within this, instead of a softly-blended | velope can only be accounted for as the nebulous light, indicative of an undis- result of sudden and violent disruptions turbed condition of equilibrium, the fiery from the central body, projecting immense mass was in a state of apparent commo- volumes of its luminous substance towards tion, as though upheaved by the action of the sun, which by some unknown law is violent internal forces. On the 23d, two in turn repelled by that body, and driven dark outlines were traced more than half off to the distant regions of space, formway round the nucleus, and on the next ing the vast train of light so characterisevening still another. Each of these was tic of these mysterious bodies. evidently the outer boundary of a luminous envelope, the brightest being that nearest the necleus. "On the 25th four envelopes were seen, and others have subsequently been formed, almost under the eye of the observer, their motion of projection from the nucleus being evident from night to night. The rapidity of their formation, and the enormous extent to which they are ultimately expanded, are phenomena extremely difficult to explain. The scene of chaotic confusion presented within the inmost en "It is probable that the Comet has now passed its maximum of brightness, although the length of the tail may be on the increase for some days to come. Whether we are yet to witness the inverse operation of the reconstruction of the nucleus by the subsidence of the envelopes, and of the material of the tail, upon it, or whether it is incapable of restoration to its original condition, are interesting subjects of speculation; the latter, however, would seem to be the most likely of the two alternatives." CHARLEMAGNE AND THE CHAUNCEYS; OR, THE CHAUNCEY MEMORIALS. WE have received from Professor William Chauncey Fowler of Amherst, Mass., a historic volume of unusual interest, of some three hundred pages, large octavo, of which he is the author. It is entitled, Memorials of the Chaunceys, including President Chauncey, the second President of Harvard College, his Ancestors and Descendants. By Professor WILLIAM CHAUNCEY FOWLER. Boston: Henry W. Dutton & Son. 1858. Prof. Fowler has evinced great industry, research, and remarkable skill as a genealogist in the historic tracings of this curious book. It would be difficult to find a match for it, in extent and seeming accuracy among human records. It is a rare curiosity among the "curiosities" of literature. The Memorials, as such begin with the American Chaunceys. But the genealogical record or chart begins with Charlemagne of imperial renown, who died in 814, and traces his lineal family descendants, direct and collateral, down through a period of one thousand and forty-four years. This is a sort of genealogical gulf-stream in the great ocean of humanity, which pushes its broad current along the tide of time, for more than a thousand years. Little did "Le Grand Monarque" imagine that his imperial blood would flow down through so many generations, and across the At lantic, to inhabit a continent which would not be discovered till he had been dead nearly seven hundred years, and that his lineal descendants would fill offices of great responsibility and trust, and act conspicuous parts in the departments of learning, literature, law, and commerce, more than a thousand years after his crown had crumbled. We were little aware, years ago, when looking down into his mausoleum, in the old cathedral at Aix-la-Chapelle, that we had long been a pupil of one of his learned and excellent descendants, and had personally known many others, the currents of whose influence is genial and diffusive. A word in addition concerning Charlemagne may not be uninteresting to some of our readers. He was born at Aix-laChapelle, and died there in 814. He raised it to the second city in his empire, and made it the capital of his dominions north of the Alps, appointing it the place | Harvard College, who landed at Plymouth, of coronation for the German Emperors, his successors, thirty-seven of whom and eleven empresses were crowned there between 814 and 1531. He built a magnificent chapel, (hence the name of the city Aix-la-Chapelle,) which he designed for his own mausoleum, in the form of the Holy Church at Jerusalem. It was consecrated by Pope Leo III. with a ceremony worthy of its splendor. Three hundred and sixty-five Archbishops and Bishops were present at the solemnity. Over the tomb, in which once reposed the mortal remains of Charlemagne, hangs a massive brazen chandelier, the gift of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. In 997, Pope Paschal III. made Charlemagne a saint. In 1165, Barbarossa opened the tomb and found the body of Charlemagne, not reclining in his coffin, as is the usual fashion of the dead, but seated on his throne as one alive, clothed in the imperial robes, holding the scepter in his hand, and on his knees a copy of the Gospels. On his fleshless brow was the crown; the imperial mantle covered his shoulders, the sword Joyeuse was by his side, and the pilgrim's pouch, which he had borne always while living, was still fastened to his girdle. All these venerable relics were removed and used in the coronation ceremonies of succeeding Emperors of Germany. They are now deposited at Vienna. Charlemagne was the head of his own imperial family and illustrious dynasty. His deeds and achievements form a part of the historic annals of the world. We will not linger to enumerate his immediate imperial descendants, but refer the curious reader to Prof. Fowler's book itself. We glance along the line from 814 to 1066, and find the seventh descendant from Charlemagne, Chauncey de Chauncy, a Norman nobleman, who came into England with William the Conqueror, from the town of Chauncy, near Amiens, in France. We glance along the line to the sixteenth descendant, from Chauncey de Chauncy, and we find him to be Charles Chauncey, the fifth son of George Chauncey and second President of in New-England, in 1638. With this eminent man, Prof. Fowler begins the direct and particular "memorials" of the Chaunceys, tracing them down the genealogical line, direct and collateral, in their varied and expanding families and branches until now. All the Chaunceys in this