The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-27 00:00:00

i'fiE PRESS.

of Beranger, as a moral and intellectual whole, I am free to
confess to an admiration rather exceeding the ordinary
bounds of enthusiasm. 1 believe his genius to he more
comprehensive in its range of perception than that of any
man who, for many centuries past, has devoted a life to
literary expression. When to this is added the recognition
of unswerving and incorruptible honesty of purpose (which
his political opponents even have never sought to deny
him), and the fortunate discovery of, and adherence to, a
form of utterance eminently suited to his poetical nature,
it will be admitted, that to familiarise the writings of such
a man in a community, where he has been previously a
comparative ati anger, would be au achievement to be looked
back to with excusable pride.
And he observes elsewhere :
As the standard of public virtue is certainly not high in
this country just at present, I think a little attention to the
life and works of a man who has displayed so much honesty
and self-sacrifice in the cause of the human race would nut
be thrown away. When it is considered that most of the
following songs were written nearly half a century ago, and
that most of the prophecies shadowed forth in them have
been literally fulfilled, people who, at a very similar pass in
European affairs, are deceived by a specious appearance of
permanent tranquillity on the surface, may find cause in
them for a little reflection.
There is it tone of manliness in Mr. Brough's
preface which we like (although not con-
curring with his sympathies) ; but there is
something of exaggeration in linking Beranger
" with the cause of the human race "—a phrase
savouring of political cant La France,
ramour, le yin, la :leanness°, and last, not least,
Lisette, are the inspiring sources of Beranger's
unpremeditated bursts of lyric power.
Mr. Brough should have given the original
French songs in his edition, in the same way
as they are presented is Mr. William Young's
" One Hundred Songs of Beranger" (Chap-
man and Hall, 1847). " A Political Treatise '
(May, 1815) is tolerably well done by Mr.
Brough ; but the verse is stiff, and wants the
easy simplicity of the original :
Lisette, who reignest by the grace
Of Love, that makes us equals all,
Thy peerless charms of form and face
A thousand rivals hold in thrall.
But be their list howe'er immense,
Thy swains are Frenchmen—that confess :
So let them laugh at thine expense,—
'Tis for thy subjects' happiness.
Yon kings and beauties ! how you all
Delight in boundless pow'r's abuse ;
What smiling lands and lovers tall
To blank despairing you reduce!
Yet rebel troops (or have a care)
To thy boudoir may find access:
Lisette, all tyranny forswear,—
Tis for thy subjects' happiness.
In arch coquetry's mortal sin
Belles are as bad as conquerors,
Who, countless victories to win,
Neglect their homes for distant wars.
0, terrible coquettes are these !
All taste for their pursuits repress :
Lisette, make no more conquests, please,—
'Tis for thy subjects' happiness.
"The Dead Alive" (Le mort vivant) is
versified in the following strain, which is not
above doggrel, written stans pede in uno ;
When a bore gets hold of me,
Dull and overbearing,
Be so kind as pray for me,
I'm as dead as herring.
When the thrusts of Pleasure glib
In my sides are sticking,
Poking fun at ev'ry rib,
I'm alive and kicking.
When a snob his L.S.D.
Jingles in his breeches,
Be so kind as pray for me,
I'm as (lead as ditches.
When a birthday's champagne corks
Bound my ears are clicking,
Marking time with works,
I'm alive and kicking.
But there are better things in the volume.
" Judas " is well done—par exemple :
Judas vows, with his hand on his heart,
Never a colour but one he's worn ;
Swears that he plays an unchanging part
From morn to night, and from night to morn.
Still, as of folks we've a rational dread,
White to-day, and to•morrow red,
Hush ! be shy,
Quibble or lie ;
Give your opinion in whispering sly.
Hush! hush! Judas is nigh.
Given to gossip curiously,
Oft this moral observer.says
One of the public press is he,
Leaning rather to liberal ways.
Still, if we wish to disc•tss a hint
On the right, whatever we think, to print,
Hush ! be shy,
Quibble or lie ;
Give your opinion in whispering sly.
Hush ! hush! Judas is nigh.. •

1239

Mr. Brough, in the preface, records that the
refrain of the foregoing piece (we have not
room for ail the stanzas) is taken from " an
" imitation of the original song, written by the
" late Dr. Maginn, and applied to a deceased
" statesman." The; translator thus commences
his version of " The Seal":

THE SE ;
Or, a Letter to Sophia. IP2i.

