The Press.
London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Letter on the LdtC of Arbitration. By Francis
Russell, laq., M.A., Barrister at-Law. London:
Groombridge and Son.
Tuts is a letter addressed, with his 11(1.4116o:ion, to
Lord Brougham, proposing to simplify and extend
the law of arbitration. Numerous statutes contain
ill separate series of Chases for the conduct of
arbitration;' and two general statutes are besides in
force. These Mr. Russell proposes to repeal, and
"to re-enact, with improvements, all that it is thought
desirable to retain." In the letter (a pamphlet of
01111 Y-the Pages) he discusses what provisions the
proposed statute should contain. It is clearly
written, and en,dY COMprehensible by a nou-proli s.
sional reader.

PERIODICAL LITERATURE.
The Edinburgh Rrrir►r. !Amami: Longman
Anil l'o.

Tins Review, maintains the diameter which it has
somewhat laboriously achieved of late—that of being
the best collection of pamphlets extant. Number
after number, the literary or review element becomes
inure and 11101 V einneSeeln. SilMiry titles of
baaaks
are still paraded at the head of successive• papers ;
but the accompanying papers never pr. tend, even, to
the critical diameter. Number CC., aeeorilingly—
like too many of its preileeess‘irs—presents nothing
but a faseicultis of essays, written with much elo-
quenee, not inconsiderably talent, and an infinite
amount of pretension to infnllibilily in matters of
fact, and Of iitiginaikin in matters of principle.
This new phase in our obi friend of the " buff and
blue" must, we suppose, be now accepted as It per-
manent, if not a "great.' fact. Its conductors, no
doubt for sufficient reasons, have chosen to convert
the old literary " judex " into a mere continuation of
Vary's excellent but defunct compilation, the
Pomp/Meer. Regarding the Review now before us,
we are glad to recognise a vast improvement upon►
some previous numbers in the fart that its articles
relate to subjects really possessing SOM., contempo-
rary interest. Whether by accident or from design,
we find in it, for example, pahys relating to the
Turkish question 141111 the Arctic discoveries—subjects
on whirl. the Wait. interest is still at Utast-heat. To
be sure the treatment of these subjects is somewhat
antiquated. Mr. Crowe's volume, scarcely three tits
old, entitled "The !beck and the Turk," is made the
excuse for the find-mentioned essay, and is duly men-
tioned in three lines of a supplemental note. But
the article itself consists of a cut ,and dry dissertation
on the "spirit of Mal ttttt wilanism," and might, for
aught that we can see, have almost. been written by
way of appendix to Prideaux' " Life of Maimmet,"
published in the seventeenth century•. To the
Arctic discoveries, again, public attention has re -
cently been reawakened ; but the despatches of
Captains M‘Clure and Inglefield and the speeches of
Lieutenant Cresswell have rendered the information
very sedulously compiled by the reviewer in great
measure obsolete, and reduced his ingenious
hypotheses either to truisms or absurdities. A
couple of professional articles upon our " National
Defences" and " Military Bridges " are sensibly
written, and convey the views of a contributor who has
evidently mastered his subject. In the review of
Ilaydon's Autobiography, also, we find traces of a
judgment at onee just and humane. But the subject
has l►een worn almost to triteness by happier—that
is to say earlier—critics. Despite its unpromising
title, the paper on "Church Parties " otli'rs most
interest to the general reader. It is full of anecdote,
and will be found, indeed, replete with amusement
to those who—for the sake of a piquant story—can
excuse the tone of ambitious philosophy in which it is
conveyed. There is a political article entitled
" Parl►amentat'y Purification," containing some Sell.
Bible suggestions, which we might have deemed im•
portant in days when► the Edinburgh Review officioucd
as the exponent of Ministerial intentions---or when
the Ministry• had any intentions on the subject to
expound.

Binckwood's Magazine. London: Blackwood and

Sons.
THF. stagnation in home politics is testified by the
continued absence of any politi,al articles in the new
number of Blackwood. An able paper on the Turkish
question leads of course to the conclusion which all
parties, save some few desperate Aberdonians. have
long since adopted—that " the political predilections
"and illegitimate mano•uvres of the Premier, and the
"feebleness and incapacity of the present Foreign Se-
cretary, have prolonged the crisis and encouraged
" Russia ; and, if war occurs, at their door it will lie."
' lint lit yond this there is no allusion to affairs
of state. En recon••hr, the literary contents of the
current number are lim:wally good. After ming
attention, though somewhat tardily, to the memoirs
of Hayden, Ebony gives us a brace of clever classico-
antiquarian ankles on the " Romans in Scotland " and
" Attiew;" aud then, travelling northward, deberihea

Paris in its moat modern aspect under the Emperor
—or rather Empress Eugenie—and, reaching Londou
at list, shows the cockneys under a physical point of
view, siprois), of the- narcotics we indulge in." From
this last paper we will cite tho deacription of the ma-
nufacture of a drug which M. Dumas, Mr. Coulters,
and other forcign and British romancista have iren•
deed famous—the Oriental " haschish ":

