CURRENT LITERATURE.

"And then he tried to sing All's Well,' But could not though he tried; His head was turned, and so he chew'd His pigtail till he died.

"His death which happen'd in his berth, At forty-odd befell: They went and told the sexton, and The sexton toll'd the bell."

In graceful, if not very powerful strains, Mr. Prestont sings of the loves

of Eros and Pysche, the dark presentiments of Agamemnon, the peerless heroism of Alcides, and the sorrows of the sisters of Phaeton. Medimval and even modern subjects are also deemed worthy of his muse, and "in the spirit of affable gladness" he at one moment invites his comrades to crown their cups with roses, and at the next fondly sighs over the memory of his first love or bewails a "saint-like one," who is likewise a "pale one, hid in convent walls."—In Memoriam. The Rev. Joseph Fletcher, of Christchurch,I composes a mournful and not inharmonious dirge in memory of the long unappreciated virtues of "great Prince Albert, good Prince Albert." He has apparently taken ample time to arrange his harmless platitudes in rhyme, but had he taken still longer the nation would have exhibited no particular impatience. Mr. George Lance's friendship must, indeed, be of a durable character if it survives the association of his name with Mr. Edward West's 'ridiculous doggre]s.§ The author himself is honest enough to inform his readers that, "if there should prove to be no interest in the verses, the fault will rest entirely with the versifier, and not with the subjects of his short effusions." Here is a fair taste of his quality :

"THE SEVEN ESSAYS AND REVIEWS.

"The number, Seven, seems to speak

Reading for each day in the week.

But still we find there's something needing— One that is fit for Sunday reading."

Now that the Law of Lunacy is about to be amended, we would respect- fully suggest to Lord Westbury the propriety of introducing a special clause to authorize the summary confinement in an asylum of any one who shall hereafter presume to offer new commentaries on the text of Shakspeare. There has been much excellent fooling on this inexhaustible subject, but even the best of fooling may become intolerable if sustained too long. For some two hundred years, clever, learned, industrious scholars have devoted the best portion of their life to the hypercritical emendation of a text which they obscure as often as they illustrate it. A Sufi aiming at absorption with "the divine and transcendent essence," scarcely misinterpreted the duties of humanity worse than these mind-enthralled worshippers of "the divine Williams." As if there were not already enough commentators in the field, another has just appeared with a string of new readings. Mr. Samuel Baileylj tells us that he began this work as "a diversion from abstruser studies," but soon discovered that "to do anything effectual in this way required nearly as much diligent research and patient thought as to discuss the Principles of Value, the Metaphysics of Vision, or the Theory of Reasoning." Just so, but with very much leas advantage to his fellow-men. However' as some of his proposed readings are both ingenious and probable, we are willing to overlook the dreadful waste of time of which he has been guilty, merely advising him for the future, when he seeks recreation, to be content with Shakspeare as he finds him.

Under the form of Lectures, a Mr. B. C. Jones is doing whatever in him lies to throw discredit on the masterpieces of the Greek drama.," Not wittingly, indeed, for he really appears to be under the impression that he is doing a good turn alike to the ancient dramatists and to the modern public, in introducing them to one another. But anything more offensively vulgar than his humour, or less artistic than his manner of treatment, can hardly be imagined. We sincerely trust that no one previously unac- quainted with the Greek drama will form his opinion from these silly and pointless caricatures. As an antidote to Mr. Jones's wretched criticisms and execrable style, Messrs. A. and C. Black have rendered a notable service to the public at large by publishing a cheap edition of De Quincey's matchless writings." The first volume contains the "Confessions of an English Opium Eater," than which no work more clearly illustrates the richness the harmony, the elasticity of the English language. Whether for brilliancy of fancy, boldness and variety of imagery, or purity of ornate diction, it stands unrivalled and unapproached. The second volume, which is also out, contains his "Recollections of the Lakes and the Lake Poets, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Southey." The complaint of the Roman satirist, we fear, still holds good :

" Virtutem incolumem odimus, Sublatam ex °culls quterimus invidi." How many of the distinguished individuals described by Mr. Walford as

• The Works of Thomas Hood Edited, with Notes, by his Son. Vol. I. Ifoxon and Co.

t Glimpses of Antiquity. By George F. Preston. W. Kent and Co. For the Prince Consort : a Lay. By the Rev. Joseph Fletcher. Co.

