The Press.
London, England, 1856-07-05 00:00:00

PERIODICAL LITERATTYRE.

The National Review (we speak in particular of
this July number), avoiding mere essay-writing, is
distinguished by critical study and exposition of the
chief literary productions of the quarter. The table
of contents is attractive, but we must confine our
attention to the reviews which strike us most. Mr.
Ruskin meets with an able advocate against the
attacks (very untair ones in our judgment) to which
he has been exposed. It is acutely observed of Mr.
Ruskin's apparent inconsistencies that "each state-
ment is but that side of truth on which Mr. Itus-
"kin's mind was concentrated for the moment."
The fault is that the one side is so handled and
dwelt on as to convey an impression that it repre-
sents the whole case. The new novel of " Perver-
sion " has its character fairly described:—

A more painful specimen of Hard Church libels on men
has seldom appeared than the novel of "Perversion." We
do not think that there are many of these sketches that
may not be in their literal details taken from real life;
many of them clearly are either newspaper facts or
sketches of personal experience ; bat we do not know any
one of the miserable shams which pass in such quick
succession before us, from the very heginnin,g up to the
121st page of the third volume, which, if it had been
painted by a man deeply feeling the meaning of what he
was delineating, would not hare had tither far lighter and
more mired colours, or ajar sadder tone. •
The novel is A painfta one, and as such we spoke of
it severaljtVegki iftce ; and its painfulness consists
in representing the bttlk of the clergy in such an
odious or despicable light, as to go far to justify the
scepticism which the book is avowedly written to
oppose. The best article in the Review is that on
Sir Robert Peel. He is characterised as the " busi-
ness gentleman," the "proper head of a moderate,
"intelligent, half-commercial community." An
allusion to Peel as the schoolfellow of Byron leads
to a masterly contrast of the two characters :
Lln truth, the character of Sir Robert Peel happily fitted
him both to be the chosen head of apopular community,im-
perionsly, bent on his own ideas, and to be head of that
community in shifting and changing times. Sir Robert
was at Harrow with Lord 13yron, who has left the cha-
rseteristic reminiscence : " 1 was always in scrapes,
Peel never." And opposed as they were in their fortunes
as boys and'rnen, they were at least equally contrasted in'
the habit and kind of action of their minds. Lord 13yroit's
mind gained everything it was to gain by one intense,
striking effort. By a blow of the imagination ho elicited a
single bright spark of light on every subject, and that was
ill. And this lie never lost. The intensity of the think-
ing action seemed to burn it on the memory, there to
remain alone. But he made no second effort; he gained
no more. He always avowed his incapability of continuous
application : he could not, be said, learn the grammar of
any language. In later lite he showed considerable talents
for action ; but those who had to act with him observed
that, versatile as were his talents, and mutable as his con-
victions had always seemed to be, in reality be was the
most stubborn ofmen. He heard whet you had to say,
assented to all you had to say; and the next morning
returned to his original opinion. No amount of ordinary
argumentative resistance was so hopeless as that facile
acquiescence and instantaneous recurrence. The truth
was, that he was,—and some others are similarly consti-
tuted,—anablo to retain shy thing which he did not at any
rate seem to gain by the unaided single rush of his own
mind. The ideas cof such minds are often not new, very
often they are hardly in the stric•est sense original; they
really were very much suggested from without, and pre-
served in some obscure corner of memory, out of the way
and unknown ; but it remains their characteristic that
' they seem to the mind of the thinker to be born from its
own depths, to be the product of its latent forces. There

ATURDAY,

is a kind of eruption of ideas from a subterconscions
world. The whole mental action is volcanic ; the lava
flood glows in " Childe Harold " ; all the thoughts are in-
tense, if Ung forth vivid. The day after the eruption the mind
is calm ; it seems as if it could not again do the like ; the
product only remains, distinct, peculiar, indestructible.
The mind of Peel was the exact opposite of this. His
opinions far more resembled the daily accumulating in-
sensible deposits of a rich alluvial soil. The great stream
of time flows on with all things on its surface ; and slowly,
grain by grain, a mould of wise experience is unconsciously
left on the still, extended intellect. You scarcely think
of such a mind as acting; it seems always acted upon.
There is no trace of gushing, overpowering, spontaneous
impulse; every thing seems acquired. The thoughts are
calm. In Lord Byron, the very style—dashing, free, incisive
—shows the bold impulse from which it came. The
stealthy accumulating words of Peel seem like the quiet
leavings of an outward tendency, which brought these,
but might as well have brought others. There is uo
peculiar stamp either in the ideas. They might have been
any one's ideas. They belong to the general diffused
stock of observations which are to be found in the civi-
lised world. They are not native to the particular mind,
nor "to the manner born." Like a science, they are
credible or incredible by all men equally. This secondary
character, as we may call it, of intellect, is evidently most
useful to a statesman of the constitutional class, such
as we have described him. He insensibly an I inevitably
takes in and imbibes, by means of it, the ideas of those
around him. If he was left in a vacuum, lie would have no
ideas. The primary class of mind that strikes out its own
belief would here be utterly at fault. It would want some-
thing which other men had; it would discover something
which other men would not understand. Sir Robert
Peel was a statesman for forty years ; under our constitu-
tion, Lord Byron, eminent as was his insight into men,
and remarkable as was his power, at least for short periods,
of dealing with them, would not have been a statesman
for forty days.
As an analysis of Sir Robert's character, charitable
and complete, the review is eminently skilful. The
paper on " American Anxieties " is marked by the
tone, too prevalent in our literature, of describing the
policy of the United States as utterly unprincipled
and filibustering.

