Mrs. Stephens, the author of the striking and very successful work Fashion and Famine, has published another work of similar character, entitled, The Old Homestead. Its scene lies in New York, and its interest turns upon the sufferings and triumphs of a charming little orphan, which Mrs. S. has painted with great tenderness and beauty. It is exceedingly interesting as a tale, and displays much more art in its construction than its predecessor. It has every element of popularity, and we doubt not it will have abundant success. (BUNCE AND BROTHER.) Among the recent issues and announcements of the English press we find but few that are notice able. The Prophet and the Huguenots are ready, and will be produced on the arrival of the artists. The scenery and costumes are entirely new, and very costly. In fact, the mise en scene will be most gorgeous, and far eclipsing, in splendor, anything attempted heretofore. MILITARY LITERATURE.-American papers are remarking on the absence of all literary effort in the Crimea, and are therein noting-very much to their surroundings of an American and of an English own glory-a characteristic difference between the army. The contrast is fair. The self-laudation is not unjust. Our readers know that when the Yankees marched into Mexico they carried with them a printing press, and published a newspaper along the line of invasion. Across prairies, through dangerous passes, over mountain ranges, sometimes on mules, oftener on men's shoulders, occasionally in wagons-travelled press, paper, type and ink-editors, contributors, and pressmen-fighting, foraging, writing, working onward. uses of the press. It carried orders through the camp. Every morning the soldier read in it the Diplo-zettes. It disseminated orders of the day; it perstory of the previous day. It anticipated the ga Meteorological Essays of Francis Arago. Westminster and other Historical Sketches, by W. D. Arnold. Memoirs of Joseph Rene Billot, with a Journal of his Voyage. 2 vols. Little Willie, by Margaret Brewster, the sensible author of Work and a Plenty of it. Victoria, Past and Present, by Robert Caldwell. A new edition of Chaucer, edited by Bell. Embassies and Foreign Courts, a History of macy, by a Roving Englishman. A reprint of the Female Life among the Mormons, by an Elder's Wife. Patriarch, or the Family, its Constitution and Probation, by Rev. Dr. Harris. A Translation of Hegel's Subjective Logic. General Klapka's History of the War in the East. Recollections of Russia, by a German Nobleman. den. Mrs. Trollope's new novel, Gertrude. It is understood that the two volumes of Macaulay's History, so long expected, will be published before Christmas. They were in press some time ago, but on the discovery of some important documents, the fourth volume was withdrawn and almost entirely re-written. A new edition of Lord Brougham's works is now in progress of publication. Dickens has announced a new serial novel. The entire works of Prof. Wilson are in process of publication, under the editorship of Prof. Ferrier. The first volume contains part of the Noctes, and is very favorably received. The whole edition will extend to twelve volumes. It is now denied that Mr. Stanley is editor of the Quarterly. It is edited by Rev. Whitwell Elwyn. The Director of the Academy of Music has received, per Atlantic, the original engagements, duly signed, by the following artists: 1. MLLE. DERLI-PATANIA, Prima Donna, from the Italian Opera in Madrid. 2. SIGNOR SALVIANI, first Tenor, from the Grand Theatre of La Pergola, in Florence. 3. SIGNOR CASPANI, first Basso, from the Italian Opera in Milan. 4. MLLE. VENTALDI, Seconda Donna and Contralto, from the Italian Opera in Bologna. The company at the Academy is now one of the strongest that can be gathered together by any manager. It possesses three Prime Donne, three Contralti, two first Tenors, three Baratoni, three Bassi, and a magnificent Orchestra and Chorus, numbering upwards of one hundred competent individuals. The entire number employed exceeds two hundred persons. Infinite were the opinion in the army; made known every want; petuated the gossip of the camp; reflected public and animated every heart. supplied every information; exercised, inspired, Had the Americans been in the Crimea, they would have had daily papers at Balaklava, Eupatoria, Yenikale, and Constantinople; and these papers reflecting the humors, incidents and life of the camp-would have ranked among the best historical documents on the war. As it is, our soldiers in the Crimea are indebted to the London Journals for authentic information of what occurs in the camp itself, and within a mile or two of their own tents. Jonathan is far ahead of us in some respects.