of the United States, and afterwards Solicitor of the Treasury, and Attorney-general. He sustained himself honorably, at the most important forum in the country, in these important positions, sometimes in opposition to the most distinguished counsel of the day. No interest confided to him ever suffered in his hands, for want of ability or attention on his part; while to the utmost energy and firmness in the discharge of duty, he added an unfailing gentleness and courtesy of manner. "While he filled the office of District Attorney, he published a volume of reports of cases adjudicated in the court of which he was an officer, and he afterwards made a collection of the opinions of the Attorneys-general, from the foundation of the government to the year 1841. He also, about the same time, rendered a very important service to the constitutional literature of the country, by a careful and conscientious collation and edition of the Madison Papers. No publication within my knowledge, issued under the auspices of the government of the United | States, has been more judiciously and skilfully prepared for the press.

"Mr. Gilpin, although eminently successful in his professional and political career, appeared to be wholly destitute of political ambition, and, retiring in early manhood from all public occupations, devoted himself to the gratification of more congenial tastes. He had always cultivated letters as his favorite recreation from professional toil, and henceforward gave himself almost exclusively to literary pursuits. He had been, from an early period, a successful and popular writer in the leading periodicals of the day, including the Quarterly Reviews. He wrote several of the articles in the original edition of the Biographies of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the second edition of that work was published under his supervision, with large additions. He also wrote biographical notices of several distinguished contemporaries, among others of Mr. Livingston, Mr. Forsyth, and Mr. Silas Wright. His discourses and addresses on various public occasions are among the most valuable performances of the kind, always admirably written, discriminating, full of fact, and in good taste. His address on the life and character of Franklin, delivered at Philadelphia a few years since, contains one of the most judicious and instructive discussions of the entire career of our great countryman which has ever appeared.

"In the possession of ample means, Mr. Gilpin bestowed a liberal expenditure on the formation of a library. His collection consisted of twelve or fifteen thousand well-selected volumes, in the various departments of general literature. It was a library, not of bibliographical rarities, but of

books for use, and he was as well acquainted with their contents as any man can be with the contents of a library of that size. He was among the most finished classical scholars in the country, and his shelves contained the best editions of the ancient authors, which he read systematically and with care. He collected maps, charts, and plans of cities with great diligence, always in his travels procuring the best articles of that kind, and where nothing already published was to be had, he occasionally caused original drawings and sketches to be made, in order to complete a series.

แ

'Mr. Gilpin's taste for the fine arts had been carefully cultivated by the study of the best works at home and abroad. His residence was tastefully adorned with valuable works of painting and statuary. He was well acquainted with the characteristic merits of the great masters, which he had diligently observed in Europe. He took much interest in the progress of art at home, and was the President of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, giving much time to the management of its affairs.

"He was an active member and a Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and had explored several branches of local antiquity with great accuracy. He was especially conversant with the political history of the United States, having added to a large acquaintance with the public men of the day, the diligent perusal of every standard work in that department. In all his studies, the grasp of a very retentive memory was strengthened by great method in the arrangement and disposition of his books and papers.

He bequeathed his large and valuable library to the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and provided for a building to receive it, and also made a similar bequest to the Chicago Historical Society.

WE are called upon to-day, says the Evening Post of Feb. 10, 1860, to record the death of a man who, perhaps more than any other, has for some years past contributed to the amusement of a New York public. Mr. Burton, the comedian, died at his residence, 174 Hudson-street, this morning, in the 57th year of his age.

William Evans Burton was born at London in 1804. Intended for the church, he received a classical education, and at an early age edited a monthly magazine. He at this time became interested in amateur theatricals, wrote several dramatic pieces, and finally became a professional actor. In 1834 he came to this country, and undertook the management of different theatres in various American cities. In 1847 he purchased Palmo's Opera House, and for ten

and from 1848 to 1851, he was President of Georgetown College; and, in the interval, President of the College of the Holy Cross, at Worcester, Massachusetts. As a lecturer and pulpit orator, Dr. Ryder was exceedingly popular in the Roman Catholic community. He was a contributor to the Encyclopedia Americana, and several of his lectures and discourses were printed from time to time.

