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GEORGE W. CHILDS, PUBLISHER, Nos. 628 & 630 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA,

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GEO. N. DAVIS, 119 Rua Direita, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Agent for South America.

A. ROMAN, San Francisco, California, Agent for the Pacific Coast.

STEPHENS & CO., 10 Calle Mercaderes, Habana, Agents for the West Indies.

Subscriptions or Advertisements for the "American Literary Gazette" will be received by the above Agents, and they will forward

to the Editor any Books or Publications intended for notice.

MAY 1, 1866.

OUR CONTINENTAL CORRESPONDENCE.
PARIS, March 16, 1866.

WE have had the brilliant reception at the French Academy which has been looked forward to with particular interest. It was for that horizon an eclipse of the sun, which gave all the inhabitants a crick in the neck. M. Guizot received M. Prevost Paradol. The first feeling of all the audience was disappointment. M. Prevost Paradol is a passedmaster in the art of Swift and Pascal-that polished irony which conveys a poisoned meaning in the healthiest words, which says one thing and means another. We reckoned he would heap Swift's and Pascal's flowers on the government while we should enjoy the hisses and see the fangs of the serpents which lurked beneath them. Politics were scarcely introduced except by M. Guizot, who talked sophistry upon the Pope's right to keep the eternal city in the church's mortmain; by which he reminded us of the immortal men born with a blue star on their forehead, described by Swift. One went to them for oracles of wisdom, and heard nothing but misanthropic moanings for the past. When children of men (however bright may be the star Heaven has planted on their brow) reach what M. Guizot touchingly called "the downward declivity of life's last days," reason in a measure resigns her throne, and memory alone wields the sceptre in the dome of thought which is soon to be vacated for ever.

| Nuit," of which at least 20,000 copies were sold. Poor Henri Murger, who was most remorselessly bled by them (I gave you, some time since, the ridiculously low prices they gave him for works which they have sold, and will sell annually for years to come, by the tens of thousands), said, on his death-bed, in his ironical way: "Well, one thing troubles my dying hour: I go out of the world conscious that I have been the ruin of MM. Levy Brothers!" An author in the possession of great reputation is not, of course, the prey of these horse leeches. The proprietors of two of our two cent daily papers have been striving to outbid each other for M. Victor Hugo's new novel, which they wished to publish in the feuilleton of their paper. One of them, the proprietor of "Le Soleil," offered M. Hugo $100,000 cash for the privilege of so publishing it. The "Revue des Deux Mondes" offered him $5,000 to publish two chapters of it. M. Hugo declined both offers. He has all his life long refused to allow his works to appear in this fragmentary form. Have you seen the dedication and preface of the "Sea's Laborers"? Here is the former: "I dedicate this book to the rock of hospitality and of liberty; to that corner of old Norman soil where the noble little tribe of the sea lives, to the severe and gentle island of Guernsey, my present asylum, my probable tomb. V. H." This is the letter: "Man's three struggles are with religion, society, and nature. These three struggles are at the same time his three wants; believe he must, hence the temple; create he must, hence the city; live he must, hence the plough and vessel. But in these three solutions are three wars. The mysterious difficulty of life arises from all three of them. Man must wrestle with the obstacle in the shape of superstition, in the shape of prejudice, in the shape of element. A triple ananke oppresses us; the ananke of dogmas, the ananke of laws, the ananke of things. In 'Notre Dame de Paris' the author denounced the first; in 'Les Miserables' pointed out the second; in this book he indicates the third. With these three fatalities which surround man there is mixed the secret fatality, the extreme anankethe human heart. VICTOR HUGO.".. I was mistaken in saying in my last letter that M. Gustave Doré had sold his illustrations of Shakspeare. He has been in negotiation with an English firm for their publication. The negotiation failed, in consequence of the advance he made of his terms; he declined $80,000; his price now is 8100,000. I find I was mistaken likewise in affirming MM. Mame & Co. of Tours had covered the expenses of the illustrated Bible by the sale of the first edition. It did nearly cover the expenses incurred (which were enormous), and they reckon upon making a good deal of money by the second edition, which is now coming out in numbers-the whole work to be issued before New Year's Day next. . . . Everything is now publishing in the shape of numbers. M. Chamerot is going to give us sedate old Rollin in numbers. The MM. Didot will soon present us with Cantu's The Dramatic Authors have organized their pub- "Universal History" in the same form. M. Perrotin lishing house. On the 15th of April the publishing has begun to give us Beranger's songs in the same agency of Dramatic Authors will be opened on the sandwich; Thiers' histories, Vaulabelle's "HisBoulevard. Any author who may wish his play tory of the Restoration," dictionaries, grammars, published, will state the paper, size, and edition he old novels-in fine, all sorts of books are minced desires; he will be allowed five months after pub-fine to suit with our purses and dealt out to us. . . . lication to pay the printer's and paper-maker's bill, and he will pay only 10 per cent. to the agency, to cover house rent and office expenses. It is really incredible how dramatic authors have been bled by MM. Michel Levy Brothers. For instance, they gave M. Bouchardy $100 for the copyright of "Lazare le Patre," of which they sold 120,000 copies. M. Paul Feval received only $80 for "Le Fils de la

