ones, and are by no means rare in the world. They are contained in the following extract:-" Wits have not always been good ambassadors; and vain men have generally been the dupes of the nation that they were sent to dupe. The best ambassador is the plodding, dull man, who proses and bores his hearers, until he has fairly wearied out the patience of those whom he is sent to; such characters have generally succeeded in gaining for their courts what they wanted." Yes, and such characters, the world over, are pretty apt to succeed in gaining whatever they set their hearts upon. Our own observation of the almost uniform success which waits upon those persons in every department and sphere of life who possess these qualities, gives us an undying faith in the truth of the observations. Who will hesitate to add their testimony to the fact that the persevering, energetic, brazen-faced, rhinocerosskinned dunce, all over the world, meets with twice as much success in life, as the modest, sensitive, quick-witted, man of genius?

Chesterfield and Talleyrand were undoubtedly two of the ablest diplomatists the world has produced, and were also two of the greatest wits; yet we have the testimony of the former to the effect, that wit stands greatly in the way of success; and in the following extract which we give from Chesterfield, he may be con

sidered as indorsing the truth of the previous French writer.

"That ready wit, which you so partially allow me, may create many admirers; but, take my word for it. it makes few friends. It shines and dazzles like the noon-day sun, but, like that too, is very apt to scorch; and therefore is always feared. The milder, morning and evening. light and heat of that planet, sooth and calm our minds. Good sense, complaisance, gentleness of manners, attentions, and graces, are the only things that truly engage, and durably keep the heart at long run. Never seek for wit; if it presents itself, well and good; but even in that case, let your judgment interpose; and take care that it be not at the expense of any body. Pope says very truly

'There are whom heaven has blest with store of wit, Yet want as much again to govern it.'

And in another place, I doubt with too much truth

For wit and judgment ever are at strife,
Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife.""

Hardly any two other men could be found better qualified to pronounce judgment upon the profitableness or unprofitableness of wit, than Pope and Chesterfield, for both of them had a very unusual endowment of it.

LITERATURE.

AMERICAN.-A most alarming avalanche of female authors has been pouring upon us the past three months, nearly all of whom are new; and we have allowed a large heap of books to accumulate, while we have been waiting for an opportunity to attack them and classify them. The success of Uncle Tom and Fanny Fern, has been the cause, doubtless, of this rapid development of female genius, but among these new books by ladies, we recognize the names of some familiar and popular authors. Nearly all of these books are novels, and it is rather remarkable that only one is on the womanly subject of cookery, an art which is popularly imagined to belong exclusively to the gentle sex. But, if we wanted to say an illnatured thing about woman, which there is no possibility of our ever being guilty

of, we should say that all the good cookery books have been the production of men. Certainly, no woman has yet distinguished herself by a treatise on the culinary art. while many men have. The famous cookery book of Mrs. Glasse, which is oftener alluded to than read, it is well known, was not written by a woman. Mrs. Glasse was only a sell; and her witty recipe for cooking a hare is the only recipe of hers which has been remembered. If there has ever been a female cook of sufficient importance to be known beyond the purlieus of the kitchen in which she worked, we must confess ourselves ignorant of her name and achievements. All the renowned dishes that bear the names of their inventors, have been the productions of masculine genius, and we should be as much surprised to hear that a lady had invented a

new dish, as to hear of a lady composer, a lady architect, engineer, or ship-builder. There have been no female Udes, Caremes, Vatels or Soyers; not even a female Brillat-Savarin. The nearest approach to this latter is Miss Leslie of Philadelphia, sister of Leslie the painter. She has published three very respectable and popular works, on the art preservative of all arts, the last of which, New Receipts for Cooking, has just been issued in a new edition, by Peterson of Philadelphia. We do not suppose that Miss Leslie has been a professed cook, and therefore her receipts cannot inspire that degree of confidence, which the brilliant and profound instructions of a Soyer might, which are based on his own experimental knowledge, and on a thorough familiarity with his sublime art. The receipts in a cookery book should be written in a style not only elegant and concise, but of such clearness and exactness that misconstructions should be impossible, and we are bound to say that though Miss Leslie writes with great ease and fluency, her language is sometimes careless, and her meaning uncertain. Then again. it is with pain we allude to the fact, but it is too evident, that she thinks too lightly of the great art which she has attempted to give instructions in. It is not with her as it was with the great masters, who made the world their debtors by their exquisite dissertations on pot-à-feu, puff paste and other kindred topics, an absorbing pursuit; there are other things in the world she regards as entitled to the attention of a human being besides pot-àfeu. In the very middle of her book, to our consternation, we came upon the following receipt. AN EXCELLENT WAY OF IMPROVING THE HAIR." This is followed by a receipt To CLEAN LOOKING-GLASSES!"

