The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

PERIODICAL LITERATURE.

JULY 8, 1854.

Nicholas 1., Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russia,.
By the Rev. Henry Christmas, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A.,
F.R.G.S. London: Shaw.
A HISTORICAL summary of recent events in Russia,
beginning with the accession of the present Czar.
Mr. Christmas is merely a compiler, and pretends to
no original information; but he writes in an agreea•
ble style, and with an evident desire to repress rather
than excite prejudice. The disasters of the imperial
reign are thus briefly summed up :
" His reign began by a revolt in 1825.
" In 1858 he lost a mother whom he revered.
"In 1830 Poland revolted against her Russian rulers.
" In 1831 Constantine, the Emperor's brother, died, and,
is more than suspected, of poison.
"In the early part of his reign St. Petersburg was
inundated by the overflow of the Neva, and the Winter
Palace was ravaged by fire.
"A mutiny at the military colonies.
" A Turkish war.
"A Caucasian war.
" And his sincere endeavours to repair the internal evils
of the administration for ever impeded, his intention of
giving freedom to the serfs for ever opposed. Later still,
the alliances which it has been the business Elf his life to
form, breaking up or broken up. The mightiest powers of
the West in league against him. The allegiance of
Austria and Prussia, once deemed so secure, trembling in
the balance.
"An enemy long despised starting up with unexpected
power and energy.
"An empire oppressed with debt, declining popularity,
and war in a bad cause. With these drawbacks, is
Nicholas, the Imperial Autocrat, an enviable or a happy
man?"
He concludes with a brief comment on the exist-
ing war, of which he lays the blame on Lord Aber-
deen. " Nicholas never would have acted as
"he has done had he not counted on his friends
"in the English Cabinet." So says Mr. Christmas,
and the English people in general agree with him.

The Infallible Time and Money Tables for Calcu.
lating Seamen's Wages. By John Wilson. London
Neely.

THE plan of these tables is very clear. There is one
set for time and another for money. The dates
being given when a seaman joined his ship and
when he loft, a reference to the time tables shows
the number of days, or of months and days, for
which he has a claim. The money tables include
ratings from 10s. to 501. per month, and show the
total amount due for any number of months and
days. Thus, suppose a man entered on the 26th
April, and served to 16th December, at 755. per
month, by referring to the table of the 16th April
his time is found to be seven months and twenty-one
days, and referring to the money table of 755. the
amount due to him is found to be 281. 17s. 6d. We
do not see how handier tables for the purpose could
be compiled, and there can be no question that they
must be of great service in simplifying the duties
and shortening the labour of all persons engaged in
the pay-offices of our mercantile marine.

AN interesting paper in Blackwood, entitled " Evelyn
and Pepys," suggests a somewhat curious speculation
—whetter it happened by accident, orpro-causd, that
the period when the English Court most resembled
that of Louis Quinze should, like the Court of Louis
Quinze, have abounded in memoir-writers ? Not
only the world-famous Pepys and John Evelyn, but
Mrs. Godolphin, Mrs. Hutchinson, and Lady Fan-
shawe, are among the memorialists whose contempo-
rary pictures have given to posterity so minute and
personal acquaintance with the " Merry Monarch"
and the England over which he did not rule. With
the exception of this article the contents of the cur-
rent Blackwood are rather heavy. There is a rhymed
collection of riddles, with their solutions, and a dull
introductory story by way of preface thereto, which
Is decidedly not worth the space it occupies. The
political article on the" European Alliance" discusses
somewhat wildly "the map of Europe," anticipates a
war which the present generation may not see the
end off, and insists on the reconstitution of the king-
dom of Poland—with various other reconstitutions—
in order to render Russia completely powerless.
The New Monthly presents a varied table of con-
tents, and though many of the articles have been
suggested by the literature of the season—and es
pecially by French and German books—they will not
prooably be read with the less interest on that account.
Among the original papers we notice " A Soldier's
Career," a romance of the Punjaub war ; and the
story of a duel by Mr. Costello—a farcical extrava
ganza. The criticism, under Mr. Ainsworth's super
intendence, is usually generous, but the notice of Dr.
Croly is less than just to his various attainments.
Probably no living writer has contributed more
largely to our periodical literature, or done more to
exalt its character. Biographical sketches of living
authors are objectionable unless proceeding from
thoroughly competent pens. The claims of De
Quincey to a pension are forcibly urged. If it be true

THE PRESS.

