The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

" tended that the North American colonies
" were represented in the English Parliament;
" for they had been seized upon, like all new
" countries, as part and parcel of the manor
"of Nort'a Greenwich, in the county of
" Kent I"

On the subject of the Church of Rome
Belden finds an opportunity of indulging in
the style of sarcasm in which he was apt to
treat many subjects in religion. Nothing new,
however, could even then be said upon a
priesthood with which the wits had occupied
themselves from Chaucer onwards, and which,
depending fur its advancement upon that part
of the population which had no wit, found
their shafts, with the vulgar at least, to fall
comparatively harmless. On the legislation
of Elizabeth on the subject of Popery he
says :
The reason of the statute against priests was this : in
the beginning of Queen Elizabeth there was a statute
made, that he that drew men from their civil obedience
was a traitor It happened that this was done in privacies
and confessions, when there could be no proof ; therefore
they made another act, that for a priest to be in England
was treason, because they presumed that was his business
to fetch men off from their obedience.
When Queen Elizabeth died, and King James cams in,
an Irish priest does thus express it : " Elisabetha in
Orcum detrusa, successit Jacobus, alter haertticus." You
will ask why they did use such language in their Church.
Answ. Why does the nurse tell the child of raw bead and
bloody bones, to keep it in awe ?
The Queen Mother and Count Rosset are to the priests
and Jesuits like the honey-pot to the flies.
The priests of Rome aim but at two things, to get power
from the king and money from the subject.
When the priests come into a family they do as a man
that would set fire ou a house; he does not put fire to the
brick wall, but thrusts it into the thatch. They work upon
the women, and let the men alone.

In the form of maxims, apotheques, or short
definitions, the truths spoken by the learned
men of the Elizabethan and two subsequent
ages have been found as applicable often as
the never-failing principles enunciated in the
inimitable verse of Shakspeare. The reason,
probably, is, that illustration and verbiage was
not the style of the time, and that truth is
applicable in all ages alike. These few lines
on war are a curious coincidence:—

We govern this war as an unskilful man does a casting-
net: if he has not the right trick to cast the net off his
shoulder the leads will pull him into the river. I am afraid
we shall pall ourselves into destruction.
This edition of Selden's " Table-Talk " is
brought out handsomely and in a clear type,
and the editor has taken considerable care
with the text, and added illustrative extracts

occasionally from other writers who have
treated similar subjects. Those on polemical
subjects are, perhaps, too numerous.

Ethel; or, the Double Error. By Marian James.

London : Groombridge.
THE typography and getting up of this volume is
very creditable to the Edinburgh press. It is a
reprint from a northern periodical of considerable
merit, from the pages of which we are disposed to
think the tale had little claim to be transfe►red. We
have in it the conventional "uncle" of the novel
and the stage, and the equally conventional two
cousins candidates for his wealth—the mauvais sujet
becoming, as usual, the lucky possessor, and carrying
off from the other both his lady-love and his ex-
pected money. The unsuccessful cousin betakes
himself to the arduous pursuit of art, and the other
to dissipation. The first goes blind, and the second
is killed in a duel, when, if we understand the de-
nouement, his widow marries the artist. We should
guess the authoress to be inexperienced in writing,
and if so she has a great deal to unlearn of the
opinions of a large school which seems to believe that
whatever is extravagant must be interesting. Her style
composition, also, requires much pruning. A "string of
of smooth, saccharine sentences " is a remarkable
expression to show that the speaker was plausible
and specious, and " music to the eye " is the newest
description of beauty and grace.

Aryan; or, the Trials. By C. M. Charles. London :
Routledge.
THIS story, which appears in the publisher's series of
two-volume original novels, professes to be a tale of
Brittany at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
It is, as might be expected, a stirring narrative of
medieval war and adventure, somewhat affected i❑
its style and division, but keeping up considerable
interest throughout. The author, we are bound to
say, has relieved his readers from the indic-
tion of attempts at quaint phraseology so common in
the modern-antique school of novels. The majority
of those writers carefully collect the 0 inarrys "

SATURDAY,

and " by'r ladies" which even the author of
" Ivanhoe" himself required all his genjoe to
make pass agreeably with the reader, and which
James had in all conscience exhausted. The ex-
ceedingly modem style of conversation does, how-
ever, sometimes become rather too colloquial. Such
phrases as—"' And how did you escape i—Come tell
me all about it,' said the Duchess," sound a
little beneath the dignity even of the novel narra-
tive, nor is there anything gained by the use of
" Lord" Charles of Blois and " Sir " Herve de Leon
in the exact style of to-day. The succession of inci-
dent in the story is so rapid as to preclude the possi-
bility of giving extracts that would do jusuce to
the author, and we must, therefore, refer such readers
as take pleasure in pleasant medueval fiction to tani
work itself.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
BOOKS.

