A Survey of the Literature of the United States, g BY RUFUS WILMOT GRISWOLD. Published by PARRY & McMILLAN, (successors to A. HART, late CAREY & HART,) Philadelphia. I. THE POETS AND POETRY OF AMERICA. II. THE FEMALE POETS OF AMERICA. THE POETS AND POETRY OF AMERICA, BY RUFUS W. GRISWOLD. Containing Biographical and Critical Memoirs, and the best Poems of all the best Pocts, SIXTEENTH EDITION. WITH PORTRAITS, ON STEEL, OF DANA, BRYANT, PERCIVAL, LONGFELLOW, GALLAGHER, POE, COOKE, LOWELL, TAYLOR. Carefully revised, rearranged, much enlarged, and brought down to the year 1855. From Baron FREDERICK VON RAUMER, of Prussia. "It is performing a valuable service when a man of taste and information makes a suitable, well-assorted selection, and guides the friend of Poetry in his rambles through those groves from which he might otherwise be deterred by their immensity. Such service has been rendered by Mr. GRISWOLD in his Poets and Poetry of America.'" From the New York Courier and Enquirer. "We doubt whether there is another man in America who could have been found to devote so much industry, not to say drudgery, as was called for in such an undertaking. Sure we are that no such man could have been found who would have done it so well." From the New York Evening Post. "The editor has executed his task with industry, skill, and taste. No man in this country is probably so familiar with this branch of American literature, not only in regard to its most ancient, but most obscure authors." From the Albany Evening Journal. "No collection of American poetry at all comparable to it in extent, completeness, or general merit, has ever been issued." w From the North American Review. (by E. P. WHIPPLE.) "Mr. GRISWOLD has succeeded as well in his book as the nature of the case admitted; his patient research and general correctness of taste are worthy of praise; his difficulties and temptations would have extenuated far graver errors than he has committed, and his volume well deserves the approbation it has received." From the London Examiner. "We must not forget to thank Mr. GRISWOLD for his good taste and good feeling. It would be difficult to overpraise either." From the Boston Morning Post. "We think in this beautiful volume the reader will find nearly all that is worth reading in American poetry. From THOS. CAMPBELL, author of "The Pleasures of Hope." "Mr. GRISWOLD's work is honorable to the character and genius of the American people." From Bishop POTTER'S "Hand Book for Readers.” "The critical and biographical notes are brief, but discriminative and elegant." [NEARLY READY.] THE FEMALE POETS OF AMERICA, BY RUFUS W. GRISWOLD. Containing extended Gritical and Biographical Notices, with Poems, Chronologically Arranged. FIFTH EDITION: CONTINUED TO 1856. With Portraits on Steel, of Maria Brooks, Frances S. Osgood, Alice Carey, Julia Ward Howe, &c. From the New York Tribune. "Very rare, and very opposite, and very high abilities are required for that circumnavigation of the whole continent of literature-that exploration of every bay, and river, and inland lake, with all their islands that picturesque representation of every peculiarity of the subjects of research, sketchy yet faithful, spirited yet minute-and, above all, that grouping of the whole in one historical picture of national genius, which are demanded by the enterprise which Dr. GRISWOLD has es. red, and which he has so successfully accomplished by a combina. tion of knowledge and skill as uncommon as it is delightful. His biogra phical narratives display a great deal of spirit and tact. His criticisms exhibit a thorough familiarity with the writings which he reviews, and are animated with sensibilities and perceptions kindred in their delicacy and ardor with that inspiration from which the verses themselves have flowed. They are searching, truthful, comprehensive, and can. did in their character, and always graceful and elegant in style." From Graham's American Monthly Magazine. "Of all Mr. GRISWOLD's various works, the present evinces the greatest triumph over difficulties, and best demonstrates the minuteness and the extent of his knowledge of American literature. Very few of the women included in this collection have ever published editions of their writings, and a considerable portion of the verse was published anonymously. The labor, therefore, of collecting the materials of both the biographies and the illustrative extracts, must have been of that ardnous and vexatious kind which only enthusiasm for the subject could have sustained. The volume is an important original contribution to the literary history of the country, and nobody, whose mind is not incurably vitiated by prejudice, can make dissimilarity of opinion with regard to some of the judgments expressed in the book, a ground for denying its general ability, honesty, and value. Most of the materials are strictly new, and this fact of itself is suffi cient to stamp the work with that character which distinguishes books of original research from mere