The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-11 00:00:00

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PRES S, DECEMBER 11, M. 1219 11

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horrors, when it flashed over him that he bad made this
Sue speech, word for word, twice over I Yet it was not
true, as the lady might perhaps have fairly inferred, that
be bad embellished his conversation with the Hums daily
during that whole interval of years. On the contrary, he
bad never once thought of the odious fowl until the
recurrence of precisely the same circumstances brought
up precisely the same idea. He ought to have been
proud of the accuracy of his mental adjustments. Given
certain factors, and a sound brain should always evolve
the same fixed product with the certainty of Babbage's
calculating machine.
Here is another remark, which, if not alto-
gether original, is at least pleasantly repeated :
We are the Romans of the modern world—the great
assimilating people. Conflicts and conquests are of
course necessary accidents with us, as with our prototypes.
And so we come to their style of weapon. Our army
sword is the short, stiff, pointed gladias of the Romans;
tad the American bowie-knife is the same tool, modified
to wet the daily wants of civil society. I announce at this
table an axiom not to be found in Montesquieu or the
journals of Congress:—
Tne race that shortens its weapons lengthens its Imnd--
sties.
Corollary. It was the Polish lance that left Poland at
hat with nothing of her own to bound.
Dropped ihen tier nerveless grasp the shatter'd spear !
What business had Sarmatia to be fighting for
liberty with a Bitten-foot pole between her and the
breasts of her enemies? If she had but clutched the
-old Roman and young American weapon, and come to
close quarters, there might have been a chance for her
but it would have spoiled the best passage in " The
Pleasures of Hope."
There is both charity and geniality, too, in the
discourse on drinking, but it is unfortunately too
tong to extract. The Horatian maxim that an
author should lay aside his MS. till the ninth year
is applied with some humour to poetry, which is
likened in that respect to violins and meer-
schaums. At the same time we doubt if all the
" drying processes " in the world would ever take
the damp out of such stuff as these lines on
" Spring, intra muros," so that they should ring
Eke true metal :
The windows blush with fresh bouquets,
Cut with the May dew on their lips ;
The radish all its bloom displays,
Pink as Aurora's fingertips.
Nor loss the flood of light that showers
On beauty's changed corolla•ahadaa,—
'The walks are gay as bridal bowers
With rows of many-petall'd maids.
The scarlet shell-fish click and clash
In the blue barrow where they slide;
The horseman, proud of streak and splash,
Creeps homeward from his morning ride.

Thantastes. A Fairie Romance. By G. Macdonald.
London: Smith, Elder, and Co.

1. Loyal Heart; or, the Trappers. By Gustave
Aimard. Translated by W. Robson.
2. Lottery. By Mrs. Jones of Pantglass.
3. A Lady's Captivity among Chinese Pirates.
Translated by Amelia Edwards.
London : Routledge.
1. THE first of these stories is one of the good old
Indian narratives which used so to delight our youth.
Redskins of marvellous denominations, stealthy war-
riors, hardy hunters, mysterious " medicine men,"
and a European or two, with a beautiful girl thrown
among them, are the stapte constituents of the tale.
In fact, its character can be read pretty well from the
tifiepage, where " Eaglehead " is represented as
having sprung on to the haunches of a hunter's horse,
and then and there driving his dagger into the rider's
throat. " Loyal Heart " contains plenty of stirring
work, and will be a favourite with the juvenile novel
reader.
2. " Lottery" is a little isle of a superior style to
the above, but recalling a tone of feeling among
fashionable people that we have some difficulty in
realizing at the present day. The gist of it is the
wooing of a young lady in humble circumstances by
"a swell " of forty years ago, and bears about it an
impress of truthfulness, though the Hon. Augustus
Levinge is a being with whom no living creature at
the present day could have the slightest sympathy.
3. "A Lady's Captivity among Chinese Pirates" is
a very simple and interesting narrative of the sut•
ferings endured by a young French lady, Mlle. Loviot,
on board a piratical junk. There are no special or
exceptional featu, es in her adventures to demand
particular notice, but they are all told in a quiet,
truthful manner that almost makes us wish
for our own sakes that she had not been delivered
so soon.

