Easy Italian Grammar,' by the same author; and, like that, to aid in giving to the youth of America the means of making the same progress in the structure of languages, as in other liberal studies.' Very few, however, will consider it so, after noticing what are the improvements, which the Little Treasure' has received from its new editor and explicativo-annotator; and none, we are confident, will think of putting it in the hands of the youth of America,' when made acquainted with the propriety and good moral of the anecdotes. How edified must the youth of America' be, after reading, in the Little Treasure,' the anecdote of the lady, who, returning from Brussells, had concealed a lace veil fra il busto e la camiscia ;' that of the manager of a provincial theatre, who wrote to his correspondent, l'amorino ha la febbre, la semplicetta ha partorito;' that of the curate of Basse-Brettagne, who, on Saturdays, confessed 'le donne di mal affare;' that of the Abbé de Molières, who, one evening, entered into a brilliant company, holding under his arm un pezzo di stuoja onde coprivasi l'apertura d' un necessario,' where he had left his hat instead ; that of the clown, who, hearing his master praise the good qualities of his children, told him that it could not be otherwise, when it was ' in tanti a farli ;' that of the exemplary bishop of Lisieux, who, hearing his tailor say that his new breeches seemed to be too small, pel deretano di sua grandezza,' replied, smiling, that he had better say, ' per la grandezza del suo deretano;' that of the old woman, who, whilst the Père Bursault was beginning the service of the mass, at a little distance from the altar, lasciossi sfuggire una romorosa scorreggia;' that of the lunatic, who, being requested by a lady to give her three numbers to put in the lottery, wrote the numbers on a piece of paper, and then, swallowing it, said to the lady - Domani i vostri numeri usciranno certamente; ' that of the country curate, who, reading the Bible from the pulpit, said to his hearers And the Lord gave to Adam a woman, (and then turning two leaves) ed essa era impegolata dentro e fuori;' &c. &c.! Who would ever have expected to find so many vulgar, obscene and immoral expressions in a book prepared for the use of ‘the youth of America,' by one who boasts, in the title-page of this very book, of being an instructer of youth,' in two of the most respectable institutions of our country?

As to the improvements made by the Signor on the Little Treasure,' they are such as might be expected from the author of the Easy Grammar and the ‘Grammatical Dissertation.' They are intended, it is true, to afford to the learners' all those advantages which are sometimes sought in many works without success.' But what advantage can they derive from the very incorrect manner in which the 'Little Treasure' has been printed? Can they ever imagine that such words as mai, 'never'; pretendo, I pretend'; gli mandò, 'sent to him' ; &c., stand there for ma i, but the'; potendo, 'being able'; gli domandò, ' asked of him '; &c.? What, on the contrary, must be their disappointment, when they come to look for the meaning of such newly-coined Italian words, as, que, leggiardra, crimitero, madigliare, &c.? What their surprise, when, expecting to learn the softest and most musical language of the south of Europe, they meet, in the Little Treasure,' with such harsh-sounding words as, ln, conr, Imosia, srarci, parlrmento, tartaifel, [der teufel !] &c, which they never should have dreamed to find even among the most barbarous of northern dialects?

The notes explicative,' too, are intended to assist in the translation of that elementary work'; but what assistance can the learners ever receive from them,

·

when they are told that piselli, ('peas') in Italian, in English mean 'beans'; per Bacco! (by Bacchus !) to be sure'; incaricato, (charged-chargé) ‘summoned'; manco male, (less evil —not so bad — better so) all right'; salvarono, (saved) 'dared'; sbadigliando, (yawning) 'gasping'; &c. &c.? What assistance can they receive, when they are taught that the phrase non venisse a recar lor danno, comes from venire; se gli aggrada, from aggradare, or aggradire, (when aggradire makes aggradisce, and not aggrada;) dogli esposti, (degli esposti, ' of the foundling') from uscire, (to go out ;) vene, from 'it'! &c. &c.? In those instances in which the meaning of the words happens to be right and their derivation correct, they are generally such as the learners could have found, to their better advantage, in Graglia's 'Pocket Dictionary'; but there is not a word, in the fifteen hundred and nine notes explicative,' to assist the learners to translate the many idiomatic phrases, or to turn the many peculiar Italianisms contained in the Little Treasure,' into intelligible English. On the contrary, the language of the text has been often so altered ('to assist,' no doubt, in the translation') as to render it impossible to be understood, not only by learners, but even by those who have already made some progress in the study of the Italian.

