wards of their genius and skill. HOOD has a very amusing illustration of the difference between the Pharisaical observers of the externals of religion and the doers of those good deeds which bespeak the Christian heart. A lady-invalid has been ill, but is thriving again, on ass's milk, when suddenly the ass dies:

THERE were but two grown donkeys in the place,

And most unluckily for Eve's sick daughter,
The other long-ear'd creature was a male,
Who never in his life had given a pail

Of milk, or even chalk-and-water."

GUBBINS, the rustic attendant, who trotted down the donkey to the wicket-gate of the invalid's mansion one morning, left the substitute, with the consoling information that though he did n't give not no milk, he could bray! Which Hood thus turns: So runs the story,

And in vain self-glory

Some saints would sneer at GUBBINS for his blindness;

But what the better are their pious saws

To ailing souls, than dry hee-haws,

Without the milk of human kindness?'

WE had the pleasure of meeting the other evening, at the residence of a kind and hospitable friend, a pianist who is destined, we must believe, to make a permanent sensation in the metropolis. He is a German, named BERGE, a young gentleman recently arrived in the country, and as full of modesty as genius. Independent of many gems from the operas of Zampa,' Norma,' Ernani,' with others older and more familiar, which he performed in a manner that we never heard equalled, his own improvisations were inimitably rich, various and beautiful. We shall watch Mr. BERGE's progress with the warmest interest. He is a man of a high order of musical genius. THAT was an attractive advertisement for capitalists which we saw the other day in an Albany paper: Wanted, the sum of five hundred dollars, to go on a spree! To those about to marry,' the following may not come amiss. We do not know whose it is, but it is very old:

'FAIRE and foolish, little and lewde, Long and lazie, blacke and prowde,

Fatt and merrie, leane and sadd,
Pale and pettish, redd and badd.

To a redd man reade thy reade,

With a browne man breake thy breade,
At a pale man drawe thy knife,
From a blacke man keepe thy wyfe.'

THIS is the weather, as we write, to make the public appreciate the enterprise and good taste of Mr. DAY, in Courtlandt-street. Take HALL'S Book of the Feet,' and observe how much improvement has been made in the beauty and utility of ladies' and gentlemen's boots and shoes. All these improvements have been adopted by Mr. Day, and have been adapted to the production of the most extensive assortment, combining grace of form, ease of wear, and the application of the most yielding and ductile material to the feet that ever pressed the pedal extremities of the human form. We are by no means surprised to learn that Mr. DAY's town-business and orders from every part of the Union are increasing to an unexampled extent. It should be so. D. M.'s' Lingual Anecdote,' (which we published years ago,) reminds us of a reply made to a friend of ours, recently returned from his travels abroad. Being in a book-store at Leipzic, he inquired in German, of which he was but a young student, if there was any one in the store who spoke English. He was directed to a clerk in the distance, who he was told spoke it perfectly. Approaching him, he inquired: Do you speak English?' 'Yaäs- a few!' was the reply. THE last two or three numbers of the KNICKERBOCKER have not appeared at the exact time they should have been issued. Hereafter the work will be promptly published on the first day of each month. A vermilion edict.

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are insipid, and whose time tedious? Their fortune has placed them above care, while their loss of taste has reduced them below diversion.' . . . THE narrative sketch entitled 'Some Passages in the Life of a Coquette' is instructive in incident, but its style is infelicitous. The whole history of the writer, supposing the record to be veritable, is illustrative of the truth of the warning given by old JOHN LILLY, in his 'Love's Metamorphoses: Let all ladies beware to offend those in spight that love them in honour; for when the crow shall set his foote in their eye, and the blacke oxe tread on their foote, they shall find their misfortunes to be equall with their deformities, and men both to loathe and laugh at them.' Coquettes! tremble fearfully hereat! A vermillion hint. Respect this.'... THERE is a bit of dry satire in this little episode in the weekly life of DICKEN'S Captain CUTTLE: On Sunday nights the captain always read for himself, before going to bed, a certain Divine Sermon once delivered on a Mount; and although he was accustomed to quote the text without book, after his own manner, he appeared to read it with as reverent an understanding of its heavenly spirit as if he had got it all by heart in Greek, and had been able to write any number of fierce theological disquisitions on its every phrase. . . . WE perceive by a paragraph in an Alabama newspaper that an officer of a volunteer corps was followed to New-Orleans by his young wife, who implored him to permit her to share the privations and perils which he would be called upon to endure. He might have addressed her in the language of the ballad of Fair ROSAMOND :'

'CONTENT thyself, my dearest love,
Thy rest, at home shall be,

In England's sweet and pleasant isle,
For travell fits not thee.

