The Press. — London, England, 1856-10-18 00:00:00

OCTOBER 18, 1856. selfishly, did not surprise me; but that he should be sacri ficed to his devoted fidelity—l could not bear to think of it for a moment ! How I loved him now ! How I won dered that I could ever have compared the two for an instant. How I resolved to make him full amends, and, come what might, to frustrate this projected duel But what could I do? In the first place, how was Ito get out of the room ? _ _ My situation was so embarrassing, and at the same time so ridiculous, that I could with difficulty resist an hyste rical inclination to laugh. Here I was, at all events, a close prisoner till Captain Lovell should go to bed, and he seemed to have no idea of that rational proceeding, though it was now past three o'clock. He walked about the room, whistling softly. Once he came so near my hidiog•place that I felt his breath on my cheek. "Good heavens," thought I, "if he should take it into his head to have a shower•bath now to brace his nerves!" At last he walked to a drawer, selected a cigar, lit it, and throwing open the window, proceeded deliberately to get out. I almost hoped be would break his neck! But 1 conclude there was a ledge or balcony of some sort to sustain him, and that he was accustomed to a nightly cigar in that position. Here was a chance not to be lost ! 1 bolted out of the shower bath ; I popped the extinguisher on one cantle, and blew the other out at the same instant. I heard the smoker's exclamation of astonishment, but heeded it not. I rushed through the door. I flew along the dark passages, breathless and trembling ; at last I reached my own room, more by instinct, I believe, than any other faculty, and having locked the door, and struck a light, sat me down, in a state of immense confusion and bewilderment, to think what I abould do next. Of course the duel is prevented ; Frank Lovell elopes with a certain Miss Molasses ; John " squares it " with his cousin, and " Dear me," says she, "how delightful it is to think I "shall always be as happy as I am now." Self and Self Sacrifice; or, Nelly's Story. By Anna Lisle. London . Groombridge. IF this story is, as we understand, the first literary adventure of the authoress, it does very great credit to her judgment and good taste. It has none of the crudeness, none of the inequalities, or purpurei poenni, which so often denote the unpractised writer. The style is chastened, and the violence of childish emotions—for the book, we should say, is in great part a story of children—not exaggerated. The moral is brought out with precision, and on that plain, old fashioned system which seeks to attain its end rather by repeated hard blows than by delicate touches of art. We doubt, indeed, if Miss Lisle has produced a story in which either children or grown persons will find much genuine amusement at the present day. The public taste, both in juniors and seniors, has been accustomed to different mates ials, and before " Amy Herbert " and " The Fairy Bower," " Self and Self Sacrifice" will, we fear, seem deficient both in freshness and vigour. At the same time we would by no means undervalue the utility of works like the present. It sheds a strong light upon certain im portant truths. The contrast between the two cha racters of Nelly and Edith is so managed as to show the happiness which awaits those who struggle with and overcome a stubborn and passionate disposition, and the misery which an amiable temperament may .encounter if deficient in the power of self-control, in a manner we think very agreeable to the under standing of children. The two characters remind us a good deal of Ellen and Caroline in the novel of " Influence," though the present story is inferior to that singularly interesting tale, both in the vivid reality of its incidents and the clever delineations of human nature. Nelly and Edith are the daughter and step-daughter of a young and beautiful widow ; Nelly, the step daughter, is six years older than her half-sister, a little thing described as a sort of beautiful bijou, petted, spoiled, and impatient. Nelly's early trials consist in the endurance of her sister's infantine caprices and reproaches, which, as they sometimes bea► upon her own want of good looks, provoke the elder girl to violent outbursts of rage. Her mother's coldness, and undisguised preference for her own daughter, add considerably to the burden of Nelly's sorrows ; and at the opening of the story we find her in a hopeless state of mingled despondency and irrita tion. At this stage of Nelly's history sbe is aided by the affectionate sympathy and advice of a certain Aunt Mary, under whose instruction she gradually learns to win the entire love of li►.tle Edith, and, in consequence of an heroic adventure with a bull, becomes endeared to her stepmother. But as the girls grow up, new trials succeed. Both fall in love with the same man. Both have opportunities of becoming acquainted with his worthlessness, and also of the state of their sister's feelings. Nelly's conduct in this matter is rewarded by escaping from a very bad husband, and Edith's by getting one. The ulterior consequences the reader must discover for himself. Such is the outline of this story, and such our opinion of its merits. Its defects are mostly negative, and its good points simple, broad, and ()hymns to the meanest or the youngest capacity. There is no attempt at nice discrimination of charac ter, nor does the authoress's power over the feelings THE PRESS. rise above mediocrity. But there is an equable flow of narrative, a wholesome and truthful picture of childish life, complete absence of affectation, and useful, if not fervent, lessons of morality. