The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-23 00:00:00

SEPTEMBER 23, 1854. were of enormous bulk. He looked at us, opened his great jays, gave his swine•like head a toss in the air, and plunged hastily into the water. At the same instant an immense crocodile (perhaps twenty feet in length) left his basking place on the sand and took refuge in the river. Soon after- wards two hippopotami rose in the centre of the stream, and, after snorting the water from their nostrils, entertained us with a peculiar grunting sound, like the lowest rumbling note of a double•bass. The concert was continued by others, and resumed from time to time through the night. This was Central Africa as I had dreamed it—a grand though savage picture, full of life and heat, and with a bar baric splendour even in the forms of nature. After leaving the islands of the Shillooks the author took it into his head one morning to set fire to the dry grass, and he thus describes the effect that he produced, as well as the sensations of regret for what he had done At length I reached an open patch of grass four or five feet in height, and so dry and yellow that it snapped like glass under my feet. It was dotted with clumps of high shrubs, knotted all over with wild, flowering vines, which formed admirable lairs for the lions and leopards. There was a strong smell of lions about the place, and I deemed it prudent not to venture far, since the rank animal odour peculiar to that beast grew more marked the further I went. The jungle in which I stood covered a tongue of land inclosed between two coves of the river, and through the openings in the thickets I saw that it led to the open tracts further inland. The wind was blowing towards the river, and as I stood in the midst, contemplating the wild, lawless grouping of the different trees and shrubs, some imp of darkness whispered in my ear: " What a magnificent conflagration this would make ! and then, perhaps, you might have the satisfaction of bunting out a brace of lions !" Without more ado, I whipped out a box of matches, and struck fire in one of the thickest tufts. The effect was instantaneous, and so was my repentance. There was a crack and a crash, like the explosion of powder, and a sheet of red flame leaped into the air. In a few seconds it had spread to a broad swath of fire, rolling rapidly before the wind, and leaving the earth behind it as bare as the palm of my hand. The rank grass roared and snapped as the terrible, power I had so thoughtlessly awakened licked it away ; and not the grass alone. It seized on the vines and tore them down, swung itself by them into the boughs of the trees, and found richer aliment in their gumsiand juices. It spread on both sides and against the wind, and soon the long spires of scarlet flame, twisting in the air, rose high and hot above the dome like tops of the mimosa forests. Before we left the place, the volumes of smoke reached nearly to the other side of the Nile. As I heard its relentless feet trampling down the thickets, I tormented myself with pictures of the evil which I had perhaps originated. I fancied it spreading from day to day, lapping the woods in coils of flame and flinging their burning boughs front island to island, till, of all the glory of vegetation which had filled me with such rapture, there was nothing but a few charred trunks standing in beds of ashes. I saw the natives with their flocks and herds flying before it, the wild beasts leaping into the flood for refuge ' from its red fangs, and all that glorious region given up to terror and desolation. As we moved slowly away, against the wind, I watched its progress with a troubled conscience and an anxious heart. Now it paused, and I flattered my self that there was the end, but the next moment the black clouds rolled up denser than ever. Thus it wavered for some time, but at last, thank God ! it seemed to fade gradu- ally away, and I gave myself the hope that it had not extended beyond the jut of land whereon it was kindled. Our extracts sufficiently indicate the variety of matter in the volume, which contains much letterpress for au octavo. The earlier portions of the work should have been touched with more brevity, and the effect would be pro portionately greater if Mr. Taylor had concen trated his attention on the novel portions of his route. Without pretensions to be accepted as a permanent record of African travelling, Mr. Taylor's work may be recommended to book-clubs as light, varied, and readable. Quebec Chapel Sermons. By Henry Alford, B.D. London : Rivingtons. WITHOUT being remarkable for originality of thought or eloquence of style, these discourses contain sound expositions of Christian doctrine. Mr. Alford en forces weighty truths with plain good sense and scrip tural knowledge, but does not let the walls of his chapel bound his view. He looks out upon the world and observes its progress, thinking that a preacher is likely to be more effective as he understands the cha racter, wants, and defects of his age. Looking back, he discerns abundant cause for thankfulness : " For nearly nine and thirty years has the vast portion . of the globe which we with our kindred races inhabit been almost exempt from the horrors of war. For upwards of a century our own favoured land has never heard the din of battle. During this period of peace immense progress has been made in all that cheers and elevates the life