The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-10 00:00:00

762 engraved on the base of Beckford'►s statue in Guildhall—it was never spokm. Chance medley was converted by !party spirit into► a imlitieal funnier. Soldiers surrounded the place of trial under the pretence of preserving the I►ublie peace, in reality to restrain the efforts of the counsel employed. Cieero was a rank coward all his life. In the eireummtances of his death are to be tiau►d the only symp toms of courage that he ever exhibited. The loud 51 is of the (Italian party interrupted him. His client was condemned. Of the speech which In attempted SA) deliver only a few fragments remain which have been cited by Quinctilian. The present ono was written afterwards, and finished with such care that it may claim to be regarded IL masterpiece. But it smells of the lamp. It is too ►olished. too elaborate, and wants the tire, life, and indignation that overwhelmed Cutiline and Verrem. This speed' is proposed as one of the sub• jects for the " previous " examinat . at Cant bridge in the year I5:►1. The Syndics of the University entrusted Mr. !qui.' 111 with the task of publishing tot edit 111 l to SerVe as all author ised lIMMMI fur the use of those who would have to submit themselves to that ordeal. The occasion does not permit the full employment of those talents which that gentleman by his ptatititm no (build 11/4/SIieMSCH. Deep reMearell Mid rrofollll4l eritielmilt would have been inad missible. llut he hits furnished a work fully equal to the wants Of those for whom it was intended. There is a translation of the intro duction of Aseonittm Pediainus explaining the state of things that resulted in the death of elodius, and which is neeessztry to explain those allusions in the speech to contempora neous events which would otherwise be unin telligible. Thu notes are apposite and scholar like. Difficulties of idiom and peculimities of style are estrefully illustrated from Latin au thors of the best repute, and more especially from other works of the orator. Suggestive references are made to larger and more ambi tious works, both English and foreign, where fuller informati 111 l may be obtained on those legal or historical points which could not be noire amply treated of without increasing nm terially the size and price of the work. The standard text of Orelli has been followed, with tweasionad variations, adopted chiefly from Alatthwi. lint the text of latin prose authors admits but of few various readings, partly be cause the copyists understood something of the language which they were transmitting, partly because the accuracies of grammatical oonstructions are not fiweed to yield to the ne cessities of the metre. lin the whole, Mr.Pur ton has executed his task in a way that leads us to hope that at another time the piddle may receive front hint some work giving hint fuller scope for his learning than the present. Cruise im the .E prate. The Retrospect of ►► Summer Journey Westward, '• frou► the Gre►►t City by Propontie Sea." including au Ascent of Mount Etna. By Walter Wat- London : 'l'. Harrison. NMI. AN amusing, though not very instinctive, vo lume of travels, chiefly over at beaten track. Mr. Watson run desciibe, but matter SOUR'. times fails hint in dealing with countries and customs so well known. In truth, the mere tourist's oecupation is gone within the limits of Europe. What ean he add to the store al ready Fathered, KIM' an emendation sous to casually mistaken criticism in the omnipresent " Murray "? Travellers like Mr. Laing who deal with the social economy of nations -politicians bringing practised eyes to the settlement of disputed questions—voyagers who go about with a fixed purpose, collecting information upon some particular subject, and limiting themselves to that only—may succeed aecording to the measure of their capacities, and be welcomed as contributors to the gene ral stock of knowledge. But for the every-day, superficial observer of men and manners there are 110 gleanings left. Ile must go farther, or he silent. There k nothing better in this volume than R Sket►•h of Constantinople. a ►its• which our Author does not greatly admire THE PRESS. With the exception of the old "Send." or seraglio, some of the Gureniment dares. the batman:, and barracks, the city is no better than II "Willi Oh: 1.1 wood, ready to be burnt by the first spark shad' WIN upon it. tif all the 11 sights I saw in this eountr. I declare nothing ei caell nn astonish ground, which bad been laid bare by tire in the mum: of an hour or two, 'bitted in the im manner with the WIMP sort of wooden boxes, ready awl tit to be con sumed, perhaps, as soon as they were tinisla4. There are reasons, other and better than fatalist apathy, bit' this mode of procedure. Earthquakes are talked of, but seem to be ra ther political than physical. Stone is scarce, and