§ Records 01861. By Edward West. E. West.

On the Received Text of Shakspeare's .Dramatic Writings, and its Improvement. By Samuel Bailey. Longman and Co.

IF One Hundred Lectures on the Ancient and Modern Drama and Dramatic Poets, down to the Nineteenth Century. By B. C. Jones. Thomas H. Lacey.

** De Quincey's Works. In fourteen volumes. A. and C. Black.

Edward W. Kent and

Filial. piety has induced Mr. Thomas Hood, the younger,* to bring out a complete edition of his father's works, a task as grateful to himself as it will be advantageous to the public. The first volume, which alone has yet appeared, contains Hood's earliest literary performances, while sub-editing the London Magazine. They certainly gave promise of his future celebrity, and are imbued to an unusual t'egree with the peculiarities—whether ex- cellences or eccentricities—of his later writings. His answers to corre- spondents are exceedingly humorous, and not to be read without moving laughter. Both the first and second series of "Whims and Oddities" are included in this volume, as well as those two charming pieces "The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies" and "Hero and Leander." Of comical effusions there is, of course, no lack, and among them the most whimsical of all ballads, "Faithless Sally Brown." A happier play on words can nowhere be found than in the well known stanzas:

"Then reading on his 'bacco-box, He heaved a bitter sigh, And then been to eye his pipe,

And then to pipe his eye.

"Men of the Time" have ever been heard of by their contemporaries? How many of them would be missed beyond their own family circles were they to die to-morrow ? Who could have contributed their biographical notices, meagre as they are, save only themselves ? The original edition, was most absurdly overcrowded with unknown names, but Mr. Walford

has taken the pains to add 1400 equally inconspicuous. Of the new cele-

brities a large proportion are clergymen, whose claims to fame consist in volumes of uncut sermons and Helps to Faith, or Infidelity, as the case

may be. En revanche, there is also a considerable increase of theatrical

memoirs, but these are carefully prepared and pleasantly written. But, taking Mr. Walford's own standard of merit, we are surprised that he should have omitted such worthies as Sutherland Edwards, J. C. Jeaffre-

son, Dutton Cook, J. E. Edgar, Edgar Bowring, Herbert Spencer, and many others, quos perscraare longum est. We suspect, too, that Mr.

Hannay will owe him small thanks for informing the world that he, a thorough-going Conservative, contested the borough of Dumfries on "Liberal principles." It is fortunate that the indefatigable Mr. Timbs takes a narrower view of eminence, or his boyhood biographies would expand to encyclopteclic dimensions.t As his range of vision embraces a thousand years, it is evident that, even though confined to the natives of the British Isles—with the exception of the late Prince Consort—it would have been an herculean labour to have compiled the juvenile adventures of all who were eminent according to the Walfordian standard. Mr. Timbs, we observe, expresses a hope that "the number and variety of suggestive points in this volume may exercise a beneficial influence," and induce the reader to become an eminent man. We hope so too, and even think it possible that he may become as much so as the author himself, who, by the

way, has omitted to narrate the incidents of the happy days when his own childhood flitted by. But this omission is excusable, from the fact that his mind, and certainly his scissors and paste, were much engaged at the time in the preparation of "A Year-Book of Facts," t a useful and careful compilation, and much to be commended for purposes of reference.

Would any one know how Cincinnatus comported himself when he re- turned to his plough, after repelling " the stranger," let him read Colonel Vecchi's photographic sketch of Garibaldi at Caprera.i Though more sen- timental and enthusiastic than exactly accords with English taste, there is something very touching in the honest admiration of this brave and single-minded soldier. Garibaldi, however, does not himself appear to very great advantage. His impulsiveness of character seems to border at times upon childishness, and his very simplicity has a theatrical air which lays it open to suspicion—perhaps unjustly. The little volume, however, is full of lively interest, and will, no doubt, be devoured by the many hundred "blond misses" who pestered the hero in vain for a lock of his hair.

