The Press.
London, England, 1853-10-15 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

There is scarcely a topic of any importance,
administrative or otherwise, connected with
Indian government. which is not touched upon
by the author of the "Memorials." The ',An-
vil& of non interference with the religious
prejudices and religious observances of the
people of India is as ably enforced us that of
int( rferenee with the politieftl and internal
government of their princes; awl the large,
minded statesman is apparent throughout.
We have given ow opinion so freely, in differ-
ent numbers, on Mr. Kaye and his works, that
it may be surmised that the announcement of
a coming " Memoir " from his pen was not
unwelcome. History and Biography are euu-
xinx yronas to each other : and the pen which
handles the one with ability will doubtless not
Ire found wanting when the other is taken in
hand. A really well-written " Life," is as valu-
able as it. is a rare commodity ; and we hail
with satisfaction every such addition to our
stock of modern biographical literature.

Clouded linnoinen. A Niivel. From the French
of the Countess D'Orsay. London : Clarke,
Becton, and Co.
E mune of "D'Orsay " on the titlepage of a
novel entitled "Clouded Happiness is calcu-
lated to attract attention. But we may as well
inform our readers that they will look in vain
for any private reminiseencea of vanished
celebrities. It may be described as French
in spirit, and more suited for the Parisian
palate than our homelier tastes. Its style is
injured by translation ; and our readers had
better peruse it in the original if they feel an
appetite for social horrors and impassioned
sentiments. It displays considerable clever
Hess. and the Countess D'Orsay is an adept
in the rbetorie of prose fiction. But facility
of innguage is not enough for a novelist to
rely upon, espeeially when the subject is of
the sort suggested by the epigraph on the
titlepage :--
ns ont main he ciel 114 nn don
Its out smoifert, c'etst one antre inncence;

1k out aimi•. c;est to !wean du pardon.
This text, taken from Lamartine, will intli
eate the sttf►ject to our readers. It is a difficult
one for a lady to expound in a manner stills
factory t,► English "prejudices,' as our Pa
risiau friends would eall them. We oaa►y say,
genendly, that the Countess D'Orsay is too
declamatory to sway the passions, anti that
her dramatis rermaue contain too many w irked
character)) for us to rare what heroines of
them. She decidedly exhibits, however, that
amount of literary ability which justifies us
in expeeting more finished works from her
pen. Novel-writing is an art in itself.
and requires careful study and some pme
tire before even clever writers succeed iu
it. The tln•ee first novels of the late Miss
Ellen Pickering (nine volumes!) were unsuc-
cessful—an instance taken from many in our
knowledge of the numerous first failures that
occur• in this department of letters. Let the
Countess IYOrsay study more, and judieiously
avoid the heaping together of too many
strong " incidents, and she may, we ron4-
dentl• believe, obtain considerable success.

Comporot ice Grammar of the Hebrew Lon
gunge. By .1. W. Donaldson. London :J. W.
Parker and Son.
WE have read with much greater pleasure than
some former productions the present work by
that accomplished scholar, Dr. Donaldson, of
Bury School, the more so that we think the sys-
tem advocated by him.and most effectively car-
ried out in the work before us, is one which has
been long wanted by English scholars. It has
been a Colllllloll, nay, an almost universal, com-
plaint. that the grammar of the Hebrew
language was at once so dry and so unlike
that of any other tongue with which students.
and especially boys, have acquired some
familiarity as to make the study of it peculiarly
distasteful. It has been long our opinion that
this Was mainly caused by the uninviting
manner in which almost all the elementary
works for the aequirement of Hebrew have been
dram n up. There is in many. especially
in those of Lee and Ewald, no mall amount of
learning, but there has been no attempt to

