The Press. — London, England, 1858-11-13 00:00:00

rho have very little to do with the story, 'ibed with unnecessary minuteness, while ger, who are of more importance, are /much alike that we don't think even the ladies with whom they respectively pair off Id would know one from the other. The Itogether weak, washy, and tedious. : her Resources and her Public Men. J. dc Cordova. •dire on Texas. By J. de Cordova. Philadelphia : Crozet. guide-book for emigrants to Texas is in only one particular, and that is a dedication to Mr. Bright. if the countries of World be one-half as delectable as they usually represented, it is a marvel that the ern hemisphere still continues to be inhabited marvel, indeed, hardly to be accounted for, • endowing mankind with a sort of feline tent to the haunts of early youth. It admitted, however, that Mr. J. de Cor tploys as sober colours as could fairly be 1 from a "general land-agent," who his " attention exclusively to the location land-script, the investigation of land titles, -obdivision and sale of lands, and the col of debts." Within the limits of a volume this gentleman has contrived to every kind of information likely to be a settler in the State of Texas, to which added brief biographical notices of sixteen ,markable men, with whose names we were not 'ously acquainted. According to Mr. J. de 'a, the State of Texas is truly a pleasant . land flowing with milk and honey, though, sagaciously observes, the cow must first be I and the honey gathered before either of rural dainties can well be enjoyed. Though ig the seaboard, the interior of Texas is tied as beautifully undulating, and in a very considerable elevation is attained. soil is exceedingly rich, and improves by ploughing. The products of this favoured are as varied as they are excellent. On same spot maybe grown in succession splendid of wheat, rye, oats, millet, cotton, tobacco, sugar, and there is reasonable expectation .ae and brandy of no ordinary quality will long be produced. Merino sheep already on the prairies in large flocks, while can be raised at less cost than a chicken , other place in the United States." One stage, however, attributed to the salubrious of this fine country may possibly be ltly appreciated according to the tempera each individual settler. More children, told, are born in Texas in proportion to tulation than elsewhere, and more in pro . are raised to adolescence. But notwith iding this "fulness of the quiver," this shady of " olive-branches," the population is cery limited. In 1850, when the last census taken, it consisted of no more than 154,034 . and 58,161 coloured people. During the eight years, however, these numbers have s augmented, through the combined effects immigration and the aforesaid fecundity of the ilitants. Thus, against 21,715 electors in `sere were 57,178 in 1857. It is probable, that more importance may now be ted to the exercise of the suffrage than at an Period of the settlement, but, even when allowance has been made for this circum , we may justly infer that the population nearly doubled itself since 1850. The com himself is fully sensible of the value of a Remember (he exclaims) that the destinies of nations let ended upon a single vote. If the question was What caused the Mexican war? the answer would annexation of Texas. What gave us California, .rid New Mexico ? Whct placed Zachary Taylor in Presidential Chair? And last, although not least, nay save our glorious Union ? The same answer to these inquiries must be given :—The annexation of But how was this annexation of Texas consum• Ry ONE VOTE in the United States Senate; was cast by Mr. Hannegan of Indiana ! How was iannegan elected as Senator? By the vote of Mr. ilson Marsh, of Stanton county, Indiana! What ty had Mr. Marsh, by which he was sent so forts- to the Legislature? ONE VOTE,—which was the Ajority he received. single vote rendered no small service in the lug debate on the King's speech in 1685, James 11. was foiled in his insidious attempt exempt Roman Catholic officers from the pro• 00—•--""=""_ ones, who are descril the young made so in yo ung lad at the end book is all 1. Texas: By .J .2. Lecturi 1. Tins deficient dedication the New are usual] eastern hi —a mare even by attachme must be dova emi expected devotes b " of land " the sul " lection portable collect e useful to he has ad re-marks previous] Cordova, land, a la as he sag milked a these rur fiat along represent places a The soil every ph region at the same crops of and sup that wine ere long wander " a cow " in any advantag climate different ment of we are the popu portion t standing bower o still verb was tak whites a last eigl greatly of immil inhabita 1849 tl►( indeed, attached earlier due all( stance, has nea piler hi vote : Remo] have der asked, IN be, The 'Utah, am the Pret What ma each of tl Texas. mated ? and that Mr. H an Madison majority *lately to xotole mi A sing famous when to cm,/ THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 13, 1858. visions of the Test Act. The Ministry, it will be I remembered, were defeated by a bare majority of 183 to 182. Lord Middleton, Secretary of State, took severely to task some dependants of the Court who had failed to support his Majesty's Ministers, and turning to Captain Kendal sternly demanded if he did not command a troop of horse in his Majesty's service. " Yes, my lord," replied the " bold dragoon ;" " but my brother " died last night and left me 7001. a year." The hint may be useful to indolent electors, and equally indolent but more culpable members, at the present day. _ _ 2. The Lecture on Texas is simply a closely condensed abridgment of the guide-book, and contains the pith and essence of the latter. The following extract furnishes a moral which married men generally will do well to lay to heart. The lecturer has just been insisting on the necessity of providing in the first instance, before every thing else, for the comfort of the female portion of the household, and thus illustrates the ad vantages of acting on this excellent advice : If you do not attend to this advice, you may be placed in a predicament similar to that of a Scottish friend of mine who bad settled upon the extreme frontier, and who, in consequence of his over•anxiety to get in a large crop, had neglected to furnish his wife with the comforts that he ought to have provided, and among other things had for gotten to drive up a few cows, enough to supply the family with milk and butter. It chanced that a countryman of his, while passing through Texas, looking for a suitable locality t 3 settle in, thought he would pass the evening with his al Scottish friends. He was most cordially re- , ceived by both Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, and the time passed very agreeably, talking of old scenes and olden times, until they were all seated round the frugal supper table. Now, it had always been the custom of good Mrs. Thompson, at her old home in Ayrshire, to treat her visitors to the richest cream, the sweetest of butter, excellently prepared broiled chicken, pickles and preserves, served up in her neatly-furnished room. The absence of all these, and the mortification of having only corn dodgers, salt fried bacon, and coffee without milk, together with the sparsely furnished apartment, were sources of great annoyance to Mrs- Thompson ; and when her visitor inquired how she liked Texas, she, not being in the most amiable humour, answered, " Lor, man, Texas is an awfu' fine kintra, a brave and bonnie kintra, nee doot,—a vera fine kintra for men and hogs ; but for women and oxen it is the vera de'il." It is, however, but justice to Mrs. Thompson to state that, before a single year had rolled around, our friend, being on a visit to the Thompson, jokingly inquired of her if she had altered her opinion respecting Texas, when she smilingly replied, "'Deed that ha'e 1: Sandie has made a thorough•gaun convairt o' me, an' I'm sore I'm mak enthn• siastic shoot Texas this day than ever he was." On repair ing to the neatly-furnished room for the evening meal, the guest soon found out the cause of this great change in her opinions. The supper•table now piesented in great abun dance the broiled chickens, the rich cream, the fresh butter, the pickles, the preserves, and the numerous little etceteras with which the thrifty housewife had been accus tomed to grace her table in Anld Scotia. Thus it will be seen how importai.t it is fur a man to attend to the little details which contribute so much toward making home comfortable. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. _ _ The Laird of Notiato. BJ the Author of "Margaret Maitland."—Hunt and Blacked. The War Tiger. By William Dalton.—Griffith and Ferran. Light for the Youth of Life frogs the Holy Scriptures, Designed by Simnel Stanesby.—Griftith and Farina. The Ministry of Life. By Maria Louisa Charlesworth.— Seelays. The Two Brides; or, the French Chateau and The English Horne. By F. B aldwen.—J. Blackwood. Eric. By Frederic W. Farrar.—Black. The Ethics of Aristotle. Illustrated with Essays and Notes by Sir Alexander Grant, Bart., M.A. Three Vols. Vol. lI.—J. W. Parker and Son. The Nature and Purpose a/ God as Itereakd in the Apocalypse. Part 111. lonica.—Smitb, Elder, and Co. Poems. By Henry Ceoil.—Smitb, Elder, and Co. Poems. By Ada Trevanion.—Smitb, Eldei, and Co. Apostolic Minions; or, the Sacred History. By the Rev, J. H. Barker, M.A.—Groombridge. PAMPHLETS. Scinde Railway.—Allen and Co. Opinion of the Bishop of St. And►ew's on (he Appeal of the Rev. P. Cheyne.—Bleckwoode. Us Mkt sue Uncle as Parkment Anglais.—Jeffe. PERIODICALS. The ►.ondon University Magazine.—Hall and Virtue. The Ladies' Treasury.—Ward and Lock. The Farm Labourer.—Hall and Virtue. The Comprehensive History of England.—Parts XIII. and XlV.—Blackie and Son. MUSIC. Trois Maladies pour le Piano. Composees by H. J. Arnold Hennes.