Fair ladies brooke not bloudy warres;
Soft peace their sexe delightes;
Not ragged campes, but courtlye bowers,
Gay feastes, not cruel fightes.

'My ROSE shall safely here abide,
With musicke passe the daye;
Whilst I, amonge the piercing pikes,
My foes seeke far away.

My ROSE shall shine in pearle and golde
Whilst I'me in armour dighte;
Gay galliards here my love shall dance,
Whilst I my foes go fighte.'

We have borrowed a copy of LONGFELLOW's last work, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie,' (our friends the publishers having quite forgotten us,) and have read it through. Let us say in brief, that the story is simple, poetical, and replete with charming natural pictures, as we hope to exemplify hereafter. But the hexameter stanza in which it is written seems to our ear and comprehension neither more nor less than a species of Ossianic prose, in inverted, transposed, but most carefully-measured sentences. 'We may be wrong, but that is our opinion;' and in justification of our impressions, we give below an extract or two, verbatim from the original, save in mere form:

'SWIFTLY they hurried away to the forge of BASIL the blacksmith. There at the door they stood with wondering eyes to behold him take in his leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a play thing, nailing the shoe in its place; while near him the tire of the cart-wheel lay like a fiery snake, coiled round in a circle of cinders. Oft on autumnal eves, when without in the gathering darkness bursting with light seemed the smithy, through every cranny and crevice, warm by the forge within they watched the laboring bellows, and as its panting ceased, and the sparks expired in the ashes, merrily laughed, and said they were nuns going into the chapel. Oft on sledges in winter, as swift as the swoop of the eagle, down the hill-side bounding, they glided away o'er the meadow. Oft in the barns they climbed to the populous nests on the rafters, seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone, which the swallow brings from the shore of the sea to restore the sight of it fledglings; lucky was he whe found that stone in the nest of the swallow!

The incidental picture of BASIL's shop was not less felicitously given, we think, by Mr. LONGFELLOW in 'The Village Blacksmith,' written for these pages. We annex another passage, a scene in autumn; quaint, and full of natural description:

'DAY with its burden and heat had departed, and twilight descending brought back the evening star to the sky, and the herds to the homestead. Pawing the ground they came, and resting their necks on each other, and with their nostrils distended inhaling the freshness of evening. Foremost, bearing the bell, EVANGELINE'S beautiful heifer, proud of her snow-white hide, and the ribbon that 72

VOL. XXX.

