The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-15 00:00:00

APRIL 14, 1854.

him, and, seizing his arm, held him with an air of bitter
indignation and disgust. The wilful D'Aigrignv struggled
to release himself. The effort was his last. the purple
stream gushed from his lips, and he was a corpse.
gapier took the Count Mole's hand; bnt the latter
seemed not to notice the act : he was contemplating the
features of the dead in stern sorrow.

We can recommend our readers to place
" The Heir of Vallis" on their lists for the cir-
culating library.

The Practicability of Improving the Darellings of the
Labouring Classes. By Cheyne Brady. London:
Stanford.

Ix this pamphlet Mr. Brady gives a useful and con-
cise abstract of the many attempts made, with varied
success, to erect model lodging-houses for labourers.
He traces the movement to its origin in 1844 with
much clearness and no exaggeration. As yet, per-
haps, there is not much to look back upon with satis-
faction, but the details contained iu this pamphlet
prove that in almost every great town of the United
Kingdom something has been or is being done, and
that, wherever a moderate degree of judgment and
caution has been shown, the results, pecuniary as
well as moral, are satisfactory.
Mr. Brady subsequently proceeds to discuss set-
tlement and removal laws, which he does with zeal
and humanity, but apparently in happy ignorance of
the many complexities of the subject. lie points
out the difficulty which most embarrasses domestic
reformers,—that which is placed in their way by the
law of unlimited responsibility. Individuals can
seldom do much in providing dwellings for the la-
bouring class. To be done at all the thing must be
done on a large scale; and, even among philanthro-
pists, prudence recoils from the idea of embarking an
entire private fortune in schemes not exclusively
under one's own control. A royal charter of incor-
poration, though an efficient, is an expensive remedy.

History of the Dominion of the Arabs in Spain.
Translated from the Spanish of Dr. J. A. Conde
by Mrs. Jonathan Foster. Three Volumes—Vol.
I. " Bohn's Standard Library."
Tux work of Dr. Conde is peculiar. It is less a
history—in our acceptation of the word—than a
compilation of Arabic chronicles. Ha has broken
new ground and been indefatigable in collecting
Arabic annals and writings of every kind descriptive
of the dominion of the Arabs in Spain from its rise
to its fall, and these materials he has arranged in
order and woven into connected narrative with con-
siderable skill and even discrimination, so as to give
an Arabic character and antique style to the whole
work. But it is no part of his plan to embody infor-
mation collected from every available souroe, and to
write as a historian of the nineteenth century, sifting
out the truth as he best can from opposed authorities,
and exercising an independent judgment on dis-
cordant statements. Hence the errors of Arabic
writers are set forth in the text and contradicted in
footnotes, and the whole narrative proceeds on the
dogma of Islamism, that there is but one God and
that Mahomet is his prophet. Often the exact words
of the Arabic writers are employed. In the account of
a battle we read that "the burnished lances, thirst
" ing for blood, intoxicated themselves in deep lakes
" thereof." It is, perhaps, owing to the peculiar
nature of the work that, notwithstanding its great
learning and the intrinsic value of its materials, it
has not previously been rendered into English. The
first volume of the original was published at Madrid
in 1820, but the author died before the remaining
ones were issued in the following year. The transla-
tion by Mrs. Foster appears to be scrupulously faith-
ful : if she errs it is on the side of literalness, as
phrases like " sufficiently inexact," though they may
convey the sense of the author, are not good English.
In her task she evinces great industry and very
commendable original knowledge.

British Ferns. London: Hardwicke.
Ax account of that graceful, indigenous plant the
fern, which, it appears, numbers about forty-five va-
rieties in the British islands, "the genera being put
at sixteen."