, Mr. Dayton, and his famtly, and so on, througn all her astonishing career of successes and through ali her transi- tions from worldly vanities to a life devoted to her self-imposed duties as a devout Catholic. Asan autobiography, as a romance, asa narrative nd an argument to support of her religious faith this book irom “Maria Monk’s Daughter’ is, we repeat, exceedingly interesting and instructive. | one of them.” desirable toa woman,” “As a rule, never select a woman for a confidant,” “Nothing is more eommon than to do evil for the very pleasure of it,” “A woman who wears blue gowns is acoqnette,” “Ihave often asked what 1 could say to my wife on my wedding day, and have found nothing possibie uniess it be a compit- ment to her nightcap.” Merimée was a good | deal in England, and gives us some amusing j glimpses of English Ife, especially one country estate in Scotland, where everybody, including the buffalo, bad the air of being bored. There ure occastonal side glances of the Emperor Napoleon and hig cousin the Prince. Pelissier {3 called a “irightial monster” to his wife. Tannhiéiuser is a colossal bore, Princess Metternich 4eigned to un- derstand it, and the wits said the Austrians were avenging themselves for Solferiao, M. Thiers im 1861 was becoming devout, in Fontatne- bleau there was the reception of the Siamese Ambassadors in 1861; twenty black meu, ex- ceedingly like monkeys dressed tn gold brocade, “all fat on their faces, and crawling on their hands and knees the whole length of the Henri Il, Gallery, and one with his nose level with the back oi the crawier preceding him.” Finally we are glad to learn the Emperor lost all patience, “ros made the beetles rise, and spoke In Englisn with In London, in 1863, he reports Palmerston having “given up his false teeth, which changed him very much.” There is also a remembrance Of astrange story that once madea deep impreeston in London, London, July, 1864. Nothing is talked of here but the marriage of | Lady Florence Paget, the beauty of London for | the past two seasons, she was noted for ner firta- tions. Mr, Ellice’s nephew, Mr. Chaplin, a tall young Jellow of twenty-five, and with 000 &@ year, ell | By John Stuart Mill. Brothers. | The Original Lists of Persons of Quality: Emi. | grants; Religious Exiles; Poltttcal Rebels; Serv- ing Men Sold fora Term of Years; Apprentices; | Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed, and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700. From MSs, preserved in the State Paper Department of Her Majosty’s | Publitc Record Ofice, England, By John Camden | Hotien. New York: J. W. Bouton, | Verses of Many Days. By Willtam Osborn Stod | dard, New York: James Miller, | The Western Union Telegraph Oompany Direc: ‘wry. New York: Western Union Telegraph Com- | pany. | Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Epis ties Of Paul to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus and to Philemon. By Alpert Barnes. Re- vised edition, New York: Harper & Brothers, Manaal of Mythology; Greek and Roman, Nors> | and Old German, Hindoo and Egyptian Myth- | ology. By A. S. Murray. New York: Scribuer, Armstrong & Co. American Pioneers and Patriots; Captain Wiil- tam Kidd, By Joun 4. C, Abbott, New Yorks Dodd & Mead. ‘The American Educational Annual: A Cyclopa@- | dia or Reference Book for all Matters Pertaining | to Education. Published annually. (Vol. lL) New York: J. W. Schermerhorn & Co. Piymouth Church and Its Pastor; or, Henry Ward Beecher and His Accusers, By J. E. P. Doyle. Hartford: The Park Publishing Company. New Elements from Old Subjects, Presented ag | the Basis for a Science of the Mind, By Jonn Gas | kell, Philadelphia: Claxton, Reman & Hados | fugen .