CURRENT LITERATURE,

'HARACTERS OF DICKENS.-A practical ten

izes the English. By experience in commerce,
in manufactures, in self-government, that nature
has contracted a taste and a talent for business;
and it is from this that they have derived their
habit of looking upon us as children, and as
foolish. But this disposition, if pushed to excess,
becomes the destruction of imagination and sensi-
bility. The man becomes a speculating machine,
full of nothing but figures and facts; he dis-
believes in intellect and in heart; the world con-
tains nothing but profit and loss; he grows harsh,
bitter, greedy, avaricious; he treats men like so
many parts of machinery; he turns into something
that is only a merchant, or banker, or statistician,
which has ceased to be a man. Dickens has pro-
duced many pictures of such business men; Ralph
Nickleby, Scrooge, Antony Chuzzlewit, his son
Jonas, Alderman Cute, Mr. Murdstone and his
sister, Mr. Bounderby, Mr. Gradgrind. He has
such characters in all his romances. Some of them
are such by training, some by nature; but they
are all hateful, for, all alike, they aim to sneer at
and to destroy goodness, sympathy, compassion,
disinterested affection, religious emotion, imagin-
ative enthusiasm, all that is beautiful in humanity.
They oppress children, they beat women, they
starve the poor, they insult the miserable. The
best of them are polished steel automata which
go methodically through their legal duties without
any consciousness that they are making others
suffer. In our own country no such beings are
to be found. Their rigidity is no part of our
character. In England, they are the product of a
school, which has its philosophy, its great men,
its glory; but which has never been established
among us.
Our writers have, it is true, often
painted misers, business men, shopkeepers; Bal-
zac is full of them. But he makes their traits a
result of imbecility, or else he draws such singular
monstrosities as Grandet and Gobseck. Those of
Dickens, however, represent an actual class of
men, an actual natural vice. Read the passage in
Hard Times," where Mr. Gradgrind explains
his views to the schoolmaster,* and judge whether
Mr. Gradgrind is not body and soul an English-

66

man.

Another fault, pride, is the result of a habit of commanding, and of contending. It abounds in an aristocratic country like England; and no man has satirized the aristocracy more than Dickens. All his pictures of men of this class are sarcasms. There is James Harthouse, a dandy, disgusted with everything, and with himself most of all, and quite right too; Lord Frederick Verisopht, a poor silly dupe, brutalized with drink, whose chief trait is staring fixedly at people while he sucks the head of his cane; Cousin Feenix, a sort of machine that utters parliamentary phrases, but whose works are out of order, and who finds it almost impossible to complete any of the ridiculous sentences that he is all the time beginning; Mrs. Skewton,

"Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts", etc.-Hard Times.

a hideous, broken-down old woman, coquettish even to her death-bed, who asks for rose-colored curtains in her last agony, and who parades her daughter through all the drawing-rooms of England to sell her to some rich husband; Sir John Chester, a respectable scoundrel, who for fear of compromising himself refuses to save the life of his own natural son, doing so with infinite grace, as he finishes his cup of chocolate. But the completest and most English of all these portraits of aristocracy is that of Mr. Dombey, the London merchant.-From Taine's Analysis in Perkins' Life of Dickens (Putnam).

D'

66

ICKENS AND IRVING.-After a short visit to Richmond Mr. Dickens went to Baltimore via Washington, and wrote a hasty note to Irving, hoping he would join him at Baltimore, adding, 'What pleasure I have had in seeing and talking with you I will not attempt to say. I shall never forget it as long as I live. What would I give if we could have but a quiet week together! Spain is a lazy place, and its climate an indolent one. But if you ever have leisure under its sunny skies to think of a man who loves you, and holds communion with your spirit oftener, perhaps, than any other person alive-leisure from listlessness I mean-and will write to me in London, you will give me an inexpressible amount of pleasure."

