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almost daily fall, and on which they have not as yet been criticised by that Argus-eyed gentleman, Mr. Richard Grant White. One is the word "Bouquet" which in nine cases out of ten is pronounced Bo-kay, and which one sees on the signs of the most respectable florists spelled almost invariably without the u, i. e., "Boquet." The other word is also French, "Sobriquet" which is commonly given the "u" that is taken from "Bouquet." It is then both written and pronounced “soubriquet." We have several times seen both these words thus misspelled, in respectable books and newspapers, and we have no doubt if the late Noah Webster were alive he would at once clap them thus corrected into his Dictionary.

YALE COLLEGE has creditably followed the provisional purchase of the Jarves Gallery of Early Italian Pictures, by publishing an excellent Manual describing the Collection. It has been prepared at the request of the council in charge of the Street School of Fine Arts, by Mr. Russell Sturgis, Jr. of New York, who has shown himself thoroughly competent to this task, a task by no means so easy as a glance at this little book might lead one to imagine. Mr. Sturgis's Manual is not a rehash of the materials that may be found in the biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias of the last thirty years. It is the result of the painstaking, thorough study of the best and of the latest authorities, by a man of cool judgment and discriminating taste, added to a liberal culture. It was a sign of progress when years ago Mr. Richard Grant White prepared a catalogue of the Bryan gallery of Paintings, and that Catalogue was much the best that had at that time been published in America. But there is a very wide difference between that performance and this of Mr. Sturgis's. That belongs to the past generation, this to the present, and so far as Art-biography and Art-criticism go, there is a great gulf between the two periods. The account of the picture is preceded by a brief Introductory Essay which we should be glad to print; and there are many excellent criticisms and clear statements in the body of the book, which, if we could quote, would justify our praise of it. We understand that the College intends publishing a handsome octavo edition of the Manual.

Now that the dust of impeachment has well blown over, Congress has a chance

to do a real service to the State of California, and we may well say, to the world at large. We spoke, in a former number, of the danger that threatened the project of making the great valley of the Yo Semite a public Park, in the petition of certain individuals to the Legislature for grants of land, and that they may be allowed to make permanent settlements within the valley. There are two men who have thus petitioned the Legislature, and, so far as that body can do it, the first fatal step has been taken which, if not withdrawn, will end in defeating, perhaps the most magnificent scheme of its kind-if indeed it be not sui generis-that ever was set on foot by any State. The last news is that the Legisla ture of California voted each of these squatters more land than he had asked for; that the Governor vetoed the Bill, and that the Legislature then passed it over his head by a two-thirds vote. The only power that can now interfere is Congress, and we do most earnestly hope that something will be done to prevent this wanton interference with the vested right of the whole American people, who may fairly be said to have an equal right in this magnificent valley. Congress gave this land to the State of California on the sole condition that it should be set apart forever and devoted to the uses of a public Park. Congress is now in duty bound to see to it that this condition is not violated. any injustice would be done these squatters by depriving them of the land they have settled on, let Congress or the State pay them what they are entitled to, but on no consideration ought it to allow this first step in the settlement of the valley to be taken. Word comes from California that these men, secure in the indifference of Congress, have already begun to build, and that they are using, as indeed they must, if they build at all, the scanty timber of the valley itself. If this be so, we may prepare to bid a speedy farewell to the ancient beauty of this glory of our continent. It is a short-sighted act on the part of the Californians, to consent to the desecration of the proudest feature of their landscape, and if they do not repent of what they are doing, not many years will have elapsed before they will most deeply regret it, and wish it were undone. In asking Congress to interfere, therefore, we are really asking that body to save the Californians from them selves.

