The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-03-30

Out 10 WnOm the artists, impressed by lne purity
and beautyofher life and character have applied the
name of the Dove, and to her aerial habitation high
up in the tower of an old palace, that of the Dove
cote; an American sculptor named Kenyon, full of
high promise and all manliness, who loves Hilda
and in the end is loved by her; another woman
also an artist, Miriam, whose life prior to the date
at which make her acquaintance in Mr.. Haw-
thornes pages, and subsequent to that at which the
story stops, is shrouded in equal mystery, which is
often limited at, but never dispeed; and lastly.
young Italian, Donatallo by name, of noble BIRTH |
whose fancied resemblance in person and character
to the Faun of Praxteles, gives its title to the !
story, and whose love for Miriam involves him in
her fate, and surrounds his own with even darker
mystery-these are the only characters of the novel
To them enter, the stage, at intervals SOL |
ders, priests, artists and peasantsbut Hilda Ken
yon, Miriam and Donatello, are the only ones
whom we know by name, and whose fortunes in
the least concern In their company, we visit
the catacOmbs, the galleries of art, the studios of
artist-the shadow of the Coiseum-the burial
place of the Capuchns-the Borghese Gardens
the melancholy waste of the Compagna--the wild
Businesses of the Apprenticeship busy market-space
of Perugia-the sacred precincts of st. Peters
the frolic scenes of the Carnival. For its mere
descriptions, therefore, of objects of interest in
and around Rome, and for the authors DISGUST
tons and criticisms on matters of art, if for moth
ing else, the book would be well worth read
ing. We shall not spoil the readers appetite
by attempting analysis of the story. of that we
will merely say that it is marked by all the pecu-
liarities Of Mr.. Hawthorne's highly imaginative
and somewhat morbid temperament. There is the
same air of mystery running through these volumes
that pervades all the previous writings of the
authorize same weird, fantastic and almost SUI
pernatural interest attaching to and surrounding
the characters in whom interest is chiefly felt.
To the majority of readers, in fact should think
that the ending of Mr. Hawthornes story would
prove highly unsatisfactory on this very account
that everything which the reader would most like
to know in regard to the subsequent fate of the
personages whose fortunes he had so far followed
with unfagging interest. is left to his own imagi-
nation to suggest. Now, whe Their the appropriate
ending of novel be wedding or hanging, most
readers would prefer that the author who has called
the different characters of the story into ex-
istence, and has brought them so far on their
journey, should either conduct them to its
close, or, at least, indicate distinctly their
probable in the future. This natural
inclination of novereaders, Mr.. Hawthorne
shows no disposition to humor. He marries it is
true flilda and Keny on but leaves US absolutely in
the dark as to what becomes of Miriam or Dopa
tello; and the in which, in the last chapter
he extricates the former from an arrest which
leaves the latter in the hands of the Roman police
to answer terrible charge, is exceedingly bung-
ling and inartistic.
Another fault of Mr.. Hawthorne's STYLE which is
remarkably conspicuous in the present novel, is
that, in the deneation of character, he is unneces-
sarly didactc. Instead of leaving motives to be
inferred from actions and the characters of the in
dividuas whom he represents to be gathered chief
ly from their conduct and conversation he is per-
petualy explaining and lyzing the traits and pc
cullarlties which he designs to Illustrate. This
habit he sometimes carries to the length to which
the old painters went, who, when they drew ami
mal-fearful that the resemblance would not be
recognized-thought it necessary to inscrbe under
neath-This is a horse-This is a COW, &c.