RT. REV. JOHN N. NEUMANN, D. D., fourth R. C. Bishop of Philadelphia, fell dead while walking, at the corner of Vine and 12th streets, January 5, 1860. He was a native of Bohemia, born March 28, 1811; and after graduating in the University of Prague, came to America, and was ordained priest in New York, June 25, 1836. He subsequently entered the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer, from which he was called to the See of Philadelphia in 1852.

DIED, January 17, at Beverly, New Jersey, THOMAS F. GORDON, Esq., formerly a member of the Philadelphia bar, in the 73d year of his age. Mr. G. devoted considerable attention to literature, and was the author of a number of legal and historical works, among them a Digest of the Laws of the United States, History of Pennsylvania from its Discovery to 1776, History of New Jersey from its Discovery to 1789, History of America, Cabinet of American History, History of Ancient Mexico, Gazetteer of New Jersey, and Gazetteer of New York. Mr. G. was a native of Philadelphia, but for some time prior to his decease resided at Beverly, N.J.

Notes on Books.

The Life and Times of Gen. Simon Dale. By Hon. J. F. H. Claiborne. New York: Harper & Brothers. 18mo. 1860. THE experience of Gen. Simon Dale was but a reproduction of the experience of almost every old Indian hunter and fighter who lived in the early history of our country. There are, however, a few biographical and historical errors in this volume which it can do no harm to correct. On page 128 occurs the following sentence, alluding to Tecumseh :-" He was born on the Tallapoosa, in the Creek nation." This is a mistake. Tecumseh was born in a part of Champaign county, Ohio, that is now attached to Clark county. There are persons now living in Urbana, Ohio, who knew him well in his boyhood, and were conversant with his history from his birth.

On page 110 we are told that "Fort Chicago, on the Illinois, was defended by 50 men against an overwhelming force of Indians, until it was evacuated by order of Gen. Hull." This evidently refers to Fort Dearborn, at Chicago, which was invested by Indians, and surrendered on the same day of Hull's surrender of Detroit. This fort was commanded by Major Heald. The surrender was inevitable; many lives were saved by it; but it did not prevent a fearful massacre, in which the famous scout, Capt. William Wells, was killed. A full and detailed account of this event will be found in Mrs. Kinzie's Wau-bun, published a few years ago.

On the same page we are told that Fort Wayne resisted a combined attack led by Tecumseh." Tecumseh, at the time of the siege of Fort Wayne, was at Malden. The Indians who besieged it were chiefly Miamis, and were led by Winnemac and Five Medals.

Again, on the same page, it is said that Fort Harrison was besieged "by a large body of Indians, led by the Prophet." The Prophet never led in battle, not even at Tippecanoe, where he was present. He was not in the neighborhood of Fort Harrison at the time of the siege, and had nothing to do with it. The defence of Fort Harrison was a marvel, and could never have been effected had the Indians been fully informed as to its condition. With Fort Wayne it was different. Gen. Harrison was daily expected by the besieged, and they kept up a fair show of defence. The Indians were, also, daily expecting reinforcements from Malden, and, indeed, these reinforcements, without knowing that the siege had been withdrawn, marched to within forty miles of the garrison, when they discovered Winchester's troops approaching, and retreated to Malden. There were less than five hundred Indians actually engaged in the siege of Fort Wayne, and in a hand-tohand conflict with the garrison, at any time during the siege, they would doubtless have been worsted. Their line of guard around the Fort was twice penetrated during the siege-by the Shawnee chief Logan, and the late Major William Oliver, of Cincinnati; first, for the purpose of conveying intelligence to Gen. Harrison of the investment of the Fort, and afterwards to bring to the besieged the welcome intelligence that he was on the march to their relief. H.

