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From the International Weekly Miscellany.

ENGLISH FEMALE NOVELISTS.

AMONG the most remarkable writers of romances in England, three women are entitled to be reckoned in the first rank, namely, Miss Jewsbury, Miss Bronte, and Mrs. Gaskell. Miss Jewsbury issued her first worked about four years since, a novel, in three volumes, under the title of "Zoe," and since then she has published the "Half Sisters." Both these works are excellent in manner as well as ideas, and show that their author is a woman of profound thought and deep feeling. Both are drawn from country life and the middle class, a sphere in which Miss Jewsbury is at home. The tendency of the first is speculative, and is based on religion; that of the second is social, relating to the position of woman.

Miss Jewsbury is still young, for an au thoress. She counts only some thirty years, and many productions may be confidently expected from her hand, though perhaps none will excel those already published, for, after gaining a certain climax, no one excels himself. Her usual residence is Manchester; it is but seldom that she visits the metropolis; she is now here. She has lively and pleasing manners, a slight person, fine features, a beautiful, dreamy, light brown eye. She is attractive without being beautiful, retiring, altogether without pretensions, and in conversation is neither brilliant nor very intellectual-a still, thoughtful, modest character. Miss Bronte was long involved in a mysterious obscurity, from which she first emerged into the light as an actually existing being, at her present visit to London. Two years ago there appeared a romance, Jane Eyre,' by Currer Bell,' which threw all England into astonishment. Everybody was tormenting himself to discover the real author, for there was no such person as Currer Bell, and no one could tell whether the book was written by a man or woman, because the hues of the romance now indicated a male and now a female hand, without any possibility of supposing that the whole originated with a single pencil. The public attributed it now to one, now to an

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other, and the book passed to a second edition without the solution of the riddle. At last there came out a second romance, Shirley,' by the same author, which was devourwith equal avidity, although it could not be compared to the former in value; and still the incognito was preserved. Finally, late in the autumn of last year the report was spread about that the image of Jane Eyre had been discovered in London in the person of a pale young lady, with gray eyes, who had been recognized as the long-sought authoress. Still she remained invisible. And again, in June 1850, it is said that Currer Bell, Jane Eyre, Miss Bronte, for all three names mean the same person,-is in London though to all inquiries concerning the where and how a satisfactory answer is still wanting. She is now indeed here, but not for the curious public; she will not not serve society as a lioness, will not be gazed and gaped at. She is a simple child of the country, brought up in the little parsonage of her father, in the North of England, and must first accustom her eye to the gleaming diadem with which fame seeks to deck her brow, before she can feel herself at home in her own sunshine.

Our third lady, Mrs. Gaskell, belongs also to the country, and is the wife of a Unitarian clergyman. In this capacity she has probably had occasion to know a great deal of the poorer classes, to her honor be it said. Her book, "Mary Barton," conducts us into the factory workman's narrow dwelling, and depicts his joys and sorrows, his aims and efforts, his wants and his misery, with a power of truth that irresistibly lays hold upon the heart. The scene of the story alternates from there to the city mansion of the factory owner, where, along with luxury and splendor we find little love and little happiness, and where sympathy with the condition of the workman is wanting only because it is not known, and because no one understands why or how the workman suffers. The book is at once very beautiful, very instructive, and written in a spirit of conciliation.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

A Hunter's Life in South Africa, by R. Gordon Cumming, a sprightly and entertaining work, reprinted in 2 vols. by HARPER & BROTHERS, is thus commended by Bentley's Miscellany:

"To the sportsman, par excellence, to the man of nerve and of enterprise, to the young and the daring, to the fox-hunter of England and the deer-stalker of Scotland, to the wild boar-spearer and the tiger-hunter of India, to all that delight in the chase, in its dangers and fatigues, and enjoy it the more from its greater peril to their life or their limbs, we could name few publications that would equally interest them. Five years they indeed were of perilous adventure-of lion-bearding and elephant-spooring, of hippopotamusshooting and rhinoceros-hunting; five years passed in the forest among the fiercest wild beasts of the earth; and to whom, in their ignorance and simplicity, a horse was as much an unknown animal as was a white man, and a rifle a bewilderment and a puzzle." The Spectator speaks of the work thus:

Sport and the free life of the hunter, not geographical description or discovery, were the objects of Mr. Cumming, and he enjoyed them to the fullest extent. He has knocked over half-a-dozen elephants or more at a time, chased and slaughtered cameleopards in like manner, killed and carried off hippopotamuses as men do deer at home; and grew so bold that two or three lions were less to him than an overdriven ox to a London Alderman. He met the king of beasts in open plain, rode with them, at them, across them, and round them in the execution of his tactics; knocked them over right and left. The most valuable parts of Mr. Cumming's book are those which describe the habits and appearances of the animals, as he saw them under more favorable circumstances than perhaps any other observer with equal powers of

observation.

Lights and Shades of Ireland, a work written by Mrs. Nicholson, and originally published under the title of "Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger," by BAKER & SCRIBNER, New York, and now republished by GILPIN, London, is favorably noticed in a long review by Tait's Magazine, which thus commences:

of the Sicilian Vespers, by the Earl of Ellesmere. A Reprint of Seba Smith's New Elements of Geometry. Life, Scenery, and Customs in Sierra Leone and the Gambia, by the Rev. Thomas Eyre Poole, D. D. Personal Adventures during the late War of Independence in Hungary.

Mr. Murray's last includes the following among others:-England from the Peace of Utrecht, vol. 5 and 6, by Lord Mahon. State Papers of Henry VIII.'s reign. Addresses and Charges, by Bishop Norwich. Christianity in Ceylon, by James Emerson Tennent. An Englishman domesticated in Abyssinia, by Mansfield Parkyns, Esq. An Edition of Pope's Works, in 4 vols., edited by John Wilson Croker. Barron's long expected work, Lavengro. Campaign of Radetzy in Piedmont, by Lord Ellesmere.

Mr. Colburn has lately published:-The History of Religion, by John Evelyn. Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Brunswick, by Mrs. Everett Green. Lives of the Princes of England from the Norman Conquest. Historic Scenes, by Agnes Strickland. Letters of Mary Queen of Scots, by Agnes Strickland. Light and Darkness, by Mrs. Crowe. Adelaide Lindsay, by the author of Emilia Wyndham. Petticoat Government, a novel, by Mrs. Trollope. An Autumn in Sicily, by the Marquis of Ormonde.

Smith, Elden, & Co, announce :-The Stories of Venice, by John Ruskin. New Christmas Book, by Thackeray. A Volume of Table-talk, by Leigh Hunt. Literary Remains of Ellis and Acton Bell, with notices of both authors, by Currer Bell. Women Exemplary for Piety and Charity, by Miss Julia Kavanagh. Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann, translated by John Oxenford. Pique, a novel.

Blackwood's last embraces :-Notes on North Amer.

ica, Agricultural, Social, and Economical, by Profes

sor James F. W. Johnston. Curran and his Contem-
poraries, by Charles Phillips. Lives of the Queens of
Scotland, by Agnes Strickland. Agricultural Physi-

In the year 1847, Mrs. Nicholson, a native of New-
York, repaired to Ireland, to become there the dis-ology, Animal and Vegetable, by J. L. Kemp.
tributor of charity to the starving people of that coun-
try. As far as her own limited means would reach,
aided by some contributors from the United States,
she administered relief to the sufferers in person. She
accordingly mixed largely with the poorest classes,
and was occasionally thrown in contact with bodies
and individuals who were engaged officially, or as
volunteers, in the same charitable work. The volume
before us is, in its most interesting portions, an ac-
count of her adventures when so engaged.

