Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1860-02-04
Correspondence Of tho Delaware Inqulrer.l
Letter from Philadelphia.

Mr. EDlroR.-The talk with us Just now is
the magnificent new hotel on Chesnut street
now receiving its final decorations and APP
pointments, preparatory to tho grand opening
on the 22d inst. Nothing in our beautiful city
so completely exhibits our metropolitan char
acter as this mammoth structurc-tho largest
grandcst and richest hotel palace on the con-
| tinent, and second to very few buildings, de-
voted TO hotel purposes in tho world. The
cost OF the ground and the bare walls alone
will reach one million dollars, and this on a
| spot not the most costly in the city. What the
furniture and inside embellishments will ag-
gregate we have moi tie slightest mathemati-
cal chance of saying but everything within is
snowy, without being gaudy rich and costly,
without being offensive to the most cosmopo-
Titan taste. The furniture is all made of solid
rosewood, finished in the most elaborate man
ner; the gas pipes in the house cover miles of
length the cooking and warming are done al
together by steam, as is also the novel arrange
ment of carrying boarders, baggage, &c. from
one floor to another by Il monster hoistng APP
paratus. In short, that veriest discoyerer of
marvel Dominic Sampson, would find here
something greater than he ever dreamed about
to call forth the expressive exclamation, pro-
di-gi-ous
The English Opera, at one of our theatres,
has been abundantly successful during thepast
week while the Preach, at the Academy of
Music, has had slim houses, and given no sa-
tisfaction. The difference is this-the former
is not fashionable, the latter is. BY the time
the fashionable world gets itself into fever
over the opera, the poor artists, who look to
them for favor, are starved out II is always
SO, and therefore we characterize our peerless
temple on Broad street magnificent failure
Not built for the fashionables, they have never
theless got hold of it, and are freezing out its
vtals while music, for whose worship the
temple was built, hangs over the wreck with
dropping head and broken Tyre.
The new Board of Directors of our Mercan-
tile Library appear To be animated by more
progressive spirit than the old. There is talk
now that new and splendid building will be
erected better facilities afforded the habitues
of the place; enlarged avenues of access open
ed to various foreign periodicals, newspapers
and books hitherto excluded or overlooked,
and the twenty thousand volumes OF which the
library is now composed extended to one hun
bred thousand. Where a single copy of such
books MS Adam Bcde, Capt. McClintock's Mar
ratiyc, and other books in active demand is
now purchased, ii is intended that from one
hundred to FIVE hundred copies shall be bought
for the use of members, as is done Mt the great
private libraries of Nude and others in Lon
don. When the interest in them ceaees, they
will be sold at auction. That books do thus
pail on the public taste, may not be generally
known as the facts tell us. Your correspond
ent could give YOU some curious figures OF
Uncle Toms Cabin, Dollars and Gents, The
Wide World, &c. once greedily sought out
books, Of which from five to ten copies of each
were purchased for the Mercantile Library,
hardly one is ever now taken from the shelves.
They he, especially Uncle Toms Cabin, in dusty
obscurity profoundly forgotten amid their more
favored successors. 1t takes IL ground work
like Cooper's or Scotts TO build up the fabric
and reputation which ages on ages can admire
and refer to again and again. In twenty years
Uncle Toms Cabin and its author will have
been forever forgotten.
Of the many works on moral and mental
recently issued from the press-and
the number and demand for them prove that
there is more thinking done by readers than
there used to be--we would direct the rea-
der's attention to a substantial looking duohes
elmo recently issued by Messrs. Follet Foster
& Co., Columbus, Ohio, and Mr.. Geo. G. Evans,
Philadelphia. The title is Morality md the
State the author Mr.. Simeon NASH. The
book is in two distinct parts or rather 1t is two
distinct books, the author first expls lining full
ly and deliberately the true principles of self
government or the moral nature as taught in
the Sacred volume, and afterward applying his
references TO individual duty to the State, and
the relation which every one sustains as
member OF one great common family. Some
of the chapters are masterpieces of argument
and common sense. We specially instance
those on Mental Classification, The Meaning
and Sources of knowledge, the three chapters
on the Theory of Divine Ruler, Social Mo-
rality, Education, the Mission of the State, the
Duties of the Citizen, &c. Mr.. Nash's style of
reasoning is clear and logical, and his language
is eloquent, and vigorous, and flowing The
book is one which should be in every good
citizens library.
Percy d. St. John,--one ola family of au-
thors which numbers Bayle St.John, Au gustus
st. John, and Vane st. John-has re Gently
written, and J. D. Long L Co., New York,
published a new romance of Lon don life with
the title Florence de Lacy or, Quicksand and
Whirlpools, in one octave pamphlet volume,
with illustrations. The story is full of excit-
ing incidents and situations, and is in every
way Characteristic Of the author, many Of whose
sprightly romances are already known TO
American readers. The dialogue is rapid and
agreeable and the reader is hurried along post
haste, from scene to scene, and from character
to character. with but little consideration for
the minor amenities which make up SO large
portion of many modern novels. Mossrs. 7. b.
Peterson Brothers. Philadelphia, have this
entertaining volume.
the same publishers, New York and Phia-
delphia, issued Lady Cavendish's romance
Lisdr or the Mesmerist's Victim. The FORM
err romances by the same author have neen
popular. They are of the sensation" type,
and we presume Lisais cast in the same mould.
Capt. Wayne Reid, whose stirring romancee
we have often had occasion to name TO the
reader, has inst completed a new and charac-
teristic work-TAe Wood Rdager-which will
soon be issued in a handsome duodecimo vol
ume by Mr.. r. NJ. Dewitt, New York.
An interesting work is promised from the
press of W. R. Q. Clark & Co., New York, with
in few days. II is entitled The American
Christian Record, and will embrace n full history
of the religious progress of the world for u
year past. Such volume will be invaluable