Here is M. Alex. Dumas's last letter: "I communicated, Sunday, to the Literary Men's Society a scheme of a theatre, which was received with unanimous applause. Everybody present not only promised to give it their assistance, but promised to subscribe to it. This is my scheme: I want $400,000 to build an edifice, half theatre and half circus, capable of containing 3,000 persons, and of taking in 7,000f. receipts. The first seat would be at 5 f., the last at 50 centimes. In subscribing for a seat, the subscriber would receive two seats, namely, ten francs' for five francs, one franc for 50 centimes. I double the capital and pay in pleasure. 800 subscribers would enter every night; in four years the debt would be paid; in six years the theatre would belong in fee simple to the Societies of Dramatic Authors, Literary Men, and Dramatic Artists. I would retain for myself, during my life, the right to bring out a new and an old piece there annually. The subscriptions will soon be opened. Then I shall appeal, through the public prints, to everybody's sympathy. Each subscriber may subscribe for what sum he pleases, and he will pay the day 500,000f. are subscribed." M. Alex. Dumas's last dramatic production has been d-d most vigorously here. He has sunk lower within the last six months than he has yet reached, so outrageously has he abused public patience. His lectures have been rehashes of old novels; his articles for the newspapers made up, two-thirds of them, with scissors and paste; and his plays have been utterly absurd. He seems to have nearly exhausted himself.

We are assured the French Emperor's "Life of Cæsar" is to be expected in a very short time. It is alleged the only obstacle to its immediate publication is his Majesty's indecision about the form in which it ought to appear, viz., in one or two volumes. The cost of this portion of the work will exceed, it is said, that of the first portion; more than thirty proofs a page have been required for a

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MAY 1, 1866.

great many pages. Nevertheless, it is reckoned a caution to the keepers of the Library to watch and the sale of these volumes will put $80,000 of copy-protect Bossuet's work from "the swindling and sly right into the imperial pocket.

Company of Jesus who may send emissaries to falsify the original manuscript." His chief legatees were suspended priests, odd literary men, and old acquaintances, who shared his intense hatred of the Unigenitus bull. This perennial vivacity of party passion so nearly connected with literature seemed to me to confer freedom of your city upon this original figure. . . . It is said the ambition of the late Count Alfred de Vigny was to be the tutor of the Imperial Prince. . . . It is said the conclusion of M. Michelet's history of ante-revolutionary France (which he intends shall be his

I trust it may not be considered indelicate if I deplore here the discontinuance of the "National Almanac." It is a national loss. It rendered the United States more substantial service abroad than the whole Federal diplomatic corps. It taught the world the vast resources, the incredible progress, the unprecedented energy of the people of the country. It corrected, in a sensible measure, the coarse virulence and ignorance of a portion of the public press. If its ribaldry was read with disgust, the statistics of schools, seats of learning, and charitable foundations raised hope in the breasts of well-politico-historical will and testament), which will wishers of the country. I shrink from appealing to a patriotic citizen to sacrifice to his country the vexation, and trouble, and toil this work gave him and brought in no adequate return. But I assure him, if he would make this sacrifice, he will be doing a service to his country. I have never been to the Imperial Library without seeing its volumes in somebody's hands, and I have repeatedly known men to wait for hours their turn to get it. Information was contained in it which could be found nowhere else.

one.

