Mr. Clark is the most modest of writers; one in whose writings unaffected simplicity and freedom from literary conceit is manifest on every page. He appears in all the many sketches which constitute this volume to have written for the direct purpose of pleasing and teaching youthful readers or quiet and pious grown persons. He neither eyes the world through a lorgnette or a lorgnon, nor affects a knowledge of all things, nor even hints at it. Yet it is precisely in this that the charm of his stories consist—they are perfectly rational, and told in the plain language which becomes them. It is to be desired that Mr. Clark will give us a volume of sketches devoted entirely to that Western and rural life which he sketches with such felicity.
Songs in Many Keys. By Oliver Wendell Holmes. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1861.
It is only a few years since Holmes was little known to the general reader save as a humorist. A series of writings of the most varied character have since appeared, displaying more fully his greatly varied ability, so that the reader will not be surprised to find in this, his last wreath of poetic blossoms, a rich variety of every hue, from the lightest tints of mirth to the sombre shades of tender pathos. The variety of feeling awakened by these lyrics is remarkable—and to say that, is to bear sympathetic testimony to the excellence of each separate piece. Even the beautiful ballad of 'Agnes,' chronicling the loves of Sir Harry Frankland and Agnes Surraige of the Hopkinton Frankland mansion, and which will be deemed one of the most perfect of new ballads of the olden school, does not seem the chief flower, after inhaling the home sweetness and heart aroma of many of the minor lyrics in this volume. As for the humor, is it not of Holmes? 'The Deacon's Masterpiece,' and 'Parson Turrell's Legacy,' are of the very best, of the triple est brand; it is only to be wished there were a hundred of them. Of that strange blending of pathos with humor, and the 'sentiment of society,' in which Holmes equals, or, if you will, surpasses Praed, there are several exquisite examples. But buy it for yourself, reader, and you will not regret the purchase, for the harder the times, so much the more, as we opine, does the world need cheering poesy.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
Some of the Mistakes of Educated Men. A Biennial Address before the Phrenokosmian Society of Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa. By John S. Hart, M.D. Delivered Sept. 18, 1861. Philadelphia: C. Sherman & Son, 1861.
An excellent address, which has attracted much comment and quotation from different journals since its publication.
The Cotton Kingdom: A Traveler's Observations on Cotton and Slavery in the American Slave States. Based upon three former volumes of journeys and investigations by the same author. By Frederick Law Olmstead. In two volumes. New York: Mason Brothers, 1861.
The best record extant of social or commercial facts and figures illustrative of the entire South.
Lady Maud. By Pierce Egan. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson & Brothers.