LITERARY GOSSIP.

Press, Volume VII, Issue 685, 9 January 1865, Page 5

LITERARY GOSSIP.

[From the Argua^ We have at different times given particulars of the popularity of Mr. Banting** pamphlet on corpulence. We have now to •inform our readers that no less than 53,000 copies of this tract have been sold, and that it m purchased at the book-stalls as " light," pleasant leading, in preference to the creations of novelists, or the narratives of travellew. The only recent work that can at all compete with it in popularity is the Lauleate's recent volume.— London Review. Although Messrs. Chapman and Hall have not made any definite announcement, j* it is understood that Mr. Carlyle's concluding volumes of the " Life of Frederick" will be issued before the close of the pubBahing season we are. now entering upon. The fifth volume is stated to be printed, but it will not not be published until the sixth volume is ready to accompany it. ' Concerning M. Benan, about whom the Paris journalsnever tire" in giving the various saying of the schools and cafes t a correspondent sap that he is at present making arrangements for the publication of a work to be entitled " The laves of the Apostles." B will be a supplement to " The Life of Jesus. ,, It is the intention of the author to proceed this year to the East, for the purpose of going over the ground St. Paul travelled between the period of hie conversion and of his martyrdom. We learn from India, that Messrs. WymanandCo., of Calcutta, have introduced some new arrangements into that place, which will astonish old-fashioned resident* there. They have opened what they call the "Indian Mudie'e Library," where, for seven rupees a month, all the new books may be procured. They have also established what, in that part of the world, must be regarded as a great undertaking—viz., tittlft&m Daily JVTruw, a morning newspaper,! sold to subscribers and non-sub-scribers at two annas per copy. Bis not generally Known that recently then Tim been springing up a very considerable trade in the principal cities of Holland in "RngKitli books —generally those of an illustrated character. Cruikshank's illustrations have always been in great request there, and our Christmas pictorial works have been sent over in considerable quantities. The trade has n6t, of course, been reciprocal, a Dutch book being here as a dead letter. The Great Eastern Bailway, we note, lias just made regulations whereby the bookMflen of Rotterdam and the Hague will receireall the latest English publications immediately after their appearance here. The Dutch are excellent linguists, and it is sol at all improbable that English literature win be again as well and as widely known to the Hollanders as it was 200 years ago, in tin old time of religious persecution, and when many of our Bibles, and most of our ■edftkrae political tracts, were printed there by English atTla*- We remember that the late MrTGeorge Offor once made a tour through the Low Countries for the purpose of collecting English book rarities, and that, besides some very scarce theological pieces, be alighted upon an original copy of the red letter edition of John Wilkee's famous but indeed brockmrc. A new song, by Mrs. Alfred Tennyson, % Laureate's wife, entitled "The Alma Biver," has recently been published It sis been set to music by the same lady. A short time since, IVofeesorFrischbier.of Koenigsberg, publishd a volume, the result of seven years , labour, on the proverbs and popular sayings of Prussia. After the work had been on sale some months, it was suddenly seized by the police, and the author prosecuted for an offence against public monk The trial was attended by all the

notabilities of the City and University. Professors Eosenkranz and Schade, who were summoned as experts, spoke strongly in fevor of the accused, and asserted the purely scientific tendencies of the work incriminated. M. Schade, having been called to order by the Court for the vehemence of his language, declared that he was only fulfilling his duty as a professor in energetically defending science against all attacks, from whatever quarter they might proceed. The defence was successful, for the public prosecutor abandoned the charge, and Professor Frischbier was acquitted. The successors of Madame Tussaud appear to have made up their minds about the guilt of Muller, for posters cover pur London hoardings, informing us that the prisoner accused of murdering Mr. Briggs, has been added to the collection of wax figures. It does not say whether this is to be seen in the " Chamber of Horrors," but we presume as much from the style of advertising. Publishers, too, are not behindhand with the public, for the proprietors of the Illustrated Police News put forth a sensational advertisement, begging the public to " Look out! look out!" as they are about to issue " All about Muller; the History of the Murder "of Mr. Briggs, profusely illustrated with portraits and engravings." Can these displays and literary panderings benefit the public morals ? A curious discovery is announced : the Earlier Remains of Archbishop Whately, which were only lighted upon after the printing of the former volume of the prelate's minor writings. It is said that the Messrs. Longman will issue these at once. A ridiculous paragraph has been gojng the round of the press, stating that Mr. Tennyson has pocketed not less than £10,000 by the sale of his last volume, Enoch Arden. We do not pretend to be acquainted with the Laureate's financial affairs, nor to know how much money his publishers have paid him; but this we do know —and from the best authority—that up to the present time about 32,000 copies of the work in question have been sold. On no other business matter is there usually displayed so much popular misconception and ignorance as when the profits arising from the publications of eminent authors are concerned. The habits, dress, and incomes of great men will, perhaps, always be matter of lively interest to curious readers and to " worshippers;" but a little common-sense should at least guide those who construct ana, and concoct literary statistics. " Enoch Arden " is a sixshilling book; a part of this amount —say something less than two shilling—will have to be deducted as the trade per centage, or booksellers , allowance; the printer will take another portion, the binder another, and the paper merchant and advertising agent will also expect to be paid. Assuming that two shillings per copy, or even three shillings, may be the author's royalty, it is tolerably clear that the £10,000, said to be Mr. Tennyson's recent gain, is simply one of those pleasant fictions started and circulated for popular amusement, So few poetical publications ever pay for paper and print, that a great metrical success is not unlikely to magnify itself; and this, we suppose, must be the excuse for the paragraph in error recently circulated.— London Review. So we are to have an exhaustive French work on equatorial Africa! The London trade is not in future to monopolize the publishing market in this particular commodity, for a well-known Paris house has declared its determination to issue from time to time particulars of the progress of an important exploring party now fitting out in Paris. It is said that this expedition is being prepared to ascend the Niger, and visit the interior of Africa, under the command of Captain Magnan. The expense is to be defrayed from private sources, and the expedition is highly approved and encouraged by the French Government. M. de Chasseloup Laubat, Minister of Marine, has, at the express command of the Emperor, placed eight rifled cannon at the disposal of Captain Magnan, together with all the ammunition required for the expedition. Captain Magnan has purchased a galliot, and has fitted it out to sail or fight. He has freighted a merchant-ship, and he takes with him four gun-boats, built at Toulon, which he intends to use when the water is too shallow for his larger vessels. Captain Magnain's second in command, who is a retired officer of the Imperial navy, is at present in Paris, selecting scientific men, artists, and painters, and likewise a cargo of various articles to exchange with the natives. The military who are to form part of the expedition, are to be commanded by Captain Gerad, formerly of the Zouaves, and great results are expected from this expedition, in preparing which no expense has been spared. Prince Napoleon is "said to be actively employed superintending the labors of a staff of editors, engaged upon a complete collection of the letters and despatches of the first Emperor. Agents are said to have [been sent to England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Kussia, and even to America, for the purpoee of collecting those wettings which have passed into the cabinets of autograph collectors. We imagine that Messrs. Puttick and Simpson could give information of value to the prince, and we may say, from our own knowledge, that we remember some fifteen years ago to have seen a magnificent letter from the great Napoleon to his brother Joseph, sometime King of Spain, in—where does the reader imagine?—the library of Beloit College, a backwoods seminary in Wisconsin, a western state lying between the extreme western waters of Lake Superior and the Upper Mississippi. Speaking of the forthcoming Napoleon despatches, Ac., a correspondent object* to the plan of Prince Napoleon and M. SainteBeuve, his assistant, on the ground " that the work of a man of genius should be left untouched by inferior minds. So many years have passed away since the .judgements of Napoleon on many men of eminence were uttered, that their publication to-day could hot injure anybody. To see

Napoleon in his true character, such as his private letters show him, would furnish the historian with much valuable knowledge, and the metaphysician as well. All the sources of such knowledge have been up to the present closed, for the effect of every word uttered in St. Helena was calculated, and little was said there which was not likely one day to serve the King of Rome, or keep alive the superstitious admiration with which the speaker was regarded by a large section of the French people." The editorship of the " Cliristian Witness " and " Christian Penny Magazine " will at Christmas be relinquished by Dr. Campbell, who announces that the trustees have appointed the Eev. John Kennedy, M.A., of Stepney, editor of the former, and the Rev. F. S. Williams, of Nottingham, of the latter. A literary friend writes from Paris :— " The Prussian police have been actively engaged in ferreting out Mme. Ludmilla Assing, who has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment for her last work, the " Memoirs of Vamhagen d'Ense." You will be glad to learn that she is safe in Switzerland, and in that classic land of freedom, which hath ever preferred liberty to empire, the recent examples of Teleki's and Arguelles' surrender, are not precedents she need fear." Mr. A. W. Bennett's series of works, illustrated by photography, will shortly be increased by an edition of Longfellow's " Hyperion," embellished with twenty-four large-sized photographsof the scenery of the Rhine, Switzland, the Tyrol, &c, taken expressly for the work, by Mr. T. Frith ; and by a work on the Cathedrals and Ancient Structures of Normandy, by F. Gr. Stephens, with twenty-five photographic illustrations by Cundall and Downes. A very interesting liUle tract, of some thirty pages, ctuLiiniug a few letters of Thackeray's, written to the hon. W. B. Reed, an intimate friend of the deceased humourist, has just been printed for private circulation in America. It is said that there are some beautiful passages in the letters; and the writer occasionally gives the reader a new fact about himself. For instance, we did not know before that Thackeray once asked Lord Clarendon for the secretaryship to the British Legation at Washington. He was answered, first, that the place was filled up; and, secondly, that it would not be fair to gixe it out of the service. It is rumoured that a new evening journal is shortly to be published, and that a capital of £10,000 has been already subscribed for its support. It is further said, that some novel features are to distinguish it from all other evening sheets. From New York we learn that Bayard Taylor, well known as the author of " Views a-Foot,,' and other works, and latterly as an active contributor to the New York Tribune, wrote to Messrs. Low and Co., offering them the publication of his new three-volume novel, immediately upou hearing ViceChancellor Kindersley's recent decision in the case of Miss Cummings. It is supposed that this decision will cause a great number of American works, to be first published here, although, so far as we can see, the old plan of a simultaneous publication in both countries was quite as effectual for the author's purpose.