The Press. — London, England, 1856-01-05 00:00:00

i L-.- 18 opal to tie writer's own aim, more elabora tion is required. Its large knowkdgc, truth fulness, and unaffected tone will recommend it to many who do not care for a vivid style ; and what is often said of the wine at Oxford may be applied to the whole work—" It is too " new; but the body of it is sound, and time " will greatly improve it." - THE PRESS. worthily pith an essay on the leading topic of public interest. Ot the above-mentioned articles that upon the " Songs from the Dramatists " is, we think, notwithstanding its wordiness, the most read able, and contains many observations which evince real critical power. Why in the world the writer should wonder at Charles the Second's admiration of the splendid lyric, "The glories of our birth and state," we are at a loss to understand. His elegant and cultivated taste, and his experience of the instability of crowns, must well have fitted him to appreciate the exquisite harmony and philosophic sadness of these beautiful lines. The London Qaarterly gives us ten articles, of which seven are decidedly interesting. The review of Mrs. Green's "Royal Ladies of England " contains some very sensible remarks on the subject of history in general, which, as the writer well points out, is in danger of subsiding into mere essayism. A capital article on the " Noctes Ambrosiante," in fact one of the best we have read, contains a characteristic sketch of the Professor, likening hint to one of the Scandinavian sea kings who disturbed the Heptarchy. "Thirty Years of French Imaginative Literature" is a most instructive and able article. It sets forth the various schools that have existed since that of religion, that of domesticity, and that of poetry for itself, Lamartine, Sainie.B..?uve, and Victor Hugo being considered as their respective exponents, with remarkable accuracy and judgment; and the account of the present condition of literature in France is, in our opinion, most undeniably true, and evinces deep thought upon the subject. " Donaldson's Book of Jashar " is a slashing attack upon that notorious work. The writer is evidently in his element, and attacks the doctor with a vigour and animosity which is now rare among critics. The article entitled " Popular Authorship " is a rather weak attack upon Dr. Warren. We must especially notice the unfairness of selecting from the " Diary " the very worst paper in the whole collection. The number concludes with a rather bellicose article on the war in Asia. Blackwood opens with a long article—by Sir A. Alison, we presume—oh the " Gold Screw and Its Consequences." The writer argues that as gold is sent out of the country on exceptional occasions, an equal amount of paper-money should be issued to fill the vacuum, and that these notes should be cancelled as the gold returned. He insists that it will be impossible to continue the existing system, and that in a few months we shall have a suspension of the Act of 1844, and probably an issue of If. notes, setting free many millions of sovereigns for use abroad. Time is a sharp test of political pro phecy. We shall ;.ec. " The New Peace Party " is a dialogue between certain imaginary persons on Vie policy to be pursued with respect to Russia. The dialogue is so candid that we think the peace advo cates have the best of it. Tlepolemus is for war to the knife. He is one of the European chess-board people. "Denmark might be added to Sweden, and the Confederacy be further strengthened by Finland being taken from Russia; " " Could we but manage " to consolidate Germany and Scandinavia; " "Spain " might receive a great accession of strength by a " union with Portugal—a union geographically " suggested—and t'►ke somewhat of her old position " i❑ the councils of nations ; " " the Allies will, per " haps, find it necessary to reconstitute Poland and " Hungary," ,t c. Of all the fools destined to people the limbo•paradise, your political theorist is the most incorrigible. As for Russia, " mercilessness to " her Government would be, perhaps, mercy to ber " people." She it; the " boa-constrictor of the North," and a " burglarious nation." The only safety against her is, that she "be perpetually imprisoned," and made "to listen to the gaol chaplain." How long ago this dialogue was written must be left to con jecture. The following passage reads curiously, coming before us some weeks after the pacific pro posals of the allies have been sent to St. Peters• burg :-- As for making overtures for peace, all Europe would have looked upon us as either beaten already, or on the point of being so; our prestige would be lost, which is the keystone of the arch of our national position ; and which gone, the ruin of our do►ninion, and perhaps our rode• pendence and separate existence, would be sure to follow. At this rate, we must be on the high road to ruin at present. Celsus, the peace advocate, is allowed to say very little, though he seems a shrewd, sensible fellow. For example: "The Duke of Wellington " opposed the severe measures proposed by some " of the allies against France, on the ground