) 
I 
English Travelers AND Tta 1 . 1 ax Bp.Ui.vxps. A Nar¬ 
rative of Capture and Captivity. By W. J. C. 
MpBKS. With a Map ana several Illustrations. 
[8vo—pp. 356.] New York: Harper .v Brothers. 
Tin- is a volume of much interest, made up, as it 
is of occurraueea among the brigands in the moun¬ 
tains sronud Palermo daring a captivity of several 
months in the year 1S05, The author and his wife, 
accompanied by a clergyman and wife, left Salermo ou 
the lftth of May with the intention of visitiDg the 
ruins at Palestine. They rode in a carriage, escorted 
by soldiers and reached the place in safety—the sol¬ 
diers returning whnece they came. The day was 
spent among the rains, but on their return in the 
evening they were ambushed by about thirty armed 
brigands and the male portion of the party made 
prisoners and marched oti' to the mountains. The 
next day the clergy man returned, but his companion, 
the author of the volume, was detained for raaeom, 
and remained a prisoner till the latter part of August, 
whvn by paying some thirty thousand dollars he was 
liberated. The book will be read with interest. For 
sale by Steele & Avert. 
Prison' Life at the South : At. Richmond, Macon, 
Savannah. Charleston, Columbia, Raleigh, Char¬ 
lotte, Golduborough and Andersonvilie, during the 
the years lSrtl and 18HC>. By O. A. Abbott, late 
Lieutenant First New York Dragoons. With illus¬ 
trations. [12tno.—pp. ST4.] New York: Harper & 
Brothers.—1865, 
This volume embraces the experience and observa¬ 
tion of a Lieutenant in tbc First N. Y. Dragoons, who 
was taken prisoner during the first day’s fight known 
as the “Battle of the Wilderness.'’ ne was hurried 
forward to Richmond and placed in the “Libby,” and 
thence sent South, becoming in turn au occupant of 
several other prisons. He describes prison life, in all 
of them, and speaks of the “ Rebels " with a hatred 
which would have warmed the heart of Dr. John¬ 
son' in one of his most morose moods. The book 
abounds in incident, aud, no doubt, will find numer¬ 
ous readers. For sale by Steele & Avert. 
Gar - lands of im - tr.or - tal bloom, That shall live when stars have fa - ded, Yes! shall live be - yond the 
Join the cho - rus loud and free, Till the blue-arched dome is ring-ing With our song of jh - 
Love for ge - n’rou3 deeds is 
Now to thep we raise our 
Ra - diant beam 3 of joy are dan - cing Bright - ly o’er life’s sil - ver stream; Thou - sand buds of hope are spring-ing, Fair as forms of child - hood’s dream. 
’Tis the 
nous jtj 
See the noon - day sun 
ted thron 
Mid these clas. sic halls where me -. m’ry Lin - gers near, with hal - lowed son. 
Kin - dred smiles and tones we greet. 
4. Life has high - er, ho - lier ho - nors, Than the war - rior’s bla - zoned name, Or the glow - ing gol - den pe - tals Of the lau - rel wreath of 
5. Fa-ther smile up - on us fond - ly, From thy throne of light a - hove-, Strew our path with rich - est bles - sings; Crown us with thy heav’n - ly 
Allegro. 
Histohy of Frederick the Second, called Fred¬ 
erick the Great. By Thomas Cabltle, In six 
volnmeB. Volume VI. New York: Harper & 
Brothers.—1860. 
This is the closing one of a scries of very interest¬ 
ing volumes devoted to the sayings and acts of one 
of the most remarkable monarelis known to modern 
history. With it terminates the “ Seven Years War 
Poland being the sacrifice by means of which the 
long struggle was closed, and with it too ends the 
life of the Great Prussian Monarch, Warrior, States¬ 
man and Scholar. Appended to the history Is a large 
amount of miscellaneous reading La reference to men 
and tilings or that day, not the least inviting portion 
of the book. It is prefaced with a spirited equestrian 
portrait of the King as he appeared at the age of 73 
years. Sold by Steele & Avery. 