compilations." From MORRIS and WILLIS'S Home Journal. Dr. GRISWOLD has performed the duties of his undertaking with a diligence, a taste, and a discrimination which we doubt whether any other man in this country could have equalled. The selections are copious and judicious, and the criticisms upon them are delicate and just. A great deal of trouble has obviously been taken to obtain materials for the work, and to bring together accurate information in regard to the authors. A very large portion of the poems have been given to the editor expressly for this collection. The work has there. fore, to a great extent, the value of an original production, by the combined efforts of our female poets." From the Southern Literary Messenger. "The great and obvious value of Mr. GRISWOLD's series of volumesas collections of the best specimens in each department, and as records of fact, not more in relation to books than to their authors-has in some measure overshadowed the more important merit of the series: for they have often, and in fact very generally, the positive merits of discriminative criticism and of honesty-aiways the more negative merit of strong common sense. In the work now especially before us he has done himself no less credit than he has done to the numerous poets whom he discusses, and whom he now first introduces to the public. We are glad for his sake to perceive that he has been at the pains of doing what Northern critics seem to be at great pains never to do-that is, justice to poetesses who have not had the good fortune to be born in the North." From the North American. "This splendid volume, which, in the beauty of its typography and embellishments, equals the richest specimens of book-taking which its publishers have given us, is destined undoubtedly to a popularity as great as has been awarded to any of Mr. GRISWOLD's works. It is an erudite and elaborate review of the contributions of American wo men to that department of literature in which women may be expected to win the greatest triumphs. It is full of curious and entertaining information, and genial and elegant criticism; and among its contents are nearly one hundred new poems, by our most distinguished female writers." From the Providence Journal. "No man is better fitted than Mr. GRISWOLD for the task which he has assumed. A laborious student, a fine scholar, and a keen critic, he has entered upon it with the enthusiasm which marks all his lite rary undertakings, and has carried it through with the success which always crowns them. His selections have been made with great judg ment and good taste, and with a view not only to the exhibition of fair specimens of the style of each author, but to the variety and completeness of the whole work." From the Albion. "Mr. GRISWOLD has altogether done his portion of the work with skill and judgment; and the American women are much indebted to him for putting their genius and abilities thus favorably before the public. The book, in short, has our hearty recommendation." From the Newark Daily Advertiser. "The introductory biographical sketches and comments evince the critical acumen and discrimination that might be expected from a pen and judgment of true metal, sharpened by use, and polished by con tact with poetic mind." With an Introductory Survey of the Intellectual History, Condition, and Prospects of the Co BY RUFUS W. GRISWOLD. Illustrated with Portraits of Edwards, Irving, Audubon, Story, Wilde, Prescott, Kennedy, Emerson, and Hofnan From WM. H. PRESCOTT, author of “Ferdinand and Isabella.” From the New York Evening Post, (by Mr. BRYANT.) From MORRIS and WILLIS's Home Journal. "This is a book of which any critic in the country might well be proud, without reference to the mere industry and research manifested in its compilation. These are truly remarkable; but the vigor of comment and force of style are not less so; while more independence and self-reliance are manifested than in any other of the series. There is not a weak paper in the book; and some of the articles are able in all respects." From the New York Gazette and Times. "To present such a list of writers as this, characteristically, in the few pages that can be allotted to each, were an almost impracticable task for any critic, no matter what might be his discrimination of judgment and his faculty in drawing literary portraiture. Dr. GRISWOLD has, however, undoubtedly shown a degree of versatile ability in the attempt that must add largely to his reputation, and place it on a much higher platform than that won by any of his previous publications, widely popular as they have been. The sketch of WASHINGTON IRVING, the essay upon the writings of EMERSON, and several other of the notices, have a point and vigor about them that are really mas. ter-like. The general character of Dr. GRISWOLD's views, we agree with the Boston Post in thinking sound and sensible;' and albeit all collections of this kind act mainly in suggesting to many minds how much the author has left undone, we are