A Discourse of Virginia. By Edward Maria Wingfield, the first President of the Colony. Now first printed from the original manuscripts in the Lambeth Library. Edited with notes and an introduction, by Charles

Deane. pp. 44.

Boston Privately printed. 8vo., 1859.

THE Discourse of Virginia, by Wingfield, deserves the elegant dress which it has here received; and it is only to be wondered that a document of such importance should have lain almost unnoticed to this day. It is the more valuable, in itself, as it contains Wingfield's justification, or, at least, defence of his conduct, and by affording a contemporaneous statement, will enable us the better to appreciate at their true value the men and actions of that day. Yet we almost sigh to think that some of the most beautiful incidents of our early history are destined, in the crucible of historic research, to show how largely the pure gold of verity was alloyed with base metal of fiction.

History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia. By Charles Campbell. Philadelphia: Lippincott & Co. 1860. 765 pp., 8vo. To this volume Mr. Campbell brings the experience of a former history of his State, and more extended researches in documentary archives. His work is done with care and elegance, and the history is one which should gratify every Virginian. The theme is a noble one. From the days when the Spanish priests and soldiery of Melendez entered the Chesapeake, the St. Mary's of their geography, down to our time, Virginian annals are replete with all that can inspire the philosophic historian. Raleigh and Smith, Pocahontas and Argall, Berkeley and Bacon, Washington and the French wars, the Revolution, give so many panels on which genius can scarcely soar too high, or paint too glowingly.

This History of Virginia has been warmly received, and we think justly so.

Annual of Scientific Discovery; or, Year Book of Facts in Science and Art, for 1860. By David A. Wells, A. M. Boston: Gould & Lincoln, 59 Washington-street. 12mo., 430 pp. THE object and character of this work are too well known to require detailed description. It is an encyclopædia of all the important and curious discoveries, inventions, theories, and speculations brought out during the preceding twelve months in every department of physical and natural science; in language free from technicalities, and easy to be understood. Such a compendium is invaluable to all who desire to keep posted in respect to the progress of science; and the perusal of a single volume generally makes an ownership of the succeeding ones a necessity. Much of the information contained in the work, especially the researches of the

French and German savans, are rarely or never reported in any other American publication, and are, therefore, almost inaccessible elsewhere to the great mass of readers. Among the more important of these, are the discovery of human skeletons in the Drift formation; Messrs. Grove and Faraday's recent discoveries; the discussion in the French Academy on spontaneous generation of animals, &c.

The Record of the Court at Upland, in Pennsylvania, 1676 to 1681; and a Military Journal kept by Major E. Denny, 1781 to 1795. Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. VII. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 8vo., 498 pp.

THIS new volume from the press of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, contains the proceedings of a court at Chester, established under the authority of the Duke of York, proprietor of Pennsylvania prior to its cession to Penn. Carefully edited by Edward Armstrong, Esq., it is a new and valuable contribution to a portion of our history, to which justice has not been done-the conduct of James, duke of York, as a proprietor in America.

The second portion of the volume is of a century later, but equally interesting. Major Denny saw the siege of Yorktown, and subsequently served under Harmar and St. Clair in the West, so that his diary has the important Indian war to chronicle, and well deserved to be printed.

The volume is illustrated by portraits of Harmar and Denny, an engraving of a mural tablet to James Sandelands, an early Uplander, and by six plans of marches and battles.

The American Christian Record; containing the History, Confession of Faith, and Statistics of each Religious Denomination in the United States and Europe; a list of all Clergymen, with their Post Office address, etc. New York: Clark & Meeker. 1860. 676 pp., 12mo.

THIS is a very good attempt to furnish in one manual the condition and statistics of the various religious bodies in the country.

The Centennial Birth-Day of Robert Burns, as celebrated by the Burns Club of the City of New York, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 1859. Edited by Cunningham. Published by Lang & Laing. 1860. Small 4to., pp. 136.

