The Press. — London, England, 1858-11-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 20, 1858. 1136 river, forest, and castled height, with distant glaciers and snow peaks, wkila it literally teems with the richest produce. We passed numbers of peasants carrying piled baskets of golden and green pumpkins, fruit of every kind, and the bright yellow cubs of maize—while others were sitting by the roadside under the shady walnuts, selling huge heaps of ripe peaches grown in the open orchards, with deliciols figs, as much as one could eat in an afternoon, for a few sous. No fruit is so wholesome, nor to my own taste so excellent, and the quantity that may be eaten with impunity is only limited by one's appetite. The Spanish chesnuts were so covered with fruit that they looked at a distance like overloaded apple•trees. The gardens were more brilliant and better cultivated than any we had seen in Italy, with a profusion of flowers of every hue. The only drawback to the wonderful fertility was the lamentable way in which the vines were affected by the ■t al iiidium, in so many districts almost annihilating the erop. No steps seemed to be taken to check it, except in one or two vineyards, where the branches were daubed over with whitewash. If f,r a time they had had the courage to sacrifice the worthless crop of grapes, and aimed at keeping a limited growth of vigorous wood, shortening it back each year, and coating it in autumn with lime and sulphur, the vines might have been kept in comparative health, until the virulence of the disease had passed away, and then the crop would, in all probability, have been doubled after the period of rest. The vineyards of Carema on our right, between Settimo and Pont St. ➢tartin, produce a peculiar pale red wine, somewhat of a Burgundy flavour, which is one of the beat in the Val d'Aosta. George Borrow, W. H. Russell (Times corre spondent), Eothen, would give more brilliant word-painting than is seen there, but this style of description is nevertheless of a high or d er. The physical character of the scenery is well indicated, and there is talent shown for taking in the details. Of the population of the district, and of the state of agriculture, Mr. King observes : There can be no doubt, however, that the fertility of the soil, great as i tis, is not nearly developed as it might be ; under skilful s:ientifio management its productiveness would be increased enormously. The fields are colt vated in the most slovent ) and lazy mode; beyond imperfect irri gation, hardly any anificial means are used to assist the crops, which owe their luxuriance almost entirely to the richness and depth of the alluvial soil on which they grow year after year with hardly any change. The surface is barely scratched "ter with a most primitive plough, and more generally with a hoe or pointed spade, as different a tool from its stout British namesake as possible. Frequently the more intelligent natives spoke to us earnestly of what might be accomplished in their beautiful valley by an English Company," of whose skill and capital they seemed to have the most exalted opinion. One great hindrance to all improvement is the non-resi deuce of the landed proprietors, who all crowd to Turin; and the lite of i heir gay capital has such irresistible charms for the society-loving and gregarious Italians, that nothing but necessity will bring them away. Almost without excep- tion, the upper and middle classes have not the slightest taste for the charms of country life, or country pursuits. In England such a magnificent valley, the foot of which is not forty miles from the capital, would have long ago had every obtainable and picturesque site in it greedily bought up and occupied by villas, country seats, and rich farms, almost to the very head, a length of some sixty miles. Whereas, the fact is, that, with the exception of those engaged in the iron—works, or other mercantile pursuits, there is hardly a voluntarily.resident proprietor in it. Of glacier scenes there are numerous accounts in this volume, but we cannot say that Mr. King describes them effectively. A certain weirdness of fancy, with subtle airy grace of language, are requisite for describing " the sublime of ice." We confess to an opinion that Mr. Kin(s forte as a travel-writer would be in describmg the habits of a population, and estimating their pro gress in religion and morality. The measured tone and cautious conclusion in the following passage deserve praise : However mach the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Piedmont may be on the decline—and it has of late years undoubtedly lost much of its hold on the affections of a large portion of the community—still Pro. testantism has as yet made no corresponding advance. Efforts have been made, and are making, by the Waldenses and others, to preach the Gospel, and many churches, such as the one at Turin, have been raised in the large towns ; bat the expected success has not been met with. Indeed, it has been calculated that, beyond the limits of the Vaudois valleys, there are not a thousand Protestants in the rest of Piedmont. Proselytism from the State Church is nomi nally, indeed, a legal offence, but theta is no disposition on the part of the Government to throw any obstacle in the way of religious liberty. The feeling against the Church is rather against it as a polity than as a religion : • struggle in fact for religions and civil liberty, in opposition to the entbraltnents of the Papacy, and a priesthood, who by their tyranny over body as well as soul had drawn on them the intense hatred of all classes, which had its results in the revolution of 1848. The reforms which followed on that crisis, the abolition of the Ecclesiastics' Courts, in which the priests had the power of indicting summary punishment, even to death itself, on those who came under their censure—a power as grievously felt as it was unscrupulously exercised—the expulsion of the Jesuits,—the more recent laws for the suppression of all convents not having educational or charitable functions, and the regulation of the vast revenues of the Church,.