hension, and too loose to afford any satisfactory information touching the men or theories to which they relate The title page is much the most attractive part of the work. 1842. It has al forth upon the reading public, 'matter' of the most corrupting tendency. His siren style procures his works to be generally read, and almost as generally condemned. The 'first readers of the last novel' pronounce Zanoni to be 'a A TREATISE ON STRABISMUS, with a description of new in-poor thing.' It is a much less 'readable' book than his struments: designed to improve the operation of its cure, in Paul Clifford, Night and Morning, et id omne. simplicity, ease and safety; illustrated by cases. By James Bolton, M.D.A.M., Member of the Medical Society of ready been republished in several of the mammoth Northern Virginia. P. D. Bernard, Museum Building: Richmond, newspapers, and is now on its way by post to all parts of the country; thus, without violating the present post-office As the 'Trade' would say, this book was entirely gotten laws, the mails are loaded down, for newspaper postage,-3 up in Richmond-writing, printing, engraving, and binding-CENTS,-with a trashy book tending to the corruption of and though small, is highly creditable to each of the seve- public morals. One of the advantages of an international ral craft concerned. It is intended for the general as well copy-right would be to prevent this. as the professional reader-giving the former an excellent idea of the anatomy of the 'squint' eye, and of the philoso- THE ENGLISH REPRINTS. The last Nos. of the Lonphy of its cure-and to the latter, most admirable sailing don, Edinburgh, Foreign and Westminster Reviews, and directions' as to how he shall operate. Dr. Bolton ex-of the Dublin University Magazine, have been on our taplains with great minuteness the operation for Strabismus ble for some days. They are all very good average numin eight cases performed by him; and though the deformity in some cases amounted almost to hideousness, he succeeded to admiration in every one. It is a useful little manual for young-operators. AN INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL SCIENCE: being a concise and familiar treatise on such legal topics as are earliest read by the law-student; should be generally taught in the higher seminaries of learning; and understood by every citizen, as a part of a general and business education. To which is appended a concise Dictionary of law terms and phrases. By Silas Jones, Counsellor at Law. New-York: John S. Voorhies; 1842. bers, in good paper and readable type. Since the steamers have been running as ferry-boats across the Atlantic, much less attention is paid by the press to foreign newspapers and news than was formerly. In the days of the packetsand we are not prepared to admit that they are gone by never to return-an 'arrival' was something more than a mere passing event of the day. The newspaper press was not content to give in one paper a summary of intelligenceas is done now; but a running head was kept, and copious extracts were made from the English papers, filling up, with important foreign information, the intervals between the packets-and American newspaper readers, were then This is a sort of vade mecum, which every young man of kept regularly and correctly, informed of European affairs. business, or every young man who ever expects to make a Not so now. A steamer comes puffing across-she is telebargain, give a note, draw a deed, or execute a bond, should graphed—a mere synopsis of the news is published in the kave by him. It will give him just the information which extras-reprinted by the country papers-and there, inforbe requires, to enable him to do what he wishes to accom- mation, as far as the public are concerned, rests until the plish, in a proper and lawful manner. How few business next arrival, which occurs in 10 or 12 days-and in the inmen are there-not of the law-who understand the force terim further extracts are neglected and all's forgotten. of the simple (LS.) to an instrument of writing, until they The effect of this has been to induce country gentlemen have learned its powers, to their cost, in the severe school to turn their attention from newspaper extracts to the 'Reof experience; and few can afford to derive all their know-prints,' with the view of keeping pace with, and a run of, ledge from such a school. Some practical knowledge of European affairs-consequently the circulation of the fothe law, to be derived from a course of reading, is essen-reign reviews, has vastly increased since the introduction tial to every member of society. Every man-unread in of Atlantic steam packets. The effect of an international the law-who puts his name upon paper, enters into obli-copy-right law, would be to increase the expense, and digations, and incurs responsibilities of which he little dreams. minish the circulation in our country, of these instructive Mr. Jones has performed a