"These Letters stand unequalled in the department of Esthetics, and are so esteemed even in Germany, which is so fruitful upon that topic. Schiller is Germany's best Esthetician, and these letters contain the highest moments of Schiller. Whether we desire rigorous logical investigation or noble poetic expression, whether we wish to stimulate the intellect or inflame the heart, we need seek no further than these. They are trophies won from an unpopular, metaphysical form, by a lofty, inspiring, and absorbing subject."-Introduction.

"During this important (philosophical) controversy, in 1795, Schiller published the present Letters, and with the large and profound estimation of things that peculiarly marked his time and country, perceived and maintained that Esthetics were a portion of morals, and that their foundation was co-existent with nature and the human soul. With his truly poetic spirit and grand moral feeling, poetry and the fine arts were a part of politics; not in the petty sense of the term, as a mere exposition of any peculiar dogmas, but as a part of the directing influence of men's passions and conduct. In this view are the arts treated of in the Letters on the Esthetic Culture of Man,' and in these hitherto, to us, unknown essays will be found the true arguments of many questions now agitating our political world. The mode of really civilizing large masses of men; the regulation of the play-impulse,' and the stimulation of the work-impulse,' and many other matters, which will employ the last half of the nineteenth century.

"It is not possible, in a brief notice like the present, to do more than intimate the kind of excellence of a book of this nature. It is a profound and beautiful dissertation, and must be diligently studied to be comprehended. After all the innumerable efforts that the present age has been some time making to cut a Royal road to everything, it is beginning to find that what sometimes seems the longest way round, is the shortest way home; and if there be a desire to have truth, the only way is to work at the windlass one's self, and bring up the buckets by the labour of one's own good arm. Whoever works at the present well, will find ample reward for the labour they may bestow on it:

the truths he will draw up are universal, and from that pure elementary fountain that maketh wise he that drinketh thereat.""-Douglas Jerrold's Magazine.

"The Philosophical Letters," which are in the form of a correspondente, were written at an earlier period than those on Esthetic Culture,' and present a phasis in Schiller's thought, which is some respects we believe he outgrew. They exhibit an application of the pantheistic doctrine to various inieresting and absorbing subjects, and contai views to the truth of which we should hesitate to subscribe; nevertheless, they are exceeding valuable for what they are. The thoughts set forth in them are remarkable for their beauty, noble disinte restedness, and clearness of expression; as specimens of style, fraught with east, grace, and dignity, they will bear compa rison with the finest pieces in the book.

"It is difficult, if not impossible, to give a brief, and at the same time faithful, summary of the ideas affirmed by Schiller in this volume. Its aim is to develop the ideal of humanity, and to define the successive steps which must be trodden in order to attain it. Its spirit aspires after human improvement, and seeks to indicate the means of its realization. Schiller insists upon the necessity of æsthetic culture as prelimi nary to moral culture, and in order to make the latter possible. According to the doctrine here set forth, until man is æsthetically developed, he cannot be morally free, hence not responsible, since there is no sphere for the operation of the will.

"The style in which the whole volume is written is particulary beautiful; there is a consciousness of music in every page we read; it is remarkable for the condensation of thought and firm consist ency which prevails throughout; and so far as we are able to judge, the transla tion is admirable, and faithfully rendered. The twenty-seven letters upon the

Esthetic Culture of Man' form the most prominent, and by far the most valuable, portion of the work. They are not letters to be read after a hearty din ner, when the mental powers are impaired by the process of digestion; for they will demand much clearness and insight to be fully apprehended and understood. But to all persons capable and willing to comply with this demand, they will be

found full of interest and the choicest riches, which will abundantly repay any amount of labour bestowed upon them." -Inquirer.

"This is a book which demands and deserves study. Either to translate or to appreciate it, requires a somewhat peculiar turn of mind. Not that any body could read it without profit, but to gain from it all that it is capable of yielding, there must be some aptitude for such studies, and some training in them too. To be appreciated it must be studied, and the study will be well repaid."-Christian Examiner.

"Here we must close, unwillingly, this volume, so abounding in food for thought,

so fruitful of fine passages, heartily commending it to all of our readers who desire to make acquaintance with the philosophy of art. The extracts we have taken will prove what a treasure is here, for they are but a fraction of the gems that are to be gathered in every page. We make no apology for having so long lingered over this book; for, albeit, philosophy is somewhat out of fashion in our age of materialism, it yet will find its votaries, fit though few; and even they who care not for the higher regions of reflection cannot fail to reap infinite pleasure from the eloquent and truthful passages we have sought to cull for their mingled delight and edification."--Critic.

"Richter has an intellect vehement, rugged, irresistible, crushing in pieces the hardest problems; piercing into the most hidden combinations of things, and grasping the most distant; an imagination vague, sombre, splendid, or appalling; brooding over the abysses of Being; wandering through infinitude, and summoning before us, in its dim religious light, shapes of brilliancy, solemnity, or terror; a fancy of exuberance literally unexampled; for it pours its treasures with a lavishness which knows no limit, hanging, like the sun, a jewel on every grass-blade, and sowing the earth at large with orient pearl. But deeper than all these lies Humour, the ruling quality of RICHTER; as it were the central fire that pervades and vivifies his whole being. He is a humorist from his inmost soul; he thinks as a humorist. he imagines, acts, feels as a humorist: Sport is the element in which his nature lives and works."-THOMAS CARLYLE.

