The Press. — London, England, 1856-02-02 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 2, 1856. The Idler for February, besides a continuation of "Bagot'sYouth," worthy Mr. Hannay's reputation, con tains several vigorous and well-written articles. The ob • jectionable features of the first number have been a good deal toned down ; while in point of style we consider the Idler quite worthy a place beside its elder and more famous contemporaries. In principle it is strongly Conservative, and on that ground alone we can confidently recommend it to our readers. But it is rare for the public to have so much wit, originality, and ability, offered them for sixpence. The Martins of Cro' Martin sustains its well earned reputation. We reserve for future notice a few other periodical issues. Handbook of the Arts of the Middle Ages and Re naissance. From the French of M. Jules •Labarte. London : Murray. Tuts book was originally written as "An Introduc tion to a Descriptive Cataicgue of the Debrize Dunienil Collection," and treats, therefore, cf art as applied to objects of domestic life. The subjects discussed in separate chapters are Sculpture ; Paint ing and Calligraphy; Engraving ; Enamels ; Dama scene Work; Arts of the Goldsmith and Lapidary; Pottery, or Keramic Art; Glass; Smith's-work; Clockwork; Ecclesiastical and Domestic Furniture; and a General Sketch of Oriental Art. These several subjects are treated briefly, but with distinctness, — the design being rather to give a bold outline of the rise and development of the arts than to enter into their minutife. The composition of M. Labarte strikes us as evincing equal learning and intelligence. His knowledge is large, and he has the art of arranging it, with the systematic neatness of the French mind, in a clear and pleasing manner. The volume is beautifully produced, being illustrated with upwards of 200 wood engravings, representing some of the most remarkable examples in every style of art. As a broad view of the domestic arts of the middle ages, and an introduction to their par ticular study, this "Handbook" will be found ex tremely useful and satisfactory. It is full of well selected facts and of accurate description. General Guyon; or, the Battle-fields of Hungary and Asia. London: Smith, Elder, and Co. "Richard Debaufre Guyon, born at Walcot, Bath, " the 31st March, 1813, in which fair city he re ceived his early tuition, was the third son of " the late John Guyon, of Ricnmond, Surrey ; a " commander in the royal navy ; and a shipmate of " our sailor-king, William IV." His fami►y were descended from a noble house in Languedoc, and one cf his ancestors fled to this country at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1683. One of the present General Guyon's brothers is a lieutenant colonel in - the.. Bengal army ; another a lieutenant in the royal navy. The subject of this memoir at eighteen years of age obtained a commission in the Austrian army, in Prince Joseph's 2nd Regiment of Hungarian Hussars, and in 1838 married a daughter of Field Marshal Baron Spleny, commander of the Hungarian Life Guards, and a relation of Count Louis Batthy ayni. For nearly ten years after this he lived on his estate in Hungary, and occupied himself in the duties and pleasures of a country gentleman. These facts may possii►ly be new to some of our readers, and we have therefore copied them from Mr. King lake's memoir; but we cannot undertake to follow him through all the events of the Hungarian and Asiatic campaigns. It is perfectly clear that Guyon performed the part of a brave soldier upon all occa sions, but we question how far a power on friendly terms with Austria would be justified in employing him now. There are certain laws which regulate international intercourse, and which must at all cost be kept inviolate. Wo think perhaps the English Government would do well to try and bring about his reconciliation with Austria; but anything further we cannot think desirable. A History of Greece. By T. S. Carr, M.A. London : Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. THIS book is intended for educational purposes. In a compact volume of seven hundred pages the his• tory of Greece is tracea from the heroic age to the death of Alexander. An appendix—not the least useful part of the volume—carries forward the history to the destruction of Corinth, and the inccrporation of Greece as a province of Rome, and gives chapters on the civil and military constitution of Athens and the literatur e of Greece. A copious index, glossary, and Greek index are well calculated to facilitate refer ence. One feature of the book is the citation in foot-notes of passages in Greek text from original authorities, confirmatory of the author's