The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-10 00:00:00

40

never a substitute of, the useful. You frustrate,
he in►:ists, " the very principle of nature on
" which ornamentation is rounded, when you
" represent a natural form in a natural manner,
" and yet apply it to uses with which it has in
" nature no affinity whatever." As examples of
this kind of vice, he engraves a gas jet pro-
ceeding from a flower—a cup supported on a
stag's head, and a bell made of leaves. His argu-
mentis that every article made for use must have
a certain size and character defined for it, by
reason of its use, and that on this skeleton the
designer must bring all his ornamental know-
ledge to bear. Having established principles
of ornament, Mr. Wornum goes through each
school that has prevailed, from the Egyptian to
the Louis Quatorze, giving some striking
examples of each. The illustrations are
equally beautiful and instructive. The 112
pages of this handsome volume furnish a
luminous introduction to both the study and
the practice of ornamental art.
In Fiction we have an historical tale, with
Oliver Cromwell (10) as the hero. Most of
the great personages of the time figure in the
story, which commences with the Civil War,
and terminates with the execution of Charles.
The writer has fallen into a mistake, not un-
common with novelists. He has made history
the groundwork of his tale, instead of using it
only to aid and embellish his fiction. No
composition can be more worthless than
history in the shape of fiction. It is
as bad as fiction in the shape of history. If
Mr. Stewart had simply meant—as one would
suppose by his long historical note—to give
the public the benefit of his notions on the
Civil War, an essay would have been pre-
ferable to this bastard style of composition.
Great names are too often presented to us in
masquerade. Some of Mr. Stewart's scenes
are well imagined, and some of his descrip-
tions well written, but the vicious principle
on which he has proceeded gives his tale
little claim to be regarded as a legitimate
fiction. We are sorry the author has not
turned the abilities he possesses to better
account.

There is hot southern blood in the tale of
"(ink Branchi " (11), which is said to be
translated from the MS. of a Tuscan. The
hero commences life as a poor Tuscan boy,
and goes through many wild adventures cha-
racteristic of the clime and passion of Italy.
As the translator says that he has taken some
liberties with his original, he would have done
well to omit the portion relating the conse-
quences of Giulo's intimacy with the lovely
marchesa. The story has many striking pas-
sages, and is coloured by such passionate
feeling as marks the life of the fiery Alfieri.
To the book-buying public reprints of
modern works which have obtained standard
rank are usually extremely welcome, from
their completeness and moderate price.
Moore's " Epicurean " (14 the best of his
tales, is issued in a well-printed volume, the
type clear, and the size handy. The first
volume of a cabinet edition of Lord Camp
bell's " Lives of the Chancellors " (13) comes
out with the recommendation that the author
has employed the long vacation in carefully
revising the work, which is now offered to the
public in as perfect a state as he can hope it
will ever attain. It is singular that a work
which has deservedly obtained so much popu-
larity should in the first instance have been
offered to several publishers, who declined the
risk of publication. The first volume of a new
edition of Carlyle's works is also issued this
month. " The History of the French Revolu-
tion" (14) is commenced in it, and will be
completed in a second volume. We wish the
cabinet size had been adopted. Such unifor-
mity of size is very convenient for book-
shelves. The cabinet edition of Lord
Brougham's works (15) continues to proceed.
The last volume contains " The Historical and
Political Dissertations of Lord Brougham."

(10) Oliver Cromwell. fly C. I:. Stewart. Two Vols. Lon.
don: smith and Elder,

(11) (maw Bronchi. Troudated from the Italian MS. by
Alfred I,lwes. I.ondon: Addey.
(12) The Epicurean. By Thoutas More. London: Lon-

mitns.

_Ili) Lives el ilsc Lord Chancellors. Ily Lord Catapb.3l'..
Fourth f:dltion. Ten Voir. Vol.!. London:
14 ro• French Beree&then. Ily 'Mottle:. Carlyle. Two Vo6.
V.l 1. Lrudou ( 1181.1111111 .ui•l 1 /41i.
(Is) Wurka (I Lord fironehaws. Vol. VIII. Lowlgu: Grail
and Co.