—Athenæum. A DANISH TRANSLATION OF BANCROFT'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.-To Mr. Bancroft, and through him to American literature, the compliment has recently been paid of a Danish translation of his History of the United States, three volumes of which have already appeared in Copenhagen, the first in 1853, and the second and third in 1854. A good deal of interest in the history of our country and her institutions is felt in Denmark, which the appearance of this translation cannot fail to augment. The Danish work bears the title, "De forenede Staters Historie, fra Opdagelsen af det Americanske Fastland, af George Bancroft. Oversat af Chr. Wulff." We understand that Mr. Wulff is a man of great accomplishments and perfect knowledge of the English language; he has the highest admiration for the progress of freedom in America, and his labor in his excellent translation has been one of enthusiasm and love. M. ROLLE, author of two esteemed works, "Histoire des Religions de la Gréce," and "Recherches sur le culte de Bacchus," has just died at a very advanced age. He was a noted antiquary, and was for some years librarian of the city of Paris. M. DE QUATREFAGES, member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, has been nominated Professor of Anthropology in the Museum of Natural History in that city, in the room of M. Serres. Ar a sale of autograph letters in London, recently, a characteristic note from Benjamin Franklin brought one pound nineteen shillings. It ran: "Mr. Strahan: You are a Member of Parliament, and one of that majority which has doomed my country to destruction. You have begun to burn our towns and murder our people. Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations! You and I were long friends; you are now my enemy and I am Yours, B. FRANKLIN." THE chair of the practice of medicine in the University of Edinburgh is at present vacant, in consequence of the resignation of Dr. Alison, who has long occupied a place in the very highest ranks of the medical profession in England. Dr. Alison has been connected with the University of Edinburgh for thirty-seven years. He is a brother of Sheriff Sir Archibald Alison, the celebrated historian of the last European war. AMONG the new works announced by the principal London publishers, are the following: Memoirs of Lieut. Bellot, with his Journal of a Voyage in the Polar Seas in Search of Sir John Franklin. The Greek New Testament, edited from Ancient Authorities, with Various Readings, and the Latin Version of Jerome, by S. P. Tregelles, LL.D., of which a Prospectus and Specimen Pages of the Work are issued. Historical Cities of Eastern Europe. Four Lectures, illustrative of the Past and Present of Turkey, Russia, Austria, Hungary, and Poland; with a Fifth Lecture on the Character and Career of Nicholas, late Emperor of Russia, by Washington Wilks, author of "A History of the Half Century," &c. The Crimean Enterprise; What Should have beeu Done, and What Might be Done, by Capt. Gleig, 92d Highlanders. The Food of London; a Sketch of the Past History, Chief Varieties, Sources of Supply, Modes of Production, Probable Quantities, Means of Transport, and Machines of Distribution of the Food and Beverages for a Community of two millions and a half, by George Dodd. Essays on the Early Period of the French Revolution; originally contributed to the " Quarterly Review," collected and arranged by the Rt. Hon. J. W. Croker. A View of the Brazils, seen through a Naval Glass with Notes on Slavery and the Slave Trade, by Edw. Wilberforce, late of H. M. Navy. An Outline of the Constitutional History and Existing Government of the British Dependencies; with the Orders in Council, Statutes, and Parliamentary Documents relating to each Dependency, by Arthur Mille, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language; a new edition, founded on that of 1773 (the last published in Dr. Johnson's lifetime), of which the Text will be verbally and literally given, with the incorporation of the new matter contained in Dr. Todd's Edition, and with numerous other emendations and additions, by R. G. Latham, M.D., in 3 vols. 4to. A Portion of the Journal kept by Thomas Raikes, Esq., from 1831 to 1847; comprising Reminiscences Catharine; or, Egyptian Slavery in 1852, by W. J. Beaumont, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Lives of Distinguished Scientific Men; to which are prefixed, Arago's History of My Own Life, and lated by Baden Powell, F.R.S., Rear-Adm. W. H. Humboldt's Preface to the collected Works, transSmyth, and R. Grant, Esq., M.A. Mr. Ruskin is again at work as an illustrator of the genius of Turner. Some drawings by the great master of landscape-twelve in number, but not equally finished representing the Harbors of England-are in