Irving did meet him at Baltimore. In a letter (Washington, 5th February, 1868), Mr. Dickens thus mentions the fact to Mr. Lanman :-"Your reference to my dear friend, Washington Irving, renews the vivid impressions reawakened in my mind at Baltimore but the other day. I saw his fine face for the last time in that city. He came there from New York to pass a day or two with me before I went westward, and they were made among the most memorable of my life by his delightful fancy and genial humor. Some unknown admirer of his books and mine sent to the hotel a most enormous mint-julep, wreathed with flowers. We sat, one on either side of it, with great solemnity (it filled a respectable-sized round table), but the solemnity was of very short duration. quite an enchanted julep, and carried us among innumerable people and places that we both knew. The julep held out far into the night, and my memory never saw him afterwards otherwise than as bending over it with his straw with an attempted air of gravity (after some anecdote involving some wonderfully droll and delicate observation of character), and then, as his eye caught mine, melting into that cultivating laugh of his, which was the brightest and best I have ever heard.”—Mackenzie's Life of Dickens (Peterson).

It was

according to the bills, was Sixty Minutes in RTEMUS WARD.--The subject of the lecture, Africa; but the matter of discourse, as I afterthat of the Babes in the Wood,' only that in wards ascertained, was pretty much the same as Philadelphia, the abolition of slavery being a be acceptable. Any one of his lectures, previous favorite topic, anything about Africa was likely to to the delivery of the Mormon one, was simply a heterogeneous collection of jests, interpersed with

dry, witty, telling observations on the fashions and denly lights burn in the old brass chandeliers; follies of mankind, and pleasantly wrapped-up sar-sarcophagi open and the dead nuns ascend out of casms on the social and political topics of the day. their graves; they float from the church-yard by The humor of the lecture was more in the man hundreds and seem only lightly to touch the earththan in his matter-his manner of saying a funny like shadows they float past each other. Anon and thing was infinitely more funny than the thing it- the winding-sheets fall off, and now they stand self. Yet his lecture was a grand display of there in luxurious beauty, and the bacchanal as it mental fireworks, coruscation succeeding coruscawas carried on in the concealment of their convent tion, and rocket-flight following rocket-flight, walls, begins. In the Catholic city you observe without giving his audience time to think or to these signs of the times. Notice the stir in the count the number of pieces. While people listen- streets-women offer liquorice-water cheap, men ed they laughed. When all was over they won- offer you walking-sticks; but they all, great and dered what it had been which they had listened small, wear the tricolor. Even their Henri Quatre, the bronze king upon the great bridge, must-bear the citizen-flag, which waves on all towers and façades. "La Liberté!" that is the great watchword of the Parisians.

to.

The

"The lecture that evening at the Musical Fund Hall was illustrated by a map of Africa, suspended at the back of the platform. Except in the way of burlesque the map was useless. The lecturer The second day of the festival was come. commenced by telling his audience that his subject long Boulevard was the parade of the National was Africa, and alluding to some of the natural Guard; along the green alleys stood the well-dressproductions of that country. When he told themed rows of people, and all the windows and balthat it produced the red rose, the white rose, and the neg-rose,' they yelled with laughter. Never once did he allow his countenance to relax from its continuous grave expression. Instead of joining in the laughter he had elicited, he seemed to wonder whence it had arisen, and to be slightly annoyed that he could not speak without being laughed at. Some of his audience entered into the spirit of the affair, and were boisterously merry. Others attempted to be critical, but occasionally manifested their vexation at not being able to grasp anything which they could criticise; and some there were who simply regarded the speaker as a lunatic, and seemed ashamed that they had caught themselves laughing at him like

ever seen.

"Africa is my subject. You wish me to tell you something about Africa. Africa is on the map. It is on all the maps of Africa that I have You may buy a good map of Africa for a dollar. If you study it well you will know more about Africa than I do. It is a comprehensive subject-too vast, I assure you, for me to enter upon to-night. You would not wish me to-I feel that I feel it deeply, I am very sensitive. If you go home and go to bed--it will be better for you than to go with me to Africa!" -Hingston's Genial Showman (Harper).

