ty, allows that he has written much which is hard to fathom, that it is impossible to trace any distinct subject in the "Europe," or "to determine whether it mainly relates to the past, present, or to come!" that another of the "prophetic books" is "shapeless and unfathomable;" and the best he can say of "The Song of Los" is that we seem to catch in it a thread of connected meaning. On this matter, the opinion expressed by Mr. Rossetti is, we think, sound: "To call Blake simply a madman would be ridiculous and despicable; even to call him (as some have done) an inspired madman would be most incomplete and misleading. But it may, I think, be allowed to say that he was a sublime genius, often perfectly sane, of ten visionary and exalté, without precisely losing his hold upon sanity, and sometimes exhibiting an insane taint. We have his product before us, and are constrained to form some estimate of it. There are portions of it which not one of us can possibly hoodwink himself into receiving as the right sort of thing. We must condemn them as faulty, and even heinous, according to any true standard of art. If we eliminate them as coming from the mad chink of Blake's mind, we leave indemnified the far larger proportion of his work to which the same censure does not apply. But if, on the other hand, through timorous respect and consideration for his genius, we flinch from this conclusion, we are then compelled to say that Blake, in full possession of his rationality, could write much that was fatuous and nonsensical-balderdash,' to use a plain word—as well as much that was noble and admirable; and this leaves an uneasy sense of insecurity in his reader, and casts a slur over the whole body of the author's work." To this we may add, that if Blake's mind were thoroughly sane, there are passages in his poetry which are perverse to a degree that is inexcusable-witness "the wholly amazing poem" called "The Everlasting Gospel," and harsh marks on his contemporaries which seem out of harmony with the beautiful and humble spirit of the man as manifested in his serener moments. re As a poet, Blake's power of conception was far beyond his skill in execution. Imagination will be found combined with exquisite felicity of expression in all poetical work that is destined to enduring life. It is through the lovely marriage of pure words that a grand or beautiful thought is secured to posterity. It is possible, no doubt, for art, when too refined and finessing, to overlay nature; but this affords no argument for despising art, of which our greatest poets have always been the profoundest students. Blake unfortunately did not care, or was unable to bestow the needful labor on his poems. Possibly, and not altogether unreasonably, the poetical deadness of an age which applauded the tame but carefully composed productions of Charlotte Smith and Darwin, of Hayley and Miss Seward, led him to despise the art which had been employed so unprofitably. Mr. Rossetti allows that Blake was often palpably faulty in his transgression, even of the obvious laws of grammar and of metre; that in attempting "the heroic sublime," he generally lost himself in an Ossianic tumidity and mistiness; that he made an atbitrary use of words and symbols, and that of his poems, a certain proportion "is really not intelligible save by an effort of conjecture." Above all is this the case, in the biographer's opinion, with the "Prophetic Books," which "are dark and chaotic to the extremest degree; ponderous and turbid, battling and baffling like the arms of a windmill when the wind blows shiftingly from all quarters.' Yet while avowing that these books, taken as a whole, are neither readable nor even entirely sane, Mr. Rossetti considers it highly desirable that this "very unreadable series of works" should be republished in ordinary book shape. We disagree with him altogeth er. Blake wrote a great deal of what, had it been the work of a smaller man, would be accounted trash, and the sooner it is forgotten the better for his fame. We venture indeed to think that Mr. Rossetti would have done wisely to omit a good deal contained in this small volume, since there are passages here as free almost from mind and meaning as any combination of words could well be. It appears that, in some instances, the editor has exercised his judgment, having omitted certain pieces contained in the MS. volume in the possession of his brother, and one poem printed by Mr. Swinburne, because it appears "a performance of too much tenuity and caprice for reproduction here." We can but wish Mr. Rossetti had been still more scrupulous in rejecting pieces hitherto unpublished, which are likely to depress rather than enhance the reputation of the poet. Fortunate, perhaps, it might have proved for Blake, had he chanced in his life-time to receive the homage, not always considerate, as it seems to us, which is now paid to him by a small circle of admirers. Much that they say concerning him is in the highest degree true, and is expressed, it need scarcely be said, since the chief of these admirers is Mr. Swinburne, in the most eloquent language; but much also will as little bear examination as the wildest outbursts of the poet himself. We start, for instance, when we