The Press. — London, England, 1854-08-26 00:00:00

kuousT 26, 1854. England, where, after a lapse of centuries, and after many periods of agitation and convulsions, political parties had settled down into a kind of sage and serene maturity, where all that was visionary, and all that wss sentimental, had been long banished from public life ; where every per sonal and party rancour, together with the profound differ ence of classes, had, whilst continuing antagonism, learned to combat with blunted arms, and with all the courtesy and moderation of a regulated arena. --- The bigotry of the priests formed another obstacle to the establishment of rational free dom ; and a third consisted in the disposition of extreme parties in France to form a coalition for the overthrow of any Ministry - which did not enter into their extreme views : The two extremes of aristocracy and demozracy had thus 'only to unite in denouncing every candidate that was a .tunctionary or connected with Government, in order to leave the ultras of both sides masters of the field. The Royalists ven exelamed, " Rather return Jacobins than Ministerial ists." This sad and passionate mistake, by which the ultra• Royalists destroyed the throne and sacrificed the King iii the first revolution, promoting excesses and the worst of measures in hopes of ruining whatever Govern ment existed, was nowhere more fully exemplified than in the election of the Isere. At Grenoble, the chief town of this department, the recollections of l)idier's insurrection, sad the severity of its repression, rendered the Libe►als vin dictive. They selected as their candidate the regicide Abbe Gregoire, ex-bishop of Blois, his recommendation being the insult which his election would prove to the Royalists and even to the King. There was a sufficient number of liberal electors of moderate views to have placed the partisans of the Abbe Gregoire in a minority, hut the rancour of the ultra• Royalists prevented this. It was fun and vengeance to them to see a regicide elected, and, accordingly, in despair of returning one of their own opinions, they gave their votes to Gregoire, who was re turned. ------- This return caused great embarrassment to both the King and the Chamber, but eventually the abbe was expelled. In the opinion of Mr. Crowe, the wise and temperate reign of Louis XVIII. had been so fur successful as to root respect for constitutional government in the mind of the people. Noticing the close of Villele's Ministry, he writes : They still, however, reproach his memory and his repu tation by alleging that he entered upon the Ministry with the royal power at its height, and that he left it in a condi tion that was past recovery. This reproach is unjust. Wileslele took power the Bourbons were execrated by the public ; the entire surface of society was undermined with secret associations, and filled with combustibles which exploded from month to month. His long, successful, regular, and vigorous administration put down and outlived this dangerous state of things. Narrowed as liberty was, and defective as was the sonstitution, people became accustomed and attached to it and to the monarchy, so that all energies were turned towards correcting it by legal means. Imperialism concealed itself, Republicanism was extinct. In the press and in the Parliament the language of Opposition was as exemplary as it could be even in England. The Oppo sition was certainly more formidable than that which assailed the Due de Richelieu, for instead of being con fined to politicians it counted all classes and grades of the public, which, during that time, had been instructed in politics, and took an interest in its progress ; but all this was improvement. This opposition and even indignation, although far more formidable to a Minister, was not so to the Crown; and if Charles X. had had the good sense or the good fortune to understand and play the part of a consti tutional king, wielding the very great powers that a con stitution always must leave to a king, he had a people fashioned, and reconciled, and attached to that form of government, and fully prepared to respect the dynasty, if the dynasty remained true to its oaths. Indeed, so thoroughly constitutional had the French become, to the utter oblivion of either empire or republic, that, when the dynasty did disappear, constitutional monarchy survived, and even a Bourbon prince succeeded without personal tom petition, or even the form of any other government being mentioned. If this be true, it is surprising that the attachment to constitutional rule should have been suddenly extinguished 14 ith the revolu tion of 1848. 