A Narrative of Andeusonville : Drawn from the 
evidence elicited or* the Trial of Henry Wirz the 
Jailor: With the Argument of Col. N. P. Chifman, 
Judge Advocate. By Ambrose SfekceB, [Svo.— 
pp. iff..] New York: Harper & Brothers.—-1866. 
The author, in his preface to the book under notice, 
does not protend to have been a prisoner himself in 
Andersonvilie or any other place, but was a resident 
near that, prison. IBs facta are derived from the evi¬ 
dence famished on the Wirz trial, and such reports 
and observations as his proximity to Andersonvilie 
enabled him to receive and make during the contin¬ 
uance of that prison. He adds:—“The entire evi¬ 
dence taken on the trial was too voluminous to be 
given in detail,” hence the condensation of the facts 
and the narrative style in which they are given, 
Steele & Avery sell it. 
The Hidden Sln- A Novel. With numerous illus¬ 
trations. [pp. 181).] New York: Harper & Bros. 
This volume presents, in a complete form, a serial 
story of a readable character. Its characters are 
taken mainly from the monied or banking class, em¬ 
bracing alike the Jew and the Geutlle, brought, into 
personal relations by means of those or business. 
One of the latter finding himself on the verge of 
bankruptcy has a chance of preserving his reputation 
by the commission of a murder and robbery, and 
improves it. He removes from Dublin to London, 
and prospers. Is unhappy amid his wealth, and seeks 
to atone for his crime and quiet his conscience by 
supplying aid, anonymously, to the family of his vic¬ 
tim. The incidents and characters connected with 
these efforts at reformation possess considerable dra¬ 
matic interest. Steele & Avert. 
Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War. By Her¬ 
man Melville. [pp. 272.] New York: Harper & 
Brothers. 
As its title would indicate, this volume Is made up 
of pieces suggested by the different phases of the 
conflict which culminated with the abandonment of 
Richmond. They were composed, as a brief preface 
announces, without reference to collective arrange¬ 
ment, hence claim no particular continuity as re¬ 
spects the war, whose incidents suggested the several 
themes on which the Battle-Pieces are predicated. 
They will be found of a spirited character. The sup¬ 
plemental prose chapter which concludes the volume 
will attract the attention of the considerate reader. 
Steele & Avery. 
- «■*« 
Inside: A Chronicle of Secession. By Georoe 
F. Harrington. With Illustrations by Thomas 
Nast. [16mo.—pp. 225.] New York: Harper & 
Brothers.—1S66, 
This is a re-print from Harper’s Weekly, in which 
the story was published serially, and concluded a 
short time einco. In the preface it is stated that the 
book was written in one of the centers of secession. 
Begun at the outset, it grew with the growth thereof 
and closed with the ending. Though presented under 
the Ehield of fiction, and partaking of the plot and 
incident common to such productions, it claims to ' 
possess all the truthlalnees of history. Sold by 
Steele & Avery. 
Puelip Earxscliffe ; Or, The Morals of May Fair. 
A Novel. By Mrs. Edwards. New York: The 
American News Company. 
Numerous characters are placed on the stage to 
work out the plot of this piece, but the execution of 
the parts fails to impress very favorably. The 
leading characters are both exaggerations, it is to be 
hoped, even in the society of May Fair. What par¬ 
ticular moral the writer designed to inculcate is not 
readily perceptible to us, but others muy be more for¬ 
tunate, in the perusal, and find it, Some of the sub¬ 
ordinate characters arc life-Uke, having many counter¬ 
parts iu society other than. “May Fair.” For sale 
by E. Barrow & Kejipshall, 
Trusting to luck i3 trusting to time, and time 
is the most unreliable of all things with its 
fruits. 
Sle QicftVfUv. 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
A BACHELOR’S DRIFTING. 
IV.—Another Nod ut Cincinnati. 
Tom has given me some pictures, drawn by 
the truest of artists, the sun, the original of one 
of which — a heap of ruins — is before me now. 
