The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-02 00:00:00

886 pockets of the lower classes of taxpayers, and had greatly exasperated the women." The letter gives a very good account of the be haviour of the people during the ten days that elapsed between the sending for and the arrival of Espartero, and a graphic description of the appear ance of Madrid under the infliction of two hundred and eighty barricades "of the first magnitude." Upon the question of Isabella's abdication, the writer affirms his belief "that if Isabella were to sign her " act of abdication to•morrow it would be joyfully " received by a large portion of the nation, but that " discord would ensue as to who or what should re " place her." Speaking of the chances of several suc cessors, Pedro V., King of Portugal (with an English princess for his wife), appears to have a strong party of the nation in his favour; but Queen Isabella may yet live and reign if she takes a lesson from the manifesto that she signed upon the 26th of July. Fraser of this month contains many readable papers. " How to Get On at the Bar " supplies a series of invariable rules to be followed by inexperienced juniors, under all possible circumstances, from the first step of entering at the Temple or Lincoln's-inn to the quality of the candles that are to be used in chambers, and the fineness of cambric and linen to be worn upon circuit. "The Church among the Tall Chimneys " is an elaborate article upon the state of church accommodation in the large town districts as compared with the residue of England and Wales, and contains some curious facts relative to the attendance at religious wor ship. Beyond all doubt the spiritual apathy of the poorer classes in the manufacturing districts, and indeed of other classes as well in the rural dis tricts, is a very serious evil, and the problem to be solved is not so much regarding the number of new churches to be built as the means to be employed in successfully overcoming this national torpor. The present article recommends an increase in the number of clergy in the large towns, and the better pay of the curates, but very justly insists upon the necessity of private individuals not forgetting their duties as men and Christians. Hafiz, the Persian poet, gives us a pleasant page or two, with a remark able ode of the great poet. " General Bounce" continues to be amusing in his two chapters of love and military life. The concluding articles upon the " Phases of War at St. Petersburg" and " The Garrisons of the Crimea " afford much sta tistical information, conveyed in a lively, readable style. The New Monthly presents us with various arti des, all of more or less interest. The controversy upon the " Sites of the Doomed Cities" is carefully sifted in the opening, but no satisfactory conclusion arrived at, although a belief is expressed that M. de Saulcy has been too hasty in his obseivations and somewhat superficial, and that the solid, though un scientific, researches of M. Van de Velde are certainly worthy consideration. The review of " Kingsley's Edinburgh Lectures" is well written ; and the " Diary of a First Wintet in Rome " has invested a stale but not unprofitable subject with a freshness and piquancy that is quite delightful, although the description of Verdi's opera of the Novatore is a little tedious. The " Stray Letters from the East," and a " Flying Visit to the Seat of War," are both light, amusing articles. The " Flying Visit" gives not a bad idea of the camp life at Varna. " Capital " dinners and jolly evenings, though fourteen men " smoking at once iu the tent of one is to be avoided 4 ' when possible!" The correspondent of a leading journal is here described " as living in a spacious ' Egyptian marquee, giving frequent champagne • dinners, Ste. tkc.; which fact will probably account fir the numerous delusions which appear to have h therto affected the brain of that gentleman in his lacubrations from the seat of war. The Hay' Sisters. By Miss Jewsbury. London : Chapman and Hall. THE fictions published by this firm in their " Select Library " have all been of a high character, and " The Half Sisters" will sustain the reputation of the series. It is a tale of the heart, written with great eloquence and feeling, yet showing in many passages the shrewdness of a penetrating intellect. It is not wanting in adventure, but its interest mainly arises from the development of the characters, which are drawn with great distinctness and reality. So much romance with so much acuteness are not often corn biped in one tale. The conclusion of the story, in which Mr. Simpson, the theatrical manager, appears to fitly connect the last with the first scene, has the artistic finish of the French school, while reflections like these, with which we enrich our brief notice, would do credit to the cleverest of our social satirists : " In this world men cannot resist the temptation of making money when they have an opportunity, or