550 stood in a dish of such delicate fabric, that I had great diffi- | culty in removing it entire. Over the mouth of the vase was placed a bowl or cup, also, of red clay. This pottery appears to have stood near the right shoulder of the body. In the dust which had accumulated round the skeleton, were found beads and small ornaments belonging to a neck-injured, that it is difficult to distinguish the figures upon it. lace. The beads are of opaque-colored glass, agate, cornelian, and amethyst. A small crouching lion of lapis-lazuli, pierced on the back, had been attached to the end of the necklace. The vases and ornaments are Egyptian in their character, being identical with similar remains found in the tombs of Egypt, and preserved in collections of antiquities from that country. With the beads was a cylinder, on which is represented the king in his chariot, hunting the wild bull, as in the bas-relief from the north-west palace.The surface of the cylinder has been so much worn and A copper ornament resembling a modern seal, two bracelets of silver, and a pin for the hair, were also discovered. I carefully collected and preserved these interesting remains, which seemed to prove that the body had been that of a female. "On digging beyond this tomb, I found a second, similarly constructed, and of the same size. In it were two vases of highly-glazed green pottery, elegant in shape, and in perfect preservation. Near them was a copper mirror and a copper lustral spoon, all Egyptian in form. Many other tombs were opened, containing vases, plates, the text is written. It will be seen that Mr. Owen is a veritable Goth in his admiration of the so-called Gothic style of architecture, in which, we must confess, we have but little sympathy. The Gothic has had its day; it was once the expression of an earnest but rude nature seeking to develope its aspirations of the beautiful in external forms. But, at the present day, Gothic architecture is a sham and a deceit; a piece of costly and solemn frippery, without sincerity or devotion. But we will allow Mr. Owen to say his say: "Having carefully collected and packed the contents of the tombs, I removed them, and dug deeper into the mound. I was surprised to find, about five feet beneath them, the remains of a building. Walls of anbaked bricks could still be traced; but the slabs with which they had been cased were no longer in their places, being scattered about without order, and lying mostly with their faces on the flooring of baked bricks. Upon them were both sculptures and inscriptions. Slab succeeded to slab; and when I had removed nearly twenty tombs, and cleared away the earth from a space about fifty feet square, the ruins which had been thus uncovered presented a very singular appearance. Above one hundred slabs were exposed to view, packed in rows, "A little habit not only reconciles the eye to the irregular one against the other, as slabs in a stone-cutter's yard, or as variety of Gothic, but causes it to be sought for and esteemthe leaves of a gigantic book. Every slab was sculptured; ed far beyond the rigidly formal. Even in street architecand as they were placed in a regular series, according to the ture, its effects are happy and striking. Take an example subjects upon them, it was evident that they had been from the ancient provincial city of Bourges, the same in moved in the order in which they stood, from their original which the celebrated Conde spent his early school days; the positions against the walls of sun-dried brick, and had been mansion of Jacques Coeur, on the old Gothic balustrade, of left as found, preparatory to their removal elsewhere. That which, as a modern essayist has suggested, the great captain they were not thus arranged before being used in the build-may have read, and adopted as his own, the inspiring motto. ing for which they had been originally sculptured, was evident from the fact, proved beyond a doubt by repeated observation, that the Assyrians carved their slabs after, and not before, they were placed. Subjects were continued on adjoining slabs, figures and chariots being divided in the centre. There were places for the iron brackets, or dove tails. They had evidently been once filled, for I could still trace marks and stains left by the metal. To the south of the centre bulls were two gigantic figures, similar to those discovered to the north. "These sculptures resembled in many respects some of the bas-reliefs found in the south west palace, in which the sculptured face of the slab was turned, it will be remembered, towards the walls of unbaked bricks. It appeared, therefore, that the centre building had been destroyed to supply materials for the construction of this edifice. But here were tombs over the ruins. The edifice had perished; and in the earth and rubbish accumulating above its remains, a people, whose funeral vases and ornaments were identical in form and material with those found in the