The commission intrusted with the publication of the correspondence of Peter the Great has collected up to now 8,000 letters and other documents, among which are the copy-books used by the emperor when a child, and one letter written to his mother in 1688 from Pereyslavl, giving her an account of the work of rigging the ships then in course of construction on the lake of that name. It is stated that these documents will be printed with as little delay as possible.
The remainder of the famous Salamanca collections are now being dispersed at Madrid. The library was formed mainly by Señor Gayangos, and was rich in works of chivalry and early editions of “Don Quixote.” Most of the rarest books had already found a resting-place on the shelves of Señor Cánovas del Castillo and other collectors. The portion now sold, for which a bookseller gave 700l., comprised general works with a sprinkling of rarities. One of these, a work but little known by Boccaccio, entitled “Caida de Príncipes,” translated into Spanish in the sixteenth century, led to a lively competition; a reprint of this work is promised shortly. When the last of these volumes shall have been sold, nothing will remain of the treasures acquired at great cost by that prince of financiers the late Marquis of Salamanca.
The Marquis of Lorne’s volume on “Imperial Federation,” is announced for immediate publication in England.
“Othmar” is the title of Ouida’s forthcoming story. The scene is laid in Russia and the novel is said to be full of dramatic incident.
A little girl—the granddaughter of the Rev. Cazneau Palfrey—said to her mother the other day: “Mamma, I feel so strangely when I read Hawthorne, it seems as if I was reading through a veil.” Of course this was a Boston babe.