The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-24 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 24,1857.

the accessibility of heaven to all men. We
are surprised at such sentiments in the Quar-
terly. They are well enough in those who
view the universe in a sort of warm 7& spirit,
but from the pen of one who holds any creed
approximating to orthodoxy they are as
illogical as superficial. In other respects this
paper does full justice to the able and interest-
ing work which it reviews (i.e , " Toni Brown's
School Days "), and stands up boldly for the
theo►y of education therein unfolded. In the
paper on " The Parish Priest " it is rather the
tone than any express statements that are
objectionable. It is, we think, inclined to be
captious; but it contains some very sensible
remarks on preaching, and the necessity of
learning in the clergy, with which we fully
coincide. " Cornwall" is an extremely plea-
sant article, abounding in picturesque and
striking descriptions. The following passage
on Cornish family influence is cu►ious, as
being somewhat at variance with prevailing
opinion on the subject :

It has been seen that the Norman families obtained,
with few exceptions, but a slight and temporary hold of
territorial power in Cornwall ; and, notwithstanding their
secluded position and their love of long-descended pedi-
grees, the Cornish have been on the whole leas feudal in
their notions, less led and swayed by aristocratic in-
fluences, than the inhabitants of most English counties.
The bulk of the people rose against the Government in
three several and very remarkable insurrections—twice
under Henry VII. and once under Edward Vl.—and on
neither occasion do we find that any leading family was
engaged in the rebellion. And at the present day, if any
political partisan were to seek to rouse the passions of
the western population, he would find his purpose much
better answered by enlisting in his cause a few Methodist
teachers and a few mining " captains," than through the
gentry of the district. This is not inconsistent with the
exercise of great local influence, here and there, by indi-
vidual gentlemen who stand high in public estimation as
benefactors of the county. No race estimate services of
this kind more highly, or repay them more cordially, than
the Cornish. Such men as the late Lord de I)unstanville
and Mr. Tremayne—we might cite some equally remark-
able living names, were it not our purpose to avoid all
personal allusion—exercised a kindly authority among
them hardly surpassed by that of the Grenvilles and Tre-
lawneys of old times. But the homage was tendered rather
to the was; xtti rcyrt9o;, as a Greek republican might
have expressed it, than to the c:oyiin;.

The main reason for this inferior force of the feudal
principle was to be found, doubtless, in the commercial and
self-relying habits of the people. Those habits, on which
we shall have presently to dwell more at length, are rooted
among them from an antiquity far exceeding that of the
oldest family annals. The industry of our ports, our ma-
nufaeturing provinces, our coal districts, almost that of
London itself, are mere products of recent ages, compared
with the trade of the Cornish tinner. For it must be re-
membered that owing to the profound freedom from war
and revolution enjoyed at all times Sy this secluded corner
of the world, and its monopoly of an indispensable com-
modity, that industry has never been interrupted. Since
Dicelorus Sictilus wrote hie account of the dealings in tin
between the Britons and the traders from the Mediterra-
nean on that isle of Ictis which nothing but antiquarian
perversity could place elsewhere than at St. Michael's
Mount—a spot which answers the description alone and
exactly—the ore has been raised, and wrought, and
bartered without the intermission probably of a single
generation. The tourist who reaches Falmouth by sea
may look with respect on that bare, brown mountain which
rises to the left, mangled as it is with the scars and seams
left by the mining operations of successive ages; for Caru
Menellis has neverrestei, we may believe, from the strokes
of the miner's pick, nor its neighbouring creeks from the
dash of the trader's oar, " since first the old Phtenicians
came." This primeval subterranean corporation, with
perpetual succession, is but slightly affected by changes in
the ownership of the soil above ground, and reeks little
of the revolutions of noble or gentle houses—things of
yesterday.

In the paper on the Suez and Euphrates
routes that question is well argued out, in
the course of which a most graphic and in-
teresting sketch of the Bedouins is intro-
duced. The article on George Stephenson is
uncommonly well written, and so is that on
India ; hut the latter is purely narrative, and
does not attempt even an outline of remedial
measures.

The October number of the TVest►ninster Re-
view is neither above nor below its usual ave-
rage. The article on female dress is very sen-
sible, as all protests against extravagance can
hardly fail to be ; yet writers on dress seem
generally to overlook this one great fact—that
the world uses dress as the author, whoever
he may be, of a certain famous apothegm
would have used language—not to utter, but
to conceal his thoughts. Dress has now be-
come less the ornament of beauty than the
screen of plainness ; and it is easier to account
for the success of the present full skirt than
to prophesy its extinction, when we recollect