Pupil-teachers and candidates for confirmation, whether they frequent the playhouse or not, are indebted to Mr. Henry Worthington for a useful enlargement of the Church Catechism4j The Workhouse Visiting Society, we rejoice to observe, patiently persevere in their efforts to found a ward for incurables at their Home and have at last made a commencement.1 The evidence given by Miss Twining before the Select Committee on Poor Relief (England), is particularly interesting and suggestive, and deserves to be carefully considered by all who sympathize with the unprotected condition of young pauper females, and would save them from the con- tamination of the adult wards.

Pamphlets and second-rate Magazines lie in an awful pile before us. How shall we deal with the accumulated horrors ? or in what order shall we recite their names ? Foremost in pretentiousness, though without a rival in

its own department, stands the Art Journal (James S. Virtue), containing three exquisite steel engravings besides numerous woodcuts. For fashions we turn to Le Folle,t, self-styled Journal du Grand Monde; or to The Paris Elegant and Journal of Fashion, edited by no less distinguished a person than "la Comtesse Dash." Messrs. Chambers furnish us with the Book of Days, a miscellany in connexion with the Calendar, including anecdotes, biography, and history, curiosities of literature, and oddities of human life and character. Mr. Dunning Macleod advances steadily with his Dictionary of Political Economy (Longman and Co.), a compendium of useful but somewhat dry information. Once a Week (Bradbury and Evans), in its XXXIst Part, is decidedly a failure, containing scarcely a single paper worth the trouble of perusal. Neither can we say much in praise of the Eclectic Review (Ward and Co), which is surely descending into the sere and yellow leaf. The second number of The Planet (Groombridge and Sons) casts a dim, uncertain light, as if already flickering, and on the point of being extinguished. On the other hand, there is no sign of weakness or decay in the Rev. J. G. Wood's Illustrated Natural Bistory (Routledge and Co.), though his monsters seem to grow more hideous every month. Part XXXVI. is devoted to frogs and salamanders of portentous size and fiendish aspect. Though hardly creditable, it is nevertheless a fact, that a new periodical has been started under the ambitious title of the Intellectual Observer (Groombridge and Sons), which professes to be a review of natural history, microscopic research, and recreative science. The articles, however, which will be most generally read, are an account of:the Roman Cemetery of Uriconium, by Mr. Thomas Wright, and a paper, only too brief, on ancient and modern finger rings, by Mr. Noel Humphrey:3. Iris Inertia Picea; or, Fallacies Affecting Science, is the name of a pamphlet (Bradbury and Evans) by Mr. James Reddie, which purports to be "An Essay towards increasing our knowledge of some physical laws, and a review of certain mathematical principles of natural philosophy." Finally, Messrs. Tenant and Co. continue their Medium for the Poets of the Day, apparently with the design to prove that "modern metre 'nay be anything but poetry. "Rubbish shot here" would be a very suitable motto for this wretched exhibition of literary vanity and bad taste. [We have to apologize to Mr. Harrison, the author of a book on South Australis noticed last week, for having by a slip of the pen written "Vic- toria" instead of "South Australia" in our criticism. This was, however, a mere clerical error, and the note at the bottom of the page gave the title correctly.—En.]

• lien of the Time : A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Living Characters (including Women). A new edition. By Edward Watford, M.A. Rontledge and Co.

t

School .daysof Eminent Men. By John Timbs, F.S.A. Lockwood and Co. The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art. By John Timbs, Y.S.A. Lockwood and Co.

§ Garibaldi at Caprera. By Colonel Veochi. Translated by Mrs. Gasket. Mac-

millan and Co.

The Church Catechism, with Explanations and Scriptural Proofs. By Henry Wor-

thington. Longman and Co.

Journal of the Workhouse Visiting Society. No. XVIL Longman and Co.