TO CLEAN RINGS, BROOCHES, AND OTHER JEWELRY." "TO EXPEL FLEAS!" and so on through a few pages until we stumble again upon the directions for making wafer cakes, and stewing terrapins. Now this is very characteristic and womanly, and we would not have it otherwise; we prefer to see women womanly, but just consider that the title of the book is, NEW RECEIPTS FOR COOKING! Between a receipt for the relief of corns, and another for preserving Autumn leaves, we find directions for broiling Canvas Back Ducks. But, don't let us be misunderstood as undervaluing Miss Leslie's receipt book, we have no doubt it contains much valuable information, for the class of people for whose instruction it was intended; the receipts are for American dishes and made comprehensible to the American House

wife, and no one, we presume, will be disposed to quarrel with the author for giving more information than she promised. Such a book, to a young housekeeper, who knows a good deal more about the piano than pies or puddings, and nearly all young housekeepers in this country, are of that class-must be a real blessing. For such, especially. Miss Leslie has given copious directions for "the selection of suitable articles, in preparing breakfasts. dinners and suppers," which will be found not the least instructive part of her volume. There are the combinations of very simple elements for about forty different kinds of breakfasts, some of which have an alarmingly substantial look; as the following, for an Autumn breakfast, for instance: "Pigeons stewed with mushrooms; fried sweet potatoes; boiled tomatoes-muffins; milk toast," or "hashed duck; ham broiled; poached eggs;— flannel cakes; toast."

A breakfast like that might serve some delicate people for a dinner. Under the head of ECONOMICAL DINNERS for SMALL DINNERS," we find "Veal cutlets; cold ham; spinach; turnips; potatoes; poke; asparagus-baked batter pudding." What poke may be we have no idea, for the name is new to us on a dinner bill, but it appears to be a favorite with Miss Leslie. as she includes it among the elements of her economical dinners. It is worth finding out; for economical dinners in these days of high prices, are not to be despised. and if poke should be not only economical, but wholesome and palatable, we don't think its unsavory name should prevent its becoming fashionable. Under the head of CHRISTMAS DINNER. We find the following remarkable collection. "Roast turkey; cranberry sauce; boiled ham; turnips; beets; winter squash; mince pies." No plum pudding! There are directions for NEW YEAR'S DINNER; but New Yorkers never eat dinner on Newyear's day. Under the head of VERY NICE FAMILY DINNERS FOR SPRING, We find the following: "Cat-fish soup; roast lamb with mint sauce; peas; asparagus; spinach; ground rice pudding; gooseberry fool." Very nice, we have no doubt; but cat-fish soup and gooseberry fool have an odd sound to us who are not familiar with those luxuries. There are also copious instructions for dinner parties, breakfast parties, and oyster suppers, and those who need instructions in the art of living well, will not suffer if they put themselves into the hands of Miss Leslie and eat their way through her

toothsome volume.

-The Master's House, by LOGAN. Want of space prevents us this month from noticing this new work, in which southern institutions are the chief element of interest, at the length which we would be glad to do. The work is published by McElrath of this city, and is understood to be the production of a wellknown literary gentleman who has resided many years in Louisiana, and who cannot be accused of not knowing any thing of the subject whereof he writes. The Master's House was evidently suggested by the success of Uncle Tom, but it is in no manner like that work. There is very little of slave or plantation life in it; the author's aim appears to have been to depict the society and social usages which a purely slaveholding and agricultural community creates. And he certainly has done this with great power, but, of course, not without exaggeration. The scene of the Master's House is chiefly in Louisiana, but it commences at a New England village. The hero of impossible virtues is a slaveholder, but all the other characters are of a very different type. As a story the book has no merit, as there is next to no story in it; but, as a succession of sketches of local scenery and character, it has very considerable merit, and will be likely to attract attention both North and South.

-Benton's Thirty Years' View. This is the first part of the long title to Col. Benton's first volume of personal reminiscences, a book from which we have anticipated much piquant and profitable reading since we first read the announcement of its being in print. The second part of the title is rather more significant and definite: Or, A History of the Working of the American Government for thirty years, from 1820 to 1850. The first volume forms a book of 739 closely printed pages in double columns, and we very much doubt if any book of equal magnitude has been published during the present century which contains so little that is worth preserving. We never suspected Mr. Benton of being a great man, but we never imagined that his reputation had so small a foundation of original power, as we have found to be the case from reading his Thirty Years' View. Mr. Benton has been thirty years in the Senate, and during that time he has had the entire confidence of the people who sent him there; he has, during all that time, been master of himself, and enjoyed greater political advantages than any other man in the nation; Nature has given him a splendid physical constitution, and he has all