strongely disposed to think that Dr. GRISWOLD will hereafter derive no small credit in the world of letters for having made so excellent a beginning, and may with modest pride place on his future editions of this national work, 'Non flumina mensuravi, sed fontes intenderim.' From the National Intelligencer. "Mr. GRISWOLD has done a great deal toward placing the literature of his country in the rank to which it is fairly entitled in the great republic of letters. If we had been at his elbow, however, while he was enumerating the various writers and speakers who, when our literature was young, were honored laborers in the vineyard, we could have suggested several names which, from some cause or other, have been omitted by him. But, in such a work, the whole difficulty lies in what the French term embarras de richesse, and perhaps no selection could have been made less obnoxious to the charge of partiality than the one before us. The preliminary essay on The Intellectual History, Condition, and Prospects of the Country,' is deeply interesting, and proves that Mr. GRISWOLD is not only a well-read scholar, but an enthusiastic patriot." From the Westminster Review. "In a preliminary essay Mr. GRISWOLD eaters into a full destin of the general state and prospects of his native literature; antia portion of the work is suggestive of much reflection. Mr Garv we may premise, is not one of those Americans who disse ter readers, and forfeit their credit, at the outset, by indiscriminati nd unbounded laudation of every product of their country, a calm and temperate, and he has not shrunk from the disagr duty of pointing out the blemishes and failings of that what ca derly, upon the sores which a less honest advocate would have ki whole, is the subject of his eulogy. He lays his finger, thup 13 out of sight." From the London Morning Chronicl "A volume such as this is a treasure to all who watch with magn hopefulness, and hail with joyful gratulation, the daily extending u umphs of our English language. Apart from its excellence i lection of miscellanies, and the intrinsic beauty of the many o specimens of eloquence it contains, it will possess. for a con section of our reading public, all the interest of literary news. The biographical notices of the various writers give many curio trations of American society and manners, and the summaries of t literary labors contain much well-conceived and finely expressed cism. It is true that the editor's eulogies are often too large and discriminate, but this is very excusable in a book of which prijal object is to assert and vindicate the literary claims of his c men. He must be a bold man who, with such a volume as this bea him, would decry the Americans as indifferent to literature, as ambitious of its distinctions, or incapable of its achievement. GRISWOLD has taken great pains, in a well-written dissertati vindicate the social development of America from these and imputations; but he may rest assured that, in this country t they were never deemed worthy a moment's attention by anybody who possessed the means of forming an opinion," From the Boston Courier. "We have read this volume through, with deliberate and careful tention, and with a desire to arrive at a candid estimate of its merita As the result of our examination, we give to the work, considering great difficulties, our general approbation, and to its auther ear cided commendation and thanks. Upon the whole, he has had ordinary success; and he has certainly displayed a spirit, a temper and talents that would have made good his title to respect and to plause, even if the issue had been less satisfactory than it is Ther was no way of doing the work which Mr. GRISWOLD Underto q acceptably in fact, there was but one way of doing it at all; and that was, by perfect honesty, independence, truth, and fearlessness, te the risk of irritating everybody, in order to attain the certainty of being just to any. This is the course which the auther appears to hare adopted. He has truckled to no man; he has conciliated bo He has clearly taken no pains to avoid offending numbers of persons who, from their positions in relation to newspapers and reviews, bal it in their power, either to set the bells of the press to ringing eas of triumph, or to jangle them into frightful screams, or, worse th all, perhaps, keep them profoundly silent. In vindicating bis inde pendence in these respects, perhaps the author has gone beyond the limits of a practical discretion. But with men of an beterally and manly temper he will gain by such conduct far more than be co lose by the annoyance of a whole charivari of disconcerted 'prose writers. We have taken some pains to know the general impression among literary men, who have no bias to think or speak unfairly and we report that impression to be, that Mr. GRISWOLD's work has been executed honestly, ably, and well, and that it is a valuable contritetion to the original literature of the country." From the New York Tribune. "We believe Dr. GRISWOLD has performed