The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 5, 1853. falls iu love with a high-born Itajahpootne princess, marries her. and in two years after. wards his second wife and their son die, and " Harcourt," in 11412. closes his career in the south-west of Ireland, where, exhausted by his vicissitudes, he lives a solitary, amidst wild scenery, and filially dies of disease of the heart. Notwithstanding the improbabilities of this tale, there are several proofs in its composition that it is written from the real history of some of those Irish military adventurers who were attracted to continental armies in the last century. An Adelphi playwright would have capital materials for a striking meludnuna in " I I arcourt." - - If Colonel Cameron should eontinue his recollections of " the romance of military life," we advise him to tell his tales as anecdotes, with real names and places, rather than pub lisp them as fictions. &ran and her Rulers. A Brief history of Na‘ign lion from the Remotest Periods to the Present Pay. By Alfred Elwes. London: Grant and THIS hook contains 420 pages. An analytical index occupies fourteen of thetn, and gives an outline of its subject, which, commencing with Tyre and Sidon, closes with Parry, Ross, and Franklin. The contents of the book are thus clearly defined; while the diction of the writer is generally plain and simple. The following description of the discovery of land, the island of San Salvador, by Columbus, may serve as a specimen of the author's style : " Suddenly he stopped—his keen giants) had perreived a speck of light through the darkness, which as suddenly disappeared. lie watched—it again heel • visible, for a moment stationary, then tuoved, and vanished, and appeared again, as though it were a torch carried in a personss hand, and the light of which was at tim es obscured by • • intervening objects. Fearful of trusting to his own 141`11.04. he privately called Pedro ut t ievez, a page of Queen Isabel's, who had accompanied 1 on the voyage. and pointed it out. tiuttierez saw it distinctly ; and ca!ling to Salcetlo, imp of the officers, all three saw it in that, us if borne from ;dace to place. The cry of ' L aud !. from the Pala, some short time after, confirmed their conjee tures, and was heard with the greatest joy : 1 every man waited, in all the anguish of uncertainty and impatit•nee, for the return of day." The Most Holy Trinity. The Doctrine Illustrated and Proved. By Ebenezer Soper. London : See leys. THE writer of this tract has collected together all the chief texts that allude to the doctrine of the Trinity. In a brief preface he states that at a for mer period he entertained heterodox views. lie is not a practised writer ; and it would he better for him to exercise his pen on subjects demanding less polemical powers. National Adult Education. Hy the Rev. F. Morris, B.A. London : Groumbridge and Sons. Tins is a paper which was read before the British Association for the Advancement of Science at their session at Hull last September. Mr. Morris thinks there iA now "no fear of a lack of advance in the " right direction through any neglect of aid on the " part either of individuals or of the Government in "regard to the education of the young." The want felt. is that of progressive instruction in manhood. Mechanics' Institutions have, according to Mr. Morris, generally failed to accomplish the object for which they were founded. They either become mere news-rooms, or, politics breaking in, parties clash, and the institution falls to pieces. Mr. Mortis proposes that Ijovernment aid should be given, " and that in no illiberal spirit," to establish institutions, which he suggests should be called national colleges, as a natural sequence to national schools—that a central board should "lend due and " judic►ous help to bleat endeavours in proportion to " their own exertions "—that in London a general museum of all works of art should be formed—that local museums also should exist wherever it is possible to have them—that local exhibitions should be encouraged—that by means of lectures and in other ways instruction should he afforded to those who subscribe to the proposed "national colleges"— and from these measures Mr. Morris anticipates that a want now felt will be supplied. The pamphlet consists of twenty•three pages, and contains some practical suggestions for carry►ng out a rather %ive plan, or system of plans. Of course money is all that is requisite to accomplish it. THE PRESS. Letter on the LdtC of Arbitration. By Francis Russell, laq., M.A., Barrister at-Law. London: Groombridge and Son. Tuts is a letter addressed, with his 11(1.4116o:ion, to Lord Brougham, proposing to simplify and extend the law of arbitration. Numerous statutes contain ill separate series of Chases for the conduct o f arbitration;' and two general statutes are besides in force. These Mr. Russell proposes to repeal, and "to re-enact, with improvements, all that it is thought desirable to retain." In the letter (a pamphlet of 01111 Y -the Pages) he discusses what provisions the proposed statute should contain. It is clearly written, and en , dY COMprehensible by a nou-proli s. sional reader. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. The Edinburgh Rrrir►r. !Amami: Longman Anil l'o. Tins Review , maintains the diameter which it has somewhat laboriously achieved of late—that of being the best collection of pamphlets extant. Number after number, the literary or review element becomes inure and 11101 V einneSeeln. SilMiry titles of baaaks are still paraded at the head of successive• papers ; but the accompanying papers never pr. tend, even, to the critical diameter. Number CC., aeeorilingly— like too many of its preileeess‘irs—presents nothing but a faseicultis of essays, written with much elo quenee, not inconsiderably talent, and an infinite amount of pretension to infnllibilily in matters of fact, a n d Of iitiginaikin in matters of principle. This new phase in our obi friend of the " buff and blue" must, we suppose, be now accepted as It per manent, if not a "great.' fact. Its conductors, no doubt for sufficient reasons, have chosen to convert the old literary " judex " into a mere continuation of Vary's excellent but defunct compilation, the Pomp/Meer. Regarding the Review now before us, we are glad to recognise a vast improvement upon► some previous numbers in the fart that its articles relate to subjects really possessing SOM., contempo rary interest. Whether by accident or from design, we find in it, for example, pahys relating to the Turkish question 141111 the Arctic discoveries —subjects on whirl. the Wait. interest is still at Utast-heat. To be sure the treatment of these subjects is somewhat antiquated. Mr. Crowe's volume, scarcely three tits old, entitled "The !beck and the Turk," is made the excuse for the find-mentioned essay, and is duly men tioned in three lines of a supplemental note. But the article itself consists of a cut ,and dry dissertation on the "spirit of Mal ttttt wilanism," and might, for aught that we can see, have almost. been written by way of appendix to Prideaux' " Life of Maimmet," published in the seventeenth century•. To the Arctic discoveries, again, public attention has re - cently been reawakened ; but the despatches of Captains M‘Clure and Inglefield and the speeches of Lieutenant Cresswell have rendered the information very sedulously compiled by the reviewer in great measure obsolete, and reduced his ingenious hypotheses either to truisms or absurdities. A couple of professional articles upon our " National Defences" and " Military Bridges " are sensibly written, and convey the views of a contributor who has evidently mastered his subject. In the review of Ilaydon's Autobiography, also, we find traces of a judgment at onee just and humane. But the subject has l►een worn almost to triteness by happier—that is to say earlier—critics. Despite its unpromising title, the paper on "Church Parties " otli'rs most interest to the general reader. It is full of anecdote, and will be found, indeed, replete with amusement to those who—for the sake of a piquant story—can excuse the tone of ambitious philosophy in which it is conveyed. There is a political article entitled " Parl►amentat'y Purification," containing some Sell. Bible suggestions, which we might have deemed im• portant in days when► the Edinburgh Review officioucd as the exponent of Ministerial intentions---or when the Ministry• had any intentions on the subject to expound. Binckwood's Magazine. London: Blackwood and Sons. THF. stagnation in home politics is testified by the continued absence of any politi , al articles in the new number of Blackwood. An able paper on the Turkish question leads of course to the conclusion which all parties, save some few desperate Aberdonians. have long since adopted—that " the political predilections "and illegitimate mano•uvres of the Premier, and the "feebleness and incapacity of the present Foreign Se cretary, have prolonged the crisis and encouraged " Russia ; and, if war occurs, at their door it will lie." ' lint lit yond this there is no allusion to affairs of state. En recon••hr, the literary contents of the current number are lim:wally good. After ming attention, though somewhat tardily, to the memoirs of Hayden, Ebony gives us a brace of clever classico antiquarian ankles on the " Romans in Scotland " and " Attiew;" aud then, travelling northward, deberihea Paris in its moat modern aspect under the Emperor —or rather Empress Eugenie—and, reaching Londou at list, shows the cockneys under a physical point of view, siprois), of the - narcotics we indulge in." From this last paper we will cite tho deacription of the ma nufacture of a drug which M. Dumas, Mr. Coulters, and other forcign and British romancista have iren• deed famous—the Oriental " haschish ": Am g the sucient Saracens, the modern Arabs, in t * parts of Turkey, anal generally throughout Syne, the illrip:trution, of hemp in c o use wen•. and are still, known by the 1111111 , 0% of hoiscApaeh, hi/AMA, or hrshenth. The most ea ttttt non fonts of haschineh, and that which is the basis of all others, is prepared hy haling th e tow e l and dowers of the hemp with water to which a certain Initially of fresh butter has twin added. evaporating the detstetion to the thickness of a syntp, a nd th en %troil i sm it through cloth. The butter thus isssones charged with the RCIIVI. n' ' principle of the plant, and acquires a greenish colour. his propagation retains its properties for many years, only befouling a little rancid. Its taste, however, is very disagreeable, and hence it is seldom taken alone, but is nosed with confeetions and *rummies, e m u . ph.tr, cloves, nutmegs, HMCO, and not untnspientiv amber. gri, anal musk, so as to form a sort of ele•tusry. the eon. fist' used among the Moors is called el wows, and is sold at an enenn price. bowariente is the name given by the Arabs to that which they most conommlT use. This is ft.eapiently OA however, with other so l ai t a n ce % of reputed aphrodisiac virtues, to enable it tat minister more eileetuallv to the sensual avatitieations, which appear to bet the grand ashjeet of life among many of the ito si t i d s ." 1111 additional source of ce lebrity to ti t l e drug the anther hypothetically traces to its root the origin of the wont "assassin." Ihiring the wars of the Crusades, ho says, " certain of the Sararen intoxicated by this means, were in the habit of rush ing into the camp of the Christians, and committing great havoc, being themselves totally regardless of death. These men were known as ha•htaheens, and thence came our word assassin." Frei se e'd Uuyotzitle. No ember. London: J. W. Pat ker and Son. Fresh opens with a eo ntinnatime w hi c h is also th e conclusion, el a deletee of the morals o f qu e en Eliza. beth. \lttelt cud its historical information is e mu. hilted 1111 d brought to hear on the point ; but the writer fails to mainline his position. Leicester, he says,"was second telly to I in the strength of " his understanding." Was, then, the understanding of Cecil the tirst—his intellect the highest—in the age of Francis Bacon ? The author also q uotes ep proiingly a passage in which Hayward, speaking of Elizabeth, says—" tier virtues were such as might " mace to make an iEtitiop beautiful . . . She was " lovely and tieing." Of Hatton he says, " Ile was " the patron of distressed clergymen, and particularly "of bishops who were in difficulties." How is it that flatten-gaiter and Ely place are in such close proximity? Is there not a letter extant addressed by Elizabeth to the Bishop of Ely, commencing frond Prelate," stating that she who made him can unmake him, and concluding with a right royal oath that she would " unfrock " hint if he would not cons. ply with certain conditions which were to be for Ilatein's advantage? Here was a bishop truly in difficulties ! Hatton was called by Elizabeth her MOUtOU-1111 expressive title, and ileuleless a charm,- teristie one ; the meaning of it is to be seen even now in his fats!, which is indeed, though very hand some, yet sweet and sheeplike." The writer describes her young nobility as chivalrously making war for her at their ewe expense ; "and three times bleat " when site I 1 theta by a smile or a kind word." They certainly made war for her—and She certainly preferred paying them iu smiles or kicks to half pence—but they, or at least all of them, did not like it. The Queen entered into a kind of partnership with Essex to carry on the war in Ireland. The queen did not perform her part of the bargain, and the earl was nearly ruined ; but he grumbled loudly. The writer says Hatton urged the Queen to marry. Ilatten's words al) net warrant this statement. Hat. ten dime not counsel marriage. The second wide in the magazine, " A Visit to New South Willem in 15t,3," is full of interesting facts. The article entitled " Thoughts about Shelley MO Byron " iv a singula • instance of the strength of truth. The critic is endeavouring, with might and main, to depreciate Shelley and exalt Byron ; yet the power and beauty of the poet vanquieh him, and his pen is arrested in the attonpt. Like the prophet of old, the lips opened to curse dose in blessing. "In " spite of bombast, horrors, maundering, sheer stuff " and nonsense of all kinds, there is a plaintive, nom " rag melody about this man such as no other Fug " fish poet has ever uttered, except Shakspeare, in " some few immortal songs." The Dublin Maruine. November. ntblin : M`Glashan. Tut.: hest article in the present number of this maga. rine is an interesting memoir of Patrick Saratield, the celebrated Irish general. It is written in a tem perats spirit of haitorival criticism, and with great r,~ -_- ~,