catacombs of Egypt, had buried their dead. What race, then, occupied the country after the destruction of the Assyriau palaces? At what period were these tombs made? What antiquity did their presence assign to the buildings beneath them These are questions which I am yet unable to answer, and which must be left undecided until the origin and age of the contents of the tombs can be satisfactorily determined." A vaillants Cœurs, rien impossible.' "But it is not the attractive exterior, striking as it is not the picturesque beauty, which characterizes alike its boldest outlines and its most delicate details; nor yet the pictorial effects, varying with every changeful aspect, which the rich variety of its irregular masses successively present; it is not these, which chiefly influence my preference for arch architecture. That preference is mainly founded on considerations more prosaic and practical. That same picturesque irregularity which pleases the eye and charms the fancy, is an important feature in an architecture that is to satisfy modern wants. The flexibility which the Norman and Gothic manners possess; the facility with which they assume whatever external forms may be suggested by interior purpose; the easy freedom with which they lend themselves, as occasion arises, to amendment or addition; all these are essential conditions, in an architecture that is to secure lasting favor among us: all these are essential characteristics in an architecture that is to attain, in our utilitarian age and in our matter-of-fact country, to the character of national. "For the minor irregularities of enrichment which char acterize the arch architecture of the middle ages, as the end less variety of detail often presented by a series of corbels, or capitals, or bosses, having the same general shape and size and appearance at a distance, and of which the variations are detected only by closer inspection, there is not the same substantial reason to be offered. Yet these encroachments on the settled uniformity of classical examples, give, I think, to the arch manner, additional interest and attraction. If, at Athens in the days of her splendor, we had visited that temple of Jupiter Olympius, upon which generation after generation had expended labor and treasure, before it stood, at last, the sumptuous monument of art it was, its first aspect must have seemed to us impressive and imposing in the highest degree. Yet, after we had inspected one of the fluted shafts, of which a hundred and twenty-four rose from its marble stylobate; after we had examined one of the rich capitals that crowned that forest of columns; we had inspected and examined them all. Each of these magnificent capitals, even down to the minutest line of an acanthus leaf or the slightest curve of a volute, was a copy, exact, unvarying, scrupulously reproduced, of its neighbor. And so of the next, and the next, and the next, throughout all that gorgeous peristyle. A hundred and twenty-four times the same identical conception was repeated. "Not thus is it that nature labors. No leaf in the forest that is a servile copy of its fellow. And though man, in his works, can never attain her infinite variety, he need not, at vast pains and cost, task his ingenuity to depart, as widely as possible, from her example. Is it less tautology.' asks a modern writer, 'to describe a thing over and over again with lines, than it is with words?' The remark was applied to painting; but has it not its application to architecture also? "Other considerations recommend this school of architec ture for public edifices. Its economy, in materials and in Hints on Public Architecture, containing, among other workmanship; the facilities it affords, beyond the temple Illustrations, Views and Plans of the Smithsonian In- model, for warming and ventilating; and, yet more especialstitution: together with an Appendix relative to Build-Iv, the advantages it possesses over older styles, whether ing Materials. Prepared, on behalf of the Building Grecian or Roman, in its system of fenestration.' Committee of the Smithsonian Institution, by Robert Dale Owen, Chairman of the Committee. Containing one hundred and thirteen engravings. New York: Geo. P. Putnam, 155 Broadway. 