that we " might some day have need of France against " Russia." The inference is obvious. An article on " The Inns of Court," analyses the report of the Commissioners on this subject. This able paper is probably contributed by Mr. Warren. In the notice of " Lancashire Strikes," the plan adopted by the carpet manufacturers of the north, of a conference between masters and men, is warmly recommended. The plan has worked admirably since 1839. The other papers are of a lighter cast. The first part SATURDAY, of "A Military Adventure in the Pyreneee" is full of animation and adventure. In Fraser's Magazine "Friends in Council" is remarkably good. The opening pages, on the in fluence of scenery, strikes us as peculiarly truthful. " There are two kinds of scenery which fascinate a " man : one connected with his early associations ! " the other corresponding with his character." All our readers who are susceptible to such emotions must comprehend the reality of this remark. The observations on Sunday amusements are equally just; and, on the whole, the paper is a decided im provement on last month's. But the prize article of the number is unquestionably "Kate Coventry." This story purports to be edited by Digby Grand, and it is well worthy of that elegant and romantic writer. As a narrator of fashionable life he is facile princeps among the magazine-writers of the day. There is a freshness about his style, and ACT actuality about his incidents, which convince the reader that the story is not composed by one who is drawing merely from his own imagination. The re maining articles are, perhaps, rather less interesting than usual, though none without considerable merit. The review of Prescott is a careful and learned paper; that of Browning a sensible and impartial one. More we cannot say of either. We have no space to notice the remaining ones in detail. Bentley contains two such stories as we find only in Bentley—" The Man with the White Hat," and " How I Grew to be an Old Maid." Mr. Dudley Costello's "The Dock Warrants" is a capital sketch of the career of certain notorious City criminals. " Benjamin Bobbin " has degenerated into gravity ; and Monkshood has rather a dry mouthful in Lewes's " Life of Goethe." Of course we have the regular business about the war, and an instalment of the " Spendthrift," with gambling and flirting, a mas querade and a tr ystery The New Monthly has almost too much variety of matter. Ten or eleven articles at the outside aro as much as a magazine of 126 pages ought to contain. The best articles in the present number are those on Samuel Butler; on" Wine and Winter," by Cyrus Redding ; " The OH Grenadier's Story," by Mr. Thornbury; and "The Eighteenth Century," by Alex. Andrews. No. XIV. of the Martins of C7'o' Martin contains a lively account of young Nelligan's success with his first brief, Rome amusing convivial conversation of legal veterans at a bar mess, and a sketch of Mr. Herman Merl at his dinner "of fresh salmon, " mountain mutton, and fat woodcocks," wbich shows an intimate knowledge of the peculiarities of the class to which Mr. Merl belongs. Part XV. of Horny Coverdale's Courtship con cludes the story. All comes right—Horace Dal mayne goes to the diggings and worse—Lord Alfred marries Emily—Arthur marries Bate—Alice gets well—and so they all retire from the stage in the best possible health and spirits. No. VI. of The Amateur contains some amusing sketches. That of " The Lawyer's Clerks" is very good, and all the articles have considerable merit. The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine for Ja nuary appears to be carefully edited. There are some very readable stories, and a great variety of subjects. " The Fashions" are an important item, and we see with pleasure that bonnets still continue to get larger. The Train is the first number of a new shil ling magazine, and we must say its promise is excellent. The contributions of Mr. R. Brough, Mr. B►idgeman, and Mr. Yates, are capital, especially " The Story from Boccacio," by the first-mentioned gentleman. The artich on " Parisian Entertain ments" is not quite so much to our taste; and why Mr. Sala should think it necessary to drag in the unfortunate Plato as a sort of man likely to take a pleasure in " going about " at nights, we really can • not comprehend. This conception of his character is decidedly original, and if Mr. Sala would only work it out through the medium of the philoso pher's writings, with which he is doubtless well ac quainted, be would lay the classic world under a great obligation. Of the " Noctes," we can only say we are sorry for their own sakes that these young men should have been the first to don the dead lion's skin. The first number of a new " monthly " called the Idler contains the opening chapters of a novel by Mr. Hannay, a pa per by Mr. Shirley Brooks on "Ghosts by Advertisement," apropos of a most sin gular announcement in a county journal, and the commencement of a smart tale, " Madly in Love," by Mr. E. F. Blanchard. The expectation of contri butions from such writers as these three gentlemen may, perhaps, for a time promote