turning aside from a bargain ; but there is t.. great deal of good nature for all that We all know d eal o we feel constrained to do a good deed rather beyond our !strength, our soul is, as it were, haltchoked in the attempt to swallow it, and, instead of feeling nourished and re- THE PRESS. freshed, and experiencing that sense of satisfaction which is said to be the accompaniment of good deeds, a fit of splenetic humour is generally the actual result, a sort of sulky protest against our conscience, for being so exigiante, and there is not a scrap or a remnant of good nature left for the accidental need of the occasion." - - " The most innocent, respectable life in the world takes, as everybody knows, a very questionable, shabby-virtuous air, when recorded in a court of justice • much like the aspect of articles in a pawnshop, whic h,' no matter how good they may be, always lose the halo of respectability which made them shine in their original sphere " " Society, civilised society, is enamelled in cant. Every pore is stopped, and a thick veneer of make believe is spread over everything. What a talk, for instance, there is just now about the condition of women; and how much do you think can come nut of all that is said, sung, and written upon the subject? It is quite deplorable, and I thank God every time I say my prayers that He did not make me a woman to be given over to patent moralists." Soyer's Shilling Cookery for the People. London : Routledge and Co. M. SOYER, in his preface, tells us how and when the idea first presented itself to his mind that he might render his culinary knowledge of infinite benefit to the million; so, giving up the Reform Club and the Rite Gf society, he thereupon betook himself to the abodes of the poor, to study their habits, their wants, and their mode of cookery. The results of his in vestigation are contained in this shilling book, which is well stored with plain lessons on plain cookery, and many hundred useful recipes. But it is t 3 be feared that " the artisan, the mechanic, and the " cottager," for whom the work is professedly in tended, will find many of the instructions above their means. It is related of Brummel that when in his poverty he was assailed by a clamorous beggar for a penny, he replied, "I don't know what coin you " mean, my poor felluw, but there's a shilling for " you." In the first lessons given here similar igno rance of the economy of the poor is manifest. It is of little use telling a cottage housewife that to make soup she is to cut up two pounds of veal, and then add butter, bacon, onions, cloves, mace, carrots, turnips, and celery, as well as " a " few green peas when in season ;" or that to fry rump steak properly she must add two ounces of butter, half a pound of oyster sauce, with a sprink. ling of flour and a dash of ketchup. Such recipes, though benevolently conveyed by Hortense and Eloise (who, by the way, seem out of place here), are little likely to be of much use to labouring people. If M. Soyer be really intent on benefiting them, a cheaper pamphlet from his pen, with plain directions on cooking such food as they eat, would be more likely to fulfil his aim. Classes higher in the social scale, who may look for not only pheasant and par tridge, but accompanying bread sauce, for hare with currant jelly, lobster salad, lemon pudding, straw berry cream, and other aids to a well-furnished table, will find M. Soyer's instructions both convenient and economical. Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands. By Mrs. Stowe. London : Itoutledge and CO. THE decision by which foreigners are precluded from the protection of copyright in this country, unless by virtue of express treaties, has thrown Mrs. Stowe's hook into the market with all its imperfections on its head. The wrong she sustains is the greater, as in any future edition, issued under her own care, she would mos: likely have removed the blots which now disfigure her hastily-penned " Memories." Ap it is, we suppose that such phrases as " the room was a "perfect jam of legal and literary notabilities," with more serious faults in expression and errors in state ment, must pass without possibility of effective cor rection. The work in its present shape will no doubt, from the popularity of " Uncle Tom," meet with a large sale ; and though, for the amiable au thoress's own sake, we wish it had not been so incon siderately published, yet, on the whole, we have every reason to be gratified with her skin-deep sketches of our society. The Great Highway. By S. Fullom. London Routledge and Co. A THIRD Enmos of Mr. Fullom's novel, if the " third" be genuine, shows that the author, in his own person, has no cause to complain of literature being neglected, unless, indeed, he considers that his works have been of a nature to claim "the rewards of the " Crown, and the patronage and consideration of the " Government." It is true, we believe, that, as a pro fession, literature presents