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a rheumatic shoulder, according to the aggravation of the offence. Parents must be made to feel, that for the sickness of their children, they are themselves responsible.' So make no pretence, tearful mother, of regretting what you yourself have done, nor wear out the long watches of the night over the couch of your fevered child; but away to the whipping-post, for a baggage as you are, and take the deserts of such as you!'

In the same vein is the summing up the merits of this newly-discovered apple-andpotato system:

The dish that erst ran away with the spoon' did a good thing for itself, and henceforth it has need of that and of that only; knife and fork are obsolete abominations. The times of self-complacent Jack Horner are gone by; nobody, while he eats Christmas pie, may henceforward give himself credit for a spark of goodness. As, in our innocence, we used to read our Bibles, the thriving of the holy children when they lived on pulse, yet rivalled in vigor and comeliness the sharers of Nebuchadnezzar's own board, was altogether contrary to nature, and was simply a miraculous result. We are to be better instructed now; the elements of their rotundity and fair liking were in their generous food. Sterne thought he had added a touch to the picture of his prisoner's discomfort, when he threw in the water-cruse and crust. Nothing could be more mistaken, as presently the honest citizen will show; he will take care to have such abuses righted, reclaiming those delicacies for himself, while the convict will be made to work through his time of durance on champagne and oysters, plum-pudding and roasted pig. We were brought up to pity or banter the Irish for their fare of potatoes relished with butter-milk. Sly rogues! the laugh has been all along rightfully on their side. They wanted no competition, and so were too knowing to tell us how things stood; now that we are wiser, we must count them the most enviable of nations, and grudge them all but their butter-milk, which is just so much de trop. But we must look higher yet. We dishonor such a great matter by regarding it with personal considerations. The interests of humanity are suspended on a pot-book. The womb of events in the learned, the social, and the religious world, is the seething cauldron of the house-hold hearth. The seminal principles of human progress are in the herbgarden. All flesh is grass, and if man grows, it must be grass that expands him.'

This capital paper is followed by a review of ROBERTS' 'Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat,' etc., (heretofore noticed at large, in these pages, and, as in the North American, with deserved commendation,) and a pamphlet entitled 'Outline of a Consular Establishment for the United States, in Eastern Asia.' We are well pleased to see here, a just and spirited rebuke of the disgraceful system of making our functionaries abroad, dependent upon petty fees extorted from merchants, or wrung from the wages of distressed seamen. Very high praise is awarded, and justly, to DEWEY'S 'Moral Views of Commerce, Society, and Politics,' and the 'Letters from Rome,' so familiar to the readers of the KNICKERBOCKER. Kenrick's 'American Orchardist' forms the basis of a copious paper on Horticulture, considered in all its departments, which is well written, and evinces various knowledge of, not to say practical experience in, the subject in hand. The last article is, as usual, a batch of minor and brief 'critical notices,' strung together like a bunch of onions, gradually narrowing in length, and finally tapering down to the most sententious and 'curtailed abbreviations, compressing particula: s.' In these, among others, are notices of COOPER'S 'Homeward Bound,' in which the author is by no means flattered; Mrs. GILMAN'S works; 'Joanna of Naples,' by the author of Miriam;' GuizoT's Lectures; JEWETT'S 'Passages of Foreign Travel,' and HALL'S 'Notes on the Western States.' In this latter, the critic assumes quite too much in his own behalf. He may rest assured, that what Judge HALL administered to the 'North American' in his 'Preface,' is regarded by the public as a most trenchant castigation; and what is more, the reviewer himself evidently so regards it. We have heard precisely such advice to 'keep cool,' and not to 'be incensed,' as the critic tenders to Judge HALL, given in a tremulously mild tone, by a virago, who was at the same moment bursting with rage, and pale with mortification, at a signal defeat, the full consciousness of which no affectation could conceal.

The last of the 'critical notices,' is a very brief and non-committal reference to the - handsome volume of poems, by our contemporary, Col. MORRIS, of the Mirror' literary journal. In these notices, which, if they answer at all to their title, should be 'nothing if not critical,' one might suppose that at least an opinion of the literary merits of a work would be expressed; but we defy the reader to discover one, in the following, which is the entire 'review' in question:

The poems of Col. MORRIS have enjoyed so wide a newspaper celebrity, that it would be affectation in us to pretend to introduce them to our readers. Some of them, moreover, have been united to Mr. Russell's music, and said and sung in the saloons of the fashionable world. Their author has now collected them in a volume, which, for elegant type and luxurious paper, is surpased by no book

hitherto issued from the American press. We intended to have invited him to speak for himself in our columns, in the Lines for Music,' but we find ourselves too soon at the end of our sheet.'

