The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-31 00:00:00

DECEMBER 31, 1853. which have repeatedly been made by my honourable friend the member for Sheffield. Ile will again lw deserted by his followers ; he will again be dragged through his diffi culties by his opponents. Some 1 t •st Lord of the T res . bury may determine to quit his office rather than 'Wild all the professions of a life. But there will he little 'Wheal:y iu finding a successor ready to change all his o pinions at twelve hours' notice. I may, perhaps, while cordially supporting the bill, again venture to say something about consistency, and shout the ingiortance of maintaining a high standard of politieal morality. The right honourable bayonet will again tell toe that be is anxious only for the success of his measure, and that he does not choose to reply to taunts. " I teserted by his followers " ! " Dragged through his difficulties" " Belie the profes sions of a life"! Anti again we fiud Mr. Ma caulay talking upon " Maynooth " (p. 378) : Bat far lie it from us to imitate the arts by which we were overthrown. The speetticle exhibited on the bench opposite will do quite mischief enough. That nibs chief will not be lessened, but doubled, if there should be an answering display of inconsistency on this side of the house. If this bill, having been introduced by Tories, shall be rejected by Whigs, both the la- itt parties in the State will be alike discredited. There will he one vast shipwreck of all the public character in the country. But we could fill whole columns with pas sages of similar " disgraceful imputations: . We really pity Mr. Nlacaulay when we read his penitent prefitce, in which he tries to swallow all the invectives which he had spoken against Sir Robert Peel; and the last sentence printed in his volume reads with most humiliating etteet:—" For myself, sir, I hope that 1 am " both a Liberal and Conservative politician. Ah! Mr. Macaulay, your position is too high to stoop to the miserable cant of the head of her Majesty's Government. Such a conclusion to a volume full of exasperating rhetoric is worse than absurd. Oh ! humiliating spectacle to see the great Edinburgh reviewer upon his knees to Peelites ! Oh! contemptible catastrophe to view the once bold-spoken member for ('nine catering to the taste of Mr. Herbert ! Oh ! what would Sydney Smith have said at such a pitiful sight? But we know what ho did say :—" As fur Macaulay, sir, he's only a book in breeches." Of the two editions of the speeches, we are compelled to say that Vizetelly's is a more fitithful presentation of all Mr. Maeattlay's political career. It may have several inaccu racies, but it has no wholesale suppressions. and it is not " doctored " for the purpose of avoiding annoyance to Mr. Macaulay's ancient fifes anti recent friends. In Vizetelly's edition the purchaser also will have the advantage of the portraiture of Mr. Macaulay (copied from Mr. Francis's extremely clever "Orators of the Age "), which is decidedly the best critique that has ever appeared on Mr. Maciudity's manner. THIRTEEN GIFT BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. London : Addey and Co. I. The Picture Pleasure Book for IR./ i. 2. The Clairol. A Book for Boys and Girls. 3. The Adventures of a Dog, and a Good hog too! By Alfred Elwes. 4. The Old Story-teller. Popular German Tales, collected by Ludwig Bechstein. 5. All is not 601,1 that Glitters. By Cousin Alice. (Alice B. Neal.) IL The Settlers at Home. 7. The Peasant and the Prince. K. Feats on the Fiord. 9. The C'nfion Buys. (The above four volumes form a aeries, entitled " The Play fellow," by Harriet Martineau.) 10. The Ice King and the Sweet South Wind. By Mrs. Caroline H. Butler. 11. The Pretty Plate; or, Honesty is the Best Policy. By John Vincent. P 2. Natural History in Stories fur Little Chiblren. By M. S. C. 13. Pretty Poll. A Parrot's own History. Edited by the Author of " The Amyotts' Home," &c. I. The titlepatge tells US that this book con tains nearly :010 engravings by eminent artists We have not verified the number by counting, nor do we know who the artists are, but the engravings are numerous, and some of them are excellent. Many of the illustrations have THE PRESS. appropriate descriptive verse. getioully couplets tuaderueatli. 