The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

642 !T-M=o= unexplained. Thus, at the conclusion of Goldsmith's letters, our " British Classics " are enriched with the following immortal strokes of genius : XXXI.-TO MR. THOMAS CADF.T.L.• Doctor Goldsmith's compliments to Mr. Cadet], and desires a set of the History of England for correction, if interleaved the better. XXXII.+-TO MR. THOMAS CADELL. Mr. Goldsmith's compliments to Mr. Cadell, begs for an hour or two the use of " Millott's History," by Mrs. Brooke.; On which brilliant performances we are thus treated to not less than three notes : • The well.known publisher in the Strand, the apprentice and successor of Andrew Millar. Died 27th December, 1800. + First printed in " Prior's Life," ii. 439. ; Mr. Forster was the first to publish (" Life and Adventures," p. 703) a short note from Goldsmith to James Dodsley, dated "Gray's-inn, 10th March, 1764," requesting the loan by bearer of ten guineas. On the other hand, when the page would demand illustration, like the essay on the " Augustan Age of England," the editor is often silent. When Goldsmith refers to Sprat, Bishop of Rochester, we are treated to a quo tation from Macaulay's History of England, praising Sprat as " a great master of our language ;" but when, in the same essay, he critically refers to the styles of Sir Richard Fanshawe, Sir William Godolphin, sad Lord Arlington, the reader must feel surprise at the editor not giving him a single line on these names. But, taken as a whole, this edition can be heartily commended, and it has the additional merit of an excellent index. One of the best fjatures is, that the works have been so ar ranged that it can be purchased in separate volumes. Book-buyers can take it in portions or altogether, which is a very convenient ar rangement when we recollect what a prodi gious number of " Goldsmiths " are already on our shelves. The Last of the Old Squires. A Sketch. By Cedric Oldacre, Esq. London : Longmans. SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY has been too long and widely admired not to have met with some imitators. " The Last of the Old Squires" treads diligently in his footsteps, but his manners and notions scarcely seem fitting to the period in which his life is sup posed to pass. A character fashioned by Tusser's " Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry • and Earle's " Microsmography " seems out of place in an age of free-trade bustle and agricultural shows. He should have gone out with Queen Anne, instead of living to the reign of Queen Victoria. This moral anachronism, running through the volume, partly spoils the effect of a sketch designed with some artistic skill, and enriched by quotations full of wisdom and fancy happily introduced by old writers. Apart from this object, the book, though evidencing an accomplished mind, wants muscle. There is a rattling of dry bones all through it. As a character, the Old Squire is more a bundle of virtues than a human being : he wants individuality, and seems more like a piece of modern manufacture than a real embodiment of past sentiment and manners. To Mont Blanc and Bank Again. By Walter White. London : Routledge and Co. A REPRINT from Eliza Cook's Journal of a summer excursion performed by Mr. White. The author went to Mont Blanc and returned by the most beaten route, and describes what he did, felt, thought, and saw as minutely as if Lake Leman had been Lake Ishad, and Murray's handbooks and Albert Smith's entertainment unknown. The only novelty is in Mr. White's equipments for the voyage. He manufac tured his own knapsack, and, " lest it should be " thought he stinted himself of matters essential to " cleanliness," he gives a list of its contents, begin ning " two shirts," &c. Mr. White closes a solemn preface with the cheering assurance that, " notwith " standing the war, there is reason to believe that " the route to Switzerland will remain open"! An Easy and Practical Introduction to the Latin Language. By A. H. Monteith. London : Bar ton. THIS work forms a volume of Darton's School Li brary, which is edited by the Rev. B. J. Johns, head master of the grammar school, Dulwich College. It is chiefly an " adaptation of Dr. Seidenstiicker's first "‘ I•lementerbuck; a work in very general use " throughout the primary schools of Germany." The principle on which it is framed is, that rules should be learnt by reading simple sentences instead of, as with us, postponing reading until a long and complicated series of abstract rules have been learnt by rote. THE PRESS Lectures Read at a Mechanics' Institute in the Country. London : John W. Parker and Son. THERE are fifteen lectures in this volume. Some are historical, such as the first, which contains inte resting selections from Orme and other writers, illus trative of the character of the people