The Press. — London, England, 1854-01-07 00:00:00

JANUARY 7, 1854. On comparing the first and the present edi tions of this valuable work we observe that a great number of new woodcuts have been in troduced, and, though the larger and earlier copies may be more suited for the library, for utility and recent information the present edi tion is preferable. The price is now brought within the reach of those who wish to limit their expenditure. We may add, that there are not less than five hundred woodcuts in the present cheap edition of this meritorious contribution to Oriental archaeology. Letters on the Condition of the Working Clauses of Nassau. By T. Twining. London. Tani little pamphlet is valuable in itself, and still more so as being the first of a projected series of which the aim is to inform the English people re specting the physical, social, and intellectual state of working men in other European countries. It is printed for distribution among members of the So ciety of Arta, having originally been intended to ap pear in the journal of that institution. Mr. Twining avoids controversy, dealing solely with facts, and ap proaches his subject with the advantage of a special training, having taken an active part in the proceed ings of the Labourers' Friends' Society. The various topics dealt with are primary education, special or technical teaching, earnings of various trades and classes, and the ordinary expenses incurred by fami lies in each class. Some remarks of a more general character follow ; and, small as is the size of the work, it contains more matter than many elaborate volumes of travel or general description. Why do not more tourists follow Mr. Twining's example— select a subject, one of which they know something previously, and confine their publication, if not their observations, to that ? The time is quite gone by when "Recollections of a Continental Trip," "Rides through France," "A Summer in Germany," or the like, could be either sold or read ;• but real observers, who can think as well as describe, writing briefly, and concentrating their energies ou a few topics, re main as scarce as ever. The field is wide, the har vest profitable—why are the reapers few? In Nassau the German educational system is carried out to the fullest extent. Elementary schools are provided in every village at the public expense—all children be tween the ages of six and fourteen must attend these, unless receiving education elsewhere—so that utter ignorance is impossible. Regular attendance at the school is insisted on, and enforced by a fine levied on the parents in case of failure. Reading, writing, arithmetic, with some knowledge of geography and natural history, are the studies chiefly pursued. The teachers receive only from 101. to 00/. yearly, according to seniority—a miserable pittance, which they eke out by following other trades. Nevertheless, the system appears to work well ; and diversity of religious opi nion ,Nassau being nearly equally divided between Protestants and Roman Catholics, with a slight pre ponderance of the former) is no bar to its success. Secondary or special teaching is less attended to. A rather elaborate plan of apprenticeship prevails—the journeyman must travel before he is admitted to practise as a master—and this final step is not reached without his undergoing a professional examination, and passing through various legal formalities. The earnings of tradesmen vary from 501. to 1001. yearly in the towns ; the rural districts are poor, and trade seldom flourishes among a scattered and hard-living population. Operatives, if " masters," that is, if having regularly graduated in their trade, earn from 3s. to ss. English daily, journeymen from 10s. to 3s. weekly, with board and lodging added. For unap prenticed and independent labourers from Os. to 3s. weekly is considered remuneration sufficient. The food consumed by workers is less substantial than in England, yet not complained of : provisions are cheap, wine and beer both in use, lodging good and not ex pensive. On all these points ample details are fur nished by Mr. Twining. A History of Greece, from the Earliest Times to the Roman Conquest. By William Smith, LL.D. London : Murray. THIS plain yet handsome volume is intended for the use of schools. It contains more than six hundred pages, and is illustrated by a hundred wood en gravings of famous Greeks, of celebrated landscapes, and of the exquisitely graceful and stately remains of the matchless architecture of Greece. Some of the temples are, in the drawings, restored. Besides the views of great buildings, exact tracings of particular walls, with the shape of the stones, are given, so that we may from them obtain an accurate know ledge of Greek masonry. There are