Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1864-12-13
q he freeman:
MONTPELIER, VT
Tuesday Morning, December ~, 1854


Mrs jameson. Corrected and ebl arged edl-
ti,n. Boston liokpor ana ! ieds
These vo!emes complete the siriss promised
whsn tho " Legends Of the Mad ,nua was pub
lisasi. and are now for the 6.s t.m' p:intsi IN
this country, They ara issued 10 England IN a
costly edition, with engrsyings which add much
to the description. Bn. the american edition is
w!tlua the reach " all, vhl more costly one
would give pleasure to blt few and I. tho
work lttelf is treasure to oil lovers Of art, the
publishers have done a service in developing
cultivated taste in the reading public BY giving
1t these delightful books in this comparatively
cheap, but really elegant and beautiful edition.
A critic in the COmmo nDedAh Newspaper says
&" Sacred and Legendary Ar" was begun in
ls42, and published six years after it is the
first, and, on the whole tho best Of the three
books. Mrs. Jameson was prepared for her
tasA by long familiarity with pictures; her
father having been an artist Of some celebrity.
But she had also made special study Of the
religious side Of art, and could thus bring b.
fore Ter readers matter in which they had a
deep and growing interest but about which
scarcely anything was definitely and correctly
known By the mass Of them This has been
her great service 10 all who use the English Ian
guage, and it is one which can hardly be over
estimated. She has dons for religious art
among her countrymen and ours, what Cole
ridge aud Carlyle dit for German literature ;
she has brought Il homo and made It familiar 10
all.
IL is also true that none Of her other books,
and she has written many, approach the excel
lence of these. But for this series OF charming
volumes her name ss writer would hardly
have been known beyond her own small circle,
gracefully as she has written en- other themes.
The poetry Of religious art can perhaps be bst-
ter treated bya woman than q man, because The
feeling from which this noble branch OF paint.
ing sprung is in ltsel essentially feminine, and
can best be understood in this more prsotica
age, by those who share most largely in the
feminine elemsnt o human character. ln Mrs
Jameson we fnd tender feeling without the
tpge Of sentImenta.ity or superstition, but
accompanied by clearne. oil thought and q
power OF analysis which a man might envy, Il
be regarded them as the peculiar attributes oil
his sex.
We cannot give an extended review OF the
book before US, nor 10 II necessary. Those whC
have read it will need no critic 10 point out Ia
beauties, and those who have not shall not hav'
their pleasure IN any way narred by fore
staliing or disparaging critiqus. Placed, Al
il soon will be, ~ tue hands OF Thousands e
whom it is new, It will lead them, - II bias al
ready led others, to . more serious and heart
felt contemplation of tho spirit as well as thu
results of Ded@ysl art. IL will awaken a love
OF beauty IN some, and reveal 10 others wha
they have lsng obscurely felt or hoped to learn
That author is fortunate who can do TIM
without genius or extraordinary abilities, ans
Mrs. Jameson cannot fairly bs said to have poe
sessed either. But she found worthy subjec
which she could worthily treat, aud she has e
dealt with il that writer's Of deeper thought will
fail to create that profound impression which
her sincere enthusiasm and comprehensive state
ment Immediately produced.
The volumes appear in blue and gold. like tn
- Legends of the Madonna but 10 typo some
what different
TRusAS ". ABsLL's ALMANAC FOR 1861
This veteran Almanac makes il appearance th
year, IN It's familiar grise, and ia, as usual, III
ofell varieties OF useful intor nation, from pre-
nostication Of eclipses, to a receipt for the man
iacture Of superior pop beer. The familiar cut
not executed - be sure, in the hi CHEST style
art, lead of the " Aspects and Observations
for each month, aud advise the farmer by th'
sugeestivC landscapes of the appropriate pur'u
oil each season rs it returns. And the -
servations themselves, 4" foretelling the weati
through all the lunations Of each year forever
and opening to our vision The hitherto yelled
turc, are mos, delightful reading to him who
fond Of prophecy, and anxious TO know m
than is revealed. How pleasant It Is to le'
that, at the conm,ncamen, Of next Fsbrua
"a cold storm will be approaching wh
may end /, rain on the seventh Of 9
month that there will be " signs of 'noW "
the tventy-fith aud twenty-siIth OF the o.
month that, on the sixth Of March, there
be " bal travelling that on the third
fourth Of April there will be - indicate
Of early Spring and that the t~enty-s
OF said month will be "Spring.like ~
about the thirteenth fMay will be |" a fine
for planting, it not too odd while on
twenty-sixth, We are pleased to learn
Spring will be more forward than last veal
that from the twentieth to the twenty -fourt
July, il will be showery, unless It's dry
when all signs fail " that the frs, of Au
will be "sultry - and so through the oh
ing seasons and months, until December G
the prognostications with the exceedingly ?
able announcement, sigrs Of more snow.
Is hot singular that treatise, which thus bI
together the wisdom Of the past, in in apbor
which have instructed men Tor centuries
figures that never lie, IN its tabular vatlcinat
aud the mystical lore Of weather repo
for mex, year, should have an immense popr
ty. This Almanac s published by the {
mon, Manufacturing Company, Claremon
II. who will DO rcioiosd, we have ut d,
% receive orders for il from all the books
who desire " calculations adapted for the
England States.'
RoBERr b. THopAs, ALMANAC Brewer
Tilsston, of Boston, have published for Il
B. Thomas, " rhe Ola Farmer, Almanac
1868 fall Of learned calculations, and
other almanacs, furnishing US the only re
prophetic reading OF secular character '
we have. Wa ore enabled, by these wo
convenient reference, not only " predict tn
Use moment when the sun will rise on
day, but, what is frequently ofs much