the natural advantages of a great oratora commanding person, a grave and impressive manner, and a stentorian voice. He has led an irreproachable life in all the domestic relations, and has been a hard student; yet we do not find that he has ever been a leader in the Senate, or has ever identified his name with any great political measure. The world is no better for his having served thirty years in the Senate. The great achievement of his political life seems to have been his advocacy of the "expunging resolution," a trifling piece of partisan service scarce worth mentioning in a grave history. Col. Benton's book is not a history of "the Working of the American Government," so far as the government works itself upon the character of the people, but simply a reporter-like review of what the government, or rather the different governments and parties of the country have done during that time, the lion's part, of course, being that of the reporter. But, notwithstanding the great space devoted to what "Mr. Benton said," "I said," "I" did, wrote, advised, &c., the author does not play a prominent part in his own history. He was always a second fiddle to a Jackson, or a Van Buren. He boasts of having the same qualifications for an historian that were possessed by Fox and Mackintosh, inasmuch as he, too, "had spoken history, acted history, lived history." But, a man may do all of that and yet not be a good historian, as, indeed, Fox and Mackintosh were not. The literary merit of Col. Benton's book is not great; and we have been surprised at the want of method in the production of so methodical and exact a compiler. There is hardly any thing in the volume which could not be found in a file of the Washington papers, and we imagine that future historians will prefer going to original sources for the materials of history. But there are some few things in the volume which are purely Bentonian, and very admirable in their way. Such, for instance, as the biographical sketches of Mr. Macon, of John Taylor of Carolina, and of other political worthies whom he had known personally. He appears to be too much of a hero worshipper to be himself a hero, and his devotion to General Jackson is too absorbing and intense to permit him to make a reliable analysis of the character of that remarkable man.

-Capron's History of California. California is rather young, as yet, to have a written history, but it is very desirable to have all the authentic information that

can be gathered in relation to its present condition; and to give this appears to have been the aim of the author of a History of California. by E. S. Capron, recently published by Jewett & Co. of Boston. The early history of the country is rapidly glanced at, but the author has, very properly, confined himself to the present con uition of the gold State, and has given a good deal of valuable information, much of it gleaned by personal observation and research, in a plain but clear and readable style.

-Sargent's Standard Reader. Every one who has had the advantage of a regular school education, well knows the importance of a Reader, and how much the mature taste of the man is influenced by the forced reading of the boy at school. Readers. heretofore, have been exceedingly imperfect, and many of them appear to have been compiled with but little intelligent thought or care. But greater attention has, of late, been paid to this class of books, and, one of the best of them that we have examined is the First Class Standard Reader, by Epes Sargent, which has been lately published by J. C. Derby. The selections have been made with great care, and with an eye not only to the rhetorical but the moral character of the pieces selected.

"Photographic Views of Egypt, Past and Present." gives us the result of the Rev. J. P. THOMPSON's travels in the regions of the Nile. It is a work both descriptive of the incidents of travel. and of the fruits of scholarly research. The journey was begun in the month of January, 1853, and continued for some three months. Mr. Thompson calls his sketches "photographic views." because they were taken at the time, from the light which each view itself threw upon the mind, photographed from the outward upon the inward" But we do not always find in them the perfect accuracy which the Empression implies, although they are faithful enough to convey a pretty vivid expression. It is difficult to write any thing about Egypt at this day, which shall be strictly new, except in the way that Lepsius does it, by unfolding the meaning of new discoveries, and yet it is quite as difficult to write about Egypt, and not be interesting. The oldest of the nations, by the wonderful light which her unburied monuments throw upon antiquity, has become the freshest of the Latons, and her tombs possess all the novelty of interest, of a modern revolution or a contemporary war. The antiquarian, the linguist, the minologist, and VOL. IV.-8

the Christian, are alike absorbed in the revelations which the science of the nineteenth century is disclosing. from the obscurities of a once almost forgotten past. Mr. Thompson, being a clergyman, dwells particularly upon the relations of Egyptian memorials to the Hebrew Scriptures, but he is not one of those bibliotes, who carries his reverence for the latter, to the extent of insisting upon the literal inspiration of every letter and figure as they are now found. He admits that the Hebrew computation of time cannot be reconciled even to Poole's short method of Egyptian chronology, and frankly adopts the longer dates of the Septuagint version. Nor, in doing so, does he fear that he invalidates in the least, the real contents of revelation. His whole account of the rise and progress of Egyptian discovery is intelligent, liberal, and animated.

We remember to have read a part of Mr. HAMMOND'S "Hills, Lakes, and Forest Scenes," when they were first printed in the Albany Daily Register, and were charmed with a certain freshness and buoyancy of feeling which they exhibited. Now that his sketches of the wilds of Clinton, St. Lawrence, and Essex Counties, with their primeval scenes and famous hunting and fishing grounds, are gathered into a volume, they have lost none of their original quality. The style, we note now, is slightly too ambitious here and there, and would gain by simplicity, but the description of lone lakes, silent woods, roaring waterfalls, and all the moving accidents of fish and fowl, are none the less animated. The stories of backwoods life, of encounters with bears, snakes, and "Ingens," make little pretensions to humor, but are still racy and truthful, and have the genuine smack of nature about them. In these branding days, with a solstitial sun overhead, and the stones of the pavement hotter than the floor of Pandemonium. it fills one with a thrill of despair, to read these pleasing tales of the cooling forests and brooks.

