This is immediately followed by a quotation from a letter of CRAWFORD to his sister, which to those who have seen the Orpheus, brings the image of that wonderful production with greater force before the imagination, than all which we have read about it elsewhere: 'I AM writing,' says he, in a letter to his sister, 'in the midst of a terrible thunder-storm, and can scarcely proceed for the incessant flashes of lightning, which dart every moment into the window of my studio. My statue of Orpheus is before me, and when I look upon it in the midst of the thick darkness which is brightened occasionally by a glow of rapid red light, it is difficult to persuade myself that this inanimate creation of mine is not starting from its pedestal and actually rushing into the realms of PLUTO.' 'Desirous to please,' even still farther, we cite the following: 'For sunshine and dew, the riches of the earth and of the air, do not enter more freely into the infinite combinations of vegetable life, than do the materials of inspiration which lie every where around him, into the poet's thought. Whatever he looks upon catches life from his eye. Whatever he touches glows with responsive warmth. His step calls forth fragrance from the earth: and his voice fills the air with celestial harmonies.'

In a comparison of IRVING and GOLDSMITH, Professor GREENE observes, with equal truth and felicity of expression :

'He has written no poem, no 'Traveller,' no 'Deserted Village,' no exquisite ballad like The Hermit,' no touching little stanzas of unapproachable pathos, like 'Woman.' But how much real poetry and how much real pathos has he not written. We do not believe that there was ever such a description of the song of a bird as his description of the soaring of a lark in 'Buckthorn;' and the poor old widow in the 'Sketch-Book' who, the first Sunday after her son's burial, comes to church with a few bits of black silk and ribbon about her, the only external emblem of mourning which her poverty allowed her to make, is a picture that we can never look at through his simple and graphic periods without sobbing like a child. Poet he is, and that too of the best and noblest kind, for he stores our memories with lovely images, and our hearts with humane affections. If you would learn to be kinder and truer, if you would learn to bear life's burden manfully, and make for yourself sunshine where half your fellow-men see nothing but shadows and gloom, read and meditate GOLDSMITH and IRVING. And if you too are an author, at the first gentle acclivity or far upwards on the heights of fame, learn to turn backward to your teacher with the same generous and fervent gratitude with which IRVING at the close of his preface addresses himself to GOLDSMITH in the noble language of DANTE:

'THOU art my master, and my teacher thou;

It was from thee, and thee alone, I took
That noble style for which men honor me.'

IRVING'S 'Life of WASHINGTON' is introduced by an anecdote of IRVING's having been held up by his Scotch nurse and 'introduced' to General WASHINGTON, while walking in Broadway. The incident, as we have heard Mr. IRVING relate it, occurred one beautiful Sunday morning, as General WASHINGTON, the 'observed of all observers,' was coming out of Saint PAUL'S church, where he had been devoutly worshipping. Mr. IRVING'S peculiar and admirable qualifications to become the biographer of WASHINGTON, and the reception of his work by the public, are well set forth in the subjoined brief extract:

'MANY concurring causes seem to have pointed out Mr. IRVING as the historian of WASHINGTON. He had been the first to tell the story of COLUMBUS fully, and to paint the struggles of that sublime genius in truthful and enduring colors. He was known to have a rare talent for the study of character, seizing readily upon those delicate shades and nice distinctions which, though essential to the truth of a portrait, and often the only

clue to apparent contradictions, escape the common eye. He was acknowledged to be one of the best of narrators, full of life and movement, carrying you from scene to scene with an interest that never flags, possessing all the warmth of a poet, and yet free from that melodramatic exaggeration which is the worst falsifier of history. He was the master of a pure English style, addressing itself, with its graphic epithets and rich cadences, to the understanding and the heart, and filling the ear with a delicious melody that thrills you like music. And with all this he had lived in the world, and that in an age full of great events; had mingled freely in the society of different nations; had met face to face the great men of his time; had seen kings upon their thrones, savage chiefs in their native wilds, generals fresh from the battle-field, statesmen surrounded with the pageantry of office, or mourning in involuntary retirement the loss of a power that had become essential to their happiness. He had lived, too, in delightful intercourse with the monarchs of the mind, the great poets who, from the seclusion of their closets, sent forth words that were repeated with rapture in courts and cottages, on the ocean and by the watchfire; and he had seen them pass away one by one, renewing the lesson of ages, that he who would live in the hearts of men must live for mankind.'

