In this naïve history we learn to look at life from the Esquimaux point of view. Mr. Hall's sympathetic nature fitted him for this difficult task; and having accomplished it well, he is enabled, by his vivid descriptions, to invite the reader to see what he saw, and to sit by the "Innuit" fireside. We must confess, however, it is looking at the world from a very blubber-y point of view; but since it is in the cause of science and humanity, we rise from the reading, which is extremely interesting, with a high respect for Mr. Hall and renewed faith in the result of his undertaking.
In so short a space there is no room for extracts, yet without them we can give little idea of the simple, picturesque character of the narrative. Mr. Hall took the Innuits by the hand as brothers, not as savages, and the result is large because of his wisdom.
1. La Fiera. Commedia in Cinque Atti. Di Alberto Nota. Con Note Inglesi. Boston: De Vries, Ibarra e Compagnia.
2. La Rosa dell' Alpi. Novella di Francesco Dall' Ongaro. Con Note Inglesi. Boston: De Vries, Ibarra e Compagnia.
The author of an agreeable article in the "North American Review," entitled "Recent Italian Comedy," says that the plays of Alberto Nota are no longer acted or reprinted. The American press straightway refutes him by a neat edition of the comedy of "The Fair," with notes for English readers. It is an entertaining little production, in spite of the above critic, having rather effective incidents and situations, and easy, if not brilliant, dialogue. The plot may be described as being French, and the moral as English; that is, the jealous wife outwits the faithless husband, instead of the opposite result.
The "Collection De Vries" also introduces to us the more familiar and contemporary name of Dall' Ongaro, to whom the critics attribute more dramatic genius than is conceded to any other living poet of Italy. The story of "La Rosa dell' Alpi" is simply and beautifully written, and paints the innocent career of a poor servant—maiden with something of the grace of George Sand.
It will be a good thing for students to read these specimens of easy colloquial Italian; so that they need not, when they visit the beloved-land, do their shopping exclusively in Dantean phrases, as Mrs. Siddons shopped in Shakspeare.
A Treatise on Ordnance and Armor, with an Appendix relating to Gun-Cotton, Hooped Guns, etc. By Alexander L. Holley, B. P. New York: Van Nostrand.
King James I. is reported to have said of iron armor, that it was an excellent thing: one could get no harm, in it, nor do any. Yet armor has had but a brief respite from service; banished temporarily from human backs, it is being restored for more wholesale service: it is extended over ships and fortifications, and so thickened as to resist shot and shell. The very title of this book marks the progress in the history of war. Hereafter ordnance and armor are two correlatives, never to be considered apart. The progress in offensive and defensive improvements keeps the balance of fighting humanity pretty nearly even thus far; as in the development of a young lobster the claws and cuirass grow simultaneously.
Will ships or guns prove the stronger at last? No one can foresee. A single fifteen-inch ball from the Monitor Weehawken disabled the iron-clad Atlanta at three hundred yards, where eleven-inch balls had fallen powerless from the armor. A similar missile shattered the sides of the Tennessee, penetrating five inches of iron and two feet of oak, against which all other shot had failed. What can resist such balls? A mere pile of sand can resist them, if there are spades enough to carve it into a fort; but as sand cannot be carved into a ship, we must resort to new devices there. The larger the ship, the greater the danger; so suppose we try making it smaller. Let us concentrate our ordnance and our armor: put thicker plating on our Monitor of eight hundred tons than the Warrior of six thousand can support, and place near the centre of motion of the little vessel two heavier guns than the weighty one can carry in broadside out upon her capacious ribs. This game of giants is growing formidable; and with such a concentration of skill and power, the fate of nations may be determined by a single blow.