The Press.
London, England, 1853-12-10 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

With the exception of the old "Send." or seraglio, some
of the Gureniment dares. the batman:, and barracks, the
city is no better than II "Willi Oh: 1.1 wood, ready to be
burnt by the first spark shad' WIN upon it. tif all the
11 sights I saw in this eountr. I declare nothing
ei-
caell nn astonish
ground, which bad been laid bare by tire in the mum: of
an hour or two, 'bitted in the im manner with
the WIMP sort of wooden boxes, ready awl tit to be con-
sumed, perhaps, as soon as they were tinisla4.
There are reasons, other and better than
fatalist apathy, bit' this mode of procedure.
Earthquakes are talked of, but seem to be ra-
ther political than physical. Stone is scarce,
and it.A easily transported over roads which
at the best are were tracks, often knee-deep
in mud. The cost of permanent architecture
would thus be heavy : the house-proprietor
speculates on his chance of escaping lire, and
doubles his rent by way of insurance.
Here is another characteristic scene in the
environs of the Turkish capital :

We got a telescopic glance, as we passed, of the huge
gnus in the batteries of the Castle of Euroj.e, and likewise
distinguished the piles of ponderous marble balls intended
to he thrown from the rock-hewn mortars. There is some•
thing truly Cyclopean in the idea of making a gun of the
and loading it with a rock. To reach a mark with
one of these strange iugllctuents of di allnetiuu would cep-
tautly he what the Swiss call " tnr el Intl de Wipe," or
Mind DIM'S shot. They can serve only as a sort of scare-
crow, to impress all whim it not eionerril with the feeling
that, it the shot shoithlehance to takeefieet, the consequence
would he " anything hut pleasant.•' l'he fate of the !I'iart-
xor
foal., one of the ships of Admiral Mckwortles fleet,
which sustained sm ere injury from this battery in 11.417,
furnish an example. A worthy old I;enoese, who fur
Hear link a eentury has been a member of the estalplish-
most at the British Embassy in Constantinople, detailed
to me l., than once the circumstances of that lIIIfortIV,
nate allitir lie Wan 1111 Is 'gni thus viewed in aft. ndance on
Mr. Arbuthnot, the Itritish Minister. Impatient of re-
• • g below whllwt the polls were filing, he obtained
lem I. to gO 011 deck, and hail scarce left the cabin for that
purpose. when he heard a mash, mid felt it sins+ which
made the vessel tremble in every timber. The shot,which
is said to hate weighed misfiles., took effect notify amid-
ship, 'gushed in many feet of the bulwark, cut the Main-
Mast Heady ill two, and killed or desperately wounded six-
teen ismer fellows who stood near, so that the deck in an
instant was like a slaughter-house. The huge missile, as
if satisfied with the mischief it had done, then quietly
rolled aft, and was brought to England, "where," my infor
mant added, " I have I well told, duty was charged fur en-
trance us foreign marble."

The best part of this book is a description
of the ascent of Mount Etna, a subject rather
less hackneyed than the rest. Though inferior
in height to Mont Blanc by more than 4,000
feet, the scenery is scarcely less wild, and,
from the volcanic formation of the rocks, has a
gloomy grandeur which distinguishes it from
all other mountains. The chief difficulty of
the enterprise arises from vicissitudes of tem-
perature, which are sudden and extreme; from
the crumbling soil ; and front the occasional
exhalations of sulphureollB vapour.
Biome, Italy, and the homeward route are
likewise described ; but are not these written
in the handbooks of Murray" An unpretend-
ing character disarms a merciful elide, else
we might complain of deficient novelty, and
more words than matter. Polities and grave
dissertation are studiously avoided.

BOOKS FOR THE BILAWINthItOoM TABLE.

Trees. Plows, and Flowers: their Beauties, Uses,
anti lutbseures. fly Mrs. B. Lee. London:
Limit and (4riffith.