COMPANY have issued, in a small portable volume, 'The American Angler's Guide.' It embraces the opinions and practice of the various English writers on Angling, from WALTON down to the present time, with such additional information as could be gathered from American books and American sportsmen. The work is written in plain and simple language, and is mainly restricted to the description of fishes most generally angled for in the United States, although the modes of angling adopted in all countries are given in detail. . . . The Young People's Mirror.' from the press of our friend EDWARD WALKER, a quarto-sheet of sixteen pages, well edited and liberally illustrated by B. J. LOSSING, is a monthly periodical which will come to be welcomed, we have no doubt, by many thousands of young readers. It is but fifty cents a year; and if it maintains the promise of its inițial number, it is bound to succeed.'. . . WE cannot too warmly commend 'Appletons' Library Manual,' a closely-printed volume of nearly five hundred pages, containing a' Catalogue Raisonné' of upward of twelve thousand of the most important works in every department of knowledge, in all modern languages. It is in two 'Parts;' the first consisting of subjects, alphabetically arranged, with the exception of Mathematics, Medicine, and Theology; all the subjects of these divisions being judiciously collected under those general heads, in preference to scattering them through the body of the work; the second comprising Select Biography, Classics, Collected Works, and an Index of Authors whose names appear in the first Part.' This work must prove invaluable to the student and man of letters; for by its aid the first will be enabled to observe the extent of the subject of his inquiry, and the authors most worthy his notice, while the second will be enabled greatly to enlarge the sphere of his labors by translation. . . . THERE are spirited sketches, and much natural and forcible limning of scenes and character, in a recent work entitled 'Alamance, or the Great and Final Experiment,' from the pen of a new Carolinian novelist, and the press of the HARPERS. The writer has humor, a good imagination and a pleasant style; and we predict will yet make himself honorably known to the public. . . . 'Old Wine in New Bottles' is the capital title of a capital book, (a result of the spare hours of AUGUSTUS KINSLEY GARDNER, M. D, while a medical student in Paris,) the sheets of which lie before us, from the press of Messrs. C. S. FRANCIS AND COMPANY. The volume is composed of a collection of interesting letters from Paris, full of various incident, felicitously recorded, which appeared, at no distant intervals, in the columns of that well-conducted journal, the 'Newark Daily Advertiser.' Portions of these letters have been widely copied in the newspapers of the day; their life and freshness making them most acceptable reading. Collected entire in a neatlyexecuted volume, they cannot fail to insure a wide and general demand. We cordially commend the book to public favor.. A THOUGHTFUL, instructive, useful little book, is that entitled 'Thoughts and Maxims, illustrating Moral and Religious Subjects,' by Rev. H. HOOKER, Philadelphia; and it will be praise enough, in the eyes of our readers, to know that it is by the author of 'The uses of Adversity,' a work which well deserves its great popularity... ... WE have from the teaming HARPERIAN press an elaborately-executed quarto work, in showy ornamental externals, entitled 'Boudoir Botany, or the Parlor Book of Flowers.' It comprises the history, description, and colored engravings of twenty-four exotic flowers, twenty-four wild flowers of America, and twelve trees with fruits; together with an 'Introduction to the Science of Botany.' The work is edited by JOHN B. NEWMAN, M. D., and is illustrated by two hundred and fifty engravings, by Messrs. LEWIS and BROWN. From the text and the illustrations of this handsome volume, the reader may acquire the technical terms of all the hotanical organs, and a knowledge of their functions and classification; and thus may easily possess the double advantage of enjoying the beauties that please others, and at the same time look through these mere effects and trace the hidden machinery that from a few elements works out the wondrous variety of the vegetable kingdom. . . . WE are well pleased to see that there is a growing taste for something more elevated and refined than the publications under the title of Annuals, which have heretofore constituted the chief attraction presented by our publishers. It is gratifying also to perceive that we do not depend upon foreign authors, or foreign artists, but that we have reached that period in our literature, when the publisher can find in his own country as bright and sterling names as any in Europe, whose works have received the impress of time, and must ever stand as household monuments of the intellectual growth of our age and country. We have been delighted with the many illustrated volumes which have appeared in England in past years, of such poets as CAMPBELL, ROGERS, MOORE and SCOTT, on which the genius of the painter and eugraver have been lavishly bestowed. We have feared it would be long before such attractive and expensive luxuries should enrich our own valued books; but in the publications of the past year we have our own illustrated editions of LONGFELLOW and BRYANT, and now in the superb volume of HALLECK'S Poems. We are glad to learn that the first edition of this admirable book is already exhausted Who shall now say that really attractive books are not appreciated? There is a value in th s volume independent of its poetry, which needs no praise of ours. . . . MESSRS. APPLETON AND COM

and dilapidated state of the currency and exchanges of the country,' offers the following sentiment:

The Boot and Shoe-Manufactories of New-England, and the Boot and Shoe-stores of New-York: Established for the public accommodation and the public benefit, and associated, connected and bound closely together by one object, one interest, one commodity.'

The Day-light Chaunt to the Big Boot,' which will at once be recognized as a parody on LONGFELLOW's 'Midnight Chaunt to the Dying Year,' written some years ago for the KNICKERBOCKER, without being, as a whole, very close to the orignal, has nevertheless some cognate stanzas. For example:

The imitation of the poetical prose of WASHINGTON IRVING lacks vraisemblance. A pure and simple style, by-the-by, must be difficult to parody; else why did not the gifted SMITHS, who called up' Old SAM. JOHNSON,' also invoke the shades of ADDISON and GOLDSMITH? To represent their styles was to do those things which were not convenient.' Of BRYANT the same remark may be predicated; yet the spirit of his natural train of thought is chalked in' in this passage from the 'Meditation on Boots :' 'ENTER the store:

There, innumerous as the leaves that deck

The forest trees, behold the boots and shoes
In clusters thick. This stout and heavy pair,

By strong arms made, would scarce wear out at all.

Such boots were worn by hardy pioneers,

Who walked upon our prairies huge and vast,
(Where the cougar crouches, and the gaunt wolf

Sends nightly to the moon his dismal howl)

And drave the painted savage from his wild,

Where he had lived in freedom, ere the smoke

Curled from the white man's hut above the pines.