But the gravest exception, after all, which is to
be taken to Mr.. Hawhorne's book relates to the
philosophy which it teaches. We have already
spoken of Mr.. Hawthorne's temperament as an
healthy We think the present work is an illus
tration of the fact. In the case of Donatello,
it appears to be the design of the author
to show how the better and nobler qualities of
mans nature may be developed and called forth
by the commission of great crime and the suffer
ing which it entails. There is manifest tendency
on Mr. Hawthorne's part to make this-which as a
case of individual experience may be sufficiently
true-a general rule, which it manifesty is not For
one man or woman who is made better by having
sinned, thousands made worse. This, in sub
stance, appears to be the logic of Mr.. Hawthornes
tale Human nature is made perfect through suf-
fering; suffering is the consequence of SIM there
fore, the perfection of human nature is only at
tanable through sin. In accordance with this the
DRY, Donateo, who is introduced to us as a simple
minded, guileless youth, perpetually suggesting in
his sportive moods, and in the exuberance of his
animal spirits, the resemblance already mentioned
to the Fauns of antiquity,is made to commit a
der, and is thereby transformed into earnest,
thoughtful, undetermined man, full of sadness but
at the same time full of generous emotions and lofty
aspirations. 1t is true, the claims of conventional
q me SSG an aT sa Inn hT eqqg E &c the
moral of his history seems to be just what we have
! stated.
ATAL{sIs OF AMERICAN LAW Presented in Chart with
Explanatory Comments. BY JOSEPH " MoULTOY, Coun.
by Cushihgs & Bailey.
The student of law will find in this little work
methodical guide to the progress of his studies,
and it will furnish the practitioner and the publ
cst with the means of easy reference to the great
principles which underlie the system of jurispru-
dence, and to which all public measures should con-
| FORM The chart is clearly and accurately drawn,
presenting bird seye view of the various classes
into which laws are divided, and tracing them to
the sources from whence they derive vitality and
power.
From Fowler & Wells, New York, and for sale
by j. W. Bond:
How TO LIVE Saving and Wasting, or Domestic Economy
Illustrated, by the life Of two families of opposite charac-
G naD ase and praeey tale Of real life
n ye how TO have how t. gain and how to be happy
| vol, l2mo 1860.
| This is romance in which the telescope is re-
versed, and views of life taken through the
| little end-an excellent illustration of "penny
"wise" philosophy. 1t is certainly extremely agree
! able to have 'both ends'' not only "meet,' but
overlap. The most ordinary and popular form of
| the novel of society shows how this may be accom-
plished by happy and fortunate chances, such as a
rich marriage, the death of misery uncle or
other probable contingency. "Ho,c to Lire" on
the contrary, teaches how all those things which
"both ends' have to "meet'' about may be so
contracted as to make fit.
From the same:
The HUMAN X9eE Its right management in speaking
guence &c. BY the Rev. W. W. CAzALET A NJ, Cantab
SUMMARY RECENT DISCOVERIES in Biblical Chronology
Universal History and Egyptian Archaeology, with spe
cial reference 10 DIR. AbbOtts Egyptian Museum New
York. together with translation of the first Sacred book
OF the ancient Egyptians By &. SEYFFABTH A. NJ Phi.
D., ID. d. vol. l2mo. 1851
This is the volume referred to in a letter from an
intelligent correspondent recently published in the
DAILY EXCHANGE. 1t is an attempt to reconcile the
chronology of the Holy Scriptures, with what is
known or guessed of that of the Egyptians as pre-
served in their inscriptions stone, metal, wood or
papyrusscrolls. To accomplish this object the au-
thor finds it necessary to controvert some of the re-
ceved notions of the followers of both systems. He
does this, however, in spirit ofproound reverence
for the sacred writings and faith in their inspired
truth. We subjoin extract showing what
papyrus-scros are and the manner in which
they are made:
The first place in every Egyptian Museum is due
to the papyrus-scros. How were these scrolls
from one to sixty feet in length, produced? When
we compare our fine, smooth, white paper, with
this yellow, ugly, wrinkled rag, are apt to
smile in pity; and vet, had the Egyptians written
beautiful paper, not line of their litera-
ture would have attained the age of 1000 years
nay, there would perhaps be very little left of the
entire literature of the Greeks and Romans. These
rolls of papyrus, then, the those which We
suvus buried, for 100 years, in Herculaneum, be-
! meath ashes and streams of Laval those rolls on