GRACE GREENWOOD. Greenwood Leaves. PROSE A Collection of Stories and Letters by Grace Greenwood. We suppose most of our readers are familiar with the name of Grace Greenwood. For some half dozen of years she has been one of the most acceptable contributors to our American monthlies, and she possesses such liveliness and vivacity, that it does one good to read her productions.-There is an ease and grace about her, too, that makes us feel acquainted with her, although we have never seen her. The volume before us is filled with tales, sketches, letters and poems. We predict that every lady's library will contain this volume.-BOSTON ATLAS. The name of Grace Greenwood has now become a household word in the popular literature of our country and our day. Of the intellectual woman we are not called to say much, as her writings speak for themselves, and they have spoken widely. They are eminently characteristic; they are strictly national; they are likewise decisively individual. All true individuality is honestly social, and also, in Miss Clarke's writings, nothing is sectional, and nothing sectarian. There is much in them that is subjective-much that is drawn from personal experience, but nothing that is merely vain or selfish. A genuine human being, she is at the same time a genuine American girl. And the spirit of her country finds in her utterance a voice that must stir an earnest life in the brothers and sisters of her nation. She is one of the spiritual products of the soil, which has of late given evidence of spiritual fertility, and she promises not to be the least healthy, as she is not the least choice among them; she is only putting out her spring buds, if no untimely frost shall nip them, when the summer suns are warm they will be splendid blossoms, and long before autumn begins to dim the sky with its mellow shootings they will be luxuriant fruit. - HENRY GILES. The author is so well known and so universally popular, that the public will feel under obligations to the accomplished editor, for collecting and presenting, in this form, these letters and sketches. The lady known to the public under the title of Grace Greenwood, is a contributor to many of our most widely circulated magazines, besides being connected with one of them permanently, in an editorial relation. She writes with grace, gives excellent delineations, and the whole type of her editorial effusions has a strong and moral bearing. Their influence is decidedly good on society. Such works should be preferred to those of the more careless writer, who, though he may delineate character, or give descriptions in bold relief, is less scrupulous of public morals.-OLIVE BRANCH. Grace Greenwood has so long and freely contributed to the magazines and periodicals that this collection of some of her Tales and Letters needs no further introduction to the lovers of light literature than its announcement. Grace Greenwood's is a free dashing pen, -lively and sparkling and with a strong dash of sentiment, albeit it is more allied to the curt vigor of the manly sex, striking and startling, than to the gentle all pervading womanly sensibility - that hardly seen is felt quivering through her own, and subduing the heart of others. But she is racy and piquant- and all the more charming for the absence of many of the small femininities, which mark nine tenths of the popular writings of the most popular lady authoresses. We commend this unpretending book to all who would pleasantly wile away a tedious hour with the promise to them it shall leave something behind better than mere amusement.-NEW BEDFORD MERCURY. We do not remember a volume that has given us more pleasure than the new one by Grace Greenwood. She is the most readable writer we have among us. - ALBION. POEMS. The Poetical Writings of Grace Greenwood. Nearly ready. With fine portrait. 1 vol. 12mo. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. The Scarlet Letter. A Romance. 5th thousand. 1 vol. 16mo., 75 cts. The coil of a splendid reputation has long been lying safe in the brain of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Following immediately a careful perusal of The Scarlet Letter, we have no hesitation in saying that in imagination, power, pathos, beauty, and all the other essential qualifications requisite to the completeness of a first-rate romance, Mr. Hawthorne has equalled if not surpassed any other writer who has appeared in our country during the last half century. The subject is one that needed to be most carefully handled, and no man_but Hawthorne could have traced it so delicately and with so much effect. The Scarlet Letter is the work of infamy branded on the bosom of one who has violated the seventh commandment; and side by side with the partner of her guilt, the sad heroine walks through a life of retribution crowded with incidents which the novelist has depicted with so much truth and vigor, that the interest at every page of his book grapples to the reader with a powerful hold upon his sympathy, and he will not lay down the story till he knows its result at the close. As a great moral lesson, this novel will outweigh in its influence all the sermons that have