his task as well as any man in the country would have done it. He has done American rature and American readers a service for which we thank him bearly, It is a work which must have required a vast and ungrodging endlay of time and labor; and Dr. GRISWOLD has evidently performed chosen task loving and faithfully. He has done our literature good service, as well with European as American readers: and in this e cessarily labor-saving age, in letters as in all besides, we do not know the leisure hours of a month better than in making himself the sh how a young American, especially one intending to travel, can spend acquainted with The Prose Writers' and The Poets of America Let him know the contents of these, and he cannot be justir termed ignorant of the literature of his own land, and we think he lo tual History, Condition, and Prospects of the Country, is very fall be inclined to disparage it. The introductory essay on the Inteles and replete with practical suggestions as well as information." From the New York Mirror. "Mr. GRISWOLD has evidently thought nothing of what othery weld think of him, and regarding authors, with Dr. JOHNSON, as being the chief glory of their country, has resolutely composed his book, rather with a view to promote the honor of the nation, than to gratify any class of individuals. Taking his book as a whole, it is surprisingly free from personal feeling, and quite as independent as such a work need be. Some of his judgments are particularly just, discriminat ing, candid, and elegantly written. No one will question the a ality of Mr. GRISWOLD's feelings: his Americanism is apparent c nearly every page of his book, and it is shown in a manner bearable to his understanding." From the North American. "We have no hesitation in saying that there is no man in the cou try to whom authors and men of taste and art owe so much gratitude and good-will for important services; and these services have bee rendered in no contracted or partial spirit: they appear to be promp ed by a genuine patriotism, as rare as it is admiratie. We read with gratitude its oble working on almost every page of Mr. GRISWOLD'S writing, reflecting great honor upon his heart, while it seems een to impart unwonted force and beauty to his language. We do bet knew what estimate will be formed of Mr. GRISWOLD's critical powers from this work: our own has certainly been raised to a high point" PUBLICATIONS OF PARRY & MCMILLAN, SUCCESSORS TO A. HART, LATE CAREY & HART, PHILADELPHIA. August, 1854. BACON'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Complete Works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England. Sheep, Half morocco, Calf backs, . $7 50 "Printed from the most accurate as well as complete English edition, and care. fully revised, in a form at once compact, elegant, and economical."-Brother Jonathan. THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. The Waverley Novels, complete in five volumes; containing the whole of the world-renowned Novels of Sir WALTER SCOTT. In the cheapest form ever offered for sale. Paper covers, Cloth backs, Full cloth, Full bound in sheep, WAVERLEY NOVELS (FINE EDITION). The Waverley Novels, in five volumes-same type as the last editionon fine white paper. Cloth, extra gilt, Calf backs, extra, . Or in twenty-five parts-each Novel complete in one part, in paper binding. Price 25 cents each. SIR WALTER SCOTT'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Sir Walter Scott-including the Waverley Novels-all his Prose Works-and all his Poetical Works with his Life, by J. G. LOCKHART, Esq. Containing the whole of the contents of the Edinburgh edition in ninety-eight volumes. Complete in ten volumes, octavo. Cloth, Sir Walter Scott's Poetical Works, complete; including the Minstrelsy SCOTT'S LIFE of Napoleon. The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. By Sir WALTER SCOTT. Complete in LOCKHART'S LIFE OF SCOTT. The Life of Sir Walter Scott. By his nephew, JOHN G. LOCKHART, Esq. 1.00 . 100 1 100 MRS. SIGOURNEY'S POEMS. Illustrated Poems. By Mrs. L. H. SIGOURNEY. With designs by F. O. C. Darley, engraved by distinguished artists. With a beautiful Portrait of the Author by Cheney, after Freeman. Handsomely bound in cloth, super extra, Turkey morocco, extra gilt, LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.-The Divided Burden-A Landscape-Oriska -The Ancient Family Clock-Eve-The Scottish Weaver-The Indian Summer-Erin's Daughter-The Western Emigrant-The Aged PastorThe Tomb-The Drooping Team-The Beautiful Maid. SIGOURNEY'S SELECT POEMS. Select Poems, by Mrs. L. H. SIGOURNEY. With illustrations. New edi- SIGOURNEY'S NEW VOLUME OF POEMS. The Western Home, and other Poems. By Mrs. L. H. SIGOURNEY. In one handsome volume, 12mo., cloth, Cloth, extra,. 5 00 7.00 125 1 50 1 25 150 READ'S ILLUSTRated Poems. Poems, by T. BUCHANAN READ. A new and enlarged edition. Beautifully illustrated with designs by eminent artists, and finely engraved on steel. Cloth, extra gilt edge, Turkey morocco, 3.50 600 |