The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-06 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

History for Boys; or, Annals of the Nations of
Modern Europe. By John G. Edgar. London:
Bogue.
Tins history appears to be correctly written as to
facts, and well adapted to fulfil its professed end of
" rendering historical knowledge interesting, without
" any sacrifice of accuracy." It contains faithful
sketches of the countries of modern Europe, and
forms a safe and agreeable introduction to a more
enlarged course of historical reading.

A Boy's Adventures in the Wilds of Australia. By
William Howitt. London : Arthur Hall, Virtue,
and Co.
It is singular that most persons who relate their ad-
ventures in Australia seldom describe the country or
its characteristics correctly. We lately had occasion
to notice a book on Australia by Mrs. Clacy, in which
the statements were so incontestably opposed to fact
as to call for sharp censure ; and now we have a book
by a Mr. Howitt whose statements are not much
more accurate. Mr. Howitt, the well-known author,
went out with his sons to Australia, and until
lately was residing there. His son, unsuccessful
at the diggings, like many other gentleman of
literary tastes and un-navigator habits, took, we
believe, to driving a dray ; and he has our best wishes
for his success in this new occupation, though the
production of this book does not seem as if he took
to it very heartily. As the book is written for boys
and meant as a romance of bush-life, we are not dis-
posed to scrutinise it very closely. But when he
describes a bird well known to all Australians—the
"laughing jackass"—as being jolly and full of fun, of a
merry voice, &c., we wonder how an observer of nature
like Mr. Howitt could, in editing the work, pertnit so
curious a mistake. If ever there was a bird remark-
able for profound gravity of countenance and dignity of
behaviour it is this one, and hence the mirth it excites.
For who can resist laughter at hearing a sound like
the German "hock," and seeing a ridiculous bird with
a short, grey,dusty body, no tail, nor, apparently, legs,
and disproportionately long beak, sitting gravely upon
the branch of a gum-tree, and, while spying about
for a stray worm, uttering dolorous shouts without
moving a muscle or being at all aware of the fun he
is creating' For the engravings Mr. Howitt may
not be answerable. One depicts an Australian shep-
herd as a model Corydon, with a crook in his hand ;
and another represents the hero of the book as
having climbed a smooth gum tree after opossums, a
feat seldom accomplished by any but aborigines. There
is no reason why boys should not as well have truth
told them as adults, and, indeed, in the relation of
the positive facts of a bush-life there would be found
quite enough to excite the youthful mind, without
any of the soave licor of the poet.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
Boors. •
Food and ils Adulterations. A. H. Haan% M.D.

A 3fonth before Sebastopol.

Longman and Co.
Do.

Essap from the" Edinburgh Review." H. Rogers. Do.
Geographical Dictionary of the Bible. A. Arrowsmith. Do.
The Chinese Ensp;re. M. Hue. Do.
_ _ .

Historical Memorials of Canterbury. A. P. Stanley.
M array.
Johnson's Lives of the English Potts. Vol. 111. I)o.

Gibbon's Roman Empire.

Vol. VI.

Do.

Approach to the Altar. Bishop Kerr. Do.
Exposition of the Apostles' Creed. Do. Do.
The Court of England under the Stuarts. J. H. Jesse.
Bentley.
Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pep ye. Lord Bray-
brooke. Horst and !Hackett.
The Crescent and the Cross. Vol. 11. E. Warburton.
Hurst and Blackett.
The ll'itness of the Spirit. Bishop Jackson. Skeffington.
The Olden and Modern Times. Poems by W. S. Marriott.
Rvingtons.
Horses and Hounds. Routledge.

Australia and its Gold Fields. E. H. Hargraves.
Ingram and Co.
The Elements of Algebra. Do.

PAMPHLETS.

Biographical Sketch of the late Mr. G. Robins. Minn]
A Letter to Col. Chesney. Booth
_ _

Charade.. A. Bowman. Rontledge.
Sonnets on the War. A. Smith. Bogue.
Fairy Library, " Cinderella." Do.
Punch and Judy. Ingram and Co.

