MONTHLY SUMMARY OF FOREIGN LITERATURE, MUSIC, AND ART. BY CHARLES G. LELAND. RECENT GERMAN LITERATURE.-Among recent these are true we know not, but they are certainly publications, we observe that of the "Briefwechsel in no degree instructive." Zwischen GOETHE und KNEBEL," or 66 Correspondence between GOETHE and KNEBEL." BROCK HAUS, Leipsic. "Germany," says a reviewer of this work, " continues to gather, with pious care, the numerous correspondences, in which Goethe has left precious documents relative to himself and his contemporaries. Knebel, whose posthumous writings were published in 1835, by Varnhagen and Mundt, was one of those singular beings one of the dilettanti of erudition equally interested in literature and science-so many of whom appeared in Germany during the great intellectual period, of which Goethe was the most glorious representative. The author of Faust could not have found a more sympathetic and yet more penetrating confidant than this writer, hitherto so little known to the world. For which reason, many of his letters to Knebel are inspired with that cordial friendship, and are impressed with the familiar grace, which we love to find in the familiar moods of a great man." Among the most interesting recent German works, we observe "Hägringar,-A Journey through Sweden, Lapland, Norway, and Denmark, in the year 1850." By ALBRECHT PANCRITIUS, Königsberg, 1852. Published by BORNTRAGER. "Hägringar," we are informed, is an old Norse word, signifying cloudy shapes, or air-images. To all who have travelled, the remaining impressions of places and events, ever appear like distant images, ever becoming, with time, dimmer and more aerial. This was probably the meaning of the author, whose true name and calling are concealed throughout, although the work is not on that account less interesting. It is not a regular description of travels, but rather a collection of scenes and souvenirs, interwoven with historical sketches, and extracts from the Northern popular songs and ballads. The journey extends from Stralsund to Ystad, and from thence to Stockholm. In the latter city and its vicinity, he lingers long; and then passes to Lapland. Copenhagen and Rügen close the scene. The author follows, in no place, a particular scientific or artistic aim, but casts on every side unconfined and free glances, while everything is appreciated and described with vivacity and freshness-in short, with the merry mood of a true traveller. His short restless sentences, and hurrying style, remind us of the impatient rolling and rushing of a brook over rocks and gravel, albeit there is at times, a certain monotony in its tones. The "Lebens und Reisebilder;" or "Sketches of Life and Travel in the East and West," by THEODORE KONIG, may possibly interest a certain class of readers. In this work we are informed that the author conversed much with pretty Wallachian girls, about Hamlet and Jean Paul Richter, German ladies and Italian music; yet contrived, notwithstanding all this, to have a vast amount of love adventures in the French style. "How far Among other books of travel we would cite the of Southern Europe," by Dr. CHRISTIAN BELLER"Erinnerungen aus Südeuropa," or, "Recollections MANN, Clergyman in Berlin. This is spoken of as an extremely interesting work, containing not only many entertaining descriptions of the places visited, but also much solid information on history and antiquities. In connexion with the above-mentioned books of travel, we would speak of the "Bilder aus dem Norden," or, Pictures from the North, by EDWARD SCHMIDT. The author of this work is a zoologist, and its contents are generally of a scientific nature. Particularly worthy of note are his views relative to the theory of the zoologist and antiquarian. Prof. Fillson, "that the primitive Scandinavian tribes included not only the original inhabitants of Denmark, North Germany, the British Islands. but perhaps also a part of France, forming a race, of which the Laaps, or Laplanders, of the Learned. however, as this book appears to be, it follows present day are the last remains. not merely a dull routine of natural science, but contains information, interesting to all gifted with a soul for nature, life, history, or poetry; and is the more attractive from its admirable style. ני The "Bilder und Scenen," or, "Sketches and Scenes from Asia and Australia," by A. W GRUBE, as well as the "Sketches and Scenes from Nature and Life," by the same author, may be deemed worthy of translation by some preparer of books for children somewhat