Professor GREENE, who is himself well nigh the completion of a great work upon the life and correspondence of his grandfather, the friend of WASHINGTON, and the hope of the country, next to him, in the darkest and stormiest days of its history, is well qualified to discuss the merits of such a production as the last of IRVING'S. The following noble passage closes the remarks upon it, and the book which contains them :

'It is eminently a national work, upon which they can all look with unmingled pride. It has not merely enriched our literature with a production of rare beauty, but has given new force to those local associations which bind us, as with hallowed ties, to the spots where great men lived and great things were done. Few will now cross the Delaware without remembering that Christmas night of tempest and victory. Who can look upon the heights of Brooklyn without fancying that, as he gazes, the spires and streets fade from his view, while in their stead stern and anxious faces rise through the misty air, and amid them the majestic form of WASHINGTON, with a smile of triumph just lighting for a moment his care-worn features, at the thought of the prize he has snatched from the grasp of a proud and exulting enemy? And Princeton, and Valley Forge, and Monmouth, and the crowning glory of Yorktown - how do they live anew for us! With what perennial freshness will their names descend to posterity! And those two noble streams that flow to the sea through alternations of pastoral beauty and rugged grandeur, the lovely Potomac, the majestic Hudson, how have they become blended by these magic pages in indissoluble association. The one the cherished home of WASHINGTON, the seat of his domestic joys, his rural delights; looked to with eager yearning from the din of camps and battle-fields; sighed for with weary longing amid the pomp and pageantry of official greatness; to which he returned so gladly when his task had been accomplished; and which, dying with the serenity of Christian resignation, he consecrated by the holiest of all associations, the patriot's grave; the other the scene of care and triumphs; on whose banks he had passed slow days of hope deferred; whose waters had borne him to-and-fro through checkered years of dubious fortune; and had witnessed the touching sublimity of his farewell to his companions in arms, and the simple grandeur of his reception as first President of the country he has saved! How meet was it that, while his ashes repose beside the waters of the Potomac, his life should have been written on the banks of the Hudson!'

We lay down this little volume with the conviction that it will add not a little to Professor GREENE's reputation. For beauty of style and beauty of thought, some of its passages can scarcely be surpassed. We learn from the publisher that it was thrown off hastily, in the midst of serious avocations, from a sense of the importance of giving to the public that for which no more convenient season might occur, and which, from the author's peculiar personal relations to the subjects of these biographies, ought not to be lost. It may, for aught we know, contain many imperfections: but it contains enough of what is so highly finished as to show that the author, when engaged in a work which he deems worthy of his powers, is capable of any degree of excellence at which he chooses to aim.

เ

THE EDINBURGH REVIEW FOR THE APRIL QUARTER. London: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN AND LONGMANS. Edinburgh: ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK. New-York: LEONARD SCOTT AND COMPANY, 79 Fulton-street.

THE last number of the 'Blue and Yellow' opens with an article on the Commercial Relations of England and France.' It does not profess to deal with the objections which, on the English side of the Channel, have been urged against the Treaty, so recently concluded between those countries. Some of these objections it admits to be well-founded, and it would have 'preferred it if the French Government had been in a condition to adopt the principles of Free Trade, without any negotiation or treaty at all.' Some twenty pages are devoted to the past history and present condition of the French tariff. The objection, that the Treaty is a one-sided affair, conferring no great benefit upon England, while of solid advantage to France, is by no means met and disposed of. The remainder of the article is devoted to Wine. The reviewer grows almost 'mellow' over the thought, that there may be a good time coming' when the English laborer shall become as fond of his light and diluted wines as he now is of his 'alf-and-'alf or his gin.

