NOTICES OF LITTELL'S LIVING AGE. 



5T&C 3San .State, Xnnn, J&s. We have been 

 a constant subscriber to this work from its com- 

 mencement, and can join in the high commenda- 

 tions which it calls forth from the press, and all 

 who are fortunate enough to secure it. We would 

 part with most of the magazines of the day. and we 

 can almost say all of them, rather than this. Its 

 great value consists in its judicious and admirable 

 selections from the foreign and domestic magazines. 

 To take all or a part of the journals, monthly or 

 quarterly, which are issued from the teeming press, 

 requires a sum which few persons can afford ; but 

 in the Living Age may be found the cream and 

 spirit of all, at the low price of $6.00 a year, or 

 12 cents a single number. It is published weekly 

 at No. 165 Tremont street, Boston. We consider 

 it the cheapest and the best work of its kind pub- 

 lished in the United States, and have no knowledge 

 of its superior anywhere. 



, 33ranUon, Vt. We rank this 

 remarkably comprehensive publication, in value to 

 the individual reader, far above any other periodi- 

 cal in existence. Indeed, it is scarcely necessary 

 to record this as a matter of private opinion ; it 

 would seem that no two opinions could exist re- 

 specting it, among those who have but glanced at 

 its plan and character. It were not too much to 

 say that no other three periodicals in Europe and 

 America can possibly combine the richly diversified 

 attractions of this compendium of what is best in 

 all. Indeed, if one had access to all the first-class 

 periodicals in the English tongue, it would still be 

 a marvellously profitable bargain (supposing his 

 time to be worth anything) could he employ a man 

 of Mr. Littell's judicious taste, for six dollars a 

 year(!) to select and mark for him as many excel- 

 lent things weekly, as the Living Age presents, at 

 that price especially if, as is the case with most 

 men, that amount were all he could possibly under- 

 take to read ! 



In the Living Age we have never failed to recog- 

 nize the fine gold of the British Quarterly Reviews, 

 extracted with unerring taste, together with gems 

 from a host of less known, though scarcely lesser, 

 lights of literature, which irradiate the circles of 

 culture throughout the three kingdoms such as 

 Chambers' Journal, Tait's, Fraser's, Sharp's, and 

 the Dublin University, Magazines. Nor are the 

 best productions of the Daily Newspaper Press, in 

 our own country and in Europe, denied a place in 

 this all-embracing literary banquet. 



Before proceeding to quote a few passages from 

 the Prospectus of the work, we will add, for the 

 information and wonder of our readers, that as each 

 number contains 48 pages (each page equal to a 

 column of our paper) it is therefore equal to a 

 monthly magazine of 208 pages ! (that is, to three 

 of the largest sized American ornamental maga- 

 zines,) and makes in one year a book (or books) 

 containing 2,496 pages, octavo ! 



Thus, as to cheapness you get, for one dollar and 

 a half, the bulk of a three dollar magazine, in the 

 BEST of the current literature of the English tongue, 

 and upwards in the same proportion. Again. 

 We take now and then a peculiarly rich and rare 

 number of this always unapproachable publication, 

 as the text of an encomium w* could never tire of 

 impressing upon our readers. The number for the 

 week ending May 26th, furnishes eminently one of 

 these fit occasion*. It contains as its chief attrac- 

 tions, among many others nameless, the Poem from 

 Eraser's Magazine which we place on eur last page 



and invite all true lovers of poetry to enjoy at leis 

 ure as one of the most genuine things, in its touch- 

 ing way, that the more immediate day furnishes us : 

 a Tale from Bentley, which with leave of Provi- 

 dence we will not fail to treat our readers to next 

 week, and which will touch with rare delight and 

 instruction every heart endowed with the noblei 

 human feelings; "The Palace of Marly," trans- 

 lated from the French Musie de.s Families, which, 

 like its predecessor from the same source, and of 

 the same type, " The Palace of Fontainbleau" is 

 rich in historical amusement and instruction ; and 

 several short poems of great merit, with Travels, 

 History, European politics, &c., as usual. 



Possibly to some it may seem to require, to make 

 a " Living Age," nothing more than an avalanche 

 of all the great periodicals of tho world, such as Mr. 

 Littell brings into his office by every steamer. No 

 mistake, however, could be more absurd. A recent 

 attempt is now going forward, with signal unsuc- 

 cess, to imitate the design of the Living Age, by a 

 young man of some literary note in N. Y. The 

 exquisite TASTE which makes the compend edited by 

 Mr. Littell almost a perfect eclecticism of the lit- 

 erature of the age, has not been imitated, nor can 

 it easily be, however his general idea may be ap- 

 propriated by others. We draw this contrast, not 

 from any enmity, or want of respect, towards the 

 truly excellent periodical alluded to : but because 

 we prefer to sustain the original and immeasurably 

 superior Eclectic Weekly, in its due position before 

 the public, so far as our slight influence extends. 



(EolonCjation ffieralB. Littell's Living A.ge 

 continues to furnish its usual variety of instructive 

 and seasonable articles, adapted to the mental wants 

 of all classes of readers. In nearly every number, 

 and let it be remembered that every week presents 

 a fresh one, there is a leading paper of pith and 

 moment on some subject of history, or of biogra- 

 phy, or of literary criticism and research, accom- 

 panied with shorter articles on the engrossing 

 themes of the day; whether they be political, or 

 illustrative of practical science and the arts. In 

 the department of what is more commonly spoken 

 of as light reading, we meet with a fair proportion 

 of tales, poetry, and amusing satire. Again. We 

 are glad, after an interruption of several months, 

 by the misapprehension of an agent, to renew our 

 intercourse with this ever pleasant and instructive 

 periodical, of the fortunes of which we had been 

 in ignorance, during the greater part of this time. 



The Living Age is, we are glad to see, con 

 tinued in the same spirit of judicious selection, 

 amid a wide range that includes all the prominett 

 topics which interest mankind, viz., general poli- 

 tics, social progress, literature, and science, 

 the movements and attractions and repulsions of 

 governments and people, the workings of genius 

 and the spread of knowledge by commerce, 

 travel and missionary enterprise. We see in its 

 pages all that Europe is doing, from the protests 

 against the incorporation of Cracow, and the cor- 

 respondence respecting the Montpensier marriage, 

 down to the comicalities of Mrs. Perkin's Ball, 

 with the intermediate rests for retrospective histo- 

 ry, biography, and tales. 



N. 3T. 3&ecofUer. Conducted on a most com- 

 prehensive plan; and with admirable judgment and 

 taste, it is worthy of all the commendations which 

 it has received, and all the patronage which it 

 has won. 