Mr. Bentley has lately published-A Year in the Punjaub Frontier in 1848-9, by Major Herbert Edwardes. A Pilgrimage to the Land of my Fathers, or a Narrative of Travel and Sojourn in Judea and Egypt, by the Rev. Moses Margolionth. The History

A work of great ability and value has been issued by Messrs. HARPER & BROTHERS, to which the attention of scholars and clergymen will be attracted-A Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament, by REV. DR. ROBINSON, of the Union Theological Seminary, New York, in one large octavo volume. The typography deserves special commendation. It is remarkably clear and handsome, and will be regarded as among the best specimens of Greek printing among us. Of the merits of the work itself, we have formed, from long acquaintance with the first edition, the highest estimate. In respect of precision, fullness, order and style, we know of no other lexical work so

finely realizing the true idea of a Lexicon as this, in its department. It displays scholarship, research, judgment, and taste, in every page, and combines many qualities not often to be found in this class of works. The latest results of Biblical learning in its various departments, were familiar to the author, and his own practical theories have supplied him with abundant materials for the important feature of exegesis. The etymology and the logical development and changes of each word are minutely presented, together with all its grammatical phases, and the different forms of inflection. A learned and useful comparison of the New Testament usage of the word with that of the classic authors is also given, throwing great light upon many a passage. In addition to this, a great variety of exegetical explanation of words and passages occur, so that the Lexicon as a whole furnishes the student with a fine commentary. The work is highly creditable to the scholarship of our country, and will take rank as a standard production abroad, as well as here.

The first among the beautiful issues of the press, devoted to the welcome purpose of holiday gifts, which the approaching season brings forth, is the splendid volume of the Messrs. APPLETON, entitled "Our Saviour, with Prophets and Evangelists," edited by Rev. Dr. Wainright. The embellishments-eighteen in number-present original and exquisitely finished sketches of that number of prominent Scriptural characters, including our Lord, accompanied by ap

propriate, though brief, letter press essays, suggested by the history of the different characters delineated. The sketches are highly meritorious as works of art. They evince a fine conception of the character of the persons portrayed, and a degree of spirit and intelligence not often to be found in the purely imaginative creations of the pencil. St. Paul, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, especially, are replete with the traces of genius; and of all of them it may be said, that they do good justice to the lofty subjects they attempt to sketch.

The illustrative essays are from practised and wellknown pens. Among the authors we notice the names of the reverend and esteemed editor, of Dr. Vinton, of Boston, Bishop Spencer, of Jamaica, Dr. Adams and Dr. Smith, of the Presbyterian Church in New-York, Dr. Bellows, Dr. Frothingham, and Mr. Bartol, of the Unitarian denomination; Dr. Hayne and Dr. Charles, of the Baptist denomination, and Dr. Scott, of the Methodist. These productions are of various interest and ability. Some of them possess great excellence. Purity of taste, genuine feeling, and exquisite appropriateness are true of them all, while true eloquence and poetry may be averred of a few. The massive, rich and luxurious binding in which the work makes its appearance, together with the fine typography, and its truly beautiful and meritorious illustrations, will give it an unquestionable precedence in the elegant class of which it is the pioneer.

OUR PLATE.

THE striking scene presented in the engraving accompanying this number, will recall to the reader the closing period of the life of Charles IX of France. Weak and unprincipled, rather than wicked, this unhappy prince was made subservient throughout his short and eventful life, to the policy and intrigues of his mother, Catherine de Medicis, who ruled France, from the time of her husband's decease, whoever might be the apparent head of the kingdom. One part of her policy was to play off against each other the different parties into which the kingdom was divided. The excesses of each party she adroitly fostered, and secretly aided each to injure the other. The great issue which divided the contending parties at that time, was the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism; and persecution of Protestants became, therefore, a leading part of the policy of the Queen mother. Through her agency, some of the

most revolting and cruel persecutions ever recorded, were the result of her instigation. St. Bartholomew's day was one of them. In all these the unhappy Charles was forced, often with great reluctance, to play the principal part. The frequent and flagrant crimes in which he was thus compelled to participate, embittered his life with regrets, and which gradually rose to a settled and terrible remorse. The sight of his monster mother became at length intolerable; and shortly previous to his death, her presence was the signal of paroxysms of rage and remorse. It is one of these characteristic scenes which the artist has seized upon, and presents at a glance the whole history of the miserable destiny which crime ever secures to itself. We shall present, in another number, & continuation of an article in our last, on the House of Guise, a graphic sketch of these two characters, to which the reader may be referred.

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