the circulation of this periodical; but unless the extremely lofty pre tensions of the prospectus and of some of the staff be more satisfactorily sustained than they are in the present number, we cannot say that we expect any very great success for the under taking. The prevailing tone of the articles is PERIODICAL LITERATURE, The most elaborate article in the Westminster Review is the one on "Military Education." Per sons who feel interested in this important subject will find it minutely discussed here. From some of the positions we must withhold our assent, as it may fairly be doubted whether literary examination would supply the best test for the qualification of officers. But the article is full of matter, though written, we are inclined to believe, without any military experience or special knowledge. The paper on " Russia and the Allies " is rather a theoretical essay than a prac tical view of the war. The calculations of the ability of a nation to maintain war, drawn from statistical details, are not of much value, as more must always depend on the resolution of a people than on their "productive forces." When the writer comes to English finances lie perceives no difficulty ; he sup poses that the war will cost us fifty millions per annum as long as it shall last. To raire this amount we have only to increase our revenue to seventy-five millions by adding to the income tax, and to raise twenty-five millions annually by loan. We do not see any calculation whether it would be possible for the nation to sink this fifty millions annually, great part of it being expended in foreign countries, without serious derangement of our finances and our whole commercial system. Having provided funds for a prolonged contest, the writer goes on to prescribe the policy that should be pursued : Neither politically nor strategically should this war be ()inducted with the object of striking a heavy blow at the heart or in a sensitive part of the Russian empire, in order to tame the spirit of that Government sufficiently to induce it to condescend to negotiation. For the state of war revives titles and resumes cessions. By the state of war Bessarabia reverts, as to its title, to Turkey ; and sa does the province of Cherson, or that which is comprised between the Dneister and the l)ueiper ; and so dues Ekaterinoslaw with the district of Taganrog The Tauride, coinciding nearly with the Khanate, together with the Kuban, has no legal claimant whatever, and be longs in fact to hint to whom occupation shall give it. The coast of Circassia is naturally resumed by tho tribes adjoining to it. Thus the margin of those waters passes out of the hands of that Power which has made such an ill-use of its possession. It is of course necessary to add to t e legal title the title of actual occupation ; and when these regions are in the occupation of Turkey and her Allies, it will be safe to make peace, as far as the East is concerned, but nut before; to make peace not on a basis of negotiation, but on a basis of fact, and on the simple principle of Wipes/tide/is. In the Baltic, Abo, Helsingfors, Sweaborg, \Viborg, Revel, and Cronstadt, are to be razed, the Russian fleet destroyed, and portions of Russian territory occupied. It is positively ridiculous to observe the easy way in which writers of this order arrange cam paigns for years to come, and achieve magnificent successes. The "European Chessboard" is a favorite phrase of theirs, and as t my play the gamo by themselves they have no difficulty in disposing of the pieces of their visionary opponent as they please. This writer, after taking the Czar's pieces one by one, of course cries " check mate " to his own entire satisfaction. Surely, the complacency on his face, as he finished his chess-board article, must have pre sented to a humorous artist one of the finest subjects he could wish for his pencil. Of the other articles, that on "Heinrich Heine" affords a fair view of the German humorist's character and talents, though there is little in the specimens given of his powers to support the reviewer's estimate of them. The notice of the Limited Liability Act con tends for e much more considerable extension than would be practicable without conceding the princip;e of limited liability altogether—to one person, we mean, as well as to two or thre 3. A scholarly paper on Athenian comedy is suggested by M. Guizot's " Menander ;" and a notice of " Lion-hunting " gives more credit to M. Gerard for perfect veracity than most readers will be willing to concede. The British Quarterly Review presents a great variety to its readers. History is represented by the opening article on Prescott's " Philip the Second"; science by Arago's "Theory of Thunderstorms." Three papers aro devoted to theology, ono on Mormonism, one on Romanism and Protestantism, rather old-fashioned, and one on Mr. Jowett and Mr. Stanly, entitled " The New Oxford Movement." Poetry and belles-lettres are respectively treated of in articles on Browning's " Men and Women " and " Songs from the Dramatists." While "The War, its Ethics and its Objects," concludes the number r SFr