of m an. ' 1 , 1 % . e have powers in daily and ordinary exercise which the last generation would have accounted fabulous. No similar space of time can be mentioned in which the progress of the human race upward has been so rapid and so wonder. fid. And it would he ungrateful to Him from whom cometh every good gift to conceal from ourselves that this progress of invention and physical power has been also accompanied by a gradual salutary moral change. The very fact that the manners and language of society in the THE PRESS. last century would be no longer tolerated in our own is an important one for the Christian to dwell on, as marking the extension, so to speak, of the outworks of the city of God among men; as showing that the light set on an bill is shining down deeper, and penetrating the mists of the underlying valleys. The fact that the heathenish and absurd practice of revenging an insult by mortal combat has at length sunk into merited contempt even with worldly men of sense is a token that the strongholds of ignorance and pride are beginning to give way among us. We may trace the same progress in the present popular estimate of the clergy, as compared with that of the past century. We rejoice to feel that the characters drawn in the works of fiction uf those days would no longer find their types among the ministers of religion in our own ; and this mainly, to say nothing of the increase of true reit. gion among the clergy themselves, because the strong power of public opinion will not now permit a minister of Christ to be an unbeliever and a libertine, but expects of him that he should be faithful, sober, and diligent, pains taking among his flock and in his pulpit. What can be a better or more satisfactory sign that our moral tone has improved than this coercion brought to bear from without, in accordance with scripture and with truth, on those to whom is committed the charge of souls ?" This is the bright side of the picture. The work left undone supplies matter for reproach " It cannot be denied that we have not succeeded in solving the problem of educating our people soundly and successfully. Nay, perhaps. after all that we have done, we are as far from the solution of it as ever. Anti it is, in deed, an urgent and practical question for every intelligent English Christian to put to himself, how he may best aid, or suggest, endeavours to raise the spiritual and mental standard of his fellow-countrymen—how he may make them worthy of the rights which God's providence has put into their hands The Church of the nation should grow with the nation. How do we stand in this respect? All the exertions which have been made in this metropolis is building churches and providing clergy have fallen very far short of the actual increase of population since those exertions begun ; su that not only are we now no better of than in the year '3l, but we are literally worse provided than tor were then with spiritual instruction for the musses of immortal beings whom our wants and our luxuries are accumulanny around 141. Here is a cause for humiliation, and a soletntt'call to active exer tion, to which I hope many who hear me will be prepared to respond, by contribution and influence, when the time of appeal shall come." One of the sermons which has pleased us most i • that on Faith, Hope, and Charity. He believes there will be ample room for the exercise of all tin...! in a future state of being, and supposes that Prior, in his beautiful lines, has not seized the true mean ing of St. Paul's words : When constant Faith and holy Trope shall die, tine lost in certainty, and one in joy, Then thou, more happy power, fair Charity, Triumphant sister, greatest of the Three, Thine office and thy nature still the same, Lasting thy lamp, and unconsumed thy flame, Shall stand before the host of heaven contest, For ever blessing, and for ever blest. The apostle, Mr. Alford argues, draws a distinction between the things which pass away and the things which remain, and asserts that faith, hope, and love abide for ever in the future state of glory—love being the greatest. The working out of this idea furnishes some of the most striking passages in this modest and judicious volume. The Fall of the Crimea. By Captain Spencer. London : Routledge and Co. THE publishers of this volume evinced more judg ment than the author. They required him to write a history of the conquest of the Crimea by the Ras sians—ti book which, if composed with competent knowledge, would be well received just now. But, with strange perversion of taste, Captain Spencer, instead of the authentic narrative required, issues his old romance of " The Prophet of the Caucasus " under the new title—a catchpenny device—of "The Fall of the Crimea." "We endeavour," he says, "to " blend amusement with instruction, by engrafting " the creations of our fancy on the great truths of " history." A wonderfully good opinion must he have of the creations of his fancy if he supposes that the great truths of history will not go down without them. The reading world of the present day has got rid of the captain's notion that history must needs be flavourless unless spiced with fiction. The style of romance which jumbles together fact and fable, hoping to recommend the one by a plentiful infusion of the other, has gone out of date. In both we require truth ; but in fiction truth with imagina tion ; in history truth with fact. The