of India; others, are scientific, and relate to geology and mathematics while Shakspeare and his plays occupy three lec tures. The author makes no pretension to origin ality either in matter or manner—where another writer's words express his meaning clearly he uses them instead of his own—for his object evidently is to instruct others, and not to display his own powers; and the powers of the author of these lectures we are disposed to estimate highly : the topics are well se lected and well treated, and the author goes direct to the point without superfluous verbiage. There is besides manly vigour in a short preface, in which he states his views on mechanics' institutes, and his opinions as to what style of lecture is best suited to them " For the political benefit of a country, the great object is, that power should be in the hands of the fittest persons. To increase education, if you increase forwardness and self conceit in a greater degree, may, therefore, in a country like this, where any man in any class may be said to have some poli'ical power, be injurious to the public, though to the individual it may be useful. Now, these institutes have certainly tended to nourish a degree of self-opinion beyond what their fulfilments in most places have justified. But, at any rate, I would on no account minister farther to such a feeling, or pamper it, as is o ft en done at present, by the choice of ' such subjects for lectures as are really unfit for the hearers, and make them think themselves much more knowing and clever than they are. To lecture such societies on any subject, or new discovery of tempo rary interest merely, seems to assume that they are already acquainted with the ordinary and old subjects of knowledge and courses of study. But least of all would I appeal to their judgment, as if, instead of my instructing them, they were to instruct me. "Mere amusement, or novelty, or fashion, or the interest of a doubtful theory, are not the principles on which the subjects for these lectures ought to be selected. " Of useful things, we are to consider which are most useful to them ; to persons in their situation in life." In a lecture on madness the author, speaking of the great capacity of the insane for enjoying recreation, mentions that, at an asylum of which he is one of the visitors, " we had been asked to allow newspapers, but thought it would be better to refuse. One of the patients said to this gentleman,' So you think we should quarrel about po litics ? No, no; we are not such fools as that.'" The Mysterious Marriage; or, Sir Edward Graham. By Catherine Sinclair. London : Clarke, Beeton, and Co. AN original novel, contained in a volume of the " Run and-Read Library." That an author of Miss Sin clair's reputation should first usher a production of her prolific pen into the world in this form is quite one of the features of the times. The work itself is lively and animated, and its object moral. The scene opens in Edinburgh, in this present year, 1854, the characters belong to the fashionable world, and the reader may not only learn " how a duchess conversed " with her cousin the earl," but also " how much " deeper and better founded than any other happi " ness is that derived from an honourable, virtuous, " and single-hearted attachment, sanctioned by reli " gion, by mutual confidence, and by the approbation " of friends as well as of parents." Dante's Divine Comedy. The First Part—Hell. Translated by Thomas Brooksbank, M.A. Lon don : John W. Parker and Son. Tins is, we think, the fourth translation of Dante which has appeared within a short period. Mr. Brooksbank follows the difficult terza rime of the original, believing that there is "as much soul in " metre as in language." In a modest preface he shows that he is fully sensible of the greatness of the task he has undertaken. The present part, which consists of " Hell," has been executed with care, and is enriched with many notes. The remainder of the poem is promised in due time, several cantos of "Purgatory " being already in MS. India—Pictorial, Descriptive, and Historical. London: Bohn. A WELL-ARRANGED and, HO far as a rapid perusal enables us to judge, an accurate compilation of In dian history. The most valuable part of this volume consists in the record of native dynasties and of times which preceded the English conquest- Mr. Macfarlane's work, to which frequent reference is made, supersedes the necessity for any other popular history of British India. It is true that the narra tive is here more condensed ; but condensation be yond a certain point leaves litt:e except a dry chrono logical record, destitute of interest or spirit. Assuming that a cheap prkis of Indian annals was required, we find no fault with the manner in which Mr. Bohn and the writers employed by him have executed their task. SATURDAY, The Condition