into other forms. Yet a taste for this sort of writing is retained by a circle, which is rapidly widening, and in consequence the demand is as evidently increased for more of literature, of the pleasantest kind-for something brief, pointed and pithy-something of a practical bearing, and yet which is to be considered as valuable in a purely literary estimate of the matter.

"A kind of literature is needed for the busy man and the gentleman, as well as for the recluse scholar; a tone of fresh vigor, real knowledge of life, wide and original experience is requisite. The authors of this must be men, scholars, and gentlemen. It is not by any means the most ambitious department of authorship, but, perhaps, next to fine poetry, it is the most stable; the staple is life and books: feeling and passion; without inclining to system or method, it is grave and philosophical; without descending to farce or burlesque, it admits of pleasantry and good

natured ridicule. It is not exact or mechanical science, but the science of human nature and the art of criticism (not of books and authors only but) of principles, and theories, and fashions, and contemporary manners. It is strictly historical, though it contains little narrative, for it points out the sources of historical truth. It is experimental philosophy, though without any settled rules of art."

This is all very true, we think, as well as cleverly worded. We cannot but feel that the brief essay, as a medium of pleasant and pointed remark, whether satirical or otherwise, on matters of literature and art, passions, morals and manners-the minor phases and interests of human life and character-has been qnite too much neglected, by both writers and readers, for many years. For the inculcation of what may be called social ethics, it is by far the most attractive and efficient means. By Hazlitt, Lamb, and Leigh Hunt, it was employed principally on matters of the arts and literary taste, or some quaint oddity of character and incident; but in the hands of Addison, Steele, Johnson, Goldsmith, and Mackenzie, it was made, under an endless variety of forms, grave or pleasant, a constant means of instruction in morals. Next to certain forms of poetry, indeed, we do not think any species of writing has so great an influence in cultivating

chief ornaments of polished society. There is, in fact, a great number of small, errors, follies, and vices, that cannot be A strong sermon, or a modern sweeping dealt with through any greater weapons. discourse in a Quarterly, would only blast them out of sight for a time, with smoke and a great noise, as a cannon rammed to the muzzle and let off at a flock of birds, will blow them all to the ground-only to fly away presently, and come back the more voracious for having been so horribly frightened, when a trim fowling-piece would settle their condition, one by one, quietly and with much promise of security to the cherry-trees and currant-bushes.

As to Mr. Jones's essays, however, it is noticeable that they fall very little within the range of his own remarks. For they deal very little with life, morals, manners. Neither do they have any concern, like Lamb's or Hazlitt's, with works of art, the great creations in literature, or with subtle conventionalisms, and mere matters of taste. They are de

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voted principally to subjects and characters connected with Old English Literature, like the "Poems of Bishop Corbet," "Walton's Lives," Elijah Fenton," "Adventures of Philip Quarll," "Jeremy Taylor," &c. Or, if some more general subject is chosen, as "Religious Novels," "Prose Style of Poets," Letters," Early Maturity of Genius," they are nearly all pure literary topics, and have their references and illustrations carried back to the more quaint and early times. Those, indeed, that are not so conceived and written, are of less value-for the writer seems more particularly at home among the English minor prose writers and poets, from the time of Cowley to Hazlitt and Lamb. On such topics he talks with considerable point and vigor, much purity of language, and that simplicity and equable flow which make the peculiar charm of the quiet essay. The views taken, though not always very original, or of wide scope, are nearly always just, and many times felicitously urged; and the information conveyed in these brief papers, though they do not usually deal with the great names and epochs in English letters, is both interesting and valuable to those not already curiously acquainted with their past history. In some of his papers, the writer seems to have had a model, but the imitation is not strong. The chief fault we

have to find is, that he deals somewhat too profusely in lists of names: serving up a kind of "hash" of literary celebrities, often picked over before; and there are one or two American authors, whom, though we highly respect them, he yet quite too perseveringly tacks on at the end of his catalogue of those, beyond question, much their superiors.