are told, as we lately have been told in a critical journal, that Blake is the greatest English poet of the eighteenth century. If the writer had asserted that certain of Blake's short lyrics were marked by a subtlety of thought, a spontaneity, and a lyrical charm such as no other poet of his age has equalled, while acknowledging at the same time the stupendous defects visible in all but a few of his choicest pieces, most sensitive readers of poetry would have acknowledged the justice of the criticism; but it is something like fatuity to give such a position to a poet whose loveliest work is always his slightest, and who was unable, unless as it were by a splendid chance, to give perfect expression to his most original conceptions. Blake is, we think, always most satisfactory and lovely when in his most childlike moods. Like his great successor Wordsworth, the simplicity of childhood attracts as nothing else can the spiritual and poetical parts of his nature. Scarcely more than a child himself when he began to sing-the Poetical Sketches were published between Blake's twelfth and twentieth years-he retained a child's heart all his life through. Often in his little songs he shows an exquisite sense of lyrical sweetness; and also a naturalness of mood which is as rare as it is delightful. The following charming lyric is said, but the statement seems scarcely credible, to have been written by Blake before he was fourteen years old. It has but one faulty line, the conventional allusion to Phoebus: "How sweet I roamed from field to field, And tasted all the summer's pride, Till I the Prince of Love beheld, Who in the sunny beams did glide. He showed me lilies for my hair, And blushing roses for my brow; He led me through his gardens fair With sweet May-dews my wings were wet, He loves to sit and hear me sing, Then, laughing, sports and plays with me; Then stretches out my golden wing, And mocks my loss of liberty." Then there is the "Mad Song," a lyric which, if composed by a youth in his teens, is one of the most extraordinary instances of precocity on record; and an invocation to Memory which Fletcher might have been proud to have written, and which reminds us of that poet. At this early stage of his poetical life, and to the close of it, Blake is excellent only as the writer of short lyrics. Any work demanding a sustained flight is utterly beyond his strength of wing. Many of the poems now published will be new to almost all readers, and few probably are acquainted with the "Poetical Sketches" which appeared, as Mr. Rossetti points out, before the first publications of Cowper and of Burns. If it be true, which is, perhaps, open to question, that Blake never surpassed “in absolute, lyrical gift, nor yet, indeed, in literary finish, the most excellent things in his earliest volume," there is no doubt that the "Songs of Innocence" have made a stronger, although at best but a faint impression on the public. Strange to say, the name of Blake does not appear in Mr. Palgrave's Golden Treasury, but Archbishop Trench quotes five songs in his collection, of which two have taken a place in our popular poetical literature; we allude to "Holy Thursday" and the "Chimney-sweep." Another poem, too well known to be quoted, is "The Tiger," of which we have here two ver sions. Two tiny poems that follow each other in the volume may be quoted as illustrating Blake's simplicity and purity of style. They are the merest buds of poetry, but the odor from them is more fragrant than from many a fullblown flower. The first of these songlets is called "Love's Secret:" "Never seek to tell thy love, Love that never told can be; To seek for new joy, But I met with scorn.'" Blake's life and poetry is so alluring a subject, and suggests so many topics for discussion, that we part from it unwillingly, not, however, without thanking Mr. Rossetti for the careful manner in which he has edited the volume, and for the clear and concise narrative of the artist's life. It is scarcely needful to say that we are very far from agreeing with many of the opinions expressed from time to time by Mr. Rossetti on matters poetical. In the present case, however, we find comparatively few remarks that are open to controversy, and the skilful manner in which the editor has accomplished a by no means easy task deserves our heartiest commendation The Speciator. PROF. JOSEPH HENRY, LL.D., JOSEPH HENRY is of Scotch Presbyterian descent; his grandparents on both sides landed in New-York the day before the battle of Bunker's Hill. His maternal grandfather, Hugh Alexander, was a man of remarkable ingenuity, and settled in Delaware County, New-York, where he erected a mill and prepared all the apparatus, even the grinding-stones, with his own hands. During the progress of the war, however, he was driven from his mill by the Indians, and became an artificer in the continental army, and afterwards a manufacturer of salt at the springs of Salina. His paternal grandfather, William Henry, or Hendrie, as the name was spelled in Scotland, settled on a farm in Albany County. He was a man of reading, especially in the line of Presbyterian theology and Scotch history. The subject of this sketch was born in Albany, but, having lost his father at an