Mr. Ruskin's hands for critical elucidation. The scenes are crowded with boats, as in Turner's "Coast Scenery ;" and the circumstance has supplied the commentator with an unworn and picturesque topic-the history of boatbuilding in relation to Art in all ages. The work, we understand, is likely to appear in the autumn. Besides the sum of 5,000l. given to Captain M'Clure for his Arctic services, a further sum of 5,000l. has been voted to his officers and crew, and 8001. for the erection of a monument to the memory of Sir John Franklin and his companions, which will be placed, very appropriately, in Greenwich Hospital. Science has sustained a loss in the death of the naturalist, Dr. George Johnston, which took place at Berwick-on-Tweed, on July 30th, in the fiftyeighth year of his age. He is known by his works on various branches of natural history. M. A. Dumas has been appointed by the French Government to collect all the popular ballad poetry of the South of France. Sir John Herschel has been elected Foreign Corresponding Member of the French Academy of Sciences, the place having become vacant by the death of M. Gauss. Mr. Thackeray is announced in the list of lecturers at the Mercantile Library Association, New His lectures will be York, for the winter season. prepared specially for the United States. His subject is "The Four Georges," an excellent subject in such peculiar hands. A young naturalist, Mr. N. H. Mason, whose acquirements are certified by some of our highest authorities, is about to visit the Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Islands for the purpose of scientific research. Mr. Mason has already made himself familiar with Madeira, and his object is to make extensive collections of shells, plants, insects, and other specimens of natural productions-for institutions and for private collections. A new work, entitled "Modern Pilgrims," by the author of "Peter Schlemihl in America," is in press and will be published early in October next. The Rochester American answers the query: Who wrote Peter Schlemihl ?" by stating that the author's name is GEORGE WOOD, a native of Massachusetts; but who has been a resident of Washington for many years. ECLECTIC MAGAZINE OF FOREIGN LITERATURE, SCIENCE AND ART. DECEMBER, 1855. From the Westminster Review. THE LONDON DAILY PRESS. * "Ir is soothing to contemplate the head | of the Ganges," says Elia, in his pleasant gossiping Essay on Newspapers, " to trace the first little bubblings of a mighty river, 'With holy reverence to approach the rocks Whence glide the streams renowned in ancient song."" But Charles Lamb's remarks did not go quite so far back into the history of newspapers as any reader not familiar with the quaint style of Elia might have anticipated from so grand an opening. All he proposed to do was merely to call up sundry reminiscences of his own early labors as a contributor of "witty paragraphs" to the Post, the Albion, and other morning papers, at the end of last century. Instead of poring over that portion of Dr. Burney's curious old file of dumpy quartos, ranging from 1632 to 1703, in which "the first little bubblings of a mighty river" may be traced, he confined himself to what he could remember of the newspaper press as it existed in that golden age, when Coleridge and he spent such 1. The Fourth Estate. By FREDERICK KNIGHT HUNT. London. 1850. 2. The Times. 1788-1855. VOL. XXXVI.-NO. IV. pleasant evenings in the little smoky parlor at the Cat and Salutation Tavern, Newgate street, and when James Macintosh, a briefless barrister, was writing high-flown philosophical leaders for the Oracle. Up to 1839 (when Mr. Watts, of the British Museum, exposed the forgery) the world was led to believe that the first English newspaper appeared in 1588. "We the prudence of Burleigh for the first newspaper," says Mr. Disraeli, in his "Curiosities of Literature." "The epoch of the British Armada is also the epoch of a genuine newspaper. In the British Museum are several newspapers which were printed when the Spanish fleet was in the English Channel, during the year 1588. It was a wise policy to prevent, during a moment of general anxiety, the danger of false reports, by publishing real information." Unfortunately for all these fine speculations, it has been ascertained that The English Mercurie, which Mr. George Chalmers first discovered on the shelves of the British Museum, and which was said to have been "imprinted at London by her highness's printer, 1588," was a forgery, for which the second Earl of Hardwicke appears to be answerable. Those are indebted to the wisdom of Elizabeth and 64 This forgery being disposed of, one naturally inquires whether more recent inquiries have set the question at rest as to when the first printed