advanced. The latest number of the GERMANIA, published at Leipzig, contains "Albert Dürer and his Times," by K. B. STARK, and "Development of the German since the 16th century." In the first part of the law of Criminal Punishment, in theory and practice, second volume of this serial we have "Christian the relation and neighbour of Germany," by E. M German Politics," by H. VON SYBEL; "Scandinavia, ARNDT; and the third article on German Un versity life, by the well-known LUDWIG BECH STEIN, treating of that period in the history ef German Universities from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the foundation of the Ger man Burschenschaft, or Student Union, for the purpose of uniting Germany under an Empera. Those familiar with the work of LEPSIUS, on the Chronology of the Egyptians, will peruse with pleasure a recently published book, by the same author, entitled, "Über den ersten E tischen Götterkreis, und seine geschichtlichmy: hole gische Entstehung," or, "On the first Egyptian cycle of Gods, and its historico-mythologic origin The reviewer of the Leipzig Centralblatt speaks of this work as being by far the most accurate essay on the extremely complicated subject of Egyptian Mythology which has hitherto appeared. ANTONIUS ANTHUS has recently published, by WIGAND, of Leipzig, a second edition of "Lectures | H. C. OERSTED's collected works are at present being published at Leipzig, by LORCK. The fifth volume, which has just appeared, contains "New additions to the Spirit in Nature," from the MSS. of the great philosopher, translated by K. L. KAN NEGIESSER. One of "the most magnificent epitomes of nature which Germany ever produced" is the splendid "Iconographische Encyclopædie," or, "Iconographic Encyclopædia," of G. HECK. As far as accuracy or authenticity of description, or clearness and beauty of illustration, is concerned, this work is emphatically unrivalled. An excellent American edition of this work, translated into English by SPENCER F. BAIRD, but with illustrations printed from the original plates, in Germany, may be had of F. W. CHRISTERN, Foreign Bookseller, No. 232 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. Departure;' but we also there find great inexpe- A new edition of the philosophical works of HEMSTERHUIS has recently been published in French, at Utrecht, by KERNINK and SON. It is augmented with many pieces hitherto inedited, and is accompanied with an introductory essay on the author and his philosophy, as well as numerous notes, by DR. L. S. P. MEYBOOM. have been sent him by his secretary. M. EMILE DE GIRARDIN, says the correspondent of the Courrier des Etats Unis, offers for sale his magnificent hotel in the Rue de Chaillot, and is also desirous to dispose of his interest in La Presse. There are, we imagine, but few indepen dent and high-minded editors in France, at the of selling out and removing under the present present day, who would not be equally desirous state of affairs. It had been reported that Girardin designed visiting America, but it is now said that he is about to settle in Switzerland. RECENT FRENCH LITERATURE.-At the present M. THIERS, reported as being in London, has day, when everything impressed with the words arrived at Brussels, where he lodges at the Hô"Social Reform" either meets or claims a more than usual share of attention, we may commend tel de Belleville. He has requested his family to our readers, from time to time, those works to forward the notes and papers requisite to the which, though they leave untouched the great conclusion of his History of the Consulate and Emproblems of political economy, and the organiza-pire, which he intends shortly to conclude. They tion of society, are still of perhaps equal importance, as really touching upon the true root of all society-our social and domestic relations. Among recent publications of this nature, we observe a work entitled, "Deux ménages d'ou vriers," or, "The Family Establishments of two Working-men," by MADAME BOYELDIEU D'AUVIGNY, thus noticed by the Revue des Deux Mondes: "This work, addressed principally to the labouring classes, is, as a rare exception among such books, written in a simple style, and bears Without pretending a mild and practical moral. to come before the world as a reformer, the authoress has desired to prove that in the humblest, as well as in the highest classes, there are in nearly every family important reforms to be made in the item of expenditure, and the character and mode of the mutual bearing of the husband and wife. These are the reforms