also maps, plans of places famed in story, and of battles ; and, ass the majority of these various illustrations are the work of Mr. George Scharf, they are executed with care, and are excellent of their kind. The habits and manners of the Greeks in their every-day life THE PRESS. are described, and (we extract from Dr. Smith's pre face :—) " Considerable space has been given to the history of literature and art, since they form the most durable evi dences of a nation's growth in civilisation and in social progress. A knowledge of these subjects is of far more importance to a pupil at the commencement of his classi cal studies than an acquaintance, with every insignificant battle in the Peloponnesian war, or with the theories of modern scholars respecting the early population of Greece; and, as it cannot be expected that a schoolboy should read special treatises upon Grecian literature and art, these subjects find their appropriate place in a work like the present. " It is perhaps hardly necessary to observe that 1 have i availed myself of the researches of the eminent scholars, both in this country and in Germany, whose writings have thrown so much light upon the history of Greece ; but the obligations I am under to Mr. Grote require a more peuti cular acknowledgment." The style is easy, clear, and concise, and altogether this is a superior schoolbook. Correspondence on the Education of the People, Social and Moral. By Lieut.-Colonel William Pottinger. London Ridgway. AN attempt to trace the brutal propensity of our pea santry to wife-beating and murderous assaults on females up to its source in the juvenile habits of the offenders. Colonel Pottinger, " after eight years of observation and experience,"finds that such outrages, on a smaller scale, are exceedingly prevalent among children, and proposes to have them noticed and punished in the National Schools. It is not easy, however, to see how the schoolmaster is to interfere in quarrels which take place out of his official cog nisance ; and Colonel Pottinger's argument may be turned against himself. He contends that men com mit these acts of violence because they have been ac • customed to them as boys : it would be quite as reasonable to infer that boys commit them because they have seen their fathers and grown-up neigh bours do the like. There is in this respect some de ficiency of logical sequence ; anti the foundation-fact on which his whole case rests needs further corrobo ration. Colonel Pottinger's intention, however, is good, and the execution, so far as it goes, unobjec tionable. Sermons. By Josiah Bateman, M.A. London : Seeleys. THESE sermons were preached at Guernsey during a visit made to that island in search of health. The congregation to whom they were addressed requested their publication, and they merited the compliment. Popular in tone, but avoiding flashy eloquence, they are pithy in matter and practical in their exhorta tions. We liked, especially, the discourse entitled "Bright Spots in the Bible," preached on Romans xii. 9-13 ; and also on "The Power of Prayer," Exodus xvii. 2. The preacher's theology is that of a sound scripturalist. The Turkish Alphabet. Designed by R. B. Brough, and drawn by H. G. Hine. London: Bogue. IN this pantomimic contribution to the Eastern question there is geniality combined with drollery. Though not likely to find a place on the drawing room tables of her Majesty's Ministers, it will be not the less intelligible and welcome to her subjects. The state of the Eastern question is well represented under Q, and the fancy portrait of a Hospodar is pre-eminently Wallachian. Who's Who in 1R54. (Sixth Year.) Edited by C. H. Oakes, M.A. London : Baily Brothers. Tms little volume of reference to English social notabilities is dedicated, by permission, to the Duchess of Sutherland. It gives a list of Peers, M.P.'s, Privy Councillors, the members of the Orders of Knighthood, Queen's Counsel, general officers, &c. &c. But no details or particulars are given about them, and it has the considerable defect of not afibrding the addresses of the members of the Legislature. Selections from the Writings of Lord Byron. By a Clergyman. London : Murray. lir.nE we have two volumes of extracts from the poems, diaries, and correspondence of Lord Byron, bound together in one. The selections have been made very judiciously, and with considerable amount of literary taste. All the characteristic "bits" in his letters have been taken out., and we have in a small space given to us the brightest passages which came from that extraordinary man. In general w e are not partial to volumes containing the "beauties" of an author, fur we dislike the fragmentary method of ex hibition; but the selections befote us have been made sn