•
To the Right Hon. Sir JAMES GRAHAM, Bart., formerly her
Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department,

In consideration of valuable services to the State, long sines
performed, but by no means obliterated from the public me-
mory—as a cheering proof that the entente cordiale happily
existing between England and France is not without founda-
tion in a sympathy between the principles of government in
both nations—(and also to perpetuate the memory of a truly
great man, which, in an ingrate age, might run a risk of
being forgotten ten years liance)—tilis ballad is respectfully
inscribed by his most obedient servant,
THE Taanst.wroz.
'Tis thou, I know, this charming seal has sent,
Where mystic symbol-leaves of ivy twine
Round a young Love, on secrecy intent,
Kissing his finger as a cautions sign.
Sacred the gift ! but, vainly, dearest maid,
It proffers succour to my written vow.
My rien from such frail surety shrinks afraid.
Cupid himself may boast no secrets now.
" What?" thou dost ask, " far from thy darling's sight,
Knowing a letter would her exile cheer,
Why fear an envious hand, in wanton spite,
Would break the god who guards our secrets dear ?"
I fear no madman of the jealous tribe
Would even fray our waxen idol's brow ;
What I do fear I tremble to transcribe.
Cupid himself may boast no secrets now.

Mr. Brough has talents and considerable
variety of accomplishments. He has fresh-
ness, and writes with a spirit of literary enjoy-
ment. With more distinct choice of subjects,
he would be able to do more justice to his
special abilities, which are decidedly of a
promising kind.

Cambridge Essays, 1856. Contributed by
Members of the University. London :
J. W. Parker and Son.
IT is questionable how far the present rage
for periodical writing is conducive to the
interests of literature. We are told, indeed,
that it is highly serviceable to the public that
concise epitomes of all the various questions
of the day—literary, political, or religious—
should be from time to time placed before
them ; and that the preparation of such is a
task below neither the dignity of the scholar
nor the aims of practical philosophy. This,
however, is simply begging the question.
That which injures literature cannot benefit
education. It may be a good thing for the
public to be informed on certain questions ;
but it is a Lad thing if effected by deteriorating
the quality of their whole intellectual sus-
tenance.
Periodical writing seems injurious to litera-
ture in three ways :—First, in the case of the
ripe and genuine scholar, his mind is broken
into fragments, and his force wasted in many
desultory efforts, which, duly husbanded and
concentrated, might have produced some great
result. Secondly, the student is tempted by
the promise of early fame, and the immunity
from public disgrace which is afforded by this
system, to hurry his speculations into print
before they are properly matured, and to
prefer the applause of a few admiring asso-
ciates to both the improvement of his own mind
and the lasting verdict of posterity. Thirdly, are
to be counted the greater facilities hereby
afforded for the dispersion of such weak and
trashy effusions as are year ty year corrupt-
ing our style, diluting our wit, and debasing
our ancestral English. In proportion as our
leading Reviews have wandered from their
original purpose, and have substituted original
dissertations for pure criticism, have these
dangers increased. As we observed in our
review of the " Oxford Essays," we are glad
to see the disguise thrown off, and the practice
of prefixing the titles of books to articles, in
which they are scarcely once mentioned, dis-
pensed with. But that does not prove that
the system itself is unobjectionable. It is
better to call the present volume " Cambridge
Essays " than " The Cambridge Review ;" but
for all that a " Cambridge Review " might
be a better thing.
All the nine essays contained in the
present volume strike us as remarkably able ;
yet all, except perhaps the last, would gain
greatly by being converted into separate

