The Press. — London, England, 1854-11-18 00:00:00

NovEmttn 18, 1854. trees (the live oaks on the banks, and the successive cypress beds beneath) are arranged vertically above each other, and are seen to great advantage in many places in the vicinity of New Orleans. Dr. Bennett howler has made an ingenious calculation of the last emergence of the site of that city, in which these cypress forests play an important part. He divides the history of this event into three eras The era of colossal grasses, trembling prairies, &c., as seen in the lagoons, lakes, and seacoast. 2. The era of the cypress basins. 3. The era of the present live•oak platform. Existing types, from the Balize to the highlands, show that these belts were successively developed from the water in the order we have named : the grass preceding the cypress, and the cypress being succeeded by the live oak. Supposing an elevation of five inches in a century ( which is about the rate recorded for the accumulation of detrital deposits in the valley of the Nile during seventeen centuries by the nilometer mentioned by &ratio), we shall have 1,500 years for the era of aquatic plants until the appearance of the first cypress forest ; or, m other words, for the elevation of the grass zone to the condition of a cypress basin. On the evil of continual intermarriages nu merous and familiar cases are cited at great length. But the following is a remark able instance : - - In early life I witnessed a most striking example in the upper part of South Carolina, where any father owned a country seat. Almost the entire population of the neigh bourhood was made up of Irish Covenanters, who had moved to that country before the Revolutionary war. They had intermarried for many generations, until the same blood coursed through the veins of the whole of them; and there are many persons now living in South Carolina who will bear me out when I state that the proportion of idiots and deformed was unprecedented in that district, of the majority in its population was stupid and debased in the extreme. I could mention several other striking examples, beheld in higher life, but it would be painful to particularise. In the following passage the writer shows the great influence produced by amalgama tion, and, if his statements can be accepted as • .rities, they are remarkable The infusion of even a minute proportion of the blood of one race into another produces a must decided modifica tion of moral and physical character. A small trace of white blood in the negro improves him in intelligence and morality; and an equally small trace of negro blood, as in the quadroon, will protect such individual against the deadly influence of climates which the pure white man cannot endure. For example, if the population of New England, Germany, France, England, or other northern climates come to Mobile, or to New Orleans, a large pro portion dies of yellow fever ; and of one hundred such individuals landed in the latter city at the commencement of an epidemic of yellow fever probably half would fall victims to it. On the contrary, negroes, under all circum stances, enjoy an almost perfect exemption from this disease, even though brought in from our Northern States ; and, what is still more remarkable, the mulattoes ( under which term we include all mixed grades) are almost equally exempt. The writer (J. C. Nott) has witnessed many hundred deaths from yellow fever, but never more than three or four cases of mulattoes, although hundreds are exposed to this epidemic in Mobile. The fact is certain, and shows how difficult is the problem of these amalgamations. That negroes die out and would become extinct in New England, if cut off from immigration, is clearly shown by published statistics. It may even be a question whether the strictly white races of Europe are perfectly adapted to any one climate in America. We do not generally find in the United States a population constitutionally equal to that of Great Britain or Germany ; and we recollect once hearing this remark strongly endorsed by Henry Clay, although dwelling in Kentucky, amid the best agricultural popula ton in the country. Here again " logical criticism" would be required to weigh the premises carefully. It seems admitted that the climate of America is not favourable to our pure Anglo-Saxon race. The haggard faces, sallow cheeks, and decayed teeth of the Americana point to conclusions about which there can he little doubt We have heard an eminent physician say that no branch of the medical profession flourishes in America so well as that of the dentist, and beauty soon withers in the United States. If "types of mankind " are to be classified by climates, what would become of the assump tion of " superior" races carried to the exces sive length that disparages as " inferior " the race that produced the painters, architects, poets, historians of Italy? We cannot recommend this work for popu ,.ar circulation ; but as it