simple read ers (if any are so simple) who take their notions of history from such romance as this must be sorely puzzled what to believe. Did Suvarof tear a shred from the yashmack of a Circassian beauty whom he met in an araba; and was he, by an exchange of vashmacks, all but married to a hideous old Calmuc in consequence? If this is pure invention, who is to know how much of what relates to Potemkin and Mansour is fact? The success which the author as serts his " Prophet of the Caucasus " had, might have justified its reissue, but it was exceedingly ill-judged to publish it as a genuine history of the fall of the Crimea, to which it bears about as much relation as 907 "lienilworth " does (we beg Scott's pardon for the comparison) to a history• of the reign of Elizabeth. The Yearly Jour►uil of Trade for 1854 5. By Charles Pope. TWENTY-FOUR years' experience has enabled Mr. Pope to greatly enlarge the design and improve the details of this compact yet comprehensive volume. It now presents a complete view of the progress of trade iu all parts of the world, with the latest treaties, tariffs, amount of imports and exports, and informa tion of all kinds which can aid the judgment and facilitate the dealings of commercial men in their ordinary transactions. The changes made in the se• veral departments of our mercantile law during the past year, with the decisions of law courts on special cases, and the general regulations issued by Govern ment boards, are stated with all requisite accuracy and completeness. The effect of the war on our commercial interests, with the various orders in council and declarations of Government, are duly explained and recorded. The immense amount of detail included in this Journal, indeed, makes it valuable to the statist as well as to the merchant ; and from the care taken to verify facts it is entitled to be held as an excellent authority on all the sub jects it treats of. A good index supplies ready means of reference to all matters contained in the book. Modern Flirtations; or, a Month at; llarrowgate. By Catherine Sinclair. London : Clarke, Berton, and Co. THIS fiction turns on the history of a male flirt. The hero is a De Crespugny, heir presumptive to a marquisate, and cornet of dragoons ; the heroines are a number of young ladies with small waists and blonde complexions. The story itself would scarely require notice from us but for the horrors that are perpetually being served up. At one page we have the frightful and mysterious murder of a lovely un known, who is discovered in " her superbly-furnished " boudoir," with "magnificent couch, rich coverlet, " deluged in blood," &c., ti:c.; in others we have the sudden and startling appearances of a wild maniac, who breaks through bedroom windows at the dead of night, or hides himself in the bed curtains, always carrying a brace of loaded pistols, and ever about to murder his victim, when " footsteps are heard, and " with a wild and revengeful glance " he becomes invisible. Attempts at midnight assassination, poisoning of rivals with arsenical custard-puddings, and finally a revengeful murder for the lost hbnour of a seduced sister,—are occurrences treated by the dramatis persona' as if they were the common events of a month at Harrowgate in the present day. Descriptive Sketch of the Windows of St. Neots Church. By the Rev. Henry Grylls. London and Oxford : John Henry Parker. THE sixteen painted windows of St. Neots Church, near Liskeard, Cornwall, have long formed a sub ject for dispute among antiquarians; many ascribing them to a period as early as A.D. 1199, and as many denying an earlier date than A.D. 100, to their con struction. The rev. author of this " Descriptive Sketch " is of opinion that the different styles of various portions of the windows mark different periods of execution ; and that, probably, while the earlier subjects were painted about the end of the twelfth century, certain portions belong as un doubtedly to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Civil war and the Reformation did their work of de • struction even in the far corners of Cornwall, and by degrees neglect and spoliation utterly defaced this flue work of mediaeval art. At length, after near 300 years of decay, the church and windows were fully restored in 1825, at an immense expense, by the liberal patron of the living ; and in the present day St. Neots Church stands forth in all its pristine beauty. The painted windows, unsurpassed in anti quarian beauty and uniformity of design, have been fully restored upon their original outlines and in their various subjects. Each window, representing a different legend in many compartments, presents an interesting and perfect specimen of Gothic art. Early Musings. By Amelia Bewsher. London : Hope and Co. IT would have been better to have entitled this volume " Early Rhymings." There are scarcely any trace of "musing " in its pages, possibly from the fact of the very " early " period of life when ate verses were composed. Scattered through theme occasional pieces are many proofs that the wnter hay. a gentle and affectionate nature ; hut a genial ploy of pure womanly feeling is not enough for one who aspires to poetry. Using only the simplest forms of versification, Miss Bewsher too often neFtlecte the most common laws of harmony and metre. Verses must not merely scan and rhyme, they must also flow ; and the fair authoress often gives us such