The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-15 00:00:00

REPRINTS.

CHEAP republications continue to be a chief feature
in our current literature. Mr. Bryce has commenced
a series of the novels of Samuel Lover, commencing
with He Would be a Gentleman; or, Treasure Trove.
It is one of the best of its writer's, though it aims too
much at the historical form. The scene varies be-
tween Paris and Dublin, and the times of Lord
Chesterfield in Ireland are described with much
vivacity.—ln Mr. Bohn's " British Classics " the new
volume contains Captain Singleton and Colonel Jack.
There is great difference of opinion in some of the
provincial literary institutions as to whether all of
De Foe's works ought to be circulated. In the pre
sent volume there is no objectionable matter.—
The Last of the Barons has made its appearance in
" The Railway Library," in Routledge's cheap series
of Sir Edward Lytton's novels. Its beauties cannot

SATURDAY,

fail of being appreciated by a wide circle, and it well
stands the test of reperusal.— The success of
"Digby Grand" has induced its author to republish
Tilbury Nogo, from the pages of the Sporting
Magazine. It now appeals in the form of an original
novel, in two octavo volumes, published by Chapman
and Hall. Addressed to a more narrow class than
"Digby Grand," it describes life about town by
sporting men. It has some very clever sketching in
Harry Lorrequer's style, but its subject is too
overdone.—The fifth edition of the lamented Mr.
Warburton's Hochelaga has been published in
a cheap form by Routledge. Its facts and
anecdotes are worth perusal, and its matter is
various, but its reflections only echo the philo-
sophy of previous observers of American society.
Its chapters relating to Canada will be interesting at
the present time.—Routledge also issues in a neat
volume We're all Low People There, and other
tales, by the author of "Caleb Stukeley." These
stories are reprinted from Blackwood's Maya.
zine, and belong to the "real" school. They are
mostly of a tragic cast. Suggested probably by Mr.
Warren's " Diary of a Late Physician," they strike
us as reflecting both the merits and defects of that
celebrated work, grest eloquence and pathos being
displayed in depicting incidents of domestic life, but
with a tendency towards exaggeration.—Popular
Lectures on Astronomy, by the late M. Arago, is
another issue front Mr. Routledge's press. These
lectures, which were originally translated by Mr.
Walter Kelly, 8.A., are revised to the present time
by the Bev. L. Tomlinson, M.A. Their chief merits
are simplicity, and an absence of technical phrase ;
but, lest the reader should be at a loss to com-
prehend mathematical terms, an explanation of those
most in use is given in an appendix. The work is
further made intelligible by numerous diagrams.—
A cheap edition of the clever and sarcastic novel,
The Bachelor of the Albany, which originally ap-
peared about six years ago, is issued by Chapman
and Hall. The incidents—not in themselves impro•
bable—are narrated with lively allusions to passing
events. Amongst the petty annoyances which plague
the hero when in his bachelor state, he complains to
a friend that he had been asked to accept the office
of vice-president of the Animals' Friends' Society,
and his friend suggests that an influential person is
required to fill the post, because the society contem-
plated sending a "deputation to the Pope to interest
" his Holiness to put down bull-baiting in Spain."
From a footnote we learn that the respectable society
in question has adopted and taken the step which in
the fiction was intended as a ludicrous impossibility.
—The proprietors of the Illustrated People's Paper
have published in a volume the first quarterly part.
Its conductors appear to be satisfied with their
success; its contents are original and selected, and
it is one of the cheapest serials of the day.

England and Russia. By Dr. J. Hamel. London:

Bentley.
Tins volume has not, as its leading title would indi-
cate, any connection with the present state of affairs.
It belongs wholly to the past, and consists simply of
a collection of voyages made to Northern Russia—
those of Chancellor and Willoughby among them—
from the ninth century, when Other the Norman
presented our King Alfred with some walrus teeth
from the White Sea, to a comparatively recent date;
and thus includes an account of the establishment of
commercial relations between England and Russia.
rhe author, Dr. Hamel, came to this country in the
train of the Emperor Alexander in 1814, and searched
our public collections for materials for his work,
comparing and combining the details they supplied
with Russian records. Though of limited scope,
therefore, the work is complete of its kind, mole
care being taken to verify facts even when minute
than to make up an attractive narrative. One pas-
sage is curiously illustrative of the vanity of political
speculations. We quote from the translator's pre-
face :
" One of the most striking points in the whole work is to
be found in the first page, where the author recommends
that in order to commemorate the long duration of amica-
ble intercourse between England and Russia, which at the
time he wrote (Ir 4-16) had existed uninterruptedly for
nearly three centuries, there should be a jubilee in 1833,
when that period would be completed, and which, owing
to a curious coincidence, proved to be the very year in
which diplomatic relations ceased between the two coun-
tries, followed by the war in which we are at present
engaged."