good work; he has given, mull-and useful Reprints. The Dublin University Magazine tum in parvo, a vast amount of useful and practical infor mation. contains a biographical sketch, with an etching, of Dr. Graves, one of the most distinguished practitioners of the day, and an orthodox leader and general favorite with the profession on both sides of the water. Mr. Gill is the agent for Richmond. The spirit of the age is utilitarian in a high degree; and we hail the publication of such useful and practical works, always with pleasure. To commend to our readers one such book of this class, affords us more true pleasure, than we could derive from spreading before them a thousand volumes of dreamy and sickly romance. In the one case we render them a real service; in the other, we do them a positive injury: one is food, the other poison. This work We delight to write that word SOUTHERN before new is recommended by its author to the use of schools and of works of periodical literature. This is the first No. of the law-STUDENTS. We do not think it well adapted for either Southern Review, and a rich one it is. It numbers about purpose; but it is admirably calculated as a book of refer- 300 octavo pages, and besides 23 critical notices, contains ence for young men just setting out upon life. To them, original articles-some of which are of a very high order we heartily commend it. of merit. The article on the newspaper and periodical Press, another on Currency and Exchanges, and another on the Constitution of the United States, particularly strike our fancy, because of their utilitarian character. Messrs. J. W. Randolph & Co. are the agents in this city. We should be glad to see this work prosper. Subscription $10 a year, payable in advance. THE SOUTHERN QUARTERLY REVIEW, No. 1. January, 1842. New-Orleans: published by the proprietors at 166 Royal Street. ZANONI. By the author of Night and Morning, Rienzé, 8 Such is the opposition between the mammoth 'weeklies' in New-York with regard to this work, that it may be had there for fourpence-halfpenny a volume. It is from the profligate pen of that most depraved of modern novelists, ON THE BEAUTIES, HARMONIES AND SUBLIMITIES OF Edward Lytton Bulwer. He is a man whose private NATURE. By Charles Bucke. This delightful and instruccharacter is of the worst kind; he has a rich imagination, tive volume forms number 145 of Harpers' Family Library. and from the abundance of a licentious fancy, he spawns It depicts and illustrates the wonders of the natural world, po in a style calculated to impress the most indifferent. Nu- [rious ranks in life, the society must necessarily be mixed. merous marvellous, but unnoticed facts and beauties that It is made up of various classes in pursuit of amusement adorn the material universe, are displayed in a graphic and and change, and the individual aspirants for place; the interesting manner. The subject and execution of the lished European and the well dressed adventurer; the gentleman and the black leg,-all are often found amalgamated work render it admirably fitted for the Family Library. at an evening party. These transient visiters, though MENTAL PHILOSOPHY. This is an excellent work for forming, at certain seasons, the society of the Metropolis, the general reader. But for purposes of education, we are too often considered as constituting and giving charact know of no book more available than a concise and well- to that society; and the resident population are frequently arranged treatise on psychology, or a system of mental charged with offences of which they are entirely guiltless. philosophy, founded on consciousness and common sense, Accustomed to mingle with the highest dignitaries of the by one of the able theological professors at the Gettys-land, and to associate freely with the representatives of the burg Institution. The mechanical execution of this vo- people, they have learned to place a fair and just estimate lume is similar to that of Professor Anthon's series, on human worth, and to regard mere official rank or station published also by the Harpers. It is expressly designed as not always conferring honor or moral respectability cr for the use of academies and colleges. We commend it to those who hold it. It is seen with no exalted feelings the attention of teachers, and all interested in education. those to whom it is familiar; and the virtuous and intel gent citizen of Washington, though deprived of his electiv FINE EDITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. We have franchise, feels no disposition to truckle to power, a frequently commended the superior execution of standard moves through life with a conscious independence, and works published in Boston. Indeed, some of the best li-conviction that all true distinction is based on moral supe brary editions of the English classics that have appeared riority alone." in the United States, issued from the Boston press. An The typography of this