The Press.
London, England, 1856-03-08 00:00:00

PERIODICAL LITERATURE.

Blackwood this month contains less light literature
than usual. The opening article is on Liddell's
" History of Rome,"—not a very remarkable paper.
" Monteil " is an interesting antiquarian article,
being a review of a work entitled " History of the
French of Various Conditions," by Amens Alexis
Monteil, written in the beginning of the present
century. The work extends over the five last cen-
turies, and is a curious repository of old feudal
customs. " Biography Run Mad "is a well merited
flagellation of the two recent biographies of Horace
Greely and James Gordon Bennet. The peculiari-
ties of modern biography generally are exposed with
much ingenuity. The two next articles relate to
two subjects of paramount interest in the Eastern
and Western hemispheres—the Greek Church, and
Nicaragua. The [first is well written, though we
could wish important questions of doctrine and prac-
tice had been less summarily treated. The second
accepts the filibustering settlement in Central
America as an unalterable fact, and one likely to
prove beneficial to the whole region. But certainly,
as far as the violation of treaties is concerned, :he
Americans must hold their tongues if they even
tacitly sanction Colonel Walker's proceedings. The
article on Sydney Smith is the best which has yet
appeared on the subject. The writer determines
that he was rather the man of letters than the clergy-
man—more full of fua than of wit—a more powerful
expounder of the practical and the expedient than of
the right. The following sentences exactly express
the character of his reasoning :
The Plyruley Letters, for instance, never touch upon the
soul of the question they discuss. So far as they go, they
are admirably clear and pointed—a distinct and powerful
exposition of all the phases of expediency; but there they
pause, and go no farther. The argument touches only
things external, inducements and consequences. These
are stated so forcibly and clearly that we tio not wonder at
their immediate effect and popularity; fur the common
mind is easily swayed by reasoning of this practical and
tangible description, and it is impossible to misunderstand
so undeniable a statement of advantage and disadvantage.
But the grand principles on either side of the question—
the old lofty notion of a Christian nation, and the unty it
owed to God, on the one hand, and the rights of conscience
and individual belief upon the other—fiud no place in
the plea.
And again :
The argumentuin ad hontinem is the soul of Sydney s
philosophy. You are sure ot' a Imme•thrust, positive and
unevadable, when you enter into discussion with this most
practical of understandings. Perhaps you do not agree
with him ; very probably to your thinking there are prin.
ciples involved of more importance than these obvious
safeties or dangers ; but the nature of his implements
gives him force and precision; he never strikes vaguely:
his sword is no visionary sword, but a most English and
most evident weapon—sheer steel.
The article on Scottish fisheries will be perused with
interest, even by non-professional readers ; and the
two concluding essays on Life Peerages, though not
going very deeply into the subject, yet discuss it
in a right spirit, and with legal precision.
Eraser opens with an elaborate comparison be
tween Sir B. Lytton's " Caxtons," and Stems
_
"Tristram Shandy." The article is a good deal
talked of, but contains nothing that was not said
years ago when the " Caxtons " was first published.
" Kate Coventry" is good, of course. But the fox-
hunt is rather too mere a repetition of the same
thing in " Digby Grand," and the declaration of the
shy man, Squire Haycock, strikes one as slightly
premature. Kate is also, we are afraid, becoming
little too "'tray." There is an interesting article on.
"Hudibras," with some specimens of French and
Latin translations; and a sensible essay on the
Conferences, from which we extract the following
remarks

MI

AlAitat 8, 1856.

Mr. Roebuck may perhaps be right in declaring that
England is strong enough to continue the war single-
banded, and to bring it to a triumphant conclusion. The
v 3011130113 armament prepared for the Baltic might inflict
heavy blows on Russia, and the army now serving under
the English flag in the Crimea is strong enough to turn
the fortune of war in Asia ; but no prudent statesman
would break up the present alliance for the sake of military
glory,leaving
France and Austria at liberty to enter into
new political combinations. Tho expected peace will
accomplish some at least of the objects which justified the
original declaration of war. Constantinople is saved at
present—Austria and Sweden have profited by the oppor-
tunity to declare their independence of the Power which
claimed them as subservient allies—the Danube is
liberated—die Euxine bears no Russian fleet—above all,
the mischievous and insidious treaties imposed upon
Turkey during the last century have been abrogated by the
war.

The New Monthly contains sixteen articles, neither
much above nor much below its ordin. ry standard.
The story of "The Merchant's Wife" is forcibly
written, and the paper on Addison by no means un-
attractive. The series of articles on " The Eighteenth
Century" is concluded. It has not sustained the
promise of the first numbers, which were really
worked up with some care. There are several other
useful and opportune historical and political articles.