The London Quarterly has two very good arti-
cles—one a review of Lavergne's " Rural Economy
of England, Scotland, and Ireland ;" the other on
" The Cornwall Mines and Miners." Both are
nicely written, and afford agreeable and instructive
reading. But, on the whole, we fear this Review
betrays rather too much of an attempt at academic
Methodism—an attempt little likely to prove suc-
cessful, as genuine Methodism must always depend
for effect on impulsive feeling and strong internal
conviction.

In Blackwood the account of a special embassy in
1698, given with minute and Pre.Rapbaelitist power,
will be read with much interest. The author
is the very Millais of literature. The account is
principally drawn up from a MS. diary of P;.ior
of the embassy of the Duke of Portland to Paris.
after the peace of ltyswick. The writer describes
the whole ceremonial of the French Court in a
most elaborate, and at the same time lively, man-
ner ; and, at is particular moment of a similar
special embassy to St. Petersburg, conveys to us an
excellent notion of the formalities observed on such
occasions by the old regime. Upon reading this
curious as well as amusing paper one cannot help
reflecting that it is, perhaps, fortunate Mr. Dallas's
friend, of the Kickapoo Artillery, lives in an age
when the subjects of the freest nation on " airth,"
however restricted to white ties, are not subjected
to such sore trials of temper and patience as
the Duke of Portland our mutual ancestors!
The "Dispute with America"is a sound article on tits
whole, but does not, perhaps, sufficiently dwell upon
the absurdity of two nations using threats of war when-
ever a difference appears to arise. The story of the
,!4 Atbelings " promises us just such another agree-
able entertainment as " Zindee." It is fnll of nature.
In the " Scot Abroad " we have a most interistlng
sketch of John Law, the Missisippi schemer, of elk=
the wtiter takes a very favorable view, believing that
his project lid not have fair play, and that his ttiaan-
cial theories were, on the whole, sound. _
Fraser contains two excellent tales, triaAtikil ex-
cellent reviews--the latter of Fronde's " History of
England" and Cockburn's "Memorials," the former
entitled "Lost at Cards," and "An Overland Mail
AdVenture." The review of Mr. Fronde is especially
well written, impartial, and logical.. The article on
De Bazancourt's " Crimean Expedition " shows up
that worthy Baron in capital style. It is really dis-
graceful that such a medley of ill-written, ill-founded
gossip should for even so short a time, pass for his-
tory ; and, as t'hd writer in Fraser well says, for •the
French Emperof 'tb have sanctioned such a work,
would have been "the one exception to his policy
towards this country.
The Dublin opens with a critical article on the
American question, where we find a quotation which,
to our mind, expresses the condition of the quarrel
clearly and pithily—ubi ter pulses ego vapulo tantum.
The essay on Daniel Defoe isivell written, and con-
a ins much interesting information ; but why does

JULY 6, 18L6.