AN elegantly printed memorial of a most interesting occasion. The sons of Scotland were particularly fortunate in their selection of orators

and speakers. Their volume includes Henry Ward Beecher's elegant address delivered at the Cooper Institute; the equally inspiring remarks of Mr. Bryant, who presided at the Astor House dinner; the speech of James T. Brady; of the Rev. Dr. Osgood, and others, including some felicitous remarks by Dr. John W. Francis, whose honored assistance appears always welcome on these occasions where worth or genius are to be honored. The Doctor's special topic was the Poets of America, in treating which he wisely went back to the Revolutionary era of Freneau, Barlow, Trumbull, Humphreys, strongly urging the claims of Freneau to be placed at the head. He spoke of his visit to Scotland, and participation in an Edinburgh anniversary of the Poet, when Sir Walter Scott presided; and also gave some recollections of a visit to Mrs. Burns.

Historical and Literary Intelligence.

ONE of the British Publishing Societies has just published a "Narrative of a Voyage to the West Indies and Mexico in the years 1599-1602. By Samuel Champlain." The work is printed from the original and unpublished manuscript discovered by Mr. Puybusque at Dieppe, and of which a copy was in the possession of the late Jacques Viger of Montreal.

The English critics say, from the novelty and naïveté of its details, from its views of the early West India question, the State of Mexico, Spanish and French policy, and English warfare, the document will repay perusal. It is curious to find, 250 years ago, the project of a junction between the Atlantic and Pacific entertained. Champlain founded the city of Quebec, and merited the title of "Father of New France." His memory survives in America in the name of the beautiful lake he discovered here in 1609, and which now divides the States of New York and Vermont. The outlet of Lake Champlain was named "Richelieu River," in honor of the great French Cardinal.

THE Lexington Monument Association, with Edward Everett as its President, and numbering among its Vice-Presidents and Directors many distinguished gentlemen, sends through the press an appeal to the people of the United States to aid it in erecting a suitable monument commemorative of the battle fought at Lexington on the 19th of April, 1775.

IN the annual report of Mr. Sibley, the librarian of Harvard College, it is stated that on the 29th of January, 1848, Mr. Prescott made a catalogue of books, and with his own hand wrote on it. "To go to the library of Harvard College after my death." More than eleven years afterward, on the 3d of June last, all of these volumes, with the exception of five, which could not be found, were transferred to Gore Hall. They are two hundred and eighty-two in number, comprising five large volumes of manuscripts. They constitute all that portion of Mr. Prescott's library which related exclusively to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. On this subject it is undoubtedly the best collection in the world. Mr. Prescott's history of the reign contains full bibliographical notices of a great part of the volumes.

The

A VOLUME of great interest to the naturalist and geologist is preparing for publication by Messrs. Little, Brown & Co. It will contain photo-lithographic plates of the fossil footprints found in the Connecticut River sandstone. work was commenced by the late Dr. Deane, of Greenfield, Mass., the first observer of these geological phenomena, and will be issued under the superintendence of Dr. Gould, Dr. H. J. Bowditch, and other scientific men, for the benefit of Dr. Deane's family. The volume will be got up in the style of Agassiz's "Contributions," containing at least forty plates. A letter from Sir Roderick Murchison has been received, expressing his high sense of the value of these scientific data, and his anxiety for their publication.

JOSEPH Dow, A. M., of Hampton, N. H., is about to publish his history of that town, including North Hampton, Hampton Falls, and other towns embraced in Ancient Hampton.

THE History of the Roxbury Grammar School, founded prior to 1645, is in preparation by Charles K. Dillaway, A. M., author of several classical works.

REV. ELIAS NASON, is preparing a memoir of Mrs. Charlotte Rowson, authoress of "Charlotte Temple," and other works.

THE RT. REV. J. R. BAYLEY, is about to pub lish a memoir of Rt. Rev. Simon Bruté, bishop of Vincennes, containing a very interesting journal of scenes in the French Revolution, left by Bishop Bruté, with pen-and-ink sketches of the more important events he describes.