The principal papers in Bentley are, two articles of
considerable ability on the Central American ques-
tion—the conclusion of Mr. Dudley Costello's capital
story, "The Dock Warrants "—and an interesting
essay on Beaumarchais. But there is a variety suit-
able to all tastes; and "The Spendthrift," "Bell's
Chaucer," "Going to the Show," "A Week in Con-
stantinople," and Monkshood on Milman's " Latin
Christianity," all contain points of interest.
The Eclectic has an elaborate article on " The
Fine Arts in France." The review of Napoleon's
.• Correspondence " and Mr. Guthrie's sermons con-
tain nothing striking. The article on " Boy Crime"
is not free from the common fault of those who
write on the subject—ignorance of its practical de-
tails. The essay on "Recent Poetry" is superficial,
and "The Review of the Month " is little more that►
a collection of the opinions of the Liberal press on
the topics of the day. Crambe repetita !

Tait commences with the Peace Conferences.
This is rather an ambitious article, but characterised
by considerable ability. The review of Lewes's
"Life of Goethe " is well done, though in point of
style treading on the verge of the bombastic :—" The
gifts of his intellect were matured on the ashes of
his heart." The memoir of Alexandre Dumas is
an interesting article, and the whole number would
be decidedly good were it not disfigured by the
monthly nonsense called " Tangled Talk."

In the Oxford and Cambridge of this month the
essay on Tennyson is brought to a close. The
tale of " Found yet Lost" bears too near a re-
semblance to the scenes in "'Tie Antiquary " be
tween Elspeth and Lord Glenallan to deserve
any indep,ndent praise, but it is well written.
The criticism of "Men and Women" is in our
opinion rather too enthusiastic; that on Macau-
lay's "History" somewhat too brief to give full
effect to the views propounded. The article on "The
Prospects of Peace" is made the channel of some
sound remarks on the tendency of some among
us to "play with principles," and to admire unre-
fleetingly the simplicity of despotic government.
The Dublin contains a variety of excellent reading.
The continuous story, " Love in Curl-paper-," is not
indeed in the best style of fiction ; but " The History
of Dublin," "The Amber Mouthpiece," and the con-
cluding number of "The Dramatic Writers of
Ireland," are all first-rate magazine papers. The
last mentioned article embraces five distinguished
names—Dr. Croly, Henry Grattan, Samuel Lover,
Sterling Coyne, and Sheridan Knowles. The review
of Captain Marryat is written in an agreeable style,
and by a critic who seems to be well acquainted with
nautical matters. The comparison between Marryat
and his great American rival, Cooper, appears just.
In "The Opening of the Session " a somewhat re-
luctant praise is awarded to the temperate policy of
he Opposition.

The Train has two very readable articles—" Lon-
don Society," by Mr. Yates, and " Robson," by Mr.
Sams. The first is a little too much in that style
which Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Albert Smith have
worn threadbare, and the second, though extremely
ingenious, is not we think entirely free from the fault
which the author seems to imagine may be brought
against is a little turgid. The remaining ar-
ticles are all of them up to the mark.

The Idler contains an excellent article entitled,
"Letter to an Administrative Reformer;" it is full
of point, and goes to the root' of the matter. The
essay on Mr. Peter Cunningham is a somewhat too
violent attack on that laborious and careful writer,
and we are sorry to see so much power misdirected.
The first chapter of a memoir of Bolingbroke is
pleasantly written, though exception may be taken
to some of the views as extreme. Some verses by
Mr. Mortimer Collins are deserving of all praise,

THE PRESS.

and we think the whole number shows signs of a
steady progression.
No. XVI. of The Martins of Cro'Martin is a lively
number, and contains some interesting scenes.

PUBLICATIONS lIECEIVED.—MARcii 6.
BOOKS.

Clara, or Slare•Life in Europe. Bentley.
Knights and their Days. lir. Doran. Ditto.
The Stratford Shakspeure. C. Knight. Hodgson.
The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare.

Bell and Daldy.
Marriage. " Parlour Library." Hodgson.
Pope's Yearly Journal of Trade, 1850. Charles Pope.
Kars and Erzeroum. Lieut.-General W. Monteith.

Longman..
Audubon, the Naturalist in the New World. Ditto.
Introduction to the Literature of Europe. H. Hallam,
LL.D., F.R.A.S. Murray.
Domestic Scenes in Russia. Rev. R. Lister Venables, M.A.

Ditto.
Holiday 110118 C. A Book for the Young. Catherine
Sinclair. Simpkin ani Marshall.
Freston Tower, a Tale of the Times of Cardinal Wolsey.

Did°.
The Monk. Mrs. Sherwood. Ditto.
Griselda, a Tragedy; and Other Poem& Edwin Arnold.

Bogue.
A Portion of the Journal Kept by Thomas Raikes, Esq.
1831 to 18-17• Lougmans.