country, it is believed, are the descendants of this imperial family. Many of them were eminent men, well and widely known; some of them for many years residents and distinguished citizens at New-Haven, New-York, and Philadelphia. At the latter city, the names of Charles and Elihu Chauncey will long be held in high respect. In the collateral branches, under other names, are not a few who are among the lights of the age in the various departments of learning and influence. Among the number, we may mention the name of the Rev. Dr. Chauncey A. Goodrich, for many years an eminent professor in Yale College, as the thirty-fourth lineal descendant of Charlemagne, and in this relation and degree a representative of the Goodrich family. So also the Hon. Samuel G. Goodrich, the renowned Peter Parley, and his family bears the same relation. The same is true of the author of this volume, who thus writes his family history for a thousand years. In like manner is Dr. David Smith, of Durham, Ct., for many years and still a member of the corporation of Yale College, and his son, Rev. E. Goodrich Smith, of Washington City, and the Hon. Mrs. Henry L. Elsworth, the thirty-third and thirty-fourth lineal descendants, and are thus members of the imperial family of Charlemagne. There are many others under different names, whom we can not find room to enumerate, bearing the same relation. We should love to see a grand gathering of all the surviving members of this imperial family; and were it possible, we should like to see the household patriarch of them all appear in their midst, could he be waked up from his long sleep of ten centuries, clothed in his imperial robes as for a coronation.-EDITOR. WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. WE have the pleasure of presenting to our readers in this month's issue a finely engraved portrait of another distinguished American Historian, who is so highly honored in the world of letters on both sides of the Atlantic. We have taken especial pains to obtain as much accuracy and life-likeness as possible to the original. Five photographs were taken by Mr. Whipple, at his rooms in Boston, in order to secure the exact expression and lineaments of his face so truly desirable for permanent record. We believe the artistic skill of Mr. Sartain will have done this in a manner satisfactory to all concerned, at least, doing better justice to the original than any portrait we have seen. We subjoin a biographical sketch from the English Cyclopedia, chiefly as follows: WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT was born on the 4th of May, 1796, at Salem, Massachusetts, and is descended from an old Massachusetts family. His father was an eminent lawyer and judge at Boston; his grandfather commanded the American militia at the Battle of Bunker's Hill. His father having removed to Boston young Prescott was there placed with the Rev. Dr. Gardiner, a pupil of Dr. Samuel Parr, and an excellent classic; and under his tuition the youth made great progress. In 1811 he entered Harvard University, where he pursued his classical studies with considerable success, until compelled by failing health and temporary loss of sight to lay them aside. It had been intended that he should follow his father's profession, but after a short trial he found it necessary to relinquish his legal, and indeed all serious studies for a while. Being advised to travel he proceeded to Europe and spent a couple of years in England, France, and Italy, when he returned to Boston, restored in health, but with his sight permanently impaired. Happily his father was possessed of ample means, and it was determined that he should abandon his purpose of a professional life. As he was able, he devoted time and thought to the literature of modern Europe, but it was long before he a turned his attention seriously to authorship. His earliest contributions were to the pages of the North-American Review in essays on Italian, Spanish, English, and American literature; he also wrote Memoir of Brockden Brown, the novelist, in Sparks' American Biography, and occasional articles elsewhere: a selection from these was published under the title of Biographical and Miscellaneous Essays, 8vo, 1843, and has been more than once reprinted. But Mr. Prescott had from the time of abandoning his legal studies, cherished the hope of being able to write a history; and as he prosecuted more deeply his researches into the literature and history of Spain, his design assumed form and consistency. Having fixed on the reign of Ferdinand the Catholic, he was able through the friendly offices of Mr. Everett, the United States Minister at Madrid, to obtain for his projected work a singularly rich and extensive body of materials, consisting of rare books, manuscripts, and transcripts of official documents. But they reached him under circumstances which would have crushed the purpose of most men. An extract from the preface to his History of Peru, dated April, 1847, will best explain what these were, and most authentically describe that peculiarity of his literary history which is so remarkable in itself and so valuable and encouraging to others who may suffer under any physical infirmity. He says: "While at the university I received an injury in one of my eyes, which deprived me of the sight of it. The other, soon after was attacked by inflammation so severely that for some time I lost the sight of that also; and though it was subsequently restored, the organ was so much disordered as to remain permanently debilitated; while twice in my life since, I have been deprived of the use of it for all purposes of reading or writing for several years together. It was during one of these periods that I received from Madrid the · materials for my history of Ferdinand and Isabella, and in my disabled condition, with my transatlantic treasures lying around me, I was like one pining from hunger in the midst of abundance. I praise from the literary organs of all parIn this state I resolved to make the ear if ties; while in the country whose favorite possible do the work of the eye. I pro- monarchs it celebrates it was greeted cured the services of a secretary, who read to me the various authorities; and in time I became so far familiar with the sounds of the different