'The Youth of MILTON' is the title of the second article; it is a very judicious and readable condensation of the facts contained in the first volume of MASSON'S Life of MILTON. A short article succeeds on 'Expense of Public Education in England,' discussing some objectionable features and suggesting measures of retrenchment and reform. 'English Local Nomenclature' is the title of the next article and an exceedingly curious and ingenious one it is- from the same hand that furnished, some years ago, an equally interesting paper on 'English Surnames.' Let such of our readers as have not forgotten TENNYSON'S Ode on the Iron Duke read 'Civil Correspondence and Memoranda of the Duke of WELLINGTON.' The ascent to those 'shining table-lands' on which the Poet-Laureate dwells with such rapture, seems to have been made by means of the most unblushing corruption and profligacy. That 'the path of duty is the way to glory,' who can doubt - at least, who can question the patness of TENNYSON'S application? who here reads of the Duke, as Chief-Secretary of Ireland, pensioning old ladies, giving offices to incompetent persons, and trading and jobbing even in church-livings, in order to compass his ends? One man complains that his salary in a civil office was not large enough: and he is advised to get himself ordained for the ministry, in which case he is promised a fat office and high dignity in the Church. Article Six, DE BROGLIE'S Church and Roman Empire 'will keep ;' so we pass it now, to mention a paper on the alleged SHAKSPEARE Forgeries. This is a very candid and sufficiently comprehensive statement of 'a question occupying the minds of literary men to a far greater extent, and involving much deeper researches, than the forgeries of IRELAND or of CHATTERTON, or any other cognate subject which has ever obtained a prominent place in literary discussion.' We quote a few sentences as a timely contribution, during these days of exciting warfare for the Championship,' to the history of 'Fair Play' in Old England:

THERE exists in the State Paper Office a (supposed) original or early copy (there is nothing on the face of the document to show which) of the humble petition of THOMAS POPE, RICHARD BURBADGE,' and other actors (including SHAKSPEARE) to QUEEN ELIZABETH'S Privy Council, soliciting leave to complete certain repairs of their theatre at the Black Friars. It is without date. Mr. COLLIER first printed it in his 'Annals of the Stage,' as long ago as 1831. It looks like a copy rather than an original; but we are not aware that its antiquity had been hitherto questioned. 'Its execution,' says Mr. Hamilton, 'is very neat, and to any one not minutely acquainted with the fictitious hand of these SHAKSPEARE forgeries it might readily pass as genuine. But on examination of the handwriting generally, the forms of some of the letters in particular, and the spurious appearance of the ink, led me to the belief not only that the paper was not authentic, but that it had been executed by the same hand as the fictitious documents already discussed. This conviction I made known to the Right Hon. the Master of the Rolls; who was good enough to direct an official inquiry into the authenticity of the document. In accordance with this direction, on the 30th of January, Sir FRANCIS PALGRAVE, Deputy-Keeper of Public Records, J. DUFFIN HARDY, Esq., Assistant-Keeper of Public Records, and Professor BREWER, Reader at the Rolls, met Sir Frederic Madden and myself for the purpose of investigation, and after a minute and careful examination, the following unanimous decision was arrived at as to the fact of its undoubtedly spurious character. We, the undersigned, at the desire of the Master of the Rolls, have carefully examined the document hereunto annexed, (describing it,) and we are of opinion that the document in question is spurious."

'Then follow the signatures of the three gentlemen above named, and in addition, of FREDERIC MADDEN, K.H., keeper of the мss., British Museum, and N. E. S. A. HAMILTON, assistant deputy librarian of MSS., British Museum.

It has been with no small surprise that this very singular announcement has been received by the literary world. We must direct the attention of our readers to the leading circumstances. The Record Office' (in Chancery Lane) is under the superintendence of the Master of the Rolls. The State Paper Office,' in Westminster, is a branch of the same department and under the same head. Each department has its own staff of superior and subordinate officers, and its own distinct class of archives. Now, as to the gentlemen engaged in the inquiry, Mr. HAMILTON's indictment of Mr. COLLIER appeared in the Times as long ago as last July. Since then, the controversy between him and Sir F. MADDEN, on one side, and the friends of Mr. COLLIER on the other, has never ceased to rage. The approaching publication of Mr. HAMILTON'S pamphlet, which was to settle that controversy at once and forever, has been announced over and over again. It was delayed for many months; at last the delay, after so many positive announcements, became very singular, and attracted attention. At the end of January this document, of such importance in the case against Mr. COLLIER, discovered by Mr. HAMILTON to be spurious, is brought from its proper place in the State Paper Office to the Record Office. An 'official inquiry' takes place, and it is certified to be spurious. In that inquiry not one of the officers of the State Paper Office, who had the custody of that document, takes part, or appears to have been present. The certificate is signed by three officers of the Record department, and by two gentlemen wholly unconnected with that department, functionaries of the British Museum, who were then engaged in prosecuting that most crushing charge against Mr. COLLIER, in connection with this very document, in the issue of which his character, and theirs, were so very seriously involved. (!)