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. THE Quarterly opens with a review of Archbishop hately's edition of Bacon's Essa) s, illustrated with many pertinent anecdotes. The four succeeding articles are useful, sensible, and scholarly. A really interesting paper is that on physiognomy, which the writer believes capable of beiug at some time or another elevated into a science. It strikes us, however, that there is rather too much assumption in the article, as, for instance, the following:— The same general assent to the symbolic science is im plied in the numerous familiar terms used to express the whole character of a man by speaking of a single member of his body. Such terms as "long-headed," " shallow brained," " brazen-faced," " supercilious," " hard-featured," " stiff necked," " open-faced," " hard-mouthed," " a good hand," a cunning hand," and a hundred more that we could cite, are expressive only beca u se it i s genera lly true that the bodily characters which they describe are symbo lical of the mental natures which they imply. Such terms are not all arbitrary or fanciful; many among them express the general belief in the correspondences not only of mind and body, but of mind and shape. But when we call a man " brazen-faced," we only mean that he can do an impudent thing without be traying any emotion in his countenance ; and when we speak of a man as a " good hand," we use the term in the same sense in which we apply it to an operative as a workman. But these are slight ble mishes compared with the whole character of the article. The following is the account of the eye : Dark blue eyes are most common in persons of delicate, refined, or effeminate nature; light blue, and much more, grey eyes, in the hardy and active. Greenish eyes have, generally, the same meaning as the grey : Lavater says they are,—" in some sort, a distinctive sign of vivacity and courage." "Hazel eyes are the more usual indications of a mind masculine, vigorous, and profound; just as genius properly so called, is almost always associated with eyes of a yellowish cast bordering on hazel."—Essays, iii. 338. The brightness and the dullness of the eye ere as evident in their opposite meanings as are the contrasts of light and darkness. And scarcely less clear is the glance or flash of the eye, like a light, to illuminate and show the depth of meaning in every expression with which it appears. A volume might be written on it, inexplicable as it is, and in each person so inimitable by others, and therefore so characteristic, that, as Cares suggests, instead of saying " Le style c'est lliomme," we might more justly aay, der Blick ist der Mensch." We had always been under the impression that the grey eye was the " masculine and vigorous " one. " The Declining Efficienc) , of Parliament" is a well-written political essay, adopting the view that has been advocated in this Journal for months past— that Government by Party is the correct method of carrying out the English Constitution ; but in at tempting to account for the decline of Party, the writer becomes a little obscure. He says, further more, that the Opposition ought to have a policy, and t hat it. is not enough to say that the present Go vernment is Conservative. The number of Go vernment failures is put down with appalling accuracy in this article. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.—Ocr. 16. BOOKS. Sermons on the Seasons of the Church. Vol. llr. J. and C. Mozley. Animal .Ifagnelism and Somnambulism. Newby. Later Biblical Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Regions. Murray. PAMPHLETS. The Osymel Process in Photography. Chapman andllall The Ethics of Labour. Simpkin and Marshall—Negatire Theology. Collingridge—Review of the Past and Present Policy of the Bank of England. Effingham Wilson— Sell Educator's French Lessons. Holliston—Structure and Natural Features of the Earth. Longroans—Over Darien by a Ship Canal. Wilson—Suggestions for the Renewal of she Bank of England Charter. Chapman and Hall—The Gift of God and the Preparations of the Heart. Mozley— Nature Printing. Bradbury and Evans. PERIODICALS. The West of Scotland Magazine. Hall and Virtue— The British Soldier. Nos. 1 and 2. Orr and Co.—Mae phail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal. Simpkin and Marsh all—Putman's Monthly. Sampson Low—The British and Foreign Evangelical Review. Seeley and Co. A RUSSIA TOURIST, writing to the Times this week, gives twenty-four good reasons for not visiting Russia. As a specimen of the intolerable nuisance of the passport system they are I tither amusing. Ten distinct duties connected with your passport have to be performed before you reach Moscow, four before you can leave Moscow and arrive at St. Petersburg, and ten before you can leave the latter city. A BONITA, a tropical fish well known to sailors, was caught off Whitehaven last week. It is said to be the first ever captured off our coast. ate lirama. OLYMPIC.—This theatre has reopened with the two well-known pieces, Still Waters Run Deep and The First Night. Mr. Tom Taylor's comedy went off on Monday night with as much spirit as ever Mrs. Wigan has quite recovered her health, and per formed Mrs. Hector Sternholu with her usual con summate skill. In The First Night's! pretty actress with a sweet voice, a Miss Thirlwalt, made a most successful debut. PRI NC ESS' S.