But the Little Treasure' professes to afford another and greater advantage — that of determining the sounds open and close of the vowels e, o, by means of accents; thus-è, ò, when the sound of those vowels is open; and é ó, when close. Now this attempt at determining, in books, the different sounds of the vowels e, o, has been made more than once in Italy, and different ways, by abler men than the Signor; and always with unsatisfactory success. Trissino tried to introduce in the Italian alphabet the epsilon and omega of the Greek to denote the open sound of e and o; Salvini made use of two different e and two different o, to distinguish their sounds in his translation from the Greek of Oppian, on hunting and fishing'; Petronj adopted the circumflex accent to distinguish the sounds of e and o, in his English, French, and Italian dictionary; &c. But, notwithstanding all their endeavors, the thing has remained in Italy as unsettled as it was before; since there are words which the Tuscans pronounce with an open e or o, whilst the Romans will pronounce them with a close e or o, and vice versû; and those very writers, who have treated this subject ex professo, agree no better among themselves than the generality of speakers. All the advantage which their labors seem to have produced, is to have established three fundamental principles of pronunciation - namely: first-that e and o are pronounced open only in those syllables on which falls the tonic accent of the word; though there are instances in which the e and o that bear that accent are pronounced close: second that there can be no more than one e or o open in the same word; because there can be no more than one syllable in the same word upon which the tonic accent falls: third-that when the tonic accent renders the sound of e or o open, if, on account of the addition of one or more syllables to the word, the accent is transferred to one of the following syllables, the e or o which was open becomes close. Let us see, now, how these three principles have been observed in the Little Treasure.' We will pass over the great many words, which have been left without any accent, and consequently with their e and o neither open nor close; and, coming to those which are marked with an accent, we will ask the Signor how the second e of peschèria can be open, when the tonic accent of the word falls on the i— peschería? — how can the second e of frequentemente have an open sound, when the accent of the word falls npon the fourth e-frequentemente ? — and the same of a thousand

other instances. How can the word règgimento have two open e, when there is but one tonic accent in that word, and that falls upon the second e; which, according to the best Italian orthoëpists, is pronounced close? How can sèmplicìsimo, intièramènte, and a great many other words like these, have their first e open, when, by the addition of the syllables issimo, mente, &c., to the words semplice, intiera, &c., the e, which was open, has become close? Now this method of determining sounds by accents in Italian, where those signs, if used at all, determine the tonic accent of words, even if it were carried through with success, cannot fail to perplex the youth of America,' and to injure, rather than to perfect, their pronunciation; for, how will they ever be able to determine the proper accent of, and pronounce correctly, such words as maesta, intervalli, allorquando, decimoquarto, &c., which they find marked in the Little Treasure,' maèstà, intèrvàlli, allòrquàndo, dècimoquarto, instead of maestà, interválli, allorquándo, decimoquarto? But the Signor appears to have been so much elated by the fame he expected to acquire by introducing this new method in the United States,' and thus assisting the learner in acquiring a correct improvement' (for such are his expressions) of his Italian pronunciation,' as to have extended his plan even to the other vowels; and thus, in order to be more useful to the youth of America,' he has attempted to determine, also, in a similar mode, the open and close sounds, which the Italian a, i, u, never had. For, we should like to know, what need was there of introducing, in the 'Little Treasure,' besides the words abovementioned, giustìzìa, sùù, accordàtà, beccùcciù, pùbblicì, &c. &c., thus marked, had it been for any other reason?