foreign languages (to some of which, indeed, I had been previously accustomed by a residence abroad,) that I could comprehend his reading without much difficulty. As the reader proceeded, I dictated copious notes; and, when these had swelled to a considerable amount, they were read to me repeatedly, till I had mastered their contents sufficiently for the purpose of composition." There were still to be overcome the difficulties attending the actual process of composition. Mr. Prescott attempted dictation, but after many trials was forced to relinquish it, from finding that he could not thus attain to the requisite freedom and force of diction. He then procured from London a writing-case for the blind, in which the stylus of the writer was guided by means of wires over a sheet of carbonized paper, the writing being made without ink upon ordinary paper placed underneath. "With this instrument," says Mr. Prescott in a letter to the editor of Homes of American Authors, (dated July, 1852,) "I have written every word of my historicals. This modus operandi exposes one to some embarrassments; for, as one can not see what he is doing on the other side of the paper, any more than a performer on the treadmill sees what he is grinding on the other side of the wall, it becomes very difficult to make corrections. This requires the subject to be pretty thoroughly canvassed in the mind, and all the blots and erasures to be made there before taking up the stylus. This compels me to go over my composition to the extent of a whole chapter, however long it may be, several times in my mind, before sitting down to my desk. When there the work becomes one of memory rather than of creation, and the writing is apt to run off glibly enough." The first of the works prepared under these difficulties, The History of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic of Spain, appeared in the early part of 1838. By the author's own countrymen it was received with a hearty welcome, and in England it met with almost unqualified with enthusiasm, and the author was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Madrid. Nor has its popularity been evanescent; a seventh and revised edition of it was published in America and London in 1854, and more than one cheap reprint has since appeared: translations of it have also been made into the Spanish, Italian, and German languages. Its popularity was well. merited. For the first time the period of history when Spain rose to a leading position among the nations of Europe was fully, clearly, and vividly placed before the English reader from original and official sources; and the narrative was conducted, and events and characters were estimated, with a fairness and conscientiousness which showed itself in every page and led the reader to rest implicitly on the good faith of the historian. The archives of the Spanish court, of the Academy of Madrid, and of private families of historic fame, were now placed freely at Mr. Prescott's disposal, and he turned with ardor to the picturesque story of the Spanish invasions of Mexico and Peru. The first of these narratives, The History of the Conquest of Mexico, was published in three volumes in 1843. The popularity of its predecessor had prepared for it a wide and eager circle of readers; and its success was even more sudden and striking than that of the History of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was speedily translated into Spanish, both in Spain and Mexico, and also into German, French, and Italian; and it procured for its author the rare honor of admission into the Institute of France. The companion history, The Conquest of Peru, did not appear until 1847. It has fully sustained the high character of its author, and has passed through nearly as many editions as the previous histories, but as it could hardly possess the romantic interest of the History of the Conquest of Mexico, it will probably not rival that work in general estimation, although fully equal to it in historical value. In these three great works Mr. Prescott had with the felicity of genius hit upon themes remarkably rich in themselves and admirably adapted to his peculiar powers. For his crowning work he chose the history of the reign of Philip II., a theme in many respects very differ ance of the addition which this work has made to English historical literature there is but one opinion. The excellencies of the author's previous works are all here the picturesque narrative, the lucid style, the generous yet judicial spirit, the thorough digestion and scrupulous sifting of the materials-often not only contradictory in themselves, but embarrassing in their richness, and above and pervading all, the thorough integrity of purpose, the earnest and untiring pursuit and ever-present love of truth, which, amid his many admirable qualities, is that which is perhaps his prime characteristic as an historian. ent from the others, but one calling for a larger and more comprehensive treatment, embracing, as it did, historical characters and events which spread over the greater part of Europe and the New World during the latter half of the sixteenth century, a period almost unrivaled in the magnitude and splendor of its historical events. For this important undertaking Mr. Prescott made his preparations with characteristic care, deliberation, and comprehensiveness, collecting for it authentic materials from the public archives of almost all the great European capitals, as well as from many private collections. Towards the end of 1855, nearly seven years after the publication of his previous It only remains to add, that in 1856 Mr. history, Mr. Prescott was able to lay be- Prescott published an edition of Robertfore the public the first two volumes of son's History of the Reign of Charles the his History of Philip the Second, King of Fifth, with notes and a valuable suppleSpain, and again to achieve a great and ment containing an "Account of the Emunquestionable success. Of the import-peror's Life after his Abdication." "A sad and silent time it was Within that house of woe, แ "And from each cheek, at intervals, "Softly we trod, as if afraid To mar the sleeper's sleep; "With him the agony was o'er, And now the pain was ours, As thoughts of his sweet childhood rose |