Herr Abelsdorff, a Berlin publisher who recently brought out the Life of the New Cæsar, and who, at the instance of the French Government, was prosecuted for libelling the French Emperor, has been sentenced to fifty thalers fine. As this is the third sentence pronounced against Herr Abelsdorff, his license as publisher has been withdrawn. . . It is not generally known that Mme. George Sand once wrote the "book" of an opera. She had taken a great fancy to a young German composer of the Wagner School, and wrote a "book" for him. He was not familiar with French, and had an unbounded respect for Mme. Sand; he consequently put the whole of the "book" into music. At the end of the first act a chorus of male and female peasants saluted the departure of the village lord, and the composer made them sing to a dancing air-"Exit lord centre door back"-taking care to place a prolonged trill on c-e-n-t-r-e. When Mme. Sand saw these mistakes (for the score was filled with others like that which I have mentioned), she burnt the "book," and has never again thought of writing A strange lawsuit has been tried this week. M. Parent Duchatelet, although he died so late as 1862, was a Jansenist filled to overflowing with the passions of Port Royal. He possessed only $62,000, which he distributed in part among his eleven grandchildren, but he bequeathed legacies to so many people that his grandchildren, instead of receiving some $5,000 or $6,000, did not receive more than $100 a piece. He had been very wealthy, but exaggerated charity, proselytism, unfortunate lawsuits, and expensive publications to perpetuate old quarrels, whose very ashes are cold, sensibly impaired his estate. He lived and died surrounded by portraits of all the eminent members of Port Royal, and all the manuscripts relating to the history of Jansenism he could discover. His will betrayed this ruling passion. He bequeathed $1,000 to the Société de St. Augustin (which is always rich; it has $120,000), whose chief organ, "L'Observateur Catholique," is ultra Jansenist. It publishes articles with such rubrics as these Impious Speeches of Pius IX.; Monsignor Mondinet begged by the Pope; The Jesuits' Toysellers. I need not say M. Parent Duchatelet loathed the Jesuits, and he exhibited his detestation of them in his will. He bequeathed to the Imperial Library a manuscript of Bossuet relating to one of Father Quesnel's books, and added to the bequest

form the connecting link between those seventeen volumes and the seven volumes of his "History of the Revolution," will make such a profound sensation that the police may interfere and send book and author before the courts of justice. . . . M. Tisserant, the actor, is about to give us a volume of souvenirs and dramatic advice, with a preface by M. Jules Janin. . . . Rumor declares the Marquis Bourbon del Monte to be the author of Mlle. Segeste, an anonymous novel which has attracted some attention here.

...

I have had the pleasure to meet here J. R. Osgood, Esq., of the firm of Ticknor & Fields, of Boston. He has diligently visited our best printing-offices and other places connected with the trade, not only in Paris, but in the provinces, winning golden opinions wherever he has been. G. S.

NOTES ON BOOKS AND BOOKSELLERS. SCIENCE AND RELIGION.-In a recent number we adverted to the fact that the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, had established a new professorship, the title of which is "The Relations between Science, Philosophy, and Religion." Charles W. Shields, D. D., a highly esteemed divine of this city, has been called to the chair thus established, and we have before us a copy of the introductory lecture to his course of instruction. Dr. Shields had, by several interesting monographs, shown that this subject was one quite familiar to his thoughts, and we are therefore not surprised to find that the generalizations in his introductory are so sharply defined, well considered, judicious, and suggestive. The numerous alumni and friends of this venerable and respected institution of learning will congratulate her in having, by this pioneer movement, appreciated and anticipated one of the most pervading and deeply-seated intellectual wants of the time. Other institutions will doubtless follow her leadership, and we may accordingly hope that, in the next generation of scholars, thinkers, and authors, science and faith will be found, not hostile or indifferent to each other, but heartily joining hands in united effort to impart wisdom to faith and devoutness to science. We advert to this matter because it involves the most grave and pressing interests, and deals with problems, the bungling or indiscreet treatment of which may result either in superstition or skepticism. All who have occasion, either as journalists or students, to closely survey the field of modern literature, know that there is an apparent conflict going on between many of the deductions of recent science, and certain generally received theological opinions or interpretations. The whole body of current literature is more or less astir with this rising strife. It can no longer be ignored; it must simply be recognized and met. When chemistry, geology, and astronomy, elate with their splendid triumphs, summon our currently received exegesis to the tribunal of reason and fact, it will not do for the leaders and defenders of religious thought to

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