COVENT GARDEN, JOLLIER'S CONCERTS—During
the week we have had some excellent selections of
music at these popular concerts, and two perfor-
mances 'n the violin by Ernst. On Tuesday next
we are to hgve the hiendelssohn festival, upon which
occasion Mme. Pleyel will perform the whole of the
grand concerto in O minor, and Ernst the concerto
for the violin. The rest of the first part of the con-
cert will be devoted to a selection from Mendels-
sohn's works, and the second part, as usual, to a
miscellaneous performance. The house has been
crowded every night, and we anticipate a very full
audience on Tuesday.

.SATURDAY,

tor tip Xiteraturt, tkr.

THE CHURCH OF SAN FRANCISCO, at Cadiz, now
attached to the hospital, contains the splendid
"Marriage of St. Catherine," the last work of Mu.
rillo, and which caused his death, as he fell back.
wards from the scaffold while receding to see it
better. It is a precious relic of art, and the gem of
this great master. The church itself was almost
ruined—it was in such a state that divine service
could not be performed in it, the roof was falling in,
and very shortly the rain and wind would have
driven this picture out of the place where Murillo
had placed it himself. In allowing this church to
go to decay, under the unpardonable indifference of
the Cadiz authorities, there was a sort of double
irreverence ; and Lord Howden has, therefore, en-
tirely restored it at his own expense, opening it
again to public worship, and preventing this splendid
picture of Murillo being taken from the place which
has acquired so peculiar and melancholy an interest
from the circumstances attending the death of the
painter.
TILE number of new pieces brought out at the
different theatres of Paris during the past year
amounted to 255, viz.:—Opera, 2 ; Theatre Francais,
11; Opera Comique, 5 ; Italian Theatre, 2 ; Odeon,
10; Theatre Lyrique, 11; Vaudeville, 19; Gymnase,
10; Varietes, 50; Palais loyal, 28; Porte St.
Martin, 6; (lake, 7; Ambigu Comique, 10; Cirque,
3 ; Folies Dramatiques, 17; Delasements Comiques,
25 ; Beaumarchais, 10; Luxembourg, 25; and
Choiseul, 3.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION in France
has raised the salaries of professors of the faculty
of medicine from 6,000 f. to 7,0001. He has also in-
creased the allowance to professors of the faculties
of letters and of sciences present at examination
from five francs to seven francs for each examination.
He has, moreover, decided that the maximum of
what is called the eventual (what is received from
the pupils) shall be 5;0001. for professors, 2,5001. for
agreges, and 5,000 for secretaries.

AN IMPERIAL DECREE orders that no more gold
coins of 40f. shall be coined, but that, in Addition to
the pieces of 20f., 10f., and sf. in gold, there shall
be struck off others of the value of 100 f. and 50f.

CAPTAIN CLIAS, the establisher of gymnastics, not
only in France and Switzerland, but in England,
having been professor at most of the large public
establishments of this country, died lately at Berne,
where he lived in comfortable retirement. He has
left to that city several considerable sums for public
purposes, under the condition that his skeleton
should be exhibited in the Cabinet of Natural
History of Berne, as a palpable confirmation of
the beneficial effects of gymnastics on the human
body.
THE ARTIST WORLD or ROME is alive and active.
Gibson is busily occupied with his " Clemency."
Crawford, the American sculptor par excellence, is
engaged on a colossal work for the Capitol at Wash-
ington. Riedel is painting a picture in which he
has outdone himself. Oherbeck is engaged in his Via
Crucis, for,the Pope, perhaps the most classically per-
fect series he has ever executed. Among the younger
English sculptors Mr. Spence is decidedly the most
eminent, both from the merit and the importance of
the numerous works he has executed. His statue of
" Lavinia" is one of the most graceful works of
modern days ; his " Highland Mary"—a commission
from the Queen, and included in her private collec-
tion at Osborne—is full of beauty; both statues pos-
sessing that ideal and poetical individuality investing
works of imagination with every suggestive attribute
proper to the original impersonation shadowed forth
by the poet. A grand work is his " Liverpool"—exe-
cuted for the Crystal Palace at Sydenham—and
about to be erected, by general subscription, in his
native town of Liverpool. He has been most suc-
cessful in a bas-relief, forming part of a monument
to Mrs. Smith, of Leeds, representing the " Angel
of Death bearing the Soul to Heaven." A Venus
and' Cupid, as yet only in the clay, will, when chi-
selled in snowy marble, considerably increase his
well-merited celebrity—Galignani.

SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY, EXETER• HALL—Men-
delssohn's Elijah Was performed last evening at this
hall. Mme. Clara Novello, Miss Dolby, Miss Bas-
sano, Mr. Sims Reeves, and Mr. Weiss were the prin-
cipal vocalists.

QUEEN'S CONCERT-ROOMS.—The Aztecs and Earth-
men exhibited at these rooms form one of the most
interesting exhibitions of the season. They are
much improved sinco their first appearance in Lon-
don, for not only can they spell and pronounce many
words of our language, but they can walk upright,
and with a certain degree of grace in their motions,
in which they were sadly deficient at first. Numerous
visitors daily inspect these curious specimen% of hu-
manity at both periods of the day during exhibition
hours.

JANUARY 6, 1855.

ate ;ring.

WAR-OFFICE, JAN. 2.

Ist Regiment of Foot—General the Right Hon. Sir Ed-
ward Blakeney, G.C.8., to be Colonel.

BREVET.
Colonel Harry D. Jones, of the Royal Engineers, having
rendered distinguished service in command of the British
land force at the capture of Bomarsund, her Majesty has
been graciously pleased to order, in pursuance of the Royal
Warrant of the 6th October, 1864, that he be promoted to
be a Major-General, and be placed on the permanent list
of General Officers.

