CURRENT LITERATURE.

As might have been expected, the American "difficulty" has spawned forth a whole mushroom brood of pamphlets of various degrees of merit. Seniores priores : in the foremost rank stands Mr. Nassau Senior, vir pietate gravit, who has reprinted an article on "Uncle Tom's Cabin" formerly con- tributed to the Edinburgh Review, to which he has added the celebrated speech of Mr. Charles Sumner on the first Kansas election, with a notice of the scandalous outrage committed by Mr. Preston Brooks.* The History of the John Brown Year' which constitutes the Twenty-seventh Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society, is filled with tales of horror which a belief in our common humanity compels us to accept with all reserve. Mr. Whipple,f again, is indignant with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions because the Prudential Com- mittee declared, in October, 1860, that the Cherokees were "a Christian people," though slaveholders,t while an anonymous champion of emanci- pation collects various authorities to prove the right of Congress to pro- claim the immediate and universal liberation of slaves in the Southern States.§ The restoration of the Union and its future preservation are written in the Book of Fate, if an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States read aright that mystic roll.fi Slavery, however, must be abolished, for it cannot "be welded together with liberty without slowly disintegrating it." Similar views are entertained and expressed by "a native of Virginia,"1 who calls upon all who desire to befriend their country to use their utmost exertions to bring about the liberation of the slave. The speedy suppression of the rebellion, notwithstanding the jea- lousy of England, was predicted by Mr. John Jay in a speech delivered at Mount Kisco, New York, so far back as the 14th of July, 1861, and as that speech is now printed,** it may be inferred that we are to regard that pre- diction as approaching its fulfilment. The importance of the Southern American Slavery. By Nassau W. Senior. T. Fellowes. t The Anti-Slavery History of the John Brown Year. New York : American Anti- Slavery Society.

# Relation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Slavery.

By Charles IL Whipple. Boston : R. F. Wallcut

§

The Abolition of Slavery the Right of the Government under the War Power. Bos- ton: R. F. Walleut.

The American Question. By W. W. Story. George Manwaring. 1" The Rejected Stone; or, Insurrection versus Resurrection in America. Bsi a Native of Virginia. Boston: Walker, Wise, and Co. 41 The American Rebellion: its History, its Aims, and the Reasons why it must be fiuppressed By John Jay, Esq. Trbtiner and Co. States as the chief cotton-growing territory in the world is ably shown in a paper written by Colonel Jordan, long before the Southern declaration of independence.* As a statistical summary of the natural resources of the slaveholding states, this brief sketch merits considerable praise. In the energetic action taken by the British Government and nation to obtain satisfaction for the Trent outrage, Count Aginor de Gasparint can see no- thing but England's determination to recognize the South, break the blockade, secure a supply of cotton, and substitute a fragmentary America for the too powerful republic of the United States. Is this the tone in which "a word of peace" should be uttered ? or did the Count suppose that this country was to be scolded into a tame submission to insult. Far more to the purpose, though avowedly written from an English point of view, is Mr. Colley Grattan 's clever pamphlet on the relations between England and the Disrupted States, though it cannot be denied that he exhibits an un- generous exultation over the embarrassments of a kindred people. t Another writer packs into "a nutshell," as compactly as if they were only a pair of Limerick gloves, five reasons for recognizing the independence of the South.§ The Confederates have right on their side ; they are a govern- ment de facto' a servile insurrection is imminent; our interest requires that North America should be broken up into a number of comparatively feeble States ; our interest also demands free intercourse with the rich, productive territories of the Secessionists. Arguments founded upon as- sumption and interest may easily be made to prove anything, but even Mr. Gregory would scarcely desire to gain his end by the display of such cynicism. A better, because a calmer, advocate for the recognition of the South is "a Recent Tourist," who draws, however, a too favourable picture of the blessings of slavery, and who asks a little too much of the British public when he asserts that "the heavy responsibility cast upon the Southern planter by the weight of the 'peculiar institution' renders him a subject worthy of their sympathy rather than deserving their indigna- tion." 11 A still more powerful champion of the Confederacy is Mr. Beres- ford Hope, 1 who descries in the independence of the South, "glimmering on the horizon, gradual freedom for the slave, a liberal-conservative con- stitution growing out of unbridled democracy, free trade with a boundless expanse of the richest soil, from which English mills and English ships will reap a golden harvest, the high civilization of old Europe pervading a people prepared and grateful for its influence, and a true ally, not only for England on the Channel, but for England on the St. Lawrence." A bright picture, in truth, but why was the trail of the serpent, self-interest, allowed to mar and deface its beauty ?

A pleasant holiday tour for very youthful travellers is described by a lady who has written many agreeable books for juvenile readers.** The quaint old towns of Flanders exercise a strange and life-long fascination on all who are familiar with their ancient legends and yet more romantic history. In these days of rapid change, it is really delightful to alight upon a region that has altered so little during the last three centuries, and which still serves as a memorial of the olden times.

In the latter part of the fifteenth, and beginning of the sixteenth, centuries, there dwelt in the little village of Fortingall, or Fothergill, in the heart of the Perthshire Highlands, a family of the name of Mac- gregor, "whose lineage springs From great and glorious, though forgotten, kings."