If

THE paper which we publish this month on the subject of the Rev. Eleazar Williams'

claim to be Louis XVII. may be said, speaking after the manner of merchants, to close the public's account with that veracious gentleman. And, now that it is all over, we should very much like to say a word about our own share in his enterprise. It is barely possible that certain persons, moved by a theoretical distrust of human nature, may have imagined, so far as they thought about it at all, that the original article published in Putnam's Magazine for February, 1853, was a mere sensation paper, got up for the sole purpose of making the Magazine sell; and that though the fraud may have been innocent enough, yet, it was a fraud, and we were a party to it. We are therefore moved to aver that though we never believed Mr. Williams to be an imaginative and contriving person, much less an imposter, there were many reasons why we were extremely unwilling to publish his story. But it was forced upon us by the enthusiastic faith and trust of the Rev. John H. Hanson, whose belief in the rightfulness of Mr. Williams' claim, and whose zeal in pushing it, amounted almost to a monomania. Mr. Hanson was a most respectable and worthy man, a clergyman of the Episcopal church, and it was impossible

to doubt that he believed Mr. Williams to be the Lost Dauphin, and, moreover, that he held his own honor pledged to the chivalrous task of upholding his claim against the world. He was a grand-nephew of Oliver Goldsmith, and bore a striking personal resemblance to the Poet, but he had hardly any mental affinity with his delightful ancestor except in his excessive credulity. He certainly did not inherit Goldsmith's literary talent, and our first unwillingness to bear a hand in this enterprise of his, arose from the inordinate dimensions and diffuseness of his article in its original shape. However, we cut the article down, and reduced it to some order, greatly to the displeasure of its author, who believed that every word of it was vital. We humbly acknowledge that he builded better than we knew. We had greatly miscalculated the amount of youthful curiosity that exists perennially in the public mind. Many believed every word that Mr. Hanson said, and were as greedy for facts in relation to the Dauphin as he was to supply them. Buckwheat cakes do not more swiftly and continuously disappear from the plates of boarding-school boys than the numbers of the Magazine containing Mr. Hanson's revelations did from our counters. And he was pleased; and believed more and more ardently, and saw the whole

truth clearer and clearer, now that the public backed him. We are bound to say that he used his triumph modestly, and did not reproach us nor despise us for not believing in him in his day of small things. Mr. Hanson is long dead; he left the world before Mr. Williams, and never gave up his faith in that delusive person. His fervor and zeal, his loyalty to what he believed the cause of justice and truth were not unpleasant things to contemplate in a skeptical age. For our part, we have that respect for the man's sincerity, and that sympathy with his joy in believing himself a successful agent in the establishing of an important truth, that we are glad he did not live to see his faith in man, and we may add, in logic, destroyed, as we imagine it would have been had he read the article in our Magazine of this month.

Among the effects left by the Rev. Mr. Williams was a dress which purports to have been worn by Marie Antoinette, and which was presented to Mr. Williams by Mrs. Clarke, of Northampton, who had purchased it in Europe as a genuine relic, which there is every reason to believe that it is. Mrs. Clarke was very much interested in Mr. Williams' story, and, after an interview with him, gave him the dress, saying that she considered he had a right to it. This dress is now in our possession, having been sent to us by Mr. Williams' executor, the Rev. C. F. Robertson, of Malone, N. Y., to be sold for the purpose of aiding a little in paying some of the debts of his late majesty.

A lady versed in such mysteries, describes it as a "magnificent brocade silk, richly embroidered with a delicate pattern of vine and flowers. It is somewhat faded, and has been taken to pieces. It consists of a skirt, waist, and train ten or twelve feet long."

If any second-hand monarchical commodity is useful for Republican Queens, perhaps it may be such a memorial dress as this, a reminder at once of the magnificence of royalty, and of the fate which the abuses of it may bring even upon the most lovely and most innocent of its wearers.

Mr. Robertson's article in the present num. ber, "The Last of the Bourbon Story," is the result of careful examination of the papers left in his charge as executor of the unfortu nate "Lost Prince."

SOME of our readers may be glad to know of a delightful book which has been published lately in Paris. "La Terre," by ELISÉE