it.A easily transported over roads which at the best are were tracks, often knee-deep in mud. The cost of permanent architecture would thus be heavy : the house-proprietor speculates on his chance of escaping lire, and doubles his rent by way of insurance. Here is another characteristic scene in the environs of the Turkish capital : We got a telescopic glance, as we passed, of the huge gnus in the batteries of the Castle of Euroj.e, and likewise distinguished the piles of ponderous marble balls intended to he thrown from the rock-hewn mortars. There is some• thing truly Cyclopean in the idea of making a gun of the and loading it with a rock. To reach a mark with one of these strange iugllctuents of di allnetiuu would cep tautly he what the Swiss call " tnr el Intl de Wipe," or Mind DIM'S shot. They can serve only as a sort of scare crow, to impress all whim it not eionerril with the feeling that, it the shot shoithlehance to takeefieet, the consequence would he " anything hut pleasant.•' l'he fate of the !I'iart xor foal., one of the ships of Admiral Mckwortles fleet, which sustained sm ere injury from this battery in 11.417, furnish an example. A worthy old I;enoese, who fur Hear link a eentury has been a member of the estalplish most at the British Embassy in Constantinople, detailed to me l., than once the circumstances of that lIIIfortIV , nate allitir lie Wan 1111 Is 'gni thus vi e wed in aft. ndance on Mr. Arbuthnot, the Itritish Minister. Impatient of re • • g below whllwt the polls were filing, he obtained lem I . to gO 011 deck, and hail scarce left the cabin for that purpose. when he heard a mash, mid felt it sins+ which made the vessel tremble in every timber. The shot,which is said to hate weighed misfiles., took effect notify amid ship, 'gushed in many feet of the bulwark, cut the Main- Mast Heady ill two, and killed or desperately wounded six teen ismer fellows who stood near, so that the deck in an instant was like a slaughter-house. The huge missile, as if satisfied with the mischief it had done, then quietly rolled aft, and was brought to England, "where," my infor mant added, " I have I well told, duty was charged fur en trance us foreign marble." The best part of this book is a description of the ascent of Mount Etna, a subject rather less hackneyed than the rest. Though inferior in height to Mont Blanc by more than 4,000 feet, the scenery is scarcely less wild, and, from the volcanic formation of the rocks, has a gloomy grandeur which distinguishes it from all other mountains. The chief difficulty of the enterprise arises from vicissitudes of tem perature, which are sudden and extreme; from the crumbling soil ; and front the occasional exhalations of sulphureollB vapour. Biome, Italy, and the homeward route are likewise described ; but are not these written in the handbooks of Murray" An unpretend ing character disarms a merciful elide, else we might complain of deficient novelty, and more words than matter. Polities and grave dissertation are studiously avoided. BOOKS FOR THE BILAWINthItOoM TABLE. Trees. Plows, and Flowers: their Beauties, Uses, anti lutbseures. fly Mrs. B. Lee. London: Limit and (4riffith. Tut: accomplished authoress, who is more generally known in the literary world by her former name of Mrs. llowilich, shall herself describe the design of her elegant volume : A book on botany which might be read like any other was demanded ; but reflection soon showed that this was impracticable. The numerous characters, the uncertainty and extent of botanical nomenclature, the jargon that it ofkra of anglicised Latin words, utterly preclude the sue ptilicial glance of the mere reader ; a n d, delightful as the subject may be to those who, with the objects before them, come to the task mined with ilisaecting instruments and uncromeope, at present the loveliest works of tiod are ob scured by the most weaning details to those who have neither time nor inclination for science. An endeavour, therefore, has been here nutde to give an idea of the size, the beauty, the uses, and the influence of vegetation in general ; rather than to describe the mechanism by which an Almighty Hand has effected his purposes. The (idly, however, has been immense. in selecting the chum tens which it was neeessary to give, avoiding those which are microscopical. and also avoiding a multiplicity o f ar id. nary terms, applied by different botanists to the same parts. Many who behold a flower in its full development *filth' find it inipessilde to see its laid ; and, therefore, th e ehariwters depending on that stage were put aside. lioubt• ful sod negative elmacters were as wadi its possible dis• SATURDAY, p ense d with ; but, while the botanical descriptions were curtailed, it is hoped that enough have been retained forge iierid pu►poses ; they being, us it were, only auxiliaries to the general plan. It then became