'The characters given by Mr. Crowe of most of the eminent personages who figure in his pages are judiciously drawn, and add greatly to the value of his instructive and impartial history. Tlae First Resurrection. By the Rev. Robert Noble, A.M. Dublin : Curry and Co. Ax exposition of the fifteenth chapter of St.. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, designed to show the incorrectness of the commonly-received view that the dead immediately join their Lord. In the opi nion of Mr. Noble, the "Life of the World to CoMe" Is subsequent to, and consequent on, a resurrection. No man can master " the mysteries of the sepulchre ;" but the pious, reverent. feeling which pervades the book, and endeavours to render such a subject more explicit, must be appreciated by all readers. THE PRESS. 1. Lecture on Respiration. Part of a Series. By Thomas Hopley. London : Churchill. 2. Healthy Homes, and How to Make Them. By W. Bar dwell, Architect. London : I►ean and Son. 1. The first of a series of lectures intended to be delivered by Mr. Hopley upon the physical education of man. The present discourse is designed to impress upon the minds of all classes the vast importance (particularly at this time of cholera) of pure air and thorough ventilation of houses to a healthy state of body. The statistical returns appended to the lec ture exhibit the true state of the habitations of the poorer classes in England, who at this }.resent mo ment, ➢fr. Hopley asserts, are living by hundreds of thousands in fetid cellars and miserable hovels, without " light or ventilation, and flooded with " stagnant water." 2. " Healthy Homes " is a clever essay by an architect upon the material requisites of wholesome habitations for the labouring classes, with practical remarks upon the present inadequate mode of venti lation adopted in the construction of the houses of the poor, and the lamentable state of drainage, about the suburbs of London. Numerous architectural plans and elevations illustrate the book, which is dedicated, by permission, to the Home Secretary. 1. Our Own Correspondent. By W. Brough. Lon- don : Tinsley. 2. The Serf and the Cossack. By F. 'Max. Lon don : Trailer and Co. 3. Rowe's New Map of Europe. London : Rowe. 1. " Our Own Correspondent" relates, in Mr. Brough's popular style of extravaganza, the ad• ventures of a gentleman connected with the press in search of authentic information from the seat of war in Turkey for the columns of a newspaper. 2. "The Serf and the Cossack" is a slight sketch of the state of the Russian people, taken principally from the valuable work of Haxthausen. 3. " Rowe's Map of Europe " iv a cheap publics Lion, correctly showing the scat of war up the Baltic, and in the Turkish provinces. Catalogue of Ornamental Caste. Department of Science and Art, Board of Trade. By It. N. Wornum, Keeper. London : Longmans. Ma. WonNum, in the introductory remarks to this catalogue, gives an analysis of the characteristics of the peculiar styles of architecture during the Re naissance period, from the first date of modern innovation in art, in the Tre.cento style, through the more perfect era, that of the Cinque-cento, down to the debased style of Louis Quinze. Of the Cinque cento style there are several illustrations of the casts, drawn on wood by the female students, and a detailed description appended to each specimen. The collection of ornamental casts which it is proposed to form, as illustrative of the three great epoch." in architecture, viz., the Ancient, Mediaeval, and Renais sance styles, is by no means perfected, but it is intended, when the collection is more fully developed, to publish catalogues containing similar illustrations of the two earlier periods of art. The Languages of the Seat of War. By Max Muller, - - - M.A. London : Longmans. So much has been done by the Governments of every continental state, and so little by the authorities of this country, to encourage the study of Oriental languages, that we hail with satisfaction this fir•t step towards a more liberal policy on the part of our Government. The essay before us was written (by the desire of Sir Charles Trevelyan on the part of the Government) for the benefit and instruction of all officers proceding to Turkey, a lamentable want of knowledge of Oriental languages on their part being admitted. Although a mere outline, this essay is still a learned sketch of the relationship of the differ ent languages of the East, and a good introduction to their study. An ethnological map, carefully drawn, accompanies the present volume, which is interesting and instructive to a degree. The Talk of the Toad. Part I. Dublin: Curry and Co. A REPRINT of papers which originally appeared in " The Catholic Layman," a monthly periodical pub lished in Dublin for the calm and dispassionate in vestigation of religious truth. " The Talk of the Road" is intended to represent the actual conversa tions, doubts, fears, and superstitions of the poorer classes in Ireland with regard to religion ; but we question whether any Irish peasants are so well up in theology as they here are supposed to he. However, the book de-erves attention as giving a characteristic sketch of native feeling. and as affording a curious insight into the workings of the priests among the people. 