The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-11-30 00:00:00

PUBLICATION.

TEMPLE BAR: a London Magazine for Town and Cone'
try. Conducted by George Auguitus Sala. No. 10
December.
THE coming of this new candidate for periodical honours
has been looked for since its first announcement, with
no little interest. The wide fame of the editor as i‘
brilliant and captivating writer in this particular field of
literary work, while marking him out as eminently well
suited for the duties he was about to assume, natural',
bespoke in advance a corresponding reputation for ill'
new undertaking. - i ''-
Contrary to the example followed in someotherinstancest
"Temple Bar" conies before the world divested of all
editorial preface or introduction; but in a paper by Air'
Sala, headed ".Travels in the County of. Middiesert
With short notices of the adjoining Provinces," we have
the following sentence, which must, in the circumstances'
do duty for a prospectus :
As
I happen to be, for once, the sole editor and con'
ductor of this magazine, I have an undoubted right te
compose my own articles in my own fashion, ,and there.
fore offer no apology for beginning these "Travels in
the County-of Middlesex" with a dissertation.upon.hero-
worship. I don't ask you to read a line of what I have
written. There is no deception. You are not defrauded'
We give you a sheet more matter than eter British Con'
tributor had before for a shilling. Let that sheet be
my sheet, to spin as I list. Cut it out if you like, *bee
you send "Temple Bar" to the binder.
Of the first specimen of these travels thus given to us'
we merely say, that while displaying the usual abilitl
and versatility of the writer, we have seen several of amore
lively kind emanate from his pen ; but no doubt it 014
have been a difficult matter to break ground on a surface
which Mr. Sala has so often previously most profitablY
turned up.
" For Better, for Worse," is the title of a tale, which
bears indisputable marks of being the production of a lady,
and a charming one too, and which is admirably and speci'
ally adapted for family reading in the upper circles of
society. Many scenes and passages—in fact, the entire plan
and apparent aim of the story—remind us most forcibly Cl
some of the most popular works of Mrs. Youge. An
article on Mr. Hepworth Dixon's triumphant effort t°
vindicate the memory of' the immortal Francis Bacon
from the load of unmerited slander and calumny under
`which the name of that great man has come down to nef
and to which the present Lord Chancellor, most =for'
tunately for his lordship's literary reputation, made 11
very considerable contribution, is a very able paper;
We entirely concur in the conclusions of the writer of
it, and gladly reproduce the last sentence of his
.
critique :
We must now takelenve of Mr. Dixon. With that
generous sympathy •for noble:deeds and men which 110
inspired him in' his literary career to teach us hoir
rightly to admire Howard, Blake, and Penn, he has
.again performed a manly and noble task. The dragon
he has cloven down is no more. The lie no longer lives'
Henceforth Bacon's fame is no matter for anxious gloonl
or ingenious speculation. The ground where he lie;
enshrined is for ever closed to contest. The case has a'
last been so stated that discussion on it can never again
be reopened with any chance of altering the public
-verdict. No longer will good men fear to love ninn
te Lookin on his virtues, eternal in their dazzling beauty'
even as his intellect is imperishable in power, no longer
can the vicious boast of him as a familiar and a compeer'
The gem of the number is,' however, we think, •the
short story, entitled " Gold and Dross." ' Here is 3
description of an English baronet, we were going to sal
of the old school, but we rejoice to think that the race
is not only not extinct, but is showing symptoms of in-
crease and even of improvement :
Sir John Maurice may be somewhere about sixty; be
stands six feet three without his boots ; he is stoutish,'
erect as. ha was at, five4ind-twenty; with thick curling
hair, quite white ; a splendid face, a trifle weather'
beaten ; dark sparkling eyes; and not a tooth missing,
'He is tip at five in summer, six in winter; walks two
•miles before breakfast to bathe in the open sea all the
year round ; sleeps with his window open from January
to December ; rides to the foxhounds every time they g.:°
out, and, notwithstanding his size, his age, and his
weight, he and his horse Goliath are among the very first
in at thedeath. At great hunting dinners at Halliday Hal
or elsewhere, he can drink more wine—habitually he is
rather abstemious in the matter of drinking—than any
man in the county; and when, for certain, good reasons
best known to themselves, most of the • other guest-4
eschew the drawing-room, or would 'do well to do so, be
makes his appearance among the ladies as genial, 0
well-bred, as charming, as perfect a gentleman as be
showed himself at breakfast in the mornint
A dear, fresh, wholesome old man ; the best landloraf
the best friend, the best father—had been the best hilt
band;--in short, the best gentleman to be met wig`
any where in Britain or out of it.
He has a' daughter. who has made the mistake of giving
up an old lover for a, new face. Her father consents to
the new engagement,- on condition that its fulfilment
shall be postponed for a year. During the interval sho
discovers the inferiority and real worthlesisness of her
new lover. He deceives her in a matter in which truth'
fulness is at stake. • She at once dismisses him after
having given him fair **riling, and 'writes the following
letter to her old' flame, which again is the gem of the
story itself : . ,
"Dearest Stephen, ,
"A year ago X made a dreadful mistake. You
were then the chief sufferer,, my poor dear Stephen'
but since then I have sufferedlorribly—yes! more than
you could have done. There is no man living but your'
self to whom I • could write as 'I am now writing-0,
whom, after treating him as I have treated you, I cola
say, Return to me ; let the past be obliterated, and take
me as the Rosy you loved a year ago. But I know you,
and I know that twelve months of absence have net
changed your heart, or made it forgeeor cease to 100
me, unworthy as I may have been of such a heart's love.
"So I come, Stephen dearest, in deep humility: t°
lay my fate in your hands, and to-say that lam yowl,
if you will consent to take me. "R. M.''
Readers, I give you. each three guesses as to the put'
port of Stephen's answer.
For the remaining portion of the contents of tile
number,—which include several charming pieces 41,
poetry—we must • refer to the table prefixed to the firs"
number of "Temple Bar," remarking that they a%
wonderfully numerous and varied for the money, all;
include a highly interesting paper on "Soldiers an
Volunteers," which will well repay perusal. _
We cannot doubt that there is abundant room for el°
success of Mr. Sala's spirited undertaking—among WO
circles especially, and we heartily wish him all WO
in filling this void satisfactorily.

Parliamentary notices hare been given for 260 11
railway bills. The proposed lines are comparativoelY
short.
THE COTTON CROP AND LIVERPOOL birouss•-:-
Whatever may be the opinion of those well up
estimates as to the quantity of cotton to be expect
e°
from the new crop the United States, one thills
seems quite certain, namely, that the imports of 01
cotton into the port of Liverpool, by the end of the ne%,
month will fall very far short of the quantity imported
in thell
last year. One letter, by the Hammonia, stating that
the imports this year into Liverpool will be foal
100,000 to 120,000 bales less than last year. The yeti
latest returns from all the cotton ports of the Unite,
States and India give the following as the amount 01
cotton en route to Liverpool :—From New OrleanS•
' 116,983 bales, in 37 ships • Mobile, 18,663 bales, 10 1
ships ; Charleston, 10,477 bales, in 4 ships ; Galvest24
on?
1;837 bales, in 1 ship; .New Fork, 12,441 bales, in
ships; Bombay, 49,194 boles: in 106