The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-05 00:00:00

AFTER THE BATTLE.

When the noise of the battle has rolled from the hill,
And the echoes have ceased to complain ;
When the trumpet is hushed, and the cannon are still,
And the.moonlight has silvered the plain;
Then of England we softly and tenderly speak,
As thither in fancy we roam;
And a tear will steal silently down the rough cheek
Of the soldier who's thinking of home.

In the toil of the march—in the rage of the fight,
No time for remembrance we find;
Butt ever when calmed in the stillness of night,
It comes vividly over the mind.

And bright eyes look brighter by memory seen,
Love more precious for anguish and gloom,
And the thought that gives triumph a rapture more keen,
Is—" How proudly they'll hear this at home !"

LITERATURE.

A Visit to India, China, and Japan, in the Year
1853. By Bayard Taylor. London : J. Low and Son.
This work upon India, China, and Japan, is the
production of one who is evidently well versed in the
art of literary composition. His incidents are well
and cleverly introduced ; and the characters by which
the scene is generally animated are drawn with much
power, and grouped with a happy as well as a ready
skill. The pictures presented to his readers by Mr.
• Bayard Taylor are vivid and impressive, highly, some
might say overcoloured, and not unfrequently over-
drawn—in fact, too artistic to be literally true—but,
nevertheless, they are so invested with an air of reality,
that they are readily accepted as truthful, and no reason
whatever exists for denying. their fascinations. Im-
pelled by a commendable curiosity and a highly com-
municative disposition, Mr. Taylor effected visits and
secured ingress to the remarkable places which lay in
his route ; and where these could not be reached by
strict adherence to his prescribed line of progress, he
made• small difficulty in so arranging the time or object
of his journey, as to admit of his explorations being
made to embrace the object of his intended investiga-
tion. Where circumstances did not conveniently bend
to his wishes, he, with the true and instinctive non-
chalance of an inquisitive traveller, bent his disposition
to the circumstances. Pursuing this sensible plan of
operations, he obtained or made opportunities for ob-
serving much that is not generally revealed to the eyes
and ears of wandering bookmakers and erratic note-
takers. The information thus acquired, he is no
niggard in communicating; and he narrates his ex-
periences and retails his gossip with lively good sense,
combined with great ability and shrewdness.
At Delhi, as in some other places, he encountered
many unexpected incidents and individuals, not the
least remarkable of which was the meeting with a
Rindoo minstrel, in the ancient capital of the Moguls,
who, accompanying himself on his mandolin, regaled
the ears of his auditory by singing the spirited strain
of " Old Dan Tucker," and inspired the listeners with
lively emotions by playing and singing to them the
favourite Irish ditty, " Drops of Brandy," without
understanding a word of either. While here, how-
ever, Mr. Taylor did not confine his observations to
the performances of native minstrels, or the devout
wisdom of solemn dervishes, but directed his attention
to all sorts of matters which offered instruction or
promised amusement. Conspicuous among these, the
architecture of the place, the customs of the people,
and the habits of social life, presented to him a fertile
and interesting field for remark. In recording the
decay of physical grandeur and the visible traces of
mental prostration which have overclouded the condi-
tion of the people, he was much struck with the
imbecile pretence and vain-glory of the prince who
occupies the throne once filled by a line of bold and
warlike sovereigns. The following is so quaintly told,
ypt so expressive and characteristic, as to deserve quo-
tation. It is an