SATURDAY

combine the study of Hebrew with that of
other languages, with the single exception of
that of Arabic, its own eldest daughter. The
student has been too often led to suppose that
Hebrew was like the Basque or the Illyrican,
a solitary and disconnected tongue, and that
the comparative anatomy of it could not, as in
the case of the Indo-Germanic languages, be
]►ursued with any advantageous results. Nor
has this proved the only hindrance. in this
country especially, to the learning this ancient
tongue : our gntuunar•s have been all con-
structed, with more or less care, upon those of
the .Jewish learned men of the last three CCU-
turies, and much that is laneiffil, many things
which are perfectly useless, have, in conse-
quence, been crowded into them. The study
of the Hebrew language wits ordained to fi►llow
by one track, and one only, with about as much
sense as if all the gardens were for• ever to be
made after the angular patterns of Holland, or
of the reign of Louis Quatorze. It was all to
be according to one still, stereotyped ti►rm, and
all the graceful curves of nature were to be
carefully and systematically banished.
Dr. Donaldson has, we think, done good
service in casting aside this formal system,
and in treating of Hebrew in a manner similar
to that in which Latin and Greek have hitherto
been taught. Simplicity of arrangement is
the prevailing feature of this work, and we feel
convinced that a competent knowledge of the
language may be acquired through his aid in
half the time required in order to master the
simplest of the old grammars. We have great
pleastu•e in recommending this, after some per•
sonal experience of the grammatical systems
adopted on the Continent as well as in Eng-
land, as by far the best we have yet met with
fin• the promotion of the study of Hebrew at
schools, or by young pupils. Old students
may perhaps have sonic doubt how far he has
supplied some of the sounds of the language
in all their fulness, but none skilled in teach-
ing can question that his grammar is a great
improvement on the old ones.

Blue Jackets ; or, Chips qf the Old Block. By
W. H. 0. Kingston, Esq. London : Grant

and Griffith.
Tut. titlepage of this volume tells us that its
author intended it as " a narrative of the gal-
lant exploits of British seamen, and of the
principal events in the naval service during
the reign of Queen Victoria ; " and to a consi-
derable extent the work fulfils its object.
though in rather a desultory manner. Mr.
Kingston commences with an account of the
naval operations in Syria and China, and then
passes on to the suppression of piracy in Bor-
neo, to which subject he appropriates one third
land the least interesting) portion of his vo-
hune. He then relates the dreary expedition
up the Niger under Captain Trotter, and
various miscellaneous naval actions in differ-
ent parts of the globe, describing several ex-
ploits of personal daring and intrepidity by
officers and men, fully entitling them to be
called " chips of the old block." He then
gives many interesting anecdotes of the African
coast blockade, and most readers will find this
portion of the volume entertaining, as
it is associated with the suppression of the
slave trade. The worst part of the book is its
too brief review of the North Polar Expedi-
tion. _

We have examined these details with consi-
derable interest, for at the present time our
" blue jackets" arc naturally objects of much
attention. These pages serve at least one
useful purpose. in effectually demonstrating
that the eulogy of Lord Palmerston upon our
marine force as " being able to accomplish any-
thing within human possibility" is borne out
by its acts even during the peaceful reign of
Queen Victoria. We see no symptoms of de-
generacy in a service which can boast of having
performed in such dashing style so many ex-
ploits as arc here recorded.
We expected, however, more literary talent
in this work. Its author is an experienced and
attractive writer. and we think that in many
parts of his subject he might have given more
vi% id and stirring descriptions. The volume
reads as a whole too like cuttings from the
London Ga:etec and other newsmen, yet we

OCTOBER 13, 1853.

by no means underrate the trouble bestowed on I
its compilation, while we admit that authenti-
city in a work of this kind is of more value
than vivacity of style. In justice to the author
we will quote the following extract from his
preface :
I and much indebted to the kindness of Mr. Ttarww for
allowing me to look over the Naval Records in the Admi
ralty ; and. in ease any doubt should *ASO a% to the Originality
of the design of my work. he will. I aim sure, gladly bear w it-
lies,: that my visitsthere for the object of eolleeting matteriak
preceded by several months the appearanee of a littl, I
written by one of the clerks in his Ake, and hearing the
very title which 1 than menti dit was my intention to
prelix to mine as a :would title.
The Act of Mr. Kingston retelling to the re-
cords at the Admiralty has made us read with
attention many of the 1111Mr0118 unocdotcs of
courage and seamanship here preserved. It
may be difficult to make a selection, but we find
the author awards the palm for superiority to
Lieutenant Pe Courcy's capture of the Cunha-
genan fleet in Is-11. The eireninstunees of
this Nelsonian feat appear like one of the
startling incidents in Captain Marryat's Per-
cival Keene." We will extract the narrative of
this brilliant action as told hero. We need
only premise that sonic English merchant ships
had been plundered by sonic Carthagenan
men-of war, and the British Consul demanded
the assistance of Lieutenant De Convey, of the
Charybdis. The afthir took Owe in February,
Isi I :

