The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-07-15

In more agreeable aud readable way
than the n ljority Of articles In the Eng'ish
quarteriies, which are for the most part too heavy
and dull for any but the scholar and the s'uaehs.
The National will compare fsvorably with any Of
the British reviews. The contents OF this number
are as follows-"Dan,e, !" "Godwin's History Of
France" "The Modern French Grammar, " The
Works Of Charles Dickens" The Nineteenth Cen
tury, ""A Glance at the Fine Arts, The Poems
OF Elizabeth Barrett Browning" Italy, Past and
Present, Notices aud Criticisms.r
In Interviewing "Godwins France" the writer shows
that the principal part Of the work Is borrowed
from the charming pages Of Mchelet, aud eou.
cludes by ridiculing with great effect the authors
absurd aectaton Of the ancient spelling OF foreign
proper names In which, too, he Is not always cor.
rect; as for example, In the use Of the letter X,
which was not Roman letter. He writes Kymbri
Tor Cimbri, and Kettle for Celtic; and Charlcmagne
ne Gala Karl and sometimes Karl the Great; while
Charles Martel is karl the Hammer" thus trans.
iatng one half the name into German and the other
nall into English; for Clovis he writes Chlodwig;
lor Louis lie writes Ludwig Gust imagine Ludwig
Ai'. OF France), and so Of other names.
1.-The New American Cycopedia" is handled
without gloves. An extract will amuse our
readers:--
We are aware that it serious matter 10 approach
TINS work with any other language than that Of euiogy
and admiration. few indeed have yentured To bint
that il is not all which is represented to be; but dearly
have they paid for Fir rashness First, they az
sailed by certain rning Journal il they had com
mtted some crime too atrocious to be forgiven this
world and all who want complimentary copes' Of tho
work. or desire to be imnortazed its pages are ex.
ected 10 follow suit To be forced TO gauntlet in
TINS way all that is necessary is to attempt
For one article that may be read with profit and pleas
are at least twenty that even the negative re-
comnendation Of being written in Eugish Nor
are pad and slang by any means the faults
Oh the later IS but rarely that find either their
lacts or Their dates correctly stated but calculated to
mislead rather than TO guide Yet blame the
editors II may be doubted whether any two men could
nave done better with the resources at
their command. They cannot be expected
Alembert, Ephram Chambers and Dr. Rees or Sir David
Brewster and Prof Napier could have been in their
place. they could hardly have procured sufficient Of the
ght sort OIL matter for encyclopedia at the Of two
dollars fer octave page, in small type aud double
eolumn-that is, about one cent and half, three
fourths OF penny, line We all know that IL men ca
pable Of writing what worth reading contribute at this
rate, they must have some stronger motive than the
amount OF cash they would receive at the end of the
quarter for any given number Of lines pages This
WILL perhaps, account for the number of persons that
have so suddenly been made ustrous in the new CYCLIC
pedia and may Also throw light the process by
which certain manufacturing companies have Ia an
equally mysterious manner PLACED themselves above all
rivals, to models forever after to all who
search Of general Knowledge [ror examnlc ace
ARTICLES on iron, and kindred subjects 1twoud be some
what amusing not instructive, to glance the nine
volumes now published, and how many of per
sons have been mace famous In this way
The manner in which the whole business OF immortal.
lzing Is done ia the new Cyclopedia is very simple
Nearly all the ''notices" have than Amly resem.
biance indeed they are as much alike, in De main as
leases gwen by one landlord 10 different tcDots nothing
being necessary IN one form more than anothe than TO MI
up the blanks with dates and names First " are told
the year, day, and place, when and where hreat man
was born anu who and what his parent He was
pretty sure to eynce great preoocous talent Then he
graduated at this that college, the daeof which
event is carefully given Everybody prepared for
the honor thus conferred, for recipient had kng pre-
vousy attracted the attention both of his cowtudents
and the professors eiher by his poetry or ptse In
short it evident to the whole neighborhoedh,, he
man Of genius. Fourth Of July Grafton teliyer
cd soon after al certain village, placed this beyd dis
pute IL there any skeptica doubt still
they made ashamed of their stupidity by sondcr
fully brilliant paper which he read before the Pa Beta
Kappa Society His reputation, both for genius earn
ing, being tablisbed, the a visato Eu
ope. Here be sees more and makes wiser and SHARPER OBJ
than any body else He writes long letters which
noanced the best written he gets up essays on
his return which are printed or private circulation
better than ali he publishes book in poetry or PROSE OF
which an enormous number OF copies have been sold
Two or three such euogcs might be excused work OF
several Volumes but when they TO be found dozens
IN almost every volume, they cease 10 have any
AS for the articles on the arts sciences languages &c
and the biographies Of the mighty dead there little
trouble with them All that is necessary is to abtrevia,e
and transpose those in other cycopedias, dctnaries
Nc Sometimes indeed very little trasposi,jon made
|
had often been better omitted One writer takes charge
Of the enrys {pgs) OF England another of the Henrs
of France The former has curious reflections on
each OF his heroes The tender MANNER for example
which he speaks Of the mode in which Henry vii rid
himself OF his wives according he got tired OF them,
tr formed new afinilic-" vii doubtless interest many
Ia winding up, he says Hcnrys reign has often been
called tyranny, but such was not so far as the
II the people concerned he had, than once
h. Weld 30 the bold expression Of the popular will"
O. 80 According to this logic, the government of Nero
has also been " oon' msrepresented, for he, to- had
To yield TO the bold expression Of the popular Will"
There is an independence Of thought and q
| freshness about the first number Of the National
which we like-the critical articles are piqusnt and
( trenchant and we hope its future numbers will be
sustained with the same ability, and that it will
\ have long and prosperous career.
= SoySAsBuLIsN ASp GRANT. BY Baron Rcichenbach.
/ Translated from the German by Jno. J. Hittel New
York: Published by Calvin Blanchard.
Baron Reichenbach publishedin Germany in 1855
comprehensive work entitled: Der Sensiire
M,7,sclt w,d SeiH Tehdltea ztBl ode. Sensitive
Man and his Relation TO the 0dic Power). The
volume before us is the translation of portion of
that work, relating to somnambulism. 1t con-
tains many very curious and interesting facts.
/ MARGARET MoSCRIEFF. THE FIRST LOVE or
AARON Barr. by Chas. Burdett. New York:
Derby Jackson.
/ highly interesting episode in our Revolution
AIRY history, aud IN the life OF a remarkable man.
\ DE BolsMoSr OK HlLLrcrSATroN. Columbus,
! Ohio: JOSEPH H. Riley x Co., publishers.
/ This is translation by Robert J. Hume from
! the French Of A. Brierre dc Bosmont NJ d.. Civ
ing the history and explanations of apparitions,
visions, dreams ecstacy, magnetism and somnan,-
bulism. The author divides his subject into hallu.
cinaiions co-existing with sanity; Authorizations
involving insanity; hallucnston in relation to ilIu-
sions Authorizations in monomania, stupidity, ma.
MA, dcmcn,ia and general paralysis; Authorizations
in delirium iremens; hsllucnations in nervous dis.
eases, in Nightmares and dreams; Authorizations in
ec-tacy. animal magnetism and somnambulisn, in
iafammaiory and other diseases and with the mo.
raj aud physical causes thereof, and proper treat.
mCni Vt the same. The book IS fall Of examples
OF the mos, extraordinary kind and is at once enter
tanning and instructive.