WAR DEPARTMENT, JAN. 1.
COMMISSARIAT.
Assistant Commissary-General John William Smith to
be Deputy Commissary-General.
To be Commissaries-General—Deputy Commissaries-
General Thomas Wharton Ramsay, William Henry
Robinson.
To be Deputy Commissaries General—Assistant Com-
missaries-General Frederick Thomas Mylrea, James Wit-
son, Charles Swain, Ferguson Thomas Coxworthy,Thomas
Graham, William Henry Drake.
To be Assistant Commissaries-General—Deputy Assis-
tant Commissaries-General Henry William Woodforde
Plant, Thomas William Goldie, George Atkinson, Henry
Lambert Brisbane Bayley, Frederick Henry Ibbettson, Ed-
ward Barrington de Fonblanque, James Douglas Willer',
Robert Clement Major, Redmond Uniacke, James Knight
Good, Douglas Bennet Clarke, Robert May Gardiner,
Fitzjames Edward Watt, James Charles R. Wood, James
Bell Lundy, William James Tyrone Power, Robert Cum-
ming, Villiers William Caesar Hawkins, Thomas Gem,
Conrad Potgieter.
To be Deputy Assistant Commissaries-General—Com-
missariat Clerks George Twining, Luke R. Castray,
Augustus Foulkes Cookesley, Francis Crossley Colquhoun,
George Ramsay Primrose.
OFFICE OF ORDNANCE, JAN. 1.
Royal Regiment of Artillery.—Second Lieutenant Vivian
Dering Majendie to be First Lieutenant—First Lieute-
nant John Boulton to be Second Captain—Second Lieu-
tenant James Edward Blackwell to be First Lieutenant—
Brevet Colonel Richard Goodwin Bowen Wilson to be
Colonel—Brevet Major Charles Bingham to be Lieute-
nant-Colonel—Second Captain John Davenport Shake-
speare to be Captain—First Lieutenant John de Luttrell
Saunderson to be Second Captain—Second Lieutenant Sir
John William Campbell, Bart., to be First Lieutenant—
Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Sebastian Rowan to be
Lieutenant-Colonel—Brevet Major Edward Bruce Hawley
to be Captain—First Lieutenant Moutray Anketell to be
Second Captain—Second Lieutenant /Emelius De Vie
Tupper to be First Lieutenant—Second Captain George
Thomas Field to be Captain—First Lieutenant Philip
Dickson to be Second Captain—Second Lieutenant John
Charles Francis Ramsden to be First Lieutenant.
Corps of Royal Engineers.—Brevet Colonel Patrick Yule
to be Colonel—Brevet Colonel Daniel Bolton to be Colo-
nel—Brevet Major Sir William Thomas Denison to be
Lieutenant-Colonel—Brevet Major John Williams to be
Lieutenant-Colonel—Brevet Major Edward Wm. Durnford
to be Lieutenant-Colonel—Brevet Major Edward Thomas
Lloyd to be Lieutenant-Colonel—Second Captain Thomas
Lionel John Gallwey to be Captain—Second Captain An-
thony David Cragie to be Captain—Second Captain Rich.
Burnaby to be Captain—First Lieutenant Chas. Brisbane
Ewart to be Second Captain—First Lieutenant Charles
Butler Peter Nugent Hodges Nugent to be Second Cap-
tain—First Lieutenant Edward Belfield to be Second Cap-
tain—Second Lieatenant William Butler Gosset to be First
Lieutenant—Second Lieutenant Robert Grant to be First
Lieutenant—Second Lieutenant Edward Harding Steward
to be First Lieutenant—Brevet Colonel Frederick William
Whinyates to be Colonel—Brevet Major Henry James to
be Lieutenant-Colonel—Second Captain Albert O'Donnell
Grattan to be Captain—First Lieutenant Hon. George
Wrottesley to be Second Captain—Second Lieutenant Ed-
ward Donald Malcolm to be First Lieutenant—Brevet
Lieutenant-Colonel William Robinson to be Lieutenant-
Colonel—Second Captain James Swayn Baker to be Cap-
tain—First Lieutenant Edward Charles Acheson Gordon
to be Seconl Capnin—Second Lieutenant Arthur Robert
Mac Donnell to be First Lieutenant.
VAR-OFFICE, Jars. 5.
Royal Regiment of Horse Guards— Cornet James
Delaval Shafto to le Lieutenant. •
2nd Dragoon Chards—Troop-Sergeant-Major Silvester
Calvert to be Quartermaster.
6th Dragoon Giek*A-

Charles Sewell to be Pay-

!Ileac r
13th Light Drigoons—Troop-Sergeant-Major Charles
Moore Foster to be Quartermaster.
Grenadier Regitrent of Foot Guards—Ensign and Lieut
Charles Hampden Turner to be Lieut. and Captain; En-
sign Alfred Walter Thynne to be Ensign and Lieutenant
without purchase.
Ist Foot—Lieut. H. W. Turner to be Captain without
purchase. To be Lieut.& without purchase—Ensigns
Henry George Whte, Rowland L. S. Curtois. To be
Ensign without pirchase--The Hon. Thomas Oliver
Western a Plunkett.
4th Foot—To be Lients. without pnrchase—Ensiens
John M` Dowell Ell.ott, Hon. H. N. G. Massey, Henry B.
Maple, Charles P. Stokes. To be Ensign without pur-
chase—Lieut. Edwird Crossweller George, from the Royal
South Middlesex Militia.
7th Foot—Captaia Frederick Mills to be Major, without
purchase. To be Captains without purchase--Lieuts.
Richard W. Thomat, Richard L. Otway Pearson, Henry
W. P. Butler, Frederick E. Appleyard, Brevet Lieut.-