vate, as well as public. By AGNES STRICK- | line of chronology, it would be well to leave all LAND. Philadelphia. Lea & Blanchard. those parts which can only be comprehended Tales and Stories from History. By AGNES after some experience of life, to be studied STRICKLAND. Lea & Blanchard. afterward. When one has the last new novel before him, what can be more provoking than to have some good-natured friend retail in brief the entire plot? This system of combining instruction and amusement, most especially in young histories, and not unfrequently in treatises on natural science, seems to act to the rising generation the part of the good-natured friend. A child instructed under its perfect application must be supposed to be at every period of its existence just as full as it can hold, and therefore it can never experience the blessed consciousness of ignorance, which u der our free institutions is so healthful to the individual soul, and no less so to the body politic. THE eleventh volume of Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens, enters upon the most interesting period of English domestic history the last age. It includes the life of Mary, Princess of Orange, and part of the life of Anne. From the notes of reference on almost every page, it will be seen that the authoress has explored very fully the various storehouses of information necessary to her purpose, and has endeavored to give her memoirs the value of authenticity. The public and private libraries of England are rich in pictures of the manners and court doings of this comparatively recent date, and Miss Strickland has also been able to avail herself largely of MS. correspondence and other unpublished writings, so that her work is full of interest for those who are contemplating the customs of our courtly ancestors one hundred years ago, apart from the interest it possesses as a collection of the lives of distinguished personages. It will be found to be quite as entertaining to republicans and queen-haters, as to Her present Majesty's most loyal subjects. 66 With regard to the Tales and Stories from History, it may be deemed a harsh judgment to speak disrespectfully of stories so well intended and coming from so unexceptionable a writer as Miss Strickland, yet we feel compelled to express our disapprobation of them, not so much for what they are of themselves, as for what they are as individuals of a class. They were written, the preface informs us, to impart at once instruction and amusement to the youthful mind." Now whether history ought to be diluted and distorted to that degree which is required to frame such tales as these, is a fair subject for a reasonable doubt. The amount of real truth, which is what is meant by "instruction," which the youthful mind can come at this way is so exceedingly small, and it is so perverted, mixed up and colored with pure invention, that unless stories can in this way be made more amusing than in any other, the system is certainly not worth trying any longer. But so far from this being so, we believe it to be a fact, with hardly an exception, that history tales are the least interesting to children of any. The idea that a thing is partly true and partly not, distresses them; the instruction and the amusement neutralize each other; the free childish fancy cannot fly with a leaden weight of heavy actuality hung to its wings, and there is no surer way to stunt and cripple it than to force it into such an unnatural exercise. History of all departments of knowledge least endures simplification. It is impossible that the young can be made to understand the causes of events, and except the general out In a late melancholy periodical, which fell asleep some time last summer, there was a specimen of a child history intended to be literally a history teaching by example." It embraced the chapter devoted to the reign of Queen Victoria, and was as follows :— "VICTORIA ascended the throne in the year 1937. She was quite young and very handsome: the people all liked her very much, she was so kind and good. She was not cruel, like Queen ELIZABETH, who cut off the head of her neighbor, Queen MARY of Scotland, with an axe, not did she ever burn anybody, as Queen MART, Queen ELIZABETH's sister, did. She has many fine dresses-one of them is exhibited in a glass case in the Museum in New York. Probably she does not know it is there. She was married some time ago to Prince ALBERT, who is a great officer and fond of shooting deer. They have had how many. The English like the Queen and several children, boys and girls, nobody knows her husband very much. They think she is a good Queen because she lets them have as much corn as they can pay for, and she is not prood She likes to hear good singing, but thinks it is not good to go to the theatre; she goes to church often, but does not always have the same minister. Prince ALBERT is very contented and happy; he wears a moustache. The present population of England," &c. This is hardly an exaggeration of many books in the Peter Parley style which have been actually published with a serious intent, and found a ready sale; while the fairy stories, Robinson Crusoe, Miss Edgeworth, Madame de Genlis are almost banished from the circulating libraries. Verily, the coming generation is likely to be the wisest the world has ever known--and the dryest! If it were not for the irrepressible buoyancy of the fancy, which nothing can utterly break down, and for the natural integrity of the heart, which, however it may be led astray by a misguided reason, is never untrue to itself in the end, there were good reason to fear that "manhood would be forgot upon the face of the earth." ་ INDEX. A. Administration, The: its Treatment of General Scott, (Hon. Daniel D. Barnard,) 553. The employées of President Polk, and their treatment, indicative of the character of his Administration, 553; letter of the Secretary of War in reply to Gen. Scott's complaints, 555; history of these complaints, ib.; their substance, 556; commencement of the war, ib.; Gen. Scott's plan of the campaign approved by Government, 557; his preliminary occupations at Washington, ib.; pretended impatience of the Administration