We marked some excellent passages in "Religious Novels." "Amateur Authors and Small Critics," "Notoriety," and "Letters;" but we can only find room for a part of the fine paper on Jeremy Taylor. The second passage is something above the recognized essay style; but it will the better show that the writer can succeed well in quite a different style.

"A poet should be the critic of Jeremy Taylor, for he was one himself, and hence

needs a poetic mind for his interpreter and eulogist. Bald criticism becomes still more barren (by contrast) when exercised on the flowery genius of the prince of pulpit orators. Taylor thought in pictures, and his ideas were shadowed out in lively images of beauty. His fancy colored his understanding, which rather painted elaborate metaphors, "long drawn out," than analyzed the complexity of a problem, or conducted the discussion of a topic, by logical processes. The material world furnished his stock of similes. He drew on it for illustrations, rather than seek them in the workings of his own mind. His descriptions are almost palpable. They have an air of reality. His land scape is enveloped in a warm and glowing atmosphere, his light is "from heaven." His style is rich and luxuriant. He is all grace, beauty, melody. He does not appear so anxious to get at the result of an argument, to fix the certainty of a proposition, as to give the finest coloring to a received sentiment. He is more descriptive and less speculative. He reposes on the lap of beauty. He revels in her creations. The thirst of his soul was for the beautiful. This was with him almost synonymous with the good-" the first good and the first fair."

Taylor is the painter: inferior to Barrow in point of reason, and to Clark in reasoning; without a tithe of South's wit or epigrammatic smartness; less ingenious than Donne: he has a fancy and style far more beautiful than any prose writer before his time, and perhaps since. It has been called" unmeasured poetry." The Edinburgh Review and Coleridge (critics wide apart) have joined in pronouncing his writings more truly poetic than most of the odes and epics that have been produced in Europe since his day. And

Hazlitt (surest_critic of all) quotes a fine passage from Beaumont, which is apparently a translation of Taylor's prose into verse, and made, too, merely by occasional in which they originally stood. Taylor is, transposition of the words from the order therefore, confessedly a master of poetical prose. This term is sometimes used by way of dubious praise, since most writing of the kind is a wretched farrago of such tinsel and faded ornament as would disgrace Rag Fair. Taylor's composition is of quite a different grain. His style is naturally poetic, from the character of his mind; he had that poetic sensibility of feeling that saw beauty and deep meaning in everything. His imagination colored the commonest object on which it lighted, as the bow of promise throws its tints over all creation; through this, as a veil, every object appeared bright and blooming, like the flowers of der-cloud of summer. spring, or dark and terrible, like the thunIts general hue feeling for beauty than for grandeur, was mild and gentle; he had a more genial though his awful description of the Last force of Michael Angelo, or rather, like Judgment is stamped with the sublime Rembrandt's shadows, terrible with excess of gloom. In this grand picture are collected all the images of terror and dismay, fused into a powerful whole by his sopotent art. It is first a solemn anthem—a version of the monkish canticle: then you hear (in imagination) the deep bass note of the last thunder that shall ever peal through the sky. You are almost blinded by the lightnings that gleam in his style. accumulated wailing of millions of evil Presently, a horrid shriek of despair (the spirits) rises on the affrighted ear. anon, the trumpet with a silver sound is blown several times, and all is still. With what a subtle power this master plays on the conscience of his readers! He makes reiterates, until the best of men shall think the boldest tremble; he magnifies, he himself a fellow of the vilest!"

And

After all, the best trait in the writer of these papers, is his quiet, genial sympathy with all that have written wellthe stronger, apparently, for the more obscure and the excellent moral tone pervading his columns, not the less sincere and effective for his making no noise about it. He acts, indeed, upon the sentiments implied in his remarks on the offensive, all-perfect moral characters obtruded into religious novels. In short, this little volume is entirely worthy of being bought; it is more it is worth stealing, as we can testify, having lost two from our table within a week, by means unknown to any except to those who took them.

