we want to know. Moreover, since 1857, no book of general interest has appeared, and the Mormons are a progressive people,
History and Ideas of the Mormons. "Westminster Review," vol. iii., pages 196–230. (1853.)
Le Mormonisme et sa valeur morale—La Société et la Vie des Mormons, by M. Émile Montégut, "Revue des Deux-Mondes," vol. i. of the 26th year, pages 689–725, 15th of February, 1856.
Visite aux Mormons du Lac Salé par Jules Remy. Articles in the "Echo du Pacifique," San Francisco, January and February, 1856.
L'Illustration, Journal Universel. Vols. xv. and xxi. Articles by M. Depping, "Sur les Mormons" (1858).
Biographie Générale du Dr. Hæfer, publiée chez MM. Didot frères: a long article upon Mr. Brigham Young, by M. Isambert (1858).
Une Campagne des Américains contre les Mormons. By M. Auguste Laugel. "Revue des Deux-Mondes," 1er Septembre, 1859, pages 194–211.
Magasin Pittoresque. Several articles upon the Great Salt Lake, by M. Ferdinand Denis. Vol. xxvii., pages 172–239. Vol. xxviii., page 207. (1859–1860.)
Le Mormonisme et les Etats-Unis. "Revue des Deux-Mondes," 15th April, 1861, signed by M. Elisée Reclus; an article formed chiefly upon the work of M. Remy. It is an able article, but written by one who, unfortunately, was never in the country—a sine quâ non for correct description. The "Revue" had already undertaken the subject in the number of the 1st of September, 1853, the 15th of February, 1856, and the 1st of September, 1859.
The foreign works omitted in the catalogue at the end of this note are,
Mormonismen och Swedenborgianismen. Upsala (8vo, 1854).
Geschichte der Mormonen, oder Jüngsten, Tages-Heiligen in Nord-Amerika, von Theodor Olshausen. (Göttingen, 244 pages, 8vo, 1856.)
Geographische Wanderungen. Die Mormonen und ihr Land, von Karl Andree. Dresden, 1859.
The Mormons have published at their General Repository only one purely laical book, "The Route from Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Valley," illustrated with steel engravings and wood-cuts, from sketches made by Frederick Piercy. Edited by James Linworth. It is a highly creditable volume, especially in the artistic department, but the letter-press is uninteresting, and appears a mere peg upon which to hang copious notes and official returns. The price varies from £1 to £1 3s., and the three first parts, containing an accurate history of the Latter-Day Saints' emigration from Europe up to 1854, may be had separately, 1s. each.
So good a theme for romance could not fail to fall into the hands of Captain Mayne Reid, who is to Mormonism what Alexander Dumas was to Mesmerism. In his pages the exaggerated anti-Mormon feeling attains its acme; the explorer Stansbury, who spoke fairly of the Saints, is thus qualified: "the captain is at best but a superficial observer"—quite a glass-house stone-throwing critique. Mr. Brigham Young is a "vulgar Alcibiades;" the City of the Saints is a "modern Gomorrah," and the Saints themselves are "sanctified forbans;" the plurality wife is a "femme entretenue." In the tale of the "Wild Huntress," a young person married by foul means to Josh. Stebbing, the Mormon, and rescued mainly by a young hero—of course a Mexican volunteer—we have a sound abuse of the many-wife-system, despotism, theocracy, Danites, tithes, "plebbishness," and the "vulgar ring which smacks (!) of ignoble origin." On the other hand, the rascal Wakara, an ignoble sub-chief of the Yutas, known mainly as a horse-thief, contrasts splendidly by his valor, by his "delicate attentions" to the pretty half-caste, and by his chivalry and hospitality, which make him a very "Rolla of the North!" And this is "fact taught through fiction!"
The Mormon Scriptures, corresponding with the Old Testament, the Evangels, and the epistles of Christianity, consist of the following works: purely bibliographical notices are here given; the contents will be the subject of a future page.
1. The Book of Mormon, an Account written by the hand of Mormon, upon plates taken from the Plates of Mormon. Translated by Joseph Smith, Jun. The first edition was printed in 1830, at Palmyra, New York, and consisted of 5000 copies. Since that time it has frequently been republished in England and America: it was translated into French in 1852 (Marc Ducloux, Rue Saint Benoit 7, Paris, 1852), and versions have appeared in the German, Italian, Danish, Welsh, and Hawaian tongues.
