cities and towns of the United States. Col. Forbes was intimately
connected with the revolutionary chiefs during the brief existence
of the Roman Republic, and was directly and confidently employed by
Mazzini. His knowledge of the country, its people, its politics, and
its recent history, will supply him with materials for making his
lectures highly interesting and instructive.

* * * * *

The Gem of the Western World, edited by Mrs. Hewitt, and published by
Cornish & Co., Fulton street, is a very beautiful gift-book, and in
its literary character is deserving of a place with the most splendid
and; tasteful annuals of the season. Mrs. Hewitt's own contributions
to it embrace some of her finest compositions, and are of course among
its most brilliant contents.

* * * * *

FRENCH PERIODICALS.--A Parisian correspondent of the London _Literary
Gazette_ observes, that if we exclude the _Revue des Deux Mondes_--a,
sort of cross between the English _Quarterly_ and the monthlies,--if
we exclude also a few dry scientific periodicals, and one or two
theatrical or musical newspapers, we shall seek in vain for any
_Quarterly_, or _Blackwood_, or _Art Union_, or _Literary Gazette_;
and that even the periodicals and journals which make the nearest
approach to the weekly, monthly, or quarterly publications of England,
are either wretched compilations, or abominably ill-written and
ill-printed. The _feuilleton_ system of the newspapers is no doubt
the principal cause of the periodical literature being in such
an extremely low condition. But though literary and scientific