thirty-five, with five sons and three daughters, her children having been thirteen in all." During the life-time of her husband, her authority over them had been undisputed; he never interfered. "I had to be on the alert," said Napoleon, in speaking of his boyhood "Our mother would have repressed my warlike humor; she would not have put up with my caprices. Her tenderness was joined with severity; she punished, rewarded-all alike; the good, the bad, nothing escaped her. She did, indeed, watch over us with a solicitude unexampled. Every low sentiment, every ungenerous affection, was discarded, discouraged; she suffered nothing but what was grand and elevated to take root in our youthful understandings. She abhorred falsehood, was provoked by disobedience; she passed over none of our faults." Here, then, we have examples of two men of the middling classes, who have respectively risen to the highest position in the state. George Canning's education began at Hyde Abbey School, near Winchester. He next (in his thirteenth year) went to Eton, where he distinguished himself, and took a prominent part in the management of a weekly periodical called the Microcosm, published at Windsor. This was three years after his entrance at Eton, consequently he was sixteen years of age. At seventeen, he was entered as a student at Christ Church, Oxford, where he also gained academical honors. His Latin poem on the Pilgrimage to Mecca-Iter ad Meccam · was considered his chef d'œuvre. After years of public life, and political success, he was made Premier on April 12th, 1827. Still going back for a few years, we come to Edmund Burke, the son of an Irish attorney, in good practice. His birth took place either in 1730 or 1728, biographers being disagreed on this point. His mother is described as a woman of strong mind, cultivated understanding, Next in order to monarchs-and Crom- and fervent piety. The boy showing well, although not positively meaning the symptoms of a consumptive tendency, his crown, still bore all the authority of the mother kept him at home during his monarch, while Napoleon assumed its ex- childhood, and instructed him herself. ternal distinctions also-come statesmen; Until he was twelve years old, his Latin a brilliant army! almost inexhaustible in master was none other than a village its bright array, and drawn from the schoolmaster, y'clept O'Halloran, who mediocracy. The Commons of the present always would have it that he had beday furnish plenty of examples, for the stowed on the future statesman the rudinames of Cobden, Bright, Disraeli, Bul-ments of his greatness. In his twelfth wer, and twenty others, start up at once. year, he went to the classical school of A few years back, we had Peel-the son Baltimore, in the county of Kildare, kept and grandson of a cotton-spinner; and by a Quaker, of the name of Shackleton. George Canning, who, losing his father when he was only one year old, was brought up by his uncle, Mr. Stratford Canning, a merchant of London. In a work, entitled Poets and Statesmen, by William Dowling, we have the following interesting remark: "Mrs. Canning, through the influence of Queen Charlotte, was introduced by Garrick to the stage as a profession, and she subsequently married Reddish the actor. Meanwhile, her son George had become the associate of actors of a low class, from which influence he was rescued by Moody, the comedian, who stated the boy's case to Mr. Stratford Canning, and thus opened the road by which he advanced to power and fame." Here, again, was the mother's influence at work: her tastes were becoming his, her companions also his, when, fortunately for him, he was removed from her and them. In 1743, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, and became a "scholar of the house" in 1746. He took his degree of B.A. in 1748; that of M.A. in 1751; and he was made LL.D. in 1791. But long before that he had quitted Dublin for London, being intended for the bar, and entered as a student of the Middle Temple in 1747. Among all the statesmen drawn from the middling classes, none have attained a more prominent position than Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India. This distinguished man was born in 1732. Lord Macaulay has given the following account of his childhood: rustics with whom he played. But no cloud could overcast the dawn of so much genius and so much ambition. The very plowmen observed, and long remembered, how kindly little Warren took to his book. When he was eight years old, he went up to London, and was sent to a school at Newington, where he was well taught but ill fed. He always attributed the smallness of his stature to the hardness and scanty fare of this seminary. At ten he was removed to Westminster School. Vining Bourne was one of the masters. Churchill, Colman, Lloyd, Cumberland, Cowper, were