In the portrait of Bryant we have the results of an intimacy of the most cordial kind, of years’ duration,—­an almost absolute unity of sentiment and similarity of habits of regarding the things most interesting to each.  Of nearly the same age, Bryant and Durand have grown old together, loving the same Nature, and regarding it with the same eyes,—­the painter catching inspiration from the poet’s themes, and the poet in turn getting new insight into the mystery of the outer world through the painter’s eyes.  Bryant’s face has been a Sphinx’s riddle to our best painters; none have succeeded in rendering its severe simplicity, and clear, self-disciplined expression, until Durand tried it with a success which renders the picture interesting evermore as a tribute of friendship as well as a solution of a difficult problem.  The artist’s hand was directed by a more than ordinary understanding of the lines it drew; it has not varied in a line from reverence for the verisimilitude the world had a right to insist on; it has not flattered or softened, but is simply, completely, absolutely, true.  Bryant’s face has an immovable tranquillity, a reserve and impassiveness, which yet are not coldness; the clear gray eye calmly looks through and through you, but permits no intelligence of what is passing behind it to come out to you.  It is such a face as one of the old Greek kings might have had, as he sat administering justice.  All this, it seems to us, Durand’s picture gives.  It looks out at you impassive, penetrating, as though it would hear all and tell nothing,—­a strong, self-continent, completely balanced character,—­unshrinking, unyielding, yet without being unsensitive,—­concentrated, justly poised, and intense, without being passionate.  The head is admirably engraved, though we do not at all fancy the way in which the background is done; it is heavy, formal, and unartistic,—­but this may be matter of choice.

RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS.

Man and his Dwelllng-Place.  An Essay towards the Interpretation of Nature.  New York.  Redfield. 12mo. pp. 391. $1.00.

Annual of Scientific Discovery; or Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art for 1859, exhibiting the most Important Discoveries and Improvements in Mechanics, etc., etc., etc.  Edited by David A. Wells, A.M.  Boston.  Gould & Lincoln. 12mo. pp. 410. $1.25.

Letters of a Traveller.  Second Series.  By William Cullen Bryant.  New York.  D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 277. $1.25.

My Thirty Years out of the Senate.  By Major Jack Downing.  Illustrated.  New York.  Oaksmith & Co. 12mo. pp. 458. $1.25.

Tressilian and his Friend.  By Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie.  Philadelphia.  J.B.  Lippincott & Co. 12mo. pp. 372. $1.25.

The New American Encyclopaedia; a Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge.  By George Ripley and Charles A. Dana.  Vol.  V. Chartreuse—­Cougar.  New York.  D. Appleton & Co. 8vo. $3.00.