—togethor with tlie promoticn of national education--though they have as yet far from satisfied the Liberal party, still cannot but be regarded as sure and certain steps towards a better and more enlightened state of things. The Waldenses are allowed to circulate the Scriptures and religious publications in the native language, provided they confine them to those of their own sect ; but this also is a merely nominal restriction, of the infraction of which the Government takes no notice ; and we were rejoiced to see the Bible—a few years ago a prohibited book, as it still is in the rest of Italy—exposed for sale in every little town. But though it is extensively circulated and eagerly read, I am obliged to admit that, as far as my own Omen vations go among the classes with whom I had opportunities of conversing,it is used more as a text-book against the priests, to convict them of misrepresentation from their own avowed source of truth, than from any earnest regard for the great doctrines of the Gospel. I met with many instances where the Scriptures were very cleverly and logically quoted, in triumphant refutation of the dogmas of the priests, without the slightest belief in them beyond their mere use for the occasion. A remarkable instance of this was the conductor of the diligence to Turin, who would have gone much further in his arguments than mere sceptism, bad I given him any encouragement. It is sad to feel the conviction that truth has so long been mixed with error, that, when implicit faith is once fairly shaken, both must share the same fate of discredit for a time. When or how the light of truth shall be clearly enough seen, through the mists of superstition on the one hand, and materialism, utter want of faith, and distrust of all doctrine on the other—so as to oe the guiding star of a newly enlightened nation, as Sardinia is proving herself to be—is a question of deep interest. False religion cannot at once be succeeded by the true. Our ancestors oscillated between Popery and Protestantism in the reigns of Henry ~ Mary, Elizabeth ; and we had Puritanism followed by the licentiousness of Charles H.'s time. The fall of the Gallican Church in the last century in France was succeeded by ferocious infidelity and Jacobinism, and Protestantism did not take that root in France which might have been ex pected. Why is it that Papists cannot pass into Protestantism, without plunging into infidelity in many cases ? Dr. Johnson tried to explain it by saying, " If a Roman Catholic reasons straight " forward, he must end in being a Deist." But be might as well have said Atheist in place of Deist. For there are momentous consequences dependent on the admission of Deism. A Deity, who never made a revelation of his will, who never uttered mandates to his creatures, sho declines to hear their prayers, and who has given them no index to his thoughts, is nothing better than the careless God of the Epicurean. Admit a Deity, and Revelation must become a logical necessity, and it is then a mere question of evidence as to the authenticity of the Scriptures. The converted Papist takes up the Bible ; it denounces the profligate, the liar, the thief, and tells of the certainty of retribution. It announces in trumpet tones that if he expects salvation by the blood of the Lord, he must take up His cross. It alarms and rebukes his conscience— that conscience which under the rule of Popery was lulled by the cabalistic charms of sacramental confession, priestly absolution, and transubstan tiation. But the heart of man is corrupt, and the recent Papist, and now Protestant, finds that " the still small voice " will not be appeased unless he leads a moral life, and unless there be a change of the man. Here is the true explanation of the fact that the Papist, wedded to old habits in which carnal vices were atoned for by cabalistic charms, plunges into Scepticism as a relief from his conscience. Too often, in changes from Popery to Protestantism, there has only been a change of the objective creed, of the external faith, without the vital change of heart, which is the very essence of apostolical and true religion. And on this important point let us remark, that credulity is shown more by the unbelief in the Bible than by faith in it. What credulity can be more ridiculous than to suppose that the Bible is false, after the greatest intellects of ages accept ing its truths ? A Papist has been accustomed to credulity, and when he breaks away from his priest, he qualifies his credulity more by thinking the Scriptures to be false, and he has not yet come to the use of his right reason. There is much to be said on this important topic, but space is wanting to us. Although our extracts are long, we are tempted to add to them the concluding wsage, from which our readers can infer the tone of this most able performance : Oar light meal finished, and the baggage packed on the saddle for the descent, we traversed the black sudden moraines for a short time, until we reached the ice at an accessible point. We set foot on the