is full of interesting typographical illustrations, and has also a prodigious number of excerpts from Writers on ethnology, not easily procured, it may be added to the library of those who collect trea ises on the more recondite springs of social action and national character. The Old English Gentleman. By John Miles, Esq. London : Ward and Lock. " NEXT to a love of ones country, comes a love of the Country; says Mr. Miles in his modest preface, and THE PRESS. certainly, if anything would induce a love of the fields and woods, it is an effective word-picture of our national sports, told by a true sportsman. Every sentence that he writes hears to you the fresh bracing air of gorse and furze-bush, which makes you, " long in city pent.," champ and fret, like the impatient horse at cover side, curbed in by his less impatient master. These inimitable sketches of country life will be read with pleasure and profit while a love for our field sports continues to survive. The Platonis Protagoras. The Protagoras of Plato. The Greek Text Revised, with an Analysis, and English Notes. By William Wayte, B.A. London : George Bell. AN edition of the "Protagoras" of Plato, the text being principally taken from the Zurich professors, Baiter, Orelli, and Winckleman, and illustrated by notes which are intended to serve a►► an introduction to the study of Platonic Greek; and also by references, on points of construction, to Jen Grammar and Mad big's Syntax, which will be found of considerable as sistance to the student. The Stepping-Stone to Animal and Vegetable Phy• siology. By Mary Shield. London : Longmans. THIS is one of those works for young people, in tended to render science easy, and to induce a better acquaintance with two subjects much neglected in education. In pursuance of her object, the authoress has consulted the best authorities, and so arranged and simplified her subject as to produce a correct and instructive book. The illustrative woodcuts will materially assist the youthful student. Lectures in Connection with the Educational Exhi bition of the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. Delivered at SL Martin's-hall. Lon don : Routledge. A CHEAP edition of the series of lectures delivered at St. Martin's-hall, in connection with the Society of Arts. The present collection does not include the whole number, no record having been preserved of many of the lectures delivered. We notice Car dinal Wiseman's lectures upon the " Home Education of the Poor"—an experiment of doubtful prudence ; at all events, in common fairness, Dr. Cumming should have been invited to follow or precede the cardinal. Chess. A Poem in Four Parts. London : Harrison. SomE pleasant little vets de soeieti upon chess, cleverly introducing the principles of the game, pointing olt the victims of designing saloon players, and warning young and old against allowing a love of this noble amusement to interfere with the more serious duties and business of life. It points a moral in the ex ample of a young student who, neglecting his studies for the love of chess, loses his caste, and dies in poverty. The poem is written with some spirit. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. Sketches of Campaigning Life Olive. Chapman and Hall. Dino. ........ My Novel. Sir E. B. Lytton, Bart. Routledge. Cotoper's Poetical Work*. Ditto. Statute* in 1245.1. J. W. Rogers, Esq. Wildey and Co. Common Place Book. Mrs. Jameson. Longman and Co. Poems. E. V. Sankey. ~ Hope and Co. Epullia. Ditto. Playing al Settlers. Mrs. R. Lee. Grant and Griffiths. Political Sketches. Dr. Ketalag. Theqbald. PAMPHLETS The British Parnassus. A. W. Clement. Bosworth. Useful Hints to Young Men. J. Vandenberg. Dockyard Politics and Patronage. Clowes and Co. College Education and Self-Education. D. Masson, A.M. Walton and Maberly. Two Sermons. H. Whitehead, A.M. Hope and Co. The Cholera in Berwick•sfreet. Ditto. The House that Jack Built. Grant and Griffiths. Picture Fables. Ditto. A CORRESPONDENT, of distinguished critical know ledge, corrects an error in the notice of Waller's poems in the last PRESS. As an instance of syllabic defect in Waller's verse we referred to the use of " spirit" on two occasions in the "Panegyric" as a word of one syllable. Our correspondent states that Waller wrote " sprite," and that " spirit " was com monly so spelled in Waller's time. This shows that in modernising the spelling of a poet there is danger of disturbing the harmony of his numbers. In this case " sprite " should have been retained in the text, and a note added, if thought necessary, informing the reader that " spirit" was thus often written at the time. THE attempt of the manager of the Italian Opera house in Lisbon to extort a higher price from the frequenters of the theatre has failed, and even led to a public expression of disapprobation by hissing Madame Alboni, although every one acknowledges her transcendent merit. Ett granta. 1099 HAYMARKET.