The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-29 00:00:00

714 IMZ"Fr.7..7 , eat here !" still they were all overpowered by a duet, which was intoned in a shrill soprano, in the kitchen, occasioned by a dispute as to the way of malting a marrow pudding, be tween the vicar's sister—generally known as the worthy pupil of the cook Lotliarin—and an experienced madam, who, on account of the wedding ,east, bad been engaged from the neighbouring town. It' to this be added the incre dible rattling of pots, kettles, and stewpans ; the running tg and fro dr kitchen-maids, scullery-maids, and waiting nbaids from the tea-room to the parlour, from the parlour to the kitchen, from thence, with basins and towels, down to the little dwelling in the court, where the rooms belong ing to the curate, Mr. Trasselin, had been turned into the waiting-place for the gentlemen ; that is, they could survey iu the curate's little broken glass, which hung in the middle of one of the windows, as much or their outward man as they could discover in it, smooth their hair, tie their neck cloths a little better, fasten the tiny, glittering studs in the shirtfolds, besides many oilier little improvements. I f one imagines to oneself all this, one has a pretty coffee. idea of what was going on behind the scenes. The wedding itself is comfortably managed indoors : MARRIAGE CEREMONY. In the middle of the room stood an altar decorated with flowers, and before it two little stools, covered with the hostess's finest damask napkins, whose dazzling whiteness was heightened by the garlands of myrtle with which they were encircled. After the usual ceremony of greeting and introduction , the vicar signified by a short cough that the time for begin ning the ceremony had arrived. The company arranged themselves in two half circles, the ladies the one side of the altar, and the gentlemen on the other; the doors of the two little side rooms were held by serving-people set apart for that purpose, in order that at the first sign they might be thrown open—the vicar had already gone to fetch his daughter ; a general silence reigned. Suddenly the ex pected signal was given, the doors were flung open, and through the one the bridegroom. Mr. Commissioner Lynnel, accompanied by his honourable father and four young friends, called bachelors or groomsmen, entered ; and through the other walked the bride, leaning in modest bashfulness upon herfather's arm, "with the wreath in her dark hair." She was followed by four bridemaids. The vicar took the prayer-book and moved to one side of the altar ; the young people placed themselves on the other side and at the appointed time kneeled down, when the four bridernairls and the four groomsmen spread out the large red bridal shawl of th e vicar's wife, like a canopy, over the heads of the weeping pair. All the ladies, as in duty bound, held their handkerchiefs and the gentle men their hats before their eyes. In a word, everything seemed to be going on as might be expected at a well arranged wedding. • As in most of this lady's stories, the senti ment is pure and healthful, while all the little incidents of domestic life are so artis tically arranged as to please us by their dramatic effect while conveying au impression of their perfect truth. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. Tux Westminster Review for July is a good number of the new series, and, although we are often at issue with its conclusions in religion and politics, we admit the high intellectuality which pervades most of its articles. It opens with an essay on Cardinal Wolsey, in which a very favourable view is taken of that proud prelate's character, the reviewer impeaching the traditional estimate formed of Wolsey. Upon all great historical characters there is often a reac tionary judgment, and it is possible that Wolsey has been too severely judged by posterity the reviewer before us goes too far in his clever attempt to give a flattering picture of Wolsey. The next article treats of the much-vexed question of how " the beard " should be worn, and we think it rather ridiculous to moot such a question in a " philo sophical" journal. It may as well next give us treatises on toothbrushes and investigate the the ra tionale of corn- cu tting. The queston of " Civil Service Reform " is then discussed with great ability, although the article is rather late in its appearance. Yet we are glad to find that the organ of philosophical Radicalism is decidedly hostile to the bureaucratic and Germanised legislation advo cated by a portion of the Coalition. It fears that such a scheme would prove " an engine of tyranny " (p. 88). It thus records its emphatic disapproval of such centralisation : " When the civil service becomes the sole acting power in the state, ramifying itself through every quarter, and rendering torpid, because useless. all personal and real action on the part of the governed, the day has begun when convenience, ill understood, prepares the wsy for in emedi able evils, when the true processes of government are superseded by acceptable counterfeits, and when the true ends of government are sacrificed circuitously, but not less really, to seductive means." And it counsels us to attend to the distinction " between true freedom and banded, ticketed, con " venient servility." The next article, on " Parody," is too heavy for such an amusing theme, and it is deficient in subtlety of criticism. Its illustrations