The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-14 00:00:00

Arabia, and the period is that when Moham-
med Ali Pasha was the terror of his liege lord
the Sultan, and a very inconvenient personage
to the diplomatists of Europe. Hasfan is
the son of a celebrated Turkish general,
" Derwish of the Sword." lie had been con-
signed in his infancy to an Arab woman, who
remained ignorant of his origin, and brought
him up as a young Bedouin among her own
family. Taunts from his companions as to the
uncertainty of his birth drive Hassan from the
tent, not without the deep regret of his foster
parents, but he carries with him certain amulets
and " charms " which had been given to the
woman at the time, and which it is hoped may
enable him to discover his parentage. in the
course of his career he falls in with a travel-
ling English family, whose peculiarities, with
those of servants, courier, and tutor—the last
two about equal rogues—are humorously hit
off. it is the daughter of this " house " that
falls in love with Hassan, who might, perhaps,
have returned his passion had he not been
enslaved by the daughter of a Pasha into
whose service he had entered. How Hassan
won universal admiration by his feats of
strength, courage, and generosity, whether
displayed towards desperate robbers, savage
horses, gigantic bullies, vanquished onemies,
or helpless women—how he resisted the temp-
tations both of morey and beauty, for the sake
of which ordinary men (ourselves among the
number) would have walked to Grand Cairo
with peas in their shoes—how the shafts of
envy and malignity fell from him harmless—
and how the inflammable bosom of Amine,
the Pasha's daughter, more lovely than all the
Peris, gradually grew to languish for the
manly form and rare beauty for which this
paragon of virtue and heroism was conspi-
cuous—how the Pasha's wrath was appeased—
and how it fell out that the two fables of
Hassan and Arnim'. and Villikins and his Dinah
did not correspond more closely, we shall not
inform our readers, for are they not written in
the two volumes which Mr. Parker has pub-
lished ? We cordially recommend them, and
may add that Turks well acquainted with
Egypt and Egyptian life who have perused
this story have assured us that in all which
comes under the general epithet of " costume "
it is correct and lifelike.

5. The story of " The Ruling Passion" is
not equal to any of the above four. The plot
is not badly conceived, but the author at pre-
sent wants the power of giving individuality
to his characters. He does not evoke our
sympathies, nor compensate for the fault by
gratifying our taste. He is not a good word-
painter, nor has he any pretensions to humour.
The story, however, has some dramatic force ;
and, should the author ever achieve success,
we should think it would be through the
medium of the stage. Thore the scenery, the
dresses, and the action, would exactly fill up
what he is unable to supply himself.

The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford.
Edited by Peter Cunningham. Now First
Chronologically Arranged. Vols. IV. and V.
London : Bentley.
THE chronological arrangement of these letters
is, beyond any doubt, of great advantage, and
it is the best feature of this edition. We have
now arrived at the fifth volume, and the
" new" letters are, on the whole, rather few,
and the industrious editor has relied too much
on his "collected" letters, by which he means
the epistles of Walpole gathered from all
quarters.

In these two volumes we find frequent cita-
tions of notes from " Croker." Sometimes
his notes have an accidental piquancy not
intended by the writer. Thus we have
" Croker " (vol. iv. p. 130) explaining who
" Mr. Rigby" was, and then " Cunningham"
puts in his word :

The Right Hon. Richard Rigby, master of the rolls in
Ireland, afterwards paymaster of the forces : a statesman
of the secord class, and a bon-vivant of the first. Mr.
Rigby was at one time a chief friend and favourite of Mr.
Walpole's, but became involved in Mr. Walpole's dislike to
the Duke of Bedford, to whom Mr. Rigby sas sincerely
and constantly attached, and over whom he was supposed
to have great influence.—Citomtn. See vol. i. p. 36m.
His letters are very lively, and deserve eollection.—Cus-
NINO HAM.