I remember Pike’s Opera House as if I were 
hero but yesterday. The magnificent interior, 
unsurpassed by any I have ever seen, with the 
gorgeously frescoed auditorium, and the im¬ 
mense stage, whereon the great ones of the world 
of mimicry have “strutted their little hour” 
for us who looked and listened entranced, and 
sighed when it was over, and carried away some¬ 
thing to think ou and never forget —all is gone 
now, and I am standing across the street in the 
blindingly practical sunlight, watching the men 
who are excavating among the mosses of ruins, 
thinking how hard it seems that the terrible de¬ 
vouring element should carry away Into noth¬ 
ingness all the glory and the splendor in which 
so many thousands had delighted. 
I fear we too often forget to “hold every 
earthly joy with a loose hand." We grasp some 
of them so tightly, that when they are taken 
away, they leave bleeding, as well as tears. We 
let them go, because we must. Yet we shall 
one day find our compensation—sometime exult 
with the poet’s “Jubilate," 
“ To-day a 3ong is on my lips: 
Earth seems a paradise to me: 
For God is good, and lo, my ships 
Are coming home from sea; ” 
Then, like Richard Cabstone, we shall begin 
the world. But not this world—0, no. The 
world that rights this. 
It is a grandly peculiar edifice that I have run 
across now, as I am loitering about with Tom. 
I rub my eyes to make sure that t have not been 
suddenly transported far eastward, for it is a 
real Sarcenic exterior that meets our gaze. Tom 
tells me it is the new Synagogue, to cost a mint 
of money, almost, and to be inside, when com¬ 
pleted, most artistically magnificent. We try to 
catch a peep through some chink of the closely 
boarded doors, on which appears conspicuously 
“No Admittance,” but only get our labor for 
our pains. So we move on, stopping here and 
there to admire the innumerable and beautiful 
buildings which make up the Queen City of tire 
West. 
How much we dig and delve amidst our earth- 
llness,—agonize after gold, and lame, and honor, 
only half believing “ A man’s life consisteth not 
in the abundance of the things which he pos¬ 
sessed, ” that rings through the fierce fever of 
the world. We lay up our best treasures where 
so much blights them, changes them, destroys 
them,—here, where everything seems in our 
distorted sight so tangible and real. We forget 
“the land that is very far off” is the reality. 
But when these shadows, which even through 
a glass darkly appear so glorious, so beautiful, 
so uufathomable, are all done, the vail will be 
forever rent away from tired eyes, and we shall 
look where the golden pencil of the Bun of 
Righteousness has written the Evermore of 
Eternity. 
The Young Men’s Library Rooms, with their 
wealth of accumulation, where one may while 
away the pleasantest hours with those friends 
who talk so excellent well in the silence, and 
whom, if they tire us, we can shut up at once, 
with no fear of hurting their feelings, — do not 
seem as natural as they used. Perhaps circum¬ 
stances have created a different atmosphere, 
have woven other surroundings, have changed 
cveu these quiet lounging halls. That sincere, 
true, honest gentleman, who had a smile and a 
word for every one, whose librarian-face was 
once so dearly familiar, has gone from earth. 
Who docs not remember Sylvester Taylor : 
with something more than regret? 
Circumstances ? Ah, even the First Napo¬ 
leon, with all his greatness, could not alter i 
them. While he boasted of being their master, 
he was their veriest slave. I have often thought 
that the seemingly contrary ideas of predestina¬ 
tion and free will might be easily reconciled. 
We are like men who are taking a voyage iu the 
Great Eastern. We have plenty of room to 
walk about,—that’s our free will; at the same 
time we must be carried on with the vessel,— 
that’s the predestination. Our will is limited 
by the sides of the ship: a Higher Power inex¬ 
orably compels us to go forward with it. “ And 
so wc pass the old life ol the dead time, and be¬ 
gin the new life of the living time—always the 
present, lighted with the soul of the future.” 
There is a great bookstore not far from the 
buried Opera House, where at times you maysec 
artists, poet?, and all sorts of distinguished char¬ 
acters. I have loitered in once or twice, looking 
and longing, and wishing I possessed just a few of 
the treasures which crowd the shelves. If they 
could be had as cheap as the wishing, they Bhould 
be mine,—with the humblest thanks. 