1849. We have been permitted by the publishers of this very beautiful-work to make an extract from its pages in advance of its publication, which will serve to show the style in which The work is "got up" in a style to correspond with the other publication of the Smithsonian Institute, but in respect to the artistic merit of the illustrations it is much superior to them, and, excepting the lithographs, which are but indifferently executed, the volume is one of the handsomest that has issued from the American press. History of England. From the Peace of Utrecht to the lessen the interest which historical students will feel in this The California and Oregon Trail. By Francist Parkman, This is one of the most elegant volumes that has recently been issued from the American press, and, apart from the lively sketches of Rocky Mountain Life which it contains, has claims to attention from the merit of its illustrations, which are but two in number, but they are of great beauty. They are the finest specimens of wood engravings that we have seen, and are printed in two tints. They are engraved by Childs from drawings by Darley, who now stands at the most able work. The style of Lord Mahon is not so seductive as that of Macaulay, and is not so likely to render the history a favorite book with novel readers, but it has a calm and impressive dignity that will render his work more readable with a class of grave literary students. We regret hav-head of our artists. The California and Oregon Trail coning received this book at so late an hour that we have no more space left than just enough to acknowledge its receipt, and to bestow a word of praise upon the very handsome manner in which it has been got up by the publishers. But a work which has been so often and extensively praised by the English press, ought, by this time, to be sufficiently well Irving's Works. Putnam's Edition. known to pass into circulation without further notice. The Caxtons; a Family Picture. By Sir E. Bulwer THE Messrs. Harper have published the first volume of this philosophical novel, which attracted the attention of the literary world even before it was known to be the work of Bulwer, as it appeared in the pages of Blackwood's Magazine. The first chapters bear a palpable resemblance to Tristam Shandy, without containing anything of the witty obscenity of that eccentric work; but, as the story advances, the likeness disappears, and the Shandean family are forgotten. Certainly no two writers have so little in common as Bulwer and Sterne, and it would be impossible for the author of The Caxtons to imitate successfully the author of Tristam Shandy. Napoleon Louis Bonaparte, First President of France. There is not much novelty in this lively little volume to recommend it, but it contains a great deal of personal gossip and not a little valuable political information, which would appear to advantage in a book of greater pretensions. The author's egotism is rather prominent but by no means offensive, he is very chatty, intelligent and communicative, and as he tells us a good many amusing things about a man who has been unexpectedly raised to the post of executive of the first French Republic, he will be listened to with interest. The book is printed-in the elegant style which distinguishes all the publications of Mr. Putnam, and is illustrated with a portrait. The Midnight Sun. Translated from the Swedish of Frederika Bremer by Mary Howitt. Harper and Brothers. New York. 1849. tains a good many picturesque and amusing sketches of wild adventure in the far West, but the author did not go so far as California and Oregon, although he travelled in the trail of the caravans that proceed there. WE are indebted to Mr. Putnam for two more volumes of his very elegant edition of the Works of Washington Irving, being the third volume of the Life and Voyages of Columbus and his Companions, and The Tales of a Traveller. The other volumes will be issued in due course, and the Life of Mohammed, we understand, will be ready in the fall. Mr. Putnam has recently published a very elegant edition of the poems of Rev. Ralph Hoyt, under the title of "Sketches of Life and Landscape," a title peculiarly expressive of the qualities of the poems. History of Queen Elizabeth. By Jacob Abbott. Harper and Brothers. 1849. THIS is another of the popularly written histories which Mr. Abbott has published within the past year. They are prettily illustrated and of a form and style admirably calcnlated for juvenile readers, and the use of schools. The Messrs. Harper have also issued the 5th and 6th numbers of their new illustrated edition of Franklin's Life, and English orthography is preserved, a cheap edition of Macaulay's popular history, in which the The Gold Mines of Gila. By C. W. Webber. New York: THESE are two very pleasant and lively volumes of adwork called Old Hicks the Guide. Mr. Webber intends ventures in Texas, forming a supplement to the author's forming an expedition to the Gila, for the purpose of dis covering the gold mines supposed to lie in the vicinity of that river. The following brief preface will, perhaps, best explain the author's design: "When a man is in earnest he never has time to make many Prefatory Remarks.' I wish it to be perfectly unWe were surprised at seeing in the Christian Remem- that to the best of my knowledge, every syllable of it, bearderstood that I am in earnest in this book; and furthermore, brancer, a literary and religious periodical of a high charac-ing directly or indirectly (of which last there is a great deal) ter, a remark to the effect that Miss Bremer manifested an upon the general subject, is true, literally. It