literary interest, as that of a companion of Silvio Pellico during his long imprison ment at the Spielberg.

The Belgian government has applied to

that of France for admission for the members of the Belgian Universities, into the French School recently established at Athens. Consent has been granted.

A history, by the faithful and accomplished Schiller, of the Great War of Protestantism against the Emperor and his priests, or of northern and western against southern and eastern Germany, in the period succeeding the Reformation. The work opens with a minute and rather labored account of the policy and position of the house of Austria, and of the political causes of the war, as far as it emanated from the mutual jealousies of the princes and the emperor, on the subject of reformation. Northern and western Germany

favored the reformation, because with the power of the Pope they shook off the fear of the Emperor and the influence of the priests, who have been and must be his advisers. The Emperor, finding himself deserted by his nobles, and in danger of Protestantism in his own dominions, (for the Austrians were as ill-disposed toward Rome as their northern neighbors,) permitted the most powerful of his subjects, the Great Duke Wallenstein, to raise an army by his own authority, and, with the title of Generalissimo, to be master of the whole war. Wallenstein, commissioned with unlimited authority, raised several armies which he supported by ravaging the whole country over which he passed. After a series of disasters and successes, contending, with his hordes of licensed robbers, against the powers of western Europe, he began to entertain thoughts of a principality,-to establish himself independently of the emperor. The rise and termination of the career of Wallenstein, the Napoleon of his age, is made the principal topic of this work on the whole one of the most agreeable histories extant, and full of instruction. Like the other histories of Schiller, it is very free from philosophism, and never wrests a fact to give color to any set of opinions. The most remarkable passage in the book is perhaps the description of the character of Wallenstein, which follows the account of his assassination by one of his own officers:

"Thus did Wallenstein, at the age of fifty, terminate his active and extraordinary life. To ambition he owed both his greatness and his ruin; with all his failings, he possessed great and admirable qualities, and had he kept himself within due bounds, he would have lived and died without an equal. The virtues of the ruler and of the hero, prudence. justice, firmness, and courage, are strikingly prominent features in his character; but he wanted the gentler virtues of the man, which adorn the hero and make the ruler beloved. Terror was the talisman with which he worked; extreme in his punishments as in his rewards, he knew how to keep alive the zeal of his followers, while no general of ancient or modern times could boast of being obeyed with equal alacrity. Submission to his will was more prized by him than bravery; for, if the soldiers work by the latter, He continually kept up the obedience of his it is on the former that the general depends. rewarded the readiness to obey even in tritroops by capricious orders, and profusely fles; because he looked rather to the act itself than its object. He once issued a decree, with the penalty of death on disobedi ence, that none but red sashes should be worn in the army. A captain of horse no sooner heard the order than, pulling off his foot; Wallenstein, on being informed of the gold-embroidered sash, he trampled it under circumstance, promoted him on the spot to the rank of colonel. His comprehensive glance was always directed to the whole, and in all his apparent caprice, he steadily kept in view some general scope or bearing. The robberies committed by the soldiers in a friendly country had led to the severest orders against marauders; and all who should be caught thieving were threatened with the halter. Wallenstein himself, having met a straggler in the open country upon the field, commanded him to be seized without trial, as a transgressor of the law, and, in his usual voice of thunder, exclaimed," Hang the fellow," against which no opposition ever availed. The soldier pleaded and proved his innocence, but the irrevocable sentence had gone forth. "Hang, then, innocent," cried the inexorable Wallenstein, "the guilty will have then more reason to tremble." Preparations were already making to execute the sentence, when the soldier, who gave himself up for lost, formed the desperate resolution of not dying without revenge. He fell furiously upon his judge, but was overpowered by numbers, and disarmed before he could fulfil his design. "Now let him go," said the duke, "it will excite sufficient terror."

"His munificence was supported by an immense income, which was estimated at three millions of florins yearly, without reckoning the enormous sums which he raised under the name of contributions. His liberality and clearness of understanding raised him above the religious prejudices of his age; and the Jesuits never forgave him for having seen through their system, and for regarding the Pope as nothing more than a bishop of Rome.