among the students. Warren was distinguished among his comrades as an excellent swimmer, boatman, and scholar. At fourteen he was first in the examination for the foundation. His name, in gilded letters, on the walls of the dormitory, still attests his victory over many elder compeers. He staid two years longer at the school, and was looking forward to a studentship at Christchurch, when he was removed from Westminster to fill a writership obtained for him in the service of the East-India Company. He passed a few months at a commercial academy, to study arithmetic and book-keeping, and in January, 1750, a few days after he had completed his seventeenth year, he sailed for Bengal, and arrived at his destination in the October following." And that boy rose to be the governor of fifty millions of Asiatics; "but," says Lord Macaulay, "when his long public life, so singularly checkered with good and evil, with glory and obloquy, had at length closed forever, it was to Daylsford he retired to die." Pages might be filled with the names of those statesmen who have carved out a distinguished position for themselves. Men of noble birth have occupied the same; but to the credit of the former, it must be remembered, that rank and wealth are wonderful stepping stones to the approbation of the world; and that, using them with tact, any man of common parts may win the smile of society, while genius and mental superiority, of a high degree, are required to push through poverty and disadvantages of every kind, to the posi tion which the great in birth hold naturally. It is one thing to look at these struggles with the sentimental eye of fiction, but quite another to have them brought tangibly before us. There is a crushing effect in poverty. In the train of evils it brings with it; the meannesses, the anxieties, the cares; the irritating effect on the mind, is apt to nip genius to freeze the tender plant. In the well-furnished, well-lit room of him whose pecuniary means are certain, whose position in life is as certain, who has all the blessings of life around him, it were easy, one would fancy, for the mind to attain that equability and calm repose which should be so favorable to the growth of genius. Turn to the abode of him who has to work his own way in life. His room is uncomfortable, his mind in the same state as his room; bills accumulate, while a remittance becomes an apocryphal idea; perhaps his dinner is a matter of uncertainty, and the threadbare condition of his coat a source of deep disquietude for he must keep a decent exterior — must not sink in appearance below the respectability of the middle classes. He may be married; so much the worse if that be the case; there are more backs to clothe, more mouths to feed, more anxious beating hearts to soothe. And that, more or less, is just the picture of the early struggle of hundreds whose names have become finger-posts in the world's history. Yet, such a state appears inimical to the growth of excellence. However, it is sometimes only in appearance; for poverty (not penury) gives the stimulus to genius, and bids it rear its noble head, and look proudly at the world, while the golden weight of affluence may enervate, crush, and destroy the glorious germ. GERMANY. By Madame the BARONESS DE STAELHOLSTEIN. With Notes and Appendices. By O. W. WIGHT, A.M. In two volumes. Pages 408 and 437. New-York: Derby & Jackson, 119 Nassau street. 1859. Volume I. contains twenty-four chapters. Volume II. contains forty chapters with Appendices. The authoress of these volumes was one of the most remarkable women of the age in which she lived. Her talents, her genius, her learning, and her masculine endowments, were unsurpassed by any female writer. She was almost the only woman whose talents and influence Napoleon I. feared and hated, and hence she was an exile from France by his order. This work on Germany is a great achievement of a great mind. It may be regarded as Madame de Staël's most elaborate performance. The first volume presents Germany and the manners of the Germans, with their literature and arts. The language is rich in thought, and abounds with sentiments of sterling good It is a book to be read, to be studied, and digested. Its perusal will add mental wealth to the reader's mind. sense. Volume II. proceeds with the subject of Literature and the Arts, and then enters the domain of Philosophy and Ethics, passing on into the regions of Religion and Enthusiasm. All along these avenues the gifted authoress gathers up gems and treasures of thought with which to enrich her work. Great value is added to the work by the Notes and Appendices of the Editor, Mr. Wight. The enterprising publishers present the volumes in a neat and tasteful dress, attractive to the eye. We commend this valuable work to the lovers of choice reading. SHELLEY MEMORIALS: From authentic sources. Edited by Lady SHELLEY. To which is added an Essay on Christianity, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY: Now first printed. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1859. THE lady editor of these Memorials justly claims for her book greater accuracy, fidelity and justice to the memory, character, and talents of the gifted poet. His life, and the checkered incidents which are scattered along his track, partake a good deal of the romantic, made up of light and shade, and not a little of the emotional. The friends and admirers of Shelley will be gratified to find in this volume a better portraiture of the character and writings of this gifted man, than has appeared in previous books concerning him. The publishers, as usual, have performed their part, in so tastefully laying it before the public. RHYMES OF TWENTY YEARS. A Collection of Poems. By HENRY MORFORD, Associate-Editor of the New-York Leader. Forming a handsome 12mo volume of 220 pages, with a portrait on steel, will be ready about the 15th of August. H. Dexter & Co., Publishers, No. 113 Nassau street. C. JULIUS CESAR'S COMMENTARIES ON THE GALLIC WAR: Elucidated by English notes, critical and explanatory. And illustrated by maps, plans of the battles, views, and a Lexicon of all the words contained in the text. By N. C. BROOKS, A.M., President of the Baltimore College. First edition. NewYork: Published by A. S. Barnes & Burr. 1859. THIS is the neatest and best edition illustrated of The notes, Cæsar's Commentaries we have seen. maps, and battle-plans add immensely to the value and interest of the student of this old Roman classic. The books of this publishing-house of A. S. Barnes & Co. are always valuable and well got up in a neat and tasteful dress. The student of Latin will learn that foundation language a great deal easier out of such a book as this than from one got up after the old fashion. THE POETICAL WORKS OF JAMES GATES PERCI VAL: with a Biographical Sketch. In two vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1859. THIS is a beautiful cabinet edition, so neatly robed in blue and gold, in the characteristic style of the publishers, which will almost make one in love with poetry to examine them. We are gratified to see the poetic gems of this man of genius, whom we long knew personally, presented to the lovers of poetry in a form so neat and attractive. But beautiful as the outside is, the inside is better. Percival was a genuine poet. He was born a poet. Let all lovers of poetry buy these volumes, and drink luxuriously at their crystal fountains. IDYLLS OF THE KING. By ALFRED TENNYSON, D.C.L., Poet-Laureate. Boston: Ticknor and Fields. 1859. THE contents are: Enid, Vivien, Elaine, Guinevere. All the admirers of this celebrated poet will be glad to know that this work is published by these gentlemen, so that they can procure it, and feast upon its poetic luxuries. THE WHITE MOUNTAIN GUIDE-BOOK. Published at Concord, New-Hampshire, by EDSON C. EASTMAN. 1859. ALL travelers to that most interesting region about the White Mountains should have this best of guide-books, to tell them what they can see, and what they will wish to remember, about those colossal mountain-peaks and glens. THE ILLUSTRATED PILGRIM ALMANAC. 1860. Published in aid of the Monument Fund. Boston: A. Williams & Company, 100 Washington street. No. 1. Price, 25 cents. This is the neatest Almanac of modern times, which we have seen. Its historical value, portraits, scenes, and sketches, ought to secure it a place in thousands of families. CASTLEREAGH, Talleyrand, Matternich, and Nes- CURIOUS WAY OF RECEIVING A FORTUNE.—A selrode once upon a time organized a Holy Alli-worthy gentleman of Rouen is at present receiving ance, and a Bonaparte died on an island rock! France was then the victim. Now a Bonaparte, some fifty years later, step by step, is organizing another Holy Alliance. Stuttgardt first, Villafranca next; possibly follows, demurely, Berlin. Who is now the victim? The cloud in the sky already is bigger than the band! Smiles succeed frowns, and a typhoon is born in an hour! The same impenetrable mystery surrounds the Emperor. The same implacable silence. The same fascinating, melancholy smile. For twelve long years, with Catholic devotion, he has kept a terrible secret. He has gathered a world's audience to hear him think. Philip and the first Bonaparte disposed of courts, crowns, cabinets, camps, and churches as of the titular dignitaries of a chessboard. Another people's Emperor is making similar plans. No one individual since Adam's schoolboy days has elevated himself so far above other Emperors; so exalted by created fortune as to arouse the jealousy of sleeping nations into fear! Never on world's record was such moderationsuch judgment-such unheard of proceedings. When the world said peace, Napoleon made war. When the world said war, Napoleon made peace. The Emperor's almost supernatural genius has galvanized me into a Bonapartist; yet he must pardon me for writing what I think. PORTRAIT OF HUMBOLDT.