The "Scripture Readings" of the Rev. JOHN CUMMINGS are brief comments on the Book of Genesis. They are, for the most part, plain, practical, and direct, and do not aim at exegesis, yet the perfect coolness with which the writer treats some parts of the literal text, as if the difficulties pointed out by Christian scholars had no existence, is almost amusing. He actually contends that the waters of the deluge were above the highest mountains of Asia, and then adds: "Hitchcock believes that the deluge was not universal.

You can read his reasons, which are perfectly consistent with true piety, though not satisfactory to me." In other respects, these comments are intelligent, clear, and forcible, showing a familiar acquaintance with the Scriptures, and a rare power of explanation, with occasional eloquence.

The "Tent and the Altar" is by the same author, and contains a commentary upon the patriarchal life of the ancient Jewish fathers. "The patriarchs," says the writer, "lived in the dawn of the Christian dispensation, and in the youthful days of the human race. Each tent was a little world revolving round its own fireside. Each patriarch was a prince, ruling over few but faithful subjects. All of them were among the first experiments of grace in a fallen world, the first proofs of its transforming and elevating influences."

A useful little book is "Baker's School Music-Book," which is a collection of songs, chants, and hymns, for juvenile classes. A simple system of instruction in music is first given, and then illustrations taken from popular songs and hymns, adapted to the tastes of the young.

The latest number of the fine Boston edition of the British Poets contains the poems of Falconer, with a life of the poet by the Rev. John Mitford, and copious illustrative notes. Falconer's verse is not the most vigorous and musical, and yet his "Shipwreck" has no little fascination in it, perhaps as much from its foreshadowing of his own fate as from its intrinsic merits. His minor poems are feeble and scarcely worth preserving.

A neat and complete edition of the "Poems of Samuel Rogers" has been prepared by EPES SARGENT, in a style quite equal to his late edition of Campbell. It contains all the poems that the venerable poet has published, with a most agreeable and vivacious life of the author, to which the memoirs of Moore, Byron, and other contemporaries have helped to contribute. Mr. Sargent has a rare facility in culling the pleasant things of literature, and in putting them together with discrimination and taste. Those who read his memoir of Campbell will be eager to get his remarks on Rogers, which are quite as authentic and none the less charming.

1

Among the posthumous works of the late distinguished divine and traveller, Dr. Stephen Olin, was one called "Greece and the Golden Horn," which has been ably edited by his friend, PROFESSOR MCCLINTOCK. It is characterized, as the editor ays by the same qualities of ex

cellence that have marked Dr. Olin's previous writings, particularly his travels in the East. His mind was singularly comprehensive; but at the same time had a rare facility of accurate and minute observation; and these qualifications, combined with a severe and conscientious truthfulness, fitted him admirably to write books of travel. He does not give us romance, but reality, which is better; he tells us what he saw, not what he dreamed." At the present time, his narrative of his sojourn in Greece will possess a peculiar value.

No complete history of the "Protestant Church in Hungary" has been prepared previous to the German version, by a friend of Merle D'Aubigné, which Dr. CRAIG has now translated into English. The materials have been drawn from authentic and original sources, and we have the word of the distinguished historian of the Reformation that they may be relied upon in every particular. It relates to Christian experiences that have been hitherto almost unknown, and opens up a new chapter in the annals of martyrdom. We get, in the course of the narrative, some impressive glimpses of the political condition of Hungary, under the rule of its different Houses.

ENGLISH.-The author of the "Theory of Human Progression," who now announces his name as P. E. Dove, has redeemed the part promise of that work, in a treatise on the "Elements of Social Science." It is in style and principle very much like the Theory, quite as elaborate in logical forms, and quite as original in its main purpose. Mr. Dove, as our readers may remember, lays it down as a fundamental proposition, that the Sciences are developed in a strict logical order, which order is also their chronological order. In other words, each science has its peculiar object-noun, with which it is exclusively concerned, but the study of which leads inevitably to other objects, in a regular sequence. Thus arithmetic, the most general or comprehensive of the sciences, conducts us to algebra, algebra to geometry, geometry to mechanics, mechanics to physics, physics to chemistry, chemistry to vegetable and animal physiology, and physiology to politics, political economy and morals, &c. Each succeeding science is an application, on higher grounds, of the principles of those sciences that precede it, and cannot be perfected until its precursors have attained a considerable degree of development. But when those precursors have reached a positive or cer