1. This is a collection of about thirty eon tributions by various authors of very unequal merit. The book is strangely got up, the pages are not numbered. and the last, r erhaps the best, tale in it is not finished. '1 he title of this story is " The Lychetts." The heroine, a young lady, whose wealthy parents are in India, is being educated at a boarding-m.lllOOl in England. Iler natural good qualities are in danger of being spoiled by adulation, when they are restored and strengthened by the sudden death of both parents, leaving a younger brother to her charge. Here is the scene in which she, be fore looked upon as an heiress. learns first that she is an e n Phan, and soon afterwards a pauper. — About four o'chick, when the snuslinty 11:i) was eloatling over. and I felt myself growing dull with despair. httic.lanie anal running into my bedroom. " 411, Miss I,yehett. do you 14e0 the cab at alto 41410 E? .‘,lO there are people in the drawing-room ! And—and—l heard your fitiine I trembled 1441 I could hardly *4600. Thu` neXt haul Made a dart at list laallataa than% " Miss LVVllett thin Miss stop, pray ! Mrs. Dangeliehi has not sent for you yet. I lon . ' go down." " I will!" 1 cried (temperately. "'Thee are isane,-1 know they are, and all the Mrs. Daingctiicitis iu the notta %hall not keep me front un omit father and unither !" 1 ran—how I eau 1111 l t ten—until I found myself at the draw ing•room door. Mrs. 1 tangerlichl was just opening it ; at the sight of me she started hack, " Is it you, child" Go up stairs—go!" But I forced lay way in. Them were three strange people in that. room. I can gee them now !---a gentlemiut like a ship's captain—an Italian ay - lilt—and a little yellow-fneed, sickly boy. " That is your brother, Eunice. Cm and kiss him. There !" said Mrs. Dangertleht, in the kindest tone I ever heard flout her. The boy turned peevishly from me, and set up It whimper. " lint papa and mamma?" I crii 11. all confused and be nut' 111 Y papa nounn l3 ? .. Alio( !tiny - had I 4.11 s Silk, ill two graves, On the rock of tit. !Mena! It is a strange feeling when death first enters the child's little world, and takes IVAny Mane one %%holt', oinseionNly or not, it had tacitly Islieved to be itititiovod. Thus, of the Toils possibilities I loot dreaded with regard to my parents. it had never mue vo n t (' ji l t,' my mind that they might die,--die without my ever having beheld them, or called them by the tM rt.( milers of " father" and " mother." The blow was so sudden, that for the time it situated me, mid 1 wiike oat of it a changed creature. Fnim that thirteenth birthday I was never again " a child." Even now the whole event often seems jar possible and unnatural, and I think of that bans nick in the Atlantic, whew the Indian ships touch at and the great Napoleon died. its some happy island in the far-olf seas, where these my unknown mid never-beheld pitman sit waiting for Riot and me. The tale is to be eoncluded in the next volume, but when that is to appear we are not told. Historical incidents and natural history occupy some space in The Charm." The natural history is well written. The following is front a description of a tame panther, which afterwards, when the property of the Duchess of York, died in England He became exceedingly attached to the governor, mid followed him everywhere like a dog. Iris far •*te station was at a window in the sitting.r“nni, which overlooked the whole town; there, st ling On his hind leg s , Ins fore paws resting on the b a the window, anti Ftis chin NM between them, he sea himself with watching all that was going on. The children wen: also fond of this scene ; and One di , the pantho.r WAR called — presence an ineundirance, they unit, d their Orions and pulled him down by the tail. Ile ont• day missed the g giverniw. uud wuudctcd with a 1iti4T14 . 41 11114 to various parts of the fortress in search of him ; while absent on this errand the governor retunied ti, his private 0501115, mid seated himself at a table to write ; presently he heard a heavy step come up the stairs, and raising his eyes to the olven door beheld Sal. At that moment he gave himself up for lost, fur Sal i tttt nediately sprang from the door till to his neck; instead, however, of di viewing him, he laid his head close to the governor's, rubbed his cheek upon his shoulder, wagged his tail, and tried to evince his happiness. In a paper on Belgium we are sorry to be obliged to notice some gross blunders. Antwerp is stated to be on the left bank of the Scheldt : it is on the right batik, geographi cally. The cathedral is stated to be the highest building in Europe. It is not near) so high as Strasburg Cathedral. But the strangest blunder of all is, King Leopold is stated to have succeeded Louis, the brother of Napoleon, in the sovereignty ! Few chit , dren of ten years old would be guilty of such a mistake in the history of Belgium. The il lustrations arc, like the text, of varying merit : Some are good, others very bad. 833 3. In tins little book the moral, that labour is the lot and the duty of all, is sought to be inculcated. Ordinary events of human life are described us happening to a dog, but