MI


works. However, to dismiss that point of
view, we will examine them on their own pre-
tensions.
Dr. Maine, the Examiner in Civil Law for
the Inns of Court, contributes a highly in-
teresting article upon " Roman Law and
Legal Education." If the partiality of a
civilian for his own branch of study is some-
times too manifest in this essay, we believe,
nevertheless, that the view put forward is sub-
stantially correct. He points out the universal
prevalence of the Roman legal phraseology,
and the spirit of Roman law, in " the ethical
" systems of the Continent," and the superior
accuracy and closeness they are thereby
enabled to attain in throwing their concep-
tio-,s into words. But when he speaks of
"the inferiority of England in philosophical
" speculation" as due to our laxity of lan-
guage, Dr. Maine is evidently forcing facts to
*he support of his own theory. His re-
marks on the influence of Roman law upon
international relations, and the disadvantage
at which our diplomatists Ere placed by their
ignorance of the former, are probably better
founded. He shows that the principles of
Roman law were virtually established by
Napoleon over three parts of Europe ; and
that even in America, where we fondly
imagined the English common law was flou-
rishing in its integrity, it is gradually giving
place to the civilians:—
Daring many years after the severance of the United
States from the mother-country, the new States succes-
sively formed out of the unoccupied territory of the Fede-
ration did all of them assume as the standard of decision
for the courts in cases not provided for by legislation,
either the common law of England, or the common law
as transformed by early New England statutes into some-
thing closely resembling the Custom of London. But
this adherence to a single model ceased about 1825. The
State of Louisiana, for a considerable period after it had
passed under the dominion of the United States, observed
a set of civil rules strangely compounded of English ease-
law, French code law, and Spanish usages. The consoli-
dation of this mass of incongruous jurisprudence was
determined upon, and after more than one unsuccessful
experiment, it was confided to the first legal genius of
modern times—Mr. Livingston. Almost unassisted, he
produced the Code of Louisiana, of all republications of
Roman law the one which appears to us the clearest, the
fullest, the most philosophical, and the best adapted to the
exigencies of modern society. Now it is this code, and
not the common law of England, which the newest
American States are taking for the substratum of their
Jaws- The diffusion of the Code of Louisiana does, in
feat, exactly keep step with the extension of the territory
of the Federation. And, r_toreover, it is producing sensi-
ble effects on the older American States. But for its
amens and popularity, we should not probably have had
the advantage of watching the greatest experiment which
has ever been tried on English jurisprudence—the still-
proceeding codification and consolidation of the entire law
of New York.
Dr. Maine's panegyric upon Roman law
from ci priori grounds does not seem quite so
satisfactory. Granting that the highest intel-
lect in Rome was for many centuries exclu-
sively devoted to this study, and granting, as
we do willingly, that the Romans of the Em-
pire were not inferior to their predecessors
in intellectual capacity, it still remains a pies
tion whether this very exclusiveness might
not produce evil as well as good. Where
lawyers were freed from the wholesome in-
fluences of general literature and the opera-
tion of that free political life which imparts
broader views and sympathies to the profes-
sional man, they would probably fall into an
overweening admiration of their own pursuits,
and be in danger of counteracting the advan-
tages of a complete and symmetrical system,
by a disregard of personal rights and neglect
of individual liberty.
Dr. Donaldson's essay upon "English Eth-
nography " is at once learned and popular.
Our readers will probably be satisfied to hear
his conclusions. They are that the bulk of the
English population, gentle and simple, are in
the main Saxons, and the infusion of Danish
and Norman elements very much smaller than
is commonly supposed. But he divides the
Saxon into two branches, the Frisians and the
Angliaus, the latter of whom had more in
common with the Scandinavian race, the for-
mer with the present Germans. The southern
countries, he tells us, are mainly peopled
by the latter, blended to some extent with the
Normans ; the Eastern, Midland, and Northern
counties by the former, blended very consider-
ably with tie Celt. With regard to the DIIIIIOi
of places, on which so much speculation bus
NSA romp4,.p.r. DoualtAeo.n says;

THE PRESS.

But while there is good reason for the supposition that
the names of towns in -by, and the many supposed Danish
words, may have been Anglian also, we entirely miss in
English any traces of the dis►inctive peculiarities of the
Danish language. We do not find the article posttixrd,
there are great differences in the numerals, the substan-
tive verb follows a different form in the plural, and the
peculiar negative particle, ikke, is never used in this
island. From this last circumstance alone, we feel con-
vinced that the Danes exerted only a transitory and
limited influence on the language and national character-
istics of our ancestors.

On the names of persons :
No one can say how many crossings of Anglian, Saxon,
Norman, or even foreign blood may have qualified the
descent to which the names give a prima fade approxima-
tion ; and besides this, names are so corrupted that it
very difficult, in many eases, to determine their origin or
meaning.