Will not such cavalier notices as this, of a volume got up with much typographical beauty, and liberality of expenditure, give disaffected authors cause to insist upon the justice of the charge sometimes brought against the 'North American,' of undue sectional jealousy, in matters of native literature?

In striking contrast with this brief and indefinite notice, is an elaborate eulogium of the beautifully-executed volume in question, from a friendly hand, in the last number of the 'Southern Literary Messenger,' (a monthly literary journal, published at Richmond, Virginia,) which has failed to reach us, and for the late perusal of which, we are indebted to the courtesy of a friend. The critic regards Col. MORRIS's prose as 'graceful, flowing, and full of admirable humor,' and cites, especially, in proof of the justice of his opinion, The Monopoly and the People's Line,' and 'The Little Frenchman and his Water Lots,' which he affirms have 'no superior in the works of any American writer.' This praise should have been qualified, as we think, by the exception, at least, of WASHINGTON IRVING, PAULDING, SANDS, and LONGFELLOW. The reviewer remarks, elsewhere, that our author's wit 'does not sparkle, but glows, and warms the heart with its genial and laugh-exciting influences;' and he expresses the hope, that all his spirited prose writings will yet be collected, and published in volumes. In relation to Col. MORRIS's simple effusions, the writer observes: 'His pen is in poetry, what the harp is in music; gentle, soothing, light, and graceful, shedding a twilight over the soul;' and that in one of his pieces, 'the reader might fancy himself perusing a newlydiscovered manuscript poem of CHAUCER OF SPENSER.' Of the lines commencing, 'On the lake where droop'd the willow, Long time ago!'

the critic says: 'For touching pathos, gentle versification, delicacy and purity of fancy, this little lyrical gem is not surpassed by any thing on the other side of the Atlantic; even by the divine MOORE himself.' 'Woodman, spare that Tree!' we are informed, has been repeatedly parodied in the newspapers, 'one of the strongest tests of unequivocal popularity.' 'On this delightful lyric,' adds the reviewer, 'and one or two others, will our author's reputation, as a lyrical poct, principally rest.' We remember to have seen but one parody upon this song, which, coupled with Mr. RUSSELL'S, fine musical voice, has been made familiar to many of our readers in the Atlantic cities. It contained, among other lines, the following, which must, we think, have made even the parodied author himself laugh heartily, during the first moment of its perusal :

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The stanzas of our author on the 'Death of Gen. DELEVAN,' are pronounced 'martial and spirited,' but injured by the 'introduction of the name of the deceased.' We marvel that the reviewer did not quote the 'Lines to a Whippoorwill,' recently published, which we have no hesitation in saying, are, in our judgment, the best stanzas that ever proceeded from Col. MORRIS's pen. We do not remember ever to have perused the complimentary ode to LAFAYETE, however, upon which the critic places a high estimate, and with which the aged veteran himself is declared to have been so delighted, that he was in the habit of humming it aloud, whenever occasion offered.' The critic has put for ever at rest an envious slander, which had generally obtained, that MORRIS was not the writer of the celebrated play of 'Briar-Cliff.' He says:

'Col. MORRIS is the sole and unassisted author; for on one occasion, we remember his saying to some friends at table, who rallied him on the subject, Gentlemen, that play is entirely my own; I

am not indebted to any one for a single line or comma, if I except Mrs. CAROLINE MATILDA THAYER, on whose story it is founded. If it belongs to any one else, however, I wish he would come forward, prove property, pay charges, and take it away ! ,

In reference to the military position and personal appearance of our author, we copy the following, simply desiring to correct the reviewer on one point, to save disappointment to those who, coming among us from a distance, may be curious to compare the picture with the original. The forehead of our author is even rather under than above the medium height, and is not phrenology-proof. If our friend the critic, therefore, be not too deeply wedded to his views in this regard, he will pardon this allusion to one instance, in which, according to his own opinions, here promulgated, his favorite science is not infallible:

'Col. MORRIS, as well as a literary, has long been a military man. After passing through the several grades of rank, he has recently been appointed general of a New-York brigade of artillery. When colonel, he was of essential service in quelling the formidable riots of 1834. Colonel, now General Morris, is a little under the medium height, his person inclined to portliness, his face full, his complexion ruddy, his eyes dark, and exceedingly fine, with a laughing expression, indicative of the humor that coustitutes a prominent trait in his character. His forehead is high, fair, and well shaped, showing, phrenologically, prominent developments of the imaginative and inventive powers; the organs of thought and reflection being less apparent.'

