The Press. — London, England, 1854-05-20 00:00:00

= 474 human race. If Lord Robert jots down in his travel ling journal meditations to serve as materials for future speeches at Exeter ball or the Society of Arts the orations would be fresher, but his books would be more amusing if he abstained from printing them. REPRINTS OF FICTIONS. REPRINTS have so accumulated on our shelves of late that we must notice them briefly. Mr. Deacon's Ad ventures of a Bashful Irishman is cleverly written, though we cannot say that the title is well sustained. The matter sometimes borders on caricature, but the author's fertile mind and animated style pleasantly hurry the reader through this laughable volume. — Beauchamp is a fair example of what may be aptly termed Mr. James's style of standard romance. The opening page describes a horseman on "a pleasant " country road," at " eventide, when the sun," &c.— Mr. Ainswor les Lancashire Witches makes a bulky book of near 500 pages. In this edition of his ro mances one misses the plates, having so long been accustomed to have his ideas illustrated by a black ground, with the darkness relieved by the gleam of a terrible axe, or a pair of white eyes starting out of the head of their astonished owner.—" Fifth edition" stamped on the cover of Mary Barton indicates the popularity of that class of fiction which closely ad heres to reality, even when the theme—as factory life in a factory district—appears unpromising.—Sir Bul wer Lytton's Rienzi, on the contrary, exhibits truth under an imaginative aspect, and finds a far wider circle of admirers. This would be thought strange if the proof were not before our eyes ; yet, at any rate, not more strange than the contemporaneous po pularity of Crabbe and Byron. The mind in its finer faculties has wide sympathies, or how else, in galle ries, should we see the works of Wilkie and Turner equally prized?—The Blithedale Romance of Mr. Hawthorne reminds us that America can boast at least one distinguished living novelist. His success is independent of the adventitious causes which gave such mushroom growth to the popularity of " Uncle Tom." It is an intellectual success. We speak by the card when we say that the Scarlet Letter ap proached nearly to the original invention and graphic power of Scott's best historical style.—The Cardinal' s Daughter is a romance of Henry the Eighth's day ; and agreeably relates how Anne Boleyn became Queen, and how she laid her head on the block with out a murmur, because she remembered " that Ka " tharine's obstinacy had alienated the King from " his daughter by that Queen," and she was resolved that her child should not suffer the same fate from the same cause. The Life of Nicholas 1., Emperor of AU the Russia,. With an Appendix. By Edward H. Michelsen, Phil. D. London : Spooner. ELIA, in one of his essays, amusingly describes the distorted aspect which cne who has inflicted a wrong presents to him who has sustained it. Thus, if an errand boy with a slight cast in one of his eyes em bezzles and absconds with a bank note belonging to his employer, the latter is sure, in the advertisement furnished to the Hue and Cry, to describe the visual defect as " a horrible squint, which gives to the countenance an expression truly diabolical." Such is the case with the Emperor of Russia at this mo ment, in the numerous brochures published respect ing him. His mental obliquity has been character ised as insanity; his bodily ailments have been gout, erysipelas, apoplexy, and fever, at one and the same time. But the work before us, though it is " still the same triumphant song," sins less in this respect than many others we have lately read. Without con taining anything new, it recounts succinctly the leading incidents of the reign of Nicholas, and the events which gave him the throne—the death of Paul, the death of Alexander, and the mysterious abdication of Constantine. The first, in a midnight tumult, was strangled, and died gasping out, " Spare my life, gentlemen, for Heaven's sake ! Give me at least time to say a prayer !" The second, who was certainly cognisant of the plot which led to the murder, died in his bed, though not quietly, for his last words to his physician, Sir James Wylie, were, " My friend, what a deed ! what a horrible deed !" Will the " thick-coming fancies" that throng the deathbed be, in the case of Nicholas, of a hue less dark ? Ministering Children. A Tale. London: Seeleys. HERE we have an attempt to illustrate what our trans atlantic cousins would call the." philosophy of cha rity." In this prettily-written story it is shown that there are better ways of relieving the poor than by giving them money. Perhaps so. The practice of almsgiving, judging by such