This last passage strikes us as especially im
portant.
Mr. Grote's essay, entitled " Old Studie s
and New," is valuable and closely reasoned;
yet throughout we fancy we detect the influ-
ence of that system of classical education
peculiar to his own university. We do not think
the essay could have been written by one accus-
tomed to regard the classics from the Oxford
point of view. Such, however, is but a minor
defect, and would probably not be apparent to
the majority of his readers. Warning our
own readers, therefore, that the essay is but
a defence of classical studies as pursued in
the University of Cambridge, we recommend
it to their most careful perusal. Mr. Grote
divides the objectors to classics into two
classes, the patriots and the modernists,—the
first believing that our own literature should
claim the first place in our studies, the second
that the modern world and contemporary
events are alone worthy the general attention
of mankind. To the former, his answer may
be generally stated to be that it is expedient
to permit the study of English literature to
be voluntary, and that, as a preparative for
this, a large majority of all sorts of men would
be in favour of the classics. To the second,
that what is ancient is not necessarily obso-
lete ; and that we must distinguish, for in-
stance, between the substance of history and
its circumstances. On this point his views
are so singularly well stated, that we must
not mutilate them by extraction. They
deserve the most attentive study. On
the whole, however, we must say that
Mr. Grote seems to have missed the most im-
portant argument in favour of Greek and
Latin as vehicles of education. This is to be
found in the fact that the standard of these
languages is fixed, and can be understood
only by long study of books. That it is which
furnishes the teacher with the most valuable in-
strument lie can possess—namely, unques-
tionable authority. A student of classics has
a faith in his teacher which no student of
modern languages could ever possess in
his. The latter may be constantly referring
to the results of his own experience, and
tempted to reply to the professor that his
opinions are a matter of taste. But the tradi-
tions of scholarship are sacred. The learner
knows what toil must be undergone before any
sensible roan will listen to his private
opinions. And hence arises that surrender of
self to authority, without which nothing can be
fairly learned ; and that thoroughness and
love of the genuine which is characteristic of
English education.
The next essay is on one of the most interest•
ing questions in all literature—" The Taste
for the Picturesque among the Greeks." Mr.
Copo has given us an elegant and pleasing
dissertation, but not one that adds materially
to our stock of ideas upon the subject. He
notices the opinions of Bishop Copleatone,
Mr. Coleridge (in his " Introduction to the
Classics "), Humboldt, Colonel Mure, Mr.
Ruskin, and other authorities on the subject,
and comes to the conclusion that the Greeks
had no taste for the picturesque at all. But
most of his observations, or at least the pith
of them, have been anticipated by Twilling in
his edition of the " Poetics "—who there tells
us that the Greeks " described rural objects
" not as beautiful, but as pleasant " ; and that
they did not " describe scenery picturesquely,
" because they did not regard it with the eye
" of a painter"--in which two sentences the
results of all inquiry into this matter are
buiumea up, W4eR wag aro uooastotaod:to

SATURDAY,

look upon mountains and forests and
crags as their natural enemies to be
dug through and cut down, it is not
likely they will have much sense of their
pictorial effect. It is only when science has
robbed them of their terrors that taste can
appreciate their beauties. The reader may
compare the famous passage in Macaulay 'a
last volumes upon Goldsmith and the High-
lands. The poet's eulogies of the Dutch
landscape seem to spring from exactly the
same conditions as Homer's praise of deep
crops, rich valleys, awl cool rivers. At the
same time, we should be sorry to admit that
there was nothing whatever in the Greeks'
feeling towards nature but love of utility We
do not agree with Mr. Cope that Pope's
" useful light " is by any means an adequate
expression of the feeling with which the
shepherd regards the moon in the celebrated
passage of the Bth Iliad. The word ylyn9; we
have always taken to mean that deep and
silent joy which comes over a man on a per-
fectly still and clear moonlight night, and
which is so prettily expressed in Mr. Tenny-
son's poem of " Audley Court," in which he
concludes a very beautiful description of
moonlight with the simple words, " And we
were glad at heart." There are many other
passages in Homer which show by their de-
tail that the poet was not insensible to that
" beauty of roughness" which is sometimes
given as a definition of the picturesque.
Among many others, the simile of the bees
in the 2nd Iliad, and the watercourse in the
21st, may be mentioned as examples. On the
landscape painting of the Romans some va-
luable information is to be found in Heyne's
" Opuscula," vol. v , which contains his disser-
tation on the pictures of Philostratus. It is
possible that the progress of the art, even
within such very narrow limits, may have
had some effect on that partiality for na-
tural descriptions which is to be found in the
later Latin poets. At all events, the total
absence of anything of the kind among the
Greeks is obviously onrr, cause of the lack of
the picturesque in their writings. The in-
fluence of Christianity upon taste is a subject
discussed by Humboldt, commencing at page
26 of his second volume. We must be satisfied,
however, with directing the attention of our
readers to this interesting passage. The ex-
ccption it presents to some of our foregoing
remarks are rather apparent than real.