PARIS

conies of the houses which lay behind were filled,
like the Boulevards themselves, with human beings;
wild boys hung on the branches of the trees, others
balanced themselves on the stone balustrades of
the fountain-everywhere was the throng as great
as in one of the most frequented passages. Louis
Philippe, surrounded by his sons and his generals,
showed himself; he extended his hand and kindly
saluted his citizens. A "Vive le Roi!" resounded,
amid which was heard "A bas les forts!" The blue
veil covered with the silver bees still lay over the
statue of Napoleon upon the Vendôme column;
windows and roofs were filled with people; the
king and the dignitaries of the kingdom stood with
bare heads before the column; the sign was given
and the veil fell. "Vive la Mémoire de Napoléon !"
was the cry of admiration.-Andersen's Only a
Fiddler (Hurd & Houghton).

PARES
ARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.-Passages from
Appeal to the People, by the President of the Re-
Proclamations, on the 2d of December.
public (Louis Napoleon): "FRENCHMEN !—The
present situation cannot longer endure. Every day
that passes aggravates the dangers of the country.
The Assembly, which ought to be the strongest
support of order, has become the principal seat of
complots. The patriotism of 300 of its members
has been unable to arrest its fatal tendencies.
forges arms for civil war; it strives after the power
stead of making laws in the general interest, it
that I hold directly from the people; it encour-
ages all the evil passions; it compromises the re-
Pose of France. I have dissolved it, and I make
the whole people the judge between it and myself.

In

"The Constitution, you know, had been made with the object of weakening in advance the power ARIS IN 1833.-The Parisians have at this which you sought to intrust to me. Six millions moment no religion; they have forgotten the of votes were a signal protest against it, and neverMadonna, nay, almost the father and the son; theless I have faithfully observed it. Provocamind is the only ruling power amongst them. tions, the calumnies, the outrages, found me imYou no longer see any monks in the streets, no movable. But to-day-since the fundamental procesions; and even from the stage the poet pact is no more respected by those even who unpreaches Protestantism. You see in "Robert le ceasingly invoke it, and since the men who have Diable" the ruins of a nunnery in the middle of already lost two monarchies wish to bind my a Catholic city; the moon peeps into the dark hands, in order to overthrow the Republic-my halls, where stand overturned monuments. Sud-duty is to baffle their perfidious schemes, to main

tain the Republic, and to save the country by invoking the solemn judgment of the only sovereign whom I recognize in France-the people." To the Army: "Vote then freely as citizens; but, as soldiers, do not forget that passive obedience to the orders of the head of the Government

is the rigorous duty of the army, from the general down to the soldier. It is for myself-responsible for my deeds before the people and before posterityto take measures which seem to me indispensable for the public good."

Proclamation from the Republican Representatives:-"Louis Napoleon is a traitor! He has violated the Constitution! He has placed himself outside the law! The Republican representatives remind the people and the army of Articles 68 and 110 of the Constitution. The people, henceforth and forever in possession of universal suffrage the people, who have no need of any prince in order to bestow it, will know how to chastise the rebel. Let the people do their duty; the republican representatives march at their head. Vive la République! Vive la Constitution! To arms! Signed: Michel (of Bourges) Schoelcher, Jules | Favre, Victor Hugo, Arago, Eugène Sue, and 15 others. Ténot, Paris in December, 1851.—(Hurd & Houghton.)

BJÖRNSON, the graceful Norwegian poet, and author of "Arne" and "The Fishermaiden," has published a new volume of poems. DORE's illustrations of 66 'London Life," with text by Blanchard Jerrold, will shortly appear. BAYARD TAYLOR's translation of Goethe's "Faust" will be published the coming autumn by Fields, Osgood & Co., in uniform with the royal quarto editions of "Dante" and Homer's 'Iliad." Says the Watchman and Reflector "If there are a blessed few who desire these large paper editions, let a few copies be printed for their especial use and behoof; but for the reading public, whose purses are not over long or over full, there should be an edition in the usual style and price. And further, who ever reads a large paper copy? Even those who own them read from the smaller size if such there be."

be issued this fall by Hurd & Houghton, the charming articles he has contributed to the Atlantic Monthly. He calls his book "Suburban Aspects," and his thousands of admirers will gladly welcome it.