which Madame D'Auvigny inculcates, in her sketches of manners, morals, and precepts of domestic economy. In this little romance we find accuracy of observation, an amiable style, and what is still rarer, the kindest feelings." It is with a sentiment of sad duty that we append the following criticism of the "Derniers Chants," or, "Last Songs," by ERNEST HAMEL, recently published by the Brothers GARNIER, of Paris. So remarkably applicable is it to the great majority of all the more recent poetry of this century, whether German, French, English, or what not, that we would willingly bring it before the eye of any one proposing to publish "There his poems, as a lesson and a warning. are in this collection certain pages which are gracefully written, especially those entitled 'The The French Press is receiving its share of rewards from the President. DR. VERON, director of the Constitutionnel, has been appointed Officer of the Legion d'Honneur, the decree by which this honour is given stating, after the name, "political writer, for services rendered to the public cause.' THE FINE ARTS.-From the last number of the "Deutsches Kunstblatt," or German Art Journal, an excellent publication, supplied by the contributions of WAAGEN, KUGLER, and SCHNAASE, in Berlin; PASSAVANT, in Frankfort; WEIGMANN, in Dusseldorf; SCHULZ, in Dresden; ERNST FÖRSTER, in Munich, and EITELBERGER VON EDELBERG, in Vienna, we learn that a distribution of rewards for artists took place in Brussels, on the 3d of November, in a splendid hall recently erected by the Art Union. The prizes were given to those Belgian artists who had distinguished themselves at the World's Fair, as well as to all whose "King Leopold was present at the works were pre-eminent at the recent Exhibition in Brussels. ceremony. The German artists HASENCLEVER and J. HUBNER received each the gold medal. The painters, LEUE, of Dusseldorf, BENDEMANN, of Dresden, and BEGAS, of Berlin, were elevated to the rank of knights of the Order of Leopold. The Belgian artists GALLAIT, LEIS, SIMONIS, and GEEFS were also appointed officers of this Order." It is well known that THORWALDSEN left one of the most valuable private Museums of literature and art in existence. Conscious of its value, he directed in his will that a correct description, and not a mere catalogue of this collection, should be drawn up, that its contents might be useful to the lovers of art, even in other countries. This task has been recently and well executed in a work entitled "Thorwaldsen's Museum Described," by L. MULLER, in which every division of the Museum is not only accurately described, but those historical explanations superadded, which will render the work invaluable to every student The celebrated landscape painter EICHHORN, well known in Germany for his Grecian scenes, recently died suddenly at Potsdam. A vast collection of highly-interesting drawings and studies, collected during a period of many years, passed in different journeys in Italy and Greece, wil! shortly be held at sale, for the benefit of his wife and children. A great number of the best sketches and studies left by CARL ROTTMANN are at present for sale by his widow, in Munich. We notice the appearance in Augsburg of a work entitled "Die Malerei," or, "Painting reduced to its simplest and readiest Principles," by LIBERAT HUNDERTPFUND. From the prospectus we should infer that this work, like Mrs. Merrifield's, contains a vast amount of practical information, which might be of the greatest use and profit to any artist willing to diligently advance himself in the technicalities of his calling. The Russian artist AIWASOWSKI, well-known for his views of Constantinople and the Black Sea, has recently undertaken to paint a picture representing the last total eclipse of the Sun. Come what may," says a German periodical, he will certainly give us a good landscape." We have seen, ere now, a "View of Berlin," intended as a political squib, consisting of a single square of black, and have glanced at a map of France, in which the comparative state of intelligence and education was indicated by different shades, Paris being entirely white, and Marseilles "dark as a thunder cloud." Perhaps Mr. AIWASOWSKI's landscape, if true to nature, will bear some resemblance to these views of Berlin and Marseilles. LEUTZE'S picture of Washington still continues to attract numerous visiters in New York. LAYARD, the celebrated English traveller, has presented to Williams' College two beautiful sculptured slabs from the ruins of Nineveh. One is six feet