THE political events of the past month have not been of special importance, either at home or abroad. Nothing has occurred, either in Mexico or the United States, to encourage the hope of a speedy termination of the war, at present existing between the two republics, nor does the legislation of our own Congress evince any unanimous and determined policy. The action of that body thus far, has been hesitating and wavering to a very striking and unusual degree. None of the requisitions of the executive department, have as yet been granted, nor has the war policy of the administration been explicitly approved or condemned in either House. The Secretary of the Treasury applied, through the Committee of Ways and Means, for a tax upon tea and coffee, assuring Congress that without it, the financial measures necessary to give vigor and success to our arms, could not be accomplished. The House of Representatives on the 3d ult. declared, by the decisive of vote 115 to 48, that such a tax was inexpedient. The President, on the 4th, sent in a message to Congress, asking for authority to raise ten additional regiments of regular troops, and for the appointment of a general officer to have command of all our troops in the field, and to serve during the war. The latter branch of the proposition, after being several times adopted, and then rejected in the House, was finally set aside in that body on the 9th, by a vote of 95 to 66; and in the Senate, it was laid upon the table on the 15th by a vote of 28 to 21. The bill to raise ten regiments of regular troops was passed in the House on the 11th, by a vote of 165 to 45; and it has since been under debate in the Senate. A proposition to raise volunteers instead of regulars, was rejected in the Senate on the 22d, by a vote of 27 to 13. The final fate of the proposition had not been determined in the Senate, at the time of closing this summary. A bill authorizing the issuing of treasury notes to the amount of twenty three millions of dollars, at six per cent. interest, passed the House on the 21st, by a vote of 167 to 22, and is now pending in the Senate. The administration has a controlling majority in both Houses; and of course the vascillation and delay which have been exhibited in regard to the war measures of the Executive,could only have arisen from disaffection in the ranks of the dominant party. That disaffection has grown out of the Anti-Slavery feeling of the North, which has been called forth by the uspicion that the Executive aims at the conquest and permanent annexation to the Union, of extensive portions

of Mexico, as slave territory. A formal and apparently firm protest has been made against such action, by the northern portion of the administration party. What effect the movement will have upon the future legislation of Congress, must, for the present, be simply a matter of conjecture.

The Mexican Congress assembled at the capitol in the early part of January, and Santa Anna was elected President by a very small majority, and Gomez Farias, VicePresident; the two, as is generally known, have always hitherto adhered to opposite parties, and been exceedingly hostile, personally as well as politically. No intelligence of decisive action, upon the overtures of the U. S. Government for negociations for peace, has yet been received; but the message of the late President of Mexico to Congress, takes for granted a fixed determination on the part of that body and of the nation, never to treat, while any portion of the soil of Mexico remains in possession of the American troops. Letters have been published from Santa Anna, breathing the same spirit; and the whole tone of public feeling in Mexico, so far as indications have reached us, indicates the same determination. The Mexican forces, at the latest dates, were concentrated at San Luis de Potosi, where Santa Anna had command of some 15,000 effective troops. The American force will probably not advance towards that post, beyond Saltillo, 160 miles distant, where is stationed a strong detachment of regulars, under Gen. WORTH. The present movements indicate a speedy attempt upon Vera Cruz -upon the city from the land side, by a strong force under Major-Gen. ScoTT, and upon the Castle, by the U. S. Squadron. This seems likely, at present, to be the next decisive step of the campaign.

The Legislatures of several of the principal States are now in session. In New York, the attention of that body is mainly engrossed by the new Constitution. The entire debt of New York, as stated in the message of the Governor, is $24,734,080. The debt of Pennsylvania, at the close of the last fiscal year, was $40,789,577. It is conceded that the receipts of the year have not been sufficient to pay the interest that will fall due; but it is confidently asserted that payment will be made by anticipating the revenues of the coming year. No legislation thus far, in any the States, calls for special notice. The total revenue which has been derived from customs in the United States from 1789 to 1845, is stated at $848,405,091.