little volume-from the press edition of the New Testament, just published in that city, Mr. Force--is excellent, and the representation of Gree by W. D. Ticknor, deserves the attention of our readers.ough's statue of Washington as a frontispiece is fathe It is an uncommonly creditable specimen of American As the publisher, Mr. Farnham, has identified himself wr printing. The type is exactly to our taste, and spaced an author of great merit, we not only offer him our since enough to accommodate the weakest vision; the paper is thanks, but hope that his enterprize will be liberally truly beautiful, and the whole arrangement of the work excellent. Economy and elegance are combined in this edition more successfully than in any which has fallen under our notice. warded. My Dear Sir: MALTA, Feb. 20th, 1842 When out of town some time since to visit the rains A NEW GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. By George Watterston. Krendi, I stopped at the house of my friend, P. Vella, L.L. Washington: Robert Farnham. New-York: Samuel Colman; 1842. 12mo. pp. 226. who is the Syndick of a distant district, and received fra him a few preserved insects, (one of which I now enclos and is ninety-six years old; and, as you will perceive, is most perfect state of preservation. a Simple as is the manner of its preservation-it being on to enclose the insect between two pieces of ising-glase. edges of which are firmly glued together to exclude the I do not remember to have seen it adopted in any cabinets which I have visited in America. I think this information is valuable to those who are gaged in the collection of insects and plants, and if y would mention the subject in the "Messenger," you wo Yours, very truly, greatly oblige To T. W. White, Esq. W. WINTHROP ANDERE This is an interesting and unpretending little volume. Treating of the earliest history of the Metropolis of the Nation, and directing attention to the principal objects of curiosity to be found in it, it is better calculated to inform the visiter on the spot and his friends at home, than all the compilations which have hitherto been published. Mr. Watterston has been, from childhood, an inhabitant of the seat of government; the advantages possessed by him for acquiring all kinds of information, and his facility as a writer, have peculiarly fitted him for the task which he has so well performed. He may be said to be "the Metropolitan author,” having published at different times, "Letters from Washington," attributed to Wm. Wirt; "Course of Study preparatory to the Bar and the Senate ;" "History of Rome," in questions and answers, for schools; "LFamily;" ;" "Wanderer in Washington;" "Gallery of Ame-otic Consul at Malta, whose contributions, ent rican Portraits;" "Tabular Statistics," &c. So nume-History of the Knights of Malta,' continue to rous are the topics embraced in the work before us, that to our pages, and have entertained and instructed specify them would be to extract some half dozen pages of many of our readers. the table of contents: it would seem nothing has escaped the author's pencil. The well-known sneer of Moore, in relation to the name of the stream that flows near the capitol, The above is from our intelligent and p The specimen is perfect, the colours are as bri as they ever were. It is spread out and laid betw "What was 'Goose Creek' ONCE is Tiber NOW”— two thin, and of course flexible, plates of mica int is in a manner rebuked by our author, who has cited ex-shape of a diamond figure, and the edges are g tracts from old land patents, the metes and bounds of sur- firmly between a narrow slip of pasteboard. that a portion of the site of the present certainly the best way of preserving such sp mens that we know of. Mica is an article of c merce, may easily be procured in our cities. the plates cut to any size and cleft in lamina e so thin. We commend this mode of preservat to the attention of entymologists and bore The butterfly sent by Mr. Andrews, work veys, The article on the "Congressional Burial Ground" is much to our taste. He thus discourses on the "Society" of the Metropolis: From the great variety of characters that assemble in nicely set, mica and all, make a beautiful or Washington, influenced by different motives, and from va- ment for ladies' bracelets, breast-pins and the PUBLISHED MONTHLY, AT FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM-THOMAS W. WHITE, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. VOL. VIII. OUR DEAD. RICHMOND, JUNE, 1842. They are not dead-they are not dead, The treasured ones we have lov'd on earth- They are not dead who taught the heart When life was like a summer's day, And a flowery path we trod; They are not dead, they do live above, They are not dead, we feel, we know But we meet them in our prayers, And we watch their dust like a buried gem, GRECIAN AND ROMAN LITERATURE. ELIZA. GREEK AND ROMAN POETS.