THE above volume seems like the work of a man who
bad been trying an experiment with his imagination.
It purports to be the narrative of a walking tour di
fairy-land by an ordinary well to-do English gentle.
man, who flushes a fairy in an old family escr►toire,
and, having thrown some doubt upon the reality of
elf-land, is next morning surprised by a stream of
water running through his bedroom, follo•viog the
course of which he arrives at an enchanted forest,
where his wanderings begin. We live, it seems, in
a queer world, it we only knew it. All the trees,
flowers, and even weeds round about us are full ofweird
life. The lament of " the talking oak," it appears,
is ill foundeJ, and merely the customary discontent
of the laucintor teniporis actg. The days are still
with us

Whereof the poets talk,
When that which breathes within the leaf
Could slip its bark and walk.
And, various as are the tribes and single potentates
of fairy land, each has some distinctive peouliarity.
But the groat tyrant and oppressor is the ash, though
why that useful but rather commonplace piece of
timber should have been invested with these attri-
butes it is hard to say. The moral of " Phantastes "
is rather obscure ; but it seems generally to indicate
the excellence of sell-denial, courage, and purity.
The poetry scattered through the volume is of a high
order, " most musical, most melancholy "; and, on
the whole, we may fairly say that " Phantastes " is
excellent for an after-dinner easy-chair entertainment.

The three following little volumes of poetry—" The
Mother," by Bryan York (Sainders and Utley),
" The Maid of Norway," by John Waddle ( Marl-
borough), and " Codrus, King of Athens," by Richard
Neale (Sampson L iw)—are not of a character to
justify separate notices. They display taste, and
feeling, and culture ; and the composition of them
must at all events have the one good effect of keeping
the authors out of mischief.

Struggles in Foiling. By Henry I. Lister. Bentley.
A Widow's Reminiscences of the Siege of Lucknow. Nisbett.
Margaret Catchpool. By the Rev. R. Cobbold, M.A.

Illustrated Almanack for the Year 1850. London :
Deane and Co.
Art almanack is a very modest title for this very
amusing and clever little miscellany. Indepen-
dently of the usual chronological information to he
found in such works, we here have in addition capital
selections from the best contemporary authors, both
in prose and verse, and a very good original tale, en
titled " The Speculator end the Poet," by Mr.
Thomason. Altogether, Mr. Deane's publication is
the best and most varied of the kind we know.

Sinipkin and Marshall-.
Memorials of Christian Martyrs in the Indian Rebellion.
By the Rev. Win. Owen. Simpkin and Marshall.
Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints. By Thomas

The Book of the Church. By Robert Southey, Esq.,
LL.D. Seventh Edition. London : Murray.
TIUT Southey's " Book of the Church " should have
reached a seventh edition is, to use a conventional
phrase, a great fact. In its present cheap and por-
table form it is certain to attain a still wider popu•
larity, and to become a favourite with all who can
appreciate genuine English dictio ~ Had Southey's
poetic genius been in any way comparable to his
talent for prose composition, his name would have
occupied a far higher place in the roll of Fame.
Even those who differ from his religious and poll
tical views will derive unmixed plaasure from the
chaste and classical language in which he narrates
the history of the Church Establishment, from the
introduction of Christianity into these islands down
to the final triumph of the Protestant faith in the
Revolution of 1688. This new edition is well timed,
and may be regarded as a real boon to the public.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
BOOKS.

Guthrie, D.D. A. and C. Black.
The Essentials of Philosophy. By the Rev. George
Jamieson, M.A. T. and S. Clark.

Memoirs elf Alexis Soyer, with Unpublished Receipts. Kent

Fitusital getritra.

Impromptu de Concert upon Robin Adair.
Composed by W. Vincent Wallace. London :
Robert Cocks and Co.