Satisfactory evidence has recently been

published, of the fact that, as early as in September, 1845, Gen. Arista, who had command of the Mexican army in the northern departments of that republic, gave the most positive assurances to Mr. J. D. Marks, then U. S. Consul at Matamoras, that the Mexican forces under his command should not cross the Rio Grande, provided the American General would not send a large body of troops towards that river: and that if the Americans would simply maintain their then present position, upon or near the Nueces river, hostilities would most certainly be avoided. We have also reason to believe that Arista solicited the aid of the U. S. army to detach the northern departments of Mexico from the republic, and to place him at the head of the new nation to be thus established.

A bill has been reported in each House of Congress, placing $3,000,000 at the service of the President, to be used at his discretion, in furtherance of pacific negotiations with Mexico; they are to be called up at an early day.

In the Literary World there is comparatively little intelligence of special interest. Mr. W. H. PRESCOTT'S "History of Peru," is passing through the press of the Harpers as rapidly as possible, and will probably be given to the public by the first of June. It is arranged upon the same general plan as the author's "Conquest of Mexico," and will contain a preliminary view of the civilization of the Incas. The materials which Mr. Prescott has had at command for the preparation of this work, are exceedingly abundant and valuable. They consist of the manuscript correspondence and diaries of the Conquerors, dispatches of government, private letters from the Emperor Charles V., and official records of every description, collected from the different cities of the Spanish colonial empire, as well as from the archives of the mother country. The collection is the result of the labor of fifty years, by three eminent academicians, and was deposited in the archives of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid and copies were made under the direction of that body for Mr. Prescott's use. We anticipate from this history a work of great value and interest. The Conquest of Mexico, by the same author, has been reprinted in English, in Paris as well as in London, and has been translated into French, German, Italian, and Spanish, and in the last-named language translations have been printed both in Madrid and Mexico. No higher testimony could be borne to their historic accuracy, as well as to their popular interest.

The Harpers have in press "South Seas," by HERMAN MELVILLE, intended as a sequel to the very graphic, but decid

edly apocryphal, narrative of a residence in the Marquesas Islands, published some months since under the title of "Typee." If the new work resembles that book at all, it can not be hazardous to predict for it a very wide popularity. We have already remarked the extraordinary credulity, on the part of the English literary public, which suffered the marvelous averments of "Typee" to pass unchallenged.

We understand that HEADLEY has in preparation "Washington and his Generals," upon the plan of "Napoleon and his Marshals," which has made his name so widely and popularly known. As in that work, he will give rapid critical sketches of the character of each person introduced, illustrated by the prominent facts and achievements of his life. The book will probably be ready for publication in the spring.

Mr. D. G. MITCHELL, we understand, has nearly ready for the press a volume of "Notes by the Road," during a tour in Europe, chapters of which have appeared at intervals in the pages of this Review. We have no doubt of its favorable reception by the public.

It is announced that JOHN A. BRYAN Esq. has in preparation a narrative of Travels and Residence in Chili and other parts of South America. Mr. W. H. WHEELER announces a volume of Congressional sketches, personal and political, made from materials collected during a residence of some twenty years at the Capitol. GRISWOLD'S "Prose and Prose Writers of America" is announced as nearly ready for the press. We have reason to believe that it will be a laborious and valuable compendium of our best prose literature. An elegant, illustrated edition of HALLECK's Poems is in preparation by the Appletons. It is said that STEPHENS, the trayeler, is engaged upon a new work of which the subject has not been announced. DANA's Life of Washington Allston is advancing with all the rapidity consistent with the author's high standard of excellence in a work of the kind. The Harpers are about to issue a series of illustrated and elegant editions of Milton, Goldsmith, Thomson, Cowper, and other eminent poets. They have also in press a new edition of Blackstone, edited by Wendell; Southey's "Life of Wesley," edited by Coleridge; and a number of other English works of standard worth.