Tut: accomplished authoress, who is more
generally known in the literary world by her
former name of Mrs. llowilich, shall herself
describe the design of her elegant volume :
A book on botany which might be read like any other
was demanded ; but reflection soon showed that this was
impracticable. The numerous characters, the uncertainty
and extent of botanical nomenclature, the jargon that it
ofkra of anglicised Latin words, utterly preclude the sue
ptilicial glance of the mere reader ; and, delightful as the
subject may be to those who, with the objects before them,
come to the task mined with ilisaecting instruments and
uncromeope, at present the loveliest works of tiod are ob-
scured by the most weaning details to those who have
neither time nor inclination for science. An endeavour,
therefore, has been here nutde to give an idea of the size,
the beauty, the uses, and the influence of vegetation in
general ; rather than to describe the mechanism by which
an Almighty Hand has effected his purposes. The
(idly, however, has been immense. in selecting the chum-
tens which it was neeessary to give, avoiding those which
are microscopical. and also avoiding a multiplicity of arid.
nary terms, applied by different botanists to the same
parts. Many who behold a flower in its full development
*filth' find it inipessilde to see its laid ; and, therefore, the
ehariwters depending on that stage were put aside. lioubt•
ful sod negative elmacters were as wadi its possible dis•

SATURDAY,

pensed with ; but, while the botanical descriptions were
curtailed, it is hoped that enough have been retained forge-
iierid pu►poses ; they being, us it were, only auxiliaries to
the general plan.
It then became a matter of much consideration bow the
;plowing should be zisanaged; fur, wit► the number of sub•
jeeta, some se►•ial order was necessary for the sake of per•
spieuity. As the last authority, limUichar was consulted;
but the limits of a reading book rendered his classification
utlt of the question. I►r. Lindley 's "Vegetable Kingdom"
was also too volt 111 l i l lOUS ; and, at last, the same author's
" Natural Systsm► " was fixed upon, as being at once coin.
prehensive and compact ; the only differences with which
in these pages are, commencement with the least coin•
plie►lted fiorms, and a progression to those of the highest
organisation, us Nature herself proceeds; besides au estab•
lislonent or abandonment of those orders which in that

work were doubtful, ueeording to the
more recent publications.
- -

We have ranked the book produced in ac-
cordance with this design among works for
the drawing-room table. on account of the
beauty and truthfulness of its series of co-
loured. illustrations ; but it is not the less an
agreeable and au informing book on botany to
all but those who are conversant with the
more elaborate treatises. It is well arranged,
and has an index of between twenty and
thirty pages.

Footprints of Famous Men. By John 0. Edgar.

London : Bogue.
Tuts book of MO pages contains an outline of the
chief events in the life of nineteen great and eminent
men, Washington, Burke, Scott, (Sze. The author is,
we prestune, an American. Speaking of education in
America early in the 18th century, he says :

" The teachers seemed to have acted rigidly on the
precept of a Spartan king, that the boy should be in-
structed in the arts likely to be useful to the man. If, on
leaving school, the hopeful youths could read with
decent correctness, write a tolerable hand, and keep
accounts intelligibly, what more was wanting to capacitate
then, tier growing tobacco and shipping it, to be disposed
of by the commercial magnates who, arrayed in scarlet
cloaks and flowing periwigs, paced, with haughty step and
~moiled 'wide, the arched Exchange of Glasgow?"
Mr. Edgar is evidently familiar with Scott's works,
and dre►ul of the ghost of Bailie Nicol Jarvie should
have protected the brethren of that worthy man
from such denunciation. The lives, though generally
well written, have no pretensions to originality, and
sometimes Mr. Edgar would have done well to give
the words of the author from whom he takes his
materials instead of his own. The life of Erskine is
copied from that which appeared many years ago in
the Law Magazine, and where Mr. Edgar differs
from he does not improve upon the original. The
work is disfigured by seven preposterous illustrations.
Erskine in court dress is balanced on a high office
stool, which leans at an angle of twenty-five degrees,
and, by judiciously Hinging about his arms and legs,
in this position he retains it. Scott is about eight
feet high, about half a heal shorter than Moore, who
is with him. Subject to these remarks, the book is
one which may be read with pleasure, and will no
doubt be popular with the young.