This piece, which has become familiar to the
musical world through Miss Arabella Goddard's
frequent and brilliant performances of it, needs
no detailed description. That it possesses
remarkable merits of a certain kind there can be
no doubt whatever, and amongst these may be
cited as one of the most conspicuous th e
thoroughly " ptanistic " character of the entire
work. Every passage—even the most difficult
in appearance—is well and effectively written for
the instrument, and of that peculiarly showy
description which dazzles the ear and may
enable performers to elicit from the uninitiated
much more applause than is justly due to them.
This is assuredly a great recommendation to
ambitious pianists who would. shine on any
terms.

Horne, Sweet Home. :Ballad. • Transcribed for the
Pianoforte by W. Vincent Wallace. London :
Robert Cocks and Co.

Trns is another production of about the same
kind and degree of merit, and has, therefore, the
best possible chances of becoming equally popular.
If Miss Arabella Goddard can but be induced to
take it up as she has done the " Impromptu de
Concert," and other pieces by Mr. Vincent Vat•
lace, the bright dreams both of composer and
publisher will be speedily realized.

The Young Middy. By C. Armstrong. London

Castanet and Gay Guitar. Vocal Duet. Written
by J. E. Carpenter; Composed by Stephen
Glover. London: Robert Cocks and Co.

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THIS is a duet for soprano and contralto in the
usual fluent, unpretending style of Mr. Stephen
Glover. The singers are supposed to be " merry
gipsies," a race of people for whom an astonish-
ing quantity of music is constantly being written,
although it is the rarest of things to hear any of
them sing. We presume that the composers of
such pieces as "Two merry gipsies are we," " We
are two merry laughing gipsies," " I am a merry
Zingara," " I am a laughing Zingara," " I am the
gipsy king, ah ! ah !" must have been confound-
ing Savoyards with the swarthy fortune-tellers
and purloiners of children.
We, at least, never heard any of the latter sing
either solos or duets, or declare themselves to be
hilariously merry on any occasion whatever. On
the contrary, we have invariably found them
very solemn impostors, spurious prophets, fierce
in their aspect, as savage in their habits—
people to be carefully avoided in secluded spots.
Messrs. Carpenter and Stephen Glover have,
however, adopted the popular view of the sub-
ject, and may reasonably hope to profit by it.

USIC.

and Co.
Tales from Blackwood. Vol Il I. Blackwood and Sons.
The Calamities and Quarrels of Authors. By Isaac Disraeli.
Edited by his son, the Right Hon. B. Disraeli. Rout-
ledge and Warne&
The Two Prigates. By the Author of " The Green Hand."
Routledge and Warn a.
Selections from the Charges and other Detached Papers of
Baron Alderson. By Charles Alderson, M.A. J. W.

Marlborough.
Tuts is a good Christmas present for children : a
tale of the last French war, in which two young men
are lost in a boat at sea during a thick fog, picked
up by an English privateer who treats them with
great brutality, finally carried to a French prison,
whence, after a variety of romantic adventures, in-
cluding, or course, a falling in love, they escape,
with their characters as usual, much strength-
ened, and so forth. It is a fair average specimen
of its class.

Parker.
The Two Mothers. By the Author of " Summerleigb
Manor." J. W. Parker.
Days of Old. By the Author of " Ruth and her Friends."
Macmillan and Co.
A Year's Campaigning in India. By Julius George Medley.
Thacker and Co.
Steam Communication between Europe and America. By
Pliny Milts. Trubner.
The Curiosities of Food. By Peter L. Simmonds, F.R.G.S.
Bentley.
Hanworth. J. W. Parker.

DRURY LANE THEATRE.
THE Pyne and Harrison season terminates this
evening with a performance for the benefit of the
lady, and we have no doubt that there will be a very
crowded house as a fitti ig tribute to her great talent
as a .inger. Will there be a speech, a farewell
addrt as, on the occasion? We know not; but,
there ilenld, we presume it will bo something
this effect :
We, Pyne and Harrison, having seen that it was
a shame and a siu to have no National Op
in our great country, so rich in dramatic compose
and singers of the highest merits, whilst foreig
musicians of even the most slander ability were te•
ceiving an unprec, dented amount of patronage, chi-
valrously determined to hoist the union-jack, and
show the world what could be accomplished by

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