Hints en Shooting end Flaking. C. Idle. Longman s
Ballade from lierodutus. J. E. Bode. Ditto
Pleasures of Literature. Rev. R. A. Wilmott. Routledge
The Stepson. F. N. Dyer. Bentley
Heir of Sellwoud. Mrs. Gore. Routledge.
Grimm's Hooke Stories. Ditto.
Literary Papers. E. Forbes. Reeve.
Randolph. Saunders and Otley .
Official Directory for Ireland. Thom.
T'he Art of Travel. F. Galion. Murray.
The Bugle cf the Black Sea. Hardwieke,

PAKPHLICTB.

Lay of Ike Crimea. J. P. Pigott. Ravington6.
Prince Menschikoff e Carpet. bay. Thomas and Cu.
of Christian Churches. Bentley.
Theological l'ehdescies of the Aye. 11ev. J. Tulluch, DD.
Paton and Ritchie.
Hull and Virtue.
Ward and Lock.

The Batik qf Ihkeneame.
Lobbler Salad.

Address. Robert Owen.

US C.

JULLIEN'S CONCERTS, COVENT GARDEN OPERA.-
RousE.—On Tuesday evening we had the Mendels•
sohn festival, and, as upon the previous occasion in
Drury Lane, the house was crowded at an early
hour. The performances commenced with the sym-
phony in A major, which was very brilliantly executed
throughout ; the allegro vivace in the first movement
was played with animation, and the andante iu the
second movement was rendered with the most
exquisite feeling. The salterello in the finale was
certainly very correctly and brilliantly executed.
Mme. Pleyel than performed the whole of the piano-
forte concerto iu Ci minor. It is scarcely possible to
speak too highly of this gifted lady's performance,
the brilliancy of her rapid execution or the subdued
feeling and genuine expression which she throws
into the slow movement, both almost beyond praise,
but not beyond the most furious and enthu-
siastic applause, shouts of " Brava! brava!" hats
and sticks thrown up and waved, evinced the furore
which her performance had created; and at this
unanimous expression of the public feeling the lady
generously returned and repeated the whole of the
last and most brilliant movement. The next piece
was a charming overture to the opera of Heimkehr,
which is a light and melodious composition, and,
though not much known in this country, was warmly
applauded. " The Last Violet" was then sang by Miss
Dolby, and the first and Mendelssohn part of the
concert concluded with the violin concerto and the
" Wedding March " overture from the Midsummer
Night's Dream. Herr Ernst performed the violin
concerto in E, and though playing somewhat out of
tune in the first increment, yet in the andante
and
rondo of the second and third movements rarely
have we heard so passionately tender and ex-
quisitely melodious a performance. It was the
very poetry of play. Perhaps the concerto was too
long for a general audience, but the performance was
listened to with profound attention and was most
warmly applauded. The "Wedding March" over-
ture is too well known to need remark. We have
seldom heard a finer performance on Mendelssohn
nights than that on Tuesday, and, although
the house is rather unadapted to pianoforte solos,
we have every reason to praise M. Jullieu for his
judicious selection of music and for the admix able
efficiency of the orchestral accompaniments. On
Wednesday evening M. Ketteneus, concertrineistei
to H.R.H. the Prince Regent of Baden, made his
first appearance, and a fantasia upon the violin which
he played was very warmly applauded. Mme. Pleyel,
accompanied by the orchestra, also gave on that
evening a most brilliant and masterly performance
of the "Concert Stuck" of Weber. The selection
also included the first movement of Spohr's "Power
of Sound," a very fine and expressive piece of music,
performed with great ability and effect. Kcenig's
benefit took place yesterday evening, on which occa-
sion he performed Beethoven's " Adelaide" and a
selection from Rossini's Stabat Mater. M. Jullieu Is
certainly changing the nature of these monster con-
certs, and much improving them by his esceileat