Alexander S. Wadsworth, Commodore in the United States Navy, died at Washington, April 9, in the 61st year of his age. He was a native of Maine. He entered the service in 1804, and for many years served with distinction. His commission of post-captain, bears date from 1825. His name stood the seventh on the naval list. Severe and protracted illness had for many years disabled him from active duty.
Samuel Farmar Jarvis, D.D., died at Middletown, Conn., March 26th. He was born in January, 1787. He had the reputation of being one of the ripest scholars in the Episcopal Church, and was a member of the principal literary and historical societies in this country. His extensive acquirements, and fondness for accurate investigation procured for him the appointment of "Historigrapher of the Church," which was conferred upon him in 1838, with a view to his preparing a faithful "Ecclesiastical History, reaching from the Apostles' time, to the formation of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States." The first volume, forming a Chronological Introduction, was published in 1845. It is understood that a continuation of the work was nearly ready for press at the time of his death.
John S. Skinner, Editor of the "Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil," and well known for his agricultural writings, died at Baltimore, March 21, aged about 70 years. He was universally esteemed for his social qualities, unassuming demeanor, and generous impulses. His death was occasioned by a fall into the basement in the Post Office at Baltimore.
Literary Notices
Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have issued The House of the Seven Gables, a Romance, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which is strongly marked with the bold and unique characteristics that have given its author such a brilliant position among American novelists. The scene, which is laid in the old Puritanic town of Salem, extends from the period of the witchcraft excitement to the present time, connecting the legends of the ancient superstition with the recent marvels of animal magnetism, and affording full scope for the indulgence of the most weird and sombre fancies. Destitute of the high-wrought manifestations of passion which distinguished the "Scarlet Letter," it is more terrific in its conception, and not less intense in its execution, but exquisitely relieved by charming portraitures of character, and quaint and comic descriptions of social eccentricities. A deep vein of reflection underlies the whole narrative, often rising naturally to the surface, and revealing the strength of the foundation on which the subtle, aerial inventions of the author are erected. His frequent dashes of humor gracefully blend with the monotone of the story, and soften the harsher colors in which he delights to clothe his portentous conceptions. In no former production of his pen, are his unrivalled powers of description displayed to better advantage. The rusty wooden house in Pyncheon-street, with its seven sharp-pointed gables, and its huge clustered chimney—the old elm tree before the door—the grassy yard seen through the lattice-fence, with its enormous fertility of burdocks—and the green moss on the slopes of the roof, with the flowers growing aloft in the air in the nook between two of the gables—present a picture to the eye as distinct as if our childhood had been passed in the shadow of the old weather-beaten edifice. Nor are the characters of the story drawn with less sharp and vigorous perspective. They stand out from the canvas as living realities. In spite of the supernatural drapery in which they are enveloped, they have such a genuine expression of flesh and blood, that we can not doubt we have known them all our days. They have the air of old acquaintance—only we wonder how the artist got them to sit for their likenesses. The grouping of these persons is managed with admirable artistic skill. Old Maid Pyncheon, concealing under her verjuice scowl the unutterable tenderness of a sister—her woman-hearted brother, on whose sensitive nature had fallen such a strange blight—sweet and beautiful Phebe, the noble village-maiden, whose presence is always like that of some shining angel—the dreamy, romantic descendant of the legendary wizard—the bold, bad man of the world, reproduced at intervals in the bloody Colonel, and the unscrupulous Judge—wise old Uncle Venner—and inappeasable Ned Higgins—are all made to occupy the place on the canvas which shows the lights and shades of their character in the most impressive contrast, and contributes to the wonderful vividness and harmony of the grand historical picture. On the whole, we regard "The House of the Seven Gables," though it exhibits no single scenes that may not be matched in depth and pathos by some of Mr. Hawthorne's previous creations, as unsurpassed by any thing he has yet written, in exquisite beauty of finish, in the skillful blending of the tragic and comic, and in the singular life-like reality with which the wildest traditions of the Puritanic age are combined with the every-day incidents of modern society.
Harper and Brothers have published a translation of Buttmann's Greek Grammar, by Professor Edward Robinson, from the eighteenth German edition, containing additions and improvements by Alexander Buttmann, the son of the original author. Since the publication of the thirteenth edition in 1829, which was the last that the author lived to complete, gradual changes have been introduced into the Grammar, especially in the department of syntax, which has been expanded and re-written, with the aid of the extensive investigations of the last twenty years. The translation bears the same impress of diligence, accuracy, and philological tact, which is never looked for in vain in the productions of the indefatigable and distinguished author.
Ecclesiastical Manual, by Luther Lee (published at the Wesleyan Methodist Book Room), is a brief treatise on the nature of Church Government, defending the right of visible church organization against prevailing latitudinarian and transcendental views on the one hand, and maintaining liberal principles of polity against the high claims of Episcopacy and the assumptions of the clergy on the other. The argument is conducted with candor and moderation, though not without spirit, and may be studied to advantage by all who would understand the points at issue.
William Penn, An Historical Biography, by William Hepworth Dixon (published by Blanchard and Lea), is a new and complete life of the founder of Pennsylvania, derived from contemporary papers that have been brought to light within a recent period, and from original and unpublished documents. The view given by the author, of the religious system of Fox and Penn, as coinciding with the principles of republican freedom, is a reproduction of the admirable exhibition of Quakerism presented by Bancroft in his History of the United States. In the Appendix, the charges against William Penn by Macaulay are submitted to a rigid examination; the evidence on the subject is skillfully and thoroughly sifted; and the strongest case made out for the accused against the insinuations of the ingenious and eloquent historian. With his warm sympathies in favor of the subject of his narrative, and the familiar knowledge of his career gained by the researches of several years, Mr. Dixon has produced a genial and instructive piece of biography, sustaining the claims of the illustrious Quaker to the noble and elevated rank in which he has been placed by the general voice of tradition.
Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, &c., by Baron Charles Von Reichenbach, translated from the German, by John Ashburner, M.D., is a scientific treatise, showing the relations of magnetism, electricity, heat, light, crystallization, and chemism to the vital forces of the human body. It is founded on an extensive series of experiments, which tend to bring the mysterious phenomena of Mesmerism within the domain of physics, and in fact to reduce the whole subject of physiology to a department of chemical science. The papers, of which it is composed, were originally intended as contributions to the "Annals of Chemistry," conducted by the celebrated Professor Liebig, in which periodical they appeared in the year 1845. In the present collected form, they have received some necessary corrections, but their spirit and substance are presented without alteration. The investigations, of which the results are here described, are of a singularly curious character, exhibiting the most astonishing developments, with a philosophical calmness that is rare even among German savants.