The head of this long-descended sept was Sir James Macgregor, Dean of Lismore, a man of some taste and literary refinement. With the aid of his younger brother Duncan, himself a poet, the Dean collected and transcribed into a common-place book a considerable quantity of Gaelic poetry, obtained from all quarters. This MS. volume, which is still preserved in the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh, consists of 311 pages, written in the current Roman hand of that period, but instead of employing the ordinary Gaelic orthography the compilers made use of a phonetic orthography, which gives the words as they were pronounced and not as they should have been spelt in harmony with the ancient dialect. A copious selection from these relics of the traditionary poetry of the Highlands current three hundred years ago has now been translated into English by the Rev. Thomas McLauchlane and illustrated bfabundant foot-notes. War and the chase, the exploits of heroes, and lamentations over the dead, form the burden of the Gaelic muse, and however curious in the eyes of the initiated, this handsome volume will be but caviare to the million. The introduction, contributed by Mr. William F. Skene, contains much, however, that will interest even the profane, especially where it treats of the Ossianic forgeries of Macpherson. Mr. Skene also carefully investigates the claims of Ireland to an exclusive possession of Fenian tales, legends, poems, and topography, and to an early written and cultivated speech. The conclusion he arrives at is, that her claims are good, except in their ex- clusiveness, for "Scotland possesses likewise Fenian legends and Ossianic poetry derived from an independent source, and a Fenian topography equally genuine ;" and he further considers "her dialect of the common Gaelic tongue not undeserving of the attention of philologers." It should be mentioned, by the way, that the original Gaelic is given as well as the modern version of these somewhat barbarous effusions.

A "People's Edition" of Messrs. Conybeare and Howson's Biography of St. Paula is decidedly a great boon to the less affluent portion of the read- ing community. Their free translation of St. Paul's letters is especially valuable, as it clears up many obscure passages in the authorized version, without in the slightest degree weakening the terse vigour of the original. The Apostle's biography, likewise, displays a careful study of the times in which he lived, and-of the men and circumstances by which he was sur- * The South: its Products, Commerce, and Resources. By Colonel Thomas Jordan. William Blackwood and Sons.

t A Word of Peace on the American Question. By Count Aginor de Gasparin. Sampson Low and Son. # England and the Disrupted States of America. By Thomas Colley Grattan. Ridgway. § The American Question in a Nutshell; or, Why we should recognise the Confederates. By IL Reid. Robert Hardvricke. I The Right of Recognition : a Sketch of the Present Polity of the Confederate States. By a Recent Tourist. Robert Hardwick°. I England, the North and the South. By A. J. B. Berestord Hope, Esq. James Ridgway. ** Sights and Stories: being some Account e a Holiday Tour through the North of Belgium. By Amelia B. Edwards. Emily Faithtull and Co. ft The Dean of Lisniore's Book: a&lection of Ancient Gaelic Poetry. Translated by the Rev. Thomas McLauchlan. Edmonston and Douglaa t: The Life and Epistles of St. Paul. By the Rev. D. J. Conybeare, ILL., and the Rev. J. S. Howson, D.D. In two vole. Longman and Co.

rounded. As it does not fall to every man's lot to travel in the East, and acquire by personal experience an accurate knowledge of Oriental life, any work should be heartily welcomed that makes up for this inevitable ehort- coming on the part of the majority of Bible students. Such a work is the one now before us, and which cannot be too strongly recommended to the notice of the inquiring public.

The fourth part of Dr. Smith's admirable Dictionary of the Me* breaks off in the middle of an interesting description of Egypt, and contains the usual amount of trustworthy and erudite explanations of scriptural times, places, events, and personages. "Her Majesty's servants" are clearly in bad odour with the Rev. Mr. Dibdin,f who declares that "no consistent communicant would ever think of entering a playhouse for amusement. He might enter it to hear the Gospel preached, but not to see plays. "To see, for instance, a man dressed up and painted, pretending to be an assassin, perhaps, and then struck with remorse, kneeling down and praying that he may be forgiven. Devilish ! What awful blasphemy !" By way of corollary, this sapient divine lays down the proposition that "it is not the Prayer-book, but the nation that wants to be changed." Very likely, but there is little chance of a change for the better with such blind leaders to guide them.

So much has been written about Spain and its peculiarities that it might have been supposed that the subject was thoroughly exhausted. And yet Lady Dunbart has succeeded in making a very readable book on the cha-

* A Dictionary of the Bible: Comprising Antiquities, Biography, Geography, and Natural History. Edited by William Smith, LLD. John Murray. t Ought the Prayer-book to be Revised? Objections to the liturgy and Proposed Alterations Considered. By the Rev. R. W. Dibdin, M.A. James Nisbet and Co. A Family Tour round the Coasts of Spain and Portugal during the Winter of 1860-6L By Lady Dunbar. W. Blackwood and SOUS. racteristic features of the Spanish Peninsula and its inhabitants, liCt that she tells us anything particularly novel or strange, or pretends to enjoy access to any exclusive sources of information. One great oharm, indeed, of her narrative is its perfect freedom from affectation of any kind, just as its chief blemish is in its occasional careless and slipshod mode of expression. It does not appear from her own experiences that Spain is as yet quite the most convenient country in the world for female tourists. The lower classes are still brutal and bigoted, and in many parts strongly prejudiced against the English. No small amount of personal discomfort, too, must be en- dured on the road, both as regards the means of conveyance and places for rest and refreshment. When all is over, it may be pleasant enough to look back upon hardships patiently borne, and dangers courageously overcome, but certainly no people in the world save our own restless and ubiquitous countrymen would travel in Spain for pleasure.

Shadowy as Ossian's ghosts are the Crawfords of Thedingbrook.* The story of their lives resembles nothing so much as a dream between sleeping and waking before the shutters of the mind are taken down for the day. The moral of the tale is little less misty than the tale itself. However, there is no doubt of the excellence of the author's intentions, and if her execution happen to fall short of her conception, surely that is her mis- fortune rather than her fault. She has, at least, written a book that may be read on Sundays.

The eighth and concluding volume of Messrs. Longman and Co.'s octavo edition of Lord Macaulay's History of England is now to be had of "every respectable bookseller." The simple notification of the fact is all that can possibly be necessary.

• The Crawford& A Tale. By Caroline Ricketta. L Booth.