early age, he was adopted by an uncle, and sent, at the age of seven years, to live with his grandmother and to attend school et Galway, in Saratoga County. Here he remained until the age of fourteen, the latter part of the time being spent in a store, attending school in the afternoon. He showed no aptitude for learning, or for excelling in the ordinary sports of boyhood. This, however, was mainly due to his having accidentally and secretly obtained access to the village library, where he became so fascinated with works of fiction, that he spent most of the time in reading, which was devoted by other boys to active sports. He became the storyteller to his comrades, and on one occasion, while on a visit to his mother in Albany, was taken to the theatre by a relative, and on his return amused his young companions by reproducing with them the two plays which had formed the evening entertainment. On his return to Albany, after the death of his uncle, he was apprenticed to his cousin, to learn the trade of a jeweler; but after he had been two years in this occupation, and before he had acquired sufficient skill to support himself by the art, his relative gave up the business, and he was set loose from regular employment, and gave himself up, almost entirely, to light reading and the amusement of the theatre. In this course he was suddenly arrested by opening a book which had been left upon the table by one of the boarders at his mother's house. A single page of this produced a remarkable change in his life. It gave a new direction to his thoughts, and called forth mental characteristics of which he had previously supposed himself entirely deficient. He resolved at once to devote his life to the acquisition of knowledge, and immediately commenced to take evening lessons from two of the professors in the Albany Academy. He also became a pupil of the celebrated Hamilton, who visited this country for the purpose of introducing the method recommended by Locke for teaching languages, endeavoring, in the mean time, to support himself by such chance employment as he could obtain. In this, however, he was not successful, and he abandoned this course for that of a teacher of a country district school. After spending seven months in this occupation, he entered as a regular pupil of the Academy, where he remained until his means were exhausted, and then returned to school teaching, and at the expiration of his second term again renewed his connection with the Academy. After continuing his studies here for some time he was appointed private tutor to the family of Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer, the patroon of Rensselaerwyck. His duties in this position occupied him only about three hours in the day, and the remainder of his time was spent as an assistant to Dr. Beck in his chemical investigations, and in the study of anatomy and physiology, under Drs. Tully and Marsh, with a view to graduating in medicine. His course of life, however, was suddenly changed by an offer, through the influence of Judge Conkling, with whom he had become a favorite, of an appointment on the survey of a route for a State road from the Hudson river to Lake Erie, through the south ern tiers of counties. His labors in this work were exceedingly arduous and responsible. Having finished the survey with the approbation of the commissioners, on his return to Albany he was offered the position of engineer on a canal in Ohio, and of director of a mine in Mexico; but, the professorship of mathematics in the Academy having fallen vacant, he was elected to fill the chair. Having, however, become enamored with the profession of an engineer, he very reluctantly accepted the position, in accordance with the wishes of his friend Dr. Beck. The duties of the office did not commence for five or six months, and this time he devoted to the exploration of the geology of New-York, with Prof. Eaton, of the Rensselaer School. He entered upon his duties in the Academy in September, 1826, and after devoting some time to the study of mathematics, and other subjects pertaining to his professorship, he commenced a series of original investigations on electricity and magnetism, the first regular series on Natural Philosophy which had been prosecuted in this country since the days of Franklin. These researches made him favorably known, not only in this country, but also in Europe, and led to his call, in 1832, through the nomination of Dr. Maclean, to the chair of Natural Philosophy in the College of New-Jersey, at Princeton. In the first year of his course in this College, during the absence of the Professor of Chemistry, Dr. Torrey, in Europe, he gave lectures in Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology, Astronomy, and Architecture. In the chemical course, he was assisted by Dr. George Maclean. In teaching these multifarious branches, he was unable, during the first year at Princeton, to continue his investigations; but after that time he commenced anew where he had left off at Albany, and prosecuted his original researches until he was called to his present position in Washington. In 1835 he was elected Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Virginia. The offer was a tempting one, since the