The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-20 00:00:00

REPRINTS OF FICTIONS.

REPRINTS have so accumulated on our shelves of late
that we must notice them briefly. Mr. Deacon's Ad-
ventures of a Bashful Irishman is cleverly written,
though we cannot say that the title is well sustained.
The matter sometimes borders on caricature, but the
author's fertile mind and animated style pleasantly
hurry the reader through this laughable volume.—
Beauchamp is a fair example of what may be aptly
termed Mr. James's style of standard romance. The
opening page describes a horseman on "a pleasant
" country road," at " eventide, when the sun," &c.—
Mr. Ainswor les Lancashire Witches makes a bulky
book of near 500 pages. In this edition of his ro-
mances one misses the plates, having so long been
accustomed to have his ideas illustrated by a black
ground, with the darkness relieved by the gleam of
a terrible axe, or a pair of white eyes starting out of
the head of their astonished owner.—" Fifth edition"
stamped on the cover of Mary Barton indicates the
popularity of that class of fiction which closely ad-
heres to reality, even when the theme—as factory life
in a factory district—appears unpromising.—Sir Bul-
wer Lytton's Rienzi, on the contrary, exhibits truth
under an imaginative aspect, and finds a far wider
circle of admirers. This would be thought strange
if the proof were not before our eyes ; yet, at any
rate, not more strange than the contemporaneous po-
pularity of Crabbe and Byron. The mind in its finer
faculties has wide sympathies, or how else, in galle-
ries, should we see the works of Wilkie and Turner
equally prized?—The Blithedale Romance of Mr.
Hawthorne reminds us that America can boast at
least one distinguished living novelist. His success
is independent of the adventitious causes which gave
such mushroom growth to the popularity of " Uncle
Tom." It is an intellectual success. We speak by
the card when we say that the Scarlet Letter ap-
proached nearly to the original invention and graphic
power of Scott's best historical style.—The Cardinal's
Daughter is a romance of Henry the Eighth's day ;
and agreeably relates how Anne Boleyn became
Queen, and how she laid her head on the block with-
out a murmur, because she remembered " that Ka-
" tharine's obstinacy had alienated the King from
" his daughter by that Queen," and she was resolved
that her child should not suffer the same fate from
the same cause.

The Life of Nicholas 1., Emperor of AU the Russia,.
With an Appendix. By Edward H. Michelsen,
Phil. D. London : Spooner.
ELIA, in one of his essays, amusingly describes the
distorted aspect which cne who has inflicted a wrong
presents to him who has sustained it. Thus, if an
errand boy with a slight cast in one of his eyes em-
bezzles and absconds with a bank note belonging to
his employer, the latter is sure, in the advertisement
furnished to the Hue and Cry, to describe the visual
defect as " a horrible squint, which gives to the
countenance an expression truly diabolical." Such
is the case with the Emperor of Russia at this mo-
ment, in the numerous brochures published respect-
ing him. His mental obliquity has been character-
ised as insanity; his bodily ailments have been gout,
erysipelas, apoplexy, and fever, at one and the same
time. But the work before us, though it is " still
the same triumphant song," sins less in this respect
than many others we have lately read. Without con-
taining anything new, it recounts succinctly the
leading incidents of the reign of Nicholas, and the
events which gave him the throne—the death of
Paul, the death of Alexander, and the mysterious
abdication of Constantine. The first, in a midnight
tumult, was strangled, and died gasping out, " Spare
my life, gentlemen, for Heaven's sake ! Give me at
least time to say a prayer !" The second, who was
certainly cognisant of the plot which led to the
murder, died in his bed, though not quietly, for his
last words to his physician, Sir James Wylie, were,
" My friend, what a deed ! what a horrible deed !"
Will the " thick-coming fancies" that throng the
deathbed be, in the case of Nicholas, of a hue less
dark ?

Ministering Children. A Tale. London: Seeleys.
HERE we have an attempt to illustrate what our trans-
atlantic cousins would call the." philosophy of cha-
rity." In this prettily-written story it is shown that
there are better ways of relieving the poor than by
giving them money. Perhaps so. The practice of
almsgiving, judging by such straws in the air as this,
is falling into disrepute ; yet, to relieve temporary or
accidental distress, what better example can we have
than that of the Samaritan, who did what was neces-
sary for the time being, without staying to think of
consequences? The whole tone of the story is pious,
and it is evident that the aim of the writer is purely
benevolent.