In conclusion, we will only add that the 'Little Treasure,' however little it may seem, is a great and truly classical work of its kind — an admirable sequel to the 'Easy Grammar' and the 'Grammatical Dissertation'; that it cannot fail to gratify the lively hopes entertained by the Signor, that it will have the same kind of usefulness' as that of the other works already published by him, and that it must reflect, besides, no smaller credit upon its editor, improver, and explicativo-annotator—who, by this time, must be so well accustomed to praise and admiration, as to grow none the prouder for the justice we have endeavored to render to his merit.

An Address delivered before the Sunday School Society of Newburyport, at their third Anniversary. By R. C. Waterston. Published by request. Light & Horton. pp. 22.

This address is distinguished by that direct simplicity of style, which is best fitted to clothe strong and simple thought. Mr. Waterston has studied in that school, of which Dr. Channing and Mr. Dewy are the eminent masters. Rejecting worn-out phraseology and cant terms, these writers have thrown a new, fresh, glowing beauty around the commonest truths of religion and morality: thus have they won thousands to their peculiar faith, and thus will the Unitarian ministers continue to thin the ranks of orthodoxy, until the preachers of the old and established doctrines shall cast aside their cumbrous, unwieldy armor, and not disdain to use the light, polished weapons of the modern church-militant. We are not aware that Mr. Waterston is of the Unitarian persuasion; but simply remark that his performance is distinguished by that peculiarly free, graceful, and vigorous manner of expression, which characterizes the productions of the ministers of that faith.

We should be pleased, did our limits allow, to extract freely from the address, as the surest way of recommending it to the general attention; but must content ourselves with directing to it the favor of, not only all those who are engaged in the teaching of Sunday schools and the religious education of children, but to every parent and every lover of his species who can rightly appreciate the vast importance of pure mental culture to the young.

Ship and Shore; or, Leaves from the Journal of a Cruise to the Levant. By an Officer of the United States Navy. NewYork: Leavitt, Lord & Co. 1 vol. 12mo., pp. 322.

This is as charming a work for a leisure-evening, as we have seen these six months. The author has an eye like Washington Irving's, for the strange and the picturesque; and though his style does not resemble that of the most delightful of modern authors, it is quiet and unpretending, and often, without effort, rises into elegance. Such works reflect honor upon the navy, and afford reason to hope that our officers may hereafter become as distinguished as those of Great Britain in polite literature. We shall not indulge those readers who have not curiosity enough to seek for the book, with any analysis of the author's adventures, but simply cull a flower here and there, to testify the richness of the whole garden. The description of the island of Madeira is peculiarly fine; and the account of a Visit to the Convent of Santa Clara,' very touching and beautiful. Wherever the author treats of female loveliness he is very happy, and talks con amore. Like the story-teller whom he mentions, he evidently knows that there is something in a woman you never meet with in a man.' Witness this picture of a Spanish beauty.

The fair Magdalena may be seen, gliding away with the family group, from the restricted corridor, to this more ample and animating promenade. Her mantilla falls in light flowing folds over the glossy clusters of her raven locks, and seems so attracted by the charms which it half conceals, that it scarcely needs even the delicate confinement of the jeweled hand, that now and then adjusts its condition. Her basquinia, with its deep tasseled festoons, falls from the cincture of the slight waist, in spreading adaptation to the fuller development of her form, down to an ancle, over which it scarcely consents to extend the obscuring veil of its drapery. Her small, round foot, which seems at every moment in the act of leaping from its little slipper, leaves the earth, and lights upon it again, with most exquisite grace and precision. Her countenance, ever partaking more of thoughtfulness than mirth, has the carnation melting through the transparent cheek—the slumber of a smile around the lip; and the tender light of a full, black, overpowering eye.

