The Rev. Dr. Schroeder has in press a History of Constantine the Great, in which we shall have his views of the Church in the fourth century.
Mr. Charles Astor Bristed, whose clever sketches of American Society we have copied into the International as they have appeared in the successive numbers of Fraser's Magazine, has addressed the following letter to Mr. Willis, upon an intimation in the Home Journal that under the name of Carl Benson he described himself:
"My Dear Sir:—Several intimations to the above effect have already reached me, but now for the first time from a source deserving notice. Allow me to deny, in toto, any intention of describing myself under the name of Henry Benson. Were I disposed to attempt self-glorification, it would be under a very different sort of character. Here I should, in strictness, stop; but, as you have done me the honor to speak favorably of certain papers in Fraser, perhaps you will permit me to intrude on your time (and your readers', if you think it worth while), so far as to explain what (not whom) Mr. Benson is meant for.
"The said papers (ten in all, of which four still remain in the editor's hands), were originally headed, 'The Upper Ten Thousand,' as representing life and manners in a particular set, which title the editor saw fit to alter into 'Sketches of American Society'—not with my approbation, as it was claiming for them more than they contained, or professed to contain. Harry Benson, the thread employed to hang them together, is a sort of fashionable hero—a quadratus homo, according to the 'Upper Ten' conception of one; a young man who, starting with a handsome person and fair natural abilities, adds to these the advantages of inherited wealth, a liberal education, and foreign travel. He possesses much general information, and practical dexterity in applying it, great world-knowledge and aplomb, financial shrewdness, readiness in composition—speaks half-a-dozen languages, dabbles in literature, in business, in every thing but politics—talks metaphysics one minute, and dances a polka the next—in short, knows a little of every thing, with a knack of reproducing it effectively; moreover, is a man of moral purity, deference to women and hospitality to strangers, which I take to be the three characteristic virtues of a New-York gentleman. On the other hand, he has the faults of his class strongly marked—intense foppery in dress, general Sybaritism of living, a great deal of Jack-Brag-ism and show-off, mythological and indiscreet habits of conversation, a pernicious custom of sneering at every body and every thing, inconsistent blending of early Puritan and acquired Continental habits, occasional fits of recklessness breaking through the routine of a worldly-prudent life. The character is so evidently a type—even if it were not designated as such in so many words, more than once—that it is surprising it should ever have been attributed to an individual—above all, to one who is never at home but in two places—outside of a horse and inside of a library. Most of the other characters are similarly types—that is to say, they represent certain styles and varieties of men. The fast boy of Young America (from whose diary Pensez-y gave you a leaf last summer), whose great idea of life is dancing, eating supper after dancing, and gambling after eating supper; the older exquisite, without fortune enough to hurry brilliantly on, who makes general gallantly his amusement and occupation; the silent man, blazé before thirty, and not to be moved by any thing; (a variety of American much overlooked by strangers, but existing in great perfection, both here and at the south;) the beau of the 'second set,' dressy, vulgar and good natured; these and others I have endeavored to depict. Now, as every class is made up of individuals, every character representing a class must resemble some of the individuals in it, in some particulars; but if you undertook to attach to each single character one and the same living representative, you would soon find each of them, like Mrs. Malaprop's Cerberus, 'three gentlemen at once,' if not many more; and should one of your 'country readers,' anxious to 'put the right names to them,' address—not one, but five or six—of his 'town correspondents,' he would get answers about as harmonious as if he had consulted the same number of German commentators on the meaning of a disputed passage in a Greek tragedian. Some of the personages are purely fanciful—for instance, Mr. Harrison—such a man as never did exist, but I imagine might very well exist, among us. But, as the development of these characters is still in manuscript, it would be premature to say more of them.
"Yet one word. The sketches were written entirely for the English market, so to speak, without any expectation of their being generally read or republished here. This will account for their containing many things which must seem very flat and common-place to an American reader—such as descriptions of sulkies and trotting-wagons, how people dress, and what they eat for dinner, etc.; which are nevertheless not necessarily uninteresting to an Englishman who has not seen this country. Excuse me for trespassing thus far on your patience, and believe me, dear sir, yours very truly
C. A. Bristed."
Benjamin Silliman, LL.D. and his son Benjamin Silliman, junior, of Yale College, sailed a few days ago for Europe, for the purpose chiefly of making a geological exploration of the central and southern portion of that continent. After visiting the volcanic regions of central France, they will make the tour of Italy, visiting Vesuvius and Etna, and will return to England in time to attend the meeting of the British Academy of Sciences, at Ipswich, in July. They will next visit Switzerland and the Alps, and return home in the autumn.