The long-thought-of Suspension Bridge is 
slowly growing into a completed reality. It is 
to bo finished—I really don’t know when. After 
seeing it, one brings away very little of an 
idea, except of jumbled grandness. If it were 
not iA»r these possible realizations of human 
ambmon we might bo very badly off. Our 
pleasure Is mostly in anticipation. The grapes 
if unattainable are bitterly sour, if reached too 
easily, are sic-kiahly sweet, if gained by a life¬ 
long effort, we feel they never reward the toil. 
The old place where I had a corner is little 
changed. Most of those who were there with 
me have gone their ways. I hear of one who is 
married — another dead— George Is down in 
Arkansas; Crit in Nashville,— piling up straws 
to be blown away by some stiff gale, themselves 
may weather. Only the few grave, elderly 
heads of the departments look familiar, and I 
turn with an Involuntary, half-sigh, not ef regret 
for the old times, but an audible remembrance 
of something vaguely inexpressible. 
It is the fir3t really warm day that has blessed 
the town this half-week I have been lounging 
here, and Dwight has enlisted me to take a 
stroll. We hunt for something we can’t find, 
get cross, scold, and feel better. Then a few of 
us sit down to a quiet bachelor “corned beef 
and cabbage.” 
And there comes back to tne a story I once 
read in an old volume ol Blackwood, “The 
First and Last Dinner," and I feel that we who 
talk so jokingly and lightly this beautiful sum¬ 
mer day may never so meet again. Y et there are 
no tears, except they may be in the heart; if 
there is melancholy, no glad face shows it, but 
with a twinkle in the eye and a jest on the lip 
we say—“Good-bye.” 
Something is done with, now, forever, and as 
the Night Express slowly crawls out of the city, 
over it like a pall, the thick smokiness settles — 
Into the deepening twilight — into the shadow 
of the hills—so quiet aud peaceful in the loom¬ 
ing distance. 1 am Northward bound —and, 
wafted like a benediction from what is left be¬ 
hind, comes the last “ Good-bye.” 
1 O. von K, 
NOTED NOSES. 
An anonymous writer in an English maga¬ 
zine discourses very learnedly and eloquently ou 
the noses of celebrated characters, as follows: 
When I had pondered Lavator, and surveyed 
antiquities iu stone aud bronze, frescoes and 
vases, I looked into the collections of portraits 
of distinguished men, looking especially, as wo 
always do, aud must look, at the most promi¬ 
nent feature. What wonderful noses they have! 
There was not such a nose in all Europe, In his 
time, as that worn upon the face of the Emper¬ 
or Charles V.; and those of Henry IV., Pope 
Alexander VII., Charles XII., of Sweden, and 
Frederick XL, of Prussia, were scarcely lw s re¬ 
markable. The fierce nose of the youthful Na¬ 
poleon, compacted into the massive one of the 
Emperor; and then, for a soldierly and heroic 
nose, where would you look for a finer one than 
that which marked, among a million, the strik¬ 
ing face of 'Wellington ? All that was great in 
firmness, patience and heroism In the character 
of Washington is stamped on his prominent, and 
handsome nose. 
Look now at the beautiful noses of the poets. 
Tasso, Dante, Petrarch, have noses like the gods 
of immortal verse. Our own bards arc in no 
way deficient. Study the portraits of Chaucer, 
Shakspeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope, aud so 
down to the present laureate, Tennyson. See 
also Moliere, Voltaire, Erasmus, Pascal, and 
Schiller —all men of genius, but how varied! 
But there is not a greater variety iu character 
than In that feature which the ancients called 
“ honeetammlim faciei which is all that, and 
something more. Could Schiller’s bust change 
noses with Voltaire’s? Try the experiment, 
and if it proves satisfactory I will abandon the 
theory, aud call science a cheat, and nature an 
IrapoBter, aDd Lavater a dupe and u donkey. 
Show me a thief with the nose of Algernon Sid¬ 
ney ; show me an empty fop, if there be any yet 
extant, with the nose of Lord Bacon; or some 
soft, poltroon with the profile of Phillip the Bold, 
or Elliott, the hero of Glbraiter; find me in a 
group of costermongers and potboys the noses 
of Cuto and Cicero, Locke and Johnson, Loyola, 
Titian, Michael Angelo, or Lord Brougham, and 
you may have my head for a foot-ball, and do 
what you like with the special honestainenlum. 