newspaper made its appearance in this country. Mr. Knight Hunt, in his "Fourth Estate," speaks confidently as to the precise year in which this remarkable event took place. "There is now no reason to doubt," he says, "that the puny ancestor of the myriads of broad sheets of our time was published in the metropolis in 1622; and that the most prominent of the ingenious speculators who offered the novelty to the world, was one Nathaniel Butter." As the printing press had then been at work in England for a century and a half, Caxton having established himself in Westminster Abbey in 1471, and as manuscript newsletters had been current for many years previous to 1622, one cannot help wondering that the inventive wits of that age should have been so slow in finding out this excellent mode of turning Faust's invention to profitable account. Butter's journal was called-THE WEEKLY NEWES, a name which still survives, although the original possessor of that title has long since gone the way of all newspapers. The first number in the British Museum collection bears date the 23d of May, 1622, and contains "news from Italy, Germanie," &c. The last number made its appearance on the 9th of January, 1640; a memorable year, in which the Short Parliament, dismissed by King Charles "in a huff," after a session of three weeks, was succeeded by the Long Parliament, which unlucky Charles could not manage quite so easily. That the only newspaper in England, after having contrived to live for eighteen years, should not have been able to extend its circulation and improve its position," as the organ of some party or other during that stirring age, does not say much for the quidnuncs of 1640. It was nearly a century after The Weekly Newes made its first appearance, before a daily newspaper was attempted. When weekly papers had become firmly established, some of the more enterprising printers began to publish their sheets twice, and ultimately three times a week. Thus at the beginning of last century we find several papers informing the public that they are "published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday morning." One of the most respectable looking was entitled, The New State of Europe, or a True Account of Public Transactions and Learning. It consisted of two pages of thin, coarse paper, very inferior to the worst American newspaper of the present day, and contained altogether about as much matter as there is in a single column of the Times of 1855. The custom at that period was to publish the newspaper on a folio or quarto sheet, two pages of which were left blank to be used for correspondence. This is expressly stated in a standing advertisement in The New State of Europe, in which the names of certain booksellers are given "where any person may have this paper with a blank half sheet to write their own private affairs." The Tatler, which was first published in 1709-10, in the newspaper form, and which frequently contained items of foreign intelligence, makes a similar announcement. to its readers. The late Mr. Knight Hunt, in his contributions towards a history of newspapers, called "The Fourth Estate," commits the very strange blunder of post-dating the origin of the daily newspaper no less than seven years. After referring to various transactions during the early part of the reign of Queen Anne, in which Parliament and the Press were at war with each other, he remarks that-" The many circumstances which had stimulated the productions of journals, had not up to this period induced the appearance of a daily paper. That was a step in advance, reserved for the reign when the victories of Marlborough and Rooke, the political contests of Godolphin and Bolingbroke, and the writings of Addison, Pope, Prior, Congreve, Steele, and Swift, created a mental activity in the nation which could not wait from week to week for its news. Hence, the appearance of a morning paper in 1709, under the title of the Daily Courant." What a pity the writer of these finely-turned sentences did not take the trouble of looking over the file of old newspapers in the British Museum, before he let them go forth to the world! Had he done so, he would have found that the first number of the Daily Courant was published on the 11th of March, 1702, just three days after the accession of Queen Anne; and that, previous to its appearance the nation had no need to "wait from week to week for its news;" as there were several tri-weekly newspapers then in existence similar to the one we have already mentioned. : Mr. Cobden's beau ideal of a newspaper | ant contains only nine paragraphs, five of is, a collection of news from all parts of the which were translated from the Harlem world, without any impertinent remarks in Courant, three from