Crewe Rise. A Novel. London : Hurst and Blackett.
THE author has taken a large canvas for his compo-
sition. He aims at shadowing forth life and its trials.
A youth, generous, ardent, and ambitious—for a
time led astray by phantasy, or passion, but working
out for himself a noble station in the end—occupies
the foreground, while numerous groups of the society
of country and town are ranged about him. We are
inclined to regard the story as a first attempt. Many
of the characters are well sketched, and the details
well imagined, but chiefly, through want of training

we suspect, the sentiment and language are touched
by affectation, and we miss the reality of life, even
when acknowledging that considerable talent is shown
in its imitation.

Angling, and Where to Go. By Robert Blakey.
London : Routledge.

VIE author, known in metaphysical literature by his
"Philosophy of the Human Mind," has here given a
readable account of the best mode of pursuing the
fisherman's pastime. Juvenile practitioners in rod-
fishing will find it particularly useful, but its author
might have catered better for the want of those
Londoners who leave town for a day's sport. His
account of the fishing-ponds within metropolitan
vicinity is too cursory; and in his provincial descrip•
tions of piscatory sport he relies on authorities that
are now out of date. Nevertheless, it is a pleasing
and useful little volume.

Letters of an American on Russia and Revolution
Edited by Walter Savage Landor. London : Chap-
man and Hall.
Mn. LANDOR does not say who is the " American" of
tie titlepage. Some of the remarks are sufficiently
flippant for Yankee origin, but the republican tone
of the " Letters" is vague and dreamy, and unlike
the masculine vigour of a thoroughbred citizen of
the United States. There are vulgar pretension and
an oracular air in the dicta of the " American " that
are often very laughable, and, whatever his readers
may think, it is evident that the self-styled "Ameri-
can" has a high opinion of his own powers.

The Pirate's Fort : A Tale of the Sixteenth Century.
By Louisa hi‘Nally. Dublin : Hodges and
Smith.

THERE is both both fluency and feeling in the style
of Miss M‘Nally, but she wants skill in describing
character; and there is no local colour imprinted in
her tale of buccaneering on the Irish coast three
centuries since. Nor has she availed herself of the
resources of her subject, as we find no descriptions
of scenery, or aught but Irish proper names, to mdi
cate the latitude of " The Pirate's Fort." Evidently
a first attempt at fiction, it yet shows powers that,
with judicious training, may prove successful.

Islamism : Its Rise and Progreu. By F. A. Neale,
Author of "Eight Years in Syria." 2 vols.
London: Madden.
A SKETCH of the most memorable events in Turkish
annals, from the early years of Mahomet (as Mr.
Neale writes the name) to "Abdul Medjid and his
Reforms." The work scarcely pretends to a histori-
cal character; no authorities are cited, and those
incidents are most dwelt upon which admit of being
told with dramatic effect. The author's knowledge of
Arab character and manners enables him to impart
reality to many of his passages, and as a general
survey of Turkish history it appears to b e faithful in
spirit and animated in style.

Clara Morison, a Tale of South Australia, during the
Gold Fever. London : J. W. Parker and Son.
THE novel may be conveniently employed for the
delineation of manners; indeed it would seem that
manners can rarely be well painted except under some
guise of fiction. In " Clara Morison " the main
purpose is to exhibit colonial life as it existed in South
Australia a year or two ago. The descriptions are
certainly the result of personal experience, and appear
to be faithful. The story, however, does not help them.
A man, whatever his station, is not degraded by any
kind of manual labour in the colonies, but the notion
of a young lady sent out to obtain a situation as a
governess, and, failing in her purpose, accepting a
situation as girl-of-all-work, to scrub floors, empty
slops, and so on, is not pleasing, more especially when
she has to wait on her lover who pays a visit to her
mistress's house. The book is said to have been
written by a young lady who resided in Australia. It
shows talent and freshness, and will most likely be
well received by the admirers of the minute school
of domestic portraiture.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Booxs.

Bokinga. Morton Rae. Hookham and Sons
Indian Leisure. Captain R. G. Macgregor.
Smith and Elder.
The Church. W. Atkinson. Longman and Co.
Lowell Pastures. Routledge.
The Adventures of Priscilla Eaton. Shaw.
sunny Memories. Mra. Stowe. Low, Son, and Co.
The Military Achievements of the Duke of Wellington.
Hope and Co.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Shelton

Notes on Spain. E. Lee.
Nice, and its Climate. E. Lee.
Diogenes. Vol. 111.

PAMPHLETS.
Occasional Sermons. No. :18.
Christianity, or Christ our all in all.
C4kiiloo of Ornamental Casts. K. Wornum.
Longman and Co,

Wooldridge.