"With such a writer it is no common treat to be intimately acquainted. In the proximity of great and virtuous minds we imbibe a portion of their nature-feel, as mesmerists say, a healthful contagion are braced with the same spirit of faith, hope, and patient endurance-are furnished with data for clearing up and working out the intricate problem of life, and are inspired, like them, with the prospect of immortality. No reader of sensibility can rise from the perusal of these volumes without becoming both wiser and better.”—Atlas.

"We find in the present Biography much that does not so much amuse and instruct, as, to adopt a phrase from the religious world, positively edify the The life of Richter is indeed a moral and a religious, as much as a

reader.

literary treat, to all who have a sense exercised to discern religion and morality as a thing essentially different from mere orthodoxy and asceticism. The two volumes before us cannot be seriously read without stimulating the reader, like a good sermon, to self-amelioration; and in this respect they are invaluable.

"Richter is a thorough Christian, and a Christian with a large, glowing human heart. The appearance of his biography in an English form cannot, therefore, but be regarded as a great boon to the best interests of the country."-Tait's Magazine.

Apart from the interest of the work, as the Life of Jean Paul, the reader learns something of German life and German thought, and is introduced to Weimar during its most distinguished period, when Goethe, Schiller, Herder, and Wieland, the great fixed stars of Germany, in conjunction with Jean Paul, were there-surrounded by beautiful and admiring women, of the most refined and exalted natures, and of princely rank. It is full of passages so attractive and valuable, that it is difficult to make a selection as examples of its character."-Inquirer.

"This book will be found very valuable as an introduction to the study of one of the most eccentric and difficait writers of Germany. Jean Paul's writings are so much the reflex of Jean Paul himself, that every light that shines upon the one inevitably illumines the other. The work is a useful exhibition of a great and amiable man, who, possessed of the kindliest feelings and the most brilliant fantasy, turned to a high purpose that humour of which Rabelais is the great grandfather, and Sterne one

6

of the line of ancestors, and contrasted it with an exaltation of feeling and a rhapsodical poetry which are entirely his own. Let us hope that it will complete the work begun by Mr. Carlyle's Essays, and cause Jean Paul to be really read in this country.""-Examiner.

"Richter is exhibited in a most amiable light in this biography-industrious, frugal, benevolent, with a childlike simplicity of character, and a heart overflowing with the purest love. His letters to his wife are beautiful memorials of true affection, and the way in which he perpetually speaks of his children shows that he was the most attached and indulgent of fathers. Whoever came within the sphere of his companionship appears to have contracted an affection for him that death only dis

solved; and while his name was resounding through Germany, he remained as meek and humble as if he had still been an unknown adventurer on Parnassul.” -The Apprentice.

"The Life of Jean Paul is a charming piece of biography, which draws and rivets the attention. The affections of the reader are fixed on the hero with an intensity rarely bestowed on an historical character. It is impossible to read this biography without a conviction of its integrity and truth; and though Richter's style is more difficult of translation than that of any other German, yet we feel that his golden though have reached us pure from the mine, to which he has given that impress of genius which makes them current in al countries."-Christian Reformer.

"Among the distinguishing features of Christianity-we are ready to say THE distinguishing feature-is its humanity, its deep sympathy with human kind, and its strong advocacy of human wants and rights. In this particular, few have a better title to be ranked among the followers of Jesus than the author of this book."-American Christian Examiner.

"It would be impossible-perhaps injurious to attempt to show in detail the tendency of such Essays as these. All we can do, indeed we think the best thing, will be to give our readers some sample, and trust to their natural taste, to their energy, which must be aroused, and quiver like the up-gushing fire of morning, when they read the book itself, which will lead them on to better thought-to more earnest action."

"To understand and delight in Emerson, he must be read carefully and attentively. Curious and mystical in his style, the difficulties vanish where thought-rays penetrate. He is so decidedly new, that we know not at first what to make of him. But we have faith, and will explore this meaning; through his peculiar style the truth will appear transparent and vivifying. We in this age are fallen into such a habit of devouring books,' that we esteem it a benefaction in works of this class, if in no other respects, in this, that they stop us in the run-and-read system, draw out our thoughts, and cause us to get possession of theirs. Moreover, they are healthful books, and carry us into cold bracing regions of Nature, quite refresh

ing after the hot, perfumed atmosphere of conventional life."-The Apprentice.

"The difficulty we find in giving a proper notice of this volume, arises from the pervadingness of its excellence, and the compression of its matter. With more learning than Hazlitt, more per spicuity than Carlyle, more vigour and depth of thought than Addison, and with as much originality and fascination as any of them, this volume is a brilliant addition to the Table Talk of intellectual men, be they who or where they may. We have no very active desire to see America, but if we were ever to find ourselves tossing thitherwards, our consolation would be, the hope of seeing the Falls of Niagara and Emerson."-Prospective Review.

"Mr. Emerson is not a common man, and everything he writes contains sug gestive matter of much thought and earnestness."-Examiner.

"That Emerson is, in a high degree, possessed of the faculty and vision of the seer, none can doubt who will earnestly and with a kind and reverential spirit peruse these nine Essays. He deals only with the true and the eternal. His piercing gaze at once shoots swiftly, surely through the outward and the superficial, to the inmost causes and workings. Any one can tell the time who looks on the face of the clock, but he loves to lay bare the machinery and show its moving principle. His words and his thoughts are a fresh spring, that invigorates the soul that is steeped therein. His mind is ever dealing with the eter