The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-01-17
Gbe 8sbie6.
The CoLoRkD PATRIOTS or THE REvoLuno,

pages. Harriet Beecher Stowe writes page
of graceful introduction, and Wendell Phillips
eloquently endorses it. But, in truth, the book
needs no extraneous aid. 1t is not only need
ed and valuable record of the trials, privations,
and sacrifices, of the colored soldiers of the Rev
olution, and of their equal claim with their
white comrades to whatever honor is attached
to bravery and patient endurance, but it is en-
inenty readable volume enlivened with fire.
quent anecdotes, interesting narratives, and BIZ
ographical sketches of the prominent colored
actors in the great world drama of the Revolu-
ton. 1t evinces great deal of research and
labor on the part of its author, himself man
of color. He has no reason to be ashamed of
his first essay as writer. His style is plain,
terse, and manly, and, for its freedom from rant
or extravaganza, might be proftably studied by
the majority of even white orators and writers
on Revolutionary topics.
Not long ago, the editor of the New York
Express, the intensity of whose white Ameri-
canism seems mainly to manifest itself in ha.
ting the nagers +" as heartily as Bishop Hughes
and his Irish followers, pretty plainly intimated
that the colored people had no proper claim to
be considered in the political affairs of the
country; that SAM" and not "Sambo," was
alone to be consulted. We commend to him
the volume before us. He will find, by its De-
rusal, that in the dark and doubtful struggle of
the Revolution, Sam and Sambo were fellow
comrades, mingling their common blood at
Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Red Bank, and Fort
Moutrie. The honor and glory of the Revolu.
ton may be denied to the colored man, but
none can henceforth dispute the fact of his full
participation in its toll and danger and suffer.
ing.
The volume is neatly printed, and illustrated
with two or three engravings. Robert F. Wal
cult, of Boston, is the publisher. JG.w.
STAR PAPERS; or Experiences OF Art and Nature. BY
Henry Ward Beecher. New York ]. C. Derby, 1I9
Nassau street. 1855 For sale by Taylor K Maury,
Washington, ID. c.
Rightly named real brilliants, gems in the
literary world. The name, however, is derived
from their having been originally published
with the signature of star ~ in the New York
Independent Cast forth as they were, it is
somewhat remarkable that they have not been
caught up as waits on the ocean, and appropri
ated by some publisher. Butth author, though
unprotected by any copyright, has been left to
gather and embody them in a volume, and thus
reap the fruit of his own brains. We are glad
of it. To praise them is needless. They have
been read and admired by thousands. The
light and graceful touches with which he paints
the beauties Of nature, the readiness with which,
in few single strokes, he portrays some scene
or incident, show the hand of master. There
is nothing transcendental about it; it is in every
day language, such as the common people can
understand, and the ideas those with which
they can accord. But there is a freshness and
glow about it all, that tells us he feels as he
writes and, better yet, he makes us feel, too, as
if we were with him, gazing on the same OBJ
jects, and sharing with him the rich delight he
has in working up some of the most common
and ordinary events, that escape the observa-
ton of SO many, into light and shade, coloring
and grouping, that have all the truthfulness of
Teniers, and the magic charms of Claude.
He has not less ease and smoothness often
than Willis, and more of manly vigor and
freshness-and this with a tone of moral senti-
ment far beyond him. The first part of the
volume is given to six letters from Europe, and
is made up of our authors impressions as to
some celebrated places and galleries of art.
The greater portion Of the book however, comes
under the EXPERIENCES OF NATURE which are
penned from various portions of our own coun-
try-thus imparting a rich variety to the work.
Its healthful spirit and happy glee is evident
and it is no wonder that, after having been
read by thousands, as single essays or letters as
a whole, it is a favorite among many thousands
more. s.
The POETRY AND MYSTERY DREAMS. BY Charles G
Leland. Philadelphia: f. H. Butler Il Co. 1855. For
sale by Gray BaIaniyne, Washington, ID. C.
The world is full of dreamers. Some go
through q night of unrest, and wake in the
morning with indistnct recollections of dis
turbing dreams. Some, sweety Tapped in slum-
bers, seem to hear or see lowering guardian
spirit, or feel the soft touch of the hand that,
in days that are gone, thrilled through their
frame. They wake-the lovely vision is gone,
and the images of the long departed have faded
into the thin air. Some, too, dream wide awake,
and give themselves up to reveries that are as
proftless as they are baseless. No wonder,
then, that dream books should be found among
the current literature of the day. Prophetic
oracles, fate books, foretellers of destiny, have
their readers and there has ever been no lack
of them, as any one may see by looking over
the antiquarian catalogues, which are issued
from well-known establishments in Great Brit
ian, France, and Germany. The author of this
volume has seized upon this feature in the hu
man mind, to get up very pretty book, neat
in external appearance, and attractive in its
contents for the season. Under variety of
heads, alphabetically arranged, he puts down
extracts in poetry, some of which are from his
own pen, including versions of German poems.
He has drawn together quite collection of
presages for the perusal of the curious in these
matters, and seems to have given to his object
more than usual research. He might have
made his extracts yet more varied, as he has in
great measure passed BY some of the most
fanciful or imaginative of the poets, such as
Tennyson, Keats, Shelley, Arnold, Gerald,
Massey, and others we could name. By re-
course to these, too, he would have found some
choice things with which to enrich his collec-
ton. But it is an interesting book as it is,
and, we doubt not, will be we'll liked.
Its value would have been still greater, had
the publisher seen fit to have inserted few of
the admirable sketchings of Richter and var-