The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-03 00:00:00

I" attentive perusal, inasmuch as it displays an amount of labour and research, not to mention ingenuity, on the part of the author which we could scarcely expect to find in a work of so ephemeral a character. 3. Fratheral Farourites is as elegant a vo lume for the drawing-room table as we have seen for many months. The pictures of birds are in caretully-coloured medallions, each surrounded by a gilt border of adjuncts, illus trative of their habits. We may especially select for praise those which represent the woodpecker and the tomtit. All these pictures are accompanied by appropriate selections of leading passages from the poets applicable to the particular species, which arc printed upon paper of the substance of vellum. The volume is well and tastefully bound. 4. We have included the Art-Journid in our list of books for the drawing-room table On account of its peculiar meritoriousness in its sphere. Without high pretensions the con tents of its monthly numbers do credit to the attempt to sustain a continuous interest in art. The engraving from the Raphael at the commencement of the present number issofter and better than usual. The views of ruins end" restorations" in Rome are interesting : and the letterpress and engravings combined are One of the marvels of this cheap era. The Causes of the Turkish Invasion of Europe. (The Le Bas Prize Essay for 1N53.) By Spencer I'. Butler, B.A. London : George Bell. Mn. once observed that prize Miceli were only lit for candles, and prize essays to light them but the present pamphlet deserves to be included among the many exceptions to this rule. As a preli minary to the consideration of the climate and habits of the Mongols, the following is a description of the region from whence they have sent forth so many waves of successful invasion : " Stretching over eighty degreesof longitude, and thirty. Ave. of lattitude, from the Volga to the wall of China, from the Himalaya to Siberia, lies the great Asiatic basin. noise and Africa present to our view no such peculiarity. In America there is no natural basin litany very great magni tude. lint in Asia, over an area as large as entire I':urgs•, the rivers are denied u► rail to the sea. the functions of the ocean being supplied by the Caspian, and the smaller lakes, salt and fresh, that stud the surface of this enormous die. trice. " Nor in this its only distinctive. feature. Nearly one-third of it is occupied by what is termed the desert of Shame), con taining the highest table-land in the world, and ranging for the most part between :IMO and 4,1 N xi feet above the level of the sea. Respecting the nature of this desert our accounts arc at variance. MM. Hite and tiabet &writse the eastern portion, which they have traversed, as bleak, arid, and in hospitable, and supplying nu vegetation tsar the support of man er beast. It may be that the central and western re gime; are kale desolate, for we are elsewhere told : "fhe soil is in general of great natural fertility. There are. eomparatively, but few genuine deserts. The wide-extended plains without a shrub, which have sometimes received that appellation, and which the Pencians call steppes, are covered( with a luxuriant grass, admirably fitted fur the pas ture of their numerous Hocks and heels. The principal defect of this extensive country is a want of water, but it is asid that the its which are supplied with this neees.cary article wool(' be sufficient for the support of four times the number of its present inhabitants, if it were properly cul tivated.' The remainder of the basin,from all the accounts which we possess, varies from the most luxuriant pasture land noind the Aral, and in the valley of the Ili, to poor and sterile plain. " Such is the present aspect of Central Asia, and such too in all probability it appeared in the days when its occupant* bore the terrible and mysterious title of Sey thians." The Laws of Artistic Copyright and their Defects. By D. Roberton Blaine, Esq. London : Murray. BY this treatise the protection to which sculptors, painters, and engravers are entitled under the exist ing law is defined, and the remedies by which those lights can be enforced are discussed. The impor tance of the subject may bo judged of from the fact that the number of objects of art, chiefly drawings, sculptures, and paintings, exhibited this year in Lou don alone were .I,lBs—the work of 1,117e2 artists—and of course those exhibited are but a small proportion of the number executed, and equally entitled to pro tection. If a copyright, even of the most !riding value, is invaded, the remedy of the proprietor is in the Court of Chancery ; he may also sue at law for damages or