that " reverses and physical suffering have made it
desirable," his title to the remembrance of the public
is too good to be neglected.
Fraser shows judicious editorship. The papers are
readable, and so well compacted as to produce the
agreeable effect always resulting from artistic blend-
ing, whether the composition be an entrée or a maga-
zine. " General Bounce " is one of those run•and-
read fictions, made up of sketch and gossip, which
railway reading has made popular; and "Cousin
William " is a novel in five pages, beating, in respect
to brevity at least, "Christie Johnstone" hollow.
New ground is broken by the papers headed " Re-
searches in Dutch Literature," which contain both
curious and amusing matter. Beside some lively
sketches of travel, and a paper on music in St.
Petersburg, the number contains a critical examina-
tion of the singular prophecy recorded by Gibbon,
that " the Russians in the last days should become
masters of Constantinople," and some remarks on
the war, which we should have thought sensible but
for their lame conclusion. Whether before Fraser
next appears "the combined fleets in the Black and
" Baltic Seas will have performed great and glorious
"duties," time only can show. Though the storm
has been long gathering, it would be rash to say
when and where the clouds will open and the bolt
fall.
An unreasonable portion of the Dublin University
is, in our judgment, occupied with reviews of books
with which the reading public must by this time be
tolerably familiar. The leading original paper
attempts to estimate the present aspect of the war
and the forces engaged. In some verses " the
" poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling," conjures up
" Hungaria's bleeding bosom" and Poland dreaming
to revenge her " brave Sarmatic sires." Should
such fancies spread, as if our periodical literature
be a straw in the air they may, who can tell what
direction Lord Aberdeen's war may take? The
opening chapters of the story entitled " Mosses upon
Gravestones' are striking. They certainly exhibit
poetic power, but whether of a kind available for
romance we are yet unable to judge. A dispo-ition
to rhapsody appears to be the writer's rock ahead.
The Art• Journal has still the advantage of Mr. S. C.
Hall's energetic superintendence. The engravings
in the present number are from Maclise's " Play
Scene—Hamlet;" one of his finest compositions we
think, looking better in the Vernon Gallery at present
than when first painted; the "Death of Nelson,"
from Slingeneyer ; and a charming piece, "The
Garden," from Watteau. The number is full as
usual of information on art.
We must dismiss Tait's Magazine with a hint that,
however strongly and sincerely it may hold Radical
opinions, it might recommend them better than by
such sheer cant as exhorting our senators to be
no longer" the slaves of a pampered hierarchy" !—The
grave papers of the Church of Scotland Magazine
seem well considered, and the themes, as "Modern
Science and Revelation" and "American Religious
Fiction," represent subjects of general interest.—The
Journal of Industrial Progress, from a Dublin press,
and conducted with great intelligence, is a cheering
sign of the times.—The name of Mr. Glenny, the
persevering, skilful, and independent floriculturist,
as editing the garden department cf the Horticultural
Journal—the first number of which is on our table—
will probably recommend it to public favour.
The first number of a new monthly periodical,
under the title of Magazine for the Blind, has
just been published, the letters being raised or
embossed, so as to bo legible by the touch. The
work is beautifully printed, the articles in •
teresting, and the price moderate (sixpence), and,
above all, it has the great advantage of being in the
common or Roman alphabet, and not limited in its
usefulness by arbitrary characters or mysterious
symbols. We congratulate the blind upon so
valuable and agreeable an addition to their litera-
ture, and trust that, for their sakes, it will be well
supported by all who feel grateful for the possession
of that great blessing, sight.
Among serial publications on our table, we parti-
cularly notice Parts I. and 11. of The Theory and
Practice of Landscape Painting in Water Colours,
by Mr. Barnard. The descriptive portions of this
work are extremely clear, and the illustrations expla-
natory of the process deserving great praise, from
the simplicity of the details and the beauty of the ef-
fects produced. We may mention at the same time
that the illustrations printed in oil colours are among
the best specimens of this art we have seen. There
is so great a charm in colour that we gladly welcome
every attempt to bring this ingenious and beautiful
process of printing into more general use : perhaps,
at no distant date, it may altogether supersede the
present mode of engraving.—Part IV. of The Land
we Live In continues the republication of this useful
work.—Orr's Circle of the Sciences, a cheap, sound,
and well-produced publication, begins, in its twenty-
eighth number, a treatise on mechanical philosophy.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
Booxs.

643

Matrimonial Shipwrecks. A. M. Milliard. Routledge.
The Great War with France. LieutAieneral Bunbury.
Bentley.
Poetical Tentatives. LynnErith. Saunders and Utley.
Alpine Lyrics. Longman and Co.
The Languages of the Seal of War. Max Muller, M.A.
Ditto.

The Wafer Care, and Household Medical Science. Dr.
Wilson. Churchill.

History of England. Vol. V Lora Mahon.
Stories on Proverbs.

Muimy.
Mozley.