THE MESSRS. BALLANTYNES AND MR. LOCKHART.-A pamphlet has been republished by Messrs. JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY, Boston, from the second London edition, entitled 'Refutation of the Misstatements and Calumnies contained in Mr. LOCKHART'S Life of SIR WALTER SCOTT, Bart., respecting the Messrs. BALLANTYNES By the Trustees and Son of the late Mr. JAMES BALLANTYNE.' All who have perused Mr. Lockhart's Memoirs of the Life of Scott, must have imbibed a firm belief, that the pecuniary ruin in which the great author's fortunes were finally involved, was brought about by the improvidence and lack of business qualifications of his partners in printing and publishing, James and John Ballantyne. We venture to say, however, that not a single reader will rise from the perusal of this clear, succinct, and in all respects wellwritten pamphlet, without an entire conviction, that the energies of two upright and confiding men were devoted to the prosecution of a business which would have been eminently successful, but for Sir Walter Scott's ambition to become a landed proprietor, and to 'endow a family,' before he had the means of effecting either, upon any sound or secure foundation. 'In purchases of land,' says the 'Refutation,' 'made contrary to every rule of prudence; in buildings, plantings, and improvements, carried on with a total disregard of expense; and in the gratification of a taste for splendid hospitality, and articles of vertu, habitually indulged; were employed the immense sums raised by means of discounts obtained at the different banks, which deprived Mr. Ballantyne of all hope of escape, and in the end brought about his ruin.' These facts are proved, by 'figures, which cannot lie,' in an abstract, 'made up from detailed accounts, most carefully prepared,' the accuracy of which, it is declared, cannot be questioned. We quote from the pamphlet:

'This abstract shows at one view the result of the system acted upon by Sir Walter Scott to raise money for his own purposes; the liabilities which he consequently incurred, and the positive pecuniary advantages which he derived from his connexion with James Ballantyne. In fact, his large wants swallowed up every thing. The ordinary profits of the business, though considerable, were very far indeed from sufficing for his demands. He employed it as an instrument for raising and keeping afloat as long as possible the enormous sums above specified; and when the machinery would no longer work, and the day of reckoning arrived, it was found that the estate purchased with the funds thus raised, had been placed beyond the reach of creditors. Mr. Ballantyne's all was swept into the vortex of bankruptcy, and, by the acts of another, his friend and partner, he became 'a broken man.' But he lived to repair his ruined fortune, and thereby to prove to the world that the business, if left to itself, would have been lucrative and prosperous; and that, under his sole management, it proved a thriving concern.'

In more than one instance, the pamphlet affirms, Mr. Lockhart was furnished with contradictory proofs of the important misstatements he has given to the world, but

they were utterly disregarded. Yet even while concocting the unjust, ungenerous, and derogatory reflections, to refute which this little book is published, he was writing to Ballantyne, then on his death-bed, for 'the most precious materials' in his book, and causing him to exhaust his last energies in gathering up and putting together recollections calculated to brighten the glory of Sir Walter Scott, who, to the very last, rendered his warm tribute of praise to the character of his old friend and partner, and the priceless corrector of his manuscripts, for unimpeachable integrity, disinterestedness, and honor. We commend this pamphlet to general perusal, as a most clear and convincing defence of the Messrs. Ballantynes, and as an irrefragable argument against the aspersions cast upon their memory by Mr. Lockhart.

THE NEW-YORK REVIEW. -Our October number of this popular quarterly was obtained at so late a period, that we are enabled to do little more than bestow a passing glance at its varied contents, which, however, we have thoroughly perused, and 'inwardly digested.' The number opens with an article evincing industrious research, and possessing much interesting information, in relation to ancient writing and its material, and the preservation and transmission of books, before the invention of the art of printing; and is followed by a valuable paper upon the public press in the United States, touching on the liberty accorded to it, its legal restraints, and constitutional freedom, the political party press, our earlier newspapers, etc. A review of President DAY's work on the Will, succeeds in order, and an admirable and elaborate article upon the life and character of CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL, is the fourth paper of the number. BOSWORTH's new Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon, forms the basis of the sixth article, and an extended review of WAYLAND's 'Human Responsibility' its successor. But one of the most copious, and to our mind one of the best, papers in the number, is that upon GOETHE. It is comprehensive and various, and its style is that adroit mingling of the narrative and biographical, which is so agreeable to the general reader. DEWEY'S excellent and eloquent discourses, 'Moral Views of Commerce, Society, and Politics,' are reviewed in a candid and liberal spirit, and highly extolled, as they must needs be, by all who peruse them. The last article is devoted to the consideration of some score and a half of volumes, of various character, under the head of 'Critical Notices.' This is an interesting portion of the work, and sustained with its accustomed ability. We remark, however, what strikes us as a piece of hypercriticism, in the notice, in this department, of an alleged error in Mr. STEPHENS' 'Incidents.' The reviewer will find, we think, on examination, if he did not know the fact before, that although Kosciusko did not 'fall fighting before Warsaw,' he died shortly after that memorable contest, of a mortal wound, there received. The number closes with a copious quarterly list of new publications.

