  I am indebted for the sketch of the flight of a fugitive through the Great Pacoudrie (or Cacodrie) Swamp, in the introductory portion of this volume, to a couple of pages in the graphic and affecting narrative entitled “Twelve Years a Slave,” by Mr. Solomon Northup, a free citizen of New York, who was kidnapped in that State, and sold into bondage in Louisiana, from which he was fortunately rescued and restored to his wife and children, after a dozen years of enforced servitude. Another acknowledgment remains to be made. The reader of the twelfth chapter of this book may already have observed that Harrington, if he had lived, would have been a believer in the theory regarding the origin and purpose of the Shakspeare Drama, as developed in the admirable work by Miss Delia Bacon, entitled “The Philosophy of Shakspeare’s Plays Unfolded,” in which belief I should certainly agree with Harrington. I wish it were in my power to do even the smallest justice to that mighty and eloquent volume, whose masterly comprehension and insight, though they could not save it from being trampled upon by the brutal bison of the British literary press, yet lift it to the dignity, whatever may be its faults, of being the best work ever composed upon the Baconian or Shakspearean writings. It has been scouted by the critics as the product of a distempered ideality. Perhaps it is. But there is a prudent wisdom, says Goethe, and there is a wisdom which does not remind us of prudence; and, in like manner, I may say that there is a sane sense, and there is a sense that does not remind us of sanity. At all events, I am assured that the candid and ingenuous reader Miss Bacon wished for, will find it more to his profit to be insane with her on the subject of Shakspeare, than sane with Dr. Johnson. I am aware that in even making this acknowledgment, I do something to excite the rancor of the stupid and senseless prejudice which finds no difficulty in assigning the noblest works of the human genius to the fat peasant of Stratford—a man who, as Emerson justly says, lived a profane and vulgar life, and whose biography, collected after W. D. O’C. ANTI-SLAVERY WORKS. I. THE PUBLIC LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN, BY JAMES REDPATH. With an Autobiography of his Childhood and Youth. With a Steel Portrait and Illustrations. pp. 408. This volume has been the most successful of the season,—having already reached its Fortieth Thousand, and the demand still continuing very large. It has also been republished in England, and widely-noticed by the British press. The Autobiography (of which no reprint will be permitted) has been universally pronounced to be one of the most remarkable compositions of the kind in the English language. In addition to being the authentic biography of John Brown, and containing a complete collection of his celebrated prison letters—which can nowhere else be found—this volume has also the only correct and connected history of Kansas,—from its opening for settlement till the close of the struggle for Freedom there,—to be found in American literature, whether periodical or standard. It treats, therefore, of topics which must be largely discussed in political life for many years. A handsome percentage, on every copy sold, is secured by contract to the family of Capt. Brown. Price One Dollar. Copies mailed to any address, post paid, on receipt of the retail price. ? Agents wanted. II. SOUTHERN NOTES FOR NATIONAL CIRCULATION. EDITED BY JAMES REDPATH. This is a volume of facts of recent Southern life, as narrated by the Southern and Metropolitan press. It is a history of the Southern States for six months subsequent to John Brown’s Invasion of Virginia. The diversity of its contents may be judged from the titles of its Chapters,—Key Notes, Free Speech South, Free Press South, Law of the Suspected, Southern Gospel Freedom, Southern Hospitality, Post Office South, Our Adopted Fellow Citizens South, Persecutions of Southern Citizens, The Shivering Chivalry, Sports of Heathen Gentlemen, &c., &c., &c. As a manual for Anti-Slavery and Republican orators and editors it is invaluable. A HANDSOME PAMPHLET OF 128 PAGES. PRICE 25 CENTS. ? Copies mailed to any address on receipt of price. Agents wanted. III. ECHOES OF HARPER’S FERRY. This volume is a collection of the greatest Speeches, Sermons, Lectures, Letters, Poems, and other Utterances of the leading minds of America and Europe, called forth by John Brown’s Invasion of Virginia. They are all given—mostly for the first time—unabridged; and they have all been corrected by their authors for this edition, or re-printed with their permission from duly authorized copies. That this volume is justly entitled to the claim of being the first collection of worthy specimens of American Eloquence, the following brief summary of its contents will show: It contains Speeches and Sermons—by Wendell Phillips (two), Ralph Waldo Emerson (two), Edward Everett, Henry D. Thoreau, Dr. Cheever (two), Hon. Charles O’Conor, Henry Ward Beecher, Theodore Tilton, Col. Phillips, Rev. Gilbert Haven, James Freeman Clarke, Fales Henry Newhall, M. D., Conway (of Cincinnati), and Edwin M. Wheelock; Letters—by Theodore Parker (two), Victor Hugo (two), Mrs. Mason of Virginia, and Lydia Maria Child; Poems and other Contributions—by William Allinghame, John G. Whittier, William Lloyd Garrison, Judge Tilden, F. B. Sanborn, Hon. A. G. Riddle, Richard Realf, C. K. Whipple, Rev. Mr. Belcher, Rev. Mr. Furness, Rev. Mr. Sears, Edna Dean Proctor, L. M. Alcott, Wm. D. Howells, Elizur Wright, &c., &c., &c. Also, all the Letters sent to John Brown when in prison at Charlestown by Northern men and women, and his own relatives: “one of the most tenderly-pathetic and remarkable collections of letters in all Literature.” Also, the Services at Concord, or “Liturgy for a Martyr;” composed by Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, Sanborn, &c.: “unsurpassed in beauty even by the Book of Common Prayer.” With an Appendix, containing the widely-celebrated Essays of Henry C. Carey on the value of the Union to the North. Appended to the various contributions are the autographs of the authors. EDITED BY JAMES REDPATH. 1 volume, 514 pages, handsomely bound in muslin. Price $1.25. ? Sample copies mailed to any address on receipt of the retail price, postage paid. For Circular of Terms address the Publishers. ? For sale at all Bookstores, or will be sent promptly by mail on receipt of price. WALT WHITMAN’S POEMS, Pronounced by Ralph Waldo Emerson to form “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed.” Price $1.25. LEAVES OF GRASS, CONTENTS.
Making 456 pages, 12mo., first quality paper and print, with portrait of the Poet, from a painting by Charles Hine, of New York. A very beautiful and richly-bound book. No handsomer or more substantial one, for the price, has ever issued from the press, here or in Europe. Also, in preparation, THE A HANDSOME VOLUME OF ABOUT 200 PAGES. CONTENTS.
SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING CRITICISMS, &c. SENT FREE. “Leaves of Grass Imprints,” a handsome little 64 page volume, in reference to the above Poems, collecting American and European criticisms on the First (1855) and the Second (1857) Issues of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves.” Very instructive, curious, serious, and amusing. Send us your address, any where in the United States, and we will forward you these “Imprints,” free and prepaid. THAYER & ELDRIDGE, |
|
