The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-14 00:00:00

SATtTRDAY,

The Past and Present Ministries. A Political Essay,
in Two Chapters. London : Harrison.

This is a condensed history of political changes,
parties, and tactics, during the last two years. Legal
and social questions are touched upon, and no event
of material importance is omitted. Agreeing as we
do cordially with the author in his conclusions
generally, and especially in his estimate of the match-
less judicial abilities of Lord St. Leonard's, we must
yet be permitted to suggest that he has been a little
too hard upon Lord Truro. That noble and learned
lord certainly consulted his ambition more than his
capacity when he accepted the chancellorship, but it
is surely not just to say that " no triumph " was
gained, "no laurels " acquired, by one who, under
great difficulties, forced his way from a low grade in
society to that of a baron, and an alliance with a re-
cognised member of the Royal Family. We point out
this little blemish the more freely as the author of
the useful compendium before us pays a warm, we
hope merited, compliment to the PRESS.

Maephail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal and
Literary Review. London : Simpkin, Marshall,
and Co.
Tins number for the current month contains, besides
literary notices and ecclesiastical intelligence, seven
articles. The first, the fifth chapter of the "Jour-
nal of a British Missionary in China," is interesting.
The missionaries are so much respected in that coun-
try that when an American missionary was about to
be killed by the natives, during hostilities with the
English, his life was spared on his character being
discovered. "Justice to Scotland," the second arti-
cle, is written in a lugubrious strain. It claims that
all the peers of Scotland and of Ireland should be
created peers of the United Kingdom ! if in the
multitude of counsellors there is wisdom, it is no less
true that we may have "too much of a good thing."
Article II I. discusses the merits and defects of
Grecian and Gothic architecture, ipropos of Mr.
Ruskin's recent lectures at Edinburgh. The reviewer
again takes a gloomy view of his subject, and sees no
good in Mr. Ruskin, who advocates the superiority
of the Gothic style. The truth seems to be, that
the beauty of either order is not abstract, but con-
sists in its harmony with surrounding objects.
Rising amid the spiral cypress-trees, backed by the
violet sky of an Eastern clime, there the straight
lines of Grecian architecture may be the perfection
of beauty. But so is Bosslyn Chapel, with its thou-
sand wreaths of tracery—no two leaves or flowers alike
—encompassed by the wild self-sown woods that cover
the sides of the deep glen on the brink of which it
stands, while from beneath comes the re ar of the
foaming Esk, and above is the cold grey sky of Scot-
land.

Illustrations of Scripture from Botanical Science.
By David Gorric. London : Blackwood.
A VERY pretty little volume, in which much varied
learning is condensed, to prove that the allusions in
Scripture to trees, plants, flowers, &c., are scientifi-
cally correct. We fancy, however, that the author's
knowledge of English trees has been derived more
from books than personal experience. The work
contains ten illustrations, all good except the last,
the cedar. The characteristics of this noble tree are
stateliness, and straight, dark green, unmoving lines.
In the drawing before us it is almost as feathery as
a beech-tree.

Janus, Lake Sonnets, tee., and other Poems. By
David Holt. London : Pickering.
Tins volume of 207 pages contains nearly eighty
separate pieces, but in devoting himself to verse the
author has mistaken his vocation. Prefixed to
"Janus" (a poem in blank verse) are these two lines
from Shelley :

" We look before and after,
And pine for what is not,"
and the thought condensed in this couplet is ex-
panded by Mr. Holt into many lines. When
Byron gave to the Jura and the Alps life and voice,
the image was thought to carry boldness to the verge
of burlesque, and a clever satirist ridiculed "Child°
Harold" in a poem in which the mountains of
Europe were represented as conversing familiarly on
the current topics of the day. Mr. Holt couhl
scarcely have been aware of this when he wrote,
" With a kingly thunderous tone
Helvellyn shouteth to Skiddaw,
Over the vale of St. John,
And Saddleback, that standeth between,
Listeneth with a reverent mien."
The idea is further pursutd the lake below'
" Looketh up with a gentle eye" at old Helvellyn/
her husband. Mr. Holt, in two sonnets, appro-
priately expresses admiration for Kossuth and pro-
phecies respecting him.