—lkon and Co. Don Pasquak ; La Serenade. By Arnold Hennen.—Lon and Co. One Hundred Voluntaries, Preludes, Interludes, 1-e.— I)svidson. Hark, Hark, what News the Angels Bring. —Davidson. Now Heaven in Fosllest Glory:Davidson. Vusital gebitly. A Treatise on Modern Intl Orchestration. By Hector Berlioz. Trans lated from the French by Mary Cowden Clarke. London : Novello. LET our readers imagine a world of sound con taining every appreciable degree of depth or altitude, every quality, character, colour, or tint of tone, possessing means of expressing all that the mind of man can feel—of painting in tones his every sensation, sentiment, or emotion • and not the passions of the soul merely—not only the rythmical gestures and movements of the human body, or accents of the tongue, as set in action and governed by those passions (for the power of music is not, as many suppose, limited to such imitations)—but also those tones of external nature, those vague, airy voices which haunt the forest, glen, or mountain—sigh on the night wind, whisper in the trees, shriek in the storm blast, breathe faintly through the " tingling silence " of a summer's day, or murmur in the stream. Tones which are an intelligible lan guage only to the poet's ear, and imitable only by the master's art—such as Weber has ex pressed in the weird melodies of his incantation scene, Beethoven in his Pastoral Symphony, Mendelssohn in the Midsummer Night's Dream music, Meyerbeer in his resurrection scene of Robert le Diable. Let our readers imagine the wondrous powers of this shadowy realm of eloquent spirit-voices, and they will have some idea of the means which modern mechanical science and the greatly increased proficiency of orchestral performers have placed at the com poser's disposal, and the use that can be made of them. _ _ _ _ But even since the works of which we have spoken were composed the orchestral powers have greatly increased, and, indeed, are still pro gressing with such extraordinary rapidity that the information of an hour's age doth " hiss the speaker." Thus, M. Berlioz's celebrated " Treatise upon Modern Instrumentation," which but a few years ago was regarded as ultra-modern, has recently been found somewhat behind the requirements of the day, and the author, feeling himself called upon to make certain additions to his work, produced a short time back a new and more comprehensive edition, of which the publi cation under notice is a translation. The following extract from M. Berlioz's trea tise will best discover its purpose and pre tension : Considered in its poetical aspect, this art is as little to be taught as that of inventing beautiful subjects, fine suc cessions of chords, or original and striking rythmical forms. That which suits various instruments, that which is practicable or not for them, easy or diff!cult, dull or sonorous, may be indicated ; it may alsc be pointed out that such and such an instrument is more fitted than another to produce certain effects, and to express certain sentiments; but as for stating their due grouping and association in small orchestras, or by large masses—as for the art of uniting them, mixing them, in such a way as to modify the sound of some by that of others, giving the eombined effect of a particular note which could be produced by none of them singly, nor by joining it to instruments of its own species—this can only be done by instancing the results obtained by masters in the art, and tracing their mode of procedure—results which, doubtless, could be again modi fied a thousand-fold, well or ill, by such composers as should reproduce them. The object of this work, then, is first—the indication of the extent, and of certain essential parts, of the mechanism of instruments ; and then the study (hitherto much neglected) of the nature and quality of tone, particular character, and powers of expression pertaining to each of tuem ; and, lastly, the best method known of prozeeding in order to group them appropriately. To endeavour to step beyond that would be setting foot on the domain of inspiration, where genius alone is capable of making discoveries, because to genius alone is reserved the right, of traversing it. To the italicised passage commencing " giving the combined effect " we would call attention, be cause, unlike the greater part of Mrs. Cowden Clarke's translation, which is generally faithful, it does not quite convey the author's meaning— or, indeed, any perfectly intelligible sense. M. Berlioz's words (to quote the entire para graph) are : Quant a l'art de les rennir, de lea meler, de facon modifier le son des nos par oelni des suttee en faisant re— mitter de I'ensemble un son patticulier que ne produirait aucun deux isolement in reuni aux instruments de son &Tice, dre. Clearly M. Berlioz does not say the " combined effect of a particular note" (reffet combintS d'une note particuliere), which would be as obscure in 1115