-The "Memoriam" of this renowned man, in this number of the ECLECTIC, will furnish the reader with a brief outline sketch of his eventful and very useful life. In connection with this "Memoriam" we are desirous of gratifying our readers with a well-executed and accurate portrait of this great man, whose name and fame as a Traveler, as a Philosopher, as a man of Science and vast mental acquirements, are known in all civilized lands. We have had his portrait reëngraved in a good degree, to accompany his "Memoriam," to embellish further this number of the ECLECTIC, and add interest to the mind of the reader as he gazes upon the features of the venerable man now no longer a denizen of time. a fortune which came to him by the drawing of a cork, in the following curious manner: Obliged by the state of his health, last summer, to change the air, he went to the sea shore at Villiers-sur-Mor, near Tronville, and walking on the beach he noticed that a lad, who was also promenading there with his father, had found a sealed bottle among the seaweed. The father bade the child "throw away the dirty thing, and not to be soiling his fingers;" upon which the invalid picked up the cast-away bottle and took it with him to his lodgings. The cork drawn, the bottle was found to contain a written document, properly signed, and dated on board a versel which had sprung a leak and was about to sink. It ran thus: "About to perish, I commend my soul to God. I hereby constitute the finder of this will, inclosed in a bottle, my sole heir. My fortune, most laboriously acquired, amounts to nearly 350,000 francs and the small house in which I have resided at Valparaiso. This tenement I wish converted into a chapel, and that a mass may be said there once a mouth for the repose of my soul. The fortune will be found deposited with Mnotary, of Paris, to whom, from time to time, it has been transmitted me. Pray for me. Signed ACCELERATION OF THE MOON'S MEAN MOTION.In the last number of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society appears an able account of the present state of the controversy on this suberation of the moon's mean motion was known to ject by the Rev. R. Main, the President. The accelthe celebrated Dr. Halley in 1695; was written upon by Dunthorne in 1749; and during the last fifty Adams, and other great astronomers. years has occupied the attention of Laplace, Airy, The present controversy relates to the amount of the coefficient of the acceleration. The old coefficient is supported by Plana, Pantecoulant, and Hansen, and impugned by Adams and Delaunay. Mr. Main refers to many papers on the subject in the Comptes Rendus, Philowill be found exceedingly useful to persons interestHis resumé sophical Transactions, and elsewhere. od in this profound question. THE BRITISH MUSEUM.-An account of the inMETEOROLOGY. M. Coulvier Gravier has at come and expenditure of the British Museum for length published his Researches sur les Météores, et the financial year ended March 31, 1859; of the sur les Lois qui les régissent. The volume contains estimated charges of the expenses for the year ended the fruit of fifty years of study, the attention of its March 31, 1860, and sum necessary to discharge the author having been directed to the subject from his same; number of persons admitted, and progress of infancy by his mother, who loved to regard meteo-arrangement, etc., has been published. The expenrological phenomena as eminently "declaring the glory of God." The volume treats of every branch of the subject, and contains plates of comets, halos, shooting stars, rainbows, lightning, etc. M. Coulvier-Gravier was greatly encouraged and aided by the late M. F. Arago, the astronomer. diture for the past year amounted to £73,500, including an item of £496 for publishing "cuueiform inscriptions," and there was a balance in hand ou the 31st of March of £25,241. Salaries figure for £35,004, house-expenses for £3253, purchases and acquisitions for £19,830, bookbinding, cabinets, etc., for £13,116, and printing catalogues, making casts, etc., for £1717. The net amount of the estimated expenditure for the year 1859-60 is £77,426. Last year 519,565 persons were admitted to view the general collections, against 621,034 in 1857, 361,714 in 1855. INTELLIGENCE from St. Petersburg gives details of the solemn inauguration of a monument to the Emperor Nicholas, on the 25th ult. The monument consists of an equestrian statue in bronze, from the studio of Baron Klodt. |