RECLUS, as its name imports, is a description of the phenomena of, what has been called, the life of the globe. It is a large octavo of 811 pages, very handsomely printed, and illustrated with 230 woodcuts, and with 24 maps printed in colors. We found our copy at Christern's, and those who are interested in the study of Physical Geography will do well to make acquaintance with the book at once, for, so far as we know, no work has been written since Humboldt's "Aspects of Nature" at all worthy to be compared with it. It is not yet completed, for this present volume treats only of the Continents, but there is food for long and delightful study in it, and the owner of it will be in no haste to reach the last page and lay it aside. This is a companion to linger with, and we may almost say, to love. Why not? Since what he talks about is a subject full of ever new wonder and delightful suggestion, and he talks about it in a most delightful way. M. Reclus claims for his book the respect due to a work founded as well on his own observations as on the reports of other travellers and students, and his pages make a strong impression of originality and freshness. Some of the Heads: "The Circulation of the Waters," in which he treats of snow and the glaciers, of springs, of rivers, and of lakes; and the chapters on earthquakes, and on the risings and depressions of the earth's surface, under the Head of "Subterranean Forces," contain much matter that, to us at least, is new and of absorbing interest. The chapter on glaciers gives us the result of the latest study of these phenomena not only in the

Alps but in the Polar regions, in the Pyre. nees, the Himalayas and in our own Rocky Mountains. The chapter on the Bifurcation of Rivers is especially interesting. The reader will here learn that the case of the Casse quiare river in South America is not the only example of a stream connecting two other streams flowing in opposite directions from a very low water-shed. In a series of small but clearly drawn maps, following the best au thorities, M. Reclus shows us the system of streams that connect the Baltic with the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea with the Sea of Azof, while he proves that in Europe at least the phenomenon may fairly be called common. The paragraphs devoted to the meänders or sudden curves of rivers are very curious and valuable, and several of the best illustrations of this subject are drawn from our own Mis sissippi. But we are not writing a review of this admirable book; we only wish to call attention to it. We have not room enough to mention a tenth part of the new and striking things in it. But we must say a word about the illustrations which, if France were not at the head of the world in the illustration of scientific books-though we admit that Germany follows close behind-would be simply surprising. This they, perhaps, are not, but they are delightfully fresh, accurate, and abundant. We are sure that if this book were well translated into English, and all 'the cuts and chromo-lithographed maps retained, it would be introduced, as it well deserves to be, into every High-school and College, and would give a new impulse to the study of Physical Geography in this country.

THE "NORTHERN MONTHLY" UNITED WITH "PUTNAM."

WHEN this Magazine, (after being for a half-score of years quietly moored out. of sight,) sailed out once more into the broad ocean, newly fitted and manned, we signalled several other trim craft bound on much the same course, enjoying a favorable breeze and managed by skilful navigators. One of these, well to the windward of us at the start, carrying a national flag with "Northern Monthly" at the fore, was evidently so well handled by her wide-awake skipper, that one wouldn't have wondered much if she had distanced her competitors.

Why, and how we have overhauled this craft and taken her captain and crew on board our own ship, we need not say in detail. Suffice it for the friends of literary commerce to know that the business of both vessels will hereafter be merged. Probably those specially interested in the career of that lively and fastsailing clipper will not be altogether displeased to receive their intellectual supplies hereafter by the steady-going vessel lately rebuilt from the sound timber of the old "Putnam," mixed with live-oak fresh from the forest.

In plain prose, the Northern Monthly and its varied resources, with all its efficient allies, will hereafter be included in those of Putnam. May we not reasonably anticipate that all parties concerned will be advantaged by this consummation? The management of PUTNAM'S MAGAZINE will remain as at prese ent;-with all possible additions of fresh life and vigor.

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ENTERING the tall, stately, painted and gilded rooms of the Kurhaus, and approaching one of the gaming-tables, the first impression on the mind of a commonplace, money-prizing American is this: that the gold and silver jingling under the rakes of the croupiers is not money, but a kind of counters appertaining to the game, and unknown elsewhere. Perhaps this feeling is promoted by the fact that our currency has, for six years, been innocent of the precious metals-being of the rustling, not the jingling kind. Perhaps the very idea of money being given and received by chance, without an equivalent, is too absurd and irrational to be easily taken in, especially by a life-long worker. However it may be, the pretty metal discs, some yellow and some white, circulating hither and yon (always with a perceptible centripetal tendency toward the bank), seem as innocent of all relation with joy and sorrow, hope and fear, as were the hazel-nuts with which we played round games in our youth.