—Mr. Hudson, in The Irish Ambas sador, and the Spanish dancers, aro still sufficient attraction at tuns house without the introduction of any novelty. Pnincess's.—The Courier of Lyons and Schamyl have been continued during the week. Schamyl, rn particular, attracts great attention ; and Mr. Kean, no doubt, will be well rewarded for the trouble and expense entailed upon the management by the production of so perfect a spectacle. ADELPHI.—A new farce was brought out at this the atre on Thursday evening, but with questionable suc cess. The Slow Man of Mr. Mark Lemon was a burden which even the talent of Keeley could scarcely carry triumphantly, not, perhaps, because the entire suc cess of the piece depended upon his efforts, but because, as a farce, it has little merit of its own in incident or language. Keeley, as The Slow Man, loud of epic poems and the guitar, unfortunately takes chambers just vacated by a fast man, and, in conse• quence, becomes the victim to a series of annoyances from the fast friends of his fast predecessor, who, after all, has only moved into the set next door. Pets of the "fancy," gentlemen with bull terriers and " varmint," convivial medical students with bell handles and knockers, are perpetually harassing Mr. Messinger Watts, of quiet habits and poetic tastes, and, to complete his misery, the lady of his love, Lucinda Dix, renounces him as an incorrigible hypocrite, upon accidentally discovering the character of his quasi associates. In the end, of course, an explana tion takes place, everything is cleared up, and the fair Lucinda agrees to become Mrs. Messinger Watts. The plot was so stale and the dialogue so distressingly heavy that the fall of the curtain pro duced a violent display of disapprobation ; and we doubt much whether The Slow Man will be found fast enough for the Adelphi. OLYMPIC.—Mr. Charles Dance's Beulah Spa has been revived this week, with Mr. Wigan as Sydney Beauchamp; Mrs. Wigan as Parker, the gipsy girl; and Messrs. Robson and Clifton, as the two boys in love with her. I'he cast also includes Mr. Emery, Mrs. Fitzallan, a young debutante of promise, and Miss Julia St. !George as Caroline Granary. The characters throughout are well supported, and Mrs. Wigan's acting, as the gipsey Parker is inimit able. MARYLEBONE.—Mr. Herallchi " trashedy," as Peg Woffinglon would call that effort of his dramatic genius, Videna, has been superseded by a play from the pen of a young author of promise, Mr. Robson. Love and Loyalty is a drama rather founded upon an imitation of the Elizabethan school than upon the pure Elizabethan type itself, and hence, as always happens in imitations, the accidental peculiarities, rather than the essential beauties, have been too pro minently brought forward. The dialogue is over loaded with metaphor, and the mythological allu sions are so abundant, as almost to justify the remark that has been made, that " the dramatis per sona had commenced life by committing to memory the bibliotheca of Apollodorus." This, in an age remarkable for the simplicity of its poetic diction, and a growing indifference to classical tradition, would, with an ordinarily intelligent audience, have rather endangered the successor ` the play, but with the good people of Paddington, °mite ignotuni pro mag nified- With great skill in the construction of the plot, and force and power in the situations, Mr. Robson has yet failed to contrast nutlicieney the different sentiments and tone of feeling, which ought by right to be-long to the opposite characters which he has drawn. The broader distinctive qualities of human nature are doubtless well defined, but Mr. Robson's Cavaliers and Roundheads are scarcely to be distinguished but by the costume of their respec tive representatives. In the support of the characters, Mr. Wallack as Marston was very effective, and his powerful acting justly called forth great applause. Mrs. Wallack played Juliet with simplicity and ease, and the other characters were well supported. The play was undoubtedly successful, and may fairly an ticipate a run. Sr. JAMES'B.—The School for Scandal has been revived thin week, with Mrs. Seymour as Lady Teazle, Miss Grey as Mrs. Candour, and Mr. ltant,er as Sir Peter. The cast is effective, and the house has been well attended during the week. DRURY Lasz.—A selection from Beethoven's "Pas toral Symphony" scarcely deserved such curtailment as it met with at the hands of M. Jullien during the week. If we are told that the performance of one part of a certain symphony is to take place, why is it not given intact? No lover of music can approve of that sys tem of picking out here and there the lighter airs from a great master's composition, and so presenting an incongruous selection without unity or design. M. Jullien has earncd a great reputation for im proving the taste of the public by his judicious choice of music, but it is one thing to make a good selection, and another to curtail it in the performance.