narrative. Dr. Liddell, Dr. Major, and Dr. Hvssey, have all re ported favorably of the book as a complete compen dium of Greek history, giving the results of the re searches of the most able modern scholars. Mr. 1 PRESS. Carr says justly that style in educational works is a matter of the highest importance. "The taste of " scholars should not be vitiated by faulty English "models, defective in expression, inconsequential in "statement, or disfigured by conventional phrases." The simplest style for such works is the best. It may be worth Mr. Carr's while to consider whether his composition might not be pruned with advan tage. In describing the Peloponnesian war—that great " war of principles " which brought. Greece to ruin—lie writes : The relentless destiny of the Greeks in this unhallowed war seemed to reveal itself in the natural phenomena of the time. Earthquakes were felt every year during its continuance ; Etna cast forth tire ; drought, famine, and the plague swept away multitudes of the best and bravest of the citizens. But the terrors of nature was less dread. ful than the passions of men. Covetousness and revenge, hatred and rage, sordid avarice and bloodstained cruelty, vied with each other in working havoc and destruction. The author is too fond of such phrases as " relent less destiny." We should prefer a simpler and more discriminating style of statement. " Sordid avarice " and " bloodstained cruelty " are examples of epithets which might well be retrenched. The book is neatly produced (though a little more margin to the page would be desirable), and for its substance is extremely cheap. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.-JAN. 31. BOOKS. History of Christian Churches and Sects. Bentley. Memoirs of Celebrated Characters. Alphonse de Lamartine. I )itto. Selections from the Works of Archdeacon Whntely. Ditto. Sevastopol. Our Tent in the Crimea. Two Brothers. Two Introductory Lectures on the Science of International Law. Travers Twisa, D.C.L. Longmans. Hints to Husbands. One of the Guild. Simpkin and Marshall. Sketches from Our Lord's History. Hatchard. The Fourth Seal of Homilies on St. John. Ditto. The Works of Professor Wilson. Vol. 111. Blackwoods. A Narrative of the Siege of Kars. Humphry Sandwith, M.D. 1I urray. Byron's Poetical Works. Vol. V. Ditto. Sinai and Palestine, in Connection with their History. Arthur P. Stanley, M.A. Ditto. Hallam's Literary History. Vol. 111. Ditto. Warrants for Goods, their Use and Abuse. John Ellice. Smith and Elder. The Slate of the English Bible. Rev. W. Harness, A.M. Longmans. Zanoni. " Railway Library." • Routledge. Rose Clark. Do. Fanny Fern. Ditto. The Inheritance. "Parlour Library." Hodgson. PAMPHLETS. A Letter to the Vice• Chancellor of the University of Oxford on the Law Studies of the University. Lougmans. Letters on the War. Ditto. The Destructive Art of healing. Simpkin and Mar.liall. The Bread Question. Ditto. The Wisdom of God in the Salvation of Man. Seeley and Co. The Jews. A Lecture. Ditto. Missionary Work, Who is to Do It ? Ditto. Bacon's Essays. Ditto. The Sanitary Condition of Paddington. Churchill. A Catalogue of the Museum of Ornamental Art at Marlborough House. Chapman and Hall. A Catalogue of the Collection of Works of Decorative Art. Ditto. The Police of England, as it Was, as it Is, and How it Should Be. Classified Abridgment of the Minutes of the Committee of Council of Education Hamilton and Adams. THE Ttrt glranta. COVENT GARDEN.—The Great Gun Trick, by the inimitable Wizard of the S.S.W. by S., at Drury Lane, has, as might reasonably have been expected, drawn forth a rejoinder not one whit behind in excellent mi micry. The imitation of Charles Mathews by Mr. Leigh Murray is certainly the cleverer "take off" of the two. Sam Foote himself could hardly have equalled, certainly not surpassed, such a piece of capital acting. It is Charles Mathews himself, with his peculiar swagger, his impert übable assurance, and vo luble rattle. Of the dialogue of the piece not much can be said, and of plot there is none. Mr. Anderson ex hibits his tricks as usual, when towards the close of his display he is suddenly interrupted by the bustling entrance of a Mr. Charles Mathews, who pushes Mr. Anderson aside, and insists that he (the intruding C. M.) is the real conjuror, and, ultimately taking the entertainment entirely out of Mr. Anderson's hands, executes some capital tricks. While doing so a lively dialogue is kept up between the rivals, in which many sarcastic hits are made against Mr. Charles Mathews of Drury Lane. Many of these personal allusions are rather spiteful, in bad taste, and were not at all appreciated by the audience on the first night, nor we believe since. It would be