When, by further observation, this error is corrected, and one really appreciates the fact that people come here rich and go away poor (and sometimes vice versa) in the stuff which commands comfort and power and glory all over

the world, then one wonders, on the contrary, that the auditorium to this great "combination show" of comedy and tragedy is not crowded with spectators from floor to ceiling, instead of being attended only by these few strollers, and that thin cordon of observers around each table, outside the actors in the drama. The fact is, that only a small part of the drama is visible. We may see our friend and fellow-countryman yonder stake twenty gold pieces, and win or lose on them, as the case may be. But we do not see any placard on his back, announcing, "I came here to-day with two hundred napoleons. I have lost eighty. If red comes up, my loss will be sixty; if black, one hundred, on my original capital." Still less can we know whence the money came, or where the next is to come from, although we can give a very fair guess of the place whither it must all go.

The pleasure to be derived from the great beauty and brilliancy of the Kursaal will survive the excitement of watching the games. In fact, the former does not fairly begin till the latter is to a great extent exhausted. You naturally go straight to the gambling-rooms, guided thither by the coin-rattle which is audible already through one or two

Eatered, in the year 1868, by G. P PUTNAM & SON, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the U. S. for the Southern District of N. Y

VOL. II.-9

corridors and ante-rooms. You scarcely notice the gay demi-monde toilettes, or the curious marks of dress and appearance by which nationality is distinguishable, so anxious are you to see the real money really change hands. It is after this first thrill is gone, that you begin to notice other things,-first to individualize the players, and feel an unreasonable desire to control their play, especially to make them withdraw their winnings when they make any. There is a fellow who has won on the red twice, and leaves his quadrupled winnings at risk again. Again he wins -there lie eight napoleons in place of the one he invested. Oh, if he would only withdraw it! There it goes into the bank; and you turn away in disgust! Next you look for a while at the person playing most heavily, easily guided to him by seeing where the greatest number of spectators are congregated. Then you have pointed out to you the stock celebrities-the Countess Kissclef, Mustapha Pasha, M. Blanc, the manager of the gambling-bank, &c., &c. It is probably not till a second or third visit that you find time to admire the large, clean, inlaid floors, the tall panelled and pictured walls, and the distant ceilings with their arching outlines and gay frescoes.

Notice now the lighting of the Kurhaus. Every room is supplied with great and brilliant chandeliers, and the whole place is one glitter of glass and gas-entrance-halls, reading-rooms, billiard-rooms, eating and drinking rooms, and gaming-rooms-but not the gaming-tables! Over each of these hang two bright-lighted and deeply overshaded oil-lamps. And thereby hangs, also, a tale; as there does by most of the characteristics of this bright-lighted and deep-shaded, tragi-farcical institution.

For, once upon a time, when gas alone was used, some enterprising individuals made a combination more effectual, if not more innocent, than the

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cards for recording the course of the game. Some of the conspirators, having obtained access to the metre or stopcock, turned off the gas. Instantly all was darkness, uproar, and confusion about the tables. The various games of hazard were resolved into one general game of grab, and the company lost many thousands of florins.

Nothing could be more evident than the perfect fairness of the play on the part of the bank. It retains, confessedly, certain chances in its favor. For instance, at the roulette there are thirtyseven squares. If you stake money on either square, and the ball rolls into that compartment of the wheel, you receive, not thirty-seven times your stake, but thirty-six-the difference being the "percentage" of the bank, say one in thirty-seven, or about two and two thirds per cent. (The most seductive reasoning by which one can justify to himself the staking of small sums is the consideration that, philosophically speaking, one can as well afford to risk a dollar as to give away or throw away three cents.) It is physically impossible that there should be any deception. The ball rolls in one direction round the interior of a kind of bowl, its centrifugal action sustaining it for a few seconds from descending to the table of thirty-seven cells which forms the bottom of the bowl. In the meantime this thirty-seven-celled table is set revolving in the opposite direction; and, finally, you can make your bet after the ball and table have been set in motion.

In like manner at the trente-et-quarante table, the cards, six packs together, are shuffled by the croupiers, but they are cut by one of the public; then are dealt into two lines, enough to count some number between thirty-one and forty (the face-cards counting ten each, and the spots according to their number), by the "tailleur," whose eyes are bent on his cards as he deals them, and not on the stakes which have been made. But even if he saw all the bets, he could not control the series in which the cards are to fall from his hands, nor

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