The Partition of Turkey,(fe. By Veritas. London :
Chapman and Hall.
A st-mmAnr proposal for the distribution of the
Ottoman empire between England, France, Austria,
Russia, and 6reece, loose in its statements and
opposed in its conclusions to the combined views of
the ablest European diplomatists. it' there were any
prospect of achieving the following proposed result,
the author is entitled to the credit of dividing the
mission with Elihu Burritt

" 1k as polite as you will to the reigning Sultan, but
from his throne he must plainly descend : 1w is not, nor
ever was he, the constitutional monarch of the dominions
over which he and his act the tyrant ; and we are ourselves
perfectly convinced that, let the matter be explained to
him in a quiet, mathrmal leo, manner—let him be shown the
inevitable result of his continuing to occupy the woune
eaten chair of his ancestors—the unpleasant position in
which he will shortly tied himself when sprawling in the
dust—and he will only too gladly accept a pension of
40,14101., with a retired country seat, far removed from the
machinations of a designing vizier, the groans of unwilling
subjects, and the booming of Russian artillery."

(Witham; Day, and lion it was Spent by Four
Persona in the House of l"ograaa, Fograss, Mouton,
and Snorton. lly Christian le llos. Illustrated
Phiz. London : Boutledge and Co.
Tuts little story turns upon the incident of a bank
robbery and its effect in disturbing the Christmas
festivity of four persons in the house above named;
but as the thief is summarily detected the whole
ends happily. The composition of the story is
after" Dickens, and slight; and Lord Froodle, one
of the characters, is the reproduction of a type
which has done severe duty as a substitute for
truthful tieliuestiou. Some of the illubtratious are

DECEMBER 10, 1853.

clever. Here is a favourable specimen of the auther*.:
style of description : . .

11 There is something joyous in tit+. appearanee of Ill,•
street++ of Loudon on a Christmas eve. espt•eiallc if it is
a sharp, clear, frosty night. The foot passengers harry along
with quick feet-warraing stride.: ottutibuses.eabs. and tatter
vehicles, run menily sour the kkkkk The shops are
unusually brilliant. The jets of gas shine with stint ititit.,l
brizlitness, mill seem to throw a stis•aiger liAt than on
ordinary occasions on the articles arranged ill Illy *inflow..
Heaps of plums and other foreign fruit are temptingly
displayed at the' groeers, .te., th►e iiiteriors of whose shops
present scones of inileseriliable eonfitsion : assistants fly
and rush about with reckless impetuosity mill try their ut•
most to satisfy the 11111111.111414 :silts sif their customers.
The poultems a►•a in the greatest have ; their shops 814.
dense masses of geese, Bowl, and turkey. around utsidi
sausages itt it ehaiity e►ubrace and laight•eolotireil ribbons
stock with their thiaming streamers the pallid hues of the
devoted birds."

Round Ga mot for all Parties. London : Bogue.
Tuts book of 101 pages, prettily bound in blue and
gold, describes the manner in which numerous
games, such as forfeits, acting charades, ke., are
played. The illustrations, twelA e in number, the
figures in the Queen Anne costume, are well done.
As the games are numerous and varied, each will
find something suited to his taste.

Rockingham; or, the lounger Brother. ll• the
Author of "Electra.•• ( Midway Library.) Lon-
don: Routledge and eo.
THE recognised merit, of this attractive fiction en-
titled it to repuhlicuUon .n a cheap form, and the
melancholy mysterious interest of its story is thus
happily revived for the author's reputatitat.

PERIODICAL LITERATURE.
The Landau Quarterly Eeriest.. For Decentker. Nil.
I L Londint : Partridge, Oakey, and co.