811 Notes on Diseases in Turkey, and a Memoir on the Remittent Fever of the Levant. By Drs. Schulobf and Bryce. London : Stewart and Murray. Tim pamphlet by Dr. Schttlohf upon the more im portant diseases which prevail in the Danubian provinces, contains much minute local information and experience of the diseases to which those coup• tries are peculiarly liable. The Danubian provinces do not appear from Dr. Schulolifs remarks to be healthy districts, ague, rheumatism, ophthalmia, and malaria, with typhus and putrid fevers, being the prevalent diseases. The " Memoir upon the Re mittent Fever of the Levant," by Dr. Bryce, is. grounded upon an experience of many years' local practice. Both memoirs have been written and pub lished by the desire of the Director-General of the Medical Department for the assistance of the medi• cal staff now employed in Turkey. The Representatives of the Greek Preposition ANA. By J. Hewitt Key, M.A. A PAPER read before the Philological Society upon the equivalents, in some of the European languages, of the Greek preposition rem, as prefixed to verbs. Mr. Hewitt contests the theory of Grimm that the Gothic prefix AN n or ANDA is represented by the Greek fiVTS, and decides that it is represented by am in those cases in which AND enters into composition with verbs. The treatise is written with learning and cri tical ability, and forms a welcome contribution to philology. The City of the Sultan. By Miss Pardoe. London : - - Routledge and Co. Tar•. fourth edition of a work so well known as Miss Pardoe's " City of the Sultan" requires only a word of congratulation upon its well-deserved success. Priscilla Eaton. London : Shaw. A NARRATIVE of the sufferings and privations nn• dergone by a Puritan family in the first colonising of Virginia. The story has some " thrilling adven tures " and " perilous discoveries" calculated to attract youthful readers. Stanford's Emigrant's Guide. " Australia," by J. Capper. "Canada," by W. Hutton. London : Stanford. Two cheap guide-books to the above colonies written with honesty and comparative accuracy ; and as such may he recommended to persons who desire practical information upon the countries described. Gold. A Story for the Times. London : Chapman and Hall. A stmrx.v story to illustrate the unprofitableness of a life devoted to money-making, and the necessity for the fulfi!ment of other duties than those of specu lation and trading. Famous Persons and Famous Places. By N. I'. Willis. London : Ward and Lock. A CHEAP volume, made up principally of some of Mr. Willis's original " Pencillings by the Wayside," with some additional letters from England and the Continent in 1845-fl, and articles from a journal of later date published at New York. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. Booze. Sybil Lennard. Mrs. Grey. Cookery for the People. A. Soyer. Fashion and Famine. Mrs. A. S. Stephens. Mr. Sydenham Gremlin('h in London. oDitrtn) Ditto. PAMPHLETS. On the Use of Vegetable Arida in the Treatment of Cholera. J. H Tucker. Churchill. Sentiments of the late Archleacun Jeffreys. J. Jeffreys. Tweedie. Missionary Voices to British Christians. Ditto. The Coming Peace. J. R. Morell. Theobald. Contagion in Relation to Epidemic Diseases. J. Grote. Ridgway. Ditto. S elphur a 4 a Remedy i• Cholera. J. Grove. erntons. No. 41. Map of i., t'r irara. Itivingtons. Wild. TUE PHILOSOPHF.RS OF llEnvoi have been thrown into great excitement by the extraordinary and well verified fact of a married woman having given birth to no less a creature than a merman, or mermaid. The following is the official report of the case : " On the 15th the wife of a painter in Old Schiinhaus street brought into the world a most wonderful abortion. This was a child, born only a few weeks before the regular time, which had the regular hu man form down to the loins, and thence downwards that of a fish, but aithout vcales. Its fingers were webbed, but otherwise perfectly well fcrmed. ]t 414 d half an hour after birth, in the presence of Dr. Hoff mann." '"! ,1 c ..,