the writer go out of his way to call Charles ll'
a perjured roué"? We thought the days for this
sort of thing were gone by. He was a roue no
doubt, but where was the perjury? His sneer, too,
a Cie Anglia in clergy a little surprises us. The re-
view of Lord Brougham's essays, in point of style, is
c tpital. The opening remarks on the character of
the ambitious man are very fine. But we fancy the
Author must have derived his notions about Lord
Bolingbroke rather from vulgar hearsay, than from
Sly careful study of that statesman's own works or
actions. " The injured Bolingbroke," as Mr. Dis-
raeli well calls him, is gradually rising clear from
those calumnies with which his enemies have loaded
his memory; and we doubt not that another gene-
Tifton will recognise in him both the sincere patriot
sali the constant assertor of genuine Tory princi-
ples, founded on the only sure basis of combined
liberty and order.
Bentley's Miscellany contains, of course, an article
on America, which is perhaps the best in the num
ber. " Old Actors " gives some curious statistics
relative to the longevity of this class. The essay on
Gifford—a capital subject—is wanting in point.
The Monthly Review has an article upon Goethe,
in which there are passages much above the average
of our periodical criticism. The comparison be-
tween Byron and Goethe is admirably written, and
the career of the former is hit off very happily as
having been " all warning, and no example."
Cockburn's "Memoirs" are reviewed in a sensible
and weighty essay ; and we have a lively notice of
Lady Shell's " Persia," the writer of which, with
affected modesty, professes not to know what " crino-
line" is.
There is little in Tait which demands special no-
tice. It contains a fair variety of readable matter,
and some respectable poetical criticism. " Tangled-
Talk " is a skein which few will care to unravel.

De Cressy. A Tale. By the Author of " Dorothy."
London: J. W. Parker and Son.
STatcr rules of criticism fail to account for the plea-
sure this unpretending narrative inspires. Neither
the character, nor the plot, nor the language, are
such as to invite particular praise ; yet the effect of
the whole story is uncommonly agreeable, and will
charm where many works of greater pretensions
would only fatigue. What it is which constitutes
the peculiar excellence of this writer's compositions
we hinted at on a previous occasion. It is in the
lifelike character of the scenes, and the singularly
easy and natural flow of the dialogue, that the attrac-
tion is to be sought. There is little attempt either
at ornament or dramatic effect in the one, nor is
there anything that can properly be called wit in the
other, but we feel throughout as if we were listening
to the recital by an eye-witness of some interesting
domestic story, such as we may believe to occur
Almost daily in some one of our English homes.
The heroine, Kathleen, is a beautiful and high-
spirited girl, who, having been adopted when a child
by a wealthy family, and introduced into fashion-
able life, eventually goes out as a governess, carry-
ing with her a passion for a young nobleman, Lord
de Cressy, whom she had met upon terms of equality
abroad. When she leaves London for her situation
In Scotland she is still uncertain whether her affec-
tion is really returned. This uncertainty is the
.point on which the story turns. The writer is an
accurate observer of the ordinary habits of society,
,which he 'able to represent to us with great
fidelity, "auff 'Clothed in very agreeable language.
He possetfies also, we should say, great kindness of
heart,` tt fin unaffected sympathy with all that is
generdiii °and elevated. Such qualities are certain
to pradfice a popular work of ficti n, though the
evidence of higher genius, deep insight into unman
nature, grand descriptive powers, or effective dra-
matic skill, be displayed but little. •
• 1 ots.,i t.. I.

Diana

Wynyard. By the Author tot 44,1klit*Went-
as,A.tallil I
wcrth." Vireo yolS. I,..incton Lin pts!T t-
Blackett.
A NOVEL in chit-chailio fo tt, a smooth, agreeable
surface, and pleasant sumprike things floating on
it. The action is siisteine ,by that conimbn source
of interest f M,ficition), mis,unders. tending. Clement
Aylmer, though with good reason to suppose that be
possesses the affection of Diana Wynyard, *is tip-
easy at observing her intimacy with Edward Boh-
cowen, not knowing that Edward's heart ie given elsO
where, and that he marries in secret the girl of
humble fortunes, on whom his inclinations are
fixed. Hence Aylmer is kept in suspense, shuttle-
cock-like, and the skill d the author is mainly
shown in the use of the battledores by Which the
suspicious, though not unplacid* lover, is prefented
from dropping Omagh near a thousand pages.. ;Ex-
pectation is kept alive without being much, excited;
the dialogue is level, and the -draperies - are .unex.
ceptionable. Sometimes we are inclined to murmur
at the fate which condemns so large a portion of the
• literature of the day to the use of the day alone ; it;
seems like waste, Yet, why should things for the

*THE PRESS.

-- -
pleasure of the mind (litre: from things for the plea.
sure of the body? Why should Diana Wynyards be
held of more worth than the strawberries on our
table? Both serve their hour or minute, and a
plentiful supply of both are ready as occasion calls
for them.

Paterfamilias's Diary of Everybody's Tour.

London : Hatchard.