the Paris Gazette, and the shape of editorial note or comment. The one from the Amsterdam Courant. They all "author" of the Daily Courant, as he styles relate to the war of the Spanish Succession himself in the prospectus of that journal, then waging, or to the attempts making by appears to have anticipated the member for diplomatists to settle the affairs of the Conthe West Riding in his limited notion of what tinent at some kind of Vienna or Utrecht a newspaper ought to be. In that announce- Conference. After adhering for several weeks ment, which occupies nearly one-fourth part to the strict rule of giving only one page of of the first number, he says:news, and those entirely foreign, the Courant begins to show certain symptoms of improvement. The number for April 22, contains cluding the following scrap of domestic intwo pages of news and advertisements, intelligence, which, however, is only a hearsay: -"London, April 22. We hear the Marquess of Normanby is made Lord Privy Seal." The alteration in the getting-up of the Courant was owing to a change of proprietorship. The paper had now come into the hands of "Sam Buckley, at the Dolphin, Little Britain," and he being a shrewd, practical man of business, the rigid Cobden method of conducting a daily newspaper was given up, having doubtless been found to work rather unpromisingly as a commercial speculation. "It will be found from the Foreign Prints, which from time to time, as occasion offers, will be mentioned in this paper, that the author has taken care to be duly furnished with all that comes from abroad in any language. And for an assurance that he will not under any pretence of having private intelligence, impose any additions of feigned circumstances to an action, but give his extracts fairly and impartially; at the beginning of each article he will quote the Foreign Paper from whence it is taken, that the public seeing from what country a piece of news comes, with the allowance of that Government, may be better able to judge of the credibility and fairness of the relation. Nor will he take upon himself to give any comments or conjectures of his own, but will relate only matter of fact; supposing other people to have sense enough to make reflections for themselves. This is Mr. Cobden's precise definition of a newspaper. He looks upon leading articles as only calculated to mislead. As a general rule, editors are either ignorant or unprincipled, in his estimation, and therefore he would abolish that department altogether. A plain recital of facts, as well authenticated as possible, is all that he would like to see given by any broadsheet. Not a word of comment or explanation ought to be offered by a mere editor. All such "impertinences, as the Courant styles them, Mr. Cobden would reserve for members of Parliament, whose peculiar province has been most daringly encroached upon of late years by the Fourth Estate. As regards the form and size of the new journal, the "author" condescends to give the following information, with a growling remark at the impertinence of the Postboys, Posten, Mercuries, and Intelligencers of that day- This Courant (as the title shows) will be published Daily, being designed to give all the Material News as soon as every Post arrives, and is confined to half the compass to save the Public at least half the Impertinences of ordinary Newspapers." Growing bolder by degrees, the new "author" ventures to throw the Harlem Courant overboard in some numbers. Thus we find him, a few months later, instead of filling his two pages with meagre humdrum quotations from French and Dutch journals, dashing into foreign affairs in the following sensible style: "The descent of the Duke of Ormond in the Bay of Cadiz being the most considerable enterprise that the English have undertaken abroad for the last hundred years, we cannot doubt but that the public will be better pleased with a description of that island and city, which may be advice that is come already and that is further exof some use for the clearer understanding of the pected from thence; than with any that we could draw out of the last Foreign Prints and Newsletters, even tho' we had not given already what is most material in them." This is followed by a very interesting description of the place, and a plan of the city and fortifications of Cadiz, something after the manner in which such plans are given in the Illustrated London News and other picture newspapers of the present day. Mr. Samuel Buckley, who continued to publish and conduct the Daily Courant for many years, was a notable man among LonIn addition to the Prospectus we have don publishers, as we find from various refquoted, the first number of the Daily Cour-erences to him in the fugitive literature of |