The Foreign Intelligence of the month has features of considerable interest and importance. Our advices from England are to the 4th of January: Parliament was to assemble on the 10th of that month for the dispatch of business. Lord STANLEY is likely to be the opposition leader in the House of Lords, and there are not wanting

indications that the newly adopted commercial policy of Sir ROBERT PEEL, will meet with a very earnest opposition from the Protection interest. There is little danger, however, that it will be disturbed. The attention of the English press and the public has been excited to an unusual degree by the message of our President at the opening of Congress, which has been assailed, especially that portion of it relating to the war with Mexico, with a bitterness and unanimity of denunciation seldom witnessed even in London, where the press is actually more free, not to say reckless, in its censures than in any other part of the world. No attempts are made to expose errors of fact, or false reasoning in that document, but the whole is pronounced a "pyramid of lies." The passage relating to the new Tariff is more gently treated, although it is said to fall far short of what ought to have been said upon a subject of such momentous interest, especially to England. It is very clear that fears are entertained of a return in the United States to the policy of protecting American Industry: and it is scarcely to be expected that such a step, no matter how earnestly it may be demanded by our own interests, would be regarded with favor by those in England who can now have comparatively free access to our ports for their manufactures. The recent addresses of Mr. WEBSTER at Boston and Philadelphia upon this subject, have aroused the most bitter and relentless enmity of the British press; and he is now denounced and vilified as warmly as he has always hitherto been eulogized, by the London journals. Parliament will be engrossed with Irish affairs. The pressure of the famine, especially in the South and West, where the potatoe was the main reliance of the people, is more severe than it was last year, and even in the grain districts of the North and centre, although there is more food, its high price keeps it out of the reach of those who need it most. The measures adopted by the government for the relief of the Irish, have proved to be not only inadequate, but in some very important respects positively injurious. The public works, such as roads, railways, &c., which were at first undertaken by government, have very generally been abandoned, for others of more immediate and direct utility, such as the draining of bogs and other wastes, constructing harbors, deepening channels of rivers, &c. These works are now carried on to a very great extent, and an immense number of the Irish poor find employment, with good wages, upon them. Indeed it is found that thousands are deserting their ordinary occupations for these, in which the stimulus of novelty combines, with the certainty of payment, to make them more

attractive than the common drudgery of the Irish peasant. The result has been that the farms have been forsaken-the crop for next year is neglected-potatoes are not planted-grain is not sown :-and so there is almost the certainty that next year the failure of food will be far more extensive and disastrous than it has been hitherto. Meantime subscriptions have been opened in various parts of the kingdom, and immense sums have been raised for the direct relief of the suffering poor. But all the charity of the world would prove inadequate to the permanent relief of Irish suffering. And the wisdom of Parliament will be sorely taxed to devise measures at once practical and adequate to the emergencies of the case. The schism in the Repeal ranks still continues, and the breach between the two sections seems to be growing wider. O'CONNELL'S influence wanes with his increasing age, and a new race is springing up which will drive forward the policy he has so long proclaimed, with more headlong speed than he has desired, and precipitate the crisis of Ireland's fate. It is impossible that affairs in that island should continue in their present condition for many years; some thorough and efficient reform must be adopted, or England must prepare for civil war. History gives no warrant to suppose that this issue can be avoided, however for a time it may be evaded.

The affairs of the Continent are perplexed, and the prospect threatening. The dissensions betwen France and England upon the Spanish marriages, when at their height, were adroitly seized upon by Russia, as an occasion for crushing into the earth the feebly glimmering sparks of Polish nationality, and the two great powers of western Europe were astounded to find themselves, at the very moment of their greatest weakness, thwarted and menaced by a common enemy. It is asserted in a quarter entitled to confidence, that so long ago as in 1833, a secret treaty was entered into, between Russia, Prussia and Austria, to the effect that upon the concurrence of certain circumstances, the political existence of Cracow should be annihilated; and this stipulation has now been fulfilled. The task of M. GUIZOT, at the opening of the Chambers, is one of no common difficulty. He is embroiled with England, as well as with the northern powers of Europe; and yet, great confidence is felt in his ability and prudence, for a safe deliverance from all the perils that environ France. The state of Spain is as distracted as usual, and Italy seems ripe for a general revolution, lacking only some able and popular leader. The affairs of Switzerland are still unsettled. Yet peace will, doubtless, be preserved, in spite of these untoward symptoms, for the rich capitalists and bankers