Of the four remainingiessa3s, Mr. Ellicot's
on "The Apocryphal Gospels" is curiously
learned, and gives full and concise informa-
tion on a topic but little known beyond a ve►;y
narrow circle. Mr Waddington's account of
the Protestant Church in France is entitled to
this hitter praise also. Mr. Francis's essay on
fly fishing is genial and amusing ; but Mr.
Hort on Coleridge is almost too brief for such
a theme : it is, however, both thoughtful and
learned. Shakesperian critics will read with
interest Mr. Badhatn's collection of emenda-
tions, to which we may perhaps recur on a
future occasion.

1. The Household Manager. By Charles Pierce,
Maitre d'Hotel. London : Routledge.
2 A Manual of Domestic Economy. By J.
H. Walsh. London Routledge.
THESE books, though both on the economy of
households, are distinct in character. The
first shows how domestic affairs are managed
in families of the highest rank ; the second,
how they may be managed in families whose
expenditure ranges from 1001. to 1,0001 a year.
The author of the first, a Maitre d'Hotel, has
lived many years in that capacity with Baron
Brunnow, and is now still attached to the Rus-
sian Embassy. Hence the reader may repose
confidence in his experience ; and though the
detail of great part, of this volume is suited
only to wealthy households, yet much of the
information—as, for example, on the art of
dinner-giving, on the best method of brew.
ing, on the management of servants, and on
the economy of a well-regulated household—
is suited to that great middle-class which of
late years has expanded so wonderfully through
the country, awl especially in Lonlen. The
most elaborate chapter in the book is that
beaded "How to give 4 diuuev." The not

DECEMBER 27, 1856.

point is to get rid of the "mauvais quart d'heure"
before dinner is announced :

If one of the guests be a stranger, he can, as is usual,
be immediately taken under the wing of the master or
mistress of the house ; but should there be more than
one, then books of the season, engravings, prints, carica-
tures, curiosities, and novelties of all kinds afford pleasur-
able variety, till the icelike contact of the first meeting
between guests is melted by those internal resources ever
in command at the social dinner•table.

Guests and hosts should alike be punctual :

The Prince Cambaceras, who was Arch• Chancellor of
the French Empire, and one of the first gastronomers of
the day, is related to have invited the Emperor Napoleon
to one of his celebrated dinners, but finding that half an
hour had elapsed beyond the time of invitation, and yet
no Bonaparte appeared, poor Carnbaceres, in a state of
indescribable agony, sent for his chef de cuisine, and called
out in true military language—" Henri, save the entremits
—the entrees are annihilated s!
Much of the excellence of a dinner will
depend on the preparation of the dining-
room :

The best form of table is the round one, so that incon•
venient angles are not encountered by the guests or the
attendants, and accidental voids are rendered leas per•
ceptible, the company seeing anti converging physically
towards one another, as it is intended they shall, socially.
This also relieves the master and mistress of the house
from the painful endurance of sitting unsocially, anti ti,e
guests from the annoyance consequent upon their elbows

meeting.
For the like reason, when the company is very nume-
rous, the oval table is the next best. An excellence attend-
ing these tables is, that they economise room, by giving
the most thereof in the smallest space.
• • • • • • •

No ornaments which might obstruct the eye should be
placed upon the table, since the guests should see one
another, and above all the Amphitryon should be able to
see them. Hence high, gaudy, gorgeous ornaments, over-
proportioned to the size of the table, aro considered offen•
sive to good taste.

The hints or. (lining are of general appli-
cation :

Wenhatu ice, broken into pieces, and within the easy
reach of every guest, is placed on the table in glass dishes,
affording not only a great luxury, but a most salutary
advance in the comforts of modern improvement.