will be perutter lack of religious principles in her novels. To our own ceived that as a narrator, I have spoken through much of perceptions the domestic tales of the Swedish novelist are full which I give for what it is worth exactly-in connexion the way strictly from the stand-point of personal experience of the tenderest and most impressive religions sentiments. It is with all the Antiquarian, Legendary, and Official informatrue that she does not inculcate any particular form of the-which bears in any way upon our curious subject. I must tion that I have been able to collect from every quarter; and ology as has been done by Hannah More, Mrs. Sherwood, be indulged in telling my story after my own fashion, and and Mrs. Ellis, but, like Miss Edgeworth, her writings if I have chosen to mix it up with a great many other things abound in evidences of a religious enthusiasm which makes itself felt by her readers. The Midnight Sun contains an introductory chapter on the early history of Sweden, with a glance at her illustrious men and women, that will not be the least interesting part of this very delightful novel. relating to the wild, stern life in Texas, and to my own adall! The most important material is collected in the last ventures-why you are not obliged to read of them-that's of the book, where those who are in a hurry can look for it. I put it forward without more words as the basis of the Centralia Exploring Expedition to California, via the valleys of the Pecos, the Gila, and Colorado of the West.'"' TOPICS OF THE MONTH. PRING weather has brought with it all the elements of delight which the imagination loves to treasure up and poets love to weave into their verses. Summer is warm and lazy, autumn is mellow and hazy, winter is cold and melancholy, but spring is bright, joyous, cheering and invigorating. Everything in nature bursts ont with new life in the spring, it is the leap season; the time for aspi ration, when the instincts of all organic matter seem to have an upward tendency; it is a singular fact that in all parts of the earth, save in the tropics where there is no change of seasons, boys fly kites in the spring, but never in the fall, thus showing that they obey the universal law of aspiration, of looking upwards, at this carnival time of the year. In one of the papers of the Spectator young maids are cautioned not to go out of doors in the month of May, lest their tender hearts yield to the influence of the season; but May is not, in our northern States, a month for out-door dalliances; the flowers of this month are all pale, yellow, white and blue, the earth is too damp and uncomfortable for star-light or moon-light walks; it is not until June that the warm and melting influences of the season fairly begins, when roses are plenty and the fields are brightened by blossoms of red. June is the month of months in the New England States; Lowell the poet says, "There is nothing so bright as a day in June." The same poet has recently published, in the Anti Slavery Standard, a delightful poem on a day in June, which deserves a place by the side of the L'Allegro of Milton, and as few of our readers have, probably, seen it, we will copy it for their gratification; and if any should have read it before, they will not be displeased at an opportunity to read it again: A DAY IN JUNE. Snap, chord of manhood's tenser strain! To-day I will be a boy again; The mind's pursuing element, The withered leaves keep dumb for him; The irreverent buccaneering bee Hath stormed and rifled the nunnery The rich, milk-tinging buttercup Filled with ripe summer to the edge, O, unestranged birds and bees! Of wood and water, hill and plain; The good old time, close hidden here, While Roundheads prime, with point of fox, I touch the silver side of the shield Upon these elm-arched solitudes How chanced it that so long I tost Oh, might we but of such rare days Far shrined from earth's bestaining strife! In our vext world here may not be, Of some fallen nunnery's mossy sleep, "The Puritans' were sober and earnest men; but they were not austere and sour men, though romancers have delighted to represent them as such; and it is hard to say whether novelists and poets, (whose trade it has been to lie) or priests and preachers (who ought to find it desirable to tell the truth whether for or against themselves) have worse belied them. Cromwell was a patron of art; and so were his chosen associates. Whether his secretary-the author of Comus,' Penseroso,' and other fugitive pieces,' not yet wholly forgotten-ever was an enemy of the drama or of music-let his most discerning readers decide. Yet, Cromwell and his secretary were pure Puritans of the most straitest sect'-as no ecclesiastical historian will deny. Of all the arts that please, without corrupting or demoralizing influences or consequences, there were both alike cultivators and factors. They were wise as serpents' in this; and who can name the Puritan