* NO. 6. Grecian and Roman Literature. In the arts and sciences, we are indebted to them for those fundamental discoveries, which have served as bases for the noble superstructures erected by the genius of later ages. In poetry, cloquence, history, painting, sculpture, architecture, medicine, jurisprudence, generalship, statesmanship, they have afforded models and instruction to the human race. To take a general survey of this rich inheritance, would require talents which no individual can command. We propose to ourselves, merely, to give a brief sketch of the literary treasures so bountifully spread out on the records of the classic volumes, and then, to suggest to the student some of the advantages he may derive, from drinking deeply at this pure and perennial fountain. Living in the midst of an utilitarian age, we are well aware it would require no ordinary persuasiveness to enlist the popular favor on behalf of a subject which does not seem to be very intimately connected with the business of making moneythe 66 summum bonum" of our day and generation; yet, we feel it a duty to say a word in behalf of a pursuit, which has afforded ourselves pure and permanent comfort, through the varied scenes of a checkered life. The Author of our being, in accordance with that kind providence, so manifest in all his arrangements, having implanted in the human mind, for his own good purposes, a love of that perfection and endless enjoyment, of which we can only have Comparatively feeble glimpses here, has vouchsafed to grant to successive ages, the most valuable of all instruction-that which teaches by example. In taking a retrospect of by-gone ages, for the Herodotus informs us that a migrating tribe of purpose of drawing from the experience of the past Barbarians, occupying, in the reign of Deucalion, lessons of wisdom, and a knowledge of all that is a district of country near the mountains Olympus sublime and beautiful in the moral world; as well and Ossa, afterwards called Histiæotis, being exas of the hideous deformity of vice, and the awful pelled by the Cadmeians, bent their course southconsequences that inevitably await transgression; ward, tarried, for awhile, near the sources of the there is, indeed, one source of light for our guid-Cephissus, and finally settled in Peloponnesus, ance that preeminently excels all others, as it was just, that the inspirations of the Author of the Universe should excel the mere efforts of human ge Man is perhaps too prone to look with complacency on the pursuits that occupied the sunny period of his own existence; yet when one is descending the shady side of the hill, that leads to the dark valley at its base, he may be pardoned, for occasionally looking back, with interest, on those who have either gained the summit, or whose heads are just peering above the horizon. Next to the Sacred Scriptures, we look for the precepts and examples of wisdom in the pages of having received the name of Dorians from their chief or king, Dorus. Another, and a weaker branch, separating from the former, settled on the barren soil of Attica, learned the language of the Aborigines, and finally became amalgamated with them. Too poor to invite invaders, they advanced, gradually, but steadily, and increased and multiplied, until they found it necessary to send abroad colonists, from their surplus population. These, taking the name Iones, from Ion, another descendant of Deucalion, settled in Ionia, a province of The writer of this Article originally intended to complete his review of the subject in this number of the Messenger; but he has found it impossible to condense his Vws to the limit required, without divesting it of all interest whatever. He purposes resuming it in the next No., and continuing it, until he shall have effected his original Asia Minor, on the Ægean sea. design. VOL. VIII-47 Such was the origin of the two great divisions of ancient Greece. It would be interesting to ac-¡and Remus, were eventually recognized by their company them onwards, in their various migrations grandfather-who, by their assistance, was reesand settlements, in different parts of the world; but tablished on his throne. we have referred to them only to show from what small streams has flowed that tide of civilization, and its attendant arts, which has not, like the flood of Deucalion, been confined to the plains of Thessaly, but has well-nigh overspread the habitable globe. With that love of enterprise, which they had ac quired in their intercourse and contests with the neighboring marauders, they determine to set up for themselves, and plan a city, to which they give the name Rome, from Romulus. In order to increase their population, they open a sanctuary for the malefactors of the neighboring states. Te such a source is traced the origin of a people, whe in subsequent ages, extended their conquests to the farthest limits of the known world. The reader will see that the Greeks and Romans probably owe their origin to the Pelasgi, a Nomadic race, whom it is