GEORGE W. CHILDS, the successful publisher and philanthropist of Philadelphia, is continually being complimented, in one way or another. We are pleased to see such a liberal business man and so estimable a citizen appreciated at somewhere near his value. His reputation is not confined to his own country; the whole world delights to do him honor. It was only the other day that we saw his portrait and biography in the new London illustrated paper, the Graphic placed beside other great men of our times; and now, Every Saturday comes out in its last issue with a sketch of Mr. Child's life and history, accompanied by a faithful portrait. His is the way to set examples to industrious and honest, but struggling young men and boys. Such a life as Mr. Child's may well be published for simulation. It is to be hoped that many will profit by this rare and worthy specimen of the genus homo.-Home Journal.

REV. EDWARD C. TOWNE has published the prospectus of a magazine of Radical Christianity, which he proposes to print monthly in Chicago. The title will be The Examiner, a Monthly Review of Religious and Humane Questions, and of Literature. The features of this publication will be, Mr. Towne says, (1.) "A Novel, the modern vehicle of the widest popular instruction; (2.) Scholarly and Thoughtful Essays, on themes of humane and religious interest; (3.) Translated Articles, from French and German sources; (4.) Shorter papers and paragraphs, of fact, thought, and criticism; and (5.) A full and careful account of new books, and of recent and standard books suggested by the new, or by questions engaging the public mind."

WAR NEWS.-The Springfield Republican says of the Nation: "The weekly summary of events, its editorials, and its English and Continental correspondence, are so masterly, and withal so truthful and candid, as to leave nothing to be desired. We know not where else to look for so

MR. HOWELLS will collect into a volume, to much valuable information in so little space."

The American Primary School Slate is a novelty by Ivison, Taylor, Blakeman & Co. Upon the frames of these Slates are indelibly printed, directly upon the wood, exercises in Printing, Writing, Drawing, and the Roman and Arabic Numerals. SLATE No. 1 presents to the eye of the pupil Capital and small letters, penned in the simplest manner possible, and so arranged as to lead to a ready acquisition of the Alphabet. Upon the opposite side, the elementary principles of Drawing are developed in such manner and order as to lead to Inventive Drawing. SLATE No. 2 is intended for more advanced pupils, affording studies in Script, thus instructing the young mind in Writing. Upon the opposite side are given the elementary principles of curved line Drawing, together with more difficult exercises in the drawing of Animals, Fruit, Leaves, and many of the common objects of daily life. Size 8 x 10 inches; price..... .......... 35 C. Josh Billing's Farmers' Almanac, for 1871, will be issued by Carleton in a few days.. The publisher expects a sale of over 100,000 copies.

FIELDS, OSGOOD & Co., published in a pamphlet the frag ment of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, the last lines of which were written by Mr. Dickens only an hour or two

before the fatal attack of the 9th of June. All the illustrations by Mr. Fildes are given, and appear to much more advantage with the more careful printing than in the first production here. The publishers have included in the same pamphlet Mr. J. T. Fields' admirable papers of reminiscences, and various uncollected pieces by Mr. Dickens, including the stories he contributed to the Atlantic and Our Young Folks two or three years ago, a very entertaining budget of "Sketches of Young Couples,' written at the time of the marriage of Queen Victoria, and the series of essays called "New Uncommercial Samples," together with Mr. Dickens' will.

S. C. GRIGGS & Co. have just issued First Lessons in Greek, adapted to Hadley's Greek Grammar, and intended as an introduction to Xenophon's Anabasis, by Prof. Jas. R. Boise, Chicago University, whose edition of the first six books of Homer's Iliad, with explanatory notes for the use of Schools and Colleges, has received the highest commendations from authorities. Prof. H. B. Hackett says of the latter: "For brevity, pertinence, and suggestiveness, I regard the notes as a model of classical annotation."

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