snow•cuvered glacier, just as dense volumes of gloomy clouds whirled rapidly down on the fierce blast of the rising storm, throwing a strange lurid shade over the icy solitude. Here and there . bleached skeletons of animals, protrudng from the snow, and the still fresh and frozen body of a t mule, sho we d the perils of the peas in unfavourable weather, and heightened the mournful wildness of the scene. A crevasse lay across the centre of the glacier, crossed by a temporary brid ge made of a few larch poles and tops, covered with bea ten snow,—and this was the boundary between Piedmott and S witzerland. To the northward the fast closing clouds gave ns a broken glimpse, framed in fantastic mist wreaths, of the snowy Swiss Alps of the Oberland, the Finster Aarhoro, the Schreckhom, Sidelhorn, and oth er i cy pea k s; with the pass of the Grimsel, which we were to cross the following day. Between us and them lay, far down and out of sight, the rush-grown alluvial Bats of the Rhone valley, on which are grouped the dreary weather-stained chilets of Ober gestlen,—our destination for the night, which we reached by a few hours' descent, down the steep and desolate pass of the Egineu Thal.. . Before we crossed the boundary we turned to take one more last, lingering look, on the purpled mountains of the Italian valleys ; but the storm had swept down upon us, and blinding clouds of snow soon enveloped every o bj ect ' except the poles marking the track, in u tt er o b scuritv ' . We drew our plaids closely round us as we breasted the north wind, which searched to the skin, with a keenness that seemed intense, after the blazing sunshine of Italy. We now felt we had fairly bidden adieu to southern skies and southern scenes, and had left behind us the last of those exquisite Vale, through which we had been wandering for three months with unflagging interest and delight. Each in tarn, as we had penetrated into and explored its innermost nooks, bad not merely afforded gratification to the outward senses and an invigorating stimulus to one's physical frame ; but also had, day by day, impressed us with ever increasing convictions of the infinite power, wisdom, and goodness of the Almighty ; which had invested even these remote and little-known rece-ses with such wonderful variety, beauty, and grandeur, and had named and fitted them so marvellously for the abode or the enjo::- ment of man : and though we now numbered those days of delightful sojourn among them with things of the past, yet our memories were stored with remembrances for future and lasting enjoyment. The sublime snow Alps, with their mighty glaciers and thundering avalanches,—the rugged mountains and vast primeval forests,—the ceaseless torrents, leaping and foaming down to the sunny vales,—where the broad-leaved fig, the spreading cheanut, mantling vines, and the fruits of the earth in richest profusion fill up the picture of ro mantic beauty, and where man, the last work of creation, flourishes in a type of vigour and comeliness, united with simplicity and industry, rarely equalled—all were inefface ably impressed on the tablets of our minds. We had learned ti realize more deeply the force of those words of the Divine Psalmist, which so aptly recur to the thoughtful traveller,—either when face to face he holds communion with such scenes of sublimity and beauty ; or when, in after days, the memory-pictures of them stand vividly before him, stirring up earnest longings to be again boldly among them ; —woids of vast meaning for time and for eternity — the loftiest theme alike of men and angels : The works of the Lord are great : Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is worthy to be praised. and had in honour : And his righteousness endureth for ever. - - The maps and illustrations of this handsome volume are excellent. The views of the Convent of St. Bernard, of Gressoney St. Jean, and of other scenes, reflect great credit on Mr. King's pencil. The typography of the book is excellent, and a handsomer volume has not been laid before the public for a long time. The work is certain to obtain a considerable success, and we recommend it to book-clubs as a volume calculated to please large and various classes of readers. EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY. The Apocalyptical History, contained in the 80 ,, k of Revelation, Solved upon an entirely New and Consistent Principle. With a Copious Appendix. By Harcourt Bland, Dramatic Artist, of the Theatres Royal Dublin, Edin burgh, Glasgow, Bristol, &c. Glasgow : Mur ray and Son. THE critical and theological interpretation of the Apocalypse is a task which no writer, from Irenseus to the present time, has satisfactorily accomplished. The gifts essential to a rizbt . comprehension of that most wonderful piece o f revelation are very rare; and when exercised lii the best way, their interpretation of that deep symbolical prophecy is even more puzzling than the text itself. A new writer now ent ers t he throng, and, from a quarter least exp ected, In vites us to fresh inquiry. We have hitherto looked chiefly to divines and eminent scholars I n cloister and college for theological exposition, but now the Stage affords an essayist in this sacred field of study, and Mr. Harcourt Bland, drams!ic artist, of the Dublin, Edinburgh, and provi . ncial theatres, steps forward to offer a new principle of interpretation, and to set aside, to a great extent, the results of his laborious and often learned predecessors. However surprised we may be at a volume on such a subject from such s quarter, i t i s o ur duty r 1