impossible to trace back with any degree of certainty. The next step leads us to the origin of the Roman Empire, that wonderful structure, from the fragments of which have been erected the political edifices that now distinguish Christendom. It is supposed that the district of country around Rome, was first settled by colonists from Sicily. In process of time, a band of Arcadians, under the conduct of Enotrus, the son of Lycaon, crossing the Ionian sea, and probably doubling the western pro- In the incipient stage of civilization, records montory of Sicily, arrived in Latium-and, having have usually been kept by tradition, and transmitted expelled the Sicilian settlers, took possession of from one generation to another. The imagin their lands. They became afterwards strength- tion of the narrator, excited by the applause of ened by accessions of Pelasgic tribes and other enthusiastic auditors, would, naturally, lead him into emigrants from Thessaly, and carried on success- fictions and embellishments, which becoming graful wars with the neighboring states. Having ap-dually more elaborate, would finally result in a meapropriated to themselves-how unjustly, we have seen the honorable appellation, Aborigines, they remained in undisputed possession, to the period of the Trojan war. sured diction. Military glory, being the great incentive to action in ancient times, soon became the theme of the bard; and thus, epic poetry was, perhaps, the first cultivated. To this circumstance are we indebted for the almost divine rhapsodies of the Iliad and Odyssey. It would occupy too much space to examine the mooted question ef Homer's birth and parentage. The account given Meantime, Saturn, king of Crete, having been expelled from his country by his son Jupiter, came to Italy, and having taught Janus, the reigning king, the culture of the vine and other useful arts, was invited to a participation of the kingdom, and on by Herodotus, is perhaps, upon the whole, most ta the death of his friend, became sole monarch. In be relied upon. From him, we learn that he was the century before the Trojan war, Evander con- the illegitimate son of a female of Cyme, in Eclis, ducted another colony of Arcadians from the city named Critheis, who having been left an orphan, at of Palantium into Italy; who being kindly received an early age, yielded to the seduction of some by King Faunus, and having obtained a grant of known person, and to conceal her shame, was sent land for himself and his followers, built, on a mount, by her guardian Cleanax to the care of his friend adjacent to the Tiber, a fortress, which he called Ismenias, who was then one of those colonizat Palantium. A few years subsequent to this period, Smyrna. Here, as the period of her pregnancy Hercules, having overrun Peloponnesus, reached was completed, she attended a festival on the backs Italy with his fleet, in which were citizens of Elis of the Meles, and was delivered of a male ch and other provinces, whom he permitted to found a to whom, from the circumstance, she gave the settlement for themselves. These soon united with name Melesigenes. The account Herodotus gives the Aborigines and Arcadians, and continued mas- of the subsequent conduct of the mother is inte ters of the soil, until, in the reign of Latinus, the resting. "For sometime she lived with Ismerias grandson of Faunus, Æneas arrived in Italy, and After awhile, however, she left him-with the 2 having become connected with Latinus by marry- bor of her hands supported the child and hersel ing his daughter Lavinia, united both people under receiving employment, now from one, now from the name of Latins. From Æneas the succession another, and instructed the child as far as she was descends through his son Ascanius, who built Alba; able." Next she became servant to a schoolmasand on his death, the kingdom reverts to Sylvius, ter named Phemias, who being pleased with her the son of Lavinia, and thence, in a direct line, un- conduct, married her, adopted her son, and at Ès til usurped by Amulius, who expelled his brother death, left him his property and school. He had Numitor, and made Numitor's daughter a Vestal-now all the comforts of independence, and an enVirgin. She, having violated her vows, brought viable reputation; he was however induced to aba forth twins, who were exposed by order of the don his school, and make a voyage along the coasts usurper, but saved and bought up by Faustulus, the of Greece and Italy. On his return, he vissed king's herdsman. These youths, named Romulus Ithaca, where he became afflicted with a disease of his eyes, which was, for the time, relieved by without altering, in the slightest degree, the great the skill and kind attentions of his host, Mentor; but design; now prunes a luxuriant bough-now lops which, subsequently, terminated in his total blind-off some unsightly excrescence,-opens a vista ness, at Colophon. Hence returning to Smyrna, here-plants a grove