The Press.
London, England, 1858-11-13 00:00:00

racteristics of the military, naval, legal, and cle-
rical minds (a passage which reads like a
burlesque of Mr. Buckle) ; on our future policy
in India; on the disasters in the Crimea; and on
the misdeeds of the East India Company, whom he
with unconscious humour asks, " How can you ac-
" cuse the sepoy of being untrue to his salt,' when,
" by taxing that article, you prevented his having
" any salt to be true to ?" On all these matters,
Dr. Ridge delivers himself with more energy
than discretion. But as his remarks on such ex-
traneous topics form but a small proportion of
the book, we have forborne to enlarge upon
them, feeling that, where so much is useful and
valuable, it would be an invidious task to show
up the mistakes of a well-meaning, and, on his
own subjects, well-informed writer. For the
same reason we do not particularize errors of
style and carelessness in composition, of which
instances may be found here and there. Dr.
Ridge is probably satisfied with conveying his
meaning clearly, and, as he has great vivacity
and abundant illustration, he is never dull. A
thorough revision, and, in some cases, amputa-
tion or actual cautery, would indefinitely improve
the book; but, even as it is, we are satisfied to
recommend it as a popular and safe manual, con-
veying much information which cannot be too
widely known, and, in other respects, as a va-
luable contribution to the philosophic treatment
of medical pathology.

1. The Chancellor's Chaplain; or, Self-Sacrifice.
By the Rev. E. Neale, M.A. London :
Simpkin and Marshall.
2. True to the Last; or, Alone on a Wide, Wide
Sea. By A. S. Roe. London : Simpkin

and Marshall.
3. Emma de Lissau. By the Author of " Sophia
de Lissau." London : Simpkin and Mar-

shall.
4. The English Governess. By Rachel M'Crin-
dell. London: Simpkin and Marshall.

5. The Runaways and the Gipsies. London :
Routledge.

1. "The Chancellor's Chaplain "—a misnomer,
by the way, as he declines the rectory in the gift
of the Lord Chancellor—relates the various in-
conveniences and embarrassments that may befall
a poor curate of the Church of England. It is
highly improbable, indeed, that any individual
clergyman ever experienced in his own person
the many contretemps here described, though
every one may be liable to encounter such un-
pleasantnesses in a greater or less degree. The
stories, as such, are agreeably and even artistically
told, and may serve to while away the tedium of
travel by railway, road, or river. Occasionally,
perhaps, there is too much straining after effect,
and sketches, correct in idea, are too often exag-
gerated into caricatures. But, taken as a whole,
the Curate's career is sufficiently true to the life,
and in its principal features will be recognized by
only too many. Some of the anecdotes with
wh►ch the narrative is interspersed are not the
less amusing for being founded on fact. Take
for example the Wiltshire funeral :

A heartless, miserly old man died at an advanced age,
possessed of considerable property, no portion of which
could he be prevailed on, during life, to part with to the
pressing necessities of those around him. His steward-
ship closed. At once niggardly and ostentatious—the
two qualities are far more frequently united than people
are willing to imagine—he lett in his will an instruction
to his executors, that "one thousand pounds should be
expended upon his funeral." To a benevolent lady in the
neighbourhood, whose earliest and latest thought hail
reference to the welfare of the necessitona, this happy
suggestion occurred—" Why not benefit the poor by this
strange injunction ? Why not invite all the needy, infirm,
and aged of the neighbourhood, to • this rich man's
funeral ; and give them clothing suited to the ceremony ?"
The idea was adopted and carried out. It was a delight-
ful funeral. The most cheerful scene that had been wit-
nessed there for years. No tears! No groans ! No sighs I
Not a mourner visible 1 Everybody smiling and in tip:
n top spirits. The old women came trotting up to tit
house,
house, each in a warm, comfortable cloak, new gown a '•
bonnet ; the old men in a fall suit of decent blaok. Non'
thought it necessary to look lugubrious and lachrymose
or other than they really were—beartglad. Hight joyous
was the spectacle ; and pleasant to many was thp thought,
that the old miser, who had taken special care to aid no
poor creatures when alive, should have made so niany
aged hearts light and happy when he was removed. Yes !
yes! that was a funeral worth attending.

The burial scene of the infidel who perished by his
own bind might, however, have been omitted