high, the other seven; both representing a human body, exquisitely engraved. THE ART JOURNAL for January contains a highly interesting leading article by MRS. JAMESON, on the Nuremberg Madonnas, or the ancient statues of the Virgin and Son, so abundant in that "Pompeii of the Middle Ages," as it has been appropriately termed. The ten wood-cnts, illustrating this article are of exquisite beauty, having been executed expressly for this maga zine by Wagner, the celebrated artist and engraver of Nuremberg. In the same number we also observe a beautifully-illustrated and weiwritten article on Rubens. The designs for the previous articles of this series having been executed by French artists, the editor of the Art Journal was accused, by certain superficial and flippant editors, of having stolen and plagiarised from foreign sources, although the fullest acknowledgment had previously been made of indebtedness. No charge can be more ungenerously of more plausibly made against a writer than this of "abstracting," for, unless he chooses to encumber, and probably mar, every sentence by an "acknowledgment," he lies open to the attack of every one who chooses to be ignorant of the fact that he has already "once for all" stated the true source. Among other items for which we are indebted to the London Art Journal, we learn that a mont ment has recently been placed in the new church of St. Paul, Alnwick, which merits particular notice, from the successful manner in which it has been treated by the sculptor, MR. CAREW, who has adopted the prevailing style of medieval altar-tombs, without sacrificing modern realities. It is a tomb to the memory of the late Duke of Northumberland. Its form and style is of the fifteenth century, but the costume is truthful ani modern, the attitude of the figure easy and graceful, and a proof that a proper direction of though: which beset statue memorials of modern times. can overcome many of the so-called "difficulties" It is not generally known that the idea of the celebrated bas-reliefs of Morning and Night, by THORWALDSEN, was borrowed from a portin of a ceiling painted by ALBANO, in the Verasp Palace at Rome. Engravings from this ceiling by Hieronymus Frizza, dated 1704, are still in existence; and also as outlines in an edition of Landon's Life and Works of Albano, published in Paris in 1804. Albano died in 1661. Thor waldsen's designs differ materially, in the composition, from Albano's; but we find in the latter the figure scattering flowers, with the boy bear ing the torch, as well as the other figure carrying two children, and accompanied by the owl. PARMENTIER-the man who first introduced the culture of the potato into France-has had a monument recently erected to his memory, in the form of a small obelisk, on the piece of land granted him by Louis XVI. for his experimen's in growing the root. Should the agricultural and mechanic arts progress, for a few years to come, as they have hitherto done in the United States, and should such memorials be erected to all who have done the State true service, our land would become a forest of monuments and by the galvanoplastic process, in Berlin, by M. WINKELMANN. It was made in a wax mould, and looks like bronze. statues. At BERLIN, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts announces that it will open, in that capital, an exhibition of the works of living artists on the 1st of September in this year. The exhibition will be continued for a period of two months; and the artists of all nations are invited to contribute their works. A colossal statue in sandstone of Queen Victoria, executed by RITCHIE, has been erected in front of Holyrood Palace. It represents her in the costume of the ancient Scottish Queens, her robe being elaborately decorated with thistles, and is placed upon a pedestal ornamented with bas reliefs. An excellent article, by a German writer, has recently appeared on Gold Frames as the proper casing for pictures. Should the present ridicu lous extravagance, in this respect, continue, we may at some period anticipate a work by some enthusiastic upholsterer, speculating whether pictures are an appropriate ornament for gold frames. THE INDUSTRIAL UNION of Munich has opened its permanent exhibition, containing all kinds of furniture, porcelain, glass, bronzes, and miscellaneous objects, comprehending ecclesiastical furniture, but only of works that have been pronounced worthy of exhibition. The exertions of THE UNION are directed to develope the Characteristic and the Beautiful, and to diminish the