are not well selected. "The Russo-European Em • broilment" is the subject of the following article, which is vigorously written, and deserves the atten • Live consideration of all who study the Russian IMPIPOPIRMIP THE PRESS. question. Referring to our Prime Minister, the reviewer notices his tardinvs, and writes of " the " series of errors by which either he or Lord " Clarendon has mischievously atilicted the Turks" (p. 124) ; and it further alludes to " the blindness " of the Coalition, and it states in a note : " It has long been known in certain circles that the English Government extorted a secret promise from the Sultan to imprison Kossuth in case of his coming to Turkey. This promise has been more recently published in Viennese newspapers." • - - With the views of the Westminster on the Hungarian question we cannot altogether accord, but we observe that the eventuality is contemplated by the writer of the Czar giving Hungary a Russian prince as an independent sovereign, and playing the nationalities of both Poland and Hungary against Aur,tria, if the latter should actually be hostile. Recollecting the political interest with which the Westminster Review is identified, it is important to observe how decidedly it is opposed to the views of Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright : " How far the war is ultimately to go, the events them selves must decide ; hut it is not premature to discuss, what will be to Europe the lowest infliction on Russia which can suffice to guarantee us against similar evils iu future. Of course, none of the Russo-Turkish treaties must be restored. The Sultan not only must not he forbidden, but must be aided, to build fortresses on his frontier. The Dardanelles must be as open as the Sound to the Western ships of-war. Navigation of the Black Sea and of the Danube must be free to all nations, in fact, not in name. Commerce with the Caucasians must be established No protect irate of Turkish Christians must be allowed to Russia. But all are aware that none of these things can be secured by parchment treaties, and that Russia will feel herself victorious, and be incited to new war, if, having fought her battles on Turkish ground, and in great mea sure at the expense of Turkey, she sutlers no other loss than that of men, which a year or two will repair. To exact money of her is not easy, and, if the exaction be large, will simply be a cruelty on her people ; while it can never give any permanent guarantee. So long as she possesses a single port on the Black Sea, with her territories unim paired. her vast resources will enable her to build larger fleets than the Sultan, at least until Turkey is better culti vated and better ordered." And there is more writing in the same tone. In " Wycliffe and his Times " the reviewer contends that the history of the English Reformation stands in need of a Niebuhr. " Comte's Philosophy " is discussed in a very ambiguous manner in the con cluding article, which is not written with sufficient care. The literary notices at the end of the review are valuable, and merit the attention of all students of current literature. THE first and the last articles in the present number of the London quarterly Review are the best. It opens with a luminous review of Russian his tory, written with great care, and displaying fulness of matter, stated in a temperate tone. Its title is " Russia's Place in Christian Civilisation," and, much as we have read about Russia, we found this essay extremely interesting. The article would deserve a reprint. We cannot say the same of the second paper, treating of " The Modern British Pulpit." We are told of Dr. Bunting, " Without flattery it " may be said of him, taking him all in all, that be "is the facile printer of preachers " (p. 363). Of Dr. Cumming it is observed with more critical pre cision " His style is loose, careless, and repeatedly spoiled by incorrect figures and similes. Perhaps one cause of his failure is the rapidity with which he publishes. It would be of immense advantage—if not to his exchequer, cer tainly to his literary reputation—if he wrote less and thought more ; if he took the same time to write one tho roughly good book which he has hitherto deemed suffi cient for the writing half-a-dozen inferior ones." Further on (pp. 570.580) we are surprised to find Dr. Cumming's powers as a preacher panegyrised in a special article on his works. " The Dukes of Orleans " forms the subject of a historical essay, deficient in novelty of interest. Quarterly organs should take more pains to choose fresh subjects and introduce new writers to the public. The last article in the number, " New Granada," enters into an examination of that overlooked State, and the writer is evidently very familiar with its history and pre sent condition. Its capacities for commercial invest ment are thus enlarged upon " The intense heat of the tropics is mitigated by the vicinity of two great oceans, by the multitude of streams and rivers, by the vast height of the mountains, and the snow on their summits continually pouring iced waters over the plains, and cooling the atmosphere. The timber —in vale, ur hill, or mountain—comprises dyewouds . equal to any in the world; mahogany unsurpassed in richness of grain; cedars like those of Lebanon; ebony unrivalled iu hardness; the niuro unequalled in varied shades ; the chicaranda possessing a capacity for the highest polish; the ohs e and the