.........._.„.
The Unspeakable. C. H. Clarke.
Subject of Lord Brougham's Speech on Life Peerages, 15th
Feb. 1856. Ridgway.
The Creation, or the Agreement of Scripture and Geological
Science. Rivingtons.
Ode to the British Army. Edmund Peel. Ditto.
7'he Memorial of Lutchmee Bill.
The Poor Condition of the Clergy. Hatehard.

The Eclectic Review. Ward and Co.
Putnam's Monthly. Sampson Low and Co.
The United Church Journal. Seeley and Jackson.
Great World of London. Henry Mayhew. Hogue.
The Art• Journal. Hall and Virtue.
7'he West of England Magazine. Ditto.
Macphail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal.
Simpkin and Marshall.
The Amateur. Hope and Cu'

Ett grams.

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.

A NEW three act play was produced at this theatre on
Monday night, from the pen of Messrs. Tom Taylor
and Charles Reade. We cannot say that we
consider it to be one of the happiest of the
authors' joint productions; the tiresome archaisms
of the dialogue, the utter, and with such paternity
as the play can boast the surprising, absence of good
points, and the oppressive presence of the heaviest
jester that ever tired the patience of an English
audience, render the First Printer, as a whole, a
fatiguing play. It contains, certainly, striking
situations, sufficient, perhaps, to insure its attractive-
ness for a time; and the charming acting of Miss
Heath in the principal female character, one of those
plus femmes des femmes Mr. Reade loves to create,
will doubtless take many of her admirers a second
time to the theatre in spite of the cold sentimentality
of the hero, the melodramatic rantings of the villain,
and the copious platitude of the professional fool.
The plot, with its attendant historic pros and cons.
(which of course "every schoolboy knows," and which
any person less learned than the omniscient "school-
noy " may find concisely stated at the head of the
playbill), having been sufficiently enlarged upon by
others, we shall confine ourselves to a few brief re-
marks on the performance of the different characters
of the drama.

The heroine, as we have said, is gracefully played
by Miss Heath. In the love scenes, though she acts
under the "great discouragement" of the sentimental
attentions of Mr. Kean, who, like Beatrice, always
seems to "suffer love," she was, as usual, touching
and natural. The pleading sweetness of her voice,
the little bursts of wilfulness and petulance, the
rapid change, when Costar remains obstinately un-
forgiving, to offended dignity, which of course ulti-
mately resolves itself into tears and melts the haftl-
hearted printer, were all true to life; and in the
whole scene not one touch of conventionality marred
the natural beauty of the picture.
Mr. Kean's Costar, in the more " powerful effects,"
tells considerably upon the pit and gallery, whose
applause is also caltfAl down by the marked enuncia•
tion of much "march of intellect," and "universal
spread of knowledge," claptrap, of the obvious
opportunities for which the authors have somewhat
too liberally availed themselves. The scene in
which Costar first discovers the destruction of his
press and the loss of his types, and that where, a
ruined man, broken down by imprisonment, sick-
ness, and hunger, he denounces his betrayer Guten-
berg, were acted undoubtedly with great melodra-
matic power; the wild attitudes of ineffective rage,
the trembling hands nervously clutching at vacancy,
the hoarse tones now and again failing from sheer

235

physical exhaustion, and the quivering frame, all
combined to produce a forcible, but still exagge-
rated, representation ; but in the tenderer scenes
with Margaret, where Costar is reconciled to
her, where be reminds her, now estranged by
the falsehood of his friends, ofj their affection,
the actor's manner was stiff and cold to a
degree which almost ruined the effect of Miss
Heath's tenderness. There is always something
ludicrous about Mr. Kean's sentiment : his lovers
have a strange preference for expressing their devo.
tion through the nose in the tone of a bassoon suffer-
ing some internal disarrangement; they are always
apparently in a hurry to get through a disagreeable
piece of business, perhaps out of a kind considera-
tion to the feelings of the lady and the audience.
The remaining character, that of Gutenberg, the
convaitional villain, is assigned to Mr. Ryder, who,
we are free to confess, plays it villainously, " as a
gentleman should." He takes as great pains as
ever to expectorate every word he utters, and makes,
on the whole, a greater number of ugly faces than
usual in the stage-struggles between conscience and
c3nvenience. The fool is a complete failure; he is
a most unmistakeable bore, and the play would be
benefited by his extinction.

It is a beautiful and new idea, that of leaving the
villain to enjoy his ill-acquired riches, fame, and
high position, bestowing on the unknown and
wronged inventor the blessing of domestic happi-
ness—though, except in plays, we believe that the
daughters of wealthy merchants do not, as a rule,
choose self-asserting honesty in rags in preference to
acknowledged respectability in broadcloth. The
play is well put upon the stage.

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