Am g the sucient Saracens, the modern Arabs, in
t * parts of Turkey, anal generally throughout Syne, the
illrip:trution, of hemp in co use wen•. and are still,
known by the 1111111,0% of hoiscApaeh, hi/AMA, or hrshenth.
The most ea ttttt non fonts of haschineh, and that which is
the basis of all others, is prepared hy haling the towel
and dowers of the hemp with water to which a certain
Initially of fresh butter has twin added. evaporating the
detstetion to the thickness of a syntp, and then %troilism
it through cloth. The butter thus isssones charged with
the RCIIVI. n' ' principle of the plant, and acquires a
greenish colour. his propagation retains its properties
for many years, only befouling a little rancid. Its taste,
however, is very disagreeable, and hence it is seldom taken
alone, but is nosed with confeetions and *rummies, emu.
ph.tr, cloves, nutmegs, HMCO, and not untnspientiv amber.
gri, anal musk, so as to form a sort of ele•tusry. the eon.
fist' used among the Moors is called el wows, and is
sold at an enenn price. bowariente is the name given
by the Arabs to that which they most conommlT use. This
is ft.eapiently OA however, with other solaitance%
of
reputed aphrodisiac virtues, to enable it tat minister more
eileetuallv to the sensual avatitieations, which appear to bet
the grand ashjeet of life among many of the itositids."
1111 additional source of celebrity to title drug
the anther hypothetically traces to its root the origin
of the wont "assassin." Ihiring the wars of the
Crusades, ho says, " certain of the Sararen
intoxicated by this means, were in the habit of rush-
ing into the camp of the Christians, and committing
great havoc, being themselves totally regardless of
death. These men were known as ha•htaheens, and
thence came our word assassin."

Frei se e'd Uuyotzitle. No ember. London: J. W.
Pat ker and Son.
Fresh opens with a eontinnatime which is also the
conclusion, el a deletee of the morals of queen Eliza.
beth. \lttelt cud its historical information is emu.
hilted 1111 d brought to hear on the point ; but the
writer fails to mainline his position. Leicester, he
says,"was second telly to I in the strength of
" his understanding." Was, then, the understanding
of Cecil the tirst—his intellect the highest—in the
age of Francis Bacon ? The author also quotes ep-
proiingly a passage in which Hayward, speaking of
Elizabeth, says—" tier virtues were such as might
" mace to make an iEtitiop beautiful . . . She was
" lovely and tieing." Of Hatton he says, " Ile was
" the patron of distressed clergymen, and particularly
"of bishops who were in difficulties." How is it
that flatten-gaiter and Ely place are in such close
proximity? Is there not a letter extant addressed
by Elizabeth to the Bishop of Ely, commencing
frond Prelate," stating that she who made him can
unmake him, and concluding with a right royal oath
that she would " unfrock " hint if he would not cons.
ply with certain conditions which were to be for
Ilatein's advantage? Here was a bishop truly in
difficulties ! Hatton was called by Elizabeth her
MOUtOU-1111 expressive title, and ileuleless a charm,-
teristie one ; the meaning of it is to be seen even
now in his fats!, which is indeed, though very hand-
some, yet sweet and sheeplike." The writer describes
her young nobility as chivalrously making war for
her at their ewe expense ; "and three times bleat
" when site I 1 theta by a smile or a kind word."
They certainly made war for her—and She certainly
preferred paying them iu smiles or kicks to half-
pence—but they, or at least all of them, did not like
it. The Queen entered into a kind of partnership
with Essex to carry on the war in Ireland. The
queen did not perform her part of the bargain, and
the earl was nearly ruined ; but he grumbled loudly.
The writer says Hatton urged the Queen to marry.
Ilatten's words al) net warrant this statement. Hat.
ten dime not counsel marriage.
The second wide in the magazine, " A Visit to
New South Willem in 15t,3," is full of interesting
facts. The article entitled " Thoughts about Shelley
MO Byron " iv a singula • instance of the strength of
truth. The critic is endeavouring, with might and
main, to depreciate Shelley and exalt Byron ; yet the
power and beauty of the poet vanquieh him, and his
pen is arrested in the attonpt. Like the prophet of
old, the lips opened to curse dose in blessing. "In
" spite of bombast, horrors, maundering, sheer stuff
" and nonsense of all kinds, there is a plaintive, nom-
" rag melody about this man such as no other Fug
" fish poet has ever uttered, except Shakspeare, in
" some few immortal songs."

The Dublin Maruine. November.
ntblin : M`Glashan.
Tut.: hest article in the present number of this maga.
rine is an interesting memoir of Patrick Saratield,
the celebrated Irish general. It is written in a tem
perats spirit of haitorival criticism, and with great