North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1852, 1851-10-15
From the New York Herald.
TIE LITERARY WORLD.

.sns sssv TO sccount' that in England and in this
country, while an unusual activity u IIs'o S Ia 49,
other department there is an sss,.,.a PnhI;sb-
hnsv viii new editions and collections, ana
with books of science, but no great WORKS are an
nounced bv the masters to whom the PEST nan VI nv
1orJ6 Iook for their pleasantest enjoyment. Inc
uarners have a portion Of the advance sheets o,
new novel, BY Thackeray the Longmans nave us
closed in letters to American correspondents Inat
they have two new volumes Sy MsS ca and Dickens
has given assurance to Stringeg Townsend, tha'
when he writes new story they shall have t"e ao'
vance sheets, for thousand guIneas' Tor the;t Ier
,1nfionaL This is the substance OF what we have re-
snectiuq original works Of high class, from Lon
don.
In the last wear we have had memoirs Of the great
geniuses, Southey and Wordsworth. VI inc I'M
mortal company composed of these, and Scott by
ron, Shelly, Keats, Campbell, Rogers, Montgomery
and Moore, the last three only remain, and 1t Is mol
unlikely that they will all BIO gone by the end OF the
year. Moore for the last half dozen years, has been
atoning his Tom Little rosebud indecencies by a
course of Roman Catholic penances, and for severa
m onths has been in mere childishness, while MS
friends have waited with decorous patience the APP
proach of the last friendly vister; Rogers is feeble
and has lost all the amiabe bOnhOmmie that maue
breakfasts delightful; and the pious James III he
gomery, who on the fifth of next Novemo "J wv HE
eighty years Of age, is then to be crowned ~ ;o
fejlow-citizens of Sheffield, in grand cerehohd-l"
preparation of his death. perhaps;
Twice has England, which IN ms SOaobed the
HIGHEST poin in civilization and intellectual cntiVa-
ton. Spencer, Shakespeare, Ben Johnson Milton
Bacon and the illustrious men who were thelr asso
cates carried her literature into its zenith, whence IL
declined to be elevated again the point In the
last generation. Greece, Rome, Italy, ana othei
nations, have had their golden age; only England
has twice enjoyed its splendors. There are signs
that another such long night will follow as INTERVIEWED
between the Eizabethan and Georgian eras.
In the United States, though for the most part our
colleges are below the proper condition of PreParato-
~ academies, we are by the state OF learning mere
footing with England for the next race The world
looks to for a great poet. Bryant has been read
and appreciated by the select in England and Long
fellow, who writes sweet verses, little way remov-
ed from the Haynes Bayley school, sort of nice
muricaI sentiment which one is puzzled whether to
describe as Haynes BaiIeyish or Tennysonian-is
immensely quoted by cocknies. because IN the alb
sence of international copyright, his works are
accessible to the refined chambermaid and milliner
classes of society. Dana and Whittier, who have
masculine energy with but occasional grace are In
higher key, and will for some time yet be less read
In poetry we have done and are doing much; but 1t
must be confessed that we have only stars-we have
suns.
five take fair and really critical survey of what
has been accomplished in American literature in the
present age, we shall find that our authors, whose
immortality is assured, scarcely more than half
dozen-Cooper, Bryant, Irving, Webster, Dana,
Halleck, Bancroft, Prescott, and Hawthorne. We
can 90 back and take up the names of Jonathan Ed
others-but of contemporaries, the list cannot well
be enlarged. The right of Daniel Webster to place
in This category is unquestionable that of Jove
To his throne in the Pantheon.
We dgress too much into the general-having
proposed for readers only brief report of some
particular novelties forthcoming from our principal
houses this fall. In the last paragraph we referred
to the great Senator and Secretary. We have seen
specimens of the complete edition of his speeches.
forensic arguments, state papers, and oratons to be
issued in about month from this time, by Little &
Brown, of Boston, in six large and beautiful printed
octavos, edited by Edward Everett. There will be
copies on paper OF extra size. imposing the fine
old quarto tones Of Walpoe's time, and these will
have Mr.. Webster's autograph their title pages
but the entire edition will be in style of unusual
biographical magn6cence. tits to be feared, notwith-
standing what some of the journals contain the
subject of his health, that in this collection of his
works, Mr. Webster gives us his last will and
ment-hat his whole grand career is to be submitted
to Posterty in these volumes.
Judge Levi Woodbury., whose chances Of nom:.
nation for the Presidency from the democratic party,
were thought about equal to Mr. Webster's from the
wings, began at nearly the same time, the collection
and revision OF his writings, and they
ly printed, in the same style in four volumes, which
probably will include memoir.
There many people who would like to know
why Mr.. Calhoun's work on the constitution of the
United States and the theory of the government, is
not published. The Legislature of South Carolina
foolishy appropriated for this purpose when
though its agents were to their best endeavors
twenty times as great circulation and influence
would have been secured for the book by giving to
leading book publisher the MS, and tenth OF that
amount in money. But the work was stereoiyped
and we saw complete copy of it in print, nearly
year ago; and for some which needs explana-
tion, it is not yet published. The plates, we sup
pose to the control Of the secessionsts in
South Carolina. Do they find that Mr.. CaIhoun's
last words rebuke their policyt
In American history, several persons are engaged
on works of considerable importance. The collec-
tion of the writings of John Adams by Charles Fran
els Adams, will extend to ten volumes, of which the
second, third, fourth, and fifth are now published
The same editor will proceed Immediately with the
works OF his father, John Quincy Adams, which W i'll
be still more voluminous. The publication of the
works of Alexander Hamilton, which we are glad TO
see, notwithstanding the shave to which the public
has to submit in the process is nearly completed and
we believe the whole will be included in eight VOL
umes. Mr.. John G. Hamilton, we are assured has
also completed for the press the third and fourth VOL
umes in which he concludes the history of Alexander
Hamilton the author of the Modern Institutions of
Liberty. Mr.. Sparks is working on a History of the
American Revolution but it is not to be concealed
that the dissecons of this genemans edition
OF W ashinglon have qnite convinced the public that
he lacks one or both of two essentias-capacitv or
integrity. Mr.. Bancroft is quietly proceeding with
his volumes the Revolution, devotng to his task
SIX or seven hours day. He has not vet entered
into any arrangements for their publication and nro
baby they will not come out for more than a wear.
Meanwhile, Mr.. Richard Hildreth, commencing a
dozen years or after Mr. Bancroft has rapidlv shot
before him in space and time having five volumes of
his history published, and a sixth passing THROUGH
the press Mr.. Hdreths history is intensely federal
the last volume comprising the rst part of the ma
90 oil Jenersons conspicuous action, reads like a re-
Port prepared for the Hartford Convention. One of
the most credltable additions that have been made
In some time, to historical literature is Mr.
c f 1 History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac,
nf Nhn Nn-aI A