negro slavery from the beginning in this republic, and know, what few
do, the extent and importance of the early troubles on the subject, or
settle for themselves the greatly vexed question whether negroes, when
treated as men, will or will not fight. It is all there.

LIKE AND UNLIKE. By A. S. ROE. New York: Carleton. Boston: A. K.
Loring.

Mr. Roe's novels are of the manufactured kind. Like those of many others
who are in the business, they give the impression that they are easily
written, and might possibly be turned out by a machine, had invention
progressed a little farther than it has. Still his _pieces de
manufacture_ are very good of their kind, and sell very well--like the
moral romances in China, which are disposed of by weight and in
fragments, in such vast quantities, and which are so entirely a matter
of mere pastime that the authors never think it worth while to affix
their names to them. _Like and Unlike_ may be safely intrusted by the
most fastidious aunt to the most unsophisticated of nieces--and it is
not unlikely that the niece would greatly enjoy its perusal. It is by no
means devoid of interest, and indicates in many particulars that
familiarity with the press which preserves any work of its nature--so
far as style is concerned--from harsh judgment. There are better
books--but certainly there are thousands which are much worse.

TITAN. From the German of JEAN PAUL FRIEDRICH RICHTER, by CHARLES
T. BROOKS. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1863.

To many men JEAN PAUL has always been the greatest of German writers,
however they might protest their preference for some other idol. CARLYLE
knows and names GOETHE as the intellectual culmination of the past
age--and yet shows in every sentence the influence of The Only One, with
very barren traces indeed of The Old Heathen; reminding us of those
devotees who profess a faith in GOD, but manifest it in the worship of
some congenial saint. At the present day, Richter, instead of being
overrated, is neglected. Already thirty years ago HAUFF bewailed that
his works were not taken from public libraries; and yet it is as true as
ever that he is, if not the greatest of German writers, at least the
most German among the great ones of his fatherland. And it is here that
the drawback lies--he carried to such excess all the peculiarities of
his very peculiar country, and was a giant of grotesqueness. No one can
really know German literature who know