penalties; but front some strong facts stated in the treatise the necessity of a cheap, neves %Ode, and efficient tribunal for the protection of the proprietors of copyright is very justly inferred. The first chapter treats of the five acts that protect the painter and engraver. The first of the series was passed by the efforts of llogarth. The subject of the THE PRESS. second chapter is copyright relating to etchings, en gravings, maps, de., first published in Great Britain or Ireland. The third chapter treats of copyright in sculpture, the fourth suggests amendments in the existing law, and the rest of the work, the whole of which comprises eighty-five pages, is occupied with the statutes on copyright and an index—the latter very necessary. This treatise is stated to be intended for the use of " artists, sculptors, engravers, print sellers, de." It will give them much useful informa tion, but it will prove more valuable to the lawyer. The Christian Life. By Robert Montgomery, M.A. Sixth Edition. London: Rivingtons. A %Tint few years have elapsed since the Queen was pleased to give permission that this volume of reli gious musings in verse should be dedicated to her Majesty. Such a compliment from so illustrious a critic was a special ter•timonial, of which the worthy writer of these poems may be justly proud. To the mere literary critic, the fact that these poems have reached a sixth edition furnishes additional evidence (if it were wanted) that Johnson's remarks on the alleged failure of religious verse may be erroneous. One of these poems, " The Dying Girl," is probably not unknown to many readers of our modern poetry. The following stanzas in it have pathos and sweet ness : They wheel her round each garden walk N 1 here oft her lisping( childhood (dap!, And loved to hear the old nurse talk And soothe her when she seenfd afraid, While danced her ringlets as s h e prat•led ou More playful than the 'Ards she loved to gaze upon. She lookm as they alone who feel The /ad of earth before them lie s , While o'er them *Acted ment'ries steal Which melt the heart into the eyes,— For, tree and turret, w.skds end uplands, all Back to the dying girl her childish past recal! Itreantlike the hush of twilight floats Veiling the lilac bOwers around; While in the air melodious notes I)f s o ft &kali oil sweetly sound : Th. landscape, like a conscious mourner , seems . . . To lie in brotsiing shade, and sadden as it dreams. The last two lines are full of poetry, and describe the sensations which many of us have experienced in looking at nature, while under the influence of de pressing emotions. If we had space we would proceed to criticise Mr. Montgomery's production►. Less metaphysical in his choice of topics and mode of treating them than he was at the commencement of his literary career, his poetry has more reality and circumstantial fidelity to nature than when he sang of the Infinite, and sought to embody the Eternal. The phases of religious life he depicts with the ani mation that springs from genuine pathos ; his sentimentalism is supported by considerable imagerial facility ; and the thorough earnestness of his purpose combines with his mental characteristics to waft these poems far and wide, wherever the Christianity of England prevails. nc►nocritui in London, dr. London : Pickering. WE cannot make out distinctly the purport of this book, which consists mainly of a series of metropolitan Seellel4, suggesting satirical reflections, for the most part in I ludibrastic metre. The satire, such as it is, is vague and obscure, and is amplified, rather than illustrated, by elaborate notes, which, regarded with out reference to the text, show considerable reading. Hut then the notes have no obvious connection with the subject, whatever that may be, and distract the attention from what is otherwise barely intelligible. In short, the hook is a puzzle. Its versification is in parts easy and flowing, but we have looked in vain for a quotable extract. The Honourable John Warden on the Administration of Justice in India. London: Taylor. Tins pamphlet consists of letters of the gentleman whose name is upon the titlepage to Mr. Gregor Grant, one of the dismissed judges of the Staler t'ourt, with illustrative comments by the latter gentle man, which, as far as we can judge from an exparte statement, tend to show that he has been very unfairly treated. As a testimony to the integrity and ability of Mr. Grant, it deserves the attention of those by whom he has been displaced upon grounds which, whether adequate or not. appear to have been insisted on with pharisaical rigour. Eiflap on Agriculture. Ily the late Thomas Gisbnrrne. London • 3lurray. A valuable reprint of three well known articles in the Quarterly