sons, Albert, the elder, was an ambitious lawyer, not very generally beloved, while Walter is represented by Mr. Fidget as very amiable, and a universal favorite. Of the charms of the daughter, Emily, Mr. Fidget often spoke with a warmth unusual in an old bachelor, and many passages in his papers are devoted to her. He cannot, however, be suspected of having entertained more than a friendly affection for the beautiful girl. This explanation may prove useful to the proper understanding of some of our extracts.' INDIAN PORTRAIT GALLERY. We have heretofore alluded to this great national work, now in progress of publication in Philadelphia, under the pictorial charge of eminent artists, and the literary supervision of Col. M'KENNEY, and Hon. JAMES HALL, of Cincinnati. The portraits, twenty in number, are from the well-known Indian Gallery in the Department of War, at Washington; and nothing can exceed the beauty of the execution and coloring of those which have been issued. In England, whither an agent for the work has gone, it is in such request, that it is found impossible to supply the demand. The subscription in London was opened by the king himself, who gave his own signature at the head of the list. In this country, it has already been taken by great numbers, and in this city, it ranks among its subscribers many of our most distinguished citizens. The price of the work which, considering its great excellence in every department, must be deemed exceedingly small is but six dollars a number. It will be delivered to none but those who subscribe; and the names of these, in fac simile, will be engraved and bound up with the 'Gallery,' when it shall be completed. Mr. FULLER, the accredited and gentlemanly agent for this publication, will remain for a limited period at the Astor-House, where subscriptions may be registered. - THE DRAMA. - We have little in the way of novelty to chronicle in this department. POWER, as welcome as ever, has been through with his usual round of characters at the PARK, delighting crowded audiences with acting so true to nature that it can never pall upon the beholder. At the AMERICAN THEATRE, within the month, in addition to the gorgeous spectacle of 'MAZEPPA,' which has had a triumphant career, a young lady,' Mrs. GEORGE JONES, has made her début in the character of Bianca, in MILMAN'S 'Fazio,' with entire success. On every hand, her performance, for one so new to the stage, is pronounced unexampled. The inclement weather, which prevented our attendance, we are glad to learn had little effect upon the house, which was, as usual, brimming. The NATIONAL THEATRE has passed under the direction of Mr. HACKETT, whose inimitable personations, notwithstanding other attractions, have formed the most inviting feature in the management, thus far. New and interesting pieces, however, are in preparation, in which Mr. COOKE's well known equestrian troupe are to be conspicuous. DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. We have derived much satisfaction from the perusal of a sensible and occasionally eloquent 'Address on the Duties of American Citizens, delivered before the Franklin Society of Saint Louis, on its second anniversary, January 7th, 1837, by CHARLES D. DRAKE.' The topics upon which it touches are, love of country, the necessity of home education, and a knowledge of the principles of a republic; the influence of demagoguism; the bad effects of a superabundant and blind national vanity, and wide-spread love of office; and the importance of a universal knowledge of the constitution. These subjects are so well reasoned, and in a style so terse and emphatic, that we doubly regret the necessity which compels us, at the late hour at which we receive the pamphlet, to limit ourselves to this brief notice of its contents, without fortifying our favorable opinions by extracts. LITERARY RECORD. SLAVERY ERY IN THE UNITED STATES. A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of CHARLES BALL, a Black Man, who lived forty years in Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia, as a Slave, under various Masters.' Such is the title of a book of more than five hundred pages, from the press of Mr. JOHN S. TAYLOR. Some very clever writer, who has read Robinson Crusoe, and caught, in no small degree, the spirit of that unsurpassed narrative, has wrought the stories of a garrulous and highly imaginative old colored inan into a large volume, in which it must be admitted there is no lack of interest. Credulity, however, will be sadly tried, in various parts of this 'authentic history;' but there will be none left of consequence, we apprehend, after the reader shall have arrived at the 'full and particular account' of a horrid execution which was done upon two black men, in South Carolina, by fastening them down with their backs to the ground, in a desolate spot, where the turkey-buzzards were suffered to eat them away piecemeal! That due horrific effect may be given to this story, the amanuensis of the narrator assists the imagination of the reader, by informing him that 'buzzards and carrion-crows always attack dead bodies by pulling out and consuming the eyes first; they then tear open the bowels, and feed upon the intestines!' THE 'NEW-YORKER.' - We take pleasure in calling public attention to the new quarto volume of this excellent journal, which has just commenced. We have perused the work from its beginning, and appreciated, we think, the great industry, talent, and good taste, which have marked its course. While it has avoided all noisy and lying boastings of its merit and success. - the surest criteria of a lack of both-it has worthily obtained a strong hold upon the popular favor a reputation, indeed, equal to that of any similar periodical in the country. The 'New-Yorker' is executed with much typographical neatness, and published by the proprietors and editors, Messrs. H. GREELEY and E. B. FISHER, at 127 Nassau-street. -- "THE YOUTHFUL IMPOSTOR.' This is a novel in two volumes, just re-published by Messrs. CAREY AND HART, Philadelphia. It is from the pen of Mr. GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS, a new candidate for literary honors. He is evidently an unpractised writer; but he understands dramatic effect, and is very expert in the effective grouping of scenes and incidents. He has so much to do with low life in London, as to induce the reader to believe that he might have passed his early years in the very heart of Alsatia. He describes well, however, and has the power of taking the reader along with him, whether he approve or condemn, as he journeys. New-York: WILEY AND PUTNAM, and G. AND C. CARVILL AND COMPANY. ESSAYS OF ELIA. - A neatly-printed volume of some hundred and thirty pages, ina firm and tasteful paper cover, from the press of GEORGE DEARBORN, contains the essays of our beloved 'Elia.' Perfect creator of rich conceits- charming architect of periods! What an essayist is he! How shrewd in observation - how discriminative of the burlesque - how quaint yet melodious in diction-in expression how varied! Who ever rose from his pages without brighter thoughts and softer feelings! But we have said all this before, and would not iterate. The writings of CHARLES LAMB need no eulogist. HIESTAND'S TRAVELS. - 'Travels in Germany, Prussia, and Switzerland, by Rev. HENRY HIESTAND: including some Account of his Early Life, Conversion, and Ministerial Labors in the United States.' Thus is denominated a volume of some two hundred open pages, 'edited by a minister of the gospel in New-York,' and recently published by Mr. JOHN S. TAYLOR. We can do little more than announce the work; since candor compels us to say, that after entering upon its perusal, we found it not sufficiently inviting to induce us to accompany the author in his various journeyings. SARTOR RESARTUS. - This is a collection of papers from Frazer's London Magazine, which in truth are very little to our taste. The writer walks beneath a German cloud more dense than a Scotch mist; and, in our humble estimation, the trouble of penetrating it is worth all his companionship. We cannot divest ourselves of a strong distaste to the 'peculiarities,' for which patience is invoked in the preface by some Germanloving littérateur; and while we disclaim any intention to flatter, we must say, that, to our poor conception, Professor Teufelsdröckh is an eminent bore. But, Chacun à son goût.' 'DELICATE ATTENTIONS.'- Messrs. CAREY AND HART have issued, in a thin, open volume, 'Paul Pry's Delicate Attentions,' and other Tales, by the author of 'Little Pedlington.' The 'other tales,' together with the one which gives the title to the book, have already appeared in an English magazine, and have been transplanted into journals of British literature on this side of the Atlantic. It is quite unnecessary to say that they are clever, and well worth reading. 'TRAITS AND TRIALS OF EARLY LIFE,' is the title of a volume by Miss LANDON, from the press of Messrs. CAREY AND HART. It is designed for the instruction and amusement of children, and consists of eleven stories, in prose and verse. They seem to us, on a cursory perusal, to be well and naturally wrought up, and to be imbued with good sentiments. New-York: WILEY AND PUTNAM, and the Messrs. CARVILL. FALKNER.This novel, by Mrs. SHELLEY, author of 'Frankenstein,' has been published in one volume by the Messrs. HARPER. We have not found leisure, at the late hour at which it reaches us, to peruse it attentively; but a portion of the London periodical press, from which good judgments and unbiassed generally proceed, pronounce it a work of a high order, and the best which the author has yet given to the public. 'MINOR MORALS.' We predict for the work by JOHN BOWRING, entitled 'Minor Morals for Young People, illustrated by Tales and Travels,' recently issued from the press of Messrs. CAREY, LEA AND BLANCHARD, a career of great usefulness. Blending amusement with instruction, simple in style, and good in tendency, it is admirably adapted to the capacities and wants of young people. POLITENESS. Messrs. W. MARSHALL AND COMPANY, Philadelphia, have published 'A Manual of Politeness, comprising the Principles of Etiquette, and Rules of Behavior in Genteel Society, for Persons of both Sexes.' To the true lady and gentleman, this book is unnecessary; but it may serve as a guide to very many in general society. New-York: C. SHEPPARD, Broadway. THE RELIGIOUS MAGAZINE, AND FAMILY MISCELLANY, published by Mr. W. H. S. JORDAN, Boston, and conducted by Prof. E. A. ANDREWS, is entitled to a liberal patronage from the religious community. The number for March is very varied in its contents, which are well calculated not only to arrest and fix present attention, but to be productive of future moral and religious results. SKETCHES BY 'Boz.'-These sketches, illustrative of every-day life and every-day people, are a continuation of Watkins Tottle, and other Sketches.' They are far less attractive than the writings of the author hitherto published, and evince, what is admitted, that they are among the earliest compositions of the writer. Philadelphia: CAREY AND HART: New-York: the Messrs. CARVILL, and WILEY AND PUTNAM. DUNALLAN. - Messrs. VAN NOSTRAND AND DWIGHT have recently published 'Dunallan, or Know what you Judge,' by GRACE KENNEDY, author of "The Decision,' 'Father Clement,' etc. This religious novel has great popularity, having gone through numerous editions. The printing of the present edition is clear, and the binding tasteful. THE KNICKERBOCKER. VOL. IX. ΜΑΥ, 1837. No. 5. SCHILLER'S MARY STUART. THE subject of Mary Stuart is scarcely a favorable one for dramatic composition. The wonderful events that crowded so thickly together in the life of that unfortunate princess - rendering her career, though unnaturally brief, one of the most remarkable in the records of history are not precisely of that nature which is most susceptible of being wrought into a play, nor are the sufferings of the queen, and the fortitude and resignation displayed under them, such as the poets of the theatre could depict with most success. The ingratitude she experienced at the hands of unworthy friends, or disloyal servants — her unfortunate marriages her long imprisonment, and cruel death-present fit subjects, it is true, for poetical embellishment, but not exactly for the dramatic muse, which demands something more startling, and, we may say, boisterous in action, than would comport with the facts recorded, or the character of the lovely and hapless sovereign. Some detached passages from her life may indeed be susceptible of a theatrical dress. The assassination of Rizzio, for example-exhibiting the petulant cruelty of Darnley, the bloodthirstiness of Morton, and the base born Douglas, the cold-blooded atrocity of Ruthven and their brutal accomplices, Ker of Fawdonside, de Balantyne, and the rest with the unavailing anguish and just resentment of the outraged queen, would form a striking scene. So it might be with Darnley's murder - the festival, the dance-the boldness of the profligate Bothwell the unsuspicious innocence and princely gayety of Mary, imprudent in the bestowal of her favor, yet guiltless of a thought of wrong- these might be successfully brought into contrast with the dark conspiracy-the broodings of guilty ambition, the deep deceit with which the traitor's snares are laid for the victims - the hopes and fears- the terrific catastrophe! But here the chief places in the action are filled by others- not by the queen; she is herself comparatively passive, while the deeds belong to her turbulent nobles. Alfieri has constructed a tragedy upon this portion of Mary's history, partly with the purpose, as he himself avows, of testing his success in an unpromising subject. It is not a little interesting to observe how the Queen of Scots and the fiery nobles of her court look in the 'Athenian garment' with which the classic genius of the Italian poet has invested them. He has handled the matter, perhaps, with more skill than could have been expected from the total want of harmony between the material and his peculiar genius; but the absence of local coloring in his play, the severity of his style, and his rigid exclusion of external objects and second ary personages, serve to divest the picture of life. The author himself acknowledges his drama deficient in action, feeble, and cold; and we have no reason to differ from his opinion. One emotion, however, is excited in the perusal of the piece; it is that of wonder that aught so uninteresting could have been written of Mary, by a poet of undisputed ability. The prophetic frenzy of the second-sighted La Morre, which has met with favor in the author's eyes, we cannot regard as happy. The queen's death is still more destitute of incident suited to dramatic purposes. A decapitation cannot be represented on the stage; and the monotonous display of preparation, the grief of her adherents -even the triumph of malice, and the resignation of the victim are but scanty materials for the dramatist. The termination must necessarily be foreseen from the first; no interest, therefore, arising from curiosity can be excited. The scaffold frowns in full view, from the very opening scene; and we approach it as it were through an avenue of cypress. Hence the chief interest must depend on the delineation of character; and here it is that Schiller has shown himself so masterly. He has been compelled to distort history to furnish incidents for his drama; the love of Mary for Leicester, her communication with him through the impassioned Mortimer, the meeting of the two queens, and the interview that hastens Mary's death, are freely painted by the fancy of the writer. None but a poet would have conceived a task like this; none but a poet would have accomplished it as Schiller has done. It would be a bold enterprise indeed to attempt the fanciful embellishment of an image which the muse of history, seeming to have dipped her lavish pencil in the most luxuriant hues of fiction, has portrayed so freshly and so vividly. The image of Mary Stuart to which even the pictures of the romancer, warm and glowing in the richest tints of poetry, have failed to add a single enchantment - familiar to every heart as some admired and beloved object known in actual life—familiar as the embodiment of all grace, and loveliness, and majesty, in the woman or the queen! The intense interest that has been felt, even through the lapse of so many centuries, in every circumstance of her life, has drawn forth the most minute and copious biographies and histories of the unfortunate princess, and left little to be done by those writers who avowedly depart from severe historical accuracy. The subject even forbade the indulgence in that poetical imagery, and those beautiful strains of reflection, with which Schiller has delighted to adorn many of his dramas; the incidents have an importance too grave and momentous to permit any diversion of the imagination, and there would have been risk of injuring the vraisemblance of the picture, by any departure from the simplicity of actual truth. With all these disadvantages, Schiller's work, in plan and execution, is truly noble and worthy of the subject; and to say that, is to award it all praise. Some trifling faults interfere with and lessen the grandeur of the whole; but the dignity of the last scenes more than effaces any unfavorable impressions. The poet has bestowed his greatest care on the character of the Scottish queen; and the result of his labor has well rewarded his skill and pains. Her first appearance on |