As she floats along, she casts upon you, if an intimate, a look of the most glad and sparkling recognition—if a stranger, a look that lingers on your heart long after the beautiful being herself may have passed away. It is precisely such a look as one would wear who is pleased that there is just such a being as yourself in the world, and is happy in passing you this once, though she may never meet you again. It may, perhaps, be owing to my unfamiliarity with the world; but I did not suppose it possible for a person to find, in a land of strangers, that which could so allure him to the spot, and strike to his inmost sensibilities—as what one must experience, who puts his foot within the sweet environs of Malaga.'

Anecdotes like the following are agreeably interspersed.

A number of them' (sailors) went to see Othello acted; they detected at once the diabolical deceit of lago, and muttered their indignation. They became at

length so absorbed in the performance, especially in the character and fate of Desdemona, that when the jealous Moor came out to murder her in her sleep, they instantly sprang upon the stage, crying out, Avast there! you black, bloody rascal!' and were in the act of seizing him, when the curtain dropped, amid confusion and applause.'

We might quote several equally favorable specimens of the author's pleasant imagination with this:

The next island that we made, was Cerigo-the ancient Cithera, and the favorite isle of Venus. Near its sweet shore, this goddess rose from the wave in the full perfection of her soft entrancing beauty. Her being, no less than her birth, betrayed her celestial origin. With a form moulded, in all its developments, to the most rich and exquisite symmetry- -a countenance lighted up with the earnestness of serene and passionate thought- a soul breathing through her very frame the warmth and kindling fondness of love with a step that could dispense with the earth, and a look that could make a Heaven,—it is no wonder that she filled and fascinated the human heart, and that the prince and the poet, the warrior and the sage, laid their richest offerings upon her shrine. But her worship is now passed; her temples are tottering in ruins ; her altars are forsaken; her fountains unvisited; and even this sweet isle, where she once dwelt, has only the murmuring wave to mourn over the dream of her perished beauty.'

We were not prepared to find such gems in the work of a reverend chaplain ; but besides the like, the volume is recommended by a strain of ardent feeling, which elevates the mind without fatiguing it. We are not particularly pleased with the poetry, which the author often goes far out of his way to introduce. Perhaps the following exquisitely pathetic sketch will speak more favorably for the work than anything we have before quoted :

The burial-ground of the Armenian, like that of the Moslem, removed a short distance from the town, and sprinkled with green trees, is a favorite resort, not only for the bereaved, but those whose feelings are not thus darkly overcast. I met there one morning a little girl, with a playful countenance, busy blue eye, and sunny locks, bearing in one hand a small cup of china, and in the other a wreath of fresh flowers. Feeling a very natural curiosity to know what she could do with these bright things, in a place that seemed to partake so much of sadness, I watched her light motions. Reaching a retired grave, covered with a plain marble slab, she emptied the seed — which it appeared the cup contained into the slight cavities which had been scooped out in the corners of the tablet, and laid the wreath on its pure face. And why,' I inquired, my sweet girl, do you put the seed in those little bowls there?' It is to bring the birds here,' she replied, with a half wondering look; they will light on this tree,' pointing to the cypress above, when they have eaten the seed, and sing. To whom do they sing?' I asked; to each other to you?' 'O, no,' she quickly replied; to my sister; she lies there.' But your sister is dead?' 'O yes, sir, but she hears all the birds sing.' 'Well, if she hears the birds sing, she cannot see that wreath of flowers?' 'But she knows I put it there; I told her, before they took her away from our house, I would come and see her every morning.' 'You must,' I continued, have loved that sister very much; but you will never talk with her any more-never see her again.' 'Yes, sir,' she replied, with a brightening look, I shall see her always in Heaven.' 'But she has gone there already, I hope.' 'No, she stops under this tree, till they bring me here, and then we are going to Heaven together.' 'But she has gone already, my child; you will meet her there, I trust; but certainly she is gone, and left you to come afterwards.''