ever been preached against the sin, the effects of which The Scarlet Letter is written to exhibit. TRANSCRIPT. In the deep tragedy of Hester Prynne's experiences, we are borne through the pages, as by an irresistible impulse-hardly stopping to notice the exquisite touches which are to be found in the midst of the most harrowing and distressing scenes. It is indeed a wonderful book, and we venture to predict that no one will put it down before he reaches the last page of it, unless it is forcibly taken out of his hands. -SALEM GAZETTE. That it will be extensively read and universally admired we believe; and that it deserves to be so, we are confident. Rarely has our interest been so absorbed as in the perusal of this "Scarlet Letter; for vigor and truth, it has seldom been surpassed; nor should we neglect to add, that rarely has an author trodden so boldly on the confines of right and wrong, without making any false step. He carries us through much debateable ground, and vividly warms our sympathies for the evil-doer, though nowhere does he palliate evil-doing. This is no light achievement. - ALBION. Though we cannot do him justice, let us remember the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne, deserving a place second to none in that band of humorists whose beautiful depth of cheerful feeling is the very poetry of mirth. In ease, grace, delicate sharpness of satire, in a felicity of touch which often surpasses the felicity of Addison, in a subtilty of insight which often reaches farther than the subtilty of Steele, the humor of Hawthorne presents traits so fine as to be almost too excellent for popularity, as, to every one who has attempted their criticism, they are too refined for statement. The brilliant atoms flit, hover, and glance before our minds, but the remote sources of their ethereal light lie beyond our analysis, "And no speed of ours avails, To hunt upon their shining trails." E. P. WHIPPLE. This is a work of great power. Indeed, we cannot recall to mind any other American novel which exhibits so much insight into the mysterious workings of the human heart, or exerts so much influence over the reader's feelings. He never, for a single moment, loses his interest in it; and the story is managed with so much artistic skill, that the interest grows as the narrative progresses, and the reader is irresistibly borne along with it until he lays down the book with an involuntary exclamation of admiration at the author's entire command over his subject. We find this artistic excellence equally apparent, whether we consider the work as a whole, or carefully analyze the impressions which its separate characters and incidents leave upon the mind. In either case we derive an impression of power which no other work of fiction written in this country conveys to us. BOSTON ATLAS. The Scarlet Letter, in our opinion, is the greatest production of the author, beautifully displaying the traits we have briefly hinted at, and sustained with a more vigorous reach of imagination, a more subtle instinct of humanity, and a more imposing splendor of portraiture, than any of his most successful previous works. Twice Told Tales. 2 vols. 16mo. $2. NEW YORK TRIBUNE. This book comes from the hand of a man of genius. Every thing about it has the freshness of morning and of May. A calm thoughtful face seems to be looking at you from every page. NORTH AM. REVIEW. True Stories from History and Biography. Nearly ready. 1 vol. 16mo. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. The Complete Poetical Works. 2 vols. 16mo. boards $1.50, cloth $1.75, cloth gilt $2.50. -as true We regard Lowell as one of the truest poets of our age to the high and holy teaching of the spirit of poetry- true to mankind and his God. He is also the poet of the future, casting his great thoughts out into the coming unknown, in the unshaken faith, that they will spring up and bear fruit an hundred fold. His works, to be as widely read as they deserve, should be in every dwelling in the land. - PORTLAND TRANSCRIPT. These volumes are got up in the neat and elegant style that eminently distinguishes the publications of this House. The numerous admirers of Lowell can now gratify their taste by purchasing and studying the thoughtful productions of his pen, for they require careful study to be fully appreciated. His hatred of wrong-his love for the race-his profound sympathy with the down-trodden, oppressed and struggling masses, his hopeful spirit and trust in the future, are breathed in his words, and stamp his image upon our minds and hearts. - BOSTON REPUBLICAN. This is the first entire collection of the poems of an American author whose celebrity is daily increasing. A man of leisure, and having the highest veneration for the poet-mission to which he has been called, Mr. Lowell never writes without thought, or publishes for the sake of praise and profit. The spirit of the man is stamped upon every thing which appears from his pen. -PHIL. GAZETTE. The Vision of Sir Launfal. 1 vol. 16mo. 25 cts. The Biglow Papers. With an Introduction, Notes, Glossary, and Copious The Nooning. 1 vol. 16mo. 62 cts. A new volume of Poems. Nearly ready. |