—Pizarro has been degraded to second honours, and A Midsummer Night's Dream re • vived by Mr. Kean. A young lady, Miss Bufton, of remarkable personal attractions, made her debut as Hermia, with great success. The 'other characters are all well sustained. Miss Heath as Helena, Miss F. Ternan as Oberon, Miss Murray as Hyppolita, and Harley as Bottom, are all excellent. The music, which ought to be beyond praise, is said to be infinitely below it, and detracts much from the success of the piece. RUSSIAN CORONATION FETES. A GRAND display of fireworks closed the famous Moscow fetes. The night was unfavorable, not wet, but misty, and half the people saw nothing. The other halt', however, enjoyed all they did see:— When the Czar arrived, and was informed of the uu• favorable condition of the atmosphere, he expressed much concern. At the discharge of the first firework the manager (M. Constantinoff) said, " Sire, they will be a failure." " Would it not be possible to defer them to another night?" he asked, and was answered in the nega tive, inasmuch as the pieces were all placed and were ready to be discharged. The multitude was so enormous that it would not have been easy to get them away, or to explain the cause of the delay, and ,so it was resolved to pro• ceed Before us all is utter darkness—not a star is visible, and the only glimpses of light that can be seen are the lamps in the distant city on the left, and the feeble gleams of those which indicate the entrance to the palace beneath. Now and then a spark, as it were, is seen moving about in the distance, like that which wanders through the embers of burnt paper; these indicate the presence of the assis tants arranging the fireworks. Suddenly, as though so many different suns had burst through the clouds in meri dian splendour, five distinct paths of dazzling light flash from some invisible places above our heads on the roof of the building, and with blinding brightness lead through the blackness of night to myriads of human faces. I t was so sudden—so unexpected—so startling, that for an instant no one could applaud or speak a word. The effect was like nothing earthly—it resembled nothing I had seen before, except one of those extraordinary pictures of Mar tin, representing Pandemonium or the great warnings of Scripture history, where thousands of figures are seen in the strongest light and shade, tapering away in remotest perspective. Here, however, as far as the light reached, the limits of the picture were seen extending and en larging to the confines of the wood which fronts the palace in a wide semicircle. Al! the faces were of course turned up towards the front of the palace to the points whence the lights issued, and the wonderful intensity of the electric blaze made them as clear and distinct as if the sun himself shone on them, and at the same time threw the deepest shadow below each from the figures standing before. There was a hoarse murmur of delight from the astonished people, and at the same moment, in the centre of them, before the palace, was displayed a sort of shrine or great pedestal, decorated at the top with acanthus and flowers of great size, on which were perched a flock of butterflies (each six feet from wing to wing), which opened and folded their pinions (covered with the brightest tinsel) to the strains of military music, and con tinued to do so with great perseverance, till they were consumed by an outburst of pyrotechny from the interior of the deceitful shrine. While the people were thus lighted up, the spectators in the Ecole were in the deepest shade, and could thus enjoy, without any annoyance, the effects of the electric light. These were very well man aged, and I observed that the light seemed better regulated and under more certain control than I had ever seeu it before. The streams were directed from place to place, shifted, and increased or diminished in intensity, appa rently at pleasure, and as they strayed over the faces of the immense multitude so lightly and uncertainly the whole scene reminded one of those strange dreams which come to a man now and then to give him in his sleep an idea of in definite number and indefinite space. When the fireworks began those lights were shut off and all was in darkness. To give the names of those who were present at the Ecole des Cadets would be only to repeat those you nave read so often already. There was a sort of justice by no means poetical in their being deprived of a sight which many of the people enjoyed, and on being obliged to look for pleasure and amusement at the laces of those very people, instead of rejoicing in what they had come expressly to witness. The programme has already obtained publicity, and it is impos sible to describe that which is invisible. What more can be said of the arrival of the Emperor—of the shrill cheers of the people—of the glory of the first outbursts of the war rockets—of the beautiful, and to me quite novel, effect of the globes of coloured fire slowly descending, as if from the skies, through the smoke, like stars through the clouds —of the thunder of the final explosions, which raged Us a great battle, of the bursting of bombs, and the rattle which recalled to some that were present the infernal tumult that raged that very day twelvemonth, when the 1003