New Publications

We have received the first–instalmentinstalment​ of this work, upon which Carlyle¹ has been engaged so long and so laboriously and the advent of which has been so anxiously expected by the literary world. A new work by the author of "Sartor Resartos," is no common event under any circumstances, and so much preliminary gossip has found its way from time to time in the public journals in connection with the forthcoming Life of Frederick that the authors'authors​ critics and admirers were on tiptoe with expectation.

Nor have these anticipations been disappointed. The present biography is the product of years of the most profound research, a research conducted with the earnestness of an enthusiast who is in love with his theme, instead of the plodding dullness of the bookmaking Dryasdusts.² The subject is thoroughly exhausted. Commencing with an elaborate historical sketch of the Brandenburgh Electorate³ and the Hohenzollerns,⁴ the most minute details follow of the childhood, youth and early manhood of his hero. When the latter enters this breathing world the Prussian monarch is but twelve years old. The manners and customs of that Court were almost Spartan in their simplicity. Not cradled in luxury by any means was little Frederick,⁵ and frugally brought up was he as regarded dress and diet. His father, Frederick William,⁶ set him to work at French and Mathematics as soon as he was out of long clothes, and put him on a regimen of beer-soup and bread. Then came artillery-drill and exercise, the youth being allowed at the time very little sleep and precious little money. At sixteen he gets to Dresden, and finding there is such a thing as dissipation, the naturally induced results of his early asceticism followed, and he wallowed in debauchery "like a young rhinoceros in a mud-bath," as Carlyle says.

Then comes the history of the dangerous intrigues, and political machinations that disturbed the peace of the Prussian Royal family—of the Queen's desire to fetch about the "double marriage" scheme by which her family would be forever closely bound to England and Hanover—of Austria's intrigues against the scheme and of the troubles produced by this complications. Then follows a vivid description of the curious scenes between the stern, strange old King and the Crown-prince. Frederick, though eighteen years old at this time, is soundly caned by his father and subjected to all manner of indignities. Vile efforts are made to provoke the tyrant sire against the son, and the latter attempts to fly from an authority so hateful to him. That portion of the work which has so far been issued winds up with an account of the communication of this plan to Lieutenant Katte⁷ at Berlin, of the discovery of the correspondence, of the execution of poor Katte, of the condemnation of the Crown Prince also to death, of his subsequent pardon, and of the sequestered life to which he was for some time doomed.

Perhaps the most interesting portion of the narrative is yet to come. The real life of the man is to commence when his marriage is consummated to Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick Bevern⁸—an honest guileless girl, age eighteen, complexion lily and rose. In the present volume the curtain falls to the soft music of marriage epithalamiums—in the next it will arise with the clash of arms and the din of contending hosts.

Mr. Carlyle's style in the present volume—his manner of conducting his narrative—his startling outbursts of eloquence couched in language as startling—his wonderful sketches of character—are all Carlyleish and characteristic. We do not perceive that the hand that penned the "History of the French Revolution," has, as yet, lost anything of its cunning.

Messrs. Harper are publishing the work in their usual neat and handsome style.

ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.—By Elias Loomis, L.L.D. Same publishers.

This is not the first time that Prof. Loomis has appeared before the public in the important department of Natural Philosophy. His scientific writings, which are among the most precise and accurate of their class, occupy a position of their own, which has, we believe, never been called in question. Not only in the class room but in the library are they valuable, and as works of common reference they are among the best extant. The present volume in no respect falls below the standard of its predecessors. It is not an elementary manual only. The leading principles of the science are exhibited in a methodical and comprehensive form, without any use of the mathematics beyond the first elements of Algebra, Geometry and Plain Trigonometry, every principle being enunciated clearly and concisely. Even when the full demonstration involves an acquaintance with the more difficult parts of the mathematics, the author has succeeded in giving an outline of the philosophical principles upon which the mathematical demonstration is founded. While the leading object has been to teach general principles, care has been taken to combine with them a variety of useful information, and particularly to give an account of many recent discoveries in every branch of the science.

SELF-MADE MEN.—By Charles C. B. Seymour. Same Publishers—A volume that will be sure to have a large circulation among the masses from the fact that it consists of the biographies of persons who have gained distinction by dint of hard struggling against unpropitious circumstances. The details of such lives can never fail to interest the minds and hearts of the people. The compiler has made a happy and judicious selection from the ample supply of material at hand. From Burns⁹ to Burritt¹⁰—from Franklin¹¹ to Clay,¹² a complete list is given of men conspicuous for their mental acquirements or attractive for their moral worth, that should be examined and thoughtfully considered by every young and ambitious men in the ordinary ranks of life. The idea of the book was a happy one, happily carried out.

A NEW ILLUSTRATED WORK.—We have received from the publishers, Johnson, Fry and Co. 27 Beekman street, Nos. 3 and 4 of "Battles of the United States by Sea and Land." We have before noticed this handsome serial and find that it fully sustains the expectations raised by the first numbers. The literary merits of the work are considerable, it being from the pen of Mr. Henry Dawson, member of the New York Historical Society, and the illustrations by Chappel are beautifully executed. The present numbers contain engravings of the naval battle between the Constitution and Guerriere, and of General Taylor at the period of his command in Mexico.

GOOD THINGS TO COME.—Philips, Sampson & Co., will shortly publish "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." By Oliver Wendell Holmes.¹³ It is hardly necessary at this late day to say anything in praise of the "Autocrat." No contributions to magazines, either in England or America have ever attained such instant and universal popularity, and it is simply because they have touched the public at the point where all men agree and because they are full of the nature that makes all men kin. Doubtless it will be one of the most successful books ever issued in this country.

The same publishers will also publish on the 13th instant—"Poor and Proud, or the Fortunes of Katy Redburn," a new juvenile. Also "Karl Kiegler" and "Walter Seyton," two attractive books for young people.