there;-in fine, touches all he applied himself to the composition of poetry; with a master's hand,-softens, mellows, and beauand travelling, first to one and then another, of the tifies the landscape. If the Mantuan could come neighboring colonies, he visited Cyme, the birth- to life, and be asked the question, whether he place of his mother—and there received the name deemed himself equal to the Greek? he would moHomeros, or The Blind. destly decline all competition; and content with the nearest place, would justly apply, to their relative claims, his own beautiful lines: We have thought our readers would not be displeased at our devoting a few paragraphs to the biography of the father and high-priest of poetry; but we are admonished not to trespass too far, and therefore turn to a brief examination of his claims as a poet. It has been customary to institute a comparison between him and his great imitator, "Primus abit, longeque ante omnia corpora Nisus surrendered her honor, in a moment of human frailty, was no ordinary woman; but atoned for her past misconduct by the decorum, industry, and maternal duty that marked her future life. But the young poet was not only deprived of the sympathies and encouragement of this exemplary mother by death; but he was, in early manhood, excluded from all communication with external objects, and wandered about, poor, blind, helpless and neglected. Homer was the child of shame and obscurity, Virgil. There is a resemblance. Homer's genius having no human eye to rest, with interest and pleais the sun-all-pervading in its power, imparting, sure upon his helpless infancy, except those of the at the same time, light and heat, obscured occa- poor disgraced mother, who had, now, no tie to sionally, by a transient cloud, but instantly emerg-bind her to earth, but the caresses of her child. ing with increased brilliancy; now, shooting his Fortunately for the world, that mother, though she rays to the throne of Jupiter, and casting a halo of majesty and glory around the council of the Gods; now, darting into the caves of ocean, and illuminating the crystalline palace of Thetis and the Nereids. Virgil is the moon-the full-orbed moon, casting, indeed, a reflected light; but oh, how calm, how serene, how beautiful, how faultless! You may look, and look, and never tire of looking at her mellow lustre, as she floats along through ether, and illumes both earth and sea. But her course is not always thus tranquil. Sometimes she wades through a dense mass of vapor, the omen of an approaching tempest. The lightnings lash, the thunder rolls, the earth quakes, the ocean s heaved up from its depths, and the presence of he great Neptune himself is required to calm the elemental conflict. "Ac veluti magno in populo cum sæpe coörta est Sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor: æquora postquam Virgil, if not born to affluence, was at least the offspring of independence. In his days of boyhood he gambol'd on the banks of the Mincius, among the wildest scenery of nature: he received his education at Cremona, and was deeply read in Grecian literature, as is manifest from the models he chose for imitation. He was worshipped by the populace, respected by the wise, caressed by the court, and courted by the prince. In fine, he had every thing to encourage, and nothing to depress him; for, as to his difficulty with the soldier, who dispossessed him of his lands, the injury was speedily redressed; and moreover, it served as his introduction to Mæcenas, the best of patrons. In the delineation of human character, the Latin poet is immeasurably inferior to the Greek. The To form a correct opinion as to the relative heroes of Homer stand forth in bold relief, and merit of these great poets, we must consider the their individual characteristics are so admirably cimes, in which they wrote, and the circumstances, depicted, that the reader can never be at a loss n which they were placed. By the account of where to place them.* Agamemnon, powerful, avaHerodotus, Homer was born in the year 168, after ricious, contemptuous, selfish, intemperate, timid, he Trojan war; and though it is probable, that, impatient of an equal, conscious of his authority. even then, Greece and its Asiatic colonies had Achilles, godlike, passionate, impetuous, brave, unmade considerable progress in literature, yet it relenting, unmerciful, impatient of control. Hecmust have been relatively rude, in comparison with tor, brave, vigilant, generous, affectionate. he perfection it afterwards attained. In this reÆneas, as described by Homer, although intended =pect, however, how vast was the advantage of the as a subordinate character, is a superior man to the Latin poet over his great prototype. The latter * κύδιςε, φιλοκτεανώτατε, αναιδείην επιειμένε, κερδαλεόφρον, ad to create a world of his own-the former came and found all things fashioned to his hand; and ovoẞapes, &c. συγεη δέ και αλλος ισον εμοί φασθαι. Even |