"But as no one ever yet came to a fortunate end who quarreled with the Church, Wallenstein must augment the number of its victims. Through the intrigues of monks, he lost at Ratisbon the command of the army, and at Egra his life; by the same arts, perhaps, he lost what was of more consequence, his honorable name and good repute with posterity."

The Scripture School Reader, consisting of Selections of Sacred Scripture for the use of schools. Compiled and arranged by W. W. EVERTS and WM. H. WYCKOFF. New York: Nafis & Cornish.

The idea of this book is a very happy

one.

It is so aside from all considerations touching the question which has been so acrimoniously agitated among us by irreligious, Atheistical, Pantheistical, or Jesuitical people, whether the Bible, as our fathers have handed it down to us, should be tolerated as a book to be read in our schools. On the ground of this controversy, indeed, the compilation before us would be most acceptable. For the selections are by no means sectarian, or even doctrinal, so far as to relate to the many points in dispute between the various denominations that draw their religious tenets from the Bible. These are merely such as inculcate great but simple principles of morality, virtue, and social conduct, together with those delightful narrative passages, conveying the finest ethical lessons under the guise of story and parable; and those descriptive, prophetic, and lyrical portions, which, beyond question, contain some writings of the purest and loftiest poetry in the world. That such writings as these should be shut out of our schools, for any alleged differences of opinion on certain points of doctrine, is entirely absurd, and injurious to the wellbeing of a cultivated Christian community. But there is another consideration connected with this volume. The Scriptures, as a whole, cannot conveniently be used as a reading-book in schools. Many parts, from their didactive, narrative, or poetical character, are excellently suited for reading lessons. Others, again, are too abstruse, circumstantial, or obscene, to be of benefit to young minds. But these parts are often so mingled together that the teacher finds it difficult, except in the Gospels, to find connected lessons, calcu

lated to leave definite and full impressions on the child's mind, which ought to be one of the chief aims in all reading-books. The selections in this compilation are made from all parts of the Bible, but judiciously classified under distinct heads. We hope the book may be introduced into all our schools.

Lives of Men of Letters and Science, who flourished in the time of George III. By HENRY, LORD BROUGHAM, F.R.S., Member of the National Institute of France, and of the Royal Academy of Naples. Second series. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1846.

Because a book is written by Lord that it is an admirable book, public opinion Brougham, it does not necessarily follow to the contrary notwithstanding. In this instance, however, the very skillful and very Baconian author has produced a volume as characteristic as it is elegant and entertaining. The tone of Lord B.'s biographical writing is moderate and discri minative. He seldom or never takes sides, and makes no effort either to exalt or to depress the subject of his narrative. This volume contains a life of Dr. Johnson, with a temperate eulogy, and a sharp criticism of his merits as an author and a man a remarkable feature of this essay is the very gentlemanly treatment of poor Boswell ;A life of Adam Smith, with a temperate eulogy and an analysis of his great work on Political Economy, very useful, doubtless, to short-winded readers;—A scientific eulogy of Lavoisier, the chemist who discovered the law of the equivalents, &c., and first put chemistry on a philosophical basis: and who was, moreover, not only a chemist, but a man otherwise accomplished, and in life and manners elegant;-A life of Gibbon, with a pretty severe criticism of his style, which is, indeed, the very reverse of his lordship's, being as flowing and magnificent as the latter is dry and proper;-A life of Sir Joseph Banks, who, as all the world knows, was a very notable patron of science and the scientific;-lastly, and followed by a body of controversial notes, a geometrical account of D'Alembert, who, in connection with Voltaire and the King of Prussia, led on the revolution of opinion in Europe, from the first sapping of the awe of church and state, to the ruin of throne and altar; but of D'Alembert his lordship gives only a geometrical account, for the use of savans and lovers of the infallible sciences-namely, the mathematics.