skilfully, that the volume is removed from that category to which " Howard's Beauties of Lite rature and all such ill-chosen scrapbooks beh•ng. 19 In looking through the prose extracts it is impossible not to be struck with the power of the writer. How different is the incisive style and glowing force of Byron's casual remarks on London society from the triviality and monotonous Boswellism of Moore's diary ! This volume is, altogether, the beat selection of en author's "gems" we know. .1 Dozen Ballads for the Times, about Church Abuses. London : T. Bosworth. IF Mr. liorsman ever thmws his speeches iuto rhyme we should imagine that he was the author of this little series of ballads, which originally appeared in the Daily News. The following advertisement is prefixed to oue of them called " St. Simon and St. Jude":— _ _ " Surrey.—A sporting neighbourhood: Advow•sou to be sold: Eight hundred souls: the shooting good : Incumbent sick and old : Thousand a•year and surplice•fees: (A curate gets all done :) Ity order of the assignees: At Giurowity's: at one'" The description of the curate reminds us of pm is of Schiller, as translated by Sir E. Bulwer Lytton : " Devoted, modest, purr, and kind, And bountiful on means too small, A gentleman in heart and mind, With Christian courtesies to all, Forth on his mission every• day, To combat wrong and comfort right, The humble curate goes his way, And makes his track a stream of light." The type is of that antique kind with the long a, like f, which Mr. Thackeray's " Esmond " made fashionable. The verses are good, and the views they Express those of Mr. Horinuan. A Shillingsicorth of Magic. By J. H. Anderson (the Great Wizard of the North). IT would be unreasonable to expect from a profess ing and practising wizard any full revelation of the contrivances by which his cunning feats are accom plished. He knows better than thus to spoil his own vocation. The reader, therefore, who would ex pect to find included in the present shillingsworth any elucidation of the mystery connected with the lady's disappearance from under the extinguisher, the development of several bushels of flowers from the crown of a hat, or the production of a brimming glass globe and gold fish out of nothing, will be de servedly disappointed. The little volume in ques tion contains a collection of parlour conjuring tricks and chemical surprises very effective iu proper time and place, but the majority of which have been long since described in the "Endless Amusements " and "Boy's Own Books" of a generation which has out grown its childish predilections. Britain's Wreck; or, Breakers Ahead. London: Houlston and Stonetnan. A TRA( T which expresses a desponding view of our social and political prospects ; well-intentioned, and probably a fair exponent of the impressions of a class which is worthy and respectable. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. REmoloN and Reform continue to occupy the r a g es of the Westminster Review, almost to the exclusion of other topics. Elaborate articles upon both subjects are presented in the January number, the ninth of the new series, under the titles of " Constitutional Reform," and " English Religion : its Origin and Present Types." Both papers are characterised by great fulness and great fervour, are written with un questioned ability, and embody the results of careful reflection and laborious research. Thus much we must say in justice to the authors, but with no refer ence to the nature of the conclusions at which they ar rive, or of the principles they seek to enforce : we know, indeed, that their point of view differ% from our own by a whole diameter. To discuss politics with the object of securing for the "masses" a 1= share of power—to treat. of religion as a metaph thesis or emotional expression, while ignoring, eves ostentatiously, the very idea of Revelation—has from the beginning been the idiosyncrasy of the Westmin ster. We accept this as a necessity of its nature, and are able to recognise with less regret the talent that has lately been infused into the Review, because accompanied by a noticeable chastening of the tone of its articles. A milder style, a more courteous phraseology—above all, a more reverent spirit when discussing the faith and the institutions which, to the minds of the vast majority of Englishmen, are sur rounded with peculiar sanctity—have become increas ingly evident, and stand in promising contrast to the virulence and rancour which predominated in the ear lier series of the Iteviose to so offensive an extent. Among the other articles in the present number, those of chief merit are appropriated to " Arnold's Poems," "Strikes," and " Foreign Policy." The last mentioned paper contains a large ~tore of inform*- I it 1 II I