The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1866-11-06 00:00:00

Literature.

NOVEMBER MAGAZINES.

Th.. Art Joarmal this month surpasses itself
in the magnificence of its three chief engravings.
A home aud domestic, influence breathes through-
put "The Breakfast Table" of Webster, and
" Hay-time" pointed by D. Coy, is a vast ex-
pow of meadow, bounded by low and far-off I
undulations. with • rivulet and rustic bridge
in the foreground, and very few figures to '
',have the wonderful manipulation of surface; whilst
Rpinbransit's." Weary Travellers" is one of those
tosser,: hard realities which none but he could ever ;
picture. We have besides several large illustrations
on wood, but equal to ordinary line engraving in
Mr. Dafforne's Belgian Painters. The other contri-
butions by Mrs. Bury Palliser, W. P. Bayley, and
i.thrrs, are exceedinely interesting. The "memory"
of the n,oeth, which is always -looked forward to
with so much avidity, is a churning one of Maria
Edgweeth by Mr. and Mrs. S. C. FlalL We owe II
Stem • debt of gmtitode for embalming these pleas. I
tog recollections of literary people whose memories
are too frequently lost in the act of immortalising
others. We may be allowed to mention that the
Int,oductary p rtion of a paper by W. Wallace Pyre
appease in this number in memoriam of the late
D. R. Bay. Papers on "Signboards," " Medieval
Illuminations," An., are curiously illustrated.
/Packwood concludes the novel of Sir Brook Foes-
brooke, and in the fly leaves it is announced for
eolerate publication, as the work of Charles !ATM
"Nina Ralatka" holds on its way—a stem, hod
outline of the desperate fidelity of womanly devotion.
" Cornelius O'Dowd" is great on "The Lost Cable,"
but not the Atlantic one—rather in fact a rope of
sand—the Reform Cable. He touches also on
'bribers and bribery" and other kindred topic', in.
chiding our English worship of title and foreign
gainioing tables, "profitable vies." Art is not •
favourite topic with Biarkwooti, but there is in this
number a fair amount of the national gallery of
historic portraits. About the best article is " Cele'.
tial Rule and Rebellion," obviously by Mr. Oliphant.
The two political papers relate respectively to "Three
Presidents of the United States," and "What should
Ministers do?' And both subjecte are sufficiently
absorbing. _ . .

The A othropologteal Review, Noe. 12, 13, 14, and
15. Somebody has been, as usual, making free with
psi° lic.als intended for us, and an this instance has
put our friend, Dr. Hunt, to the necessity of going
back a twelvemonth to supply our beck num-
tiers of this quarterly, which for the last year or
year and a half we have not enjoyed an opportunity
of noticing. Tbe Anthropologists do not publish for
sot:dime. It teems to us that they would rather
court abase than praise, so anxious are they to elicit
truth by dint of sharp discussion, that they would
resort to the collision of hint and steel to strike the
'park. This is exactly what they are doing and wish
to do, and however astounding to tome of our pre.
conceived notions, there can be no doubt that bold
investigation has revealed, in many instances,
astounding facts regarding the nature of man, in
place of which we have been accustomed deferentially
to accept much that could not possibly be true. But
the facts of anthropology are in the main mall
fact.. There is as yet nothing like • moieties
of anthropology erected over them, and they are
ungovernably loose. Still we suppose that geology
awl many other modern entenoes—electrical science
for example—were at first equally undefined. And,
therefore, we may expect that in collecting facts an-
thropology must be making progress; nor can we
venture to predict what degree of precision its
principles may ultimately attain. We bare all beard
of the Irish gentleman who, in quitting the Section
at Nottingham, was met at the door by an entenng
visitor, and being 'eked "What are thee doing in
there?" replied ins confidential tone, "Well, as far as
I can make out, they think they were once all mow.
keys, and," he added Joao owe, "its my belief they
are fast going back to what they came from !"
A propoe of this, we perceive that at • late meeting
(and, by the way, they bad a moat brilliant cooper-
sozione in Si. Martin's Ball last Tuesday evening) the
Re.. Dunbar I. Heath quietly responded to the
challenge of a brother member "as the descendant of
the most ancient classes—the quadrumana,"—whilst
in the course of the same dimoseten there were
curious referencee to the pedicuhre Aoneinie, the
l'ercy family affliction (which, notwithstanding the
present family are sot Percy. but Smitheons, was
aitribnied to an "absent slander" of Shakespeare's in
The Merry nee, of 11 irullor); as also to the Bourbon
chin, the strong resemblance of the Prime of Wales
to the face of George 111. as stamped on the ening of
his reign—according, we presume, to the law of
personal appearances so frequently reproduced in the
grandchildren. But the Prince of Wake is fully as
like his mother as be could be like George 111. ; and

