the circumstance of a few copies only having been printed for the
favored spectators. The plot is described as ingenious, and the verses
not unworthy of the author. It is known that when the Prince de Conti
presided over the states of Languedoc in 1654, he invited thither
Moliere and his company. He professed so much admiration for the actor
that he offered him the confidential situation of secretary, which was
declined; but it seems natural enough that he should have shown his
gratitude by composing one of those entertainments which cost him so
little trouble. This Prince de Conti was at one time so passionately
fond of theatricals that he made it his occupation to seek out subjects
for new plays, but at a later period he wrote a treatise in which
theatres were severely condemned on religious grounds, and Moliere
himself was personally and violently attacked.

* * * * *

Among the new biographical works announced in Paris, is one on the Life,
Virtues and Labors of the late Right Rev. Dr. FLAGET, Roman Catholic
Bishop of Bardstown and Louisville, Kentucky. The author is a clergyman,
who accompanied the late Bishop in one of his last missions to Europe.
Bishop Flaget died at the age of eighty-seven.

* * * * *

M. Xavier Marmier, whose visit to the United States we noticed some
months ago, has published his _Letters on Canada, the United States,
Cuba, and Rio La Plata_, in two volumes--constituting one of the most
agreeable works ever published in Paris upon this country. We shall
soon, we believe, have occasion to review a translation of the Letters,
by a New-Yorker.

* * * * *

Guizot and Thiers--the most eminent living statesmen of France, as well
as her greatest living historians--were for a long time connected with
the Paris journals, and each made his first appearance as a writer in
criticisms on the Fine Arts. For several years the former published
series of articles on the exhibitions of the Louvre, which were
remarkable both for artistic knowledge and literary _verve_. The latter
also published in 1810 a pamphlet on the exhibition in the Louvre, which
excited great sensation--more, however, from its having a political
tendency than for its critical importance.

* * * * *

MR. MIGNET, whose condensed _History of the French Revolution_ is best
known to American readers in the cheap