With these they roamed o'er plains, filled with the rush

Of waters, which the genial summer sun

Poured from the mountain tops, until the streams,
Swol'n with the sudden rush, o'erflowed their banks.

If thou dost wish a pair to fit thy feet,

Take some mild day when the bland breath of spring
Calls the bright wood-flowers from their winter sleep,
And the grass springs greenly by the road-side,

And the earth is musical with the roar

Of melting snow, rushing to join the main ;
And in Canal-street seek Boss RICHARDS' shop,
And from his pleuteous stock select a pair
Fitted to whirl with Beauty in the dance,
Or safely trample on December's snow;
And thou wilt find enough enjoyment then,
To bless the skilful maker, and to learn
The truth, that in the scale of human life,
Nature has fashioned man able alike
To make a pair of boots, or read with skill
The starry hieroglyphics of the sky.'

The imitation of HALLECK is very good; but the moral-preacher, G. T.', of 'cider' memory, and one or two other somewhat kindred 'literary' personages, were rather too small game, as it strikes us, for the clever parodists to whom we are indebted for the little poetical pamphlet which we have exhumed from a too-early grave.

MUSIC AMONG THE BLIND. There are doubtless few of our readers, especially in the cities of the Northern and Middle States, who have not listened with deep interest to the 'Song of the Blind Boy,' written by Miss HANNAH F. GOULD, and sung with such touching pathos by Mr. DEMPSTER, at his popular concerts. It was quite natural that one who could so feelingly wed to pathetic music those undying lines of human tenderness and sympathy, should be led to visit the noble Institution for the Blind, which reflects so much honor upon our state and city. We were not surprised, therefore, to find the subjoined sketch in the columns of an esteemed contemporary; and we need not add, that we read it with emotions of delight. It is appropriately designated A Touching Scene: Every one who has visited the Blind Asylum must have been impressed with the sensitiveness which the suffering but contented inmates display in reference to the modulations of the human voice. To their ears it is as a stringéd-instrument,' every chord of which has its peculiar sound and meaning, speaking with more or less intensity as the skilful player is tender or impetuous and passionate. Upon their ears each intonation of the voice falls with a deeper meaning, a more intense and thrilling power, than upon the ears of those whose senses take in a wider range of observation or happiness. The sense of hearing is to the blind their world of enjoyment, and they trace in the tones of a friend, almost unconsciously varied by the speaker, all those sentiments which to others are spoken by the upturned glance of a deep, bright, love-expressive eye, or the gentle falling of a darkly-fringed eye-lid. Yet, with this keen perception of the modulations of the human voice, how rarely have they opportunities of hearing it in all its wondrous capacity! Concerts, save their own, in which they are kindly encouraged by the principal of the institution, their musical and other teachers, they are necessarily strangers to, to a great extent. They are not always forgotten, however. Last week the institution was visited by Mr. DEMPSTER, who upon an invitation from one of the managers, consented, in the kindest manner, to sing for the pupils a few of his best ballads. He never had a more gratified audience, nor one upon whom the sweet tones of his cultivated voice wrought deeper and more lasting impression. 'The Indian's Complaint,' 'The Rainy Day,'' JOHN ANDERSON, my Jo,' 'I'm Alone, all Alone,' and a number of other beautiful ballads, prepared the pupils for that most touching of all, The May Queen.' The pupils were thoroughly subdued; and though no flash of the eye told of their emotions, the quivering lip, the pale cheek, the suspended respiration, the rapt silence, and above all, that peculiar posture of attention which painters and sculptors so much delight in, and which is Nature's involuntary tribute to eloquence, these all showed that those sightless ones had an inner light by which they could recognize the chaste and beautiful. It was a touching scene; one that will not readily be forgotten by any who participated in it; certainly not by the spectators, nor by Mr. DEMPSTER himself, whose response to the manager's request was worthy of the man- kind, ready, hearty; and certainly not by the obliged and delighted pupils, whose high appreciation of Mr. Dempster's cheerful kindness will indelibly impress the recollection of that interview upon their grateful hearts.'

We have been obligingly favored by Mr. N. DEAN, of the Asylum, with two poetical pieces, written by two blind inmates of the institution, addressed to Mr. WILLIAM R. DEMPSTER, on hearing him sing some of his beautiful ballads.' 'Considering,'