better, perhaps, if they were omitted, though to be sure there is no reason why allusion should not be made to Mr. Charles Mathews' pecuniary position, seeing that he himself not unfrequently alludes to 115 the same subject. Mr. Leigh Murray's close and clever imitation of the voice and manners of Charles Mathews highly pleased the audience, and, with the exception cf certain obvious signs of disap proval at the allusions to pecuniary affairs of a delicate nature, this little pike de cil'constanes was highly successful. Whether it is exactly worthy of two theatrical managers to use their houses for purposes of retaliation by personal squibs, is another question. utt. LONDON SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY. WHOEVER is desirous of hearing the finest composi tions executed in the worst style should attend the concerts of this society. Concerts they ought not to be called ; conspiracies is the word which best describes the reality—conspiracies against the musical sensibilities of the public, under the guidance of Mr. Surinam The performance of Elijah on Wed nesday night was positively disgraceful ; the choruseF, with hardly a single exception, were literally scram bles between the orchestra and voices, each racing against the other, and the object of both apparently being to get through the task allotted to them as quickly as possible, without any regard to time or expression. With one exception, the solo vo •alists were remarkably unsuccessful. Mr. Lawler was inefficient in the part of Elijah. He wants dramatic power, and in all those portions of the oratorio in which forcible expression is needed to give full effect to the conception of the composer, his failure was signal and complete. The concerted pieces, however, especially the beautiful trio, " Lift thine eyes," were well sung; but the exquisite air, " Rest in the Lord," was most unintelligibly rendered by the lady to whom it was intrusted. The new contralto, Miss Heywood, possesses a voice of consi derablec richness, and produced a great impression in " Woe to them," by her powerful expression ; but, altogether, the performance was as slovenly as any we have ever heard, and reflects great discredit on the responsible musical manager of the society. Tile want of sufficient rehearsal was painfully manifest throughout; and though in a few cases, everybody, conductor, chorus, and orchestra, went so carefully and elaborately wrong that it seemed as if they had agreed beforehand to set a great public example of " How not to do it," like Mr. Dickens's model Government office, yet in the greater mutiber of their failures it was clearly not preparation, but the want of it, to which the result was to be attributed. LIFE IN THE CAMP.-Put up a large, Turkish tent outside the hut to serve as a drawiu•groom, and later as a dining•room ; for we find it inconvenient to have only a room of tw.ilve feet square in which to eat, sleep, and receive company. This tent, large, hexa gonal, double•lined with dark blue, and open at both ends, is a great addition to one's comfort. We have it malted, carpeted, and furnished with a table and an aim-chair—luxuries which were to us, when in Bulgaria, but a dream of our youth.—Mrs. Duberly's Journal. pug Dana inth Citg 4ultiligenct. FRIDAY EYZNING. THE return of the Bank of England for the week ending the 26th of January, shows the fallowing changes compared with that of the preceding week : Decrease in Circulation Decrease in Public Deposits Decrease in Other Deposits Decrease in Government Securities 1,09 I 04.1 Decrease in Private Securities Decrease in Bullion Increase in Rest Increase in Reserve.. }'resent Circulation, including Bank Post Bills Stock of Bullion in both Depart. ments This comparison is once more unfavorable in several respects, but more particularly as regards the financial position of the Government. It will t• seen that tl.ere is a great diminution in the amount of Government Securities. This shows that it has been found expedient to take advantage of the late improvement in the price of Stock and to effect large sales. At the same time it is accompanied by a con siderable reduction in the amount of the Govern ment deposits. It is impossible to presume that the whole of these aggregates can have been required I r the dividends; nor can the sales of Stock have been altogether on Bank account, as the Reserve is in • creased a mere trifle, and the advances on Private Securities show a falling oft It is understood that a large proportion of the decr ase in "Other Deposits" is owing to payment 4 on account of the Turkish Loan ; but the dates and amounts of these payments will never be known until Mr. Disraeli ob tains the return for which he has moved. That re