- - -
As soon as the British officer hail returned on board the
( rybdi.. awl reported these eiretionstalices. I .ioutentint
lie Convey determined to compel
attention
to his commit-
niestions. 'Fite eharybdix was rated 114 a ti gun brig. lint
site carried only one long gun i.. i . Iships and two ciliur .
tides, and her full complement Or I officers and men was
lint fifty-tile. Nothing daunted, however. lie Isildly en-
tered the 'mil, MO WIN passing up to an iniehornge, When,
witlnott any provocation, he was tired into by tin, corvette..
the eiroinntalore's vessel, and the forestay of the ltoryinfi,,
was 51144 away. TIIIS Was all illstlll not tor 1111 111stallt to
be borne. and, in spite of the small size of his vessel. moil
the apparently overwhel • g Puree oppinteil to him, he ini
inediately took up St paaitiurl, sled opened Ida tire no the
corvette. officers and erew enthusiastically secon•le•l
him, and working their guns with a will, so ratiblly was the
tire delivered, awl so well was it that in 8 short
tine t'w c wvette hauled down her coliturs awl surrendervil,
when, on taking pusutessi 111 l of her, it was fintiol that the
eotininshire and twent y-tive of his wwit had Mlle&
the mean time a brig-of war hail been coming 111)1%11 to
the assistance of the eiwyette, by three schooners,
anal scaieeiy had the first been disposed of when she came
into action. Unethainded by Ifnir exeiiions, the gallant
erew of the Charybdis fought their guns as before, 14111 in
five minutes after they had been brought to bear on the
brig she sank, and in a short time the sehininers, after
,Actlittigilig a few shots, also surrendered. Thos. iu the
emirs,. of less than all hour the whole of the t
'wihng+ matt
sipiallr•in was captured mid ilestniyed—the victor mumbling
nt anchor in their port, with his prizes, to await the acid-
. • of the admiral Olt the station as to their dispinial.
Althinigh, proltably, the vessels of the enemy '111.1‘• 11441144*
Well 11)11111 • well manned, still their rOll.l. wax so im-
mensely superior to that of the British brig. that we must
allow that not not a more spirited or gallant action Ilan
been performed sine'(' her !tiniest) came to the throne
that of Lieutenant De l'imey's capture of the Carthagenan
11,44. Ile, in consequence, at once received his ',munition
to the rank of commander.

---
In ease this wmit should reach a second
edition we would recommend the author to
give a fuller account of the Polar Expeditions.
II is anecdotes of personal courage of the " blue
jackets" might be published separately for po-
pular circulation.

The lieliyions Aspect of the OM War in Chino.
By the Rev. William IL Rule. London:
Partridge and Oakey.
THE present civil war in China is interesting
from various points of view. Directly it is of
importance, as relating to the eommercial
interests of the British merchants settled in
several of the chief cities in China, along with
those of the American, French, and other
European residents in Hong-Kong and the
five ports. lint the moral interest suggested
by a religions insurrection amongst the
Chinese is infinitely greater, uuel hues excited
much curiosity amongst reflective persons.
It is too soon, perhaps, to generalise with err
faulty upon the ehanteter of these revolution-
ary eommotions, and we must wait for better
information before we can possibly eongratu-
bite ourselves on the bounds of aristendom
being permanently enlarged in China.
Me know nothing of the reverend writer of
this pamphlet except that he appears to be a
Methodist clergyman. lie takes a sceptical
view of the alleged triumphs of Christianity in