emoluments connected with the professorship in the Virginia University were greater than perhaps in any other in the country; while the salary at Princeton was small, and scarcely sufficient to support his family, and to meet other demands upon him. He was, however, reluctant to leave the place where he had experienced so much affectionate kindness and encouraging appreciation. He finally concluded to remain at Princeton, but was allowed by the trustees of the College a full salary, a new house, and a year's absence in Europe, nine months of which he spent principally in London, Paris, and Edinburgh. His previous researches had given him a favorable introduction to the savants of these cities, and he returned to prosecute his investigations with enlarged views and more efficient apparatus, procured during his tour in Europe. In 1846 he was requested by some of the members of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, then just about to be organized, to give his views as to the best method of realizing the intentions of its founder. In compliance with this request he gave an exposition of the Will, and of the method by which it might most efficiently be realized. On account of this exposition, and his scientific reputation, he was called to the office of Secretary or Director of the establishment. Unfortunately, Congress had attempted to organize the Institution without a due appreciation of the terms of the will. This gave rise to difficulties and expenditures on local objects, particularly to the commencement of a very expensive building, which have much retarded the full realization of what might have been produced by the plan originally proposed by Prof. Henry. He has, however, by constant perseverance in one line of policy, brought the Institution into a condition of financial prosperity and wide reputation. Indeed, it is scarcely too much to say, that no institution of a scientific character, established by the benevolence of an individual, has done more to render the name of its founder generally and favorably known throughout the civilized world. At the time of the organization of the Light-House Board of the United States, Prof. Henry was appointed by President Fillmore one of its members, and continued as such, in the capacity of Chairman of the Committee on Experiments, until 1872, when he was elected Chairman of the Board. During the war he was appointed one of a Commission, together with Prof. Bache and Admiral Davis, to examine and report upon various inventions and propositions, intended to facilitate the operations against the enemy, and to improve the art of navigation. On the death of Prof. Bache, he was elected President of the National Academy of Sciences, established by an act of Congress in 1863, to advance science, and to report upon such questions of a scientific character as might be connected with the operations of the Government. He is a member of various Societies in this country and abroad, and has several times received the degree of LL.D., the last time from Harvard University. Prof. Henry was married in May, 1830, to Miss Alexander, of Schenectady, the sister of Prof. Alexander, of Princeton, and from the ardent devotion of his wife, and the fraternal sympathy of her brother in his pursuits, he has received assistance and support beyond that which usually fall to the lot of men. The most peaceful, and to himself the most profitable, part of his life, was that spent in Princeton, for which place, and the College connected with it, he retains the warmest attachment. He left Princeton with the intention of returning to his professorship as soon as he should be able to organize the Smithsonian Institution; but in this he was disappointed: he could not leave without losing all the fruits of his labors. LITERARY NOTICES. THE COMMUNISTIC SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES. By Charles Nordhoff. New-York: Harper & Bros. 1875. THE object of the studies, personal visits, and observations of which this book is the fruit, was, as Mr. Nordhoff explains in his introduction, to discover whether the experience of the Communistic societies of the United States offers any useful hints toward the solution of one of the great social problems of our time-the relation, namely, between labor and capital, and the best means of enabling hired laborers to cease to labor for hire, and to become capitalists themselves. The book is no sensational account of collections of people whose strange theories and practices might be supposed to possess a cer tain vulgar attraction for the popular mind such, for instance, as Mr. Hepworth Dixon's Spiritual Wives; it is a serious contribution to one of the most important branches of politico-economical knowledge, and its value would be even more apparent if the pressure of population upon the means of subsistence were felt here as in the older European countries. Mr. Nordhoff starts out with the proposi tion, which he presents with great force, and which we believe to be in the main true, that Trades-Unions and International Societies have done and are doing much more harm than good, and that their growing influence constitutes a serious menace to society, even in America. "They have succeeded," he says, |