and Prospects of the Greek or Oriental Church. By George Waddington, D.D. London: Murray. DIE Dean of Durham is favourably known in the world of letters in connection with Greece. The pre. sent is an investigation into the real nature of the religion professed by the Eastern Christians. Per sonal obvervation as well as learning is brought to bear upon the subject. The little volume was origin ally published in 1829, but passing events have re vived the interest of its contents. English Liberty in Danger. London : J. Allen. THE writer objects to the unconstitutional means adopted by the Attorney-General to put down gaming• houses. In the new bill it is made an offence, and punishable as such, to bar a door or window with a view to obstruct or delay the entrance of the police. But in all former enactments it has been held that a man might fortify his house in any way he pleased without thereby exposing himself to punishment. Again, the party accused is, by Sir A. Cockburn's act, compelled to give evidence against himself and his confederates before a criminal tribunal—a principle wholly novel, and not free from danger. Lastly, the rewards offered to police. men in case of detection are direct inducements to them to bring false charges, and contrary to the whole tendency of recent police regulations. The author questions whether gaming can be put down by the mere suppression of public establishments open for the purpose. These will only be succeeded by private houses, where the same frauds will be practised in even greater security. Ho instances the parallel case of houses of ill-fame, as showing that the Legislature does well to forbear from inter ference with practices which it must necessarily o.indemn. The National Debt, and How to Pay It. London : Longmans. AN essay to prove that the National Debt is the source of serious embarrassment to England, and ought to be paid—not wiped off. The means of so doing are discussed in detail with much elaboration of argument. The writer computes the real and personal property of the British islands taken toge ther at something less than 5,000,000,0001. sterling. Of this enormous sum the debt forms less than one sixth part, and it is suggested that, in lieu of an in come or property tax, all capital, in whatever form, should be taxed to the amount of one tenth, whereby 500,000,0001. might be raised, a sinking fund formed, and the entire burden got rid of. Professional men, and those in receipt of fluctuating incomes, to con tribute 5 per cent. income tax for a given number of years, so as to bear their share of the load. Those who either could not, or objected to part with a tithe of their property, to retain it, subject to a Government mortgage, paying interest thereupon. Such, as we understand them, are the general fea tures of the author's plan. The argument that a national debt, having been contracted for the benefit of future generations, should also be paid in part by them, does not seem to occur to him. He is eloquent, and not unreasonably so, on the double dangers of repudiation and of over-taxation, more especially since American competition has begun to be felt in European markets. He argues, also—and we think with truth—that since a permanent state of peace is not to be hoped for—since a war, if of long duration, almost inevitably involves the creation of fresh debt, it is not enough, in peace time, to pay off the interest only without making an effort to diminish the prin cipal. That question, however, it is now too late to consider. Russia As It Is. By John Reynell Morell. London : Routledge and Co. PROFESSEDLY a cheap compilation from recant books, devoid of original matter, and thus leaving scanty room for criticism. Mr. Morell has brought together a vast multitude of facts (or fictions) respecting Russia, the majority of them well known to habitual readers, but probably new to many of the class for whom they are intended. Of a work of this kind we can say little either in praise or censure. Russia and England : their Strength and Weakness. By J. R. Morell. London : Trdbner. Mn. MOREL'. belongs to the party of Kossuth, Urqu. hart, Golovin, and Co. His tract embodies much information principally on the past history and pre sent. state of Circassia. It may be supposed that his political ideas partake of the wildness of the school to which he belongs ; but the men who for years past have been insisting, amid general neglect, on the danger to the repose of Europe from Russian aggres sion have certainly a right to be heard now that thei r predictions are fulfilled. The question discussed here, whether Russia shall be suffered to retain the Crimea, seems likely to take strong hold of the mind of our public. ► r ►c a a 3. a It it, of ly in is n, st n- to n: key ity ier ng aal for we ea. qu. telt we' his )ast the res heir used the And