influence The first of insipid and spiritless fashions. essays promise well; and we shall soon have to report most favourably of Bavarian Art-industry. This Union also publishes a journal, the editor of which is DR. ERNST FÖRSTER. There are few living critics endowed with a higher or more comprehensive sense of Art, in its manifold rela-nelius and Kaulbach, as also a paper by H. RIT tions, than this gentleman. The first number of his Journal contains the cabinet which the artisans of Munich presented to King Louis, an altar, a gas-burner, a table and glass, all in characteristic forms borrowed from the mediæval period. A curious discovery has recently been made in the dungeons of the Castle of Saint Angelo. It is a rough sketch, upon one of the walls, of a crucifixion, and believed to be by the hand of BENEVENUTO CELLINI, when he was confined here, by order of Pope Paul III., in 1539, as he relates the circumstance in his very curious Autobiography." At ROME, extensive excavations have been made within the last few months, with the permission of the Papal government, in the famed Via Appia. As might be expected, a large number of most interesting relics have by this means been exhumed, the majority being sepulchral,— a circumstance easily to be explained, when it is remembered how usual it was for the Roman patricians to erect their costly and ostentatious tombs on both sides the road which approached the Eternal City. Among the mortuary relics are many of the highest interest; bas-reliefs, urns, and inscriptions, abound; and, but for the unnecessary manner in which the excavators are restricted from pursuing their researches beyond is certain that a narrowly-prescribed limit, much more might be done towards resuscitating these long buried mementos of "the masters of the world." At KENIGSBERG, an exhibition of richly-ornamented pieces of amber was recently opened, during the visit of the King of Prussia to that The King was much pleased with it, city. especially as in his youth he was inscribed as an apprentice in the Corporation (Innung) of the artists in amber. He learned the art, and was afterwards declared journeyman, according to the statutes. A statue of Christ, twelve feet high, after a model by Thorwaldsen, was recently executed, In the last numbers of the Allgemeine Monatschrift, or, Universal Monthly Magazine of Science and Literature, we observe the continuation of a series of critical letters on the artists Rauch, Cor TER, on " The Latest Efforts in Esthetics." Of late years the manufacture of plaster and varied qualities, has been carried to an astonishcomposition casts, as well as papier maché, in its ing degree of perfection; placing within the means of the poorest artist many facilities for study which were before well-nigh unattainable. One of the most curious applications of these materials with which we are acquainted, is to the manufacture of weapons; not the bona fide arms of the warrior, but very excellent fac-similes, which are used either to copy, or hang in groups (according to a custom which has prevailed, of late years, among the élite in Europe) in libraries and halls. We have seen in Paris, scimitars, medieval swords, and maces of the most exquisite Gothic patterns, in plaster, and bronzed or ironed so accurately that the closest ocular scrutiny could not detect the imitation, for sale at prices varying from one to three francs each. An amusing event relative to these plaster and pressed pasteboard arms, is said to have taken place during the late Louis Napoleon revolution. A certain author, famous for his gloomy melodramas, was known by his neighbours to be in possession of a splendid collection of ancient and Orientai weapons. Early in the morning, an excited mob of barricade-builders entered his rooms, and demanded possession of these imple"Ah, well, take ments of offence. He argued, resisted, implored, and threatened, but in vain. them then!" he exclaimed, with resignation. The leader of the party, a stout butcher, at once snatched up, with a tremendous effort, an enormous mace of the 16th century, which seemed as if it might weigh a few quintals. It flew up in the air like a feather, nor were his matchlocks and yataghans, all damasked with gold, yet covered with antique rust, less light! "What the deuce is this?" exclaimed the armshunters. "It is carton-pierre," replied the author, coolly. "They are the work of ROMAGNESI; and I purchased them, hung, as you see, on velvet, at the sale of the painter Longuet." The barricade gentlemen evinced their appre |