greater obstacles than any other to real success, and we are afraid that the pub lishing system now in vogue is adverse to the interests of original authorship. But these are con siderations foreign to the feeble caricature of Mr. Fullom's sketches. The story is a fair specimen of book manufacture, and to some extent illustrates the truth ofthe writer's remark, that the secret of literary success is—connection. SATURDAY, The Principles of Elocution. Dublin: Curry. A WELL-AHRANGED compilation from Archbishop Whately's " Elements of Rhetoric," giving the ideas of this shrewd writer on the true principles of elocution, and on the best method of acquiring the art of expressing thought in a clear, forcible, and natural manner. Students in training for any pro fession requiring some oratorial skill will find this tract full of sound and express rules for their profit. The Young Poet's Assistant. By an Old Reviewer. London: Saunders and Otley. THE young poet who requires an assistant to tell him what to write, and when to write, will be likely to re quire another still more important person—a reader. This trifle calls for notice only as indicating how much paper must be sroiled by versifiers when a guide is published expressly for their use. The remarks are sensible and well meant, but genius is not likely to heed them, and to any lower order of talent what can be said but "poets nascitur non fit"? Ma. WYLIA Map of the Crimea is a valuable addition to our geographical knowledge of that por tion of the Russian possessions. Upon a large and comprehensive scale, the present map notonly marks the great military roads throughout the country, but every cross-road and track from one village to another is drawn so clearly that, if extensive inland operations take place, the positions of the contending armies can be fixed or followed with accuracy and interest. The plan of the town and harbour of Sebastopol ap pears to be carefully drawn; but certainly the ranges of the guns in the batteries, if correctly marked, do not say much for the Russian engineers, who, though designing such powerful sea defences, arm them with guns that scarcely range a thousand yards. Mr. Wyld deserves every praise for thus keep ing pace with the events of the day, and the demand of the public fur authentic maps of the seat of war. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. The Last Days of Diserth. A Poem. W. G. Starbue k. Saunders and Utley. Annotated Edition of the English Poets, " Wyatt." Parker and Son. Books for the Country, "Shoot hag." R. Blakey. Routledge. Fish and Fishing in the Lone Fens of Scotland. H. Knox. Ditto. Dogs and their Management. E. Mayhew. Ditto. The Pride qf Life. Lady Scott. Ditto. The Happy Colony. 11. Pemberton. Saunders and l)tle)•. Sabina. J. B. l'hilpot. Ditto. Gibbon's Roman Empire. Vol. V. W. Smith, LL.D. Murray. PAMPHLETS. Prurledings of the Decimal Association. Rickerby. Uccasional Sermons. No. 42. C. Wordsworth. Rivingtons. fortign girt, Xittraturt, t. THE CHINESE DWARF, CHIN-GAN, forming part of the Chinese jugglers lately exhibiting at Berlin, died some days ago in the Charitk Hospital, and was in terred in the neighbouring cemetery. He was a native, it is said, of Pekin. The remainder of the party are exhibiting at Krolls, and it appears that a sort of Wagner process is being carried on between them and another theatre director, to whom their former conductor, a Mr. Watts, engaged them fur exclusive perfo: mances, under a penalty of 5001. M. SOYER, the celebrated founder, who cast the column of July on the Place de la Bastile, and other great works, has just died. THE HAURSTEIN TUNNEL, near Bale, in Switzerland, is pierced to a length of 335 feet on the southern and 400 feet on the northern side of the mountain. The three shafts are 174, 120, and 220 feet deep. The whole tunnel, 8,300 feet long, must be ready in August, 1856. Trial trips are to take place in Octo ber on the Bile-Sittach portion of the central line, which is expected to be ready for traffic in November THE DIRECTOR OF THE SWISS TE:LEORAPHS has issued a tariff for despatches to the chief places abroad. The minimum for twenty-five words from Bellinzona to Bergamo, for instance, is sf. The maximum from several chief stations to Dublin is H . 14s. 3d. From twenty-six to fifty words the cm; munication costs double; to one hundred, treble. A provisional tariff has been fixed for the Swedish tele graph. It is excessively low. A despatch of thirty words, the whole way from Stockholm to Helsing borg, will only cost one dollar sixteen skillings bang o (about two shillings sterling). The telegraph dis tance is 120 German miles. The patent has been signed allowing M. T. P. Shaffner, the American agent, to construct an electric telegraph from North America, over Greenland, Iceland, and the Feroes, to Norway and Copenhagen. A plan is in agitation for a continuation of the Danish electric telegraph direct to England, over the sea from Toning.