The author of these biographies has long stood before the world as the supposed defender and propagator of the so-called Baconian Philosophy, which exalts utility,

or the desire of the body, above contemplation, or the desire of the soul. Without pretending to investigate the matter, we will only present the reader with a verbatim quotation from the veritable Novum Organon, a work for the most part tediously and ignorantly bepraised by narrow mechanical intellects, but in fact abounding with a quite superutilitarian wisdom: "Yet, (to speak the truth,) in the same manner as we are very thankful for light which enables us to enter on our way, to practice arts, to read, to distinguish each other, (and yet sight is more beautiful than the various uses of light;) so is the contemplation of things as they are, free from superstition or imposture, error or confusion, much more dignified in itself than all the advantages to be derived from discoveries." Nov. Org. i. 129. But in very truth we are free to suspect our biographer of being no such utilitarian after all; for we find him dwelling often on the pleasures of learning; though this again may be only a wise artifice of sugaring the pill for naughty speculative people.

The Statesmen of America in 1846. By SARAH MYTTON MAURY. Philadelphia Carey and Hart.

To say the least disrespectful word of this naive little book would be sheer ingratitude in an American; for it is a series of eulogies, of the most flattering order, of the statesmen of this country, by an English lady-Boswell, of a most amiable and super-Boswellish temper. She describes her transient friendships with the "great men at Washington," in a surprisingly natural and lively style, and in the very spirit of a woman's admiration, without a touch of affectation, and with a scrupulous turning of her own vanity to the praise of her delightful heroes; which is the highest reach of magnanimity to be expected of the queen of the lady-Boswells. There is a great deal of exceptionable and ridiculous matter in the book, but it is absolutely too amusing to be quarreled with.

A few extracts will serve to give the reader a notion of this very innocent and very unsuspecting little volume :

"Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Adams are next door neighbors to each other in Washington, and are excellent friends. At a ball given by Mr. Adams, Mr. Buchanan conducted me to pay respects to the venerable host. The Secretary, with all the gentle, kindly courtesy which marks his manner, offered his cordial wishes, and added that he had given directions to be summoned to the House of Representatives, the moment Mr. Adams should begin his promised speech on Oregon. He was accordingly present.

"Of this ball I have some delightful memories of my own to record; for it was there,

and not five minutes after my entrance, that the idea of the present work originated. "Mrs. Governeur (this lady is the granddaughter of President Monroe) reproached her. I replied that I spent all day and every me playfully for having omitted to call upon day at the capitol, hearing and seeing the distinguished men assembled there. And then, said she laughing, you will go home to England, and write a book, and abuse them and all the rest of the Americans, 'Never,' said Buchanan, on whose arm I leaned, 'never, I answer for her. If she puts pen to paper it will be to do us justice.' It was then my turn to speak, and to accept this generous challenge ;-and to show, I quickly added, that an English woman has the sense to appreciate your virtues, to admire your greatness, and to return with gratitude your affection, permit me to offer to you, Mr. Buchanan, the dedication of such a book. Beautifully said,' returned the Secretary, and I accept it with the greatest pleasure, as a proof of your regard; but what will become of your dear friends, Calhoun and Ingersol? Mr. Buchanan,' I replied, 'the Secretary of State is the representative of the Americans in foreign nations, and therefore my guardian and my friend will both approve my choice. This was the first time that the actual conviction ever suggested itself to my mind that I should write a book."

Mrs. Maury's description of Calhoun is the only good one we have ever seen; but it would be unfair to the author to give the pith of her book in a notice of it. The following is from her conversations with that philosophical statesman:

"Mr. Calhoun,'said I, speaking of Amernot Mr. Calhoun. Ed.]' are a great experiica, 'you' [that is, the American Republic, ment.' 'We are more,' said he, 'we are a great hit.""

"Will the Atlantic and the two Pacific States be divided into separate republics?' They cannot be; the Mississippi, a great inland sea, will keep them united. The

union is indissoluble.""

"I have eight sons in England.'

"Bring them all here; we are an exalting nation; let them grow up with the country; besides, here they do not want wealth. I would not be rich in America, for the care of money would distract my mind from more important concerns.'"

Here follows a capital reason for free trade for the South, quotha! but their food is our poison.

"Give the planters Free Trade,' said Mr. C., and let every planter be the parent as well as the master of his slaves, &c. &c.; and the planter will have reason to be satislet industry and morality be taught them, fied; he will always obtain seven or eight per cent. upon the value of his slaves."""

Morality is indeed a valuable commodity! The talk proceeds: