t THE KNICKERBOCKER MAGAZINE, EDITED BY LOUIS GAYLORD CLARK. THE number for July, 1855, begins the FORTY-SIXTH VOLUME of the KNICKERBOCKER MAGAZINE. Since the price of subscription has been reduced from FIVE to THREE DOLLARS a year, the circulation of the KNICKERBOCKER has been increased nearly four to one. In many places ten are sold where there was but one before, and through the year it has been steadily increasing. It is now offered as cheap as any of the Magazines, all things considered. Instead of making new and prodigious promises, we submit a few extracts from notices of late numbers, which we might extend to a number of pages. "Those familiar with the Editor's monthly Gossip with his readers, have doubtless, with ourselves, admired the perennial source of its plesant wit and joyousness. In this number 'The Gossip' holds on its way like some fair rivulet glancing and dancing in the sunshine of a May morning. We used to wonder how Mr. CLARK held out, expecting he must certainly snow brown' in the coming number; but this number gives no sign of exhaustion.-National Intelligencer, Washington. · 'Pleasant, genial, delightful Old KNICK. Thy name is a suggestion of all things delectable; tee sight of thy modest, fresh cover, a balm to spiritual sore eyes; a glance within thee, best antidote for the blues. Thou hast given to kindly humor, to piquant delineation, and to side-splitting fun, a 'local habitation,' without which they might go wandering over the domain of letters, calling now and then where a friendly door opened to them but refusing to be comforted for the loss of their old dear home."-Courier, Burlington Vt., "The great care evinced in the selection of articles that adorn its pages, is a sufficient guaranty that no contribution meets the eye of the reader but those which are known to be worthy of his perusal. When storms and wild tempests are sweeping o'er our hill-side village in these chill winter hours, and all is drear and desolate without, we ask for no more agreeable companion than the 'KNICKERBOCKER;' for while its contents impart valuable information, its sallies of genuine wit are a sovereign specific for all fits of the blues or attacks of the horrors, and time passes merrily on.'Democrat, Doylestown, Pa. "The KNICKERBOCKER has been and will be a fact of its own; a genuine living thing, all the more desirable now that the new crop of magazines, filled with articles pirated from English authors, makes fresh home creations more conspicuous and welcome.'-New-York Christian Inquirer. 'No one ever rose from the perusal of the KNICKERBOCKER a disappointed reader. Whatever may have been his anticipations, they have always been rewarded. When he took up a new number, he felt sure of a literary treat; it was no mere showy repast he was invited to. Did he seek the grave or didactic essay, the touching story, poetic gems, or the humorous tale, he was always sure of finding the object of his search. And then, besides, there was the Gossip' of Old KNICK.,' always looked to with eagerness, never put down except with regret that there were not more pages of inimitable random sketches-the Knick-nacks of that repast,'-Courier, Natchez, Miss. THE KNICKERBOCKER, New-York: Samuel Hueston. This best, decidedly best, of the American magazines seems to have improved in appearance and in the quality of its literary matter-always good-even upon its reduction in price. It is a luxury of which no man who has three dollars to spare-and who that has a taste for good reading has not should deprive himself, to sit down in a retired corner, when the mind has been wearied with the perplexities of every day pursuits, and pore over the well-stored pages of "Old Knick." We even now read the old volumes of this work, of a dozen years ago, with more real pleasure than half the new publications of the day. Each number will "bear the wear and tear of half a dozen readings," and then the volume be "worthy of good binding and a place on the shelves," and that is what can be truly said of but few of the magazines of the present day. The contents of the Knickerbocker are so varied, that almost every one will find something in its pages to please him-to instruct and amuse. The articles are marked by the highest order of merit, and in a long series of years we have found nothing in this work to which the most fastidious could object. It is a work which should be on the centre table of every family.-Knoxville Times. Rev. F. W. SHELTON, Author of Letters from Up the River, etc., will be a regular contributor. The best talent in the country will be enlisted, and no expense or effort spared, to make the KNICKERBOCKER More than ever deserving of the first position among our original American Magazines. TERMS.-Three Dollars a year, strictly in advance-there will be no deviation from this condition; Two copies for $5 00; Five copies, and upwards, $2 00 each. Booksellers and Postmasters are requested to act as Agents. Those who will undertake to procure subscribers will receive favorable terms. Specimen numbers will be sent gratis on application, post-paid. INDUCEMENTS FOR CLUBBING.-The KNICKERBOCKER and Harper's, Putnam's, Graham's or Godey's Lady's Book will be sent one year for FIVE dollars; the KNICKERBOOKER and Home Journal, for FOUR dollars a year. POSTAGE.-Two cents per number, prepaid at the office where the work is delivered, quarterly in advance. All remittances and all business communications must be addressed, post-paid, to SAMUEL HUESTON, 348 Broadway, New-York. ART. I. HARFANG OF BIRDS: SECOND PAPER, II. STANZAS: 'WHAT WOULD I BE?' BY W. H. C. HOSMER, III. MEMORIES: BY SURREY KEENE, IV. LETTERS TO ELLA: ELLASLAND, V. LINES: REMEMBRANCE. BY RACHEL A. ACKERMAN, VI. THE COMPLETE SUSQUEHANNA ANGLER. FISHING THE SECOND, VII. GAITER-BOOTS. BY ROBIN RATTLEBRAIN, A.M., VIII. MY FRIEND'S WIFE, . IX. STANZAS: THE TWO KEYS, X. A STORY OF HEMLOCK-HILL, XI. THE WIND-SWEPT BLOSSOM, XII. STANZAS: WAR. BY CHARLES M. DENIE, XIII. A 'CHILDREN'S STORY,' XIV. LINES TO THE WABASH. BY HENRY A. CLARK, XV. THE OLD FORT. BY ISAAC MACLELLAN, 331 837 338 340 345 346 361 . 362 374 376 381 382 384 394 896 LITERARY NOTICES : 1. SIXTEENTH EDITION OF GRISWOLD'S POETS AND POETRY OF AMERICA,' 397 2. HEINE'S 'PICTURES OF TRAVEL.' BY CHARLES G. LELAND, 8. THE ANNALS OF SAN-FRANCISCO. BY FRANK SOULE, ETC., 9. THE NEWCOMES. BY W. M. THACKERAY, EDITOR'S TABLE: 1. SEEING THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY,' 2. RAIL-WAY SMOKING-CARS: A PUBLIC WANT, 3. GOSSIP WITH READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS, 1. HORN, THE 'VOLCANO CALIFORNIA PHILOSOPHER.' 2. UNRESERVED AND FRANK' ENGLISHMEN: A BRACE OF SPECIMENS JOHN BULL AS THE WHOLE ANIMAL,' 3. A NEW POME,' CALIFORNIA VISIONS AND REALITIES: WITH AN EXTRACT. 4. THE GREAT JULLIEN IN TROUBLE: A FRENCH-ENGLISH SPEECH. 5. TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE ISAAC A. COWLES. 6. ORIGINAL ANECDOTE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT AND CHANTREY, THE GREAT SCULPTOR. 7. PROFESSOR JULIUS CESAR HANNIBAL ON 'DE ALMANACK.' 8. THE YACU-MAMA: A SNAKESTORY: ' THE JOINT SNAKE.' 9. HARFANG ON BIRDS: THE OWL AND THE EAGLE: NOBLE PRISONERS. 10. EDITOR WAGSTAFF AT THE NIAGARA FALLS. 11. A FRENCH-ENGLISH CIRCULAR OF THE NEW ORLEANS UNITED MERCHANTS' GENERAL FACTORY FOR THE DELIVERY OF PRINTINGS AT DOMICIL.' 12. RAIL-ROAD TRAVEL IN INDIANA. 13. NEW USES OF THE SWINETTE-A-PISTON.' 14. AUTUMNAL INDICIA: OCTOBER,' BY THE LATE LAMENTED WILLIS GAYLORD CLARK. 15. PRIVATE THEATRICALS IN CINCINNATI: A MODEL STAGE-SPEECH. 16. THE ROCKLAND COUNTY FEMALE INSTITUTE:' LAYING THE CORNER-STONE, 17. THE AUTHOR OF THE ST. LEGER PAPERS' AT HIS COUNTRY HOME. 18. PAULPRYISM IN THE COUNTRY. 19. A BALTIMORE BELLE AT NEWPORT A LOVELY CHARACTER. 20. Beard, the CINCINNATI ARTIST. 21. BRADY'S NEW AMBROTYPES.' 22. VISIT TO THE EDITOR OF THE LOUISVILLE JOURNAL.' 23. ANOTHER 'GEAB AT THAT QUARTER' FROM ANOTHER QUARTER. 24. POSTPONED 'Gossip OF TRAVEL.' 25. IMPEACHABLE PEACHES: AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 26. THE GREAT RACHEL. 4. NEW PUBLICATIONS, ART-NOTICES, ETC., 405 408 410 411 412 413 414 415 417 419 421 439 INTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1855, BY SAMUEL HUESTON, IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THA JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, 95 & 97 Cliff Street, New-York. A GREAT deal has from time to time been said, sung, and written about birds, and any quantity of quills, plucked from the wings of HEAVEN knows how many geese, have been worn out in this prolific theme. In spite of that, however, we shall attempt another flight. Another flight most naturally brings us to another story, and, for getting up stares, commend us to the OWL. The owl! most sedate of birds, emblem of wisdom, solemn Solomon! In all other languages than ours, his name is most respectable, and in some even beautiful. Nothing could be more charming, for instance, than his classic cognomen, ulula. But owl!