arly pardon, and to turn their eyes
to Religion, which never yet refused consolation to the afflicted.
We have never read a more distressing letter than he wrote to his
family, when, at last pardoned, he was once more free. Seven years
had passed away since he heard from them; he knew not if one still
lived to welcome him home,--if his kindred had forgotten, or
execrated him as one who had dragged their common parents sorrowing
and gray-haired down to the grave. Has the world among all its
manifold sorrows any sorrow like unto this?

The late M. de Lamennais was wont to speak with contempt of Silvio
Pellico, as being a weak, spiritless craven, who accepted with
resignation when he should have plotted to end the thraldom of his
country. Yet what can a man do, when the classes above him and those
below him, when noble and priest and peasant, live contented in the
silence of despotism, (calling it peace,) without one thought of
other days, without one sentiment of pride in the deeds of their
illustrious forefathers? What is a Christian's duty, when his country
is bled and plundered and ground down to the dust under the iron
heel of military despotism, when the political fabric of his native
land is crumbling, and his countrymen are listless, selfish, sensual,
unpatriotic, not unhappy so long as their bellies are filled and
their backs covered? Shall he lift his streaming eyes to heaven with
the resigned ejaculation, "Father, not my will, but thine, be done"?
--or shall he, in holy despair, throw his life away on Austrian
bayonets? Terrible problem!

_The Household Book of Poetry_. Collected and edited by CHARLES A.
DANA. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1858. pp. 798.

This book contains extracts from upwards of three hundred authors of
all periods and countries. It is made more complete by the addition
of some of the most famous Latin hymns and canticles of the Church.
The different pieces are classified upon a judicious system. It is
handsomely printed, and not cumbrous in form. What can we say more
in its praise? Only this,--that, after giving it a pretty thorough
examination, we are satisfied that it is the best collection in the
language. Individual tastes and idiosyncrasies will, of course, find
some wants to lament, and some superfluities to condemn. A book
containing so much from living writers will excite jealousies; and
the writers themselves will, in some cases, be dissatisfied with the
selections made from t