Nt: 11. of this Review fairly maintains the high
character which we were able to give to its predeces-
sor. Its article% are throughout distinguished for
thought, sincerity, and research. The writers are
evidently able men, who address themselves to their
literary task with a due sense of its responsibilities,
and present their readers with its results in
the shape of reasonings well weighed, informa-
tion carefully tested and arranged, and a
style at once earnest, grave, and per:weave. Never
forgetting the especial object which the &Hem is
designed to promote, and the class to whom it is
addressed, the conductors have hue,' careful to infuse
ample variety into the topics discussed, and to in-
clude in the contents of this number several papers
well calculated to interest the general reader. Among
these we must assign the principal Ogee to an article
upon "Autobiography." The author commences
with some judicious comments npon the place held
as a class by writers of autobiographies, and the
characteristics which contribute to excellence in that
department of literary art. He then introduces us,
by remarks and examples, to various types of dif-
ferent species of auti)biogruphieal composition,
from l'epys to Lamartine. The whole paper is
strikingly written and full of interest. We wonder
only that, in an article of so much ability, no men-
tion should be mule of the most envious as well as
the most recent work of the class which our liters
taro contains—" The Autobiography of Haydon."

Church of Scotland Magazine. London : Arthur
Hall, Virtue, and C.,.
THIN, the eighth number, contains a g0.,41 selection
of ten articles, together with notices ~f books, anti
ecelesiastieal intelligence. some amusing extracts
are given in a review of the life of I). M. Makgill
Crichton, of whom it is related as a wonder, that be-
tween a quarter.past five and half past ten in the
morning he killed twenty six brace and a half of
partridges and two hares, and the following is the
manner in which he pursued the sport :
" His method was to run at the heels of his slogs—n
baan most exhausting. and such as would, from the him'
breathing it occasioned. disturb the aitn of most spotts.
men but at this puriisl, so great was the strength of lung
which he enjo)ed, that even under this violent exertion the
heaving of the chest was scarcely perceptible,"

Denney'', Monthly Rerietc. For December. London
Piper and Co.
BEYOND mentioning that it contains a clever. it'
not altogether a just, notice of Sir Edward Lytton.
we have no space to enter into particulars of this
little miscellany of criticism and fiction, but its to
lent is remarkable in comparison with its low price,
and we shall watch its progress with interest.

Lite and Adrentureit of Dick I►ininy the Jockey.

By Priam. Tim (1011 : Vick ers.

" PRIAM " has hit upon a capital sel'it et, nnil is treat-
ing it capitally. The life of a jeckey is full of

THE PRESS.

oddities—odil scenes, Ixtd characters, .sl4l eoutrasts,
and odd tricks. Perhaps the oddest thing of nil iu
the present tale is the jockey himself. whit, if we
prognOstiCale rightly, will turn out 11111 holiv4 one.
The story opens with mud% spirit, and, considering
the subject and the agents, with less coarseness than
might have been anticipated.

NEW MUSIC.

The Belle of the Dull WitlL,x. 11 Thorpe.

London : D'Altimitte and Co.
'fill' collection of waltzes consist' of ham with a
t7041a. All of them inetit praise from their graceful
arrangement ; but the third and fourth aro very
animated. and show much talent. which may be also
Milli of the eoinpOSitiOn Of the coils.

The nace and Haat Gala)►. lty E. C. Thu►pu..

London : D'Alnutine and Co.
.t galop, almost approaching a march ill
composition. It Will require to 1v well pl:tc4l to do
jtistiec to 3lr. Thorpe.

The Ihibitortil Quadri Hy 0.11. E. Hodges,

London : Cocks and Co.
A smarm) set of quadrilles, emir itved on well.known
Scotch airs. The second, " rgeldie," arranged
in )•: major, and the fourth, " Bullock al Mune," in
I► nukior, aro %vell-studied compositions. The whole
are written with the composer's usual

I hare Loved Thee. Sonnet. By I !harks Sidman.

London: Addison and Miller.
SATAUAN has again gitw► his ►uhnirerx a goo4l
~.ti;. Both wonls and melody are pleasing. It is
written iu I► major, simple triple tam►. In some
parts the nil ompaninwnt a 4 a little tor► impassion►tl.