‘ HEADING NORTH, 
A man who lately died in Europe at the age of 
109 years, attributes his longevity to the fact 
that he always slept with his head to the north. 
In this country, a few years ago, not a few per¬ 
sons found it necessary to head north to preserve 
their health and even life itself. The author of 
“Researches on Magnetism,” says“ So far as 
jny own observations have gone, I know that 
ray sleep is always more sound and refreshing 
when my head is placed to the north. There 
are persons whom I know, the head to whose 
beds is to the north, and who, in order to wake 
early, will reverse their usual position in the 
bed, but not knowing the reason why, beyond 
that they could always wake earlier, the rest 
(sleep) being more broken. 1 have it related to 
me that, at a military hospital in Russia, there 
were some sick patients of highly sensitive na¬ 
tures and who were rapidly recovering. When 
necessity compelled them to be removed to an¬ 
other wing of the building they did not get on 
60 well; in fact, prostration seemed to be set¬ 
ting in; and It was found advisable to get them 
back to their former wards as quickly as possi¬ 
ble, where the hcad3 of the beds were to the 
north.” 
THE ICHNEUMON. 
Dr. Trimble of Newark, N. J., one of our 
leading entomologists, writes: — “ The most 
important agent iu the regulation of the insect 
world is au order peculiar to insects. Wo have 
nothiug corresponding to It In the other depart¬ 
ments of animated creation. They are some¬ 
times called parasites, but not correctly. 
Parasites are everywhere; even vegetables have 
them. The mistletoe is a parasite. But these 
are not necessarily destructive to the life ot the 
victim. The ichneumon is. I allude to those 
peculiar tiles—was£>-shaped aud with four wings 
— that deposit their eggs in the bodies of other 
insects—the young feeding upon the living flesh 
of these victims, and upon which they grow to 
maturity. This seems a strange Providence and 
hard to comprehend—but still it Is so. Without 
such an agent the Hessian fly would have de¬ 
stroyed the wheat crops of this country, but 
with it the Hessian fly was controlled in a siDgle 
season, and has been kept In check for fifty 
years. Thousands of other insects that would 
Boon be troublesome are controlled in the same 
way, and so quietly that wo hardly know how.” 
»» » ■ — 
THE ROMAN BED-TIME. 
An immense majority of men in Rome never 
lighted a candle, unless sometimes at early dawn. 
And the custom of Rome was the custom also 
of all nations that lived around tho great pond 
of the Mediterranean. In Athens, Egypt, Pales¬ 
tine, Asia Minor, everywhere, the ancients went 
to bed, like good boys, from seven to nine 
o’clock. The Turks and other people, who suc¬ 
ceeded in the stations aud the habits of the an¬ 
cients, do so at this day. 
The Roman, therefore, who saw no joke in sit¬ 
ting round a table in the dark, went off to bed 
as the darkness began. Everybody did so. Old 
Numa PompUiua himself was obliged to trundle 
off in the dark. Tarqulnlus might be a very su¬ 
perb fellow; but wo doubt whether he ever saw 
a farthing rush-light. And though it may be 
thought that plots and conspiracies would flour¬ 
ish In such a city of darkness, it is to be consid¬ 
ered that the conspirators themselves had no 
more candles than honest men; both parties 
were in the dark. 
A Genuine Old Fogy.—T here lives a man in 
the town of Marion, Wisconsin, who is sixty 
years old, and who never went to a bar of any 
kind and took a drink of arcTent spirits; never 
attended a theatre or show of any kind; never 
took a chew of tobacco, or smoked a pipe or 
cigar ; never went to a ball, or danced a step; 
nevor played a game of cards, billiards, domi¬ 
noes, dice or checkers, or any game whatever 
that Is played for money; never courted but one 
woman, her he married and lives with yet ; never 
Joined any order or organization except the 
Christian Church, of which he is yet a member, 
and never had his name in a newspaper but once, 
which was when he was married, and so refuses 
to give his name for publication now. 
sy; To each heart bright thoughts dis-clo-sin 
ing Fair - est scenes of ec - sta 