Ices and iced water cool the human frame, not alone by
causing lowering of temperature, but by producing the
healthful effects of reaction, as is consequent upon the
shower-bath of the morning.
In summer and ;n autumn, no dinner of pretension to
judgment or elegance is given without it.
So highly did that distinguished epicure, the Prince
Talleyrand, esteem the excellent effects of the ice-water,
that he always took intense draughts of it at dinner, and
even doubled that quantity it suffering from a cold.
The polar is considered to be as important in the open-
ing of every good dinner as the coach•door is to the
carriage. "Du potage, qui eat, en quelquc sorte, la porte
cochere de tont diner Bien °Monne."
If turtle soup be taken, the proper place for this crown-
ing soup of the English table is before the host, who serves
its contents with skill, so that he may obviate that diffi-
culty which is termed the breach of good manners—that
of sending up the soup-plate a second time, no matter
how much the guest may appreciate the excellence of this
choice soup.
• • • • • • •

If turtle soup, follow with well iced punch, when the
punch, if not too sweet, will give a bracing energy to
appetite. This may be done betwixt the courses, in form
of punch • la Romaine, or in simple form, as granite—
then its effect is both cooling and reanimating. In the
last course, the ices are found in the shape of Plombii•re,
Charlotte-Russe, poudin d la Neaelrode, biscuits glories,
which are the best and the most elegant of the sweet
dishes.

And the ices at the dessert, moulded into the shape
of apples, pears, &c., are no less successful than the fore-
going.
" If the potage may be considered as the principal gate
of the edifice, the entries form, as it were, the chief moms
of the structure We may invird the entries
as the most solid part of the dinner ;—Si le potage est la
principale porte de ]'edifice ; lee entrées en forment le
premier stage et les appartemens les plus importans. On
pent regarder les entrées oomme is partie is plus solide
d'un diner."
The first soup, the turtle, should be as light and pale as
possible; and all rubies should be given later, in propor-
tion to its concentration and intensity of flavour, until the
second roasts are reached.

The meatcal epicure, observing that there are many
stages and forms of congelation, from the sorbet to the
fruit-ice, is regulated according to the advanced stage of
the dinner in taking his ice more fluid, and of less intense
congelation. Ater the turtle soup, which has been cor-
rected by the spirituous ingredients of the punch. the ice
may be drunk fluid without danger, and also with benefit.
Later in the dinner, in form of sorbet, it must be avoided
as imprudent, lest too much cold descends nt the same
moment into the stomach; consequently it is afterwards
served in the semi-fluid state, which still allows the guest
to drink, and without having recourse to his plate,—it
compels his sipping slowly. At dessert, he must cut the
ice with a spoon, and eat the mimic fruits particle by
partiole-..since the epicure considers ice as acting upon
the palate in effect as milk and apples do; and therefore
th;liteda:etuw and gourmets employ it to restore the taste
aMr ashacitlou by dosiustfuloal sad to impart tom to
ill ctgrageb,

THE PRESS.

When the second roast is reached, the dishes should
then but coquette with the p slate, until the dessert comes,
capped by the coffee, and followed by the chaise cafe, which
consecutively reward and confirm the palate, after all its
labours in recruiting the system.

On wines and liqueurs the Maitre &Hotel
speaks with precision :

Respecting wines, taste varies very much ; yet there
are some very broad and plain rules concerning them, re•
suiting from the experience of the epicure and the phy-
sician: as the white wines, from their solvent quality, are
deemed the hest adapted to the courses of the dinner, the
light white wines should bo taken with the dinner exclu-
sively; Chablis, Bantu, and Grave should be taken with
the oysters before dinner; Sauterne and Sherry after the
soup ; White Hermitage at the end of the first course ;
Burgundy and other wines, such as COte Roti. Red Her.
mitage, Chambertin, after the game ; Madeira, Port. Brown
Sherry, and Claret with the dessert. Champagne begins
almost with the first entrEes, and often extends its sway to
the end of the other courses.