at his delay, 558; sinister motives therefor, ib.; bill for the appointment of new and unprofessional officers to the command of the army, 559; why Gen. Scott was to be kept at home, ib.; his "hasty" letter of the 21st May, 560; the Secretary's reply, 561; embarrassments of the Adininistration, 562; jealous of Gen. Taylor, ib.; Scott notified to take the field, 563; vacillations of the government, 564; Mr. Benton's plan for the conduct of the war, 565; treachery of the Executive to Gen. Scott, 566; a few plain questions to the Secretary of War, 567; petty annoyances of Gen. Scott, 568; intermeddling with his prescriptive rights, 569; failure of the Government to fulfil its promise of supplies, ib. ; fall of Vera Cruz, 570; new recruits sent where not wanted, ib.; Mr. Trist sent to negotiate, 571; Gen. Scott dismissed from command, and subjected to inquisition, ib.; his treatment compared with that of other successful Generals, ib. Adventures and Conquests of the Normans in Italy, during the Dark Ages, (Prof. Adolphus L. Koeppen.) 615. Adventures in Mexico, review, (G. W. Peck,) 307. Ancient Greece, Recent English Historians of, (Charles A. Bristed,) 178, 286. André Chénier, Prose Writings of, (Ibid.,) 71. Angels, The, verse, 258. Anglo-Saxon Race, The-An Inquiry into the Causes of its Unrivalled Progress, with some Considerations indicative of its future Destiny, 28. Art of Measuring Verses, (J. D. W.,) 489. Athenian Banquets-Banquet First, in which is a Discourse of Love, (J. D. W.,) 194; Banquet Third, 586. B. Barnard, The Hon. Daniel Dewey, LL.D., Life and Public Services of, 521. Enters Congress, where he takes a leading position, 522; opposes the Anti-Masonic movement in New York, 523; successful as leading counsel for the defence on the trials of the Morgan conspirators, 524; visits Europe, 525; recall of Mr. Van Buren, ib.; political labors, 526; settles in Albany, 527; removal of the deposits by Gen. Jackson, 528; member of the Assembly, 529; returns to Congress, ib.; Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, 530; the course of President Tyler, ib.; twenty-eighth Congress, 531; literary labors, 532. Blennerhassett, Herman, and Mrs. Margaret Blennerhassett, Biographical Sketch of, (S. P. Hildreth, M.D.,) 368. His early history, 368; his improvements on the island in the Ohio, 369; his pursuits there, 370; Mrs. Blennerhassett, 372; Aaron Burr visits the island, and engages Blennerhassett in his undertakings, 374; their operations, 375; suspicion excited, 376; Blennerhassett departs with the expedition, 377; conduct of the militia on the island, 378; arrest and acquittal of Burr and Blennerhassett, 379; second arrest of the latter, ib.; his discharge and subsequent history, 380; his death, 382; "The Deserted Isle," a poem by Mrs. Blennerhassett, 381; her memorial to Congress, 382; her death, 383. C. Calhoun's, Mr., Report on the Memphis Me- Charles Lamb, review, (J. H. B.,) 508. Chief Justice Durfee, Life and Writings of, (John M. Mackie, A.M.,) 471. China, review, (G. W. P.,) 231. Conquest of Mexico, Calhoun's Speech against | D. De Beneficiis, verse, 459. E. Evangeline, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, F. Fame, verse, (J. D. W.,) 357. Finances, The National-the War Debt, First Flower, The, verse, (Joseph Hartwell Foreign Miscellany, 99, 210, 320, 432, 537, Frederick Wiliam IV., King of Prussia, Sketch Future Policy of the Whigs, (J. D. W.,) 329. Hope, verse, (J. D. W.,) 70. I. Immigration, Foreign, (O. C. Gardiner,) 419. Impromptu, (by the late George H. Colton,) 47. J. Jasmin, the Barber Poet, review, 397. L. Lamartine's Girondins, review, 358. M. Machiavel, The New, 207. Memphis Memorial, Calhoun's Report on the, 15. Mexico, Adventures in, review, (G. W. Peck,) Midnight, a Sonnet, (J. D. W.,) 230. Miller, Thomas, review, (G. F. Deane,) 451. N. National Finances, The-the War Debt, 170. P. Paraguay, The Natural History of, with some Philosophy, A Plea for, (Rev. John W. Nevin, Policy of the Whigs, The Future, (J. D. W.,) Pomeroy, Col. Seth, sketch of his life and cor- President's Message, The, and the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, (D. Raymond, of Cincinnati,) 384. Prose Writings of André Chénier, (Charles A. Bristed,) 71. R. Representative Government, (H. W. Warner,) 280. Introductory remarks, (Editor,) 280; sovereignty of the people, 281; relative rights and powers of officers and constituents, 282; official powers not conferred by electoral appointment, 284; Constitutional division of political labor, 285. REVIEWS.-Calhoun's Report on the Memphis Memorial, 15; Uhland, 134; Evangeline, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, (G. Uhland, review, 134. U. Underwood, Hon. Joseph R., sketch of his life, 609. A Lieutenant in the war of 1812, 610; taken prisoner, ib.; runs the gauntlet, 611; treachery of the Indians towards the prisoners, ib.; enters upon the practice of law, 612; elected to the Legislature of Kentucky, ib.; the old and new court contest, 613; made Judge of the Court of Appeals, ib.; serves eight years as member of Congress, ib.; Speaker of the House in the State Legislature, ib.; elected U. S. Senator, ib. 484. V. W. W. P.,) 155; Recent English Historians Verses, The Art of Measuring, (J. D. W.,) of Ancient Greece, 178, 286; China, (G. W. P.,) 231; Charles Brockden Brown, (Joseph Hartwell Barrett,) 260; Adventures in Mexico, by George F. Ruxton, (G. W. P.,) 307; Monaldi, by Washington Allston, (G. W. P.,) 341; Lamartine's Girondins, (Kosciusco Armstrong,) 358; The President's Message, and the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 385; Jasmin, the Barber Poet, 397; Thomas Miller, (G. F. Deane,) 451; Russia, (G. W. P.,) 493; Charles Lamb, (J. H. Barrett,) 508; Hogarth's Musical History, (G. W. P.,) 533; Wuthering Heights, (G. W. P.,) 572. Russia, review, (G. W. P.,) 493. S. Scott, treatment of General, by the Adminis- Stream, The, verse, 118. Street Flute-Player, The, verse, (William Wallace,) 483. T. Treachery, A Word on, 319. Thomas Miller, review, (G. F. Deane,) 451. War Debt, The, (Charles King,) 170. 115. Webster's Dictionary, The New Edition of 301. Whigs, The Future Policy of the, (J. D. W 572. 1 |