A GENIAL little book, written with great cheerfulness
and spirit. It is the journal of a tour through
Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland to Italy, and
back by way of Geneva and Paris. The author has
quite a talent for giving a bird's-eye view of the
different towns and other objects of interest en route.
And he adds, also, considerable information on the
subject of expense, which, however, as his party
consisted of eleven souls, and always lived at the
best hotels, will not perhaps prove very serviceable
to that class of travellers to whom the cost is an
especial object. Forty-four or forty five pounds a
week, was his average expenditure. Paterfamilias is
a strong Liberal, as far as hatred of Austria and the
Pope is concerned; but does not believe that the
Italian character contains in itself the materials of
regeneration. His descriptions of scenery are quaint
and original, and free from needless sentimentality.
Theatres, churches, cafes, gardens, galleries, and
palaces were all duly visited ; and his remarks on
each are generally sensible and often amusing. His
observations on Paris are superior to the rest of the
book. He thinks its gaiety a delusion. " Paris," he
says, "is a tinge bubble which must burst. Every-
" body spends more money than he makes." Pater-
familias is to be congratulated on baying given us a
nice, readable sketch of "Everybody's Tour."

Weeds from the Isis. By a few Oxonians. London :

James Blackwood.
'rpm unpretending little miscellany is not, we can
sure our readers, composed entirely of weeds ;
there are some bunches of flowers among them by
no means unworthy of those classic banks. Strange
to say, the verse is better than the prose ; and there
are some pieces which, if not exactly poetry, evince
at least considerable taste and skill in versification.
Several of the ptose articles first saw the light in
Bentley's Miscellany some three or four years ago,
where their merits were decided by a larger public
than can be anticipated for the present volume.
They contain brisk writing, and sketches evidently
of the authors' own friends, at which they cannot but
be highly flattered. " Amateur Demagogues " is
perhaps the best of them, and is, in what Jeames
calls "the main fax," strictly true.

The Stepiny-stone to Natural History. By James
I ,1„ Owen. London: Longmans.
Owe of the improved class of educational books, to
be welcomed with pleasure. It contains a scientific
division of animals, very simply and intelligibly
explained, vfith excellent cuts of the various species,
and is well, calculated to arrest the attention and
stimulate,the memory of chi1dren.,,,,.,,,,_ .

1/01i{, 1:

•lil cai
L,..lPATig4l44lllTl4ll*{§ RgCETVED.--5.dT 3.
•• ,„ , BOOKS.
Hislorx: trilish Lichens. Love!! Reeve
"4tentgielddrest's 4-11fajor•Genetal Sir R. itirey, at Chelsea
Nosed. • v, I' J. M array
-eodioi.. A Storieltiall Life Thirty Years Ago.
"40 "'II 1. J. W. Parker and Son
Wedded.; or, Life AllauFra94l,, i • •• .I.44bnex and Co.
The Dramalio MOIMIWW46
and
;‘, I •• I.IIIijaILAY
MOMS& fillawlollll,ollP4,l4AllWltralmi, math and Elder
OCd Ddedak,Balialie. Hope and Co.
Expeeition•Of the Twee and!..4etieiteto of the Old and New
Testament. Aentley
. The Angel in the House. Book IL J.:VV.:Parker; and Son
First Footsteps ix East Africa; or, An Exploration of
Barran. Longmans
The First of June ; or, Schoolboy Rivalry. rev. H. C.
- Adams, M.A. Rivingtons
Selections from the Letters of lioiliffi„Puthey. 1-ols. IT.
and V. Longmans
Frankenstein; or, The Modern., .11faibifoleigs• 13 Mrs.
Shelley. Hodgson
The Erten Mead. A Ses Story. Boutledge
iftbsbifitilary.,Ometisatiou °sad 4410A4,411010,4 Of France
Newby.
Stories about Slant and Star.gasers. Mary
W Doig.
ard and Lock
The Will, Divine and liamusa. Thomas Sony. Bell & Leidy
The Wife; or, Lore and afgebsoos. A Tragedy in Five Act
L. a.
nu',:;.. Bell and 1.41dy
Life Thomas Gainsborologh, R.A. Lungrnaus
•,I f PINIZQDWAteS.
The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine. Bell and Daldy
—Colbarn's New Monthly. Casprnan and 1:1611-L21 e
Irish Quarterly. W. B. Kelly—Royal Gallery of ifro.
Colnaghi and Co.--The Westminster ..14 Chapman
--,The United Church J 01177141. Seeley and Jackson—The
Train. Groombridge— Shrove's London Magazine. Hall
and Virtue--The Art Journal. Hall and Virtue—The
History of France. Part 111. The London Printing and
Publishing Conipany—alee Electric Review. Ward and
Co.—The West of .Scoliand Magazine. lind and Vutue—,
The New Quarterly Review. Bosworth.