straws in the air as this, is falling into disrepute ; yet, to relieve temporary or accidental distress, what better example can we have than that of the Samaritan, who did what was neces sary for the time being, without staying to think of consequences? The whole tone of the story is pious, and it is evident that the aim of the writer is purely benevolent. THE PRESS. The Laws of War• affecting Commerce and Shipping. By H. Byerley Thomson, Esq., 8.A., Barrister-at- Law. A New Edition. London : Smith, Elder, and Co. MR. THOMSON says in his preface that the success which attended the " first edition of this treatise " has induced him " to add largely and materially to this (the second) edition." The treatise—if we re member accurately—was published in the form of a pamphlet, and perhaps it would have been better to have adhered to that form which had already proved successful. The work may be useful as showing where the authorities are to be found, but in its pre sent shape it is expensive. 1. Foolish War from False Peace. By Raven's Bane. 2. Paradox of Popular Rights. By the same Author. Edinburgh : Thomson. IN the first of these pamphlets the writer establishes his political sagacity by contending that the Red Republicans would have been better allies of England than France and Austria; his knowledge, by con founding Poerio with the first; and his manliness and humanity, by expressing enthusiastic admiration of the cowardly assailants of the late General Hay nau. The second pamphlet is not inferior to the first. The Bank Charter Act in the Crisis of 1847. London : Richardson Brothers. AFTER having read this pamphlet we had to inspect the titlepage to assure ourselves that it was a recent publication. The date 1854 is certainly printed legibly on the outside, but its contents relate to Sir Robert Peel's financial views, Lord George Ben. tinck's opinions, and Mr. Disraeli's life of that la mented nobleman. Notwithstanding the ample time for reflection which the author has enjoyed, his pamphlet might have been yet longer delayed with out disadvantage to the public. The Two Princes; or, Sterlingcoin and Shamabram. A Fairy Tale. By E. H. London : Hardwicke. THE authoress may call this a fairy tale, but it is an inaccurate title : it is an allegory, in which the virtues and vices are personified, and contend for dominion over the Princess Selfwilstrong. Very young children would not understand it, and older ones would scarcely admire it. We have the less hesitation in stating this because it requires a mind of a high order and very peculiar powers to write a good child's book. The Land we Live In. A Pictorial and Literary Sketch-book of the British Islands. London: Orr and Co. This is Part 11. of a work judiciously conceived and well executed, in this age of travellers. Following the lines of railway, it describes the places of note and interest on the routes. The present number commences with Oxford, and, by way of Birmingham and Stratford- upon-Avon, ends at Shrewsbury and Chester. This pleasant journey is illustrated by nu merous engravings on wood and steel. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. Letters from the Nile. J. W. Clayton. Bosworth. Lecturee on Architecture and Painting. J. Ruskin. Smith end Elder. The Iron Cousin. M. C. Clarke. Routledge. Russia and the War. Captain Jesse. Longman and Co. The Black Tulip. A. Dumas. Hodgson. The Caucasus. I. Golovin. Triibner and Co. A Trip to Sea. G. Miller. Simpkin and Marshall. The Scarlet Mystery. J. G. Macwalter. Nisbet and Co. An Introduction to the Latin Language. A. H. Monteith. 1 )arton and Co. Autobiography of a Working Man. Third Edition. Hardwicke. PAMPHLETS. King Nutcracker. Orr and Co. Bell's Popular Stenography. Hamilton and Co. Cronstadl and the Russian Fleet. Parker and Son. The New York Qua rterly. New York : Norton. New Translation of the Apostolic Epistles. Part I. T. W. Peile, B. 1). Rivingtons. Points of War. F. Lnshington. Macmillan and Co. Report of the General Board of Health, 1848-64. Eyre and Spottiswoode. Easter and the Eastern Crisis. A Sermon. Bosworth. Nsw Deodill. A Song. 011ivier and Co. Miss FREDRIKA BREMER has written a warm ap peal to the Swedish Parliament. in favour of the Jews, who are now subject in Sweden to innumerable injuries. In Denmark and in Norway they are entirely free. SATURDAY, lint gilts. EXHIBITIONS OF FRENCH AND GERMAN ART. (121, fall-mall, and 16$, New Bond•etreet). THE line arts have no country, or, more properly, belong to all. We are very glad of the opportunity which the opening of these two very interesting exhi bitions affords us of comparing the several schools of France, Germany, and England ; and it is with much satisfaction, though