LITERARY NEWS.

A fac-simile of the 1604 edition of Shakespeare's " Hamlet," the only edition published during the poet's lifetime, has just been distributed to a few Shakesperian scholars by the Duke of Devonshire. The issue took place under the superintendence of Mr. John Payne Collier.

The library of the late Alexander von Humboldt, which had been left to his old valet, has this week been sold to Lord Bloomfield, our am- bassador at Berlin, for the sum of 40,000 thalers, or about 60001. It is said to be destined for the British Museum.

The Social Science Association has proposed the following special question for its annual meeting, to be held at Bradford in October. " How far and in what way can the national census of 1861 be made available for procuring information on the moral, material, and social condition of the country ? "

It is stated that about 10,000 copies of the Poet Laureate's "Idylls of the King," have already been sold. In America also, no less than three editions of the same work have passed the press.

A few more new books are announced as forthcoming by London pub- lishers. Among them are "A Little Tour in Ireland," by An Oxonian," illustrated by John Leech (Bradbury and Evans); "The Rose and the Lotus; or, Home in England and Home in India," by the " Wife of a Bengal Civilian " (Bell and Daldy) ; and a new edition de luxe of Moore's "Lalla Rookh," with illustrations by Pickersgill, Birket Foster, and others (Routledge and Co.).

Our thoroughly national game of cricket has found a most competent historian in Mr. Frederick Lillywhite, who is preparing an elaborate work, wherein will be given full scores of all matches chronicled since 1772, biographical notices of celebrated players, anecdotes, &c. Much of the requisite materials lies buried in old books, newspapers, and bits o' writing hidden away in dark corners and cupboards. The labour of collecting and compiling them will be great; and wo are sure that the lovers of cricket will readily respond to Mr. Lillywhite's appeal, that ho may be allowed to examine any documents of the kind of which they may be possessed.

' Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. are preparing for continuous publica- tion, at a very low price, an Index to Current Literature, a work that promises to be of great Utility to the general reader no loss than to literary men. The first part will appear on the 15th of October, and will be con- tinued quarterly, unless the majority of subscribers prefer that the pub- lication should be monthly. Mr. Low invites suggestions on this and other points; and we earnestly advise our readers to promote by every means in their power the success of a work which bids fair to supply, at the low cost of 4s. a-year, a long-experienced desideratum in litera- ture. For want of it our system of catalogues is at fault, and our daily accumulating stores of books and pamphlets are as it were locked up from all but the professed literatenr, and to a great extent even from him. "My aim," says Mr. Low, "is to compile a work which shall in itself prove a ready-reckoner of what is written on any given subject during the current quarter, and which without being confined to the titles of books may extend its application to the contents of the leading reviews and magazines, and comprehend a reference to essays and newspaper articles, that may be as desirable to secure the means of turning to as to distinct publications. The value of such an Index must be too apparent to need enlarging upon, and it will be my aim to make it prove its value to those who may doubt it."

Several American papers state that Mr. T. C. Evans, of New York, has sailed for this country with the view of engaging Mr. Charles Dickens to give " readings " in the United States. A similar offer was made some time ago to Mr. Thomas Carlyle, but declined.

The Opinion of Turin announces that King Victor Emmanuel has ap- pointed the celebrated Italian author, Signor Alexandre Manzoni, to the

presidency of the Institute of that city, with a salary of 12,000 lire (4801.).

The French Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres has just awarded it annual prize to M. Chessang for his work on "The different kinds of fabulous narratives called romances, in Greek and Latin An- tiquity, up to the fifth century of our era, and their connexion with History."

An important historical work, entitled " History of the Reign of Charles Emmanuel II., of the House of Savoy," by the Chevalier Domi- nique Carutti, member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, has just been translated into French, in two volumes.

The affairs of central Italy begin to assume such an importance that several Paris newspapers have begun to send out special correspondents to Tuscany and Parma. Among the earliest who have thus started is M. Edmond Tesler, of the Siecle, whose late letters from the seat of war reached a great notoriety, and have been recently republished. M. A. Gueroult's new France-Itidian journal, "L'opinion Nationale," is now definitely announced to appear on the first of September. It will be of the size of La Prase, and also of the same price, viz., 40 francs per annum for Paris.

The first volume of a statistical work of considerable interest, entitled " Etudes sur le Regime des Manufactures," has just been published by Michel Levy, freres, Paris. The part now issued, headed " Condition des Ouvriers en Soie," and written by M. Louis Reybaud, of the In- stitute; treats of the social condition of the silkweavers in France, Switzerland, the Rhinelands, Prussia, and the adjacent countries. The facts brought forward are said to be mostly the result of personal and minute inquiries.

Under the title of "Les Sirens," a French amateur author, M. Kastncr, has just published a series of essays in which the origin of various popular superstitions of ancient and modern times, as that of Sirens, of magical music, of the song of dying swans, &c., is investigated with great care, and some curious conclusions are arrived at.

A new French metrical translation of Goethe's "Faust," from the pen of Prince Alphonse de Polignac, has appeared in Paris. The version, on which the noble author is said to have been engaged for many years, is very graceful.

A book entitled "La Satire en France au moyen-age," by C. Lenient, which was published this week by Pagnerre and Co., contains a clear and graphic description of an interesting period of French literature ; and notable likewise among the recent productions of the French press is another of the same class, by Emile Desehanel, "La vie des Comediens : Romans, Comedies, Satires, tlemoires, et Anecdotes." The latter work is published by Hachette and Co.