As regards other wines served with ices, according to
taste, such as the liqueur wines, or the sweet wines Con-
stance, Pacaret, Cyprus, &c., they may be taken with
safety. Of the sweet wines, none are to be compared to
Tokay, which, when it is genuine and old enough, pos-
sesses, in the estimation of the gastronome, a fragrant
energy mingling with, and overmastering, the luscious
sweetness. The great objections to the usual run of
sweet wines are, that they cloy the palate, injure digestion,
and readily ferment in the stomach. The most fashion.
able practice is to serve the sweet wines immediately on
the partaking of ices.
Respecting liqueurs, it behoves the hospitable Amphi-
tryon to be very cautious. The imitations of come
liqueurs at Bordeaux are considered tolerable; but, un
fortunately, they are manufactured everywhere, and with-
out improvement.
The real Curacao, the white with a crystal deposit, is
considered the best ; the real Maraschino should be
imported direct from Zara, the Rosoglio from Italy, the
Noyeau from the West India Islands, the Crame de
Café from Mauritius, Kirsohenwasser from the Black
Forest, lc.
Bad liqueurs are sometimes somewhat deleterious, and
may be fatal. The last Duke of Lorraine is reported to
have died from drinking a glass of noyeau, at a time when
prussic acid was unknown !

The directio►►s for the preparation of good
coffee are unive►•sally applicable :
Coffee is sadly used [abused ?) in England. The physician
;nstructs, that the coffee berry contains many constituents
that undergo changes at different temperatures ; that no
cupidity or deceit should enter into its admixture; and
that coffee, to be agreeable, digestive, and wholesome,
should be served with all its constituents elicited in the
exact proportions in which they present themselves when
the coffee bean is roasted; and that no possible excuse
exists for serving it otherwise, since its preparation is of
the simplest possible process, and as follows •
Put enough for your object of light brown roasted coffee
in a thick flannel funnel•shaped bag, held by a rim of
wire ; then pour boiling water thereon, and collect the
liquor into a vessel heated for the purpose, and serve
instantly.
The above is stated to have been the mode in which the
illustrious Talleyrand used to have his coffee served, and
which was ever considered by his epicurean guests as most
delicious, shedding the sweets of its aroma.
The best berry for this purpose is of the finest kind,
and never roasted beforehand. but is, according tot Eastern
custom, roasted on the instant immediately preceding the
making coffee, and then served in very delicate small
china or porcelain cups; but in the absence of the berry
prepared in the above state, the most recently-roasted
coffee is preferred.

From these specimens our readers mnv
judge of the use of this volume It has the
merit of being original, and of being written
with perfect knowledge of the subjects dis-
cussed. The Russian Embassy, we may re-
mark, has long been. famous for its hospi-
tality :

The time Prince Esterhazy was in London was re-
markable for its splendid and costly entertainments. The
dinners given by his Excellency were attended by all
the elite in rank and fashion of the day, and were no-
where surpassed in their artistic arrangement and per.
fection in serving.
The expenses of one of the large evening parties, given
by the Prince in 1838, amounted to 9271.; there were
present about fifteen hundred persons, and cards issued
for more than that number.
Out of the 9271, there was an outlay of 2171. for the
construction of a temporary room, or tent.

A considerable portion of the other expenses
was made up by the hire of plate, glass, waiters,
music, &c. The whole cost of refreshments
and wine did not much exceed 4001., a little
more than ss. per head. The item of flowers
is set down at 60/. The whole volume is
penned with considerable spirit and taste.
The second volume is an encyclopaedia of
economy. It gives details from the cost and
particulars of building a house down to the
smallest matters of daily expenditure. It is
truly a family book, treating of health and of
sickness, of tho nursery and the dining• room—
inonleating now economy, now elegance, and
at all times prndence end foresight; and tend•

1241

ins to make. as far as rules can, life com-
modious, cheerful, and convenient. As far as
our housekeeping experience goes, however,
the writer is too sanguine. He seems to
imagine that money will go farther than our
housekeeping bills warn us is the case. In
the scale of expenditure for 1,000/. a year, for
example, there is first given the amounts
which must be reckoned to be paid for every
department of household expenditure For fish
and poultry (including game) there is set down
30/. a year, a very scanty allowance, when the
bills of fare given are considered. One day
we have " turbot ;" another day, " brace of
grouse ;" another day, " cod's•head and
shoulders ;" another, " wild ducks ;" another,
" partridges ;" another " chickens," and so on.
Thirty pounds a year for fish and poultry
would go but a short way at this rate. Gene-
rally the bills of fare seem far better than the
items set down for domestic expenditure
would justify. Anything like precision in
such cases is impossible. Every family must
apportion its expenditure to its means and
wants, and the only rule to be laid down for
young housekeepers is to keep within tho
mark. The volume is illustrated with a great
number of engravings, and seems to be most
carefully compiled.

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