as a tall,
thin man," continues Mr. Hacklaender, "with light, almost yellow,
complexion, and always dressed with extreme elegance. On the occasion of
our first visit to his town-house the princess was painting in her
studio, in which art she was more than a dilettante. The prince went
first to her with Demidoff, and after they had come back we heard from
her a peal of the heartiest laughter, which rung down through five large
rooms. Soon after she came out and greeted us in the kindest fashion.
She was then a young and handsome woman, with a splendid figure,
graceful curves, fine eyes and complexion,--all beautified and illumined
by her pleasant voice and happy manner."

In 1851, Demidoff bought the villa of San Martini, which Bonaparte
occupied during his stay in Elba, improved the building at a cost of
forty thousand dollars, and made of it a museum in which were to be seen
all sorts of curiosities connected with the great emperor--hats,
swords, pistols, portraits of the king of Rome, and manuscripts for
which he paid one hundred thousand dollars. His uncle's other
collections the present M. (or, if you like, Prince) Demidoff sold at
auction the present year: I have not heard whether the Elba relics were
sold with them.

Florence, as well as St. Petersburg, owes much to M. Demidoff--among
other things, an asylum in which fifty boys are trained in silk-weaving.
It was in Paris, however, not in the city which he so long honored with
his residence, that in 1870 this philanthropic and enterprising man took
leave of worldly vanities.

A.V.

LITERATURE OF THE DAY.

A History of Classical Greek Literature. By the Rev. J.P. Mahaffy,
M.A., Fellow and Professor of Ancient History, Trinity College,
Dublin. New York: Harper & Brothers.

It is easy to imagine a history of Greek literature which should be not
only useful and stimulative to the student, but fascinating to the
general mass of intelligent readers. The literature of Greece is not,
like that of modern nations, the mirror of a many-colored life; but the
originality, variety and perfection of its forms make it on the whole
the most complete and splendid representation of thought and imagination
which the world possesses. While it owed little or nothing to any
foreign influence, it was itself the source of all later conceptions of
literary art, and though it exists only in fragmentary remains, these
still furnish the chief standard of excel