of that age that was otherwise.' "The author of Comus' drew his deepest human inspiration from those Italian sources at which his poetic youth 'drew its first and sweetest nurture.' Who, that has followed John Milton through his early studies and travels, can doubt the influence of pure Italian poetry and music upon his delicately impressible mind? Imagine his disgust on being informed, by some one of rare prophetic gifts, that in a late sequent age, his religious faith and exemplary practice would be deemed incompatible with the cultivation of a rational taste, and admiration for those treasures of art from which his eye (until it was litterally blinded by political controversy,) and ear (when it was his sole faculty for the perception of beauty in art,) had furnished to him his highest perceptions of physical perfection! If he had been completely assured that his religious faith, or abhorrence of unmeaning forms and vain repetitions,' was in direct conflict with his love of dramatic music-he would have been strongly tempted to turn Episcopalian.' He would have been fully justified in doing so, if he could have believed that none of those professing all his faith, and, claiming to be of his sect, would consider it consistent with their profession,' to witness a performance of his opera at an Italian Operahouse, or of any similar music anywhere but in a Congregational Tabernacle.' much "If the true Puritans, of 1620-60, had known that their Such poetry as this is not found floating about in the descendants (or those claiming to be such.) were to be so weekly papers, and when it is found we feel bound would have been likely to take the back-track,' and would purer than they, (such Puritani purissimi,')—they to appropriate it for the behoof of our readers. The have quietly conformed' to the Anglican branch of the paper from which we extract this choice morceau often con- Romish sect, instead of running away into a howling wiltains similar things, and an amount of good writing and from humbug of every kind. It must be confessed, that they derness;' to obtain freedom to worship God,' and freedom literary criticisms' that we should look for in vain in any lived and suffered to very little good purpose, in making a other weekly periodical published in the country. Unfor- place for a spurious posterity, with no substantial resemtunately, however, for the interests of this paper, the politics been sadly loth to father' (by anticipation) a professedly, blance to them, their boasted ancestry. They would have and designs of the work are such that its circulation is limi- exclusively Puritan generation with so little resemblance to ted to that proscribed class who are called abolitionists, and them, or sympathy with them, that no contemporaneous eye even among abolitionists it is proscribed by all but the Simon century from the malish offspring of some crossing of the could distinguish these Yankee Puritans of the nineteenth Pures of the party. The editor of the paper, Mr. Gay, like breed' between the Quakers of that century and the Methothe majority of his assistants, is a gentleman of good educa-dists of the next, (without the martyr like spirit of George tion, of cultivated tastes and a refined intellect, who is wil-field,)-with a slight sprinkle' of the Scotch Presbyterian, Fox, or the pure devotion of Fletcher, of Madely, and Whitling to abandon the profitable and honorable pursuits which are open to men of his character, and in which he would be sure of success, to serve what he honestly believes to be the great cause of humanity. Let men differ as they may respecting the wisdom of such philanthropists as Mr. Gay, no one can call in question their high-hearted honesty and sincere devotion to Truth. A DEFENCE OF THE PURITANS.-The embodiment of a Puritan, in the popular belief, is a crabbed, sour-visaged, and an all-pervading infusion of the Jew, in his most in- "In personal ornaments and dress, and in all the exterior graces of life, they were above the narrow vulgar formalism which embodies religion in the cut of the hair or coat. So their portraits show. "In serious truth, they are represented with far greater historical accuracy, in externals, by Taffanelli, Novelli and Borghese, at the Opera-house, than by any of the absurd people who attempt to persona e I Puritani,' or speak for the Puritans,' in real life. And Bellini's music with the accompanying libretto, (barring some Italian freedoms in the light use of O Dio! O Ciel!' and the like.) much better represents them, than the malignant fictions of the prejudiced Walter Scott-to saying nothing of the avowed caricature of Butler's immortal burlesque." hard-headed, disputatious theologian, who whines out his ness. MALE AND FEMALE.-A Reviewer of Mrs. Heman's, in Blackwood's Magazine, who holds that woman in the field of thought may do all that man can, thus draws the there is certainly more of feeling, a quicker and more sensi Mark |