Itericer, on "Tattle and Sheep," "Agricultural Drainage," and "Ancient Agricultural Literature," to which is added a hitherto unpublished essay on " Iligh Farming," which controverts many of the view% of Mr. Phillip Posey. SATURDAY, no Botanist's Word Book. By Macdonald and Allan. London : Reeve and Co. THE technical terms in any branch of science are ordinarily derived from their roots in so arbitrary a manner that the best scholarship will be frequently most at fault for an explanation. The ►resent pain_ phlet is adapted to afford this explanation as far as botany is concerned, and might not inaptly become the first of a series of similar works as useful and inexpensive. A Bundle of Crou quilt. By Alfred Crowquill. London • Routledge and Co. A coti.Errtox of thirty-three tales on various subjects, tragic, comic, and humorous, with illustrations on wood by A. Crowquill. None of them are very bad, and none very good : those that occupy a place mid way between broad farce and deep tragedy are per haps the best. The following, in a paper on " Romancing," we should have called amusing from its exaggeration, hut Mr. Crowquill says it is a sketch from nature, and not exaggerated : " His next feat was that of landing a leviathan trout from his stream in Scotland, which had dragged him over the rocky bed of the stream, from noon until sunset, some times immersing him up to his neck in the water, notwith standing which he held on' like grim death,' until he suc ceeded in grasping the enormous fish, and then fell ex hausted amidst the herbage on the banks, where he and the fish were found, equally unable to move, and staring at each other, by one of his billies, who had traced him down the stream : this extraordinary picture was also painted by our friend of the brush:: The "Address to the Public" and the preface con • tain one constituent of wit—brevity. The former is " Buy it," the latter " Read it." The latter we qua lify thus :—Dip into it here and there when you have nothing better to do, and you may find some light amusement. Poem& By William Jones. London : Hall, Virtue, and Co. Tit Est-. are not poems, but verses, consisting of seventy six separate pieces, which fill a small volume of two hundred pages. The volume is published by subscription, and dedicated to the Duke of Rutland. But from one set of verses we learn that Mr. William Jones considers the brutal assault of the Southwark draymen on the late General Haynau a deed of which we should be proud Either his Grace of Rutland does not know what is in the book, or the dedication of it to him is without permission. Parish Sermons. Ay the Rev. Henry William Suliven, M.A. London: F. and J. Rivington. THESE discourses are very well suited for the intelligence of those mixed audiences to which a parish preacher must address himself. The author does not display all his powers in their composition. Ile appears to have avoided the academical and the profound as unsuited for his purposes. They breathe a spirit of manly piety, and are free from the quibbles and mental foppery which are too often introduced into the pulpit by some theological revivalists who wish to pass for deep divines. We liked very much the sermon on " Christian Love," and its practical injunctions are applicable to several " aspiring spirits " who would fain seek by romantic schemes and public displays to compensate for their neglect of domestic duties. On Clerical Education. London : Blackader and Co. Tuts is a reprint from the Journal of Sacred Literature. The author enforces the necessity of our clergy becoming better Orientalists and more skilled in Hebrew. He attaches too much import ance to some of his views, and he does not always write with earnestness. Here is a strange sentence to have come from so bold a censor : " As a Impular preacher we remember hearing some time ago passed for a highly erudite di►ine when he told his wondering mid delighted auditory that the WORD of St. John's Gospel was Lowis in Greek !" The " popular preacher " alluded to might desire his critic to pay more attention to Lindley Murray. Help and Contfort for the Sick Poor. A Tract. Lon• don : ltivingtons. lirT a tract of merit., and practically useful, because it emanates from one who has had personal experience of the needs and trials of sickness, and can sym pathise while he gives counsel. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. ART DtsoutsmoNs form the staple of this month's Ebo►►y. Two long and striking papers are devoted to this subject. One contains a searching analysis of the late report of the parliamentary commissioners upon the National Gallery. The writer, we need hardly say, makes a vigorous onslaught upon the managent of the gallery, and exposes with remorse-