a matter of much consideration bow the ;plowing should be zisanaged; fur, wit► the number of sub• jeeta, some se►•ial order was necessary for the sake of per• spieuity. As the last authority, limUichar was consulted; but the limits of a reading book rendered his classification utlt of the question. I►r. Lindley 's "Vegetable Kingdom" was also too volt 111 l i l lOUS ; and, at last, the same author's " Natural Systsm► " was fixed upon, as being at once coin. prehensive and compact ; the only differences with which in these pages are, commencement with the least coin• plie►lted fiorms, and a progression to those of the highest organisation, us Nature herself proceeds; besides au estab• lislonent or abandonment of those orders which in that work were doubtful, ueeording to the more recent publications. - - We have ranked the book produced in ac cordance with this design among works for the drawing-room table. on account of the beauty and truthfulness of its series of co loured. illustrations ; but it is not the less an agreeable and au informing book on botany to all but those who are conversant with the more elaborate treatises. It is well arranged, and has an index of between twenty and thirty pages. Footprints of Famous Men. By John 0. Edgar. London : Bogue. Tuts book of MO pages contains an outline of the chief events in the life of nineteen great and eminent men, Washington, Burke, Scott, (Sze. The author is, we prestune, an American. Speaking of education in America early in the 18th century, he says : " The teachers seemed to have acted rigidly on the precept of a Spartan king, that the boy should be in structed in the arts likely to be useful to the man. If, on leaving school, the hopeful youths could read with decent correctness, write a tolerable hand, and keep accounts intelligibly, what more was wanting to capacitate then, tier growing tobacco and shipping it, to be disposed of by the commercial magnates who, arrayed in scarlet cloaks and flowing periwigs, paced, with haughty step and ~moiled 'wide, the arched Exchange of Glasgow?" Mr. Edgar is evidently familiar with Scott's works, and dre►ul of the ghost of Bailie Nicol Jarvie should have protected the brethren of that worthy man from such denunciation. The lives, though generally well written, have no pretensions to originality, and sometimes Mr. Edgar would have done well to give the words of the author from whom he takes his materials instead of his own. The life of Erskine is copied from that which appeared many years ago in the Law Magazine, and where Mr. Edgar differs from he does not improve upon the original. The work is disfigured by seven preposterous illustrations. Erskine in court dress is balanced on a high office stool, which leans at an angle of twenty-five degrees, and, by judiciously Hinging about his arms and legs, in this position he retains it. Scott is about eight feet high, about half a heal shorter than Moore, who is with him. Subject to these remarks, the book is one which may be read with pleasure, and will no doubt be popular with the young. The Partition of Turkey,(fe. By Veritas. London : Chapman and Hall. A st-mmAnr proposal for the distribution of the Ottoman empire between England, France, Austria, Russia, and 6reece, loose in its statements and opposed in its conclusions to the combined views of the ablest European diplomatists. it' there were any prospect of achieving the following proposed result, the author is entitled to the credit of dividing the mission with Elihu Burritt " 1k as polite as you will to the reigning Sultan, but from his throne he must plainly descend : 1w is not, nor ever was he, the constitutional monarch of the dominions over which he and his act the tyrant ; and we are ourselves perfectly convinced that, let the matter be explained to him in a quiet, mathrmal leo, manner—let him be shown the inevitable result of his continuing to occupy the woune eaten chair of his ancestors—the unpleasant position in which he will shortly tied himself when sprawling in the dust—and he will only too gladly accept a pension of 40,14101., with a retired country seat, far removed from the machinations of a designing vizier, the groans of unwilling subjects, and the booming of Russian artillery." (Witham; Day, and lion it was Spent by Four Persona in the House of l"ograaa, Fograss, Mouton, and Snorton. lly Christian le llos. Illustrated Phiz. London : Boutledge and Co. Tuts little story turns upon the incident of a bank robbery and its effect in disturbing the Christmas festivity of four persons in the house above named; but as the thief is summarily detected the whole ends happily. The composition of the story is after" Dickens, and slight; and Lord Froodle, one of the characters, is the reproduction of a type which has done severe duty as a substitute for truthful tieliuestiou. Some of the illubtratious are