- what kind of a term is that with which to designate a dignified and respectable bird? Even that name was intended probably for howl,' but the indignant Cockney who first 'eard 'im 'oot, left off the H, although himself somewhat ex-asperated. No bird is so belied as is the owl. Most people consider his wisdom an assumption and his solemnity a sham, and some even look upon him as an out-and-out fool. Poets have painted him a moping misanthrope, sitting up in some old tower, towering up in some old city, or else, hermit-like, hiding himself away far from the busy haunts of men in some wild wood. Let us say rather he is a retiring individual, who has an eye for the picturesque, and is a lover of the rural. He is both noble and devotional a night bird and a bird of prey. His food, like poor Tom's, is 'rats and mice, and such small deer,' varying his regular habits with an occasional 'bat.' You may catch him napping in the day-time, when he is simple, sleepy, and almost stupid; but when de VOL. XLVI. 22 clining day gives place to dusk, then he has his eyes about him, and is wide awake. Then it is that he flies forth to forage for his food, or to make astronomical and other observations, such as 'too-whit, too-whoo,' and, rejoicing in the clearness of his vision, -'WITH obscure wing, Scouts far and wide into the realm of night, In this it is, his power of perfect vision in the densest darkness, that he is emblem of that wisdom and that watchfulness which never sleep, and moreover has a pair of eyes that can throw light on the darkest subjects, were they those of Faustin I. himself. At all events, our own tame owl, Doctor Samuel Johnson - sitting at this moment on his perch - so serious and yet so sensible, not exactly in a brown study, but in our study, seems a very wise bird. He never disturbs our meditations with his 'too-whit, too-whoo,' or what. To speak often seems derogatory to his dignity, and yet sometimes he will unbend, become almost facetious, and seem to open his mouth only to give utterance to wit. Sometimes for hours he watches us with his great staring eyes, as we sit smoking in our solitary sanctum, wrapped in reverie and clouds of smoke, and thronged with thoughts of other days, or dreaming of the days to come. But the Doctor knows that even at such times, when we are under the soulseducing and sense-stealing influence of our meerschaum, we are sensible enough to keep within the bounds of reason. Ours are not ecstatic, castle-building dreams, that only form fictitious futures; our reveries are retrospections of realities. Our first acquaintance with the Doctor bird of wisdom -was on this wise the interview was somewhat striking, for we knocked the Doctor over with a club. Not long ago, there stood, in the out-skirts of the village, an old brown house, venerable with years. It was a poor affair, yet rich in associations; for it was whilom the domicile where dwelt old Josey. Ah! there have been some great times in that mansion; for there in days gone by, once a week at least, used to meet that crowd of wits who composed the Corax Club. They used to gather in the long winter evenings, and sit around the old-fashioned fire-place, smoking pipes, imbibing ale, and cracking jokes, till the old chimney even roared in unison. Merry is the memory of those meetings; pleasant the recollection of those hours. Antique females, residing in the neighborhood, used to discourse of the 'dreadful goings on' in that old house; but we can testify that the club was as gentlemanly as it was genial, and the record of those days tells of conviviality without debauchery, wit without obscenity, and of mirth mingled with manliness. But it is long ago since the old domicile has been cheerful at night with light and life. For many months it was untenanted, save by a colony of chimney-swallows and a few bats. Josey-may his soul rest in peace!—was dead. The old house stood a monument of departed glory, yet desolate in decay. The owner thereof talked occasionally of pulling it down, or of moving it away; for in his eyes, the old brown house, like the barren fig-tree, cumbered the ground, and the old garden cu |