'We cannot but ask: is it the custom of the Master of the Rolls in an 'official' proceeding of this kind, to leave out of the inquiry the officers charged with the custody of those documents, and to decide the case without hearing the principal witnesses ? is it customary, instead, to admit assessors wholly unconnected with the department? If it is the custom, no one might have been a more fit assessor than Sir FREDERIC MADDEN, if he had not been so unhappily connected with the pending quarrel. But what place, in so august a company, has Mr. N. E. S. A. HAMILTON, Sixth and junior assistant of the third class in the Ms. department in the British Museum? Is his voice of official weight in pronouncing a portion of the archives of the realm to be genuine or spurious?

We are quite aware of the answer which will be given to all this. We shall be told that we are imputing motives' to the three excellent officers of the Record Department and Rolls, whose names are also appended to this certificate, and who can only have acted through a laudable desire to preserve the purity of our archives.' We can only answer, most sincerely, as well as 'officially,' that any such imputation is as far as possible from our thoughts. Not only are those gentlemen above all such suspicion, but they have no connection whatever with this unhappy controversy. But we must speak the language of common-sense. Sir F. MADDEN and Mr. HAMILTON may have been actuated by a desire to preserve the purity of archives' of which they are not the keepers; but they were certainly also actuated by their desire to strengthen their case against Mr. COLLIER.

"The document has been returned to the State Paper Office with the certificate of spuriousness attached to it, but without the slightest account of the evidence on which this opinion has been formed. In spite of this verdict, to which Sir F. MADDEN and Mr. HAMILTON have pledged whatever reputation they enjoy as palæographers, the authenticity of

the paper is still maintained by the best authorities in the State Paper Office to be equal to that of any other document in the collection. We hold that Mr. COLLIER is wholly freed from the charge of forging this document; and, if so, Mr. HAMILTON is bound to admit him innocent of every other charge also. For that gentleman has no doubt that all the alleged forgeries (those of the PERKINS Folio inclusive) are by the same hand! But what then becomes of the authority of Sir F. MADDEN and Mr. HAMILTON, who pledge themselves that the document is spurious? Tried by this test, of their own selection, their evidence on the whole case is utterly worthless.'

The other articles are, 'DARWIN'S Origin of Species,' and 'France, Savoy, and Switzerland.'

FRESH HEARTS THAT FAILED THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO: with Other Things. By the Author of The New Priest in Conception Bay.' In one Volume: pp. 121. Boston: TICKNOR AND FIELDS.

THIS little volume is understood to have proceeded from the mind and pen of the Rev. Mr. LoWELL, a brother of Mr. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, the well-known versatile and gifted American poet. In reading several of the effusions contained in this fair-paged book, and remembering the well-earned fame of the author's poetical brother, we could but say, 'Par nobile fratrum.' The writer observes modestly enough in his brief preface: Having from childhood met, now and then, and listened to the Muse of Numbers, the writer offers here a few of the things which he has learned, at different times, from her, and hopes they may not be too many.' We may assure him that there are not too many. Even were there a great diversity of merit in the contents of the volume, three or four such poems as we could indicate, would redeem the credit of the most indifferent one which could be selected from the book. But let us leave comment, and pass to quotation, calling preliminary attention to 'The Little Years,' a 'Song for the Elder Graduates,' of Harvard University, 'as we do guess':

Much did we desire to quote 'A Walk among Memory's Graves,' for it is full