it would have been Letter to have described them as happening to a mn. Job, the canine hero, does not think and talk as a dog would if it had reason and speech. The object the author has attempted to accomplish is ilittioult. Swilt succeeded in it ; few others have. Goldsmith once praised an author who bad written it fable in which the actors were fish, " for," said Goldsmith, "he makes his littlo fishes talk as they would if they could speak." Dr. Johnson laughed seornfully. "You may laugh," said but it is not so easy as von may think. how, if von were to try to make little fishes talk, .you would make them talk like great whales. Mr. Elwes makes his dog talk like a not very amusing man narrating various imitlents of his life. The eight ill number, by Harrison Weir, are pretty good. 1 .% ea.llectiou of alarming talcs and fables, profusely illustrated by llichter. The draw ings, whether beautiful or burfe h que, aro sketched with a freedom which dentitrK lilt) 1111040 S hall& spi.eillielk of the text we give, not beeause it is the best, but lie. cause. as it is short, we can give the whole of it ; anti, its poetical justice is indicted on that notorious rogue the fox, it will not 11111 to bt.) popular with the little people : Tim vox ANII 11Altr. A fox anal a hare were travelling together in the winter• time. whru uo ilt•ths were to lit' 61111111 ill tilt. livid., um• any thing viailsle that the soar,rt.llts raalthl rat. "'Phis is hungry wtsillti.r," said the fox lathe hare ; " wt. must go whegging." r., indeed it is." replied the hare, it is hungry every w6a tie; and, in fowl, I Cou ld Vat 1111 (Mit ears, if I had any 111C111114 tat getting them between in jilllll " Nit, while tlicy were thus g • lailiag 1111litliolging they esjaird at a ilistailer a country soatialcit walking along with a Weskit in her lomat, tool foams this basket the wool brought 11l the Hess's 14 the foot a n d Ilie bare at pleasant .mill of new limo& " e i m o ce us'" the fiax ; " ilia coo, Nla‘ti.r lit. slain it sisal leaks Iselieve to IN' dead ; t h e girl will set dila . a her ; sisal Caine and OA you up 1 • 411* the hake Id * 1 • skin, to wake ghat vs ; meanwhile I will poottelt up the basket and moats off with it liar our owls eating." The hare fiat's% 4.4 l this /1111 lee. While the fox hid himself 1s Lied a snow•drift. l'iesently Wit 141111 I) the girl, and, wring the hoist. stri•tchist out all Braes, A li . s e t ha r I ms kyt down, anal stamarit to tate tip tlii. animal. At the SKIII4. 1111/1111•Ilt Nat Ili t h e 1111, MA Cat Ching iii) the 11111 tall'. closely followed by the bare, who suddenly Ca •to life again. 11511 Ilia. 1141 I'r hi , / al 101111 • Citi5'ti that tow fox had ins intention of sharing the issoleols of the basket; but lie 11111511' no 'vomit' until they isms,. to ' ,mall ita s talubliii. Ili' Mill to the 11 ax, '• Width' it 1114 11e a nice tiling to gal some 11.1. to vat with • latalial, dolt WI. should 11'11lIt like great ? 110 'MI hang your tail down a little Iselow the water, and then the fish will lay hold a , f it, bar they luny not •la to rot tit tin* 011.14S011; but make liable, or else the yowl will fiet.zu over !" The fox, without suspecting any trick, Ilipposl loin tail in the water, whirls war upon the point of freering, and kept it there till the ice winedy had fornacal ; anal Nil his tail W 115 set. 61.4 Then the liars. °rued t h e baskui, anal f. 01111• lwforr the apt.'s If t h e t h e 1..1111'04 whirl s were ill it. And as he finished I'llol hllertisMiVll mall ho Mill to the fox in a mocking tone, " Wait a hit, and it will thaw ; wait till spring-time, anal it o ill thatw!" Anal when ha. had a men all the 111.410 he Eno away, leaving the pour fox in at ragging passion, like a dog chained to 114 alt, 5. A well-written American tale, in which the father of a family by indulging in drink ing it. T4l retrieve him fortunes he goes to l'alifiornia, where, becoming as avaricious as he was before profuse, lie overworks him self and dies in acquiring wealth. Sam, his son, the good genius of the tale, is with him, and, after meeting with many surprising ad ventures, none of them out of the range of Cad &within lortablibility, he beetsmes the means of settling his mother and sisters in decent comfort in that the first-found land of gold. The moral of the tale is, be tl'llliPerilte in all things, even in industry. Alany vlvid glimpses of humble house life in are revealed throughout the work. 6,7, N, 9 The hilt is the he!-t, and a favourite book of schoolboys. 10. A pretty littl► hook, with some good illustrations, in which the trees are very well drawn. The instigator of evil is personified as the lee King. the spirit of good as the Sweet South Wind. The Wks, of which