6.,irge 111. in his youth was quit* e handsome
young man. We cannot dwell on the mines of
amusing matter embodied in this novel and rather
candid review of poor human nature. Yet some
great papers, such as those of Thomas Wright, up.
setting the bronze, flint, and other alleged pre-
historic ages, most be mentioned ; as also the Parisian
anthropological proceedings—the French, to le very
vulgar, going the whole hog in'thia science, and no
mistake.

Chrit'ian Sod.ly No. IL (Groombridge) is •
well sustained second number. Its bast article is
once more the dialogue one, "Evening. with Friends
and Honks," although it has drifted from the begin-
-Meg to the end of the volume. Its wont is 'Royalty
sti the Highlands—the service and the sermon in
Dornoch Catbedral"—an account of one of the most
turgid and piebald of all the sermons of Dr. John
'Cumming. interlarded with the moat common-place
of all scrape of poetical quotation, and evidently
recorded by the versatile pen of Dr. Cumming him- 1
self in his pride and exultation at having served
and preache4 in a cathedral! But if the other articles
are not transcendental and will set the T hernia
on fire, they are plain excellent reading by men of
generally ministerial ezperienoe on subjects enter-
taining to honest folks. We quite rejoice in each •
magazine, and draw • long breath of relief on turning
to it, away from the sensational periodicalism of the
day. "Family Religion Heirlooms of Christian
Ark—ln the city on • Sunday morning—A parson's
experience about sermons" such are the free and
easy, almost goesipping and familiar strains of the
contents. Amongst the more curious contributions
" Missionary literature in the far east and far west"
is new and singular. "The people called Protestants"
conveys an abstract definition, which is, we presume,
in point of fact the confession of faith of this orthodox
and highly evangelical magasine, for which there is
undoubtedly a place in our world of letters, and of
that piece we must pronounce it worthy.
Our Own Fire4ide (Worcester). —This excellent
London and Provincial publication contains, is usual,
many able contributions. We notice some by Mrs.
Webb, Mrs. Harriett Beecher-Stowe, W. 11. Grosse,
Rev. T. Hutton, the Rev. Erskine Neal, and the
Rev. F. 0. Morris. The Indian pictures continue to
be very remarkable.
Ilardwicke's Science Goveip is now well known
.as • monthly medium of interchange and romp for
students and lovers of nature. It appears to be
eminently successful in its objects, the botanical de-
pirtment being the only one in which recourse is
had to entreat.. We count shouts dozen larger and
a whole host of minor contributions—the former
mostly illustrated with very wonderful objects, such
sea viviparous fish, that is a fish with live young
ones in its belly, a thing hitherto unheard of; star.
shaped hairs; gastric teeth of insects, such as cricket,
weevil and beetle; fond sections; fans of diatoms,
and the crown animalcule. We know of no similar
or nearly so good popular medium of natural science.
IliAtory of Aintoick. The indefatigable author,
Mr. George Tate, r. 0.5., has completed in monthly
numbers the first volume of this local Northumbrian
history. It isa model of research, accurately com-
piled and admirably illustrated.
Murray'. Time Tables.—Tbeso travelling tables
for the railways, steamboats, coaches, &a, of Scot-
land, Ireland, and part of England, with the
filwrough routes to Scotland from London, are
simply indispensible in the north and for all resort-
ing ebither ; they are besides a model of simplicity
ease:spared with Bradshaw.
A11164144E4. —Two of thees.croaele couriers of the
-year are before on : Thorley redolent in all the
glories of colour printing outshines himself, parti.
onlarly in the title page, where he has placed his
own John Bull like portrait.. companion picture to
another. Hie publication forms an admirable
Plet-book, with plenty of apace for memoranda.
an. Brown and Co., of Salisbury, have also just
wined their Sarum (sheet) Aloateaek, for 1867,
exquisitely printed by Bennett. It is a handsome
stint with red letter illminations, and all the red
letter days in colour. The Christian essecins are all
defined in the appended letter press; and we
Veen that for the future clergy can even have
e" 'natter inserted in this sheet almanack.