—.-...- -- - ....... __.
The Roving Englishman. Routledge.
Books for the Country. ".4 ngling." R. Blakey. Ditto.
Hochelaga. U. Warburton. Ditto.
The Cabin by the Wayside. Lady Campbell. Ditto.
Legal Guide fur Sailors and Merchants. W. A. Lock.
Longman and Co.
John Bull; or the Comedy of 18.i4. Lacy.
Satire and Satirists. J. Hannay. Hogue.
A Military Tour in European Turkey. MajonGeneral
Macintosh. Longman and Co.
Sound and its Phenomena. Rev. 1)r. Brewer. Ditto.
The Last of the Barons. Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, Bart.
Routledge.

•
JULY 8, 1854.
Nicholas 1., Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russl
By the Rev. Henry Christmas, M.A., F.R.S.,
F.R.G.S. London: Shaw.
A HISTORICAL summary of recent events in Russ
beginning with the accession of the present Cz.
Mr. Christmas is merely a compiler, and pretends
no original information; but he writes in au egret
ble style, and with an evident desire to repress ratl
than excite prejudice. The disasters of the imper
reign are thus briefly summed up :
" His reign began by a revolt in 1825.
" In 1858 he lost a mother whom he revered.
" In 1830 Poland revolted against her Russian rulers
" In 1831 Constantine, the Emperor's brother, died, a
is more than suspected, of poison.
"In the early part of his reign St. Petersburg •
inundated by the overflow of the Neva, and the Wir
Palace was ravaged by fire.
"A mutiny at the military colonies.
" A Turkish war.
"A Caucasian war.
" And his sincere endeavours to repair the internal e
of the administration for ever impeded, his intentior
giving freedom to the serfs for ever opposed. Later e
the alliances which it has been the business clf his lift
form, breaking up or broken up. The mightiest power
the West in league against him. The allegiance
Austria and Prussia, once deemed so secure, tremblini
the balance.
"An enemy long despised starting up with unexpet
power and energy.
•An empire oppressed with debt, declining popula
and war in a bad cause. With these drawbacks.
Nicholas, the Imperial Autocrat, an enviable or a lie
man?"
He concludes with a brief comment on the e]
ing war, of which he lays the blame on Lord Al
dean. " Nicholas never would have acted
"he has done had he not counted on his Inci
"in the English Cabinet." So says Mr. Christi
and the English people in general agree with his
The Infallible Time and Money Tables for Ca
lating Seamen's Wages. By John Wilson. Loud
Neely.
THE plan of these tables is very clear. There is
set for time and another for money. The d
being given when a seaman joined his ship
when he loft, a reference to the time tables al
the number of days, or of months and days,
which he has a claim. The money tables inc
ratings from 10s. to 501. per month, and show
total amount due for any number of months
days. Thus, suppose a man entered on the
April, and served to 16th December, at 755.
month, by referring to the table of the 16th
his time is found to be seven months and twenty
days, and referring to the money table of 755.
amount due to him is found to be 281. 17s. 6d.
do not see how handier tables for the purpose c
be compiled, and there can be no question that
must be of great service in simplifying the d
and shortening the labour of all persons engagt
the pay-offices of our mercantile marine.
PERIODICAL LITERATURE.
AN interesting paper in Blackwood, entitled " Ei
and Pepys," suggests a somewhat curious specull
—whether it happened by accident, orpro-causd,
the period when the English Court most resew
that of Louis Quinze should, like the Court of I
Quinze, have abounded in memoir-writers ?
only the world-famous Pepys and John Evelyn,
Mrs. Godolphin, Mrs. Hutchinson, and Lady
ahawe, are among the memorialists whose conte
rary pictures have given to posterity so minute
personal acquaintance with the " Merry Mont
and the England over which he did not rule.
the exception of this article the contents of tht
rent Blackwood are rather heavy. There is a rh;
collection of riddles, with their solutions, and a
introductory story by way of preface thereto,
is decidedly not worth the space it occupies.
political article on the" European Alliance" disci
somewhat wildly "the map of Europe," anticipa
war which the present generation may not se
end off, and insists on the reconstitution of the
dom of Poland—with various other reconstitutic
in order to render Russia completely powerless
The New Monthly presents a varied table o'
tents, and though many of the articles have
suggested by the literature of the season—an
pecially by French and German books—they wi
pronably be read with the less interest on that acc
Among the original papers we notice " A Sol
Career," a romance of the Punjaub war ; an
story of a duel by Mr. Costello—a farcical ex.
ganza. The criticism, under Mr. Ainsworth's s
intendance, is usually generous, but the notice
Croly is less than just to his various attains
Probably no living writer has contributed
largely to our periodical literature, or done mi
exalt its character. Biographical sketches of
authors are objectionable unless proceeding
thoroughly competent pens. The claims c
Quincey to a pension are forcibly urged. If it b