Mr. Fay’s Notes on Shakspeare.—The series of articles by Mr. Theodore S. Fay, on the writings of Shakspeare, which we are publishing in this Magazine, prove that the subject, however ably or frequently it has been treated, is not exhausted. Shakspeare’s works will probably continue through all future time to be more read than any other productions save the inspired books which compose the Holy Bible. They contain peculiarities which distinguish the author from every other writer, and have made him for two centuries the object of the world’s attention and admiration. With all the praise awarded to him by the greatest critics of all nations, we believe with our correspondent that he is not even yet generally understood, and that many thousands read his plays, and see them performed, without a true idea of their particular beauty and profound meaning. The system of the German critic, Ulrici, alluded to by Mr. Fay, is highly interesting, and this entire series of papers—which will be completed in four or five more numbers—without being so studied as the critiques of Schlegel and Hazlitt, is well calculated to call the popular attention to beauties which have not generally been observed, and many of which we do not remember having seen pointed out before at all.
The Antiquities of Central America.—Few subjects have recently attracted more attention than that of the discovery of the vast remains of ancient cities in the southern port of this continent. The “hand book” of Mr. John L. Stephens, descriptive of his hasty journey through Central America, though it contains little new information, and none of the curious learning which we look for in the chronicle of an antiquary’s researches, has been read with avidity in this country and in Europe, and is soon to be followed by an account of a second visit to the same scenes. Since the return of Mr. Stephens, Mr. Norman, an intelligent and careful explorer, has passed several months in Yucatan, visiting Tchechuan and other places not discovered by former travellers, and abounding in interesting relics of an aboriginal race, and monuments, yet undecayed by time, which show that their builders were far advanced in civilization. Mr. Norman is now preparing for this magazine a series of articles on the ruins of Yucatan, the first of which, with illustrative engravings by Butler, from original drawings, will probably appear in our next number.
National Songs.—Among the new works to be published in Philadelphia, during the autumn, is “A Collection of American Patriotic, Naval and Military Songs, in three volumes,” by the veteran bookseller, Mr. McCarty. It will be curious and unique.
Thulia, a Tale of the Antarctic, is the title of a beautiful poem by J. C. Palmer, U. S. N., written while the author, attached to the Exploring Expedition, was in the Southern seas, which will soon be published in New York, with illustrations engraved by Adams, from designs by Agate.
The Smuggler’s Son, with other Tales and Sketches, in Prose and Verse, is the title of a volume from the pen of a lady of Tennessee, soon to be published by Herman Hooker, of this city.