without the least conscious partiality, that we venture, on the whole, to pro_ nounce an opinion in favour of our own country. There is much that the artists of each country might learn from the school of the other. Those both of France and Germany exhibit a care in execution, an attention to detail, and, above all, an accuracy in drawing which our painters are far from possessing; while the English artists, on the other hand, have a decided superiority in colouring, in effect, and, gene rally speaking, in correctness of taste. In Lur notice of the Royal Academy last week, while expressing our regret that the pre-Raphaehte absurdity should have taken such strong hold of our artists, we observed that it had not been imported into England till it had been abandoned on the Con tinent. These two exhibitions corroborate our re• mark. We do not observe in either a single picture that can be attributed to the " false " or the " true school" of meditevalism. The French collection now exhibited in Pall-mall contains several pictures of undoubted merit, and well worthy the attention of our artists and their patrons. In the small space which we allow our selves it would be difficult to point out all the pic tures which particularly struck us, or which we should wish to recommend to the attention of our readers. We shall briefly notice a few that appear to us among the most striking. Many of the best pictures in each exhibition have already been sold. Lord Ellesmere has pur chased one of the most striking pictures in the French collection for the large sum, if we are rightly informed, of 1,2001. No. 126 of the cata logue, taken from a beautiful episode in the fifth canto of Dante's "Inferno," represents the punish• ment of Francesca da Rimini, and her guilty brother in.law, Paolo Malatesta, by M. Ary-Schetfer. The couple united in the same punishment are borne for ever on the restless wings of the whirlwind, which permits them no respite excepting for the few mo ments in which the female spirit details her sad story to the poet and his guide. The painter has represented the guilty couple with taste and feeling : the figures of Virgil and Dante are necessary to the story, but can hardly be made to appear other wise than poor and intrusive. This fine pic ture, which the painter has repeated more than once we believe, has met with a general and well-merited admiration. We may regret a want of colour, and something of meagreness of form, particularly in the female figure ; and, in justice, we must observe that the composition reminds us of the design for the same subject by our own Flaxman, one of the hap piest certainly of his illustrations of the Florentine poet. The motto on the frame is ill chosen, wo think. " Ancor non m'abbondona " would better have expressed the conception of the painter. No. 127, "The Entombment," by the same artist, is far inferior both in conception and execution. The de• sign is closely imitated from the Italian masters of the sixteenth century, but truth and reality are want ing, and the colouring is feeble. No. 38, "The Great Artists of the Revival," by M. Paul Delaroche, officer of the Legion of Honour. This composition is painted in fresco in the Hemi cycle of the " Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris." As the design for a fresco, intended to be seen from a dis tance, this clever and ingenious composition must not be tried by the rules we apply to cabinet painting. Many of the individual figures are very happily con ceived, the likenesses are well preserved, and as much unity of subject is given as its unmanageable nature permits. We think the artist has judged very wisely in attempting no classification of his illustrious pre• decessors in chronological or national order. The scene is the Elysium of Genius, where all earthly dis tinction of time and place is annihilated. The coin position fails unfortunately at the very point to which the eye is first. directed. The three great fathers of art, Ictinus, Apelles, and Phidias, surrounded by the impersonations of the genius of after ages, are mean and inexpressive figures. Seated side by side in shadowy grandeur, half-draped and inanimate, they appear the deities to be worshipped rather than the great progenitors of the race over which they reign in undisputed sovereignty. No. 39, " The Death of the Duke of Guise in the Château de Blois," by the same distinguished artist. This picture seems rather to represent the scene in a theatre than an actual event. The facts of this re markable story, if we remember tight, are not cor rectly rendered. The unfortunate prince was stabbed in the antechamber, and not in the royal bedroom, as represented in the picture : his arm sprea d out I MN