AMERICAN PUBLISHING HOUSE IN LONDON. We ask attention to the catalogue annexed to the present number, of the new American Publishing and Bookselling House of Messrs. WILEY AND PUTNAM, 67 Paternoster-Row, London. This establishment supplies an important desideratum to our people, as well as London, (and London is England, and something more.) The increasing demand for information concerning this country, our literature, especially, can now be freely and expeditiously supplied, while the libraries of our colleges and other public institutions, not less than those of private individuals, may now be supplied, with unfailing despatch, and with but a trifling advance from English prices. Rare books, prints, and other works of art, also, new or old, may be received here, within an incredibly brief space of time, and we may add,

also, at an incredibly small expense, compared with prices demanded but a short time ago. Of the partner in England, GEORGE P. PUTNAM, Esq., we may say, generally, (and we speak from a long and intimate acquaintance,) that Americans abroad will find him to unite the courteous bearing and unassuming manners of a gentleman, with the spirit and feeling of a true American, whose pride and pleasure it will be, to serve the interests of his countrymen; and all who may have occasion to test his business qualities, in the execution of foreign orders, may rely upon his faithful and effective discharge of even the most difficult literary trust.

NEW ENGLISH ILLUSTRATED WORKS. — We have received from our London publishers two fine specimens of the beautiful works which are preparing in London, in anticipation of the coming holidays, previous to which, the whole will shine upon the tables of their American house, in Broadway. The ORIENTAL ANNUAL, for 1839, devoted, in its literary department, to Hindoo legends and Mohammedan romances, of more than common interest, is peculiarly rich in its externals and embellishments; most of the latter being by the lamented DANIEL, whose last labors were devoted to the beautifying of the superb volume before us. There are in all twenty-two, reproduced by the gravers of eminent artists. Not to speak of the various pictures of gorgeous eastern temples, palaces, ruins, and picturesque caves, 'grand, gloomy, and peculiar,' the views of mountain scenery may be especially cited, as hitherto unequalled, in prints of similar size. 'The Mountain Pass' is sublime, and seems more like the remembrance of a terrific vision of difficult highland travel, than real scenery. Of the same character is a' Mountain Scene in the North of India.' The 'Boa Constrictor,' descending like a narrow cataract from a lofty tree, and encircling and lifting from his horse a government messenger, is a spirited engraving, save that the snake, in his prodigious length, must be represented out of proportion. We can commend the 'Oriental Annual' as a distinguished volume, and one altogether above the great mass of works of the 'painted bladder' school.

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PARK THEATRE. Crowded houses, during the past month, have testified to the unabated attraction of Mr. PoWER's performances. Audiences seem never weary of his inimitable drolleries. There is a fund of humor inexhaustible, upon which he is constantly drawing, until, as 'Aspen' says of the 'Man of Nerve,' he has become a 'perpetual blister.' It is the total absence of apparent art, the perfect nature, of Mr. Power's acting, which makes it so untiring. His witticisms are irresistible, not so much on account of their real merit, as from the manner in which they are delivered. Whatever he says or does, seems to be said and done from a natural impulse of his own. He seems himself the author, or rather the improvisator, of the scene; so that it appears positively absurd to suppose for a moment that he is playing a part set down for him, or that he is uttering the words of others. In his first scene of the 'Irish Lion,' for instance, nothing can be more natural, or less like mere acting, than his half-tipsy colloquy with Mr. Wadd.' One cannot believe that all the pompous nonsense which be utters so naturally, can be really written down in a book. The same spirit, however, pervades all his personations, but perhaps more strikingly those characters where broad humor predominates. Mr. Power's Irish gentlemen are decidedly of a different genus from the Sir Lucius O'Triggers of the last century. Perhaps they are more natural; but it is not in their exhibition, admirable as it is, that his greatest effects are produced. His best Irishmen are those which have the least to do with gentility; such as are totally untrammelled by the rules and orders of 'good society,' are those in which his influence is perfectly irresistible. This is perceptible in the plays of 'Born to Good Luck,' 'Teddy the Tiler,' and others, in which, during a part of the piece, he represents a true, hearty, humorous, ragged son of the sod, and is afterward transformed into a gentleman. In the first, we are carried away by the nature and rich humor of the character; in the last, our laughter grows less, and finally sinks into something like a sober admiration of the well-played gentleman.

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