palm, producing the oils of commerce which our manufacturers have never ob tained in adequate quantities ; and thus the clearance of land. where so many waters are navigable, is a source of profit instead of outlay. New Granada is destined to give In aid in the struggle between free and slve grown productions ; fur the soil is no longer cursed by slavery. A~ NM= SATURDAY, whom it would raise The land languishes for into freeholders." On the whole there is an improvement in the literary character of this new organ of dissent. REPRINTS. - - - THE third volume of Milman's edition of Gibbon (Murray) opens with the two celebrated chapters on Christianity', and contains the reigns of Julian and his successors to the death of Theodosius. The episodical chapters relate to the progress and fall of the Huns, the fortunes of the Goths, and the final destruction of Paganism. Like the previous volumes, •this gives satisfact—ry evidence of Dt. Smith's careful superintendence of the text.—Among the railway books now so much in vague we have Mrs. Gore's clever Pitt money in a single volume ( Rout ledge) ; The Head of the Family, by the author of " Clive," a fiction full of vivacity and character (Chapman and Hall) ; Mr. James's historical ro mance of Attila (Hodgson) ; Maxwell's Dark Lady of Doona, in which the reality of English romance is tinged with the wilder and more imaginative school of Germany ;—and The Roving Englishman, reprinted ' Into► " Household Words " (lioutledge), which, be sides containing much pleasant description of travel, gives sensible hints and valuable advice on many social topics. The Glasgow University Album for 1854. Edited by the Students. Griffin and Co. Tins album is creditable to the literary attainments of the alumni of Glasgow University. The prose, however, contrary to what one might anticipate, is generally superior to the poetry. We all sympathise with the efforts of youth, for effort in itself denotes energy, if not talent, and is indicative of future distAiction. The " Ode of Deborah," thrown into a metrical form, reads magnificently, and is finely characterised in the critical remarks. Look ing through the papers, we were much pleased with one on "Burns as a National Poet," and had marked the following passage for extract before we noticed that the writer was Alexander Smith, whose poems have justly excited so much notice : In thinking of national bards most people recur to Burns and Moore. We do not think they should be coupled together. Burns is the most intensely national poet of any age or country. Moore about the least so. Moore was an instrumentalist, not a singer; he was fatally deficient in earnestness and genius. He could ' do' the carving and gilding in the temple of song; but he could not create the divine gloom, or rear the soaring columns and the awful domes. He was a poet for a world of sylphs and fairies, where existence is a routine of dance and song, not a poet for a world of ' human mortals,' over whom rises the heavens, under whom yawns the abysses. Moore had glorious poetical opportunities—no man more so. He had the magnificent music of his coun try—her wrongs, her sufferings, her glories, the stirring memory of a thousand years ; but, to make these available, he wanted heart and soul, passion and imagination. His country hung before Mtn like a great, many-stringed sorrowful harp, but his were not the fingers to loosen its mighty music. The ' lrish Melodies' are just what one would expect from such a man ; they are witty, graceful, verbally melodious, but they are not the melodies of Ire land—they are not even the melodies of nature. They have their success ; they entranced sentimental young persons; drawing-rooms hung on them in silence; they were voted ' exquisite' over wine ; sung out of doors ; Nature said they were none of hers, and put them out quietly as the sun puts out a kitchen tire. It would seem sacrilegious almost to sing these effusions by the sea shore; how the music would die on the lip ; how trivial and insincere compared with the moaning of the great deep ! Beautiful, in many respects, they are ; but they do not come like blood-drops from the heart of an oppressed and down-trodden nation. Moore,' says Hazlitt in his final way,' has changed the wild harp of Erin into a musi cal snuffbox.' " The contributions which are intended to be humorous are the least successful, and we here perceive few signs of vigorous imagination. But it is not often that youthful minds are fresh in the sense of originality, time and experience being required even by the finest intellects to fuse and mould the knowledge they collect. Here we see the fusing process in its first stage: it is conducted with spirit, though as yet we have only imperfect results, bearing traces of old materials in the shape of thoughts and ideas with which the world has long been familiar. Counterparts ; or, the Cross of Love. By the Author of " Charles Auchester." London : Smith and Elder. V.katous opinions have been expressed on this work. It is one of those singular clnipositions which it is not easy to judge truly. The fancy and eloquence of the writer are undeniable ; but all the materials seem drawn rather from the vivid idealism of an excited imagination, influenced by the conceptions of other mindti, than from the external world. We judge the writer to be a lady, from the extreme delicacy of much of the colouring. We meet hero with many of ommiiMIIMINIIMMIIII IP